‘Poor people are born to serve the rich’: Meet the charming new president of PML-N

Senator Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasar, a close aide to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the president designate of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), has apparently had a history of gaffes, his claim to fame being his controversial comments on ‘poor people’ during a meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Devolution back in 2016.

In that committee, he notoriously said that ‘the poor are born to serve the rich,’ a comment that set off a massive reaction from the members of the committee and general public alike.

The incident happened soon after the meeting had started when PPP’s Senator Taj Haider started talking about how the rich are exploiting the poor in the country and how every decision that is being made is to favour the rich.

“We have sent hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis abroad to work as labour and send foreign exchange; [apparently] in the national interest and claimed that soon it will be proved that offshore companies were also made in the national interest. The poor of this country will never get to decide their own fates,” Senator Haider said.

In response to which, Senator Nasar reportedly proclaimed, “This is a system created by God, and He has made some people rich and others poor and we should not interfere in this system.”

His statement triggered a massive reaction amongst the members of the committee that were participating with Senator Haider saying that classes were man-made phenomena and had nothing to do with God’s plan.

Senator Mohammad Usman Khan Kakar said that all people were created equally by God and nobody was meant to serve anyone.

However, Senator Nasar apparently had a lot to say about the subject. He said, “once in China all people were considered equal, which did not work out well”.

“Those who cannot get an education and cannot earn more have no right to live the life of a bureaucrat,” he further added.

The heated debate didn’t end here. When the chairman of the committee gave an example of the president of the USA, who mingles with the common man in his daily life, Nasar reportedly said that this example isn’t valid for Pakistan where there is discrimination even between the members of the parliament, since development funds are given to the members of the national assembly and not senators.

The debate is enough for anyone to make a wild guess about the blatant bigotry of the person who is all set to become the next president of the PML-N.