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Voice of People
Cement cartel
Rafique Ahmed Siddiqi
As reported a team of Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has
raided the office of All Pakistan Cement Association’s headquarters
at Lahore and impounded records and computers containing data on
cement production in the country. The action is reportedly taken so
as to verify whether the manufactures have formed a cartel leading
to increase in the prices of cement.
After privatisation and especially the previous regime’s lax
regulatory control, the cement producers have formed a cartel and
whenever they feel increasing the price of cement, they do it at
will. This unbridled and unfair increase in the price from time to
time has made the construction activity extremely unbearable.
The action of the CCP will have a salutary effect on other cartels
such as sugar and petrol. However, this admirable effort will be
wasted if tax authorities (income-tax, sales tax and excise) are not
allowed accessibility to the said plethora of information. I would,
therefore, ask the federal revenue authorities to approach the CCP
for the impounded material and recover the unpaid of taxes, if any,
from the cement producers.
At this juncture of serious financial crisis, recovery of unpaid
taxes from this most vibrant sector of economy will be a great of
help to the national exchequer
—Karachi
Disappointing stance
Eschmall Sardar
The PPP has been an anti-establishment party since its inception. It
was one of the main causes of its popularity among the progressive
people. However, in the current situation its changing policies and
irresolute priorities are causing a great damage to its traditional
image as an anti-establishment party. Particularly, its somersault
regarding the Murree declaration (which the party co-chairman
recently termed ‘just a political statement’) and its increasingly
soft policy towards the president—in spite of its commitment to the
Charter of Democracy—suggest that power, not principles, has become
the PPP’s top priority. If the PPP acts like a pro-establishment
party in the next few weeks, it will be too disappointing for the
progressive sections of society.
—Peshawar
Renaming issue
Asif Raza
These days the issue of renaming the NWFP province is under
discussion. I would like to point out that the province consists of
seven divisions. The opposition to changing the name is from Hazara
and D I Khan divisions only. Renaming the province has become
inevitable now as the present name makes little sense. The opponents
of the idea say, among other things, that all government
publications and letterheads etc will have to be reprinted at a
prohibitive cost.
But this is not a major problem because changes can be incorporated
in the existing forms and texts where necessary and the wording of
new publications should be revised. Why is the ANP government not
settling this issue immediately? The opponents of the renaming
proposition, who are in minority, should not deprive the majority of
their rights. Pakhtunkhwa may not suit some people but does NWFP
suit any section of the population?
Other provinces also have heterogeneous population. For instance,
Seraikis, Pakhtuns and Urdu-speaking people live in Sindh but since
the Sindhis are in majority, the province’s name is Sindh. Change of
name was on the manifesto of the ANP and people have great
expectations from it in this regard. If it fails to rename the
province, it will betray people’s trust.
—Islamabad
Right, left notions
Taimur Rahman
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or ‘civil society’ do not
reflect the left. In political science, supporters of civil society
are not considered to be leftwing. For instance the Wikipedia
defines the left in the following terms: “In politics, the left
refers to those who prioritize social equality as a political end,
whereas the rightwing seeks to uphold traditional authorities and/or
the liberties of a civil society.” In other words, according to
mainstream political science, supporters of civil society are not
defined as ‘the left’ (although that does not mean that certain
leftists do not support certain notions of civil society in certain
contexts). Instead supporters of ‘civil society’ are understood to
be part of the rightwing. That is why, if one reads any political
science journal/literature one will very quickly discover that the
promotion of civil society is not only supported by the rightwing
(such as the National Endowment for Democracy, US), in fact, the
right considers it to be a central plank of their philosophical
premises (whether liberalism, conservatism or neo-liberalism).
The central plank of civil society is the preservation of private
property (i.e. capitalism). The central plank of the left, on the
other hand, is social equality that militates against monopoly of
the means of production by the small ruling class. Hence, it cannot
be said that civil society is part of the left. Instead it is an
integral part of the philosophy of right-conservative thinking. Some
people in Pakistan are under the illusion that they should be
regarded as leftists because they are promoting ‘civil society’. It
is their own ignorance of the differences between the theoretical
foundations of ‘civil society’ and those of the left. It is only an
example of the ideological hegemony of imperialism’s re-marketing of
essentially rightwing notions.
—Lahore
Fake argument
Afzal Siddiqi
Some pro-Musharraf analysts in the media are saying that the
restoration of the sacked judges will not solve people’s economic
problems. This amounts to deliberately misleading the people by
linking two unrelated issues. The argument that because one
institution of the State (the government) has failed to do its job
properly, another institution of the State (the judiciary) must also
be stopped from doing its job properly makes little sense to the
common man.
—Rawalpindi
Huge loan write-offs
MK Bangash
According to a report, loans of Rs54 billion taken by politicians,
army generals, foreign companies and business tycoons were written
off during the last regime. The central bank has a major role in
processing and allowing the cancellation of such huge loans.
Therefore, the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan should tell
the people as to what were the unavoidable circumstances which
compelled her to allow these huge write-offs.
Journalists and experts should also inform the people about the
estimated number of power plants which could have been established
in the country with Rs54 billions to overcome the current power
shortage.
