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Dawn Editorial
[COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B][B]Deweaponisation[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Tahoma"][U][B][B][B]Thursday, 12 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [IMG]http://http://www.dawn.com.pk/wps/wcm/connect/ab851180438c35e69b6bdb90bbbb3ae7/ammo-608.jpg?MOD=AJPERES[/IMG] [COLOR="blue"][SIZE="2"]There have been several deweaponisation campaigns in the past, yet none of them have been successful. However, if steps are not taken now the problem may spiral out of control, if it has not done so already. Estimates suggest there are millions of weapons in the country. - Photo by AP. [/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Tahoma"][B][B][B]Karachi’s dreadful orgy of violence last week, in which nearly 100 people were killed in a period of three days, has once again drawn attention to the issue of illegal weapons.[/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] Officialdom is talking about increasing penalties for those found possessing illegal arms as the latter are clearly playing a major role in fuelling chaos across Pakistan, especially in Karachi. From sectarian death squads to urban gangsters to fringe political activists, all sorts of unsavoury characters are armed to the teeth in this country. Hence there exists a great need for the government to deweaponise society. At an official meeting held in Karachi on Tuesday, it was decided that in order to put a cap on the seemingly unstoppable trend of targeted killings, a number of steps would be taken. Among them, punishment for possession of illegal weapons would be 10 years’ imprisonment. The ISI and IB would also coordinate with local police to maintain a check on violence. It was also announced that no ‘political pressure’ would be tolerated when dealing with such cases. Such tough talk has been heard countless times, yet each new cycle of violence seems to be more brutal than the last. The government must ensure that such statements are followed up with action, or else these hollow promises will end up as an insult to the citizens’ intelligence. It seems the most obvious solution to ending violence is to cleanse the city and the country of illegal weapons and to bring the perpetrators to justice. There have been several deweaponisation campaigns in the past, yet none of them have been successful. However, if steps are not taken now the problem may spiral out of control, if it has not done so already. Estimates suggest there are millions of weapons in the country. Guns are coming into Pakistan from beyond its borders while areas like Darra Adamkhel within the country are also a major source of illegal arms. The supply lines which allow weapons to pour into our cities and towns need to be cut. Though targeting the end user is important, the entire network involved in the illicit arms trade — smugglers, suppliers, distributors, complicit officials — must be dismantled. Since the intelligence agencies are now on board, it is hoped they will be effective in curbing arms’ smuggling. Armed sectarian militias and violent elements associated with political parties must be defanged. Also, the display of weapons — including by guards accompanying politicians and other ‘elites’ — must be strictly banned. The situation demands that a well-planned, across-the-board deweaponisation campaign be carried out if normalcy is to be restored. [CENTER]-------------[/CENTER] |
Dawn Editorial
[COLOR="DarkRed"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Costs of floods [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]The enormous destruction of the economic and social infrastructure by floods over the last few weeks has set the country back by many years. The exact costs will not be known for some time but the losses are estimated to have already far exceeded the damage done by the 2005 earthquake. The United Nations says Pakistan requires millions of dollars for rescue and relief operations and billions for reconstruction of the flood-hit infrastructure. The scale of destruction is feared to jeopardise Pakistan’s ability to salvage its fragile economy for many years to come and weaken its capacity to tackle key challenges, including poverty alleviation and the threat of militancy.[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] The cash-starved government needs immediate and generous international support to undertake relief and reconstruction efforts and avoid budgetary strains. The global response to the catastrophe is a lot slower compared to the relief efforts for the earthquake victims five years ago. The assistance some countries have promised so far is far from adequate and can hardly help the West, particularly Washington and London, to win the hearts and minds of the people of Pakistan. Among the parts of the country hit the hardest by floods are regions that are known to be poor and also for supplying fresh blood to militant groups — areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Punjab. A delay in rehabilitation here would enhance the sense of deprivation that these areas already feel. Thus, if it is not moved by a pure humanitarian urge, the outside world has a selfish reason to step forward quickly to help Islamabad undertake rebuilding in these areas. The donors’ lack of confidence in the government’s ability or will to spend aid money properly and honestly should not keep it from helping the suffering millions. The money can be channelled through credible international and local organisations to the affected population. But before the world comes to our rescue, our politicians also need to learn a lesson or two. The delayed and inadequate official action to rescue people trapped in the floodwaters and provide emergency relief supplies in time has already prompted public protests at a few places. Just as it was not the right occasion for the president to leave for his European visit, this is also not the right time to score political points when millions are struggling for survival. The scale and magnitude of destruction demands that politicians cast aside their differences to help the people rather than using their misery for photo-ops. Political wrangling at this point at the cost of affectees can only provoke greater public anger. |
Violence against women Dawn Editorial
[COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][CENTER][I][B][B]Violence against women Dawn Editorial [/B][/B][/I][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][U]Thursday, 12 Aug, 2010 [/U][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] The latest figures on women victims of violence in Sindh released by the Aurat Foundation ought to do more than just remind us that thousands of women every year continue to be subjected to various forms of aggression and abuse in our country. The figures — more than 1,175 in the first six months of 2010 — ought to shame the government into doing more in terms of legislation to help curb crimes and violations of the rights of women. No doubt some steps in the legislative arena have been taken. In January the president signed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act upholding the dignity of women as their basic right. In March he signed the Protection against Harassment of Women at Work Place Act. However, there is still no law protecting women at home and from their family members, who very often are the main perpetrators of violence against them. Legislation on domestic violence has been in the offing for six years now since the first bill on the subject was introduced in 2004. The closest the bill came to fruition as law was in August 2009 when the Domestic Violence (Protection and Prevention) Act was adopted by the National Assembly. Unfortunately, it was allowed to lapse when the Senate did not adopt it within the three-month mandatory period of it being approved by the lower house. The fact that it has not materialised into law so far can only be a stigma for parliament. Gender justice and protection initiatives are no doubt important. These would include the establishment of legal aid centres to help women who have been forced to leave their home, gender justice committees to help women get their rightful share of inheritance and advocacy programmes to help reduce honour killings. But equally if not more crucial is a protection law that gives women a level playing field in the domestic arena. Such a law will also bring us in line with a growing number of developing countries that have outlawed spousal abuse, and help society realise that violence against women is indeed a crime that must not go unpunished. [CENTER]--------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][I][B][B]Media blackout Dawn Editorial [/B][/B][/I][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B] Thursday, 12 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B][B]Is is time the PPP’s Sindh leadership owned up to its petty war on Jang as well as Geo and ARY. While the channels are back on air, no sane mind will believe that the party workers acted on their own, pressured the cable operators to pull the plug and burnt copies of the paper without a wink from the party’s provincial hierarchy.[/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Though it was not countrywide and was confined to Karachi and parts of Sindh, the unannounced Geo and ARY blackout constituted an attack on press freedom and a slur on a party that is in power because the people voted for it. Its commitment to press freedom in the party’s foundation documents and its various election manifestoes is categorical. During the 2007 lawyers’ movement, especially after the Nov 3 emergency, when the Musharraf government ordered the banning of many channels and policemen ransacked TV offices, the PPP leaders were among those who criticised the military government’s war on the media and the harsh Pemra guidelines that followed. That the PPP should itself now persecute sections of the media is astonishing. One may have reservations about the way some newspapers and channels have gone overboard about the Birmingham incident and reported the incident out of proportion. To that extent the PPP workers’ anger is understandable. But the best response would have been to ignore the aberration rather than impart new dimensions to the incident and create a crisis that turned out to be counterproductive for the party and the government. We demand that the PPP leaders restrain their workers and refrain from clamping down on the media in this manner in future. At a time when floods are ravaging the country, and hundreds of thousands are without food and shelter, the government should seek the media’s help for mobilising national and international efforts for mitigating their suffering instead of trying to intimidate it. |
Dawn Editorial
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Misuse of UN helmets[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][U] Friday, 13 Aug, 2010[/U][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B] One can only call it a case of dishonesty. On Wednesday, a UN spokesman “informed” Indian authorities that some soldiers of the Rapid Reaction Force in Indian-held Kashmir were using the UN-marked blue helmets and shields against Kashmiri protesters. The RRF has not been assigned the task of crushing the current wave of unrest in Kashmir. Its duty is to undertake street marches as a show of force to deter Kashmiri youths now engaged in a new uprising against New Delhi. However, the RRF has exceeded its mandate and takes part in baton charges against Kashmiri protesters. Reacting to this blatant misuse of the UN’s logo and its hallmark blue colour, the spokesman for the UN Military Observers’ Group in India and Pakistan said Indian authorities had promised to “solve this situation”. New Delhi’s version is that the UN helmets were being used by some Indian soldiers who had gone abroad on peacekeeping missions. This is an extremely poor explanation. Surely, as a well-trained security force, the RRF must have standardised kits and uniforms for its soldiers. That some of them should discard the prescribed kit and use helmets of their own choice is appalling. The wire agencies say Kashmiris have been bewildered by the UN helmets because the RRF men are armed with rifles and dressed in full riot gear while charging at the protesters. This obviously is a very crude attempt on India’s part to give a UN cover to its military presence in held Kashmir, especially because Indian soldiers have often been accused of gross human rights violations. The world body thus rightly feels concerned over the misuse of its insignia, because the Kashmiris as a people could think that the UN was hand in glove with India and against their struggle for freedom and dignity.[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [CENTER]----------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Ramazan price hike[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][U]Friday, 13 Aug, 2010[/U][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B]Even before the sighting of the Ramazan moon each year, Pakistani consumers are hit by the spiralling prices of essential food items. This year, the people’s miseries have been compounded by devastating floods across the country, with millions of acres of agricultural land destroyed by the raging torrents. Nature’s fury and man’s avarice have combined to deliver a double blow, with crushing food prices adding to the people’s woes during the month of fasting. In Karachi the prices of several food items have doubled compared to last Ramazan. The city government has failed to issue a complete price list, giving retailers a free hand to make excessive profits. For example, certain pulses have witnessed a three-fold increase in price in a year. The situation elsewhere is not much better. Lahore has seen similarly astronomical price hikes. In Quetta vegetable prices have doubled while observers say price-checking teams are ineffective. Peshawar has seen an average increase of Rs10-15 in the price of food items while sugar is available at Rs85 per kilo. Meat is largely unavailable as much of the livestock perished in the floods. Reports from Islamabad suggest similar galloping prices of food items. While the floods have caused major disruptions in the supply of goods across the country, pushing up prices, the element of profiteering is not entirely absent. Retailers claim they cannot sell at government-notified rates as they purchase goods at high rates from wholesalers, who in turn blame producers for high prices. It seems all stakeholders pass the buck in this regard, leaving consumers as the ultimate losers. Some observers have suggested that consumers themselves are to blame for the high prices, as buying in bulk results in shortages, pushing up demand. Though in the long term people need to change their habits of excessive consumption and waste — especially the middle classes and the elite — the government cannot be absolved of responsibility in ensuring that essential items are available at affordable rates. True, the market is driven by profit. But the government must ensure that in Ramazan particularly, a price-checking and enforcement mechanism is in place so that retailers don’t end up fleecing consumers. [CENTER] ---------[/CENTER][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Nature’s warning[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B][FONT="Georgia"]Friday, 13 Aug, 2010 [/FONT][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B]Despite the many people who remain sceptical about global warming and climate change, increasing evidence indicates that it is not business as usual for the world’s weather patterns. There has been in general a rise in extreme climatic events over the years. This year — and we are little more than halfway through it — has brought monsoons of such ferocity to the region that devastation on a scale that is difficult to fully comprehend has been wreaked across Pakistan. While millions of citizens continue to suffer in the immediate aftermath of the deluge, the country is now said to be facing another spell of torrential rains that will no doubt aggravate the situation. Russia, meanwhile, is experiencing the hottest heat-wave in nearly a century and a half. This has led to wildfires that have killed dozens and left thousands homeless. And in the remote Zhouqu county in China’s north-west, massive mudslides and landslides over the past few days have killed hundreds, caused the evacuation of tens of thousands, and have left behind a shattered infrastructure. Such terrible climate-related events are being witnessed with increasing frequency around the world, in geographically disparate places. Together, they underscore the fact that climate change and global warming are likely to have increasingly harsh effects on humanity. True, it is important to identify the reasons behind these changes and to try and prevent further damage. But in order to reduce the scale of human suffering, it is even more important that state administrations recognise the dangers and prepare contingency and emergency plans. The weather is outside the control of mankind, but the least we can do is to prepare ourselves for the hazards it can pose. This is an especially valid requirement for Pakistan, where the ill-preparedness and slow response of the administration to the flood disaster has evoked sharp criticism. Nobody, not even the National Disaster Management Authority which is tasked with this mandate, displayed the ability to swing into rapid and effective action to help the victims. Pakistan must learn the lesson: weather-related disasters are going to increase in frequency, and we remain unprepared at our own peril. Apart from natural calamities such as floods or earthquakes, the country’s water supply — already insufficient — will continue to shrink, partly because of the effect of global warming on the planet’s water reserves. Given that our population is growing at the same time, this is bound to lead to shortages of resources, including food. Unless the country plans ahead and puts in place mechanisms that factor in the effects of climate change, the future looks bleak indeed. [CENTER]------------[/CENTER][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] |
Dawn Editorial
[SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Something missing[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B][B] Saturday, 14 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] Somehow the level of empathy that ought to be on offer is missing this time round. According to the UN, some 13.8 million people have been displaced or otherwise affected by this summer’s floods while over 1,500 have been killed. It is said that the number of affectees is now greater than those hit by the 2004 tsunami and the earthquakes in Kashmir and Haiti in 2005 and 2010. A total bigger, it should be stressed, than the victims of those three terrible disasters put together. Yet, the kind of spontaneous public support, large-scale donations and assistance by volunteers that was in evidence following the 2005 earthquake is nowhere to be seen. True, some organisations are doing their bit and the government is scrambling to make up for its initial failures. But still there is something missing: widespread giving and the ability to relate to the plight of people who have lost everything. In part, perhaps, the public has not been so generous in its support because the death count has been nowhere near the devastation caused by the 2005 earthquake. Also, it must be remembered that earthquakes are sudden cataclysmic events and can kill thousands within minutes while floods build up over time. There is often an advance warning, at least in the lower riparian areas, and this can lead to a sense of inevitability and the feeling that there is little one can do in response. Nothing is further from the truth. There is plenty that we as a nation can and must do to help those whose lives have been shattered by the ongoing floods. We need to open our hearts, and our wallets, to our fellow Pakistanis. The immediate concern is relief work but the long-term rehabilitation that most affectees will require should not be forgotten. [CENTER]------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B] Air crash inquiry[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Saturday, 14 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] While the families of the passengers and crew who perished in the Margalla plane crash two and a half weeks ago are still in mourning, they must inevitably deal with the issue of compensation. However, in addition to the need to ensure adequate monetary compensation for the deaths of the grieving families’ relatives, justice for the air crash victims and their surviving families demands a thorough public investigation to verify any act of omission or commission which could have resulted in the tragedy. Justice would not be served if the inquiry into the Margalla air crash met the same fate as the other inquiries conducted into numerous air crashes involving Pakistani commercial carriers. These were kept away from the eyes of the public with the crash officially being attributed to ‘pilot error’. If the inquiry into the Margalla air crash is to be one that will help prevent such tragedies from happening again, it would have to go beyond merely blaming easy targets like the pilot or the weather. Pakistan is rated Category 1 in the International Aviation Safety Assessment Programme, which determines whether a country — not individual air carriers — adheres to international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operation and maintenance established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. Nevertheless concerns about traffic control protocols and navigation aids, especially at Islamabad’s airport, have reportedly been raised by industry experts. Earlier, in 2007, safety issues about Pakistan’s air industry had been highlighted when the European Union banned the national airline’s flights, apparently because of concerns related to an aging fleet. The inquiry into the Margalla tragedy constitutes the first of its kind into a private airline’s crash since private commercial carriers emerged in the country in the 1990s; the other plane crashes have involved the national carrier. Only by making the Margalla air crash inquiry — and other air crash probes — public can we hope to determine and efficiently implement corrective measures to halt what many experts maintain are falling aviation and safety standards in an industry that has been booming because of an increase in travelling demands. [CENTER]------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B]Food reserves[/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Saturday, 14 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] The latest estimate on crop damage by no less a person than the World Bank president Robert Zoellick is a sobering one: approximately $1bn of crops have been destroyed in the country. That figure is almost certainly going to be crossed, however, as local experts are warning that the destruction of rice, cotton, sugarcane, tobacco and other cash crops could exceed Rs250bn (approximately $3bn). The onset of Ramazan, when the demand for fruit and vegetables spikes, has already led to reports of price increases of between 25-50 per cent in many areas. At this point, the real danger that must be prevented from materialising is the knock-on effect: farmland must be prepared in time for the next crop season so as to prevent the crisis continuing in the year ahead. A report in this newspaper yesterday underlined what an immense challenge that will be. The 1,000 tractors thought to be lost so far represent a tiny fraction of the damage to agricultural infrastructure that the floods will have caused. Another area that must be of focus in the months ahead is the agricultural buffer stocks system, meant to insure against crises and calamities. Take the issue of wheat. In April, when it became clear there was a surplus of approximately one and a half million tonnes of wheat in the country (production this year plus four million tonnes of wheat carried over from last year) some voices began to suggest that wheat should be exported. Low international prices made the idea unattractive, but certain influential lobbies pressed ahead, arguing for a subsidy to make exports possible. The idea was resisted and that has proved to be a prescient decision. Had the wheat been exported, Pakistanis would have faced a spike in wheat and wheat flour prices, with the high demand in Ramazan compounding the problem. Given an annual demand of over 26 million tonnes, it may not be immediately apparent why the export of 1.5 million tonnes could push prices dramatically upwards. However, it is in the nature of the market that a five to 10 per cent shortage can cause prices to shoot up disproportionately. That is exactly what happened a few years ago during the regime of Gen Musharraf when permission was granted to export wheat and subsequently the wheat crop failed to meet official estimates. The lesson, then, is that a reasonable agricultural crop buffer is necessary for food security in the country. The government must therefore work to insulate the system of buffer stocks from political pressure by placing it in the hands of independent professionals. [CENTER]------------[/CENTER][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE] |
Dawn Editorial
[SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][COLOR="Sienna"]Tough year ahead[/COLOR][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] Sunday, 15 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] Speaking yesterday on the 63rd anniversary of Pakistan’s independence, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani exhorted the nation: “The nation will confront the challenges as it did at the time of partition … This time too we shall succeed.” If only it were that simple. Quite simply, the federal government is failing the basic tests of governance, a fact that was becoming increasingly obvious even before the floods. To be sure, the present government has achieved a number of successes, some unprecedented: the 18th Amendment, the NFC award, the Gilgit-Baltistan autonomy package and the Balochistan package are notable examples. For this the efforts of the government must necessarily be acknowledged. But it is increasingly clear that the government is only able to deliver when some kind of political manoeuvring is involved. Beyond the bargaining and cajoling with elected representatives, in the real world — the world of governance, services delivery, policymaking and policy implementation — the government’s performance has been abysmal.[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Consider the state of the economy. Inflation has been a sustained problem and despite the government’s promises, it has not been brought down to acceptable levels. The problem is increasingly obvious: a sustained, large budget deficit is pouring more money into an economy where output is sagging, meaning more money is chasing the same amount of goods. Clearly, the extraordinary, though very necessary, expenses on the security front are contributing to the fiscal deficit. Nevertheless, operating in a crisis environment requires a certain seriousness of purpose, which the federal government is clearly lacking. On neither the revenue nor the expenses front have serious efforts been made to fix the finances of the state. Economists have pointed out scores of areas in which expenses can be trimmed or even done away with altogether. For example, the federal government funds a number of institutes and organisations that have no discernible purpose other than to suck up scarce funds. The National Reconstruction Bureau continues to exist even though its staff has no real work and neither does it expect to have work anytime soon. On the revenue front, lack of political will means that increasing direct taxes remains off the table while even the reforms that are purportedly championed, such as the VAT, languish in a bureaucratic purgatory of sorts. In truth, more worrying than the scale of Pakistan’s problems is the lack of direction and the absence of will to tackle its problems. Pakistan survived a baptism of fire at birth; more than 60 years on, the flames are everywhere once again, but the fire-fighters are nowhere to be found. [CENTER]---------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B] Saving Pakistan from itself[/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B] By Kunwar Idris Sunday, 15 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B] The response of the political leaders, the government and civil society as a whole to the country’s worst-ever natural disaster has been both delayed and mean. It is a kind of save-Pakistan-from-itself situation.[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Even the army that comes to the people’s rescue when the civil administration falters or fails was late this time in coming and its presence was felt much less than in earlier, lesser crises. The world response matches domestic indifference. Only the ‘hated’ American soldiers with their helicopters are there to save lives. Don’t we need to look at our ‘friends’ more closely? The pledges made are small and much of the money promised would be available after the suffering has taken its toll. Well into the second week of the calamity, the donations received in the prime minister’s relief fund remain a pittance. Among a few large donors is a rags-to-riches politician who only a week earlier had spent, perhaps, an equal sum on a wedding feast at a plush Dubai hotel. Thus he has come to represent the rich of Pakistan as they are known to the world — charitable and vainglorious at the same time. The rains and floods, the prime minister says, had put the country back by a generation. That sounds like an exaggeration only to forestall the criticism of his government’s extravagance and incompetence. The damage to the infrastructure would surely cost a great deal but repaired — sooner or later. It is the nation that seems to have lost its soul. Its chosen representatives do not now have a dictator to curse nor can they blame ‘obstructing’ judges. They indulge in harangues but lack the moral strength to inspire a nation in crisis. Helping the people in distress are only the soldiers and some jihadis. The liberal or mainstream parties are nowhere to be seen. For the failure of the political leadership and civil administration to deal with the day-to-day problems, much less with a crisis of this magnitude, the blame lies not with this or that individual or party but with the politics of vengeance and retribution that has marked the national scene almost for four decades now. There may have been moments of personal triumph here and there but the moral and institutional decline has been continuous and, barring a revolution, looks irreversible. A quick reckoner of this decline is Bangladesh which is now poised to grow at twice the rate of Pakistan. A more tempting comparison, however, would be with Egypt which has been ruled by more strongmen and longer than Pakistan. In human development and social services starting from the same base in the middle of the last century, the literacy level in Egypt has risen to 85 per cent against ours at 54 and an average Egyptian expects to live eight years longer than a Pakistani. But, more amazingly, 99 per cent of Egyptian homes now have electricity and 97 per cent have piped water supply.In South Asian terms Pakistan shows up poorly and Southeast Asia (is altogether a different story. The old-timers can recall a time when the Koreans came to Pakistan to study our development model. Today an average South Korean is 30 times richer than his Pakistani counterpart. In Pakistan the failure has been collective but the rot began with the political leadership. It travelled down the line to hit the bureaucracy and then spread across the national spectrum to undermine all other spheres. The causes are numerous and remedies are often recounted but relevant in the current context is the need to curtail government expenditure to save money for the rehabilitation of flood victims and modernisation of the physical infrastructure. The size of the government calls for a drastic reduction. A smaller size would increase efficiency. One often wonders that if the province of West Pakistan (one unit) could make do with 13 or so ministers and as many secretaries why must each province now have three to four times that number? West Pakistan’s secretariat had just five cars for everybody to share; the number now defies a count. The chief minister then had but one office room and that too in the main secretariat along with all other ministers and officials. The Punjab chief minister now hardly ever goes to the secretariat. A palace-like structure that Chaudhry Parvez Elahi built for himself is now occupied by an assortment of freeloaders who are a burden on a government that runs on bank overdraft. Then come cash handouts or subsidies. Rs70bn set aside for payment to the poor selected by parliamentarians under a programme named after Benazir should be diverted to the flood victims. Putting the poor on dole, even if honestly chosen (which appears unlikely considering the political channel of distribution) is a bad idea. The same applies to the sum set aside for Punjab’s two-rupee sasti roti which even the rich can buy. Though late, the Punjab chief minister has sensibly decided to stop this waste and divert the saved Rs500bn to flood relief. The Sindh government is now contemplating a similar subsidy in wheat flour through the millers for sale in the open market. Given our proven inability to control the market forces, this subsidy is unlikely to reach the poor just as the subsidy on fertiliser, pesticide or other commodities did not. It too will get lost in the long channel of bribe and profit. The savings in these and other subsidies and a heavy cut in spendings by a mélange of political coalitions that have no policy or direction should make up somewhat for the lack of local and foreign donations. The saddest of all thoughts however is that the donors are being cagey or wary not because they do not realise the gravity and scale of the problem. It is Pakistan’s reputation for corruption and mismanagement that holds them back. And there we are stuck. [CENTER]-----------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Harassment of channels[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Sunday, 15 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Although the country’s electronic news media industry is reaching a growing audience, attempts have been made in recent years to curtail the viewers’ right to watch channels of their choice. The most infamous example was the Musharraf dispensation’s decree in 2007 that cable operators take certain channels offline. Yet despite the shift from a dictatorship to a democracy, similar attempts have been witnessed since the 2008 elections. Some parts of the country — Karachi in particular — have witnessed this predicament during the past few days, when certain news channels have been taken offline by cable operators, reportedly upon pressure from the government. Given that governmental attempts to muzzle the media have historically mostly been extra-legal, it is encouraging that in the current instance the Supreme Court has ordered the chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority to ensure the uninterrupted transmission of the channels that had been blocked by cable operators. That the court based its order on Articles 19 and 19A of the constitution, which refer to the freedom of speech and the right to information, establishes that the SC has laid down new ground rules to be followed in case of resentment against any media network or its reportage. This step had been long overdue. This government and the previous one have on many occasions accused the media of transgressing its boundaries. Media organisations meanwhile claim the right to independent reporting. The only place where such a difference of opinion can be resolved is in a court of law. The SC has, through its order on Friday, delivered this message clearly. Resort to legal dispute-settling mechanisms is important for the credibility of the government. Since cable operators have often been pressured to restrict access to certain channels, a culture of intimidation has been created. Not only does this run contrary to the spirit of the freedom of speech doctrine, it also defies the logic of a market-driven economy. In case of harassment, as is happening in certain parts of Karachi, even after the SC’s orders, cable operators should be encouraged to approach the courts. |
[COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][B][B][B][B][B]Before disaster strikes[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B] By Moeed Yusuf Monday, 16 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] PAKISTAN has been inflicted with the worst floods in its history. This is the second major natural disaster to have hit the country in less than five years, the 2005 earthquake being the first. After every such catastrophe, the national debate tends to focus exclusively on evaluating the government’s efforts at relief, and subsequently rehabilitation and reconstruction. The episode itself and the devastation caused by it are considered unfortunate, but uncontrollable by man. This presumption is questionable and may explain why we end up with such colossal damage each time a major disaster occurs. Natural disasters are indeed ‘natural’. However, the devastation they cause is not. The excessive damage from natural disasters is common across the developing world — 95 per cent of disaster-related deaths occur in developing countries and losses incurred are 20 times higher on average than in developed countries. Social scientists argue that this is more than just a coincidence; the “disaster-development linkage” thesis, now accepted by virtually all quarters, argues that the devastation caused by disasters can be traced to the kind of development practices employed by a country. Unsustainable development practices leave both infrastructure as well as the local communities more vulnerable to disasters. In Pakistan’s case, the virtually exclusive focus of the national debate on post-disaster efforts has led to the neglect of the more fundamental issue, i.e. the need for sustainable development practices as a means of limiting disaster-related losses. Even policy measures aimed at long-term improvements are concerned with management of the losses, not their ex ante mitigation — Musharraf’s silver bullet solution to what ensued after the 2005 earthquake was the establishment of the National Disaster Management Authority which again reflected the emphasis on post-disaster efforts. The result: Pakistanis were just as vulnerable to the next big disaster. It is hardly surprising then that Pakistan’s development-disaster policy linkage is exceptionally poor. Outright neglect is obvious at various tiers. Even on paper, development visions have failed to integrate disaster mitigation. Only three national five-year development plans since 1947 talk of disasters and that too as indirect concerns. Recent visionary documents have paid somewhat more attention — Environmental Impact Assessments for instance were mandated for large development projects by the Shaukat Aziz government — but even here the mention is more a function of the need to satisfy donors than any sincere desire to make a clean break from the past. Literature on the subject argues that one of the most effective tools to ensure sustainability in development practices, one that may reflect sincerity on the part of the authorities, is to conduct ex ante ‘integrated assessment’. Integrated assessments allow policymakers to assess the economic, social and environmental concerns of a policy through a single-assessment tool, thus identifying the potential risks (including those that exacerbate the likelihood of disasters) attached with any initiative. In Pakistan, even the mention of the integrated approach remains absent for the most part. Mindsets remain entrenched as well. Sustainability-inducing provisions are considered nuisances that come in the way of swift, profitable development. The government’s own functionaries regularly circumvent the protocols in lucrative investments. Investment contracts are often secretive in nature and the deals tend to leave sustainability out of the picture; community concerns play second fiddle to the desire to maximise investment potential. The oil and gas sector for example is notorious for under-the-table contract negotiations — oil concession licences rarely ever surface for public scrutiny and when they do, they are inevitably found wanting on the sustainability count. Next, even when the will exists, the institutional capability to effectively implement and monitor the policies is lacking. Agencies tasked to ensure environmental protection are low on the priority list and thus lack the requisite expertise and resources to ensure compliance. Further, environmental screening of development projects is still not strictly enforced and monitored. All this enhances vulnerability in disaster-prone areas. Perhaps nowhere is the failure more obvious and consequential than in the forest sector. There is virtual consensus among global experts that hill and riverine forest cover directly contributes to reduced losses from natural disasters like earthquake and flooding. Pakistani authorities are reminded of this fact after every disaster. Severe criticism was launched against forest-sector management as far back as the 1992 floods in Punjab (and more recently after the 2005 earthquake). Various policies including a complete ban on timber extraction in the north-west was employed. Yet, powerful timber mafias, pervasive corruption and, most importantly, the lack of any market-based incentives to shift from timber use to other contemporary construction alternatives led to precisely the opposite outcome. Pakistan’s timber forest cover has experienced an unprecedented decline. Overall, less than five per cent of the country’s area is now forested and the current degradation rate will leave the country forest-less by 2025. Vulnerability to disasters will thus continue to rise. By all accounts, natural disasters will likely be a fairly common occurrence in Pakistan in the coming years and decades. Long-term sustainability of development is therefore an absolute imperative. Sustainability concerns must be internalised in national project planning. Moreover, stringent but practically implementable rules and regulations to ensure sustainable development practices must be developed. A key measure in this regard would be to mandate ex-ante integrated assessments of all national development policies. The demand side of unsustainable development is also critical. Perverse incentives that prompt unsustainable use of resources ought to be replaced by meaningful incentive structures. These must be able to act as a buffer against market failures and thus allow Pakistani citizens to play a constructive role in preservation rather than forcing them to become predators of the environment. [CENTER]------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Engineering failures[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] By Mushtaq Gaadi Monday, 16 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE devastating floods in Pakistan have once again ignited public debate on the necessity of new water reservoirs in the country. The proponents of Kalabagh Dam, including some prominent politicians, TV anchorpersons, and Punjab water engineers, hold that if Kalabagh dam had been built, we would not be facing the present disaster wreaked upon millions of people in the Indus Valley. According to them, the Kalabagh dam or any other water engineering project should not be politicised because these issues are essentially ‘technical’. Decisions on such vital issues should be left to the wisdom of engineers and technical experts. Implicit in this argument are three underlying assumptions, all three of which are incorrect. First, it is assumed that ‘technical’ engineering interventions in natural (water) systems have nothing to do with politics. Second, that the control of river flows through engineering structures is the best possible way to control flooding. Third, that the knowledge of the engineering community is conclusive and beyond any critical scrutiny. Nonetheless, mounting evidence and experiences throughout the world suggest that these assumptions are not only reductionist but also in fact part of the problem of river basin management. A closer analysis of the present flood and flood-related events experienced at/around Taunsa barrage furnishes us with some counter-intuitive, and indeed, scandalous evidence: the very structures meant to control flooding have partially caused and definitely exacerbated the flood problem itself. The flood trauma started with the breach of the eastern marginal embankment in the upstream of Taunsa barrage. The breach caused the Indus to outflank the barrage and the river carved out a new channel to the left of its original course. Very shortly, floodwater flowing down this new channel found its way into the extensive network of irrigation canals on the left side. Consequently, masses of roiling, churning floodwater are now rushing through and inundating relatively higher ground which was rarely inundated by the Indus. Nature is responsible, yes. But we must not overlook the role that engineering structures have played in transforming the present floods into an enormous disaster unparalleled in the history of this region. Taunsa barrage is one of the most vulnerable diversion structures built across the Indus River. Therefore, it was recently rehabilitated and modernised with the help of a World Bank loan of $144m. The project was approved and implemented on an emergency basis so that the barrage could be kept functional. All that money has been washed right away. The Bank is now involved in similar costly rehabilitation works at Jinnah barrage, the latter also failing to withstand these recent floods. Jinnah barrage’s staff was compelled to blow up the embankments on the right bank resulting in widespread inundation and heavy damages to the under-construction hydropower project also stationed there. The Bank has plans to undertake similar rehabilitation projects at other barrages in Punjab. When the rehabilitation of Taunsa barrage was being planned in early 2004, local civil society objected to the dominant engineering perspective and asked the Bank and the irrigation department to pay more attention to mitigating the barrage-induced alterations in river hydrology and problem of sediment deposition, a phenomenon which has made the flood protective structures susceptible to regular failure. In this regard, a memorandum was submitted to the then country director of the World Bank. The memorandum asked both the Bank and the provincial government to appoint an independent review commission to ascertain the nature and scope of rehabilitation works at Taunsa barrage. However, the country director turned down the demand in a separate press conference. The main problem with Taunsa barrage is the rising riverbed owing to huge sediment deposition in the upstream areas. Before the construction of dams and barrages, the Indus used to transport about 250 megatons (Mt) of sediment annually, mostly silt and clay, to the Arabian Sea. This helped in the development and nurturing of freshwater mangroves prior to the phase of dam construction. By 1974-75, this had fallen to about 100 Mt per annum and it is believed the present rates are negligible. Taunsa barrage traps huge sediments left over fromthe upstream storage and diversion structures. Moreover, the pond area is additionally fed annually with large amounts of silt eroded from the highly degraded catchment areas of the Suleiman Range. These heavy