East India Company part 2
Sir,
This is apropos your editorial comments and numerous reports and statements by opposition on issue of ethics following the disclosure of Panama leaks and holding offshore accounts by citizens of Pakistan. It is not just an issue about legality or otherwise of those holding such accounts, which can only be established after a money trail has been disclosed, but an issue of ethics, morality and conflicts of interest of those holding public offices of importance where the fate of millions and national security is at stake.
When elected and paid custodians of the state and national exchequer themselves become party to institutionalised corruption and flight of resources, than such a state becomes the victim of financial terrorism from within. It is a biblical saying that there is enough in this world to satisfy the needs of all humans, but not to fill the insatiable greed of one man. It is both an Islamic principle and a universally accepted code of governance that rulers should be free from any conflicts of interest. Trading was and is legitimate for any citizen, but yet Hazrat Abu Bakr ceased his business upon assuming the role of Caliph. Those who aspire to hold elected or paid public office should either choose to do business or hold such offices.
The basic objective of colonialists was and continues to be flight of capital accompanied by systematic monopoly over natural resources of colonies under occupation so as to ensure an uninterrupted supply to sustain financial and industrial growth in Europe. From the days of Clive Lloyd to the last viceroy of India, the modalities have changed. Following the killings of millions of young men and women in WWII, it was no longer possible for the British colonial empire to sustain its physical hold, forcing the Raj to gracefully bow to the political struggle waged by Quaid-e-Azam and Gandhi in 1947. However, former colonialists with their developed human resources still needed natural resources and funds to sustain their engine of growth and they encouraged corrupt elected governments and tyrannical dictators of third world nations to park their illegitimate wealth in foreign banks to boost their economy, and these ‘new East India Company’ operatives were assured confidentiality by giving legitimacy to offshore accounts for a one-way flow of wealth.
Malik Tariq Ali,
Lahore.
Some details please
Sir,
From the last few months, the media has been reporting developments like “six people killed in a police shootout” and “law enforcement agencies arrest five suspected terrorists of a banned organisation” etc.
It would be great if the print/electronic media also tells the details of these terrorists/criminals who are killed or arrested in Pakistan. Law enforcement agencies must provide details (what crime they have done, how many FIRs have been lodged against them) of these suspect terrorists. Dedicated persons in office, website, email, phone number, fax number, Facebook page, Twitter profile should be announced from where anyone can get to know about the details of these terrorists/criminals.
Mubashir Mahmood,
Karachi.
Welfare or abuse
Sir,
Quaid-e-Azam led the struggle to create Pakistan so that Muslims could live in peace with members of other faiths as free citizens of a country dedicated to the welfare of masses, where laws prevail over individuals and everybody is accountable, irrespective of his caste, creed, belief or status. He could never have visualised that his insistence to draft and finalise a constitution by the duly elected members of the First Constituent Assembly tasked to lay down the foundations of a modern welfare state would be delayed after his death and the country, which refused to have Lord Mountbatten as the first Governor General, would remain as a dominion of the UK with its citizens pledging loyalty to the Queen as late as 1956.
If the Quaid was alive, he would have undergone a lot of anguish and despair to see elected political leaders in connivance with corrupt bureaucracy issue time limited SROs for the benefit of specific powerful individuals and members of ruling political elite depriving state of billions in revenue, which could have been spent on millions of deprived citizens living below the poverty line, with no benefit of education, health or even clean drinking water. How can anybody justify giving repeated tax amenities to those who evade taxes, knowing full well that all over the world people pay taxes because of fear of harsh penalties and punishments? Can anybody visualise the Quaid and Allama Iqbal’s reaction to the obscene practice of giving several plots to paid public office holders under the garb of welfare, in a country where millions have no access to clean drinking water? How can such abuse of power be portrayed as welfare when recipients had performed services for which they were hired for and were retiring hale and hearty with pension benefits? Would the Quaid have tolerated that those aspiring to hold elected or paid public offices where the fate of millions were to be decided would be in the hand of individuals who have no faith in the destiny of this country, whose children have acquired foreign nationalities and bulk of their assets were located abroad and in some cases they pay more taxes abroad than they do in Pakistan, but yet consider it moral and legal to hold elected public office here?
