Pandemic politics
The war against the deadliest Coronavirus demands unity among all segments of society, but it is an irony of fate that our political leadership instead of bringing the nation together or narrowing their differences, they are pushing them apart. They are fuelling polarization in the society. The PTI leader seizes every opportunity to berate CM Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah’s handling of crisis. Mafias, Mullahs and businessmen have become united and the writ of State is being defied. They have their own biases and interests. They damn care about human lives.
The mounting blame game and the tension between the federal and provincial governments in the province of Sindh have also infected many others that are caught in the crossfire. The Coronavirus crisis has not only devastated the domestic economic structures but also all other areas, but who cares? Our politicians are born to play their bawdy politics in all situations and circumstances.
Is there anyone to tell them to keep the human life and national interest first, then comes politics? Sincere leaders always make difficult decisions, not just cosmetic decisions, in times of crisis.
HASHIM ABRO
Islamabad
Will CMs clarify?
Because of the Coronavirus and lockdown in the country, the CMs of every state in the country have asked people to work from home. But does this apply to daily wage earners and maid servants who have to work in people’s houses too? Will the CMs please clarify?
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Petrol market crash
Petrol market has crashed worldwide. The price has touched to its lowest in last 30 years. Petrol market is facing utmost crisis due to which its selling price has lowered to almost free. The reasons behind the low price is number (i) Saudi Arabia has decreased the price to increase the sale and (ii) due to Corona there is less demand of petrol and petroleum products because of many reasons such as closure of air travel and non-functioning of factories as there is a lock down in the entire world.
It is suggested to the honourable Prime Minister Imran Khan to fully take benefit of this low petrol price and maximize the import of petrol in order to provide cheap oil related products for a longer period. This will help in reducing the rate of inflation as expensive transport is a major cause of inflation within the country. It will also help improve balance of payments and Pak rupees will appreciate.
MAHNOOR KAMAL
Rawalpindi
Zoom privacy blunder
The COVID-19 crisis has given Zoom a huge surge in users. For online education most of the institutions recommended teachers to use zoom. A Blind report, most recently updated a week ago, found that 35% of professionals are worried their information may have been compromised on Zoom. Because of this fear, 12% of users said they stopped using the video conferencing platform altogether.
Zoom has been slammed for a wide array of security issues over the past couple of weeks, including Zoom bombings, personal data leaks, absence of end-to-end encryption, and more. I request everyone please beware of privacy concerns before using any application. For safety purpose, try not to share your personal data, information or pictures on zoom till the company didn’t respond to this news.
ZARA ADALAT RAJA
Islamabad
Child abuse
Child abuse is an issue which is up swinging at an alarming rate. Children are being physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually abused on a daily basis and they are too frightened to speak up about it. It happens because they think that their elders around them can’t do anything to protect them or they won’t believe them. Child abuse is a problem that affects the entire families and societies, may it be the family of the abuser or the victim or the ones who listen to such cases.
So, there’s a need that everyone should raise his/her voice in this regard. We hear a lot of such cases on social media or from people around us, sometimes our dearest people might have faced some kind of abuse but we might come to know later. But what is more important is, how are we playing our part in this matter? Above 1,300 child abuse cases a month are reported in Pakistan. We haven’t done anything to help stop these heinous acts from being committed. But we need to start taking action against the accusers. We should not let our children suffer because of our silence. As the member of this society, as being a Muslim nation, parents as well as teachers, relatives or other people should keep a regular check and educate children about physical abuse.
ZARA ADALAT RAJA
Islamabad
Tax on senior citizen tax by NSC
Although the 1973 Constitution clearly states that the State is under obligation to cater for welfare of all citizens, the ground reality is that no such benefits are being given. While one can understand that Pakistan may not have fiscal space to cater for welfare of all citizens, irrespective whether they paid taxes all their life, or never earned enough. The PM is requested to intervene and order that investment by senior citizens and widows (Filers/Non-filers) in National Saving Centre schemes of PBA and BSC be exempted from any tax deduction, as was the past practice.
It is a fact that this country, over the past 18 years, has progressively increased pension benefits for its paid civil, uniformed, judicial and all other cadres of professionals on payroll of federal and provincial governments. The State also offers its retired workers medical facilities and rebates on property tax etc while pension emoluments which may range from Rs 70,000 to almost over Rs 200,000 per month are all tax free.
Perhaps in order to cater to bare minimum needs of other retired senior citizens, some of whom do not get any pension from their former employees, or others who get token pension which may not be enough to pay even their monthly utility bills, the Federal Government introduced Pensioners Benefit Account and Behbood Saving Certificate schemes for senior citizens above 60 years age.
The monthly income on both PBA and BSC schemes was previously tax free. Unfortunately, over the past three years, FBR while announcing several amnesty schemes and giving tax relief to those earning crores of rupees on sale of real estate etc has been progressively increasing tax on widows, pensioners etc who have invested in National Saving Centre schemes.
MALIK TARIQ ALI
Lahore
