Stop taking U.S. aid!

Published in Business Recorder on October 2, 2011

US aid to Pakistan over the last 10 years has been two billion dollars a year, which translates into around 12 dollars for every Pakistani. Compare this with American aid to Israel (three billion dollars a year), which amounts to 375 dollars for every Israeli (Israel's population is eight million).

Each citizen of Israel, therefore, gets more than 30 times the aid given to every Pakistani. But this is not all. It's well-known that most of the aid given by the US does not benefit the common man. The aid is conditional upon using American consultants and equipment, which (together with other charges) amount to about 50 percent. From the rest, a sizeable chunk is siphoned away to private bank accounts, leaving about 20 percent for the common man.

So, it's the US, which benefits most from the aid it gives. Should we continue taking aid from the US, since it is not really aid (as it has to be repaid with interest)? I believe that considering what we have sacrificed to further America's interests in the region, we should ask the US to write-off all the "aid" it has given us.

SHAKIR LAKHANI (KARACHI)

Honour killings

Published in Business Recorder on July 25, 2010

Three recent news items prove that as far as women are concerned, we're still living in the Stone Age. The first, about a woman being gang-raped, should not shock us anymore. This is the kind of incident that happens regularly, so much so that it would be shocking if it didn't occur on any given day. Yet it proves that the poor women in rural areas are treated worse than animals. At least the females of other species are not raped by males!

The second item describes how a pregnant mother of six was first shot and then thrown into a canal by her brother because he suspected her of having an illicit affair with a relative. It wouldn't make any sense to tell these primitive men that there is a legal way to deal with adulterous women. In any case, who gave the man the right to kill his sister for any reason at all?

The third news item is heart-breaking. A woman of 50, the mother of eight, was gang-raped by five men against whom she complained to the police. Instead of giving comfort and sympathy to the woman, her son-in-law (whom she had brought up as her own son) killed her because "he could not stand peoples' taunts". So this is the kind of treatment our women get in this Islamic Republic! And some deeply religious Pakistanis I know have the gall to say that women have more rights than men in our country.

SHAKIR LAKHANI (KARACHI)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010

PPP ticket for Jamshed Dasti

Published in Business Recorder on May 16, 2010

I was astounded to hear the Prime Minister say that although he was opposed to Jamshed Dasti getting the party ticket for the forthcoming bye-election, he had to agree because his party wanted it. I would like to ask Gilani why his party has such contempt for the parliament that it wants to fill it with known crooks?

Is the party superior to the parliament? Does he not know that elected representatives are also the law-makers? How can one expect a person who was found guilty of forging a degree be expected to understand the law? I also think it won't be long before we see convicted murderers and terrorists being given party tickets.

Shakir Lakhani (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010

The biggest tax evaders

Published in Business Recorder on April 26, 2010

Pakistanis may well be the biggest tax-evaders on the planet, and the government can blame no one but itself for this. Transporters hardly pay any tax despite the fact that the number of trucks and buses on the roads goes on increasing. Shopkeepers and traders having a turnover, which is lower than Rs 7.5 million, are exempted from registration with the Sales Tax Department.

This is a big joke, as any businessman can easily get over this hurdle by dividing his premises into three or more compartments and doing business under three or four different names (each with a declared turnover of less than Rs 7.5 million).

In this way, traders with turnovers of over Rs 20 million can remain exempted from payment of sales tax, thus causing massive loss of revenue to the nation. The solution is mandatory registration of all shops and traders. It should be obvious that anyone, who can afford to buy a shop worth millions, can also pay tax. Even many shops selling "Paan" (betel leaves) and cigarettes have higher turnovers than Rs 7.5 million.

Another way to increase revenue is by ending smuggling, under-invoicing and misdeclaration, particularly from China. For this purpose, the FBR should have an arrangement with Chinese Customs Department whereby all export entries filed by Chinese exporters for Afghanistan and Pakistan should be available to Pakistan Customs. This data should be tallied with import entries filed at all ports of entry in Pakistan.

Within a couple of months, the FBR will be able to reduce the huge loss (running into billions of rupees) suffered by the state owing to smuggling, under-invoicing and misdeclaration.

