Months after a witty, holier-than-thou, jack-of-all-trades caretaker government retreated from the executive, repeated horrors from their tenure keep raising ugly heads; emphasising all that the cliche implies.
\nThe latest to hit the soundwaves is the backbreaking burden of almost three million tonnes of wheat imported by the Punjab interim government in full knowledge of the harvesting season looming large. The fact that the government machinery closed its eyes as the private sector was allowed free unrestricted access to imported wheat is said to have incurred a potential loss of over Rs 300 billion to the national exchequer.
\nThere\u2019s more: waived customs duty and GST suggest the ropes led all the way to the pinnacle of decision-making, implicating both the caretaker prime minister and the ministry of national food security. Now, as Islamabad proceeds with hollow statements and one-man inquiry committees, there is little Punjab\u2013the breadbasket of the country\u2013can offer to the exasperated farmers who have nowhere to turn and a bumper perishable crop to take care of. Until now, there\u2019s widespread confusion as the government can be seen shifting its weight from one foot to another; hoping that some godsend miracle would magically procure millions of tonnes of wheat and convince those who have already stepped onto the streets to give up protest ultimatums.
\nNevertheless, both the farmers and their produce are here to stay. With opposition parties using this as a golden opportunity to attack the government, higher judiciary showing interest in procurement operations and signs of a tiff between the federal and Punjab over the appropriate line of action, the raging debate appears to have tightly gripped every branch of the state. It goes without saying that this year\u2019s nightmare would automatically translate into significantly reduced crop cultivation for the next season. Pakistan has already missed the production target with 29.69 million tonnes as opposed to the estimated 32.2 million.
\nAny legitimate government could not sit back and see the backbone of its economy bleed to a heart-wrenching death at the altar because someone back in the day wished to leave an impression. Mr Kakar stayed well beyond his constitutional mandate as part of the interim setup, lecturing on media and making impressions on foreign trips. Although his aspirations to perch atop the hot seat were denied by the international powers, the facade of his good governance and fiscal discipline would continue to haunt the country for a long, long time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Months after a witty, holier-than-thou, jack-of-all-trades caretaker government retreated from the executive, repeated horrors from their tenure keep raising ugly heads; emphasising all that the cliche implies. The latest to hit the soundwaves is the backbreaking burden of almost three million tonnes of wheat imported by the Punjab interim government in full knowledge of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-406575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial"},"yoast_head":"\n