Pakistani Magna Carta – How to come out of Straitjacket?

(The above video is a must watch before reading this article)
Now our economic malaise has reached such a stage that business as usual, is going to jeopardise our statehood, not in years, but in months.

The degree of the sovereignty of a country, is directly proportional to the state of the economy of that nation.

 

However, even knowledgable people are not aware that the total debt (Internal + External)  according to the central bank rose to Rs22.2 trillion or $222 billion in 2016-17 compared to Rs14.8 trillion or $148 billion of 2013.

 

The latest figure of the TOTAL debt stands at Rs25 trillion or $250 billion repeat, Dollar 250 billion.

 

Link..https://tribune.com.pk/story/1544770/2-ticking-economic-bomb/%20%5D/

 

Pakistanis are justified in demanding from the  government to inform where this amount of $250 billion internal and external loans were spent, when, even the average entire national budget of the last ten years, was not more than worth $40 billion per year?

 

Just to have an idea of how much value can be derived from 250 billion USD given below is the cost comparisons of few projects in Pakistan and India:

 

Estimated/expected final cost of Orange Line Lahore Metro train (running distance just 27.1 KM’s) in 2018….2 billion USD (rough estimate).

 

Cost of Indian mission to Moon in 2008….Only 80 million USD

 

Cost of Indian mission to Mars in 2013….Only 73 million USD which had to travel about 8 billion KM’s.

 

We Pakistanis must know, that without any doubt, the easiest and surest way of moving ahead, is to stand on our own feet.

 

Foreign aid/loans, can keep us afloat, but won’t allow us to swim. Actually, in constant homegrown methods of growth and development, lies our salvation.

 

Now, the time has come to separate the growth and development in the sectors of education, health, eradication of poverty, environment protection, human development, conservation of water resources and security of Pakistan, from the politics, forever. Politics and these issues of life and death can not go together.

 

In this regard, we can not put cart before the horse, which means that economic emancipation of the teeming millions and Pakistan’s financial stability, should be the top most priority, over all other subjects including the democracy, which can wait after so much waste of time and resources.

 

Even democracy can never deliver without its foundations truly embedded, in rock solid and inevitable local bodies system.

 

It is just a false propaganda of the beneficiaries of the democracy (oligarchs) that if allowed continuity, democracy can work and deliver from the assemblies and senate, without genuinely and financially autonomous grass roots level, fully empowered local bodies system; and not the sham local bodies system, currently prevalent in every province of Pakistan, very reluctantly allowed by the politicians, albeit, on the repeated orders of the Supreme Court.

 

If Pakistan has to be governed and developed with the current system of few provinces of huge areas having large populations, then it immediately needs a revamped and fully empowered local bodies or COUNTY system; else, we will have to convert every division, into a province.

 

In the meantime, a referendum may also be held to decide should we switch towards the presidential system of government.

 

Further, the biggest reason in the collapse of our economy has been the higher than the highest level of corruption which has created an impression and culture, which ensures that the crime of corruption pays and is an acceptable norm of our society; plus the judicial system which has miserably failed to punish the big wigs who are caught on corruption or criminal charges of even day light murders, while providing such top level culprits so much facilities (even permission to travel abroad on humanitarian grounds) during trials; and facilities of house arrests and stay at five star hospitals (during the jail terms) that it motivates others, to always indulge in mega corruption and other criminal activities with impunity.

 

The level of mega corruption, in fact, puts Pakistan at the top of the most corrupt nation’s league in world, whose government level financial irregularities are almost double its size of the budget, as depicted from the news quoted below:

 

Quote.

 

“The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), Javaid Jahangir, has claimed that during the audit year 2017-18 auditors pointed out irregularities amounting to Rs8.276 trillion in the accounts of the federal government.

 

It may be mentioned that this figure is almost double the amount allocated for the fiscal year’s federal budget that is Rs4.75tr.”Unquote.

Link:- https://www.dawn.com/news/1402111

 

We must re-vamp our judicial system to kill the notion that it always pays to indulge in big corruption in Pakistan.

 

Until and unless, the culture of our country which loudly announces that crime of corruption pays in Pakistan, is not changed with radical steps of zero tolerance and no leniency, in corruption court trials and jail sentences; and severe punishments like DEATH SENTENCES are awarded in the corruption crimes, we will remain a Banana Republic of the worst level. Under the circumstances, if certain basic changes in our political and judicial systems are not incorporated in our constitution, no dictator or even best of the best civilian leadership or political party, with all the good intentions, can deliver and succeed in pulling out this country, from the abyss.

 

It has been a good political tactics in the past by all and sundry, particularly by those at the helm of the affairs, to divert the attention of the masses, from the real issues, by mud slinging on politicians, civil and military servants, judges etc.

 

However, now we must put a full stop to this non-sense, which has wasted the entire life of Pakistan.

 

Nothing can match the benefits of the collective wisdom. Since, its a matter of impending economic collapse of the country, impetus for which is being provided by the four devaluations of the currency in the last five months, which obviously is a sure recipe of disaster, for which almost all of us are responsible in one way or the other: almost no one is exempt from the charge of hurting the cause of the country. It looks that a certain gang of oligarchs within ourselves is forcing Pakistan (by design) to irreversible bankruptcy disaster, as if, to punish Pakistan, for its some unpardonable crime.

 

As such, we should decide to look forward and forgive and forget each other’s sins of the past, and take each and every segment and political/social force of the society in confidence, for a very transparent scheme of our future development.

 

In this connection, Mr. Steve Maraboli has very appropriately said that  “Make a pact with yourself today to not be defined by your past. Sometimes the greatest thing to come out of all your hard work isn’t what you get for it, but what you become for it. Shake things up today! Be You… Be Free… Share.”

 

Let us unitedly build a new economically strong and politically stable Pakistan, with our collective and prudent decisions; knowing very well that no political party, group or institution is so strong, to run this country, single handedly, for a sustainable period, without the help and cooperation of each other.

 

Our immediate task must be to stem the economic rot immediately and on EMERGENCY basis.

 

Government of Pakistan (GoP) must be duly warned that rapid devaluation of the PKR is no panacea for the economic stability and amnesty schemes are factually and cruelly legalising crimes of the 1% rich at the expense of the 99% poor Pakistanis.

