Our Announcements

Not Found

Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.

Archive for category RAW SPIES IN NAWAZ SHARIF EMPLOYMENT

Ruin comes when… HUZAIMA BUKHARI AND DR IKRAMUL HAQ

 

 

Ruin comes when…

By
HUZAIMA BUKHARI AND DR IKRAMUL HAQ

 

 

 

Ruin comes when the trader, whose heart is lifted up by wealth, becomes ruler-Plato in Republic Since November 1990, when Muhammad Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister of Pakistan for the first time, the culture of loot, plunder, corruption, tax evasion and money laundering was legalised through obnoxious laws like Protection of Economic Reforms Act, 1992 and its likes giving a free hand to criminals that no question would be asked by tax officials and functionaries of Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) for acquiring and using dirty money. His three stints as Prime Minister and years as a minister and chief minister in the Punjab can safely be labeled as “rule of a trader” whose heart is infested with the insatiable greed of amassing wealth, expanding family-owned business empire at the expense of the national exchequer and other business houses. This fact was also noted by a judge of High Court in a reported case details of which are summarized below:

In Messrs Pak Ocean and Others v Government of Pakistan through Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Central Secretariat, Islamabad and others 2002 PTD 2850, the petitioners challenged the imposition of regulatory duty on re-meltable iron scrap, excluding bundled and shredded scrap and the reduction in the rate of duty on bundled and shredded scrap as unlawful, arbitrary, unreasonable and ultra vires Articles 4, 18, 24 and 25 of the Constitution. They contended that the said imposition of regulatory duty through Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) was aimed at making their imported scrap very expensive as compared to the imports by big businessmen in the form of bundled and shredded scrap. According to petitioners, the adverse SROs were issued “to solely benefit the owners of the furnaces who are largely imported of shredded scrap”. In the judgment, there is a direct indictment against the House of Sharifs, contained in Para 50 that reads as under:

Khalid Anwar has mainly placed reliance on the judgment in the case of Ittefaq Foundry v. Federation of Pakistan, PLD 1990 Lahore 121. In the cited case it was contended that the petitioner was a producer of billets and that there were other producers, producing ingots, the end-product whereof was same. In order to economically ruin the petitioner in the cited case, duty structure was changed in the year 1989 without reasonable justification and the change in the duty structure was against the rights guaranteed in Articles 4, 18 and 25 of the Constitution. The contention of the petitioner was accepted and the relief was allowed. However, with the change in fortunes, the persons were feeling the pinch of oppression in the case of Ittefaq Foundry v. Federation of Pakistan, became the rulers and thereafter, they very easily and conveniently managed to forge the treatment given to them and got the duty structure changed through notification assailed in these petitions, thereby deriving huge undue benefit at the cost of total destruction of the small importers and traders of the scrap in loose form.

The above paragraph confirms beyond any doubt how traders as rulers have been playing havoc with the national exchequer and minting billions through tax concessions secured vide SROs thus destroying their competitors. Yet in the presence of these undeniable facts and court ruling the State agencies/institutions like FBR, FIA, ECP, NAB etc plead helplessness and claiming “lack of evidence” to proceed against the tax evaders and plunderers of national wealth.

 

 

 

In two articles, ‘Trail of hidden wealth’, Business Recorder, May 6, 2016 and ‘Tough times for PM’, Business Recorder, May 13, 2016, incontrovertible evidence was produced to show abuse of Protection of Economic Reforms Act, 1992 to legalise ill-gotten wealth, blatant violations of tax laws by the family of the Prime Minister and wrong declarations made by him in papers submitted to the Elections Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in 2013 as well as false/misdeclarations in returns submitted to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). Astonishingly, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) still claims that “no evidence” is available to initiate proceedings against the rulers of the day.

 

 

 

The House of Sharifs has a proven track record of destroying competitive business houses but appeasing traders that politically back them and pose no threat to their “empire”. They have been passing laws to protect tax avoiders and were also beneficiaries of the same. Obviously, tax compliance does not suit the huge business empire of Nawaz/Shahbaz and family. It is not surprising that Nawaz Sharif during his third term as Prime Minister has already announced three tax amnesty schemes and now another is in the offing. In 2013, 2015 and 2016, he approved tax amnesties for tax evaders, which failed to mop up untaxed money.

