Raja Pervez Ashraf; the new Prime Minister of Pakistan

The entire country’s gaze was gripped on the National Assembly on Friday, as the end-result was not surprising at all.

The Supreme Court sent home an elected chief executive and the timing of the arrest warrants for first replacement was a reminder that democratic system still treads on dangerous ground.

The selection of candidate was not an easy task for the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP). It required a thoroughly reliable member, who is capable of taking pressure, willing to go jail and ready to sacrifice five years of his political career for the sake of party head.

However, the qualifications including wisdom, foresight or good reputation were not necessary requirements in this regard.

As the president belongs to Sindh, the prime minister should not be from there. Another requirement was that the candidate should have the support of coalition partners who help the PPP in keeping in power.

However, the nomination of Raja Pervez Ashraf was a snub to millions of people who are facing hours of power outages in the sizzling hot summer.

Ashraf, the former minister for water and power, was an unwise and insensible choice for the top slot of the country. It sent a message to the masses that the ruling party was not concerned about one of the most painful problem of the nation.

Although political considerations were at stake, the president may have take the decision considering the preferences of allied parties and secondly unwilling to send a more useful leader to the gallows.

Without any doubt, the latest development proves one thing that either the PPP is more concerned about political strategy than the people or is completely unaware of needs of the masses.

The PPP will have to reconsider its priorities if it wants to prove itself worth of re-election in the future. Firstly, the government will have to take measures to overcome issue of energy crisis.

Although the challenges are difficult in the present situation, it is no excuse to avoid the criticism. It showed ability and vision in making some landmark constitutional amendments what it requires to end major crisis of the country.

At the same time, the Supreme Court needs to give the executive a chance to run the system properly. The clash between institutions will further worsen the situation if the judiciary sends home the new prime minister.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=26751

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 23 2012. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.