Rather, devaluations and amnesty schemes are a sure recipe for disaster, which, as a direct side affect, is throwing back more and more Pakistani population, to below the poverty line. Our elite is absolutely hundred percent responsible for exploiting the power, authority and resources at their disposal to keep millions and millions of people below poverty line in Pakistan, thus, causing  deaths of the hapless poor, due to the malnutrition, disease, miseries and suicides due to economic hardships.
Those economic managers of the country, who think that our economic slide into the abyss, can be controlled with huge doses of devaluation, re-defining or re-phrasing the definition of the total public debt, changing the definition of poverty to people who live on 2$ per day income to 1$ per day income; launching of amnesty schemes or issuing SRO’s and by fudging the economic numbers: are behaving like a pigeon; which closes its eyes, on seeing a cat.
We have been writing in the past that it’s a big misnomer and deliberate disinformation that Pakistanis don’t pay taxes.
The fact is that all the 220 million Pakistanis pay taxes on each and every item of daily use including medicines.
The devil lies in the fact that above 80% indirect taxes and less than 20% direct taxation, is the major cause of our backwardness; and on two dollar per day income basis, is the main reason, of over 130 million population, living below the poverty line.
Moreover, 10% poorest pay 17% of the tax revenue to the government; and richest 10% pay only 10% of the revenue to the government.
Until and unless, these abnormalities of our economic system are corrected, it will be well neigh impossible, to take out major portion of our population (which numbers may well have now increased substantially over 130 million after the recent massive devaluations of PKR) from the below poverty line income segment of poor people, earning less than two dollars per day.
Massive devaluation of currency, launching of amnesty schemes, exorbitantly high direct taxations, rampant corruption in government departments, issuing SRO’s for benefitting the ultra rich and regularly increasing the POL prices and rates of utility bills are all anti-poor measures and thus, in a society where hundreds of kids are dying due to malnutrition, these acts must be classified as crime against humanity.
In this regard, the fastest way to reduce the poverty, is to ensure direct foreign investment into Pakistan, for which our foreign missions must be given specific urgent targets.
Other means includes:
– Immediate and urgent orders must be issued for observance of most strict austerity measures in all the civil and military departments of the government, which must include ban of foreign tours, foreign medical expenses, purchases of new cars and air conditioners, reduction in petrol limits to 50% and ban on all official entertainments of every type.

Moreover, in Pakistan, we can easily control our expenses, if the following statement is adopted as a motto/mission; and implemented as an official policy, and is also displayed in the offices of the civil and military bureaucracy, just below the portrait of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Sahab:

 

“Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.”

– Immediately replacing the entire existing economic team of the government, because they are the very people who have led Pakistan to a virtual bankruptcy, may be on the advice or pressures of foreign lending agencies.
– By bringing back the billions of dollars illegal foreign funds and stolen properties of Pakistanis, a la the Saudi Arabian Model.
– Recovery of illegally/approved under political pressure, all written off loans and bad debts, by imposing economic emergency laws, on fast track basis.
– Immediate launching of a scheme for payment of 3% PA profit (payable bi-annually) on Foreign Currency bank deposits in Pakistan (backed by the sovereign guarantee of the GoP) with a suitable, but attractive fixed period. This is a fool proof scheme, sans any risk, which can boost up our foreign reserves, in a very short time, on extremely cheap rates, as compared to the foreign loans and international bonds, which were sold by the previous government of PMLN, at even 8.25% interest rates (Pakistan will be repaying USD 910 million for USD 500 million Euro Bonds) for which the then PM Mian Nawaz Sharif was requested to hold an inquiry, to fix the responsibility of the culprit(s), who allowed the sale of Euro Bonds, on such a criminally high interest rates.
We must also realise that our personal safety and better future lies in accommodating and cooperating with each other, with the sole aim of building a STRONG Pakistan, under the slogan “Re-born Pakistan”.

In this regard, it is suggested that, we should AIM to bring Pakistan, to the level of Singapore of 2018, by the year 2040.

 

All politics and other considerations should be made subservient to this TARGET for 2040, even if we have to abolish weekly holidays for the next 20 years & reduce our daily sleeping time to 6 hours.

 

All stake holders, particularly, from the deprived sections of the society in Pakistan, must immediately come forward, for deciding about the direction of the future of the nation.

 

Biggest factor in any victory is self-confidence. Anti-thesis of terrorism is education, coupled with economic emancipation. But it must be remembered that no country or society has ever risen from ashes, without individual and collective sacrifices and discipline, for example Japan, China, Korea, Turkey and Malaysia. Basically these nations did not waste their time on feeding precious resources to top level democracy which automatically breeds oligarchy. [Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may be distinguished by nobilitywealthfamily tieseducation or corporatereligious or military control. Such states are often controlled by families who typically pass their influence from one generation to the next, but inheritance is not a necessary condition for the application of this term. Throughout history, oligarchies have often been tyrannical, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich, for which another term commonly used today is plutocracy.

 

Link:- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy ]. The achievement of these countries named above were not the outcome of democracy at the top level, but participation of the entire population in the nation building at the grass roots level. These nations have risen (from the conditions worse than Pakistan) by the honesty of purpose of their leadership, national discipline, engagement of all segments of society from the grass roots level and rule of law. We very recently watched the example of rule of law from South Korea, where their former lady president was brought to court handcuffed, for a trial on corruption charges.

 

As such, our nation must embark upon the following agenda, to resurrect our economy, without any further loss of time.

 

1. We should not expect any different results at the end of the five term after the general elections of 2018 from what we got after the GE-2013. Why; because for any different result there has to be some change. In fact, famous scientist Albert Einstein defined INSANITY as  doing the same thing over and over again, without any charge  and expecting different results.

 

Now since this country of 220 million population can not afford any further waste of time with so called democratic and dictatorship experiments, it will be prudent to look forward and immediately form a national government, which must be specifically government devoid of Hitmen of the lending agencies and controversial and dishonest people.

 

This homegrown government should consist of honest members from every segment of society for example labourers, peasants, teachers /professors, students, minorities, professionals from all possible fields and experts from the fields of media, law, military, diplomacy and civil administration.

 

2. This national government should request to all foreign donors for a 5 years moratorium, on all debt repayments by Pakistan, which is a frontline state of the world’s war on terror (WOT). Here don’t forget that the world powers have totally written off loans of many countries, for much less cooperation than Pakistan, which is practically fighting their war for more than a decade; and Pakistan still NOT charging a penny for overflights in the ongoing war of terror being  fought in Afghanistan.

 

3. 20% per annum reduction in all non-developmental government expenditures, plus total freeze in all perks paid from the national exchequer, involving foreign currency.

 

4. Maximum tax rate on each and every type of income in Pakistan should be fixed at 10%. This will not only bring huge revenues to the government by giving a fillip to the badly suppressed economy, but will also discourage (to a very large extent) the tax evasion tendencies.

 

5. Increase in productivity & exports with liberal tax and tariff relief to industry, commerce, trade and agriculture. In fact, our strong point is agriculture and our focus should be to revolutionise it with most modern technologies of smart agriculture, which easily has the potential to create five million jobs in just five years.

 

6. Set a target for 20% per annum increase in foreign remittances, by offering innovative incentives to expatriate Pakistanis.

