Buzdar a bust?

Punjab CM has little to show so far, even in terms of proposed works

What makes Usman Buzdar untouchable? Over a year into his tenure as Punjab CM, the few successes that the PTI leader’s supporters would point to are far outweighed by the failures of his government on multiple fronts. For a multitude of reasons, Punjab had always been Pakistan’s best-managed province for much of its history. Although some would argue this just shows the influence of the ‘Punjabi elite’, the truth is that it also required competence at the top. Even though many CMs, including both Sharif brothers and Pervez Elahi, have been accused of corruption, it is undeniable that the works they did accomplish are still matters of pride for the province. Buzdar has little to show so far, even in terms of proposed works. When he was appointed, the PTI argued that those past CMs had concentrated development in Lahore and other urban centres. Buzdar, being from a backwards area, would spread development to forgotten parts of the province. Unfortunately, he has brought the problems of backwards regions, like dengue outbreak, back to the urban centres while failing to bring much good to underdeveloped areas.

But PM Imran Khan, appears to be sticking by Buzdar like glue. For this reason, everything going wrong with the province is being blamed on then bureaucracy. We recently saw the appointments of the province’s third chief secretary and fifth IGP during the last 15 months. There have also been six higher education secretaries since Buzdar took charge, along with three to four changes in services, schools, health, industries, excise, and food during the same time. Bureaucrats claim PTI legislators keep demanding illegal favours from them and the CM does nothing to punish them. PTI leaders claim this is because the bureaucracy is loyal to the Sharifs. But surely, if the entire bureaucracy were loyal to the Sharifs, wouldn’t they still be in power? A good CM must be a top-notch administrator or a master politician, if not both. Buzdar, unfortunately, is proving to be neither of the two. 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2019.

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