DAWN - Cowasjee Corner; 15 March, 1998
Auto-reverse
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
WHEN Farooq Leghari belatedly packed off Benazir Bhutto and her boys and girls in November 1996, too many months too late, there was a good number of people in the country who felt that it would be far wiser and genuinely in the national interest (to use that misused and hackneyed phrase) to delay elections, install an interim government of men of as much integrity and capability as are available, and sort out the mess.
With elections on the calendar, the stage was set for the return of Nawaz Sharif and there were many who foresaw doom and disaster, knowing he would be up to his old tricks as soon as he was reinstated. Even internationally, objective observers felt that Leghari was doing the wrong thing in insisting on a return to the ballot box. One, The Times (London) printed an editorial early in January 1997 headed 'Time for Pakistan - Delaying elections may be better than it appears.'
Nawaz Sharif's defenders proclaimed loudly and repeatedly that he was a chastened and changed man, that he had learnt lessons from past mistakes, that he would not repeat his mistakes, that he would not misuse taxpayers' money, that he would not expand his industrial empire at the people's expense. They insisted that he would run a clean government, appoint men solely on merit and never again indulge in cronyism. They assured us that he would process accountability evenly, fairly and swiftly and that the robbers and thieves would be disqualified. The promise was made that the PML manifesto would be strictly adhered to, that no party member holding government office, or a member of his family, would either seek to establish new projects or would be allowed to so do, and that none would carry out any expansion, even under the guise of BMR (balancing, modernisation, replacement).
Nawaz Sharif and his family knew too well that they had borrowed way beyond their means, misusing power, using political influence, and much of it had not been paid back. They knew how thin the line is between the rescheduling of loans and bankruptcy. They knew that if he were to be prime minister again the loans would be rescheduled, giving them a new lease of life. Were he not to become prime minister, the family loans of some Rs.10 billion would be called in and they would be bankrupt. Elections were vital. They saw to it that they were not delayed for a day. Needless to say, most of the loans have now all been rescheduled. The Sharif family remains deeply indebted to the poor, the people, as do the Chaudhry Shujaat family, and other families of that ilk who have followed suit and managed to have their loans rescheduled.
Nawaz Sharif does realize that he must stay in power, but he does not realize that political machinations will not revive the economy, that the way his government is going the economy is bound to collapse, and then he and his government will be out in the loanless cold once again.
His priorities are wrong for his purpose. He allows the economy to trundle along, sinking each day; he has no care for the good of the people - for their education or health; he cannot tolerate any one who stands up to him or attempts to do the job he is paid to do, whether it be the chief justice of the country or the governor of the State Bank. He gives his cronies a long loose rein and they do exactly what and as they please.
One such person is Humayun Akhtar Khan, who took to politics, thanks to the money he inherited from his army officer father. Humayun Akhtar is the son of General Akhtar Abdul Rahman, President Zia's ISI head and then his Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. General Khalid Mahmud Arif in his book 'Working with Zia' writes : "The last two MLA conferences were farewell get-togethers . . . To the surprise of his listeners, General Zia, referred to Lt.General Akhtar Abdul Rahman Khan, the DG of the ISI Directorate, as the Kingmaker. While the others stared hard and winked at Akhtar, he blushed, smiling his captivating smile, perspiration beading his not so well cropped head. In March 1987, Akhtar was promoted to the rank of General and replaced General Rahimuddin Khan as Chairman of the JCSC. At the formal dining out of General Rahimuddin, General Akhtar sat next to the president. In his farewell speech for the outgoing Chairman of the JCSC, the President evoked loud laughter when he said that General Akhtar, the Kingmaker, had himself become the King."
The King died with Zia in the August 1988 air crash. All that was amassed in his counting house was left to his four heirs, Akbar, Humayun, Haroon and Ghazi. Humayun, the second, opted for politics and more pelf. In 1977 he qualified as an MBA, with actuarial science as his subject, from the University of Manitoba, Canada.
He was elected to the National Assembly from Lahore in 1990 and 1993, and from Rahim Yar Khan in 1997. His political clout, enabled him to build up an industrial empire. He describes himself as coming "from a family, which is one of the leading industrial families of Pakistan." For services rendered, one supposes, Nawaz Sharif made him a minister of state and gave him the lucrative position of Chairman of the Board of Investment (BoI).
Akhtar describes his professional qualifications : "Fellow of Society of Actuaries, Chicago, USA - FSA; Fellow of Canadian Institute of Actuaries - FCIA. Fellowship of these two professional bodies is equivalent to a Ph.D. in financial subjects. A Fellow can call himself an 'Actuary'. Actuaries are trained professionals in areas of economics, finance, marketing, investments and other related fields."
As we all know, a fellowship, a membership of a professional body, cannot confer an academic Ph.D in finance-related subjects. An actuary is : "One whose profession it is to solve for insurance companies, or the public, all monetary questions that involve a consideration of the separate or combined effects of Interest and Probability, in connection with the duration of human life, the average proportion of losses due to fire or other accidents, etc." (OED Vol.I)
Why do such men confer upon themselves academic degrees? By doing so, who are they bluffing and how are they increasing their credibility?
The BoI has barely improved its performance since the days of Benazir Bhutto, the days of the magical MoU that never grew to fruition. It now issues the equally barren letters of support (LoS).
To counter the barbs of the businessmen and to sing the praises of this government at the recent meeting in Karachi of the heads of multinationals chaired by the prime minister, Akhtar should have produced a more convincing 'plant' than Dr Abdul Wahab of the Institute of Business Administration, a fish out of water, neither a man of commerce nor of industry.
Nawaz Sharif and his favourites having rescheduled their loans, they are following suit with impunity. The Akhtar Abdul Rahman family has applied to Habib Bank for the rescheduling of Rs.400 million worth of loans which should have been paid back by their Superior Textile Mills long ago. It is reported that the mill's stuck-up loans from local banks total some Rs.550 million.
Does this 'leading industrial family of Pakistan' have resources to pay back these loans? Yes. And much more. They are on the verge of setting up one of the largest cement plants in the country. The project, Pepcon Cement, is expected to produce 4,000 tonnes of cement per day - and this at a time when there is a glut in the market, when the existing cement manufacturers have formed a cartel and voluntarily agreed to cut back production by 30 per cent in order to maintain high prices.
The recently sanctioned Pepcon project is ostensibly Haroon Akhtar's project. Approvals regarding loans and finances will be looked into by Humayun Akhtar sitting at his desk at the head of the BoI. Forty per cent of Pepcon has to be financed by the sponsors themselves and this they hope to raise from their own resources or from further bank loans. If the textile mill loan is rescheduled by Habib Bank this will only increase the bank's loan burden and consequently affect its privatization price.
It is no use anyone saying that Mian Sahib's 'niyyet' is 'saaf'. The word 'niyyet' is used as there is no single equivalent word in English. 'Niyyet' is a combination of clean thoughts, honesty of purpose, sincerity and good intentions. Let Nawaz Sharif, with all the honesty at his command, reassess his priorities, declare his reasons, and cease giving excuses.