Masses in a mess – searching for old Pakistan by Senator A. Rehman Malik

 

Our country is going through multiple crises causing more worries and miseries in the life of a common man. The internal political polarisation is not serving the country and the politics is not for the people but to get the power.

Both the government and opposition have failed to sit together to reduce the everyday increasing miseries. Both sides have not been able to build a consensus to create a public-friendly agenda. The recent unprecedented non-stop devaluation of rupee has given irreversible damage to the quality of life here. The most recent price-hike has shocked every fellow Pakistani. The ministerial justification has no contingent arguments to justify the price-hike and the continued depletion of rupee and the demoralised statements of the government are further increasing the national depression.

We all remember the old good days when a common man and even students used to have qualitative food. The bad governance and incompetent financial teams have brought us to the unaffordable circumstance pushing the masses below the poverty line.

I am not playing politics here but advise the government in time to revisit economy, agriculture and industry of the country as these are the only ways to increase growth rate. Let us drive back in history and view how good life was when prices were reasonable and life was easy to live. The brothers and sisters of my age would remember that in the early 70’s, despite meagre resources, minimum wages/salaries, people belonging to all classes of society could afford to buy meat, fruits and other utilities of lives.

Since 2017, Pakistan is consistent crisis, be it energy crisis, economic crisis, Kashmir crisis, security crisis, health crisis or media crisis and political crisis. The American war on terror further destroyed our economy and halted foreign investment in the country. We have seen negative fallouts of the change of government and shift of power. Moreover, the factors making our economy even worse are the IMF programme, scrutiny by FATF, Indo-Pak relations, Kashmir crisis and inflation etc., and now the damages caused by coronavirus have further devastated the whole scenario.

Here is a brief picture of prices compared to the average pay of a common man. The average income of an unskilled worker in Pakistan during 2000-2005 was Rs2500-4000 while the rate of 1 dollar against Pakistan rupee was 52-60. The Average wages increased from Rs4000 to 8000 in the year 2005-2010 while the rate of the dollar went from Rs60-85. During 2010-2015, the rate of dollar went up from Rs85-105 in 2015 while the average salary raised from Rs8000-14000. This increase in salaries was engulfed by the ever-grown monster. In 2015, the rate was 105 while the next 5 years, saw a shooting surge in the price of a dollar and constant devaluation of our currency as it went from 105 to an all-time high of 162.5 in the history of Pakistan. While the rate of dollar increased this fast, unfortunately, the minimum wages remained stagnant with a negligible increase up to Rs17500 only. Today, the minimum wage of an unskilled worker is only Rs20,000 when the average price of electricity per unit in Pakistan is Rs15.53 per kilowatt-hour (as determined by Nepra). The electricity price per unit in Pakistan varies between Rs18 to 21 today with the new increase suggested by Nepra. This rate is just exclusive of the taxes mentioned below:

General Sale Tax (GST)@17% to all consumers, Electricity Duty@5% to all consumers, Finance Costing Surcharge@43 paisa per Unit (excluding lifeline consumers), Neelum Jhelum Surcharge@10 paisa per Unit (excluding lifeline consumers), TV fees@Rs35.

So, we can say that even if we take the least consumption of electricity by a poor household standing at 250-300 units per month, the average bill, including all the taxes, would still be around Rs5000-6000. If Rs6000 go in only electricity bill of a person earning about Rs20000, how will he be able to bear other expenses with the remaining amount?

While the people are already suffering a lot, the increase in rate of dollar to 173.5 has left everyone shocked and agonised. The fall of rupee and high inflation are correlated. The inflation and fall of rupee will continue to contribute to the price-hike. The survival of the masses in Pakistan has become next to impossible. For instance, if we pick and observe the unrealistic rise in price of just one basic commodity i.e. sugar, we will know how incompetent this government has been. The price of sugar that was at one-digit place in 2000 at 6 Rs/kg is unbelievably at 3 digits place today making it 115/kg and it is increasing non-stop.

With such ordinary and slight increase in the minimum wage of an unskilled common man, we expect from them to survive this era of drastic and rising inflation. It is easier for them to commit suicide instead. In this new Pakistan, people from middle-class households are living from hand to mouth even if all the members of the family are earning, let alone one person providing for the whole family.

I just feel that my old Pakistan was better than this so-called new Pakistan with hollow slogans which are just regressions only as we haven’t seen things getting this worse ever before. In old times, we would watch TV programmes sitting with families as these were completely without vulgarity and obscenity and projected our culture and values instead. But now the TV dramas by multiple channels are such that one cannot even think about watching them with family.

The parents are unable to afford the education for their children as school fees and expenses are beyond their reach. All the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats used to be deterred from FIA in the past, whereas today, even the NAB is unable to deter these corrupts elements as they have become immune to the threat of accountability and are not scared at all from inquiries and punishments.

Old Pakistan had values, morality and respect for elders as there was no element of drug addiction, whereas now, most of the youth are on ICE which is taking our youth back to Ice Age. I feel scared to see the statistics of students with drug addiction as there are above 70 million young drug addicts in this new Pakistan. TikTok has brought in further vulgarity in our country and society seems to appreciate semi-covered bodies under the cover of modernism in my new Pakistan.

My old Pakistan had more human values and less corruption where corrupt ones were considered as the bad eggs of the society, whereas in new Pakistan, the corrupt manage forced respect out of their wealth and power of money. In new Pakistan, a corrupt lot from various mafias are forcing their way to the parliament as a status symbol which helps them to protect their ill-gotten money. The new Pakistan has enhanced the price of a senator to 50 crores which have seized the venues for genuine middle-class to be in the parliament.

Pakistan politics has been now reserved for mafias and electable, whereas the workers of the parties are left for political slogans. Is it democracy? Will the masses respect this system where their votes are sold for self-serving purposes? Pakistan is now reserved for the corrupt and mafias who manage to get away from the clutches of law with the influence of their dirty money. The wheels of money work in this country. The children of corrupt ones are self-proclaimed princes and princesses of our country who play in world casinos and flash their money more than the Arab sheikhs.

The same generation will be taking over the Capital to rule the country in their own corrupt ways causing more problems for the masses, while the poor people will be suffering more. Honestly speaking, the parliamentary system has promoted this culture. I feel Pakistan as a state heading towards bankruptcy. We can change our system where reasonable, honest and competent people take over the governance of the country.

Watching the interviews and feedbacks of common people shows that the public is fed up with new Pakistan which has given them nothing but more price-hikes, inflation, suicides, sufferings, worst law and order situation, crimes, vulgarity, drug addictions, uncontrolled depletion of currency, wide gap between rich and poor, diplomatic isolation and so on, you name it. I can put a series of undesirable gifts given by the handlers of new Pakistan to their people.

This slogan of new Pakistan now haunts the nation day and night. We have reached a point where the nation has only one demand and prayer which is getting back their old Pakistan enabling the nation to try to refurbish it for the coming generations to avoid further chaos, instability and deterioration.

In the end, I would like to advise the authorities let us follow the Chinese model of economy with high level of industrialization and high-yield agriculture system. Every village and town needs to be mini industrial and IT zone.

Note: The article was published in The News on October 25, 2021, link to the article: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/902966-masses-in-a-mess-searching-for-old-pakistan

Unwarranted Confrontation Vs National Institutions by Senator A. Rehman Malik

 

Our law books either have old laws of colonial times or have no laws to deal with several critical national issues and hence we face various problems while dealing with significant matters. Mostly, we have to refer such matters to the Supreme Court for seeking guidance and interpretation and such impasses have always harmed the country.

The nation has recently been witnessing tension on the appointment of Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) resulting in an unwarranted noise on social and mainstream media, both nationally and internationally, and has become the talk of the town in the country. The law ministry failed to play its role and to issue a proper handout under the constitutional provision of Protection for the Armed forces, clarifying the situation to have sealed the unnecessary debates in the media and have halted the propaganda. I hope and pray that the issue gets resolved without any further delay and perhaps before this article appears in the newspaper.

It is important for the government to not follow the path of trouble and confrontation which may lead to stress, leading to give rise to controversial matters whereas the constitution gives full protection and immunity from any derogatory discussions to the judiciary and armed forces but it is not implemented in full letter and spirit. I am already on record as having exposed the huge funding from anti-Pak countries and the enemy to tarnish the image of the Pakistan Army in order to destabilise the country. I am worried about this alien interference to destabilise us. It is time for us to rise above politics irrespective of our political affiliations and to create national unity to play our role to steer Pakistan out of the present crisis.

