Yes Minister’, bureaucrats and a new PM by Senator A. Rehman Malik

Senator A. Rehman Malik  Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior

The first episode of British serial “Yes Minister” was written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn in which the actor namely Paul Clark Eddington shows the struggles of a Minister in formulation of legislation and departmental changes in his act and how the efforts of the Minister are frustrated and compared to the former ones. I find this play close to the reality as we follow almost the same system.

It is challenge for a Prime minister to please the bureaucracy in order to make it through. The said sitcom fits completely to our own political and administrative system.

Pakistani administrative system runs on subjective grounds rather on objective grounds. Though there is a constitution which guides our governance but unfortunately our governance does not run on well-defined objectives but it is pushed on subjective modes and the system becomes subservient to the will of individual chief executive.

It is a historical fact that the PM in any country gets trapped and becomes hostage in the hand of his own bureaucracy – like his Principal Secretary and few federal secretaries - and they becomes more powerful than their boss and the system.

The vigor of new PM is likely to be suppressed by his bureaucracy and the few initial briefings with the expression of multiple fears in fact will cripple his plans and it’s a usual practice for every PM. We need to see if the new PM is able to break the status quo of bureaucracy and bring a new era of effective and clean team for implementation of rule of law.

The first challenge is the economic crunch, and in normal course of briefing by the bureaucracy it has sufficient grounds to convince the PM to get more loans from IMF and World Bank. In fact his own finance minister would be leading him in pleading for further loans.

It would be a challenge for him whether he decides to ask for further foreign loans or finds some alternate way to strengthen the economy like the President of Turkey who made the country self-sufficient with zero foreign debts as of now. I feel that Instead of depending on “Yes Prime Minister” model bureaucracy I hope he will ask a member of the financial team of Turkey to help us in getting rid of this fiscal cancer of foreign debts which has basically disabled the progress of our country.

In fact, leaving the PM house and residing in exclusive small cottage is not just enough to transform Pakistan into a modern prosperous Pakistan. The people will not bother where their Prime Minster stays but they are concerned what would be the vision of their PM to drive the country out of the crises.

I think the opposition will be a very robust opposition against PTI especially through the Parliament, social media and street level. Due to the economic situation and rise in oil prices, PTI will have to go against their campaign promises as per manifesto; in addition to this they will also not be able to control inflation as explained above. PTI may have to face tough time both in the center and Punjab.

The sector which has been destroyed by “yes minster” band is our energy sector, so where is the energy generation plan of the PM? It looks as if the energy crises are going to further deepen. Will the new PM be able to break the bureaucratic barrier and hurdles already created because of our built-in inefficient system?

Pakistan has precariously survived 5 years without a foreign minister and a well-formulated foreign policy despite this known fact that a foreign policy is essential especially in this age of globalisation when new and daunting challenges have emerged for our country. The conduct of foreign policy would be fundamental to the success of new PM and his cabinet. The question that rises here is that, will the status co in MOFA be still continued through “yes minister” policy or the PM will bring some radical changes by adopting aggressive foreign policy?

India and Pakistan have always had awful and lamentable relationship upon their diplomatic, military and political front: whereas the people of both countries have been seeking normalised and sound relations as both share almost same cultures and traditions. The new government by making sincere efforts to normalise the relationship between both countries can earn mutual respect and make its foreign policy a successful and historic one. Several things need to be done to bring both countries to peace; democracy must be strengthened in Pakistan, economic relations should be improved, terrorism of any variety should be crushed, particularly the State sponsored variety, ceasefire violations be completely stopped by both, nuclear and missile race be stopped as these are hugely expensive, dangerous and detrimental to economic development and last but not the least initiation of social, cultural and political dialog process to enter into a long term friendship is needed.

The new PM will also need to ensure China stays committed to its planned $62bn investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is expected to develop direly needed infrastructure for the 200-million-strong country.

Foreign anti-Pakistan sentiment has made Pakistan isolated from the world. Pakistan was unable to block highly negative and inimical propaganda initiated at international level led by India which has landed us in the list of FAFT. FATF grey list is the most pressing matter for the new PM of getting Pakistan off it as soon as possible.

National security which needs extra attention as inadequate national security is well reflected to see the terrorists’ attacks during election 2018. Let us see how the new PM improves the security conditions where there are difficulties as the law and order already stood devolved through the 18th amendments which has made provinces responsible for law and order. Moreover, we need to see how the new PM brings the matter more under his control to improve the security with the help of provinces.

Pakistan is on the verge of an ecological disaster and the looming water shortages need to be addressed immediately. According to a report, Pakistan will soon be facing extreme scarcity of water and might go dry by 2025. Pakistan has massive Himalayan glaciers, rivers, monsoon rains and floods but just three major water reserves are there because of which, surplus water is quickly lost. A wise initiative by the new PM would be essential to build infrastructure to reverse the course of the impending crisis. There is also a need of public education on how to not waste water and rather preserve it.

Another major challenge for the new PM would be the balance of power between the civil government and armed forces. The next PM is required to meet the country’s challenges without upsetting this delicate balance of power keeping.

The Article is Published in ‘’THE NATION’’ on July 30^th, 2018

The Link to Article is : Yes Minister’, bureaucrats and a new PM by Senator A. Rehman Malik

NATIONAL CHALLENGES BEYOND 25TH JULY BY SENATOR A. REHMAN MALIK

25th July is getting important with every passing day. Let us see what would be our treatment to this prime day of our history. Will all the voters show respect to this prime day by coming out of their houses to vote, instead of planning holiday and going for picnic?

