Independence Means Thinking Independently for Ourselves
By Ali Ashraf Khan
Karachi, Pakistan
The 1931 law quoted by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that allows to collect a tax that has been proposed in a budget proposal even before that proposal is discussed and approved by the parliament and thus made into law is obviously a relic left behind by our colonial rulers and exploiters who did not have to fear a mature and independent parliamentary discussion on the budget. Under British rule many things including the budget were not in the discretion of the Indians but the colonial state retained that power for itself in order to be able to keep exploiting the people and the economy of the crown colony. Two hundred years of colonial exploitation of India and other colonies made Great Britain a world power. The expenditure on industrialization during the 18th and 19th centuries was recovered from British colonies. That was understood and criticized by Indian nationalist Dadabhai Naoroji as early as 1901 in his book ‘Poverty and Un- British rule of India’ and he proved that poverty in India was the result of British exploitation.
One major aim of the anti-colonial struggle for independence of different branches of the national movement was to get rid of such exploitation but surely not to substitute British exploitation andcolonialism with indigenous one. The law makers of the newly founded Pakistan should have done away with the colonial legislation long ago; the failure to do so has prolonged exploitation now by the brown sahibs sitting in government and promoted poverty after 1947 as it had done before that date. Keeping in place colonial laws has prevented real independence of Pakistan. Collecting a tax that is part of a budget proposal which might or might not be passed by the parliament amounts to contempt of parliament. What if in the course of the budget discussion the GST raise is rejected and substituted by some other measure? Will the customers be returned the illegally collected part of the GST?
Another example for the harm colonial laws have done to the fabric of Pakistan is the FCR that has kept the tribal areas of Pakistan under colonial rule of the brown sahibs. One could find more such examples. Thus, there is a dire need to change all colonial laws and substitute them by new ones that could contribute to our independence, promote justice and fight poverty. Until the time that this could be done the old and harmful colonial laws should not be practiced.
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