UNLESS WE BECOME A NEWS

[shahnaz]

There is a saying sufferings of others are good a news unless we ourselves become a news. Its real meaning have dawn on me only now after reading a letter to editor of a sufferer.

I was born in India. I was a one year kid when crossing blood stream my family brought me to Pakistan in refugee camps. In miserable condition my grand parents and parents started life and today with blessing of ALLAH we are from lower middle class. We are like millions other under these financially hard days are settled in Pakistan and we never treat ourselves as “Mohajirs”. My two brothers after graduation since 1985 never got any jobs thanks of political domicile system etc. My grand parents died remembering and wish to see their old houses left behind in India where they were grown up. Like late Moulana Shah Ahmed Noornai I never liked opening of Indian boarders unless solving the real problems though being a real human being I have full sympathies for divided families.

However my thoughts have recently changed reading a letter to editor on the subject “Expensive Medicines”. Karachi’s Raza Ali Doosa wrote that he was prescribed Zelmac which costs Rs. 500/- for 10 tablets He is to use total 180 tables in three months. Since out of his reach he arranged through some friend and bought same medicine with same standard and made of same company at Indian Rs. 58.50 per 10 tables which comes to savings of Pak.Rs. 7956/- for 180 tables.

This has all of a sudden change my mind. Any one including myself can meet the same situation. I wish there is some 24 hours quick and easy India visa where people like Raza Doosa could go morning say fro Lahore to Atari Town in Indian, buy the medicine etc and in few hours come back. Now when both countries have opened their hearts this sketchy idea should be considered.

[Pracs]

Well, its true that the cost of medicines is quite low in India like some other things as well. Then again cost of housing and some other things are quite high in India. It is all about economics, economies of scale and a nation’s expertise in certain goods and services. I think when we compare cost of any thing in India and Pakistan we should see both sides of the coin. With lower costs comes lower level of income, which is very much the case in India when compared to Pakistan. (for the majority of Indians ie.) Let me give you an example of a fresh Chartered Accountant who starts in Pakistan at a minimum of PKR 20,000 (no matter which firm he trained with). In India the minimum a newly qualified Chartered Accountant starts at is IRS 5,000.

Having said that, I maintain that the Government of Pakistan is not doing enough to maintain a control on price of Medicines. We operate in a free market economy but that does not mean that the price of some basic commodity cannot be controlled. It happens all over the world, even in a capitalistic market economy like UK.

Of course soft borders between the two countries will help both the people, it will do wonders for the business and the tourist sector in Pakistan. But this should not be at the cost of our freedom and national integrity.

Lastly I would like to convey my gratitude to people like you and your parents who came to this country as Mohajirs and helped Pakistan in its early days of infancy, without the trained Muslims of the United Provinces we would not have been able to get it through. We also appreciate that when our parents and grand parents had to do all but sleep through the night to wake up in Pakistan, the Muslims of the UP and East Punjab sacrificed their families and made one of the bloodiest migrations in recent history.