Pakistan Headlines 19/03/2016

Headlines:

• The Khilafah "Caliphate" will Eradicate the Durand Line

• Democracy Will Never Secure Islam

• Neglect of Pakistan's Air Force is Because of Dependence on Colonialist Powers

• Increased Government Debt is Worsening Inflation

Details

The Khilafah "Caliphate" will Eradicate the Durand Line

In the National Assembly on 15 March 2016, Parliamentary Secretary of Interior Maryam Aurangzeb opposed a resolution calling for “effective steps to strengthen Pakistan-Afghanistan border security”, which was moved by PTI’s Murad Saeed. After the resolution was laid before the house, Ms Aurangzeb argued that multiple ministries, including Revenue and Foreign Affairs, were also involved in border management, therefore she couldn’t endorse the move on her own. PTI Chief Whip Dr Shireen Mazari led the attack from the opposition.

“Better management of the Pak-Afghan border is part of the National Action Plan; how can the government oppose this resolution,” she asked. Maulana Ameer Zaman of the JUI-F, declared, “If the government is not for the proper running of the porous border between the two countries, then what else does the interior ministry intend to do.”

The debate over the Pakistan-Afghanistan border reveals the colonialist influenced mind-set of the ruling and opposition parties. The Durand Line is the 2,250-kilometre (1,400 mi) long line between Afghanistan and present-day Pakistan, established in 1893 by agreement for 100 years, by Sir Mortimer Durand, representing the British Occupation of India to prevent the defiant Muslims of Afghanistan unsettling the Western colonialists. It was a colonialist tool to prevent Muslims from either side unifying as one force to eject the British and it serves the same purpose today, for it divides the Pushtoon regions which are the launchpad for a strong resistance that has prevented the settling of the American occupying forces within Afghanistan today. However, the ruling and opposition are blind to this reality because the compass for their political direction is Democracy, a system which both contradicts Islam and has no connection with Muslim heritage whatsoever. Rather than calling for the eradication of the Durand Line so as to unify the Muslims of Afghanistan and Pakistan against their enemies, they instead call for its consolidation, fulfilling the divide and rule policy of the colonialists.

The Khilafah "Caliphate" will govern by Islam, which mandates unification of Muslim Lands, enabling the Muslims to become a single powerful force against their enemies. In Article 189 of its Introduction to the Constitution, Clause 1, Hizb ut Tahrir has adopted, “The existing states in the Islamic world are considered to be part of one land and therefore they are not included within the sphere of foreign affairs. Relations with these countries are not considered to be in the realm of foreign policy and it is obligatory to work to unify all these countries into one state.”

Democracy Will Never Secure Islam

Religious parties have warned the government to withdraw the “un-Islamic” Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act, 2015, by March 27 or face a countrywide movement. On the call of the Jamaat-i-Islami, leaders of 35 religious parties gathered in Lahore on 15 March 2016 and held discussion on the law and condemned the steps the PML-N government had taken, what they called, against Shariah, the constitution and Pakistan’s ideology. A joint declaration issued after the meeting said: “All official announcements about a liberal, secular Pakistan and against Islamic injunctions are a revolt against the constitution and betrayal of the founding fathers of the country.” It further said: “The religious leadership stands united to safeguard Namoos-i-Risalat and the Muslim family system and they will foil conspiracies to make Pakistan a secular, liberal state.” The declaration said the government had tried to negate the Namoos-i-Risalat law by executing Mumtaz Qadri to please the enemies of Islam and a small secular lobby in the country.

Increasingly Muslims sense that there Islamic values are under assault by the current regime. However, unless Democracy is identified as the cause of secularism in the country, the Muslims will never secure their Deen. Indeed, nothing short of the abolition of Democracy and the restoration of the Khilafah "Caliphate" (Caliphate) on the Methodology of the Prophethood, will secure Islam.

Pakistan's Democracy is a continuation of the British Raj occupation that abolished Islamic rule in the Indian Subcontinent in the first place. Even though the Muslims shed their pure blood to establish Pakistan in the name of Islam, it was the British Parliament that created Pakistan’s initial legislation under its Indian Independence Act of 1947. Even though Pakistan produced its first constitution in 1956, this and every subsequent constitution, including the present 1973 Constitution, has been framed around British secular law. Whilst secularism is unlike atheism, as it does not deny the Creator, it is exactly the same as atheism in denying the Creator (swt) being the sole Sovereign over humankind, ordering and forbidding them according to all that He (swt) revealed. Instead, secularism gives human-beings the choice to obey Allah (swt) or disobey Him, even though Allah (swt) has revealed,

(وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلاَ مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمْ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلاَلاً مُبِينًا)

“It is not befitting for a believing man or woman to have any choice in a matter, when it has been decided upon by Allah and His Messenger.” [Surah Al-Ahzab 33:36].

