Monday, December 09, 2013

Unfair remarks: PM’s grouse

THE prime minister is upset that the media has not treated his government fairly or justly in its coverage of the government’s performance so far and he specifically complained over the weekend that the great vegetable price inflation was highlighted far more than the recent downward trend in prices. Governments complaining about the role of the media in undermining them and treating them unfairly and unjustly is as old a complaint as the media itself. In reality, it is often the media that has been treated unjustly, unfairly and worse by governments throughout history, and that history certainly includes PML-N governments. To be sure, there are sections of the media here that often project themselves as participants in, instead of observers of, the political and governance process, but even that is not something a vibrant and thriving democracy cannot absorb.

The problem with the PML-N government, which has led to growing, though far from historically fierce, criticism of its performance, is twofold: it does not appear to have a coherent plan nor does it appear to know how to communicate well the plans it does have. Have a look at the economic front. The management of the economy is nearing shambolic and yet the chief stewards of the economy appear unwilling to factor in reality in their public assessments, as detailed further down in these columns today. On other fronts, even when the prime minister does act and makes some reasonable choices in appointing officials, controversy follows. For example, if a foreign secretary was chosen and his name all but officially announced, why embarrass all concerned, including the prime minister, by a last-minute change? These instances are only a tiny sample of the political paralysis and indecision that seems to have afflicted the PML-N government.

What is troubling about the prime minister’s comments is that he has chosen to criticise the media at precisely the moment the country is looking to him to get on with the business of governance and policy now that a new army chief has been installed and a new chief justice of the Supreme Court will be sworn in this week. Is the prime minister once again simply looking for scapegoats?

It surely cannot bode well for the prospects of an improvement on the governance front.

No political will: Siachen freeze

IT was once talked up as potential low-hanging fruit — diplomatic speak for a goal that is relatively easily achievable. In reality, Siachen has proved to be anything but. The latest indication has come in the shape of an anonymous rebuttal to the Indian media by the Indian army regarding the suggestion by Sartaj Aziz that troops should be withdrawn from Siachen because of the environmental dangers to the critical glacier. Mr Aziz’s words were reported in an India-specific context — that Pakistan’s water supplies are threatened by the environmental damage the Indian troop presence on Siachen is causing — but it is a long-standing position of the Pakistani state that both countries’ troops should be pulled back and Siachen be returned to its no-man’s land status. But the Indian army has quickly expressed its disapproval of the idea, reinforcing the new status quo on Siachen discussions: Pakistan proposes; India opposes.

The Indian army’s stubbornness on Siachen is rooted in the narrowness of military thinking: the Indian side has a military advantage in Siachen; the beefing up of military infrastructure and supply routes has reduced the risk of succumbing to the extreme cold and inhospitable terrain; occupying Siachen serves as a badge of honour in the macho military culture; and, thanks to the utter foolishness of Pervez Musharraf, the Kargil disaster has given the Indian military enough ammunition to shoot down talk of building trust and abiding by joint agreements on Siachen. Understanding that logic, however, does not equal to automatically accepting it. What the Musharraf disaster did can be undone through a verification mechanism that ensures neither side creeps back into Siachen once troops withdraw. But then the Indian army’s insistence that the present positions of both sides on Siachen be marked becomes a red flag to Pakistan because it lays down a marker in a disputed region. The solution, as ever, remains well known: political will from both sides to wrest control from their respective security establishments. That is surely doable in this specific area on this specific matter.

Dar’s pie in the sky: Economic ‘feats’

FINANCE Minister Ishaq Dar is one of those men in government who appear to know the value of personal relationships in establishing durable business ties. He was following PML-N convention when, during a recent meeting with the German ambassador — who had a kind word for the government’s economic efforts — he “recalled that the first dignitary who met … Nawaz Sharif after he was sworn in as prime minister was the German foreign minister”. Mr Dar used the meeting to go over the government’s ‘feats’ in the brief period it has been in charge of the “broken economy” that it had “inherited”. The highlight was his reiteration of his commitment to economic reforms. He made no secret of his party’s resolve to carry out large-scale reforms without any prodding from the IMF. These steps, Mr Dar asserted, were there in the PML-N manifesto in the last election. With these words, there remains little doubt that the Pakistani people’s harangue against world donors over the rising inflation in the country has little justification. This was apparently written in the stars and is not something laterally imposed by the IMF.

In his meeting with the German envoy, Mr Ishaq Dar — inevitably — listed the ‘clearance’ of the circular debt in the energy sector as an immediate, big success of his government. Some bitter observers would say he might as well have proceeded from there to thank the ambassador on the impact the development of the Gutenberg press in Germany back in the 15th century has had on currencies, and the subsequent convenient payments of debts. But that admission will take time. For the moment, we can be satisfied in the knowledge that it is the PML-N and not the IMF that has taken up the task of reforming us economically.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Pakistan’s concerns: WTO deal

INDEED, the World Trade Organisation agreement last week in Bali, Indonesia, is hardly representative of all the issues that the stalled Doha Round has unsuccessfully attempted to tackle for the last 12 years to dismantle the fetters hampering freer global trade. Yet the pact is significant because it is expected to save the Geneva-based arbiter of global trade from becoming irrelevant at a time when most WTO members, particularly rich countries blocking the free access of exports from developing nations to their markets, appear to favour bilateral or regional arrangements. Hence, a jubilant WTO chief Roberto Azevedo described the agreement as an important stepping stone towards the completion of the Doha Round. The Bali package is the first global trade deal clinched under the umbrella of the WTO since the organisation’s foundation in 1995 and is estimated to have paved the way for the addition of $1tr to global economic activity and 21m jobs by removing bureaucratic hurdles and simplifying customs procedures. Besides, it will help improve the access of exports from the Least Developed Countries to the markets of wealthy nations. Getting the Bali deal done meant that the 159 members of the world trade body had to agree to more flexible rules on farm subsidies, an issue that has divided developing countries for far too long. India, for example, insists on subsidising its farmers for the crops it buys for the government’s domestic food security programme. Countries like Thailand, Pakistan and Uruguay, major producers of rice like India, say that the subsidised Indian farmers could negatively impact producers in their own countries. At the end of the day, India got what it wanted as others didn’t want negotiations to break down. A ‘peace clause’ was agreed upon to preclude any legal WTO challenge for four years against the countries breaching the farm subsidy limits as part of their food security programmes so long as the practice doesn’t distort trade.

