For Cricket Lovers Only!

Re: Zeemax

Yeah, right!!

Pakistan team is proving once again that it is the stuff of pipe dreams. When the going gets tough, the Pakistanis collapse under pressure. We, as a team do not lack any talents, but we sure lack some character in our players.

These over paid and over indulged players, on whom the Pakistani hopes rest, might end up in the finals by chance, but they will not be the victors that day! Pakistanis may want the glory, but they are not willing to fight for it; they want to win with the effortless ease of gods and that will never happen, because the gods love obsecure and hate the obvivious!

As to dreams, they have an unerring habit of turning into nightmares and Lord`s on the appointed day will not be an exception. At dusk on that day, there will be a flag flying, but it will be a tri-color and it will hide the cresent in the penumerba of its aura and Bob Hope will sing,``thanks for the memories`` and there will be rejoicing in Kargil, but it will not be about cricket!

Good Job :)

Re FerozeK

Sometimes I wonder if you even know about the things you write about. Did you see the matches Pakistan played against Australia and South Africa? Effortless???

The unforgiving nature of our cricket `fans` is more immature than the whole team put together!

Zeemax:

Thanks for sharing your dream with us. Let me share mine with you.

I had a dream.

I had a dream that I was going to dream about World Cup..........then

I had a dream that the world cup was on.

I had a dream that of the thirteen articles on Chowk`s Page 1 less than half were about cricket.

I had a dream that if one more article on cricket appears, I would stop dreaming.

And then your dream appeared. That is 7 out of 13. Oh how I wish you had kept sleeping.

..................yawn, time for me to dream again.

regards

Re: NasreenK

Ever heard of sarcasm......I was joking and you need to chill hard before you have a stroke or something!

Re: Temporal

Agreed! Just as the articles on the infamous Delhi-Lahore bus, this is another example of overkill on Chowk. Ten days to go before this nightmare ends.

``For Cricket Lovers Only`` you claim. Well, that completely rules me out yet I cannot help but notice with amusement whence commeth your jollies these days. Surely, I am a spoilsport to interrupt your wet-dream about, of all things, cricket -- ah, how age alters a man`s libido! -- by reminding you that no matter how well the white clad buffoons (or are they wearing different color clothes now?) juggle the red ball (or is it yellow now?), the reality in the streets of subcontinent shall remain unchanged. The solutions to the problems of the average person will be no closer to realization the morning after the dream. In ancient Rome the masses were kept amused by a constant display of gladiator `sports` while the rot, corruption, and injustice went on. Not very far have we come over two thousand years, have we?

Enjoy your dream, for being awake may be a real nightmare. (Good to see a contribution from you.)

cheers...SR

I cannot but lavish praise for this wonderful piece. You have captured the essence of what it means to be a true cricket fan. I think the title is appropriate. Those non-fans should stay out, bail out and bowl out of this exclusive terrain that is sacred to the cricket fan. I could not help feeling exactly in tune with you. Good work, keep it up. A writer must connect with his/her readers and you have.

Re : SR .. Well I got so worked up arguing about Pak economy / nuke test and so forth that I fell asleep and had this dream. And Yes .. hun aish karan dey eahoey maidan reh gaey nain ..

Cheers Mate !

Re : JR

Thanks. Very encouraging comments. I hope I can connect with readers on other subjects too.

Rgds.

Re FerozeK

Really? You sounded petulant not sarcastic. How about some sarcasm after today`s match?

Re: NasreenK # 10

There was a match? Against whom? Who won? As to sarcasm after the match, that would depend on whom our petulent players played against. I still think that the odds are against the warriors of Allah in this tournment. If perchance they won against some team from a banana republic, that still does not mean they can defeat Australia or India or South Africa to win.

Whatever happens, the game fixing boys from Pakistan had a good innings in this tournment!

Dreams are dreams after all ...

But atleast u got the half part right about the pakistan team gettin thru ...

All thats needed now is 2 consecute wins by any one of these four teams and they have the cup

irrespective of who plays who ...

And common says that its anyones cup from here on ...

Pakistan have an edge because they have had a string of 3 defeats before the last game and so are like to win at least one of the next 2 matches ...

If in the final ... the odds are again in pakistans favour because they did come thru the premilinaries with the maximum points ...

A great article though Zeemax ... how about one on the conomics of this country and one on the politics....

would love to hear your views

cheers

Re : hielme

Okay .. I like to write about Pak`s economics but many people like to hear only criticism when I have many positive opinions .. so a litle disheartened with all the Paki bashing by our bretheren .. nevertheless I`ll post something soon ... on the budget perhaps which was presented yesterday.