silt loads are transported through western tributaries (hill-torrents) of the Indus River. The obstruction of great volumes of water together with the suspension of a large amount of sediment has complicated the flooding problem at Taunsa barrage. The riverbed levels are now higher than they have ever been. The construction of a series of protective levees and dykes has also contributed to raising the riverbed and the sedimentation of upstream areas. These changes forced the river into developing an oblique flow line and establishing a more tortuous course. Consequently, it now spends its vigour on eroding the vulnerable banks. Moreover, the rising riverbed levels have rendered protective levees and river training works ineffective. Under the rehabilitation project, the crust level of the barrage was raised by one foot so that silt entry into the right bank canal could be controlled. The protective embankments were also to be raised correspondingly but criminal negligence in this regard resulted in no such measures being undertaken. Similarly, local accounts and media reports suggest that the barrage staff has failed to properly operate the newly installed motorised hoisting system. According to these reports, 10 gates were not fully opened which, if true, turned out to be the main cause of the flood disaster. The truth of these reports must be ascertained, but if they hold, then an official inquiry must be held into the incident and people held accountable.The nature of the debate on the Kalabagh dam in the aftermath of the flood disaster is depressingly flawed. Not only is this debate politically divisive for an already fragile federation, it also covers up the story of how engineering failures have contributed to this disaster. Reconstruction without the benefits of an honest analysis would be tantamount to recreating this same situation, or even worse, in the future. [CENTER] -------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Baloch killings[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] Monday, 16 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] HE killing of 16 Punjabi ‘settlers’ in Balochistan in two separate incidents on Saturday is a grim reminder that the low-level insurgency in the province is nowhere near an end. Several points need to be made here. First, why have the provincial government and the security forces failed to provide protection to inter-city buses travelling to and from Balochistan? Ten people lost their lives in a cold-blooded attack — passengers from Lahore were pulled off a Quetta-bound bus and sprayed with bullets — that was entirely preventable had there been some kind of security measures in place. To be sure, it is impossible to provide water-tight security anywhere, least of all in a place like Balochistan. However, the attack on the bus was neither unexpected nor unusual. Better security for the inter-city buses is a must and is not something beyond the capacity of the authorities. Second, why is the moderate Baloch leadership silent about the violence against those perceived to be outsiders? The silence of mainstream, nationalist voices in Balochistan is only widening the space for the extremists to operate in. True, Baloch moderates themselves feel under threat from the militant extremists in the province, but that does not justify standing by silently as an ethnic purge of Balochistan is attempted through the use of violence and intimidation. There is among certain Baloch leaders a proud history of working inside the Pakistani federation, using peaceful means to correct historic wrongs that have been wrought on the province by ‘centrist’ forces in the state apparatus. Difficult as it may be to speak out openly against the Baloch insurgents today, moderate Baloch leaders need to speak out against the vortex of violence that is dragging the province into an uncertain, volatile future. Third, the noises made by the centre, especially the political government in Islamabad, that Balochistan’s problems will be addressed soon have begun to peter out. The Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan package, the NFC award, the 18th Amendment and various other fiscal measures have all been sensible measures and applauded as such, but they are at best solutions addressing the periphery of the problem in Balochistan today. Little to nothing has come of the central issue of missing persons, with the army insisting there are no missing persons, a position that independent observers and rights groups view with a great deal of scepticism. Moreover, the state does not appear to have a coherent strategy to engage the Baloch in political dialogue, especially the radical elements that have turned to violence. Further delay in addressing those central problems will only deepen the Baloch crisis. [CENTER] ----------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Mosque furore[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Monday, 16 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] FOR a brief few hours, US President Barack Obama stood on the right side of the startling national debate in America over private plans to build a mosque near the site of the World Trade Centre in New York. After weeks of declining to enter the fray over what is ostensibly a local issue (authorities in New York have already approved plans for the mosque), Mr Obama appeared to speak out forcefully in favour of the mosque at an iftar dinner on Friday: “This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are. The writ of the founders must endure.” Those were marvellous words, a clear expression of the only correct moral, legal and constitutional position that can be taken on the issue of the New York mosque-cum-community centre. Within hours, however, in the face of ferocious Republican criticism, Mr Obama appears to have backtracked. On Saturday, the American president told reporters: “I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there.” So what appears to have been a clarion defence of the New York mosque has been watered down to a professorial dilation on the rights Americans enjoy. Sadly, America’s politicians, especially Republicans, appear to have let down their country and all that it is supposed to stand for. The 9/11 attacks were executed by Al Qaeda, not Muslims at large. That Al Qaeda espouses a distorted view of Islam has nothing to do with ordinary, law-abiding Muslims practising their religion. These are obvious facts. Unfortunately, some American politicians appear to have calculated that Islamophobia is a potent vote-getter. But that is as dangerous as it is self-defeating. Al Qaeda and militant Islamists could probably not dream of a better propaganda opportunity: see, they will say, America really is against Islam. The furore over the mosque isn’t winning hearts and minds for America, it is poisoning them. [CENTER]------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B]Looting of flood victims[/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B]Monday, 16 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] ATTACKS on food convoys, such as those seen in Muzaffargarh on Friday, obviously cannot be condoned but it is possible to understand why they take place. Desperate times sometimes result in desperate measures, and starving people who have been badly let down by the state can turn unruly if little or no relief is forthcoming. But that is entirely different from what is happening in parts of Sindh where bandits are reportedly looting flood affectees as they try to make it to safer ground. The meagre belongings of an already ravaged people have been snatched at gunpoint while livestock too has been stolen. The key difference here is that the bandits who are robbing the poor are doing so not so much out of desperation but because they are criminals by profession. Unlike the hungry who looted food on Friday, these armed robbers in district Sukkur are looking to profit from the misery of the poor. Our moral compass clearly went askew at some point. Instead of lending a helping hand in a time of crisis, some of us instead turn into predators. Imagine this if you can. A family’s house has been inundated by floodwater and standing crops as well as farm animals have been washed away. The victims try to grab whatever they can before the dash for safety but are robbed on the way. This is not to say that such despicable acts of violence are the norm in Pakistani society. Far from it, for there are also reports of ordinary citizens who have gone the extra mile to help their neighbours and even complete strangers. But the state too must play its part. Flood victims must not only be housed, fed and given medical care, their protection from criminal elements should also be ensured. [CENTER]-------------[/CENTER] |
Dawn Editorial
[COLOR="DarkRed"][SIZE="5"][B][B][B][B][B]Mr Ban’s visit[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B]Tuesday, 17 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Will UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s visit mark a turning point in the international community’s response to the floods that have ravaged vast swathes of Pakistan? Will it finally shake the world’s conscience and spur the major economies into offering the assistance that is so desperately needed to provide relief to some 20 million people who have lost everything? Mr Ban was visibly disturbed after touring some flood-hit areas on Sunday in the company of Pakistani and UN officials. He called the experience “heart-wrenching”, adding that he “will never forget the destruction and suffering” he saw. Mr Ban also described Pakistan’s worst natural disaster as more calamitous than the 2004 tsunami and the Kashmir earthquake of 2005. These are stirring words from a widely respected and influential man and it is hoped they will convince world leaders that the time to act is now. A mere fraction of the UN’s $460m appeal has been pledged so far even though the situation on the ground is becoming more disastrous by the day. And the UN’s global appeal, it should be stressed, covers only the initial phase of relief work such as providing food and shelter, clean drinking water, healthcare, etc. Far more funds will be required in the longer term to rehabilitate affectees and restore livelihoods, but then that is not the immediate concern even though it must — simply must — be addressed at some stage. Right now the international community needs to understand the gravity of the situation and help Pakistan in its hour of need. That said, it must be acknowledged that the global recession may be contributing to the reluctance to assist. Pakistan’s track record of official mismanagement may also be a factor. Perhaps the only faint ray of hope in these terrible times is that the government and the opposition may just possibly be on the same page. Here it is encouraging to note that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has in principle accepted PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif’s proposal for establishing an independent commission that will oversee the state’s flood relief measures. “Men of integrity”, we are told, will strive ‘to ensure transparency in the collection, management and distribution of relief funds’. Such a commission is sorely needed and the plan should not fall through. Mr Sharif is right in pointing out that we cannot wait endlessly for foreign assistance and it is time for the federal and provincial governments to step up to the plate. Lastly, it is also incumbent on the Pakistani public to be more giving than it has been so far in this time of crisis. There is no time to waste. [CENTER] -------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="DarkRed"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][B]A heavy price to pay[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B]By Tasneem Siddiqui Tuesday, 17 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] THAT Pakistan is a poorly administered country is widely accepted. Cynics call Pakistan a ‘failed state’. Others prefer ‘ungovernable’. Although optimists treat our problems as the pangs of transition, scourges such as militancy, insecurity, corruption, and the deteriorating standards of basic services would compel even the most balanced to call our system a “functioning anarchy”. This article attempts to answer the question of how much malgovernance is costing us. Misrule is a multifaceted menace, and every facet costs money. It is difficult to shortlist its various aspects, but we can say that its major components are: incompetence, inefficiency, corruption and lack of decision-making. Further, incompetence results in flawed planning, or no planning at all, jeopardising our future. In this high-tech age, developed countries are quick to compute the cost of most events/decisions. Then there is constant research, appraisal and evaluation of public policies and their implementation, which helps in better planning and informed decision-making. Unfortunately we never carry out such exercises and, therefore, the cost of misrule is difficult to calculate. But we can make an intelligent guess by using the 2010-2011 budgetary figures to try and quantify the losses which occur, or are likely to occur due to malgovernance. Let’s begin with income. The budget shows that in 2009-10 our total tax collection was Rs1,396bn. If we focus only on income from direct taxes, we see that we collected Rs522bn under this head. But most analysts agree that if we control inefficiency and corruption, this amount can easily be doubled — which means our tax collectors, in collusion with taxpayers, siphon off more than Rs5bn every year. That is not the end of the story. In Pakistan, out of a population of 170 million, we have less than two million income taxpayers (most of them salaried persons). We can increase our income manifold if we tax all incomes irrespective of source, and streamline the collection system. On the expenditure side, major heads which consume most of our income are debt-servicing, defence, subsidies for loss-making public-sector entities, the civil administration and intelligence services. For infrastructure development we borrow money from international finance institutions. Let us focus on two major items: subsidy to loss-making corporations and the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). Take the subsidies first. Rs300bn have been allocated for PIA, Pakistan Steel Mills, the Railways, the Pakistan Electric Power Company, etc due to the losses being incurred by these state-owned enterprises. Until recently these organisations generated handsome profits. But within a span of a few years they are in the red and incurring huge losses. The only reason is nepotism, corruption, political interference and ineffective management. For example, at PIA the average number of staff per airplane averages 700 whereas the international average is 200. Most of these organisations can easily post profits but are forced to seek support because of malgovernance. The PPP claims the allocation of Rs660bn for the PSDP as a big achievement, but it is an admitted fact that at the end of the year over one-third of this amount will remain unspent because of lack of institutional capacity. Of the remaining amount, 40 per cent will line the pockets of government functionaries, while 20 to 30 per cent will go to the contractors as profit. Pakistanis should consider themselves lucky if they get the benefit of 20 per cent of the money. The same goes for provincial annual development programmes. None can deny that in all so-called nation-building departments, corruption has been institutionalised and there is a nexus between consultants, contractors, engineers and their bosses (bureaucrats or politicians) to hijack development funds to the tune of 80 per cent. What happens in the departments of irrigation, communication and works, agriculture and livestock is well known. Huge funds are allocated, but hardly any benefit accrues to potential beneficiaries. This story is repeated every year. The cost of malgovernance by analysing the annual budget is just the tip of the iceberg. The actual cost can only be determined if we factor in the cost of lack of planning, poor decisions, not making the right decisions at the right time and the cost incurred by the masses in not getting services. The current power shortage is an example of the absence of planning and decision-making. During Gen Musharraf’s tenure everyone was ecstatic at the high growth rate and the expansion of consumer financing, but policymakers lacked the capacity to understand that this expansion required commensurate growth of the infrastructure, with electricity on top. Maybe they lacked the courage to take bold policy decisions at the proper time. If there was no consensus on Kalabagh, they could have started work elsewhere. They could have taken a quick decision on Thar coal or the installation of small hydro projects. The delay in decision-making has caused tremendous losses to trade, industry and agriculture. Even if a computer wizard could come up with actual costs, how can one compute the cost of hardship ordinary citizens have faced? It is difficult to assess the extent of damage and compute its costs in social sectors. For example there are hundreds of thousands of incomplete and unutilised projects across Pakistan apart from ‘ghost schools’ and dysfunctional health centres. How can we assess the cost of ‘education not provided’ or maternal deaths that could have been prevented had health facilities worked properly? Space constraints limit elaboration, but everyone knows how citizens are fleeced, harassed and insulted in the lower courts, police stations, patwar khanas and other government offices. Nothing gets going without illegal gratification. The annual turnover of corruption in these places is anybody’s guess. But if we take organisations like the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, the FIA, EOBI and the steel mills and the kickbacks from mega projects and defence purchases, the figures would be astronomical. Pakistan could have been a Malaysia or South Korea had we not disrupted the process of development in the mid-1960s, and fallen prey to malgovernance. Are we ready to learn from our mistakes or will we be condemned to repeat them? [CENTER] -------------- [COLOR="DarkRed"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B]Rule of law: a few victories[/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][U] By Gwynne Dyer Tuesday, 17 Aug, 2010 [/U][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] NAOMI Campbell may be dim-witted and self-centred, and the poor schmuck she gave the diamonds to 13 years ago is in deep trouble even though he never tried to turn them into cash, but she certainly is useful. If she hadn’t been forced to testify, nine out of 10 people wouldn’t even know who Charles Taylor is. Taylor, the former Liberian strongman, is on trial at The Hague on charges of terrorism, murder, rape, enslavement and torture. Taylor gave Campbell some illegal “blood diamonds” when they were both Nelson Mandela’s guests in South Africa in 1997, and because Mia Farrow (who was also there) eventually blew the whistle on her. It’s not a story about war crimes, it’s a media feeding frenzy about celebrities. When Campbell gave her evidence to the international court in The Hague, the number of journalists covering the trial jumped tenfold. But she has served her purpose: now everybody knows that Charles Taylor has been brought to trial for killing, torturing and maiming hundreds of thousands of his fellow Africans. He is the first former African head of state ever to face an international court for the crimes he committed. There are a dozen others, many still in office, who deserve to stand beside him, but most of them never will. Even in long-established states, the rule of law is constantly being challenged and subverted. In the international sphere, heads of state and other senior government officials were basically immune to prosecution until recently — but Taylor’s trial is an encouraging sign, and it is not the only one. In Cambodia, another UN-backed tribunal delivered its first verdict last month, sentencing former prison boss Kaing Guek Eav, known as ‘Duch’, to 35 years in jail. Duch was a minor official in the brutal Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and killed about a quarter of the population, but more senior officials will follow. In the notorious Tuol Sleng prison he ran, 17,000 went in; seven survived. Later this year, the trials of the real leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime including head of state Khieu Samphan, deputy prime minister Nuon Chea and foreign minister Ieng Sary will begin. Sometimes, bringing the powerful to justice generally involves a certain amount of bargaining. Take Turkey, where the government announced on Aug 9 that 102 military officers accused of plotting a coup against the democratic order would not be arrested after all. In strictly legal terms it was a deeply unsatisfactory outcome. In practical terms, it was the best outcome imaginable. Turkey is no Liberia or Cambodia. It is a state with centuries of history as an empire, and over half a century as a democracy. But it was always a country where the armed forces felt that they had the final veto. Four democratically elected Turkish governments have been overthrown by the military in the past 50 years. When the current government, whose appeal is strongest to devoutly Muslim voters, was first elected in 1992, many soldiers felt that they had to “defend the secular state” again. They were wrong, but much of the senior officer corps got involved in discussions about a coup code-named ‘sledgehammer’. It never happened, but years later the story came out. The rule of law was at stake, so the government arrested some senior soldiers. This was unprecedented in Turkey, where the military have always been sacrosanct. More arrests followed, some trials got under way, and everybody held their breath waiting to see what the military would do. Answer: they nominated a general who had been implicated in the coup discussions as the chief of the land forces. [CENTER]-----------[/CENTER] [COLOR="DarkRed"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Adulterated food [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B][B][B]Tuesday, 17 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE sale of substandard and adulterated food and drink is not a new issue in Pakistan. However, during periods such as Ramazan, when vendors of foodstuffs enjoy brisk sales, the need to address this vital public health issue is increasingly felt. As reports suggest, the authorities have largely failed to tackle the menace of adulteration, which puts the health of consumers at risk. Focusing on Karachi, a report in this newspaper says that the limited number of food inspectors and a tedious legal procedure mean that the city government is unable to keep a check on adulteration. At present there are said to be about 2,500 cases of food adulteration pending before judicial magistrates. As for the number of food inspectors, as per the rules there should be one inspector for a population of 10,000. With Karachi’s population hovering around 18 million, 13 food inspectors are clearly not enough. If this is the case in the nation’s biggest metropolis, one wonders what the situation is like in other places. The effects of too few inspectors and a Byzantine legal process are obvious. According to a city government survey of various food items carried out in June, over 20 per cent of the items were found to be either not genuine or in violation of food rules. Apart from the insufficient number of food inspectors, reports from other parts of the country say that in some instances the inspectors are not qualified for their job. The state needs to take food safety seriously. The number of food inspectors in our cities and towns must be increased and eateries’ staff better trained. Officials must also be equipped with better technology to test food quality, and empowered through legislation to take swift action against those who flout food safety laws. [CENTER]----------[/CENTER] |
Editorial: Dawn
[CENTER][B][B][B][COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]How Pakistan survives [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B][B] Wednesday, 18 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] By Zubeida Mustafa FOR some time now — especially since the electronic media was unwittingly liberated by the military government of Gen Pervez Musharraf — cynics and pessimists have been writing off Pakistan. Since the closing days of July when devastating floods brought large chunks of the country under water, the question being raised by numerous analysts and commentators is how long would Pakistan survive. There are many who have predicted apocalyptically the end of Pakistan. Others, who are more generous, have warned of collapse not of the state but of the government. Economists speak of the economic downturn as though Pakistan was not in its grip already. But it is a pity that no one deems it necessary to focus on the resilience of the flood victims and the humanitarian spirit of many who are extending a helping hand. Statistics might be difficult to verify but now it is known that the destruction has been huge. The NDMA recorded close to 1,500 deaths, more than 2,000 injuries and almost 900,000 damaged houses. But before reconstruction and rehabilitation come rescue and relief. Lives have to be saved. Many have been rescued from the waters of the raging rivers — almost 700,000 according to the NDMA. But now the spectre of hunger, starvation and disease looms large. If more lives are not to be lost it is important to work swiftly to provide healthcare, sanitation, clean drinking water and protection from the natural elements. The sad part is that the people of Pakistan, expatriates abroad, as well as foreign governments, have lost confidence in the government which should have been in a position to conduct an effective rescue, relief and rehabilitation operation with financial help from the people and friendly foreign governments. The people of our country always loosen their purse strings when it comes to providing financial relief to a genuine cause if they trust those managing a project. Their generosity has never been in doubt and the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy estimated that in 1998 Pakistanis donated Rs70bn towards philanthropic causes. This figure must have risen over the years. Yet the government has failed to mobilise massive donations at home and abroad. While foreign governments have begun to respond to the appeal for disaster relief, they are reluctant to hand over funds to the government. According to the NDMA, 43 governments/agencies have committed flood relief aid to Pakistan, quite a bit of it in kind. Of these, only 11 have made their donations directly to the government or its agencies. The rest have preferred to give the pledged aid to the United Nations, its agencies or NGOs, both international and local. This trust deficit was most visible in the case of the funds received in the prime minister’s relief fund account in the National Bank of Pakistan. Ten days after this account was launched only Rs4.3m had been raised. The bank itself donated Rs50m. Conversely, individuals and NGOs have demonstrated that they have greater credibility in the public’s eyes. I personally know of many of them who have raised big amounts for flood relief and have joined the relief efforts. The Pakistan Medical Association was one of the first to take the initiative by collecting donations in the form of goods, cash and medicines for the flood victims. Other doctors have also responded and the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, which is an autonomous body in the public sector but depends preponderantly on public donations and has a long tradition of free public service, let it be known on Sunday that in 10 days it had provided medical treatment to over 10,000 people in the flood-hit areas. Other groups have also joined the relief operation. They comprise like-minded people whose integrity is above reproach. They are trusted and manage to raise donations. There are others who carry weight because they include trusted public figures, such as Aitemaad Pakistan led by Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim who is trying to provide immediate help to the flood affected in Sindh. Target: collect and distribute 24,000 dry ration bags to provide meals for 6,000 families for four weeks. Yet another organisation I know of is The Citizens Foundation which also aims to provide relief packs to 50,000 families to feed them for a month. Given its success in setting up 660 schools for 92,000 children from low-income families, TCF should hopefully succeed in meeting its target. Another I know personally which has stepped forward to help is the Indus Resource Centre that has been working in the field of education for rural communities and their sustainable livelihoods in Sindh. The IRC has adopted camps in Dadu and Khairpur where it is supporting over 1,500 families by providing food, water, sanitation and even temporary schools. There are a host of other dedicated workers and groups who have responded to the emergency with remarkable speed. They are far too many for me to list here. What gives heart and hope is that many have said that once the immediate danger has passed, they will help with the rehabilitation efforts. It is of course not possible for individuals to do what the government with its resources and administrative machinery has failed to do. But if the numerous groups that have sprouted in the wake of the floods were to adopt an area and work with the community leaders on a long-term basis, the floods could prove to be the turning point in the lives of many Pakistanis. It must be ensured that whichever village is adopted, it must be provided a primary school and a health centre, however small it may be. Those who adopt a village should continue to interact with the villagers to provide them motivation, moral support and whatever financial assistance possible. Actually all this should come from the government. But waiting for that amounts to waiting for Godot. Even in these testing times the big landowners have not been moved to part with some of their own wealth that they stole from the people who till their land, to help them in their hour of need. [CENTER]-------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]SC’s responsibility? [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][FONT="Georgia"]Wednesday, 18 Aug, 2010[/FONT][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] REMARKS made from the bench during the course of legal cases carry no legal weight. Nevertheless, the world over, such remarks give an insight into the thinking of judges. On Monday, during the ongoing hearings on challenges to certain parts of the 18th Amendment, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry posed the question: “Should we accept if tomorrow parliament declares secularism, and not Islam, as the state polity?” That the question was asked in a rhetorical way was relatively clear: several judges indicated that such a move was even beyond contemplation. That is a troubling position. Leave aside the remote possibility of secularism being constitutionally approved as the governing ethos of the Pakistani state. The question is really, should the Supreme Court appropriate for itself the responsibility of determining under what system the Pakistani people want to live, as expressed by their elected representatives? Is the SC the guardian of the document, the constitution, which enshrines how Pakistanis want to organise their state, vertically between state and society and horizontally between the institutions of the state, or is it an institution which determines how the state should be organised? The two are very different matters: the first places the SC as a referee, the second as a determinant of the structural design of the Pakistani state. There is a further issue here: that of secularism itself. Demonised and distorted, the original meaning, and perhaps for reasonable people the only applicable meaning, of the term ‘secularism’ has been lost here in Pakistan. Secularism is not ladeeniat, it is not anti-religion, as has been the claim of religious conservatives since the 1960s. It is one thing for Islamic parties to make that deliberately false claim, quite another for it to have apparently gained traction in the highest court of the land. Secularism is a very specific and narrow concept: the separation of religion and the state. Rather than being anti-religion, secularism is religion neutral. Standing in the way of those claiming that secularism is anti-religion and even vaguely anti-Pakistan at some level is one giant: Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The speech that the Quaid made from the floor of the constituent assembly in 1947 was a clarion defence of secularism, notable both for the occasion and the powerful oratory. Unable to rebuff the straightforwardness of the words — ‘religion is not the business of the state’ — conservatives have resorted to watering it down or ignoring it altogether. Perhaps the SC should ponder this question: would a constitutional amendment passed on the basis of the Quaid’s speech be declared against the ‘basic structure’ of the constitution? [CENTER]---------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Children at risk[/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Wednesday, 18 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] WHILE the waters have yet to recede, the spectre of disease has begun to haunt the millions stricken by the flood disaster. The United Nations has sounded the alarm bell, with a spokesman for the world body’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs saying that children are at particular risk from waterborne diseases. The UN is saying that out of a total of six million people at risk from waterborne diseases, up to 3.5 million children are at “high risk” of falling prey to ailments such as diarrhoea and dysentery. Over 20 children have reportedly died in different parts of the country over the past few days, many of the victims suffering from gastroenteritis. Concern has also been raised at the possible spread of cholera. (Thankfully, no case of the dreaded illness has been confirmed as yet.) The UN spokesman has observed that the severity of the disaster might be amplified if donor funds do not start flowing in. Without a doubt the situation is incredibly depressing and the latest fears about the possibility of epidemics will do little to dispel the pall of gloom enveloping the country. However, there is little time for complacency, and the state — mustering all the help it can— is advised to move swiftly and decisively to check the spread of disease. As experts have pointed out, the provision of clean drinking water and proper sanitation facilities at the camps housing flood victims is essential. There are various options available in this regard that the government might want to employ. These include the use of portable water filtration units. Considering that access to fuel or power could be difficult in certain areas, the solar water disinfection method can be used. Pharmaceutical companies and the corporate world can do their bit by stepping up efforts to get water purification tablets and oral rehydration solutions to the flood-hit people. Also, considering that large concentrations of children are present in the relief camps, it is a good idea to vaccinate them to prevent the spread of disease. The government must waste no time in taking action to prevent the outbreak of epidemics. [CENTER]--------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]More confusion [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Wednesday, 18 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] AMERICA will withdraw but will remain “engaged”. This in a nutshell has been the Obama administration’s Afghan policy. On Sunday, Gen David Petraeus added to the confusion by both opposing and guardedly supporting President Barack Obama’s decision, which visualises the beginning of the withdrawal of US troops a year from now. In a TV interview, the commander of the American and Nato forces in Afghanistan said he was not bound by the 2011 target date given by the president. He repeated his views in two interviews given subsequently to two major American newspapers. While sticking to his opposition to the withdrawal, the general said at the same time that he remained “supportive” of President Obama’s decision but that it was too early to determine the size of the withdrawal. Coming in rapid succession, the three interviews give the impression that the general is on a campaign of sorts to assert his position on the withdrawal question. Let us note that Gen Petraeus is part of a system where it is the civilian leadership that calls the shots, the example of his predecessor, Gen McChrystal, being too close in time to be recounted. As a soldier, the general cannot go against the Obama administration’s policy, for his duty is to translate it into action. For that reason, when he speaks, and speaks repeatedly, in ambiguous tones on the withdrawal issue one cannot but wonder whether the general himself is guilty of ambiguity or his statements are an inevitable consequence of Washington’s Afghan policy, characterised as it is by lack of clarity. When seen in the context of Washington’s position on negotiations with the Taliban, the general’s statement seems to confound all, especially a country like Pakistan, which cannot but be conscious of its security concerns in the aftermath of the American withdrawal. [CENTER]------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]China overtakes Japan By David Teather[/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Wednesday, 18 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] CHINA overtook Japan as the world’s second-largest economy during the second quarter of this year, marking another milestone in the country’s transformation from impoverished communist state to economic superpower. With its red-hot economy growing at around nine per cent a year, some experts now expect China to outstrip the United States as soon as 2030, its financial strength carrying broad political implications. Official data published on Monday showed a faltering Japanese economy growing by just 0.1 per cent in the three months to June, with GDP of $1.28tr eclipsed by China, which had economic output of $1.33tr. Although it is not the first time China has outpaced Japan in a single quarter, most economists now expect the emergent economy to end the year firmly ahead. China’s spectacular growth since Deng Xiaoping began to introduce free-market reforms three decades ago has seen it bounding up the world league of economic powers. Ten years ago it was the sixth-largest in the world but it has since outstripped Britain and France in 2005 and Germany in 2007. John Hawksworth, chief economist at PricewaterhouseCoopers, described the figures as a symbolic shift. He said: “Clearly it was inevitable, it was a just a question of when it would happen — just as it is pretty inevitable in the long run that it will be bigger than the US as well, because it has four times the population.” For now, China remains a distant second behind the US. The International Monetary Fund expects China’s GDP to reach $5.36tr this year, while the US is expected to hit $14.79tr. The UK projection is $2.22tr. Japan is expected to have GDP of $5.27tr. Nick Parsons, head of research at National Australia Bank, said the global financial crisis, which pitched more developed economies into recession, has underlined the shifting world power. “The Chinese economy has more than doubled in size in the past 10 years and will double in size again in the next 10 and I don’t think the financial crisis has accelerated that change as much as it has cemented it,” he added. For Japan the figures reflect the continued decline of a nation that has held the second spot since 1968, when it overtook West Germany, the result of a remarkable rise as a manufacturing and financial giant in the wake of the Second World War. But the “economic miracle” came to a juddering halt at the beginning of the 1990s when a property bubble burst. What followed was a lost decade in the doldrums and the country has never fully recovered. Today it faces deflation, an ageing and shrinking population and only minimal growth. Economists also cited the figures as evidence that the global recovery was still facing strong headwinds. China’s breakneck growth has not come without cost, causing huge social upheaval, including large-scale migration from the countryside to cities, which are growing at an unprecedented rate. The Guardian, London [CENTER]-----------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Nehru due soon: Ayub [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Wednesday, 18 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] QUETTA: The Indian Prime Minister, Mr Jawaharlal Nehru, will come to Pakistan around Sept 19 to sign the water treaty. Disclosing this, the President said today that the treaty will be signed in Karachi to ensure the convenience of World Bank representatives who would also be coming to attend the ceremony. President Ayub Khan arrived here from Rawalpindi to attend the Shaheen Air Training Corps passing out parade and to be installed as chief of the Tareen Tribe. Replying to a question, the President said that if Mr Nehru is willing to discuss other Indo-Pakistan disputes, they could be settled. All these issues are solvable, he asserted. In New Delhi, Mr Nehru in a brief reference to Pakistan while opening a debate in the Rajyya Sabha, this morning said he was sure that with the help of the World Bank the treaty will he finished soon. He also told the House that he hoped to visit Pakistan some time next month. President Ayub said that Karachi has been selected as the venue for the signing of the water treaty because the representatives of the countries that have contributed to the replacement works fund under the canal water treaty, will be coming to sign the agreements, and moreover Foreign Minister Manzur Qadir and Finance Minister Shoaib will be in a hurry to proceed aboard. Mr Qadir is leading the Pakistan delegation to the United Nations General Assembly and Mr Shoaib will be going for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ talks. Replying to a question, the President confirmed that the United Nations have asked for an ordnance company of troops for Congo to manage and distribute stores. Nehru, Khrushchev discuss aid NEW DELHI: Letters are believed to have been exchanged between Mr Nehru and Mr Khrushchev recently concerning a further installment of Russian aid for the Third Five-Year Plan, says The Statesman. In this connection a definite announcement is expected to be made soon simultaneously in New Delhi and Moscow. The Statesman said: “Sources believe that the forthcoming offer may not be very much less than the previous installment of Rs180 crore.” [CENTER]------------- [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]The dance of death [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [B][B][B][B][COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"]By Mansoor Raza Wednesday, 18 Aug, 2010[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/B][/B][/B][/B] FLOODS 2010 have apparently affected more than 10 per cent of the population and some 132,000 square kilometres of the total area of Pakistan. Going by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) website, almost 1,500 people are dead (though independent sources cite a larger figure). Almost 900,000 houses have been damaged. The UN has put the disaster “on a par” with the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. The intense flooding, that began some three weeks ago, has washed away roads, bridges, communications lines, health facilities and educational institutions. The immediate impact of the floods has been telecast in various media images. However, the full picture of the damage has yet to be assessed. The impact on housing, livelihood, livestock, gender, ecology, health, education, water and sanitation and on the psychological health of the people needs to be determined carefully. So far “too little, too late” has defined relief efforts and public anger is mounting. The patchy, shaky and rickety response of the civilian government is providing space to the social service wings of militant organisations to fill the gap, thus broadening their political base. Destruction and militancy, it seems, are Siamese twins, as we observe the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, linked to Jamaatud Dawa, running 12 medical facilities and providing cooked food for 100,000 people every day, with plans to open shelters. The idea of diverting money, as floated by officials, from public subsidies to the resource pool for relief efforts, may appear pragmatic but will not be appreciated in the long term by a public already reeling under burgeoning inflation. This is a potential threat to a vulnerable parliamentary democracy. The floods pose more questions than provide answers to each institution responsible for planning cities and land management in the affected areas. Every year, Pakistan is hit by one disaster or another. Major calamities have included earthquakes, landslides, floods, drought, cyclones and sea intrusion. Monsoons are a regular feature of Pakistan’s predominantly agrarian society. During the 1973 floods, more than three million houses were destroyed while in 1976 floods demolished over 10 million houses. In 1998 the floods resulted in damage to property to the tune of Rs17bn, and Rs50bn in 1992. The official death toll in the 2001 floods was 210 and in 2003 it was 230. Handcuffed by their respective mandates, the Pakistan Meteorological Department, the Federal Flood Commission and the NDMA are trying to blame each other. Though NDMA is doing its best, it has its own challenges regarding the availability of funds by donors. So, the question is, after having so much experience with disasters, do we have long-term, inclusive and coherent institutional arrangements to address disaster issues successfully? Power circles have the tendency to label all man-made disasters as natural, to absolve all those who are responsible for lack of preparation and poor coordination. For rehabilitation and damage need assessment the relevant institutions will need data on CNIC holders, housing, livestock and all the people. The last census was held in 1998. The headcount exercise was due in 2008 but was not conducted because of reasons best known to our officials. The question is: in the absence of such crucial numbers, how will the relevant departments devise a compensation policy and prioritise rehabilitation efforts? We have bad memories of compensation money from the 2005 earthquake. There exists a relationship between demography, underdevelopment, environmental degradation and disasters. This relationship needs to be understood. We have to ask why housing societies and cantonments are allowed near catchments areas and riverbeds. Why are people allowed to settle in kachha areas alongside River Indus in the south? Then, there are reports that regular transportation of logs by the timber mafia via rivers has seriously damaged embankments. This may be the reason for canal breaches in the current floods and otherwise as well. The activities of the timber mafia are well known and need little discussion. Landslides are another outcome of this unlawful activity, in which many big shots are involved. In the last 28 years Pakistan has seen 50 floods in which on average 136 persons have died. The 1990s was a period of response and in the new millennium there is at least talk of preparedness than response. Before these floods, many NGOs jumped onto the band wagon of disaster preparedness. The efficacy of programmes linked to this idea needs to be seriously debated and a comprehensive evaluation of such programmes should be conducted as the related projects involved much donor money. NGOs running micro-finance programmes in such areas should also come up with innovative solutions as the flood victims have lost almost everything and are not in a position to pay back loans. The enormity of this disaster should lead to adequate measures. The need for an early warning system was recognised as early as 1947, but the country’s forecasting system is still inadequate. The development mindset of the planners in Pakistan is at best insensitive towards environmental and ethical obligations. They treat ecology as a commodity and human beings as mere numbers. A market-based economy does not account for the cost of ecological destruction. The two major factors that turned the floods into calamity are market-oriented greedy development ventures and the diversion of the national income to non-development expenditures. The tragedy is another example of the catastrophe caused by an avaricious social order. Will the perpetrators be brought to book? The writer has worked in disaster and emergency situations in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. [email]mansooraza@gmail.com[/email] |
