Anjum Ibrahim
An oft quoted proverb in Pakistan is that politics is about the art of the possible - a proverb that has usually been used to mainly justify an alliance between the ideologically incompatible (be they parties or be they individuals), however it is equally applicable in the economic arena where logic employed to link two factors/elements is simply not incompatible. A prime example of this is the summary submitted for cabinet approval dated 26 August 2016, a copy of which is available with Business Recorder.
The summary emphasizes the “need to implement a targeted programme at grass root level to achieve sustainable goals, cater to community need and cover the gaps by providing missing links.” It defined Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the global community in 2015 under the aegis of the United Nations, correctly as consisting of 17 goals with 169 targets and 304 indicators covering a broad range of sustainable development issues including, “no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and community, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice, strong institutions and partnerships for goals”.
The August summary, however, then proceeded to ignore these highly desirable SDGs and focused on the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s two favoured sectors for government investment notably power and inter-city (as opposed to farm to market) road network claiming indirectly that the SDG targets would be met as a consequence: (i) the objectives for the power sector were noted as “including electrification schemes and rehabilitation of electricity distribution infrastructure”. Energy generation has increased since 2013, however, it is being provided at a higher cost than what is available in other countries accounting for declining exports and, more disturbingly, governance in the sector remains appalling given the rise of the circular debt to 525 billion rupees, higher than what the PML-N government inherited in 2013, and the failure to improve the deficient transmission network; and (ii) the summary stipulated that the focus would be “gas and natural resources or missing gas infrastructure subject to availability of gas, duly certified by the relevant ministry”. New gas connections which were banned in 2010 to deal with the gas shortage were provided purely on political grounds to 55 constituencies through relaxation of the moratorium in May 2016. This became public knowledge in the last week of February 2017 wherein the counsel for Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited submitted to the Islamabad High Court during the hearing of a petition filed by Advocate Jahangir Jadoon (who was seeking a gas connection for his village Kholian Bala in KP’s Haripur district) that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had relaxed the moratorium. The beneficiary constituencies included the then Petroleum Minister and the incumbent Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Captain Safdar (retd), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Housing and Works Minister Akram Khan Durrani, Khawaja Mohammad Asif the present Foreign Minister, Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Chaudhry Mohammad Barjees Tahir, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sheikh Aftab, National Health Services Minister Saira Afzal Tarar, Defence Production Minister Rana Tanvir, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali, Minister of State for Interior Mohammad Balighur Rehman, Chairman of Standing Committee on Human Rights Babar Nawaz Khan, former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and former senator Zahid Khan.
The three remaining SDGs cited in the summary were: (i) special sector construction of schools, upgradation of existing schools including provision of mission facilities – a provincial subject after the passage of the eighteenth amendment, however the focus by PML-N has been on mega projects including Metrobus; (ii) municipal sector including water supply schemes, urban sewerage, sanitation and other communal facilities including but not limited to graveyards and parks; and (iii) infrastructure specifically roads farm to market and district/provincial roads. Objectives (ii) and (iii) are best carried out by local governments that unfortunately remain powerless due to lack of financial empowerment, with provincial governments retaining decision-making in this regard. Perhaps this explains why the summary stated that the cost of any project would be shared equally by the federal government and the province.
Sources in the Ministry of Finance revealed to Business Recorder that in spite of approval by the then Prime Minister the August summary’s recommendations were not implemented, perhaps because the country was on an International Monetary Fund programme at the time and containing the budget deficit was the then functional Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s priority. Perhaps even more of a deterrent for provinces where the PML-N did not form a government was the fact that approval for any project was to be sought from a steering committee consisting of die-hard party loyalists and compliant bureaucrats: chairman Sheikh Aftab Ahmed (Minister for Parliamentary Affairs) with members including Captain Safdar (retd), Saud Majeed Senator, Secretary Cabinet Division, focal person of the Ministry of Finance and from Planning, Development and Reforms and Controller General Accounts and a co-opted member.
Be that as it may, the summary is no longer dormant and, Abbasi, after he was sworn in as the Prime Minister on 1 August 2017 (who has relied almost solely on decisions/approvals during Nawaz Sharif’s administration, with the possible exception of allowing the rupee to depreciate in December 2017) accorded approval between 15 to 21 August to disburse 30 billion rupees under this head to PML-N parliamentarians. The result would be a budget deficit higher by this amount.
To conclude, the 2016 summary is a prime example of patently flawed logic in its attempt to link SDG goals with the party’s political agenda and no one in the cabinet pointed this out either because no one read it carefully or because with Sharif and Dar taking all decisions at the time the need to read any summary was considered a waste of time. Sadly, the summary was then used by the party with around 11 months before the end of its tenure for what the opposition can legitimately claim is pre-poll rigging with severe economic repercussions. One can only hope this focus is abandoned as the country is no longer in a position economically to bear these heavy costs with the sole objective of strengthening the ruling party’s re-election bid.
