Not long ago I had written about this democratic order built on the 18th amendment being a time bomb that when triggered through remote control could blow up the whole Federation. This subject was touched and discussed in my Urdu Columns.
Today we have a new government in place. Imran Khan is the Prime Minister of Pakistan. His party the PTI has power in both KPK and Punjab. The PTI shares power in Baluchistan too. In Sindh as well it has substantial presence.
Yet his room to take bold and aggressive decisions is limited. In the centre as well as Punjab his government depends for its continuity and strength on coalition partners some of whom have mindsets and policies diagonally opposite to his own. If he had complete freedom he would never have gone for such large cabinets as are going to be in place both in Punjab and the Centre.
Off course Pakistan needs more jobs. And Imran Khan is committed to create them in abundance. But creating ministerial jobs at such a large scale was never his goal.
He should have realised by now that he has to act, perform and give results, from this position of ‘hands tied’. He is lucky in the sense that he has the backing of the country’s two key institutions. But he needs support in the Administration. And he requires powers to legislate— as well as to act decisively on issues that he deems urgent.
For example, every sensible Pakistani knows and believes that to keep Kalabagh Dam in abeyance or cold storage and to go for a mightily massive and challenging Bhasha-Diamir project isn’t an act of sanity.
But here the hurdle of “National Consensus” makes it hard for the government to act rationally. Our enemy India has invested hugely in Sindh and KPK to create powerful anti-Kalabagh lobbies.
Suppose Pakistan were not a Federation of four linguistic and ethnic provinces—but of sixteen or twentyfour autonomous administrative units, would the sword of National Consensus have been as lethally effective as its is now?
Suppose the Quaid’s will had prevailed, and the system in which the country’s Chief Executive is elected through direct votes by the people had been in place— and Imran Khan would have been at the helm of affairs with freedom to act like any US President, wouldn’t matters have moved more smoothly with greater speed?
In America, a Federation of more than 50 states— all autonomous — the President is the only elected office-bearer in the entire Administration. And he is free to choose his cabinet on merit.
Had Imran Khan been in a similar position, would he have the likes of Fahmeeda Mirza, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and many others in his cabinet?
Right now Imran Khan is the only office-bearer in the government who has the guts to mention THE STATE OF MADINA in his speeches and agenda. Have you ever heard any of his other key minister talking about Madina?
Something is obviously wrong in the whole setup. And it has to be corrected well in time to make the wheels move. Perhaps the DeGaulle formula will do the job.
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