Friendly advice

The Friends of Pakistan forum, set up in New York in September, has completed its second meeting focusing on a working plan and the identification of areas in which Pakistan would benefit from assistance. As has been clear now for some weeks, the forum has no plans to extend cash hand-outs to Pakistan. Instead, it hopes to help the country strengthen its own economic foundation by promoting investment within it. Four other areas for assistance – development, security, energy and institution building – were also identified at the meeting, attended by low- to middle-ranking officials from over a dozen countries as well as representatives from the EU and the UN. The discussions held at the forum will be taken forward at a ministerial-level meeting early next year in Islamabad and expert-level consultations.

The unusual new body obviously sees, as its primary role, the need to extend moral support to Pakistan rather than help in concrete terms. This had indeed been made clear to Pakistan early on, as the forum was set up, with the country's president emphasizing he wished to 'learn how to fish' rather than being provided with it. While the world is naturally reluctant to see Pakistan collapse – this would be catastrophic given its central role in the battle to ward of terrorism – there is also an obvious reluctance to dole out more hand-outs to the country. For this reason the Friends have insisted Pakistan submit to an IMF regime, so that a check can be kept on its spending habits. Indeed, the setting up of the Forum in some ways complicated the task of seeking aid. Both Saudi Arabia and China, the two nations on which Islamabad had pinned its highest hopes as the extent of its financial crisis became clear, have been hesitant to dole out money within the setting of a bilateral forum. It has also been said that Islamabad handled the matter clumsily, leaving the Saudis mightily miffed over the fact that they had not been approached first of all when it became clear Pakistan faced collapse.

Given the humiliating situation we face now, Pakistan's priorities must be to put its own house in order, so that it can extract maximum benefit from the attempts that will be made by members of the Friends forum to encourage investment within it. Rather than hoping that the Obama administration will deliver financial assistance, Pakistan's managers must devise strategy to conserve and better manage their own resources. There is as yet little evidence that we are willing to enforce tougher fiscal discipline at home. Our extravagant cabinet, the decisions to take huge contingents on trips overseas and the style in which members of the government conduct themselves suggest that the true gravity of Pakistan's economic situation has yet to hit home. Islamabad must remember, a time may come when there may be no friends at hand to pull it out of the pit into which it has a tendency to stumble.

A monster riposte

Dear oh dear, Salman Taseer, it seems that the media has upset you. The electronic media has become a monster that has us all in its clutches and, horror of horrors, "it does not let any government work smoothly." So there we have it, the truth revealed at last…it is the media that is responsible for the loadshedding, the collapsing law-and-order situation, the balance of payments crisis and who knows what else – the scarcity of pink elephants in upper Sindh, perhaps! And those anchorpersons…terrible people to a man and woman! Were they to behave like this in the spiritual desert that is The West they would have been clapped in irons long ago, their tongues stapled to their toes.

Not everybody sees it thus. The ever-fragrant and immaculately coiffured Ms Sherry Rehman says that the government does not believe in placing sanctions on the media, but that there continued to be those who would silence the Fourth Estate (print or electronic division) – but that she was having none of that nonsense. TV channels had every right to examine the performance of government, indeed even lampoon and satirise it, and that media freedom was one of the central planks of her party, the PPP. All of which we applaud - so who is turning off the private TV channels distributed through the cable networks in Karachi and Lahore?

Could it be that pressure has been brought to bear by a political figure who is suffering a severe bout of acid indigestion? We would hope not, indeed it would be unwise of us to indicate that any such thing might happen in the land of the pure. So we won't do that. We would never suggest that a political figure, feathers ruffled by anchorpersons of godlike mien, would ever stoop so low as to intimidate cable networks into pulling the plug. So there we are. We haven't suggested it. Not a word. Nor would we. Ever. We now return to our normal service of misinforming the public, undermining the moral fibre of the nation and frightening little old ladies.

A solid start

Pakistan's new cricketing set up has got off to a good start, with a convincing 3-0 victory over the West Indies. Sadly, the success, in which Pakistan's batsmen produced some highly entertaining performances, belting the ball across boundaries as it came off the kind of flat pitch our batters revel in, has not drawn the level of excitement that may be expected. The fact that the matches had to be played in distant Abu Dhabi, due to security concerns, meant Pakistan's cricket starved audiences were not present to witness a set of victories that should have built greater enthusiasm than has been the case. This fervour is important both for the sake of people who thrive on the game of cricket and for Pakistan's team, as it seeks to make a new start under a new coach and a new PCB administration. Packed stadiums and chanting fans are what, after all, makes a one-day contest come alive.

But this having been said, the timely triumph augurs well. Even though it comes against the West Indies – a team who have slumped down the cricketing ladder with alarming speed since their heyday in the 1970s and 1980s – the taste of success against a major team should set the tempo for the future. Early next year, in what will amount to a far bigger challenge, Pakistan is due to take on India in a full-fledged Test and one-day series. It is still unclear whether the games will take place at home, or across the border – with the PCB willing to shift the venue if India is reluctant to tour. But wherever the matches are played, India's spirited outfit will present a hurdle that may not be easy to overcome. The victory against the West Indies may help Pakistan build up the spirit necessary to prepare for this and emerge with top honours in a high-pressure battle that will be keenly followed in both countries and may well set the path for the future for a Pakistan team that has in recent months struggled to find its stride.

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Regards,
P.R.