Re: PMLN’s Hypocrisy
Busting PMLN claims about Motorway, Nuclear Bomb, Telecom, Economy, Metro, Laptops and Danish Schools Programs](http://pti-fata.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/more-talk-less-substance-deconstructing.html)
**By Shah Zalmay Khan (@PTI_FATA](https://twitter.com/PTI_FATA))****.
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If you ever happen to talk to a PMLN supporter about politics & developing Pakistan into a modern prosperous & forward-looking state; 110% chances are that he / she will start and end the argument by saying:
Look, at least we are better than the PPP and ‘our’ Mian Saheb has delivered many things e.g.
- Mian Saheb ne Atom Bum ka dhamaka kiya. (Bum is what they say, frankly :P)
- Mian Saheb ne Motorway banai.
- Mian Saheb Telecommunication / Information Technology revolution laaye.
- Mian Saheb ne Economy me Pakistan ko Asian Tiger banaya.
For 2 decades, this was the sole ‘assets pack’ of PMLN. Lately, however, the rhetoric has found three more one-liners;
- Mian Saheb ne Metro Bus banayee.
- Mian Saheb ne Laptop diye.
- Mian Saheb ne Danish Schools banaye.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JoV6uUVfw1U/UVrRrPbnvwI/AAAAAAAADFs/un5ibSC5MEg/s400/APril+Fool+on+11+May+final.JPG
Once a PMLN supporter is done with these one-liners, he / she gives you this contented look of a revolutionary - Hum se bach ke kahan jaoge Ustad? Vote Mian Saheb ka pakka?
Many a times, the average non-Nooner gets bluffed & discussion is over. PMLN has been making the nation April Fool over these ‘achievements’ for decades now.
Not any more.
Lets deconstruct this ‘We delivered’ myth - yes myth - of PMLN (largely created through a ‘sympathetic’ media campaign). Each point, one by one.
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**Atom Bum ** (:P)
Pakistan’s nuclear program, by the way of credit, can be divided among 4 different regimes.
- Nuclear Weapons program in Pakistan was founded under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1970s. The initial difficult work was done in his era. (30% credit)
- The program matured under General Zia’s rule in 1970s-1980s and cold tests were done as early as 1983. Also F-16 Aircraft, capable of delivering the nukes were obtained. (50% credit)
- Missile delivery systems for nukes were initiated in 1989-1990 under Benazir Bhutto. Also the program took its final shape. (15% credit)
- Nuclear bomb was finally tested during Nawaz Sharif’s tenure in 1998, in the wake of Indian explosions remember. Dr. A. Q Khan and PMLN leader (again) Gohar Ayub Khan are on record having said that Nawaz didn’t actually want to test the bomb and it took a serious push & letters on part of the revered scientist and severe public pressure to force Nawaz into going for it. (5% credit)
So basically Mian Saheb’s credit in the nuclear bum dhamaka is a meagre 5%.
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Motorway:
Motorway is not a single project but a series of projects (M-1 to M-4) that were started & commissioned in different governments. Details are as follows:
- M-2 (Lahore - Islamabad Section): It was started in late 1992 by Nawaz Sharif, however, just 7-8 months later his govt was dismissed on charges of corruption. The project was continued by Benazir govt and was almost complete by 1996 (when BB’s govt was dismissed). In 1997, Nawaz Sharif commissioned the project. So basically 80% of M-2 was built during BB’s tenure.
- ***M-1 (Islamabad - Peshawar Section): ***It was started during General Musharraf’s tenure and also commissioned in same period. (100% Musharraf credit. No credit to Nawaz)
- ***M-3 (Pindi Bhattian - Faisalabad Section): ***The project started & commissioned during General Musharraf’s tenure. (100% Musharraf credit. No credit to Nawaz)
- M-4 Motorway (Faisalabad - Multan Section): Started during current Zardari tenure. Under progress. (100% Zardari credit. No credit to Nawaz).
So basically, out of the whole Motorway system, Mian Saheb can claim only 20% credit for just one section i.e. M-2 (that also with $140 million corruption, as pointed out in Raymond Baker’s famous book](http://pti-fata.blogspot.com/2012/05/download-book-capitalisms-achilles-heel.html) on dirty money). He has no contribution to other sections.
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Telecommunications / Information Technology Revolution:
The first serious step towards telecom sector reforms was taken by BB Govt (and not PMLN, as claimed). This was in the form of Telecom Ordnance (1994) creating PTA, Pakistan’s first independent telecom regulator. Even after that the monopoly of PTCL continued andtelecom density at the end of PMLN govt in 1999 was 1.9 %.
It was not until 2000-2001 (Musharraf era) when Telecom / ICT industry actually gained a boom due to the liberalized policies of the then govt. There was no looking back after that and Pakistan has reached a staggering 71 % telecom density as of Jan 2013.
