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As 2008 is coming to an end nad 2009 is about to start. An article by kamal Siddqqui is quoted below as food for thought.
Problems of 2008, promise of 2009
In the national interest
Monday, December 29, 2008
by Kamal Siddiqi
The writer is editor reporting, The News
As we say goodbye to 2008, one can only wonder and pray as to what is in store for us in 2009. Much happened in Pakistan on both the economic and political front in the year that has passed us by. We are still none the wiser when it comes to finding out who killed Ms Benazir Bhutto. We still are unsure what the factors were that prompted President Musharraf to take off his uniform, a move that led to his ultimate exit.
This was the year when President Gen (retired) Musharraf resigned and also when Senator Asif Ali Zardari took over as the countrys president. In this, we have seen the replacement of one powerful president with another. For the common man, little changed.
To be fair to Zardari, however, he is not as powerful a president as Gen Musharraf. At the same time, Yousaf Raza Gilani is a weaker prime minister compared to the suave Shaukat Aziz.
It was a year of broken promises. In his inaugural speech, Prime Minister Gilani promised that those judges who had been ousted by President Musharraf would be restored. This was not done in the manner stated. In his inaugural speech, President Zardari said that he would remove Article 58 (2) (b). Now he has gone back on that pledge too.
The plea that circumstances have changed reflects poorly on those who had earlier made many promises. The question many Pakistanis want to ask, however, is what the deal was under which President Musharraf allowed free and fair elections. Were the elections as free and fair as we thought they were? Why did the PML-Q perform so poorly? While we saw rigging in many cities, like Karachi, how was it that the PML-N managed to score such successes when it was not even in the equation?
One would like to know what has been decided with regards to deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. As things stand, it seems people are more important than issues. In the Farah Dogar case, the government should have remained silent. Instead, it is supporting a point that cannot be defended in any civilised society. How we have all become so shameless?
More important, as Pakistanis we are still not clear who our enemies are. We continue to blame outside threats when the imminent danger is from within. Why has our government become a silent spectator in all this? And yet, we are told that Pakistan is safe and secure. We are quick to rise to the occasion. Never does a day pass without our being told that our defences are impregnable. We can face any challenge. We are ready to give a befitting answer. But history tells us otherwise. In almost all previous stand-offs, Pakistan has blinked first. Why will this one be any different?
For the past two months, we are having a sort of faceoff with the Indian government. After the Mumbai attacks, which the world says originated from militant groups in Pakistan although we continue to deny this, the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has started to talk of surgical strikes. The talk reminds one of the Americans under President Bush. Without looking at the bigger picture, the Americans stormed into Iraq and Afghanistan and have still been unable to sort out the situations there.
The only silver lining in this situation is that we have Manmohan Singh instead of George Bush. Let common sense prevail. We all agree that terrorism is a problem. But Pakistan has to make some uncomfortable decisions. At the same time, India has to understand that it has still not become a superpower like America, which acts and attacks at will.
As Pakistanis, we need to be truthful to ourselves. We should stop believing all that our experts and intellectuals say. This was the year of the Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad and the consistent rise in terror attacks. In 2008, more Pakistanis were killed in terror attacks than in previous years. It is a fact that more Pakistanis have been killed by Islamic militants than by any outside source. When will we face up to this?
The War on Terror continues to be fought. Prime Minister Gilani said in his first speech that the policy on dealing with the militants would be revised. And that fighting terror would be the governments first policy. But this did not happen. There is so much confusion from the governments side.
Now the emboldened militants are targeting NATO supply lines. Poorly guarded warehouses were ideal targets for militant groups. Millions of dollars worth of equipment was burnt or attacked and those who were transporting these have now said that it is too risky for them to do so. It is a shame how we are unable to defend this cargo despite having invested so much in terms of law and order.
The militant groups have by and large taken control of Swat Valley, more due to the lack of an effort by the government to go for a multi-pronged approach. Thousands of girls will be deprived of education in the valley as the Taliban hold sway.
The human side of the operation in Swat is yet to take effect. As a country, we continue to ignore the plight of the people who have suffered owing to the fighting in the tribal areas and Swat. There are many tragic stories one can hear at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar from victims and their families. But the government and people of Pakistan have turned a deaf ear.
