Imran Khan calls for Britain to cut aid to Pakistan

[Veeru]

Imran Khan calls for Britain to cut aid to Pakistan

Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan has urged the UK to cut aid to his country, saying it fuels corruption.

The former cricketer told BBC Radio 4 that Pakistan was more poverty-stricken than ever but little international aid money reached its intended target.

The UK plans to increase its annual aid from £140m to £350m over the next few years.

But Mr Khan said: "If we don't have aid we will be forced to make reforms and stand on our own feet."
Aid 'a curse'

Mr Khan, leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) party, said aid money propped up corrupt governments and that reforms were what would save Pakistan.

"Unfortunately, aid has been a curse for Pakistan. Total aid is about $20bn (£13bn). This $20bn is not helping the people of Pakistan," Mr Khan said.

The Department for International Development has linked aid increases to Islamabad's progress on reform.

Last week, Mr Khan told the BBC that Pakistan should also not accept aid from the US. He said the US should trust Pakistan to find a solution to the terrorism situation on its own.

He earlier said the "unwinnable war" in the region would never be settled militarily and that the answer lay in "political settlement".

BBC News - Imran Khan calls for Britain to cut aid to Pakistan

 

[Leader]

bitter truth !!

 

[hunter_hunted]

Agree, this aid is a decease bcoz this money is not spent on Nation building, but goes into the pockets, socks, bikinis of politicians

 

[fd24]

Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan has urged the UK to cut aid to his country, saying it fuels corruption.

The former cricketer told BBC Radio 4 that Pakistan was more poverty-stricken than ever but little international aid money reached its intended target.

The UK plans to increase its annual aid from £140m to £350m over the next few years.

But Mr Khan said: "If we don't have aid we will be forced to make reforms and stand on our own feet."
Aid 'a curse'

Mr Khan, leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) party, said aid money propped up corrupt governments and that reforms were what would save Pakistan.

"Unfortunately, aid has been a curse for Pakistan. Total aid is about $20bn (£13bn). This $20bn is not helping the people of Pakistan," Mr Khan said.

The Department for International Development has linked aid increases to Islamabad's progress on reform.

Last week, Mr Khan told the BBC that Pakistan should also not accept aid from the US. He said the US should trust Pakistan to find a solution to the terrorism situation on its own.

He earlier said the "unwinnable war" in the region would never be settled militarily and that the answer lay in "political settlement".

The more i listen to this guy the more respect i have for him

 

[Mo12]

Cant believe my UK will be sending £350million in aid to Pakistan.

This is soo pathetic, when people in UK are suffering from high unemployment levels, and increasing tax rates on everyone, especially rich.

 

[anonymus]

Aid money is free money

How will pakistan balance its budget if aid money stop when it is so close to Default?
The external liabilities of pakistan would not shrink in case aid money is stopped but a source of income would certainly dry up.How will pakistan pay its external debt then given the precarious condition of your Forex.Pakistan would have to default which in turn will lead to it being shut out from credit market and its bank would suffer a serious bank run.The only option for fresh funds would be begging from Uncle Sam.So what Imran Khan says would result in the very fate he is trying to avoid.Something like Self-Fulfilling prophecy.The comment shows his immaturity on basic economic matters.

 

[ice_man]

Cant believe my UK will be sending £350million in aid to Pakistan.

This is soo pathetic, when people in UK are suffering from high unemployment levels, and increasing tax rates on everyone, especially rich.

can't believe pakistan is fighting a war for pathetic people who wants us to do their dirty work! we are fighting war on terror so that YOU are protected & safe in UK!

 

[outstream]

Aid money is free money

How will pakistan balance its budget if aid money stop when it is so close to Default?
The external liabilities of pakistan would not shrink in case aid money is stopped but a source of income would certainly dry up.How will pakistan pay its external debt then given the precarious condition of your Forex.Pakistan would have to default which in turn will lead to it being shut out from credit market and its bank would suffer a serious bank run.The only option for fresh funds would be begging from Uncle Sam.So what Imran Khan says would result in the very fate he is trying to avoid.Something like Self-Fulfilling prophecy.The comment shows his immaturity on basic economic matters.

Sorry mate, I would disagree with you on that one.

