We can all be Mandelas

LAHORE: This is with reference to Mahreen Khan’s article “We can all be Mandelas” (July 17). We’re bad at making comparisons. Nelson Mandela cannot be compared with our politicians. Mandela is a supporter of democratic rights who endured 27 years in prison to remove apartheid from South Africa. Our government doesn’t have a single person who can match his mettle. Instead of struggling for the people’s emancipation, the way Mandela did, our politicians are suppressing poor Pakistanis. The repercussions of the government’s corruption, bad policy decisions, and legal transgressions are experienced by the middle and lower middle class. Until socio-economic disparity is reduced, and our politicians take a leaf out of Mandela’s book to persevere for peoples’ rights, prosperity will remain illusive.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2010.