The secondment of the ISI Chief and to other top brass posts i.e. the posts of Lt. General etc. is normal under the Army Act which is the sole discretion of the Army chief and similar postings by the other respective service chiefs.

According to Article 243 of the constitution of Pakistan, the Federal Government shall have control and command of the Armed Forces while the President by subject to law, has the power to raise and maintain the Military, Naval and Air Forces of Pakistan; and shall, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoint-(a)the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee;(b)the Chief of the Army Staff;(c)the Chief of the Naval Staff; and(d)the Chief of the Air Staff, and shall also determine their salaries and allowances. The above article mentioned in the context of governing the fundamental bodies of our country, the constitution, clearly suggests that there is no mention of DG ISI’s appointment in this section as yet. It is neither amended in the Constitution nor the Army Act by the Federal Government/Parliament.

The ISI came into being after 1952 in the present shape when the Army Act was already promulgated hence, the ISI is not mentioned in the Army Act. According to Section 3 and 9 of the FIA act 1974, the Federal Government shall have the power to appoint the DG FIA as well as other officers of the agency by notification in the Official Gazette, and also to make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act and there is no set rule for the appointments yet as there is no act of ISI like FIA or IB. Having said that, the power to transfer or post an official in the ISI/Head of the ISI lies with the army chief since 1948 as he has the only authority to send any Lt General on secondment to ISI including other Lt General to other postings and the appointment of any Lt. General can be considered as a secondment to ISI.

All my suggestions may be taken in good faith and should be considered as advice from an elder senior political worker to revisit our acts and some parts of the constitution. This matter needs to be thrashed out legally and let there be an enactment as mutually proposed by GHQ, law ministry and defence ministry and other stakeholders. The appointment of DG ISI is like any secondment to any civil department ordered by the COAS like the secondment of MS to PM or other postings in the civilian setup.

The article was published in The Nation on October 21, 2021, Link to the original article: https://nation.com.pk/21-Oct-2021/unwarranted-confrontation

USA blame games vs unrecognised Pak sacrifices by Senator A. Rehman Malik

 

It was good to see US Deputy Secretary of State Ms. Wendy R Sherman in Pakistan. Though the agenda of her visit looked to be unannounced, however, it is clear that she has come after her visit from India and the Indian media is claiming her it was a very successful visit as she has signed several MOUs between the USA and India. I wish she had also arranged a meeting with Afghan Taliban in Pakistan to understand the issues being faced by the Afghan people.

The situation in Afghanistan is getting worst by every day as just yesterday at least 100 worshippers have been killed and many injured in a suicide bombing that targeted a Shia mosque in Afghanistan during Friday prayers. Is it Islamic to attack fellow Muslim and Afghan brothers, shed their blood mercilessly in the mosque, and that when they are praying? If not controlled Afghanistan will become worse than Iraq which gave birth to Daesh and the international community immediately develop an actionable Afghan Peace Plan to act fast on it for the sake of humanity. Pakistan, while facing an allegation of prompting the Afghan Taliban to take over Kabul before an agreed date, is false and Indian propaganda.

How could one stop Taliban from entering Kabul once they were near their destination and moreover Afghan trained forces welcome them instead of resisting them whereas unfortunately, President Ashraf Ghani fled away with many of his cabinet ministers including his vice President Amrullah Saleh contrary to their tall claims of resistance and staying in Kabul to their last breath but they all left the people of Afghanistan at the mercy of Taliban. The withdrawal of the American forces was in haste giving a clear way to Afghan Taliban to enter Kabul and make an interim government of their own will. In the given situation where is the fault of Pakistan and moreover USA neither consulted Pakistan before invading nor about withdrawing its forces so Pakistan cannot be blamed for the failure of the then Kabul government or faulty planning of the USA for Afghanistan.

