Articles of the year 2021

Democracy and an incompetent succession of rulers has brought Pakistan to this present sorry state. If a fair assessment is done, the best two leaders were Ayub and General Zia. Both were military dictators but Pakistan progressed more under these two. Bhutto lost half the country deliberately, and the economy went back fifty years under the so-called democrats. Pakistan had one of the top airlines but was destroyed by a Democrat - Nawaz Sharif, who gifted away the most precious asset of any airline - It's routes. Simply put, it allowed foreign carriers to plunder our passenger traffic which is the true asset of a nation.

Airlines pay huge amounts for access to these markets. Nawaz Sharif gave this access for a pittance in the form of a backhander from Dubai. All this is Pakistani traffic generating valuable foreign exchange revenues for Emirates airlines. This is the reason a Pakistani airline can never compete when we have such treacherous (incompetent) leadership that can cause such damage to a country. The ripple effects on skilled labor hotels and tourism aircraft engineering cannot be calculated. This stupidity is beyond punishment. The future of entire families has been destroyed in the name of democracy, do the PML N realize what they have done to the country? These were not democrats, but fascist looters. 77 flights fly from Pakistan to Dubai per week. This is the total traffic generated for passengers from Pakistan to Dubai and beyond.

A huge number of which Pakistan is reaping no benefit and all the revenues are taken by the airlines. All this is Pakistani traffic as these flights are carrying Pakistani origin passengers to destinations in the Arab states and beyond. The plunder of Pakistani traffic is akin to a colonial scourge taking the resources without payment, the arrangement is so lopsided. If the Dubai government points out the opportunities for Pakistani labor, it should be noted that the Pakistani labor is the lowest paid and in the worst living conditions. Pakistan should immediately blockade the Dubai port till our workers get a fair deal. We are in a position where our workers are treated like bonded slaves, even our ministers have 'Slave Visas'.

A truly shameful action. These conditions are similar to those in Africa under Lumumba and IdI Amin, the two most cruel rulers in Africa's history. In the olden days it was the Arab slave traders who were famous for buying and selling African slaves. Here, in Pakistan we have Pakistani Ministers in charge of buying and selling Pakistanis and wearing an “Iqama” collar with pride. Only we have a set of toady rulers, the Pakistani offices of the Ministry of Labor are a shameful example of how the poor overseas worker is squeezed at every step. The exploitation by our officers is truly disgusting yet our rulers turn a blind eye, and in most cases sides with the Arabs.

Our Sharifs and Zardaris have brought this on the people. The slave traders have been here all along, making millions from the slavery of their own citizens. Even our Government department meant to protect the workers 'interest is adding to the workers' burden. This despicable process should be eliminated. Khan should address this issue.