Ex-brigadier thrashes professor over NRO brawl

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Re: Ex-brigadier thrashes professor over NRO brawl

good riddance.

22

And be shot by army?

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Re: Ex-brigadier thrashes professor over NRO brawl

Excellent, now its also time to investigate the rector's embezzlements now that this Ranjha fool is out of the picture.

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Please substantiate your statement with credible evidence, but i know Indians are non known for this... all you can do is create problems/misunderstandings...

25

you will never see it throughout your life, move on and keep better dreams.

26

There are always idiots in every department, bear in mind, they dont always represent the ideology of the department.

27

turned to smoking weed nowadays?

28

There are politicians and policemen and government servants etc who dont just think they are above the law, but also make sure they remain above the law !

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like i said, keep better dreams and stop smoking weed or whatever it is u smoke.

30

Re: Ex-brigadier thrashes professor over NRO brawl

before you all start jumping around here and there, i am not siding the brigadier, its just that his act has made many people here believe that all the army is like him.

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Actually, you are wrong.

Army hold on cantonment land criticised

Army hold on cantonment land criticised

Friday, February 19, 2010
Pre-budget seminar of NA committee on finance

By Khalid Mustafa

ISLAMABAD: All members of the National Assembly committee on finance and revenue on Thursday unanimously criticised the armed forces for capturing the federal land in the cantonment areas across the country and for not paying taxes on their private permanent houses and commercial property.

The forces are not only violating the law by grabbing the land of the federal government that fall in the jurisdiction of the cantonment areas, they are contributing nothing in terms of tax to GDP ratio despite the fact that many army personnel own more than one house and some have property in the cantonment areas.

Almost all the parliamentarians who attended the seminar on pre-budget public consultation by NA committee on finance and revenue on “Change in Collective National Behaviour: How to expand the tax base in Pakistan: Ideas for the budget 2010-2011” were opposed to the tax exemptions to the army personnel.

Senator Mr Haji Mohammad Adeel was the first to declare that the land of the cantonment areas belongs to the federal government and the armed forces are simply the users of the land, but unfortunately they have illegally captured the land and made their illegal permanent houses and commercial property. “But unfortunately they are contributing nothing in terms of increasing the tax to GDP ratio.”

He also said the Land Procurement Board Act in the Cantonment Areas needs to be revisited. Mr Adeel said they would not allow Parliament to pass the DHA (Defence Housing Authority) Act.

Ms Kashmala Tariq, MNA (PML-Q) also supported Mr Adeel saying she has been living in the cantonment for years, but 98 percent civilian population is being treated in the cantonment areas as second grade citizens as only two per cent people in Khaki uniform rule the cantonment areas.

She was of the view that the army personnel having more than one house must be liable to taxation and in case it gets materialised then it would help the country increase the tax to GDP ratio.

It was, however, felt that the presentations of the experts were not up to the mark and only two experts - Yousaf Abdulla, former FBR chairman and currently vice president of the Institute of Chartered Accounts of Pakistan (ICAP) and Dr Ather Maqsood Ahmed - were well prepared for the occasion.

Mohammad Sabir, principal economist, Social Policy and Development Centre, Karachi while giving the arguments in support of his verbal presentation quoted wrong figures. He mentioned that the government had projected the growth in direct taxes of 28 per cent during the July-December 2009-10 period, but the tax collecting authorities only collected 0.4 per cent of the target. Here he presented the wrong figures as FBR collected 10 per cent direct taxes during the said period against the target of 28 per cent.

He suggested that GST should be imposed on the imports of the all the defence-related articles, and if needed the forces could been compensated in another head, but levying the tax on defence imports would help collect more taxes.

Mr Riaz Fatinana, an MNA (PML-Q) urged the FBR to recruit the eunuchs to effectively collect the tax revenue.

Mian Abdul Sattar, PPP MNA suggested the FBR to auction the tax collection targets at the level of Union Council to bring in the tax net those people who are not paying the tax.

