Thought Behind Things · Nov 21, 2022
Pakistan's politics won't change until the economy is fixed
Moonis Elahi — politician, former Federal Minister for Water Resources, and scion of the Chaudhry political family — sits down with Muzamil to talk about election rigging, dynasty politics, the case for a national economic roadmap, and why delaying elections will only make PTI stronger.
with Moonis Elahi
11 min read
From Wharton to Gujrat: the making of a reluctant politician
The episode opens with Muzamil tracing Moonis Elahi’s early life — a path that moves from Lahore American School to a brief, unhappy stint at Aitchison College (“it was more ratta-based and a lot of other things were happening”), back to American school, then to a graduation in Surrey, a community college in California, and finally a transfer to Wharton for a degree in management and marketing. The detour through Marymount Community College, Moonis explains, was accidental — he had planned a law degree in the UK, missed the US application deadlines, and had to rebuild his GPA from scratch. “The good thing about the American system is that you consistently get that chance to improve,” he says.
He returned to Pakistan in 2000 and walked straight into the family’s sugar mills in Punjab and Palia, which were being run by managers with little oversight. “Obviously it wasn’t efficient,” he says. “It took me some time but, alhamdulillah, we turned those around.” He was the first of the second generation to join the business. The family later split its holdings, and Moonis sold his stake in the sugar factory, moving into real estate and passive investments. He also helped set up a fresh-milk dairy business for his brother — a category that, at the time, was so unfamiliar that supermarkets like Jalal Sons and Al-Fattah refused to stock it. “You don’t compete with Nestlé,” he says, laughing. Five or six years later, the brand had broken even and was widely available across northern Pakistan.
Politics, he insists, was never the plan. “When you said doing everything quietly — that’s more of what I like to do. Just stay in the background, get things done. Because once you come into the limelight, it’s really hard to achieve things. Even experimentation is not possible anymore.”
The first election, the lost seat, and learning to sit in the counting room
Moonis entered politics formally in 2007, helping his father and eventually asking to contest a seat from Gujrat — his father’s own constituency — while also running in Lahore. His father kept deferring the conversation until Moonis enlisted his grandmother to force the issue. He won Gujrat without visiting it. In Lahore, he went to bed with a 2,600-vote lead and woke up having lost by 1,600.
“Do you think there was more than that?” Muzamil asks. “I don’t think — I know that,” Moonis replies.
The lesson stuck. “Every election after that, right after voting ends, I go and sit in the courtroom where all the results come in and the judges tally right in front of you. Because that is where most of the manipulations were done during earlier days.” In 2013, he called his father and uncle at 10 or 11 pm to tell them the results were already being controlled from one side — but that he had a 25,000-vote lead and they needed to hold their ground. They did, and won.
He is cautiously optimistic that this era of direct manipulation is ending. “Gone are the days. Unfortunately, Mian Sahab and Zardari Sahab — they’re still living in the old Pakistan. They have no idea that the whole environment has changed behind them.” The Punjab by-elections, he argues, proved the point: ballot stuffing happened, but the sheer volume of PTI support made it irrelevant.
Why Moonis crossed the floor — and why it wasn’t just ideology
The most politically charged section of the conversation concerns Moonis’s decision to side with PTI against the no-confidence motion, effectively defying the broader Chaudhry family position. Muzamil frames it as a moment of political courage that, in hindsight, looks prescient — but asks what it looked like at the time, when powerful voices were calling it political suicide.
Moonis is careful to resist a purely ideological framing. “It was a bit of everything. If I say it was just ideology, that wasn’t right. So it was pragmatism as well — knowing the Sharifs, knowing PM, knowing that we can work with him in order to achieve the goals.” The goals, he says, are constituency-level: Gujrat had stuck with PML-Q even when the Noon League tide was running strong, and “we owe them.”
His deeper reason is personal experience with the Sharifs. “Knowing the Sharifs — unfortunately the rest of my cousins and other generation haven’t dealt directly with them. I’ve been on the other side. And walking with them is impossible. They can’t walk with anyone.” He describes a final conversation with his uncle Chaudhry Shujaat — a man he credits with grooming his entire political career, someone who operates on “95% logic and 5% emotions.” On that day, he says, the ratio was reversed. “I said, you’re not saying this — something else is happening. He gave me that half smirk and I said, it is what it is.”
The PDM delay trap and PTI’s structural weakness
Later in the discussion, Muzamil and Moonis turn to the broader political landscape. Moonis’s read is blunt: the PDM government is making a strategic error by postponing elections. “The longer they linger on, the more PTI’s majority grows. If two-thirds is coming now, I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes three-fourths.” He attributes the post-April 9th surge in PTI support to a simple narrative: “The public has been convinced that these are all thieves, and they’ve all gathered against one man. And then in Punjab, one man stood alone.” People who are not necessarily PTI supporters are voting PTI because they have nowhere else to go.
Muzamil pushes on the succession question — a point he says he raised directly with Imran Khan on a previous episode. Moonis agrees it is a genuine vulnerability. “You’re absolutely right. Within PTI, I don’t find the structure for succession. It’s as simple as that.” The assassination attempt in Wazirabad, he says, made this fear visceral: “People were thinking — without Imran Khan, there’s nothing. It’s Imran or nothing. And that’s disastrous.” He draws a direct line: without a succession plan, evolution is impossible. “You don’t get evolution — you get disaster.”
On the question of whether a third political force could emerge, Moonis is sceptical in the short term. “Right now, today, there’s no space for anything else. It’s very black and white.” PDM’s unity, he argues, is entirely temporary — “their objective is achieved, then they’ll fight each other, because they can’t stand each other.” But he acknowledges a section of the public that is anti-establishment without being pro-PTI, and for whom no political home currently exists.
The economic roadmap nobody has agreed to sign
The conversation’s most substantive stretch is on economics. Muzamil raises Pakistan’s chronically low tax-to-GDP ratio and the Indonesia comparison: if Pakistan simply matched Indonesia’s ratio — a country with similar demographics and a comparable corruption history that undertook a governance reset in 1998 — it would generate an additional $13 billion in revenue. “You don’t have to go to the IMF. Government becomes self-sufficient.”
Moonis does not dispute the arithmetic. His prescription is a cross-party economic charter — a document all parties sign, committing to a ten-year roadmap that is insulated from political turbulence. “You can protest, you can do whatever you want, but at minimum the system should keep running. There should be a baseline agreement.” He uses the example of an exporter whose trucks were never stopped even during dharnas: “You need to evolve to that.”
On digitisation, he is unequivocal. “I absolutely support that.” He points to the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard and the rapid global exchange of financial data as forces that are already making it harder to hide money offshore. “Politicians come up first as PEPs. Escaping that has become difficult for anyone — which is a good thing.”
On amnesty, he draws a careful distinction. A one-time, broad-based amnesty is legitimate; repeated, sector-specific amnesties that exclude the very people — bureaucrats, politicians — who hold the most undeclared wealth are not. “You’ll be surprised the amount of money bureaucracy has. If you give them amnesty, bring them on board — they will do wonders for your system.” The PTI real estate amnesty, he implies, was the wrong kind: it pumped money into an asset class where construction barely followed, producing valuations that “make no economic sense.”
Bureaucracy, digitisation, and the file that never moves
Muzamil raises the dysfunction of Pakistan’s civil service — the bloated headcount, the politically motivated hirings, the paper files that travel between offices in a country where every office has internet access. Moonis describes his experience as Water Resources Minister: his ministry had gone fully digital, with files appearing on his desktop each morning, comments added and forwarded to the secretary the same day. When he came to Punjab and asked PITB to implement the same system, he was told the software already existed — nobody had just made anyone use it.
“Ideas were great, they’d happen, but then they just get lost and no one would remember them,” he says of the federal cabinet. “Then someone would remember, another meeting would happen, and then time would pass.” His current project is to give Punjab cabinet members tablets so they arrive at meetings already briefed, rather than carrying stacks of paper agenda items.
His broader point is structural: implementation is the bureaucracy’s job, not the politician’s. Politicians legislate and set frameworks. But bureaucrats will only implement if they feel protected — which means a liveable salary, a credible amnesty, and the assurance that their children can go to a decent school. “I am sure the whole system will improve and they’ll implement it. Otherwise, I saw in the federal cabinet — ideas were great but they just got lost.”
Dynasty politics and the natural expiry date
Muzamil raises the dynasty question directly — pointing to the Gandhi family’s collapse in India, the Rajapaksas fleeing Sri Lanka, and the growing public rejection of the Sharifs and Bhuttos in Pakistan. He asks Moonis how he sees his own family’s political future, and whether PML-Q will open itself up to internal democracy.
Moonis’s answer is more self-aware than expected. “Dynasties in Pakistan — you’ll get one chance, maybe two. After that, if you aren’t able to deliver, even your constituency won’t ask about you. Because Pakistan has changed.” He describes returning to Gujrat after the no-confidence vote, sitting with elderly constituents who told him, in Punjabi, that he had done something bold — and that people could see it. The implicit message: the public is now watching, and performance matters more than lineage.
He goes further. “If I am not capable enough to retain that name and to deliver to my people, I honestly don’t deserve to be an MNA from that constituency. That’s perfectly fine.” On the question of whether someone from outside the family could lead PML-Q, he says: “If there is someone who ticks all the boxes, keeps everyone together, and takes things forward — I would be the first one to give him my slot.” He draws the analogy to a family business that eventually needs professional management: “You take a back seat, derive your dividend, and the party keeps going. Your political capital keeps accumulating. There’s no problem in that.”
The Wazirabad attack and the limits of political control
By the end of the conversation, Muzamil asks Moonis to contextualise the assassination attempt on Imran Khan — which took place near Gujrat, with the FIR eventually registered in Wazirabad. Moonis gives a detailed, first-person account: he was in Gujrat without his phone when the shooting happened, returned to find missed calls from Hussain Nawaz Niazi and others close to Khan, arranged a helicopter within twenty to thirty minutes, and tracked the convoy’s live location to Kalashakaku before deciding the motorway landing was too risky given the crowd. The FIR ended up in Gujrat because that was the closest police station.
What followed — the videos, the apparent confusion, the questions about who was in control — he attributes partly to a police system that no government has ever fully controlled. “Has any government ever had full control over police in the history of police? This is a myth.” He describes a senior police officer claiming his system had been hacked, and his own response: “Give me the name of the SHO of the police station nearest your village. In the next twenty minutes, that same SHO will be posted to Wazirabad. You can get whatever FIR you want. Silence.” Nobody answered.
Muzamil closes by asking Moonis to describe Pakistan in 2050. His answer is economic, not rhetorical. “Economy is the only thing I’m concerned about. Once you have the economy figured out, the rest most definitely follows. Focus should only be on the economy. That should be set in stone. Everyone should know — this is what we follow. Ahead of that, do whatever politics you want.”
