The apparent shortcomings of the administration in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat is that there is no effective system to control leaks, no practical system to stem the damage from a misquote or loose talk, and no adequate system to counter the allegations or propaganda onslaught by the opposition forces.

The evident premise is that the Secretariat is composed of those who are zealots in their allegiance to the Prime Minister, and those who form part of the bureaucracy, albeit those who the Premier feels are more attuned to her thoughts of thinking and philosophy.

However, the undying loyalty and the obvious bureaucrats’ penchant for toeing the government’s line no matter whether it is justified or not, results in a scenario where the Secretariat is not able to act or even react in the manner which requires pragmatic performance. This Administration is infamous for the lack of spin control. The Premier really does not have the kind of spin control managers that are required to effectively deal with any matter that may tend to embarrass this government or put it in a bowl of hot soup.

The spin control managers in this particular position are more so because the Premier is comfortable with them. These people, nevertheless, display an unabashed form of sycophancy that borders on absurdity. This may play well with the Prime Minister, but the consequences are serious for the party, its members, and the citizens of the country.

It is a sad fact that this Administration’s fundamental difficulty has been that its leaders, from the Premier on down, believe their own rhetoric. They sincerely believe that they have a mandate to engage in all sorts of exotic re-engineering of the various institutions in the country. From the political to the social, from the cultural to the economical. They are introducing policies that have aggravated the nature of problems which actually require sensible and rational attention.

A major casualty of the sycophantic style of policy-making is the disastrous handling of the Karachi situation. A fanatical hatred for the representative party of Karachi has lead to the initiation of steps that have alienated the denizens of this city and have ushered in a season of distrust, frenzied backlash, and animalistic violence. The formation of a farce of an Advisory Council to run the affairs of the Municipality, the incarceration of political leaders of MQM, the plethora of FIRs lodged against them at the drop of a hat, are nothing but recipes for sowing everlasting hate and antagonism that will take a lot of effort to wipe out from the minds of the Karachiites.

The Administration’s problems also include communications problems. There is no concerted effort to bring the people closer to the frame of the government’s policy approach. The government takes shelter behind the oft-repeated notion that the Zia years and the rule of Nawaz Sharif have been a time of stagnation, drift, and gridlock. This generalized attitude is just to save the Administration from all obvious criticisms but in no way whatsoever address the issues that are pressing this government.

One major problem is that arrogance is the hallmark of this Administration. The feeling among the citizens is that the cohorts in the leadership section of the Party assume themselves to be a breed apart from the rest of the citizenry and that they have been propelled into power because of the sacrifices most of them supposedly made during the "dark years" of military rule. Nevertheless, this does not mean that they are capable in assiduously governing this nation with aplomb and zeal. These leaders are more adept in manifesting themselves to the task of flattery and unctuousness. Indeed, it is some cause for wonder that these party jacks have convinced themselves that they have the right to govern and that they are doing a terrific job.

Another very sad fact of this Administration is the total reliance on the system of Advisorships. It can be safely emphasized that this government has no practical party legislator to attend to policy-making, and thus non-elected professionals or lackeys are catapulted into the forefront so that the semblance of a progressive approach towards setting up and implementing of policies is publicly maintained. This, nonetheless, is the cause of many a heartburn among even the party cadre, who have to remain mum in due deference to the Premier.

The prevalent system of, what in America is termed as "pork-barrel payoffs" i.e. providing huge chunks of money for projects in the constituencies of party legislators or opposition turncoats, is a sorry commentary in the name of "economic stimulus." To add insult to injury, these funds are a source of brazen misuse and fraud. At the same time, the Administration indulges, very hypocritically one may add, with the rhetoric of class warfare. The ad nauseum propaganda for egalitarianism looks very suspicious when it spews out of the mouth of feudals and the landed gentry who are always in the seats of power.

The Government has also mishandled critical issues that required statesmanship and pragmatism. It was not able to effectively deal with Mehrangate, Gwadur land sale to Oman, Rana Shaikh’s cultural circus, Sherpao’s bulldozing in NWFP, arrests of Opposition’s top honchos, open-book allegations of corruption, blatant horse-trading, globe-trotting extravaganzas, and such other issues and scandals.

What this Administration has not realized is that it is in big trouble, and the reason being that it has misread the country. It has practiced "partisanship" in a big way. That is the reality. What the Premier needs now is a "reality check" if the nation has to move forward under the guidance of this Government. This requires a harmonious effort to blend a portion of the Party’s hierarchy with the sprinkling of progressive Opposition and concerned intelligentsia who can then provide a scientific and practical blueprint to get on with the people’s business ----- that is, to really run this country.

Yours faithfully: