The 100 Days

The first century of Imran Khan’s government has been completed yesterday with which the blanket Mr. Khan requested, to give his government a relief from running critique at least for a hundred days, is taken off and now the govt. is likely to come under more pressure from the critics and admirers alike who’ll question efficacy of government’s initial performance and future game plan. I personally am not in favor of borrowed political jargons like first-hundred-days as they don’t fit our political landscape the way they do in the West where a new administration is provided with enough time to set in and to embark on its avowed agenda. In ‘developing countries’ – this too being another borrowed term to save the ignominy of being called a 3^rdworld country – governments are never self-assured mostly because their ascendance and fall from the grace are never entirely in their own control.

In other words it can be safely said about the governments of the third world countries that they never are masters of their own destiny for external and geographical factors play crucial role in the making or breaking of their fortunes which are almost impossible to control, for the countries which lack financial capital and military muscle.

In case of Pakistan, though being militarily strong but financially dependent on benevolence of its generous friends and masters, survival is the ultimate goal which a newly formed government must set its eyes on before treading the more ambitious path or a journey-to-moon. And that is arranging-the-finance to pay off the import bills and not to exhaust foreign reserves below a certain threshold which may give our benefactors a cause to pull off their investments and declare the country bankrupt.

Economically strong countries can chart out independent foreign policy and dictate their relations with the foreign world in ambiance of national interest. We don’t have this luxury. Our trade with almost all the major countries is running in deficit and the gaping difference between imports and exports is widening with each passing day. Our economy has become a solely consumer-economy. Almost all the products being imported from the countries where cost-of-doing-business is far cheaper than ours resulting in the flooding of our markets with cheaper goods with which local manufacturers cannot compete thus leaving the field open for other countries to exploit.

Success of the government in its first hundred days can be measured in terms of how much capital it has managed to secure so far as other parameters to gauge the performance require time, at least more than mere 100 days. Pakistan was in dire need of 12 billion dollars this year to maintain balance of payments and new government took it top of its priority list and emergency measures were taken to reach out to friends to ward off looming crises or else knock at the doors of International Monitory Fund (IMF) and to ask for a bailout package. To arrest the economic downfall and replenish our foreign reserves 3 billion dollars have been promised by Saudi govt. during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s maiden visit of the Kingdome. The first installment of a billion dollars has been received by the state bank and the rest will follow in due course. Another 3 billion dollars were promised in the shape of deferred oil payments which will be a great relief for Pakistan, being dependent on foreign oil for all its domestic needs. This takes tally to 6 billion in total. Positive announcements and warm gestures of friendship have been expressed by another brotherly country, the UAE and the all-weather friend China during PM’s visits but details of finances have not been made public, if any was promised. But the confidence of finance minister, Asad Umar during a press conference was a reflection of assurances which might have garnered through prime minister’s visits, when he announced that the “country does not face urgency for an IMF funded bailout”.

On economic front, the government has performed well though the increase in taxes has not been taken pleasantly by the masses but still a certain understanding exists how precarious economic situation the government has inherited. Previous governments used to provide temporary relief in initial budgets but afterwards did crack the public spine with heavy taxes and inflation. If the PTI government has not chosen the same path only shows its level of sincerity as it is not interested to spread a fake sense of calm just to excite public mood for political mileage. Overhauling economy is a tough job which is arduous and painful but if the nation has to climb out of current morass it has to swallow bitter pill of realism and patience. To boost exports and curb imports, better tax collection and removal of all the hiccups impeding growth require a thorough surgery and detailed roadmap which will take time to materialize if implemented in earnest.

Drive against corruption and illegal settlements on government lands is going in full swing and the PM has vowed to spare no one whosoever has plundered nation’s resources but at the same time not to interfere in the due process in order to influence the accountability process. PM Imran Khan is all about rule of law and independence of institutions from political interference which reflects through his repeated assurances to bureaucracy.

Matters on international front ie: foreign policy too have been deftly handled and countries who at a point of time in the near past looked estranged and discourteous toward Pakistan now seem at good terms. PM Imran Khan’s historic welcome in Suadi Arabia and United Arab Emirates has been heartwarming a cheerful.

A sphere where PTI has underperformed is of the law enforcement at domestic front. It shied away from acting against a handful of religious desperados who took to streets and highways in the wake of Supreme Court’s decision in the blasphemy case. It was an opportunity to shun the policy of appeasement which has been undertaken since 90s – even a self-proclaimed iron-man Pervez Musharraf could not change – to show the steely resolves of the state that “no one will be allowed to take the law in his hand”. Large scale arrests of bigots are underway countrywide including head of TLP, the firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi. But once it has settled matter through dialogue with the TLP, arrests seem smokescreen on the part of the government to prove its worth to the liberal and educated circles of the society who were driving force behind its success.

Overall performance of first-hundred-days have been satisfactory if not an exemplary feat of machismo.