PML-N’s overreaction
IT may be arrogance or it could be a sign of panic, but the PML-N’s early response to Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri taking to the streets of the country is unnecessary overreaction. The filing of a reference for the disqualification of Imran Khan with Speaker of the National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq is a nakedly political ploy that has little to do with the law or parliamentary practice. While the post-Panama Papers revelations about the PTI chief’s past financial practices and property ownership have raised legal questions, the proper forums for deciding those issues are the judiciary and the ECP. Moreover, the PML-N move against Mr Khan in the National Assembly could trigger allegations of conflict of interest against the speaker, given Mr Sadiq’s recent partisan attitude towards the PTI in the Assembly and the bypoll he was forced to contest last year following the PTI’s successful challenge of the 2013 general election result. Unfortunately then, the PML-N’s apparent decision to fight politics with politics could cause unnecessary collateral damage to the apex democratic institution.
Far more sensible an approach involved the meetings that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held with the leaders of allied political parties, the PkMAP, National Party and JUI-F. Perhaps it was to seek reassurances or to strategise, but the cumulative democratic lesson of the last eight years has been that when parliamentary forces consult each other and act in concert, it has the effect of defusing political crises and stabilising the democratic process. The fact is that the PML-N has a majority in the National Assembly, a dominant majority in the Punjab Assembly and is one half of a power-sharing agreement in Balochistan. Those are legitimately earned, democratic strengths, while there is little clarity about the scale of public support for the PTI and Tahirul Qadri and their agenda of street protests. Moreover, the ToR committee continues to exist and the PML-N can still find a way to break the impasse there, allowing a judicial commission to be formed and the inquiry into the Panama Papers to begin.
Yet, the PML-N has acquired a well-deserved reputation for overreacting to challenges from the PTI and Tahirul Qadri, and the building political confrontation could trigger an ugly response from the PML-N if the party abandons common sense. The events of June 2014 in Lahore — in plain words, the massacre in Model Town — still cast a pall over the PML-N, and the party’s long march to Islamabad for the restoration of then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was a confrontation that only outside mediation resolved. The PML-N is defending what it believes is its rightful political ground and the party is protecting its leader, but perhaps the party should remember that its foremost duty is as the elected government of the country.
Power bottleneck
NO sooner had the government committed itself once more to its promise of eliminating load-shedding by the end of its term than we have a new report from the power sector regulator detailing the many bottlenecks that plague the country’s transmission system. Most importantly, the regulator has pointed out that the existing transmission system cannot even carry current loads, let alone cater to the requirements of the future. In the past, high officials of the water and power ministry conceded that the transmission system was unable to handle loads beyond 15,000MW. Now Nepra tells us in its annual report that the transmission system can barely cope with present demand, and whatever upgradation work is being carried out will not address the real bottlenecks. Many power plants, we are told, are operating well below capacity because there is insufficient capacity to evacuate the power they generate. In addition, many grid stations and transformers are operating at 80pc of capacity, well beyond their safety limit. And in the midst of all this, the government is claiming that it will take power generation capacity to 31,000MW by the time its term ends.
The question naturally arises: if the system is barely able to cope with the evacuation, transmission and distribution of power under today’s loads, how does the government intend to handle all the additional generation capacity it is contracting? Some transmission lines are indeed being laid, particularly those where Chinese projects are involved, with the most notable example being the work under way to connect Jamshoro grid station with Lahore via two lines. But the details given in Nepra’s report go far beyond the main spine of the country’s transmission system. In order to handle the kind of loads that the government is planning to put on the system by 2018, even if we assume they come online as planned, it will mean that the entire network should be undergoing massive upgradation. Instead, the report tells us of plants that have been inaugurated with much fanfare only to become idle because power lines to carry their output have yet to be laid. It tells us about grid stations overloaded and EHV lines near full capacity. As has been repeatedly emphasised by many already, without underlying reforms of the power sector institutions and technical upgradation of transmission and distribution, mere megawatts will not be enough to tackle the power shortages in any meaningful way.
Culling pye dogs
STRAY dogs have been at the receiving end of the civic authorities’ zeal in Karachi since Thursday. At least 700 of them have so far been killed in two areas of District South alone using poison pellets in chicken meat, and the total number throughout the city’s six districts could run into thousands. The carcasses — which made for some gruesome viewing — were collected by the municipal authority concerned and removed to a landfill. The scale of the problem posed by the stray dog population in Karachi can be gauged from the fact that last year Jinnah Hospital treated 6,500 dog bite cases, while the number thus far this year has reached 3,700.
There is a considerable amount of outrage from some quarters about the cruel manner of the cull, which resulted in an agonising death for the animals. That is as it should be, because suffering — whether undergone by man or beast — must be a matter of concern and more humane options explored. However, those for whom private cars are the primary mode of transport would find it difficult to appreciate the dangers that packs of stray dogs pose on a daily basis to pedestrians as well as children playing in the streets, a far from uncommon sight in the metropolis. That said, in the delicately balanced order of the natural world, it is worth looking at the issue from a more holistic point of view. Research has shown that pye dog populations in an area tend to replenish themselves as other dogs move in to fill the ecological space created by the culled animals. Also, a larger amount of available resources enhances survival rates for both puppies and fully grown dogs. But therein lies a clue: deprive stray dogs of the resources that nurture them. The lack of an organised garbage disposal system in the city exacts a multifaceted environmental cost. Addressing that issue would have a far-reaching impact on reducing the pye dog population as well.
Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2016