Behind the Chairman’s Door

I guess that I couldn’t have gotten a better introduction to this post than what I heard the other day from a family member. Now, many of you that have been reading this series have probably thought that I was exaggerating a bit for effect… oh how I wish that were true… but I digress…

So we were having tea with a family member and they mentioned an incident at a local branch of the large private school system. Apparently, an 11th grader and a 10th grader had a bit of a disagreement. Back in my day, when you had a “disagreement” with someone at school, first you would try to talk it out; but if that didn’t work, there was the forest behind the school for the afternoon school showdown. Everyone has been there, either to watch or to participate; either way it was a showdown until someone gave in. The best part was that you usually walked away friends or at least with mutual respect for each other.

Well, these two young men, obviously from prestigious families to be able to afford a private school, rather than behaving like boys or men, decided to take a scene from “The Sopranos.”

The 11th grader ordered a “supari” for the 10th grader. Supari… the dryed up stuff that people eat?! That seems pretty harmless, right? Well, obviously you are like me and don’t keep up on the slang from the Indian gangster movies… a “supari” is slang for a contract hit. Yes, you read that correctly, but for those of you that can’t read between the lines:

11th grader orders a “supari” for 10th grader

Supari = contract hit

11th grader orders a contract hit on the 10th grader

Before anyone could find out or step in, the next day a gang stormed the school and, from what I hear, shot 2 people. I am still trying to confirm the injuries.

What exactly could a 10th grade kid do that would deserve a contract hit?

This isn’t like Los Angeles, New York or any other metropolitan city gang. This is an ordered hit from one elite kid against another elite kid.

I ask again, what exactly could a 10th grade kid do that would warrant, deserve or justify a contract hit?

Sadly, this is exactly what Pakistan is good at. One of the most profound things that I have noticed about this nation’s citizens is that they are best at putting their intelligence to the dark side, rather than using it for anything intelligent. To put it more clearly, the majority of Pakistanis are better able to plan out a crime than they are a business; and even more disheartening is that they will put more time and effort into the former.

Pakistan is a nation that has been looted by its politicians, police, bureaucrats and its own citizens, and the only people we have to blame are ourselves. The one thing that I have noticed about this nation is that people would much rather settle things by force rather than by discussion, especially when there is money involved.

I would classify Pakistan’s dark side into a few distinct categories, each with specific characteristics and required supports.

Professionals

This is the easiest crime in Pakistan and carried out daily right under the police’s watchful eye. I classify a professional as someone who lives to commit crimes, starting with simple street crimes and working their way up over time to kidnappings and murders. I also put a non-traditional item into the “professional” class: begging.

Coming from a city like Detroit, crime is nothing new to me. My former hometown was once considered the murder capital of the world, but we were always assured that the Detroit Police were not on the take from the criminals that they were there to protect us from. The same is not true in any city or village of Pakistan, where for the most part, the police are the ones providing cover to the criminals and even helping them to commit the crimes. I know of a couple of cases where there a street crime was committed and when the victim went to the police station to file the police report, the criminal was sitting with the Station House Officer (SHO), the head of the local police station, having a cup of tea. But when we progress beyond the simple street crime, we see much larger players involving themselves in the mix.

Kidnappings and murders have traditionally been the most effective way to silence political rivals and competing businessmen in Pakistan. When you can’t win honestly, you kidnap the opposition to make sure they can’t win from you… ahhh, how competition was truly meant to be. Now, initially this was directly targeted at the rival, but over time this has grown to be a fruitful business for the underbelly of Pakistan’s growing underworld.

Today, people are kidnapped just because they can get money for their return, no other reasons, and no other motivations. Kidnap someone and ransom them off for a hefty sum of money.

You want to know how the Americans got so many Pakistanis turned in as terrorists and al-Qaeda supporters?

They offered any Pakistani US$ 25,000 to turn them in with evidence or without. You give them to us and we will pay you. What a way to clear the country of rivals, family members that you don’t like, neighbors that you have been suspicious of, and anyone that you just don’t care to see anymore… book them on a one-way trip to Gitmo and reap the benefits.

