Governance personalised style

Alienated provinces and a disgruntled opposition

The spirit of consensus that had become the hallmark of national politics since the 2008 general elections seems to be fast evaporating. A highly personalised style of governance being practised by the Sharifs at the expense of the opposition and the smaller provinces is fast becoming the norm rather an exception.

The controversy over the much vaunted US$46 billion China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the latest manifestation of the federal government’s inward looking approach towards governance. Credit goes to Prime Minister Sharif that by failing to take the opposition on board on vital national, regional and national security issues, he has united erstwhile implacable enemies against himself.

A multi-party conference convened by JUI-F — a coalition partner of the PML-N — is a clear indication of the smaller provinces losing patience with the Punjab-centric policies of the federal government. To see political foes PTI, JUI-F, ANP and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party on the same page and platform over CPEC was an ominous sight.

CPEC is admittedly a monumental achievement. Its outlay in the form of grants and loans is huge in financial terms. By virtue of its multiplier effect it is equivalent of the Marshall Plan initiated by the US post-World War II for economic resurgence of a war ravaged Western Europe.

The present government is rightly credited for sealing the CPEC deal. But realistically it is a continuum of decades of close strategic and economic ties with China that has withstood regime change and even system changes in both the countries.

A multi-party conference convened by JUI-F — a coalition partner of the PML-N — is a clear indication of the smaller provinces losing patience with the Punjab-centric policies of the federal government

Hence it is vital not to make such an important game changer controversial. Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, who met the KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and coalition partner Aftab Sherpao the other day in Peshawar, failed to assuage their misgivings about the CPEC route.

Keeping the opposition at bay is one thing. But the matter becomes more serious if federal ministers who head ministries vital to the CPEC also feel excluded. It seems that it is Ahsan Iqbal’s sole responsibility to defend the CPEC.

Although the rump of the CPEC projects relate to energy, the Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif and Minister for Oil and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi are completely out of the loop. Reportedly, they have not been invited to a single meeting on CPEC. Mostly Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif and his handpicked team of bureaucrats are handling the power projects.

Ideally, Minister for Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada should have been entrusted with the onerous task of addressing misgivings of the smaller provinces. But the worthy minister not being member of the Sharifs’ kitchen cabinet or perhaps not up to the task, is completely out of the picture.

Under the constitution, the Council for Common interests (CCI) should meet every three months. But it has held only five instead of the required nine meetings. The CCI so far has not been convened to discuss CPEC.

The government’s informal and personalised manner of conducting business is coming under intense criticism both in the National Assembly and the Senate. The ruling party does not have a majority in the Upper House where the PPP has a slight edge. But the combined opposition in the Senate is stronger.

The government’s initiative to privatise PIA was thwarted when an ordinance changing the corporate status of the national airline was trashed by the Upper House. The other day Ahsan Iqbal came out hard against the opposition and the media for creating controversies over vital national economic issues. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has also counselled the opposition not to play politics on the economy.

Of course there can be no two views on building consensus on issues crucial for the country. And ideally the opposition should not pay the ruling party in the same coin.

But sadly the government’s efforts to bring the opposition on board have been woefully inadequate. During the dharna days of mid-2014, the PML-N leadership was bending over backwards to win over the PPP. It was perhaps Asif Ali Zardari’s crucial helping hand in the joint Houses of the Parliament that saved the Sharif government from extinction.

But now that the Sharifs have consolidated and even the military has taken a back seat, it is business as usual: raat gayi baat gayi (forget about it; it’s in the past now).

Desperate pleas for help have been replaced with sanctimonious lectures on doing responsible opposition. The ruling party stalwarts suffering from a bout of severe amnesia have forgotten their own conduct during the opposition days.

It was precisely on the vital economic and national security issues that the ruling PPP got the wrong end of the stick from the PML-N opposition, which was buttressed by being the ruling party in Punjab. Who can forget Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif symbolically moving his offices to Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore, photographed using a hand-held fan.

He would brazenly claim that the PML-N in power would eliminate power shortages in three months. Similarly, whether it was Memogate or privatisation, the PPP government got no support from the opposition.

One can argue that the PPP government owing to its poor governance record was its own worst enemy. Nevertheless it had to face the triple onslaught of a hostile judiciary headed by CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry, a hostile opposition and a recalcitrant military leadership.

Travelling abroad virtually every week, and spending weekends in Lahore, he is hardly in Islamabad

The Sharifs have been luckier and with a little help from an erstwhile docile opposition, are poised to complete their five-year term, unless they again shoot themselves in the foot. But, unfortunately, halfway through their term it seems all their policies are geared towards winning the next general elections, preferably for them to be held in 2018.

Misplaced confidence has given rise to hectoring the media and the opposition. A highly personalised style of governance with the help of cronies and close relatives is not only alienating the opposition but the smaller provinces as well.

The PPP and MQM have their own grievances in Sindh, Balochistan despite the hype is still alienated and the PTI-ruled KP also feels excluded. In the meanwhile, Prime Minister Sharif, keeping the foreign affairs portfolio to himself, is too busy globe-trotting.

Travelling abroad virtually every week, and spending weekends in Lahore, he is hardly in Islamabad. Cabinet meetings are rarely held and prime minister downwards, the ruling party is simply not interested in attending parliament sessions.

In this context, it is no surprise that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sudden dash to Lahore last month on Christmas Day was also portrayed as a personal affair. Most of the foreign policy mandarins and babus were kept out of the Sharif-Modi meeting as if it was his personal birthday party and only ‘close friends’ like Indian steel magnate Jindal and Indian Prime Minister Modi were invited.

Now, post-Pathankot terrorist attack, India has put Pakistan on notice. It is a win-win situation for Modi. If secretary level talks do take place, he would portray himself as a statesman and if they are cancelled, Islamabad will be successfully painted as not doing enough to nab the terrorists using its territory to attack India.

So much for personalised style of governance.