Order and Anarchy

I just tried accessing some blogs on Blogger, but couldn’t access them. I thought that there was some problem with my internet connection. Subsequently, I tried Anonymizer and suddenly I became able to access blogs hosted on Blogger. So it proves one point: the Pakistani authorities must be having some objectives other than blocking access to websites that have shown the blasphemous cartoons.

First of all, it is purely illogical to block the flow of information, but if you really want to do it and be the “saviour” of public “sensitivities” and stuff like that, the effort should be specifically targeted and should not bring everything in the net, whether related or not.

By blocking such access, the establishment is generating more of an ill – will towards itself as the move is being perceived as seeking to block other sites also.

Well, I see it that way – a move towards restraining the much used and abused civil liberties.

Dawn reports Gen. Musharraf as saying that government writ must be established. This was with regard to development projects in the tribal areas of Pakistan. This is an extreme of double standards. These hypocrites indulge in such sweetspeak whenever it suits them. This guy is willing to take any trouble to trouble the lives of the people living in the tribal areas. He is addressing meetings, getting reports and doing all sorts of other things towards this purpose.

However, when it comes to issues that go on to ease the lives of common citizens of Pakistan, this same administration seems to be handcuffed. Precisely this is what happened when it came to the National Accounting Bureau (NAB) investigating the current scam of sugar supply and its prices in the country.

Earlier this week, NAB announced that it was stopping further investigations into the current state of affairs of sugar prices, which have gone sky – high recently. The reason? A NAB spokesperson said that the Bureau did not wanted to be associated with further price hikes. And why are they afraid that they’ll get associated with further price hikes if they continue their investigations? Only because sugar mill owners threatened of it.

What happened to the tooth of the institution, which has no problem in raiding homes in the darkest hour of night, in this case?

They must have known that these notorious sugar mill owners are the power brokers in the corridors of power of this Islamic Republic of Pakistan. So a defeat in front of power and wealth.

This is not the only case. There have been many instances when the powerless have taken sufferring at the hands of the powerful and there hasn’t been any supportive response from the public offices that exist just to check this menace.

Another prime example is the stock market crash of last March. within a couple of days, billions of rupees were wiped out from the share market and thousands of people were left in the lurch when big, fat and wealthy stock brokers made millions and millions. Agreed that a committe was formed to investigate into the dynamics of that nightmare of the common investor, but nothing tangible came out of it. Atleast the common investor, who was robbed of his hard earned money so easily, never saw a brokerage to be shut down or any penalty/punishment being levied on any of the robbers.

The State has started now to look like a perfect capitalist beast, which even capitalism in its entirety would be afraid of. It now feels that the government is not there for the common citizens of this country, but instead for big business, wealth and power.