Daily Times

It has become in vogue to troll the government of Imran Khan and hold it responsible for all the woes befalling Pakistan. A sane analyst like Mohammad A. Qadeer, in his op-ed ‘How New is Naya Pakistan’, carried by “The Friday Times” of 24-30 May 2019, questions even the location of Pakistan. The learned writer states that Pakistan lies at the pivot linking China, India, Afghanistan and Iran, influencing happenings in South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia. His geography is spot on, then he opines that Pakistan has long profited from its geographic position, aligned with the US for decades and now turning to China for economic and political support. Factually, various powers have made Pakistan suffer because of its location. The USSR, in the 1980s tried to make Peter the Great’s dream of reaching the warm waters of the Indian Ocean through Afghanistan and Pakistan. We paid a heavy price in trying to contain the Russian Bear and are still suffering its aftereffects. Al Qaeda, Taliban, Daesh are byproducts of the same era. The havoc they have wreaked is too recent to be enumerated here.

A popular election in 2018 brought a new party to power. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by Imran Khan and driven by the enthusiasm of youthful urbanites for a promised new (Naya) Pakistan. The worthy analyst has got that correct but he fails to mention that dynastic politics and corruption drove the country to the brink of bankruptcy. Reaching out to its old strategic ally China was the need of the hour for its own survival but China’s arch rivals, the US and India grudge any development in Pakistan and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. They have bent backwards to keep Pakistan steeped in instability and terror strikes.

People reposed their confidence in Imran Khan in the 2018 elections because they were fed up with the loot and plunder of PPP and PML (N). Imran Khan promised to get them out of the morass but cleaning the Augean Stables requires Herculean efforts. The logjam left behind by the two previous regimes will take years to clear and people should not lose faith or patience.

Plundering national wealth and transferring it abroad for money laundering is a serious crime and the national wealth must be returned

The erudite scholar believes the military to be another political force in Pakistan. It has ruled directly for 33 of the 71 years of Pakistan’s history and has been an arbiter for almost the whole of its existence. What he fails to mention is that the two previous regimes failed to boost Pakistan’s foreign relations or defence. The country remained without formal ministers heading these two important portfolios. Nothing operates in a vacuum. The military is the custodian of the defence of Pakistan. If the exterior maneuver and the ministry of defence remains vacant, someone will step in to fill the void. It is not an ideal situation. But the challenges Pakistan was facing, threatened its very existence.

The author believes that Imran Khan’s parliamentary majority came with the blessing of the army. His becoming the prime minister was hailed as an opportunity to put Pakistan on a new trajectory. The columnist is echoing the murmurs of dissent by the two political parties ousted from the corridors of power.

Touched to the quick about the state of the economy, the author concludes that the ‘new’ Pakistan is turning out to be the same old state and society. The country’s balance of payments account is nearly bankrupt. Imran Khan is frantically seeking aid from the Gulf Emirates, Saudi Arabia and China to shore up the foreign exchange reserves. The rupee continues to fall in exchange value, fueling inflation. People are groaning under the burden of rising prices. The Consumer Price Index has increased by about seven percent during the past one year. These observations are true, but these are desperate times, which call for desperate measures to shore up the economy. Once the genie of inflation has been put back in the bottle, the tax bracket is broadened, and we are on an even keel, things will look up.

The learned author talks of terrorism but fails to mention the hybrid war being waged by Pakistan’s detractors, who are inciting the Baloch, the Pashtuns and the Balawaris of Gilgit Baltistan to destabilize Pakistan. Unfortunately, to grind their own axe, some of the politicians in the opposition benches tend to find comfort in the anti-state activities of the secessionists. They egg them on believing that the fall of Imran Kahn will spare them from the accountability charges they are facing.

If Imran Khan incessantly blames the Sharifs and Zardaris of looting the treasury and leaving the coffers empty, he is justified. Plundering national wealth and transferring it abroad for money laundering is a serious crime and the national wealth must be returned. It is an uphill task and unless the plunderers were strung upside down till they coughed up the looted pelf, there is no easy path. So far, the accountability process is taking the due legal process. The plunderers are screaming but the law must take its own course.

Grudgingly, the author acknowledges that Imran Khan has been forthright in tackling cross-border terrorism, particularly with Iran and Afghanistan. He kept a lid on the border skirmish with India recently. In foreign relations, he has shown a realistic outlook, breaking away from the past jingoism.

The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host