Daily Times

This is not about electoral polls. It is actually about electric poles. Some readers might have seen the photographs of a woman who climbed an electric pole near the office/residence of the Chief Minister/Prime Minister in Model Town, Lahore. The police worked hard to bring her down and save the Khadim-e-Aala (as the chief minister likes to be called) from embarrassment as quickly as possible. Why she climbed the pole was not elaborated. In fact it was hushed up.

Subsequently, the pole was removed from the sight of the big bosses. Some days later another woman got on top of another pole. I don’t know what happened to her. Some people I know moved around to watch the poles in the vicinity if there are women on top of the poles! This was the outcome of the little sense of humour left in the public. The sight is fun for some and only a matter of curiosity for others. Climbing the pole was no part of any circus, it was simply a show of desperation. I could have continued at length and perhaps written a satire in the style of Swift, but humour and satire are for sensitive people who can see the underlying pain of the satirist. A few are left of the breed who used to care. Therefore, I should be straightforward.

I wondered why a woman would go to the length of the ordeal of climbing up an electric pole, taking all the risks involved. I am certain she was confronted with some problem of great magnitude, which made her take the risk to be noticed in the hope of getting help from the ‘boss’. The fact is that the life of common people is so difficult and so burdened by problems that perhaps staying alive stops mattering. One fears the day when more people take to the poles and protest. It may still not work because providing relief to a commoner is not on the agenda. The people in power are busy in other occupations like providing more money to those who have already made a lot.

Budget manipulation has been a favourite tool. The most recent scandal, disclosed by Mr Rauf Klasra on TV, is about allowing the import of 1,200 cc cars, worth millions of rupees, one day before the presentation of the national budget. So when the budget announces a tax on imports, the pre-budget importers get benefit. The post-budget imports earn much less as profit as compared to the beneficiaries of the pre-budget permission. What a clever way of enriching supporters and friends!

But this is not something new. It is a special style of the ‘new’ third time prime minister. His businesses benefited hugely in the past by such manipulations. Some people may still recall the imports of raw steel under different names like ‘scrap’ and ‘billets’. In the earlier stints of governance, the categories of raw steel were alternatively exempted from government levies. If a favoured industry had placed huge import orders under the specification of billets, the import on those got relief and the import as scrap got taxed. Next time the procedure was reversed. Thus the favoured industry got the benefit each time and others found it hard to compete. The favoured industrial giants multiplied their wealth phenomenally. Such budgetary manipulations are on again. The masses are reeling under direct and indirect taxation while the sharp cookies multiply their wealth. For them governance is a business opportunity.

A glimpse of mixing work with pleasure is the recent family picnic to the People’s Republic of China. China is a world power and a friend of Pakistan. It is also an economic giant. China has converted its huge population into its largest national asset. I recall that a long time ago a journalist asked Chairman Mao if he was against capitalism. He replied, “No, I am not. But we will be capitalists when each Chinese individual can become a Capitalist!” The Chinese are now at that stage of Mao’s dream. The maintenance of good relations with its neighbours is China’s state policy, and Pakistan is its neighbour and an old time friend since Ayub Khan’s time. The Chinese have an eastern tradition of hospitality too and they must have extended it to all the members of the prime minister’s (PM’s) delegation. It is jarring to the sensitive people within Pakistan who wonder why it was necessary to have six or seven family members as part of an official delegation. The costs may be secondary. I am sure that our very affluent PM could easily afford the trip. One simply expects judicious use of public money.

The menu of Pakistan’s problems has now been laid at the doorstep of the Chinese government. It has been proudly declared that China will look after our power generation needs, that China will make investments to improve our economy, that China will make the road from Kashghar to Gwadar and so on. China will do everything while we make money for ourselves and our friends!

But all this is not going to be easy. Terrorists’ activities still need to be dealt with. The masses are disappointed in their newly elected representatives sooner than expected. Even the heavy ‘mandate’ may not help. Government needs to perform. Pakistan’s biggest problem is terrorism and it has increased. A clear message has been sent by the repeated and horrible acts of terror since this government took over. The latest warning has been given at the Food Street in Old Anarkali in the hometown of the new PM.

Let it be clear that the present government needs to do more and much more, and quickly. People are desperate. A woman or two on the top of poles may just be the beginning. All streets may see people on electric poles in an extreme state of desperation. How many of those will you be able to remove, Sires?

The writer is the former CEO Pakistan National Council of the Arts; Chairman Fruit processing Industries; Chairman UNESCO Theatre Institute Pakistan; COO ‘ICTV’ USA, and currently, Senior Vice President APML (Central). He can be reached at naeemtahir37@gmail.com