The Americans continue to attack at will and our government makes the same noises. In one incident, 20 people died when US troops came onto Pakistani soil and raided a village in their search operation. We are told that the Pakistan government has given them permission to do so. We do not know whom to believe.
This year we saw our economy almost going belly up, despite the earlier claims of an economic turnaround. The record hike in fuel prices and also those of various commodities put the country in a spot. An unprecedented 14 percent rise in fuel prices was somewhat softened later in the year as international oil prices dipped. But the government sees this as an opportunity to increase its levy on fuel products to raise more revenue. While we are forced to suffer when international oil prices rise, we do not get the benefit when the prices drop as the reduction does not correspondent with the dip.
The absence of a competent economic team or of a vision on how to move ahead with the economy meant that our markets panicked. The rupee slid against the dollar from 61 to 81. In response, our government came down hard on the money changers, but not those on whose behalf the money was remitted. The State Bank may be priding itself on how it has cleaned up the financial sector, but more money comes into the country through the hawala system than by official channels. In this, no serious attempt has been made to check this trend.
The government continues to come up with new ways to tax people indirectly and not take on the challenge of direct taxation. In this strategy, 1.1 million peoplemostly the salaried classget taxed twice. The rest of the country continues to avoid paying direct taxes, forcing the government to hike sales tax, import duties, and other levies. The rich keep on getting richer.
Money meant for the people is spent elsewhere. The government spends several million rupees on the controversial National Commission for Human Development while several scholars are told that there are no funds for sending them abroad to do their PhDs. Genuine doctors are held at bay while fake doctors end up becoming ministers.
Our National Disaster Management system remains a joke. One hundred and sixty people died after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Balochistan. Many could have been saved if they had been given timely help. Why do we tolerate this mediocre performance?
If 2008 was an eventful year, the chances are that 2009 will be even more so. One can only hope that the government finally finds its feet and our leaders find their ears so that the problems of the people are heard and there is some action taken on them.
Email: kamal.siddiqi@thenews.com.pk
Problems of 2008, promise of 2009
Problems of 2008, promise of 2009
In the national interest
Monday, December 29, 2008
by Kamal Siddiqi
The writer is editor reporting, The News
As we say goodbye to 2008, one can only wonder and pray as to what is in store for us in 2009. Much happened in Pakistan on both the economic and political front in the year that has passed us by. We are still none the wiser when it comes to finding out who killed Ms Benazir Bhutto. We still are unsure what the factors were that prompted President Musharraf to take off his uniform, a move that led to his ultimate exit.
This was the year when President Gen (retired) Musharraf resigned and also when Senator Asif Ali Zardari took over as the countrys president. In this, we have seen the replacement of one powerful president with another. For the common man, little changed.
To be fair to Zardari, however, he is not as powerful a president as Gen Musharraf. At the same time, Yousaf Raza Gilani is a weaker prime minister compared to the suave Shaukat Aziz.
It was a year of broken promises. In his inaugural speech, Prime Minister Gilani promised that those judges who had been ousted by President Musharraf would be restored. This was not done in the manner stated. In his inaugural speech, President Zardari said that he would remove Article 58 (2) (b). Now he has gone back on that pledge too.
The plea that circumstances have changed reflects poorly on those who had earlier made many promises. The question many Pakistanis want to ask, however, is what the deal was under which President Musharraf allowed free and fair elections. Were the elections as free and fair as we thought they were? Why did the PML-Q perform so poorly? While we saw rigging in many cities, like Karachi, how was it that the PML-N managed to score such successes when it was not even in the equation?
One would like to know what has been decided with regards to deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. As things stand, it seems people are more important than issues. In the Farah Dogar case, the government should have remained silent. Instead, it is supporting a point that cannot be defended in any civilised society. How we have all become so shameless?
More important, as Pakistanis we are still not clear who our enemies are. We continue to blame outside threats when the imminent danger is from within. Why has our government become a silent spectator in all this? And yet, we are told that Pakistan is safe and secure. We are quick to rise to the occasion. Never does a day pass without our being told that our defences are impregnable. We can face any challenge. We are ready to give a befitting answer. But history tells us otherwise. In almost all previous stand-offs, Pakistan has blinked first. Why will this one be any different?
