Authors: Laraib Dilpazir & Dr. Mehmood Hussain
Imran Khan Niazi is a Pakistani Politician heading the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), a political party. By profession he is a cricketer and has also built Pakistan’s largest and most modern Cancer hospitals in the country. In April 1996, he set up the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), a moderate ideological group, and struggled for 22 years to enter in the Prime Minister office. Back in 2013 elections, his party formed the provincial government in one of most anarchic and terror stricken province Khyber Pakhtun Khwa (KPK), where Khan and his team outperformed and introduced number of structural reforms. He has won the 2018 elections and became the Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He is considered to be the most visionary leader and has started a number of new policies for structural reforms.
The present domestic politics and economy is in dwindling as the incumbent government inherited the balance of payment crisis from its predecessor government. The financial mismanagement and widespread corruption in public offices ignited the inflation in country. Consequently, the dollar price has increased negatively impacting in price hype of commodities and energy resources. Besides all these challenges, we can optimistically claim that Imran khan will change the destiny of Pakistan. To prove our argument it is worthy to mention here that he has took several steps to fix the socio-political and economic problems of the country.
Khan’s Vision for Pakistan
Khan envision to make Pakistan a truly welfare state. An idea was given and implemented by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) fourteen hundred years ago in the state of Madinah Saudi Arabia. The model is based on equality, good governance, accountability and social welfare of citizens. Therefore, to make his dream a reality, Imran Khan is striving hard to fix Pakistan’s socio-economic and political mismanagement. During the election he unveiled the 100 days agenda which largely appealed the masses and played significant role inthe victory of PTI. The agenda was to ensure Pakistan’s national security, transform governance across the country, revitalize the economic growth, scientific revolution in agriculture and industrial sector and revolutionize the social sector.
In the first 100 days the government initiated 35 programs and completed 18 among them. The drafting of local governments act of Punjab, KP and Islamabad Capital Territory, Naya Pakistan Housing Programme, FBR Reforms Roadmap, Shelter Scheme for deprived persons and many others are in the list. Meanwhile, the government has made significant achievements in following fields; austerity drive, launched the Citizens portal, took action against Land Grabbers (Qabza Mafia), action against power theft, support for overseas Pakistani’s and clean and green Pakistan.
Actions of Khan for Naya Pakistan
As the Khan’s slogan was to make Naya (New) Pakistan which will be based on equality, prosperity and rule of law. Thus, he has made tremendous efforts and introduced various policies to achieve his goal. The prominent one is to fight against corruption. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been empowered to investigate and charge the fugitives involved in corruption cases. Second, Imran Khan has launched the economic emergency to meet the imbalance of payments. Before, going to IMF, he approached the friendly nations and secured billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, China, Qatar and UAE. This timely help enable Pakistan to sustain its economy. On national level, he initiated the structural reforms in Federal Board of Revenue to increase its capacity to collect tax. The government has launched the Tax Amnesty Scheme for citizens to declare their assets which aims to increase the tax net. Third,the government of Imran Khan has also launched various youth empowerment programs. The easy access to credit from public and private banks will open doors for small and medium enterprises in the country and will generate thousands of jobs. Meanwhile, the government has launched the emergency scheme in the area of technical education. The empowerment of youth with technical skills will truly revolutionize the country. This scheme will reduce the burden on government to create jobs and will expand the industrial base of Pakistan.
Fourth, health and education are on the top priority list of PTI government. The government has introduced the Seht Insaaf Card for poor citizens to avail better health facilities at government and private hospitals. On education front, the Prime Minister has declared the Prime Minister House as a key National Information Technology University. A report published by the Dawn News revealed that various centers of excellence will be established at the university and emerging disciplines will be offered to Pakistani youth.
Fifth, industry and agriculture sector has also received the considerable attention. The Prime Minister has setup the special advisory council on industry establishment whose mandate to make a business friendly policy for the country. The advisory council on agriculture and industry development has been working relentlessly to make business friendly policy and is persuading various countries to invest in Pakistan. The new business and economic policy aims to boost foreign direct investment and joint ventures in agriculture and industrial sector. Sixth, the good governance and rule of law is guiding principle of PTI government. Khan and his team are working relentlessly to reform the public and judiciary system. Free from political influence and corruption are overarching goals of the new government. For this purpose, the government has launched the Citizen’s portal, where peoples can register their grievances against public servants and institutions.
Challenges to PTI Government
The economic uncertainty and inflation is major challenge to PTI government. Since the very first day, Khan and his team is working hard to control the inflation but not yet achieved any significant success. The inflation and prices hype has damaged the credibility of government in the eyes of public. Meanwhile, the manipulation of opposition political parties has further fueled the fire. The general masses think that Khan and his players are incompetent and cannot handle the crisis. Secondly, the geopolitical environment in the region and global level is another challenge for Khan to make a rational and practical foreign policy. The anarchic environment in neighboring Afghanistan and estranged relations of Saudi Arabia and Iran left minimum options for Pakistan to make nuanced choices. On the other hand, rising threat from Indian side is another challenge to Khan. India is building conventional and non-conventional capabilities which has serious consequences for Pakistan. At the same time, India has been investing huge amount on anti-Pakistan propaganda which is destroying Pakistan’s image on international level. Yet, despite the endless challenges, we still have faith in Imran Khan that he has skills and will to change the destiny of Pakistan. If he gets enough time, he will put Pakistan on right track which will lead the country towards peace, prosperity and integrity.
