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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 27 June 1996 Issue : 02/26
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Govt denies report on aid cut
PM rejects idea of UN control over Kashmir
Pakistan may slide into anarchy, fears ex-diplomat
2 die, many hurt as JI protesters, police clash
Restoration of tax exemptions assured
Reactionaries conspiring to uproot democracy: PM
Orders term completion : SC restores local bodies in Punjab
Technology, science budget cut
Edhi's biography launched
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Harsh, tough, realistic, and reformist
A major damper for savings, investment and growth
Rural unemployment: a crippling constraint to development
Private concern to assess income, collect taxes
SBP bans travel cash over 100 dollars
Is our foreign debt still manageable?
Stocks turn easy as index declines by 5.17 points
SPI shows increase of 0.30%
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"Publish and be damned" Ardeshir Cowasjee
Only suckers pay taxes Mazdak
How much land does a man need? Ayaz Amir
A collapsing city Omar Kureishi
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Pakistan to get $10m as World Cup profit
Pakistan open England tour today with 1-dayer
Holland win tournament, Pakistan finish third
Pakistan to participate in World Snooker Cup
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960622
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Govt denies report on aid cut
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 21: A government spokesman has denied the news report,
World Bank cuts aid by half, appearing in Dawn (June 19, 1996),
regarding reduction of assistance from the World Bank and termed it totally
incorrect.
Clarifying the position, the spokesman said that there were two aspects of
project assistance from the World Bank which were commitments and
disbursements. Regarding commitments, he said that these were based on
mutually agreed lending programme which for the year 1994-95 was 911.10
million dollars as compared to 1.07 billion dollars committed for 1995-96.
The disbursement received from the World Bank during 1994-95 were 694. 41
million dollars, and they were 376.67 million dollars up to March 31, 1996.
The spokesman further said that disbursement from the Bank funded projects
once signed did not involve any decision on the part of the Bank. In fact,
it was contingent upon the ability of the Government of Pakistan to utilise
foreign assistance. In this regard he said that the support and commitment
of the World Bank for Pakistan was as strong as before.
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960623
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PM rejects idea of UN control over Kashmir
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 22: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Saturday rejected the
suggestion of giving the disputed Kashmir territory under UN trusteeship
and said Pakistan fully sticks to its principled stand on the lingering
problem.
I cant subscribe to his views (on Kashmir), she said in reference to the
proposal of former caretaker prime minister Balkh Sher Mazari that the
Kashmir state be given to UN trusteeship for five to ten years. Rejecting
the proposal she said: I have lot of respect for Mr. Mazari but I dont
know whats he upto? Whom is he favouring and whom he wants to please with
such suggestions. The prime minister was talking to newsmen after
attending the National Assembly session where she listened the speeches of
Mazari and chief of Pukhtoonkhuwa Milli Party Mehmud Khan Achakzai.
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960623
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Pakistan may slide into anarchy, fears ex-diplomat
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Our Correspondent
LONDON, June 22: Pakistan is in danger of moving towards anarchy and civil
strife if its leaders fail to address to its problems with integrity. These
views were expressed by Mr Shaharyar M. Khan, a former Pakistan foreign
secretary, who has just completed a two-year assignment with the United
Nations as its special representative to Rwanda.
Speaking at a gathering of the UK-Pakistan Cultural Foundation of which he
was president when serving as Pakistans High Commissioner to London, Mr
Khan regretted that the country, during its 50 year life has gone backwards
in many respects - in literacy, education and in its values. A new
beginning has to be made. We have to begin from the beginning, he said.
Mr Khan considered corruption to be one of the root causes of the decline.
State corruption, he stressed, corrodes the whole being and one goes
towards degeneration. It becomes a way of life.
With his experience of UN service in Africa, Mr Khan cited the example of
Zaire, at one time considered to be the jewel in the Belgian Crown, but
which after a succession of failed and corrupt governments now presents a
pathetic sight.
Mr Khan criticised the lavish expenditure recent governments in Pakistan
have incurred on trips abroad.
He gave the example of the last years Commonwealth heads of government
meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, where the Pakistan delegation consisted
of 73 members when not more than five from each country are allowed in the
conference hall.
The Pakistan delegation to the UN General Assembly last year consisted of
103 members when in the past not more than 14 members used to go.
Mr. Khan said since he was no more in government service he felt free to
open his mind on the issues concerning Pakistan. When other countries did
not indulge in such waste, why did Pakistan do it, he asked. The former
foreign secretary made a plea for ending privileges and making a society
full of integrity. He asked the people at the top to set an example. But,
he added, each one of us has to light the candle of integrity, following in
the footsteps of the Father of the Nation, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
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960625
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2 die, many hurt as JI protesters, police clash
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Nasir Malick
RAWALPINDI, June 24: Army was called out in Rawalpindi on Monday to help
control law and order after two workers of right-wing Jamaat-i-Islami were
killed and 80 wounded when police opened fire to stop the protesters from
marching on the Federal Capital.
Doctors at Civil Headquarters Hospital, said two people died of bullet
wounds and 60 were injured including 12 policemen in firing and stone-
pelting around Liaquat Bagh on main Murree Road. The remaining 20 injured
were taken to Rawalpindi General Hospital and Cantonment Hospital.
Troops were called in after clashes and army trucks mounted with machine-
guns were deployed at trouble spots.
The federal cabinet which met in Islamabad on Monday decided to hold a
judicial inquiry into killings.
A senior government official said Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto held a
special meeting of the cabinet in the afternoon to consider the Mondays
events.
Doctors at Civil Hospital said that some of the injured were released after
treatment while others have been admitted. We have received only two
bodies, a doctor at Casualty Department said. He said Abdus Samad, 26 and
Muhammad Shafiq, 17, died of bullet wounds.
Information Minister Khalid Kharal told reporters at a briefing in the
National Assembly that 30 per cent of the protesters were armed. He said
many veterans of Afghan and Kashmir war participated in the protest.
Residents of areas adjacent to Murree Road said police fired hundreds of
teargas canisters on the main road and adjacent side- lanes where the
protesters had entered to play hide-and-seek with the police.
Jamaat-i-Islami had given a call for staging a sit-in in front of the Prime
Minister Benazir Bhuttos office in the federal capital and asked its
workers to gather at Liaquat Bagh for the march.
Since early morning police blocked the Murree Road and other roads leading
to Islamabad by trawler-trucks, tractors, erecting temporary barricades and
laying barbed wires. No vehicle was allowed to enter Islamabad or
Rawalpindi since morning due to which attendance in government offices
remained thin.
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960625
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Restoration of tax exemptions assured
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 24: The government has offered to revise its decision of
taxing the allowances of the corporate employees and expressed its
willingness to restore the exemption of wealth tax on one house and one
shop.
During the meeting between the government and a delegation of Federation of
Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the government also
assured that the decision on the elimination of fixed tax regime could be
revised and various anomalies removed along with refunding Rs.20 billion
duty drawbacks to the exporters.
The FPCCI members spoke comprehensively on the demands for the exemption of
one house and one shop from wealth tax, continuation of the fixed sales tax
scheme on 28 industries, reduction in the standard sales tax rate and other
issues pertaining to sales tax and income tax.
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960626
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Reactionaries conspiring to uproot democracy: PM
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 25: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto asserted that reactionary
forces had once again joined hands to uproot democracy and put the country
on the path of fundamentalism. These forces are against the parliamentary
form of democracy and want to establish the presidential form of government
or dictatorship, she declared while talking to reporters in the National
Assembly cafeteria.
Ms Bhutto alleged that these anti-democratic forces had used the army,
the constitution and the presidency for achieving their objectives in the
past, but this time they were trying to use some other institutions as
the armed forces were performing their duties in accordance with the
constitution, presidency was not available for hatching conspiracies
against an elected government and the Eighth Amendment had been rendered
ineffective.
She claimed that these reactionary forces wanted to put Pakistan on the
track of fundamentalism, but declared that her government was committed not
to allow anyone to use Pakistans soil against any brotherly country. She
pointed out that her government had already signed extradition treaties
with Algeria, Egypt, Afghanistan, France and Maldives to fight terrorism
and it was on this account that Ramzi Yousuf had been extradited to the
United States and a number of Arab terrorists expelled from Pakistan.
They (the so-called reactionary forces) are opposed to all these measures
taken by the government and know that they cannot achieve their nefarious
designs if the PPP remains in power, she said.
The prime minister claimed that the reactionary forces had prepared a six-
week plan to create political instability in the country with the help of
some institutions. We are aware of their plans and will not allow them to
carry out terrorism.
She said it was the right of every citizen to oppose or criticise the
policies of the government but no one can be allowed to create unrest and
chaos. She claimed that there was complete political stability in the
country. We have restored peace in Karachi and in spite of conspiracies to
create unrest in Punjab, we have controlled the situation, she said. We
cannot allow the Klashnikov culture to flourish in this country. We cannot
allow sectarianism to spread in this country.
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960627
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Orders term completion : SC restores local bodies in Punjab
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Nasir Malick
ISLAMABAD, June 26: The Supreme Court restored on Wednesday the local
bodies institutions in Punjab which were dissolved by the caretaker
government of Moeen Qureshi before the general elections in 1993, and
directed to let them complete their term ending Feb 9, 1997.
We ... order restoration of all the local bodies/councils in the province
of Punjab to enable them to complete their term up to 9.2.1997 as
contemplated under Section 26 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance
1979, the Supreme Court said in its short order after hearing the case on
Wednesday.
The court over-ruled Lahore High Courts order of restoring only the
petitioners if elections were not held within 90 days of its decision and
instead restored all the local bodies in the province.
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960627
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Technology, science budget cut
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Our Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, June 26: The development budget of Ministry of Science and
Technology 1996-97 has been reduced by over 43.7 per cent, as compared to
Rs408.879 allocated under the Annual Development Plan 1995-96.
