Why PTI doesn't need apologists By Dr. Farhat Siddiqui

Emergency and Disaster Management
@getfarhat

Asked to write a rebuttal to this article I was not sure if it was worth the effort... The author apparently is still that 8 years old child who jumped into something he did not understand because he was just happy in his hero-worship. He admits he knew nothing about politics when he supposedly became a supporter of PTI and unfortunately it doesn’t seem any different now. 99% of the factoids presented in the article is blatant denial of facts and butchered reality. The admiration button has obviously been turned off. However this slide must carry some semblance of objectivity and some snippet of truth so his product is not considered out and out journalistic trash. As PTI remains a hope for millions of Pakistanis, I am inclined to set the record straight. I hope that those who are genuinely interested in figuring out the successes and failures of a first time government will do a better job than the author.

It is not necessary to address the author’s impressions of dharna and the foreign newspaper articles he quoted as the holy grail of realities of Pakistan and its citizens. It is always precious to read that a street protest so offends the sensibilities of some people and spells a danger to “democracy” of Pakistan whereas, the multiple blatant violations of the constitution by every civilian government along with the indiscriminate murder of citizens at the hands of the same and decimation of regulatory authorities fail to create even a ripple in their virtuous minds.

Let us just come straight to the KPK question since the ideology, mandate and promises of a party which has never been in power before, are all a legitimate focus of attention for any responsible citizen.

Ideas, hopes, and intentions of a movement are bound to clash with ground reality, inertia of status quo and a citizenry entrenched in years of organizational corruption and short cuts. And the new government surely did struggle through trials and errors. The party also had to come to terms with the now confirmed blatant and massive rigging and a leader who was in bed struggling to get back on his feet. The government moved slowly, had numerous hiccups and wrestled through trial and errors however under no circumstances did it give up on its ideology for the sake of expediency. The government had a clear vision of building the system and the institutions from the foundation up. These years were not going to be about winning the next elections through showcase mega projects or mere cosmetic changes but about the painstaking task of working in the trenches, all the while facing the ire of the impatient electorate, political enemies and the sensationalist media.

KPK parliament can stand proud of the flagship laws it has passed which is the heart of a true democracy and can be put up against the laws of any developed democracy of the world. RTI, RTS, Conflict of Interest (in the making), Health Reforms Act, Local Government Act and Prohibition of Employment of Children Act are just a few examples out of 70+ laws passed in these two years. For the first time, an assembly is doing the job it has been elected for; Creation, implementation, evaluation and improvement in the laws of the land.

Transparency and zero tolerance for corruption and the commission trends, has been the policy and practice of the PTI government from day one. The province which was teetering since decades due to multiple scandals of mega corruption has experienced the proud fulfilment of the promise of stopping all big corruption in the first 90 days. Despite being sniffed relentlessly no such scandal has been unearthed by the political enemies of the government.
Relating the accomplishments of every department of PTI government in its first ever two years will take a whole white paper so we shall just examine the two mentioned in the article, the police and the education department.

If you ever want to judge the genuineness of a critic of PTI just listen to what they say about the Police reforms in KPK. In the short span of two years, in a province devastated by more than a decade of insurgency and brutal widespread violence and the morale of its police department at rock bottom, emerged a force which today is able to realize its sacred oath to serve the people of Pakistan with the full scope of its abilities. Appointment of IG Nasir Durrani, one of Pakistan’s finest who accepted the job with a promise of no political interference was the first step towards the transformation of the law and order situation of the province. The war being fought by Pakistan army in adjacent FATA has obviously had a critical role in riding Pakistan of the terrorism however the operation has also created IDPs and a resultant operational challenge for the department. The department has risen to the challenge and two years into the term it can proudly avowal significant reduction in crime stats; Terrorist activity 64%, Suicide Bombings 83%,Target killing 50%, Kidnappings 77%, Deaths of security personnel 77%. This feat has been achieved through the relentless efforts of a dedicated officer, bolstered by a strong governmental support through merit based recruitments via NTS, cutting edge training facilities, procurement of equipment, state of the art forensic laboratories and incentives for good performance.

Certain level of mismanagement in the Local Body Elections, is shamelessly quoted here as an example of perceived total failure of this developing force. The author would rather you forget that the month prior to the LBE and the elections day came and went without a single incident of terror activity, where just two years prior, the local political parties of the province dared not come out on the streets to campaign due to threats of violence. In one of the largest election in the history of the country where 84000 candidates fought elections for 42000 seats in 11000 polling stations, 80 to 130 polling stations reported law and order mishaps. The initial 14 casualties quoted as related to the elections is also an erroneous number. 7 of these were the result of a family feud occurring a day before elections and 4 happened after the elections day in another local skirmish. With a total strength of 84000 officers the police department can stand proud of its accomplishment. No one here thinks that the job is done, in fact it is just beginning. The roadmap has been carved out and the rules are clear. The department is set to go from strength to strength.

Moving on to the progress in the Education department, the other mainstay of PTI manifesto. The input of Jamaat-e-Islami in the revision of the curriculum seems to be a flash point here so let us just examine the facts. After Jamaat-e-Islami leaders scrutinized hundreds of pages of textbooks, a story about Hellen Keller, a deaf and blind American author and activist, is being removed from ninth-grade lesson plans. First and Second grade books will no longer include photos of a Christmas tree and holiday cards and inscriptions on textbooks stating “We want peace” are being replaced with religious verses, hardly the changes deserving of a war bugle. “Our education policy is clear in that we are making neither a liberal curriculum nor a fundamentalist one,” says Atif Khan, the provincial education minister.

Bringing substantial changes to education system was a staggering task considering the 65 years of neglect, ghost schools, ghost teachers and astounding number of children out of school. Independent Monitoring Units have been established which now effectively monitor 28,600 government schools across KP to ensure teacher presence. With ongoing implementation of biometrics time attendance, a first in the province, the government recovered Rs.10 million from teachers who were absent without leave from schools across KP. KP government ran a robust enrollment drive with special emphasis on the girl child, increasing the net primary enrollment by 83 per cent, the highest in the country. Rs.100 million have been allocated for stipend to girl students in Low NER Districts. In addition, allowances have been allocated for women education supervisors working in remote areas which is 50% of their basic pay. The government has also supplied free text books to 5.4 million school children across KP. Implementation of Parent Teacher Councils (PTC), according to latest numbers, has resulted in 906% increase in overall improvements in schools (2013-15), including building of boundary walls, classrooms, bathrooms, and supplying water and electricity to the schools. The steady progress and improvements in the education remain one of the top priorities of the government.

The easiest attack on PTI supporter continues to be of blind following. Unfortunately for the critic, an ideological PTI supporter is not immersed in hero worship. He remains informed and vigilant. He is educated and fiercely patriotic. He is ready to criticize any diversion from the ideology in the party or the government and is perpetually impatient with the speed of progress. He demands and expects actions and not just words. He is eager to fight the rampant injustice in the country and knows the forces he has to fight. He has scoped the landscape and recognizes the relentlessness and the desperation of the status quo to derail this movement. He is not unrealistic but prefers Faith over prudence. A wonderful combination never before seen in the history of this country, he will resolutely defend the ideology and the leader who will not give up till the fruition of his dream of Naya Pakistan.

by webmaster@insaf.pk (tkiadmin)