Pakistan in Media

Rare it is for the Supreme Court of the nation to bring a hint of a smile to our faces, but the suggestion that eunuchs be appointed as collectors of taxes and of loans from defaulters is worthy of our consideration. The court has advised that the government devise a strategy which would enable the eunuch community to earn an honest living rather than engaging in begging or prostitution or dancing at weddings. It would appear that in parts of India this strategy is employed with some success, and there is no reason to believe that we could not match India’s achievements in this respect. The court heard that the social welfare and health departments of Sindh were already involving the eunuch community in the polio vaccination programme and it would be but a small step to see them engaged in loan and debt recovery.

Unsurprisingly the eunuch community has greeted the court’s suggestion with some delight. They would seek to replicate the model used in India, where eunuchs are paid a percentage, 4 per cent, of whatever is recovered. The eunuch group is given the address of the defaulter or debtor and then proceeds to sing, dance and bang drums outside his house until he pays up. Bona-fide tax collectors accompany the eunuchs to ensure that fiscal proprieties are strictly observed and that the exchequer benefits appropriately. Such is the fear of the eunuchs that they are finding considerable success in this new line of work. Our own eunuchs may be attracted by the thought of the sums they may be helping to recover – and 4 per cent of a billion rupees is enough to guarantee some much-extended singing, dancing and general raising of an embarrassing ruckus. Levity aside, this is an eminently sensible and humane suggestion coming down from the legal heights and we see no reason why this marginalised community should be denied an opportunity to turn their skills to good and profitable purpose. It may stretch credulity to imagine that they would be employed to recover defaulted loans valued in billions of rupees, but there are other more modest sums which could be pried from the pockets of defaulters. There is no reason either why they should not deploy their charms in an attempt to net some of the bigger fish – as no man is completely above embarrassment.