More promise than delivery
The PILDAT poll on PML-N government’s first one hundred days shows a good majority expressing satisfaction over its performance. Nothing pleases a government more than a report which indicates everything is hunky-dory. It would be in the long term interest of the government however to hold an honest and critical inside review of its performance as a counter check. The period being too small the vote the PML-N has got is on promise rather than delivery. Even a feeling that the situation has not further deteriorated makes people heave a sigh of relief. The favourable vote is partly due to the fact that the government presently faces no opposition from its erstwhile rivals. The situation may change if the government is found napping or acting in a vindictive manner.
It would be stingy not to give the PML-N the credit for accommodating the opposition. The party’s mandate is basically confined to the Punjab where it rules unaided. Installing its own government in Balochistan with the help of tribal sardars who join every party in power at the center would have brought discredit to the PML-N. It did well to support the nationalist parties with roots amongst the masses. The PML-N’s refusal to deprive the PTI, the single largest party in KP assembly, of the right to form the government in the province was also a sensible decision. Instead of advising the Sindh government on how to tackle the law and order situation in Karachi, it decided to put the provincial CM in the driver’s seat while provide him support of the federal government from the outside. This is a rational attitude though one wonders how long it is going to last. The government’s performance on the daunting issues of economy, security and foreign relations would determine its public ratings in the months and years to come. It has succeeded in getting the IMF loan which would ease the situation. Unless this is followed by structural reforms and improvement in the working of the state owned enterprises or their privatization at the earliest, the economy will continue to bleed. The government has to choose a clear-cut course of action to deal with the terrorists. The ties with the US have improved though relations with India, marred by August killings on the LoC, need to be straightened out. The relations with Afghanistan too need looking after. Most of the PML-N’s electoral promises are thus yet to be fulfilled.
Nawaz Sharif has been conferred the award of Cumhuriyet Nişan by the Turkish president. He has also sought Turkish government’s help and advice on how to wipe out extremism from the country. The process of consultation at home and abroad can go on provided there is action on the ground as well. With the TTP putting up unacceptable preconditions, Nawaz has to decide and pronto what option the county is left with and then must pursue it relentlessly.