I frequently travel from Islamabad to southern Punjab or vice versa. The journey is very pleasant at the beginning i.e. motorway. However, the descending road symbolizes the descending development and government’s priorities. Islamabad is a very well organized and developed region and it should be because it’s capital. Lahore, being the capital city of Punjab has always been the nucleus of development by the government. The thing to ponder upon is that is the development of one city adequate for the entire province?
There are approximately 20 universities in Lahore. The children of southern Punjab are compelled to get enrolled in these universities in order to meet the raising standards of education. Tuition fees of these universities are very high and are not affordable for most of the people especially middle class. Middle class is the rank that suffers most within the capitalist society. People belonging to this category are very hard working and try to seek quality education to live a facilitated life.
However, this injustice of educational standards disable them to do so. Very few of them manage to get their children enrolled in universities of Lahore or Islamabad. It’s very hard for families to pay tuition fees and hostel fees. Moreover, government doesn’t provide any scholarships for children whose parents are not government servants. Most of the scholarships are for those who are already well-off and their parents are doing government jobs.
Secondly, the roads within these far-flung cities are in pathetic conditions. No positive initiative is being taken by government to improve their condition. In Lahore, the metro bus project has facilitated the people of that city. However, what about people of other cities? Metro bus was not the need of nation. We are living in a country where there is no guarantee of life. We need peace, shelter, food, healthcare and education. Metro type of projects should lie way back in the priorities list.
We need to keep our priorities straight. Currently, the middle and lower class is constantly being deprived of their needs and are pushed against the wall. The increasing taxes are killing people economically. People are compelled to adopt wrong means of earning.
A sane approach would be to equally develop each region. The difference between classes, cast, languages and regional identity should be abolished. Pakistan is a democratic country, it is not owned by one or two families, or one or two cities. Everybody is born free and should have the liberty of pursuing standard lifestyle. The silence of nation can lead to disastrous conditions. Speak up for your rights!