Pakistan - The flying Prime Minister

Making a joke of governance

In two and a half years spread over about a thousand days, Nawaz Sharif spent nearly 200 days away from the country. These do not include his private but regular visits to Saudi Arabia during Ramazan and his private trips to UK. The travels cost the national exchequer a hefty sum of Rs638.276 million. The spending constitutes a drain on national exchequer in Pakistan which faces revenue crunch. The government owes it to people to clarify what Pakistan got out of so many trips by its Prime Minister. With no explanation offered for 17 visits to the United Kingdom, this has given rise to speculations of all sorts.

The frequency of the visits speaks out about Sharif’s priorities at home. He has been criticised for not giving importance to Parliament. He was abroad for about 200 days and attended only 35 sittings of the House which elected him to office. The record of his presence in the Senate which represents the federation is even more dismal. His long absence encouraged Cabinet Members and PML-N MNAs to frequently absent themselves from the House, causing a lack of quorum and leading to inordinate delay in crucial legislation. The Electoral Reforms Committee, headed by an equally busy Ishaq Dar, has yet to come up with its recommendations despite their urgency.

The Prime Minister has failed to fulfill the constitutional requirement of holding the CCI meeting for more than a year while it has to be convened every three months. The excuse was that Nawaz Sharif was too busy. The Prime Minister was required to create a national consensus over disputed issues like CPEC which has not been done. Sharif had no time to visit Jacobabad last year where nearly two dozen people were killed in a terrorist attack. He could not go to Bacha Khan University last month for the same reason. Acts of the sort have led to complaints of neglect from smaller provinces. It’s time the PM concentrates on domestic issues, handing over foreign affairs to someone else.