Farrukh Saleem
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The PPP, The PML-N and the Pakistan Army. There is a consensus-both within and outside the GHQ-that the Pakistani ship is sinking. That Pakistan is in a terrible, terrible mess. That a large majority of Pakistanis are living through a living hell.
The PPP, being the de jure ruling party, is responsible. The PML-N, being the de facto ‘friendly opposition’, is responsible. The Pakistan Army, being the de facto overall driving force, is also fully responsible.
We have democracy but no electricity. Under Musharraf we had electricity but no democracy. Back then electricity came in for Rs2.13 per unit; democracy now sells the same for Rs13 a unit, an increase of 510 percent.
Diesel back then sold for Rs39 a litre; democracy now sells the same for Rs109 per litre (for the record, the international price four years ago was $96 a barrel while the current international price is $89 a barrel).
Milk back then sold for Rs25 a litre; democracy now sells the same for Rs75 a litre, an increase of 200 percent. The GHQ gave us Jamali, Shaukat and Mohammadmian. Jamali, Shaukat and Mohammadmian gave us an average economic growth of six percent a year.
Look at Mohammadmian’s entire public life-governorship, chairman Senate and caretaker PM – as spotless as pure white linen. Please welcome democracy’s nominees: Gilani and Raja. Under Musharraf, 50 million Pakistanis managed to survive below poverty. Now we have democracy but 100 million are below absolute poverty.
Power emergency. Economic emergency. Financial emergency. Education emergency. Security emergency. Budgetary crisis. Dollar crisis. Political crisis. Foreign reserve crisis. If and when our flotilla finally falls off the Niagara Falls who will be responsible for the great fall? Answer: The PPP, the PML-N and the Pakistan Army.
Pakistani businessmen are running away to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. And genuine Pakistani businessmen are being replaced by a new crop of wheeler dealers who buy and sell favors and produce nothing other than rental power. Who is responsible for this tragic state of affairs?
Of the 193 member-states of the UN Pakistan has suffered the most from brain drain. Doctors, engineers and professionals continue to leave Pakistan in the thousands. Hopelessness, desperation, depression and despondency roam the entire land of the pure. The PPP, the PML-N and the Pakistan Army ‘cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today’.
Authority and responsibility are inseparable twins. The Pakistan Army cannot play the perfect bureaucrat “who manages to make no decisions and escape all responsibility.”
PS: A lone retired major has been registering his protest by standing in front of the parliament building from 1300 hours to 1330 hours every day since the day the PPP nominated Raja for the prime minister’s office.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: [email protected]
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-116898-Whos-responsible(Capital-suggestion)