Full transcript
साला ख़वितिना वज़रात welcome back to another episode of thought behind things. आज हमारे साथ मौजूद है एक बहुत ही ख़ास मेहमान who up until recently मतलब up until recently क्या छह महीने पहले से वह बड़े खामोची से अपना काम कर रहे थे and then suddenly he was thrown into prominence of national importance and then all of Pakistan was wondering कि you know what's what's the background here? What's going on? So we thought we'd have this conversation. He has, you know, background in business and investments. But most recently, जो बड़ा एक area of interest रहा है, वह politics रहा है. And so we'd love to discuss all three. We have with us today मोनस इलाही, who was, you know, the minister of water resources in the previous government, and currently is an M and A, and is playing a very active role, in the current political climate in Pakistan. Sir, thank you so much for being part of the show. Thank you for having me. मोनीत भाई मैं थोड़ा सा conversation को start करूंगा. Just trying to understand a little bit of your early life. You know, where were you born and,
education वग़ैरह आपकी कैसी थी और कहां पर थी? So I was born here in लाहौर. फिर यहां से I went to लाहौर American school and I did my eleventh grade from here then I went Throughout आप American school में ही थे? Throughout American school में ना एक साल के लिए beach में HSN गया था that didn't work out well for me. A lot of people who who would come from your sort of political dynasty tend to be in HSN. Why did, why did that not work? It was more, I remember it was more, रट्टा based and a lot of, other things were happening in HSN. So I was अच्छा. I wasn't very convinced that this is the way I want my life to go. So I came back to American school. Mhmm. Finished, actually did up to eleventh here. I graduated from London. There's an American school there called TASUS. Right. In Surrey. So I graduated from there. Then, unfortunately, I had initially planned on doing a law degree from The UK. So I didn't apply to the college in in The US. But then, change of heart. तो मैंने कहा कोई system चल रहा ऐसी चलाते हैं. Mhmm. So then I because I missed the dates, I went to this community college in California. अच्छा. Marymount. So I did I actually had to work really hard there to improve my GPA and then I transferred. That's the good thing about American system that you get that chance to You consistently get that chance to be able to improve. And कितने अरसे के लिए थे आप महावत? I was there for a year and then I transferred into Wharton. Right. So I did my undergrad from there. Three years I got a degree in management and marketing. Right. And been back since that and, उसके बाद फिर काम है. But I wanted to do my masters but फिर, you know how families आ रही है ज़्यादा नहीं मिलती तो. I understand sir. अगर मैं आपसे पूछूं because this is going to be अगर मैं Pakistan में देखता हूं और बाहर देखता हूं तो एक बड़ा change in experience है. You know you were born into a family
where irrespective. आप कहें कि यार privileged हैं, सारा कुछ है but that's where you are, right? And but the American system is very different. And I'm sure those four years, must have been quite profound, you know, to be able to again, community college, very difficult both in terms of education and in terms of lifestyle. How do you remember those years? Well, the community college part was really good because a lot of the students in that college weren't actually interested in studying.
So I've got away with good grades there. When I was in Wharton, that was a little tough. Mhmm. Because, you know, at times you would get a 90, and that would out of a 100, and that would turn out to be c. Right. Or relative a So that was a little, eye opener for me. And, you know, it doesn't mean that if you get a 90 so you're, like, extraordinary or something. उसके बाद से once I came back तो obviously there's a lot. What you learn in college and university with start in classes is totally different. Especially in a place like Pakistan. Yeah. Where the system is tweaked, managed, cajoled into doing things. Eventually get a hang of it and then you try and get achieve the objective. Right and what year did you come back? I came back in 2000. 2000, ठीक है और उसके बाद immediately into the family business? I came back and I joined the sugar side of the family business and. उसमें a meal थी? Sugar meal. So we had two sugar meals. One was Punjab and पालिया and they were because both of, the elders शुजात साहब and पुरेश साहब were non existent kind of business whole businessman. तो managers were running the show और obviously wasn't efficient. Right. Took me some time but, अलम्दलाह, we turned those around. And you were the first from the second generation general businessman to join किया था? I was the first. And then my cousins and my brother, they also later joined. Right. So that's how it started. And then eventually, there was a split amongst the family, and the businesses were divided amongst the children. So we all went our own way. Right. And I sold my stake in the sugar factory and I made certain investments in, real estate and also in sugar but more passive.
Right. At this point in time अगर मैं आपसे पूछूं, I mean obviously politics is taking a lot of your time but in terms of really the revenue generation, what all are you sort of invested in? किस तरह से आपका चलता है पूरा system? So sugar is,
one of the main. Then there's obviously real estate as well. There are certain businesses that I am, owning jointly with my brother. But majority, he's he runs his own, dairy farm which I helped set him up, set it up for him. That was also another learning experience for Pakistan because at that time no one had heard of, fresh milk. Yeah. We'd see it abroad, but in Pakistan, no one had heard of it. And initially, I remember when we went to Jalal Sons and, Al Fattahs and we asked them to store this and sell it and they didn't know what to do there like no. हां हां. You don't compete in mid packs of the world. Right? Exactly. So with Nestle being there such a big player, it was really hard initially. But, it took us some time. Five, six years and then we broke even after that and अब तो I think I feel like प्रेमा at least Northern Pakistan में I haven't been down south उस्ताना से to to be able to see but Northern Pakistan में it's available everywhere and it's a it's a very well recognized,
brand उस्ताना से. Have you had gotten competition from other players in in this particular category के जो कि यह थोड़ा fresh fresh non preservative मिल का? Other players have come in but the first mover advantage is huge especially in this industry. So,
as people come in, we ramp up. It's a commodity business, you know, we need to scale up. So my brother keeps on doing that. So I think he's he's doing good on that Yeah. Plus he's also expanding with new products. So he's going downstream. Yogurt and flavored milk, लबंद. He's doing good job with that. And आपने politics generally किस time पर? What was the time when you decided? Because I'm, my understanding is that was never part of the plan or was it? Wasn't initially. You know, when you said that doing everything quietly, that's that's more of what I like to do. Just stay in the background, get things done. Because once you come in, in the limelight, it's really hard to achieve things. Yeah. Because all the focus is on you, so you need to be very careful of not doing this, not doing that, doing this. Even experimentation is not possible anymore. Exactly. And, you know, with, business background, it's all about experimentation. Try this. If it works okay, then try something else. Right. So, in 02/1967 is when I initially came into, politics. I started helping my father out, and then it just kind of grew and grew and grew, and then, the general elections came. So I asked my father that, you know, I I wanna contest. So there's I'm contesting from लाहौर, which is a new area for me. So can I have a seat from गुजरात? Your seat. So he's like, he'd always, say, yeah, we'll talk about it later. बाद में करेंगे, देखते हैं क्या होता है, करते हैं करते हैं करते हैं. So I involved my grandmother, my नानी into it. Then she had to call him in and tell him specifically that, you know, you're the chief minister. You can run from wherever you want. My grandson is gonna run on the on your seat. और यह आप Punjab Yes. Provincial provincial provincial assembly, MPS seat in February. What happened? So I won the one in गुजरात which I didn't visit. The one in लाहौर I had won by 2,600 and in the morning when the results came out I had lost by 1,600. अच्छा. Do you think there was more than that as well? I I didn't think I know that. So that was actually the first, experience that I had and every election after that right after voting ends, I go and sit in the courtroom. अच्छा. Where all the results come in and the judges tally right in front of you. Because that is where most of the manipulations were done during
earlier days. Do you think it's that easy to manipulate आजकल
के time के ऊपर? आजकल तो सारा mall change हो गया. PM में आकर ख़ासाब ने तो पुराना Pakistan सारा तोड़ दिया. अब gone are the days. See, unfortunately मिया साहब, दारी साहब, of them they're still living in the old Pakistan. They have no idea कि पीछे सारा माहौल change हो गया हुआ है. So अब it it won't be that easy manipulating, polling officers, polling agents,
returning officers. That story has changed now. And even if अगर कहीं पर manipulate हो जाता है do you think there are now mechanisms in place जिसके तहत आप identify कर सकते हैं कि यार यहां पर कुछ मसला होने की वह हो रही है. Again दो हज़ार अठारह में भी theoretically सब कुछ change हो गया था but again every party even PTI themselves थे कि यार नहीं you know रात के बाद सुबह जब हुई तो सब change हो गया, calls गए certain लोगों को and you know people were made to win seats. तो do you think कि, that part even without the electronic voting machine we can at least hope for a much more,
transparent election. Yes, I think this was very evident in the by elections in Punjab. तो पूरी कोशिश की गई है हर तरफ़ से. हर जगह पर जाली vote भी डलवाए गए हैं, बड़ा कुछ हुआ है. But at the end the people always been और इस बारी actually लोगों ने साबित किया कि आप जितने मर्ज़ी जाली vote डालो, वह inflow आवाम का इतना ज़्यादा था PTA की support में कि it didn't make a difference. Right. That's why they won and जहां जहां पर PM ने जाकर campaign की है, astounding results आए वहां पर. And so in terms of your you know two thousand eight का twenty seven का election till 2022 what's the political evolution been like? कहां कब कब आपने किया? Have you consistently won that time? So the first election that I lost or the only election that I have lost so far is the one from लाहौर because of what they did. So after that we became more vigilant and as I told you कि हर election पर जाकर मैं बैठ जाता हूं. दो हज़ार तेरह का election था उसमें noon league का So at around 10:11 I call my father and uncle. मैंने कहा जी यह अब काम कियों ओर से control हो रहा है तो result मेरे पास है. हम जीते हुए हैं. मेरी कोई थी I think, might be wrong but I think मेरी थी, पच्चीस हज़ार की lead थी अगर हम लोग खुद माना बैठ के पैरा देते तो वह seatऐं हमारी दोनों की नहीं निकलनी थी.
और यह चीज़ अब आप कह रहे हैं अब नहीं है because अगर यह तो जो बड़ी disappointing system है I mean as a as a voter why do we even have political system? If it's that easy कि यार भी जैसे बस आज decide किया call MLA and that's That's very unfortunate but अब you see this is what इमरान खान has changed. So he's brought that awareness into the system.
Everyone knows like you're talking about phone calls. Ten years ago we wouldn't be able to have this conversation. Now at least we can discuss up to phone calls. Not. We
can discuss up to that. Makes sense. And so 2013 you won that. Twenty eighteen में तो M and A की तरफ़ pick up थे and then you joined the cabinet as well. And then most recently मैं most recently पर आता हूं. जाहिर है क्या आज अगर hand side पर अगर देखा जाए तो it seems like a political choice you know you were smart enough to take the political choice because पूरी की पूरी जो थी वह movement, खान साहब की तरफ़ थी and so, you know, you in a way even going against party policy or at least the policy of your uncle, and saying कि नहीं जी हमने खान साहब के साथ खड़े होना है. आज तो वह समझ आता है but जिस time पर आप वह decision ले रहे थे उस time के ऊपर media as well as very powerful people were saying कि यार this politics is dead, this brand is dead and you are, you know, essentially doing political suicide.
