In Ayub Khan’s time there was significant growth, I assure all that at that time, cooking the books was not possible.
CHANTILLY, VA, US: This is with reference to Pervez Tahir’s article of November 11 titled “The road to growth”. Mahbubul Haq was deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and very briefly finance minister until Ghulam Ishaq Khan (the real master of the economy) had him for breakfast.
Growth in the Zia era was not unprecedented as some people would have us all believe. It was in Ayub Khan’s time that there was significant growth and I assure all those who are too young to remember that at that time, cooking the books was simply not possible.
The growth that we hear took place in Pervez Musharraf’s era remains an abiding mystery. Many are now coming out to speak against the fabulous data that were churned out each year. How the IMF’s targets were magically hit beats me. The only problem is that if an audit were to be carried out, we may end up having to return much of the money that we drew from the IMF, since it would be shown to have been accessed under false pretences.
Meekal Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2011.
