A matter of focus

The guests were seated under a large canopy and drawn, as they were from different regions of Pakistan, they were a colourful gathering. Pakistan Prime Minister was obviously the main drawer of attention of the guests present. When H. S. Suhrawardy, the leader of the opposition in Pakistan parliament arrived, the Prime Minister and the guests rose to greet him. He smilingly responded to the greetings, told Sir Firoz Khan Noon, "This is your turn".

Decades later, I find those inimitable words uttered by H. S. Suhrawardy do still have a resonance in our egocentric corridor of power. Presentation of annual budget by the Finance Minister in the parliament is an occasion the entire nation looks forward to most eagerly. He is the lone actor on the day, and remains the focal point of attention of all citizenry across the nation. To follow the norm, no distracting factor must intervene in between them to dilute the focus on the Finance Minister. With us, however, it is a different story. Blissfully oblivious whose turn it is (to be in focus) our Finance Minister is not alone; he is in accompaniment of the top brass in nation's governance. Apparently innocuous it might seem, this intervention obviously causes a distraction in focus, which normally should not go amiss to any observant eye. A cultural aberration it has been with us since long, - virtually making it a fait accompli, - must go at the earliest not rationalised for any wrong reason.