The ADP for 1996-97 has set aside only Rs229.930 for S & T in a country
which already stands out in the comity of nations for its abysmally low
expenditure on improving its manpower and infrastructure for S & T
development. Does the reduced budget mean that Pakistan does not need S &
T, wondered a veteran scientist. On the basis of 12 per cent inflation
estimated by the government, the cut in S & T development for the next
financial year is as high as 50.6%!
Interestingly, the utilisation of funds in the current year fell short of
the budget due to economy cut and delayed provision of funds for various
projects.
Notable among these projects is the Pakistan Museum of Natural History the
construction of which has proceeded at a snails pace over the past seven
years. Low priority evident in under-allocation of budgeted funds may force
reduction in size of the museum project.
Even the minuscule development budget is fritter away substantially through
lop-sided priorities. New projects are undertaken without proper
consideration of the real needs of the country, while the existing ones are
deprived of essential funds for research. For many years, existing R & D
institutions have been provided with funds that are sufficient only for
paying their staff salaries and meeting other recurrent expenditure.
Most universities are seriously handicapped due to non-availability of
funds for replacing the outdated equipment, purchase of chemicals and
science journals because it so happens that these are also catering for
sons and daughters of ordinary Pakistanis, while the educational
institutions created especially for the rich have surfeit of funds.
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960622
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Edhi's biography launched
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Faraz Hashmi
ISLAMABAD, June 21: Mirror to the blind, a biography of the world famous
social worker, Abdus Sattar Edhi, was launched in a unique manner.
Simplicity and humbleness, the main features of Edhis personality, marked
the book-launching ceremony.
A simple stall, set up at the Aabpara Jumma Bazaar by Edhis volunteers,
presented the book for sale in the presence of Edhi and Tehmina Durrani,
the author of the book.
Hundreds of people visited the camp during the day, and we have not yet
counted as to how many books have been sold out, Javed Athar, an Edhi
volunteer, told Dawn.
Mr Edhi, in a brief chat with reporters, described the book as a part of
his mission to serve the humanity. It is a revolutionary step, and people
should benefit from the book, he said.
Lamenting on the plight of the common man in Pakistan, he said they have
been cheated by every successive government since Ayubs Martial Law, and
the rulers were least bothered about their sufferings.
Regarding Karachi situation, he said it has improved a little under the
present government, but a lot was required to be done. He called for a more
sincere effort for restoration of lasting peace in the city.
Tehmina Durrani, who had earlier written My Feudal Lord, said that she has
done a service to humanity by writing the biography of Maulana Edhi. Ms
Durrani was also planning to write the second volume of the book.
Dearth of any role-model is a serious dilemma of our society, she said
while adding that Mr Edhi can become a good role model for those having the
flair to serve humanity.
Interestingly no politician of any significance visited the Edhi camp.
However, a large number of diplomats visited the camp and purchased the
book. Among those were ambassadors of France, Finland, the Philippines,
Malaysia and South Africa. South African mission purchased 25 books.
People also made huge donations at the camp. We have not counted, but
these must be in thousands, another Edhi volunteer said.
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960622
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Harsh, tough, realistic, and reformist
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M. Ziauddin
IT IS too harsh a budget for the masses to suffer in silence. Perhaps the
harshest ever in the Pakistans fiscal history. It is a tough budget for
the government to sell. Perhaps the political risk is totally that of the
Prime Minister. It is, in fact, a make or break budget for her.
Nevertheless, it is a realistic budget to the extent that it does not play
to the galleries with any gimmickry of relief for the so-called common man.
It is also realistic in the sense that the government has not rushed in to
placate the ever-watchful IMF with reductions in tariff rates to 55 per
cent which would have increased the budgetary deficit by another Rs15
billion.
It is a reformist budget in the sense that it proposes to take the first
small step towards documenting the economy by withdrawing all sales tax and
income tax exemptions. There is an element of equity as well in the
measure.
However, first the severity of the budget:
The increase in the rates of sales tax from 15 per cent to 18 per cent,
from 18 per cent to 20 per cent, and from 20 to 23 per cent, a measure
estimated to bring in over Rs 12 billion, plus the increases in central
excise duties on a number of items projected to yield about Rs 2.5 billion
is likely to seriously impact on the general price line kicking off a new
round of inflation, perhaps adding as much as two additional percentage
points to the current rate while at the same time awarding a bonus of Rs 5
billion in bribes to certain CBR staff for helping evade as much as Rs 7
billion from the projected total additional yield of Rs 15 billion from the
two measures.
Another paltry sum of Rs 400 million is being proposed to be squeezed out
of the salaried classes, the only ones who pay their dues honestly. Over
the years, in order to protect the salaried classes from the inequitable
pressures of the taxation system and the ever-increasing prices a part of
their incomes, like house rents, company car expenditures and entertainment
had been exempted from the income tax.
Now these exemptions have been withdrawn cutting the take home salaries of
the these people by almost half. This new measure is discriminatory too,
because the government servants continue to enjoy the exemptions. What is
more, while government owned bank employees have retained these exemptions,
their colleagues in private banks have lost them. Can there be a more
glaring instance of discrimination!
The argument of the budget bureaucracy is perhaps that the corporate sector
through the tax free perks and perquisites to its employees puts too much
of spare resources in their hands which brings supplies under pressure,
thus pushing up prices. This is true to a point. But those who earn a gross
salary of around Rs500,000 per annum with medium-sized families and having
to look after their ageing parents, send their children to good schools
(which have become too expensive) and maintain a respectable lifestyle (not
ostentatious, by any chance) would find the world collapsing around them
with the imposition of this new measure.
Perhaps, if the government were to amend the proposal so as to let those
with a gross salary of Rs 500,000 per annum continue to enjoy the exemption
and at the same time fix different, but lower rates for calculating the tax
dues on perquisites and perks of employees earning more than Rs 500,000
gross per annum, the consequent pain of the corporate employees would be
largely diminished.
On one count it is a reformist budget as it has attempted to inculcate a
measure of equity in the tax system by withdrawing almost all sales tax and
income tax exemptions (except agricultural incomes which is discussed in
its proper context in subsequent paragraphs) irrespective of its
consequential impact on any section of society.
The upheaval and the economic dislocation, this measure, if implemented
honestly, will cause is likely to be colossal. But this again, will serve
as the first small step towards documenting the economy which is the only
way one can minimise corruption and ensure elasticity in the taxation
system. A fully documented economy will pave the way for increased revenue
incomes which in turn will reduce dependence of the budget on borrowings.
With everybody required to account for every single penny he or she earns,
the temptation for blatant bribery, commissions, kickbacks and siphoning
off will be much less. This of course will not eliminate corruption and tax
evasion. But it would surely reduce their incidence to a tolerable extent
in the course of time.
The business community which runs its business on two books would surely
find the measure unacceptable and oppose it tooth and nail. It will
probably also try to bring the populace on the street and give a helping
hand to the opposition in street agitations to somehow have the government
removed or at least force it to withdraw the questionable budgetary
measures as they did in 1987.
Sales tax is actually a consumption tax and its wide coverage will dampen
demand for sometime and the measure in the first instance will reduce to a
large extent wastes indulged in by the rich while increasing hardships for
low and middle income groups.
However, with the elimination of anomalies in the tariff structure which
has been promised to be completed by end September, this year and the
likelihood of reduction in the overall tariff rates to 55 percent in the
budget for 1997-98, the general price line will be positively affected as
imports of consumer goods and industrial raw materials will become cheaper
and it will then be time to replace demand management philosophy with
supply induced growth which will make the life of the masses less
intolerable.
However, in order to reach this point, the country would need another good
cotton crop and the government meanwhile will have to overhaul the CBR and
avoid as much as possible such scandals as the Mirage-III and Surrey
mansion deals, alleged sale of jobs by MNAs, allotment of precious
residential plots to parliamentarians in Islamabad at throw away prices ,
allowing luxury cars for the ruling elite etc.
One detects an element of political realism on the part of the government
in not rushing Punjab into following the other three provinces into
imposing tax on agricultural income. The Punjab politics has its own
dynamism, especially, in view of the fact that the province is being ruled
by a coalition government made up of PPP and PML(J) which is essentially
the feudal arm of the Muslim League which chose to breakaway from the
parent body because it felt its interests were not being looked after
properly by party leadership which had gone into the hands of urban based
industrial lobby.
However, the PM seems still hopeful that in the course of the budget debate
and before the commencement of the next financial year, the Punjab will
keep its promise made at the NEC meeting on May 30, 1996 and impose tax on
agricultural incomes.
The rate of tax on agricultural incomes imposed by Sindh is too negligible
to have any positive impact on the overall income of the province. Still,
one cannot minimise its symbolic effect and cannot also ignore the fact
that whatever the rate, a small step has at last been taken towards
formalising 40 per cent of the national economy which had so far remained
out of the official reckoning with its attendant adverse consequences.
If the Punjab were to follow suit before July 1 , 1996, its feudals would
not lose much of their unearned incomes but the step will pave the way for
resumption of the 1.2 billion dollars of ESAF and EFF assistance of IMF
which in turn would improve the international risk rating of Pakistan
facilitating an accelerated inflow of foreign investment badly needed to
fill the wide gap between the demand and availability of resources to
trigger the much needed GDP growth rate of 7-8 per cent per annum.
In one sense, the 1996-97 budget is two years too late. Many of the reforms
introduced in this budget should have come along with the budgetary
proposals of 1994-95. Had this happened, by now we would have had our
tariffs reduced to at least 45 per cent and as a result an accelerated
inflow of foreign investment would have taken place and the rate of
inflation would have come down to around 8 per cent. And the growth rate
would have jumped to around 8 per cent because as a result, industrial
growth would have taken an upturn instead of stagnating, thereby augmenting
the dramatic jump in the growth of agricultural sector this year.
