AS an elected government will take the reins in the next few weeks, it is pertinent to ask why the caretaker set-up is bulldozing the privatisation and restructuring of state-owned enterprises. The ECP had only a few days ago stopped the interim administration from overhauling the FBR, telling the caretakers to focus their energies on ‘routine’ matters. Similarly, the election watchdog had also stopped the interim government from going ahead with PIA’s restructuring. Unfortunately, the caretakers have flouted the ECP’s specific orders regarding the flag carrier, as on Tuesday the federal cabinet approved a plan to restructure PIA. The cabinet has also approved the privatisation of the First Women Bank.

What sort of message are the caretakers — who will return to their day jobs very soon — sending by defying the ECP? This sort of behaviour tells the common citizens that even those who are supposed to be guardians of the law flout it at will. Moreover, whether it is streamlining the tax machinery, or privatising SOEs, the question arises: what’s the rush? The caretakers’ mandate is limited to holding polls and running day-to-day affairs, and that mandate will expire soon. Why, then, is the interim set-up taking decisions that will have far-reaching consequences for the state and taxpayer? Even if one is to consider the (limited) powers granted to the caretakers by the last parliament in July 2023, the decisions the interim set-up is taking appear to be a ‘creative’ reinterpretation of these provisions, as the ECP has reminded the administration of its restricted role. There can be little doubt that loss-making SOEs, such as PIA, which haemorrhages hundreds of billions of rupees in losses, need to be privatised and that taxpayers cannot continue to bear the burden of these white elephants. A financial reckoning of SOEs is essential. But this job must be left to the incoming parliament, answerable to voters, and should not be rushed through.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2024