Dawn Editorial
[COLOR="Blue"][FONT="Georgia"][CENTER][B][B][B][SIZE="5"]Education in danger [/SIZE][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Thursday, 19 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] The state of education in Pakistan has never been very good. An even bleaker picture emerges when we factor in the effect of natural disasters and militancy on education. The devastation caused by the ongoing floods has been commented on extensively. However, what may have escaped our attention is the fact that the floods have also left an already shaky educational system in tatters. Although the exercise of collecting data on the number of schools affected in the flood-hit areas has yet to begin, it is clear that the government faces an uphill task in rebuilding the educational infrastructure in these places. Man-made disasters have also taken their toll on Pakistan’s education system. Militancy, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has paralysed educational activities in several districts. Scores of schools have been bombed, with the extremists bearing particular animus towards girls’ education. In fact, it has been reported that hundreds of schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, even in areas not affected by militancy, have closed down because of a shortage of teachers as educators are not interested in serving in far-flung areas. Enrolment in government schools is also low, while the dropout rate is high. The failure of the public school system has been cited as one of the reasons for growing extremism in society. Though it is repeatedly pointed out that the education sector suffers from resource constraints, the money that is available is not judiciously spent. A glaring example is of teachers who draw salaries but don’t actually bother to show up and teach. Setting things right in such a scenario will not be easy. We must ask if the provinces are prepared to deal with the task of revamping the education sector made worse in many places by the floods. In the short term, while the government must provide food, shelter and medical care to flood-affected people it must also include educational needs in its rehabilitation plans. Looking at the bigger picture, maladministration in schools and the leakage of funds meant for education must be strictly checked. The state must not lose sight of the importance of education in such times of crises. [CENTER]------------[/CENTER] [SIZE="5"][COLOR="Sienna"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Missing commission [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Thursday, 19 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] Five days after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Mian Nawaz Sharif agreed to create a commission to supervise relief work, the ‘credible national body’ they talked of still remains an idea. Their agreement in Islamabad on independence day was hailed by party workers in both camps. PML-N men were reportedly surprised at the ease with which the prime minister agreed to what basically was Mr Sharif’s idea. It was not a two-man decision, for the prime minister and the former prime minister were assisted by aides. After two hours of deliberations, they agreed to set up what appeared to be a ‘super commission’ comprising ‘men of integrity’ to supervise transparency in the collection, management and distribution of relief goods meant for the millions displaced by the floods ravaging Pakistan. Mr Gilani was even reported to have come up with some names that would run the commission. However, the commission has still not come into being, and observers doubt whether it will at all see the light of day. In the first place, a new commission for flood relief work is not needed. The National Disaster Management Authority is already there, as are a number of other agencies. If there are bottlenecks in their operations and relief does not reach the distressed in time and in the required quantity, then one should show understanding, given the magnitude of the calamity. Besides, there are scores of UN and foreign missions, Pakistani NGOs, provincial agencies and ‘banned’ religious organisations which are helping the displaced at local levels. Obviously, there is no coordination between them and there cannot be, because most of them operate locally and are doing what is possible. Nevertheless, there is evidence that they have put their shoulder to the wheel. All these agencies have accountability mechanisms of their own and are responsible to their own headquarters in Pakistan and abroad. Putting them all under one management with headquarters in Islamabad or Lahore is not only impractical, it will inhibit freedom of action and circumscribe their commendable work under trying circumstances. This would be unfair to them and to the sufferers. What the nation has not failed to note is the inability of the two mainstream parties to mobilise their own party workers for the relief work. While some small parties are already in the field and helping the needy, the people are sorry to see the PPP and PML-N interested only in gaining political mileage from the nation’s misery instead of facing the challenge head on. The ‘super commission’ was merely a talking point. [CENTER]------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][FONT="Georgia"][CENTER][B][B][B][SIZE="5"]The journey’s over for Tony Blair By John Harris[/SIZE][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/FONT][COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B]Thursday, 19 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] FIRST, it was The Journey — then, supposedly for fear of seeming messianic, the definite article became indefinite. There again, just to prove that Tony Blair perhaps thinks of himself as being that bit closer to the Almighty than most of us, last week brought news that A Journey will be available in a super-expensive edition — £150, if you’re interested — said to be suggestive of a religious text. Should you want either a bog-standard or biblical edition signed by the man-god himself, you should be at the London Piccadilly branch of Waterstone’s bookshop on Sept 8, but please bear in mind the already legendary restrictions: no bags, no mobiles, no photos, no personal dedications — and no guarantee that, even if you buy your book and get your special wristband, you will get to meet him. And now this: with assurances from his PR people that the money was always destined for a good cause, sudden news that “all proceeds” from the book will be going to a Royal British Legion facility for injured soldiers. Though Blair answered the Chilcot inquiry’s question about any Iraq-related regrets in the negative, the move surely points up a much more complicated set of feelings — or, if you want to be truly cynical, a shallow calculation about how the public might start to view him in a more sympathetic light. Whichever, it is some token of how damaged Blair is that any supportive responses have been all but drowned out by something else entirely: massed marvelling at his post-Downing Street existence. So, in no particular order: five homes, including the Blairs’ £3.7m pad in London’s Connaught Square, expanded when an adjacent £800,000 mews property was “knocked through”; two other high-end London pads occupied by sons Nicky and Euan Blair; and that £5.75m home county seat. High-paying roles with JP Morgan and Zurich Financial Services. Six-figure fees for after-dinner engagements and millions received in return for “global strategic assistance”, under the auspices of something called Tony Blair Associates. Tied up in those terrifying complex financial arrangements: wealth already estimated to be as much as £60m. Whether his fabulous existence brings him endless joy or Midas-like emptiness is an interesting question. But a more important point is that in this case, the personal is inevitably political, because Blair’s lifestyle also serves to undermine his own government’s record. Each time he crash-lands in the headlines New Labour is once again a byword for excess, the blurring of public office and private privilege. [CENTER] -----------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][CENTER][B][B][B]In for the long haul [/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B]By Michael O’Hanlon Thursday, 19 Aug, 2010[/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] SO how committed is the United States to the war in Afghanistan, and more generally to the security of South Asia? Pakistani friends understandably have their doubts — going back not only to President Obama’s Dec 1 speech last year when he spoke of beginning a withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by July 2011, but to previous difficult periods when America’s commitment to South Asia wavered. Try as they might, US cabinet secretaries and battlefield commanders cannot put this issue to rest. In recent interviews, Gen David Petraeus tried again, from his new perch as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, underscoring the need for patience and implying that American resolve to succeed in this effort would go past next year.Yet in the American press, and in South Asia, his words have also led to yet another round of debate about what Washington really intends. This confusion is not surprising; after all, it was just a few months ago when a new book by Jonathan Alter quoted Vice President Biden as predicting (wrongly, in my view) that lots of US troops would be leaving Afghanistan by next summer. In fact, President Obama has been trying to have it both ways to an extent. He wants to suggest staying power — but also wants to reassure Americans that the war will not last forever, and wants to signal to Afghan officials that they must do their part to accelerate reforms if they want to count on the United States for the long haul. So the Afghanistan war is vital, but we are already also planning to start ending it by a certain date. The American troop buildup is large and fast, but also temporary. The Nato mission in Afghanistan is ambitious, but also limited in scope. These conflicting ideas may not be contradictions, but they certainly contain a good deal of policy tension within them — and they certainly can lead to confusion. I believe the various ideas can be reconciled with each other; indeed, I believe one can even sketch out the rough plan for reducing US and Nato forces in Afghanistan over the next few years based on what is publicly known about the Afghan-ISAF military strategy. But before attempting that, it is also worth revisiting some of the other comments administration figures have made about the war’s likely longevity to add further texture to the discussion. Consider: — “We will help by working with our Afghan partners to strengthen institutions at every level of Afghan society so that we don’t leave chaos behind when our combat troops begin to depart ... the additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. “Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground.” (Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Dec 3, 2009.) — “Beginning to transfer security responsibility to the Afghans in summer 2011 is critical — and, in my view, achievable. This transfer will occur district by district, province by province, depending on conditions on the ground ... Even after we transfer security responsibility to the Afghans and draw down our combat forces, the United States will continue to support their development as an important partner for the long haul. “We will not repeat the mistakes of 1989, when we abandoned the country only to see it descend into civil war, and then into Taliban hands….” (Secretary of Defence Robert Gates, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Dec 3, 2009.) — “…beginning in 2011, July, we will start bringing those troops down and turning over more and more responsibility to Afghan security forces that we are building up. But we are not suddenly, as of July 2011, finished with Afghanistan.” (President Barack Obama, May 12, 2010, joint press conference with President Hamid Karzai, Washington, DC.) The most logical way to make sense of all this confusion coming out of Washington, some of it perhaps deliberate and some inadvertent, is as follows. First, President Obama does intend a gradual, careful drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan beginning next summer. He does not intend a precipitate withdrawal. Second, as Afghan forces improve over the coming year, the gradual drawdown should in fact be possible — as long as its pace remains flexible (and probably quite slow at first). Third, my calculations suggest that we might still need 80,000 or more US troops in Afghanistan at the end of 2011, more than 50,000 at the end of 2012, and perhaps half that number still at the end of 2013 — and I have no reason to believe that the White House or Pentagon disagrees with this assessment. Fourth, however, should we collectively fail to achieve any substantial progress in the stabilisation effort between now and July, all bets are off. Mr Obama reserves the right to consider a Plan B that might involve faster reductions in American combat power as we recognise that the original goals of the mission have become unattainable. That last possibility is unlikely, however. As commander in chief, Barack Obama has declared South Asia his top national security priority, and he has now presided over a tripling of US military personnel in Afghanistan since entering the Oval Office. These are enormous indications of his resolve and are too frequently under-appreciated. The smart money is on a long, patient American commitment to this war and this region for many years to come. The writer is author of the new Foreign Affairs essay ‘Staying Power’ and coauthor of Toughing It Out in Afghanistan and Brookings’ Pakistan and Afghanistan indices. [CENTER]------------[/CENTER] |
Editorial: Dawn
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][CENTER][B][B][B][B][B]
High food prices[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B] Friday, 20 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] THERE is no shortage of bad news for those at the bottom rung of the economic ladder. The Utility Stores Corporation has increased the price of certain foodstuffs by over 20 per cent, citing the damage done to the agricultural sector by the floods as the reason. The prices of oil, ghee, pulses and gram flour have all been raised. The cost of wheat flour, too, is witnessing a gradual increase. The price hike effectively neutralises the Ramazan package announced by the USC earlier in the month, bringing the prices of many items at par with those in the open market. The USC has defended the price increase, saying that food supplies had stopped coming in because a number of warehouses had been damaged. Observers, however, have dismissed this plea on the grounds that the impact of the floods on the operations of the USC is at best minimal. According to the stores’ own spokesman dry items were purchased in March or April. Market watchers have said that few of the corporation’s warehouses faced serious damage from the floods. In an age of spiralling inflation — especially rising food costs — the common man will be hit hard. We must ask if this is just the beginning of a series of nasty shocks for the low-income consumer. Though far from perfect, the utility stores are a lifeline for those with limited means. Subsidies might not be ideal but they may be required in the short term to at least soften the crushing impact of food inflation on society’s most vulnerable segments. Hence the government needs to take corrective measures so that essential items can be bought at affordable rates at the stores. Announcing ‘packages’ and then withdrawing their benefits a few days later is no less than a cruel joke. [CENTER]------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Flood warning system[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Friday, 20 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] COULD a network of localised flood warning systems have saved many of the lives lost in recent weeks? The answer is an emphatic yes. According to the director general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, such early warning systems monitor flood levels and automatically sound an alarm two hours before the water is due to hit. Those managing the system then alert local administrations which, in theory at least, should have enough time to warn and advise the local population. So sophisticated is the system that it can even predict flash floods that, due in large part to massive deforestation, have been causing death and destruction in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with alarming frequency in recent years. Flash floods claimed hundreds of lives this time round as well. An early warning system obviously cannot prevent mudslides, inundation or the destruction of homes and other immoveable property. It can, however, allow affectees the time needed to evacuate along with their belongings, such as livestock and valuable personal effects. Unfortunately, so far there is only one localised flood warning system in all of Pakistan. Thanks to Japanese assistance, it is installed at Rawalpindi’s Nullah Leh whose floodwaters sometimes churn over its banks and swamp adjoining neighbourhoods. Many more early warning systems must be put in place in the most vulnerable areas, for they are desperately needed and we should have had them by now. True, the cost involved is high — the Japanese Nullah Leh system, for instance, was worth Rs400m two years ago. But is the root problem a lack of resources or lethargy on the part of officialdom? The Met office chief, for one, believes the latter is the case. In any case, Pakistan’s plight right now is under the spotlight worldwide. If we can’t afford flood warning systems, this is the time to ask for international assistance in setting them up. Memories are short and today’s disaster tends to take a back seat when another one strikes somewhere else. Providing something tangible like an early warning system is different from pouring money into the coffers of a government which many abroad view with suspicion. Governments and international agencies may be willing to do the needful, but for that to happen our own administration must take the initiative. The Government of Pakistan needs to realise just how vital it is to improve our disaster prevention and management programmes. Even the rain advisories issued well in advance by the Met office with its existing technology seemingly failed to produce the desired response. Lives are at stake here and they must be protected at all cost. [CENTER]------------[/CENTER] |
Editorial: Dawn
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Securing lifelines during disaster[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] By Vinod Thomas and Ronald S. Parker Saturday, 21 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE frequency and intensity of natural disasters have been rising sharply in recent decades. Earlier this year, a catastrophic earthquake devastated Haiti, a far stronger seismic event battered Chile, and yet another earthquake brought destruction to the Chinese province of Qinghai. Most striking has been the increase in disasters triggered by tropical storms and heavy rains. Today Pakistan is witnessing the loss of lives and livelihoods from the deadliest flooding in decades, the full impact of which is yet to be fathomed. These calamities have not only produced enormous casualties, they have also triggered emergency relief aimed at the life-threatening problem of survivors. Therein lies a lesson worth taking more to heart going forward. Too often urgent care could not be provided because critical care facilities were no longer functioning, or there was no way to access services. While headlines focus on the damage, not enough attention was being given in the reconstruction efforts to the importance of ensuring functioning lifelines — notably potable water and first aid — during disasters. Making human settlements more ready to face extreme natural events is a continuing process. However, much can be achieved by making vital installations, such as hospitals and emergency shelters, more disaster-resistant with uninterrupted power supply, a network of protected access routes and the secure provision of safe water and sanitation. The adequacy of protective embankments has proved to be crucial. In too many places around the world, facilities that are essential for an effective response are tied to networks that are almost guaranteed to fail. In Haiti, Chile and other countries, potable water could not be provided to victims in reasonable time, and emergency medical facilities dropped offline just when needed most. The ability to take early action in critical care also has a cascading impact on the whole recovery process. Where basic connectivity to emergency medical care and water continues, reconstruction is that much easier — there are more able-bodied individuals when it is time to pick up the pieces. It is unfortunate that the increase in natural calamities comes just as population density in vulnerable areas is increasing rapidly. Yet, preventive measures can make a difference. Chile’s relatively low level of damage despite the severity of its seismic event is of interest to all. There are other examples too that need to be built on. At the time of the earthquake that devastated Pakistan in 2005 many feared more people would starve or freeze to death as winter hit the remote region, but that did not happen as the country, supported by the United Nations and donors, was able to get relief and emergency shelter to those who needed it. After the earthquake, cash transfers proved helpful as assistance was given for rebuilding homes that were more earthquake-resistant. The experiences in Colombia and Turkey show that earthquake-resistant building codes, enforcement of construction standards and oversight of materials procurement practices pay off. Floods wash away physical and social infrastructure, homes, crops, seed stocks, grain reserves — and livelihoods. Crucial are the means to re-establish agriculture without communication infrastructure, adequate social services and accessible rural investments. There is a great need to confront the threat to livelihoods from prolonged and intensive rains causing destruction of infrastructure and reserves that people had set aside — especially in the absence of insurance mechanisms. Some of the losses are also due to encroachment on fragile lands, constricting traditional waterways. Both with earthquakes and floods, better land-use planning is essential to ensuring that people are not putting up their homes and activities in harm’s way. Some 50 developing countries face recurrent earthquakes, mudslides, floods, hurricanes and droughts, yet many of them do not seem to recognise that they will recur. External agencies often do not acknowledge these risks as a systematic threat to their assistance: almost half of the countries borrowing from the World Bank for disaster response did not mention disaster prevention in their development plans. This situation must change. If we are ready to invest sizable funds to establish mechanisms to withstand financial crises, we need to do the same with the escalating hazards of nature. In a few months the world’s attention will no longer be fixed on natural disasters (until the next big one, that is). Once the tragedy drops off newspapers’ front pages, international donors, like the countries, find it hard to stay engaged with prevention efforts. This sad reality is yet another reason to focus also on the immediate goals: when rebuilding lives and livelihoods, ensuring that key structures and embankments that are vital to crisis response have built-in protection and are linked to networks that will not fail them. So when the earth shakes or the waters rise, critical networks can be disaster-resilient — and the victims do not need to look at each other in desperation to survive. Vinod Thomas is the director-general and Ronald S. Parker senior consultant at the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group. [CENTER]-------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B] New class divide in UK education[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] By Priyamvada Gopal Saturday, 21 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] IN the fuzzy language of options and alternatives, a class war is being waged. Complete with the rhetoric of increased social mobility, a political offensive from above threatens to change the social landscape of Britain for the worse. Its visible targets are welfare, jobs and wages, but behind these selective ‘austerities’ a more insidious form of social engineering is also taking place. If the assault on universities and the thousands who aspire to higher education succeeds, Britain is in danger of reversing decades of gain to become a nation further divided between those with privileged access to university education and those denied it. Already, tens of thousands of students with good A-levels find themselves scrounging for alternatives to hoped-for university places. A disproportionate number come from state (free) schools and economically weaker backgrounds. The severe admissions crunch caused by punishing cuts has been worsened by a near halving of clearing places to 18,000 from 32,000. Anticipated further cuts of up to 35 per cent of the higher education budget over the next four years will greatly worsen the situation. By contrast, record increases in applications in recent years demonstrate a widening desire for higher learning and all that it promises. The coalition government’s response to this paradoxical situation is breezy condescension masked as hard-headed practicality. “Let them have apprenticeships!” pronounce the universities minister, David Willetts, and the business secretary, Vince Cable, from the safe heights enabled by their own university educations. Beating that tired political drum — more vocational training — Cable touts skills that “enable people to be productive in creating high-value goods and services”. His vocabulary exemplifies what the late Jimmy Reid, in a 1972 University of Glasgow rectorial address, described as the executive-suite tendency “to see people as units of production, as indices in your accountants’ books”. Quite apart from the ongoing bureaucratic failure story that is vocational training, we must question the ethics of stratifying society in this way. The already advantaged will be able to afford and profit from higher education; the poorer must train in lower paid skills to service the former’s lifestyles. The claim that a university education is not for all embodies what the educationist Jonathan Kozol calls “fear of equalising”. There are sound economic reasons to get a degree. Universities still control access to nearly all the major professions, from law, engineering and medicine to journalism, finance and teaching. The earnings gap between the university-educated and those with vocational qualifications remains consistently large in favour of the former. But the more fundamental fact remains that real democracy and a truly integrated society require citizens who have had the chance to develop skills such as independent inquiry and critical thinking, neither of which need mean devaluing other skills. Despite their own increasing corporatisation, universities still provide an environment that expands our capacity to think and engage creatively with other people’s ideas. Unsurprisingly, the vacuum created by slashing publicly funded university places has immediately lured profiteering transnational companies offering degrees at designer price tags of nearly £10,000 a year. They include BPP, the first private institution since the Thatcher era and only the second ever to be granted university status. Recently, the US-based testing corporation, Kaplan, entered the market. Hailing this as “the first glimmerings of the opening of universities to supply-side reform”, Willetts makes the old mistake of confusing human needs with market demand. Higher education, a shared resource, which ought to be available to all who seek it, has become yet another social responsibility outsourced towards private sector profit. — The Guardian, London[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] The writer teaches postcolonial studies at Cambridge University. [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [CENTER]-------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Victims of abuse [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]By Razeshta Sethna Saturday, 21 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] RUKAIYA suffers daily beatings and verbal abuse at home where she supports her unemployed, drug-taking husband and four children. Her in-laws give her regular thrashings when she refuses them money, forcing her out of her own home. At 35, she works as a maid for almost 12 hours each day, seven days a week earning Rs8,000, often wondering when the anguish will end. With sadness she shared her story because we found her sobbing uncontrollably in our kitchen: for her, the beatings have lasted more than 12 years, some have been so severe that she has had to be hospitalised. Every hour two women suffer domestic abuse in Pakistan reports the Human Development Foundation, indicative of the lack of legislation to protect women and children from such endemic violence. Few women are aware of their rights, as they accept abuse, including horrendous acid attacks, causing serious disfigurement. According to the Islamabad-based Progressive Women’s Association, 4,000 women are burnt each year by in-laws and husbands as punishment for minor offences. Human Rights Watch figures estimate that 90 per cent of women are subject to verbal, sexual, emotional and physical abuse within their own homes. When women parliamentarians advocated for a 28-clause domestic violence bill passed by parliament last summer, the proposed law defined domestic violence as: “All intentional acts of gender-based or other physical and psychological abuse committed by an accused against women, children or other vulnerable persons, with whom the accused person is or has been in a domestic relationship.” Initially prepared by Sherry Rehman, a former information minister, this bill was finally passed by parliament on Aug 4, 2009, when moved as a private members’ bill by Yasmin Rehman, a PPP politician, who is also advisor to the prime minister on women development. At that time, the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill was perceived to be a ‘big achievement’, but the bill lapsed after Pakistan’s Senate failed to pass it three months later as constitutionally required. Objections surfaced from religious quarters with the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) stating this kind of law would increase the divorce rate and was un-Islamic. Then, in October of the same year, a JUI-F senator, Mohammad Khan Sheerani, nominated as CII chairman, had reservations, although his Islamist party conceded the bill should be passed. Women parliamentarians say the bill would have sailed through the Senate if the ruling government had pushed for it. Many point the government caved in to pressure by the CII, which advises the legislature on whether or not a certain law is un-Islamic. The CII said the bill was “discriminatory”, allowing the police an opportunity to violate the “sanctity of [the] home”. Disappointed though undefeated, activists lobbied for a parliamentary mediation committee comprising members of both houses of parliament. When finally formed, its recommendations were shelved after the 18th Amendment came through, resulting in the domestic violence bill becoming a provincial matter — another challenge, says Anis Haroon, chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women. But all this happened even though as Haroon explains the main objection to the bill was removed. She says the religious right was against the bill from the start, although women activists petitioned inside and outside the assembly. “Religious parties have their own worldview and thrive on it, opposing anything to do with women. Giving freedom and rights to women is westernising them. We are part of a paternalistic and patriarchal society with a coalition government where political parties hold their own positions.” The domestic violence bill, along with other pending bills will once again come under the spotlight when a joint session of parliament comes together: in the interim, the National Commission has sought clarification on the pending bill in a letter written to Raza Rabbani, the chairman of the Implementation Committee of the 18th Amendment and Dr Fahmida Mirza, the speaker of the National Assembly. Pro-women bills in Pakistan have a history of being passed with hullabaloo and religious right objections. When in 2006, amendments were made to the Hudood Ordinances, the Protection of Women Bill met with a similar fate. The bill was modified and revised. That domestic violence is not seen as a crime and not even incorporated in the Pakistan Penal Code is evidence that the government remains uncommitted to empowering women and securing their rights. Aurat Foundation estimates in 2009 reveal 608 cases of domestic violence were reported countrywide, of which 271 were from Punjab, 134 from Sindh, 163 incidents from Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa, 22 from Balochistan and 18 from Islamabad.In Turkey, similar patterns of violence resulted in the 1998 Protection of the Family Law. As in Pakistan, traditional attitudes and concepts of family honour exacerbate the problem of domestic abuse, generally treated as a private matter intertwined with family honour. A 2003 study by Hacettepe University in Turkey found that 39 per cent of women felt that domestic abuse was justified in certain situations. Only 35 per cent of women said they would file a complaint if their husbands physically abused them, and in reality, few female victims seek help from law-enforcement authorities. And just as in Pakistan, when they do seek help from the police, the latter are often disinclined to give help and push victims to reconcile with their husbands. Under Pakistan’s proposed domestic violence bill, a network of protection officers and committees will be formed. Monetary compensation and other relief will be provided to victims and protection orders will be mandatory. Violators will be punished with jail terms and fines paid out to victims. According to the bill, the court would have to set a hearing within three days of receiving a complaint and to adjudicate the case within 30 days. These are proposals without adequate enforcement tools. It would be beneficial to adopt measures slated in similar legislatures working effectively in other Islamic countries where women live and work as equal partners with men, without suffering the backlash of parochial behaviour and gender-based prejudices. [CENTER]--------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Judicial activism run riot[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] By A.G. Noorani Saturday, 21 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] ON Aug 10, Justice Markandeya Katju of the Supreme Court of India delivered a strong rebuke to judges of the court under whom judicial activism had run riot for over two decades to the dismay of informed opinion. His remarks follow close on the heels of those made by Justice S.H. Kapadia who assumed the office of chief justice of India only recently. He said that the Supreme Court would not entertain “matters of policy”. Justice Katju had long voiced similar views ever since he became judge of the Supreme Court. What he said on Aug 10 needed badly to be said and therefore bears quotation in extenso. “Can the Supreme Court convert itself into an interim parliament and make laws in vacuum? Supreme Court judges should do their job and not become a parliament and make laws.” It was a case of inter-country adoption. A 37-year-old man, adopted by a German couple in 1973 when he was just four weeks old, had been searching for his biological mother for the last six years. He alleged that he had been kidnapped while the adoption centre claimed that he had been abandoned by his mother. In 1984 the Supreme Court ruled that foreign adoptive parents could reveal information about the biological parents to their adopted child once he reached the “age of maturity”. There was no law on the point. The court gave a ruling nonetheless. “What is the Supreme Court saying here?” Justice Katju asked and said that he was “against” that ruling and other Supreme Court judgments like this. “What is this … if there is no legislation the Supreme Court makes laws! Judges should do their job. I will raise my voice against this, and will keep on raising it.” He added, “The Supreme Court is not an interim parliament; otherwise parliament should be ‘closed’ and shifted to the Supreme Court.” To begin with, reportage of these remarks was itself a healthy violation of an extra-legal edict made years ago by a chief justice of India who revelled in exhibiting temper and shooting his mouth off. He laid down, contrary to the practice in India and, indeed, all over the world, that comments from the bench by an individual judge during the hearing of a case should be reported, not truthfully, as emanating from him, but, falsely enough, as one made “by the bench”. The bench speaks in a final judgment; not always unanimously. The people have a right to know what a judge says while hearing a case; in other words how he behaves. Yet this fundamental right, guaranteed by the constitution, was set at naught by a chief justice of India for his own protection. The press meekly complied. The bar is none too assertive either. A judicial outrage was perpetrated on July 25, 1991 in the case of the Madras High Court chief justice, Justice K. Veeraswami. An FIR was filed against him for possessing assets “disproportionate” to his known sources of income. As the appointing authority, the president’s sanction is required, under the Criminal Procedure Code, to launch a prosecution. The Supreme Court ruled (three to two) not only that he must consult the chief justice of India, but “act in accordance with the advice” given by the chief justice before giving the sanction. This flagrantly violates the rule of law and its main element “the universal subjection of all classes to one law”. It is unsupported by any law. One of the judges explained the thinking behind this judicial activism. “We must never forget that this court is not a court of limited jurisdiction of only dispute settling. Almost from the beginning, this court has been a lawmaker, albeit, in (Oliver Wendell) Holmes’s expression, ‘interstitial’ lawmaker. Indeed, the court’s role today is much more. It is expanding beyond dispute settling and interstitial lawmaking. It is a problem solver in the nebulous areas.” This is arrant nonsense. Unelected judges become supreme lawgivers by their own will. The great judge, Holmes, would have frowned on this logic. In a tax case he rejected exemption to judges as “a privileged class free from bearing their share” of the tax burden. The metaphor “interstices” was used by him in 1917 in a classic pronouncement little understood by some. “Judges do and must legislate but they do so only interstitially; they are confined from molar to molecular motions.” It was left to his great admirer Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo to explain the limits in his classic The Nature of the Judicial Process. The judge legislates only between gaps. “Even within the gaps, restrictions not easy to define, but felt, however impalpable they may be, by every judge and lawyer, hedge and circumscribe his action. They are established by the traditions of the centuries, by the example of other judges, his predecessors and his colleagues, by the collective judgment of the profession, and by the duty of adherence to the pervading spirit of the law.” He explained that judges have “the power, though not the right, to ignore the mandate of a statute, and render judgment in despite of it. They have the power, though not the right, to travel beyond the walls of the interstices, the bounds set to judicial innovation by precedent and custom. Nonetheless, by that abuse of power, they violate the law. If they violate it wilfully, i.e., with guilty and evil mind, they commit a legal wrong”. Judges are not immune to popular passions. “The great tides and currents which engulf the rest of men do not turn aside in their course and pass the judges by.” All the more reason why judges should remember that, as Chief Justice Stone warned, “the only check on our exercise of power is our sense of self-restraint”. That has been conspicuously absent; not least because the judges were not learned in constitutional law and imbued with its ethos. They ignore the dicta of the masters who were themselves no mean activists. Their passion for activism is in direct proportion to their lack of learning. The late H.M. Seervai lamented the decline in the quality of judges. The entire system of judicial appointments has been a mess. Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s speeches are recalled on matters political. It is time people consulted the views he expressed at the Round Table Conference in London, a constitutional court manned by judges learned in constitutional law — as distinct from civil or criminal law. [COLOR="Blue"]The writer is an author and a lawyer.[/COLOR] |
Editorial: DAWN
