A few days ago, Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated a food almonry, Ehsaas-Saylani Langar Scheme, in Islamabad. This food almonry is a part of 112 soup kitchens, which would be built in the city to provide food to nearly 600 people on a daily basis. The generous gesture from the state’s premier was appreciated by a huge ‘cult’ in the capital who favours Mr Khan as an ‘iron man’ who could solve all the prevailing problems in the country with his magical stunts. This action like many previous ones elicited criticism from the opposition as well as from those who consider themselves rational critics of Mr Khan’s policies. There are a number of arguments against Imran Khan’s policies.
Their first objection is why Mr Khan didn’t start from the remote, underprivileged and economically deprived areas of Sindh, Balochistan, rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Punjab where people are dying of starvation? Secondly, if he started this langar (soup kitchen) scheme system in the capital, how does he know that more people in the capital are living with food scarcity than the rest of the country? Thirdly, how and on what basis has he started this welfare venture with a non-profit organisation, the Saylani Welfare Trust? This deliberate authenticity can be questioned-whether the premier has chosen this organisation on his personal attachment to the spirituality of the chief of the Saylani Trust or due to some other belief?
Fourthly, if the premier was so serious about the problems of the public, why is the price of daily commodities going upward every day, tripling the problems of the ordinary people, many of whom are living on or below the poverty line? Finally, if he is so firm about eradication of poverty why is he not sticking to his promise of creating twenty million jobs for the unemployed youth?
Keeping the above-given questions in mind, it is hard for anyone to blindly pen praise about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s steps taken for the welfare of the common masses. In November 2018, Mr Khan launched the shelter home programme, for the first time in Lahore, for homeless people. In February 2019, the PM inaugurated the Sehat Insaf Card Scheme in Islamabad. That was not a new scheme because the same project was initiated in KP under the previous PTI-led provincial government. In April 2019,the PM introduced the Apna Ghar Housing Scheme, and took a start from the capital.
These steps of the PM of the PTI-led federal government has received some approval from the general public, but has still left plenty of dots for the critical circles of Pakistani society. The critical society doesn’t deny the concept of a welfare state and fruits of the system for the deprived communities, but they target the abrupt launching of such schemes without proper planning and preparation by the government. A welfare state believes in collecting taxes from the public, and the public believes that the spending of such taxes should merely be for their welfare. Promising the public, Mr Khan repeatedly claimed to root out corruption and of stretching the government writ on those who steal public money. There is no doubt that his government has taken stern actions against political personalities who are alleged to be involved in corruption cases. But most of these cases are against the opposition leaders.
The PTI-led government includes a huge number of politicians who have been involved in mishandling of public money in previous governments
The PTI-led government includes a huge number of politicians who have been involved in mishandling of public money in previous governments. The current government has taken 16billiondollar loans in just one year. The federal government is running with a shortage of budget, and the provincial governments are crying of the same situation. Before coming into power Imran Khan always showed dreams to the Pakistani public, and portrayed himself to be the only messiah to bring Pakistan out from the problems of corruption, injustice, nepotism and favouritism. But after taking charge of the chair of premier, the politically inexperienced prime minister unleashed cannons of inflation on the deprived classes, and also made several cuts in sectors of education, health and small businesses, badly affecting the marginalised segments of our society.
In accordance with the concept of a welfare state, following steps should have been first taken. If the cut in budget for higher education was made for the welfare of the common masses, then at least the government should have some plan to make adjustments for the qualified youth. That would give the sense that the government was sincere about elimination of youth unemployment, and that is why it took a break from funding higher education to control the qualified unemployed youth bulge.
If the government could manage the entire treatment cost of a patient in its Sehat Insaf Card Scheme and not only surgeries, then the proposed cut-off in medical care at OPD, banning free-of-cost medicines at hospitals and privatisation of hospitals was justifiable.
Similarly, if the government is sincere to discourage the trend to opt for government jobs, it should facilitate small-scale businesses and entrepreneurships instead of burdening them with unnecessary processing technicalities and time-wasting paperwork. A vision without implication is nothing more than wastage of time in this era of fast growing challenges and a global race for economic stability. Singing the song of a welfare state is an easy task, and can be done by any inexperienced singer, but matching the lyrics and tone always require experience in the field. There is an urgent need of practical policy-making for turning Pakistan into a welfare state; merely chanting slogans and making political statements won’t work. Launching an almonry food or making a shelter home are not symbols of a welfare state. The concept has many meanings and purposes to work upon.
The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance journalist