On the very first day of 2016, the Prime Minister took pride in announcing a tax amnesty scheme and publically revealed that he had been asking his Finance Minister to come up with something “worthwhile” that could be “acceptable” to traders who had not been filing tax returns!! Lamentably, as Prime Minister, he openly vowed to protect the accumulation of untaxed (black) money. He never minces words for announcing schemes patronizing tax evaders and encouraging plunder of national wealth. This perhaps supports the allegations of the Opposition that he and his own family are guilty of these crimes as well, so he wants amnesty and immunities for all.

Nawaz Sharif is reportedly keen to launch yet another tax amnesty scheme knowing that his 2013 tax amnesty shockingly fetched a negligible amount of Rs 88 million from about 3000 persons! Much-publicised and negotiated with consensus (sic) Voluntary Tax Amnesty for traders, the deadline for which was extended many times, could not lure them and only 3205 got registered against the agreed target of one million new filers!

Businessmen and other citizens say they pay income tax and sales tax with electricity bills and mobile use. The rulers should not insist for tax returns as they have stacked assets worth billions of dollars abroad. For electioneering, the rulers get generous donations (chanda) from business magnates and after winning pay back through tax amnesties. Together they make billions through rent-seeking, tax evasion, and remit abroad the major portion of such ill-gotten income. Traders who have been investing billions in property in Pakistan and places like Dubai never bother to pay taxes due from them to run the State. PML(N) protects them!

According to FBR’s own study, the contribution of traders in income tax is just 0.5% and in sales tax about 1%. Like powerful absentee landlords, the traders pay meager income tax. However, they successfully keep revenue authorities at bay due to the powerful political influence they wield. The history of income tax law is fraught with provisions that were amended and/or re-amended on account of the traders’ shutter-down threats or violent demonstrations, causing legislators to get cold feet and succumbing to their demands. The governments civil and military alike have been extending amnesty schemes to tax evaders to whiten their undeclared incomes and ill-gotten wealth, for example, Ayub Khan’s Tax Amnesty Scheme of 1958, 1969 Tax Amnesty of Yahya Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Tax Amnesty, Self-Assessment Schemes of the 1970s, Special National Fund Bonds or Simplified Self-Assessment Scheme of the 1980s, Foreign Currency Accounts or Foreign Exchange Bearer Certificates of the 1990s, Amnesty Scheme of 2008 by PPP government, three amnesties schemes of Nawaz-Dar since 2013, various other millennium immunity schemes and the perpetual scheme in the form of the infamous section 111(4) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

Irrespective of what would be the fate of any new tax amnesty scheme, the question that emanates from the prevalent bizarre state of affairs is why traders have been defiant to file tax returns and sales tax statements? There cannot be any one definitive answer because the matter goes down to innumerable factors having roots in certain motivations as well as the draconian image of FBR. The sole responsibility for trust deficit cannot be assigned to FBR. The traders pay millions as Zakat and donations but abhor paying taxes. The general argument is that government spends money callously and for the benefit of elites.

The sanctity to make unrestrained (excessive) profits (munafaa) by traders has the authority of certain clerics. The traders borrow money at exorbitant rates from private parties but avoid banks to hide from the eyes of tax people. The lenders also remain tax-free and borrowers accumulate untaxed money by fleecing masses. There are no effective controls to check unscrupulous traders from charging unreasonable prices.

The clergy in general, with a few exceptions, plead against paying taxes and ask traders to pay Zakat. Resultantly, the greed to amass wealth becomes an obsession violating all social and moral obligations. Thus, adulterating eatables, incorrect measurements, selling defective or sub-standard products, misrepresenting, providing unprofessional services, defrauding customers, refusing to honor guarantees or other duties as abiding by governmental laws regarding trade or payment of taxes, are not considered immoral or violating laws.

