Austerity measures
THE austerity measures announced by the federal government on Wednesday should not have come as an afterthought. Pakistan had already been mired in a mushrooming economic crisis when the PDM government took over.
There had been only two key priorities for the new government after it ousted the PTI from power: keep the economy afloat and the state functioning till the next general election rolled around.
The prime minister, it seems, had different plans. Eager to please the many partners in his coalition government, he went on an appointment spree, inducting 34 ministers, seven ministers of state, four advisers, and 40 special assistants to the PM, the last of whom were appointed just weeks ago.
Despite this surfeit of men and women in official roles, however, his government remained unable to prevent itself from stumbling right to the edge of default.
Now, after creating one of the most obscenely bloated cabinets at the worst possible time in our economic history, the prime minister has assured us that he is taking stock.
With the country unable to finance its deficits, he has asked his ministers and advisers to forego their salaries and benefits, give up their luxury vehicles, pay their utility bills out of their pockets, stop staying in five-star hotels while abroad, and fly economy as part of a set of measures intended to save Rs200bn a year.
Other measures include a ban on the import of luxury items and cars for over a year and entitlement to ‘only one’ official plot per government employee.
It is morally indefensible that the public officeholders of a country that keeps returning to international lenders every few years for a bailout had continued to enjoy such extravagant benefits for months after its financial woes became apparent. Cutting corners now, when the country has been placed at the mercy of external creditors, seems too little, too late.
It is little wonder that the IMF has so far refused to extend the country any further help considering how skewed its priorities have been and how obstinately the powerful have been avoiding picking up the tab. Indeed, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva’s recent remarks urging “a fairer distribution of the [inflationary] pressures by moving subsidies only towards the people who really need it” had made her sound more concerned about the country’s ordinary citizens than our own leaders.
The federal government, which must eventually turn to the public, has since been shamed out of its inaction. The armed forces, too, are reportedly drawing up proposals to slash non-combat expenditures.
It remains to be seen how the provincial governments and the judiciary respond. The powerful should not expect the masses to continue acquiescing in their extravagance while they struggle to put food on their own table.
Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2023
Red herring
IT was a smoke-and-mirrors saga that was bound to collapse under the weight of its own contradictions, and so it has proved over the course of the year. In the latest development, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected identical appeals seeking a probe into the cipher that Imran Khan claimed was evidence of a ‘foreign conspiracy’ to topple his government. Justice Qazi Faez Isa at the hearing in his chambers asked why Mr Khan did not himself order an inquiry into the affair given that as premier at the time he enjoyed full authority to do so, and added that the court could not interfere in the executive domain. When one of the lawyers contended that an investigation into the cipher was a matter of fundamental rights, he disagreed, asking what impact the document had had on anyone’s life.
The saga of the cipher was a red herring from the outset when the PTI chief theatrically brandished the purported document at a rally in March 2022. It was his last-ditch attempt to fire up his support base when it became apparent that his government’s days were numbered and the powers that be were not in ‘rescue mode’. However, in trying to paint his political rivals as opportunistic villains who would even conspire with foreign powers to topple his government — and their ‘handlers’ as passive observers watching this — Mr Khan showed an alarming lack of restraint. No doubt point-scoring is part of politics; we have been witness to it in its lowest form by most mainstream parties in recent years. But the former prime minister put Pakistan’s relationship with the US at risk by recklessly accusing a State Department official of threatening this country; he also flouted convention by revealing a confidential exchange that is par for the course in diplomatic circles. Two NSC meetings, one under Mr Khan as premier, did not find evidence of any ‘conspiracy’, but the PTI chief would not back down. In recent months, he has backtracked in degrees according to his shifting narrative, most recently saying in an interview to foreign media that former army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa, and not the US, was to blame. “And so, [the plan to oust me] wasn’t imported from there. It was exported from here to there,” he claimed. It is a bizarre twist, even for a wholly outlandish story.
Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2023
Kabul visit
ONE of the major reasons behind the recent spate of TTP violence is that besides having fighters and facilitators within Pakistan, the terrorist group has a comfortable refuge in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. In fact, as per recent reports, the regime in Kabul is unwilling to end its support for the TTP, with the banned group’s violent anti-Pakistan posture finding backers within the Afghan public as well as the Taliban elite. Yet efforts are being made by Pakistan to change this situation; a high-powered delegation visited Kabul on Wednesday to press home the point to the Taliban leadership. The delegation, which included the defence minister and the ISI chief, has apparently convinced the Taliban’s upper echelon to act against the banned TTP. Officials told this paper that the Pakistani side communicated this desire in unambiguous terms. According to a Foreign Office handout, both sides agreed to “effectively address the threat of terrorism”, including the TTP and IS-K threat.
It is hoped that Afghanistan’s rulers deliver on their promises. The days ahead will prove whether the visit to Kabul has borne fruit, specifically if TTP-led terrorist activities in Pakistan decrease. There is, of course, good reason to be circumspect. After all, the Afghan Taliban and the TTP are from the same ideological gene pool. Moreover, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada reportedly does not harbour positive views about Pakistan’s political system, even though some of his deputies seek to maintain good relations with this country. It is the latter group that must prevail and convince the Taliban leadership that continuing to provide the TTP safe havens to attack Pakistan is not a good idea. Pakistan needs to keep up the pressure and remind the Taliban of the commitments recently made in Kabul. The fact is that counterterrorism efforts in Pakistan will have only limited impact if the TTP or other terrorists are able to freely move back and forth between this country and Afghanistan.
Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2023