NEW YORK  - With PML-N President Nawaz Sharif set to take power in a week’s time, American newspapers are questioning whether he can tackle the range of difficult issues, especially the acute shortage of electricity, to turn Pakistan around.
“The question is whether Nawaz Sharif has the political backbone to make the tough decisions needed to change the system, particularly as some of his own supporters, alongwith other rich and powerful Pakistanis, are among the bill defaulters who need to start paying their fair share,” The New York Times said on Tuesday, citing analysts. “This is not like finding a cure for cancer — people know what needs to be done,” Robert Hathaway, Director of the Asia programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, who has written a book on Pakistan’s electricity crisis. “The problem is implementation, and finding the political will.”
Writing from London, Declan Walsh, the Times correspondent, opens with an observation after referring to energy crisis, “Nawaz Sharif has secured one form of power, yet now faces a fierce battle to find another.”
“The crisis is the product of multiple factors, from decrepit power plants to crumbling transmission lines to decades-old policy mistakes, Walsh, who was recently deported from Pakistan, wrote. “One reason, however, stands above the others: most Pakistanis will not pay their bills...
“As a political issue, electricity has galvanised the Pakistani public — more so, even, than Islamist militancy,” reminding that Nawaz Sharif swept to victory in the May 11 election in part on the appeal of slogans promising to deliver a “shining Pakistan” and to “end the darkness.”
About 20 per cent of the electricity supply disappears across the country, and up to 33 per cent in the worst-affected district, as a result of dilapidated transmission lines or outright theft, said Fariel Salahuddin, a power sector consultant, was cited as saying by the Times. “The fastest way to improve things is to start collecting bills and come down hard on theft,” she said. “That’s easier said than done, though.”
The crisis is exacting an economic toll equivalent to at least 4 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, according to economists — greater than the estimated economic cost of the Taliban insurgency.
Correspondent Walsh wrote, “In the short term, Nawaz Sharif will seek to solve his power woes by trying to find foreign cash or fuel to get dormant power stations back on line. His officials have suggested that Saudi Arabia, a country that Nawaz Sharif enjoys close relations with, could offer up to $15 billion worth of emergency oil supplies on favourable terms.
“But oil and money can provide only temporary relief, and Sharif may also seek other foreign assistance to tackle the structural problems — some in the face of opposition from the United States. “Last week he asked the visiting Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, to provide Pakistan with help in building a civilian nuclear power plant. That was widely seen as an indirect rebuff to the United States, which offered similar help to Pakistan’s rival, India, in 2006 — a source of enduring resentment in Pakistan.”
The dispatch pointed out that large-scale infrastructure projects, like new hydroelectric dams, take years to come to fruition, with international donors reluctant to commit further funds without signs of strong reform from Pakistan’s political leadership.
“Pakistan’s leaders know they are running out of time,” the Times said. “Other countries also face crippling electricity shortages, of course, in parts of the Middle East or sub-Saharan Africa. But none of those nations possess nuclear weapons, or such a rapidly growing population as Pakistan, estimated at 180 million people.”
Population growth alone is adding 1,000 megawatts per year to the country’s electricity needs, said Hathaway of the Wilson Center.
“We Americans also like to defer tough decisions,” he said, referring to contentious and expensive reforms in education and social welfare. “But Pakistanis are approaching a point where they no longer have that luxury.”
A column in The Blade, Toledo, said, “ Sharif is not a visionary leader. But he has shown in his previous stints that he can be pragmatic.
“It is a tall order for anyone to tackle the myriad problems facing Pakistan. If  Sharif can improve the economy, stop religious violence, and keep the powerful Army at bay, he will accomplish what his predecessors failed to do.”
Columnist Amjad hussain also wrote, “Recent elections in Pakistan reaffirmed that Pakistanis, like people elsewhere in the world, are democratically inclined and wish to live a life free of poverty and violence. They do not want to be pawns in a global game of chess.
“Voters rejected the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of President Asif Ali Zardari, which had ruled the country for the past five years. His rule brought the country to the brink of financial disaster and made it a client state of the United States. “Voters also rejected the PPP’s coalition partner, the Awami National Party (ANP), which has its power base in the turbulent Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province. “Educated Pakistanis and young people pinned their hopes on Imran Khan, a former cricket hero, to win a decisive victory to form the government. His promise of tackling corruption, violence, and foreign interference in Pakistan resonated among voters, but not to the extent that they gave him a majority in the Parliament.
“Instead, Pakistanis voted for Nawaz Sharif, who had two previous, mostly lackluster, stints as Prime Minister. But his message of stability, economic revival, and addressing the issue of communal and religious violence was enough to put his party on top.
“Sharif may be in a better position than others to effect positive change. As a businessman, he is likely to help stabilise the economy. As Prime Minister, he built most of the superhighways in Pakistan. “And then there is the issue of Pakistani Taliban. They have been wreaking havoc with random attacks of violence. Sharif seems to have an understanding with the Taliban, who gave him and Khan a free pass during campaigning. Taliban fury was mostly targeted against the PPP and its allies.
“What concessions Sharif has promised the Taliban are not known. But within the constraints of the Parliamentary system and the wishes of the voters, there is not much room for him to implement Islamic law, even if he were so inclined.
“His relations with the powerful Pakistani Army will be crucial. Pervez Musharraf, as Army chief, staged a coup against him in 1999. To placate the powerful brass, Sharif has said that coup was the doing of one individual: Musharraf. “But perhaps the most important challenge for Sharif is to find accommodation with the United States. While President Zardari signed on to everything the United States demanded, Sharif may not be that pliant. “He and Imran Khan opposed American drone attacks on Pakistani territory. Sharif, however, has promised to assist the United States in its withdrawal from Afghanistan next year.
“While Imran Khan’s party could not win a majority in Parliament, it did stage an upset victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In doing so, it delivered a severe blow to the deeply entrenched Pashtun national organisation, the Awami National Party. It will be interesting to see how Imran Khan’s party rules the restive and violence-prone province where Taliban are dominant.”