TNS – The News on Sunday

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Major party office bearers have been changed twice in a year to give boost to the party, but in vain. Soon after coming to power, the prime minister appointed old guard Arshad Dad from Lala Musa, Gujrat as secretary general of the party. Recently, he has been unceremoniously replaced by former federal minister Amir Mahmood Kayani, who was allegedly dropped from the cabinet over corruption charges. Arshad Dad was on a trip to US to oversee arrangements for the Arena rally for Imran Khan when he was replaced without any notice or explanation. Some critics have said that if Kayani was going to be appointed to the important office then he should have been cleared of corruption charges prior. It seems that Amir Kayani has re-emerged with the support of Aleem Khan whose position has been weakened after his arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Aleem Khan once the Punjab president of the PTI, and right-hand man of Imran Khan, has been given a cold shoulder and consigned to political oblivion. After his release from jail, he has not been restored as a minister despite his many meetings with the prime minister. Another powerful loyalist and a loud voice, Saif Niazi, has also re-appeared on the party horizon after a year although in political wilderness. For almost a year, he remained cornered within the party although in the past he used to belong to the most powerful lobby within the PTI. Now Niazi has been made party’s chief organiser by Imran Khan. He had earlier resigned from the post of additional secretary general over policies differences. It was then rumoured that the Jehangir Khan Tareen lobby had sidelined Saif Niazi. Soon after his appointment as chief organiser, Niazi organised a well attended party convention to prove that he remains a strongman. Arshad Dad, the former secretary general, was a blend of professional middle-class values and military discipline. A Gujjar from central Punjab’s Gujrat district, he shared the constituency with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira. Dad’s family had long been diehard PPP loyalists. His father Brig Sahibdad Khan was a member of the Punjab cabinet in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s days. Dad has been a successful businessman running a construction company which built the Lahore Expo Centre, besides other landmark buildings. Dad was sent by the party to Turkey and China to study their political models, and organise the party using their best features. He had planned to make the party popular like Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) with an organization resembling the Communist Party of China. [box type="shadow" align="alignright" class="red_lines" ]Because of the loose party organisation, every worker is an opinionated leader. The only binding force is the leadership of the Kaptaan, Imran Khan.[/box] Party old guards were of the view that in the event of challenge to democracy or the party from the powers that be, nearly 70 percent of party workers will stand by Imran Khan. The rest were thought to be “migratory birds”, likely to change their nests according to the weather. Arshad Dad said that in China six percent of the population has the membership of the Communist Party. It is this six percent of the population that runs the government. Under Dad the PTI was planning to recruit three percent of Pakistani population in order to sustain a network similar to the Communist Party of China. With the exit of Dad and entry of Kayani, the influence of parliamentarians will increase, and party workers will be pushed back. The party has grown inactive in the Punjab and workers seem dissatisfied and angry. The running joke among workers is that the only gain they can aspire for is a “selfie”. So a selfie is the sole medal for their party work. The Punjab party is clearly divided. There was a time when Jehangir Khan Tareen used to rule supreme. No more. With Tareen’s absence from active politics after the Supreme Court decision against him, his clout has gone down. Perhaps he is no longer taking as much interest in party affairs as he used to in the past. But he still is a powerful player. Governor Sarwar and Tareen don’t appreciate each other’s contribution to the party. The governor is also perhaps the only open ally of Tareen’s Seraiki rival Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The Sarwar-Tareen rivalry has been at work since the former became governor.  An objection to the daily iftar parties at the Governor’s House which entertained thousands of party workers was raised. It was alleged that lavish parties were being thrown at the expense of public exchequer. But the governor showed that not a penny had been spent by the government and that these were funded by his friends. Even Sarwar Foundation, the governor’s non-profit organisation came under severe fire, and he was left with no option but to step back. Also read: War on rights At the grass roots level, the PTI is divided into parallel groups. It is perhaps the only party having as many factions as workers. Because of the loose party organisation, every worker is an opinionated leader who despises other workers. The only binding force is the leadership of the Kaptaan, Imran Khan. As a local government minister, Aleem Khan, had a great plan to organise the party and identify a consensus leadership by holding local elections. But after his arrest and subsequent resignation from the ministry, the plan was shelved. The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) had built party organisation through local bodies. It continues to accommodate its active workers in the local bodies set up. The strategy worked well for the PML-N. It might have worked well for the PTI as well. [post_title] => Tabdeeli much? [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => tabdeeli-much [to_ping] => [pinged] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/war-rights/ [post_modified] => 2019-08-22 21:52:58 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-08-22 16:52:58 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=103829 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 103847 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2019-08-18 03:24:50 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-08-17 22:24:50 [post_content] => A year may seem too short a time to judge a government’s performance but it is certainly long enough to gauge its direction. In Pakistan, where deep state appears larger than the elected government, whole five-year terms are often spent clarifying that the two work in tandem rather than at cross-purposes. The question of people’s rights must be understood in the context of how power is wielded, or distributed, in a polity. This resides in the dynamics of power between the state and the government, and within Pakistan’s federal structure, in its devolution from the centre to provinces to local tiers. It is safe to assume that where there is concentrated power, there is more likelihood of abuse of rights. Challenging abuse of power by mounting collective struggle against it is a human right. Hence, both the national and international normative systems recognise the rights to freedoms of expression, speech and association as a core part of the civil and political rights framework. Since the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government assumed power a year ago, it has repeatedly stated that all national ‘institutions’ were on the same page, implying a neat break with the past. While some critics may see nothing new in it and even attribute the PTI’s electoral victory to this institutional closeness, it does make one year a decent enough time to judge the government’s performance in terms of protection of rights. With the state-government anomaly resolved, the new political dispensation is likely to stick to what it has already stated and reinforced on the completion of its hundred days in office. It was, however, after one month of assuming office that the Asia Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote a letter to the newly elected prime minister, drawing his attention to “serious” human rights challenges. The six areas he identified as needing attention were: freedom of expression and attacks on civil society; freedom of religion and belief; violence against women and girls; access to education; restoring the moratorium on death penalty; and terrorism and counter-terrorism abuses. Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari did not take the criticism too kindly and rebuked the HRW for unnecessarily and selectively meddling in the affairs of a country that was completely mindful of its obligations. Did she set the tone for the rights regime under the PTI’s ward for the next five years? To be fair, Dr Mazari has raised some of the right noises. Apart from issuing a laudatory report on her ministry’s 100 day performance, in November 2018, she suggested that the prime minister sign the International Convention against Enforced Disappearances, and stated that the PTI was “committed to ending enforced disappearances”. About the convention itself, she wanted it signed with reservations over three clauses which did not suit Pakistan. She was said to be referring to Section 26 of the convention, which allows a United Nations body to conduct surprise visits to check for missing persons. [box type="shadow" align="alignright" class="red_lines" ]The PTI government’s same-page mantra may have something to do with the sorry state of media freedoms becoming sorrier over the last year.[/box] In January, she said, her ministry had drafted a bill, amending the Pakistan Penal Code to declare enforced disappearances a criminal offence and sent it to the law ministry. None of these objectives have been achieved. Claims of the 100-day-performance-report notwithstanding, there has been only one law passed in the past year, and that is the Child Protection Bill. It began as Zainab Alert Bill after the tragic death of the little girl in Kasur months before PTI assumed power. This law too is applicable only in the capital territory. Talking of right noises, Prime Minister Imran Khan did just that when he offered citizenship to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The overarching state, domestic and regional political compulsions forced him to backtrack and make an alternative concession — that they could open bank accounts instead. There is a sense that Pakistan is more willing to fulfil its international obligations because it often has trade and other economic constraints that require it to meet certain conditionalities. Its recent crackdown on militant organisations too is seen in this light. The fact remains that there aren’t any major conventions that Pakistan has ratified this year. When it comes to converting international conventions into domestic legislation, apart from enforced disappearances, enacting a sound anti-torture law remains a major concern. The Senate had passed a Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape Act in 2015 (tabled by Senator Farhatullah Babar) but it was not passed by the National Assembly till its dissolution when the bill lapsed. It offered a more comprehensive definition of torture, and it was a huge improvement on the existing legislation. As torture by state agents against those in custody and at large continues, the government hasn’t uttered a word about going in that direction. The solidarity shown to women, children, minorities and transgenders by government functionaries is mere tokenism while the real rights — such as right to food, clean water, sanitation, education, and healthcare — remain a far cry for a majority of the people. It may be unfair to place these nearly permanent weaknesses at the current government’s doorstep, but the direction is as unclear as before and priorities as warped. Given the