If I were to ask you, why did you do it? What was the thought? So, initially, this whole thing started back, I think, in March. There was this function for my ministry, dams, ten years of dams in Pakistan. PM was the chief cashier. वहां पर initially what had happened few weeks before that was you'd meet MNNs and PTI and obviously the colleagues from different parties, people's party and we've been in coalition with them. So, I personally have some linkages there as well. But PMLN, I have had no personal link to any one of them. तो other than the people who were with us and then went to PMLN. तो you'd start getting these vibes from all of them कि जी कुछ हो रहा है तो कुछ check करना है. This, you know, this is how these things start. That's why उस piece में भी मैंने PM को यह कहा जी अपने बंदों को ना थोड़ा सा पक्का करें because they they felt neglected. Yeah. कि in Punjab they weren't getting development funds, posting transfers यही issues होते हैं जो कि technically होने नहीं चाहिए. He's my cousin, M and A from गुजरात. Right. तो मैंने कहा यार अब यह situation है तो आप अपने हल्के में भी check करो, मैं भी check करता हूं. उससे थोड़ी देर पहले generally हमारे हल्कों में और people, you know, PTI was on a downward trajectory. Yeah. ठीक है? और रहना चाहिए. तो मैंने कहा चलो फिर मैं अपने वाले तो convince करता हूं आप अपने वाले तो convince करो and that's make sure कि हम इधर ही रहे हैं. So it was largely driven by the public sentiment and and and what the like essentially identifying कि यार voter क्या चाहता है and then उसकी basis क्या फिर? वह voter तो बाद में आया ना जी. वह तो public sentiment जो proper बना है PTI का और खान साहब का वह तो बाद में बना है. उस time पर तो शुरू में नहीं था. वह that was more of कि यार अब इसके साथ खड़े हुए हैं, कोई ऐसी कोई वजह नहीं है. Mhmm. Because knowing the शरीफs, unfortunately the rest of my cousins and other generation haven't dealt directly with them. I've been on the other side और वह उनके साथ चलना ना मुमकिन है. वह किसी के साथ चाल ही नहीं सकते. Why why is that? Why do you think? That's the way they're built. जी किसी को प्रदाश नहीं करते और करते यह हैं कि ख़ुद कुछ नहीं करेंगे. एक तो इन्होंने ना businessman बांटे हुए आपस में दोनों भाइयों ने रान सुनावला और सादर्फीक और संमन को आपके साथ इस तरह की हरकत करें वहां पर.
बड़े मिया सब कोई, छोटे मिया सब कुछ करने के लिए. तो हम लोगों ने take that. Mhmm. तो So it was more like an ideological decision where you were like you know I'll I'll I'll take a an ideological stance and I'll I'll stick to it. And I think, sorry, yes. Sorry, go ahead. And I think that is what really put pushed the popularity as well. Because अगर मैं आपको भी देखूं तो you really came in national prominence after that. And and there's a huge public support then afterwards as well for for you guys, particularly you. अगर मैं आपसे पूछूं कि यार चलिए वह तो हो गया. Was that more of a a whim decision कि जी बस ठीक है एक decision लेना run time पर कर लिया. Do you think कि maybe that will begin to now reflect in your politics also going forward? कि ठीक है, the public clearly wants someone to take steps that may seemingly be unpopular but that stand with a certain ideology. वह जो है ना गंदी सियासत, random सियासत, you know बांट लिया, भाईचारा हो गया. जिसमें जो कि Pakistan का हम हमेशा देखते आ रहे थे और जो पढ़ाले Do you think that's going to reflect अगर मैं आपसे पूछूं? I'm not talking about the current times. I'm not talking about the PTI and the CAF League and the current situation. But in the longer run, how do you see politics evolving, you know, based on the recent events?
Whatever decisions you take in life they always have an effect way forward. तो that that's always gonna be there and it was bit of everything. If I say it was just ideology that wasn't right. So it was pragmatism as well knowing the शरीफ, knowing PM, knowing that you know we can work with him in order to achieve the goals और goals क्या होते हैं constituency politician के लिए कि यार मेरा हल्का ठीक हो जाए because at the end of the day people always neglect कि यार यही लोग हैं जिन्होंने मुझे vote दी है और उन हालात में vote दिया गुजरात ने जब noonli के रियाला चला हुआ था they still stuck with us तो we owe them. Mhmm. और वह there's only one way that we can actually pay back और वह कहते यार, ऐसा बहुत बेहतर है. वह बड़े पेड़न है. Those those were those were exact words जो हम कहते हैं. So why do you think you went the other way? I don't know. I I still need to have that discussion with him. I will, in शालाह one day. Have you had the conversation? Have you had a conversation with him? The last conversation I had with him was when I went to get him. So, you see, सुजाल साहब has trained me, my political life. As soon as I came back from, studying. तो business में भी ना एक meeting होती थी. वाला साहब को होता था यह बच्चा इसको, ज़रूरत नहीं है. तो वह he's groomed me, he's taught me a lot. तो और उनकी सारी teachings होने हैं they're all logic based. Right. There is like maybe 5% emotions and 95% logic in him. उस दिन जब मैं उनको लेने गया हूं ना तो it was 95 right, left, center. There was not even 5% logic. मैंने कहा पाऊंगी यह आप नहीं बोल रहे यह और चीज़ हो रही है. So he gave me that half smirk and I said ठीक है अभी.
It is what it is. That's what you want. इस वक़्त आपका क्या तब्सर आए? Why why is there this popularity? Because that's be very real. Pre vote of no confidence आपने ख़ुद भी यह बोला, आपके हल्के के लोग भी यह कर रहे थे. Mostly हम देख रहे थे कि, public at large was not as happy with the PTI government, as they are now. Not happy but at least वह support base नहीं थी. दरमियान में था. Question था कि दो हज़ार तेईस का election वह जीतेंगे, नहीं जीतेंगे. देख ही जाएगी आने वाले वक़्त में क्या होता है. Overall जो performance थी, जो expectation versus reality थी, I think they they hadn't, you know, lived up to that what was sold. Overselling and under delivering हो गई थी थोड़ी सी. But then now अगर हम actually देखें तो on ground there is a huge shift and वह हमने April 9 को leaderless जब public निकली तो उसके बाद हमने देखा. Why do you think, this sudden change of heart happened?
I think convince the public कि यार यह एक चीज़ established है चोर और वह सारे इकट्ठे हो गए हैं, एक बंदे के खिलाफ इकट्ठे हो गए हैं और फिर then Punjab में जो एक है ना एक बंदा केला रह गया, खड़ा हो गया, मौला झट. अब आपने देखा कितनी successful होगी. तो वह वह are they're anti these three elements. Right. But they have nowhere else to go. Yeah. तो वह उनको obviously दूसरे side पर अगर खांसाब खड़े तो वह एक charm तो है. Logically उस तरफ़ जाएंगे वह because of a lack of
अगर इस तरह से public exist करती है जो कि averse है with the conventional parties, they're not necessarily supporters of the PTI. Right now they're it's more like कि यार we were so averse to the other side that we'd go with PTI. Why do you think a third party hasn't emerged? And when I say third party, obviously, एक party, PDM ने अपने आप को जब एक party कर ही लिया तो मैंने उसको एक party कर दिया, एक PTI को कर लिया. दरव्याण ने बहुत सारी public है जो कह रही है कि अच्छा यार, you know, there's that side and there's that side. Maybe I I believe different things. And so, you know, why is there no option for me? And national level के ऊपर हमें वह एक third force होती हुई नज़र. आजकल तो I understand it's a right and wrong वाला. एक black and white हुआ हुआ है. Like, everybody So says they're you have to take those two sides. But in the in the grand scheme of things, do you think इसको मैं सवाल को दो तरीक़े से कर देता हूं. Why do you think there hasn't been a third third, potential force? And दूसरा, do you think there's an opportunity, for a third force आने वाले वक़्त के अंदर? You know, अगर PTI two third जीत भी जाती है तो अगर अभी तो मुझे ऐसा लग रहा है कि जो opposition है, जो current government है वह अगर opposition में आती है तो they're gonna be very weak. And so even opposition में there's a requirement for an alternate force.
So you see अभी यह जो इकट्ठे हुए हैं मैंने this is all temporary PDM. Their day their objective is achieved इन्होंने आपस में लड़ना है क्योंकि एक दूसरे को थे प्रदाश वैसी नहीं करते. वह तो एक आ जाना है. इस वक़्त आज की date में there's no space for anything else. As you said, it's very black and white. आगे जाकर बनती या नहीं बनती. You see the way things change in Pakistan weekly now, it's really hard to predict something. तो आगे जाकर पता लगे कि आप बनती हैं कि नहीं बनती but there is a certain section of the public which thinks exactly the way you're saying कि who necessarily aren't pro इमरान but they're anti this lot and they have nowhere else to go. Yeah.
How do you think अगर मैं आपसे पूछूं politics को change होते हुए आपने देखा दो हज़ार आठ से आप देख रहे हैं. दो हज़ार बल्कि पांच छह से I think you were actively participating on the ground, right? आपने politics को कैसे बदलते देखा? Particularly in the context of जो आजकल बहुत ज़्यादा oft repeated term है कि जी youth की बड़ी एक दो चीज़ें बड़ी ज़्यादा होती हैं कि बहुत बड़ी youth population है जो कि first time voter के तौर पर हर election में एक नया chunk आया है और दूसरा यह है access to information. We're seeing a very different world where again आपने कहा थी वह पुराना Pakistan वाले जो हैं वह अभी तक उसी दुनिया में जी रहे हैं. हालांकि अब आप कोई अगर game खेलने की कोशिश भी करते हैं तो वह तीन से पांच minute के अंदर TikTok, Twitter हर जगह पर फ़ैल चुकी होती है. Narrative building, narrative को control करना वह सब बदल गया है. And so how do you see politics having evolved considering you've been part of, you know, street politics for the past twenty years I believe?
एक तो it has grown a lot. Lot of people get involved now और जो नए लोग आ रहे हैं ना उनमें aggression बहुत है. जबकि आए हैं इनसे deliver क्या होगा? कोई किसी एक sector में कुछ नहीं deliver नहीं कर सके. अगर इनकी किसी जगह भी delivery होती है ना तो then they would have something to sell to the general public which is the main reason why they don't want an early election. So they want कि यार हमें साल मिल जाए और उसको भी हम assembly में amendment लाकर तो साल और extend करा दें. Mhmm. ताकि तब तक इनको लगता है ग्राफ़ नीचे हो जाए. यह एक और ग़लती है इनकी. अब जितना यह delay करेंगे ना उतनी majority बढ़नी है BTI की. तो अगर अभी इनकी two thirds आ रही है ना, अगर यह इन्होंने और linger on किया तो I wouldn't be surprised three fourth साल जाए. Mhmm.
यह बस कह रहे हैं. And and follow up with that. आपने कहा जितना youth है, participate कर रही है, aggression में आ रही है. Again, what I'm trying to understand is कि this voter versus the voter of the old, क्या वही है? Do you think it's the same fundamentally? Do do you think they respond to the same things? They respond to the same sloganeering. I'm trying to get a picture of how देखिए, everybody is focused on the now. Right? What's going to happen right now? And मैं थोड़ी सी अगर उस तरह से image build करूं कि मैंने अभी recently I took out the National Assembly का page and I took the ages of all the, M and As and whatnot and अगर मैं आज से पंद्रह से बीस साल बाद जाऊं ना तो एक कुदरत का निज़ाम ऐसा है कि 70% of those people would would would not be participating in politics any anymore for one reason or the other. They may have passed on or so on. And so there there will be a new leadership that may have emerged, in a new system. The biggest question for a lot of young people is because right now मैं आपको honestly बताऊं March के बाद से the feeling of hopelessness is very real. You have either two camps. Either the people जो कि इस aggressive हैं तो वह कोशिश कर रहे हैं, वह लड़ रहे वह long marches पर जा रहे हैं, जो भी कर रहे हैं. Actually three हैं चलिए एक तरफ़ आपके certain amount PDM को भी support कर रहा होगा और एक तीसरा है जो कह रहा है कि यार इस मुल्क का कोई scene नहीं है और हमने निकलना है and and the amount मैं आज ही देख रहा था GHA में I was driving तो वह एक add चल रहा था कि Portugal में property ख़रीदें और अपनी जो है जी residency ले लें and and this is happening a lot left, right and center people are throwing the money out and getting the passport and and looking to leave and that despondency is very disappointing obviously, right? कि ठीक है चीज़ें होती रहती हैं but up and down time आता but the idea that that this is it for for me and for Pakistan for a large part of let's say your middle and upper middle class is a very damaging situation and so unless we we are able to give them an image of कि यार देखो पंद्रह बीस साल बाद इस तरह की future दिखेगा वह बड़ा मुश्किल हो जाएगा. And so I'm trying to understand leadership emerge कौन सी करेगा और इसी में मैं एक element यह भी add करूंगा कि जब मैं PTI को देखता मैंने ख़ान सबसे podcast पर यह सवाल किया था. I don't see a succession plan. अभी भी अगर मैं देखूं तो mostly public is responding to इमरान ख़ान. They're not responding to PTI. And come what may, once he leaves, there is going to be an incredibly huge vacuum in the political system. How do you see this entire situation?
