30 Days & Growing Strong

14^th September marks one month of Dharna or Sit-in of Azadi March PTI. Majority people in Pakistan had a view that PTI supporters would be unable to withstand the harsh realities that they were up against. Many called these supporters “the confused lot” “the disillusioned” “the burger crowd” “the mummy daddy kids” etc. Whatever phrases were coined for these people who belong mainly to the female gender, house wives, students, trained professionals, media personalities, writers, poets, taxi drivers to lawyers, laborers to IT Experts, Engineers to daily wage earners all have proved their critics wrong. They were mocked that they only attend the Jalsa in the evening, the mockers forget professionals would usually return after 5pm to D-Chowk because the working class would contribute to their jobs and society during the day and in the evening protest against the dualities of this Govt. They stood firm in hot humid weather, thunder and rain, tear gas shelling and live bullets, they have shown they will change the course of History for their coming generation.

So what is it that made them withstand?
The message of Imran Khan was clear for them, it made sense to what he said, and his talk of reconstruction, reorganization and reform the corrupted system was the most pragmatic solution they had ever heard. While they had seen and lived the life around corrupted adulterated system of Pakistan, a man who talked of reviving the rotten system felt like a breath of fresh air. A dream every Pakistani has whether he/she lives inland or abroad. Khans words are engraved in the hearts & minds of people, they have literally memorized their constitutional rights that have been repeated by Khan through his speeches in the last 29 days. This one NATION day call by Imran Khan was taken very seriously by those who know they will bring a change.Why are people chanting Go Nawaz Go?

Distribution of Wealth in Pakistan is highly uneven, with the top 10% of the population earning 27.6% and the bottom 10% earning only 4.1% of the income. If one observes this society closely one will notice that Pakistan comprises of three worlds that live within its borders. On the top is the Elite class which is world one of this country. They enjoy the perks of being in power, affluent in resources they often spend their summer vacations abroad, their relatives are mostly in top positions who lend favors at the drop of the hat. For this class breaking the law of the land is no big deal because they do not come into the net of law ever.

Having influential’s to save their backs this class is seen as the most corrupt, law breakers and tax evaders. Landlords enjoy great political power in Pakistan and always clinch the top political positions;
the elite classes have virtually taken over every aspect of life and have left no breathing space for the public. Even the media, which can prove to be a source of activism and hope for the people, is hostage to brutally rich landlords, corrupt industrialists, so-called activists (themselves belonging to strong political or industrialist families), champions of human rights (themselves biggest violators of human rights) and so-called young revolutionaries (coming from elite classes with Ivy League education; common Pakistanis, on the other hand, cannot afford to pay even a couple of hundred rupees to get enlisted in a government school). They exploit common people on one hand and make lame claims about the sufferings of the downtrodden on local & international media. Pakistan’s non-taxpaying elite have disengaged themselves from their need for the state, and are no longer dependent on state resources. The elite have their own schools, hospitals, generators and security. Why should they pay taxes voluntarily to a government whose resources they don’t use?
They earn from Pakistan from which ever means, make properties abroad,  have Swiss accounts, and when they see the noose of law getting tighter they take a flight out of Pakistan anytime.

These elite will not voluntarily contribute to public revenue, although given the extent of tax evasion; they need to do so far more than anyone else. The only way one can expect Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio to improve, is through the concerted and collective political action of those who are vested in Pakistan and they are the middle class people who use the services and are dependent on the resources of Pakistan.

World two is where the middle class (this comprises of upper, and lower) of Pakistan lives, these people are mostly working professionals, or middle cadre entrepreneurs, middle order agriculturists, they abide by the law of the land, pay taxes regularly and are most connected to the country, its politics, its well-being and its stability. This class has given the best of sportsmen, scientists, writers, poets, thinkers, soldiers, artists, media people, Engineers, doctors you name it. These salaried people of Pakistan are most patriotic and engraved with the philosophy of this country. The only way one can expect Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio to improve, is through the concerted and collective political action of those who are vested in Pakistan and they are the middle class people who use the services and are dependent on the resources of Pakistan. It is the working people of Pakistan, as well as the middle classes, who have to gain political power to force the non-taxpaying elite to do so.

Then there are those have-nots or the third world within Pakistan who live below the usual standards of world poverty. Those who have no access to drinking clean water, no education, no health facilities, no equal rights, no equal opportunities who survive on merely one or two meals a day. According to the Human Development Index (HDI) 60.3% of Pakistan's population lives on under $2 a day, compared to 79% in nearby India and 81.3% in nearby Bangladesh, the lowest rate in South Asia after Sri Lanka and some 28.6% live under $1 a day, compared to 24.9% in India and 49.6% in Bangladesh.


Common Pakistanis have a simple question for this elite:: 

What is the moral standing of these rich classes? If they are so sympathetic to the cause of the poor, why don't they distribute their huge fortunes among the public; this can at least help in the social uplift of some people of society. 

There is immense shortage & high expense of food in Pakistan. The reason for this shortage of food: immense hoarding methods employed by industrialists and food processing industry in connivance with the government.

A common Pakistani is fed up of religious extremism, exploitation by the rich classes; a commoner wants relief, the current floods have shown the Govt. did nothing to improve the infrastructure & machinery of the local authorities, which is now brewing up in the hearts of common people, this is the reason which has kept the crowds at the D-Chowk, this is the reason PM and CM of Punjab were chanted on GoNawazGo on their recent visits of flood affected areas, this is a lava building up, it is sort of a volcano that is about to explode anytime which unfortunately the Government is totally oblivious of.