All is fair, as long as one is able to stuff one’s pockets with paper money and then have the audacity to squander it in an ostentatious display of wealth and power. Such behavior is visible in the length and breadth of our entire society. Apart from an ignorable number, the majority of traders from a petty fruit/vegetable vendor to the owner of large departmental stores leave no stone unturned to swindle an unassuming customer as well as the concerned government agents with whose connivance they easily manage to evade their national duties.

Non-compliance of tax obligation is a grim reality of Pakistan. The State has failed to fulfill its basic obligations-protection of life and property, health, education, housing and transport etc. In our peculiar milieu, the government needs to educate the masses through the same platform that is used by clergy. The mosques should be under state control, headed by trained teachers who are adequately paid the same model exists in a majority of Muslim countries. Primary education should start from the mosques.

The trader-mullah nexus for non-payment of taxes and huge amounts extracted for madrassahs are issues that need to be debated and handled democratically. These are critical for our existence as a democratic country lest we continuously slide towards mullocracy, extremism, and militancy that have disastrous effects for societies, and are destructive to humanity. Tax defiance and corruption in Pakistan are closely linked with rulers-cum-traders-who are unscrupulous and their greed is unbound. Plato aptly said in the Republic that ruin comes for a country when traders whose hearts are filled with greed become rulers. This is what we are witnessing in today’s Pakistan.

(The writers, lawyers, and partners in Huzaima, Ikram & Ijaz, are Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).)

, , ,

No Comments

Prosecutor Pushes for Indictment of South Korean President in Samsung Scandal

S.Korea Prosecutor Ready to Indict Impeached President Ms.Park:

Pakistan Supreme Court Sits on Nawaz Sharif Panama Case Judgement 

Prosecutor Pushes for Indictment of South Korean President in Samsung Scandal

FEB. 28, 2017

Image result for president park south korea impeachment

Ms. Park’s presidential powers have been suspended since the impeachment vote in December. The Constitutional Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks on whether she should be reinstated or formally removed from office. Even if she resumes the presidency, her five-year term ends in February, after which she can face criminal charges.

On Monday, Ms. Park’s lawyer, Yu Young-ha, rejected the special prosecutor’s findings, saying his investigation was “politically biased” and “lacking in fairness.” He called the bribery allegation “an absurd fiction.”

But on Monday, Mr. Park, the special prosecutor, who is not related to Ms. Park, said his team found enough evidence that Ms. Park and her confidante, Choi Soon-sil, conspired to collect bribes from Samsung.

Image result for president park south korea impeachment

On Feb. 28, he indicted Lee Jae-yong, the third-generation scion of the family that runs Samsung, on charges of giving or promising $38 million in bribes to Ms. Park and Ms. Choi. He also added a bribery charge to the case against Ms. Choi, who is already on trial.

Mr. Lee offered the bribes in return for political favors from Ms. Park, most notably government support for a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015 that helped him inherit corporate control of the Samsung conglomerate from his incapacitated father, Lee Kun-hee, the prosecutor said.

Acting on Ms. Park’s order, her aides forced the government-controlled National Pension Service, a major shareholder at the two Samsung companies, to vote for the merger, though it was opposed by many minority shareholders and devalued the pension fund’s own stocks there, the prosecutor said.

Photo

A protest against President Park in Seoul on Saturday. The special prosecutor also said that Ms. Park should face a criminal charge of abusing official power over a blacklist of artists. CreditJung Ui-Chel/European Pressphoto Agency

On Monday, Samsung denied the special prosecutor’s findings.

“Samsung has not paid bribes nor made improper requests seeking favors,” it said in a statement. “Future court proceedings will reveal the truth.”

On Monday, Mr. Park, the special prosecutor, said that the president should also face a criminal charge of abusing official power, saying she conspired with aides to blacklist thousands of artists, writers, and movie directors deemed unfriendly to her government and exclude them from government-funded support programs.

Ms. Park also fired three senior Culture Ministry officials who had been reluctant to discriminate against some of the 9,473 names on the list, the prosecutor said. She demoted and later fired another senior ministry official who had angered Ms. Choi, her friend, by investigating allegations of corruption involving her family, the prosecutor said.

