Our nation is bogged down in a situation where the advantageously placed “haves” are using all the tricks in the book to rob the ignorant “have-nots” of the country. As a result, the former are living royally while the latter have turned paupers.
There is a mad scramble for the biggest prize in the country: the public exchequer. The political scene resembles a circus show in which the players are well-trained and fully adept at their art except that they are not the players of the ordinary circus but experts in the trickery of swindling the public treasury. The people are the innocent spectators in the show, mesmerised by their performance, unable to unravel their tricks.
During the Musharraf regime, the Shujaat party was in collaboration with the dictator and together they all looted country’s wealth. One actor, Moonis Elahi, has just got himself off the hook on account of political deal struck by his elders.
The recent disclosures about the richest people of Pakistan put Mr Zardari at No 2 with US$ 1.8 billion and Nawaz Sharif at No 3 with US$ 1.4 billion. Is it any wonder that both these political entities were only ordinary businessmen or landowners before they had been twice at the top in government?
The international strategy that seems to be governing our country goes somewhat like this: impose hand-picked political governments, give them all the incentives to be corrupt so that they bankrupt the people. The people in the end will cry out in pain, and then impose martial law to suppress their voice and maintain status quo with the help of already highly corrupt bureaucracy. Repeat this cycle at necessary intervals.
All this can only be remedied if the state institutions are built on rock-solid foundations of merit and manned by expert individuals who are highly patriotic in their outlook, even ready to lay down their lives in the cause of the country.
RAFIQ AHMAD
Muzaffargarh