Need of ‘Charter of Common Man’ not ‘Charter of Power’ by Senator A. Rehman Malik

Charter of Democracy (CoD) exists in its form but has neither been practiced nor has the any other party including PTI yet adopted it. The CoD was created and signed for the sake of maintaining sustainability in democracy, improvement of the rule and for the independence of judiciary.

It was unfortunate to note that the parties raise the slogans of charters, and the most recently announced charter is the Charter of Economy (CoE) which I will call as marriage of connivance between the government and the opposition. If it is signed then obviously it will again be implemented at the cost of a common man who will continue to suffer through the price hike. Common man does not understand CoE but is interested as to how it would affect his day to day financial needs. Would this COE provide the relief to the common man? The answer is no, but it will provide an opportunity to the government to get away with this price hike at the cost of a common man.

The COE has emerged not for love of a common man but to get the smooth sailing of the government using this slogan. I wish the opposition and government would have proposed a charter of common man (Misaq- e- Aam Adami) based on the principles of Islam and social justice. I hardly see the use of word of a common man in our economic system.

The Charter of Allah as ordained in the Holy Quran, in fact, fully protects a common man. HE does not stop a human being to be rich but has asked you to be kind to the poor and look after them. We human beings are connected to one another which breed love & care. What draws us closer to each other are the moments of cooperation, support and help during Happiness and Sufferings.

Unfortunately the commandments of Allah on Zakat and Usher are neither being much talked about our Islamic Republic as a starting point to alleviate the poverty nor it finds its place in our economic policies, which is not only deviation from the divine commandments but also amounts to dishonesty and selfishness. There is a long list of taxes becoming a burden on a common man on daily basis and the common, in fact, is being pushed to wall.

The two very taxes that Islam has emphasized upon are Zakat and Usher have also not been implemented whereas according to Islam, it is compulsory for a true Muslim that he has to pay Zakat which is basically a mean to help poor and needy person. The. Zakat purifies the rest of the money left with us. “Zakat” literally means to purify, and by paying the zakat, Allah actually blesses and purifies the money that is left with us. Zakat is an obligation and duty for every believer who believes in Allah and the Last Day. Its importance in Islam can be noted from the fact that Zakat is divinely considered as one of the five pillars of Islam.

Here are the rulings of Zakat in Islam: Zakat becomes mandatory if you accumulate your savings. You saved 100,000, you have to pay 2.5% of your savings to the poor and the needy who are living below poverty line (as per Sharia it should be given to Muslims). If you have gold jewelry the zakat applies to the gold jewelry after one year. If you possess a house where you stay, zakat do not apply to it. But if you possess two houses and you are getting rent as income for the second house then it is obligatory to pay zakat on the second house.

Similarly, Zakat on agricultural products is called Ushr. If a farmer has obtained quality crops from the land and reaches nisab, he is liable to pay 1/10th or its equivalent in silver or gold as Ushr. It is obligatory for him to pay 10% of the produce if the land is naturally irrigated by rain. But the farmer has to pay only 5% if the land is irrigated by other means of irrigation like wells, rivers, tributaries.

Zakat is a perfect way to redistribute the wealth, thus defining a charity-based economy with a particular interest in the poor and the dispossessed Muslims. Allah has made Zakat obligatory for all who are able to do so, and it is considered to be a personal responsibility for Muslims to ease economic hardship for other Muslims to eliminate inequality among followers of Islam.

I firmly believe that the honest supervision of collection of Zakat and Usher can resolve our major Economic crunch.

Those less fortunate people are often deprived of, health care, good education, inexpensive justice, fair criminal justice system, job guarantee, equal chances and opportunities according to merit, right to vote without fear, standard living as well as the right of freedom of speech. We are lacking in providing equal opportunities to all because we are failing to provide social justice to our people; wealth is concentrated in few hands; poor are looked down upon and people enjoy suppressing the weak.

We as nation have failed to make any qualitative changes in the life of a common man as the political system of our country is failing miserably, rulers make fake promises while asking for votes and fake slogans of change are raised. Due to lack of education and knowledge, common people are unaware of their rights as well as poor are left to die of hunger or disease as there is no proper health system.

Can we protect these rights through a charter with a common man? Perhaps not for long time as the feudal system provide opportunity to the rich to use poor people to their advantage.