While blackballing unfriendly artists, Ms. Park’s office ensured that pro-government civic groups received special favors, he said.

It asked the Federation of Korean Industries, which lobbies on behalf of Samsung and other big businesses, to provide $5.9 million for those groups between 2014 and 2016, the special prosecutor said. Some of those groups, like the right-wing Korea Parent Federation, have held noisy protests in downtown Seoul calling the critics of Ms. Park “commies.”

Besides Samsung, scores of other South Korean companies were found to have made payments to two foundations controlled by Ms. Choi. But on Monday, the special prosecutor did not recommend further actions against them, and state prosecutors had earlier said that those companies were coerced to donate and were not engaged in bribery.

Ms. Park has repeatedly denied any legal wrongdoing, insisting that she was framed by hostile political forces and that she was not aware of any criminal conspiracy by Ms. Choi. She said she only let Ms. Choi edit some of her speeches and run her personal errands.

On Monday, the special prosecutor said Ms. Park and Ms. Choi had 573 phone conversations between April and October last year using cell phones issued under borrowed names. Of these calls, 127 took place between September, when Ms. Choi left for Germany, and October when she returned home to be arrested.

The prosecutor accused Ms. Park of impeding his investigation. She refused to be questioned by his investigators and also did not allow them to search her office. As a result, he said his team could not fully determine what she was doing at her residence for seven hours in April 2014, when a ferry loaded with hundreds of schoolchildren sank, killing more than 300.

Ms. Park said she was working at the time, getting reports on the disaster. But she has been haunted by lurid rumors, some of them claiming that she was having a romantic encounter or undergoing plastic surgery.

On Monday, the prosecutor said a cosmetic surgeon gave Ms. Park at least five simple face-lifting operations at her residence between 2013 and 2016. Even unlicensed people visited her there to give her nutritional shots and help her with kinesiotherapy and reiki, a form of traditional healing. But investigators could not find evidence that such things took place on the day of the ferry disaster.

Reference

, , , , ,

No Comments

TO ROOT OUT TERRORISM, UPROOT ITS NETWORK CONTROLLED BY FOREIGN AGENCIES By Commodore Tariq Majeed PN (Retd)

Note by Commodore Tariq Majeed PN (Retd):

This Awareness Brief was sent in printed form to concerned Civil, Military, and Police
Authorities 2 years ago, on 14 February 2015. Please give it serious attention. The
step It emphasizes has to be taken now to uproot the ongoing entrenched terrorism.

TO ROOT OUT TERRORISM, UPROOT ITS NETWORK CONTROLLED BY FOREIGN AGENCIES

By

Commodore Tariq Majeed PN (Retd)

