Are these people suppose to be representative of the people? Shameless they are!!!
PM, MPs are beyond any shame
By Ansar Abbasi ISLAMABAD: It was sheer callousness on the part of the prime minister and his party MNAs towards the sufferings of the people, who voted them into power, when Gilani promised residential plots to already rich MPs, at a time when ordinary souls are dying of hunger because of skyrocketing prices.
One wonders how they have the cheek to demand the provision of such perks to VIPs and VVIPs in the middle of an extremely precarious economic and social situation. However, both Gilani and the PPP MPs proved that they are capable of giving any surprise any time though only in matters that suit their own vested interest.
While the people are in tears because of the price hike of the daily use commodities and after the latest raise in the prices of petrol and power rates, the PPP MNAs showed the guts to ask the prime minister to allot them residential plots in Islamabad.
Gilani, who has proved to be too small a person to be in the prime minister’s office, instead of snubbing his MPs for putting up such a demand in these situations, asked them to take the opposition on board to get residential plots for each and every member of parliament.
He disclosed to the MPs that in 1996 when a similar demand for provision of free residential plots in Islamabad was made by the then MPs, it was he who in his capacity as Speaker of the National Assembly had suggested to the then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that she should first allot the plots to opposition. He recalled that the Benazir agreed to his great advice, which led to the provision of residential plots to all the MPs.
The ordinary people expect from the government to do something for the masses, check the price hike, curb growing corruption, ensure good governance, generate employment opportunities and improve economic condition of the country. But the government has altogether different priorities, which have nothing to with the people and is focused squarely on the well being of the ruling elite.
Hours before the prime minister assures his MPs free plots in Islamabad, a list of 11 journalists was laid before the National Assembly, whom the Gilani regime doled out residential plots in the federal capital. The plots politics in Pakistan revolves around five most influential classes of the society i.e. judges, generals (Army officers), journalists, bureaucrats and parliamentarians.
Since the journalists have thickly joined these groups, which are exclusively sharing these state resources between them, the issue of plot politics is not fairly highlighted in the media to the disadvantage of the ordinary people.
The majority cases of unfair allocations and out-of-turn allotments pertain to journalists but these realities are ignored because, it is said that if such facts are highlighted in the media, it would bring a bad name to the community. If someone dares to do that, he is snubbed, harassed and even abused.
When each judge of the Supreme Court and a federal secretary is entitled to have two residential plots in Islamabad under a declared policy, when the generals see no limit of such allocations of state land, when every local journalist too is allowed to have one plot in Islamabad and one in Rawalpindi while for others in other cities there are journalist colonies in the making, then why should parliamentarians be shy of having their finger in the pie. Let the people be befooled by these powerful classes of the society.