With Love for India, from Pakistan

With Love for India, from Pakistan

The Sixty Days of Tsunami

As things continue to get messier in the terror stricken province of Pakistan i.e. KPK the provincial government continues with its blunders. The list of blunders that is just around two months old is getting longer every new day and if the trend continues soon the performance of the current government will overshadow the complete dysfunction that has ruled the province for the last five years.

Looking at the timeline of these errors or follies committed by the KPK government one realizes that the hard earned reputation of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf of being different from rest of the parties is going to fade away in a very short time if they continue in the same fashion.

Immediately after the elections on May 11, 2013 there were news coming out that there are some internal rifts in the party as Asad Qaiser and Pervaiz Khattak involved in a tug of war for the post of Chief Minister Khyber PakhtunKhuwa. It was sad for the die heart party fans to see their elected representatives fighting for power who they thought had become loyal to Pakistan after joining their party. However, Asad Qaiser was later satisfied with the Speakership as the party Chairman Imran Khan put his weight in his old Aitchison College fellow Pervaiz Khattak.

After that fiasco the new controversy popped up when three relatives of the same Pervaiz Khattak were awarded tickets on the reserved seats for women in the Assembly. After remaining in a state of denial finally the party admitted that the rumour had all the truth in it and while Asad Umer, who is also called the Brain of PTI told the media that all three were deserving candidates and had been the founding members of the party, the disgruntled (at that time) leader of the PTI Mrs. Fauzia Kasuri told that it was not the case. She told that while one of the three were deserving and not the other two she also mentioned that the one deserving was also brought into the party folds by her efforts and that was around four years ago not sixteen.

The misery continued as on the inaugural session of the National Assembly the party’s candidate for 

Prime Minister Makhdoom Javed Hashmi out of courtesy said that he still believed Mian Nawaz Sharif to be his leader while making his speech in the Assembly. This triggered a wave of abuses as always from the PTI troll army but the worst was yet to come. The party Chairman himself asked for an explanation and finally Javed Hashmi who is one of the most senior and respected politicians of Pakistan had to apologize publicly “for hurting the sentiments of his followers”. It was quite embarrassing for the sane supporters of the party to see their chairman reacting to childish demands of his supporters in an equally childish manner.

Next in line was the CM KPK’s show off before his friends as immediately after assuming the office the CM decided to take a flight in the government owned helicopter to a Walima ceremony of his friend’s son. Later, however, the CM paid the dues from his pocket but it still needs to be answered that if he has enough in his pocket that he can travel by helicopters for attending Walima ceremonies then why the respected CM did not pay any taxes in the year 2012.

Party’s Lahore President Mr. Aleem Khan was found to be a defaulter as well in the EOBI scandal and on the probe by the FIA he admitted to the same. (Complete story: http://siasatpakistan.blog.com/2013/07/16/abdul-aleem-khan-continues-to-be-pti%E2%80%99s-headache/)

KPK government started a public welfare project in the province of offering Iftar to all the patients in the government hospitals throughout the province. It was heart gripping to see that the tender was allotted to the brother of an MPA who runs Sarhad Catering. The price at which the provincial government is buying this modest Iftar Lunch Box is also much more than it actually should have been.

Later the CM KPK admitted that CM Shehbaz Sharif of Punjab is a great administrator and that he would want to follow the Lahore model to make Peshawar a modern city. As a matter of fact the latest news coming from Hazara University is that laptops are being awarded to the students there following the footsteps of Punjab’s Chief Minister. Laptop scheme was heavily criticized by the Chairman PTI Imran Khan and the rest of the party since the very announcement of it. This latest U Turn was thus one of the most interesting ones so far.

But the things are not just limited to certain people within the party. The conduct of the party head himself has been shabby and to some extent confusing for the followers. On one hand Imran Khan constantly kept demanding an APC where all the party heads sat with the Chief of Army Staff and discussed the KPK situation regarding the War on Terror while on the other hand he left for London just when the Federal Government announced the APC.

Funnier it was when he was spotted having a juice with the Prince Charles in a party that was organized for by some organization for saving the Asian Elephants for extinction. It is interesting that the PTI Chairman preferred Asian elephants over Pakhtoon men who are dying every day. It was said that he was in London for treatment but ironic it was because just a few months back while giving the Health Policy of PTI he had heavily criticized the “elite” of the country who go out of the country for their treatment.

Happy to see @ImranKhanPTI smiling in Prince Charles party. Wish he does so while in Pakistan. That will have good impact on his followers.

— Umar Cheema (@UmarCheema1) July 10, 2013

 

KPK Government appointed more advisers than any of the provinces and all were given the powers of a minister and also the luxuries and salaries that are equal to a minister. At the same time it is also worth mentioning that despite tall claims made by the party that no official would use protocol when in power, all the ministers continue to avoid standing by this promise.

Ayla Malik’s fake degree has been the talk of the town for the last few weeks and a whole and entire new Pandora’s Box has been opened in shape of PTI’s confrontation with the Supreme Court for this purpose yet the lady has not been suspended from the party ranks as yet. In fact no action has been taken against her so far.

A huge controversy stemmed up when the terrorists broke intothe DI Khan jail and around two hundred terrorists and criminals were set free by them while the government and the state machinery kept mum. The most controversial part is that all the security agencies knew what was happening and had informed the provincial government about it all. How many men, how, when and where could attack and what could they have achieved was all under their knowledge yet the government failed to make any arrangements.

Rains always wreak havoc in this part of the world during the months of July and August. PTI supporters always make fun of the other governments when they see one or two roads all drowned in water although they get opened for public within a very short while at least in Punjab as the organizations responsible for the purpose are immediately set to work. Their party head also criticized other parties for not being able to cope with the floods during the last two years yet he has not been seen criticizing his own party during the last three weeks when almost the entire province is flooded.

A fake MoU was signed by the KPK Government with a company named as Galaxy somewhere in Hong Kong but later it was found out that such a company did not exist. When the CM was confronted with this question he denied that he knew about such a deal. Shortly afterwards the PTI’s website removed the MoU’s copy.

And the latest news came when Imran Khan headed the KPK government’s meeting. It may be asked that in what capacity he could hold such a meeting especially knowing that he was the one who criticized the Punjab Government when the laptops were awarded by Mian Nawaz Sharif or his daughter.

The party boasted off its provincial budget in which 19% was allocated for Education including all the expenses that came under this head. Following the metrics Punjab has allocated 24% yet the PTI chief had the nerves to call his government’s budget the best for the same reason. It is good but is there any way that can be an alternative to such blunders? Although HaroonRasheed in a program today said that the KPK government is incompetent and Imran Khan must announce that he has nothing to do with it. Imran Khan must do something to correct his party but who would correct Imran Khan himself is the real question. The desire of Pakistanis to try something new can cost them heavily.