KARACHI: Government dependence on foreign donors slated
By A Reporter
KARACHI, June 23: The Karachi Bar Association (KBA) on Saturday asked the government to stop accepting foreign aid from institutions such as the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and to take drastic steps to make Pakistan a self-sufficient country.
This was expressed by speakers during a general body meeting on the KBA held at the Shuhda-i-Punjab Hall during the lawyers’ routine hourly boycott of court proceedings. The meeting was addressed by members of the Sindh Bar Council Saati M. Ishaque, K.K. Javaid Khan, Amir Niaz Khan, Naheed Afzal and Mohammad Ghaffar Khan Kakar.
Criticising the military rulers, the lawyers said that the generals were responsible for the country’s weak economic condition, which they said compelled the nation to accept foreign aid and loans on high rates of interest.
They said the army abandoning its professional duty for the last four decades had been busy in occupying costly land for cantonment boards, defence societies, setting up fuel stations and opening commercial centres which, they said, had paved the way for dependence on foreign aid.
The speakers condemned the bombardment of religious schools and innocent people in Balochistan and the tribal agencies of the NWFP and said that by killing his own people, President Pervez Musharraf was showing his loyalty to the United States and the United Kingdom.
They alleged that the military was unable to run the country’s affairs as it was the duty of the democratic forces, adding that the army never allowed the elected governments to truly serve the people, saying that the freedom of the press and the independence of the judiciary was a must for the progress of the country.
The lawyers said that they would continue criticising the military rulers for their role in national politics, adding that they were also critical of the elected representatives.
The speakers also expressed their annoyance over sending affidavits filed with the Supreme Judicial Council against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to different countries and termed it an awkward step on the part of the rulers.
About the lawyers’ movement, they said the general public had extended full support to it and the country would rid itself of the exploitative forces forever.
It was said that just as the lawyers had created awareness in the masses about the independence of the judiciary, they would do the same against the malpractices of the rulers and mobilise the people to raise their voice in the best interest of the country.
The lawyers stressed that the government should sever its ties with the UK over the issue of awarding knighthood to controversial writer Salman Rushdie.
