i think a major problem in pakistan is tat high class does not realzie wat the middle class goes through and the middle does not realize wt the low class is going through. wat i mean to say is tat dont u think people are too class conosious(i wish GS had a spell check) in pakistan. i think they aretoo much indulged into themselves. i hope u guys get wat i am trying to say.
Pakistan's elite is a decadent, self-serving, corrupt class that has basically decided that they are (just like Islamabad) 10 minutes away from Pakistan. The middle class is constantly shrinking and ranks of lower classes are swelling.
Pakistan's upper classes would rather like to think of themselves as part time Pakistanis in the sense that they are physically in Pakistan yet their mind is elsewhere. Charity to them involves bored often foreign educated wives running some NGO that does more PR in their social circles than an actual difference to society. Excercise and fitness involves the obligatory membership to Islamabad Club or some equivalent social club. The husbands are more involved in corruption and wealth accumalation, they preach islam while they have alcohol and immorality issues. The children yearn to and most likely go abroad for higher studies where they spend their fathers ill gotten gains with no regard. While in Pakistan their activities are no different from their western counterparts, drugs, sex, and yes gang warfare.
Obviously I am not saying that everyone fits the description but a vast majority do. I am not so proud to say that I have had more than a few experiences which lead me to the above views. If your reading this and are part of the aforementioned elite and are offended, then good! Because it is intended to lay the finger of blame on you for the ills of Pakistan. It is you that has sucked on the blood of the average Pakistani both lower and middle class, introduced corruption in our society and it is high time that the truth was known to all.
how about we put some generalizations about the middle class and lower class as well? I mean after all its not the elites that are in the street with guns in their hands right? or the shopkeepers cheating on prices or mixing up contents.
How about the abuse of the yellow cab scheme where people got them for their own use since the customs duties were not being applied. How about the rampant cheating in colleges? The corrupt cops and chichoras on the streets?
Again not all but a "vast majority" right? lets look at that as well. And right nwo I have just looked at urban issues, once I start looking at rural crap its going to be even more interesting.
Doesn't matter whatclas you are, if law and order isn't maintained by the responsible authorities, people will always take advantage.
Xtreme lately you have been making a lot of sense in short concise sentences. :)
Yeah, when I start rambling I make a lot less sense. point taken! :)
"how about we put some generalizations about the middle class and lower class as well? I mean after all its not the elites that are in the street with guns in their hands right? or the shopkeepers cheating on prices or mixing up contents."
Did you look at why the middle and lower classes are "on the streets with guns"?? Is it because of their own policies or the policies set by the elites? It's the elites world, their just reacting to it. The West also has elites but atleast they make the presumption of income distribution that is why you dont see the Middle and Lower classes up in arms in the west. As for the shopkeepers, theyre doing what is being done on the higher echelons of society- where massive corruption goes unchecked. If the little guy mixes up things or cheats you on prices you can boycott them and try to find someone whose a bit better but what happens when the whole country is being screwed over by the elites, what do you do? Leave Pakistan right? Precisely what has happened in the past 2 decades.
"How about the abuse of the yellow cab scheme where people got them for their own use since the customs duties were not being applied. How about the rampant cheating in colleges? The corrupt cops and chichoras on the streets?"
Points well taken. My answer to all the quesions is that it is the responsibility of the higher classes who wield both power and influence to reform this corruption, but why would they? When it is they who stands to benefit the most from perpetuating the institution. Sorry but there is no way in hell you can expect the little guy to do anything under this socio-economic climate of Pakistan. Maybe an outright populist revolution is the only possibility and it seems far far away for Pakistan.
"Again not all but a "vast majority" right? lets look at that as well. And right nwo I have just looked at urban issues, once I start looking at rural crap its going to be even more interesting."
yeh well it is interesting because in anything you can come up with, I can counter with similar examples of how Pakistan's prosperity has been robbed by the upper classes. I am a staunch capitalist but even the outright pathetic level of income distribution in Pakistan would have Adam Smith rolling in his grave.
so essentially each class is as crooked as the other class. One cant justify corrution at any level because soemone else is doign it. I know many middle class people who have lived humble, simple and honest lives. They did not have to become crooked because the system established by the elite is crooked.
the trouble is not with one class, there are multiple sorts of troubles with each class, from corruption ot, ignorance, to prejudice to what nots. Limiting blame to one class is a bit incomplete