(13th March 2013)
Pipeline priority
Despite vociferous objections raised by the US, Pakistan and Iran have boldly gone ahead and inaugurated the gas pipeline, which is to bring in much-needed gas from Iran to meet Pakistan’s pressing energy requirements. The pipeline was inaugurated by presidents Asif Ali Zardari and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Chabahar on the Pakistan-Iran border, from where the pipeline will cross over into Pakistan. It will then travel 781 kilometres across its territory, bringing in the energy Pakistan so desperately needs to get its factories working again to full capacity, containing the economic crisis that has arisen from the energy shortfall, meeting the needs of domestic users and generally, getting the wheels that run the state whirring once again.
The project, which will cost Pakistan $1.5 billion, must therefore be welcomed wholeheartedly. It could, and should, prove crucial for the future of our country. Indeed, perhaps it should have been put in place sooner given the losses we have suffered in so many forms as a result of the energy shortfall which has continued for years. But even beyond this, there are reasons to celebrate with the two presidents who jointly raised their hands at the inauguration ceremony. The pipeline helps re-establish Pakistan’s sovereignty at a time when it stands badly dented. It also shows that Pakistan is willing to put its own interests ahead of all others, as indeed it should, and stand tall despite the pressures exerted by Washington. For this, the president and the government deserve credit. They have demonstrated that we are capable of putting ourselves first when making decisions.
The signing of the pipeline deal is also important for reasons beyond this. For one, it binds the region closer together — and such regional cooperation is vital for development and for progress in several areas. Islamabad and Tehran have shown that they understand this and as such, the pipeline deal could usher in cooperation in other areas binding nations closer together, thereby making it more possible for them to put the needs of their people at the very top of the priority list.
Dilapidated schools
Recently, the Supreme Court ordered a survey of the conditions of government schools in Sindh. To no one’s surprise, the over 100 government schools included in the survey were found to be in dismal conditions. The schools had no water, no furniture and no bathrooms. In addition, many of the 106 government schools had no electricity, resulting in poor temperature control in the classrooms, which in itself can be disruptive to students’ learning.
Apart from poor physical conditions, administrators of the schools informed the sessions judges carrying out the survey that education department officials required them to regularly pay bribes. If those bribes went unpaid, the officials threatened to transfer teachers elsewhere or sabotage their annual reports. The world over, teachers and administrators commit to students’ learning and academic success as their major goals; that is their primary concern. However, in Pakistan, with its already weak state of education, the officials of our government schools are forced to worry about obtaining basic necessities such as electricity and water. In addition, they have to deal with paying bribes to education department officials. Consequently, students in government schools suffer, creating greater disparity between government and private schools in Pakistan. The worn condition of government schools is not only a phenomenon observable in Sindh; government schools in all other provinces of the country suffer similar conditions.
Clearly, the education department needs to do its job better. However, prior to this, honest officials need to be appointed who will take oaths to faithfully fulfill their roles, all in the interest of Pakistan’s youth and its future. In order to get the attention of officials, perhaps the parents of the youth need to protest and call on the government to fix the conditions of its schools. Once the schools are equipped with basic necessities and replete with better resources for students, we will see our bright youth shine.
Containing North Korea
Former basketball star Dennis Rodman’s recent foray into freelance international negotiation would have been amusing were it not undertaken in a country where the situation is so fraught with deadly possibility. The Chicago Bulls player met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and declared him a friend who is popular with his own people. Rodman was either too ignorant to know or simply did not care that the leader of this totalitarian state is one of the biggest threats to the world who has little concern for his impoverished people. And as bad as the situation has been ever since the Korean War of the 1950s, Kim Jong Un has taken the sabre-rattling to new extremes over the last year.
The North Korean leader’s latest provocation was to unilaterally scrap the armistice which had been in effect since the end of the Korean War. Last year, he had moved a long-range rocket to a launching pad to coincide with a nuclear security summit in South Korea, although the rocket tamely fell to pieces and landed in the sea when it was tested. He has also threatened pre-emptive nuclear strikes against South Korea, boasted that his country’s missiles can reach the US and also refused to answer South Korean calls on a hotline phone. North Korea is obviously an enormous headache for its neighbour and the US but its nuclear capability essentially shields it from military attack and so, sanctions are the only weapon that can be used against it.
The problem, as always, with sanctions is that they end up hurting the people while doing very little to dislodge the dictatorial government from power. Negotiations have been tried countless times and any agreement has always been short-lived. Kim Jong Un is even more bellicose than his father and has shown no interest in giving up his nuclear capability in return for better relations and the possibility of aid from the US. The only way a dictator can feel safe is if he has the nuclear capability to deter an attack. This is a lesson North Korea seems to have taken to heart.