Ban on Plastic Bags

By Shujauddin Qureshi

Despite the fact the government of Sindh has imposed a ban on use of plastic bags in the province from October 1, 2019, there seems a gigantic task before the provincial administration to implement the ban. There seems an impact on use of plastic polythene bags in the city as it is openly used by vendors in all parts of Karachi city.

Although the environmentalists have welcomed the campaign and committed to making it successful, there are many strong reasons for others that this campaign is about to fail.

The main reason is the resistance from the manufacturers and traders that said no alternative is provided to them to replace plastic bags. The notification states: "....only Oxo-biodegradable plastic/shopping bags of 30-40 microns or weight from 6 to 28 grams are allowed to be manufactured, sold/purchased and used in Sindh."

A section of the traders has even demanded the provincial government provide them thousands of cotton cloth bags free of cost so they can replace plastic bags. The manufacturers fear widespread unemployment as a result of the closure of the factories. A huge amount of plastic raw material is already imported and stored in godowns, waiting to be processed and converted into plastic bags. Whereas the manufacturers say they have invested millions of rupees in the import of machinery and all would be wasted if they stopped making the plastics.

Although the government seems to be committed to implementing the ban as the spokesman of the provincial government Murtaza Wahab told newsmen at a press conference in Karachi that the Environment Protection Agency has raided many places where the ban was being violated. A wholesaler in Khori Garden wholesale market was raided and EPA confiscated tons of plastic bags and a plastic bags manufacturing factory in Jamshoro was sealed.

In the past similar attempts were made in all four provinces but remained failed. In 1994-95 both Sindh and Punjab governments banned plastic bags, but that remained ineffective. In Islamabad, a ban is recently imposed on the use of plastic bags.

Some critics say the government has not done any homework before launching the campaign and no alternative is provided to the public, traders and manufacturers. "It is just like previous campaigns by the government like compulsory use of helmets by the motorcyclists," a shopkeeper said. 

Forcing to make content on Kashmir

Bloggers/Vloggers being bullied to make content on Pakistani version of "Kashmir" issue

By Shujauddin Qureshi

After Indian Prime Minister Modi's bomb-shell decision regarding Indian-held-Kashmir on August 5  revoking the occupied Kashmir's special autonomy through a rushed presidential decree, the social media zealots have become so active and have started making the lives of the independent social media activists miserable.

The so-called Pakistani Jihadi trollers (who often hide their identities on social media) have started bullying and forcing prominent bloggers and vloggers and personalities to make pro-Kashmir blogs or issue statements. When some ignored their unjustified demands, they started their ugly tactics of abusing and threatening them through social media.

The first such incident I noticed on social when a prominent V-Loger Irfan Junejo with 779,167 subscribers on YouTube and 52.8K followers on Twitter twitted and made a video regarding such intimations by "aliens".

I make it clear here that I did not know the young Video Youtuber Junejo (maybe because I am seldom interested in his topics) and I was not a follower of Junejo previously, but after that incident, I started following him on both Twitter and Youtube.

Junejo has also made a special video on Youtube on this topic and said he will not make any video on Kashmir under any duress. It is a pity that social media platforms are abused by religious zealots and extremist elements as they want to spread their point of view by hook and crook. Otherwise, they use abusive language and adopt immoral and illegal tactics to force the person to do so. It is quite difficult to find who else has been bullied or forced to make their posts or videos on the Pakistani version of the Kashmir issue, but I am confident that their numbers must be in the hundreds.

"It was not a request, but a proper bullying", he states in his video: https://youtu.be/XDfP8Xcf-P4. Interestingly, his following increased after such posts despite the fact the zealots had started unfollowing him. He twitted on August 18 "Cancellation se pehle - 47.4K followers. After cancellation - 47.9K followers."

The second prominent V-Logger and social media activist was Junaid Akram, whom I follow on FaceBook and YouTube because I like the topics he often touches on. I am also fond of libraries and books and he promotes libraries in Karachi. I am also his admirer because of his straightforwardness and candid opinions on the critical issues of society. On his YouTube channel, he has 292,862 subscribers and  820,727 people like his Face Book page "Khalli Kara👦!".

He has also made a video in the Stories on Facebook (which often expires after 24 hours) complaining about bullying by the trollers. According to him they were also compelling him to make videos on Kashmir according to their (former's) opinions. He has given those trollers a befitting reply in the video and I hope they were using Burnol ointment on their scars.

The third victim of this smear campaign by zealots was not other than Malala Yousufzai, the Nobel Peace Award laureate as usual, who has been receiving such types of criticism from those who often doubt his love to Pakistan. I just quote a twit by his father Ziauddin Yousufzai, who replied in a previous twit by TV anchor Irshad Bhatti. The so-called journalist was so uninformed that he asked on Twitter why Malala has not issued a statement in support of Kashmiri people who suffer because of the curfew in the Indian-held Kashmir. This ignorant journalist with his doubtful credentials had received an apt reply by her father asking the former to read Malala's 8th August statement on Kashmir.

Ends

Thirsty Sindh

By Shujauddin Qureshi

A picture of a dead woman with her deceased child is under circulation on social media these days as its caption states that both had died because of thirst in Katchho area in Dadu district. According to reports, they had lost their way in the semi-hilly arid area in Johi Taluka as their water bottles dried up after some time and there was no other source of water around. Their tragic deaths portray the worst situation of water availability in many areas of Sindh.

On daily basis, we receive news about the citizens’ protests in Badin district against water shortage, whereas there are other far-flung areas where people are unable to raise their voices against the shortage of the basic necessities of life – water.

It is pity that the state of Pakistan has never thought about the plight of these people. The government has never seriously considered providing water to the arid areas, despite the fact many projects were initiated in the past.

