Should be taken on its merit
Ch Nisar’s statement on the floor of the House on Thursday has been ascribed to a number of motives. Some have called it an exercise in friendly fire. Ch Nisar knows some of his colleagues in the Cabinet are not pulling their weight. Instead of directly criticising them which would have been interpreted as a violation of esprit de corps, he has chosen a circuitous route to seek sweet revenge. He has volunteered to present a report on his own ministry’s performance for evaluation by the House. He has called upon lawmakers to become the “eyes, ears and arms of the government”, and point out any wrongdoing or corruption. After the intro, he has called upon other ministers to follow suit as criticism would improve the working of the government and raise its image in the public eye.
Others maintain that the real purpose is to expose the performance of the previous government. After admitting that corruption was deep-rooted in NADRA which is a part of his ministry, and would take some time to eliminate, he has alleged that under the PPP government, over 20,000 Burmese citizens had been issued Pakistani passports in Saudi Arabia. Foreign nationals had also been employed by NADRA on the recommendation of Parliamentarians, adding that a list of their names would be sent the Senate Chairman and NA Speaker.
The stand taken by Ch Nisar needs to be judged by its merits instead of his perceived motives. That a minister should volunteer to present his progress report for criticism and evaluation is something unusual in our political culture. Last year, the PM had directed to hold an internal review of the performance of the various ministries. It was promised that this would lead to a reshuffle in the Federal Cabinet. Nothing was revealed about the findings of the review, nor was any minister replaced. There is a need on the part of various Cabinet members to follow Ch Nisar by presenting their performance for evaluation by the House.
