Yasmeen Aftab Ali
It is difficult to start commenting on Pakistan under PM Khan’s watch-for the simple reason that one does not know where to start from. Every area lies in a shambles around us, begging for attention. Attention that’s not coming.
Politically, the biggest challenge that PM Khan’s government had to face in a year of it’s coming in power was the abrogation of Article 370 whereby the Indian prime minister Modi forcibly annexed Kashmir in violation of the U.N charter as well as two Security Council resolutions on the region. Pakistan’s efforts to use the Security Council against the brazen Indian annexation of Kashmir remained futile as it failed to garner the required nine votes to put up a formal resolution on the issue.
True that coupled with India’s aggressive posture is the fact that politics around the world are driven by economics. Regional, international alliances take the front seat. The allies of today are those allying on causes and stances we oppose tomorrow. There are no permanent ‘friends’ and no permanent ‘enemies.’
However it is a reality that the Pakistan government mostly played to the domestic gallery. In spite of having a seasoned politician like Shah Mehmood Qureshi on top of the diplomatic team, Pakistan seems to lack a substantial foreign policy to handle the many challenges on the external front. that face Pakistan. When a situation is thrust upon us, we react without homework and without strategy.
The situation with the internal issues is no different either; within a year, the inflation has gone through the roof. The rupee has fallen against the dollar, costs of petrol and diesel with increased taxation of various shades and hues made the costs of many goods prohibitive for the common man. The much promised structural reforms, particularly in the financial sector and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), have yet to yield results. Revenue collection and several other targets, as agreed with the IMF, too have fallen short in the first quarter of the current financial year.
Every industry/sector has been hit by these ill-conceived plans. This in turn has created loss of revenue to Pakistan. New taxation measures have also hit the real estate sector, slowing down transactions. Mohammad Arif, an engineer working in Gulf state, for instance had wanted to buy a plot but changed his mind once told the transaction would involve taxes on both parties. “I pay my taxes where I work, I bring foreign exchange, why should I pay taxes here too, he asked.
The government is also establishing a Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) to ‘manage the affairs of real estate with an appellate tribunal to settle the disputes of the concerned sector.’ Estate agents must register to sale and purchase of any plot/houses. According to a Bill for RERA, prior approval from RERA will be mandatory before starting work on any real estate project. This duplication of work is unfathomable. Each society like DHA, LDA and so on have their own by-laws and mandatory registration of estate agents as well as submission and clearing of all construction projects. Some from this industry say that this step will be the last nail in the coffin of construction industry.
Auto sector has plunged this past year, with significant decline in sales, primarily because of up to 40% rise in prices in the past 12 months, federal excise duty imposed in the budget for FY20 and the rupee devaluation.
As a whole the picture on the economic front is dismal. The government claims it will improve as the structural reforms take root.
The writer is a lawyer, academic and political analyst. She has authored a book titled ‘A Comparative Analysis of Media & Media Laws in Pakistan.’ She can be contacted at: yasmeenali62@gmail.com and tweets at @yasmeen_9
