SINCE years we have been in a state of war. ...[There are] bomb blasts,
suicide attacks, passengers travelling by bus being made to disembark
and then shot dead on sectarian grounds. ...This has become the order of
the day. In rural areas there are tribal feuds and ethnic conflict. It
seems as if this state has become a nursery for riots where ...
clashesand conflicts are growing. This continues regardless of whether
there is a democratic era or dictatorship in thecountry. In a
dictatorship, the bureaucracy calls the shots, while in a democracy
chieftains, feudals ... enjoy power.
Neither dictatorship nor democracy has changed the situation for the common man.
This
does not mean that we are opposed to democracy, but we want to point
out that elected representatives ... do not follow democratic values.
These feudals cannot be friends of the people. We are unable to promote education.
No
outsider is hampering the progress of education, but it is our feudals,
chaudhries and waderas who have converted school buildings into
cattlepens.... They have neither allowed the middle class to rise nor
have they worked in the spirit of democracy. This can also be seen in
the recruitment for jobs where no merit is observed. ...[J]obs are
handed over to MNAs and MPAs.
Hence jobs are not given on merit
but according to political compulsions.... We have a majority of such
people in theeducation department.
...President Asif Ali Zardari,
while inaugurating the Waseela-iTaleem scheme ..warned that if we
failed to impart education to our children history will not forgive us.
President Zardari has rightly said that history will not only hold us
accountable but the nation will be wiped out [from the world map] if we
failed to educate them. Today we are stuck in the quagmire of extremism;
the reason behind it is also the lack of education. ...It is painful
that we ... spend the budget on purchasing arms. This has destroyed our
health and education sectors. ...-(Nov 11) • Selected and translated by
Sohail Sangi
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