Fracas over Farah | PU MBBS exams schedule
It is a minor violation but when it happens to be the daughter of the CJP then enormous responsibility for justice
Jan 22: Twenty or so extra marks granted to Farah Hameed Dogar, daughter of the Chief
Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, caused a furore in the national politics. Law
minister claimed CJP had no role to play in enhancing the marks of his daughter
enable her to secure a seat in the medical college. Apparently it is a minor
violation but when it happens to be the daughter of the CJP - chief adjudicator
- entrusted with enormous responsibility to administer justice, minor violation
snowballs to serious impropriety. It tarnishes the concept of justice meant to
uphold merit and to provide succour to public against injustice. Not that our
judicial history is clean and judiciary aboveboard, it is the timing and
contentious position of the CJP in public eyes that has attracted criticism.
Supremacy of merit is first to suffer in an unjust system. Judiciary destitute
of public trust encourages law of jungle and people begin to take the law in
their own hands to settle their disputes. Powerful and affluent have their way;
the oppressed suffer. It is established with time that two classes exist in the
country, the privileged, and the unprivileged - the rulers and the ruled. It reminds of the French Revolution (1789-1799) when an absolute monarchy with
feudal privileges for aristocracy and clergy underwent major political upheaval
and bloodshed. The deprived decided to avenge their miseries with ferocity.
Juxtapose it to the prevailing situation in our country; relate it to
politicians, judges, bureaucrats and the brass to see its clear manifestation.
The French had enacted rules to bestow state bounties upon the privileged, so we
have shamefacedly done. Disparity between two classes in France was as wide then
as it is now in our land. But there is a difference between the two societies.
Our unprivileged masses have religious faith. They attribute their
deprivation to will of God, to fate, hence they submit to it with humility. Were
they to question, why us? we would have met our 'French Revolution' much
earlier. The time however is nearing because political histrionics cannot dupe
the vast majority for long. First sign of it is disregard for authority and
contempt for the elite, the privileged. The schism between the two is growing
exponentially because the privileged acquire more privileges by devious means at
the cost of the underprivileged. Corruption and nepotism have become the main
tenets of faith of our privileged classes; they amass in abundance for
themselves and they benefit their extended families. Public sneer in a light
vein of a politician entering the Parliament on a scooter and emerging in a Land
Cruiser, followed by his security goons in double cabin, is an appropriate pun.
One such among them salted away fifty thousand pounds to UK for the rainy days.
He still flies high. Is there a precedent in any country where an autocratic decree with a single
stroke of pen exonerates the plunderers of taxpayers' money? The amount swindled
seems to be a leaf out of the Arabian Nights. Not only that, the gaggle goes on
to occupy the top slots in the country. The beneficiaries have acquired the
label of NRO-ed politicians. Enlightened general's government wrote off loans of
about 55 billion borrowed by favourites, while banking courts haul up borrowers
of a few hundred thousands and auction their small possessions to recover bank
loans. Could the NRO survive with an independent and impartial judiciary in
place? Could Mian brothers still be facing frivolous charges in the court while
many sit smug with their plunder? Injustice always is the cause of public
acrimony against the usurpers of its rights. When its cup of patience is full to
brims, it overflows. Mundane issue can trigger a major debacle. Farah might
become a doctor but what kind of messiah would she be? Stigma of nepotism will
follow her medical career. Take the case of civil services, the favourite
preserve of undeserving brats of senior bureaucrats, politicians, and generals.
How the undeserving are favoured in interview by the public service commission,
which carries maximum marks. Cronyism causes an overwhelming sense of
deprivation among the educated and deserving youth having no links at the right
places. It has indeed acquired new dimensions in our society, which is the
reason of our educated youth leaving the country in search of better prospects.
People find no difference between a democratically elected government and
one foisted upon them by a military dictator through his sham elections because
the same group of avaricious men and women invariably emerges on the top. This
group neither tires of nor retires from 'public service' until the Divine Reaper
decides to pick them up. Every emerging intrepid claims to change the system,
the status quo, but at the end it is the same old story of injustice and
deprivation for the downtrodden.
By Iftekhar A. Khan - The writer is a freelance columnist, E-mail: pinecity@gmail.com (The Nation)
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Punjab University announced MBBS Supplementary Examination 2008 schedule
Lahore: The Punjab University Examination Department Wednesday announced the schedule of MBBS
examinations. According to a press release, MBBS, First Professional, Part-I,
Supplementary Examination 2008 will start from Feb 7 while MBBS, First
Professional, Part-II, Supplementary Examination 2008, will commence from Feb 2.
Detailed date sheets will be issued later. The News
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