Hazards of a split mandate

There is a growing perception that all is not well with the system of governance in Pakistan since the February 18 general elections. Whether this feeling being expressed by the people as well as the media, is factually right or wrong is a different matter but perception is always stronger than the actual truth regarding any issue.

In their frustration and overall dismay about the prevailing state of affairs, there are many who do not hesitate to assert that the country has no government worth the name. Others allude to the miracle of the land of the pure running without a government. In a dinner party last night, with many intellectuals participating, someone challenged the absence of an efficient government machinery by raising a very serious query: if there was no government machinery in place in Pakistan, who, in God’s name, is issuing dozens of directives and scores of notifications daily by way of raising the salaries and allowances of members of provincial and national assemblies as well as shooting up the price of petrol, gas and electricity along with hundreds of items of daily use.