In a recent interview, Gen Musharraf, former unconstitutional President of Pakistan, when asked the source of income from which he bought the penthouse in Dubai and other innumerable properties replied, that he did so from sale of plots acquired during his service in the armed forces. Without going into the morality and legality of this self assumed right to allot prime real estate to top brass of armed forces, or the members of elite civil bureaucracy, the question arises how did he transfer these huge amounts of foreign currency abroad and under which law. This is a self-confessed crime of this former military dictator.
While hundreds of thousands of lower middle class expatriates send their savings to Pakistan, to the tune of over $10 billion annually, the same is being transferred through illegal channels by few hundreds to the detriment of this whole nation.
The unfortunate reality is that those in government, or in bureaucracy, would not like to check this institutionalised flight of capital, because most of the ruling elite have indulged themselves in it and would like to continue doing so.
The issue is that no state, whether democratic, or otherwise, can survive and provide good governance, if it does not ensure payment of taxes by every citizen, irrespective of his source of income and plug this illegitimate flight of capital.
This cannot be achieved only if the FBR is cleansed of the mafia and men of integrity are appointed in it. All top executives within the FBR should be made to declare their assets within Pakistan and abroad. The state of Pakistan and its people must realise that those involved in this conspiracy against the state normally have dual residential status and therefore such men should never be given key assignments. It is time Pakistan’s scarce resources are saved from the vultures within its establishment.
MALIK TARIQ ALI
Lahore