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Relief and reputation [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"]By Kunwar Idris Sunday, 22 Aug, 2010[/SIZE][/COLOR] PRIME Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Nawaz Sharif, rivals in politics but partners in government, were being clever. Knowing that the kitty was empty, donors were untrusting and the victims considered both of them uncaring, they agreed to pass the relief buck to a commission whom the world and the nation would trust. Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, Rana Bhagwandas and Nasir Aslam Zahid who were among the first to be named should not be taken in by the tribute paid to them by the two politicians whose public career is threatened by the misery of the floods. Even if the commission were to be empowered to fix the principles and priorities for projects and disbursements, with safeguards against misappropriation, there is no organisation which could reach the displaced people across the country. Moreover, there are no rules to go by. Emergency field services, to the extent they exist, are operating under the influence and sometimes the control of parliamentarians and the bosses of political parties or their underlings. Whatever the policy of the commission or the directions emanating from it, even the officials implementing them would be watching the interest of ministers, parliamentarians or local party chiefs to whom they are beholden. The commission would have no means to break into their network. The victims would hardly notice a change. In the good old days when the field administration was neutral and its hierarchy inviolable, in any emergency, be it raids by locusts or an enemy country, there was a binding code of behaviour with defined responsibility. The focal point was the district. As an emergency was announced, the heads of all departments and voluntary services would head for the control room and supervise precautionary or relief measures from there. During the 1971 war, officials and volunteers in Karachi would head for the control room as soon as the Mauripur air base sounded the air raid warning. In the blackout and amid falling bombs would turn up a debonair chief warden Anwar Hedaytullah, octogenarian Malik Bagh Ali (former mayor), Haji Ziauddin in civil defence uniform and the official heads of all utility services — some of whom were senior in rank to the deputy commissioner (who was the chief controller) but that did not matter. The relief commissioner, then in Lahore, or the defence committee of the federal cabinet at Rawalpindi could be approached but the need for that did not arise for the local system worked. The ambulances and fire engines, few as they were, would be on the way to the bombing site before the all-clear was sounded. It was at one of the bombing sites that Sattar Edhi made his first appearance with his single ambulance for the injured and a stack of shrouds for the dead. That earned him, perhaps, his first certificate for community service. The short-lived war gave an impetus to Edhi’s philanthropic service which, by some accounts, is unrivalled in the world today. Similar control rooms worked in every district in every calamity. One wonders if they do so now. The districts are many and weak. The neutral character of public services has broken down under extraneous pressures. Control has passed into the hands of politicians. Where stands the chance of a command hierarchy to survive when, just taking one instance, the head of a police station is routinely posted and removed by the home minister? The district no longer has a coordinating head. Advice or directions coming from a variety of quarters are seldom unbiased. The task in the weeks and months ahead would be to rescue the marooned, feed and shelter the victims, prevent crime and disease. In that activity a role for the commission is hard to imagine. Its members wouldn’t know where to go or whom to ask before allocating money or manpower. Even the head of the existing disaster management authority has been heard complaining that with a staff of 70 or so he could do little. If full responsibility is to be vested in one organisation for rescue, shelter, food and healthcare, it can be no other than the armed forces. The NGOs whom the local and foreign philanthropists would trust, rather than the government, could work with the commanders to the exclusion of political workers and politicised officials. The sheltering arrangements contemplated by the politicians are sowing the seeds of new conflicts and scams. Politics is in full play with the ministers and landlords accusing each other of diverting the water flow from natural channels to save their own lands and flood others. The sheltering plan should aim at camping sites nearer home with adequate amenities rather than creating new controversial settlements in cities. It is hard to keep party politics and personal ambitions out of the relief effort. President Zardari has given it a touch of a divine responsibility entrusted to him. The public rebuke that the Sindh home minister administered to the officials in Hyderabad appears to have an ethnic aspect. In a political set-up some favourites must gain and the weak have more than their share of suffering. President Zardari has made it known that he would, nevertheless, like politicians to lead the relief effort. That conceded, the commission would have no place in the ongoing life-saving operations. It would be better left to the army, NGOs and American marines and helicopters. A commission, however, must be established to preside over the next phase of reconstruction of homes and public infrastructure, and given overriding authority. For the present the three retired judges, if invited, should respond to the offer with “thank you but no thank you.” Edhi has already done it. The nation has lost its reputation but he has his to safeguard. The government seems to have decided not to bother the honest old men but go its own way. PS : In last week’s column the amount of subsidy for Punjab’s sasti roti should have read Rs5bn and not Rs500bn. [COLOR="#0000ff"][/COLOR] [CENTER]-----------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Embankment breaches [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B]Sunday, 22 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [IMG]http://www.dawn.com.pk/wps/wcm/connect/d262ba8043aae5e283f8afaa214d0cad/sindh_diversion_608.jpg?MOD=AJPERES[/IMG] [COLOR="#0000ff"][I]Officials instruct an excavator operator along an embankment made to divert floodwaters, in Shahdadkot, some 105 kilometers (65 miles) from Sukkur, in Pakistan's Sindh province August 21, 2010. – Reuter[/I][/COLOR] Grave allegations have been levelled and a thorough probe must take place. In Punjab both the PPP and the opposition PML-Q claim that the Taunsa spurs were breached not necessarily to save the barrage but to protect the agricultural land of the Khosa clan which is close to the ruling PML-N. With flood waters raging, the breach ended up submerging Muzaffargarh district, a PPP stronghold. Meanwhile in Sindh, the most controversial breaches took place at Tori Bund in the vicinity of Ghauspur and Jamali Bypass near Jacobabad. For his part, former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali is convinced that the bypass was breached for two reasons: “American pressure on the authorities to safeguard the Shahbaz airbase” and to protect land owned by federal minister Aijaz Jakhrani of the PPP. The Jamali Bypass breach inundated vast swathes of Balochistan and is now curving its way back towards Sindh. Some key questions deserve an answer: who ordered the breaching of embankments and was the requisite procedure for taking such action followed by the authorities? The process, in theory at least, is clear enough. If it is felt that an embankment breach is absolutely necessary, the provincial chief minister or the prime minister issues the relevant orders on the recommendation of the irrigation department. The local administration then carries out those directives with the help of the army, police or other agencies that are up to the task. Documentation too, at least of the recommendation and subsequent order, is part of the procedure. Does any paperwork exist vis-à-vis the breaching of embankments in recent days? If it does, why are Sindh and federal government officials either feigning ignorance or refusing to divulge the identity of the competent authority? The whole operation has been carried out like some top-secret mission and that alone suggests that all may not be above board. Then there is the callousness of it all. People living in Sindh’s riverine areas have suffered immensely but at least they knew in most cases that a major calamity was headed their way. Spare a thought then for the residents of Balochistan’s Nasirabad and Jaffarabad districts. The aerial distance between the Indus at its closest point and Dera Murad Jamali in Nasirabad is nearly 100 kilometres. How could anyone there ever imagine they would suddenly be swamped by floods originating in the Indus? Making matters worse, there was little or no warning of the impending doom. Explanations are in order. If the allegations against federal and provincial ministers are baseless then so be it. But guilt or otherwise can only be determined through a detailed and transparent investigation. [CENTER]----------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][I] Sialkot tragedy [/I][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][U]Sunday, 22 Aug, 2010[/U][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Pakistanis have expressed shock at the brutal mob-lynching of two teenaged brothers in Sialkot last Sunday. But horrific as the incident may be, it did not come out of the blue. Mob justice has been quite the norm, in Sindh, in Punjab and elsewhere in the country. The killings in Sialkot are a reminder that these murderers are getting more brutal, more dehumanised with each incident. The causes behind the madness that led to the lynching are still being probed. What is clear, however, is that the police were involved. Video footage of the incident shows policemen who seem to be part of the mob. The Supreme Court has taken notice of the double murder. The SHO ‘concerned’ has been arrested and a case registered against 14 people. The IG Punjab has suspended a few policemen in Sialkot and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has also woken up to the situation. As he castigated the police the chief justice remarked: “What message have you given to the world about Pakistan?” One could say, with due respect to the judiciary, that the act would have been bad enough had it remained hidden from an international audience. The agents who promote such despicable acts of violence must be identified. Those in the media must introspect and see how much they have contributed to the sense of desperation found among Pakistani citizens today, while the police must be taken to task along with rulers who encourage the law-enforcers and the general public to play judge and executioner. The very day newspapers reported the Sialkot double-murder, they also carried a news item about the awarding of the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz to the DIG Gujranwala, Zulfiqar Cheema, for “maintaining law and order”. The police officer, in whose jurisdiction Sialkot also falls, appears to do his job in a manner that is condemnable. There are serious allegations that under his watch people have been killed in encounters and their bodies paraded through the streets. When the state rewards such actions, it is actively creating conditions for incidents such as the one that took place in Sialkot. The state is no less guilty than the SHO who has been booked. [COLOR="#0000ff"][CENTER]**********[/CENTER][/COLOR] |
editorial Dawn
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Irrelevant rhetoric [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[I][B][B][B][B][B][COLOR="Blue"]By Hajrah Mumtaz Monday, 23 Aug, 2010[/COLOR][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I] AS is the stereotype in the rest of the world, this country’s political figures too have never been viewed as averse to ducking responsibility and prevarications. Whatever the situation, all too often politicians try to shift the blame on to other shoulders, the usual target being the military governments that have plagued our sad efforts towards democratic governance. As a citizenry, we tend to take this in our stride because sinners though our politicians may be, they have also been greatly sinned against — indeed, some are sinners because they were first pawns. Most people who have the courage to actually accept the Orwellian concept of two plus two equalling four will concede that the theory of democratic rule is only half fulfilled if no government faces a situation of having discredited itself enough to face an ouster in the next polls. And that has never been the case in Pakistan. Thus, the next time the civilian political class finds the ball in its court, the party and politicians whose government was brought down shifts the blame for the grim realities of the day on to whichever military regime was responsible for its ouster (and in many cases, rightly so). But there are some instances where the perennial complaint of ‘it’s a conspiracy against civilian politicians as a class’ starts to sound hollow, like taking resort to a familiar, fallback rhetoric because the politician or the party had no other choice but to face its own shortcomings. One such instance came last week, when leaders of mainstream political parties were reported as believing that a ‘systematic campaign’ was under way to malign politicians in general and elected representatives in particular, to highlight their not playing a sufficiently visible or effective role in flood relief activities. A report in this newspaper (Aug 20) quoted government and opposition party parliamentarians as saying that they felt that “some hidden forces” were behind a campaign to malign politicians “by highlighting in the media only the work of some organisations” in order to present the impression that the political leadership had failed. However, said the report, none of the politicians could come up with the courage to identify these “hidden forces”. Now, this accusation may well be true. Certainly, the country’s military-intelligence establishment has, depending on the whims of the man in charge, stoked the fires against civilian politicians and in some cases is believed to have conjured up allegations. And then, there is the fact that what goes down in history as being self-evidently true depends usually on who is doing the telling, and who is manipulating the strings. In Pakistan, the puppeteers who have had the longest runs individually and collectively have been military dictators. The views of usurpers such as Gen Zia or Gen Musharraf with reference to civilian politicians are well-known. Such men have played the tunes, and it is their legacy that rules the so-called ‘establishment’ that none of the political leaders dared name in Dawn’s report. Far from being inconceivable, it would in fact be surprising if there did/does not exist a propaganda machine that consistently ran/runs campaigns to defame and discredit civilian political leaders. Governance in Pakistan has, going by the sheer number of years, been the realm of people who have been proud to despise civilian politicians as a class. That said, however, this defensive response to the political parties’ lack of show of strength during the floods is really laying it on a bit thick. Here we have a situation where Pakistan is punch-drunk as a result of a natural catastrophe. Yet a national flood commission has hardly materialised in any tangible shape or form. Until the weekend, the Punjab government had not identified the development projects that could be delayed for generating funds for the flood-affected districts. The National Disaster Management Authority has not been galvanised into action. While well-meaning, official rescue and rehabilitation measures have been insufficiently coordinated and in many cases bear the hallmark of a system grinding into gear because of its own weight, not because of any external prompting. In fact, in addition to being perceived as sitting on their hands while the country drowns, major political parties and their members are now embroiled in accusations of having diverted floodwaters through breaches in order to protect certain land holdings and districts. To be sure, the presence of politicians at relief camps and televised shots of them handing out cheques would do very little for the relief effort in actual terms. However, in this world of instant, beamed-live-into-your-drawing-room media, arguably more necessary than doing the right thing is to be seen to be doing the right thing. And what the country sees at this point are gaunt and thirsty faces, hungry children, old men trying, in their desperation, to climb onto a still-hovering relief helicopter’s skids. What the citizenry that still has a television set sees is acres upon acres of water, tips of submerged crops, carcasses of livestock. And it asks, what are the politicians doing? The politicians and parties under discussion are in many cases part of the central and provincial governments. That means they are in charge. Even in opposition, they are the ones who have access to the relevant levers. They could be using their knowledge of their constituencies, knowledge which when party members are included goes right down to union council level, and the parties’ influence, to prompt a difference where it matters. The people affected are after all in most cases their constituents. Pakistan’s politicians are losing credibility, in truth partly because of the media. The floods could be the straw that broke the camel’s back. They had better wise up. The old strategies of politicking, the traditional fail-safes and the convenient fallbacks, are no longer relevant. Since the last time this country elected a civilian government, the ground realities have changed almost beyond measure. And while it must be ceded that the current crises, on multiple levels as they are, are in a large part due to the errors of omission and commission by the Musharraf government (and others military and democratic that went before), the inescapable fact is that the current administration has held the reins for nearly half a term now. Yes, we have the 18th Amendment, the Balochistan package, Gilgit-Baltistan and a host of other positive achievements. But the political leadership is losing the battle to be projected in a positive light. Political actors need to realise that in losing the media war, they are lending fuel to the very ‘hidden hands’ that have already caused them so much grief. [COLOR="#0000ff"]hajrahmumtaz@gmail.com[/COLOR] [CENTER]----------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Pakistan’s main threat [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][I][B][B][B][B][B] By Najmuddin A. Shaikh Monday, 23 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/SIZE][/COLOR] AS Pakistan tries to cope with its worst natural disaster, there are fears in Pakistan and outside that the administration’s perceived failings in coping with the calamity will trigger a fresh wave of sympathy for militant groups that have wreaked havoc in the country. This need not be because of the assistance that some of these groups under various names are providing to the flood victims, So far there is little evidence to suggest that the assistance they are providing forms a substantial part of the overall aid effort. However, the overall aid effort falls far short of the requirement and they can make the case that were they in charge or were the system they advocated in place they would have done much better than the government. They will also argue that this is God’s wrath descending upon a nation that has chosen an inept government and tolerated a venal and incompetent administration. In what is perhaps a unique example of concern the New York Times on Aug 17 published two editorials on Pakistan. The first demands that the US as “the richest donor with the greatest strategic interest in Pakistan, could do a lot more right now”. It warns that “in some areas, radical Islamic charities have provided shelter and hot meals well before the beleaguered authorities could bring in supplies. This is a battle for hearts and minds. It is one that Pakistan’s government, and the United States, must not lose”. The second editorial argues that Congress must adopt legislation that allows free access for Pakistani textiles of all varieties to the American market and not only those produced in the border areas and in which Pakistan has less competitive advantage. I have no doubt that these editorials reflect the thinking in the broader foreign policy community in the US and it is this thinking that has prompted the increase of American aid to $150m, the convening of the special UN session for securing greater international assistance and the announcements from the World Bank ($1bn reassigned for flood relief) and the Asian Development Bank ($2bn in low-cost loans). This, however, has not translated into the level of popular support for assistance that is essential not only for the individual contributions that could have been expected but for sustaining at high levels governmental support. According to figures on the Foreign Policy website “after the Haiti earthquake, about 3.1 million Americans using mobile phones donated $10 each to the Red Cross, raising about $31m. A similar campaign to raise contributions for Pakistan produced only about $10,000. The amount of funding donated per person affected by the 2004 tsunami was $1249.80, and for the 2010 Haiti earthquake $1087.33. Even for the Pakistan earthquake of 2005, funding per affected person was $388.33. Thus far, for those affected by the 2010 floods, it is $16.36 per person.” What accounts for this seeming indifference to the plight of millions of hapless Pakistanis? To my mind a comment on an article published again on the Foreign Policy website (which advocated greater assistance for Pakistan) best sums up the reaction in the western world. It said, “We’ve given them piles upon piles of cash aid, had creditors walk away from their loans. In return, they continue to sponsor our enemies on their side of the border. Their population hate us ‘despite’ all the riches that have been poured there. The oldest trick in the book is to use donations and aid to sponsor ‘freedom fighters’.” These remarks clearly show that there is no appreciation for the losses that Pakistan itself has suffered in the military battle against terrorism or the toll on lives and property extracted by suicide and other terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s cities. What is equally clear, however, is that no matter how much Pakistan seeks to publicise its own travails the impression will continue to prevail that Pakistan’s battle against terrorism is selective and that it continues to support or turn a blind eye towards the activities of Pakistan-based groups that are fighting Nato forces in Afghanistan. It is in this context that particular significance is being attached to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which said that in a recent threat assessment the ISI “allocates a two-thirds likelihood of a major threat to the state coming from militants rather than from India or elsewhere”. The article claims that this is the first time that the ISI has downgraded the threat from India but this is not true. For many years President Musharraf maintained that the principal threat to Pakistan was internal but the actions of his administration including the alleged rigging of the 2002 elections to give the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal power in the then NWFP and Balochistan and much else exposed a great gap between declaratory and operational policy. The WSJ does not say when this review was carried out nor does it indicate how it laid its hands on the report. It would be safe to conjecture that the report was written before the present calamity and that it has been deliberately leaked to the WSJ. It is, however, noteworthy that Foreign Minister Qureshi in an ABC interview endorsed this threat assessment suggesting that the government accepts it and hopefully that it will frame policies accordingly. Does this mean that the ISI has also decided that there can be no distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ organisations and all extremists are part of the threat to Pakistan? One can only hope that it does and in that case the government will need to have a fresh look at its Afghan policy and address meaningfully President Hamid Karzai’s allegation reiterated in conversations with Senator John Kerry in Kabul about sanctuaries that the Taliban enjoy outside Afghanistan. Given the preoccupation with the flood situation not much can be done immediately but a direction can be set. This will be discerned and reported helping to change the principal element in the ‘image’ problem that is inhibiting the flow of assistance. Even more importantly it will take us off the dangerous path that could lead to the Talibanisation of Pakistan despite the revulsion with which such a prospect is viewed by the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis. [CENTER]---------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B] Kalabagh controversy [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][I][B][B][B][B][B]Monday, 23 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/COLOR] ALMOST inevitably, in the wake of the floods, certain voices in favour of the construction of the Kalabagh dam are being raised once again. On a visit to Multan, Prime Minister Gilani suggested that the dam could have saved parts of the country from extensive flooding — a claim quickly disputed by experts who distinguished the ‘run-of-the-river’ Kalabagh dam design from a ‘flood-control’ dam. Then, in the spirit of the increasingly litigious land Pakistan is becoming, a constitutional petition was filed in the Supreme Court, urging the latter to order the construction of the dam immediately. (The petition will almost certainly be thrown out, the question of whether to build a dam or not seemingly being outside the pale of justiciability.) Several points can be made here. One, setting aside the merits or demerits of the Kalabagh dam for a moment, the fact of the matter is that it has become an extremely politically sensitive issue. Raising the matter at this time, when the federation is struggling to cope with the relief phase of the catastrophe caused by the floods, is just bad form, unnecessarily creating tension between Punjab and the provinces of Sindh and Khyber Pakhthunkhwa. Politicians and policymakers who support the dam will live to fight that fight another day — presently, the most urgent task is to save the lives of the people stuck without food, water or shelter in parts of the country. Two, the technical questions about whether the Kalabagh dam could have even reduced the flooding, the cost-benefit analysis of constructing the dam and whether Pakistan’s water woes can be handled more cheaply and more efficiently through other means need to be addressed. Here, there is one great problem: even if an independent commission is created to give an opinion on such matters, the provinces will never quite accept its opinions in good faith. For several years, there was a sense that were the 1991 water accord to be implemented in letter and spirit, a more conducive environment could be created in which the Kalabagh dam issue could be debated. But there are increasing question marks over whether the 1991 accord is itself adequate any more, given the rapidly changing water-availability figures and water-flow patterns. Only this much is clear: Pakistan is a terribly inefficient user of water. From problems with water seepage through unlined canals to the use of outdated equipment in water management to the lack of awareness of the benefits of drip irrigation, a handful of measures if implemented with honesty and sincerity can render the debate over big dams moot for many years to come. [CENTER]-------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Gender disparities [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][I][B][B][B][B][B]Monday, 23 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/SIZE][/COLOR] AMONGST the country’s grimmest realities is deeply entrenched gender discrimination. Nothing, it seems, can alter the widespread belief, prompted by a patriarchal set-up, that men are better than women, and their lives worth more. In more advanced countries the term translates to discrimination at workplaces or in professional development opportunities. In Pakistan and other countries including India and Bangladesh, the lack of equal opportunity — indeed, the lack of societal recognition of men and women as equals — is often the difference between life lived in dignity and in abject misery. The crimes reported with distressing regularity where women are victimised on the basis of gender, such as female infanticide or abandonment, or girls used for dispute settlement, are evidence of this mindset. So is the fact that in households rich and poor, sons are often given precedence in terms of resources such as educational opportunity and even food. That the discrimination starts right from birth was brought into stark focus in Faisalabad last week, when a boy and a girl were born at the same time to two women. Both families laid claim to the male child; neither wanted guardianship of the female. Although the hospital checked its records and sorted out the confusion, the two families continued to insist that their newborn was the boy. The argument escalated until the matter was referred to the facility’s medical superintendent, who directed the taking of blood samples for a DNA test. It is not difficult to imagine what the life of this girl will be like, if her family continues to believe that she was given to them in error. Yet that, unfortunately, is not too far-fetched a scenario. While parents may in theory love their children equally, the fact is that the dominant mindset, which greatly favours men over women, exercises a malignant influence. It is this entrenched gender preference that must be addressed if women are ever to enjoy their right to dignity. Pakistan has in recent years formulated legislation that specifically protects women; yet without a change in the societal mindset, the effectiveness of such measures will remain diluted. [CENTER]-------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][B]Balochistan ignored [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][I][B][B][B][B][B]By Sanaullah Baloch Monday, 23 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE Indus River has unleashed its own ‘terror’ in areas that were normally considered safe from the destruction wrought by humans because of the remoteness of locations. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, southern Punjab, central Sindh and the eastern districts of Balochistan are facing a humanitarian crisis of vast proportions. Since Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the front-line province in the war against terror and has a competent provincial leadership, it is likely to get fair levels of response. Punjab, similarly, is well-represented in influential institutions and is a well-off province. It, too, may prove to have the institutional capacity required to deal with the situation. Sindh, meanwhile, has a sizeable share in the federal capital, where the majority of the top political positions are occupied by the PPP. Balochistan, however, is seriously lacking in capacity, leadership and resources. The United Nations’ agency for human settlements, UN Habitat, says in an Aug 5 report Rapid assessment of flood affected areas in Balochistan that: “The Balochistan government has fewer resources as compared to the other provinces. The capacity of the people of Balochistan to cope with such a calamity is low as compared to other provinces, keeping in view that it is the most deprived province of Pakistan. It is evident that owing to the scale of disaster a major humanitarian response is required to assist the people….” Despite these grave realities, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has banned international donor agencies, aid organisations and NGOs from directly assisting the flood-affected people of the province. Meanwhile, the ministries of foreign affairs and the interior, and the provincial home departments, have issued a list of ‘open’ and ‘prohibited’ areas for foreign nationals in Pakistan. The decision requires regular security clearance for international staff travelling to all the prohibited areas, which include all seven Fata agencies and several flood-affected districts of Balochistan. Furthermore, Islamabad has imposed a ‘project no-objection certificate’ issuance condition for any organisation operating in the flood-affected areas in Balochistan, even though this could be temporarily suspended as it has been in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, by the provincial disaster management authority. Since the effects of these decisions have not been applied to other regions, they could be considered to be discriminatory vis-à-vis the flood-affected population of Balochistan. The NDMA has no legal, constitutional or moral jurisdiction to justify its discriminatory approach. And, it must be remembered, this is a province that has already been in the midst of crises since 2005, when the ongoing spell of economic meltdown, displacement, killings and disappearances started. In disallowing international aid organisations access to Balochistan and in discouraging local NGOs from taking part in relief operations in the flood-affected areas, the NDMA is echoing Islamabad’s authoritarian approach. This approach is inconsistent with the principles of human rights and humanitarianism. Responsibility for the lack of access to relief and the consequential deterioration in the affected populations’ condition must lie with the government. The NDMA decision was formally conveyed to Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani during a meeting held to consult provincial officials about a proposal to hold an international donor conference in Balochistan. The director-general of the provincial disaster authority informed the meeting that the ban had slowed down the pace of relief operations. Earlier too, the Baloch people were left at the mercy of natural disasters. In July 2007, the then prime minister Shaukat Aziz announced that “Pakistan will not take foreign aid from any country to overcome the losses and devastation caused by Cyclone Yemyin in Balochistan”. The Musharraf regime ignored the situation and hampered access to national and foreign donors. Meanwhile, flash floods destroyed infrastructure to the tune of Rs1tr, affected over 6,500 villages and levelled 80,000 houses. An estimated 1.5 million people were affected by the floods, 250,000 of whom were rendered homeless. In the early phase of the 2007 cyclone, the central government dropped a few relief packages but later refused all international aid and assistance. The people of western Balochistan who were affected by those floods still live in self-constructed shelters in and around Turbat city. More recently, the widespread torrential rains and cyclonic winds of Phet lashed the Makran coast and parts of central Makran in June. The central government underreported the damage and ignored the situation. Balochistan is a high-risk zone for disasters that include drought, earthquakes and tsunamis. It still bears the scars of Cyclone Yemyin, while the severe drought between 1999 and 2003 ravaged the provincial economy. After that the state created a manmade disaster — a military ‘solution’ to the Baloch problem — which resulted in killings, disappearances and an economic blockade. The current floods will have a continuing and devastating impact on the socio-economic conditions of the people of the province, aggravating poverty and issues of inequality amongst the provinces. The current situation in the eastern parts of Balochistan is appalling, with hundreds of thousands of people unable to reconstruct their mud homes. They need attention, assistance and opportunities to resume their normal economic activities. The central government must take immediate steps to seek international humanitarian assistance, which is becoming readily available, to develop a recovery and reconstruction plan. The immediate priorities are shelter, food, clean drinking water and sanitation, which need to be provided to all flood victims regardless of geography. The NDMA needs to withdraw its decision regarding the ban on international and national relief operations. All international aid and assistance must be equally distributed among the needy families in all four federating units. The writer is a former senator. [COLOR="#0000ff"][I][B][B][B][B][B]balochbnp@gmail.com[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/COLOR] [CENTER][COLOR="SeaGreen"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] *******************[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] |
Dawn Editorial
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][CENTER]Flood-zoning policy
[/CENTER][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] Dawn Editorial [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Monday, 23 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B]Some politicians and officials have attributed the flood disaster to unregulated construction and development on river banks. As reported by Dawn, these politicians and officials — including the federal agriculture minister and the Federal Flood Commission chairman — say that widespread settlement build-up and construction along the river banks and even on dried-up riverbeds across the country had blocked the natural course of the rivers. [/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] This explanation for the floods is corroborated by the UN’s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Its director says that the scale of the disaster would have been less had there been no human settlements on the river banks. The focus must be on what needs to be done to prevent future flooding calamities: governments and communities should address the vulnerability of human settlements and prevent construction on riverbeds and banks, especially in the rehabilitation process for the flood-affected people. If the 2005 earthquake was a lesson for us to minimise human casualties through building codes and seismic zoning, the current floods should highlight the necessity for flood-plain zoning and codes. Flood-plain regulations comprise a major tool in flood-management policies in many countries. Yet we, a flood-prone nation, lack a zoning policy that defines areas within the flood plains that are suitable for human settlement, agriculture production, etc. Such a zoning policy for major rivers was supposed to have been developed and appropriate legislation introduced to implement the policy under our Second Flood Protection Sector Project (2000-2007). But the policy was not formulated because of social and political concerns. It is easier to implement a flood-zoning policy now that we are starting with a clean slate on the flood plains. Without such flood regulations, the best forecasting and warning systems and the strongest flood-proofing barriers and dykes would be of little use in protecting the life and property of millions. [CENTER]----------------------------------------------[/CENTER] |
Dawn Editorial
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]State of relief camps [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][SIZE="2"]Dawn Editorial Tuesday, 24 Aug, 2010[/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"]The sheer magnitude of the disaster makes providing relief to flood victims a monumental task. The challenges confronting the state are considerable and have overwhelmed Pakistan’s already fragile infrastructure. Yet just worrying about the problems will not ease the sufferings: the issues have to be identified and effective solutions need to be found and implemented.[/SIZE][/COLOR] Take the example of conditions at relief camps across the country. The major challenge is the provision of food, shelter and medical care. But as reports have made clear, even the provision of these basic needs is proving to be an uphill task for the government. For one thing, the small number of government employees manning the ever-swelling flood relief camps is causing bottlenecks in their smooth functioning. For example at one Karachi camp, 2,000 internally displaced persons are being managed by a staff of four. The camps are overcrowded and while people have food and medicines, clothes and proper bedding at several places are unavailable. People are also reportedly taking more food than required, adding to shortages for others. There are reports of substandard food being served at some camps in Sindh while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tents are unavailable in certain areas. Malakand is said to be in particularly bad shape. In southern Punjab observers say the looting of relief trucks is resulting in supplies not reaching the neediest segments. The situation — difficult as it is — requires proper planning and sensitivity in equal measure. The government should increase the manpower assigned to each camp. We must also realise that most of the flood-affected people have lost everything; hence they are suffering from considerable mental trauma. Victims thus need to be dealt with compassionately, while efforts need to be made to educate them about personal hygiene and the unfairness of taking more food or supplies than needed. [CENTER] ----------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"]MQM chief’s remarks [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][SIZE="2"]Dawn Editorial Tuesday, 24 Aug, 201[/SIZE][/COLOR] Viewed from any angle, the comments made on Sunday by MQM chief Altaf Hussain are deeply disturbing. Usually, the MQM never tires of pointing out its secular, democratic credentials at every turn, positioning itself as the last line of defence against religious extremists and at the vanguard of the fight against a landed aristocracy that exercises outsized influence over the national political set-up. However, reconciling the party’s avowed positions with Mr Hussain’s latest comments is well nigh impossible. It is a sad reality here that military interventions have never taken place in a vacuum, with sections of the political spectrum invariably playing the role of cheerleaders and enablers. There appears to be some need to revisit the basics here. Of the 63 years of Pakistan’s existence, less than half have been spent under democratically elected leaderships. So it would only be fair to assume that for all the problems that afflict the country, the Pakistan Army deserves to shoulder a sizeable portion of the blame. The track record of military dictators confirms this: each of the last three generals who have run Pakistan has exited with the country in dire straits. Gen Yahya Khan of course presided over the break-up of Pakistan; Gen Zia left the country awash in guns, drugs and a toxic ideology; and Gen Musharraf exited with the country on the verge of economic collapse and racked by internal violence. In the past, just as Mr Hussain urged on Sunday, generals have indeed taken over with the declared goal of cleansing the body politic of ‘corrupt politicians’. But each time the generals have eventually found themselves political bedfellows with many of the very same politicians they initially condemned. If the army has a magic wand to clean up Pakistan’s politics, it has yet to show it to the people of Pakistan. A decade ago, Gen Musharraf promised many of the same things generals invariably promise, but delivered on none. The MQM would know this better than most because it had a seat at the table of power under Gen Musharraf. Dismaying as the comments made on Sunday may have been, it is reassuring that at least the initial reaction from across the political spectrum has been to express faith in the democratic process. Poor governance, endemic corruption and a withering state all undoubtedly exist here — but the only cure for such deep-rooted malaise is time and patience. Unhappily, in the past, every option but the obvious has been tried here: the repeated and peaceful transfer of power from one government to the next. Perhaps politicians need to recommit themselves to preventing history from repeating itself. [CENTER]--------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"]Iran’s military show [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][SIZE="2"][U]Tuesday, 24 Aug, 2010[/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE unveiling of an indigenously built drone by Iran on Sunday comes a day after the country began unloading fuel into the first nuclear power plant built by Russia. Other recent additions to Iran’s arsenal have included four mini-submarines and the test firing of Qiam, a surface-to-surface missile Also on line are the expected test firing of the third generation of Fateh missiles and the beginning of the production of missile-carrying boats. While Iran has been mobilising its defence production potential for quite some time, it seems now to have accelerated arms production covering land, air and sea defences. While Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi gave technical details about the drone, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s words at the unveiling of the drone were unusually strong. He warned that the enemy’s arms would be cut off before he acted or the aggressor would be destroyed before he hit targets in Iran. The reason behind Iran’s emphasis on military preparedness must be understood. While it is true that these weapons will be no match for Israeli and western arms when it comes to the crunch, Tehran cannot but react to the kind of war threats that regularly emanate from Israel and America. Shortly before the unloading of the Bushehr nuclear reactor by Russia, voices in the West claimed that Israel had only three days in which to bomb Iran. This was a false alarm, for the fuel was being loaded for a power plant, as confirmed subsequently by the State Department, and had no relevance to Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons. Recently, Adm Mike Mullen, chairman of America’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had plans on his table for an attack on Iran, but that he was aware of the “consequences”. The talks between Tehran and P5+1 have been in limbo since October last. This is dangerous. The fresh sanctions imposed since then by the UN, US and the EU have not served to cow Iran. Both sides keep repeating that they are willing to have talks. Then why not translate the offers into action instead of threats and arms displays? |
Editorial: DAWN
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B][B][U]Wheat boost[/U][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Wednesday, 25 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] REPORTS suggesting that the wheat crop this winter may get a boost following the floods will come as a relief to many. Amidst the widespread devastation in the rural sector, a higher wheat yield may be just a silver lining, but right now the country must grab whatever lucky breaks come its way. The topography of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and especially the bread basket of central Punjab will cause floodwaters to rapidly recede and the freshly silted farmland to dry up quickly thereafter, meaning that a potential windfall will await farmers when they return to their lands to prepare for the next season. (Early reports suggest farmers could get two and half times more wheat from the same land as they did last year.) Central Punjab also benefits from a late winter-sowing season, with wheat in many districts sown in mid-October and sometimes even until early November. The later the sowing season the greater the chance for the farmland to dry out. It is unfortunate, however, that many parts of Sindh may not be able to look forward to a similar boost in wheat production come harvesting season next year. Given the gentle, sometimes almost non-existent gradient of the Indus in many parts of Sindh, the floodwaters will drain away towards the sea very slowly — Sindh government officials fear that in some areas the floodwaters may remain until well into 2011. Add a high water table in many farming areas in the province, and water-logging is likely to be the result — denting rather than boosting the potential for growing wheat. However, overall the wheat crop should exceed last year’s output, putting Pakistan in a position of supplying the local market with local grain. This will be doubly beneficial in a year when the current account deficit is expected to come under renewed pressure because of sagging exports and remittances. Every dollar saved in imports will be vital to the state of the economy over the next year or so. [CENTER]------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]International aid[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B]Wednesday, 25 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] GIVEN the global community’s initially slow response to Pakistan’s need for flood relief, it is heartening to see that the pace of aid has now picked up. The earlier sluggishness was in part due to the gradually unfolding nature of the catastrophe and a poor understanding of its implications. There is no doubt, though, that the country’s situation is dire. The world now appears to have recognised this. The turning point came with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s visit. He described the disaster as the worst he had ever seen. His appeal to the international community and the extensive coverage of the floods by the international media appear to have had their effect. Countries such as the UK and the US have increased their official promises, others have pledged funds, manpower and relief goods. Citizens around the world are now making generous donations. The British public alone, for example, has given an estimated £29m to various charities for flood relief activities, even as the UK government doubled its emergency aid to over £64m. Concerns have been raised that some of the charity organisations, here and abroad, that are involved in raising funds for flood relief may have links with extremist religious groups. As such, it is important that people, when donating, are careful in their choice of organisation. Yet these suspicions must not impede the world’s generosity, for in Pakistan new areas continue to be flooded and survivors are threatened by hunger and water-borne diseases. It will take years for the millions of flood victims and the country’s ravaged infrastructure to recover and Pakistan cannot manage without international help. We hope that the planned donors’ conference achieves success and that the government does everything possible to give donors the confidence that the money will be spent where it is most needed. [CENTER] ------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B]Resurgent Taliban?[/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B]Wednesday, 25 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE battle lines have been drawn and are firmly in place. Monday’s bomb blast in South Waziristan was a grim reminder that militants in the tribal belt can no longer tolerate even the slightest divergence from their rigid views. Groups affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan have been battling the state for many years now and, despite setbacks in Malakand and some tribal areas, are still flourishing in vast pockets of the country’s north-west. But the fight against Pakistan’s security apparatus is altogether different from the relatively new phenomenon of targeting people who may be largely — but, crucially, not entirely — sympathetic to the Taliban cause. Take Monday’s suicide attack in Wana. During Ramazan, inside a mosque no less, a teenaged boy blew himself up as he approached the seminary leader, ostensibly to shake his hand. At least 25 people were killed but the primary target appears to have been Maulana Noor Mohammad, a former MNA who was elected on a JUI-F ticket. Consider the significance of this assassination. The JUI-F is said to be close to the Taliban command and Maulana Noor Mohammad had in the past personally brokered ‘peace deals’ between militants and the state. The maulana was obviously not a man who was opposed outright to the Taliban frame of mind. So what was his ‘crime’? At this stage it appears that he was killed simply because he looked askance at the presence of Uzbek militias. The message from the militants, like the warning issued by George Bush in 2001, is clear: you are either with us or against us. Not a note of dissent is acceptable to the insurgents and there is no room for ‘moderates’. Tribal militias that openly oppose the Taliban are more obvious targets. Also on Monday, the TTP claimed responsibility for a bomb blast near Darra Adamkhel that killed at least three members of the Adezai Qaumi Lashkar including its commander, the nephew of a former AQL chief who perished in a suicide attack last year. A Taliban spokesman also warned that every single member of the lashkar will eventually be killed. The intent, evidently, is to weaken the resolve of tribal lashkars and erode their leaders’ faith in the ability of the state to provide back-up support. Echoing the sentiments of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, the Adezai Qaumi Lashkar believes that militants are now regrouping in parts of the tribal belt and it is generally feared they could take advantage of the nation’s preoccupation with the havoc wreaked by record floods. The Taliban may have suffered significant losses but they are still operating in a systematic manner, eliminating dissenters and battling enemies. On no account can the state afford to let its guard down. [CENTER]---------------------------[/CENTER] |
Editorial: Dawn
[COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B]LG polls postponed[/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"] Dawn Editorial Thursday, 26 Aug, 2010 [/SIZE][/COLOR] Local government polls in Sindh have been postponed yet again. On Monday the Sindh governor promulgated an ordinance which effectively put off the polls for the fifth time this year. While the devastation caused by the floods has been cited for the delay, and rightly so, the postponement is for an indefinite period. A Governor House spokesman has said the polls would be held when “the situation returns to normality”. When this will be is anybody’s guess. No doubt, the destruction caused by the floods is unprecedented. But there seems more to the delay than meets the eye. No election can take place in Sindh until there is a new local government law, which is precisely what the PPP and MQM can’t reach an agreement on. This political deadlock has translated into bureaucrats running the show, as elected local officials have been absent for the last six months when the local bodies were dissolved. The PPP wants to go back to the 1979 LG formula, while the MQM favours the law introduced in 2001. The political wrangling is proving to be counter-productive for Sindh. The absence of elected local governments has been sorely felt in the present situation. If elected officials had been in place there are good chances people’s sufferings could have been mitigated. Elected officials would have worked overtime to save their villages and towns as they have to face the voters come election time. In the present scenario we have seen ministers swooping in for flying visits, stopping for photo opportunities and then leaving the disaster areas. They are not as dependent on the local population for votes as local bodies’ officials are. The delay in polls may be understandable. But the politicians need to iron out their differences, reach a compromise and pave the way for polls to be conducted at the first opportunity. [CENTER]---------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B][B]The fight for land[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"] Dawn Editorial Thursday, 26 Aug, 2010[/SIZE][/COLOR] Land-grabbing, the euphemism for the illegal and often forcible takeover of private and public land across the country, is a growing problem, one that the authorities are often turning a blind eye to. Sometimes, there is a veneer of legality applied, as in the case of ‘housing schemes’ and ‘projects’ in Murree and swaths of CDA property in Islamabad. The floods have given rise to concerns that local influentials and corrupt officials will force small farmers out of their land when they return to villages which have been washed away and farmland covered in silt. Yet, perhaps nowhere is the problem greater than in Karachi, where criminal elements and state officials have colluded in jeopardising the future of the city. A report in this newspaper yesterday suggests that in Gadap and Bin Qasim towns on the outskirts of Karachi, land-grabbers are active under the guise of IDPs. In truth, however, the problem is much larger than that. According to a well-respected NGO, since 2006 nearly 30,000 acres of land have been carved up in the towns of Bin Qasim, Gadap and Keamari. The towns form an arc around the city of Karachi and much of the land there was under the control of generations-old villages that had leased the land for agricultural purposes. In recent years, the land has become commercially more attractive following the construction of an extensive road network on the outskirts of Karachi (the northern bypass being a major example). So, inevitably, the three towns, where a majority of the 1,800 goths in the city are located, have attracted the eye of officials with eviction powers and land mafias with deep pockets. Everyone is believed to be involved in the racket: the police; political parties, big and small; land mafias headed by colourful characters that few Karachiites have heard about. In fact, so deep is the collusion that it would not be a surprise if the police were removing ‘fake IDP’ encroachers in support of rival groups. The great tragedy in all of this is that the future of the city of Karachi has already been auctioned off: 30,000 acres is enough space to house nine million people. While ‘land mafias’ in far-flung areas get a bad name, their cousins, the ones operating in the city proper, are no less insidious. The Mai Kolachi area and parts of Defence in Karachi are also under the control of mafias, only these are often overlooked because they belong to the gentry. The effect, though, is the same: the hope for urban planning of any kind is receding further and further. [CENTER]--------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B]Carnage in Mogadishu[/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B] Dawn Editorial Thursday, 26 Aug, 2010 [/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] TUESDAY’S carnage in a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu highlights once again the criminal mindset of those claiming to fight for the enforcement of Sharia in a country that, for all practical purposes, hardly exists. Somalia has had no functional government for the last 19 years, but it has had plenty of anarchy. Observers estimate that hundreds of thousands have died in devastating conditions during this period. The attack on the hotel was carried out by the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab, whose militants, disguised as government soldiers, fired at random, killing more than 30 people, including six MPs, before blowing themselves up. Al Shabab also has foreign supporters, and these are believed to include Pakistanis, some of whom were killed last week while making bombs. It appears that Al Shabab is now hell-bent on enforcing the Sharia on a practically non-existent Somalia in its own image. It has banned TV, music, dancing at weddings and soccer and is said to have been behind the bombing of two venues in Kampala, Uganda, where people were watching the World Cup final. That the hotel attacked on Tuesday was a stone’s throw from the presidential palace shows how vulnerable the African Unity-backed government of President Sheikh Ahmad Sharif is. Unfortunately, the world seems to have acquiesced in Somalia’s misery, for there is greater interest in piracy in the Gulf of Aden than in the fate of the country. There are no worthwhile peace moves, while Al Shabab gains strength. Its attacks in Uganda in July demonstrated its reach, and it is now eyeing Puntland and Somaliland, the two breakaway regions, which had so far been relatively peaceful. A group of clerics recently talked of making moves to end the violence, but Al Shabab, like hard-line Islamists elsewhere, scoffs at ‘moderates’, and it is highly unlikely that they will succeed. In the meantime, a warlord, Mohammad Said Atom, has vowed to provide bases to Al Shabab in the mountains straddling Puntland and Somaliland. This will only add to the militants’ strength, the ultimate losers being the poverty-stricken people of Somalia. |
Editorial: Dawn
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]No time for frivolity[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Friday, 27 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] ALTHOUGH the worst floods in Pakistan’s history are ravaging the country, our parliamentarians’ behaviour does not appear to be in sync with the nation’s sentiments. With millions without food and shelter, the people’s representatives should be rising to the challenge instead of indulging in the kind of confrontation now developing in the National Assembly. On Wednesday, in response to the PML-N’s privilege motion on the MQM chief’s ‘appeal’ to the generals, Altaf Hussain’s men came up with three such motions seeking a parliamentary debate on the Sharifs’ exile and pardon, some PML-N leaders’ contact with the army chief and the Sialkot lynching. On Mr Hussain’s statement we had averred in our editorial of Aug 24 that “the initial reaction from across the political spectrum has been to express faith in the democratic process”. There were hardly any voices supporting the MQM chief’s extraordinary plea, and the matter should have rested there. For the PML-N to move a privilege motion and call for a parliamentary debate on what ultimately turned out to be a damp squib borders on the grotesque. Of the three ‘counter’ moves by the MQM, the first relates to events that belong to history. The pardon granted to the Sharifs and their exile are part of a series of bizarre, extra-constitutional nostrums which dot Pakistan’s political and constitutional landscape. These acts of political deception and malevolent intriguing range from Ghulam Mohammad’s sacking of the Nazimuddin ministry and the dissolution of the constituent assembly in the 1950s to the National Reconciliation Ordinance issued by Pervez Musharraf a few years ago, not to mention the abrogation of two constitutions, the mauling of the basic law by military dictators and the hanging of an elected prime minister. History will judge, or perhaps has already judged, some of the principal actors of this sordid drama. The Sharifs’ pardon and exile fall in this cate-gory, and a parliamentary debate will serve no purpose, save that of injecting further bitterness into a political climate already vitiated by rancour and animus. In the second of the privilege motions, the MQM stands on weak ground. Having itself appealed to the generals to create a ‘martial law-like’ situation to cleanse the body politic of corruption, the party cannot possibly object to the PML-N leaders’ meeting with the army chief — questionable as its motives were. The privilege motion relating to the Sialkot incident alone is relevant, not because it occurred in the PML-N-ruled province but because what occurred is a commentary on our society and on the quality of our police throughout the country. [CENTER]----------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]Balochistan’s woes[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Friday, 27 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] WORDS alone will not suffice. Four years after Nawab Akbar Bugti’s killing at the hands of the military, Balochistan remains in turmoil and its people cannot shake off the sense of alienation that has beset the province almost from day one. Promises have been made for the uplift of Balochistan and then reneged upon with alarming regularity. The current government at the centre set a good example in February 2008 when it issued a public apology for “the atrocities and injustices committed” against the people of Balochistan. So far so good. But where’s the follow-up, the implementation of practical measures that could improve ground realities in the country’s most resource-rich and yet poorest province? That is an irony that no Pakistani with even a semblance of a conscience can ignore. Balochistan ought to be the country’s most prosperous province but to this day remains in grinding poverty and a state of backwardness that sets it apart from the other federating units. Grievous mistakes have been committed in Balochistan and we cannot risk alienating the province any further. Take the Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan package which was presented by Senator Raza Rabbani in November last year. The ‘package’ promised much but its implementation is reportedly being hampered by bureaucratic red tape, so much so that Mr Rabbani is said to have personally voiced his grievances on this count to the prime minister. Even in the flood relief operations, Balochistan has largely been left to fend for itself. The activities of militant nationalist organisations that kill innocent residents of Balochistan deserve to be condemned but it should also be noted that the centre’s apathy is contributing to the disconnect between the province and the rest of the country. When people see real progress, support for insurgents may decline in due course. Miracles cannot be expected overnight for this is a wound that has been festering for decades. What is needed, first and foremost, is honesty of purpose. The centre must demonstrate that its words are supported by tangible action on the ground that makes the Baloch proud to be Pakistani. [CENTER]-----------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="DarkOrange"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]Wrong camp?[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="2"][U][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][B][B][B][B][B]Friday, 27 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] WHEN it takes the form of a torrent, water blurs all divides. This is what the floods have done in Pakistan. The deluge has brought to the fore a mos-aic of organisations working for the rescue and rehabilitation of the flood affected. Among them is Jamaatud Dawa which has drawn international condemnation for its alleged role in terrorism. Reports from the flooded districts indicate that the group is very active in providing relief. The US, which had led calls for a ban on Jamaatud Dawa for its alleged involvement in the 2008 attack in Mumbai, is now said to have firsthand information of the group’s efforts in the flood relief camps. In Sukkur on Wednesday, US Agency for International Development administrator Rajiv Shah was taken to a camp which witnesses said worked under the banner of Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation, the group’s offshoot. The US embassy has denied the report, clarifying that the camp Mr Shah visited was run by the government. If irony is something that is still craved, the Sukkur image may be of use to those looking to laugh at someone else’s expense. Others would say they needed hardly any more evidence to know how involved Jamaatud Dawa is in the affairs of this country. The flood relief effort only provides Jamaatud Dawa leaders with an opportunity to hasten the organisation’s rehabilitation in Pakistani politics. The group was not among the ones banned by Gen Musharraf, but its presence does create a problem for the government as some fear that the floods may leave the land more fertile for the next crop of extremism and the militant organisations working in the affected areas could take advantage of this situation. However, as past experience demonstrates, there is no real evidence of relief work by extremist organisations — or the Americans for that matter — translating into greater support for them. |
Editorial: Dawn
[SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]Violence in Gilgit[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Saturday, 28 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] Normal life in Gilgit has remained severely disturbed for the past few days due to an upsurge in Shia-Sunni violence. Rival groups traded heavy fire on Wednesday while some houses in the town were also torched. The arson and exchange of fire was reportedly sparked by a series of earlier ‘targeted’ killings, giving the violence a sectarian hue. News reports suggest that law-enforcement personnel arrived only after the groups had stopped trading fire. Some observers have said the killings were the result of a personal feud; however, in a country where ethnic and sectarian hatreds are never far from the surface, the slightest disagreement can be given a communal colour. What is disturbing is that the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister has said some police officials were involved in fanning sectarianism; two policemen were among those taken into custody on Thursday in connection with the investigation of a murder case. The Gilgit-Baltistan region is no stranger to sectarian turmoil. Though the area has experienced bouts of communal violence since the 1980s, the killing of Shia scholar Agha Ziauddin Rizvi in 2005 worsened the situation, with the last five years marked by periods of intermittent calm followed by spells of violence. Some observers are of the view that the violence in Gilgit-Baltistan is simply a reflection of the ugly wave of sectarianism engulfing the rest of Pakistan. While creating an atmosphere of sectarian harmony and tolerance might be a complicated, long-drawn-out exercise, what the Gilgit-Baltistan government must do is to ensure supremacy of the law and safeguard the lives and property of the citizens. Its efforts must be supplemented by the centre and the security apparatus. The government should take firm action against those who disturb the peace, while those functionaries of the state found involved in fanning hatred should be taken to task. [CENTER]--------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][B][B][B][B][FONT="Palatino Linotype"]Afghan anger[/FONT][/B][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]r [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Saturday, 28 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] The Afghan national security adviser is not the only one who emits confusion; all sides to the Afghan imbroglio seem to suffer from anxiety in the wake of President Barack Obama’s decision to start withdrawing American troops in less than a year from now. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, Rangin Dadfar Spanta surpassed all previous criticism by Kabul officials when he called for sanctions against Pakistan. He harped on the old tune — that there are sanctuaries for the Taliban in Pakistan. While this is nothing new from Kabul, or for that matter Washington, Mr Spanta added a bit of originality to Pakistan-bashing by asking Washington not to issue visas to Pakistani generals. That visa denials could make a country change its policy is laughable. But then Mr Spanta is security adviser to a government whose leader himself doesn’t know what is in store for him and how best he will face the day US and Nato troops finally pull out. Does America itself know the shape of things to come? Even a casual study of the statements emanating from policymakers in Washington and military men on the spot makes it clear that they constitute an attempt to explain away Mr Obama’s withdrawal decision. These statements, while affirming that the decision is irreversible, seek to reassure all sides that America will remain engaged with Afghanistan. This makes no impression on those who have a stake in a post-US Afghanistan. Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai cuts a sorry figure. He presides over a corrupt empire, has no control over the warlords and often reacts in a manner that betrays fear. While sometimes he extends a hand of friendship to Pakistan, he often returns to his old posture, bemoaning the ‘sanctuaries’. No doubt the Taliban have continued to use Pakistan’s tribal region to launch strikes against Nato and Afghan forces but such ‘sanctuaries’ alone are not responsible for what is happening in Afghanistan. It is little wonder his security adviser exhibits the same confusion. Instead of blaming Pakistan, the Afghan minister should realise that close cooperation with Islamabad, instead of confrontation, is in his country’s interest. [CENTER]-------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][CENTER][B][B][B][B]Floods and failures[/B][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Saturday, 28 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] Flash floods are largely unforeseen and there is little the state machinery can do to prevent the devastation they cause. Cases in point are the deadly rains and accompanying landslides that enveloped parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last month and claimed hundreds of lives. Without downplaying the severity of the tragedy, it has to be said that residents and the civil administration were caught off guard and could not cope with the sudden onslaught of nature’s wrath, which was in large part linked to the massive deforestation that has taken place in the north-west in recent decades. There the government may be faulted for its policies and soft corner for the illegal timber industry but not really for a relief effort that could realistically only take place after the event. But why should Thatta be caught unawares, as this paper reported yesterday? Lower riparians in the Indus delta have known for weeks that a massive flood is on the way and it was incumbent on the Sindh and federal governments to shore up embankments and evacuate vulnerable people to safer ground well in advance. The government’s utter inability to deliver in this crisis is all too palpable. Donations are pouring in from around the world, ordinary citizens and NGOs are lending a helping hand and Pakistan’s armed forces are leading from the front in terms of rescue operations. American helicopters too are dropping food to the hungry. And where is the government in all this? It is conspicuous by its absence and total failure to cope with a situation which, at least in lower Sindh, had been on the cards for quite some time now. Some questions need to be raised here. Are the authorities in Sindh simply inept or, worse, completely callous? Would an elected local government system, disbanded earlier this year, have shown more enthusiasm in helping the needy — even if the support it extended stemmed largely from self-interest, the desire to win votes the next time round? Having failed yet again to take care of the public at large, the government should waste no time in aiding those uprooted or rendered sick and hungry by the floods. We have seen time and again that Pakistani people are generous to a fault and quick to mobilise when their countrymen need help. The same is not true of the civilian authorities whose response is marked by a combination of lethargy and apathy that simply beggars belief. People are dying and action is needed now, not later. Then there is a peripheral danger, of people losing faith in the system. Democracy must deliver at this critical stage. |
Editorial: Dawn
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][CENTER][B][B][B][B][B]Cashing in on floods?[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][U]Dawn Editorial Sunday, 29 Aug, 2010[/U][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] IT seems that Pakistan will remain hostage to petty politics, even at a time of grave national crisis. Initially it was said that a ‘trust deficit’ was the root cause behind the international community’s slow response to the ongoing flood relief operations in this country. That was possibly a fair assessment given the mismanagement and lack of transparency that are the hallmarks of Pakistani officialdom. Donors have every right, after all, to expect that the funds they provide will go to the needy and not line the pockets of government functionaries. Facts must be faced: Pakistan’s reputation when it comes to honest governance is poor and it is understandable that foreign countries, at least until UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s visit this month, were reluctant to hand over large sums of money directly to state-run organisations. The world’s view of Pakistan is one thing. What is more deplorable is the trust deficit that exists between the centre and the provinces as well as the federating units themselves. PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif stressed on Friday that the provinces should on no account be bypassed when funds are disbursed for the flood relief operation. The message is clear: Mr Sharif doesn’t believe that Islamabad will treat his province, Punjab, fairly in its time of need. He has also called for a meeting of the Council of Common Interests so that each province’s rightful share in relief funds can be ascertained and distributed accordingly. This is a welcome proposal and should be pursued without delay because the suffering of the public is immense. No province should be left believing that it has been hard done by, either at the hands of the centre or another unit of the federation. Political parties of every hue — and that includes both the PPP and the PML-N — apparently want direct access to flood relief funds so that they can build up their political capital. They want to be seen as the people personally handing over money because that could win votes at the next election. But a greedy, distasteful scramble over cash is the last thing that Pakistan needs right now. Why, for instance, should we have a multitude of flood relief funds set up by offices as disparate as the PM House, the army, the National Assembly speaker and the Punjab chief minister? The activities of individuals and NGOs are a different matter altogether and every rupee or sack of flour they raise ought to be commended. But the key players that constitute the state must show unity and act as one. This is a time for giving, not politicking. [CENTER] ------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][CENTER][B][B][B][B][B] Uncertainty at SBP[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Sunday, 29 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] YET another example of the government’s carelessness and lack of interest in strengthening institutions is before us. Since June 2, the State Bank of Pakistan has been operating under an acting governor following the resignation for ‘personal reasons’ by the previous incumbent. No one is sure why the president or the prime minister has been content with the ad hoc arrangement for weeks, but now a legal hurdle is looming: on Aug 31, the 90-day period during which the SBP can legally operate under an acting governor will expire. This state of affairs is very frustrating. The SBP is perhaps one of the most professional institutions in the country. It may be blamed for issues like allowing the banking spread to grow too much and for lending too much to the government. Still, overall, it is considered one of the few solid institutions in the country. Why imperil its operations unnecessarily? Experts familiar with the operations of the SBP say that its routine business can be conducted adequately by qualified and competent officials below the level of governor, and that three months of ad hoc leadership will not bring the bank grinding to a halt. However, the experts also point to a potentially serious downside. Consider that the country is fighting a fresh round of inflationary pressure with little or no help on the fiscal side (deficit remains high, for example), therefore giving crucial importance to the monetary side. Surely monetary policy at the moment ought not to be designed with a temporary head of the SBP, regardless of whatever internal mechanisms and committees may exist. Consider also private-sector borrowing from the banks, which is sagging. At the moment, banks are happy to lend to an eager government at lucrative rates, so policy initiatives need to be put in place to encourage lending to the private sector. The same goes for the agricultural sector, even before the floods. From the creation of new instruments to readjusting existing policy instruments, much needs to be done. And without a full-term governor much of what needs to be done cannot be done adequately. [CENTER]-------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][CENTER]ME talks: no useful purpose[/CENTER][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Sunday, 29 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] IT is doubtful if Israel’s latest diplomatic move seeking talks with the Palestinian Authority every two weeks will serve any useful purpose, going by an almost similar exercise earlier. On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed biweekly meetings with Mahmoud Abbas, after they meet in Washington soon to re-launch talks which President Barack Obama would like to see produce results in a year. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held similar meetings with the PA president but without success. The Abbas-Netanyahu talks are to formally begin on Sept 2, but the crucial date is Sept 26, when the moratorium announced by Israel on settlement construction expires. Sources in the Israeli government have made it clear that the Likud government has no intention of extending the moratorium. This has cast a shadow on the talks which are supposed to tackle all crucial, final status issues. The man leading the talks on Israel’s behalf is a super hawk. Mr Netanyahu was elected prime minister in the wake of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, who had signed the declaration of principles (DoP) with Yasser Arafat at the White House in September 1993. Mr Netanyahu’s election pledge was that he would wreck the “sell-out”. He succeeded, for he and his successor, Ehud Barak, sabotaged the peace accord by having the DoP renegotiated with President Bill Clinton’s full support. Going by the fact that Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly rebuffed Mr Obama’s call for a halt to settlement activity, the prospects for the success of the latest round of talks next month look bleak. Israelis are experts at dragging their feet and prolonging the negotiating process to “create facts”. This was Menachim Begin’s way of saying that he would continue to build settlements to alter the occupied territories’ demographic character. Mr Netanyahu seems determined to follow the late prime minister. |
Editorial: Dawn
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B][B]Time to trade with India[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B] By Moazzam Husain Monday, 30 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE return flight from Bangkok crosses Indian airspace flying low over the physical boundary on the final descent into Lahore. Unlike the Swiss-German border or indeed even the border at Torkham, there is no line of parked cars, buses and trucks, waiting patiently for customs formalities. Instead, one sees a concertina wire fence complete with searchlights, watchtowers and motion sensors. Before I folded the meal table I had been drawing three overlapping circles, one each representing South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia — or call it the Middle East. The region where the three circles overlap was Pakistan … an enviable strategic position indeed! The finality of being fenced out would appear to indicate one less circle. Meanwhile I had folded the drawing paper and was now using it as a bookmark placed inside my in-flight read; Imtiaz Gul’s The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan’s Lawless Frontier resting in the seat pocket in front of me. “What Pakistan faces today is not a ragtag army comprised of just a few thousand religious zealots,” writes Gul, who also runs the Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. “Beyond a doubt, the TTP [Taliban] is out to destroy the entire Pakistani security establishment. This will be possible only if the security forces face a continuous and sustained challenge all over the border regions, where one-fourth of the Pakistan Army is now deployed. One thing is clear: a long, bloody struggle lies ahead.” And whilst the mess in Afghanistan may or may not have been influenced by our own blinkered strategic vision, even after 14 years, the supposed trucks from Torkham crossing the Oxus into Central Asia remain a mirage. Effectively, this brings us to only one strategic circle, the Middle East. Even there for the last two decades, Pakistan as a locked state with an impoverished economy has had little to offer (other than a pool of semi-skilled labour). Judging from the shopping bags my fellow passengers have stuffed in the overhead cabin compartments, it is apparent that not just the Middle Eastern market but Pakistani consumers themselves now demand quality and standards. Accordingly, the last remaining circle, too, fades away. This leaves only Af-Pak. So how do you squander a huge strategic geopolitical advantage? Easy! Hold firm to a flawed strategic vision that is underpinned by an even more flawed ideology — that sees strategic depth to the west and an enemy to the east. How does one change this endemic condition? One way is with economics. Since 9/11, Pakistan has lobbied for greater market access for its textile products to the US market. “What benefit will this bring?” asked the US administration. “Five-fold increase in exports — from $3bn to $15bn,” responded the Pakistani textile industry; a verbal attestation without any economics research to back it up with. Ten million new jobs thus created would water down religious militancy, a favourably inclined US administration pleads to a reluctant US Congress. “Well, also please do tell us who will bear the cost: US industry and taxpayers or the other textile-producing Asian countries?” asks the US Congress. Once again, without rigorous quantitative analysis these questions cannot be answered and so the issue of free-market access continues to languish. The gravity model for trade is an econometric estimation technique to simulate trade volume flows between two countries (or two regions). In similar fashion to a war game exercise, it churns out predictions based on input parameters such as the distance between and the relative sizes of the two economies. This technique has been used to predict the outcomes of trade agreements like Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement). According to our own logic, Pakistan needs a big market for its export, one that will stabilise the shattered economy. For 10 years we have chased the US market but have missed seeing the huge market next door that even the US and the rest of the world vie for. This is because even while India may have the world’s 10th most regressive trading regime it is still the world’s second or third most sought after business destination on account of the size and growth rate of its consumer market. India offered Pakistan the most-favoured nation status, a position any other country would bend over backwards to obtain. Pakistan has yet to reciprocate. The Gravity Model has been applied several times to simulate trade between the two countries under varying assumptions. On average, it has indicated a twenty-fold increase — from the present $2bn to $40bn in two-way trade. This implies a doubling of exports in one stroke. It also implies a cheaper total import bill. In what may be a competitive model to Singapore, the Malaysian province of Penang is positioning itself to become a regional economic powerhouse. In this scheme of things, Penang’s greater economy would incorporate southern Thailand and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. All will benefit. In similar fashion, Lahore, together with central Punjab, stands to gain immensely as a potential hub of a greater economy. From a geopolitical perspective, the Indian cities of Amritsar, Jullunder, Ludhiana and Patiala are closer to Lahore, (and to Punjab’s golden triangle comprising the manufacturing clusters of Gujranwala, Gujrat and Sialkot) than to northern Indian industrial cities in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Bengal. Generally for the Indian states of East Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, Lahore is the nearest commercial hub and Karachi is the nearest seaport and there is a plausible rail link in between. The GHQ probably realises that a flooded Pakistan, facing an existential threat emanating from its lawless tribal frontier is also a country with diminished economic war potential to ward off this threat. There is nothing unusual about a policy reappraisal following a calamity. In that sense, the opening of Wagah represents the decisive round in the battle between the forces of progress and the forces of reaction. The choice of moment for that showdown has never been more urgent. [COLOR="Blue"]http://moazzamhusain.wordpress.com [/COLOR] [CENTER]-----------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]Floods and after[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B] By Arif Hasan Monday, 30 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] FOR sustainable reconstruction of the physical and social infrastructure of flood-ravaged Sindh, it is necessary to understand to what extent the damage caused by the flood is manmade. Some of the broad indicators are obvious. Due to the construction of barrages and hundreds of kilometres of flood protection embankments the floodplains of the Indus have been considerably reduced. They can no longer cater to exceptionally high floods. As such, these floodwaters are carried away by canals to considerable distances away from the floodplains. The canals in turn flood the colonised areas. An important question is whether the water-carrying capacity of the floodplains can be increased and whether engineering works can reduce pressure on the canals in case of high floods. Preliminary discussions with engineers suggest that this is feasible. Not only have the floodplains shrunk, the shrub lands and the forests in them have been destroyed to make way for agriculture. This has increased the scale of flooding and the velocity of water. It has also made embankments more susceptible to erosion and collapse. In addition, settlements, some permanent and other semi-permanent, have developed in the floodplains, adding considerably to the vulnerable population. In the colonised areas, over the last century, hundreds of kilometres of road and protection embankments have been built 10 to 20 feet above the land level. Except for the major drainage channels there are no culverts and/or gates to let floodwaters pass or return through them. If these culverts and gates existed at regular and appropriate intervals, flooding could be controlled and the breaching of these embankments and roads by the force of the water or by design, would not be necessary. Even in urban centres, large areas, especially low-income ones, are submerged because they are surrounded by high roads, and water from them cannot be drained out. This is especially true of the areas around Larkana, Sukkur and Shikarpur. There are other issues as well. In search of land to cultivate, inundation and drainage channels and the natural depressions connected to them have been encroached upon for agricultural purposes and around towns for the construction of homes and businesses. This is a major cause of flooding, especially in the urban areas, even during normal monsoons. And then, there are other issues. Much of the post-1970s’ infrastructure is substandard in quality. In addition, infrastructure, irrespective of its age has not been maintained. Canals, barrages and irrigation headworks have not been properly desilted for years. This is especially true of the minor drainage channels which are the backbone of any efficient drainage system. Most of them are covered with shrubbery preventing effective drainage of fields and agricultural areas. In the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase, there are other issues that will surface as well. The floods have wiped out landmarks and the definition of fields and survey numbers. Re-establishing them is a major exercise and is bound to lead to disputes and conflicts. During the initial phase of the reconstruction of homes and properties, similar disputes will also arise. In this process the worst affected will be the tenant farmers and the poorer sections of the population. The principles on the basis of which these disputes are to be settled need to be clearly and simply articulated. The institutions that are to settle these disputes will also have to be established at the taluka level. It is not possible for people to visit the taluka headquarters for the settlement of these disputes. Therefore, mobile teams will have to camp at different locations and invite applications for the resolution of property-related conflicts. If justice cannot be delivered through a transparent, uncomplicated and swift process, then power and production-related relations will be further strengthened in favour of the more powerful sections of society. The rehabilitation of major infrastructure (roads, bridges, electricity, water supply, sewage) and the desilting process required for it, will be taken care of by the state agencies through contractors and consultancy firms. The manner in which it will be done is clear and the local population can be mobilised for this work through a cash- or food-for-work programme. Our bureaucracy is well aware of how such programmes are organised and managed. However, it will be necessary to develop appropriate specifications and concepts for the design, maintenance and operation of all major infrastructure items so that they can withstand the scale of flooding that we have experienced. Also, the institutions that develop and manage infrastructure will have to be strengthened, and on the basis of an evaluation of the problems they face, their constraints will have to be removed. At the local level, rehabilitation work can be managed by local communities provided they are supported by sound technical advice and managerial guidance by local government (where it exists) and NGOs and professional organisations.For home construction and restoration, it is necessary that building materials are easily available and that their prices are kept under strict control. The profiteering and exploitation around the supply of building materials that was experienced in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake should not be allowed to take place. In addition, improved methods and technologies related to mud construction need to be introduced as mud will remain the cheapest and by far the most easily available material. The above is doable and there is a lot of experience available in the country for doing it. It needs to be accessed and organised. However, the most important issue is related to livelihoods. It is doubtful if there will be a kharif crop in Sindh this year. For making the next crop possible, cash is required for inputs and for surviving from sowing to harvesting. In addition, livestock has to be fed and looked after. This is perhaps our greatest challenge and this is the concern of many of the IDPs in Karachi. Discussions with them suggest that many of the tenant farmers and landless labour are seriously considering staying on in Karachi and looking for jobs. Small farmers would like to go back but think that by leaving a member in Karachi they will receive some financial support to rebuild their lives in their villages and small towns. A new relationship between the capital of Sindh and the people of its hinterland is in the process of being established. It should be welcomed and supported. [CENTER]------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]Back in the news[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B]Monday, 30 Aug, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] LIKE a recurring nightmare, South Waziristan is creeping back into the news once again. But each time the situation in the area seems to grow murkier. Now, a militant commander belonging to a sub-tribe of the Ahmadzai Wazirs has demanded that the Mehsuds leave the Wana area, presumably because Mehsud militants are being held responsible for the recent assassination of Maulana Noor Muhammad. Beyond that little is clear. Is the Ahmadzai commander acting at the behest of Maulvi Nazir, the kingpin of the area, or does it mark some kind of rift inside the Nazir group? What threat do the Mehsud militants pose anyway in the area? There are ambushes and other attacks against security forces in the area, but security officials are suggesting that the real threat is coming from different quarters — the so-called Punjabi Taliban who have taken refuge in the area. Why are the Punjabi Taliban a growing threat in the area? Could it be that pressure in North Waziristan is pushing them towards the Wana region? Little can be said with certainty. The Punjabi Taliban came to the area several years ago but were initially treated as ‘good Taliban’, focused as they were on the battle in Afghanistan and having little interest in fighting the Pakistani state. Things started to get more complicated following a crackdown inside Pakistan against Maulana Masood Azhar’s Jaish-i-Mohammad a couple of years ago, sending Jaish cadres running to the area. The camaraderie between Maulvi Nazir and the Punjabi Taliban is yet another complicating factor, with the latter acting as the foot soldiers of the former and the former in the ‘can-do-business-with’ column of the Pakistani state. Given this complicated overlap and intertwining between these various strands of militant groups in South Waziristan, the Pakistani state has been reduced to a difficult tight-rope walk, having to calibrate its responses minutely in an attempt to maintain some semblance of control over the security situation there. In the fight against militancy, tactics will necessarily be complicated and on occasion the state may be forced to choose between two unpalatable options. Yet, there is a persistent feeling that the security establishment here may be choosing the wrong strategy, opting to juggle the various militant groups and push the most extreme ones to the mountains of Fata in order to keep the cities safe. If the strategy is flawed, the tactics will not matter. [CENTER]--------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]Rawal Dam pollution[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Monday, 30 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE Supreme Court’s proceedings and orders on the suo moto case with regard to the polluted waters of Rawal Dam have exposed the inertia of various bureaucratic agencies in checking the contamination of water in the dam’s catchment areas. Rawal Lake is Rawalpindi’s main source of drinking water. Concerns over the flow of untreated sewage from housing colonies and effluents from poultry farms into the lake were first raised some two decades ago. Little has been done to ease these worries. In 1995, a task force for controlling pollution in the dam was set up. Later, a Rawal Lake Catchment Management Committee was established to coordinate the workings of the various agencies involved, including the administrative, development and water bodies in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Murree and the national and provincial environment protection agencies. But despite apparent orders banning construction activities in the lake’s catchment areas upstream and prohibiting the operation of cattle sheds and poultry farms along stream banks, these activities have continued unabated. Moreover, the requirements of proper disposal of waste by those responsible for these activities in the catchment areas have not been met. The result today is that five million gallons of virtually untreated sewage and other dangerous effluents flow into Rawal Lake daily. As the SC indicated, even building new treatment plants at the numerous housing colonies and poultry farms will not ensure that the lake is protected from polluted water. What must be done, the SC says, is to divert treated water from these settlements away from the dam and use it for other purposes like agriculture. A similar measure comprising the installation of check dams along various water channels to divert the sewage flow away from the dam had already been advocated by the Rawal Lake Catchment Management Committee. The plan has yet to be implemented. The SC has now directed the cabinet division secretary to gather all the stakeholders and devise “effective measures” to ensure that “not a drop of filthy water” enters Rawal Dam. The onus is on the cabinet division to take the lead in putting an end to pollution in the lake. [CENTER]-----------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]Picking sides[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][U]By Hajrah Mumtaz[/U][/FONT][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B]Monday, 30 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] THIS country, hardly a stranger to the twists of history, continues to be mired in crises of multiplying proportions. As if the poverty, the guns, the absence of the rule of law and the desperation were not enough, to the mixture were added the ‘war on terror’, the Taliban, militants, suicide bombings, and most recently the Sialkot murders and the floods’ catastrophe. And if the various administrative, infrastructural and economic crises were not enough, a host of contentious points with which we are familiar to the point of being wearied are once again in the spotlight: the advantages (as if there were any) and pitfalls of military intervention in politics and governance, the corruption or saintliness of political parties and figures, our love-hate relationship with the US and our sovereignty as a nation state, even though we appear to be asking for international help so often. Sectioned between footage or column space of the hungry and the homeless, these other — old — arguments are still ongoing. The house-of-horrors experience of the past, and in recent years the extensive role of the media, particularly electronic, has created a situation where many citizens are now taking a stance — with or against the government, for example — that is not only strong but also often intolerant of opposite views. With the world divided into a black and white philosophy in terms of any contentious issue (in part thanks to the ‘with us or against us’ slogan of the Bush administration), Pakistanis are literally lining up to stand up and take a side. In terms of the citizenry, this may turn out to be positive for it could lead to an examination of previously unchallenged notions and an avowal of loyalty on the basis of cerebral processes. A similar trend of picking sides is also emerging in the news media though, both print and electronic, and this can prove deeply dangerous. We live in interesting times, sure, as the old Chinese curse goes, and of course each of us must play a role in ushering in the new order. But newsmen are not just citizens; they’re that and something more. They’re also people who play a very significant role in shaping public opinion. Therefore, whatever they may think in their guise as citizens, in their professional capacity their job is to report on what is newsworthy on its intrinsic merit, without picking a side. As far as is possible, they must refrain from allowing their preferred ideologies to dictate output. The ideals of balanced journalism and the principles of objectivity are more relevant now than ever before. The characteristic that marks a truly professional journalist is the fact that he has the ability and more importantly the willingness to examine an issue from the point of view of its intrinsic newsworthiness, rather than whether or not it is one that he is personally concerned about, is interested in or has a stance on. In practical terms this means, for example, that left-leaning though I may be, as a reporter or editor worth the name I must give adequate coverage to a rally by a rightist organisation if it is a gathering of significant proportions, or the flood relief work undertaken by charities with suspected links to extremist organisations, if they are on a scale that merits reportage. Whatever my personal views, my job demands that I do not discriminate — and thereby abuse my position of power — on the basis of preferences since that undermines the very ideals of journalism. If I allowed that to happen, where would lie the difference between me and the propagandist? A news organisation’s job is to report on the news and not to comment on it. Therefore, every story that is broadcast or printed must follow the rules, such as being factual, presenting all sides of the story and refraining as far as possible from taking sides. The correct place for a newspaper to comment on events and to take sides is its op-ed section (a spot that, unfortunately, is not available to the electronic media in such delineated terms). In the editorials, the management has the leeway to present its own viewpoints, print them under its own name and responsibility. In the opinion section, the newspaper has the right to print articles on the basis of the organisation’s general policy and leaning, rather than just the newsworthiness of an issue. In the news section, however, which forms the bulk and backbone of any newspaper or electronic news organisation, there is no room for opinion and leanings. Objectivity, of course, is an ideal, not an absolute. True and total objectivity is in practical terms a mirage, virtually impossible to achieve because even the most hardened of journalists — the term itself is telling — is, in the end, only human. Even the most professional and even-handed of reporters and editors cannot always prevent themselves from ending up giving a slight preference to matters that concur with their own ideology, simply because they will find these matters more interesting and more deserving of attention. Such failings can show themselves in ways both subtle and blatant, and this is the measure by which relative professionalism can be judged. Leaving aside the tone or actual content of an article, amongst the more subtle manners in which one side of an argument can be supported are recurrence and duration (in the electronic media), and placement and lineage (in the print media). Since I support X political party, I can place the relevant article at a prominent place, give it 300 words instead of 100, perhaps publish a photograph. On television, I can run it for a two-minute broadcast instead of 30 seconds, and retain it as one of the lead stories throughout the day. To keep the issue alive, I can print an update every second day. I can run or broadcast follow-ups. In this way, even without my knowing it, perhaps, I have declared tacit support without commenting directly. Audiences and readers often read the effort towards objectivity as ‘dry’ or ‘boring’ news coverage. But ‘spicy’ news or its much nastier brother ‘spiced-up’ news often forgets to be entirely factual and is generally regarded as the realm of tabloids. Were a news organisation to expressly take sides, what would be the difference between it and a pamphlet? [COLOR="Blue"]hajrahmumtaz@gmail.com [/COLOR] |
