Another shuffle

Almost half way through his tenure, the Prime Minister is still scrambling for the right team-combination. He has shuffled the deck of his ministers and advisers no less than four times, but remains dissatisfied. Once again the PM is trying a new combination in search of the right man for the right job. The latest reshuffle in the PM’s cabinet — coming in the wake of a ruling from Islamabad High Court whereby unelected advisers and special assistants could not head government’s committees — has led to his adviser on finance, Hafeez Shaikh, being appointed as federal finance minister. More notable though is the redesignation of railway minister Shaikh Rashid as interior minister in place of an ex-serviceman, Brig (retd) Ejaz Shah. Azam Swati has replaced Rashid as railway minister, surrendering the portfolio of narcotics control to Shah.

In Rashid, the PM is thought to have sent in a pinch hitter to launch an all-out attack on the PDM and send its member parties running helter-skelter in his bid to grab the momentum of the reigning political duel — just as he would sometimes promote wicketkeeper batsman Salim Yousuf or bowling all-rounder Wasim Akram in the batting order to bulldoze the opponents. Thwarting the opposition’s plan to stage a big show in Lahore and build up for a ‘long march’ on the federal capital happens to be the debut assignment for Rashid in his new role. The veteran politician enjoys the PM’s full backing and has the entire security apparatus at his disposal. He also has a whole lot of witty one-liners in his verbal repertoire to take a dig at opposition leaders and charm the public into siding against them. But, taming an alliance of 11 opposition parties out to dislodge the government is no small challenge.

As for the PM bringing in a fifth combination in about 30 months, one would like to draw his attention to one of his own quotable quotes. Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly on the deplorable state of PIA some six months back, the PM had pointed out that the national carrier had had 10 heads in 12 years, calling the frequent changes at the helm a sure-fire recipe for disaster.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2020.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.