power politics

THIS time it wasn`t just the opposition and its protesters in the streets. The government`s allies spoke out in a chorus against power cuts on Monday, with PML-Q lawmakers handing in resignations, the ANP encouraging protesters, threatening to join them and walking out of the Senate, and the MQM speaking out against the government in the upper house. The power problem has come down to its simplest political realities: politicians have to respond when their constituencies suffer loadshedding for up to 18 hours a day, especially in Ramazan. And they have to respond particularly loudly just months before a general election.

At that point, when a governance problem threatens to become a serious political liability, coalition politics, mutual understandings and deals fall by the wayside. This week`s reactions to electricity shortages showed how, despite its savvy politicking, the ruling party`s neglect of the power problem has become a real vulnerability.

And the storm that damaged plants in Muzaffargarh and worsened power shortages showed how vulnerable Pakistan`s power system remains to shocks.

Occasional blackouts driven by unforeseen circumstances are possible anywhere in the world; the one in India this week has affected 600 million people. But here unexpected events become tipping points that dramatically worsen an ongoing problem stemming from fundamental weaknesses in thepower generation and distribution systems. Nor does the government`s response match the scale and urgency of the crisis. Apparently the ministries of water and power, petroleum, and finance cannot agree on the causes and solutions of the problem. The president and prime minister continue to hold meetings on the issue that at least so far appear to be little more than exercises designed to create the impression that the problem is being taken seriously. Meanwhile, the president`s public remarks on Sunday downplayed the problem and his suggestion that the government is satisfied with its performance appeared either obstinate or stunningly out of touch.

Overall, the most the government has done is address to a limited extent power shortages when they spiral out of control. There appears to be no long-term planning or structural improvement to speak of.

The other increasingly obvious aspect of the problem is its province-versuscentre dynamic. Punjab has long claimed it is being discriminated against in power distribution, but now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where an ally is in power, is claiming the same. Somehow a distribution that is more acceptable to these provinces will have to be worked out. Without that, if this week`s protests are anything to go by, the power problem threatens to become an increasingly serious liability for the PPP as it heads into the polls.