81 days

[fatman17]

81 days


Dr Farrukh Saleem


Sunday, August 25, 2013



On June 5, Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif took oath of the prime ministerial office. That’s a total of 81 days. Pakistan cannot be changed in 81 days. At this stage, we could do one of the two things: try and determine if the initial direction is right and/or compare what was officially promised in the manifesto with performance on the ground.



The PML-N’s manifesto had a total of 21,988 words and the word ‘energy’ appeared 42 times; more than in any other party manifesto. Over the past 81 days, here are the three things the PML-N has done on energy: an energy policy has been announced; Rs480 billion worth of circular debt has been paid off; and the country is now generating around 15,000mw of electricity as opposed to around 8,000mw of electricity under the PPP government.



Yes, one can certainly argue that the energy policy is deeply, deeply flawed but the other two are facts that cannot be denied. atleast A for effort!!!


The word ‘terrorism’ appeared 8 times. Promise number 1: “Police and intelligence agencies cooperation shall be improved to prevent crimes and terrorism.” Promise number 2: Anti-terrorism laws will be amended. Promise number 3: A “public education campaign” will be launched “to create an alternate narrative.”



Here’s the record for the past 81 days: 1,137 fatalities in terrorist violence (an average of 14 a day); 100 bomb blasts (more than one a day); and 10 suicide attacks. And the PML-N continues to be a thousand miles away from an anti-terrorism strategy. no one has any idea how to kill this monster!!!

The word ‘debt’ appeared 15 times. There was a specific promise to “limit government borrowing.”Here’s the record for the past 81 days: The SBP is on track to raise a colossal Rs1.6 trillion during the 1st quarter of FY2014 through T-bills and an additional Rs175 billion through Pakistan Investment Bonds. more of the same just like the 8 trillion borrowed by the PPP. there is no money!!!

The word ‘education’ appeared 75 times and there were three specific promises – the HEC will be given additional financial resources; a “National Education Emergency will be declared” and “teaching will be made an attractive profession”. Good news here. In the first 81 days the HEC has been allocated additional financial resources.



The PML-N had pledged to “initiate … actions to turn around the loss making state enterprises”. The PML(N) had made three specific promises in this regard: “merit-based selection” instead of political appointments; to “stop every kind of political interference in the affairs of these enterprises” and “appoint independent and professional boards who in turn will appoint competent CEOs”. To be fair, 81 days is too short a time to turn around the loss-making state-owned Enterprise sector. In all honesty, the past 81 days have witnessed the appointments of individuals that violate the promises of merit, independence and that of professionalism. in other words dont expect much here!

Pakistanis, rightly or wrongly, expected the PML-N to do a lot more. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is going to need three things if he really wants to deliver: political will, a solid plan of action and a team to implement that plan. Political will appears to be quite in abundance but the jury is out on the other two critical ingredients – a solid plan of action and a team.dont bet your house on this!!!

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@************



Twitter: @Saleemfarrukh

 

[ice_man]

look even though I hate PML N to the core. but in the last 81 days PML N has seriously shown that it has become politically mature.

firstly it rightly gave balochistan to baloch leaders, then Sindh to PPP & MQM & KPK to PTI. he didn't try to stop anyone for political reasons or for holding onto power from forming government.


secondly PML N has seriously improved electricity situation compared to PPP times.

however, no matter what PML N has done so far it is NOT ENOUGH YET! they need to carry on and further do more. and if gthey work sincerely for the next 5 years Pakistan will be heading in the right direction.

 

[SBD-3]

look even though I hate PML N to the core. but in the last 81 days PML N has seriously shown that it has become politically mature.

firstly it rightly gave balochistan to baloch leaders, then Sindh to PPP & MQM & KPK to PTI. he didn't try to stop anyone for political reasons or for holding onto power from forming government.


secondly PML N has seriously improved electricity situation compared to PPP times.

however, no matter what PML N has done so far it is NOT ENOUGH YET! they need to carry on and further do more. and if gthey work sincerely for the next 5 years Pakistan will be heading in the right direction.

This is the problem, we have personalized the political differences. I may disagree on things with anyone but developing a personal vendetta on the bases of differences in political ideology is something far different and should be avoided to maximum

 

[Panther 57]

firstly it rightly gave balochistan to baloch leaders, then Sindh to PPP & MQM & KPK to PTI. he didn't try to stop anyone for political reasons or for holding onto power from forming government.

