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.
Clash with institutions
The call given by Imran Khan for protests outside the various offices of the ECP may seem to many like a quixotic tilting at windmills, and even misdirected.
The ECP has not notified the vacation of the seats from which PTI members have resigned, and may appear to the PTI to be a ‘soft target’, an institution it can target without the consequences entailed by targeting certain other institutions.
However, that should not conceal the fact that the PTI MNAs’ resignations at issue were accepted by a Deputy Speaker just before his own resignation, without verification, with the new Speaker saying he would first verify the resignations and proceed. PTI was unhappy with the CEC, and had called for his resignation. This is the same CEC the PTI itself had named.
While the ECP has disagreed with the PTI over the i-voting and EVM proposals, the main bone of contention visible is the foreign funding case. That case could lead to the dissolution of the party, as well as the personal disqualification of various office-bearers, including Mr Khan. It is almost as if the party is preparing for that eventuality, and is virtually rehearsing for the protests it will launch.
The present excuse seems thin, for the prompt respect for institutions is not apparently expected of the PTI. At the moment, the President and Punjab Governor do not appear to be acting as constitutional office-bearers, but as PTI activists, who will only exercise their offices in the interests of the PTI, rather than of any and all persons, as they are sworn to do.
It is essential that the PTI remember that the Constitution does not just enjoin loyalty to the state and obedience to the law on PTI members, but on all citizens, and refusal to obey constitutionally constituted authorities, or trying to make citizens clash with such authorities, is supposed to be done by enemies of the state. PTI’s call for clash with constitutional institutions would neither be in the interest of a big party but also for the country” political democratic system.
JAMSHED SIDDIQUI
Lahore
Public rallies & economy
Imran Khan is out to create chaos in the country which badly needs peace to deal with its overarching economic crisis. At his third public meeting after ouster as PM, Imran Khan announced massive protest demonstrations against the government after Eidul Fitr. He claimed that his elected government was toppled through a conspiracy hatched by the USA as it resented Imran Khan’s independent foreign policy.
Through hints and innuendos, Imran Khan held the establishment and judiciary also responsible for getting an “imported government” installed. As he put it, the mistake of imposing this government could only be rectified by holding immediate elections in the country. He is in haste because he fears that the allied government would get strengthened if given time to stabilize. While an untimely agitation can harm the national economy, whether it can bring down the government remains questionable.
Imran Khan demands immediate elections. A section of the ruling alliance too wants elections; this issue can be settled through talks. This however does not suit Imran Khan who wants to resort to agitation in the name of the “real freedom movement” and “conspiracy” stunt. The NSC in its meeting concluded that” No conspiracy hatched against the PTI government. Having lost a number of electables and allies and the goodwill of the establishment Mr Khan needs a political stunt to come to power.
Imran Khan’s call for agitation has led PML (N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz to announce a series of rallies across the country. There is a need on both sides to postpone public rallies to let the government concentrate on the economy. They will have enough time for activities of the sort once the elections are announced. Common man is suffering from ever soaring inflation, unemployment and increasing lawlessness.
JAMSHED SIDDIQUI
Lahore
Pakistani rulers and their love of IMF
Pakistani rulers of today and tomorrow must know that IMF is such an organization that when it gave the first billion USD under current program, it forced Pakistan to increase its debt profile by 40 billion USD (as per irrefutable working of Dr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan).
Now, it was high time that PM Shahbaz Sharif adopted the policies of Dr. Ikram ul Haq’s school of thought who propagates that unless we focused on broad based low tax rate regime (which even nowadays can generate 10 trillion PKR tax revenue) there was no way out of our economic meltdown.
Pakistan’s economy can never be salvaged by the lenders. Sri Lanka has already gone bankrupt and God forbid Pakistan was not far from that stage, however, the real tragedy was that Pakistan has all the resources to flourish economically, but ALL our rulers (including the current ones) want easy but extremely costly way out, of begging with IMF and World Bank, which is a sure recipe of disaster for Pakistan.
Please save Pakistan from the abyss of the economic disaster with smart utilisation of internal resources, as spelled out by Dr. Ikram ul Haq and stated by the world’s renowned economist and advisor of the two US Presidents and Ex. British PM Dr. Arthur Laffer that it was a sure recipe of success, wherein, he also warned Pakistan not to seek help from IMF and stand on its own feet.
Our PRESENT RULERS must know that if, for one billion US dollars of IMF Pakistan was forced to incur 40 billion USD cost no country (even the most developed ones) can survive with such conditions of IMF loans.
S NAYYAR UDDIN AHMAD
Lahore