Let us hope that this day will be considered as a day to secure the future of our generation as more participation means casting of more votes which mean increasing the numerical strength of votes for the contesting candidates. This would mean increase of average turnout of 45% of past three general elections to at least more than 90 %. This increase in numerical number will bring more collective wisdom to elect a more suitable candidate who can perform their national duties in the most befitting manners and to the expectation of the entire nation.

The present challenges facing Pakistan post 25th July are not likely to tend towards improvements but likely to further deteriorate unless we elect honest and educated capable members for both NA and PAs. It would happen only if the voters make fair choice based on merit on 25th and not to vote under the tutored influence.

Now why I say that we need legislators with high leadership qualities is because they are the one who are going to be policy makers which will drive our country from the challenges briefly discussed below.

Economic challenge: Pakistan is currently confronting multiple challenges which vary in intensity. Some of the challenges are seemingly multi-dimensional and complex in nature which certainly will take many years to overcome. The ever-rising inflation, increasing unemployment, shrinking GDP and diminishing exports level are the major obstacles which restrict the ability of Pakistan to have a well-developed and flourishing economy. The biggest challenge to be encountered by the new government is Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities which have soared to a record $91.8 billion plus $67Billion from China for CPEC showing an increase of over 50% or nearly $31 billion in the past four years and nine months. Our national assets have gone under combined loss of Rs. 705 billion from 2013 – 2016 with PIA under Rs. 45 billion, PSM (Pakistan steel Mills) under Rs. 177 billion and Pakistan Railway with Rs. 60 billion of loss annually.

The external debt and liabilities of $91.8 billion plus $67 billion as of March-end suggest that the figure may touch $170 billion very soon as the country faces grave challenges in meeting growing external financing requirements. Pakistan is scheduled to make some bullet debt and interest payments in the last quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal year. With a population of over 190 million, around a mere 1 percent of the Pakistani citizens are tax payers.

The other big challenges are the loss-making public sector enterprises (PSEs) that continue to bleed. These have suffered a cumulative loss of Rs 3.746 trillion over the last five years. The challenge for the new government is to work on the shortfalls left behind by its predecessors.

Internal Security: The new Government must be prepared for even bigger internal security challenges this year after elections as Daesh, has raised new serious security challenge for Pakistan. The emergence of Daesh in close proximity to Pakistan has raised new internal security challenges. TTP militants have relocated themselves in Afghanistan and Daesh is establishing a footprint in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, which can be seen as a real potential of spill over into parts of Pakistan.

Foreign policy: Pakistan is being isolated because of its poor foreign policy that has resulted in the current situation. We have failed to score allies even though there was huge opportunity to do so. Foreign policy cannot be seen in isolation, for it is only a reflection of a country’s domestic policy and we have been really unfortunate to have been deprived of a logical foreign policy as well as a foreign minister for the past 5years.

Kashmir issue: Today India and Pakistan are two independent countries on the map of the world but Kashmir issue is still unresolved. Kashmir is the unresolved agenda of partition and till today the people of Kashmir lack freedom. The paradise on earth is every day tainted with bloodshed and the voice of innocent people is being suppressed through bullets and pellets of Indian Army. The new government, through an appropriate foreign policy, is supposed to be smart enough to get resolve the Kashmir issue. It’s a way forward for the new Government at this point to allocate more manpower and resources to enhance its diplomatic efforts through a comprehensive Kashmir policy.

Energy Crises: Energy crisis has been haunting our country for past many years but unfortunately no Government has ever come up with a reasonable and constructive plan to cope with it. It would be a bigger challenge for the new Government to take out the country from this prolonged and poorly managed crisis. We have now reached to 7000 MW electricity shortfall which now is triggering extra unscheduled load shedding in several parts of the country.

Water crises: Water is another major challenge for the upcoming government and it cannot be ignored. According to a recent report by IMF, Pakistan is ranked third among the countries facing intense water crisis and might run dry by 2025.

The main reason behind this acute shortfall is that India has recently blocked water flow from India to Pakistan putting it under survival challenge.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Saqib Nisar has done a great service to Pakistan by ordering and supervising early construction of Bhasha dam to save the country going dry. I had written an article upon this on-going crisis issue on 9th June 2018, in which I had proposed three suggestions and I hope the next government will follow my advices and the solution given in the said article

FATF grey list: India in its efforts to isolate Pakistan has not even abstained from lobbying with US as, in November 2017 India lodged a complaint with FATF to put Pakistan name on FATF’s blacklist upon baseless and false charges. It sent a Secretary-level delegation to Moscow on Jan 31 not to support Pakistan. The Indian media reported that in his recent visits to Gulf countries, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also asked them not to support Pakistan at the FATF. Our incompetent government could not safeguard the position of our country in front of the world as it has been grey listed as a corrupt and terrorist state with FATF. The new government is supposed to make every possible effort to remove the charges of corruption and terrorism off our country.

The above challenges are real threat to our country as the economic situation is inching us towards the bankruptcy. We need able and educated and honest leadership to deal with these challenges.

The casual attitude towards 25th July by the voters would not be able to block the dishonest politician hence every voter has to dedicate this day for the national cause to see a prosperous Pakistan beyond 25th July.

The article was published in Daily “The Nation” dated July 24, 2018 and the link to the original article is NATIONAL CHALLENGES BEYOND 25TH JULY BY SENATOR A. REHMAN MALIK

‘KHOLI NO 1’ OF ADIALA JAIL BY SENATOR A. REHMAN MALIK

Adila Jail Rawalindi

Adiala Jail has attained an historic place in Pak politics over a period of time as there is hardly any top leader who has not seen the inner empire within the four walls of this jail where the jail superintendent rules it with impunity with the support of his cabinet comprising of deputy superintendents. These deputy superintendents are vested with the powers of maintaining order in respective barracks housing convicts and under trial prisoners.

