Here come the answers

The government has communicated. That's a good start. It started with my column "Speak, show it, if you know it" last week in which I asked the government to find its voice. I raised ten questions. Throughout the week I kept getting feedback that reinforced how critical good governance is and why its absence - or shortage - is the central reason for Pakistan's sad state of affairs. My colleague Kamran Khan did a detailed segment on the column, and we agreed that Centre and provinces are equally responsible for the lack of visible improvement.

The government has now sent me answers to those ten questions. The lengthy response is indicative of at least two things: first, it is positive that the government is sensitive to the need for greater engagement and communication; second, and less positive, the policies mentioned in the document oftentimes raise more questions than answers.

It will not be possible for me to reproduce the entire response. Instead, here are abridged answers along with my original questions. Do note that my question 6 on retail and agriculture tax and why it was not being collected with the same zeal as the tax on salaried class was missed out in the response (perhaps inadvertently). I am reserving my analysis of the response for later columns where I will delve deeper into these ten issues. For now, read what the government has answered and make up your own mind. The full text of the response will also be available on social media.

1. What is our strategy on Balochistan?

Our strategy rests on four clear pillars: security, effective border management, better governance and people-centred development. Intelligence-based operations against terrorists and their facilitators will continue until their complete elimination. At the same time, through better governance and participation of the people, Balochistan's natural endowment of resources will translate into economic opportunities, education, healthcare and tangible benefits for local communities.

2. What do we plan to do about terrorism from Afghanistan?

Pakistan has an obligation to its people to protect them against external threats and will not hesitate to dismantle any terrorist infrastructure that is used to wage terrorism in Pakistan.

3. What is the plan to solve the federal government's fiscal problem?

The Eighteenth Amendment resolved a real question about subsidiarity and localisation but the financial formula underpinning it is stuck in 2010. The fiscal problem is not solved. Debt servicing will take years of primary surpluses and longer maturities to bring down. But the direction has been reversed, the instruments are built and running, and the numbers are published every month for anyone who wishes to check them. The question now is whether non-payers are prepared to keep pretending there isn't a plan.

4. Why is the committee on the NFC award not meeting and deciding the way forward?

The Seventh Award was a real achievement, built for the Pakistan of 2010. We need a new fiscal compact. What exists now that did not exist before is an agreement among all five governments that the problem is real, and a demonstrated willingness to solve it together rather than litigate it. An NFC convened without it produces deadlock. An NFC convened with it can produce a settlement that funds national obligations predictably, holds each tier to what it constitutionally owns and gives every government a horizon longer than a single budget. The provinces have shown they will act in the national interest. Insha'Allah, the task now is to give that cooperation a permanent form.

5. Why is the government not reducing its bloated size?

The government is reducing its size, and the reduction has been ongoing since the middle of 2024 under a committee the Prime Minister chairs himself. This is unglamorous work, and it is understandable that a media industry that caters to doomscrolling finds it hard to cover the process holistically. Yet it is worth being clear about why it takes time. Every division carries a statute. Every post carries service protections and, in many cases, a person with a family. Rightsizing that collapses in service tribunals is not rightsizing, it is theatre (followed by back pay, with interest!). The government has chosen the path less travelled. Harder. Longer. But one that survives engagement with Pakistani law.

7. Why is the government not privatising or shutting down loss-making SOEs?

For nearly two decades, no Pakistani government managed a major privatisation. Deadlines were missed, transactions collapsed and the national carrier went on losing money that came out of every taxpayer's pocket. This government completed the sale. The distribution companies are next. Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore airports are being outsourced. The principle behind all of it is simple and the Prime Minister has stated it plainly: running businesses is not the government's job.

8. How does the government plan to solve the energy crisis and provide affordable electricity to citizens?

For much of the last three decades, the conversation about Pakistan's energy crisis was a conversation about generation. But the problem that outlived them is in the contracts, the losses and the recoveries - that is where the work is now concentrated, and why there is reason, Insha'Allah, to expect prices to keep falling.

9. Does the government have a medium-term or even long-term plan to solve our debt crisis?

Yes, and it is a published document. The Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy for FY2026-28 sits on the Finance Division's website, prepared by the Debt Management Office with the Annual Borrowing Plan alongside it. Anyone who wants to know what this government intends to do about debt can read it rather than speculate. The plan exists, it is written down, it is being executed against published targets, and the numbers have moved in the right direction for three years running, alhamdulillah.

10. Why are the federal and provincial governments not allowing empowered local governments?

The federal government cannot speak for the provinces. Their positions are their own to state, and they are perfectly capable of stating them. The Provincial Finance Commission is the instrument through which a province transfers money to its districts by formula rather than by discretion. Where a PFC functions, local government can be real. Where it does not, it becomes much more challenging. The variation on this within and across provinces is an important element of the conversation.