As we celebrate the 140 Birth Anniversary of Quaid e Azam which coincidentally falls on Christmas, other than mere rhetoric messages by political elite and other stakeholders, it is time to have courage and accept that we have betrayed Father of Nation’s vision. What an irony that a country founded by men of integrity such as Quaid e Azam, who refused to burden national exchequer with such ordinary expenses like tea etc is today ruled by men who prefer to live in palatial houses spread over acres, fly in exclusive jets, seek tax free permission for self owned limousines, prefer medical treatment abroad, have no shame in getting cash gifts from Arab prince, while state sovereignty is compromised with more foreign debts to fill ever widening gap between revenues and expenditures. It is evil for affluent elite to expect masses to eat grass and give more sacrifices while they have caviar. For Pakistan to survive as modern welfare state it must revert to Quaid’s vision and prepare to defend itself from evil designs of extremist elements in India who never reconciled to its existence.
A country that has a weak economy, where tax evasion is facilitated and pilfering of state funds and development budget accepted as a norm, it cannot effectively defend itself against a more formidable and economically stronger enemy. Those who rule this country have no shame in levying over 15% Withholding Tax on pensioners, widowers and orphans while levying 3% tax on profits from real estate evaluated at values which are a fraction of market value. Such tax amnesty schemes beneficial to few tantamount to institutional financial terrorism depriving state of its capacity to sustain an effective conventional deterrence to face an economically stronger enemy. Wars cannot be fought and won merely on slogans and emotional outbursts but on your capacity to acquire and sustain a modern defense strategy, which unfortunately Pakistan, burdened by foreign debts is handicapped and hostage to insatiable greed of few.
Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore
