Holding Pakistan Together

Viqar A. Khan
FCA

Part - II

Part - 1

Viqar A. Khan is a Chartered Accountant and  a tax specialist. He has been writing in newspapers for a few years now.

His clear, crisp line of thought and precise expression make reading a pleasure. His previous articles are:-

Kargil

Creating willing tax payers

State of the Economy

Dancing to the Tune

Financial independence – The ‘provinces’ should as far as possible be financially independent. This does not mean that they should be duplicating the taxation levied by the center but their should be a fool proof mechanism so that the ‘provinces’ get their fair share of the federal revenue collection.

Quota – We have been operating under the quota system for the last fifty years. Our political functionaries have apparently decided to carry it for the next twenty years. This extension may further be extended for a further thirty years. A hundred years of quota system and what have we achieved?

Quota is an acknowledgement of deprivation in various segments of our society. The concept of having a quota system is that the less privileged amongst us are able to get into educational institutions or obtain government jobs etc. This means that a person who was not competent has been able to make his way to become a doctor and would ultimately be treating your loved one with much ‘wanting’ skill. Any country, much less ours, cannot afford less than competent people at sensitive places.

Personal bias and clout determines the quantum of quota. Taking less than competent people for privileged positions in the name of ‘quota’ ruins the principle of merit. It fosters a disgruntled element. Those selected on quota bring their own ills of nepotism, intrigue and politics into professional spheres. Each institution has its roots eaten away. If this continues, fifty years hence Pakistan would be worse off than it is today.

It appears that through the quota system, we have not managed to inch towards a better society in which the fruits of independence and the spoils of revenue collection are shared equally by all and sundry. However, we have to appreciate and alleviate the grievance of the less privileged amongst us. We have to adopt a system which ensures that the causes of the under-privileged classes are removed. We have also to ensure that only the best amongst us reach the positions where only the best are required. This can only happen if the causes of being under-privileged are dealt with comparatively more than proportionate allocation of funds so that within a defined span of time such classes cease to remain under-privileged.

Language – It is not possible for any nation to prosper in an alien language. It is not possible for 5% (on the very high side) of the people with workable knowledge of English to ‘piggy back’ the 95% of the population to prosperity. Every able person has to pick up his own weight and also have room for the less fortunate ones. Only then will the nation prosper.

No one under scores the importance of English. Being a universal language, it should be compulsorily taught in all the ‘provinces’ with possibly ‘Urdu’ as the other national language. Each ‘province’ be allowed to develop its own language if it so desires and have it as a medium of education and one of the court languages. Federal correspondence to be in English and a national language which most probably would be Urdu. Provincial correspondence to be in English, the national language (Urdu) and if considered desirable also in the native language. The language of Urdu should be developed on soft workable refined lines and should not be an extension of the literally hard-core stuff of yesteryears. It should be a language for everyday use.

Freedom of speech – News media whether print or electronic should be completely free but responsible and accountable. Perpetrators of wrong, unsubstantiated and slanderous news should be dealt with swiftly and severely. There should be a special code of conduct to govern the parameters of freedom of speech. This code should be administered by the media itself. It goes without saying that airing of news through private TV and radio channels would be the norm.

Such a set up would over the years enable our people to hear which to their ears is not palatable. They would learn to analyze it properly in their mind and then give a logical rebuttal. It would be quite opposed to the ‘tongue tied’ situation or a ‘physically expressive’ reaction which our ‘educated’ encounter today. This shall also help curb nepotism and highlight political excesses by political and government functionaries. It would be a mirror for these functionaries and help them stay on course.

Foreign policy – Our foreign policy should be operated strictly keeping in view the interest of Pakistan without regard to the religious beliefs of other nations. Although this is exactly what we do when we go begging with a bowl in hand, however, we profess otherwise. More often than not we rely on the dole of USA and American dominated international financial institutions. No one can underscore the hold of the Jewish lobby over the politics and sensitive institutions in USA. Yet our foreign policy is glaringly anti-Jewish and then we feel surprised why we are not given a preferential treatment by the West. How naïve can we be?

To my knowledge, Israel has not overtly done anything which is conspicuously anti-Pakistan. (This opinion is based on common knowledge since the public is not privy to classified information). Why should we then be so aggressively anti-Israel? We can have good cordial relations with Israel while maintaining close links with the Arab world. It is an independent country which has done no apparent harm to Pakistan. Why should we then not recognize its existence? Hasn’t Morocco played its cards superbly?

Why can we not have a working relationship with Taiwan (without recognizing it) while still maintaining the existing close relationship with China? Why can’t we have an economically beneficial relationship with India while retaining our principled stand on Kashmir? The armed struggle in Kashmir is not going to get anywhere! Only if the majority of Muslims of India in general and those of Kashmir in particular, rise and take up arms, would this armed struggle see its logical conclusion. This appears to be a remote possibility.

Contrary to our policy, we should encourage the people living in held Kashmir to become an economically vibrant force while we should endeavor to achieve that ourselves. And if in the next half a century, we become economically impregnable and the people of occupied Kashmir also become likewise and during this period, we continue to play on the world opinion, then we to a lesser extent and the people of occupied Kashmir to a greater extent, would be able to prevail on India to implement the UN resolutions on Kashmir. In the meantime, harmonious relations can give an open border policy in Kashmir. This would go a long way to alleviate the misery of the local population and help usher and era of peace and relative prosperity.

SAARC – The second half of the twentieth century has seen an increasing interdependence of various states. The world has shrunk. The ability of a country to isolate itself from the rest of the world has diminished. To an extent, this may be possible in a centrally controlled economy. However, in a democracy working in a market based economy, it is impossible. Economists realize the importance of free flow of goods and services within certain defined economic centers. This realization has created large economic centers like the North American Union, European Union, ASEAN, etc.

The belligerent attitude of the successive governments of India and Pakistan towards each other and the deep rooted Semitic bias in Pakistan would keep our economy under constant pressure. With this attitude, our already stretched limited resources would have nothing left over for development. Resultantly our economy would remain under developed at least in our life time. We have to come to grips with economic and political realities of the current world order and determine a course which is best suited for us.  

Economic co-operation within the SAARC members would create an immense market for our competitive producers. Understandably inefficient and non-competitive producers of goods and services would go out of business. It may appear that such an economic union would work to the disadvantage of Pakistan. If there is a complete economic union at once, such an apprehension may be true. However, if the union is phased in over a defined period of time, it would act as a shock absorber and the market would adjust accordingly. Our producers would become substantially more competitive in the international market and would also have an instant access to one fifth of man-kind.  

Muslims of India – We as a nation have a myopic image and are characterless and selfish to the hilt. After the creation of Pakistan, we forgot that we left behind a greater number of our brothers in a pre-dominantly Hindu-India. Our belligerent attitude towards India keeps them under constant pressure. If by choice or compulsion, they were not able to migrate in 1947, we should always keep them at the back of our minds. We should expect them to be as loyal to India as we would expect a Pakistani Hindu to be loyal to Pakistan.  

An economically strong and stable Pakistan would go a long way in elevating the stature of Muslims in India. It is true that the Hindu in general has a deep rooted bias against Muslims. But it is also true that Muslims are outsiders to this subcontinent. These outsiders have carved out a separate geographical area for themselves to be called Pakistan. We have to step into the shoes of the Hindus of India to feel how their ‘Mahabharat’ has been sliced away. All said and done the Hindus of India have shown greater tolerance towards the Muslims than we seem to have shown to the Hindu minority in Pakistan. Muslims of India head its atomic program, cricket team, film industry, etc. Have we given such sensitive placements to our Hindu minority? Would we ever do it?  

Illiteracy – Most of the ills of our society are bundled and put in the lap of illiteracy.  Is illiteracy responsible for rampant corruption, heavy national debt, nepotism, flaunting ill-gotten wealth, creation of class differences, looking down upon labour and negation of merit as the order of the day? Can it be that our so called educated and literate elite are responsible for all this mess? These are the people who are supposed to analyze the ills and recommend remedies, so naturally the culprit has to be someone else. 

