- The promise, the challenges and the failures
Candid Corner
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, when it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time when the tide will turn.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Prime Minister Imran Khan has been up against the wall virtually throughout the time that he has been in power– mostly because of the wreck that he inherited from his predecessors and the abominable lack of resources that he had to deal with it.
Alongside that, there has been ceaseless chanting by the opposition parties. Each day, a new deadline is given for the Prime Minister to pack up and go. It required nerves of steel to deal with such vile orchestration, drum-beaten with monotonous and malicious frequency. Anyone else would have happily taken the count, but not him. Though bruised, he has hung on, and has even begun to look better with each passing day. Besides others, this fact alone is a testament to his impregnable resolve to ensure deliverance of this country from the tentacles of the mafias and their bootleggers.
Simultaneously, he has single-handedly catapulted Pakistan to the centre of the world stage where it is looked upon from a different perspective. Within a short period of time, Prime Minister Khan has helped the country transcend from the stamp of terrorism to the promise of tourism. World leaders have undertaken visits with unprecedented frequency, each such visit displaying increased confidence in Pakistan’s vibrancy and potential to tide over difficult times. It has placed Pakistan in an enviable position to attract world attention as a potential destination of profit. There is need for taking this further by building a creative, vigorous and target-oriented promotional campaign and selling the country in the international marketplace as a competitive terminal for investment and business.
The country is on the move, on the up, and there is no reason why this trajectory should be disturbed. Instead, given the inveterate resolve and courage of Prime Minister Khan, there is every reason for this country to relentlessly pursue its extrication from the clutches of mafias which have held it hostage and put it on course to redemption
Pakistan has also taken strides in improving its relations with Turkey, Malaysia, Qatar and Iran. The recent visit of the Turkish President and his unequivocal support for the cause of Kashmir is an indication of the depth of these relations. Pakistan’s improved interaction with Qatar and our neighbour Iran, and its efforts to forge closer relations with Russia, are positives which can yield far-reaching dividends.
The economy, so far the weakest link in the government’s armoury, has also shown signs of stabilising. The rupee value has improved and the tax base has expanded. Portfolio Investment has also gone up as has the confidence of the business community. International credit rating agencies have also given a thumbs-up to Pakistan’s economic direction. These are encouraging signs and it is hoped that, soon, Pakistan’s true potential will unfurl for the world to see.
Pakistan has also played a constructive role in handling thorny and long-standing regional issues. Its proactive involvement in helping the Taliban and the USA initiate a dialogue for bringing the war in Afghanistan to an end is worthy of appreciation. The same has been acknowledged by the USA, leading to improved bilateral relations. The signing of the deal on February 29 is the beginning of a possible resolution of the issue which has ravaged the neighbouring country for almost two decades. Though peace may appear a fair distance away, this provides an auspicious beginning to a difficult process.
Most praiseworthy of all has been the launch of numerous public welfare initiatives by the government including the Ehsas programme, loans for the youth to start their own businesses, empowering people living in villages to become self-sufficient and building shelter homes (free lodging and food) for the poorest of the poor. But, most significantly, it is the effort to raise the esteem of the marginalised communities that deserves plaudits.
Yet, there are forces which refuse to acknowledge these developments. Besides the opposition, a four-pronged challenge is visible: NAB, bureaucracy, judiciary and the media.
NAB’s performance has been an unmitigated disaster. There is hardly a case it could cite by way of proving its credibility, capability or worth. Its investigation techniques have raised serious questions about its intentions. Its principal focus is not on securing convictions for the guilty, but negotiating plea bargains as its officials are direct beneficiaries of this arrangement. While the criminals roam free, the premises of the NAB have become veritable extensions of their incompetence and complicity. Yet, every other day, the chairman of the Bureau delivers self-righteous proclamations of not sparing the guilty. It is about time that he was tried for the demise of the whole process of accountability.
The bureaucracy refuses to divorce itself from the Brown Sahib mantle that it has been perched on ever since the country secured its independence. The quotient of its members’ arrogance has multiplied in direction proportion to the decline in their integrity and performance. Having partaken gratuitously of the corruption of the past rulers, they refuse to serve in an environment which offers no illicit opportunities to fatten their bank accounts. They are on a sabotage course. Ever since the incumbent government assumed charge, they have been on an unannounced pen-down strike, thus betraying the oath of their office as servants of the people.
The judiciary’s track record has never been elevating and it would take piles of paper to recount even a short chapter of that history. From taking instructions from the rulers of the past on telephone, they have taken to relentlessly intruding into the executive domain, thus diluting the writ and legitimacy of the government. Their penchant to gather around their kith and kin to save them from charges of patent misdemeanour presents a humiliating spectacle. Such should not be the constituents of an institution that deems itself a key pillar of the state, responsible for delivering justice to the people.
Then there is the media which is perpetually engrossed in conducting its outdated shows– on the screens and by blackening reams of paper– with fictional projections of failure. There is no real substance. Only a vile and preconceived agenda is visible. Let’s grant that the government has deprived the media houses of illegal dole-outs in the shape of political advertising, but one cannot hold the state responsible for running their businesses. Castigating the government simply because it refuses to be blackmailed is no measure for gauging its performance. The media will have to move beyond their past indulgences for undertaking an objective and non-partisan critique of the government.
Some people around the Prime Minister should not be there while others should engage the mike less frequently, but the government’s major failure has been the gross inability of its information team to project its multi-sector accomplishments and engage people at the grassroots level. They have also been found deficient in responding effectively to a spate of malicious, irrational and ill-founded propaganda by the opposition. The predominant focus of the information team has been on remaining glued before the camera rather than highlighting various facets of the government’s achievements.
There comes a time when one must applaud what must be, of which there is plenty around. The country is on the move, on the up, and there is no reason why this trajectory should be disturbed. Instead, given the inveterate resolve and courage of Prime Minister Khan, there is every reason for this country to relentlessly pursue its extrication from the clutches of mafias which have held it hostage and put it on course to redemption.
