A little over a year in office may seem like early days for the coalition government led by Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari but there is a discernible pattern to the nature and quality of its governance.

So far the government’s performance has been uninspired and uninspiring. Even if allowance is made for the daunting and complex challenges at hand its record has been underwhelming. Its momentum has seemed to sag, and there is still no sense of direction. It has adopted a patchwork approach to addressing fundamental issues and relied on firefighting rather than evolving a thoughtful and coherent strategy.