The sole intention of whosoever rises to power in our country is to gather as much of wealth as they can during their tenure instead of bringing reforms for the betterment of their people. As James Freeman Clarke has said:

 “A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation”.Let us see our ruler follow this principle in the charter with a common man. An English Journalist, Walter Bagehot said: “A constitutional statesman is in general a man of common opinions and uncommon abilities”.

This shows that real statesman should act and think like a common man as he is elected by the common people for the common people. Again it can be resolved as charter with a common man.

The division with social fibre increases unrest within the society whereas even today at one hand the charter of economy is talking about the welfare of the common man, but in reality it is aimed at to resolve the government‘s political difference on major budget points. So there is nothing for the common man but more for the government and less for the opposition.

I want to ask as to where exactly is the welfare of common man which is supposed to be protected by the CoE? I am raising my voice against our unjustified socio - Economic political system which has so far failed to give relief to a common man of my country.

Did we ever involve the common man in budget making? No

Did we ever conduct a pre-budget survey from an independent and transparent manners to asses the voice of common man — NO

We politicians fight for power and name at the cost of a common man who unfortunately continues to remain on receiving end & still waves us with the hope that leaders one day will give them better life for their children.

It is very sad to note that the suicide epidemic is on the rise in Pakistan for the last many years due to worsening economy and it is likely to rise even more. The depression is rising and people are getting into drug addiction. The crude suicide rate per 100,000 per year in Pakistan reaches as high as 4.4.

There should be a symbolic charter between political parties and Government with a “common man” witnessed by the whole parliament. This charter should be part of the condition to allow the party for registration and contesting in elections.

It should be displayed on the walls of the Parliament & provincial assembly halls as a reminder as a duty towards our common masses.

It is my point of view that we have failed to give right of charter to common man to allow the poor masses to have their part of the welfare.

I propose “charter of Common man” within the large based charter of economy. A charter without including the direct benefit of common man will be nothing but merely a “marriage of convenience” to rule over the common man and not create the right rule of economy.

I am up for a charter of a “common man”.

The Article was published in The Nation on June 28th, 2019. Link to the original article is Need of ‘Charter of Common Man’ not ‘Charter of Power’ by Senator A. Rehman Malik

AIDs/HIV- Serious national death trap by Senator A. Rehman Malik

It is a known fact how damaging three lethal diseases, namely, AIDs, Hepatitis and drug addiction are for the lives of people and for the new generations.

All of these act as a slow poison in the human body eating up the immune system and finally engulfs the life of the victim/patient. The most detrimental of all is AIDs but unfortunately, like the other two diseases, it is also not being taken seriously in Pakistan. Our federation, instead of working ways and means to control it, is in a frenzy to seek explanations for the genesis of the disease. Moreover, blame games between provinces are underway as to which province has got the highest number of AIDs victims. No matter if Punjab secures highest ranking or Sindh, the problem needs to be countered immediately. The federation, as well as the provinces together, are required to scramble to coordinate an effective response to the epidemic.

This disease is increasing at an alarming pace and we need to stop this growing monster as soon as possible.

AIDs is the most advanced stage of HIV infection and it kills its victims. An HIV-infected person takes 10-15 years to develop AIDS. After developing AIDS it is usually observed that the victim dies in six months. There is no effective vaccine or treatment for AIDS; however, antiretroviral drugs (ART) can slow down the progress.According to estimates, Pakistan is registering approximately 20,000 new HIV infections annually. It is the highest rate of increase among all countries in the region. There are 0.165 million estimated number of HIV patients in Pakistan (the actual undeclared number is much more). This statistical data does not include the real figures as the Patients of AIDs avoid reporting it due to social problems/ compulsions.

According to my information, the province wise distribution of patients reported till 2018 is that there are 75000 patients of AIDs in Punjab, 60,000 in Sindh, 5000 were reported in Balochistan and 15000 so far in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is unfortunate to state that Punjab has the highest number of patients which is equally alarming both in Punjab and Sindh and other parts of the country.

The most alarming thing is that the list of new cases includes children as young as 16 months which is due to their AIDs infected mothers. The reasons for the rising number of HIV/AIDS in our country include unlicensed medical quackery, and large-scale medical malpractice via the re-use of syringes and unsterilized medical tools, unsafe blood transfusions and use of contaminated blades by the community. Above every other thing, it is sad to note that neither health nor health-related issues are given priority by our government. The seriousness of the present government towards the prevention of this fatal disease can be seen in that no serious funds have been allocated for AIDs control and treatment in Budget 2019-20.