 

7. Outsource the FBR (which will alone increase income by Rs.500 to Rs.1,000 billion) and IMPOSE FLAT 10% tax on ALL & EVERY TYPE OF INCOME (as already mentioned at 3. above), without any exemption or SRO’s (except for the Police and security forces personnel whose salaries may be doubled with expected receipt of un-precedented increase in revenues, due to the above suggestions). This will not only reduce income tax burden on salaried class (with maximum tax rate of 10%),  but will also result in so much increase in revenues, to the extent that government will not require any tax imposition, in the budget. Plus, the government will be able to give tax free salaries to all the armed forces, rangers, police and other security agencies personnel, who are shedding their blood, in fighting the menace of terrorism, for our and our children’s safe TOMORROW.

 

8. The collective financial loss of State Enterprises is above Rs.500 billions per annum. All such entities should be immediately handed over to highly professional, dead honest, most patriotic successful Pakistani and or overseas businessmen, to head and bring in their own members of board of directors, to immediately turn around and successfully run these organisations, like world class companies, as a national cause service to the motherland, on war footings.

 

Few of the names which comes to mind of our world class successful Pakistani talented entrepreneurs, fully capable to serve the country in times of its dire need, are as below:

 

– Mr. Shahid Khan at USA, with net worth of $3.8 billion.

He owns Jacksonville Jaguars which worth $770 Million, plus a team in English Premier League ‘Fulham F.C’ which worth $300 Million and also He is the owner of Flex – N – Gate. He is the Richest person of Pakistan. He is presently living in USA. His main source of earnings are from the business of Auto parts manufacturing. He is counted as the 490th richest person in the world.

 

– Sir Anwar Pervaiz O.B.E

He is the founder and chairman of Bestway Group which is known as the country’s second largest cement producer and 16th largest cash and carry operator in UK, and also he is the Deputy Chairman of United Bank Limited Pakistan. He is one of the renowned investor. He is known as the great businessman in the country. His net worth is $1.5 Billion.

 

– Mr. Salim Ghauri is a renowned IT Entrepreneur recognised globally today. He is the founder & CEO of NetSol Technologies (1996).

 

– Mr. Razzaq Dawood is a highly reputed and successful industrialist and philanthropist. One of the founders of the famous LUMS university. He is founder of Descon.

 

– Mr. Sikandar Mustafa Khan is Chairman Millat group of companies and heads many organisations and forums. He is credited in the country for successfully heading buyout of a government run organisation which is a rare example in the industrial sector of the country in which employees of the same organisation purchased their company and created history of a terrific success story under the professional and administrative leadership of Mr. Sikandar M. Khan.

 

9. Pakistan’s Foreign policy is excellent in theory, perhaps the best in the world. However, this policy should be implemented in its true letter and spirit with core emphasis on PEACE particularly with its neighbours; and FP’s thrust and theme should be that any and every action must result in the economic benefit of the country.

 

10. Initiate steps (by imposing economic emergency) to bring each and every economic activity under document.

 

There is absolutely no doubt that by the dint of sheer hard work, sincerity & honesty, which is imbibed in the bones of the Pakistani work force, we can surely bring Pakistan, into the comity of 20 developed nations of the world, in the next 15-20 years.

 

The current leaders of Pakistan holding the destiny of this great nation, with highest manpower potential and material resources in the world, must remember the following two adages.

 

~ NOT FAILURE BUT SETTING LOW AIM IS A CRIME.

 

~ IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE IMPOSSIBLE IT IS PRECISELY THE UNTHINKABLE WHICH MUST BE THOUGHT.

Devaluation is a sure recipe of economic meltdown..!

Devaluation is a sure recipe of economic meltdown..!

Government of Pakistan (GoP) must be duly warned that rapid devaluation of the PKR is no panacea for the economic stability.

Rather, it is a sure recipe for disaster, which, as a direct side affect, is throwing back more and more Pakistani population, to below the poverty line.

Those economic managers of the country, who think that our economic slide into the abyss, can be controlled with more and more devaluation (in fact four times in the last five months, re-defining or re-phrasing the definition of the total public debt, changing the definition of poverty to people who live on 2$ per day income to 1$ per day income and by fudging the economic numbers: are behaving like a pigeon; which closes its eyes, on seeing a cat.

I have been writing in the past that it’s a misnomer and disinformation that Pakistanis don’t pay taxes.

The fact is that all the 220 million Pakistanis pay taxes.

The devil lies in the fact that above 80% indirect taxes and less than 20% direct taxation, is the major cause of our backwardness; and on two dollar per day income basis, is the main reason, of over 130 million population, living below the poverty line.

Moreover, 10% poorest pay 17% of the tax revenue to the government; and richest 10% pay only 10% of the revenue to the government.

Until and unless, these abnormalities of our economic system are corrected, it will be well neigh impossible, to take out major portion of our population (which numbers may well have now increased substantially over 130 million after the recent massive devaluations of PKR) from the below poverty line income segment of poor people, earning less than two dollars per day.

In this regard, the fastest way to reduce the poverty, is to ensure direct foreign investment into Pakistan, for which our foreign missions must be given specific targets.

Other means includes immediately replacing the entire existing economic team of the SBP and the MoF. And by bringing back the billions of dollars illegal foreign funds and properties of Pakistanis, a la the Saudi Arabian Model and recovery of illegally written off loans and bad debts, by imposing economic emergency laws, on fast track basis.

Last but not the least, immediate launching of a scheme for payment of 3% PA profit (payable bi-annually) on Foreign Currency bank deposits in Pakistan (backed by the sovereign guarantee of the GoP) with a suitable, but attractive fixed period. This is a fool proof scheme, sans any risk, which can boost up our foreign reserves, in a very short time, on extremely cheap rates, as compared to the foreign loans and international bonds, which were sold by the previous government of PMLN, at even 8.25% interest rates (Pakistan will be repaying USD 910 million for USD 500 million Euro Bonds) for which the ten PM Mian Nawaz Sharif was requested to hold an inquiry, to fix the responsibility of the culprit(s), who allowed the sale of Euro Bonds, on such a criminally high interest rates.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad
Sydney


Alarm bells ringing for the GoP – Red lines of the economic crisis have been crossed

Government of Pakistan (GoP) must be severely warned that rapid devaluation of the PKR is no panacea for the economic stability. Rather, it is a sure recipe for disaster, which, as a direct side affect, is throwing back more and more Pakistani population, to below the poverty line.

Those economic managers of the country, who think that our economic slide into the abyss, can be controlled with devaluation, re-defining the total public debt, changing the definition of poverty to people who live on 2$ per day income to 1$ per day income and by fudging the economic numbers, are behaving like a pigeon; which closes its eyes, on seeing a cat.

I have been writing in the past that it’s a misnomer and disinformation that Pakistanis don’t pay taxes.

The fact is that all the 220 million Pakistanis pay taxes.

The devil lies in the fact that above 80% indirect taxes and less than 20% direct taxation, is the major cause of our backwardness; and on two dollar per day income basis, is the main reason, of over 130 million population, living below the poverty line.

Moreover, 10% poorest pay 17% of the tax revenue to the government; and richest 10% pay only 10% of the revenue to the government.