Except for the areas, which are close to River Indus or its canal system, many areas in Sindh are dry and arid where water is unavailable, and even the subsoil water sources are depleting due to climate and ecological changes. Katcho and Kohistan (in Dadu and Jamshoro districts) and Thar (including Achhro Thar) are the major geographical areas, where people are deprived of water.

Most of the population migrates from these areas in search of water, but those who cannot afford to migrate have to walk for miles to fetch water for daily consumption. I know many areas in Thatta and Badin districts are also facing water shortages despite the fact the irrigation system exists in those areas. That issue is the mismanagement of the water distribution system by the most corrupt provincial Irrigation department, which allows the influential landlords to steal the water of the tail-end users.

But where there is no canal system, no alternate water source is available and the government has never tried to provide water to those areas. The areas along Khirthar's hilly range spread in the right borders of Sindh are the most thirty areas.

Mother Nature has also kept these arid areas deprived of water sources and they mostly rely on rain waters. Rains in Sindh areas are declining due to various reasons including climate change and man-made depletion of forest cover due to the greed of the landlords who have acquired leases of the forest lands and cut the trees to use the land for agricultural purposes.

Katchho is naturally a deprived area of water. Although some natural waterways are available, they have been destroyed due to faulty development. For example, Main Nara Valley (MNV) drain used to flow from the Katchho area but due to the incomplete Right Bank Outfall Drain project, that source of water is unavailable these days. This major artery has been converted into a cesspool of gutter water carrying the most polluted saline water from industries, municipal and agricultural lands in upper parts of Sindh, Balochistan and Southern Punjab. This water is ultimately discharged into Manchhar lake, which is already destroyed.

The Chief Minister of Sindh, Chief Justice of Sindh High Court or any other authority has still not been moved by this sad picture as they have not taken any notice of this double death of a mother and her child in the Katchho area due to thirst. After some time, we would also forget this picture and the plight of the Katchho people would continue forever.

Ends

Repeating the same mistakes

Shujauddin Qureshi  May 26, 2019

Pakistan is facing the worst-ever fiscal deficit with increasing expenditures and declining revenue collection. The fiscal deficit rose to its peak at 5 per cent in nine months of the current fiscal year (2018-19), one of the highest in the decade.

According to official figures released by the Ministry of Finance early this week, the country’s fiscal deficit went up to Rs. 900 billion which is 2.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Revenue collection, however, remained dismal till March 2019 as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected just Rs. 3,582 billion which is 9.3 per cent of the GDP as compared to 10.4 per cent during the corresponding period of previous fiscal year. Pakistan is still short of Rs 816 billion in the revenue target, which the government is trying to achieve through a tax amnesty scheme.

Every year the tax collection machinery shows a dismal performance and the federal government has to revise revenue collection targets several times during the year. The present PTI government had projected a tax revenue target of Rs 4,398 billion for the fiscal year 2018-19, which seems to be a gigantic task before this government. It has made many adjustments in various targets after coming into power in August last year as well as recent changes in Finance Bill 2018-19 and its financial team by installing a private-sector income tax expert as head of the FBR, besides importing its Finance Ministry’s head Dr. Hafeez Shaikh and State Bank’s Governor Dr. Reza Baqir.

The total expenditures, however, remained on the higher side as they touched 14.3 per cent of the GDP in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Last year as well, during the corresponding period the total expenditure remained higher at 14.7 per cent of GDP in nine months.

“Despite less revenue collection, the government expenditure remains almost the same or higher than the targets in the budget as no government department is ready to lower their expenditures,” says Muzammil Islam, a senior economist based in Karachi.

Talking to TNS he says no integrated method is adopted at the time of budget-making to fix the target for income and expenditure. “All estimates, thus, prove to be incorrect when we look at the figures at the end of the fiscal year. Interestingly, the government lowers the revenue targets during the fiscal year, but it has never lowered its expenditures.”

According to estimates by the World Bank and IMF, Pakistan has the potential to collect Rs 8000 billion on account of revenue collection, but despite fixing its targets at a lower side, the FBR has always failed to meet its targets.

Similar is the situation in the four provinces where they have a lot of potentials to raise their revenues through taxation. The provinces also look for their share in the divisible pool under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, which last adjusted its formula in 2009. Under the 7th NFC award, the four provinces are collectively entitled to 57.5 per cent from the divisible pool taxes which also included income tax, wealth tax, capital value tax, general sales tax (excluding services), customs duties and federal excise duty.

According to the Constitution of Pakistan, provinces can collect income tax on agriculture income, general sales tax on services and duties on properties, besides other levies like motor vehicle tax and stamp duties, etc.

“Provinces have never bothered to raise their revenues by exploiting their potential and at the end of the day they complain about fewer transfers from the federal government,” adds Muzammil.

The present government, in a bid to save the economy’s downslide, has taken various difficult decisions like allowing drastic devaluation of the Pakistani rupee, an increase in the discount rate by the State Bank to 12.25 per cent and an increase in power and gas prices. This has impacted common people a lot as the inflation rate has touched double digits and prices of almost all essential items have increased exponentially.

Additionally, the PTI government has also announced a tax amnesty scheme to whiten the undeclared assets, expenses and sales in order to generate more revenues. The amnesty scheme 2019 launched through the promulgation of an Ordinance on May 15 provides the facility to declare black money by paying lower taxes for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2018. The government expects to generate Rs 200 billion through this scheme.

The tax rate will be 1.5pc for whitening domestic immovable properties like real estate and for foreign assets, the fair market value will be determined at the exchange rate prevalent on the date of declaration.

The tax rate on undisclosed sales or supplies will be 2 per cent, which will also be offered for the first time for bringing undeclared sales into the tax net. This will cover the sales or supplies chargeable to sales tax or federal excise duty, which has not been declared or has been under-declared up to June 30, 2018.

This facility will be available for both individuals and companies and those who had filed, or not filed, their income tax returns for the tax year 2018. The filers are offered an option to revise their returns.

