The Summer of our Discontent
Two decades ago the unadulterated ambition of our then leaders overwhelmed the integrity of the most beautiful experiment in nationhood of its time, we have not seemed to learn anything from that sorry episode. We are now in the midst of the most serious political crisis since 1971. The rapidly degenerating state of our economy seems to get only cursory attention while our leaders pursue their own selfish agendas. The Army may yet get over its “reluctant suitor” status before the country goes down the drain (and there is nothing left to defend). After all there is a difference between restraint and inaction. Martial Law is not a solution but the influence that the Army can bring to bear on the politicians should not be held in abeyance till Doomsday. Quick solutions to the political maelstrom will not cause the rapid rejuvenation of our economic situation, this will be a long and painful process adversely affecting the common man placed downstream at the fag end of the economy. Since only a small percentage of our population is privileged to be uncommon, a vast majority are bound to face acute hardship.
In a state of transition, the economy is very vulnerable to external factors. While privatisation was initiated by Ms Benazir Bhutto’s PPP regime, it commenced in earnest due to the dynamism and drive of businessman PM Nawaz Sharif. Along with Deregulation, Disinvestment and Denationalisation, the Nawaz Sharif regime carried out a series of far-reaching liberalising reforms, removing straitjackets from the economy and raising the confidence of the business community. Acclaimed as a genuine politician only post-April 17, 1993, Nawaz Sharif has been impatient to rid the economy of artificially imposed shackles, removing it from the clutches of a bureaucracy corrupted to its very core. In order to kickstart the economy and an ingrained political inclination to achieve economic results within his tenure, he embarked on a series of extremely visible public sector projects in the field of communications, mainly motorways and telecommunications. Like Stephen Leacock’s hero, he seems to have jumped on his horse and galloped off in all directions, the PM should have paid more attention to prioritization. Funds have been hard to come by and credits have only added to the burgeoning national debt, debt servicing already reaching 35.5% of the available annual government revenues. The PM’s enthusiasm may be genuine and not wholly misplaced but financial managers normally tend to be conservative rather than dynamic, cautious rather than creative, they have been caught unawares and thus unready to cope with the demands for more and more funds. The Nawaz Sharif regime thus suffers from the public perception of haste and waste at the very core of its leadership. What was the use of taking back the VIP aircraft from PIA? Whenever it was required PIA could have made it available. This perception is most unfortunate as besides becoming the focus of public censuring, it calls into question the efficacy of perfectly sound plans for the betterment of the communications system in Pakistan. The Islamabad-Lahore Motorway is an excellent scheme but scandal arose in the manner of the hasty award to Daewoo without international tender. Recently the single tenderer for the Sheikhupura-DG Khan motorway tried a fait accompli in trying to persuade the PM into accepting its bid. Thankfully enthusiasm failed to get the better of good sense as it did in the case of Daewoo. Wise and mature leaders do not let themselves be carried away by the shenanigans of the unscrupulous.
