In the name of Allah, the Most-Merciful, the All-Compassionate

 

"May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon You"

 

Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala Rasulillah

                       As-Salaam Alaykum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakaatuh

              ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) FOOD FOR THOGUHT!!!!!!!!!!!Economic dilemmas of Pakistan....

 

Pakistan faces a second year of massive floods and there seems to be no end to this dilemma and the recreation of poverty for those that had struggled to maintain themselves in the face of the great adversity in 2010. The poverty figures will be up again and the economy stands at a standstill. The minds are also stagnant and for me that is the bigger dilemma that we face today.

 

The Pakistani mind of the elite is millions of miles away from the rural population. The US poverty figures came out and the media there was interviewing the affected people. The poverty line is drawn by the miserable figure of $22,000 per annum. The lady being interviewed talked of the misery that she had for she could only spend $200 per month and she received another $350 from the US government in the form of food stamps - poor thing. The government was criticised. Imagine what our people have to stave off poverty. Even in poverty we stand as unequal. There are poor in this country with less than a dollar a day. That is hardly any recompense for us, the elites living in the urban areas, and living under a kind of delusion.

 

How can we justify this existence? Would it not be better to think differently? How differently? Can we have for instance a ban on using public offices for personal benefits? Can we radicalise our solutions to the existence problems? Can we stop misusing the infrastructure for the benefits of our families? Any institution of the government of Pakistan can be seen being used for personal benefits. The research organisation that had to deliver, instead was being used for the purpose of marriages. In fact, most of the autonomous research organisations are now headed by people who may siphon off resources. They are doing so at will. The power structure does not understand that if they listen to idiots, they will end up on the dirt heap.

 

That is what is happening. What will a secretary do for dengue fever? Some of our seniors are busy siphoning off resources and using the system. There are no taboos any more at what can be or should not be done. One so-called senior scientist married the student that was being supervised by him (discarding the previous wife and children) and is now ready for a third marriage, for here is the take, the lady has been appointed against a project and is probably going to be predated. See how humans lose their dignity? The WB chief before Zoellick lost his job for showing consideration to his girlfriend and this in a society that damn well does not care for what is happening to one's personal life. Well, the personal life of those being paid from the exchequer does not remain isolated from what they are doing during the night or the late hours. All these organisations where the appointments have been thoughtless are suffering from this dilemma and we talk of working for the country.

 

The time that was to be spent on the job is taken away by frivolities. The government has to play havoc with such people in high offices. There are other cases where Pakistan is interacting with international institutes and there we stand to lose out. Take any arbitration from the Rann of Kutch and even earlier the Kashmir case and the Junagadh-Manwadar case at Partition or the current water dispute with our neighbours and although this has not come out in any result, the chances are that so far we have not won a single arbitration case. So, the probabilities are against us. What have these things to do with the economy? Simple when intentions are perverted, sooner or later the system breaks down. Any institution can bribe anyone with whatever. It is up to the state institutions to take care of the massive difficulties that have been created by the obscene for the pure poor. Have they even considered the mapping of the dengue fever? What to talk of a solution they do not even know that the majority of the cases are from DHA and the areas next to it. The developed areas are now full of plots that have stagnant water where the mosquitoes breed. I am afraid they do not even know what predator to obtain for the purpose of removing the parasite. Yes there are parasites that can be taken care off by predators. But to talk of the ignorance of the health policymakers is meaningless, because they are living in a different world. So if the bread-earner dies, what will happen to the middle-class family, what to talk of the poor or the absolute poor.

 

Double jeopardy for the poor and no matter what we do, we will not be able to get out of these problems - dengue fever caused by idiotic development (where is Planning?) and the floods caused by the infrastructure that should not have been in place, blocking all drainage, especially in Sindh. Yes, the road structure is one of the biggest hurdles in the drainage of rainwater. The rains also came when there was a full moon, which meant that the Arabian Sea was in high tide and the normal water expellers were not working. So to man-made infrastructure comes the natural impediment.

 

Poverty is a curse and everyone is against it, even those that have created it in the first place. Those factors that make a rich person are the very reason for the poor to be created. Egalitarianism that led to the creation of a welfare state has been lost and the rich have played a big part in this demolition of the welfare state. Pakistan may not have had that kind of welfare considerations as the West, but there were informal considerations. The IMF and the WB have made sure, along with the cheats in the country, to take away the happiness of the poor. There was nothing but fear on the faces of those that have suffered and the poor could do nothing. The resources have been transferred from the poor to the rich, rather than the other way round. We talk of development? Why? Should the science bureaucracy not be hauled up for harassment of the working women? What is the reason for the act to be announcement with such fanfare by the PM and not be implemented? Should dismissed court martial personnel be employed and should they not be taken to the cleaners for misdemeanours that they created before and are doing so now again.

 

Little things mean a lot in the letter of the law. False in little things, false in big things is a cardinal principle of jurisprudence. Can we do something to those that are misusing facilities for their own benefits? Do the poor not deserve a better deal? Will this selfish government servants (scientists, bureaucracy and politicians) overload do something for the depressed? Will the mighty chairman in position through intrigue deliver? Will he use his ethnicity to show the holes in his socks? How are the paid servants to be looked after by the West? That will mean my stepping on some more tender toes. But tread I will, for the economics of paradise there has to be a more sober view. As it is the country is on a losing score. The scoreboard is poor. Happiness and well-being are not visible. Why were warnings forgotten? Why be sorry now instead of being safe with some degree of circumspection? Were not enough warnings given last year that the axis of the earth had tilted and more water will come to areas where there have been no rains in the past?

 

The solution to poverty and statehood is to have personnel with a censorship system that is aboveboard. A degree does not matter and a PhD does not matter at all. All of them have become obsolete and obscene as well for they have taken away the resources of this country and have not delivered. Floods and dengue fever are interventions where the natural systems have not been disturbed and the harmony of systems has been disturbed. Learn these lessons and do not strut about like a peacock before a peahen as if you know everything. You are still babes in a manger. Economics of the real world is not based on meaningless equations. Get that straight; more on economics that matter.

 

Copyright Business Recorder, 2011

By DR ZAFAR ALTAF

 

2) Spending in a Good cause with trust on Allah

                               

Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala Rasulillah

 

 

Allah says in Quran,

  'Who is he that will lend to Allah a goodly loan, then (Allah) will increase it manifold to his credit (in repaying), and he will have (besides) a good reward (i.e. Paradise)' Al-Quran 57-11

  'And whatever you spend in good, surely Allah knows it well.'

 

Al-Quran 2:273

 

A man asked Messenger of Allah (SAW),

 

  "Which act in Islam is the best?''

 

He (SAW) replied,

 

 

Compiled, edited and adapted by Khalid Latif

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