The people who are granted the auction of the tax collection target should be given 20 per cent commission of the collected sum. “This would help increase the tax collection manifold,” Mr Sattar said.

Abdulla Yousaf pleaded for doubling the tax to GDP ratio. He said that if the database is established and it gets the legal cover, then the tax collection would surge by 100 percent. He said the whole required work in this regard is complete, but it needs to nod of Parliament to make it functional.

Explaining the contours of his suggestion, Mr Yousaf said that in the data ware house the information about the tax payer would be collected from various sources about his expenditures while purchasing or selling any movable and immovable property, transactions in the banks and stock exchanges, and then that information would be matched with the information which the tax payer will provide while filing the tax returns.

He said this would not only let the FBR know about the magnitude of the tax evasion, but would also help tap the huge potential in the existing tax base. Mr Yousaf cited the example of Chile wherein this system has been introduced and the tax to GDP ratio country surged by 100 per cent from 15 to 30 percent.

He also went on to say: “There has to be a tax policy to eliminate the distortions in the existing tax system.” He said the profits of the State Bank of Pakistan, which regulates the whole banking sector, are not liable to taxation. He termed it one of the biggest distortions in the tax system.

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Not only Army… but Navy (KO :: The sad state of Karachi beaches) and Air Force ( KO :: Saving Hingol National Park) are like him too.

Army occupies prime lands in the country, runs businesses financed through peoples’ money, distributes peoples’ land to its officers, provides officers with lavish housing and clubbing facilities, provides officers with discounts on travel and entertainment (even Joyland for kids in Lahore!) and IS NOT ANSWERABLE to anyone including supreme court of Pakistan. Yes, our army is like the brigadier.

33

You are wrong again.

Cantonment is army land, end of story. Army gets funds from GHQ to run cantonments.
and if u have a dispute what and why there is a cantonment, go argue with the British.

34

Take this biased Bull-crap back to where it came from.

Army doesnt occupy prime lands.
Neither does it runs businesses financed through peoples money.
It distributes land(agricultural) to officers who come on a certain merit and earn points throughout their career.
Officers on sensitive posts are provided good housing because they deserve it.
Discount for officers is very valid on transportation as they are revolved around every 2 years of their duty unlike civil servants.The pay scale of army officers is lower than their civilian counterparts.
Army is only answerable to the GHQ and thats they way its meant to be.

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'Biased bull-crap'... if you cannot reply, this is how you respond! Please deny any allegation in those articles. Please let me know what is Air Force doing trying to 'occupy' Hingol National Park?

I would call almost all 'cantts' in Pakistan prime land.

Who finances 'fauji foundation' running 'fauji cemenet', 'fauji fertilizer' and so on? Please let us know of ANY country in the world where the armed forces are running housing authorities.

Who says they desever housing on Shahrah-e-faisal, Karachi?

I wonder if Wapda employees are not transferred or doctors working in rural areas. Why do they not deserve discount on transportation?

Army has to be answerable to the 'Secretary Defence' under an elected government and this is how it is meant to be and this is how it is worldwide. Army is a watchdog for defense of a country, not eating up its resources and occupying it every now and then. PEOPLE PAY for army and it should be answerable to the PEOPLE.

I can easily see the 'elitist' attitude in your posts.

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Please go see where cantonment areas in India are. They were under the same British rule.

GHQ gets funds from Allah?

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You mean not paying taxes and taking over govt land is not wrong? Is it Pakistani army or is army's Pakistan where these idiots can do anything without fear?

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I can reply, somehow i trusted your capabilities to judge the importance of armed forces, but then again your incompetency in understanding certain strategic issues is laudable.

The PAF is aquiring the land to set up defence installations, as far as my understanding goes. I have not seen a statement from PAF or from reporter sounding like its a real estate area of housing etc.

