Mohan:
Dawn at crack of dawn:
dawn.com
Congress: the natural party of poor Muslims and not of the young the educated
Surprisingly, the gain for the BJP-NDA has been
attributed to some support from amongst the Muslims. This could perhaps be explained by
the fact that the national agenda adopted by the BJP-led coalition when it come to power last
time did not include either the re-building of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya or the imposition of
a secular personal law on the Muslims - issues which were otherwise seen as part of the
BJP's commitment to India. In the NDA's manifesto again, there is no indication that the BJP
would resort to the rebuilding of the Ayodhya Mandir or to compelling the Muslims to
abandon their personal law One view is that while the Congress on the whole remains the
'natural party' of the poor sections of the Indian Muslims, it has "clearly lost out among the
young and the educated."
India has nothing to lose, just sitting on the butt
It is deplorable that even responsible Indian
leaders have chosen to remain oblivious of the long-term damage they have caused to
India-Pakistan relations merely for the purpose of scoring debating points in the election
campaign.
Paki Train comes on time,BUT one day late, - the stale paki JOKE
Pakistan Railway will now be able to live
up to that stale joke about a particular train in a Third World country which was always late
and one day was seen to arrive on time. When everyone expressed pleasant surprise at the
event, they were told by the station master that this was yesterday's train!
Pakistan Railways: Who is in charge
Among the reasons recorded for late running are failure of locomotives, a defective signalling
system and, of course, the division of authority resulting from a restructuring of the railway
into three business units. This happened some time ago and has left railway officials in a state
of supreme unconcern with no one knowing who is the local boss. This is one of the methods
that the government keeps on trying in a vain effort to improve the working of departments
and utilities that have gone to the dogs. Makes one wonder why people travel on trains at all
if they want to reach their destinations.
A DOUBLE WHAMMY: God gives bad bargain to Pakis & politicians tell blatant lies
It is the same in our reaction to government itself. Having only heard the expression "good
governance," we just imagine what good governance must be like by reading about advanced
democracies - even countries of the Gulf - and sighing at our fate and at God's frugality in
giving us good leaders. We make the best of a bad bargain, hoping that the next lot will be
more thoughtful about the plight of the common man and the facilities and amenities that he
thinks is his birthright. So we raise loud cheers when they tell blatant lies about their
achievements in contrived rallies.
Bargain with God
These are the types who are always complaining instead of thanking the Lord for not making it
worse, while the majority are trying to make the best of a bad bargain.
Fatalism and self-doubt
Is it really our fate or are we actually incapable of
using our good sense and electing unselfish leaders, and are therefore unfit for democracy?
(This, by the way, is the favourite chant of some of us.) Even this question we are not
equipped to find an answer to, and political analysts in Pakistan and elsewhere are still trying
to figure it out. So, in the end, it is better to blame fate, fortune, kismet, destiny, circumstances
and whatever other word you can think of - even God's will - and go on making the best of a
bad bargain. |
