BY

            TASNEEM DIWAN

There have been some disturbing reports in a section of the press attributed to certain people questioning among other things the recent visit to Pakistan of Mr Yusuf Haroon and the inflow of US investment to Karachi. These reports ordinarily would have been brushed aside as the usual, hackneyed diatribe of disgruntled, pseudo-socialists or rabble-rousers. Unfortunately, one such statement emanated from the office of the Chairman of a splinter group of the " representative" party of the metropolis.

The city of Karachi has its own inherent features which have made it the industrialized city of Pakistan. It has a literate and competent workforce, two active ports, an international airport, dynamic entrepreneurs, comparatively better infra-structure, and a strategic location on the world trade map. What it is suffering from is a law and order situation, unemployed young people, political dichotomy, a disturbingly biased attitude by non-Karachiites, civic and social breakdowns, etc.

The mega-city could go to rot if a new infusion of industrial and commercial activity is not injected in it. A comprehensive planning exercise is essential for the survival of this city. This is only possible if steps, both short-term and long-term, are initiated on a grand scale. The Karachi Package has been announced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. For decades, the citizens have been hearing and reading about a lot of grandiose plans and packages for the development of the city. They take the latest package with the same cynical approach. It is not their fault to be skeptics. They have been compelled to adopt this posture due to the non-implementation of promises and pledges. The proof of the pudding will be when the salient features of the Package start coming into concrete shape.

The city is, at present, politically managed by the representatives of three major parties. The PPP and PML have six MNAs each while the MQM has a big majority of MPAs in the Sindh Assembly. There is now the imperative need to re-assert the right of Karachi as the citadel of industrialization in Pakistan. The Prime Minister had announced during the election rally in Karachi last year, that her party wants to restore Karachi’s status as the manufacturing center of the country. It is, therefore, essential that political differences be set aside and a concerted effort be made to achieve this objective. After all the parties need voters who are genuinely employed and are not a burden on the Treasury.

Karachi and its denizens want a better future. The present scenario is ominous. They are unsure of the days ahead. Nobody is really listening to their cries and wails. Nobody is really giving a helping hand. Nobody really cares about Karachi, so it seems. Including many Karachiites.

Thus the time has arrived when the citizens have to hunt and seek avenues for the enrichment of their dreary lives. Some of Karachi’s industrialists have set up factories in the northern areas where they are enjoying lot of incentives and financial benefits, or maybe because Karachi is now not safe for them and their families. Most of them have family, tribal, or ethnic links in the northern areas. It is, therefore, not too onerous a task for them to move "up". How long will people bear the scourge of dacoities, kidnappings, and car-snatchings, among other worries? But what about those who have roots only in Karachi?

The question that hits the minds of Karachiites then, is what to do about the workforce that is living here and the millions who have come from outside Karachi and have made this city their temporary or even permanent abode. This is a formidable situation which has to be addressed. The city planners and the policy-makers have to do a lot of soul-searching if this city has to survive and prosper. At this moment of time, the metropolitan city has been a passive victim of the myopic thinking of the majority of policy-makers and politicians. It is for this very reason that no substantial betterment has been witnessed in this city in years. Organizations such as KESC, KWSB, KDA, KMC, PTC, etc, have become menaces rather than saviors, oppressive rather than friendly, and lethargic rather than active. These juggernauts have become nests of corruption and have made the lives of the common man a daily nightmare. For Karachiites, all hell has broken loose !

The city of Karachi needs complete overhaul of its infra-structure network. This is a gigantic task and requires millions of dollars. The government is strapped up for cash and the domestic businessmen are unable to generate that much money. It is a God-given opportunity for the city to take up the offers of the foreign investors who want to provide the required infra-structure and are ready to cough up the finances for these projects. They also want to set up industries, trading houses, and other businesses which will go a long way in providing opportunities for employment and eventually also be a source of prosperity for the megalopolis.

It is with these factors in mind that the statements of those who see an element of conspiracy in the inflow of overseas investments in Karachi seem so frightening. The foreign investors in Karachi should be welcomed with open arms. It should be ensured that the proverbial red-tape is dispensed with. It should be ensured that they are provided all facilities to get their industries and businesses geared up pronto. It should be ensured that they have access to Karachi’s excellent labor and white-collar workers.

What this city needs is less of General Naseer and General Lehrasab who conscientiously want to defend the borders. There is more need for General Motors and General Electric. Why get paranoid over the arrival of only 58 American firms ? Why not call for the addition of two more zeros after 58 ? Why not dedicate the combined efforts of the politicians, administrators, and the industrialists to go whole hog for the influx of foreign entrepreneurs into this super city.

A few years back, the then Chairman of SITE Association of Industry, while welcoming the US Consul-General to SITE, had advocated the setting up of a Foreigner’s Enclave in Karachi. This zone would cater only to external investors. It would have all infra-structure facilities, schools, residential areas, amusement parks, self-protection services, and other benefits. The previous Government had taken cognizance of this proposal and had announced the establishment of "comfort zones" in many parts of the country. Alas, like all good schemes, this plan is also gathering dirt in the corridors of power. Maybe the People’s Government can revive this scheme.

