Middle class
constituency
Speaking at a book
launch in Islamabad on February 8, 2019, Federal Minister for Information Fawad
Chaudhry rued the fact that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government had
not been able to provide immediate economic relief to its middle class
constituency due to inheriting an economy in dire straits. The minister trotted
out the government’s usual rhetoric about economic mismanagement and poor
governance by the two previous governments of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
(2008-13) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) (2013-18) that has led to
this state of affairs. While the argument about inheriting an economy in the
doldrums may have some weight, its overuse by the PTI government to explain
away what appears to be its fumbling in formulating policies to tackle this
situation is wearing thin by now. The fact is that the PTI’s slogans of tabdeeli (change) and Naya (New) Pakistan had raised
expectations to such heights that it is proving difficult to satisfy those
aspirations. Adding to the confusion is the apparent lack of preparation of the
PTI team regarding the problems of the economy. As is well known, learning on
the job can be a costly affair. The election campaign promises of the PTI such
as creating 10 million jobs and building five million houses, obviously aimed at
its core middle class constituency, are proving difficult to fulfil given the
economic and financial constraints. Fawad Chaudhry gushed that it was the
middle class’ role in the 2014 dharna
(sit-in) in Islamabad and the momentum from then on to the 2018 elections that
produced the ‘miracle’ of Imran Khan’s ascent to power. According to Chaudhry,
it was Imran Khan’s message of equality before the law, elimination of
corruption and improving governance that had given hope to people. No other
party, Chaudhry argued, can bring about change in the country. The government
has been changed through the 2018 elections, he continued, and now the
challenge is to change the system to make it poor people-friendly, but this
would require sustained efforts. Chaudhry criticised the judiciary from which
he said only the rich could get relief and the bureaucracy for their share of
responsibility for the bad state of the economy.
While Fawad
Chaudhry’s rhetoric is obviously aimed at mollifying the middle class that is
still awaiting some fruits of the PTI’s coming to power, it has to be said that
so far the PTI government has proved stronger in rhetoric than in performance.
The on-again, off-again minuet regarding going to the IMF has contributed to
economic uncertainty and loss of business confidence. Investment, domestic and
foreign, is still relatively shy, a fact that nullifies the promise of 10
million jobs. The real estate sector is suffering from policy changes relating
to documentation for tax purposes that has seen tax non-filers virtually cut
out of property dealing and thereby dealt a blow to the industry that has
relegated the five million houses to so far a distant dream. Even in the
straitened economic circumstances obtaining, surely the government could invest
in reforming education and healthcare (in Punjab at least) without needing vast
sums of money. Equally important and again not requiring vast expenditure is
the improvement of law and order, especially through reform of the police and
other law enforcement agencies. If the political will is present, this would
directly benefit the middle class and the poor. Although all the above reads
like the disappointment many are expressing in the seeming lack of a roadmap
with the government, there are chinks of light here and there. One such is the
agreement between the PTI government and the Balochistan National Party-Mengal
regarding efforts to recover and return missing persons to their families. A trickle
of such returns has indeed started in Balochistan and it is hoped this heinous
and patently illegal practice of disappearance will be consigned to the dustbin
of history even while the recovery and return of the missing persons is being pursued
seriously and earnestly.
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