A living too low for envy, a life too high for contempt, such a judge is never an object of Contempt; he needs no Presidential Ordinance to protect his name and fame.
-Barrister Baachaa
NOTE, PLEASE: From now on there will be two issues of FreePakistan Newsletter
one on the 1st and the second on the 16th of every month.
CONTENTS:
0 The Role of Judiciary in Pakistan
0 Chairs, Hamburgers and Market
0 Letters to FP
0 Letters from the Press
0 FreePakistan News Briefs
THE ROLE OF JUDICIARY IN PKAISTAN
By Muhammad Yousuf Leghari
Chairman Special Committee on White Paper
[As we know not only to meet the demands of justice but for establishing a rule of law
also, an independent judiciary is essential. But Pakistan is far from having such an
independent judiciary. That is why the Pakistani Press usually refers to a troika that
rules the country. It includes the Judiciary. It is first time in the history of Pakistan
that a white paper on the role of Judiciary, one of the two holy cows of the country,
has been published. Pakistan Bar Council has taken this bold step (who else could?).
Here is its Preface which describes the gist of the white paper.]
"On every occasion that Military has taken over power, the superior courts of Pakistan
have allied themselves with them. The judiciary has repeatedly relied on the doctrine of
necessity, thus allowing the dictators to rule the people beyond the pale of Constitution
and the Law. The judiciary's lust for power has led to conspiracies amongst the judges
against their own colleague judges. The court has been divided for so long. In the
process its independence has been seriously undermined. It has failed to follow its
own precedents in the cases of Al-Jehad Trust and Asad Ali.
The conduct of the judiciary weakened the judicial system so much so that on military
takeover by General Musharraf, the judges were forced to make oath under the
Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). Certain judges did not make oath including the
Chief Justice of Pakistan. Justice Irshad Hassan Khan was sworn in as Chief Justice of
Pakistan and other judges who made oath with him had to assure the Government of
their support. Thus these judges were so cowered down by the Military Regime that it
has nothing to fear from them. This is the state of affairs in which the judiciary is
working presently. Since the military Government wants favorable verdicts, the
Supreme Court accepted Musharraf as President. General Musharraf in return
extended the age of retirement of judges by three years.
It is in such a situation that we have seen that the judgments of the superior courts have
lost all credibility. Corruption in judiciary is widely known. Rulers are allowed powers
to remove any judge under the pretext of PCO. The junior judges are appointed Chief
Justices of High Courts. The judges convict the former Prime Minister and her husband
on a telephone call of the Law Minister. The Supreme Judicial Council has been
rendered ineffective. The doors of justice are closed. Judges misbehave with lawyers
but release the contemnors under the pressure of the Government. The judges of
accountability courts act exclusively on the desire of the Government. The people have
been looking up to the Bar Councils and Bar Associations to come forward and
perform their obligation towards the people of Pakistan. We, members of the legal
fraternity, have always raised our voice against the excesses by the judiciary or
against the judiciary.
In such a situation it was felt necessary to make these facts public for the people of
Pakistan. On my proposal, Pakistan Bar Council decided to publish White Paper on
the role of judiciary. . . The White Paper is primarily focused on the last four years.
However, many earlier incidents, decisions and conduct of judiciary are also mentioned.
It does not mean that those before the present lot were all honest and independent or
that the Bar Council has condoned them. Due to shortage of time and funds we are
unable to publish a comprehensive white paper at present. We will however publish
white papers on earlier conduct of the judiciary and its judgments in future. Pakistan
Bar Council has made this effort in the best interest of the country with the hope that
it will galvanize the public opinion which would set things right in the judiciary in
near future. This effort is aimed at restoring independence of judiciary."
CHAIRS, HAMBURGERS AND MARKET
By John T. Wenders
Suppose you owned a furniture store, and someone asked you what you sold. You
would probably say "furniture." Likewise, if someone invited you to lunch, you would
go to a restaurant for something to eat. The use of such words as "furniture" and "lunch"
is common, and these words serve a useful purpose in communicating.
Yet, at bottom, no one ever really buys (or sells) "furniture" or "lunch." What you
actually buy is a chair, a sofa, or a table. And when you have lunch, you actually eat
a bowl of soup, a Caesar salad, or a hamburger. "Furniture" and "lunch" are collective
nouns; they are abstractions that exist only in the mind. The real things are the chairs,
hamburgers, and so on.
