04/05/2014

Press under siege

AT a time when journalistic freedom is under attack in many parts of the world, Pakistan Press Freedom Day, that was observed yesterday, should be taken as a moment for sending out a call to arms. In many ways, the juncture at which this country`s media outlets find themselves today is unprecedented, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that our freedoms face more danger now than ever before this, notwithstanding the fact that the current media climate is diametrically opposed to the one in the past when news organisations were subjected to severe censorship under military dictators, and the truth struggled to make itself heard.

If this sounds theatrical, consider this: for years, now, we have seen the press, both print and electronic, being subjected to pressure from shadowy sections within the state and in political quarters. Journalists have been killed, harassed or otherwise targeted in significant numbers, and because successive governments have failed monumentally to pursue these cases and prosecute those responsible, the trend has steadily moved to the level of intimidation with impunity. Even before two news anchors were subjected to gunfire in Lahore and Karachi in recent weeks, Pakistan was already counted as amongst the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Meanwhile, events on the political horizon have meant that the media has increasingly come in the crosshairs of elusive non-stateactors from separatists in restive Balochistan to militants in the northwest, as well as in other areas. Here, too, the audacity of those who seek to silence the press is as breathtaking as is the inaction of the state: the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the group that has taken proud responsibility for the killing of thousands over the years, has issued hit lists featuring the names of journalists, some of whom have come under attack in some way or the other, though it is not known whether the responsibility lies with the TTP or the plethora of other groups that seek to control the media.

To this mix deadly for individual journalists and sounding the death knell for the freedom of expression has been added a new element: that of the media causing itself harm. In the aftermath of the attack on Hamid Mir, the rivalries between media organisations, and the increasing control of owners of media organisations over the editorial content of their newspapers and TV channels, and often at variance with journalistic ethics, have exploded into a disturbing, destructive war. This may partly be explained by the manner in which the country`s news landscape has expanded over the past decade, yet it is damaging that the owners` business and political interests have been allowed to interfere with the functioning and independence of professional journalists. Between all these threats to press freedoms, we may soon reach a point of no return.

A tougher stance on talk

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PERHAPS it was just an outburst or a show of frustration and not a true hardening of the government line on the desultory talks with the TTP so far. Yet, if Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan`s comments on Friday indicate a change in approach by the government, it would be welcome, even if belated. A firm agenda and a decisive round of talks that is how the interior minister described the imminent next round of negotiations with the TTP and, in a thinly veiled attack, the minister also expressed unhappiness over the divergence in the private and public attacks of some on the T TP negotiating side. Perhaps it is only coincidental that the interior minister`s remarks were made just days after army chief Gen Raheel Sharif set out a firm army line on the framework and parameters of talks with the TTP. Whatever the reasons for Nisar Ali Khan`s change of tone, it is good to see the civilian and the army leadership edging towards the same and right page on the talks issue.

By now, there is little new that can be said about the problems with the government`s approach to dialogue withthe TTP. Nevertheless, because the consequences of a flawed approach are potentially so disastrous, the problems are worth reiterating. As the architect of the dialogue process, the interior minister may have been so keen to achieve success that he often seemed to have lost sight of what real success, from a constitutional, democratic and Pakistani point of view, would look like.

Letting the TTP shape the agenda, making concession after concession, never stating explicitly and in detail what the state demanded of the outlawed group, focusing on short-term ceasefires, handing over prisoners without securing releases by the militants all of that set the stage for a very lopsided process. And that does not include the control over the media narrative and the national discourse that the TTP has exerted when it comes to the issue of militancy and what must be done about it. While much has already been lost by the state, it is surely never too late if there is the will and commitment. Perhaps that is what the interior minister finally indicated on Friday.

Deadly industrial effluent

OVERSEEN by apathetic administrations, Pakistanis appear to be adept at reviving medieval ways of causing death. On Friday, toxic effluent traced to a sugar mill accounted for the death of a number of people in Dera Ismail Khan.

There are various versions as to how the victims ended up in the drain used to carry the effluent from the mill to the Indus.

According to one version, the attention of some passersby was drawn to a boy who had accidentally fallen into it. Those who tried to rescue him were themselves overpowered by the poisonous waste. The dead and injured, including women, might not have had any choice other than to enter the drain in their effort to save human lives; but a more efficient government and a more responsible industry could have ensured that the tragedy did not take place. In the run-up to the incident, the issue of toxic waste and its effects on life had been focused on by local D.I. Khan newspapers. We will now hear the all too familiar calls about ensuring industrialstandards, an exercise which would be too late in the case of those who died on Friday, and too little for the authorities to wake up and take notice.

