This week, as flood waters ravage Pakistan's land and 20 million of its people, and after Pakistan's own president, Asif Ali Zardari, managed to muster only $58,000 of his own vast wealth to the flood relief (a donation nearly doubled by Angelina Jolie), yet another devastating blow has hit Pakistan: news that the government has now approved an $11-million statue of the President's assassinated wife, Benazir Bhutto.
And yes, this is Pakistani taxpayer money.
The statue itself will cost 4.7 million dollars, and it will be built on land that is worth another 5.9 million dollars. Apparently, Mr. Zardari, whose personal wealth is estimated to be more than 1 billion dollars, just couldn't afford to donate the land or the statue in honor of the mother of his children.
His government decided the people of Pakistan could afford it, though. People who, according to the World Bank, have an average per capita income of $870 annually.
Admirably, the people of Pakistan have taken it upon themselves to try and stop this misguided use of funds in the midst of a national disaster. A legal action failed, but now a petition is available online.
Another day, another battle in the Pakistani people's war for a representative government.
Follow Shirin Sadeghi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ShirinSadeghi
even if the basturd was paying for it himself, the woman does not deserve a memorial. i know its ill to speak of the dead, but this is the same woman who helped zardari swindle pakistan's poor and used the money to buy surrey palace in england and chateaus in france. zardari had her own brother killed in cold blood and she helped him cover it up. even her neice speaks openly about that fact.
$58,000 go towards feeding the poor and 11 million towards the monument of a con artist.
i wish the terrorists would get zardari instead of random innocent people. pakistan is literally ruled by the biggest don in the country. even corleone had rules. zardari is just a greedy basturd with a bad veneer job.
and meanwhile yousaf raza gillani continues to shop while the minor politicians kissing his butt pick up the tab. in pakistan, you have minor politicians buying million dollar designer furniture (in a store located across the slums).
this is why when the french revolution came, they killed anyone with soft hands.
And now to read this? On a statue? An insult to every Pakistani and everyone wanting to help Pakistan.
If someone is so concerned about honouring memory of a PM why not her uber-rich family set a precedent by paying from their own pockets for once?
See how pointless my post was?
If there were functional courts in Pakistan, corrupt people like Zardari would never have been the president.
How about the Pakistanis do something for themselves, and stand up to the government that they voted in. Choose leaders more wisely in the future. US taxpayer dollars are being given through goodwill, if the people hate the US for failings of their own governement, the people are stupid. How about this; how about the US gives no money, would that make them love the US more? Don't blame others for the faults of your own government, nobody can be blamed but them.
I am not stupid enough to blame others for the faults of my own government, but I am definitely going to point out the enablers that fund, prop up and then provide political asylum to the people that have robbed my country blind.
At the same time, it's demographically a very young country, with more than 50% of the population under 25 years old. Like any young people, they want to have hope and a shot at shaping their own destiny. There probably has never been a better time to show international support for Pakistan's recovery and continued progress toward democracy.
I wonder how much attention would be paid to the monument without the current natural disasters and geo-political conflicts.