Criteria for a Parliamentarian- by Mishel Syyedd
Pakistan, a country always famous for one major concern or the other, is yet surrounded in another show up. This show up occurred late last month when the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the Education Commission to assess the qualifications of almost 1, 170 Federal and Provincial Parliamentarians, scandalized in the outrage of forged degrees. Now, not even a day goes by without one Member of the Parliament or the other being exposed to have lied about his fake degree, or the educational institutions revealing and confirming that the degrees are false.
A standard, educated individual of our country will look at this matter quite skeptically and would not hesitate to comment that all these Parliamentarians who lied about their education should be instantly dismissed from their respective positions and should be defamed to the highest level so that the rest of us become aware of their deception and such actions should be avoided in the future. Most of us hold the view that if there is a set standard for a position in the Parliament, then that should be followed by everyone. In the world of today, education has become a necessity good, without which a nation has no likelihood of long term survival. If our leaders are not educated, how will they understand and convey the value of learning and culture to the rest of the country? This is a standard Pakistani speaking. In addition, being an emotional state, the case of forged degrees has hurt the sentiments of our people and ignited them beyond levels because it is not about being educated or not; it’s about dishonesty and trickery. These Parliamentarians represent our country, our citizens and if they are not true to their country, then what example are they setting for the rest? A Pakistani of this age will talk about changing the system and morality of today for the good of tomorrow.
But, as usual, we are quick in deciding upon the punishments, neither thinking nor caring about the consequences. We are beyond that stage where we can talk about benefits and losses. Today, there is only one option we mostly face; LOSS! And we have to decide that which option will cost us lesser. We have passed that phase where we could talk about advantages and profits. The case of falsified degrees is, without any doubt, a very sad incident which has again lessened our trust in the leadership of this country. But let’s give ourselves a chance and assess this situation in a little different manner. Pakistan is a third world nation, with a literacy rate of around 57 percent, as of the year 2010. We are an agricultural state, and most of us belong to families who are or once have been associated with the landlords. In our country, more than 65 percent of the population lives in the rural areas, where they understand only one language; being subservient to the powerful. They do not care if their leader is educated or not, he should be powerful, respectable and trustworthy. All of us, who talk about an educated leader, should first decide upon the criteria of a lawmaker. Is it education or competence? Should he have various degrees to prove his eligibility or should he be judged upon the work he does for his people? Do we want an educated and sophisticated non performing leader or rather a less educated but a vibrant achiever? If we value education more than proficiency, then, in my opinion, all the PhDs of our country should be picked up immediately and appointed as our lawmakers and leaders.
In my view, basic understanding of values is more important than education. Education does make us a better person but the way one feels for his country, his brethren and the sensitivity one feels is in born. Either you have it or you don’t have it. The parliament we have today represents the majority of Pakistan. I am not in support of the case of forged degrees. That, by no means, can be justified to be a correct action but there should be no degree requirement in the Parliament because this will exclude half of the nation. We cannot afford such a condition because we already suffer from the disease of bureaucracy and such an order will only make things more difficult. In addition, what will be the result if all these alleged Parliaments are held guilty? Re-election? Dismissals? Defamation? And the most important question, is it in the welfare of our country to publicize these aspects in such conditions which our country is facing? Can we afford a mid-term election? These are all the questions that we will hardly think about and will just pass our decision. If we want a better tomorrow, we must amend our actions and approach, not the people.
good 1..
Luw ths diffrnt perspsctve..!! proud ov u mishel=)
Logicaly speaking, and taking into account the literacy rate of our country, it may seem that we should give more importance to the proficiency of our ‘elected’ leaders. Even if I agree that the condition of graduation is not fair ( although I don’t )… if everyone boycotted the election, this condition would eventually had been removed. They chose to get fake degrees just to participate in the election. How can we trust people who would compromise on their principles? Maybe they have no principles, because if they did, they would have boycotted the elections. Do they have basic values? Most of them don’t, we all know this. It is not about education, but can we really afford to have leaders who forge their way into the assembly? We need leaders who don’t compromise on their morals, their principles, their values.
If we keep thinking on the same line as we currently are, i’m afraid this will never end. A person who is proved to be fraud and a liar deserves to be punished. Any law in the world would punish them and forbid them to participate in any elections EVER. But the sad part about this country is that no one really gets punished. We keep thinking that we may destabilize the country. Why are we thinking this way? Because almost all of the politicians will then be punished? Do we really need such politicians? We don’t. We need change. We need to set an example. We need to improve our literacy rate. We need to put our country’s interest before us. None of this is currently happening I’m afraid.
If we want a better tomorrow, we need to change and we need to set an example so that no one even thinks about betraying our nation. It is about time we quit being cowards.
what i think is .. the condition of being a graduate is not fair as we all know the literacy rate in Pakistan is very low. we all know that people with fake degrees should be brought to justice. we know our politicians are the most corrupt people. we have a hope from the judiciary that they will do justice. i guess that is the only hope we have, as we have seen all the politicians bringing a resolution against media in punjab assembly showing that they have a common interest against media, who exposes them. Having said that..the CJ of Pakistan was the one who took oath when Musharaf came in power and made his PCO judges. What made him react against Musharaf in 2007 was his personal interest which made him a hero with the help of PML N, who is always in search of such issues against Musharaf.
