THE incarcerated leader of the main opposition party, in one of his many moves against the government and the state of Pakistan, called for civil disob-edience, asking overseas Pakistanis to stop sending remittances to Pakistan. This was clearly aimed at hurting the state and the nation, not just his political rivals or the government.

I do not have affinity for any Pakistani politician, past or present, except the founding fathers, but now I have created an entirely fresh category for this man in Adiala Jail the only person who pursues personal, financial and political interests at the cost of Pakistan.

Like others, the jailed politician, too, had in real terms no love for overseas Pakistanis except for occasional empty words, and that, too, for garnering support on social media platforms.

After taking oath as the prime minister, the very first meeting he had was with senior newspaper editors and television anchors. During that meeting, he anno-unced ‘enhanced’ incentives for overseas Pakistanis related to remittances. Reading details the next day in the newspapers was a real shame and pain.

This ‘enhanced’ incentive was meant to favour the banks and exchange companies that were handling the remittances, not the ones who were sending them. There was nothing at all for overseas Pakistanis like me who send money to their families every month.

The second naked fact of his ‘love for Pakistani expatriates’ is he got credit as the first ruler in the world who taxed his countrymen coming from abroad after a year or two, even for carrying a mobile phone in their hand.

For about 35 years without any gap, I remitted large amounts of money monthly to my parents and some others in the family for their children’s education. Parents have died, and children comp-leted their education. Now for the last about four years, I do not need to send any remittance to anyone.

On the call of the jailed politician to stop sending remittances, I, recently after four years, sent multiple remittances to a family member, but frankly speaking, only and only because a political leader in no case trustable was agitating against the country just for himself and his personal interest.

I wonder if overseas Pakistanis would pay heed to the man’s call and stop sending remittances only because he says so. Or, they would realise that some power-hungry opportunist is bent on damaging the state for personal benefits.

Muhammad Javed
Bahrain

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2025