Loud Thinking

The daily “The News”  published the following on Thursday, 27 June 27, 2013 at page # 4.

Link:- http://e.thenews.com.pk/6-27-2013/page4.asp#;

Link:- http://images.thenews.com.pk/27-06-2013/ethenews/t-23752.htm

Mr. PM! There are three options to avoid IMF loan

ISLAMABAD: Renowned economist Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad has written an open letter to the Prime Minister Main Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, in which he has suggested three out of the box solutions to avoid taking loan from the IMF.

The following is the text of the letter:

H’able Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sahib;

Salaam.

I am fully convinced that you still firmly believe in the content and spirit of the subject mentioned poetry (AY TAIER E LAHOUTI USS RIZQ SAY MAUT ACHI  JIS RIZQ SAY AATI HOO PARWAZ MEIN KOOTAHI), which was also the punch line of one of your elections 2013 advertisements.

However, I was really disappointed by the speech of Mr Ishaq Dar, which he delivered at the NA on Saturday, 22 June, 2013.

Hope you remember very well, how the timid Pervez Musharraf had told the nation that if he had not accepted the US demands of war on terror, Pakistan would have been bombed by the USA, to the Stone Age. Similarly, Mr Ishaq Dar had tried to scare the nation, by saying that if Pakistan doesn’t take further loan from the IMF, for the repayment of the old loans, it will go into default. By the way we’ve paid off the principal anyway, as have dozens of countries, some several times over. In any case, when Argentina, Ecuador, even Dubai, defaulted heavens didn’t fall.

Sir, perhaps you remember, in one of my recent emails it was stated that “Fatemi Sahab, don’t make Musharraf of Mian Nawaz Sharif Sahab. Remember, a timid person can be a ruler but he can never be a leader. It’s the duty of the advisors to never leave the PM or the president, in a state, where he is forced to make decisions under the influence of fear. This can only be done if the advisor informs the leader all the strong and weak points in a balanced manner.”

I also hope that Mr Ishaq Dar knows very well the dirty role of the world lending agencies as exposed in his famous book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” written by John Perkins and published in 2004.

According to his book, Perkins’ function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with debts they could not hope to pay, those countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nations were effectively neutralized politically, had their wealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an Economic Hit Man (EHM) as follows:

“Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly-paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.”

In 1988, economist Davison Budhoo revealed in his 22-page resignation letter – more of an expose of IMF ‘expertise’ – after his 11 years with it: “When we went on a mission, we did not even have the scope to innovate, to look at the country and make projections, that you thought were reasonable… there was already a briefing paper before we entered the country. We were told what we were expected to do, and give conditionality in terms of what the fiscal deficit was and how much it should be reduced; even before we entered the mission… we were expected to structure our findings in relation to the figures in the briefing paper, which were put there without any research, and were predetermined. So the conditionality was also predetermined… In this sense, every IMF mission is fraudulent even today…”

Mr. Prime Minister, not that I am only saying that your government must not take IMF loan to pay the old loan, which will be the biggest trap for our future generations; but I have also given three out of the box solutions (at the bottom of this write up) for Pakistan, to resolve this issue of old IMF loan payments, without taking fresh loans from the IMF.

As has been reported in the media, now a days, an IMF delegation is visiting Pakistan to offer fresh loan of $5-7 billion, to be mostly utilized by Pakistan, for the repayment of old IMF loan.

It is very surprising that PML-N’s government is not working on the lines to ask the IMF to have a heart; and be patient with our loan repayments, considering the fact that Pakistan has been totally destroyed during the last 15 years of war on terror, jointly fighting with 49 NATO countries as a major non NATO ally. Moreover, this war has inflicted more men and material losses on Pakistan than the combined losses of the 49 NATO countries. As such, Pakistan has a right to be given some moratorium in its repayment of IMF loans. Even otherwise, Pakistan has already repaid more than the entire amount of the loan by partnering the West in its WOT; and also by not demanding any penny from the NATO for the military over flights to and from Afghanistan. Here, the NATO must also be reminded that at the beginning of the Iraq war, NATO offered more than $20 billion to the Turkish government, for the over flights.

