Last week, the government of Pakistan announced its efforts to bring back the money of Pakistanis being kept in the Swiss Banks. This amount has been estimated to be more than 200 billion dollars. Government of Pakistan is now in contact with the authorities in Swiss government and banks and preparations are being made to make this happen.

According to the news in Pakistani media, this news has created a great turbulence in the members of Pakistani society who had collected this money and hoarded them in Swiss banks.

Pakistan, like many other Asian and African countries, is included in those countries where large numbers of politicians, mafia lords, and other people from different walks of life have plundered millions of dollars of public money due to flagrant corruption. Usually, such money is difficult to be kept in the local banks as they might come under investigation and they may be pulled in courts under the charges of corruption. For such illegal money, Swiss banks offer their services where all their details are kept secret and they are not asked about the sources of income. But sometimes, governments can pressurize the Swiss government and banks to reveal these accounts and bring the money back into the economy. For a country like Pakistan, which is badly suffering of the financial shrinkage, this large sum of money can add a new life into the economy of the country.

Having a look at the example of Pakistan, our government can also take similar steps. Our country is also suffering from the scarcity of its own financial resources and is badly dependent on the international donors for meeting its expenses. It is also a fact that some limited numbers of Afghans have made millions of dollars in last few years from all the legal and illegal sources and the money given by the international community for rebuilding the country went into the pockets of a few. It is estimated that the amount being hoarded by Afghans in bank accounts of different foreign countries ranges in dozens of billion dollars. If this amount is brought home and added to the economy, it will really bring a new wave of economic activities and add new life to the economy and the country.

The idea seems to be very attractive but in practice, it would be very difficult to be implemented because majority of our government officials, warlords, tribal chiefs and other influential members were part of the mass corruption and they would never allow any such effort to be successful. Anyhow, we can always keep this good example in front of our eyes and pin our hopes with the coming government to turn this into a reality.