What an irony it is to see billionaires reciting the poetry of revolutionaries. Men who travel only by chartered aircraft, living in palatial houses spread over acres, shedding crocodile tears for those who do not have even a tent to protect them from heat touching 43 C, with no clean drinking water to quench their thirst.
In this battle between the beneficiaries of Offshore Account holders there will be many losers, prominent amongst them are the poor people of Pakistan whose economy is being ruthlessly drained of the last drops of blood, the ever expanding columns of unemployed masses, whilst winners are Western economies which are being rejuvenated by the steady flow of finances from the Third World’s corrupt countries like Pakistan and the mafias of land grabbers and criminal economy which use the same channels for financing and money laundering. Does it matter which political party they are affiliated with (PMLN, PPP, PTI, MQM, PMLQ, JUI, ANP etc), or whether they belong to civil or uniformed bureaucracy, or traders enjoying endless tax amnesty schemes, or if they are members of religious parties excelling in exploiting faith for financial benefits etc? They all have one thing in common: which is that they have no stakes in this country.
For them Pakistan is an ideal safe haven where they can plunder without any fear and perhaps one of the few countries where individuals are free to transfer their tax evaded incomes to foreign countries, because almost every state financial regulatory body, including the office of Auditor General is headed and dominated by dual nationals whose families live abroad and all their earnings, legal or illegal, are remitted to build their assets abroad and sustain luxurious lifestyles of their families who live there. This is a country where money laundering models manage to get sympathy and those involved in terror financing and facilitating them like a doctor who was Adviser for Petroleum to the government which pillaged this country from 2008 to 2013 still stand to benefit from friendly prosecution, while those posted on borders of Iran and Afghanistan and coastal belt, to prevent smuggling when caught, manage to get away with it – with just termination of service, pension intact.
Aneela Chandio
Sukkur