This is the second amnesty scheme in a row as last year former government of PML-N, under the then prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, had announced a similar amnesty scheme, which was severely criticised by the PTI leaders and present Prime Minister Imran Khan. He had termed the amnesty scheme of April 2018 a shameless attempt by then Prime Minister Abbasi to save criminals.

It may be noted that the PML-N government led by Mian Nawaz Sharif had also given three earlier schemes to bring black money into the mainstream economy in 2013, 2015 and 2016.

“First they steal money and then introduce tax amnesty schemes,” said Khan at a public rally in Hyderabad on April 6, 2018.

The main slogan of the PTI during the July 2018 election was to bring back the looted money and utilise it for the development, education and health sectors of the country. But instead of finding the real defaulters and even those who did not avail of the previous scheme, the present government has provided across-the-board amnesty.

“The tax rate of 1.5 per cent on properties is minimal so why the government cannot easily recover the tax at a normal rate on visible assets on the ground,” asks Dr. Shahid Hasan Siddiqui, Chairman of the Research Institute of Islamic Banking and Finances.

Talking to TNS Dr. Siddiqui says the country is facing a serious external sector crisis and needs foreign exchange, but instead of focusing on increasing exports, the government is providing relief to plunderers.

The government has not taken any serious measures to plug corruption and money laundering. It is doing the same things which the previous government did for years. Corruption is still a norm in government departments and there is no relief to the common people. They have lost their jobs as unemployment is increasing.

Appeared in The News on Sunday, May 26, 2019

Empowered by business

Shujauddin Qureshi

Khadija Bano, a worker living in Musharraf Colony in Karachi, plans to set up her own towel processing system on the first floor of her newly constructed house. Married to a worker with three children, Bano has been working for the last 11 years. She processes towels, including bleaching, dying and packing.

She started learning towel processing in a nearby factory and after mastering the skill in eight months, she started doing the same work at her home, she recalls.

A vendor who has installed the required machines at her home, also provides her with other materials, such as chemicals, powders, etc, for dying towels on a piece-rate basis. He also charges rent for the machines.

Bano says that after deducting all expenses, including utility charges, she can earn Rs15,000 to 16,000 every month.

Sometimes, there is more work which increases her income, but there are times when there is less work. When she has bigger orders, she engages other working ladies in the neighbourhood and shares the compensation with them.

But she complains that the work she does has no job security. Labour laws are not applicable to such work and employers are just interested in the completion of their work.

“We have made our own association, which is affiliated with HomeNet Pakistan, a network of home-based workers’ associations,” informs Bano, adding that she and other home-based workers have got a health insurance card which covers hospital expenses worth Rs200,000 annually for the entire family. This health insurance facility is provided by a private insurance company with financial support from UN Women.

Proud to be a self-employed and empowered woman in a poor locality, Bano says her family went through difficult times as her husband became seriously ill a few years ago. “I managed all the expenses of the hospital,” she says. Now her husband has recovered and is doing job in a factory. Belonging to a Katchi Memon family of Karachi, Bano has a daughter and two school-going sons.

“Currently, I am in the process of completing the construction of my home and when the first floor is ready, I will purchase my own material and start working,” she says.

Published in The News on Sunday, dated: May 12, 2019

May Day 2019

May Day 2019

Today is Labour Day. The day is being observed in memory of the struggle by Chicago's workers for 8-hour work, which is practically not available now anywhere in the world including Pakistan. 

Pakistan is the worst example of labour exploitation. We had inherited the labour laws from the British period including the key Indian Trade Unions Act 1926, which is still enforced in India but dictators scrapped it and the Factories Act 1934 which has never been implemented in factories.

The military dictators Ayoub Khan, Yahya and Ziaul Haq were the worst as far as labour is concerned, leave alone the entire nation. They practically usurped all those labour rights which even the empire had bestowed on its subjects. The Military Dictator Yahya Khan gave a new law for the registration of trade unions, the Industrial Relations Ordinance 1969, which further deteriorated the labour movement in Pakistan. 

Later, the neo-liberal economic policies imposed by Briton Wood in the name of liberalisation completely ruined the labour rights situation in Pakistan.
Privatization of the state-owned corporations completely washed out the trade unions from almost all sectors where earlier there were strong unions. Presently only 1% of workers are organised under trade unions in Pakistan.

Banking is the glaring example, where there is no unions, ghee, cement, and telecommunications sector had strong unions but the situation is the opposite now.

The working conditions in both private and government establishments have deteriorated with the introduction of contract and third-party contract systems in employment, which was first adopted by the private sector but then the government also started using it. This system provides relief to the employers from NOT paying employment benefits to the workers and also free them from the hassle of dealing with trade unions.

Although the Supreme Court of Pakistan has already declared the contract and third-party employment as against the Constitution, no measure has been taken by the government to end this exploitative system.

The export challenge

Shujauddin Qureshi

Although the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has succeeded in containing the trade deficit by about 13.2 per cent, exports of key products have not increased significantly and it is now clear that the government would not be able to meet the 27 billion dollar export target for the current fiscal year.

The rupee devaluation last year has not played a significant role in increasing exports. Economic experts believe the impact of currency devaluation would be reflected in the coming months. As buyers in the international market are already aware of the currency devaluation in Pakistan, they have demanded reductions in prices as well.

The decline in trade deficit during the eight months of the current fiscal year is mainly attributed to the discouragement of imports as the government had imposed regulatory duties on many non-essential import items, which caused a drop in the import bill by 7.96 per cent during the 9 months of the current fiscal year.

Pakistan’s imports were over $ 40.75 billion dollars till February 2019 against 44.28 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

“It is a silver lining for the economy that imports-led trade deficit has been controlled,” says Majyd Aziz, former President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). However, the trade deficit would further decline when exports are increased due to the impact of the rupee devaluation by June.