Mr. Prime Minister, every student of economics knows that never to use good money to chase bad money. Hence, there is no logic in seeking fresh loan to repay the old loan. This is a sure shot recipe for disaster, just like treating a cancer patient with fake medicines. IMF should be clearly told that Pakistan was well within its rights, to have asked for the write off, of the remaining unpaid amount of their loan. However, what we are seeking is just a moratorium.

Pakistan cannot afford to pay IMF’s remaining loan, over the peril of its economic demise.

In this regard, you may also order the Foreign Office to contact all the 49 NATO governments, to garner moral and financial support for Pakistan, so that we are also able to strongly look after their interests, in providing all the necessary facilities for their troops in Afghanistan. The USA and the NATO  should also be reminded that Pakistan is not charging a single penny for their military over flights, for which they offered more than $20 billion to Turkey, during the last Iraq war.

As such, Pakistan’s whole hearted cooperation in the WOT deserves matching reciprocal response in the shape of using their influence in IMF, to facilitate Pakistan by way of at least 20 years moratorium in the IMF loan repayments.

Just for your information, I am reproducing below my six questions to the then finance minister of Pakistan, Mr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, which remained un-replied till date, but are an eye opener, that how Pakistan was plundered by the past government.

1. Pakistan is repaying $7.6 billion to the IMF. Did we receive exactly this much amount or the total sum was less than this figure?

2. How much amount of interest Pakistan will be paying over the principle sum of this loan of $7.6 billion from the IMF? Or the IMF will be charging interest on the whole sanctioned amount of $11.3billion?

3. Did Pakistan pay and what was the total bill for the travelling, boarding and lodging of IMF delegation’s recent visit to UAE, for discussions with our economic team?

4. Besides the interest, how much service, handler’s commission and or other charges were deducted by the IMF, on its loan of $7.6 billion to Pakistan?

V.V. Important Question.

5. How much service charges or penalty was charged by the IMF to Pakistan, for not utilizing or obtaining the remaining $3.7 billion amount, from the originally sanctioned loan amount of $11.3 billion; because Pakistan got only $7.6 billion from IMF?

6. When will Pakistan get its overdue payment of $800 million from the Etisalat Telecom?

Sir, I apprehend that Pakistan was being forced to pay back the loan with penalties for not utilizing the sanctioned amount of $11.3 billion IMF loan.

Remember, we got only $7.6 billion from the sanctioned amount. As such, IMF and the West are treating Pakistan like a conquered country, rather than a major non-NATO ally in the world war on terror (WWOT).

As far as the question of generating foreign exchange is the issue, the concerned may be advised to proceed on the following lines:

1. Like India did many years ago, we may also keep our gold as a security, with some of friendly country(s), in lieu of obtaining matching amount of foreign exchange.

2. Recently Abu Dhabi helped Dubai, in its financial crisis, by providing 10 billion US dollars. We can also approach our friends to help us on the same terms.

3. As a last resort, if the West and the NATO countries have decided not to help Pakistan in our financial crisis, and they are forcing us to take the loan from the IMF, to repay its previous liabilities; and for which they are not even ready to reschedule our loans, as was done with Pakistan in the Pervez Musharraf’s era, when Paris Club loans of Pakistan were rescheduled, then instead of going for the default option, we should offer nuclear umbrella, in exchange of a reasonable amount of payment, to our friends in the gulf and the Middle East, from the Oman to Syria, who are always weary, of the Israeli nuclear blackmail. I know this will cause a lot of furor in the West led by the USA, Israel and India, but they can be told in plain words that if a nuclear Pakistan goes bankrupt, it will be more dangerous for the whole region and severely catastrophic for the world.  And after all, we will be going for this option only to repay their outstanding loans, so that the coffers of the West are kept full. As far Pakistan is concerned, it has already been forced to live in a Stone Age, fighting their imposed WOT, for the last more than a decade.

