This is a series of three articles.

So, the global master has come and gone from Pakistan, adding insult to already an injured nation. Pakistan was despondent when Islamabad was not in the presidential itinerary. For one reason or the other foreign office officials in United States hinted that Pakistan might be included in the South Asian itinerary of President. This was confirmed by an official declaration of inclusion of Pakistan in the forthcoming tour. Pakistan rejoiced and this was considered to be a political defeat for India. A very petty matter though, little things, please little minds. Student of politics watched with interest the activities of Bill Clinton in India followed by a stop over in Islamabad. He devoted five days to his Indian visit along with his daughter and mother-in-law and comparatively a large entourage. There he recruited 120 software personals, addressed Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry and signed MOU's worth more then $4 Billion. This was the purpose of his visit to India and not to mediate in Kashmir where the case of India is much weaker and as a impartial arbitrator President Clinton could not deliver goods to his newly found friend. The myopic politicians dished out their uncalled for views that this is a golden opportunity for the President of America to play his role in fostering peace in the region and making a history as the super power of the world. But the President had his own plans, and in order to please his Indian friends he made a brief stop over in Pakistan to chide Pakistan's rulers and issue a grim warning to the Pakistani's in a direct brief addressed on Pakistan Television.

The Presidential visit was preceded by a statement by an official spokesman of United States that the Presidential visit was no endorsement of the present setup in Pakistan, it was just a curtsy call to the nation who had walked with America for the last 50 years. Little did the President realize that America owes to Pakistan a debt of gratitude for helping them to become the only super power of the world by throwing the Russians out of Afghanistan. Sadly businessmen are never indebted to any body, because in their philosophy of life money can buy anything and everything. Therefore Pakistan has to repay through its nose the money that they received from their American benefactors.

President Clinton's visit to Pakistan has yet another story to unfold, Presidential stopover in Islamabad has another angle to look and that is besides it being a stopover the entourage was cut short including the mother-in-law and the daughter. On board the presidential aircraft were 8 Pakistanis who had paid $50,000 each to the Democratic Party election funds. Such people do not have any conscience, to them it is only the money that makes the mere go and we in Pakistan have a lot of them.

The American President is also on record to have said that International borders are not marked by lines of blood. History's verdict is that International boundaries are marked by lines of blood only in the battlefield, pencil and paper follow later on the diplomatic table. It is a pity that while Pakistan has won grounds on the battlefields it has been made to lose on the negotiating table. In case of Kashmir, the great United Nations body founded at the end of second world war to enforce peace has failed miserably to act upto its charter and now its Godfather says that America is a force for peace but cannot enforce it, practically speaking United Nations is only a mute spectator where American interest is not involved otherwise it acts forcefully as it did in the Gulf war in 1992. While in India the President had confidence in security measures there but in Pakistan the entire Chaklala airport was manned by the American security forces even the car in which the President traveled from Chaklala to Presidency and back was the Presidential limousine flown from Washington for five hours only, still we dare to say that the visit of President Clinton was successful.

Now is the time for Pakistan to revise its policies and revamp its priorities, it's a known fact that United Nation Organisation is a subsidiary of USA. Now the only International body left for Independent sovereign states of the world is the International Court of Justice at The Hague. With all the documents at our command in respect of Kashmir, Junagargh and other states Pakistan should approach forcefully the International Court of Justice at Hague for Arbitration. Let us concentrate more on our indigenous resources of men and material instead of playing in the gallery of imported advisors and experts from abroad who while they earn their salaries here owe their allegiance abroad.

Pakistan has been so far the camp follower of United States for the last more then 50 years and now is the time that we should take stock of what we have gained and what we have lost. We have lost prestige and dignity in the comity of nations, we have lost unity among ourselves and now we are divided into five nations none of them looking beyond their own frontiers, we have lost foreign friends, so much so that even our great ally America is only ready to give lip service and their first preference is India, the arch enemy of Pakistan, we have lost half of the country in 1971 while the celebrated 7th fleet of the US lay anchored in the Bay of Bengal. In return the big question mark is what we have got? The biggest thing we have got today is the debt burden of $ 34 Billion, the debt servicing of which claims more than 40% of our revenue.

