"The Three R's"

Liaquat Bagh, the historical venue set for this Jalsa at Rawalpindi on 27^th May 2012 by Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf marked a new chapter in the city’s political culture. Thousands swarmed on the streets of Rawalpindi to gather at the site, the visual extravaganza was worth watching, experiencing and remembering for a long time. Pindiites proved to the rest of Pakistan that they are politically vibrant, aware and very much in the center of changing the chronicles of governmental influence on this city which stays otherwise quiet compared to Lahore and Karachi.

Formerly known as the Municipal Park in the heart of Rawalpindi this venue went through a name change after the assassination of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951. Later Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto (an ex-Prime Minster then) too was assassinated on the same ground. Thus the repute of this place has had a political significance as well as that of a “bloody” ground. A place that took away: Two Pakistani Heads of State were lost in the name of extremism.

With thousands swarming the venue and outside on the streets that day the mood was jubilant, vividly marking a victory over the otherwise thought of “HUB” of PML(n) league. This was the first time such a humongous gathering had taken place other than the PML(n). Major seats for National and Provincial Assembly in the past have been secured by the N league from this area. It was a total white-wash day for PML (n) which should now think of serious pragmatic strategy to win the lost hearts of Rawalpindi.
With elaborate speeches from the Rawalpindi District PTI members to top leadership the emphasis was laid down upon a complete rejection by the participants of the venue on corruption by the ruling parties, they were one voice on the agenda to finish off nepotism, unemployment, price hikes, load-shedding, misuse of public funds by stake holders and stood united on all to fetch a change on this.
The budget speech that was delivered days later by Mr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the federal finance minister of the ruling party PPP, further justified the presence of thousands on the streets when PTI held its Jalsa in Rawalpindi. With no relief to the masses (as expected) the fifth budget of this Government has proved again to be “personal friendly” to those in power and “less friendly” for the people of this country, of whom pay through their sweat and blood for all those perks and benefits the Government enjoys. Therefore, proving the point that PTI, the third major party of this country at the moment was rational in all its demands it made on the Jalsa day, before that and after that.

The post budget press conference by Khan sb in Islamabad reflected that the parties of status-quo will never let each other down in maintaining power, neither the opposition of today that has friendly alliance with PPP will ever step down nor will they bring any valid improvement in the condition of the country and its people. The price hikes in daily commodities and worsening economy of the country is a clear cut indication of mismanagement in Governance and administration by the Government. Chairman PTI stressed that once in power he will reduce the spending of Armed forces and the rest of the institutions. He rejected the possibility of any alliance with PPP or PML (n) since he pointed out that if the two were sincere to the country, they would bring back all that money that is being kept off shore for the welfare of Pakistani nation. He said that according to a survey conducted by Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), in the last four years; about 2.8 million air conditioners were bought, while bills for only 185,000 were being paid.

Figures presented in the fiscal budget 2012-2013, revealed an extortionate addition of funds to maintain the President house, the PM secretariat, the upper and lower house of Parliament. The huge abode of President Zardari has been allocated Rs.617 million this budget year, an increase of 27.8% as compared to the previous figure of Rs. 483 Million. The PM Secretariat this year was allocated Rs. 702.83 Million, an increase of 28% this year compared to Rs. 546.58 Million. Salaries of government employees have also been increased by 20%. The Prime Minister House will be converted into an institute for advanced studies and the prime minister will live in a small house (hard to believe!).

“For the progress and development of solar tube-wells, subsidy will be given to them, so that the energy crisis can be curbed… No matter how much money is needed to curb the energy crisis, we will provide it,” said finance minister. An allocation of: Rs.183 billion to deal with the energy crisis. APP reported that the government had apportioned Rs.22, 877 million for 37 development projects of the Pakistan Railways in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2012-13. “All items which have a GST tax of more than 16%, efforts are being done to bring their tax down to 16%.” Rs. 70 billion for BISP (Benazir Income Support Program) and Only Rs.47.8 billion allocated for education. According to the budget, the government will open up to 2,000 new utility stores, in an effort to provide relief to around 300,000 families.

 “The government made a sacrifice of Rs70 billion to relieve people from the rising petroleum prices,” Shaikh points out.

It must be understood clearly that an eye wash for Pakistani’s today of any sort in the 21^st century cannot work for the rulers of this country. People of this country are very much aware of what is being done for them; they are in dire need of reforms, relief & recovery from the perk enjoyers. Unless there is a solid thing done for the masses, people will keep supporting and joining PTI which has covered all the three R’s mentioned above. Instead of ridiculing this party, the Succession of Inheritance bunch parties should understand the new dynamics of getting people’s confidence otherwise they should say goodbye to their beloved perks and privileges and head home!

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  The above article has been published on the following links::

 http://www.siasat.pk/forum/showthread.php?115664-quot-The-Three-R-s-quot-by-Ayesha-Zee-Khan-The-Saarc-Literary-award-2012-Winner
                                                              
http://www.islamabadtimesonline.com/the-three-rs/

http://dailyausaf.com/epaper/2012/06/07/page/15/

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=159770