LHR 25-06-2013_Layout 1 6/25/2013 5:41 AM Page 11
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. –Mark Twain
11
CoMMenT
C
Tuesday, 25 June, 2013
A budget for the rich T the clear signal: change is just wishful thinking
Benazir Bhutto: Martyrdom for marginalised she sacrificed her life for democracy and people’s rights
JEHAnGiR bADAR
P
OWER Politics is not a soft arena for women especially in the South Asian countries. In this turf, violence, coercion, hypocrisy and such other tactics are part of the game. Brutality and ruthless violence could be used to defeat and discourage the opponents. Understandably, logical reasoning is not the sole weapon of the politicians. In the power politics, rules of the game are equal for all, no compassion or courtesy is extended to anyone including women. These are bitter realties of the South Asian politics. When Shaheed Benazir Bhutto entered in politics in late 1977, she confronted all such brutal environment. No concession was given to her because of her gender, her young age, her family background or the status of her late father – the first elected prime minster of Pakistan. She was not even given the courtesy or respect an ordinary woman is entitled to in the traditional South Asian culture. The coward dictator, his allies and protégé did not spare any shameful and inhuman tactic to deter her from politics. They did it in the hope that the young lady will not withstand their brutality. But they were terribly wrong. Fortunately, they were alone: the people of Pakistan were not with them. The people were silently and helplessly watching the inhuman behavior of the usurper, just waiting for the opportunity to express their preference. Ultimately that moment of the people came: in 1988, with the power of votes of the people of Pakistan, Shaheed BB ascended to power. Still she faced intense disapproval from the forces of darkness; the power hungry military men, the pseudo mullahs, and their allies. As expected, they fully exploited religion and the patriarchal tradition of the local culture to undermine her leadership. All sorts of accusations, media trail and persecutions were unleashed upon her. But she stuck to her cause, stood steadfast with the marginalized sections: women, children, landless peasants and unprivileged laborers, who were denied the basic rights of education, health and decent living.
Benazir Bhutto had chosen the path of over 11 years. Her enemies were not just few leadership in a voluntary decision. Remember, individuals, but a bunch of classes and leaders are not born, but are self-made. She strongly networked zealots who had no value was not the one who used her hereditary polit- for life, and no morality or humanism. Her ical support to achieve political power. She enemies included the hypocoristic and power learnt from the most turbulent times, stern tests hungry mullahs, the greedy generals, the feuand trials. Make no mistake: she was not suc- dals, the unprincipled businessmen – all of cessful because her elitist family background. whom joined hands under the umbrella of the Rather due to her family, she faced extra vio- nine-party, Pakistan National Alliance. This lence and brutality. The dictatorial forces were seamless lethal and unholy alliance had only bent upon eliminating her for two reasons: one agenda: to discredit and un-empower first, because of her own pro-people and anti- women. BB fought in many fronts. Her worst establishment agenda; second, for defending enemies were not only the dictators, but also and preserving the political party and philo- the allies of the dictators in the guise of her sophical legacy of Shaheed Z.A Bhutto. To colleagues and party men. In the late 1970s, punish her for this ‘double crime’ all sorts of she assumed leadership in the presence of evil, dictatorial and undemocratic forces several aspirants within her own father’s joined hands to eliminate her both physically party, the PPP. Dealing with such enemies and politically. They succeeded to eliminate needed special skills, wisdom and fortitude. her physically but miserably failed in under- And BB had loads of these attributes. Her enemies never understood her mining here political legacy. Her style of leadership is very much alive and her services for strength. In a short span of time, she conthe democracy and people of Pakistan are ac- tributed a lot to the world political history. It would be difficult for any other woman to reknowledged even by her worst opponents. Her service to democracy was not just to place her the way she worked, resisted and strengthen and stabilize the parliamentary sys- was elected twice as the prime minister of Pakistan. Today, she is the role tem. The most laudable model but she had created and long-lasting contriconducive situation for bution of BB was to emwomen to play a role in power women and democracy. She was the youth leadership in PakMany politicians are one who sacrificed her life istan to struggle for their rights. With her enjoying the fruits of that for democracy and people’s rights. She set an example artful and dignified poplant, which is now not only for Pakistan, but litical conduct, she falsified the notion that relatively stronger. Let us also for the women leaders ‘women are weak’ and remember her blood, her of theHerworld. assassination was can be defeated by the coercion and violence. boldness and her bravery. the end of an era of a and distinctive poShe disproved such She fought for sovereign, unique litical career of a woman clichés with her powerleader who rose to global ful and resilient political stable and progressive fame. She set an example behavior. She proved Pakistan. Her sacrifice of bravery in defying the that, with determination shackles of military dictaand dedication, the showed tremendous torship, remaining uncowardly dictators results. People of bowed with grace. She could be defeated. While defeating the Pakistan will never forget nurtured the tender plant of democracy with her blood. forces of darkness, she her and her services. Many politicians are enjoydemonstrated that she ing the fruits of that plant, possessed stronger inwhich is now relatively terpersonal skills (emstronger. Let us remember pathy, flexibility and her blood, her boldness and sociability), impeccable moral character and highly developed psycho- her bravery. She fought for sovereign, stable logical and cognitive capabilities. While pre- and progressive Pakistan. Her sacrifice senting her viewpoint, she was more assertive showed tremendous results. People of Pakistan and argumentative than her male counterparts. will never forget her and her services. The article was written to coincide with Her years of resistance and resilience were not sporadic or short term, but spanned Benazir Bhutto’s birthday on June 21.
