The PPP-led coalition government has completed three months in power and the period has been marred by lack of action, compromises with the establishment, inconsistencies on the political and economic fronts and bickering among the coalition partners and within the PPP, throwing the beleaguered Pakistani people further into disappointment and depression mode.
The feeling among the people is growing that there is an acute leadership crisis as government heads and leaders of ruling political parties fail to take tough, but correct decisions to address the political, economic and social woes. The most disappointing and forgettable element since March 31, when the cabinet took oath, is split of the coalition government after six weeks, as the ruling leadership showed weakness over removing Pervez Musharraf and reinstating the sacked judiciary. Musharraf’s team and his policies remain unchanged, frustrating the hopes for a change when the masses voted in February 18 elections. When hopes are high, the disappointment is bigger.
The PPP leadership, in public, argues that three months is too little a time to enforce drastic changes. They want their achievements to be counted as well and not just the failures. In private, they explain how their hands are tied up and their vision to bring about a change according to the wishes of the people is countered by the military-led Pakistani establishment and the Bush administration. The top coalition leadership is being threatened by the establishment of dire consequences if they tried to change things. The Republicans in the White House still want to deal with Musharraf when it comes to the US-led war on terror, as they are totally unaware of the ground realities, the PPP leaders say and want the critics and writers to understand the pressures being faced by them.
Whatever the arguments given by the PPP leadership, the fact remains that the people are seeing an extremely weak leadership ruling the country and by no fault of February vote. Lack of vision and dearth of leadership qualities has pushed the most entrusted government to a weak position, so much so, that a few weeks after taking power the PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had started expressing fears that the new government may be sent packing if it moved against the president. That showed that the leaders have no trust in themselves and nothing can be worse for a leader than to lose self confidence. Yousuf Raza Gilani proved to be a remote-controlled prime minister as good or bad as former premiers Zafarullah Jamali and Shaukat Aziz, who ruled under a military dictator. His team of ministers and advisers lack decision-making qualities, as they have been busy appeasing the presidency and the Bush administration rather than taking policy decisions. Finance Minister Naveed Qamar, who is short of experience in finance and economy, relied on the same old Shaukat Aziz team of economic managers in formulating policies, leading the country into a desperate situation.

ECONOMY

The foreign exchange reserves are falling by almost billion dollars a month. The rupee has declined to record low against the dollar, sliding more than 8 per cent this month, while inflation in June reached a 30-year high reducing purchasing power of a common man, who is being forced to pay more for fuels such as oil and gas with increase in power rates in the offing. The budget and current account deficits are each 7 per cent of gross domestic product, hurt by declining foreign investment. The stock market decline indicates a serious crisis of confidence among shares investors, while the real estate investors have chosen the Middle East for the security of their funds and savings. The manufacturers are holding back their investments, unsure of the political situation, while complaining their profits are declining. Industry is on strike being unable to ensure profits after paying more for utilities and fuels. Under such circumstances, it will be a farce and a quotable joke to say the three months of the PPP government have been successful. No writer or columnist would risk highlighting the successes, if any, of the three-month-old coalition government as it would risk losing his or her credibility.
The former finance minister, Ishaq Dar, in April made the people to believe that the previous Pakistan Muslim League (Q) government was responsible for the economic woes and unsustainable policies by giving fudged numbers to show that the economy was booming, and all the macro and micro-economic numbers pointed toward progress and development. Fully backed by the prime minister and his colleagues in the cabinet, Dar claimed that the economy was in dire straits and it was an uphill task for the new government to meet the targets. Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf followed the suit and told the nation that the Musharraf regime in past eight years did not add a single megawatt of electricity to the system and the shortfall had reached almost one-third, closing businesses and industry. Naveed Qamar’s maiden budget speech in June was full of criticism of the previous government’s policies, yet, the irony is that everywhere in bureaucracy the same officers, advisers and policy makers are occupying important seats guiding the PPP ministers.

SECURITY

The February national elections had raised hopes that the elected leadership will sort out conflicts with people who have taken up arms in the tribal areas. The elected leadership was also entrusted to negotiate with the hardliners in the Bush administration that there are other ways to deal with militancy, if the US wants to succeed in its so-called war against terrorism. In the first few weeks, the country saw some respite in the spate of suicide bombings and attacks on security forces by the tribal militants, as both the parties settled down on negotiating table and struck important and far-reaching peace accords. However, those hopes of peace were dashed within few weeks as the US, unhappy over the prospects of peace in the area, increased cross-border attacks jeopardizing the peace deals. The suicide bombings started once again and the tribal militants started kidnapping and eliminating the security forces personnel, soon after the visit of American Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher. It is another indication that in past three months, the new government’s security advisers, who have mostly been appointed by the Bush administration in consultation with Musharraf, have pursued the previous policy not daring to change the thinking and implementation on the security front.
The failure to control militancy in tribal areas by the new government has prompted the Bush administration and its secret services to prepare a plan to carry out unilateral strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas and the plan also envisages sending American commandoes in hot pursuit, according to American newspaper reports. The unilateral air strikes have been going on enraging the local population, as the government has expressed complete inability to stop the US from attacking Pakistani areas. The war raging in the tribal areas is threatening to trickle down into towns and cities giving a great sense of insecurity to the people.
The new coalition government, certainly, has to face the wrath of the people for all the failures. In the initial few weeks, people were ready to buy the argument that it will take time to implement changed policies. However, three months down the line, they have realized that the PPP has not introduced any new policies and it’s the Pakistani public that has to face the consequences. According to one newspaper column, the feeling is growing that the policy makers and the advisers in the PPP government have nothing to lose even after failing on all fronts, as they will simply go back to their homes and businesses in the Middle East and London after letting the people down. That time is nearing if drastic steps are not taken to show the seriousness in ruling Pakistan.