Raza Rabbani's warning

KARACHI: Senator Raza Rabbani warned the government when he said “the rulers will invite revolution and anarchy if they do not change their way of life.” I agree with him. Unless the government changes its ways, it will meet the fate he predicts. Recently, his party’s bosses have taken to handing over state-owned corporations to allegedly corrupt and incompetent men, bringing the state to the brink of bankruptcy. And their pandering to popular sentiment by filling these organisations with surplus men has accelerated the decline of these corporations.

Senator Rabbani’s effort to resist the privatisation of these corporations loses moral relevance when his party’s leadership contributes to their escalating losses. I doubt he can explain why the generosity of his party bosses includes giving employment to cronies in public sector corporations and not their own companies. For our rulers, the time for sweet words and facile promises has run out. Now, they must back their words with actions.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2010.