(15th April 2013)
Depressing figures Taxes paid by politicians
IT is an impressive list, even if for all the wrong reasons. Details of assets, taxes paid and loans written off give all sorts of scintillating glimpses into the ways and lifestyles of those who purport to be the representatives of the people. They are players in the great game of democracy upon which is riding the hope of rescuing this country from the savagery of religious militancy and the dangers ofa sinking economy. Here are some tidbits from the disclosures: many of those in the corridors of power own billions of rupees in assets, yet paid less in taxes last year than a midlevel reporter would have.
Ms Faryal Talpur, the presidential sibling, paid less than Rs300,000 in annual taxes against an income of more than Rs22m, while her husband, who owns substantial land and assets, paid less than Rs100,000 on an income of Rs8.64m.
Meanwhile, former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, whose expensive dress sense has received international press, paid a collective tax that was less than the cost of her much-admired Birkin handbag. Her husband, Feroze Gulzar, got a bank loan of Rs56m written off. On the other side of the political divide, Aftab Khan Sherpao paid Rs58,882while his income was almost Rs3m. Similarly, self-confessed billionaire Humayun Akhtar paid a little more Rs200,000.
The list is long. There are those who don`t even have an NTN number, despite declaring assets in the billions. There are politicians whose income is far more than what they have declared. There are those who have paid less than Rs30,000 in taxes in years when their annual income has been almost Rs5m. This lack of any sense of wrongdoing by themselves or their families who benefit from their position, is depressing.
Not all cases are the same. The politician with billions in assets and no NTN number, for instance, comes from Kohistan. But what excuse do Ms Khar and Mr Sherpao have? They cannot claim to be representing a region where the state`s footprint is negligible. This is more than a crying shame.
Given the kind of challenges our country is facing, and the kind of vilification we have to take on the international stage, it is criminal on the part of such politicians to be taking so much and giving back so very little.
Fortunately, democracy is about openness and in this context the Election Commission of Pakistan has done well to post the details on its website.
Needless death Diarrhoea and pneumonia
HAVING realised that strategies to tackle pneumonia and diarrhoea tend to run parallel instead of being integrated in a way that would produce more targeted interventions, Unicef and the World Health Organisation launched a new global action plan on Friday. For Pakistan, the initiative comes not a day too soon.
According to the estimates presented at the launch, the country annually loses some 144,000 children under five years to just these two preventable and treatable illnesses. Our under-five mortality rate is already amongst the highest in the world: 89 deaths per 1,000 live births more than 30 per cent of the burden is the result of pneumonia and diarrhoea.
The state of the health sector in general is already precarious, and the issue of prevention and the proper treatment of childhood illnesses is not given due attention.
Children who are most vulnerable those from lower-income, less educated families are also the ones least likely to benefit from interventions. Basic health-protection measures such as vaccinationsare a case in point. While the government provides most vaccines either free or at a subsidised cost at public health centres, this is not well-known nor is the importance of having children vaccinated.
Similarly, sanitation and the careful and regular washing of hands play a crucial role in helping prevent a range of illnesses. Yet the awareness and implementation figures for this country remain low. As international agencies launch their own initiatives, the state must also do whatever it can.
Its efforts could include a public-awareness campaign on the importance of vaccination, hygiene and sanitation, and a serious effort to improve the public health sector. At a time when all political parties are presenting their manifestoes and campaigning, this is a crucial dimension upon which they must focus. Health, especially that of children, must become more of a priority. Pakistan, with its youth-oriented population, desperately needs a healthy and disease-free workforce, quite apart from health being a primary human right.
Enemies within Need for vigilance
A POLICE inspector`s arrest in Karachi on Friday for allegedly supplying sensitive information to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and other criminals, the round-up of many suspects in a clean-up operation, the deactivation of a time-bomb near a mosque, and the arrest of an Abbas Town blast suspect show how diligence can yield results. Police Inspector Rana Ishrat is not the first security official accused of supplying militants with sensitive intelligence.
Diverse motives have prompted some armed forces personnel to pass on information to those who attack security and civilian targets. Some did it for ideological reasons; some apparently were trapped, while in this case it was lucre that allegedly motivated the policeman to pass on the information.
In fact, as investigations have revealed, the tips he supplied to some groups of outlaws led to the murder of an assistant subinspector of police. AsRana Ishrat visited Fata, he was unaware that his movements were being watched. His activity had a wider range, because the intelligence he was leaking to the TTP and others aimed at eliminating some of Karachi`s top police officials, including the chief of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell, to which he himself belonged.
The penetration of the security forces is one of the militants` major tactical aims. The attempts on Gen Musharraf`s life and the attacks on GHQ and other military bases show the enemy had collaborators within the security establishment. This calls for high-level vigilance to block the militants` penetration of the security apparatus and weed out the state`s enemies. Rangers may be good at `clean-up` operations, but it is the local police and the Crime Investigation Department that know their areas well and are in a better position to trail criminals and smash mafias.