Until and unless, these abnormalities of our economic system are corrected, it will be well neigh impossible, to take out major portion of our population (which numbers may well have now increased substantially over 130 million after the recent massive devaluation of PKR) from the below poverty line income segment of population, earning less than two dollars per day.

In this regard, the fastest way to reduce poverty, is to ensure direct foreign investment into Pakistan, for which our foreign missions must be given specific targets.

Other means includes immediate sacking of the entire existing economic team of the SBP and the MoF. And by bringing back the billions of dollars illegal foreign funds and properties of Pakistanis, a la the Saudi Arabian Model and recovery of illegally written off loans and bad debts, by imposing economic emergency laws, on fast track basis.

Last but not the least, immediate launching of a scheme for payment of 3% PA profit (payable bi-annually) on Foreign Currency bank deposits in Pakistan (backed by the sovereign guarantee of the GoP) with a suitable, but attractive fixed period. This is a fool proof scheme, sans any risk, which can boost up our foreign reserves, in very short time, on extremely cheap rates as compared to foreign loans and international bonds, which were sold by the previous government of PMLN, at even 8.25% rates, for which I had then requested to Mian Nawaz Sharif, to hold an inquiry, to fix the responsibility of the culprit(s), who allowed the sale of Euro Bonds, on such a criminally high interest rates.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Sydney

Wake up Pakistanis before you are robbed..!

An Urgent Appeal to Conscientious Pakistanis all over the Globe.

SAY NO TO CORRUPTION

To:

All the Pakistani politicians and rest of the Pakistanis in Pakistan or abroad, who staunchly stand for the cleansing of our government and society from the cancer of corruption:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

AoA.

The federal government and the ECP are separately going into appeal with the SCP against the decision of the LHC for the mandatory submission of all the details in the nomination papers of the candidates of the Elections 2018 about their assets, nationality, Iqama, businesses and other sources of income before being eligible for the elections.

Dear Pakistanis,

If this vital information is not provided before the elections in the nomination papers (which was mandatory in all previous elections and now being withdrawn for E18 onwards to circumvent the Articles 62 & 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan), it will encourage huge/mega corrupt practices in the Pakistani government and society, without any fear or hindrance and tear apart the remains of social fabric of the honest people in the society.

This will in-fact, open the flood gates of corruption in Pakistan.

It is apparently an ingenious move to sabotage the Articles 62 & 63 of the constitution; and will effectively render impossible, to prove any elected public representative, liable for actions under the Articles 62 & 63 of the constitution, which almost means the aforementioned Articles of the constitution have been check mated, in an indirect way.

As such, kindly support this cause in favour of the LHC decision in the SCP (don’t forget that the ECP lawyer originally supported this matter in the LHC hearing and which helped the Honourable Judge of the LHC to give her verdict in favour of retaining the provision of all information which was earlier required for the submission of nomination papers) with all the force and strength at your disposal, particularly, on the electronic and social media, to save our future generations, for which our martyrs have been shedding their blood to achieve a Pakistan which will be safe, peaceful, prosperous, just and corruption free.

Best Regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad
What’s app
+92 321 9402157

Sydney
————————————
I have launched a social media campaign on my Face Book and associated groups accounts, regarding total information requirement on candidates that has been curbed by last National Assembly.
If you like what I have please spread the word

We want to know “everything”….about the candidates we vote for in 2018
We will not go into elections, unless we have complete knowledge of every candidate.
PS: please copy and repost if you agree.
http://tns.thenews.com.pk/embarrassing-disclosures/#.WxMp9v9RWEc

 

Embarrassing disclosures

Dr. Ikramul Haq and Huzaima Bukhari

In the name of electoral reforms, all the political parties collusively and cleverly ensured non-disclosure of essential details in nomination forms for the forthcoming elections. Whenever we write about the existence of an unholy, anti-people alliance amongst elites — militro-judicial-civil complex, politicians and businessmen — many think it is mere rhetoric or vent by the under-privileged against the rich and mighty. However, time and again, they have proved otherwise. The latest manifestation is passing of the Election Act, 2017.

In the name of electoral reforms, all the parties collusively and cleverly ensured non-disclosure of essential details in the nomination forms to be used in the forthcoming elections. They have failed to realise that this was a requirement of the supreme law of the land (fundamental right of the voters to judge their representative on the touchstone of Articles 62 and 63). Concealing vital information relating to payment of taxes and loan write-offs etc is in conflict with Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, but till today neither any writ has been filed nor has the Supreme Court taken any suo moto action.

In the wake of 2008 and 2013 elections, the people of Pakistan thought that the rulers would respect their mandate by moving towards accountability of all and establishing an egalitarian society — the essence of people’s rule. What happened is just the opposite. Instead of showing any serious effort to reform the system, the elites are ensuring that financial matters are not scrutinised properly. Rather, these are totally eclipsed from public glare.

 

This concern is recently expressed by Tariq Malik, ex-Chairman of National Database & Registration Authority [NADRA] in an op-ed as under:

“Sadly, the Election Act of 2017 has clipped the powers of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to scrutinise candidates with regard to the declarations about their income, asset and loan status. Under the previous nomination forms all election candidates had to declare under oath that: “I hereby solemnly declare to the best of my knowledge and belief that (i) no loan for an amount of Rs2 million or more obtained from any bank, financial institution, cooperative society or corporate body in my own name or in the name of my spouse or any of my dependants or any business concern mainly owned by me or the aforesaid stands unpaid for more than one year from the due date or has been written off.”

Similar declarations were required with regard to the payment of utility bills and any criminal offences. Considerable administrative input has already gone into efficiently compiling this information and strengthening the capacity of the ECP to scrutinise candidates in the light of these public disclosures. There is clearly room for improvement, but it is ill-advised to do away with such public declarations altogether…….. The revised format for nomination papers would no longer allow ordinary citizens to access information on loan defaults and taxes paid by candidates. With regard to the former, there is a clear attempt by our political class to shelve the issue as a closed and shut case.

A legacy of the 1990s era, loan defaults were, in their essence, a political issue. Respective governments in this period used state-owned banks to grant loans to politicians masquerading as businessmen. In many cases, political clout was used to write off the loans of connected borrowers. In their seminal and landmark research on the subject, Asim Khwaja and Atif Mian, two social scientists, have already shown that politically connected firms during the 1990s and early 2000s were 45 per cent more likely to obtain a loan from government-owned banks and were 50 per cent more likely to default on these loans. Many of these beneficiaries should be clearly ineligible for public representation.

Many beneficiaries of loan write-offs are still part of parliaments though Supreme Court asked the government to punish them and their accomplices. Supreme Court in Suo Moto Case No. 26 of 2007 and Human Rights Case Nos. 2698/06, 133, 778-P, 13933 and 14072-P of 2009, while questioning the authority and jurisdiction of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to waive off loans, constituted on June 3, 2011, a three-member commission, headed by Justice Syed Jamshed Ali, former judge of apex court, to prepare a report in respect of recovery of written off loans from 1971 onwards.