The jail regime is like a kingdom where the top hierarchy of the jail administration demand and ensure of the prisoners to act like their subjects and not human beings. It requires everyone to keep their eyes on the ground while any of the top hierarchy passes by them. Every new entrant has to go through a disgraceful and humiliating exercise next morning when he presents himself before the deputy superintendent for ‘Malaheza’ (inspection). They are made to sit on the ground in a queue keeping their eyes down throughout the inspection and any deviation would earn him public punishment. There is one thing, which goes in the favour of the jail administrators and that’s “equality”. There is no discrimination between an under trial prisoner or a convict and both receive the same treatment in terms of humiliation. One can feel the sense of terror and fear in every corner of the jail.

However, the incarcerated politicians and bureaucrats who can influence the jail authorities, either through their political clout or financial clout, can pass their days inside the jail a bit comfortably as compared to ordinary prisoners. They can secure their place in the jail hospital with the courtesy of the jail doctor, who also enjoys a considerable authority under the jail manual. He has his own network to deal with the prisoners looking for place inside the medical Centre of the jail.

The jail staff is hardly friendly unless their palms are continuously greased. The moment one enters the gate of the jail; his first encounter would be with the jail official, who would carry out his personal search to see that the new entrant does not take any contraband item, cash or mobile phone inside the jail. If he wants to take cash with him, then he has to bribe the official who would take his share from the cash and would let you in with it.

It was the month of December 1996 post fall of MBB govt when I was taken into custody from my FIA office whereas many loyal FIA officers had informed me not to come to the office as the decision to arrest you had been already taken since you had earlier refused to become approver against Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto/Asif Zardari and General Babar, the then interior minister.

While sitting with senior colleagues like Saeed Alrai, the then Director and Ch. Iftikhar, the then ADG, I was told to leave quietly but I decided to face. However, when asked, I was told that the grounds for my arrest would be in the mind were: 1. Investigation into creation of IJI & my visit to Germany under the instruction of the then PM/ then interior minister. 2. Investigation into fake and benami accounts in different banks, transfer and deposit of millions of dollars in these accounts and creation of loan facilities in favour of Hudabiya Engineering and Hudabiya Paper Mills and investigation into Avenfield flats/Yellow Cab scheme/Motorway project and Mehran Bank scam.

The director HQ told me that there is no case/matter against you but instructions are to arrest you. FIA and other agencies could not establish anything and finally by evening I was taken to local FIA office. By 11 pm I was put in a cell where there were ice blocks in a corner of the cell for bringing the temperature down below normal temperature with the intentions of torturing me. I was in my normal shalwar qameez and it was terrible cold and in order to keep myself warm I started static running in low speed.

It was for the first time when I came to know, when I was produced before a magistrate for remand, that a FIA team had conducted a raid under the supervision of a local magistrate on the house of a human smuggler at Lahore three years back and it was all alleged that I along with the assistant director of FIA had stolen tolas of gold recovered from the house. It was a ridiculous allegation as I was neither present at the house nor part of the raiding party but FIA was directed to register the case against me to justify my arrest. This case was one of the series of the fake cases subsequently registered against me just to keep me under pressure to secure a statement from me against Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari and Gen. (R) Baber which I continued to decline.

However, all these fake cases could not stand the test of the trial and I was acquitted from all the cases. Unfortunately these fake cases made my journey to Adiala jail and I suffered for supervising the investigation above mentioned cases for one year as Farooq Leghari and Sharif family wanted to teach me a lesson for these cases. I was twice taken to PM House and relieved and senior appointments were offered against my affidavits to implicate SMBB /SAZ in fake cases. I categorically denied being an approver.

What a coincidence that I spent a year in jail’s Kholi Number 1 (The prison cell is popularly known as Kholi) where later on even Shahbaz Sharif was also lodged and subsequently Asif Ali Zardari was imprisoned there and we all shared the same Behshti (attendant) during being prisoner of Kholi Number 1. I feel sorry that now Mian Nawaz Sharif is in the same Kholi Number 1, in the centre of prison. Mian Shahbaz Sharif once came to inspect in jail being the CM but he chose not to come to my Kholi but later on I learnt in exile that he was lodged by Gen. Pervez Musharraf in the same cell.

It was interesting that his helicopter during the same visit flew from the jail and for few minutes remained static over my Kholi and I was for my “Delai “ and Delai is name given to the permission to walk for one hour. I told my attendant that Mian Shahbaz has shown Takabbar (pride) making me realize that FIA under me had made cases and now he is watching today and showing me his power to imprison me and the day is not far he will land here in the same prison as it did happen later.

It was perhaps for other reasons that he landed in the same Kholi. This barrack has the honours to see the helplessness of big rulers/ministers/prime minister and the future president.

I have written a book on my memories of jail, which will be published soon. I suffered in jail in the said Barrack for mere discharging my normal legitimate duty as an FIA officer and I feel bad to see that now Mian Nawaz Sharif is in the same Kholi for the same matter of Pak Lane flats which I had investigated and he is convicted of, and it teaches us great lesson that time is itself a great investigator and a judge and it is the “Time” which prisoned Nawaz Sharif.

It was this case that my many investigators had to leave in exile in worst circumstance and one of them is Sajjad Haider, the then assistant director (lately retired as director FIA) and some inspectors suffered in the form of suspensions and termination for this investigation alone.

