The Transformation of the Punjabi Man: Pashtunization or Militarization?

At the time of partition, Karachi was already a well developed and recognized hub of economic activity.
British spent about 250,000 pounds sterling on it, as early as 1866-67. to develop its port , which was a decision which proved on the dot, especially after the opening of Suez Cannal
and by 1914, the grannery of Punjab was exporting the produce throgh Karachi, Hell they even had Banking services then, with financial transaction covering from Japan to Australia to the England itself.
Karachi was then, among the top 5 Elite cities, which Had then the most modern mode of public transport , yes the monsterous TRAMS....which then were the most modern mode of Public transport, no matter how disasterous they proved later on.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah was especially admitted to the Sind Madrassa , for its High standard of education.
so there is no argument that Karachi was already a develped and cosmopolitian progressive and vibrant city.
Hell they even had the only PIANO repairing/ manufacturing
company in the whole India loated at Karachi...!!
so the bottom Line , Migration or influx did not improved anything, on the other hand, it could be said, conditions regressed.
Now comming back to the 65% Revenue Fallacy.
here is in a Nutshell what I found.

any one can go to http://www.cbr.gov.pk/YearBook/
and download their year books.
the latest are in pdf as well as have excell sheets with all the figures and facts in it..

here are a few points I got from it

1- for FY 2005-06 the collection was 713.4 Billion Rs, and accordingly 9.25% of the GDP.

Now GDP is a crude measure of the wealth of a Nation, not the Reveneu, revenue is just like blood circulating in the body, which keeps the body working.
and there is a difference between Collection and Generation.

Also CBR collects 90% of the Federal Taxes.
through
1- Direct taxes
2- Customs
3- Federad Excise and Duties
4- Sales Tax

Direct taxes are
a) Income tax which accounts for 93-94% of direct taxes
the figure for 2005-06 is 209.7 Billion.

b) captal Value tax
c) Workers welfare Fund
b and c account for 6.81 %

They collect through 5 regions, Regions and their collection figures for 2005-06 are

COLLECTION
REGIONS

1. NORTHERN REGION, ISLAMABAD 73,081 34.8%
2. EASTERN REGION, LAHORE 19,418 9.3%
3. CENTRAL REGION, MULTAN 10,722 5.1%
4. LTU, LAHORE 5,828 2.8%
5. CORPORATE REGION, KARACHI 33,708 16.1%
6. SOUTHERN REGION, KARACHI 29,812 14.2%
7. LTU, KARACHI 37,166 17.7%
T O T A L 209,735

LTU= :Large Tax Units.

from the above figures, its is clear, its the Corporate regions , no matter where , whether in Karachi, with already established industrial Units in it, or islamabad, where there is practically no Industrial Units, which forms the basis of these TAX COLLECTIONS.

..and obviously, it then boils down to the FACT, where the Corporate Headquarter is locacted, which makes into that regions collection.


...This by no Means , undermines the IMPORTANCE of Karachi, like I said, it was already an important City, even around the so called War of Independene which was then 1856,...and in 1866-67 British were spending a Lot and Lot of money on it.

....the conclusion is, its sheer exeggeration, these figures of 65% Collection.

Excluding the Corporate collection from Karachi's figures
it boils down to about....31-32%, that too if we include the LTUs....and lump in the Collection from Hyderabad, Sukhar and Quetta in....which have been done in the Classification of Southern Region.

But still 31-31% is a pretty large figure, it means the whole rest of the country, with Export oriented Industries
located all over punjab , Sialkot, Wazirabad,Gujrat, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Mian chanoon,....etc...etc.etc...
and not doing what they should have been doing.


...I would request more seasoned persons like Zeemax,to have a more elobarate analysis in this regard.

cliftonbridge #115 You make a very good point - the dakoo (mugger, robber, whatever) cares only about getting your property. He doesnt care about your accent, your religious or political views.

Similarly, the investor cares only about getting his investment back plus profit.

The thief thrives in a lawless society, and investors run away from it.

So, the real enemies of any society are those who create lawlessness. So, once again, we come back full circle to the importance of the rule of law. And the fact that our military generals and too many political leaders consider themselves above the law when they are in power makes them the real enemies of society (regardless of ethnicity etc.)

zee the populatiion of defence has doubled in the past 10 years ...as you know the new phases did not even exist ten years ago.

re corruption ...i cant prove this but the MQM has not been accused of largescale financial corruption as far as i know ...what am i missing?

oh and if you have the stats can you tell me what lahore gets back from the state and what karachi does? i know that lahore is the single biggest beneficiary from the central govt i dont know the figures.

