| 10 July 2004 | Saturday | 21 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
'Educated illiterates'
Wapda's clarification
Training armymen in politics
Plight of old pensioners
Another setback for parliamentary democracy
DHA football ground
Culture of bribery
Traffic mess
Shaukat Aziz
Terrorists and their motives
Mobile phone robbery on the rise
Prize bond draw
'Quotable quotes'
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It is an open secret that there is corruption in the Central Board of Revenue, specially among employees who come in direct contact with taxpayers. The basic facts about corruption are:
- The audit of sales tax of registered persons is carried out by the authorities almost once in a fiscal year.
- The audit is being done mostly by sales tax auditors (BPS-14).
- A sales tax audit is necessary for a registered person to evaluate payable tax. The sales tax is a major portion of the CBR revenue.
- Additional revenue collections by Rs50 billion or Rs60 billion in 2003-04 may result in an increase in the net pay of government employees up to 25 per cent (for BPS-1 to 16) and 35 per cent (for BPS-17 to 22), as is being predicted in a section of the press.
The following are the causes of this state of affairs:
- The auditor who plays a key role in tax collection is being paid Rs5,000 per month. He has to live hand to mouth.
- No one - the collector, additional collector, deputy collector or even assistant collectors of customs, sales tax, etc - carries sales tax audits. It is only the auditor who audits financial accounts of registered persons for tax assessment and has direct contact with them.
- It is no less than an irony that an auditor, with his meagre monthly salary of Rs5,000, often deals with persons each of whom may pay Rs20 million or more in sales tax each month.
- If an auditor takes Rs100,000 as bribe, certainly he has forgone Rs2,000,000 of government revenue. No taxpayer gives a single rupee without getting a large benefit in return.
The remedy lies in the following steps:
- The auditor's monthly pay should be significantly increased.
- He and his family should be provided with medical facility.
- A car/jeep should be provided to him.
- After providing these facilities, if an auditor is found involved in corruption, he should not only be dismissed from service but be also sent to jail.
If the above measures are adopted, revenue collection and investment in the country will increase. Also, the image of the country will improve.
If the total CBR expenditure is increased from Rs2 billion to Rs10 billion a year, every CBR employee will get a five-fold increase in pay. This way, the expenditure of an additional Rs8 billion will increase revenue collection by Rs200 billion.
SAHIB KHAN BHAND
Jamshoro
'Educated illiterates'
There is more evil than good in this world. This is not because evil people outnumber good people, but because large populations of the world are ignorant and naive. Just as a child likes to believe everything told to him by his parents, people tend to believe everything told to them by their leaders. This results in exploitation of people at the hands of their own leaders.
In underdeveloped countries, rulers keep people uneducated. This is done by allocating huge chunks of the budget on defence. It is easier to rule illiterate people than educated people, who are conscious of their rights and make their leaders answerable to them.
A dual system of education has been introduced in the country. Children of the elite class study in the best of schools where English is the medium of instruction. Thus, students belonging to low-income groups are always at a disadvantage and all remunerative jobs are acquired by people from the elite.
In developed countries what we find are 'educated illiterates'. The people at large may be able to read and write, but they are unable to comprehend politics at international level and are clueless about the rest of the world. Let's take the example of the US.
Most Americans are least interested in world affairs. For them the US is the whole world. It was only after the September 11 attacks that they realized that there was more to this world than just their country.
They have been indoctrinated by TV channels which work for strong lobbies in their country. During the Cold War, western countries criticized socialist countries for indoctrinating their populations, while they themselves were involved in the indoctrination of its own population.
The people of the world at large are susceptible to the media, and leaders of the world use this to their own advantage. In countries where civil society has played its due role, progress has been made.
It can only be hoped that in Pakistan we have a uniform school syllabus which could help students analyze rather than test their memory so that we can have "educated literates". But considering the small amount allocated for education, this is perhaps wishful thinking.
ANIL KHAN LUNI
Karachi
Wapda's clarification
This refers to the letter "Performance of Wapda" by Mr Himayatullah (July 8). The facts are wrong and misleading. According to statistics, line losses have been reduced from 26 to 25.3 per cent in 2003-04; revenue has increased from Rs216 billion to Rs223 billion in the same period against a budgeted figure of Rs220 billion.
Moreover, 7,156 villages have been electrified, and 634,073 domestic, 69,281 commercial, 5,840 industrial and 7,100 tube-well connections have been provided during 2003-04. The total number of units generated during 2003-04 stands at 69,007 million units as against 64,040 million units generated during 2002-2003.
With efficient management in running private power plants, Wapda has saved Rs23 billion on account of less payment to IPPs while Rs7 billion has been saved on account of running Wapda's own generating plants through gas. The balance sheet of Wapda for the year 2003-04 speaks of the achievements made.
