Ahsan Iqbal’s turn
The N-league seems on an ambitious PR drive. First it was the information minister waxing eloquent about the anti-terror policy, which has suddenly become all-encompassing, and both religious and political militants are now fair game. Then Ch Nisar graced audiences with his vision about the interior ministry’s future – digitised, probably, with stricter controls on ECL, among other things. And, on Tuesday, Ahsan Iqbal explained how the federal government has consulted with the provinces to reform the civil bureaucracy under Vision 2025. He also mentioned that present economic problems arose because Gen Musharraf’s military regime abandoned Nawaz’s ten-year program. And worse will happen, of course, if the new vision is not followed to the letter.
Just like his colleagues over the previous couple of days, though, Iqbal’s two cents also called for a grain of salt. It is indeed heartening to note that the new plan envisages a service where ‘promotion of civil servants would be linked with performance’. But unless N-league heavyweights are about to radically change their (political) ways, the claim seems simply unrealistic, at least as long as the present dispensation enjoys power. Perhaps the planning and development minister is too busy to notice how ‘loyalty’ has become synonymous with promotion under the Sharifs. But surely he could not have missed serving DPOs campaigning for Khadim-e-Ala while he was himself looking for votes in his constituency. Or maybe he does not mind the service being the rulers’ tool for now, as long as it can be brought up to scratch by 2025.
Interestingly, he also enlightened masses about how ‘no country could run without adopting a proper roadmap for development’. That, of course, brings us to the ruling party’s obsession with mega projects and super highways. It is understandable when the party’s usual mouthpieces sell these projects, but being a Wharton graduate, Iqbal does his Ivy League education little justice by indulging in similar exercises. His backing of the current development policy is just as divorced from reality as his observations about improvement in the economy and political climate in the less prominent provinces. Instead of advertising its ideals, the government must understand that it needs to be seen acting. It can talk all it wants about the new terror policy, the new interior ministry, and the new development trajectory, but so long as words remain words, PML-N’s ambition will impress few.