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960622
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A major damper for savings, investment and growth
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Sultan Ahmed
WHILE the urgent need of the country is to ensure higher and sustained
economic growth by promoting larger bank deposits, higher overall savings,
and greater productive investment, the new budget continues the old policy
of focusing on mobilising larger tax revenues to meet the growing current
expenditure of the government.
Current expenditure, which rose to 80.2 per cent of the overall budget this
year as a result of the Rs. 15 billion rise over the budgeted figure, is
expected to come down to 19 per cent next year, but usually the current
expenditure far exceeds the budgeted one, as it did this year too while it
jumped from 77.8 per cent of the GDP to 80.2 per cent while the development
outlay plummeted from 22.2 per cent to 19.8 per cent.
But in a country with a population growth of 3 per cent in which private
sector investment growth crashed to 10.24 according to the Economic Survey
from a 30.31 per cent rise in 1991-92 (an altogether poor performance for
the last three years) not enough efforts to promote domestic private sector
investment are being made.
In fact, while a campaign is being conducted to attract foreign investment
while the public sector investment has plummeted to a mere 13 per cent of
the GDP at market prices (and hence the overall private investment is
suddenly claimed to have risen to 29.43 per cent this year) there is real
urgency to promote domestic private sector investment. And, that is all the
more imperative as an investment growth of 20 per cent at current prices is
no real growth at all because of inflation which is far higher the
investment areas.
Taxing savings
All investment begins with getting more and more of the people to put their
money into banks of other savings institutions or buying shares of
companies or NIT units and ICP certificates. By now if anyone goes to a
bank to open an account he has to pay 0.02 per cent of this deposit in cash
as tax. He has to pay a similar tax when he wants to send money to anyone
as a draft or pay order. And he has to pay the same kind of tax when he has
to get a pay order to pay a tax to the income tax department, which means a
tax on tax or paying a tax on paying the tax which is utterly absurd.
If he keeps the money in the bank and earns a profit, he has to pay 2.5 per
cent of his deposits as Zakat and 10 per cent of his very profits as
withholding tax. As a result, his profits may be as low as 5 per cent while
inflation is 20 per cent or more. And he is a heavy looser for keeping his
money in the bank.
If he wants to draw the money he had to pay Rs. 2 per leaf of a cheque book
to the Centre as central excise and 50 paisa more as stamp duty to this
Sindh government. As if all that robbing the depositor were not enough, the
new federal budget raised the excise duty to Rs. 5 per leaf. Over and above
that it has imposed sales tax of 18 per cent on cheque books even when they
are given free by the banks. And that made many to fear a cheque book of
ten leaves would cost around Rs. 68.
When the rise in the excise duty on a leaf of a cheque book to Rs. 5 was
brought to the notice of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto she expressed her
disapproval and suggested its revision. But raising the tax to Rs. 5 shows
the insensitivity of those who framed the budget or their total lack of
realism.
Even if the excise duty is reduced to Rs. 2 the 18 per cent sales tax on
cheque books given free remains. And that could force the banks to pass on
the tax to their clients along with the Sindh governments stamp duty of 50
paisa per cheque.
Is it not extraordinary that in a country in which government banks until
recently exhorted the people to open savings accounts with just Rs 5, a
cheque should not cost that much or more, and the federal and provincial
governments and heads of various tax departments should treat the cheque
books as a hobby horse for raising larger revenues any time.
That this should happen in a country in which the slogans of documentation
of the economy has been reverberates everywhere, and the need of the times
if to bring in a much of the money as possible, and not only dollars only,
into the banks, is astounding.
Such a drive for promoting savings is imperative at time when the rate of
national savings has been coming down for the last five years from 16.90
per cent of the GDP in 1991-92. It came down to 15.61 in 1993-94, 14.92 per
cent last year and sank to 13.85 per cent this year.
High Inflation
A major reason why savings are down is the high and sustained inflation,
far in excess of the under-stated official figures. It was stated
officially to be 13 per cent last year, and is said to be 11 per cent this
year but following the heavy tax levies of the new budget it may end at 12
per cent according to official reckoning.
Those with large savings for sometime put their money on slicks and shares
when the going was very good recently. After the stock market collapse the
richer among them switched to real estate and made large profits, while
others moved to make dollar deposits in our banks which have risen to $6.5
billion, inclusive of deposits made by overseas Pakistanis.
They like making dollar deposits after converting their rupees into the US
currency as that is exempt from income tax and Zakat and insulated against
the devaluation of the rupee which has become a constant, and the deposits
are generally beyond questions by the taxation authorities. And they
provide profit of over 6 per cent and a total profit in rupees is over 20
per cent.
But the government instead of making use of this large deposit - about $8
billion in all - for productive purposes has been using it for current
consumption and hence the governments liabilities in this area in terms of
rupee has risen to Rs. 280 billion, which is now regarded as the short-term
debt of the government. However, the liabilities if adjusted against the
rupee loans given by banks against their dollar deposits can be lower.
When it comes to private investment in terms of the GDP has been both low
and constant at a time when public sector investment is shrinking in
following the steady privatisation. Private investment has been above 9 per
cent and below ten per cent of the GDP and it came down to 8.82 per cent
last year, and is estimated at 9.91 per cent this year. And this is at
current prices which is very discomforting.
One of the major indicators of the poor investment growth is the state of
the Karachi Stock Exchange index and the number of new companies listed on
it each year. The general index of the KSE which rose by 79.5 per cent in
193-94, fell by 35.6 per cent last year and by 2.3 per cent this year,
according to the Economic Survey.
The government should have intervened in a positive manner to relieve the
stock exchanges from the vicious grip of recession, but the budget has
taken no step in that direction. Even the promise of lifting the 10 per
cent withholding tax on bonus shares has not been fulfilled.
The government is hardly gaining anything by that tax as the number of
bonus shares issued by companies suddenly dwindled after the 10 per cent
tax levied last year. And yet the government has failed to lift this tax,
although a paralysed stock market would undermine the privatisation process
of the government and get low prices for the public sector units to be
sold, like the United Bank, Bankers Equity, and Habib Bank.
Investors reaction
Foreign investment except in the power production sector, too, is
discouraged by the paralysed state of the stock market for over two years.
The fall in the KSE index by 51 points on Sunday following the reopening of
the market after the budget and the quick was holidays shows how the
investors are reacting to the budget with its shower of taxes all around.
Modaraba is one sector which needs real assistance as successive
governments have given a raw deal to them.
Now instead of the Modarabas being helped in any manner 1 per cent excise
duty has been levied on loans given by them as well as the leasing
companies which do not have the same facility as banks DFIs and investment
banks to raise money from the public and hence deserved special treatment.
The only help the budget has given to the stock exchanges is to make it
obligatory for transactions in ICP certificates and NIT units to be done
through the stock exchanges.
When it comes to the companies themselves, the budget has given a blow to
the six-year schedule for reduction of taxes under which the rate of
corporate taxation would have this year come down to 33 from 36 per cent.
Similar relief available to the private companies and banks has also bee
frozen. And that has been done after the companies were made to extend
their business year by six months this year to 18 months and make their
business year similar to the financial year. The government wanted to
collect 18 months tax this year, which means revenues larger than last
years.
Above all, when it comes to making investment they investors are not sure
of the rate of taxes interest rates and profits to come.
They realise that higher taxation, a wild sweep of sales tax which has been
raised from 15 per cent to 18 per cent, would inflate prices, reduce demand
and lower production and shrink their profits.
They are aware, too, that such an aggressive fiscal policy would promote
smuggling at one end and a parallel or tax evaded economy at the other.
And, that is not a good climate for investors and manufacturers.
Faith in dollars
That is the reason a lot of people converted their money into dollars and
placed it in banks. This tendency will become stronger now, particularly
when devaluation of the inflation-hit rupee has become a regular feature.
When instead of doing away with the regulatory duties imposed through the
October 28 mini-budget, the five per cent regulatory duty is doubled to 10
per cent to raise Rs. 4 billion as customs revenues, the investors faith
in the system is shattered and he seeks to insulate himself and takes to
trading or smuggling instead of making a productive investment.
That makes it imperative for the Prime Minister and the cabinet to review
the whole fiscal policy instead of sacrificing everything at the altar of
larger tax revenues and lower budget deficits however, urgent they seem to
be now. The fact is that when over-ambitious tax targets are set and taxes
are sought to be collected rigorously, it reduces economic growth and
lowers the total of the revenue collection.
That has been happening all the time in Pakistan, including this year
despite the fact 18 months taxes have been collected this time instead of
the usual 12 months.
When domestic prices rise high as a result of heavy taxation or high as a
result of heavy taxation or high cost of production or both, as in Pakistan
now, smugglers have a run of the market particularly when Commerce Minister
Ahmad Mukhtar says the cost of smuggling now is 23 per cent, and the
parallel economy thrives making a hash of the much-vaunted privatisation
process. Clearly the fiscal policy adopted and escalated now is a self-
defeating policy which will stifle and distort its proclaimed objectives
and make the economic square far worse.
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960622
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Rural unemployment: a crippling constraint to development
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Rao Abdul Rauf Khan
THERE IS a gaping disparity between the living standards of the rural and
urban populations. Not only is the average rural per-capita income a
fraction of the urban one, but the rural areas are also ill-provided with
essential services like health, sanitation, recreation, education, safe
water, electricity, farm-to-market roads and the like.
Availability of these facilities varies significantly, resulting in a poor
economic base with no productive opportunities of life and a weak
unorganised labour market. Thus if we want to develop Pakistan, the
development of rural areas has to be considered at all costs.
