KARACHI, April 26: Speakers shed light on the causes of Pakistan’s weakening economy at the launch of a book titled Pakistan aur America — Dehshatgardi, Siasat, Maeeshat by renowned economist Dr Shahid Hasan Siddiqi at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) office on Thursday.

Dr Siddiqi in his speech made it clear at the outset that the war on terror had destroyed Pakistan’s economy and the two Pakistani governments (the present and the preceding one) had taken part in it to extend their rule. He said Pakistan was at a critical juncture in history. He told the gathering that after 9/11 Henry Kissinger had written that the real test would begin after America’s pull-out from Afghanistan and its centre would be outside of Afghanistan. Therefore, he inferred, today we were being targeted. He claimed that Pakistan’s involvement in the war on terror had caused its economy a loss of $80billion — $28billion during Gen Musharraf’s rule and $52billion during the tenure of the present dispensation.

Dr Siddiqi said the present government came to power through the NRO (National Reconciliation Order) and then staged the drama of the ‘Friends of Pakistan’ to impress upon the nation that we should be with the US and it would help us get loans from the IMF. He raised the question, “in such a situation how are we going to pay back the loans?” Quoting a report he said in the last five years poverty in the rest of the world had decreased considerably, but in Pakistan the situation was opposite — it had increased. He said today India was the 10th biggest economy in the world and by 2020 would become the fifth biggest economy after the US, China, Japan and Russia.

Dr Siddiqi suggested that to get things back on track, tax should be taken from anyone who earned more than a certain fixed amount; laws should be made to stop the government from taking loans from the IMF; parliamentarians and members of the civil-military bureaucracy should be barred from saving money abroad; and attention should be paid to educate people by providing them vocational training and knowledge-based information.

Justice Saeeduzaman Siddiqi said that Dr Siddiqi in his book had revealed the harm caused by banks to the national economy. He said inflation had made miserable the lives of the poor. He asserted that in modern times countries did not win wars through battles but made others economically dependent on them. Once you fell into the IMF-World Bank trap, it became very difficult to get out of it. If a country lent you money, it would make you accept its conditions. He lamented that parliament in Pakistan came up with resolutions one after another but seldom implemented them. He commented no country could claim to be independent unless it was economically independent. He added that in a country were law was not respected, where orders of the judiciary were not complied with, it was hard for it to be on the right track.

The Indo-Pak Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, S.M. Munir, who presided over the event, said Dr Siddiqi had written a comprehensive book. He urged the gathering that if they wanted the situation in Pakistan to improve they should register themselves as voters.

Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan lauded Dr Siddiqi’s effort and said unless the begging bowl was broken, things in Pakistan would not improve.