Daily Times

It is not yet certain whether a concoction of cooks has spoiled the governance broth in Punjab, but cracks have begun to appear in the much-touted rosy picture. What had started as an enthusiastic camaraderie to show the PTI government the door is now fast sinking into the quagmire over ministerial appointments.

Utter confusion remains the order of the day as the newly-minted governor administered the oath of a “tiny eight-member” cabinet without spilling any beans about the respective portfolios. Since Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz and party vice-president Maryam Nawaz are standing poles apart as far as their blue-eyed choices are concerned, the buck is said to have passed to London. Therein, Senior Sharif is expected to end the discord once and for all.

For every Atta Tarar supported by the Shahbaz camp, there is a firebrand Azma Bukhari in the arena. Add to that the not-so-secret grievances aired by coalition partner PPP, whose chairman was promised four ministries and two adviserships, along with the urgency to deal with the bated breath of dissident PTI MPAs, and the ruling PML(N)’s predicament becomes increasingly clear. After all, politics of alliances is no walk in the park and no matter how honey-tongued the so-called brothers may be, enjoying the power seat comes at a great price. But until the mighty and the wealthy find their way to the magic formula to please everyone, the usual victim–Punjab–has once again landed between the devil and the deep blue sea.

That Mr Chief Minister has failed to make an impression even remotely as efficient as his father when it comes to governance is an open secret. With literally no lieutenants at his disposal, he has busied himself with the panderings of transfers, punctuated by a couple of media appearances.

Cabinet or no cabinet, such should not be the musings of someone who stepped in to carry the burden of a crashing province. May it be budgetary allocations of immediate reliefs, the PML(N)’s ongoing stint has been underwhelming, to say the least. Have they somehow forgotten that Punjab has always been their citadel and failure to leave a mark here is bound to hurt their prospects in the upcoming elections?

It can only be hoped that as before, Mr Nawaz Shaif is able to sing tunes that convince not only his partners and supporters but also put out the fire simmering in his own kitchen. At the expense of drawing ire over the repetition of words over and over again, we, at Daily Times, cannot stress how excruciatingly the common man is being crushed by this seemingly endless game of tug-of-war. *