When I look 25 years back I am convinced that I had been in exile for 11 years due to the investigations of these cases.

Trust me I am not happy that Mian Nawaz Sharif is imprisoned now but I certainly resent to our criminal justice system being out-dated, as it has no sense of time line. Rule of law comes into force if the law is implemented with time line as per the given provisions of the Cr.P.C.

Let me share with you all that entering jail is the most horrible experience for any person especially for a top law enforce including top politician/prime minister.

Our prisons have been the host of political prisoners/Generals/other army officers for failed coups though Gen Musharraf could avoid Adiala and managed to land in a mini-Adiala in his own Farm House.

I remember that dreadful evening when I was taken from a safe house to the jail, where I had spent few hours in the company of Hussain Lawai, the then employee of Faysal Islamic Bank and Qureshi, former Chief Secretary. The entry into jail gate is very unfriendly and one feels convicted even before formally convicted which is unfair with under trial prisoner. ‘B’ class is useless as there is hardly any reasonable facility.

I also was shifted from Kholi No 1 to yet another cells where all accused arrested by me as director FIA from Lashkar Jhangvi were prisoned. It was the cell dedicated for the terrorists and it was in fact torture and punishment for me to be taken there. I was told later that same cell allotted to me was previously used by Sh. Rasheed when he was prisoned here.

It was small room with one small window and a small toilet in one corner to ensure the inmate is tortured with dirty foul smell from dirty wall-less bathroom.

The dealings and the time spent with other jail associates is another story but it gave me a chance to learn their true stories and their conversion from ordinary God fearing boys to terrorists. I will narrate my experience of first arresting them and then be in the same prison day and night with them. Thank God I faced no problem from them and they rather remained respectful. Though anti-forces of mine with the Said govt had managed to lodge me in the dangerous terrorist barrack considering that I would be killed in their hands.

The jail superintendent told me in confidence that the then government was suspecting that I would escape from jail and that is why I was shifted to high security barack of terrorists. I hope Mian sahib is not lodged in any of the terrorist cells or with PTI associated prisoners. I do not see Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maryam in the jail for a very long time and it is matter of weeks due to legal space available for them. It is unfortunate to have our thrice-elected PM in prison where as per our political history the prison shines politician and the people see it as additional qualification for politicians. I think Sh. Rasheed would endorse it, as he is also fellow student of this great un-regulated university called Adiala.

In the end I appreciate Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif for their right decision to return to surrender before the rule of law. Let us see how Shahbaz Sharif uses the present political situation to help his brother while he in jail or he prefers to promote his son Hamza Shahbaz instead of Maryam Nawaz. It is another story that Shahbaz Sharif could not force his way to the airport to receive his returning brother who was expecting a big crowd led by Shahbaz Sharif at the airport. Mian Nawaz Sharif faced the same situation before as well when he returned from exile and not a single soul was present and he was sent back to UK by General Musharraf. The same thing has been repeated by his party and the difference now is that he was sent to jail unhindered as the awaited fleet of Shahbaz Sharif could not reach due to unexplained reasons and perhaps known to Mian Nawaz Sharif himself. Whereas, Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz both showed full maturity before the media and at the time of handed themselves over to the law enforcers at Lahore airport. Let us see what would be the next move of Mian Shahbaz Sharif to get the desired relief to his brother and niece.

I wish Mian Nawaz Sharif had not spoken against the institutions whereas over the period of time I have observed that he has improved his skills to demonstrate being stable in the present developed situation. Let us see how PML N can cash the high profile return of Mian Nawaz Sharif.

The Article has been published in Daily “The News” dated July 19, 2018 and The Link to Original Article is: ‘Kholi No 1’ of Adiala Jail by Senator A. Rehman Malik

DAESH STRIKING BACK by SENATOR A. REHMAN MALIK

                                                  

I was the first one three years back who had made the presence of Daesh in Pakistan known when I disclosed the meetings in a mosque in Daska, Sialkot and thereafter the rest of the network in south Punjab to KPK and FATA.

The then government of PMLN went into denial mode and issued official denial claiming that there were no traces of Daesh in Pakistan. However, the Nation witnessed the banners of Daesh in Islamabad and Karachi.

The claim of Khalid Khorasani, being the head of Daesh Pakistan regarding the presence of Daesh in Pakistan should have been an eye-opener for the then government, which rather than facing the reality chose to brush it aside for political reasons. Khalid Balti, alias Muhammad Khorasani, a Taliban commander from Gilgit Baltistan was the new spokesperson of TTP. Khorasani, who is in his early 30s, received his education from madrassas in Karachi. He is considered a learned cleric and was a teacher at Jamiat-ul-Rasheed in Karachi. Having a vast experience in media and publication, he was also part of Umer Media team of the TTP. In addition, Khorassani is associated with some other madrassas in Karachi for educational and teaching purposes. He is currently in Afghanistan along with newly TTP head Mufti Wali and Ikram Ullah, second suicide bomber escaped from Liaquat Bagh blast scene on the day of Shahadat of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

He is the same Khalid Khorasani who was right hand man of Hakeem Ullah Mahsud. The current acts of terrorism are being planned and engineered from Afghanistan and the Daesh trained terrorists are being used by them.

The geo-location of Khalid Khorasani has been reported as at Kunar in Afghanistan. An American journalist was seriously injured when she had traced the location of Ikram Ullah and Fazal Ullah. She met me with her local Pakistani based assistant few weeks’ back and she narrated the whole episode.

