Multiple fronts

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government has shown a rare talent for opening up multiple fronts instead of concentrating efforts and minds on priority areas. Arguably, the single most important of these is the annual budget. In a situation where the economic management of the government since it came to power last year has been, to put it politely, controversial, the onus was and is on the treasury benches to ensure that, as is the norm, the proceedings of the budget session of the National Assembly went smoothly. Instead, in an inexplicable display, it was the treasury benches that disrupted the yet to commence debate by constantly interrupting the Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif whenever he rose to speak on the budget on the invitation of the Speaker. This behaviour has sparked off all kinds of speculation and conspiracy theories, chief amongst them being the outlandish notion that the treasury benches were under instructions from Prime Minister Imran Khan to disrupt the proceedings to divert attention from the 'unpopular' parts of the budget. But that is not the end of the government's difficulties in getting a difficult budget passed in difficult times. Three coalition partners of the government, the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), are reportedly dragging their feet in helping the government pass the budget. Of these, the last two are in a different category from the first. They may simply be using the opportunity afforded by the government needing their support in the budget session to extract concessions for themselves, not necessarily abandoning the coalition altogether. The BNP-M, however, is a different kettle of fish. For years now, its chief, Akhtar Mengal, has been attempting to draw attention to and redressal of Balochistan's grievances, which BNP-M has summarised in the six points that formed the basis of its joining the governing coalition. These are: recovery of missing persons, implementation of the National Action Plan, implementation of the six percent quota for Balochistan in the federal government, immediate repatriation of Afghan refugees and the construction of dams in the province to resolve the acute water crisis. These are more or less the same six points that Mengal had presented in a petition before the Supreme Court some years ago. That petition did not bear fruit, and the agreement with the PTI remains unimplemented. The BNP-M therefore appears to be veering towards leaving the coalition and joining the ranks of the opposition. This development has encouraged the opposition PPP to meet the BNP-M leadership to persuade it in this direction, followed in rapid succession (and perhaps alarm) by a PTI delegation led by Defence Minister Parvez Khattak. The outcome of these deliberations is not yet known, but the implications are clear. If the BNP-M with four seats in the National Assembly departs, the government may well be hard put to get the budget passed, enjoying as it does a bare five-seat majority. That could open up a whole new can of worms, including the possibility of the government falling.
The PTI needs to focus on what is important in terms of priority. Getting the budget passed is at the top of the list. To achieve this goal, the government needs to reassure its coalition allies, particularly the BNP-M, that their concerns will be addressed and on that basis asking for their support to the budget. Similarly, it needs to go back to the drawing board to reconcile some of the contradictory aims it seems to be pursuing. Given its precarious majority, the government needs to reach out to and ask for the cooperation of the opposition. But this cannot at present be reconciled with their pillorying of that same opposition on a daily basis. The arrests of Asif Zardari and Faryal Talpur of the PPP and Hamza Shahbaz of the PML-N, with more arrests of opposition leaders threatened, is hardly conducive to cooperation across the aisles.