Aziz believes the government is encouraging exporters to increase their production volume in light of a number of incentives recently announced. Pakistan traditionally exports textiles and its allied products like garments, hosiery and towels, but other export products like rice, surgical equipment and sports goods are also in high demand.

“There is a lot of potentials to increase exports of non-traditional items like Information Technology services and software,” he adds.

Pakistan also enjoys a duty-free Generalised Scheme of Preference (GSP) Plus facility under which Pakistani businessmen can send their products to the European markets without paying any duty. This facility is available since 2014. Traditionally, the US, UK and European Union are the main markets for Pakistani textile and leather products.

According to Aziz, Pakistan has the potential for substitute imports. “For example, import bill for edible oils has significantly reduced in recent years as the local industry is extracting soybean oil from the imported seeds.” Earlier, Pakistan used to import soybean oil for refining and packing, but now soybean seeds are imported from the US and local oil mills are extracting oil and processing it, which has not only reduced the import bill but also created a new market for export of soybean meal from Pakistan.

Soybean meal is a substance left after extracting oil, which is used in the production of chicken feed and there is also a demand for the product abroad, especially in China. Pakistan is using soybean meal in producing chicken feed as the poultry sector has increased.

Exporters have been facing various problems like lack of finances, duty drawbacks and high rates of utility tariffs for many years now, but those problems were further aggravated during the current fiscal year as the export-oriented large-scale manufacturing sector’s production is subdued due to an increase in input costs.

“The cost of production is still much higher in Pakistan than in our competitor countries like Bangladesh and India,” says Javed Bilwani an exporter of fashion apparel and Central Chairman of the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA). Utility charges, for instance, are much higher in Pakistan as compared to Bangladesh and India where exporters receive subsidies.

“Closure of an export-oriented factory for one day in Karachi due to load shedding may cause 7 per cent loss in the production of exportable products,” he says. The government must ensure an uninterrupted power supply to the industries in order to meet the export target.

According to Bilwani, recently the federal government has announced cutting power tariffs for five export-oriented industries to provide incentives to the export sector of Pakistan. These are textile, leather, sports, surgical and carpet. These sectors are also zero-rated in duties.

The federal government has offered some incentives to the export industries, including exemption from the recent hike in natural gas prices and reducing the price of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Rs600 per one million British Thermal Units (MMBTU), from Rs1500 per MMBTU. Moreover, import duty on some raw materials used in the processing of export products has also been slashed.

Delay in the implementation of the above incentives is a cause of concern for the exporters as they complained that due to bureaucratic snags these incentives have still not been materialised.

The textile sector is the worst hit. Many industries in Faisalabad, the textile hub, are either closed down or running at losses.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan’s Second Quarterly Report, the performance of the textile sector, which is the largest exporting sector of Pakistan, remained subdued as its production came down by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018-19 as against the growth of 0.7 per cent during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. That growth was also not much even though it was supported by the relaxation of duties and other incentives on exports.

Pakistan’s overall exports have increased just by 0.11 per cent to 17.08 billion dollars during the period from July 2018 to March 2019 against the exports worth 17.06 billion dollars in the corresponding period of the last financial year, according to the Federal Bureau of Statistics.

Even though textile and garments exporters are optimistic about growth in exports in the coming months, they are also sceptical of the bureaucratic delays in the implementation of policies and incentives. They also fear that the incentives may be curtailed keeping in view conditionalities under the IMF loan, which Pakistan is currently negotiating to meet its fiscal deficit.

This appeared in The News on Sunday on April 14, 2019 

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Pakistan Exports, Economy

December 27, 2007: Sad day in history of Pakistan

December 27, 2007: Sad day in the history of Pakistan
Exactly 10 years ago on 27th December 2007, I heard the news of the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on TV, when I was leaving the office around 5.30 pm. I was also doing a part-time job in Daily Times' desk, whose office was located at I. I. Chundrigar road at that time.
First I took the route of Mai Kolachi towards Keamari bridge, but that road was chocked and traffic was being diverted towards PIDC. That road was also blocked by heavy rush. After great difficulty, I reached PIDC and then turned towards Shaheen Complex, where there was no chance to enter into the thoroughfare because the entire road was full of cars coming from the Tower's side. After waiting for a few minutes only one lane for going towards Tower was created and traffic moved at a snail's pace on that lane. It was really a test of my driving.
I had to reach near New Challi area, which took more than half an hour. There was no chance to take a u-turn to the office of the Daily Times. After spending another 15 minutes on the main road, I found a space to take a turn. As people were pelting stones and damaging vehicles, there was an environment of fear on the roads. Luckily, I found a place inside the building for parking of my car.
That night I left the Daily Times office by around 12 midnight when reports of traffic clearance came. At that time the entire rush on main I. I. Chundrigar road was cleared, but street lights were off and the same environment of fear prevailed.
It took another hour or so to reach at home as most of the roads were barren, but some were closed down, especially the Zamzama DHA area, where people from Gizri had burnt vehicles and damaged banks and shops.
I took a detour from Neelam Colony and reached the Khadda Market (DHA- 5) safely. For the next 2 days, the entire area was closed down and at last, Rangers came into the area and markets were opened. At least two vehicles were burnt in my area and a bank (UBL) was also set ablaze by the angry people.
In those days, I had also travelled to Hyderabad and a big line of burnt vehicles was found at the Hyderabad bypass. According to a Dawn report, Pakistan suffered a loss of 2 billion dollars.

A mysterious rupee-dollar seesaw

A mysterious rupee-dollar seesaw

Shujauddin Qureshi July 16, 2017

When many people in Pakistan were glued to their TV sets to watch Maryam Nawaz appeared before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in the Panama case and the main opposition political party, Pakistan People’s Party, was observing a “Black Day” to mark the 1977 Martial Law imposed by General Ziaul Haq on July 5, the currency market silently witnessed a 3.1 per cent slide in the Pakistan rupee’s value against US dollar in an apparent major devaluation after a 9-year cap on the exchange rate.

