Self Respect - Whither art Thou?

It looks nowadays a PM doesn’t consider himself worth his salt until he is served with a couple of Contempt of Court notices and/or once or twice his orders are nullified by the SC or is sent home packing ! Of course not an iota of shame is felt by the contemning PMs in submitting their  unconditional apology to the SC, not once but as many times as required because they don’t mean a bit of it and take it to be just another routine perfunctory daily official matter to do so. How many times has Raja Sahib tendered his apologies, I have lost the count?  And, now the Khosa Sahib, the third PM in succession brazenly inviting the same treatment?  One just wonders where is the grace, the dignity and the self respect of our supreme leaders, who start behaving like avaricious and rapacious tiny pigmies even before they are sworn in to the office.  Remember, SYR Gilani taking off in the special presidential jet to Karachi to attend the wedding of his s on the same evening that he was elected Leader of the House and returned to Islamabad in the same jet the next day?  In what capacity did he use the official plane to and fro Karachi, even before he was administered the oath of the office?  Did he not misuse the govt. plane when he was not entitled to it and thus committed an act of corruption even before taking over as the PM of the country?  I bet, he NEVER realized then nor does he even today that he was committing an act of dishonesty and misappropriation. Such a thing is just not in their character!  And, then to expect honest governance from such a person is asking for too much. Similarly, one can expect dishonesty and dishonest acts from a property dealer, who is used to bribing the Patwaris, the Registrars of Property and their Munshis at each and every step of a property deal and there is just nothing unusual for him to indulge in bargaining and obtaining commissions in a deal whether it is real estate or rental power stations or any other mega project and contract, but it shakes the very foundations of our faith in our social and ethical values and morality to find someone who once held the most august position of the highest dispenser of the justice indulging in dubious but highly lucrative postings and transfers of the corporate Chairmen and Chief Executives, and that too during the last days of his temporary regime and the last leg of his remaining life?!  Do the bearer of such moral character deserve and expect our respect? Sadly not.

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)