Week after week, journalists plug away on some theme or the other, cataloguing the latest iniquities of the government and listing fresh indignities inflicted on the common man by some agency of the power brokers. But the entreaties of the public are always met with a stony silence and a sublime indifference. For all they care, these writers could be crafting their columns and news reports on Titan, the environmental friendly satellite of Jupiter, to which a friend of mine has threatened to migrate to, if Yousaf Raza Gilani is reelected as prime minister
On June 26, 2006, I did a piece in Dawn entitled “Scams for all seasons”. The epistle ruffled quite a few feathers. It also triggered off a couple of telephone calls from Islamabad from a department, the identity of which prudence forbids me to reveal. The article mentioned the cement and sugar scandals. It highlighted the faux pas in the Security Printing Press where the chief honcho hadn’t asked for tenders and imported a press for five billion rupees –– which didn’t work. The piece also targeted the speaker of the National Assembly, who allegedly appropriated for himself a Rs11 million Mercedes Benz, sent hundreds of MNAs to Switzerland on R&R, and wanted a four-storey mansion built on 19,000 square feet, costing the taxpayer a staggering amount of money.
It also pointed out that the minister of railways had purchased a number of locomotives and 144 railway coaches at a cost of $69 million from China. Alas, somebody in the department had not done his homework. Trust the British to have installed the wrong gauge a hundred years ago. Since the locomotives and rolling stock could not operate on the old rails, it now became a case of putting the cart before the horse. After every blunder, a government spokesman is wheeled out as a saintly do-gooder and though short on plot and long on endearing lines, invariably has a plausible explanation for every official gaffe and indiscretion. However, in Pakistan, public memory is short. People forget and forgive. The corrupt are seldom incompetent. But when the incompetent become corrupt, well then you get a singular glimpse of life in the land of the pure. There is obviously something wrong with a people who admire functionaries that squander millions of rupees of the taxpayers’ money in a flagrant display of ostentation. Thrift and parsimony have always been regarded as signs of weakness. People admire pomp and flamboyance. It’s part of the national psyche. Wasting resources is a national pastime. It’s just that some people do it better than others.
Unless the culture changes radically, we will continue to drift on an unchartered ocean, suffering the shenanigans of the yokels in the assemblies and waiting for the leader who can lead us out of the quagmire and, who is as elusive as the Loch Ness monster.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2012.
COMMENTS (8)
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All I can say is 'spot on'. All I can do is ' fume and fret'. All I can think is 'whatever I think does not matter '. All I can hope for ' is change for the better '. Once again Sir, spot on.
S.Chaudhri -- my apologies You are absolutely right. Titan is a satellite of Saturn. I had just seen a program on television which was all about the two larger planets Jupiter and Saturn. And by the time I had taken out my lap top.the moons had gotten mixed up
I wrote my earlier comment before S&P released its credit rating for PAK bonds. Wish I had not said that.
PAK senate and lower house seriously need to clean up their acts and instead of passing resolutions they should pass bills to clean up the system.
If anyone is terribly bored, read SBP monetary Policy report to get a picture of the economy.
All loose talks of Iran gas pipe line, death to America slogans should take back seat for a while, as bond markets don't like further chaos. Needless to say about the other things.
Good luck.
Shouldn't the beef be Argentina?
great piece all the same.
@Author:--No use waiting for any leader.No one is going to come to lead us out of the quagmire. Because we have come to love being there.When in Rome,either do as Romans do or face being a gladiator.No third option is there at least in our lifetime as it was not during the golden days of Roman empire.I say this with solid conviction,when I see that as I make someone my ideal leader,after great deliberations,and he stumbles at one stage or the other,I loose all my confidence
A day will come when no one will buy the Pakistan bonds. What are the assets of PAK government for liquidation?
PAK was founded by the wealthy few to live a royal life. There is no way to say it, if only one follows the money from the creation of PAK.
Sir,
Titan is a satellite of Saturn, not Jupiter.
As usual, the inimitable Mr. Mooraj has hit the nail on the head. The last paragraph says it all :-)