It's, you know, it's actually too early to make any kind of call. But the way things are जब होगा तब देख लेंगे क्या बनता है. But you're absolutely right जितने professional हैं सुकद, they are either on their way out or they actually want an exit strategy out of Pakistan because they see कि हमारे बच्चे हैं चलो जबरदस्ती पढ़ाकर अच्छे schoolओं में हमने कर कराकर कर ली है but आगे इनका क्या future है? हमने तो नौकरी कर ली है या कर रहे हैं तो want something better for our children. So unless the system is reset, all of it, I honestly don't think कि there is another way. There's there's no quick fix to all of this. एक दो ही reset होगा थोड़ा time लगेगा but you need to जैसे आप evolution की बात करो you need to evolve to a better system. सारी societies में ऐसे होता जैसे कोई अनहोनी चीज़ नहीं है. हमारा unfortunately एक है कि जी reset का मतलब यह है कि सुबह मैं उठूं, सारा कुछ ठीक होगा. वह हो नहीं सकता, possible नहीं है. It'll take time. Right and अगर आप evolution की बात करें तो are you hopeful कि यह positively evolve करेगा? या आपको लगता है कि यह वापस उस तरफ़ जा सकता है जिस तरफ़ से हम आए? नहीं, I'm very hopeful because you see इसमें सिर्फ़ आप और हम stakeholders नहीं और stakeholders भी हैं. Eventually सारे stakeholders ने बैठकर इसका कोई हल निकालना है because जितना हमारी lives को effect करता है, जलन public ही करता है, सबके घरों में issues ही बने हुए हैं और hopelessness business community में बहुत ज़्यादा है. वह obviously they drive biggest chunk of the economy. तो वह वहां पर चीज़ें और वह सारा perception based है. Perception आपने देना है India की हम पहले भी बात कर रहे थे India के actual law and order की situation बहुत ख़राब है. एक perception उन्होंने दिया हुआ है. वह perception is selling. Yeah. यहां पर थोड़ा सा perception बेहतर कर दिया. हमारे fundamentals actually India से बहुत बेहतर है. Mhmm. Because जितना कि जितना farming है, उसमें India में जो subsidies मिलती हैं हम तो यहां देते ही नहीं हैं. तो we can actually be more competitive. जब raw material आपका बेहतर वन सकता आगे उसको आप process करो तो और बेहतर चीज़ें अच्छी सस्ती जल्दी बना सकते हो. Mhmm. आप sugar में रहे हैं sugarcane. Just going to add a side note here. I've spoken to people,
you know, policy side के ऊपर and they said कि sugar का एक Pakistan में मसला यह रहा है कि जो sugar मिले हैं उनके licenses जो हैं वह basically scarcity create हुई हुई है. Which is why which gives a lot of power to the sugar mill owners कि वह जो है वह price के ऊपर जो growers हैं उनको, control करते हैं और वह कहते हैं कि जी जी के हम ख़रीदेंगे ही नहीं. अगर तुम्हें इस price पर नहीं दोगे, they're the the growers are essentially losing out on their sugarcane.
Do you think कि अगर, licensing open हो जाए, जिसने खोलनी है, जहां खोलनी है, खोले, open free market हो, that would be better overall for the industry. That is better. Competition is always good. होना चाहिए ऐसे और to be honest, we are actually working on that. But इसमें थोड़ा सा एक चीज़ यह factor in करें कि जो sugar mill owners की अब बात कर रहे हैं ना, यह आपस में लड़ते रहते हैं सारा होगा. तो grower को एक advantage रहता है, आपस में लड़ते हैं जो बेहतर rate देता है उधर ले जाता है. Government एक support price fix करती है but that's a minimum. उस पर कोई भी गंदा नहीं लेता, उससे ज़्यादा ही होता है. एक issue आ जाता as a business जब आप अपनी input cost देखो और आपकी product की cost देखो, फिर जा रहा है आपने उसमें अपने expenses load on करना है और आगे profit भी load on करना है. तो उसके बाद जो price निकलती है वह totally different है. Government के mind में different आती है, grower के mind में different आती है. Mhmm. तो आजकल हो यह रहा है कि उसको चीनी में convert करने की conversion cost क्या है? और आगे कितना profit जो है वह आप अगर decide करना शुरू कर देगी ना government तो कोई business flourish नहीं कर सकता. Government अगर KKG आपने इतने पैसे बनाने हैं या इतने नहीं बनाने तो उससे तो बेहतर government ख़ुद business take over कर ले. But वह unfortunately sugar का यह जो आपने बात की है ना जी कि limited ज़रूर रही है. KP में मेरा ख़याल है कोई ban नहीं है, काफ़ी सालों से नहीं है but वहां कोई नहीं मिल लगी नहीं. क्योंकि लोग देखते हैं barrier to entry भी है इसमें. उतना बड़ा नहीं है जितना cement का है but it is still there. Mhmm. But लोगों का दिल करता है. हम सोच रहे हैं Punjab में ना खोल दें एक दफ़ा competition होने दें. सारों को बल्कि
actually sugar industry को suit करता है कि सत्तर अस्सी मिलों के बजाय कोई डेढ़ दो सौ मिले हों तो जा रहा आपकी lobby उतनी बड़ी हो जाती It makes more sense as a business. Yeah and अगर इसी के बाद में connect करके I talk about agriculture this is an oft repeated against statement as well that agriculture in Pakistan is not taxed. How do you feel about the taxation regime and the overall economics of agriculture in Pakistan? Because I feel like that's a very broken system. We have one of the lowest yields in the world. But एक, very inefficient. Mostly और इसके जो है ना जो यह one fit solutions होते हैं कि यार यह बड़े landowners से ले लो, तोड़ दो, छोटे farmers को दे दो या you know aggregate कर दो या जो भी whatever. It's not as simple as that. The fact is कि agriculture globally the way that it's going is is very different compared to Pakistan में एक पुराने वक़्त के तरीके से चल रही है. And the reason why I'm talking about agriculture is एक तो यह कहा जाता ना कि Pakistan के लिए बड़ी एक important economy का हिस्सा है, backbone है. But more than that actually पढ़े लिखे circles में भी अब यह बात आना शुरू हो गई है कि दो हज़ार पच्चीस तक water scarcity आ रही है. दो हज़ार पच्चीस से तीस में globally post Russian Ukraine war एक potential food crisis emerge करने वाला है और उसके अंदर जाहिर है कि हमारे लिए crisis situation भी है. हमने we have a large population we have to feed and so we have to make sure that we're we're, growing the right amount of food to feed our people but also एक opportunity भी है कि if we are able to fix our agri agri supply chain and production तो आने वाले वक़्त में जब shortages आएंगी and pricing change होगी तो उसके अंदर हम, you know, as a as a potential export market we can benefit
from it. How do you see the agriculture sector in Pakistan? So you talked about what is scarcity? We did some work on building new reservoirs especially कालाबाग़ dam जो है. You can name it सिंध dam since ज़्यादा issue आता है तो वह issue मैंने बल्कि सिंधवालों को मैंने offer भी की थी. तो वह कालाबाक़ dam उनको को तो become very jittery all of them. तो उनको मैं यह logic यह बता रहा था यार आप बनने दो dam. उसका जो वहां dam है ना सारा हम sinth खोज देते हैं. Punjab won't be involved anywhere ताकि जो आपको डर लगता है ना कि beach में से पानी निकल जाएगा. मतलब वह पानी plus extra पानी आपने समुद्र में बहा देना है but अपना भला भी नहीं करना. तो that didn't make any sense. फिर जायदा मेरे पास ministry थी so I digged in a little deeper. You know. हम क्या कर सकते हैं? There's not much that we can do about it. तो ये issues हैं but इनको address नहीं करेंगे तो ये कैसे होंगे? You see river की एक side पर सारे आपकी बेड़ेरे बैठे हुए हैं, दूसरी side पर मज़ारे बैठे हुए हैं. अगर This is the kind of problem और इस तरह की चीज़ें जब मैं reset की बात करता हूं ना यह major structural changes हैं जो Pakistan में आपको करने पड़ेंगे. जब आप इस तरह की structural changes की बात करते हैं do you think amendment
to the constitution जिस तरह हमने एक एक British system को लिया और उसके अंदर for a lack of better word JP आने गई. Do you think कि हमें एक नए social contract की ज़रूरत है? एक एक potentially I'm going there but एक नए constitution की ज़रूरत है? If not a new constitution, a new social contract where we we really look in words and find identify our problems जो कि बहुत different है साफ़ सी बात है अगर हम कहें कि यार हम किसी भी और country का एक निज़ाम as it is उठाएं और लाकर Pakistan में फेंकने वह seemingly चलेगा तो उसको मैं context cultural context and वह सारा missing होता है. So maybe you know cooler heads need to sit down together and figure out कि यार ठीक है at the end of the day problem एक है. वही है कि लोगों की ज़िंदगियां इतनी अच्छी नहीं हैं and so let's figure out how can we begin to solve that because अगर वह नहीं हम कर रहे तो we're we're we're going towards a disaster. And if there is a disaster then nobody is making money. आप corrupt हो, आप अच्छे हो, आप बुरे हो. So so do you think we need a radicalized
reset की जिस तरह से आपने बात की जिसमें एक नए constitution, एक नए social contract की ज़रूरत है? इसी constitution को आप ठीक कर सकते हो. जैसा eighteenth amendment है. I personally feel that needs to be repealed. उसमें चीज़ें अच्छी हैं but concept यह था ना कि सुबों को आप Right. अब वह नहीं दे रही. वह कहते हैं हां नहीं देना हमें. You know what are we gonna do पता है? वह तो इस तरह की चीज़ें जो है glitches हैं system में बहुत जो बेहतर होने वाले हैं plus आपकी curriculum है. वह एक national curriculum होना चाहिए जो सारे सुबह में एक ही पढ़ाया जाए. यह नहीं होना चाहिए कि Punjab में PTI government है, मैं इमरान खान साहब को पढ़ाना शुरू कर दूं. उधर सिन्ध में votoism पढ़ाना शुरू कर दूं. इस तरह होना नहीं चाहिए, एक national curriculum होना चाहिए. फिर आपकी simple simple चीज़ें हैं आपकी engineering के sectors हैं, boiler expert, explosion यह इस तरह की explosives department यह सारी चीज़ें national level पर होनी चाहिए इनको सुबू में होना ही नहीं चाहिए. You need to see what works and what not, what not. तो जो the things that work उनको आप implement करो, जो नहीं करती उनको change कर लो और वह बैठकर ही होगा through dialogue होगा. वह इस तरह हो नहीं सकता कि हम अपना कर दें तुम अपना कर लो.
