Our forefathers gave us a country to live as citizens of a sovereign nation, where we could live without any fear or discrimination. Pakistan was created to free the minority Muslims from economic subjugation of the majority Hindu population.
At the time of Partition, the affluent Hindus fleeing the areas that comprise Pakistan, left behind assets, houses and vast rural agricultural land. It is unfortunate that this land was allotted to the majority of those, who filed false claims and overnight assumed wealth and political power.
This group of neo rich people, together with the former collaborators of British Raj who were given lands and titles for services rendered to the crown, assumed political power, and have become parasites that threaten our moral social fibre. Pakistan today suffers because we failed to set our priorities right at the time of Partition.
Nations that fail to abide by the rule of law and lack basic civic ethics and norms, cannot expect to improve their quality of life, nor improve human resources, which are vital ingredients for development. The unacceptable tolerance, for corruption, nepotism, abuse of powers, perjury and tendency for men in authority to tell lies, without shame, have landed us in a mess of our own making. Criminals who should be in shackles behind bars for illegal occupation of real estates, loan default, insider trading, have monopolised our corridors of power.
The greed of our rulers knows no bounds and is the biggest threat to our national existence. The situation has become so grave that the British government threatened to stop our flights from landing in their country during the Musharraf era, because of increase in organised travel with false documents, by a gang of travel agents situated in Gujrat. This greed for ill-gotten wealth has crossed limits, because few even dared to indulge in this mind boggling trade of nuclear proliferation.
We, as a nation, must adhere to the rule of law and nobody should be allowed to get away with crime. An independent judiciary, which has powers to keep a check on excesses committed by individuals and institutions, can guarantee the rule of law, which alone can put this country back on track. Pakistan was created by a constitutional political struggle, waged by men of integrity, the majority belonging to the legal profession.
Leading pioneer members of the All India Muslim League were highly educated men of integrity and honour, who could not be lured by greed or the lucrative offers of the British Raj or the Hindu-dominated Congress. In sharp contrast, the bulk of our civil and military establishment is tarnished with greed and lust for power and wealth instead of honour and respect.
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