This is your biased mentality against armed forces of your country making you believe that by aquiring such land, PAF is occupying the area.

The irony in our country is that the only department which does its job without taking money or giving excuses is the Armed Forces. I remember a project 9 years back related to cleaning of the canals(Bhal-Safai) in Pakistan , personnel of an elite armour division were involved in that with the rest of the team. There are many other instances also where Pakistan Armed Forces have been used as the civil servants have failed miserable, WAPDA,Railways etc. The communication in Northern pakistan was setup by SCO of Pakistan and then PTCL/NTC ventured in the area. For any disaster or calamity, the civil defense is rendered equipment less and useless and the army acts as saviour with relief goods and equipments. The paramilitary forces like rangers are used to control areas where police fails and gives up, whereas if you read the job of the Rangers, its to patrol borders only.
These are just a few examples which i wanted to give you before replying your next querry.

Fauji Foundation was established as a charitable trust, mainly to give employment to armed forces personnel who couldnt get jobs after retirement. In other countries, there is less corruption in civil departments and the officers and soldiers are given enough at the end of the retirement to venture on their own. So comparing Pakistan in this regard with other countries isnt feasible. So the FF has done a good job for the veterans of the armed forces.

However, the FF has made Pakistan PROUD.

Fauji Foundation has earned considerable applause outside the country. It earned ‘The World Veterans Federation Rehabilitation Prize’ in 1997 at Seoul- South Korea which was received by then Fauji Foundation Director, Welfare (Health & Education) Brigadier Muneeb-ur-Rehman Farooqui SI(M).
The citation runs that the prize was awarded "for its remarkable achievements in looking after ex-servicemen and their families in providing health care, education, technical training, employment, artificial limbs and other facilities for the rehabilitation of disabled ex-servicemen, thus enabling them to be full-fledged citizens contributing to the welfare of their communities." The World Veterans Federation (WVF)

I think I should also tell you the life of an average armed forces officer so before you start jumping here and there, you have some brief background knowledge:

He joins a force vowing to die for his country on nothing but a simple order, making his wife widow and children orphans, knowingly.
He starts with a meagre salary and always maintains lesser salary than his civilian counterparts on the same grade/level throughout his career. He is posted away from family for years many times. His children suffer from constant education as they are rotated throughout the country every two years. in the next station, they may or maynot get admission in the same class/grade. If he is from a fighting arm (infantry,armour,artillery) there are very less chances he gets a good job to maintain his family especially when he retires at such an age when his children are in professional colleges.
Therefore only after retirement, he gets certain perks, depending on his rank and the points he has earned throughout his career. These include housing or plots or agricultural land (uncultivated,sand dunes). or all of these combined.
You can compare this with his civilian counterpart now yourself.

The civil servant is eligible to TA/DA on postings to other areas. The reality is, they dont dislocate easily, they never want to dislocate. An army officer doesnt have a choice, he follows orders only.

Army is answerable to the GHQ, thats what I know. GHQ works on the instructions of the elected Government. The Army is given a certain part in the budget and the Army uses that. Army is not eating up the resources, maybe you should point the finger at the correct parties instead (corrupt civil sector,corrupt politicians etc). The Army can only be answerable to the people if the elected Government is answerable to the people.

Maybe you should see again ,with an open mind this time,I dont have any attitude, I have seen armed forces more closely than you. I am not an elitist also.

39

No, I dont mean that paying taxes is wrong.

What I mean is that if you dont know about something then dont jump in it. If you have curiosity then ask being un-biased.

40

I dont even care about India.

Going by your biased querry.

If ALLAH runs the world, then ALLAH runs our country, if ALLAH runs our country then yes, the Government and the Army(GHQ) gets fund from ALLAH.

You comment like you know everything infact you are not clear on basics also.

There is a part set apart for armed forces in every budget each year. In the recent, WOT, there has been supply of $,weapons and equipment from the west also.