HE budget is a ritual that each year is performed with due indifference by the government and received with due apprehension by the public. This time the expectations were different. The new government had taken over with many claims, and the public was expecting at the least an attempt to be different from the last one. And many felt that the government would try to put in a first good impression with a more AnDLEEb AbbAS people-friendly approach. But unbelievably it has not bothered to make any pretense of being pro poor and has blatantly made a budget for the rich, against the poor, with the clear intention of signaling that change is just wishful thinking. The budget should be the most important exercise but it has become the most dreaded one. It is an exercise where innocent public have to pay for the sins of corrupt governments. It is an exercise that is made with a very muddled vision, where figure fudging is done to create veneer of benefits hiding beneath a host of painful price hike tumours ready to burst out in the long run. The budget document loses all its importance if it does not have a direction, a vision and a mission. Thus all budgets are generally supposed to be for public benefit but none of them have a vision statement and purpose statement explaining where the country is heading. Are we aiming at an investment-oriented budget? Are we aiming at a consumption-oriented budget? Are we encouraging savings? Are we providing relief for the poor? Are we paying obeisance to IMF? This is the first discussion that should be held in any budget preparation. The direction setting exercise then aligns every budgeting area to be guided by that direction. In the absence of this overarching direction the budget is a mere cut and paste exercise that makes a mess of a random and hashed approach of fitting in figures in various slots and somehow balancing the receipts with expenditures. The present budget announced by the government is a classic example of this thoughtless and directionless exercise. The prime minister and finance minister kept on claiming that the budget is pro poor, giving relief to the under privileged. However the details of the budget show a total contradiction to these claims. It has been a blatant exercise in traditional squeezing of the already squeezed. The GST increase of one per cent on consumption is a cumulative, regressive and indirect tax that will have a high inflationary impact. This increase will result in actual terms of at least six per cent as the calculation is more technical than a simple deduction. However by the time the middlemen add their margins and pass on the cost to the consumer the impact escalates between 25 to 30 per cent. On the one hand the cost of living goes up, and on the other the salaries have not budged. This is a classic case of strangulating the masses and increasing the difference between haves and have nots. In this budget the salaried class has been mercilessly taxed as people who have worked hard and have started earning a decent amount have now to pay for this hard work by paying off 35 per cent of it to the taxman. Even within the salary scales the formula is that as it increases from Rs60,000 to Rs70,000 the tax rate is cut from 35 to 19 per cent. This is totally contrary to the earlier claims of being equitable, not taxing the already taxed and enhancing the tax net. The big business meanwhile has remained untouched and the other sectors like agricultural tax etc. have been left to provincial domain. This disconnect, with where you are claiming you want to go and where you end up, is attributable to two reasons. One is that most of our politicians are rooted in paying lip service to pacify the public and keep on doing the contrary. Either they will justify it on the basis of conditions, circumstances etc. or they simply do not have the competence to understand the importance of having a strategic budget planning process where a clear purpose is the driving force behind this document. In either case, the public suffers and starts disbelieving and distrusting this exercise as a threat to their existence. The budget actually is a reflection of the mindset of the leaders. The budget has done some cursory increases in education and health but not really any significant growth in these areas. Yet the Prime minister has been saying that he wants Pakistan to become an Asian Tiger. What is puzzling now is how can he do it without making huge investments in education and health, which was the hallmark of the countries where rapid progress was made. The mindset is disappointingly similar to previous regimes that reek of stop gap arrangements to fight fires but no long term plan of how to increase revenue. The same tried, tested and failed solutions are again on display: tax the already taxed; borrow more locally to pay off debts and then borrow from the IMF to keep the country afloat and indebted; spend on roads and buses first and education and health later. Maybe it is this inherent fear of these leaders of having an aware and educated populace that will question the budget window dressing that forces them to keep the public in ignorance. This mindset is the biggest hurdle on making non-traditional policies and plans. The government must realize that after five years of living with injustice, the public’s patience with more of the same has exhausted itself. Also they should not overestimate the level of ignorance of the man on street. With media so penetrative and public distrust at a high it will be difficult for the government to justify earlier claims on the basis of severity of circumstances. What they need to do is to take some bold and innovative approaches. The NADRA has already identified almost a million more people who can be brought into the tax net. The least that the government can do is to bring some of them to pay taxes. The rationale behind this is that to get a different result, you must adopt a different approach. Otherwise their claims of ‘No More’ will simply sound hollow compared to the IMF dictate of ‘Do More’. The writer is an analyst and columnist and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com