Sunday, February 13, 2022
Did PTI fail? Khan must now step down of the container and deliver...
By Usman TorwaliFrom the very beginning, Imran Khan seemed to have a visionary outlook towards the development of the nation and country. The sincerity and determination reflected in his speeches and the novel slogan of change in Pakistani politics, attracted the masses, entrusting him with a government to change things. Soon the practicability of the Khan’s motto entangled by different elements proved less progressive and more retrogressive, as more and more support suffering was inflicted on the masses. Did it result from the incompetency of leadership or structural barriers posed hindrances to the implementation of programs? Whatever might be the case Khan’s government is stumbling is likely to be dropped out of the arena in the next general elections. Why is it so? Maybe Khan’s attitude towards government or rather politics. It perhaps is now revealed upon Mr. Imran Khan that running a government is far more difficult an activity than standing on a container and criticizing the then government. Mobilizing people and staging protests against the then government was fruitful if to suppose so, but continuously degrading the moral by repeatedly passing immoral phrases against the political rivals has done irreversible harm to Pakistani politics. The fierce claims of ridding off corruption, nepotism, and favoritism from the personnel and institutions in the country have also proved mere a political point-scoring tool for the triumph in the general elections – as no solid goals have been achieved so far. Citizens and especially workers of the PTI are also left with no choice except to keep their lips closed when and if there is any opposition to the ruling party. Being the valiant soldiers of PTI, how would have they swallowed criticism over their party and leaders! Three years have passed but the citizens have not witnessed changes anywhere in the country. The economy is shambling, the foreign policy is shattered, the national security is compromised, poverty and unemployment soaring up above unbelievable levels. The leisure, wealth, and prestige of the corrupt and criminal elites are the same. The taxation system is one that prevailed before the government. The bureaucracy, Police, and NAB-like institutions are unreformed, not unpoliticized, and not even budged in their operative fields. The autonomy of Media, Journalists and other civil society members has been put in the pocket of PEMRA. Still and all, the hard county moves on under the leader on the container. Will he step down in the last and perhaps in the defeating stage? Perhaps No. Well, time and bosses decide fate. But still, Khan should have a bit of leverage of the masses’ support, which is rapidly vanishing. The continuous deterioration of citizens’ security also leaves one flabbergasted. How a rational being can shut his eyes to the onslaught of humankind. Be that poverty, extremism, terrorism, or other security-related matters. The citizens are done of all these. As apart from the rising cases of violence, prevalent in the religious circles, against the minorities there are rampant abuses against women and girls that have been consecutively increased in the past three years in the PTI government. According to the World Report 2022 “Violence against women and girls—including rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced marriage—is endemic throughout Pakistan. Human rights defenders estimate that roughly 1,000 women are killed in so-called honor killings every year.” Another report issued by the World Economic Forum says, “Pakistan ranks 153 out of 156 nations on the Global Gender Gap 2021 index.” The unpopular single national curriculum education policy is also a slap on the face of national integration. Introducing SNC to such a diverse and heterogeneous population is not going to work in the long term: but despite the strong opposition from different circles the incumbent government imposed it. Another hallmark of the PTI’s achievements is undemocratization and centralization. Again and over again presidential ordinances have been promulgated while parliament is sidelined. To the common masses, this might not make any sense but there is little democracy since the ordinances have by far outnumbered laws passed by the national assembly. This attitude is again demonstrated in repeatedly resorting to the debate of presidential setup, which the current government holds fit for the country. Along with all these self-destructive policies of the PTI, there is a naïve and apathetic attitude towards the provincial governments in the top leadership. Mr. Buzdar and Mehmood Khan have long been proved the most incompetent boys but still are cherished by the PM. In the past three years, one big thing that has been seen and experienced everywhere is the reluctance of Imran Khan. Be that is related to the provincial top boys, implementing a national policy, rising inflation, the EVMs, or in meeting with the opposition leader. There is reluctance on the part of Imran Khan. Even the constitutional methods have been ignored.