The rupee, which was being traded a day before at Rs104.9 against the US currency in the inter-bank trade, shed its value to Rs108.25. The devaluation was also endorsed by the regulator's central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan, near the close of the trading hours through a press release.

Simultaneously, there was panic buying in the open currency market, where greenback bills were unavailable even at Rs109 a dollar.

The SBP press release issued in the afternoon said depreciation had become necessary due to the growing deficit in the external account. “The SBP also believes that the current exchange rate is broadly aligned with the economic fundamentals,” said the press release issued by the External Relations Department of the SBP.

But after the end of trading hours, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar held an emergency meeting with his finance team and bankers and later in the evening, at a press conference, blamed the acting governor of the central bank for creating a market panic by announcing “artificial” devaluation.

Dar also announced to the appointment of a permanent SBP governor the same night and said he has ordered an inquiry into the “reasons” behind this sudden devaluation of the Pakistani currency. Although Tariq Bajwa has been named as the new SBP governor on July 6 and an inquiry committee has been formed to probe the reasons, bankers doubt any action would be taken against the people responsible. The finance minister had also indicated that bankers have agreed to keep the exchange rate down between Rs105 and Rs107 in the coming days.

Although Tariq Bajwa has been named as the new SBP governor on July 6 and an inquiry committee has been formed to probe the reasons, bankers doubt any action would be taken against the people responsible.

But here another question arises about the autonomy of the central bank, which emphatically stated that the currency depreciation was justified due to the economic situation of the country.

“It was a mysterious depreciation,” said a senior banker and finance expert Dr Shahid Hasan Siddiqui, who is also the Chairman of the Research Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance. In the past, currency depreciation happened in 2008 and 2013 and the government had announced to take action against the persons responsible for that but nothing happened.

“In November 2013, speculative buying caused devaluation of the rupee and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had immediately intervened and due to his commitment to bring the dollar back to Rs98 level, it came down actually within weeks,” said Dr Siddiqui. “But at that time also no action was taken against the responsible persons due to a secret deal.”

It is a matter of fact that the State Bank usually intervenes in the market whenever there is a surge in demand for the dollar, but this time the central bank surprisingly did not intervene, which caused a panic and thus rupee lost its value.

Market sources said a major commercial bank had suddenly started buying the US dollar in big volumes to make international payments in order to buy another commercial bank, so there was a surge in the dollar demand in a single day. In such a situation when demand increases, the central bank had to supply foreign currency in the market to keep the exchange rate intact, but it did not happen this time. Even the central bank supported the devaluation through its press release.

Although Tariq Bajwa has been named as the new SBP governor on July 6 and an inquiry committee has been formed to probe the reasons, bankers doubt any action would be taken against the people responsible.

Although it has been an outstanding demand of exporters to devalue rupee as the current exchange rate is quite higher to compete in the international market, the Pakistan Muslim League government has successfully kept the currency rate stable. Experts believe that there are other reasons behind declining Pakistani exports and the over-valuation of currency is a smaller reason.

“I also think the rupee is currently overvalued against the dollar as it should be around Rs112,” said Dr Siddiqui, adding that the soaring imbalance of trade demands to keep the currency exchange rate stable as we have to pay more for imports which are now double than exports.

Pakistani exports are declining gradually and exporters, especially textile manufacturers, have been demanding incentives in the form of relaxation in taxes and utility charges and devaluation of the currency in order to boost their exports. In January 2017, the government announced a package for exporters worth Rs180 billion by providing incentives for taxes and other benefits.

Under the “Prime Minister Trade Enhancement Incentives” package, the government abolished sales tax, and customs duty on the import of textile machinery and cotton. But all these and earlier incentives to exporters have not brought any major improvement in exports. Pakistani exporters decry over-billing, non-availability of electricity and gas and increase in prices of input materials, which have made the Pakistani product uncompetitive in the international market. But it is also a fact that Pakistani manufacturers are investing less in the value-addition of products.

According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics figures, Pakistan’s exports declined by 1.6 per cent from 20.79 billion dollars in 20015-16 to 20.45 billion dollars in the last fiscal year 2016-2017 whereas imports surged by 18.67 per cent to reach 53.03 billion dollars in 2016-17, thus showing a negative balance of trade of 32.56 billion dollars.

Banking sources said the inter-bank currency trade volume is much higher at 300 million dollars a day than the open market trade, which is around 30 million. In inter-bank, mainly imports, exports and remittances are traded through commercial banks, whereas in the open markets, travellers or retailers buy or sell dollars.

“The government’s timely intervention has stabilised the currency as the devaluation was not needed at this time,” said Malik Bostan, President of Forex Association of Pakistan, the apex body of private foreign currency traders.

Devaluation is supposed to be harmful to the economy as it is based on imports and in such a case prices of every item would be increased. “Depreciation is harmful to Pakistan as there are over 75 billion dollar foreign debts on the country, which would further increase in rupee terms,” said Malik Boston.

When asked how long the government would keep the exchange rate at this level, Bostan said if the government wishes, it can keep it at this level for life.

Although with the government’s intervention the exchange rate has started coming to pre-July 5 levels, the credibility of the central bank has come under question as experts believe the SBP’s autonomous status has been tarnished with intervention by the Finance Ministry after the SBP-supported the depreciation.

Appeared in The News on Sunday, July 16, 2017

Link: http://tns.thenews.com.pk/mysterious-rupee-dollar-seesaw/#.WW78_RWGPDc 

Raise in monthly fees by private schools

Raise in monthly fees by private schools

Every year private schools in Pakistan raise their fees without any notice or resistance from parents and helpless parents have to oblige the unjustified demands from private school management without any protest. This trend is continued without any resistance for many years and according to a figure quoted by a TV channel during the last five years, private schools have increased their fees by over 300 per cent, on average. This startling raise in the fees, when the annual inflation rate in the country is now in the single digit is really mind-boggling.

