We Pakistanis are a funny little nation. While the entire world blows their trivial problems out of proportion, we have been accustomed to burying the most gargantuan problems into the depths of obscurity. While the royal family of Louis the XIV was accused of not being privy to the misery of the masses, with one of their queens rendering the infamous statement, ‘well if they don’t have bread, they can eat cake instead’, the Pakistani figures that have infested the corridors of power are often heard making similar statements.
“If you don’t have railways, use buses instead,” or something similar was echoed by Pakistan’s Railway Minister Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, who ironically is a transporter by profession. Now if any self interested businessmen are reading this, they will understand that capitalism is all about maximising profits. It really doesn’t need a rocket scientist to decipher the link between the shut down of Railways and profit maximisation of the private transporters, our honourable minister being one of them.
It needs a death to shake our worthy government from its deep slumber. Therefore, we pay salaries when someone dies, we repair hospitals when someone dies, we make alternative VIP routes when a kid is born in a rickshaw – at least someone isn’t dying in this case – we make laws when someone dies, we break laws when someone dies and if the death doesn’t cause enough chorus, then we simply don’t make an effort to change.
It is almost like this big black blob of alien lethargy has engulfed policy makers and people alike. I never really fell for those zombie movies. They were too gory for my liking, and I never really believed it was possible for thousands of people to walk around like robots uttering the occasional ‘YAP’. The gods it seemed were listening, for they have proved me wrong yet again. All those zombie movies apparently had taken their inspiration from the Pakistanis. We are the walking dead. We just cannot bother. While many self-proclaimed ‘models’ will want to execute me for treading the ‘blasphemous’ path of daring to call them ugly, what else would you call a dead, empty and hollow nation that cannot join in the cause of its fellow citizens or protest against the decimation of national institutions, Railways being one of them.
We all love to speak and be heard no matter how unpleasant we sound. It is our favourite past-time. So, what exactly is wrong with Pakistan Railways? Is it an inherent problem with public institutions that they simply cannot sustain efficiency. I wasn’t born back then, but I have read a lot about PIA in the 1960’s. PIA made Emirates what Emirates is today. Public institutions are not inherently rotten, it takes sustained levels of mismanagement and corruption to bring them to the levels they are at today. So, Pakistan Railways has 520 locomotives, a handsome number, more than what it needs really. However, the problem is not the number of locomotives but rather how many of them are really operational. Any guesses?
Only 87. Yes, out of 520 locomotives only 87 are operational, but that’s not where the story ends. Intriguingly, Pakistan Railways does not have money to purchase fuel for the 87 locomotives that are operational. Talk about rotten luck.
The writer is News Editor, Profit
What do the powers to be propose when things get out of hand? Privatisation. This seems to be the new ‘in’ thing, after those rubber strap swatch watches that our worthy rulers, adorned on their precious wrists.
Once upon a time, we did try to privatise PTCL. Right now, we’re desperately trying to get Etisalat to pay $800 million it owes to the government for PTCL. Then we have the KESC, another success case, or so we make it out to be. Just yesterday, KESC’s outstanding payments to SSGC stood at Rs32 billion. Privatisation, isn’t a utopian world with fairies and glitter. It sometimes has the ability to emanate the putrid smell of the wasteland that has evolved in terms of our state owned institutions. The answer, to all our dilemma’s is simply honesty, and the will to inculcate efficiency by making the right decisions. The question is, are we up for the challenge?
The writer is News Editor, Profit. He can be reached at ali.rizvi7957@gmail.com