The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led coalition government is of the opinion that the establishment should also take ownership of the impending ‘tough economic decisions’ by showing support to the government through a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting.
According to a report by The Express Tribune, the coalition government’s indecision regarding the implementation of tough economic decisions that would avert the economic crisis was due to a desire for ‘powerful circles’ of the country to be in agreement with the government’s agenda.
A lawmaker associated with the ruling alliance said that security establishment that sits on the NSC meetings knows that there is “no security issue more important than a worsening economy.”
The lawmaker protested that the security establishment cannot operate as mere spectators while the sitting government is forced to ‘burn political capital’ and solve the problems that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government created in the past four years.
“The same security establishment sat in the NSC meetings and supported those decisions,” he added.
Currently, there is an on-going back and forth between the government and the ‘powerful stakeholders’ regarding the decision to end the subsidy on petroleum products to revive the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
The lawmaker further said that if the security establishment did not want to take ownership of the stringent economic decisions, then it would be best to not remain in government.
Previously, several members of the PML-N have hinted at the possibility of walking away from government, with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah saying that they would not bear the burden of the previous governments economic decisions.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz also said during a rally on May 19 that it would be better to quit the government than to burden the people with further price hike.