जब भी इस तरह के reforms की बात की जाती है, मैं अगर PTI के tenure को देखूं तो मेरे हिसाब से one of the worst decisions that they took was the amnesty scheme particularly for the real estate sector. जब आप जाकर देखते हैं कि जी पैसा pump हुआ real estate sector में जहां पर construction बहुत कम हुई और property valuations अगर आप सलाह बात के में आकर देखें तो it makes no economic sense. कि plot की price क्या है? उसके ऊपर cost of construction क्या है? उसको आप जितने में बेचोगे तो construction वाला तो उसकी कोई economic sense बना ही नहीं सकता. It's just that bitcoin in a real estate situation was happening, right? And so, होता क्या है कि even if मैं कहता हूं कि, you know, खान साहब had the best of intentions, you know, you tend to be surrounded by people who are looking at कि, you know, they have they have their own set of interests. And so, जिनको वह फिर कहते हैं mafia, how do you maneuver through that as a politician? जाहिर, आप मैं गत्रु जी आपको CM ship मिलती है, PM ship मिलती है. आपके बड़े अच्छे वह ख़याल आते होंगे. मिफ़्ता साहब को मैं बड़ा respect करता हूं you know I spoke to him before the VONC and he had some very cool ideas and when he came to power he had he tried to implement some of those ideas as well but उनकी अपनी party से आपने देखा कि you know it was a disaster. तो Pakistan में you know बातें कहना और implement करवाना not just from कि यार वह opposition बुरी है वह कर रही है इस तरह. आपकी अपनी party में लोग जो हैं वह nobody inherently wants to change. It's just it's good political point scoring and so how do you maneuver through that?
See, just political point scoring is not gonna work anymore. Those they are absolutely gone. अब जो deliver करेगा और जिससे उम्मीद होगी deliver करने की वही आगे चल सकता है अपने amnesty की बात की. Honestly I feel amnesty is not a bad thing but बार बार लाना is a very bad thing. एक दफ़ा लेओ और जो critical sectors हैं उनको आप exclude ना करो. Bureaucracy को आप exclude ना करो. ठीक है? You'll be surprised the amount of money bureaucracy has and और अगर amnesty लेते हैं उनको tax ज़्यादा कर लो. Politicians को exclude ना करो. जो member parliament है उस पर देख लो या जो government में बैठे हैं उस पर you can debate कि उनको करना है नहीं करना. अब बोलते हैं उनको भी करना है दो. एक दो पैसा वापस आकर system नहीं आएगा ना इधर ही लगेगा. हां. लगने दो उसके बाद कैसे निकालेंगे वह? Right. चलता रहा चल चलने दें. इसी तरह economy आपकी चलनी है. तो वह amnesty में से जब आप वह दो segments निकालकर specific एक real estate को दे दो या किसी को दे दो that's wrong. It should be across the board और बाकी sectors को भी दो. मुझे याद है जब during our last days एक proposal बना था, हल्का से discuss हुआ था कि जी जिन लोगों ने industry लगानी है, they can avail a certain amnesty. Yeah. कि if you as long as you put an equity तो no questions will be asked. This is a good thing. Eventually एक industry लगती है, thousands of households get affected positively, एक income generate होती है और उनका system चल पड़ता है तो हर level amnesty in principle एक आद दफ़ा होनी चाहिए. यह नहीं कि हमारी government आई, हम कर लें, अगली आई तो वह कर लें और जिनको देनी चाहिए जहां से actually आपने पैसे लेना उनको आप exclude कर रहे हो. Mhmm. Overall going forward जो आप बात कर रहे हैं मुझे honestly नहीं समझ आता जब तक यह बैठकर आपस में एक दफ़ा clarity से decide ही ना करते. So we had this discussion somewhere at a certain level. तो मैंने मशवरा वहां पर यह दिया था कि जी अगर आप लोग बिठा लेना सारों को, सारी जमातों को, सारे sign off कर लें कि the next five years, ten years this is our economic road map. हम वापस में लड़ेंगे. गालगुलोज करेंगे, एक दूसरों को jailओं में भी डालेंगे, मारेंगे भी सारा कुछ करेंगे. कि यह exporter का pass है तो उनके truck कोई नहीं रोकता था. चाहे जो जिस मर्ज़ी का धरना हो वह उनका system चल रहा था. तो you need to evolve to that. You can protest, you can do whatever you want लेकिन कम से कम system चलना चाहिए. कोई एक baseline है जिसके ऊपर agreement होनी चाहिए ताकि country का कोई plan होना चाहिए ना country का? और वह economic plan होना चाहिए. See everything comes after that. अगर आप because अब यह हम लोग अभी भी पुराने Pakistan पुरानी दुनिया में बैठे हुए हैं किसी nuclear है, मज़ाइल कठे कर लो, यह कर लो. दुनिया change होगी है. It's all economic warfare now. Yeah. और India is where it is because of that. Yeah. You mentioned amnesty
and and and and bringing money into the system. You know we saw in India with the UPI and the demonetization. वह एक at least इस तरह से ले आए कि पूरे निज़ाम को digitize कर दिया. जब digitize कर दिया आप बहुत सारी चीज़ें कर सकते हैं. Pakistan is one of the lowest tax to GDP ratio. Most recently you know someone shared कि अगर Pakistan का tax to GDP ratio Indonesia वाला भी हो जाए which is essentially a middle income growing economy and and Pakistan से बड़े similar उसके demographics हैं, culturally भी बड़े corruption में भी वह हमारे जैसे ही थे at a time. उसमें और वह उन्होंने भी एक charter essentially draw out किया था nineteen ninety eight के अंदर जिसमें उनका निज़ाम थोड़ा सा change हुआ था. Historically वह Pakistan वाला निज़ाम चला रहे थे. उस charter के बाद उनकी growth जाहिर अब को यह नहीं again के page पलटावर अगले दिन सब set हो गया but अगर हमने देखा कि उसके बाद के 98 से लेकर 2008, 2018 and then what twenty four years? Twenty four years में they've been able to grow much more rapidly. तो उस तरह से अगर हम Pakistan में you know वह करें, discipline करें, एक तो अपने white करें economy को तो Indonesia का अगर हम tax GDP ratio connect करें Pakistan के साथ तो $13,000,000,000 extra हमारे generate होते हैं, right? You don't have to go to the IMF, you don't have to do this or that anything. Government is will become self sufficient. The fact is हम दस बातें बोलते हैं कि you know government अच्छी नहीं है, बुरी है, यह है, वह है but the fact is कि Pakistan में people don't pay taxes और इसमें मैं यह भी नहीं कह रहा कि नहीं जी वह लोग उसका counter यह देंगे कि वह तो GST की मद में ले लेते हैं या वह indirect taxation कर लेते हैं. Overall the number of amount of tax that you get as opposed to your GDP is is very low. उसको भी fix करने के लिए you need to first understand कि आपके economy में पैसा move कैसा कर रहा है and उसके लिए digitization बड़ी important है. सुनने में, conventionally सुनने में यह आता है कि you know जो हमारे निज़ाम में लोग बैठे हुए businessman you know, money laundering का हमने scam सुना वह इस तरह की चीज़ें आसानी से हो जाती हैं. Do you support a call for digitization and a potential demonetization of cash in Pakistan?
And what repercussions do you think that could have in in in the country? I absolutely support that बल्कि अब जो दुनिया जिस तरफ़ चली गई है with CRS और OECD ने जो जो systems यह लोग लेकर आए हैं, globally all economies, all tax systems are kinda connected. तो वह except with Americans of course. Yes. तो वह data exchange इतना rapid और इतनी इतना ज़्यादा हो रहा है कि अब कोई निकल नहीं सकता उसे. तो politicians वह सबसे पहले आ जाते हैं ना as a pep. फिर एक term इन्होंने निकाली है active pep. Right. So वह अब उसके बाद बचना जो है ना वह मुश्किल हो गया किसी के लिए भी. तो which is a good thing. Right. Pakistan में सबसे बड़ी जो hindrance आ रही है ना जी, अभी भी और आगे भी आएगी वह है आपकी bureaucracy. So, coming back to my earlier point, if you give them an amnesty, bring them on board. They will do wonders for your system. Right. But they need to know that you know we are protected. मेरी जो basic salary है वह इतनी है जिसमें मैं by the तरीके से ख़ुद भी गुज़ारा कर सकता हूं. अपने बच्चों को अच्छे school, BKNOW's, grammar school किसी जगह भेज सकता हूं and I can see a future for them. Right. I am sure वह भी system सारा ठीक हो जाएगा और implement तो उन्होंने करना है. Politicians ने तो basic idea देना आपको हमने legislation करनी है पर. प्रेमाल बनाने हैं. हां. Actually implementation तो उनकी है. वह और वह I think they would come on board अगर उनको आप तरीके से ले आओ system में. Otherwise I saw this in in the federal cabinet वाला I was sitting there. Ideas बड़े अच्छे थे, होते थे but then they just get lost and then no one would remember them. Yeah. उसके बाद ख़याल आता था यार उसका क्या बनाए? फिर केंद्र किसी को आ जाता था, दुबारा meeting हो जाती थी and then बीना गुज़र जाता था. तो वह implementation वाली side पर बड़ा important है जी bureaucracy को in करना. और अगर आप bureaucracy की बात करें I remember I had a you know I was
working in a in a sense with the government and I I I saw first hand कि यार यह कितना What a lot of people say इसके इंतिहास ज़्यादा bloated, एक machinery exist करती है जिसमें hundreds of thousands of people भरती हुए में mostly political भरतियां हुई नहीं हैं. People who are not qualified first of all, second of all are not even capable in a lot of ways. And भर्तियां ऐसी हुई नहीं हैं. मुझे याद है मैं तेमुल झगड़ा साहब से बात कर रहा था. उन्होंने कहा यार हमारी British AirAir का system चल रहा है. तो उन्होंने कहा एक भर्ती हुई हुई है. This is your money going into essentially bailing out people for doing absolutely This is bloat and this reflects directly on the politicians and so I'm confused why the politicians have not been I mean this is आप हर जगह से angle निकाल सकते हैं. आप कहते हैं यार politician जो है ना वह real estate को reign in नहीं करता because उनके शायद अपने connections हैं, उनका अपना कोई interest है. Bureaucracy का तो कुछ नहीं है ना. वह तो आपको फ़ायदा है. आप अगर bureaucracy को efficient कर दें तो आपका vote bank जो है वह बेहतर होगा. आप services का अगर services आपने आप corruption कर रहे हैं, आप corruption कर रहे हैं. आप बेहतर services दे दें तो लोग automatically आपके पास आ जाएंगे. But bureaucracy is is is an incredibly tough nut to crack. Why do you think that so? And you've been in the उठा लिया police ने आकर और इधर यह हो गया और उधर वह हो गया and a of people are saying कि यार यह किस किस्म की PTI या pro PTI government है Punjab के अंदर जो कि अपनी bureaucracy को ही अपनी police को ही नहीं कर पाती. And so what how does this entire system work On a macro? And then on a micro right now, what's going on with the with the police and and and, you know, the lack of control there?