Pakistan has been very sincerely working for peace in Afghanistan and it could manage to bring many Afghan Taliban factions to the table during the peace process. Pakistan played a significant role in Afghan peace process as a good mediator and tried its best to hold peace talks between the Taliban and the US administration. US cut off security assistance worth billions of dollars to Pakistan alleging Pakistan into harbouring Taliban militants, yet Pakistan did its best to bring peace to Afghanistan. Since 2001, the process continue to face failure sometimes for political reasons, such as the United States' restraint to talk with the Taliban or sometimes due to breaking down of discussion out of miscommunications or a lack of political consensus. There have been several tries to bring peace in Afghanistan by the world but Afghans remained determined to first oust the American troops. It was October 2018 when the newly-appointed US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad traveled to Doha to explore the potential for peace talks in a meeting with the Taliban after Pakistan agreed to finally release former Taliban deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar upon request of USA after nine years of detention. The Taliban Emir then appointed Baradar to lead peace talks and the group's political office in Doha. Hence the US and Taliban began overt bilateral negotiations in Doha, agreeing to discuss US/NATO military withdrawal, counter-terrorism, and a ceasefire while the talks continued for over the next eight months.

In February 2019, negotiations between the United States and the Taliban in Doha entered their highest level with a condition for the United States to withdraw its 7000 troops (about half of the total) from Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban pledging to block terrorist activities on Afghan soil. The Taliban again stressed the group would only hold direct talks with the US - not the Kabul government. In 2019 August, US and Taliban signed an "agreement in principle" on counter-terrorism and military withdrawal and an eventual ceasefire. But in Sept 2019, President Trump abruptly broke off peace talks all of a sudden for a US soldier was killed in Taliban attack. To defuse the deadlock, Pakistan mediated again and finally, in February 2020 the US and the Taliban signed an agreement in Doha in which all foreign forces were supposed to quit Afghanistan by May 2021, and the credit of the agreement goes to General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

The major reason behind US invasion of Afghanistan was 9/11 which was a mistake and faulty strategy against the Taliban government as Taliban had agreed to hand over Osama bin Laden to a third country for trial and the said offer of Mullah Omer was ignored and USA and NATO forces took the control of Afghanistan by force. We are facing troubles because of our help to the USA in good faith and what is the reward from USA for our sacrifices? In March 2019, a coalition of Democratic lawmakers backed a veteran organization's pledge to end the "forever wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the congressional sponsors of the pledge were Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and lawmakers Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ro Khanna.

It is always Pakistan that has come forward to the rescue of the USA in bad situations although every time the US has stabbed Pakistan in the back. Just like post-Afghan war US is targeting unreasonably and alleging Pakistan of harbouring terrorism. It had already stopped sending aid and managed Pakistan to place in FATF grey list and it is because of USA complaint with the help of India. It seems that all of it is because of Pakistan’s friendship with China and the CPEC, as China is potentially the next super economic power. It is evident that USA and India have been propagating against CPEC from day one hence, every new statement and conspiracy by US and India against Pakistan should not be a surprise rather we should expect some more adverse moves from them against this economic corridor.

Pakistan has always favoured USA even at the cost of its national major interests as no country other than Pakistan has suffered that much because of the war on terror. Earlier, Pakistan had jumped into the USA war against USSR to please USA after a meeting of William J. Casey Director CIA with General Ziaul Haq and then DG ISI General Akhtar Abdul Rahman Khan in the annex of Army House. After suffering in the first war and losses, later we again jumped into USA war on terror and went through worst suffering of human lives and economic losses but all these sacrifices have not been recognized till today and we are still treated by the USA as suspects.

USA has best chance now to work with Pakistan to bring peace in Afghanistan instead of counterproductive blame game as Pakistan can play a great positive role to work a solution by bringing in a doable proposed agreement between USA and Afghanistan. I hope President Joe Biden takes this advice and initiative to halt Afghanistan from becoming a hub of international terrorists and let us hope the world does not see yet another 9/11 or any other similar act of terrorism.

President Joe Biden has got a God gifted opportunity to act to settle the Afghan crisis to save the world from terrorism. The defeat perception should be ignored and remember that achievement is in saving humanity and not defending false egos to take revenge of defeat. I will not call it as the defeat of USA as the withdrawal was volunteered from a foreign occupied land and sons of the soils were more expert in the local war games as compared to the aliens. I hope USA will look into the past cooperation and favours extended by Pakistan during this war on terror and will consider stopping the blame game.

