Daily Times

In a sign that this summer’s elections are approaching the final furlong, Prime Minister Abbasi has let slip that the ruling party is more or less washing its hands of any responsibility when it comes to the provinces. For he has gone on record as saying that the Punjab government is the only one with a proven success record. Tellingly, there was no hint of a PMLN mandate for the rest of the country.

Of course, politicians the world over peddle their trade based on the soundbite; that which has no meaning without fact or context. And when this happens, it is up to the media to hold to account those who enjoy public office over their fully unloaded words. For this is the role that democracy casts upon us.

Thus we would like to remind the PM that that while it is true that the political leaderships in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have all suffered setbacks so, too, has that of the Punjab. For despite the PMLN’s recent victory in Lodhran — indicating that all the King’s men still enjoy a measure of popularity among the local citizenry — the party’s provincial and federal tenures have been marred by numerous political crises and controversies. In fact, it would do well to remember that its so-called successful record has been greatly blighted by the disqualification of its former premier. Just as it should be mindful that taking such selective responsibility simply will not do. Meaning it cannot only take credit for the provinces when things go well; such as when Nawaz Sharif earlier this month claimed that the PMLN had brought peace to Karachi.

Indeed, the list of failures on the part of the Punjab government is not inconsiderable. The Auditor General’s report for FY 2015-16 found some Rs300 billion-worth of irregularities regarding the provincial set-up’s financial dealings. It also notes that payments of in excess of Rs27billion were made for the Orange Line Metro project. And then there is the not un-small matter of citizen security. Last year the Aurat foundation published its ‘Women’s Safety Audit in Public Transport in Lahore’; noting that 90 percent of women commuters in the provincial capital face sexual harassment. In addition, the police were singled out for failing to play their due role in protecting women in the public sphere. This is to say nothing of the smog that engulfed Lahore last year; and its confirmed links to the provincial set-up’s numerous construction projects. In short, for the Punjab government’s tenure to qualify as successful — the bar would have to be set lower than is acceptable by any standard.

It is statements like these which reduce the pre-election political discourse to mere mudslinging. Thus the federal and (all) provincial governments must acknowledge the areas in which they remain lacking while competing for votes. For if they refuse to go beyond playing the ever so predictable blame game — it will naturally be the citizenry who will suffer the most.  *

Published in Daily Times, February 20^th 2018.