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Did any of this trouble the elected representatives of the people in the National or provincial parliaments? No. They were busy elsewhere. Let’s take just one example: the shenanigans of the Sind provincial Assembly where the Zardari party was and still is the single largest bloc representing the people. On the day preceding its dissolution prior to the general election campaign, the provincial government led by the PPPP ordered all the banks in Sind to remain open (it was a Saturday) so that money could be extracted. Long-expired projects were hurriedly revived and a number of dodgy deals were hurriedly voted through the chamber. And as if to reward themselves for all their hard work, the assembly voted its members a 60 percent salary rise backdated to July 2011. The proceedings were concluded in a similar spirit, with the rogues voting in favour of measures to help those amongst their number who might not be re-elected. They would still be entitled to existing perks—free government accommodation replete with servants, VIP treatment at airports, official passports, etc.—for life. Why they refrained from making the privileges hereditary remains a tiny mystery. Needless to add very few members of parliament pay taxes and several outgoing Zardari cabinet ministers, including the Prime Minister, are refusing to pay their share of the electricity and telephone bills. Hence the desperation on the part of many to become a member of any of the existing five parliaments in the country. Membership of these august bodies will help them become what they are.
And so it happened on 11 May 2013 that after being governed for five years by a party led by the filthy rich Asif Zardari, the country voted to replace him and his gang with the filthy rich Sharif brothers and their gang. Veterans of the NGO community hastily declared their loyalty to the new regime, praising democracy but in reality by their very actions only confirming that both sides of the coin are basically the same. Crooks and climbers, braggarts and boozers, swindlers and schemers, serial rapists rule the roost, regardless of which gang wins. In their local environments many of the parliamentarians appear as frightening and colorful figures: a land-grab or two here, a few abducted women, stolen properties, blackmail, violence, bullying. In the National Assembly they become mediocrities, ignored by their patrons and barely able to comprehend the contents of a parliamentary bill crafted by civil servants (whose own standards have dropped drastically) and concerned mainly with making up for the five years that they were out of power and lost out on the money and land-grabbing stakes. Full story...
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Did any of this trouble the elected representatives of the people in the National or provincial parliaments? No. They were busy elsewhere. Let’s take just one example: the shenanigans of the Sind provincial Assembly where the Zardari party was and still is the single largest bloc representing the people. On the day preceding its dissolution prior to the general election campaign, the provincial government led by the PPPP ordered all the banks in Sind to remain open (it was a Saturday) so that money could be extracted. Long-expired projects were hurriedly revived and a number of dodgy deals were hurriedly voted through the chamber. And as if to reward themselves for all their hard work, the assembly voted its members a 60 percent salary rise backdated to July 2011. The proceedings were concluded in a similar spirit, with the rogues voting in favour of measures to help those amongst their number who might not be re-elected. They would still be entitled to existing perks—free government accommodation replete with servants, VIP treatment at airports, official passports, etc.—for life. Why they refrained from making the privileges hereditary remains a tiny mystery. Needless to add very few members of parliament pay taxes and several outgoing Zardari cabinet ministers, including the Prime Minister, are refusing to pay their share of the electricity and telephone bills. Hence the desperation on the part of many to become a member of any of the existing five parliaments in the country. Membership of these august bodies will help them become what they are.
And so it happened on 11 May 2013 that after being governed for five years by a party led by the filthy rich Asif Zardari, the country voted to replace him and his gang with the filthy rich Sharif brothers and their gang. Veterans of the NGO community hastily declared their loyalty to the new regime, praising democracy but in reality by their very actions only confirming that both sides of the coin are basically the same. Crooks and climbers, braggarts and boozers, swindlers and schemers, serial rapists rule the roost, regardless of which gang wins. In their local environments many of the parliamentarians appear as frightening and colorful figures: a land-grab or two here, a few abducted women, stolen properties, blackmail, violence, bullying. In the National Assembly they become mediocrities, ignored by their patrons and barely able to comprehend the contents of a parliamentary bill crafted by civil servants (whose own standards have dropped drastically) and concerned mainly with making up for the five years that they were out of power and lost out on the money and land-grabbing stakes. Full story...
Related posts:
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- 70% of Pakistan's MPs don't pay taxes...
- Pakistan may be poor but its president has assets worth $1.5 billion...
- For some Pakistanis, suicide the only way to escape poverty...
- In Pakistan, the ruling elite is more equal than the struggling poor...
- Pakistan has no money for flood victims but approves $11-million monument to Benazir...
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