Reality show...
Dear All,
I recently read an entertaining new novel set in Pakistan which not only captures all the decadence of our rich glitterati party scene but also exposes quite brilliantly the absurdity of the contemporary media, both western and local.

"Opposition to RGST is shortsighted and irresponsible"

RGST has turned out to be an explosive issue which is likely to alter the political landscape if not overturn it entirely. Meanwhile, the public as well as the stakeholders who are doing politics around it remain ignorant about the nature of the tax and how is it likely to impact Pakistan’s economy. In an interview with
The News on Sunday, economist Asad Sayeed clears certain misgivings about RGST even if he remains pessimistic about its political future

By Ather Naqvi

The News on Sunday: What is Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) in layman’s terms and do you think the government has been able to educate the public about what it actually is?

Asad Sayeed: In a nutshell, RGST will document the turnover at each stage of production for sectors where the tax is applicable. Ultimately, it is only the consumer who pays the tax at the retail stage.

Let us take the case of the textile sector. In principle, when the cotton grower sells cotton to the ginner, s/he will add x% to the price which will be the sales tax. The ginner in turn gets a refund of the sales tax s/he has paid once the cotton is ginned and sold to the yarn manufacturer. The ginner however, adds the x% sales tax to the price when selling it to the yarn manufacturer. And so on and so forth, until the domestic consumer of cloth or garments buys the product. It is only a tax on consumption of the consumer.

By documenting all input quantities and prices as well as the quantity sold to the next stage, the turnover at that particular stage of production is documented. This then becomes the basis on which the income (and thereby profit) earned by the business can be determined and direct tax imposed on them.

On government educating the public: No they have not. Let alone the general pubic, the FBR and finance ministry officials, it appears, have not been able to adequately educate parliamentarians and spokespersons of the government either. The finance minister, the deputy chariman Planning Commission and the FBR chairman should have done an extensive roadshow to explain the need for RGST and the implications for the economy if it is not imposed.

Having said that, one wonders how much difference it would have made given the contrarian mood of the media and the urban middle classes these days. The voice of reason and logic is being drowned in the shrill rhetoric of anger and prejudice. So, if people have made up their mind already, there is no point in attempting to explain or ‘educate’.

TNS: Some people have the impression that it would ultimately be the consumer who would have to pay more tax. How would you explain?

AS: Goods and services that have hitherto been exempt from GST and will now be included in the RGST will witness a new tax on the consumer. However, those goods on which GST in excess of 15% was imposed — which are more than 5000 commodities — the burden of taxation will reduce.

TNS: Is the RGST going to broaden the tax base? How is it going to affect the overall economy in the short and long term?

AS: The most important reason that Pakistan has one of the lowest tax-GDP ratios in the world is that the tax base is narrow. By increasing documentation in the economy, the tax base for direct taxation will naturally increase. In fact, to my mind this is the most salient reason for introducing the RGST.

In the short run, the new tax will yield only the indirect tax that will be levied by bringing exempted sectors in the net. This is expected to be in the range of Rs100 billion (based on which sectors finally make it in the bill). Now there is a lot of hue and cry that this will create inflationary pressures in the economy. As I mentioned earlier the impact of inflation has to be seen in net terms (reduction in rates of a range of items that are already paying sales tax will see a reduction in prices and removal of exemptions that will increase prices of those items).

However, if the government cannot reduce its expenditure and the money does not come from taxes, then it will most likely come from printing money. And printing money is way more inflationary — the affects of which resonate through the economy for years — than that coming through an increase in taxation.

Thus if inflation reduction is a goal, then it is better to tax than to print money.

TNS: Do you think the PML-N and other political parties’ opposition to the bill is justified?

AS: Opposition is not only unjustified but also shortsighted and irresponsible. The two principal opponents to the RGST are PML-N and MQM. Both are urban parties and have businessmen and traders as their constituents. It is to appease these lobbies — whose financial power is perhaps important for the parties — which forms the basis of this opposition. Contrary to their own rhetoric, their opposition to the bill will stoke more inflationary pressures in the economy than if the tax is imposed.

