The performance of the provincial government in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, under Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has been a source of concern for many in the ruling PTI party. 

Perhaps it was the impressively large gathering of Pakistani-Americans at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the US, that prompted him to initiate legal arrangements to enable dual nationality holders to contest elections in Pakistan. 

In the face of a widening gap between revenue and expenditure, Pakistan is rightly concerned about increasing its money flow. The national debt has already reached a level where almost half of national revenue is consumed in paying interest on loans, so borrowing is not an easy option. 

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) led provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces, which together constitute 70% of the entire country’s population, passed local government bills in April. 

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), located along the northwestern region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, were always treated differently from other regions of the country since Pakistan became a new nation in 1947.