Fuel Prices

IT is amazing how our government responds to certain situations. Going back a few months when the issue of restoration of Chief Justice was still in dispute, the government was discarding all possibilities of restoration of Chief Justice. Ironically, however, the government officials changed their statements after CJ’s reinstatement saying that government itself was considering to restore the deposed judges. A similar incident can be witnessed in the recent past as well.
Ever since his restoration, Chief Justice has taken steps to ring relief to the common lot, his appointing Justice Bhagwan Das as commission to prepare a report on petrol prices was in line with such steps. When the commission submitted its report and recommended a considerable cut in fuel prices, concerned government officials came forward with the statement that government itself was considering a cut in fuel prices by the end of the month. The sad and rather shameful aspect, however, is that the fuel prices have not been decreased to the recommended extent but only by Rs.1.44. What is even more shameful and requires action from the Chief Justice is the attitude adopted by the petrol pump owners on occasions when fuel prices are likely to reduce. They create fake shortage of fuel and charge even higher prices per liter and their atrocities always go unchecked. Such opportunists should be dealt with the iron hand and brought to justice.

Time to Act, Mr. President

A joke goes that a suicide bomber was going to hit his target. Just when he reached there he pushed the button of the bomb attached to his vest. The bomb did not blast because of some manufacturing fault but due to shock and a sense of being torn into pieces the suicide bomber fainted. When he got back to senses he was in a hospital but he thought that he was already dead. As he forced himself on the stretcher his eyes caught hold of a beautiful nurse. ‘Subhan Allah’, he at once said thinking that the promise of heaven had been fulfilled. ‘A total of seventy hoors had been promised, where are the other ones?’ asked the suicide bomber again.

Exploiters and opportunists have long been playing their games in the name of Islam which heightens the ignorance of the common lot. To name only the few_ ignorance combined with absence of common sense, rampant social injustice and lack of opportunities are some of the reasons behind the creation of suicide bombers. The deprived, the downtrodden, and the ignorant can easily be brainwashed. Too many fanatical bigots have been created in the past few years. The peace situation, beside many others, should be the core issues for Zardari’s government to tend to. It is time when the government should aim at uprooting the evil rather then just brushing the leaves. It is most obvious that suicide bombers come from backward and neglected areas and possibly have also been a victim to injustice in one way or the other.

The government under Zardari should give more importance the areas that have been neglected in the past. Also, the slogan ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makan’ needs modification. That even the promise of the original slogan has yet to be fulfilled is another fact, a bitter reality that Mr. Zardari needs to realize. For a president like him having a yours sincerely kind of Prime Minister and a clear majority in the assembly, finding a solution to the country’s problem should not be an impossible task. But whether he succeeds or not would become clear in the time to come. However, if the President’s intention is to do nothing he can always leave it to the parliament which has already been given the task to decide on the 17^th amendment and the 58-2(b) issue.