So I personally think बड़ा inefficient system है. Coming from the corporate world, it's redundant, inefficient और at certain point it gets useless. एक एक file है, वह move around होती है हर department. होगी वापस CMO से आई. उसके बाद इन्होंने approve कर दी, फिर दुबारा MacMom जाती है. Mhmm. कि वह बाकी चीज़ें रुक जाएंगी. तो unless we know you know you're here for a couple of months तो आप repercussions कभी फिर आप इलाज कर लेते हो. तो वह उसी लिए कुछ चीज़ें तो अभी नहीं हो रही but eventually हो जाएंगी यह. ऐसी कोई चीज़ मुझे अभी तक नज़र नहीं आई which can't be fixed.
I mean it again boggles my mind that in the age of the Internet and and and technology, you need individuals to pick up a file and take it to another office. When every office is connected to the Internet, why don't, why isn't there a mechanism like
an ERP of government जिसके अंदर आपने जो भी बनाया हो वह आपने बना दिया and then immediately it's when it's done तो वह automatically ping करके दूसरे के उस पर आ गया. उन्होंने एक उसको write off देना वह ping करके तीसरे पर आ गया नहीं So we had this system in place in federal cabinet. अभी मेरी water ministry में यह system था. मैं रोज़ सुबह आकर देखता था जो file है मेरे desktop पर होती थी. I'd give my comments and I'll send it off to the secretary. Fully digital? Fully day. वह आगे process हो जाता है. Even manual भी आती थी जो prime minister office से आती थी. कईयों पर sign off करना पड़ता था but mainly सारा digital हो गया था. यहां पर आकर मैंने कहा PITB से की बात. PITB कहती है कि हमारा तो बना हुआ already but आकर कोई implement नहीं करा. तो I had this conversation with, the cabinet secretary, people at the CM house and they're like जी बड़ा अच्छा idea. उसके बाद जो है ना वह मैंने कहा चलो यार शुरू करें इसको. वह जी करते हैं, अच्छा यह tablet होते हैं, यह यह किस चीज़ पर चलता जी, इसको कैसे करना है? मैंने कहा यार आपकी पहले training कर देंगे सारों की. So we are implementing that और हमारी कोशिश है कि hopefully the next cabinet meeting we give them, tablets so they come, the cabinet members can come prepared. They can just sift through everything instead of इतने इतने it's a waste of paper as well. आपको भी देखे हैं ना हर एक एक agenda item इतना इतना stack होता है. तो वह they can just sift through give comments and get on with it. Federal cabinet में यह ख़ासाब ने कर दिया था. यहां पर भी हमारा दिलाई करें but that'll be the first step. Eventually goal यही होना चाहिए कि एक summary initiate हुई है. आपको sight मिल जाए ना कि कितनी देर आपने बैठना है. यहां पर two third की भी ज़रूरत नहीं है. यहां पर two third की ज़रूरत नहीं है. You just need a comfortable government and. Just need a government मतलब comfortable तो हम उस तरह भी नहीं हुए like very thin. We're building a task force on that as well and we're actually building a narcotics force as well जो कि police based ही हो जिसना CTD आपकी उसके साथ मिलकर police के साथ जाकर raids करें, रोके इस चीज़ को और इसमें एक और चीज़ जो हम interesting कह रहे हैं ना जो पहले किसी ने नहीं की, वह यह है कि we're bringing in the schools and the colleges as well. So if you're a school owner, if you own a college, you're gonna be held liable if drugs are sold on your premises. Oh, interesting. ताकि उनका अपना interest आएगा ना उनको बोला Stay up to then police essentially और जो कि community policing is the most generally the effective form of police. मतलब as a business owner if I a school owner और मुझे पता है कि यार एक liability खड़ी हो जाएगी अगर यहां से drugs निकलते तो I'll be personally liable. I might go to jail. I'll be more careful. I'll make sure कि there are extra security and monitoring. Makes sense. Tell me about South Punjab,
because जाहिर है कि आप लोगों के case में तो I don't know if it's good, bad. Do you support it? Do you not support it? Generally तो यह consensus है कि, you know, making more provinces. Considering eight province के अंदर population जो है वह आपकी सारी provinces से combined ज़्यादा है. That seems like it doesn't make a lot of sense. It's it's, the power is is too consolidated. What is your thought on, South Punjab? कहां पर वह है? हमने last दो हज़ार अठारह में सुना था. एक एक wave आई थी जिसकी वजह से बहुत सारे MNAs भी flip कर गए थे. And so, you know, एकदम से बात उठी और फिर उसके बाद गायब हो गई. फिर सुनने सुना कि sectarian develop हो रहा है वहां पर but उसका legitimate नहीं हुआ. I know this is a federal problem problem to solve as well, think. But in terms of, the province, do you think it's good? What are the potential pros and cons of that decision? And do you think that decision over the next five years is going to be possible या आपको लग रहा है कि बस एक चीज़ है, फंसी हुई है, होती हुई है, सच नज़र नहीं आई? So administratively,
I think it's a good thing. Politically, are issues. सबसे बड़ा issue है भावनपुर का because भावनपुर claims के भावनपुर एक पहले सुबह था तो हमारे साथ जैति हुई यह हुआ वह हुआ और वह सुबह पूरा बहाल होना चाहिए. तो भावनपुर और साथ उसके areas जो हैं वह are on a different page. बाकी सदन Punjab is on a different page. जो issue सबसे बड़ा है ना constitutionally वह यह है कि अगर नया सुबह बनना है तो पहले Punjab में two thirds आए और वह यह करें. उसके बाद फिर यह आगे जाएगा. Federal से तो बाद में होना यह. अच्छा पहले province कहेगा? जिस Province के अंदर से सुबह बनना है पहले उसकी assembly करेगी. Interesting. So you need to have two thirds here before. Up until the time that you have two thirds तो उससे पहले it's all talk. It's all political जार गंदन rhetoric.
वह कुछ भी नहीं है. So two third यहां से करके भेजेगी federal को? Federal की भी two third करेंगे. Federal से हो जाएगी जी फिर senate से भी होनी है वह फिर यहां नहीं but federal का two third होगी या federal में Federal majority मिला की majority I am not sure.
Right. तो कुछ भी नहीं किया इन्होंने but इसी South Punjab का खासाब ने उस time पर कहा इन्होंने secretariat शुरू कर दिया. Functioning अभी नहीं हुआ, building वन रही है but secretaries बैठते हैं वहां पर. एक certain level तक posting transfers वह कर रहे हैं. कुछ relief दिया जा रहा है इसके through. But long term तो यह देखिए ना until this legislation it's legit 100% मेरा नहीं ख्याल यह हो सकता है और होना definitely चाहिए because I know for a person sitting in DG खान for him to come all the way to लोहौर, get something done does not make any sense. Mhmm. वह ऐसा होना ही नहीं चाहिए. In terms of the revenue then
कि दहेर के Northern Punjab और Central Punjab generates a lot of revenue and I don't know how that is, essentially devolved in the province. But do you think there might be problems there जब वह एक separate entity के तौर पर चलेगा? Do they have? Or do you think it's just better off that way कि यार वह ठीक है, वह जो भी है, वह जितना भी revenue ले रहे हैं वह वहीं उसी से फिर वह अपने आप को grow कराएंगे. I don't think that will be an issue because एक नया सुबह वन जाएगा फिर वह अपनी means ढूंढेगा.
जब पड़ेगी तो वह फिर ढूंढेंगे ना और sources ढूंढेंगे. They'll they'll push industry. They'll try to grow their local economy और लेकिन जो issue आएगा ना जी इसमें जो एक आ रहा है जब एक पहले discussion हुई थी which is a valid point वह है बलूचिस्तान से. So I had this discussion with some बलूचिस्तान MNHs and they were saying कि यार आप अगर एक सुबह बना देते हो तो फिर Punjab के standard में vote बढ़ जाएंगे. Mhmm mhmm. तो हम जो है हम फिर आगे थोड़े हैं तो हम फिर we get diluted which is a valid point at at a certain level. तो you need to take other provinces on board as well, senate wise especially.
Do you think beyond South Punjab do you potentially see more provinces anytime soon?
