By:Abdul Rahman Baloch
Surrey, BC
July 25 polls in the problem-ridden Pakistan have mandated Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf (PTI) — to take the State’s driving seat. Among the pledges made in PTI’s manifesto, the cricketer-turned and Oxford educated politician Imran accorded top priority on the uplift of Pakistan’s manpower and, for that matter,
transforming the country into a
social welfare society in real term.
Inspired by Nelson Mandela,
Mahatir Mohammad, Quaed-e-Azam Mohammad Ali
Jinnah and – above all – by the
example set by Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in the form of
universally known brotherhood as practised in Madina 1400 years ago, Imran Khan is determined to transforming Pakistan into a society where rich and poor; black and white; king and pauper are seen enjoying equal status based on justice.
A million dollar question is: does the team in Imran’s command carry the capacity – professional, intellectual and material – to have his promises fulfilled ?
Besides the task of reshaping the society into a justice providing culture, Imran Khan’s Pakistan inherits a series of challenges – strong rivalry causing inland opposition coupled with imbalances with international community – that are hard to meet with ease in the given circumstance. Of them, the most crucial and typical are the deteriorating finances; unwelcome relationship with neighbours and the world community.
The foreign debts signed during the last two decades have subsequently driven Pakistan to grey line in the international terms; paying back the interest thereof is the biggest task to overcome.
Contrarily, the volume of Pakistan’s exports have declined drastically as against the size of imports that have been sky rocketing. This has created an unmanageable deficit in the balance of payment, shrinking Pakistan’s forex reserves to what can meet the cost of imports for two months only. This status tops in the list of critical issues that Pakistan is going to face in next few months.
In the scores of his pledges, Imran has been vocal that he would convince the Pakistan community in the overseas to invest billions in Pakistan. Let the people of Pakistan hope this expectations of Imran materializes. If this really happens, the government under Imran’s leadership shall be able to hold back forex crisis for a month or two.
On domestic side, the volume of circular debt is huge in the term that it is very hard to manage. Unless and until services of personnel with appropriate intellect, qualification, expertise and experience are obtained and applied in managing finances, the volume of circular debts shall continue to intensify and boom.
The unfortunate state of affairs facing Pakistan is that hardly any one of the team at Imran’s disposal carries appropriate capacity areas such as finance and foreign affairs.
and finance to govern in the right direction. And lack of means that facilitate addressing differences with religious bigots is another hard task that the present day PTI is not capable to overcome.
Unlike his aids, PTI chief Imran is inclined to inviting other parties to contribute in the mission of putting the country’s train on right track. With such a bent of mind, Imran is
heading to form a coalition government that shall govern the federation. Finality and subsequent
announcement of the names thereof are likely to come forth shortly.
This is the post election state of affairs in Pakistan as at July 27, and PTI is likely to sign
for and subsequently announce a coalition cabinet to govern the State.
The opposition’s role in Parliament of Pakistan
THE tentative emergence of a so-called grand opposition alliance could help re-energise parliamentary politics after neither the governing party nor the opposition paid much heed to parliament in the last term.
The PPP and PML-N numbers in the next National Assembly, along with support from the MMA and the ANP, could create a formidable opposition for the first time in a decade. Between 2008 and 2013, the PML-N was the lead opposition party in the National Assembly.
But the absence of party boss Nawaz Sharif from the house and the PML-N’s general disinclination to take parliamentary affairs seriously combined to leave the opposition in parliament adrift.
In 2016, the PTI ended its boycott of parliament; even though it was only the second-largest party in the opposition, it could have positioned itself as effectively the lead opposition. But the PTI preferred to pursue its politics largely outside the assembly and there were few spells of robust parliamentary opposition.
The PPP, the PML-N and other parties that have announced their intention to be a part of the opposition in the next parliament have also made a number of serious allegations regarding the fairness and transparency of last week’s polls. Those complaints will have to be addressed in due course in the appropriate forums and should not affect the collective opposition’s preparations for parliamentary politics.
The PTI’s reforms agenda and attempts to stabilise the economy will require a role for parliament and the opposition should be prepared to contribute effectively. It ought to be remembered that the architect of the PML-N’s economic policy, Ishaq Dar, consistently called for a national consensus on economic matters, and now the party has a chance to help support such a consensus in the opposition.
Meanwhile, the PPP’s redistributive economic policies highlighted in its latest manifesto can be lobbied for inside parliament as the PTI tackles reforms.
At a time when the democratic process is seemingly being pulled in opposite directions — the PTI and its allies euphoric and seemingly determined to push through meaningful reforms; the opposition parties denouncing what appear to have been significant distortions to the electoral process — there is a greater need than ever to stabilise politics and democracy.
Now is the time for the opposition to renew its commitment to democratic institutions and to shore up democratic norms. The PPP will have both the party chairman and co-chairman in the National Assembly for the first time. The PPP’s commitment to parliamentary politics has been fairly consistent in the last decade. A third consecutive assembly could see that commitment rejuvenated.
Meanwhile, with the de facto PML-N boss seemingly determined to strengthen democracy, the party’s legislators should demonstrate a hitherto missing resoluteness to improving democratic institutions. A parliamentary democracy demands that parliament itself be the focal point of politics.
Source: The Dawn.com
