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Editorial Four years white, black and grey Journalism is generally about the here and now. Follow-ups are its Achilles’ heel. Four years into power and having just been through a phase where elections looked round the corner, a performance evaluation of the current federal government is in order. white grey black
Four years white, black and grey Journalism is generally about the here and now. Follow-ups are its Achilles’ heel. Four years into power and having just been through a phase where elections looked round the corner, a performance evaluation of the current federal government is in order. What is being presented on the media is one point of view by one side; the government does not tire of counting its achievements and the opponents keep listing its failings. The truth lies somewhere in between. We understand, there was the genuine limitation of taking charge under very critical circumstances. To its credit, those at the helm of the government turned its weaknesses into its strengths and survived four years in office. The next four years weren’t easy. From suicide attacks to floods to power shortages to military operations to an activist judiciary were challenges that many thought would undo the democratic experiment. But today after the successful conclusion of the Senate elections, we mark the sheer resilience of this government. But four years is also a long enough time for the government to have put in place the right structures. For journalists, it is the right time to make a list of failures along with successes. About some things we at TNS weren’t so sure and so we decided to put them in a third list — the grey matters. Objectivity is a difficult exercise; easier said than done. We are sure people on both sides of the fence will have problem with the distinctions as we have drawn them. Honestly, some realities are fluid. Energy that looked like a grey area to us last week is now a perfect black, considering the protests across the country over the unscheduled loadshedding etc. So the lists may look arbitrary but we have tried to cover all the major issues confronting the country and how they have been dealt with by the present government.
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Just to refresh the
memory, in March 2008, when the current political dispensation was put in
place after the February election, the country had survived a massive
earthquake in 2005, was under the grip of suicide attacks by militants
especially in Punjab and KPK, and had just seen the violent assassination of
its most able leader. The weak leaderless
players were successful in putting together the strongest coalition in the
following four years that were defined by military operations, floods of the
worst kind, an anatagonist judiciary and the almost weekly deadlines given
by the media about government’s ouster. The last one year has been
especially uncertain — Osama bin Laden’s discovery in an Abbottabad
compound was bound to end in Memogate; as for the Senate elections, it
looked like they’ll never take place. Little wonder, the PM
takes pride in declaring every now and then he is the longest serving prime
minister in this country’s history. In standing up to the army, he has
managed to raise his stature too. Chairman
PAC
Towards the end of last
year, in November to be precise, Ch. Nisar resigned from his position over
some flimsy charges on the appointment of the new auditor general. His
response was more in line with that of the chief justice of Pakistan who
wrote a letter charge-sheeting the AG on seven grounds. Analysts argued the
charges had no legal basis and the CJ subsequently accepted his appointment;
but not Ch. Nisar who wouldn’t budge. According to reports, the
government has requested the Leader of the Opposition to retake the
chairmanship of the committee. In the analysis, the government won on this. Electoral
reforms
The method is the same for
members of ECP. Their tenure has been increased from three to five years.
After the 20thamendment, the ECP will have a greater role in appointing
interim governments at federal as well as provincial levels if the
government and opposition fail to develop a consensus. The computerised voters’
lists are another success. The government has provided technical and
financial support to ECP to introduce a database of voters which would
automatically be updated with the help of NADRA. The ECP has prepared a five
year strategic plan 2010-2014 to reform the institution. A major achievement
would be the establishment of a political finance wing to scrutinise the
financial statement and assets of parliamentarians. All steps in the right
direction. Media With this government in
power, electronic TV channels have persisted at full throttle and the print
media has closely followed behind, however, a little meekly. Some serious
faux pas aside — too many spokespersons and too many diverging party views
on talk shows every evening — and too many quick changes in information
ministers, from media’s darling Sherry Rehman to Kaira to Ashiq, the
government has nevertheless managed this medium of information well. It has
faced the storm steadfastly — remember Zardari’s unexpected visit to
Dubai late last year for reasons of ill health. It did nothing to threaten
the freedom of expression and did not pave way for gagging it. It has sat back and
allowed the TV hosts and their guests to vilify the party, the president and
its elected parliamentarians all the way. Institutional
framework On account of legislation,
the performance of the parliament has been pretty impressive. During the
last four years, it unanimously amended the Constitution three times. Out of
these, the historic 18th amendment could be described as a Legislative
Revolution. It aspires to convert Pakistani experience of coercive
federation into a cooperative federalism. The 20th amendment stirs hope that
in future there will be free and fair elections. The parliament also
created history as couple of women parliamentarians successfully piloted
their pro-women Private Members’ Bills. In the Senate, a labour-friendly
Private Members’ Bills has been passed. These are positive developments in
a country where the tradition of passing such Bills is rare. Analysts often examine the
performance of the parliament only in quantitative terms. Figures on this
yardstick are impressive. During the last four years, the parliament passed
65 Acts, the National Assembly passed 96 Bills, and 147 Private Members’
Bills were introduced in the Assembly. The Senate performed equally well and
passed 80 Bills. Ninety one ordinances including 30 plus of General
Musharraf were laid before the Parliament after a court verdict against the
emergency of 2007. In qualitative terms, the
Parliament adopted many pro-women laws to check harassment at work place,
against domestic violence, against acid throwing, and on National Commission
on the Status of Women. Labour-friendly laws to
reinstate sacked employees and restore trade unions are worth mentioning. Other significant pieces
of legislation include: new statistics law and law to establish a National
Commission on Human Rights. However it failed to enact the National
Accountability law that is pending since 2010. On occasions, Pakistan
appears to be an over-legislated country. We need to functionalise this
reformed framework. Time has come to evolve mechanisms to transform ‘the
statutory’ into ‘societal’ so that the people are able to feel the
difference. MFN status
to India The federal cabinet’s
approval to phase out the negative list of tradable commodities between
Pakistan and India and grant MFN status to India by December is no small
achievement. The issue had been pending since 1996 when India granted the
same status to Pakistan. Besides, the government is
constantly pressurising India to give easy access to Pakistani products and
remove non-tariff barriers. Formal trade between India
and Pakistan rose to $2.7billion in 2010-11 from $144million in 2001, while
informal trade including third country trade is estimated at $10billion.
Both governments expect increase in revenue if informal trade is normalised. Another plus is that the
government has adopted a cautious approach. It did not award the status
right away and prescribed a timeframe. Stakeholders are constantly
identifying problem areas, especially the industries that feel threatened if
cheap Indian goods are allowed to flood Pakistani markets. The government
intends to take safeguard measures under WTO regime to protect such
industries till the time they become competitive. The government tactfully
countered the propaganda of interest groups like local manufacturers and
Difa-e-Pakistan Council which was formed overnight. Apparently it did not
have to face opposition from the armed forces. NFC and
CCI National Finance
Commission (NFC) Award, as per the 1973 constitution, design the formula of
resource-sharing among different federating units. This has not happened for
most parts of our history. The fifth NFC Award in 1997 was controversial as
the federal government allocated higher shares of all taxes to itself.
General Musharraf tried his level best during his regime to bring about a
consensus among provincial governments and federal government on NFC Award
but failed and issued a presidential distribution order in 2006. In 2010, the present
government successfully concluded with consensus the seventh NFC Award which
itself is a huge achievement. It is for the first time that the distribution
of resources among provinces is based not only on population but also on
other factors like inverse population density, backwardness and revenue
collection/collection. The share of provinces has increased from 47.5
percent to 57.5 percent in the Federal Divisible Pool which is a major shift
in vertical revenue sharing. This award, for the first
time, has helped find solutions of issues like Gas Development Surcharge
(GDS) and Hydroelectricity profit. The role of the Council of
Common Interests (CCI) has also been enhanced and made provincial
autonomy-oriented after the 18th amendment. It is an inter-provincial
coordination committee which is responsible for mega projects, cross
provincial matters such as water disputes between provinces as well as
matters that require constitutional change. Past governments had
curtailed its role to an extent that from 1971 to 2008 only two meetings of
CCI were held but under this government it has been holding meeting
regularly. It has become a major forum for resolution of differences of
provinces on different issues. Pakistan-Iran
relations Of the few foreign policy
initiatives taken by this government, reviving good relations with Iran has
managed to survive (it may have been sheer coincidence that President
Zardari’s overtures to India culminated in Mumbai attacks in 2008). Iran
as the cornerstone of our foreign policy has survived despite and not
because of the uneasy relations with the US. The business community
sees great value in having good relations with all our neighbours including
Iran. Of course there are occasional spoilers like the illegal border
crossings and alleged presence of Jundullah, a terrorist organisation, on
the Pakistan side of the border, but by and large, the atmospherics between
us and Iran have remained cordial in the last four years. The much-trumpeted gas
pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and beyond has brought the two countries even
closer. This has come about despite the adamant US pressure to shelf the
project. Iran has also found a natural market for its product in the shape
of its eastern neighbours. From Pakistan’s perspective, good relations
with Iran also mean a chance to neutralise sectarianism. No
political prisoners Some commitments of
Charter of Democracy have been kept. The politics of revenge was laid to
rest and, unlike the 1990s, the spirit of reconciliation has prevailed in
the last four years. The government likes to claim credit for no political
prisoner in these four years. It has every right to.
