Pakistan's Prime Minister: A part-time leader

By Zahid Hussain

“The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such.” — André Maurois

UNFORTUNATELY, our third-time prime minister does not fit this criterion. While our troops are engaged in the most critical battle against militants and hundreds and thousands of people have been displaced from their homes in North Waziristan and are facing severe hardship, our leader is off to Saudi Arabia for his annual spiritual retreat for 10 days.

There cannot be any objection to his religious zeal. But as a leader he is also expected to focus on the job for which he has been elected. It is certainly no ordinary situation for a country in the midst of a conflict and looming humanitarian crisis.

Being away from the country for so long at this critical time and on a private trip illustrates how low governance is on his priority list. Should our leader not be dealing with the vital issues of national security at home rather than seeking his own salvation?

In any other country, a leader would have preferred to stay with one’s own people in times of tribulation. But this is not the case with Nawaz Sharif who is best described as a part-time leader with minimal interest in running the affairs of the state. Not surprisingly, the approval rating for his party has plummeted in a short period.

Surely, it is hard for any incumbent to maintain the same level of popular appeal that brings one to power. Yet the plunge in Nawaz Sharif’s approval ratings within the first year of his third term in office is astonishing even by Pakistani standards, if opinion polls are to be trusted.

Trailing far behind the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, the party has now fallen behind even the PPP in public approval ratings. According to the latest Herald/SDPI opinion poll, only 17pc of respondents said they would vote for the PML-N if elections were held today compared to 33pc for the PTI and 19pc for the PPP which was routed in the last election.

Such a low popular standing does not come as a surprise given Sharif’s dismal performance and style of governance. His is more of a family limited company than a functional institutional democracy. All power is concentrated in the hands of a few members of the family. And now the ‘gifted’ daughter is being groomed as heir apparent. There is no party organisation and all decisions are made by Sharif alone. The exclusion of others has created serious misgivings among senior party members.

For once, Asif Ali Zardari was right when he said the people had voted for Sharif to be prime minister, not a monarch. And that monarchy is run from Lahore where Sharif mostly stays when not out of the country. The rest of the country does not seem to exist for him.

A frequently asked question is how different is the current Sharif government from the prime minister’s previous ones. The answer is simple: it is far worse. Sharif is more indecisive and as one political leader said “he has no fire in the belly”.

Yet there is no deficit of hubris of power. The Model Town carnage and police brutality is the hallmark of Sharif’s rule. The panicky reaction of the administration on the arrival of Tahirul Qadri is a manifestation of the increasing political alienation of the Sharif administration.

It has been a disappointing first year in power. There have been fewer examples of such a lacklustre leadership devoid of any foresight. His disdain for parliament is demonstrated by his rare appearances in the house in the past 14 months. Not surprisingly, parliament has been reduced to a dormant forum with little debate on substantive policy issues.

Sharif returned to power with a promise to take Pakistan to the path of economic revival and improved governance. But his vision of progress has been limited to metro buses and motorways. Certainly, his government has achieved short-term economic stability, but in the absence of fundamental structural reforms the long-term scenario does not look so encouraging.

The health of the economy is interpreted through the narrow prism of foreign exchange reserves and appreciation in the value of the rupee. It is scandalous the way the finance ministry apparently manipulated the economic growth rate to portray a positive picture of the economy. The distortion was exposed when the real figure was provided to the IMF.

A major reason for the erosion in the approval rating of the PML-N is the utter failure of the government to deal with the power crisis. There has not been any respite from load-shedding despite the government’s claim of substantial increase in power generation. The unresolved problem of circular debt is said to be the major reason for the widening shortfall in power supply. The government has done little to improve the working of the distribution companies or to collect outstanding bills.

After much dithering, Sharif has finally given the go-ahead for the military operation in North Waziristan. But he is still not willing to take complete ownership of the critical campaign. Even the responsibility for displaced persons has been handed over to the military. What is most alarming is the government’s decision to call in the army to guard important public installations in major cities. There is also a plan to give wider power to the armed forces under Section 245 of the Constitution. It is tantamount to a complete abdication of the civilian government’s responsibility.

Getting the army involved in maintaining law and order in the cities can mean a gradual military take­over. It is almost a repeat of 1998 when the Sharif government used the troops for everything starting with electricity meter readings. It is apparent that no lessons have been learnt from the past. A part-time leadership cannot deal with the grave situation confronted by the country.