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The PTI government started with much fanfare. People of Pakistan were hopeful that it would bring about improvement in governance and living standards. Yet after a period of more than two years even its most ardent supporters are now disappointed by its string of failures.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s central thesis was that all politicians, except those in his party, were corrupt. He also claimed that he was not just the only non-corrupt politician, but also the most capable leader, with a team of experts the country had never seen, who would help him govern.
PTI’s broken promises, U-turns, venality and abject incompetence have come as a rude shock to the nation. Hundreds of millions of trees were missing from the ‘billion tree tsunami’, not one out of the promised 300 dams promised in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was built, while PTI leaders criticised the PML-N for not building enough hospitals or colleges, they hadn’t built a single hospital or university in KP.
Recently, the premier has ordered the release of funds to Members of National and Provincial Assembly. The order was one of its U-turns taken in his premiership. Since the PTI’s election in 2018 amid repeated promises to lay the course for a new Pakistan, the country has tragically gone into a reverse mode.
Though Pakistan’s progress has been held back this year due to coronavirus, the country’s outlook was already dismal. Beyond the official promise, the government has failed to root out corruption. Pakistan has been dropped four spots in the newly released Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International.
The so-called people’s government had also raised the prices of medicine. The health minister was changed and a promise made that prices would be brought back down. The nation still awaits. If we talk about the polio cases, which had been reduced by the PML-N government to eight cases in 2107 and to only three cases up to July 2018, grew back to 153 cases in 2019. The polio prevention programme had been seriously set back.
Despite a historical dip in international oil prices, we are facing a massive oil crisis. The petrol inquiry report, which was released in December 2020, estimated Rs250 billion worth of oil smuggling and numerous other controversial operations. We have seen several scandals including sugar, wheat, medicines, LNG.
When it comes to public debt, Pakistan’s public debt is piling up at an alarming rate of Rs13.2 billion/day under this regime. Today, the public debt figure stands at around Rs35.8 trillion. The government has failed to control food prices. Today, 6 out 10 Pakistanis are food insecure.
Sindh’s gas crisis is also exacerbating by the day. Sindh is the largest contributor to nationwide gas production, producing 65-70 percent of it but is still facing major shortages. One of the reasons the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is protesting against this government’s system is because it has ruined the economic sector while the marginalized and poor bear the brunt, which is correct.
Many supporters are dejected by the PTI government’s misgovernance. Instead of attacking the opposition and blaming the previous governments, the PTI government must take responsibility and start doing its job. Debates should be taking place in parliament to tackle the economic crisis.
