Since assuming office on August 18, Prime Minister Imran Khan has established 14 task forces, committees, and commissions to recommend ways of expediting his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s “first 100 days” plan to improve national governance.
Each forum has been given just a couple of weeks to firm up proposals for a series of tasks taken up by the PTI-led government.
However, it could be a case of deja vu.
In past decades, such talk-shops were formed by successive governments to address the very same issues now referred to the new task forces.
Few recommendations have translated into practice.
Similarly, some of the jobs being undertaken by the present committees would fail to pass because the government lacks the numbers in parliament to enact constitutional changes.
Prominent among the 14 new committees is a task force given the job of finding ways to repatriate wealth illegally stashed abroad.
Led by Mirza Shahzad Akbar, special assistant to the prime minister on accountability, it is working to identify “100 big fishes”.
In the absence of other options, however, it may rely wholly on a list already prepared by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Before being elected prime minister, Khan vowed to strengthen the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law.
A task force headed by Law Minister Farough Naseem would suggest changes to the legislation.
Another task force has been formed to suggest austerity measures sought by Khan.
As its first move, the government has scheduled the auction of 102 excess bulletproof and ordinary vehicles of the Prime Minister House on September 17.
A second austerity-driven committee, comprising architects and other experts, would suggest the best possible utilisation of historical buildings, governor houses, and state guest houses.
One more task force would make recommendations for the administrative merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), a matter already politically decided through a constitutional amendment.
Similarly, a body has been formed to facilitate the creation of a new province in southern Punjab.
This would require an amendment to the Constitution and, therefore, the backing of a two-thirds majority in Parliament, as well as the approval of the Punjab Assembly.
The prime minister has also established a committee to restructure the system of local government, with senior Punjab minister Aleem Khan playing the leading role.
It envisages the unprecedented direct election of mayors and district council chairmen.
This idea was not part of the local council system introduced in KP by the previous PTI administration.
The primary objective of this proposals is to replace the existing local governments in Punjab, which are dominated by the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N).
The new system would be extended to KP and Baluchistan, but the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government would not be inclined to introduce it in Sindh.
Addressing the government’s economic priorities, a task force has been constituted to recommend measures to create 10mn jobs over five years.
It would work closely with a separate committee on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
In turn, they would co-ordinate with a task force formed to plan the construction of 5mn low-cost houses.
Pakistan
