Tracking Naya Pakistan, Three Years into Power

Weeks before the general elections 2018, Paki- stan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan now also the prime minister unveiled his party’s much-awaited manifesto that carried an elaborate plan to transform the country into “Naya Pakistan” a term that doubled as his party’s slogan through their successful campaign and beyond. After the PTI, with the help of its allies, formed the government in August 2018, Dawn.com launched the Naya Pakistan Tracker to chart the progress on PTI’s promises on a yearly basis. With two years remaining in Prime Minister Imran’s mandated five-year term, the progress on the commitments outlined in his party’s manifesto present a mixed bag. Dawn.com’s tracker has found that the PTI-led government has launched a number of projects and also set in place the instruments required for the fulfillment of some of its promises at the national, and in some cases, even provincial levels. However, progress on some promises is still stuck in its initial stages or has been marred with delays. Here Dawn.com highlights some of the important promises made by the PTI in its manifesto and where they currently stand.

Overseas Pakistanis PM Imran, during his election campaign, had vowed to “ensure a greater stake for overseas Pakistanis”. Among a number of goals set to achieve this promise was ensuring voting rights for overseas Pakistanis and developing financial instruments that create attractive investment opportunities for them. Right to vote Just a month after the PTI came to power, overseas Pakistanis were given the opportunity to vote for the first time in Pakistan’s electoral history. However, this was done by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and based on a Supreme Court order. The ruling party, meanwhile, has also been pushing for the use of Electronic Voting Machines

(EVMs). In July 2019, Prime Minister Imran directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to develop a “comprehensive programme” to give expatriates the right to vote. The premier and his government have reiterated their commitment to this promise on multiple occasions. On May 9 of this year, the government promulgated the Elections (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2021, thus, authorising and binding the ECP to give overseas Pakistanis their right to vote and to procure EVMs. This ordinance, however, is set to expire next month, with the government seeking an extension in its constitutional life. Meanwhile, on June 10 of 2021, the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2020 was passed by the National Assembly amid the opposition’s outcry. It was then tabled in the upper house on Oct 16, where it has not been passed yet. PM Imran’s party has emphasised the need to grant overseas Pakistanis the right to vote before next elections in 20223. Despite work done, the promise, however, is not yet complete, largely due to the hesitance of the opposition parties to include overseas Pakistan in the electoral rolls. We rated it as “partially complete”. Digital incentives for ‘biggest asset’ “They (overseas Pakistanis) are Pakistan’s biggest asset […],” said Prime Minister Imran on April 29 while launching two digital incentives for the expatriate community. In order to attract investment from overseas Pakistanis, the PTI has introduced a number of projects that focus specifically on this promise. On January 31, 2019, the premier launched the Pakistan Banao Certificate — a dollar-denominated diaspora bond aimed at attracting investment from overseas Pakistanis to help strengthen the national economy. In September of last year, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched the Roshan Digital Account (RDA) for non-resident Pakistanis to enable them to remotely open bank accounts in the country through online digital branches without physically visiting banks. By the end of July, the inflows through RDA had reached $1.87bil- lion. Read The RDA challenge In November 2020, the SBP launched a savings scheme the Naya Pakistan Certificate offering significantly higher interest rates compared to those prevailing in most of the developed and developing economies. Facilitating overseas Pakistanis, PM Imran’s government also provided incentives such as tax exemptions and simplified biometric verification. Investments in property, tourism and the construction sector were also encouraged. This makes it one of only two promises that have been completed by the government. South Punjab One of the ruling party’s promises before forming the government was to “spearhead the creation of a South Punjab province on administrative lines”. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, in October 2018, had said that “the dream would come true” during PTI’s tenure. In 2018, the party started off on an active footing, setting up the Executive Council on Creation of South Punjab province and forming a committee to develop political consensus over the creation of the new province. First step towards South Punjab province Over the past three years, however, much of the progress towards creating the new province has been focused on setting up the   South Punjab secretariat, described by the party as the first step towards establishing the new federating unit. Differences emerged over whether the sub-secretariat would be set up in Bahawalpur or Multan, with PTI stalwart Jahangir Tareen admitting that there were divergent opinions within the party over the location. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had announced that the prime minister would make the final decision on the location of the secretariat after meeting representatives from the areas. On June 30, 2020, the additional chief secretary (ACS) and additional inspector general (AIG) Punjab were formally appointed. The secretariat was to cover the divisions of Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan and the civil servants would be split between Multan and Bahawalpur. Call- ing it a “major milestone” in the establishment of the South Punjab province, Qureshi, on Sept 1, 2020, announced the posting of high-level bureaucrats to South Punjab for a fully functional secretariat. On April 26, Prime Minister Imran laid the foundation stone of the secretariat in Multan, with Chief Minister Buzdar saying the foundation stone of the secretariat in Bahawalpur would also be laid in future. On June 7, the foreign minister requested Buzdar to ensure that officials were present at the South Punjab secretariat and to designate an institution to investigate their conduct. Building political consensus Apart from the establishment of secretariats, PM Imran in April approved a plan for the development of South Punjab as a separate administrative zone. He also gave consent to amend the Punjab Civil Servants Act of 1974 and to carry out necessary legislation to dedicate 32 percent job quota for South Punjab. In June, however, the Punjab Cabinet Committee on Legislative business deferred the proposal for the job quota. FM Qureshi has also called on PPP and PML-N politicians from South Punjab to help the government establish the new province and form political consensus in this regard. “You say you want a South Punjab province. If you truly want this, give us proof. Join the government, don’t just make statements, step forward practically and assist us,” he said in March 2020. Days earlier, the foreign minister had announced that a bill for the creation of the new province would be tabled in the National Assembly. With a lot of work yet to be done, this promise is still “in progress”. Karachi “We want to make Karachi the urban jewel of Pakistan,” the PTI stated in its manifesto while announcing a number of steps towards transforming the metropolis.