https://en.humsub.com.pk/3604/did-pti-fail/Khan must now step down of the container and deliver what he had promised before the elections. The ongoing presidential system debate has no realism as the PTI cannot afford the amendment procedure. Abreast with that, there is also a legal limitation to the presidential setup. It is a futile debate just to divert and distract citizens from the problems at hand. Moreover, there is very little time left for anything worthwhile to be done for keeping the party image and unity intact. The PTI is stranded in the waters. It seems from different sources that the party has lost its connections with the establishment as well. So, it can be concluded that PTI is struggling to win an already lost game.
#Pakistan - PTI and the bitter IMF pill
By Abdul Rauf Shakoori & Huzaima Bukhari
The government must introduce economic reforms and focus on privatisation and exploration of new avenues for taxation.
In 2019, the government led by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), reached the brink of a severe fiscal crisis through its indecisiveness and lack of control. Despite tall claims to the contrary, Prime Minister Imran Khan travelled to the United Arab Emirates to meet the International Monetary Fund’s chief and assured her of his government’s commitment to undertake structural and governance reforms.
Responding to the rescue call, the IMF approved a programme for Pakistan in July 2019, through which the crisis was averted and the government managed to partially stabilise the economy.
Accordingly, IMF’s Executive Board approved a $6 billion Extended Finance Facility (EFF) for Pakistan. Since then, the IMF-Pakistan relationship has moved through several phases. At times, the disbursement was delayed due to non-performance of commitments by Pakistan. These delays reflected badly on the national economy.
The conditions of the IMF’s programme and a letter of intent signed by Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the advisor to the prime minister of Pakistan, and Reza Baqir, the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), required Pakistan to undertake numerous strategic, technical and transactional changes. However, on some review intervals, Pakistan failed to initiate the reforms as agreed.
The IMF has always emphasised maintaining a prudent monetary policy that should be reflective of real interest rates, rebuilding external buffers through natural means like bolstering exports and at the same time allowing exchange rate flexibility. This is because previously the exchange rate was allegedly managed through significant forex interventions, which contributed to imbalances on the external front.
In parallel, interest rates were kept low to support the local economy. However, this triggered consumption and import-driven growth, which added fuel to the fire of external imbalance and government’s reliance on local and international borrowing channels.
Currently, Pakistan is facing a challenge on account of debts. In the fiscal year (FY) 21, they rose to 100.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Pakistan’s gross external financing needs in FY 23 and FY 24 are estimated to be around $77 billion. Given the deteriorating current account balance, the situation is getting more complicated.
Pakistan therefore needs to work on increasing its exports, to explore new markets and must focus on technological advancements. Currently, the goods offered by Pakistan remain at the southern end of the global value chain.
Although Pakistan has signed free trade agreements (FTA) with China, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, and has preferential trade agreements with Iran, Indonesia, and Mauritius, except for China, not one of these countries falls in the category of main importers of Pakistan’s products.
According to the IMF report, in FY 2021 trade with the United States, United Kingdom, Afghanistan and Germany comprised about 37 percent of the exports. Exports to the three FTA markets were only around 10 percent. Entering FTAs with major export market destinations can boost Pakistan’s exports and reduce the external imbalance.
It is pertinent to mention here that, after a recent IMF staff review, the government has agreed to assess its export refinancing scheme by the end of this month. This might pose new challenges for export-oriented industries. The IMF has also raised concerns over refinancing schemes offered by the SBP to address long-standing large credit gaps and market failures and has warned that this expansion, if not temporary, would undermine its efforts to credibly implement monetary policy to achieve its primary objective and improve monetary policy transmission channels.
The conditions in the International Monetary Fund’s programme and a letter of intent signed by advisor to the prime minister of Pakistan and governor of the State Bank of Pakistan required that Pakistan undertake numerous strategic, technical and transactional changes.