Besides ... there's no immigration in the defence/clifton areas stretching the infrastructure ... but these are just as bad as sohrab goth :)

#129 Posted by cliftonbridge,

Ok ... lemme say this clifton. Nothing's wrong with the federal pool. All provinces get their due share from the 'federal' revenues (except Baluchistan which gets a bit more), but there're 'provincial revenues' as well, and Karachi's are the largest amongst all cities. These are taxes such as property taxes, road taxes, vehicular taxes, octroi, and such. These amount to billions.

Where do these go?

Actually these are all pilfered, while in case of say, Lahore, these are spent on developmental projects. That's where the difference lies.

#125 Posted by cliftonbridge,

Yeah. Who else could call the Karachi High Court lawyers 'Luchey Lafangey', and backtrack the next day and try to say he was misquoted out of context. What can be out of context in 'Luchey Lafangey'?

zee as far as i know thats exactly the complaint right?? are you saying money comes back and is filtered out elsewhere??

between not getting enough money from the central govt and huge immigration to karachi which bursts the seams of its infrastructure karachi is in bad shape alright.

sorry for spamming. i agree that the current leadership of the MQM the paranoid destructive violent types altaph in particular need to be put to pasture. I agree with the muttahaida name and i hope for a new direction. i dont agree with disbanding the MQM , it wont happen.

#124 Posted by cliftonbridge,

Hey ... Karachi does produce a lot of revenue ... a hell of a lot for just a city not even a province ... you were right about that ... but where does it all go?

No power ... no water ... many areas dug up ... street crime ... endless traffic jams .... who is responsible? Certainly it has to be the political set-up of Karachi.

It's a great city brought to ruins.

oh i meant 122 not 120 ...

#120 ...agreed!!!absolutely!!

hmmm... zee are you calling me a lottie?? ..lol..

Ethnic supremacy is a stupid idea and unless i am joking id never be part of it ....but i do think karachi is a kick ass innovative city and parts of karachi culture are inspirational despite all the crap karachiites have to live through. Thats a testiment to all the people living there not just the pan eating ones :)

In that context i am happy to be the 70% chairperson ..thank you!!! i am updating my resume!!

#108 Viqarm { In response to my post #92

"Anyway, I think that the MQM is making a big mistake by siding with Mushy and PPP".

Viqarm wrote:

That is true; and before this they have, in turn, sided with both PPP and PML-N in turn - with disastorous results for Karachiites in both instances.
...
MQM is relevant, but it needs a different leadership and approach."}

Viqarm,
I think that we are in agreement. Let's take this discussion off-line, because there are many Pisser-e-Zameen here and we do not want to demonstrate an intra-Mohajir debate about strategy. Let's reserve this for our next secret meeting and invite IB Sahib, Cliftonbridge, rf786, Aasif Payee, Safwan Sahib, and NYCool Bhai. Thanks.

#120 Posted by zahid_e_khushk,

Understand your strong sentiments, but Karachi's problem is MQM ... repeat MQM and nothing else. The background of their leadership is reflected in your statements. Their top leaders talk like neighbourhood thugs such as Dr (?)Imran Farooq (the worst) and that Haider person who represents them on talk shows nowadays. Baat tak karney ki tameez nahi hai. Of-course Altaf Bhai is a total retarded psychopath who amazingly tries to disguise his verbal faux pas' (such as the India speech about Partition being a historical blunder) with attempts at philosophy !!!

Really pathetic. Urdu speaking must rise up and kick this leadership out at once. They are betraying a genuine cause of good people which is actually shared by many in other provinces..

#119 Posted by cliftonbridge,

No ... the Chairperson is YOU of the 70% CLUB !!! :)

(Or at least was ... but I see a defection from the ranks)

Someone was telling here that people who migrated from the villages of U.P. and Bihar to Pakistan 'bought their lands' and 'invested' to make the supposedly no-man's land Karachi a world metropole. Should we talk about dreams or facts? Leaving aside bewildering dreams, the facts tell us that these villagers came trooping to Pakistan and get settled in the then financial capital of Pakistan Karachi! Certainly not to serve Karachi, but to serve themselves by living in the largest city of Pakistan. The fact is also that U.P. and Bihar then and even now remain one of the least developed areas in India mainly relying on agriculture. The Indian technology centers are way down the road near the waters of Indian ocean. The fact that they benefitted from living in the most developed city of Pakistan is often ignored or blanketed by the offspring of those Indian villagers who contrary to their unfounded claims of having 'bought their lands' filed false claims and thus usurped a lot of land.

Their is also some talk about the contribution of Karachi to the Pakistani GDP as if it were the contribution of a particular ethnic group. The large projects that are the backbone of the Karachi economy are mostly federal government projects like Stell Mill, Port Trust, Airport etc. The revenues thus generated truly bear Karachi's name but there's certainly no reason to see it as the output of MQM clientel, which is merely the greatest beneficiary of this economic activity - by their right choice of settling down in Karachi!