For the past two months, we are having a sort of faceoff with the Indian government. After the Mumbai attacks, which the world says originated from militant groups in Pakistan although we continue to deny this, the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has started to talk of surgical strikes. The talk reminds one of the Americans under President Bush. Without looking at the bigger picture, the Americans stormed into Iraq and Afghanistan and have still been unable to sort out the situations there.
The only silver lining in this situation is that we have Manmohan Singh instead of George Bush. Let common sense prevail. We all agree that terrorism is a problem. But Pakistan has to make some uncomfortable decisions. At the same time, India has to understand that it has still not become a superpower like America, which acts and attacks at will.
As Pakistanis, we need to be truthful to ourselves. We should stop believing all that our experts and intellectuals say. This was the year of the Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad and the consistent rise in terror attacks. In 2008, more Pakistanis were killed in terror attacks than in previous years. It is a fact that more Pakistanis have been killed by Islamic militants than by any outside source. When will we face up to this?
The War on Terror continues to be fought. Prime Minister Gilani said in his first speech that the policy on dealing with the militants would be revised. And that fighting terror would be the governments first policy. But this did not happen. There is so much confusion from the governments side.
Now the emboldened militants are targeting NATO supply lines. Poorly guarded warehouses were ideal targets for militant groups. Millions of dollars worth of equipment was burnt or attacked and those who were transporting these have now said that it is too risky for them to do so. It is a shame how we are unable to defend this cargo despite having invested so much in terms of law and order.
The militant groups have by and large taken control of Swat Valley, more due to the lack of an effort by the government to go for a multi-pronged approach. Thousands of girls will be deprived of education in the valley as the Taliban hold sway.
The human side of the operation in Swat is yet to take effect. As a country, we continue to ignore the plight of the people who have suffered owing to the fighting in the tribal areas and Swat. There are many tragic stories one can hear at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar from victims and their families. But the government and people of Pakistan have turned a deaf ear.
The Americans continue to attack at will and our government makes the same noises. In one incident, 20 people died when US troops came onto Pakistani soil and raided a village in their search operation. We are told that the Pakistan government has given them permission to do so. We do not know whom to believe.
This year we saw our economy almost going belly up, despite the earlier claims of an economic turnaround. The record hike in fuel prices and also those of various commodities put the country in a spot. An unprecedented 14 percent rise in fuel prices was somewhat softened later in the year as international oil prices dipped. But the government sees this as an opportunity to increase its levy on fuel products to raise more revenue. While we are forced to suffer when international oil prices rise, we do not get the benefit when the prices drop as the reduction does not correspondent with the dip.
The absence of a competent economic team or of a vision on how to move ahead with the economy meant that our markets panicked. The rupee slid against the dollar from 61 to 81. In response, our government came down hard on the money changers, but not those on whose behalf the money was remitted. The State Bank may be priding itself on how it has cleaned up the financial sector, but more money comes into the country through the hawala system than by official channels. In this, no serious attempt has been made to check this trend.
The government continues to come up with new ways to tax people indirectly and not take on the challenge of direct taxation. In this strategy, 1.1 million peoplemostly the salaried classget taxed twice. The rest of the country continues to avoid paying direct taxes, forcing the government to hike sales tax, import duties, and other levies. The rich keep on getting richer.
Money meant for the people is spent elsewhere. The government spends several million rupees on the controversial National Commission for Human Development while several scholars are told that there are no funds for sending them abroad to do their PhDs. Genuine doctors are held at bay while fake doctors end up becoming ministers.
Our National Disaster Management system remains a joke. One hundred and sixty people died after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Balochistan. Many could have been saved if they had been given timely help. Why do we tolerate this mediocre performance?
If 2008 was an eventful year, the chances are that 2009 will be even more so. One can only hope that the government finally finds its feet and our leaders find their ears so that the problems of the people are heard and there is some action taken on them.
Email: kamal.siddiqi@thenews.com.pk
Problems of 2008, promise of 2009
