Stop bulldozing public interests/ Lavish lodges

Today, when the social, economic, political and religious sufferings of the people can be heard from every crevice of the state and when public frustration is mounting, our leaders, instead of realising their duties, are regrettably adding fuel to the fire. The announcement of the construction of new parliamentary lodges in Islamabad, costing Rs 3 billion, and statements from the finance minister proclaiming the limitedness of resources that is forcing policy makers to slash the development budget, allocated for the greater good of the public, seem to oppose each other.
The masses are confused. If our economy can afford 50 protocol cars for politicians, if it can afford to construct a lavish underground tunnel for parliamentarians and if it can afford high cost foreign tours then why is it unable to afford development projects in sectors that pertain to the common man like health, education, railways and energy resources? Why can the money not be used to control poverty, unemployment, target killings, enhanced ransom and extortion cases? Why does the government fail to save the flood victims from dying in the freezing cold? Why can the economy not be utilised properly to impart righteous knowledge of Islam to our populace, in order to curb the menace of extremism? Why can we as a nation not use our resources to find our own feet instead of begging for foreign aid?
The time has passed when people used to be oblivious to ground realities. Now the nation possesses a critical eye on every decision that our leaders make. Our leaders should learn from what happened in Tunisia and what is going on in Egypt and why all this has happened. They should stop enhancing personal assets and bulldozing the public interest before they are forced to face the same destiny as the leaders of Tunisia.

Published in:

The News: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-11-27460-Lavish-lodges

Daily Times: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C01%5C28%5Cstory_28-1-2011_pg3_7

Pak Tribune: http://www.paktribune.com/news/print.php?id=235776