Frankly speaking they did not have a choice, neither they were interested in anything more than Federation and Punjab. They want total monopoly, which they could not have achieved in rest of the tree provinces.

secondly PML N has seriously improved electricity situation compared to PPP times.

Electricity problem was mainly pertaining to Punjab in last tenure, which was more or less created by them to keep government under pressure. This was very much in their control and they did it. Majority of people live in Punjab and when they stopped protesting against load shedding things automatically appear good. This was a political stunt, played well.

The thing which you need to look at is what have they done for all the common man. They have taxed them left right and center. They have put country into further debts. Giving relief to people in taxes, yet being able to generate sufficient revenue, is a very simple thing. But, they decided to tax people and fill their coffers.

 

[ice_man]

Frankly speaking they did not have a choice, neither they were interested in anything more than Federation and Punjab. They want total monopoly, which they could not have achieved in rest of the tree provinces.


Electricity problem was mainly pertaining to Punjab in last tenure, which was more or less created by them to keep government under pressure. This was very much in their control and they did it. Majority of people live in Punjab and when they stopped protesting against load shedding things automatically appear good. This was a political stunt, played well.

The thing which you need to look at is what have they done for all the common man. They have taxed them left right and center. They have put country into further debts. Giving relief to people in taxes, yet being able to generate sufficient revenue, is a very simple thing. But, they decided to tax people and fill their coffers.

well I don't believe that electricity shortage is a problem of only Punjab! and it was done by PML N itself! if that was the case as you suggested then why is their any load shedding in KPK,BALOCHISTAN & SINDH?

couldn't the other provinces produce their own electricity and have rivers of milk and honey flowing? the problem is electricity is controlled by Federal government WAPDA. except in Karachi where KESC is an independent identity!


secondly as you said PML N is filling its coffers well I guess maybe they are but then so are other political identities in all other provinces. and no matter what situation currently is better than the dark ages of PPP era! aren't they?


& as for tax.....well if ALL PAKSITANIS pay all EXISITING TAXES everything will be fine. but like I read before only 8% of Pakistanis pay tax! so no matter what taxes are added the question remains will Pakistan improve its tax collection system or not.

 

[SBD-3]

well I don't believe that electricity shortage is a problem of only Punjab! and it was done by PML N itself! if that was the case as you suggested then why is their any load shedding in KPK,BALOCHISTAN & SINDH?

couldn't the other provinces produce their own electricity and have rivers of milk and honey flowing? the problem is electricity is controlled by Federal government WAPDA. except in Karachi where KESC is an independent identity!


secondly as you said PML N is filling its coffers well I guess maybe they are but then so are other political identities in all other provinces. and no matter what situation currently is better than the dark ages of PPP era! aren't they?


& as for tax.....well if ALL PAKSITANIS pay all EXISITING TAXES everything will be fine. but like I read before only 8% of Pakistanis pay tax! so no matter what taxes are added the question remains will Pakistan improve its tax collection system or not.

Another good step that I always stressed for justified taxation is documentation of economy. And it seems as they are moving towards a more documented economy. For example, they are working on making it mendatory to conduct the transactions of amount greater than 50K by cheques and banking channels. They further plan to bring this amount to 10K over 5 years progressively so that economy gets documented on more and more micro-level. What I fear is that they may not be getting the political support from opposition parties in this regard aside from internal resistance.

 

[Bratva]

load shedding has returned. In Lahore and major cities of Punjab, it was 10-12 yesterday. Situation is far worse in rural areas and villages.

But it's a fact. PML-N has not stirred any controversy so far and are treading carefully. Going slow is good for short term, but if they continue to adopt this posture, it might hurt them in medium term

 

[Bratva]

Another good step that I always stressed for justified taxation is documentation of economy. And it seems as they are moving towards a more documented economy. For example, they are working on making it mendatory to conduct the transactions of amount greater than 50K by cheques and banking channels. They further plan to bring this amount to 10K over 5 years progressively so that economy gets documented on more and more micro-level. What I fear is that they may not be getting the political support from opposition parties in this regard aside from internal resistance.

Industrialists in all parties will obviously oppose such moves. But point is, PML-N is all talks on this matter, no policy to show how they will implement it actually.

