The joint parliamentary party of the ruling MPL-N of the National Assembly and the Senate has voiced its serious concern against party’s decision not to allocate development funds to newly elected MNAs. I oppose the decision by the government, especially at a time when the MNAs have been elected after investing millions in the election. I even witnessed their extreme ‘state of poverty’ when most of them alighted out of their ‘rickety small jalopies’ to take oath it made me feel sorry for these poor people of the country. Grant of development funds soon after the election is their right, as they have exhausted their personal wealth on the elections campaign. The government could withhold the development funds next year. By then, they would have recovered their initial investments a few times over. With such ‘poor’ people elected to the houses of parliament, why did writer Tariq Ali have to write in the London Review of Books, calling Pakistan elections as ‘Filthy Rich Elections’? Living thousands of miles away from my hometown, Lala Musa, I say give them the development funds, the ‘poor’ rich parliamentarians should have some fun as they worked so hard to win the elections! DR A. P. SANGDIL, Norway, June 16.