Parting shots

The 14^th National Assembly dissolved at midnight on Thursday and its members all became yesterday’s men and women. As they went their separate ways there was at least agreement on one item — that the elections should go ahead as planned, a view we endorse. This is another significant milestone on the democratic road — the third successive civilian government will emerge after the elections. There will be new faces but probably little change in the balance of power. Inevitably the election will be dogged with stories of rigging, corruption, vote-buying and selling and floor crossing. International observers will prognosticate, analysts far and wide will lay out their doom-laden wares and when it is all done and dusted Pakistan will continue to move forwards, albeit slowly.

What then of the legacy of the outgoing dispensation? Perhaps the most significant marker is that Pakistan has become a safer place. Terrorist incidents and deaths and injuries that are a direct result of terrorism have dropped significantly. The heavy lifting was of course done by the military but the civilians can at least claim to have had a hand in it. Less positively the Fata-K-P merger is something of a pantomime horse, the trumpeted defeat of the perennial energy disaster is a good-news bad-news story. There are more watts in the wires but the wires are old and trip most inconveniently. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a potential game changer but thus far few games have actually been changed. The national crisis in education has not diminished, likewise the similar crisis within public healthcare. The number of out-of-school children is not significantly reduced though there have been local successes.

Economically there is nothing to brag about regarding taxation which is a black hole; the balance-of-payments deficit is like some malign relative festering in a dark corner and over a thousand miles of motorway are splendidly free of traffic most of the time. Outgoing PM Abbasi has a largely blemish-free report card, but few politicians have distinguished themselves anything other than negatively since the last tussle with the ballot box. Overall? Well it could have been worse. Try harder next time.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2018.

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