Like any other developing country, Pakistan also suffers from a population
problem characterised by a severe pressure on land creating the problem of
employment and under-employment. Urban development is also hampered if
there is no rural development. The fact seems to have escaped the notice of
our planners and researchers as yet.
This is because of the push factors that the rural populace are migrating
on a massive scale to urban areas and abroad in search of a living and
raising of their social status. Today the urban population has increased to
31 per cent as against 10 per cent in 1947-48.
Despite the poverty in urban areas, the most serious problems exist in the
rural areas, a fact which we are facing today. Among those most affected
are the rural youth, specially educated ones who in the absence of achieved
opportunities of life failed to bag remunerative jobs.
In South Korea, it is the governments policy to curb the growing
population of cities, saving them from turning into slum areas. Interested
youths are invited to absorb themselves in agriculture and allied
activities. Furthermore in order to give a boost to agriculture and absorb
surplus labour productively, backward and forward linkage of industry with
agriculture has been carried out. This in fact, has revolutionised the
entire rural set up.
Economic base
Rural areas having agriculture as a base provide food and other raw
materials not only to the urban sector, defence and local industry but also
earn substantial foreign exchange by exporting surpluses on which rests
future technological development. This is necessary as no developing
country can afford to rely on imported food and other consumption times,
for which rural development must take place to broaden participation of the
people in those areas.
To bring development along practical lines, let us take a look at rural
activities. When we talk about agriculture in Pakistan, we think of visible
activities such as arable farming based on growing of majority and minor
crops, including fruits, vegetables and other specialised enterprises and
its ancillary activities based on rearing of cows, sheep, goats, poultry
and the like.
Thus agriculture with its branches of animal and crop husbandry, forestry,
horticulture, and fisheries is the largest segment of Pakistans economy.
What we need is to distinguish between what is grown for personal use of
growers and that which goes to market.
As many semi-agricultural activities can be started for example,
silviculture, hunting, sericulture, apiculture, collecting fruits and
vegetable, fishing and the like, thus, agriculture is the art of getting as
many useful products from nature as is possible.
In an agrarian society most of the people indulge in multifarious
activities one way or the other. The main characteristics of Pakistans
agriculture are the fertile soil of the country, a generally favourable
climate with a network of canal irrigation. The unhappy aspects are low
yield because of primitive mode of cultivation, uncertainty of weather
conditions, fragmentation of holding, the twin menace of waterlogging and
salinity, and injudicious use of irrigation water because of a lack of
other socio-economic infrastructure, slow pace in induction of appropriate
technology and low farm investment. These are the other reasons why
agriculture is not considered economically viable, specially of the small
farming community comprising 93 per cent owning up to 10 hectares of land.
In fact, it is the low productivity level and the laying of less emphasis
on growing of value-added remunerative crop enterprises which is
responsible for the creation of poverty, resulting in unemployment in the
rural sector. We can consider activities directly connected with
agriculture. For example manufacture of tools and other farm equipment,
transport, fertilisers, pesticides, seeds and other inputs for agriculture,
physical infrastructure like roads, water, electricity, irrigation devices
etc. storage, processing and trading/marketing of produce and the like.
Agriculture cannot exist without these associated activities. However, who
will perform these services? Certainly all of them cannot be performed by
agriculturists themselves or by people from outside agriculture. Then we
have activities which are not directly connected with agriculture, but
pertain to the localised economic and social situation, like, housing,
clothing, manufacturing on small scale-cottage industry like shoe-making,
poultry, and utensil making etc.
These articles should be produced in cottage industries serving the needs
of the rural population but in reality very few are. Further we should not
forget service activities such as repairs, recreation, health, education,
administration, local trade marketing and local fairs etc.
Cultivators and agricultural labour who are directly or indirectly involved
in agriculture form 68 per cent while of other services falling within the
purview of non-agricultural sector forms 32 per cent of the rural labour
force.
In fact, a cultivator or a labourer directly involved in agriculture, does
not find jobs for more than 100 and 120 days in a year. According to the
Agricultural Census 1990, out of the 17.46 million rural labour force only
12.30 million are absorbed mainly on share cropping basis where as 5.11
million are employed as part time workers in which a major portion are
women whereas out of 2.56 million casual disguised labour less than half
are employed on seasonal operations like harvesting, inter-culturing and
marketing of produce etc. With the introduction of farm mechanisation the
number of working hours have been further reduced. Completing agricultural
operation per acre within 10 hours against 76 to 80 hours through a pair of
bullocks. This means that both the agricultural and service class in the
rural sector have to be absorbed in part time remunerative jobs on the
pattern of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, if at all their services are
productively utilised.
The share of rural population in industry is nominal which is neither in
proportion to resources nor to population. The set-up of agro-based
industries in the rural sector by envisaging a liberal policy on the
pattern of Turkey without obtaining permission from the government has to
be evolved.
Rural development
Rural development can take place only when all segments of the rural sector
of which agriculture is the base, are developed at the same time. Only then
can accumulation of surplus skilled and non-skilled rural youth be ensured.
As development progresses, its needs change. In the beginning we need more
agricultural activities, but as a developing country, there is a greater
need for off-farm activities.
Agricultural development cannot be considered in isolation. It is dependent
on micro-economic and other economic policies. The reality is that the
problems that have to be overcome are essentially ideological and political
and not social and economic.
It is a firm conviction that in any country if any reform or programme is
introduced with only the political effect in view then there are little
chances of attaining success, as has been seen in the case of introduction
of land reforms, rural development programmes like village aid, basic
democracies, rural works programme (RWP), Integrated Rural Development
Programme (IRDP) the Five-Point Programme for rural development, Tameer-e-
watan programme and the Peoples Works Programme and SAP by the present
regime.
It is due to social stratification in our rural society because of the
feudal system, a weak environmental set-up, lack of opportunities that the
rural people are migrating.
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960627
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Private concern to assess income, collect taxes
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 26: The National Assembly passed a Rs.500.2 billion budget
for 1996-97, carrying one major amendment in the Finance Bill that will
allow the appointment of a private agency to exercise the functions and
powers of assessment of income and collection of taxes.
The amendment also provided for delegation of powers to any tax authority
of the provincial government for assessment and collection of wealth tax on
agriculture.
The budget for next fiscal was adopted without the presence of the
opposition which on Tuesday boycotted the budget session saying that it
could not become a party to what it termed the harshest taxes ever imposed
on the people of Pakistan.
Since it was an opposition-less house, the passage of the Finance Bill took
less than two hours.
Although no details were given about the proposed tax collection agency in
the private sector, it was learnt that PPP MNA Khalid Ghurki will be given
the contract for the assessment and income tax collection for Lahores
Liberty Market.
Official sources told Dawn that CBR officials had vehemently opposed the
tax collection through the private agency. They said that at present the
shopkeepers of Lahores Liberty Market, were paying less than one million
rupees annually and even if a new contract was given ten time higher than
the previous revenue levels, the additional revenue would still not pass on
to the government coffers.
The CBR, sources said, told the government that if at all the tax
collection system was to be privatised, there should be auction and the
highest bidder be awarded the contract for the purpose.
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960627
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SBP bans travel cash over 100 dollars
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Mohiuddin Aazim
KARACHI, June 26: The State Bank of Pakistan made a key amendment in the
rules for the release of foreign exchange to overseas travellers ,
apparently to save foreign exchange reserves from further depletion.
A SBP circular said that those intending to go abroad by any means of
travel would be allowed to carry foreign exchange up to only $100 in cash.
Previously the restriction applied only to travellers using land routes.
The SBP has already conveyed the decision to all banks dealing in foreign
exchange. The decision has already become effective from June 24.
Several bankers, interviewed by Dawn, said the move apparently aimed at
saving foreign currency deposits and ,in turn, foreign exchange reserves
from further decline. The SBP had approved foreign exchange worth slightly
more than $700 million as on June 20.
The circular directed the banks to issue foreign exchange up to only $100
in cash and the rest of the permissible amount under Private Travel
Exchange Quota (PTEQ) in the form of travellers cheques, TTs, MTs or draft
to all Pakistanis aged 12 or more, who intend to travel abroad. Under PTEQ,
an adult Pakistani , intending to travel abroad, can carry maximum foreign
exchange up to $2,100 in one calendar year.
The bankers said the SBP decision aimed at checking flight of foreign
currency in the form of dollars taken out from the country under PTEQ. A
vast majority of businessmen visit foreign countries every now and then,
which results in heavy withdrawals of foreign currency notes from the
banks.
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960622
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Is our foreign debt still manageable?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Aslam Sheikh
Pakistans foreign debt is no longer as manageable as it used to be till
recently. The net transfer of foreign credits in the fiscal year just
closing was only 16 per cent of the gross disbursement of $ 2.4 billion.
This means most of what we borrow is used to service our mounting debt
burden.
What is the latest foreign debt profile in more detail? The relevant budget
documents do not tell a happy story. The USA, once our single largest donor
in the good old cold war days has now become net importer of capital from
Pakistan. We are now repaying $ 400 million to Washington annually to
service our old bilateral debt.
Inflow of concessional credits or grant assistance from this old friend is
negligible thanks not only to the lingering impact of the well-known legal
hurdle stemming from the Pressler Amendment but also because of the post
cold war shift in US policy. Even the debt negotiated during the cold war
period was not as soft and concessional as sometime assumed. Except for the
fifties and early sixties, the so-called softening has been on the decline.
Poor mans largesse
This is evident from the huge debt service burden that we have been
carrying for the last decade and half. The outstanding and disbursed
external credit from the US till June 30th, 1995 was over $ 2.6 billion but
its servicing cost has been quite heavy. Annual repayment to the US, both
in principal and interest has been rising over the past decade. From $ 235
million in 1985-86 it climbed to $ 349 million five years later in 1990-91
and was $ 400 million by the current fiscal.