None of this is on credit of Mr Nawaz Sharif, sorry for Nooners. (0% credit)
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Economic Asian Tiger:
Lets not bicker much on the nitty gritties and see this simple benchmark of GDP growth (from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics) depicting economic growth from 1951 to 2009.
As can be seen, the highest the GDP growth went during any year of PMLN’s two tenures is 4.37% with the classic dip of 1.7% in 1999-2000 (Asian Tiger peak :P). This bad economic performance is second only to the current Zardari Govt’s tenure (what a competition to have BTW).
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-96BuggcKIXg/UVmYG0aLhoI/AAAAAAAADFE/3BvZIXFCfr8/s640/2000px-Pakistan_gdp_growth_rate.svg.png
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Coupled to this, the investor-killer episode of freezing foregn currency accounts in 1998 (after laundering own & cronies’ dollars first), is the shining milestone of PMLN economic performance.
Now coming to the current PMLN Punjab Govt’s economic disaster (can’t be called performance). Punjab’s annual average growth rate of 2.5% between 2007 and 2011 was even less than the 3.4% of Federal Govt, according to a report by Beacon House University’sInstitute of Public Policy (foreword written by PMLN’s supposed economy genie Sartaj Aziz).
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Metro Bus:
A project concieved & implemented in a hurry (11 months period) in response to PTI’s massive 30 Oct 2011 Jalsa, Metro Bus System is a classic example of throwing away taxpayer money for political gains. A heavily subsidized system - with a reported nearly Rs 1 million per day subsidy from the national exchequer - this project is nothing but another public sector white elephant like the ailing PIA, Railway or WAPDA. (One blogger even called it Matru ki Bijli ka Mann Dola Part 2 :P).
The system has many hidden facts that will only be known with time (e.g. the promise of100 buses supposedly to be gifted by Turkish Govt, that never materialized).
Now some may say, well the PMLN have at least built something visible on the ground. My friends that is what the Sharifs wanted from the project - something visible on the ground (feasibility, need, implementation, practicability are not points of concern). The only thing that matters is ‘something should be visible’ (to make the public fools). Thats all.
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Laptops:
The free laptops initiative is yet another political showpiece in response to 30 Oct PTI Jalsa to lure the youth voters (why no laptops before 30 Oct?). It is simply criminal for a govt to spend nearly Rs 5 Billion on this political gimmick when, according to reputed NGO ‘Save The Children’, the same govtspent 15 paisas per child on education in 2011-12. The criminal part is that since funds for laptops were not catered for in 2011-12 budget so funds were diverted from schools education head for the political gimmickery.
The sorry state of affairs drew the ire of highest judicial offices with CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry remarking “Punjab govt spending billions on laptops but girls are compelled to study in graveyards” and LHC Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed expressing his displeasureover not providing free education to kids when billions were being spent on laptops.
Couple to this the millions spent on lavish laptop distribution ceremonies where Sharif family members like Maryam Nawaz and Nawaz Sharif (with no official position) distributed govt funded laptops. Where are ethics?
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Danish Schools:
Danish schools are yet another politically motivated showpiece step diverting funds meant for millions of kids to a few thousand students in the fully subsidized schools. Whats the point of throwing away so much money when 5700 govt schools have been closed due to lack of funding?
Coming to performance in education sector Punjab’s state of education actually went down. As pointed out by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics,literacy rate & school enrollment actually declined in Punjab since 2008.
According to Planning Commission’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2011:
- 3.8 million Children from the age group 5-9 years are out of school in Punjab.
- 22% of children in Punjab at age 5 are not registered in any school facility.
- 3-5 age group 49% were un-enrolled. Girls were 55%.
- 6-10yrs: 11% are out of school in Punjab (Of this the dropout rate is 2% while 9% have never joined school).
- 6-16yrs: 16% (9% never enrolled and 7% dropped out). Among the Out of School Children (OOSC), (6-16yrs) 55% are girls.
- Rajanpur and Lodhran have the maximum number of Put of School Children (6-16yrs), 38% and 30% respectively.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7XCMowyTvIQ/UVmuHTcIRHI/AAAAAAAADFg/0cnbs84Ucno/s640/OOSC+children+%2528Small%2529.jpg
The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2011, further provides the status of schools in Punjab:
- 30% are without useable toilets
- 20% are without useable water.
- 24% are without a boundary wall
- D.G. Khan, Rawalpindi, RahimYar Khan and Bahawalnagar have at least 300 schools in their districts without drinking water
- In 30/36 districts, at least 100 schools are without a toilet. Worst examples: D.G.Khan with 674 schools, Bahawalnagar with 592 and Rawalpindi with 506 without toilets
With this shameful state of education, can spending billions on political gimmicks for media hype be justified?
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Apart from the above core ‘we delivered lines’, some Nooners also lay claim to few other projects. Chief among them are
With this article I hope, we can see how PMLN’s myth of ‘We Delivered’ (on media) is only a myth - More talk, Less substance. So Insafians, next time a Nooner comes up with the crammed one-liners, do give him / her a good run :).
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