Like many other countries, in Pakistan, the head of the state is not directly elected by the people. The president, who must be a symbolic and unifying force, unfortunately has no real power and plays little to no role in the functioning of the nation.
The people are paying Rs. 863 million, which was earmarked in the 1916-17 budget, for staff salaries, maintenance, travelling regarding the Presidential House. The question is, what is the justification for such huge expenses when the president does not play a major role in the welfare of the people or in diffusing political crisis. If only we can save this money, which is being wasted on state and governmental administrative structures, perhaps in the years to come we can provide clean drinking water to those millions of Pakistanis who have been deprived of it for the last 70 years.
S. T. HUSSAIN,
Lahore, September 9.