While the MQM will never come into power in the Centre, the PML-N clearly can (and perhaps will at some point). Will they not confront the issue of documentation of the economy then to improve the tax-GDP ratio? Is it not politically beneficial to let the present coalition do it and take the flak then to inherit a fiscal crisis when they come into power? Their political strategy defies logic — unless they will agree to the Bill at the last minute.

TNS: How far is it a true assumption that RGST is being imposed on the insistence of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the IMF and the World Bank?

AS: The issue of RGST is contentious and in all likelihood the government would not have picked it up if the floods had not created an extraordinary situation. The reconstruction phase will require a large outlay of resources. To get international donors to be interested, the government will have to demonstrate that it is making efforts to mobilize domestic taxes also. I think this is the central reason for the urgency of imposing the RGST.

So far as the IMF is concerned, the agreement signed with them was on the condition of reducing the budget deficit to manageable levels. The government could have perhaps made efforts to curb spending in a non-floods situation and postponed the inevitable further.

Moreover, to the extent it is true that the government had itself told the IMF in 2008 that it will improve its tax-GDP ratio through the RGST, the IMF is only asking them to fulfill their own pledge. Should they walk out of the IMF agreement? Well, Pakistan’s external balances are in a comfortable situation right now — reserves are equal to more than 6 months of imports — and the current account deficit is also within manageable limits. As such there is no danger of a default on external commitments. However, reneging on an agreement will hamper international credibility severely at a time when donor funding for reconstruction is an imperative.

TNS: How do you see the issue of tax evasion? Would the imposition of RGST have an in-built mechanism to deal with tax evasion?

AS: RGST, as I said earlier, increases documentation, which in turn will create a transparent and verifiable basis to assess incomes. But corruption in the tax machinery and the lack of capacity to manage such a complex system will be impediments in realising its full benefits in the short run.

It is thus critical that there is a time bound and coherent plan to reduce corruption in FBR and to improve its capacity. This is what the opposition should have demanded from government rather than throw the baby out with the bath water.

RGST is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to broaden the tax base and thereby improve the tax-GDP ratio.

TNS: As things stand, how do you see the future of legislation on the RGST? What if the bill is not passed by the parliament?

AS: Based on what is out in the press, it seems the government will not be able to get the bill through in December. Given this situation, in all likelihood it will delay it for a later date. Already half the fiscal year is gone and if the bill is again tabled in March, the deficit for the fiscal year would have increased commensurately and inflation also. I am sure though that sooner or later something like the RGST will be imposed. The world is no longer willing to bail out Pakistan without Pakistan making an effort to tax its own people. The sooner we smell the coffee the better.

The interview was
conducted via email.

 

Sense and sentimentality

In her recent solo exhibition at Rohtas 2, Ruby Chishti looks at her homeland from an immigrant’s perspective

By Quddus Mirza

"The cultured Greeks, it seems, had no word for culture." (To Hell with Culture) Herbert Read

Likewise, ex-pat artist Ruby Chishti was not concerned about the idea of displacement for many years. Even though she left Lahore, her hometown, in 2002 to live in the US, this migration did not appear important or a main theme in her work that she has been showing regularly in Pakistan. Instead, her vocabulary comprises subjects which have both a personal connection and general appeal. Rows of stuffed crows made with discarded polythene bags, cows filled with straws and composed like women resting against walls, and nest-like structures were created in different compositions.

She began this kind of work, perhaps, during her stay at the First Vasl Residency in 2001 at Gadani, and continued despite the change of her residences. At her last solo exhibition at Canvas Gallery in 2008, she displayed stuffed figures that referred to characters from our surroundings — women in burqa, children with their umbilical cords intact and forms that reminded of Indian figurines. So, in a sense, despite having moved to another country, she retained the initial ideas, issues and imagery in her work.

