In the 19th century, the British-origin East India Company (EIC) devised a means to milk resources out of the Subcontinent. They divided the country’s agricultural land, its main source of wealth, into pieces and appointed Indians as nawabs to control the yield. It became a common practice for the company to ask nawabs to pay them hefty taxes. The latter obliged by imposing more and more taxes on the farmers.
In this process while the tax collecting nawabs lived a luxurious life, the poor farmer was squeezed regularly. Today, the EIC’s role has been taken over by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as far as Pakistanis are concerned. The rulers are living a luxurious life while the common man is buried in taxes.
Sayed GB Shah Bokhari
Peshawar