No sign of returning
WHEN it comes to the much-anticipated but delayed homecoming of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, the conversations being had by members of the party are reminiscent of scenes from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, in which the protagonists spend all their time waiting for someone who does not show up.
Mr Sharif’s return to Pakistan, say PML-N politicians, will address the party’s leadership crisis and help it recover its lost political capital. Yet, the reality is that Mr Sharif remains in London from where he controls his party back home.
This week, Saad Rafique became the latest party representative to [say Mr Sharif will return][1], a claim that was dismissed by Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb who said there were no set plans. But the PML-N continues to look towards the senior Sharif to bring the party back to life in Punjab, where the PTI’s popularity has been a reality check even for those in denial about public support for their rival.
Mr Sharif’s return and participation in the electoral campaign, his party believes, is the only chance the PML-N stands to win back its lost popularity, given the poor economic performance of the PDM government.
Hence, the reason for the delay, especially in the run-up to the elections and in view of PML-N’s abysmal performance, remains a mystery.
It seems as if Mr Sharif, a three-time prime minister, is waiting for relief from the courts, and to some extent a course correction of sorts on the issue of his lifelong disqualification from politics.
What the ‘mechanisms’ for such actions are, no one knows. But it is becoming increasingly clear that he will not return until he is given some guarantee about his freedom.
It is a pity that a politician of Mr Sharif’s stature, who has faced jail and persecution in the past, chooses to live in self-exile even while his party is in government. It is time he summoned the courage to face the reality.
Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2023
Census issues
AS the seventh population census continues, several issues have cropped up hindering the head count. Foremost seems to be security for police officers deployed to guard the enumerators. Two policemen assigned census duties were martyred in separate attacks in KP on Monday. One incident occurred in the Tank area, while the other in Lakki Marwat; both areas have witnessed TTP activity in the past, and the attacks are reminiscent of deadly terrorist ambushes targeting polio teams. Apart from security concerns, there are trust issues, particularly in urban areas, as reports have emerged of people refusing to cooperate with census teams. Moreover, enumerators in several areas, particularly in Sindh, have complained of not receiving funds for fuel and daily allowances. The Sindh chief minister has also said his administration may boycott the head count if their myriad concerns are not addressed. The count in several parts of Balochistan has also not started due to ‘technical issues’.
All of these concerns need to be addressed urgently by the federal government, or else controversy will mar this census too. It should be recalled that billions of rupees have been set aside for the census in times of great financial strain, while tens of thousands of enumerators and security personnel have fanned out across the country to complete this critical exercise. These funds and man hours should not be wasted due to glitches and faulty management. The top priority of the state should be to provide a safe environment both to the enumerators and security personnel to allow them to carry out their tasks successfully. Special emphasis must be placed on areas known to be affected by militant activity, and extra layers of security, as well as intelligence-based operations, are required to clear these spots for the teams. Secondly, the state should lead public awareness drives through the media to urge people to work with the teams. There exists a considerable trust deficit between the state and the people, and it is the government’s job to convince citizens that their data will be kept safe, and be used for the benefit of the country. Moreover, glitches with equipment and software, as well as bottlenecks related to the release of funds to teams, need to be looked into, while the PML-N should address the concerns of its PPP coalition partner in Sindh over census transparency.
Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2023
Another failure
THE average Pakistani may not be able to put three meals on the table for their family, but that has not been enough to compel the country’s political leadership to forego the luxuries they enjoy at the expense of the public exchequer.
Several ‘austerity measures’ had been announced with great fanfare last month in what was touted as a bid to slash ministries’ and departments’ spending by Rs200bn annually. Yet, the government seems to be having trouble enforcing these measures despite a dedicated monitoring committee tasked with overseeing the implementation of the prime minister’s austerity plan.
According to a news report in yesterday’s pages, 16 of the 30 luxury vehicles given to cabinet members, parliamentary secretaries, and chairmen of standing committees have yet to be returned to the government’s central pool despite the passage of three weeks since the announcement of the ‘immediate’ measures.
It seems that despite the everyday misery that has been imposed on ordinary folk, we remain a country of plenty for those in power. According to the same report, many senior bureaucrats have also continued using their government-provided sports utility vehicles and luxury sedans.
Similarly, there has been no indication from either the judiciary or the armed forces with regard to cutting needless expenditures at a time when the country has virtually defaulted.
More shocking is the revelation that the Petroleum Division has even organised a junket for officials from public-sector oil and gas companies to fly in from as far as Karachi and Quetta to the Takht-i-Babri in Kallar Kahar.
We have recently started hearing from our nation’s top decision-makers that the global lending agency we have turned to for a bailout does not really have our public’s best interests at heart. The question is, do they?
Pakistan burns as our Neros fiddle. The PDM leadership has appeared more ineffectual and desperately inept at handling the country’s poly-crisis with every passing day.
The prime minister has managed to relegate himself to the margins of the news cycle after starting to sound like a broken record. It is embarrassing that he keeps regurgitating the same promises every few months or so, each time with fewer results.
How long must this dog and pony show go on? Crisis reveals character, as they say; in our case, it has completely exposed the elite’s abject disinterest in the welfare of the masses as long as their personal interests are secure.
No amount of blaming past leaders can absolve the present dispensation of failing to take action on matters within its control. If the government cannot enforce its writ even within its own house, how does it expect to steer an entire nation of more than 200m souls out of the dire straits it finds itself in?
Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2023