June 20, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1427

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LAHORE, June 19: A widow - living below the poverty line - used to wash dishes to earn some money and enable her only son to complete his education. The boy worked hard, and after completing his education got a good job - but in a foreign country.

The mother did not want her son to go there. But with a heavy heart she allowed him, hoping that his job would improve the living of the two.

As the son proceeded abroad, she stopped working for others. Instead, she started borrowing money from her neighbours to meet her daily-life needs. She believed that within a few months her son would send so much money that not only would she clear all dues but also have surplus amount for the future.

Unaware how difficult life her mother had lived to enable him to get better education and a job, the son spent whatever he earned. He came back home after a few months. The mother borrowed some more money from neighbours to entertain her son good food and a comfortable stay.

When the son did not pay her even a single rupee even a week after his return, the mother’s patience exhausted. She told him that she was under a heavy debt and the lenders wanted immediate repayment. The son told his illiterate mother that instead of talking of money, she should be proud of the prestigious job her son had got. All hopes of the mother were dashed and she started thinking of looking for a job for herself.

This story explains the high hopes the people attach with the elected governments. But every time they expect some relief, they are told by the rulers that the GDP has gone up as also the foreign exchange reserves. The image of the country in the world community has also improved, and soon the fruits of the policies being followed by the government would reach the common man. The day has not come, nor will it ever.

The common man should, like the widow mentioned above, continue dish washing.

PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah Khan very ably explained before the Punjab Assembly the plight of the common man and the huge allocations the rulers of Punjab had made for themselves in the new year’s budget.

He said the Governor’s House and the Chief Minister’s House had higher budgetary allocations than one billion rupees earmarked for the agriculture sector.

Rana said agriculture provided livelihood to 70 per cent people of Punjab and if the rulers did not pay much attention to this sector, the country would have no alternative but to continue to import sugar, wheat, pulses and other things.

In his 80-minute speech, which analysed all aspects of the budget, the leader from Faisalabad criticised the government for presenting a pair of falcons worth Rs 2.7 million and 3.6 million, respectively, to the rulers of two Islamic countries.

In his opinion not only the birds were too expensive, there was no justification for such a huge difference in their prices.

Maybe, the falcons are expensive but Pakistan’s relations with both the countries are more valuable. They have always helped Pakistan in difficult situations and they are expected to do the same in the future.

If Rana thinks the Punjab government spent more than it should have, he should get details of the gifts offered to the US leaders by President Musharraf and others (carried by various newspapers on Monday).

Minister for Special Education Qudsia Lodhi defended the budget well. She explained the steps taken by the government for special education and education and also gave various statistics.

With hard work, she can shape up as a good leader, capable of countering the opposition.

During the break for prayer, a minister sat with the PML-N legislators in the cafeteria. He offered them quite valuable advice.

One was that they should move a legislation that the lawmakers on completing their term should also be given benefits like people in other spheres of life.

He also advised them to form a society to get entitlement for plots.

The minister said since not all legislators were born with gold spoons in their mouths, they should try to get benefits for themselves. The advice was appreciated by the “audience”.

Opposition legislators were happy that a bill was under consideration which would authorise the MPs to have treatment of their parents at the state expense.

They were also happy that while the initiative would be taken by the ruling party, they would be among the beneficiaries.