Who Owns Pakistan - Yimg

Beginning of Bad Loans
Bhutto's nationalization has often been dubbed as the bureaucratization of banks
and industries that gave birth to a breed of bureaucrats and politicians in
business, and businessmen in politics. It is these two in one bureaucrats,
politicians and businessmen who plundered Pakistan's banking in post-Bhutto
era and led the economy to present state of near collapse.
One frequently hears the lament that Pakistan would have been the second
Japan or an Asian tiger, " had Z A Bhutto not happened to Pakistan". But a
country on way to becoming the tiger earned the nomenclature of " a failed state"
in such a short span, not merely because of nationalization but for host of
indulgences by successive govts in recent past who had the historic opportunity
to put things on track but instead have brought forward the day of reckoning by
their misdeeds.
The White paper on economy under Bhutto, released by General Zia ul Haq in
1979 had estimated that bad loans of Rs half million and above amounted to Rs
1,340 million including Rs 830 million of pre-nationalization era. In order to have
a better perspective of who plundered the nationalized commercial banks and
how, it is appropriate to reproduce the indictment of Z A Bhutto about the misuse
of the banks, in White paper.
It said " the aggregate amount of advances of half million rupees and above
which were classified as doubtful or irregular in the State Bank Inspection Report
of December 31, 1975 is over Rs 1,340 million. Advances of half million
rupees or above given by the banks after nationalization which have been
found to be bad, doubtful or irregular abinitio amounted to Rs 510 million".
It also found that nationalized commercial banks sanctioned loans worth Rs 562
million under irresistible political and administrative pressure or influence
between 1974-77 and major political beneficiaries included Jam Sadiq Ali,
Abdullah Shah, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Makhdoom Talibul Maula and Mir Aijaz Ali
Khan Talpur.
Few years later, Zia ul Haq himself was accused by Benazir Bhutto of writing off
loans and patronizing the gang of four (The Ittefaq group, The Chaudhries of
Gujrat, Saifullahs and Basharat Elahi) who had allegedly monopolized the ban
credit by securing loans worth Rs 19,200 million. In her speeches and press
conferences Benazir vowed to recover the written off loans but when she came
into power in 1988 and had the opportunity to do so, she herself indulged in a
bonanza of writing off and rescheduling loans on an unprecedented scale.
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