An apology for status quo

Selective appraisal

The president went by the book. He read out the annual mandatory address to parliament prepared by the federal government in accordance with the normal practice. The address outlined the priorities set by the ruling party as well as its concerns and avowed achievements. The president presented a rosy picture of the present and the remainder of Nawaz Sharif’s tenure. The government it appeared was working in accordance with a perfect schedule, effectively dealing with all the problems and if any issue still remained unaddressed, there should be no doubt that it would be sorted out before the general elections in 2018.

The address made no mention of some of the crucial problems the country is facing. This amounted to sweeping things under the rug. While operation Zarb-e-Azb is by and large over, it would be too much to claim that terrorism is under control as long as extremist thinking is not replaced through conscious effort by a moderate mindset. The division on Panama Papers is widening with the opposition leader warning of politics spilling out into the streets if a deadlock over the ToRs was not resolved. With the slow growth of the economy and the government’s questionable priorities, the gulf between the poorest and the richest continues to widen. The country meanwhile faces isolation in the region and its relations with the US are becoming more problematic. There was no word about these issues in the address. As Khursheed Shah put it none of the issues that needed to be raised found mention in the address. Load shedding, he said, had ended only in the President House.

With the prime minister under treatment in a London hospital, many ruling party legislators including a number of cabinet ministers did not turn up to hear the address. Despite facing the embarrassment of lack of quorum in the National Assembly sittings again and again, the PML-N leadership has yet not succeeded in convincing its parliamentarians of the need to attend the parliamentary sittings.