Let's not be cynics
From the Blog PkColumnist.com: Let's not be cynics - Faced with public criticism, the prime minister has referred to parliament the matter of building new lodges in the capital for the parliamentarians. The project, which will cost the public exchequer a pretty penny to the tune of Rs3 billion, comprehends construction of scores of luxury family suits and hundreds of servant quarters, as well as gymnasiums, departmental stores and lounges – a sort of parliamentarians' city. Let's hope and pray our parliament sees reason and the project doesn't turn out to be a dead duck. Of all the people, parliamentarians deserve to have new and luxurious abodes for them, in keeping with the high and exalted place that they occupy in society and in acknowledgement of the glorious and meritorious services that they are rendering for the nation. On top of that, the parliamentarians' city will be all grist to the mill for the country. To begin with, it will make for stronger democracy. We know both houses of parliament meet regularly for several days on end and the members have to come from all over the country to attend the sessions. If the lawmakers are not provided with suitable lodging arrangements and access to auxiliary services, it will be difficult for them to apply their mind to public problems. In consequence, they may under-perform and not prove equal to the gigantic tasks they are entrusted with. If, God forbid, the parliamentarians fail, the public faith in the democratic process will be shattered and the prospects for democracy will remain fragile. In the second place, as the lodges will be built for the lawmakers independent of their party affiliations, the completion of the parliamentarians' city will shore up support for the government's policy of reconciliation. In all fairness, the criticism of the project would have been justified if the lodges to be built were meant only for the ruling party members. But this is not the case, and no political party of note will be able to point a finger at the parliamentarians' city on the ground that its members have been left out. Needless to mention, our survival and salvation consists in following the policy of reconciliation, in agreeing to let bygones be bygones and in casting off from our collective psyche the tales of massive loot and plunder by the high and mighty, lest the democratic process may be derailed. Contrary to the widespread view, the building of parliamentarians' lodges will inflate rather than deflate the economy. In the course of the completion of the project, thousands of workers will be hired and a large quantity of raw materials, finished goods and equipment purchased. This will generate employment opportunities and demand in construction-related industries, which in turn will drive up the level of investment in times of economic slump. Here is an excellent solution to the macroeconomic problems of the country. But if the project is of such enormous advantage in terms political as well as economic, why is it giving rise to so much criticism? The reason is to be found in our deteriorating national psyche. By and by, we have degenerated into cynics and take a dim view of good works and ideas, on this point or that. We have also become highly thankless and conveniently fail to acknowledge, let alone repay, the debt that we owe our benefactors, especially when it comes to the political leadership. These remarkable people work day in, day out for our betterment, and we have the temerity to oppose construction of scores of lodges for them, which will ultimately be to our own benefit. We, the incorrigible lot! We are also wont to making wrong comparisons. A case in point is the argument that in a country where a large section of the population is homeless and shelterless, building luxurious apartments for a handful of the elite is like rubbing salt into the wound of the ordinary people. Is there a single provision in any law of the land which prohibits building lodges for the parliamentarians for the reason that millions of people who they represent are homeless? Besides, the comparison between the commoners and the elite, the poor and the wealthy will take us nowhere. In the society we live, everyday a large number of people starve; should the parliamentarians also remain hungry? The poor folk are forced to sell their children to barely survive, should the rich politicians also do the same? A vast majority of people lack access to health, education and safe drinking water, should our law makers also stop sending their scions to high-ranking schools and colleges and start drinking impure water? In a word, the fact that poverty and misery are endemic in the country constitutes no reason that the affluent and fortunate few shouldn't enjoy themselves. No, it doesn't make sense to compare the commoners with the elite. . Read Full Post
Winter wanes
From the Blog PkColumnist.com: Winter wanes - Back in the days before I knew very much about Pakistan (there are plenty who would argue that I still don't) I thought of it as a 'hot' country; and never thought of it as winter-woollies territory. Like so many others of my assumptions about this diverse place, I was wrong. My first full winter in Nagar, 1995/6, was an eye-opener in every respect. Whilst we did not exactly sew ourselves into our clothes at the end of November and unpick the stitches in early March, it was as cold as I had experienced in the Himalayas. We had no power for months, there was little food to be had by the end of February and the road to China did not open until late April. A long hard winter. Ten years later and further education regarding the national meteorology. The Cholistan desert can be a very cold place indeed, as I discovered in '05 living in a village literally on the edge of the sand-sea. It was dark for fourteen hours out of twenty-four, and bitterly cold at night for three months. We huddled under this quilts on charpoys that were ideal for sleeping in the summer and less than ideal to see you through a winter night in Fatimapur. Today, living in a concrete box with a poor gas supply and intermittent electricity we tend to believe that we are having a hard time of it, but whatever we have grumbled about in the last two months pales into insignificance when considering what the victims of last year's flood have gone through. I was in Swat last October, and it was clear that the people were getting themselves back on their feet. It was devastated, that much was clear, but there were also strong evidence of international aid and of the army, particularly, having a grip on rehabilitation. It would take several years to get everything back as it was, but there was a sense that things were headed in the right direction. Here in Bahawalpur, the Great Flood passed us by. The Sutlej came close to overtopping but never did, and apart from a few days when low-lying parts of the city were flooded by rainfall, we got off lightly. There are no refugees hereabouts; we have never been short of food and for many of us the floods are something that happened to a lot of other people but, fortunately, not to us. It was a flight up from Karachi in early November 2010 that blipped my 'concern' radar on. Flights tend to act as a soporific for me, I sleep like a log, but it was water that kept me awake on this one. Horizon-to-horizon water as we flew up the Indus and across lower Sindh. This was not in the script. Floods drain away. The water disappears, everybody gets cleaned up and we move on. Except that it had not done that in large parts of Sindh last November and it still has not in the dying days of January 2011. Report-fatigue set in for me decades ago. Reports come into my inbox like rose-petals at a wedding. Most of them get at cursory look at best, but the reports from Oxfam and UNICEF this last week were like a grenade going off under my desk. As you read this, children are dying of starvation and there are about four million still homeless. Few of them will have spent a warm night in the last two months. Like most of you, I had not noticed. Winter may be waning for me, but a hungry spring awaits for many. . Read Full Post
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