Davos or Charsadda?

Author:

Sir: For the Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan to be seen delivering a speech from written text in Davos to an audience comprising mostly members of his delegation and the Pakistani community instead of being in Pakistan visiting the next of kin of the victims of the Charsadda massacre does not send a good message. How can the PM expect foreign investors to invest in Pakistan when the bulk of his own investments are outside the country?

Nothing is more important than the people of Pakistan who are the sole beneficiaries and reason for the state of Pakistan to exist. All institutions of the state, including parliament, the PM and his cabinet, armed forces and civil bureaucracy are there to serve the people and not for the state to serve them. An elected PM gets powers from the Constitution to serve and protect the people, and act as the guardian of the national exchequer. It is his job to ensure that all citizens enjoy equal rights and privileges, and are levied uniform taxes. There is no law that gives the PM authority to give yet another tax amenity to known tax evaders instead of punishing them. Is the state trying to prove that only fools pay taxes in this country?

The moment the PM deviates from his mandatory constitutional obligation, he violates the Constitution in the same manner a military usurper does when he declares martial law. Abuse of power acquired through the ballot is as much a sin as abuse of power gotten from the barrel of a gun.

ANEELA CHANDIO

Sukkur