AS the ongoing crackdown against illegal activities and practices of different mafias has started showing positive results, it was satisfying to hear from Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir that the operation will continue with full force to rid Pakistan from substantial economic losses. The Army Chief made the assurance during a meeting of the Punjab Apex Committee in Lahore on Thursday, which was briefed about the overall security situation, including law enforcement actions against electricity and gas theft, hoarding and foreign currency smuggling. The huddle was also briefed on steps taken for the protection of minorities, progress of operations in Katcha (riverine) area, and reviewed the repatriation of illegal foreign nationals.
No doubt, the ongoing operation is broad-based as it covers a wide range of areas of concern to the country and its people but similar operations in some particular areas were also launched in the past that could not produce the desired results because of lack of necessary will and sustainability. People of Pakistan have taken a sigh of relief over the effective steps taken under the supervision of Pakistan Army to curb illegal activities, which were harming the economic and financial interests of the country. We have been pointing out in these columns for long that apart from other factors, the economic woes of the country and its people are also attributable to illegal activities by unscrupulous elements like hoarding, smuggling and manipulation of prices through cartelization. This point of view was substantiated by what we witnessed in the case of availability and prices of wheat flour, sugar, edible oil/ghee, and fertilizer besides manipulation of exchange rate and prices of gold. Large-scale electricity theft and default in payment of power bills were among the major factors behind sufferings of the people on account of ever-increasing electricity tariff. Thanks to the credible intervention by the Army Chief, who threw the entire weight of his well-organized institution to keep an effective check not only on illegal activities in one field but a wide spectrum, which is having a salutary effect on the overall economy. Achievements and gains of the broader operations are quite visible as prices are coming down and there is no shortage of any essential commodity. Currently, sugar prices are hovering around Rs 170 a kilogram as against over Rs 200 a few weeks back when apprehensions were being expressed that these might touch the mark of Rs 300. The most important gain is the exchange rate stability as the Rupee is improving with the passage of every day with a favourable impact on prices of goods and services, especially the POL products that are set to come down in the next fortnight. It is because of the administrative action against smuggling, hoarding and black-marketing of the dollar that the rupee is now set to become the top performing currency in the world. This is not a mean achievement if seen in the backdrop of continuous loss of its value on a day-to-day basis due to manipulation by the dollar mafia. Dollar-Rupee parity had crossed the mark of Rs 300 a few weeks back but it has now come down to 287.74 in the interbank market while in the open market it was Rs 288.5. Apart from other destinations, dollar was freely being smuggled to Afghanistan but the Army-backed action against its illegal outflow has reversed the situation. According to Bloomberg Pakistan’s rupee was set to become the top performer globally this month owing to the government crackdown on the illegal dollar trade. Its report on the subject said the rupee improved by almost 6pc in September, “a remarkable feat as most currencies including the Thai Baht and South Korean Won tumbled against the dollar on speculation US interest-rates will stay elevated for longer”. Crackdown against electricity theft is also continuing but it needs to be intensified in view of the grave nature and wide extent of the crime. There are reasons to believe that the operation against power theft and default is not gaining momentum as it also involves influential and well-connected people, departments and even governments (that owe hundreds of billions to the distribution companies). There should be no mercy against criminals whose acts amount to putting additional burden on the honest consumers and dues of various departments and governments should be deducted at source. We hope that the COAS would continue aggressively monitoring the progress of the crackdown and take it to the logical conclusion. For the first time, there seems to be a semblance of rule of law but this should become a routine.
