Loud Thinking

Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

My comments on the below mentioned news:

If I were the PM, would first replace the finance minister before giving the go ahead for any mini budget.

Unfortunately, this FM has neither the vision nor the will to act upon any out of box thinking.

He can only think the easy way of taking loans (on harsh conditions) and increasing the burden on general public (which pays the power and gas bills honestly) by increasing the utility charges one way or the other.

Our present government has also miserably failed in curbing the massive corruption in the country, which has the magnitude almost equal to the budgeted expenses of the year 14-15 i.e., Rs.4 trillion; which also means that the size of our black economy is equal to the white economy. And perhaps this size of corruption (Rs.12 billion/day according to the former Chairman NAB) may not be prevailing in any other country, where white and black economies are almost equal; and still the government is still looking the other way….but then the question arises why the government is silent over this massive corruption, tax evasion and utilities theft; which is eating away the very foundations of the country’s economy?

As such, the PMLN’s government which came into power on the promises of rooting out the corruption and bringing back the looted money, is giving an incentive to the dishonest and punishment to the honest citizens by increasing taxes and rates and not cracking down on the dishonest people.

News item of Express Tribune:

$6.7b IMF bailout: If needed, Pakistan may introduce mini-budget

By Shahbaz RanaPublished: July 8, 2014

Loan conditions: Rs1.4tr is IMF’s budget deficit target for Pakistan for 2014-15. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD:
In a bid to keep the $6.7 billion bailout programme afloat, Pakistan has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will introduce a mini-budget and slow down development spending to create a cushion of Rs145 billion in case problems arise in delivering the budget deficit target.
“To help ensure programme targets can be met, the [Pakistani] authorities have identified several contingency measures that can be implemented if the expected fiscal adjustment begins to fall short of the objective,” an IMF report revealed on Monday.

The objective IMF mentions is keeping the budget deficit – the gap between income and expenses – equal to 4.8% of the country’s GDP or Rs1.398 trillion. This is lower by 0.1% of the GDP – or Rs32 billion – than the target approved by Parliament.
According to the written assurance, the government, on the revenue side, plans to eliminate statutory regulatory orders (SROs) in fiscal year 2015-16 if tax revenues fall below the level envisaged in the programme. For 2015-16, the government has already given an SRO-elimination plan that promises slating the orders equivalent to 0.3% of the GDP or Rs81 billion at the current size of the economy.
These Rs81 billion measures will be over and above the Rs231 billion net new taxes that the government imposed from July 1. For the new fiscal, the government has set a Rs2.81 trillion tax target that many, including the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), privately admits is unachievable.

“The chances of a mini-budget are high as FBR cannot collect more than Rs2.6 to Rs2.65 trillion in this fiscal year … this is what I told the finance minister before the finalisation of the budget,” said Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, a renowned economist and member of the Economic Advisory Council.
“On the expenditure side, we will again reduce expenditure allocations in the first nine months of the year compared to the budget to create a reserve against any shortfall,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar assured the IMF. This policy is consistent with a contingency plan that the government adopted in the previous financial year, which led to a severe under-spending on the development side.
Pakistan has assured that these measures could yield savings amounting to 0.5% of the GDP or Rs145 billion. “In any case, we stand ready to take compensatory measures as needed, including adjustment on the revenue side, to reach our fiscal target,” the finance minister told the IMF.
According to independent economists, such policies are anti-growth and will adversely affect the current fiscal year’s economic growth rate target of 5.1%. Apparently, the IMF doesn’t trust the government will achieve this target. “For FY2014-15, the economy is forecast to expand by around 4%,” the international lender noted in its report.
New surcharge
Pakistan has also assured the IMF that it will slap a new surcharge on electricity consumers to recover the circular debt if the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) rejected its plan to recover circular debt from consumers by increasing tariffs. The report puts the total circular debt at Rs500 billion.
New conditions
The IMF has imposed four new conditions on Pakistan after the government showed reluctance in reforming some of the critical areas. These conditions, known as structural benchmarks, are steps to give real operational independence to the State Bank (SBP).
The second new condition is filling vacancies in the NEPRA board by end of current month. The third condition is offering minority shares in UBL and PPL to domestic and international investors, which has been met.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2014.

If I was the PM Pakistan…would have invited the entire core leadership of the PTI to a Iftaar meeting, to find the ways and means to resolve the political log jam in the country….not for my personal continuation of the rule…but for the sake of Pakistan….to avoid any turmoil or further bloodshed in the country.