Over this decade Pakistan has repaid over $ 800 million in interest alone.
Add to this the repayment in principal, the total repayment between 1986
and 1996 was over $ 3 billion to the US alone.
Japan has been the largest second beneficiary of our debt servicing. We
repaid it $ 311 million in the current fiscal including interest charges of
$ 127 million. Ten years ago this annual repayment was only $ 60 million.
Japans outstanding debt is of over $ 4 billion of which over $ 2 billion
worth of credit remains to be disbursed. Japan has always been lending on
hard terms, therefore its annual debt servicing has been heavy from the
beginning. For instance, for many years when its annual flow was small the
interest repayment was always more than the principal.
Annual repayments to Germany third important donor are also significant
and were over $ 150 million in 1995-96 including interest of $ 44 million.
Repayment to France has also been rising and is now $ 100 million (1995-
96).
Pakistans debt servicing of credits received from financial institutions
like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Development
Association, IMF trust fund and some others is now over $ 750 million
including interest of $ 58 million.
Islamic countries which emerged as important donors in the seventies after
the oil boom have become insignificant lenders in 1995-96 Pakistan repaid
over $ 77 million to 12 Muslim countries including OPEC and IDBP.
Of this Saudi Arabia was repaid $ 15 million including interest charge of $
1.5 million with UAE a close second with $ 12 million including interest
payment of $ 3 million.
Repayment on loans contracted with the former Soviet Union was over $ 46
million while we paid China more than $ 92 million.
Pakistans outstanding debt (excluding roughly $ 9 billion not yet
disbursed) now is over $ 23 billion (1995-96) of medium and long-term
nature. Its debt servicing cost during this year was $ 2.1 billion
including interest of $ 756 million.
In 1990-91 outstanding debt was $ 15 billion. In 1993-94 it was over $ 20
billion. It is 35.7 per cent of GDP now whereas it was 34 per cent in 1990-
91. Excluding debt servicing on short term loans and IMF charges, debt
servicing has soared from a mere $ 17 million in 1960-61 to $ 2,100 million
in 1995-96.
According to the latest budget, interest on foreign debt next fiscal (1996-
97) will be Rs 28 billion while the repayment of principal will be close to
Rs 44 billion.
We have been claiming credit for not defaulting on foreign repayments so
far and underplaying the magnitude of external indebtedness compared to
domestic debt burden. Nonetheless the evolving situation does not rule out
the danger of a possible debt explosion in the external sector.
After all we did face an uneasy situation in late sixties when we imposed a
unilateral moratorium on conversion of debt repayment in foreign currency.
Unless we adopt a multi-dimensional strategy of boosting our external
earnings through a dramatic jump in diversified exports and stimulating
inflow of remittances from our own nationals keen to invest in Pakistan
inspite of political and economic uncertainty, even foreign debt can be
unmanageable.
The other day in an exchange of views with economic writers the Prime
Minister revealed her plans to arrange consultants for this purpose.
According to the economic survey, workers remittances have slumped to $
1,148 million in 1995-96 from $ 1,446 million in 1993-94 and the peak of
almost $ 3 billion in the early eighties. Even if the fall is almost
compensated by an increase under the government scheme of resident foreign
currency account, there is no cause for complacency.
Workers remittances
The nature of resident currency accounts is different and these are not
comparable to remittances. Pakistan told the consortium meeting in Paris
earlier this year that prospects for the invisible balance would continue
to be governed largely by the behaviour of the workers remittances.
This area therefore needs to be attended to with more than routine effort.
The potential is far from exhausted even if the boom in the Gulf is over.
Remittances from USA where there is considerable increase in our nationals
in recent years still have considerable promise as the trend of recent
years indicate. The flow from USA now is greater than UK, once the biggest
source from the western world.
Now nearly 10 per cent of the total comes from the USA and Canada combined.
Above all external concessional loans are now unobtainable without strings
and excessive reliance on them distorts our priorities. The experience of
the last four decades clearly demonstrates that our real economic
development depends on our own resources and not on expensive tied
credits.
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960627
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Stocks turn easy as index declines by 5.17 points
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Commerce Reporter
KARACHI, June 26: Stocks turned an easy performance as investors took
profits at the overnight inflated levels as fears of political uncertainty
gripped the market.
The other destabilising factor was news of reported failure of Islamabad
talks on the budget between the top business and the officials and threat
of business strike to press for the acceptance of demands.
But investors appear to be more worried over the political polarisation
between the contenders of power, notably after the Islamabad incident in
which two persons were killed early this week, dealers said.
But they dont think that the market is in for a major shake-out as
institutional traders are in the rings and are active buyers at the dips.
The KSE 100-share index suffered fall of 5.17 points at 1,707.36 as
compared to 1,712.53 a day earlier, reflecting the weakness of some of the
base shares.
Wellcome Pakistan, which has been under pressure for the last two sessions,
for instance came in for renewed strong support and shot up by Rs 20,
indicating that it has resumed last week run-up on expectations of higher
earnings after an increase in the sale tax from July 1.
But by and large, many blue chips, which scored sharp rallies overnight
finished with extreme clipped under the lead of Ghemini Leasing, and some
others.
Soneri Bank, which rose by Rs 7 on Tuesday, was put on the spot list by the
KSE authorities to forestall further speculative rise in its share value.
It ended Rs 3 lower.
Along with Soneri Bank, three other scrips are now on the spot list as they
have already witnessed a price flare-up under the lead of Ciba-Geigy,
Singer Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan.
Singer Pakistan showed a further decline of Rs 10, while Siemens fell by an
extended fall of Rs 5.
But the biggest fall of the day was noted in Kohat Cement, which fell by Rs
12.50 on hasty selling not backed by negative news.
Al-Abid Silk also maintained its downward course falling by another Rs 10
to make the total loss during the last four sessions to Rs 40.
Shell Pakistan, Askari Leasing, Adamjee Insurance, General Tyre, ICI
Pakistan, Dawood Hercules and Philips were among the other prominent
losers, which suffered fall ranging from Rs 2 to 5.
Among the gainers, KASB, Metropolitan Bank, Alico, Prudential Commercial
Bank, Bhanero Textiles, Musrat Textiles, Glaxo Lab and Reckitt and Colman
were leading, which rose by Rs 1.50 to 3.
The most active list was topped by PTC vouchers, up 20 paisa on 13.035m,
followed by Hub-Power, unchanged on 6.007m, Dewan Salman, higher 95 paisa
on 1.548m, FFC-Jordan Fertiliser, lower 25 paisa on 0.603m, Sui Southern,
up 25 paisa on 0.253m, Kohat Cement, off Rs 12.50 on 0.231m, and Soneri
Bank, off Rs 3 on 0.156m shares. There were some other notable deals also.
Trading volume totalled 2.646m shares as compared to 26.798m shares a day
earlier.
There were 376 actives, out of which 177 shares fell, while 116 rose, with
83 holding on to the last levels.
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960627
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SPI shows increase of 0.30%
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KARACHI, June 26: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) with 1990-91 as the
base for the week ended June 24, 1996 released by the Federal Bureau of
Statistics (FBS) showed an increase of 0.30% over the SPI for the preceding
week. The SPI showed an increase of 8.96% over the corresponding week of
last year (on June 24, 1996, over June 26, 1995) as against 13.46% in the
previous period (on June 26, 1995 over June 28, 1994).
The FBS compiles SPI every week with 1990-91 as base in respect of 46
essential commodities mostly consumed by industrial, commercial and
government employees earning upto Rs. 1500.00 per month.
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960621
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"Publish and be damned"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
ONE hundred and eighty-one years ago, to the day, as I write this, Alt
Vorwarts (as Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher, Prince of
Wahlstadt (1742-1819) was affectionately known), had just finished writing
to Baron Muffling:
Say in my name to the Duke of Wellington that ill as I am I will march at
the head of my army to attack without delay the right flank of the enemy,
if Napoleon should attempt anything against the Duke. In case the French do
not attack today, I am of the opinion that we should attack the French army
together tomorrow.
As it happened Napoleon did attack at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, and the
small narrow field witnessed one of the most decisive battles. Wellingtons
troops that day numbered 63,000, two-thirds of them other than British,
against Napoleons 70,000 and between both sides there were some 400 guns.
It proved to be Napoleons last battle, as it was the Dukes.
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), was an amazing man, an
over-cautious general for whom today there is widespread appreciation of
his military genius and of his character, and as an honest and selfless
politician, uncorrupted by vast prestige.
He cut his teeth in India, where he arrived in 1796 to command the 33rd
Foot, which later became the Duke of Wellingtons Regiment. In 1799, he
commanded a division in the campaign against Tiger Tipoo Sahib, and after
the capture of Tipoos capital, Seringapatam he was made Governor and
military and civil administrator of Mysore. In two campaigns in Mysore he
crushed the great freebooter, Dhoondiah Wagh. He was promoted Major-
General in 1802 and his first major victory of independent command was in
1803 during the Second Mahratta War, when with 7,000 men and 22 guns he
defeated 40,000 Mahrattas with a 100 guns at Assaye. He was then appointed
chief military and civil administrator in the Deccan, where he fought on
against Holkar and Scindia, taking Ahmednagar and defeating the Mahrattas
again at Argaum. He later stormed Gawilghur, and concluded peace with the
Raja of Berar and with Scindia.
India gave him invaluable training for his coming campaigns. He learned all
the aspects of organising a large army in the field and importantly about
the need for moderation in eating and in drinking. He often rode 50 miles
in one day, becoming physically tough, and he learned to put worries to one
side and to sleep soundly, however trying the conditions. His recipe for
good health was good temper. It was in this subcontinent that he learned
complete self-confidence, and developed his successful qualities the
ability to make decisions, common sense, attention to detail, care of his
soldiers and their supplies, good relations with the civilian population.
