It is most upsetting to hear that about a 1000 youths that were recruited in police department from Shaheed Banzirabad district have not been paid their salaries for the last five months. A similar report in a local daily has also disclosed that primary teachers from the desert town of Nangarparkar have not been disbursed their pay for many months. To my pleasant surprise, though, the students of this far-flung area have shown compassion for their teachers and collected 30 rupees each to save their benefactors from starving. These are not stray incidents. If one goes through local papers, one is struck by the callous indifference of people in power towards the problems of downtrodden. Is this not shameful that our establishment is squandering huge sums on the pays and perks of the history's largest cabinets, both at federal and provincial levels while our teachers, builders of the nation and the police constables, protectors of our lives and properties, are not being paid their labour? I wish only 50% of the allocations made on such non-developmental expenditure are saved for paying salaries to these lowly workers. -QAZI BASHIR AHMED, via e-mail, March 19.