The main question is why the private schools are so free and liberal that whenever they want to extract money from parents, no state organization/department is questioning them. According to the law in Sindh (Private Educational Institutions (Regulation & Control) Ordinance 2001 and its amended rules 2005) private schools can increase their monthly fees only by 5% per annum after prior permission from the Education department. But here there is no accountability for these schools and they unilaterally increase their fees without prior permission. This is the worst form of monopoly.

The main reason for the current mess in the private schools, which were earlier confined to cities only but are now spread over all parts including small villages, is bad governance on part of the government and lack of accountability. The state’s oblivion attitude towards discharging its basic duties of provision of education to its citizens has given courage to the private schools' managers who run their institutions like the corporate sector -- to earn profits. They offer franchises for the use of the names of schools in different parts of the country. Some big names use multiple names. City School has another chain of schools The Smart Schools, and The Beaconhouse Schools have their chains of schools in the name of The Educators.

Unfortunately, the state is non-existent in this part of the world and education and health sectors have been taken over by the mafias, who not only mint windfall profits from their businesses establishment-like schools or hospitals, but have created a cartel-like situation, in which they are not answerable to any authority. They force the parents to pay the fees, otherwise they remove the children from their schools. There is no forum to file a complaint against these schools. Once I tried to lodge a complaint against a school and visited the office of the Director of Inspection/Registration of Private Institutions located at the Government Degree College for Women off Shahrah-i-Liaquat in Urdu Bazaar Karachi, but failed to receive any redress from it. 

The law “Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2013” binds private schools to reserve 10 per cent of admissions for the poor/disadvantaged and terrorism-affected children, but no private school is providing free of cost education to any children from the down-trodden sections of the society.

The current protest campaign by parents in Karachi is a welcome sign and a ray of hope, but unfortunately, it is restricted to only posh localities where parents are already and willingly pay exorbitant fees ranging from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 per month. The resistance started from the students’ parents of Generations School in the North Nazimabad area which has raised 25% fee this year. This triggered the anti-school fee raise campaign in other posh areas.

In fact, all the private schools increase their fees from 10-20 per cent every year and they do not face any resistance. Besides this raise, they collect a handsome amount in the name of Annual Charges. Civil society must come forward and resist such injustices to common people. Common people (including me) have stopped sending their children to government schools because of the bad conditions of the state-run schools and lack of teachers and many other problems. The only solution to this is the drastic improvement in government-run schools and the discouragement of private schools. 

Ram Pyari Oad

The plight of Ram Pyari Oad

August 13, 2015: On this occasion of Pakistan's independence Manthar Oad wants to leave the country for India because he has failed to receive justice and is desperate due to the insecurity of his family. He has already lost his elder daughter. Father of Ram Piyari, a 13-year- old Hindu girl, who was first kidnapped and later produced in a court as Fatima, the new convert to Islam, Manthar does not want to live anymore in Pakistan. 

Manthar is desperate because he has failed to receive justice from the courts, he found police and the civil society non-cooperative and he even did not receive a positive response from Nadir Magsi, an MPA of PPP, whose tribe’s people had kidnapped his 11 to 12-year girl. “I took Holy Quran to Nadir Magsi for recovery of my daughter, but he also did not help me.” 

A meson by profession and expert in making homes from the earthen mud, Oad actually belongs to the Jhal Magsi area of Balochistan but was busy making walls for a well-off member of the Magsi tribe in the Sindh side of the Magsi area in village Gul Hassan Dhori Magsi, Taluka Qubo Saeed Khan. His family was staying at the piece of land owned by Magsis for the completion of the work. On 19th April 2015, some people from the Magsi tribe entered his home and kidnapped his daughter Rampyari. 

The poor worker went to the police but they did not register a case of kidnapping. He also approached the high police official of the Larkana Division including DIG but in vain. 

Ram Pyari's mother (Heeran) on May 6, 2015, filed a Criminal Miscellaneous Application in the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Kamber under Section 491 Cr. P.C., praying therein to issue Rule Nisi through Respondent No. 2 to 5 to recover the detainee Ram Piyari and produce her before the court for recording her statement, and she may be set at liberty. 

On June 2, 2015, the Additional Sessions Judge, Kamber ordered to send the girl to Dar-ul-Aman and the Dar-ul-Aman authorities were asked to get a Medical examination of Ram Pyari for the purpose of determination of age and produce her on the next date of hearing on June 10, 2015.

One of the accused kidnappers Abdul Karim son of Allah Dino Magsi filed the Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 77/2015 in the High Court of Sindh, Larkana Circuit at Larkana against the Additional Sessions Judge, Kamber's orders of June 2. On the next hearing on June 24, 2015, the single Judge bench of the High Court of Sindh, Larkana Circuit at Larkana headed by Mr Justice Shah Nawaz Tariq permitted Fatima (Ram Pyari) to pass her life as per her choice after her statement in the court. The in-charge Dar-ul-Aman, Larkana was asked to hand over the custody of Fatima to her husband Fida Hussain after the completion of codal formalities. In an affidavit of free will submitted on 24.04.2015 Fatima swore that her marriage has already been consummated with her husband Fida Hussain out of her love and since then they were residing happily. She further submitted that neither she was kidnapped nor forced for embracing Islam for performing her Nikah with her husband. She further submitted that her statement was also recorded by the Court of Sessions Judge, Kamber-Shahdadkot and she had narrated the same facts before the said Court. She said that she may be allowed to join her husband at her own sweet will. 

“I went to a Hindu lady lawyer, who is famous for taking Hindu girls’ cases. The lady lawyer asked me not to lodge an FIR,” recalls Manthar. 

