In Pakistan, despite the fact that people braved so much suffering, rulers are sitting fixed to their seats of power
RAWALPINDI: The nation is suffering from the non-availability of petrol while oil prices in the world market have fallen steeply and oil is available aplenty globally. Our rulers, who are products of dictatorships, are enjoying all the luxuries in the world in their palatial palaces, which have been built after exploiting the blood and sweat of the common man. They have the penchant to travel abroad and stay in seven-star hotels, while the country is going through one of the gravest security crises, and now a crippling fuel crisis. No one has resigned even after such an inept performance.
It is pertinent to point out that in New Delhi in the 1990s, when tomatoes disappeared from the Indian market owing to shortage, there were fierce, widespread protests. The state government procured tomatoes from Iran by air and made them available to the public in the street markets. It took just a few days of protest from the people of New Delhi for the Indian government to respond to them and succumb to their demands. This is how a real democracy works: by having some regard for the people’s rights.
Do we still have the audacity to claim that Pakistan is a democratic country, despite the fact that the government has not responded to the demands of the common man? In Pakistan, despite the fact that people have braved so much suffering, the rulers are sitting fixed to their seats of power, seemingly with no conscience and no sense of responsibility.
Mahmud Ahmad Akhtar
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2015.
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