Headlines:
- Budget to Prevent Pakistan Escaping the IMF Debt Trap Bunya
- Stop America's War on Our Armed Forces, End All US Presence on Our Soil
- The People Do not Trust the Entire Regime, not Just the Tax System
- $102.5bn Loss is the Bitter Fruit of America's War
- Opposition Power Wish-List Shows It has no Alternative to the Current Corrupt Regime
- Washington states that even Azad (Liberated) Kashmir is Disputed
Details:
Budget to Prevent Pakistan Escaping the IMF Debt Trap Bunya
In a long-winded budget speech of 3 June 2014, Pakistan's Finance Minister did not deviate by even one word from the agreement with the IMF on 10 May 2014. In future rather than boring the people with unwarranted self-praise, the regime should simply photocopy the agreement and distribute it. The regime's 2014-15 budget ensures that Pakistan never escapes the usury based colonialist debt trap, preventing Pakistan ever standing on its own feet, let alone rising to its full immense potential. The IMF approved budget further eases the privatization of immensely valuable national assets by which Pakistan could fund its own needs without needing loans, drowns Pakistan in interest-based debt so that future generations face worse than we face now and strangles the life out of the local economy by ever-increasing taxes. Indeed, patting itself on the back for such a crippling budget is the regime rubbing salt in the deep wounds of the people.
Chasing a Rs3.129 trillion tax collection target, the regime imposed Rs231 billion in new taxes in its second budget to further squeeze the hard working people of Pakistan, whilst they struggle to pay for health, education and power. Yet, the budget makes sure to provide tax relief measures for the new foreign and local private owners of Pakistan's most valuable assets, both to encourage privatization and ensure profits after privatization. This is the real meaning of what the government calls promotion of "foreign direct investment" and "industrialization." Moreover, depriving Pakistan of the means of standing on its own feet is not enough for the regime. The current expenditure estimate of Rs3.13 trillion, has interest based loan payments as the lion's share, at a colossal Rs1.325 trillion, a grave sin before Allah (swt) and a huge burden for the decades to come as the government continues to take more loans.
It is high time that the Muslims joined their nights with their days in standing with the Shabaab of Hizb ut Tahrir to end this regime and return the Khilafah "Caliphate" to these lands of Pakistan, the Pure the Good. Only our Khilafah "Caliphate" will unleash huge revenues from the public properties, including Pakistan's abundant energy and mineral resources, as well as from state property, such as machinery and heavy munitions manufacturing, telecommunications, major construction and transport, as well as revenue from agriculture such as Kharaj. This will eliminate the need for foreign loans on interest forever, with all their conditions of misguidance and Kufr.
Stop America's War on Our Armed Forces, End All US Presence on Our Soil
Dawn reported on 5 June, "Two military officers were among five people killed Wednesday when a Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber hit their twin cabin vehicle on Fateh Jang road near Rawalpindi, Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Asim Bajwa said." The endless debate about whether the army officers are martyrs or not is clarified when it is realized that these cowardly attacks on Pakistan's armed forces are by the American Raymond Davis on our soil. The enemy Americans today are the real terrorists and internal enemy within Pakistan who are covertly martyring our armed forces so that Washington can insist that the American war is our war. To protect our armed forces, the required operations are to seal the US embassies, consulates, bases and safe houses and expel all American diplomats, military, private military and intelligence.
It is America that instigated war against our armed forces, to secure its war of occupation of this region. Initially, the Afghan War was one war being fought by Muslims of Afghanistan and Pakistan, namely the Pashtun tribes on both sides of the Durand line, against the American occupation of Afghanistan. Initially, America's agent Musharraf presented the Afghan War as an American War in which Pakistan had no choice but to support the mighty super power or face American military and economic wrath. However, America quickly realized that the fierce resistance to American occupation in Afghanistan cannot be subdued without subduing the Pashtun tribes both in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan. To ensure the deployment of the Pakistani military in the tribal areas America changed this single war to two wars, by initiating a war against the armed forces using its intelligence and private military. This Raymond Davis network started a campaign of bomb blasts across urban Pakistan targeting the security apparatus and civilian populations. These false flag attacks are America's war against our armed forces to force our Pakistani military to be deployed for America's aid.
The Muslims must raise their voices both against the American presence on our soil and its war against our armed forces, whose purpose is to secure the American dominance of the region. The Muslims must abolish this traitorous Raheel-Nawaz regime and establish the Khilafah "Caliphate". Only then will the Muslims be led by a Khaleefah Rashid, who will conduct the operation that is actually required, the obliteration of the poisonous American presence within Pakistan and Afghanistan. RasulAllah (saw), «إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ» "Indeed the Imam is a shield, you fight under him and you are protected by him."
The People Do not Trust the Entire Regime, not Just the Tax System
Dawn reported on 5 June, "Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday that most of potential taxpayers in the country wanted to pay taxes but did not trust the taxation machinery." The Finance Minister is merely pointing to the tip of the iceberg. The people do not trust the entire government machinery, not just the taxation machinery. People sense the abundant neglect of the people and the widening gulf between the "have not" and the "have a lot."
In fact, wherever democracy exists, neglect of the people by the few elite will always occur. Democracy was never meant to look after the masses, and instead was conceived to concentrate power and subsequently wealth into the hands of a few. James Madison Jr., the founder of the US Constitution, barefacedly stated, "landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority." The US Democrat Robert C Byrd lamented of his democratic country as "an administration of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy...Today I weep for my country". So it is little surprise that a Gallup International Survey in 2002 established that, "majorities on every continent believe governments do not represent the will of the people." The ruling democratic elites make wealth because they have usurped from society sources of huge revenue, specifically, the predominately-state properties and public properties, such as large-scale arms manufacture, banking and energy industry. Having robbed the society of the lion's share of its wealth, the democratic regimes then chases the people for taxes.
Democracy is why in America, Britain and France, there are ruling dynasties of large capitalists. There is an immense concentration of the wealth, such that ninety per cent of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of less than five per cent. Even during the global economic crisis, the global democracy elite have increased their wealth by over 60%. In India, democracy has been uninterrupted for over sixty years, with the result of extremely wealthy Brahmin elite with masses that are driven to suicide because of poverty, to the order of hundreds of thousands. As for Pakistan, a survey carried out by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), that was subsequently covered in many newspapers, exposed how the average total wealth of Members of Pakistan's National Assembly's had tripled in only six years. And this is whilst people can barely afford rent for houses, electricity bills, health and education.
Only the abolition of Democracy and the return of the Khilafah "Caliphate" will restore the trust of the people in their rulers. The rulers cannot manipulate law for their self-interest. By abolishing democracy, the Khilafah "Caliphate" ensures equity and justice for all the citizens. As Hizb ut Tahrir has stated in its Introduction to the Constitution of the Islamic State, in Article 1, "The Islamic creed constitutes the foundation of the State. Nothing is permitted to exist in the government's structure, accountability, or any other aspect connected with the government, that does not take the creed as its source" and then further clarifies, "nothing connected to the Constitution or cannons, is permitted to exist unless it emanates from the Islamic creed." The Khilafah "Caliphate" will never neglect the masses, as it will restore to the people their right and share. According to Islam's law, the Khaleefah will unleash huge revenues from the public properties, including Pakistan's abundant energy and mineral resources, as well as from state property, such as machinery and heavy munitions, manufacturing, telecommunications, major construction and transport, as well as revenue from agriculture such as Kharaj.
$102.5bn Loss is the Bitter Fruit of America's War
Dawn reported on June 3rd that "the country [America] has lost Rs8264.4bn ($102.5bn), both in direct and indirect costs of incidents of terrorism, during the past 13 years of its engagement with war on terror." The survey further noted that "the blame for growing extremism and terrorism in Pakistan was put on "instability and conflict" in Afghanistan."
