Pakistan: Unfair remarks: PM’s grouse

THE prime minister is upset that the media has not treated his government fairly or justly in its coverage of the government’s performance so far and he specifically complained over the weekend that the great vegetable price inflation was highlighted far more than the recent downward trend in prices. Governments complaining about the role of the media in undermining them and treating them unfairly and unjustly is as old a complaint as the media itself. In reality, it is often the media that has been treated unjustly, unfairly and worse by governments throughout history, and that history certainly includes PML-N governments. To be sure, there are sections of the media here that often project themselves as participants in, instead of observers of, the political and governance process, but even that is not something a vibrant and thriving democracy cannot absorb.

The problem with the PML-N government, which has led to growing, though far from historically fierce, criticism of its performance, is twofold: it does not appear to have a coherent plan nor does it appear to know how to communicate well the plans it does have. Have a look at the economic front. The management of the economy is nearing shambolic and yet the chief stewards of the economy appear unwilling to factor in reality in their public assessments, as detailed further down in these columns today. On other fronts, even when the prime minister does act and makes some reasonable choices in appointing officials, controversy follows. For example, if a foreign secretary was chosen and his name all but officially announced, why embarrass all concerned, including the prime minister, by a last-minute change? These instances are only a tiny sample of the political paralysis and indecision that seems to have afflicted the PML-N government.

What is troubling about the prime minister’s comments is that he has chosen to criticise the media at precisely the moment the country is looking to him to get on with the business of governance and policy now that a new army chief has been installed and a new chief justice of the Supreme Court will be sworn in this week. Is the prime minister once again simply looking for scapegoats?

It surely cannot bode well for the prospects of an improvement on the governance front.