When no govt is no good

Historically, the people formed the institution of government when they felt the requirement of a central controlling authority to provide security, food and other civic facilities. In Pakistan, though, people have stopped trusting government and are now moving towards self-reliance for their food, security, health, education etc. Everyday we read in newspapers or see on television instances of vigilante justice in which citizens of Karachi and Lahore catch the robbers themselves and punish them on the spot, indeed burn them publicly.

In NWFP armed lashkars are being formed by the villagers to safeguard their villages and counter the security threat of Taliban. Citizens all over Pakistan have installed their own generators, or UPSs, to provide themselves with electricity as the government cannot provide it. Pakistan is fast going back to being a pre-historic society with no government. -SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER, Peshawar, via e-mail, October 27.