Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
We lost our wining war!
We lost our wining war just because of smart lockdown. This is very worst news that Pakistan has crossed China in COVID-19 cases. As there are 85,264 confirmed cases in Pakistan while according to John Hopkins University China has recorded 84,160 cases so far. We had controlled the ratio of cases but smart lockdown broke that control and now day by day cases are growing and damaging the lives. In Eid shopping people didn’t follow SOPs and didn’t maintain social distance.
Now where are those who were in support of smart lockdown and was in support of reopening the markets? Where are those who said that we shall follow SOPs and will open shops and markets according to government policies? Now no-one appears on the wall. All have gone in sweet dreams. Our doctors opposed the smart lockdown and even wept in press conferences but nobody paid attention to them. Now just God can save us. May God help us and save us from this virus.
ANTHONY SAHOTRA
Larkana
The forced conversions
India, the largest democracy in the world and secular based ideological regime, has been observed turning into pro-Hindu State. There are 172 million Muslims residing in the country contributing a major portion to social, economic and institutional development of the nation. Despite of being secular and freedom-phile country, the Hindutva ideology has been found antagonistic to their own Constitution, – Articles 25 & 28-, involved in forced conversions of Muslims.
The recent Harayana conversion is the fundamental example where 250 people are mentally tortured and deprived of basic human rights in terms of employment, socialism and free movement. They were cut off from the legit sources of income unless they show allegiance towards Hinduism. Bleeding Kashmir is another case which exemplify the fact when the “largest democracy” was found revoking Articles 370 and 35-A, that was one other movement when they went against their own Constitution.
The RSS and Hindutva ideology have disbanded the democracy of India. They are finding new ways to forcibly convert the Muslim community on the stake of their constitution, which might be a declining point for them to maintain the legacy of democracy.
AYESHA PRACHAZADI
Islamabad
Flawed budget process
This is with reference to article” Flawed Budget process” (7 June 2020) by Mohammad Zubair, has rightly criticized the government on poor performance on economic front. Criticism revolves around the deficit budgets announced by government and later on reducing the targets due to poor tax collection.
Annual budget is cut and paste with changed figures, his comparison with PML-N budgets becomes irrelevant when they also were unable to meet the targets. PTI inherited heavy debts and Rs 1.2 trillion circular debt. Any budget which is deficit from day one can never meet targets set especially in Pakistan where economy is not documented. From 1947 to 2008 in 61 years the debt was Rs 6000 billion that grew to Rs 16000 billion till 2013, per capita debt from 36000 to 88000 in 5 years of PPP.
In PML-N tenure of 5 years from Rs 16000 billion to Rs 30000 billion bringing per capita from Rs 88000 to Rs 144000. PTI followed the suit and in short period raised the debt to ever highest to Rs.43000 billion it does not include CD of Rs 2000 billion. New budget will be economically unbearable. The writer has failed to suggest measures to overcome flaws in the budget process when his own government failed miserably to honour the commitments and presented fudged figures
MUKHTAR AHMED
Karachi
Upcoming budget
The government is expected to announce its annual budget, estimated expenditure and revenue collection for the fiscal year 2020-21 in the second week of June. The government’s prime focus will likely be, and should be, on providing relief to the people and businesses alike, rather than increasing taxes, until the Coronavirus is contained and we may move back towards normality. Thus, it shall most probably reflect an effort to counter the negative impact of the virus on our economy.
The government may increase debt to provide relief to the people and businesses. Businesses are continuously accruing great losses as revenue from the airline industry, public transport, hospitality, leisure and tourism fall next to nil. Restaurants have reopened, but with the limited function of takeaways only. As many sectors remained closed and may not be reopened over the next three-or-four-month period, further taxes will only threaten the livelihood of individuals. The government should thus be mindful and take precautions to avoid furthering the economic catastrophe which looms over us.
SAQIB ISHAQ
Chakothi AJK
Herd immunity
The government lifted the lockdown on 9 May, about two weeks before Eid-ul-Fitr. Transport and most businesses have re-opened but cinemas, theatres and schools remain closed. There has been growing debate among experts globally on whether populous developing nations can afford comprehensive social distancing measures to contain the Coronavirus while avoiding economic ruin.
Some have suggested “herd immunity” could contain the virus, a situation where enough people in a population have developed immunity to an infection to be able to effectively stop that disease from spreading. However, the WHO has warned countries that have “lax measures” in place against counting on herd immunity to halt the spread of Covid-19.
Yet even those advocating rolling back strict lockdowns in developing nations are alarmed at the teeming crowds in Pakistan’s streets, shopping malls and mosques, the ramping up of domestic flights and the movement of millions of people for the Eid holidays. In my opinion, smarter strategy would be to allow people out for core economic and public health activities, rather than a total relaxation of rules. There should still be a complete ban on religious gatherings and social gathering those are things for which we need to see much better.
ZILL-E-HUMA
Rawalpindi
