Hope hanging by thread

Opposition parties, especially Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the PML (N), evidently unleashed their well-meaning criticism against the incumbent government projecting as the mere case of promises made and promises broken, optimising cul de sac of taking U- turns for the worse. The completion of one hundred days in the office of the incumbent government provided the much awaited opportunity to the major political parties to take the government to task, and they fully seized it to its full potential to grab political mileage. The crash of Pakistani rupee value against dollar the following day turned the opportunity into a rare opportunity, though ironically, for the Opposition parties to lay bare the government achievements they proclaimed so proudly the previous day at the Convention Centre, Islamabad.The PPP eloquently delegitimised and dismantled, brick by brick, the much touted edifice of feats of the government at the ceremony organised by the Party in the connection with its 52nd Foundation Day of the Pakistan People’s Party at Sukkur. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and other top leaders in their speeches took the swipe at the government leadership by asserting as devoid of required wisdom to solve the problems of the people at the grassroots level. Government leadership, they declared, being “the select leadership” with doubtful representative credentials might prove as a stumbling block for the mandarins to come up to the expectations of the people.The PPP issued the White Paper implying that the hundred days of the PTI government were prelude to the greater political and economic mess of horrendous proportion in the country because the leadership was mired in countless U-turns sadly in the wrong directions. The recent increase in the interest rate would further spike the inflation to 12%, and with the unabated surge of the value of dollar the resultant price hike would make people’s lives miserable beyond recognition. It would also adversely impact the investment climate in the country. The administrative, judicial, local government reforms including de-politicisation of the police have yet to register any progress. It looked as business as usual filled with rhetoric and plethora of platitudes to the utter disappointment of the all and sundry. The creation of South Punjab province seemed to have relegated to the back burner and the foreign minister’s recent diplomatic trick in this count might not satisfy the people who were hoping imminent transition soon after the incumbent government taking the reign of the country.The PML (N) also released the White Paper on the performance of the government during the first hundred days in the office.The document spotlighted the miserable failures of the government considering it as faith accompli that was vindicated by the prevailing negative trends in almost all walks of national life. It was so predictable in the face of the inexperienced leadership lacking the requisite acumen of identifying the linkage between the national problems and their solutions. All indicators of the national index were depressing exposing the ‘inability’ and lack of ‘capability’ of the government strategists and policy planners. The Opposition leaders attacked the government by drawing comparison between the state of the economy then and now which was tattering on edge of looming danger with no prospects of making a turnaround in the near or distant future. People had been facing the hellfire of price hike of the goods of the common use, adding, the inflation had been ballooned to the highest level multiplying the predicaments of the majority of the people who were finding it difficult to maintain the subsistence level. The PML (N) also ridiculed the government by arguing that tent shelters and construction of five million housing units for the poor was akin to false equivalence exemplifying from sublime to ridiculous.Chairman Bilawal Bhutto while addressing the charged multitude in Sukkur last week predicted that the incumbent government led by the Ladla (blue-eyed leader) was going to be a bigger disaster as was the case with the first Ladla (blue eyed leader) because they both did not possess the requisite legitimacy accruing from the genuine support of the people. They were brought into the corridors of power with the support of the known or unknown entities. The Chairman reiterated that the mission of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto would be accomplished in its entirety by realising the empowerment of the people of Pakistan who had been relegated to the secondary position by the anti-people forces. Those, he warned, who had been lately contemplating to roll back the 18th Amendment and slashing the National Finance Award would be frustrated by the PPP because federating units could not be deprived from the provincial autonomy guaranteed through the amendment enacted during the PPP government with political consensus across the board. PPP had faced the ferocious dictatorships in the past and would not hesitate to abort the conspiracies of the same boggy against the federation and to the constitutional rule.The chairman in his speech hit the right chord when he raised his voice against the various failures of the government in the domains of national importance having direct bearings on the lives of the people. The economic murder of the poor was underway due to the killing spike of inflation attributed to tariffs on gas, electricity, and petroleum products. Job creation was proving a big hoax, across the board accountability was turning into a wretched witch hunting, judicial reforms for the provision of inexpensive and speedy justice was a far - fetched cry, creation of South Punjab province looked like a rude joke, merger of Fata with KP was suffering governmental inertia, de-politicisation of the bureaucracy and police had reduced to a fainted hope, farmers community was crying horse against the lassitude of the government in providing inexpensive inputs and just support price, and above all extremism and terrorism had reached every household and the leadership considered it as not our war. It was like rubbing the salt into the wounds of the families of the martyrs and IDPs who had laid their lives and suffered hugely in the hands of the scourge.The chairman came hard on the leadership’s back to back U-turns for the worse, adding the leadership may take U-turns for the betterment instead of defending the same for the wrong reasons. He should take U-turns to control inflation to bring ease in the lives of the people, to carve out South Punjab province, to incentivise the farmers community, to reform judicial system to provide relief to the litigants victims of delayed justice, to create jobs for the youth as promised repeatedly instead of denying them the same through slashing the development budget, to provide shelters to the homeless as its reckless drive against encroachments in Karachi had deprived the poor from their humble shelters. The chairmen also drew the attention of the prime minister to the plight of the Balochistan National Party (Mengal) and MQM who were equally frustrated because their written and unwritten agreements were in limbo and hence inconsequential.Chairman Bilawal Bhutto in his address highlighted a very important point representing the sentiments of the people as he detested the lobbies using the religion for their trivial political gains. He referred to the use of this hateful strategy by the successive dictators and their reminiscent to consolidate their illegitimate rule and sustain their fissiparous influences against the people. He underscored the importance of democratic forces to get united for defeating their strident juggernauts destined to bedevil the country with its staggering pitfalls. The country had paid prohibitive price in the hands of dictators in 1971 and during the eighties and beyond. Such mindset should be exposed and resisted with the support of the people led by the sincere and committed leadership.To be fair, it seems the people might have not formed yet definite opinion about PTI government’s wherewithal to perform after passing of one hundred sunshine days in the office. However, their disenchantment with the government has been incrementally on the rise. They indeed wanted to give more time to the government to form sound judgment to the effect as how fair or bad the government was. Their munificence to give benefit of doubt to the government was indeed extraordinary and admirable. They were in the frame of mind of waiting and seeing for the sake of objectivity and impartiality without being carried away by the unqualified environment and of the discussions on the TV channels or the flooding of disinformation in the social media. People were keeping their fingers cross and their hopes hanging by thread. The fulfillment of the promises in bringing qualitative improvement in their lives was yet to be realised. The incumbent leadership may not take the support of the people for granted.The government may only get lease of life if it delivers during the coming years to the comforts of the people. The series of yielding of positive trends are absolutely critical for the government to project its case in the positive light aimed at winning the trust of the people. The officialdoms should have something to showcase in concrete terms because it will be their performance in the final analysis that may enable them to continue to ride the popular crest. But make no mistake, the people’s patience may run out if the government continues to resort to playing to the gallery allegorical to telling the tail with lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. In such situation, the Opposition is likely to succeed in nudging the government to the shores of redundancy.muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/2zIt084