Thirty Days of PMLN Government

The first thirty days of the new government in power after the General Elections of 2013 have been completed. The outcome and the feelings of the people towards the performance of the new government can be termed as mixed. The very first encounter with the public of the federal government was the Budget which is of course the biggest finance bill of the year. It was a little harsh on the government as it had to present the budget within a week of its establishment and all the problems including fiscal deficit, economic meltdown and poor state of finances were inherited by them from the previous government which was a total failure on economic front.

The government had two options in the budget. One of them was to appease the sentiments by making tall claims and being unable to fulfill any of them or to take strong strict measures which would change the public sentiments about them to negative. The government quite bravely chose the hard way and decided to widen the tax net which certainly had a negative impact on the public sentiments about the government because immediately the media and the common public started to criticize them. Although we can say that the government did not have any other choice but the opposite camp was equally right as it would have made the inflation go rampant.

At the same time, the real estate business was not taxed as well which came under heavy criticism. It is a fact that the real estate business is a highly profitable one and in London tax as high as 35% are put on every transaction in the real estate business. However, the government introduced a few projects that would certainly help the common man and that include:

1. Expansion of BISP and naming it as National Support Program
2. Small loans up to 500,000 rupees for entrepreneurs for setting up their small business
3. 15-20 hundred thousand rupees house loans for low income families
4. Expansion of Ashiana Housing Scheme to the entire country

These schemes can be really helpful if implemented properly as Ashiana Housing Scheme and House Building Loans cannot only benefit the poor in having their own houses but will also start an economic activity through construction projects. Ahsan Iqbal (Federal Minister) also mentioned in a program hosted by Hamid Mir that the government wants to revive the economy of the country and is trying to use the construction industry as a tool for this revival. He also mentioned the amounts located for the roads and highways to be built throughout the country as we

ll as the Metro Bus System that is to be introduced in Karachi as promised by the party leaders in almost every public gathering they held during the Election campaign.

At the same time the government has also allocated some money for the mega projects that are to be carried out in this year that includes the Bullet Train project that would link Peshawar to Karachi and also the Railway Line that will connect Gwadar Port in Baluchistan to China. All these projects are huge construction projects that are to be carried forward and if the government succeeds in finishing them during its tenure or even puts them on the right track, it will help it gain massive number of votes in the elections after five years.

The government did not want to increase the salaries of the government employees initially but the call for strike throughout the country made it increase the salaries up to 10%. Common man hardly has a relative working in government sector but the overall scenario created by the media made the government kneel on the subject. Although the decision made by the government was a bit too harsh but looking at the increments received by the government employees during the past five years it seemed logical. Two facts must be told to the public.

1. Government employee salaries have increased manifolds during the last five years.
2. There has been no serious economic activity to support this increase in salaries.

We have been criticizing the PPP government for the last five years as it has been increasing salaries of the government employees without taking into consideration the performance of the employees or the economic situation of the country. The past government knew only one way to fulfill its daily needs and that was to publish new currency notes that did nothing but increased the difference between the foreign reserves of Pakistan and the number of currency notes in the country.

As a result the rate of dollar in the country has almost exceeded a hundred rupees per dollar and at the same time it has created and promoted the inflation to a level that it has become almost impossible to cap it now. Irony, however, is that despite criticizing the federal government for the same reason for the past five years, our public and media went off the hook immediately after realizing that in order to avoid this practice, government is not giving increments this year.

It reminds me of what Nusrat Javed once said in his program “Bolta Pakistan” one day that our nation has a habit of making tall claims. It urged the Nawaz Sharif led government in 1998 to carry out the nuclear explosions and chanted that it was ready to eat even grass for the sake of its sovereignty but when as a result, government froze the foreign accounts and converted the foreign currency to local one, our daring nation was out protesting the move by the government instead of protesting against the sanctions that the US and the rest of the world had invoked on Pakistan leading the government to take this action.

