Friday, February 28, 2014

Civil-military cooperation

THE government may have thwarted a detailed public discussion of its National Internal Security Policy for now by keeping its contents secret, but since the problem it seeks to address is hardly a secret, the likely issues with implementation of the policy are also well known. And perhaps nowhere will the challenge be more immense than in that most vexing and long-standing of problems here: the civil-military relationship. At least the interior ministry and the government are awake to the crucial nature of the issue: from Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan’s remarks in parliament on Wednesday, it appears that two new federal-level ministerial divisions — internal security and intelligence — are to be set up to specifically deal with the coordination problem between the armed forces and civilian law-enforcement agencies and the military and civilian intelligence set-ups respectively.

Yet, identifying a problem is one thing, being able to fix it quite another. If the internal security and intelligence divisions are to be a success in their missions, much will depend on the institutional structure and nominated personnel of those coordinating bodies. But there is a wider problem, one of institutional culture on both sides, civilian and military. Start with the military side. For all the recent support of the democratic project and for the transition to democracy, the military views the civilian law-enforcement and intelligence agencies with an ingrained suspicion, if not hostility, that will be hard to reverse. To state that is not speculative rumour-mongering, but something that was very recently, in black and white, stated in a leaked version of the Abbottabad Commission report. In that report, the comments of then-ISI chief Gen Pasha about the civilian law-enforcement apparatus could be termed shocking and stunning — if the institutional history is forgotten. To get the army high command — and also MI and ISI — to acquiesce in meaningful cooperation on intelligence matters with their civilian counterparts will require a fundamental shift in attitude. And fundamental shifts in attitude do not come easily, even if the military now believes that militancy and terrorism are the greatest threat to the security of Pakistan.

The other side of the coin is the civilian approach, where also a fundamental shift is required. The historical experience is part of the reason why the civilians do not quite take charge or emphatically insist on imposing the true constitutional order of control. But so are the issues of capacity and politicisation of civilian-run law-enforcement and intelligence agencies — something the military often harps on, and correctly so. Until that changes, true change in coordination between the civilians and the military will not be realised.

Scrutiny of bank accounts

NON-CORPORATE business is up in arms against a government decision to give tax collectors the power to peep into the bank accounts of those who they believe are not paying taxes. The businessmen argue that the powers will be misused by the FBR to coerce depositors into bribing it and lead to the flight of capital from the country. Government assurances that honest taxpayers have nothing to fear have not dispelled these suspicions. Even the government’s pledge that those availing themselves of the Prime Minister’s Tax Incentive Package (effective from Jan 1, 2014 until June 30, 2016) will escape scrutiny of their bank accounts has not worked. Most trade and business bodies in the country had already voiced their opposition to this measure announced in the budget for this year. The apex trade body, FPCCI, on Wednesday again called upon the prime minister to at least delay the implementation of the decision until the next financial year if it is not repealed immediately.

It is not as if only non-corporate business is opposing the new powers of the tax collectors. However, the corporate sector has less to fear on this account. Still, even those who don’t expect to experience an FBR crackdown — the chances of such an eventuality remain slim — are not comfortable with the enhanced power of the tax collectors without proper checks in place. The banks are also unhappy because it will force them to spy on their customers — a breach of trust — inducing many to convert their accounts into gold or dollars. Given the massive scale of tax evasion by businessmen, especially traders, the government has a strong case for giving the FBR unusual powers. But if the government must give itself the right to scrutinise bank accounts, a system of checks and balances must also be in place to avoid the possible misuse of such powers. The mismatch between the lifestyle maintained by a person and the amount of tax paid by him, for example, should say a lot about his income and be enough for tax collectors to be alerted to possible evasion. Probing bank accounts should be permitted only in cases where serious suspicions of tax evasion against a person cannot be established through other methods.

Lawyers on the rampage

QUIS custodiet ipsos custodes, or who will guard the guardians? This is the situation Pakistan finds itself in today with incidents of men of the law violating the very spirit, and quite often the letter, of the set of codes they have sworn to uphold and defend. What else are we to make of lawyers who lose their tempers and resort to violence or otherwise try and use strong-arm tactics to harass and intimidate? There have been several such deplorable incidents, but some stand out for the sheer scale of their audacity. Last October, for example, in Islamabad, a group of lawyers became so furious when a judge showed reluctance in issuing an order they wanted that they ran amok, confining several judges in the district court and locking up the doors of more than three dozen courtrooms. Yesterday, it was reported that police authorities in Lahore are feeling so discouraged about the lack of disciplinary action against the lawyers who assaulted two investigation officers that they are mulling over not sending investigation officers to court at all. Both cases occurred on Jan 24, and in one of them — in addition to being beaten up — the police inspector was subjected to the ignominy of having his face blackened with ink. Official statistics show that since 2010, there have been 24 cases in which men of the law have attacked investigation officers in the provincial capital’s courts. Most such incidents take place in the lower courts.

Ever since the lawyers’ movement that saw the successful restoration of the last chief justice, the legal fraternity has shown an increasing proclivity for taking the law into its own hands. That educated men who have read the law are not above talking through their fists, and that too against those who are part of the overall justice system, is nothing short of abhorrent. These incidents should be taken seriously and the law should come down hard on those who transgress it while claiming to be its guardians.

Saturday, March 01, 2014

Afghan killings in Pakistan

Peshawar to Chaman and Quetta to Islamabad, with likely many unknown places in between, a spate of mysterious killings of Afghans in Pakistan has been taking place. The most recent death was in Chaman, where an Afghan customs official believed to be close to an Afghan government commander was killed on Thursday. With none of the deaths investigated so far, all that exists are theories of what may be happening. Privately, Pakistani officials blame the Afghan security apparatus for many of the killings, arguing that it is part of score-settling and posturing ahead of the Afghan transition to a new government and security paradigm. That theory could very likely account for at least some of the killings. But it doesn’t necessarily explain all of the deaths.

Hence, further theories. In the blame game that is often Pak-Afghan relations, there are some on the Afghan government side, particularly within the Karzai government, that blame Pakistan itself for the killings. The explanation, or allegation as the case may be: some of the deaths involve Afghan Taliban figures who are believed to have either been open to talks with the Karzai government or already had channels of communication open and in doing so attracted the displeasure of elements within the Pakistani establishment who want any reconciliation with the Afghan Taliban to be routed through Pakistani channels. Certainly, the Afghan side often levels wild allegations against the Pakistani state, particularly the security establishment, but in the murkiness of Pak-Afghan-Taliban relations, nothing can ever be ruled out.

