Religious Extremism and Economic Development

If we look at the international news, dozens of Islamic countries around the world are fighting extremist movements and armed struggles for supremacy. From Nigeria in Africa to Philippines in Asia, dozens of states are locked in a struggle against these non-state actors. The areas of insurgency or areas most affected by extremism are those where there is virtually no economic development. Alternatively, it can also be concluded that “international monetary agencies” don't allow any industrial development in such areas.

Experts have already pointed out such areas and they include Pakistani ex-tribal zone (especially Waziristan), Southern Afghanistan, Eastern Syria, North Somalia, Yemen, North-West of Iraq, Fezzan Libya, North-East of Nigeria, Eastern Turkey. Some may also include Xinjiang (China) in this list.

The Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan is also suffering from economic depression due the same reason. The industrial development that was done in KPK was due to moderate and progressive elite of the province.

An article published in the Daily Statesman, Peshawar on 16 May 2005 about Muhammad Amir Khan Hoti noted, “Aside from politics, he also rendered services for the uplift of NWFP as an industrialist. He can be rightly termed as the "founder of the Industrial base" in the province. It was he who established a sugar mill in the province in the early years of the creation of Pakistan. He also had the honour of becoming the host of the President of the World Bank Mr. McNamara at his farmhouse in Chail Village on the Mardan-Takhtbahi road. It was in this meeting, that McNamara extended loan for the establishment of a paper mill at Charsadda, which got prominence as the Pakistan Paper Corporation (PPC). In this way, Col (Retd) Mohammad Amir Khan laid the foundations for industries in his province”.

The traditional approach of experts on the subject has been to address the root causes of extremism which is lack of employment, frustration and lack of political freedom among other factors.

Lack of economic progress is not the only factor which promotes extremism. It is also the extreme frustration of the youth that leads to it. In the recent past, Saudi Arabia has been criticized internationally for not providing any outlets to its youth leading to their extremist tendencies. Prince Muhammad Bin Salman is conscious of this issue and is planning to provide outlets to the youth with an entire city dedicated to it.

Political freedom also contributes towards control of extremism. Thats why international geopolitical experts have been advising Bachar Al-Assad of Syria to allow freedom for politics in his country. While the lack of political freedom can be addressed, the economic development is not easy to achieve because it is like a vicious circle.

The problem is that nobody wants to invest in areas affected by extremism and the internationally powerful monetary groups don't usually authorize development in such areas until and unless people change and adapt themselves. We see that Northern Afghanistan is developing at a faster pace (with oil refineries and road networks to Central Asia States etc) compared to the Southern Afghanistan and the reason is that Northern Afghanistan is moderate compared to the South.

Education or Re-Education seems to be the only salvation.

The Sagacity and Tolerance of The Great Britain

Many nations from Europe and Asia (Including Arabs) tried to colonise India. They all failed, except the British. The French, The Dutch, the Danish, the Portugese all Failed. The British weapons were not just the sword and gun, they also won the hearts and minds of the people.

The British never amputated Indians (cut off the arms or legs or noses or ears) as opposed to the local rulers including Tipu Sultan. Tipu used to cut off the noses of his own people for commiting xyz crimes. All local rulers used physical punishments which were close to butchery.

For the first time in the history of India, British introduced tolerance and relatively humane punishments like hanging to death which does not involve bloodshed. For other serious crimes, they started Kala Pani (Andaman Islands) which was an overseas prison for Indians. They spent a huge fortune on these prisons but did not execute the prisoners. Only in 1857 and a few such serious uprisings, they blew up people from guns but even those officers did not go to senior ranks (except one or two cases).

As compared to other nations, the British never insulted the Religions or the places of worship. When Sikhs occupied the cities like Peshawar and Lahore etc, they dishonoured the Mosques. Like Sikhs, other European nations did not show tolerance for different religions of India.

