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Pakistan
The Caretaker Government of Moeen Qureshi
During his three-month tenure as caretaker prime minister, Moeen
Qureshi initiated a substantial number of strong reform measures.
He devalued the currency and cut farm subsidies, while raising
the prices of wheat, electricity, and gasoline--strategies to
reduce Pakistan's huge budget deficit-- 7.5 percent of the gross
national product (GNP--see Glossary). Qureshi also cut public-sector
expenditures by instituting austerity measures, including closing
down ten embassies and abolishing fifteen ministries. Qureshi's
most daring innovation, however, was a temporary levy on agricultural
output--a measure resisted by powerful zamindari interests (see
Farm Ownership and Land Reform , ch. 3).
Qureshi next proceeded to single out those politicians who had
outstanding loans obtained from state banks and institutions--loans
received under easy terms in return for past political favors--a
total estimated at US$2 billion. In a move calculated to shame
these individuals, Qureshi added their names to a published list
of 5,000 individuals who had not fulfilled their loan obligations.
Approximately 15 percent of the individuals on the list had planned
to run for office in the coming elections. These candidates included
Benazir, Benazir s husband, and Nawaz Sharif's brother. Most candidates
quickly repaid their loans; those who did not were barred from
contesting the October 1993 elections. Drug-trafficking barons,
however, a small but powerful group including some members of
the parliament--were permanently barred from running in the elections.
Anticipating a further crackdown, several of the drug barons fled
the country.
In his three months in power, Qureshi exhibited an admirable
degree of technocratic efficiency tempered by dogged determination.
Yet it remained to be seen whether his achievements would be accepted
without reversal by the subsequent administration. Indeed, the
Qureshi caretaker government, some argue, because of its temporary
nature, was not much constrained by the realpolitik of Pakistani
society that the succeeding government would have to face. The
Qureshi government had, nonetheless, set a standard--one with
which past governments and the succeeding government of Benazir
would no doubt be compared.
Data as of April 1994
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