Editorial
The Punjab Assembly’s stance on Lahore Gymkhana deserves full and unreserved support. In fact, it should be the starting point of a wider correction. Every gymkhana, club and recreational facility built on state land, in Punjab and across Pakistan, must either be moved off public property or be made to pay market rent and the full cost of everything it enjoys.
The principle is simple. What belongs to the public and the state cannot be handed over to serve the comfort of state officials and a privileged few. Public land is a trust held on behalf of every citizen. It is not a perk of office, nor a reward for rank.
Consider who benefits. The members of these clubs are not struggling citizens. They are, by any measure, the financial and administrative elite of the country. They can easily afford market rates for land, utilities and upkeep. It is a matter of shame that those at the top of wealth and power are the very people squeezing subsidised advantage out of state property, while ordinary Pakistanis wait for land for schools, hospitals, parks and housing.
This is not merely a question of rent. It is a question of how the state sees itself. When public resources quietly serve bureaucratic and elite interests, the state stops being a republic of citizens and becomes an estate for its managers. Republic Policy has examined this conflict between public interest and bureaucratic interest in detail in its book The Bureaucratic Coup.
The Punjab Assembly has opened a door. Citizens must now walk through it. Pakistanis from every walk of life should raise their voice and demand that state land be used for the benefit of all, not the leisure of a few. Public property must serve the public. Nothing less is acceptable.
The best-selling books of Republic Policy Think Tank, including the landmark book The Bureaucratic Coup, are available at Vanguard Books, Liberty Books, Readings, Kitab Sarai, Sang-e-Meel, Saeed Book Bank Islamabad, National Book Foundation, and others across Pakistan. Contact for home delivery: +92 341 4222501.
