Perhaps we all aren’t as surprised as we should have been under the rule of a comp

etent government. Although the decision itself was of no good for us in the long
run but however, it was the light for the public and analysts to argue that Gov
ernment was interested to break the Auto-mafia but as it came out, to be one of
the greatest illusion witnessed by Pakistanis – its there then its not there.
Almost all of the media outlets report that the positive lobbying by Auto-assemb
lers led Prime Minister to revoke the decision made earlier. Local auto-assemble
rs assured the Prime Minister “once again” that they will lower down the prices.
Downward trend in car prices was observed as the news broke out in the market bu
t this trend will also revoke shooting prices of cars through the sky. There was
a time when within 3 lac rupee you had options, today, there’s no way I can upgra
de without adding couple of lacs in my budget to upgrade.
Pakistan’s predicament economy has raised the prices; there are no customers in th
e market, forex prices are sky-high and with that said, few companies consistent
ly play with premiums by controlling demand and supply. A company went the farth
est by collecting advances from customers’ up to 17 billion rupees for their perso
nal uses. Instead of charging the company for fraud, the ministry of industries
had a cat-fight; it allowed used-car imports.
The “Big Three” local auto-assemblers which consist of PakSuzuki, Indus Motors & Atl
as Honda increased prices by 33-78%, 33-68% and 21-54% respectively. All of them
owed the price increase to the awful dollar-rupee and yen-rupee parity. Such a
shame that even today Pakistan is not able to produce the simple yet outdated Me
hran all by itself.
It is imperative from me to not mention a quote from the article written by Zafa
r Hilaly for The News;
Some would call it double dealing or hypocrisy, but let’s just call it pretend
ing. That way it becomes less emotive and more palatable. Why do we pretend as m
uch as we do when in the end we end up fooling no one but ourselves? Worse, the
pretence of yesterday becomes the facts of the next day when those acting the ch
arade are not around to confirm that what was being reported as genuine was mere
ly posturing, and actually a hoax. It’s important because if the past never really
happened, how can it form the basis of formulating present policy? After all, t
he past is not just a package that you can lay away, and, besides, if we do not
really know the past, how can we understand the present?
The pressure from the majority is over-shadowed by the powerful handfuls hence n
one of what you hear shall you embrace.
Even though it is too early to say but I am further saddened to tell you that in
1995, Benazir Bhutto sent Asif Ali Zardari to South Korea and he returned with
dozens of MoUs worth several billion dollars. So today’s deals with the Chinese ar
e no different, will we see the rise of the Chinese auto-makers and fall of the
big-three in Pakistan? I don’t know and I don’t care as I’d rather choose to cling on
to my hope which is my wish as well that one day we will have a policy that allo
ws a Pakistani to make one car and register it as his brand, this is the solutio
n and will be my democratic revenge on the auto-mafia as many of us would prefer
to see the supercar by the name of Basheer 458 Pakistani rather Ferrari 458 Ita
lia because Pakistan is my identity just as Ferrari is Italy’s but for now, go thr
ough Mr. Zafar Hilaly’s piece on, ’false hope about Chinese visit’.