Commies in Washington? End of Free Markets: Economistan

By Saad Sarwar Muhammad
Monday, September 22, 2008

When Pakistan’s central bank blocked foreign currency accounts to control the flight of capital to foreign banks in the aftermath of nuclear tests that it conducted, it was considered as interventionist and the measures were considered anti-economy and opposed to what free markets were all about. A similar thing happened again early this year when Pakistan’s main stock market shed more than $36 billion dollar of market capital in a very short span, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan put a floor on the points to curtail flight of money. Pakistani rupee also suffered at the hands of the flight of capital and the exchange rate fell from roughly Rs. 60 to a dollar to Rs. 78 to a dollar within a span of a few months. All these measures were criticized around the world because of the interventionist policies of Pakistani institutions who wanted to keep the economy in check.

The collapse of the investment banks like Lehman brothers and Meryl Lynch and firms like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac along with the imminent fall of the US insurance giant AIG put the global markets in a tailspin. UK responded with a ban on short selling of stocks to arrest the fall of FTSE its main index. The US followed suit with the ban on short selling of stocks for a month. Short selling is speculative in nature with investors betting on a company’s stock to fall driving the whole market down. Even profitable investment banks like Morgan Stanley were feeling the pinch because of the short sale. The measures worked and the stock markets around the world recovered within a day with a long and wayward week coming to an end. In the process, the Fed also ended up bailing out the insurance company AIG for a big sum of $85 billion dollars and it is estimated the cost of the Fed’s intervention to the US taxpayer might amount to $700 billion dollars overall driving the domestic debt even higher to upwards of $11 trillion dollars. All these measures, with no clear and definitive answer to whether they will work or would be enough to save the ailing US economy.

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Despite turmoil, Pakistan pips rival India: Bangkok Post

Despite the rush by entrepreneurs to participate in the growth of the Indian economy, the country with the most attractive regulatory environment in South Asia countries is its arch-rival, Pakistan according to the World Bank.

In Doing Business 2009 politically unstable Pakistan ranked 77th, far behind Mauritius and Maldives which were ranked 24th and 69th respectively, though they offer relatively limited business opportunities.

Among the other countries in South Asia were Sri Lanka (102nd), Bangladesh (110th), Nepal (121st), India (120th), and Bhutan (124th).

The report said that although regulatory reforms in South Asia continued this year, the regulatory burden of doing business was eased the most in four countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Sri Lanka - between June 2007 and June 2008.

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Pakistan's New Strategy

In the light of the worsening situation at Pakistan's tribal areas and the repeated violation of the international border of Pakistan by the US, it is imperative that Pakistan evolve a strategy that would stop the gung-ho American crusader cowboys at their tracks. American policy of attacking Pakistan's tribal areas are a clear violation of the international law and Pakistan (Army) has repeatedly reiterated that this violation would no longer go unanswered. There is a new wave of antipathy against the US growing in Pakistan in the light of the latest developments. The Pakistani government is also in a tight spot to respond and support the statements coming from the Pakistani military. In the light of the above mentioned scenario, Pakistan should evolve a strategy that demands the following from the US,

a. Pakistan should tell the US that it is in clear violation of the international law by violating Pakistan's sovereignty and US soldiers would be tried in international court if they are guilty of killing innocent Pakistani civilians in the tribal agencies of Pakistan whose defense is the responsibility of the Pakistan Army.

b. In case the above mentioned policy fails, Pakistan should stop all fuel supplies and support to the coalition forces as a second step and let the US beg its enemies like Iran and Russia for transport of fuel supplies through their territories (better luck USA).

c. If all else fails Pakistan should make a comprehensive defense strategy that should involve strategic positioning of Pakistan's missiles to hit the US Aircraft carriers and other ships in the Arabian sea as a last resort. US can ill afford to start another theater of war and that should be made perfectly clear to the United States of Warica.

US has already annoyed a great deal of countries on the international stage like Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, Iran, Syria, Thailand, Sudan and a host of other countries. I hope common sense prevails and Pakistan and Pakistani Army can truly guarantee the safety and security of Pakistan and its civilians. Long Live Pakistan, our heart and soul.

Jeevey Jeevey Pakistan: The Nation

By Shamshad Ahmad

For the past 60 days or so, since the end of June, the people of Kashmir have been free. Free in the most profound sense. They have shrugged off the terror of living their lives in the gun-sights of half a million heavily armed (Indian) soldiers, in the most densely militarised zones in the world.-Arundhati Roy, 'Azadi'- Outlook India)Kashmir is in crisis and aflame again. This time nobody can blame any foreign hand in it. It is indigenous and an inevitable eruption of volcanic suffocation simmering underneath among the Kashmiri people for several decades. Since after 1947, Kashmir has been at the core of South Asia's issues of peace and security, and is today a sombre reminder to the world that despite universalisation of fundamental values and freedoms, the people of Kashmir remain deprived of them.In a remarkable piece on the current uprising in Kashmir, Arundhati Roy, a Booker Prize winner and world's renowned humanist has challenged the world's and India's conscience on this issue drawing their attention to a huge price being paid in terms of military, material, moral and human costs in keeping the Indian occupation of Kashmir against the wishes of its people.

She narrates how an ill-conceived move over the transfer of a small piece of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board "suddenly became the equivalent of tossing a lit match into a barrel of petrol. She acknowledges that "rightly or wrongly, the land transfer was viewed as the thin edge of the wedge. It triggered an apprehension that it was the beginning of an elaborate plan to build Israeli-style settlements, and change the demography of the valley."In reaction, the Kashmiris mounted massive protests bringing the valley to a complete shutdown. In no time, despite curfew and crackdown, the political revolt spread from the cities to villages and developed into a mass movement which not only resurrected memories of the Kashmiri uprising in the 90s but also gave a new dimension to their struggle for freedom. Numerous Kashmiri people were killed by the Indian armed forces in street clashes.

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