I propose an International Reconciliation Commission to be constituted with its members from USA, Pakistan, UK, China, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan to give a reconciliation plan to resolve the ongoing row between the stakeholders. The solution of Afghanistan crisis lies in the joint strategy and efforts between Pakistan and USA. I wish the Wendy R Sherman takes back home the message that international row will further create miseries for the people of Afghanistan. Pakistan also needs to find out what are the real reservations of US against it and needs a strong lobby in US to advocate its narrative and the struggle and sacrifices of Pakistan for world peace particularly towards peace in Afghanistan.

The article was published in The News on October 10, 2021, original link to the article:  https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=12370

A truth commission on TTP by Senator A. Rehman Malik

 

Pakistan is passing through the worst span of its history when it is facing a serious economic crisis, sharp depreciation of the Rupee, an abnormal reduction in the growth rate, increase in inflation, trouble on its eastern and western borders, pressure from the IMF, and its impact on the common man and unchecked corruption coupled with nepotism. Most of these problems are because of terrorism as, for more than twenty years, Pakistan has been fighting a war against terrorism in which we received a huge loss in terms of loss of precious lives, economic instability and devastation of basic infrastructure. Most crises in our country emerged due to our war against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as they are the ones who created security issues that scared foreign investors.

Following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, the debate has begun over what to do with the Pakistani Taliban and what is the government’s future course of action. After PM Imran Khan’s statement of general amnesty for the TTP, some people are strongly opposed to talks with the Taliban and some are demanding accountability of the TTP for their heinous crimes. There should be no compromise on the integrity, sovereignty, constitution, and law of Pakistan while giving general amnesty to the TTP. It must be noted that the Taliban have never abided by the agreements they had made in the past but instead always take advantage of the time gained during dialogue and negotiations to strengthen themselves and have continued terrorist activities. No doubt, it is a good idea to bring all those elements of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban and other terrorist organisations who have deviated from violent ideologies and want to follow the constitution and law of Pakistan to the mainstream, but giving an amnesty to those who had been involved in killing and terrorism is against the constitution and law of Pakistan. The TTP should be held accountable for the massacre of innocent children at Army Public School, Peshawar and the incident should be investigated, as to who was behind the attack as the parents of the children are still waiting for justice. The handover of Ikramullah, the suicide bomber who survived the attack on Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed should be demanded from the TTP as presently he is a part of their hierarchy. The nation wants to know the facts of the attack on Malala Yousafzai, and details of the attack should be sought from the TTP during talks with them. At present, there are more than 25,000 TTP terrorists and more than 7000 terrorists of Daesh who have returned from Syria in the Nuristan region of Afghanistan and the Afghan government should immediately disarm them and hand them over to Pakistan so that the talks can proceed successfully. The TTP would have to be made accountable for the attacks and killings in Pakistan as the parents of martyred children of Army Public School are still waiting for justice. The families of those thousands of Shias who were killed in Quetta, Karachi, Gilgit, Parachinar and other cities of the country, seek justice.

In the last twenty years, more than 80,000 innocent people including Pakistan Army, police, law enforcement officers and personnel have been martyred by the TTP, and if their brutal killers are forgiven then the souls and families of martyrs will never forgive us. As a former Interior Minister, it is my observation that the TTP will continue its terrorist activities by taking advantage of the dialogue and will never abide by the ceasefire agreements. Talks with the TTP had begun several times during my tenure as Interior Minister but had never been successful because the Taliban always continued their operations and did not back down from their nefarious intentions. Terrorists strengthen themselves by taking advantage of time in dialogue so the government should never rely on their ceasefire announcements.

I fear that Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) must be planning to continue terrorist activities by keeping Pakistan engaged in talks through the Afghan Taliban as it has been experienced in the past; the Taliban have never been sincere in moving towards peace. No hasty step should be taken against the law and the Constitution of Pakistan.

I would like to reiterate that I am never against reconciliation and dialogue with the Taliban and bringing them into the national mainstream and it is a good initiative however, the TTP has never been sincere with Pakistan. The government should take the Parliament into confidence before talking to the TTP and Prime Minister Imran Khan should shun his ego and work with the opposition on important national issues such as bringing TTP into the national mainstream. The government must announce the formation of a truth commission to examine the Taliban’s brutalities, which have been an irreparable loss to Pakistan. Let us quantify the loss caused to the nation by TTP.

The Article was published in The Nation on October 8, 2021, link to the original article-- https://nation.com.pk/08-Oct-2021/a-truth-commission-on-ttp