However, Pakistan, unfortunately burdened by foreign debts
LAHORE: As we celebrated the 140th birth anniversary of the Quaid-e-Azam which coincidentally falls on Christmas, other than mere rhetoric by the political elite and other stakeholders, it is time to have courage and accept that we have betrayed the Father of Nation’s vision. What an irony that a country founded by men of integrity, such as the Quaid-e-Azam who refused to burden the national exchequer with such ordinary expenses like tea, is today ruled by men who prefer to live in palatial houses spread over acres, fly in exclusive jets, seek tax-free permission for self-owned limousines, prefer medical treatment abroad, and have no shame in getting cash gifts from Arab princes, while state sovereignty is compromised with more foreign debts to fill the ever widening gap between revenues and expenditures. For Pakistan to survive as a modern welfare state, it must revert to the Quaid’s vision and prepare to defend itself from evil designs of extremist elements.
A country that has a weak economy, where tax evasion is facilitated and pilfering of state funds and development budget accepted as a norm, it cannot effectively defend itself against a more formidable and economically stronger enemy. The powerful paid servants of the state and political elite, in nexus with the land mafia of this country and traders having no stakes in Pakistan — all having acquired foreign nationalities for themselves or their families — continue to be beneficiaries of subsidised allotment and illegal occupation of prime real estate. Those who rule this country have no shame in levying over a 15 per cent withholding tax on pensioners, widowers and orphans while levying a three per cent tax on profits from real estate evaluated at values which are a fraction of their market values. Such tax amnesty schemes that are beneficial to few are tantamount to institutional financial ‘terrorism’, depriving the state of its capacity to sustain an effective conventional deterrence to face an economically stronger enemy. Wars cannot be fought and won merely on slogans and emotional outbursts but on one’s capacity to acquire and sustain a modern defence strategy. However, Pakistan, unfortunately burdened by foreign debts, is handicapped and hostage to the insatiable greed of few.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2016.
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