What does Imran Khan Mean by Freeing the Country of Debt? Definition of 'Odious Debt'

The people of Pakistan in general face Economic crunch, living literally on day to day basis. Basic amenities in the country are at record high prices, people who are attending the Azadi March in Islamabad come on their own will, they agree with the vision of Imran Khan, they support him that is why they show up in large numbers but by implementing those things said by the leader of the second largest party in Pakistan they feel their lives may become more miserable. What is it that they need to understand? How can a nation be made to realize, what they face in future is total darkness created by this illegitimate Government of Nawaz Sharif and his parties of Status-quo which came to power through rigged elections.

Civil Disobedience was announced by Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is in reality Economic Disobedience. He asserted that under the rule of "these businessmen who only want to make money for themselves, Pakistan's future is bleak." Khan's remarks were directed at Sharif, one of the country's wealthiest man and the owner of Ittefaq Business Group. Observations can be taken through the Brazilian and Turkish protests for the best promotion of growth of democracies. At a basic level, it is true that people in both countries are disappointed with the performance of their governments.

As media reported the protests done in Turkey have been signs of Turkish discontent over restrictions on basic freedoms and the excessive centralization of decision making by the ruling party, not least concerning urban transformation projects. In Brazil, protests have been fueled by general dissatisfaction with corruption, inflation, high taxes, as well as poor public services – including the education and healthcare systems – in the face of excessive spending on sport venues etc. Rising awareness among middle-class youth combined with political desperation and police violence have pushed people onto the streets. In Turkey, the initial protestors in Gezi Park were mainly from the Taksim Solidarity group, a collection of 118 professional chambers, unions, political parties, and non-governmental organizations. In Brazil, the protests were organized by around 40 leftist activists from the Free Fare Movement, and were primarily attended by students of São Paulo. 

                                                                       

In Pakistan; if this is followed by business communities, upper middle class, for they stop giving Income Tax, Sales tax & GST to the Nawaz Sharif Govt it will take months & years to catch all those who didn’t pay. Majority in the ruling party don’t pay their taxes at all. If millions of citizens do not pay, effects on the government will weaken its standing as the condition of the govt. at present is already fragile; it lives on day to day basis.

Foreign Remittances of Pakistani Expatriates stopped can bring a standstill to the economy. In the first part of 2014, Overseas Pakistanis sent $7.79 billion remittances in the first half (July-Dec) of this fiscal year registering a growth of 9.46 per cent over a year earlier, the State Bank reported. Pakistan is among the major countries which receive large amount of remittances like $13.9bn in FY13 If and when the Chairman Tehreek-e-Insaf gives a call for overseas Pakistani’s a complete economic lockdown can happen in the country.

Loans of International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Nawaz Sharif Government have been a bitter pill that Pakistan had to endure. Imran Khan categorically told the IMF in his speech that they should not give further loans to this illegitimate government as this debt will not be paid back by the Government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf once it is in power. How does the Chairman of the second largest party say this? Well, there are examples in the world from where he brings his points forward for citizens of Pakistan to understand completely. Debts taken by a political party in power and not used for the benefit of the masses are called Odious or illegal debt.

Odious or illegal debt is an established legal principle. According to the International Law, debt is to be considered illegal if the government or a regime used the money for their personal purposes to take kick backs in Government nominated projects, which became lesser advantagrous for the people of the country and more beneficial for the party in power (in case of Pakistan it is PML-N) or to oppress the people by force. Moreover; it is borrowed money which was used in ways for personal gains of the political party in power and not for the welfare of the citizens. Countries identified through the use of International Law which suffered from corrupt political parties in power are:: Identified regimes associated with odious debt are Nicaragua, the Philippines, Haiti, South Africa, Congo, Niger, Croatia and other countries whose rulers have looted national funds for their personal accounts or used the money to restrict freedom & liberties of the people and inflict violence on their own citizens. Khan talks about building an economy that serves, protects and promotes participation of the most vulnerable.

This International law has been applied in countries of the world   In December 2008, Rafael Correa, President of the Republic of Ecuador, declared Ecuador's national debt illegitimate odious debt, on the argument that it was contracted by corrupt and despotic prior regimes. He succeeded in reducing the price of the debt letters before continuing paying the debt.

After the overthrow of Jean-Claude Duvalier from Haiti, there were calls for cancellation of Haiti's debt to multilateral institutions, based on the argument that it was unjust odious debt, and that Haiti could better use the funds going towards debt service for education, health care, and basic infrastructure. As of February 2008, the Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution had 66 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives. Several organizations in the U.S. issued action alerts around the Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution, and a Congressional letter to the U.S. Treasury, including Jubilee USA, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti and Pax Christi USA.

With this in mind, dynamics of politics have changed in the 21^st century; these cases illustrate two fairly universal lessons: first, citizens are unwilling to accept a democracy limited to rig voting alone. They demand free and fair electoral process, a more liberal democratic citizenship with active participation in the decision making process and public governmental accountability. Second, societies across the planet reject the use of undue force by their elected government, and they can (and will) mobilize themselves independently to make their voices heard.