It goes without saying that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led government did wonders at the political front during its around four-year tenure when it comes to legal and constitutional achievements, but at the same time it is justifiable to say that it has miserably failed in providing relief to the masses. It would be dishonesty if the government is not credited for its policy of reconciliation which remained the epicentre of its politics since it took over and no doubt it paid back to the government.
Let it be the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, 18th and 19th constitutional amendments, internal autonomy to Gilgit-Baltistan or the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package, the PPP-led government deserves credit at least for the initiatives it took, though support of the other political parties was also vital in this regard. The 7th NFC Award is considered a victory of democracy and provincial partners, as it eliminated a deadlock of years to bring about solid change within federal and provincial revenue distribution. Credit goes to the federal as well as provincial governments who played a pivotal role to create an environment of trust and showed flexibility.
The PPP–led government made another remarkable achievement by passing the 18th and 19th Amendments, which past governments with a two-third majority in the parliament could not do. These amendments were passed through a national consensus which resulted in enhancing the provincial autonomy and increase in resources of the provinces. The amendments were tagged as “the best constitutional thing to happen since the 1973 Constitution”. The amendments also clipped President Asif Ali Zardari’s powers to dissolve the parliament. Zardari was right in claiming credit for the gesture he showed, as politicians do not usually give up powers voluntarily. The bill also repealed several anti-democratic changes to the structure of government made by military dictators, Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf. However, the renaming of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa remained controversial which also led to riots in the Hazara belt leading to several casualties.
Though it could not achieve desired results, but the Balochistan Package was also a good initiative on part of the government to ‘heal the broken hearts’. Towards the end of year 2009, the government announced the package and hoped that it would help remove the grievances of the Baloch people and bring an end to militancy. However, peace talks are impossible without the Baloch leadership’s willingness to make reconciliation work.
The real test of the government’s sincerity was to remove the legitimate concerns of the province. However, the Baloch people have a good reason to be sceptical — not only because of what is not in the package, but also because of the history of such steps that are taken for political mileage rather than to bring systemic change. Gilani decided to personally monitor all the implementation phases of the Balochistan Package, besides initiating dialogue with Baloch leaders outside and inside Pakistan. However no concrete development has yet been noted in this regard.
In a landmark decision, the government approved a self-governance reforms package for the Northern Areas aimed at giving them full internal autonomy, but without the status of a province. The areas were renamed as Gilgit-Baltistan. The PPP, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PML-Quaid supported the decision, but most Kashmiri parties rejected the package as a ‘gimmickry of words’. They contended that the region was an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir and any change in its administrative status betrayed the government’s stand on Kashmir.
Besides these major achievements, the PPP government also claims credit for restoring an independent judiciary, previously dismissed by Musharraf. Without doubt, Gilani announced the restoration of deposed judges but everyone knows that some behind-the-curtain activity pressurised him to do so. The Benazir Income Support Programme also remained controversial as opposition parties alleged mass corruption in it. If we analyse all these initiatives, we see that the trickledown effect remained low compared to the government’s claims of changing the destiny of the people of Pakistan.
If we see ground realities, there seems to be no check and balance on national institutions. Amidst warnings by the Supreme Court, the government seems hell bent in defending the corrupt. Corruption in national institutions continues to haunt the rulers. The economic and energy crises have worsened during the last four years. Unemployment is still an issue for the country’s youth, along with price hikes and poor security situation. The government also failed to deliver as far as the hardships of the flood-affected people are concerned. No doubt, Gilani’s government has been battling the extremist elements through a full-fledged war, which put an extra burden on the national economy. However, under the current circumstances the people of the country are justified in asking when the government would wake up from its deep slumber and they would reap the fruits of their patience, which they have been showing for the last four years.