Leadership has to be proactive..! additionally, national leadership of a NUCLEAR power nation has to be ABSOLUTELY selfless, very sharp and full of wisdom, which MUST be able to gaze in the future.

Mian Nawaz Sharif what are YOU doing for your subjects?

An eye opening TOI news published today, about the Indian PM that how much he is worried about his people’s welfare..!

Set up special courts to try hoarders, PM Narendra Modi tells states

NEW DELHI: Prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged states to set up special courts for speedy trial of hoarders and black-marketers and stressed on the need for the Centre and states to launch coordinated efforts to deal with any possible adverse impact of weak monsoon rain.

The government has taken several steps in the past few weeks to tame inflation and Modi brainstormed with senior ministers, officials and weather office experts to review the progress of the monsoon and steps taken to contain price pressures.

Taming inflation has been identified as a top priority by the NDA government and it is keen to ensure that it does not remain a policy headache during its term. Recent data had shown a spike in inflation but the government has moved in swiftly to ensure it is contained.

Officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) apprised the PM of the monsoon situation. “They said though the monsoon has been delayed, rainfall is likely to improve substantially in the months of July and August,” said a statement from the prime minister’s office.

READ ALSO: Monsoon rains to improve after July 7, govt says

The ministry of Agriculture has prepared a contingency plan for more than 500 districts to deal with patchy rains. “Modi stressed on the need for both Centre and States to proactively mount a coordinated effort in implementing the advance action plan for the monsoon, with districts, rather than states, being the unit of planning,” the statement said.

The PM emphasized on ensuring adequate power and seed availability for the agricultural sector, and directed that NREGA be used to generate rural employment, if necessary.

The Modi administration has called for strict action against hoarders and black marketers. Hoarding has been identified as key factor for the sharp uptick in prices. States have a tardy record of arresting and prosecuting hoarders and the conviction rate is dismal. Government data showed that while 5,132 people were arrested for such acts in 2013 up to October, only 2,468 were prosecuted and the number of convicted was 966.

Besides sending a strong message to hoarders, the government has also taken a raft of measures to ensure availability of food items across the country. The Modi government imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of Rs 2,700 ($ 450) per tonne for potato on Thursday to keep a check on exports. Annually, around 1-2 lakh tonnes of potatoes are exported from the country.

Food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan reiterated the government’s resolve to fight against hoarders. “It’s only because of speculation prices are rising despite we have huge food stock, potato and onion,” he added.

Official said the government will ensure stable supplies of onions and potatoes in the market.

“This will ensure that there is enough availability of the two main kitchen items in the domestic market. As such Delhi has been flooded with onion and prices have stabilized. We have to keep a close watch on onions in July when the supply at mandis reduces significantly,” consumer affairs secretary Keshav Desiraju said.

Within hours after Modi held a detailed review of the monsoon and food inflation progress, the Cabinet secretary Ajit Seth decided to hold a review meeting of Committee of Secretaries on Friday on the government’s preparedness in case of a deficient monsoon.

The government is also stepping up its vigil with the Cabinet secretary reviewing the price and monsoon situation every fortnight against the earlier practice of a monthly meeting. While Central Water Commission has asked states to prepare their crop plan keeping in mind the water stored, the drinking water and sanitation ministry has asked states to submit detailed contingency plans including identifying new bore wells and open wells, high yielding agricultural bore wells for hiring and possibility of transporting water through special trains to areas which may be affected due to scanty rains.

States have also been asked to prepare adequate plans with route maps to supply safe drinking water through tankers for vulnerable villages. The PM also reviewed the position of water reservoirs and fodder stock. He urged that maximum possible use be made of the existing water resources, and best practices in rainwater harvesting.

Unbelievable Unbelievable Unbelievable..!

Can someone explain the reason for the 17 June massacre of Model Town Lahore, because the excuse given by the provincial PMLN government and the Police was that they wanted to remove the barriers, which incidentally have now been placed again.

So, it seems that the innocent peoples genocide was just for the sake of
fun???

میں کس کے ہاھۃ پے اپنا لہو تلاش کروں

Good news for the peaceful citizens of Pakistan…

TV Channel reports that IG Punjab Police has said that in future no firing on citizens by the Police..!

Salute to Mr. Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera IG Punjab Police and shame on the politicians who use Police Force for their ulterior motives.

