Tuesday, February 2, 2021
#Pakistan - Such relentless Misgovernance
Miftah Ismail
@MiftahIsmail
In my column on Jan 1, I asked: “What has the PTI done for Pakistan during its time in power?” My thesis was that after the hype created by the media and ‘patriotic uncles’ sharing posts on Facebook and Whatsapp, the PTI has failed to deliver for the people. Here I list some of its broken promises. On the evening of July 25, 2018, as results were coming in, the computer program of the Election Commission of Pakistan that tabulated the results, called the RTS, stopped working. For the first time, the top leaders of four of the largest parties were running from Karachi. The PTI was declared a winner against PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif in Baldia. The PML-N had commissioned a poll prior to the elections, which showed it had 42 percent support with the JUI at number two at 17 percent. The PTI was at number four, behind the MQM. The PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had the upper hand in a Lyari race where his only real competitor was the TLP. And here too the PTI won, beating the PPP and TLP. In the Lines Area and Soldier Bazar seat, the MQM’s then convener Farooq Sattar lost to the PTI, even to the surprise of the PTI’s own people. The only party leader to win from Karachi was Imran Khan. After the PTI was designated as the largest party, Khan addressed the nation and said he would not live in the PM House because, being the leader of a poor country, he would be embarrassed to live in a palatial home. He chose a smaller home in the same compound but has now, I suppose, overcome his embarrassment and lives in his own 300-kanal (150,000 yards) estate, and commutes daily by helicopter. The new government promised to convert the PM House into a university and an event even took place commemorating that decision. Yet it still hasn’t happened. Nor have the provincial governor houses turned into libraries. The government claimed it would bring about austerity and reduce expenses. In fact, though, the government’s current expenditures, including the PM’s Office and the Presidency’s budgets, have been increasing faster than the inflation for the last two years. True to form, the PTI tried to show, falsely, that the PM Office expenses have decreased – by excluding certain incurred expenses that were counted as part of the PM Office budget in prior years. The current government promised it would double revenues. In fact, in spite of rampant inflation, in two years it did not even cross the revenues the PML-N had collected in its last year. Tax-to GDP-ratio, which the PML-N had taken to 11.2 percent has been reduced to 9.3 percent. The PTI said it would increase exports. After a huge devaluation you would think it would at least succeed in this. You’d be wrong. Exports during the first two years of the current government were below the PML-N government’s last year number. In the first half of this year, our exports are five percent below last year’s level. The PTI was critical of previous (democratic) governments for borrowing and said it would reduce borrowings. Instead, it has in two years added 40 percent of all debt incurred in Pakistan’s history. If we give free electricity, gas, sugar and atta to every Pakistani (including all homes, factories, hospitals, schools, etc) for the next four years, the expense would still be less than the debt this government has incurred in just two years. The reasons are the history’s highest budget deficits in the last two years, and doubling of interest rates to incentivise hot money investors. This destructive increase in interest rates crippled our manufacturing and caused huge losses in jobs. The PTI famously promised to provide one crore jobs. Since the party has come to power, unemployment has increased by over 40 lakhs and more than one crore people have been forced into abject poverty. Millions of more children go to sleep hungry than before. We were also told that the PTI would build 50 lakh homes. Not one home has been built. This government promised to keep inflation low. Yet today food inflation in Pakistan is setting new records. The steep price increases in minor crops, including vegetables, is due to the PTI’s policies that have impoverished smallholders thereby reducing their ability to grow vegetables, etc. This curtailed supply of food items has caused the prices to increase. Of course, the price gouging in some commodities, particularly sugar and wheat, is due to corruption. The FIA’s sugar inquiry report must be disheartening for PTI supporters who are left wondering how a party that campaigned on an anti-corruption platform gave into greed so quickly, as if corruption is what it came to do. The cruel increase (up to 300 percent) in the prices of medicine can only be explained by greed. Unfortunately, this rapacity directly hurts the sick and the poor every time they go to buy lifesaving medicines. It is not greed but complete lunacy, however, that explains the entirely unjustified destruction of our civil aviation industry and PIA’s reputation. What possessed a minister to give a flawed and incorrect statement about Pakistani pilots and ensure that PIA now cannot fly to most international destinations boggles the mind. His first sticking to the statement and then backtracking from it, after it was too late, has hurt our national airline no end. On top of that, prime minister's closest adviser decided to shut down Roosevelt hotel, PIA’s most valuable asset. That hotel is now under threat of being seized by a company that has won a case against Pakistan, just as a PIA plane was seized in Malaysia a few days back. The sorry saga of this government is relentless. Malaysia is a friendly nation, but upset at us when our prime minister, after first promising, didn’t show up at a summit held there. The fact that we publicly explained the prime minister’s absence due to pressure from Saudi Arabia meant that we made the Saudis upset as well. So, we managed the unique feat of upsetting both sides of a tussle at the same time. Saudi authorities are now asking for their money back, the Emiratis aren’t giving us visas, and even Iran isn’t a big fan of ours. We have managed to have sour relations with Islamic countries of all stripes. Khan tweeted how he wanted to see Narendra Modi win elections in India. Why he would tweet his preferences in the elections of a foreign country is beyond me but in the event his wish came true. Modi won the elections and promptly annexed occupied Kashmir. We couldn’t even get the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to call a protest meeting. But we did rename Kashmir Highway in Islamabad as Srinagar Highway. Because the PTI was declared winner of 14 NA seats from Karachi, it announced a grand package of Rs165 billion for Karachi. No money was actually released. When Karachi was inundated in 2020 after heavy rains, the central government announced a grander package of Rs1100 billion. Again, in almost a year no money has been released. But, of course, the package is very handsome. Finally, the PTI’s central claim was that it will end corruption. Transparency International just issued a report that shows what we know: corruption has increased under this government.#Pakistan - Corruption: politics over performance
PTI stalwarts have questioned the data sources behind CPI, their timing, or even reputation of TI to justify the govt
Last week, Transparency International released its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2020, in which Pakistan’s rank slipped from 120th to 124th amongst 180 countries. It was the second year in a row that Pakistan’s rank fell. This has become quite an embarrassment for the government.