Its not impossible to survive for Pakistan if the aid money is cut down. You are right there will be sudden pressure on cash flows and everything. But with the will, the tide can be turned by bringing in money taken away by corrupt people and also in terms of foreign remittances. Recently, I was reading it somewhere, a statement by one of Swiss bankers saying they`ve got around $74 BN coming from Pakistan. I am sure all that money is the legally looted money by corrupt politicians.

I am pretty sure if the Pakistanis living abroad have confidence that their money is not being looted away, the number of remittances will go more than double very soon. Things will go positive for Pakistan if its successful in getting rid of aid curse for once and all

 

[Hafizzz]

Cant believe my UK will be sending £350million in aid to Pakistan.

This is soo pathetic, when people in UK are suffering from high unemployment levels, and increasing tax rates on everyone, especially rich.

What ?

I guess you don't know that U.K is sending more money to India than Pakistan:

Is the UK giving India too much aid? (£1bn in aid to India)
Government defends £1bn of aid to India | Global development | guardian.co.uk

 

[fd24]

Sorry mate, I would disagree with you on that one.

Its not impossible to survive for Pakistan if the aid money is cut down. You are right there will be sudden pressure on cash flows and everything. But with the will, the tide can be turned by bringing in money taken away by corrupt people and also in terms of foreign remittances. Recently, I was reading it somewhere, a statement by one of Swiss bankers saying they`ve got around $74 BN coming from Pakistan. I am sure all that money is the legally looted money by corrupt politicians.

I am pretty sure if the Pakistanis living abroad have confidence that there money is not being looted away, the number of remittances will go more than double very soon. Things will go positive for Pakistan if its successful in getting rid of aid curse for once and all

Agree. The funds the UK would literally by detoured into some corrupt politicos personal bank account. Very little of what is given in the way of aid reaches the destination it is marked for.
You wouldn't be hurting the man in the street by turning it down because firstly they don't see 95% of it and secondly they are used to surviving on the bread line. Imran Khan i believe has hit the nail on the head and Pakistan needs to realize this asap.

 

[anonymus]

Sorry mate, I would disagree with you on that one.

Its not impossible to survive for Pakistan if the aid money is cut down. You are right there will be sudden pressure on cash flows and everything. But with the will, the tide can be turned by bringing in money taken away by corrupt people and also in terms of foreign remittances. Recently, I was reading it somewhere, a statement by one of Swiss bankers saying they`ve got around $74 BN coming from Pakistan. I am sure all that money is the legally looted money by corrupt politicians.

I am pretty sure if the Pakistanis living abroad have confidence that their money is not being looted away, the number of remittances will go more than double very soon. Things will go positive for Pakistan if its successful in getting rid of aid curse for once and all

Outstream, mate what you are ignoring here is a very important fallacy i.e.

" If those corrupt people would had have been having such a great sense of patriotism,why would they have taken that wealth out of pakistan to begin with".They shifted money to their Swiss bank accounts when Economy of Pakistan could have delivered a decent return.Do you expect them to bring back that money when Economy has collapsed and any chance of any recovery is far away(See:Argentina).

Secondly all these estimates of Third world countries wealth in Swiss bank accounts are well just estimates.A baba in India was recently claiming that Indians have $8trillion in Swiss bank account.Do you think it is possible that Overseas accounts could have 5 times value of a country's GDP or more shockingly 1.5 times its GNP.I am using this GNP measure because it include Wealth of NRI's also and it is pretty obvious that someone living overseas could not hide his wealth by parking in Bank account of those countries.

Also people who blame corrupt politicians like superkaif need to understand that in Pakistan only strong institution is Army.They premates every aspect of Civil life.So there is a possibility that all this talk about Mr 10% and company may be a hollow propaganda.They simply could be honest people who are painted as corrupt by Army so that they could be toppled whenever Army wants them to go.After all you cannot argue against insanity,Corruption charges or when someone hides behind God or Flag.Whatever you will say would go against you.

Apart from this corruption index of Transparency International,contrary to popular beliefs does not measure corruption but Perception of corruption.The kind of Tabloid media we have in subcontinent would certainly increase the degree of Perceived corruption.And the money you are talking about may not be present at all.