Then there is a third possibility, also likely responsible for some of the deaths: hardliners among the Afghan Taliban opposed to reconciliation are killing both Afghan government officials and Afghan Taliban interested in a negotiated settlement. Hardliners are a reality and, given that so little can be said with certainty about the ebb and flow of intra-Afghan Taliban dynamics, it is certainly possible that some among the Afghan Taliban are eyeing another sweeping victory once foreign troops reduce their presence in the country to a bare minimum. Taken together, all of the theories do add up to one inescapable reality — that the next couple of years will put new and unpredictable strains on the Pak-Afghan relationship that will require clear-headedness, policy clarity and firm resolve on the part of both sides if the strains are not to overwhelm the relationship and cause it to spiral out of control again. For Pakistan, wrestling as it is with a domestic insurgency that is tenacious and resilient, getting drawn into a vicious tit-for-tat exchange with Afghanistan would be doubly harmful. Perhaps properly investigating the killings would be just the step Pakistan needs to take to help lessen these new tensions.

Sectarian bloodshed

UNTIL intelligence-led efforts to uproot sectarian militancy start delivering results, faith-based killings will only grow in Karachi and add to the already lethal mix of violence in the metropolis. Thursday was an example of the kind of almost calculated sectarian bloodshed that can engulf the city within a short span of time. Within a few hours, at least nine people had been killed, on what appeared to be largely sectarian grounds. A Shia scholar and two Sunni madressah caretakers were among the victims. It is unclear whether these were tit-for-tat murders or the work of some other elements determined to push Karachi into communal strife. What is clear, though, is that Thursday’s body count reflects a failure of both the intelligence apparatus as well as the much-touted operation that began last September to cleanse the metropolis of violent groups and criminals.

Whenever such attacks take place, the police give almost rehearsed statements blaming the bloodshed on the ‘ongoing wave of targeted killings’. For the most part, the case is considered closed after assigning murders to the targeted killing pile. It is fair to assume that deep down inside, the intelligence agencies know where the hubs of sectarian militancy in Karachi are located. Hence what is needed is an intelligence-led operation that targets these hubs. Simply sending in the police or Rangers into a locality in the name of an operation won’t do. It must also be noted that it is usually the supporters and sympathisers of banned groups — the small fry — that are rounded up, while the killers and masterminds are rarely caught by the law enforcers. And if a ‘third force’ is at work, what have the authorities done so far to unmask the perpetrators? Indeed, sectarian violence has replaced ethnic bloodshed as Karachi’s number one law and order headache. The city is home to all schools of thought and ethno-linguistic communities and has become the biggest sectarian flashpoint in the country. Any faith-based violence here has an impact nationally, and vice versa. The city has seen enough lives snuffed out simply on the basis of the victims’ religious beliefs. It is time the state addressed this major security challenge before the situation implodes.

House full of taxpayers

A BIG round of applause is due. The members of parliament have achieved a singular feat. Almost all of them have been able to enlist themselves on the country’s tax filers’ list. The panacea, or something that closely resembles it, has been found. According to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar: “Now, as parliamentarians, we have gone on a higher moral ground.” He said the enlisting would remove the international stigma of Pakistani parliamentarians having tax evaders among them. There will, of course, be critics — some finicky tax experts — out to spoil the party and say that the moral ground is too easily achieved and the compliments too easily lavished. But perhaps this development does deserve some appreciation because of the effort involved. Mr Dar implicitly claimed credit for the success as he talked about the prodding that tax officials had resorted to in order to convince our learned lawmakers to fulfil a basic national duty. So off to the lodges for celebrations, morals and tastes permitting, before the start of the next round.

Reports say that the parliamentarians’ presence in the tax net as yet is of a very basic nature. On the same day as Mr Dar’s landmark declaration, one National Assembly member belonging to an avowedly anti-feudal party made a remark about the hidden wealth generated by agriculture. While this must fall in the category of selective mentions, it indicated that the tax collectors need to probe deeper instead of casting a cursory look at the salary slips the parliamentarians receive for their work in the upper and lower houses. That is, if they want to come up with a more realistic tax evaluation vis-à-vis the powerful and resourceful. The directory of taxpaying parliamentarians the finance minister is so eager to compile as a document of vindication cannot be completed until and unless all sources of income are properly mapped and listed. That is something which will take more than proud calls to morality.

__________________
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

Monday, March 03, 2014

TTP ceasefire

A LITTLE resolve can go a long way, it seems. Saturday’s ceasefire announcement by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan has left many questions unanswered, but at least this much is clear: the militant group has blinked and it has blinked because of the firm response given by the Pakistani state. The killing of policemen escorting a polio team and the military shelling notwithstanding, after it became apparent that the government did not intend to carry on with talks if militant violence continued and that the politicians and military were all too willing to explore the use of significant force to push back , the options for the Taliban narrowed. It also helped that even the most vociferous supporters of negotiations in the political and religious quarters grudgingly began to accept that talks in an atmosphere of militant violence were deeply problematic. From there, the TTP had little choice: if militant and terrorist violence continued, the group risked suffering significant damage caused by escalating retaliatory attacks by the state.

What the ceasefire means beyond the TTP trying to buy itself a short reprieve is difficult to know at the moment. For one, the ceasefire may or may not lead to a quick resumption of negotiations. Indeed, from the point of view of a strong state, the militant group should first be made to prove its willingness to abide by what it says and to restrain its sub-groups and franchises. If militant attacks continue and the Taliban leadership simply claims, as it has done in the past, that it is not responsible for a particular attack without either denouncing the attack or pledging to restrain the sub-group that may be responsible for it, then the ceasefire would be meaningless. Immediately resuming talks without verifying that the TTP is willing and able to ensure that a ceasefire holds would waste the advantage the state has gained through the tougher, more determined stance that it has taken in recent weeks.

For another, the negotiations process should not be open-ended. Thus far, the government has insisted that any agreement will be localised and, most crucially, must be within the ambit of the Constitution. Finding common ground there, if indeed it can be found, cannot be a debate that goes on endlessly. If anything, the state has to be careful about a ceasefire being just a ploy for the militants to regroup or relocate their leadership before once again trying to wrest concessions from the state through violence. In the days ahead, there will no doubt be fresh surprises and new twists in the unfolding saga of how best to deal with the militant group. Whatever those are, so long as the Pakistani state stands firm and refuses to countenance the impossible or unreasonable, there may be light at the end of the tunnel after all.

IDPs’ conundrum

WHETHER Pakistan’s militancy problems are to be resolved through dialogue or some other means is yet unclear. What is clear, however, is that for several years now the country has been faced with one of the major consequences of the unsettled situation across the northwest, and yet has consistently failed to come up with effective and long-term management strategies or even a policy. We refer, of course, to the hundreds of thousands of people displaced internally, a euphemism for those who had to flee for their lives in the face of the threat to their security posed by either militant elements or security forces’ action against them, as well as those asked to leave their places of residence ahead of a clean-up operation. In a few cases, the government set up camps where living conditions were cramped and many facilities unavailable. In most instances, there was not even that and the waves of fleeing people were forced to go wherever they could find shelter and livelihood. This means that by now they are scattered across the country, many in cities such as Islamabad and Karachi where their presence places further pressure on already strained infrastructure. Now with speculation about a possible military operation in North Waziristan, an exodus appears to be poised to occur. Many people have already left their homes. This has led many, including the Sindh Writers and Thinkers Forum, to make appeals that a proper management plan be devised.