The continuity of concerns and diction affirmed that the artist, actually, resided in her art (something akin to what Salman Rushdie says about language being the home of a writer!). But in her recent works — displayed from Dec 6-18, 2010, at Rohtas 2, Lahore — the artist appears to have become more aware of her situation as an immigrant. The new works seemed to be about her homeland, seen through the eyes of a person who lives thousands of miles away.

In fact, physical distance is required in most cases — to view the subject matter from a different perspective. A number of authors and artists prefer to live away from their homeland — sometimes in imposed or self-acquired exile — in order to address their theme and society in a new scheme. Writers like James Joyce, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Faiz Ahmed Faiz and painters such as S. H. Raza and Anwar Jalal Shemza spent many years away from their homelands. yet their creative activity always remained connected to their land of origin, its people, problems and peculiarities. The distance provided a width in their vision.

Sometimes the geographical gap can also cause a sense of superficiality or sentimentality in an artist’s approach. Often local themes, images and materials are adopted as artistic possibilities, to be reproduced and marketed as exotic substance, which can ensure certain success for the makers. Some writers and artists look at their distant countries in a shallow way. Not being able to engage with the issues in depth, they ‘use’ these as a mere layer to create a local flavour.

It appears that Ruby Chishti in her solo exhibition, titled Placed, Displaced, Misplaced, has been dealing with her theme in a specific manner. Understandably, the artist who has been residing in North America was inclined to take up religious symbols, their growing role and power in our culture, the increase of violence and the catastrophe caused by floods this year in her art. But the works shown in the exhibition convey an honesty that is not translated into the complexity of Art. Arch of a mosque composed with an imposing crow and nest-like wires, or having a pair of scissors in the middle of three layers of another arch (in Portrait), indicate the present state of our society, in which certain individuals and groups have been utilising the element of faith to spread bigotry, hatred and terror. Similarly, in a group of works titled Waste, Chishti has arranged a range of materials, all red which, besides being abstract, allude to the violent state of our state.

Two other installations from the show comprise of small string cot beds made in metal (Placed, Displaced, Misplaced) and tiny tents along with two fallen figures — of a woman and may be of an angel (Domestic Birds), referring to mass displacement of population after the floods. Along with feeling empathy for those displaced people, the artist might have identified with their situation because she too has had to leave her home and has been living in other places. Only in this body of work, one could detect some sort of autobiographical narrative presented through other people’s conditions. Likewise, the small piece made of tents on top of each other (Termite) could have been both a metaphor for her own state or the fate of million others; however this link is not investigated, extended or explored any further.

The other example of this immediate approach towards her subject is illustrated in the large gilded frame (Map of my Native Land), which contains a number of objects and materials, including a model of mosque minaret. These references, both cultural and situational, to her place of origin indicate the artist’s inclination to deal with the current issues in an unusual way, but the work has yet to find a sense of being resolved.

The exhibition also offers a glimpse into the artist’s ability to fabricate objects with mundane materials. Two wall pieces (both Untitled) comprise overcoats, created in felt and paper, which were stuck inside the scaffoldings. Both compositions have small ladders at the bottom, which suggest man’s struggle to reach the other. A quest that can be translated into an artist’s pursuit as well, because the creative activity is a means to locate the Other, may that Other reside within or outside. It seems Ruby Chishti is also trying to find and form another language to express her state, situation and sentiments, yet she could have avoided a bit of sentimentality.

How Imtiaz Ali Taj viewed theatre in Lahore in the early decades of the 20th century

By Sarwat Ali

There cannot be a more authentic voice about the theatre that took place in Lahore than Imtiaz Ali Taj. He joined Government College in 1950 and very soon made Nur Illahi, the moving spirit behind the Government College Dramatic Club, aware of his keenness to take part in plays staged by the college.

Actually the theatre bug had bitten him much earlier and by the time he was in his mid-teens he had already authored a couple of plays. The first play that he wrote was in 1970 more like a poster with division of scenes and the second was on the romance of Haroon Rashid and Zubaida in 1930. Both scripts he misplaced in the course of growing up. The fact that he lived very close to the venues where theatre was performed had much to do with his early initiation and interest in the thespian arts.

