Daily Times

Sir: Pakistan is a country with scarce resources, having been plundered by a powerful minority who held paid or elected public office, or were beneficiaries of corrupt tax evading commercial enterprises.

Any person, including those who may have served in civil bureaucracy or security services, once they pledge an oath of loyalty to another country and revoke any previous loyalties they may have held for Pakistan are aliens who cannot be beneficiaries of any welfare scheme launched by any state funded institution or hold any public office or diplomatic assignment.

I have to add here that when I use the word ‘aliens’ I am not using it the same way as Nawaz Sharif did when he hinted at being persecuted by a certain state institution.

The reverse flow of foreign exchange out of Pakistan by these corrupt aliens, exceeds annual remittances by loyal expatriates working in the Middle East, Europe, Canada, US and Malaysia. Yet instead of being punished and prosecuted, these aliens continue to benefit from allotment of lands, membership of elite clubs at subsidized rates and numerous other benefits which citizens of Pakistan are deprived of. Allotment of land for services rendered to paid civil or uniformed employees must be revoked and taken back the moment they revoke their loyalty to Pakistan, which is part of the oath they take upon becoming citizen of another country.

Pakistan and its meagre resources should be confined to the welfare of the most deprived of its citizens, for whom this country is the motherland where they will live and die. We owe it to millions who died in 1947 migration and sacrifice of valiant soldiers like Aziz Bhatti or citizens like Aitzaz Hassan who offered his life in Swat, to protect Pakistan from economic terrorists who have plundered this country and terrorists funded by foreign enemies who were given sanctuary by Zia and continue to haunt this country.

GULL ZAMAN

Peshawar

Published in Daily Times, July 16^th 2018.