It was recently announced by the government that a grand reception would be held for the arrival of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from London. The prime minister is expected to arrive in Pakistan by July 12, and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, was said to be personally overseeing the preparations for his grand welcome on his return to Pakistan after his successful open-heart surgery. Reportedly, on the directive of the prime minister the reception has been cancelled, and that is something to be appreciated.
Moreover, there are reports that the prime minister is to address large public rallies, and is expected to announce Maryam to be his political successor in light of apparent internal struggle for power within the party’s top command.
Regardless of the plans for their political future, what is alarming to note is how the ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, seems to have little regard for the national exchequer when Pakistan is already reeling from mass poverty, crises of load-shedding and water shortages, unemployment and illiteracy. A country where more than 39 percent of the population still lives under the official poverty line, the ostentatiousness of the lifestyles of the VVIP elite is not merely tasteless, it is also a reflection of the lack of importance given to the way most of the people live.
The glitz of the VVIP culture is one of the reasons of disillusionment in the public, the invisible masses that are exploited as a vote bank but disregarded as human beings.
The Punjab government has already cut the budget for education in the ninth consecutive year, showing its lack of seriousness in educating the masses despite promises to the contrary. Health services have not improved over the years, with the conditions remaining more or less the same the teeming masses that suffer and die of preventable diseases in increasing numbers every year.
The Sharif family has been in power for 15 years in different governments, and it is not fallacious to assume that a great deal must have been done for Pakistan’s economic progress. But the stark reality remains unchanged: the Sharif family and all other members of the so-called VVIP elite spend years in power in Pakistan, and on the slightest medical pretext travel abroad for treatment. There is nothing wrong with availing the best medical options as per your monetary status, but the fact that there is not a single medical institution in Pakistan that is trusted by the VVIP elite is simply a reiteration of their lack of interest in developing Pakistan. And it is a reiteration of their lack of trust in Pakistan when the matter is that of making arrangements for hiding/investing their riches, education of their children, investment in property for their family, and medical treatments.
While their identities are connected to Pakistan, their stature is because of Pakistan, the political power they have is because of Pakistan, and the money they make is because of Pakistan, what does it say about Pakistan’s ruling VVIP elite — present and past — that despite taking everything from Pakistan they do not trust Pakistan? *