WHEN an elephant is young, a chain is usually put around its leg which restrains it from moving.

The young elephant initilly tries to break the chain and run away but soon realises that it is powerless against the chain.

Time passes and the baby elephant becomes powerful. It can easily break the chain but never tries to do that because it thinks that the chain is invincible.

Citizens of our country are also like this chained elephant. We have always been suppressed by almost all governments. A commoner fears government, rulers, police, army and other government organisations so much that we think that they are undefeatable.

All governments know that once this chain is broken, citizens will realise their actual power and then it will be difficult to control them.

Let us take the example of protests which occurred a few weeks ago against power shortages and loadshedding.

The shortfall of electricity rose to 7,500 MW and frustrated Pakistanis were forced to act violently. Different opposition parties also, directly or indirectly, tried to hijack these protests.

The government was forced to react, funds were released and within 48 hours the protesters went home.

They had finally forced the government to try to solve the problem and since then almost all areas of Pakistan are experiencing only scheduled power cuts.

The government listens to those who show stiff opposition. But we must keep in mind that we should not destroy cars, government offices, etc.

FARZAN SAEED Peshawar