Pakistan is dear to all of us as it
is not just a piece of land but an identity for each one of us and is proud
home for all of us. Every citizen is Pakistan and everything present in it is
dear to us.
Every political party represents
its respective block of vote bank and political parties collectively are also
the face of Pakistan. We as Pakistanis have not yet arisen above the politics
and we political parties and leaders are still fighting on petty issues and
ignoring the bigger national causes. We are still fighting to get votes and the
party coming in the power continues in the mode of opposition.
The political elite are in the race
of breaking news on TV channels. The leaders are more concerned for their image
building rather giving attention to measures for nation and/or institution
building. The record of successive Governments shows that they either fought
for their survival or to pin down their opponents. There are hardly any
meaningful efforts to bring the country under rule of law. The capacity
building of law enforcement is being ignored. The countries do not progress without
respect for rule of law.
The lack of rule of law will
continue to generate the smell of corruption. Accountability in the past
remained disputed because of the element of victimisation, and in fact
accountability had become a tool of self-serving governance.
We only operate to get favourable
flashy media coverage and the government operators can go to any extent to
fetch publicity to give different temporary cosmetic looks. Every government
comes with cosmetic approach of change and they engineer certain actions to get
quick attention and we have seen in the past that such actions back fired for
having no leg to stand on.
The newly formed government as
their right announced 100 days plan agenda with austerity drive that includes
auction of various items of government houses with a bid to generate cash. This
auction plan just like the 100 days agenda is completely out of the understanding
of many of us.
The first initiative to improve the
economy is announced as under
1. Non-use of the President House / PM
House/Governor Houses.
2. Auction of old Vehicles of the House
3. Arrests of 100 big names for mega
recoveries.
In a bid to implement the proposed
austerity plan to raise funds, the task forces have planned to convert all the
Governor Houses in the country into hotels for public use so that these
government-owned lands lying as ‘dead capital’ could be used to generate income
instead of resorting to foreign aid. I have a question, that how can these mini
auctions meet our requisite financial requirements?
Can these few pieces of land from
the PM House, President House, Governor Houses and rest houses sustain the
shocks of heavy debts? Answer is no as the solution lies in a better fiscal
policies and utilisation of our God gifted natural resources which have not
been fully explored and are still not fully utilised.
The country needs reforms and not
playing to the gallery. The nation is not interested in the media hypes, either
curtailing the protocol or opening of the government houses to the public as
picnic points, as they are interested only in their rise of economic status and
reduction in price hike.
The governance too is a serious
business, so instead of presenting the verbal dialogues by ministers in the
evening shows in the defense of the government, kindly bring the reforms so
that the public becomes your defender after experiencing qualitative change in
their lives. Government needs to face the reality and to move forward with
national reforms to get the country out of the crises with doable plans.
There is a growing trend among the
public that the iconic buildings should not be altered nor their present status
should be changed as any such hasty decision now will bring loss to the
exchequer and may become subject of probe by NAB or FIA later. I hope that the
competent authorities are aware of their duties to protect the national assets.
Pakistan still has many school and
colleges which are lying vacant as if they were built for ghosts to study. The
government needs to improve these already available institutions.
Literacy rate will be increased by
introduction of a broad based education system and reforms and not by
possessing of 8 to 10 official buildings. The devolution through 18th amendment
does not allow the federation to interfere in the provincial autonomy.
Please leave these historic icons
for their original use and do not use them to generate funds. Here i suggest
that in order to raise funds, please convert Kashmir Highway into a commercial
road like Shiekh Zahid road in Dubai. It will create nearly 2000 commercial
plots and put them to auction only restricted to Overseas Pakistanis.
Bring the overseas Pakistanis
investments with doable attractive and constitutionally secured profitable
packages and give them their own Bank with their own management especially in
real estate sector. You will raise billions of dollars and also create charm of
investment for them. Create a Shiekh Zahid like roads in the name of our
national heroes across the big cities and then see the response Mr. Prime Minister
.
Please create environments of
investment and not fears as fears technology will make the local capital
further fly away and as in the past it will be parked either in Canada, Dubai
or any other international tax heavens.
No country will help you to return
already invested amount back to Pakistan. Let us create new ways to improve our
economy and not by auctioning few heritages which are our icons. Modern fiscal
policy with utilisation of under-utilised resources and it is the way forward
to gear in the national economy on the right direction.
The government should consider
protecting the icons /national buildings and national heritage and come with
smart fiscal policy with the local business community and overseas Pakistanis.
The Article has been Published in ``The Nation’’ on September 23rd,
2018
The Link to Article is: https://nation.com.pk/23-Sep-2018/mr-prime-minister-protect-our-national-heritage
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