Editorial: Dawn
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B]Cabinet decisions ignored[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Tuesday, 31 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] IN any democracy the cabinet plays a key role in the formulation of government policies and decisions. This ‘collective’ decision-making process sets a democratic dispensation apart from an authoritarian regime. It, therefore, comes as a surprise to know that some ministries and departments are either unwilling to follow or are defying several important decisions of the federal cabinet that will have a direct bearing on Pakistan’s economic well-being and future. A report published in this newspaper yesterday informs us that many decisions made by the cabinet have either been overturned by some ministers — who allegedly draw their powers from the presidency — or are not being executed by the implementing agencies and departments. The report highlights a number of examples where cabinet decisions have been completely ignored or bypassed by the ministries and government agencies and departments. A few of these pertain to the perennial problem of the inter-corporate circular debt in the energy sector and increasing electricity shortages in the country. The provinces, for example, have moved the courts to stop the deduction of their unpaid electricity bills in violation of a decision made at the energy conference in April. Furthermore, the Pakistan Electric Power Company has done little to recover outstanding dues from its consumers or to curtail system and transmission losses that eat up more than a quarter of the total power generation. The petroleum ministry is blocking the diversion of gas to thermal power plants. And so on and so forth. The decisions, which were supposed to help overcome the problem of circular debt and, perhaps, bring down electricity prices, were taken in consultation with the stakeholders who are now reluctant to implement them. It, however, is not clear why the prime minister is ignoring these ‘violations’. Whatever the reason, he will have to deal with this issue sooner than later if the economy is to be fixed. With the catastrophic floods still ravaging parts of the country, we cannot afford further lack of official focus on the sliding economy. Nor can the government afford to be seen as divided and doing nothing for the public good. [CENTER]----------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B]Makli damage[/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Tuesday, 31 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE floods are forcing people to go towards whatever higher ground is available. One such site is the Makli necropolis in Sindh, where an estimated 400,000 displaced people have been living under open skies since the weekend. Not only is their presence a cause of damage to the site, the supply of potable water and food they are receiving is far from adequate and leading to fights between the displaced and the locals. Moreover, whatever supplies are available have been donated by private parties. Despite their desperate situation, these thousands of people have received no attention from the local administration. Given that each day for them is a battle against nature and over scarce resources, it is imperative that the Sindh government take immediate steps to move the displaced to emergency camps or solid shelters such as school buildings or others belonging to the district administration. The shifting of these thousands of people must be done as a matter of urgency because as citizens they have equal claim to the government’s attention. Furthermore, the damage being wrought to the Makli necropolis by such a massive inrush of people must also be considered. The displaced people have no choice but to set up makeshift shelters, tandoors etc, on the site and in many cases stones are being plundered from the tombs. Some of these tombs date back to the 14th century, and the site has immense historical, archaeological and architectural significance. It is one of the largest necropolises in the world and is included on Unesco’s World Heritage List. Conditions in the necropolis have already deteriorated due to official apathy and the effects of pollution and expanding urbanisation. The site must not now be allowed to suffer further destruction as a result of becoming a camping site for thousands of people affected by the floods. [CENTER]--------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][CENTER]Cricket in turmoil[/CENTER][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Tahoma"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B] Tuesday, 31 Aug, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] CRICKET can be a source of joy, therapy even, in a country like Pakistan that is perennially beset by myriad traumas. Floods are wreaking havoc across four provinces, militancy is ravaging parts of the north-west and the majority of the population is enduring a life of grinding poverty. But despite these grave troubles, millions of Pakistani cricket fans continue to follow the national team irrespective of how it is faring on the field. Victories trigger celebration and defeats produce despondency, however fleeting. In either case the Pakistani public has a huge emotional attachment to cricket despite the controversies that have dogged the team over the years. Ours is a nation that is prone to hero worship, and in these troubled times no major cricketing country is in more dire need of heroes. And that, in large part, is why we are collectively reeling in the wake of allegations that as many as seven Pakistani cricketers are on the take and guilty of ‘spot-fixing’ during the current England tour. To borrow from Prime Minister Gilani, the nation today is hanging its head in shame. Nothing has been proved so far but the ‘evidence’ on offer appears damning. Former captain Ramiz Raja, for one, seems convinced that the case against our players — four of whom have been named — is “watertight”. There is video footage of the fixer or middleman telling undercover reporters that he could tell them precisely when Pakistan’s opening bowlers would bowl three no-balls during the Lord’s Test. His comments that the captain, wicket-keeper and three other players were also on his payroll may be more difficult to substantiate but it is near impossible to believe that the no-ball predictions could be purely coincidental. No ordinary spectator can provide such information. A thorough probe is in order, not just by Scotland Yard and the ICC but also in Pakistan. It must be an independent investigation because no one has any faith now in internal inquiries conducted by the PCB. Pakistan cricket has been dogged by betting scandals for over a decade and the board, for the most part, has chosen to sweep them under the carpet. If the players currently accused of spot-fixing are indeed guilty they must be banned for life. And the probe shouldn’t end there. If promising young players are accepting money from bookies are they doing so purely out of greed or is there a powerful, corrupt clique within the team that threatens to end their careers if they don’t? Are selection matters completely above board and does the PCB itself have skeletons in the closet? Honest answers are needed. |
Editorial: Dawn
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]Lakhvi’s trial[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Wednesday, 01 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] In what could prove to be an important development an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi has rejected the bail plea of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. The latter is believed to be the operational head of the banned Laskhar-i-Taiba that has been accused by India of carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Mr Lakhvi is among the seven persons charged with planning and helping to execute the carnage. The judge presiding over the trial rejected the bail plea, at this stage, on the grounds that there was enough evidence against Mr Lakhvi. It is now up to the prosecution to put up a watertight case based on solid, credible proof — a task that may prove challenging if Mr Lakhvi’s lawyer is correct in stating that there is no concrete evidence linking his client to the Mumbai attacks. Indeed, Pakistani courts have often been unable to convict suspected terrorists because of lack of credible proof. A combination of poor investigation techniques, insufficient security for witnesses and a legal system with loopholes has made such convictions difficult, giving the impression — to both terrorists and the countries they target — that Pakistan is not serious about cracking down on militancy. This can only make for acrimonious relations vis-à-vis the international community. Ever since the Mumbai strikes, Pakistan-India ties have been governed by the overriding theme of terrorism. Pakistan would like to move beyond such a restrictive focus, and rightly so, but the Indian establishment is not keen to oblige. Although Prime Ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Manmohan Singh met in Thimpu during the Saarc summit earlier this year, the meetings between the foreign secretaries and later the foreign ministers did not yield substantial results or a cordial bilateral atmosphere. Given this context, the trial is being watched closely by New Delhi that would like to predicate its future actions on its perception of how Pakistan fights terror. Perhaps it is time for Pakistan to evolve a more coherent security strategy with a strong legal system to boost it. Not only would this send a clear message that the country is earnest about fighting terror, it would also be in Pakistan’s own interest to do so. [CENTER]---------------------------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Discrimination in aid[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="2"][I][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Wednesday, 01 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]It is no secret that ethnic, sectarian and religious minorities in Pakistan face discrimination, but recent reports that this deplorable mindset is affecting flood relief efforts are deeply disturbing. On Monday, a large number of people in Hyderabad were driven to taking out a protest rally against the maltreatment of minority community flood victims. They cited two occasions when they were attacked and driven out of a relief camp.[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] A day before that, flood-affected families at an emergency relief camp in Thatta district complained that they were being refused aid, even by government officials, because they were Dalits. There have been numerous other reports: people being refused shelter because of their ethnicity, caste or religion, being discriminated against in the distribution of aid goods and being driven away from or forced to live on the very margins of the few camps that exist. Discrimination on ethnic and religious grounds is deeply entrenched in Pakistan and will not change overnight. Yet that it is being used as an excuse to strip people of their rights as equal citizens even during a time of calamity is abhorrent. Whether Muslim, Hindu or Christian, high caste or low caste, the flood victims are all equally deserving of the attention of official and non-official aid channels. Resources are scarce and the desperate number in millions. Providing help across the board to the best of its abilities, irrespective of any ideology, is the first task of the state and society. Apart from the victims’ equal right to survival essentials such as shelter, potable water and food, the fact that the country was even before the floods rent along ethnic, sectarian and religious grounds must be kept in mind. Discrimination at this time will only deepen the divide and cause resentment that could unravel any possibility of future cohesiveness. [CENTER]--------------------------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B][B][U]Additional judges[/U][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="2"][I][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Wednesday, 01 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/SIZE][/COLOR] The interminable saga of the judiciary-executive ‘clash’ rumbles on, frequently causing collateral damage and weakening institutions. The latest round concerns the fate of 32 additional judges of the high courts whose terms are set to expire in September. Because the process for the appointment of superior court judges has been changed by the 18th Amendment and because the new process is under challenge in the Supreme Court, a cynical blame game of sorts has unfolded. The SC has intervened and ordered that the judges will continue to perform their duties until the 18th Amendment challenges are decided, an order that has raised eyebrows in some quarters because of its potential implications. Has the SC de facto suspended parts of the constitution, specifically Article 175-A, by allowing the additional judges to continue beyond their one-year term? The ad hoc solution may or may not be on firm legal footing, but the government undoubtedly must shoulder much of the blame in the present instance. The only thing that can mitigate the government’s responsibility for the unsatisfactory and temporary resolution of the problem faced by the additional judges is that no one really expected the 18th Amendment hearings to continue for so long. Given that the 17-member bench will effectively decide what the valid constitutional process for the appointment of superior court judges will be, the government’s dithering can be attributed partially to that. But only partially. For weeks it was apparent that the hearings would continue into September, which means the government should have thought through its options. Either it should have formed the parliamentary committee that will nominate judges, thereby signalling its intention to use the 18th Amendment procedure, or it should have made alternative arrangements, for example, by invoking the transitional constitutional provisions to allow the additional judges to continue working. Waiting until days before the start of September to begin the process of forming the parliamentary committee is not good enough — after all, the government had months to do so and there’s simply no way, even if the 18th Amendment process were to be used, that 32 judges could be appointed in a matter of a few days. At this stage, perhaps all sides need to reflect on their basic duties. Consider that the additional judges near-crisis could have shut down the Balochistan High Court, with the term of all judges barring the chief justice set to expire on Sept 6. This in an insurgency-racked province where the state is already accused of abdicating its duties and allowing its writ to disappear. Surely playing politics should have its limits. [CENTER]-------------------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][U][B][B][B][B][B][I]Highest amount of donations for Pakistan[/I][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Wednesday, 01 Sep, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE latest figures of the US assistance for Pakistan’s flood relief operations reached $200 million, which is the highest amount donated by a single country. The aid given by the United States is reaching most of the flood-affected areas through the United Nations and other international organisations and has immensely reduced the burden on the government. As part of the relief efforts a number of helicopters, medical teams and Marine Corps are also playing a superb role in helping people out of danger and treating them. The significance of our country being the frontline ally in the war against terrorism is rightly realised by the United States and that’s why the relief efforts are at its peak with contributions in almost every sector. Apart from the US, the whole world community is pouring in aid for the flood-hit people; France has contributed a total of 7.54 million euros; Saudi Arabia has contributed more than $140 million and the World Bank recently pledged a total of $1bn. FARUKH SARWAR Islamabad (II) YOUR editorial ‘Indian aid offer’ (Aug 30) has rightly pointed out that the government and the ministry of foreign affairs are not beating at the same frequency. The much hyped Indo-Pak foreign ministers’ level talks made no headway as India remained determined to talk only on terrorism and Mumbai blasts. The recent devastating floods that drew attention the world over forced India to extend help to Pakistan for the relief of the affected people. It announced $5 million aid on humanitarian grounds and it was accepted by the PM and the foreign minister. Pakistan, in principle, had accepted the offer but now wants that it should be routed through the United Nations. Whether it is routed through the UN or received directly makes no difference because it is Indian aid, either you accept it or politely say ‘no’ The afterthought of re-routing the aid through the United Nations may delay the arrival of the aid that is badly needed. In fact, our direct acceptance could have helped in bridging the gap and overcome trust deficit between the two countries. What is the wisdom behind this move can only be answered by the government. MUKHTAR AHMED BUTT Karachi (III) ONE quarter of Pakistan has been hit by devastating floods, and millions of people have their homes, crops and livelihood washed away. Now these 20 million people need help. I am sure we Pakistanis have all the resources to help our fellow Pakistanis who have been badly affected by floods. We have big businessmen who have the capacity to contribute billions of rupees for flood relief fund. We have a very strong middle class living in Pakistan who has the resources to make a sizable contribution towards the flood relief fund. On top of that, we have 10 million Pakistanis working overseas who have the potential of contributing a huge sum of money in flood relief fund. For example, if every overseas Pakistani contributes $100, this adds up to $1bn. I am sure that all Pakistanis want to help generously our fellow Pakistanis who are affected by the flood. But people are not sure whether their help will trickle down to the needy. We must forget about the mistrust at this time and contribute generously. At the same time our leaders must work honestly and distribute the help in a transparent way to the needy. By doing so, our leaders can convert this calamity into an opportunity to earn the much needed trust of people. This is the only way to develop the trust deficit. EJAZ AHMAD Jeddah |
Editorial: DAWN
[CENTER][COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][B][B][B][B][B][U]Objectives Resolution[/U][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Thursday, 02 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] During a Supreme Court hearing on Monday regarding challenges to the 18th Amendment, the Sindh advocate general, Yousuf Leghari, called for the deletion of the Objectives Resolution from the constitution, arguing that it had been incorporated in a dubious manner during a period of military dictatorship. It is difficult not to concur with Mr Leghari since the manner in which the Objectives Resolution currently forms a substantive part of the constitution has led to legal confusion. Originally the resolution, adopted in 1949 by Pakistan’s constituent assembly, formed part of the preamble to the constitution and could correctly be called a statement of aspiration in terms of constitution-making in the new state. Being neither an act of parliament nor a law, the Objectives Resolution was symbolically important but legally marginal — since a preamble could not be regarded as law. However, through the 1985 Eighth Amendment the Zia regime, as part of its Islamisation drive, extended its effect beyond being part of the preamble and included it as an operative portion of the constitutional text through the insertion of Article 2A. This led to legal chaos, since clauses in the Objectives Resolution such as those relating to the delegation of divine sovereignty, which were designed as symbolic, are now the basis for adjudication. Through the 18th Amendment, the government has restored a crucial portion to the Objectives Resolution that was deleted by the Zia regime. However, the time may now have come to revisit the need for the presence of the resolution as a substantive part of the constitution. Being a constitutional matter, it is outside the purview of the courts. However, the issue could be taken up by parliament and a debate initiated on restoring the Objectives Resolution to its pre-1985 status and restricting it to the constitution’s preamble — as was the original intent. [CENTER]------------------------------ [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Delegates’ humiliation[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Thursday, 02 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] An explanation is all the more needed given the growing concerns across the world of racial profiling at US airports. While this case is particularly high-profile, there have been many similar incidents in the past where passengers have been offloaded, detained, even arrested, apparently because of their race or nationality. - Photo by Reuters. The treatment meted out to a Pakistani military delegation on Monday at the US Dulles Airport is nothing short of insulting. The eight-member delegation, led by a two-star naval officer and comprising senior military officials, was headed to Florida to attend a meeting at the US Central Command headquarters. According to initial reports, en route, in Washington, a passenger complained that he did not feel safe sharing the flight with the delegation, reportedly because of an overheard remark by a Pakistani brigadier. Consequently, first the brigadier and then the entire delegation were asked to disembark. Although the delegates disclosed their identities and showed not only their passports but also the Centcom invitation letter, they were offloaded and detained for some time. The US Department of Defence issued an apology, but the delegates had by that time received directions from Pakistan to cancel the Centcom meeting. It is highly unfortunate that such an episode should have occurred. Relations between the US and Pakistan are already complicated, given the war on terror and the drone controversy. They do not need the additional dimension of the humiliation of a senior military delegation that was in the US on an official invitation. Apologies are not enough: Pakistan should officially ask the US for an explanation and the latter must conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. An explanation is all the more needed given the growing concerns across the world of racial profiling at US airports. While this case is particularly high-profile, there have been many similar incidents in the past where passengers have been offloaded, detained, even arrested — apparently because of their race or nationality. Without a thorough investigation on the part of the US, this case too stands in danger of being understood as racial profiling. Meanwhile, an investigation is also needed at the level of the Pakistan Army to determine what the brigadier actually said, and to whom, since the carrier, United Airlines, told the US media that the brigadier “misbehaved” with a stewardess. If his conduct is found to have been unseemly, then the Pakistan Army must take action accordingly. [CENTER]-------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B]Unjust taxation[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Thursday, 02 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] For a country where the state apparatus, federal or provincial, collectively spends twice as much as it earns and is weighed down by massive debt repayment and security expenses, money for human and infrastructure development has long been scarce. Now with the floods causing devastation easily running into hundreds of billions of rupees, the cost of recovery has necessitated urgent revenue-generating measures. Quite simply, a tax-to-GDP ratio of under 10 per cent with a consolidated federal and provincial deficit last year of 6.3 per cent of GDP are unsustainable figures. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the government is contemplating new tax measures in the wake of the floods. Unhappily, however, early reports suggest that the government is set to make worse the already deeply unfair and unjust tax system in the country. For one, the government is contemplating an increase in duties on imports, including essential items. Such indirect taxation in the presence of serious inflation that is creeping upward again is bound to add to inflationary pressures, making it yet more difficult for ordinary Pakistanis to make ends meet. For another, the government is believed to be contemplating imposing a ‘flood surcharge’ on all incomes, including personal incomes above Rs300,000 per annum. For the salaried class and the tax-paying self-employed, this would amount to a staggering double-whammy: hit on the one side by rising prices because of increased taxation on imports (Pakistan also imports essential foodstuffs like cooking oil), they would also find their disposable incomes cut. It is quite incredible to consider that in a country where millionaire, and sometimes billionaire, parliamentarians, businessmen, traders and farmers pay little to no income tax, someone earning as little as Rs25,000 per month may be forced to pay more income tax on account of the flood surcharge. Surely, the answer should be to begin to plug the loopholes in the tax system that allow people to evade taxes. Why must the already taxed be burdened some more when so many enjoy comfortable lives outside the tax net? If a 10 per cent flood surcharge on income already taxed can yield Rs100bn as estimated, then simply going after those evading the existing income taxes could yield several times that amount. It is not as if measures to catch tax evaders cannot be put in place quickly. For example, expenditures are an easy way to catch income tax evaders. Take a foreign vacation, send a child to an expensive private school, buy an expensive new car; all these things could and should attract the scrutiny of income tax officers. The tax burden needs to be shared, not narrowed. |
Editorial: DAWN
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Crash investigation[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Friday, 03 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/SIZE][/COLOR] It has been over a month since Airblue flight ED202 crashed in the Margalla Hills but we have yet to learn of any meaningful details produced by the consequent investigation. There have been piecemeal reports, with statements and counter-statements coming from Airblue, the Civil Aviation Authority, etc, but little that has given a coherent picture of the tragedy. The lack of information by credible sources has resulted in a situation where it has become impossible to distinguish between fact and speculation. Meanwhile, some of the details that have emerged, such as the possible presence of a third person in the cockpit as indicated by extracts from the Cockpit Voice Recorder, and Airbus’s claim that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft, have deepened the mystery. The families and friends of the 152 victims who died in the crash need to achieve a degree of closure. That will only happen when it is conclusively established why the flight went down. They, and the public at large, have a right to know the reasons that led to this aviation disaster, the worst ever in this country. Delays in the release of information about the investigation serve only to increase confusion and deepen the pain of the victims’ relatives and friends. Meanwhile, speculation is also damaging reputations without any solid evidence. For instance, there has been much debate on the character and professionalism of the pilot and co-pilot of the ill-fated flight. It needs to be conclusively proved whether or not they or others, such as those responsible for air traffic control, were in any way at fault. The authorities must step up the investigation and make the findings public. Pakistan has a history of never providing credible explanations for preventable disasters, including earlier air accidents. The Airblue tragedy must not go the same way. [CENTER] ----------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Post-America Iraq[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Friday, 03 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] President Barack Obama’s announcement on Tuesday that America has officially ended its combat mission in Iraq should be seen against one harsh reality: some six months after the March 7 election, Iraqi politicians have not yet been able to form a government. The American president appeared hopeful about Iraq’s future when he said, “Out of the ashes of the war, a new beginning could be born in the cradle of civilisation.” Does the situation in Iraq inspire confidence in Mr Obama’s words? Violence is rearing its ugly head, and the two victorious blocs — Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s National Alliance and Iyad Allawi’s Iraqiya — have not yet been able to strike a power-sharing arrangement. The situation within the National Alliance worsened when a Shia group refused to support Mr Maliki for a second term. On Aug 17 Mr Allawi broke off talks, because in a TV interview the prime minister called the Iraqiya a Sunni bloc. Mr Allawi felt hurt. He insists it is a national group. Even though the talks were later resumed after the prime minister explained his position to Mr Allawi in a letter, the incident serves to show Iraqi politicians’ cavalier attitude towards the gravity of the situation in their country. Unlike the considerable improvement in the security situation after the ‘surge’ ordered by George Bush paid off, violence has returned, with Al Qaeda reasserting its power. Terrorism is rising, for the casualties in July were twice those in June. On Aug 17 a suicide bomber blew himself up in a line of job-seekers at an army recruiting centre in the heart of Baghdad, killing more than 60 people and injuring 250. A minimum of 1.5 million are homeless, while hundreds of thousands abroad are keen to return but cannot because of the grave economic and security situation. Observers of the Iraqi scene fear a new era of civil war if the politicians continue to bicker. What they should concentrate on is moblising such government machinery as exists to rebuild Iraq economically, create jobs and have in place an infrastructure that will give security to the people. [CENTER]----------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][CENTER][U][B][B][B][B][B]Sectarian violence[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][SIZE="2"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Friday, 03 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] Everyone’s worst fears were realised on Wednesday when a Youm-i-Ali procession in Lahore came under attack by at least two suicide bombers. Another explosion also took place but it remains unclear whether a suicide attacker or a time bomb was involved in that particular blast. Either way the result was carnage: more than 30 mourners lost their lives and nearly 300 were left injured. The bombings were a grim reminder of the Ashura and Chehlum blasts in Karachi a few months ago and reinforced fears that there is no stopping the sectarian terrorists who are repeatedly targeting the country’s Shia community. Given the bloodshed that recently took place in the Sindh capital, it was generally believed that Karachi was the city most at risk this time round as well. So what did the terrorists do? Apparently one jump ahead of the authorities, they hit the mourners in Lahore instead. Not that Karachi was spared altogether. Mourners were fired at in the Saddar area on Wednesday in an incident that many believe was aimed at triggering not just sectarian but also ethnic unrest. It is time that Pakistan’s politicians realised that the ultimate aim of such extremist outfits, many of whom are hand in glove with the Tehrik-i-Taliban, is to ignite sectarian conflict in the country. To foil their mission of further destabilising an already battered nation, politicians of every hue must be on the same page irrespective of their ideology or affiliation. There is no room here for playing politics, for the opposition scoring points at the expense of the government and vice versa. The enemy here is common to all and it cannot be tackled effectively without a united front. Much is made of intelligence failures vis-à-vis the fight against terrorism and there is clearly some merit in those arguments. But there is a possibility that the agencies may get the right message if the country’s legislators embark aggressively on a joint strategy for taking sectarian terrorists to task. That said, the Shia community must also accept the fact that local administrations, inept or otherwise, cannot go it alone in preventing attacks on its members. Community volunteers are already doing a commendable job manning entrance points to various imambargahs and conducting security checks on those who wish to enter. Worshippers do not mind this frisking because it is carried out by their own. Perhaps it is time that such checks, though admittedly a far more testing task, were replicated at checkpoints along procession routes because the police are naturally hesitant to offend anyone’s religious sensibilities. In short, this is a joint struggle and everyone must be on board. [CENTER]-----------------------[/CENTER] |
Editorial: DAWN
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B]College admissions[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Saturday, 04 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] It has been reported that 30,000 seats may not be filled in Karachi’s colleges and higher secondary schools in the public sector as sufficient applications for admissions have not been received. This underlines the appalling state of affairs in higher education in the city and indicates that college education is suffering from poor planning and there is a serious disconnect between demand and supply. At another level, it confirms the decadence that has beset public-sector education. There was a time when all colleges had been nationalised and private colleges were not allowed to operate. The pressure on government institutions for admission from students passing the secondary school-leaving examination was immense. The slow pace of expansion of college education forced thousands of students to drop out. That would not have been such a bad thing if a sufficient number of polytechnics had simultaneously been established to train young men and women for the job market. Today the scene has changed. The government has opened new colleges while the private sector has been permitted to enter the college education sector as well. According to the authorities, the low number of applicants for government colleges means that students are showing a marked preference for private institutions. Is this surprising given the relatively better standard of education they offer? Even the higher fee they charge does not deter students from approaching them. There is also another factor: science subjects are in greater demand and there are not sufficient seats for this faculty. In view of the higher cost of establishing laboratories, the government is hesitant to invest in science education even though this makes its planning lopsided. It would help if the education authorities and those managing the industrial, financial and services sectors were to carry out a joint assessment exercise every few years to determine the nature and number of jobs available in the employment market and match these with the education facilities to be created in various disciplines. It makes no sense to have a glut of unemployed highly educated young professionals in one area with a dearth of trained people in other sectors. [CENTER] ----------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][I]Aid politics[/I][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Saturday, 04 Sep, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] One of the sadder realities of an integrating world is ‘aid politics’: donor countries and organisations are more generous in funding projects that conform to their own interests. But that this pattern is emerging in terms of the flood-relief funding coming into Pakistan deserves to be condemned. The UN’s emergency response appeal has netted more funds for relatively long-term need projects such as communications, security and awareness-raising. Meanwhile, the appeal for critical-care projects that include emergency medical help, potable water supplies and income creation is going unheard. The three best-funded projects are the UNHCR’s protection project, the International Organisation of Migration’s mass communication project and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ coordination and advocacy project. These have received funding many times in excess of the demand. Conversely, projects in areas such as water and sanitation, reproductive health etc are grossly under-funded, with the UN’s Population Fund complaining on Wednesday that its $6m appeal for the health of mothers and babies got a mere 20 per cent response. This is appalling. Long-term projects are required, certainly, but what the flood victims need immediately is medical help, food and water, and other such basic essentials that quite literally mean the difference between life and death. Pakistan’s appeal for aid was met by a sluggish international response and while the flow of funds picked up after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s visit, the UN said on Wednesday that it has now slowed to almost a standstill. Pakistan’s administration must shoulder its share of the blame, for it has been reported that donors are concerned about the possibility of funds being misused or misappropriated by a corrupt system. Yet that should not affect critical-need projects. The victims need immediate help. The international community’s priority should be to save lives. This is no time for aid politics. [CENTER]-----------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][I]Cost to the economy[/I][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Saturday, 04 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Pakistan continues to count the costs of floods to its fragile economy. The other day the prime minister put the economic losses from the deluge at close to $43bn — or more than one quarter of the country’s $170bn economy. Many find his estimates too high. Still, the scale and economic costs of the continuing calamity are staggering and rising by the day. The country’s worst floods, which submerged almost one-fifth of its area, displaced nearly 20 million people and destroyed standing crops over vast areas, have hit the economy hard. While the exact costs of damage to the economy will not be known for some time, experts agree that the floods will lower growth significantly, feed food price inflation, strain the budget, and put the rupee under considerable pressure. The country is going to miss all its budgetary targets. Macroeconomic stability achieved over the last 21 months is at risk and the Pakistani population has to contend with the threat of food insecurity. More importantly, massive job losses and erosion in rural incomes resulting from a slowing economy will increase the number of poor and feed discontentment. Indeed, the government will require billions of dollars and years of hard work to recover from the impact of the floods that continue to increase displacement and devastate the social and economic infrastructure. The challenge of reconstruction is enormous. The government’s dependence on foreign loans and grants to prop up the economy, which was already battered by the almost decade-old war on terror, is going to increase in the short to medium term. The world has been slow to understand and respond to the magnitude of the tragedy. True, it has shown considerable interest in helping Islamabad pull through these difficult times and pledged almost a billion dollars for rescue and relief operations. But only a part of the pledges has materialised so far. However, multilateral lenders — the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund — have been quick to commit close to $3.5bn for relief and reconstruction. That should help the country undertake reconstruction of infrastructure without losing much time. In exchange for financial assistance, the lenders want the government to implement fiscal and tax reforms it had agreed with them before the floods. The reforms should aim at austerity as well as taxing the wealthy. They should be a statement of our commitment to confronting the challenge, helping the affected millions and fixing the economy. Perhaps it is the only way Pakistan can regain the world’s confidence and put its sliding economy back on the road to recovery. [CENTER]-----------------------[/CENTER] |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B]