There have been a few public protests in the pastastherehasbeentheexpertword of caution. For instance, in 2012, a study by two experts at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, highlighted the very real perils of leaving ef fluent wastewater untreated. `...[T]hroughout Pakistan the industrial approach towards the environment is very discouraging`, it noted. `In Lahore ... only three out of some 100 industries using hazardous chemicals treat their wastewater ... in Karachi, [inj the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate ... and Korangi Industrial and Trading Estate ... two of the biggest industrial estates in Pakistan, there is no effluent treatment plant....` Apparently little heed has been paid to such warnings in the true Pakistani tradition of acquired, deliberate ignorance in the face of imminent disaster.

IT could only be whispered during the era of the all-powerful Iftikhar Chaudhry, but judicial overreach had become an uncomfortable fact of life.

And perhaps, from an institutional and democratic perspective, nowhere was the overreach more troublesome than the court eroding the authority of parliament in critical areas. The sacking of a prime minister was a spectacular example of that overreach, given that it could be argued quite robustly that it was parliament`s, and specifically the speaker of the National Assembly`s, constitutional jurisdiction to determine disqualification in the circumstances of Yousuf Raza Gilani`s conviction. Yet, there was an even more troublesome example of judicial overreach and it came in the wake of the 18th Amendment when the Supreme Court led by then chief justice Chaudhry took issue with the new appointment process for judges of the superior judiciary. Until then, never had it been suggested that a constitutional amendment could be judicially reviewed and it seemed astunning development that a Supreme Court may even contemplate striking down a constitutional amendment.

In the end, the court refrained from declaring parts of the 18th Amendment unconstitutional, but made its preferences clear leading to a meek surrender by parliament in the name of the 19th Amendment. As a result, the court had achieved an appointment process for superior court judges that would largely be driven by the superior judiciary itself. Not satisfied with that, subsequent judgements by the Supreme Court on appointments under the 19th Amendment made it crystal clear that a hermetically sealed judiciary had been attained: an appointment process in which parliament had a nominal role, but where the choices of the judicial representatives were almost never to be questioned. In effect, the superior judiciary had told parliament that not only every act of parliament would be absolutely open to any amount of judicial scrutiny the courts saw fit, but that the composition of the judiciary itself wouldbe decided by the senior judges. This was an extraordinary state of affairs that remained unchallenged during Mr Chaudhry`s tenure, but now parliament is trying to claw back the space it had so timidly surrendered.

This week, a sub-committee of the Parliamentary Committee is set to meet and approve its recommendations for strengthening the role of the PC in the two-step judges` appointment process that is initiated, and presently controlled, by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan.

A basic point must be reiterated here: precisely because judges have significant, in many cases unrivalled, power and their jobs security extends to virtually insurmountable constitutional protection, scrutinising and debating the professional and other relevant records of judicial candidates is vital. There is no reason why parliament representing a spectrum of mainstream political thought in Pakistan cannot have a sober and detailed debate on the eligibility of candidates and why its opinion cannot carry weight.

World Bank loan

THE World Bank`s soft loan of $1bn to be disbursed next week must improve foreign exchange stocks, bring greater exchange rate stability and cut the government`s debt servicing costs. In return, Islamabad will implement reforms to prevent the power sector from collapsing, boost growth and investment and cut poverty. Not a bad deal.

The bank has also approved a new five-year Country Partnership Strategy, promising a `notional financing envelope` of $11bn for developing both the private and public sectors. The disbursement of these funds from 2015 will, however, hinge on the successful execution of reforms, especially the ones agreed in the deal with the IMF last year. Pakistan has of late received substantial funds from multilateral lenders and friends from the Gulf as loans and gifts.

It has also raised $2bn through the sale of Eurobonds to global investors, and is expected to float more papers in the months to come. These inflows have helped improve the government`s fiscal position, lifted the burden on its budget and eased pressure on the rupee. It is unlikely to face any serious challenge on this count any time soon. But this improvement in `macroeconomicindicators` is not going to last very long if the government loses its focus on economic, financial and governance reforms.

There are many who still doubt the government`s commitment to address structural rigidities pulling the economy down because of political reasons. To support their scepticism, they often point out its failure in the last budget to tax the wealthy and powerful. Not only that, the government has allowed amnesty for those who hadn`t paid taxes at all to encourage them to do so now. But the scheme`s unlikely to take off because the habitual tax dodgers know how to bribe their way out of a difficulty unless the government demonstrates its resolve to punish them for tax law violations. The government plans to revoke SROs giving tax exemptions of Rs480bn to different lobbies in the next three years but stops short of talking about abolishing the provisions in the income tax laws that debar probe into sources of remittances received through banks. If it expects to sustain the recent macroeconomic gains for long without taxing the rich and mighty, it is gravely mistaken.

