YOUR editorial about the economic vision of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) states that the analysis of issues is spot on but the implementation level details are insufficient. The problem has never been lack of detailed implementation plans which stops reform from happening.
It is the lack of political will and unwillingness to take the entrenched vested interests head-on and compromises made for political expediency and self-interests which are the road blocks.
The second major hurdle is the governance failure and weak institutions that cause even sincere efforts to fail. The PTI’s economic vision addresses each of these and takes a bold political stance.
The broad thrust of the reform measures can be divided into two parts. The first part deals with the collection of resources, through elimination of loopholes and direct taxation measures on the rich and powerful who currently evade the tax net and eliminating the expenses which are the result of mismanagement , corruption and wrong priorities of the elite who have captured the state structure.
The resources thus generated are then to be diverted solely for the welfare of the people at a scale not seen for decades. The second part deals with how we will make it happen. The basic thrust of this part is two-fold : unprecedented devolution of power to the grassroots , all the way down to villages so that we empower the people to take decisions rather than a small elite sitting hundreds of miles away.
This is the essence of democracy — power to the people. The second part also deals with dramatically reducing the powers of the political elite and insulating the service delivery and governance system from political influence in execution of policies, creating a system which has transparency and makes the ruling elite accountable to the people.
As far as details are concerned, there are dozens of very specific measures which are given in the economic policy. It was also announced that the detailed energy policy has already been issued separately and detailed policies for health , education, including skills training, industrial and trade policy, agriculture and governance reforms will all be released in the next few weeks.
Time has come to engage in a substantive dialogue rather than exchange of generalities, and the onus for that is as much on the media as it is on political parties.
ASAD UMAR
Sr Vice president, PTI
Karachi
to dawn by
PTI