Above all, he found his lifes purpose. It was to give service.
In 1827, after the Napoleonic wars, he became the British Commander-in-
Chief, resigning in 1828 when he was appointed prime minister which post he
held to 1830. He resigned as PM after being defeated on the issue of
parliamentary reform. He remained in opposition till 1843, subsequently
holding the office of foreign secretary. He finally resigned from public
life in 1846 at the age of 77. No non-royal had ever, up to then, enjoyed
such respect among the mass of the population.
He laid the foundations of many an institution, all of which still survive
amongst them the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies
(RUSI), founded in 1831, one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the
world which throughout its history has been at the forefront of
contemporary political and military thought. (We too have our Institute of
Strategic Studies, the chairmanship of which provides a perch for perks for
my friend and religious scholar-strategist, Agha Murtaza Pooya).
In London Wellington lived at Apsley House, Hyde Park Corner (where the
present Duke still lives), and in the country at Stratfield Saye, bought
for him after Waterloo by a grateful nation.
As a young man he was of vigorous disposition and Harriette Wilson, in her
Memoirs claimed to have sometimes consoled him. The publisher of the book,
Stockdale, sent a blackmailing letter to the Duke. He simply wrote upon it
the words Publish and be damned, and sent it right back. But then he was
a straightforward outstanding man.
What is happening to us now is that we, the 130 million people, are being
internationally, rightly or wrongly, adjudged and damned. Disturbing
articles and adverse news reports are being published abroad in newspapers
and magazines that matter about our leaders, and our country.
The year started badly. Barrons, The Dow Jones Business and Financial
Weekly (published in New York) is read by the men of every financial
institution and bank of standing. It holds annual conferences to which it
invites men of stature in the world of finance and investment. At the 1996
round-table conference held in January, Banker Jim Rogers said of Pakistan:
The market has caved in. There is violence in the streets. The cotton crop
failed three years in a row their largest source of external exchange. It
has just been an unmitigated disaster. Benazir Bhutto is a ... and a .. and
a ... and a ... And you can quote me. Anyway, they are going to have a
cotton crop again. And the government has started buying shares its
starting to do everything it can to support the exchange.
This was damning indeed. The credibility of our Prime Minister had been
attacked at a top financiers meeting. According to a Dawn report from its
Washington correspondent printed at the end of January, the Prime Minister
was considering serving a notice on Barrons if it refused to apologise and
express its regrets. Nothing was done by her to uphold her honour, or our
countrys reputation. No official protests were raised. Did our Ambassador
to the US go to Rogers to find out why he had said what he had and on what
he had based his findings?
Next came the bombshell from Germany. We read about the information on
international corruption stored and analysed at the University of
Gottingen. It defines corruption as the misuse of public power for private
benefits such as the bribing of public officials, taking kickbacks in
public procurement or embezzling public funds.
Besides their own research, also relied upon are report perceptions from
people in international business, mostly emanating from industrialised
nations who deal regularly with foreign companies and governments. The
rating we got from Gottingen was that, despite our best efforts, we stood
second, to Nigeria. Again, our government seemed satisfied with the
Gottingen findings. No one went to Gottingen to challenge the placing, or
to find out about their method of indexing. Did our Ambassador in Germany
bother?
Thirdly, the question of the Surrey estate measuring some 350 acres
reportedly bought by the Prime Minister and/or her spouse, with a private
landing strip, an indoor swimming pool and alarm systems connected to
Scotland Yard (a facility only available to a head of state or government).
Londons Sunday Express stands by the story, as reported on the front page
of Dawn on June 16.
The Economist, widely read all over the world, in its issue of June 15-21,
under the heading Muck and money reports that: Miss Bhutto and Mr
Zardari have stoutly denied the allegations. How can anyone think of
buying a mansion in England when people in Pakistan dont even have a roof
over their heads? protested Mr Zardari. The allegation is petty and
mean, said Miss Bhutto angrily. It is against the Koran to level false
charges against a woman. Both say they are thinking of suing the British
paper. The Sunday Express has said it stands by its story and is prepared
to defend any libel action.
The people of Pakistan say that, Benazir and Asif will not be foolish
enough to sue, and they ask, Is this what we are taxed for?
I would commend people to reread what Shahid Hussain wrote in Dawn on June
10. Shahid has just retired as the Senior Executive vice-president of the
World Bank, having been with the Bank for 33 years. Shahid, a very worried
Pakistani, says that when the Prime Ministers economic team was last in
Washington, our high and mighty privately admitted that expenditure
control had broken down and that the target for tax collection was highly
exaggerated. Why are they not admitting it to the people of Pakistan? The
same officials complained in the US that the heads of public financial
organisations were appointed on the special instructions of a high-up.
Shahid also reports that there are seven billion dollars of foreign
exchange deposits against which the State Bank has no reserves.
He will be coming to Karachi next month and I have invited him to meet me
and my business friends and apprise us about Washingtons perception of
Pakistan. My question: How many inches of water are there under our keel?
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960622
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Only suckers pay taxes
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Mazdak
THE annual budget exercise is much like a visit to the dentist: you know
its going to hurt even though the dentist keeps assuring you that it
wont. This year, the agony has been especially excruciating.
And to add insult to injury, those responsible for inflicting this pain are
giggling at our discomfort from the sidelines, safe in the knowledge that
their vast agricultural incomes remain outside the purview of the tax-
collectors.
To rub further salt into our wounds, newspapers here and abroad inform us
every day of the fiscal skulduggery and the extravagant lifestyle of our
leaders who insouciantly keep sweeping this dirt under the carpet. And who
cares if the pile under the carpet now threatens to touch the ceiling?
We remain so busy ducking for cover at the end of the fiscal year that we
forget that the budget, apart from being a balance sheet indicating the
governments expenditure and income, is also supposed to reflect the
governments economic philosophy. In effect, it is a statement of intent of
the ruling partys approach to economic development. OK, so in Pakistan the
whole exercise has come to resemble legalised highway robbery, but we
should not lose sight of the larger policy aspect of the annual budget.
However, we can be excused for overlooking this as it is doubtful that
those responsible for framing this document have any purpose in mind higher
than the intention to gouge as much out of us as possible. It goes without
saying that the land- owning gentry are excluded from the list of
sacrificial victims.
If this particular budget seems more extortionist than its producers, it is
largely because the governments expenditure keeps rising exponentially.
Rather than accepting the pain involved in cutting costs, our rulers have
decided to take the easier route of hitting us for increases in defence
spending and the salaries and allowances of our elected representatives,
and the heads of the government and the state. No doubt this enhancement in
pay and perks is viewed by them as a well-deserved bonus for a job well
done. Had we been consulted in the matter, we might have expressed a
different opinion. Indeed, most people I know would have responded with a
jeer and a rude gesture.
Given the callousness of most of our legislators not to mention their
obscurely-gained wealth it is inconceivable that they will ever stand up
for us when the budget is being rammed through Parliament. With all its
sound and fury, the Opposition will do no more than scoring a few debating
points: remember how they shafted us when they were in power? So I suggest
that everybody involved with the budget-making exercise should be forced to
live on the income of a middle-class Pakistani for one month. This way,
when they slap on their GST and sundry other rapacious levies, they will
know exactly how much pain they are causing the average housewife.
Returning to the larger question of economic development, The Economist
recently devoted a cover story (The mystery of economic growth) to the
subject. In brief, the London-based weekly attempted to isolate those
factors that enabled certain poor countries to sprint ahead, and tried to
identify the reasons why some societies remain backward.
The conclusion reached by the magazine is that liberal economic policies
and a democratic dispensation play a pivotal role in determining success or
failure. Although this seems fairly obvious and self-evident, Mr George
Ayittey, president of The Free Africa Foundation, has taken issue with this
approach in a letter to the editor published in last weeks Economist. I am
quoting his views at some length because some of them may be of relevance
to us:
As a black African, I find your treatise... missing a key factor: the
nature of government itself. The political character of the state
(democratic or authoritarian) is not particularly important.
In most Third World countries, the state itself has been hijacked by
gangsters, with every key institution (judiciary, banking, military, Press,
etc.) debauched. Sub-Saharan Africa the poorest region in the Third World
is a prime example. Brutally inefficient and grotesquely incompetent
authoritarian regimes proliferate. The underlying ethics of
authoritarianism are self-aggrandisement and self-perpetuation. Access to
political power guarantees fabulous wealth. (The richest people in Africa
are heads of state and ministers). Thus, the political and economic systems
are fused: it is futile to reform one without the other. What keeps
Africans poor is their powerlessness to remove predatory governments or
force existing ones to adopt the right policies in a peaceful way.
This stinging indictment reinforces the recent findings of Transparency
International, the Berlin-based organisation that issues annual rankings of
the most corrupt countries in the world: out of the top ten of the venality
sweepstakes, just about every one is a Third World nation. And all the most
honest countries are developed Western societies. So much for those who see
Western society as a moral cesspool.
But as Lenin asked in the title of a famous booklet, Where Do We Go From
Here? How do we reform the system and purge it of our tormentors? Clearly,
those at the helm of affairs have to set an example in austerity and
integrity. Until this happens, we can hardly expect others occupying the
lower rungs of the hierarchy to clean up their act. Also, before lecturing
the rest of us to pay our taxes, it would help us to maintain a stiff upper
lip if we saw our leaders coughing up their share. Unfortunately, the list
of taxpayers made public by Mr Moeen Qureshi during his brief tenure as
caretaker prime minister revealed the full extent of tax evasion in this
country: some of the richest families in Pakistan including some of our
most prominent politicians pay virtually no taxes. At the same time, they
flaunt their vast wealth in the most obscene manner.