There is much talk of Lahore declaration and Bus diplomacy by President Clinton but he very conveniently forgets the speeches of Indian Prime Minister after the Lahore declaration and Bus diplomacy in which he asserts that he has not yet recognized Pakistan as a sovereign state and he has rejected the advice of President Clinton to take initiative to start a dialogue with Pakistan on Kashmir. How can there be a dialogue when the other party does not agree to come to the table and on the other hand the American President ironically advises Pakistan to create conditions in which the dialogue can be held.

It is on record that President Clinton has been in communication with the Indian Prime Minister while signing the Washington Accord on 4th July 1999 and then again immediately after his talks with General Musharraf he sent his emissary Mr. Karl Inderfurth to New Delhi to appraise the Indian government of talks he had with General Pervaiz Musharraf. In view of these ground realities, what can be expected of US except hoping against hope? While treading the soft grounds of International diplomacy Pakistan would be advised to try again and again and be prepared for the worst but hoping for the best.

It is time now that the Chief Executive should come out in open and address the people and take them into confidence on what has happened, what is happening and what is in store for future. I am sure the nation will rally round him. Pakistan's failure so far does not mean that every thing is finished. Failure should not lead to despondency and giving up nation building efforts. It does mean we should try harder. Failure does not mean we will never make it, it does mean it will take a little longer. Failure does not mean Allah has abandoned us. It does mean Allah has a better idea as HE is Alimul Ghaib. It is for man to ask for his mercy and guidance.

Islam abhors and prohibits corruption in every form and so does every religion in one form or the other. In the broader sense of the word, exploitation of man is not only repugnant to the spirit of Islam but is abhorrent to the tenets of all the religions.

In the Quranic verse 2:278 the message reads " O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah, and give up what remaineth ( due to you ) from usury, if ye are ( in truth ) believers. " So it boils down to this that usury i.e. making profits or gains at exorbitant rate is prohibited by Allah Almighty. Making profit at exorbitant rate disturbs the fiscal balance of society and leads to greater exploitation of the have-nots by the haves and that is why Islam has further laid down the other systems in the form of Zakat and Usher for the benefit of mankind. The basic philosophy behind verse 2: 278 laid down in Surah Al-Baqra is the prohibition of exploitation and not money lending for the benefit of the lender and the borrower. While the lender lends the money to a borrower at x percent rate of profit, the borrower earns through the same funds much more profit than he has to repay in the form of x percentage of profit to the lender. This particular feature of trading has been lost sight of by the interpreters of riba. If the borrowers would not be making tons of money out of the borrowing that they make, they would not borrow at the x rate of profit.

The interpretation of word usury is the moot point for consideration of interpreters of the Quranic injunctions in verse 2: 278. How exorbitant is exorbitant is the main theme. In order to be able to lend to the borrower, the lender has also to take pains to be able to carry on their trade of money lending; premises have to be hired, staff has to be appointed, utilities have to be arranged and miscellaneous instruments have to be drawn up, sale of their services has to be advertised and numerous other expenses have to be incurred in order to carry out their trade, it is for these services that the borrower has to pay a higher amount of money than he has borrowed. Now our economists have given the payment for these services the name of markup, and the borrowers enter into this transaction at free will, it has been argued that the lenders spend much lesser amount on these lending and make huge profits. Let us not forget at this point that the borrowers also make huge profits with the same money and so the vicious circle goes on.

What is repugnant to Islam is not the making of profit on money lending but exploitation at any stage at every where and by every person. Exploitation of workers by the industrialist, and of tillers of the soil by the landlords are the worst form of usury, which is prohibited and it is a pity that this does not attract the attention of our rulers, the lawmakers and the guardians of law. Hoarding for the purpose of making profits at a later stage is yet another form of riba prohibited by Islam and calls for the attention of the lawmakers and the administrators thereof.

The money Mafia is on the move every where and exploitation of the financially weaker by the financially stronger is the law of nature and Islam ushered an era of justice and fair play to discourage the strong from fleecing the comparatively weak. This is riba! In the broader sense of the word, which must be checked and put to an end.

One of the main tenants of riba is exploitation of man by man and it is a pity that this particular trait of character in society has escaped the attention of our religious scholars and they have concentrated only on interest involved in lending and borrowing of money. It is true that banks do not pay interest on deposits in proportion to the interest they charge on borrowing, there must be some parity between the two. Here I would like to quote an example of a man who builds a house say for Rs. Two Million, he rents it out at a monthly rental of Rs. 45,000/- per month and over a period of two years or so he earns much more than what he has invested. Would it not fall in the category of riba and prohibited in Islam? The famous IPP's and a deal of privatization of Kot Adu Power project which was generating electricity at a cost of piasa 80 per kWh as a Wapda project and Hubco etc., are examples of manipulated MOU's to sell back the same to Wapda for five times higher rate, so, by sheer exploitation these foreign investors have earned double their investment in the form of profits in just one year, this also calls for serious attention under the same analogy if we really understand what is exploitation of man by man and want to stand united against the programmes of global village to strangulate the developing economies in the third world.