There is a big question in the minds of public as to why Daesh is once again so active in KPK and Balochistan? Here is my humble analysis based on available evidence, which I made public vide my press conference dated 23 Aug 2017 wherein I had made public the anti-Pakistan plan to create wedge within KPK and FATA by creating groups and this was propagated through a specially launched radio station which was shut by Pak Intel. Similarly under the same plan the anti Pak groups were reenergised and activated. We witnessed more training camps of Diesh in Afghanistan and more terroristic activities engineered from Afghanistan

This anti-Pak plan was exposed by a prominent USA analyst while being interviewed by a known Russian TV which is part of international media record.

This shows that there is a greater agenda of the West to attempt to disintegrate our country and the nation witnessed unprecedented moves against the federation and especially the Army which were fully backed by newly established radio station and hype in the International media to discredit Pakistan to portray it as a failed state. Briefly speaking, the Daesh is following the Indian RAW agenda/ RSS under PM Modi duly supported by Afghanistan. This sensitive timeline, while Pakistan is going through elections, has been chosen by anti-Pakistan designers to move their agenda of destabilising the country particularly KPK & Balochistan. Unfortunately, certain political quarters in Balochistan gave some importance to these anti-Pakistan moves, which was quite upsetting, as they did not foresee the consequences for the country. After the arrest of RAW agent Kulbhushan Yadev there is no doubt left as to how India is involved in destabilising Pakistan.

The Daesh through Indian agents is busy to implement two-point agenda in the country; one is to create scare before election by maximising terrorism during the election and secondly creating unrest in these two provinces to continue to follow the anti-Pakistan agenda to destabilise Pakistan through KPK and Balochistan. The sensitive timeline vis-à-vis Pakistan has been chosen by Daesh-RAW nexus to carry out terrorist activities when the country was going through general elections and the government was fully concentrating on ensuring peaceful and fair elections in the country.

I had forewarned the nation last month that Daesh and anti-Pak designers would try to take the full advantage of pre-election period and the day of election. My fears are turning true when KPK and Balochistan experienced three terrorist attacks in three days claiming the lives of hundreds of innocent people including two known political figures during their election meetings. The federal as well as the provincial governments are required to take SOS steps to counter this anti-Pakistan agenda.

Is it not an eye opener that when Nawaz Sharif decides to return to Pakistan on 12th July, the Daesh selects the same day to use suicide bombers to create fear and to kill two renowned leaders one form KPK and one from Balochistan. See the links of these two happenings on the same day.

It looks as if the agenda of Daesh is not going to finish here but would continue throughout election period. My assessment is further endorsed by recent threats issued by NACTA. Unlike the last elections when Taliban decided to attack only PPP sparing PML/N and PTI, these threats alerts have been issued to the leadership of all the major political parties including PML/N and PTI, which are too serious to ignore. These indicate that none is safe now from the terrorist attacks by Daesh. In 2013 elections, Taliban had made PPP the sole target of its attacks by providing PML/N safe heaven and it made friendly announcements in favour of both PML/N and PTI. Although the terrorists have threatened all political parties yet all the religion-political parties have been spared minus JUI, as the rally of Mr. Akram Durrani was attacked. All political leadership/ head of the political parties need not to be over confident and do not provide chance to enemy to hit our national leaders.

It is strange for me to see that while Chairman PPP is being blocked and denied the rights of holding public meetings, the leaders of other political parties are being facilitated without any restrictions to continue with their schedule of holding public meetings at their chosen places. The government needs to analyse if the threats are for a particular political party and individual. It looks as if Daesh have selective targets on its list. There should be no doubt left in the minds of the government and the security agencies regarding presence of Daesh in Pakistan but what it needs to work on should have been to dig into its real intentions. Is its agenda individual or party based for carrying out terrorist attacks?

I hope that the Government and the agencies take the following steps immediatelyTo ask Afghan Government to hand over Khalid Khorasani back to Pakistan for killing innocent Pakistanis, as well as for his claiming responsibility of latest two terrorist attacks.A national level conference on security may be summoned immediately by the PM comprising ofall political parties/ defence forces / Home Secretaries / all intelligence agencies. Let there be united and collective response to the enemies of Pakistan.

To revisit the national action plan and its effective implementation.

The trend of recent wave of terrorism looks to be preamble of some more tragedies planned by Daesh before election. Where is the government/PM to give wake up and shake up calls to the provincial governments to take SOS measures to halt this wave of terror?

I pray for safe Pakistan and may there be no further tragedy in our country. Ameen

The Article is Published in ‘’The Nation’’ on dated July 16^TH, 2018

The Link to Article is: https://nation.com.pk/16-Jul-2018/daesh-striking-back

ELECTABLE TO ‘JEEPABLE BY SENATOR A. REHMAN MALIK

                             

We are inching towards our elections 2018 and political atmosphere is getting tense. The recent conviction of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz has become a hot topic in all circles.

Whereas the election symbol of jeep is echoing too in Pakistan and election pundits are of the view that this unusual transition from pitcher (last election symbol of independent candidates) to jeep is very meaningful for future elections. The independents appear to have formed a group in advance of elections and they may act like strong political pressure group. The group can be named as “jeep group”

It has intrigued me as to why the royal independent candidates have been lured in to contest on symbol of jeep. Obviously they have formed an election syndicate to undermine the political parties as well as our institutions.