Regrettably, the absence of a federal commerce minister in the country shows the lack of seriousness on Pakistan’s part towards global issues. Apart from writing a protest note to the WTO secretariat, the country’s trade officials haven’t done anything to block India’s move. Perhaps, they didn’t expect much support from other WTO members. This approach towards the multilateral trade negotiations betrays a lack of confidence and the absence of skills and competence for international trade diplomacy. It would have been much better had the country’s trade authorities been prepared to project Pakistan’s interest and used the forum to voice their concerns even if their viewpoint was rejected.

‘Third-party’ change: Indian state elections

THE results of the state elections in India reconfirm a few trends. The Bharatiya Janata Party has captured Rajasthan, has retained Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is now the single largest party in Delhi. This boosts Narendra Modi as ‘the’ candidate for the prime ministerial office in the general elections next summer. Also, the voting patterns add to the growing worldwide evidence of how far off the mark pre-election projections and even exit polls can turn out to be. Whereas the pollsters are accused of trying to, subtly or clumsily, force a ‘popular’ choice on the electorate, this latest instance of the voters’ defiance of predictions highlights their ability to not be over-influenced by data. It shows they can make up their minds independently. This is a sign of maturity and should deter the less careful and more ambitious calculators of public opinion everywhere.

The Indian state elections re-establish the growing assertive presence of the middle class in politics and the focus this involvement places on ‘middle-class’ issues, the most prominent among them being corruption. The Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as a force by securing a large number of seats in Delhi, containing the Congress but also denting the BJP. It appears that a sizeable number of Indian voters locate the reasons for political malfunctioning in the system itself, beyond the incompetence and corrupt practices of a single political party. This has created the conditions for a new party or third party to flourish, even if its existence is so far limited to a few locales and a few issues in the country. This is not at all dissimilar to what happened in the general elections in Pakistan. Whether or not the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has been able to live up to its promise post-polls, its voter appeal by and large lay in its ability to portray itself as a saviour, above the traditional parties and as a clean alternative. This third-party intervention, in both India and Pakistan, already signifies a change.

Unfortunate disruption: Iranian bookstall closed

ALL too often we are given grim reminders of this society’s lurch towards intolerance. Perhaps the most recent such reminder was the incident at the Karachi International Book Fair, which wrapped up on Monday, in which a bookstall set up by the Iranian consulate was shut down following a protest by the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat. The religious organisation took umbrage at some of the books on display at the Iranian stall because of their allegedly ‘sectarian’ content and complained to the police. Buckling under pressure, the police confiscated the books while the fair’s organisers closed down the stall. The Iranian consulate has rejected the allegation that sectarian material was being displayed — indeed, it is debatable whether any diplomatic mission would publicly display inflammatory literature, especially in these times. The incident bodes ill for the future of cultural and literary activities in the country when extremists can have literature they deem unacceptable removed and dictate terms to society.

What is equally disturbing is that the incident occurred at Karachi’s only major book fair. By definition, book fairs are supposed to encourage the freedom to learn, question, and explore new areas of knowledge. There has been valid criticism that over the past few years the number of religious books has been increasing at the fair, with some questionable titles on display. Yet in an open society all literature should have space and judgement should be left to the individual. But in Pakistan, powerful groups can dictate what is and what is not kosher for the masses. Today it is Iranian books; tomorrow, if religious extremists complain against other ‘unacceptable’ material, will the fair’s organisers also cave in? Clearly, such incidents prove that in Pakistan extremism is not simply creeping; it is on the march.

__________________
Ye sab tmhara karam hai AAQA k bat ab tak bani hoi hai
May is karam k kahan ti kabil ye HAZOOR ki band parvari hai

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Problematic ties: Chuck Hagel’s warning

ON Monday, US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel came to Islamabad and essentially warned that disruptions of the Nato supply route through Pakistan could have repercussions in Washington that may imperil US assistance to Pakistan. Yesterday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif claimed his government is working urgently to address the terrorism threat inside Pakistan. Also yesterday, parliament passed a unanimous resolution calling upon the government to end drone strikes inside Pakistan. Three small episodes in the span of 24 hours, but each linked to the broader problem in Pakistan-US ties. Much is said, sometimes about convergences, sometimes about disagreements, by both sides, but neither side is willing to do what is necessary to stabilise a problematic but crucial relationship.

Start with Mr Hagel’s veiled threat. In essence, the US defence secretary has warned that domestic politics in Pakistan ought not to get in the way of American and allied countries’ military interests in Afghanistan over the next year. The PTI may have appropriated an area of foreign policy and taken unilateral decisions that cannot be defended on the basis of law or convention, but there’s a clear political context — drones and their unpopularity inside Pakistan. Killing Hakeemullah Mehsud in North Waziristan and trying to kill a senior Haqqani Network leader in Hangu was the US demonstrating yet again that it continues to put the military and intelligence cart before the political and strategic horse. The drone strikes have further inflamed anti-US sentiment in Pakistan, making it even more difficult for moderate political forces here to find a way to balance both domestic and international pressures.

Then again, it is not as if the government has any clear policy on militancy to begin with. Mr Sharif’s claim that his government is working on a ‘war footing’ to end terrorism is scarcely credible. Meanwhile, parliament exemplified the problem with the approach to fighting militancy in the country: lash out at drones; speak only in muted voices, if that, about the terrorists and militants who stalk this land. So, to the extent a difficult situation can be simplified, it appears to come down to this: the US wants to kill people on Pakistani soil in drone strikes and gets upset when Pakistanis react to those killings; Pakistan condemns the US for its drone strikes but cares little about the problem that has brought the drones over Pakistani airspace in the first place — terrorists and militants. It’s hardly a recipe for stability or mutual respect, but neither side appears willing to bridge the gap.

