This is sick!

This has got to be sick. That sort of money could have been used for so many other things which were actually worthwhile.

A classic example of how politicians are out of touch with the ordinary people.

DAWN.COM | Provinces | NWFP name change to cost treasury Rs8 bln

Lawyers to oppose commission: ex-AG Lawyers to oppose commission: ex-AG KARACHI: Renaming NWFP as Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa turns out to be an expensive proposition worth a staggering 8 billion rupees, reports DawnNews.
According to sources in the NWFP government, all the updated and renamed documents will cost about 5 billion rupees.
Whereas the Federal Government will have to bear a 3 billion rupee expense on updating and renaming various documents.
The documents which have already been printed with the province still bearing the NWFP badge will be destroyed. These documents, including the stationary, have already cost the government 4 billion rupees.
According to official sources, work to revise the documents will begin shortly.

Re: This is sick!

Omg 8 billion rupees! Do we even have that much to spare for a name change? I think we should leave it and stick to NWFP. Use the money for some other things which are more important!

Re: This is sick!

Well worth it for getting rid of a name that was archaic and representative of the British Raj. It should have been done much much earlier than this. But it is worth the price.

Re: This is sick!

doesn't matter its 8 billion or 80 billion, Pakistan rahey ga ..tu yeh money bi ataa jata rahey ga.. !

Re: This is sick!

There can be ways to cut down this price, if not it's worth every paisa of it.

Of course its well worth it, the middle class computer using people wont be affected by this 8 bllion be spent.

It will always be the poor who suffers.

it was the demand of the province... had to be done. better spend 8 billion now... instead of further alienating vast majority of the province even further.

Re: This is sick!

this is just disgusting shame on these guys

Who was alienated?

No one!

There were never any violent protests in favour of the name change.

Where ddi this idea came from that people were alienated because of the name? LOL

Just a few psuedo-intellectuals had time to dwell upon it.

People ddi not like the name possibly but in no way ddi they feel deprived or alienated.

LOL!

hopefully you've gotten all the LOLs out of your system.

can we ever accomplish anything without needing violent protests? NWFP is no name. had to be changed. the ANP has been fighting for changing the name for a long time. and it represents a lot of the people of Pakhtunkhawa. the ppl of Pakhtunkhawa voted for it. so, who am I to deny the representatives of the ppl of the province how they name their province (as long as it doesn't go against Pakistan somehow)?

btw, what a ridiculous argument to make! is the 8 billion to change the name wasteful? maybe. but if you make an absolute comparison and pin it against issues like poverty, inflation, education, healthcare, etc. there are plenty of other ridiculous expenditures as well.

but then the question arises, can a country like our afford to spend billions upon billions on a bloated army that until now had very little to deserve such expenditure? can we afford to spend so much on weapons when we don't have any decent healthcare? can our country with so many poor, hungry, illiterate ppl afford a nuclear program? can our country afford to pay for the ambitions of army generals so they can play out their fantasies regarding "strategic depth"?

if you start making absolute comparisons, there are plenty of other expenditures that are ridiculous as well which I don't see you LOLing about. what's up with that?

The army expenditure has to be cut of course and it has to be cut in a way that it does not affect their professionalism. Things like putting AC on in army offices at the end of March when it is not even hot properly has to go. I dont mind them putting it on when its warmer but in March????????????? the VIP lifestyle has to be cut back on for all - army walas and politicians.

We can get rid of the Army and Nuclear and we will see where the country will end up. It will almost certainly fall apart and those that are kept at bay by Pakistans military might ie India, Afghanistan, Iran and America - the latter not a neighbour but has interests in Afghanistan that are related to Pakistan.

As your a PPP supporter as you mentionned you would vote for them in the another current thread you dont really see anything positive in the army i guess. I wonder what life on the other side would be like?

I was LOLing because you are saying that the vast majority of NWFP is alienated because of the old name.

Your average person in NWFP works long hours to sustain his family and things have got worse over the last 3 years. Other than the rich elite people most have got no time to think of changing names.

Re: This is sick!

8B rupees is nothing. it's under 100M dollars. any number of people in Pakistan can just write a check!

Re: This is sick!

Interesting thread..nobody has questioned the credibility of the news source..where has this figure come from? Why has it been leaked now?

Re: This is sick!

Here comes "opportunity" for people connected with govt... 10% anyone? :D

and you think they would be such generous?

the biggest threat to Pakistan is from within - not from India, etc. the biggest threat is Taliban. and if the army can't fight them, then it should wear choorian and stfu. and all the budget allocated to them should be diverted to education and health care which is where it should have been in the first place.

as far as the nuclear bomb is concerned, it is the white elephant that we can't use or do anything with. it can't help us prevent wars (Kargil still happened). it can't be used. yet so much money has been spent on it. what a waste of resources.

like I said, yes I am a PPP supporter today. but it might be a shocking thing to imagine for those who dream of the golden days of Mushrraf's dictatorship, or the golden age of Zaid Hamid's Naseem Hijaziat etc... that I support all political parties except MQM and religious parties. there are politicians I admire in PPP, PML-N and ANP. just happens to be that PPP is the most representative of my values and the direction I want Pakistan to go in.

as far as the army is concerned, I have probably seen it more upclose than most Pakistanis have. many of my classmates are serving in the army. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the brave jawans and officers of the Pak forces. my problem is with the army high command and its shenanigans. if that makes me anti-army, then yes I am anti-army. but it has nothing to do with me being pro-PPP. I was anti-army before I became a PPP supporter.

it is interesting that you paint anyone who doesn't agree with your assessment as a pseudo-intellectual and as the netsurfing elite. you do realize that you're part of the same netsurfing elite, right? just wanted to remind you of the irony in case it whizzed by you.

it's kind of like some news anchors bleating about the poor, etc and dumping on the politicians for ignoring the plight of the masses, while makes millions for themselves every month. it looks mighty stupid to beech about ghareeb people and accusing others of being insensitive to them just because they're well off... because guess what you're just as well to do as them.

Re: This is sick!

I don't understand this hue and cry over a provincial name change when I recall:

  • West Pakistan going from one unit to provinces
  • Lyallpur, Montgomery name changes in Punjab
  • Benazir Bhutto District in Sind

These are just a few examples of the name changes that have occurred in Pakistan. Surely they also cost funds from the treasury.

This sounds like a case of sour grapes to me.