Coming out of Economic Crises without compromising on Military Budget and Nuclear Program

We had done a detailed SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. I am astonished to note that if the people like us can see these loopholes and opportunities then how these factors are ignored by highly paid and privileged class of the country. I consider it as a big crime to hide and keep the knowledge (whatever it is) within yourselves in current scenario.

Pakistan is facing the worst economic crises these days. Prices of staples like food and fuel are skyrocketing. Pakistan has to repay billions in external debt, but its foreign reserves are so low that it can hardly afford to buy a few weeks worth of imports. The situation has badly affected the general Public and it is now very difficult for the people to buy food. Job opportunities are lessened, economic growth has been seized and in reality the country seems to be on reverse gear.

This is one aspect of the picture while the other one is quite heartening that rich is becoming more rich while poor is becoming more poor day by day. Upper class is not much affected by inflation as they have all resources available to get money by fair and unfair means. The major problems are for middle and lower class. They don’t have jobs and resources to earn and feed their families. The financial gap between upper and lower class is on peak.

Pakistan is quite vulnerable to external threats due to many factors. The main factor is our nuclear capability. Pakistan is among nine countries of the world having nuclear assets. The other countries having such capabilities are United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Israel and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). The list clearly shows that Pakistan is the only Muslim country having nuclear assets. It’s a reality that No one happily wants to see a Muslim country having nuclear assets. While the other main factor is our Army. The Armed Forces of Pakistan is the 6th largest military in the world with more than 640,000 active personnel. In a similar model to other nations, the military comprises an army, navy, and air force. Due to long-term cultural and geographical disputes Pakistan’s primary opponent is India as well as Afghanistan. Although open conflict simmers and tensions brew, the significant confrontations between India and Pakistan have been occurred and still ongoing. Nuclear Assets and Pak Army are our big strengths and eyesore for our enemies. Pakistan has to have the nuclear capabilities and a very strong Army to cope with potential external and internal threats. Whole nation is unite on it and strongly oppose to compromise on our core strengths. So one message should go very clearly to World from our Leadership that we will not seize or rollback our nuclear program and will never cut our military budget. We will have to look for other resources other than touching our core strengths.

Pakistan is facing Internal and external threats which played important role to bring country on this stage. If we look at the internal side it is revealed that the main issue is corruption. Except Pak Army, every department and institution is fully or partially involved in corrupt practices. In developed countries Tax is collected transparently and honestly while unfortunately in Pakistan the situation is opposite. Tax collection system is not fair and transparent in Pakistan. Upper class steals tax and don’t pay the by unfair means and under table deals with the collectors. There are leakages in the system. If we make our tax collection system smooth and transparent then it will help a lot to collect a handsome amount of revenue.

Pakistani Elite, Upper Class, Bureaucrats and Politicians are looting the country with both hands. Parliamentarians are enjoying huge perks and benefits for their zero contribution for the country. They are just dying and struggling for their own interests. For them the politics and their own interests have preference rather than the country. It is irony see the huge budget for this class in a country which is facing worst situation in the history. I am surprised to see the amount of heavy budget which is spend on assemblies, assemblies sessions, useless meetings of different departments, and fuel expenses for politicians and civil servants. Why we don’t cut and seize these additional and luxuries expenses and use the money to repay the debts.

I am wondered to see that why we are not using the easy channels to collect revenue immediately. Why we don’t impose emergency tax on elite and upper class. This class has luxury houses, cars and businesses and the inflation is not as such affecting on this class. They have taken a lot from the country and now it’s their turn to pay back and save the country and bring it out from the worst scenario. We can collect money by imposing tax on owners of luxury homes, businesses and vehicles. Other day the driver of my office was suggesting that we can collect a huge amount by imposing road tax on luxury vehicles. The money can be collected on daily basis or whenever the luxury vehicle comes on the road. He also suggested why we can’t re launch the past’s popular Savor Raffle Scheme. He further added that we can collect the revenue by imposing tax on the parents whose children are studying in private schools. No doubt these are good suggestions which clearly show that this class has the resources to have these luxuries in their lives and Government should collect a reasonable contribution from them to save the country. He added than we should have a “Pakistan Account” and all collected money should go to that account and should be used only to repay our foreign debts.

Readers, we have to look for possible and feasible ways to bring country out of the crises. Emergency short and long term plans are needed to be launch immediately. Apart from short term plans, we have to rework on and reschedule our strategies for future. We have to ensure security and eliminate terrorism in the country. We will have to provide feasible environment for encouraging foreign investment and promoting tourism. We will have to minimize imports and maximize exports. We will have to explore alternate and cheap energy resources. We will have to present our self as model rather than running behind the other models.

(By: Abdul Basit Alvi)