Why the Anti-Terror Measures have Failed
1.      After the savage attack by the terrorist brutes on the Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December 2014, the nation as a whole cried out for protection against Terrorism. The civil and military authorities rushed to proclaim that they would take the most stringent measures to wipe out terrorism and that security would be tightened and made foolproof. Their repeated assertions to wipe out Terrorism seemed solemn. But would they succeed?
2.      People are very worried and fearful. They have been victims of dreadful terrorism for fourteen years now, and have seen all the measures taken by the civil and military authorities fail in wiping out Terrorism. The new measures designated as the National Action Plan (NAP) cannot succeed either. The reason is of a fundamental nature and is central to the ongoing Terrorism.
Terror Network of Foreign Agencies
3.      There exists in Pakistan an extensive network of foreign spy agencies which is creating, sustaining and directing all Terrorism. This Network has to be uprooted in order to root out Terrorism. There is no other way. But, this measure is missing from the NAP, as it was missing from the previous set of measures.
The Purpose of this Submission
4.     To identify this Network and to emphasize why it is absolutely essential to rid our Country of this rogue Network is the purpose of this submission, which is addressed mainly to the Country’s top defenders and policymakers.
The 9/11 Attacks and the Ongoing Terrorism
5.      Pakistan did experience incidents of terrorism in the 1980s during the Soviet-Afghan War.  But the current wave of Terrorism
originated with the 9/11 Air Attacks in the US. Those Attacks, now confirmed that they originated from within the US, were planned and executed with military precision and had political aims. The same features can be seen in the acts of Terrorism since 9/11.
Terrorists’ Obvious Capabilities
6.      The authorities evidently know much more than the public does about the characteristics and capabilities of the Terrorists. What thoughtful Pakistanis know from the news and the actual terror attacks reveals many of their characteristics.
7.      The terrorists are highly organized and trained in their destructive skills. For their ceaseless acts of terrorism and sabotage, they have vast supplies of resources: bombs, arms and ammunition, grenades, IEDs, rockets, electronic gadgets, satellite communication access, transportation facility, abundant money and manpower including female suicide bombers, intelligence and inside information on selected targets, help from local sources, safe houses to hide, and supporting publicity in Media.
False Image given to Terrorists
8.      These features are proof enough that there is a command organization behind the Terrorists. Yet the official quarters and the Media have created a false impression that the Terrorists are operating independently. This has misled and confused many people including politicians and officials, and analysts, dealing with Terrorism. On the other hand, this false impression has benefited the Terrorists and boosted their deceitful jihadist guise.
Top Authorities know about the Network
9.      The top civil and military authorities know about the rogue Network and the powers behind it. It is kept concealed from the public, except that ‘once in a blue moon’ it is said, “India is behind unrest in Pakistan,” (first headline in the Nation, 24 August 2013).
10.    In a rare case of disclosure of classified material, the Nation, 12 February 2010, carried a report about the threat to Pakistan by a joint axis of United States, India, and Israel. The lengthy report, “Secret Document Reveals Indian Subversion in Pakistan,” spoke more about the Indian “spy network and subversive operations” but also specifically identified the trio of spy agencies. Leaving aside some details, the essential message of the report, which quotes “well-placed sources”— most likely the ISI— is as follows: 
“Indian RAW’s Team CIT-X had been assigned to conduct subversive operations targeting Pakistan. The CIT-X was working relentlessly to destabilize Pakistan while New Delhi stepped up interaction with Islamabad on the diplomatic channels.
          “These plans came to light once a copy of the classified document detailing these activities was accidentally lost and became available for public scrutiny. The document lays out the extensive espionage network dovetailed into the diplomatic missions in Central Asia, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, which the Indian undercover intelligence operatives utilize to rake trouble not only in FATA but in Pakistani hinterland as well.
“Mossad’s tactics of infiltrating Palestinian resistance acted as a model
and provided the modus operandi for CIT-X to stir insurgency on Pakistan’s Western border. Targeting interior regions of Sindh province, Seraiki-belt and the Northern Areas of Pakistan forms pivots of the Indian plan.

The document of  RAW  revealed CIT-X operations which spells out the Mossad/RAW/CIA plot against Pakistan.

“Sources believed that UAE is being used as a launching pad for terrorist activities in Pakistan. Agents are getting hold of young, disgruntled elements and after carrying out their proper brainwashing, they are dispatched to Dubai. Indian Consulate in Dubai is issuing temporary passports to these activists for getting training. After completion of their formal training, they are launched into Pakistan to carry out terrorist activities. RAW and MOSSAD had conceived the ‘offensive’ a year ago. Modus operandi has been successful.
“CIT-X is effectively training agents for covert operations in Pakistan. Under the Vajpayee government, the CIT-X and other sensitive organizations were authorized to strengthen contacts with sleeping agents and recruit new front men to carry out covert operations in Pakistan.

 “This intelligence model is an improvement on the practices of Mossad which has infiltrated several Jewish agents into the occupied territory of Palestine as Muslims. These agents practice Islam like any normal Muslim. They mingle into local Muslim population just to wait for the appropriate time to strike.

      “The hostile intelligence operatives are making concerted attempts to achieve their aim of destabilizing Pakistan through a well-conceived plan. It needs to be countered utilizing all means available at our disposal. “Analysts say that Pakistan should think twice before initiating dialogue with India due to New Delhi‘s dangerous track record.”
  
