The writer, I am afraid, is using an utterly absurd argument about philanthropy.
BURLINGTON, VT, US: This is with reference to Nosheen Ali’s article of April 20 titled “Three cups of sincerity”. The writer, I am afraid, is using an utterly absurd argument about philanthropy. With limited resources, how can we be simply content with anyone who has opened schools — no matter how much money is wasted?
It is precisely this kind of self-congratulation which the Pakistani elite comforts themselves with — by throwing crumbs to their servants and thinking that they are helping the poor. Yes, they will come and say shukriya but is that the kind of society we want, where precious philanthropic resources are wasted in perpetuating an elite, glamourised class?
Mortenson’s case is particularly troubling because there are plenty of competing organisations which are doing the same work and doing it better — The Citizens Foundation and the Aga Khan Foundation to name just two.
Valourising one organisation which is wasting resources compared to others simply so that our elite get to brush shoulders with Bill Clinton and others at Mortenson’s fundraisers is sad. Elite Pakistanis need to wake up and ensure that funds given in charity are used constructively and efficiently.
Saleem Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2011.
