Chowrangi

Almost all the cellular companies in Pakistan are offering attractive late night call packages that are quite popular perhaps for the reason that they are easy on the pocket. One of the reasons of fame for such packages is that they help people in making nationwide calls and talk with relatives or friends for hours and hours easily. On the other hand cell phones nowadays have become fashion statement and symbol of independence for our youth that mobile phone helps them to develop their own language and social groups away from the snooping eyes of their parents. It is privacy and not mobility that matters.

Federal Board of Revenue, the tax-man of Pakistan, recently came up with the idea of generating a “transparent” list of taxpayers for audit through computer based selection. The balloting was done on December 11, 2009 in presence of representatives of Chambers of Commerce of Pakistan, Tax Bar Associations, FBR and PRAL. Seprate lists for Association of Persons and Corporate Sector were generated (ballot results can be downloaded from here).

I am not going to discuss the transparency of balloting or the audit that will follow it. My concern is about a SMS from FBR that taxpayers have started to receive from today, a week after the ballot happened.

Halal meat in the west is a lot more expensive than regular meat from western farms. If restaurants buy halal meat, they will have to sell it at a higher price than their competitors. This will not only mean less customers but it could also result in a smaller profit margin. Due to this, a lot of restaurants, especially Arab and Indian, display halal signs when the meat is not actually halal. Even though there may be a sign displaying halal, a lot of religious Muslims feel that it is their duty to inquire and are told, “everything is halal.” What else will the employee say? Everything is haram?

In a shocking development, FIA raided, and sealed, Zarco Exchange Company outlets across Pakistan. The 727 outlets of Zarco, a leading money transfer company in Pakistan, were closed on money laundering allegations.

Zarco Exhcange Company, with its corporate headoffice in Lahore, is the oldest Western Union Money Transfer Agent in Pakistan. It has its branches and franchises across Pakistan and used to provide good customer service. However, recently things started to turn nasty and customers started complaining about the agents being short of funds or not making deliveries on time.

United States used to be the beacon of capitalism. Just few years back, especially after the disintegration of USSR, Americans used to think of their economy as ‘The Economy’, considering other nations as minions and manipulating countries through their financial (and military) might.

However, times are changing now and USA economy is badly infested with credit-driven recession. As unemployment rate has reached the highest in 26 years, states are under pressure to meet their commitment to compensate the unemployed. As this shocking report reveals:

At least 12 states of USA are on the brink of insolvency. In 20 other states, the funds have lost value, even before the big job losses of the past two months.

I’ve come to realize and believe in my gut that we cannot and should not prevent the ongoing failure of our stock exchange, by that I mean the Karachi Stock Exchange. It has always been on respirator, and people seem to be disconnected from it whatsoever always no matter what happens. It crashes thousands of time daily, but then remains there the next day to be crashed again and again.

According to a recent report, ninety-five per cent of American food items found in supermarket shelves in the UAE and some other Gulf countries are not halal even though they may be certified as such.

Halal (or permissible) in Islam is the meat of animals that have been slaughtered reciting the name of Allah on them and all the blood has been drained from the carcass.

Additional criterion that make meat halal are that the animal should not be dead prior to slaughter, since carrion is forbidden and that the animal is from those that are allowed according to Islamic teachings.

Munaf Kalia and Javed Khanani, directors of Khanani and Kalia International (KKI), the largest Foreign Exchange company of Pakistan, were arrested by FIA on the charges of money laundering and illegal money transfer of 10 Billion Dollars.

The main charge against them is that they were involved in ‘physical’ transfer of foreign currency from Pakistan and ran the illegal ‘Hawala or Hundi business’.

According to the News, Special Investigation Group (SIG) of FIA Lahore prepare a report in April 2008 about the flight of dollars from the country, fearing that a forex crisis would hit the country in the near future. The report also recommended strong and instant action against persons involved in the Hundi and Hawala business.

Pakistan earned $220mn on export of 0.3mn tonnes of alcohol up to October 31 while another 50,000 tonnes of alcohol is expected to be exported during the November-December period.

Pakistan, where alcohol consumption by Muslims is banned by law, produced 2.6mn tonnes of molasses during the 2007-08 sugarcane crushing season and on adding 50,000 tons of carry-over stocks at terminals and an equal quantity at the mills, the total available stocks of molasses stood at 2.761mn tonnes.

Industry and export sources say since conversion ratio of molasses to alcohol stands at 5:1 (five tonnes of molasses required to produce one tonne of alcohol), the estimated requirement of distilleries stood at 1.65mn tonnes for molasses.

Let’s say someone is dying of thirst and does not have water to drink. You tell him that you have a water bottle but will only sell it to him if he pays you Rs.1000 otherwise he can go and die.

What will you think about that person in terms of being a human being and will the Rs.1000 be halal for him? Neither is that person close to what could be called a human nor is the Rs.1000 halal for him because money made after taking advantage of a person’s situation is haram.