Some relatives had advised Manthar to hire a lawyer from his community who is practising in Umerkot.
Because he thought that a lawyer of his own community Oad would be helpful to him, so Manthar met with the lawyer Suhino Oad in Umerkot and requested him to contest his case. The reputation of the lawyer Oad is not so good in the area as his colleagues have the same impression about him and it proved when he never appeared for Manthar in court. Suhino Mal Oad always sent his junior to appear in court, who knew nothing about the legal system and did not utter a single word in support of the case in court. Mathar had already paid Suhino Oad, advocate an amount of Rs. 21,000 as a fee. 

Manthar is also a victim of the government doctor, who verified the age of the girl by 15 years. At the request of the father of the Sessions, the court had ordered to conduct a medical exam of the girl to ascertain her age. The Medical Superintendent of Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana stated that the approximate age of Mst. Fatima w/o Fida Hussain, d/o Manthar Oad appears to be about (15) Fifteen years. 

A scanned copy of the medical certificate issued by the Medical Superintendent of Chandka Medical College, Larkana, showing the age of the girl as 15 years.

Interestingly, the SHC judge did not object to the age of 15 years as according to a new law in Sindh (The Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act 2013) marriage cannot be solemnized at the age below 18 years. 

Manthar was in Karachi till today (Aug. 13) waiting for the filing of an appeal in a division bench of the Sindh High Court against the verdict of the SHC single bench at Larkana. Although the new lawyer is quite helpful and very kind to Oad, the desperate Manthar wants to go back to the Kambar Shahdadkot area, to acquire legal documents of his children like birth certificates and B forms so he can make their passports in order to leave Pakistan. “I want to go to Delhi as some relatives are already there,” he told me.

When he told me this I did not say a word to him or asked him not to go to India. I was speechless because he said at least his family would be safe in India. In Pakistan, according to him, police, doctors, lawyers and so-called civil society are helpless and even they prove they are slaves of the influential people who do not have any mercy to poors. 

(Note: All names in the above text are real).

PS: 
Following is my post on FaceBook dated: September 28, 2015

Today I called on the cell phone of the late Manthar Oad, the deceased father of Ram Pyari Oad, who has been kidnapped by Magsis of Shahdadkot (backed by Nadir Magsi of PPP) and forcibly converted to Islam. The phone was picked up by Mumtaz Oad, brother of Manthar Oad. He was in Nawabshah where Manthar and his father have been buried. Oads, belonging to low caste/schedule caste Hindus bury their dead instead of cremation. I offered my condolences to him. He told me that since he had returned from Karachi, Manthar was feeling ill. "We took him to doctors, who tested his blood and took X-rays but did not find any serious sickness." Doctors said he was suffering from jaundice (not hepatitis, as I asked whether it was Kari Kaman). Mumtaz said the entire family had eaten dinner together that night and they were having chit-chat till late at night. And they found him dead early in the morning. On hearing of Manthar's death, their father also died within one hour's time. I asked a ridiculous question: whether they had drunk some poisonous liquor in the night because often sudden deaths are reported in the past because of the consumption of poisonous local wine. But he denied it. He told me the family of Manthar was with them in Nawabshah as they actually belong to that area, but Manthar went to Qambar Shahdadkot and Jhal Magsi areas for work. Oads are famous for the mud construction of homes and walls. Rip Manthar and his father.

Sasui Punhu

Sasui-Punhu

The annual Mela of ‘Sasui &Punhu” is observed every year at their joint grave in Balochistan’s Vinder area on full moon nights of the Islamic month of Shabaan. 

The folklore character of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s Risalo, Sasui is widely sung in Sufi music in Pakistan. Shah Bhitai has dedicated five Surs (chapters) of his Risalo (collection of his poetry) only to Sasui. The name of Sasui can also be found in other Surs of Bhitai's Risalo. 

It is said Sasui had travelled right from Bhambhore in Sindh’s coastal area to Kech-Makran in Balochistan in search of her beloved husband, Punhoon who had married her at Bhambhor, but his brothers forcible took him back to their area. Sasui’s journey towards the Ketch area in Balochistan was very difficult but she made it possible with her dedication to the cause and to find back her love. She passed through the difficult, dry and deserted area of the Lasbela district, where the population is scant. At this place, one shepherd resorted to a criminal attack on Sasui. She prayed to God and the earth was torn into two and she disappeared in the gap. Punhu, later in her search back reached the place where he identified the piece of cloth, which was left outside after her disappearance in the earth. He also prayed to God and once again the earth opened her mouth (gap) and he also went to meet his bride inside it. 

The hilly and hard terrain area towards Sasui’s grave is difficult to access as no metaled road or public transport is available to reach the area, which is located about 20 km from the road in the west of Vinder tahsil of Lasbela district of Balochistan. Only a katcha track for 4X4 jeep is the source to reach the place. On the way, the vehicles have to pass at least two difficult passes of hills.

Traditional Sindhi wrestling (Malh, Malkhro), Sufi music, food, and gift items are part of the Mela celebrations. A large number of people (all men) from Sindh and Balochistan attend the annual Urs. They reach on motorcycles or 4X4 vehicles. Females are not allowed at the time of the Mela to attend as the organizers consider that allowing women may spoil the spiritual experience of the event as some professional women may also enter the Mela and offer male visitors their sex or perform dances, like in such occasions on other shrines in Sindh and Balochistan. The caretaker Abdul Rahman told me that it would be difficult to distinguish the "good" women and “loose women”, so all women are kept away as Hifz-e-Matqadam (prevention). Other than Mela days women are allowed to visit and offer prayers.

There is no government support available for the organisers, only some well-off devotees from Sindh or Balochistan contribute to organising this event, where free food is available for all devotees during the Urs days. The government of Balochistan or its Auqaf or Culture departments are absent and no government official provides any logistic support to the private organisers. 

Although it is fun to visit this picturesque area, there is a need to provide easy access to common people, at least a metalled road and drinking water facilities at the time of Mela. 

