A Workable
Proposal for Cleaning Pakistan
By Mohammad Ashraf
Chaudhry
Pittsburg, CA
The proposal is simple because it is workable.
It is unique because no head of State as ever
tried it before in Pakistan’s 58-year history.
It is a serious proposal because the future does
not hold very many alternatives.
If Pakistan can’t be cleaned of corruption
- political, social and moral - because its roots
are well-entrenched; Pakistan can be environmentally
cleaned within a few months. The pre-condition
is that it has to start in all honesty, not on
a traffic-week, police-good-behavior week kind
of pattern. Pakistan as an Islamic country has
to have a clean and festive look, not at selective
spots, but in all of its downtowns and in all
of its nooks and corners. Some practical suggestions
for perusal and consideration are detailed below:
Let’s admit first that Pakistan has failed
to emerge as a hygienically clean country, and
this is the direct consequence of the inefficiency
of the city mayors, nazims, councilors and ulemas
and religious leaders. The worst pollution often
can be spotted in front of the House of Allah.
“God loves those who keep themselves pure
and clean”, says the Qur’an, and “Purity
and cleanliness is half of the faith and God is
beautiful and loves beauty” is what the
Holy Prophet (PBUH) has insistently said. Once
we admit that we all have been slack and amiss
in keeping Pakistan environmentally livable, we
can make a belated vow to start the job now.
1. President Musharraf and PM Shaukat Aziz should
immediately earmark close to one billion dollars,
assuming that we have 11 billion, instead of over
12 billion in the Foreign Reserve Bank, in this
behalf.
2. The campaign for cleaning Pakistan should start
on a war-footing serious note and it must involve
all the physically healthy citizens, retired or
working, young or old.
3. Each locality, muhalla, or masjid has its own
geographically demarcated areas, but the campaign
must start not, repeat not with the incumbent
members of a masjid committee, Zakat committee
or with the counselors. It should start by delegating
the responsibility to the most acceptable and
respected person/persons in that area.
4. With schools and colleges closed, all the young
people must be enrolled in the campaign and must
be handsomely compensated for a day’s hard
work, minimum 3,500 rupees per month on a 40-hour
per week schedule.
5. All municipalities/district councils must be
authorized to hire, in real terms, a good number
of people to remove depots of raw-filth within
a specific time; to import garbage-carrying trucks;
to allocate spaces for building dumps and recycling
plants; to repair all leaking water-pipes; drains
etc. All sweepers and other Municipal workers
must be given special incentives, and must be
handsomely paid because money paid to them would
deliver rich dividends, and they deserve to be
paid substantially.
6. Often such campaigns trigger much inconvenience
to the common hard working people. The success
of such a campaign has to come from the non-official
and non-incumbent, self-effacing and God-fearing
people, and there is no dearth of them in each
area. The so-called officials must be kept at
an arm’s length.
7. Each area that presents a respectable standard
of general cleanliness and the people who keep
their streets meticulously clean, must be given
vouchers quarterly, permitting them to buy specific
items of the kitchen, such as flour, ghee, sugar
and lintels from the Utility Stores. Young people
displaying best performance must also be issued
vouchers which can be used in the payment of their
school/college fees, or towards the purchase of
academic books.
The biggest danger involved in this kind of campaign
can be its either getting stereo-typed, or opening
an open-ended and God-sent opportunity for some
to mint money. To overcome this chronic tendency,
the campaign to clean Pakistan, must be made as
scary for such opportunists as possible. It is
always very hard to maintain a good name in the
locality you live by remaining corrupt. The minimum
punishment for such veterans should be a dishonorable
discharge from the service they are in. Most of
them would just stay away and remain contented
with whatever they have.
The campaign should not start with the impossible,
such as air-pollution, but with soil-related pollution.
Smoke-emitting rickshaws and cars must be tackled
systematically because the sole purpose of such
a mission must be hygienic improvement with least
inconvenience to the poor people. This proposal
can put the entire youth of the country, which
is about 28% of the total population to work during
summer, and can provide unlimited benefits to
the general public.
Within a period of six months, all homes, streets,
parks, shops, markets, villages and public places
will attain a commendable, if not a very high
standard of hygiene. The President is aware of
the unavailability of pure, drinking water. He
may not be able to build dams overnight, but he
certainly has the power and resources to make
that little water available run in clean pipes.
He should remember that the onus of responsibility
lies on his shoulders because the Sharia is clear
on this issue: Laa darar wa laa diraar - there
shall be no injury nor perpetuation or reciprocation
of injury, and this applies to land and water
use and to the construction of buildings and walls,
to rubbish disposal and so on. If he and his ministers
and army officers have a right to live in a clean
environment, so have the people of Pakistan. Let’s
start now.
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