Daily Times

It’s good of the prime minister to warn all his many ministers and special advisors that their performance would be watched, scrutinised and judged and those found wanting would be made to pay for it. But while there nothing like pressure from the top boss to keep everybody on their toes, shouldn’t instructions like these be presented at the beginning of the term instead of two years down the road? Or perhaps it was admission of the fact that the cabinet has lost its way somewhat and needs to pull its socks up, so to speak. Yet the PM does not stand for such analyses at all, stressing all the time that his government has done an excellent job in every department no matter what anybody has to say or do about it.

Actually the PM did warn cabinet members early on, and even made a few changes – most prominent among them being removal of Asad Umar from the finance ministry – but some of the people he brought in were so disliked by the Pakistani people because of some of their affiliations with some previous governments that people wondered about the kind of change they were witnessing. Since then, fortunately or unfortunately, this ‘pull up your socks, or else’ argument has become rather familiar and very few people take it seriously anymore. This is just one of those things, they say, that Imran Khan does or says every now and then without really intending to follow with concrete actions.

It is interesting to note how all these warnings must seem to some members of the federal cabinet, especially those who have sat before different masters before – all of which have been brutally criticised and attacked by Imran Khan in the past; some in the present as well. Since a lot of them have been all over the place, and could write a thesis about how different PMs or presidents have run their cabinets, there is every reason to believe that they would move on from here as well if things get too rough. A lot of these were brought into the party because of their status as ‘electables’; another thing that the PTI fought initially and embraced later. And, according to press reports, a lot of them have been wondering in private conversations and journalists just what the ruling party would do if the PM were to move against one of them, and their parties then moved against PTI? Perhaps there is a reason that the PM can issue threats, keep repeating the ‘pull up your socks’ argument, but go no further. *