The Muslim Students Federation (MSF), a pro-Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) student wing, is likely to be the main beneficiary of the Yellow Cab Scheme announced by the Punjab government in the provincial budget 2011-12 to make the unemployed youth self-reliant, Pakistan Today has learnt. MSF activists have been told to get ready to get rewards of their sacrifices for the party through the Yellow Cab Scheme and grab a big chunk of the project but all other student unions across the province’s education institutions criticised the scheme and said that it is just a plan to accommodate blue-eyed activists of the MSF.
According to sources, PML-N top brass including Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif, never disowned the MSF but in fact, MSF activists were seen protesting in favour of the party. Representatives of other students unions said that yellow cabs will only be given to activists of MSF to run the PML-N’s election campaign in the upcoming general elections while other unions will be ignored. Student leaders said that heavy funds for the Yellow Cab Scheme and Danish Schools show that the PML-N has started its election campaign on basis of these projects and Rs 3.5 billion, which were allocated for the Yellow Cab Scheme, are part of the plan to reorganise MSF at colleges and universities, as it was done in the past for running election campaigns.
According to the scheme, the government will provide cars at subsidised rates to young graduates to seek self-employment as taxi drivers. The scheme appears to be similar to the one launched by the PML-N during Nawaz’s first tenure as PM in the early 1990s. That scheme turned out to be a massive fraud, as many people bought subsidised cars for personal use instead of promoting employment. Pakistan Today has learnt that before launching the scheme, MSF activists started preparing their documents and profiles to grab vehicles while according to sources, senior and former MSF leaders, who campaigned for PML-N leaders, have been asked to get ready to grab the vehicles.
People started criticising the scheme after Senior Advisor to the CM, Zulfiqar Khosa, while addressing the post-budget press conference, said that no district coordination officer (DCO) or parliamentarian will be member of the committee to distribute yellow cabs among the youth but students will be members of the committees.
According to representatives of other student unions, only MSF activists will be members of these committees and they will be favoured in getting the vehicles. According to plan, around 20,000 800cc cars will be distributed among students across Punjab. In the past, the MSF actively campaigned for the PML-N in all elections but when former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf overthrew Nawaz in 1999, the student union shifted its loyalties to the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and actively campaigned for it.
According to sources, the Sharifs, who returned to the country in 2007, were annoyed with the MSF for supporting their foes in their absence and did not take MSF activists back into the PML-N. But MSF activists lobbied through PML-N members to ask the CM to take them back. Many former MSF activists are top-profile leaders of the PML-N including Javed Hashmi, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Rana Arshad. Although, student unions are banned in educational institutions but the Insaaf Students Federation (ISF), Anujman-e-Talba Islam, Imamia Students Organisation (ISO), Islami Jamiat-e-Talba (IJT) and the People’s Students Federation (PSF) still exist in colleges and universities of Punjab. All these student wings are criticising launching of the Yellow Cab Scheme and reminding embezzlements in this scheme in the past.
ISF President Farrukh Habib said that the Yellow Cab Scheme is just a plan to accommodate blue-eyed MSF activists and the ISF has several reservations on it. He said that in the past, through this scheme, Shahbaz accommodated his favourites and this practice will continue again. Habib said that the scheme is not for welfare of students, youth and the general public and only a political motive to run an election campaign. He said that it is a tragedy that the Punjab government has no funds for educational institutions but announced a failed Yellow Cab Scheme with public money for the MSF and its election campaign.
ISO Information Secretary Hassan Kazi said that everyone knows that which students will be part of the committees, MSF activists, and demanded the government include student representatives from all existing unions at educational institutions. He said that there should be transparency in the Yellow Cab Scheme if the CM is sincere with the future of the youth.
Punjab University (PU) IJT Nazim Zubair Safdar also criticised policies of Shahbaz and asked for transparency in the Yellow Cab Scheme. He said that the CM’s educational policies are proving to be unproductive for students and they would have to launch a movement against the CM if he continues his unproductive policies concerning education.
MSF Lahore President Sunni Prince said that the MSF is a group, which played a role in the Pakistan Movement and no one could ignore its sacrifices in the country’s politics. He said that if the Punjab government wants to give vehicles to students than nobody should criticise it, as every one has a right to get these vehicles. Prince said that they only appreciate good decisions of the CM and oppose the bad decisions but the Yellow Cab Scheme is a good move and country’s youth should take advantage from it. He said that the PML-N owed them, as they protested several times for the PML-N and mentioned that the MSF participated in the long march and other events.
