Earning profits is a trade phenomenon, and there is nothing wrong with it. However, geographic classism should never be justified. It is clearly in practice at renowned bus stations in Lahore; precisely the one on Bund Road, which has a private bus service that operates throughout the country.
The fact that they have separate waiting halls for passengers of regular and executive buses seems normal until you realise the latter is reserved only for passengers of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The worst part is that if you have an executive class ticket for a city other than the capital, you would have to pay an additional Rs200 to use the area. This puts everyone other than those who live in Islamabad and Rawalpindi in an embarrassing situation.
When I asked an official about the practice, he could not come up with any justification or plausible explanation, but simply offered me the permission to use the area.
If such discriminatory practice is not discouraged, I fear this would snowball into more significant societal issues.
SYED TA CENE GILLANI
LAHORE
