PM's mission

Courtesy:-  S RAHMAN

Good governance one must learn from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who takes personal interest in each and every dimension of governance aimed at bringing relief in the lives of ordinary people as it is his utmost desire to provide an environment of economic and social security to the people of Pakistan with complete transparency and fairness.

This fairness factor is in fact the hallmark of PML-N leadership in general and Nawaz Sharif in particular. It is not just the statistics released by Transparency International that stand testimony to this fact about Sharif's transparent and honest ways of doing things, it is rather a fact widely acknowledged in the public. The fact is that the people from all walks of life trust Sharif on his words and on his commitments. And this trust owes to the practical demonstration of honest governance by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government whose track record so far has remained unblemished.

Although the government is in place for a period of few months, it can be said with authenticity that given its direction in which the government is moving forward with faith in its destiny, there is no likelihood of repetition of the corrupt practices of the past. Those who know Nawaz Sharif well, opine that corruption is an anathema to PM Sharif meaning thereby that he detests corruption as a curse. So, if Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report reveals that there has been marked improvement in Pakistan's system of governance with considerable reduction in corrupt practices as well as in the perception of corruption, nothing wrong has been said in this report. The CPI report says that Pakistan has improved by 13 points in the Corruption Perception Index in 2013 which means during the incumbency of Nawaz Sharif's government. Previously, it stood at the position of 42nd most corrupt country in 2011 and then gone to the 33rd position in 2012.

The actual facts relevant to PML-N government and PM Sharif speak volumes of their dedication to evolving a system free from outlets of corruption because focus is on delivering for which purpose the government has adopted pragmatic planning in keeping with the ground realities but at the same time not at all succumbing to external pressures to which Pakistan had been subjected to its (Pakistan's) detriment obviously due to the obsequious (or their servile ) conduct of former regimes vis-a-vis the foreign masters.

This is no easy task to accomplish but the Sharif government stands determined to take up this daunting challenge, deriving strength from and relying fully on the people's mandate that it always values as a sacred trust entrusted upon the PML-N by the people of Pakistan.

The government's good intentions and good direction can also be confirmed from its excellent performance that too in a very brief period of time. Its sustained fight against energy crisis has yielded positive results and now the load-shedding has gone. There are strong indications that it would remain at the lowest ebb even during the next summer when energy consumption is at its all-time high level. The reasons for this optimism are quite sound since the diplomatic missions undertaken with exceptional speed in different directions by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, are strong indicators of an early end to load-shedding. Almost every technologically advanced country of the world is either being visited by the two dignitaries or agreements and memoranda of understanding signed with them for increasing the country's energy capacity. Some recent measures undertaken in this area are talks with European countries, Turkey, China and lately with United States for generating power through all available means that include generation through hydel power, solar energy, coal, wind and through alternate, renewable sources (including the solid waste). The government is also serious about early completion of Diamer Bhasha, Dasu and Bonji dams and, on PM's instructions, work on transmission lines for Neelum Jhelum hydel project has already begun (in the previous/original blueprint the transmission lines would have taken additional two to three years after the project's commissioning. The PM intervened to make this project welfare-oriented in practice for the public). The prime goal before the government is producing affordable energy-mix so that the people/ordinary consumers were not burdened further with heavy electricity bills.

This people-friendly approach has two-pronged positive effects. On one hand, it has strengthened the leader-led bond and on the other, it is adding to the self-confidence of Nawaz Sharif government to take up yet bigger challenges without getting unnerved with the enormity of these challenges. It has a third positive dimension, as well. And that is the foreign collaboration factor. Given these accomplishments, the country is able to get yet greater co-operation from foreign governments and companies that are already willing to invest in Pakistan besides launching joint ventures in different sectors including the power sector.

Even at home, the industrial concerns generating captive power are being given incentives as recently announced by the Prime Minister. Most inspiring of the announcements made by Prime Minister is about the empowerment of youth through self-sustaining schemes that will ensure expansion of the self-employment sector through easy loans and technical guidelines for youth. This is going to bring about an economic revolution, not merely economic turnaround because youth constitute more than 40/ 50 per cent of the national populace. Well done Mr Prime Minister! Not a single area of public welfare has been ignored at any level.

Even the most neglected area of anti-terror laws has been taken up with the result that the country would soon be rid of those legal lacunae that have been contributing to violence and social rift. The challenge of sectarianism has also been taken by the horns as the government appears fully determined to do fire-fighting in all directions without surrendering before the bad guys. All these steps point out towards one thing that Sharif government knows the true meaning of representative democracy that is the main platform of delivering social justice, equality, prosperity and service to the masses with transparency free from the scourge of corruption.
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Young achievers

The Indus Water Treaty and the World Bank

Budget 2017-2018: an anodyne view