Army Chief General Asim Munir is living up to his commitment to take the ongoing crackdown against a spectrum of illegal activities to its logical conclusion as evident from his interest to use the forum of apex committees to maintain the desired momentum and pressure. After attending crucial meetings of similar committees in Lahore and Peshawar, General Asim visited Karachi on Friday to attend apex committee meeting of Sindh, where he firmly declared that the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and other government departments will continue the enforcement actions against spectrum of illegal activities with full force to deny pilferage of resources and economic losses that the country suffers due to these activities.
After a long time, there is a ray of hope that the writ of the State will be ensured as decisions are made on merit and implemented with the required force. There were chaotic conditions and growing number of people, especially the frustrated young ones, were preparing to leave the country as part of their efforts to secure their own future and those of their families, as is evident from the record number of applicants for fresh passports, a reality that forced the Immigration Department to revise the delivery deadlines.
In this backdrop, one must appreciate the Army Chief for proper appraisal of the situation and putting his entire force behind the multi-pronged strategy of the State to salvage the sagging economy. His country-wide visits, interaction with relevant authorities, briefing from concerned agencies and bold statements are contributing a lot in boosting morale of the people and sending the right kind of message to mafias of all sorts. It is appreciable that the all-round campaign against illegal activities is producing the desired results as is confirmed by ground realities. The most encouraging aspect of the crackdown is restoration of sanity in the exchange rate mechanism as the rupee is gaining strength on an almost daily basis. On Friday, rupee-dollar parity was less than Rs. 281 in the open market and according to the Forex Association the national currency is poised to reach its actual value in the range of Rs. 250-260 a dollar. This is not a mean achievement as manipulators were using the exchange rate to mint money and pushed the parity to around 330 rupee a dollar in the process.
Action against dollar smuggling and that of goods under the Afghan Transit Trade has helped the rupee become the best performing currency in Asia. There are also reports that prices of properties and house rents have also started falling in the backdrop of the plan to repatriate all foreigners staying illegally in Pakistan. We hope the plan would not be shelved for transitory gains as there is no illegality in it and Pakistan is well within its right to safeguard its own interests. Together with a fall in the prices of oil in international market, the action against dollar smuggling helped reduce the prices of POL products for the current fortnight and projections for the next fortnight say the government might be able to offer a relief of up to Rs. 41 on this account.
All this is encouraging but as we witnessed in the past, the relief is not passed on to the end consumer and is pocketed by industrialists, traders and transporters. There are reasons to bring down fares meaningfully and this will have a positive impact on the overall price situation but this is not happening. Transporters increase fares when prices of oil are revised upward and similarly manufacturers and service providers increase prices of their products and services with every increase in prices of POL products, electricity and gas tariffs and a fall in the worth of rupee but they show reluctance in reversing the prices when trends reverse.
This can be ensured by activating the price control mechanisms at tehsil and district levels where assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners have necessary powers to take action against profiteers and exploiters. It is also strange that prices of all imported items are jacked up when the rupee tumbles but its gains do not translate into benefits for consumers. An across –the-Board action is, therefore, warranted against all those who fleece the general public through exploitative business practices.
