Taking stock

Dawn, 17 Jan 2010

IN an opinion piece in TheWashington Post on Friday, President Zardari has told his foreign audience that his government has a plan to build "a functioning society and economy" and that it has courageously taken some "unpopular steps" to save the country from the "fire of terrorism". Is the president right? Yes and no. Yes, the government has got at least two fundamental things right so far: one, it has rescued the economy from the verge of collapse; and two, it's strong support for the war against militancy has genuinely helped in tackling the biggest internal security threat the country has faced in decades, and possibly ever. Since neither of those two tasks — turning around the economy and re-establishing the internal sovereignty of the state — is anywhere near completion, the government has not always got credit for its role so far. Thankfully, though, the president did not use his opinion piece to lash out at his critics: even if the government has been unfairly criticised, it must act with restraint and focus on projecting what it believes to be the successes of the government so far.