I know a secret: The ways of the VVIPs

Here's something you didn't know about security protocols and unspecified extensions.

Khadim Hussain January 01, 2011


Residents of Streets 15 and 16 of DHA Lahore’s Y Block have had a rough ride ever since a string of houses, belonging to a VVIP family, started springing up with the return of democratic rule in Pakistan.

It gets worse every Saturday and Sunday, when the boss arrives from Isloo.

The residents of DHA Phase1-3 are not the only ones who have to put up to road closures and police pickets, the police also are heard complaining.

Protocol requirements have become an addiction even for family members, who may not even be recognised, if they were seen driving around. Policemen say while the walls of these private houses have been fortified at state expense, there seem to be no funds available to provide sheds for the police guarding them around the clock. The guards are thus left shivering in the open in cold. At night, the only remedy available to the police guards is to chop off tree branches and light small fires.

One wonders how these guards could provide efficient service under such conditions. Even the children of these VVIPs demand a police escort of no less than four vehicles and a motorbike rider.

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There is a Yellow Pages business directory and then there is a Directory of Pakistan’s Abusive Elite, which includes people as diverse as khakis and civil bureaucrats, prominent jurists, politicians and relatives of past, present and sitting legislators. This directory is not accessible to the general public, but is for exclusive viewing of all beneficiaries. I

It is a list of lucky few, some of whom were allotted the LPG quota, who reap a bonanza every year, enough to keep their kitchens running, buy the latest SUVs, party all year around, become members of exclusive clubs, and make few foreign visits every year to get refreshed and stack their walk-in closets. LPG is used by the most deprived sections of our population, who do not have access to gas pipeline gas. The LPG prices have gone up by almost 200 per cent in the last three years. So have the earnings of those who have a quota. Is this by fate or by design?

The recent Supreme Court judgment putting an end to Ali Raza’s many extensions as NBP president has caused sleepless nights to many. One such individual is the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines managing director, who having formally retired somewhere in 2001-2002 is now on his sixth extension. While gas supply to the northern regions is far from satisfactory, the MD is on yet another extension, with an unspecified tenure. Some in the SNGPL think that the gas fields may dry up but this member of the Kashmiri clan will continue occupying the post till either nature intervenes or a suo mottu notice is taken by you know who.

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Elections were held for the Committee of Management on December 30, 2010 at two clubs in Lahore. One is located on the Upper Mall and the other in the GOR. The club in GOR has a permanent membership of 300 members with an average age of over 72 years, who take pride in the fact that their forefathers were loyal servants of the British Raj.

Some of them have still not reconciled to the ground reality that the sun has set on the British Empire.

A senior member of the club on Upper Mall, who was roughed up by a jiyala, got elected at the club in GOR. The club on Upper Mall with a hung committee has elected a jiyala, who refuses to accommodate the COM members, elected from the opposing panel. The club has appointed a new secretary without formal approval of the COM, since no proper meeting has been held so far. The political climate is taking its toll on clubs, which were once called gentleman’s club.

WRITTEN BY:
Khadim Hussain A Lahore based columnist for The Express Tribune who contributes to Five Rivers Running.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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