Why Pervez Hoodbhoy, Why? by SKY IS NEELA

[Exposed]

reply to hoodbhoye's columns discussed on siasat.pk here

Sunday, 20 January 2013

Why Pervez Hoodbhoy, Why?

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How much bullshit is enough bullshit? That’s the question Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy ought to ask himself, or you ought to ask Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, after he produced some high quality bullshit in Express Tribune this Saturday.

Cricketer Khan and Maulana Qadri? Really, you were a professor? Do you also use Lohar Sharif and Husband Zardari?

The corruption in Pakistan, which amounts to billions of rupees daily according to a government friendly and government appointed NAB chief, is not really an issue. The youth are over-zealous pawns and contraceptives will save Pakistan! Right.

How desperate, bitter and biased do you have to be that you invent a country to justify your bullshit?

Have any of you heard of Italy? It’s a country in Europe, shaped like a boot. It’s where Pizza came from.

Well, there’s a separate Italy, the real Italy that only Mr. Hoodbhoy knows of. It’s a land filled with joy, ruled by the happy go lucky Silvio Berlusconi. It is totally unaffected by the corruption and ineptness of its rulers and it just keeps getting “richer and better”.

The fake Italy we know has fallen on tough times. Berlusconi’s corrupt government coincided with a steep decline in the country’s fortunes. It doesn’t keep getting “richer and better”; in fact the economy has shrunk in the golden corrupt hands of Mr. Berlusconi. Things were so bad that they ushered in a technocratic government to fix the economy. That’s exactly what we have been dreading since Maulana Qadri came onto the scene.

Mr. Hoodbhoy though isn’t only an expert on Italy; he also knows a little something about the USA and her devious presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Thing is, the Americans have it as bad as we do, have you ever heard them complain? I mean Romney only paid as much tax as our “unscrupulous parliamentarians.”

Very accurate on all counts.

The Americans don’t mind at all. The occupy Wall Street movement was actually a protest against skin tight pants. Long overdue, I know. The institutionalized corruption and lending to banks hasn’t hurt them either, just that people don’t have jobs, the country’s debt keeps soaring and it narrowly avoided a so called fiscal cliff.

Romney paid almost $2 million in personal income tax in 2011. That is 20 Crore PKR. That is almost 19 Crore more than what Lohar Sharif and Showbaz Sharif paid combined that year. That is 20 Crore more than what our President Husband Zardari paid. That is not “only a little more”.

Anyways, let us not dwell on the details. Bottom line is that corruption obviously isn’t Pakistan’s problem, or Italy’s. Or America’s. Then what is?

The professor seems to have sourced a 7th grader’s essay to answer that question. Saving the issues of poverty and illiteracy for another time, he chose to focus on 1) population. His insight really is unparalleled. He would also like you to believe that this problem would have been brought under control if it weren’t for the big bad Jamaat-e-Islami and their 2/3rd majority in parliament.

Then we move to 2)terrorism, which Lohar Sharif and Husband Zardari would have defeated by now if it weren’t for Maulana Qadri’s three weeks in Pakistan or Cricketer Khan’s objection of drones. Contrary to what the mad cricketer says, drones work. Just look at how North Waziristan is now a terrorist-free zone thanks to drone attacks.

Last is the economy. You don’t have to collect taxes and redistribute wealth, you just have to 3) create more wealth. Husband Zardari has been creating wealth by printing wealth, doesn’t seem to have worked.

Not to worry though, Lohar Sharif will do it. The pathetic GDP growth in Lohar’s two stints as PM, the even more pathetic GDP growth of Punjab the last five years, and PMLN’s vision to implement Bush style tax cuts that left US economy in tatters all tell Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy (PhD) that Lohar is the man.

Mind-blowing analytical skills.

Meanwhile, “the fist shaking, rostrum pounding” Cricketer, whom the professor desperately wants to group with the Maulana, has included both terrorism and the economy in his “empty thunder” that offers “nothing real”. He has been out administering polio drops, demanding justice for the Shia-Hazaras and his party has actually given an economic policy, which the heroic PMLN have not.

This is obfuscation of the most shameless kind. Lies and more lies. There was no point to Hoodbhoy’s piece apart from attacking anyone threatening the two established parties. Not an inch of substance.

Why?