The religious scholars by maintaining silence on these issues impliedely say No. So is the case of a moneylender, he lends his money for a certain period of time and charges a certain amount of rent over a period of time. The holders of Textile Quota's also at times puts his quota on rent at a certain amount of rent and there is a market premium if put to sale/transfer this quota by the holders which rate is also manipulated and is a major factor for discouraging new comers in export business to quota countries, which is yet another form of riba. A multistoried property owner levy's a surcharge and even charge higher tariffs on the electricity bills of his tenants for the imaginary service he renders to the tenants in collecting the bill and forwarding it to the tenant.

Then there are State controlled organisations who became landlords overnight by nationalization, certain industries in which they have not invested even a single piasa and are pressing upon their tenants to increase the rents to a fabulous degree and have managed to get fair rent fixed at an exorbitantly higher rates. Is this is not considered to be Riba?

So let us not be religiously emotional on this issue and let the interest remain for the sake of global transactions. Of course the rate on borrowing must come down in proportion to the rates on deposits. Riba, which prohibits exploitation of any kind by man, should be eliminated with an iron hand from every walk of life to evolve a true welfare state to be a role model for the rest of the world to get rid of every kind of exploitation patronized and camouflaged under the so-called human right charters.

The financial crisis in Asia is yet another example of riba, which knows no frontiers irrespective of religious considerations. Luckily Pakistan has escaped the onslaught of the riba then prevalent in the Far Eastern countries of the world in the form of George Soros and others and our Western money lenders are the greatest exponents of riba in one form or the other whether it is called ESAF, EFF or poverty alleviation programme in political and social life of the borrowers. A system has to be evolved to check the stagflation in economy, a gift from the IMF and the World Bank before we become victims to any such conditionality which is meant to exploit the weaker nations by the mightier ones. Time waits for none, we must open our eyes and ears before it is too late and follow a pragmatic socio-economic plan for our survival.

Karachi. April 8th, 2000.

Sir,

So, the cat is out of the bag and the World Bank & IMF are sizzling in their own soup. While the borrower victims are writhing under the fatal control of the tentacles of the great octopus, I mean the American based monetary agencies. American themselves have come down upon IMF and World Bank with a ton of brick against the policies of IMF & World Bank. A clear picture of the American mind was seen in Seattle at the meeting of the WTO, the group of 77 is also set to take to task this exploitation of the South by the North. The loans to alleviate the poverty of the poor nations is only a ruse to keep them under the economic and political control of United States and keep them propped up as THE SUPER POWER. This is against the law of nature and the intention of the Almighty when he created the universe.

Borrowers are therefore to awake, arise and take stock of their own situation and form a bloc of themselves and share each others trial and tribulations and meet the challenges yet to come from G-7 with allurement of glittering dollars. The popular demand of America now is to feed the Americans first with milk and honey before doling out American dollars for political control. Regionalism is at its highest levels. American intelligentsia has realized that IMF & World Bank have made borrowers poorer in complete negation of poverty alleviation programme. Beggars thy neighbor policy must come to an end. An American is not interested in America being the super power but of course the politicians headed by the President of United State are and this s going to be the election theme on November 4th 2000. Let us watch for the results.

Yours etc.,

Ali Ashraf Khan 93/2, 13th Street, DHA, Karachi / Pakistan. Tel: 2430667 April 11th, 2000

Empower Pakistan [powerpak@breeze.net.pk]

History has proved that diplomacy is nothing but a selfish approach of the parties to their problems and in doing so they do not have any scruples.

