Published
in The Magazine, Dawn on February 28th, 1999
HE SITS on the park bench, and he tells
his story without bitterness or rancour.
“I’ve worked in a government corporation
for 35 years, and for 20 of them I did nothing except what they told me to do. A
government job really turns a man into a coward, he is afraid to take risks, he
is unable to look at things in a different way, and when the time comes for him
to retire, he’s a vegetable, good for nothing. I was lucky, after my twentieth year
I got a government scholarship and went to Europe for higher studies. And during
those years, I discovered a method to make certain products at a tenth of the price
we were paying the Swiss suppliers.
“At first my superiors were sceptical.
However, they were convinced when I started making the chemicals in the laboratory.
Being government servants, at first they were scared to use the products, but I
managed to persuade them, and before long we had cut our imports by a third. I felt
proud that not even the Japanese had been able to do what I had done! We sent samples
to other countries, and soon we began to get letters asking us if we could supply
them with the chemicals.
“But then, the Swiss suppliers got into
the act. They saw that my invention posed a threat to their virtual monopoly, not
only in Pakistan but in other countries as well. I should have seen it coming, but
I was too overconfident, I didn’t know how easily people can be bought. They bribed
the top brass and got them to sign an agreement making the Swiss company the sole
suppliers of the chemicals to the corporation! I protested that there was no need,
that we were producing the stuff here at a tenth of what they were charging us,
and with a little more investment we could manufacture it in huge quantities for
export to Europe itself. Nothing doing, they said, your technology is crude. It’s
neither dependable nor time tested. Beside’s who’s ever heard of a Pakistani product
being better than a European one?
“I was shattered. I suspected, ofcourse,
that much money had been paid to those in control. If I’d had any doubts, they were
removed when the chairman suddenly began living lavishly, his two sons were sent
to prestigious U.S. universities, and his wife started driving a latest-model car.
What really hurts is that the foreign products are not only very expensive, their
quality is also not as good as the ones we were producing.
“But I do have faith that one day, some
honest God-fearing man will take the corrupt to task. Perhaps the lavish lifestyles
of those who have betrayed the country will attract the attention of those at the
top. Or maybe one of them will be struck by the fear of the Hereafter and tell the
foreigners to get out and save the country billions in foreign exchange. I only
pray that the day will come soon.”
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