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Opposition’s frustration arises from the on-going cases that NAB is investigating

Exclusion bullying has become a pastime of the Opposition. With the PTI in power, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has extended his party’s hand out to the PML-N in friendship to bash the PTI, which currently holds power.

The controversy over Prime Minister Imran Khan’s acceptance of the bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is surprising, objectively speaking. However, given our soap opera-like politics of uncouthness and deceit, it was expected from a subjective point of view.

The two opposition parties met in Islamabad on May 17 to devise a strategy for a movement against the ruling PTI for its IMF agreement. Their purpose seems less to be focused on Pakistan’s economy and more on an opportunistic mindset to lambast the leadership for taking a necessary step, despite the cons about it.

Anti-government agitation will serve as a distraction. The spinning of the event saying that the PTI sold the country out for six billion dollars to the IMF is unprofessional. Rather than working to improve the economy, the PPP and the PML-N are in a pursuit to lay blame on the PTI for problems that have perpetually existed and are not a direct or exclusive result of the bailout acceptance.

The announcement grossly impacted the market but that is the game of economics. The onus lies on previous governments for poor tax generation and expenditures that were beyond our economic scope. Acknowledging mistakes is too honourable a task for our parties though.

Protests against inflation and the economic bump are misdirected. The Opposition’s frustration arises from the on-going cases that the National Accountability Bureau is investigating and the concern for the economy seems ill-feigned due to the common sense that major agitation will further upset the tumultuous economic flow at present.

It is acknowledged that another loan only adds to Pakistan’s gargantuan debt. While we want to see the country flourish and become self-sufficient like many patriots do, it is necessary to recognise where problems exist so as to try and remedy them. Laying blame is too easy. Now blame game will prove counter-productive.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2019.

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