BACKGROUND

I suppose the origins of this dastardly issue take us back to the mid-1960's, when our simple mountain folk (particularly from the Mirpur district) descended in droves to the plains and took advantage of post-war labour shortages in Britain.


Sweating out 16 hour shifts, 7 days a week for years on end, gave them little exposure to mainstream society there and even less familiarity with the negative socio-economic human evolvement 'back home.'


Towards the mid to late 1980's, many had by now saved up relatively large sums of money, (compared to citizens in Pakistan) ripe for investment in their beloved homeland.


Little did the 'Pakistani State' take note of their vulnerabality and susceptability to fraud. An institutional framework or public awareness campaign to minimise risk was never realised or perhaps even contemplated.


The result: Many a thousand expatriates felt disillusioned and swore never to re-consider investing in Pakistan.


The other side of the coin is that, there exists another segment of inward investment that has flourished here viz. that of 'black money', dishonestly or immorally earned. Couple that with the tactics of thuggery in business and the willingness to manipulate the law, saw a particular profile of people flourish here.


That hasn't changed...yet


My uncle and his friends in the UK of Kashmiri origin, have worked extremely hard for their money, have transparent, reputable businesses in the UK and are averse to adopting 'standard procedure' to reclaim their money.


Mr. Bashir understood all the above and took lethal advantage, as we'll learn throughout this blog. Unravelling him and using him as a case study could do much to re-install hope in this country.


Your co-operation and support will forever be appreciated.


n.b. The format of this blog will follow a timeline approach