Shahbaz Sharif Must Have Done Something Right ??

                                   Shahbaz Sharif Must Have Done Something Right??

It looks funny and surprising as well, the way Punjab government received the drubbing and thrashing on petty issues in last five years, Electronic and Social Media knowingly or unknowingly became part of malicious propaganda, print Media in Pakistan has matured a lot over the decades and has become very sensible. The crust and focus of that drubbing was that Shahbaz Sharif was not able to build institutions, which are of course and no doubt key to progress of a Nation. Shahbaz Sharif  holding on to  key Ministerial portfolios, some said fifteen, other seventeen and some exaggerated the figure even further. The whole attention was focused that Punjab utilised all it's funds in "Central Punjab" particularly Lahore while ignoring the rest of the Punjab.  If we closely monitor the Electronic and Social media it seems every body was trying to bring down one party that was PMLN, during this campaign they even failed to recognise the ground realities of Punjab and Leadership provided by Shahbaz Sharif.

Punjab went through two catastrophes in last five years, "Dengue" and Floods, never witnessed in history of Pakistan before. Shahbaz Sharif fought with Natural calamities with courage and determination. During floods shifted his camp office to "Southern Punjab" and worked tirelessly from Emergency Evacuation of Flood hit victims to their rehabilitation, infect an  instalment of Rs.20,000 was paid twice to many as flood hit victims. Similarly Dengue catastrophe struck Punjab in 2011, effecting hundred of thousands and killing more than 250 people across Punjab. We saw Shahbaz Sharif working resolutely against this Menace and in 2012 not a single death was reported, while World-Wide the number of Dengue cases increased and our neighbouring India suffered from it yet again. But the most important job I think, Shahbaz Sharif has done is  to institutionalise and establish independent Authorities, "The Punjab Disaster Management Authority" and "Dengue Control Authority",  both these institutions were legislated through Punjab Assembly.  It doesn't matter even if Shahbaz Sharif Government is no more, God forbid if Punjab is struck with Calamities, functioning Institutions are there to take care of things. Fearless Leadership was  provided by Shahbaz Sharif, as during Dengue he visited the effected victims and  during floods visited each and every flood hit area himself.

Similarly, Dannish Schools were established across Punjab,  where literacy rate is lowest in Punjab and economically most back-ward areas, like Hasilpur (Behwalpuar), Behwalnager, Attock, Mianwali,etc. boarding and lodging facilities were provided to children belonging to low income groups, at the same time to brilliant and toppers too. Only families having Income less than Rs.6,000  are eligible for admission, strict rules for selection of teachers were followed . Again the school system  was institutionalised and "The Punjab Dannish Schools and The Centre of Excellence Authority Bill" was Passed in 2009.

The "Metro Bus System" in Lahore was introduced, completed in historic time of 11 months with 8.2 km travel on over head bridge ( one of the largest bridge in the region). In Turkey, the first section of the Metro took 31 months to complete,  it is not less than a miracle to complete the project in 11 months. Even "Turkish Deputy Prime Minister" was stunned and speechless when he witnessed its inauguration in Lahore. Yet again Punjab Assembly approved the establishment of "Metro Bus Authority" to regulate the operations of Urban Transport system in major cities of Punjab.

Similarly, "Independent Board Of Governors" were established, made operational in Punjab Universities, Colleges and Major teaching hospitals across the Province. Power was transferred at Institutional level, now they wouldn't have to depend upon Ministry of Health and Education to run their day to day affairs. Process of selecting Vice Chancellor's and Principles of these Universities was made very transparent, even Governor was stripped of his powers and that was transferred to Institutions through Legislative seals .

"Punjab Bank" was received in tatters, its clients were deceived and hoodwinked  by false propaganda that Bank was running in profits,  actually Bank was running in red ( report submitted in Supreme Court, the losses exceeded Rs.50 billion and famous Rs.8 billion Haris Steel Mill fraud was committed with the help of Executive and hand picked Board Of Governors). Technically when SS took over, the Bank was doomed and shattered. What SS did was, appoint an Honest Head of the Bank and Independent Board Of Governors, amazingly the Bank turned into profitability in 2011-12.

Punjab Land Reforms "LRMIS", a major source of corruption and nepotism in Punjab, the old system of "Sher Shah Suri" era, had become powerful and deep rooted which put the whole system hostage to Patwari Mafia. Shahbaz Shahrif took a very bold and visionary step to computerise the whole data despite resistance from all quarters, political plus feudal hindrance threatened a political back lash but  Shahbaz Sharif known for his perseverance and dedication went ahead with the reforms. This is a Rs.10 billion rupees mega project funded by World Bank, already 26 Service Centers are operational in 22 Districts and data entry in other 12 Districts is on their way. This is a paradigm shift from a usual Feudal mindset where poors are made hostage and major frauds are committed by Land grabbers with the help of this "Patwar System".