Unfortunately, the huge official support enjoyed by our smugglers and unscrupulous traders is preventing the government from taking any action against them. But then, if the country is to survive, there is no other way than to tax all such people as well.

SHAKIR LAKHANI (KARACHI)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010

Winning the war against terrorists

Published in Business Recorder on October 25, 2009

We cannot win the war against the terrorists unless and until each one of us, including our leaders, is willing to make personal sacrifices. I do not mean that we should offer to blow ourselves up as the militants are doing. But at least we can make a start by paying our due taxes.

How much income tax do our feudals pay every year? Are they ready to curb expenses and cut down on unnecessary foreign trips? We should be like the rich Germans who have asked their government to impose a 5% tax on their wealth. Do our feudals have this spirit? If they do, there is no need to beg the US for aid to win the war.

SHAKIR LAKHANI (KARACHI)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2009

VAT mode for retailers

Published in Business Recorder on January 28, 2009 

With reference to Business Talk: 'we have to move towards VAT mode to bring retail sector into tax net' (24th January), I suggest that major incentives be given to consumers to make VAT successful. In many countries (like Turkey, Taiwan and India), consumers paying more than a specified amount of VAT are given numbered coupons.

Every day, draws are held in public and televised live and those holding coupons bearing the lucky numbers are given prizes. With this scheme in force, consumers would buy only from those outlets which recover VAT and pay it to the government.

Secondly, it is essential to impose sales tax on shops which sell smuggled goods. There are many such markets in Karachi alone where smuggled items are sold openly. Later, such markets in other cities can also be targeted. Only the wealthy consumers will be affected if this measure is enforced.

Shakir Lakhani(Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2009

Israeli power!

Published in Business Recorder on January 16, 2009 

It's ironic that the leader of the most powerful country in the world has to bend over backward to appease the prime minister of a state which is heavily dependent upon it. The prime minister of Israel simply said, "Get me President Bush on the phone." When told that the US president was in the middle of giving a speech, he said, "I don't care. I need to talk to him now." Bush suspended his speech and attended to the call.

The Israeli PM told him, "The US should not vote in favour of the resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza." Poor Bush immediately called Condoleezza Rice and told her to abstain from voting for a resolution which she herself had drafted. If there's a lesson in all this, it is that, as Mohammed Mahathir of Malaysia said, "The Jews are powerful because they use their minds."

Shakir Lakhani

Copyright Business Recorder, 2009

Gas for power plant

Published in Business Recorder on September 20, 2008

With reference to the report "Gas supply for power plant: 'favoured project' approved by PPIB", the only surprising thing is that it has happened six months after the new government took over. You must remember that in this country, all crimes can be whitewashed and the biggest crooks can even get into parliament and hold top positions.

So it's only natural that whenever a dubious company is involved, our officials display extraordinary speed, particularly if they know that it is a favoured company, even though it doesn't have a website and its telephone is unanswered, or it is not registered with the SECP. Your reporter deserves full praise for unearthing this first of many such scams which will surface in future.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

Electricity charges

Published in Business Recorder on March 21 2008

It is reported that "Pepco is now demanding Rs 9 plus for a unit" instead of Rs 3.69 per unit from KESC. Contrast this with the prices that are charged by electric utilities in India.

This is from an article by Brahma Chellaney in "The Hindu" of 17th March: "Escalating construction costs have resulted in all the newer nuclear plants pricing their electricity at between 270 and 285 paise a kilowatt hour (kWh). Compare those tariffs with Reliance Energy's coal-fired Sason plant project, which has contracted to sell power at 119 paise a kWh, or even with the poorly-run Dadri plant, which supplies electricity to Delhi at 225 paise a kWh, although coal has to be hauled for the plant over long distances."

