Questions in Naya Pakistan

The PML-N is quick to retort to any allegations hurled by the PTI government but its silence over the serious accusations levelled by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has stunned many, including its die-hard supporters.

The docile chief minister recently appeared before the media with full preparation, claiming that the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) of Punjab had recovered state land in the Sillanwali tehsil of Sargodha district, worth Rs2.5 billion, from former federal minister Anwar Aziz Choudhry, father of PML-N leader Danial Aziz. The CM reportedly accused Ishaq Dar as one of the persons involved in illegal allotment of land worth Rs5 billion.

Buzdar, who unlike Shahbaz Sharif prefers to keep a low profile, hit the headlines with this startling claim. Giving details of the retrieved land, Buzdar said that 456,000 kanals were recovered in the D G Khan district, followed by 136,000 kanals in Faisalabad, 56,000 kanals each in Lahore and Sargodha, 35,000 kanals in Sahiwal, 24,000 kanals in Multan, 22,000 kanals in Gujranwala, 14,563 kanals in Bahawalpur and 7,345 kanals in Rawalpindi.

The response of PML-N spokesperson Marriayum Aurangzeb is not convincing. She needs to come up with cogent arguments proving that Buzdar is wrong. The party should immediately take him to court if it feels that the allegations are concocted. Shahbaz Sharif did take Imran Khan to court over similar allegations in the past. What then prevents the party from dragging the ‘defanged chief minister’ into litigation? He has not levelled such allegations against one or two leaders of the PML-N but several stalwarts including the Sharifs. Referring to an inquiry into the affairs of Ittefaq Foundry, he said the mill had illegally occupied 240 kanals state land, including 71 kanals of the federal government. Why did the PML-N not make public all documents related to Ittefaq Foundry and its land?

The PML-N has always claimed to be transparent, and denied allegations that it supports land grabbers. But Buzdar claims that the party shelved an inquiry related to extremely expensive land in the Harbanspura area of Lahore. Such shelving flies in the face of tall claims of transparency. Buzdar claims the Supreme Court had cancelled the allotment of Harbanspura land in 1973 but that FIRs were lodged against illegal occupants in 2011. A subsequent inquiry was shelved in three months. He said a fresh inquiry had been ordered to retrieve the illegally occupied land worth Rs5 billion. This is a serious allegation. Shahbaz Sharif needs to come up with documents to disprove Buzdar’s claim. If the inquiry was not shelved, then he should make the outcome of such inquiry public.

In Pakistani politics, leaders often make tall claims but later on they turn out to be a figment of somebody’s imagination. This is why people tend to take such assertions with a pinch of salt. For instance Murad Saeed of the PTI had claimed that Imran Khan’s government would retrieve $200 billion looted money stashed away in foreign banks and repay all of Pakistan’s loans within no time. The PTI had also claimed that overseas Pakistanis would make billions of dollars of investment but both of these promises proved no more than mere empty slogans.

The bitter truth is – as ex-senator Farhatullah Babar also mentioned somewhere – that Pakistan’s rating has been downgraded to ‘B-Negative’ due to high debt repayments (72.5 percent debt-to-GDP ratio). Forex reserves have also been dwindling and currently stand at $ 7.3 billion. Hike in interest rates (425 basis points) are also likely to affect businesses badly while massive devaluation (24 percent) and deteriorating fiscal situation have also sent alarm bells across the country. So, the lollipop of ‘Do not worry’ will not allay people’s fears regarding the health of the economy and its catastrophic impacts on businesses and common Pakistanis.

While the PTI needs to answer these important questions, the queries are not over yet. The party also needs to explain under what terms the conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia is doting on us. What is the purpose of this generous three billion dollars, two of which we have already received. The party should also respond to critics who wonder at the different way PTI leaders and those from other parties are treated when it comes to corruption issues.

The party of change also needs to answer if it has managed to get vacated the seven to eight kanals of land in Islamabad that were allegedly occupied by Azam Swati vacated and whether any FIR was lodged against Swati for occupying this land.

On a different note, a recent report in Senate revealed that more than 300,000 cases are pending in our higher courts. It is believed if the cases of lower courts are also added to this list, then the number could be more than one million pending cases. Not all blame can be placed on the judicial system for this because the police and the administration use a lot of delaying tactics causing cases to be prolonged but the people do want to know what the judicial system intends to do about this. Our justice system needs to put its own house in order and expedite these pending cases.

The deaths of infants in Thar, the epidemic of hepatitis in Sindh, the rampant corruption in the second largest province, the debilitating conditions of schools and hospitals in the power-base of the PPP, the concentration of powers into the hands of the chief minister of Sindh and the PPP’s reluctance to devolve such powers to local governments also put the party of the poor into the dock. In a nutshell, all politicians and all institutions need to answer some basic questions – because this is Naya Pakistan.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

Email: egalitarianism444@gmail.com