A Pakistan-born barrister has blasted the top army generals for their swanky lifestyle and the exclusive privileges they enjoy even as the country faces the spectre of collapse. Khalid Umar, a popular British-Pakistani barrister, recently shared a collage of pictures, showing a golf course exclusively for the country's military officers. He said this was one of the 200 military elite exclusive golf courses, each spread over 1900 acre green.
The barrister then said one golf stick costs more than the monthly salary of a labourer. "This is the General's Pakistan on the brink of a formal declaration of default," he wrote on Twitter. Umar echoed the views of most Pakistanis who believe there are two sets of people in the troubled country where one section gets all the privileges while another suffer.
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In Pakistan, the government has fixed the minimum wage at Rs 25,000 per month (Rs 7,352 in Indian rupee) for workers. And the price of a golf kit in the country runs into lakhs.
Responding to the barrister's tweet, former Indian Army Chief Ved Malik said these privileges were one reason among others why the Pakistan army won't let go of their hold on politics and power in the country.
In Pakistan, military officers enjoy a lot of privileges. But the one which irks many in the country is that they get a huge chunk of land once they retire from the service.
Ayesha Siddiqa, a leading defence analyst, in her book - Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy - writes that Pakistan's army possesses 12 per cent of the country's land, out of which two-thirds is owned by senior officers.
In January this year, former finance minister Miftah Ismail suggested that to meet the demands of the IMF, the government would have to raise the minimum wage from Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000.
Just days later, former president Asif Ali Zardari said that minimum wages for labourers and workers should be increased to Rs 35,000. He said reducing the financial burden on the working class was the responsibility of the government and only far-reaching steps could take the common man out of the economic quagmire.
Pakistan is in serious trouble due to low forex reserves, slowing economic growth, high inflation and plunging currency - which is making imports costlier for the cash-strapped nation.
In the recent past, common Pakistanis were seen scrambling for flour packets, in videos that went viral, as the prices shot up and mills shut, causing a shortage. Also, income inequality has come to the fore as the economic crisis has deepened.
While some lost their lives standing in queues for subsidised flour at government shops, others gave a grand welcome to Canadian coffee major Tim Hortons. The outlet reportedly recorded the highest opening day sale ever in the country.
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