IF anything has changed in Nawaz Sharif’s style of governance in his third term in office, surely it is for the worse. Not only has the government increasingly become a family enterprise, its ineptness is getting more glaring by the day. The high-profile launch of the prime minister’s daughter in public office marks further strengthening of the family hold over power.

Maryam Nawaz is, however, not the only second-generation Sharif being groomed for leadership. Hamza, the eldest son of Shahbaz Sharif and a member of the National Assembly, has already been given important administrative responsibilities in Punjab as his father gets more and more involved in running affairs in Islamabad. He is virtually acting as the de facto chief minister.

It is all in the family when it comes to taking important policy decisions. The two Sharifs with in-law Ishaq Dar form the main power nucleus. No one else is to be trusted. Mr Sharif’s highly personalised style of governance is much more pronounced this time than in his previous two terms. It has hugely affected institutional functioning and resulted in the current disarray and paralysis in government.

It has taken months for the prime minister to make decisions even on important diplomatic and government appointments. Perhaps the most glaring example of the prevailing dysfunction is the foreign affairs ministry. The irony is that the prime minister himself holds the portfolio of foreign minister with an adviser and special assistant to help him run the affairs of this critical ministry. Prolonged indecision and uncertainty over key appointments have paralysed this ministry.

It is scandalous the way the appointments of the new foreign secretary and envoys to India and Brussels were reversed weeks after their announcement. As it is, all those appointments were approved by the prime minister after he sat on the decisions for months. It has been embarrassing for senior Foreign Office officers who were informed about the change only days before they were to join their new postings.

Abdul Basit, the ambassador to Germany, was named as the new foreign secretary in October. But the decision was overturned some six weeks later because he was thought to be too junior for the post. Similarly, the decision to post Ibne Abbas and Aizaz Ahmed as envoys to New Delhi and Brussels respectively was reversed after their nomination papers were accepted by the host countries.

This is humiliating and demoralising for all these senior career officers. There is still no announcement of a new foreign secretary, though Aizaz Ahmed is believed to have been nominated for the top slot.

Such confusion and chaos are also prevalent in the conduct of foreign policy. The reported turf war between Sartaj Aziz and Tariq Fatemi is actually a symptom rather than the cause of the disarray in foreign policy. There is certainly a need for a full-time foreign minister to deal with complex and critical issues confronting Pakistan. But the prime minister seems too keen to hold on to this portfolio as well as others.

Mr Sharif’s concept of foreign policy is limited to foreign tours and personal diplomacy. There is no coherent policy on any important issue. Effectively there is no one in charge and policies are based on the whims of the prime minister. An old guard, Mr Aziz as an adviser was supposed to be guiding the foreign and national security policies, but he has effectively been sidelined. He seems to have already lost the turf war and rumour has it that he may soon be shown the door.

In fact, foreign policy too has become family domain with Shahbaz Sharif dabbling in external affairs as well. The Punjab chief minister has been participating in almost all the meetings of the prime minister with foreign dignitaries. He also accompanies his elder brother on most foreign official visits. But his latest trip to New Delhi and his meeting with the Indian prime minister lends credence to the criticism questioning his role in external relations. Shahbaz Sharif seems to have initiated his own agenda seeking to build relations with Indian Punjab.

A joint statement issued after Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to Indian Punjab proposed free movement for academicians, students and interns between the two sides. It was the first such exercise between a Pakistani province and an Indian state. For sure such exchanges can be very positive. But the issue is would the Pakistani government allow other provincial administrations to reach the same kind of agreements with neighbouring provinces or states across the border? Certainly not.

In the absence of a clear policy direction it is a free for all. On several instances, cabinet ministers have publicly contradicted each other. An embarrassing situation occurred when the all-powerful interior minister publicly ridiculed Mr Sartaj Aziz on his statement on the US assurance to suspend drone strikes.

Worse still, Chaudhry Nisar reminds us of former interior minister Rehman Malik. He’s fond of commenting on every issue, particularly foreign policy which is certainly not his domain. His hawkish statements, in particular on ties with the US often contradict the official line.

The chaos and confusion in the foreign ministry is a mere symptom of the greater malady afflicting the government. Neither is the state of affairs in other departments encouraging. It is a royal mess given Mr Sharif’s ways of ruling the country like a family enterprise.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

Twitter: @hidhussain