The announcement of Prime
Minister Youth Business Loan program was not only surprising, but
also daring. In the presence of rulings of the Supreme Court about the procedure
to be adopted and conditions to be met about similar appointments, the appointment
of prime minister's daughter as the Head of the program shows the growing
confidence of Mr. Nawaz Sharif either in himself or in the apex court under a
new chief justice. While the nomenclature of the program and the name of its
head speak loudly about the political nature of the program, banks have been
asked to finance it. The announcement was completely silent about the
qualification, experience and business acumen of the head of the program
indicating that there was nothing worth mentioning. It appears that the prime
minister wants to give the much needed experience to her daughter now to fill
that void and prepare her for bigger appointments in the future. Many
people thought that the pronouncements of Imran Khan about the royal nature of
the family was a political ploy, but Sharifs are bent upon proving him
right. Earlier Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took the lead
in appointing his son as the head of a co-ordination committee for
facilitating government affairs in Punjab, ignoring very senior party members.
Tasneem Hameed
