HBL - SAN BANKING LOGIC

[javed]

His Excellency, Karachi 07 December 2011
Mr. Asif Ali Zardari,
President of Pakistan,
Islamabad.


Your Excellency,


Gone are the days when if one addressed the then PM Nawaz Sharif on some real point to ponder issue, his Staff Officer Col. Tahir took a real serious note of that, investigated the matter himself and then put the final report to the PM when a decision used to be taken with thanks to the concerned citizen. Even the Press Secretary to the so called dicator General Musharraf invariably responded to the citizen. Under PPP rule it had never ever been and can even not be hoped of particularly during an era where appointments are on strange merit, there are huge scandals etc. In such an environment where as alleged in the press the Finance Minister does not pay income tax, any sense under him on any fiscal issue is perhaps wasting time in hope.


2. A very serious and thought provoking report has appeared in Daily Jang Karachi on 05 December 2011 stating that under PIN Code system inflow of remittances are mysteriously increasing and PIN Code is becoming popular which according to the report is not in the interest of the country. Many experts have raised their serious concerns on this tendency including ex Finance Minister Mr. Mubashar Hussain; a PPP big gun who gave the first reverse gear in 1972-73 to the growing economy of the country starting from so called privatization and giving “mader pider azadi” to the labour/working force making their aware of their so called rights but deliberately under a modus ope***** completely forgetting simultaneously also to apprise the same labour about their obligations. What till 1968 was gained under Ayub Khan like electrification of trains under Mubashar Hassan reverse gear continuously got damaged during all these years particularly during the three PPP rules resulting not merely today railways electric poles have disappeared but also all of a sudden almost 90% railway engines in these three months. This is not the first report, two months back another detailed report appeared that this increasing remittances were actually a circle under which black money is siphoned out and re-received under remittances making it black and tax free. And it is quite right. In the high inflation, cost of living increasing rapidly world over particularly in Arab countries, reducing number of Pakistani manpower in these countries how the remittances can increase unless there is game in it.

3. on 1st December my wife approached Habib Bank Limited, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain for two remittances. One cash-to-cash delivery (referred to as PIN Code in the report) to her father was instantly made while her second remittance to Lyari Development Authority through a universally recognized system namely the Bank Draft was refused on the ground that she was not an account holder of the Bank. This joke can only happen in a PPP rule. Thus in simple word my wife or for that purpose anyone else can from HBL Bahrain send an amount to any person engaged in whatsoever trade/activity in Pakistan say for drug pushing, terrorism, money laundering, whitening the black money through cash remittance but can not send the same through a Bank Draft which invariably is to be deposited in a certified bank account in Pakistan. The HBL country manager enquired from me over the phone if my wife, that time sitting in his Branch, held any Invoice from the Lyari Development Authority. The appointments abroad are no doubt mostly are generally rightly believed on political backings – this senior executive does not has even the basic knowledge that the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, Capital Development Authority, Lyari Development Authority or House Building Finance Corporation etc never issue any Invoice to any allottee/citizen. The invoices are issued only to the Trade.

4. Your government has a tall claim of affording facilities to the Overseas Pakistanis which is totally wrong. During Nawaz Sharif and even the so called dictator General Musharraf there was not any bar on sending Bank Drafts by non account holders. I had myself been sending such bank drafts to OPF, KDA etc which were never refused on a non logical argument. The facility which is a common service of a bank has been denied under your tenure.

5. A guest in a TV programme a few months rightly said that the present Finance Minister is nothing to lose with present policies as he only is to pick up his briefcase and fly out while only we the real Pakistanis are to remain an die here. I subscribe to this beliefe hence I have no slightest hope of whatsoever of any outcome of my this communication except a satisfaction that as a conscientious true Pakistani I have fulfilled my national duty. Renewing the assurances, Excellency, of my highest regards, this senior citizen remains,


Yours respectfully,


Muhammad Javed