Killing human beings for their ideas

It’s just inhuman, against the very norms of the human world, that anyone be killed for his / her ideas. 

Everyone has ideas, good or bad, and nobody knows whose ideas are good and whose ideas are bad. 

Ideas are extensions of thinking beings. And, it’s ideas which have built this human world. It’s ideas which protect us in an unknown universe. Hence, killing human beings for their ideas amounts to killing this human world, our abode!

“Kabuliwala’s Bengali wife” was living inside the camp of the enemy and fighting the killers of this human world and her weapons were but Ideas!

[From The News International]

See the full story carried by The New York Times:

Woman who wrote about Taliban is killed

Civil Pakistan – a blog for Urdu posts

Be informed that I have decided to separate the Urdu postings from English ones and put them together into another blog. 

For the Urdu posts, I am setting up, CivilPakistan: Urdu Blog. As the setting up of the Urdu Blog finishes, all the Urdu postings will be shifted there. 

This will let the Blog: NotesFromPakistan.com be available wholly for English posts.

Khalil

Yeh Hawaon Kay Musafir, Yeh Samandron Kay Rahee - another accomplishment

Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:

Yeh Hawaon Kay Musafir, Yeh Samandron Kay Rahee - another accomplishment

Riyasati Ashrafiya (State Aristocracy) and the chronic debt dependence

Chronic ‘debt dependence’

By Huzaima Bukhari & Dr Ikramul Haq

All is set for the executive board of the International Monetary Fund (MF) to consider Pakistan’s request for a fresh bailout package on September 4, 2013 after Islamabad has purportedly “fulfilled all prior requirements” — the IMF has already circulated amongst members the Letter of Intent (LoI) it received from Islamabad. Reportedly, though the IMF has agreed to provide $6.6 billion under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), Islamabad is insisting on $7.3 billion confirming its insatiable ‘debt addiction’.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in a news conference on August 26, 2013, revealed that “in the first year, the IMF will give $2.2 billion while we have to pay back over $3 billion.” He conceded that Pakistan had no option but to borrow $12 billion “to retire its previous debts”. Dar said the “most vital precondition of the IMF for broadening of tax base was fulfilled as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had already issued 15,000 notices to potential tax dodgers.”

The lingering and deepening economic crisis, especially bourgeoning fiscal deficit, has been eroding Pakistan’s capacity to repay huge external loans of over $60 billion with fast diminishing foreign reserves. The IMF, having enormous stakes in Pakistan before agreeing for fresh tranche, expressed anguish and dissatisfaction over the FBR’s performance — in particular what it calls fixing ‘ambitious targets’ and then missing the same with a wide margin every year. The dismal performance of the FBR — it collected only Rs1940 billion against the original target of Rs2381 billion for 2012-13 pushing the fiscal deficit to 8.8 per cent of GDP — worried the IMF about repayment of its outstanding debt of $6.4 billion. The fresh bailout is, thus, nothing but to thwart the obvious default.

The IMF’s compulsion to offer yet another EFF to Pakistan is inevitable as foreign exchange reserves are dwindling and agreed schedule for repayments of $7.6 billion till the end of 2014-15 by Pakistan is in jeopardy. Pakistan’s $11.3 billion Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) with the IMF expired on September 30, 2011 with last two tranches of $3.7 billion could not be paid following Islamabad’s failure to implement key reforms coupled with fudging of revenue figures.

Pakistan opted for $11.3 billion SBA in 2008 and got disbursements of about $7.6 billion, but failed to get the remaining $3.7 billion due to lapses in performance criteria, leading to suspension of the programme in May 2010, and final unsuccessful ending on September 30, 2011.

In the current fiscal year, the FBR is assigned a target of Rs2475 billion. Like previous years, the FBR is claiming to cross the target! Experts are doubtful in view of recession and weak enforcement capabilities of the FBR. The track record of the FBR shows that it has perpetually missed targets for the last five years. The performance of the FBR is puzzling for the IMF and other donors as in the past World Bank provided $100 million for five-year-long Tax Reforms Administration Program (TARP) and on conclusion tax-to-GDP ratio declined from 11 per cent to 8.2 per cent and tax gap increased from 75 per cent to 150 per cent.

