Yesterday was the last day of campaigning for political parties participating in the general elections. According to the announcement of the Election Commission, this campaign ended at 12 o'clock on Tuesday night. Thursday, February 8 is the polling day in which millions of voters will vote for their representatives for the next government.

Given the adverse conditions and challenges that Pakistan is currently facing, power will be a garland of thorns and not a wreath of flowers for the new government. The attractive claims and promises made during the election campaign are not enough to overcome the national problems and difficulties faced, very serious measures and hard work will be required to implement them.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar while speaking in Jirga program of Geo TV on Sunday has declared the biggest problem in this regard as the economy which is undoubtedly the basis of all problems. He also said that after the economy, attention should be paid to terrorism, political instability and foreign policy. In all the elections held in Pakistan so far except one, there have been allegations of rigging, and to avoid this and to ensure fair and transparent elections, provision was made for the establishment of caretaker governments in the federal and provincial governments.  The term of the caretaker government is fixed in the constitution for 90 days, while the tenure of the current caretakers has exceeded one year due to political instability and constitutional issues. The Caretaker Prime Minister has strongly opposed the concept of Caretaker Governments and has highlighted the need to abolish it. In view of the seriousness shown by the current caretaker government in handling the affairs of the country and taking policy measures, there were allegations that this is a conspiracy by which the caretakers want to extend their tenure. The Prime Minister dismissed these allegations as baseless and said that the issues that were referred to in this regard, including terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, should not be seen in a political context. It will be the responsibility of the new government to carry forward the necessary work that we have done on our part. Whichever government is elected will sit with him in the last meeting of his cabinet and hand over all the work to him. This will be a new tradition. He said that Investment Facilitation Council is doing valuable work for foreign investment. MoUs worth $35 billion have been signed with the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. After the establishment of the new government, Saudi Arabia and Qatar will also join this system.

The Investment Council is working on several projects in this regard. On a question regarding terrorism, he said that if the outlawed TTP surrenders unconditionally, they should be pardoned. The internal and external issues discussed by the caretaker prime minister in his interview will certainly be the first choice for the new government to address. Pakistan is on the brink of economic bankruptcy, which is being averted by meeting IMF conditions. The patience and tolerance required in politics is not visible and it is certain that political stability is the basic requirement for economic stability. Inflation, unemployment, corruption, wastage of resources, lack of investment, uncertainty in foreign relations and the general situation of law and order also require far-sighted but decisive measures.

Economic experts are calling March to June very sensitive for the country's economy in the context of this financial year. According to them, the exchange rate may face setbacks during March and the economic performance of these four months should determine the scenario of the current financial year. It is feared that dollar inflows may be lower than the market in this period as remittances and foreign direct investment (FDI) are already much lower than expected levels and remittances during the first half of the current fiscal year. It should be clear that the trend of reduction in remittances has been going on since the last financial year (2022-23) which was 25% less than the previous fiscal year (2021-22) and as a result the economy lost four billion dollars.

 The currency experts are most concerned about the release of the last installment of one billion 20 million dollars from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will be decided in March.

According to the supervising finance minister, the situation facing Pakistan Another bailout package will be needed in the context.

It is positive to keep an eye on the upcoming situations and to think of solutions to the concerns in advance in the light of which it will help to get out of the possible problems.

This whole situation is also worrying because February 8. The elected government has to determine its economic priorities and prepare the budget for the next financial year, while the political parties have promised to give free electricity up to 300 units to the people.

There will be at least enough to balance the supply and demand of dollars. For this, increasing exports and remittances and reducing imports is the first step.

Another challenge is the scourge of terrorim. The incidents of terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan require that all necessary measures be taken to root out terrorism, including contacting the Transitional Government of Afghanistan and mobilizing relevant forums of regional countries.

Incidents of terrorism, especially in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are not only increasing, but also educational institutions and public transport are not safe from them.

While the real situation is that the Afghanistan-based leadership of the outlawed TTP is operating terrorism in Pakistan and its infiltrators are using every tactic to harm the beloved country. Pakistan is the country that has stood by Afghan brothers in all difficult times and also played an effective role in the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.  It would be good if the responsible people of both the countries sit together and find an effective way of improvement. For the development and prosperity of both countries and peace and stability in the region, such contacts should be made immediately. It may be mentioned here that in the recent past, TTP has made a lot of progress. The continued use of Afghanistan's territory in terrorist incidents is extremely worrying. The Afghan government should not just pay lip service but take practical steps to prevent these incidents from its soil.

Published in The Daily National Courier, February, 07 2024

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.