To bring efficiency to its domestic financial operations, Pakistan needs to ensure that the energy sector is working in a financially viable way. Addressing the circular debt issue and strengthening the applicable regulatory framework is therefore of paramount importance. High transmission losses and low recoveries hamper payments to power companies. This is a major cause for accumulation of circular debt that is alarming not only for the power sector but also for the whole economy.
As of June 2021, the circular debt had reached a historic high level of Rs 2.3 trillion. The inefficiencies in power generation, transmission and distribution, and non-payment of subsidies in a timely manner are the main causes of increase in circular debt. In parallel, a new phenomenon of gas sector circular debt has emerged.
The IMF estimates provided in its Country Report No. 22/27 dated February 2022, warn that circular debt in the gas sector peaked at Rs 654 billion at the end of June 2021 (Rs 554 billion in system gas arrears and about Rs 100 billion in regassified liquefied natural gas arrears).
The constant bleeding of scarce resources in the hands of inefficient and loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is also a great concern. The SOEs have a significant market presence, particularly in key service sectors like power generation and distribution, energy, aviation and railways.
The recent State-Owned Enterprises Triage report provides a snapshot of the federal SOE landscape. It states that as of FY 2019, there are 213 SOEs, out of which only 85 have commercial operations (18 financial and 67 non-financial). The overall revenues of these SOEs in 2018-19 were recorded as Rs 4 trillion, that is roughly 10 percent of the nominal GDP. These SOEs employed more than 450,000 people which constitutes around 0.8 percent of the total workforce. The financial performance of several SOEs has remained worrisome, and in 2018-19, commercial SOEs collectively recorded net losses of Rs 143 billion.
The government must go for restructuring state-owned entities to reduce the state’s burden of funding these loss-making ventures. Their privatisation is the only viable option for modernising and revamping these institutions. This can generate employment and more tax revenues for the government. Otherwise, the state would be left at the mercy of global lenders who propose and impose policies with no consideration for challenges faced by the common man.
The recent resumption of the EFF indicates that the government has undertaken aggressive revenue measures by introducing amendments in indirect tax legislation by moving most goods from zero-rating (5th Schedule items) or reduced rates (8th Schedule items) to the standard sales tax rates by eliminating many exemptions listed under the Sixth Schedule to the Sales Tax Act, 1990.
The finance minister, Shaukat Tareen, has also expressed the government’s intention of increasing petroleum levy (PL) which is expected to help bridge the revenue deficit. According to the recently published IMF staff report, in early November, the authorities started gradually increasing the levy on gasoline and diesel oil by Rs 4 per litre, with a further Rs 4 per litre increase in December. The government will continue to increase the levy by Rs 4 per litre per month until it reaches Rs 30 per litre.
The global lender has also emphasised sales tax harmonisation. Currently, services are subject to provincial taxation and goods fall under the purview of federal sales tax. This dichotomy has created several compliance issues for taxpayers and administrative problems for taxation authorities. Further, in terms of direct taxation, the IMF staff reports indicate that Pakistani authorities are in the process of drafting Personal Income Tax legislation for next financial year, i.e., FY 22-23, which aims at reducing the number of rates, income tax brackets, tax credits and allowances.
After swallowing these bitter pills and consenting to “aggressive reform measures” Pakistan has now completed the sixth EFF review and the earlier withheld $1 billion tranche has been released. Pakistan has now obtained the $3 billion from the IMF under the current programme with $3 billion to be issued subject to successful completion of the remaining reviews.
