Wooing the youth through laptops

THE Punjab government’s initiative of laptops distribution among universities and colleges’ top merit students is being well-taken as an overwhelming number of students have been involved in the process for the last few months. Those, who have received laptops, are jubilant, while those left out are expecting to get the systems in the next phase. While another class of students who initially qualified to reflect on the list of selected candidates on Punjab government’s website and later denied the laptops are highly agitated – and agitating. Apart from several students, many PML-N opponents and neutral citizens protest that why the PML-N is using public resources to advance its political agenda. In Lahore, the first laptop distribution ceremony at Punjab University has consumed millions of rupees — either to be paid by the Punjab University or the Punjab government. The only speech by PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif was nothing but to woo the youth, who are most likely to play a vital role in next elections – by polling their votes. Sharif castigated his major opponents — PPP led by Asif Ali Zardari and PTI led by Imran Khan — and said the PML-N was the only party that would fetch the nation out of crisis. He even kept on asking students to check PML-N previous tenures’ achievements and success stories on the laptops given to them. While he criticized the PPP for corruption and economic backwardness of Pakistanis, Sharif conveniently ignored the money used to hold the laptops distribution ceremony which eventually allowed him to address a crowed of over 20,000 students and their parents as part of his ongoing forthcoming election campaign. He also wooed the youth by committing that the Punjab government would procure some 300,000 laptops in the next budget and if the youth would support it for a “historic win” in next elections, it would procure one million laptops for top merit students across the country. Although the Lahore High Court has restrained the Punjab University to spend even a single penny on the ceremony — a “political jalsa” in nature, the people ask if it is fair that the money spent by the Punjab government on the purchase of laptops be used by the political party in power in Punjab. Presence of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the function might have justified the spending by the Punjab government, they opined. On the other hand, one cannot criticise the PU vice-chancellor for allocating the money in the context that he is a subordinate and ordered to do so as is the case in all other universities and other public departments, including education boards, which were funding to hold functions, lunches and dinners and then keep on adjusting expenditures. Even various campaigns are funded by public sector departments. However, the dark side of this situation is that all those at the helm of affairs of public sector departments feel privileged in facilitating their political bosses. At Punjab University, the LHC order had led to the “blocking” of T-Shirts and Caps (for which Rs6.5 million were allocated), badges and leaflets (having an allocation of Rs400,000 and Rs175,000, respectively). Either these promotional materials were never procured or dumped. However, the money for tentage (allocation of Rs15 million), banners and streamers (allocation of Rs5 million), sound system (allocation of Rs2 million) and music master (Rs60,000) was spent. It is hoped that whatever the money spent by the PU will be refunded. The second function of laptops distribution at King Edward Medical University was again met the same fate as the ceremony was chaired by PML-N MNA Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, who however, intentionally restrained himself from speaking politics – perhaps due to criticism already in the air. The KEMU had allocated some Rs7 million for the ceremony. As many as 12 more laptops distribution ceremonies have been scheduled in universities, medical colleges, autonomous and public colleges in the city that conclude at University of Engineering and Technology on April 7. In all, some 43,329 laptops will be distributed among students in Lahore. Still on the brighter side of the picture, hundreds of students are protesting and demanding that they should also be given laptops. An overwhelming number of such students belong to afternoon and evening classes in universities, particularly Punjab University, who had gone through a long and tedious process of registration as the government continued revising criteria