Ask the PM

After a lapse of nearly six month, Prime Minister Imran Khan resumed interaction with the general public via telephone that went on air in the form of a live TV programme called Aap Ka Wazir-e-Azam, Aap Kay Saath. Since assuming the Office of the PM, Khan has had four such programmes, the last of which was telecast on August 1, 2021. However, like earlier such interactions, this one too was more of an address to the nation rather than a question-answer session, as the PM mainly used the occasion to highlight his government’s “achievements” over the last three and a half years and his “commitment” to not let his “corrupt” political rivals escape the process of accountability.

While the PM was critical of the opposition parties and the media, he also mentioned the role of the judiciary in a complaining tone, asking them to be “merciful to the people” and not to support “mafia and cartels”. However, he hardly admitted his own weaknesses and failures. While he did concede that inflation was the only thing that gave him sleepless nights, he called it a global phenomenon and cited the “even worse” situation in developed economies like the US and UK to defend his government’s performance. Here he also lashed out at the media “for giving a one-sided account” to the people and “avoiding appreciating the good work being done by the government”.

While it is a fact that the PM is vigorously pursuing the process of accountability in the country, he has no reasons to scapegoat anybody if he has not been able to achieve the desired results. Also, it is only his political opponents that are a target of what should have been an across-the-board accountability drive — something that deepens the impression of the whole exercise being a political witch-hunt. Had he started off from his own team, it would have been enough an evidence of his commitment to purge the society of the corrupt elements.

While the government’s performance is not up to the mark, it does not justify any undemocratic moves to send it packing. The incumbents have been given a five-year mandate by the people, and we wish Imran Khan to complete his term as Prime Minister — and be the first elected chief executive of Pakistan to do so.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2022.

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