Where there’s no political will, there’s no economic headway

LAHORE: Time has come to take a decisive action against all kinds of social and economic offenses ranging from common flouting of traffic laws to all kinds of financial frauds including evasion of taxes, violations of copyrights, under-weighing/under-measuring, under-invoicing, and even degradation of environmental illegal construction, etc.

Breathing a new fire into this drive of ensuring rule of law is indispensable as these malpractices, no matter how small or petty, are hollowing out the economy like termites. Violation of copyrights is taken very lightly in Pakistan. It is not only immoral but is one of the main reasons for the hesitation of many investors, having legitimate patents, to invest in Pakistan.

We see third-rate quality shirts and apparel bearing logos and names of world famous brands being openly sold in most of the markets. Copyright violation of IT products is a common practice in the country. In fact the main hurdle in the way of a trade agreement with United States is the poor implementation of intellectual property rights (IPR).

Even the domestic producers are the victims of IPR violations. As soon as a famous textile brand introduces its new design you can find easily find its cheap copies in the market within a week. Even fake auto parts with famous brand names are openly sold in the market. This on the one hand is hurting global brands and on the other it is eroding the confidence of domestic consumers in products made in Pakistan.

The economic cost of this malpractice is beyond calculation. We are also paying a heavy price for the environmental degradation in the form of poor health of our citizen and low productivity of our workforce. Discharging industrial waste into public sewers, canals, rivers, or even sea is unconceivable in any decent society. These violations are done openly without any concrete action by the authorities. When someone points out these malpractices the environmental department starts raiding numerous factories and closes them on minor violations.

Pakistan has yet not seen any serious punitive measure being taken against the violators of environmental laws as powerful factory owners and millers always spared with a warning against some hush money. This is a common practice as the raiders know the fines/penalties against minor violation would result in protest on the pretext of production losses and the raids would be banned. The heavy polluters get away with all the damage they have done to the environment by greasing their palms of the hands that were supposed to collar them.

Scores of buildings are constructed without following the bylaws. We have experienced the disaster of high-rise buildings in October 2005 earthquake. Almost all major Pakistani cities are in seismic zones. The authorities should inspect all the building afresh and take needed remedial measure before a major mishap. The building authorities should ensure that all construction activities going on in the country are in line with global safety standards including provision of fire escapes in high-rise structures.

The open decanting of LPG cylinders is a risk to life and property of the surroundings where this practice takes place. We have suffered many casualties in Lahore and other places owing to decanting-related fires/explosions.

Decanters can be seen operating in all cities and towns serving the auto rickshaws and some old taxis. The absence of LPG filling stations is one of the causes of this malpractice. Establishing LPG station for transport should be made easier and cheaper.

Traffic violations look petty to the violators but the cumulative impact of these violations negatively impacts the economy besides having social implications. Traffic jams occur only because of law-breaking motorists and bikers and result in losses of thousands of liters of fuel that is unnecessarily burnt due to idling and slow movement of vehicles.

Many a time, precious lives are lost in traffic jams as patient could not reach hospital in time. Many important business and job appointments are missed. Our roads at least in big cities are broader that the roads in many developed countries. But such frequent traffic jams are not witnessed in these countries although the traffic flow is much smoother only because of strict abidance of traffic rules. Much has been written about tax evasion that’s thriving on corruption and absence of political will.