Source

The author is one the best bloggers in Pakistan who can be followed on twitter at SkyIsNeela

 

[Mariam]

He should rather be called "Pervaiz Yahood Boy". That suits him better.

 

[littlemaster]

I doubt he is physicts.................rather more political...............lagta ha doctory chola da ka mili ha:p

 

[vitamin B15]

He should rather be called "Pervaiz Yahood Boy". That suits him better.

obsessed with jews?he's an athiest.

 

[Star Gazer]

And I ask again from the editors of the news papers

Are your papers selling column space for any one with money to get it printed or is there a point to it being published,e.g are they writing about something that matters or Bull **** is the criteria?

 

[xiaahmad]

ky is Neela pawned Hoodbhoy

 

[surfer]

Lohar Sharif.....lol. that's funny

 

[mohibbewatan]

Lol very good points made :)

 

[BrotherKantu]

Hood Bohy is Yahood Bohy
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[GreatIK]

In response to Parvez Hoodbhoys column Why Molana Qadri and Cricketer Khan cannot save Pakistan?

This is in response to Parvez Hoodbhoy’s column “Why Molana Qadri and Cricketer Khan cannot save Pakistan?” published in in Tribune.com on January 18, 2013.

I feel Parvez Hoodbhoy’s writing like those typical “english-medium” pseudo intellectuals who virtually live in a developed country and talk about poor countries like Pakistan. These intellectuals have been recently termed as “Liberal Fascist” by right wings on social media in response to their term of “conservative extremists”. I personally do not believe in characterizing Pakistani society black and white based on any ideology since a big majority of Pakistan is still deprived of basic necessities of life where there is no appreciation of these ideological wars.

Let us talk about Hoodbhoy’s column published in Tribune where the title starts with an already presumed conclusion that TuQ and Cricketer Khan cannot save Pakistan and now he just needs to provide the reasons that why they cannot save Pakistan. The title itself shows the hollowness of the thoughts where he is assuming that both TuQ and IK are comparable. We all know that IK has been in Pakistani politics for last 16 years and has been involved in the grass roots politics (no matter how successful he was). IK has been contesting the elections and trying to spread his manifesto at all level. On the other hand, TuQ has been abroad living in Canada for last 16 years and not been a part of Pakistani political arena. Since I have no idea about TuQ’s background and his motives, so I cannot talk for him but I will try to demonstrate below that how Cricketer Khan and his party PTI has the characteristics which can save Pakistan by responding to Hoodbhoy’s arguments in his column.

1. The writer first states that corruption is not the major issue of Pakistan and then tries to provide some evidences that in western countries they also have corruption but they are still flourishing.

a. First a fact check that Italy is not getting richer and better, as the writer suggested. Italy’s GDP growth in last 4 years has not even touched 1 percent (World Audit Report). Secondly, Hoodbhoy gave an example of USA that they have institutionalized the corruption so no need to worry about corruption. USA stands at rank 15 in World Corruption List (World Audit Report) while Pakistan has been in the lowest 15 countries of the world’s corrupted countries.
b. Now, look at the list of the most developed countries and the most corrupt countries and one can find a trend which suggests that one has to face this issue of corruption head-on even before one starts talking about solving Pakistan’s problem.
c. Having said that the corruption is one of the major issues of Pakistan does not mean that this is the only problem Pakistan is facing now. It does not mean that the intensity of corruption is such that we can even support unconstitutional means to curb it. We have to understand that Pakistan is facing multi-facet problems and we cannot ignore others but for sure corruption is our major problem and any plan or effort to minimize its intensity should be encouraged. Presenting wrong facts from western countries will not help us solve this problem.
d. After hearing IK, I do not believe that he is suggesting that corruption will be totally eradicated if PTI is in power. He mentioned several times that after curbing the major corruption he expects that it will be at a level where it will not be so visible and will not affect everyday life of common people. People who have lived in USA or any other western country better know what it means.