Given their thick hides and utter lack of shame, it would be expecting too
much of our elites to think they will change their ways. They consider it
their God-given right to live off the fat of the land while we subsidise
their extravagant and vulgar lifestyle. As far as they are concerned, only
suckers pay taxes. Alas, they are not far wrong: by voting in the same
class of exploiters time after time, we deserve what we are getting. Or
rather, what is being extorted from us.
So if we want the system to change for the better, we will have to change
our own attitudes first.
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960624
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How much land does a man need?
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Ayaz Amir
WHAT will remain of the Republic when its masters (I dare not say its
present masters) have finished with it? An empty till, Air Marshal
Khattaks Flying Circus (consisting of his hi-tech Mirages) and a people
carrying the burden of the realisation that their patience and intelligence
have been abused yet again.
It is not just the acquisition of Rockwood, the Zardaris estate in Surrey,
which is accentuating Pakistans current summer of discontent. A single
estate changing hands in the English countryside should not come as a
surprise to anyone who is even remotely aware of what has been happening in
the Republic over the last two and a half years. What is breath-taking is
the effrontery accompanying this disclosure. If it is a cock-and-bull
story, as the Prime Minister and her spouse have heatedly insisted, why
hasnt a libel notice been slapped on the Sunday Express? The powers that
be (a wonderful euphemism when you cannot name anyone directly) have not
been so cautious in serving defamation notices on errant journalists
(including myself) in Pakistan. Why the hesitation in doing so when it
comes to a foreign publication, especially one which has caused more damage
to the already tarnished credibility of this government than any other
single item of prurience or scandal?
Brazen audacity, however, compels admiration. On Saturday evening the Prime
Minister could again be seen on television squatting on the ground (no
doubt a handsome gesture towards the awam) and telling newsmen in Islamabad
that her governments priority, for which it had to impose a harsh budget,
was the eradication of poverty. What do you make of such a statement?
Rockwood and poverty. They indeed go hand in hand with each other.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Express, with a cruelty bordering on the sadistic,
reports yet again that local authorities around Rockwood have refused
permission to the owners of this property to set up a stud but have
approved another application to build 63 loose boxes (whatever these are)
to keep polo ponies in.
What kind of a democracy have we built in Pakistan? Democracy is not only a
system of checks and balances. It also means a system of accountability
which prevents those in power from committing excesses. In this country the
concept of the rule of law has always had a weak grip on the people. As for
rulers, they have always considered it their prerogative to be above the
law and to use public office for self-enrichment. But in these last ten
years this tendency has broken all previous records. Today the people of
Pakistan (that is, those who think about these problems) are not just
concerned about the acquisition of one country estate in England. If that
was all it would be no great matter. What they are asking is whether there
are any limits to high-powered greed?
Remember Tolstoys short story How much land does a man need? Well, how
much wealth does a man need? What is the extent of it that would satisfy
him? Ruling and administration are great privileges that are not bestowed
by the heavens upon every mortal. Even though it may have enormous
problems, Pakistan with its 130 million souls is not a small country. Being
called upon to administer its affairs is a great privilege. And yet
consider the outlook of the persons who over the years have enjoyed this
privilege.
Admittedly, it is not easy for every ruler to become Akbar the Great. A
camel-driver will behave like a camel-driver even if you make him king.
Still, even if people do not expect greatness from their rulers, they look
for a modicum of restraint and good sense from them. It is also true that
at times even small men are touched by the greatness of the offices that
through the intercession of a blind providence they happen to occupy. But
look at the people of Pakistan whose destiny it has been to be lorded over
by rulers the mediocrity of whose talents has been inversely proportional
to the extent of their greed.
India next door has not been gifted with great rulers either. But at least
there is some residual sense of shame amongst its ruling circles. If a
minister or a son of the prime minister is caught in a scandal there are
red faces all around and there is some attempt at independent investigation
and prosecution. Contrast this with Pakistan where the biggest scandals
sink without a trace into the cesspool that national politics has become.
Other democracies pride themselves on their accountability. In the United
States most people would be hard- pressed to come up with the precise
details of the Whitewater scandal. And yet President Clinton and his wife
for all their efforts cannot break free from its tentacles. Pakistan, on
the other hand, must take the prize for unaccountability. Anything,
virtually anything, that someone in a position of power does, he can get
away with. Not only that but woe betide anyone who comes too much in his
way.
Just consider in this connection what happened in the case of M.B. Abbasi,
the head of the National Bank. Not long ago there was a newspaper story
which spoke of his rise and rise. When the intrepid journalist who was
behind the story had some discreet questions put to him, he found himself
unable to hide his sources. Although all of those putative sources were
fairly senior bankers, they were picked up like so many flies by the
ubiquitous FIA and kept in the clink till they or their families had
abjectly apologised to M.B. Abbasi. What is the moral of the tale? That
cross a person like Abbasi only at your peril. Also that the Whitewater
scandal would never have erupted in Pakistan. My friend Rehman Malik of the
FIA would soon have taken care of it. As for M.B. Abbasi with his powerful
connections, I have no hesitation in admitting that if I were to see him
coming from the opposite direction, I would move over to the other side of
the street.
If we really had a system of checks and balances, the excesses of one
branch of the government would be balanced by the correcting hand of
another. But in Pakistan today we have a President who has been acting like
a Postmaster General. Send him something and he will receive it and then
probably mark it to some other destination. If he hears of something he
will pull a long face and try to look like a Solon. But he has amply shown
that it is foolish to pin any other hopes on him.
It is not that he should become an interfering Tom like Ghulam Ishaq Khan
did in his dotage. But must he acquiesce helplessly in every questionable
act of the government? Did he have to confirm the appointment of the jiala
judges whose position had become disputed as a result of the so-called
judges case just a day before the Supreme Court was to announce its
verdict? That surely was going beyond the call of constitutional duty. And
what about the reference or the review petition sent by the government to
the Supreme Court? Anyone who says that the President had no choice in the
matter is guilty of naivete. If a president empowered by the Eighth
Amendment is not capable of sending back a reference conceived in spite,
then he is not living up to his constitutional responsibilities. But then
it is the Presidents loss that he squandered this opportunity. If he had
done the right thing, he would have earned the plaudits of the people
instead of being seen, as he continues to be, as someone who has not
outgrown his political roots.
All the same, the people of Pakistan should be grateful for small mercies.
In a country like Pakistan which has been accursed by the blight of
military putschism, it is never a good thing to glorify the army. But
imagine if at this critical juncture a juncture defined by Rockwood and
the present incendiary budget anyone other than General Jehangir Karamat
had been chief of the army. Imagine if either of the two loyalists who were
lobbying so hard for the post, Naseer Akhtar or Javed Ashraf Qazi, had
become chief of the army staff. The mind boggles.
That at least was a decision for which the President deserves the nations
thanks. Had he allowed himself to be influenced by what interested quarters
in the government wanted, the country would have been in a sorry mess.
Which is not to say that the country needs a saviour in khaki. Of this
breed we have had enough. It is only this that the mere presence of an
upright and competent person in the armys driving seat is creating some
sort of a balance, however tenuous that this may be, in the affairs of the
Republic. Otherwise it is not too much to suppose that the last barriers of
restraint would have been removed from the tree- lined avenues of
Islamabad.
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960623
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A collapsing city
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Omar Kureishi
A few weeks ago I wrote about power-cuts in Karachi and how the erratic
supply of power had rendered my electric typewriter hors d combat. It was
a light-hearted attempt to highlight a deadly serious problem.
As other columnists will testify, what we write and in whichever mood,
rarely influence those who are blessed with the authority to alter the
course of our destiny. I am aware that this column, which is about power-
cuts, will not shake up KESC or WAPDA or whoever. So why am I writing it?
The alternative would have been to write about the Budget which is an even
more painful subject.
Power-cuts are a familiar part of our tortured lives but this time the cuts
seem to be far more severe and far more whimsical. There is no pattern to
them. There is the added misery of a heat wave and this has taken a toll of
many lives, in the bargain exposing the limitations and incompetence and
indeed callousness of hospitals, in itself a subject worthy of a separate
column.
In 1987, I reproduced a letter I had received. It was written by Capt. Z.N.
Mirza, Master Mariner. It is so relevant that it bears reproducing it
again. He said in his letter that he was an old man now and a sailor to
boot and in his lonely hours he had been musing about his chances of
survival in the Hereafter. The process involved much thought for him and he
listed the problems of the world generally and of this country in
particular. These were power-cuts, telephones, water shortages, the traffic
problem, the police high-handedness, the cost of living and price
increases. He then concluded: When I die, in accordance with what Ive
learned, I shall report at the Pearly Gates, humbly present my bio-data and
declare my nationality. The Angel Keeper of the Keys shall say unto to me,
Pakistani, eh? Welcome, good and stalwart friend, enter Paradise... Youve
had your share of hell!
There is about the power-cuts this time a certain bloody- mindedness as if,
the KESC has just washed its hands off the whole business, given up the
ghost. There isnt even an attempt to explain their position or hold out
any hope, even though we know that it would be false hope. But why should
we expect the KESC to function efficiently when the entire infrastructure
of the city is crumbling? Why do we expect miracles from them when nothing
else seems to work?
The power-cuts have aggravated the water shortages but, in their own right,
there is a major problem of water which has nothing to do with power-cuts.
The telephones remain as temperamental as ever, working whenever the mood
strikes them and not working when the mood is off. They appear to have a
will of their own. Consider simply the condition of the roads and with the
advent of the rainy season whatever roads we have will be washed away, as
they are, year after year, whenever it rains. The condition of public
transport would form a part of the share of hell of Capt. Mirza.
