Politics of loans

This refers to the news story, ‘In politics of loan write-off, all are beneficiaries except the poor’ (Aug 08). This news story pertains to loans worth billions of rupees, which the big-wigs of this country got written-off through their connections with the right people during the tenures of various governments. One would like to ask the following questions: Who gave such massive loans to these people in the first place and under whose authority? (One of the beneficiaries received an extraordinary waiver of loan to the tune of Rs2,476.39 million just through one write-off!) Under whose authority were these loans written-off? It is immaterial whether the loans belonged to public banks or the private ones! How did the lending banks make up for such losses? And lastly, are these people fulfilling the requirements of articles 62 and 63 of the constitution?

When I was a young officer in the 1970s, I applied for a loan from my bank due to a pressing requirement. I was told by the bank that I could get a loan equivalent to six salaries and not more. How come these people managed loans of billions of rupees and got them written-off too? In order to avoid such write-offs in the future, it would be prudent on the part of the government to review the existing policies regarding loans and make amendments.

Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan

Rawalpindi

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