Government by U-turn


By Omar R Quraishi


Imran Khan's residence in Bani Gala
Here is a list of U-turns performed by the PTI government in its first 5 weeks in office

1. The PM said he wouldn't live in the Prime Minister House - he would instead live in the residence of the Military Secretary to the PM, which incidentally is also within the boundaries of Prime Minister House. However, he doesn't stay there either - commuting between the Prime Minister Office and his own Bani Gala residence every day, usually by helicopter. During that whole debate, the information minister waded in, adding a gem for which he went on to receive considerable ridicule, especially on social media, when he said that taking a helicopter was in fact cheaper because it cost just "Rs 50-55 km per litre"




Prime Minister House










2. The PM and senior members of the government have repeatedly said that they will either have no protocol or have sharply reduced protocol and will not inconvenience members of the public when they travel. However, that has been repeatedly seen to not be the case, be it the convoy of Dr Arif Alvi when he visited Quetta prior to the presidential election, or his movement in Karachi after becoming president. The same has happened with the PM's convoy and that of governors as well.

Of course, there is no denying that security is essential for the PM and for other senior members of the government and no one in his right mind will begrudge them for heightened levels of security or even protocol, However, since the government itself repeatedly claims to not using protocol, the media, or at least those sections of it which still have some degree of independence respond to the government claims.



3. The Atif Mian fiasco. The government notified 18 members to the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. This included 3 Pakistani professors of international repute, including Atif Mian from Princeton. Word got out that he was an Ahmadi and when that happened, to his credit, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry defended the appointment saying that it was an advisory role for an economist and someone's choice of faith should have nothing to do with it.





However, soon the government backtracked on this appointment, after some religious groups said that if Atif Mian wasn't removed they would march on to Islamabad. The U-turn happened in a couple of days and left it red-faced. The other two overseas-based members of the Council, Asim Ijaz Khwaja of Harvard University and Imran Rasul of University College London also resigned in protest. As of now, the Economic Advisory Council has 15 members none of whom is a woman.

Imran Rasul of University College London

Asim Ijaz Khawaja -- Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development at Harvard University



4. Upon taking his oath of office, one of the first announcements made by the government was that the PM would travel on commercial flights and not use the official jet of the Prime Minister. The PM had also said that he would not embark on any foreign trips in his first 90 days in office. The foreign minister said that he took would travel only on club class. Neither of those pledges were kept. The PM went on his first official trip to Saudi Arabia and the UAE earlier this week, and did not go on a commercial flight. He also took a reasonably large entourage of ministers along with him to both countries and they all performed umrah (at state expense). Mind you, in the past when prime ministers and ministers did the latter, ostensibly on state expense, there was considerable protest but not even a whimper from most of the media this time. As for the visit and the fact that several ministers went with the PM, that may be fine given the importance of such a visit in the backdrop of Pakistan having to scramble to borrow some $8-12 billion in loans, but the point is why make such tall claims/promises which then cannot be kept.

The PM arrives in the UAE on the PM's official jet 

The PM en route to Saudi Arabia on the PM's official jet


5. The government in its new measures for the ongoing budget reversed the previous government's prohibition placed on those who don't file income tax returns from purchasing vehicles and property. Non-filers can now buy both of these, which seems odd because it will attract black money and expand the undocumented sector of the economy, both things that the PTI had always said it would fight if it came to power at the Centre.

The reasoning given by Finance Minister Asad Umar that overseas Pakistanis had complained that they couldn't purchase property anymore makes little sense in this case. Furthermore, a system could have been devised to facilitate them without having to reverse the restriction on non-filers. The PTI government has been widely criticized for this U-turn and for good reason, not least because it seems to be a step to reward those who don't file their tax returns.


6. The PTI has always claimed that it is against dynastic rule and against nepotism. Despite that, Imran Khan's close friends have been given choice posts in the new government. His close confidante Naeemul Haque has been appointed Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs, his friend Abdul Aleem Khan a senior minister in the Punjab government (he is being investigated by NAB), close friend Awn Chaudhry an adviser to the Punjab Chief Minister, and Zulfi Bukhari has been made Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistan and Human Resources with the rank of Minister of State. Mr Bukhari was stopped in June 2018 from going for Umra with Imran Khan. However, the latter made a call to the caretaker interior minister and Mr Bukhari was allowed to proceed. He is currently under investigation by NAB for ownership of offshore companies and his name has appeared in the Panama Leaks. At that time, the PTI defended him by saying that since he was not a Pakistani national but a UK citizen and since had had no business interests in Pakistan, NAB should not be investigating him. Mr Bukhari also took this defence. Now, as minister of state he will sit in on cabinet meetings.

Mr Bukhari's Twitter bio lists a website http://www.hpmdevelopments.com which offers a variety of hi-end services related to real estate acquisition and development. A cursory look at the website shows it has high-end clients in London with properties in Mayfair, Kensington, Belgravia and even a 'Super yatch' in Monaco.


Furthermore, a close friend of the PM, UK-based real estate tycoon Aneel Musarrat has attended official meetings on the government's scheme to build 5 million new homes. After attending that meeting, he returned to the UK where he told a group of Pakistani journalists that the scheme was worth a potential $180 billion. Mr Musarrat is being labelled as an Indian but he is actually of Pakistani descent. However, he is known to be good friends with several Bollywood stars, some of whom attended his daughter's wedding, as did Imran Khan. An internet search showed that Mr Musarrat is or has been a director of dozens of firms, many of which are running a deficit, all adding up to tens of millions of pounds.

Aneel Musarrat (r) and Chico Jehangir (L) with Prime Minister Imran Khan in Bani Gala in the second week of September 

An official of a meeting of the PM presiding over the construction of 5 million homes in Pakistan. Aneel Musarrat is on extreme right -- Chico Jehangir is extreme left (partially seen). 

A listing of the companies that Aneel Musarrat is a director of -- over two dozen of these
are running a deficit -- adding up to almost 100 million pounds


Imran Khan with Zulfi Bukhari in London 



Aneel Musarrat with Indian actor Anil Kapoor



Imran Khan attends the wedding of Aneel Musarrat's daughter -- also in attendance Indian actor Anil Kapoor





A view of the website of Zulfi Bukhari's company in the UK

A page from the website of Zulfi Bukhari's UK-based company -- this is the 'Portfolio' section



The writer tweets at @omar_quraishi

 He is an independent journalist and media and communications consultant. He has previously worked at Dawn, The News, The Express Tribune, ARY News, Samaa and as Media Consultant to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

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