The Dutch (Geert Wilders and his party in particular) seem to be repeating the same mistakes that they committed in India a few centuries ago by allowing the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). They are making it much harder for the moderates among the Muslims to continue their struggle against extremism.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/973579/anti-islam-geert-wilders-party-for-freedom-drawing-mohammed-competition-netherlands

The Northamptonshire Regiment on the march in Waziristan in 1936. The British fought dozens of battles in Pakistan's tribal areas like Waziristan and other places. These battles were tough and both sides admired the CHIVALRY that existed in those times.

The British even offered medical aides to the injured Pathan fighters at the end of the battles because they admired them.

The maximum punishment that British would give to the tribals was to raze and destroy thier villages, take away their cattle and other property. This was cruel but not barbaric. They did not execute women and children. They did not attack innocent civilians.

The British even ensured that the tribals would know that "Army is Coming". This way the villages would be deserted by the tribals and the Army would not have to fight elderly, women or sick or children. They allowed people the time to go away and hide in the mountains. The Army would then proceed to either burn or destroy the houses.

This was the reason that the British ruled India for more than 200 years but other European nations could not rule even for a few years.

Economics : Pakistan's Trading Speciality

Different countries of the world have their trading specialities, which are their major exports and earnings of foreign exchange in addition to overall better financial situation.

Switzerland specialises in Banking sector and gives much better facilities to account holders (like secrecy) than other countries. It is major earning item for Switzerland in addition to tourism. Tourism also brings foreign exchange. If a tourist comes to Pakistan and spends Rs. 50,000 on his stay, food, transport and other activities, he contributes to Pakistan's economy.

Panama is a small country of central America. It gives very concessional rates to oil tankers and cruise ships for registration and thats why the majority of cruise ships and tankers are registered in Panama. Thats Panama's earning speciality.

India made Information Technology (IT) as its speciality in 1990s and reaped huge economic benefits from this investment in human resources. Technical human resources which can be sent abroad for jobs contribute financially to their countries. Technical specialists are therefore an economic assset. India has also been promoting tourism in the recent years in addition to liberal economic policies at home like the end of Licence Raj, where only selected people were granted Licences for sugar and other mills. Medical treatment facilities is another speciality that India has developped in the recent past. Patients from the whole South Asian Region go to India for medical treatment.

There are many other countries that have favbourable tax schemes for industries called tax havens. They attract investment in shape of "off-shore companies".

Engineering research and development is a trading speciality of some advanced countries like France and Germany. University and Industry teams get contracts for research from customers all over the world.

In the automobile sector, Japan specialises in cars upto 300 horsepower with 4 or 6-cylinder engines. Germany specialises in high-end , more powerful vehicles with 6,8 and 10 cylinder engines. Ferrari and Lamborghini of Italy specialise in super cars with 12-cylinder engines.

Sports bikes are trading speciality of Japan and Italy. Computers and its accessories are trading speciality of USA. Similiary digital cameras are mostly made in Japan.

Launching satellites into space is the trading speciality of few countries including India and China. Making satellites is however the speciality of USA and Europe. Similar is the case of aerospace sector and military hardware and this list can go on.

Pakistan's new government needs to decide on the trading specialities of Pakistan, invest in them and promote them in the international market to get out of the vicious cylce of "Failure and Bail-Out from IMF/World Bank".

Pakistan's Politics : Tips on Winning Elections for PTI

Money Laundering, Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif / PML

Imran Khan needs to become careful in what he says about money laundering and illegal money transfers. He is doing PML/Nawaz Sharif's publicity himself. He is doing the Election campaign for Nawaz Sharif or PML and digging a pit for himself by vehemently opposing money laundering. 

Remember that many organizations, religious groups and Jihadi groups etc use illegal money transfers and money laundering techniques to gather financial resources. These entities would prefer Nawaz Sharif. They would oppose with all their force, the rise of Imran Khan, who is against corruption and money laundering. This is ONE of the most important reasons that PTI has been losing Elections in Pakistan.

It needs to be analysed in full detail as to what strategy should be adopted but one thing is clear that the non-stop opposition to Money Laundering should be stopped immediately and some clever strategy adopted so that all those Jihadi groups are not totally against you before Elections.

