We can all be Mandelas

LAHORE: This is with reference to Mahreen Khan’s article” We can all be Mandelas” (July 17). Khan fails to realise what Nelson Mandela stood for. Comparing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission or South Africa’s apartheid regime to corruption in Pakistan is uncalled for. Given that the writer links justice with expense, one is forced think that she doesn’t comprehend what justice stands for. It isn’t about the millions of dollars being spent or recovered, or about forgiving people. It’s about holding those in positions of power accountable to the masses.

I wonder whether she really thinks that the corrupt in Pakistan repent for their crimes. I admire her ability to forgive and forget but I don’t think it’s needed in Pakistan’s case. Correlating a man’s effort to fight apartheid and subsequent forgiveness with Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate corruption is a flawed analogy reflecting on poor knowledge about what goes on in Pakistan. Mark my words, if we stay silent today, and forgive criminals, history will repeat itself over and over again.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2010.