सिद्ध में I think MQM की रही है demand और और भी वहां पर urban rural divide जिस तरह के हैं कि उनकी है ख्वाहिश के हो जाए. Right. वह आने नहीं देता लोग. वह आ जाए तो issue ही खत्म हो जाए आपका. Effective local government आ जाए तो यह जो MNH, MBs का काम है, असल जो काम है हमारा KL legislation, हम legislation की तरफ जाएं. जो आपकी गलियां नालियां सड़कें बनी हैं वह local government करें. इस वक्त Punjab में है local government active? इन्होंने अभी दुबारा मेरे ख्याला है pass की है. अब इस पर delimitation होनी है उसके बाद election होगा. Estimated कोई timeline है कब तक हो जाएगा? अगर general election ना हुआ तो I don't know. कोई कुछ नहीं कह सकता. मैं थोड़ा सा conversation को flip करूंगा वापस politics लेकर आऊंगा. You are part of a political dynasty obviously
जिसके अंदर generally it's family run and and your party by and large now is a is a party of family. Twenty years ago almost you were a fairly large party. Different time, different circumstances. अगर मैं आपसे आज पूछूं कि क्योंकि अगर मैं देखूं तो लोगों का अभी recently हमने महर कुरैशी की जो election थी उसके ऊपर within the PTI हमने बहुत ज़्यादा देखा कि शोर मचा कि, you know, यह क्यों? Why is an MNA or or senior leader of the party who already has a son जिसको एक ticket मिल चुका अब उसकी बेटी को भी एक ticket मिल रहा है. यह dynasty politics है, यह ग़लत है, so on and so forth. एक निज़ाम हमें already यह change होता हुआ नज़र आया कि India में गांधी family essentially lost the plot with Congress. श्रीलंका में अभी हमने देखा वह जो भाई हैं उनके वह सारे के सारे they are to flee क्योंकि वह नहीं चला सके. Pakistan में भी हम देख रहे हैं कि, you know, जो जो दूसरी dynasties हैं, जो two most powerful dynasties हैं भुट्ठों and शरीफs, they're not, public is beginning to reject them. आप जब अपनी politics देखते हैं तो आपको आपकी politics और काफ़लीक की politics आप किस तरह से देख रहे structurally? Are you going to just keep it in the family and see कि ठीक है मेरे पास constituency है गुजरात की तो मैं as long as मेरा मेरी public मेरे साथ है I don't really care but then उसका नुक़सान potential यह है कि आप national level पर शायद उस तरह से acceptable नहीं होंगे. जिस तरह से you know PTI हो रही है for example कि वह देखकर लोगे people when people see PTI they don't see a dictatorial political party for most part at least right now. So how do you think your party will evolve or the structure of your party will evolve? जिस तरीके से MQM का है, जवाबाद इस्लामी का है, some sort of a voting open ended हो जाए, ठीक है? सब लोग anyone can part. मेरा दिल करे मैं कहता हूं कि यार मोनिस भाई मैंने आपकी party से वह करना है. मैं election लड़ता हूं आपके party के enough people give me vote and I'll be the chairman of your party. A century, you know. And then उस पर आप भी compete करें, मैं भी compete करूं, third party भी compete करें, transparent system हो. And then if you do have the political capital, you come back, that's fine. But you went through a system, right? So how do you see that evolution? Because otherwise I I personally think like you said पुराना Pakistan है, पुराने Pakistan में ठीक है वह सारे तो पुराने में हैं but इस तरह से तो फिर आप भी पुराने में हैं कि जिसमें आपने अपने आप को open up ही नहीं किया. So you see,
dynasties का यह है especially in Pakistan आपको एक chance मिल जाएगा. हद होगी दो मिल जाएंगे. उसके बाद if you aren't able to deliver तो वह जो आपकी जिसको आप कह रहे ना आपकी constituency भी है वह भी ना आपको पूछेगी because you're right Pakistan अब वह रानी है. I'll give you an example. मैं जब यह हो रहा था ना सारा तो उसके बाद जब decision हो गया और फिर वे सब नहीं CM बने. वहां गुजाद गया हुआ था constituency में बैठे लोग पुराने बुज़र्ग से ज़र्ग आए हुए. तो वैसे ही कहते हैं, वह कहते हैं एक बाबा कहता है. वह ना शायद कीता बड़ा छैतू और लोगों को यह नज़र आ रहा है कि यार मैं मेरा यह candidate let's say होने से और मैं इसको vote दूंगा और कल को यह he'll make my life better in whichever way things it should be better. Mhmm. तो वह चलती रहेगी चीज़. अगर उनको हो कि यार यह ठीक है एक दौर जो try कर लेंगे बाप की वजह से, दादे की वजह से, नाने की वजह से, उसके बाद फिर game ख़त्म हो जाती है. फिर चीज़ चलती नहीं है. Mhmm. अब आप इस तरह कर लें कि आप मिया साहबान को कहें कि यह हमज़ा शिवास की seat है ना national assembly की या शिवासी की seat है इनकी इनमें से किसी family की member की seat. लोहौर में से यह seat छोड़ें, election करा लें. और PTI का कोई एक random मंदा भी खड़ा हो जाए ना और यह seat अपने अपने constituency की निकालने तो मुझे पकड़ लेना. नहीं so मैं वही कह रहा हूं ना यह चीज़ फिर potentially कर को आपके साथ भी हो सकती है. हो जाएगा और यह this is this is evolution और होनी चाहिए भी. अगर if I am not capable enough to retain that name and to deliver to my people, I honestly don't deserve to be an MNF from that constituency. That's perfectly fine and I agree with you. My my only issue is,
और यह again मैंने ख़ान साहब का भी यह raise किया था. मुझे उसका कोई proper जवाब नहीं मिला. Within PTI, I don't find the structure for succession. It's as simple as that, right? Like, you have इमरान खान who everybody is looking at right now and if you the minute you look beyond that you see a lot of people vying for the second person seat trying to ensure कि यार मुझे वह leadership मिल जाए किसी तरीके से and so एक fear है public में कि what's the post इमरान era और यह डर exacerbate किया था recently with the assassination attempt कि people were एक चीज़ है ना कि मुल्क जल जाएगा. But also in in a way people were thinking कि यार without इमरान खान there's nothing. It's इमरान or or nothing and that's disastrous. In any way अगर आप देखें क्योंकि succession plan आप evolution की बात करें without a succession plan evolution नहीं होती सिर्फ़ disaster होता है तबाही मचती है. And so you have to begin to understand कि यार ठीक है अगर मैं कहता हूं कि मोनस does not perform well my constituency will push me out but मेरी party तो बस यही कह रही है कि मोनस उसके अगले election में भी मोनस आएगा, उससे अगले election में भी मोनस आएगा. तो then that's not, that's not conducive to the evolution. मसला स्वती आ रहा है कि मैं अगर noon league की बात करूं, अगर आपने consistently मतलब it it it it bockered my mind that post b o n c शबाश शरीबन हम्दा शबाज़, Anyone, मैं तो political science का student भी नहीं हूं. ठीक है? Anyone would have said कि यार आप थोड़ा सा side पर हो जाते. आप किसी figure head को डाल देते. It would have performed better कि देखो यार हम तो कितना आगे की game खेल रहे हैं. हमें power में interest नहीं है, हमने तो you know merit की appointments कर दी. But you so stuck to the idea कि नहीं हमारी family से यह होना है which is an obsolete idea, which is not going to work in in in in in the way that the youth is now looking at politics, right? उस context में मैं समझना चाह रहा हूं कि what are the potential structures? Because या तो हम यह कह रहे कि noon league was लड़ती रहेगी और तबाह कर देगी अपने आप को. बड़ी बड़ी unfortunate बात होगी. बहुत बड़ी party है. बहुत बड़ा उनका mandate रहा है historically और बड़ी अफसोचना की बात होगी for people like मिफ़्ता इस्माइल and शायद ख़ाकान and नैसा निक्बाल who are, you know, smart people who I would like to see as heading that party if a particular family is not able to deliver anymore. You know, just to say कि either it's that family who delivers. If they don't deliver the entire brass then, you know, has to reap the repercussions. That's sort of unfair. So so क्या ऐसा नया system या निज़ाम हो सकता है? Either वह CAF League में हो, PTI में हो, जिसके अंदर हम एक बेहतर succession plan रखें, बेहतर more democratized
structure रखें. What do you think? So with PMLQ हमारी क्या है? It's basically constituency based party. So we have strength in गुजरात. चकवाल जो अब तलगंग वन गए. भावलपुर में seatऐं हैं. सैलगोट में और अब एक दो और districts और हैं जहां पर मंडी भाऊदीन है. एक दो और districts हैं जहां पर develop कर रहे हैं. तो वहां पर भी constituency ही related है काम. To be honest, I don't see myself at that level कि जी PTI कर, national आइए वह. I really don't wanna get into all of that because that brings a lot of problems, more problems than solutions. So I'm pretty focused कि यार जो है उसको अच्छी तरह से चला लें, deliver कर लें. Growth होनी चाहिए, I want exponential growth because उसको आपको handle भी करना चाहिए. Sustain भी करना है, हज़म भी करना है, वह होती नहीं है लोगों से. PMLN का मुझे पता है और कई और parties में भी issues हैं कि एक दूसरे में बहुत infecting है. उनके structures ऐसे बने हैं कि सब आपस में लड़ते रहे और राज़ी सिर्फ़ मेरे पर हैं. तो वह वहां पर कोई चीज़ successful हो ही नहीं सकती उनके अलावा.
और उसमें फिर up and down हो सकता है? For example मंडी बहुत दीन आपने बोला उधर क्या है मैंने जो भी elect हो, do you see him as a potential leader of the party? बिल्कुल Beyond your family? कहीं से भी हो सकता है. उस तरंके नहीं है. So if there is someone who is there
जो सारे boxes take करे, सारों को कटा रखे और चीज़ों को आगे लेकर चले, I would be the first one giving him my slot कि ठीक है, आ जाए. एक चीज़ शुरू की है, आगे चलती है तो अगर इस shape and form में चल सकती है successfully why not? यह वही वाली बात है ना कि जो जो EM business में भी देखते रहे हैं Pakistan में historically कि सेठ ने business चलाना है. Sometimes you need professionals to run the business and you can really take back seat. That that's the best business model. Yeah. You know, आप dividend derived चलो और even politically अगर इसको देख लो कि एक party है which कोई आ भी जाए उसमें जिसमें PMLN है, उसमें let's say खाका आनंबासी साहब या कोई और बंदा head वन भी जाता है, it'll always be PMLN. Yeah. तो you'll keep on getting your dividend. Yeah. Political capital आपका मिलता रहेगा, आपको उसमें तो कोई मसला ही नहीं है. Tell me about,
ज़हर आपकी family के ऊपर भी critique तो आता रहा है. Historically, I don't wanna go there, don't want to frame it in that way but, you know, even your ally PTI at one point said कि, you know, ये लोग तो बड़ा बुरा काम करते रहें हैं. If I were to give you an opportunity to contextualize some of the criticism that your family has received कि यार early days के अंदर मुशहरा फ़ैराह के अंदर, you know इन्होंने left right स्थाना की चीज़ें कि ठेकों के ऊपर यह कर दिया, तो उसके ऊपर वह कर दिया, तो दो नम्रियां की.
How would you, how would you respond to that? See, अब उस पक़त से लेकर अब तक. So we've been through so many, nap cases and FIA cases और किसी ने कोई चीज़, no one has left any as a, no one has left any stone unturned अब तक. हर एक जितनी गंभट्ट चाहिए, even PTI के साथ शुरू में हमारे मामलात बड़े we've been through all of that. हमारे जो family के cases थे nap के, जो बीस साल से चल रहे थे, वह अदालत से ख़त्म हुए. उसमें किसी की उस तरह favor नहीं थी. मतलब एक time था मुझे याद है.
अगर आपने यह NAV का अगर वह किया how do you feel about the NAVs and the FIAs? Do you think that system is efficient or do you think it's suffocating in a way that कौन सा मतलब हमने आज तक कोई यह तो नहीं देखा कि इस NAV को भी फ़ायदा हुआ है, कोई actually किसी को कोई कुछ कुछ हुआ है, कोई recoveries हुई हैं. It it honestly almost seems like कि with the way that our PPR a works, with the way that our NAV system works, आप creativity, आप you know again जितना experimentation इस तरह की चीज़ों को disincentivize करते हैं ना आप बस यह करते हैं कि यार एक inefficient किस्म का एक अजीब सा system चलता रहे क्योंकि constant oversight है और और जो कहा जाता है कि ज़रूरत से ज़्यादा oversight है इस system में. How do you feel about NAV and FIA and all of these इदारे जो कि बने हुए हैं जो कि in a way a lot of people say suffocating for the politicians because they can't जो reforms की बात करते हैं वह reforms वह ला ही नहीं सकते because the system is so difficult and almost unrealistic कि आप वह करो और फिर उसमें you know you have to then deal with NAV and all of those problems. So as a politician you need to be prepared for that especially in Pakistan.
NAV, FIA, police, income tax they all gonna come after you at one point or another. Right. क्योंकि government में जो भी आएगा उसने आपको तंग तो करना ही करना है. तो that's kind of built into the whole तो अगली चीज़ वही करनी जो हम पहले discuss कर रहे थे. उसने देखना है कि यार मैं I need to have a safety net, nest somewhere outside Pakistan. मेरे बच्चे हैं, मेरी family है उनको कम से कम they don't have to go through all of this. और होता I'm not pointing out any single institution but होता यह है कि एक notice गया है उसमें जो मुतल्का officers हैं उनको ज़्यादा पैसे चाहिए. ठीक है? फिर कुछ recovery उन्होंने government को show करनी है और उस recovery में से भी उनको पैसे मिलने हैं officially. पैसे recover ना recover तो incentive आ गया ना उनको. हां. अब वह कोशिश करेंगे आपसे maximum recovery करें. Regardless आपने उतना जुर्म या उतना आपने उतनी आपने corruption किया यानी कि उन्होंने पैसे उतने लेने हैं ताकि उधर से भी उनको आ जाए. उसे कोई issue नहीं है cases मान जाए. Business community को कमज़ कम जो है ना यह सारी चीज़ें दूर रखना चाहिए, professionals को दूर रखना चाहिए ताकि वह अपने काम पर काम करें. अब एक आम आदमी है जिसको आदत नहीं है या जिसके पास resources नहीं है इतने, उसको FIA उठाकर ले अब मैं आपको एक idea देता हूं. मैं जब मैं custody में था FIA के, two thousand nine ten की बात है. तो वहां पर ना एक खातून आकर रोती रहती थी. ठीक है? उस ऊपर चली गई तो वह मुझे कहता है जी इसकी इसका बेटा जो है ना वह इधर lockup में है. बेटे मैंने कहा तो उसको मिला ही दो. कहते हैं नहीं जी हम मान नहीं देखे वह हमारे पास है.
