THERE is apparently a remedy that encourages a suffering someone to drown his worries in high-profile development projects. And if this is indeed the answer to relieve tension and disconnect oneself from unwanted troublesome causes, no one comes close to self-applying it more expertly than Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

In his previous term, the chief minister set about creating an altogether different province for him to develop according to his own wishes. He found a developmental escape in the Turkish model. He brought home the metro bus so many in Lahore liked then and have grown to like. Since then, in his new term, Shahbaz is partial to the China shop that offers immense solutions for him to disregard, if not totally forget, a host of urgent tasks that cry out for his attention.

The latest developmental wonder that has been promised to Lahore is a metro train, financed by China. Its first stretch, around 27 kilometres long, is to be typically vividly described as the orange line, and it will complement the highly subsidised red bus that is the source of so much envy all around and that is often used to illustrate the behind-the-times governments in other provinces.

No urgency is felt in power places that forever echo with Shahbazian vows of progress.

There are other development projects that the Punjab chief minister is pursuing, acting as a model for his counterparts in other provinces. Some of these involve Chinese cooperation, most notably in the areas of energy generation. All these inspire hopes of better, less complicated days ahead, but no less poignant is the Punjab government’s inability to come up with steps to ease the frustrated minds stuck in the quagmire of unreason that is getting deeper with time.

The murder of a lawyer in Multan who was representing a blasphemy accused is old news. More people have since fallen to mock a government which is not only unable to protect lives, but which has shown little inclination of finding time out of its pet developmental project to even appear concerned at these incidents of brutal killing.

There is this image of an America-based cardiologist who was murdered a couple of days after he landed to serve the country of his origin. He was killed in the name of faith, and while there has been condemnation of the murder, there have been far too many instances in the past of the government keeping its distance from such incidents in the past for anyone to have any false expectations of action by the government.

The instance of a young pregnant woman bludeoned to death at the doorstep of the Lahore High Court will be relatively easier for the government to take up. Reports tell us that a police raiding team was already on its way to trace and arrest the accused killers a few hours after the young woman, who had committed the ultimate crime of marrying a man of her choice, went down under a volley of bricks hurled at her by her close relatives.

There were reports that the policemen watched on as she was attacked. These policemen are now open to an investigation and maybe censure, but again if the past is any guide, even police officials suspended for neglect are quietly drafted back into duty.

The chief minister is frequently constrained to ‘take notice’ of crimes. Sometimes an incident is serious enough and requires the chief minister to express his sentiment by visiting the victim’s house. But there are just too many bad things happening in areas under his watch for the one-and-only to intervene personally every time.

Too much territory, too many jobs stay unattended. Even the PML-N tribe is finding the summer and authority too much to bear, and there is a certain brand of violent streak in the ruling members of the Punjab Assembly who could do with a little bit of controlling from the top. The slap in the face of a doctor in Sumundari hasn’t quite got the television coverage given to similar acts by lawmakers in the past, which doesn’t mean that it should go un-tackled by the PML-N bosses. It is said the doctor was assaulted for not showing respect to a PML-N member of the Punjab Assembly who was then defended by a local traders’ group.

The traders found the situation urgent enough to come up with a defence for the MPA but no urgency was felt in power places that forever echo with Shahbazian vows of progress. It was a big enough occurrence to merit official or party response, for or against the MPA.

Pending a possible late reaction, nothing could be heard from the CM in the days immediately following the assault, until a set of ruling MPAs were seen attacking a group of opposition members outside the Punjab Assembly.

A visibly aggressive PML-N is upset that the opposition in Punjab wants to shift the focus away from the development projects and onto some darker aspects of people’s lives. That is a legitimate point and there is some developmental activity going on, for which the credit cannot be denied to the zealous chief minister.

At the same time, not everyone is as efficient at concentrating on the positives to an extent where the bad things disappear from view. It is a very selective view, which, just as it highlights progress elsewhere, allows, even justifies, neglect and silence elsewhere.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2014