Transparent land records

WHILE the official deadline for the Punjab government`s land record computerisation project is supposed to be December of this year, it is fair to ask how realistic this deadline is, especially in the wake of a brewing internal dispute in the provincial set-up. As reported, the assistant directors land records of the Punjab Board of Revenue have threatened to resign `en bloc` due to alleged victimisation at the hands of some officials overseeing the project. Considering the crucial nature of the land record project, as well as the fact that it was launched as far back as 2007, during Pervaiz Elahi`s stewardship of Punjab, the provincial authorities need to deal with the internal crisis judiciously to ensure the project is not delayed further.

Though matters as sensitive as land management reforms cannot be rushed through, there must be some sort of time frame: seven years is a long time and the Punjab government has changed the deadline in the past. The computerisation project must be a priority for the Punjabauthorities asits successfullaunchcan serve as a model for other provinces.

Perhaps the most positive outcome of the scheme will be greater transparency in land management, reducing the oversized role of the patwari, who currently is king of all he surveys.

The role of the middleman in land deals has been described as `predatory`, and not without reason. The patwari has various roles in rural society, perhaps the most important of them being to keep track of sale and transfer of property. Critical information for such transactions is recorded manually in archaic language difficult for the average person to understand.This creates spaceforfraud, bribery and other underhand behaviour that can be employed to fiddle with land records. In theory, it is this exploitative system the computerisation project seeks to replace. There is no reason why the system cannot be made more transparent and user-friendly, as long as the state has the intention to change it.

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Live and Let Live!

06-05-2014

Polio-related travel ban

Poverty profile

Bhagat Singh strikes again

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"First trust in God then believe in yourself,the world will believe in whatever you will do."
"Nothing is impossible for a willing heart."

Muslim World's Silence
THE news from Nigeria is blood-curdling. Shrouded initially in mystery, the kidnapping of almost 300 Nigerian girls last month has now been owned by Boko Haram, with its chief threatening ‘by Allah’ to sell those girls in slave markets. In a chilling demonstration of his intentions, in the name of Islam, Boko Haram chief Abubakr Shekau released an hour-long video that showed his hooded acolytes raising rifles and shouting ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ as Shekau flaunted his criminality to the Nigerian people by declaring, “I abducted your girls”. Describing the girls as “slaves”, he had no qualms about saying he would repeat his actions. Over 50 of the girls have managed to flee, two have died of snakebite, many have been forced to marry and some have been forcibly converted — all in the name of Islam.

Last week, two explosions killed or injured more than 100 people, and police believe Boko Haram wanted to demonstrate its destructive power as Nigeria prepared to host the World Economic Forum. So far acts of terror by the Boko Haram militants and security crackdowns have led to over 1,500 deaths this year alone. But there is no indication yet that the Nigerian government has the political will to purposefully take on the extremists who have chosen murder and abduction as a strategy to advance their political aims for which they claim religious sanction. The Nigerian government has come under intense criticism at home for focusing all security measures on the WEF delegates and for ignoring the urgent task of recovering the girls.

However, the issue doesn’t concern Nigeria alone. Seen against the background of religious militancy that has rocked Muslim (as well as non-Muslim) countries from Indonesia to Morocco, Boko Haram’s latest act of crime against humanity poses a question or two to the entire Muslim world, especially its intellectuals and ulema. Will the Muslim world stay quiet over this debasement of their religion and look away from the Nigerian people’s trauma? Girls are abducted from schools because Boko Haram says it opposes ‘Western’ education. That an education can be ‘Western or Eastern’ is a debatable issue, but even if ‘Western education’ is all that devilish, was the mass kidnapping of the girls the best way to register protest? The Muslim world now must speak up. Those who accuse the Western media of tarring all Muslims with the same brush now have an excellent chance of correcting this erroneous perception by denouncing Boko Haram’s evil deed in unequivocal terms and by dissociating the international Islamic community from such fiendish crimes. In fact, such Islamic seats of learning as Deoband, Qom and Al Azhar must unite in expressing their abhorrence of the atrocity in Nigeria. Silence will mean the Muslim world’s tacit approval of Boko Haram’s misogynist brigandage.

