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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]A positive verdict[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B]Wednesday, 27 May, 2009[/B] THE Sharifs’ long road to legal vindication is nearing the end with the Supreme Court’s ruling that Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif are eligible to contest elections. The immediate effect is that the legal cloud over Shahbaz Sharif’s tenure as chief minister of Punjab has been lifted and that Nawaz Sharif will now be able to contest a by-election for a National Assembly seat. However, there is one last step: the removal of the two-term limit in office. This should be of no immediate concern — Shahbaz Sharif is serving his second term as chief minister and the PML-N does not have the numbers to elect Nawaz Sharif prime minister — but in time it too must be removed. The reason is obvious: the Sharifs were manoeuvred out of electoral politics by Gen Musharraf and cynical changes to the political landscape should be undone at the earliest. The most popular politicians must not be denied the chance to win office — that is for the electorate to decide. However, at least two issues do arise as a consequence of the verdict in favour of the Sharifs. First, the chatter about the possibility of mid-term polls being forced by the PML-N will grow in the next few days. The soaring popularity of Nawaz Sharif, the strong support his party has in Punjab where the PML-Q at the provincial level has all but folded back into the PML-N, and the abysmal ratings of the PPP government at the centre all lend credence to the suggestion that Mr Sharif will seek to strike sooner rather than later. Reading the former prime minister’s mind — or for that matter anybody’s — is difficult, but there is no doubt that elections at this stage would be detrimental to national stability. At long last the country has formed a consensus to take on the militants, but the various operations in the country’s northwest have displaced over two million people and the country is on high alert due to the possibility of retaliatory strikes in Pakistan proper. A mid-term poll at this time would distract the politicians from addressing the foremost crisis facing the state and it would also give the militants an opportunity to cause chaos by attacking poll-related activities — all but guaranteeing that the next government would take office amidst an even greater militancy crisis. Second, there is a need for a transparent account-ability process of politicians. Shutting the Sharifs out of politics while others with dubious pasts were allowed to run for office was wrong. But there is no doubt that activities of politicians and public officials need to be scrutinised and the wrongdoers among them punished. If those tasked with governing the country are themselves above the law, it makes a mockery of the idea of the rule of law. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]N. Korea’s nuclear adventure[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Wednesday, 27 May, 2009[/B] NORTH Korea’s nuclear test on Monday did not exactly surprise the world community which appears to be getting accustomed to DPRK’s erratic ways. A major nuclear event had been expected ever since Pyongyang walked out of the six-nation talks last year, expelled the nuclear inspectors and then tested a long-range missile in April describing it as a ‘rocket launch’. But advance knowledge of what was to come did not soften the UN Security Council’s reaction to Monday’s test which has been termed as a “clear violation” of its 2006 resolution. Russia and China, for long inclined towards North Korea, have also been categorical in their condemnation leaving North Korean leader Kim Jong-il quite isolated. There is talk of further sanctions against an already penalised DPRK, although further bans and restrictions may not make the situation any worse than it already is inside the country. What prompted North Korea, an impoverished and economically devastated country, to opt for its second nuclear test in less than three years? It will find few supporters for its actions as its domestic compulsions and foreign policy goals do not really justify a costly nuclear programme. In fact, the latter works against it by vitiating the environment in the region and raising the suspicions of neighbouring states. North Korea has failed to provide its own population the basic necessities of life and the country is experiencing acute food shortages. The six-nation talks offered a feasible framework for resolving Pyongyang’s grievances as it brought to the negotiating table North Korea’s neighbours South Korea, Japan and China and the two major powers, Russia and the US. Although the talks offered DPRK many economic advantages as a quid pro quo for abandoning its nuclear programme, the strategy failed to make a dent. It is now believed that Pyongyang was interested in bilateral talks with Washington, although one cannot be certain what the North Koreans actually want as Kim Jong-il, who is in very poor health, has not spelled out in clear terms his stance on issues that have left his country isolated. Without clear indications on North Korea’s part, the Obama administration has not been able to formulate a coherent North Korean policy. Even if the regime in Pyongyang was in a hurry to showcase its strategic ‘achievements’ during the time period of its 150-day ‘battle’ campaign that is expected to go on until the Oct 10 anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party accession to power, there was no justification for a nuclear test. ********************************************************** [B][U][COLOR="darkgreen"][CENTER][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Israel’s categorical ‘no’[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/COLOR][/U][/B] [B]Wednesday, 27 May, 2009[/B] WE must give him his due. At least Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t gone back on his words. To recap: when Ehud Olmert returned from Annapolis in November 2007 after co-signing a document that visualised the emergence of a Palestinian state by the end of 2008, Mr Netanyahu repudiated it without any qualms. The Israeli prime minister said he was not bound by the Annapolis timetable. No one chastised him, not even President George Bush who had called the conference and signed the declaration. On Sunday, briefing his cabinet on the talks he had with President Barack Obama earlier this month, the Israeli prime minister made it clear he had no intention of halting settlement activity — one of the two key points Mr Obama emphasised during his joint press conference with Mr Netanyahu. Western wire agencies credited Mr Netanyahu with ‘mentioning’ a Palestinian state. But the ‘mentioning’ was done to repudiate the very concept of a two-state solution. He said he would like to know “what kind of sovereignty” the new state would have and that he could not agree to a Palestinian state that posed a threat to Israel. In a nutshell, Mr Netanyahu has not only rejected the two points emphasised by the American president, he has virtually destroyed the Oslo process and laid the 2003 roadmap to rest. His foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, echoed his prime minister’s views when he ruled out a return to the 1967 border. If there is to be no halt to settlements activity, and Israel is determined not to return to the pre-1967 war borders, then what is the peace process about? After all the basic purpose of the different peace initiatives launched was to implement the ‘land for peace’ idea implied in UN Council resolutions 242 and 338. Mr Netanyahu’s rebuff to America’s peace efforts is astonishing and can only be explained in terms of the hold which the Israel lobby has over America’s policymaking apparatus. The Muslim world now waits anxiously for Mr Obama’s June 4 broadcast to see what plans he has to make Israel behave and turn the two-state solution into a reality. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - European Press Emotional outbursts not befitting of a president[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Wednesday, 27 May, 2009[/B] PRESIDENT Christofias must learn to control his emotions. If he finds this difficult, he should avoid making public statements straight after a meeting, giving himself a reasonable cooling-off period before speaking to journalists. This would be the sensible approach, but it seems the president does not see the need for it. This is despite the fact that he has repeatedly embarrassed himself when he allows his feelings to influence what he says in public. While some may argue that such a level of honesty is admirable — and it is one of the reasons behind his popularity — the truth is that it causes more harm than good. For instance, his undiplomatic outburst against Nato during his visit to Moscow served no purpose whatsoever, other than to highlight his anti-western prejudice. Neither he, as president, nor his government gained anything remotely positive from it. If anything, it showed disrespect towards our EU partners…. On returning from last Thursday’s scheduled meeting with Mehmet Ali Talat … once again he illustrated his inability to exercise restraint. He publicly attacked Talat for continually setting new conditions for the opening of the Limnitis checkpoint and accused him of being “greedy”. His favourite put-down of Talat — that he is powerless and follows the instructions of the occupation army — was also repeated. Christofias’ anger and frustration with Talat’s behaviour may have been justified but making his feelings public knowledge was a big blunder. The anti-settlement camp immediately seized his comments as proof of his mistaken tactics…. [H]e provided the hardliners with ammunition to attack the negotiations and poison the climate. Some had gone as far as to question the wisdom of carrying on with the talks, given that the Turkish Army was still pulling the strings and that Talat was powerless. In short, his outburst provided the hard-line camp with an excuse to rubbish the idea of a setCyprus Mail tlement, which could not have been his objective. This is why it is of paramount importance for him to suppress his anger and frustration when speaking publicly…. He achieved nothing from exposing Talat’s unreasonable behaviour apart from stirring [the] opposition to the talks…. A president determined to arrive at a peace deal would not allow anything to get in his way — certainly not a disagreement over the opening of the Limnitis crossing, which, rationally speaking, is a minor issue. — (May 26) |
[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Lahore attacked again[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B]Thursday, 28 May, 2009[/B] THE third major terrorist strike in Lahore in three months was perhaps not unexpected given the state’s push against the militants on three fronts. In the Malakand division, Pakistan has launched its most serious counterinsurgency operation to date against the militants; in South Waziristan, ground forces are on the move backed by tanks and helicopters; and in Punjab, the detention of some jihadi leaders following the Mumbai attacks has fomented resentment against the state. Only a detailed investigation will reveal the reason behind Wednesday’s strike in Lahore, but once again there seems to be a failure of preventive planning by the state on several levels. First, there appears to have been a breakdown in security in what should have been a high-security area. When the terrorists opened fired and lobbed grenades — and this was before the explosives-laden vehicle rammed into a security barrier outside the Rescue 15 building — reports suggest there was no immediate return of fire. And the reports also suggest that only after the suicide attacker struck did the security forces take up positions on the rooftops of neighbouring buildings. Given that the modus operandi used by the terrorists was not new and that the neighbourhood they struck was a logical target, the security forces should have planned better for just such an eventuality. A quicker and fiercer response could possibly have saved some lives. Second, the ISI office adjacent to the Rescue 15 building should have been relocated some time ago. ISI offices have been targeted before, in Lahore and Rawalpindi, and they remain very high on the terrorists’ list of potential targets. What was the sense in leaving the office in such a high-security area which everyone from the CCPO Lahore to the chief minister of Punjab frequents? Third, the collapsed building of Rescue 15 suggests that poor construction could have had a role to play. This would not be very surprising. A recent report by the development section of the Lahore police revealed that out of the 77 buildings used by the police in the city, few were constructed to an international standard. What is needed then is an urgent survey of all public buildings in Lahore to determine whether they can withstand large explosions, and then the necessary steps should be taken to either remove the staff in those buildings to safer locations or shore up unsecured and unsafe structures. Finally, it is clear that such safety and preventive measures can work only up to a point. What is needed is an urgent operation to track down terrorists infiltrating or living in cities and for them to be taken out before they can launch their destructive attacks. And if that’s like finding a needle in a haystack, then the answer is more resources to find the terrorist needles. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Barbaric practices[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Thursday, 28 May, 2009[/B] THE police have finally registered a case against a Bahawalnagar landlord for forcing a ‘marriage’ between his 50-year-old brother and an under-age girl. It is worth noting, however, that this became possible only after the victim’s father, a peasant, brought the matter to the Punjab chief minister’s notice. Even so, there has been no arrest and few indications of a full inquiry. The case illustrates how common medieval transgressions against citizens’ constitutional rights are in Pakistan. This is particularly true of rural and underdeveloped areas where the effective control of tribal and feudal elites — that often collude in the crime — renders the state’s authority nominal. The victims are the poor and powerless, deserving therefore of greater access to police and local bodies’ officials. In actuality, however, representatives of the government are not immune to the feudal and tribal elites’ power, thus nipping in the bud any chance of justice for the victims. The immediate victims of barbaric crimes such as karo-kari, vani and swara are usually women, condemned to virtual slavery and certain abuse. Despite being citizens with constitutional freedoms and human rights, a medieval system of patriarchy and an ineffective state justice system allow them to be reduced to the status of chattel on the basis of gender. Some, including politicians, defend such crimes as social or tribal customs. They forget that no custom or tradition can be allowed to violate the laws and constitution of the country. Such abuse tramples the victims’ rights while simultaneously making a mockery of the state justice system. The project to modernise Pakistan must include the extension of the state’s writ and protection to all areas, particularly where tribal and feudal elites hold sway. Meanwhile, access to police and other complaint centres must be improved, and the functioning of such institutions be cleansed of the influence of powerful individuals. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Refugees’ plight[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Thursday, 28 May, 2009[/B] THE tale of human misery unfolding in the Frontier has few parallels in Pakistan’s recent history. It is estimated by the United Nations that nearly 2.4 million people have been displaced from their homes this month alone. Some 126,000 refugees from Malakand, says the UNHCR, are streaming into relief camps or registration centres on a daily basis. Yet there are an untold number of families who are still trapped in Swat, unable to flee the battle raging between security forces and the Taliban. Curfew restrictions are a major hurdle, as is the clear and present danger involved in trying to cross battle lines. Then there may be some who are so straitened of means that they have no choice but to stay put despite the bombardment. According to the UNHCR, the exodus from Malakand is “one of the fastest major displacements that we have seen in some years”. And the number of IDPs will only increase if a full-scale operation is extended to the tribal areas. Refugees from Swat, Buner, Dir and elsewhere appear to be more or less united in the view that the Taliban must be allowed no quarter this time round. That said, the policy of taking on the Taliban could lose its appeal among IDPs if the displaced are deprived of basic human dignity. Both officials and the media seem to be focusing on refugee camps, where conditions leave a lot to be desired. Much more needs to be done in terms of sanitation, water, medical supplies and more food. It is clear, however, that an overwhelming majority of IDPs are either fending for themselves or have become dependent on relatives who may not be in a position to bear the burden indefinitely. The refugees who have chosen not to live in tented villages must not be excluded from the aid being dispensed by the state, foreign agencies or local non-governmental organisations. Nor should there be any restrictions on displaced citizens moving to any city, town or village anywhere in the country. That is their constitutional right. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Israel’s categorical ‘no’[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Wednesday, 27 May, 2009 [/B] WE must give him his due. At least Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t gone back on his words. To recap: when Ehud Olmert returned from Annapolis in November 2007 after co-signing a document that visualised the emergence of a Palestinian state by the end of 2008, Mr Netanyahu repudiated it without any qualms. The Israeli prime minister said he was not bound by the Annapolis timetable. No one chastised him, not even President George Bush who had called the conference and signed the declaration. On Sunday, briefing his cabinet on the talks he had with President Barack Obama earlier this month, the Israeli prime minister made it clear he had no intention of halting settlement activity — one of the two key points Mr Obama emphasised during his joint press conference with Mr Netanyahu. Western wire agencies credited Mr Netanyahu with ‘mentioning’ a Palestinian state. But the ‘mentioning’ was done to repudiate the very concept of a two-state solution. He said he would like to know “what kind of sovereignty” the new state would have and that he could not agree to a Palestinian state that posed a threat to Israel. In a nutshell, Mr Netanyahu has not only rejected the two points emphasised by the American president, he has virtually destroyed the Oslo process and laid the 2003 roadmap to rest. His foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, echoed his prime minister’s views when he ruled out a return to the 1967 border. If there is to be no halt to settlements activity, and Israel is determined not to return to the pre-1967 war borders, then what is the peace process about? After all the basic purpose of the different peace initiatives launched was to implement the ‘land for peace’ idea implied in UN Council resolutions 242 and 338. Mr Netanyahu’s rebuff to America’s peace efforts is astonishing and can only be explained in terms of the hold which the Israel lobby has over America’s policymaking apparatus. The Muslim world now waits anxiously for Mr Obama’s June 4 broadcast to see what plans he has to make Israel behave and turn the two-state solution into a reality. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Middle East Press A better way …[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Thursday, 28 May, 2009[/B] OUR knowledge of the technologies and techniques of mineis limited to that gleaned from the odd war movie: an American GI strips off his bayonet and begins gently probing the crawl space ahead…. This is hardly useful information to advise us on the proper choices to be made by Turkey to clear a roughly 200-square kilometre area on the Syrian border of mines by 2014. The date is when the mines must be cleared in accord with international treaty. But there are better motivations: a return of the land to agricultural cultivation and local economic opportunity. Despite our lack of expertise, however, common sense suggests that systematic and methodical approaches will work best.… Engaging an Israeli firm… risks emotional debate and just paying up something near $1bn is distasteful at a time of great economic woe. … How about an A Plan, a B Plan and a C Plan? How about a list of alternatives to a privatisation-lease option? How about an evaluation of the potential land value? … How about seeing the specifics on how a foreign leasemight develop the property over 44 years? … We think this is what the smart America GI … would advise…. — (May 25) Losing momentum CAN President Barack Obama really shut Guantanamo Bay? He can, but he is increasingly finding that the odds stacked against him are very huge. … However, it is praiseworthy that … Obama is moving ahead and … realising that it is not so easy to shake off an ugly tail of the war on terror that his predecessor has left behind. He deserves the support of the entire world and more importantly, all Americans…. Ever since Obama announced his plan to close down Guantanamo, the Republicans have unleashed a savage attack against him by saying the closure will make Americans less safe. It seems even other lawmakers have been influenced by the Republican thinking, and Obama got a taste of it when Congress voted to deny him the funds to close Guantanamo. It is unfortunate that the president is losing his momentum in fulfilling one of his promises … though he can’t be blamed for the same…. For example, a leaked Pentagon report undermines his case by warning that one in seven released prisoners is now a terrorist. And a … revelation about a bomb plot will ramp up pressure for the Guantanamo prisoners to stay just where they are…— (May 23) |
[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]India’s unclear stance[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B]Friday, 29 May, 2009[/B] MIXED messages do not aid dialogue. If anything they serve to obfuscate issues or harden black-and-white notions of who is right and who is wrong. India needs to make up its mind on where it stands vis-à-vis Pakistan. Are we or are we not partners in the battle against militancy and terrorism? Or are we to remain perennial adversaries locked in a no-win situation that can benefit neither country? New Delhi hasn’t been terribly clear on this point, possibly because it had been caught up in electioneering where rhetoric does not always reflect facts. But the elections are over now, the Congress has won with consummate ease and Pakistan-bashing should, as such, also end sooner than later. Yet, even as Islamabad embarked on what was possibly its first truly coordinated effort to go after the Taliban, the response from New Delhi remained more or less Mumbai-specific. Not that we need India’s blessings or kudos, far from it. But such sentiments can’t hurt what should be the common cause of fighting militancy. India’s new foreign minister said on Tuesday that any dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad was dependent on the speedy prosecution of the alleged Pakistani masterminds behind the Mumbai assault last year. Pakistan, it must be said, has arrested some key members of the Lashkar-i-Taiba and is acting on possibly incriminating information provided by India. What does India expect Pakistan to do, summarily prosecute these people or build up a case that will stand up in a court of law? Pakistan is a democracy with an independent judiciary. Any case tarnished even by a shadow of doubt will be thrown out of court. Better then, is it not, to wait until the state is in a position to present a watertight argument? Bringing those who planned the Mumbai attacks to book serves not just India’s interests but also Pakistan’s. Indeed the whole region would be well served if the mass murderers behind that carnage are made to pay for their crimes. A change of tack was seen on Wednesday when the same Indian foreign minister condemned the suicide attack in Lahore. “… [W]e hope that Pakistan and India could join hands [sic] together to fight this spectre of terror,” said Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna. The point is this: are we engaged in an ongoing dialogue or not? Is any cooperation from India dependent solely on the outcome of the Mumbai case or is it still possible in the meantime to discuss other outstanding issues? Coordination is needed in the sphere of counter-insurgency, the Kashmir dispute needs to be resolved, Siachen discussed and Sir Creek taken to its fair and logical conclusion. A single-point agenda hinging on the Mumbai attacks will simply not deliver. A holistic approach is in order. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Issues in education[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Friday, 29 May, 2009[/B] A REPORT released recently by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) gives a gloomy picture of education in Pakistan. About 40 per cent of the country’s children of school-going age cannot access education, and the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Competitiveness Report ranks Pakistan 117 out of 134 countries in terms of quality primary education, says the Sparc report. It adds that 20 per cent of the country lacks basic educational facilities, and that the Rs6.5bn Public Sector Development Programme 2007-08 failed to address this issue. A grim picture is thus painted. The lack of access to schools increases the likelihood of children being abused or exploited, and of becoming involved in crime — the figures for child labour, for instance, have already reached the 12 million mark. A worse predicament awaits them upon reaching adulthood, for there are few employment opportunities for the illiterate and unskilled. Lack of schooling thus robs millions of children of a future, while exponentially increasing the incidence of extreme poverty and crime in the long term. If the country is to command a healthy and productive workforce in later years, the schools that will produce it must be set up today.Building schools, however, is just one of the steps. Issues such as corporal punishment in schools and the dearth of committed and trained teaching staff must also be addressed. Most importantly, the curricula must be improved to meet internationally competitive standards of education. The texts must be revised and updated, and the focus shifted from rote learning to understanding and analysis. Furthermore, the damage done over the past 25 years to the curricula must be repaired. This ‘mis-education’ comprised a skewed version of history, religion and inter-provincial politics, which created a generation divided over issues of sect and ethnicity, culture and identity — a generation of Pakistanis characterised by racial and religious prejudice and nationalistic jingoism. Efforts must be initiated forthwith to reverse these trends; only then can Pakistan prevent a future where the national earning depends on an unskilled and largely unemployable workforce that may turn towards crime and anarchy. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]More information needed[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Friday, 29 May, 2009[/B] EVALUATING the success or otherwise of Operation Rah-i-Raast in Malakand division up to now has been difficult because of the lack of independent reports from the area. Every day the public relations arm of the Pakistan Army has issued statements listing the number of casualties on both sides, the areas where battles have been fought and the neighbourhoods which have been retaken. But owing to the curfew imposed in the areas where the fighting has been the fiercest, the difficulty in establishing contact with the outside world for locals and the lack of reporters on the ground, it has not been possible to develop a reliable, independent picture of the situation in Malakand. On Wednesday, journalists were given a tour of some parts of Mingora in Swat, 70 per cent of which the army claims has been secured, but as is the nature of such supervised visits, a full picture of the situation in the area could not be gleaned. No doubt that while the fighting continues the safety and security of reporters must be kept in mind. And there is no reason to believe the press statements of the army are exaggerated or untrue. But equally there is a need to verify the government’s and the army’s claims and that will only be possible if reporters are given more access to Malakand. There are two main issues at stake here. One, the actions of the state must be open to scrutiny wherever possible. Fighting a counter-insurgency is by definition a messy business, but the state must necessarily be held to a higher standard than the militants. Every care must be taken to ensure that it is the militants who are bearing the brunt of the military operation and not the local population, and determining whether that is indeed what is happening must not be left to the state to decide for itself. Second, more access for reporters and greater transparency can help defeat the propaganda and misinformation being spread by the militants. For example, there are reports that the militants remove weapons and ammunition from the bodies of militants killed in battle to make it appear that civilians have been killed instead. Without independent verification of such reports, the issue becomes one of the state’s word against the militants’ and in such circumstances disproving such rumours becomes impossible, with damaging consequences for public support for the military operation. The bottom line: more information from independent sources is necessary and beneficial. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Bangladesh Press Meeting fish deficit[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Friday, 29 May, 2009[/B] RICE and fish are common and popular food items [in] Bangladesh, but fish is becoming scarcer day by day much to the disappointment of all. As was disclosed by Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdul Latif Biswas … the country’s fish deficit at present stands at 1.37 lakh tons with production being 25.63 tons as against the demand for 27 lakh tons annually. Moreover, at a time when fish continues to [become] dearer with every passing day, press reports [say that] at least 57 indigenous species of sweet-water fish, particularly the small ones, in the southern region are disappearing fast. These varieties may be extinct within the next 10 years. The frequent and indiscriminate use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers on agricultural lands [and] farming hybrid and carp varieties of fish are responsible…. Excessive fishing due to growing population, environmental crises like silting up of rivers, canals, ponds, enclosures, a sharp [decline in] spawning … pollution of water bodies by industrial waste, chemical fertilisers and pesticides and [the absence of] fish sanctuaries have led to such a situation. Climate change, deforestation and desertification are … major global problems…. Unfortunately, as a nation we are affected by all these and our country is witnessing frequent floods and other natural calamities while the forest areas are shrinking and rivers, canals, ponds etc are drying up. As a result, the country is running short of adequate water bodies … resulting in a serious shortfall in fish production. There exists a real threat that sweet-water fish [can become] extinct … if the government fails to take effective steps to protect the canals, water bodies … and rivers…. If we want to preserve our fish … we will have to protect our canals, water bodies … and rivers. Otherwise, we will not see sweet-water fish in future. Simultaneously, we will have to identify the causes behind the destruction of water bodies and canals. Besides, we have to [protect] biodiversity and [control] water pollution caused by dumping chemical, fuel … and using chemical fertilisers … to save indigenous species of sweet-water fish and increase fish production. To this end, excavation, dredging, preservation of sweet-water sources, creating fish sanctuaries, the cultivation of local varieties …and creating awareness and controlling the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides are urgently needed. — (May 28) |
[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Back to Geneva[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B]Monday, 01 Jun, 2009[/B] AT a time when Third World countries are working on plans to expand their nuclear programmes, ostensibly for military purposes, there comes a breath of fresh air from Geneva, the location for the UN’s Conference on Disarmament. This 65-member forum, the only one of its kind, has decided to start negotiations on banning the production of fissile material for nuclear bombs. This may not appear to be such a major breakthrough in a world with a large stockpile of atomic arsenal. But if one recalls that since 1996 nuclear disarmament has hardly been discussed, the significance of Friday’s announcement becomes clear. The treaty to be negotiated will ban production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium used to make nuclear bombs. The conference will also start discussions in three other areas — broader nuclear disarmament, promises by nuclear states not to use their weapons against nuclear-free countries and nuclear arms in outer space. It would amount to being too ambitious to expect all these agreements to be worked out in the immediate future. But a start has been made. Precisely what prompted the conference to revive its negotiations? Many factors could be at work. But most important is the change in the US stance since the Obama administration entered the White House leading to a thaw in US-Russia relations. Washington and Moscow have agreed to begin a dialogue on reducing their nuclear arms stockpiles to levels below those specified by START-3 and SORT (negotiated in 2002). Then there is the flip side of the nuclear coin. The neo-nuclear powers are now aspiring to strengthen themselves strategically by expanding their weaponry. India, Pakistan and North Korea at once come to mind. Is the focus of a treaty on fissile material directed towards them? There is also the general global awareness against nuclear arms created by disarmament lobbies which are building up opinion against nuclear weapons. Their efforts are fuelled by pacifist sentiments, concern for the environment and the economic profligacy of nuclear arms. One should welcome the revival of the Geneva conference that has been the only multilateral forum debating disarmament issues since its inception in 1979. But success in nuclear disarmament will come our way only if we remain focused on the ultimate goal of eliminating all nuclear arms. One cannot have a world divided between the nuclear haves and have-nots and expect it to be stable and peaceful. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Energy crisis[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Monday, 01 Jun, 2009[/B] BLAMING the predecessor was this government’s favoured refrain even after it had been in office for several months. From militancy and the economic meltdown to inflation and the energy crisis, culpability for almost every serious problem was laid at the door of Gen Musharraf and his ‘tailored democracy’. And not without reason, at least not initially. The disaster years in which Musharraf ruled the roost inflicted untold damage on Pakistan. Take the energy sector. Fuelled by a cocktail of US dollars and big business’s traditional soft spot for the ‘stability’ of dictatorship, economic growth went through the roof for a few heady years. Never mind that it was top-heavy and did not benefit the people. Be that as it may, rapid growth coupled with a burgeoning population was bound to increase energy use exponentially. Common sense demanded that urgent steps be taken to boost generation capacity. Did that happen? No. The result: an energy shortfall that has all but crippled the country in recent years. After months of inaction, however, the new administration’s ‘don’t blame us’ mantra starting ringing hollow and the demand for remedial measures became louder. It now seems that the government is finally looking forward at least where the energy sector is concerned. But the pace of work is hardly commensurate with the task at hand. Action is needed on a war footing but what we are getting instead is a recce here and a training drill there. Time is running out. As the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan pointed out in its budget proposals, the energy crunch must be addressed on a priority basis. Pakistan’s vast wind power and coal potential needs be tapped at the earliest and with optimal effect. It is estimated by ICMAP that just three run-of-the-river projects can generate as much as 4,000 megawatts. The actual figure if all prospective sites are taken into account is probably higher. Energy derived from biomass also holds great promise in a country where agriculture drives the economy. Solar power is another option but unfortunately the technology is not commercially viable yet though it could be in a few years. In the interim — for such projects will take time even if work commences today — thermal power capacity will have to be enhanced and a concerted effort made to conserve energy. The government must take the lead by using energy-saver bulbs in all state-run buildings, and the same goes for street lights which must be turned off the moment morning breaks. For the time being we can do without parks that are lit up like cricket stadiums. We can turn off lights, televisions and computers in empty rooms and stop keeping remote-controlled gadgets on perpetual standby. Minimal effort can result in tremendous savings if we only give it a try. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Bad medicine[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Monday, 01 Jun, 2009[/B] THE alleged sale of a counterfeit injection to a patient’s attendant by a private pharmacy chain at Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences is indicative of a serious health concern: the presence of spurious drugs in the country. The effects on patients of such medication are mostly hidden in public health statistics, but whatever figures are available with regard to the supply of fake drugs paint a shocking picture. According to the World Health Organisation, Pakistan is the third largest counterfeit drug producer in the world and is responsible for a 13.3 per cent share of the global production of spurious medicine. Even more worrying are estimates cited by health experts that approximately 40 to 50 per cent of medicines sold in the country are fake. These figures assume staggering proportions in the light of WHO’s estimate that 10 per cent of drugs in the global market are counterfeit. Inadequate, ineffective or weak drug regulatory control is the direct cause of this scourge. Other reasons include inadequate public health financing and the absence of a national health insurance programme. Meanwhile, the high demand for low-priced medicines and poor consumer awareness of counterfeit drugs have spurred unethical manufacturers and dealers into flooding the market with fake ware. Hence, any policy on or drive against spurious drugs can only be successful if a host of factors are kept in mind while addressing the issue. Meanwhile, the exchange of information and collaboration with international institutions and countries in the forefront of the battle against counterfeit medicines can go a long way in helping us tackle the problem at home. Two regular forums seeking to harmonise regulations and improve the safety, efficacy and quality of medicines are the International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities and the Global Forum on Pharmaceutical Anti-Counterfeiting. The findings of the WHO International Conference on Combating Counterfeit Drugs: Building Effective International Collaboration held in 2006 should also be studied. Counterfeit medication takes away precious lives and prolongs illnesses and cannot be allowed by any government that is committed to the welfare of its people and their access to quality healthcare. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - North American Press Forests and the planet[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Monday, 01 Jun, 2009[/B] A MAJOR shortcoming of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change was its failure to address the huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the destruction of the world’s rainforests. …The planet has been paying for that colossal blunder ever since. Deforestation accounts for one-fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases…. An estimated 30 million acres of rainforest disappear every year, destroying biodiversity and pouring billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The global warming bill now working its way through the house seeks to change this destructive dynamic in two ways. It sets up a carbon trading system that is expected to raise upward of $60bn annually through the sale of pollution allowances. Five per cent of that would be set aside to help prevent deforestation…. [B][I]The New York Times[/I][/B] In addition, the bill would allow for the kinds of offsets proposed and rejected in Kyoto, Japan. …The economics make sense. It is a relatively inexpensive way for industrialised nations to get credit for reducing global emissions while they make the necessary investments to control their own pollution. And it is a good deal for poor countries. The World Bank estimates that an acre of rainforest converted to crops is worth $100 to $250. It’s worth far more under a system that puts a value on carbon. An average acre stores about 200 tons of carbon; assuming a low price of $10 a ton, that acre is suddenly worth $2,000. A big effort will still be required to resist the loggers, miners, ranchers and politicians who have had their way with the rainforests for years. And any plan must include safeguards and inspection mechanisms to ensure that the allowances and offsets are being used properly. But with the rainforests shrinking and the planet warming up, it’s crucial to get the right incentives in place — first as part of broad climate change legislation in the United States, then as part of a new global treaty that the world’s nations hope to negotiate in the fall. — (May 29) |
