The War of the Rallies

By: Fatima Rizvi

The Chairman Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan started it. Sensing that the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) had been sidelined with even their government in Pakistan’s largest province with Shahbaz Sharif as the Chief Minister under criticism and the ruling party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), helpless against the mounting grievances of the people, Imran announced a political meeting in Punjab’s capital Lahore for Sunday October 30th. Not only that, Imran rubbed his advantage in by predicting a massive turn out that would decisively tilt the people in his favor. Woken from their slumber and desperate not to be outdone on their home turf the PML(N) announced a political rally (as distinct from meeting) for Friday October,28th with one single agenda-to start a movement “Go Zardai Go” against the President of the country. People wondered what this meant because the PML(N) was part of the political set up, being the government in Punjab, and so far had been an ineffective opposition. Once the PML(N) rally had railed against the government in strong language the PPP’s coalition partner the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) jumped in and announced a rally in their home city Karachi to be addressed by their exiled leader from London with the objective of supporting the President and condemning the outbursts of Shahbaz Sharif that had come in for across the board criticism because of the language used.

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Pakistan PM: Governemt Will Complete Its Tenure

ISLAMABAD, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday advised opposition to act realistically as the government is determined to complete its constitutional term with the support of the people. Addressing parliamentarians of Pakistan People’s Party and allied parties here at Prime Minister House, the Prime Minister expressed resolve to continue serving people with patience despite baseless propaganda and rumour mongering by the opposition.

He said the government will not get agitated as patience and tolerance is its strength and opposition should not be mistaken that it can misguide people with tools like character assassination.

He said the government presented the best budget in the current circumstances.

He said no new tax was imposed, salaries were raised by 15 percent, pensions were increased by 20 percent, general sales tax was reduced by one percent, flood surcharge and special excise duty was abolished and custom duty was not increased.

While giving details of other relief measures taken by the government in the budget, he said the steps of the government will not only stabilize the economy but will provide maximum relief to the people.

He criticized the opposition for raising slogans and levelling baseless allegations during the budget speech saying the action of the opposition did not serve interest of the nation.

Prime Minister Gilani said the government inherited the problems of loadshedding, inflation and unemployment and now it has to use all available resources to overcome these issues.
He said the government was compelled to take tough decisions which were not politically popular among the public.

“But as we were sincere and our hands were clean the people accepted the decisions and when the bye-elections were held, they reposed their confidence in us.”

He said the government is determined to continue the war against terror with the unanimous support of the public representatives and people.

“For the secure and prosperous future of the coming generations, we are crossing the river of fire and blood,” he said adding the campaign against terror had deep impact on Pakistan and 30,000 of its citizens were martyred, 5,000 personnel of security forces were matryed and the economy had to endure losses of billions of dollars.

“No other country has given such a huge sacrifice,” he said adding Pakistan has a prominent role in ensuring global peace and security.

He said Pakistan did not have any aggressive and expansionist designs against any country but it has the full capability to respond to any threat to its independence, sovereignty and danger to its frontiers.

Gilani said the nuclear assets of Pakistan are in safe hands and nobody should have any misunderstanding and concern about them.

“The enemy can never cast a dirty eye or get access to our nuclear assets,” he asserted.

The Prime Minister said the nation’s concern over Abbottabad incident and Mehran base incident are legitimate. He assured that investigation will continue in these incidents but said the whole process will take time.

“Patience is needed to uncover hidden faces and hands and it will not be good for the nation if we acted with haste, impatience and emotions.”

He said Pakistan has made it clear on Washington that if incidents like Abbottabad operation were repeated, it will not be acceptable.

He said diplomatic efforts will continue to get stopped drone attacks.

The Prime Minister said Islam is a peaceful religion and it has nothing to do with terrorism and extremism.

Pakistan will not allow use of its soil for terrorism against any other country, he added.

Referring to the politics of reconciliation pursued by the government during the last three years, he said even the opposition accepts that the PPP government promoted consensus building on national issues.

Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh said implementation of sales tax was the only condition of IMF when it decided to give aid of $ 11 billion to Pakistan.

He said provinces are collecting income tax on agriculture and most of the farmers with income of less than 350,000 per year are exempted from the tax.

