بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Pakistan Headlines 17/02/2017
Headlines:
Lahore Bloodshed to Underline American Demands to “Do More”
US Approved Education Reforms Are Only to Undermine Islam
Pakistan's Capitalist System is Crippling Industry
Details:
Lahore Bloodshed to Underline American Demands to “Do More”
The callous bomb blast in Lahore on 13 February 2017 targeted maximum casualties. As usual, a shadowy organization claimed responsibility for this heinous act and as usual such an act comes after fresh American demands for Pakistan's armed forces to “do more.” It’s not a conspiracy, it’s by design. The two pillars of American foreign policy are prolonged low intensity conflicts and black operations. The conflicts sap the strength of a country's armed forces and the black operations are used to herd the armed forces into the conflict.
Had the rulers of Pakistan any spine or care for Muslim World, they would turn off the tap of terrorism on our soil by closing the US embassy and consulates, as well as the lairs of US intelligence and private military that extend into even our sensitive military cantonments. Instead, whilst the cars of ordinary Pakistan citizens are searched down to their glove boxes, citizens of the world's largest terrorist state are given free passes. Raymond Davis even after being caught with sophisticated surveillance and communications, with the blood of two Muslims on his hand, was set free and sealed containers for US officials are let in without inspection through our airports. US ambassadors who are trained in creating chaos in the killing fields of Central America and South East Asia are welcomed with open arms by Pakistan's vision-less rulers. This US network is the head of the snake of terrorism, the brains and the funding of timely acts of carnage to underline US foreign policy objectives.
Alliance with the US has only caused us pain and loss. This lesson is lost on the current rulers because they only care for Washington's approval for their rule. It is high time that the current rulers were deposed and replaced by the Khilafah "Caliphate" (Caliphate) on the Method of the Prophethood. Only then will the Muslims see security restored after fear. Allah (swt) said,
[وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُم فِي الأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَى لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا يَعْبُدُونَنِي لاَ يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا وَمَنْ كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الْفَاسِقُونَ]
“Allah has promised those among you who believe and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the land, as He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practice their religion which He has chosen for them (i.e. Islam). And He will surely give them in exchange a safe security after their fear (provided) they (believers) will worship Me and do not associate anything (in worship) with Me. But whoever disbelieved after this, they are the Fasiqun (rebellious, disobedient to Allah).” [Surah an-Noor 24:55]
US Approved Education Reforms Are Only to Undermine Islam
As reported in Dawn dated 8 February 2017, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Chief Minister, Pervez Khattak, has accepted a proposal to set up a provincial Islamic Ideology Council and hinted at revisiting the entire curriculum in the province in consultation with Ulema of all schools of thought. He said his government had legislated against interest rate and corrupt practices, and made Islamic injunctions, the finality of Prophethood, Nazra Quran and Quran with translation in the syllabus of primary, elementary, secondary and higher secondary schools.
The Western colonialists in general, and the United States in particular, have been spending their wealth and exhausting their efforts in collaboration with the successive regimes in Pakistan to corrupt the education system in Pakistan, in a bid that our young generation can be made to surrender Islam and submit to their corrupt ideology. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has extensively worked on this project of "reforming" education, with different NGOs and provincial and federal governments. The US Commission is reviewing the over-all curriculum, highlighting some of the Islamic injunction in the text books, which they deem as "provocative" and accordingly putting forward their recommendations in removing such Islamic texts. As reported in The News dated 22 November 2016, their recommendations included: 1. Absolutely no content should be taught to students that celebrates one religion at the expense of another religion; 2. Impartial content for better critical learning should be adopted. 3. More educationally accurate and nuanced approaches are needed towards Western countries and Christianity 4. Overemphasis on Islam as being the “only correct” faith must be eliminated from the textbooks... heroes from minority groups should be included in the textbooks. For a report, issued by the USCIRF, Pakistan-based Peace and Education Foundation (PEF) has conducted a study and prepared recommendations. The report confirms the treachery of the current regime, for it has already made many changes in the public school textbooks, particularly in Punjab and KPK. In this regard the PEF’s president met the then Punjab Governor, Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, and provided him with a copy of “Connecting the Dots” to confirm the colonialist agenda. He also met the most senior adviser to Imran Khan, Chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf, to brief them on the education reforms required by the US. The PTI-led provincial government in KPK province has already been appraised for its efforts in removing the remains of Islamic contents by the PEF group working for the US. Thus, the announcement of an action plan for introducing a few Islamic rituals like Quran Nazra and so forth is nothing but an eye-wash for Muslim masses, before the upcoming elections in 2018. These leaders are "reforming" education to purge remaining Islamic injunctions, in accordance with the US-approved frame-work for promoting secularism amongst the young generation in Pakistan.
