Less talk, more action

Published January 23, 2014

GIVEN the sharply rising arc of terrorist violence in the country, any work undertaken to revive the economy will be nothing more than tinkering at the margins. What is required urgently is for the prime minister to shed the demeanour of Bahadur Shah Zafar and show to the country that Pakistan does indeed have a leader.

I don’t invoke the name of the last Mughal ruler in vain at this time. The body language and leadership persona displayed by the prime minister is being so widely panned by every category of observer in and out of the country that there is little to talk about so long as this image of weakness and capitulation remains.

It is well into the second half of the fiscal year, and the country is still in critical danger of a run on its reserves. The government is counting on a series of large-scale strategic investment decisions to be made in this very period — decisions like auction of 3G licences for the telecom sector — to meet its uphill reserve targets in the next six months.

Given the rapidly deteriorating security environment, a prime minister with a droopy countenance and indecisive government is not encouraging for investors. What is worse is when the government is loudly and widely being accused of having capitulated, of having gone down on its knees before the militant onslaught, pleading for talks when it is clear the terrorists are not interested in talking.

Strategic drift in matters of existential importance for the country is a terrible thing to behold for ordinary citizens, but asking someone to lay down long-term strategic stakes in this environment means having to offer rentier levels of returns as an inducement. The prime minister may be largely powerless to change the environment in the short term, but he can at least signal to the country that a functioning government does indeed exist and anybody who thinks they can murder our citizens and get away with it is mistaken.

This might sound like a tall order right now, but it’s important to understand that the timeline is stacked against the government. This government inherited a strengthened democratic order, and brought a large people’s mandate to rule. In return, they were expected to deliver on two fronts: economy and security.

Here are three things they simply cannot do. One, they cannot fail in one area and deliver in another because both are linked. Two, they cannot blame their predecessors, because there is much their predecessors have given them that they ought to be grateful for — a democracy striking roots, for starters. Three, they cannot adopt a wait-and-see strategy because time is not on their side.

The year 2014 is the year to deliver. Starting in 2015, the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would be complete, and the United States will start to turn inward as the election cycle gets under way for choosing a whole new president and a whole new team in 2016.

A whole new set of challenges will open up for our country under those circumstances, some internal and some that will come from the regional environment.

The internal challenges will grow out of the government’s ability to undertake structural reforms, particularly in the power sector, because the rising oil import bill will forever be a drain on our reserves and a source of anxiety in our economy.

The regional challenges will emanate from how Afghanistan’s stability plays out in the years immediately following the American withdrawal, and how far regional powers like India and Iran get drawn in as a result.

Pakistan is destined to fall off the international community’s radar once that happens, and will have to negotiate a new place for itself in the aftermath. This is the year to make it all happen and make sure the ship of state is sitting on a relatively even keel by the time the moment of its trial arrives.

There is no more waiting. For six months we heard the government is waiting for the chief justice to retire before making any big moves, and now we hear that a new all-party conference is needed to forge a new consensus. At this rate we’ll spend the entire year talking and discussing and waiting and scratching our heads and handing out compensation cheques and making hospital visits to give little pep talks to those fortunate enough to have survived — and leave the fighting to our schoolchildren and TV anchors.

Make no mistake, Nawaz Sharif has been handed a prime ministership that is empowered in ways no prime minister has been for over three decades now. He has the seat for five years, and simple math tells us that the hand of the superpower will lift right in the middle of his term. Getting a tight handle on the security and economic situation is something that must happen in this year before other challenges start materialising.

Nobody is expecting Nawaz Sharif to solve our security and economic issues in this year. But it is important to demonstrate strong leadership. Sending a signal of strong and clear intent is the need of the hour. Every day that passes, when more terror incidents happen and no clear response comes from the government, is a day lost on a finite timeline.

The moment to talk is long past. The time to act has arrived.

The writer is a business journalist and 2013-2014 Pakistan Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington D.C.

khurram.husain@gmail.com

Twitter: @khurramhusain

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.