Dangerous Arms Imports

PAKISTAN’S streets are awash with guns — there’s no secret there. Efforts to counter this have ranged from the logic-defying to the laughable. They have included, for example, a campaign to rid Karachi of illegal weapons by asking people to have them registered, thus rendering them legal. At the other end, people have been asked to surrender their illegal weapons — as though the crime rings that operate in the city would submit themselves before the law. Now comes the news that the problem is far bigger than previously suspected. As reported on Monday, dealers had been abusing the relevant arms import policy that puts a monetary ceiling on commercial arms importers: by under-invoicing their goods, they have brought into the country weapons in far greater quantities than their quota allowed. At its last cabinet meeting in 2013, the outgoing PPP-led government approved amendments to its arms import policy and changed it from a value-based to a quantity-based one. But the sitting government never gave this policy comprehensive shape or implemented it. And so, regardless of the efforts made at various levels to curb arms smuggling and contain the spread of illegal weaponry, our streets are witnessing an increasing number of sophisticated arms.

This must end. Pakistan does not need more varieties of weapons to be given to those who deal in violence. Further, while the reasons behind the country’s horrifying levels of violence are disparate and many, there’s one thing that underpins it all; one thing that, so to speak, facilitates violence — readily available weaponry. If all the tensions that are currently ripping the country apart remained, even then it would be possible to argue that were this not such a heavily weaponised environment, the levels of threat-escalation would be lower. Nowhere is this more evident than in Karachi, which is seeing steadily increasing levels of petty crime such as the snatching of phones and wallets. These are generally crimes of opportunity that occur because a weapon is at hand, cheaply and easily. Then there are security challenges of a different nature which must be countered in different ways, as each equation demands. But in each case, reducing the number of arms coming into the country and deweaponisation are the first critical steps.

Extortion In Twin Cities

UNTIL now, the menace of extortion had been a problem faced largely by Karachi, the nation’s business hub. But, as a growing number of reports indicate, the crime is becoming a major issue in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad as well, where militants belonging to the banned TTP in the tribal belt are using the twin cities as a base to extort millions of rupees from businessmen and traders, with criminal gangs having a much smaller slice of the pie. That militants have people on the ground in Rawalpindi was proved by the recent arrest of a businessman who confessed to passing on information to the TTP about potential targets. A report in this paper last week also stated that certain seminaries in Islamabad were suspected of helping local Taliban elements with the collection of extortion and ransom money. Moreover, a police report has identified 20 madressahs in Rawalpindi as being used by the TTP. To make matters worse, splits within the TTP mean that numerous groups are harassing traders with extortion demands. Traders who have relocated from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are being particularly harassed.

It is appalling that criminal and militant groups should be operating with such apparent ease in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. We would have thought that the considerable security presence in the twin cities would have deterred such criminality. After all, ’Pindi hosts the general headquarters of the Pakistan Army, and soldiers patrol many key areas in the city, while, as the federal capital, Islamabad is also under the vigilance of the security establishment. The main problem seems to be that victims — due to a trust deficit — are hesitant to go to the police. The Rawalpindi police have made efforts to reach out to the business community, but quite obviously police in both cities must do more to assure traders they are serious about cracking down on extortionists. And while the militants may be hard to reach in Fata, their local informers can be apprehended to clamp down on the extortion racket.

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''Sufficient for us is Allah , and He is the best Disposer of affairs" Al-Quran

Foreign policy resolutions

THE prime minister’s views on foreign policy as spelled out on Tuesday at a conference of Pakistani diplomats in the Middle East and the Gulf deserve to be noted because of what seems to be a welcome change of emphasis in Islamabad’s foreign policy priorities. His belief in “economic diplomacy”, said Nawaz Sharif, stemmed from the fact that “foreign policy has virtually become economic policy”. For that reason, he said, his government’s foreign policy was driven by economic considerations and focused on opportunities available to Pakistan. He thus wanted the country to cash in on its relations with the Middle East and the Gulf, because of the region’s “booming energy sector, developing infrastructure, thriving services sector and … connectivity”. Speaking ahead of his visit to Iran, Mr Sharif touched upon two issues which have aroused considerable misgivings in opposition circles. One, Pakistan’s ‘special relationship’ with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain would not be at the expense of its ties with Iran; two, there was no change in Pakistan’s Syria policy, because Islamabad believed in non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs. There is no reason why the principles Mr Sharif outlined should remain confined to the Middle East and Gulf region, especially when he talks of “rebalancing” foreign policy with a view to greater integration with the world.

Pakistan’s strategic position has been utilised by the country to its immense advantage in the past. While Pakistan benefited from the massive doses of economic and military aid from the US-led West, it managed to forge friendly relations with China in moves that often aroused suspicions in the West but that nevertheless served Pakistan’s economic and security interests well. Today, more than ever, Pakistan needs to strictly adhere to a policy that aims to rectify the distortions in foreign policy. The decades-old Afghan war and the way it was handled by the military did immense harm to Pakistan’s security interests — besides leading to ugly domestic repercussions. Trade relations with India hit a major obstacle in March after a cabinet meeting to approve the MFN status for India was called off at the last minute, indicating that the levers of foreign policy lay in other hands. The year 2011 was especially disastrous because the army-led reaction to a series of incidents — Abbottabad and Salala — hurt the country’s economic and security interests and served to isolate it.