India at the moment is jockeying for the covetous seat of a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nation, and then bask in the sunshine of the veto and commanding an influence over all the members of the United Nation's, and then declare Kashmir to be their atootung for all times to come. The story of Kashmir, the accession of the Maharaja in October 1947 followed by the invasion of the raiders in Kashmir and India's SOS to the United Nation. When India took courage to airlift their troops to Sri Nagar, their instructions were not to land if there was even a single raider on the Sri Nagar airfield. Mr. V.P.Menon, Secretary Ministry of States writes in his book " Story of disintegration of state." That at that particular moment he was glued to the radio and he heaped a sigh of relief when the pilots voice boomed on Mr. V.P.Menons radio that there were not even a single raider on the airfield, fate has these turns, this is the turning point in the struggle for independence of Kashmir for which they are fighting for last half a century and may continue for how many years, only God knows.

Prior to this event, India got panky and one of the founders of independent India and the first Prime Minister of India Pundit Jawaherlal Nehru approached United Nation to save his skin, this led to the adoption of famous UN resolutions on Kashmir under which a plebiscite is to be held in Kashmir with certain pre-conditions, by this time much water had flown down the Himalayas and India refused to comply with the commitments made to the Kashmiris and the United Nation by no less a person than Pundit Jawaherlal Nehru. Numerous mediators visited South Asia to find out a modus operandi for the plebiscite envisaged in UN resolutions on Kashmir. With the passage of time India pumped in more troops to control the Kashmiri insurgency and continues to do so even today.

The matter does not end here, India has been trying to carry on a diplomatic war with its main adversary Pakistan on this issue, so much so, that today they are now aspirant for the permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nation. They are now well supported by USA whose mandate in 1948 in establishing the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) has been flouted right, left and center and foes of yesterday are now the friends of today, this is how diplomacy runs, that knows no ethics, India is also being supported by Great Britain, who have a history of 200 years of repressive rule in India till they had to withdraw as a result of Great Britain's military victory over Germany and their allies in 1945, Independence came to South Asia in 1947.

European union have also lend their helping hand to India in bid to the top slot of the United Nation and thus be a partner in the control of the destinies of the people in the rest of the world, which includes Kashmir. The greatest defect in this democratic United Nation's is the power of veto in the hands of the permanent members. If God forbid India is elected to the permanent seat of the UN Security Council, they will veto any resolution on Kashmir, which may be according to the will the people of Kashmir.

The diplomatic offensive is more lethal then the nuclear weapons, economic power is going to be much stronger than military power in the centuries ahead, which can only now be pushed through diplomatic offensive and not military and nuclear offensive. While the man made rules are laid down on paper in black and white, there is yet another and greatest rule of law enjoined by Allah Almighty, the rule of conscience, the rule of standardization.

It is a pity that in their bid for material gains man has put these rules of God aside in order to obtain a few material gains in this wide world. A sauce for the goose is not for the gander too. The material applicable in East Timor is not being applied in Kashmir because India is a newly found friend of US, which Indonesia is not. India the greatest democracy in the world is aspiring to occupy the Security Council seat with their hands soaked in blood of innocent Kashmiris whom they claim to be their own citizen, in their bid for power they are being supported by another great democracy - USA, casting aside all norms and rules, facts and figures and above all conscience. This is diplomacy, which does recognize any rule of law but a selfish approach to its own problems.

There was a time when John Foster Dulles US Secretary of State refused to shake hand with no less a person than Premier Chou en Lai in Geneva and he was followed by Henry Kissinger's visit to China to pave the way for President Nixon's visit to China. Times have changed, values have changed, the communist bloc has fallen and the only threat to the western democracy is from China and for that the need to build India who are now the greatest ally of Americans. The foes of yesterday sitting in the lap of USSR are now sitting in the lap of America, where is the conscience of the world? Will it ever react or succumb to the material gains available from the super power. All the norms of decency, diplomacy, human rights, justice and fair play are now seem to be the story of the past with election of India to the Security Council. The world conscience will stand on trial at the bar of the United Nation and expose the great-United Nation Organization's status as an effective organization of acting on the precepts of its own charter.

United Nation Organization may be able to stand on its own feet rather than standing on the props of US if it amends its charter to remove the permanent seats of the Security Council and the process of their veto, which is a great deterrent and negation of equality and democracy. Their majesties the permanent members of the Security Council should be made to stand in a queue for their votes to the top slot. The United Nations is now out living its utility and may go down as the idea of a global village. Africa is forging its own unity and so may be in Asia soon, then UNO will die its own death and will be reduced to the status of an American treaty organization. European union's interest as it is, is much different to the American interest, there is bound to be unity among the oppressed nations of the world, an awakening is their United Nation must realize it.

Karachi April 20, 2000