Headlines:
- Establishing Chinese Colonialism alongside Western Colonialism Will not Break Begging Bowls
- Poverty Reduction under Capitalism is an Illusion
- Neglect of Education is Due to Democracy, the Khilafah will Provide Free Education to All
Establishing Chinese Colonialism alongside Western Colonialism Will not Break Begging Bowls
On 12 November 2018, Dawn reported, “Officials say that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed during Mr Khan’s visit provides the basis for attracting Chinese investment and Chinese technical assistance in all sub-sectors of agriculture.” Besides initiating bailout talks with IMF, Pakistan is reaching out to China for further financial assistance. China has already become the biggest lender to Pakistan. Pakistan owes more than $20 billion, which is 20% of its total, to China. Rising indebtedness comes at a time when the country is already struggling, as evidenced by persistent current account deficits, government debt, and external debt. The Bajwa-Imran regime is looking to the West and particularly the International Monetary Fund for loans primarily to re-pay previous loans – and simultaneously eyeing on Beijing for loans, thus taking a great leap forward in compromising its sovereignty by falling a prey to capitalist imperialism, as well as the Chinese version of colonialism.
A general trend observed in China’s engagement with numerous developing countries is that it does not like to micro-manage the economy. However, some significant concessions are demanded in return. These may include higher equity stakes in ongoing CPEC projects, a larger role in deciding future ones, and greater market access for Chinese firms. Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port is a case in point, in which China acquired a controlling stake and a 99-year lease in 2017 after the former’s failure to repay loans. Reflecting growing unease about the Belt Road Initiative (BRI), re-elected Malaysian PM Mahathir cancelled $22 billion worth of Chinese projects, questioning their economic rationale and citing debt concerns, rejecting ‘new version of colonialism.’ These examples show that the terms for Chinese loans herald more undermining of sovereignty.
As if Chinese economic leverage were not enough, an IMF programme is being negotiated to avert the balance of payments crisis. This will also open financing lines from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sister capitalist-imperialist institutions. The programme will increase the country’s credibility in the eyes of international creditors, which translates as further indebtedness through yet more interest-based loans. Moreover, the IMF programme is not without formal constraints on fiscal and monetary policymaking, hence, requiring further devaluation, raising taxes, tariffs and interest rate. It will further retard growth and fuel inflation as it has done unfailingly, previously. So, the crisis resulting from the balance of payments due to deficits has become a crisis of increased indebtedness. Since the economy is not self-stimulated, loans are merely extend foreign influence and come with interest which ensures that the country remains in debt. Recourse to multilateral and bilateral loans undermine the economic and political sovereignty of a nation.
Allah (swt) said, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ * فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُوا فَأْذَنُوا بِحَرْبٍ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَإِن تُبْتُمْ فَلَكُمْ رُءُوسُ أَمْوَالِكُمْ لَا تَظْلِمُونَ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ? “O you who have believed, fear Allah and give up what remains [due to you] of interest, if you should be believers. And if you repent then you have your capital (without interest). * And if you do not, then be informed of a war [against you] from Allah and His Messenger. But if you repent, you may have your principal – [thus] you do no wrong, nor are you wronged” [Al-Baqara: 278-279]. To break the begging bowl, requires the re-establishment of the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood. Through implementing Islam, it will ensure planning of sound economic policies in agriculture, trade, and industry. Moreover, Islam obliges the state treasury to establish the necessary projects.
Poverty Reduction under Capitalism is an Illusion
On 10 November 2018, Prime Minister Iran Khan hinted at launching the first-of-its-kind mega poverty alleviation venture within seven to ten days to bring people out of abject poverty in the country. “The poverty alleviation package will be the most important component in the PTI government’s 100-day performance to be unveiled before the people of Pakistan within the next few days,” Imran Khan said. Poverty reduction is not possible under the capitalist economic system. Capitalism is founded on the belief that there are not enough resources to meet all the needs of all people. According to this view, in society, there will always be people who will remain hungry, homeless and deprived of access to health, education and transportation. Capitalism maintains that it is only possible to minimize the gap between needs and resources, by maximizing production. So Capitalism focuses on production and leaves the matter of distribution to the “trickledown effect.” It is as if it built on the hope that when the tank is filled with water, it will overflow and reach the poorest in society. However, the reality of the world economy shows that the tank does not fill, no matter how much wealth is being produced.
The world has an accumulated GDP of 87.51 trillion US dollar in 2018, but half of this wealth is owned by only the richest one present. According to Credit Suisse Group, a leading financial services company, the globe’s richest 1% own half the world’s wealth, highlighting the growing gap between the super-rich and everyone else. Even during the financial crisis, the richest have become richer, with the poorer, becoming poorer. That is why in every country where Capitalism is implemented, whether the major powers, like US, Britain, France and China, or others like Pakistan, Egypt and India, we see growing numbers of poor people. According to a recent report from the Brookings Institution, Nigeria overtook India in May 2018 to become the country with the world’s highest number of people living in extreme poverty. This is even though Nigeria is the sixth largest oil producing country in the world. So advocates of Capitalism claim that it tries to reduce poverty but instead it increases.
