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OPINION APRIL 12, 2024 | The Indian Eye 10

Will the 14th National Assembly

of Pakistan Complete its Term?

Pakistan continues to experience political instability, economic crisis, factionalism,

terrorism, ethnic centralism leading to insurgency in the provinces and many more vices

DR DHRUBAJYOTI BHATTACHARJEE cipal impediment for the present
government. This is why instead of
he 14th Pakistani National selecting Ishaq Dar or Miftah Ismail
Assembly elections was held to be the Finance Minister, the gov-
Ton February 8, 2024. Like the ernment has selected Muhammad
past, this election too, was politically Aurangzeb to be the next Finance
engineered. Elections were held for Minister. He has been a seasoned
336 seats in the National Assembly in banker for over three decades and
which a single party or coalition can has served as the President and CEO
government after winning at least 169 of Habib Bank Limited and held key
seats. position at JP Morgan. Ishaq Dar has
been appointed as the Foreign Min-
Three major political parties ister and Khawaja Asif as the defense
minister. It can be noted that in the
have been major contenders recently constituted Council of Com-

along with many regional par- mon Interests (CCI), Foreign Minis-
ter Dar has been included instead of
ties. However, no single par- the finance minister, which shows the
ty was in a position to garner key role that Ishaq Dar will continue
to play in advising the government in
single majority, and a coalition The present government faces the crucial task of rescheduling its foreign debt payment among economic matters as well.
decreasing export earnings (File photo)
form of government was fore- The present government is mak-
ing attempts 1o garner support for
seen even before elections. The litical party PML-N won 75 seats and Arabia, Iran and India have con- the next International Monetary
three major political parties PPP came next with 54 seats without gratulated Shehbaz Sharif on his as- Fund (IMF) economic package. It
remains to be the single most import-
suming office of the Prime Minister
calculating the reserved seats.
are Pakistan Muslim League As the independant candidates of Pakistan. US President Joe Biden ant factor in the country’s short-term
(Nawaz) [PML-N] led by Nawaz backed by PTI had to be represented wrote a letter to Prime Minister Shar- creditworthiness, as it will further
by a political party, they joined the if, congratulating him to form the exacerbate inflation and the ongoing
Sharif and his family, Pakistan Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) to form government, looking forward work- economic crisis, receding the polit-
People’s Party (PPP) led by Asif a strong opposition to the coalition ing closely with the new government. ical capital of the Shehbaz Sharif’s
government. However, the PML-N This remain to be the first official government.
Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto has turned out to be the largest polit- communication by the US President To conclude one cannot expect
and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ical party in the National Assembly, Biden with the Pakistani leadership, the 14th National Assembly of Paki-
when the ECP selected 75 of its gen-
stan to compete its full tenure. Paki-
after he took office in January 2021,
(PTI) led by Imran Khan. eral seats, joined by 9 independents, as the US Presidential office did not stan continues to experience political
adding 19 reserved seats for women make any communication with for- instability, economic crisis, faction-
Before the elections, the Elec- and 4 reserved seats for minority. mer Prime Minister Imran Khan or alism, terrorism, ethnic centralism
tion Commission along with the judi- After several days of debate and with Shehbaz Sharif during the inter- leading to insurgency in the prov-
ciary took steps to keep PTI out of discussion both PML-N and PPP im government. inces and many more vices, a weak
power. Imran Khan who was already agreed to form a minority govern- The present government faces PML-N coalition will find it hard to
in prison, was ineligible to stand for ment with PPP supporting the coa- the crucial task of rescheduling its find any rapprochement to bring po-
elections. Electoral authorities re- lition from outside. Shehbaz Sharif, foreign debt payment among de- litical stability in Pakistan.
jected the party’s symbol, rejected Nawaz Sharif’s brother was selected creasing export earnings. As per Dr. Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee is
PTI candidates from standing for to be the Prime Minister. President the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), a Research Fellow at the Indian
election and arrested senior party of- of PPP, Asif Ali Zardari took over as Pakistan has to repay foreign debt Council of World Affairs. The views
ficials, who have been released only the President of Pakistan. Though amounting to US$27.47 billion by expressed are personal
after they have resigned from PTI. initially some of the nations in the November 2024. This repayment in-
The candidates representing PTI West showed their reservation with cludes both the principal loan and in- This article first appeared in the
stood as independent and was able to regard to the fairness of the elector- terest costs. The present government Viewpoint section of the website
get total of 93 seats in the National al process, but has accepted the new experiences unforeseen economic (www.icwa.in) of Indian Council of
Assembly. In contrast, as a single po- coalition government. China, Saudi crisis, which will remain to be a prin- World Affairs, New Delhi

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