Chowrangi

I saw serious power shortages in the early 1950s, and I see the same thing now. At least, when I was a kid, there was no need for airconditioners. In fact, we didn’t even have fans, the ceilings were very high, the windows very wide, and the air was smoke-free.

Now, when you can’t even live without airconditioners, there are power outages lasting for hours. Work comes to a standstill whenever the power supply is disrupted, sometimes many times during the day, and there is no one to ask those responsible why it happens. Sometimes there is too little water in the dams, sometimes it’s due to a millimeter of rain, and often it happens because the power lines are more than fifty years old and have never been replaced.

They say that when “goras” ruled India, the situation was very good, no one dared to break the law. They even hanged Pir Pagara and no one protested. Although I’m against capital punishment (mainly because the wrong people get hanged), I think people would be less corrupt if the government started hanging corrupt people. Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore had to hang just one minister, and his country changed into a model for the rest of the world to follow. Even today, if you spit in Singapore, you can be fined something like twenty thousand rupees. That is what we should have in Pakistan. And this can never happen unless you have absolutely honest leaders.

But the problem is, where will you find them?

Other posts by Shakir Lakhani

• Is Zardari mentally fit to be President? - August 27th, 2008
• Why is Zardari against re-instatement of the Chief Justice? - August 21st, 2008
• New book on Obama claims he's a secret Muslim - August 15th, 2008
• Thar coal extraction awarded to Indian (not Chinese) company! - August 8th, 2008
• American Jewish professor wants to nuke Iran - August 3rd, 2008
• Exercises for the eyes - July 29th, 2008
• If Men Got Pregnant - July 28th, 2008
• Would you want your son to be a Mullah? - July 26th, 2008
• Why Muslims are weak! - June 29th, 2008
• What if Khalistan wins a war against the U.S.? - June 25th, 2008