Good article. Unfortunately like many others I`m
kind of distracted these days with the Kashmir
situation.
Zeemax, I`d like to see something written on
Pakistan here on CHOWK that offers a viewpoint that it will survive and is not falling apart.
Critics will have their fill on CHOWK but I`m
the kind of person who likes to believe in the
strength of a people. And believe me, in spite
of all the adversity, Pakistanis are an amazing
lot and as long as they retain hope, Pakistan
can have a bright future (beyond Cricket even).

Ras

Re: Zeemax

Quote:

Okay .. I like to write about Pak`s economics but many people like to hear only criticism when I
have many positive opinions .. so a litle disheartened with all the Paki bashing by our bretheren ..
nevertheless I`ll post something soon ... on the budget perhaps which was presented yesterday.

Unquote.

Most interested in your coverage of the following issues:

1) Has the government lost faith in its own currency when it requires import duty to be paid in hard currency.

2) No Tax increase budget has taxes maximum slab increased on individual, AOP and HUF from 20% to 30%.

3) No Tax increase budget has taxes on perquisites

4) No taxes on Agricultural income being touted as provincial matter yet zila tax is being abolished.

5) Treasury Stock introduced. Yet one year back the law minister feigned ignorance on this issue on chowk.com. Regulations surrounding this issue has not been completely addressed and therefore will not be effective from control and implementation point of view.

6) The government is still trying to work on identifying on the anomalies in the tax structure of instruments and continues to add more anomalies into the system (Institutional investors are exempt from taxes on TFCs).

Love or Leave Pakistan!!! equal Love the government equals Love the budget???

Re : Amin Saleh, Ras Siddiqui

I`m working on the budget document, however since it takes a while before an article is posted, I`ld like to reply briefly to the points brought up by you :-

1) The requirement for import duty to be paid in foreign exchange has solely been levied on motor vehicles. Since an excess capacity exists for motor vehicle manufacturing in Pakistan this step would help the local industry. The cars imported right now into Pakistan are invariably the luxury variety i.e. BMW, Mercedes and 4x4 vehicles which are not produced here, so the importers of these cars fall into the topmost income bracket.For overseas Pakistanis this should not cause any additional expense. Mind you all other levies on vehicles import i.e. sales tax, income tax and CVT have been abolished.

Pakistan has not lost faith in it`s currency, which has only depreciated by 8.7 % despite the severe crises of 1998. In comparison, Indonesian currency depreciated by 75 % and Thai currency by 54.5% after their respective crises.

Pakistan has to pursue all reasonable avenues to build up foreign exchange in order not to fritter away the time gained through donor agencies.

2) Three tax slabs have been introduced for individual taxable incomes over Rs. 500,000/- (almost Rs. 42,000 a month) which does not cause additional burden on general populace. The rationale is to encourage corporatization and thus documentation of the economy. Under the previous slabs it was beneficial for businesses not to incorporate themselves or rather form sole proprietorships etc., which do not have audit requirements. The new slabs are - 500,001 to 700,000= 25 %, 700,001 to 1,000,000 = 30 %, and above 1,000,000 = 35 %.

3)Tax on perquisites too does not cause any burden on the general populace. Corporate employees in any case are compensated by their respective emloyers for these increases.

4)Zila tax and Octroi has been abolished to simplify tax structure and increase revenue through these sources which has been mostly been misappropraited by corrupt officals and contractors for collection. For example, the octroi revenue is estimated to be in excess of Rs. 500 crore while the Govt. was only getting around Rs. 50 crore from the contractors.

Agri tax is highly controversial and even if implemented will disappoint versus collection from industry. Since industrial progress yields revenue in many forms i.e. import duties, sales tax, excise and so forth, the Agri tax if implemented is estimated to yield only a fraction of that. Further, it`ll be a highly contentious issue as regards distribution to provinces re their share. So the Govt. has for the time being left it to provincial Govts as they choose, and concentrating on incentives to industry instead.

5) The main issue to be decided for treasury stock is whether to allow companies to buy their stock below par value, which would deprive common investors. A decision on this matter will be reached soon. In general, treasury stock will boost the equity markets.

6)Let me clarify that Institutional investors have not been exempted from income tax, rather only the withholding tax. This means they will not have to pay income tax in advance on receipt of profit from TFC`s but rather pay it on their final assessment. This would help their cash flow to some extent. The rationale is to encourage a shift of corporate bank borrowing to corporate debt instruments thus making bank credit cheaper.

Loving Pakistan certainly does not mean loving the Govt. or the budget, but it certainly means loving the State, and an understanding of the vital isues here.