What’s in a degree?

LAHORE: This is with reference to Ayesha Siddiqa’s article “What’s in a degree?” (July 11). Rather than protesting and boycotting elections under discriminatory laws, requiring candidates to be graduates, politicians chose to fake their credentials and gain the power associated with an MP status. The reality is that we have 400 or so MPs who are liars and have the audacity to say that they are insulted by caricatures being painted by the media. If, for the sake of saving democracy, we overlook this crime, we will be justifying another military takeover to save the country from itself. I suggest that the leaders focus more on understanding what their role entails to effectively deliver “public service”. The MPs and the privileged ministers need to manage the bureaucracy efficiently. A good starting point would be to fire officials when there is a security lapse instead of suspending or transferring them for neglecting to perform their duties.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2010.