A middle-aged woman has a severe heart attack and is rushed to hospital. After a quick jolt of the defibrillator she is revived, and she tells the doctor she had a near-death experience. "I saw the Angel of Death", she explains "he told me it wasn't my turn and I had a good 35 years of life left on this earth". The woman makes a good recovery and as a result of her meeting with the angel decides to really enjoy her life. She decides to revamp her appearances and checks into a beauty clinic for nose job, liposuction and hair cut etc. After a few weeks, the makeover is complete and the woman leaves the clinic feeling great. She steps out at a zebra crossing and a lorry ploughs into her, killing her instantly. The woman goes to heaven and stands in front of the angel in a fury. " I thought you said I had a good 35 years left", she cries indignantly. "What can I say", says the angel, obviously embarrassed, " I didn't recognize you." If you haven't visited some of the remote districts of Punjab lately, do that now, for you won't recognize them either. Thanks to the devolution plan that has started showing the marvels of self rule. The pace of development is amazingly quick at all the tiers of local government. A mammoth magnitude of civil works and an ever expanding network of roads has virtually changed the very complexion of our districts. Danyal Aziz, the enthusiastic NRB Chairman, deserves a lot more than he is getting from the media. He desperately needs to develop his communication skills, for that's the only area he isn't good at. Ironically, the miracle performed by the NRB is still not being duly acknowledged by most of the clumsy anchors of our TV talk shows. The reason, beside their ignorance, is lack of communication and for that, nobody but Mr Aziz is to blame. However, the success story of district governments would have been thoroughly incomplete without the involvement of Governor Punjab Lt Gen (R) Khalid Maqbool. What he does is a dual magic. In the first place, he religiously patronises the devolution plan and acts as a constant source of spiritual inspiration for a young lot of self-rulers. And secondly, he keeps all federal departments present in 34 districts of Punjab, attuned to public service and submission. This he does by visiting all district headquarters and publicly questioning the performance of federal offices especially those dealing with basic utilities such as power, gas, telephone, railways, post-office etc. A selfless man with an immaculate track record, Governor Khalid Mqabool is a born soldier when it comes to commitment. President Pervez Musharaf's "district dream" would never have crystallised in Punjab the way it has, if the Governor here was anything short of Khalid Maqbool. Every district in Punjab shall over the generations owe a debt of gratitude to him. So, do visit a district shortly and see how relieved it looks without Mr. Deputy Commissioner (rest in peace)! Bravo Danyal, bravo Khalid Maqbool!
