I've often said that Pakistan should be re-named Corruptistan.  The latest scandal involving massive over-invoicing in the import of solar panels proves that honest Pakistanis are a dying breed.

Normally, it is under-invoicing of imported goods that can enrich the businessman as well as the Customs personnel helping him. Imported goods costing, say, a hundred thousand dollars are under-invoiced to show the value as twenty or thirty thousand dollars, and the duties and taxes paid are charged on the under-invoiced value. The importer saves at least thirty thousand dollars this way. The balance seventy or eighty thousand dollars are remitted to the foreign supplier via unofficial channel (havala). This has been going on for a long time.

Now the importer has found a new way to make money. He imports goods on which there is zero duty and taxes. Ten thousand dollars worth of imported goods is over-invoiced as thirty thousand dollars.  The excess money remitted to the foreign supplier is treated as advance money for other under-invoiced goods. If the actual value is thirty thousand dollars, the invoice value is shown as five thousand and the duty and taxes paid accordingly.

This is what happened in the import of solar panels in which the government was deprived of a hundred and ten billion rupees. Truly Pakistanis are very creative when cheating their government.

Right now it looks like the richest man in the world (Elon Musk) has the US President Donald Trump in his pocket. He is in full control of the government, sacking employees right and left in an effort to reduce government's expenses. He also got Trump to impose tariffs on imports, particularly those from China. However, the Chinese reacted calmly, subjecting American goods to more tariffs and curbing exports of sensitive materials to the US. This must have shocked both Musk and Trump, both of whom believe that everyone can be bought.

But the greatest surprise for them must have been the strong reaction to the suggestion that Palestinians in Gaza should be expelled to Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Even the threat to stop aid to Egypt and Jordan didn't work. Perhaps this is the one good thing to have happened. Muslims, particularly Arabs, are united on this issue. Maybe at some future date, the Muslims of Kashmir will also get Arab support in their effort to gain freedom.

First it was the European Union which warned that Pakistani exports to the EU would no longer enjoy duty free status if human rights violations, child marriages, media curbs, etc were not ended. Now the IMF has sent a delegation to meet politicians, judges and others to determine whether there has been any improvement after their money started flowing. I'm against this government's policies, particularly the curbs on the media, but why do the EU and the IMF suddenly want to do it now?

Why didn't the EU say anything when the then Bangladesh government started executing pro-Pakistani politicians some years back? Is there something about Pakistan that they feel threatened by?

I can't help thinking that it is Imran Khan's blitzkrieg that's behind all this. He is so rich that he doesn't mind spending a few million here and there to get out of jail. Last week he got another US politician to ask Trump to get Imran released. One wonders how far the convicted leader will go to malign Pakistan.

FBR extravagance

THIS is with reference to the report `Senators call on PM Shehbaz to undo FBR `extravagance`` (Jan 23). There has been much criticism of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for planning to buy 1,010 cars costing Rs6 billion. But, I, for one, fail to understand why there is so much brouhaha over such a simple matter.

Truly, it is well-known that the FBR employs honest, hard-working officers who also belong to poor or lower middle-class families. This is why, in my opinion, they should be given many more facilities in addition to 1,300cc cars. For instance, houses.

As everyone knows, tax-evaders respect only those officers who own expensive houses. Give each one of the field officers a bungalow costing at least a hundred million, and see how efficient they would become.

Now I know that the spoilsports will say the usual stuff about 40 per cent of people going hungry to bed at night, that millions of children are stunted (those that do not die before the age of five, that is), but so what? Are those poor FBR officers responsible for so many people being poor? And why do the bunch of critics not look at the 60pc who do have enough to eat, and the millions of children who are not yet stunted? As for those who say that the founder of the country refused to go abroad for treatment, or that he did not have even one police van escorting him (instead of 50 for each of our rulers today), because the country was poor, well, folks, those times were different. We are living in different times.

Finally, I wish to suggest that all the 1,010 officers should be given all-expense paid trips every six months to the holy land. They will surely need to pray hard to succeed in making the FBR achieve its revenue target without any hassle.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Published in DAWN, February 9, 2025

https://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=09_02_2025_007_006

 

 

I've always known that there is no difference between Imran Khan and Bhutto. Both narcissists, both suffered from an inferior complex, both megalomaniacs and both behaving as if they were above the law. Bhutto was born to be executed, and if Imran Khan continues to believe he can never die, he too will be hanged.