Education in Pakistan has never been based exclusively and comprehensively on Islam emanating from it. However to appeal to the Islam loving masses, successive rulers introduced some contents to glorify some of the earlier Islamic leaders who lead armies against the crusaders and other oppressors and other similar content. However, with the global Muslim awakening even such a curriculum is not acceptable to the Western imperialists. The Western colonialists have long wished that the Muslims no longer regarding Islam as an ideology, a complete code of life, rather than merely an individualistic religion. On US dictates, successive treacherous regimes in Pakistan have been working for years in to secularize the youth, fearful of their potential to bringing about the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" state. It is high time that the Muslim parents, teachers and students mobilize themselves to replace Democracy with Islam, so that the future Muslim generations are saved from intellectual corruption. It is only the Khilafah "Caliphate" (Caliphate) upon the Method of Prophethood which will re-store Islamic education, whereby the Muslim youth will be groomed and nurtured on the basis of Islam. This will establish a strong foundation for the youth to carry Islam to all of humankind and finally end the Western attempts to deny us Islam. Allah (swt) said,
[وَدَّ كَثِيرٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ لَوْ يَرُدُّونَكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ إِيمَانِكُمْ كُفَّارًا حَسَدًا مِنْ عِنْدِ أَنْفُسِهِمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الْحَقُّ]
“Many of the People of the Scripture wish they could turn you back to disbelief after you have believed, out of envy from themselves [even] after the truth has become clear to them.” [Surah Al-Baqarah 2:109]
Pakistan's Capitalist System is Crippling Industry
As reported in Dawn dated 10 February 2017, Pakistan’s trade deficit in merchandise rose nearly 29 per cent year-on-year to $17.428 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year because of falling exports and increase in imports. In July-January, the overall import bill rose 13.7pc year-on-year to $29.113bn. Export proceeds during the seven-month period fell 3.2pc to $11.685bn.
The trade deficit gap has been widening since last couple of years, indicative of a crumbling economy. Owing to the falling remittances and exports, with increasing imports, coupled with shrinking foreign direct investment (FDI), the government claims that it has resorted to dollar borrowing to build its depleting foreign currency reserves, though in fact it is borrowing due to Pakistan being deep in a debt trap. The economy is at such a dreadful juncture that the government had to announce a bail-out package for a few local industries to increase the exports. As reported in Dawn dated 16 January 2017, the government has stitched together an 18-month package of Rs180bn stimulus for the five major manufactured goods exports — textiles, leather, sports goods, carpets and surgical instruments — to shore up the country’s dwindling export earnings, reward value-added industries and boost companies’ profitability. Such short-term measures will not turn-back the economic down-trend, but are only an eye-wash for the public in an attempt to secure the government’s position in next election, around mid-year 2018 which is also the time when the stimulus package expires. The government itself and the capitalist system it implements are the reason for the economic turmoil. As indicated by experts and different reports, one of the reasons for decrease in exports has been due to losing competitiveness in the international market, mainly on account of the higher-than-the-region energy prices and back breaking taxation.
Why have the energy prices and taxes risen? Why is the economy linked to a currency backed –up with a fluctuating fiat dollar? Firstly, the industries have to shift to reliable but costly-self generation, due to electricity short supply from the government. As for short-supply of gas, this has lead to reduction in the production. If this was not enough, the energy prices for the industrial and ordinary consumers have risen substantially in the last few years due to privatization. Secondly, with the increase in foreign and local debt, totaling more than 22 trillion Rupees, the government on the dictates of the IMF has sold off many public entities to repay its debts. With public entities being put on whole-sale, the generation of revenue inevitably fell and so the regime increased taxes on industrial and ordinary consumer for maintaining revenues. Thirdly, the currency, which is central to the entire economy, has been tied-up with the American dollar. This fiat-currency has no real intrinsic value, making it very vulnerable to frequent and considerable fluctuations. Such a currency will never yield a sovereign economy and more than serving its own economy, it has served the American dollar hegemony across the globe.
In the Khilafah "Caliphate" upon the Method of Prophethood, public resources, such as abundant minerals, fuel resources and energy assets. such as electricity, are considered public property. Public property can neither can be sold to private entities nor sold at crippling prices. The revenue from public resources is for the entire public and the state ensures this matter. The state must ensure constant supply to private industry, providing plentiful revenues to the Baytul-Maal (State Treasury). Another important aspect for a country`s sustainable growth in economic, 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 and 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. The currency of Khilafah "Caliphate" will be based upon gold and silver which not only has its real intrinsic value but also does not fluctuate wildly as fiat currency does. Nothing but abolition of the current capitalist system and its replacement with the Khilafah "Caliphate" upon the Method of Prophethood will revive the dismal economy of Pakistan and the rest of the Muslim Ummah. Allah (swt) said,
[وَابْتَغِ فِيمَا آتَاكَ اللَّهُ الدَّارَ الآخِرَةَ وَلاَ تَنسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَأَحْسِنْ كَمَا أَحْسَنَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ وَلاَ تَبْغِ الْفَسَادَ فِي الأَرْضِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ]
“But seek the abode of the Hereafter in that which Allah has given you, and do not neglect your portion of worldly life, and be kind even as Allah has been kind to you, and seek not corruption in the earth. Verily, Allah likes not the Mufsidun (those who are mischief-makers, corrupted).”[Al-Qasas 28: 77]