However, our countrymen in
Peshawar may choose to disagree. They are still feeling the brunt as their
city echoes with blasts. People in the tribal areas are equally vulnerable. Though the cost was rather
high, Pakistan has, eventually, been successful in containing militancy. The
world is still far off from declaring a complete victory in the war against
terror, but the gradual success against al Qaeda and Taliban militants keep
alive the hope for a peaceful Pakistan. This government inherited
a mess that was not easy to clean in a short span of time. Nor are we
hundred per cent secure. Still a long way to go. BISP We have placed this
programme in the list of grey areas while the government may tout this as
one of its biggest The beneficiaries and the
government apart, the critics see the programme as “too little for too
few, breeds dependency and has problems of corruption, over-centralisation,
leakage and patronage”. They don’t buy the women empowerment argument
either. The improvements or
restructuring suggested in the programme includes making it a conditional
financial support — linking it with getting children enrolled in school,
getting them vaccinated and women getting skills. The micro-credit has
already been incorporated into the programme though some people believe it
should be an only micro-credit facility.
Economy
Forex reserves do increase
with remittances which have increased due to global crackdown against
unofficial funds transfer channels like hundi. Similarly, per capita income
is an average and an inflated figure; it does not mean wealth is properly
distributed among the people. Anyhow, the government
deserves credit for increased agricultural output that it has achieved
despite the devastating floods for two consecutive years. The production of
wheat is 25 million tonnes this year and the output in the cotton crop has
shown an upward movement from 10 million bales to 14 million bales. On the other hand, the
list of failed initiatives is quite long. The production at factories came
down because of chronic energy shortages, the local currency lost value
against dollar and other currencies, the efforts to expand tax net have not
yielded results, restructuring of loss making public enterprise is still a
dream and mass unemployment a grave reality. For the layperson, economy
would be counted as a grey area for this government. Pak-China
relations
No complexities here.
Pak-China relations falls within the foreign policy domain and the elected
government has liked to steer clear of that department all along. Besides,
foreign policy for Pakistan means security-driven relations (whoever gives
us the weapons) and this is the reality of the ‘time-tested’ friendship
with China. “Pak-China friendship is
higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, stronger than steel and sweeter
than honey” followed by “‘your friends are our friends, your enemies
are our enemies and your security is our security” — hyperboles like
these have been uttered ad nauseum in the last four years as frequently as
they have been since the 1960s. In fact, the second quote
— though a little twisted here — aptly sums up the relations. The actual
quote that brought China into the equation was “the enemy of your enemy is
your friend”. Pakistan is now trying to bolster its friendship with China
in an environment where its relations with the US have deteriorated.
Ironically, China today cannot risk annoying either the US or India. It will
not tolerate any terrorism-related adventurism from our side. Higher than
mountains indeed! Devolution By devolution, we mean
transfer of subjects like health, education, environment etc. from the
centre to the provinces with the aim of promoting provincial autonomy. The
move was given institutional cover under the 18th amendment that was passed
unanimously. Keeping in view the
political history of the country, consensus-making on this issue was a feat
worth celebrating. May be, for this very reason, all the 28 members who
worked on the amendment were conferred with Nishan-e-Imtiaz. On the flip side, the move
has proved to have been made in haste and without proper homework. So far,
the problems in implementation of the amendment outdo the benefits
associated with it. The problems that have come to light so far include
capacity of the officials in the provinces to handle these subjects, the
distribution of assets, the absence of a central Drug Regulatory Authority
etc. This should not have stopped the course of devolution. It’s only that
transition could have been more smooth through proper deliberation and
consultation. FCR
reforms The administrative,
judicial and political reforms in the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR)
laws brought into effect in 2011 were considered a sterling achievement of
this government. The inhuman clauses in civil and criminal matters were
reformed and the FCR was made “responsive to human rights”. What was
universally hailed was the extension of Political Parties Act to the tribal
areas. On paper, all this looked
good. But there were caveats — pertaining largely to implementation. Soon
there came a presidential ordinance called Action in Aid of Civil Power
giving military unbridled powers to contain militancy. The conditions have
not been conducive for political parties to conduct political activity in
the area which alone is the solution of FATA’s multiple problems including
development. People within FATA want an abolition of FCRs. At the end of the day, the
status of FATA is the bone of contention; it has to either merge with the
KPK or exist as a separate province so that the reforms are meaningfully
implemented.
