Shamain this is Pakistan that we are talking about therefore any such project launched under any government would suffer from being partly biased and political. If this was done under PML-N or PTI the same charges would be laid. We are not going to get apolotical culture in Pakistan anytime soon. Even a a mature democracy like UK we hear regular accusations of 'cronyism' and political bias. Toyota decided to open a plant in UK and eventually after lot of negotiation with DTI ( Dept. Trade and Industry ) Toyota chose to set up the plant in UK in a area called Burnaston. It also so happened that the minister of DTI a lady called Edwina Currie also happened to be the MP for Burnaston. I mean this could have been a cooincidence but all the papers wre screaming about Ms Currie having used her influence to get the plant set in her constituency. That might have been the case but at least UK won because Toyota were thinking of Germany, France or Spain as alternatives. So it is hard to get beyond these accusations anywhere let alone a immature democracy like Pakistan.
Now on the issue of dependancy and or votes being bought. The Pakistan state is regarded by the ruling class as a huge money making machine. They plunder it, they use it to secure all sort of advantages. The well connected get jobs not because they deserve it but because of connections. They all rape the state. They don't use their offices to do good but regard these posts as money making franchise. I know because although I have grown up abroad but I do back to Pakistan on short trips and I have family there.
I am the only socialist amongst my family. They all laugh at me. However all of them use their government jobs to line their pockets. They don't even hide it. My uncle is in department ( Customs ) and makes sure sons get in department to continue minting money. Same with PWD. So while all these well connected are using their links to mint money why is it so terrible that a few Rs go into the hands of the poor. All of sudden everybody complains about dependancy?
Look at PIA. This airline is definition of
'dependancy'. 1,000s of employees are on the payroll doing what? Providing terrible service and lazing about. PIA has
780 employees per one aircraft. That is one of the highest figures in the world. Turkish Airline in comparison has
81 employees per plane. Turkish airline has consistantly come out as the best airline in Europe. PIA on the other hand recieved Rs.33billion to bail it out.
Now think about this. PIA has almost ten times more workers ( which raises the question what exactly do they do other than collect their fat salaries ) yet PIA has terrible service. Trust me I know. The crew get caught regularly smuggling stuff into UK or Captain got removed from plane because he was drunk. Yet these people all collect their juicy salaries and retain their jobs ( which in this case means doing next to nothing. It is like 10 people to make a cup of tea and all say they are busy working ) and then the final clincher is the airline loses money.
Now the very type of people who jump up at the mention payment to the poor and start screaming about dependancy etc should also scream about tax payers money being used to sustain thousands of lazy PIa people. After all the same law of naturel fitness and mertitocracy they preach should be applied here. In UK PIA would have gone bankrupt. Why should the state keep these PIA employees in their crusty positions at the expanse of the tax payer? Of course nobody complains here because these people are well connected. Just to give you a idea Rs33 billion is used every year to bail out PIA and it's lazy workers who just use this airline as their '
Benezir Income Support Airline". The BISP costs about Rs 100 billion. So this is almost 1/3 of that cost.
Of course in reality we have KESC, KPT, PR, Pak Steel, PTV and all other departments that are used to keep thousands of people on the payroll doing next to nothing. I went to a family memeber who was PWD Exon, his office had three guys standing outside stroking their 'taches, four more swotting flies inside the office. There was gang of 200 workers outside idling and smoking. Yet the road was in shambolic condition. My back almost broke. In UK 100 workers will be seen building entire 8 lane motorways working 12 hour shifts day and night.
So please people wherever I went in Pakistan I saw lazy, unkempt officials with total lack of any work ethic other then lining their pockets at the expense of the government. If a few Rs goes into the hand of poor widow in some remote village that might feed her children is in my view a good thing. Yet suddenly people start crying 'dependancy'.
Another thing in societies which actively redistribute money, that is transfer money from the rich to the poor by using tax or welfare systems create more equitable culture. This translates into peace and harmony. Countries like Norway, Sweden and even UK are trend setters in this regard. The USA of course follows the hardline capitalist thinking and have you seen the crime rate there? Guns anmd shooting everyday.
I have had the privilage of being born in a wealthy family but always in my heart I will stand by the poorest. when I was in Pakistan it annoyed me how people treated the poor. When I got there everybody insisted I let the servant take the bags out. I refused. I insisted I am going to take them inside. I made my own tea. I cleaned my own room. Those who complain about dependancy have no problem in employing servants to make their tea.
Those servants should be out there doing real jobs like building the coun try up. building roads, houses, hospitals, bridges, pave ments, schools like China is doing. Instead the system in Pakistan has been carved to serve the interests of the eliye and uses religion to cover up plunder, abuse and naked greed.
As regards the name of the project. Benezir is dead. I assure you I never supported PPP. I am not from Sindh. However because she was female, Taliban murdered her I for one have no problem with the project being called BISP. Like i said she is dead and with it went her politics. Forget and forgive .
We have to ask what kind of society we want. The Norwegians probably have one of the mosr equitable societies with fairer distribution of cpaital than most countries in the world. Maybe that is why they are so peacefull. Empty stomachs and abuse will create instability and no number of guns will create peace. go ask the Americans that.
Herald Exclusive: Plane truths - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
Look at the Nordic system of policing which is only possible because of a very equitable society at peace with itself as opposed to USA. The Nordic countries have very aggresive income distribution sysyems as opposed to the capitalist USA with attitudes like " we don't want to give money to make people dependants ".