Now that the elections are officially here, pages upon pages of election manifestoes have finally arrived; promising rivers of milk and honey to their voters. A grand ceremony saw the PML(N) supremo place his palm at a giant touchscreen to mark the launch of a much-talked-about election manifesto. Appeasing youth and inflation-stricken masses with vows to provide “cheap and increased electricity, there was emphasis on “speedy development,” “message for peace” to other countries, and “zero tolerance policy on terrorism among other key areas. In summation, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif claims to reignite the engine of growth and prosperity that halted the minute he was ousted as the country’s leader. That he specifically mentioned he would not touch upon past grievances in the same breath as he lamented about the torturous injustices he was forced to endure speaks volumes about the general reluctance of politicians to focus on things other than themselves. Of course, his party’s mouthpieces would have a hard time defending an about-turn in the policy where scathing attacks from PPP’s chairman forced a rescinding of the old manifesto and fresh efforts to create a new game plan. While all plans look splendid on paper, Mr Sharif (and for that matter, even Mr Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari) needs to realise that states cannot be run on promises alone. If pledging heavens could help our ship sail through the tide, PTI’s Imran Khan had very dramatically announced to give all of this (and even more). What can actually make a difference is the availability of painstaking efforts to make funds for these ambitious agendas. How would a Nawaz government make arrangements for a 20 to 30 per cent reduction in power bills when the writing on the wall points to a significant hike in prices of petroleum products in the immediate future? Have they contemplated how to resist pressures from the IMF, which refuses to budge from increases in electricity and gas prices to curb the circular debt? A similar set of discomforting questions can literally be asked about every point and subpoint. But the most pertinent and multi-million-dollar question demands: do they have the people and the purpose to carry theories? *