Rags to riches
Sir,
Pakistan today faces biggest threat to its national security and sovereignty not from across borders, but from insatiable greed of its corrupt mediocrity within paid bureaucracy and political elite, which continues to bleed its economy, with individuals going from rags to riches, with no fear of accountability. For a country burdened with mounting debts and an FBR which facilitates tax evasion, leading to worst Tax to GDP ratio in region, the lifestyle of ruling elite, their extravagance at state expense is shocking. Totally oblivious to self generated financial collapse, financial regulatory agencies, customs, sensitive intelligence agencies continue to facilitate massive flight of capital, instead of ruthlessly curbing this menace.
The political debate that is going on in this country, both within parliament and in the Dharnas, seeks to seek no remedies, just charges and empty promises. Can those seek political power explain where the $50 billion that poured into Pakistan between 1982 to 1987 evaporated, because by 1988 this country’s Finance Minister Dr Mahbub had to rush to IMF seeking emergency bailout.
The national exchequer did not benefit from first Afghan War, nor did it benefit from second Afghan War under another military dictator. Individuals became billionaires, and with their newly acquired wealth they sought political power, while this country became a breeding ground for terrorism, its economy is in shambles and today few political leaders would have us believe that we must reject democracy and seek redressal from those whom Quaid very emphatically stated had no political role in governance. There is no doubt that the PPP failed miserably, while the PML-N lacks competence, vision, integrity and commitment to deliver. The solution lies in the rule of law, supremacy of the constitution, an independent judiciary, a powerful ECP and strong regulatory control free from political or bureaucratic intervention.
Mukarram Wadood,
Islamabad.
How to fight terror
Sir,
Pakistan is fighting terrorism for the last 10 years without much success. The basic reason or that failure is an absence of a comprehensive counter terrorism strategy which in itself is the result of lack of conceptual clarity, vision, sincerity of purpose, resolve and selfishness on the part of our leadership. Currently, the peace through negotiations or military operations is very earnestly being debated somewhat superficially without comprehending the issue of terrorism and extremism in its entirety. This has created an impression that the terrorism and extremism will end either by successful talks with, or military operations against the Taliban.
Taliban are just a factor and not the only factor responsible for the present state of affairs in the country though their terrorist activities have exceeded the tolerance threshold and definitely requires immediate and stern action. However, the exclusive and exploitative socio-economic, religious-sectarian, foreign/internal policies and corruption of the rulers since 1947 are the real causes of the discontentment, frustration, loss of hope and confidence in the country amongst the masses. This situation created the ideal conditions for the emergence of TTP and other terrorist groups and acceptance of their ideology/narrative by a considerable percentage of our population. These conditions have been successfully exploited by the hostile agencies and foreign powers for the realization of their vested interests turning Pakistan into the battle ground of many proxy wars.
Long term policy objectives should aim at inclusive and distributive socio-economic policies, education/madrassa reforms, restructuring of state institutions, population control/management, elimination of political interference, speedy and free justice, electoral and judicial reforms and control of mafias and cartels etc. Medium and short term objectives should include the police, intelligence agencies reforms, anti-terrorism legislation in consonance with threat perception, creation of a Counter- Terrorism Force (CTF) with integral intelligence capability, prosecution branch under a unified command structure at the federal level with authority and capability to operate and act immediately throughout Pakistan on actionable intelligence. This force must be equipped with the latest intelligence gathering gadgets and weapons and equipment. The success of CTF will depend upon the quality of actionable intelligence, its quick reaction capability, political non- interference and targeting the nexus of corruption, politically backed and organized crimes and terrorism.
The immediate objective of the counter terrorism strategy must be the elimination of TPP and other terrorist groups. Should the military operation becomes inevitable, it should be launched wholeheartedly and ruthlessly with clearly defined military/political objectives and time frame. However, permanent and sustainable solution can only be achieved through the long term strategic objectives with in an overall National Security Policy which must address the root causes of terrorism and extremism in the society in its entirety. This will require national consensus, political/national will and above all the leadership beyond personal economic/political interests with vision, capability and determination.
Mian Muhammad Siddique,
Lahore.
Education emergency
Sir,
Regardless of who is in government, I want to make a case for immediate, instrumental education reforms. First and foremost, we must enforce one syllabus. All tuition centres must be shut down and declared prohibited. Such private tuition centres have ruined the standard of education. Both the teachers and school administrations seem to be the partners in this crime; they exploit and hijack the students and parents.
School timing should be from 8am to 5pm including lunch and games. Thus there will be no homework and no time for evening tuition. The number of subjects should be a maximum four for primary classes, six for middle school and eight for matriculation students. Government and private schools must issue syllabus books free of cost. The books should remain in the school custody and be available for the next promoted classes.
Long term steps must also be taken. Every 3,000-house community should have one education centre from primary school to intermediate college. The school or college building should be located in the centre of the community where students may arrive using free transport arranged by the government. The government must ensure 100% participation of children where the parents and notables get directly involved and ensure regular attendance. The system must guarantee career planning and job confirmation.
Education is the only remedy of all ills of Pakistan.
Shafqat Sultan,
Rawalpindi.
Politicized Justice
Sir,
Reference the controversy surrounding the Panama scandal, the Qatari prince and adjudication of cases against Dr Asim, Wasim Akhtar etc., if only Al Capone had a friendly prosecutor, he would have never been jailed and maybe become a kingmaker. It seems to be the fate of underdeveloped countries in South Asia, Africa and South America to be reduced to fiefdoms by their elected civilian leaders or military dictators, who are adamant not to set any precedent of punishing financial criminals. Pakistan is one such country where not only massive corruption has become an accepted privilege of ruling elite and paid bureaucracy, but even worse, all this black money is transferred to foreign bank accounts through loopholes built by financial wizards across political divide having unanimity of vested interests. It is a country where front man of rulers manage to own almost every sugar mill in Sindh and unlike South Korea’s president, despite enjoying constitutional immunity from criminal prosecution, is being investigated because her close friend was given undue access to state contracts, while in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, concepts like conflict of interest are no hurdles.
