Partly Facetious: a different kind of democracy

"Stern action will be taken against..."
"Against criminals I hope. Hundreds of cell phones are snatched away every day, cars stolen, people robbed and..."
"Well, no that was not what I was referring to."
"What about these PML forward bloc people? They seem to be..."
"That's internal to the party, or to the King, if you know what I mean. No I was actually referring to a statement made by the Sindh education secretary."
"What action can a secretary of education take?"
"Stern."
"Against whom?"
"The teachers."
"Well, that would increase the low literacy rate, if anything."
"Don't be facetious."
"But if you take action against the teachers then how in the world will you raise the literacy rate?"
"I don't know but he has directed Executive District Officers and Educational Managers (Colleges) to ensure the smooth functioning of educational institutions."
"That seems fair. So I presume anyone who disrupts this smooth functioning..."
"Precisely but he added something peculiar. He said that the Sindh government was fully determined to implement its decision to ban unions/associations activities in educational institutions."
"I can understand that too. However I would think it would be OK to catch those teachers who are ghost ones, right - or getting paid without doing the work but I would assume those who are accused of disrupting must actually have some demands. Like higher wages. No one can deny that their wages are very low. So in this case collective bargaining makes for a healthy institution because if there is agreement then there will be greater commitment to the task at hand: educating the students."
"The Secretary also directed all officials concerned to provide the list of government employees to the department who were found taking law and order into their own hands in the name of protest and warned that he would initiate strict action against them."
"That's not quite right. What happened to dialogue and..."
"I don't think this country has ever encouraged unionism. That has to be the outcome of a different kind of democracy."
"Indeed."