Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Trade with India
THE Nawaz Sharif government is believed to have decided to de-link the issue of trade relations with India from the progress on the slow-moving composite dialogue between the two countries. The decision, if implemented, should significantly boost bilateral trade that has increased from $1.8bn to $2.6bn since the resumption of commerce secretary-level talks in April 2011. A newspaper report has quoted anonymous sources as saying the state minister for commerce could announce certain actions Islamabad is deliberating in order to further liberalise trade with India during his visit to that country next month. The report also suggested that secretary-level talks may be on the anvil in the near future to move forward the stalled trade liberalisation process. An important measure that Pakistan plans to take is to increase the number of items that can be traded through the Wagah-Attari land route from the present 137 to 500. It represents a major move towards complete normalisation of bilateral trade.
Indeed, Pakistan and India have made a lot of progress on trade normalisation in the last three years. Yet a number of issues and impediments created by both sides continue to impede the free flow of goods across the border. If Pakistan, for example, is dragging its feet on allowing the free movement of goods via the only land route and resisting containerisation of trade, India is not ready to lower the quality standard barriers that restrict our exports. The two neighbours have also yet to allow free vehicular movement to help business cut costs and delivery time. This is despite the desire of businessmen on both sides for a free-trade regime. Issues such as the barriers imposed by quality standards are being hammered out under the umbrella of Safta, but are unlikely to be implemented unless Pakistan and India agree on them.
However, the dismantling of many an impediment in recent years promises a bright future for business and trade relations between the two largest South Asian economies. It may take some time but both countries will finally have to accommodate each other’s concerns and agree to trade freely for their own and the region’s prosperity. The good news is that the political leadership on both sides realises this. If the previous PPP-led government had successfully resolved numerous differences on trade and investment issues, the PML-N leadership isn’t sitting idle either. The recent visits of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and prime ministerial adviser Sartaj Aziz to India also focused on improving trade ties with India. Once we are able to pull down the barriers impeding the free flow of trade, progress on other bilateral issues will follow.
Chehlum security
ENSURING Chehlum passes off peacefully today will be a major challenge for the administration and security forces. After all, it has only been 40 days since sectarian violence broke out on Ashura, when clashes occurred as a mourning procession passed by a mosque and madressah in Rawalpindi. Several people were killed while rioting and arson followed in the garrison city, while a number of other areas of Punjab saw communal clashes. The violence was apparently sparked by an inflammatory sermon made from the mosque, after which the situation spiralled out of control. Yet even after the violence directly related to the events in Rawalpindi subsided, other incidents with a sectarian hue have continued ever since. For example, a deadly bomb blast occurred in Karachi’s Ancholi neighbourhood while a suicide bombing occurred outside an imambargah in Rawalpindi. Faith-based targeted killings have also continued, especially in Karachi and Lahore; at least two Shia scholars as well as the Punjab chief of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat have been among the victims. Therefore, Chehlum will be taking place in a highly charged atmosphere, and securing the mourning processions and assemblies will be as big a challenge as securing Ashura. Suffice to say, the authorities have their work cut out for them.
Rawalpindi will obviously be watched closely. Unfortunately, the clerics associated with the madressah that was at the centre of the storm on Ashura are going ahead with a meeting to remember the victims killed in the violence. There is reason to be concerned as the meeting will be taking place on the route of the mourning procession, though the authorities have sealed the venue. There are other potential flashpoints in the country such as Karachi, Quetta and Lahore where the authorities will need to be extra vigilant. Though deployments of police have been made and the army is on stand-by in many places, the administration should not hesitate to call in the military should matters get out of hand. It is hoped the state has learnt a lesson from the Rawalpindi tragedy; the administration needs to move in at the first sign of trouble and not let the situation snowball into a wider communal conflagration that is difficult to control.
Policing on a prayer
AT a gathering at Islamabad’s Margalla police station on Saturday, a police official said that “those who come to power neglect the police in Pakistan”. The problems faced by the department are indeed monumental, and range from the force being ill-equipped, under-trained and vulnerable to political interference to facing criminals that are as chameleon-like as they are implacable. And yet, these men stand on the front line, defending citizens’ lives and legitimate interests — often with their own safety at risk. The task they face is formidable, and a clue to just how formidable it is can be gleaned from the nature of the gathering in Islamabad: it was a Quran khwani where scores of students from a religious seminary recited verses to seek divine help for the police in controlling crime.
That matters have come to such a pass will inevitably raise a smile or two, particularly since the Margalla police station is located in what is amongst the most affluent areas in the city. Humour aside, though, the level of frustration that the holding of such an event denotes is worthy of focusing on, and being taken very seriously indeed. There is no way in which a force as emasculated as the police in Pakistan can be expected to effectively counter the level and nature of crime and terrorism the country faces today. Not only are there the well-known issues — a few of the more endemic ones have been enumerated above — the list of woes seems actually to be growing. For example, as investigations undertaken by this newspaper and published recently show, in the Sindh police force the ages of the men on active duty average at 45 — well beyond the optimum. This is a consequence of age-limit relaxations whilst hiring new recruits in recent years, and of irregular recruitments. And such a challenge is only amongst the simplest of many. Can we still hope for some political will being brought to bear on this issue?