[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Next phase in Buner?[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B]Tuesday, 02 Jun, 2009[/B] AS more villages, towns and cities in Malakand division are cleared and held by the security forces, the NWFP and federal governments are gearing up for IDPs to return to their homes in some areas and begin to piece together their lives. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that 90 per cent of Buner has now been cleared of militants and told the IDPs from the area that it is safe to return home. Crucially, NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain announced on Sunday, “The leave of NWFP government’s employees except teachers in Buner district has been cancelled and they have been directed to report for duty [from June 1].” Additionally, staff handling the local electricity, telephone and gas networks and officers of the town municipal authorities have also been asked to return to duty. What this means then is that the local administration in Buner, as has already been promised in Mingora, Swat, is to be reactivated quickly and the area made habitable for the local population once again. If the plan is carried out as efficiently as possible, it will undoubtedly be a tremendous boost to the beleaguered people of Buner — and would offer hope to the IDPs from other areas that the state will help them resettle in their homes in due time. Perhaps most critical to the resettlement phase is the revival of the local police forces. A primary target of the militants, the police have been decimated and demoralised. Yet, security at the local level can best be ensured by a police force with sufficient numbers and resources. From this point of view, it is welcome to see that the police force in Buner has returned to conduct joint operations with the army. Given the knowledge that a local police officer would have of neighbourhoods and the local population, the police are a vital cog in the house-to-house searches that are necessary to flush out the remaining militants trying to hide among the population. And from the perspective of sending a positive signal to a frightened population that normality is being restored, the sight of local police officers patrolling neighbourhoods is infinitely more reassuring than soldiers armed to the teeth and brought in from outside areas. Elsewhere, it is reassuring to see the federal government has not taken its eye off the ball and is trying to keep its focus on the operation in Malakand division. President Zardari chaired a meeting of top political, administrative and security officials on Monday, indicating that the government at least understands the need for the various arms of the state to stay informed about each others’ actions. We have said it before and we’ll say it again: a counter-insurgency can only be successful if the full force of the state — political, administrative and military — is brought to bear against the militants. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]New judicial policy[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Tuesday, 02 Jun, 2009[/B] HAVING gone into effect from Monday, the new judicial policy could radically alter the legal landscape and remove a major source of grievance for the people if it is implemented with sincerity. Rightly, the focus of the far-reaching decisions taken by the National Judicial (policymaking) Committee on Saturday seems to be on the speedy disposal of cases. The backlog of cases is a commentary on the working of our judicial system: 1.6 million cases pending, 140,000 of them with the superior judiciary alone. This shows how the judicial system has failed to deliver and how its working has to be overhauled if it is to provide justice without delay. Cases, both criminal and civil, drag on for years and sometimes take decades to be resolved. Persons seeking justice either get tired and give up or ‘phase out’. There are many reasons for this painful wait for justice. The number of judges is far below the minimum required to cope with the staggering number of pending cases to which new ones are added daily. While every society has its share of civil and criminal cases, a society like Pakistan’s needs constant revisions in its legal system to cope with the phenomenal rise in crime and litigation. The rise in acts of terror alone has saddled the judiciary with thousands of cases across the country. Even though separate courts — ATCs — deal with them, a large majority fall victim to judicial sloth and remain undecided, sometimes for years. With such a slow process of justice, it is no wonder that many people prefer to turn to jirgas and their ilk hoping for a quicker solution to their various disputes. Now the Supreme Court and all the high courts will decide pending cases within a year, the period for Balochistan being reduced to six months. This is understandable because cases related to the insurgency there have piled up and need to be decided with speed. Similarly, periods of six months and one year have been fixed for criminal cases according to the punishment they entail. Also, prison officials and SHOs are not found to be very prompt in bringing the accused to court. The committee’s decisions are wide-ranging and include among others the computerisation of court records. It remains to be seen whether the courts implement the decisions in a manner that challenges old attitudes and makes our judiciary more responsive to the needs of the people. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]The tobacco menace[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Tuesday, 02 Jun, 2009[/B] ACCORDING to a World Health Organisation estimate, there are over a billion regular smokers in the world — i.e. one-third of the global population aged 15 years and above. Given the gravity of tobacco-related diseases, this represents a massive burden on the world’s healthcare systems — for the figures related to the economic and social cost of tobacco abuse do not include the ill-effects suffered by passive smokers. Surveys undertaken in Pakistan indicate that there are at least 22 million smokers in the country, and uncounted others who use the substance in hukkas, shishas or in the form of chewing tobacco. While the government reportedly earns Rs38bn a year from the tobacco industry, this must be offset by the drain on the country’s healthcare system — likely to be far higher. The economic costs of tobacco-related illnesses have never been fully tabulated in Pakistan yet they are virtually certain to be colossal. Tobacco use thus puts unnecessary pressure on the subsidised state healthcare system, which is already notoriously overstretched and under-funded. At the same time, tobacco use also leads to a tangible drop in the financial comfort and quality of life of the citizenry: each pack bought and consequential illness treated represents a burden on household incomes. These factors combine, meanwhile, to significantly affect the productivity levels of the workforce at a time when the country faces grave economic challenges and suffers the knock-on effects of a global recession. Distressingly, the rate of tobacco abuse appears to be growing in Pakistan, even amongst the educated young who are increasingly taking to the habit while in school or college. It is imperative that stricter measures be taken to control this menace. Earlier efforts such as banning smoking on public transport, and discouraging the glamorisation of the habit in the media had yielded some results. More must be done, however. Tobacco use must be banned in public areas and most importantly, regulations restricting the sale of tobacco to minors must be stringently enforced. Meanwhile, the citizenry must be educated about the dangers of using the substance in any form — there is no ‘safe’ tobacco. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Back to Geneva[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Monday, 01 Jun, 2009[/B] AT a time when Third World countries are working on plans to expand their nuclear programmes, ostensibly for military purposes, there comes a breath of fresh air from Geneva, the location for the UN’s Conference on Disarmament. This 65-member forum, the only one of its kind, has decided to start negotiations on banning the production of fissile material for nuclear bombs. This may not appear to be such a major breakthrough in a world with a large stockpile of atomic arsenal. But if one recalls that since 1996 nuclear disarmament has hardly been discussed, the significance of Friday’s announcement becomes clear. The treaty to be negotiated will ban production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium used to make nuclear bombs. The conference will also start discussions in three other areas — broader nuclear disarmament, promises by nuclear states not to use their weapons against nuclear-free countries and nuclear arms in outer space. It would amount to being too ambitious to expect all these agreements to be worked out in the immediate future. But a start has been made. Precisely what prompted the conference to revive its negotiations? Many factors could be at work. But most important is the change in the US stance since the Obama administration entered the White House leading to a thaw in US-Russia relations. Washington and Moscow have agreed to begin a dialogue on reducing their nuclear arms stockpiles to levels below those specified by START-3 and SORT (negotiated in 2002). Then there is the flip side of the nuclear coin. The neo-nuclear powers are now aspiring to strengthen themselves strategically by expanding their weaponry. India, Pakistan and North Korea at once come to mind. Is the focus of a treaty on fissile material directed towards them? There is also the general global awareness against nuclear arms created by disarmament lobbies which are building up opinion against nuclear weapons. Their efforts are fuelled by pacifist sentiments, concern for the environment and the economic profligacy of nuclear arms. One should welcome the revival of the Geneva conference that has been the only multilateral forum debating disarmament issues since its inception in 1979. But success in nuclear disarmament will come our way only if we remain focused on the ultimate goal of eliminating all nuclear arms. One cannot have a world divided between the nuclear haves and have-nots and expect it to be stable and peaceful. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Sindhi Press People expect more[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Tuesday, 02 Jun, 2009[/B] SENSING that the official correspondence with Ecnec would not yield any fruitful results Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah made contact with the Finance Adviser Shaukat Tarin and got the schemes of the Thar coal project approved. This has removed the bottlenecks in getting a loan of $30m from the World Bank and now these schemes will be presented at a meeting of the World Bank scheduled for June 3. These efforts of the chief minister are laudable and he should also take up issues regarding Sindh’s share of water and the National Finance Commission award. [B][SIZE="3"]Kawish[/SIZE][/B] The present government has been trying hard to ensure that Sindh gets its constitutional rights. It has now got the Thar Coal Energy Board and regained the control of the Thar coal project from the federal government. The Sindh chief minister is also the head of the Thar Coal Energy Board and is in a position to make it successful. Sindh is facing myriad problems. However, the federal government has avoided accepting the legal and constitutional demands of Sindh. The province wants the former to fulfil its promises and agreements reached regarding the distribution of water and implementation of the ... water accord. But this demand has not been accepted. This would be the second budget of the incumbent elected government which will be presented under Musharraf’s provisional NFC award. There is also a need to get a final decision from the National Assembly for shelving the controversial water project — the Kalabagh Dam. When three provinces are against this project, it can easily be buried through a decision from the National Assembly. We also appreciate the efforts of the members of the Sindh Assembly who have been raising their voice for the rights of Sindh. The people of Sindh expect that the chief minister will make efforts for other issues confronting Sindh. Kawish People also expect that their elected representatives will help the chief minister and the provincial government resolve the core issues of the province as all members whether they belong to the treasury benches or the opposition are equally responsible. When it comes to protecting the interests of the province the members should put aside their political differences and work together. — (May 23) [B][I]Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi[/I][/B] |