That the presence of IDPs in the country’s towns and provinces be resisted is not acceptable, regardless of the inherent challenges huge influxes throw up. It is crucial, therefore, that a strategy be fully fleshed out at the centre. But first, what is the government’s policy in this regard? Why, for example, are IDPs from South Waziristan, who held a demonstration in Islamabad recently, not being allowed to return to an area where peace, it is claimed, has been restored? The IDPs issue will not resolve itself, and the effects internal displacement has on the refugees and the areas to which they relocate can be very destructive. A well-managed strategy, therefore, has to be in place to ease the pressure on both the refugees and the areas to which they flee.

Racism in Myanmar

MYANMAR’S human rights record will hit a new low if a proposed marriage bill becomes law. Couched in an idiom that merely seeks to give “protection and rights” to Buddhists, the proposed law targets the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority and forbids Muslims from marrying into the majority community. Spearheaded by a monk, Wirathu, the move, it seems, has officialdom’s blessings. President Thein Sein, succumbing to pressure from the extremist lobby, asked parliament to consider enacting such a law, which proposes a 10-year jail sentence for a Rohingya marrying a girl from the Buddhist community without obtaining her parents’ permission. Vaguely worded, the proposed law, which bans polygamy, would “balance the increasing population” — of whom, the legislation doesn’t specify. The proposal has also been criticised by Aung San Suu Kyi, who called it “a violation of women’s rights and human rights”. Already subjected to a discriminatory two-child policy, the Rohingya community is considered by the UN as the world’s most persecuted group. The state doesn’t recognise the Rohingyas as Mynamar’s citizens and considers them outsiders, even though most of them have been living in the country for generations. They are not allowed to own land, and they cannot travel without permission.

The continued slide in the Rohingya people’s lives reached a nadir in the 2012 riots in Rakhine state, when 80 Muslims were killed, homes were destroyed and 90,000 were displaced. Since then, the military has been allowed to have a say in Rakhine state’s administration. President Sein’s giving in to hard-line monks is most unfortunate because on the whole he has contributed to the country’s liberalisation after decades of harsh military rule, released political prisoners and promised during a visit to Britain a better deal to the Rohingya people. The president, however, seems to have failed to stand up to the hard-line Buddhist lobby. Unless the Myanmar government takes measures to genuinely address a growing human rights concern, its democratic gains of recent years will be overshadowed by accusations of racism.

__________________
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

Monday, March 04, 2014

Time for a reckoning

IF they cannot guarantee no militant violence during the negotiations phase, how will they be able to guarantee no violence after an agreement has been reached? It is a question that has from the outset haunted the very idea of talks with the TTP — and one that keeps coming back each time it appears that dialogue may be attempted again. For Taliban apologists and their ilk, each time there is fresh violence — even before the facts are established, as was the case yesterday after the attack on a local court complex in Islamabad — either some unnamed third force or thinly veiled outside power is alleged to be behind the violence. The logic of this illogic: the TTP, an insurgent group with the explicit agenda of the violent overthrow of the state, is actually in favour of peace and stability, while there are other unspecified elements that want to destabilise Pakistan. Atrocious as that suggestion may be, the obvious follow-up question is: why negotiate with the peace-loving TTP at all when the elements really bent on destabilising Pakistan are elsewhere?

Of course, advocates of talks cannot admit in public what they quietly accept in private: talking to the TTP is a policy rooted in fear. If the TTP is not engaged, according to this logic of wretched compromise, they will unleash far more murder and mayhem than the country has witnessed so far — so better to talk to the TTP than to suffer the effects of blowback if the fight is taken to the TTP in its strongholds. Still, even from that original position of weakness that the quest for a deal suggests, the state can do at least two things to demonstrate negotiations will not be conducted on the TTP’s terms. First, the government and its negotiating team should make a clear demand of the TTP now: if the TTP is not to be held responsible for any violence going forward, then the TTP leadership should make explicit which sub-groups and franchises it controls and directs and which are the elements that are beyond its control. Without that explicit and formal clarity, the wriggle room the TTP has to deny attacks linked to it would be unacceptably large.

Second, the government in a joint effort with the military leadership should continue to work on a plan to knock off the remaining TTP strongholds while also tightening security in the cities and towns where blowback can be expected. That would send the clearest possible signal to the TTP that negotiations are not the only option — that the state security apparatus is able and ready to protect the citizenry and the state itself. If that resolve is shown and maintained, the TTP’s room to manoeuvre will diminish greatly.

Blood for life

CONSIDERING the fact that giving a person a transfusion using unscreened blood can mean the difference between life and death, the Sindh governor’s move to make running illegal blood banks a cognisable offence must be welcomed. Though blood safety laws exist in all provinces, their lack of implementation has been the main hurdle in ensuring safe transfusions. In Sindh, several illegal blood banks have been shut down in recent times, but much more needs to be done on the legislative and practical fronts to ensure safe blood is available to those who need it. The same is largely true for the rest of the country. Nationally, blood banks operate in both the public and private spheres, yet the key issue seems to be of regulation and quality control. According to the Safe Blood Transfusion Programme, a government body, in Sindh the supervision of blood banks outside Karachi is problematic. Supervision of the sector in KP also needs to be addressed. The structure of blood transfusion services in Punjab is relatively better, but in that province too quality control remains an issue. Balochistan fares the worst, and blood donation services there are described as “poor”, with not enough qualified pathologists to supervise blood banks.

Availability of safe blood and getting people to donate voluntarily appear to be the two major challenges. Screening needs to be tightened so that blood infected with hepatitis or other viruses is not allowed through. For this, blood transfusion authorities all over Pakistan need to ensure that illegal blood banks are shut down, while staff working at both public and private institutions must have the technical training to screen out infected blood and properly handle and store safe blood. Safe blood in sufficient quantities must also be made available in remote, hard to access areas. Currently, the vast majority of blood countrywide comes from family or replacement donors whereas the percentage of voluntary donation remains low. Voluntary blood donation amongst healthy individuals must be encouraged through public awareness campaigns. Websites and helplines can also be set up to guide potential donors about where they can give blood.

