The Pakistani ruling elite uses parliament to tell the sovereign — the people who voted these elites into power — that the MPs enjoy immunity and certain privileges. The latest example of this is Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah’s statement in the provincial assembly that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had sanctioned Rs1.3 million for the medical treatment of the son of a parliamentary colleague. The law minister said that this was done by “relaxing rules”.
Surely this must mean that it was done, if not outside the realm of the law, then of the government’s own rules and regulations?
Contrast this with an alleged fraud that Javed Hashmi, now a central leader of the PTI, claimed was committed in his name. He said that the spending of 40,000 pounds for his treatment abroad, allegedly by the government, was a revelation for him because he never went abroad for treatment!
Now look at the concessions finance minister Hafeez Sheikh extended to the country’s capital and financial markets. During a visit to the Karachi Stock Exchange on January 21, he approved the KSE’s proposals for reforming the capital gains tax. Among other things, it will allow investors to inject money without declaring the source of income till June 30, 2014. This practically runs contrary to the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, and international treaties signed by Pakistan.
The finance minister also happens to be the chairman of the National Executive Committee to Combat Money Laundering, established under Section 5 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010 — and is under legal obligation (as pointed out by Dr Huzaima Ikram in a recent article in The News) to make recommendations to the federal government for effective implementation of this law and framing of national policy to combat money laundering.
Whether at the provincial level or national, the leading lights of the political elite continue to act and behave in a way that sanctifies violations of, and deviation from rules and regulations. And this boils down primarily to one point; the ruling elite moves with impunity and scant regard for accountability, without any fear of public reprisal, legal scrutiny or challenge by the parliament.
Ironically, most members of parliament act in unison when it comes to safeguarding their perks and privileges. An example of this is the Rs90 billion spent in travel/daily allowance and medical allowance from February 2008 to December 2011 for members of the federal cabinet. Expenses on utilities such as free phones, electricity, and transportation are in addition to this.
Compare this with a cabinet of 32 ministers for 1.2 billion people in India or one of 14 ministers for China’s 1.3 billion people. Also compare what the majority of Pakistanis get in return? They get extremely poor service delivery, questionable justice and power and gas outages, and acute shortages of essential food items such as wheat flour, sugar and edible oil.
Primarily, the exceptional treatment and various concessions that the VIPs get imperil the basic security of the common Pakistani. While the moneyed bigwigs and influential movers and shakers get away with breach of law or laundering illegally acquired finances, ordinary Pakistanis continue to suffer directly as a result of this.
Why should a handful of people be above law and accorded special treatment, while universal charter of human rights as well as the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan considers all citizens equal?
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (8)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1713853507-0/MalalaHilary-(2)1713853507-0-270x192.webp)
Informative and interesting.
That we all are equal citizens of a state is one of the biggest illusions of modern age.
Dear friends, the purpose of such articles is just to highlight the issues,contradictions surroinding us - when I write ruling elite that means both military and civilian.And by the way, rather than thinking on party lines, please keep in mind - all the salaried persons - whether premier or president or the army chief and co. - their taxes are supposed to be deducted at source. We need to scrutnise everybody in public office - every wrongdoing - regardless of who commits it.
The writer has compared the number of ministers with India and China. How about the richest and huge country of the world USA? They have only 9 judges in SC, while in Pakistan there are so many that benches of 17 are not uncommon. Similarly it would be fair to ask the number of generals and their perks in much bigger armies than Pakistan. In Pakistan if the cabinet were not this big (several parties) the army and SC would have changed the govt long ago with the help of opposition. Once the democracy becomes stable these things would reform themselves. Last but not the least what is wrong in bringing money to Pakistan to inject foreign exchange and create jobs? What are the better options? Begging the US and Middle East and refused!
@Ali Tanoli: A stock market isnt the same as a bank. Read what the author wrote carefully.
The finance minister's relaxation of capital gains rule is pragmatic. The alternative would be underground economy or flight of capital.
Until the government has sufficient revenue and has strong arm of law, amnesty is an easy way to inject liquidity and money into the system by those who have accumulated money under their bed. Even if this approach does not work, then PAK has a serious problem.
PAK finance minister is good, very good I may add. Except no one is listening to him.
Now we will everyone commenting how this is "democracies" fault, therefore we should disenfranchise ourselves and call the army in. God knows how much our honorable COAS and Corps Commanders cost the tax payers...oh, sorry they deserve there indulgences.
Gul sahab no where in the world peoples ask investers where they got from why this law only apply to pakistan. what about swiss and other white countries do they have this money loundering law??? do swiss banks asked this question the world biggest black money holding banks...