Pakistan is rising rapidly up the global risk register. The hopes generated by the elections of February 18, when Pakistanis rejected religious extremists’ parties, are evaporating. The country, a nuclear power, and its 165m people are beset by a deepening political and economic crisis, of which Thursday’s riot at the stock exchange is but a small manifestation. Yet elected politicians seem unwilling or unable to do anything about it.

In some respects, the politicians have been unlucky. It is not their fault that they took over the reins of power just as global food and energy prices were exploding. Subsidies on fuel and food – increased by General Pervez Musharraf, the country’s military ruler – made matters worse, forcing the government to choose between two unpalatable alternatives, letting prices rip or watching government finances spiral out of control. At the moment, they have the worst of all worlds: inflation of 12 per cent and accelerating, and a budget deficit already equal to 7 per cent of gross domestic product.