- A familiar phenomenon in Hegelian dialectics
One government makes a bilateral commitment with China, its successor rescinds it. Requesting Beijing to delete a major fuel-based power plant from the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) list could not only raise questions about the credibility of Islamabad in China but also in other countries from where the government is seeking investments. The PML-N government did no service to the country by keeping the details of the Corridor under wraps. It should have taken the opposition into confidence about the major projects instead of treating the CPEC as a gift horse, considering anyone who put questions about it as ungrateful. Will the PTI government be upfront about the quid pro quo for loans and investments coming from SA and UAE or keep it secret?
According to a government official the PTI administration had made up its mind to remove almost 400 politically motivated projects from the development portfolio. Reportedly these include hundreds of gas schemes where funds had been allocated despite no additional gas being available for new connections. The government thus intends to revise about Rs2 trillion worth of development projects. Many would readily agree over the need to ensure that the PSDP projects are not politically biased. One hopes that the funds thus saved would be reserved only for development projects.
While referring to former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s plan of distributing Rs94 billion development funds to the PML-N MNAs, Imran Khan had categorically declared that after coming to power post 2018 polls, the PTI would put an end to the malpractice of issuing development funds to MNAs and MPAs. The announcement that development funds would be spent only through Local Governments was widely hailed.
Within five months of coming to power, the PTI has seemingly backtracked from the commitment. The Punjab government is reportedly all set to allocate Rs100 million to each of its MPAs who have been asked to submit their development proposals. The PTI lawmakers logic is simple: the PML-N government provided funds to its lawmakers to undertake development activities in their constituencies while depriving those under PTI’s influence. It is now PTI’s turn to do so. PTI thus follows in the footsteps of its predecessor.