No one can deny this. But many would say that such a distinction is a nitpick that
doesn't amount to much in practical terms, since everyone implicitly knows what is
going on when we use collective terms like furniture and lunch.
But sometimes the confusion makes a big difference, such as in the discussion of
human interactions. There, almost without exception, thought and action are carried
out in terms of groups of people without regard to the real individuals who make up
those groups. While we all remember that chairs, tables, and the rest are meant when
we use the term "furniture," we almost universally forget that individual people are
the real things in "society."
This is collectivism. The insidious common element in all modern collectivist
philosophies, whether socialist, communist, or fascist, is the mindset that places
collective abstractions about human beings above the individuals who lie below. It
is an organic view of society in which its elements, individual people, are lost.
Characterizations about society can only be known by the intellect, not the senses.
Only individuals feel better or worse off-collective abstractions about individuals
do not. You cannot add chairs and tables together and get anything meaningful.
You can't eat lunch; you can only eat a hamburger. Likewise you cannot add people
together and get anything real. In the abstract universe of the collective, individuals
and their well-being are sacrificed and implicitly traded against one another in an
endless game of redistribution to satisfy some collectivist view that exists only
in the mind of the viewer.
As the French political philosopher Bertrand de Jouvenel observed some time ago,
people are the reality and society is an artificial convention. In the nineteenth century,
when the conception of society was transformed from a collection of people to a
collective about and above people, there became no limit to the power of
the state-anything could be justified in the name of the collective, which had
a being superior to that of any individual.
The "Market"
The concept of a "market" is just that: a concept. It is a collective noun. In the
philosopher's language, "the market" is a universal, a conceptualism, a product of
the mind that does not exist independently of its elements. The real, human elements
of the "market" are individual voluntary exchanges and associations, each carried
out by individuals acting in a mutually beneficial way. One cannot evaluate the
concept of a "market"; one can only evaluate its elements-voluntary exchanges.
And since voluntary exchanges, and more broadly, voluntary associations, leave
humans better off, "markets" must be beneficial to humans, contrary to the
conclusions of modern liberals. As philosopher J. C. Lester points out, other than
charity, the only alternatives to voluntary exchanges and associations are
coercion, theft, robbery, fraud, extortion, and so on. On the personal level the
only alternatives are assault, rape, slavery, and murder. To the extent that one
objects to the "market," as many do, then one is advocating these very illiberal
alternatives, usually under some statist euphemism like taxation, conscription,
regulation, egalitarianism, the public interest, and so on. >From before Marx down
through Rawls, modern liberalism, communitarianism, or whatever collectivist
abstraction happens to be in vogue, is a retreat into holism where human beings are lost.
"Globalization" is just another of those holistic slogans. Like all abstractions, it is
difficult to define exactly what it means-what its real elements are-but it seems
to be concerned with trade, especially international trade.
To talk intelligently about globalization, you have to reduce the concept to its real
elements. Just as the idea of a "market" is a holistic concept, so is the idea of
"international trade," and they are the same thing. Nations (or cultures) don't trade.
People do. Nations trade only in the minds of those who collectivize and aggregate
the individual elements of trade-the voluntary exchanges that occur between
people who live in different countries. There is no real, elemental difference
between international trade and any other kind of trade: both are voluntary exchanges
between individuals and/or voluntary associations of individuals (like corporations),
and the only difference is that one takes place between people in different countries.
One of the consequences of thinking about international trade in globalized terms is
that one may conclude it is bad. While it is difficult to argue that voluntary human
associations, like exchanges, are bad, once these are collectivized into terms like
"international trade" or "globalization," that argument is easier for shallow thinkers
to swallow. Exactly why it is bad is usually left to the imagination, and human beings,
especially so-called intellectuals, have fertile imaginations.
To conclude that international trade is bad you must believe that its real elements,
voluntary exchanges, are bad-exchanges made by individuals who believe they will
be better off trading than not trading. If you argue that voluntary exchanges are bad it
must be because you believe that you know other people's preferences better than
they do-an elitist concept that when implemented leads to all kinds of authoritarian,
coercive, nonmarket behavior.
