Incompetent political system moving towards national govt

Living in such an unstable economy and bad governance is worrisome for all of us because every Pakistani now is forced to think about what is going to happen next.

The people are forced to wonder whether the current system is capable of surviving due to the row between the opposition and the government. It is disappointing that the current political system is moving towards a national government and the parliament looks helpless because it is unable to provide relief to the common man.

Undoubtedly, the unprecedented rise in inflation, the continuous depreciation of Pakistani rupee, constant price-hike of essential commodities, heavy foreign debt, internal political polarisation, distrust expressed by the Supreme Court and the rise in corruption have slipped the country into the hands of various powerful corrupt mafias.

These mafias have equal control over the government dignitaries, wheelers and opposition dealers. Both the government and the opposition have destroyed the very fabric and spirit of democracy by making the parliament powerless and toothless. I feel that we need to handle our issues objectively and with the collective wisdom and mutual support to avoid the collapse of this system as one can see it slipping from the hands of the present political elite who are mostly tied with various criminal and corruption cases. We need to forget about our internal rifts and should rise above the politics to steer the country out of crises and to save this injured system.

Politicians must know that they need to overcome these crises in Pakistan with collective efforts. The failure of the system is because of the incompetency of the politicians who are not rising above politics because of their vested financial and other interests.

The system is on the verge of collapse due to incompetent political handlers. They are jointly pushing the government towards "national government" as the only option in the eyes of the people though I wish it may not come true. We, at present, are in a political madhouse that has created a mess in every faction of the society resulting in social injustice and disorder.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan, while hearing the public interest petition last week, made some serious observations on the performance of government, and these observations show the incompetence of our system. With apologies, it seemed as if the Supreme Court had been demanding justice for the people. An in-depth analysis reveals that our institutions responsible for enforcement of law and social justice are on the brink of collapse.

The people of Pakistan are fed up with the incompetency of present political system and the situation has unfortunately brought us to a point that now even the Supreme Court had to summon the Prime Minister to ask him for the provision of justice to satisfy the petitioners.

This action would have not required if there was rule of law as it is a fundamental duty of the government to ensure the safety of life and property of every citizen.

How many such cases would be dealt with at his level? The system is entangled into confusion and is helpless to resolve the issue of hunger. It cannot provide social justice basic needs to the common man. The media is discussing different options for the change and one of these is “no-confidence vote” against the Prime Minister in coming weeks. And there are threats of long marches and sit-ins (dharnas) also as people are wary of this government and its policies.

Well, the governments are not thrown out with long marches but it is possible through vote of no-confidence which is less likely as the opposition is not on the same page in reality. They have the track record to frustrate their plans at the deciding moments. This will bring the situation back to square one or the pressure of price-hike can force PM to dissolve the assemblies as Imran khan will not hand over the power to any of his opponent party or opposition collation for obvious reasons.

The oozing inflation is affecting the social systems and the economy, common man and the public are running out of patience. Now, it seems the street agitation is the only way for the public to get their rights and due relief as per the third option cited above. The public is annoyed and desperate as there is a huge gap between what this government had committed and what it delivered during the last three years.

Be it the petroleum sector or basic commodities, the PTI government is unable to stop the corrupt mafias who are obliging those close to the corridors of power. They are doing the same to the country what they did to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Rawalpindi Ring Road scandal that is constantly making headlines is supposedly the biggest scandal in this government. Although the project was conceived during the tenure of previous government, the plan was revised under the PTI government. The allegations that are making rounds on media are that the revisions were done to benefit private entities and individuals. Many big names are spared and there is much that remains a mystery about this project since, despite doubts over the transparency of the redesign, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar approved the summary. And it is also unclear why a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister himself approved the funds for the project.

Recently, the LNG bought by the PTI government is more than three times costlier than that was bought by PMLN government and it caused $65 million loss in just one cargo which makes it an exemplary case of epic incompetence. In general, LNG costs Pakistan 13.37 percent of Brent while this spot cargo bought by PTI government costs 42 percent of Brent.

There is a stack of cases of incompetence and poor performance of this government which includes the BRT scandal which has left many in shock. The construction work on the BRT began in October 2017 and was due to complete within six months, close to 2018 general elections. The project, however, faced delays, mismanagement, technical faults, irregularities and blunders turning it into a “shady and shaky” project. This project not only cost the country an unusual initial blow of Rs67.8 billion funded by the Asian Development Bank, but it also paid an extra 25pc as a reward to the contractor to complete the project within the given timeframe. The contractor, however, not only pocketed 25pc extra money but also failed to complete the project even after one year in 2019. The tale of embarrassment does not end here as there are still no signs of completion of that almighty project. Its deadline was extended yet again by the KPK government in June 2021.

There is a stockpile of corruption cases and scandals in the PTI government, yet they do not fail to surprise us with their so-called narrative on accountability, austerity, honesty and corruption-free society.

The government continues to lose its grip because of the poor handling of affairs. The opposition remained equally incompetent as it is giving a free rein for misgovernance. This is how both the government and the opposition have fallen into the danger zone by drifting the country to uncontrollable misgovernance leaving limited options to survive, and the people are seeing the country inching towards a broad-based national government to ensure safety of the country through better governance.

This article is based on some authoritative media reports and the latest developments in the country and a few assessments and I have no motive whatsoever. I appeal to all the political parties and the government to rise above political gains and save the country by steering it out from economic and political crises before it is too late as it may cause irreversible damage to our motherland.

The writer is a former interior minister of Pakistan, author of five books, Chairman Institute of Research & Reforms (IRR) Islamabad/Global Eye. He can be reached at: rmalik1212@gmail.com, Twitter @Senrehmanmalik, WhatsApp +923325559393