PTI legislators are expected to act as role models
It was disturbing to read the account of the Prime Minister’s meeting with the Punjab Chief Minister on Monday. According to a newspaper report, the CM defended the pay raise for Punjab MPAs while according to another he said the raise was indispensable. The common man is already under enormous economic pressure due to rising gas and power bills, increasing transport fares, house rents and the inflation rate climbing to about 7.2 percent. Meanwhile, with an agreement with IMF on the cards, the common man’s plight is expected to worsen further. Any concession given to Punjab legislators would imply the PTI has renounced its ideals.
The PTI prides itself on being a new type of party devoted to the public welfare rather than self-aggrandizement. One expects its legislators to act as role models of austere living to encourage the man in the street to bear the heavy burden. The Prime Minister himself laid down the standards in his first speech after being sworn in. “I want you to understand that the money we lavish on ourselves could be spent on those who our state has left behind. Naya Pakistan also requires a ‘nayi soch’.” Instead of voting to raise their pays and add to their perks and privileges one expects the PTI legislators, including the ministers, to announce that they would deposit their monthly pay into the Treasury and forgo their perks and privileges during the period of economic squeeze. The PM and his cabinet need to follow the example set by Quaid-e-Azam who, finding that the expenses incurred on tea and biscuits served in cabinet meetings amounted to Rs 38, ordered only cold water to be provided. Mr Khan would also do well to emulate Mohammad Khan Junejo, who scrapped the purchase of imported cars for government officials and instead ordered locally assembled Suzukis.
Being one of the most followed personalities in Pakistan, the Prime Minister needs to set a personal example of austerity. If government dignitaries from the affluent Western countries can ride bicycles, why can’t the PTI chief? Unless this is done, the sale of buffalos and limousines from the PM House would be considered no more than a political stunt.