One of the more ludicrous, and illogical, popular notions about globalization is that
trade impoverishes. This, of course, is a conflict in terms: trade, by definition, is
voluntary; if it is voluntary, it must be mutually beneficial; if it is mutually beneficial,
it cannot be impoverishing, unless you live in some weird masochistic world where
people choose to make themselves worse off.
The sad thing is that the logical mistakes of communism, socialism, and fascism
don't end there. All modern societies have become collectivist in their outlook.
The result is the endless growth of collectivism's hegemony in the form of statism.
There, a higher and higher proportion of human output and action is allocated and
regulated by state coercion rather than voluntary human interaction.
[John Wenders is professor of economics, emeritus, at the University of Idaho, USA]
Letters to FP
If it is all right with you, we would like to include information about
your Alternate Solutions Institute in the Organizations section of the
August 6 issue of ACHA Peace Bulletin.
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Best wishes,
Pritam Rohila
[USA]
Letters from the Press
SILENCE ON WRITE-OFFS
[Dr. S. M. Ali, London, UK]
The World Bank and IMF are known to control our financial and fiscal policies. They
are reported to force our government to increase the gas, electricity and telephone
rates at regular intervals. The ministry of finance and the State Bank of Pakistan
together with the Central Board of Revenue have become an extension of the WB
and IMF. We do not hear much about Asian Development Bank's policies and role
but we guess they must be similar to those of the WB and IMF. We are, however, at
a loss to understand why these powerful financial institutions do not utter a word on
the huge amounts of debts being written off at regular intervals.
The written-off amounts are more than the annual budget of some of our provinces.
Moreover, the beneficiaries are strikingly rich, living in palatial houses, owning a fleet
of luxury cars and still running profitable business. Why the government does not
confiscate the palatial houses, factories, shops, luxury vehicles of these crooks who
are thriving at the cost of the poor millions of this backward country? Why are not
he World Bank and IMF and ADB taking any action against this gross malpractice,
usurpation of public funds and cheating? What has General Musharraf to offer as
explanation for this write-off of Rs.18 billion against his supporters? Where is that
honest and fair government?
[The News International July 15, 2003]
WHY WRITE-OFFS?
[A. Rehman, Hyderabad]
The reason given by the ministry of finance for the further reduction in the profits
from the National Savings Schemes is that the government does not see why such a
high return should be given to the savers at the expense of the exchequer as the
cost of servicing the NSS debt has to be reduced under direction of the
World Bank and the IMF.
But could the government not obtain the savings by cutting back on non-essential and
wasteful government expenditures? Can the finance minister inform the people of
Pakistan why Rs.18.77 billion written-off was given to chaudhrys, pirs, generals
and the other millionaires at the expense of the people of Pakistan? Can the finance
minister explain why after putting Rs.25 billion in restructuring United Bank Limited
it was sold for Rs.12 billion? Can the finance minister inform the people of Pakistan
how many millions of dollars were spent on his recent junket with the President to
Britain, France, US and Germany?
Can the finance minister not stop the wasteful expenditure on luxury cars and
ostentatious living standard of the federal and provincial ministers and bureaucrats?
Why can they (IMF/WB) not force the government to reduce the defense
expenditure? Is it because that would affect the profits of their western
defense industries?
[The News International July 15, 2003]
EXCLUSIVE SERVICE
[L. Raza, Islamabad]
Transparency in writing off loans: only the big wigs can avail this service.
[The News International July 19, 2003]
INDO-PAK TRADE RELATIONS
[Kangayam R. Rangaswamy, Madison, WI, USA]
Let us now (referring to the visit of 100 Pakistani businessmen to India) piously
express the sentiment that trade between India and Pakistan may be a precursor to
peace in the region. Or, is it the other way round - peace first and trade later? Alas,
it boils down to the usual chicken and egg syndrome.
Fifty years of sustained of hostility has made it nearly impossible to consider even a
common sense issue like trade between the two geographically contiguous countries,
outside the ambit of politics when the whole world is moving towards the notion of
borderless trade. In the American continent, the tri-lateral trade agreement, NAFTA,
despite some initial political overtones, has vastly improved trade in the region,
benefiting manufacturers and consumers in all the three countries, i.e. the
USA, Canada and Mexico.
