Then, ironically, they justify such actions in the name of saving democracy!
RAWALPINDI: Our politicians castigate one another in public by making accusations of corruption and using expressions like, “we will drag them in the streets when we come to power”, “we will bring back every penny looted by them and stashed in foreign banks”, and “they are American stooges”. However, in private, we see them inviting one another for talks and negotiations saying, “We would not like to derail democracy in any way.”
Is this some kind of a joke being played on us, the hapless masses, by such politicians? Once someone knows someone to be corrupt, knows that someone has stashed away millions of looted money in foreign countries, and has proof, there are still no proceedings against such individuals, in the name of democracy. Aren’t those who are ever ready to hold talks with such individuals answerable to anyone — above all, to their own conscience and to the oath of office they have taken? Are they accomplices in committing the same crimes and is that why they knowingly do not proceed against the culprits?
Where is the messiah who will come to the rescue of the nation and shut the doors of the power corridors to such corrupt, dishonest and power-hungry rulers in the future, who, once in power, not only overlook all crimes of people from the previous regime but also invite them for negotiations and hold parleys with them, just to stay in power? Then, ironically, they justify such actions in the name of saving democracy!
Colonel (retd) Riaz Jafri
Published in The Express Tribune, August 19th, 2016.
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