Again my point stand that in case Pakistan refuses Aid money in Present situation where it's external Debt is greater than it's forex reserve it would cause an unprecedented Bank run in pakistan and if pakistan could not come up with money to honour it's Short term debt it would have to default and would be shut out from global credit market.With no funds coming it would have to actually beg for very same aid that it rejected.

Remember a $ is a $ irrespective of how it comes to you and could be spent on anything you want or when it comes with strings attached could free your resources so that they could be used for some other purpose since aid is fulfilling the purpose for which it has been sanctioned.
Perhapes your government is intelligent than this Imran guy and would simply ignore him.

 

[nForce]

can't believe pakistan is fighting a war for pathetic people who wants us to do their dirty work! we are fighting war on terror so that YOU are protected & safe in UK!

Its more like you are cleaning up your own mess.

 

[nForce]

Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan has urged the UK to cut aid to his country, saying it fuels corruption.

The former cricketer told BBC Radio 4 that Pakistan was more poverty-stricken than ever but little international aid money reached its intended target.

The UK plans to increase its annual aid from £140m to £350m over the next few years.

But Mr Khan said: "If we don't have aid we will be forced to make reforms and stand on our own feet."
Aid 'a curse'

Mr Khan, leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) party, said aid money propped up corrupt governments and that reforms were what would save Pakistan.

"Unfortunately, aid has been a curse for Pakistan. Total aid is about $20bn (£13bn). This $20bn is not helping the people of Pakistan," Mr Khan said.

The Department for International Development has linked aid increases to Islamabad's progress on reform.

Last week, Mr Khan told the BBC that Pakistan should also not accept aid from the US. He said the US should trust Pakistan to find a solution to the terrorism situation on its own.

He earlier said the "unwinnable war" in the region would never be settled militarily and that the answer lay in "political settlement".

The more i listen to this guy the more respect i have for him

Easier said than done.

Its easy to fuel the emotions of the common people by making statements like this.People get hoodwinked.
But thats not end of story.The truth is,with the dwindling condition of Pakistan's economy,it will be unable to sustain its own pressure and liabilities without the aid-money from IMF or US or UK or KSA etc etc.
Imran Khan seems like a man desperately trying to put back together the broken pieces of his country.But then,I guess, he did not take a thorough look at the economic condition of his country before making this statement.Just two weeks ago Pakistan's forex fell to a low of $17.79 billion,only to be boosted up by a $191.9 million loan from the World Bank, and another loan of $196.8 million from the Asian Development Bank.

 

[DK Run]

But Mr Khan said: "If we don't have aid we will be forced to make reforms and stand on our own feet."
Aid 'a curse'

OK WILL IMRAN KHAN SAY THE SAME TO CHINA ALSO??

 

[outstream]

Outstream, mate what you are ignoring here is a very important fallacy i.e.

" If those corrupt people would had have been having such a great sense of patriotism,why would they have taken that wealth out of pakistan to begin with".They shifted money to their Swiss bank accounts when Economy of Pakistan could have delivered a decent return.Do you expect them to bring back that money when Economy has collapsed and any chance of any recovery is far away(See:Argentina).

I`m sorry I took it for granted that you will understand it. Probably my fault. Anyhow, since we were talking with respect to Imran Khan, so that means new team (supposedly honest one). I am not suggesting same people who looted the money will bring it back. I was talking with respect to a new honest team. Therefore, no more talking of same corrupt people.

Secondly all these estimates of Third world countries wealth in Swiss bank accounts are well just estimates.A baba in India was recently claiming that Indians have $8trillion in Swiss bank account.Do you think it is possible that Overseas accounts could have 5 times value of a country's GDP or more shockingly 1.5 times its GNP.I am using this GNP measure because it include Wealth of NRI's also and it is pretty obvious that someone living overseas could not hide his wealth by parking in Bank account of those countries.

Again, I didnt say it on basis of my own assumption, or on basis of a statement given by someone in Pakistan. I was only bringing into knowledge of everyone the statement given by a swiss banker. I`ll try to fish out a link for reference.

But this is the basic point nonetheless. Me, being a Pakistani, know that billions of RS are going towards corruption in my country. An attitude towards stopping that will surely help if the aid is stopped.