The commission submitted its report in Supreme Court and a hearing was conducted on February 20, 2013. The Court in its order of the same date ordered: “the report of the Commission to be made public, which is available for inspection according to the Rules to all and sundry. However, the procedure for allowing inspection of the report shall be regularized by the office. The locked iron boxes are ordered to be kept in safe custody along with their keys.” A notice was also issued to all the learned counsels appearing in the case and all concerned for March 15, 2013.

The commission revealed that loans worth Rs2.38 billon were waived off between 1971 and 1991 whereas loans worth Rs84.62 billion were waived off between 1992 and 2009. The commission, while holding bankers responsible for extending short-term or long-term loan facility to borrowers on inadequate securities, had recommended action against willful defaulters who took benefit of SBP’s Circular BPD No. 29, which expired on April 14, 2003 although the banks continued writing off loans till 2011.

The commission also has given the names of companies and directors who were beneficiaries of loan waivers but no action has been taken till today. The commission could only probe 740 cases and proposed that 222 more cases should also be probed as Rs35 billion were waived off in those cases. The report found serious irregularities in loans given to politicians, civil and military bureaucracy, but could not get proofs about waiver on political basis, as bank officials allegedly “concealed the facts because they were afraid of the influential persons.”

The bankers, the report says, “have given only business reasons for writing off the loans.” The report consisted of three volumes — Volume I (Report of the Commission), Volume-II (Parts I to VII, synopsis of individual cases), Volume-III (Annexure of Volume I) — and the supplementary paper book (containing different correspondence).

The commission suggested four steps: (i) principal amount should be recovered less payment already made, if any (ii) tribunals comprising the on duty or retired judges of High Courts should be set up for the recovery of amounts (iii) legislation for the recovery of written off loans should be made and (iv) action should also be taken against the credit committees. As expected, the powerful vested interests resisted all the steps proposed by the commission. Till today, not a single rupee stands recovered from any big fish. Now they want to conceal these facts from voters as well in the nomination papers!

The inquiry into loans write offs by the commission revealed the modus operandi used for looting public money by the powerful segments of society. It is time that the plunderers of public funds are punished and money squandered by them is recovered as suggested by the commission without any further delay — it is essential for establishing true democratic polity and bringing about transparency in both the public and private institutions. If 2018 elections are held without such scrutiny, it will be nothing but another farce for the people of Pakistan.

It is a constitutional command that honest and truthful declaration of all facts, assets and liabilities by a contesting or returned candidate in his/her nomination papers, constitutes a benchmark for reviewing his/her integrity and probity in the discharge of his/her duties and functions as an aspiring or elected legislator. Statement of assets and liabilities along with other financial disclosures is a constitutional requirement and cannot be waived or relaxed under the Election Act, 2017 — a subordinate legislation. These disclosures are not only essential but represent fundamental right of voters for determining the suitability of any candidate.

Ten million jobs..!

27 May 2018

Ten million jobs..!

Dear Mr. Asad Umar,

AoA.

Sir,

Please accept my wholehearted appreciation on your excellent article titled “Ten million jobs” published today on 27 May 2018 by the daily “The News”.

In this regard, as stated in your today’s article that Pakistanis should guide you on how best to provide an honourable livelihood to all our citizens and put the country on the path to sustainable prosperity; I give below my humble suggestions for engaging millions of our youth, in productive activities, through a well coordinated program, as per the details reproduced and also link given below:

Link:- https://www.snayyar.com/how-to-transform-pakistan-the-most-heroin-addicted-country.html#sthash.UXuhBx7d.dpbs

Best Regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

What’s app +92 321 9402157

Cell:               +61 490098320

Sydney

 


 

How to transform – The most heroin-addicted country?

14 December 2016
Respected Prime Minister of Pakistan,
Respected all leaders of the political parties in Pakistan,
Respected all Pakistanis,
AoA.
Sir,

The following email message from the VP USA, reveals how much importance the US government is attaching to combat the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic ripping apart families and communities in America.

Email of VP USA Joe Biden, reproduced below, as an eye opener:

From: “Vice President Joe Biden”
Date: 13 December 2016 at 9:37:24 PM GMT+5
To: <nayyar51@hotmail.com>
Subject: God willing, this bill will save lives:
The White House, Washington
Last Monday night, forty-four years after the people of Delaware first sent me to the United States Senate, I presided over a Senate vote for one of the last times.

As Vice President of the United States and president of the Senate, I served as the presiding officer as the Senate moved forward on the 21st Century Cures Act, a bill that will harness America’s best minds in science, medicine, and technology to tackle the biggest health challenges of our time.

This bill will help us combat the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic ripping apart families and communities. It invests in programs to improve mental health treatment and suicide prevention. It will provide resources for President Obama’s BRAIN and Precision Medicine initiatives, so that our world-class researchers can figure out how to better prevent, treat, and eventually cure Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injuries.

And this is the part that’s personal for me and for millions of Americans: The 21st Century Cures Act invests $1.8 billion to help us end cancer as we know it. For over a year, I’ve been leading our National Cancer Moonshot to fundamentally change the culture of our fight against cancer and inject a sense of urgency into it. This bill goes a long way to help us — investing in promising new therapies, enhancing prevention and detection efforts in every community regardless of zip code, and bringing us closer to the day when there are vaccines for all kinds of cancer, just as we have them for measles or mumps.

God willing, this bill will save lives.

While I was presiding in the Senate, my colleagues from both sides of the aisle renamed the section of this bill on cancer research for my son, Beau, who lost his battle with brain cancer, but like countless Americans who lost their own battles, inspires us to do everything we can for the loved ones we can save. My thanks goes out to the bipartisan leadership — Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate — who ensured that this important bill became law. Without this true bipartisan support, this piece of legislation, which will help millions of Americans, would not have been possible.

Today, President Obama will sign the 21st Century Cures Act into law. One last time in our Administration, I will stand right by him at a signing ceremony — proud of our country, and proud of the work we’ve done to give people hope.

I hope you’ll join me.

Thanks,

Joe
We wish our federal and provincial governments in Pakistan were also aware about the drug related damage, being caused by this menace which is more damaging than terrorism, to our future generations.

In this regard, the recent deaths of a student of LUMS in Lahore and a lady in the Chamba House Lahore, reportedly due to the drugs overuse, is just the tip of the iceberg.

If anyone wants to know the stark reality of the gravity of drug menace in Pakistan, the following two paragraphs of an article’s link given below, will suffice as an eye opener:

Quote:
“Pakistan, a country already tormented by regional insurgencies, is fighting a losing battle against a different kind of foe: drug addiction. In the country’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), an estimated 11 percent of residents use illicit substances – primarily heroin. Peshwar, the provincial capital of KPK, is a city rife with homeless addicts and dirty needles.”

“Pakistan’s illegal drug trade is believed to generate $2 billion a year [making] Pakistan the most heroin-addicted country, per capita, in the world.” Unquote.