These commitments are expected to attract a wave of taxes and duties, which can make the common man’s life more challenging. The government must achieve the equilibrium in a way that its revenue objectives are met without being regressive to the common man. This can be done by introducing economic reforms focusing on privatisation and exploration of new avenues for taxation.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/932991-pti-and-the-bitter-imf-pill
Taliban’s Kabul takeover security nightmare to Islamabad as terror groups ramp up attack in Pakistan
https://theprint.in/world/talibans-kabul-takeover-security-nightmare-to-islamabad-as-terror-groups-ramp-up-attack-in-pak/830448/
As Minorities Suffer In Pakistan, Imran Khan Attempts Damage Control After Punjab Lynching
According to local media reports, the incident took place at Mian Channu’s Tulamba Madrasa at Khanewal. It happened in front of a police station, where the victim was taken after people accused him of trying to tear off the pages of the Holy Quran inside the mosque. In order to protect themselves from the angry mob, the local police allegedly allowed the accused to leave the police station where the mob was present.‘Sialkot like incident’ The victim was dragged by the crowd when he came out of the police station, while the cops allegedly played the role of a silent spectator. He was lynched and was tied to a pole and left to die. Local Pakistani media outlets said that Saturday’s incident was a “Sialkot like incident” when an angry mob killed a Sri Lankan man for alleged blasphemy. Back in December 2021, Sri Lankan man Priyantha Diyawadana was tortured, killed and then set on fire after being accused of blasphemy over some posters that he had allegedly taken down. The widely reported incident involved a Sri Lankan national who worked as general manager of a factory of the industrial engineering company Rajco Industries in Sialkot, Punjab. The horrific images and videos also emerged on social media that showed Diyawadana being thrown on the floor where hundreds of people had started tearing his clothes and violently beating him.
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/pakistan-news/as-minorities-suffer-in-pakistan-imran-khan-attempts-damage-control-after-punjab-lynching-articleshow.html
Man accused of blasphemy stoned to death by mob in Pakistan
By ASIM TANVEERAn enraged mob stoned to death a middle-aged man for allegedly desecrating the Quran in a remote village in eastern Pakistan, police said Sunday. The custodian of a local mosque said he saw the man burning the Muslim holy book inside the mosque Saturday evening and told others before informing police, according to police spokesman Chaudhry Imran. The violence took place in a village in the district of Khanewal in Punjab province.Imran said police rushed to the scene, where a man was found surrounded by an angry crowd. Officer Mohammad Iqbal and two subordinates tried to take custody of the man but the group began throwing stones at them, seriously injuring Iqbal and slightly injuring the other two officers. Munawar Gujjar, chief of Tulamba police station, said he rushed reinforcements to the mosque but they did not arrive before the mob had stoned to death the man and hung his body from a tree. Gujjar said the victim was identified as Mushtaq Ahmed, 41, of a nearby village. “The ill-fated man has been mentally unstable for the last 15 years and according to his family often went missing from home for days begging and eating whatever he could find,” he said. He said the body was handed over to the family. Mian Mohammad Ramzan, the mosque custodian, said he saw smoke inside the mosque, which is adjacent to his home, and rushed over to investigate. He found one Quran burned and saw a man attempting to burn another. He said people were starting to arrive for evening prayers as he was shouting for the man to stop. Witnesses said a police team that reached the village before the stoning began took custody of a man but the mob snatched him away from them and beat the police as they tried to rescue him. Later, more officers and constables reached the scene and took custody of the body, they said. Gujjar, the area police chief, said investigators were scanning available videos to try to identify the assailants. He said police had so far detained about 80 men living in the mosque's surroundings but that about 300 suspects took part. Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his anguish over the incident and said he was seeking a report from Punjab's chief minister on the police handling of the case. He said they “failed in their duty.” “We have zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands and mob lynching will be dealt with with the full severity of the law,” he said in a tweet hours after the incident. Khan also asked the Punjab police chief for a report on the actions taken against perpetrators of the lynching. The killing comes months after the lynching of a Sri Lankan manager of a sporting goods factory in Sialkot in Punjab province on Dec. 3 who was accused by workers of blasphemy. Mob attacks on people accused of blasphemy are common in this conservative Islamic nation. International and national rights groups say blasphemy accusations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores. Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan. https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/man-accused-blasphemy-stoned-death-mob-pakistan-82858123