Economic development without political stability undoubtedly falls in the realm of improbability. The sine qua non is written in stone. The political stability in democracy comes when treasury and opposition benches recognize the indispensability of each other and conduct accordingly. Ironically, the country’s politics today is mired in unabated brinkmanship and so the lamentable prognosis sadly may not be far away unless the ruling party takes the U-turn for the better. The ruling party’s approach to get-it-alone may prove counter- productive for being utterly devoid of the imperatives of participatory democracy.
The incumbent government’s strategy to stridently go after the leadership of the opposition parties for distracting the attention of all and sundry from the real issues of day-to-day life may back fire sooner than later. It may precipitate the withering away of the euphoria attached to the new government as the people are not feeling better off from their perspective. The realisation of being worst off is regretfully gaining grounds among the people who may be no more willing to give the benefit of doubt to the mandarins’ platitudes after platitudes of better days are not too far away. Myriad national indicators suggest the country’s economy is perilously closer to looming crisis so their anxiety may not be as their whimsical retribution.
The friendly countries’ timely and laudable assistance may give breathing space to the government, but in the absence of meaningful structural reforms in the economy the munificence may end up in further burdening the nation under huge foreign debts.
Arguably, the absence of clarity in the economic road map of the government for making economic turnaround is cause of much worry as it looks business as usual. The former finance minister Miftah Ismail’s article published in the local English newspaper recently, buttressed with irrefutable facts and figures, have laid bare all the claims of the incumbent government’s economic policy makers and their hitherto economic policies. The revenue generation has declined in the real terms due to inflation; exports even after the 30% depreciation of the rupee has not impacted favorably correspondingly, stock exchange has been blinking the red light, talks with IMF are still inconclusive. Cabinet ministers’ resorting to playing to the gallery may not help to the collective chagrin of the nation.
The cascade of huge job losses in various sectors of the economy, attributed to the confusion swirling all around, is allegorical to the travesty of creation of ten million jobs by the government. The projection of 3% GDP this year may dash all hopes of job creation as slowing down of the economy may instead up the graph of unemployment to the grotesque level. The economic strategy of the government regretfully presents disconnect to the job creation in the face of the sobering realities on the ground. Doing the business in the country is becoming increasingly problematic as the higher interest rate will inevitably discourage the business community to do profitable business with expensive money in a highly competitive market. Furthermore, the intimidation of the industrialists by the investigation and tax authorities may prove as the final straw to break the will of the business community to force them to seek alternatives like investing in other countries. The curse of insurmountable bureaucratic hassles is anathema to provide an enabling environment to the potential investors. These bottlenecks may be broken to improve the investment climate.
The prime minister is right when he says that wealth creation is the only integrated penchant to eradicate poverty in the final analysis. But, wealth creation may remain a pipe dream when the industrialists are stalked by the watchdog agencies like the Shakespearean ghost haunted Macbeth.
As mentioned at the outset political stability and economic development are intrinsically interlinked. It may not be out of place to mention here that the sit-in politics’ undertakers kept the cauldron boiling during the PML (N) previous government with the seemingly premeditated intention to slow down the growing of the economy, if not stymied it altogether, keeping in view the narrative of power politics by hook or cook. The resultant political uncertainty caused by PTI throughout did probably slow down the growth but it was satisfactory as the economic indicators of the economy were positive. The international financial institutions like of World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Moody’s predicted positive outlook of the economy with 6% GDP growth. The foreign exchange reserves were enough to pay for six months imports of the country. But, after the Supreme Court judgment of Panama Papers, the country plunged in the political instability with predictable downside consequences for the economy. The institutional race for domination, contrary to the trichotomy of power, also took heavy toll so far as the economy was concerned as it became the first causality in such tumultuous circumstances.
The incumbent government leadership understands this linkage between the economy and political stability. But, political collision course of the government suggests that it perhaps wants to achieve the requisite political stability through the marginalisation of other political forces by using the state instruments of power. The impetuousness of the government to put the names of 172 accused leaders from Sindh as per recommendation of the JIT report gave credence to the thinking of the ruling party to decapitate the political opponents for pave the way for the “Single Party Rule”. PML-N top leadership is already behind bars and the other formidable political force of the country, PPP, seems their other target to have the open field for their perceived shenanigans.
PTI leadership is hugely mistaken in this count as the PPP could not be finished by dictators like General Ziaul Haq and General Musharraf because the PPP was the legacy of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto who nurtured democracy in the country with their blood. PPP leadership and its workers are committed to defend and strengthen the legacy of their leaders no matter the cost. PPP will never turn sour the vision of their leaders. Those who may contemplate to berate their leaders’ cherished legacy will undoubtedly become history whereas the PPP will continue to shine on the political horizon of the country as a genuine political force totally committed for people’s empowerment. The track record of the PPP struggle is the scintillating example of the success of the legacy over the dictatorial mindset.
The PTI is better advised to give up the confrontational politics for good and seek out the cooperation of the opposition parties to put the country on the linear trajectory of peace and progress under the functioning parliamentary system. The political initiative of the ruling party to cultivate the parliamentary opposition parties may bring a sea of change in the political environment of the country ushering an era of political stability rooted in the Parliament as the Centre of the gravity. The composition of the incumbent Parliament underscores the importance of greater cooperation between the treasury and opposition benches to undertake the legislative business for generating the requisite momentum for nation building process as being the need of the hour. The PTI government experience over the past four months should be enough to make the government understand the criticality of the opposition’s role in the functioning democracy. PTI leadership obstinacy to keep its sword unsheathed may meet the fate of those who dig the wells for others to fall into.
Apprehensively, the baggage of governance is piling up on this government rather swiftly. The rate of inflation has eaten up the meager income of the ordinary people who are finding it difficult to meet the both ends. The service delivery is in glib because there is no improvement in health and education sectors as their promises are not walking the talk. The farmers’ community, especially sugarcane growers, is up in the arms and has resorted to take to the street to protest against the government’s indifferent attitude to their grievances. There is no good news for the labour either as the axing of their jobs continues unabatedly. The rate of inflation has drastically reduced the purchasing power of the poor segments of the society.
Much talked about ‘unholy alliance’ between the government and the national watchdog is indeed creating sharp fissures between the political divide further dampening the prospects of political consensus and political stability. Accountability should be across the board. It should not be pursued as a tool to intimidate the political opponents and subject to ruthless investigations ending up in jail. The general perception of the accountability unfortunately is of discriminatory nature because of its focus on the PML (N) and the PPP. The PTI stalwarts are also facing the NAB cases but they are seldom summoned by the NAB or detained for further investigations. This obviously gives raison de deter to the critics to cast aspersions on the whole process as politically motivated.
muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com