2. After enlightening the reader about corruption, the writer provides his list of major problems in which the population growth rate is number one. He also suggests that contraceptives be made freely available. Here I start feeling and smelling some foreign funded NGOs where Pakistan’s problems are identified by the funders with their own solutions without keeping in mind the ground realities of a country.
a. Admitting the fact that population growth is one of the major issues in Pakistan, we have to realize that this issue should be handled indigenously keeping in view the cultural values of Pakistan. This problem has cultural and religious angles and therefore cannot be tackled without going into long term reforms.
b. The country where talking about sex is a taboo and where co-education is still considered as “haram” in so manly localities, only pseudo intellectuals or funded NGOs can suggest the free availability of contraceptives as the solution. This may be considered only as a part of a very long term plan but abruptly providing it as a solution only exposes one’s intention.
c. Since this is an issue which requires a long term solution therefore I do not think that a politician will present it as the number one issue in Pakistan ignoring corruption and other major issues. However, one expects that a politician or a political party after coming into power will create an environment where it will be easier to roll out those reforms like education for all and accessibility to basic education and decentralizing the powers.
d. IK’s PTI is the only political party which has announced detailed policies for Economy, Local Bodies, Woman, Energy, and Health. Policy on Education is to be announced soon. One can differ from the different aspects of PTI’s policies (I differ too) but it gives a real sense of satisfaction that now political parties are not engaged only in some emotional slogans (like Roti, Kapra, Makan) but thy are presenting their detailed policy papers for more suggestions and criticism.

3. Later the writer criticizes IK for his stance against drone attacks without presenting any new solution to the problem of terrorism.
a. The writer should know that Pakistan’s parliament has also passed two resolutions against drone attacks but still several “liberals” think that their wisdom is better than the people’s wisdom which was manifested by a democratically elected parliament. Had it been any religious party or IK who had gone against the parliament’s resolution, our “liberals” would have labeled them as the “Non-democratic”, “extremists”, and “pro-dictators”. But this time our “liberals” are the ones who are against the parliament resolutions and still consider themselves democratic and those who insist on the implementation of the resolutions are labeled as “Taliban Khan”.
b. The good news for the “liberals” is that nobody has ever entertained IK and Pakistan’s parliament resolutions and drones are still attacking Pakistan’s tribal areas which is exactly what they have been suggesting. But to everyone’s surprise, even after all these drone attacks for last 8 years, the problem is not only there but also has been deteriorating. The terrorism is more than ever and has become a threat to Pakistan’s stability. Alas, our “liberals” still suggest the same solution which has been proved a big failure for last 8 years.
c. I believe IK correctly mentioned Einstein saying “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. This is a true picture of Pakistani “liberals”.
d. The reader would be better educated if the writer had provided some alternate solutions to curb the terrorism in Pakistan so that it will be easier for the reader to compare the two plans but sadly no alternate was presented.

4. In the end the writer informed the reader that IK present himself as the messiah who shall bring prosperity to everyone by somehow equalizing the distribution of wealth which a is fake, dishonest, and un-implementable idea.
a. First the facts check. PTI has presented its policy on economy and it is available for everyone’s information. There is no such thing in that policy which suggests the wealth equality in Pakistan. The policy is based on typical capitalism ideas where there is no limit on the earning but it has a big chunk of welfare system which is again a part of modified form of capitalism.
b. To my surprise which I even criticize, PTI’s economics policy is not revolutionary at all, as I had expected. In my opinion, it talks about very basic and simple rules which never talked about the wealth equality as the writer has accused.
c. PTI’s policy is exactly what Hoodbhoy has suggested which is extending the tax net but with the addition of “Curb on Corruption” which is truly realistic otherwise no plan of extending the tax net would work.

In the end, Hoodbhoy admitted that “Of course, the D-Chowk youth rightly protested Pakistan’s pseudo-democracy and its venal and incompetent civilian leaders” which is why we really need a party which can really channelize this energy to the right direction. This is exactly what IK is doing and has proved it several times. He has really showed the people of Pakistan including the politicians of Pakistan a real change even before coming into power. I have several differences with PTI on their different policies and actions but following are some of the reasons that why I believe that Cricketer Khan has a genuine chance to save Pakistan:

• PTI’s grass roots and country-wide politics and an appeal to all sectors of society, especially the urban class
• Presenting the detailed policy papers before the elections for the scholars for suggestions and comments or criticism
• PTI’s internal party election where 80,000 leaders will be elected by general members (in my opinion only this step would change entire political arena in coming years)
• Keeping PTI away from dynastic politics
• Keeping PTI refrained from any short cuts (TuQ’s long march or any support from army) and letting the electable go if they don’t follow party policies
• People’s trust on IK’s integrity and honesty
• IK’s past amazing brilliant record of achievement in different sectors