Orwellian tactics: Appeal against mass surveillance

IN the age of mass surveillance, where governments and corporations secretly snoop on citizens, the campaign for an international bill of digital rights is necessary. Calls for drafting such a bill have been made in an appeal spearheaded by Writers Against Mass Surveillance, a group of international authors. The appeal comes in the aftermath of the disturbing revelations made by American whistleblower Edward Snowden this year about the extent of mass surveillance undertaken by the US National Security Agency, Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters and other intelligence set-ups. It is no secret that many Western governments have reacted to the disclosures using tactics more typical of dictatorships. For example, the UK’s Guardian was hounded by British intelligence and so much pressure was put on the newspaper that its editors decided to destroy the Snowden files instead of handing them over to the state. In another example of overreaction, the Bolivian president’s aircraft was made to land in Austria after Western governments believed Mr Snowden was on board, causing a diplomatic furore. While European and North American states are regarded as free and democratic societies, such methods, and the actual surveillance they are meant to cover up, are patently undemocratic.

Espionage has been a tool states have employed for centuries, and in the age of transnational terrorism it is important to keep tabs on those who want to endanger lives. But security concerns cannot be used to justify the erosion of civil liberties and violation of privacy. If such tactics by all governments are not confronted by the world’s citizens, the intelligence agencies will soon start setting the agenda. The appeal is important if an individual’s privacy is to be protected from the prying eyes and ears of the state.

__________________
Ye sab tmhara karam hai AAQA k bat ab tak bani hoi hai
May is karam k kahan ti kabil ye HAZOOR ki band parvari hai

Thursday, December 12, 2013

The road ahead: After Iftikhar Chaudhry

THE long goodbye is over and today begins the post-Chaudhry phase of the superior judiciary. The institution that Chief Justice Tassaduq Jillani will take charge of is stronger than what was inherited by Iftikhar Chaudhry, but there is still a long way to go before the superior judiciary establishes itself as a truly vibrant institution that operates within the confines of the law and the Constitution and that protects the rights of the people. Of the many challenges the court will have to grapple with, one of the foremost is of its own creation: the liberal use of suo motu powers on the touchstone of protecting fundamental rights. To be sure, the trend internationally is to read constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights in an expansive manner, which allows courts to enhance the people’s social and economic rights and even protect the environment. But the Supreme Court here took activism to another, undesirable level with its interventions in controversies such as ‘Memogate’ and the scheduling of the last presidential election. Perhaps now is the time for the court to flesh out what are the rightful limits of suo motu powers and issue guidelines for the superior judiciary as to how and when to use these.

A second major area that needs attention is the improvement of the delivery of justice at the lower-court level — the first point of contact of the average citizen with the judiciary. That of course is not the sole responsibility or even prerogative of the superior judiciary: while the Supreme Court chief justice serves as the administrative apex of the judicial system, revamping the delivery of justice at the lowest tiers will require a great deal of cooperation and coordination with the federal and provincial governments. But it is possible for the superior judiciary to lead the way by producing a road map to a more robust, effective and transparent judiciary at the local level.

Third, and linked to the other two, is a need for the superior judiciary to redefine its vision and purpose. Grabbing near daily headlines with off the cuff remarks from the bench or issuing a flurry of orders that are sometimes only backed by detailed judgements much later is not really in the interest of judicial evolution or institutional stability. Where it is necessary to shake the system out of its torpor, stubbornness or cruelty, as in the case of missing persons, shock tactics may be helpful. But for the rest, it’s better if the judiciary were to adopt a lower public profile.

Impunity must end: Missing persons

THE Supreme Court’s judgement on Tuesday which stated that intelligence agencies could not detain people without sharing information about their whereabouts with their relatives, is the latest in a series of events that have lifted the lid off the state within a state that exists in Pakistan. As the bench pointed out, apart from laws in the federally and provincially administered tribal regions, no legal cover was present in the country that sanctioned the confinement of people without authority. The judgement also observed that the army had taken away 35 detainees from the Lakki Marwat internment centre, but only seven individuals had been produced before court. The apex court’s remarks strengthen the view that the security establishment deals with elements it views as threats beyond the pale of the law. However, this approach allows for the illegal abduction, detention and torture of suspects. In a state that considers itself a democracy, this is unacceptable. The judgement, as well as other cases such as that of the Adiyala 11 and the Baloch missing persons, confirms that the security establishment is accountable to no one. Regardless of the fact that the suspects might be picked up on suspicion of militancy or separatism, arbitrary and illegal detention is completely unjustifiable. Thanks to the Supreme Court’s efforts the state, which up till recently said it had no information about missing persons, produced some of the ‘disappeared’ in court as we witnessed on Saturday. This shows someone within the establishment knows exactly where the missing are.

Unless proven otherwise, accusations of the intelligence agencies’ high- handedness will stand. The security establishment must come on record about the extent of enforced disappearances and resort only to legal means when it comes to pursuing suspects wanted for terrorism or militancy. Having said that, the civilian justice system must also start to deliver; the failure of the civilian administrative set-up in Malakand is a prime example of how the security establishment was given space due to the civilians’ inability to manage the situation.

Strange logic: A.Q. Khan’s views on bombs and rights

DR Abdul Qadeer Khan may be able to solve the most difficult problems but that doesn’t mean he always has a worthy audience or that the scientist himself fully knows his true status. It is suspected it was his humility that led him to believe that his speech at a seminar in Lahore held to mark International Human Rights Day required him to link the theme to his bomb-making expertise. A national hero, he is well past that stage. He does not need to relate everything to the bomb. But he did and the audience must have found it hard to understand why. He presented the bomb as the ultimate protector of human rights, saying the atomic bomb “safeguard[ed] the human rights of a nation through the creation of a power balance”. And that a nation which possessed the bomb was empowered to curb the rights of other nations. How Dr Khan arrived at this conclusion is unclear but his thought processes seem to have involved some complicated logic of physics if not the liberal application of poetic licence.

A true understanding of the correlation between the bomb and respecting people’s rights requires elaboration. Meanwhile, we’ll be stuck with the antics of the ever-explosive rights activists and won’t quite be able to ask the doves to clear the stage for real people with real peace remedies. This could have been our chance to denounce all those who had measured the bomb in terms of its lethal effects on the human race and the costs of denying development to the public. That wasn’t to be and on current evidence most will struggle to even declare that eating grass is a basic human right of the people waiting for their bomb to cook.

