It never gets old. PTI does not have a lot of excuses for its often quite poor performance, especially in things that count like stability in prices of essential items, but it does have one excuse that it never tires of using. In the eyes of the ruling party just about everything that is wrong with the country today is the fault of everybody who ruled over it yesterday. In fact the new government was pretty shocked by what it saw, especially the reserves position, when it took over a little over two years ago, even though it could and should have been better prepared, like just about everybody else in the country. After all, all it had to do was get on the website of the government of the country it was contesting to rule to have a fair idea of what things would be like after assuming office.
That is why it is something of a letdown, to say the very least, that the information minister – this government’s third, just to keep count – was saying once more, when almost half the electoral cycle is over, that things are sometimes so bad because PML-N left “landmines” to harm the country and the PTI government. To give the government some credit, for whatever it is worth, this is an extension of sorts to the previous argument. Whereas so far we had grown weary of hearing that PML-N bankrupted the country through excessive debt and corruption, the added bit is that once they realised that PTI would surely come to power they sabotaged the system a little more by setting “landmines” in it. That, and not the way PTI has been running the country since 2018, is what is responsible for all the people’s problems including unaffordable food items, etc, if you listen to the ruling party.
Of course all that is not to say that PML-N ran the country flawlessly. But to use that as an excuse endlessly is surely inexcusable. The government has no business blaming its own problems on others. And if it really had no idea about what it was walking into, even though the rest of the country was pretty up to date since it had been suffering endlessly, then perhaps it should revisit the manner in which it is running the country. The people need an end to their problems, not the knowledge of whose policies form once upon a time might be responsible, especially since most of them are about runaway prices of everyday commodities. The government has wasted half the cycle, hopefully it will pull its socks up in whatever time is remaining.
Winter is coming
It’s official since even the prime minister is worried now. Unless everybody, and that means all citizens of the country, takes the greatest care about practicing social safety protocols there is a very good chance that the coronavirus could stage a comeback this winter. Viruses tend to become more potent during the winter season and even though enough is not known about Covid-19 just yet to be sure, it is still better to be careful now than be sorry later. And even though the country has been a star performer internationally it is also true that most Pakistanis have disappointed the government recently by not being too careful about keeping themselves and others safe.
The result has been a rather worrying increase in daily fresh cases. And prudence would dictate that the right steps be taken now instead of waiting till far more damage has been done, medical facilities are under more pressure than they can bear once again, and the economy is suffering all over again. It is remarkable how, in such uncertain and unprecedented situations, the irresponsibility of a few can turn into very serious problems for so many people. Now that the people also know of the dangers of not adjusting course immediately, they should do whatever is possible to take the greatest care possible so our remarkable achievement is not thrown away for no reason at all.
Government functionaries and senior officials should approach this particular problem by setting personal examples. For the longest time even the people directly responsible for educating the masses about social safety protocols were seen without masks or the basic protective equipment even in formal press conferences. This trend should change right now. Since it is impossible to monitor all the people all the time, and the government’s outreach has so far been limited to targeted advertisements on state outlets, perhaps its best to change course and set personal examples that everybody can learn from and follow. That way nobody will at least be able to point fingers at it. *