Trilateral Terror Network and its Aim
11.    Does this report not throw ample light on the Organized  Terrorism, that is devastating our Country?  It does. It directly points to the Terrorism’s Organizers—the Trilateral Network of CIA, Mossad, and RAW. It asserts that their Aim is “destabilizing Pakistan through a well-conceived plan.”
12.    ‘Destabilisation’ means: weakening, disruption, subversion, undermining, dislocation.”  It is carried out by many methods, machinations, and instruments. Among the multitude of methods being used against Pakistan, ruthless Terrorism of multifarious forms stands out as the most destabilizing method.   Planned, persistent, unchecked destabilization of a country is bound to result in its collapse. There should be no doubt in the minds of Pakistan’s patriotic defenders and policymakers that this is the goal of the rogue Trilateral Axis of powers regarding Pakistan.
Root Cause of Terrorism—Not Addressed in NAP
13.    Yet, there is no mention in the NAP of eradicating or checking this Root Cause of Terrorism! How could the architects of the National Action Plan, who advised the Parliament Committees and the Government, have missed it?
CIA’s Terror Network
14.    The other authoritative source that points to the terror network in Pakistan is the Abbottabad Commission, which was set up to investigate the US commando raid in Abbottabad on 2 May 2011. Its composition indicates its high status.
 
President:    
   Justice Javed Iqbal, Senior Most Judge of the Supreme Court  
Members:
   1. Abbas Mohammad Khan, Retired Inspector General Police
   2. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Retired Ambassador, Director
       General, Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad
   3. Lieutenant General (Retd) Nadeem Ahmad
15.The Commission’s report was published by the Aljazeera Channel at www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/binladenfiles on 8 July 2013. Its important points appeared in Dawn 10 July 2013.    The report’s flaws aside, it contains many facts and comments which are of vital importance to Pakistan’s security. However, what is reproduced here is about CIA’s Network in Pakistan:
 
a.  Dismantling the Terror Networks.    “The dismantling of CIA, other foreign intelligence, and militant  networks must be treated as an urgent national priority if the country is to regain sovereignty over its own territory.”
                                                                                      (page  332,  paragraph 786)
b.  CIA’s Undercover Presence in Pakistan. “The Defence Secretary told the Commission that the CIA’s undercover officials had been operating in Pakistan since a long time…The CIA operated in diverse ways including cultivation of human resources, using Contractors, NGOs, Multinational Companies, USAID programs, intelligence personnel in the guise of Diplomats, etc. CIA’s Human  Resources were supplemented by Technical Intelligence.”                                                      (page 221, paragraph 531)
 
c.  Safe Houses.   “The Commission noted that the Americans had reportedly rented 389 houses in Islamabad and asked if there was any policy in place with regard to such matters including the entry and exit of aliens. The Interior Secretary said the visa policy was liberalized for trade and investment in 2000 and was again reviewed and updated in 2006 with the approval of the Prime Minister.”                       (page 237, paragraph 572)
      “With regard to the US Embassy hiring hundreds of houses in Islamabad and the suspicious activities of their US residents, the Foreign Minister said this was a matter of serious concern and that a comprehensive approach was required involving all relevant agencies and departments to address it and other such like issues. The problem was that the previous administration had been flexible with the sovereignty of the country vis-à-vis the US and once such flexibility was displayed, the ability of succeeding governments to reverse the situation is compromised.”                     (page 234, paragraph 564)
 
