Headlines:
- The IMF Hammers Pakistan’s Economy on the Anvil of the Washington Consensus
- Democracy Allows Power Companies to Mint Huge Profits at the Cost of the Poor
- Only the Khilafah will Unify the Muslim Armies Under a Single Banner of Khilafah state
The IMF Hammers Pakistan’s Economy on the Anvil of the Washington Consensus
Finance Minister Asad Umar on 11 February 2019 claimed that differences between Pakistan and the IMF had decreased following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chairperson Christine Lagarde on the sidelines of the World Government Summit yesterday. “IMF has changed its position,” Umar said in an address at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Peshawar, “It seems like we have come closer to reaching an agreement with the IMF.”
The Finance Minister is deceiving the people before the already suffering economy is struck further blows by the IMF. The IMF has not changed its position. It maintains its charter and its adherence to the colonialist principles of the Washington Consensus, which is the basis of the policy conditions on loans, as part of “structural adjustment programs”, for “stabilization.” The Washington Consensus is a set of ten economic policy prescriptions considered to constitute the “standard” reform package promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries by Washington, D.C.-based institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and United States Department of the Treasury. It is designed to orientate the local economy towards serving the dollar hegemony in international trade. Its consequence is the crippling of the local economy and increasing colonialist domination of local markets.
The Washington Consensus orders removal of subsidies from areas of the economy that need support to thrive, reducing self-dependence. It orders increases in taxation which chokes critical areas of industry and reduces the ability of people to afford essentials. It orders “competitive exchange rates” through which it orders the weakening of the local currency, which unleashes rampant inflation, increases the costs of imports and the size of foreign debt burden. It orders trade liberalization which opens the flood gates to foreign produced goods, crushing the local economy. It orders privatization of state enterprises which deprives the state of vital sources of revenue, making it more dependent on interest based loans. It orders liberalization of foreign direct investment which increases foreign ownership of local industry. It orders market deregulation, which allows foreign companies with large resources to dominate markets, squeezing local companies out of competition.
RasulAllah ﷺ warned, «لَا يُلْدَغُ الْمُؤْمِنُ مِنْ جُحْرٍ وَاحِدٍ مَرَّتَيْنِ» “The believer is not stung from the same hole twice.” [Bukhari, Muslim]. For decades, faces have changed, but Pakistan’s economy has been tied down on the anvil of the Washington Consensus for hammering. Real change demands the re-establishment of the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood and the implementation of the Islamic economic system. The Khilafah will reject interest-based loans which have bled Pakistan dry for so long. It will implement the Islamic system of revenues, which includes ensuring energy and minerals are public property, whose benefit is for the entire population. The Khilafah will establish the currency on the firm footing of the gold and silver standard which ensures stable prices. And Khilafah will ensure its own efficient state ownership of capital intensive sectors of the economy such as large scale manufacturing, construction, transport and telecommunications so that it is well-endowed to carry out its responsibilities.
Democracy Allows Power Companies to Mint Huge Profits at the Cost of the Poor
On 6 February 2019, the Senate Standing Committee on Power was informed that independent power producers (IPPs) were receiving a hefty amount of Rs422 billion annually, on account of capacity payments, without having to generate electricity. Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak suggested that the government should ink an agreement without the condition of capacity charges and power plants should instead receive money for the electricity they generate.
It is not surprising that successive regimes since the nineties of the last century had signed agreements with private companies which allowed them to secure hefty profits, even at a time when electricity is not required because of low demand, as happens in the winter usually. This is a grave injustice. When a common person starts any business, he never gets an assurance from anyone that his product will be purchased, even if there is no demand. However, the principle of supply and demand is easily violated in democracy. Large scale capitalists enjoy “connections” and so are able to get special favors that no one else can get. The rulers can easily grant special favor to them as they have powers to make or change rules, granted to them by democracy.
Had there been a Khilafah in Pakistan this scenario would not happened at all in the first place. In Islam, energy is a public property and therefore its resources are public property and their production units can only be established under public ownership by the state. They cannot be privatized and handed over to private owners. RasulAllah (saw) said, «الْمُسْلِمُونَ شُرَكَاءُ فِي ثَلَاثٍ الْمَاءِ وَالْكَلَإِ وَالنَّارِ» “The Muslims are partners in three things, waters, feeding pastures and fire.” (Ahmad). The term ‘fire’ here includes all forms of energy used as fuel in industry, machines and plants. Therefore Islam has declared electricity as public property and made it obligatory on the state to manage its affairs on behalf of the people, providing its benefits to the people. So if under the Khilafah, a ruler who wants to extend benefit to some wealthy people in the energy sector, at the cost of the people, he won’t be able to do it because electricity has been declared public property. The state alone can manage its affairs on behalf of the people. A ruler also cannot change this law because in the Khilafah no one can make what Allah (swt) has forbidden, allowed. So there is no way that the laws of Allah (swt) can be changed to extend benefit to the large scale capitalists that are cronies of the rulers. Clearly, the crisis in the energy sector can only be resolved once the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood is established in Pakistan.
Only the Khilafah will Unify the Muslim Armies Under a Single Banner of Khilafah state
Former army chief Retired General Raheel Sharif, who heads a 41-nation Saudi-led military coalition, called on the current Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on 11 February 2019, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said. “During the meeting matters of mutual interest including regional peace and stability were discussed,” the press release said it is a tragedy that the Muslim World has been divided into nation states, where every state has been given a separate constitution, flag and boundaries. Their interests, priorities and actions are controlled by the colonialists. As for General Bajwa, his priority at the moment is to secure permanent presence for his master, the US, through facilitating negotiations between the Afghan Taliban and US. As for General Raheel Sharif, he is heading a military force tasked with fighting in the US war on “terrorism,” which is fighting any resistance to foreign occupation.
Islam has forbidden division of Muslims into nation states and to form union and leagues from them. The system of governance in Islam is unitary and Allah (swt) has commanded Muslims to live in a single state, the Khilafah state and a single ruler the Khaleefah of all the Muslims. Islam has made unity an Obligation, tying to the blood of Muslims, as a vital issue, a matter of life and death. It is narrated by Abu Sa‘id Al-Khudri that the Messenger of Allah said, «إِذَا بُويِعَ لِخَلِيفَتَيْنِ، فَاقْـتُلُوا الآخَرَ مِنْهُمَا» “When oath of allegiance has been taken for two caliphs, kill the one for whom the oath was taken later.” And his ﷺ saying, «سَتَكُونُ هَنَاتٌ، وَهَنَاتٌ، فَمَنْ أَرَادَ أَنْ يُفَرِّقَ بَيْنَ أَمْرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَهُم جَمِيعٌ فَاضْرِبُوهُ بِالسَّيْف كَائِنًا مَنْ كَانَ» “There will be strife and sedition, whosoever wants to divide the Muslim unity; strike him with the sword, whoever he may be.” And his ﷺ saying, «مَنْ أَتَاكُمْ وَأَمْرُكُمْ جَمِيعٌ عَلَى رَجُلٍ وَاحِدٍ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَشُقَّ عَصَاكُمْ أَوْ يُفَرِّقَ جَمَاعَتَكُمْ فَاقْتُلُوهُ» “Whoever wants to break your rank and divide your group while you are united under one man (ruler), kill him.” It is not allowed to divide the state, making the state into multiple states. It is obligatory for the state of Muslims to be one. Thus, the situation demands that Muslims should end the colonialist hegemony after the destruction of the Islamic Khilafah on 3 March 1924 CE, Muslims must reject the artificial borders, agent rulers and their systems. And they must re-establish the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood, which will unify the Muslims as one effective force against their enemies.