Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb says Pakistan loses Rs. 120 billion every day because of strikes, sit ins, long marches and road blockades.
The number is striking. But it also raises another question that the government should probably answer: what does it cost to stop those protests?
Authorities often move containers and other vehicles to block major roads before protests even begin. Security deployments also restrict movement around sensitive areas, sometimes for several days.
Those measures are not free.
A blocked road means longer journeys, more fuel burned and delayed deliveries. Businesses lose working hours, transport operators face higher costs and government offices can also be affected when access routes are restricted.
So if the government is calculating the economic damage caused by protests, it should also calculate the damage caused by the response.
The distinction matters because Pakistan is still dealing with a fragile economic situation.
SBP foreign exchange reserves reached $21.389 billion on September 11, but that still amounts to only around two and a half to three months of import cover. Meanwhile, the trade deficit widened to $6.752 billion in July and August 2026 from $5.964 billion during the same period last year.
Inflation is another pressure point. The Sensitive Price Indicator rose 10.64 percent year on year in the week ending September 17, with food, fuel, LPG and firewood among the items showing significant increases.
Diesel is particularly important because it is used in public transport and for moving agricultural produce from farms to markets. Higher transport costs eventually feed into the prices consumers pay.
This is why economic disruption cannot be measured from only one side.
Protests can hurt economic activity. But so can blocked roads, restricted movement, wasted fuel and delayed trade caused by the measures taken to contain them.
The government has every reason to quantify the economic cost of protests. But it should apply the same standard to its own actions.
If Pakistan is losing Rs. 120 billion a day from disruption, the country should know how much of that disruption comes from protesters and how much comes from the response.
The containers may not be protesting. They are still costing money.
