Malik M Aslam Awan
WE are adequately familiar with the heroes of Islam, Noor-ud-Din Zangi, Gazi Sulah-ud-Din Aubi, Tariq Bin Ziad, Musa Bin Naseer, Muhammad Bin Qasim, Khalid Bin Waleed and many others, whose list is so long that it would take years to recount their brilliant deeds. These heroes spent their lives for the sole and exclusive will to earn the benevolence of Allah Almighty. They have no personal agenda to collect mundane benefits or treasures of gold or jewels as well as the lust for power to establish their or their family’s hegemony. Christians in their craze to crush the Muslims from the annals of the world initiated and continued their attacks for more than a century but to their misfortune Noor-ud-Din Zangi, Sulah-ud-Din Ayoobi and other brilliant generals erected an iron wall before their sinister designs and after more than a century-long war these forces had to retreat to the pavilion of evil forces. Christians faced a shameful defeat at the hands of Muslims. One would wonder that the same Muslims were mercilessly slain by Halaku Khan and Chengez Khan. The reason was the laxity of character and spirit of Islam.
Since the emergence of Pakistan demagogues boasted that they would root out the menace of corruption from the very fabric of civil society as well as governmental structure but after a long experience people got disappointed, seeing that the whole demagogy proved the wall of sand and the leaders claiming the eradication of corruption, nepotism, bribery, and the sinister habit of usurping, eroding national exchequer proved to be the root cause of all evils and God Father of all corrupt mafias. Corruption is, also, the root cause of price hike. Corrupt persons and their family members squander easy got money in the completion of their nefarious designs which ends in the ramification of social evils. Even the family members of corrupt public officials purchase common commodities on the price offered by the seller, which may be even ten times higher than the actual price. Corrupt public officials in the lust to pose themselves superior to common man purchase property or plots at too exorbitant rates and eventually the prices of property get flare up, even go beyond the purchasing power of common man. It is highly condemnable that the persons occupying key posts, having financial powers misuse their authority and by unfair means draw heavy amounts from public exchequer without doing even a slightest service to the nation. Practising this condemnable evil most of corrupt bureaucrats spend their ill gotten money to purchase farm houses, properties and establish business empires in Canada, USA, UK, Switzerland and other countries of their own choice and send their families there to enjoy the luxuries of life. Their daughters, sons having lust to enjoy colourful life of the West prefer residing abroad in the name of study and extract pleasures of life, when got weary and want to change the taste of pleasures return to hapless country and snatch a lucrative, authoritative post with the criminal help of their father from the really deserving son of the soil, who harbours ambitions to serve the countrymen with dedication, zeal, fervour, devotion and sincerity.
The father of undeserving candidate due to himself clinging to the key post facilitates his offspring to occupy a post, which he does not deserve. The nightmare is not with some youth but majority of educated capable youth face this tragedy and due to depression, hypertension join unwanted, disgruntled segment of society, which destroy their remaining life. Due to hypertension the parents of the unlucky youth, also, fell prey to a series of diseases which end their life mercilessly. In this way hundreds and thousands of families see utter smashing mishap. Thus malpractice practitioners cause wholesale ruin to society. One cannot say this a misfortune. The whole scenario is the result of a sinful act of electing a hypocrite leader, who makes the electorate to see pleasant dreams but when get elected and sit in power corridor execute criminal contract with bureaucrats to loot public exchequer as well as those who helped them to join power elite. Whole nation will face such a devastating situation till they pledge to elect a sincere, well groomed, well-mannered, honest persons to represent them in the Provincial and National Assemblies to enact for the uplift of society as a whole, not for their personal agenda to establish their own hegemony but the writ of justice, law, constitution, merit and transparency. The sooner we realize the phenomenon the earlier we will reach the destination of a welfare State or the State of Madina. We have already wasted a lot of time to travel towards our own misfortune and met with sheer humiliation in the comity of nations. Now we cannot take risk to undermine our own interests and the dignity of Pakistan, the time is ripe to change our destination. The State of Madina, otherwise we’ll soon be a forgotten story and our coming generations will, also, have to face the utter ignominy and might have no option to struggle to do the wrongs done by us right. History never spares anyone guilty of blunders.
—The writer is a freelance columnist and independent analyst based in Lahore.