(In loving memory of Zia Haider Rizvi. Reprinted from One Heart with Courage.)
It’s no wonder that a record-low number of Pakistanis turned out for the February 1997 parliamentary elections: Having nine prime ministers in 10 years has taken its toll on even the most optimistic of Pakistan’s 130 million citizens.
Nawaz Sharif, dismissed as prime minister in 1993 on charges of corruption, in February succeeded Benazir Bhutto, who was ousted twice on the same allegations. It’s a development that would startle those comfortable with Western-style democracy, but it doesn’t turn heads in Pakistan.
“This is Pakistani politics. Anything can happen,” said a college student with a shrug.
It’s true. During our periodic visits to the Asian subcontinent to visit my husband’s family, we’ve witnessed military rule, the overnight collapse of a democratic government and continual charges of mismanagement. People have come to expect political instability, corruption and broken campaign promises.
That’s why Zia Haider Rizvi’s almost-childlike enthusiasm, his belief that he can change the system, is so refreshing.
“I used to pray to Allah, if I had a chance, I could make a difference. Like a fairy tale, I got my chance,” says Rizvi, a successful tax attorney tapped to serve briefly as special assistant to the chief minister of Punjab in Pakistan’s caretaker government after Bhutto was dismissed for the second time.
About 60 percent of the nation’s populace lives in Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province. My husband’s cousin headed the excise and taxation department, an agency with a reputation he describes as one of the most corrupt in the country.
“I called the tax inspectors a cheat to their faces,” he said, recalling his first meeting with the staff. “The tax collectors are richer than all of us. They were sharing the loot. What I’ve tried to do is eliminate the bottlenecks and create accountability for the assessors. If you’re a tax assessor, you cannot drive up in the most expensive car when everyone knows your salary is only $150 (a month).”
Rizvi urged the government to adopt a single tax policy to give companies protection against double taxation, auction off special automobile license plate numbers to generate additional revenue and grant more than 6,000 widows a speedy property-tax exemption — a right ensnared in bureaucratic paperwork.
Rizvi also promised the tax collectors that he would work to increase their monthly wages and promised them a 1 percent bonus if they met tax-collection goals and treated people fairly. Within a month, the province collected 1.75 billion rupees over what is normally collected, he noted with pride.
Yet Rizvi believes Pakistanis will continue to dodge taxes.
“There’s no trust among the government and the public at large,” he said. “We haven’t had a politically stable government, and the ones we’ve had have thought about benefiting themselves instead of the country. People think, ‘Why should we pay taxes if it’s going into someone else’s pocket?’ That has to change.”
Pakistan, carved out of India as a separate homeland for Muslims in 1947, stands at a pivotal point in its history. According to the Associated Press, defense spending accounts for a third of the country’s $13 billion budget, and debt servicing eats up another third. The International Monetary Fund has provided emergency and long-term loans but has withheld a number of payments in the past year because the country has teetered on bankruptcy. Sectarian violence in major cities such as Karachi and Lahore has threatened law and order, and many agree that corruption is a deep-rooted problem.
Still, Rizvi, whose late father served as a minister after the partition from India, is convinced that Pakistan has the potential to evolve into what pundits call an Asian tiger. He pointed to his own success in three months, heralded in dozens of newspaper clippings, as proof that change can happen: “This can be done in Pakistan at every level, provided the person in authority has ability and enjoys a reputation of being above-board.”
His response to people who ask why they should pay taxes when the government can’t always provide basic services such as good roads?
“I tell them, ‘It’s your country. You are living in a free land, breathing your own air. Even if your road is broken, contribute something to your country.’”
(Winter 1997)