Adjustments or reforms?

In the first 100 days of its government, the PTI failed to implement the promised reforms in the governance structure, the judicial system, the economy, the civil service and the police.

So far, the PTI government has opted for incremental adjustments in the political, economic and administrative systems instead of bringing about any real reforms to create Naya Pakistan. The only visible change in the last 100 days is that new faces now occupy the highest political offices.

Artificial measures, empty promises, U-turns, mere slogans and rhetoric have been the hallmark of the PTI government’s first 100 days in power. This has exposed the party’s incompetence, ill-preparedness, and confusion in policy matters.

The PTI came into power with slogans of change. Before the general elections were held on July 25, the party announced its political, governance and economic reforms agenda that it would implement in the first 100 days in office. The PTI clearly stated that its action plan would fix longstanding structural issues that continue to plague governance, the federation and the economy, besides strengthening security.

The plan promised, among other things, to carve out a new province in southern Punjab, merge Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, mainstream Baloch dissidents, reform the civil service and the police, improve public-service delivery, and revitalise the economy.

Not a single concrete step was taken in the first 100 days to reform the police system and do away with the thana culture. We were told before the general elections that the province of South Punjab would be established in the first 100 days if a PTI government assumed public office. In its first 100 days, the government has only managed to constitute two committees on this issue. What we have heard so far is about the creation of taskforces, committees and sub-committees to prepare recommendations and proposals.

Right-wing reforms always strengthen the status quo and the domination of ruling class. As a right-wing populist party, the PTI will adopt similar reforms to strengthen the forces of the status quo. Therefore, the PTI government is following policies that benefit the ruling class and the elite. There is hardly any difference between the policies of the PTI government and those introduced during the PML-N and PPP governments.

Civil service, police and judicial reforms are essentially about decolonising the colonial state structure and introducing drastic changes in socioeconomic structures. Reforms can never transform or replace the existing system. They only make repressive and exploitative systems more acceptable for the working class.

To undertake such radical reforms, the government requires political will and determination to attack the interests of powerful groups and all the beneficiaries of the status quo.

The ruling classes undertake serious reforms under two conditions. First, when they are convinced that these reforms will inevitably improve their own system and make it more efficient. Second, when the ruling classes face immense pressure from the working class and the middle class to accept their demands and make necessary changes. Mass movements organised by the working class and the middle class can impose enough pressure on the ruling class and the government to initiate radical reforms and drastic changes in the system. The radical reforms introduced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s were the result of the mass mobilisation of the working class, and sections of radicalised the middle class, students and peasants.

Unfortunately, both conditions don’t exist in Pakistan at present to initiate drastic measures to change socioeconomic policies and reform the system. The PTI government is not in a position to go against the political, economic and social interests of feudal lords, tribal chiefs, the state bureaucracy and the capitalist class to initiate land reforms, progressive tax reforms, and decolonise the state structure.

The people want the government to concentrate on issues related to poverty; unemployment; educational and health woes; judicial, civil service and police reforms; social justice; inequality; and exploitation. They want to see a new direction in terms of policies.

I criticised the policies of the PTI government in an earlier article, titled ‘A disappointing start’ published in these pages on September 7. Some readers criticised me for prematurely giving my verdict on the performance of a government that was just two weeks old.

“Imran Khan’s right-wing populist government has done little on the economic front,” I wrote. “…There will be no major change in terms of economic policies because the economic team consists of reliable economists who subscribe to the IMF/World Bank school of thought and believe in the free market and neoliberal economic policies.

“Although the PTI government’s economic managers and advisers may be seasoned professionals who have served in both national and international institutions, and have the best intentions, the fault lies with the ideas and policies that they represent. They aren’t prepared to learn from the experiences and results of the neoliberal onslaught and the failure of the free-market policies over the last three decades. The right-wing PTI government wants to continue with its old economic policies, but expects different results”.

It seems that the PTI has no concrete plan or policy to enhance productive capacity and boost agricultural and industrial production. Industrialisation is still a distant dream, and land reforms and the modernisation of agriculture are necessary to reduce rural poverty. The desire to reduce poverty and unemployment cannot be realised without investing in efforts to increase the productive capacity of the industrial and agricultural sectors.

The writer is a freelance journalist.