How golden was Ayub Khan’s era?
The numbers do not lie: in terms of economic growth, former President Ayub Khan was not the best ruler Pakistan ever had. Admittedly, he is in second place and beaten only very narrowly by former President Ziaul Haq: Ayub averaged 5.82% growth during his eleven years in office compared to Zia’s 5.88%. Still, the myth of Ayub’s “Decade of Development” persists and so it is worth examining (on what would have been his 105th birthday), what his record was and how he compared to the rest of Pakistan’s rulers. Perhaps the single biggest reason people remember Ayub’s era fondly is because ...
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Asad Umar: From Engro to Imran Khan
After all the negativity attached to our trembling politics, corporate tycoon Asad Umar’s addition to the scene is a welcome surprise. Who is Asad Umar? Asad has been with the Engro Corporation for the last 27 years in different capacities, before he finally assumed the position of company CEO and president in 2004. During this period, he played an active role in the complete transformation of his conglomerate, and converted it into a diversified industrial business, with interests ranging from fertilisers, foods, petrochemicals, chemical storage, energy and commodity trading. An amicable and intellectual personality, Umar has enjoyed a great reputation amongst his friends and colleagues. A ...
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Bailing out Radio Pakistan
In his letter to the editor of The Express Tribune on February 28, Radio Pakistan Director General Murtaza Solangi defended the proposed tax of 2% on mobile phone users on every recharge to make public radio financially stable. If the additional tax was unacceptable, Solangi said, people should come up with counter-proposals for Radio Pakistan to stay afloat. Solangi says: “At the end of the day, the choice is either to have a public broadcaster — as the rest of the world does — or shut it down. If it needs to be retained, then people need to tell us how.” First ...
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(Almost) swindled at the toll-booth
Most of us living in Lahore or Islamabad have travelled via the motorway M2 at least once. Starting at the Islamabad toll-plaza and going all the way to the Thokar Niaz Baig toll Plaza Lahore, the only stops you get to make are at gas stations-turned-restrooms-cum-dine ins. They charge twice as much for a packet of Lays or a bottle of water as the retail price. And even if you choose not to make a stop during this three to four hour spine-snapping journey, do not fool yourself into believing that you saved yourself from these rip offs. Read ...
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Are Pakistanis happier in 2011?
With regular bombings being just one of their constantly growing fears, and their country being ranked 12 on Foreign Policy Magazine’s Failed States Index 2011, Pakistanis hardly have reasons to be a happier nation in 2011. We haven’t stepped into particularly hopeful terrain this year. The CIA World Fact Book estimates that Pakistan’s net emigration rate is 9 per cent higher than in 2011. This is testament to the fact that many things are wrong in the country – the most glaring of which are: 1. Inflation The 15.5 per cent inflation rate in December 2010 was brought down by two ...
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The last refuge of a scoundrel
Not a day goes by when I don’t feel disgusted by some within my own profession. They range from journalists who will do almost anything for a free lunch and those who will rub shoulders with almost any man in power in order to gain whatever personal favours they can fathom. Recently I was accused of being ‘anti-state,’ and a ‘RAW agent’. And all this because I pointed out how one particular TV talk show host was claiming to be working for free in an event paid for by taxpayer money. Since then, many powerful people have called me up and ...
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What’s a little sovereignty worth?
Our country has failed its citizens. In a world where South Korea just spent tens of billions of dollars to ensure that each citizen has high speed broadband connections, fewer than 20 per cent of Pakistanis have access to the internet. Think about this: more than 75 per cent of our population does not know what Google is. And yet, in 1947, South Korea was as poor as we were. So what do we do? The current state of affairs One would think that, like Indonesia, we should be spending as much money on education as possible (Indonesia devotes a whopping 20 ...
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What really goes on in the Sindh Assembly
In June 2010, legislators from the Sindh Assembly zealously thumped their desks after passing a bill for the establishment of the “Sindh Revenue Board” to collect sales tax on services. While covering the story, I was surprised to know that a majority of legislators were not even aware of the bill’s significance; they didn’t know the difference between tax on services and tax on goods. One of the MPAs went on to say, “We have no idea about the bill; it is enough that we have supported it.” And I can assure these were the exact words of the lawmaker, who ...
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Money 101: Your fiscal New Year’s resolutions
Dear readers, by now I feel like a strict school headmistress telling you what to do and not do vis a vis your hard earned cash. So my New Year’s resolution is all about making saving fun for you! But since a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, before I conjure up fun ways of saving the moolah next week onwards, I present my Top New Year’s Fiscal Resolutions! 1. I will not keep any more than two credit cards The first card would be for my daily petrol filling, coffee buying and grocery shopping needs. And, the second will ...
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Our economy’s problem: The rich don’t pay their taxes
Any chance of progress in Pakistan is contingent on two critical issues: economic recovery and social reform. Every person in Pakistan, be it a high ranking politician or bureaucrat or a person belonging to the middle or lower classes, agrees that the economy—and problems resulting from its degeneration—are a significant cause of the country’s woes. The devastation caused by the recent floods has only added to the economic dilemma. Following this disaster, numerous NGOs and countries around the world have promised aid to Pakistan, but the actual funds received don’t come close to the pledges. It seems now that even ...
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