Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Saturday admitted that his government has failed to maintain and check the prices of sugar and wheat in the country and promised to manage the crisis soon. This particular development is an interesting turn in the politics of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI). While the government has maintained a channel of communication with the masses through media conferences of PM Khan along with clarifying their stance when they oppose their own opinion after government formation, it is also important to notice that the government is also now starting to bring the issues on the table and become comfortable with the fact that mistakes will be made. It is important to engage the masses in this process so that a precedent is set where there is space to admit to the mistakes and then work towards them.
As important as the former part of the aforementioned sentence, the latter bit is also equally important. While accepting mistakes is a courageous step, it will hold no meaning if the work promised in this reaffirmation is not fulfilled. The sugar and wheat crisis in the country involves some big names, and many also associated with PTI itself. It will be a challenge to bring them to the task and not just limiting to ad-hoc measures that will temporarily ease out tensions but ensure the same cycle next year.
At the same time, another important aspect of this issue is that committee formation for resolution of an issue is a tried and tested method and it almost invariably never works in Pakistan. It uses up resources and time but is not exactly fruitful in any manner except pointing out that it does not work. The government should slowly transition towards improving existing setups, understand the challenges and then work with the stakeholders to overcome them. Every crisis does not require a new pair of eyes to find solutions. An important part of learning and change is also to help individuals how they can improve themselves as well - a lesson understood by party leadership but now being applied to governance strategies where reliability is an issue.