I doubt that even the KESC (let alone Pepco) knows that electricity is so cheap (Rs 1.19 to Rs 2.85 per unit) in India. So it is likely that the eight hour long power outages are due to KESC not being able to buy electricity at Rs 9 per unit from Pepco.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

Directly elected president

Published in Business Recorder on February 4, 2008 

According to the 1973 constitution, the president of the federation is just a useless figurehead. Perhaps the words of the first president under this constitution (Chaudhry Fazl Elahi) sum it up nicely: "No one responds even when I shout abusive words."General Zia, of course, changed the whole character of the constitution by introducing article 58(b), which allows a president to sack the prime minister and dissolve the assemblies. But should an indirectly elected president have such sweeping powers? But then, how to get rid of a corrupt or inefficient prime minister? We have seen how the country suffered in the past. The people are helpless when they see that the government ministers are not interested in bettering the lot of the masses. At that time, one sincerely wishes that there was some way of removing them from power.At that time, a powerful president can do something. But in Pakistan, the president has no moral authority, since he is elected by the provincial assemblies and the senate. Perhaps we should think of amending the constitution so that the president is elected directly by the people (this is the system in the US or France). A president elected directly would be a powerful person, and if he felt that the government was incapable of performing its functions, he could dismiss the prime minister or dissolve the assemblies. At the moment, this seems to be the only answer to the present constitutional crisis

Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

Birth control

Published in Business Recorder on November 06 2007

Pakistan cannot survive unless the problems of illiteracy and overpopulation are solved. Illiteracy can be overcome only by making education compulsory for everyone, and preferably making it mandatory for all children to be taught in English, as is the practice in India.The population of the country cannot be controlled unless draconian measures are introduced, as was done in China. Unfortunately, the common Pakistani has been brainwashed to believe that birth control is a heinous sin. It's normal for men in the country to aim for ten children and to seek medical treatment if they cannot achieve this goal.In China, those couples who have more than one child lose their jobs and have to migrate to the rural areas to work in the fields. In India, the Congress Party carried out mass sterilisation to prevent people breeding like rabbits, but this was one of the reasons why it was routed in the next general elections.Of course, the ensuing governments did not dare try it again, for obvious reasons. In Pakistan, we can replace the present crop of illiterate clerics with those who have had a modern education.Or the state can train new mullahs who will not be afraid to say that birth control is allowed by Islam. Until that happens, our population will go on increasing exponentially until we run out of food and start eating each other.

SHAKIR LAKHANI (KARACHI)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2007

Solution to traffic jams

Published in Business Recorder on August 23, 2007

LETTER : Since for all practical purposes, according to common perception, it's the US government which is running Pakistan. I request them to send some traffic policemen to control our traffic and eliminate the daily traffic jams which have made life so miserable for us.

Believe me, if they do this, our people will be so grateful they will even pray for George Bush to be made life president of the USA.

SHAKIR LAKHANI (KARACHI)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2007

Presidential system favoured

Published in Business Recorder on August 17, 2007

It should now be obvious that the parliamentary system of government is not suited for Pakistan. One of the main reasons is that the prime minister (who happens to be the chief executive of the country, according to the constitution), is elected by a simple majority of the members of the National Assembly, which comprises 342 members.

If 172 members vote for a particular person, he or she gets elected to the most powerful post in the country. Obviously, if the head of the party polling the highest number of popular votes doesn't have the numbers necessary to get elected, horse trading results. This has happened so many times in the country's history that it doesn't bear reminding. In the present assembly, some members belonging to the People's Party are in the government, although morally they should be in the opposition.

It's also very strange that Pakistan (with a population of 160 million) has only 342 members in the lower house, while the UK where the parliamentary system originated, has 646 members with a population of 61 million. Based on this formula, Pakistan should have 1,600 members in the National Assembly. This would not only mean more representation of the people in the lower house, but also a more equal distribution of the national wealth. Horse trading would be more difficult, with more members required to be persuaded during confidence motions as well as sensitive issues.

But perhaps the biggest drawback of the parliamentary system is that it can result in a party coming into power despite polling much less than half the votes cast in an election. This happened in 1970 when the Awami League swept to power in former East Pakistan, gaining all but two seats despite polling only 38 percent of the votes cast.

In fact, its leader (Mujibur Rahman) should have become the prime minister of Pakistan, since his party had the largest number of votes and he could have got elected prime minister without the support of the other parties. This was not allowed to happen by our military-cum-political combine ruling the country in those days, with the result that Pakistan was dismembered.

Perhaps the time has come to adopt the presidential system of government, with the president being elected by the people (instead of the provincial assemblies, as at present). An automatic check and balance system will result, with politicians being more responsible and (hopefully), less corrupt.

SHAKIR LAKHANI (KARACHI)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2007