Fuelling controversy
A FLUSTERED and beleaguered finance minister suggested in his first public appearance since returning from his visit to Japan that the critical fuel shortages in Punjab might be a conspiracy against his government. On his part, the petroleum minister, who has been doing the rounds on TV since last week, blamed variously the finance ministry for not releasing funds in time to retire outstanding payments on oil imports, a spike in demand for oil, and refinery shutdowns. Four heads have already rolled, although none at the highest level. Meanwhile, consumers continue to throng the petrol pumps filling up small containers with tiny amounts of petrol as the fuel is rationed by pump owners, and a black market thrives. Of all the damaging attitudes to bring to the table at this juncture, none can be worse than casting the whole affair as a conspiracy against the government. Not everything that happens in the country is politically motivated.
The sequence of events that led up to the shortages is quite obvious by now, and it is disingenuous on the finance minister’s part to try and shrug off responsibility. It has been observed that most major decisions of this government are taken by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who are often criticised for concentrating power in their own hands. Since a large part of the crisis grows out of the funding requirements of PSO, which found itself unplugged from its credit lines due to defaults in payments of furnace oil imports, at least some of the explaining must come from the finance ministry.
Managing the oil supply chain is tricky business and requires advance planning — especially since Karachi, where the imports land, has limited storage capacity for petrol. Managing the supplies becomes difficult if the company placing the order does not know whether it will have the funds to honour the payment, especially as suppliers are demanding money before a vessel is loaded. Vessels have transit time, berthing is often not available on demand, and discharging the fuel for upcountry transportation can take days. It becomes impossible to manage such a supply chain if one doesn’t know when the necessary funds to make payments will be available.
As a result, oil supplies are routinely being arranged through short-term emergency measures for every vessel, which brings additional costs as well as delays in berthing and discharging of the fuel. The government will need to take a serious look at how it is running things for a more mature answer to why this situation arose in the first place. Over-centralisation of decision-making in the hands of a small group of individuals, coupled with inept management of the consequences growing out of the circular debt, has created this crisis. Resorting to conspiracy theories must be avoided.
PTI’s new direction
THE party was voted to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in May 2013, but at long last the PTI appears to be turning its attention to the very thing it was elected to do: govern.
Imran Khan’s so-called dharna convention in Islamabad on Sunday produced a surprise — and a pleasant one for a change. Instead of threatening the PML-N with further strife and more street protests, the PTI chief chose to focus on governance, reforms and service delivery in KP. And not a moment too soon. Hearing Mr Khan talk about education, health and the environment harkened back to seemingly another era when the PTI focused on real issues and talked in a language that the voter could connect with.
Missing though was the substance: no implementation timelines and concrete plans beyond a seemingly unrealistic and facile target of planting a billion tree saplings in the province was offered by Mr Khan. However, if the PTI is in fact serious, the opportunities are near limitless. No province has really managed to take on the raft of new responsibilities that devolution under the 18th Amendment has created, and no province has attempted to tie local governments to a developmental, people-orientated focus.
In KP that laudable goal would be complicated by needing to stay simultaneously focused on the fight against militancy. Daunting as the challenge that the PTI has laid for itself is, Mr Khan’s announcement has in a way also thrown down the gauntlet to the PML-N. It was after all the PTI chief who has been accused over much of the last year of being unreasonable and unwilling to hew to the logic of democratic politics. But Mr Khan has now proved on several occasions that he is able to back down for the greater good. First, he abandoned his demand that the prime minister resign to allow a high-powered commission to inquire into alleged electoral fraud on May 2013 — after it had become clear that that precondition was an insurmountable hurdle in any deal. Then, after the Peshawar attack occurred, Mr Khan again stood down, bowing to the logic of the need for a national consensus to fight militancy.
Now, even though the PML-N has yet to constitute the commission it once more pledged it would after the Peshawar attack, Mr Khan has turned his focus to governance issues in KP. Can the PML-N learn something from Mr Khan and do the right thing by forming the commission it has long promised?
PIA’s Delhi office
WHENEVER ties sour between Pakistan and India, people-to-people contact is the first casualty. It is a matter of concern for all those who desire friendship and harmony between the two neighbours that the Indian government has asked PIA to vacate its offices in Delhi. As reported on Monday, the Indian authorities have apparently caught the flag carrier out on a technicality. India’s Directorate of Enforcement has asked PIA to “dispose of” its real estate in Delhi as its purchase was “unauthorised”. Also, the carrier’s staffers in the Indian capital are facing problems in extending their visas. If the Indian authorities feel there are genuine legal issues with PIA’s real estate purchases, it is difficult to comprehend why the issue has been raised nearly a decade after the properties were acquired. Assuming that the Indian government is right on a point of technicality, we must nonetheless accept that when it comes to Indo-Pak relations, there are more than just legal or administrative details involved — there is always a deeper context, one that is completely political. Whether it is the case of the reopening of Pakistan’s consulate in Mumbai, the suspension of Indian carriers’ flights to Pakistan or even the closure of the Indian consulate in Karachi, it is politics on both sides that mostly guides such decisions.
Relations between the states have of course been frosty ever since the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Yet India’s establishment has adopted a more aggressive posture after Narendra Modi’s coming to power last year. PIA’s flights to India are now the only direct air links between the two states. Should this vital link be broken, travellers from either country wishing to visit the other by air will have to take a cumbersome, expensive detour through a third country. Pakistan’s high commissioner in Delhi has said the issue has been taken up with the Indian authorities. We hope it is resolved at the earliest. The people of South Asia deserve a better future based on friendship; for that to happen, the communication lines must be kept open.
Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2015.