__________________
Ye sab tmhara karam hai AAQA k bat ab tak bani hoi hai
May is karam k kahan ti kabil ye HAZOOR ki band parvari hai

Friday, December 13, 2013

Vicious circle: Circular debt again

THIS is the truth about circular debt: it can make policymakers go round and round in circles in search of a tool to break the chain. Just when government officials were congratulating each other on their ‘success’ in liquidating the unpaid bills of public and private power producers and their fuel suppliers accumulated over time, they find themselves standing against yet another mountain in the making. The power companies’ bills have spiked again to a staggering Rs216bn, or equal to 45pc of the previous bills of the Rs480bn cleared by the Nawaz Sharif government in its first month in power. That was billed as a great success and the government has since been trumpeting the clearance of that debt hoarded by its predecessor as a major policy feat. No one in officialdom is prepared to even acknowledge the debt’s resurgence, let alone move to settle it.

When the government announced its plan to pay off the outstanding dues of power companies in one go, it had claimed the move was part of a major reform programme to fix the country’s collapsing energy sector. Soon it transpired that it didn’t have a plan at all. The so-called energy policy came quite late in the day although the ruling PML-N had started working on it immediately after winning the May elections. Apart from a substantial increase in electricity prices for most consumers to ease pressure on the budget, the need for crucial reforms, aimed at reducing distribution losses, controlling electricity theft, revamping public generation and distribution companies etc seems to have been forgotten. There’s little movement on the plan to privatise Gencos and Discos. This is so, despite repeated warnings from experts and private power producers who were the main beneficiaries of the government’s decision to liquidate the circular debt. They have been pointing out that the clearance of unpaid bills alone won’t solve the country’s chronic power troubles.

Lack of implementation of energy sector reforms is not the only reason for the resurgence of the unpaid bills of power companies. The issue is also linked to the government’s cash flow problems. The government hasn’t been able to generate enough revenue to keep its budget deficit within the limits prescribed by the IMF under its $6.6bn loan arrangement, after paying the producers their bills. Unless the government works simultaneously on revamping the power sector and increasing its tax revenues, it will not be able to put the ever-agitated genie of circular debt back into the bottle.

Polio crisis deepens: India’s travel ban

THE failure of both state and society to recognise a crisis requiring urgent attention is astounding. It has been nearly a decade now since reservations started pouring in regarding the administration of the polio vaccine. Since then, resistance to the vaccine has grown exponentially — the trend has gone from a passive refusal to allow the administration of the vaccine to active resistance and aggression. Meanwhile, the incidence of polio within the country has been on the increase; in fact, there is alarming evidence that we are exporting it. The Pakistani strain of the virus has been detected in Asia and Africa, and just recently, medical experts warned that it could threaten Europe. It is little wonder, then, that India — which was recently declared polio-free — acted on Thursday on a recommendation first proposed in 2011 by the Independent Monitoring Board for Polio Eradication: after Jan 30, 2014, those travelling to India from Pakistan and other polio-endemic countries (Afghanistan and Nigeria) will be required to show proof of recent vaccination.

It is unfortunate indeed that matters have come to such a pass, and the possibility cannot be ruled out that other countries may follow suit. While the world, India in particular, must be urged to be patient — for such restrictions will affect a great number of people — the fact remains that it is imperative that Pakistan start putting its house in order in terms of countering the polio threat. While the danger has intensified, the state and its leaders have looked the other way. Though validation for the vaccine has started trickling in — Maulana Samiul Haq of the Darul Uloom Haqqania announced his backing for the vaccine a few days ago — much more is needed. The much vaunted ‘national interest’ that forms the backbone of the bulk of our leaders’ rhetoric cannot be better served than by ensuring that future generations are not stalked by polio, and Pakistan is not a pariah amidst the comity of nations for failing to control the crippling virus.

Not by loan alone: Youth scheme

THE launch of the Prime Minister’s Youth Business Loan Scheme has generated excitement. In the first phase, the government plans to disburse Rs100bn among 100,000 loan-seekers who will be able to apply for a sum of between Rs100,000 to Rs2m. The ceiling indicates that in its attempt to ensure greater economic activity the scheme seeks to ensure that its impact is expansive. The smaller loans may also be ideal in the context of recovery, which is always a tricky proposition. Transparency and easy accessibility are essential to the success of such a programme. Another crucial factor is the creation of a favourable environment for loan utilisation. Without the provision of the right conditions for utilisation, the loan-granting authority and its intended beneficiaries could end up blaming each other. The repercussions of such failure can be dangerous for the two parties and for the banks.

The government understands the worth of the youth loan project. This, among other things, is borne out by the appointment of the prime minister’s daughter Maryam Nawaz to oversee the scheme. Something of a PML-N counterpart of Benazir Bhutto whose posters adorned the previous government’s income support programme, Ms Nawaz would not have been advised to risk the scheme unless there were real prospects of some work to do and some popularity points to earn. The issue of the chair settled, the government needs to ask itself whether it can quickly create an atmosphere suitable to the utilisation of the funds on offer — like improvement in the energy sector, etc. The idea is, or should be, to encourage small-scale industrial entrepreneurship. That cannot happen without infrastructural support. What often happens is that the loans end up being used to set up shops with little or no addition to industrial production.

__________________
Ye sab tmhara karam hai AAQA k bat ab tak bani hoi hai
May is karam k kahan ti kabil ye HAZOOR ki band parvari hai

14.12.2013

Are we ready?: Grant of GSP-Plus status

YEARS of campaigning in Brussels have finally paid off with an EU Parliament vote on Thursday confirming wide-ranging trade concessions for Pakistan’s exports to the EU market from next month, under the bloc’s GSP-Plus scheme. Immediate potential gains from the duty-free or preferential duty rate access granted to the country’s 3,500 products, in particular textiles and clothing, are estimated at $500m-$1,000m in additional export revenues in one year and the creation of a million jobs. The optimal utilisation of the facility allowed by one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners holds the promise of radically transforming the country’s economy by reviving closed manufacturing capacities, attracting new domestic and foreign investment in sectors such as value-added and made-up textile products, and creating jobs for millions of new entrants in the market. In short, the EU trade concessions should boost economic activities in Pakistan and push exports in a big way in the next few years, just as the scheme has done for Bangladesh in the last seven to eight years.

