Headlines:
- Poverty caused the Bahawalpur Tanker Tragedy and the Rulers are to Blame
- Occupied Kashmir Demands Liberation by the Shield of the Ummah, the Khilafah
- Textile Sector Crippled by Regime Subservient to the Colonialists
Poverty caused the Bahawalpur Tanker Tragedy and the Rulers are to Blame
An oil tanker crashed on a road near Bahawalpur on 25 June 2017 and more that 153 people were killed. Many of the dead were impoverished people who had rushed to collect leaking fuel before it was wasted. The tanker carrying 40,000 litres of fuel overturned after trying to make a sharp turn while traveling from Karachi to Lahore on the main highway. Nearly a hundred people were injured as a result of the incident, the government officials said.
What a heartbreaking state of affairs! The people are so neglected and drowned in hardship, that they took huge risks for only a few dollars worth of petrol that they could carry in kitchen containers and utensils. As people in the masajid made Dua at Fajr the next day for the deceased, Pakistan’s Prime Minister had burnt thousands of liters of fuel to make his round trip to the United Kingdom to celebrate Eid with his relatives abroad. Those who were burnt alive in the pursuit of a few liters of fuel, died miserably in a country where the Prime Minister’s financial concerns are so extensive, that it has taken over a year since the Panama Papers leak to investigate the convoluted paper trails that were used to hide the ill gotten wealth.
As such the Bahawalpur tragedy is yet another painful reminder of the urgent need to re-establish the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of the Prophethood. Only then will the Muslims be blessed with rulers who willingly accept to live meager lives, so as to enrich the lives of the people. Only then will Muslims have rulers that ensure basic needs are provided to all citizens, for they feel the full weight of the Hadith of RasulAllah ﷺ:«مَنْ أَصْبَحَ مِنْكُمْ آمِنًا فِي سِرْبِهِ مُعَافًى فِي جَسَدِهِ عِنْدَهُ قُوتُ يَوْمِهِ فَكَأَنَّمَا حِيزَتْ لَهُ الدُّنْيَا» “Whoever wakes up secure in his family with a healthy body, having food for the day, it is as if the entire world is given to him.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi and others). And only then will Muslims have rulers that realize that the provision of basic needs is one of their fundamental duties about which Allah (swt) will ask them about. RasulAllah ﷺ said: «الإِمَامُ رَاعٍ وَمَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ» “The Imam is a guardian and responsible for his people.” [Bukhari]
Occupied Kashmir Demands Liberation by the Shield of the Ummah, the Khilafah
Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) on 27 June 2017 slammed the designation of supporters of the Kashmiri right to self-determination as terrorists, terming it ‘completely unjustified’. “The designation of individuals supporting the Kashmiri right to self-determination as terrorists is completely unjustified,” FO Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a statement. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said, “It seems as though the blood of Kashmiris in not at all important to the US, and international laws relating to human rights do not apply to Kashmir.” Has the Bajwa-Nawaz regime finally woken up to the reality of the so-called international community? No, it is still asleep and such statements serve partly to quell the anger of the Muslims and partly to inflame the issue so that Trump can intervene. That is why despite its indignation, the Bajwa-Nawaz regime remains allied to the United States and remains committed to referring the matter of Occupied Kashmir to the United Nations.
Alliance with the United States is an illusion of strength but in reality represents our greatest cause of weakness. America is the foremost in ensuring that the Muslim Lands burn in the fires of chaos, occupied and savaged with impunity by both its own forces and those of the Jewish and Hindu states. An alliance with any openly belligerent enemy guarantees nothing other than repeated betrayal. And as for referring our affairs, including Kashmir, to the United Nations, it is as futile because the five permanent veto-yielding members of its Security Council are all belligerent enemies of Muslims and it is haraam because it is a non-Islamic authority (Taghut), ruling by Kufr. Allah (swt) said,
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يَزْعُمُونَ أَنَّهُمْ آمَنُواْ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنزِلَ مِن قَبْلِكَ يُرِيدُونَ أَن يَتَحَاكَمُواْ إِلَى الطَّاغُوتِ وَقَدْ أُمِرُواْ أَن يَكْفُرُواْ بِهِ وَيُرِيدُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَن يُضِلَّهُمْ ضَلاَلاً بَعِيدًا
“Have you seen those who pretend to believe in what has been revealed to you and what has been revealed before you, how they go in their judgement to the Taghut, though they have been ordered to disbelieve in it. But Shaytan’s wish is to lead them astray”
(Surah An-Nisa’a 4:60)
The only platform that will liberate Occupied Kashmir is one that is committed to the implementation of Islam and the security of the Muslims, which is the shield of the Ummah, the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of the Prophethood.
Textile Sector Crippled by Regime Subservient to the Colonialists
Pakistan’s ailing textile sector needs immediate attention of the government, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) said on 29 June 2017. The chairman of FPCCI’s regional committee on industries, Atif Ikram Sheikh, said in a statement that the textile sector was the largest urban employment provider and largest foreign exchange earner and therefore deserved resolution of the problems, which have affected its exports. Energy crisis, refund claims, input costs, the burden of taxes and lack of enabling rules have increased the cost of doing business for the sector, he said. As reported by Bloomberg on 21 September 2016 Pakistan’s textile sector has seen more than half a million jobs lost and around a hundred factories shut down, in the past two years alone.
Following the colonialist policy of energy privatization, the regime ensured that the textile sector was hit hard by the country’s energy crisis. Power shortages occur when private owners of electricity do not produce to full capacity as the government has not paid its dues. Most factories shutting down are small to mid-sized plants, unable to bear the costly implications of prolonged power outages, whereas larger factories have invested in their own power, including very expensive diesel generators, to cope with the nation’s electricity deficit. Instead of planning and investing adequately and urgently in the generation projects as well as transmission and distribution optimization, the regime worsens the problem by continuing to selling power assets to private investors. To make matters even worse, in a bid to attract investors, the regime is greatly increasing power tariffs, over-burdening not only the small/medium size industry but the general public as well, which is already deprived from many of the basic needs. The capitalist system is crippling Pakistan’s industry, including the potentially world-leading textile industry. Privatization of energy assets have meant that the private owners are focused on profits rather than providing steady supply when profits are not guaranteed, creating havoc for industry. Privatization deprives the national coffers of revenue and so the government has greatly inflated taxation on industrial inputs, adding to the woes of industry.
Nothing short of the abolition of Capitalism, and the restoration of Islam’s economic system will revive industry. In the Khilafah, public resources such as abundant minerals, fuel resources and energy assets such as electricity are deemed public property. Their revenue and utilization is for the entire public and the state ensures this matter, simultaneously ensuring constant supply to private industry and providing plentiful revenues to the Baytul-Maal. Another important aspect for a country’s sustainable growth in economics, sciences, political and military strength lies in planning and investing in heavy industry, including military grade manufacturing. Having a focus of developing local military industry will boost the local heavy industry as well as Research & Development. Not only will Pakistan be fulfilling its high-end value product demands which it currently imports, it will also be in a position to export with high returns. However, Western colonialist through their financial institutions and agents in the Muslim Lands prevent the formation of such an industry. It is only through Islam that the Muslims will be able to achieve a powerful economy, without any foreign dictations.