Politics has never been easy in Pakistan. Governance is even harder. The dynamics of pre-election politics and what a political party has to deal with once it comes into power are worlds apart. Most of the Pakistani political parties are institutionally weak and suffer from an unreasonable concentration of power. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has its share of challenges to overcome. When the PTI formed governments in the Punjab and at the Centre in August 2018 it faced an uphill struggle.

The primary goal the PTI government set itself was improving service delivery and ensuring that their fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution were protected. These included the rights to education, healthcare, safe drinking water, food security, employment and rule of law.

Prime Minister Imran Khan chose to think long term rather than focusing on immediate concerns.

An early shock was the realisation that irrespective of the leader’s vision for reforms and the party’s manifesto the government had to operate through the bureaucracy. The civil servants appeared to have forgotten the Quaid-i-Azam’s dictum that they were there to serve the people and not rule them. The PTI legislators met with resistance and non- compliance from bureaucrats. There was a virtual ‘Go Slow’ aggravated by a perceived threat from the National Accountability Bureau and the courts. There was a great deal of ‘shuffling’ of the civilian administration to ensure that the party objectives were met.

This staggered the reform agenda of the new government, which found it increasingly difficult to grapple with bureaucratic hurdles in the implementation of many social sector policy initiatives. The federal government managed to successfully carry out certain flagship projects like the Ehsaas and Shelter Homes across the country. However, provincial projects like the Aab-i-Pak Authority languished in spite of timely legislation by the Punjab Assembly.

A lack of clear majority in the parliament meant that the government was frequently forced to issue ordinances in public interest.

The provincial Assembly of the Punjab has so far passed 64 bills. Out of these 40 have been principal laws. The number is more than that for the National Assembly, the Senate and the other three provincial assemblies.

The provincial assembly has completed the legislative process needed to meet the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements, passing three laws related to money laundering and a terror financing watchdog. These include the Punjab Waqf Properties (Amendment) Bill; the Punjab Trust Bill; and the Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill. The house has also approved the Punjab Women Protection Authority (Amendment) Bill, the Protected Areas Bill and the Times Institute Multan Bill. The rules of the assembly were suspended for the approval of these laws.

Most of the opposition members walked out of the assembly taking no position during the legislation related to the FATF.

The fact that most political parties in Pakistan have centralised power structures, means that most of the legislators are excluded from effective decision making. Women parliamentarians elected to the reserved seats are the worst affected in this regard. Despite their significant numbers in the assemblies, they are largely side-lined and very seldom have key decision making positions. The only time they have been able to introduce effective pro-women legislation has been when they form bipartisan caucuses.

A majority of the assembly members show little interest in legislation and oversight of the functioning of the government. Most lack the policymaking expertise. In the Punjab, the standing committees have only recently been empowered to independently examine the expenditures/performance/policies of related departments. The powers are vital for effective implementation of new legislation. Meanwhile, the standing committees in the National Assembly, Senate and other provinces have been playing a pivotal role in legislative oversight.

The most important legislation by the PTI government in the Punjab has been on local government. The PTI was quite proud of the local bodies system its government in the KP introduced during its previous term and keen to replicate it in the Punjab.

The provincial assembly of the Punjab has since passed two laws:

1) The Punjab Local Government Act 2019(PLGA-19); and

2) The Punjab Village Panchayats and Neighbourhood Councils Act2019(VO&NCA-19).

Both entered into force with their notification in the Punjab Gazatte on May4, 2019. These laws envisage a transition period of up to 12 months between the previous and the new system. Local elections will be held in the year 2021 in both the Punjab and the KPK and 30 percent of the funds under the Annual Development Plan will be spent through the local bodies.

The PTI agenda for 2021 includes constitutional reforms. It has been complaining that the provincial allocations in the National Finance Commission Award leave inadequate resources for the federal government to meets its debt servicing and defence obligations and that the provinces are not willing to transfer these funds to the local governments. The PTI also blames poor service delivery in the health and education sectors on these being provincial subjects.

The PTI also wants to change the election laws.

Given that several vaccines have been developed for the Covid-19, the year 2021 could see economic recovery on a global scale.

Poverty alleviation is at the heart of the prime minister’s vision for 2021. The focus in this regard is going to be on rehabilitating the vulnerable and marginalised segments of society through revitalising the economy.

Protection of women and children will continue to be a priority of the government which earlier introduced the Zainab Alert Bill, the Domestic Workers Bill, the Acid Throwing Bill and the Inheritance law.

Important legislation on Child Marriage Restraint, Home Based Workers and Transgenders Protection is in the pipeline. However, the real challenge will lie in an effective enforcement of these.

The author is chairperson of the Punjab Assembly’s Standing Committee on Gender Mainstreaming and Women Development. She tweets @UzmaKardar