PML-N manifesto has seeds of confrontation with military leadership
By Ashraf Mumtaz
LAHORE, Dec 26: Knowing well that it stands no chance to return to power as long as President Pervez Musharraf is on the political scene, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has presented a comprehensive manifesto for the coming elections, offering solutions to a number of problems in different sectors.
Inflation, education, health and unemployment have been addressed in separate chapters. The party has also promised to improve the lot of the common man through various steps.
The manifesto shows that Mian Nawaz Sharif is still determined to restore the prime minister’s powers, which were taken away through the Legal Framework Order, subsequently endorsed by the parliament.
He is committed to restoring the Constitution to its pre-coup (Oct 12, 1999) shape — a mission ostensibly very difficult to accomplish as the military leadership will not tolerate anyone trying to undercut its role in governance. The PML-N also says it will disband the National Security Council, an institution of civil-military partnership, and put in place an alternative arrangement.
Mr Sharif lays emphasis on the reinstatement of deposed judges, an aim that can be achieved only if his party on its own, or with support from other parties, gets a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament.
The PML-N has assured the electorate it would see to it that wheat, rice, sugar and edible oil were available at reasonable prices.
The minimum wage of workers will be set at Rs5,000 per month.
EDUCATION: The PML-N has pledged to ensure that education in all public sector institutions up to higher secondary is free of cost. The system will work through provision of a transferable voucher scheme to encourage competition between public sector educational institutions.
The party has also committed itself to achieving a cent per cent enrolment in middle school education by 2012 and in secondary education (matriculation) by 2015. It envisions an 80 per cent enrolment in higher secondary education (intermediate) by 2020.
It assures the electorate that all students who get first division in both matric and intermediate examinations will be given a place in a public sector college in their tehsil/taluka/sub-division. The party plans to achieve this target by 2010. Only time will tell whether the public sector will be able to accommodate all first divisioners.
The manifesto says a ‘national education corps’ will be set up to engage all jobless graduates in literacy and adult education programmes with the objective of achieving universal adult literacy by 2010, 100 per cent adult education up to middle level by 2015, and adult education for all up to matric by 2020.
The federal government will fund 50 per cent of the public sector education programme up to higher secondary level through grants to provinces. And it would meet all financial needs of public sector universities and higher education institutions through grants.
The party has also committed itself to providing maximum facilities for promoting science education and vocational training for all middle and high school students.
At present, students of the same classes studying in different institutions have to study different syllabi as there is no uniformity. To address this problem, the PML-N says the national curricula will be standardised and adopted at all levels to eliminate class-based education.
It will certainly be a step in the right direction and in national interest.
The manifesto gives priority to creation of job opportunities. It has set an ambitious target of providing new employment opportunities to over three million people in the public and private sectors.
A programme of vigorous industrialisation and small and medium enterprises will be undertaken in both urban and rural areas to absorb unemployed labour.
A ‘national employment fund’ will be created to assist qualified and skilled youth to set up their own business or professional practice. Self-employment on individual or cooperative basis will be given maximum support.
Employment opportunities for qualified doctors will be provided by constructing more hospitals; extending soft-term loans on personal surety to set up their private practice; and giving tax concessions for establishment and expansion of private hospitals.
A comprehensive programme will be implemented for the full absorption of engineers, scientists and other skilled manpower, including a new ‘national consultancy policy’ for the use of consultants, strengthening and expansion of existing scientific institutions, creation of new institutes for modern technologies and making it obligatory for industrialists to hire adequate expertise in their respective fields.
A programme for the development of technical skills to produce trained and employable manpower will be implemented.
IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN: The PML-N acknowledges the importance of women in the development of a country. The party claims it has a plan to give women their rights. It promises to give preference to woman teachers in primary education, promote female education and healthcare programmes to overcome the gender gap.
Mr Sharif’s pledges to dispense with “election cells”, set up a commission to look into the Kargil crisis, bring the defence budget within the purview of the parliament sound very nice, but are risky nevertheless. Such steps have the seeds of another confrontation between the PML-N and the military leadership.