d.    Unchecked Grant of Visas by Ambassador Haqqani. “It was widely reported that Ambassador Haqqani had abused his authority in order to issue a large number of visas to US officials without proper security clearance.This enabled the CIA to develop a major spy network inside Pakistan  comprising US personnel, US personnel of Pakistani origin and Pakistani nationals.”                                          (page 214, paragraph 516)
   [Unbridled grant of visas]…“ resulted in an alarming increase in the presence of CIA agents in Pakistan, who established foreign spy networks… (page 217, paragraph 520)
“Mr. Haqqani is answerable for his role, but the primary responsibility for aiding and abetting the establishment of a nationwide CIA network in Pakistan whose purpose was to subvert the sovereign independence of the country…lay with Mr. Haqqani’s principals.  Mr. Haqqani directly reported to them, bypassing his proper reporting channel which was Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The political leadership was grossly irresponsible to deliberately sideline its own Foreign Office and Foreign Minister on such a delicate security issue. (page 217, paragraph 522) 
Alarming Situation
16.    The evidence of CIA’s nationwide subversive Network in Pakistan brings us face to face with a very alarming situation. The Commission rightly warned that it be dismantled urgently. There is no evidence of any efforts toward this end. Terrorists continue to operate with impunity. The rogue Network remains strong and is advancing toward its political goal.
People Suffering under Intensely Traumatic Conditions
17.    Pakistani People, although endowed by nature with courage and toughness, have been forced to live, for many years now, in a state of fear and acute anxiety. Thousands have lost their near and dear ones. Many are suffering from severe mental and physical stress, and a sense of helplessness.
18.    Terrorism’s dreadful effects and fears and Government’s ill-advised and thoughtless measures in the name of “security” have drastically disrupted the daily life of the people. This situation is crippling the performance of the people and the work of the government at every level. The Civil and Military Authorities ought to be well aware of the dangerous consequences of this crippling state of affairs. It has to be halted as a matter of urgency.
Dismantling the Terror Network—Essential for Country’s Survival
19.    Dismantling the CIA/Mossad/Raw Network, that is using devastating Terrorism with the aim of breaking up this Country, will be a difficult task, with a heavy cost. But it has to be undertaken and accomplished, no matter what the cost. Strong Will and Wisdom in the Country’s top Defenders and Policymakers shall, Insha-Allah, ensure success.
             

“Then, when you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah,

 for Allah loves those who put  their trust  (in Him).”         (3:159)

, ,

No Comments

School Buses Scam -15 MAJOR CRIMES of Nawaz Sharif

School Buses Drama

 

 

 

Sharif

15 MAJOR CRIMES of Nawaz Sharif


1. SUPPORTING ZARDARI (2008-2011)
2. Giving Mujahidin List to India (1997)
3. Secret deal with Musharraf (Copy available on BBC Urdu website)
4. Corruption of 55 Arab Rupees to London (BBC News Documentary)
5. Money laundering 43 Arab Rs to Saudi Arab (Capitalism’s Achilles Heel Book)
6. Corruption of 40 Arab Rs in Motorway (BBC News documentary)
7. Corruption of 25 Arab Rs in Sasti Roti (Daily Express 13.03.2013)
8. Corruption of 13.5 Arab Rs in Yellow Cab Scheme (Daily Jang 29.04.2013)
9. Corruption of 29 Arab Rs in Metro Bus Scheme (Off the Record 05.03.2013)
10. Corruption of 18 Arab Rs in Karachi Shipyard Scam (1998)
11. Attack on Supreme Court (1997)
12. Beating Chief Justice with Shoes (1997)
13. Hudaibiya Paper Mill scam (1996)
14. Corruption of 22 Arab Rs reserved for Electricity Production (Punjab Budget 2012)
15. Secret Deal with Zardari

,

No Comments

The genesis of corruption by Tahir Kamran

The genesis of corruption
Tahir Kamran

 

June 19, 2016 

Is a corruption-free Pakistan possible?

 

 

 