Thrilling win

PAKISTAN’S final-over win against arch-rivals India in the Asia Cup on Sunday has sent the nation into a state of euphoria besides putting Misbah-ul-Haq’s men firmly on the path to the tournament’s final. All-rounder Shahid Afridi’s exhilarating display with the bat not only helped Pakistan pull off the improbable win in Dhaka, it also revived memories of Javed Miandad hoisting a last-ball six off Chetan Sharma in 1989 in that famous victory at Sharjah. Quite uncannily, the target set for Pakistan on both occasions was 245. Afridi, however, went one better as he overcame his chequered form to hit back-to-back sixes with two balls to spare to win the nail-biting contest for his team. While both Pakistan and India fielded a number of youngsters in their team for the key clash, the age-old idiom of ‘old is gold’ was proven right by veteran Afridi, who had his skipper’s faith in him vindicated by coming good at crunch time. The victory also serves as sweet revenge for Pakistan after their junior squad was recently outplayed by India in the Under-19 World Cup in Dubai. More importantly, the win gives the beleaguered nation something to cheer about amid the violence and terrorism that have rocked the country during the past decade or so. There are other factors to be overcome, such as the recent upheavals in Pakistan cricket, which make it quite difficult for the players to concentrate on their game. For them to hold their nerve, therefore, in a pressure game like the one played on Sunday is all the more commendable.

The celebrations that followed were, indeed, awesome and in keeping with the feat accomplished. However, fans resorting to aerial firing — as opposed to the fireworks that are the norm elsewhere — is a dangerous trend that must be checked. Pakistan is likely to face Sri Lanka in the final, and the Greenshirts will surely be looking to avenge their earlier defeat against the Islanders by successfully defending the Asia Cup title on Saturday.

__________________
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, March 05, 2014

Woeful inadequacy

EACH time there is a new or surprising attack by militants — or perhaps an attack similar to another in the not-too-recent past — the same questions are asked. And each time, before the right questions can be asked and meaningful answers provided, another crisis hits, drawing attention away from the last one. Remember Mohammad Sikander, the lone gunman who stood a stone’s throw from parliament last August and brought Islamabad and much of Pakistan to a halt with his televised antics? Even as it became clear that Sikander was not a militant on a terrorist mission, the obvious question then was, if the pampered, well-resourced and mighty law-enforcement of Islamabad could not deal with a Sikander, how would they manage a serious terrorist incident? On Monday, with the devastating attack on the court complex, came the sad and predictable answer: the law-enforcement agencies of Islamabad are as inadequate and outmatched as are agencies across the country.

To be sure, even with the best defensive systems, resources and personnel in the world, not every suicide attack can be stopped. Also, given that a district court complex necessarily draws a large number of visitors, litigants and lawyers every day, the balance between ease of access and security needs to be kept in mind. Still, ought the court to have been left so vulnerable and were there not measures that could have been taken to ensure any attack could be shut down quickly or even just prevent the attackers from entering the court complex so easily? The short, depressing answer is: yes. Given the amount of money and attention that is lavished on the Islamabad law-enforcement set-up — largely because of the high-profile foreign and local residents and offices — there is really no good reason at all for such a devastating attack to take place in the manner and with the ease that it did. But then, there was no good reason why Mohammad Sikander was able to do what he did for as long as he did last August.

The problem, as usual, seems to start at the top. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan is almost indistinguishable from his predecessor in his penchant for three kinds of responses to terrorist attacks that raise the stakes further. First, there is the allusion to the vague and unnamed foreign hand — as though if the violence is foreign-sponsored (always alleged, never publicly established), it somehow explains the state’s failures here. Second, there is talk of installing more CCTVs — though little is ever said of the state of the existing cameras and their use. Third, there is recourse to more police checkposts and more intrusive road searches of vehicles and individuals — as though militants have not learned the art of reconnaissance and evasion. Will the interior ministry ever learn?

Energy sector reform

THE ADB has prepared a new Country Operations Business Plan under which it will lend Pakistan $3.25bn in the next three years. A significant amount from this money will be spent on energy sector reforms — “both through investments and policy reforms”. The planned interventions are expected to improve the efficiency of public power plants, cut transmission and distribution losses of the Discos and increase bill collection. The bank’s programme will also see to it that the government agrees to further raise the electricity prices to recover the full generation costs from the consumers to eliminate or at least substantially reduce subsidy burden on its meagre finances. The ADB lending is apparently linked to the government’s commitment to restructuring the energy sector as well as other public businesses before giving them in the hands of private investors as agreed under the $6.7bn IMF loan. But before that happens, the economy and industrial output must suffer more losses (owing to a growing energy crunch, particularly in Punjab).

Multilateral lenders and government estimates say that the energy shortages shave 2-3pc off GDP each year. The impressive growth of 6.8pc posted by the heavy industry in the first seven months of the present financial year up to January shows that even a little bit of improvement in gas and electricity supplies to factories can help revive idle capacities, bring thousands of workers back to work and somewhat narrow the trade deficit to stabilise the exchange rate. Indeed, the government is trying to import LNG from Qatar and elsewhere and woo both domestic and foreign investment in new, coal-based power generation projects. Investors, however, are reluctant because they find the pace of implementation of energy sector reforms very slow. Apart from massively raising prices, the government has done little to improve bill collection, recover unpaid bills, reduce distribution losses and check electricity theft. Many are waiting for Nepra to determine tariffs before they move on with their plans to set up generation plants. Policymakers must realise that the cost of the delays for the economy and the people can be as high as of inaction. It will be hard to convince investors to bring in money for new generation projects without completing energy sector reforms.

Obstacles to tourism

IT is a juxtaposition worthy of remark. Yesterday, several newspapers carried an advertisement placed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade inviting expressions of interest from parties to invest in and run the ski resort and hotel in Malam Jabba, Swat. On the same day were published news reports that in a meeting of parliamentary party leaders of the KP assembly, the participants were told that 39 militant outfits are operating in the province. While the ad represents the admirable spirit to soldier on in the face of rampant terrorism, the news reports show the stark, ugly reality that stands in the way of normalcy. The problem is not limited to KP; insecurity is a nationwide issue. However, due to the province’s proximity to the tribal belt it has borne the brunt of terrorist attacks. Across Pakistan, either the very real fear of militancy or the lack of infrastructure, or a combination of these two factors, is hampering the growth of tourism.

Apart from KP, militancy- and insurgency-related issues are keeping people away from Balochistan. In Sindh, though terrorism is a lesser concern, the law and order situation in both cities and rural areas is far from ideal. Also, the infrastructure needed to develop tourism, such as roads, hotels, motels etc, is largely in poor shape. And while Punjab is the least affected by terrorism, Pakistan’s most populous province is not completely immune from its deadly effects either. Moreover, last year’s killing of mountaineers as well as the area’s relative inaccessibility has kept visitors away from Gilgit-Baltistan — one of the country’s most beautiful regions. While hosting events like culture and youth festivals is important, what is needed is for the provinces to invest in tourist-friendly infrastructure; once this is in place the returns from tourism can significantly contribute to local economies. But nationally, in order to promote tourism, the state must address the elephant in the room: terrorism and insecurity. Pakistan’s people deserve to see their own country safely and in relative comfort.

