Quaid e Azam lead the struggle to create Pakistan so that Muslims could live in peace with members of other faiths as free citizens of a country dedicated to welfare of masses, where laws prevail over individuals and everybody was accountable, irrespective of his caste, creed, belief or status. He could never have visualized that his insistence to draft and finalize a constitution by duly elected members of First Constituent Assembly tasked to lay down foundations of modern welfare state would be delayed after his death and the country which refused to have Lord Mountbatten as first Governor General would remain as a dominion of UK with its citizens pledging loyalty to Queen as late as 1956.
If the Quaid were alive he would have despaired to see elected political leaders in connivance with corrupt bureaucracy issue time limited SROs for benefit of specific powerful individuals and members of ruling political elite depriving state of billions in revenue which could have been spent on millions of deprived citizens living below poverty line, with no benefit of education, health or even clean drinking water. How can anybody justify giving repeated tax amenities to those who evade taxes, knowing full well that all over the world people pay taxes because of fear of harsh penalties and punishments? Can anybody visualize the Quaid or Allama Iqbal’s reaction to obscene practice of giving several plots ranging from Rs 6 crores to Rs 30 crores to paid public office holders under garb of welfare, in a country where millions have no access to clean drinking water? How can such abuse of power be portrayed as welfare when recipients had performed services for which they were hired for and were retiring hale and hearty with pension benefits? Would the Quaid have tolerated that elected or paid public offices – where the fate of millions was to be decided – would be in the hand of individuals who have no faith in destiny of this country, whose children have acquired foreign nationalities and bulk of their assets were located abroad and in some cases they pay more taxes abroad than they do in Pakistan, but yet consider it moral and legal to hold elected public office here?
Ali Malik
Lahore
The Quaid intended welfare of the masses, your corrupt status quo intends farewell instead. Call it democracy, hypocrisy, kleptocracy, mukmukacracy or lootocracy, when it comes to governance it is no different to that in the republic of north Korea.
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