Purana Pakistan...

[fatman17]

Opinion
Purana Pakistan
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Sunday, September 28, 2014

Capital suggestion

Purana Pakistan has six characteristics. One, elected leaders treat state assets as their personal estates. Two, elected leaders mutate civil servants into their personal serfs. Three, taxes are collected and then spent to fulfil rulers’ priorities. Four, monetary rewards of political power are extremely high.

Five, there is massive under-investment in human capital. Six, power projects are being inaugurated that would produce power at an astronomical rate of Rs41 per unit.

Here are the proofs of the above six. One, Rehman Malik had a PIA aircraft wait for him for two long hours. Two, on June 17, Punjab Police killed 14 unarmed citizens. Three, budgetary allocation for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is Rs160 million while the annual budget for the PM House is Rs770 million.

Four, Pakistanis are getting more and more indebted by the minute while assets of the ruling class keep on increasing by the day. Five, Nigeria is the only country on the face of the planet with more out-of-school children than Pakistan. Six, the cost of the Nandipur Power Project has gone up from $329 million to $847 million and if diesel is used to produce power it will cost Rs41 per unit. This is what purana Pakistan is mostly about.

Admittedly, Imran Khan has no comprehensive blueprint for Naya Pakistan; neither does Allama Tahirul Qadri. What they have done, however, is exposed the purana Pakistan to 180 million Pakistanis. And Pakistanis hate what they see in purana Pakistan.

Here are the proofs that Pakistanis hate what they see in purana Pakistan. One, passengers threw Rehman Malik off the PIA aircraft – something that has no precedence in our political history. Two, police high-command has now started demanding written orders from their elected leaders in order to shoot at unarmed citizens.

General (r) Mirza Aslam Baig, for reasons only known to him, may want to call it a foreign conspiracy against Pakistan but, to be certain, throwing Rehman Malik out the PIA aircraft is no American conspiracy against Pakistan. To be sure, police high-command demanding written orders from their elected leaders is no Jewish conspiracy against Pakistan. This is all about Pakistani middle class revolting against purana Pakistan.

Naya Pakistan has to be a contractual state. Naya Pakistan has to have a social contract between the voters and their elected leaders. The social contract must cover three things. One, who will pay taxes? Two, how much taxes will be paid by each taxpayer? Three, how will these taxes be spent? Naya Pakistan has to have three things – elections, accountability and a responsive government (purana Pakistan has had plenty of elections but neither accountability nor a responsive government).

Here are four steps to a naya Pakistan. One, alter spending priorities as per voters’ needs and demands. Two, invest in education and health. Three, invest in justice. Four, privatixe all public sector enterprises in a competitive, transparent process.

The constitution is not under threat. The democratic system is not under threat. Yes, the old political order is under threat. And, yes, the custodians of the old political order are feeling threatened.

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com

Twitter: @saleemfarrukh

 

[Kompromat]

Always a refreshing read.

 

[fatman17]

Opinion
Elite democracy
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Sunday, October 05, 2014

Capital suggestion

Pakistan’s elite democracy is about two things: exclusionary politics and extractionery institutions. Here are the facts behind exclusionary politics: Fact 1: There are 27 million families in Pakistan and of the 27 million there are no more than 2,700 families who have routinely taken part – over and over again – in the past ten elections. Members of these 2,700 families continue to occupy 1,174 seats in the Senate, the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies.

Fact 2: Dr Mughees Ahmed in ‘Voting behavior in rural and urban areas of Punjab’, after scrutinising the results of elections held in Faisalabad in 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997 and 2002, discovered that only candidates from five biradaris – Jatt, Rajput, Arain, Baloch, Gujar and Kharal – had ever won elections.

Fact 3: By and large, Pakistani elections, in essence, are an intra-elite competition.

Fact 4: Elections in 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2008 and 2013 have established a “narrow elite that have organized society for their own benefit at the expense of the vast mass of people. Political power has been narrowly concentrated, and has been used to create great wealth for those who possess it....The losers have been the [Pakistani] people....”

Myth: It is a myth that a particular party enjoys ‘popular support’. In 2013, a total of 45.3 million votes were polled of which the PML-N bagged 32 percent of the total. What that means is that 68 percent of the total votes polled actually went to parties other than the PML-N.

In 2008, a total of 35.6 million votes were polled of which the PPP bagged 31 percent of the total. What that means is that 69 percent of the total votes polled went to parties other than the PPP.

Now on to extractionery institutions. Here’s an abridged list of our Public Sector Enterprises (PSE): PIA, PSO, Pakistan Railways, Pakistan Steel, Sui Southern, Sui Northern, OGDCL, PPL, Faisalabad Electric, Hyderabad Electric, Tribal Electric, HBFC, National Insurance, Jomshoro Power Company, Nandipur Power Project, Northern Power, National Transmission and Dispatch Company, Trading Corporation, Utility Stores, Pakistan Agriculture Storage, National Fertilizer, PTV, Zarai Taraqqiati Bank, NBP, Pakistan Broadcasting, Pakistan Electric Power Company and First Women Bank (there are more than 200 PSEs).

PIA is losing Rs7 crore per day every day of the year. Over the past 59 years, since incorporation, PIA has accumulated a debt of Rs280 billion. Why do you think PIA exists? Answer: So that the elite can extract benefits out of it.

Pakistan Railways is losing Rs5 crore per day every day of the year. Why do you think Pakistan Railways exists? Answer: So that the elite can extract benefits out of it. Pakistan Power Company (Pepco) has yet once again accumulated circular debt in the amount of Rs300 billion (losses over the past few years approach Rs2 trillion). Why do you think Pepco exists? Answer: So that the elite can extract benefits out of it.

In 2008-09, the Cabinet Division swallowed Rs4 million a day every day of the year. Today, the Cabinet Division costs Pakistani taxpayers Rs13 million a day every day of the year. That is an increase of more than 200 percent over a period of five years. In 2008-09, the PM Secretariat swallowed Rs600,000 a day every day of the year. Today, the PM Secretariat costs Pakistani taxpayers Rs2.2 million a day every day of the year. That is an increase of nearly 250 percent over a period of five years.

Exclusionary politics must be laid to rest. And that means wholesale election reforms. Extractionery institutions must be laid to rest. And that means wholesale economic reforms along with transparent, competitive privatisation.

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com.

Twitter: @saleemfarrukh

 

[RazPaK]

And the article only further enforces why we as Pakistanis should hang our dynastic politicians.....

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

yet some of our fellow countrymen fail to comprehend these facts

 

[VCheng]

Here are four steps to a naya Pakistan. One, alter spending priorities as per voters’ needs and demands. Two, invest in education and health. Three, invest in justice. Four, privatixe all public sector enterprises in a competitive, transparent process.

Those steps have been known for decades, but not taken. Nobody has the means or the will to take them still, present claimants included. Purana Pakistan will live on and Naya Pakistan will remain a dream.

 

[xyxmt]

instead of going for Naya Pakistan, can we get the old Purana Pakistan of the 60's back, even if we have to start from there we still be ahead of the mess we have today.

 

[IceCold]

Pakistan does not need a silent type revolution because frankly speaking that is not going to happen. These corrupt thugs traitors leaches should be dragged out of their houses, parliament, and should be hanged in D-chowk or make them stand infront of a firing squad.

Had Musharraf not give in to Saudi pressure, Nawaz would had been hanged and Pakistanis would had one less to worry about.