While the ‘90-Days for Change’ came with an extended expiry date, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), along with its muffled coalition partners –Jamaat-e-Islami and Qaumi Watan Party – have witnessed much instability in the five months following the general election.
The pendulum has swung from typical, political blame games between old and new rivals to tensions between the bureaucracy, military and the provincial government. The mantra of change lives on, and the party itself believes that it can make a difference. But the harsh realities that come with the package of governing a war-torn province have impeded its pace.
Chief Minister CM Pervez Khattak, often severely criticised for his public statements, says he never said anything to impede armed action against those involved in targeting people. “War and negotiations can continue,” he tells a select group of journalists.
Citing the escalating violence in the province, Khattak professed that the incidents were a hindrance to the much-awaited change. He said his worry was, if they can’t deliver soon enough, the youth who elected them would lose faith. But Khattak was hopeful, and wore a rare smile as he symbolically sat with his Chief Secretary, to quash whispers of growing differences between his government and the bureaucracy, and acknowledged efforts of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his first visit to Peshawar.
Two days later on Eid, Israrullah Gandapur was killed by a suicide bomber. The minister of law, parliamentary affairs and human rights was the third member of the ruling coalition in the province to be targeted. He was said to be one of the most efficient lawmakers from the PTI.
Khattak says that a week of terror attacks has been a setback for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government, but asked that, even if change wasn’t completely visible yet, that he be given the credit for initiating it.
Political observers believe it’s still too early to judge the performance of the K-P government, however, coming to terms with the differences between policy on paper and realpolitik should happen before the masses that elected the party grow any more disillusioned.
Security remains the hottest topic, and while the government does seem to have an elaborate agenda of economic and development reforms, its lack of clarity on how to combat militancy has been staggering.
While confusion looms over the future of a security policy in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and a tug-of-war between the federal and provincial governments continues, more than 212 people lost their lives in bomb and suicide attacks alone, between September 20th and October 18th 2013.
Noreen Naseer, a professor of political science who has been watching developments unfold in the province, believes that the provincial government is caught up in a web of issues for which it can neither be entirely blamed nor spared from criticism.“The PTI cannot initiate dialogue on its own, security in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is a federal subject,” she says.
While expectations of peace under the leadership of Imran Khan murmur in the streets of the city, ground realities differ.
The provincial cabinet, which met in an emergency meeting after its law minister was killed, appealed to the Taliban to stop suicide attacks on “humanitarian grounds” and simultaneously appealed to the federal government to put an immediate end to drone strikes.
“[While] this lack of clarity remains, K-P will be pushed towards further isolation,” Naseer said. This also has economic implications, she thinks, which if not resolved could have further unwanted consequences.
The PTI government has given the mandate to the federal government to begin dialogue with the Taliban, but Awami National Party leader Asfandiyar Wali Khan says that while the centre is responsible for initiating talks, the provincial government must at least maintain law and order in Peshawar and its surroundings. “No one can even walk on the outskirts of the city in the evening; any further delay in dialogue would benefit the Taliban, not the nation.”
Asfandiyar thinks that, although the government claims to have withdrawn its 50-strong security force from Shangla, it cannot handle the situation in the provincial capital. He explained that neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan can initiate the negotiation process with the Taliban separately. Instead, he calls for a “joint strategy of dialogue” of both governments with the Taliban, if the two countries are serious about procuring peace.
Both the countries should leave “no grey area” during the negotiation process, otherwise the situation will turn from bad to worse after the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. “A break up in Afghanistan would immediately break up Pakistan,” he said.
However, there are a multitude of issues affecting the use of this approach. Apart from security, the provincial government is faced with the mammoth task of restructuring their operations.
The police department has come under severe criticism, and two top two police officials – the inspector general (IG) and capital city police officer (CCPO) – replaced. But even after this, there seems to be no end to the force’s criticism by the government. “The police are still not on war footing,” says the Chief Minister.
Militants killed a large number of police officials in targeted attacks, and although the former IG and CCPO were replaced, the killings did not seem to stop under the new CCPO, Muhammad Ali Babakhel. Eventually, he too was replaced for “incompetence”, but that’s not all. Once rumours of his leaving office under political pressure made their way to the media, a clarification was issued from the Home and Tribal Affairs department saying that the ex-CCPO is suffering from psychological problems.
While reforms in the police department include introducing an Online FIR system, a crackdown against corrupt officials, the introduction of an Intelligence Unit, Vigilance Committees on the level of police station and a ban on shoulder-promotions – the fact remains that 48 high-ranking officials are missing from the K-P police department, with no one to fill their shoes. The provincial government has appealed to the federal government to declare the province as hard-hit, and in need of drastic security measures, as well as the transfer of competent police officials to the province.
Meanwhile, one of the most celebrated achievements of the PTI, the Right to Information Act (RTI), lies in limbo. RTI was introduced as an ordinance, and later presented to the assembly and then to a select committee to discuss amendments. While the bill aims at transparency and provides protection to whistle-blowers within departments, it has triggered much debate in the committee.
A lawmaker who is part of the committee himself says that the bone of contention is that MPAs do not want the record of assembly to be part of the bill, and want the same exemptions as that given to the military and the Peshawar High Court.
On the other hand, the accountability bill has also been sent to committee for recommendations. The introduction of such a bill has raised another concern on opposition benches: the fear that it might be used for political victimisation. However, the chief minister says these concerns are baseless; the cases to be heard by the accountability department will be purely upon public request.
Education and health are two sectors of the current government, which have shown improvement, but even those have been marred by overt politicisation. The school enrolment drive by the PTI has been quite successful, but at the same time the proposed changes to the curriculum in K-P has led to much controversy. The health reforms, which include free emergency services, were a commendable effort, but could not begin operating because of bureaucratic hurdles.
While the K-P government strives to live up to the expectations of its people, it is less likely that its woes will come to an end any time soon, because the fundamental issue at hand is to retain law and order. While Fata remains the hotbed of militancy and the time for withdrawal of coalition troops across the border nears, the government and particularly the PTI needs to gear up for tougher times, and crucial decisions.
The writer is a journalist based in Peshawar. He tweets @IftikharFirdous