Police reforms[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Monday, 06 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] To deter crime, there must be punishment. But in order to punish correctly and fairly, the process needs to stand on two firm legs: one, the police side, the other, the judicial side. Few would argue against the claim that the police and judicial processes in the country are broken and in need of complete overhaul. Yet, it is the continuing neglect of these two vital areas that is astonishing. A report in this newspaper yesterday highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the legal status of Police Order 2002, the law that replaced the mid-19th century Police Act but that after the 18th Amendment may or may not still hold the field. That the country could be functioning without clarity on the law that governs the police is simply bizarre. If only legalities were the sole problem faced by the police. From a lack of manpower and resources, poor training, endemic corruption and human rights abuses, the police forces in the country suffer from multiple problems — problems so severe that it would be fair to say that ordinary citizens are as apprehensive of contact with the police as with criminal elements. Part of the problem is structural, the other operational and training related. Consider that there is still a fundamental question which is unanswered: is policing a provincial or local responsibility or is it a federal one? With top officers selected by the federal government to oversee police forces that are otherwise administratively the responsibilities of the provinces and districts, there is no real ownership of the police. Then there are problems with the force size and potential. Senior police officials in Karachi estimate that they have only half as many policemen as a city of that size requires. In Islamabad, senior officials complain that VIP protection duties have left the police dangerously undermanned for performing ordinary law-enforcement responsibilities. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials have been pleading for years to build the police into a potent counter-terrorism force. The reforms required are not just about legal changes and throwing more money at police forces. There is the issue of proper training, of investigating officers, of policemen performing ordinary law-enforcement duties, etc. The lessons from Lahore, Islamabad and the motorway police indicate that decent wages, educated forces with proper training and equipment and regular human-rights awareness training can and do produce results. As Pakistan struggles to comprehend many of the crimes in its midst, officials need to be reminded that there is no need to reinvent the wheel: a responsive and responsible police force remains the solution of choice the world over. [CENTER]------------------------ [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][U]Munda dam project[/U][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Monday, 06 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Apart from a water storage reservoir of 1.3 million acre feet and a power generation capacity of 740 megawatts, the dam’s two planned canals on the right and left banks will help to irrigate nearly 30,000 acres of farmland in Mohmand Agency, Tangi tehsil in Charsadda district and Malakand Agency. - The report that expressions of interest will be invited for consultancy services for the design and preparation of tender documents for the Munda dam has resulted in optimism that work on the dam could begin soon. The delay in undertaking controversial dam projects for which a national consensus has not been reached is understandable. But procrastination in projects for which there is a consensus — as in the case of Munda dam proposed to be built on the River Swat — is not. The project has been in the pipelines for over a decade. It has already been approved by the various relevant national forums, including parliament. But attempts several years ago to undertake the project through a consortium of private-sector partners landed the matter in court, where the case is still pending. The building of dams for irrigation and power is a necessity to cope with power and food shortages. Dams also constitute an important measure in flood mitigation. The advantages of the Munda dam project are well recognised and most experts agree its advantages outweigh any adverse impacts. Apart from a water storage reservoir of 1.3 million acre feet and a power generation capacity of 740 megawatts, the dam’s two planned canals on the right and left banks will help to irrigate nearly 30,000 acres of farmland in Mohmand Agency, Tangi tehsil in Charsadda district and Malakand Agency. Not only is overall farm production expected to increase in these localities, the favourable impact is expected to spill over into the non-farm sector. Besides, the reservoir behind the dam would also provide recreational facilities and give a boost to the surrounding fisheries. All in all, Munda dam can bring considerable improvement to the lives of the people living near it — areas which have been ravaged by terrorism. With national consensus, hopefully there will be no snags this time. [CENTER]------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][U]Journalists at risk[/U][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Monday, 06 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] The bombing of the Al Quds day rally in Quetta on Friday left scores of people dead. Amongst the many injured were seven journalists from various news organisations, highlighting once again the fact that reporting is an increasingly dangerous job in Pakistan. Of the injured newsmen, it is unclear who received injuries in the blast itself and who fell victim to mob violence. An emerging trend in Pakistan is that a terrorist attack is often followed by unbridled mob violence and rage, as was witnessed not only in Quetta but in Lahore in the aftermath of Wednesday’s bombing of a Youm-i-Ali mourning procession. In such an event, media representatives — particularly cameramen and photographers — often become a direct target of the mob which wants to prevent the capturing of footage or images that could later be used to implicate individuals. But the death of a driver of a private television channel van in Quetta cannot be explained away in this manner, by the fury of the moment, for he was shot twice in the chest whilst waiting in the van. Such a killing can only be viewed as cold-blooded murder done under the cover of mob violence, and deserves condemnation in the strongest possible terms. Journalists shoulder the responsibility of reporting from potentially dangerous situations and locations. They have the right to expect that their security becomes a priority with their organisations in particular and society in general. Specific measures that are easy to implement would go a long way towards protecting journalists, such as providing body armour or flak jackets that are to be worn by reporters and news crews heading towards potentially violent venues. Similarly, media organisations must ensure that first-aid kits are available in all their vehicles, with the journalists being given basic training in their use. Most importantly, the culture of news organisations vying for the best and most comprehensive story, even in situations of danger, has to end. A news team must not feel itself under pressure by its employer to get the story at any cost, for the latter could be life or limb. |
Editorial Dawn
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][CENTER][U][B][B][B][B][B]Cricketers’ suspension[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B]Sunday, 05 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] Suspending the principal accused was the right decision. It is a move that benefits not just Pakistan cricket but the game at large. Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir have now been officially charged by the International Cricket Council of conduct unbecoming and their inclusion in the T20 and one-day matches would have cast a shadow over the whole team and rendered the rest of the series entirely meaningless. Headed by the hopelessly inept Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board resisted for as long as it could — insisting that no player accused of wrongdoing would be dropped — but was compelled to change tack when the ICC pressed charges. The England and Wales Cricket Board had also been requesting its Pakistani counterparts, and rightly so, that players currently under a cloud of suspicion should be excluded from the rest of the tour. Only then could cricket be played for cricket’s sake, if that is at all possible even now. In the end it was largely the PCB’s intransigence that forced the ICC’s hand. The intent here is not to pass judgment. Messrs Salman Butt, Asif and Aamir have only been charged with spot-fixing and remain innocent until they are proven guilty, even if the evidence at hand seems damning. At the same time, however, it should be remembered that they are accused of serious crimes and their innocence cannot be taken for granted. There is a lot of misguided patriotism in the air on this count. Many in this country are being made to believe that our cricketers were set up in a conspiracy designed to malign the nation. Pakistan’s high commissioner to the UK personally gave the trio a clean slate on remarkably dodgy grounds: he had spoken to them and they said they were innocent. They might well be but let’s reserve our verdict for the time being. [CENTER]--------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Show of unity [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B][B][B]Sunday, 05 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] Friday was one such day when the National Assembly in its afternoon session rose above partisan considerations to show a rare degree of unanimity and reaffirm its pledge to “nurture the tree of democracy”. The house passed two resolutions, one each by the PML-N and the MQM, but neither contained the barbs which Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Farooq Abdul Sattar had earlier exchanged. While the leader of the opposition had lambasted the MQM for Altaf Hussain’s Aug 22 speech, the MQM legislator had spoken of “the throne of Lahore” which was “conspiring to destabilise Pakistan”. Nisar was lauded by all in the house when he said that though the system needed change, it should not come through the generals. He also criticised the army for raising funds for flood victims without government approval. Realising perhaps that, as the largest party it owed something to the house, the PPP did some troubleshooting as its lawmakers moved among different parliamentary groups to finally develop consensus on the two resolutions, which the Assembly later passed unanimously. While the PML-N resolution’s focus was on consolidating the constitutional process, the MQM’s motion called for breaking up large landholdings and demanded “all legal and constitutional steps” to do away with feudalism. This welcome show of unanimity came at a time when large sections of the public and media had felt disappointed over what appeared to be the two mainstream parties’ arrant failure to stop bickering at a time when floods of biblical proportions were ravaging the country. There was also an unseemly quarrel over the quantum of provincial shares in the flood relief money. The nation was aghast when at such an hour the PML-N and MQM moved privilege motions with aims no nobler than that of political mudslinging. Mercifully, the PML-N resolution called upon all political forces, civil society and the media to unite to fight the floods. Let’s hope this spirit persists, and the lawmakers realise they are there in the Assembly to solve their electors’ problems, not to worsen them. [CENTER]---------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Quetta attack[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Sunday, 05 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] They will kill Shias, be they children, women or men, simply because they hate minorities and consider them worthy of death. Ahmadis too are being attacked with increasing frequency by extremists who claim to hold the moral high ground but are seen as terrorists by all right-thinking people. Take Friday’s carnage in Quetta where nearly 60 were killed by a suicide bomber. A procession was taken out to condemn Israeli atrocities and mark Al Quds day, a cause that ought to be common to Muslims of all schools of thought. But it was still fair game for sectarian terrorists because the Shia community has, in the Iranian tradition, always been in the forefront of commemorating this particular occasion. Two days earlier, the streets of Lahore were awash with blood when suicide bombers attacked a Youm-i-Ali congregation. Responsibility in both cases was claimed by groups that like to portray themselves as champions of Islam but have no qualms about massacring practising Muslims in Lahore, Quetta, Karachi and elsewhere. The Balochistan government’s decision to ban religious processions provides no answers to this growing security threat. One, members of every religious denomination have every right to organise rallies and express their core values. The same principle applies to activists of a political or secular bent. That is a fundamental right and it cannot be suppressed under any circumstances. Two, such measures send a message that the terrorists who are holding Pakistan hostage in these testing times are winning the battle. What we need is the complete opposite. Do your worst. We will still be resilient and ultimately crush you and your bar-baric code of conduct. Still, it must be remembered that these are not normal times. Mutual cooperation is of the essence if lives are to be protected and the aims thwarted of terrorists who wish to ignite sectarian strife in the country. In Quetta it had been agreed upon that the Al Quds day rally would terminate at a designated spot to ensure security. Yet the protesters chose to advance to Meezan Chowk which was not part of the original route. And that is precisely where the suicide bomber attacked the procession, killing and maiming so many people. Tempers may be running high but it must be acknowledged that more bloodshed can be prevented only through increased cooperation between the administration and community leaders. Communal strife is what the militants want and they cannot be allowed to achieve their goal. [CENTER]*___________________*[/CENTER] |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B]Economy: on the verge of collapse?[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Tuesday, 07 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/SIZE][/COLOR] Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh’s warning to officials of the state, delivered in a sombre meeting late last month, could not be clearer: the government, federal and provincial, is on the verge of financial collapse. So dire is the state of affairs that the government may not have money to pay salaries in a few months. Lest this be dismissed as hyperbole, Mr Sheikh’s comments have been echoed privately by many economists and experts familiar with state finances in recent weeks. In fact, if anything the finance minister’s comments are on the more optimistic side of dire. The basic problem is clear: the Pakistani state, all tiers of government, spends twice as much as revenue generated, while neither is expenditure being curtailed nor are revenues being meaningfully increased. At the level of the citizenry, the immediate impact is felt in the form of rising inflation (sustained budget deficits of the kind Pakistan has had over the last few years are highly inflationary in nature) while in the long term it will be felt in terms of debt servicing crowding out investments in development and infrastructure. The blame must be shared by everyone. At the federal level, the government has been disastrously uninterested in reforming the tax system or trimming the fat in the budget. Public-sector enterprises blow a Rs250bn hole in the budget each year, but restructuring is something that is only promised, never initiated. On the revenue side, the government has been unable to even resolve the objections of some provinces to the ‘revised’ General Sales Tax, aka the Value Added Tax. Now, the president has suggested widening the tax net with a ‘one-time’ imposition of tax on unaffected farmers and on urban property, but it remains to be seen if the idea leads to anything concrete. Meanwhile, the government appears content to keep on borrowing from private banks (which crowds out private investment) and the State Bank (which turbo-charges inflationary pressures) — Finance Minister Sheikh has warned that State Bank borrowing is ‘no longer an option’ but that has been the case for the last several years. The armed forces, meanwhile, are engaged in necessary operations to fight militancy, but they have shown little interest in belt-tightening. Experts familiar with military expenditures and budgets suggest that more transparency would slash many unnecessary and bloated expenses. The provinces, too, are to blame, arguing for and getting more autonomy through the 18th Amendment and more resources under the latest NFC award but showing little interest in expanding their own revenue bases. Responsible spending appears to be a concept Pakistani policymakers do not understand. [CENTER]--------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Blair’s book[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][I][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Tuesday, 07 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/SIZE][/COLOR] Seven bloody years after the invasion of Iraq, there is still strong public sentiment against those western leaders perceived as the architects of this unmitigated disaster. This was evident from the fact that former British prime minister Tony Blair was bombarded with shoes, eggs and other projectiles at the recent launch of his memoirs in Dublin. Though Mr Blair was not hit, protesters in the Irish capital called for his prosecution for war crimes. The former premier had to be whisked away from the bookshop as angry citizens continued to vent their anger. It must be remembered that George W. Bush, Tony Blair’s senior partner in the war effort, received similar treatment from Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi in 2008. Mr Zaidi’s shoe-throwing incident sparked a wave of copycat protests against political figures across the world. As for the book itself, brief excerpts suggest Mr Blair does not regret participating in the Iraq war. He has said that though he “wept for its victims” and is “desperately sorry” about the deaths, he does not regret entering the war. The reaction to Tony Blair’s book is in fact a reality check. It shows that even today people are not willing to forget the war. It shows that opposition to the war and criticism of its planners is not limited to the Muslim world; in fact it is more pronounced in non-Muslim societies. This goes a long way to dispel the impression that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have pit the Muslim world against the West. It is a fact that in the run up to the Iraq invasion the most vocal and most visible opposition to the war came from Europe. Millions of people across the world took to the streets on Feb 15, 2003 to denounce the impending war. Estimates suggest that Rome saw the greatest number of protesters (three million) followed by London (one million). Up to 100,000 people also marched in New York City against the war. It is sad that the Bush/Blair combine chose to ignore such overwhelming public opinion and went ahead anyway. [CENTER]----------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][I]Attack on journalist[/I][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Tuesday, 07 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] No half-hearted police measures or words of consolation from the highest offices in the land will suffice in the aftermath of the brutal treatment meted out to journalist Umar Cheema of The News. This paper’s stand is clear: the government and its intelligence agencies will be considered guilty until they can prove their innocence. Yes, Mr Cheema wrote pieces that were highly critical of the government, and in particular the presidency. Was it for that reason that he was kidnapped, stripped naked and filmed, hung upside down, had his hair and moustache shaved and beaten relentlessly for hours on end? The Intelligence Bureau answers to the government and it is not outside the realm of possibility that it may have been deployed to humiliate, torture and silence a vociferous critic. That said, the involvement of the police, the FIA or the intelligence wings of the security apparatus cannot be ruled out. But Mr Cheema was brave. Despite all he had suffered, he chose to go public with his grievances. His torture was a message to not just an individual but the entire journalistic community in Pakistan that a certain type of criticism will no longer be tolerated. The government must probe this incident with honesty of purpose, which is a bit of an ask, and come clean with its findings. Journalists have been killed in Pakistan before. This time though a media person was abducted, subjected to physical pain and then released to send a message to writers at large. In the past the results of such investigations have never been made public and that same mistake must not be repeated this time round. We hope that the journalistic fraternity will shun all personal grievances and stand united in this fight for freedom of expression. [COLOR="Purple"][SIZE="2"][CENTER][B][B][B][B][B][B] ******************[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Water shortage[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Wednesday, 08 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/SIZE][/COLOR] It is a matter of irony that even as millions of people across the country struggle to cope with the devastation caused by the floods, tail-end canal users in parts of Sindh are complaining about severe water shortages. Here the fault lies not with nature. Apparently administrative incompetence is to blame. Farmers in Badin are accusing the irrigation authorities of having failed to release water into the branch canal Sultani Wah, which originates from the Phuleli canal. They say that no water has been released for over a month and, consequently, fields of paddy, sugarcane and other crops are dying. In some spots, even drinking water supplies have dried up. This is not the first report of its kind. A fortnight ago, farmers held demonstrations in Khipro, Jhol and Jamrao, complaining that the water rotation system that had been installed during the drought-like conditions that preceded the floods had not been adjusted. This situation must be rectified immediately, and an inquiry conducted as to who in the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority and among the administrators of the canal networks is to blame. As the farmers have pointed out, if their communities don’t get water soon their crops will be gone for good, leaving them with no source of income and little to eat. Their fate then will be similar to that of the flood victims. It is shocking that the ranks of people who have lost their livelihoods may swell simply because of administrative negligence. The country has already lost far too many standing crops to the floods; whatever is left must be protected. The administration must plan for the future. Water shortages are endemic in parts of Sindh. They can be addressed to some extent by building outfall canals and reservoirs in places where water collects naturally during the rains. [CENTER]---------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Afghan peace prospects[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Wednesday, 08 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] With Afghanistan devastated by continuous warfare for more than three decades, one shouldn’t be surprised if an overwhelming majority of the Afghan people are desperate for peace. As the results of a survey show, 74 to 76 per cent of Afghans not only want talks with the Taliban to end the war, they wouldn’t mind the Taliban getting a share in government, provided they stop fighting. This is a reasonable demand. Holding fire is not the same thing as laying down arms. The survey result seems to back President Hamid Karzai’s decision to set up a peace council to pursue talks with the militants. His peace move comes a fortnight ahead of Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections, which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt. Even though they have said that they will target only foreign and Afghan security forces, their track record shows they have seldom cared about civilian deaths. However, these matters shouldn’t serve to cloud the bigger issue i.e. the need for ending the war. How the Taliban respond to Mr Karzai’s peace overtures is a big question. Their threat to wreck the Sept 18 election could well be public posturing, for we know elements within the Taliban are not averse to a negotiated end to the war. After all, they did take part in the Saudi-initiated talks, though nothing came of it. Also Mr Karzai did not speak of good or bad Taliban and perhaps showed a bit of realism by including some ‘jihadi leaders’ in the peace council. It all now depends on how Mr Karzai plays his cards and whether the Taliban are willing to see reason. The militants may draw heart from the fact that the military situation is going their way, and America is scheduled to begin withdrawal in July next. But, at the same time, it should be obvious to the Taliban leadership that while they can continue the insurgency for long they cannot hope to defeat the Nato forces. The Afghan people have been pauperised by constant war. To end their misery, the two sides have no choice but to talk and end the war. [CENTER]------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]A staggering task[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][I]Dawn Editorial Wednesday, 08 Sep, 2010[/I][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][B]In rural Pakistan, the security of the people is tied to the state of the land, and at the moment the danger could not be higher. According to a Food and Agriculture Organisation report released this week, 1.61 million hectares (3.97 million acres) of farmland with standing crops has been damaged by the floods. Cotton, sugarcane, fodder and rice are the main crops affected, but that is only part of the problem, the other being the scramble to prepare land for the wheat-sowing season that begins in September and runs until November in parts of the country.[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Apart from the humanitarian crisis at the moment, the biggest short-term challenge is to ensure that enough wheat seed stocks make it to areas in which sowing can begin. Indeed, in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab there is hope for a bumper wheat crop — if the crop can be planted in time, for which the availability of wheat seed and fertiliser are key. For those to be made available widely, the state here and experienced international organisations will have to act quickly and efficiently. Whether that will happen remains to be seen. With the agricultural sector decimated, every problem has grown infinitely more complex. In parts of the country, the wheat-sowing season may be adversely affected by a shortage of labour, potentially because agricultural workers and small farmers may not want to return to land where there is no guarantee of food being available for immediate needs. The straightforward reality is that farmers can survive perhaps one season with no crop to sustain themselves; two seasons may be a stretch too far. So the land that can be prepared for agricultural purposes immediately must be prepared on a war-footing, or else a knock-on effect could cause a complete breakdown of the agricultural sector in parts of the country. Already experts out in the field are warning that the floods could lead to a lasting and significant change in the demographic profile of the country, with the rural areas losing a chunk of their population to urban areas. Such unplanned and sudden demographic changes rarely prove to be a boon. With all the focus on land, however, the colossal damage to the livestock sector has sometimes gone unnoticed. The dairy and livestock sector makes up half of the agricultural sector and while big farms are believed to have escaped serious damage, the overwhelming majority of the sector is informal, i.e. people who have few animals. For many, the loss of a few goats or cows could be the difference between survival and economic ruin — they must not be forgotten. |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Land fraud[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Thursday, 09 Sep, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] As the issue of land politics assumes greater prominence in Pakistan, it is unsurprising that more and more deceptions are being unearthed. Land-grabbing is a long-standing problem, particularly in urban areas. In some cases the issue has been linked to violent crime, as in Karachi where there are growing indications that some of the violence mistaken for ethnic or political rivalry is actually motivated by disputes over land. While such activities are difficult to quell, other sorts of scams involving land are easier to trace. Quite often they represent fraud of massive proportions and the loser is usually the government. Take, for example, a recent assessment carried out by the Punjab Board of Revenue, which found that over Rs666m was owed to it by various land developers who had not paid the requisite royalty fee while converting agricultural tracts into residential or commercial property. The exercise threw up 227 such cases in six divisions of the province, including Lahore, Faisalabad and Sahiwal divisions with Bahawalpur division topping the list for the greatest number of infractions. Of the massive sum of money owed, the BoR has so far been able to recover just over Rs15m. Efforts are under way to obtain the fee from the rest of the defaulters. Such illegalities will only increase in a country where urbanisation is often unchecked and the demand for land, particularly residential and commercial, far outstrips availability. It is time the government started taking the issue of land scams and politics seriously, for land is now amongst the biggest and most ruthless businesses in Pakistan. At stake is not just the loss of revenue for the government: Karachi presents us with a case where powerful land mafias and vested interest groups have infiltrated political parties and ethnic groupings. If the sector remains so unregulated, the rot could spread. [CENTER]------------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][FONT="Georgia"]A less hawkish stance[/FONT][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"] Dawn Editorial Thursday, 09 Sep, 2010[/SIZE][/COLOR] Undaunted by the failure of the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers’ talks in Islamabad in July Prime Minister Manmohan Singh believes in carrying the Thimpu spirit forward. His remarks made to Indian editors on Monday show both his desire to “engage” Pakistan and an awareness of the domestic pressures on him. In words that appeared to be directed at the hawks in Indian media and politics, Dr Singh said “engagement doesn’t mean surrender” and that the best way to convey India’s “concerns” was to stay engaged with Pakistan. To make his stance clearer, the Indian leader said that harsh statements in public or parliament were not the best way of improving ties with Pakistan. The last meeting between foreign ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi and S.M. Krishna was more than a failure. While the Pakistan side claimed that the Indian delegation had not come prepared and that there were too many telephone calls to and from New Delhi, the Indian foreign minister later blamed India’s home secretary for a judgmental statement even before the foreign ministers had met. Apparently, large sections of India’s media and politicians remain fixated on Mumbai. This has made the India-Pakistan relationship hostage to an act of terror. That the pressure on Pakistan has not worked was recognised by Dr Singh, though he gave his own reason. Pakistan, he said, had acquired “leverage” in dealing with America. Islamabad’s ties with Washington are part of a complex trilateral relationship involving India. It would be wrong to drag them into every bilateral India-Pakistan matter. On the whole we agree with Dr Singh’s assertion that “if we don’t want to go to war, then engagement and dialogue are the only way out”. Pakistan must welcome Dr Singh’s views, constituting as they do a message both to Islamabad and to the hawks in India, and speed up the trial of the Mumbai suspects at home. The least the two sides can do now is to fix a date for Mr Qureshi’s visit to India so that the talks’ process agreed to at Thimpu by the two prime ministers is revived. [CENTER]--------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][FONT="Georgia"]Intelligence failure[/FONT][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"] Dawn Editorial Thursday, 09 Sep, 2010[/SIZE][/COLOR] Two bomb blasts in two days targeting policemen and their families expose the weaknesses of our intelligence apparatus. First it was Lakki Marwat, where a suicide attacker rammed his vehicle into a police station. Then, on Tuesday, a bomb was detonated in a police residential colony in Kohat with deadly consequences. Add to this the deadly attacks on processions in Lahore and Quetta. The intent of the militants is clear: they wish to demoralise the security forces of a country that is struggling for survival. This latest upsurge in violence is no coincidence — the enemies of Pakistan are attempting to inflict maximum damage at a time when resistance levels are low. As the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister pointed out, terrorists are hitting the police when the country’s attention is diverted from militancy because of the ravages of floods. Such attacks should have been foreseen and the intelligence failures involved are simply unacceptable. True, the country’s military is stretched to the limit as we speak. It is in the forefront of rescue and relief operations that were beyond the capacity, and perhaps will, of the civil administration. Still, not for a moment can the fight against militancy be forgotten and nor can terrorists be allowed to regroup. The reports trickling in from the tribal areas are troubling. On the run last year following the armed forces’ fierce offensive, groups operating under the umbrella of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan are now said to be making a comeback and making the most of the nation’s misery. They cannot be allowed to succeed in their mission. Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s remarks about Balochistan do not help at this critical juncture, because the problems plaguing that province are dissimilar from the wider fight against terrorism. Playing to the gallery, he said in Quetta on Tuesday that “use of force” was the only option available for restoring law and order in Balochistan. Missing the point entirely, the interior minister appears to be in favour of a Malakand-kind military operation in Balochistan which is only bound to fuel tensions, not quell them. Instead, he should be looking into tracking down those who fund militancy in this country and seem to have easy access to explosives. The minister needs to set his priorities right and gather better intelligence on terrorist networks and the routes they use, apparently with abandon. What is needed here is prevention. The ‘Balochistan issue’ is entirely different in its complexity from the insurgency raging in the tribal belt. Balochistan’s woes have been decades in the making and can only be resolved through dialogue. |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="4"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][FONT="Georgia"]More bloodshed[/FONT][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B]Friday, 10 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE macabre drama of targeted killings in Karachi keeps repeating itself, with the violence alternately taking ethnic, political and sectarian hues. The most recent episode in this gruesome series had a sectarian colour, with four activists of the Ahl-i-Sunnat Wal Jamaat killed in the metropolis in as many days. The latest incident saw the spokesman of the party being gunned down on Wednesday as he was getting his vehicle’s tyre changed. The ASWJ is of course the newest avatar of the proscribed Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, a virulently sectarian outfit. It is a miracle that the killings have not sparked large-scale violence in this edgy city, with the exception of brief rioting following the murder of a party activist on Monday. However, the frequency of the murders is alarming and could lead to escalation. The communal cauldron is already bubbling in Karachi and it will not take much for it to boil over. Sectarian and ethnic groups are clearly active and settling scores through the barrel of the gun. Yet the Sindh government and the law-enforcement apparatus have abdicated their responsibility of keeping the peace. It seems the authorities are looking the other way while rival militants wipe out each other. But this approach is not sustainable. If the vendettas escalate, they will have very negative consequences for the city. Clearly, if rival militants can spot and eliminate each other, why can’t the police work to neutralise these violent elements? According to the police’s own data, there were 249 cases of targeted killings in the first seven months of this year; charge-sheets have been submitted in only seven cases while 233 incidents are pending investigation. This indicates that the police need to do much more to investigate these cases and prevent further bloodshed, while the state must speed up efforts to defang all violent sectarian outfits. [CENTER]------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Balochistan woes[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][B]Friday, 10 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] INTERIOR Minister Rehman Malik’s doings can often be puzzling. A two-day trip to Balochistan is in keeping with Mr Malik’s mercurial time in office, with the trip leaving observers more puzzled than ever. Firstly, why has the interior minister taken it upon himself to solve the problems of militancy and insurgency in the province? At first glance, or even after a deeper look, the interior ministry isn’t the vehicle for resolving Balochistan’s problems. Mr Malik initially suggested a Swat-like operation to clear the province of militants was in the offing, but then, thankfully, he quickly backtracked — a military operation in the province turbo-charged the insurgency there several years ago and would probably produce similar results if attempted again. Then the interior minister announced the banning of militant groups and the freezing of bank accounts, largely symbolic steps and meaningless when the government has little clue about where the militants are hiding and how they are operating. If the government and Mr Malik’s ministry had such knowledge, presumably they would be going beyond freezing bank accounts. Another question: has the government changed its approach to Balochistan? The Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan package appears to be in the doldrums, and that was the case even before the floods. There is little engagement of the moderate Baloch nationalists, little progress on the issue of missing persons and no real attempt to go after the main threat, the armed militants. Balochistan appears to have largely fallen off Islamabad’s radar once again. Worse, when it does reappear on the government’s radar occasionally, it does so in bizarre forms such as Rehman Malik’s visit. The solution to the problems of Balochistan is a combination of counter-terrorist tactics and political strategies to draw the Baloch away from the gun. At the political level, the time for mid-level interventions has long since passed. Only serious and sustained high-level political attention given to the province can recover the security situation there. Sending in the interior minister, seniority notwithstanding, is likely to be counter-productive: the Baloch oppose the presence of the Frontier Corps, which is administratively under the control of the interior minister, in the province as much as they do the army, which contributes to the senior leadership of the FC. What seems to be lost on policymakers in Islamabad, and Rawalpindi, too, is that the fifth insurgency in Balochistan in 63 years is in a dangerous phase, one in which there is a serious risk of it spreading across an entire generation of Baloch youth. That would be a loss that the state would have to struggle to recover from. [CENTER]--------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Acts of a few[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Friday, 10 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE attention garnered by a Florida pastor planning to burn copies of the Holy Quran on Sept 11 illustrates how the acts of fringe groups can colour perceptions about an entire community. It reminds us that in today’s world of an increasingly integrated media industry, attention focused on groups that are not representative of the mainstream can widen polarities and swell the ranks of those who spew hatred. Terry Jones leads a fringe church with a 50-member congregation. Yet the outcry his plan has invoked, partly because of sustained media coverage, is global. The sheer number of high-profile personalities and institutions — the US president and the Vatican among them — has raised the question of whether the condemnations themselves are magnifying the cause of what is otherwise a very small extremist group. Meanwhile, even though no rational person would consider Mr Jones as representative of America or the Christian community, the controversy has tainted the image of both. The Obama administration is rightly concerned that it will deepen anti-US sentiment. We have seen protests in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bahrain, and there is a danger of the issue becoming a catalyst for violence targeting Christians and foreigners, as in the case of the Danish cartoons some years ago. Many examples are available of resentment towards entire communities because of the actions of a minority. Consider how Muslims have suffered discrimination because of the crimes perpetrated by Al Qaeda. The Mumbai attacks, committed by a handful of people, scuppered for a while relations between two countries. Blogger Pamela Geller’s campaign against the Cordoba Initiative damaged New Yorkers’ reputation for cosmopolitanism and communal tolerance. The examples stretch across national, religious and other community lines. In most cases, one finds that the sustained attention of the media, and the slant taken, is what elevates a minority’s beliefs to significance. There will always be extremists in the world, but they must not be allowed to occupy centre stage by being given disproportionate attention. In this context, if the condemnable act does take place, religious and other leaders would do well not to overreact thus playing into the extremists’ hands. |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Eid and the challenge[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Saturday, 11 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] THIS is an Eid with a difference, the traditionally festive mood of the day tempered by the grim reality we face. A flood of epic proportions has devastated large swathes of the most fertile lands in the country. Some 20 million people have been hit, crops destroyed, thriving communities uprooted, roads and bridges washed away and canals breached. To add to the nation’s sorrow, terrorists haven’t failed to make their presence felt, for they have continued to destroy and kill. Doomsayers are now painting a picture of the chaos they predict will grip the country in the post-flood scenario: mass starvation, anarchy and collapse. We plead with them to be a little less sure of themselves, for going by what history tells us the people of Pakistan have more than once demonstrated a resilience that has astounded friends and foes alike. Just recall the 1947 drama. That Pakistan was able to stand on its feet and create a state structure out of scratch as millions crossed both ways in a sea of fire and blood is a miracle that should be an eternal source of strength for us in times of sorrow. Again, following the 1971 tragedy, the world had written the country off. But Pakistanis proved the pundits wrong. Nearer in time, the 2005 earthquake unleashed the Pakistani people’s philanthropic and self-help virtues as they rose like one community to the rescue of an estimated three million people traumatised by the quake. The present too will pass. Pakistan never stopped ticking. Already, life in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, southern Punjab and upper Sindh is returning to normality. In Muzaffargarh, one of the worst-hit towns, people have begun rebuilding homes on their own and in the Swat valley, devastated both by floods and the dogs of war, local entrepreneurs are readying to welcome tourists that dare to take the plunge. A more pleasant sight has been children poring over books in makeshift schools. Factories continue to clank. The railways, damaged but not crippled, have successfully handled the Eid rush. Not for nothing did Feldman name his classic on Pakistan From Crisis to Crisis. Each crisis has made us Pakistanis tougher and that’s how it is going to be this time round. That said, it has to be asked if the resilience of the people is matched by the commitment of their elected representatives. Can our politicians in any way be described as a ray of hope? Must we always go it alone, on the charity of those whose hearts are big? Where are the institutions, the systems, which guarantee the welfare of the people? [CENTER]---------------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Nine years on[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Saturday, 11 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] NINE years since the tragic events of Sept 11, 2001 there is an unmistakable sense that Islamophobia is on the rise in the West, a development that could have dangerous consequences on the fight against militancy across the world. Consider that in the early years after 9/11, the Muslim community in the US was heralded as an example of how followers of Islam could find a comfortable niche for themselves in western society. That is no longer true, with the furore over the ‘ground zero mosque’ and a malevolent attempt by a fringe pastor in Florida to deliberately hurt Muslim sentiments dominating the news in recent weeks. Of course, not all of this is happening in a vacuum. Faisal Shahzad (the young man of Pakistani origin who attempted to bomb Times Square in New York) and the ‘Virginia Five’ (young Muslim men who travelled to Pakistan in search of jihadi inspiration before being caught and convicted by an anti-terrorism court here) are just two examples of disaffected Muslims in the US turning to militant Islam — a dangerous development for security in the West. Nevertheless, it remains true that while the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the West do not in any way identify with the violence of Al Qaeda or the Taliban, Muslims as a whole are being tarred by the brush of terrorism and violent jihad. The worst offenders, strangely enough, are politicians, ostensibly the ones who are supposed to uphold the values of tolerance and inclusivism of western society. Having figured out that Islamophobia may be a potent vote-getter, Republicans have been keen to exploit the issue of the ‘ground zero mosque’ and continue to peddle the ‘suspicion’ that President Obama may be a closet Muslim. The problem goes beyond American shores of course, there being a real fear among western Muslims that right-wing, anti-immigrant sentiments in Europe may be whipped up again. Looking at this uncomfortable state of affairs, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Al Qaeda must be pleased: what better way to prove that the West is out to undermine Islam than to expose its intolerance towards Muslims? [CENTER]-------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"][CENTER][U][I][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Non-serious lawmakers[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/I][/U][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]By .G.A Noorani Saturday, 11 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE performance of our lawmakers is less than inspiring. But when legislators show lack of seriousness in discussing such sensitive matters as the country’s worst-ever natural disaster, some introspection is in order. According to a report in this newspaper, only 10 per cent of members participated in a National Assembly debate on the flood situation in the recently concluded session, which was specially requisitioned by the opposition to discuss the disaster. Members veered wildly from the agenda, spending a large part of the session criticising each other. The floods were only discussed on the third and final day. Resolutions that had nothing to do with the floods were adopted; 30 points of order — statements and speeches and not actual points of order — gobbled up nearly five hours of the session; on the last day only about 21 lawmakers were present, indicating that the house was clearly inquorate. The problems highlighted in the report, which quotes figures from the Free and Fair Election Network, a watchdog body, are perennial. Figures suggest that even in normal times only half of the lawmakers participate in the house’s proceedings while many items on the agenda remain unfulfilled. This non-serious attitude is not limited to the National Assembly; provincial legislators usually turn in similarly lacklustre performances. We must ask the question: do our lawmakers understand what is expected of them as elected representatives of the public? The prime minister has called for an all-parties conference to discuss the floods. But what will be the use of such an exercise, considering that the politicians failed to utilise their time for this purpose in parliament? Better discipline in the house and improved legislative output is in order, especially concerning vital matters such as flood relief and rehabilitation. Otherwise the impression that politicians are callous, self-serving and petty will only be reinforced. |