One allows for the fact that Karachi has grown out of all recognition. It
is a mega-city with a population in excess of 10 million. And it has grown
haphazardly with no semblance of town planning. It has also become one of
the most polluted cities in the world. The lungs of the city have been
choked, the parks and playgrounds are fast disappearing. I am frankly
astonished that Frere Hall is still there and has not been turned into a
shopping mall. Why have we allowed what was once a lovely city to become a
gigantic sprawling slum? And I include the posh areas for there is nothing
posh about them except the rental of the houses. In these posh areas, one
sees garbage dumps that have been piled up for days, if not months and
nobody seems to care. Our sense of community appears to have been frozen.
I will not dwell on the safety aspects of the city. That there has been
some improvement cannot be denied but we still get random killings of a
political nature and the fear persists that the violence can flare up any
time. But political problems need political solutions and civic problems
need civic solutions. Why cant the infrastructure be improved? Is it
because of financial constraints? Or is it simply because we lack the Will?
I remember a Federal Secretary telling me as long ago as 1980 that Karachi
as a functioning city will cease to exist in the nineties. Even then
Karachi was a bit of a shambles but nothing like it has become. What
Karachi needs is meaningful social and civic action and not promises and
rhetoric. We need to bring a sense of order in the city. I admit it is a
gigantic task but not an impossible one. When I went to Calcutta in 1987,
it was a dying city and I saw no hope for it. Yet I went there earlier this
year for the opening ceremony of the World Cup and even allowing for the
fact that the city had been tarted up for the occasion, there were signs of
a re-birth of the city.
Somebody had got down to some serious work. I really do not know why we
cannot have a dependable electricity system in Karachi. I dont know what
the constraints are or the impediments. But the prospect of having power-
cuts with a vengeance as we are having now is totally unacceptable. We have
always responded to emergencies by carrying out patch-work repairs and in
due course of time these very patch-work repairs become a part of the
problem. Thats the sort of rut we have got ourselves into.
===================================================================
960625
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Pakistan to get $10m as World Cup profit
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Ilyas Beg
LAHORE, June 24: Pakistan and India are expected to get over $10 million
each as profit from the Sixth World Cup Cricket Tournament hosted jointly
by the two countries along with Sri Lanka. The overall profits are
estimated to be around $ 21 million. Both the countries have already
received $6.5 million, each.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Finance Adviser Mujahid Eshai, who recently
visited India to discuss and verify the finances of the Pakistan-India-
Lanka Committee (PILCOM), told Dawn that the proposed visit of the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) representatives I. S. Bhindra and J.
Dalmia to Pakistan this month had to be cancelled due to the pre-occupation
of the two officials in their own country.
PCB Finance Adviser said that the total estimated revenue of PILCOM was
over $40 million. Major contributors (about 50 per cent) in that were the
TV sales. Besides the main sponsors Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) had
contributed eight million pounds (about $13 million). The sub-sponsors
Coca-Cola contributed $3.69 million. The rest of the amount was
contributed by sub-sponsors and ground advertising etc.
While replying to a question Mujahid Eshai said that the total expenditure
of the World Cup was $18.5 million. So the expected profit was $21.5
million. Giving details of the expenses, he said that TV production cost
$four million. Guarantee money to ICC, nine full member countries and 23
associate member countries was estimated to be $8.8 million. Insurance
obtained cost (premiums paid was $1.012 million. Registration of trade
marks and advertising cost $0.570 million.. Joint reimbursement tournament
costs by both India and Pakistan was $two million.
Out of the surplus, $13 million have been equally distributed between
Pakistan and India (as per terms of the agreement). The balance of
receivables and bank-balances is eight to $8.5 million.
While replying to another question, Mujahid Eshai said that Sri Lanka had
been allowed to get all the revenues for hosting matches besides her share
of guarantee money. However, due to refusal of Australia and the West
Indies teams to play matches in that country, Sri Lanka was given $2.5 lakh
to compensate for the losses. Mujahid Eshai said that the PILCOM would
decide whether to pursue a claim against the boards of the two countries
for the loss caused.
The PCB Finance Adviser said that the nine full ICC members were getting
2.5 lakh pounds each as guarantee money. The three associate members UAE,
Kenya, Holland who took part in the World Cup would get 1.25 lakh pounds
each. The non-playing associate member countries were to get one lakh
pounds, each.
Mujahid Eshai said that he pointed out some errors and omissions to the
Indian members about the reimbursable statement during his visit there. The
PILCOM will discuss expenditure of the opening ceremony of the World Cup
and expenses on guests of the semi-finals. He said that issue of taxes by
the Indian government was also discussed. The dispute of telecasting the
matches among World-Tel, Doordarshan and Star TV will be resolved through
arbitration by Mr N. P. K. Salve. That may also fetch revenue of a few
million dollars.
The deduction of some amount from the guarantee money to be given to some
teams, who brought more than the permitted number of players and officials
for participation in the World Cup, was also yet to be decided.
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960627
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Pakistan open England tour today with 1-dayer
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Qamar Ahmed
LONDON, June 26: Pakistan start their nine-week tour of England tomorrow
(Thursday) with a 50-over match against the National Cricket Association
(NCA) England XI at Trowbridge, a small picturesque village in the
countryside of Wiltshire, and they go onwards to Cardiff for the opening
first class game against Glamorgan.
So far they remain the only team to win a jackpot of Pound 50,000 by
defeating the counties while on tour in 1992. On their last tour under
Javed Miandad they were offered the challenge of beating eight counties out
of twelve. They won nine and thus bagged the jackpot. The present tour
being brief, Pakistan plays only six major counties and the prize money is
not that big as the last time.
Having arrived in England without much publicity because the second Test
against India at Lords and the Europe 96 football fever, they have had so
far peaceful nights and quiet sessions in the nets.
After three days of workout and practice at Edgbaston in Birmingham where
they landed after their successful four-day tour of Holland which ended
victories for the visitors, the tourists drove into London in the team
coach on Monday.
On Tuesday while practising at Lords they were mobbed by students from
Eton and Harrow who had occupied the stands for their traditional annual
game at the home of cricket. It was a fine opportunity for the young school
boys to have a look at them and seek their autographs.
The Pakistan team had come in at Lords after having lunch in the houses of
parliament along with the Indian touring team and members of the British
Parliament from the House of Lords and the Commons.
They were taken around the historical building and showed around and were
greeted with speeches made by the members. It was a unique and memorable
occasion, said Yawar Saeed, the manager of the team.
After another practice session yesterday at Lords, the tourists left for
tomorrows game straight from the ground.
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960624
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Holland win tournament, Pakistan finish third
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Sydney Friskin
AMSTELVEEN, June 23: Pakistan turned the tables on Great Britain here on
Sunday with a 3-0 victory which enabled them to take third place in the
four-nation hockey tournament for the NGM Trophy.
Apart from the result which helped avenge the 1-0 defeat on the previous
day, Pakistans performance looked more reassuring with a change of
tactics. Instead of trying unavailingly to rush through the middle they
exploited their wing forwards and the man who inspired them to victory was
Mohammad Nadeem on the left wing. Mohammed Anis at centre forward scored
two goals.
On the other wing Mohammed Sarwar was equally effective, so was Rahim Khan
when he replaced him in the second half. In fact by using the width of the
field Pakistan were able to combine better than on the previous day.
Mansoor Ahmad did not again keep goal for Pakistan but they had no worries.
His deputy Khalid Mohmood discharged his duties with much confidence and
made several smart saves. He rose to the occasion in the eighth minute by
saving off Calum Giles at a penalty corner.
Teams were:
Pakistan: Khalid Mahmood, Danish Kalim, Rana Mujahid, Mohammed Usman,
Mohammed Khalid, Irfan Mahmood, Mohammed Rahim Sarwar, Tahir Zaman (Capt),
Mohammed Anis, Mohammad Shahbaz, Mohammed Nadeem. Subs used: Rahim Khan,
Aleem Raza.
Great Britain: D. Luckes; J. Wyatt, J. Halls, S. Hazlitt, K. Takher, Soma
Singh J. Shawr. Garcia, R. Thompson, J. Laslett, N. Thompson, Subs used. D.
Hall, G. Mayer, C.Giles, P. McGjuire.
Umpires: P. Von Reth (Holland) and C. Siebrecht (Germany).
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960625
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Pakistan to participate in World Snooker Cup
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Sports Reporter
KARACHI, June 24: Pakistan will be among the 20 countries participating in
the 1996 World Snooker Cup, which will held at the Asmari Watergate Hotel
in Bangkok, Thailand, from Oct 29 to Nov 10 inclusive.
This was stated by Ali Asghar Valika, President, Asian Billiard and Snooker
Federation (ABSF) and Pakistan Billiard and Snooker Association (PBSA), at
a function held at the Karachi Club to felicitate Ali Asghar Valika for
being re-elected as the President of the Asian Billiard and Snooker
Federation.
The ABSF & PBSA President said that 12 countries were seeded and eight have
qualified for the first World Cup snooker contest after the qualifying
rounds were held earlier this year.
Pakistan did not have to qualify, ranked among the 12 seeded countries due
to the fact that Shokat Ali, the English-based Pakistan cueist, is ranked
59th in the World Professional rankings. Countries having snooker players
in the first 64 in the professional rankings, automatically qualified for
the world cup extravaganza.
The 12 seeded countries are : Australia, Canada, England, Malta, New
Zealand, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, South
Africa, Thailand and Wales. The eight qualifying countries are : Belgium,
China, Hong Kong, Iceland, Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore and United Arab
Emirates (UAE).
Three players will represent each country and will play one frame against
every player in the pool.
The three players representing Pakistan will be Shokat Ali, Saleh Mohammad
and Farhan Mirza ranked No.1 and No. 2 respectively. Former world amateur
champion Mohammad Yusuf, ranked now at No. 3, failed to make the team.
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