Last week Shabbar Zaidi circulated an open letter over social media. Whilst it is not clear what exactly does the former FBR chairman want to achieve through his letter, it seems quite clear that it is an emotional outpour of a man reflecting on Pakistan’s past, present and future.
But Shabbar’s letter is not an ordinary rant of an armchair analyst, or the populist venting of little informed drawing room activists who bother not to engage with the community. Not only did he serve pro bono as FBR boss, but also throughout his career Shabbar has been on scores of government committees and commissions as a passionate volunteer in the ‘interest of general public interest’. When a person like him exhibits a breakdown of hope, it should be a cause of worry.
To be clear, Shabbar has exhibited signs of frustration over Pakistan’s polity and society before, almost to the point of dejection. Four months before his appointment as FBR chairman, BR Research interviewed him on some topical affairs. Walking out of his office that day, the first discussion BR Research’s colleagues had was sharing notes of just how exasperated he seemed to have become over the years – and BR Research has had umpteen interviews and interactions with him over the last decade.
His messaging to the political actors, on-stage or backstage, was very clear in that interview. “Let me assure you that failure to take the bull by the horns and addressing the issues relating to revenue and expenditure reassignments together with fiscal and financial restructuring means that Pakistan’s economic survival will be at serious risk. You cannot treat cancer with aspirin,” he said stressing on the urgency to address long pending issues of fiscal federalism. (See Brief Recording: ‘Pakistan is run by arthis’, Jan 1 2019)
“At the very least, Prime Minister Imran Khan should spell out these problems to the nation and tell people that a country with such a flawed system cannot develop. They [the PTI] are excessively focused on financial corruption; corruption is not the issue. Flawed structure is. The government has already wasted six months harping about corruption, and if they don’t reform the system, its structure, then they too will be back to square one by the end of their tenure,” said Shabbar whilst recognizing the Herculean nature of the task.
He knew well that anyone trying to reform taxation would have to take the bitter pill and take tough decisions at the outset. “It will shake up the system and create more troubles in the short and medium term. But that is the only way out,” – he said in his interview, a message that he must have given to the political leadership before his appointment. But whether or not the political leadership had the guts to follow through with his prescription is something that chatters are made up of. Which is why Shabbar would do well to publicly shed light on what happened during his tenure.
Unlike a lot of public leaders, who claim false victories or pass the buck, Shabbar is gentleman enough to state that “no one is to be blamed”. “I was given a chance, but I failed. No complaint,” he wrote in his open letter. But one expects an otherwise outspoken man like him at a stage of career that he is in, to come forth and present a detailed account of what, how, and why he “failed”.
FBR has had its more than fair share of chairpersons. What made Shabbar unique was that he came from the private sector and had advised dozen of FBR chairpersons, FBR members, finance ministers, central bankers in the past. He is not an economist, but he knows his taxation well and commands respect among his critics and advocates for his deep understanding of tax laws and matters thereof. Which is why a large section of private sector cheered his appointment in May last year. And which is why his own detailed version of what how and why he “failed” must come out in the ‘interest of general public interest’.
As for his thoughts on sharing more information, one could not agree more; the virtues of transparency and accountability have been emphasized in this space many times before, the most relevant of which echoes in BR Research’s “The Fourteen Points of Charter of Economy” and “Charter of Economy: follow up on the 14 Points” published May 30 and June 1, 2017.
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