Each of our MNAs and MPAs is elected by the votes of tens of thousands, therefore each should be considered worthy of our utmost respect. However, when one looks at the things they do, one is sorely disappointed with them.
First we had the spectacle of a lady assembly member who had stolen someones credit card. Incidentally, she did not get the punishment prescribed by the law for fraud; the maximum action taken against her consisted of the PML(N) throwing her out of their party.
Next we saw a number of legislators having fake degrees. Ordinary people in their position would have been convicted of fraud by now. However, their cases have been dragging on for over a year and no one has been punished. And to top it all, the ruling party gave its ticket to one such person who had resigned his seat to avoid conviction by a court due to possession of a fake degree, and the Prime Minister addressed his election rally. As if that was not enough, we now have reports of members of the Punjab Assembly marking the proxy attendance of their absent colleagues on a massive scale, to secure for them the daily allowance.
If you have ever wondered why MPAs and MNAs who have committed unlawful acts cannot be punished, this is because the prime ministers and the chief ministers are hostage in their hands, as they need their support to continue in office.
The biggest reason for bad governance is the same: the members of the assemblies coerce the chief executives to issue orders in violation of merit all the time. This has made the legislators a law unto themselves, and introduced anarchy in the country.
On hearing the news that MQM had introduced a bill in the Sindh assembly to ban illegal weapons, one wondered how, in a country where successive governments had failed to enforce a law prohibiting tinted glasses on vehicles, they would be able to implement a law banning illegal weapons.
DR IJAZ AHSAN
Lahore
