Published in 2004
The BJP Leader L. K. Advani was born in Karachi and spent the first 20 years of his life in this city. However, your correspondents have often said that Mr. Advani was born in Hyderabad and even in your issue of April 19, the news item "Advani sees progress" (page 3), your correspondence has stated, "... he was likely to go to Pakistan in coming June and also visit his birthplace in Hyderabad."
A report in The Times of India on March 9, 2002, had quoted Mr. Advani as saying: "My birthplace is Karachi. I had spent the first 20 years of my life there. It is natural for me to feel happy when I get an invitation, I had visited it only once in 1978 in the last 50 years."
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi.
Published in DAWN Magazine on April 25, 1999
What follows didn't happen, but it may well become the norm in a couple of years.
Two weeks before Eid, a sweet voice on the phone tells you, "We have the best butchers in town. Register now, or your animals will have to wait another year before they go to their Maker."
You point out that the animals haven't yet arrived from the interior.
"Our men will help you select the best animals."
You tell her to call after ten days.
"Don't hang up, sir. Our butchers are all graduates. We even have a few MBAs on our payroll."
This was interesting. "What'll I have to pay an MBA to slaughter a goat or cow?" you ask.
"Much lass than what our chartered accountant will take."
You didn't know the situation was that bad, so you say, "All right, send one over on Eid day. What'll I have to pay him?"
"Just a second sir, let me calculate. It'll be ten thousand for a cow, five thousand for a goat, and fifteen for a camel."
You let out a yell that is heard in Quetta.
"Maybe you'd like an MBA to do the job? You'll save 50 per cent, and 60 per cent if one of our engineers does it."
"For God's sake, can't you get me a real, genuine, red-blooded butcher who does nothing but carve up goats and cows every day?"
"This Eid is the only time when the real ones do any butchering, that's why you see all these jobless graduates doing their work."
By Shakir Lakhani
Published in Dawn on March 17, 1998
This refers to "Kot Lakhpat Hanging" (Dawn, March 7).
Even in advanced country like the UK,, a Muslim was hanged for a crime he did not commit and thirty-six years after his death, he was declared innocent. So we shouldn't be surprised if this kind of thing happens in Pakistan also. Surely now is the time for the state to abolish the death penalty, before more innocent people are executed.
SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi.
Published in Dawn around 1972-73
Dr. M. Ibrahim has indeed made a commendable suggestion by advising the Intellectuals and Workers of Pakistan Abroad to use the services of the Institute of Engineers for attaining their noble objectives.
I have another suggestion. Since the country has not yet fully recovered from the recent revages (ravages) of the nature, it would be in the fitness of things if unemployed engineers are utilised on a massive scale in the mammoth reconstruction effort.
The advantages accruing to the nation would be tremendous.The graduate engineer, by virtue of his strenuous training, is readily equipped (to) deal with exigencies the likes of which are certain to be faced when reconstruction begins. And since graduate engineers are also thoroughly trained in economics, their service need not be confined to the engineering aspects only. They can be utilized as accountants as well.
This step will reduce to a considerable extent the chronic unemployment situation among fresh graduate engineers.
Shakir Lakhani
Karachi
Published in Dawn on September 25 - October 1, 2006
TAXPAYERS generally try to avoid paying taxes, as much as possible, on the assumption that much of the taxes paid by citizens are siphoned off by civil servants.
Local traders never stop complaining that there is too much taxation and too much of corruption.
To increase tax revenues, the government should seriously consider imposing a five per cent VAT on all retail sales. This will require every retailer to get himself registered with sales tax department. To avoid protests, proper incentives be given. The trick is to reward shopkeepers as well as purchasers.
Under this proposal, shopkeepers will keep a detailed record of the VAT paid to the government. In a month or so, the government will refund 10 per cent of the VAT amount.
For the purchaser, the governments should adopt the kind of scheme recently introduced by the Indian state of Kerala and successfully implemented in Taiwan, Turkey and Venezuela.
The retailer will issue a receipt displaying the amount of sales tax on a particular sale. The shopkeeper will also give the purchase a numbered coupon provided to him by the government (known as "VAT coupon").
These coupons will be of Rs.5 and higher denominations. Every time a person buys commodities worth Rs.1,00 the shopkeeper will give him Rs.5 coupon. For a sale of Rs.1,000 the purchaser will get a coupon of Rs.50. Every week, a draw will be held and the holders or the coupons bearing the winning numbers will be given prizes. If necessary, this scheme can be modified, but the principle may remain the same.
The purchaser will tend to buy goods only where the coupons are given, which will increase the sales of the registered retailers. Everyone will contribute to the exchequer, except, of course, those who are very poor. Even those items which are smuggled into the country, will be taxed. There is a tremendous potential for increasing revenue receipts , if such a scheme is introduced.
