Compensation offer to poor citizens maimed or raped by the affluent or politically strong have added to deprivation
LAHORE: Our finance minister has no qualms in offering amnesty to tax-evading traders. At the same time, he has no hesitation in levying a 15 per cent withholding tax on widows, orphans, pensioners, the handicapped and senior citizens who have invested in the National Savings Scheme. This is why those who voted for the PML-N are now realising that this is a government of traders and contractors, dedicated to the welfare of only this segment of the population, and for whom the suffering of ordinary citizens does not matter one bit. The PML-N government is not valuing ordinary citizens and believes that this segment of the population is not worth caring about. Images that appear in newspapers of government officials offering compensation to poor citizens whose kith and kin have been killed, maimed or raped by more affluent and politically powerful figures have only added to their sense of deprivation. This has made ordinary citizens vulnerable for recruitment by criminal mafias and terrorists of all shades as their anger and feelings of rebellion against the state continues to grow.
There seems to be no end to the government’s desire to grant endless amnesties to smugglers, tax evaders and their ilk, all of whom should have been punished in accordance with the law. The Almighty, who created this vast universe, established rules that will eventually judge the big shot criminals’ actions.
No system of governance can function without an effective system of justice, with rewards for law-abiders and punishment for offenders. Pakistan’s failure as a state results from its inability to enforce laws and award punishments under a transparent system. Numerous amnesties for tax offenders, smugglers, land grabbers and such others have only helped in expanding the black economy, which is reported to be more than double than that which is documented, and has made Pakistan weaker and more vulnerable.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2016.
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