Four experts for a debt free Pakistan An open letter to Prime Minister
Dear Mr Prime Minister, KINDLY peruse below a few suggestions for the subject-mentioned challenge of rebuilding Pakistan’s economy in the shortest possible time.
In this regard, although, precious time of well over eight months of your government has elapsed, yet, no worthwhile improvement in the living conditions of the masses is visible, who are badly trapped in the vicious impact of killing inflation and unrelenting increases in rent, rates and taxes, mainly due to the massive devaluations of the PTI and PDM governments.
Moreover, the latest news is that now the IMF is demanding from your government to further steeply hike the taxation to bridge the gap of expenditure and income which may be the last straw to break the floodgates of protests of the teeming millions; and if at that stage, you had to quit the government, it will be a lifetime stigma of abdicating, after failure to govern.
In view of the foregoing, Pakistan desperately needs some economic miracle in a magical manner.
By the Grace of Allah (SWT) Pakistan is extremely lucky that in this era, quite a few persons (who are not the Hitmen) are available, as detailed below, who can single-handedly make Pakistan an economic superpower, provided they are given free hand, like it was given to Dr A Q Khan:
- Dr Imran Ahmed Khan (Ex DG GSP retired in 2017): He may be the only person having geological investigation experience of five countries i.e.
, Pakistan, India, China, US and Spain who is extremely confident that Pakistan’s prosperity and economic turnaround is linked to the indigenous development of Rare Earth Metals (REM), Copper, Gold, Molybdenum, Lithium, Aluminum and few more.
According to Dr Imran Khan we have reserves of oil, gas, coal, valuable metals and minerals in abundance; valued over $ 51 Trillion (Commutative GDP of the top 10 economies of the world is about $ 59 Trillion).
He further says that all Pakistan has to do is to impose a blanket ban on export of ANY ORE in RAW form; for example, copper and gold should be allowed to be taken out of Pakistan only in finished form, for which reprocessing/purification plants (can also be built within our country) must be installed in Pakistan.
Thereafter, replicate KRL model by creating Rare Earth Metals Authority of Pakistan for indigenous development of strategic metals and commercial sales after value addition.
2. Dr Ikramul Haq: He is confident that we can easily increase tax revenue of the government of Pakistan from the current amount of about $ +40 billion to $120 billion per year.
Your government can utilize his services in a suitable position to turnaround the economy of Pakistan: He is Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan and Chief Partner of Huzaima & Ikram, a leading law firm, studied journalism, English literature and law for his Master’s and Doctorate.
He served in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) from 1984 to 2006. Besides tax practice in Pakistan, he works extensively in the international tax arena.
His expert advice is frequently sought by leading multinational companies working globally. His opinions in tax and other matters are quoted in Reuters and other leading international news agencies and broadcast by BBC in Urdu program Sairbeen.
He holds a Doctorate in international tax (specialization in transfer pricing). He has been helping the Tax Reform Commission (constituted in 2014) to prepare a report for tax reforms and evaluate existing tax policy.
He enjoys an internationally acclaimed reputation of employing a pragmatic approach in his consultancy services.
Working with public/private sector institutions and banking companies, he provides a unique perspective by combining macro level tax policy with a special focus on the nitty-gritty of national tax codes.
He has also provided structuring and transactional advice to countries and companies on the full range of corporate tax activities, including mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, and structured finance.
Dr Ikram’s proactive advice also includes international structuring of inbound activities by multinational enterprises.
3. Asif Sharif: He is a world renowned Paradoxical Agricultural Process expert/specialist of such a potential that it will not be an exaggeration to call him Steve Jobs of agriculture, who confidently says that given an opportunity he can help produce an exportable agricultural surplus of over $20 billion for Pakistan, thus, creating over 5 million jobs.
In this regard, if we are able to hugely conserve water consumption in agricultural sector and simultaneously more than double the production with reduced cost by using the methods proposed by Asif Sharif, the vision of re-building an economically strong Pakistan, can be achieved in the shortest possible time, through PQNK (pronounced as picnic) stands for Paedar Qudratti Nizam Kashatqari, which means sustainable natural farming system.
According to the tested methods of Mr.Asif Sharif “Raised beds irrigation system saves over 80% water. It is much better than drip irrigation.
Production is increased by at least 40% and cost of production is reduced by 80% or more.In view of the foregoing, Mr. Asif Sharif may be considered to form an organization directly reporting to the Prime Minister, which should be responsible for increasing agricultural productivity and food security for Pakistan.
4. Salim Ghauri: He is, at present, the Honorary Consul of Australia for Punjab. Salim Ghauri is also a world-renowned IT entrepreneur recognized globally.
He is the founder & CEO of NETSOL Technologies, which has 90% auto leasing business of China.
He has been cited as the ‘Bill Gates of Pakistan’, a reference to his incredible achievements as an IT entrepreneur.
The following statement of Eugen Beckert, Vice President Mercedes-Benz, is a testimony of world level recognition of Salim Ghauri’s corporate leadership role: “Salim Ghauri has played a key role in promoting the IT sector.
His pioneering role in developing process capabilities in his organization through ISO and CMM initiatives has inspired other Pakistani IT companies to invest in developing their own process capabilities.
By focusing on developing a world-class product that is being used by several companies in different parts of the world, Salim Ghauri has given confidence to other IT companies that it is indeed possible to do product development in Pakistan, and this has helped establish international credibility of our IT sector.
Mr Ghauri’s leadership has shown the path to Pakistani IT companies in the strategy of growth through acquisition of companies in developed countries. I believe that Salim Ghauri’s pioneering contributions make him an IT icon of Pakistan.”
Keeping in view that the future of all business and service industry lies in the optimum utilization of IT-related technologies, government of Pakistan must appoint Salim Ghauri in an appropriate position at the federal level giving him the challenge of increasing the IT exports of Pakistan to $ 10 billion by end of FY 24-25.
—The author writes on strategic, political, economic, current affairs & sports.
