What this country desperately needs is more democracy and accountability, not dictatorship.
DUBAI: Everybody in Pakistan is talking about change, accountability and rule of law, while the media has selectively launched a campaign against VIP culture. Yet, in this country, a poor girl gets raped by three sons of an MNA in Faisalabad and the police fail to pursue the case because an influential parliamentarian succeeds in silencing the parents of this unfortunate rape survivor. Have we forgotten the fate of Dr Shazia Khalid? The woman who was raped in Balochistan and instead of punishing her rapist, the victim had to flee the country in order to save her life.
The murderers of young Shahzeb and Hamza managed to circumvent the law in Karachi because their parents were able to bribe those in power at the time. Almost every day, innocent human beings are brutally murdered on the streets of Karachi and the culprits are never caught.
A PIA captain and his co-pilot are caught smuggling more than 20 iphones at the Lahore airport, and instead of being penalised and criminal proceedings being launched, they are free to go. This is only because the captain is the younger brother of a man who is currently the sitting president of the pilots’ union. Had this man been in Emirates or in any other international airline, he would have been sacked instantly.
If the writ of law is ever to prevail in our country, then the top elite of civil and uniformed bureaucracy, including the politicians and traders, must be punished if they break the law. For democracy to ever succeed in Pakistan, all that is needed is for men in power to submit to laws and pay all the taxes. Those holding public offices must be judged on higher moral and ethical pedestal than applicable to common citizens, because it is they who decide the fate of this country.
What this country desperately needs is more democracy and accountability, not dictatorship or any supra constitutional intervention.
Nighat Malik
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2014.
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