ISLAMABAD: Many people may be somewhat disillusioned with democracy, which has failed to deliver the promised future. But even they have not given up all hope as yet, or they would have responded differently to the PTI’s call for civil disobedience. All such calls that could have impacted the economy have gone unheeded.
The world, however, is watching the unfolding developments in Pakistan with concern, as indicated by the lingering round of talks with the IMF and the delay in issuing the fund’s detailed economic health report and the fifth tranche of $550m.
Some high profile visits by foreign dignitaries to Pakistan have also been postponed, while the European Union has taken notice of references to hundi and hawala in the PTI’s proclamations.
The private sector has been vocal in categorically rejecting the proposal, which, they believe, hurts the economic interest of the business community. To integrate the country into the world economy, we need to live by the norms of the civilised world, they say.
They consider the PTI’s call ‘irresponsible and suicidal’. “You can’t be permitted to wreck the ship to fix the direction,” a business leader commented.
Imran Khan, the PTI’s leading light, has been repeating the call to force the prime minister out of office through an economic revolt in his speeches in Islamabad.
He has urged the people to bleed the government white by not paying taxes, toll charges, import duties and utility bills. He has pleaded with them to empty their accounts at state-run banks, and called upon overseas Pakistanis to switch to informal money transfer channels of hundi and hawala.
He has also advised foreign donors to withdraw their support to the Nawaz Sharif government, and warned IFIs that loans extended to the current government will not be repaid if his party is voted into power
There is nothing to indicate that even his supporters have taken him seriously on this count. Some isolated incidents were reported in Punjab, where commuters declined to pay the toll tax, but that is probably the limit the people are willing to stretch their allegiance to, what some consider, a ‘wild wish list’ of the PTI leader.
There were reports doing rounds in social media that some youth, perceived to be PTI supporters, stopped paying GST on their bills at some hip food joints.
However, a survey of the market contradicted any such development. An officer at the front desk of a coffee shop confirmed that they did not receive any intimation to discount GST from bills. It was too early for utility companies to offer comments on the trend in bill collection, but the collection desks at multiple banks are said to be functioning smoothly.
“We did not notice any change in turnover of customers who deposit their bills in our branch,” a bank manager told this writer. No unusual withdrawals were reported by the National Bank of Pakistan or any other state-owned institution.
INTERNEWS
