The Cracks Widen
For the first few weeks after coming to Federal power, the Ms Benazir government could do no wrong. Instead of rushing into many things at one time, it adopted a more deliberate posture. While its authority in the Sindh Assembly was undeniable, the PPP-PML (J) combine increased its majority in Punjab to make a comfortable government. The PPP masterpiece was the process leading up to the election of Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari as President. In contrast to this high point, the PML (N) Opposition touched its lowest ebb, the final desperate offers of the Presidential candidacy to all comers gave the impression of desperation and total disarray. Yet ten weeks into what should be an unquestioned rule, the PPP is caught up in a series of self-created problems as well as the impossibility of governing a country like Pakistan by adopting the safe course of status quo and survive, more so when the intelligentsia and the people have got used to the dynamism and movement of constant initiatives and change which was the hallmark of the Nawaz Sharif regime. Even the caretaker regime of Moeen Qureshi recognised this. While frenetic activity by itself may not necessarily mean development and progress, the general public tends to have a positive view of their leaders as striving hard on their behalf for economic emancipation. The psychology of public perception drives Third World populations rather than any acknowledged fact, therefore, any government that shows indications of inactivity, indeed of apathy in letting some widely hailed ordinances lapse, may soon find itself in deep trouble.
