Related hub: Abdalians Cooperative Housing Society (ACHS) Lahore · Companion poster: Awareness gallery.
The short, in one line
A politician steps up to a microphone in front of a graveyard and proudly announces: “I have converted the graveyard into a commercial nursery farm.” A crowd of donkeys cheers, “WAO! Such a brave person!” The on-screen footer asks, “Development for whom? The dead don’t complain — but the truth speaks.”
That is the whole story. It is sixty seconds. It is also a small mirror.
What it is actually about
This is a satire on a familiar pattern: a person in office uses a loud platform to redefine what counts as “achievement” — and then surrounds himself with people who will applaud anything labelled “development,” regardless of what was actually delivered, to whom, and at what cost.
The two satirical choices are deliberate:
- The graveyard. It stands in for anything that can’t push back — public land, open space, sadqa-jaaria assets, a charitable trust, a long-departed founder’s intent. The point isn’t that someone is literally building shops on a graveyard. The point is that the easiest “wins” in office are the ones taken from those who cannot complain.
- The donkeys. They stand in for the audience that has switched off its own judgement — the cheering that arrives before the question “is this what we voted for?” is even asked.
The “Baja Group” name is a play on baja (megaphone in Urdu). The joke is gentle: a group whose volume is its identity.
Why this is on the Abdalians CHS hub
Because the underlying point is the same one the Mandate Over Manifesto post made in plain prose. A cooperative housing society’s elected committee runs on mandate from the General Body and the by-laws — not on personal manifestos and not on whatever the loudest WhatsApp group is celebrating this week.
When the work delivered doesn’t map to the AGM agenda, it is additional activity (which may be welcome) — but it is not mandate delivery and should not be reported as such. Equally, when a “commercial idea” is floated on land whose status, by-laws, and NOC trail aren’t clear, the right response is not to clap; it is to ask for the paper-work.
Two practical reminders the short is gesturing at:
- Open spaces are governed by land-use rules (in Lahore, LDA’s land-use framework defines Open Space & Recreational as a category). Repurposing such land needs traceable approvals — not a podium announcement.
- Progress reports should map back to the AGM agenda. Items outside the agenda may still be good — but they should be reported as additional and credited honestly (donors as donors, residents as residents).
What to do, instead of cheering or shouting
- Read the by-laws. Most disputes resolve themselves the moment everyone is reading from the same rule-book.
- Ask for the diary number / receipt / written response. A feedback system that issues paper is hard to ignore later.
- Distinguish manifesto from mandate. A manifesto is a wish-list. A mandate is what the General Body voted to approve. The committee owes performance on the mandate.
- Don’t outsource your thinking to slogans. This is the line the previous post ended on, and it remains the line: mental freedom, not mental slavery.
Slogan: Sabaq amooz kahani — sabaq seekhny ki bhi koi waja honi chahiye. (“An instructive story — there should also be a reason to be willing to learn.”)
Disclaimer: This is a hypothetical satire created for civic awareness only. No resemblance to any real person, group, society, or event is intended. The aim is to encourage lawful, documented, residents-first engagement — and to push back, gently, against the substitution of applause for accountability.