Daily Times

The Punjab chief minister is a man who firmly believes that buses are the fastest way to speed voters to the polls. It has worked for him in the past. Thus the launching of a yet another such service for Lahore was predictable. The CM is also a man who believes in the old saying: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Except that all these bright and shiny projects conveniently ignore the fact that there are 34 districts comprising the Punjab. The Feeder Bus Service is no different. The CM even admitted as much when he pointed out, to great fanfare, that it would benefit most those living near Metro bus stations.

Interestingly, while the Lahore metro system was successfully launched just months before the last elections, profitable attempts by the Punjab to cash in on pink bus and rickshaw services have since fallen flat. Partial blame for the government showing no interest in rethinking either must fall at the feet of the much of the political chattering class. For it is to be recalled that it was the privileged few, who in holding positions of power across various workers parties, women’s groups and feminist collectives, that trashed the initiatives. The shared premise was that these led to the furthering of gender segregation of Pakistani society. This simply doesn’t cut it. Or are we to only applaud those who have the means to trade in the hard currency of hashtags and instagram as a means of documenting their reclamation of the public sphere, cup of tea in hand?

The CM’s attack on the elite, however, is laughable. Now would be as good a time as any for him to put his money where his mouth is and ride the buses himself on a regular basis, or at least have members of his staff do so. Of course security concerns will be cited, underscoring once more how Pakistan remains a country for old men whose only priority is their own safety. However, he was spot on in his noting of how the ‘common man’ did not have adequate access to health, education and other services. Such a brutally honest summary of not only his tenure — but also that of the PML-N record countrywide — was entirely unexpected. And now that the paisa has finally dropped in terms of what this government’s priorities ought to be — what better way to move forward than by spending billions of rupees to launch yet another bus service for Lahore? *