SENATOR Mohammad Yaqoob Khan’s view that the ‘poor are born to serve the rich’ (Aug 26) may sound offensive but it reflects a pervasive mindset that prevails not only in Pakistan but in countries like the USA.

This is not surprising given the fact that a British imam and many sheikhs in the Arab world believe that slavery was banned by Abraham Lincoln and not by Islam.

My personal view is that what Lincoln did is apparently tenable under the Islamic concept of maslaha mursala (broader public interest).

A bitter truth is that inequality has remained a feature of most societies, and the countless studies by political philosophers like Aristotle, Tacitus, Moska, Michel, Marx, Pareto and C. Wright Mill attest to this.

What a pity that demokratia (power of the people) never succeeds in equalising citizens.

James Maddison’s idea of having a bicameral legislature to balance the brute power of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie did not bear fruit.

We only have to look at the performance of our National Assembly versus the Senate, Lok Sabha versus Rajya Sabha, the House of Commons versus the House of Lords, so on.

Nevertheless, all democracies envisioned `opportunities for political participation to larger proportions of the population’, and across-the-board accountability (no loan write-offs or plots and permits).

Democracy is a progressive effort to equalise citizens before the law, rather than legalising the elite and mafias. It is unfortunate that a senator regards inequality as an unchangeable status quo.

William A. Welsh says: “The rise of democracy has signalled the decline of elites” (Leaders and Elites, p 1). But, a bitter lesson of history is that demokratia had always been an ideal, never a reality.

History reminds us that no system, not even ochlocracy (mobocracy) could ever bulldoze governing elites. The Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals, and the English ruled through handpicked elites.

The ‘equal citizen’ as enshrined in our constitution has remained a myth. Even American democracy is run by a handful of specialised people while the majority of the population is a silent spectator, a “bewildered herd” (Chomsky).

Amjed Jaaved

Rawalpindi

(2)

THE senator’s contentious remarks have underscored the chauvinistic mindset of the privileged class towards the underdogs of Pakistani society.

The biggest irony is that the same senator had been elected thrice from NA-263, but he did not establish a single hospital or educational institution in his hometown.

In this backdrop it comes as no surprise that he is utterly nonchalant towards the miserable plight of the poor people living next to his home.

Meanwhile, he also dilated upon the misconception prevalent in our society that God has made social and economic divisions.

Quite contrary to his comments, the truth is that it is not God but people like the senator who have contributed to the creation of such disparities. To sum it up, people of such mindset can hardly alleviate the miseries of poor and downtrodden people.

M. Ishaq Nasar

Loralai, Balochistan

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016