In the Indo-Pakistan region, smugglers have thrived over the years, moving goods
across the borders at will. Dope peddlers on both sides have ganged up too. For them
politics and religion are no barriers, but the consumers are left holding the bag of
high prices because of the artificial barriers to trade. Producers like cement, steel,
textiles, sugar, rice and wheat do not bear any labels like Islam or Hindu.
Members of parliament of both countries have already started meeting and conversing
with each other. It is now the turn of the businessmen. Let not trade, which can largely
remain apolitical, be held hostage to politics. It is an enormous mistake to speak of
trade as trading with the enemy or supping with the devil.
[Dawn June 29, 2003]
FreePakistan News-Briefs
TELECOM DEREGULATION POLICY ANNOUNCED
After a long delay, while the constitutional monopoly of Pakistan Telecommunications
Company Limited (PTCL) had come to an end on 31st December, 2002; the
deregulation policy for the telecommunication sector approved by the federal
cabinet has finally been announced.
STAKEHOLDERS REJECT TELECOM POLICY
Stakeholders the IT industry and intending investors have termed the telecom
deregulation policy highly protective of the interests of the Pakistan
Telecommunications Communication Company (practically a government monopoly)
and totally antagonistic towards the investors.
According to the Internet Service Providers Association Of
Pakistan (ISPAK), the policy which apparently has been developed jointly by the
Ministry of IT and Telecom and PTA (Pakistan Telecommunications Authority),
both fully infiltrated by the watchdogs of the PTCL, is highly protective of the
interests of the PTCL and antagonistic towards the investors. Most of the
clauses of the policy are in favor of Pakistan Telecommunications. The Landline
Licenses, under the clause 4.2.2 has been left without any bond and with a small
license fee of US$ 10. The clause 4.2 (b) has imposed such a heavy financial burden
with very small portion of termination charges retention that no viable business
plan is possible under this policy.
ISPAK believe that the policy has been made without taking into account the current
global Trends and international telecom practice. While it has been assumed that till
next review, The international termination charges will remain constant; no thought
has been given to IP telephony which is making rapid gain on conventional telephony.
In fact, the policy has totally ignored the Internet telephony, whereas internationally
this technology and its economic impact on the telecom sector is considered most
crucial in planning the market strategies.
ISPAK regrets that this deregulation policy as most disappointing, unfriendly to new
Investors and highly protective of to the existing monopoly. ISPAK announced to
organize seminar inviting the private sector players from all parts of the country
to thoroughly debate on the policy in a open forum.
GOVERNMENT TO REVIEW TELECOM POLICY
The government has agreed to review the recently announced telecom policy.
Officials and sources close to the ministry of IT and Telecom said since the
government had showed some flexibility over the issue, the Chairman Pakistan
Telecommunications Authority, a regulatory body, would seek stakeholders'
Proposals Before finally going for policy's review.
CONTEMPT OF COURT ORDINANCE 2003
The President of Pakistan has issued the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 which
provides for up to six-months simple imprisonment or fine up to one 100000 rupees
or both for the contemnors. The Ordinance says that whoever disobeys or disregards
any court order or direction that he is bound to obey legally would be held responsible
for committing contempt of court. The Ordinance defines the contempt as of three
types, i.e. civil contempt, criminal contempt and judicial contempt. The criminal
contempt involves, among other things, intimidation of a witness or judge or influence
the outcome of the case; and, the personalized criticism of a specific judge may
constitute judicial contempt. But, fair and healthy (Who will decide what is fair
and healthy? Ed.) comments on the judgment do not constitute a contempt.
POVERTY AND POVERTY SPENDING: BOTH ON THE INCREASE
A report of the Ministry of Finance states that poverty related spending during
2002-2003 could total around Rs.158 billion. The actual utilization of funds
identified in the Poverty Related Spending Paper were just Rs.102 billion, against
the target of Rs.114 billion for the period July-March 2002-2003. The yearly target
of PRSP spending was Rs.161 billion.
According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2002-2003, the total poverty ratio
in Pakistan has been calculated at 32.1% against 30.6% in 1998-99 and 29.8% in
1996-97. It is inferred that the incidence of poverty had declined in 1986-87 to
1990-91 and fallen from 29% to 26%. Subsequently, the poverty trend was reversed.
