Governments all over the world suffer from the disadvantage of incumbency as they are under constant scrutiny of the opposition, media and the intellectual community with regard to their policies relating to governance. In the civilised societies, such a scrutiny and criticism is considered as an essential ingredient of any democratic polity and constructive in nature as far as overall good of the country is concerned.
The critics, while pointing out infirmities, inadequacies and flaws in the government policies, furnish cogent reasons to establish their views and also endeavour to suggest better alternatives to the measures adopted by the sitting government. That indeed helps the governments to re-evaluate their policy initiatives and take corrective measures to fine tune them, if required. The end result is that the government, opposition, media and the intellectual community are all contributing in strengthening democratic traditions and promoting the well-being of the people.
We in Pakistan, however, are still far away from this democratic culture and enlightenment. It is really disappointing and even frustrating to listen and read the comments of politicians, mediamen and intellectuals on the electronic channels and in the print media respectively, solely motivated by the propensity to discredit the government rather than presenting an objective and honest picture to the masses. Sometimes, it is sheer cynicism, a dangerous affliction, which obscures human faculties to see reason and appreciate things in their true perspective.
Take for example the issue of power shortage in the country. While grilling the government for its alleged inability to overcome the power crisis and highlighting the negative impact of this continued phenomenon, nobody has come up with a tangible solution of the problem. The reason is very simple because they do not have any. They know in the heart of their hearts that there is no quick fix solution to this burgeoning crisis. There is no short way in the realm of possibility to remove the inherited deficit of 3500 MW before 3-4 years even of all the finances and other resources are made readily available to start the process of meeting of shortfall.
These are some of the fundamental truths, which are being kept under wraps by the critics. They do not even acknowledge the fact that the government has already added 600 MW to the national system through the establishment of 3 plants of 200MW each and another 1000 MW is going to be available very shortly besides 250MW generation capacity acquired through the already installed RPPs.
The RPPs provided the best available option to deal with the power crisis in the short run because of the short span of time (6-8 months) required for their installation. But, unfortunately, here again the government was subjected to undue flak and allegations of unsubstantiated corruption. It, however, goes to the credit of the government that to ensure transparency and set at rest the controversy surrounding the RPPs, it opted to seek third party endorsement from the Asian Development Bank and has only approved the commissioning of the eight plants cleared by them.
The long-term plans, ensuring sustained increase in the power generating capacity, include import of gas from Iran through Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline project, which will be used to produce 4500MW of electricity. Thar coal project and other plans are also on the anvil to in view of the future needs.
With regards to the hike in the power tariff and prices of petroleum products, a skewed view of the problem has been taken. The reality is that the fluctuations in the price of oil in the international market necessitate adjustments in the power tariff and prices of the petroleum products.
What is noteworthy in this regard is that the government is still providing a subsidy of Rs 230 billion to mitigate the difficulties of the consumers. It is evident, the government is doing its utmost to deal with power shortage and to provide maximum possible protection to the consumers. So accusing the government of being insensitive to the predicament of the people and doing nothing to tackle the power crisis is the most apocryphal exposition of the actual situation.
Equally unrealistic is the assessment about the situation in Karachi. Attributing it to the failure of the PPP policy of reconciliation and harmony, is not a fair assessment. The law and order situation in Karachi, as we all know, is due to a number of factors, including the ANP-MQM rift, presence of extremist elements in Karachi and the activities of different mafias.
The very fact that the PPP and MQM have been able to form a coalition government in Sindh despite the bitterness of the past and are still productively engaged with each other, is a testimony to the success of the reconciliation policy of the PPP government. Frequent rifts and hiccups in their relations do reflect certain tensions among the lower ranks, a legacy of the past, but what is noteworthy is that the top leadership of both the parties is fully mindful of the political realities and determined to keep intact a continued partnership in running the affairs of the province. A fact that needs to be appreciated rather than subjected to unwarranted reproach.
Painting the government in dismal colours and the failure to appreciate its achievements in their proper perspective is indeed a crude attempt to mislead the people. The PPP government can rightly boast of restoring the deposed judiciary; accepting the SC decision on NRO and also ensuring its implementation except for the cases pertaining to the President and Governor of Sindh who enjoy immunity under article 248; having earning the distinction of giving the first ever consensus NFC Award; initiating a process of reconciliation in Balochistan through Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan; giving self-rule to the people of Gilgit and Baltistan; constituting a parliamentary committee to draw up constitutional reforms, including the repeal of 17th amendment; successfully conducting a campaign against militants and religious extremists in Swat, Malakand division and South Waziristan; successfully restructuring its bilateral relations with the US on the basis of long-term strategic interests; putting in place a poverty alleviation programme in the form of BISP and Waseela-e-Haq initiative and launching of Employees Stock Option Scheme, aimed at giving 12 percent shares of the state-owned industrial units to the workers; taking steps to abolish emergency Pemra Law 2007 to ensure independence of media; resolving the issue of net hydel profit of NWFP and Gas Development Surcharge to Balochistan; formulating the country's first ever textile policy and Benazir Green Tractor Scheme.
These are all great initiatives taken by the government to ameliorate the lot of the people. There might be some shortcomings in the approach to confront with the emerging challenges, but the commitment of the government is beyond reproach. Not acknowledging the good work done by the government and instead subjecting it to undeserved scorn and malicious intent is indeed very regrettable. This behaviour is perhaps best explained by the proverb "The Greater the Truth, Greater the Libel".