Periscope on Pakistan

Stopping women, not in good tasteTHE NATION: After what happened at the residence of Mian Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday, the government needs ...

Stopping women, not in good taste
THE NATION: After what happened at the residence of Mian Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday, the government needs to consider if the treatment being meted out to those members of the Nawaz government and Sharif family against whom no case has been instituted is in accordance with law or is, for that matter, in good taste. The most unbecoming aspect of the matter is the treatment being meted out to the female members of the family. Law enforcing agencies keep a 24-hour watch at their residence, and shadow them wherever they go.

In a recent incident on Sunday, two daughters of the former CM Punjab were stopped by security men at the gate of their Lahore residence. They were ordered to disembark and make the vehicle available for search. When they refused to oblige, they were disallowed to proceed. The police has taken the stand that it had been given strict orders to check every vehicle leaving or entering the premises. One wonders if the instruction has come from above or has been issued by some overzealous official more loyal to the king than the king himself.

Whatever the case, propriety requires that the orders be withdrawn. The ex-PM has accused the government of indulging in a vendetta against his family. If incidents of the sort that happened on Sunday are allowed to continue, these would only lend credence to the charge being levelled.

There is no reason why the residence of persons about whose freedom solemn assurances have been given to the High Court should be surrounded by policemen and they, and their visitors, be subjected to search. Meting out such treatment to women is also against our national traditions.

PIA8217;s not great to fly with anymore
THE NATION: The fall of the Pakistan International Lines PIA, once the pride of the nation, from the towering height of one of the best carriers in the world, to a miserable state of near-insolvency, fits neatly in how the country has been run in its short history. Reports appearing in the Press put its total current cash deficits and financial liabilities, including overdrafts and overdue payments, at a staggering Rs 17.903 billion.

The current unenviable state has its origin well in the past. Political appointments, in utter disregard of administrative and technical logic, ran literally into thousands during Benazir8217;s time. To oblige favourites, five new PIA offices were set up abroad, the officers of which drew fat salaries in foreign exchange while the actual functions continued to be performed by travel agents. But hers were not the only regimes that treated this prestigious organization as a tool of personal and political advancement.

The airline has been subjected to fines for carrying unauthorized passengers as well. When private airlines were introduced in the country, no attempt was made to cut PIA8217;s overhead expenses. What is needed at this juncture is an operation like the one conducted to cleanse WAPDA to make PIA viable again, and worthy of its slogan, quot;Great people to fly withquot;.