In 1987, a National AIDS Prevention and Control Program (NACP) was initiated by the Federal Health Ministry. Initially, the program was only focused on blood screening and some health promotion and HIV education activities for the general public. Since then, the programme is suffering from a weak strategy as it does not address treatment services properly due to lack of funding and dull response to the health sector.

In other parts of the world, the number of HIV patients is declining by the use of advanced technology followed by their prime focus towards health but Pakistan till now remains the one with no focus upon health sector. Recently, Dr Bashir Ahmed Achakzai MD NACP National Programme Manager made an honest confession regarding the organisation that they do not have enough funds or resources at federal and provincial level to curb the disease.

Although 27 HIV/AIDS treatment centres and 22 community home-based testing centres had been established in all four provinces, no resources have ever been allocated for other activities of HIV prevention as the only drug ARV that prevents AIDs is not available in Pakistan. The country is totally relying on HIV test kits which cost over Rupees one lac and the hospitals do not have any suffice budget to buy or import these kits.

In 2017, the government had announced free HIV testing system that was only available in three cities of Pakistan. In order to fill this gap, the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) took this step to avail the Aga Khan University Hospital’s (AKUH) 200 plus a nationwide network of collection units to collect blood samples from areas that are far. NACP had decided to pay Rs. 1500 to Agha Khan Hospital per patient from the funds allocated to it by Global Funds against Aids, Malaria and TB while the private laboratories charge Rs. 15000-17000 for the same test.

As per my personal inquiry, the above-mentioned plan remains only on paper as no such facility is now being provided to common people. According to a reliable Senior Official source, the real position reported to the State is that the total estimated HIV positives in Pakistan in 2018 were over 170,000 among which 24,331 cases have been registered in 35 centres only. Moreover, out of all these registered patients, only 17,149 are actually getting treatment.

The diagnosis of this ever-spreading disease requires community-based testing and the government should encourage the testing of this disease free of cost. According to the Health Ministry, there is an immediate requirement of funds as the estimated amount in the national strategic plan for 5 Years is $266 million. The global aid fund is providing $35 whereas the government has provided $35 through domestic resources. There is a gap of $201million which are urgently required only to treat the reported patients.

According to a report, some organised criminals are running their business from big cities and the young sex workers are taken to the Middle East on visit visas. They contract aid form these countries and so are responsible for spreading the disease. The country is going through another social issue as the Transgender community is jobless and they are also being used as sex workers.

While making this matter as a case study, I decide not only to write but also probe into misappropriation of funds release at the federal level for this very programme. While continuing this probe, I am presenting the following suggestions to be paid attention to:

1.   Legislation should be done in order to discipline the use of medical instruments to ensure hygiene among the patients.2.   There must be a complete ban over the reuse of syringes.3.   Use of auto-disable syringes must be introduced.4.   All hospitals need to reserve at least 50 beds and an isolation ward for AIDs patients along with the provision of extra budget.5.   An effective media campaign both at public and private media should be started with immediate effect.6.   The government should strengthen NACP not only through enough funding but it should also be made responsible enough to ensure the provision of an increased number of beds in the treatment centres and should also become the regulator of all matters related to AIDs treatment and control programme.7.   All drug addicts must be passed through AID tests and all the addicts diagnosed with AIDs must be sent to AIDs treatment centres.8.   There should be a compulsory drug addiction test for students studying at High School, Colleges and Universities as it will not only help in curbing addictions but also help in detection of AIDs too among the frog addicts.9.   All the provincial governments and the Federal government should launch an SOS programme to curb all the factors contributing to this widespread disease.

Although I am very glad to have penned down such a vital national issue to increase awareness among the people but I’m equally disappointed to see how only the Sindh Government was blamed for the increase in the number of patients whereas the above figures clearly show that Punjab has the highest number of AID patients in the province. One should avoid playing politics on HIV issue as it is a purely human issue and we have to curb it with collective efforts and wisdom. It is not a matter of blame game but facts remain that the federation is consistently failing to assist the provincial governments in controlling the fatal disease.

The Article was published by the Nation on June 24, 2019, the link to the original article is AIDs/HIV- Serious national death trap by Senator A. Rehman malik

Daesh, RSS serious threat to South Asia - Senator Rehman Malik

Rehman Malik says those involved in Samjhauta Express bombing have got elected in elections Daesh militants getting training in India, Character assassination behind fake accounts cases against Asif Zardari. Exclusive interview by a panel of The Nation and Nawa-i-Waqt .