Email address: nayyar51@hotmail.com

 

Game changer
Memories of Imran Khan’s bowling show in Sydney that revolutionised Pakistan cricket

By Ijaz Chaudhry

PTI chairman Imran Khan’s address at the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on October 30 is perceived by many as the harbinger of a revolution in the country. About 35 years ago, Imran’s show of an entirely different nature on an entirely different turf brought a great revolution in Pakistan cricket.

Pakistan won their first-ever Test in Australia in Sydney in 1976-77. With this victory, Pakistan managed to draw the three Test series 1-1. The main architect of Pakistan’s victory was their fast bowler, Imran Khan who took 12 wickets in the match.

But there is something more to Imran’s heroic bowling performance in that game.

Until then, the general impression was that Pakistan could not produce a genuine fast bowler. Pakistan’s new-ball bowlers were fast-medium or medium fast. Fazal Mahmood did produce match-winning performances in 1950s but apart from his 12 wickets against England in 1954 the rest were achieved on matting wickets. Then he was never a genuine fast bowler, medium-fast and occasionally fast-medium. His 12 wickets against England were taken in a very low scoring game in which the highest team total in the four innings was 164. All the main bowlers of England also had their moments at least in one innings so did the other Pakistani paceman — Mahmood Hussain.

On the other hand, Imran in 1976 overshadowed all the other bowlers including Australia’s legendary Dennis Lillee, who had taken ten wickets in the previous Test where Aussies pulverised Pakistan.

This Test victory helped Pakistan draw the series thus becoming the first country other than England and South Africa to draw a Test series in Australia.

Australia was the supreme Test nation at that time. They had demolished a formidable West Indian side 5-1 during the previous season. And the West Indian side included Andy Roberts and Michael Holding two of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of the game.

Apart from Fazal Mahmood, some other fast mediums like Khan Mohammad and Sarfraz Nawaz, a contemporary of Imran Khan, had served Pakistan well but neither of them was a genuine fast bowler nor had won a Test match single-handedly the way Imran did.

Imranís performance in Sydney in 1976-77 dispelled the impression that players from the sub-continent cannot be genuine fast bowlers. until then Pakistan had mostly flopped on foreign tours. Their only Test series victory away from home was a 1-0 victory in New Zealand in 1972-3. At home, they prepared slow wickets resulting in an astonishing number of drawn matches.

Imran’s Sydney show had a multi-dimensional effect on Pakistan cricket which has lasted till today. More and more youngsters started taking fast bowling seriously. The cautious approach of the administration also changed. They started preparing livelier pitches at home.

Two seasons later, Imran was the third fastest in a competition in Australia testing a number of well-known fast bowlers of the time for speed.

Within a few years, came Wasim Akram, arguably the most talented fast bowler in the history of the game. Then Pakistan started producing genuine and world-class fast bowlers most regularly including the phenomenal Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar, who served Pakistan cricket for a considerable time.

A few others such as Mohammad Zahid, Mohammad Akram, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir dazzled for brief periods for different reasons. Imran’s performance was the spark that lit the generations of Pakistani quicks. Pakistan started winning abroad and victories at home also started coming via pacemen.

It all changed after that Sydney Test of January 1977 which made millions of people all over Pakistan wake up early in small hours of cold mornings to listen to radio commentary.

ijaz62@hotmail.com

Albert Einstein defined insanity as “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

PCB has again selected all those batsmen for the champions trophy, who are known failures against quality bowling viz., Misbah ul Haq, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal. Mr. Kamran Akmal is also known for his below average wicket keeping, as well. Moreover, Misbah ul Haq has also proved to be the biggest ordinary mind, when it comes to the selection of final eleven and bowling changes.