__________________
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, March 06, 2014

Revival of railways

THE government plans to modernise the run-down railway tracks and almost non-existent signal system at a cost of Rs4bn with the help of China. So said Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique while speaking at a labour rally in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. Sound like a puny response to a mammoth problem? It is. Pakistan Railways is in ruins. Instead of building on the infrastructure left behind by the colonial rulers at the time of independence, successive governments have contributed their bit to its destruction. The slide has been expedited since the emergence on the scene of the National Logistics Cell (NLC), a military-run commercial transport company. The NLC snatched the entire freight business from the railways a long time ago.

But that is just a small part of the story. Decades of political interference, bureaucratic lethargy, mismanagement, corruption, theft and overstaffing have contributed more to its collapse than competition from the NLC. Its rolling stock continues to rot and other infrastructure — tracks, signals, bridges, etc — is aging and becoming unsafe for travellers because of years of neglect. Its passenger trains are suffering unsustainable losses and its freight and cargo operations have come to a halt. Only four freight and cargo trains now run between Lahore and Karachi a week. One is deployed to carry goods to and from Wagah-Attari once a week.

Successive governments have implemented different ‘rehabilitation and revival’ plans to make the railways profitable over the last several years. But none has yielded results. The present government is no exception. It also has formulated a ‘rehabilitation’ plan that envisages to spend a hefty Rs143bn for its ‘gradual revival’ by repairing existing locomotives and adding new ones to the stock, replacing the weak and aging tracks, rebuilding the bridges and installing a new signal system. (There have been no signals along the entire length of the railway track in the interior of Sindh since the riots following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007.) Though it has taken some measures to slightly boost the company’s revenues from passenger traffic, it lacks the focus and cash required to turn it around. Indeed, it’s not an easy job to turn the railways around. Yet it isn’t impossible either and can be pulled off by leveraging its own huge wealth that is locked away in expensive properties and real estate across the country and is being used by land grabbers for profit in connivance with the railways authorities. All the policymakers need is political will to implement a credible plan to restructure the company on corporate business lines run by a professional management under the supervision of an independent board free from political and bureaucratic influence. Without reviving the railways, the dream of turning Pakistan into a regional trade hub or corridor cannot be realised.

Silent epidemic

SINCE at least the 1980s, Pakistan has been grappling with the menace of drug addiction. But a recently released report illustrates just how grim the situation actually is. According to Drug Use in Pakistan 2013, compiled by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and Pakistan’s ministry of interior and narcotics control authorities, 4.25 million Pakistanis are “drug dependent”. While cannabis is the most commonly used drug, there are over a million opiate users in the country. What is more, the report points out that the abuse of prescription drugs is common, especially amongst women. Though we have been aware of our drug problem for several decades, this is perhaps the most comprehensive effort to portray the depth of the problem, as well as suggest its solutions. Partly geography and partly negligence are to blame for the silent epidemic of drug addiction in Pakistan. The UNODC estimates that 40pc of drugs produced in Afghanistan (heroin and charas) are routed through Pakistan; while most of this supply is meant for onward ‘export’, a significant amount finds its way onto the Pakistani street, especially in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Another issue that needs attention is that acetic anhydride, a chemical used legally in the textile industry, is also used to convert morphine into heroin and has been known to illegally be diverted to manufacture narcotics.

The data contained in the report must be used by the state to thrash out a comprehensive policy that addresses the smuggling of illicit drugs into Pakistan as well as their onward trafficking. Meanwhile, much greater effort needs to be made to rehabilitate addicts. Islamabad must take up the issue of drug smuggling with Kabul while internally, there must be greater vigilance of trafficking routes, especially in Balochistan and KP. Considering the scope of the problem, the rehabilitation infrastructure is wholly inadequate to cope with the number of drug-dependent persons. The UN report points out that treatment facilities exist for a mere 30,000 people. It adds that 76pc of opiate users wished to get clean, but lack access to centres or do not have enough funds to get help. More facilities are needed, especially in the public sphere, to help those who want to kick the habit.

Theatre for hope

SPRING is in the air and if hope is to be found, we have only to turn towards the spate of cultural festivities that have lifted moods over recent weeks. Literature and Sindhi culture have been celebrated and Tuesday saw the kick-off of the over three-week-long international theatre festival put up by Karachi’s National Academy of the Performing Arts. The feat in the process of being pulled off is no mean one, given both the fact that traditionally it was Lahore that was considered the hub of culture and performing arts activities, and the nightmarish security situation that prevails in general in the port city. Supported by the Karachi Youth Initiative, the Napa festival showcases theatre and dance work by its own students, graduates and the Napa Repertory Theatre, while audience interest has been heightened with the participation of theatre groups from Nepal, England, Germany and India. Also performing are Tehrik-e-Niswan and Ajoka Theatre, who were amongst the stalwarts that kept theatre in Pakistan going during its darkest period. Performances specifically for children are a plus point. The diversity of the work on offer is commendable, as is the spirit that appears to be establishing Karachi as a centre for culture.

There is a lesson to be learned here, one that the state has taken a long time recognising. Theatre in Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, spent decades on the fringes, kept alive only by the efforts of a few dedicated groups and individuals. The one large-scale effort that promised to put the country on the theatre world’s map, the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop’s once annual international festival in Lahore, ceased several years ago because of both security concerns and the lack of governmental support. Napa, however, promises to be the catalyst that turns the performing arts in Karachi, hitherto considered a hobby, into a profession. This has been possible because of the support afforded to it by the state. The argument is an old one, and can easily be replicated in other spheres: if you build it, they will come.

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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

Revisiting foreign policy

WE couldn’t agree more with Sartaj Aziz when he said “patchwork and an isolated approach” wouldn’t do, and that Pakistan needs foreign and defence policies based on a “visionary and integrated” approach. Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Policy and National Security spelled out the four elements which he said would form part of the policies now in the offing — internal security, economic development, benefiting from Pakistan’s geographical location and giving the country a better image. It is true that vision has in recent times been lacking in the foreign policy of a country which has produced such deft handlers of external relations as Zafrullah Khan, Manzur Qadir and Z. A. Bhutto. But for these visionary leaders, Pakistan could not have become Communist China’s friend at a time when it was a committed member of US-led military alliances. The fly in the ointment, however, has been the erosion of civilian supremacy and the chokehold which the military has over the decades managed to establish over the foreign and defence policies. Resultantly, vision gave way to a narrower interpretation of national interests — with consequences both harrowing and systemic.

Crafting a more effective foreign policy constitutes a challenge in a political environment in which non-state actors and their sympathisers have come to occupy a position of strength, to which the beleaguered PML-N government has shown little resistance. Common sense suggests — given the weak economy and the way terrorism is strangling Pakistan — that this country should have friendly relations with all neighbours and with global powers that hold sway. Such a level-headed foreign policy requires realism and has little room for knee-jerk reactions led by populist sentiments. In 2011, for instance, Islamabad’s reaction to a series of traumatic events, from Osama bin Laden to Salala, led to a level of confrontation with Nato powers which was not in Pakistan’s interests. Again, while foreign policy everywhere has to respond to domestic urges, in Pakistan the conduct of external relations seems circumscribed by the government’s dread of rogue elements indifferent to national interests.

