Practical politicians

This refers to Zahid Ali Khan’s letter ‘The right way ahead’ (July 4). The writer says: “Nobody can believe the PTI stance that it believes in dialogue because they carried out a dharna for 126 days – a futile effort – wasting the time and resources of the state, ransacking state institutions etc.”

It is unfortunate that our politicians make statements and slogans to fool the masses. Bhutto used his famous slogan ‘Roti, kapra, makaan’ to get power. The simple people of this country believed Bhutto would give them roti, kapra and makaan. One can safely say that Bhutto promised people what he knew was not possible. And, to add insult to injury, he nationalised banks, factories and industries. Today the government is forced to subsidise these loss-making enterprises. If Bhutto had allowed private ownership to continue, with a few corrections so that labour got a fair deal, today many more labourers would have been employed. So the advice for all politicians, especially Imran Khan, is not to make matters worse than they already are and not promise what is not possible and practical.

Syed Hussein El-Edroos

Islamabad