Responding to queries of the members of the parliament, he said the government wanted to broaden the tax net and bring the wealthy into it while giving Rs. 65 billion of assistance to vulnerable sections of society in next financial year.

PML-Q President Ch. Shujaat Hussain said PPP and PML were sitting together for the first time in forty years due to the farsighted leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.

He said harmony and reconciliation was a welcome trend in the national politics.

Members of PPP, PML-Q, ANP, MQM and FATA attended the event.

Defence ministry seeks 18% rise in military budget

The military establishment has sought an increase in the Rs495 billion defence budget proposed by the finance ministry to Rs524 billion, or 18.4 per cent more than the budget for the outgoing fiscal year.

After a briefing by the Ministry of Defence on next year’s defence and security requirements, the chairperson of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance Fauzia Wahab said the proposed defence budget of Rs495 billion might be increased keeping rising needs in mind. Wahab said the defence budget can be increased up to three per cent of the total size of the economy, while the proposed budget is 2.5 per cent of GDP.

The defence ministry has also sought restoration of the Armed Forces Defence Programme that had an outlay of $1.5 billion (Rs129 billion). The programme had been discontinued some years ago, which is creating problems, Wahab quoted the defence ministry as saying.

“Both the committee and the Ministry of Defence have shown concerns over not fully funding military research that has undermined the defence system,” the chairperson said.

The finance ministry has proposed Rs495 billion or a 12 per cent rise for next year’s defence budget. However, documents show that the defence ministry wants this to be increased to Rs524.3 billion, which is 18.4 per cent or Rs81.5 billion more than the defence budget of the outgoing fiscal year. For the current fiscal year the government had allocated Rs442 billion.

The defence ministry has also sought Rs202.4 billion for staff expenses, which is Rs25.6 billion or 14.5 per cent more than the expenses in the outgoing fiscal year. The expenses are for the salary and allowances of military personnel, documents show.

For operating defence expenses, the ministry has asked for Rs127.6 billion, which is Rs18.3 billion or 16.7 per cent more than the outgoing year’s budget. The operating expenses comprise travel allowance, daily allowance, PIA fares, railways charges, repair of vehicles, telephone, stationary, ration, petroleum charges, military farms, medical stores and reimbursement of training charges.

For building physical assets, the defence ministry has sought Rs148.2 billion, which is Rs30.5 billion or 26.2 per cent higher than the present year’s budget. The physical assets include indigenous purchases, defence imports and customs surcharges.

Meanwhile for civil works, the defence ministry has sought Rs46 billion, which is Rs7 billion or 17.9 per cent more than last year’s allocation. This includes maintenance, residential and non-residential schemes and specific projects.

The defence ministry told the committee that additional funds have been sought to meet expenses of troops’ deployments in restive areas, ration expenses and offset the impact of rupee depreciation against dollar as well as double-digit inflation.

Secretary Defence, Lieutenant General retired Syed Ather Ali told the committee that until April this year Rs360.8 billion or 82 per cent of the total allocated budget for the outgoing fiscal year had been spent.

Meanwhile, there were some conflicting reports about the panel’s recommendation to expel US officials and forces from Pakistan in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s killing. A committee member Kashmala Tariq had said on a television programme that the committee had unanimously recommended throwing Americans out the country. But Wahab denied that there were any such recommendations. “The issue did not crop up during the meeting,” she added.

Parliament biggest obstacle to economic reform: Sheikh

WASHINGTON: The biggest obstacle standing in the way of the government achieving its targets on fiscal reform is Parliament, said Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, in a meeting with the International Monetary Fundin Washington on Sunday.

The finance minister is in the US capital to hold discussion with the international lender to restore the suspended $11.3 billion loan program, which the IMF put on hold due to Islamabad’s inability to pass essential fiscal reforms, including an end to unaffordable subsidies and the deregulation of the energy sector.

Sheikh laid out the government’s efforts to raise its revenues and curb expenses in order to bring its fiscal deficit down to a more manageable 4.5 per cent of the total size of the economy. He highlighted the cases against over 4,000 commercial organisations which are still stuck in court.

The minister said that the government was cognisant of the need to be financially self-sustaining and committed to tax reform, including levying a value added tax, renamed the reformed general sales tax (RGST), but had not been able to overcome opposition in Parliament.

