First week in office

A week has passed since the oath-taking ceremony of Makhdoom Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani as Prime Minister, while his cabinet colleagues took the oath only a couple of days back. According to an official statement, the countdown of the 100 days programme enunciated by the PM, was to begin from the day of the cabinet’s oath taking. So now let us see what the next 14 weeks bring in execution of the announced plan. True that a mass of people feel disappointed at the lack of any immediate relief from their sufferings and the hardships of day-to-day existence.We can only remind them that the new ministers have not yet had time to come to grips with their job, and the sincerity of their intent and oft-declared pledge to ameliorate the conditions of the downtrodden and deprived citizenry cannot be doubted. It is too early to even broach the subject, howsoever millions of times it may have been aired prior to elections and since.We take the PM at his word that on April 10, he is going to publicly announce what he has inherited in office from the outgoing incumbents. We also hope that there will be a full disclosure of all assets and liabilities, short, medium or long term.We know that the new Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs is an FCA, and intricacies of public accounting are no mystery to him. It will be a grand gesture to take the nation into full confidence and prepare them for the harsh times ahead about which there is no delusion.The Herculean task ahead for the PM and his colleagues, can be compared to that faced by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his first term and later, or Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the World War II. We have to build on the debris of past follies, and provide immediate succour to the now nearing 170 million countrymen, who in a short while, are projected to touch 250 million!The miseries of life, particularly in Karachi, at the moment, cry for an immediate help, but the harsh reality says it cannot be done. All sane people will agree with that assessment. But, and that is a big BUT, how many perfectly sane people are left still breathing in this land - nay, on this planet. Untold miseries can lead to desperate acts, and there is no gainsaying the consequences. So it will be in fitness of things if a meaningful gesture is made towards the toiling humanity to let them feel there is a sympathetic ear listening to their cries.For example, an immediate cash award to all salary earners, and re-alignment of salaries and wages scales in line with the realistic cost of living, and not a statistician’s play with figures, could set the ball rolling. Lowering of prices of food and other essentials can help everyone, not just the wage earners. Other measures will follow, but this can be a start in the right direction.