situation, how the government runs the economy, too, becomes a rights project. Also, the accountability overdrive cares little about recognised legal rights like due process, fair trial and dignity. Also read: The economy in reverse As stated in the beginning, holding those in power to account is a human right. Both the common man and journalists can do that through exercise of right to free speech, right to associate and the largely untested right to information. All this seems harder today. The space for expression has shrunk and is allowed to squeeze constantly. The PTI government’s same-page mantra may have something to do with the sorry state of media freedoms becoming sorrier in this one year. When Murad Saeed, a minister, stood up in the National Assembly in May this year, held a copy of the constitution in his hand and read out the “reasonable restrictions” in Article 19 and charged MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir from Waziristan with violating the constitution, he was only pointing out the shrinking space for human rights in this country under his government. This is not the first government that criminalises its citizens’ protest for their rights, under anti-terrorism laws, by declaring them traitors. Will it become the last government that tries not to? [post_title] => War on rights [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => war-rights [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2019-08-22 21:52:55 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-08-22 16:52:55 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=103847 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 103845 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2019-08-18 03:22:25 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-08-17 22:22:25 [post_content] => It was in early April this year that the World Bank predicted a steep fall in Pakistan’s economic growth after reaching an 11-year high of 5.8 percent during the fiscal year 2018. According to this prediction, the GDP growth of the country would decrease to 3.4 percent in the fiscal year 2019 and further drop to 2.7 percent in the fiscal year 2020. These estimates are very close to reality as statistics worked out from time to time show. There are several reasons for this economic slowdown, including strict fiscal and monetary policies, reduced exports, budgetary deficit, an ever-increasing debt burden and debt servicing and an overall unsatisfactory performance by the manufacturing and the agriculture sectors. The government, which set goals a year ago to arrest the decline in various sectors, is struggling to achieve the desired results in the face of chronic difficulties. The current leadership holds the previous governments responsible for the quagmire in which the country’s economy is stuck. Though all these factors are important, health of the manufacturing and agriculture sectors over the years and prospects of their growth in the near future need to be discussed clearly. This analysis is important at a time when the PTI government is completing its one year in power and is set to recount its successes and the challenges faced during this period. There is no second opinion on the fact that manufacturing and agriculture are the backbone of an economy and trigger growth of other sectors such as transportation, finance, employment, energy, road infrastructure and so on. Unlike the non-performing sectors like real estate and stocks, where money remains within a few hands, the dividends of these two sectors reach a large number of beneficiaries and result in inclusive growth. If we look at the Economic Survey of Pakistan for fiscal year 2019, we find that most of the sub-sectors of the economy, including agriculture, industry and services have missed their targets. The government has also missed the inflation, investment and savings rates targets which it set after coming to power. According to the survey, the large-scale manufacturing growth during July-March FY 2019 declined to 2.93 percent as compared to 6.33 percent in the same period last year. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, LSM growth witnessed a sharp decline of 10.63 percent in March 2019 compared to increase of 4.70 percent in March 2018. Similarly, the agriculture sector grew by 0.85 percent during this period which is much lower than the target of 3.8 percent set at the beginning of the year. The under-performance of agriculture sector was mainly due to insufficient availability of water which led to a drop in cultivated area and a fall in fertiliser sales. There are other factors including low per acre yield of crops, lack of quality seed, absence of advisory and extension services by the agriculture department, want of world class agricultural research that affect agricultural output adversely. The fall in yield of cotton crop added to the woes of the textile sector which had to overcome the shortfall by importing it. Mian Aslam Iqbal, the Punjab minister for industries, commerce and investment, admits that there are challenges. These include a drastic devaluation of rupee, dwindling forex reserves, lack of value-addition and industrial research, and export of basic items. He says the government is committed to overcoming these. Iqbal says that the government has discouraged unnecessary imports and is focusing on promoting export-oriented industries and import substitution for sustained economic growth. He claims that for the first time a production unit has been set up in the Punjab to produce glass used in windscreens. To date this glass has been imported for use in automotive industry, he adds. Iqbal says that several Chinese companies want to set up textile units in the Punjab. He says the government is insisting that they set up export-oriented plants. This will not just bring foreign exchange but will also create employment. The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association Punjab secretary, Anis