Ali Malik,
Lahore.
Brilliant job
Sir,
I applaud the brave polio workers team for successfully vaccinating 95pc of children against the polio virus in Karachi.
Let us note that the deadly attack on seven policemen guarding polio workers last week did not succeed in deterring the volunteers from vaccinating 95 percent of the targeted children against the virus during the drive.
MBP Baloch,
Turbat.
Battle of offshore accounts
Sir,
What an irony to see billionaires reciting poetry of revolutionaries, men who travel only by chartered aircraft, living in palatial houses spread over acres, shedding crocodile tears for those who do not have even a tent, to protect them from the summer that is touching 43C, with no clean drinking water to quench their thirst.
In this battle between beneficiaries of offshore account holders, there will be many losers, prominent amongst them are the poor people of Pakistan whose economy is being ruthlessly bled of the last drops of blood, the ever expanding columns of unemployed masses, whilst the winners are Western economies that are being rejuvenated by a steady flow of finances from Third World corrupt countries like Pakistan and mafias of land grabbers and criminal economy, which use the same channel for financing and money laundering. Does it matter which political party they are affiliated with, or whether they belong to, civil or uniformed bureaucracy, or traders enjoying endless tax amnesty schemes, or they are members of religious parties excelling in exploiting faith for financial benefits, they all have one thing in common, which is they have no stakes in this country.
For them, Pakistan is an ideal safe haven where they can plunder without any fear and perhaps one of a few countries where individuals are free to transfer their tax evaded incomes to foreign countries, because almost every state financial regulatory body, including the office of the Auditor General is headed and dominated by dual nationals whose families live abroad and all their earnings, legal or illegal, are remitted to build their assets abroad and sustain luxurious lifestyles of their families who live there. This is a country where money laundering models manage to get sympathy and those involved in terror financing and facilitating them still stand to benefit from friendly prosecution, while those posted on borders of Iran and Afghanistan and coastal belt, to prevent smuggling when caught, manage to get away with just termination of service.
Aneela Chandio,
Sukkur.
University issues
Sir,
I would like to take draw your attention towards student problems, particularly of those who are studying at undergraduate or at university level. As education is the backbone of the country, the main problem for students in Pakistan is fees payments. This problem causes students to stress out more and focus less on actual studying. A majority of the population of Pakistan belongs to middle class and lower class. According to UIS data, Pakistan spent 2.5% of GDP on education in 2013. At a national level, 89% education expenditure comprises of current expenses such as teachers’ salaries, while only 11% comprises of development expenditure, which is not sufficient to raise the quality of education. Due to this, it has become very difficult for students to pay high fees of specialized subjects. If students do part time jobs, then their own studies are increasingly affected.
Abdus Samad,
Lahore.
Failure of US diplomacy
Sir,
The US has been using the element of public diplomacy for a long time. The public diplomacy has the unique feature to shape the opinion of a foreign audience and to create a receptive environment for state policy goals among foreign states. When we talk about the instrument for public diplomacy, one thing which comes in our mind is the use of soft power rather than the element use of military or coercive action, which only creates hatred and feeling of revenge. The main motive of American public diplomacy for the achievement of US foreign policy goals and objectives. To enhance its national security, by providing the information, influence the foreign audience, to strengthen the relationship between the US government and foreign people. The US has its separate department under the name of US Department of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, in which communication with foreign audiences, promoting their culture, exchange program, and scholarships programs take place.
