The politics of hollow slogans

Mohammad Pervaiz Malik We will change the destiny of Pakistan, we will ensure roti, kapra and makan for all, we will end poverty, Pakistans economic prosperity to be ensured upon our assumption of government, we will never compromise on national sovereignty, and we shall utilise all our energy to strengthen democracy and other institutions of the state, including the judiciary. These are some of the slogans that were chanted by the PPP leadership during the 2008 general elections. Not only the masses, but also all other segments of society believed that the PPP had learnt its lesson from past mistakes, and genuinely wished to do something for the country. But after seeing its three-year performance, we can safely say that this was wishful thinking. The slogans seem hollow and were mere instruments of gaining power; poor governance and rampant corruption seem to be the order of the day. Despite PPPs promise to hold accountable all those responsible for abrogating the Constitution, it opted to give a guard of honour to Musharraf for his service to the nation, including fuelling separatist movement in Balochistan, arresting senior judges, imposing martial law and emergency, ordering the Lal Masjid massacre, and derailing the political process. More so, the government continues to remain silent over the drone attacks, which are a brazen violation of our national sovereignty; in fact, it could only muster enough courage to call them counterproductive. Provincialism is being stoked by discriminating Punjab in the supply of gas and power, which has played the role of an elder brother by giving away more resources from its share to smaller provinces under the NFC Award. Power outages remain rampant, despite the State Banks repeated statement that economic growth can be supplemented by 2 to 3 percent if this issue is resolved. But this requires vision and political will to keep the supply of power balanced among different units of the federation, to control line losses/theft, and award punishments for non-payments. Instead of focusing on issues related to the power sector, which is the root cause of circular debt, the government has installed more thermal power stations Thats no surprises because its the easiest way to make a quick buck. Likewise, the budget remains a mess, with the state-owned enterprises, including PEPCO and Pakistan Steel, haemorrhaging the scarce resources of the state; corruption in all these organisations is talk of the town. Fortunately, the Supreme Court has taken suo motu notice in order to save Pakistan. Poverty is already touching the sky, industries are being closed down due to severe energy crisis, unemployment is rapidly increasing, unrest is prevailing across the country, but all those loyal to the king are ignoring these serious risks posed to the nation. They are busy describing the extraordinary steps taken by the government, which actually do not exist. However, the only remedy that the government had for all these ills was to trim down and mere reshuffle the Cabinet members Undoubtedly, reduction in the Cabinets size is appreciable, but ministers should have been retained only because of their performance and not party loyalty. Also, the ministers under investigation for corruption, or other irregularities, should not have been re-inducted in the Cabinet till the time their cases had been decided by the courts. While comparing PPPs proposed remedy for the countrys malaise vis--vis PML-Ns reform agenda, one can clearly see the constructive role Mian Nawaz Sharif is trying to play within the framework of the Constitution. I sincerely hope and pray that the government realises the severity of the problem and tries to improve its style of governance. Otherwise, it would be a hard task convincing the masses that the failure of the PPP government cannot be equated with the failure of democracy. The writer is the member of the National Assembly, Pakistan.