So far our national constitution has undergone as many as 18 surgical operations. Unfortunately, all these operations have failed to cure our national diseases. How cruelly stubborn our national diseases are They must be laughing at our amendment-surgery. But we are not dismayed. Some politicians have declared their determination to perform a 19th operation. Is there any probability of a success? Our history says: Not at all. But we hate to learn from our mistakes. We enjoy our mistakes. Let a 19th operation be performed. Like its predecessors it would be an utter futility. But we wouldnt be discouraged. We would have a 20th operation. The 20th operation would follow in the footsteps of its predecessor. But we wouldnt be discouraged. We would perform a 21st operation. The 21st operation would share the destiny of its predecessor. But we wouldnt be discouraged. Our operational therapy would keep going on and on. We desperately need a politico-economic revolution. We cannot bring about such a revolution through constitutional amendments. But there is a remedy. The politicians should abandon making constitutional amendments. They can easily bring about a revolution by amending themselves. But would they amend themselves? Lets not ask silly questions. It is absolutely irrelevant where power lies. Let it lie with the president or Parliament. What is of vital significance is the fact what the power-holder does with the power. Only the masses can decide whether the power has been used in the national interest or in the interest of the power-holder. To know the reality, a referendum should be held each year. If the referendum declared that the power was misused then the power-holder should be stripped of the power as a punishment. But can 'power (if misused) be punished in Pakistan? Power must be laughing up her sleeve There are various brands of democracy. There are certain democracies under which the masses rule the rulers. Such democracies seldom need constitutional amendments. Such democracies are operational in the advanced countries. There are certain democracies under which the democratically elected rulers keep sucking the blood of their electors i.e. the masses. Ironically, the blood-suckers are innocent. It is the masses who voluntarily offer their blood to be sucked. Imagine rats voting cats into power. When in a backward country a new government is elected, it announces a long list of priorities for the welfare of the masses. The masses are excited. Actually, then priorities are not meant to be implemented. They are mere political hypocrisies. The masses come to know of the reality when the governments tenure expires. They find themselves far worse than ever before. Actually, the government has only one priority. But this priority is kept secret. Under this priority, the government collects as many financial benefits for itself as it possibly can. The priorities promised to the masses go down the drain. Our political elections are phenomenally expensive affairs. The federal and provincial elections are held on a regular basis. They cost us riverfuls of money. Nothing is left for the masses. The expenses create riverfuls of poverty for the masses. If we were to abolish the elections and the money thus saved spent on alleviating the poverty of the masses, the masses would overnight become reasonably well off. But we believe that the masses are a horrific superfluity. They are national rubbish. They must be dust binned. In an advanced country, the bulk of the countrys wealth is owned by the industrialists. On the contrary, in a backward country the bulk of the countrys wealth is owned by the politicians. If you happen to visit a backward country and you are introduced to a millionaire, never ask him anything about his profession. You just take it for granted that he must be a politician. Under almost every government, the masses have complained of their extreme economic misery. Almost every government has defended itself by asserting that the poverty is a creation of the countrys limited resources. But the masses ask the rulers: Why are the resources unlimited for the rulers? The rulers hit back: Ask the resources. No doubt, a backward country is Aladdins cave for the non-masses and an economic grave for the masses. The writer is an academic.