[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Avoidable deaths[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B]Wednesday, 03 Jun, 2009[/B] THE maternal mortality rate has for long been considered the determinant of the status of women in a society. If women are held in high esteem, they are provided the reproductive healthcare that ensures a safe pregnancy. As a corollary to the concept of ‘women’s rights are human rights’, it is now being universally recognised that maternal mortality has a human rights dimension as well. The UN Human Rights Council introduced this idea in its June 2008 session. In March this year 83 governments issued a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to address maternal mortality as a human rights issue. This landmark event recognises the gender aspect in the right to healthcare that has been accepted as a fundamental right of all citizens. The fact is that most maternal deaths are preventable because MMR can be considerably reduced by providing women access to obstetric care and special protection before, during and after pregnancy. This is not such a tall order. Any country that is sensitive to the health needs of its people can add the extra component of maternal and reproductive healthcare to its basic services. This is possible only if there is recognition of the importance of saving the lives of mothers and their newborns most of whom, studies show, are doomed to an early death if their mothers die during childbirth. Pakistan, which ranks very low on the UNDP’s gender empowerment index, has a poor record of preventing pregnancy-related deaths. The state has failed to provide what is a woman’s right — pre- and post-natal care. Its ostrich-like approach to the problem has pre-empted meaningful measures. Pakistan’s officially stated figure for MMR, 276/100,000, is regarded as ridiculously low by gynaecologists who are in a better position to judge. In the absence of a system of collecting data for abortion-related deaths caused by untrained practitioners, the magnitude of the problem is not known. Pakistan was not a party to the declaration delivered to the Human Rights Council in March. It should take the step to become a signatory to the international instrument on maternal mortality prevention that is bound to emerge from the exercise in Geneva. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Kashmir protests[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Wednesday, 03 Jun, 2009[/B] RELATIVES claim the women were tortured, raped and killed after being abducted by Indian security forces. The authorities in Indian-held Kashmir, for their part, are withholding final judgment pending a judicial probe. For the time being, however, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah maintains that “the initial indication does not suggest either rape or murder” but rather death by drowning. The truth — if it is not covered up — is expected to be known within a month. But in the tinderbox that is occupied Kashmir, where souls have been brutalised for decades and passions run high, the verdict on the street is loud and clear. The bodies of the two women were found on Saturday in a shallow stream, which makes the ‘death by drowning argument’ unconvincing for most. India is seen as an occupying power by the majority of Kashmiris. Torture and wanton murder feature prominently in the track record of the forces enforcing New Delhi’s diktat in the region. For this reason, even relatively minor provocations by the security apparatus can trigger massive protests. And there is nothing minor about this latest incident. The alleged rape and murder of two women is a reprehensible crime no matter where it occurs. But when it happens in Kashmir, it is seen not only as a heinous crime but part and parcel of the reign of terror unleashed by occupiers. Quite understandably, horror and humiliation quickly lead to outrage in these circumstances, and it is not surprising that nearly 90 people have been injured in clashes with law-enforcement personnel since the incident came to light. The Kashmiri struggle today bears little resemblance to the armed insurgency that was at its peak in the 1990s, when foreign militias were present in force in the valley. Cracking down hard on guerrilla fighters, many of them outsiders, is one thing and beating up protesters quite another. The freedom struggle now seen in Kashmir is a home-grown and largely peaceful movement. This is a sensible course to pursue for reports of militants trading fire with Indian forces do not win much support for the Kashmir cause internationally. Footage of civilian protesters facing the wrath of the police conveys the message far more effectively. So do pictures from Srinagar, a city that is often under virtual curfew and where fear stalks the streets in the form of the Indian forces. Times have changed and Delhi must see the need for negotiation and a gentler hand. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Waziristan simmers[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Wednesday, 03 Jun, 2009[/B] THE kidnapping of dozens of students (later recovered) of a cadet college located in the North Waziristan Agency is another graphic reminder that the good Taliban/bad Taliban distinction is a failed policy, but one which the state continues to pursue. Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a Taliban commander in North Waziristan and considered one of the ‘good’ guys because he is ostensibly not set on attacking Pakistani interests, appeared to have laid a trap for the defenceless cadets after being asked to guarantee their safe passage. While the full details of the kidnapping have yet to emerge, it seems that Gul Bahadur may have planned to escort the cadets out of North Waziristan and then have them captured and taken to South Waziristan and handed over to Baitullah Mehsud, the ‘bad’ Taliban leader against whom a military operation may be in imminent. Similarly, Maulvi Nazir, another Taliban leader hailing from South Waziristan Agency and also believed to be one of the ‘good’ guys because he helped the state take on Uzbek militants linked to Al Qaeda, has reportedly provided men to Baitullah to send to Swat to fight the state there. The unholy alliance between Baitullah Mehsud, Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Nazir makes nonsense of the theory that it is possible to separate the ‘good’ from the ‘bad’ and take on just the bad Taliban. Just as troubling is the possible reason behind the kidnapping of the cadets. It appears that with the military operation winding down in the Malakand division — at least the first phase of a full-fledged assault — the army and the government may be readying to take on Baitullah Mehsud next. The kidnapping then may have been a provocation to force the state’s hand and cause it to act before it assembled the requisite forces and resources in the Waziristan agencies. Baitullah and his cohorts may be calculating that a battle brought forward would favour them, given that they have had literally years to dig in and build up their forces for precisely such a fight. The three phases of Operation Rah-i-Haq in Swat suggest that when the army scrambles unprepared to deliver a blow to its opponents, the militants are able to repel the state more easily. There is also the issue of tribal dynamics in the Waziristan agencies, particularly among the Mehsuds. Baitullah may be the most powerful of the warlords in the area today, but he has many enemies and some potential rivals within the Mehsuds. They may come forward eventually to fight Baitullah as allies of the state, but that process would take time and would be something that Baitullah clearly would want to head off by picking a fight with the state while it is on the back foot. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - European Press Polls first, ‘clean up’ later[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Wednesday, 03 Jun, 2009[/B] THE prime minister has embarked on a campaign to ‘clean up’ parliament, explaining yesterday that all public institutions need reform in the light of the scandal over MPs’ expenses. This clean-up campaign — which would not exclude publicly funded bodies such as the BBC — is intended to bear fruit in an MPs’ code of conduct to be included in the Constitutional Renewal Bill to be brought before parliament later in the year. Gordon Brown also ruled out an early general election. “I think what people want is to clean up the system first,” he said. That is not what our … survey … suggests. 60 per cent of voters want an election either immediately (18 per cent) or in the autumn (42 per cent). Fewer than a third think the election should be held next year. The reason 42 per cent favour the autumn is that, to quote the survey questionnaire, “it would give parties time to weed out MPs who have claimed allowances wrongly and replace them with new candidates”. Mr Brown says that the abuses uncovered by The Daily Telegraph have offended his “Presbyterian conscience”. We do not dispute this; but we wonder why that conscience is not more troubled by the presence of MPs in his cabinet who have “flipped” their properties, benefiting considerably from the second homes allowance. Yesterday Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, echoed his treasury spokesman Vince Cable’s call for … Alistair Darling to resign over his expenses claims. No wonder that the prime minister declined to discuss individual cases, concentrating instead on “the system”…. But now … is not the time to “renew” the constitution, for the simple reason that major changes to parliament would be decided by a House of Commons whose moral authority is gravely compromised by scandal. Clearly, the revelations of the past few weeks have infuriated the public…. Despite the shabby behaviour of so many MPs, 61 per cent The Daily Telegraph think the government has too much power and parliament too little. The same percentage believe “there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Britain’s constitution providing that our MPs are honest and competent in the way they act”. Yet voters also tend to support fixed-term parliaments and giving voters the right to recall their MPs. These are big questions, to be decided by a freshly elected parliament. First, the full dimensions of the expenses scandal will have to emerge. But … the case for holding a general election this autumn is very strong indeed. — (June 1) |
[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]The numbers game[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B]Thursday, 04 Jun, 2009[/B] HOW many people have been displaced in Swat, Buner and Lower Dir? Apparently no one knows. After weeks of being fed on figures ranging from 1.5 million to 3.5 million, we discover that the authorities that said they were registering those fleeing the Malakand division did not even have a reliable system in place for the task. The collection of statistical data has never been the government’s strong point, and to most Pakistanis figures in millions and billions mean no more than the addition or deletion of a few zeroes. That would explain why we always encounter massive problems with digits, whether in the case of NICs, electoral rolls, census figures, literacy or maternal mortality rates. The registration of IDPs, however, is an urgent issue as countless lives are at stake. The number of affected people must be known with some degree of accuracy if the displaced are to be given prompt relief and then rehabilitated in their homes in areas that have been secured by the army. Moreover, accurate information will also help the authorities determine the amount of funds required and their optimal distribution. It is counterproductive to adopt an ad hoc and incomplete method of registration that leads to gross duplication resulting in exaggerated IDP figures. Figures when bandied about carelessly are not good for the government’s credibility and may lead to the impression that our rulers are playing on the sympathy of donors to obtain funds. There is yet another danger in not registering the displaced persons carefully: the authorities are quite possibly leaving space for militants to escape from the theatre of war along with the IDPs thus giving them the opportunity to regroup to mount another offensive. An effective registration system would at least act as a check. It is not clear why IDPs cannot be registered by the local authorities and the data then fed into Nadra’s databank to rule out the chances of deliberate/erroneous duplication. Even now it is not too late and matters must be rectified to ensure a smooth and efficient system of registration. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]KESC’s ‘new lease of life’[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Thursday, 04 Jun, 2009[/B] SHORT on electricity and long on ineptitude, KESC has consistently failed its consumers since management control was transferred to private hands in November 2005. Since then ‘power riots’ has entered the popular lexicon and the public has been subjected to a regime of loadshedding never witnessed before. Making matters worse, it seemed until very recently that KESC was accountable to no one, not to its consumers who pay through the nose for appalling service nor any public regulator. On this count at least those who approved KESC’s privatisation are equally to blame. KESC was privatised at a time when the corporation appeared to be suffering from problems on every imaginable front: managerial, electricity production, distribution, billing, theft and other inefficiencies. However, even if the government felt at the time that the privatisation of KESC would prevent the situation from deteriorating further, there was clearly no plan of keeping a stringent check on the company’s performance or setting clear, enforceable benchmarks for a better performance. What the government failed to do was to fulfil its role as regulator and to penalise KESC for slipping up and putting the onus of its losses on the consumers. What’s done is done. Still, public misery and recurring power riots have finally forced the government to confront KESC and demand how the utility plans to improve its performance. The strategy proposed by KESC — greater investment in generation capacity and its distribution system as well as plans to check line losses and power theft — was recently given the go-ahead by a high-powered government committee. It remains to be seen, however, if what is being described as a new lease of life for KESC proves to be a turning point or just another time-buying measure. A prominent Karachi-based member of the government committee said that the “KESC management has been put on notice for improving its performance or else face the consequences”. These ‘consequences’ are yet to be defined. What option does the government really have? Nationalisation is an unlikely prospect given its adverse impact on investor confidence. The other option, buying out the current operators and then investing heavily in generation capacity and the power distribution network, is also improbable in these cash-strapped days when every million counts. KESC’s CEO said on Tuesday that “this summer will be harsh for all of us”. Unfortunately, it will be those who are unable to afford alternative means of power supply who will suffer. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Wanted: better laws[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Thursday, 04 Jun, 2009[/B] THE release of Hafiz Saeed raises many questions about the sincerity and efficacy of the state in quashing jihadi networks that operate on its soil. It may have been a full bench of the Lahore High Court that ordered Saeed’s release, but the fact is the court was left with little option given the prosecution’s reliance on weak grounds for the extension of the preventive detention of Saeed while he possibly awaits trial on charges related to the Mumbai attacks last November. At the heart of the issue here is really the question of whether Pakistan’s legal framework is adequate for dealing with men such as Saeed who are the ideological leaders and figureheads of groups which may be engaged in terrorist activities either abroad or on Pakistani soil. Do we have the laws that can put such people out of business while acknowledging the difficulty of tracing any particular crime to a group’s top leadership? It appears not. Clearly, this is a matter for parliament to debate and to draw up a set of a laws as Pakistan presses ahead in its counter-insurgency activities in the northwest and Fata. The issue is bigger than just Hafiz Saeed and the Mumbai attacks — it extends to militant leaders like Maulana Fazlullah and Baitullah Mehsud, too. Imagine a scenario in which Fazlullah or Mehsud are captured by the state and are held for trial: is it beyond the realm of possibility that they too may be set free on technicalities because the laws of the land are inadequate to deal with such leaders? Pakistan has tried in the past to put in place special anti-terrorism laws, but because they were too draconian or ran afoul of constitutional safeguards, the superior courts have largely defanged them. No doubt every care must be taken to protect civil liberties and the government must work within the framework of the constitution, but there is clearly a need to acknowledge that militant networks pose a unique threat and therefore sensible, careful and well-drafted legislation must be introduced to tackle the threat. Parliament can be aided in the task by legal experts, retired judges with the relevant experience, and international experts familiar with anti-terrorism laws and their practice around the world. Finally, a word about India-Pakistan relations and the Mumbai attacks. India is unhappy that Saeed and some of the others arrested in the aftermath of the attacks have been released. At the very least, their release sends a bad sign that the government here is perhaps not up to the task of prosecuting them even if evidence is adduced. The Pakistan government must urgently explain what it plans to do next, or else risk losing another opportunity for peace now that the elections have concluded in India. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"][COLOR="DarkGreen"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Middle East Press US, Israel and Palestinians[/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Thursday, 04 Jun, 2009[/B] FOLLOWING his talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas … President Barack Obama says that he is hopeful that the present stalemate between the Palestinians and Arab News Israelis will be broken and that Israel will accept a two-state solution…. We have been hoping for a just solution for the past 61 years…. Yet for once, there is real reason to believe that progress can occur. The much-reported suggestion that Obama’s attitude to Israel is fundamentally different to that of previous US presidents took on flesh and muscle … when … Hillary Clinton declared … that all settlement expansion must stop, including existing settlements. The comment … is the toughest language any US administration has used towards Israel probably since the 1956 war…. Obama’s and Clinton’s stand are a victory for President Abbas … [T]here is one fundamental point that Washington needs to understand. It is not an end to expansion that has to happen; it is an end to the settlements themselves. They have to go…. — (May 30) [B]Guilty as charged [/B] DO as I say, but don’t do as I do? That old barb normally directed at occupants of pulpits, unfortunately can now be credibly aimed at select British parliamentarians who have confessed to fudging their expenses claims. Now politicians across the world who have been charged with corruption will justify their actions pointing to the Oman Tribune British parliamentarians who traditionally have been held … higher in esteem than their peers worldwide…. [T]he obvious corruption scandal has been labelled as the ‘expenses row’ perhaps suggesting that the claims were credible…. Brown has now gone on record to announce that parliamentarians will have to agree to a legally binding code of conduct…. It may be advisable for Brown to read Macbeth again and concentrate on the lament of Lady Macbeth who having done the deed could not sweeten her little hands despite the generous ablutions performed with perfumes from Arabia. The guilt shall remain to torment British parliamentarians even if the majority of them are exonerated of any wrongdoing…. —(June 01) |
[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Reaching out[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B]Friday, 05 Jun, 2009[/B] PRESIDENT Obama went to Cairo University yesterday to seek “a new beginning” between the US and the ‘Muslim world’. It wasn’t a speech one could imagine his predecessor delivering; indeed, the very idea of the speech was to change the perception of the US that had built up in Muslim lands during the Bush presidency. It is necessary here to recall the calamitous record of President Bush on relations with Muslim countries and people: early missteps after 9/11 suggested the ‘war on terror’ was a crusade, evoking a war between religions; the disastrous war against Iraq was premised on faulty intelligence and is viewed as an attempt to ‘reshape’ the Middle East; a commitment to promoting democracy in the world was sacrificed at the altar of expediency on security matters; the disastrous failure of nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq; a legally convoluted position on torture that gave the world Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and secret prisons — the list of failures is both grave and lengthy. Little wonder then that President Obama sought to recast relations with the Muslim world. How did President Obama fare? The president began by reaching back into history, touching upon the contributions of Arabs to modern science, the early ties between the US and Muslim countries (Morocco was the first country to recognise the US in 1796, Mr Obama said), and the splendour of Muslim art, architecture and poetry. The president also thrice referred to passages from the Holy Quran, and flagged his family’s Muslim roots and his time spent on three continents engaging with Muslims. But such speeches are also about policy and for all the talk of common bonds and shared histories, what matters most to improving the US’s standing in the Muslim world is what it does going forward — a fact Mr Obama acknowledged frankly. The president spelled out seven specific issues on which tension between the Muslim world and the US need to be addressed. The first, unsurprisingly, was the need to “confront violent extremism in all its forms”. The president was categorical and zeroed in on Al Qaeda as the pre-eminent threat (its activities “are not opinions to be debated; [they] are facts to be dealt with”) to American security. So, even while he spoke of his desire to see all Americans troops leave Iraq by 2012 and Afghanistan at the earliest and having no intention to seek military bases in either country, his message was clear: the US will do what is necessary to protect its security, though he acknowledged it involved more than just a military strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If the first issue preoccupies the Americans more than the Muslim world, the reverse is true for the next issue President Obama touched upon: the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The effect the close bond between Israel and the US (termed “unbreakable” by Mr Obama) has on promoting militancy may be debatable, but there is little doubt that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands is a rallying cry for disaffected Muslims the world over. Mr Obama firmly backed the right of Palestinians to their own state and rejected the legitimacy of “continued Israeli settlements in the West Bank”, but his strong support for the Palestinians will not have gone down well with the hawkish Israeli government. Therein lies the problem: there is little leverage that the Americans have — or are willing to use — against a belligerent Israeli government. If the Israelis continue to try and expand the settlements, nothing will placate its Arab neighbours or the Muslim world — rendering Mr Obama’s words to them empty rhetoric. The other issue that can undo Mr Obama’s effort to reach out to the Muslim world is Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. No doubt few of Iran’s Muslim neighbours will be comfortable with it acquiring nuclear weapons. At the same time, however, the issue is mired in a deep sense of resentment and unfairness: the US has nuclear weapons but it doesn’t want other countries — read Muslim countries — to have the same capability goes the argument. How the Obama administration treads that tightrope will determine who wins the psychological battle for Muslim hearts and minds. For the rest, President Obama tried to restate the US’s normative approach to relations with the Muslim world. Democracy will be supported, but it will not be “imposed”. Religious freedom, women’s rights and economic development will be promoted and defended by the Obama administration. Indeed, it was a sweeping message that tried to show a softer, gentler side of the US, one that emphasised similarities and opportunities and not divisions with the Muslim world. But as President Obama noted, “No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust.” At the very least though, the speech was yet more evidence that the US has put behind it the roughest edges of the Bush years. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Balochistan uplift[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Friday, 05 Jun, 2009[/B] BALOCHISTAN’S core problems stem from underdevelopment and denial of the province’s rights over its own resources. For decades it has seen its gas and precious metal deposits exploited by the centre with little or no benefit accruing to the people of Balochistan. Pakistan’s biggest province in terms of size should, by rights, also be the richest given its natural bounty. Yet Balochistan is the most backward region in the country. Little surprise then that its people have found allure over the decades in the message of nationalists and secessionists. And any sign of Baloch dissent has been countered with brute force by the centre, the most recent example being the military operation unleashed by Gen Musharraf. Until very recently, when an insurgency raged in the province, Balochistan was caught in a catch-22 situation: the people’s resentment could be curbed only through development, and development work could not be carried out until the restoration of peace. Though the province is not entirely free of nationalist violence, the situation today is markedly different and not a day should be lost in implementing a fast-track development programme for the province. The people of Balochistan cannot live on meagre handouts in perpetuity. As the president of the Balochistan Economic Forum pointed out on Wednesday, the forthcoming budget should offer significant uplift measures that can help make the province less dependent on the federal divisible pool. He laid particular stress on direct foreign investment, which would create both revenues and job opportunities. For this to happen, Balochistan’s infrastructure will have to be developed to a level that can attract and support investor interest. If foreign investors do set up business there, it should be ensured that locals are given preference in the jobs for which they are qualified. Training courses for skilled positions could also help create a measure of equity. The BEF president also fears that customs duty and sales tax waivers for the ship-breaking industry in Balochistan, which is witnessing a boom after many recessionary years, may be reintroduced in the new budget. It can only be hoped that any decision in this regard is reached after careful consultation with provincial stakeholders. Besides greater control over its own resources, Balochistan needs all the incentives and tax breaks that the centre can afford to concede in these trying times. Private investment and government support go hand in hand. Balochistan’s vast seafood potential, for instance, remains underutilised because of a lack of processing facilities that meet EU standards. These could be funded either by the federal government itself or by otherwise hesitant investors who might be lured by an extended tax holiday. A more prosperous Balochistan is in the interest of not just the Baloch but all Pakistanis. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Bangladesh Press Right to travel[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Friday, 05 Jun, 2009[/B] WE have occasionally seen important dignitaries including political leaders and functionaries of the former government being prevented at the airport from travelling abroad in an arbitrary fashion without any legal basis. Some [had even] produced [a] clear court ruling allowing them to leave the country, and yet, they were attempt[s] to [bar them from doing so]. The latest case in point is Hasan Mahmud Tuku, a former state minister for power who had a court ruling allowing him to embark on a journey. It is only upon a contempt petition filed with the High Court by the former state minister and as the concerned officials were due to appear before the court to explain their position that he was allowed to travel and his lawyer consequently withdrew the contempt petition. Better late than never; the issue has been settled but not without leaving a sordid message again. What could be the rationale behind encroaching upon a very fundamental right of a citizen, that too in breach of [an] HC ruling, is incomprehensible to us. It is not merely [a] question of a dignitary not being allowed to leave the country — it is a reflection of a warped attitude [towards] a citizen’s freedom of movement. Such an arbitrary step by officials of an elected government can in effect bring democracy and the rule of law into disrepute. Invariably nobody is held to account for such aberrations. It has to be found out under whose instructions the immigration officials acted the way they did in [the] case of the former state minister. Or did overzealous officials act on their own? It was none of their business to offload a man from the aircraft despite his showing an HC ruling in his favour. What we notice, with a sense of consternation, is that no change is visible insofar as dealing with political adversaries is concerned. But change is something that this government promised so vociferously before the last general election. We feel that a change in political culture, which must include the norms and values guiding … relations between rival parties, should precede all other changes as a matter of principle. The authorities concerned have to probe the whole thing and find out why there are blatant attempts to stop dignitaries from going abroad. [The] rule of law should not be a matter for interpretation, or misinterpretation, to be precise, by government functionaries. Violation of citizens’ rights in any form or context must come to an end. — (June 4) |
[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Coherent policy needed[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B]Monday, 08 Jun, 2009[/B] SOME voices of dissent aside, the consensus in political circles is near absolute. The two most popular parties are solidly behind the army operation in Malakand and seem to have convinced their supporters that this is Pakistan’s battle. The president said on Friday that the fight against militancy will be taken to its “logical conclusion”. Parliament has thrown its weight behind the crackdown and the majority of Senate members subscribe to the same view. As befits a democracy, the stance taken by our elected representatives reflects popular opinion which has swung sharply against the Taliban in recent weeks. In the theatre of war, the military offensive seems to be proceeding in a calculated manner and the militants are on the run. So far so good, even if victory is still nowhere near in sight. But that’s where the coherence ends. Look at the relief operation aimed at helping the three million or so Pakistanis who have been forced from their homes and the waters get muddied. Malakand is witnessing one of the biggest and most rapid displacements seen anywhere in the world in recent history. Islamabad is floundering and Peshawar has fared only marginally better. The IDPs living in camps are suffering terrible privations as we speak and medium- and long-term rehabilitation policies are also conspicuous by their absence. Hopefully this haphazardness will give way to a more systematic approach after Friday’s inaugural meeting between the NWFP’s civilian leadership and the military top brass. Communication efforts, at the very least, could do with a boost. Hundreds of Swatis who wanted to go home on Friday were turned back by security forces. There may be solid reasons behind the move but it would help if displaced persons are told beforehand whether or not they can return to ostensibly ‘secured’ areas. On a positive note, it has been announced that all registered IDPs will be issued bank cards for drawing relief funds from ‘virtual’ accounts. If implemented in letter and spirit, this scheme could help eliminate unscrupulous middlemen who thrive on misery. The kickbacks reportedly demanded by officials doling out relief funds for the survivors of the 2005 earthquake are a case in point. Then there is the most pressing of immediate problems: basic goods are running out fast. Only a fraction — a mere $43m — of the $450m-plus appeal launched by aid agencies has come through so far. The government may be guilty of vacillation but at the same time we have been let down badly by the international community, with the notable exception of the US. Our Muslim brethren, in particular, have been nowhere near as forthcoming as they could have been. Pakistan and its displaced must not be abandoned in their time of trial. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Healthcare concerns[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Monday, 08 Jun, 2009[/B] THE government is expected to announce a new health policy later this month. If the draft on the federal health ministry’s website is an indicator of what is in store, then it would be futile to expect any radical change in the dismal state of Pakistan’s healthcare system. On Friday the Pakistan Medical Association raised a number of valid objections to the draft. The main weakness in the policy draft identified by the PMA was that it lacks a transparent mechanism of checks and balances to ensure accountability of officials in the health sector. It is known that, over the years, social-sector spending has increased in Pakistan. But more funds have unfortunately brought in their wake another evil: corruption that riddles the health and education sectors today. The only way to pre-empt this phenomenon is to institute an inbuilt mechanism at every level to ensure that funds are spent honestly and every institution delivers what it is supposed to. If the government is serious about improving the health system and making it accessible to all there is no reason why transparency cannot be introduced. For instance, all major public-sector hospitals as well as other health institutions should be placed under the management of a governing board comprising independent and neutral stakeholders — members of professional bodies such as PMA, the Nursing Council and so on, as well as interested leaders of public opinion. An audit of this kind by independent sources should help. Monitoring by the health ministry and provincial health departments as is conventionally done does not have any impact. It makes government officials the judge and the juror. While this should at least facilitate the effective implementation of the health policy — non-implementation of policies and laws has been our biggest bane — the draft policy also needs a shift in emphasis. It focuses too heavily on tertiary care and the curative approach, with preventive medicine being given a passing mention. Infectious diseases which place a heavy burden on our health system can be prevented through low-cost methods. But the policy is more concerned about setting up expensive surveillance mechanisms to monitor and test high-profile diseases that periodically cross our borders. There is not enough concern for water-borne diseases and others transmitted by vectors that can be prevented by greater public hygiene and better civic management. If the medical professional bodies had been consulted, perhaps the policymakers would have done better on this score. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]No rules for legislators?[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Monday, 08 Jun, 2009[/B] NOT being aware of the rules is no excuse for violating them, especially in the light of common sense. The inquiry committee that was set up on May 22 to investigate the conduct of Punjab minister for prisons, Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, at the Lahore airport seems to think otherwise. Allowing the minister to continue with his job, the committee declared that he violated his lawful bounds apparently in ignorance of the rules. That the minister apparently misbehaved with customs officials last month and took away the luggage of two ‘guests’ coming from Bangkok without allowing these to be scanned can, in fact, be seen as an act that goes against the rules. But that is not all. The committee has not investigated why he told Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that he was at the airport to receive an official delegation. He has now recanted, telling the committee that the mention of the delegation in a letter he wrote to Mr Sharif regarding the incident was a typographical mistake. However, at a news conference he had said that the customs officials had misbehaved with him at the Lahore airport where he went to receive a delegation. The committee has also accepted Mr Ghafoor’s opinion that the luggage he did not want searched did not contain smuggled or contraband stuff. Mr Ghafoor has been let off the hook far more easily than would have been the case for ordinary folk in a similar situation. This underscores a bigger malady: the difficulty of enforcing rules for legislators. Nobody knows how many parliamentarians at the federal and provincial levels are facing criminal charges of various intensities and different types. Their number is expected to be quite high. In the last two weeks alone, two ruling party legislators in Punjab were alleged to have committed such heinous crimes as harassing women and committing rape at gunpoint. A sense of immunity from prosecution and punishment is at work in these cases. Allowing Mr Ghafoor to walk away with this clear violation of the rules, even if he did not know them, will certainly allow other legislators to believe they can get away with anything. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - North American Press Reframing the jobs picture[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B]Monday, 08 Jun, 2009[/B] A MIXED picture on American jobs is just the latest signal that Washington must be extra cautious as it switches from halting the panic slide in the US economy to shrinking the strong government hand in a recovering market. In May, the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high — jumping from 8.9 per cent to 9.4 per cent. Yet the number of non-farm workers laid off — 345,000 — was surprisingly lower than expected. Even as many households suffer without a breadwinner, the US has now seen a multi-month slowdown in layoffs — a sign of a recovery in the works. [B][I]The Christian Science Monitor[/I][/B] What’s Washington to do with such contrary data while it keeps pumping the bellows to stoke the economy’s still-weak embers? Also befuddling: only about eight per cent of the federal stimulus money has been spent so far. It may be that the Federal Reserve’s rescue actions and the market’s own self-cleansing have largely turned the tide in stock prices and other indicators. How much more stimulus cash should be spent if the recovery strengthens? Congress needs to debate that question soon. And then there are signals from financial markets — as well as complaints from China and Germany — that the Federal Reserve must worry about the inflationary impact of having printed so many dollars and injected so much money into banks. Also worrying is the Fed’s move to go beyond its traditional role in boosting banks to helping government borrow money. In March, it began to buy $300bn in Treasury bonds and other debt. This is a practice that puts a burden on future taxpayers and could drag down the economy…. President Obama needs to be forceful in reining in spending, especially in the most worrisome entitlement: healthcare. This week, he asked Congress to cut $200bn to $300bn more from Medicare and Medicaid over the next decade. That would be in addition to the $309bn in savings he already seeks. But a bigger rethink of entitlements is needed soon to help make sure a budding economic recovery reaches full bloom. Washington must soon figure out how to switch from being the economy’s rescuer to being its reformer. —(June 5) |
