Its time that all institutions, elected office holders, servants of state realise they are all here to serve Pakistan
LAHORE: This is with reference to the ongoing debate about General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s trial. The question remains that do we want to be a sovereign respectable country envisioned by the Quaid-e-Azam or do we want to be reduced to being a banana republic?
There is no doubt that poor governance, lack of transparency and a national exchequer deprived of taxes from the rich have deprived this country of resources and most importantly, of national obligations — welfare of the people, security of life and justice for all. After all, what purpose is served if the paid bureaucracy, uniformed services and constitutionally-created state institutions fail to serve the purpose for which they were created. May I dare to ask the ruling elite and the establishment of this country that did we win our freedom from our colonial masters only to be oppressed by a paid uniformed and civil bureaucracy loyal to the British crown?
For God’s sake it is time that all institutions, elected political constitutional office holders and paid servants of state realised that they are all there to serve Pakistan, its people, and no one but the people of this country are masters of their own fate. Pakistan was not created to be a theocracy, but a country where a Muslim majority could live in peace with members of other faiths, each practicing their religion in accordance with his or her wishes, but without infringing the rights of others.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2014.
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