Pakistani military generals make millions as people suffer from skyrocketing inflation, Govt struggles to stabilize Economy

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News Desk – One

Former Pakistani military General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s extended family made billions after he took command of the military in 2016. They accumulated assets and businesses of upto Rs 12.7 billion within and outside the country over the past 6 years, said a report published on investigate website FactsFocus.

The news caused Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to take note of the unlawful and unjustified publication of General Bajwa’s family members’ tax details.. He made sure that an investigation was launched which was personally led by Tariq Mehmood Pasha,PM Shehbaz Sharif’s special assistant of revenue, to look into the violation of tax laws and submit a repot within 24 hours.

When annual tax returns and wealth statements of General bajwa’s family from 2013 to 2021 were looked throughly, it was found that his wife Ayesha Amjad wasn’t filing any tax returns when he became a lieutenant genaral. Withing six years of dubious dealings of residential and commercial plots her wealth went from zero in 2016 to Rs 2.2 billion, not including residential plots,commercial plots and houses given by the Govt to her husband.

Sabir Mithu Habeed, General Bajwa’s closest friend, who was an average buisnessman and father-in law of Saad Bajwa said it changed everything for both families as they became one family.

Within six years,according to the report, both the families became billionaires, and started their own internationl company,purchased multiple properties on international grounds, started transffering their capital abroad, became owners of commercial plots, commercial plazas, huge farmhouses in Islamabad and Karachi, and so on.

The change in fortune of Bajwa’s dauther-in-law Mahnoor Sabir is equally amazing.

The total worth of Mahnoor Sabir’s declared assets was found zero in the last week of October 2018, and it jumped to Rs 1,271 million, just one week before her marriage in November 2018.

Generals Pervez Musharraf and Ashfaq Kayani, two previous army leaders, travelled extensively and lived affluently practically as soon as they resigned. Pakistan’s army may be the only one in the world where this has happened. After his retirement, Musharraf spent several years in London and Dubai, while Kayani did the same in Sydney.

While Pak’s military Generals kept making themselves richer and richer, the citizens were struggling to make ends meet, while making basic necessities such as food becoming a luxury for millions.

Distressed citizens pulling out their children from private schools due to unaffordable fees, and people are dying in the fight for free food or wheat.

The situation has never been so dire in a country that has seen military coups and the ouster of elected governments. The government’s decision to increase the interest rate by 100 basis points to 21% is expected to anchor inflation expectations around the medium-term target, but experts doubt it would help control prices.

Ziaullah Khan, a professor of sociology and a psychological counsellor at the University of Karachi, pointed out that rising suicides and incidents of crowd stampedes at free food points are all indicators of rising frustration among the people. “If the economy is not controlled we will see more crimes, suicides and stampedes in the coming days. We might even see chaos in society,” he said. As food, beverage, and transportation prices surged by more than 45 per cent and the country is still in talks with the IMF to unlock its next tranche of funding, the common Pakistanis fear for their future.