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Façade
By Syed M. Aslam
What stopped Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and the prime-minister in waiting, Mian Nawaz Sharif, to back-up their promise of ‘relief’ to inhumanely exploited masses of this country with action? Why didn’t the Prime Minister briefing the press after “50th” or so meeting with Nawaz Sharif announce to reduce the price of petrol to the level ordered by the highest court of the land and why MNS did not insist for any such relief? A court-ordered relief that was snatched through a presidential order after which the government saw it fit to increase the prices of petroleum and products many times without any justification whatsoever.
Are the rulers still living in 1970s when they were able to bamboozle the people easily?
Despite the incessant promises of relief, none of which ever turned into action including the one made by the Prime Minister at the above mentioned press briefing, the government announced a negligible reduction of 64 paisas in the price of petroleum. Pakistani rulers think that they could still insult the intelligence of the people despite the fact that when you insult the intelligence of the people you are actually insulting your own intelligence.
As is, Pakistanis have stopped dying natural deaths years ago. Today they die young- as young as suckling babies, young boys and girls. Yes old women and men are also blown away by bomb-showering drones, planted booby traps, suicide bombings and gun shot wounds. They are butchered by thieves in open day light and lightless nights at the slightest resistance. They have also started committing suicide en masse without attracting the least attention of the rulers. In short, Pakistanis are not only dying young of not only un-natural but also of violent deaths at a much earlier age way early than the already low life expectancy at birth of less than 65 year.
Pakistanis are not only denied the luxury of peaceful natural death but they have also being denied to live in peace during their short sojourn on this earth. In an elitist society where ‘who you know’ means everything and ‘what you know’ means nothing the only respect they ever get from the ruling aristocracy is during the time of general elections. At all other times they are treated like subjects good only for ruthless physical, mental, financial, economic and social exploitations at par with animals- and even worse because in civilized societies even animals have rights.
They are taxed to death for the luxuries of the elites- civil or uniformed; feudals or industrialists; educated or illiterates; in power or otherwise; in executive, legislature and judiciary and bureaucracy. They have systematically being deprived of access to even half decent basic education because elites see educated masses a threat to their existence. They are deprived of the most basic medical treatment while the representatives, and their families, who come to power with their votes waste tens of millions of taxpayers’ money for medical treatment overseas for small ailments.
The ruling elite’s pursuance of excellence revolves around a single agenda: to maintain and to ensure continuation of their jet-set life style, considered immoral and inhumane even in the democratized monarchies of the West itself, at the expense of their subjects. Anything else, is just a facade- meant only to keep the appearance.
Isn’t it time for the career politicians, “˜traditional’ as they are, to realize that this is 2010 and not the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s or even early 2000s? It, however, seems as if our politicians are still living, or at least wish they had been living in the 1970s when it was so easy for them to bamboozle the people. It was also easy for them to hide their blunders and crimes of omission and commission, no matter how heinous, in the absence of an independent media and independent judiciary.
The New Independent Judiciary has instilled Hope in the soul of the people who are systematically being deprived of even the most basic essentials by career politicians and bureaucrats. Politicians should realize that people are no more inclined to put up with rubbish political rhetoric and promises that are not meant to be fulfilled. They want their elected representatives to honor promises instead of using politics as the platform to amass wealth. They want their representatives to make policies that alleviate their suffering instead of devising schemes to tax the people to death.
Civilized societies strictly guard against mixing politics with business. There are specific laws and by-laws to ensure that the unholy nexus of politics and business does not take place. The primary objective of such laws, the best known of which is “˜Conflict of Interest’, is to keep the politicians straight. There are laws that restrain not only the elected representatives including the head of the state, ministers and parliamentarians but also the public servants from accepting gifts over a fixed value, which even according to our standard is small. There are laws that allow accepting inexpensive gifts that are handed over to the specific government department after the retirement at fixed fee. Even the most powerful man on earth the President of the United States is not allowed to accept gifts whose value is more than, I think it’s a mere 200 dollars.
It’s time for the Pakistani politicians, parliamentarians, bureaucrats and public officials to justify their raison d’etre or ply some other trade? The elected representatives should behave like, what else but elected representatives, otherwise what good are they if they can not protect the interests of and work for the welfare of the people.
They must wake up to the fact that a lot more Pakistanis are hungry, homeless and barely clothed today than ever before. The reality is much uglier than the make-up soaked, high-flying, smooth-talking, honest-appearing and cunningly articulate ruling elites or their chamcha-brigades want to make us believe night after night during senseless academic, philosophical and intellectual harangues on TV shows.
Islands of luxuries surrounded by sea of abject poverty; body-eating hunger; absolute deprivation; inhumane exploitation; unbearable financial, social, economic, cultural and political injustices are bound to be drowned and vanished without leaving the slightest trace. Stop insulting the intelligence of the people. It’s about time for the politicians, bureaucracy and other segments of ruling elite to back up their words with action?
PS: Syed M. Aslam is an APNS (All Pakistan Newspapers Society) Award-winning journalist, writer, analyst and Column Writer. Comments are welcomed at smaslam1@yahoo.com.
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