With She-Toilets, Chennai shows way in sanitation

An eye opening (for all the political parties in Pakistan)Times of india Report dated 16 June, 2014.

WHY FRUITS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYETEM ONLY IN INDIA.

WHY PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN WILL NEVER SEE A TRUE LOCAL GOVERNMENT PEOPLES SELF RULE?

MAY BE THIS IS THE REASON WHEN POLITICAL SYSTEM IS PACKED UP IN PAKISTAN PEOPLE DISTRIBUTE SWEETS BECAUSE PAKISTANI PUBLIC KNOWS THAT THESE POLITICAL LEADERS ARE NOT SINCERE WITH THE PUBLIC.

IS DEPRIVING PUBLIC FOR DECADES FROM THE LOCAL BODIES ELECTIONS NOT A VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN?

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation is aiming for a clean sweep to tackle problems of female hygiene and access to sanitation — special ‘She Toilets’ have been planned for women in 348 locations across the city and will be opened by the end of the year. They will also be the first e-toilets (electronic, fully automated toilets) in the city. The toilets will have sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators.

“This is also the first time Chennai Corporation has done a detailed survey and mapping of where public toilets are required and where the public oppose it,” said a senior corporation official. “Earlier the corporation would only ask the zonal engineer where to put up a toilet.” These 348 locations include bus stands, markets and open spaces.

The toilets will come as a relief to women who work outdoors all day such as vendors, construction workers and police officers. “We have to stand on the road for at least five hours while on bandobast duty,” said Leela Sri, a woman constable. “There are very few public toilets that we can use and most of them are filthy.” Leela, who has been on the job for 11 years, said she and her female colleagues are prone to urinary tract infections and fibroids. “If more of these toilets for women come up, the next generation of policewomen need not face such health problems,” she says. Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation recently introduced these toilets.

The most attractive feature of the e-toilet is that it flushes automatically even if a person fails to flush. “It is fully automated and after five uses, the unit automatically cleans up the entire toilet. The fans and lights turn on and off a person enters and leaves,” said Suneetan Nair, marketing officer, Eram Scientific, a Trivandrum-based firm that developed the product for Kerala, and one of the bidders for the project in Chennai.

To prevent vandalism and encroachment of public toilets, the She-Toilets will have GPRS devices. “All units have will have a GPRS device to alert the officials concerned in case of theft or vandalism,” Nair said. “It also has a voice complaint system where a person can simply press a button and record a complaint about the toilet,” he said.

Chennai currently has a little over 900 public toilets, inadequate for its 65 lakh population. “We tried public- private partnerships to help maintain toilets but it failed. Now we will form a public toilet monitoring wing in the corporation for existing toilets,” the official said. With the help of a non-governmental organisation, the corporation will conduct a 20-day survey to study the problems of existing toilets. “We know that the city is short of 2,000 toilets,” the official said. “We will ensure this is corrected by March 2015.”

The New York Times deserves a Noble Peace Prize for its great service to the humanity by publishing this heart wrenching article.

And the entire Muslim Country’s governments deserve hall of SHAME for their callousness in looking the other way on the genocide of Muslims in Myanmar.