Mauled by terrorism, Pakistan needs a faster pace of development to recover the time it has lost. This entails a friendly relationship with all neighbours to open up its economy, enlarge trade and invite foreign investment. While security considerations cannot be ignored, the point to note is that there is no greater guarantee of security than a strong economy that can enable Pakistan to stand on its own feet.

Polio: the challenge ahead

TIME is of the essence if the travel restrictions slapped on Pakistan by the World Health Organisation are to be eased in the months to come. Of primary importance is the need for the state to show Pakistanis and the world that it has a serious plan to deal with the development; implement WHO guidelines; and work to eradicate polio from the country. As it is, there is much confusion amongst citizens regarding the exact implications of the travel ban. The Ministry of National Health Services needs to inform the public of what the restrictions mean in practical terms and what steps travellers need to take. A step-by-step process detailing the vaccination requirements for travellers and visitors must be explained and publicised through the mass media because at present, there is just not enough credible information going around. These steps need to be taken before foreign governments start clamping down on Pakistani travellers due to insufficient documentation or lack of vaccination. Ensuring that public health facilities are stocked with enough vaccines; people know where to go to get vaccinated; and that uniform vaccination certificates are issued by the government is a challenging task, but not impossible. What the effort really needs is seriousness of intent that has so far been missing from Pakistan’s anti-polio campaign.

The government must ensure that the quality of vaccines and the cold chain is maintained. Where vaccination certificates are concerned, there can simply be no room for fake documents as the global community will not tolerate this and such incidents will only complicate Pakistan’s efforts to eventually have the travel restrictions lifted. Also, complaining that Pakistan should have been given more time to implement WHO guidelines — as some in government have been doing — is unjustified. The state has had plenty of time to act against polio but unfortunately took the issue too lightly. The writing was on the wall and the travel restrictions did not come out of the blue. At the moment, the government needs to demonstrate that Pakistan is a responsible country by implementing the guidelines and informing citizens about the vaccination procedure. At the same time, we cannot afford to lose sight of the real goal — eliminating polio from the country.

Cricket's New Coach

PAKISTAN cricket has finally demonstrated some kind of consistency. Waqar Younis was the frontrunner for the post of head coach during the tenure of Zaka Ashraf as chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board, and Waqar it is who has secured the job now as Najam Sethi runs the PCB with the help of an ad hoc management committee. The former fast bowler, whose understanding of the game has never been in doubt, has nevertheless had his share of man-management problems. During his playing days and later on as coach, he had issues with individuals in the team, not least talked about his relationship with Moeen Khan, who appears to enjoy the confidence of the current PCB boss. Moeen has been given quite a lot of authority by the board and acts as the chief selector and manager of the national side. It is presumed the bond of trust between Mr Sethi and the chief selector-cum-manager has facilitated some kind of agreement between Waqar and Moeen whereby they are willing to work with each other. Hopefully, an urge on Waqar’s part to pull Pakistan out of its current situation has also been a factor.

The former fast bowler has been appointed head coach for two years under the PCB management committee whose original term will end in June — pending a possible extension. But while this raises questions about mandate and principles, few would grudge the national side a coach with sufficient time on his hands to execute his ideas. The Pakistan team has been under tremendous pressure in recent years, confronted with crisis after crisis. In the circumstances, the advent of a Pakistan cricketing great at the helm should inspire some hope. Former Pakistani players overcoming personal differences for a common cause is an example that needs to be emulated. It is, however, a beginning that must be followed by a series of steps to put things right in the team and on the board.

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''Sufficient for us is Allah , and He is the best Disposer of affairs" Al-Quran

Descent into darkness

IT was almost a killing foretold. And the path to its inevitability is strewn with all the signs of this country’s descent into a dystopian nightmare. Rashid Rehman Khan, senior lawyer and member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, was shot dead in Multan on Wednesday night in an attack that also injured two of his colleagues, one of them critically. Mr Rehman was the defence lawyer for Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer accused of blasphemy, and he had received death threats from two lawyers representing the complainant, as well as two other individuals, for having taken up the case. The threats by the lawyers were reportedly made during the course of the first hearing of the case in March which was held inside the prison for security reasons.

