Pakistan: Ministries not on top 10 best performers’ list are unhappy

Islamabad: The recently announced top 10 best performing ministries and portfolios in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s federal cabinet drew criticism from those whose ministries failed to make it to the list.

Among the best-performing ministries were Ministries of Communication (First), Planning, Development & Special Initiative (Second) and Poverty Alleviation & Social Safety (Third). However, some key ministries like Foreign Affairs, Defence, Information, Finance and Health have failed to attract Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Establishment Arbab Shahzad who headed the performance-evaluating body.

Arbab Shehzad who had prepared the report and devised the criteria on which the top ten ministries were judged insisted the ministries were adjudged on the basis of the implementation of their projects and achievement of goals they set before themselves.

There was no favouritism or ‘pick & drop’ policy in this exercise, said Arbab Shehzad.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is also the vice-president of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has written a letter to Arbab Shahzad, expressing serious reservations over placing his ministry on the 11th spot.

In the letter which is also available on social media, Qureshi stated that in the first quarter set in the 9-month performance agreement, the Foreign Ministry achieved 22 out of the 26 assigned targets.

Of the remaining four, one of the targets was completed 99 per cent, and the reasons for delaying the remaining three projects were mentioned in a letter written on October 27, 2021, Qureshi stated in the letter.

The minister claimed that the performance of his ministry in achieving targets in the first three months of the fiscal year remained by 70 per cent, while that of the rest of the ministries was 62pc.

In the second quarter, the ministry achieved 18 targets out of 24. He raised questions and said no written guidelines were issued for the third quarter, he said.

There are voices of dissent not only within the ruling party but the allied parties have also expressed reservations over the criteria.

Convener of the government’s allied party, Muttahida Qaumi Movent-Pakistan, (MQM-Pakistan) Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has also criticided the government for not acknowledging the “significant” performance of the Information Technology (IT) Ministry his party’s senior member Amin-ul-Haq is leading.

The ministry, he claimed had earned record revenue through exports.

On a number of of occasions in the past, Prime Minister Imran Khan also lauded the performance of the IT Ministry.