The practice of Bhatta-taking, softly packaged as 'donation' is nothing new to this city. It has taken us two decades to make only a small dent on this menace. With the change of government, the practice has continued, like a relay race baton being delivered from one party to another. Is it now the PPP's prerogative to encash their arrival into power? A letter in a local paper said that PPP would like all such cases to be reported. I would therefore like to narrate my own encounter with 'charity' demanded by a saintly MPA of Sindh Assembly. Some five days back, I received a call from someone who described himself as PA to Mr Shah, an MPA of Sindh Assembly. Mr Shah, when connected, demanded a donation of 20-30 sewing machines, each costing about 3300 rupees. He further suggested that his henchmen would call and collect the amount. I refused. It is altogether possible that there may be some swindlers who are simply impersonating the MPA, using his name to collect 'Bhatta' in this fashion. It may, therefore, be best for PPP to put an advertisement in newspapers saying that any real or 'faking' official or politician asking for Bhatta/donation should be reported at a well-advertised phone number. The police and the PPP (if they are really interested) could easily trace the culprits from the caller IDs so that an end is put to this practice. -IKRAM ILLAHI, Karachi, via e-mail, September 13.