Daily Times

The general elections in Pakistan were held on July 25, 2018. Fingers were raised from all sides, especially from the opposition parties, in regards to rigging before, during, and after the polls. Be that as it may, since the controversial elections, a new government has been sworn in at the center under the premiership of Mr. Imran Ahmed Niazi, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader. The Prime Minister has addressed the nation, appointed a federal cabinet, designated governors in the provinces, and made certain pronouncements as cabinet decisions. It will be educational to analyse a few trends that have emerged in the initial steps that the new government has taken, especially in the context of Sindh and other underrepresented parts of the country.

The maiden speech of the Prime Minister was praised by certain people, especially his supporters and the media houses in his favour that are mostly limited to Lahore, Rawalpindi/Islamabad, and Karachi. To them Pakistan does not exist in any other part of the country. You will almost never hear the authentic viewpoint of the majority population of Sindh, Balochistan, the Saraiki belt of Punjab, and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). The Prime Minister’s speech was a laundry list of issues orated in a very disjointed and incoherent fashion. Some of the points were almost verbatim, to Pervez Musharraf’s speech when he became the Dictator and dismissed the civilian government. Furthermore, mentioning just a litany of issues is insufficient, if no timeline or guideline is available to solve them.

With the exception of creating the Southern province of Punjab, good governance, and fighting corruption; no mention was made of the issues that concern Sindh, Balochistan, and the Saraiki Belt.

The issues are far and diverse in nature. They pertain to making Sindhi, Balochi, Saraiki, the national languages of Pakistan. The issues also highlight the provincial right to use and control their resources. Moreover, a new NFC award based on provincial aspirations also needs to be looked into. Serious water shortage exists in many areas of Sindh, where there is no drinking water and the water level is near emergency proportions. Furthermore, internationally recognized water rights of the people living on the tail of River Indus are being ignored, as talks commence of the building of dams upstream. Adherence to the Water Accord agreed by the provinces and the abandoning of the illegal ministerial decision of running the flood link canal in no flood, is an issue that also needs to be underlined. Besides this, Sindh and Balochistan have witnessed the harassment of its people, who suffer through enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial deaths.

The Prime Minister’s speech was a laundry list of issues orated in a very disjointed and incoherent fashion. Some of the points were almost verbatim, to Pervez Musharraf’s speech when he became Dictator and dismissed the civilian government

Also, there was talk of special packages for urban centers, whilst villages and towns where the majority resides, have been ignored. In addition to this, the eighteenth Amendment should be implemented in departments, as the indigenous population of Sindh is denied jobs and business opportunities in projects run by the Federal Government.

The cabinet that was sworn in by the Prime Minister, is mostly contrary to his promises of appointing only the best and the brightest people. These are mostly turncoats, nabzidah or musharafzida folks with very limited expertise in the fields they have been assigned to. The Finance Minister’s business failed. The Foreign Minister has no mega-diplomatic achievement to his credit.  He left in a huff when he had the same portfolio in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Government, twice after he dealt with the United States in an undiplomatic fashion. Right on queue, he started again in the same undiplomatic manner, this time as well. He seems to have no idea how to proceed with neighbouring governments in India, Afghanistan, Iran, Sri Lanka, etc. The Railway Minister is riding the train provided by the previous government and claims to be a success. He is making all these plans for Punjab and none for Sindh or Balochistan. Moreover, the Economic Advisor is on record praising Shehbaz Sharif’s model of government. Did the Prime Minister read his published book? Also despite claims of avoiding protocol and not burdening the exchequer, proves to be untrue almost every day.

Thoughtful officials should make sure that all parts of the country have adequate representation but that does not seem to be the case, this time around. Almost the entire cabinet comes from Punjab or the Sindh’s Urban Center i.e, Karachi (four seats), with Rawalpindi/Islamabad occupying almost half of the cabinet as well. A couple of token seats have been given to KP, and one each to Sindh (other than Karachi) and Balochistan. There is absolutely no representation of the majority population of Sindh in top positions in the Central Government. The President, the Chief Justice, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the National Assembly, and the Chairman Senate, are all not from Sindh’s majority population. Even the PTI nominated Presidential candidate is from the City of Karachi, which represents only the minority population of Sindh. Additionally, all of the top bureaucratic positions at the federal level are to be occupied by people from Punjab and KP.

All four governors for the provinces have been appointed with political considerations in mind. As a principle, the governors should be impartial and not political activists of the party in power. There is concern that the Punjab governor has been appointed as a counterweight to PML-N. Similarly, the Sindh Governor openly antagonizes the PPP government in Sindh. His declarations about the Governor House and Bilawal House have been widely condemned. Moreover, he is only Inter pass and has been appointed as the Chancellor of the 22 Universities in Sindh where faculty and most academic staff have Doctoral and Masters Degrees. Is this what the PTI leader meant when he said that only the best and the brightest will be hired?

In conclusion, it may be said that the new Pakistan government is devoid of any true appreciation of the issues of Sindh and its rights. This government does not appear to be making the right decisions to assuage the people of Sindh and understand their aspirations and concerns.  It will be a dangerous mistake to push Sindh to the periphery. However, this is just the beginning. There is still hope that Sindh will get its due consideration.

The writer is an educationist. He has served as Academic Affairs Dean in institutions in New York and Virginia States in the US

Published in Daily Times, September 1^st 2018.