ul Haq, says the government has provided them gas and electricity at competitive rates which is a step in the right direction. Although, he adds, that the impact of drastic rupee devaluation and high interest rates is quite big for the industry to bear. Elaborating this point, he says the industry has put its modification and expansion plans on hold because it has no idea of the dollar parity at which they will have to place orders. The high interest rate is also a challenge because expensive bank loans make products uncompetitive, especially in the export markets. Automobile prices witnessed multiple upward revisions due to rupee depreciation which discouraged potential buyers to book and buy vehicles. The source of income restrictions on purchase of cars further reduced the automobile demand. Similarly, pharmaceuticals suffered due to a delay in adjustments of prices by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP). Lower sugarcane production and previous year’s stocks hampered the growth of sugar industry as well. The cement industry was another loser because it faced lack of domestic demand due to slow growth, low development spending and delay in launch of the government’s low-cost housing scheme. The situation in the agriculture sector is also not good as crops witnessed negative growth of 4.4 percent during the current fiscal year. This is mainly due to the negative growth in important crops including cotton, rice and sugarcane. Their production declined by 17.5 percent, 3.3 percent and 19.4 percent respectively. However, wheat production posted a minor growth of 0.5 percent. The good news is that the domestic production of fertilisers during first three quarters of the fiscal year 2019 increased by 2.6 percent compared to the same period during the previous year. This increase was due to functioning of two urea manufacturing plants that were supplied LNG on subsidised rates. The problems faced by farmers are many and the sector too important to be ignored, says Khalid Mehmood Khokhar, the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad president. These include lack of modern agriculture technology, limited availability of farm credit, water logging and salinity, expensive inputs, low crop yields, water shortage, archaic methods of farming, plant diseases, poor seed quality, climate change and disasters. In a move to boost agriculture sector, the PTI government has announced the launch of Prime Minister’s National Agriculture Emergency Programme worth Rs 309.7 billion. It mainly focuses on productivity enhancement of wheat, rice, sugarcane and oilseeds, conserving water through lining of watercourses, enhancing command area of small and mini dams in rain-fed areas, and water conservation in rain-fed areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Also read: Core issues  Khokhar questions the government’s decision to exclude cotton crop from this package while allocating funds only for boosting production of wheat, rice and sugar that are already in abundance. He says cotton feeds the textile industry, and edible oil sector, adding that its contribution to the exports of the country is above 60 percent. Despite its importance, he says, the government is not incentivising cotton growers who are now considering sowing other crops in the next season. “There is no support price for cotton in Pakistan even though competitor countries offer it to their farmers.” He alleges that this policy helps the powerful textile sector buy cotton – their basic raw material – at low cost. The sugar industry on the other hand, he says, is dominated by the powerful elite of the country who have managed to impose a 45 percent duty on the import of sugar. Unfortunately, he says, cotton can be imported with 5 percent import duty which makes it challenging for the local farmers. [post_title] => The economy in reverse [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => economy-reverse [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2019-08-22 21:53:35 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-08-22 16:53:35 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=103845 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) [3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 103849 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2019-08-18 03:20:06 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-08-17 22:20:06 [post_content] => The sustainable development of a country is dependent on various social, political and economic factors including education, employment, community safety, stable political environment and social supports. Economic growth can be defined as a positive change in the level of goods and services produced by a country over a certain period of time. This growth is related to increase in per capita national output or net national product of a country that remains constant or sustained for many years. Some of the important factors that affect the economic growth of a country include educated and skilled human resource, natural resources, capital formation that involves land, building, machinery, energy, transportation, and technological development. Social factors affect lifestyles and life choices, wealth, buying habits, education levels, family size and structure, and population density. Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) data shows that up to 40 percent of Pakistanis live below the poverty line – on an income of $1 a day or less. Consumption-based poverty is more than 29.5 percent, and multidimensional poverty which include, health, education and living standards has reached 38.8 percent. Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children (OOSC). According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) an estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 are not attending school, representing 44 percent of the population in this age group. Census and Economic Information Centre (CEIC) data shows the unemployment rate of Pakistan in 2018 was 5.79 percent. The reasons for this included lack of resources, investment and opportunities, a poor education system, energy crises, and violence. “To create sustainable economic and social growth the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) offers an important public sector investment, which channels domestic and foreign resources to implement development programmes prepared by the federal, provincial and local agencies,” says economist Qais Aslam. As a result of enhanced resources made available to the provinces under the new National Finance Commission (NFC) Award and the 18th Constitutional Amendment, size of the provincial Annual Development Programmes (ADPs) has increased from 2010-2011, while the ratio between the federal PSDP and provincial ADPs has reduced correspondingly. However, during a media briefing, Parliamentary Secretary on Planning Kanwal Shauzab said that the 18th Amendment does not allow the “creation of four states within a state”, and that the federal government still holds the authority to ask provinces about implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Following the culmination of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, the United Nations adopted more comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a collection of 17 global goals and 169 targets. As a demonstration of political commitment, Pakistan integrated the SDGs into its national development agenda in February 2016, becoming the first country to do so. In terms of institutional arrangement, task forces in the national and provincial assemblies have been established to review progress and facilitate legislative support for implementation. Seven SDGs Support Units instituted at federal and provincial levels facilitate vertical and horizontal coordination among the stakeholders. Government of Pakistan has submitted its first Voluntary National Review (VNR) of SDG implementation during the July 2019 session of the UN High-level Political Forum (HLPF). The key messages of this report focus on the country’s political commitment, institutional readiness and partnerships plans to alleviate poverty; commitment to eliminating hunger and improving health; action on environmental protection; and monitoring and evaluation. According to the government, the national resolve to eliminate poverty is firm. A national poverty alleviation program Ehsaas (compassion) has been launched this year to expand social protection, safety nets and support human capital development throughout the country. The National Socioeconomic Registry (NSR) is being updated to target the poorest more effectively and ensure that no one is left behind. Furthermore, the government has also announced to increase the allocation of resources while focusing on eliminating hunger. Coordinator at the Pakistan Development Alliance (PDA), Zia Ur Rehman, says that the government’s plan to eliminate poverty appears over ambitious as recent trends indicate an economic downturn, high levels of inflation, rising food and water insecurity, and loss of livelihoods. “Unfortunately, we cannot find any productive policy at the federal or provincial level that might help counter inflation, manage resources for public goods and services (particularly for sexual and reproductive health, and life skills based education, girls right to quality secondary education), pervasive gender-based violence and discrimination, and lack of access to justice.” The government has also launched a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) initiative, the Sehat Sahulat Program, to provide health insurance coverage for those in need. This programme will benefit approximately 15 million people living below the poverty line. For the purpose of performance review, a National Steering Committee has been formed which includes representations from federal, provincial and regional health departments. SPO Regional Head, Shahnawaz Khan, says that reducing economic inequality requires transformative change to empower and promote inclusive social and economic growth. “Greater efforts are necessary to eradicate extreme poverty, and to invest more in health, education, social protection and jobs especially for the young, migrants and other vulnerable communities.” “The economic inequalities in Pakistan based on income, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion and opportunity have grown,” he adds. Violence against children has increased from nine cases per day in 2017 to twelve cases per day in the first six months of 2018. Ending violence against children is necessary to attain sustainable social development – SDG 16.2 calls for ending violence against children. Moreover, target 8.7 calls for ending forced and child labour as well as modern forms of slavery. Target 5.3 calls for ending all forms of harmful traditional practices including early-, child- and forced-marriages. Iftikhar Mubarik, the Search for Justice executive director, says that to achieve the targets of social development there is a dire need to revisit the style of governance. “Elimination of social dilemmas must be the government’s priority which is, unfortunately, rare in current governance.” The government claims that it has surpassed national commitments on environment and climate change under the Bonn Challenge through its Billion Tree plantation, which is spread over 350,000 hectares. It has scaled up the commitment to a five-year, country-wide tree plantation drive, known as the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami, to restore forests and mitigate climate change. Moreover, it has launched the Clean and Green Pakistan initiative. Also read: A legislature less bothered Dr Qais Aslam expresses concern on the overall policy for combating the threat of climate change. He says that the glaciers in the three great mountain ranges – the Himalayas, the Karakoram and the Hindu Kush, which is the most heavily glaciated