Between 1992-93 and 2000-200, the poverty incidence rose by about 5% to32% with
the biggest jump taking in 1993-04. Also, during the first two years of military rule
(1999-2001) poverty rose to 4% in the rural and 2% in the urban areas.
[For more on poverty increase, see also FreePakistan Newsletters No. 2, 6 and 7.]
UNSATISFACTORY FINANCIAL REPORTING AND AUDITING
World Bank has warned the government of Pakistan to downgrading the Bank funded
'Project to Improve Financial Reporting and Auditing' to "unsatisfactory performance"
on account of slow progress.
WRITING OFF LOANS IS A POLITICAL BUSINESS
The present government has informed the National Assembly secretariat that the
politicians associated with the ruling parties and their families were among well
over 1000 influential business- and army-men who got Rs.18 billion loans written
off from the government owned banks during the three years of military government.
DISCRIMINATION IN WRITING OFF LOANS
Industrialists and businessmen of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan have
held federal government and State Bank of Pakistan responsible for discriminating
against the business community of the province as the list of those who got Rs.18
billion bank loans written off during the three year military rule does not contain a s
ingle name of any industrialist or businessman from NWFP.
NO MORE TAX FREE ZONES
The government has dropped the tax as being incentive and in future the previous
tax-free policy of offering tax-free zones to industries would not be repeated.
PRIVATE SHARE IN BANKING SECTOR TO INCREASE
With the privatization of Habib Bank Limited in a period of 2-4 months, the overall
share of nationalized banks in the banking sector will com down to just 20%.
LEGISLATION TO CHECK HEPATITIS
Punjab Health Minister has said that 'Care Group on Hepatitis' is considering
legislative process to check spreading of Hepatitis which will be submitted in the
next assembly session for legislation.
FARMERS TO BE TAXED
On the proposal of World Bank, Federal Government is considering to bring all
farmers in direct tax net instead of the present land holding tax system.
BUSINESSMAN TO SUE CBR
For the first time a businessman has announced to sue the Central Board of Revenue
for illegal invasion of his premises, unwarranted arrest of his staff and public insult
caused by these acts committed to declare him as tax evader.
QUOTA VS. MERIT
On the recommendation of the Punjab Ombudsman, the government of Punjab has
reserved 20% quota for the children of serving/retired government servants in
government jobs and a circular has been issued in this regard.
ANTI-MARKET MEASURE TO BOOST TV SALES FAILS
The imposition of 25% import duty on used computer monitors in the budget for
FY 2003-2004 has failed to hold back the declining sales of both the imported as well
as the locally manufactured television sets. The price of used monitors is so low that
even with the addition of 25% import duty the monitors are still considered cheap by
the lower and middle class group buyers who are the biggest seeker of this item.
Practically, the used monitors are not only used with unbranded or second-hand
computers but as television sets also by adding a device known as 'TV Card' which
has a remote control and the facility to view at least 256 channels, and the current
price of TV card in the whole sale computer and electronics market is about Rs.700.
WAPDA CAUSES RS.158 MILLION LOSS TO EXCHEQUER
Water and Power Development Authority (a government monopoly) has finally
decided to award the tender for one million single phase energy meters to local
manufacturers inflicting a loss of Rs.158 million to the national exchequer for the deal.
PROTECT US FROM THE IMPORTERS
Pakistan Poultry Association has demanded the government to impose heavy
duty on the import of chicken in order to protect the local chicken industry
from plunging into crisis.
PROTECT US FROM THE SMUGGLERS
The Managing Director Pakistan Tobacco Company has urged the government to
check duty evasion and smuggling which is seriously hurting the tobacco industry.
'OBSCENE' PROGRAMS ON CABLE TV BANNED
District Coordination Officer Lahore City has imposed ban on the telecast of
obscene and immoral films, dramas ad programs o cable television network. He
directed that all cable operators and concerned companies should telecast 48
approved channels.
=========================================================
Edited and prepared by
Khalil Ahmad
Email: khalilkf =at= hotmail.com
khalilkf =at= yahoo.com
[No opinion expressed here should be taken as reflecting the view of the FreePakistan Newsletter.]
