Perks enjoyed by government servants, which include free gas and electricity, and servants, and subsidised housing, will come under the axe.

Government departments' budgets, including money for stationary, and transport for employees, will be slashed. Overtime for government employees and allowances given to senior government servants will also be done away with. ``This is just the beginning,'' warned prime minister Nawaz Sharif, while addressing members of his cabinet on Saturday. Sharif had promised austerity measures in a speech within hours of Pakistan's detonation of five nuclear devices on Thursday. The Pakistani prime ministersaid that a new move towards simplicity will be undertaken by his government to ensure that the burden of the coming year is shared by both government and people. He announced his decision to shift out of the palatial newly constructed Prime Minister's Secretariat at a cost exceeding billions of rupees. The 400-room secretariat requires over 10 million rupees for daily maintenance. The PM is now looking for an alternative accommodation for his office.

Sharif says that he will announce a national plan for austerity in the coming week. The government has started urging citizens to observe a more simplistic lifestyle. ``Be Pakistani, Buy Pakistani,'' says one government announcement. ``There are three points that we should adhere to,'' says finance minister Sartaj Aziz, ``living simply, avoiding the use of smuggled items and paying taxes regularly.''

Interestingly, the government has started a new campaign asking Pakistanis to drink less tea. ``Tea is almost entirely imported and is a luxury that we can dowith less of,'' says a report on state-owned Pakistan television. One analyst commented, ``That means since we also import petroleum products, vegetable oil and wheat, we should try and use less fuel, eat less ghee and have lesser rotis.''