He was exposed to theatre as early as 1907 when as a child he saw a play staged by the Republican Theatre Company in the area between Mayo Hospital and Gawalmandi. That area was known as Chajju Bhagat ka Chaubara. It appeared that Lahore had no permanent theatre and only touring companies visited to mount
productions.

Taj lived nearby in the building where the offices of ‘Daral ul Isha’at’ were situated. His father Maulvi Mumtaz Ali ran a very successful publishing and printing house under the same banner. These theatre companies or mandalis also got their publicity material printed at this press. Taj got to see the posters, banners and brochures that enhanced his interest in the theatre. Due to these business links of the publishing house with the theatre company’s free passes for the show were readily available.

The entire area between Mayo Hospital and Gawalmandi had a number of plays going on and people thronged to the site; it appeared almost like a mela. Taj’s elder brother Syed Hameed Ali often saw the plays with his friends and relatives but he only got the reluctant approval of his father after the early death of his mother.

Maulvi Mumtaz Ali too had dabbled in theatre and in the 19th century had written a play Fitna-o-Ghanim for a company that performed close to the Old Tehsil. It appeared that most of the plays were staged by touring theatre companies in temporary theatres built for the occasion in Lahore.

The plays that Mumtaz Ali saw were Hawai Majlis, Hatim Tai, Laila Majnoon and Fitna-o-Ghanim. The owner of one of the companies had requested Mumtaz Ali to write the play Fitna-o-Ghanim again. It was printed in Bombay and the copy of the play, which Imtiaz Ali Taj possessed in his early days, however, did not mention the name of the author.

Baliwala had constructed his temporary theatre close to Nila Gumbad. It is probably the same site where Ewing Hall was built and still stands minus its former glory. He also saw Coronations Company’s Indar Sabha in which the owner Mehboob Hussain did a female role of Sabz Pari. The same year in Kareemuddin Murad play Khaandan-e-Mahaan, the role of Mahan was played by Raheem Buksh.

In Mehdi Hasan’s play Kink Tara, Phosa Lal played the role of Kink. Mehdi Hasan’s play Zehre Ishaq deeply moved Imtiaz Ali Taj. In 1910, Civilised Company toured Lahore, owned by Rahmo Jan, a woman who played male roles. Manto Park was another venue where plays were staged especially on the occasion of the "numaish". Alfred Company of Cawasji Katoa staged Ali Baba Chalis Chor and Ratnawali. New Albert Company staged Safaid Khoon and Lail-o-Nihar.

Another play that he saw was Alfred Company Asif Madrasi’s Toba Shikan and it was staged at the Bradlaugh Hall, most likely venue for cultural events.

It appeared that Mela Ram’s son, Bahadur Ram Saran Das, built the first purpose-built permanent theatre in Lahore outside Bhati Gate It was named Mela Ram Theatre and Gul Bakawli was staged there. In the same theatre Agha Hashr set up his Indian Shakespeare Company. Taj saw the maiden show there of Khawab-e-Husti.

These theatres were temporary sites. The stage was on ground level. Next to the stage and before the audience rows a pit was dug for the orchestra. Small companies had three-member orchestra with harmonium, sarangi and tabla while the bigger companies had an additional instrumentalist usually a shehnai player. The sarangi was later replaced by the violin.

The area next to the stage was dug which gradually rose and by the middle started to rise above ground level. The audience thus sat on a slope and the last rows could easily see the action on stage. Mud walls surrounded the arena. There were six classes for the audience to sit and see the play. The most expensive was the front row with cushioned seat and it cost three rupees, the second was with cane chairs that cost rupees two, the third had steel chairs and cost rupee one.

Then there were benches where the ticket was eight anas and at the far end were mats laid out on the floor and the ticket was four anas. The arena had two balconies on both sides where women were supposed to sit. These were curtained to shield them from the gaze of men sitting below and could only look straight on to the stage.