area apart from the Polar Regions, have thinned, retreated and lost mass. “Deforestation in the country, especially in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is at its peak, and river waters are getting polluted rapidly. No policy has been introduced yet to combat such a threatening situation.” Apart from combating climate change, he says there is no uniform education policy in the country. He says education and health budgets are miniscule. There’s a long way to go in obtaining gender equality, he says adding that there is no productive policy catering to daily wagers and homebased workers, and to fight poverty. “The current justice system is also incapable of dispensing justice”, he says. “The vision of our policy makers is defective as no single policy reflects the coherent approach to invest in generations to come,” says Dr Aslam. [post_title] => Core issues [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => core-issues [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2019-08-22 21:54:16 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-08-22 16:54:16 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=103849 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) [4] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 103851 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2019-08-18 03:18:43 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-08-17 22:18:43 [post_content] => The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) completes its first parliamentary year this week. But while that may be an accomplishment for the party which promised change, observers term its past one year’s legislative performance dismal and insufficient in taking the parliamentary process forward. In its first year, the PTI government not only failed to evolve national consensus on key issues including security, economy and social development through the parliament but also struggled to convene the assembly for 130 working days – a minimum annual requirement under the National Assembly rules. In a bid to meet this requirement, parliamentary observers believe the assembly remained in session even until last week with pending business on its agenda, and included holidays to complete the count. The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) noted that the current assembly convened for a total of 137 days during its first year while the previous National Assembly worked for 130 days during its first year. During its session, the house frequently failed to ensure discipline. Proceedings remained either marred due to opposition protests or adjourned to avoid government-opposition confrontation. The ruling PTI-led coalition passed ten bills and introduced eight ordinances in the first parliamentary year in the National Assembly. The previous assembly passed eleven bills during their first parliamentary year 2013-2014 while the assembly prior to that passed five bills during their first year 2008-2009. Of the ten bills passed in the National Assembly, four sailed through the Senate while three remain pending in the upper house. The remaining three bills passed relate to the annual budget. In total, seven bills have turned into acts since the PTI government came to power in August 2018. This figure is less than the number of presidential ordinances – eight – passed during the same year. The recently enacted laws relate to finance, defence production and election in the tribal areas of Pakistan. “There is no improvement in the general environment of the assembly as compared to the past,” says Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president PILDAT. “This is because of sustained bitterness and confrontation with the opposition for almost an entire year.” He says such environment not only affects the process of healthy debate but also provides challenging environment during legislation. “There has been no significant legislation passed by this assembly during its first year,” he says. Only ten bills have passed while 50 had been tabled, including many private member bills. “This is contrary to the PTI manifesto and reforms promise, which requires more serious legislation,” he adds. Mehboob says given the evidence it can be concluded that the PTI’s performance in the parliament during the first year has not been satisfactory. He foresees more challenges in the coming days which would further affect the legislative performance of the assembly. Another setback on the parliamentary front was the delay in forming standing committees of the National Assembly during its first parliamentary year. Owing to a lack of political consensus with other parliamentary parties, the process remained delayed by almost six months. According to the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, members of these standing committees should be elected within thirty days after the election of the Leader of the House. The PILDAT data claim that the previous assembly had managed to form these committees in almost three months. Interestingly, during the same parliamentary year as many as six opposition members have been arrested in different cases – a move which the opposition alleges to be politically motivated. Three of them belong to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, two from Pashtun Tahafuz Movement and two from Pakistan Peoples Party. The ruling PTI also witnessed a defeat during by-polls when it lost its seat in NA 205 in July 2019. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s attendance in the National Assembly has also not been encouraging. According to the data gathered by Free and Fair Elections Network (FAFEN), PM Khan appeared 12 to 14 times during the first year of the assembly. This is in contradiction to his earlier vows to ensure regular presence in the assembly and to respond to questions in the house fortnightly. PM Khan has yet to hold a single question-hour sitting in the assembly, something which is in clear contradiction to his public vows. Meanwhile, the custodians of both the houses, the Senate and the National Assembly, have also been urging the government to ensure presence of its ministers to respond to questions, regularly and fully-prepared. “National Assembly remains ineffective in terms of oversight because of delays in forming standing committees,” says senior journalist and parliamentary observer Tahir Khalil. To make matters more complicated, the speaker of the assembly recently issued a notification stating that standing committees will only convene during assembly sessions. “Standing committees play an oversight role and they keep the assembly functioning throughout the year through meetings. But such moves have made them ineffective,” he says. This, he claims, has been done on political grounds. Khalil explains that arrested members of the opposition engaged in these committees seek production orders in a bid to come out of jail. “To put an end to this, the speaker has issued such a notification, which in turn has affected parliamentary performance.” Also read: Editorial Khalil says the PTI’s policy of confrontation with the opposition is affecting assembly performance and the quality of parliamentary debates. He says this consequently leads to failure of the government in evolving a political consensus on national issues, including security, economy, health and education, water and energy. The recent parliamentary debate on Indian Occupied Kashmir following the revocation of Article 370 by India was largely marred by political rhetoric creating hurdles in developing a national consensus. “The number of ordinances passed in one year – one of the highest in the history of parliament in a first year – itself shows the vulnerability of the National Assembly,” he says. In the coming days, Khalil predicts increase in political confrontation due to ongoing arrests of opposition leaders. He says parliamentary democracy may witness further deterioration leading to an adverse impact on the assembly’s legislative process. [post_title] => A legislature less bothered [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => legislature-less-bothered [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2019-08-22 21:54:55 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-08-22 16:54:55 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=103851 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) [5] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 103831 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2019-08-18 03:16:36 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-08-17 22:16:36 [post_content] => This week the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government completes its one year. Following a divisive election last year, the party came into power with the slogan of change. While the party has clear reason to celebrate, the question that needs to be answered is whether the nation has enough reason as well. Beyond the posters and the catchy slogans, the party did stir the country’s political dynamic when its chairman, and now the country’s prime minister, stepped into mainstream politics over two decades ago. Whether the party offers Pakistanis a serious political manifesto that addresses their concerns is an old debate. Now that it is in power, whether it goes on to fulfill promises it made against those decades-old public demands is a question of immediate relevance. Legislatures not only enact laws but also serve as safe spaces for debate and dissent. The argument then remains whether legislative performance should be judged based on the quantity or the quality of laws enacted, the quality of the debates that transpire on the floor of the House and the freedom with which opposition members are allowed to exercise that right. If political confrontation is the only feature of parliamentary debates, what a loss for a nation as young and challenged as ours. While the government has expressed its intention and commitment towards achieving international development goals, experts warn that the situation on ground remains ambiguous. With many social development indicators in the country having previously tested governments, it comes as no surprise when the PTI government is faced with the same. While work towards the formation of social development programmes and safety nets is encouraging, the lack of clarity in terms of policy and transparency in resource allocation concerns experts. On the economic front, the challenges are great. The PTI government is still struggling to achieve the desired economic results in the face of chronic difficulties. Most of the sub-sectors of the economy including agriculture, industry and services have missed their targets. In line with our political tradition, the PTI government continues to blame the previous governments for the current slump. Also read: Tabdeeli much? Rights to freedoms of expression, speech and association are recognised as components integral to modern civil political systems. Power concentrations only serve to disturb equilibriums set in such systems. But the freedom to raise collective voices in the face of outright abuse of power is a right as basic as right to life itself. Will the party that promised the nation tabdeeli also pave way for it unapologetically? [post_title] => Editorial [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => editorial-193 [to_ping] => [pinged] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/tabdeeli-much/ [post_modified] => 2019-08-22 22:00:21 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-08-22 17:00:21 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=103831 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) ) [post_count] => 6 [current_post] => -1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 103829 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2019-08-18 03:26:25 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-08-17 22:26:25 [post_content] => Even after