I did some research to find out about the history of jeep just for public information and its use with qualities. In fact a jeep is a small, sturdy motor vehicle with four-wheel drive and is especially known to be used by the military. Earlier than 1940 the term “jeep” had been used as U.S. Army slang for new recruits or vehicles, but the World War II “jeep” that went into production in 1941 specifically tied the name to this light military 4x4, arguably making them the oldest four-wheel drive for the army. Jeep is a vital transport in the war. The “jeep group” has chosen this symbol to show their strong intent to be powerful by showing symbolic deception, as independents have used their symbol for deception, and someone within the independents have played a fast one to choose jeep as symbol in election. Let us see if the royal independents with combination of electable will be able to get the desired results? I think it will not be the symbol of jeep, which will matter but the strength of money, which the most of the independents will inject in their constituencies.

The word ‘jeep’ has become the buzzword in political and social circles these days. It is because the “jeep” has been allotted as election symbol to at least 150 candidates (60 NA and 90 provincial assemblies).

Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan a close friend of Shahbaz Sharif and the former Interior Minister and a known leader of the Pakistan Muslim League was the first one to have chosen this symbol as he is contesting the upcoming elections as an independent candidate from NA-59, NA-63, PP-10 and PP-12.

More than 11 candidates of PML-N have returned their party tickets and sought the Jeep symbol from the ECP. It looks that Ch. Nisar has been able to get some old colleagues form PMLN with him. The time would tell as to how many more would join Ch. Nisar and let us see as how many jump out from PMLN boat and take fast ride of Jeep.

The only symbol, which has history other than PMLN Symbol, is “Arrow”. It is known fact that sword was the election symbol of PPP chosen by ZAB but PPP was deprived to contest election on ‘Sword’ symbol. It was Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who then chose ‘Arrow’ as PPP symbol to contest election.

Basically PML had original symbol of Pakistan flag but due to disintegration of the country in 1971, it had lost its sign; now the symbol of ‘tiger’ (not lion) has been allotted to PML-N depicting power. Similarly PTI’s ‘bat’ symbolizes game and lets us see what will be the end game of PTI. Similarly all other parties have history of their symbols.

The ECP data shows that the PPP has fielded the largest number of 225 candidates (90pc) in 248 constituencies across the country. The PTI and the PML-N have fielded 218 (87pc) and 193 candidates (77pc), respectively, all over the country whereas, the religious party Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) headed by Maulana Khadim Hussain Rizvi has also in the race this time getting more candidates than any other religious party in the political arena for decades. TLP has fielded more than 150 candidates for the National Assembly seats across the country.

The candidates of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) have decided to contest election from the platform of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) fielding 191 candidates for National Assembly across the country.

Election 2018 is a tough contest for all leading political parties, as a lot has changed in these 5 years of past government.

Coming to Election symbol, jeep has been chosen by 122 candidates as their election symbol. I, in my earlier article under the caption “I am election 2018”, where I had hinted clearly that a group of independents is in making and it is now reality.

The likely hung Parliament would be unfortunate and it would symbolize as indecisive nation. Imagine three big parties running after the jeep post 25 July elections. The possible probable combinations coalition post-election would be:

PPP- Jeep

PTI -Jeep

PML/Shahbaz - Jeep

(Shahbaz is close to Jeep via his best friend)

PPP -PTI

PPP-PML N

These are above possible coalition combinations. I have applied the knowledge of experimental design and theory of probability on this combination based on the available past data and information and I find two most plausible and doable coalitions from above and one of them will make federal government depending on their number of seats.

People must reject those who changed their loyalties and those who are helping to promote “lotacracy”. Let us say no to “lotacracy” and yes to democracy while casting of our vote.

The Article has been Published in ‘’ THE NATION’’ on dated July 10^th, 2018

The Link to Article is: https://nation.com.pk/10-Jul-2018/electable-to-jeepable

Pak System on Ventilator by Senator A. Rehman Malik

                                        

A ventilator basically in literal meanings, is a life support in case of failure of breathing post heart attack or brain related diseases. It is a device that introduces fresh air or expels foul air.Most recently this artificial breathing machine has become known to everyone. Doctors use it as the last ditched effort to save or revive the human body. Ventilator has become a symbol to indicate the bad situation. Our politics and government too seem to be on ventilator.

There are four basic ingredients to appropriately run our state system, which include economy, foreign policy, national security and democratic system but unfortunately all these vital and core ingredients have lost their effectiveness over the period of time due to bad governance and incompetency of the relevant authorities, causing turmoil and instability in the country. These damaged parts of the system have thus been put to ventilator support and these are in dire need of a proper treatment to be able to breathe the way they are meant to be without any artificial support.

The current status of our economy is on ventilation and is being monitored and treated on day to day basis as the virus of external and internal loans is expanding, growth rate is falling, inflation is on rise and value of rupee is declining. Unfortunately, our economic advisors are unable to halt the situation. Moreover, the effects of putting Pakistan on grey list of FATF would adversely affect Pakistan’s economy and will make it further harder for us to meet rising foreign financing needs, including future borrowings from the International Monetary Fund. It will directly impact our imports, exports and mobility as it is like unannounced international embargo saddening every Pakistani that will further make the economy sick.

Our government needs to enable the economy to be free of ventilation and for that we need a team of competent economists to make the economy healthy without the support of a ventilator. We have been suffering internationally as we ourselves have given this chance to the enemies of Pakistan to make us helpless and isolated on almost every diplomatic front. The ad hoc foreign policy has been forced to be on ventilator for not being looked after by Foreign Ministry, as we had no foreign minister to cope with it. I hope we’ll make it independent of ventilator by making it stronger in a way that we formulate some long-term foreign policies healthier to enabling us to contain further damage by our enemies. It is the need of hour that we take our foreign policies out of the ventilator and allow them to be healthier to face the international challenges especially from the hostile neighbours. The nation wants ventilator free foreign policy and free of incompetence virus.

