WHISK

Enjoin ye righteousness upon mankind while ye yourselves forget (to practise it)? And ye are readers of the Scripture! Have ye then no sense?
Surah-al-Baqarah, verse 44

I sometimes wonder about the blind leading the blind in this world. While this verse from the Quran applies freely to religious leaders who send our children to their deaths from their palaces and dens of inequity, it also applies to our intellectuals who have read histories and lived through 11 years of ‘democratic rule’ and 8 years under Musharraf. The difference between the two eras is blatant, but it seems that the lure of freshly minted greenback piling up in our treasury is too good to pass up.

The ‘Democratic’ PPP government came into Sind with a bang: in the first month, they took over the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and fired 5000 employees, only to replace them with PPP loyalists, presumably in payment for favors provided. This is a pattern seen all over the country, and one of the main reasons why every one of our institutions are a miserable heap of rubbish today. For every legitimate position in an organization, the government installs 2 to 3 people at high pay grades, and the majority of the time, their job description consists of counter-signing documents prepared by persons qualified to hold that post. The PIA has been a regular haven for both the PPP and PML-N in previous years, providing job opportunities to hundreds of people who cannot get employment on their own merits; as a result, the airline operates at a loss of approximately Rs. 20 million each month (or is it each day?). Besides being a terrible drain on limited resources, and a wonderful way to reduce efficiency to the bare minimum, it provides the government (and this includes PML-N’s government as well) with a minor victory: lower unemployment. Apparently the 5000 people they fired from KWSB were not citizens of Pakistan and cannot be counted among the unemployed.

While anyone below the poverty line (which is a large chunk of our work-force) has cut meals from 2 to one a day, our politicians are flown down to Dubai for a cabinet meeting, hosted in a hotel that charges Dhs 1,300 a night, and the Prime Minister flies to various cities in a helicopter. The entire PML-N cabinet resigns from their posts, no longer attending meetings or actually doing any work, yet continues to avail pay packages, including benefits, awarded to ministerial positions. Actually, this was obviously a very smart move, because when the economy eventually crumbles and hunger-induced fanatics take to rioting in the streets, they can legitimately shift the blame onto the PPP and wash their hands of any responsibility in the downfall of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, our media, our politicians, and their lackeys continue to insist that the solution to the problem of $5 billion missing from the foreign reserves, the problem of wheat merchants hoarding product to raise the price, the problem of increased violence and lawlessness since the new government stepped in, the problem of a stock market crashing day by day, the problem of the lack of electricity to power our industries, the problem of a dwindling sweet water supply, the problem of the Taliban pushing at our gates, the problem of Coalition Troops building up at our borders, the problem of private jails owned by feudals, the problem of anarchist elements in the Tribal areas spilling over to the rest of the country, the problem of rising gas and oil prices, the problem of inefficient governance, the problem of rising mortality, all will be solved if Musharraf resigns his post and Chaudhry is restored to his. What a fantastic solution! Why didn’t we think of it earlier?????

The past performances of both our major parties are before the nation. The media, especially, has access to credible information that clearly shows the lack of political will, the ineptitude of governance and the corruption rampant in both. Their current hysteria over the ‘Shaheed’ BB is also laughable, considering the information available about her exploits during her tenure in government.

Neither party has shown any inclination to change, except cosmetic statements and the ‘promise’ of working together to save the nation. Let’s face it, leopards cannot change their spots, and whatever face they put before us now, we know that deep down both political parties are settling into their old ways and will eventually come into form; give it another month or so. Nawaz Sharif, Zardari, Shahbaz Sharif, liars all, spout such convincing rhetoric, that either our press is stupid, or willfully chooses to ignore the truth.

Either way, this is a beautiful example of the blind leading the blind.

Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Matthew, 15:14