This insane selection of dud players, makes the team highly unbalanced and even more prone to getting out on low scores.

As such, with the inclusion of the above named three players, now only a miracle can save Pakistani cricket team, from a humiliating early exit from the Champions trophy.

Today on 28th April, 2013 again the World Bank and the UNO have asked the question that how to end the poverty from the world?

My Reply

Since, a recent study tells that countries which took loans from WB & IMF have experienced increasing suicide rates, there is hardly any answer required to the question, that; what it will take to end the poverty?

Moreover, who else know better than WB, IMF & UNO that 90% of the loans given to poor countries by the WB & IMF etc., is taken back in the shape of consultant fees and other such charges. In the end, the poor loan recipient countries hardly get about 10% of the benefits from your loans and they pay back 100% of the loan with very heavy interest charges as well.

The biggest proof of the failure of your policies are that you give fresh loans to repay the old loans.

During Musharraf era, there was a shocking news that in one particular loan case, it was conditional to hire the wife of the WB country chief, as consultant; and Pakistan was forced to pay her fees at an exorbitant rate equal to 65% of the total loan amount. No action was done by your anti-corruption department against that country Chief of Pakistan.

Your extremely hard/harsh loan terms are killing the poorest of the poor people in many ways, what to talk of poverty.

Don’t forget that very soon WB & IMF, may be tried for crimes against humanity; because your loans not only breeds and enhances corruption, they increase poverty, which also breeds terrorism.

Kindly immediately revisit all the inhuman terms and conditions of your loans, particularly given to the poor and developing countries; and also consider writing off these loans which are in fact, sucking blood from the poorest of the poor, to serve the lavish life styles of your employees, consultants, advisers and contractors etc.

So, this is the real face of the world loan giving agencies to the poor countries and then you have the audacity to ask questions and suggestions that how to end the poverty and hunger from the world, where EVERY NIGHT ONE BILLION PEOPLE SLEEP HUNGRY ON THIS PLANET.

HOPE YOU WILL NOT BE SO CALLOUS AND NOT REPEAT THIS JOKE WITH OVER ONE BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE AGAIN.

An excerpt (page 173-4) from the book “Sir Vivian The Definitive Autobiography” by VIV RICHARDS with Bob Harris.

“The gentleman (Imran Khan) who was to become a renowned name in the world of cricket and a serious politician did not like what he saw that day. Fortunately, like many of these incidents, it was soon forgotten and since then I have come to know him. I respect his views and I went to a party at his house while on tour in Pakistan. Whenever we are around we try to get together, as we did during the recent World Cup in England. We definitely didn’t like one another at first, but gradually as we matured and got to know each other better we realised the world is a lot bigger than anything we have to offer and we started to respect each other. He was one of the fiercest competitor and, no matter how well you were batting, he would always have a delivery which could come and destroy you. I respect him and his cricketing views; and if the Pakistan side had a leader they looked up to and respected like they did him, they would be a much better and more consistent team than they are now. He always managed to squeeze the best out of his team. He (Imran Khan) and Miandad are two of the most patriotic individuals I have met, and I can identify with that. I am quite certain you wouldn’t be hearing stories about match fixing and other bad things if they were at the helm. BOTH WOULD DIE FOR THEIR COUNTRY.”

It is absolutely the right time to fully appreciate PCB and Pakistani cricket team for basically two achievements. Firstly, for winning the ODI series against India 2-1 and secondly, for completing a very sensitive tour, absolutely incident free.

Now, this is also very appropriate time for the PCB, to finalise its short and long term future plans, with regard to the policy of categorising players for the teams for Test’s, ODI’s and T20’s. This is necessary, because Pakistan will be competing for Test Championship, Champion’s Trophy, T20 World Cup and the ODI World Cup, all within next 36 months.

