New Pakistan, or more of the same old?

ISLAMABAD: Out of 21 ministers and advisers in the newly sworn-in federal cabinet, eight are those who have served former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in key posts and supported his regime with the same devotion and dedication that they are showing for their new leader Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had won the election on a slogan of ‘New Pakistan’, but its critics are now asking if Khan really meant that, or it had been just an election slogan.

How can a dictator’s team realise Imran Khan’s vision of New Pakistan, they ask. They fear that this is a case of ‘old wine in new bottle’.

According to them, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who is Imran Khan’s pick for Ministry of Information and Broadcast and the party’s chief spokesperson, has served in Musharraf’s era as media coordinator of his party, All Pakistan Muslim League (APML).

He only decided to part ways with the party and Gen Musharraf when in 2012 the latter announced his return to Pakistan to participate in the 2013 elections.

PTI’s Law Minister, Dr Farogh Naseem is also credited by Gen Pervez Musharraf and his team for representing him in the courts of the country as his chief counsel.

PTI’s Commerce and Trade Minister Abdul Razzaq Dawood enjoyed the same portfolio in Pervez Musharraf’s period from 1999 to 2002.

Imran Khan’s trusted lieutenant Petroleum Minister Chaudhry Ghulam Sarwar who is being praised by all for defeating Chaudhry Nisar Ahmad was very close to Pervez Musharraf and was inducted in his Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s cabinet in 2004 as Minister for Labour and Manpower.

Similarly, PTI’s much-trumpeted Railways Minister Sh Rashid Ahmad enjoyed two ministries simultaneously in Pervez Musharraf’s era, namely Railways and Information and Broadcasting.

Gen Pervez Musharraf’s ‘soft image’ of Pakistan to the external world and the first woman parliamentarian from Balochistan to become Education Minister, is the Defence Productions Minister in Imran Khan’s cabinet.

The Adviser to PM Imran Khan on Institutional Reforms and Austerity, Dr Ishrat Husain has devotedly served as Governor of State Bank from 1999 to 2006.

The Adviser to PM Imran Khan on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam, was Minister for Environment in Pervez Musharraf’s cabinet.

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and vice-chairman of PTI Shah Mahmood Qureshi also contested local bodies’ election in Musharraf’s military set-up and was elected Mayor of Multan from 2000 to 2002. However, he refused to quit his party Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) at that time despite pressure from General Musharraf.