March 08, 2007

Austerity drives have never been part of our political psyche. Neither have intelligent decisions been a common feature at the Parliament House. Once again our parliamentarians have reiterated their stance of irresponsible spending from the national kitty to satisfy their whims. The recent addition of two state of the art luxurious smoking lounges at the Parliament House are an apt example of irresponsible spending by our leaders whom we foolishly trust at each election.

As detailed in a daily, “the room is lined with tailor-made ashtrays from Greece and sophisticated equipment to filter cigarette smoke out of the building in seconds.” The common man gets to taste the ash at least. Apart from the above mentioned accessories, large sized plasma screens, leather sofas and other luxury loaded facilities are also part of the package.

One guarantees that if any one of the parliamentarians was to spend on buying a single cigarette from his pocket, he would uphold the anti-smoking law as the best law of the country. In 2002, the Federal Government banned smoking in public places by promulgating the prohibition of smoking ordinance. The complete ban on smoking in public places is expected to go under the hammer by March this year. According to estimates, over 100,000 people are dying in Pakistan every year because of smoking. Although the government is an official signatory to the World Health Organization Treaty on Tobacco Control, foreign investment in this field is growing at an alarming rate. That people will be spending vast amounts of money in treating a number of smoking related life threatening diseases such as lung cancer, cardiac ailments and strokes is also a reason to support anti-smoking.

That said, following in our leaders’ footsteps of foolish decision making, coupled with religious fanaticism on the part of the public in Federally Administered Tribal Area has resulted in the killing of surgeon Dr Abdul Ghani Khan in Bajaur Agency in a bomb explosion on February 16. The cause of this untoward action is the misconceptions among the general public about polio vaccines leading to impotence and sterility as part of a western conspiracy against the Muslim Ummah. As ridiculous as it sounds, one wonders at the intelligence level of our countrymen. Let them for a second ponder over the question as to why would the West go through such a tedious job as eliminating the Muslim Ummah through individually administering vaccines mixed sterilisation drugs. They are already doing a good job with the abundant sophisticated weapons they have.

This poor doctor was on duty to save our future generations from a dilapidating disease. And what reward did he get for his efforts? The fact that other anti-polio health workers have refused to participate in future anti-polio drives in the region is also a fair enough warning to the government to safeguard the lives of officials on duty. In the end, it is a national loss. Illiteracy interwoven with religious fanaticism will surely take us nowhere.

One wonders why our religious clerics do not uphold the grand traditions of Islam, a religion which brought enlightenment to the world. Have we all forgotten the legacy of wisdom left behind by Muslims centuries ago? Not only does Islam boast of learned scholars but the pioneering Muslim minds like Jabir ibn Hayyan, father of modern chemistry or Abdul Qasim Khalef ibn Al-Zahrawi, a Muslim scientist who laid the foundation of modern surgery, are but a few who believed in one God and practiced the religion of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). They were never branded as religious fanatics. Muslims were renowned for their knowledge and were enlightened and open to exploration. It is a sad state of affairs that today’s Muslims have landed themselves in. Abandoning education has made us wander from our heritage of intelligent thought. To what depths we may still fall is anybody’s guess.

Sanity demands that education be given top priority in the country. Rather than churning out religious fanatics at such an alarming rate who proclaim themselves to be guardians of the faith, let us seriously and sincerely devise a plan to safeguard our future generations.

Pity that the country’s chosen parliamentarians are patting their backs for mindless spending on smoking lounges when fanaticism is on the rampage. Spending taxpayers money on awareness campaigns about anti-polio vaccines or educating the young about the teachings of Islam would benefit the nation more than burning it all up in cigarette smoke. Next time think about it when you take a puff, dear parliamentarian! Believe me, its really not that hard.

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