black In January last year,
Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by his bodyguard for supporting Christian
woman Asiya Bibi who was accused of blasphemy; two months later, in March,
minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti was shot dead by gunmen who ambushed his
car in broad daylight; five months on, in August, young factory worker
Najeeb Zafar was killed for allegedly desecrating Quranic verses when he
removed a calendar from the wall. Astonishingly, the perpetrators of
violence have not been charged, tried or punished. The outrage generated on
these and several other blasphemy cases is not forgotten. Yet, the
government has shown no intent so far to amend the blasphemy laws (295-C),
if not repeal the laws, or even to curb vigilantism. PPP MNA Sherry Rehman
who was supposed to bring before the parliament the proposed changes to
Blasphemy Laws was forced to go into hiding after the death of Salmaan
Taseer. Meanwhile the government has decided to stay silent and Asiya Bibi
languishes in jail. Governance Governance is, in effect,
everything a government does. Therefore to put governance in the list of
failures would mean this government has simply failed. Period. But
governance in our country has a peculiar context to it. Political patronage,
disregard of merit and, of course, corruption. This is how we generally
describe the failure of governance and the political governments are known
to have failed on these counts. Ironically, the panacea suggested in our
context is autocracy or an ‘efficient’ military government.
International players [for us the donors] have harped upon the idea of
governance to the exclusion of democracy. Like all previous
political governments, this government too is faced with this charge —
failed governance. The whispering campaign of corruption in the highest
corridors begins in the capital and then trickles down. Absence of
electricity, shortage of gas, kickbacks to the patwari and to lower
officials in courts are all considered as governance failures. Since there is no
objective analysis of this government’s performance according to the
Worldwide Governance Indicators that include six dimensions — voice and
accountability, political stability and lack of violence, government
effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption — we
are more likely to conclude it as its failure for the simple reason it was
not able to market its successes properly. Appointing an Intermediate-pass
as the head of OGDC is a charge that the government will not find easy to
defend, all political patronage notwithstanding. Karachi Pakistan’s largest city
and economic hub has become a permanent festering wound. Ironically, all three
major political parties of the city MQM, PPP and ANP are coalition partners
of both Sindh and federal governments but still there is a war going on
among different stakeholders to strengthen their hold on the city. Violence
regularly comes to haunt the city in the shape of target killing,
sectarianism, kidnapping and extortion. As we write these lines,
during the last two weeks more than 100 people have been killed in different
parts of the city but no one has been arrested. The Interior minister Rehman
Malik has been issuing warning to criminal elements every second day since
the formation of the present government. Zulfiqar Mirza, ex-home minister of
Sindh once claimed that he had all the evidences against the people
responsible for violence in Karachi and also put blame on MQM during a press
conference last year after resigning from his ministry. His opponents blamed
him as the culprit. Meanwhile, Karachi bleeds. Pakistan’s largest city
and economic hub has become a permanent festering wound. Ironically, all three
major political parties of the city MQM, PPP and ANP are coalition partners
of both Sindh and federal governments but still there is a war going on
among different stakeholders to strengthen their hold on the city. Violence
regularly comes to haunt the city in the shape of target killing,
sectarianism, kidnapping and extortion. As we write these lines,
during the last two weeks more than 100 people have been killed in different
parts of the city but no one has been arrested. The Interior minister Rehman
Malik has been issuing warning to criminal elements every second day since
the formation of the present government. Zulfiqar Mirza, ex-home minister of
Sindh once claimed that he had all the evidences against the people
responsible for violence in Karachi and also put blame on MQM during a press
conference last year after resigning from his ministry. His opponents blamed
him as the culprit. Meanwhile, Karachi bleeds. Local
government The 18th Amendment
incorporated Article 140-A to define democratic contours for future local
government. It empowered each province to establish, by law, a local
government system to devolve political, administrative and financial
responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local
governments. The Election Commission has been entrusted to conduct these
elections. If deciphered
democratically ‘political’ and ‘elected’ representatives mean
party-based elected local government; administrative implies ‘district
cadre for services’; and financial means ‘fair resource allocation and
revenue generation possibilities.’ Unlike the time-bound constitutional
deadlines for the presidential, federal and provincial elections, the
constitution is silent about any kind of deadline for the local elections.