In the same way, the national security system of our country needs permanent cure and continued updating and care. The National Action Plan was introduced in January 2015 with the view to improve our national security policies in order to impose a crackdown on terrorism and it did take out the national security from ventilator but again the failure of its implementation has brought it back on ventilator as out of our 22 agreed areas, many remained unattended due to indifferent attitude of the government due to its political objectives. We cannot allow our national security issues to remain forsaken and the civilian government must realise that inadequate national security is like a cancer, which eats away the peace from society. Where there is no peace, there is no development and hence we need healthy and independent powerful national security and not ventilator dependent national security.

We firmly believe that democracy is the way forward for the country and now our democracy has also been shifted to ventilator by lota-cracy and horse-trading. The vote has been made a saleable commodity and the elections are contested through huge spending especially with the ill-gotten money. Unfortunately, the post-election era becomes the recovery period of money spent along with the interest.This situation of horse-trading and lust for power is endangering democracy as the leaders look forward to shift their loyalties not for the cause of country but the artificially created winning impression for a party.

The performance of democracy is decreasing since it has been overtaken by ill-gotten money, blocking the way for middle as well as educated class. Resultantly you see the level of input in the assemblies by many parliamentarians as zero.

Frankly speaking, our politics is going sick day by day in the hands of greed and lust leaving the national interest far behind. We have made our political system ventilator dependent as we engineered and manipulated democracy, which remains on ventilator during the five years of a government trying to recover from the sick and deteriorating out dated system. We as a nation perhaps do not like to believe in rule of law rather believe to make laws to be ruled.

Will the leadership and people wake up to clean our political system? In my personal views, the parliamentary system has crippled us and brought our political democratic system on ventilator. Should we not revert to presidential system to have a top leader like USA directly from the people of Pakistan and not through horse-trading?

There should be a law to eliminate horse trading from political system to make this country a real democracy. It is so heartening to see that our major administrative and political organs are incapacitated and many are on ventilation struggling to survive and some are heading the same fate because of the deteriorating economy. The nation needs fresh air with hope and prosperity and that would be possible only once we are out of ventilator of IMF, World Bank, international donors, borrowing from friends. Just imagine what would we face if they decided to stop this artificial ventilation as, so far, these international donors have deliberately forced us to be on the especially designed ventilator.

We are trying to survive with this present economic ventilator & its dependency is pushing us towards bankruptcy. It is time for us to chalk out a plan to get rid of ventilator dependent economy before it is too late and our rupee slides further.

The international anti-Pak designers are pushing us towards awkward situations, as we should not forget that the West has never liked Pakistan to have emerged as a nuclear state. We must learn lesson from the disintegration of Soviet Union and become more alert of the intentions of the West. Let us make our beloved country foreign debt free-state like Turkey and live like a nation with pride and not as a nation having begging bowl in hand.

In the end, I would request you to join me to pray that our nation gets rid of the ventilator dependent economy, foreign policy, national security and political system.

The Article has been Published in ‘’THE NEWS’’ on dated July 9^th, 2018

The Link to original Article is: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/339322-pak-system-on-ventilator

Bilawal is the only future that Pakistan can look forward to by Senator A. Rehman Malik

A manifesto is basically a reference book for a party to move forward. Manifestos define a political party and demonstrate its seriousness in addressing the major issues of a country at the policy level. It should contain the way forward for every faction of the society starting from the betterment of the common citizen and improvement of all vital components of the society and the state. It should have the ability to counter the main national challenges and to give relief to a common person. It creates confidence and hope in the minds of voters.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is the first party to have launched its manifesto for the upcoming elections and I have not yet seen the manifestos of Pakistan Muslim League — Noon (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), giving me no chance to make some comparison. I decided to write my views upon it after reading this great people-friendly manifesto. I do not have the other manifestos, as the other parties have not been able to make their manifestos public yet.Allow me to say that the PPP chairman is more efficient as compared to other party leaders and I would like to congratulate him for this lead. The important salient features of PPP’s manifesto are discussed hereunder:

Bilawal’s manifesto starts with the slogan “BB Ka Wada Nibhana Hai, Pakistan Bachana Hai” (by honouring Benazir Bhutto’s promise, we will save Pakistan). Taking up his mother’s vision for a prosperous Pakistan, the manifesto truly addresses a variety of challenges and issues confronting our country.

The manifesto contains ideas for economic restructuring and growth, which work for all and beyond, and address the crisis management that is to come. The ideas include measures for an independent and rigorous assessment of the macroeconomic situation facing the country, including public debt, external and fiscal imbalances. It does this with the help of working groupsconsisting of Pakistani experts, who cover all aspects of the economic crisis. The economic policies shall devise a mechanism for evolving consensus on a basic national economic reforms agenda, for the medium-term.

Bilawal’s manifesto starts with the slogan: BB Ka Wada Nibhana Hai, Pakistan Bachana Hai. Taking up his mother’s vision for a prosperous Pakistan, the manifesto truly addresses a wide spectrum of challenges and issues confronting our country today.

A Joint Parliamentary Committee of both Houses would be constituted, representing all political parties to incorporate a consensus for the basic national economic reform agenda. The PPP chairman visualised that a joint parliamentary committee of both Houses, with representation from all major parties, would be the need of the day to prepare a basic national economic agenda on issues of national economic importance to ensure cross-party commitment to broaden parameters of reforms on taxation, government spending and public debt.

