Prime Minister Imran Khan wants the PTI’s “Tiger Force” to keep an eye on government offices, markets, educational institutions, excursion places, police stations, courts, land records, electricity theft, hospitals, etc. He has instructed SAPM Usman Dar to gear up the Tigers through an appropriate e-surveyance system for this purpose. The plan also envisages a vigourous Tiger Force membership drive on education campuses. The ostensible aim of this project is to improve local government efficiency and root out corruption. Will it succeed?
It may be recalled that only a few months ago when Covid-19 was raging across the country, Imran Khan exhorted the Tiger Force to lend a helping hand to local administrators in effecting lockdowns and quarantines. But local administrators, police officials and politicians successfully resisted the incursion of ill-informed, untrained and politically aggressive Tigers into their domains because there was no legal structure behind their interventions. Indeed, the Tigers often ended up creating hurdles and bottlenecks by their spontaneous and self-righteous actions and alienated the public at large. So what has motivated Imran Khan to persist with this project?
One reason may be the swelling river of young unemployed. About 25 million people fall into this category because PTI’s economic mismanagement has pushed the economy into a trough of negative growth from which no early recovery is forecast. Many among them are angry, frustrated, alienated, depressed, dejected and, in consequence, given to aggression and criminality. Since Imran Khan cannot provide them with jobs as promised, perhaps he thinks this project will keep them occupied in a “national cause or purpose” and restrain them from straying into unlawful activities or political protests. Another reason may be Imran Khan’s intention of creating a party political street force to counter any equivalent opposition movement to oust him from office. Certainly, the opposition parties are edging toward an alliance for an in-house change in parliament that gets rid of Imran Khan, calls off his witch-hunt against them and paves the way for some sort of consensus government to better manage the affairs of the federation until free and fair elections can be held.
Much the same sort of considerations may be behind the PTI government’s attempt to railroad a money-laundering bill under the garb of FATF-necessity that has been blocked by the opposition in the Senate. Raza Rabbani, the ex-PPP Chairman of the Senate, has accused the government of malicious intent. He has questioned the granting of powers to various agencies to arrest citizens without warrants and punitive measures against individuals, businesses and entities who fail to report corruption to investigating agencies or refuse to cooperate with them in unearthing financial crimes. “This is an attempt to make Pakistan a nation of approvers and spies”, he warns, implying that the law, if passed, would target supporters and sympathizers of the opposition in business and civil society. The FATF, it may be stressed, aims to monitor and stop financing of terrorism and is not seeking laws for surveyance and regulation of everyday business practices for which other financial laws already exist.
The government’s political objectives behind such moves are also revealed by renewed attempts to goad various state agencies and courts to harass and browbeat the opposition into submission. For instances, attempts to declare Nawaz Sharif as an absconder in one case, or refutation of his medical reports originally approved by the Punjab government in another case, or pressure on the British government to facilitate his extradition, all fall into this category. The fresh NAB summons on Maryam Nawaz and a sudden convening of the cases against father and daughter in the Islamabad High Court also seem to suggest similar tactics. It seems as if the government has been shaken by a phone conversation between Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazal ur Rahman and fears a closing of ranks before the All Parties Conference scheduled next month.
For a government that has been selected and propped up by the powerful Miltablishment – and hence considered “safe” – it is strange to find it obsessed by insecurity and conspiracy theories to such an extent that it has abandoned all efforts at good governance and public service and is only focused on hounding opposition leaders. In fact, as the country’s top legal eagle Aitzaz Ahsan has pointed out, some of its ministers have descended to such low levels of personal abuse and threats of violence against the Sharifs that they may have inadvertently spoilt their own case with the UK courts and authorities for extraditing Nawaz Sharif et al.
A winter of discontent is approaching. The Miltablishment has given Imran Khan until the new year to get his act together, or else. It simply cannot afford any longer to stake its own credibility and reputation on a failing government that has impoverished both economy and politics. Sensing that the time is fast approaching for a confrontation, both opposition and government are girding up their loins for the coming heave-ho.
It may be recalled that only a few months ago when Covid-19 was raging across the country, Imran Khan exhorted the Tiger Force to lend a helping hand to local administrators in effecting lockdowns and quarantines. But local administrators, police officials and politicians successfully resisted the incursion of ill-informed, untrained and politically aggressive Tigers into their domains because there was no legal structure behind their interventions. Indeed, the Tigers often ended up creating hurdles and bottlenecks by their spontaneous and self-righteous actions and alienated the public at large. So what has motivated Imran Khan to persist with this project?
One reason may be the swelling river of young unemployed. About 25 million people fall into this category because PTI’s economic mismanagement has pushed the economy into a trough of negative growth from which no early recovery is forecast. Many among them are angry, frustrated, alienated, depressed, dejected and, in consequence, given to aggression and criminality. Since Imran Khan cannot provide them with jobs as promised, perhaps he thinks this project will keep them occupied in a “national cause or purpose” and restrain them from straying into unlawful activities or political protests. Another reason may be Imran Khan’s intention of creating a party political street force to counter any equivalent opposition movement to oust him from office. Certainly, the opposition parties are edging toward an alliance for an in-house change in parliament that gets rid of Imran Khan, calls off his witch-hunt against them and paves the way for some sort of consensus government to better manage the affairs of the federation until free and fair elections can be held.
Much the same sort of considerations may be behind the PTI government’s attempt to railroad a money-laundering bill under the garb of FATF-necessity that has been blocked by the opposition in the Senate. Raza Rabbani, the ex-PPP Chairman of the Senate, has accused the government of malicious intent. He has questioned the granting of powers to various agencies to arrest citizens without warrants and punitive measures against individuals, businesses and entities who fail to report corruption to investigating agencies or refuse to cooperate with them in unearthing financial crimes. “This is an attempt to make Pakistan a nation of approvers and spies”, he warns, implying that the law, if passed, would target supporters and sympathizers of the opposition in business and civil society. The FATF, it may be stressed, aims to monitor and stop financing of terrorism and is not seeking laws for surveyance and regulation of everyday business practices for which other financial laws already exist.
The government’s political objectives behind such moves are also revealed by renewed attempts to goad various state agencies and courts to harass and browbeat the opposition into submission. For instances, attempts to declare Nawaz Sharif as an absconder in one case, or refutation of his medical reports originally approved by the Punjab government in another case, or pressure on the British government to facilitate his extradition, all fall into this category. The fresh NAB summons on Maryam Nawaz and a sudden convening of the cases against father and daughter in the Islamabad High Court also seem to suggest similar tactics. It seems as if the government has been shaken by a phone conversation between Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazal ur Rahman and fears a closing of ranks before the All Parties Conference scheduled next month.
For a government that has been selected and propped up by the powerful Miltablishment – and hence considered “safe” – it is strange to find it obsessed by insecurity and conspiracy theories to such an extent that it has abandoned all efforts at good governance and public service and is only focused on hounding opposition leaders. In fact, as the country’s top legal eagle Aitzaz Ahsan has pointed out, some of its ministers have descended to such low levels of personal abuse and threats of violence against the Sharifs that they may have inadvertently spoilt their own case with the UK courts and authorities for extraditing Nawaz Sharif et al.
A winter of discontent is approaching. The Miltablishment has given Imran Khan until the new year to get his act together, or else. It simply cannot afford any longer to stake its own credibility and reputation on a failing government that has impoverished both economy and politics. Sensing that the time is fast approaching for a confrontation, both opposition and government are girding up their loins for the coming heave-ho.