Shahbaz Sharif to distribute 100,000 laptops

Well, the Government of Punjab has taken a revolutionary step, as it seems in the first look, for celebration of merit in the province because it has announced to give free laptops to 100,000 students who have scored at least 70% marks in their last semesters of MA, MSc, BS Hons or LLB. Besides, the students of PhD, LLM, MS and M.Phil will get the free laptops regardless of their marks, whereas the top 100 students of every Matriculation and Intermediate board will also get the free laptops in prize from the provincial government. The registration of eligible students for this offer will continue till the 31st December, and the eligible students are being informed to register their names through proper channels before the last date for registration expires.

I highly regard this initiative of government but I have serious concerns over it. Actually, the fault in our system, due to which the democracy failed in Pakistan every time in past, was the lack of wisdom in our politicians and civil society. Our leaders promised to bring revolution and introduce reforms every time they stood in elections, but we did not bother to ask them about their roadmaps to fulfill their promises. If we compare ourselves with the public of world’s leading countries, like UK, USA, Germany and France, the people of these countries always ask about the roadmaps whenever their politicians promise to do something after coming in power.

So I am sure that Mian Shahbaz Sharif, whose photo besides his Facebook and Twitter addresses is being published in advertisments of subjected offer, understands the price of 100,000 laptops. The message which is conveyed in the advertisement is directly giving the sense that only Mian Shahbaz Sharif deserves the whole appreciation for this initiative. Currently there are 33000 Facebook fans of Mian Shahbaz Sharif, if only 100,000 more students become his Facebook fan in the hope of getting free laptops, his Facebook fans’ number will increase to at least four times than present. And if the government changes, as the rumors are circulating in Pakistan, then there is no warranty that the laptops will be delivered to the deserving students, because the fulfillment of promise lies in the continuity of the present punjab administration.

Actually, this is the tragedy of Pakistan that our leaders as well as our people always look for the short-cut way to success. We have never thought about building new technologies in Pakistan, we are the maker of nuclear bombs, tanks and missiles, but we have not been able to build the daily life accessories. These good are produced in other countries and we spend our precious foreign currency reserves to get them. I think if Mian Shahbaz Sharif had spent the money to bring the technology of building up new laptops in Pakistan, instead of purchasing 100,000 new laptops from other countries, then the laptops would have been become cheaper enough to be affordable to the public of Pakistan. We must not forget that Bangladesh has started to produce laptops. And if we still insist on to buy these goods from other countries, then we will do injustice with our coming generations because we will keep them back technologically.

Mian Ammar Mujahid