 
No Falls, No Accidents

May 2013...Imran Khan fell from stage in a rally just before Elections. Geo News showed, in an exclusive coverage, a badly shaken Imran Khan with head injuries (use google to see the images). This automatically cancelled his psychological fitness. Every emotional shock needs a new psychological exam to find out if any 'post-shock' conditions or trauma exist.

If it was an accident, then it was most unfortunate. If it had been arranged to get sympathies of the people, then it was the biggest blunder that Imran Khan made. If this advisor is still around Imran Khan, he should be immediately fired.

For this year Elections, NO ACCIDENTS, NO FALLS, NO HEAD INJURIES.

This is like what happens to Air Force pilots who eject from their falling aircrafts. They have to face serious psychological follow-up before they can fly again.

Rockets As Sacred Weapons

Tragic news from the Middle East. Dozens Palestinian protesters killed and thousands injured in clashes. This happened at the occasion of opening of US Embassy in Jerusalem. The issue of Jerusalem is itself a political issue but the scale of causalities shows that it is not just related to the opening of US embassy and it proves the anger of Israeli authorities that has resulted from the incessant rocket attacks by the armed groups of Palestinians. In the previous years, thousand of rockets were fired into Israel from Palestinian areas. Israel had to develop 'Iron Dome' anti-missile system to cope with this threat. This use of rockets has to be analysed in its historical and religious background.

We can start with the use of rockets by the Arabs. From 633 AD to 750 AD, the Arabs overcame almost all local powers including Persia, Byzantium (partially) and conquered North Africa, Iberia and Central Asia. In these wars, they used fire arrows to disrupt enemy formations and concentrations. These fire arrows also took the form of rockets. Rocket seems to have gained a reputation of “sacred weapon of victory” among Arab armies.

PTI: Winning Elections in Pakistan

Coming into power in Pakistan is a delicate exercise requiring victory in a two-front battle. Both the domestic voters of Pakistan and the national and international stake-holders in Pakistan have to be convinced. The stake-holders may not all be on friendly terms with each other but they all have to be satisfied. This means that winning more votes does not automatically mean coming into power. So here are some elements of the two-pronged strategy for securing votes and coming into power. 

Decide a Stronghold 

PPP has Sindh as its stronghold, PML has Punjab as its stronghold and Balochistan is stronghold of Baloch nationalist parties. PTI can make KPK as its stronghold (which would mean more investment and more effort in KPK) so as to get roots in one place. Winning a few provincial seats in all provinces does not mean anything. You have to be strong at least in one province. By deciding a stronghold, the party would remain rooted and ever-present in national politics. It would then concentrate ONLY on winning national assembly seats in the rest of Pakistan.

Imran Khan, PTI and Jinnah

Just happened to read this book (in French language) of the author Francois Kersaudy called Lord Mountbatten and published in 2006. It is mentioned in this book that in 1947 Lord Mountbatten (The last British Viceroy to India) had to meet all Indian leaders about leaving the India to local parties and he arranged meetings with Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah among others. The (intelligence) profile of Mr Muhammad Ali Jinnah is said to be like this (Page 242 on 2015 edition of the book):

"Jinnah represents Muslims but he drinks Whisky and Champagne, he eats pork, he smokes all day along, his knowledge of Quran is very limited and he rarely goes to the mosque".

It was completely new for me, although not shocking. I thought that nowadays in Pakistan, in certain govt departments, you have to be much better than Jinnah in religious obligations to get a junior post and yet he is the founder of Pakistan and father of the nation. This also clarifies whether Jinnah wanted an Islamic state or a secular one. The other question is that why Pakistan's state has been hiding these details about Jinnah? I respected Jinnah from my boyhood and still respect him, these details did not change my respect for him (Although many people may do otherwise and perhaps this is the reason for hiding such details). 

Now for PTI and Imran Khan posing as second Jinnah of Pakistan, is it good for Imran Khan to compare himself to Jinnah? I shall say that times have changed in Pakistan, people are more religious now and Imran khan has to stop comparing himself to Jinnah, same is true for the followers of PTI, stop comparison with Jinnah if you want to win votes in elections. It is sure that PTI lacks people who are experts in history.
PTI : Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf