It’s just not cricket

June 8th, 2011

In Pakistan cricket, the term ‘player power’ is hurled as an insult towards cricketers who are perceived as working against the interests of the team. It is true that in the past, players have formed cabals to get their way, as with the betrayal of former captain Younus Khan. Shahid Afridi, however, does not fall under that category. In retiring from cricket and publicly expressing his displeasure with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) at a press conference on June 6 and filing a case in the high court a day later, Afridi will have the backing of all well-wishers of Pakistani cricket. Yes, Afridi transgressed when he criticised coach Waqar Younis, but stripping him off the captaincy of the ODI team was a disproportionate punishment. For the good of the team, the PCB needs a shake-up, starting from the very top with Chairman Ijaz Butt, and lessons in how to manage its players.

The case for Shahid Afridi is simple: He has been a successful captain of a very weak Pakistan team. He took us to the semi-finals of the World Cup, beating the mighty Australians and Sri Lankans in the process. He then nabbed a series victory in the West Indies. Throughout this period, his bowling has been outstanding — he was the leading wicket-taker in the World Cup. Afridi is a vital member of the ODI team and to lose him because the PCB does not treat its player with respect would be tragic.

Another important factor in arguing Afridi’s case is his honesty. A recent investigation into illegal gambling on cricket by Sports Illustrated India revealed that even bookies think Afridi is incorruptible. Given the match-fixing scandal that has blighted Pakistan in the last year, we need more players with integrity. The PCB chairman reacted to the match-fixing scandals with petulance, blaming the English for also being corrupt and had to deliver a groveling apology when threatened with a lawsuit. Under his watch, cricket has disappeared from Pakistan thanks to terrorism, players are unhappy and Butt himself has become a laughing stock of the cricket world. In the fight between Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Butt, there should be only one winner, and it isn’t Butt.

Tales from Tori

June 8th, 2011

Officials, including the chief engineer at Guddu, his supervisor and the then irrigation secretary of Sindh have been found responsible by a four-man commission set up by the Supreme Court for the breach of the Tori Dyke near Jacobabad at the height of the floods last year. The commission presented its detailed findings before a three-member bench of the court, and also noted that the concerned officials had made matters worse by deliberately attempting to mislead the commission. The breach of the Tori Dyke led to large-scale flooding and destruction in Balochistan, as water flowed across the provincial boundary. The purpose was to save the Shahbaz Airbase at Jacobabad and also, according to allegations made by the Balochistan government and some residents, to save agricultural lands belonging to influential persons in Sindh.

The broader findings of the commission, set up to investigate the issue of dyke breaches across the Indus River System, are immensely important. The commission has, in the first place, noted significant neglect in maintaining the dykes. Attempts had, for instance, been made to plug weak areas in the Tori Bund by removing materials from its top, leading to a reduction in its height. The same failure to maintain other embankments led to them being breached. The commission also noted that encroachment of land, the construction of roads and highways without leaving safety channels for water flow and the failure to take full advantage of information from the World Meteorology Organization — of which Pakistan is a member — had all contributed to additional damage caused by the floods.

There can, of course, be no excuse for this. Rules are set up to create safety margins in times of natural disaster. Their blatant violation, as we saw last year, aggravates the suffering of people. It is quite obvious that regulations need to be tightened. The court is set to make its own recommendations but the authorities also need to assess the upkeep of dykes ahead of the next rainy season and ensure drainage channels are created along roads so that a future disaster on the scale seen last year can be avoided.

AG report on rental power

June 8th, 2011

We have been hearing a great deal about rental power plants (RPPs), which, under a government plan, were to add 2,700 MW of power to the national grid system, easing the power crisis we face, even though the cost of power would also rise. We now hear that, according to a report by the auditor-general (AG) of Pakistan, of the 19 proposed RPPs, only one had come online, adding a mere 62 MW of electricity — a meaningless drop in the ocean, given the scale of the power shortfall we face and the disastrous economic impact it is having. Still more worrying is the finding that Rs16.6 billion have been paid out in advance to the RPPs, creating a massive liability of $1.7 billion for the government. The AG has recommended that the contracts of all the companies who had failed to meet their obligations by coming online in time be cancelled.

The situation is certainly a disturbing one. It has also continued for far too long. The RPPs were originally approved under the Musharraf administration in 2006. Thereafter, both the caretaker government that took over prior to the PPP set-up and the current administration carried on with the policy, approving the plan and awarding even bigger contracts. Today, the whole scheme is in a mess. There are contracts that were never signed and others that were never honoured, while some companies are reported to have installed old equipment. Most crucial of all is the fact that nothing has happened to solve our power crisis which, in fact, continues to worsen. Allegations of nepotism in the award of the contracts float everywhere. As the AG has suggested, the matter needs to be fully investigated. It would be unwise to ignore it any longer, given the cost we are paying as a nation for a fiasco that has resulted in both a terrible drain on resources and in a continuing failure to solve the energy crisis, despite the many promises made and the rhetorical statements we have heard year after year, while in reality the situation has rapidly worsened.