Myanmar\’s Appalling Apartheid
Posted on 14 hours ago

Nicholas Kristof
Minura Begum has been in labor for almost 24 hours, and the baby is stuck. Worse, it\’s turned around, one tiny foot already emerging into the world in a difficult breech delivery that threatens the lives of mother and child alike.
Twenty-three years old and delivering her first child, Minura desperately needs a doctor. But the Myanmar government has confined her, along with 150,000 others, to a quasi-concentration camp outside town here, and it blocks aid workers from entering to provide medical help. She\’s on her own. Welcome to Myanmar, where tremendous democratic progress is being swamped by crimes against humanity toward the Rohingya, a much-resented Muslim minority in this Buddhist country. Budding democracy seems to aggravate the persecution, for ethnic cleansing of an unpopular minority appears to be a popular vote-getting strategy.
This is my annual \”win-a-trip\” journey, in which I take a university student on a reporting trip to the developing world. I\’m with this year\’s winner, Nicole Sganga of Notre Dame University, spotlighting an injustice that some call a genocide. There are more than one million Rohingya in Rakhine State in the northwest of Myanmar. They are distinct from the local Buddhists both by darker skin and by their Islamic faith. For decades, Myanmar\’s military rulers have tried systematically to erase the Rohingya\’s existence with oppression, periodic mass expulsions and denials of their identity.
\”There are no people called Rohingya in Myanmar,\” U Win Myaing, a spokesman for Rakhine State, told me. He said that most are simply illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. This narrative is absurd, as well as racist. A document as far back as 1799 refers to the Rohingya population here, and an 1826 report estimates that 30 percent of the population of this region was Muslim. Since clashes in 2012 claimed more than 200 lives – including children hacked with machetes – the authorities have confined Rohingya to internment camps or their own villages. They are stripped of citizenship and cannot freely go to the market, to schools, to university, to hospitals.
Tens of thousands have made desperate attempts to flee by boat, with many drowning along the way. This year, the Myanmar authorities have cracked down even harder, making the situation worse. First, the government expelled Doctors Without Borders, which had been providing health care for the Rohingya. Then orchestrated mobs attacked the offices of humanitarian organizations, forcing them out. Some kinds of aid are resuming, but not health care. That\’s a sterile way of putting it. I wish readers could see the terrified eyes of Shamshida Begum, 22, a mom whose 1-year-old daughter, Noor, burned with fever.
Shamshida said that at home the thermometer had registered 107 degrees. Even after damp cloths had been placed on Noor to lower her temperature, the thermometer, when I saw it, still read 105 degrees. What kind of a government denies humanitarians from providing medical care to a toddler? Noor survived, but some don\’t. We visited the grief-stricken family of a 35-year-old man named Ba Sein, who died after his tuberculosis went untreated.
\”He died because he couldn\’t get medicine,\” said his widow, Habiba, as friends made a bamboo coffin outside. Now she worries about her four small children who, like other children in the camp, haven\’t been vaccinated. The camp is an epidemic waiting to happen. Minura, the woman with a breech delivery, survived a 28-hour labor and hemorrhaging, but lost her baby. The infant girl was buried in an unmarked grave – one of a large number of achingly small graves on the outskirts of the camp.
\”Because I am Rohingya, I cannot get health care and I cannot be a father,\” Minura\’s husband, Zakir Ahmed, a mason, said bitterly after the burial. The United States has spoken up, but far too mildly; Europe and Asia have tried to look the other way. We should work in particular with Japan, Britain, Malaysia and the United Nations to pressure Myanmar to restore humanitarian access and medical care. President Obama, who visited Myanmar and is much admired here, should flatly declare that what is happening here is unconscionable. Obama has lately noted that his foreign policy options are limited, and that military interventions often backfire. True enough, but in Myanmar he has political capital that he has not fully used.
As a university student, Obama denounced apartheid in South Africa. As president, he should stand up to an even more appalling apartheid – one in Myanmar that deprives members of one ethnic group even of health care. Myanmar seeks American investment and approval. We must make clear that it will get neither unless it treats Rohingya as human beings.
The New York Times

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

AoA.

Today, we all Pakistanis thank and bow our head before Allah, for His Blessings, in making this country a nuclear power, which came into being in the name of Allah.

The entire nation is also grateful to Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and all those who (then) advised him wisely, for nuclear detonations on 28 May, 1998, which was also an announcement to the world that Pakistan was a declared nuclear power.

Sir, leaving aside the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear power and that this fact did help in restraining our main adversary India, from its planned aggression against Pakistan, on many occasions in the past, the realty remains that the balance of power is gradually tilting towards India, due its unbridled spendings on defence, which currently has almost crossed the $40 billion. And very soon it may touch $60 billion, which amount is half of Chinese spendings on defence. Although, Indian economy is no match to the Chinese economy, which has exports of over $200 billion per month against the Indian exports of around $200 billion per annum.

The main thrust of Indian defence in future, looks like to be in gaining complete ascendancy over Pakistan, in the fields of anti-missile shield and nuclear submarines, notwithstanding, the fact that even if Pakistan can’t fire a single nuclear weapon towards India; and if they are able to make a first nuclear strike against Pakistan, the proximity of the two countries, will render India badly vulnerable, to the deadly nuclear radiation over its own population and land. At least between India and Pakistan, a nuclear war is a mutually assured destruction (MAD).

However, to stop any nuclear showdown, India along with the whole world, must know absolutely clearly, our threshold and red line, beyond which MAD will be the only naked reality and fate of this world.