The US strategy on war on terrorism, invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and in 2003 in Iraq for suspecting that they had WMDs had lead towards the failure of US public diplomacy towards the whole world, especially towards the Muslim or the Arab world in the Middle East. A claim by Muslim countries is made that this war on terror is not against terrorists, it is against Muslims. Another claim by Muslims is that the US always favors Israel, a Jewish state, not recognised by a majority of Muslims. A study has showed that the shocking death rate resulting from the US war on terror since the 9/11 attacks includes more than 4 billion Muslims in various states. Such statistics resulting from things like drone strikes in North Waziristan end up creating anti-American sentiments, which can convert non-radical groups into radical militants. Drone strikes are infuriating the liberal segments of society who had earlier been sympathetic towards the USA. A criticism made by the rest of the world is that America always shows double standards in its policies and practices.
In order to create a positive image of the USA and the rest of the western world, one thing that they can use is the media.
Jodat Shahid,
Islamabad.
Where is Pakistan?
Sir,
For the last 65 years, we have been waiting for the dreams of Quaid-e-Azam to come true – dreams for which people sacrificed their lives, quit their homes, gave up their properties and lost their wealth, arriving in their new homeland homeless and penniless.
Where is the Pakistan of our dear Quaid, in which he had said we would all live peacefully and prosper? Did our founding fathers give up everything for a country where their progeny would be killed by bullets and bombs? Those who were killed in communal riots were at least declared martyrs. Now, our Mullahs say our own innocent people are not martyrs while a dog killed by the US is a martyr.
The entire country is bruised and bleeding. The birthplace of the Quaid has been turned into a sacrificial altar where bloodshed is frequent. Killings, fire, hunger and loot and terrorism are the order of the day. The value of the life of a citizen is perhaps no more than that of the bullet that kills him. Is this the ideology on which Pakistan was established?
Every other day, Muslims are being killed by other Muslims. And we don’t know who is a martyr and who is not. I don’t know how to make sense of this. My rationality, my analytical ability, my power of reasoning cannot help me, and nor can all my education and experience.
It has been decades since we have been struggling and striving, and there are still no signs of freedom.
A Haq,
London.
Hate breeds hate
Sir,
Each year on December 16, Bangladesh – which was once East Pakistan – celebrates her independence day with pride – a national pride for which the citizens of Bangladesh are fully justified, as they have written their history virtually and practically with their blood. The blood of a Bengali had become the cheapest commodity and of no worth and value in the eyes and mind of the ruling elite of West Pakistan during the tragic days of 1971. A majority of the country was given a status of third class citizens.
According to a recent Transparency International report, Pakistan is much more corrupt than Bangladesh today. Through these lines I salute our Bangladeshi brothers, who in the eyes of the administration were a burden on the economy of Pakistan, but these “traitors” and “agents of the enemies” are far less corrupt than the people of “the land of the pure”.
Bangladesh today stands among the fastest developing countries of the world, and therefore it is expected from them that they will improve their human rights conditions and will show to the civilized word that they stand firmly for the internationally recognized human rights charter by abandoning the so called “war trials” and declaring a general amnesty for those who have been charged with “war crimes”.
These trials and the verdicts will be followed by many more such trials and will achieve nothing but open a Pandora’s Box.
There is no denying the fact that the people of then East Pakistan were treated poorly, and was rape, murder and killing of innocent Bengalis by the establishment of that time. A vast majority of intellectuals, journalists, poets, writers from Pakistan have acknowledged in one form or the other that atrocities were committed, that the people of the eastern Wing were denied of their right to rule, and that the Bengalis were treated as an inferior race by the people of the western wing. But as the daughter of the east once said: “We need to leave the river of hate and climb upon the bank of confidence to appreciate that our hatred only breeds hatred.”
Aamir Aqil,
Lahore.
Clarification
In TFT April 29, Such Gup item “Poker Faced” implied that one of The Great Khan’s former spouses had a “run-in” with The Man of Steel during which she proposed herself as a candidate for Governorship of our Frontier regions. We have since been assured by a spokesman of The Khan’s former spouse that there was no meeting between her and The Man of
Steel - Ed.