The Blame Game

It seems every time I manage to go through the Dawn, the only other news I consistently see, amid all the regular blood and gore, is headlines about how the previous government failed to do its job. At the time of the budget, it was Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, who blamed the previous government for a GDP growth rate of 5.8% vs the target of 7.2%. He refused to take into consideration the turbulent year that Pakistan underwent during the previous budget year, specifically the number of times Karachi and the rest of Pakistan was virtually shut down in the grip of violence, whether that be due to the fight to restore Chief Justice Chaudhry, the arrival and subsequent election campaign and assassination of Ms. Bhutto, or other things. In the face of such chaos, it is a miracle that the GDP grew at all, let alone by 5.8%. That growth may or may not have anything to do with the government at that time, and may actually be a testament to the resilience and courage of the Pakistani people, but it was an excellent growth, nevertheless.

But this is just one incident. The papers have been peppered with the blame game for the last several months, whether it is through the statements of Mr. Zardari, or through those of other PPP and PML-N leaders. In fact, it appears that most of the effort of the new government is focused on finding evidence of the failures of the previous governments.

As a Pakistani citizen, I would like to request PM Gillani, Mr. Zardari, Mr. Qamar, and the others in the new government to please divert their time and energy to the job that they have been elected to do. This country is already facing too many problems, poverty, inflation, terrorism and growing extremism, rampant illiteracy and the energy crisis, to name just a few. Even one day spent not addressing these problems, instead of other superficial things, is a day lost in the progress of Pakistan and its people.