Author: Dr Khalil Ahmad

Taxes for what
By Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq

Successive governments — military and civilian alike — have failed to convince the people that payment of taxes is their collective responsibility. The major reason for tax defiant culture in Pakistan is abuse of taxpayers’ money by Riasti Ashrafiya (state oligarchy) — militro-judicial-civil complex and public office holders — for plots, perquisites, personal comforts and luxuries.

People say if the government cannot protect their life and property, it has no right to collect taxes. In a democratic polity, taxes are collected for providing the citizens universal entitlements e.g. health, education, housing, transport, and civic amenities etc. The valid argument against paying taxes in Pakistanis is that it constitutes extortion by

[Warren E. Burger (1907-1995), Chief Justice, US Supreme Court]

The best thing that best explains Supreme Court’s July 20 judgment is: it’s never too late to mend!

As is being claimed it’s historic, it’s daring, it’s a people’s verdict, it’s a turning point in Pakistan’s history; of course, it is all these or may be more than that! But things are meaningful only in a context. Without context, they lose their import also. So, they must needs be put in their proper context to be understood rightly.   

This is more so with Supreme Court’s judgment that unanimously reinstated Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Chief Justice of Pakistan, setting aside the presidential reference against him. Besides its own significance, what make the judgment unusually extraordinary are the reservations, apprehensions and

In another article, Deadly debt trap, Huzaima Bukhari and Dr. Ikramul Haq talk of Riyasati Ashrafiya’s plundering and monopolization of wealth and resources of Pakistan.

They write:

“The way the government is moving our foreign debt would reach US$75 billion in 2015 and domestic debt would be Rs22 trillion. The policies of appeasement towards tax evaders, money-launderers and plunderers of national wealth and monopolisation of resources by Riasti Ashrafiya (state aristocracy) have pushed the country towards disaster.”

And:

“The present crisis testifies to the failure of power-hungry, money-greedy politicians and incompetent, inefficient and corrupt bureaucrats. Even the so-called technocrats always take the first flight to Washington after creating mess — where are Shaukat Aziz and Abdul Hafeez now? In this bleak scenario, Riasti Ashrafiya is not ready to surrender extraordinary perks and privileges enjoyed by them at the cost of taxpayers’ money. How can rulers and bureaucrats living in

A larger section of the sovereignty lobby tries to evade the real issue of institutional sovereignty facing Pakistan; rather it appears that their crying over the spilt milk of external sovereignty is a ploy to that effect.

This larger section includes so-called nationalists mostly from the Right and the Center. They all glorify a militarized Pakistan. Despite that Pakistan is an ally of the US in the war on terror, they want Iqbal’s Mamula (a little bird) to fight Shahbaz (a hawk). In their vision, they see Pakistan militarily confronting US, then US collapsing and Pakistan emerging victorious replacing the US.

Not only does this lobby play down the idea of internal sovereignty, they also negate the notion of institutional sovereignty. This they may defend as if by requiring an army they mean to conquer the whole world.

Be that wishful thinking as it may! Countries and nations are not

Morality and fundamental rights are the first principles which must take precedence over everything, be it ideologies, religions, systems of government, on the one hand, or elites, aristocracies, theocracies, bureaucracies, dictatorships and democracies, on the other. That is the lesson that human civilization teaches us, and without which a society based on co-existence cannot exist.

It is the failure to learn this that explains the emergence, persistence and spread of world terrorism nearly unprecedented in the history of violent movements. Presently al-Qaeda, Taliban and the likes of them are its manifestations. Certain characteristics single this terrorism out as the most atrocious human activity on our earth.

This terrorism has a clearly stated and demonstrated political agenda that transcends frontiers and peoples. Not only does it envisage a theocratic world government, it is hell-bent upon making it happen at any cost. It is using all violent methods, those already in use

The term of Riyasati Ashrafiya is slowly gaining currency in Pakistan. It’s not merely a term; it connotes a phenomenon, a malady, a dilemma the state of Pakistan is afflicted with. That the institution of state in Pakistan has been captured by various elite classes of Pakistan, and they use it to plunder the wealth the citizens of Pakistan create. That has given rise to a new class, Riyasati Ashrafiya.

That was the theme of my Urdu book, Pakistan Mein Riyasati Ashrafiya Ka Urooj, which was published in February 2012.

On July 26, 2013, the Business Recorder published a lengthy op-ed, “An elitist Pakistan” authored by Huzaima Bukhari and Dr. Ikramul Haq.  

To explain the phenomena of loot and plunder in Pakistan, the authors have accepted / used the term, Riyasati Ashrafiya. As its English equivalent for the Urdu Riyasati Ashrafiya, they coined the term, State

[Ludwig von Mises, Austrian Economist, 1881-1973]

He was born in Pakistan, and was brought up for public life by the military elite of Pakistan. He was a businessman turned into a politician by them. He was corrupt, laundered his illegal money. He was a liar who concealed the facts, didn’t speak the whole truth. He was a weak person who could not tolerate the dark dungeons he was put into by his regime’s over-throwers. He compromised his staying in his own country for an exile. All these ‘allegations’ may or may not be true. But he was a twice-elected prime minister of Pakistan. Does it matter? No! What matters is: wasn’t he a citizen of Pakistan? He was and is still a bona fide citizen of Pakistan.

His

Mostly it’s like a rule that the issue a government and its functionaries spend a lot of time on is no issue at all. Drone attacks over the Pakistani territory and the zeal of the government of Pakistan from its top political and military leadership to the parliament should be treated likewise. Indeed, everyone whether he is in the government or outside it, whether he is an ordinary citizen like me or a special dignitary like Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister who are sitting over the public exchequer of Pakistan, all (and sundry) are stormily concerned about the sovereignty of Pakistan being damaged by these Drone attacks. But let me confess I am one of those few (if any) who are least concerned and who consider it no issue. That is what this article intends to argue about.

Our government is a declared ally of the US government in