Link:- http://thediplomat.com/2014/03/pakistan-the-most-heroin-addicted-country-in-the-world/

In this connection, it is earnestly and urgently requested that the Prime Minister of Pakistan and all opposition parties, particularly having representation in the parliament (because they are ruling in all the four provinces of the country), to accord top priority to protect our future generations, from the most deadly menace of increasing drugs use trend, in our kids and youth on streets and educational institutions, by joining hands in planning and execution of legislation and action plans, on war like emergency basis.

In this regard, we should not only concentrate to fight the drug menace from just one angle, but our plan should be multi pronged, encompassing every conceivable activity in society, to provide healthy atmosphere to our youth.

First of all we must include the dangers of drugs use in the curriculum of the junior classes to educate and brain wash our youth in their early ages.

Sports is another activity in which, fortunately, our youth loves to indulge in.

Revival of sports in country will also provide jobs to many jobless youth in our country.

In this regard, a presentation on how to revive sports in Pakistan was given to the PMO on 6 September, 2016 wherein, it was also suggested to build few modern sports cities (as a part of CPEC program) to channelise the energy of our youth from drugs, crime and terrorism towards healthy sports activities, along with automatic provision of jobs, from the newly created sports industry.

Somehow, it seems that like all previous governments, this PMLN government does not even consider sports, as one of its last priorities.

If anyone wants to know the importance of sports in transforming a society, kindly peruse the following statement of late Nelson Mandela, slightly modified to be applicable on current Pakistani state of affairs of the society.

Quote:
“Sports has the power to change Pakistan…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite Pakistani people in a way that little else does. It speaks to the Pakistani youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope for the entire Pakistani nation, where once there was only despair, lawlessness, hunger, unemployment, poverty, drugs, suicide bombings and alarming increase of suicides due to the economic hardships. It is more powerful than government in breaking down the menace of drugs and terrorism which has blown the country to the smithereens.”
Unquote.

Best Regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

 

 

An advice/plan previously given on 26 June 2016 to PMLN’s government titled “How to improve economy with sports?” which fell on deaf ears of those who were never bothered about the welfare of the teeming millions of Pakistan.

 

How to improve national economy and reduce expenses on health budget with investment in sports..?

 

26 June 2016

Respected Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sahab,

اسلام و علیکم

Sir,

The subject mentioned article is submitted for your personal kind perusal and is based on an old maxim quoted as below:

“The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton”.
(i) The British were given to believe the real reason which tipped the balance in their favour in wars was the superior character of its young men built in boarding schools while playing games like cricket.

(ii) Eton was one of the famous English boarding schools that trained English boys for careers in the military, civil service and the church. (DAANISH Schools of the Punjab Government are a great example of a visionary project to turn around the fortunes of the future generations of Pakistan).

(iii) Famous public schools saw team sports like cricket not just as outdoor play, but as an organised way of teaching English boys, the discipline, the importance of hierarchy, the skills, the codes of honour and the leadership qualities that helped them build and run the British Empire.

(iv) Through the game of cricket-the ideal that cricket was played not for victory or profit but for its own sake, in the spirit of fair play, the British imperialists sought to justify their conquests and glorify the self image of English elite as “unselfish acts”.

(v) Though it suited the English ruling class to believe that it was the superior character of its young men built on playing fields that tipped the balance, the Napoleanic wars were won due to the economic resources of England. It was progress in trade and industry which made England, the world’s greatest power.

As such, a humble effort is made with the subject mentioned article reproduced below, to raise this nation’s full economic potential in trade and industry, through a physically super-fit Pakistani population, which must collectively believe in the saying “healthy body healthy mind’.

Last but not the least, we have to consider the 200 million population of Pakistan, as a huge manpower asset of this planet, which needs to channelise its positive energy into specific future goals, set by the nation’s visionary leadership. The national leadership must also determine, how to achieve these goals.

ARTICLE.

It is no secret that how politics coupled with corruption, has spoiled the sports in the country, which has earned the DUBIOUS distinction of the worlds BIGGEST nation, NOT to have earned a single medal in the Olympics, since the year 1994. While, much smaller and poorer countries like Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Kenya, have proved that winning medals at international level is just a matter of commitment, dedication and simple hard work, sans politics.

In the past, luckily our cricket, hockey, squash and some other sporting teams and players have been bringing laurels for Pakistan; with very little money, extremely small size governing boards and minimal politics.

Gradually, the foundations of key sports in Pakistan were eaten up by the greed of money, rampant corruption, nepotism, politics and incompetencies of the successive governments, sports managers and the players combined.

If, we have to put the sports in Pakistan back on the right track, two basic things are necessary.

Firstly, a vision and secondly, visionary and totally focused sports leadership, to put Pakistan back on top, at the worlds’ sports map.

As far as, the vision is concerned, nothing ever said about sports can match the following quote of Mr. Nelson Mandela, “Sport has the power to change the world…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”

Now, taking a cue from the above mentioned statement of Mr. Nelson Mandela, it is suggested that Pakistani government should slightly re-phrase it and declare the following as its VISION statement:

“Sports has the power to change Pakistan…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite Pakistani people in a way that little else does. It speaks to the Pakistani youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope for the entire Pakistani nation, where once there was only despair, lawlessness, hunger, unemployment, poverty, drugs, suicide bombings and alarming increase of suicides due to the economic hardships. It is more powerful than government in breaking down the menace of terrorism which has blown the country to the smithereens.”

Moreover, sports raised in the country on modern and scientific lines can be one of the biggest economic sector; providing employment, reducing poverty and drastically improving public health and fitness levels.

Under an sports advisor to the Prime Minister, we need to have a Pakistan Sports Commission (PSC) responsible for central planning under the banner میرا پاکستان sports system.

Under the this system, Pakistan will root out talented young children and put them in special academies from as young as four years old. If they are able to progress, athletes who make the cut should be put into a relentless training programme, filled with targets they must regularly hit, and paid by the government a monthly wage of Rs.60,000/-

Each year, the best athletes should then be sent to national training centres to be established at all the provincial capitals, where they will compete to enter Pakistan’s national team.

If they will succeed, they will move with their families into these training centres and live there all year round. These centres will train the sportspersons having the following mission statement:

“There will be no breakthrough without the hardest hardship. You cannot be a champion without going through the ultimate pressure”.

For as long as they will be successful, the national team members will benefit from perks including air tickets for their parents to watch them compete and, in some cases, sponsorship deals.

Sportspersons who will win medals in international competitions, or with national titles, can attend university after their career ends, with the tuition fee paid for, by the government.

The Pakistan Sports Commission (PSC) should have three units under the Advisor on Sports to the PM, namely the administrative departments, sport competition management centres, and other support and services institutions.

