I WRITE with a very heavy heart following the tragedy in Peshawar. It is time to question how many political leaders in the country are getting protection in terms of the number of men and resources from taxpayers’ money for their residences and travel for self and family.

It is time we are told of all expenses related to their security. Has the taxpayer voted them to power for just infringing on our taxes for their own protection?

Is their a system to ascertain whether our lawmakers are working properly in a manner our military and civil servants are evaluated through a system of annual confidential reports? Or, do they think that they have an unequivocal ‘mandate’ of five years for plundering taxpayers’ money?

What is the number of public and private sector educational institutions in the country? And what is the share of security resources in terms of the number of personnel and resources which can become available to the educational institutions should security be withdrawn from political elite?

The most deserving category for the allocation of security resources is that of the members of the security forces and judiciary entrusted with anti-terrorism duties.

Col (r) Rana Abdul Basit

Lahore

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2014