Editorial Dawn
[COLOR="black"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Times New Roman"][CENTER][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][I]Bane of illiteracy[/I][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"]Tuesday, 14 Sep, 2010[/SIZE][/COLOR] ALONG with the flood-affected people, one of the chief victims of the raging waters has been the country’s vulnerable education sector. Indeed, even before the floods, the state of our schools had been a constant reminder of how Pakistan is falling behind in meeting the Education For All targets set by the UN. With no adult literacy programme worth the name and primary school enrolment in a shambles, it is not surprising that Pakistan’s literacy rate is one of the lowest in Asia. If after all these decades, the government has still not recognised the benefits of an educated population for economic productivity, social cohesion, public health and democracy, it is shocking. That it has not is the only explanation for successive governments’ failure to expand and upgrade the education system in the country which Islamabad is obliged to do under the constitution and the numerous international conventions to which it is a signatory. If enough attention had been paid to this sector, the need for adult literacy programmes would have been more or less eliminated. An entire generation of school-goers would have raised the literacy rate considerably as the older generation of illiterates would have been eased out. But this did not happen and Pakistan continues to have people of all ages who have never learnt how to read and write. What is to be done now? Given the state the country is in today, it would require a massive effort to create the infrastructure, the teaching resources and pedagogic aids as well as mobilisation to put a system in place. While finances are essential for the purpose of upgrading and expansion, money is not the only factor that could make a difference. It is equally important to monitor the system which was derailed mainly because of corruption. Dishonest people swindled money that should have gone into the education of children. The need for adult literacy classes will also have to be addressed. All this calls for a collective effort. A positive impact might be made if industries and the services sector that employ a large number of illiterate people were to accept their social responsibility and devise ways and means to provide opportunities for literacy acquisition to their employees. [CENTER]---------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Times New Roman"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]‘Yes’ vote in Turkey[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Tuesday, 14 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] THE ‘yes’ vote in Sunday’s referendum on constitutional amendments has both long- and short-term implications for Turkey, where democracy seems to be taking a new shape. With a 58 per cent positive vote, the result of the referendum has handed a victory to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose prospects for a third term in the general election due next year have brightened. The most important result of the reform will be a weakening of the army’s hold on politics. Among other things, the reform makes the military accountable to civilian courts and gives the right to appoint judges to parliament. The amendments will enable Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) to organise the high courts on lines conforming to the European Union’s entry criteria. What must have hurt the army most was the lifting of immunity for those involved in the 1980 coup. Time will tell whether or not those who view the reform as Mr Erdogan’s attempt to gradually strip Turkey of its secular character are right. Traditionally, the army, along with the judiciary and bureaucracy, has considered itself the self-appointed guardian of the Turkish state’s Kemalist character and has overthrown elected governments four times. One reason for the army’s success in banning ‘Islamist’ parties was the series of mistakes committed by Mr Erdogan’s mentor and predecessor Necmettin Erbekan in taking on the army. Mr Erdogan has handled the situation with greater acumen, declaring that his party accepted secularism. Since 2000, when he became prime minister the first time, Mr Erdogan has proceeded cautiously, chipping away at the army’s powers gradually, beginning with the transformation of the army-controlled National Security Council into a civilian institution. His stature was raised when the EU agreed in 2004 to begin entry negotiations with Ankara after the AKP government enacted a series of legal and political reforms to conform to the Copenhagen criteria. The EU has welcomed the ‘yes’ vote, and President Barack Obama congratulated Mr Erdogan and “acknowledged the vibrancy of Turkish democracy”. Straddling the continents of Asia and Europe, Turkey has a key role to play as a moderating force in the turbulent Middle East to its south. The passage of the reform package should help expedite Turkey’s EU entry negotiations. [CENTER]--------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Times New Roman"][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]A callous culture[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Tuesday, 14 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] MONDAY’S death of a newborn in Lahore has once again brought the abhorrent VIP culture into focus. News reports suggest the infant died when it did not receive medical care at the city’s Children’s Hospital. Access to the emergency section was apparently blocked because of tight security as the Punjab chief minister was visiting the facility. The newborn’s father was reportedly asked to fetch a copy of his CNIC in order to enter the hospital. The Punjab government has said that the parents of the infant will be compensated. Such crass and insensitive statements do nothing to lessen the tragedy; what compensation can possibly be offered for an innocent life lost due to the state’s ineptitude? Tragic as the incident is, it is not the first of its kind and the VIP culture is certainly not limited to Punjab; in fact, it is a nationwide malady. Ambulances cannot get through traffic jams whenever major public figures are on the road, and not too long ago a woman gave birth in a rickshaw in Quetta as access to the hospital was blocked because of the passage of the presidential motorcade. The Punjab law minister was quoted as saying that certain personalities — including the Punjab chief minister — face a “strong security threat” while terrorists have also set their sights on hospitals. While this may be true, the visit of a politician or official to a medical facility does not justify causing massive inconvenience to the public. Those under threat can be offered sufficient protection even if public convenience is incorporated in security plans. Closing down roads and barricading buildings is a very ham-fisted approach to security. What the state needs to do is implement security protocols that cause the least inconvenience to the public while shielding public figures from potential threats. Protecting the lives of the elite while not caring about the security and wellbeing of the general public is a despicable attitude that needs to change fast. |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="Black"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Repression in Kashmir[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Wednesday, 15 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Fifteen more deaths in Indian-held Kashmir on Monday testify to the continuation of the Kashmiri desire for freedom and the brutal government response to it. The killing of the protesters, mostly urban youths, comes within a week of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s plea to his security forces to use humane methods to deal with the demonstrators. Even though the immediate cause for the protesters’ anger was the burning of the Holy Quran by an individual in America, the protests — recognised worldwide as indigenous — are a continuation of the anti-India demonstrations that have rocked the valley since June 11, leading to at least 85 deaths, mostly civilian. The choice is now before New Delhi: will it handle the situation politically or will it intensify its repressive measures that are bound to be counterproductive? Last week, a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation that included super hawk L.K. Advani called on Dr Singh and asked him not to “surrender” to Kashmiri protesters. Will the Singh government succumb to such pressure and try to crush the Kashmiri movement by force or will it listen to reason and try by all means possible to handle the explosive and deteriorating situation in the valley using political means? Before it decides to take the former course, it should know that such a move would not only lead to greater violence and more fatalities, it would also sideline the moderate Kashmiri leadership and drive what is basically a nationalist movement into Islamist hands. The security forces have been armed with draconian powers by the Armed Forces’ Special Powers’ Act, which has been in existence for two decades but has failed to deliver. Even though there have been calls from Indian rights’ groups and a section of the media for revisiting this act, the Indian government has turned a deaf ear to their pleas. This has made the jackboots trigger-happy. In a recent interview, Lt Gen B.S. Jaswal, the Indian general on the spot, defended the powers he had under AFSPA and said such laws were “imperative” for carrying out “smooth operations”. Going by the blood that is flowing in Indian-held Kashmir, what Gen Jaswal’s men are carrying out are anything but “smooth operations”. The choice ultimately is New Delhi’s — whether it listens to civilian and military hawks or decides to go for a political solution. While at it, we can only feel astonished at the lack of a response by the international community to the killings in Indian-held Kashmir. The silence of the world to the rights violations in the valley is a reflection on Pakistan’s diplomacy. [CENTER]----------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Georgia"][CENTER][U][B][B][B][B][B] Power sector reforms[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Wednesday, 15 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] To consumers of electricity, the intricacies of the power sector may matter little. There is, after all, a simple, effective benchmark to judge the sector’s performance: do consumers get electricity regularly and is the electricity priced reasonably? On both counts, the power sector here has failed miserably in recent years. Worse, though, is the unhappy reality that the government appears to be doing little to turn the sector around and return it to profitability and better efficiency. A report by the Asian Development Bank has criticised the government for its failure to shepherd through to completion the creation of the Central Power Purchasing Authority, described in the report as “the heart of the power sector” which acts “as the centre of demand and supply in the electricity market”. Most consumers may be unaware of the CPPA or even its previous avatar, the National Transmission and Despatch Company. Once again, the ADB report helps clarify its importance: “The CPPA … acts as counterpart to all power purchase agreements between government and power generators/IPPs. A well-functioning CPPA underpins contractual obligations between the power purchasers and power producers and acts as a barometer for future investment in the power-generation sector.” What did the ADB make of the government’s cooperation during the million-dollar technical assistance? “Although the power sector in Pakistan is mature enough to graduate towards formation of an independent CPPA, the lack of thrust and political will impeded its implementation in true spirit … the weak capacity of [the executing agency] and political will of the [Ministry of Water and Power] stalled the full establishment and operations of the CPPA.” These are terribly familiar charges: lack of thrust and political will and weak capacity. Lest there be any doubt about the enormous impact the government’s failure may have, the ADB report ends on a grim note: “The delay in institutionalising CPPA operations would add to uncertainty surrounding the dynamics structure of the sector and retard critical private-sector investments to ensure energy security.” Translation: consumers can expect to live with power cuts for the foreseeable future. Is anyone in the government paying attention? [CENTER] ------------------ [/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="5"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][I][U][B][B][B][B][B]Adding to pollution[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/I][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Wednesday, 15 Sep, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] If stone quarrying in Islamabad’s Margalla Hills could not be stopped in the National Year of the Environment in 2009, the latest attempt to curb the practice is likely to be futile. Stone quarrying has already denuded the western portion of the Margallas and is endangering archaeological sites in Taxila. According to a Dawn report, the latest plan to curb stone quarrying involves getting the electricity authorities to cut off connections to the quarries. The next step would be the confiscation of machinery by the relevant local administrations. But the plan is a non-starter as the electricity authorities say they won’t take action as some stone-crushers have obtained stay orders from the courts. Other quarries are known to be operating even though their licences are believed to have expired. Quarrying, thus, continues — despite numerous ostensible attempts over the past two decades to end a practice which was rendered illegal when the area was designated as a national park in 1980. While the ‘connections’ of some stone quarry owners is often blamed for the failure to stop the activity, the real reason lies in the lack of political will and the poor coordination effort of various federal and provincial/local government departments to put an end to quarrying in the Margallas. Quarrying is also detrimental to human health because of the airborne pollution it engenders. Besides, settlements in and around Islamabad have expanded, and these quarries are no longer far from the residential areas. If a complete halt to quarrying in the Margallas is next to impossible, an attempt should be made to get quarry owners to reduce dust pollution. Environmental protection measures practised elsewhere in the world include the reintegration of quarried localities in the natural environment through re-cultivation. These measures should be implemented in the country, wherever stone quarrying thrives. |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="DarkOrange"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B]Environmental issues[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Magenta"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Thursday, 16 Sep, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]With global recognition of the impact of development on the environment, it is encouraging that the matter is gaining attention in Pakistan.[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Official quarters have finally started to turn their attention to environmentally destructive activities, which often continue despite the existence of relevant laws and in the absence of legal enforcement and political will. For example, recently Islamabad’s city police provided the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency with two squads to initiate action against commercial buildings in Murree that are discharging sewage into the Korang River. Similarly, after recent Supreme Court orders, the Punjab EPA has formed two teams to launch an operation against the polluters of Rawal Lake. Both these water bodies have suffered great degradation because of the mushroom growth of enterprises such as poultry farms, commercial plazas and recreation spots. These moves ought to be replicated wherever industry, urbanisation or development is taking place at the cost of the environment. Across the country, we have seen entire lakes and rivers being poisoned, the deforestation of large swathes of land at the hands of timber mafias and vested interest parties, and the condoning of administrative inaction as slow desertification afflicts fields upon fields of previously arable land. Through neglect and apathy, and in some cases because the state machinery turned a blind eye to irregularities, Pakistan has for years been allowing wholesale environmental degradation. This has to stop, and that will only happen when the state makes it a priority. The issue will gain heightened importance in future months: once the floodwaters recede we will have to take stock of the environmental damage, for example in terms of habitat loss for flora, fauna and human communities that depend on a certain type of environment for livelihood and subsistence. That exercise ought to become the pivot that shifts the country’s attention to the importance of the environment. [CENTER] -----------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="DarkOrange"][SIZE="6"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B]MNAs’ assets[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Magenta"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Thursday, 16 Sep, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Making money is in itself neither objectionable nor a crime. But concerns are bound to be raised when it transpires that Pakistan’s MNAs, the country’s elected representatives, somehow managed to increase their collective wealth three-fold over six years. That is the conclusion reached by Pildat, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, which has closely scrutinised the assets declarations submitted by members of parliament between 2003-04 and 2008-09. MNAs are not simply private entrepreneurs, even if they have businesses to run or landholdings to till. They are accountable to the public and the people of Pakistan are fully justified in asking two basic questions: what caused this sudden influx of cash and did the honourable MNAs pay the income tax due on this increased prosperity? Their status in our society, such as it is, has never been in doubt. They are powerful in an almost mediaeval fashion and few are in a position to question their authority. But perhaps it is now time for right-thinking citizens to question whether the explosive growth in the wealth of our MNAs is the result of legitimate enterprise or tactics that can’t be so easily explained. Some MNAs declare multi-billion-rupee assets and live the accompanying lifestyle for all to see. That is their right, one supposes, in a nation crippled by poverty but at least they pay taxes on that income because they’ve put it down in writing. What is far more deplorable are political leaders who swank about in sports-utility vehicles and live in big bungalows and still claim to be paupers. Are they hiding their wealth? That is up to the reader, not this paper, to judge. Both the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Federal Board of Revenue need to look into reports that many MNAs are far wealthier now than they were six years ago — and the FBR should make our parliamentarians’ tax returns public. What gold mine did they strike in this short period? While the public bore the brunt of crippling inflation exacerbated by the short-sighted policies of the Musharraf regime, our ruling elite was able to transform its millions into billions. That is the reality of Pakistan today. This is a country where the salaried-class taxpayer — who has no option but to pay taxes — continues to be milked for all he or she is worth while many among the politically powerful contribute little or nothing to the exchequer. It is time to ascertain whether the lifestyles of many among our politicians are in keeping with their declared assets. And if the two don’t match up, action must be taken. [CENTER] ------------------ [COLOR="DarkOrange"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Hekmatyar speaks[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Magenta"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Thursday, 16 Sep, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Political posturing is what the latest statements by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Hizb-i-Islami, can be attributed to. The Afghan warlord, once a favourite of the Pakistani security establishment before falling out of favour and now back — marginally — in its good books, has sent mixed signals in recent months. Mr Hekmatyar’s most recent comments suggest that, one, no peace is possible in Afghanistan unless the foreign forces leave, and two, that if the first condition is met, the insurgents would ensure that Afghanistan would not become a haven for foreign militants, read mostly Al Qaeda, and that no harm would come to the US in future. What are we to make of this? The Hizb-i-Islami is not considered a major player in the insurgency in Afghanistan, mostly being confined to eastern Afghanistan and having some links to the province of Baghlan. As such, a major question mark hangs over whether Mr Hekmatyar speaks with the support of Mullah Omar, the supreme commander of the Taliban. Without the support of Mullah Omar, no one can hope to deliver on any pledges to the Americans, and it should be noted that the supreme commander pledged over Eid to defeat the foreign forces. There is also the problem that after making overtures towards the Karzai government earlier this year, the Hizb-i-Islami is believed to have come to the conclusion that the Afghan president has no real power and cannot deliver on any deal himself. This may explain why in his recent interviews Mr Hekmatyar has played down the possibility of a deal with the Karzai government and focused on speaking to the Americans. For its part, the US is believed to have had back-channel communications with Mr Hekmatyar for years, but the experienced Afghan warlord is understood to have repeatedly promised much only to quickly backtrack, a frustrating circular exercise that continues with no side having much faith in the process. In any case, presently a review of the Afghan strategy is under way in the US, with decisions expected by December — meaning that for now it will likely be status quo in Afghanistan. |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Floods and tax[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"] Dawn Editorial Friday, 17 Sep, 2010[/SIZE][/COLOR] We have been hearing of the imposition of a one-time flood tax to raise money for the huge reconstruction job ahead ever since the first hamlet was destroyed by the recent floods and the first community displaced. Much time has elapsed since then but the government still appears clueless as to what tax should or can be levied and the modalities of such a tax. Whatever proposals have been voiced so far appear to lack direction and hardly inspire hope of a consensus. In cases, there are indications of narrow interests, which defies the slogans of ‘nationalism’ often raised by our politicians. A finance ministry official, for example, was reported to have proposed a flood tax on income and imports. The proposal did not take off, probably because of some legal hitches. The Punjab government has abandoned the idea of levying a flood tax because of the possible political fallout of the move and in the hope of forcing Islamabad itself to cough up sufficient funds. President Asif Zardari had recommended the imposition of a tax on urban immovable property and agricultural land. Punjab is strongly opposed to the idea. The Sindh government, however, is reported to have finalised plans to implement the president’s recommendation to raise funds for meeting its post-flood financial needs. The MQM opposes the tax saying it would burden the residents of Karachi and Hyderabad, the two cities from where the party mainly draws its political strength. In any case the MQM’s demand that such a tax should be levied at the federal level has considerable weight as the floods have caused vast destruction in all the provinces. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, meanwhile, has come up with the idea of imposing a ‘religious tax’ on property and agricultural land. The tax could be called ‘zakat’, ‘ushr’ or ‘khairat’ as deemed fit by taxpayers, according to an ANP leader. In spite of the absence of a political consensus, or logic, the proposals reflect one thing: the government does not have enough money to finance post-flood reconstruction despite generous contributions from the outside world. The financial constraints stem from the government’s unwillingness to stand up to pressure and tax the rich and powerful. Given a less than 10 per cent tax-to-GDP ratio, no country can hope to sustain itself, let alone meet the costs of a calamity. Every time a disaster strikes, the authorities force the fixed- income segments of the population — already burdened with price hikes and squeezed incomes — to foot the bill. The government must roll up its sleeves and start taxing the rich. [CENTER]---------------------- [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B]Drone strikes[/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"][B]Dawn Editorial Friday, 17 Sep, 2010 [/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] A barrage of drone strikes in parts of North Waziristan Agency recently has once again thrust the controversial programme in the spotlight. The escalation appears to be linked to time running out for America’s strategy to stabilise Afghanistan and prevent that country and the border areas with Pakistan from remaining a safe haven for groups inclined to attacking the US. Beyond that, little is certain. The strikes over the past couple of weeks have focused on specific areas of one of the three divisions in North Waziristan, areas believed to be largely Haqqani strongholds. This indicates that the pursuit of Al Qaeda has gone down a notch, perhaps because that group’s size is believed to have shrunk to no more than a few hundred members. Increasing pressure on the Taliban, however, should not be read as a fixation with just the Afghan Taliban. In North Waziristan, even the Pakistani Taliban are believed to be oriented towards Afghanistan and as such would also be in the cross-hairs of the US drones. When the strikes in North Waziristan are considered along with US pressure on militants in eastern Afghanistan, the other side of the border from North Waziristan in particular, it becomes evident that America is willing to act even in the absence of the much- demanded military operation in North Waziristan. The window for America to produce military results is closing. The Pakistani government, rather the security establishment led by the Pakistan Army, needs to come clean about the drone strikes. US Special Representative for AfPak Richard Holbrooke has claimed the government and the army are very much on board regarding the drone strikes — something privately acknowledged by the Pakistani side. If there isn’t cooperation on every strike, then broad permission appears to have been granted by the Pakistani side. Secret deals on strikes which are public appear to make little sense. Ideally, the US should transfer drone technology to Pakistan to remove qualms over violation of sovereignty. For this, greater mutual trust is needed. Till then, a private understanding on drone strikes would have to suffice as the use of Pakistani bombers could mean greater collateral damage. [CENTER]---------------------- [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Georgia"][CENTER][U][B]A hero’s welcome[/B][/U][/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="2"]Dawn Editorial Friday, 17 Sep, 2010 [/SIZE][/COLOR] The rousing reception Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi received upon his return to Pakistan on Wednesday is well-deserved. He is the first Pakistani to make it to the finals of a tennis Grand Slam. In fact, Aisam achieved the admirable feat of reaching two finals at the recent US Open: the mixed doubles and men’s doubles. Though he and his partners lost the matches, they fought hard and came close to victory. Aisam’s sporting success has strengthened his image as a role model for Pakistani sportsmen and women. The euphoria surrounding his achievement is understandable on several counts. It has proved that Pakistanis are capable of excelling in fields other than the usual negative stereotypes (terrorism, corruption etc.) associated with this country. The fact that Aisam’s partner in the men’s doubles event, Rohan Bopanna, is Indian is also significant. It shows that the people of both nations can work together and cut through the miasma of hate and mistrust that prevails across the subcontinent. The tennis star’s success has also raised the nation’s spirits amidst the misery caused by the floods. And of course, considering the fact that cricket has been dragged through the mud due to the alleged shady dealings of leading cricketers, Aisam’s success has given Pakistanis something to cheer about. Hopefully, Aisam’s achievement will raise the profile of tennis in Pakistan and encourage youngsters to pick up the racquet and practise hard. It should also prompt the government to pay serious attention to sports and help create the infrastructure and environment for young people to channel their energies in a healthy, positive direction. Though cricket may be a national passion, the lopsided attention given to it by the state and the people should not translate into the neglect of other sports. With encouragement and training, there may be many more Aisams in the making. |
Editorial Dawn
[COLOR="Black"][SIZE="6"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B]Murder in London[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Saturday, 18 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] PAKISTAN has witnessed no dearth of political assassinations. Many heads of state and government as well as senior political leaders have met a violent end in this country. MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq’s grisly murder in London on Thursday is the latest addition to this morbid list. He was stabbed to death near his home in the British capital. The killing stunned the party as well as political circles and sent Karachi into a state of virtual lockdown. Markets, schools and fuel stations remained closed on Friday as an air of dread prevailed in the metropolis. But the violence has been minimal and thankfully no lives have been lost. Imran Farooq was a founding leader of the MQM. One of the moving forces behind the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation — forerunner of the party — in the late 1970s, he held several top posts within the organisation as well as represented the MQM in the National Assembly. He went underground at the time of 1992’s infamous Operation Clean-Up, only to re-emerge in London in 1999. He faced several criminal cases in this country, though these were withdrawn under the NRO. Imran Farooq was also considered the ideologue of both the political and militant cadres of the MQM. Though a member of the old guard, he was suspended from the party for a time and despite apparently being rehabilitated, he had practically been out in the cold during the last few years. The MQM is no stranger to political murders. It has seen several of its high-ranking leaders assassinated. Former party chairman Azeem Ahmed Tariq was gunned down inside his house in 1993 while parliamentarian Khalid bin Waleed was ambushed in 2003. MPA Raza Haider’s murder in August sparked violence in which nearly 100 people were killed. None of these — as well as other political murders — have been solved. Imran Farooq’s killing is the first known murder of a senior Pakistani politician outside the country. Scotland Yard is investigating and the results of the probe will show whether the MQM leader was a victim of street crime or if Pakistani political militants have exported their vendettas to foreign shores. The party has blamed no one and no group has claimed responsibility. All eyes are on the investigation because unlike Pakistan, it is highly unlikely that the British authorities will succumb to political or government pressure while investigating the case. If a political motive is traced to the murder, it will mean that a bloody new chapter in Pakistani political violence has been opened beyond this country’s borders. [CENTER]--------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="6"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B]Brutalised society[/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="DarkOrange"][SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Saturday, 18 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] VIOLENCE is an expected consequence in a society where want and deprivation are the norm. It is not surprising that deteriorating conditions in Pakistan, amongst them spiralling poverty and a worsening security situation, have rendered society brutal to the extreme. It seems that employing violent means comes almost naturally to a citizenry that has witnessed countless atrocities that include mass killings, suicide bombings, lynchings, beheadings and the stringing up of corpses by groups such as the Taliban. While these grim realities can be used as a route to understanding how Pakistanis have become inured to violence, there are many individual cases where the scale of brutality simply beggars belief, and points to the lava that may erupt at any point from the simmering volcano that is Pakistan. One of these was Thursday’s incident in Gujrat, when a man was bludgeoned to death over a minor traffic row. Eyewitnesses say that the victim, Tariq Mahmood, narrowly avoided a collision with a motorbike. An argument ensued after which the bikers, whose apparel indicated their association with the legal fraternity, started hitting the car driver. Mahmood took refuge in his car but the enraged bikers, joined by three of their colleagues, broke the car windows, pulled him out and beat him with bricks until he was dead. The tragedy, coming so soon after the lynching of two brothers in Sialkot, makes us wonder how far Pakistani society is from the level of beasts. The incident reminds us that education or even a certain social level — as indicated by the men’s garb and mode of transport — is no bar to brutality. Deplorable too, as in the Sialkot case, was the role played by the police: they stood by and watched. An eyewitness says that he appealed to three policemen present a few yards away but they refused to intervene on the truly shocking pretext that they had been deputed merely to check vehicles. Neither did they make any attempt to apprehend the killers. Quite clearly, matters in Pakistan are rapidly reaching such a pass that the rule of law is being replaced by the law of the jungle. [CENTER]--------------------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR="DarkOrange"][SIZE="6"][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][I] A crucial vote[/I][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Magenta"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B]Dawn Editorial Saturday, 18 Sep, 2010[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] AFGHANS go to the polls today to elect a parliament whose role will be crucial to the negotiations in the air. The exercise will constitute Afghanistan’s second parliamentary elections since the ouster of the Taliban regime in October 2001, and its successful completion may be considered a major step towards the consolidation of democratic trends in Afghanistan. It remains to be seen whether the Taliban’s threat to disrupt the election will deter voters from exercising their franchise. The turnout in the 2005 elections was 50 per cent, the voting was marked by widespread irregularities and the ‘indelible’ ink turned out to be washable. A foreign watchdog has already warned that today’s elections will be “disputatious”, because there will be “plenty of fraud”, with no less than 2,477 candidates contesting 249 seats. The elections are being held against the backdrop of two realities: the level of insurgency has increased and the American troop withdrawal will begin in July next. This has given confidence to the Taliban but has at the same time spurred the movement for peace. The big question is which way the new parliament will go. Common sense suggests that three decades of conflict and all that it means should goad the Afghan people’s representatives into hastening the move towards ending the war. However, the fact is that the militants are as much divided over beginning talks as those who have been running the ‘war on terror’ for nine years, for the latter too have failed to devise a coordinated strategy for clinching a peace deal. From this point of view the composition of the new Afghan parliament will determine how peace moves fare. The new elected lot will not be the only actors in the war and peace drama, but being the people’s representatives their views should matter a great deal. |
Editorial Dawn
[CENTER][COLOR="Black"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B][B][B][B][B]Unwarranted optimism[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]
[COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B][B] Dawn Editorial Sunday, 19 Sep, 2010 [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B][B][B][B]Given Israel’s track record, it is difficult to share US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s optimism that a Middle East peace is “within reach” or Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s conditional hope that a two-state solution can be attained in half a year. [/B][/B][/B][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] Wednesday’s talks in occupied Jerusalem between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas failed to produce results. They talked because Mr Netanyahu has said he will meet his Palestinian interlocutor every fortnight to continue the talks renewed in Washington earlier this month after a 20-month lapse. But Wednesday’s session in Jerusalem saw no sign of a thaw, with Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas resorting to diplomatese to cover up what obviously was a failure. They will meet again next month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session to pick up from what actually is the debris of a promising peace process begun by Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin in 1993. While the talks are supposed to solve ‘final status’ issues, the key question at the moment is settlement activity. US President Barack Obama has time and again emphasised the need for Israel to halt all construction activity on Palestinian territory but has been rebuffed by the Likud government. The least Israel could do now is to extend the moratorium on housing, but reports from Tel Aviv suggest Mr Netanyahu has no intention of extending it beyond Sept 26. Mr Abbas has said he will walk out if construction activity is resumed, and the PA chief’s stand makes sense. A halt to Jewish colonisation is not an end in itself; the end is the emergence of a sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. But a halt to colonisation will indicate Israel’s sincerity about the negotiations, whose aim is to give the holy land lasting peace. [CENTER] ------------------------ [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="6"][U][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][B][FONT="Georgia"]Will they learn?[/FONT][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/U][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B]Dawn Editorial Sunday, 19 Sep, 2010 [/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B]Strange are the ways of politics and the media in this country. Tune in to a primetime political talk show on any day and the discussion is about some vague ‘change’ being in the air, everything from the wrapping up of the transition to democracy to mid-term elections to some unspecified internal house-cleaning exercise by the political government at the behest of the extra-constitutional forces that lurk in the wings of power. [/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] All of this talk then seemingly jolts the government into some kind of ‘action’ — an extraordinary, emergency meeting in Islamabad jointly chaired by the president and the prime minister with over 40 ministers and advisers in attendance has fuelled yet more talk that the government is ‘under pressure’ and may be panicking. Step back from the conspiratorial whispers and dark rantings for a minute, however, and several things become apparent. One, the media is playing, to put it mildly in some cases, an unhelpful role in the democratic project. Some television programmes and news ‘reports’ do not even bother to hide their desire to see the back of the present government, whatever the consequences. For a country that has flirted with and embraced military interventions so many times in the past, only for these to inevitably lead to disastrous consequences, the media’s sometimes barely concealed cheerleading for extra-constitutional measures is astonishing. An institution ostensibly meant to keep the public informed, and thereby indirectly hold the government to account, seems to suffer from the shortest of memories. Whatever the sins of the government, and let there be no doubt there are many sins of commission and omission, the media needs to reflect on what it is that sets apart a democracy from a dictatorship and remind itself why only a few years ago it was calling for the end of a military-run political dispensation. Two, the political government in Islamabad has run out of excuses for its incompetence and political tone-deafness. The meeting held in Islamabad on Friday has revved up talk of ‘change’ rather than dispelled it. In any case, what exactly did Friday’s meeting achieve? The government’s popularity has plummeted not due to a poor PR job but because of its poor, nay terrible, performance on the governance side. Action is what’s required, on the economy, on the recovery effort from the floods, on the fight against militancy, on the delivery of basic services, not mere words. At another level, it is hoped that the Supreme Court delivers its verdict on the 18th Amendment soon as a clear decision will help clear up the air of uncertainty. [CENTER]----------- [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Georgia"][U][B]EU concessions[/B][/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER] [COLOR="Sienna"][SIZE="2"][B]Dawn Editorial Sunday, 19 Sep, 2010 [/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR="Black"][SIZE="2"][B]It is difficult to assess the economic impact of the ‘limited’ trade concessions the European Union proposes to give to Pakistani textile goods entering its market because the details of the incentives will not be available before mid-October.[/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] The EU concessions are being given to help Pakistan mitigate the effect of the recent flood disaster on its fragile economy. Whatever information has trickled down to us through media reports reveals that the deal is punctuated with many ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’, and is for a limited time. Its implementation is also subject to a waiver from the World Trade Organisation to avoid violation of international trade rules and aggravating the EU’s other trading partners in the region. Thus, the proposal can prima facie be described as a case of ‘too little, too late’. Islamabad has long been calling for duty-free entry for its textile goods into the EU market under the GSP Plus scheme to stabilise an economy battered by the long-drawn-out war on terror and the recent floods. The request was rejected on the grounds that Pakistan doesn’t meet EU criteria on human rights and governance. Also, the size of its economy is too big to qualify for those concessions. The EU’s protectionist policies and global economic downturn, however, have been the strongest odds against Pakistan’s request for GSP Plus. Indeed, the increase, however modest, in its textile exports to the EU will help Pakistan earn an additional few hundred million dollars and create new jobs. But it requires much more than small mercies to revive its economy and industry on a sustainable basis. Europe and America should give Pakistani textiles duty-free access for a longer period, say for 10 years, if they want to help the country’s people and economy. Bangladesh has more than tripled its value-added textile exports to $18bn from $5bn in just five years because it got duty-free market access to the European and American markets. Pakistan deserves similar treatment from its allies in the war on terror — and immediately. It is important to prevent the poverty- and flood-stricken people from turning to crime and violence. |
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