FROM OPPOSITION TO HIGH OFFICE: KHAN’S FIGHT WITH THE SHIFT IN POWER
Ben Farmer reports from Islamabad on the PM’s battle to deliver his ambitious manifesto
As Imran Khan campaigned in Pakistan’s general election this year, his party released an ambitious agenda setting out how he would transform the country.
The goals unveiled by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party promised to deliver so quickly that even Mr Khan’s first 100 days in office would lead to an irreversible change in the country’s direction.
Mr Khan’s first three months would include overhauling how Pakistan is governed and cleaning up its police force. A scheme to create jobs for 10 million people would start and a programme to build five million homes would be set up.
But a little more than six weeks into his tenure, Pakistan’s 22nd prime minister and his populist opposition movement is – not surprisingly – finding that delivering their agenda is proving harder than making campaign promises.
Mr Khan’s first weeks in office have not been spent building the welfare state he promised to his ecstatic supporters, but grappling with compromises and a looming economic crisis.
In an uncertain honeymoon period, critics complain that rather than implementing solid reforms, the former cricket captain’s party has merely churned out populist, eye-catching stunts that occasionally backfire.
“To some extent they are still behaving like an opposition,” said Gen Talat Masood, a senior Pakistani military officer and political commentator.
After years of criticising the lavish lifestyles and corruption of Pakistan’s ruling elite, Mr Khan preached austerity. He cut staff and moved out of the palatial prime minister’s residence. He sold limousines and buffalo kept by his predecessor Nawaz Sharif.
But his frugality came under scrutiny when it was revealed that he was commuting daily by helicopter. The sale of luxury government cars that raised $600,000 (Dh2.2 million), and the buffalo auction – which raised $19,000 – did little to dent the country’s need for a $12 billion bailout.
The state said it wants to avoid borrowing from the International Monetary Fund but loans from Chinese or Saudi allies have yet to appear.
“Pakistan doesn’t need gimmicks, it needs some solid efforts to transform its economic policies,” Gen Masood said.
Mr Khan has lent his personal backing to a crowdfunding attempt to build a $14bn dam in the country’s north-east. Donating has been described as a patriotic duty, with anyone opposing the scheme suspected of treason. At the current rate of donations, the dam will take decades to build.
But an accusation of style over substance is unfair, says Jan Achakzai, another political commentator.
“If you are asking for loans, for aid, you need to make sure that the lavish lifestyles of ministers are checked,” Mr Achakzai said. “That’s the message he was trying to make. What is a better way than to start with these colonial-era houses. I think he started on the right note.”
Other suggestions to resolve the country’s economic woes – such as banning imports of luxury cars, smartphones and even cheese – were met with mockery.
Mr Khan’s early attempts to resolve some of Pakistan’s thorniest problems have also foundered. When he suggested meeting India’s government for talks, there was briefly the prospect of a thaw in relations.
But India took less than 24 hours to pull out of the meeting. Relations are now more strained than before Mr Khan started, leading some to accuse him of worsening the situation with an ill-formed diplomatic overture.
An offer to start bringing in long-standing laws that would provide Afghan refugees with Pakistani citizenship was met with astonishment and anger from vested political interests that fear the emergence of powerful new voting blocs.
“This is a political minefield. No government has tried to touch it,” Mr Achakzai said. “He’s set up a task force to come up with a strategy. It’s something unconventional he has set out to do.”
A decision to appoint an advisory panel of economic experts to advise the new prime minister also ended in recrimination.
Religious hardliners objected to distinguished Princeton economist Atif Mian because he is an Ahmadi.
Under Pakistani law, Ahmadis are forbidden from calling themselves Muslims or using Islamic symbols in their religious practices.
After the new government stood by the appointment, the ruling party caved in to appease the extremists. Two other distinguished economists then resigned in protest at Mr Mian’s treatment.
Yet for all the problems, Mr Khan has had far more success than his predecessor in one all-important sphere of government: maintaining relations with the powerful military.
The roller-coaster start to Mr Khan’s term in office has emphasised the government’s lack of experience, Gen Masood said.
“I think that they are in the learning process as far as governance in concerned,” he said.