But before improved market access to Europe can do the trick, Pakistan will have to make strong efforts to create the right environment for the industry to take full advantage of the concessions. Fresh private investment, both domestic and foreign, in manufacturing and other sectors has already hit rock bottom, not least because of the growing energy crunch, poor security conditions and reduced bank financing for new projects. A large number of factories, particularly textile units, have closed down, mostly in Punjab, owing to acute gas and power shortages. Many people have shifted their work to countries like Bangladesh and Dubai where the cost of doing business is much less than in Pakistan. Those who have capital prefer to invest it in speculative businesses like real estate or the stock market instead of manufacturing for quicker and better returns without much hassle.

The challenges impeding investment in industry are enormous. Without wooing fresh investment in industries like value-added textiles that have the potential to quickly increase sales in the European markets it will be difficult to fully benefit from the GSP-Plus status. Indeed, the government is making efforts to restore the confidence of businessmen and promote investment in manufacturing, and create jobs. Yet what it has done so far is not enough. It should review all policies and decisions that affect investor sentiment, directly or indirectly, and reset its priorities. The diversion of gas and electricity from unproductive sectors to industry could be the first step in the long journey ahead.

Orphan city: Felling of trees in Karachi

IT’S no secret that life is cheap in chaotic, crime-ridden Karachi. What’s not so well known is that trees are also falling victim to some of the many mafias that plunder the city for ill-gotten gains. According to a report in this paper, several thousand trees have been felled in the last few months to make way for advertising billboards. This wanton destruction is carried out with the collusion of officials from the advertising departments of the city’s two dozen-plus land-owning agencies that have the authority to allow billboards along its streets. Many such individuals are also running front outdoor advertising companies that rake in huge profits of up to Rs10 million from a single billboard through a corrupt system whereby permission for one billboard is used to erect hundreds more.

Trees serve a purpose that goes far beyond mere aesthetics. Aside from their many other functions, they have a critical environmental role to play in regulating temperature and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere; it’s for good reason that they are known as the ‘lungs’ of a city. Karachi’s citizens would do well to take a leaf out of Lahore’s book where the sustained and ultimately successful ‘Lahore Bachao Tehreek’ brought out citizens in their hundreds some years ago to protest the proposed felling of trees along Canal Road as part of a plan to widen that artery. It’s not too late for Karachi’s civil society to take responsibility for their city and prevent further assault on the environment. The fact that the advertising director of KMC, the agency that owns all major arterial roads in Karachi, can claim ignorance about the issue and pass the buck to the other land-owning agencies also highlights the disadvantages that come with multiple authorities laying claim to the city. Only by refusing to cede ownership over their communal assets will Karachi’s citizens defeat the advancing forces of avarice. Or has the city become an orphan, a land of opportunity for many, but truly owned by none?

No business — as usual: Lack of quorum in NA

IT is ironic that it should have been left to the interior minister to chastise fellow parliamentarians for their absence from the National Assembly considering that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself has been playing truant. On Thursday, parliament was adjourned twice for lack

of quorum, causing Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to lose his temper. Since neither the minister nor state

minister for energy was present, Chaudhry Nisar appeared piqued, possibly because his bête noir, the MQM, had put a question which went unanswered. The minister of state for parliamentary affairs drew chants of “shame, shame” when he said he was not in a position to answer the question. At least he was present in the Assembly. Chaudhry Nisar’s warning to his colleagues to be present in parliament or quit was not only much needed, it also draws attention to the unhealthy tradition of absenteeism being observed by our lawmakers for a long time now, a tradition that long bouts of military rule have only strengthened.

Voted to parliament and given cabinet posts, legislators forget that their duty is to serve the people and not merely bask in ministerial glory. While doing their duty by the people entails more than making speeches in parliament, absence from the legislature shows a sense of irresponsibility, besides lack of respect, towards an institution that represents the people. As indicated, the prime minister himself has done little to set a noble example for MNAs in this regard. On the contrary, his predecessor, Yousuf Raza Gilani, set a much better example for fellow MNAs to emulate by regularly attending the sessions. Pakistan’s nascent democracy needs parliamentary traditions to be strengthened. By absenting themselves from the National Assembly, the MNAs, including the prime minister, are hardly contributing to this goal.

__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

Monday, December 16, 2013

Indecision at the top: Foreign service postings

WHEN the raft of changes in the Foreign Office were first announced in October, they were well received as sensible, by-the-book appointments of career professionals. A new foreign secretary and a number of key ambassadorial appointments had been awaited since the PML-N government came to office in June, but the delay was perhaps explained by the fact that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had decided to keep the foreign ministry portfolio for himself. What is inexplicable though is what has transpired since. Chopping and changing assignments, swapping out the foreign secretary-designate before he could even return to Pakistan, then allowing uncertainty over the final appointments to continue for days and now weeks — it is an entirely unnecessary and terribly messy situation the government has created for itself.

The root of the problem appears to be Mr Sharif’s decision to not appoint a foreign minister. To the extent that national security and foreign policy are linked (the prime minister also kept the defence portfolio with himself until the missing-persons issue in the Supreme Court triggered the hasty appointment of Khwaja Asif as defence minister) and that Mr Sharif was expected to try and create more space for civilians in those arenas, perhaps the decision made sense. A prime minister issuing orders or steering policy necessarily brings more clout to the table than a cabinet minister. But then Mr Sharif has done little on either the national security or foreign policy front to justify his decision to not appoint a full-time foreign minister. If that were not poor leadership enough, the prime minister compounded the problem by appointing two senior advisers to run the foreign ministry on his behalf. Sartaj Aziz’s and Tariq Fatemi’s respective credentials may be impeccable, but organisations and ministries need clarity at the top: who is in charge and who has the final say? Leaving that essential question unanswered has triggered the inevitable bureaucratic turf war — or even if perhaps not a turf war, just the sense of divisions that can be exploited by various camps within the foreign ministry.

At this stage, to simply quickly confirm the ambassadorial appointments and the next foreign secretary will no longer be sufficient. Mr Sharif will need to reconsider his decision to not appoint a full-time minister or, at the very least, establish what Mr Aziz and Mr Fatemi are individually in charge of and responsible for. In addition, the prime minister needs to inject some life into his foreign policy – on ties with India, Afghanistan, the US and Iran in particular. Drift and platitudes are not meaningful policy alternatives.

