Still
in container mode!
NOVEMBER
27, 2019
Not a day goes by when the
Dear Leader and his minions do not desperately try to prove that they are still
in container mode. No doubt, the Great Khan was quite effective when he was in
the opposition although he did make some unsavoury remarks about the National
Assembly. Furthermore, he once shocked everyone by asking his followers to tear
up their utility bills and even went to the extent of suggesting a novel way
for overseas Pakistanis to make remittances to the country, which caused a lot
of comment at the time. But why does he have to prove every now and then that
he and his party are unfit to govern the country?
Take his latest on how the
dollar could easily have shot up to Rs 300 or even more if appropriate action
had not been taken. If his government succeeded to stop the steep rise in the
value of the dollar, it can easily bring it back to where it was when he took
over the reins of the country (Rs 124).
If stabilising the dollar
has been done by lowering imports, the solution is to, of course, reduce
imports to the bare minimum. One way of doing this is to allow imports only of
those goods, which are not manufactured in Pakistan. There are many imported
things available in retail stores, which are not needed, as they are made in
the country.
I saw small packets of sea
salt and so-called Himalayan salt sold at more than a thousand rupees a kilo
(even though local salt is available at Rs 30 per kg). When I kept cats and
dogs as pets, I didn’t need imported cat and dog food (I wasn’t even aware
these were imported). Now you can see these items at all upscale retail stores.
Why do we need to eat apples grown in New Zealand and South Africa?
Unfortunately, since this government (like its predecessors) depends upon
indirect taxes like customs duty, reducing imports will decrease taxes
collected by the government. Of course, this problem can be solved simply by
going all out against smugglers. Yet no government has done so, for the simple
reason that the smuggler mafia is all-powerful.
The Dear Leader says he was amazed to see the ex-prime minister
walking without assistance up the stairs to the aircraft, although he had been
told that Nawaz Sharif was in danger of dying if not allowed to go abroad
immediately for medical treatment.
He
seems to be convinced there was a great conspiracy to make him agree to let the
former prime minister leave. If that is the case, why doesn’t he take action
against those who were part of the conspiracy? Among those would be the doctor
or doctors he himself had appointed as well as the lady health minister of
Punjab (Dr Yasmin Rashid).
Since most of his ministers have nothing to do most of the time,
why not set up a committee to determine whether Nawaz really was sick or
whether his medical reports were fake? Whatever happened, it’s clear the Great
Khan is not in control, despite implying repeatedly that he is the only one in
the country who can give the NRO to anyone accused of corruption (which is not
true).
It’s not only the Great Khan whose utterances keep shocking us.
He has ministers who continually say the most amazing things, like the chap who
was caught with whisky bottles three years back in Bani Gala on his way to you
know where. This miracle man (who should really be the minister of science, as
he was reportedly able to convert the whisky into honey) has shocked everyone
in the country by saying that inflation of the type we are seeing today is
actually very good for the people, as it increases the income of farmers.
The great economist Keynes and others must be turning in their
graves. If rampant inflation is good for farmers, it must be good for bus
drivers, labourers and the eighty or ninety million Pakistanis who are
struggling desperately to survive on a dollar a day.
So
why are they complaining about the rising prices of all edibles? Doesn’t the
learned minister know that inflation would drive up the costs of electricity,
diesel, fertiliser and all other inputs, effectively reducing the real income
of farmers? Perhaps Mr Asad Umar can explain this to him. In the meantime,
please watch this space for more gaffes by those who are in charge of running
the country.
The writer is an engineer, a former
visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College
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