The delayed projects have been put on the fast track and the 500KV Barotha-Rawat transmission line is in an advanced stage of completion while the 220KV Daud Khel-Bannu, 220KV Gatti-Ludewala , 220KV Guddu-Sibi-Shikakrpur transmission lines are also expected to be completed within a few months.
As far as the allegation that international financial institutions are reluctant to give fresh loans to Wapda is concerned, the writer seems to be unaware of authority's financial position.
There have been frequent visits by missions of the World Bank, ADB, IDB and other donor agencies trying to win its favour for providing loans to Wapda for its development projects.
As regards the sequence of privatization, Wapda has nothing to do with it as it is the prerogative of the Privatization Commission (PC). Offloading of shares by the government from the already privatized Kapco has been decided by the PC to share the benefits among the larger number of local investors.
About a debt write-off by the government, it is clarified that no debt has been written off in the last three years; rather a debt equity conversion has been made by the government.
MUHAMMAD ABID
Deputy Director (Press), Wapda, Lahore
Training armymen in politics
Since its birth Pakistan has been unfortunate in having military rule for a majority of its existence. Each period of military governance is marred by, and remembered for, its own particular catastrophe.
The Ayub era saw the '65 war and the seeds of discontent sown in East Pakistan, Yahya finally ensured its violent disintegration, and Zia saw to the regression of society in more ways than one. What Musharraf will be remembered for is yet to be seen, though his political manoeuvrings would certainly count high on the list.
Over the decades, military's sympathizers, beneficiaries and 'yes-men' have been promoted through its favour to completely dominate our institutions and policy-making bodies; this constituting the so-called 'establishment'.
The establishment obviously has a mindset of its own, different from that of the general public and often in conflict with its wishes. Thus, while the public would rather vote for the likes of Benazir and Nawaz Sharif (both holding self-interest supreme, yet popular), the establishment would rather have Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Shaukat Aziz.
The military does not wish popular leaders to lead the country but fails to provide acceptable alternative leadership. It settles for the meek and the obliging. One of two things needs to happen to get us out of this cycle.
One, the military as an institution needs to make an internal decision never to interfere with the politics of the country and act only as the nation's protector. An alternative solution would be for the military to train its men to become professional politicians.
This would provide leadership which would keep both the military establishment and the public happy at the same time. The army curricula may then be changed to include instructions in how to choose a prime minister, how to initiate a coup, how to run Wapda and how to run a cricket team, etc.
MUBASHIR KHAN
Indianapolis, IN., USA
Plight of old pensioners
As a PAF retired officer I fully endorse the views of Rear Admiral (retd) S. Z. Hasnain in your esteemed paper on June 27 in respect of the disparity in the pension formula applied to the officers retired in the early '80s and those who retired recently.
Old retirees are living in a poor state and are even unable to meet ends meet. Due to their advance age they cannot earn any money. What they need is justice and not mercy or charity.
These old pensioners are those who may be called the founding fathers of the armed services as they served (in the '50s, '60s and '70s) 30 years plus and gave everything of their life to their service. They also rendered sacrifices in the execution of their duties, specially in 1965 and 1971. Its a pity to see them in such a miserable state.
It is the responsibility of the government to look after those who provided strength and security to the nation during their service time in peace, as well as in war. I request the finance minister to review the old scales and remove the disparity.
IQTEDAR A. KHAN
Air Commodore (retd) Karachi
Another setback for parliamentary democracy
We have introduced yet another concept in modern political practice. I call it 'prime-ministerial monarchy', with three prime ministers in a row, one nominating the other as his successor, with a stop-gap arrangement.
This was yet another dark chapter in the chequered political history of Pakistan; yet another show of the establishment's game of tinkering with political institutions in connivance with political stooges; yet another step backward in the path towards political development and parliamentary democracy.
Since the creation of Pakistan, the 'great game' against parliamentary democracy has been continuing unabated. Allen McGrath in his book The Destruction of Pakistan's Democracy quotes an American observer: "Once the first constitution is destroyed, it is doubtful that any succeeding one, no matter how successfully drafted, will ever be truly accepted.
A tradition which makes it possible for new leaders to replace old documents with others which appear preferable to them not only denies constitutionalism but makes reference to it little more than a sham."
In the past 55 years, the establishment has never allowed political institutions to flourish. Leaders of political parties have been equally involved in this adventure by toeing the establishment's line.
Fifty-seven years after independence, we are still facing political and constitutional crises: president vs prime minister, parliament vs establishment, centre vs provinces, provinces vs provinces, judiciary vs parliament, obscurantism vs secularism, allocation of resources, devolution of powers, etc.
This is because nobody knows where sovereignty lies. Maybe we are not supposed to know. We are still searching for our identity. We are still debating whether we are an Islamic state or a secular Muslim state.
The main fault lies in the vagueness of the Objectives Resolution which has not clearly defined the political and governance systems of the country.