Energy sector was given importance and one thing that even media is praising about the government so far is its urgency in this regard. Higher Education budget was increased. Income tax was also increased and in this way, the government was able to give its first budget within seven days which left the opinions of the public with a mixed feeling overall.

The next test that it had to go through was when a drone attack was carried out in the Tribal areas. It was yet again a breach of all the international ethics and norms by the super power of the world. While the likes of Zaid Hamid and the other war mongers wanted the government to shoot the drone down, government took the right way forward. Tariq Fatimi, the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, handed over a strongly worded letter to the Ambassador of the United States and thestrongest reaction given by a Pakistan diplomat during the past few years and as a result there has not been a single drone attack in Pakistan since then. Pakistan has also decided to take the case to International Court of Justice and Security Council if the practice continues.

media reported that there was an exchange of harsh words between the two diplomats after which the American Ambassador left the room throwing the paper on the ground. This was

Attack in Baluchistan on the Residency of Quiad-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah by the terrorists was yet another challenge that the government had to face. The Residency was left in Ashes in Ziarat, a small town near Quetta, where the Father of the Nation spent his last few months before death. A college van of girls was also targeted the very same day and a number of girls were murdered in the brutal act. While the Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, expressed great concern and also showed some movement in this regard, the senior defense analysts and respected journalists like Talat Hussain were not moved by the government efforts and were critical of the government. Talat, who appreciated the government efforts in energy sector, criticized the lack of urgency when it comes to security issues of the country.

A few days later yet another attack was carried out in Quetta. This time, the Prime Minister postponed his visit to China and personally visited the terror stricken province and ordered immediate inquiry. This, so far, has not borne any fruit but the results are slow in this field and the efforts must continue if a desired goal is to be achieved or this issue alone may make it impossible for the government to live in peace.

A deadly attack was also carried out by the terrorists just before Prime Minister’s visit to China in which four foreign tourists were killed in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. While one was from Nepal, one from the USA and the other two from China, the reality was that all four were of Chinese descent and it was strange enough that all this was happening to the Chinese just before a high profile visit to China. The Government of Pakistan sent their ministers along with the dead bodies to their countries to express solidarity and convey the condolences in the best possible manner.

The recent visit to China by thePrime Minister along with the Chief Minister of Punjab Mian Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Minister of Baluchistan Muhammad Abdul Malik has been quite successful. Government officials expected a great visit and so far it has been great as a number of deals have been struck in the fields of energy production and development projects. Chinese businessmen were urged by the Chief Minister Punjab and though the investors were worried about the security issues in the country as a number of Chinese tourists and laborers have died during the past few years in Pakistan in the bomb blasts carried out by the terrorists, they seemed willing to invest in the country.

On concerns expressed by Chinese businessmen about the hurdles created by the bureaucracy in Pakistan, CM gave assurance that under the new government they would not have to face the same problems. The biggest success of Shehbaz Sharif was that he was able to win back the Nandipur Power project which was called off by the Chinese company because of the hurdles created by the previous federal government. The CEO of the company ordered its engineers to reach Pakistan by the coming Monday and start their work on the project again.

Besides there were big agreements made by the Prime Minister as well that include:

1. Investment in building the Lahore-Karachi Motorway
2. Peshawar-Karachi Bullet Train
3. Railway Line connecting Gwadar to Kashghar and
4. Investment in Thermal and Coal Power Projects

The efforts of the government can be termed satisfactory during this visit but on completion of the first month in power, the terrorists were again able to hit the heartland of Punjab, Lahore, and this time in Prime Minister’s own constituency. An attack wascarried out in Anarkali on 6th of June in which two were killed and thirty seven left injured. In the wake of some great achievements made by the government in the recent trip to China, the attack may have dire consequences as it may hinder the investment.

The biggest challenge for the Sharif government is to tackle this menace of terrorism and deal with it while urging the global business community to come and invest in Pakistan. It remains to be seen whether they would be able to do it or not.