For quite some time now she has been wading through a pitiably muddled scenario and at her wit's end. She must have realised that her own children have been the principal architects of her ever-compounding misfortune. As alleged by the law enforcing agencies, and ACC, their mad race for unearned income and for minting money recklessly would account for her tragedy.

At this point some old stories about the children of such VIPs in the sub-continent creep in offering scope for comparison. Those would tell us about the instances of blatant and bizarre exploitation of power centre by the children of the incumbent President/Prime Minister. We may recall in this connection the massive net of exploitation laid by Gouhar Ayub under the nose of his father Field Marshal Ayub Khan during his Presidency of Pakistan in the sixties. Conversely we remember the attitude of the constant boozer General Yahya Khan during his term as President and CMLA of Pakistan towards his own son in his tricky pursuit at amassing wealth exploiting his father's name, Yahya Khan, despite his universally acknowledged notoriety, was reported to have taken his son to task for such an attempt. He was severely scolded in harsh language. Indeed, this was the only known example of morality that was attributed to Yahya Khan by the news media. Even in the truncated Pakistan we have some names linked to a sort of diabolic corrupt practices. For instance, one indulged by none other than the husband of a Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari.

Greed for money and wealth has been an age-old human vice and malady irrespective of their respective social and economic status. Likewise, 'power' too has been a veritable menace to its targets in the lower echelons. There have been umpteen instances children of the actual 'powerful' would make him/her pitiably subservient. In this context we may find a ready semblance of our recent scenario around the power centre to that of India during the time of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Her son Sanjoy was flambuoyant and aggressive. He used to overplay his own role and behaved at times that he was the Prime Minister. He was so very reckless in his words and attitudes that elder leaders of Indian Congress found him intolerable. At the height of his playful gamble he bulldozed some of the 'busties' in Delhi to contribute his part to the development programme of the government! On this particular issue Mrs. Gandhi had to swallow many a bitter pill from the opposition not to speak of that such excess ultimately contributed to her fall.

The dimension of our stories in currency is indeed awe-inspiring. The two small daughters of a former State Minister were seen in the TV screen the other day. The elder would be in her early teens and the younger barely ten. They were looking around in the court where their father and mother were to be brought for trial from jail. Their vacant and helpless look could have tormented even the rudest heart. They wouldn't know that their loving parents would come back to them soon. They wouldn't also know that the huge wealth their father and mother amassed was not by honest means. In their mad race for money the two were now trapped in the stigmatic snare laid by destiny. Even if they are freed sometime how would they compensate the outrageous damage done to their children, their schooling, their future when others around would invariably look down with pity?

They say sooner or later God's will shall be fulfilled. True believers know for certain that good deeds will be rewarded. The process commences on earth itself. Similarly, bad deeds done consciously will be met with punishment. Feigning piety on anyone's part in order to hide ulterior motive is nothing short of hypocrisy. Over the past several years we seem to have come across a number of people belonging to the latter kind.

Apparently respectable, highly educated, well placed men of the society now behind bars for almost similar allegations against them must have been lamenting their mistakes and unworldly lust for money. It is yet to be seen how they prove their innocence and extricate themselves from the present miserable plights. It is very difficult to conjure up the pathetic and abjuring sight of their families who are forced to take the ignominious burden of their men and women now in jail.

Kazi Alauddin Ahmed is a management consultant.