Today Pakistan needs a better image and a shot in the arm for a moribund economy. Neither is possible without destroying the scourge of terrorism and disbanding the armed militias that hold Pakistan in thrall. The use of militants as a foreign policy tool has done enormous harm to the country, worsened relations with neighbours and caused Pakistan’s worldwide isolation — friendly relations notwithstanding, is there any country that does not view Pakistan with misgiving? The policies of the past need reversal and this will be possible only when the elected civilian leadership reserves the driving seat for itself. Beyond vision, our foreign policy needs cool-headed realism and common sense.

Dividends of peace

THE problem is not new: instead of working to lift the region’s 1.6 billion people out of poverty, South Asias governments are more focused on external security. This is especially true of the India-Pakistan relationship. Having mutual hostility in common, both establishments’ priorities seem skewed and are not at all people-centric. In the words of Crises, Vulnerability and Poverty in South Asia, a report released in Karachi on Wednesday, militarisation in some South Asian states has come at the cost of the health and education sectors. The report has been compiled by the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication, a transnational collective of regional NGOs, and contains input from all eight South Asian nations. It is a sad reality that while the region’s countries spend billions of dollars on arms and ammunition, 40pc of the world’s poor are said to live in South Asia. What is more, poverty in India is said to be at 29.8pc, while Pakistan does not fare much better at 22.3pc. The report notes that while there is growth, it is mostly exclusionary. For instance, growth of the Indian economy has come at the cost of the “marginalisation of a vast section of society”, while “bad governance attacks the roots of democracy” in Pakistan. Overcoming these challenges is no easy task, yet the priorities of South Asia’s leaders seem to be on other matters.

In such unstable times, security is no doubt essential, especially for stability. However, in Pakistan’s case internal security has become a much bigger problem than any external threat. In fact, if the internal situation were stable, it would automatically encourage growth and development. In South Asia, it is very much possible to reduce spending on external security and use these resources for improving the lot of the people. For this a shift in thinking is needed at the top, specifically amongst the respective establishments of Pakistan and India. Reducing bilateral tensions and normalising the relationship can free up resources that can then be spent on the welfare of the people. Peace between South Asia’s two major players is bound to bring dividends to the people of the region so that states can then work together to fight poverty, illiteracy, disease and hunger.

Protecting wildlife

IN most newspapers, it appeared as a small news item that merely marked the fact that the relevant authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had organised an event to mark World Wildlife Day on Tuesday. In society at large, the day passed as every other, with most of the people no doubt latently more concerned for their own safety in these times of violence than that of the various species of wildlife that also share Pakistan’s soil. That, perhaps, is a true reflection of the prevalent attitudes in this country about wildlife. For as speakers at the KP function pointed out, the biggest threat to the country’s wild animal population is a lack of awareness, in addition to poaching and the rapidly expanding human and livestock population.

It can be argued that the latter two problems are both amongst the consequences of the first. In Pakistan’s context, the conservation of wildlife presents specific challenges that have to do with facts such as rapid urbanisation, a disconnect between the old ways of life and new lifestyles, and even perhaps an underlying but growing fondness for the trappings of modernity. In today’s Pakistan, notwithstanding the conservatism that many believe is on the increase in society at large, steel and concrete exercise more of a pull on people’s minds than wildlife diversity. Little wonder, then, that despite efforts by both government departments and several non-governmental organisations, it has not yet proved possible to put this issue as much on the priority agenda as could have been hoped for. This does not mean, though, that accelerated efforts cannot bring about a shift. An awareness-raising programme through the electronic media in particular would help raise the issue’s profile, and foster an understanding of the long-term importance of biodiversity. On the other side of the coin, interventions are required in areas where poaching is an issue so that people can be induced to finding sources of income other than in the hunting and trade of wild animals.

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The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion !

Saturday, March 08 2014

Talking to the TTP

JUST when clarity and resolve appeared to be creeping into the government’s approach to dealing with the TTP threat, confusion and cravenness have made a wretched reappearance. On Thursday, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan offered the stunning pronouncement that a majority of the militant elements that constitute the TTP are not against the state of Pakistan and are not enemies of Pakistan. The interior minister’s bizarre pronouncement may even have surprised the TTP, given that its explicit agenda is the violent overthrow of the state as presently constituted and the installation of one organised along the lines of the extreme version of Islam to which the TTP subscribes. Perhaps Nisar Ali Khan believes this is the way to win the hearts and minds of the Taliban, though that is hardly reassuring for the many Pakistani hearts and minds worried about what an elected government may be willing to barter away in the name of the people.

Still, the ever burgeoning catalogue of questionable pronouncements to which the interior minister’s latest comments can be added is almost secondary to the very real steps the government is taking to push ahead the dialogue process. The original government-appointed negotiating committee is to be replaced with a new committee, the composition of which is yet to be announced. The purpose? To fast-track dialogue and make it results orientated, apparently. But then, was that not the purpose and brief of the original negotiating committee? When Prime Minister Sharif stood in parliament and announced the formation of the four-member committee for dialogue with the TTP more than a month ago, had he not pledged that the final attempt at talks would be decisive? A new committee clearly suggests that the previous one either failed or was inadequate for the task — or perhaps both. So what went wrong and how is a new committee supposed to help fix that? The questions are many and lengthy, but answers, as ever, are desperately few.

If anything has become clear amidst all the fog of peace, it is that the press for talks is very much an initiative of the prime minister and his interior minister. Repeatedly, both men have owned their policy and sought to push ahead with it in the face of near universal disapproval. But neither seems willing to explain to parliament, the media or the public exactly what they are doing and how far they are willing to go. The approach seems to be: trust us, we won’t let you down. But trust in such matters is always a scarce commodity, doubly so when the interior minister himself suggests the TTP is a friendly entity. The prime minister needs to explain clearly what he is authorising and why when it comes to talks with the TTP.

Thar’s plight

IT is appalling that in the modern age, around 40 children have reportedly died in Sindh’s Tharparkar district due to malnutrition as a famine-like situation prevails in the remote desert region. It speaks volumes about the apathy of the state when it comes to the well-being of this country’s hapless population. Around 175,000 Thari families have left their homes due to the drought, heading towards other districts. Tharparkar’s reservoirs are nearly all dry and the shortage of food is critical. What is more, the health facilities in the region are very far from satisfactory. Large numbers of livestock have also perished due to the severe climatic conditions. If reports are to be believed, it is media coverage that has finally prompted the Sindh government’s machinery to swing into action in response to the unfolding disaster. PPP head Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has ordered the provincial administration to launch relief efforts, while the Sindh chief minister has initiated a probe into the children’s deaths. Yet all this seems to be a case of too little, too late. For example, 60,000 wheat bags promised to Thar’s people by the Sindh administration have not yet arrived, while observers say even this quantity of food is insufficient to meet the people’s needs.

It is not as if the phenomenon of drought in Thar has come out of the blue; the region experiences drought every two to three years. Yet planning ahead for such extreme climatic conditions is obviously not part of the state’s priorities. The PPP remained in power for five years in Sindh and retained the provincial administration in last year’s general election. It is hard to believe the party’s provincial and national lawmakers from Thar were not aware of the situation on the ground. Or is it that death and dislocation caused by predictable natural disasters is accepted as ‘normal’? The displaced Thari families, as well as residents still in the area, need the full support of the state until the situation stabilises. This includes proper access to food, water and shelter. If money is a problem, the federal government or donors need to be approached. Equally important is the need to learn from this debacle and ensure such a catastrophe does not recur.

Cricket and ‘sedition’

IT was a question of maintaining sangfroid and a sense of proportion. If 67 Kashmiri students got carried away over Pakistan’s victory at Dhaka in the Asia Cup, the maturity expected of Indian authorities was found missing. Both the UP state government and the police stood contradicted. The state government said “contents of the complaint” by university officials “attracted charges of sedition”, but the authorities of the Swami Vivekanand Subharti University denied that they had made any “complaints”. In fact university officials said the entire episode was “blown out of proportion and given a political colour”. If a question of indiscipline were involved, university authorities would have been the first to react. But the vice chancellor said his administration had filed no complaint at any police station. As he put it, “It is for the police to explain why they had to file sedition charges”, because the students’ behaviour “in no way fell in the category of ‘treason against the nation’”. Instead the university chose to suspend the students for three days — something that he said was routine in any college or university. The university registrar also contradicted the police claim that the case had been registered on his complaint. Even the chief minister of India-held Kashmir called the sedition charges “harsh”, and accused the state government of “harassing” the boys.

That the police should have acted against students enjoying a cricket match is stupefying, particularly since similar scenes were taking place throughout South Asia. Regrettable as it is, the episode betrays the Indian security authorities’ mindset when it comes to Kashmiris and Pakistan. In the end the sedition charges were dropped, but not before the paranoid had rightly been made to feel embarrassed. Damage was done, for the police action heightened tension on campus and the Kashmiri students had to be escorted to New Delhi. The episode is reflective of the intolerance that seems sneakily to be growing in India, casting its long shadow over claims towards progressiveness.

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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

Monday, March 10 2014

Army spending

AS signals go, the government would like the country to believe Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to the army’s GHQ in Rawalpindi on Saturday to discuss the next financial year’s defence budget was yet another positive sign that the PML-N is working well with the military.

But Mr Dar’s trip to GHQ could just as well be seen as sending a very different signal: little has really changed in the decades-old way of doing business between the civilians and the army.

Consider that in more developed democracies — and, at least on paper, the practice that is meant to be followed here — budgetary demands of the military are, to begin with, routed through the defence ministry.

But even form is not adhered to as yet, with Mr Dar stepping on the toes of Defence Minister Khwaja Asif — who, it must not be forgotten, was only handed the defence portfolio in a hasty attempt to shield the prime minister from being dragged into the missing-persons issue that the Supreme Court has doggedly been pursuing.

Still, if democratic form is a long way from being adhered to, what about the substance of the military budget? As reported in the media, the army has requested a double-digit increase in the overall military budget and has also drawn up a wish list of purchases to meet unspecified, so-called development needs.

Certainly, militaries need to periodically replace and upgrade hardware and, given the demands of the military on the internal-security front in recent years, the army surely has many legitimate demands on the funding front.

However, the public and the taxpayer can know nothing about that as long as all discussions on budgets and defence acquisitions take place behind closed doors with the only details ever being released involving final decisions on numbers and purchases.

There are two basic facts here that simply cannot be overlooked. One, defence contracts and budgets are gigantic, meaning that even a percentage point up or down is a matter of billions spent or saved.

Two, defence spending — along with debt servicing and government current expenditure — crowds out development spending.

So if billions more are demanded in the name of security, the country should, if it is to progress further along the democratic continuum, be made aware of just what needs are being addressed and whether those security needs are being financed cost effectively.

Whose responsibility is that? If the security establishment has acquired disproportionate space and also disproportionate funding, the only way that space will be wrested back is if the elected civilian leadership demonstrates the resolve to wrest that space back and builds its capacity to do so.

Few things are as important as controlling the purse strings. Mr Dar’s confidence and smiles notwithstanding, it’s not clear if he went to GHQ to negotiate or simply write a cheque.

Anger at the Brotherhood

SAUDI Arabia’s decision to brand the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation should surprise no one, given the conservative kingdom’s paranoia about not just movements that stand for human rights and democracy, but even the Islamic groups or movements that believe in democracy.

The Brotherhood may have its own agenda, and its charter may have aims that sound anachronistic, but of late the party founded by Hassan al-Banna has been relying on the electoral process to achieve power.

Yet Riyadh welcomed the army coup that ousted the Brotherhood’s elected government headed by Mohammad Morsi. Saudi Arabia is not the only one: recent days have seen two other Gulf monarchies — the UAE and Bahrain — also pull out their envoys from Qatar which they think is backing the wrong horse in Egypt.

Friday’s Saudi ban should not be seen in isolation from the kingdom’s larger concerns in the Middle East, especially the rise of movements that have an agenda the monarchy has no reason to view with favour.

The truth is, Saudi Arabia has been very unhappy with the turn which the Arab Spring has taken and has realised belatedly that its Syria policy has backfired.

Friday’s ban includes in its sweep four other groups — a hitherto unknown Saudi chapter of Hezbollah, a Shia militia in northern Yemen and two ‘jihadi’ groups in Syria: the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

These two groups have been involved in combat not only with the Syrian army but also with various militant factions.

Like the US, Saudi Arabia, too, realised quite late that the groups it had backed were not necessarily an asset in an anti-Iran front and that they would pose a threat to the kingdom itself if the battle turned inwards.

The reality is, now, that the authoritarian governments of the Middle East region need to rethink their domestic and regional policies.

The game-changer the Arab Spring constituted demands a rethink from the fundamentals upwards.

Not just is banning political movements, or using militant groups as proxies, unlikely to be effective, it may even backfire.

These governments need to start opening up their countries and societies and start accommodating dissent and the people’s will before it is too late.

Sri Lanka’s victory

SRI LANKA emerged as the deserving Asia Cup winner in Dhaka on Saturday when they outplayed defending champions Pakistan in the lopsided final to win by five wickets. The Islanders, who won the title for the fifth time, remained unbeaten throughout the tournament to yet again stamp their class as a leading limited overs side in world cricket.

