After Nawaz Sharif’s recent meeting with Narendra Modi, hardliners on both sides of the border started their hate-campaign to discredit the peace move initiative between these two arch rival countries. I just wonder what our politicians’ real priorities are and who the forces are which influence the politicians to change their mind. Last week, Nawaz Sharif was very rightly questioning in a seminar that how come Pakistan, a nuclear state, is facing power breakdowns of 6-8 hours duration on daily basis. In Pakistan, general public is on the streets demanding power and gas to run their daily chores in industries, offices and homes.
Pakistan wastes tens of MAF of fresh water into the sea instead of storing it for power generation; lack of trust among provinces on building new dams leads to expensive thermal power generation option. Same goes for India – Narendra Modi promised during the elections campaign — ‘Toilets first, Temples later’. India, another nuclear state, wherein half-a-billion people, about 48% of the population, have no access to basic sanitation and defecate in the open. In villages, 65% people have to defecate in the open fields, same goes for slums and shanty towns around the major metropolises. Increased number of reported/unreported rape and sexual assault cases have been blamed on vulnerability of women and girls while off to public toilets or open fields.
I wonder what the real priorities of these two states are which take pride in equipping themselves to teeth with nuclear weapons and missiles. Who will choose between stockpiles of nuclear weapons and improved law and order, economic growth, basic sanitation and clean water for the general public?
Sadly, the policymakers have no clue what it is like to spend a summer day without electricity, or to walk to an open field to defecate.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia