Wednesday, January 08, 2014
IP pipeline: yes or no?
VACILLATION, confusion, indecision — or maybe governments have been unable to understand that the truth will eventually come out. And so it was on Monday that the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee was informed by the minister and secretary of petroleum and natural resources that the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline can neither be built on the Pakistani side nor can gas flow through it without attracting sanctions imposed by the US and the international community for doing business with Tehran. This after years of hemming and hawing, first by the PPP government and for months now by the PML-N rulers. Even now, however, neither Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi nor Petroleum Secretary Abid Saeed have specified precisely which sanctions — US or UN — affect the pipeline, how they affect the IP pipeline plans and whether there is any discretion available that can allow Pakistan to make a case for an exemption that is much needed by its desperately energy-starved economy.
It would also be reasonable to ask if Pakistan’s ties with Saudi Arabia — which has gone into paroxysms over the recent deal between Iran and the P5+1 group — are part of the equation of the Pakistani government. Surely, Saudi Arabia’s intense rivalry with, if not outright animosity towards, Iran will have caused policymakers there to fret at the idea of an important new economic link between Iran and Pakistan at this point in the history of a tumultuous Middle East and Persian Gulf. Tricky as it may be for Pakistan to navigate all the geopolitical cross-currents affecting the pipeline, that is surely not an excuse to pretend every once in a while that movement on completing the pipeline is in fact taking place while in reality doing little to identify and protect the country’s economic interests.
Failure on the diplomatic front is one thing (and it’s surely a failure to not explicitly explain what the sanctions-related issues are and to refrain from mounting a campaign for permissible exceptions) and failure on the domestic energy planning front quite another. If the IP pipeline cannot be completed, what are the government’s medium- and long-term plans to bridge the enormous gap between supply and demand for gas? Construction of an LNG terminal may be under way as Mr Abbasi told the Senate committee, but the multibillion-dollar contracts for gas to be signed have yet to materialise. And given the enormous subsidies that gas consumers here are granted, how will the government truly be able to charge four to six times the existing gas costs without succumbing to manipulation by the usual special interests? Or is there really no way of ramping up domestic exploration for gas, despite pricing, security and province-centre constraints? Promising good and timely policies does not translate into real policies, as the government seems to be hoping.
Chaudhry Shujaat’s offer
IN offering himself for trial for supporting Gen Pervez Musharraf’s 2007 emergency, PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has not only showed courage but also drawn attention to some unpalatable truths about the treason drama that is the current rage in the media. On Monday, on the floor of the Senate, Chaudhry Shujaat said many other well-known persons besides the retired general ought also to be tried for treason — and not only for the 2007 emergency. As the chief of the ruling party at that time, Chaudhry Shujaat knows what went on in the tension-filled corridors of power before Gen Musharraf signed the state of emergency order on Nov 3, 2007. If at all there was to be a treason trial, he said, the starting point should be Oct 12, 1999, when an elected government was overthrown while Mr Musharraf was airborne.
The story didn’t end there. Siding once again with the army, the Supreme Court not only validated the military takeover; their lordships authorised the army chief to amend the Constitution. This way the apex court gave to the army powers that the court itself did not have under the basic law. It is in this sense that Oct 12, 1999 and Nov 3, 2007 are inextricably linked; the latter would not have been possible without the former. Having made that connection, even if the trial now under way is about the 2007 emergency, and not about the 1999 coup, as Chaudhry Shujaat’s words reflect, the emergency was not one man’s decision. While this time the court reacted strongly to the move, right from the political leadership and the prime minister to the army commanders and intelligence chiefs, there was support for the 2007 move. Chaudhry Shujaat’s stance was backed by the JUI-F’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, who demanded the trial of all those who, as he put it, worked for the former general. Whatever views the politicians may have on the issue, it is fairly clear that what is required at the moment is the trial of all those who played a part in the emergency of 2007. As then head of state and army chief, Mr Musharraf’s role was the most prominent. But that should not mean that others be allowed to go scot-free.
Ashes triumph
SELDOM in the 140-year history of Test cricket has a team been so comprehensively outplayed as England was by Australia in the recent Ashes series. Quite simply, it was the complete annihilation of Alistair Cook’s men by the Kangaroos who played like a team possessed. The sheer magnitude of Australia’s triumph, apart from its 5-0 margin, can be judged from the fact that they played an unchanged side in all five Test matches and managed to grab all 100 wickets of England in the 10 innings. This was a rare feat indeed. The succumbing of England, on the other hand, has come as a big surprise for cricket experts and fans since Cook’s army had been turning in admirable performances in world cricket during the past few years. It was a fairly settled squad featuring a number of talented players.
The destruction at the hands of the Aussies, however, has had a telling effect on the England cricketers, in more than one sense. Cook’s men, it seems, have not only lost confidence in their own ability to win a battle on the field, they have also been psychologically dented in the face of the opposing team’s relentless pace battery, so marvellously spearheaded by the fearsome Mitchell Johnson. The abrupt return home of their prime batsman Jonathan Trott citing stress-related illness, the mysterious retirement of leading spinner Graeme Swann, the growing dissensions among their main players, made public through Twitter, show the kind of damage the Ashes mauling has caused in England’s ranks. Besides, the much-trumpeted Alistair Cook-Andy Flower combination of captain and coach is on the verge of collapse with both seriously reviewing their future with the national team. As for the Aussies, the Ashes win signals their resurgence as a major force in world cricket and they certainly have the form and pedigree to mount a major challenge to South Africa as the number one team in world cricket.