A detailed analysis of the economy of Pakistan reveals that the whole economic set-up of our country is based on great vice and evil.
The foremost evil in it is the institution of Banking. Through this institution, the whole nation’s wealth is rendered at the disposal of a few individuals. In the guise of national development and stability, all the money is actually used to satisfy the whims and lusts of a few capitalists. Banking, on the one hand, produces economic disparity and, on the other, cripples the national economy. While the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, a country gets caught in a vicious circle of procuring external loans for its own sustenance. It is because of the institution of banking that a country has to rely on money borrowed on interest from its own people through investment certificates, prize bonds, rifle draws and other alluring schemes for the completion of various welfare and commercial projects and for administration and defence requirements.
The second evil is system of taxation. The government has an almost unlimited authority to impose whatever amount of tax whenever it likes on the people, while the rates of tax fixed once and for all by Allah and His Prophet (sws) are not taken into consideration. As a result, it has become almost impossible for people to carry out business honestly or pursue any other economic activity. Every year the national budget is anticipated with dread and fear. Every new tax decreases the credibility of the government and represses the spirit of its people to come out and offer what they can if their country is in need of their assistance.
The third evil is that the system does not uphold the rightful claim of the workers to be granted both a basic salary and a share in the net profit according to the extent of toil and labour put in. Although the industrial workers have been granted some other facilities besides their basic salary, yet their share in the total profit has only been accepted half-heartedly. The conditions of the land workers is even more pathetic.
The fourth evil is the total lack of acknowledgement of the fact that every penny over and above a person’s needs does not belong to him; the poor and the destitute are its rightful claimants. As a result, needy citizens have been deprived of this right and the whole system is unable to provide them even with the basic necessities of life.
The fifth evil in is the menace of large cities, which are actually large industrial centres. Instead of dividing the resources of development into small units and providing all the citizens with equal opportunities, these resources have been concentrated in a few areas which receive development at the expense of others. Moreover, these large cities have become perfect breeding places for criminals and have also been responsible for the disruption of our cultural traditions. Not to mention the fact that congestion and pollution have deprived people of fresh and invigorating environment.
(Translated and adapted by Shehzad Saleem from ‘Burhān’)