And the Objectives Resolution of 1949 does not fix secular democracy's denial of Allah (swt) as sole and effective Sovereign over humankind. In fact, although this resolution begins by stating that ‘sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Allah Almighty alone,’ it promptly transfers this sovereignty to the ‘Constituent Assembly,’ an assembly of men and women, though Islam mandates sovereignty is only for Allah (swt). As for Article 227 of the constitution that provides for all existing laws to be brought in “conformity with the injunctions of Islam,” again this article gives the ultimate choice to the assembly. Thus, it is Pakistan's secular democracy that has allowed successive governments, in over six decades, to prevent the implementation of most of Islam, if not nearly all of it, even though Allah revealed,

[أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ فَمَا جَزَاءُ مَنْ يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنْكُمْ إِلاَّ خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ]

“Do you believe in a part of the Book and reject the rest? What else, then should be the retribution of those among you who do this than that they should live in degradation in the present life, and that on the Day of Resurrection they should be sent to the severest chastisement?” [Surah Al-Baqarah 2:85]

Neglect of Pakistan's Air Force is Because of Dependence on Colonialist Powers

Lockheed Martin Corp is using its own funds to pay suppliers and stave off the closure of its F-16 fighter jet production line as it waits to finalise orders from Pakistan and other countries, according to a company official. Orlando Carvalho, who heads Lockheed’s Aeronautics division, said the cost of keeping the F-16 supply chain ready for further orders was “very manageable”, but did not elaborate. “We will have a gap in the production line because of the fact that there hasn’t been another order yet,” Carvalho said in an interview at the company’s annual media day, 15 March 2016. This comes with a report that Pakistan Air Force needs to retire 190 planes from its current fleet by 2020, senior officials told Dawn on 15 March. while commenting on a report that the country was seeking another batch of 10 F-16s from the United States.

So not only is Pakistan's Air Force is in need of extensive Beyond Visual Range (BVR) capability, it is also in need of retiring 190 planes from its current fleet and is reduced to the level of seeking fighter jets that have been ear-marked for closure of production. This is the result of the neglect of industry, including the critical weapons industry, by the currents system. Democracy will never allow Pakistan to achieve its potential because it is what implements the Western colonialist policies. Intent on exploiting the world resources, colonialist powers want to keep Pakistan a state with poor industry, unable to extract its resources by itself, devoid of heavy industry such as engine and jet engine manufacture, dependent on import of even simple agricultural machinery, provider of cheap light industry products for Western markets such as electric fans, surgical equipment, hand craft and sports goods, as well as making Pakistan’s population a dependent market for Western products, including arms. This colonialist policy is being implemented since the time of East India Company and is implemented today through democracy, which is just a rubber stamp for the colonialist policies of the World Bank and IMF.

Establishment of a powerful industry mandates a focus on military industry. America and China are the world's foremost industrial powers because both have an orientation to war industries, including cutting edge stealth, supercomputers and space technologies. However, due to colonialism, despite the fact that Pakistan achieved nuclear weaponry, it has been denied a powerful industry, with its armed forces dependent on military technology from belligerent colonialist states and vital areas of its economy dependent on foreign products and technologies, from telecommunications to engines and heavy machinery.

From the first day of the return of the Khilafah "Caliphate", the Islamic State will strive to become the leading state, unmatched by any rival, as it was before. Regarding industry, it will have a military focus, which will lead to the rapid development of a heavy industrial base. In its Introduction to the Constitution, Hizb ut Tahrir has adopted Article 74, “The Department of Industry is in charge of all the affairs connected to industry, whether heavy industry such as the manufacturing of engines, machines, vehicles, materials and electrical equipment, or light industry. Similarly, whether the factories are of the public property type or they are included in the private property and have a relationship to the military industry. All types of factories must be established upon the basis of military policy... it is a duty upon the State to manufacture weapons by itself and it is not allowed to depend upon other states, because this allows other states to control it, its will, its weapons and its fighting... This can’t be achieved unless the State possesses heavy industry and started to build factories which produce heavy industry, both military and non-military alike.”

Increased Government Debt is Worsening Inflation

The government raised Rs215.8 billion through treasury bills on 16 March, more than the target of Rs200bn set for the auction. The auction showed that banks were investing in long-term papers fearing no increase in the interest rate in the near future. The government raised Rs153bn for 12-month papers with a cut-off yield of 6.21 per cent, followed by Rs50.7bn for six-month (6.2pc) and Rs12bn for three-month tenors (6.16pc). In the previous auction held on March 2, the government raised Rs184.9bn against the target of Rs150bn.

Treasury bills (T-Bills) are government debt instruments issued by government to finance the national debt of Pakistan, thus through auction they are a way for banks to acquire government debt, with the promise of profit through interest. Persistent borrowing by the government to bridge budget deficit has resulted in inflation. Pakistan’s debt obligations have crossed all sustainable levels. According to the SBP country’s debt and liabilities have soared equal to 68% of the total size of the economy. A government domestically borrows on interest either from its public, bank & non-bank, or from its central bank. In recent years government has resorted to heavy borrowing from the central bank, which is called “monetizing” the deficit. Because this method always leads to the growth of monetary base and of money supply and ultimately inflation, it is often referred to as just “printing money.” In addition, sustained inflation may stem only from a persistent rather than a temporary budget deficit that is eventually financed by printing money, rather than by borrowing from public.

Since 2008, government’s average budget deficit is around 6% of GDP. In addition, when banks acquire the government debt through Treasury Bills, government borrowing puts additional pressure on banks' reserves and banks may demand more liquidity from the central bank. When such an extra demand from banks is accommodated and the central bank supplies banks with additional reserves, then in fact monetary base increases, thereby causing a rise in money supply through deposit multiplication, further fuelling inflation.

Bayt al-Mal in the Khilafah "Caliphate" will be a financial institution to support the growth of the real economy, including agricultural and industrial development. It is not a parasite that bleeds wealth from the economy through Riba, as the current state and private banks have become, creating the need for constantly expanding monetary supply, loss in value in the currency and the resultant increase in the prices. Its sole focus will be to develop a vibrant and powerful economy, by using loans to stimulate the local agricultural and industrial sectors. As Hizb ut Tahrir has adopted in its Introduction to the Constitution, Article 169, “It is completely prohibited to open banks, and the only one permitted will be the State bank, and there are no transactions upon interest. This will be dealt with by a particular department of the Bayt al-Mal.”