Does this really mean that corruption in Pakistan has increased?
Let’s first see the statistical significance of this ranking. The CPI is based on a score from 0 to 100, where a higher score depicts lower corruption. The score for Pakistan is based on eight credible international sources. The CPI scores each year are reported with a standard error. Countries that are given similar ratings by different sources have a smaller standard error, as opposed to countries with a wider range of scores and a larger error. According to TI’s own methodology, “it is unlikely that a one- or two-point CPI score change would be statistically significant”. In case of Pakistan, the standard error this year was 1.8 while its score fell by only one point. Therefore, it can be easily inferred that this change was not statistically significant and there has been little material difference in level of corruption in Pakistan.
However, these indices are relative, measuring a country’s performance compared to others. Notwithstanding the statistical significance of change in score, our rank has fallen considerably. It seems that while we have failed to make a dent in corruption, others are gradually improving, leaving Pakistan behind.
But more than the actual performance, it’s the politics that matters.
Imran Khan himself cited the same report in the past to highlight pervasive corruption in the country. It is now very hard to turn a blind eye towards the report, when PTI itself is in power.
It was PTI that started the politics of rankings, which as a matter of fact is quite a healthy trend, much better than unsubstantiated mudslinging. PTI was quick to claim the credit, when Pakistan improved its ranking on World Bank’s Doing Business report. But hand-picked data snippets and selective use of evidence can cut both ways. Now it is time to share the blame.
PTI won the election on the promise of eliminating corruption. The government has, however, taken a narrower view of the problem. Political rhetoric and chasing offshore assets of a few individuals is hardly going to make a dent in either the incidence of corruption or such rankings. The government will have to do more, and for that it does not need to look far. PTI’s election manifesto from 2018 already presented a game plan. It promised to bring accountability to the core of government through reviewing the NAB law, especially the ‘voluntary return’ and ‘plea bargain’ provisions, and to strengthen the institution. Ironically, as per the manifesto, the government was supposed to define and track KPIs for NAB, including ‘transparency & corruption score’. It also promised to set a taskforce for recovering looted wealth, strengthening the Auditor General’s Office, FIA and Public Accounts Committee and overhauling the public procurement system.
On ground, however, there is little progress to show. The NAB law was indeed amended through an ordinance, but it has long expired. The taskforce was established but still has to show results. The capacity of NAB has hardly improved and there have been no reforms in the Auditor General’s Office, FIA, Public Accounts Committee or the public procurement system.
So far, PTI stalwarts have questioned the data sources behind CPI, their timing, or even reputation of TI to justify the government. But very soon these arguments would run out. Perhaps it is time for the government to dust off its party manifesto and draw a reform plan based on its already made commitments.
Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari 'touched by love, prayers and good wishes'
Newlyweds Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari and husband Mahmood Choudhry tied the knot over the weekend in an intimate ceremony at Bilawal House. The couple, who got engaged in November, has shared few glimpses from their festivities. The elder Bhutto-Zardari daughter has promised to share even more pictures soon as she thanked everyone for love and wishes.
Taking to Instagram, the 31-year-old shared, "We are touched by all the love, prayers and good wishes. Deciding to get married during corona meant we were limited by the SOPs."
She went on to add, "Luckily, we were able to capture our joyous times and will be sharing with you through them." Soon after, Mahmood took to his Instagram and posted few pictures from the ceremonies.
Nikkah Ceremony:
Bakhtawar, the eldest daughter of the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari, married son of a US-based businessman named Mahmood Choudhry in a daytime ceremony at Bilawal House in Karachi on Friday.
On the occasion of her wedding, Bakhtawar's siblings took to social media and wished her a blissful married life. Bilawal shared some pictures and a sweet message for his newly-wedded sister on Instagram. "Happiest moment in many years to see my sister Bakhtawar getting married. Felt like our mother was watching over us in this moment of joy. Wishing them both all the best for their new life together," he wrote.
Aseefa, the youngest Bhutto sibling, also wished the couple "a lifetime of happiness and joy" on their new journey. "I love you, my dear sister. I wish you a happy married life," she wrote.
Valima Reception:
A reception ceremony took place on Saturday night at the Bilawal House, Karachi. Clad in a green and gold ensemble with a matching mask, Bakhtawar looked radiant. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari looked dapper in a navy suit, whereas their youngest sibling, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari looked gorgeous in a blue and silver outfit.
The event was attended by popular politicians, such as Sharmila Faruqi, Sherry Rehman, CM Sindh Murad Ali Shah and former PM Yousuf Raza Gilani. The reception ceremony was also attended by members of the UAE Royal family. Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan was welcomed by the officials after he landed in Karachi via a private plane.
Another event was held in Kakri ground in Lyari. 33 years ago, public reception for Asif Ali Zardari and former PM Benazir Bhutto also took place at the same place. Celebrations continued as traditional performances took place for the newlyweds.