No sooner Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has withdrawn from the politics of sit-ins than the government reverted to its old hackneyed path of mismanagement to screw-up everything possible under its control.
The petrol crisis has gradually increased in weeks before it turned into a snowball, but no one in the government office felt any need to do the needful as the old habits die hard. The official routine continued with making and breaking of ‘ambitious plans’.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is angry when no one listens to him or listens to him but refuses to understand his words.Everyone should now that the prime minister is not alone in the office as his commando Shahbaz Sharif is there to sort out the mess and handle the situation. It doesn’t matter if no government minister is ready to sacrifice his portfolio in the name of responsibility. The commodity of responsibility is very rare in this country and there is no tradition to resign over any crisis, mishap or even disaster.
The prime minister has expressed extreme displeasure over the severe petrol shortage, but there is a limit of his dissatisfaction over the government performance. The problem started when the banks refused to extend credit facility to the Pakistan State Oil, forcing it to curtail oil imports. No one noticed.
Meanwhile, the dove has nothing to do with the nests of two hawks, Ishaq Dar, the father of Nawaz Sharif’s daughter-in-law and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a trusted aide in Rawalpindi.There was an urgent need to sacrifice someone and the government hawks promptly found a scapegoat in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority.
Dar has categorically refuted the rumours that the Pakistan State Oil had ever requested him for funds and that the Finance Ministry has always funded the poor ministry of Water and Power. The people are responsible for the crisis as they demand electricity, security, shelter, jobs and several other things, including oil.
It is time someone request the PTI chief Imran Khan to start sit-ins after taking beak from honeymoonor ask Pakistan Awami Tehreek Chairman Tahirul Qadri to return to Pakistan and recharge the atmosphere. Reports suggest that Imran Khan has been planning to launch a countrywide protest and Qadri is also flexing his muscles in Washington to do it again. May be that is the only way to keep the government in action mode.
