After over a week in the government, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has gradually taken grip over the government affairs; he has announced his cabinet which will help him take forward his agenda of development. In the absence of a cabinet, the perception that PM Shehbaz is not a man of a team was being discussed among the circles that matter the most. No matter how diligent one may be the country cannot be run by a single soul. It requires a team and each member of this team has to form his own team so that it can be seen what is good and what is bad in which sector and what steps should be taken where improvement is needed. It is said that the delays in the formation of the cabinet stemmed from the Pakistan People’s Party’s and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s refusal to be part of a cabinet whose mandate is less than two years. Now when the cabinet has taken the oath, PM Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet should keep this in mind that they have almost a year to revive a devastated and unstable economy. But we see the repeat of a usual scene where like every ruler in power, the prime minister, in every other statement, is blaming the previous government for wasting four years. The prime minister must know that his predecessor has also been saying the same rhetoric during his time of power. Also, the previous government did several tremendous things, especially in the economic reforms. The public expects that the new government shuns making such statements, and plans its measures for the welfare of the country and the people. No doubt that the previous Imran Khan government failed to bring inflation and unemployment down to such a level for almost four years due to international trends. We have to see what solutions this government will provide to bring relief to the people.
The government is walking on a tight rope as it faces a number of tough conditions by the International Monetary Fund for taking a bailout package in 2019. These conditions cause inflation. But we see that inflation is least on the mind of the prime minister. His focus has been on the early completion of mass transit projects. Well, such an approach is not worthy of a prime minister. The problem is that PM Shehbaz has been the Punjab chief minister for over 13 years, and his penchant for project-based government is showing its colours despite he being the occupant of the Prime Minister’s House. He should understand the difference between a chief minister and a prime minister. A prime minister is responsible for formulating wide-range policies to govern the state, whereas a chief minister’s main task is to plan and execute development projects of a province. We expect that in the coming days, PM Shehbaz will work as a prime minister and take his cabinet on a new path of development.
