It was indeed agonising to see the historic Ziarat Residency reduced to ashes.
RAWALPINDI: It was indeed agonising to see the historic Ziarat Residency reduced to ashes. The bombing meant that the invaluable heritage and many a rare memorabilia of the Father of the Nation have now been lost to the nation forever.
As if the agony was not enough, to add salt to injury, the media reported, with more than a hint of sycophancy that the new interior minister had ordered to restore the residency to its original form and appearance.
The question is whether the minister is spending the money from his pocket on the restoration of the Residency? If not, then why not say that the government has decided to restore the residency? When will we learn to rise above such self-styled personal adulation and that, too, at the cost of national calamities? Also, would it not be the purview of the Ministry of Works and Housing etc., instead of the interior minister to undertake the restoration? Furthermore, wouldn’t the Ministry of Culture be in a better place, regarding the quality of the restoration that is to be done?
I would humbly advise the interior minister to concentrate on his primary duty, which is to ensure that Pakistanis live in a safe environment where their lives and property are secure.
Col (retd) Riaz Jafri
Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2013.
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