Partly Facetious: a hope to be long, remembered

05 Jul, 2005

"Oh, he will be long remembered after he is removed by he who chose him."
"What? Is there another rumour that the Chosen One is going to be fired?"
"Nope, not recently, that is. I was merely referring to his naivety and saying that he will be remembered for it long after he is gone from the political scene."
"Well, if naivety gets you public recognition, foreign trips where you stay in the best places and meet world leaders, then I would rather be naïve than smart if you know what I mean."
"I know what you mean. But this latest really takes the cake."
"OK, I'll bite. What did he say now?"
"The Chosen One said that the government wanted to eliminate the land mafia."
"Well, that's a worthy goal. I mean I know of several cases where the land mafia has taken over. So how does he expect to deal with the situation?"
"The Illegal Disposition Act, 2005 will solve the problem once and for all."
"Ah, if it was so simple then why did all the former governments make us, the poor, suffer so long?"
"And some of these former governments suffered themselves as well. Remember when Sharif Junior Most had to bulldoze illegal possessions when he was in the throes of his road building mania in Lahore! And he was sooo unpopular as a result."
"Yes, anyway the Chosen One says that after the implementation of this law..."
"I wonder how many of our laws actually get implemented. We know the Jirga banning law has never worked, we know that..."
"Hush, listen, to what he says. Any victim of land mafia can apply to a sessions judge directly and the sessions judge would be responsible to conduct the inquiry within 14 days and could issue repossession order."
"Good, so the sessions judge will have greater power."
"And power is inversely related to income."
"Don't be facetious. But what to stop the sessions judge from colluding?"
"Exactly. Anyway the Chosen One also said that the sessions judge would be bound to decide the case of illegal occupation of the land within 60 days. He said the government was determined to provide quick and cheap justice to the people and was taking necessary steps in this regard."
"Very praiseworthy."
"As is everything this government does. But you know they are also computerising the land deeds so the Patwari system would be ended."
"What about the past illegal possessions."
"Don't know."

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