So far, none of the
provinces has moved forward to offer vibrant local government to consumers
of democracy and governance at grassroots. The constitutional article is
also silent about any kind of local governance in the federal capital,
Islamabad, Federally Administered tribal Areas (FATA) and Gilgit-Baltistan. Local government system in
the country has always been identified as a ‘legitimacy ladder’ for the
military rulers and the political elite has always shied from establishing
any kind of local government system. Net result is ruined grassroot
governance. Political parties need to realise that they can accommodate
thousands of their political workers as local proxies for the ruling elite
and in future deprive the usurpers in uniform of abusing this window. Balochistan Quite ironically, on the
very auspicious Pakistan Day this year, the country’s largest federating
unit saw an ‘officially’-imposed communication blackout. While the
government’s intention — to avert any untoward incident — might be
sincere, its suspension of cellular network across the length and breadth of
the province was enough proof of the state’s inability to handle the
crisis that Balochistan has come to. While the fact remains
that Balochistan has ‘harboured’ nationalist/secessionist elements
longer than the present democratically elected government has been in the
assembly, and that the Centre has been meaning to help the situation — it
announced the very well-worded Aghaze Haqooq e Balochistan Package in 2009
followed by the NFC Award — the promises remain unfulfilled to this day. Where the government has
outlined the problem areas, it has failed to identify the key players who
could contribute to seeing the package through. Actually, the civilian
government has no control over most matters when it comes to Balochistan,
especially the missing persons. RTI It was first promised in
the Charter of Democracy and then in PM Gilani’s speech to draft the
Freedom of Information law within the first 100 days of government after due
parliamentary debate. The 18th Amendment incorporated Article 19-A to
acknowledge ‘Right to Information (RTI)’. In practical terms, the
government has yet to move an inch. In 2008, the debate was
confused by bringing the subject from the Cabinet Division to the
Information Ministry. Now after the opinion of the Law Ministry it goes back
to its original domain. As of today, neither the law has been improved nor
has any other practical step been taken to realise this vital right for
transparency in governance. Since October 2011, the
post of Federal Ombudsman, an appellate authority in the existing weak
Access to Information Law, is lying vacant. For the last two years, the
Right to Information has hardly figured even verbally in government
priorities. The government genuinely deserves ‘National Lip-Service
Award’ for this historic negligence. Missing
persons Any kind of success is
missing when it comes to the missing persons. New cases are emerging on a
daily basis. One of the major reasons
of the deadlock on Balochistan is the missing persons’ issue. The
nationalist parties of Balochistan claim that thousands of Balochi young
people have been abducted by agencies on the pretext of being separatists.
Now, the nationalist parties of Sindh are facing similar abductions. In KPK and Punjab, the
issues is mainly related to the war on terror and most of those disappeared
are considered to have links with terrorist outfits. The missing persons’
issue is only a reflection of the structural imbalance of the state itself
and national ‘security’ and ‘interest’ is one area where the
political government has not made inroads; the matter rests with the army
and intelligence agencies. The right to justice is
being denied as mutilated bodies of many of these missing persons are found
from roadsides etc. The present government has failed completely to rein
intelligence agencies on the issue. It has also failed to bring the Pakistan
Army Act of 1952 in the parliament leave alone amending it. It should at
least bring it to pre-November 10, 2007 position when it was amended, giving
wide-ranging powers to the armed forces to hold court martial of civilians
on charges ranging from treason, sedition or attack on members of the armed
forces. Minority Stories abound about
violence against minorities: Take the May 2010 attack on the Ahmadi mosque
in Lahore where scores of innocent people were killed or the Aug 2009 riots
in Gojra, Punjab, where the members of the Christian community were
attacked. These are perhaps the deadliest examples of persecution of
minorities ever. We know violence and
persecution of minorities by the majority is on the rise. We are driving
them away from our country. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report
2011 further affirms the point. It says the minorities in Pakistan are
feeling even less secure than ever before. That’s a shameful reality. Other than paying lip
service to religious co-existence or belated announcements of compensation
and half-hearted attempts at encouraging reconciliation, the government’s
helplessness in extending support and protection to them is beyond
disgraceful this past four years. It’s time the PPP
government does something for the cause of the minorities — as the first
step at least revise the textbooks that foster religious extremism in
schools. Pak-US
relations The joint session of the
Parliament is locked in a fresh debate to decide an old issue — redefining