So, with an eye on the future, the PCB planning should focus on such potential players, who have the capacity or who can be groomed to have the capacity, to deliver for Pakistan, in the days to come. We should not waste time, energy and money on such players, who are past their prime and per se wants to continue playing, just for selfish reasons; but they are practically blocking the future of up coming and young players, for an indefinite period.

In this connection, PCB recently, took a difficult, bold and wise decision of dropping Shahid Afridi from the ODI version of the game. While, not taking anything from the past contributions of Shahid Afridi, PCB’s decision was very progressive and forward looking, but in my opinion, was still a bit late. National interests must not be compromised for personal wishes.

Now, again the time has come to select the players for the different versions of the game, on the basis of talent and capacity of the players, with prime objective of INVESTING in future. PCB should adopt a policy of bearing with the failures of the fresh lot with patience, rather than pursuing with old horses, who have even lost the strength, to easily hit sixes or even boundaries to reasonably good bowlers, or take three or four runs without being exhausted, on a slightly bigger grounds.

According to my observations, PCB must think about the future of the following players in a very rational manner.

1. Misbah ul Haq. He is not at all capable to play till the 2015 ODI World Cup. Even now, he is over age and not capable of steering the team out of a crisis situations, in front of WORLD CLASS bowling, particularly against out of sub-continent teams. So, why not to groom a fresh batsman instead of MUH and on the other hand, give the captaincy to Muhammad Hafeez, for gaining the experience for the coming Champions Trophy and the ensuing ODI World Cup?

2. Younis Khan. Our selectors took a retrogressive action in recalling him from the ODI retirement. Even his presence in the team today in the 3rd ODI, couldn’t save Pakistan from a mere 10 runs defeat against India. His selection for the Indian tour has cost us heavily, in not giving experience to a youngster. He should be decently thanked for his services and let him not block the future of any budding batsman. PCB should not be so callous with the new generation of batsmen, that retired batsmen be made to come in their way. If PCB had recalled Muhammad Yousaf or even Inzamam ul Haq, may be, they would have scored runs more than the newcomers, but then we can’t and must not live in the past, under any circumstances. For that matter, if India lost the ODI series against Pakistan, no heavens have fallen. Similarly, if we had lost to India with fresh legs, it would have been a gain of experience, rather than winning with recall, of retired persons.

3. Kamran Akmal. Just like Shahid Afridi (who can still be selected for few more weeks and months for his bowling abilities) Kamran Akmal is a spent cartridge; and to continue with him is in fact, deceiving ourselves. He may still give some performances against mediocre bowling, but against world class bowlers, his batting is absolutely UN-DEPENDABALE. As far as his wicket keeping is concerned, it is OK. However, there is no shortage of young generation of agile wicket keepers and hence, further continuation with Kamran Akmal, is like living in a fools paradise.

4. Shoaib Malik. There is no doubt that he was past his prime many months ago. He has reached a stage, where its impossible for him to perform against quality bowling, particularly in ODI and T20 versions of the game. If we argue that he performed well in domestic level, then the selectors should be told that domestic level performances are for the new players. International players are judged on their performances against foreign teams. These are two separate criterions for the different levels of players. If the selectors still wants to retain some old horses, for Test matches for some time, then PCB management shall be the better judge. However, these old players must not be used in a way to stop the career of the budding players.

5. Umar Akmal. He was touted in the past to be a player with immense talent. However, he has proved wrong all his fans and well wishers. In fact, he is the most UN-DEPENDABLE batsman in the team. Not to play him is a risk. However, to play him is a bigger risk. While batting, he is a very risky person for the batsman at the other end. Moreover, mostly his shot selections are very poor. He never puts a price on his wicket. Also it looks that in his failures, there is a big hand of his head coach. Somehow, this man looks a fit case for sending him to a psychologist, for making him a person with some sense of responsibilities and strong mental power, who should be able to focus on teams goal achievement. Till such time he is transformed into a mature person, Umar Akmal seems to be an utterly misfit player in the national squad.