Business Recorder op-ed writer Farhat Ali in his latest contribution for the newspaper has again painstakingly highlighted the ills that afflict country's power sector. He has, for example, pointed out that "Circular debt is the outcome of lapses down the whole supply chain of power sector, inclusive of fuel procurement and its supply to power generation companies, the conduct of Independent Power Producers related to oil pass-through, power evacuation, idle time payments, the conduct of power producers in the public sector, the conduct of power distribution companies and also the conduct of the consumers."

Disturbingly, the present government's approach to circular debt appears to be hardly different from its predecessors'. It needs to understand that administrative and technical issues are only symptoms; these must not be treated as causes. Structural issues, in fact constitute causes.