The task before Shaukat Aziz and his government is immense. According to UNDP's Human Development Report, "Pakistan ranks 142 among 171 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI) and 65.6 percent of the country's population is said to be living on two dollars a day and 32 percent of Pakistan's population was living below the poverty line in 2002."
According to economists, in order to accelerate growth, "the government will need to take in hand massive infrastructure projects, build roads, bridges, ports, power stations, dams and housing units, encourage agro-based industries and take agriculture-related services to the rural areas and at the same time launch practical and workable schemes to provide access to food, water, health, education, shelter and jobs to the poorer sections of the population". Definitely a tall and difficult order.
In the meantime, the ordinary citizens still continue to be a victim of bad governance and are being denied the basic rights and facilities as citizens. Heaps of garbage are piled up on the roadsides, gutters over flow and most citizens are denied clean water.
Criminals, dacoits, terrorists and extortionists are on a rampage and robbery and kidnappings, rape, car jacking, etc, have become our way of life and justice is out of the reach of the poor.
And these criminals seem to have the blessings of political groups, law-enforcing agencies and militant organisations and share the bounty with them. And due to the lack of Consumer Protection and Patient's Rights laws, the citizens are being blatantly cheated and misled at every stage.
Adulterated, spurious, unhygienic and counterfeit medicines, foods and beverages are being marketed openly in the cities.
We had all hoped that Aziz would have learned from the mistakes of our past and as a professional and a technocrat, he would have acted as such and not compromised and yielded to political manoeuvring and horse-trading.
We had hoped that he would have the professional courage to break the old worn-out and rejected moulds and replace them with modern and shining moulds and concentrate on quality, rather then numbers.
That he would rebuild our institutions and establish the ever-elusive good governance, the rule of law and a code of conduct in government and society.
But unfortunately, it seems that Aziz has decided to travel down the same politically treacherous, twisting road and we now have a cabinet that is even larger than the last one, with about 60 ministers and advisors.
The corrupt and the inept still walk the corridors of power, rubbing their hands in glee, demanding their rewards and wagging their fingers in warning at their critics.
Leading commentators and columnists in the electronic and print media have expressed their reservations and disappointment over the size and selection of the ministers. They feel that the cause of good governance has once been again scarified to accommodate the General's "tailored democracy" and please the puppet masters.
They feel that Shaukat Aziz should not try and be a politician, a mistake that General Musharraf has made. Had the President continued to be the General he is, he would not have to dance now to the tune of these puppet masters.
Our parliamentary system is once again being blamed for this compromise and some feel that perhaps it is time to change to a Presidential system. It is not important as to who governs us or under what system. What is important for the common man is, as to how he is governed.
There is no substitute for good governance and the enforcement of the rule of law.
Some bankers and friends, who are close to Shaukat Aziz, say that he is a very determined and focused person and we have to give him a chance before forming an opinion and passing judgement.
We all accept the fact that in our present system of government, the choice of ministers has always been limited. But surely this should not have stopped Aziz to trim the size of his cabinet and then expanded it gradually by appointing ministers on merits, rather than on political pressures.
And if Shaukat Aziz, with his professional background, cannot find 10 good men to help him govern this country, then the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
Aziz, like our past leaders, proceeded to perform Umra, to thank Allah and pray and seek His blessings, protection and guidance. We sincerely hope that Allah will bless the Prime Minister with all three, because he will definitely need them to accomplish the difficult tasks ahead.
But we sincerely hope that he will keep in mind the size of the entourage that will accompany him on this pilgrimage, as it is the tax payers who have always been paying for these "blessings," but have never been "blessed" in return.
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