The Prado Connection

Just another motorcade. (Photo: Life.com)

And it’s not just the Prados. It’s the Land Cruisers, Range Rovers, Porsche Cayennes , BMWs, Mercedes Benz’s, hell, even Rolls Royce Phantoms in Karachi. And the commonality between them is always the same: a 4x4 double cabin full of gun toting hooligans with murderous looks. So what do these cars and their occupants represent? Or rather, what are they trying to represent? That they are the big-shots in this Land of Chaos? That they are the biggies in this otherwise country of the little-ones? Maybe they try to tell the masses who see their mad lunacy driven antics on the road that they maintain a semblance of discipline where none exists. Maybe, they’re trying to tell us that they command authority and respect when the same has disappeared for the masses; and from the masses.

What these mad-men with their gun-toting chums have failed to realize over time is that the nation has run out of patience with them. We, the nation simply do not care what and who these men in tinted 4x4s are. All we care about is that it makes our blood boil when we see them treat the road as if they own it; we seethe when the police shuts down the roads because some man who has deemed himself to be worthy of public office decides to take a leisurely stroll in a park 10 kilometers away. How much longer before the lava bursts? Even if they have no shame and no fear of God, I do believe they will know what science has to say on this matter. It is relatively simple to understand; for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.

The rights of this nation are non-existent. The executive has refused to take into account the gross injustices happening to the poor people of this country across the board. The legislators in the homeland are more interested in superficial matters; matters pertaining to their selves and their bank accounts. So Mr. Sharif, when you call Mr. Zardari by the name of Mr. 10%, please note that with all due respect sir, the masses think you’re not a saint either.

For over two and a half decades we have heard the same hollow words, the same hollow promises, and the same long guilt-ridden faces over and over and over again. It is time the men in power stop treating us like idiots who they can take for granted. Change will come, and it will have to emanate from us. We do not care you passed the 18^th Amendment; go celebrate its passing in your own backyard and start delivering real stuff. We do care when people die stuck in traffic jams just because some hot-shot decided to let out his fart in the bathroom of some posh hotel. We do care when traffic wardens are suspended, neigh, beaten up and then suspended for stopping a raving junkie with an MNA/MPA plate on his car. We do care when the prices of electricity go up without our consent and knowledge just because the IMF deemed it was “necessary”. We also care that you set up RPPs to supply a mere 62 MW of electricity by paying a fee in excess of a million dollars when the real shortfall is in excess of 3000 MW. We also care that the prices of essential foodstuff are never the same for two consecutive days. This isn’t Switzerland. We do not have the kind of wealth you have. We do not go to sleep without a care in the world. We are the depressed, shattered, angry, miserable people of this country who want out.

The mere fact that people like Zardari and Nawaz Sharif rule over us speaks woefully of our plight. And even worse than that, it is shameful to say the least that we elected them. Such people do not deserve our support, or our votes. I end my tirade with a question: when will we learn from our past mistakes? I do not direct this question to our leaders. I ask this from you. The Pakistani nation.