The issue of blasphemy, already one upon whose edifice is played out the ruin of many a life in Pakistan, has assumed an even more deadly trajectory since Salmaan Taseer was shot dead on Jan 4, 2011 by his security guard for advocating changes in the blasphemy law and showing support to Aasiya Bibi, a Christian woman accused under the same law. The shameful spectacle of the killer, Mumtaz Qadri, being garlanded when he was brought to court for his trial, the fact that the judge who sentenced him to death had to move abroad for his safety, and the then government’s timorous response to the murder, have engendered an atmosphere where vigilante justice in blasphemy cases is openly celebrated by sections of the public. Meanwhile, those accused of the crime find it increasingly difficult to find a lawyer willing, and brave enough, to defend them in court. Trials of blasphemy accused in open courtrooms used to be a harrowing affair, with hostile crowds intimidating judges and defence lawyers during the proceedings, but as Mr Rehman’s murder shows, even moving such trials out of the public eye provides no safety when some lawyers themselves harbour contempt for due process when it comes to ‘crimes against religion’.

Although Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has ordered the immediate arrest of those involved in the attack, it is scarcely enough to stem the tide. The state must not only review the blasphemy law but, through its words and actions, reclaim the ground ceded to those who believe they have a divine duty to play judge, jury and executioner to individuals accused of blasphemy, those providing the latter their right to defence, or anyone advocating changes in the law. One fears though, that it is too much to expect in a country where the state has taken no action to curb a dangerous narrative and where few words of condemnation are reserved for the increasingly violent acts of extremism. It is such silence and inaction that provide the fertile soil for intolerance to thrive.

PTI’s perplexing protest

POLITICAL protests, rallies and movements are the democratic rights of the people and their representatives and, especially given the paucity of democracy in this country’s history, ought never to be impeded or blocked, so long as the programme stays within the parameters of the law. Yet, while it is well within the PTI’s right to launch some kind of new movement — or is it just a daylong protest? — on May 11, there are many questions that Imran Khan’s latest foray into protest politics has left unanswered so far. What, for example, is the point, if any, to May 11? That the leader of a party which won a significant number of votes in the last election and now runs the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is willing to plunge into protest mode without it being entirely apparent to the non-partisan observer why and to what end is slightly worrying from a democratic perspective. At the very least, it is puzzling.

From the few dots that can be connected, it appears that the PTI wants to use the anniversary of last year’s election day to reiterate its unhappiness with the credibility of the vote-counting process — or perhaps even to outright reject last year’s results. Yet, the PTI’s message has gone beyond just the election and taken on an anti-government, anti-judiciary and anti-media (or at least a specific section of the media) colour. Then there is the linking up with Tahirul Qadri, who shot to fame, or perhaps infamy, with his attempt to stave off elections last year. All of that adds up to a rather peculiar mix — with the potential to fizz around in any direction or even several directions at the same time. Meanwhile, there are voices of reason within the PTI, such as Javed Hashmi who has dismissed the possibility of mid-term elections. Other PTI members privately accept that even if irregularities from last May are now proved, it would not change the overall election result. Certainly, the election process needs to be made more transparent, free and fair — a significant step up from the present bar of acceptable and credible results. But can that really be achieved through street power instead of from inside parliament? Imran Khan has many questions to answer.

FBI agent’s arrest

THE US national arrested at Karachi airport on Monday is certainly eligible for an award for sheer idiocy. In this global climate of hyper-security, particularly in terms of planes and airports, he was stopped as he was about to check in for a flight to Islamabad. During the routine security sweep, it was found that he was carrying 15 bullets of the 9mm calibre, a magazine, three knives and sundry equipment that the police believe included spy cameras and other gadgets. The FBI has confirmed that the gentleman works for it and was in Pakistan to work with the defence attaché’s office at the US embassy in Islamabad. And while it is in no way remarkable that an FBI employee should be armed to the teeth, it is quite beyond belief that he should be thus equipped when about to enter an airport to board a flight destined for what is possibly the country’s most heavily fortified city.

The man in question was granted bail by a Karachi court yesterday, and a US State Department spokesperson said that Washington is working closely with Pakistan to resolve the matter. However, the case underscores once again the problems that are created as a result of the US’s cagey approach regarding its operatives in Pakistan. It is essential that it share with Pakistan the details of who is being sent, and for what purpose. This would reduce the risk of embarrassment. We would have thought that the Raymond Davis debacle would have forced the American administration, particularly its intelligence agencies, to learn this lesson in no uncertain terms. Clearly, that has not been the case. While the US routinely decries the ‘anti-American’ sentiments that are held by many in Pakistan, it forgets that it is incidents such as this that partially fuel them. This is nothing like the stand-off that was created as a result of Mr Davis’s actions; but to many in Pakistan, the distinction may not be clear enough.

