Grand scheme: Guardian calls Metro Bus an ‘important project’

[Salman]

Anti-government protests have caused glitches in some important development schemes, including the Metro Bus project, in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, besides seriously putting off the interest of foreign investors, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported.
The newspaper called the Metro Bus plan an important project that is facing problems owing to the protests and sit-ins by some politicians. Islamabad’s new public transport system with its shiny new buses, freshly dug underpasses and dedicated flyovers, is supposed to be a symbol of a government that gets big things done.

The paper points out that the frantic construction work on the 265 million scheme came to a halt in August when thousands of anti-government protesters, led by opposition politician Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri, flooded into the city. “It is not just an important project that has been held up. The protesters also succeeded in paralysing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government,” wrote Jon Boone in the newspaper.
The Guardian said international investors have been seriously put off by the sight of thousands of protesters overwhelming the government quarter of the capital and smashing their way into the grounds of parliament in late August.
“Before the protests we had a brilliant story to tell about Pakistan,” said the head of the Privatisation Commission, Mohammad Zubair Umar.
He said last year had been a turning point for Pakistan as it was the first time a government had survived a full five-year term and saw the first successful transfer of power to another elected government. “We told investors that we now had the kind of political stability Pakistan never witnessed in its first 60 years,” Umar said.

The Privatisation Commission chairman said even though some protesters remained on the streets and Imran was threatening another big rally on November 30, the crisis was in effect over.
The newspaper recalled that Nawaz had survived when all of Pakistan’s politicians — except those loyal to Imran — appeared at a dramatic joint sitting of parliament to give their support to the prime minister.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2014.