These kidnappings have also expanded to include children. Now, if you have a weak stomach, I would recommend that you skip this part of the post and jump the next paragraph. Today’s Pakistan sees children kidnapped from homes, schools, parks and shopping centers to be forced into the highly profitable business of panhandling, or begging. Now, most people won’t give money to healthy children and the mafia that controls the panhandling ring knows this, so they make “cosmetic changes” to the child. Chop off an arm. Cut off a leg, Rip out an eye…. Put them on the corner to beg for money for you.

It’s much harder to resist a maimed child, isn’t it?

These children are forced to live in worse conditions than animals. The money they have spent the whole day sitting on the street begging for is taken by the mafia to pay for drugs, weapons and other luxuries, while the children continue to suffer malnutrition, abuse and other unspeakable things. Anything to increase the daily take-home of these children and expand the luxuries that they can purchase.

Why don’t the police stop this behavior? Why should they when they are the ones providing the protection from other law enforcement agencies? The sad fact of the matter is that most of the mid- to high-ranking police officials are either involved themselves or receiving money from the beggar’s mafia to allow it to continue.

Would you trust a cop in your town if you knew he was associated with this type of behavior?

I wouldn’t and neither do the other 160 million Pakistanis (minus the few that are paying them to behave this way) that claim citizenship of this country.

Blue Collar/White Collar

So most of us are familiar with this type of crime because it gets the most press, it is also the form of crime that cripples the national economy.

In Pakistan, we have gotten used to wealthy Pakistanis and businessmen taking multi-million rupee loans and having them written off by the bank a few years later. I should be clear, after the loan is taken, no payments are made to the bank, no recovery can ever be started because the person that took the loan has the ability to make life difficult for whoever raises a fuss.

Every year, the national banks, both government and private, write off billions of rupees in loans to the top 2% of Pakistanis… the elite wealthy class. The people that have been stealing from the country since inception are stealing from private and public institutions as if they were personal vaults, and the effect on the economy….

Ha ha ha.. what economy!

Unlike the developed world, there are no processes or protections for the bank issuing the loan. The courts are a comedy of errors that will cost more to prosecute than writing off. The police are cohorts with the offender in that they can be intimidated and bribed. The bureaucrats are useless in stopping the problem, and in some cases are the ones taking the loans. If they won’t pay, you are screwed. Welcome to Pakistan!

What I think is more obscene is the theft that happens on an employee level within companies. Now, I am not talking about adding a few bucks to a reimbursement or taking an unauthorized leave, which are also wrong, but employee theft in Pakistan accounts for the #1 reason why companies go under. When you have an Administration Manager, who is responsible for all the company’s purchasing, backing a moving truck up to the office and loading it full of office supplies, dishes and foodstuffs that are meant for the company’s use, it can add up. Start doing this every weekend, it is will really add up.

Add this to using company assets, like cars and computers, for your own personal use. For example, I used to work for a company that had very bad management level checking on its employees and their work. At this company, the staff would come to work around 11 am (office opened at 9), spend the whole day downloading MP3s or chatting with their friends on an IM, take a 2 hour lunch and go home early. These same employees would expect that the company should pay them a full salary and benefits even though they are not working at all, forget part-time even.

Would you pay them anything if they were your employees? Would they still have a job? Sadly, this is completely acceptable because companies, much like the public, believe that they have no other choices. I actually had a client say to me once, “if we get rid of him, what does the company do then?” hmmm… make some money instead of spending it hand over fist to offset the theft. How’s that for an idea?

Immigration

One of the best scams in Pakistan, and also the most used, is for immigration. Oh, Pakistanis, including the educated ones, are so stupid. In what world do you think it is possible to BUY a US or UK passport? In dark corners of Pakistan’s metropolitan cities are dealers that sell passports that are so exact that even the US government can’t tell if its fake or not. And the scam is great, you pay US$ 10,000 and get a US passport that will allow you to travel into the US once. Once you are there and have cleared immigration, you will need to destroy your fake passport. No record, no proof, no case.