Miracles will never cease: PM’s figures for growth

PRIME Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif says Pakistan’s economy has expanded by 5.1pc (in the first quarter of the present fiscal). Seriously? If what he says is true then it is no less than a miracle. How else can one refer to such a staggering growth rate when the ground reality does not quite support the claim? A large number of factories remain shut or are operating far below their capacity because of the energy crunch; investment has hit rock bottom and foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank were equal to its borrowings from the commercial banks on Dec 6. The rupee is under enormous pressure and prices are escalating. The government’s cash flow troubles are far from over despite an increase in tax collection. The government has stopped the payment of bills of power companies and their fuel suppliers, and slowed down work on development projects to keep its budget deficit within IMF-prescribed limits. And the economy isn’t creating new jobs at all. The few jobs available to the millions of unemployed are in the informal sector where wages are extremely low and working conditions far from satisfactory.

However, when the chief executive of the country tells us that we are almost out of the slow growth trajectory (albeit without elaborating on his claim), we must listen. But the problem is that the information just does not sink in, not even with sincere and strong efforts to convince oneself. The last time Pakistan’s economy expanded at an annualised average rate of above 5pc was in 2006-07. Since then the country has been stuck with a yearly average GDP growth of just below 3pc. We can only pray that the bureaucracy and the finance management team leader Ishaq Dar haven’t misled the prime minister in their zest to create a feel-good environment in the country before local government elections are held. The prime minister needs to corroborate his claim. Or show greater scepticism of what he is told in future.

Shocking figures: Convictions in rape cases

THIS is a country where the abuse of women’s rights and sexual assault is endemic, and where the cases linked to these that do see the light of day constitute the merest tip of the iceberg of violence. Given this, it would have been logical to suppose that law-enforcement and judicial authorities across our towns and cities would make the detection and prosecution of suspects in such cases a priority. Sadly, that would have been to suppose wrong. Leave aside the many forms of brutality that women are subjected to every day in the private domain. Consider only the most heinous crime of rape, and its incidence in Islamabad — right under the nose of the hub of government, law enforcement and the judicial system. Over the past five years, 103 rape cases have been registered with the police in the capital, and 150 accused have been arrested. But how many convictions have been achieved? As senators were informed to their shock on Thursday — none. Not even one person has been convicted in any of these rape cases, although 30 suspects have been acquitted and 53 cases are still pending trial.

What the situation is in other parts of the country, especially in rural or remote areas where the bias against women is more marked, can only be guessed at. On Thursday, all the opposition senators staged a token walkout as a mark of protest against the non-performance of the police and judicial system. But that is hardly going far enough. The most basic element of curbing rape and other forms of violence against women is successful pursuit and prosecution. When no push is evident to prioritise even this, how can we expect to start bringing such dark crimes out into the open?

__________________
Ye sab tmhara karam hai AAQA k bat ab tak bani hoi hai
May is karam k kahan ti kabil ye HAZOOR ki band parvari hai

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

CM’s visit to Indian Punjab

THE sentiment was the right one as were the ideas explored. Investment in the energy sector, allowing academics and students easy movement across the border, and anything that helps nudge the moribund India-Pakistan relationship forward should be welcomed. Indeed, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had been visiting Indian Punjab even before the current PML-N government was elected at the centre. Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, too, in his days as chief minister, found enough common ground on the other side of the fence to drop by. As the generation that experienced the atrocities witnessed at Partition fades away, there is a feeling that the commonalities of language and culture will in time blur the troubled history of Punjab, and give way to greater interaction and opportunities that businessmen and others are already eying. What is becoming problematic, though, is that little is being done to build on the ties that already exist between the two Punjabs — just as Islamabad and Delhi demur from actively taking the peace process between India and Pakistan forward.

Sending his closest confidante with messages of goodwill across the border might reflect the prime minister’s good intentions. It may also be a matter of great convenience that his younger brother is eager and willing to take on more responsibilities, despite already running a province which is beset by many problems. But by relying on only a very small group of advisers that includes family members, the prime minister is doing little to institutionalise the peace process. Personalities, not issues, are inevitably in focus when the prime minister sends personal emissaries. The fanfare generated by each of these ‘resumptions’ must be followed by a widening of the dialogue for these ceremonies to be meaningful.

There are three other provinces in the country, each of which have regional preferences and interests and each of which is run by a government headed by a different political party. If Shahbaz Sharif wants to moot people-to-people contact with his counterpart in Indian Punjab, then what is to stop the PTI government in KP talking to Kabul about border affairs, the National Party-led government in Balochistan talking independently to Iran or the PPP in Sindh reactivating old ties with Rajasthan? Also problematic is the message that Shahbaz Sharif’s diplomacy will send to the other provinces: the PML-N remains concerned first and foremost with the fortunes of Punjab. Only if Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to Indian Punjab leads to the active revival of the peace process between the two countries will it be seen as a move by Islamabad to improve ties with Delhi. Otherwise it comes across as an exercise in PR.

Census go-ahead

REPORTS indicate that the prime minister has given the go-ahead for the much-delayed sixth census. Considering the numerous problems that arise when evolving a framework for governance and planning without reliable data, the decision must be welcomed. It is essential that Pakistan has a proper database of its population not only to ensure equitable distribution of the country’s resources, but also to enable proper representation in the legislatures. The census is a constitutional requirement and has political implications. Constituencies are delimited on the basis of population while seats for the National Assembly and the provincial legislatures are also allocated on the same basis. This affects both inter- and intra-provincial dynamics. Internal migration is substantial, which means the demographic position that existed in 1998, when the last head count was conducted, has changed considerably and must be reflected in official data. Because of internal population shifts due to various reasons, the number of seats allocated to the provinces in the National Assembly as well as the number of seats each district gets within the provincial legislatures is affected. Should such essential requirements of democracy be governed by guesswork?

