GIVEN the economic quagmire, a suggestion by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhary Fawad Hussain through a tweet on Saturday for reducing bitterness in politics and engaging on important issues including economy, politics, elections and judicial reforms is certainly need of the hour.
It is only through political and economic stability that overall development will come. Political acrimony will only worsen the situation.
Such calls have been made in the past also but only proved to be lip service as nothing practical was done to achieve the objective of framing a charter of economy on which all political parties agree whilst rising above their petty political interests.
In fact there should not be any politics or point scoring when it comes to economic development.
Today the PML (N) and the PPP are criticising the PTI government for increasing prices of petroleum products or galloping inflation and it was PTI in the past that severely criticised these parties on similar issues.
People are fed up of this politics and time has come for political parties to move with consensus to steer the country out of economic challenges.
The proposal by Information Minister should not remain confine to words rather it is foremost responsibility of the PTI government to take the first step and initiate serious process of dialogue with opposition parties on important issues.
Holding discussions and inviting suggestions from opposition parties on recently introduced Finance Supplementary Bill can make a sober beginning.
The opposition parties must also demonstrate flexibility in their conduct and give a patient hearing to government’s point of view on the supplementary bill.
If the consensus emerges here it will be a good omen followed by a grand dialogue on developing consensus on a national action plan to revamp economy which should then be implemented with full political backing no matter who is in power.
A country’s economy is not limited to manipulations in fiscal and monetary policies.It rather requires a broader, more holistic action that offers clarity on country’s development journey for next three to five decades.
One focus of such action could be identifying main sectors in which the country needs self-sufficiency in production.
This plan should encompass strategies to bolster exports and lower dependence on imports in multiple nodes of production value-chain.
There should be complete understanding amongst political parties as to how better they can enhance country’s revenues, which is a must to carry out development activities and extend relief and comfort to all segments of the society.
The ultimate goal of economic plan should be achieving self-reliance to ensure national security as well as secure the future of coming generations.
Given current tense political milieu, developing consensus on national economic plan or charter of economy appears to be next to impossible but sooner rather than later, all political parties will have to pursue this course for the sake of people.
Economic development must take the centre stage now if the state and society want to attain respect and credibility in comity of nations.
