The first two years of the Utopian PTI Regime

The Utopian PTI regime has formally completed the first two years that cannot now pledge to be new in the office to dissociate itself from the misadventures taking place owing to incompetent cabinet members in the center. People pinned great expectations from the PTI government for having been ruled for decades by the dissolute rulers and take a real interest in the government’s performance because of the massive promises made to them before getting the power.

 Although Imran Khan seemed to be in a hurry while taking U-turns to make decisions not compatible with words given to people yet, people still believe in him as they are imbibed with such strong expectations that there is no way to turn a deaf hear. International organizations acknowledged Pakistan's performance somehow in the last two years despite the novel coronavirus crisis epidemic and floundering economy when it has assumed power. Pakistan fought commendably with the coronavirus surge incorporating relatively a sensible and realistic approach compared with the measures taken by other countries in the rest of the world. PM Imran Khan made it clear to the nation that he won’t impose a kind of lockdown that would hit hard only marginalize section of the country, citing as more than 25% of the population leaving under poverty. 

To contain the spread of corona-virus, National Command and Control Centre was established. It was a National institution where decisions were taken timely and kept the country away from the total takeover of the population. At the economic front, well-timed cuts in interest-rate by the State Bank of Pakistan, rolling out of Rs.144billion to 12 million deserving families, and an ambiguous housing and construction package played a great role in rescuing the country of bankruptcy and helped to jumpstart the economy. 

Even though the PTI government seems to have gained a quantity of progress; some macroeconomic indicators are witness to the developments secured by the government so far; but, there is a disagreement over the lofty promises being made which are probably may not be attained even after the completion of the other three years – one billion jobs and five million houses. Much more than anything, the policymakers are so inept that they have not been able to control market dynamics which led to inflation, shrinking of jobs, and shortage of supply of essential items. For the poor, the government has turnaround the things even more badly, they can’t afford to purchase even the basic necessities of life when everything has got so expensive to buy, and they are plunged in such a situation that is never seen before. 

Elected MPA’s in government have constantly expressed their discontent over the appointment of non-elected members on key positions, given the influence of the non-civilians in policy matters - deep-rooted in the system – the government has learned to leave with fiat accomplish in terms of ascribing key positions to decision-makers. The PTI government which came to power with the promise to rid the country of the extensive corruption found itself bogged down in a corruption scam when FIA, having received directions from Imran Khan, published the report on the sugar scandal. Earlier, in a cabinet meeting, the Punjab government had provided 2.4billion rupees subsidy to sugar industries; later on, in another meeting, the federal government also allowed the export of sugar which led to the sudden uprise in sugar prices all over the country by 5 to 10 percent; and sugar mill owners got massive benefit from the given subsidy in millions of rupees. 

Following the preliminary revelations of the sugar scandal, wherein wealthy sugar barons were exposed, Imran Khan has either removed or changed the profile of the cabinet members who were involved in the decision about sugar subsidy. To be fair, the government reacted as was being expected given the circumstances that were, but the particular sugar event has left several questions to be answered. Will the government be able to weaken the influence of a few family members involved in manipulating prices and controlling the production of extremely important products? Will the government be able to bring the guilty to justice? 

Leaders of opposition parties have presented a list of failures against a long list of the developments the government has been able to achieve so far. Contrary to the facts, some independent polls are of an ambivalent view about the performance which belies the arguments of both the opposition and government. For some, two years are fair enough for any government to set the trends and patterns to be followed in the future; and for others, the PTI government would not be able to transform Pakistan into an equitable society which is promised during the election campaign, provided that, until and unless the non-electable and imported members would not be replaced with the loyalist to Party motto. 

PM Imran Khan looks passionate to bring about some real changes in Pakistan. He is left with the other three years of his tenor; therefore, he has to take some timely decisions just as the decisions were taken during the coronavirus outbreak, and he should not be that much partial with the accountability that the NAB seems proactively continuing with the cases of only opposition parties. He must strive hard to bring to justice everyone who would have been caught in wrongdoings during his utopian PTI regime.