Pakistan's politics is increasingly becoming class-oriented. There is no single party which represents all the social classes of Pakistani society. Although this discrimination remains largely unnoticed today, time has its way of exposing unattended areas in the process of social development. If some sections of society continue being ignored, and exploitation continues, Pakistan's polity, which is already polarised along ethno-linguistic and sectarian lines, risks being polarised as this added split in society becomes more pronounced and remains unattended – the rich will continue becoming richer and the poor, becoming poorer. This is compounded by the fact that in a capitalist society, the institutions that ensure the poor a fairer treatment by the state and keep them from revolting against the state such as equitable education system, justice, rule of law and merit based system, all are a far cry in Pakistan.

The poor in Pakistan cannot find even a single institution where they can go and seek justice, or get their grievances addressed without being discriminated against. The question is how long will things continue as they are? How long will the poor tolerate this unjust system that particularly works against them, because the rich have a way of circumventing the odds – it is only the poor who get caught and have no recourse.

Talking about the political parties in the country: PPP, which once represented the poorest of the poor, has recently turned into a party of the elite. The party which once went even to the extent of aligning the country along communist ideology, spoke of providing “food, shelter and clothing” to the poor as state's foremost priority, now only pays lip service to poor people’s cause. It is another matter, though, that it flirts with the poor to gain their votes, but in reality it protects the interests of and serves only the rich. Obviously, how can a party concern itself with the problems of the poor if all of its representatives are drawn from the elite society.

PMLN is different from PPP only in the sense that it represents the business elite, as opposed to PPP's feudal elite. PMLN to an extent flirts with the middle class, gets their vote and gives them only as much as can keep their mouths shut and prevent them from looking for other options. However, PMLN, too, serves mainly the elite. All the projects of PMLN are in a way based on improving the overall macroeconomic health of the country with the assumption that as time passes, its dividends will trickle down and those standing lower on social strata will get a bread or two in the passing. Lower classes, for PMLN, exist only on the fringe of its larger agenda: to be served indirectly and better left to chance. The party leadership pats itself on the back for having turned the economy of the country around, says much about its indifference to the aggravating condition of the poor.

The policy of privatising the major public enterprises instead of trying to improve their condition by better management, will only hit the poor labourers working in those organisations; the bigwigs know better how to evade the purge. The party preferred to spend swathes of money on giving laptops to a few instead of reforming the education system, ignoring the fact that education for a majority in Pakistan is only a dream, and that Pakistan stands second in the list of countries with most out of school children. Obviously if you are not lucky enough to afford going to school, owning a laptop is not for you. Though to common sense, the latter’s case warrants urgent and serious attention, but unfortunately the state does not have a plan for them which involves sending them to school, nor does it intends on giving them pen, pencil or uniform but it concerns itself with giving laptops away to some. It says much about the government’s priorities. Since those at a disadvantage in this case, evidently, the poor, can easily be disregarded.

Moreover, both PMLN and the PPP are hereditary and exclusive in nature. The poor are always condemned to be voters, to participate in protests on the call of their party, go to jails on behalf of their leaders when they happen to be in the opposition, be victimised by the rivals or smash cars of opponents on the orders of the party leadership but cannot get into the party's power structure, or have a seat or two in the assemblies.

 As for the middle class, they seem to be getting disillusioned with these parties, though the disillusionment is not complete yet but it seems to have started at least with the advent of the PTI. The middle class seems to have found their representative party in the form of PTI. MQM also in a way represents the middle classes but it is restricted mainly to urban cities of Sindh, particularly only the urban centers of Sindh: Karachi and Hyderabad. MQM is not a national party of the middle class. To be precise, it is ethnic in character and does not even seem to be trying to remove this perception. PTI’s leadership also mainly consists of the elite but it pays lip service to the demands of the middle class, as well.

Strangely, unlike other parties it draws part of its vote bank from the elite, as well. The party is mainly dubbed as a fan boy club and its ability to attract the upper classes is attributed to the personality cult of the party’s leadership. The party is in government in only one province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Since parties in Pakistan tend to have different posture and totally different slogans in their time as opposition than when they are in government, it remains to be seen which direction the PTI will take once it comes to power.

 Apparently, the only class that now remains totally unrepresented is the poor class. Unrepresented, not in the sense of voting, since all parties rely on their votes to come into power, as they form the majority of Pakistan’s population, but in the sense of having elected representatives from among them and their demands being met, interests being served and problems being solved. It is perplexing, even baffling, seeing just the staggering number of poor in this country and the quantity of their votes, since this is the only thing political parties in Pakistan are concerned about, and still there is an indifference towards the poor. The exploitation of the poor and indifference to their case also stems from the perception that they are naive, uneducated, unaware of the tricky ways of politics, pliable and can be easily lured to your side. To quote a party head, condescending as it may sound, they are attributed such derogatory epithets as 'zinda laash'.

There is a dire need that for this vacuum to be filled. The country now seriously needs a party, from the poor, by the poor, for the poor, which the poor can identify with and find their voice in. The exploitation of poor needs to be stopped. Injustice, no more.