The PSC will be closely tied with All Sports Federations of Pakistan and the Pakistan Olympic Committee (POA). Besides forming strategies for sport development, overseeing their implementation, and developing mid- and long-range sport development plans, the PSC will be responsible for 9 number of functions as detailed below:

1. Creating a national sport framework

2. Promoting physical activity and exercise participation in schools and local and regional communities

3. Organising national sporting events

4. Organising international sport events in Pakistan.

5. Enforcing antidrug and anticompetitive measures.

6. Supporting research into the development of sports.

7. Implementing regulations governing the sport industry, sport market, and sport-related business activities.

8. Implementing national physical training standards and supervising public health in coordination with the Ministry of Health.

9. Overseeing sport activities with foreign associations and teams, and sport-related cooperation and communication with foreign countries.

To fulfill the nation’s Olympic strategies and ambition, the PSC and sport authorities at the provincial level will play a key role in promoting sport development in Pakistan.

One of the strategies should be the sponsorship of the Pakistan National Games (PNG), modelled after the modern Olympic Games; the PNG will be the largest and most important sport extravaganza in Pakistan. Each province-level administrative unit should send a team to compete in the PNG. The preparation for and competition at the PNG will allow the government to cultivate elite Pakistani athletes for major world competitions.

The essence of Pakistani Olympic strategies and ambition will be a unique system of selecting and training elite athletes.

Pakistan will become one of the few countries in the world that dedicate and use spare-time sport schools extensively to train and prepare future elite athletes. A spare-time sport school will be a boarding school specialized in sport and established to train Olympic hopefuls. Students will be selected for their athletic talent. They will take academic classes in the morning and engage in rigorous sport training sessions in the afternoon. These sport schools will serve as a reserve pool for elite sport teams at the provincial and national levels.

The Sports Law of Pakistan should became effective within six months of the formation of the PSC, becoming the first fundamental legal document for sport.

The Sports Law will establish the main tasks and key principles in managing the sport industry, confirming the importance of mass sport, and identifying the duties and responsibilities of sport-related organizations.

Essentially, the law will set the framework for the development of modern sport in Pakistan. The enactment of the law will signify that the sport industry in Pakistan has entered a new era under the protection of the country’s legal system.

Based on the Sports Law, local governments at provincial and city levels will have the right and authority to make their own rules for managing sport within their jurisdictions.

The Plan for Olympic Glories should also be released by the PSC within six months of its formation. The plan should outline three goals:

(a) restructuring the system in elite sport training and management.

(b) enhancing the elite athlete delivery pipeline and system (including sport schools).

(c) endeavours to maintain the nation’s leading position in world sport competitions.

The PSC should also promulgate the guidelines for a national fitness program. The guidelines should be drafted with the aim of improving the health and the overall physical condition of the general population.

The guidelines will encourage everyone, especially children and adolescence, to engage in at least one sporting activity every day, learn at least two ways of keeping fit, and have a health examination every year.

The aim will be that by 2020 about 40 percent of Pakistan’s population would be regularly participating in physical activity and that clear improvement would take place in the physical fitness level of Pakistani citizens.

In this modern era sports needs professionalisation which will lead to commercialisation; this means that sports associations become profit-making entities and that there will be a club system and professional sports leagues will also be formed. Sports clubs operations will cover ticket sales, advertising, club transfers, commercial matches, and television broadcasting.

This will open for world wide sports playing and related job opportunities for Pakistani sportspersons.

Best Regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Summer of content: Reply of US CENTCOM

US CENTCOM’s Reply to my comments on the report published by the daily ”The Express Tribune” titled ”Summer of content: Sunny days begin anew for Pak-US relations” dated 3 August 2012.
My comments:
Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad
Aug 3, 2012 – 9:36AM
Let us earnestly hope that its not the case of sunny days for US and rainy days for Pakistan.
US Centcom
Sep 14, 2012 – 8:06PM
Reply
Dear Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad,
We should be optimistic about the future of our relationship. We are fighting a common war, and it only makes sense for us to cooperate and coordinate against our common enemies. The recent meetings between our government officials show that we are working closely to address our common objectives. We’ve been able to overcome some difficult situations and realize that it is in our best interest to work together and negate the threat pose by terrorist organizations like the Haqqani network and the TTP. We echo what George E. Little, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, said recently: “We believe that the Pakistani government shares our view that terrorists threaten both countries, both Pakistan and the United States. Scores of Pakistanis have regrettably been killed by terrorists inside Pakistan. We, of course, have suffered losses as well, inside Pakistan and elsewhere, from al-Qaeda and from other terrorist groups operating along the Afghan-Pakistan border. So we have common cause with the Pakistanis. We’re working closely with the Pakistanis on the counterterrorism issue, and we will continue to do so.”

Link:- https://tribune.com.pk/story/416930/summer-of-content-sunny-days-begin-anew-for-pak-us-relations/

14 billion dollar question..!

My rejoinder to Mr. Khurram Hussain on his article titled “The 4.9 billion-dollar blunder” published by the daily “Dawn” dated 10 May, 2018.

Link:-https://www.dawn.com/news/1406785

Sir,
The writer says ”Go down to the bottom of the page, and the text next to the asterisk reads: “Estimated outflows based on remittance inflows and the bilateral remittance matrix”. There is your first clue that the figure is not a real remittance flow, but an estimate.”
Now if the above mentioned note is the case then:
1. Why zero figures shown for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012?
2. Why the breakup graph of Indian inward remittances in 2015 shows that out of the total amount of $70 billion (NOT AN IMAGINARY BUT A REAL FIGURE)  Pakistani remittances to India of $4.9 billion made Pakistan as the 5th largest contributor of the Indian remittances in 2015?
3. Why there is NO such figures of remittances of 3 million Afghan refugees sending (even assumed/estimated/imaginary figures as the article says it was in the case of Pakistan) remittances from Pakistan to Afghanistan?
Note this is currently the highest number of refugees (3 million) staying in any country of the world?

Well done NAB..!

If the Indian numbers of receiving $70 billion remittances (after including $4.9 billion remittances from Pakistan) in the year 2015 were not a lie, then either both the World Bank and State Bank of Pakistan are lying or it is a fact that a massive amount of $4.9 billion in 2015 and $4.7 billion in 2014 = $9.6 billion in two years moved from Pakistan to India purely on account of REMITTANCES and not on trade or any other account.

SHABASH to NAB for grabbing the bull by its horns.

@WorldBank must first say that #India was lying that it got $70 billion #remittances in 2015 which included $4.9 billion from #Pakistan only then WB’s denial can b accepted‬.

‪World Bank denies reports that #Nawaz #Sharif #laundered $4.9 billion to India http://toi.in/zSl4Cb/a24gj via @timesofindia

 

Pakistan remitted a total of $9.6 billion in 2014 & 2015 to India:

Pakistan 4th largest source of remittances to India..!

