Insult to injury

ISLAMABAD: Last week, while traveling to Dubai by PIA, I happened to pick up a copy of the airline’s January-February in-flight magazine, “Humsafar”.

While the magazine cover had a beautiful photograph of Begum Nusrat Bhutto, a lady of indomitable will and unflinching resolve, as well as historic photographs of her with Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and their children, I was surprised and disappointed to see the magazine turned into a vehicle for the personal publicity of the airline’s managing director and his spouse.

A publication that should be devoted to Pakistan’s tourist attractions, sporting achievements, cultural riches and economic strengths, had not one, but numerous photographs of the managing director. There was also a message from him claiming that the year 2011 had been a “productive and good year for PIA”!  Nothing could be farther from the truth, as evident from the fact that the airline is verging on near-bankruptcy and being kept afloat only because of frequent infusions of government funds.

Widely reported instances of massive corruption and nepotism have already made a once highly competent and efficient airline, a painful reminder of its glorious past. Now we have the managing director adding insult to injury by using the airline magazine as a vehicle for the family’s self promotion.

While the good lady cannot be faulted for her husband’s actions, the management’s decision to give her this unparalleled publicity is another evidence of the nation’s declining morals. In any country with even a semblance of accountability, such misuse of power and authority would have surely resulted in swift retribution. But in this blessed land, you can literally get away with murder!

T  Fatemi

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2012.