A house-listing exercise, considered the preliminary step of the census, was abandoned halfway in 2011 as some political parties raised questions about the credibility of the process. We hope the same mistakes — resulting in a huge waste of time, effort and money — are not repeated this time around and the process is more transparent. Details of the census are to be finalised in the next meeting of the Council of Common Interest. Hopefully the CCI will meet soon and any contentious issues between the federation and the provinces, or among the provinces themselves, will be discussed and sorted out so that the census is not delayed indefinitely. Security remains an issue, especially in areas such as Fata, Balochistan and parts of Karachi. The state must plan accordingly and ensure the enumerators have adequate security where it is needed. Pakistan’s rulers, political parties and people must all accept the demographic realities of the country and the census must not be put on the back burner to protect vested interests.

Boost for women’s sports

THE recent participation of the Pakistan women’s team in the Kabaddi World Cup in Jalandhar, India, is seen as a ground-breaking move for women’s sports in the country, and one that has come as a breath of fresh air. Although Pakistan finished fourth in the eight-nation event, it was heartening to see our 16-member women’s team holding their own against some of the more experienced teams including England, Denmark and Mexico in a rigorous sport like kabaddi. More importantly, the inspiring stories of a number of these players and how they defied the odds to turn their dream of competing in the mega event into reality is bound to go a long way in encouraging women to take up various sports in Pakistan. Earlier this year, the Pakistan women’s bridge team also did the country proud by winning the BFAME Bridge title in Ahmedabad, India, while a couple of Pakistani swimmers put up a spirited display of their talent at the Islamic Solidarity Games held in Indonesia during September this year. These are encouraging signs for women who are aspiring to take up sports as a career in this country and are keen to take their game to the international level which can bring both recognition and good money.

However, while it is true that women compete regularly in national events such as cricket, hockey, squash, tennis, volleyball, basketball and swimming, there are scant opportunities available to them to showcase their talent at the international level owing to reasons that can be frustrating and demoralising. The chauvinistic attitude of many sports officials and the step-motherly treatment meted out to women players by the authorities have often created hurdles in their way and it seems they have to work harder than the men everytime to prove themselves at any sport.

__________________
Ye sab tmhara karam hai AAQA k bat ab tak bani hoi hai
May is karam k kahan ti kabil ye HAZOOR ki band parvari hai

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Dual nationality

THE issue of dual nationality of public officials continues to rumble on, with the Senate on Monday passing a bill that prohibits senior civil servants holding dual nationality. It also deferred a resolution, at the government’s request, calling on the government to make the superior judiciary give details of judges with dual nationality. The issue of dual nationality is an emotive one, a debate grounded here in the specific political and historical context of Pakistan. This much is clear: there is little public acceptance of parliamentarians who possess dual nationalities and the superior judiciary’s attempts to weed them out of the assemblies have by and large been well received by public opinion. The danger, of course, is always that such debates can mask xenophobic or insular agendas and given Pakistan’s increasing drift towards isolationism, the debate needs to be grounded in rational and reasonable discourse.

Since the beginning of the superior judiciary-propelled debate on dual nationality, this paper has held that it is a reasonable bar on parliamentarians — who are specifically restricted by the Constitution from acquiring foreign citizenship. This should also hold for senior bureaucrats, judges and security officials. Given their various roles in making law, setting policy and executing policy, those senior state functionaries will invariably face a conflict of interest. How, for example, can a dual national in the Foreign Office or the Ministry of Commerce deal with issues pertaining to rights or privileges extended to a foreign country in a transparent manner that keeps Pakistan’s interests supreme if the individual making the decision has also pledged allegiance to that other country? Or, when it comes to matters of national security, on which even judges sometimes have to adjudicate in a limited manner, why should a state secret that is kept shielded from ordinary citizens of Pakistan be made known to a citizen of another country?

Clearly, other countries can and do allow senior state functionaries to hold dual citizenship. But context matters and in a fledgling system where public trust in state institutions and functionaries is yet to mature and be taken as a given, steps that could undermine that developing trust should be avoided. Which is why it is particularly surprising that the superior judiciary has thus far declined to provide information to parliament on dual-national judges on the grounds that the law does not permit it. If the superior judiciary is so zealous in its pursuit of dual nationals in other institutions, should it not necessarily offer itself up to the same level of scrutiny? The country deserves to know the truth.

BDU’s unsung heroes

GIVEN Pakistan’s dire circumstances, it is little wonder that law enforcement and security personnel are in constant danger — with some among them facing relatively higher risks than the others. This is especially true of the bomb disposal units in the country. The death of at least four BDU personnel of the KP police in an IED explosion near Peshawar on Monday shows the threat level faced by those working in this department. While these men were killed as they headed to the site of an earlier blast, several BDU men have died while defusing bombs, including Hukam Khan who was killed last year and who had defused hundreds of explosive devices in his career. Many more have been injured and some have lost body parts. It is unfortunate then that while BDU officers put their lives on the line to protect the people, neither the state nor society appears to be doing enough to recognise their efforts or to support them.

True, bomb squads themselves may be partially responsible. For instance, equipment to minimise the risks that BDU personnel face includes robotic systems to defuse explosives. However, it has been noted that BDU officers don’t always use the robots, and at times circumvent standard operating procedures. It must be ensured that whenever officers are deployed in the field, all procedures are followed. That said, the provincial authorities have dragged their feet over matters like compensating the men for their efforts. For example, bomb disposal officers in KP receive a pittance where allowances are concerned as compared to their counterparts in Punjab and Sindh. They must be compensated for the dangerous work they do and the state must constantly update their efforts by bringing in new technology and expertise to minimise the risk to their lives. This is true for bomb disposal units across the country.

In tragedies like the one on Monday, the state must care for the victims’ families and help them through difficult times. Most of all, the government and people must show their appreciation to boost the men’s morale and let them know that their efforts are not going unnoticed.

Buried rights of coal miners

IN industrial towns and cities across the country, there is no shortage of resentment on account of the insufficient generation of electricity and shortage of natural gas. Those whose businesses and livelihoods have been hit are loud in their protests. Yet there is a group of people who are equally, if not more, affected by Pakistan’s increasing energy woes, and whose very real victimisation is going entirely unnoticed by the state and society.

They have neither a voice nor a lobby to take up their complaints, and thus continue to suffer in silence. They comprise the thousands of coal miners of Balochistan who work deep underground in the dark and in conditions so hazardous and appalling that their expected working lifespan is only about 20 years — around the age of 30 or so, most develop severe respiratory illnesses that stop them from mining.

