“We will hold rallies in 2028,” Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif exclaimed in an apparent dig at the recently-held PTI’s power show in Lahore as he emphasised the urgency of addressing the pledges made to the people.
Fair enough, for he might have been a little late to realise this but the last few years have seen the entire political class busy fighting with each other instead of fighting the myriad of crises plaguing their electorate.
To date, there does not appear even a semblance of a way out of this extremely chaotic situation wherein a government that has yet to ascertain its moorings is pitted against a multi-headed serpent. The latest brunt of this tottering dispensation is said to be shouldered by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq as he “withstands (exceptional) pressure” to mediate between treasury and opposition benches.
It wouldn’t be fair to only grill the executive; others should also be held accountable. Since his ouster from power in April 2022, Imran Khan-led PTI has failed to consider a single ice-breaker.
Between dabbling in conspiracy theories, pouring scorn on other political players and dealing with the controversies brewing from within his own camp, he clearly had too much on his plate to give peace or return to the negotiations table a second thought.
Similarly unforthcoming has been the Sharif government as it tries to influence matters well beyond its domain in a desperate bid to get a grip on ghosts of the tenures gone by. No qualms about his heart being in the right place but does Mr Sharif really feel that he has done all that he ought to foster “national unity for political stability?”
It is not surprising, then, that largely due to pressures emanating from this confusion, the government has failed to capitalise on a string of positive economic indicators and thus, can only offer “hope,” when asked about a tangible road map.
Like it or not, it would take a lot more than single-digit inflation or other small signs of improvement in our critically-imperilled finances to sustain tanked popularity numbers until the next election cycle. *
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