चीज़ है ही कोई नहीं इनके पास. Again recently हमने जो the reason why I feel like there is a despondency in Pakistan is because we are we now very openly seeing this abuse of power. Right? And coming from all sectors of the society and and it seems like we are living in a law of the jungle. आप अगर इसको long term में देखें, do you think कि यह जो निज़ाम है of this abuse of power, of of certain functions of the state having far more power than other functions of the state. Do you think this is going to continue? Or do you think in your evolution का जो आपने एक sort of hypothesis दिया, उस evolution में हम Indonesia या Turkey जैसी evolution भी देखेंगे. जिसमें balance थोड़ा ज़्यादा बेहतर होगा. मैं यह नहीं कह रहा देखें I don't want to be that person जो कहे कि नहीं नहीं यह बड़े बुरे हैं वह ख़त्म करो इनको card दो इनको यह कर दो इनको बोलते हैं that's no state is run by through that. But एक balance होता है actually. आप अगर अगर coherence and balance ले आए और और और सारे functions को एक equity के तौर पर रखना है तो nobody tries to go goes beyond their mandate essentially. आपको क्या होता हुआ नज़र आ रहा है in that evolution कि वह जो जो overreach of power है, जो, blatant abuse of power है, वह in check आएगी आने वाले वक़्त में या वह subjective है to certain things?
I think it will evolve. अभी यह शुरू तो हो गया था और यह चीज़ें आप दिन ब दिन देख रहे हैं अब कोई चीज़ छुपती नहीं है. Social media हर तरफ़ चीज़ें आ जाती है, यह जाती हो रही है, यह हो रहा है. तो accountability यहां कम से कम people start asking questions. मतलब कोई चीज़ कोई मुझे forward कर देता है तो I'd forward it to the police person at the CM office. मैं कहता हूं अरे इसका पता करो. वह फिर उसका पता कराकर then they are very active now. They're actually proactive कि किसी को, सुर्गोदा में मारा उन्होंने लोगों ने कठे होकर तो they arrested him, they posted him, posted his picture on social media as well के जी यह पकड़ाकर. पहले ज़माने में किसी ने
मैंने लोगों को पंचार के लेकर आए हूं. जो recent, you know, events थे again जिसके अंदर मैं दो तीन चीज़ें कहूंगा, बड़ी confusing थे for the public. एक point के ऊपर जो है
has ever had full control over police in the history of police. यह myth है एक, ठीक है? So you try to control what you can. Right. अब जो जो जो चीज़ें हैं कुछ वह आप कर सकते हो वह आप करो control but overall जो है वह system allow ही नहीं करता आपको.
और इसी के follow up के ऊपर अगर मैं जाता हूं मैं जाकर कहता हूं कि एक incident हुआ था. बहुत दिल हिला देने वाला incident assassination attempt on one of the most popular figures not just in Pakistan but in the subcontinent और वह हुआ था आपकी constituency में essentially near to your constituency. Yeah, it's a stretch. But उसमें जितना जो जो eventually FIR कटी वह गुजरात में कटी.
नहीं, वज़ीराबाद. वज़ीराबाद में कटी right
देखो थोड़ा इनकी यह कुमत थी इन्होंने security क्यों नहीं provide की? वगैरह वगैरह वगैरह. Anyway, we all know कि वह क्या हुआ. I want to give you an opportunity to contextualize that because यह बड़ी tricky सी एक sensitive सी situation है. एक coalition government है. अगर PTI की अपनी होती वह एक different situation थी उसको वह differently play कर सकते थे. यहां पर एक एक एक trust के ऊपर एक relationship बनी हुई है और उसमें एक ऐसा मामला हो गया जो कि वह है और फिर follow up में वह तो हो गया. Follow up में एक police की video आ जाती है. Follow up में रात को एक और video आ जाती है. It seems like यार nobody has control over anything. You know, is it just like you're a figurehead and the entire system is being run by someone else? What's going on there? And we didn't really see any explanation for that either कि क्योंकि I mean to be very honest, this country right now seems like it's it's it's a satire version of this country. Very honestly. The idea that someone can do an assassination attempt, The idea that उसके ऊपर condemnation होने के बजाय उसके ऊपर सियासतोर जीत चली जा रही है. The idea that the killer बहुत प्यार से इस मुल्क के अंदर उसके पंद्रह minute के अंदर उसकी बहुत प्यार से. क्यों किया आपने sir? क्या हो रहा है? It's I am sorry but it seems like a Monty Python show going on right now right and so people are just like कि यार यह क्या हो रहा है? So if you could contextualize that for me because it made no sense
you know what happened there. So जब यह unfortunate incident हुआ है मैं उस time पर गुजरात में ही था और जहां पर PM ने आना था उस area का जायजा ले रहा था तो I didn't have my phone on me. तो as soon as I came back तो I saw all these missed calls from हुसान न्याजी साहब and people close to PM मोहरबेद him कि यार ऐसा गोली लग गई और यह हो गया है. तो helicopter चाहिए और सारा कुछ तो I got on the phone. यहां पर obviously takes time. Pilot जहां से तैयार तो नहीं होता emergency के लिए. वह it took them about twenty thirty minutes to get to the airport, flew them off. रास्ते में इन्होंने मुझे बताया जी कि हम कालाशा काकू आ जाए helicopter. तो कालाशा काकू को पहुंच गया. अब वह land इसलिए नहीं कराया उसको. फिर उसने live location मुझे भेज रहा था बेचार shared with prime minister security team सबको दिखाया कि यार वह वहां खड़ा हुआ है. तो they decided कि नहीं क्योंकि यहां पर हम sideway, motorway पर आ तो जाएंगे but तो मुझे यह डर था कि mob इसको मारना दे. तो इसलिए मैंने इसको वज़ीराबाद से shift किया. वहां से shift किया तो closest थाना गुजरात का यह पड़ा था. ठीक है? वह उसने करते हो दिए. वहां पर जो हुआ है वह सारों ने देखा वह जो भी video studio बनी है एक. उसके बाद इसको वह ख़ुद अपनी custody में लाकर उसने CTD के हवाले कर दिए यहां पर as was directed to me by security team. PM की भी उन्होंने कहा यार हम और किसी को trust नहीं करते. तो इधर लोहौर उसको हवाले करो. मैंने कहा ठीक है जैसे हम लोग बेहतर समझते हैं. वह हवाले हो गए यहां पर. यहां पर जो हुआ है वह एक बड़ी अजीब सी कहानी हुई है. मुझे former एक former तो नहीं खैर current ही है. Senior police officer है. उनका system hack हो गया. मैंने कहा यार system कैसे hack हो गया? तो उधर मुझे पता करके बताएं. फिर जो उसका in charge था उसको मैंने लदब लाया. मैंने कहा यार यह वह कह रहे हैं system hack. कहा जी कोई system hack नहीं हुआ हमारा. मैंने कहा यार एक बड़ा अच्छा solution है. आप politician हो, constituency politician हो, आपका गांव है जिस इलाके में वहां का जो SHO है ना जो थाना आपके गांव को लगता है उस SHO का मुझे नाम दो. अगले बीस minute में वही SHO वह जीराबाद लग जाएगा. उससे आप अपनी मर्ज़ी का पर्चा करा लेना खमोश. कोई जवाब नहीं और एक दो लोग बोले. मैंने कहा यार आप दे दो SHO. बंदा मैं लगवाया तो पर्चा आप ले लो. Mhmm. कह रहे ना कि Punjab government कुछ नहीं कर रही. Right. That's it. Right.
ठीक है, I'm I'm not gonna go any further. That is Pakistan. I hope कि बेहतर हो जाए, अगर बेहतर नहीं है. But मोने साहब, you know, this was very very insightful. I'm gonna wrap this up. I'm gonna ask you one last question, जो कि generally, मैं तमाम guest से पूछता हूं and I'd like your your insight on that. I wanna have an understanding of, Pakistan of the future. जाहिर है कि politicians generally वह if anything they're they're they're a setter of dreams, right? And they need to be dreamers themselves to be able to set a better dream. And so I would like to ask you, how do you see Pakistan twenty eight years from now in 2050? You know, seeing the Pakistan that you've seen growing up and like you mentioned कि you believe that there is a there is a changed Pakistan now and ज़ाहिर है कि बहुत सारे लोग you know, महिषद दिख रही है? किस किस्म का एक एक एक social और moral and ethical value system दिख रहा है Pakistan का अट्ठाईस साल बाद? So,
I would hope and strive for कि एक benchmark जो आजकल हम देखते हैं वह Western world है ना. तो I would honestly hope and I would work towards कि जहां पर West अभी है, we would be at that vision of Pakistan at a much higher place और as the West evolves to a better version of themselves,
hopefully we can as well. And you think कि जो west जहां पर खड़ा है, जो benchmark आपने,
देखा west का, वह आपको लगता है कि वहां तक पहुंच सकेंगे? Again, in the context of हमारी economy दबा हुई है. Economy is the only thing that I'm concerned about. You see, once you have the economy thing figured out, the rest most definitely follows. तो focus हमारा सिर्फ़ economy भी होना चाहिए. And as I said to you, that is a very good starting point where you can have all of the political parties sit down and decide on the economic road map. Right. वह should be that should be set in stone. सबको पता हो कि यार यही follow करना है. आगे politics आप अपनी अपनी करो जितनी मर्ज़ी करनी है. You're cut across multiple, you're connected to multiple parties. आपने कहा peoples party में भी आपके linkages हैं, दूसरों में भी हैं आपकी. तो do you think this this this thought is shared across the board now कि यार Pakistan का मसला economic है and we need to begin to think about it या अभी भी लोग जो हैं unfortunately politicians
at least वह वह अभी तक इसको seriously नहीं ले पा रहे and, you know, अभी हमें consensus build करना है. There is some acceptance,
especially in the next generation, but it's still not at that level के जहां पर they'll be willing to come on board. So you need some force which is there to have them all sit down and sort this out. There's no other way around it. Makes sense. अमन, thank you so much for coming and sharing all the insight.
You know, I I I hope that we can see a better, more stabilized environment over the next few months. You know, thank you for taking the Thank you. And for all of you guys, thank you so much for watching. Hope your episode पसंद आई है और दोस्तों यहां से ज़रूर share करिएगा. YouTube वाले like कमरे दोस्तों engagement बढ़ेगी ज़्यादा लोगों में mic conversation पहुंचेगी. Facebook वाले नीचे दिखेगी वह link पर click करके everything that we've discussed? But anyways, this was सैयद मुज़ामिलास and ज़ैदी. You are watching Thought Behind Things. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next one.
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