The national and provincial elections in Pakistan have taken place about 50 days ago on 18th February and yet the national and provincial governments have not come into being. The national cabinet has been announced but it has not taken charge. And the provincial governments will take a few more days to be completed. This inordinate delay is causing much consternation to the people who are besotted by many pressing problems such as terrorism, rising prices, supply of essential goods, et cetera.

If there was any numerical problem to the majority party in forming the governments or there was some other problem, the delay could have been understandable but under the present circumstances the delay is inane. It is not only inane but it is causing doubts in the minds of observers that the new government apprehends that it may be unsuccessful in solving the people’s problems and that is why it is dilly dallying over government formation.

Besides, a very big coalitionist partner, the PML-N is adamantly pursuing and espousing frivolous causes rather than talking of the day to day problems being faced by the people which is giving the impression that they are trying to divert the attention of the people from their more pressing problems which they are aware will be very difficult to solve.

The people at large are awaiting the formation of the national and provincial governments so that they can tackle the problems facing the people in their day to day lives and they are viewing each passing day with dismay.

The new government, seems engaged in the formation of a government of national consensus. That indeed is a very good objective but it could have been achieved in due course while the prime minister could have announced certain measure that would have brought immediate relief to the people.

After all, he has removed the ban on trade and student unions and other measures in his inaugural speech in the parliament and those decisions have been implemented by the bureaucracy. Thus, in view of the emergent problems facing the people, the prime minister could have announced lowering of atta prices, removal of government tax from oil and edible oil prices and such measures in his first speech too and they would have been implemented by the bureaucracy. He could then go about building consensus in the country while the people at large heaved a sigh of relief.

But that was not to be and his party leader is busy in building a government of broader national consensus while prices of essential commodities continue to register an upward trend.

Building a government of national consensus is a very good thing and may allow many good things to take place but it cannot redress the immediate grievances of the people. The coalition, no matter how broad based it is finally would have to positively address these grievances otherwise it too would face the people’s wrath.

If the coalition manages to address issues which are of no direct concern to the common man then too it would be deemed unsuccessful because the common man wants redressal of his grievances and wants the government, whatever shape it takes, to tackle these issues only after tackling successfully the issues which concern him directly.

Hopefully the prime minister would rise to the occasion and take immediate steps to provide relief to the common man. Until now the most immediate relief he has provided the common man is in the realm of power shortage: the relief he has promised is the provision of 2200 MG of power by end of the year; this supply of power is not only about a thousand MG less than the current shortage but it will not be available before 13 months, if at all. This also means that this summer Pakistanis would have to face acute power shortages!

The prime minister should realize that the nature of relief granted to the people must be immediate and adequate in order to be appreciated.

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Tags: Elections, National Government, Prime Minister, terrorism