The manifesto says that in order to enhance competitiveness of the export sector, surcharges for the five export-oriented sectors will be rationalised. All free trade agreements (FTAs) will be reviewed; Export Development Fund (EDF) will be given to the Ministry of Commerce and managed by an independent board of private experts, with an independent third-party evaluation of EDF. Established foreign brands would be facilitated to develop their foreign buying offices near Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot, Multan, Peshawar and Islamabad airports. Exclusive economic zones will be established wherein foreign companies, on their own or with local joint ventures, would establish factories on the condition that at least fifty per cent of the goods manufactured would be exported. Trading arrangements involving currency swaps will be pursued to reduce dependence on foreign currencies.In case of public financing, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) would be restructured by turning it into three separate entities, namely Direct Tax Authority, Sales Tax Authority and Customs Authority, in order to avoid any administrative disharmony within the FBR and for evaluation of the performance of each authority against its specified targets. Moreover, the tax rebates for non-export oriented sectors would be withdrawn.

According to the manifesto, the agricultural sector, which occupies a central position in the national economic programme, would not only provide food to the people but also supply raw materials to sustain the manufacturing sector and exports, as the true potential for agriculture has remained unfulfilled due to the lack of policy attention and erratic decision-making in recent years.The chairman has pledged in the manifesto to rebuild an economy that works for all and to reinvigorate the agriculture sector through an ambitious Zarai Inqilab Renewal Strategy built around three objectives: “(i) hunger eradication and food security, (ii) livelihoods and poverty reduction and (iii) economic growth and restructuring.” The strategy would be based on providing support to the agricultural sector to achieve these objectives and providing direct support to specific segments of the agricultural economy, such as small farmers, agricultural labour, women agricultural workers, and farmers in marginalised regions.

Despite the change of governments, the party has seen immense success of its BISP programme and so the manifesto pledges the registration of farmers and agricultural workers under the Benazir Kissan Card scheme. Subsidies, price support system and crop insurance scheme for small farmers has also been ensured. Legal recognition and registration of women agricultural workers would be made under the Benazir Women Agricultural Workers Programme.

The chairman is considering water as an essential resource for the country’s economic development, and has expressed the need to support efficient irrigation systems in the agriculture sector. It is also an important resource for the functioning of industries and urban centres. The party, taking into account the climate change trends, which indicate that Pakistan may run dry by 2025, with a 50 per cent gap between demand and supply, would address this in a comprehensive manner across multiple dimensions; (i) efficiency and conservation, (ii) augmenting supply by investing in new technologies, (iii) improving water quality management, (iv) and addressing waterlogging and salinity.

It has been promised in the manifesto that PPP’s focus would be to raise funds to finance the Bhasha Dam project as it is of immense economic value to Pakistan and therefore an important project.

About industrial policy, the PPP leader said that Pakistan’s declining manufacturing base is a cause of serious concern. Manufacturing as a share of GDP has declined from close to 20 per cent to 13.5 per cent. He said that the PPP government would prioritise the revival of these industries through the following measures; “(i) devising a rehabilitation scheme through the State Bank of Pakistan for the revival of economically viable but closed sick units, (ii) and ensuring proper supply and viable tariffs on electricity to remove the energy bottlenecks that the industries have suffered”.

He said that the PPP government would identify sectors where the possibility of creating a niche market for exports is possible and then the identified sectors would be provided credit through a direct credit line created by the State Bank of Pakistan.About trade policy, the PPP Chairman said that the country’s exports have been on a downward spiral and there is a need not only to arrest this sharp decline in exports but also to restructure exports in the medium and long terms. He said that the PPP government would provide special incentives for the promotion of non-traditional and high value added exports.

The PPP would also provide an effective health management system. The family health services would link all elements of health provisioning into a unified individual centred system and health data management at union council and district levels.

PPP would also bring educational reforms in the curriculum and encourage the use of technology and social-emotional leaning.  Career counselling centres would also be built to develop workplaces of skill of communication, leadership, collaboration etc. The quality of education would also be improved. The PPP leader announced that he would end the ban on student and trade unions in the country.

The manifesto includes great energy sector reforms as well. The PPP will adopt a four-pronged strategy for addressing the energy requirements of a growing population and economy on a sustainable basis, by providing adequate, affordable and progressively cleaner energy to all. This four-pronged strategy includes; “(i) diversification of energy mix, (ii) prioritising efficiency and conservation, (iii) revamping transmission and distribution, and (iv) rationalising oil and gas polices.

PPP has also talked of tax measures in the manifesto making it possible to achieve 15 per cent of the target of the tax-GDP ratio through the measures including making use of the proven effectiveness of provincial tax authorities by delegating the administration of federal taxes to them through a partnership between the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and provincial tax authorities.

The manifesto has also addressed the key issue of our foreign policy that we lack in, as we have had no foreign minister for as many as four years. The chairman has pledged that under a pro-active foreign policy, his party would highlight the human rights abuses being committed by the Indian forces in the Indian-occupied Kashmir.

The young PPP chairman has a pragmatic road map to pull the country out of the crises and challenges it faces. The manifesto reflects his love for his people and especially the youth. I was to make an independent comparison of the manifestos issued by all the parties but unfortunately, I could not find the manifesto of any other political party.

The vision of the chairman of PPP is well reflected and his proposals and determination reflects his way forward to pulling the nation out of the crises. The chairman will require more professionals to implement his vision.

I as an elder politician foresee a lot of potential in our young leadership and see the courage and wisdom of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in Bilawal’s actions and speeches.

I hope and wish to see him as the prime minister as he truly deserves to lead the nation.

The Article has been Published in ‘’DAILY TIMES’’ on dated July 06^th , 2018

The Link to Original Article is : https://dailytimes.com.pk/263066/bilawal-is-the-only-future-that-pakistan-can-look-forward-to/