To an observer from a country like Norway, a decision by the Supreme Court is supposed to be respected and implemented and not flaunted. But not in Pakistan where the government often gives a thumbs down signal to the highest court in the land. Not quite like the Emperor Nero who was a law unto himself. Or the Shah of Iran (The King of Kings). In the first case, Nero was eventually overthrown by the mob after he set fire to the city and was replaced by another emperor, while The King of Kings was swapped by a holy man in exile. In Pakistan we are now witnessing an Albanian version of Macbeth. Whoever gave the economic council the right to import a number of bullet proof cars from Germany for the VVIPs, who I presume are members of the cabinet. The fact that they have done nothing to lick the energy crisis in the country appears to make the gesture excessive. Nawaz Sharifs boast that power cuts will end in 2018, which was delivered as a blissfully uncontestable statement was not believed by anybody. Any way he had barely uttered these words when the news came down the pike that there would be at least a three month delay. I wish people wouldn’t use so many cliches when they make commitments. Power outages may end in the foreseeable future, but it will never be history. The story of power generation in this country has been a long and bitter one riding on the back of massive corruption kickbacks and gross indifference. John Kerry has made some statements about power generation, but I don’t think anybody in this country listens to him or the papers any more. He is still a very decent chap, somebody with whom I’d like to swop Swedish jokes at a barbeque in Aberdeen.
Coming back to my province where the media hardly ever comes up with a cheerful story, nobody appears to be at all worried about the impending water crisis. In spite of repeated warnings the chief minister appears to have other priorities. This year there has been huge rainfall in Karachi. All it left behind was a royal mess. Where are the catchments, the reservoirs, the desalination plants? Development usually means overpasses, underpasses… and, of course, motorways. What will be the use of all these things if there are massive water riots? We’ll all have to take a jog to oblivion. Well, not all. The freeloaders in Islamabad can wade through the great unwashed in their bullet proof cars towards their airplanes. Now don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the Germans. In fact, Chancellor Merkel made such a great gesture when she took in so many refugees. She will always remain in the hearts of liberals around the world. It is indeed a pity that the anti-immigrant party might pull the carpet from under her feet at the next general election in the Fatherland. She stated somewhere that she couldn’t bear to see the treatment meted out to the refugees, many of whom were women and children. In the process she stoked the embers of the collective unease felt in Germany because they feel the money used on the refugees could have been used on so many vital requests. Back in Pakistan, the government is still dragging its feet over the Protection of Women Bill, while hundreds of women are being killed by husbands, brothers and fathers. That’s why I called this column there is something rotten in the state of Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2016.
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A retired US Secretary of State is reputed to have correctly said……there are some countries ( Pakistan comes to mind ) that can not be attacked from the outside so what must be done is to use its own weaknesses ( corrupt and bad governance coupled with religious extremism, comes to mind ) against itself to break it from the inside.
You are spot on right when you say that there is something rotten in the state of Pakistan. .
Anwer was clearly writing under the influence with this one. Such unbridled anger, usually he says to remain calm.
The column is like a Swedish smorgasbord. Just about every topic was touched.
Except the Burqa Mulla. Why is he still roaming free and eating nihari with his chief
patron from Raiwind, the right honorable, three time resurrected, still waiting to be
declared ameerul momineen, portege of Zia the Haq,……..Nawaz, the Mian.
Angela indeed did a great thing by allowing refugees, but by doing so she also opened the gate for decay in Germany. Now it is upto the refugees to step up and prove that they are really greatful for this gesture.
I am glad the author has nothing against Germany. Merkel showed courage and risks when she welcomed immigrants last year. But she has become very unpopular of late. Two weeks ago, in provincial elections of her home province her party got less than Afd which is an extreme right party. Today there are elections in Berlin and the verdict of the people does not look favourable for liberal parties, although SPD might just make it. We hear arsenal attacks on asylum homes regularly. Only this week right wing people shouted at asylum seekers and called them names and when some threw stones at these nazis, police took them in custody and transferred them to another home. Instead of putting anti immigrants in jails.
In Pakistan the plight of women is bad and getting worse and the government is not doing anything. I doubt things will improve for women in near future even when laws are passed. What needs to change is the mindset and changing that is like hitting your head with a hard stone.
There you are Anwar. We have someone from Maryam cell on the line.
Every country has its own priorities, some good and positive, some avoidable and dangerous. Unless there is pressure from the citizens at fixing the right priorities for action, drift of resources to meaningless projects happen. Like the author mentioned water management and conservation has not been given the importance it should, not just in Pakistan but generally around the world. Water by itself is essential to life, however without it Man will be left without food too. The world must acknowledge this grave problem and work unitedly to conserve this critical resource. Kicking the ball down the road will simply make the problem harder to tackle.
Anwer Sb, there is nothing wrong with the State of Pakistan but the govt in power, who in spite of flood commission report since 2010, has done nothing to control flood & its consequences. It is not difficult to control flood, but it is a money making opportunity for the people who are connected to this menace, who get funds on emergency basis which remain un-accountable. This situation stretches from Khyber to Sindh. No one cares the mass.