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''Sufficient for us is Allah , and He is the best Disposer of affairs" Al-Quran

Thalassaemia ignored

EVERY year on International Thalassaemia Day, observed last Thursday, we are reminded of the risks this genetic blood disorder poses to the population. Where the public sector is concerned, thalassaemia is largely ignored. However, the numbers are too worrisome to overlook. According to an official of the Thalassaemia Federation of Pakistan quoted in this paper, there are around 50,000 children in the country with beta thalassaemia. And there are said to be approximately 11 million “healthy carriers” of the thalassaemia gene, which means that if two carriers marry, there would be a 25pc chance of giving birth to a child with the disorder. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reportedly has the highest number of children born with thalassaemia. Treatment is an expensive undertaking, as those suffering from the ailment need to have a monthly blood transfusion as well as chelation therapy. Permanent treatment through bone marrow transplant is prohibitively expensive. In the light of such facts, it is no wonder that medical experts say preventive measures are the best option to halt the spread of thalassaemia.

There are two fronts the state needs to work on to counter thalassaemia. Firstly, there needs to be a widespread public awareness campaign to warn people of the effects of the disorder and the factors that can lead to the birth of children with thalassaemia. People need to be made aware of the risks of marriage between cousins, a common cultural practice in this part of the world, while more significantly, the importance of screening couples before marriage, especially in families where there have been cases of thalassaemia, should be emphasised. Once aware of the risks, people can make an informed choice whether or not to go ahead with the union or to have children. Countries like Iran have successfully controlled thalassaemia through such measures. The second point pertains to free or low-cost treatment facilities. Many of those suffering from thalassaemia are from the lower-income bracket, and the government must do all it can to give them monetary respite.

Neglect of agriculture

THE volatility of domestic prices of farm products like potatoes in a country like Pakistan with agriculture as the base of its economy is regrettable. If retail potato prices have peaked despite a good crop and the government is forced to restrict the commodity’s further export and allow its duty-free import to stabilise the market, it shows something is not right with the way we manage our agriculture sector. Indeed, the government has no credible policy framework to protect producers or consumers from the excesses of the middleman who is the only beneficiary of the official neglect of this area of the economy. Agriculture forms a fifth of the country’s economy, provides jobs to 45pc of the labour force and is directly and indirectly responsible for fetching almost 60pc of export revenues. Yet decades of lack of investment in research and infrastructure development have meant erosion in soil fertility and decline in yields. Smallholders don’t have access to finance. Consequently, they’re forced to borrow from the middleman at exorbitant rates and forced to sell their produce at rates lower than the market price to their creditors. It is hardly surprising then that rural poverty has significantly increased in spite of a surge in crop prices in recent years. More and more people are now shifting to cities for jobs, putting pressure on the urban infrastructure.

It’s about time that a comprehensive policy was formulated to develop agriculture to help increase the income of smallholders in order to alleviate rural poverty and decrease the dependence on middlemen. The policy must ensure significant increases in investment in infrastructure and research to stop soil degradation, minimise the use of chemicals and raise crop yields. It should focus on training growers in modern agricultural techniques to help them add value to their crops and market their produce. It has to suggest ways to put subsidised credit in the hands of smallholders to help them get out of the poverty trap and ensure their produce reaches consumers at a fair price. Unless this is done, the middleman will continue to hold sway and create artificial shortages of vegetables and other food commodities in order to manipulate prices at will.


MORE dead Frontier Corps personnel in North Waziristan — the first such incident since the killings that triggered the now-lapsed ceasefire by the TTP — and more infighting among the Taliban in South Waziristan has rendered the already murky future of talks with the outlawed group that much more difficult. Yet, the prime minister and his interior minister remain adamant that talks will continue and that success is still achievable. Given the scarcity of details about the government and the TTP’s internal calculations, it is difficult to know quite what the likelihood of talks succeeding — or even surviving this turbulent phase — is. But there are some broader issues that can and ought to be highlighted.

First, the government’s overall strategy has become reasonably clear: woo the militants amenable to cutting a deal with the state and isolate the hardliners — perhaps to deal with them later through military action or just limit their options until the hardliners have no option but to seek peace with the state. If that sounds like a familiar approach, it is: the army has long cut deals with so-called moderates — really just militants who do not in the short term have an agenda of attacking the Pakistani state — and tried to install a so-called pro-state militant leader as head of the TTP. Today, it is reportedly the government trying to woo the Sajna group, previously it was the army trying to install Waliur Rehman as head of the TTP. Next: the problem with this approach of treating militants as discrete sub-groups. As the army learned to its detriment when it tried to exacerbate tensions between the Waliur Rehman and Hakeemullah Mehsud groups, the various sub-groups tend to rally around their leadership when the state tries to prise them apart. Now too the assumption is that Fazlullah only grabbed the TTP leadership because of divisions in the Mehsud core of the TTP and that the key to securing a deal is to somehow separate the allegedly Afghan-based TTP leadership from the Waziristan-based Mehsud militants.