[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Trouble in Karachi[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]
KARACHI is simmering again. The latest round of violence since the weekend has taken the lives of over a dozen members of the MQM and its bitter rival, MQM (Haqiqi), and more violence may well occur in the days ahead. Explaining the goingson in Karachi’s murky world of politics is always difficult, but there are some indications of what may have sparked the current round of what appear to be tit-for-tat killings. Late last month, Afaq Ahmed and Aamir Khan, leaders of their respective factions of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement and considered to be bitter enemies of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (the party which is part of the coalition government in Sindh and at the centre), were acquitted on charges of possessing illicit arms and explosives. With now only a few cases remaining against the two, they may soon be released from jail — raising the hackles of the MQM and fuelling its age-old suspicion that the PPP may have a soft corner for the Haqiqi group. Old wounds and new developments then may be what lie behind the latest round of violence. However, according to the MQM, the violence is part of a conspiracy aimed at the ‘Talibanisation’ of Karachi. Be that as it may, the Sindh government and the law-enforcement agencies are clearly failing in their basic duty to the citizenry: ensuring law and order and protecting the lives and property of the people of Karachi. Preventing target killings is incredibly difficult for any agency; with literally thousands, if not tens of thousands, of potential tar gets and suspects, it is diffi cult to prevent any given per son from entering any given person’s home or waylaying that person on the road and killing him. Having said that, the performance of the police and other law-enforcement agencies has been dismal when it comes to dispersing protesters and ensuring that groups of armed men do not go on the rampage in the city’s neighbourhoods. What seems to be missing is a coherent plan to stem the violence. Surely it is not difficult to identify vulnera ble neighbourhoods, step up patrolling, increase spot checks, cancel all but essen tial leave of law-enforcement personnel and work round the clock to not just clamp down on armed miscreants. These are dangerous days in Kara chi and extraordinary times call for extraordinary vigi lance and actions. It must also not be forgot ten that with a full-fledged counter-insurgency under way in the northwest and a military operation perhaps imminent in South Waziris tan, the possibility of retalia tory strikes in Karachi is high; the last thing the city needs is for another front to flare up in an al ready combustible atmos phere. The politicians, the city’s administrators, the law enforcement agencies, the in telligence apparatus — ev eryone must work to cool the political temperature in Karachi and stem a danger ous tide of violence. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Seeds of change?[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] FOOD security is a pressing issue across the world but is naturally of greater concern in developing countries. According to the UN Economic and Social Council, “The right to adequate food is realised when every man, woman and child … has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.” Given that malnutrition is widespread in many developing countries, it is clear that ‘the right to adequate food’ exists only in theory for hundreds of millions of people. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that 923 million people on this planet go hungry every day, of which 907 million live in developing countries. This data is a few years old and the situation today, when food inflation is skyrocketing and adding millions to the ranks of the poor, is probably even more alarming. The lot of the poor in Pakistan has certainly worsened in recent years. Costlier food has not only led to an increase in malnutrition, it has forced many parents to pull their children out of school. The result could be a generation of poverty-stricken children whose physical and mental development may have been impaired through a lack of food and healthcare, and who will also miss out on an education. This situation makes for dire future prospects. What it produces more often than not is cyclical poverty, which repeats itself generation after generation. Rare exceptions aside, the children of the poorest of the poor will in turn sire more poverty. In a scenario as stark as this, any attempt at poverty alleviation ought to be welcomed. It was reported on Sunday that the International Fund for Agriculture Development has proposed a $18.06m project that aims to bolster food security and reduce poverty in 10 of the country’s poorest districts. The scheme targets small farmers and rural communities in all four provinces. Through the provision of loans for the purchase of inputs, it seeks to empower farming families and raise productivity and income levels, besides improving access to markets. Part of the interest charged will be redirected to the community in question, creating more funds for extending new loans. Crop maximisation through improved farming methods and subsequent poverty alleviation are the primary goals here. The IFAD proposal also aims to enhance the capacity of rural communities to manage their own resources and promote gender equality. It promises much but the proof of the project will lie in its implementation. food security is a pressing issue across the world but is naturally of greater concern in developing countries. ac- cording to the un economic and social council, “the right to adequate food is realised when every man, woman and child … has physical and eco- nomic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.” given that malnutrition is widespread in many developing countries, it is clear that ‘the right to ade- quate food’ exists only in theory for hundreds of mil- lions of people. the un food and agriculture organisation estimates that 923 million people on this planet go hungry every day, of which 907 million live in developing countries. this data is a few years old and the situation today, when food inflation is skyrocketing and adding millions to the ranks of the poor, is probably even more alarming. the lot of the poor in pakistan has certainly wors- ened in recent years. costlier food has not only led to an in- crease in malnutrition, it has forced many parents to pull their children out of school. the result could be a genera- tion of poverty-stricken chil- dren whose physical and men- tal development may have been impaired through a lack of food and healthcare, and who will also miss out on an education. this situation makes for dire future pros- pects. what it produces more often than not is cyclical pov- erty, which repeats itself gen- eration after generation. rare exceptions aside, the children of the poorest of the poor will in turn sire more poverty. in a scenario as stark as this, any attempt at poverty alleviation ought to be wel- comed. it was reported on sunday that the international fund for agriculture dev- elopment has proposed a $18.06m project that aims to bolster food security and re- duce poverty in 10 of the country’s poorest districts. the scheme targets small farmers and rural communi- ties in all four provinces. through the provision of loans for the purchase of in- puts, it seeks to empower farming families and raise productivity and income lev- els, besides improving access to markets. part of the inter- est charged will be redirected to the community in question, creating more funds for ex- tending new loans. crop max- imisation through improved farming methods and subse- quent poverty alleviation are the primary goals here. the ifad proposal also aims to enhance the capacity of ru- ral communities to manage their own resources and promote gender equality. it promises much but the proof of the project will lie in its implementation. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Protecting heritage[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] THE Unesco World Heritage Committee is to consider a request for Mehrgarh, Rehman Dheri and Harappa to be included in the list of world heritage sites. This is encouraging, for these digs can be considered extensions of the Indus Valley civilisation sites that correspond to the time-frame of the Old World Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Chinese civilisations. They must therefore be recognised as occupying a position of importance in Unesco’s project to identify and encourage the protection of properties with “outstanding universal value”. In becoming a state party to the World Heritage Convention, Pakistan agreed to maintain and protect the heritage values of any site included in the list. Six of the country’s properties are listed as world heritage sites, amongst them Moenjodaro. But the heritage values of Moenjodaro and of other listed sites are threatened by factors ranging from inefficiency to the lack of resources at the provincial and federal archaeology departments as well as the near absence of domestic expertise or even interest. In identifying Mehrgarh, Rehman Dheri and Harappa as extensions of the Indus Valley civilisation sites, the hope lies no doubt in increasing the scope of interest and foreign investment in the country’s archaeological and historical sites. But this also implies that domestic bodies concerned with the upkeep and protection of sites of heritage value must seriously step up their efforts to protect and maintain the links to our history. Pakistan’s sites of historical and archaeological interest are badly neglected in general terms. In the case of Mehrgarh, these insufficiencies take on a greater ideological significance. Located on the bank of the River Bolan in Balochistan, Mehrgarh is believed to significantly predate the Indus Valley civilisation. Yet the heritage value of the site must be juxtaposed with the fact that Balochistan has law and order issues; it is underdeveloped and receives inadequate funds from the federal exchequer. The recognition of Mehrgarh as a world heritage site would no doubt generate interest and investment, but for it to yield tangible results, much more must be done to restore the province’s confidence and to resolve divisive issues. ********************************************************** [B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Seeking debt write-off[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B] [B][SIZE="4"]Ibrat[/SIZE][/B] PRIME Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani requested the US to write off our debt to help Pakistan overcome its economic difficulties which have been exacerbated by the war on terror, growing crisis of the IDPs and the negative impact of the global recession. This is for the first time the Pakistan government has made such request to the US through Mr Richard Holbrooke. Presently Pakistan’s debt stands at $1.35bn. The US has provided $300m aid for the IDPs, which is higher than the aid provided by Muslim and European countries. How the American Congress will respond to this Pakistani request is unknown…. Besides our economic problems we also have an unstable democracy and lack of good governance. If expenditures such as foreign tours could be curtailed it will prove to be a mitigating factor to some extent. The loans and military assistance we get from the US further cripple our economy. That is why we are beggars in the world. India, Malaysia, Iran and some other countries have fewer resources but are economically sta ble. We neither encouraged our industry nor tried to achieve self sufficiency. India depended on its local products while we engaged in exporting wheat at low prices and later imported the same at high rates. Instead of requesting the US and others for loans and fi nancial aid, why not ask them to have joint investment in cotton and other such sectors? Pakistan has resources but we need a chan ge in policy. The military should not interfere in civilian matters, and the government should stren gthen democratic institutions and values and also put an end to corruption. Education and health sectors should be developed. More important is the rule of law and good governance. If we adapt th ese measures we can end extrem ism through development, prosp erity, progress, proper use of own natural resources and judicious distribution of wealth. The meas ures taken by Holbrooke and de cisions made by the US Congress even if in favour of Pakistan for the time being are not long-term solutions. — (June 7) ¦ Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi |
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