Daily Times

I am feeling helpless. I know others who are suicidal. People have even gone off watching Pakistani TV Channels. The government is making so many elementary mistakes that one wonders how is it being allowed to carry on? At the heart of all its problems is one man: Imran Khan.

Khan is a decent fellow. He sincerely wants to do the right things for the country. But wishful thinking alone is not enough. One needs to have a grasp of governance, an agenda to deliver, and key personnel to make any government successful. He has proclaimed an agenda, but only has a handful of suitable people for its delivery. This is a recipe for disaster, but he is lucky to have the army and the judiciary standing behind him.

Khan is a simple man. He takes time to trust people but when he does, they can get away with anything. When I saw him on behalf of Jemima Khan in 2009, he agreed to have a briefing about how the government functions and to spend a day in the Chief Minister (CM) Secretariat. It seems strange now, but Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was not a political threat then and was a part of the coalition including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) before the 2008 Elections. Unfortunately, this could not take place due to logistics. He has since picked up some insights from the PTI’s tenure in KP and through recent briefings as Prime Minister.

Is Khan too late and too slow? We know that Asad Umar and Shah Mehmood Qureshi would not let him down. What about the rest of the government departments? What about the Provinces? Who is going to run the Houses (Parliament)for him?

It is not difficult to run the country if Khan has the right skills and the right people at his disposal. To start with, he needs a couple of (more if he is lucky) wise men around him who understand politics and bureaucracy like the back of their hands. With their help, he could get the political (leaders of the houses and ministers) and administrative (principal secretary, chief secretaries and inspectors general of police) spine of his government right. Once done, his appointees could pick their own teams and his job will only be to monitor their performance and ruthlessly sack people who fail to deliver.

Khan likes to talk rather than listen now-a-days. It makes sense though, because most around
him are not worth listening to

Dr Ishrat Hussain cannot be one of Khan’s wise men. He has long been a part of the problem. I asked him two questions at the inauguration of his book(Pakistan: governing the ungovernable) in March, 2018: (1) Being in the corridors of power since 1970s, has he ever reflected about his own role in making Pakistan ungovernable? (2) Since his ex-colleagues have been awarded Nobel Prizes, when should we expect one coming his way? I was applauded later by the cream of bureaucracy, who were present there under duress. It also left Shahbaz Sharif, who had left the seminar earlier, in stitches.

Khan should not persecute part of the bureaucracy for serving the previous regime. Brig. Ejaz Shah would confirm that he learnt the same after having them arrested when General Musharraf took over. It is rare for civil servants to be loyal to anyone except themselves and their jobs. Touqeer Shah and Fawad Hasan Fawad administered the Federal and Punjab governments with flair because they were really good. You may not like Shahbaz Sharif but no one knows and operated the bureaucracy better. Khan needs men of Touqeer and Fawad’s calibre, if not them, to run his Federal and satellite governments (Punjab, KP and Baluchistan) effectively.

My fear is that all this will fall on deaf ears. Khan likes to talk rather than listen now-a-days. It makes sense though, because most around him are not worth listening to. I wish it included Bushra Bibi. Khan has always listened to women because he grew up in a predominantly female household where his father was mostly away. Bushra Bibi seems to have filled the gap of a mother-figure in his life. He lost his mother when she was in the same age bracket. She has his ear now, and is reportedly responsible for most of his irrational decisions.

Bushra Bibi grew up in a village and has spent life being the wife of the most corrupt civil servant of his generation. Her status in Sufism is suspect because the only witnesses are her husband or some semiliterate housewives. Her union with Khan is also spiritually questionable. If any illusions were left, they were shattered by her recent interview. One is shocked by her superficial knowledge, misuse of language and poverty of thought process. I really wonder what she has achieved by exposing herself to the world except feeding her ego. This cannot be Khan’s choice; a Rasputin-like phenomenon may be at work.

Imran Khan does not have time because Pakistan is facing huge inter-linked financial, security and political challenges. The country cannot afford to wait for him to acquire governance skills while being under the influence of Bushra Bibi. If things do not change drastically, I fear the demise of Khan’s government will transpire within 18 months.

The writer is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Visiting Professor. He tweets @AamerSarfraz

Published in Daily Times, October 1^st 2018.