I was reading another thread earlier on today and I noticed a boring pattern we are all to familiar with on this forum. Some people defending the government, other people criticizing it - but nobody listening or exchanging ideas. It's a wider societal problem, not just limited to Pakistan. It seems nowadays politics is about imposing your view on the other, instead of discussing.
So I'd like to ask the question;
If you think the current government is not doing well, can you please describe the negative impacts you have felt and how you think the government should do things differently?
Also kindly state if you are a supporter of the government, or not.
Please tag anyone you come across who might have an opinion to present.
@Xone @krash @newb3e
I am not a supporter of any individual or any party, there are few individuals who I like or dislike, purely based on personality. I support anyone from any party who I feel has the right policies or approach for Pakistan.
I do feel Imran Khan has done a tremendous job, domestically and externally since coming to power. If we ignore the history and the performances of other parties, and the condition of the economy when he took over, then his performance is not up to mark, still not bad but not good either.
But, every comparison is made with reference to another, with that in mind, he has done a tremendous job. I can see how someone living in Pakistan may have a slightly harsher view because they felt the effect of the price rises and devaluation of the rupee. But, someone on a playing field will only see what's inside the field, someone outside gets a holistic view, but even my view is tainted because I do not experience daily issues first hand, so a fair conclusion would have to be based on a balance of two views of a person living within the country and someone outside the country. And, each view backed by valid arguments.
I won't cover the positives, because I sincerely believe there are plenty, amongst the most important is that I have never in the past 30 years of my adult life seen any government concentrate on exports based on industrial development, that's is a big mindset change, important for longterm.
So, I will cover the negatives or the areas where there have been shortfalls, but, even there one has to remember that he only has a minority government, plus an even larger minority in the senate. Plus, few other factors, but let's leave that for another discussion.
He has failed to introduce or implement structural changes, he should have had policies ready, police reform, local government, civil service are the core ones, then he could have claimed that because of lack of a majority he was not able to push them through. This has been his major shortcoming. Although I can see without a majority even presenting reforms can be hard, as most of the work is done before they are made public.
He has not been willing to communicate with the political class, I do not care how corrupt they are, there are constitutional bodies where you have to interact with them, you cannot hold on to corruption as an excuse, it is not going to end overnight, that does not mean you do not follow due process. He should have called an all parties conference when Modi/India introduced a new Kashmir policy, I hated him for not doing so. Put everything aside and talk matters of state, they are grown men so should be able to, there are no excuses. At times you have to sit together with your opponents no matter what, if you cannot, it is better you don't take up the responsibility of being my prime minister.
I do not like his anti-corruption crusade, he acts like nothing can happen until it is sorted, it will not be sorted overnight, corruption exists the world over. Follow the process but don't cry about it all the time, because that creates an image for the world, it sticks in their mind. Most countries in this world are corrupt, but if you only hear corruption and Pakistan in the same sentence all the time, people will think that only Pakistan is corrupt and no one else is, he needs to adopt a better approach.
His stubbornness to keep Usman Bhuzdar is beyond me, it is one of his most stupid decision and he has stuck with him, there are political realities, I do understand that, but he had a couple of opportunities to replace him, he didn't, that was wrong.
Except for the above, I do not see major shortcomings by the Imran government.
The positives are endless, they will have actual long-term benefits. But the above negatives are dangerous enough to overshadow his positives.