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Thursday March 28, 2024

Is FM a kryptonite for Super dollar?

By Mian Saifur Rehman
December 05, 2016

Senator Ishaq Dar is to dollar what kryptonite is to Superman. I’m sure readers of my column are well aware of the lethality of kryptonite before which the super saviour character, Superman, trembles and crumbles. Of course these readers are, by all standards, much more knowledgeable than us writers given their in-depth, diversified studies and objective observations as compared with our subjective approach that is confined to a limited perspective. 

Now let me elaborate as to why I’ve opted to declare Finance Minister Ishaq Dar a kryptonite for the Superman, nay super buck or dollar? The answer is that in just one go he has managed the materialisation of his claim that dollar would go down as compared with Pak Rupee. And that happened there and then on the very first day after the lofty claim was made with the result that dollar has fallen by Rs1.60 following the declaration of war by Ishaq Dar on currency mafia. This is perhaps the first dent in any mafia that has created some effects or plainly speaking, positive effect. In the past, actions or proposed actions against mafias had seen reversal of results as it happened when the finance minister tried in all earnest to cleanse the field of property mafia. Perhaps the system did not lend support to the (civilian) man of valour, the FM, who appears to have launched all these crusades all by himself drawing strength from his inner conviction that whatever he is doing is in the best interest of the country though his other source of perennial strength is none other than the Prime Minister, Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, himself. 

Here, there is the need for ‘all good men to come to the aid of the party’ (read Finance Minister and Finance Ministry) which is trying to do the undoable. Of course, laying hands on mafias is a task next to impossible in a society and in an economy where hanky-panky (or the hanky-panky mindset) is deemed to be a source of salvation and where it has ruled the roost for decades, courtesy the ‘role models of affluence’ that we have been enviably imitating to ‘reach to the zenith’. It is indeed gladdening to note that someone has mustered the courage to break the spell- and shell- of this mindset though in the process, many difficulties have cropped up like cacophony of divergent points of view and voices. 

Certainly, this is an act of valour or a task requiring the energy-load and ‘will power’ of a bounty-killer. Dar knew well the trumpeted invincibility of mafias, including the currency mafia so he devised a comprehensive package that included legislation, rules and restrictions, documentation and what not. It is just like ensuring the release of the masses from the mafias which have virtually held them (the people) hostage for decades through diabolic methods and proxy economic wars. There are people who don’t find any justification in going so ideally. They say Dar is trying to convert Pakistani economy into a Pavitar (puritanical) economy by documenting every economic activity. They opine if Mr FM is so much hell-bent upon putting his head in the hornet’s nest, he should keep in mind the old Urdu saying “Loha lohay ko kaat-ta hai” (iron is the antidote of iron). They probably mean to suggest creating mafias to fight mafias; otherwise, the depraved economy and its ringleaders will combat the reformation fever of Ishaq Dar supported by the elements opposed to reformation. My moles in the Finance Ministry, however, say that Senator Dar is in high spirits and appears fully determined to do away with all counteracting influences. It is about time that other than the Prime Minister who backs Mr Dar in his fearless initiatives, the cabinet members standing on the edifice of public mandate work on finding out an efficacious anti-mafia antidote asserting with the same will with which the time-tested reformer of economy has jumped into the arena, undeterred by difficulties coming his (FM’s) way. 

….mianrehman1@gmail.com