06-18-2006, 02:14 AM
<b>The wages of power</b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
There is a singular dearth of cheerful news when it comes to a scan of the daily press â <b>at least when it comes to the majority of the few literate amongst the 166 millions who inhabit Pakistan. <span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>We are beset with scams galore, stretching from the Steel Mill imbroglio (no mean scam, this one) down the line to black cabs, cement, sugar, all of which involve the highly educated members of the assemblies and the cabinet</span> which has the distinction of being the largest in the country's history and the most despised.</b>
Of course there are the lucky few, the top dogs and fat cats, who are taking advantage of the largesse of the prime cum finance minister's selective policies. <b>Banks and investment companies on the make freely admit they have never had it so good.
The armed forces have no grumbles. Their mighty industrial, transportation, road construction, commercial, real estate and land-owning empire is well set. From huge development schemes, all the various "cities" that are springing up in the Defence Housing Authorities scattered across the land, down to the modest chicken tikka outlets in the once proud messes of the now commercialised army, money flows in to the khaki coffers.</b>
The country bumbles along, with no one quite knowing to where exactly it is bumbling. President Musharraf, has made up his mind that, barring accidents, acts of God, or the wickedness of man, he intends to stay on in place - actually in two places, at the twin pinnacles of power in Pakistan. He has abdicated all pretence at governance in favour of electioneering or of traveling the world, keeping his hand in with the international shakers and movers.
Those who support the General - still and in spite of all - ask where and what is the alternative? Well, that is a good question because he has managed, for the foreseeable future, to ensure that there is none. He has his problems, however, in the company he keeps (by which a man is known, so they say). He persists in consorting with the lowest of the low when it comes to evaluating political reputations for corruption and dirty dealing. <b>He maintains a sinister relationship with the religious right and is allowing the Taliban to regroup up in its old stomping ground. The meager population and assets of Balochistan are thinning alarmingly by the day</b>, but he seems unbothered. He obviously has a strategy, which he reckons will eventually evolve to his benefit.
Meanwhile, in the national assembly, so ably led by the third prime minister of its life, during the President's absence in booming and bustling Shanghai, discussions took place regarding a 15 percent increase in the presidential salary. Good, all in line with the increase in the national minimum wage.
Allocated to the President in the budget is an amount of Rs 3 million plus to cover his internal electioneering travels. For his international tours he will be given Rs 220 million, which is rather jolly. During the last financial year his travels abroad cost us a mere Rs 200 million.
But hang on, this is a veritable peanut when it comes to the primus inter pares, careful investment banker who counts each paisa in the exchequer. His public relations tours around the globe last year cost the country Rs 759 million and it is now calculated for this current year that he will need Rs 789 million. All this may sound very unreal to the man on the Mandi Bahahuddin omnibus, but it isn't. It is one of the few (very few) truths told by the government of Pakistan. But, just in case I have this wrong, I hope the InfoMin will put me right.
Electioneering fever is the order of the day. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz may state to the press that the Sindh government is in perfect shape, posing no problems at all, and that all is in control. It can't be. Due to the death of the incumbent, a constituency in Dadu was up for contentious grabs and on June 13, Mr Aziz sent a special plane (who paid?) to pick up the Sindh chief minister, ferry him to Islamabad for an urgent meeting to resolve the seat issue, and then dispatched him homewards pronto.
What with all this vital activity and electioneering busyness, the prime minister and all the other paid and perked representatives of the people of Pakistan have surely little time to peruse the press and will have missed a rather good story that appeared in a Karachi newspaper last week. It pertains to a fellow Islamic state, not to Scandinavia or any other western country where such happenings are a daily fare.
In Malaysia, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was issued with eleven tickets for illegal parking and speeding pertaining to three of his cars. Though he was apparently not driving any of them at the time when the offences were committed, he thanked the police for doing their job, paid up, and promised to sort out the drivers concerned.
This is an example of what is known elsewhere as law and order, which does not exist in this Islamic State. It is inconceivable that any government car in this country could be challenged, even if it mowed down a couple of pedestrians. The thought that any vehicle connected with those numerous beasts known as VIPs could be challenged would not even enter the mind of what is erroneously known here as a law enforcer. We must not be surprised - this is how it should be. We can but sigh.
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Cheers