Nawaz's Promised Glory Still A Distant Dream

                        Nawaz's Promised Glory Still A Distant Dream

11th May 2013 promised a rising of  new Dawn, when people of Pakistan against all odds and predictions gave a clear mandate to Nawaz Sharif PMLN, may be last five years of Zardari regime made them politically mature, Nawaz Sharif's  asked people repeatedly in  Public outings to give him a clear mandate and finally Shahbaz Sharif track record in Governing Punjab proved to be a trump card. Sharif brothers solemn promise and undertaking to the people of Pakistan that they will bring change in their life's through economic reforms and Institution building. The masses responded to their commitment and has given them simple majority despite " Tsunami onslaught" by Imran Khan PTI who gave PMLN run for their money and in many constituencies ran neck to neck in their stronghold Punjab.

Not taking anything away from PMLN they started off pretty well, set some high standards when they let PTI form Government in KPK,  Nationalists were allowed to form Government in Baluchistan, did a monumental job by paying years long Circular Debt of 480 billion rupees which reduced the power crisis from 12-18 hours to 6-8 hours on average, giving "Energy Policy" first of its kind which restored investor confidence in power sector leading to energy contracts and light at the end of the tunnel that  this Jenny shall be locked in a bottle once for all in 3-4 years with cheap electricity . Railway  has started to show some promise as well where a very competent Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique is doing a fine job. Many dubious deals done by previous regime have been cancelled saving billions, corrupt officers  have been held accountable and honest officers given responsibilities at key posts. The best thing done by this regime, is  to run a corruption free Government, hardly any case of major corruption has surfaced, Prime Minister has taken note of few surfacing in Media, massive cut in Governments non-developmental expenditures etc. Recently announced youth package by PM is  notable step to empower youth, 125 billion, 1-1.2 million rupees to individual applicant. Loans to 100 thousand skilled youth can be a game changer, different from BISF, it will create job opportunities as well, this scheme needs to be carefully monitored and should be free of political interference.

 Major effort and steps have been taken to restore peace in Karachi, comprehensive dialogue with all stake holders while cabinet meeting was held in Karachi, key decisions  were taken with all parties on board,  rangers have been given unprecedented powers approved by Cabinet to control heinous crimes. Interior Ministry  is taking close view on day to day Law and Order situation in Karachi,  visible change has been seen in Karachi target killings and marked reduction in Bhatta cases but lot needs to be done with continuous and consistent effort .

Having said all,  many may think , being skeptical and naive still not satisfied with all these efforts but let me be very clear and categorical, these steps hardly matter in civilised World but to us Pakistanis these things matter a lot. Let me be very honest, Mian Nawaz Sharif promised a sea saw change in his pre-election campaign, a team promised to be the best in the history of Pakistan, full of economic wizardry and experience. He on numerous occasions talked about his 100 day plan and visible change in decaying Public entities, structural reforms in  Government owned cooperation's draining close to 500 billion rupees tax payers hard earned money yearly, he used to call them "White Elephants". Promised appointment of honest heads assisted by committed and honest BOG. Government tried to revamp PIA through several appointments but  political appointments and politically aligned aides were preferred  violating Supreme Judgement. Though these decisions were taken back once Supreme Court intervened but Question arises why on earth you make such blunders ??. A wave against Bijli and Gas Chor across the country under a very honest and up right FIA official which  have paid rich dividends but again no effort has been made to restructure these organizations, no strike down on all the corrupt officers who promoted these corrupt practices,  have become millionaire ??.

Can you imagine a civilised country running without Heads of many institutions like Nab ( 400 billion rupee cases pending ), Chief Election Commissioner, PTA head ( appointed few days back on SC orders), Steal Mill etc etc. long list, though Government has hired a renowned International Firm to scrutinise all these postings but still Nab Chief and Election Commissioner have nothing to do with that, Constitutional posts immediately need to be filled with sincere and competent individual. Key posts of Ambassadors in UK and USA have fallen vacant, while USA has announced a with drawl from Afghanistan, end Game in War on Terror but we are without ambassadors. Key Ministries stand vacant, "Law Ministry", defence Ministry and Foreign Ministry are held by PM himself, may be due to his fears of nineties but again Pakistan is fighting major insurgencies in Fata and Baluchistan, decision to launch major operations against these insurgents is eminent, we need full time Minsters at key posts though Sartaj Aziz as Prime Minister Aide in Foreign Ministry  is doing a pretty good job. Similarly Baluchistan cabinet has not  been finalised due to internal rift in PML( N ) Baluchistan. Astonishingly The Province running without a Cabinet, key administrative decisions pending without Cabinet, we are almost into fifth month of Government.

Much trumped economic managers, facing night mares, Dollar on free fall ride, fluctuating daily giving rise to speculations, inflation has started to rise again from its lowest when this Government took over it was between 6% to 8.5%, Unprecedented price hike in petrol, gas and Electricity, IMF package may have given some respite to Foreign exchange reserves plus record remittances, increase in exports and FDI improving  though latest numbers have started to dip, similarly much hyped Tax Reforms failing to add new tax payers, while Government resorting to burdening already paying taxes, tax collection hitting record low of 8.5% of GDP ( Growth of 17% in tax collection seen in First Quarter figures but again Question must be asked, does new avenues has been taped for revenue Generation ?? or already paying taxes burdened ?? ).

The biggest debacle faced by PMLN government is their failure to handle the menace of terrorism, a monster eating away life and hurting the very soul of this Nation. One dimensional approach of Peace talks alone  is not  to work at all with these terrorists. Nawaz Sharif immediately need to come up with comprehensive strategy to tackle these insurgents not willing to lay down their arms and involved in continuous attacks in Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif need to realise that people of Pakistan have trusted him as their leader, now is the time to deliver. To their credit PMLN chalked out an "Anti Terrorist Law" which if passed can be a game changer against insurgency faced by Pakistan.

All in all, PMLN Government is doing far better job than their predecessor, avoiding corruption scandals, undue wrangling with Judiciary, tackling key issue of Power Shortages, Karachi Mayhem, Proposed Anti Terror Law etc. but it is not a smooth a ride as expected , many decisions could have been avoided, many things could have been done on War footings to support these ailing institutions. Somehow we are seeing a lack of political will and indecisiveness by this Government which was not usually expected from PM who is third time in Power. Yes the challenges are monumental and humongous in nature but extraordinary times need extraordinary efforts, Leaders need to rise up to the occasion if  they want to be remembered in  History. In the end I may add, It will take at least

10-15 years to rebuild  shattered Pakistan, if we work day in  and day out. Turkey is the prime example.