Shah Mehmud Qureshi could have broken many hearts among the zealot base of the PTI while subtly admitting on the floor of the National Assembly Wednesday that perhaps his government displayed “haste” in putting the name of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on the Exit Control List (ECL).
The operative part of his statement, however, remained firmly stuck to the position that the Supreme Court had yet to write a clear order directing the government to remove the PPP Chairman’s name from the said list. Even without it, a special committee of the cabinet is reviewing the matter. The opposition should thus wait for its final decision.
A former Prime Minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, had strongly supported Ms Shazia Atta Marri and Syed Naveed Qamar for agitating over the matter through a point of order. Qureshi could conveniently ignore the issue for it does not fall under his domain.
The friends-to-all type experienced politician from Multan, Mr Qureshi, does not let any chance of burnishing his smartly crafted reputation of a pragmatic dove.
He always wants to look as if walking an extra mile to accommodate “genuine concerns” of the opposition. He attempted doing the same Wednesday, but could not afford disregarding the desires simmering in the heart of his boss, i.e., Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Doling out the ministerial portfolios to his loyalists after assuming the office of Prime Minister, Imran Khan had kept the Interior Ministry with him.
Doing so, he wanted to appear as if taking the responsibility of delivering on the corruption-fighting agenda of his government upon himself. He feels too excited about the report that had been prepared by the FIA-led JIT. This report projects Asif Ali Zardari and his immediate family, Bilawal included, as the ultimate beneficiaries of apparently a truckload of “ill-gotten money, extracted and transferred abroad” through a plethora of “fake accounts.”
To many of his visitors in recent days, the prime minister had reportedly been referring to the findings of this report, somewhat excitedly. He also sounded completely sold out to the idea that diligent pursuance of the said report would help the PTI government in decimating the PPP for good.
Even if he fails to reach the set target in the end, the JIT-prepared report had damaged the reputation of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, thanks to a non-stop media trial unleashed and managed through calculated leaks. It has surely hampered Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s flight on our political scene as a clean new face.
Shah Mehmud Qureshi needs no tutor to fathom the worth of this JIT-prepared report for the heart and mind of his boss. He had to tread carefully even while living up to his reputation of an accommodating dove.
I also know it for a fact that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari does not feel too shocked, hurt or hampered with milking of the JIT-prepared report. As a cool cat, he had rather prepared himself to endure blowback of the said report. His age furnishes ample space for him for navigating rough weathers.
The deep and sophisticated Shah Mehmud Qureshi, however, shocked many of us by taking a weird sounding position on an entirely different matter.
Rao Ajmal is a PML-N MNA from Okara. For many decades his district is being famous as the potato-producing hub of Central Punjab. But the growers of this commodity are not being able to get even a throwaway price for their produce these days.
Apparently, the ongoing heartburning of potato producers is due to the glut reflecting the demand and supply dynamic. But Shah Mehmud Qureshi was too serious in suggesting as if certain foreign countries were also responsible for potato-connected crisis.
Hints suggesting a “foreign hand” often force us to consider India as the culprit. Little wonder, the opposition members felt compelled to tell him that even in India, potatoes were not getting the right price and growers there were equally worried like Pakistani growers. The fertile mind of Shah Mehmud Qureshi could not provide a satisfactory answer and left the house discreetly.
His absence did not help the government. Moeen Wattoo, another PML-N grower from the same Okara belt, forced the Speaker to let him speak on the issue. After conceding the reality of overproduction he kept asserting that the growers were not able to sell their produce, essentially because the government was reluctant to help potato export.
The rustic realism of Moeen Wattoo, forced the minister of agriculture, Mehbub Sultan, to candidly admit that China, Russia and various Central Asian States were too willing to pick the bulk of potatoes from Pakistan. But the usual middleman is not motivated to cater to a potentially huge market.
Why the profit-driven middleman is not buying potato for exporting was the question and the minister furnished the reply without anyone asking for it.
Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), he revealed, has been forewarning the potato-exporting middlemen that while sending this year’s consignments to foreign countries they also have to provide the details of such transactions, made “during the past five years.”
That obviously was the rub. Some of our middlemen had discovered Russia and the rest of Central Asian countries as the potential markets of Pakistani potato only in recent years. Previously, most of their consignments were going to Afghanistan only. Kabul, however, finally imposed forbidding duties on the import of potato from Pakistan.
Disregarding its impact, the fortunate hunters discovered alternative markets in Russia and various Central Asian countries. These adventurers are not our regular or big time exporters. Most of them are even not registered taxpayers and have been thriving due to “informal” sides of our economy.
Our recent governments’ newfound zeal to collect more taxes had dampened the vigor of “informal” fortune hunters. They are now shy to buy potatoes from growers and hoard them for exporting to bulk-buyers in potential markets.
Not only the potato growers but many more sectors of our economy also appear frighteningly sluggish these days. It seems like a natural blowback of an overzealous attempt to bring more and more people in the tax net.
Our tax collectors’ crusade against the ‘informal sectors” seems producing the same kind of fear and panic in the market that Narendra Modi’s demonetization had triggered in India. The results of which were endured by the BJP during recently held elections for assemblies of five Indian states. It’s time the PTI double-checked its zeal to extract more and more in the name of tax collection.