Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely – By: Prof. Rahmat Karim Baig
During one trip to Chitral from Booni in a public transport I got a seat in the centre of the vehicle. One guy who had shown abnormal activeness at the Ada took a seat in the last row. He was in a different Uniform and was trying to show his POWER in the Ada and behaved quite abnormally, in his interaction with other passengers. His presence in the back seat and wide ranging observations made me think about his uniform and as his tongue was running in a bulling manner the other passengers remained calm, all of us preferred to stay calm but his was on. The way he passed remarks on many topics was quite maverick.
He made it clear that he was a driver in a certain government department with special Uniform and among the Force category, and was returning after his short leave at home. Though I did not listen to him with much attention but most of his sentences struck my ears and made me think over his words.
Then suddenly he asked one elderly passenger in the front row for NASWAR who apologized that he did not take that stuff but one of the young men sitting to his left gave him the desired stuff. He had mistaken the elderly man as if he was a confirmed addict and treated him as fit for that habit disregarding his status as an old man – as a senior citizen – a value that is still respected in the culture of Chitral but the men of younger generation seem to have no regard for that quality.
From the manner of that particular guy it became clear that a driver of scale 4 throws his weight about to impress passengers belonging to different valleys of the district and know nothing about his family back ground, then a higher official of some powers or a gazetted officer would not and cannot restrain himself from showing his powers. The phenomenon could be easily noticed in the offices and the higher one officer goes in scale the stronger the complex grows and would be seen. There will be some exceptions but power is a curse and carries dark sides that divides members of a society and creates hatred leading to abuses and misuse of one’s status and makes one a ‘ persona non grata’ and in the long run this attitude has driven us to the current moral degradation. Indeed power corrupts……!
Prof. Rahmat Karim Baig