One fine day, Bhutto called for a strike throughout the country and in both parts of Kashmir. People asked why a strike should be called when it would serve no purpose. But Bhutto being out of touch with reality, stubbornly declared every 5th of February a holiday called Kashmir day. The question arises, why should Pakistan be so concerned about Kashmir, knowing that most people in Indian-held Kashmir no longer want to join Pakistan? Of course they don't want to remain in India, but why should they want to be a part of a virtually failed state? 

Someone once told me that the Brits decided to keep the two countries fighting after independence, so they bequeathed us the Kashmir dispute. This might well be true. For many years after partition, a big chunk of our budget (up to 75 percent) was spent on defence. Peace with India is no longer possible, so we'll have go on spending to defend the country to prevent its further break-up.

Half-joking

This letter refers to the news report ‘Atiq Mir calls Sindh-Punjab CMs swap remark a ‘joke’’ (January 28, 2025). Even though the trader has backed down after the fierce reaction of the PPP, most of the residents of Karachi are not satisfied with the provincial government’s performance and would love to have someone like the Punjab chief minister in charge of Sindh.

From the dilapidated condition of our roads to the bribes paid to policemen, as well as surviving without water for days, we are living in a city that never ceases to place obstacles in its people’s lives. And all this despite paying the lion’s share of the taxes collected by the provincial government.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

February 03, 2025

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1278897-half-joking

 

Donald Trump wants a strong dollar and a weak dollar at the same time. He can't have both. When the BRIC nations last month floated the possibility of a reserve currency that would replace the dollar, Trump was quick to warn that anyone who challenged the mighty dollar would pay for it. 

A stronger dollar would lower prices for imported goods and benefit Americans, making it expensive for consumers of American goods in other countries. A weaker dollar would benefit foreign buyers, while adversely affecting American consumers of imported stuff. It's a Catch-22 type of situation. Trump can only threaten other countries to import more from America. He has told Modi to buy more US weapons, he has asked the Saudis to invest a trillion dollars over the next four years in the US, at the same time threatening to impose tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada. He's even ordered the Saudis to lower prices of oil. All this blustering won't help, unless Americans tighten their belts and change their lifestyles. 

At present, the US imports much more than it exports. The gap between exports and imports is 78 billion dollars, while its debt is 36 trillion dollars. It will be a long time before Trump is able to improve the economy, if ever.

I've always known that beggars are the ones who are the happiest people in the country. Years ago, there used to be a Memon beggar from my ancestral home town (Bhawnagar, India), who had become rich. Not knowing that he was wealthy, some of our home town residents decided to help him out, offering him a monthly stipend (which, in today's money, would amount to Rs. 5,000 a month). He had laughed and offered to contribute twice that amount to us.

I also wrote a blog on begging. I had estimated that the number of beggars in Karachi were about two to three million. Now I've come across another report according to which there are thirty eight million beggars (out of a total population of 230 million) in Pakistan. this translates to every sixth Pakistani being a beggar. Beggars make a whopping Rs. 117 trillion (US $ 42 billion every year). This makes beggars the richest class in the country.

Of course, it would be stupid to tell people not to give money to beggars. Even the government can't do anything, because the beggars must be giving a good amount of what they earn to the policemen. 

Until recently, Hindus led comfortable lives in Karachi and the rest of Sindh, it was only the Christians and Ahmedis who left the country due to persecution. But now, more and more Hindus are leaving their ancestral lands and migrating to India. Some have even gone to Australia. 

The problem is that most Pakistanis have been brainwashed into believing that the country was made only for Muslims and non-Muslims have no right to live here. If you look at the Pakistan Resolution of 1940, you find that India would be divided into many independent, sovereign states where the minorities of India could live safely. Minorities included Sikhs and Christians, but this is breezily overlooked by our religious bigots.

In Chitral, only a thousand Kafiristanis remain, yet even those are being targeted by our religious parties to convert. In Gilgit Baltistan, there is continuous tension between the Sunnis and Shias, while in Baluchistan, many Hazaras have been forced to migrate. All this is due to the belief that converting a non-Muslim to Islam will get one immediately into paradise.

Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done, apart from closing down our madressahs where many children are being fed this kind of poison.

The enablers

January 21, 2025

Throughout the whole ‘190 million pound’ saga, one important point has been missed. Imran Khan’s cabinet ministers affixed their signatures on a sealed envelope without knowing what it was that they were agreeing to. Would they have signed a blank piece of paper on which anything could have been typed later?

Shouldn’t this worry every Pakistani? These men were in charge of running the country for four years and they did something that no normal person would ever have done. In my view, these ministers should also be tried for the offence.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1274319-the-enablers

The News, January 21, 2025