Side Effect

Source: The News

Date: August 27, 2010

Our current set of rulers. Feudal lords and ladies they are. If not feudal, they are tribal chieftains or, scarily, big businessmen, the wannabe feudal in Pakistan's context, with large estates and aspirations to be counted among the landed elite. The president, the prime minister, the speaker of the National Assembly, the foreign minister, the interior minister, the four chief ministers, a large number of federal and provincial ministers, all fall in the same category.
Those who play opposition these days are no different. And, interestingly, with the exception of the PML-Q every significant party is a part of some federal or provincial government setup. Many of these politicians have used their office to increase their own and their cronies' assets, profits and political power. And they continue to do that since the time of Liaquat Ali Khan, Khaliquzzaman, Gurmani, Daultana, Mamdot, Shaukat Hayat, Chaudhry Mohammed Ali and Ghulam Mohammed.
Now look at the other set of rulers we had for nearly 35 years during the six decades of our political history. The self-proclaimed messiahs, the patriotic generals, who claimed to be able to fix everything that was dysfunctional, corrupt and ineffective, be it the economy, the judicial system, the cricket board, or the personal morality and Islamic practices of the irreverent citizens of the state.
To start with, generals get a larger share from the national exchequer even officially. The unscrupulous ones mint money through contracts, commissions, establishing businesses or appropriating senior civilian jobs offered by the state. Besides, the dividends for individuals from businesses run by the military as an institution cannot be overlooked. In addition to urban real estate, many of these senior military men are awarded fertile chunks of cultivable land across Pakistan.

View the link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/27-08-2010/opinion/1426.htm