The development of a political culture and of institutions will remain a dream until the establishment stops manipulating political parties; until it accepts the supremacy of parliament; until it works to strengthen institutions instead of weakening them. The need of the hour is to restore the 1973 Constitution in its original form and give the country a clearly-defined system of governance.
KHURRAM MUSTIKHAN
Karachi
DHA football ground
As a resident of DHA, Karachi, I take my family to a football ground located in Phase 6 off Khayaban-i-Rahat. My son takes football lessons there for which we pay. The ground remains in a state of disrepair though it is rented out at commercial rates and the DHA makes a handsome profit.
First, the ground itself is poorly kept. Then, the walking track around the ground is disintegrating. The fence that is supposed to encircle the football field is broken in many portions and is a danger in itself.
The biggest problem, however, is that since both boys and girls come to play football, this attracts all sorts of anti-social elements who pass unwelcome comments on the children, as well as on those who use the walking track.
Complaints made to the authorities concerned have yielded nothing. One hopes someone will take notice and try to set things straight.
SHAHID AHMAD
Karachi
Culture of bribery
It would be instructive for the Karachi nazim to take a walk and see for himself the massive corruption that takes place in offices which deal with land and property matters.
The documentation passes several officers and clerks who are fed amazing amounts of money as bribes.
I had to pay over Rs200,000 to have my papers cleared through the KBCA. This is an open secret and does not require much effort to see in operation. There is so much fraud and forgery in this department that commercial banks as a rule do not extend housing loans to properties under the CDGK because there is no way to verify if the papers presented as collateral are real or forged.
MUHAMMAD KHUSRAU
Karachi
Traffic mess
When is Karachi going to get a traffic plan? The traffic situation in the city has gone from bad to worse owing to the closure of certain important roads that link sections of the city.
Abdullah Haroon Road and Fatima Jinnah Road have been blocked, with the result that traffic on other roads has increased tremendously. In addition, VVIP movements on Sharea Faisal have meant that this road is also frequently in chaos.
Because of the lack of vision on the part of traffic police high-ups, thousands of people suffer and millions of rupees are wasted in these traffic jams.
NOOR ASLAM
Karachi
Shaukat Aziz
Isn't it an irony that one of the richest men in the country plans to fight elections from one of the poorest areas of the country (Tharparkar). One hopes some of Mr Shaukat Aziz's wealth rubs off on Thar and not the other way round.
NAEEM SHAHID
Kashmore
Terrorists and their motives
Recently an American in Saudi Arabia and a Korean national in Iraq were beheaded by unknown terrorists. The shocking part was that when they were addressing the world at large, in the background was a banner which had the Kalma-i-Tayyaba inscribed on it.
What message are they trying to convey? Just because of these handful of people Islam has been hijacked and a perception is arising that it is their religion (God forbid) which is teaching them this.
AFZAL RAHIM
Islamabad
Mobile phone robbery on the rise
These days muggers are very active and robbing people of their mobile phones. On the night of July 7 my mobile phone was taken away from me at gunpoint. I was, however, able to take out the sim from my set.
Mobile phone companies should try to prevent stolen mobile phones from being used on their networks. This can be done by blocking the unique serial number of the mobile phone. This number is obtained through the *#06# code. Once the serial number is blocked, that set will be useless for the mugger as he will not be able to sell it to any person.
Currently, mobile phone companies are only blocking sims. However, they would really shine in the eyes of their customers if they were to provide them with this facility. It should be noted that a good mobile phone costs at least Rs6,000.
ASFAR KHAN
Karachi
Prize bond draw
I am in possession of a prize bond of Rs200 bearing number AG336661,issued by the State Bank, Islamabad, on April 5, 2000. The prize bond won a prize of Rs1,000 in draw number 13 held in Hyderabad on March 15, 2004. How come the bond was put into the draw before its issuance by the State Bank?
This amounts to fraud and cheating the general public. It is sad that an institution like the National Savings Directorate functioning under the administrative control of the finance ministry resorts to this kind of unethical practices.
Further, it has never been disclosed by the National Savings Directorate as to how many prizes of each denomination are claimed by holders of prize bonds. Given my experience, it is feared that the directorate possibly indulges in practices that run counter to the transparency and financial propriety expected of the government institutions. I urge the State Bank to ensure transparency in this respect.
SAMI KHAN
Karachi
'Quotable quotes'
Hereunder are a few quotable quotes used by the Americans in the war on terror. There is no need to elucidate when and in what context they were used:
- Tunnels and cave complexes
- Religious fundamentalists
- Proactive cooperation
- Coalition of the willing
- Regime change
- Ragtag army
- Saddam loyalists
- Jihadi outfits
- Dead-enders
- Rogue elements
- Illegal combatants
These deserve an honourable mention in the annals of the English language.
RAFI ADAMJEE
Karachi
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