Working conditions for Balochistan’s coal miners, as indicated by a report in this paper yesterday, have always been exploitative. They are paid a pittance and there are no safety measures in place. The fruit of their labour generally goes to the mine owners. Yet with the demand for coal increasing in the country to plug the gap left by the shortage of gas, it behoves the state and society to step in. On paper, the regulatory system is there, with inspectors, and safety and other checks. In the absence of these, a mine, theoretically, can be shut down. In reality, though, the considerable influence that mine owners wield over government representatives means that the exploitation of men and boys continues. The state must of course intervene, and this is a fitting case for labour rights’ bodies to take up. Addressing the plight of the poorest in the country’s least developed province can send out a strong signal of hope.

__________________
Ye sab tmhara karam hai AAQA k bat ab tak bani hoi hai
May is karam k kahan ti kabil ye HAZOOR ki band parvari hai

Thursday, December 19, 2013

A few clues but no more

BIG decisions are unlikely to come from a single Cabinet Committee on National Security meeting. But Tuesday’s meeting was significant because it was the first since a new military leadership was installed late last month. Unhappily, the old tradition of saying little of substance after national security discussions and leaving everyone to guess as to what was debated and decided has continued with the new CCNS. So the official statement released after the meeting had to be parsed for clues about the state of civil-military relations, how the known differences in approach to dealing with the TTP were squared or resolved and what to expect next on the India, Afghanistan and Fata/KP fronts. At least the clues that can be gleaned are positive.

The reiteration of the government’s talks-first approach to dealing with the TTP was unsurprising. But there is a sense that — with the TTP routinely rejecting the possibility of dialogue and the government’s talks strategy stuck in limbo — for the first time some attention was paid to the possibility that if the talks-first approach fails, the state would have to consider other steps to deal with the TTP threat. In that regard, the reaching out to India after the CCNS gathering in the shape of seeking the much-delayed meeting between the two countries’ DGMOs and mentioning the need to focus on the security of Fata while beefing up the checks on cross-border movement suggest an impending military focus anew on the Fata region. While the words ‘military operation’ may be anathema to the government at the moment, hoping for the best and preparing for the best are not a viable strategy alternative.

Problematic as ever is the government’s articulation of its talks-first approach: now the country has learned that the state is reaching out to multiple groups at the same time instead of just focusing on the umbrella TTP network and its leadership. The government may even argue that putting out feelers on multiple fronts will help bring down violence inside Pakistan quickly — but does that in fact aid or impede a long-term settlement? If ending militant violence is the aim of talks as the government claims, how will a number of micro deals be policed and enforced? Which brings the issue back to the CCNS. Having a formal structure for debating and formulating national security policy is definitely a step in the right direction, but the process will yield little unless the ideas being discussed are well-thought-out and based on reality. The government has yet to convince the country of the theoretical soundness and practicality of its strategy against militancy.

Gas for industry

THE partial restoration of gas supply to textile factories in Punjab is but a small step towards the complete resolution of what has turned out to be a chronic energy shortage for the manufacturing industry in the province. The Economic Coordination Committee’s decision on Tuesday to allow the supply of 85mmcfd of gas to the export-oriented industry against its total need of some 450-500mmcfd means that factory owners will get the fuel seven hours a day to operate their captive power plants. This is just 30pc of their daily gas need, and the remaining requirement has to be met by electricity. The supply of gas can cut their production costs and is likely to result in additional export revenues of $1bn over the next three months to February.

This will be the first winter in three years that the industry will be receiving gas — diverted from power generation by the IPPs to industry — on a daily basis. It is a good initiative for the industry, but one that comes at a certain political cost to the government. The government will be forced to cut electricity supplies to domestic consumers or spend more money on furnace oil-based generation to avoid blackouts. But, at the same time, the decision will save a significant number of industrial jobs and prevent substantial production losses during the winter months. It has, thus, sent the right vibes to manufacturers and investors about this government’s seriousness to attempt to heal the ailing economy and has shown its willingness to take risks to help the industry boost its exports and create new jobs. By ensuring the supply of gas and electricity for their uninterrupted production operations, the government has virtually thrown the ball in the court of the large textile manufacturers and exporters. It is now for them to implement their part of the ‘agreement’ by reviving their now limited production capacities and by investing their efforts in expanding output to take full advantage of the wide-ranging trade concessions allowed to Pakistan by the European Union under its GSP Plus scheme. Their failure to do their part of the job could prove disastrous for the economy and the people.

Intelligence failure

A TRIBUTE is owed to the Rawalpindi policeman who was killed as he attempted to tackle a suicide bomber at the entrance of an imambargah where some 700 people were present. His presence of mind is in contrast to the skills of the security agencies that had some weeks ago on Ashura failed to foresee the communal attack on a madressah in the same city. The fact that Tuesday’s suicide bombing occurred close to Nur Khan base in a high-security zone of the garrison town which houses GHQ further exposes the flaws inherent in the security and intelligence apparatus. And that a bomber and his handlers should have felt confident enough to penetrate the security cover with the intention to kill and maim does little to instil confidence in the state’s ability to protect. We have a plethora of intelligence agencies, but regrettably they have failed to do their job. Militant organisations operate all over the country. They have training bases and funding and information-gathering mechanisms and are often a few steps ahead of the state’s counterintelligence efforts. This is true not just of the Taliban and their religiously motivated affiliates but also of other militants such as those active in Balochistan, not to speak of the criminals operating in Karachi’s underworld. The most glaring intelligence failure, of course, concerned Osama bin Laden whose hideout was within the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad.

We don’t dispute that there have been successes, such as the arrest of Mullah Baradar and other high-profile figures. But the very fact that militants can strike almost at will across the country shows the state’s ineffectiveness. Developed countries have their own terrorism concerns, but they have in most cases succeeded in giving security to their people by having foolproof cyber-age intelligence systems. It is time that Pakistan’s various security and intelligence outfits too coordinated their efforts to stall what has become an increasingly bloody trend.

__________________
Ye sab tmhara karam hai AAQA k bat ab tak bani hoi hai
May is karam k kahan ti kabil ye HAZOOR ki band parvari hai