Strangely, after wasting billons in the name of reforms, the FBR is showing helplessness to enforce tax laws. Every now and then the FBR’s big bosses claim “we possess data of all the rich persons who spend millions but have never filed tax declarations.” Why they do not take action against these tax cheats is best known to them. They admit in private that about 70 per cent of legislators are tax cheats.

Pakistani tax cheats have just to approach money exchange companies that fix fake remittances for a small premium and no question can be asked by tax authorities about the source — in the presence of such a facility, their claim is why we should pay tax at the rate of 25 per cent! Tax evasion has legal protection in Pakistan and legislators are to be blamed as well.

There are about 125 million mobile users in Pakistan, out of which at least one million, if not more, expend Rs60,000 or above per annum but never bother to file tax returns. If they are taxed on their real incomes, total tax from them would not be less than Rs5000 billion. The real tax potential of Pakistan is not less than Rs8 trillion — direct taxes of Rs5 trillion and indirect of Rs3 trillion — but the government is begging for money both externally and internally. Nobody questions the enormous tax benefits available to Riasti Ashrafiya (State Oligarchy) — ‘Public parasites’, The News, July 21, 2013.

No doubt that the FBR should improve its enforcement capacity to detect tax losses, but it suffers from “helplessness” caused by obnoxious provisions like section 111(4) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. The corrupt legislators through such provisions protect themselves — their main assets are banami [in fake names]. With such laws and innumerable Statutory Regulatory Orders [SROs] they serve the interests of mighty segments of society.

Ordinary people ask why they should file tax returns when their president, prime minister, ministers, governors and elected representatives give damn to it. The outgoing president, since his election on September 6, 2008, never bothered to inform the nation from where he got $60 million (unfrozen in Switzerland), let alone pay any tax on this colossal amount. Before taking oath of president, he did not declare his assets and liabilities and evidence of payment of taxes wherever due. The same is true with present rulers and many other politicians. We have written time and again in these columns that the tax culture in Pakistan will never take roots unless tax and asset declarations of all the mighty segments of society — politicians, high-ranking military and civilian officials, judges and all public office holders — are made public [Taxation challenges, The News, June 9, 2013].

There should be a public campaign that absentee landlords, most of whom are members of parliaments and their siblings are members of militro-judicial-civil complex, should reveal how much agricultural income tax was paid by them and their near and dear ones. All the judges, high-ranking public servants, including serving and retired generals, should also be required under the law to make public how many plots they received during service, what are total assets owned by them and their family members and how much tax was paid annually.

Any person who is a tax delinquent or has been beneficiary of any loan write-off should be debarred from contesting elections. All kinds of exemptions and concessions provided under various tax codes should be withdrawn.

The tendency to squeeze more and more from the existing taxpayers and giving a free hand to non-filers has eroded the tax system to an extent where voluntary compliance and tax enforcement have lost their relevance. The present tax system imposes greater and undue burden on the poor and middle-class people (e.g. 17 per cent GST takes larger portion of low-income groups compared to high income groups). The rich and mighty are not paying agricultural income tax and income tax on their non-agricultural income. Most of them are landowners-cum-industrialists-cum-politicians and are engaged in massive tax evasion — case of cartelisation and tax evasion bonanza in sugar industry is a classic example.

Adding insult to injury, the tax collected from the citizens is wasted on unprecedented privileges and perquisites meant for elites — militro-judicial-civil complex, landed aristocracy, industrialist-turned politicians and unscrupulous businessmen.

We will not come out of present mess unless control of resources vests with people instead of elites. Institutions like the FBR serve the interest of mighty classes. They would continue to do so till the time people of Pakistan exert pressure on provincial governments to devolve fiscal and administrative powers at grass root level to local self-governments. Fiscal decentralisation and municipal self-governance can end dependence on federal government that is epitome of bad governance.

As regards reforming the FBR, as a first step the posting of chairman and members should be made through public hearings by a joint committee of Senate and National Assembly and not on the whims and dictates of the ruling political party headquarters. All kinds of loopholes in tax laws should be plugged by proper legislation. No executive authority should have powers to amend tax laws through infamous SROs.

Through public debates and democratic processes, the Parliament should pass rationale and workable laws after taking inputs from all the stakeholders and experts in the field. There should be zero tolerance in respect of enforcement of tax obligations across the board without any fear or favour. Tax collected should be spent for the welfare of the masses and not for the luxuries of state oligarchy.