Former interior minister and senior leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Rehman Malik has said that militant organisation — Daesh or Islamic State, and India’s ultra-right paramilitary volunteer organisation — Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), pose a serious threat to the peace of South Asia .

In an exclusive interview with The Nation and Nawa-i-Waqt on the occasion of Eidul Fitr, the bureaucrat-turned-politician said that militants of Daesh were getting training in India and Afghanistan to destabilise the region. “The nexus of Daesh and RSS would prove fatal for the region,” he said adding that South Asia was now going to become another trouble point for the world.

While using self-coined term Daesh-ism and RSS-ism for both the organizations respectively, he said that their nexus first kick started a conflict between Christians and Muslims in Sri Lanka following terrorist attacks there. Now both these outfits waned to shift this clash to India only to victimize Muslim minority there. He reminded that IS itself had claimed responsibility for Sri Lankan attacks.

Giving a reference of his upcoming book, Daesh—ISIS—Rising Monster World Wide, the opposition party lawmaker said that his piece of writing explained the role of the organization in destabilization of world peace. He claimed that Daesh chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi had been living in Turkey earlier and now he was based in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. “The two districts of the province are under his command,” he said adding that China and Pakistan and China need to be worried on that situation.

“I am seeing terrorists activating after Eid and thus terrorism incidents would increase,” he predicted.

Senator Malik said that after the election of Narendra Modi as Indian Prime Minister for the second term, Pakistan would have to review its foreign policy as “he did not see any melting of ice” between both the countries under the Modi’s regime. “I am seeing more freezing of ice after this.” He said that it was unfortunate that Modi did not invite Prime Minister Imran Khan to his oath taking ceremony.

He stressed that extremism was on the rise in India after the victory of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 general elections with the support of RSS. “It is regretful that those involved in 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing have been elected and now they would be visible in the cabinet of Modi,” he said. He said that Modi would succumb to RSS and he would do whatever the Hindu nationalist group wants.RSS, a Hindu umbrella group in India, is considered as the ideological inspiration for PM Modi’s rightwing BJP and it advocates and promotes a Hindu nationalistic agenda under the banner of “Hindutva”.

Senator Rehman Malik, who is also the Chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Interior, said that Modi and RSS both wanted to change the status of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), and build a Hindu temple at the place where 16th-century Babri Mosque was demolished in district Uttar Pradesh of India in 1992. He said that Muslims would not get their due share in power under Modi government.

The former interior minister alleged that Narendra Modi was behind the Pulwama attack in IOK and added that he also told a lie about making surgical strikes in Pakistan only to get anti-Pakistan sentiment for his election campaign. He said that Modi wanted to take India on the verge of dictatorship.

He warned India and said that it should stop using water from Pakistan’s shares, and avoid intervening in the two provinces of Pakistan. “We know where India is funding to destabilize Pakistan,” he said and added: “I demand from Modi to stop committing atrocities in IOK and sit with Pakistan to get Kashmir issue resolved.” He also demanded that an international war crime commission should be formed to investigate Modi on charges of war crime. “Modi is not only the butcher of Gujrat but also of the butcher of Kashmir.”

On the Samjhauta Express bombing, he said that two Pakistanis were still in the custody of India and it wanted to get statement of its own choice from Rana Shaukat — a Pakistani eyewitness in the case. He said that the victim families of missing persons in the blast have moved two applications for registration of separate cases in Sargodha and Hafiz Abad districts. We will send the statements of eyewitness and other victim families to India and would get form a commission in this connection. “I want to give a clear message to India that we will not let loose this train bombing case,” he said adding that Indian army and its intelligence agency—RAW—were behind this bombing that killed 69 people including more than 42 Pakistanis.

Senator Malik, who in the past had also served as additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), ruled out any possibility of war between US and Iran amid ongoing tensions between the two countries. “I am sure that a backdoor diplomacy might be underway between the two arch rivals.”

The chairman interior committee said that efforts were under way to attack China Pakistan Economic Corridor Project, sometime by bringing marriages scandal of Chinese with Pakistani girls and some time through other means. “RAW and intelligence agencies of west are working on a plan to undermine the project.” He without naming anyone said that a country wanted that CPEC and Gwadar Port projects should not go in the right direction. “Iran was also mislead.”

The Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav also had a mandate to destabilize CPEC. He without naming any group claimed some Sunni and Shia leaders also worked against CPEC. “China is the part of Pakistan’s protection group and we have to look into this matter seriously,” he said adding that Russian and two other countries would also be part of this group.

Responding to a question on the on-going US-Taliban talks with Pakistan playing the role of facilitator, he said that any agreement would have an impact on Pakistan. “My assessment is that US will not pull out from Afghanistan and it wanted make Taliban part of government in Kabul.” He said that that they would have to understand that who made Taliban, Al-Qaeda and IS.

The senator lamented that Muslims all over the world were victims of this terrorism, “Why terrorism is only in Muslim countries,” he questioned and answered in the same breath that this was because of a well-thought out plan. He also said that UN should be shut down because it has become a tool to promote interests of the west. “I had once proposed to form a Muslim army.”

About the fake accounts case his party leadership including former president Asif Ali Zardari is facing before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), he said that Zardari business group was facing allegation of only Rs 30 million out of the scandal of worth billions of rupees. “If private firms have opened benami accounts, how they can be connected with the Zardari Group,” he said.

“There is a character assassination going on against the party leadership in this case,” he said. He viewed that the party should file a defamation case in this connection. He also advised media to show responsibility while covering such cases. “Media itself becomes investigator, prosecutor and the judge.”

He argued that he as former investigation officer could say that it was not a case of money laundering framed against its leadership. If money laundering is committed, proceeds of crime is always involved in it, he said and questioned where the proceeds of crime in the case was? On one side, Pakistan claims before Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering watchdog, that it is not involved in money laundering; on other side, our anti-corruption agencies frame such cases only for embarrassment for us at international front, he said.

On the recent meeting among leadership of opposition parties leadership and their plans to start an anti-government movement after Eid, Senator Malik said that PPP had a clear stance that it stood by democracy. He said that PM Imran Khan should sit with all parliamentary parties to steer the country out of the present crisis. PM should summon a joint sitting and take the parliament into confidence over all problems. The way ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was dealing with parliament would not work, he said and claimed that masses were angry over “bad” performance of government. “They should create an atmosphere of collective unity. The government should set its objectives and make pragmatic policies.”

Talking about the implementation of National Action Plan against terrorism, Rehman Malik said that the incumbent PTI and last Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz governments failed to implement its 20 points. He said that PM Imran Khan in a joint sitting to the parliament should explain its economic and national security policies to give a way forward.

About the activities of proscribed organization, he said that he had moved a bill in the parliament seeking minimum and maximum punishments for those organizations and individuals violating proscription orders. “Earlier, there is no punishment in the law for such violations,” he said. About the fate of military courts, he said that government was so far unmoved on the matter.

Commenting on the filing of reference by the government against two judges of the superior judiciary, he said, “I as former officer of FIA would say that a prior permission from the Supreme Judicial Council has to be taken before opening any inquiry against a judge. “The government never sought such permission in the instant case.”

He lamented that the Eid has brought the message inflation for the countrymen under the PTI rule. I don’t see any positive change in first nine months of this government, he opined. “The government contrary its claims approached the International Monetary Fund and did not take serious the CPEC project,” he said.

The government should decrease prices of gas, electricity and petroleum products, he demanded. He showed his concerns over the recent devaluation of rupee against dollar. He criticized that the government did not take the required steps to increase the growth rate. He said that the next budget should focus to provide relief to poor.

Rehman Malik said that he was going to suggest a law that any private conversation on social media between two persons should not be made public unless permission by a court of law. There are 20,000 complaints of cyber crime pending with FIA and the staff dealing with such cases was very low in number. There is need to further work to decrease increasing cyber crime and to improve cyber security in the country, he said.

On the rising child abuse cases in the country, Rehman Malik said that Senate Interior Committee had taken up many such cases. “But the rise in child abuse cases including Zainab case and 10-year old Farishta case clearly reflects that there was some lacuna in the law,” he said. He referring to a government report said that 18000 child abuse cases have been reported only in four years. “In my personal capacity, I had suggested for a public hanging in these cases,” he said adding that it was high time to bring a new law to prevent child abuses.

The Interview was published in The Nation on June 5, 2019, Link to the interview is Daesh, RSS serious threat to South Asia - Senator Rehman Malik