PPP’s election manifest as gift book

Yesterday when I saw on television screen Makhdoom Amin Fahim sitting in center while Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani on his right while Kaira, Information Minister was on his left holding a printed book titled PPP Manifesto which must be in English since its title was in English but nevertheless I prompted me to fist gather some statistical figures on the subject before commenting on it.

On the face of it there is nothing wrong to print the manifesto in English rather it is not only very pleasing but also a matter of great pride that our general public can read English otherwise the book had not been published in 1^st instance. However, please allow me to heartily commend and supplement your efforts to some extent so that it turns out to be still the more useful and life remembering activity not only for the publisher but readers as well. I have some feelings, may be naïve, that most of those who are to be given this published PPP manifesto may please be given a dictionary as well but remember it should be English to Urdu dictionary and not English to English dictionary as one may generally construe. Incidentally Benazir Income Support Programme must also be tasked to embark upon teaching this manifesto for the simple reason that all those who could not understand the manifesto even after consulting English Urdu dictionary then where they can o to understand it other than BISP.

What a mockery on the part of PPP headed by president Zardari and fully supported by former prime minister Gilani and others to spend millions in publishing the political party’s manifesto in English without realizing that as per Google figures of 2012 only 54.9% population of our population is literate and when it comes to break down our 68.6% men and 30.4% women respectively are considered to be literate. Needless to mention that this literacy percentage is about the national language which is Urdu which itself is very low and deplorable and tips us that when we are too backward in our own national language then undoubtedly our percentage of literacy in English will still be very much low. India is much better than us since its overall literacy is at 83.04% whereas males are 85.14% and females come to 76.46 %. Sweden, UK and USA have scored 99% individually in all the three segments meaning by that their overall population, male and female literacy rate is 99% respectively. Armenia in percentage wise has scored 99.7 (overall) 99.7 (male) and 99.4 (female) respectively. Surprisingly a poor African country like Belarus has very amazing figures of 99.6, 99.8 and 99.5 respectively.

Incidentally political party manifesto is to be like one page with some bullet points so that everyone who is an eligible voter can very well understand in the 1^st instance as to what the party is talking about without indulging into any zigzag situation. To my understanding once someone has read and understood any manifesto then he or she or both are well enlightened to differentiate between this particular political parties with other political parties and can judiciously arrive at a decision as to whom to give vote and why. However if people are given not just one page but a book as manifest like what PPP has done then greater possibility is that most of the ordinary voters neither have any interest nor time to go through so many pages of the book and it can very rightly be feared that if still he or she is pushed to read the book then it may fire back and as a consequence thereof he or she or both may not vote for PPP.

There must be some very compelling reasons as to why and how PPP manifesto was published in an expensive colored book which at least cannot figure out except that perhaps PPP has given the book as decoration piece for their voters to display it prominently in their drawing room so that anyone who visits the house can see it and if per chance it is not spotted by the visitor then the host can proudly show the book to the visitor. It reminds me that each book be autographed by President Asif Ali Zardari to make it still the more valuable.

Iqbal Hadi Zaidi