To give them credit, Angelo Mathews and his men proved themselves to be true professionals, putting up intelligent, consistent performances to get the better of all competing teams including India, Pakistan, hosts Bangladesh and the event’s dark horse Afghanistan.

Pakistan, on the other hand, could not get their act together in the final and looked sloppy and out of sorts.

The aggressive intent and strategy that was so magnificently displayed by Misbah-ul-Haq and his men in the earlier games against India and Bangladesh was clearly missing, which surprised fans and critics. In the final analysis, while Pakistan can count Afridi’s vintage hitting and the rebirth of Fawad Alam as definite positives in the Asia Cup, their bowling — with the exception of Saeed Ajmal — has looked pedestrian.

It was, indeed, a depressing sight to see talented pacemen like Umar Gul, Junaid Khan and Mohammad Talha being thrashed all over the park by the opposition.

As for the debilitating fielding standards, one is now resigned to the fact that it will be the Achilles heel of the national team as long as the game is

played in Pakistan. In the final too, after

Misbah-ul-Haq’s men had overcome the early hiccups to post a decent score of 260 on the board, it was the bowling and the fielding which failed to measure up.

That this Pakistan team has talent cannot be denied. However, it is now up to the much celebrated team management comprising Moin Khan, Mohammad Akram, Shoaib Mohammad and Zaheer Abbas to mould the players into a battle-hardened bunch and get the best out of them in the upcoming World Twenty20 starting next week.

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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 March 11, 2014

Long, hot summer

TEMPERATURES are rising as summer approaches. So is the frequency and duration of power blackouts. A report in this newspaper stated over the weekend that power distribution companies have already begun resorting to 10 to 12 hours of supply cuts to manage the spike in daily demand as generation lags far behind. It quoted a Pepco official warning the people to brace themselves for a far worse summer this year. To most consumers, domestic and industrial, it makes little sense to live 12 hours each day of summer without power when they are buying the most expensive electricity in the region. At the same time, the government's decision to suspend gas supplies to some power producers, and the shortage of oil faced by others has added to general power woes. Chances are that tempers will also rise in tandem with the mercury and power cuts as people feel the heat caused by electricity shortages.

When Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government won the elections last May on the promise of resolving the growing energy shortages, a large majority quietly accepted its decision to raise electricity prices. They did so in the hope of an early improvement in the situation. Later, police came down heavily on a protest against the power cuts in Faisalabad. No one came out on the streets after that incident. Will people continue to suffer silently? It is unlikely. The honeymoon period is over. And, regrettably, the government has done little to make use of the opportunity to reform the energy sector — let alone add to the existing generation capacity — which could have helped significantly improve power supplies for homes, markets and factories.

Unpaid bills of power companies and their fuel suppliers have again shot to over Rs200bn in less than nine months of the liquidation of their previous arrears of Rs480bn. The reasons are obvious. The authorities have implemented only the part related to the increase in price of the energy sector reforms spelt out in its energy policy. Nothing has so far been done to control electricity theft, reduce transmission and distribution losses and recover unpaid bills from public and private consumers owing to lack of political will, the huge public mandate of the government notwithstanding. The issues of poor governance, organisational weaknesses, inefficiencies, corruption and lack of competitiveness facing public-sector power companies are yet to be addressed. Indeed, the problems faced by the energy sector are ‘extensive and deep-rooted’ and it will be unfair not to give the government credit for efforts to woo investment in new generation. But it is also a reality that it has done far less than what was expected of it and what it had claimed to achieve before and immediately after the polls.

The ‘angry Baloch’

THE proposal sounds promising. But can the Dr Abdul Malik-led government of Balochistan break the wall of mistrust that stands between Islamabad and Baloch separatists and convince the latter to come to the table? Such an effort may be in its embryonic stages; the Balochistan home minister told the press on Sunday that the provincial chief minister was in contact with “angry Baloch” leaders in order to woo them back. Dr Malik was recently in London and there is speculation he may have contacted Baloch leaders in exile in the British capital. Details of any such meetings at this point are hazy and considering the sensitive nature of the issue, the stakeholders are unlikely to publicly discuss the nitty-gritty of any contact. Some observers may point out the Rubicon has already been crossed in Balochistan and it is unlikely the separatists would want to talk to the state. However, we must welcome any effort to peacefully resolve the Balochistan insurgency and bring the estranged Baloch back into the national fold. But while Dr Malik may sincerely want to pursue the path of dialogue, the key question is how the security establishment will react to any overtures towards the separatists.

After all, efforts have been made in the past to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the Baloch people through offering them jobs, educational quotas and development projects. Yet these efforts have failed as elements within the security establishment are not willing to change their heavy-handed approach when it comes to crushing dissent in Balochistan. Any positive work done by the state is cancelled out by mass graves, mutilated bodies and missing persons. Hence all efforts by the political administration in Quetta will come to naught if such abominable practices are allowed to continue. As the Balochistan home minister pointed out, if the centre can initiate dialogue with the TTP — a group with the blood of thousands on its hands — there is no harm in talking to Baloch separatists, who gather their strength from the sense of deprivation and alienation that prevails in Balochistan. But the security establishment must create the atmosphere that can convince the angry Baloch to return and struggle for their rights within the framework of Pakistan.

Investigation specialists

EVEN if it is belated, the decision deserves to be welcomed in the hope that better investigation techniques will lead to a higher rate of conviction. As a report in this paper says, the provincial government has accepted the Sindh police department’s plan to hire 200 inspectors — and an equal number of prosecutors — to bring to justice thousands of suspects arrested for heinous crimes. The police authorities are justly concerned over the large number of acquittals because of the low quality of investigation techniques and the consequent fiasco in courts. What is shocking, however, is a police official’s admission that the existing lot is unaware of some of the basic requirements of investigation techniques. This ignorance results in fewer convictions. Under the plan, the department will hire 200 people who will be trained in investigation techniques not yet part of conventional police training. Instead, the new ones will have a new training syllabus and manuals especially designed for personnel geared towards solving crimes by using the most modern techniques. Once trained, the new inspectors will be posted to the police department’s investigation wing, sparing them other duties.

The report speaks of the new ‘assets’ which the department has acquired in the form of assault rifles, machine guns, helmets and bullet-proof jackets. While these gadgets are obviously needed, they cannot ensure peace and a higher rate of detection and conviction unless the department has personnel armed with modern investigation techniques. The issue is of direct relevance to terrorism, since the nation’s biggest city has suffered at the hands of militants who have made Karachi a base of their operations. The murder of SP Chaudhry Aslam and the repeated attacks on police vans come to mind immediately. The well-funded and highly motivated terrorists are better armed, have a better intelligence network and plan their deadly operations in clandestine cells the police are unable to unearth. The planned crop of new inspectors should be able to help discover these if their duties remain focused on investigation.

__________________
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