Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, has announced his plans to attract massive foreign investment in the agriculture sector and to stop the smuggling of Iranian petrol, according to sources who attended a meeting with him and 50 businessmen on Saturday.
The meeting also discussed various issues related to gas, power, exports and corruption. Gen Asim ordered the corp commander to prevent Iranian petrol from reaching Karachi, and urged the FC, Rangers and Coast Guards to cooperate with the FBR and Customs authorities to eradicate smuggling. He also expressed concern over corruption in Sindh, tax evasion, privatisation of loss-making SOEs, repatriation of illegal Afghan refugees and low tax compliance.
COAS General Asim Munir has reportedly issued instructions to FC, Rangers and Coast Guards to leave no stone unturned to eradicate smuggling and cooperate with FBR and Customs authorities. Task Force have also been formed in this regard. Sources said Monitoring of the anti-smuggling campaign is given to Military Intelligence (MI).
Business community is hopeful and view that COAS was taking good decisions, which would go a long way in improving the economics of the country.
Lauding the measures ordered by COAS against movement of smuggled fuel to Karachi.
However, certain circles are of the opinion that stopping smuggling of Iranian fuel was not possible, but it could be discouraged by imposing redemption fines. In this way government would earn revenue.
An analyst said blocking the smuggling of Irani fuel entirely was not viable because there were no OMC operating in Baluchistan and the province relied only on smuggled fuel. Besides, elimination of Irani fuel would result in further pressure on foreign exchange reserves. In 1994 there was a plan to procure fuel from Iran, but it was not materialized.
Gen Asim said he had secured promises from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait to invest a total of $75-100 billion in Pakistan, mainly in the farming industry. He also said he had asked the Saudi and UAE rulers to lend $10 billion each to Pakistan to improve its foreign exchange reserves, which would be repaid in rupees.
The army chief also revealed that land levelling was underway in various provinces to facilitate foreign investment in crops. He said he was not in favour of seeking a new programme from the IMF, as it would impose restrictions on Pakistan’s economic policies and increase power tariffs.
The businessmen who attended the meeting praised Gen Asim’s vision and optimism, and said they were hopeful that his initiatives would improve the country’s economic situation, which is currently facing crises in wheat, sugar and dollar. They said they would have a follow-up meeting with Corps Commander V in Karachi soon.
The meeting was attended by Businessmen Group Chairman Zubair Motiwala, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Tariq Yousuf and other prominent businessmen.