A land clouded in uncertainty

In less than two months' time, Pakistan's National Assembly will complete its full term.

- MALEEHA LODHI

The PDM relinquish power and be replaced by caretaker governments that have to be in place to hold general elections. But the road to elections is still clouded in uncertainty. With ministers adopting a purposively vague stance, speculation is rife about whether elections will be held on time.

Some of this has been fuelled by the yet-to-be-completed digital census, which news reports indicate might push the election date beyond October as this would entail delimitation of constituencies. There is also uncertainty about the fate of the economy which remains in the critical ward.

Any effort to play with the election date beyond what is constitutionally stipulated would be disastrous for the country. Fixing the economy can hardly be used as an excuse considering the PDM government's failure to address the ongoing economic crisis. Band-aid measures have only kicked the can down the road and done little to deal with the structural sources of the crisis.

Failure to revive the IMF bailout programme has underscored the extent of government mismanagement. The prospect of elections urged a reform-averse government to avoid taking necessary remedial measures to meaningfully address the perilous state of public finances.

The budget was a missed opportunity, with political considerations taking precedence over sound economics. The IMF criticised the lack of measures both on the revenue and expenditure side. This seemed to rule out chances of any deal.

Uncertainties are not limited to the economy. They extend to the electoral field and involve the question of who would or would not be allowed to run and whether opposition leader Imran Khan will be disqualified in one of the legal cases against him.