relations with the US. The Raymond Davis episode,
the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad and the Salala checkpoint
tragedy (all developments of 2011) have brought the Pakistan-US relations to
a head. The parliamentary committee’s recommendations, though as
rhetorical as they would be under the military command, contain a symbolic
message — foreign policy is now in the domain of the civilian government. But the recent meeting of
the Pakistani prime minister and the American president was no meeting of
minds. As someone rightly pointed out, there is no common ground between the
US demands for security and Pakistan’s cries for sovereignty. Lack of trust mars the
Pak-US relations and the situation in the last four years has unfortunately
gone from bad to worse. energy Kindly add how much has
been added to the national grid, specify the projects initiated. This was originally meant
to be in the grey list, mind you. But the countrywide protests (not the
first ones) forced us to bring it here. The government, it seems, still
basks in the agreements that the Benazir Bhutto government signed with the
IPPs in the 1990s. It continues to blame the Musharraf government for
bringing the country to this crisis-like situation. Energy requires long
term planning no doubt. In the short term, the government opted for the
Rental Power Plants (RPPs) as a quick-fix. These turned out to be faulty,
highly-expensive and non-viable. In the Supreme Court, charges of kickbacks
have been brought to light too. Compared to the Musharraf
government, this government made efforts to add more electricity to the
national grid. It has started work on more hydro-power generation plans and
mulled purchase of natural gas and electricity from countries like Iran and
India. But as of now, when even
the summers have not set in, the country faces a record high shortfall of
more than 6000megawatts. Unscheduled loadshedding and fuel surcharge in
electricity bills have forced the common man to come out on streets in
protest. Student
unions On March 29, 2008, PM
Gilani announced to restore student unions in the first 100 days of his
government. Today on the 1,464th day of his uninterrupted rule, the promise
is unfulfilled. His two sons and a daughter are lucky to become legislators
and Goodwill Ambassadors. Similar is the case of President Zardari’s
children being groomed in politics at public expense. The elite kids enjoy
this right at universities abroad. But for the 2.5 million
plus students at 132 public-private universities, 1,275 colleges, and 3,399
higher secondary institutions in Pakistan, the constitutionally acknowledged
‘Right to Association’ is a dream. At 18, they are entitled to vote but
at educational institutes have to submit an affidavit to remain
‘apolitical.’ Student unions were banned
in 1984 by General Zia and endorsed by the Apex Court to dry the supply line
of potential leadership. They were briefly restored by Benazir Bhutto in
1988. The Gilani government constituted a committee but majority of the
public sector universities resisted the move. The private universities
simply refused to facilitate this right. Today, campuses remain an open
space for student wings of political parties and jihadi outfits. Contributions
by Zafarullah Khan, Farah Zia, Shahzada Irfan Ahmed, Usman Ghafoor, Aoun
Sahi, Ather Naqvi and Alefia T. Hussain
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This
gives a sense of the political history of the country where a mere
completion of four years in power is celebrated as an achievement of a
government. The resilience of the government is indeed outstanding
considering the objective realities.
All
said and done, the appointment of leader of the opposition as chairman
Public Accounts Committee, as per the Charter of Democracy, should be
counted among the successes of this government. For a good three years of
its tenure, the leader of the opposition Ch. Nisar Ali Khan presided over
the committee and to everyone’s satisfaction.
The
present government has empowered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)
to a greater extent. In the 18th amendment, the authority to appoint chief
election commissioner has been transferred to a parliamentary committee with
equal representation both from government and opposition. Before, it used to
be the discretion of the president. 
This
is a tricky subject. We all need to ask ourselves: do we really feel secure
now after spending almost a decade under the shadow of death and destruction
caused by bombing and suicide blasts? What about last four years? Yes,
people in Lahore and in other major cities feel more comfortable moving
around as the frequency of terrorism-related incidents has waned to a good
extent. 
successes. Direct cash transfer to the poorest of the poor has its merits.
Others think it generates lethargy. So the opinion is divided. For those
five million families with a monthly earning of less than six thousand
rupees, one thousand rupees extra per month may be like windfall. 
Our
forex reserves are up to $18.3 billion, our exports have crossed the $25
billion benchmark, and our per capita income has risen from $990 to $1152,
claims government representative Fauzia Wahab without realising that the
government has got very little to do with these indicators. 
For
all the talk about looking eastwards and building new alliances, Pak-China
relations will be counted among the grey areas for this government.
