Editorial: The Express Tribune - 29 June 2013

Budget goes through

It is nowhere close to being a perfect budget, but at least Finance Minister Ishaq Dar can take credit for sticking to his guns and pushing through even the most unpopular bits of the finance bill through the National Assembly. We do not agree with everything that is in the budget, but we do believe that it is important for a government to stick to its convictions, particularly about the tough choices that the country needs to make.

With that said, we do have some reservations about the manner in which the increase in the general sales tax was imposed. It is entirely appropriate for the new finance minister to propose such a measure for debate in Parliament, and we are glad that the Supreme Court made him do so, rather than relying on a colonial-era law that allowed him to bypass the elected representatives of the people. However, imposing a tax retroactively from June 13 rather than July 1 is clearly unconstitutional. The government cannot violate constitutional principle — and a highly self-evident and logical one at that — simply because the Federal Board of Revenue does not want to have to bother with paying out refunds to companies that overpaid for the few days that the extra tax was imposed.
The opposition members may complain that their opinions were not taken into consideration, but the fact of the matter is that in a parliamentary system like ours, while they would be wise to heed good advice, the government is under no obligation to listen to the opposition’s proposals. Besides, the opposition had plenty of opportunity to express its opinions through their members on the Senate finance committee, where they are still in a majority, and to its credit, the Nawaz Administration has continued, what is now a parliamentary convention, for the National Assembly — to incorporate proposals from the upper chamber’s panel into the final bill.
The current finance bill was written mostly by civil servants, with the new finance minister having little time to give it the shape he truly wanted. We are glad that he, at least, built himself some room to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund. From next year onwards, however, he will be solely responsible for what goes into the finance bill, both good and bad. We hope he is better prepared next year.

Higher and higher

Drug abuse is a problem we talk about with increasing infrequency. Yet, a report presented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) indicates it continues to rise. The technical summary for 2013, presented at a seminar held by the National Council of Social Welfare to mark International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, stated over six million Pakistanis used drugs during the year. Hashish was the most commonly used substance, while there were also some 450,000 injecting drug users in the country — almost all of them men. This figure has remained more or less static for many years and suggests we are making little headway against the use of heroin and other injectable drugs. Seven thousand women now count among users and past studies have shown that with such use often kept “hidden”, due to social factors, the actual number may be higher with female users receiving least help and support.
Also of concern is the UNODC finding on the high rate of misuse of opiate-based painkillers, with nearly 1.7 million people, 930,000 of them men and 760,000 women, resorting to them last year. As we all know, painkillers and indeed all kinds of other medicines which should be sold on prescription are easily available over the counter in our country. This, of course, explains their wide usage, especially among women who have easy access to them. As was stressed by the speakers at the seminar, the government needs to develop a policy to prevent drug use of all kinds. Given the wide ranging nature of the problem, the policy will need to be fairly wide in its outlook. We also need to consider the social issues as to why drugs are used so frequently. Depression, as pointed out by mental health organisations, is clearly a factor in this. What we require is a strategy to raise awareness on the danger of drug abuse of all kinds, including that of pills easily bought at pharmacies and tighten up laws which can prevent the sale of these pills and potions with ease.