Pakistan:Unfulfilled promises: PTI in the crosshairs of opposition

The Express Tribune

With the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) 90-day deadline to bring change now over, the party is in the crosshairs of political opposition. The PTI-led coalition completed its first three months on August 31 and the very next day Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak claimed at a news conference that change was visible in the province. Opposition parties, on the other hand, are mocking PTI for making empty promises and launching into a rhetoric they say was bound to lead nowhere. “PTI lacked serious thinking and planning. What it was promising before the elections or even after taking charge was mere rhetoric,” Awami National Party’s parliamentary leader in the K-P Assembly Sardar Hussain Babak told The Express Tribune. Babak said PTI in its pre-election rallies had claimed it has a plan for the province, but appointed working groups after assuming charge – indicating it in fact did not have any concrete plans. He maintained no one asked the PTI to give a 90-day deadline to bring change but the party made tall claims. “Extortion has increased to a great extent and has demoralized the public,” said Babak, adding the government had controlled neither inflation nor law and order. The ANP leader also accused PTI of acting vindictively towards the bureaucracy and showing lack of trust in government officials. Babak claimed the ruling party was taking revenge against officials, threatening and transferring them needlessly. He accused the provincial government of violating provincial autonomy by taking government officials to meetings with the PTI chief in Islamabad. “PTI has revived the ‘one-unit’ during its first three months,” he added. Babak said the public has shown its lack of trust in PTI’s promises as is evident from its loss in NA-1. “We were crying from day one. The PTI’s mandate was bogus and this loss validates our assertion,” he said, questioning where the 90,000 votes that Imran Khan secured in the general elections went in the by-polls. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) provincial information secretary Jalil Jan also said he has not seen any change in K-P. “People need bread, sugar and peace, which PTI has failed to provide,” he added. Jan alleged PTI’s government was “hell bent on destruction of state institutions through its reckless policies” in the name of change. He said the only change visible to him was meetings at Marriott Hotel, Islamabad and helicopter flights. Jan said Peshawar was without a police chief and his second in command for the past three weeks. While the latter was appointed some days back, he is yet to take charge, he added. In an apparent reference to the chief minister’s criticism of bureaucracy, he cautioned the government to avoid any clash with institutions. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) provincial general secretary Rehmat Salam Khattak said PTI now wanted to extend its deadline by another month, which indicated its slogan of change was hollow. “They have done nothing, and I do not see any change in K-P.”