First Year Scorecard
In a country where Prime Ministerial longevity is counted in days, weeks and months, survival past the one-year mark is by itself is no mean achievement for any PM, if only for that Shaukat Aziz fully deserves the congratulations the President showered him with on receiving his government’s one year performance report. Skeptics abound, Mr. J.I. Hussain of Rawalpindi in a recent letter to the “NEWS” Editor opined, to quote, “it is difficult to comprehend what is there to rejoice about, not much has been accomplished in the last one year”, unquote. Taking the liberty of prioritizing eight issues of concern enumerated by him in a slightly different sequence, and dovetailing a couple for the sake of clarity and brevity, examination thereof is required in more explicit detail.
Mr. Hussain maintains that “law and order situation is deteriorating”, coupled with his other assertion, “the property and honour of the common man is not safe”. Law and order is a Provincial subject in theory and not a Federal one, in actual fact for all of Pakistan’s 58 years the internal security situation has been a Federal prerogative, with the Provincial law enforcement agencies (LEAs) doing mostly what is dictated to them by the Centre. After 9/11, even the pretence of Provincial autonomy has been discarded, the “war against terrorism” is Federal-led and has been fairly successful. Shaukat Aziz regime can hardly claim credit, the war being fought directly under Presidential control. Terrorist of all ilk have been taken to task, with real-time information provided by our intelligence agencies, with hi-tech support by US agencies such as the FBI. During the process, Pakistan’s Provinces have badly lost ground in overall crime control. On the one hand, the LEAs have become far more efficient and effective in exterminating terrorism, and on the other hand, with additional wide-ranging and sweeping powers given thereof (and despite the Police Reforms), the police have become more corrupt and brutal, particularly in the rural areas. With unemployment increasing, so has violent crime. For internal security and crime control, the government’s “B Plus” for anti-terrorism is reduced to “C” bordering on “F” at the Provincial level.
Mr. Hussain’s assertion that “the judicial system has failed to deliver” lies in an antiquated system that favours the rich in total exclusion of the poor, interpretation, “justice is being only possible for those who can pay the price of a good lawyer”. The superior judiciary has failed in making sorry examples of habitual liars who blatantly misconstrue the truth with utter confidence that they will not be brought to book, perjury is rampant in courts at every level, it is being a recognized as regular “business”. The poor have no hope of getting justice because of their inability to pay for good lawyers. To give the poor an even chance in justice, in civil suits the legal counsel should be paid by taking a percentage of the damages he (or she) obtains for his (or her) client, like in the US judicial system. The judiciary should be financially independent with a full time administration wing under the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. As long as the Federation and Provinces are the paymasters, justice will be subverted to their requirements. The new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is considered a moderate activist alongwith some other Honourable members of the apex Bench, more power to them in coming to terms with their conscience in discharging their duties. There is lot of rhetoric about reforming the judiciary, when it happens we will see. Shaukat Aziz’s score in this respect is a “B” bordering on “C”, one feels he is serious about improving this.
Including maintaining that “poverty and unemployment are on the increase”, Mr. Hussain says “there is no control over sky – rocketing prices”, unquote. The government’s claims of dramatic economic resurgence is true. A combination of calculated measures and conforming to prudential regulations has helped stabilize the economy and put it on the right track. Let us not forget Dr Ishrat Hussain, the outgoing Governor State Bank of Pakistan, give him some of the credit. Even with the oil crisis hitting us hard, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has estimated our next annual GDP growth at 6.5%. This is an excellent performance economically. Regretfully the so-called “trickle-down” economics has not reached the poverty stricken. The rhetoric fails to note that benefits are mostly flowing to the already rich, only a small group of middle class are graduating into the “rich” category, the steep rise of essentials is beggaring most of them into the poverty category. The buying power of the common man has been badly eroded, the dream of the middle class to own even a small property has evaporated. The increase on real-estate prices is due to extraneous reasons beyond the government’s control, it doesn’t absolve them of their responsibility to monitor the land mafia and eliminate land scams. A “B plus” stellar economic performance touching on “A” is dragged down by the failure to close the rich-poor gap to a low “B”.
Mr. Hussain says “corruption is rampant”, it is alive and well in Pakistan. This despite an excellent sustained performance by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in bringing politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen to book for a wide range of corrupt practices. NAB’s weakness is in being selective, a dismal failure to pursuing even well documented cases of those “connected”. The acid test for NAB is two-fold, viz (1) shun motivated persecution and (2) relentlessly pursue corruption, particularly among the influential. The judiciary must develop its own effective “Accountability Department”. One does not doubt the Army’s own judicial system, regretfully inter-action in civilian fields with associated corruption and unethical practices gives an adverse perception to the Army’s image. NAB’s “plea bargaining” concept undermines the whole concept of accountability, criminals can simply buy their way out of prison, mostly out of ill-gotten proceeds. White-collar crime becomes a “calculated risk” at worst. Shaukat Aziz personally gets an “A” for monetary honesty, some in his Cabinet share that reputation. Thereafter it becomes spotty, for political convenience Shaukat has accepted that old habits die hard.
“The Education Sector continues to reflect declining standard”, says Mr. Hussain. Even though education is basically a Provincial subject, the PM must tackle education problems on a war footing, on a “Task Force” basis guided by renowned academics. Providing sound, wholesome education is vital to the country’s future, at the moment the performance is an “F”, a dismal failure. Similarly when Mr. Hussain says that “health facilities are dismal”, he is understating the obvious, the situation is pathetic and miserable. The rich who make up less than 1% of the population can afford medication and hospitalization, what about the rest 99%? While public sector investment is a must, massive incentives must be given to the private sector to encourage them to fund philanthropic medical facilities. Regretfully this sector also gets an “F”.
The most important expectation of the masses is “good governance”, that entails no compromises. Without a political constituency, the PM does overtime in doing a fine balancing act between what is correct and the compromises he has to make to stay in office, if not in power. The ultimate scorecard on this good man’s performance will only be possible after his stint, a true reflection of how low he has had to stoop to conquer.
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