It amuses me to see every other person condemning Imran Khans call for civil disobedience portraying it as a call for civil war or anarchy aimed at derailing democracy (like seriously??) Do we have any idea how many people actually pay taxes or utility bills in this land of 180 million people? statistics will shock you! No wonder Mr Cowasjee used to call them all chor and daku! Do these political leaders (of some fame as well the irrelevant ones), parliamentarians, civil and military bureaucracy (all two star plus), judiciary, religious scholars and seminary heads, tribal and feudal lords, businessmen and industrialists etc pay their taxes and bills honestly to the last decimal point? And I am not referring to at source deduction on the monthly salary they may be drawing which serves only to feed their dogs. Where were all the champions of democracy then and why did they not scream patriotism at this blatant loot and open tax evasion? This disobedience is not a new phenomenon. Its been going on for decades! Civil disobedience in the form of non-payment of taxes and bills as announced by Imran Khan is just a political ploy. Perhaps he himself does not know how implementable this is. It sure does not have any significant practical implications in a country where parallel economy rules and the many loopholes in the system actually facilitate tax evasion and corruption of unlimited variations. If there is real need for any civil disobedience in the country, it is against all discriminatory laws that are used to persecute the poor and the helpless and the system that favours powerful and resourceful only. Why not stand up and protest against all those laws that have long helped usurp human rights providing legal cover to perpetrators of hate and faith based crimes? Why not reject a constitution that uses faith to discriminate against different communities? That, in my opinion, would be a meaningful and impactful disobedience. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. Disclaimer: Im not a PTI supporter. In my opinion more than his impractical call for disobedience which has attracted criticism for wrong reasons, it is his underlying threat of scenario after his deadline is up that actually needs to be addressed!
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 22:17:46 +0000
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