By: Shahzada Ahsan Ashraf
Whether anyone admits it or not, the biggest liar, the biggest thief, and the biggest hypocrite in this country is the common man. This common man, whose plural is the public, is extremely lazy and dishonest.
This common man is neither in politics nor in the establishment… he is neither a bureaucrat nor a general… yet his nature is no less than that of a Pharaoh. He is the biggest enemy of other common people like himself.
If this common man is a shopkeeper, he puts up a sign saying, “Goods once sold will not be returned.” He doesn’t speak politely to ordinary customers. If the customer appears affluent, he tries to overcharge them.
If he sells fruit, he knowingly packs the rotten ones in the bag but charges the price of good fruit.
If he rides a motorcycle, he becomes a rocket launcher. If he drives a chinchi rickshaw, he becomes a curse upon pedestrians and traffic.
If he drives a tractor-trolley or dumper, he becomes the angel of death.
If he sits in a government office as a clerk, he hisses like a snake and stings like a scorpion. When he leaves the office for prayers, he either doesn’t return or comes back very late, and the ordinary petitioner goes back disappointed after long waits.
This common man throws his garbage in the street.
When he is out of the house, other people’s daughters and daughters-in-law are not safe from him.
If he works in the electricity or gas department, he doesn’t provide household connections without bribes.
If he works as a domestic servant in someone’s home, he is not loyal to his employer.
This common man chases after so-called saints, fakirs, and clerics but does not value the parents sitting at home.
It is this common man who has spoiled the habits of the country’s so-called politicians. He proudly displays their and their children’s pictures and unnecessarily flatters and slavishly follows them. He lays out rugs at their rallies, chants slogans, and runs behind their cars like a dog. He fights with his friends in support of them, breaks relationships, but never questions his leader.
This common man misbehaves with those who speak sensibly and calls them traitors, while declaring those who sell lies and deceit as his saviors.
The day this common man reforms, everything up to the corridors of power will be set right.
Because 95% of the people in this country do not pray. They do not fear their Lord—meaning they are not even sincere to their real Master. That is why this common man is humiliated, because Allah has decreed that the people will have rulers like themselves.
Until this nation reconnects with Allah, every common man in this country will continue to be disgraced and dishonored. And believe me, the most hypocritical, ill-mannered, uncivilized, and ignorant common man in the world is found only in Pakistan.
May Allah guide all ignorant common men to become true human beings.
Ameen, Ya Rabb al-Alameen
(The writer is a Former Chairman and Managing Director PIA, Former Federal Minister of industries and production)
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