PM seems unable or unwilling to assert authority
Political and juridical confusion and uncertainty remain rife in the country, even after the forced exit of Nawaz Sharif, which should otherwise have restored some normalcy after two years of legal and political wrangling. Shahbaz Sharif, the de facto family ruler in Pakistan after the ghostly flitting away of Maryam Safdar, is also flying to London today to inquire about the ailing Kulsoom Nawaz and also for drawing up a strategy to resolve the present half- baked political situation. The fly in the ointment is that the last of the Sharif’s future has come under assault from the reopening of the explosive Hudaibiya Paper Mills case and the Lahore High Court order for release of the suppressed Justice Najafi report on the 2014 Model Town police slaughter. Vagueness and ambiguity still surround the country’s immediate future, and there is no skilled soothsayer around who can accurately predict the shape of things to come.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi started off on a flurry of activity, though a joyride in an F16 fighter had best been avoided for more pressing tasks. Of utmost importance to restore credibility is appointment of a new Finance Minister, as the incumbent stubbornly refuses to resign despite warrants issued for his arrest, apart from the mountainous national debt incurred by him now roughly standing at US$83 billion. The PM must declare his commitment to Parliamentary democracy by regularly attending sessions and ensuring that lack of quorum, pointed out 120 times in the Lower House and 200 times in the Senate in four years, and ministers absenting themselves, which latter almost led to the Senate Chairman’s resignation in April 2017, do not make a mockery of the entire system. Appointment of the PML-N party president, cabinet reshuffle to downsize the body by excluding the incompetent, and getting down to the dull detail of administration are essential. People would not appreciate government by remote control as happened in the past with the MQM (London) and PPP (Dubai). Two kings cannot rule one kingdom or two captains a ship and the PM bears sole ultimate responsibility on his watch.
