Addressing a gathering at Ziarat, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan will rise faster the next time PTI comes to power. Does this imply that Mr Khan has finally realized that his government’s performance since it took over in August 2018 has been subpar and that he hopes to perform better if elected next time? Or does it mean his re-election is to be taken for granted along with PTI forming the government in Balochistan and when this happens he would turn Balochistan into another Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP)? According to Mr Khan the introduction of the health card scheme in KP encouraged the private sector to build hospitals. Along with the government’s support to tourism, the two schemes created jobs and reduced poverty “at the highest rate as compared to other provinces”.
The idyllic picture of KP painted by Mr Khan is not in consonance with the Supreme Court’s observations reported the same day. Rejecting a petition filed by a KP forest guard for payment of pension, the SC observed that government departments in KP were overstaffed and now loans were being obtained by the government for the payment of their salaries. The CJP remarked that paying salaries by taking loans was a dangerous act. Another member of the bench remarked that smuggling was the major crime damaging industries and the economy of the province currently and needed to be dealt with.
With 3.94 per cent economic growth being projected for the current fiscal year the PM thinks his government has finallycome out of the woods. There is a need on his part to realize that the man in the street is least swayed by the GDP rate, the rise in exports or the balance of payments figures. What matters to him is if his son, who lost his job, has been re-employed and whether the food items he puts on the table for his family are cheaper or costlier. The unemployment rate, as projected by the IMF, is steadily on the increase from 4.1 percent and 4.5 percent in 2019 and 2020 respectively, to 5.1 percent in 2021, which is a 30-year peak. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Tuesday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 10.9 percent in May over the same month a year ago. Mr Khan will do himself a disservice to ignore reality as experienced by the common man.