Among the party’s commitments was to improve the capacity of Karachi’s mass transit system, develop a desalination plant, provide clean drinking water and a crackdown against the city’s water mafia. During a visit to Kara- chi in March 2019, PM Imran announced a Rs162bn development project for the city. Of the 18 proposed projects, 10 were related to the development of the public transport network in Karachi and seven to the water and sewerage infrastructure. On Sept 5, 2020, the premier unveiled a Rs1.1 trillion package for Karachi’s transformation. He visited the metropolis last week and reviewed progress on five of those projects, which are a part of the Karachi Transformation Plan. But despite all the rhetoric, the PTI government, which 12 won a sizeable mandate from the port city, has yet to deliver on many of its promises that they championed before coming into power. Providing water blame game and delays Prime Minister Imran had announced the installation of a desalination plant for Karachi on his maiden visit to the city. However, the plant has yet to be set up. On Oct 21, 2019, the premier again urged the contracted firm to expedite work. The ruling party had also vowed to crackdown against the water mafia in the city. While there has been no progress on that commitment, the federal government is working on the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (K-IV), which plans to supply 260 million gallons per day of water to Kara- chi in phase one. The K-IV project was originally being handled by the Sindh government. Under an arrangement with the provincial government, the federal government took up the implementation of the project as part of the prime minister’s package for Karachi and directed the Water & Power Development Authority to take over the implementation responsibilities of the scheme. In June 2020, the centre blamed the PPP-led provincial government for delays with the project. Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said K-IV, the modern Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and freight corridor projects’ construction would start within the same fiscal year. The fiscal year has now ended and yet, the citizens of Karachi are still waiting for the promises to materialise. Work on promises to end Kara- chi’s water mafia and to champion the development of a desalination plant in the metropolis for clean drinking water has “not started” yet. Karachi’s mass transit system As part of its promise to enhance the mass transit system in the city, the PTI had vowed to revive the KCR project in three phases. After 21 years, on Nov 19, 2020, the KCR started partial operations on a 14km cleared stretch of the around 55km route of the old KCR.

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