[The writers, tax advisers and author of many books, are Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).]

This article first appeared in The News on September 1, 2013. Here is the link: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2013-weekly/nos-01-09-2013/pol1.htm#3

Note: Reproducing this article in my Blog does not amount to my agreeing with the authors' point of view.

Pakistan Kay Tufaileyay Siyasatdaan

Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:

Pakistan Kay Tufaileyay Siyasatdaan

The myth of economic imperialism: a brief take

[Recently, I was asked to express my views on the notion of economic imperialism and answer to a few questions. It was suggested that “the notion that Pakistan controls the reigns to the economic resources of the country is incorrect – she doesn’t. The G-7 does. They are the ones who make all the economic decisions for us, for our country, through their institutions like IMF, World Bank, and WTO through the policies of SAP, TRIPS, and TRIMS. The idea is to expropriate our land, our labor, our raw materials, and our markets for their own profits. This is what economic imperialism is all about.”] 

Here is the email I received on September 7, 2007:

We are a group of MBA students from LUMS, IBA, and CBM  who are launching a quarterly socio-economic magazine here in Karachi in November 2007.

We visited the Alternative Solutions Institute website and found it extremely interesting and thought-provoking.

We have found that your work is --enlightening-- to say the least and would appreciate if you can lend us your point of view oneconomic imperialism going on in Pakistan through the institutions of IMF, World Bank, and WTO (either in support or denial of the same).

Find attached a short introductory article to the process of imperialism as we understand. You will be interested to know that Mr. Tahir Husnain, Director of Economic Justice and Development (EJAD), Islamabad has already given us his point of view on the subject of economic imperialism.

Although our magazine issue is complete and all designed, we feel that it would do even better if you can contribute your thoughts on the subject as well. We submit our magazine for printing in 5 days.

Sir, we would be honored and privileged to have your thoughts printed on economic imperialism in our magazine for our readers. Can you kindly lend us some of your time and mind for this written interview of sorts?

We would wait for your decision.

Farhan Noor
Editor, CRITIC Magazine
Karachi

But what I wrote and sent them was never published. Here is their response when I reminded them to at least acknowledge the receipt of my views / email:

I sincerely apologize for this uncalled-for delay in acknowledgment of the receipt of your email.

Unfortunately, our financiers have gone completely out of patience with us and they want the issue to be printed already. This obviously mean that I cannot accommodate your answer, much regretfully.

To let you know I have thoroughly read your response and cannot help but agree cent per cent everything you wrote. Your main argument that we should put our own house in order instead of pointing fingers and finding scapegoats and shifting blames and burden on other people's shoulders ring sanity and logic.

However, I do feel, at the same time, the capitalist interest-based banking system has a massive hand in economic imperialism throughout the world. This is no conspiracy theory, but rather an eye-opener. But then you are correct once again in pointing out that unless our own people (govt) are working hand-in-hand with these international financial institutions, nothing can transpire. Therefore and rightly so, the blame rests solely on us.

I promise to send you a complimentary copy of our issue in one months time, inshallah

  

Here is my response to this notion:

We are a lot of schizophrenics who are ‘usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances.’ Our ‘defense mechanism’ has turned us into one of the greatest inventors and believers of conspiracy theories. We take and deal with whole of the external world as our enemy. If someone laughs, to us he is laughing at us. This is how we see people and reality existing outside of us.

One shouldn’t mind it as everyone is free to think, believe and act like as he wishes. But it must be pointed out that such a lot of people can never learn. If one cannot learn, one cannot grow and prosper. One who is just passive, submissive, and docile; one who is just the target of others and others’ conspiracies, how can he be alleged of doing anything wrong. All the wrongs, others do. So, we are the innocents. It is the whole other world that is after us to exploit us, to loot us, and to destroy us. We do nothing, hence, we learn nothing, and consequently neither we grow nor prosper. 

Since my childhood, I am trying to solve the riddle of one phenomenon that is somehow universal with our people: all the parents always blame other children or folks for any bad behavior or habits learned by their children. They and their children are just not responsible for, say drug-taking. It is other drug addicts who made them so. We blame others. Yeah, we blame others for what we do ourselves.