Hope??? no sir… we don’t have any hope from these parliamentarians and judges.. its the time for us to take over…we all are common people of Pakistan with common values and norms. WE are the chosen onez..lets rise and bring about change..
Good work Mish. well written and you have proved me to start writing my blogs too 😀
Mishel you have done a brilliant job and highlighted a very important issue and given a fresh and different perspective on it. Moving on I owuld like to make the following points.
How can one totally dismiss politicians who have a fake degree?? Reading this article and the comments that followed I have one question in mind which is, how many graduates in Pakistan today lets say from institutes like LUMS, LSE, IBA etc today want to actually become part of the ‘real’ political arena? I see people talking about how the country needs to change and how we (students) think politicians are just liars and manipulators, and that the country is going for a destructive end but how many of those talkers actually stand up and go into politics and strive to alter the course of the politics of the country? I mention these talkers and these are mostly people with certified HEC degrees saying they are graduates. How are these passive talkers any better then those politicians who lied about their degrees. I believe that the worth of a human being comes not from the educational degree he/she holds but from the work he/she does for the betterment of the people and the nation. In the case of politicians it is important to judge the work they do for us not how many books they have read or how many projects they have done. I know it is easy to say that all politicians are character less liars but we seem to forget to ask ourselves two important things- one, aren’t these politicians from among us so if there is a problem in them it is likely that is a social pandemic among us people and second, what are we doing for this country? I believe that a politicians worth comes not from his’her degrees but it comes from his/ her love for the nation and the drive to help the nation reach the heights it truly deserves.
that is indeed a valid point ….degrees or no degrees…the amount of effort a parliamentarian puts up to strengthen pakistan is the point.which in no way can be replaced by the having a degree to justify the cause..
Thank u all for your wonderful comments and appreciation. I just wanted to bring about other and more positive aspects. Anti government talk is all we hear but how many of us are actually making an effort to bring about a change? It’s high time we stop cribbing about the issues and actually start working to make Pakistan a better place to live in.
nice article but lacking in some aspects.u hav highlighted the problems,the inefficiency,the corruption of the system but u hav failed to come up with a plausible solution. “But, as usual, we are quick in deciding upon the punishments, neither thinking nor caring about the consequences” this should be ammended to “but, as usual we are quick in drawing conclusions, blowing heat,criticising left right n center.wat we need are soultions-workable solutions.lets not forget that we live in a democratic country. for decades democracy has been the symbol of rational working societies. The mandate is GoVT BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE. We vote we elect. but sadly our decisions are mostly misguided and needless to say-downright disasterous!
Considerin the other aspect.Yes we live in a marxist society where the rich n powerful rule the poor n needy. BUt does that mean that we put the poor n uneducated in the Parliament?I beg to differ. “there should be no degree requirement in the Parliament because this will exclude half of the nation.” this certainly would lead in utter chaos! lets take an example of a postman. Uneducated n poor but helping people all the time by delivering letters etc etc. without the degree requiremnt for parliamentarians, he gets in the parliament. Now what?? WHAT GOOD IS HE FOR THE COUNTRY THERE? thus i believe education is an essential requirement. You just cant hav any tom dick n harry into the parliament. The solution here is that the degree requiremnt stay but the Education Commission ensure that no false degrees be admitted.
PS: this comment is not supposed to piss off anybody or rebuke mishelz opinion. We are entitled to our opinions and herez mine. PEACE
I agree with everything you have written ,and since i dont know too much about the politics of pakistan ,i am afraid i cant say too much but it does make sense that we need people with honesty ,dignity,loyalty,,dedication..You my sister did a great job by pointing out some very important things keep up the good work, GOD BLESS
Hi, I really appreciate your effort of trying to propose a positive change, however, I feel that the proposal in the article is far from positive.
Yes, in todays world education is a necessity without which a nation has no likelihood of survival, which is why we cannot and should not ignore the utter importance of education. We all know that Education nurtures and matures the mind and puts one’s potentials to maximum use. Hell, even religion insists on education, then how can we ignore its importance? Its not about education or proficiency, its about education AND proficiency. Its education that polishes one’s skills and abilities. Why have one or the other? Why compromise on education?
Pakistan is a third world nation and has a literacy rate of 57%. Do you think that by having an uneducated leader this percentage is ever going rise? That we’re going to ever stop being a third world nation? What sort of example will this uneducated leader and parliamentarians set? That its okay to be uneducated cuz hay, I’m not educated but I still got the biggest job, to run the country?
The cause of the fact that we are not able to “afford” many things is a different issue, but the solution that the degree requirement be done away with is certainly not plausible. It is only a step backwards rather than a forward change.
Having said that, I am particularly shocked to see that people actually agree with the proposed solution however, as Writer here wrote, an opinion is something that everyone’s entitled to, and this one’s mine. So cheers and no offence.
P.S: Writer, whoever you are, God bless you!