While no government or, for that matter, political leaders, can be rated as ideally perfect, the overall picture of the coalition government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, is that of a unified political entity that has to cope with the challenges without getting unnerved or undeterred besides raising the level of self-confidence of the public at large that has experienced excruciating times at the hands of price hike, unemployment and unending political strife with economic consequences.
The question is not of drawing comparisons or that of praising or denouncing any political entity, party or individual. Rather, it is a question of survival of millions of impoverished Pakistanis who are bearing the brunt of the ruling lot’s incompetence for the last three to four years preceding the installation of coalition government that came into being the constitutional way after the passage of no-confidence motion against the former premier, Imran Khan.
If one goes into the endeavours undertaken by the Shehbaz government, it can be assumed that any government coming into being after grand political reconciliation among the major parties that have been staunch rivals of each other for quite a lengthy period of time, can be expected to overcome difficulties created by the politics of vendetta and unnecessary conflicts. Whatever the detractors say about their past squabbles, the coalition partners have demonstrated maturity and sagacity by ironing out their differences and taking up the challenges faced by an extremely distressed and depressed nation.
Since the number one problem is of economic dimension, Shehbaz government is leaving no stone unturned to expand the economy. So, during the last seven weeks of his government, the Prime Minister embarked on visits to friendly countries like Turkey, UAE and Saudi Arabia, making serious efforts to enhance trade, investment and economic cooperation with these countries whose leaders and business community have been convinced by the PM to cooperate on the economic front. Some time back, Pakistan’s ties with these countries had gone a bit lukewarm for obvious reasons. Shehbaz’s tours to these countries were multi-pronged as they aimed at revitalising the ties with greater focus on enhanced trade, investment and economic cooperation that is the need of the day to combat abject poverty. And, nowadays it has become a yet greater need of the day in this inter-dependent world where living in isolation, as in the recent past, means economic collapse. Good news have started pouring in from different countries with the hope that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves would get a big boost very soon, following the arrival of funds in different, affordable packages from friendly countries like China, Saudi Arabia and UAE. While mutual trade with Turkey is going to be enhanced to the $5 billion level, China and Saudi Arabia are also going to provide substantial support on reasonable terms. On the other hand, UAE is reported to have agreed in principle to provide gas to Pakistan to the tune of millions of dollars (according to some reports, three billion dollars) on a deferred payment basis. Since most (not all) of the foreign inflows have an IMF dimension as well, Pakistan has already come very close to getting the desired IMF tranche that would ease our economic hardships at the national level with expectations that the government would share this ease with the public which the parties in the government can’t afford to ignore in view of the forthcoming elections, even though they are held the next year that too is not far away. On the China-Pakistan economic cooperation front, in particular, PM has focussed his attention on reinvigorating CPEC with Pakistan speed as this Economic Corridor has already paid dividends and bolstered Pakistan’s economy in addition to providing jobs to Pakistan’s working community, mainly during the previous PML-N government’s incumbency. As regards the security of Chinese working in Pakistan, the Prime Minister has once again ordered (in the past too, the PML-N government ensured the Chinese functionaries’ security) fool-proof security for Chinese professionals.
At the home front, PM Shehbaz Sharif, has announced minimum wage of Rs25,000 in addition to an increase of 10 percent in pension. He has also paid prompt, frequent visits to spots where development projects had been planned besides inaugurating hospitals and breaking the bureaucratic inertia. Side by side with the breaking of inertia, the Prime Minister has made it a point to restore the confidence of the government’s implementing arm i.e the civil services so that they should be able to deliver effectively.
As for the tough economic decisions that have become a talk of the town, they have given confidence to the businesses and also paved the way for macroeconomic stability.
And, Prime Minister’s proposal of a national dialogue and engagement among political forces and key stakeholders has received wide appreciation not only inside the country but among some foreign diplomatic circles also. This is also reminiscent of his oft-repeated stress on Charter of Economy that must see the light of the day now that the country’s economy is in dire straits.
During this brief period, the Prime Minister has also imposed restrictions on the luxury items’ import in order to save the forex reserves and in the energy conservation sector, the government of Shehbaz Sharif has arrived at a decision to shut the businesses by 8.30pm and marriage halls by 10pm. Calculations suggest this single measure suffices to save electricity to the extent of hundreds of megawatts every day.