Kalabagh issue
December 1st, 2012
Kalabagh dam enjoys support in the capital of Punjab which is the only unit in the federation backing its construction. For some, the proposal has been a dream for many decades now. For just as long, the ‘smaller provinces’ have opposed the construction of the dam, their opposition intensifying even at the mere hint of attempts to force the project through. But on Thursday, there was more of a thrust — from the blue. The Lahore High Court’s order has been met with the standard objections outside Punjab. In fact, so sensitive is the subject that even those who support Kalabagh’s construction have been guarded in their response to the LHC decision that the federal government is constitutionally bound to start the project in the light of the decisions of the Council of Common Interests. The decisions referred to in the LHC short order were made in the 1990s and called for technical and political issues associated with the dam to be addressed to make the latter acceptable to all.
The court says the project’s fate should not be sealed on the basis of presumptions and surmises, perhaps seeking to put the focus back on the CCI’s calls for evaluation of contentious aspects of Kalabagh. Maybe there is a hope that this would help iron out the differences between the provinces manifested in the anti-Kalabagh resolutions passed by the assemblies of Balochistan, Sindh and the erstwhile NWFP some years ago.
In any event, the matter will ultimately come to the people’s representatives which is only fair. Regardless of whether or not they agree with the court, the politicians have, without exception, spoken of the lack of consensus on Kalabagh in response to Thursday’s ruling. The question is: if it is to be ultimately referred to the politicians why did the LHC have to intervene in the first place? The temptation is there to find an answer in the judiciary’s relationship with a government whose decision to shelve the Kalabagh project “forever” was among its first resolutions. In more recent times the superior judiciary has ruled that a provincial government (in Balochistan) has lost its mandate to govern. It has also sought to fix CNG prices. This approach to addressing problems can be termed risky since it can increase the gap between two pillars of the state which cannot do without each other and must complement one another. The Kalabagh ruling by the LHC has already been dubbed ‘anti-federation’. It could cause — perhaps it already has caused — greater polarisation in a country confronting major provincial and ethnic divisions.
Palestinian victory
December 1st, 2012
It may be “unfortunate” for America and “meaningless” for Israel, but an overwhelming majority of the General Assembly’s members voiced the feeling of people across the globe when they voted on Thursday to grant Palestine the status of a “non-member observer state”. The vote takes the Palestinian people a step closer to their ultimate aim of having a sovereign state of their own on their native soil. President Mahmoud Abbas called the vote “a birth certificate” for the Palestinian state and said the UN move was the “last chance to save the two-state solution”. Already, more than 130 states recognise Palestine as a sovereign entity; Thursday’s 138 yes votes and only nine nays (with 41 abstentions) show that more states have swung to the Palestinian cause and rejected the Israeli stance that seeks to perpetuate Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. The vote also shows the diplomatic isolation of Israel and America — the two principal opponents of the move. Thursday’s vote also means Palestine will be able to join the UN’s specialised agencies, including what America is seen to dislike most — Palestine’s membership of the International Criminal Court.
While Palestinians have hailed their diplomatic victory, they and their supporters will have to reckon with Israeli intransigence, America’s unqualified support for the Jewish state, continued settlement activity in the West Bank and Israel’s arrogance stemming from its armed might. In fact, Israel’s UN ambassador clearly indicated the future course of the Likud government’s policy when he said the vote would put the peace process “backwards”, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked Mr Abbas, alleging that his UN speech did not contain “the words of a man of peace”. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, like the American and Israeli ambassadors, called for direct talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel to achieve peace, forgetting perhaps that Israel has torpedoed every peace plan, including the ones to which it is party. Palestine’s diplomatic victory at the UN has embarrassed Israel and America, but they have no choice except to bow to reality, for the Palestinian people have a strong case based on history.
Skyfall
December 1st, 2012
Man has always looked heavenwards for answers but on Wednesday night, disconcerted residents of Dadu district in Sindh had more than the normal vexations of life to quiz the higher powers about when large chunks of unidentifiable equipment dropped out of the sky over an area spanning several villages. That no one was hurt and no property damaged can only be termed a miracle, for the pieces were far from small. The biggest fragment weighed some 187 kilograms, while a former nazim of the area described a piece of iron as being five feet long and two feet wide.
Military authorities soon took possession of the remains and Pakistanis were left speculating whether the unidentified equipment was a bird, or a plane. Or, going beyond the Superman terminology, a dismembered satellite perhaps? Or even a missile? The last theory gained currency rapidly. Earlier on the same day, ISPR had reported that the army had successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Hatf-V Ghauri ballistic missile. Following this line of reasoning, a few wary souls started wondering whether or not the huge amount of public funds spent on missile-system development produce stable results. Fortunately for the future of defence-system development, military authorities issued a statement yesterday saying that the objects constituted the part that separates in the normal course of a rocket launch; the missile reached its destination, so the test had been successful. That will no doubt come as a relief to the nervous, sky-gazing residents of Dadu, and other citizens, too, who may fear finding themselves in the flight path of a missile at any time after this incident. We can only wish that such tests would be conducted in more remote areas and with much more care. Surely working out which regions are populated is no rocket science.