IN recent times, Prime Minister Imran Khan has been seen engaging more frequently with media probably to respond to onslaught of opposition parties and to present his government’s plans and policies for country. Saturday saw him sitting for a second interview in a week with a private television channel in which he vowed to exploit country’s potential in areas of tourism, agriculture, industries, information technology and mineral resources to ensure fast track development.
There is no denying the fact that areas identified by the PM were ignored by successive governments. Had any attention paid towards their development, the economic situation today would have been far better to sustain without any bailout packages from financial institutions such as the IMF. One does not doubt intentions of the PM but people already had enough rhetoric and now want action and work on the ground. It must be understood that vision of a progressive and developed Pakistan will remain a distant dream until and unless political stability is not restored. At present, political temperature is soaring with each passing day with hard-hitting speeches being made from both sides and in such kind of scenario investors and private sector shy away from making any investments. We are not asking the PM to make any compromise on his stance against corruption but his focus should remain on implementing his election manifesto while allowing anti-graft body to do its work. The opposition parties should be engaged to take the situation towards normalisation and the best way will be to hold sessions of National Assembly and Senate providing an opportunity to them to express their sentiments.
A committee may also be constituted to establish contacts with opposition to evolve consensus on important issues including economy and election reforms. As second wave of Covid-19 is proving to be more fatal, opposition must also act responsibly and stop risking lives of the people through its public gatherings. Destabilising an elected government will be no service to democracy. Government has almost completed half of its term and it must now show seriousness to resolve problems of the people. Work on development projects should be fast tracked. Especially there is need to expedite work on CPEC related projects to increase productivity of agriculture and industrial sectors as these two have the scope to provide livelihood opportunities to millions of people.