Whether, its war or peace, Pakistan can’t remain oblivious of its responsibilities, in moving forward with the time, in the fields of nuclear science and technology. However, Pakistan must not make this fatal mistake of thinking that just being a nuclear power of some sort, this situation is going to be a deterrent of war and guarantee for peace in future.

Past was past and now its a changed world, 16 years after 28 May, 2014. As such, Pakistan must, repeat must, move towards developing thermonuclear (Hydrogen bombs) and Neutron bombs (which don’t destroy the structure of buildings but its radiation kills all the life). It is said that India already possesses the Hydrogen bomb, which is on an average 100 times more lethal than an atom bomb.

So to say that India and Pakistan have parity of nuclear weapons, is a very dangerous false sense of security, for the Pakistani strategic planners.

Pakistan must also have strategic planning for acquiring and developing the missile shield and the nuclear submarines, along with raising at least 2 more strike corps. In fact, we should also start conceptual planning and R&D, on Star Wars possibilities in the future.

Sir, the secret of the success is to remain a step ahead of our competitors. Moreover, the statecraft, preparation for war and readiness is ordained to Muslims by Allah in the Holy Quran, where Muslims are required that they must keep their horses READY and FIGHTING FIT, and to the enemies of Muslims, their 20 horses will look 200.

Mr. Prime Minister, during your recent sojourn to India, you must be knowing very well the reasons for the importance and focus given to you over the other SAARC leaders, As they say, weakness invites contempt and aggression. Whereas, strength and power, breeds respect and peace.

As such, please don’t take my above suggestions as war mongering. Pakistan needs peace not war, for its development and growth. But alas..! a Pakistan weaker than the strongest of its neighbour, will never be in peace, which is the biggest ground reality.

Sir, I also take this opportunity to bring to your kind notice that within 24 hours of the BJP government taking over the reigns of the government in Delhi, one of its minister has spoken about abolition of the article 370 from the constitution, which stipulates a special status for Kashmir. Moreover, the extremist Hindus have also started a campaign to stop Muslims from the FAJR AAZAN.

Last but not the least, a great statesman is not the person who wages the war and wins it. The greatest statesman is he, who achieves his objectives, without waging a war. But then there is always a limit to the extent a weak party can go. Here, I will again quote the famous words of the Shaheed Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, when he told Henry Kissinger that “If you spit and ask me to clean it I will clean it. However, if you spit and and ask me to lick it, I will never do that”.

With Best Wishes and Highest Regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Few simple questions to Mr. Narendra Modi, Mian Nawaz Sharif, political leadership, intelligentsia, civil and military bureaucracy of India and Pakistan:

When famous players of both the countries namely Aisam ul Haq and Rohan Bopanna can team up for the cause of sports, why can’t the two nations team up to win the wars against diseases, illiteracy and poverty?

Why India and Pakistan have to be the prisoners of the past?

Why the two nations are living like the divided Korea?

Why can’t India and Pakistan live like the United Europe?

Why the leadership of both the countries is so weak that they can’t even think of taking bold decision for peace?

Is there a dearth of true statesmen in both the countries?

If America has a right to bomb using drones, people in Waziristan area, thousands of miles away from Washington, then Pakistan has also the right to bombard those consulates. which are hands in glove with the insurgents, who kill on daily basis our soldiers, civilians, women and children.

Mr. Nawaz Sharif, hope you remember once our Air Force had the motto “QATAL MOOZI QABAL EEZA”

Now, I must repeat, enough is enough, our brothers, sisters and kids are are being murdered in dozens and dozens, on a daily basis.

We can not stop these attacks on churches, buses and military convoys, by just sitting idle.

If its a war, then let it be a war.

The IG FC has very clearly said these consulates are mongering mischief against Pakistan.

This war can not be won without going on an offensive.

We can no more sit like a duck and wait for the next attack from a suicide bomber or an IED supplied from across the border.

Either, the border should be completely sealed and mined, or you may issue necessary orders to our forces, to attack and annihilate the consulates established along our western borders in Afghanistan.

Or as a last resort, short of attack on consulates, all ground and air traffic to and fro from Afghanistan must be blocked, till such time Afghanistan guarantees that its territory will not be allowed to be used by any country, against Pakistan.

Mr. Nawaz Sharif, hope you know very well that Pakistan is in a state of war for the last more than a decade, its people are badly bruised and exhausted and that offence is the best defence.

Now for us its a do or die situation, thus, you must act because action is better than inaction.