To implement this bold step, FBR has to be de politicize and de corrupt it self and GoP hasn't done anything in this regard.

Until a clear cut policy and a strong FBR which can implement this policy, Documentation will remain a paper tiger

 

[IceCold]

PML will also needs to work on their foreign policy specially w.r.t India. At the moment the appeasement policy is pathetic to say the least.

 

[SBD-3]

Industrialists in all parties will obviously oppose such moves. But point is, PML-N is all talks on this matter, no policy to show how they will implement it actually.

To implement this bold step, FBR has to be de politicize and de corrupt it self and GoP hasn't done anything in this regard.

Until a clear cut policy and a strong FBR which can implement this policy, Documentation will remain a paper tiger

Thats not an overnight process, you can't just do away with everything and restructure the whole thing back. It would take time because the government rules restrict employers from firing unless found guilty on very solid basis. You can't just walk upto a person in FBR and tell him to pack up since officer level recruitment in FBR mostly comes from CSS program. So its quite complex issue. However, FBR has started collaborating with NADRA in pointing out tax defaulters. FBR has been given the target of adding at least 100000 people in tax net. So two months is just too little a time to judge anything.

 

[Bratva]

Thats not an overnight process, you can't just do away with everything and restructure the whole thing back. It would take time because the government rules restrict employers from firing unless found guilty on very solid basis. You can't just walk upto a person in FBR and tell him to pack up since officer level recruitment in FBR mostly comes from CSS program. So its quite complex issue. However, FBR has started collaborating with NADRA in pointing out tax defaulters. FBR has been given the target of adding at least 100000 people in tax net. So two months is just too little a time to judge anything.

I'm not judging. I was just saying, Instead of just passing directives as a short gap measure, A long last policy is needed which guides all branches in a certain direction achieving their goals

Just an example, a couple of days ago, a news item appeared in express urdu newspaper, which narrates how IT minister Anusha had directed concerned departments, to design and develop software for something in house , instead of they procured it from outside, which escalated the cost of project, IT minister become frustrated. Upon inquiry, it was found, she gave 3 months for the project and it was impossible to develop a software in stipulated time

Point being, Passing directives and orders does not guarantee it will implemented as envisioned.A policy developed by taking all concerned experts and authorities on board will give a realistic approach to what can be achieved in what time

If I recall correctly, last time when I went to UBL to open a student account in 2011, The manager told me such measures "of tracking someone money flow "have been adopted by all banks on directives of SBP which will help in curbing illegal financial movement and will documenting economy

 

[SBD-3]

I'm not judging. I was just saying, Instead of just passing directives as a short gap measure, A long last policy is needed which guides all branches in a certain direction achieving their goals

Just an example, a couple of days ago, a news item appeared in express urdu newspaper, which narrates how IT minister Anusha had directed concerned departments, to design and develop software for something in house , instead of they procured it from outside, which escalated the cost of project, IT minister become frustrated. Upon inquiry, it was found, she gave 3 months for the project and it was impossible to develop a software in stipulated time

Point being, Passing directives and orders does not guarantee it will implicated as envisioned.A policy developed by taking all concerned experts and authorities on board will give a realistic approach to what can be achieved in what time

But thats why we have a feedback.If the administration didn't feel like they could do so, they should have made a case with reasons. But I guess they took the easy route without taking the minister in confidence.

 

[Jazzbot]

PML-N's performance so far w.r.t load shedding is pretty good, but most of the things are in planning or in suggestion phase, we'll have to see when all those projects will be launched or finished. Its too early to say anything. Loadshedding in Lahore is getting worse in past 3 days, yesterday it was for about 12 - 15 hours in my area.

Also PML-N has miserably failed in foreign policy for India, improving law and order situation in Punjab, Sect Groups and Banned Outfits have started roaming freely in Punjab since PML-N has took over.

 

[fatman17]

PML will also needs to work on their foreign policy specially w.r.t India. At the moment the appeasement policy is pathetic to say the least.

even before he (PM) took office, he had a 3 hour mtg with the CoAS, and since then his tone is muted wrt to india.

 

[SBD-3]

Also PML-N has miserably failed in foreign policy for India, improving law and order situation in Punjab, Sect Groups and Banned Outfits have started roaming freely in Punjab since PML-N has took over.

Just spend a month or two in other areas with dysfunctional law and order and you'll start to appreciate the place where you live.