A few days back, an old acquaintance asked me about the future pattern of Punjab politics in the wake of a scam as big as the Panama Leaks. I told him nothing is likely to effect any change in the existing pattern of Punjab politics. Not a single parliamentarian has raised a voice or threatened to depose the current rulers because ‘the first family’ has off-shore companies and the source of capital invested is shrouded in obscurity.
Of course it is corruption. But then isn’t that the way of life in the land of the pure? If it is an art, we have perfected it; if it is a science, we have excelled in it. More worryingly, we have accorded legitimacy to corrupt practices. In fact, we celebrate both corruption and the corrupt.
In the Victorian era, man was defined as a symbol of masculinity, white (read Caucasian) and rational with values derived from the Christian faith. If we try to define Pakistani ‘man’, corruption has to be an essential trait that he is bound to carry in order to qualify as ‘man’. He also has to be yaran da yar, (friend of friends) which means a real ‘man’ shows no respect for any law or regulation when it comes to his friends, cronies or sidekicks.
Thus in our case, violating the law or even constitution for that matter symbolises how powerful someone is. For the poor, corruption may be a means of climbing the social ladder but for the rich and affluent, corruption is the means to express power.
Another acquaintance jestingly said the other day that he has tried to make a payment of a few dollars to get his name included in the list that has emerged out of Panama Leaks. I asked him why he did that, knowing he wasn’t serious. He replied that it was a sign of ‘respectability’; it becomes damn easy to marry off a daughter to a boy from a good family if you can affirm your wealth.
Historians (particularly Edward Gibbon) have inferred from the past that when wealth becomes the principal determinant of the values that society respects, the fall of that society becomes inevitable. The same happened with the Romans and they fell, never to rise again. The generation of wealth and even more so its distribution should be carried out through mutually agreed regulations, which the Romans started flouting with impunity, and hence their fall.
For the poor, corruption may be a means of climbing the social ladder but for the rich and affluent, corruption is the means to express power.
Indeed, it needs no less than a miracle for any nation/civilization to rejuvenate itself. China can be put forth as one rare example. But it too will have to go a long way to match the sole super power, USA.
Another of my friends says, “corruption and Pakistan are like two peas in a pod”. His observation seems sweeping, yet it cannot be easily denied. The first and foremost cause of corruption was embedded in the cataclysmic event of Partition. This is depicted in the relevant chapters from the works of Ilyas Chattha, Urvashi Butalia, Yasmin Khan and Vazira Zamindar. Such events as the partition of India are no less than the upheavals of history bringing about the tectonic shift in the established norms of sociology and culture.
As a consequence of an event of such magnitude, usually a break from the past (though selective) is intended which causes rupture in the centuries-old tradition. The process of evolution which is usually gradual and steady is markedly disrupted. Such disruptions tear the affected people apart from the socio-cultural norms and practices which have hitherto defined their collective ethos. Every one, in such a scenario, is running for life. En masse relocation and genocide, such as were concomitant to partition, gave a big blow to the sensibility that binds people together.
Many living the life of relative deprivation in united India saw Pakistan as a land of opportunities, and came to the newly-founded country for economic gains. In the newly established state of Pakistan, regulatory structures were not in place to check any arbitrary practice aiming to amass wealth or to grab property. Thus the people who could, did all that was possible to secure wealth. Partition catapulted many from rags to riches. These sort of sudden changes contravene the smooth and gradual process of evolution, which people find really hard to come to terms with.
Another cataclysmic event was secession of East Pakistan, which gave a big jolt to the morale of the people. The trust in the future of the country was considerably undermined, a ripe situation in which corruption could proliferate.
Unfortunately Pakistan’s politics, right from the outset, was marred by inconsistent transitions. One political order was substituted by the other, with the two having hardly anything in common. Hence, the transition was abrupt and instantaneous. Political compromises of the oddest kind were made merely for personal gains. Characters like Ghulam Muhammad, Iskander Mirza and Ayub Khan did not allow institutions to germinate and blossom. The will of the people was not sought, in the first place; if and when elections were held, non-political actors wielded more power than the elected ones.
Therefore, institutions remained weak and their fate uncertain. Religious ideology was deployed for self-legitimisation with disastrous consequences. In such a scenario, when state institutions were weakened beyond measure, corruption flourished rampantly.
Such political choices made by the Pakistani elite conjured up a social fabric which was amenable to practices which were corrupt to the core. I do believe that a social movement spearheaded by the intelligentsia can stall that trend. But Pakistan’s history fails to register the existence of any social movement aimed at raising awareness among the people about such an issue of wider significance. So, thus far, there is no hope for a corruption-free Pakistan.

 

 

Reference

,

No Comments