What’s your priority?
Mar 13th, 2012 | By Humaira Ahmad | Category: Latest, Pakistan
How different this world would be if leaders, followers and individuals could prioritize on something other than ulterior motives. Somehow or the other I feel we are all to an extent being governed by the ‘what’s in it for me ideology?’. It has become so hard to live selflessly in this dog eat dog existence where long gone are the days of altruism. I don’t consider myself any different from everyone else but lately I have begun to envision things that impinge on my conscience.
This planet is host to 6.8 billion people out of which 925million people are malnourished, in other words 13.6% of the world population is living with hunger. The very notion that it sounds just like a number, and perhaps nothing more than mere statistic is disquieting. Most of us are too besotted with our lives to shed even a momentary thought on how the current state of affairs will affect and is affecting the sordid lives of the many who live under a dollar a day.
It is infuriating that the destitute have to bear the brunt of thriving economies who are actually flourishing at their expense. I don’t think anyone can challenge the fact that most Multi National Companies are akin to colonialists who use, abuse and exploit resources in the poor host countries. Fact is developed countries, the US of A a case in point, are only capable of displaying ‘realpolitik’ and there show of compassion is a downright farce. The past, present and future depicts their blatant human rights breach and yet they claim to idolize humanity and world peace.
Nonetheless I do not consider the role and interference of any foreign element as the sole contributor of the social, economic and political upheaval of our country. The acute shortage of energy, inflation and high unemployment prevails because we as a people have no gumption to take to the streets and envision a revolution that liberated parts of the Middle East. It is unnerving that nobody cares if the taxpayers money is being spent on setting up ostentatious monuments or to bail out inefficient public sectors. It is unnerving that nobody spares a thought on the 32.6% of Pakistani people who are living with poverty day in and day out struggling to make enough for a few morsels of food.It is unnerving that we take pride in the beauty of the capital city of Islamabad and ignore the existence of 35+ slums home to thousands of people who believe it or not are also residents of the capital city. Since Zia’s regime in 1985 the CDA was given the sole responsibility of upgrading and rehabilitating the inhabitants of katchi abadis and how far have they come since 1985 in accomplishing this feat? In these past 27 years they managed to legalize ten squatter settlements and provided them with electricity, water and gas connections. A survey would reveal how little their lives have change since 1985 because realistically speaking they are still inhabitants of SLUMS. For heaven’s sake Japan rose from ashes after being nuked in less than 27 years and the best we could do is provide basic civic amenities?
Development has never been Pakistan’s agenda. It is a country endowed with rich natural resources which unfortunately it cannot even excavate on its own. It has a coastal line of 1050km which if fully utilized by setting up wind mills can make a huge difference in the lives of people living in surrounding villages but the only thing standing in the way of such an investment is priority, good leadership and sheer will power. It is about time some kind of initiative is taken to make everyone’s life better and not just that of a specific segment of society. Like Mark Twain says:
‘ The secret of making progress is to get started. The secret to starting is to divide your complex, overwhelming task into small, manageable tasks, and then start the first.’
Nothing you do today to change things for a better tomorrow will have any kind of detrimental or drastic consequence on your life. What stands between the development of Pakistan is not just the inept leadership but also the complacent Pakistanis.
