There is a saying attributed to the fourth caliph of Islam that I value opinion of an old man more than courage of a youngster.
The West has been taking full benefit from this saying by its implementation , hook line and sinker.
One can see Senior’s citizen committees operative there in every administrative unit comprising the oldies who are invariably consulted while chalking out every developmental project in the areas they live in and the tremendous fund of their experiences in various fields of life are taken benefitted from. In this country an half hearted attempt was made in the distant past in this connection but was left half way.
It is about time those in the realm of affairs in this country pass special legislation for setting up Senior citizens. Committees in every district headquarter and making it bounden duty of district magistrates to hold consultative meetings with their members before chalking out any developmental activity in the districts.
Of course the retired senior civil officers who had served different departments and police officers can advice the DCs on projects relating to their fields in which they had sufficient working experience. Somebody has rightly said there is no short cut to experience.
A case in point is the merger of former FATA with the KPK. Had the powers that be thoroughly thrashed out the said proposal with the old retired political agents of FATA on its pros and cons instead of taking a decision in post haste to gain cheap popularity the unrest which we see in the tribal area today would not have occurred.
