Incompetence ingrained in our political class
The opposition in the National Assembly held the PML-N government responsible for power failures and the deaths of over 700 people in Karachi due to heatstroke in four days. It demanded that the prime minister accept responsibility for the tragedy and issue an apology. As the government absolved itself of all responsibility, shifting the burden on to K-Electric and Sindh administration, the opposition declared Friday as the mourning day. Keeping in view the sharp differences between the opposition parties, PTI Vice President Shah Mahmud Qureshi subsequently made it clear that the parties had not entered into an alliance but only shared sentiments over Karachi deaths.
The move by the opposition parties acquires significance as it brings for the first time the PTI on the same wavelength with PPP, ANP and MQM on an issue since August 2014. It would be interesting to watch the level of cooperation and the form it assumes and whether it can create a potential for a closer cooperation between the combined opposition in days to come. Former President Asif Ali Zardari recently told PML-N that had his party sided with Imran Khan during the PTI’s march on Islamabad last year, fresh elections would have been inevitable. It would also be interesting to watch how Jamaat-e-Islami responds to the move after it has shown a tendency to take decisions that strictly benefit the organisation irrespective of the expectations of its allies.
The PML-N leadership committed the blunder of politicising the power issue while in opposition. It is now paying the price for it. This should make the opposition parties draw the right lesson. The PPP particularly needs to realise that no government in power since 1999 can be exonerated from the charge of neglecting to add to the country’s power production capacity. While the government should have focused more on power production, it would still have needed more time to permanently get rid of shortages.