The economic loss through terrorism is the fruit of the US War of Terror that America fights to establish permanent presence in the region. Since 1948, the United States has pledged more than $30 billion in direct aid to Pakistan, about half for military assistance. Significantly more than two-thirds of this sum was in the post-2001 period, long after the Soviet Occupation failed, coinciding with the Americans themselves occupying the region. Such sums were used in part to establish a large infrastructure of American military, private military and intelligence within Pakistan itself. It is this terrorist network which launches terrorist attacks on our military and civilians, so as to ignite a low intensity conflict between our armed forces and the tribal resistance to the American occupation.
Asides from the financial loss, thousands have become victims of drone attacks in the tribal areas with houses falling upon our young and old, thousands killed in bomb blasts within our major cities and thousands of our soldiers and officers have been burned as fuel of this so-called war of terror.
Our strained economy and immense insecurity is the direct outcome of successive traitorous regimes' aligning themselves to American foreign policy for the region. There is no hope left in the political or military leadership of the country. In contrast to the current constitution of Pakistan that legalizes alliance with America, the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" constitution prepared by Hizb ut Tahrir will declare American as an enemy and it will cleanse the region from their destructive presence. For whenever America has the upper hand over us, even if it were by a single military base, consulate or intelligence office, it spares no evil. Allah (swt) said,
((يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لاَ تَتَّخِذُوا عَدُوِّي وَعَدُوَّكُمْ أَوْلِيَاءَ تُلْقُونَ إِلَيْهِمْ بِالْمَوَدَّةِ * إِنْ يَثْقَفُوكُمْ يَكُونُوا لَكُمْ أَعْدَاءً وَيَبْسُطُوا إِلَيْكُمْ أَيْدِيَهُمْ وَأَلْسِنَتَهُمْ بِالسُّوءِ وَوَدُّوا لَوْ تَكْفُرُونَ))
"O you who believe! Take not My enemies and your enemies as allies, showing affection towards them. - Should they gain the upper hand over you, they would behave to you as enemies, and stretch forth their hands and their tongues against you with evil, and they desire that you should disbelieve." [Surah Al-Mumtahina: 1-2]
Opposition Power Wish-List Shows It has no Alternative to the Current Corrupt Regime
Senator Raza Rabbani, the PPP's parliamentary leader in the upper house, at a joint press conference with leaders of other opposition parties on Friday 6 June 2014 denounced the budget as being pro-elite, lamenting, "It is a budget of concessions for big businessmen, feudal lords and investors, derived from commitments made by the government with the IMF and World Bank." However, Mr. Rabbani's list of recommendations of the joint opposition for the power sector show that the opposition is as visionless as the ruling party because they both bat for the same side, Capitalism. So, whilst the list mentions clauses such as "Electricity supply is a service therefore provinces should not collect sales tax on it" and "No increase should be made in electricity tariff in the current fiscal year", it provides no alternative to capitalism.
The PPP-led opposition would do well to remember that the PPP itself opened the floodgates to the privatization of the power sector, which the current regime is continuing. Power is a source of immense wealth from which the state can secure the needs of the public. However, capitalism mandates the privatization of this wealth and hands it over to a small elite. Then the government raises the tariffs to secure profits for the small elite. And as if that was not enough, the government then chases the people for taxes on their electricity bills to make up for the huge gap in revenue created by privatization. Had the opposition parties adopted Islam as a basis for their viewpoint they would have a clear alternative to Capitalism. Islam has declared that energy is a public property for the Muslims. RasulAllah (saw) said, «المسلمون شرکاء فی ثلاث الماء والکلأ والنار» "Muslims are partners (associates) in three things: in water, pastures and fire (energy)." [Abu Dawood.]. Thus under the Khilafah "Caliphate", with its Islamic constitution, the benefit of electricity will be for the public, with the state supervising the matter to ensure that.
