Nation is grateful to Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar for the good work being done in the interest of people of Pakistan by taking suo motto on basic issues confronting common man of Pakistan which otherwise has remained exclusive domain of administration but they have miserably failed in fulfilling their mandatory obligations towards the people of Pakistan.
Unfortunately our leaders over the 70 years has given nothing to common man and are busy in loot and plunder whereas common man is being denied the basic facilities guaranteed under the constitution of Pakistan.
In Pakistan our leaders talk much about constitution but practically do not follow it in letter and spirit and the amendments are carried out in the constitution that revolve around their personal interest Our leaders round the clock keep talking about democracy that is virtually nonexistent in Pakistan.
It is used as a ladder to come to power through elections where people vote them not on their performance but on “Baradari” system. Since they are not educated remain always under the influence of elite and therefore have no choice except to vote them again and again or face torture
Since Pakistan came in to being after the death of Quaid -e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and assassination of Liaqat Ali Khan the country has been hijacked by few influential families that keep ruling this country and has now turned in to mafia and anyone tries to dislodge them faces grave consequences. During these years they have amassed lot of money due to massive corruption.
They keep advocating democracy but in actual fact have never bothered to strengthen instead they become dictators under the cover of democracy and behave like monarchs . As a result we stand where we were in 1947.
The progress of the country is not measured through high rise buildings and motorways but on the condition of common man who still sleeps on footpath. Our leader’s concept of democracy is an open license to kill anybody, destroy anyone, bribe media for character assassination, loot and plunder, do anything without any fear of accountability and law. Law is applied on poor, disregard laws and get away, preach to observe rules but not follow them, to fill safes and bank balances, oblige friends and relatives, protect criminals, create hurdles for honest people, institute false cases, talk about honesty but indulge in corruption, waste national wealth to favour dear and near ones, appoint cronies and incompetent people on lucrative appointments with hefty salaries but for hiring peons the posts are advertised, make false promises to poor to get votes and forget them after the elections, make promises for water, gas and power connections and once elections are over just ignore them, put poor people in jails but for self avail facility of VIP wards, for own comfort make use of air conditioners round the clock but deny poor even one bulb and fan , avail billions of rupees loan and get it waived off but in case of poor default of Rs 5000 send him in jail, no school in villages or small towns for poor but send own children abroad for studies, prepare special groups of workers armed with automatics to create ethnic rifts, build huge houses palaces for living but for poor no housing facility and destroy Katchi Abadis to raise plazas, development works for own comfort but deny the same to poor, no medical facility for poor but for self go abroad for treatment or five star hospital, consume mineral water but for poor no drinking water or contaminated water that too after long breaks, use fully air conditioned bullet proof cars but for ordinary citizens provide buses without seats. Turncoats (Lotas) when joins government is a big patriot but if he joins opposition he is called traitor. This is real face of our democracy, as if it was not sufficient. Assembly has passed two bills that have nothing to do with the people of Pakistan.
First is the silent attack on national exchequer taken by the parliament to give sitting and former parliamentarians and their spouses perks and privileges amending the two general laws through the Finance Act 2018? How on earth this has been passed.
They derive maximum benefits for the period they serve without doing any useful work. An ordinary worker gets Rs 15000 per month where as these legislators that land up in assemblies enjoy heavenly perks. A Government servant gets pension after qualifying service rendered as per law and they carry with them qualifications and subject to selection Boards, unlike anyone can become member of assembly with no qualification. It is in conflict with fundamental rights.
Secondly they amended the nomination form allowing people with criminal record, loan defaulters, un educated, bad reputation, corrupt and gave them clean chit and all those clauses which were mandatory in Article 62 and 63 were removed but now the Supreme Court has ruled that old form shall form part of nomination paper and all those clauses which were deleted have been restored. Surprisingly all political parties were party to this dirty amendment thus denying the right of people to find out the past of any person contesting elections.
These parliamentarians due to self serving amendments have ruined the spirit of the constitution. If these professional leaders are given free hand to contest elections without any check and balance them shall all be sitting again in the parliament that would negate the purpose of free and fair elections? It is heartening to note that SC has taken notice of luxury cars allotted to non entitled persons who refused to return these cars. What a shameful conduct of these politicians to grab official cars and have the guts to refuse the orders of the Supreme Court.
All such people should be given deterrent punishment to serve as lesson to others. Custom and motor registration authorities are told to confiscate all these luxury vehicles without any loss of time. This is Pakistani democracy where rulers purposefully disregard country laws and establish their own writ by raising private guards, but their time is over that is why change is required; and it is bound to come as continuation of status quo will damage the country beyond repair
The writer is a freelance journalist and defence Analyst.