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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Is performance the PM’s real forte?

By Mian Saifur Rehman
May 03, 2016

Fair & Square

The ‘Columnist Company’ had a good lunch with Mr Prime Minister, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister and Governor, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and Muhammad Rafique Rajwana, respectively, the other  day at Governor’s House Lahore.

Now why I call it a good lunch? To me it was good since it provided a good opportunity to discuss so many things faced by the nation in an informal as well as formal manner. This informal aspect is the one that is lacking in our civil services’ structure whose over-formal style of administering the things has not yielded the desired results (mind you! Not as per the ‘desire’ of the ruling lot but as per the ‘desire’ of the ruled lot).

And Prime Minister’s ever-smiling face turned this informal discussion into a light-hearted interaction. Even heavy questions such as civil-military relations in the hackneyed and boring one-page context were taken very lightly and responded in the same vein.

More amusing was the PM’s reply to a question as to what is the cure of Imran Khan (syndrome?). He is just incurable, thus replied the PM. But certain things are still curable, was the gist of the discussion in which the PM stated that his reply to all allegations and suggestions from the Opposition side was, “Let us respond through actions and performance, not through words”.

I think this is the right strategy and the matching response through actions is the best response. But what actions? Is the writing of a letter to the honourable chief justice of Pakistan one such action or whether the PM was talking about actions taken in the area of economic growth and development?

I think the PM is convinced in his heart that if he continues working on different projects, the electorate would give him a befitting  response in the 2018 general elections. This may also be the utmost  wish of Mr PM and it is natural to think that development works are  usually acknowledged at the pubic level. But there is another fact relevant to our national politics and that is political gimmickry.

Those adept in gimmickry can create confusion and here the PM and his team need to work hard to understand the intricacies of Opposition Hungama (hullaballoo) that does carry fascination for some people .

However, the unelected parliament of the people, I mean the media, appreciated the briefings given by Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Secretary Water and Power, Yunus Dahga and Principal Secretary Fawad Hassan, not because they painted a rosy picture but particularly because many unknown things came to be known. For example, none of us knew that certain clauses of international sanctions were still alive ( in force) against Iran that has made Pakistan ‘wise’ to save its $ 2 billion investment before putting it at risk blindly in the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also made clear to the people (through media) that close to 50 per cent of energy is produced by gas whereas the hydel generation share is not even 15 %.

And the PML-N firebrand Kh Saad Rafiq’s inner flame has also bruned well, raising the Railway income from 18 billion to almost double that figure.

Secretary Dahga had good news for the public too that by the year 2018, load-shedding would come to zero. This 2018 theme is quite ensnaring indeed and the completion time of 2018 for almost all the ongoing projects simply means that all roads and roadmaps lead to  2018. When every briefing was followed by questions about the timeframe, the answer would be 2018 accompanied with meaningful smiles. The PM too welcomed these meaningful smiles and light comments.

Now let me address a pertinent question. Some people sometimes raise their eyebrows over lunches and dinners hosted by political dignitaries off and on, both from the Opposition and the government side. The fact is that while media persons like me are fond of good food, it is the food for thought that is the main attraction in such receptions and if the interaction is limited to selected people, greater is the likelihood of getting more and more information, which is the only product in which a journalist deals.

….mianrehman1@gmail.com