Leaf out of Shahbaz Sharif’s book

But far more genuine grievances

A different province and a different CM, but much of Pervez Khattak’s agitation against power outages resembled Shahbaz Sharif’s antics from not so long ago. This was perhaps a more determined show, which owed, going by appearances, to far more genuine grievances than Sharif junior harboured once upon a time. That is probably why Khawaja Asif was in Peshawar immediately, finding common ground with the KPK chief minister.

It hardly bears repeating how the government has embarrassed itself over the load shedding issue, not the least in Ramazan, after a good deal of impressive promises. But it does help remember that Nawaz, Shahbaz, and Kh Asif, have all, on occasion, made loud claims about dealing with the energy issue on the road to the last general election. And while all of them should cut a sorry figure, at least publically, only the water and power minister has acknowledged the government’s inability before the people. But there is more to Khattak’s grumble.

First of all, there is no justification for much of the northern province to be without electricity for up to 20 hours a day; not that the situation in Punjab, or the rest of the country, is much better. Then there is the matter of Abid Sher Ali, and how and why the KPK CM is fuming over unnecessary racial remarks made by the junior minister. Little surprise, then, that the matter of electricity scarcity transmuted into provincial mud-slinging, with nobody able to fault Khattak for rebutting Abid’s remarks that Pashtuns were electricity thieves. If Punjab can restrict wheat movement to KPK, then electricity produced in the frontier, too, can be kept from reaching Punjab, Khattak threatened, besides removing security provided to WAPDA offices if corrective measures are not taken within a week.

So, owing to sheer government negligence – not to mention lying to people – the power problem has once again spiralled out of control, and threatens not only jamming important provincial capitals, but also increased inter—province rivalry. It is hoped that the government will be able to control this crisis before it gets any uglier.