Don’t buy fake US dollars

The Pakistanis who are blindly investing on purchase of US dollars even after its value gone up to Rs 152/- are warned to beware of the fake dollars that were spread across the country soon after invasion of allied forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.  

Informed sources disclosed that soon after the 9/11 false flag operation when American government invaded Afghanistan in 2001 there was a great influx of American and European print, electronic media in Pakistan to cover this war. From Karachi to Peshawar these media members relentlessly distributed US dollars among local citizens including guides and translators to get information on various aspects of the war against Afghan Taliban. In result, Pakistan and Afghanistan were flooded with US dollars.

American intelligence agencies got hold of various sensitive areas specially neighboring border of Afghanistan for their covert operations with the connivance of incumbent ruler Pervez Musharraf. On the other hand, American forces had occupied various military air bases in Pakistan with the courtesy of ruling regime. The rail, road and air spaces were being used by 65,000 troops from 42 countries allied forces frequently to win this war at any price but failed. Obama sent 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan in April 2009. He promised to send another 30,000 in December and the total crossed 100,000. Even in June 2017. On January 11, 2018, the Pentagon announced it will send in drones and 1,000 new combat advisers. 

The costs of the War in Afghanistan are astounding and without end, with the war about to enter its 18^th year. Ultimately this western war hysteria being ventured thousands of miles away from their origin needed huge bulk of dollars that was yet to be estimated exactly but may not be less than trillions. To meet these requirements but avoiding from the eyes of the world American authorities decided to print this bulk of currency in Pakistan instead of bringing it from their country. For this purpose they outsourced the project to a local party of their confidence in private sector. But series of this currency was different from original notes being issued by Federal Reserve System of United States.   

Hence, millions of dollars stashed away in lockers by Pakistanis face the risk of devaluation as banks had stopped accepting the different series notes. Money changers were charging up to a 4 percent fee to exchange those bills. The sources said that Pakistanis who do not know the difference between old- and new-design notes were going to be unsuspecting victims of devaluation and unacceptability of the dollars.

Since last many years banks and money changers were not accepting these notes while the few were charging a fee to exchange them. Not only in Pakistan but in Singapore, Dubai, Thailand, and Indonesia and many western countries such series notes were still unacceptable.    

In 2017 it was said that the $100 bill with a blue stripe in middle of the note is newly designed. Older bills without the blue stripe are not currently acceptable by Pakistani banks. There is no official restriction on accepting the old-design $100 note. But money changers say banks turn down old-design notes when they try to deposit them. It all depends on banks how they deal with the currency,” said Abid Qamar, chief spokesman for the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). He added that there is no need for the SBP to intervene in this affair. According to money changers, new-design notes were introduced about five years back.

Traders prefer using cash to settle payments in order to avoid the tax on banking transactions. Many Pakistanis like to keep their savings in banks’ lockers in the form of dollars. Other victims of this trend are overseas Pakistanis who keep foreign exchange accounts in Pakistan. There are hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis living abroad are not aware of the so-called devaluation of the US currency in Pakistan.

Money changers buy old-design notes at a cheaper price and manage to exchange the same in Dubai without incurring any cost and thus make a heavy profit. “We don’t know why banks are not accepting the old-design dollars, but it means devaluation for those who hold these notes. This is true that both banks and money changers are not accepting old-design notes,” said Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan Secretary General Zafar Paracha.

“The old-design dollars are not acceptable even in China and Russia. They also demand the new-design dollar,” he added. This issue translates into millions of dollars loss for Pakistanis who hold US dollars in their possession. People with foreign exchange accounts have complained that the banks give them old currency notes (US dollars) but do not accept them in return.

Commenting on this situation Hashmat Habib, President Tehreek e Tahafuz e Adlia said that bankers & money changers with the blessing of SBP are party in the crime. Dealing in dollar other than through bank should be banned to save economy from total disasters. Supreme Court must take suo motto action swiftly, he added.

-Nasir Mahmood

nasirmahmood05@yahoo.com