Whether it is with regard to government policy or judgments of the superior judiciary, non-implementation by civil administration of the above has been the menacing culture of the country: A host of problems owe their births to this unhealthy practice.

The recent example of this malpractice is that outgoing prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, also known as �Raja Rental� for trying to install rental powers plants during his tenure as the minister for water and power that would have caused huge losses to the national exchequer. , Raja is accused of sanctioning 200 more CNG stations on his last working day on March 13, 2013; although, the Supreme Court had ordered against new CNG stations. The SC�s suo moto took notice of the development and fixed the hearing on April 16. The court was informed that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority had, despite the outgoing prime minister�s instructions, refused to grant licenses to 200 CNG stations, as not up to the needed criteria. At the same time, the Federal Investigating Agency submitted a list of applications for the grant of CNG station licenses during the whole tenure of the Pakistan People�s Party-led government since 2008. The FIA record says that the OGRA received more than 7,000 applications of which1,541 applications were approved. The FIA submitted the detail of 1,508 cases with a commitment that the record of the remaining cases would be submitted during the hearing of the case. The SC also directed secretary ministry of petroleum and natural resources to probe the matter of letter of credits relating to import of cylinders and CNG kits during ban on the CNG station licenses with the assistance of the Federal Board of Revenue. He was asked to submit the report in this regard .It also observed that the court would examine the change of sites of several CNG stations. However, the anomaly remain that it was the Musharraf regime that sanctioned thousands of new such filling stations despite the fact that gas reserves were depleting and the decision was to effected adversely gas supplies to domestic consumers and power stations.

The same Raja Pervez Ashraf has now been allowed to contest the National Assembly constituency in Gujar Khan. Does it not give the message that the returning officer and the election tribunal had wrongly rejected his nomination papers and the allegations were not true? This has put a big question mark on the entire scrutiny process. There are other examples of the same nature and this raises a question as if assemblies coming after the May 11 parliamentary polls will be infested with the same lot of lawmakers who pay no taxes. A report in December last year, , titled �Representation without Taxation�, said that more than 70 per cent of Pakistan�s MNAs, MPAs and senators and a majority of top political leadership pay no or little taxes. Are we preparing the stage for the same rotten elements whose elimination was required by implementing articles 62 and 63 of the constitution? Are we any near the goal of assemblies housed with representatives of the middleclass people or, are we drifting further away from the cherished destination?
After the outgoing assemblies were, for the first time, allowed to complete their constitution tenure of five years, a hope had kindled in the heart of Pakistanis that democracy had come to stay. The process, however, now in progress hardly gives the hope that this objective can be achieved. What is now seen is that feudal, big industry and commercial interests are poised to once again consolidate their power to perpetrate their ruthless rule over more than 180 million people, 30 per cent of whom are living below the poverty line - abject poverty? Does the situation even give a semblance of hope for a democracy which empowers the people? Another problem concerns the mounting terrorism which has targeted parties and candidates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and to a lesser degree in other parts of the country. The spate of planted bomb explosions and suicide bombs attacks has already turned the period leading to May 11 elections, the bloodiest in the country�s history. The fear of militancy rules over whatever electioneering is going on in Pakistan to a degree that security of candidates and workers of political parties has emerged as a major issue. There are fervent calls for the deployment of armed forces but the army too, has its limitations and more so when it is already engaged in the tribal areas and elsewhere in Pakistan. The entire political and election scenario is fraught with dangers. The elite and the ordinary people are confused as to the direction of events.

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