Link:- http://wap.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/pakistan-4th-largest-source-of-remittances-to-india-115122400035_1.html

$4.7b remitted to India from Pakistan in 2014 & $4.9 billion in 2015 total = $9.6 billion: report

https:/www.google.com.pk/amp/s/www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2015/10/08/4-7b-remitted-to-india-from-pakistan-in-2014-alone-report/amp/

‘Tabdeeli – Passion of hope’

By ANILA KHAWAJA

 

It’s been half a decade since the landmark jalsa at Minar-e-Pakistan when PTI’s leader, Imran Khan, raised the battle cry of “Tabdeeli”. After a many a twist and turn, Dharnas, court battles, and victories, many might wonder if Imran Khan has lost steam. Do Khan and his team have the same sense of urgency to bring about the transformation that the vast majority of the nation desperately desires? Does the movement have the same passionate potency in demanding Tabdeeli? Has the permanent disqualification of Nawaz Sharif from politics satiated Imran Khan to dampen his earlier resolve? Was it just a personal crusade against the Sharifs, and not really a call for deep surgery of the body politics in how the nation is governed for the betterment of the people?

Let’s be clear, the removal of Sharif from the office was a monumental moment that Khan could not help but savour. It would be inhuman to imagine that anyone who has struggled as long and as much he has, not to relish the herculean efforts to see finally bearing fruit. It is also true that much Tabdeeli has been achieved through PTI’s tenacious determination to achieve its agenda. It has mobilised the courts to respond to the people’s clarion call for accountability, especially with respect to high office holders and elected officials. Where there was once passive acceptance of the worst excesses by the powerful, today many of the once mighty face the full force of the accountability process. Few elected members of national and provincial assemblies dare assume that their status somehow precludes them from facing the law. The realisation by elected official of the peril that misuse of authority, financial or otherwise, might entail is one of the greatest Tabdeelis brought about by PTI. Many in power may decry this transformational change, but the people generally welcome as the first step of many towards better governance.

PTI’s single-handed campaign against the rigging of that most sacred right of citizens, which is the vote, has been much criticised by the chattering classes. The Dharnas were impolite affairs and not standard parliamentary politics, but that particular struggle did result in Judicial Commission that has highlighted many of the flaws in the electoral process. The incremental change brought about because of that struggle has made it much less likely for mass scale manipulation of the election process. The election commission has been put on notice. It has responded to the challenge by improving its processes of monitoring the ballot casting and counting. This has gone some way towards better securing the sanctity of the vote and validity of the mandate of the people. The upcoming elections will demonstrate how much this particular Tabdeeli has been embedded in the genetic code of the nation’s polity.

Not all Tabdeeli has the quality of operatic drama about it, and not all change necessarily need be tumultuous. There is much that has to be done in the realm of the prosaic, such as, a focus on an effective administration whose imperative is clearly defined to incrementally improve the daily lives of citizens. While PTI’s chairman has been concentrating his efforts in bringing major governance changes at the center, the PTI government in KP has done much to bring about Tabdeeli in the daily lives of people, for example, the administrative changes in KP police resulted in a significant improvement in the law and order situation in the province. PILDAT has ranked KP’s policing performance as the best in Pakistan on almost every metric. The tree planting ‘tsunami’ has meant over a billion trees have been added to the ecosystem, which will greatly help mitigate the environmental crises that the PTI government had inherited. Similar changes are being instituted in education and health.

Much Tabdeeli has come to pass in the last half-decade since the Minar-e-Pakistan event, and PTI can take credit for that. But the central question remains is the call for Tabdeeli still as potent for PTI, Imran Khan and its ardent followers as when the movement first started? The 29th April Jalsa, once again at Minar-e-Pakistan, will once again loudly demonstrate that yes it ever more potent and the urgency is even more intense. Here once again we will witness the vows of Tabdeeli renewed.

Pakistan desperately needs a sea-change in its governance. There’s the almost desperate necessity in the needs of the youth for more education/training and thus better employment prospects. In building power plants and metro buses does not lie the road to the betterment of prospects of this restless youth. A concerted effort to address the needs of the masses in terms of health, education, and justice gets ever more pressing with each passing day. A dire need to improve the productivity of the people so that Pakistan is competitive in the global market is imperative to stop the economy from imploding. A better and equitable taxation system to minimize crippling external borrowing this is the Tabdeeli imperative of the hour. It can be emphatically stated that the passion of Tabdeeli has not faded, but that fire of hope burns as brightly as it did half a decade ago.

 

 

link:- https://nation.com.pk/29-Apr-2018/592254

This article is a cross post from the daily newspaper “The Nation” and posted with permission of the writer.

The writer is the head of International Media Affairs, Central Media Department, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Pakistan’s enemy # 1 is neither India nor terrorism..!

Entire 22 crores rich and poor Pakistani population, pays indirect and direct taxes, without any exception, but people in authority have always been falsely spreading propaganda that only a handful Pakistanis pay taxes.
Maybe, since, only 1.2 million submit tax returns, there is a misconception that only these 1.2 million tax return filers pay taxes, out of 220 million population.
The issue is not that nobody pays taxes in Pakistan, but that due to the extremely lopsided ratio of indirect taxation vs the direct taxation, imposed over the country, its economic health, is virtually on a ventilator.
The ratio of direct taxes collection in Pakistan is very low at 11.21%, while Indirect-taxation generates 88.79% of the country’s revenues. [Link:- https://pakobserver.net/direct-tax-collection-ratio-low/ ]
Direct taxes with much higher rates, must be imposed on the 1-2 % super rich population of Pakistanis, who own all the luxuries of this world, in the four corners of the globe; which obviously, they have purchased from unlawful money, earned mostly from tax cheatings, under invoicing, misuse of SRO’s, corruption in international civil and military purchase contracts and mega construction contracts , selling of profitable roots of PIA, privatisations [remember one bank was purchased by a dollar billionaire with the deposits of the same bank and another bank was sold for Rs.1,000/- for which the auditors were paid Rs.2.5 crores to evaluate its worth as Rs.1000/- and then our State Bank gave the purchasing party a loan of ONLY Rs.20 billion, on world record interest rate of 0.01%] of national assets and bribes on sale and purchase permits, sale of Euro Bonds at world record interest rate [ just for media]  of 8.25% [but actually on a much higher rates than 8.25% if grant of exemptions of taxes are accounted for]  etc etc.
The fact is that these 1-2% rich and powerful looters and plunderers of Pakistani resources are solely responsible for mega corruption, which has now reached such a level that our black economy is almost double in size of our national budget of 2017-18 which is almost a little under Rs.5 trillion or $50 billion.
So, to conclude, if Pakistan has to stand up economically on its own feet, we don’t need accountability like the recent report of FIA, which says NO political person has invested in property business of Dubai,but like the  SELECTIVE and RUTHLESS accountability of only the super filthy rich persons, recently witnessed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Remember, Pakistan’s enemy # 1 is neither India nor terrorism, but it is the CORRUPTION, which now has turned into an economic terrorism, against Pakistan.
PAKISTAN PAINDABAD.
Visitors
Flag counter, effective from 9th May, 2013
Flag Counter

Archives
Powerd by Smart Logics INC