Any promise of reducing poverty without abolishing the capitalist economic system is a deception. Unless the economic system of Islam is implemented, concentration of wealth in the hands of a few will remain. Islam’s economic system defines that economic problem is the distribution of wealth as Allah (swt) said, كَيْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةً بَيْنَ الْأَغْنِيَاءِ مِنكُمْ “so that wealth may not solely circulate between the rich among you” (Al-Hashar: 7). Islam does not seek merely to reduce poverty but to end it. RasulAllah ﷺ said, «وَأَيُّمَا أَهْلُ عَرْصَةٍ أَصْبَحَ فِيهِمْ امْرُؤٌ جَائِعٌ فَقَدْ بَرِئَتْ مِنْهُمْ ذِمَّةُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى» “Whenever the people of an area wake up with a hungry person amongst them, then Allah’s covenant and protection to them is absolved.” (reported by Ahmad from Ibn Umar, and authenticated by Ahmad Shakir). Hizb ut Tahrir in its book “Introduction to The Constitution” adopted in Article 124, “The primary economic problem is the distribution of wealth and benefits to all the subjects of the State, and facilitating their utilization of this wealth and benefits, by enabling them to strive for them and possess them.” In Article 125, it adopted, “It is obligatory to guarantee that all the basic needs are met for everyone, and are completely met on an individual basis, and to guarantee that every individual is facilitated to satisfy the extra needs (non-essential needs) to the highest level possible.” So it is only the economic system of Islam which works to end poverty and the coming Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood will implement it comprehensively.
Neglect of Education is Due to Democracy, the Khilafah will Provide Free Education to All
Nearly 22.5 million children in Pakistan are out of school, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released on 13 November 2018, as reported by Dawn. The report revealed that out of those out of school 32 per cent are girls while 21pc boys. Also it highlighted that as of 2017, Pakistan was spending less than 2.8pc of its gross domestic product on education — far below the recommended four to six per cent.
Education has failed to grasp the attention of successive democratic governments in Pakistan. This important segment for societal development has received lip service only. The situation is so grave that Pakistan’s developmental expenditure for education is only 2.8% of its GDP as highlighted in the report, whilst even war-stricken Afghanistan allocated 4%, India 7%, with Rwanda is spending 9% of its GDP on education. Allocating inadequate funds for education has caused an extremely poor situation in education, for even those going to school. According to the 2016 report, of 154,144 schools in Pakistan, only 52 percent have the four essential components of infrastructure – boundary wall, electricity, water and toilets – whereas 11 percent of the schools do not have any of the four basic facilities available. According to data provided by UNESCO, Pakistan has the most crowded classrooms in South Asia, with the ratio of 500 students per every three teachers. These statistics make it clear how neglected the area of education is. It’s clear that the rulers are neglectful of their responsibilities. Moreover, those going to schools are exposed to corruption by liberal curriculums imposed by western NGO’s, USAID, the World Bank and UNESCO.
The solution to the crisis in education lies in the implementation of the Islamic education system under by the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of the Prophethood. It is Fard on the Khilafah state to provide its entire citizens with basic education. RasoolAllah ﷺ said, «مَنْ سَلَكَ طَرِيقًا يَطْلُبُ فِيهِ عِلْمًا سَلَكَ اللَّهُ بِهِ طَرِيقًا مِنْ طُرُقِ الْجَنَّةِ» “If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise.” Education at primary and secondary levels will be provided free of cost to every child, male and female. Also where possible, the Khilafah State will endeavour to provide free or low cost education at university level. Furthermore, there will be one educational curriculum, which is that of the state and it is not allowed to have curricula other than that of the state. Private schools can be established as long as they restrict themselves to the state curriculum, and realize the education policy and its objective. The curriculum will promote the values of Islam only and will not include any concept that will deviate the Muslims from the true understanding of their Deen. Funding will be made available to increase facilities such as libraries, laboratories and research centres. While students will be given incentives to stay in the Muslim lands and contribute to the revival and progress of the Muslim Ummah. We can witness the success of Islamic civilization in providing education in the Indian Subcontinent. It was so good that even non-Muslims give testimony of it success. Colonel William Sleeman while admitting that the education given in Delhi was “quite remarkable” wrote, on a visit to Delhi, the Mughal capital, “Perhaps there are few communities in the world among whom education is more generally diffused than among Muhammadan in India. The young Muhammadan binds his turban upon a head almost as well as filled with things, which appertain to these branches of knowledge as the young man from Oxford.”