The illiterate and uneducated populace of ours is down trodden, financially very weak to say the least, and are the subject of exploitation in all walks of life especially at the time of exercising the right of adult franchise. These are the people who toil away their lives without proper education, health, drinking water and other basic requirements of decent human existence. Surely Pakistan must not have been created for them, for their plight has become worse than it was when they were under colonial rule. They are told time and again by the haves that they are the torch bearers of the destiny of the country. These haves chalk out supposed ingenious ways and means to better the lot of the have nots, with the result that the haves become still better placed while the have nots end worse off. 

We have to realize that weaknesses in our fundamental values and moral construction must exist that has taken us a step back-wards than where we began fifty years ago. Education does not only mean the ability to read and write but it also means the ability to decipher right from wrong, good from bad, to have a life of honour and dignity and to have character which we as a nation seem to have become alien to.  

Street power – In a society ruled by an alien power or by a dictator, the natives would be justified in resorting to street power for the redressal of their grievances. In a democracy people have the power to choose their leader. If they have made a bad choice, they can correct it at the next ballot. However, if the leader that the people have chosen somehow becomes a threat to national security, then there could be some justification for resort to street power. Barring this exception, one should always rely on the ballot box. Violence and a mood of constant electioneering gives an air of uncertainty and dampens the economy.  

Street power by opponents should be countered by a similar show of street power by a volunteer civil force which is at the same ideological wavelength as the government. The use of paramilitary forces to quell street power of ideological opponents will create sympathy amongst masses for them. It would work to the disadvantage of the government.  

Bureaucracy – Executive, legislature and judiciary are the three fundamental pillars of the state. For the effective functioning of the government, each of the state functions should be independent. Wherever you combine two state functions into one, we give extraordinary powers to that ‘organ’ and justice takes a back seat. If we combine all the three state functions into one, we have an extremely lethal combination and justice becomes non existent.  

DMG officers enjoy limited judicial powers. Actions and inactions of these officers is felt by the public at the grass root level. There has been great awareness on this issue. The government has been trying for the last more than fifty years to separate the judiciary from the executive and has not done it thus far. In these officers, only two functions of the state merge and that too, to a limited extent and yet it has created quite a commotion.  

In CBR, we have a ‘monster’. All the three state functions get combined into one. CBR initiates the primary fiscal legislation in the form of the budget though it has to be approved by the parliament after being tinkered by the Ministry of Finance. It legislates the ‘secondary legislation’ in the form of SRO’s, circulars, and circular letters. The CBR is responsible for the execution of the law as drafted. Such execution is its primary function for which the bureaucracy is trained. Assessees aggrieved at the assessment level have to be adjudicated at the first appeal by the judicial arm of the CBR. In short, CBR legislates, executes its own laws and then decides on the disputes that so arise. You cannot have a more lethal combination than this.  

The solution to this anomalous state of affairs is that the bureaucracy should retain only the executive function. The judicial function at all levels should pass on to the ministry of justice, law and parliamentary affairs. The legislative function should pass on to a ‘benign’ organ the function of which should be to transform a policy into law. The policy formation should be the function of a vibrant ‘apolitical’ think tank. Such a body should be composed of high intellect, generously paid, individuals without a cradle to grave security. Such a hierarchy would give continuity of thought and leadership to the economic direction the country has to take. Such a think tank would be relatively immune from the turmoil in the political front.  

Status of women – Karachi is the most cosmopolitan and economically vibrant city of Pakistan. It is followed by Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawer and Quetta. A woman is most emancipated in Karachi, followed by Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawer and finally Quetta. This reflects a pattern that more emancipated the woman, the more developed the economy.  

The population of Pakistan would roughly have half of each sex. It is an irony if half of the population is relegated to a second class citizenship citing our culture and social values as the cause. The women should stand shoulder to shoulder with the man and be allowed equal opportunity both socially and legally to contribute to the economic well being of the country.