Crimes like destroying education system, giving fake degrees and permission to unqualified groups to set up medical and dental colleges are of no concern to parliament, because this does not bother the ruling elite whose families live abroad. Given numerous individuals, accused of heinous crimes, corruption, pilfering the state, yet managing to get relief from courts courtesy friendly prosecution, it seems aliens from outer space were responsible for institutionalized corruption that has infected this country’s ruling elite and paid civil or uniformed bureaucracy. The over $200 billion that are allegedly in foreign banks, the houses, hotels and multi-storeyed buildings near Hyde Park and Park Lane in London, luxury villas on Emirates Hills, the 16th century Normandy chateau in France, investments in USA, UK, Dubai, Spain, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Canada, Australia etc. were either inherited or bought with numerous jackpot lottery wins or sheer hard work.
A M Tariq,
Malaysia.
Afghans
Sir,
So-called Afghan refugees in Pakistan are mostly migrants or immigrants. According to the Oxford Dictionary a refugee is ‘a person taking refuge, esp. in a foreign country from war or persecution or natural disaster’. It implies temporary stay. Many Afghans who came to Pakistan due to war stayed here even after the conflict in their country lessened. Many of them were migrants due to their free movement between Pakistan and Afghanistan as there was no border management. This became obvious as recent border management by Pakistan is a factor which motivated many Afghans to stay in the country. Many Afghans always intended to be immigrants. Some of them managed to acquire fake identity cards of Pakistan. The reason for migration or immigration was preference for greener pastures.
Irrespective of whether Afghans in Pakistan are refugees, migrants or immigrants, they should return to their country as their stay is now highly problematic for them as well as Pakistanis. It is desirable that Pakistani authorities should facilitate their honorable return and settlement. It may be recalled that the prime minister of Pakistan promised to supply wheat for three years to camps in Afghanistan for those who would return to their country. Exceptions for repatriation are also being considered.
Pakistan is the only country in the world which has hosted a large number of citizens from a hostile country, which did not recognize a large part of its border. Even governments of Afghanistan that were friendly with Pakistan refused to accept the validity of the Pak-Afghan border. In view of this position, it is in the national interest of Pakistan that its Afghan residents should return to Afghanistan. Such a movement would increase the prospects of better relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It would promote peace and prosperity in the Af-Pak region, which is suffering since long due to cross-border movements of terrorists.
Taraq Jazy,
Islamabad.
Turkish president
Sir,
There were times when every foreign dignitary visiting Pakistan used to visit Karachi, the economical hub of the country, to pay homage and respect to the father of the nation and lay wreath of flowers at his grave, and recording his or her deep appreciations in the visitor’s book for the greatness of Mr Jinnah, but unfortunately this practice of making a visit of foreign dignitaries to the mausoleum of the Quaid has been abandoned by policymakers and the rulers of the country for reasons best known to them.
Recently, Turkish President Mr Tayyip Erdogan visited Pakistan for almost a day; during that short visit of the Turkish President, it was considered necessary and important and meaningful to take him to Lahore, just to a reception at the historical Lahore Fort. Only the administration of Lahore is in a position to let the taxpayers of the country know how much of their money was spent in decorating the routine through which the honorable Turkish president’s caravan passed to attend that lavish dinner, in which the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of Punjab were present along with other guests. Not only this, at the Islamabad airport, the complete “royal family” of Pakistan was present to greet and receive the distinguish guests, and the apparent absence of the three chief ministers of smaller provinces left a very bad taste among the people of those provinces. The rulers must seriously think now to shift the capital of Pakistan from Islamabad to Lahore, and such a move will serve many purposes; the PM will not have to travel to Lahore every week, people from smaller provinces will not feel neglected on the visits of foreign dignitaries, and above all, such a move will result in tremendous savings, which could be spent on the beautification of Lahore. Pakistan is a country of vast historical heritage sites, and Lahore is one of them, not the only one, then why is such importance given only to Lahore? I am sure a quick visit to the archives of all national papers will reveal clearly how in the past it was almost mandatory for all visiting heads of states and governments to visit the mausoleum of the Quaid, thus telling the world how great our father of the nation was. Is this a planned conspiracy or just a coincident that the practice of such visits has been stopped. The Quaid was a born great, and by adopting such tactics his greatness will not be affected, his name shall always shine in history. In the words of Stanley Wolpert, “Few individuals significantly alter the course of history, Few still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation state. Muhammad Ali Jinnah did all three.” Its hoped that in future whenever any foreign dignitary visits Pakistan, instead of arranging his visit to Lahore, he or she will be provided with the great opportunity to pay respect to that great man who has to his credit creating a nation state thus altering the path of history.
Aamir Aqil,
Lahore.
Media madness
Sir,
Some television anchors have gone astray with their obsession and agenda for regime change, advocating even international intervention, in what is definitely an internal political affair of Pakistan. The solution to our problems lies in the supremacy of constitution and writ of law.
This is an abuse of media freedom, where channels oblivious to their licensing responsibility have no hesitation in resorting to harming even state sovereignty to gain ratings. Nowhere in the democratic world would a state tolerate a planned campaign by licensed media to prove that the country itself has failed in dealing with its internal political matters.
Media freedom sans responsibility and regulation can become dangerous, doing more harm from within than could be done by our external enemies.
Bilal Ali,
Dubai.