Malala - From Hope to Pride

Malala - From Hope to Pride

October 10, 2014: I am really happy today. I know the majority of people in Pakistan are also happy because Malala Yousufzai, the champion of girls' education has won the coveted Nobel Peace Prize 2014 along with an Indian child rights activist Shri Kailash Satyarthi. 

But it is also a fact that many in Pakistan are not happy at all because they always find a conspiracy if the West supports any good cause or a person. At the time when Taliban terrorists attacked Malala in Mangora KPK in 2012 when she along with other girl students was returning in the school van, many such people in Pakistan thought it was not Taliban terrorists but CIA or RAW agents who attacked her, even though Taliban spokesperson had accepted the responsibility and also resolved to attack her again. Two other girls were also injured due to the firing. These same people then raised objections that why Malala is receiving such huge international attention when two other girls were also injured in the attack. Although those two girls also received medical treatment the main target of the attack was Malala, whom the Taliban thought was a threat to their nefarious designs. Taliban central leader Adnan Rashid even wrote a letter to Malala after her speech at the United Nations and advised her to take admission to an Islamic Madressah. He clarified that the Taliban were not against education, but this type of Western education. “Taliban believed that you were intentionally writing against them and running a smearing campaign to malign their efforts to establish an Islamic system in Swat. Your writings were provocative,” he stated in the letter. 

Sometimes I feel sad that our people in Pakistan have become so saddest and narrow-minded that they always find some sort of conspiracy in every good thing that happens to some anti-Taliban elements. I still did not expect such stupidity from the educated masses, who are even sad on the occasion that a Pakistani daughter had received such a big laurel.

This is an unusual occasion in our lives at the turn of history as overall there is overwhelming happiness across the country. But social media websites, Twitter and FaceBook, are also full of such shits against Malala, which is really amazing and unfortunate. 

Even some so-called broadminded people write anti-Malala comments and apologetic posts, that I sometimes beat my head. An old friend of mine who happens to be a journalist with a PhD in Mass Communication from a foreign university wrote a comment on one of my posts: "systematically disgracing Pakistan as a country where girls are not allowed to get an education; so why the majority of medical graduates are girls... CIA zindabad. NGObaaz paindabaad!"

This was just a personal example. Here is another example: There is a group on Face Book called "Pakistani Freethinkers" which is run by a group of unknown moderators, one of them is Mr Ghulam Rasool. He congratulates Pakistanis on Malala's winning Nobel with a big "But" and raises questions about why Maulana Edhi was not given this award. 

I write this blog not to criticise anyone because it is an occasion of celebrations and I am really happy and rejoice.

Two years back Taliban terrorists attacked Malala in her hometown Mangora in Swat because she had waged a peaceful 'crusade' for girls' education and her crusade against Taliban's attacks on schools especially girls' schools had raised many eyebrows in Pakistan. Taliban were angry because a frail girl was speaking against them and their bombing of schools in the media and the world was listening to her attentively. She not only challenged the Taliban's anti-education activities in Swat valley but during their control and terror's reign in the valley she wrote a student's diary with a pen name Gulmakai for BBC Urdu noting the impressions of a school child on the fearful situation in the valley. After the Army operation in Swat and Malakand in 2008, Malala revealed the fact that she was actually Gulmakai, since then her family started receiving threats from the Taliban. 

The Government of Pakistan recognised her services when an international children's advocacy group KindsRights Foundation nominated her for the International Children's Peace Prize, for her courageous writings. Although she did not receive that international award, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani decorated her with National Youth Peace Prize in 2012. 

It was actually a turning point in Malala's life. She became a celebrity as the media started paying attention to her. Many channels did packages on her life and activities and a few TV channels invited her to their morning programmes. She also came to Karachi along with her father Ziaur Rehman in early 2012 to attend a morning show by a leading TV channel. They stayed in PILER's hostel at Gulshan-e-Maymar for a couple of days. We had many interactions with Malala and her father Ziaur Rehman and a formal meeting was also arranged on January 4, 2012, with the PILER staff in which she read out a page of her diary. (Watch the video:) 

Again they visited Karachi when the Sindh provincial government announced a cash award of Rs. 500,000 and named a government school at Burns Road after Malala's name. During that visit, she had inaugurated the nameplate of that school. We again held many interactions with her and her father. A function was also organised in her honour at PILER. This time about 100 children of the flood affectees' school at the nearby Labour Square Camp attended and listened to her speech. She gave an impressive talk to the children. I am convinced that her father is the main force behind her grooming and above all her successes.

Unfortunately, she was seriously injured in October 2012 in a terrorist attack by the Taliban in Mangora, Swat. It was really a very depressing moment for many of us. I wrote a blog on 10th October 2012 "Malala: An icon of courage and hope" and interestingly exactly two years after that (on 10 October 2014) I am writing another blog on her winning the Nobel Peace Prize 2014. 

Today things have changed in Pakistan. Now Taliban are on the run as they are facing the worst kind of situation in Pakistan because Pakistan Army has launched operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan, their stronghold. Hundreds of Taliban terrorists have reportedly been killed and the key terrorists and leaders have either left Pakistan and are hiding in Afghanistan or they are living in other tribal areas in disguising. But still, the threat of terrorism exists in Pakistan as suicide bombing and other terrorist activities are happening in different parts of the country. 

Malala should not return to Pakistan at least for the period she completes her education. She has still many threats and the conditions in Pakistan are not favourable for her. A section of the society is not happy as they are mostly Taliban apologists. Swat valley is still not so free from terrorists and safe, even though Army has restored peace and tourism in the valley has resumed.

It is pity that two Pakistani have received Nobel Peace Prize and both were unable to return to their countries. Dr. Abdus Salam received Nobel Price in Physics in 1979, but because he was Qadiani and in 1977 Pakistan's parliament declared Qadianis as "Non-Muslims." Now Malala has received, but she has a life threat from the Taliban. 

In the end, I again wish Malala big success in all her endeavours for improving education in developing countries including Pakistan.