That the body language betrayed caretaker prime minister Anwaarul Haq’s lack of confidence during his interaction with TV anchors and other journalists on Thursday is a fact as he was seen struggling to articulate the most plausible possible answer or argument in response to a question raised by a woman TV anchor who had asked him why his government, which is supposed to be one hundred percent apolitical, has chosen to take sides in relation to the powers of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the issue of general elections.

Whatever the honorable prime minister said made not much sense in view of the fact that the current caretakers’ approach to governance appears to be vastly different from their predecessors’ of the past; they have been found to be emitting signals from the day one that their stay could go beyond constitutionally-mandated 90 days.

However, a seeming erudite prime minister’s take on certain political parties’ hue and cry over rising inflation and soaring energy prices was quite reasonable. According to him, his approach to the public outcry wouldn’t have been different from politicians’ had he himself been out of politics and was getting ready for the general elections.

In other words, he was indicating that the bridge between politics and ethics is full of potholes Ironically, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the top coalition partners in the outgoing government, have ensured that growing public unrest on account of deteriorating economic situation moves to the forefront of their respective political agendas because both of them nursing an electoral victory mainly because of the fact that Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (PTI), appears to be in disarray.

It is increasingly clear that prime minister Kakar has been piqued by both PPP and PML-N. That is why perhaps he had alluded to their role by saying “[…]usi attar ke londay se dava lete haiñ.”

Abdul Hameed Achakzai (Quettta)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023