a year in power, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continues to struggle with finding the right balance between the party and the government. Major party office bearers have been changed twice in a year to give boost to the party, but in vain. Soon after coming to power, the prime minister appointed old guard Arshad Dad from Lala Musa, Gujrat as secretary general of the party. Recently, he has been unceremoniously replaced by former federal minister Amir Mahmood Kayani, who was allegedly dropped from the cabinet over corruption charges. Arshad Dad was on a trip to US to oversee arrangements for the Arena rally for Imran Khan when he was replaced without any notice or explanation. Some critics have said that if Kayani was going to be appointed to the important office then he should have been cleared of corruption charges prior. It seems that Amir Kayani has re-emerged with the support of Aleem Khan whose position has been weakened after his arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Aleem Khan once the Punjab president of the PTI, and right-hand man of Imran Khan, has been given a cold shoulder and consigned to political oblivion. After his release from jail, he has not been restored as a minister despite his many meetings with the prime minister. Another powerful loyalist and a loud voice, Saif Niazi, has also re-appeared on the party horizon after a year although in political wilderness. For almost a year, he remained cornered within the party although in the past he used to belong to the most powerful lobby within the PTI. Now Niazi has been made party’s chief organiser by Imran Khan. He had earlier resigned from the post of additional secretary general over policies differences. It was then rumoured that the Jehangir Khan Tareen lobby had sidelined Saif Niazi. Soon after his appointment as chief organiser, Niazi organised a well attended party convention to prove that he remains a strongman. Arshad Dad, the former secretary general, was a blend of professional middle-class values and military discipline. A Gujjar from central Punjab’s Gujrat district, he shared the constituency with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira. Dad’s family had long been diehard PPP loyalists. His father Brig Sahibdad Khan was a member of the Punjab cabinet in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s days. Dad has been a successful businessman running a construction company which built the Lahore Expo Centre, besides other landmark buildings. Dad was sent by the party to Turkey and China to study their political models, and organise the party using their best features. He had planned to make the party popular like Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) with an organization resembling the Communist Party of China. [box type="shadow" align="alignright" class="red_lines" ]Because of the loose party organisation, every worker is an opinionated leader. The only binding force is the leadership of the Kaptaan, Imran Khan.[/box] Party old guards were of the view that in the event of challenge to democracy or the party from the powers that be, nearly 70 percent of party workers will stand by Imran Khan. The rest were thought to be “migratory birds”, likely to change their nests according to the weather. Arshad Dad said that in China six percent of the population has the membership of the Communist Party. It is this six percent of the population that runs the government. Under Dad the PTI was planning to recruit three percent of Pakistani population in order to sustain a network similar to the Communist Party of China. With the exit of Dad and entry of Kayani, the influence of parliamentarians will increase, and party workers will be pushed back. The party has grown inactive in the Punjab and workers seem dissatisfied and angry. The running joke among workers is that the only gain they can aspire for is a “selfie”. So a selfie is the sole medal for their party work. The Punjab party is clearly divided. There was a time when Jehangir Khan Tareen used to rule supreme. No more. With Tareen’s absence from active politics after the Supreme Court decision against him, his clout has gone down. Perhaps he is no longer taking as much interest in party affairs as he used to in the past. But he still is a powerful player. Governor Sarwar and Tareen don’t appreciate each other’s contribution to the party. The governor is also perhaps the only open ally of Tareen’s Seraiki rival Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The Sarwar-Tareen rivalry has been at work since the former became governor.  An objection to the daily iftar parties at the Governor’s House which entertained thousands of party workers was raised. It was alleged that lavish parties were being thrown at the expense of public exchequer. But the governor showed that not a penny had been spent by the government and that these were funded by his friends. Even Sarwar Foundation, the governor’s non-profit organisation came under severe fire, and he was left with no option but to step back. Also read: War on rights At the grass roots level, the PTI is divided into parallel groups. It is perhaps the only party having as many factions as workers. Because of the loose party organisation, every worker is an opinionated leader who despises other workers. The only binding force is the leadership of the Kaptaan, Imran Khan. As a local government minister, Aleem Khan, had a great plan to organise the party and identify a consensus leadership by holding local elections. But after his arrest and subsequent resignation from the ministry, the plan was shelved. The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) had built party organisation through local bodies. It continues to accommodate its active workers in the local bodies set up. The strategy worked well for the PML-N. It might have worked well for the PTI as well. [post_title] => Tabdeeli much? 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