This is with reference to the reported decision by Pakistan Railways to suspend the operation of over 16 trains plying on various routes of remote areas where there is no reliable and affordable mode of transport available to the poor. It is a sad reminder of the state of poor governance we have and the skewered priorities of those in government. Railways would have been able to sustain itself had its vast and valuable real estate not been plundered by the Musharraf junta so mercilessly. It was during Musharraf's tenure that a retired General, Javed Ashraf Qazi, ravaged the Railways as its minister incharge. He gave away the prime Railways property in Lahore for peanuts to a private party for commercial use and then followed it up by similar dole-outs of several hundred acres of land to a business house. This retired General was also responsible for procurement of locomotives from China that were not even compatible with our railway tracks. Even after Musharraf's departure, similar locomotives worth billions of rupees were again procured from the same source and the deal was done by a team led by none other than the President of the time during his first six months in office. Today Railways is bankrupt. It is woefully short of locomotives and faces a steady decline in revenues due to pilferages and rampant, unchecked corruption. Individuals have benefited from Railways to become billionaires overnight while the state has lost out and the poor masses suffering. As long as the cancer of corruption and cronyism keeps eating our vitals, this country's scare resources would keep getting plundered. Our energy sector too has been the victim of this same corruption mafia and similar is the fate of PIA, PNSC. NIC, NHA and scores of other state enterprises. The nation's debt burden would keep on rising and nothing would ever get done here until there is an across the board, ruthless accountability. If there is political will, it can be done. Hamesh Khan, despite his US nationality, has been repatriated to Pakistan. All others should be brought back too, in handcuffs, for their trials. ANEELA CHANDIO, Sukkur, May 15.