Desperate Measures

At inception, we had inherited a country that had formed the agricultural basket of the undivided India. As such, we did not have much industry here, so we had to start from scratch. However, since civil servants then were British-trained, capable, and people of integrity, they did establish the necessary institutions like the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), Pakistan Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation (PICIC), Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) of which the first two helped establish industrial base by providing finance, technical guidance, even supervision that enabled private investors to develop various industrial units.

The banking sector was also started then and made rapid progress; the same was true for civil aviation. Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) was established and operated with the slogan ‘Great People to Fly With”, justifying every word. Moreover, our professionals even helped establish the banking and aviation industry in the Middle Eastern countries. Sugar, edible oil, and cloth mills were also set up, and Pakistan Steel Mills was established with Russian collaboration. We managed to establish a reasonable industrial base in a relatively short time.

However, with the fading out of the British-trained civil servants, corruption and nepotism established firm roots in the country. Things started worsening, especially in the case of government-owned entities, where favorites of various politicians were installed to make money for themselves and their benefactors. Moreover, these establishments employed their choices far in excess and completely disregarded personnel requirements regarding quality and quantity. Of course, the result was that some of these institutions, like PIA, which was once the pride of the nation, became a national curse, and big subsidy guzzlers—just heard about the arrangements for the divestment of PIA, which is good news in its present context.

And to add to our misfortunes, we had the Sharif and Bhutto dynasties firmly entrenched in the country, apart from other opportunists installed in smaller provinces. I remember, at one time, every one of the 65 Balochistan provincial Assembly members was either a minister or other office holder, enjoying perks.

With elections due on February 8, Sharif and Zardari dynasties are vying for top positions. Some offshoots of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and smaller parties also want their share in the pie.

The PML-N’s main achievement is to rid the country of electric load-shedding and militancy. As for curtailing load-shedding, the PML-N government brought some relief but at an exorbitant cost. It signed contracts for installed capacity far over the current requirements. Also, despite the plentiful scope for cheap, clean energy from solar, wind, and hydel sources, the plants set up were primarily based on fossil fuels. Perhaps one reason for this would have been that with the rest of the world discarding them, such plants would have been available at throw-away prices, thus providing a wide margin for padding up costs. And, of course, rising fuel prices and falling rupee values raised energy production costs substantially. Also, payment on a take-or-pay basis increased energy costs substantially, more so in times of low energy demand, which substantially inflated capacity payments. And the ‘requirement for payment in foreign exchange,’ with dwindling rupee value, further raised the costs. All this made the energy contracts ‘supplier-friendly’ instead of Pakistan-friendly.

As for ending militancy, this was done by the military, with the additional help of civilian law enforcers, while the government failed to do its part of the deal. PML-N also gave the country motorways, but unfortunately, per-mile costs are much higher than other countries in the region.

As for the Pakistan Peoples’ Party, it rightly takes credit for starting the nuclear programme. However, claiming credit for the 18th Amendment is somewhat unwarranted. Provinces benefited by clinching excessive power and financial resources from the federation but failed to devolve these further to the grassroots level, which would have helped the masses. Also, the devolution was done somewhat recklessly, and with provinces lacking the capacity to handle some functions efficiently, it lowered standards.