Chowrangi

Pakistan is a poor country. Here millions of people are forced to live below the poverty line. Daily many people die because of hunger, cold and many commit suicide due to the rough life. Price hikes, hoarding, corruption, injustice has broken the back of the society. There is no democracy and there is no safety for the people. But all is not lost. But all is not that gloomy and bleak.

The brighter side is that Pakistan has got fourteen VIP luxury aero planes and two more are ordered by the government. Just recently Government of Pakistan has purchased a VIP plane at the cost of 6 crore dollars for General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan. It’s a ten seater luxurious plane and was basically ordered by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

This plane has been flown in the Pakistan by a foreigner pilot, who is now giving training to the Pakistani pilots and it will take some sixty days for Pakistani pilots to get their hands in sync with this state-of-the-art plane. The maintenance charges of these sumptuous and lavish planes are obscenely high, but who cares and who is there to ask?

I wonder why our rulers don’t think about it. Why don’t they realize that buying and then showing off such luxuries only sprinkle the salt on the wounds of the poor nation? At one side people are dying of hunger, they are also very frightened of the suicide bombers. They lives are hanging in the air, and they don’t know about the current times, and they are very much unsure about the future.

Western media and especially American newspapers like New York Times and Boston Globe are daily saying in their editorials and opinion columns that Pakistan is a failed state and is on the brink of collapse and also that United States should concentrate on Pakistan instead of Iraq and Afghanistan, and there we are standing by watching VIP planes flown in to the Pakistan. Its also a wonder that US doesn’t really object upon the VIP planes, yet its very shy of giving us the F-16s.

Can we afford such luxuries? No, we cannot, but our rulers can for sure.

Other posts by Commoner

• Zardari Makes Final Moves - September 5th, 2008
• After Angoor Adda, Another Strike - September 5th, 2008
• Angoor Adda: US led NATO Forces launch first ground attack in Pakistan - September 4th, 2008
• Choked Life - September 4th, 2008
• Looming Fears - September 3rd, 2008
• Gilani's Escape - September 3rd, 2008
• Threats with Love - September 2nd, 2008
• Another Truce and TTP - September 2nd, 2008
• Sublime Presidential Election - September 1st, 2008
• Illegal Way for Judges - September 1st, 2008