Daily Times

As soon as possible, divide Punjab into three provinces. If this is not immediately possible, divide the province temporarily into three regions such that each has its own Chief Minister all of them having the same powers as the Chief Minister of Punjab. Divide the provincial fund equally into three parts. By all means, the funds should be disbursed with the signature of the parliamentary Chief Minister, but no funds should be diverted from one region to another.

Strictly ban the development of new housing societies in the suburbs of Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sialkot and all large and medium sized cities. Establishment of new housing societies should be declared a crime and punished accordingly.

Strictly ban the development of new housing societies in the suburbs of Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sialkot and all large and medium sized cities. Establishment of new housing societies should be declared a crime and punished accordingly

Try to stabilise or preferably reduce the population of the bigger cities.

Every district should have a university whose area and faculty should be equal to Punjab University.

Every city should have a large public hospital like Jinnah or Mayo Hospital as well as a Cardiology institute like Punjab Institute of Cardiology.

No one except the Inspector General should have any influence over the police. Political interference in their work must be stopped immediately.

Banks should be banned from participating in the imports of cars.

There should be a bench of the High Court in every district.

Send home 80 percent of government employees. Let them collect their salaries at home and do some kind of business or whatever they want. They do nothing while in their offices except gossip, drink tea, use official cars, telephones and spend the public’s money. All the work in government offices is done by 20 percent of the employees anyway.

All government officers, Grade 20 and above as well as their families should be forbidden from travelling abroad.

Bank accounts of all politicians and bureaucrats should be kept open for public scrutiny. Anyone should be able to check them.

Government officers, Generals and bureaucrats as well as their families should be forbidden from buying or selling property.

Immediate attention must be paid to the rural population. They should be given employment in rural areas so they do not need to migrate to the cities. Libraries should be built in every village.

All private schools should either be shut down immediately or they should be directed to utilise the same syllabus as public schools.

Terrorists should be tackled by the police, not the Army or Rangers.

NAB should be directed to prosecute all offenders regardless of their background or status and produce swift results. They should be given targets of money recovered to be deposited back into the national exchequer.

Canals and dams should be constructed on a war footing.

All government and development work should employ Pakistanis. No one should be employed from abroad on exorbitant salaries.

There should be a national tree plantation drive with a goal of planting 200 million native trees every year with special attention to Thar, Cholistan, South and Central Punjab.Emergency laws regarding agriculture and green areas should be promulgated for their protections and enhancement.

There should be immediate planning and implementation of health and education schemes (especially women’s health and education), cleanliness and population control at the municipal level. Those who don’t comply should be prosecuted and jailed.

The institutions tasked with stamping out corruption should first be cleaned up. Anyone who has five FIRs against him for land grabbing or other violent activities should be prosecuted harshly.

Imports of all luxury goods should be banned immediately.

Study of literature and the humanities should be made compulsory for everyone, especially all government servants.

Genuine alms seekers and transgender persons should be provided government stipends and respectable jobs.

Sincerely,

Ali Akbar Natiq

The writer is a poet, novelist and short story writer. This essay was translated from Urdu by Ali Madeeh Hashmi

Published in Daily Times, August 1^st 2018.