But immigration scams are not limited to passports, in Pakistan, you can buy visas and jobs in foreign countries, if you have the cash. I know of at least 15 people that worked through a “visa agent” in Peshawar, who guaranteed them multiple entry visas to the UK for the low, low price of US$ 5,000. The “visa” is applied here in Pakistan and half the money is paid. The remaining money is placed with a trusted family member that will make payment as soon as the person clears immigration.

When the person arrives in the UK, there is a representative of the “visa agent” on the other side of immigration to assure that once you clear you call back to the trusted family member to release the remainder of the money to the “visa agent.” No fuss, no mess, no long lines at the UK embassy. And the same exists for the US, any country in the EU and other developed nations.

And another thing… how much stupidity does it take for someone to pay for a job and visa? This is another of the many immigration scams that occur in Pakistan. Want a job in Qatar, Kuwait or any of the Arab States? Pay Rs. 100,000 (US$ 3,500) and buy your way to a better life? This is the best way to fleece uneducated Pakistanis into parting with their money.

Ok, so I am going to discuss one more scam that I think has grown in popularity since the 1970, property scams. In a previous post, I mentioned how much it costs for the common man to buy a home in Pakistan. To help our fellow Pakistanis achieve there goal of owning a home, “property developers” have flooded the market. Every day, you will see a new ad for another posh housing complex that is being built someplace in Pakistan. When you investigate, you find affordable payments, long lines of people applying to consideration, and the promise of quality living. In the end, most people are provided with poorly built apartments and homes that don’t meet most of the building codes, much less any of the promised facilities. As a matter of fact, a few apartment complexes collapsed from within due to the poor materials used in construction…. But that is assuming that you actually got something for your money.

A large number of Pakistanis have been fleeced by the “quick thinking and faster moving” individuals that make up Pakistan’s real estate marketplace.

Wait, let me back up a little.

In Pakistan, the real estate market doesn’t have any regulations. There are no title deeds for the property that is purchased, because most don’t know who the original owner was or it was taken in a “Qabza.” “Qabza” for those non-Pakistanis is when some squats on your land and refuses to leave until you hand over the ownership of the land. It is also when you enlist a government official to help you defraud someone else of land that they legally purchased. Last night on GEO TV, the show “Gunnam” focused on this problem and how it actually comes to pass.

Also, there is no regulatory authority (including the Housing Authorities that are responsible for the upkeep of gated communities) for the property market allowing prices to be arbitrarily set. Tell me something… as an educated person; would you pay US$ 500,000 for a home that doesn’t have clean water, police security, proper roads or a working electrical system?

So coming back to the point, with the number of housing communities and high-rise apartments going up in Pakistan, there is a lot of opportunity for the shrewd scammer. List a piece of land that is going to be developed over the next 10 years. Take people out to the parcel of land and assure them that it does exist. Take the check for the sale of the land. Hand over a “file” that needs to be submitted to the housing authority to list the property in your name… but when you get to the housing authority, they know nothing about the land or the person that sold it to them. In the meanwhile, the shrewd scammer has packed his office and boarded a flight far away from where the scam was committed. And start over again in a new location.

So for all of you Pakistanis living abroad, don’t trust the property dealer on the phone with you, he is a liar and will run away as soon as he has his commission. Always, make the trip to Pakistan to see what he is offering before you spend on dime on the property. I know too many ex-pats that have been sold homes that have income tax due, property tax due, and hundreds of thousands in repairs to make the home livable, just because they couldn’t be bothered to do a little homework.

So that brings us to the conclusion of the 4th part of this series. Now, I know that I have said this in the previous posts, but please do take part in the conversation that I have started. If you think I am right, please post your comments and tell about your experiences; if you think that I am way off base, post your comments and tell me where I am wrong.

I have been very clear throughout this series that this is not a rant, it is a call to action. I know that I have taken a harsh look at my home country, but for us to grow as a nation, we need to accept these problems and find a way to change them; otherwise, we have no right to complain about any of the conditions of Pakistan.

In a couple of days, I will wrap this series up with a call to action. As I have said throughout, this is not a rant. We need to start doing something other than blaming the government for the problems that we as citizens can fix.