Without Islam as a basis for their viewpoints, the opposition parties are being left behind by the people, just as they have rejected the rulers. The discussion amongst the people is about Islam, the Islamic Constitution and the Khilafah "Caliphate" and these parties will have no future in politics if they continue in their current Capitalist line. Rather than being vision-less naysayers, waiting for their turn to rule, in the coming Khilafah "Caliphate", the political parties that are based on Islam are a precious source of guidance and accountability for the rulers. In the Introduction to the Constitution of the Islamic State, Article 21, Hizb ut Tahrir has adopted, "The Muslims have the right to establish political parties in order to account the rulers or to reach the rule through the Ummah on the condition that their basis is the Islamic ‘Aqeedah and that the rules they adopt are Shari'ah rules. The formation of a party does not require any permission. Any group formed on an un-Islamic basis is prohibited." This article will ensure a dynamic and strong atmosphere in the political medium, which will propel the rulers to acquiring the strongest Islamic opinions for ruling.
Washington states that even Azad (Liberated) Kashmir is Disputed
The Indian media raised objection to the front page of a Pentagon report titled: "Military and security developments involving the People's Republic of China for 2014," which displays the map of Asia and includes portions of Azad (Liberated) Kashmir as part of Pakistan. In contrast, the official US map on the State Department website depicts the Line of Control that separates liberated Kashmir from Indian occupied Kashmir, with a dotted line indicating dispute. The US State Department has clarified that Washington views all of Kashmir, including Azad Kashmir, as disputed between India and Pakistan. "You know our position hasn't changed. I'll check with them and see. I have no idea what happened with that map," said US State Department spokesperson Marie Harf on Friday 6 June when Indian journalists asked her to comment on the Pentagon report.
The US State Department stance is an assurance to the Hindu State, which claims rights over all of Kashmir, not just that which it brutally occupies, but also that which has been made Azad (liberated) by the Muslims. This assurance coincides with the return of the BJP to power. The BJP and its affiliates have strongly opposed Congress Party's long-standing Nehruvian policy of non-alignment, and instead advocate closeness to the United States. Thus removal of the anti-American Congress Party from government by the pro-American BJP, provides America with an opportunity to forge an alliance with India against its competitors in the region, China and the Muslims of South and Central Asia. Pakistan's abandoning of Kashmir to Hindu oppression is part of the plan. Even if the Hindus allow nominal, limited independence to Kashmir, such a Kashmiri state will be too small to resist Indian domination once Pakistani support has been eliminated.
The Raheel-Nawaz regime will never make the principled stance that is required. Instead, at the bidding of its American masters, the regime is playing its role to facilitate the American-Indian alliance, by repeatedly offering India concessions. Only the Khilafah "Caliphate" will unify the Muslims of South Asia that have been weakened by the Kuffar colonialists through division. The Khilafah "Caliphate" will restore the leadership of the region to the Muslims, as well as providing justice and protection to all the inhabitants of the region, be they Hindu, Sikh or Christian. This is because the Khilafah "Caliphate"'s foreign policy is not based on cowardly compromise with oppressors, but on spreading the light of Islam over the entire world, obliterating Kufr rule wherever it is found. RasulAllah (saw) said: «لَيَبْلُغَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرُ مَا بَلَغَ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ، وَلَا يَتْرُكُ اللَّهُ بَيْتَ مَدَرٍ وَلَا وَبَرٍ إِلَّا أَدْخَلَهُ اللَّهُ هَذَا الدِّينَ، بِعِزِّ عَزِيزٍ، أَوْ بِذُلِّ ذَلِيلٍ، عِزًّا يُعِزُّ اللَّهُ بِهِ الْإِسْلَامَ، وَذُلًّا يُذِلُّ اللَّهُ بِهِ الْكُفْر» "This case is sure to reach the horizon of night and day. Allah will not leave a single house settled or nomadic not only as setting this Deen with the glory of the glorious or the humiliation of the insignificant. Allah will exalt Islam with glory and demean disbelief with humiliation." (Narrated by Ahmad).
