For how long will you blame the previous government for your failures, PTI?
PTI voters were convinced that all our taxes are siphoned out of
the country and deposited in foreign bank accounts or used to buy property in
Dubai. They were told that just by arresting a few civil servants and
tax-evaders, the change PTI promised would happen overnight.
The 16.8
million people who voted for PTI actually expected miracles
within a very short time of their party coming into power. As even a layman
knows, miracles do not happen overnight. Yet his charisma is so great that
Imran was able to persuade his simple followers that he was the chosen one, the
man who would be able to make their dreams come true. Some PTI voters even
believed that the dollar would soon be available for Rs40, and asked everyone
they knew to sell all the dollars they had. As the sycophantic Senator Faisal
Jawed said,
Apparently he forgot that Pakistan existed long before Imran was
even born.
Alas, the
miracle has not occurred, and there is no evidence that it will occur in the
near future. The dollar has appreciated against the rupee (and is expected to
be worth around Rs140 in the next two or three months). The stock exchange
index continues to fall, and the economy itself appears to be in free-fall. The
State Bank has raised the interest rate by 1%, and a further hike is expected, which will result
in massive inflation. Growth rate is expected to slow down to 4.8%, if not lower.
Despite Imran
proclaiming loudly that he will not go begging to the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), his finance minister is doing just that. So, really, there is no
difference between this government and the ones that came before. Gas prices have been raised and with electricity
bills sure to increase, we are all in for a nightmare.
How does one
expect PTI to fulfill its promises regarding the country’s economy when they
are going back on everything their party stood for? How can anyone believe in
them after watching them turn into the same people they were criticising
previously? In the first few weeks of being in power, PTI’s priorities have
been such that you wonder if they even know what really matters in the country.
Firstly, there was the question of where the prime minister would live. He had
said that he would not live in the PM house and that it would be converted into
a university. So he decided to live in the quarters of the military secretary (which incidentally is part of
the PM house colony). He may be fooling the people who voted for him, but he is
not fooling the rest of the country.
Then there
was the matter of protocol, which Imran highly detested. But the protocol
continues to be in force, whether it is for him, for the president or his
ministers. He also went back on his promise to not go abroad in the first three months of coming
into power. He said he would travel on commercial flights and not travel in
business class. But in the very first month of assuming office, he travelled to
Saudi Arabia in an official Air Force plane and also took along plenty of
ministers and others with him, a practice he used to criticise when he was in
opposition.
"PM Imran Khan reaches Saudi Arabia on his
first official foreign visit: he is accompanied by few cabinet members, including
foreign minister @SMQureshiPTI and
finance minister @Asad_Umar. #PMIK @ImranKhanPTIpic.twitter.com/1MTZ7k8dLC
— PTI (@PTIofficial) September 18, 2018"
They also had
a justification for their helicopter travel adventures. Fawad Chaudhry’s claim
that a helicopter requires only Rs55 to take the prime
minister from his home in Bani Gala to the prime minister’s house, only proves
that the intelligence of everyone associated with PTI can be questioned. I even
suspect that when they say ‘billion’, they really mean ‘crore’ (10 million).
Furthermore,
PTI and its leader always claimed they are against dynastic rule, but
unfortunately they accept anything when it comes to their party. Close friends
of the prime minister have been named ministers and
advisors, which makes us wonder, where is the merit now? Some of
these include Naeemul Haq, Aleem Khan (under investigation by NAB), Awn
Chaudhry and Zulfi Bukhari (despite being a British
national, as well as under investigation for being in the Panama Leaks scandal
and owning offshore properties).
Recently,
Umar removed the ban on non-filers to buy vehicles and property, which shocked
the country. Then he re-imposed the ban, only allowing overseas non-filer
Pakistanis to buy property. But with the current volatile situation in the
country and with the government backtracking on every measure it announces, how
can overseas Pakistanis trust Imran, especially after his treatment of Atif Mian, a respected figure in international circles?
In the end, after all this mayhem and the inability of PTI to
fulfil its promises, Chaudhry blames the previous government for PTI’s
failures. This may help in the short term, but sooner or later, those who voted
for the ruling party will be disillusioned and they will wonder whether the
previous government was in fact better, or if following this whole ‘choosing
the lesser evil’ mantra was a good idea. So unless this government takes
drastic steps to improve the situation, people may come out on the streets
protesting against false promises and impending price hikes.
The government needs to change its ways but while it fixes its
problems, the country needs to be put first. Our economy is in shambles, we
cannot afford to make mistakes anymore. The filing of returns should be made mandatory
and there should be strict punishment for non-filers and tax thieves. Smuggling
is a curse that has drowned this country in poverty. Just raiding the shops in
Karkhano Bazaar in Peshawar, and all those markets in Karachi and other cities
selling smuggled items will earn billions for the government. Taking the
electricity and gas thieves to court and penalising them heavily, besides
putting them in jail, will put the fear of God in others and will be another
huge source of revenue.
The biggest
revenue-earner will be the property sector, which has Rs7 trillion of black money invested in it. Some
property price manipulators will have to be arrested and tried, but it will be
worth it, even if a few of them are PTI donors.
But does this government have the will to do all of this?
I doubt it.
It will continue floundering like a sinking ship until the
inevitable happens (as has happened so many times in the past), and a new
government takes over.
Engineer, former visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College, industrialist, associated with petroleum/chemical industries for many years. Loves writing, and (in the opinion of most of those who know him), mentally unbalanced. He tweets @shakirlakhani (twitter.com/shakirlakhani)
https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/72646/for-how-long-will-you-blame-the-previous-government-for-your-failures-pti/
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