I still remember the night of 11th May 2013, when the results of general elections 2013 were announced and for the first time in Pakistan’s history, Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf was able to form the government in the most problematic province of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. People were on streets with PTI’s flags raised high, with the hope that the promises which were made to them will be fulfilled. Change was what Khan promised throughout his campaign, and his narrative was accepted by the masses of KP with open arms. Now, after five years of his party’s government, and elections being right around the corner, it’s just a matter of time that we will get to know whether the real change has come or the mandate of KP was again robbed with false claims and vague promises.
There are different views regarding the performance of the PTI-led provincial government. But it’s for the public to decide whether the government has lived up to the mark or not. I being a citizen of this province who has witnessed all the work they have done or claim to have done would like to have my take on the performance of Pervez Khattak’s coalition government.
Major achievements of the PTI government
One thing is for sure that ANP’s government can be counted amongst one of the worst, if not the worst governments. in the history of KP. Peshawar was counted among the most polluted cities in the entire region. PTI had a heck of a task up their sleeves which they had to address quickly. From the very first day of its tenure, I am witness to it, there was a cleanliness drive all across the city. Each Minister was advised to personally monitor the drive and had to report it to the CM directly. This was something new for Peshawarites as they had never witnessed something like this before.
PTI came with an agenda that they would focus on human development and will try to redesign the health and education system. This was on top of its priority list.
As soon as they came in power, they resolved the longstanding issue of service structure of doctors in KP. As other provinces failed to meet the demand of doctors, KP is the only province which got rid of the everyday protests of doctors which was ultimately harming the general public. Now doctors are found to be sitting inside the hospitals rather than on roads with placards raised high demanding higher wages. Also “Sehat Ka Insaf Card” was introduced, which has helped people a lot. At the beginning, it provided a better health service to more than 50% of the underprivileged population of the province; it later was extended to the government officers but they had to give premiums as the card was originally introduced for the poor. The card would hold Rs 0.54 million for each family for their treatment. The initiative was one of its kind and helped many unprivileged families.
Multiple changes in routes of BRT and vague statements by the government members portrayed a bad image of the mega project as well as that of the departing government in the eyes of the public.
Yes, there are also some loopholes in the health sector, but ‘Rome was not built in a day’ so the mess of 70 years cannot be cleaned in mere 5 years, thus the performance of government in the health sector had been satisfactory.
During the last five years, we have witnessed a remarkable transformation in the education sector. The changes have restored faith in the minds of the people that there will be a better education system in the long run. KP’s district education rankings now show an upward trend in ranking and as per the report in 2017, KP has moved up the index and now one leads the provision of infrastructure at the primary level compared to any other province. KP is the only province which during the last five years has regularly allocated higher than 20% of its total budget to education which is remarkable. In effort to provide quality education, education department took steps to refine the recruitment of teachers. The support staff is now appointed by going through fair NTS system.
Challenges that needed more attention
However, there are certain challenges which still persist. The crisis of children being out of school due to lack of proper infrastructure and basic necessities still looms large. Government should have focused on girls’ education. A proper and secured transport system should have been provided in remote areas so that more parents could gain confidence in sending their children to the schools. Although according to reports, more than 15 districts in KP have shown improvement, including Swabi, Kohat and Mardan leading the charts, there are some areas where enrollment in schools is very low and government should have taken steps to induct more children in education system as per our constitution; every child has the right to free access to quality education.
I firmly believe that Peshawar needs a proper transport service as we still rely on the old buses which are not in very good condition. The BRT initiative is good, but that execution was not done properly. Firstly, the project was started in the fourth year of the tenure and the people were promised that it would be completed in six months. The promise was vague and beyond reality. Secondly, they should have started the work in portions. Instead, the whole city was excavated at once and from one end to the other, there would be traffic jams for several hours. The budget was increased several times and the time duration extended. Multiple changes in routes of BRT and vague statements by the government members portrayed a bad image of the mega project as well as that of the departing government in the eyes of the public. There is no set date as to when the project will be inaugurated and people will get out of this misery.
The path is right; things might improve if PTI given a chance again
If we look at the legislative reforms, a Right to Information Act was passed in the very first year of the government which was a great achievement. More than 168 new laws on protection of people’s rights were passed and overall more than 150 bills were passed by the government.
Also the a billion trees Tsunami project was started which was relatively a new initiative as no other government has ever taken measures for the betterment of the environment. The initiative was recognised and appreciated internationally and will surely help the environment in the coming years.
Despite not fulfilling all the promises which were being made, the performance of PTI has been satisfactory and they have better chance than any of the previous governments in KP of retaining their position. I am sure that if they get another five years, they will bring a considerable change in the province.