Friday, May 03, 2024

Six months ago, I was perfectly happy with my 4GB internet package and 125 minutes of talking time. Then suddenly, the mobile network operator/company changed my package to 10GB internet, with a talking time of 3200 minutes and 3000 messages. When I protested, I was told that this was the minimum package for postpaid customers.

Since then, they have increased the monthly charges twice (the last one was just two months back) by Rs100 per month each time. Their representative told me that this will go on happening without giving me any reason for it. Is there anyone who can stop them from doing so?

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=303440

 

 By now Nawaz Sharif should have learnt a lot from his past mistakes. After all, he's over 70, and in three stints as prime minister, he had plenty of opportunities to know what went wrong after he was removed by the establishment. But no, it looks like he didn't learn anything, judging from his recent step to make Ishaq Dar the deputy prime minister, in addition to being the foreign minister (for which he has no experience).

I'm sure, there are millions of people in the country who think Imran Khan is a big fool. But it seems that Nawaz Sharif is a bigger fool. He can't trust his own younger brother even though the latter is more capable than him. Shehbaz Sharif, being the younger brother, has proved himself to be loyal to Nawaz, having served as chief minister of Punjab thrice and as prime minister for a few months before the last elections. By now, Nawaz Sharif should know that his younger brother is utterly reliable. Yet Nawaz imposed his own daughter as chief minister of Punjab (even though Shehbaz's son Hamza was more suitable). And now, with the appointment of Dar as deputy prime minister, he's made sure that Shehbaz is without any powers and is simply a messenger. It's a pity, really. Shehbaz is a born diplomat and gets things done. But the poor chap will now have his hands tied up.

 

 

Raid the evaders

April 27, 2024

This refers to the news report ‘FBR mulling options to penalize unregistered traders’ (April 25, 2024). While the imposition of an extra tax of 10 to 15 per cent on unregistered traders appears feasible, it is not likely to succeed unless smuggling is curtailed.

Since most of our traders are unregistered, they will simply buy from smugglers. There are many markets in Pakistan where smuggled items are sold. It would be more beneficial for the country if such shops are raided and the seized goods are auctioned off.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1182644-raid-the-evaders

 

After the recent general elections, Gallup Pakistan said that their predictions had turned out to be true. Their opinion polls had forecast that Imran Khan was popular in KP (45%) while Nawaz Sharif was popular in Punjab (35%) with Imran Khan very close (34%). The election results were exactly what their surveys had suggested.

Recently, however, Gallup Pakistan revealed that in Pakistan 84% of those surveyed supported the imposition of taxes, while 11% were opposed to paying any tax. In my opinion, it should have been the opposite. Most people in Pakistan either don't pay income tax (or hate paying it), so it's evident that those who said yes were actually scared that they would be victimized by the government if they said no. The surveyors probably conducted the poll in urban areas, if they had gone into the countryside and asked, they would have been beaten up.

So far, no surveyor has ever asked me for my opinion, so I wonder just who do they ask their questions. It looks like they have a permanent list of three thousand people who are asked for their opinions.  

Imran Khan's wife Bushra whom some people call Baysharam (shameless) Bushra, has been acting strangely in recent days. Confined to her husband's palace in Bani Gala to serve a jail sentence, she claims that she's being slowly poisoned by her government appointed guards. It was she who persuaded the government into keeping her at the house, as she didn't want to go to jail, but after her jailed party workers protested, she wants to serve her sentence in Adiala jail (where her husband is living in luxurious surroundings). 

The government got her examined by doctors who found nothing physically wrong with her. The day before yesterday, after all her medical reports were found to be normal, she complained of pain in her stomach, so the government again sent three lady physicians who examined her and advised her to change her eating habits. 

I, however, believe that she's trying to fool the government to send her to where her friend Fara Gogi has gone after taking the looted jewelry and cash accumulated by Bushra. Either that, or Bushra is suffering from severe depression, caused by anxiety and worrying that Fara will refuse to hand the looted money back to her. 

I hope the courts don't fall into the trap to let her go. But considering that Imran Khan has so far managed to "convince" senior judges, anything is possible.

 

Going cashless

Monday, Apr 22, 2024

The high crime rate in Karachi and many other parts of the country makes me wonder why people are forced to carry so much cash, even when they know that they can be robbed any minute. It is time for the government to make some rules that help turn the country into a cashless society. One way to do it is to ban the use of cash to make purchases over a certain amount (say Rs5000). Another would be to reward those who pay their bills via cheques or online payments. Unfortunately, some banks charge a fee from those who make online payments. I recently started paying my credit card bill online via my bank account (in a separate bank from the one that issued me the credit card) and I was shocked to find that the receiving bank charges a rupee for every thousand rupees if the payment is made electronically. Needless to say, this encourages one to make payments by cash, and indirectly increases the incidence of street crimes while also helping facilitate white collar crimes such as tax evasion, embezzlement, bribery, and smuggling.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=300185