Commission controversy
August 25, 2012
Earlier in May this year, after demands for new provinces gained strength, the Punjab Assembly unanimously passed two resolutions for the creation of the South Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces. Just days before this, the National Assembly had also passed its own resolution for a South Punjab province. At the time, the PML-N had begrudgingly backed out of its opposition, particularly to a South Punjab province, by extracting promises from the coalition government on several counts, most importantly that a grand commission would be set up to work out the process leading to new provinces. Thus, on popular demand, in pursuance of orders from President Zardari and after receiving authorisation by the National Assembly, the NA speaker constituted on August 16 a 14-member parliamentary commission for the creation of new provinces in Punjab. The commission is to hold its first meeting on August 28, but the PML-N, it seems now, is no more willing to play ball. A bewildering situation arose when the names of the commission members were announced and it became known that three of them were from the PML-N. However, not one member of the party had any idea who had nominated them. It later turned out that the secretary National Assembly had sent six reminders seeking nominations from various offices of the PML-N, including the opposition leader, but received no response. The government then communicated to the PML-N that three of its members had been nominated – but the radio silence persisted.
Now that the commission’s first meeting is called for August 28 and the PML-N has finally expressed displeasure with the arbitrariness of the process, the government has requested the N-League to re-submit its nominations in time to be able to attend the scheduled meeting. But as things stand, the PML-N high command has forbidden its members from participating in the meeting. Thus, while the president wanted quick movement on the creation of new provinces, it looks like the process stands scuttled for now. The Speaker of the Punjab Assembly is also considering taking the entire matter to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The question arises: under what authority did the government decide to go ahead and arbitrarily nominate members on behalf of the PML-N? Regardless of the lack of response from the PML-N, was the government authorised to go ahead with the nominations anyway? It would not be unfair to say, then, that the government acted in haste and has now created a situation in which the PML-N has found an opening to employ delaying tactics and stymie the process once more. To avoid further controversy, the best course of action would be for the government to de-notify the PML-N members of the commission, which it had no right to notify in the first instance. It should then invite, once again, the PML-N leadership to recommend the names of its members, and hopefully, the party will relent. August 28, after all, is not a sacrosanct date. The meeting can be postponed because the process of creating new provinces requires widespread consensus and cannot be undertaken without the PML-N’s participation. Both sides must eschew making this an issue of personal egos. We are dealing here with a matter that will not only see a change in the complexion of Punjab but also set in motion the larger project of reshaping Pakistan to cater to emerging social and political realities. The issue must thus be treated with the gravitas, restraint and maturity it deserves.
Pricing pains
August 25, 2012
The cost of daily living never seems to get any cheaper. New prices for petroleum products came into effect on Thursday with petrol up by Rs3.21 a litre to Rs96.78. High Speed Diesel is up by Rs4.40 to Rs106.19 and it has been announced that the prices of POL products are henceforward to be adjusted weekly rather than fortnightly. Those who run their cars on CNG fare no better. In Region 1 (the north of the country but including Balochistan) it has gone up by Rs3.21 to Rs88.61/kg; and in Region 2 (Punjab and Sindh) by Rs2.68 to Rs80.94/kg. The gap between petrol and gas prices narrows even further as the CNG experiment sputters to an end. In Karachi, the price of milk is in contention. Milk is a daily staple for most people along with rice and flour, and fluctuations in its price can negatively impact particularly on the poorest in society. The milk retailers are protesting that the commissioner of Karachi had fixed the price of milk at Rs60 earlier in the year, later revised to Rs70, and this did not properly reflect the production costs and that their profit margin had been decreased. Currently milk is selling for between Rs74 and Rs76 in the metropolis, profiteering is rampant and indifferently controlled by the city administration.
To the above examples of rising prices must be added the cost of electricity - for however little time it is available. Over the last three years, the government has increased the power tariff by two-and-a half times. With the price of electricity linked to the international price of oil and with much of our generation system dependent upon oil we have to import, making further rises inevitable. Taken individually these price rises of essential products and utilities suggest a steady upwards inflationary spiral, but paradoxically our inflation rate against the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has fallen to 9.6 percent, the lowest in the region as Prime Minister Ashraf was recently keen to point out. Against a historical high of 25.3 percent in August 2008 this is a significant downwards trend and would suggest that our economy is healthier than we feel that it is at an individual and grassroots level. But macro-economics is not about the common man or woman. Wages have not kept pace with inflation in general, unemployment has risen alongside the chronic power shortages that cripple industries small and large, and there has been no reduction in food insecurity. Almost 40 percent of the people in this country are hungry every day. They are unlikely to have been cheered by the inflation rate dropping into single digits. The yawning gap between official figures and the ground reality remains unexplained.