Darkest year 2011 is over

Monday, January 02, 2012 - Sun set on 2011 with a year like which may Pakistan never see again; blackest darkest year in our 65 years of history except 1971, the saddest year of our history. The year in which in the country we used to say during good old days that whatever may happen to our economy, we will never be without our daily bread, because Pakistan is the food basket of this area. Now poor man goes with bare minimum food just enough to keep his body and soul together. We are short of vegetables and as the TV announced , the Government have allowed import of vegetables from India ! Allah be praised. Eating substantial food is out of reach of the poor. Unemployment is wide spread. No electricity, no gas. Mills are locked up, in Faisalabad , in Lahore, in Karachi, in the heart of Pakistan’s industrial areas. Law and order is horrible. Murder is staking round the corner. Crime is epidemic. Our Rupee is the cheapest currency in Asia, even in South Asia. Hai ! Hai !! Gone are the days of those “undemocratic rulers” in whose days bread was plenty, Rupee was highly valued. Air fare to Karachi in dictator Musharruf’s days was half of what it is today. It is today Rs 24,000 return fare. Hai hai, in “dictator Ayub’s days somewhere about Rs 200 . . We as Foreign Service trainees in Boston and Washington were getting $ 150 equivalent of Rupees 450 or so, tuition fee, board and lodging was paid by the government , and lived like lords, in Paris our pocket money was quite low, perhaps Rs 450 there too, when old Fr Frank 100 was equal to Pak Rs One; we were living in Earls Court as lodgers in a house at Ls 6 per week when Rs was 7 or so to a Pound sterling, good room breakfast and dinner . True prices have gone up all over the world as Government is not tired of saying, but are people in those countries also victim of high cost of living and no money in their pockets, as in Pakistan. Do not be selective in parading statistics, paint the total picture. Do not just pick up one bit out of context without telling other facts. Is there unemployment in those countries, is living so scanty from hand to mouth as in Pakistan. May God never bring such black years in Pakistan’s history as was the years 2011.

Leadership is one of the most corrupt in the world. That is why like Marie Antoinette they eat cake while the masses go hungry. They go in Mercedes and BMWs while public transport is not working regularly and cost of transport is getting more out of reach. Even then Chief Minister of Sindh claimed that the people in Sindh expressed full confidence in Mr Zardari’s leadership. If one believes the Chief Minister they do not mind having more corruption, less food, more unemployment, shoot outs, than at present in Pakistan. Such tolerant sabir and shakir people are not found any where. If one believes the Chief Minister one wishes that there were such shakir and sabir people in other parts of Pakistan They will be modern saints.

To all these shortcomings in Pakistan we are reminded that the present government is democratic and has come into power through people’s mandate. It is claimed as if all the Governments before PPP’s present coalition government were undemocratic. If this is democratic what we have in the country then why such countries as England, US, Sweden, even India and Malaysia do not have starving masses, living in utter poverty, etc. Then what it is that they do not have all the ills found in Pakistan. Then they must be having some other thing that Pakistan has, is it that Pakistan uses the word democracy for its rule but it is corrupto-mancy, looto-cracy, what distinguishes Pakistan from the other countries which are called democracy like we said England, US Europe . Any Pakistani who can afford it wants to leave for these countries as if he or she is going to Armageddon, land of plenty, safety, even though he loves his country.

It is also obvious from the large crowds going to attend the mass meetings of the opposition parties that the masses are yearning for an alternative to the present leadership with whom they are disgusted. This might be the reason for sudden rush to Imran Khan\s party, T.I. . It is not love for Imran Khan that there is exodus to Tehrik –i- Insaf but disgust with the present leadership that they are going to him, in the hope- may be false hope- that Imran take the country out of present messy situation and give an honest leadership. They feel that they should try the ones so far not tried, may be Imran can do what they want a leader to do. There is a saying in our tongue, Kam piyara na key cham. Deeds are loved not the skin. Or Deeds not the claim or face of the claimant is loved .

Any way people are fed up with the present leadership, there has never been such a black year in Pakistan’s history than the year 2011 which ended last mid night . May Pakistan never see a blacker day than the one that went away. It was a record darkest year in Pakistan\s history. May there be half as good rulers as “Ayub”, or can “democracy” not produce half as good rulers as “Dictators” Ayub. When the days of demagogues called “democras” are over, the dust is settled in Pakistan, the loud-mouthed propagandists are gone, more sober leaders take over they would produce what the label they stick on themselves claims they are. It happened like this in Soviet Communist ruled countries . There were no better propagandists in the world than the Communists. When sobriety returned in those communist ruled countries the fate of people changed. Do we not see that after the wall was crushed between East and West Germany what faces was seen on both sides of the border. The international press was full of Pakistan’s achievements in Ayub’s days, I am not saying it. Those were Pakistan’s Golden Days.

Any way may God not give Pakistan any more such horrible years as just ended. There is no doubt that “democracy” is the best system of people’s rule but to see that in action one has to keep England as the model, even Malaysia and else where. In Pakistan words have to match the claims.