Interesting Exchange

Pakistan’s internal disputes are serious, but rarely do outsiders notice anything. Here is an example. Below, you’d find an article written by a gentleman in Northern Virginia. One of his readers responded favorably, but another reader reacted sharply, and this response should help the readers understand the simmering tensing inside Pakistan. I have removed the e-mail address from this exchange, but the rest is being reported without any change.

Dear Mr Nadeem ul Haq et al:

I support your plea to pull down the pointless walls meant to provide a safe enclosures for Punjab’s Babus. But aren’t you being a tad bit parochial; there are so many more important walls to be pulled down, particularly the invisible ones that lie in the minds of people, stopping them from seeing good sense, and encouraging their selfish instincts.

Your historic megacity city lacks a public tranport system, nor does the capital or for that matter any city in Pakistan. The traffic you have going through the GOR is because you have too many rich cats in cars. Your beloved Lahori, Kamran Lashari, whom you exported to Islamabad helped ruin it and wasted money on roads, which would have been better spent on starting a half-decent public transport enterprise. It is time you had basic environmental science taught in your Services Academy and at least your elite private schools.

Your Babus, diverted the water from Indus to feed your lands starving large parts of the lower riparians. Your fathers and uncles, and your army cousins illegally occupied land in Sindh and erected walls, bringing along peasants from your own villages while my Sindhi brothers and sisters had to eek out a living. You pulled gas pipes to cook your meals in GOR, Lahore, while the Baluchis ate sand.

So before you cry about the little niggly things in your neighborhood, shed a few tears for what your walls elsewhere have done to your Pakistani brothers and sister. Don’t stop at that as tears don’t help anyone; make a change!

And if you guys don’t bring about a change, we Sindhis and Baluchis will have you and your relatives pay current market rates for the land that you took over as if it was your right. The economist in your had better start calculating how much that will be – then proceed to inform the public through your articles. This money (give us the amount and justification) should be deposited in the Sindh & Baluchistan Govt kitties, and used for development there.

When will you be writing your next article, Mr Nadeem ul Haque, to correct these far greater wrong-doings?

Peace,

Lila Thadani

Sindhi Adyoon Tehreek

Sukkur

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On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 8:39 PM, wrote:

Dear Nadeem

We are in Santiago, Chile at the moment. From here we have to go to Spain, Netherlands and Switzerland to complete lectures on transfer pricing. You have raised a very vital issue. We will raise our voice soon in an article.

Regards.

DR. IKRAMUL HAQ

LLD, MA, LLB

Advocate Supreme Court

International Tax Counsel

From: Nadeem Haque

Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 1:29 AM

To:

Subject: SUSPECT: Do we ever get outraged?

Mr CM Tear Down that Wall!

“Tear down this wall!” was the famous challenge from United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987.This challenge will be remembered through history as a cry for freedom The wall was built by the totalitarian Soviet Union to prevent East Germans from moving freely to the west. We all remember the many wall crossings and defections that characterized the wall and its prevention of freedom.

Instead of heeding the cry of freedom, the Punjab Government has walled itself off from the people. Government Officers Residences (GOR) which sits in the heart of Lahore– occupying about a square mile of city center–is a colonial legacy which is badly in need of abolition. The Empire needed to giver residences and perks to bring Englishmen to rule the country. They had built palaces for themselves on the outskirts of Lahore. The city has grown and now GOR is bang in its middle. You would have thought that Independent Pakistan would have quickly dismantled this colonial legacy.

Calls for monetization of all perks have been resisted for years. Instead GOR keeps getting fresh investments—an officers club, new houses, lavishes additions to old houses and even a wedding hall for the officers. All these investments take place at government expense though you will find it hard to see any of them mentioned in the accounting documents.

The latest such expense is that GOR has been walled off and security checkpoints are going to be manned by about 500 policemen to protect the civil servants. Are we an independent country? Are they our master? Even the British Empire did not feel that insecure.

GOR being walled off will disrupt the life of Lahore add to traffic jams. Many people used the alternative route of GOR to avoid the rush of Lahore. It will further distance the government from the people. Policy will get more deeply entrenched into an enclave mentality.

Yes terrorism plagues Pakistan. All citizens are insecure. Schools have been affected. In a recent blast I met kids from St Anthony’s high school my former school who were totally traumatized, some had even sustained minor injuries. Why do the government functionaries need to be sheltered more than schools?

It could be open season now. Walls will go up everywhere with all the rich and famous seeking segmentation. Is that desirable?

Through history walls have been made to keep out barbarian hordes or foreign invaders. But these walls have protected the entire population not just the rulers. The great wal of China and Hadiran’s wall were made to protect their people. Walls have been used to defend cities from attackers all the way from the famous Trojan war days.

Most rulers of cities built walls to protect their citizens from marauders and enemies.

Tyrants used walls to protect themselves from their populations who hated them. Often these walls were torn down to the regrets of the tyrants. The most famous of these is the storming of the Bastille and the French palaces.

In recent times with democracy and improved governance, very few governments have found the need to build a wall around them! As much as possible, they rely on the people and their goodwill to protect them.

Democratic governments are embedded in their people. If their people are not safe they do not think of only making themselves safe. Churchill in the famous Battle of Britain did not ever think of protecting himself. He stayed in London in 10 Downing Street and was visible to his people all the time. No walls for him!

The IRA bombed London but Downing Street or the houses of parliament were not walled off.

White house still has an iron “see through” fence with hordes hanging on to it to view the old mansion.

We had expected democracy to tear down remaining walls. We had expected that our democratic governments will do away with perks not strengthen them and waste more budgetary resources on them.

Strangely enough there has been little outrage in Pakistan on this issue. But then we in Pakistan have become desensitized. We are not outraged at anything. We were not outraged by rape and abuse.We were not outraged by torture and corrupton. We were not outraged when our democratically elected govenrments were thrown out by tyrants. We were not outraged when BB got killed. The list is long.

Countries and civil societies get made when government excess does lead to outrage. We have a long way to go. Our leaders know that!

Will civil society demand freedom with a cry of “Mr. Sharif Tear down that wall! You can only be safe when we are.”

Nadeem Ul Haque