Editorial
The bureaucracy has constructed gymnasiums and recreational clubs on state land in every district across Pakistan. These facilities consume substantial public funds for their maintenance and operation. The money flows quietly from state coffers into amenities designed primarily for civil servants and their families. Common citizens watch from outside the gates.
This arrangement raises fundamental questions about resource allocation and public interest. State land belongs to the people of Pakistan. Tax revenues come from shopkeepers, farmers, and laborers who will never step foot inside these exclusive compounds. Yet their hard-earned money subsidizes swimming pools, tennis courts, and air-conditioned lounges for the administrative elite.
The problem goes deeper than mere inequality. If the state cannot bring these facilities under proper legal frameworks, how can it ensure public resources serve genuine public interest? The absence of legal accountability creates a vacuum where bureaucratic privilege flourishes unchecked. No statutory rules govern these establishments. No oversight mechanisms exist to monitor expenditures. The entire system operates on bureaucratic discretion rather than democratic mandate.
Consider the logic applied elsewhere in governance. When citizens request basic services, they face endless procedural requirements and legal justifications. But when bureaucrats want recreational facilities, state land materializes and budgets appear without similar scrutiny. The double standard reveals who truly controls state resources.
Pakistan desperately needs schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. Children study under trees while bureaucrats play badminton in purpose-built complexes. The contradiction exposes misplaced priorities and institutional capture. Until these facilities come under transparent legal frameworks with genuine public accountability, they will remain monuments to bureaucratic entitlement rather than public service. The state must choose: continue subsidizing elite leisure or redirect resources toward citizens who actually fund them.
