PEACE talks, or even talks about talks, in Afghanistan for many years now have been a case of going round in circles — with the Afghan Taliban in particular always sending mixed messages. Once again, then, with Pakistan Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz making some of the most emphatic and direct claims on attempts by the state here to facilitate talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, the Afghan Taliban have quickly tried to distance themselves from these initial and careful rounds of engagement. Are talks dead before they can even begin? Not necessarily. For one, it is quite common for elements of the Taliban, particularly those with links to the leadership, to engage in talks about talks while the leadership itself remains condemnatory of talks and hews to maximalist preconditions. That is the Taliban’s equivalent of talking and fighting, a strategy that seeks to wrest the maximum concessions from the other side if it ever comes to a negotiated settlement.

In the Taliban’s case, there is another reason to publicly appear dismissive of talks that have taken place: the annual spring offensive is at its peak and there is little value in sending mixed messages to the rank and file fighting it out over vast swathes of the country. Moreover, this fighting season has brought a new element, a surge of fighters, many of them foreign, who appear to have been dislodged by the military operations in Fata. Were the Taliban leadership to acknowledge even an incidental interest in talks, it would perhaps send the wrong message to the field where the Taliban have made deeper inroads quicker than what was widely perceived. Yet, the same old conundrum remains: the Afghan Taliban, for all their ability to operate in far-flung areas and inflict significant damage on the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces, appear to be no closer to overrunning the country. Kabul in particular appears to be a city where the occasional — though high-profile — Taliban attack is possible, but there appears to be no imminent danger of a governmental collapse or the capital coming under sustained attack. Therefore, with an Afghan president more willing to go the extra mile than anyone else in power, it remains to the Taliban’s advantage to also engage in talks.

For its part, the Pakistani state appears to be going through cycles of indecisiveness of its own. All sides agree that Pakistan has influence over the Afghan Taliban, though the security establishment and government here often argue that the degree of influence is much less than it is perceived to be by outside powers and the Afghan government. Yet, at no stage has it been apparent that Pakistan is willing to test the limits of its influence over the Afghan Taliban in the interest of securing a negotiated settlement. Can a meek Pakistan truly influence a recalcitrant Afghan TalibanCENTERn?


KARACHI’S beleaguered power utility is once again the focus of public ire following the enormous loss of life from the recent heatwave. The government of Sindh has blamed prolonged power outages as the key factor behind the deaths and some members of the party ruling in the province have demanded that the government retake control of the utility from its private sponsors. The prime minister has, wisely, refused to take such a step, but his government has now announced that it will be conducting a “performance audit” of the utility to see whether or not the private owners have been living up to their responsibility to the public interest by investing in system upgrades and power generation from their own plants. The debate, if it can be called that, arising from the heatwave deaths has therefore morphed into a debate around the government’s regulatory will and capacity in providing oversight for the sole privately owned and operated power distribution company in Pakistan.

On Thursday, the government issued formal instructions to Nepra, the power sector regulator, to conduct an audit of K-Electric to determine why the power utility is not utilising its full generation potential to serve its customers, as well as whether it has lived up to its commitment to invest in its distribution system to prevent frequent tripping and technical outages. In its defence, KElectric is expected to tell the regulator that the irregular supply of gas and the lack of payment from government offices complicates generation, while attacks on its offices and response teams coupled with frequent theft of power lines by scrap merchants has complicated its efforts to bring about upgrade of the system. Besides judging the truthfulness of these claims, Nepra would be well advised to seek a broader mandate for its inquiry. It should also look into the claim being made by the management of the utility that it has successfully lifted the company into profitability. In addition, the power sector regulator should try to determine how regulatory oversight can be strengthened for privatised power utilities following their takeover by new management. This is particularly important as the privatisation of three more power distribution companies is scheduled for this year, and whatever mistakes were made in Karachi’s case must not be repeated. There is a strong public interest in power distribution, and the case of K-Electric makes clear that safeguarding this is as important as it is complicated.


THE appointment of former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas as the president of the International Cricket Council is a rare honour coming Pakistan’s way, besides being a step in the right direction by the world cricket governing body. Abbas, one of the finest batsmen to have represented the country and the game, was confirmed for the coveted post in a landmark decision taken by the ICC in its annual conference in Barbados on Tuesday. The move is a departure from the previous ICC policy of appointing figureheads from the member cricket boards or technocrats for the post and it is understood that the controversial exit of Bangladesh Cricket Board’s Mustafa Kamal earlier this year prompted the world body to rethink its policy. That said, Abbas’s induction is still a hurriedly put together move following the sudden withdrawal of exPakistan Cricket Board chief Najam Sethi from his nomination for the ICC post last month, which he said was a decision in conjunction with the world body’s future plans to involve iconic cricketers.


The president’s post at the ICC, despite being a ceremonial one, poses perhaps the stiffest challenge in Abbas’s career since he faced the tearaway Aussie pace duo of Lillee and Thomson at Sydney some three decades ago. He is likely to find himself on a sticky wicket when it comes to dealing with thorny issues such as the Big Three controversy, security and the corruption issues currently afflicting the game, as well as the cut-throat commercialism threatening to take control. While as a figurehead at the world body Abbas is expected to have a rational and unbiased view of the controversies plaguing international cricket, he cannot remain oblivious to issues pertaining to Pakistan cricket, which include the revival of foreign team tours and the continued defiance of India to play us either at home or at neutral venues. Abbas successfully countered many a bouncer in his heyday and needs to be just as assertive and skilful in his new job.
Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2015
http://www.dawn.com/newspaper/editorial

__________________
"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling ,but in rising every time we fall". (Nelson Mandela)