The same pattern of thinking and behavior can be seen replicated in all the other fields of life and learning. In politics, in economics, in culture, and in all the braches of knowledge, we commit to the same conspiracy theories.      

For any sane person, it is quite difficult to follow how the World Bank, IMF, ADB or any such institutions force us to be a client of theirs! How US or EU or G-7 or WTO compel us to be in their folds! How could they exploit us, loot us, and destroy us unless some of us are not prepared to be their partners in such endeavors. My stance is that if such exploitation, loot and destruction at the hands of above-mentioned institutions and countries or groups of countries happen, we and only we should be blamed for that. We should take the responsibility on our own shoulders for that.

Many of us are fond of calling this world a world ridden with cut-throat competition only. But we cannot ignore the fact that there is much cooperation, partnering, and mutual help also. Life is a phenomenon of inter-dependence and mutuality. Of course, we cannot take this world of ours as always making room for us, extending help to us, and sacrificing for us. Also, why should it be so? As we know, to live and to live well, we need to do hard work. It requires patient labor and continuous efforts to discover, create, invent, and produce. Nothing comes to be a useful thing easily and free of cost. We have to live in this world on our own, not on others’ expense. We have to prove our worth, only then we are rewarded. We need to realize that both individually and nationally.

Also, it is useless to contend conspiracy theories. The world is not devoid of them. But, pragmatically speaking, can we stop, or for that matter, can any one stop conspiracy theories against him? It’s next to impossible! It’s also misleading to go after stopping them; or lamenting on them, or justifying our own inaction, failure and irresponsibility on this pretext. History tells that conspirators succeed only when they find collaborators inside those against whom they conspire. Thus, it is we ourselves who are our own enemies, and it is among us that we have conspirators and conspiracies, and it is our own soil that proves fertile for them, and it is these factors that help any conspiracy come true.

If we put the notion of economic imperialism against this context, it seems that it’s but a myth only. Indeed it is our own being that we need to analyze and evaluate first. How strange that we want all such institutions and countries to be helping to us as if it is our privileged right. Would we be lending anybody without any interest and without any conditionalities? Isn’t it we ourselves who need to be blamed squarely for misusing and for letting highly expensive consultants misuse the loans?

Here are short answers to the questions:

What is the way out from all this mess?

Looking inward and taking up the responsibility for our own actions and failures is the way out from all this mess.

How can Pakistan get rid of herself from the mounting debt?

First, the government expenditures must be curtailed to a minimum. The number of taxes and their rates must also be reduced to a minimum. This will spur growth.

How can Pakistan become independent from the need of borrowing loans?

Very simple. Stop taking loans for the public sector to consume/waste; it is the private sector that will do the needful, and it will do it responsibly, as it has started doing.

How can Pakistan resume economic sovereignty without isolating herself from the international community? 

In absolute terms, there is no sovereignty. When we ink an agreement with someone, we lose some of our sovereignty. We give and take. We should have open heart and open arms. We should go for open and free trade and we will be most welcome by the international community.

How can Pakistan safeguard and promote her own interests?

How ironic that we want others help us, and at the same time want to safeguard and promote our ‘own interests’ only. Unfortunately, it’s a world populated by many peoples other than us. They have their own interests to safeguard and promote, like us. No doubt, there are mutual interests also. However, first we should be on our guard as against the ‘insiders/collaborators’ living among us. Then, we can go for such agreements that call for a win-win situation. We should be realist, not self-seekers in our dealings with others.

Or is Pakistan in a situation from which it is now almost impossible to escape?

No, nothing is impossible! It’s not escaping, rather a relentless struggle that we need. On the one hand, we need supremacy of the constitution, an independent judiciary, democracy under rule of law – in other words not an elitist democracy; security of fundamental rights of the citizens ensured in the Constitution. On the other hand, we need economic freedom to prosper, i.e. ‘personal choice, voluntary exchange coordinated by markets, freedom to enter and compete in markets, and protection of persons and their property from aggression by others.’

[This article was completed on 20, 2007, and then revised on September 27, 2007.]

Siyasat Aur Jurm Saath Saath

Please note: This post has been shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link below:

Siyasat Aur Jurm Saath Saath