Source: Dawn
OLD men are trapped between a crowded cemetery ahead and a graveyard behind, populated by memories. By the time a man has reached the age of 90, determination has deteriorated into disappointment, reflection deconstructed into regret.
A recent lament by a nonagenarian makes unusually poignant reading: “The whole apparatus of governance — the policymaking and implementation machinery — is simply unable to function seriously. The considerations that go into the decision-making, that shape people’s lives, no longer address the issues involved. It’s all about what’s in it for me clothed in what’s in it for us — our particular caste, religious or regional group. Such inappropriate purposes are accompanied by inappropriate thinking … Worst of all, this is due to sheer ignorance — the inability to understand what really matters.”
He continues forlornly: “Little by little, we end up having people’s representatives with no respect for people, behaving like lords while supposed public servants behave like personal servants, more or less willingly. Not one institution functions as it should, not one instrument of state.”
No, this is not about Pakistan. Although it could well be. It is in fact about India, written by one of its most consummate diplomats K.S. Bajpai. He represented India as its ambassador to our country (twice), to China and to the United States, before retiring as secretary external affairs. He possesses therefore every credential, every qualification to be ignored by the right-wing BJP government.