KARACHI:
The insatiable greed of our elected and paid elite to retain gifts given to them by foreign leaders and states as public office holders has become very embarrassing for citizens, if not for the recipients. None of them would have received these gifts while in service or post-retirement if they did not hold these public offices to represent the people of Pakistan. Yet, this greed seems to afflict almost everyone, with very few exceptions.
It is time that laws are legislated that nobody should be allowed, irrespective of the public office he/she holds, paid or elected, to exercise the option of retaining them, after payment of a nominal fraction of a reassessed value, which is far below market value. There is absolutely no justification that these expensive gifts are assessed at a depreciated value. At the most, a VVIP in office may be allowed to retain a maximum of three items, during their whole tenure, with a market value below Rs30,000 just as a token of remembrance. It is the state of Pakistan which is being gifted and which in turn has to give such gifts to visiting heads of state and public office holders.
Those holding public offices are honoured and compensated by the national exchequer for services rendered. Unfortunately, this abuse of power, whether in the form of allotment of state land, tax exemptions, etc, has been stretched too far and this gross irregularity has been regularised by those who are beneficiaries. It is not just unethical but a violation of the principle of conflicts of interest, which our religion has stressed to adhere to strictly.
Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2022.
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