Thing's do not end here, a "Shahbaz Sharif Citizen Feed Back System" regarding complaints  in Health, Police, LDA, Revenue, WASA, and LRMIS department has been launched. This is a system to facilitate all citizens of Punjab through a simple SMS regarding their transaction and difficulty they faced during their visit to different departments. It is very simple, when a person goes to a Government Department, the office record of that person along with his transaction details will pass on to local officer and a call center. Then they will receive a random call regarding their experience in different departments and any inconvenience they faced or did they had to bribe someone during their transaction. This is integrated system and all data goes to head office in Lahore, thousands user are  added on daily basis and number who received this facility is nearly touching a million. The idea conceived by a young  DCO of jhang "Zubair Khurshid Bhatti", who during his posting 2007-8 in jhang,  successfully implemented it. "The World Bank" awarded it the prestigious 2011 innovation fund Prize and is now working with the Punjab Government to scale it up and System has been successfully implemented in many Districts.

Comprehensive primary Education has been introduced with the help of "UK department For International Development" (DFID). "Sir Micheal Barber" a highly respected educationist, explained the story of Punjab education reform programme, calling it "Punjab School Reforms Road map". Most of the 36 districts in Punjab have made significant inroads and progress regarding Education, infect 31 districts now have  more than 90% enrolment in schools at Primary level. He says, teacher presence is far more higher in Punjab then rest of Pakistan, even higher among 22 countries supported by UK Department Of International Development (DFID). Under this programme, a massive 1.5 million new children enrolled in schools and close to 81,000 new teachers have been hired. Punjab Government with the help of UK Government running the largest Voucher scheme in the World, close to 14,0000 students benefiting. Under the scheme, all the families who enrol their children in schools would get a sum of 15 US Dollars. According to "Sir Micheal Barber" number increasing and programme will add a further 5,0000 to 80,000 students in next 18 months. These achievements according to him are largely due to better management and Governance in Punjab compared to rest of Pakistan and 22 other countries. World Bank President "Jim Yong Kim' lauded the Punjab Government for this historical achievement and reassured the Government Of Punjab of it's continuous assistance.

Health and Education as  explained earlier remained the key focus of Shahbaz Sharif five year rule. To give you a rough idea, when Shahbaz Sharif took over, the Health budget was mere 6-7 billion rupees and when  his five year tenure ended, it  touched Rs.85 billion of Rs.782 billion  Punjab budget that is 10.5% of total budget. Similarly Education Budget which was a meagre 20-21 billion when SS took over, galloped to Rs.185 billion of total Rs.782 billion of Punjab Budget that is roughly 25% of total budget. Southern Punjab being most neglected part of Punjab, when Shabaz Sharif took over, it's budget was hovering around meagre 11-12% of total budget, contrary to tall claims of previous rulers, Shabaz Sharif intentionally increased it gradually during his stint as Punjab Chief Executive taking it to 32% which is, a percentage higher than their actual population.

The criticism that Shahbaz Sharif  works under bureaucratic clout rather than exert a political influence is extremely unjustified. Look at Western Democracies they choose their own team and even in Parliamentary Democracies it's up to Chief Exective to decide his team and Legislators role is to legislate and make things easier for General public through effective Legislation. Bureaucrats are trained for administration and that's where they are excellent unless merit is violated as witnessed in Federal Government and other Provisional Governments. This is one of the major reason why Shahbaz Sharif was successful when other failed. Criticising him, for having a thin cabinet and holding on to many portfolios, again is a twisted and lame argument. India  five time bigger country than Pakistan with a billion population and a much bigger Economy as well, run their country with 20-22 Ministers. China a much larger country than India and has second largest economy in the world, runs its business with 27 ministers.

 Pakistan, which is ranked 35th in TIP corruption index with total debt and liabilities crossing Rs.15 trillion, rupee touching it's historic low, international payments looming, foreign exchange reserve plunging, still International Community is showing their faith in Punjab and investing heavily in different projects like health, education, infrastructure etc. International Community and Donors praising his reform agenda, "Shahbaz Sharif must have done something right??. Where institutions were being looted and plundered in last five years, Shahbaz Sharif tried to restore them in Punjab and reconstructed  destroyed ones, though was partly successful . Some how we want a miracle and hoping, on a bright sunny day we would wake up and all our problems of corruption, terrorism, energy crisis, mass loot, plunder by Zardari regime, 65 years of chaos created by repeated dictatorial regimes, deep state doctrine etc would vanish. But what we must understand and our Media need to hammer day in and day out that yes things were bad but at least in Punjab  someone did try and was partially successful , rather than painting a gloomy picture.

Shahbaz Sharif actually had transferred his powers and purposely tried to build institutions and revamp them as well, his focus remained very clear and worked on underdeveloped areas of Punjab that were neglected but it's a long and tiring process and demands patience as  explained earlier, 65 years of garbage can not be swept in one go. Our E.Media  must come out of its infancy and need to understand one thing  despite all the Institution building and revamping, Executive always remains powerful, just look at USA, has the most powerful Institutional structure in the World right now, but who is the most Powerful person (Executive), "Barack Hussain Obama". Mind you, destroy  "wink of an eye", build  "decades".