It was rare that women from so-called respectable families went to see the theatre. It was a proscenium stage where the audience could only see the action from one side. The stage had a backdrop and some had curtains and the lighting was done by gaslight.

These gaslights were known as "hundas". They were moved around according to the requirement of the play. For the voice to be carried, gharas (earthen pitchers) were hung from the top of the proscenium on the inside, with the openings towards the stage for better acoustics. Bells would be rung for the audiences and the players to start the play. Before the third bell another bell was rung for the instrumentalists who took positions and started to play the instrument, awaiting the third bell for the actors to arrive on stage and the play to start.

 

Reality show...

Dear All,

I recently read an entertaining new novel set in Pakistan which not only captures all the decadence of our rich glitterati party scene but also exposes quite brilliantly the absurdity of the contemporary media, both western and local.

Maha Khan Phillips’ novel ‘Beautiful from this Angle’ takes us into the shallow world of Karachi’s rich-kid (they never seem to grow up, really) party scene, where drugs, alcohol and sexual gratification are quite the norm. The main character is Amynah Farooqui who despite good education and plenty of wealth is whiling away her life — going to parties, doing drugs, carrying vodka around in her Nestle paani bottle and writing a column about the social scene called ‘Party Queen on the Scene’.

Yes indeed, she writes a regular piece much like the celebrity column/diaries that we so like to read in various newspapers, with lots of name dropping and reference to a surreal world of super rich, super-repulsive people, affected fashion designers, stick thin ‘models’, themed fund-raising balls and the general idea that everything in this party world is immensely cool.

Money is a huge factor in this world but morality is not much of an issue. And one way of making money is of course the media boom, whose absurdity is wonderfully exposed in the story.

One of the characters (‘Monty Mohsin’), for example, works as the local ‘arranger’ for a Channel 4 reality TV show ‘Who Wants to be a Terrorist’, in which ‘Z-list English celebrities’ are put through the rigours of a militant training camp... Amynah’s childhood friend Mumtaz also wants to take advantage of the media boom and the increased western interest in Pakistan following 9/11, and she suggests that they, along with a third friend Henna, set up a production company to make documentaries to market in the West.

The first documentary they make is about an oppressed woman in Pakistan and of course this becomes a big hit in the West, with whose general narrative it fits in well. But the whole thing spirals quite out of control and changes not just their lives but also the lives of several other people.

The story is about what happens to the three friends when they embark on this project but it is also about the idiotic way in which the media and the publishing world is exploiting certain stereotypes about women, Islam and Pakistan. It is an extremely funny book because Khan Phillips has a wicked turn of phrase and a real flair for satire. She has Amynah writing ‘an oppressed-Muslim-woman-who escaped’ book as a joke, and the few chapters we get to read are truly hilarious.

The cameo of the ‘intrepid’ Fox news reporter who flies into Karachi ("one of the most dangerous cities in the world") and stands inside the protected airport area (they can put in a Karachi backdrop later) to do interviews "in Karachi" is terrific.

And also very funny — albeit slightly depressing — is the account of the press conference called by Henna’s politician father at his Rahim Yar Khan residence.

This is a good story, although I must warn more conservative readers that the decadents use plenty of *&~*ing expletives, so they should be prepared for that particular elitist dialect from Amynah and her friends.

This is fabulous debut novel from Maha Khan Phillips, which she completed in a creative writing course at City University with Harritet Gilbert, one of the BBC World Service’s most stellar arts presenters. Khan Phillips is from Karachi, but now lives and works in London. The book has been published by Penguin India and is, presumably, available in Pakistan.

Oh, and this month I also saw the TV adaptation of one of my favourite books, William Boyd’s ‘Any Human Heart’. Brilliantly done. A great book, an excellent adaptation, one man’s story as he muddles thorough life wondering what it’s all about. As do we all.

Best wishes,

Umber Khairi

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