Shakir Lakhani
Karachi.
Published in Dawn Magazine on February 22, 1998
But one day, after you returned from abroad, you were shocked to find him changed. Gone were the designer shirts and jeans, the expensive wrist-watches, the imported shoes. Instead, he was always clad in plain white cotton shalwar-kurta and modest slippers.
A neighbour told you what had happened: he had become the follower of the Imam of a mosque nearby, according to whom indulging in all forms of entertainment was a sin. So the new convert had smashed all his TV sets and everything else in his house which could result in making him have what his mentor said were "evil" thoughts.
And since the preacher said the the only books worth reading were those written by him, he got his son admitted to the madressah run by his mentor. And so, instead of playing cricket and preparing for college, the young boy of 14 began to read the mentor's books and listen to his speeches. He gradually became a fanatic. What followed was predictable.
After a fiery speech by the Imam one Friday, the young boy (not yet 16) went berserk and attacked a couple of neighbours who belonged to another sect. He was lucky no one was killed. When things cooled down, you went over and begged your friend to arrange for the boy to be sent to another town. You told him that the only way to save him was to keep him away from his company. But he only shook his head, and advised you to become a follower of the crank yourself.
By Shakir Lakhani
Published in Dawn Magazine on March 8, 1998
AFTER A MONTH in the Holy Land you feel that you should now grow a beard. So, although it makes you look ten years older, you stick to it. The beard, plus a tasbih (rosary) in your hand and a grim expression on your face, soon has people regarding you as a wise man and scholar.
One day, after a late wedding dinner, you ask a friend to drop you at a short distance from your place, as you think a ten-minute walk will do you a world of good.
After a couple of minutes, a police van appears and they ask you to come with them. You tell them you live a couple of streets away, but they won't budge.
So you climb into the van, and when you get to the police station, you find it full of other bearded men. It turns out that two foreigners (citizens of a neighbouring country) had been shot that evening, and so the cops had decided to arrest everyone who remotely looked like a fundamentalist. You try to talk to the cops, but no on pays you any attention. You are locked up with the others.
You spend 15 hours in the stinking black hole before you spot someone you know, a visitor outside the cell. By sign language, for the noise is deafening, you tell him to contact your folks. An hour later a couple of nephews arrive. You seem them distribute money liberally among the cops, and you are allowed to go. You ask them how much they had to dole out for your freedom, but they don't tell you. Later, when you find out, you almost have a heart attack.
The next day you rush to a barber and have all your facial hair removed. You resolve never to grow a beard again even if it means that you'll fry in hell. Now that you've been to a place worse than hell, you are confident that spending an eternity in the real thing won't be such an ordeal.
By Shakir Lakhani
Published in Dawn Magazine on July 18, 1999
I HEARD about it when I was in Saudi Arabia, and I have every reason to believe that the story is true.
Returning home in the dead of night, a foreign executive ran over a young Bedouin and left him bleeding on the ground. He figured that since no one else had seen the accident, no one would guess that he had done it. Little did he know that the locals had their own highly organized network of intelligence agents. Someone in the neighbourhood whose job it was to note such things reported his late arrival, and while he was still in bed the next morning, the police came over and arrested him.
The trial was short and swift. He admitted his guilt and agreed to pay the victim's mother whatever the Qazi decided. But she was firm. "I have not slept a wink since my son's body was brought to me," she said, "and I shall not rest until his killer dies the same horrible death that my boy did." The Qazi urged her to forgive and forget, but to no avail. Finally they told him to be ready to die.
The next morning he was taken to a courtyard and told to walk toward the centre. He hadn't yet reached the spot when a jeep hit him from behind. As he lay writhing on the ground, the jeep ran over him a couple of times. It took a few minutes for him to die, and all the while the old woman watched him contentedly. When he stopped breathing, she smiled and said, "Now I can sleep in peace."
By Shakir Lakhani
Published in DAWN on April 27, 2013
THE Election Commission of Pakistan has reportedly not disqualified some people who have submitted fake degrees.
One is tempted to ask about the use of Articles 62 and 63 if wrongdoers are not restrained from contesting elections. Knowing the mindset of the majority of our voters (who mostly vote on a caste basis), immoral and corrupt people will be elected again, giving them ample time to loot the country.
The next government should do it immediately.
Shakir Lakhani,
Karachi
Published in Dawn on April 27, 2013
I SEE returning officers behaving like Taliban, when I see lawyers garlanding a man who killed the Punjab governor in full view of the public, when I read of a judge who acquitted three rapists (despite DNA tests proving their guilt) because the rape victim could not produce the mandatory four witnesses to the crime.
When I see all this, I know that this almost total collapse of society is due to the nationalisation of education by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first and the only civilian martial law administrator of the country.
Shakir Lakhani
Karachi
