The PTI who cries wolf

            Ismaeel Qasim

Everybody as a child must have heard the story of the boy who cried wolf. It ultimately led to his demise as people stopped trusting his word after a while. The PTI government can learn a lesson or two from that. They are only 2 months into their government and have already made several claims that they have failed to uphold, and their deliverance or implementations have been delayed. This does not bode well for a government that has adopted populist rhetoric in its election campaign and rode a wave of popularity into highest office.

Imran Khan promised to make Pakistan a Medina like welfare state, that was a long shot considering the current political and geo strategic challenges that are facing the country. Also, the transnational threats and the ideological slaughtering is an issue that stands tall and strong in way of Pakistan becoming a Medina-welfare state. So even if Khan visualized of bringing such a great change, he could have done it without crying about it so early in his regime. I am sure none of the current policy makers have deeply studied the State of Medina. It is more likely being used as a political gimmick to trick the public just like Nawaz Sharif used the title of ‘Ameer-ul-Momineen’ or Islamization purported by Zia regime before him.

Another wolf cry that has been getting a lot of attention lately was the promise of PTI of not going to the IMF for any monetary relief. These claims came at a time when Pakistan was facing economic crises of the highest level, it still is and hence as a last resort after chewing out all other means, the PTI led government has been forced to knock the doors of the IMF again. And contrary to the common belief of our society which takes is nothing less than a sin and feel embarrassed about it, it is to be made clear here that it is not as bad as many take it to be. Even the strongest of the economies have faced economic crises and they have relied on economic relief for specific periods.

In fact, it is not so distant memory that reminds us that Pakistan itself lend Rs120 million loan to West Germany in 1963 and which now is one of the greatest European economies. But the point being, PTI should not have made it a matter of self-respect and highlighted it as much as they did. They could have initially taken economic relief quietly, used it to strengthen their manufacturing capabilities, sorted out their institutional imbalances and stabilized the economy. As a result, nobody would have even questioned this move of them. What they did was the same again, cried wolf and lost their trust more of not backing up what they say they will do. Even still Imran Khan is claiming that Pakistan may not have to go to IMF when at the same time, his finance minister is in Indonesia negotiating the terms of bailout with IMF head Christian Lagarde.

Another issue that can be stated her is when the information minister Fawad Ch on his return from Saudi Arabia claimed that the Saudis had signed three grant agreements with Pakistan to finance three road infrastructure and energy projects under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Again, the case was not to be. A few days later, the government was seen clarifying the claims that the Saudi Arabia was not to be made part of the $60 billion CPEC framework, but the kingdom’s proposed investments would fall under a separate bilateral arrangement. Another hurried boast, another diplomatic embarrassment.

All these tall claims are similar to the high claims of a naïve child who focuses more on talks than products. Why in the first place were these claims made? Why did they have to talk so big when they had no proper ‘backing it up’ plans. It comes back again to the same story of the young shepherd who kept crying wolf throughout and eventually when the real wolf came, people did not show up for help because they thought that this would be another false alarm by the boy again. I dearly hope that the current political setup does not lead PTI to a fatal end as such. I also hope that the people continue to believe in Imran Khan because we all know that putting aside these few wolf cries, he and his government probably do have the capacity and the purity to lead Pakistan towards a glorious future.

Imran Khan and his entourage have repeatedly made tall claims and u-turned on them during their first two months in office. They should keep in mind the cautionary tale of boy who cried wolf.