“We do not want to be dependent on external financial assistance. We want more trade, not aid,” said the finance minister, repeating a mantra that has been repeated often by the Zardari administration’s economic managers. “We want access to Western markets for Pakistani goods.”

In his meeting with US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Robert Hormats, the minister came away with a US assurance of support for a time-limited trade concession deal offered to the country by the European Union as a means of helping Pakistan deal with the economic impact of the devastating 2010 summer floods.

The support, however, comes despite the failure of the Obama administration to surmount Congressional objections to a similar trade concession deal that was offered by the Bush administration.

The minister hinted that Pakistan may seek another IMF loan programme in order to close the gap between government revenues and expenditures. However, he also stated that Islamabad would soon begin repayments on the previous IMF loan program, which are scheduled to begin towards the end of 2012. This implies that the second loan program will be used to help pay off the first one.

Sources say that Pakistan faced tough questions from IMF officials on its failure to implement a reform agenda. Meetings between the two sides are expected to continue on Monday.

Meanwhile, the finance minister also met with his counterpart from Germany, Dick Niebel, who offered his country’s support for hydroelectric power projects and small dams in Pakistan.

‘New’ Muslim League: 21 Gun Salute To Pakistan’s Old And Tired Politicians

HARRISS KHAN

* The old lot uniting again to produce the sequel to the same flop movie which they have been producing since day one
* Out of 180 million Pakistanis, 25 are playing musical chairs with this great nation

All of them deserve 21 gun salutes for being in their late 60s and 70s with hardly any level of energy left in them but still obsessed with the self-exaggerated notion that they are the only ones who can lead this brave nation out of crises.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-Leadership has to be a blend of mental stamina and zeal. If we search for leaders from history who led their people out of despondency and into glory, one striking commonality to all of them is that they were passionate about their causes and mature enough to transform them into reality.

Adolf Hitler says, ‘There are two types of people in politics: political philosophers and practical politicians. Former the marathon runners of history and latter the brow of a dying hero.”

Millions of Pakistanis saw old, dejected, time-tested and failed politicians or ‘leaders’ a few days ago trying to create yet another Muslim League named, Muttahida Muslim League, MML, under the chairmanship of Syed Ali Mardan Shah, known as Pir Sahib Pagara. Not surprisingly they repeated the same rhetoric as they have been doing throughout their lives, namely, ‘Let’s join hands to steer Pakistan out of crises and bring prosperity to our motherland.’

If one does the anatomy of each one of the upbeat leading members of MML, a horrifying conclusion pops up. And that is: They’re all in to save their political careers. It’s a marriage of convenience.

They all have been clinging to prominent posts in Pakistan throughout our 63 years of Independence and hardly have they come up with anything workable in the fields of domestic politics, economy, foreign and defense policy.

All of them deserve 21 gun salutes for being in their late 60s and 70s with hardly any level of energy left in them but still having the obsession with the self-exaggerated notion that they are the only ones who can lead this brave nation out of crises. Reading their minds, I can’t help but compare them to former U.S president Ronald Reagan. When Reagan became the president at the age of 71, he said, ‘Life starts after 70.’ But we know what Reagan did to the US.

One wonders who is responsible for the mess we are in at this critical juncture of time. If not them, then who? The youth of Pakistan, which comprises 70% of the population, is bewildered as there is no one to answer the aforementioned question. They see this League as the old lot uniting again to produce the sequel to the same flop movie which they have been producing since day one.

If these prominent figures were so serious about Pakistan then they should have unleashed some new faces [not their sons and daughters, please] and said, “Here are some of the new guns who would be leading from the front, and we would support them with our experience.”

It’s so strange that out of 180 million people we come across only 25 politicians who play musical chairs with one another and befool the ordinary people like us again and again. Why?

We see them every day, sitting with some ‘TV pseudo intellectuals’, where they utter such disjointed thoughts that one can hardly hold back laughter.

Are we short of upright, inspiring and level-head-over-the-shoulder type of lot? Or such compatriots of ours have given up? Sigh!

To sum it up, Pakistani nationalists have to come forward to apply breaks to this lot that enters into marriages of convenience when it suits them and parts ways when their pity personal interests collide.

Pakistan Paindabad.