Pakistan: Nawaz speech was a waste of time and inappropriate

Editorial:The Frontier Post...A speech so

Nawaz's maiden speech of his third term to the nation was ill-advised and ill-timed. He said what the nation already knew and had formed opinions on all issues and his government's steps to counter these. He gave no new hope to the nation, set no new targets for his government and had no new proposals which were needed to brought to the notice of the masses. He did not even seek populace support on some new and harsh steps his government could be about to take. One wonders what induced him to address the nation at this stage of his current term. In his third term as prime minister of the nation, he and his advisors should have known that a ruler when he makes a special occasion of addressing the nation, he raises the expectation of the nation. Such a speech is also delivered at time of new crises when the population's cooperation is sought. But there was nothing new in the speech. His invitation to Taliban for dialogue; his threat that his government had also the means to fight the menace with state power; his talk of corruption of the previous government; his lamentations at the breakdown of government institutions; the amount of accumulated debt on the nation; the examples of mismanagement in financial matters; favouritism and nepotism in government appointments; the shortage of electricity; the growing shadows of terrorism on the future of the country; his government's actions to control and bring about the end of load shedding, the list of power generation projects to be begun; the payment of circular debt; the success in increasing somewhat the power generation in the country; his offer to the provinces to provide all the possible help in curbing lawlessness and overcoming financials difficulties; his action to not act against the mandate of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the installation of CM and governor in Balochistan who were not from his party; his directions to PML-N men not to join efforts to topple the government in Azad Kashmir and many other issues and the views of the PM and his party on these all have been not just reported in the media but have been thoroughly discussed on various forums. The speech did not create ripples of excitement among the masses, as what he said in his speech had already been initiated by his government or stated by him on various occasions during his two and half month rule. There is a reason that a prime minister gives the maiden speech of his or her term when the National Assembly elects him as the future leader of the country. Emotions are high and his or her supporters have as yet have not fallen into their daily drudgery and are ready to welcome and hang on to every word he or she says. More than playing for the gallery, the speech of the new prime minister sends a strong message of what policies the government will pursue and what is expected of the civil servants, the army and the people as the new government during the time when the manifesto of the party recently come to power is implemented. The speech sets the direction that the new government wants to lead. However, there were expectation regarding the PM's speech. His economic strategy was already revealed. His policy on terrorism was already announced by the interior minister. Nevertheless, the nation expected some breakthrough news, if not actual breakthrough, either in the situation regarding terrorism or on the economic front. The most that one can say is that he renewed his offer of peace talks with the terrorists which has its own value and at the same his threat that he had the power to exercise force in the matter may also serve the purpose somewhat. But he could have done all that during a press conference. He or his minister could also have in piecemeal reminded the people of the problems his government had inherited and the steps that were being taken. The speech was a waste of time and inappropriate and there was no occasion for it. It gave a negative impression about Nawaz Sharif's government. It rather deepened the thinking that the PM is not thinking of taking unusual steps in these unusual times for the country to get out of the many faceted crises it faces.