It is, thus, proposed that the business community, the politicians, and the administration, get their act together and pave way for a massive infusion of foreign investment into the city. American investors should be encouraged more because they are generally the harbingers of investment in foreign lands. The city leaders should channelize their efforts and endeavor to grab a large slice of the global investment pie. There is no need to fear about sinister motives of any country, especially the Americans. The American businessmen are out to make a buck like others. Furthermore, their interest here is proof that they have confidence in the city and its citizens. This is a good omen. Only a year or two ago, this country was about to be branded as a terrorist country by the administration of the same country to which these investors belong to. This step would have made Pakistan an international pariah a la Libya or Syria. There is no need to suspect any conspiracy brewing against the nation or against Karachi if US investment flows in aplenty. This is no "Yankee-under-every-bed" syndrome. All this talk about making a Hong Kong out of Karachi is just poppycock. There is no need to have apprehensions about the growing influence of Americans in this city. The visits of those who seem pro-American or the visits of Americans into the interior of the province should be taken at its face value. These are normal routine sojourns in the line of duty. It is time some of the leaders of Karachi got out of their cocoons and visualized a paradisiacal future for the citizens of Karachi. Maturity is called for, not hysteria !

The foreign investors are bullish on Karachi. They have done extensive surveys and research to come up to a positive conclusion. The Consulate-General in Karachi has been very instrumental in promoting, projecting, and selling Karachi to the American businessmen. The rewards of the efforts are stupendous. A substantial inflow of investment is on the anvil. The Consulate is planning, in association with FPCCI, to hold a comprehensive Trade Show in Karachi. Pakistani businessmen will get an opportunity to rub shoulders with US businessmen and make mutually beneficial deals. The Consulate is willing to provide the National Trade Database to FPCCI which will be of immense value to the domestic business community. US financial companies are contemplating to come in a big way. Trade delegations are itching to call at the Karachi shores. The arrival of the new US Consul-General, Ms Mary Kennedy, to Karachi, is seen as the advent of significant US business investment in these parts of the world. The ball is in Pakistan’s court.

The American Business Council of Pakistan did a survey called the ABC Survey of US Investment in Pakistan, 1992. The statistics are based on 53 out of 58 member companies. The Survey reveals some important facts. These 53 companies contributed 7.252 Billion Rupees to the National Exchequer. They paid 5% of the total income tax collected in 1992, over 4% of all Excise Duty and Sales Tax, and 10% of all Development Surcharge collected all over the country. Their foreign remittances as dividends, profits, royalty, and technical fees amounted to about a Billion Rupees. This means that for every Rupee remitted by these companies, the Treasury got Rupees Seven and Paisas Forty-four. This is really impressive !

Furthermore, these companies have a share-holders’ equity of nearly nine Billion Rupees, out of which nearly seven Billion Rupees is the foreign component. The notional foreign exchange savings due to import substitution is more than 12 Billion Rupees. These 53 companies employ over 16000 personnel, including about 400 Pakistanis working abroad for these companies. This Survey is solid proof of the demanding urgency for a substantial inflow of US and other overseas investment into the country. An important aspect of this Survey is the contribution to the National Exchequer. This can be the yardstick with which to measure the magnitude of overseas investment.

One shudders to contemplate the devastating effects of mis-guided outbursts of local leaders who have not been able to fathom the repercussions of their statements. The arm-chair conspiracy theorists should be side-lined so that the ramifications of their analyses do not ensue in a retrogressive backlash. The pseudo-demagogues should be rightly and forcefully made to comprehend the danger to the industrialization process by their immature spit outs. This is a big-stakes game and it requires steel nerves. Preposterous hullabaloo of these synthetic demi-gods are ingredients for a recipe of disaster ! Karachi should not be made to wither away when hope is just around the corner.

The sad part is that the political leaders in Pakistan lack the very essence of economics and the rough-and-tough of international business. The developing countries, including those that have come out of the Iron Curtain, are fighting for every single dime of foreign investment. Billions of dollars are floating around waiting for safer havens. Far-sightedness and pragmatic thinking of the policy-makers of many developing countries is bearing fruit. They have opened up their economies to the foreign investor. No ideology is sacrosanct when it comes to bringing in investment. Will Pakistan, and specifically Karachi, miss the boat again? Is anybody listening?

There is thus this hope and prayer that the citizens of Karachi will not be deprived of the fruits from the overseas investor’s tree and that those who do not wish to see Karachi prosper and who play with the lives and minds of the populace may never blossom and may never succeed. All power to the citizens who are now in a position to chart their own destiny without help from those who have their own self-interests at heart. As the bard said about those who don’t know what they are saying:

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JULY 14, 1994