It is time for us to look within our own bosoms and evaluate the damage done by our silence
LAHORE: I fail to understand why honest middle class Pakistanis jealously grudge the lifestyles of the affluent and corrupt when they have tolerated these people for so long and allowed them to pilfer this country. All those who matter in the political criminal black economy of Pakistan attended extended ceremonies, which went on for over a week.
Social media recently went berserk with clips of a wedding at a six or seven star hotel in Dubai. It was the establishment, which, in full know of the former governor of Sindh Ishratul Ibad’s activities, appointed him on this constitutional post for the longest tenure in our chequered history. Were we not aware that on June 12, 2005, the Telegraph, in an investigative report by Daniel Foggo and Massoud Ansari, revealed that for almost 10 months, the gentleman who lived “in a mansion in the state capital while being waited on by servants and chauffeured in Mercedes limousines,” chose to receive British state benefits “including income support worth about £1,000 a month” plus another “£244-a-week rent on a house in northwest London” that he kept as a pied-a-terre for his family?
Has anybody read the version of the Malaysian owner about the ship hijacked by Somali pirates with Pakistani sailors, where he accuses Karachi CPLC head and Governor of jacking up ransom amounts demanded by pirates? What business did Karachi CPLC and the Government of Sindh have to negotiate with pirates in violation of the UN Charter, instead of devoting their energies to put an end to killings, kidnapping for ransom that was going on in Karachi? Who gave him an NRO in spite of allegations of numerous heinous crimes committed by him? Why was he retained by two elected political governments?
It is time for us to look within our own bosoms and evaluate the damage done by our silence. We should have stood up and still can, if we are earnest in stopping the systematic plunder of our motherland, as has been done by the people of South Korea.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2017.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
