Awaam Pakistan — enter stage right

Whatever its prospects, the launching of the ‘Awaam Pakistan’ party — its nomenclature focused on people’s politics — appears to be well-timed.

The decision follows the widely opposed budget of fiscal year 2025, indicating that the end to the sufferings of the middle-class and low-income groups is nowhere in sight.

To quote Dr Hafiz A. Pasha, “Today almost 104 million people in Pakistan are living below the poverty line.”

Meanwhile, the government’s tax measures would fuel inflation by 10 per cent in the coming financial year, says Salim Mandiwalla, Chairman of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Finance.

MQM-P leader Dr Farooq Sattar argues that the country could not achieve economic growth with an “over-taxed and wrongly-taxed economy”.

The Pakistan Business Council notes that taxation measures to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio were proposed without reducing government expenditure. According to eminent analyst Sakib Sherani, the budget is a collection of misplaced priorities and overambitious targets that mostly miss a reform impulse.

Miftah Ismail reiterates the importance of educating the masses ahead of the new ‘non-traditional party’ launch in the coming week

“There has been an impression that the government has bureaucratic footprints in its decision-making which have to be replaced with political ones,” says PML-N President Nawaz Sharif. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto also accused the budget of adhering to the bureaucrats.

Federal Minister for Provincial Coordination, Rana Sanaullah, says the PPP’s main concern was that it had not been taken on board by the government in the decision-making process. “We told the PPP that the PML-N is also facing the same issue.”

On June 25, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced a Rs25 billion cut in the Public Sector Development Programme and a withdrawal of Rs15bn taxes to reportedly secure PPP support for the budget.

Also, the Rs65bn allocated to PPP projects remained untouched as demanded by the party. “Civilian sway and political legitimacy remain our only way forward, and even that is a long route to progress,” says Dr Niaz Murtaza.

“Only when all political parties in the country join hands to ensure political and social stability can there be sustainable development,” according to the visiting Chinese Minister Liu Jianchao.

To quote educationist Amin Villiani, no society can achieve peace unless it embraces diversity. Though, this is not happening. In the prevailing situation, independent analysts do not see any significant inflow of direct foreign investment. In fact, a Chinese mining company is quoted as having said it prefers to work in Afghanistan rather than in Pakistan.

Given this backdrop and after assessing the response to their banner: Reimagining Pakistan, the two former PML-N leaders — ex-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and ex-finance minister Miftah Ismail — found room for a ‘non-traditional party’ in the country’s politics.

The Awaam Pakistan party will be formally launched on July 6 or 7 with 17 founding members, as the budget for the next fiscal year is enforced. Mr Abbasi, the party convener, says, “We are not collecting electables. Professionals and experts should be in political parties; that is the depth we need today.”

While welcoming the launch of Awaam Pakistan, analysts noted that at present it appears to be a mix of experts and professionals, with a handful of politicians. Only time will tell if Awaam Pakistan lands public interest or fades away like similar initiatives.

No doubt the new party faces enormous challenges. It is the party manifesto, the political acumen, the energy and drive of their leaders, the political space — lost to traditional dynastical ruling parties in case of their perceived lacklustre performance — and its ability to compete with assertive local parties that would shape Awaam Pakistan’s future.

Parties with ambitions to be an all-Pakistan organisation without developing a democratic network of grassroots party organisations are unlikely to make any difference in the political landscape. It would be in the fitness of things that Awaam Pakistan opens up party offices in as many electoral constituencies as possible to help communities organise and undertake uplifting socioeconomic work primarily on a self-help basis.

The party’s experts and professionals can extend a helping hand to the community organisations for resolving their collective problems.

In the context of the party’s name ‘Awaam Pakistan’, one can just get a glimpse of its reform agenda from a recent Dawn article by Mr Ismail where he explains that “no economy will prosper if 40pc of the population remains poor and illiterate” while hit by high inflation rate, poor human resource development, etc.

While seeking an increase for the federation’s share in the National Finance Commission Award to 55pc over five years, he noted it was necessary that provinces, districts, and divisions also collect their taxes. “Responsible federalism,” he defined, “requires that not just authority to spend but responsibility to tax is also devolved.”

Furthermore, empowered local bodies should be given funds directly from the federal divisible pool on a pre-determined formula. They need not depend on the largesse of the provincial administrations.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 30th, 2024