Yet, is the government simply repeating the mistake of the army, in that seeking to prise various sub-groups apart may only cause them to rally around Fazlullah and his vicious agenda? If the government were a little more candid about what it is trying to achieve and why, perhaps it would be possible to make a more informed assessment. But given the desperation that has at times characterised the government’s approach to talks, there is little reason to be confident that it has necessarily learned much from the experiences of others in Fata. Finally, the idea that this pattern — militants strike, TTP fudges on responsibility, army retaliates when hit and nothing ever really changes — can go on indefinitely is surely impossible, let alone desirable.

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If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.(Che Guevara)

Slash in Haj rates

WHILE the government’s decision to slash Haj rates by Rs23,000 deserves to be welcomed, there are related issues that need to be sorted out to make the pilgrimage convenient for about 150,000 Pakistanis who will perform Haj this year. Nearly 47,000 of them will travel on the government quota, while the rest, which means the majority, will be handled by private operators. The final list of successful Haj applicants will be out soon, and as announced earlier there will be no balloting, for applications will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. Also, no one will be allowed to proceed on pilgrimage if he has performed Haj during the last five years. This is a welcome decision and should help provide Haj slots for applicants from lower income groups who miss it simply because the moneyed can afford many trips. Meanwhile, private companies that run what has become a lucrative Haj and umrah ‘business’ deserve close governmental monitoring because of complaints against them.

Ferrying Hajis from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia is easy; far more difficult is managing their proper stay by providing them adequate accommodation, food and possible medical help. Not all private operators perform these tasks well, for there have been complaints against the way they shortchange their clients. There is stiff competition for living space among millions of Hajis at Makkah, Madina and Mina, and unless arrangements are made well in advance by experienced, professional hands, their clients will face severe hardships. Private operators are selected by the religious ministry according to the marks they earn on the basis of their performance. Unfortunately, there have been allegations of favouritism. Last month, a National Assembly subcommittee found that 19 Haj operators had been given preferential treatment. While the incompetent among the Haj operators need to be blacklisted, the religious ministry first ought to put its own house in order: the scandal that led to the arrest of a federal minister following the 2010 Haj is still fresh in people’s memory.

The Haqqani network again

ONCE upon a time, there was a demand of Pakistan: do more, the Americans urged, against the Haqqani network in North Waziristan. That time eventually passed, with the Americans seemingly coming to the conclusion that overt pressure on Pakistan on the North Waziristan/Haqqani issue was counterproductive in other areas while perhaps also recognising that the post-surge pivot to eastern Afghanistan never materialised and dialogue with the Afghan Taliban became the more pressing concern. But, in what must surely come as a surprise for those outside the closed circles in which such matters are debated, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns has revived the do-more mantra on his visit to Pakistan this week. What that seems to suggest is that as the security and governance transition in Afghanistan approaches a critical phase, the US is once again worried about the power of the Haqqanis to impact security and stability in Afghanistan. And if that is the case, then as the de facto patrons of the Haqqani network, the Pakistani state could find itself yet again under renewed pressure.

Yet, where there is danger, there is often opportunity too. In the past, by swatting aside any plea, request or demand to squeeze the Haqqani network, the security establishment was essentially sticking to its hedging strategy — something that all sides involved in Afghanistan practise to some degree or the other. But if there has ever been a moment to stop hedging — not from some narrow, self-interested distorted security point of view, but from the perspective of desirable regional and national stability — this may be it. What was once one-way traffic in terms of accusations and the movement of militants has become two-way traffic across the Durand Line — with Pakistan having much to worry about in terms of the TTP leadership escaping to Afghanistan where it will almost surely find suitors eager to pay Pakistan back for its perceived sins over the years. From there, it would be a short hop to Fata truly going up in flames and the settled areas of Pakistan coming under renewed and intense pressure. A new understanding on cross-border militancy is important, and achievable. Policymakers here must also know that the drone campaign can be restarted with the flick of a switch.

Dar’s Swiss solution

BUSINESS persons know Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as a hardworking man. He always has his hands on one task and his eyes on the next. Now he has set for himself a new target — that of bringing back $200bn of dirty money that wealthy Pakistanis are believed to have stashed away in Swiss banks. He informed the National Assembly on Friday that Islamabad plans to renegotiate its tax treaty with Bern in August to use the new Swiss laws to get confidential information about illegal money kept in banks by Pakistanis. A summary has already been placed before the cabinet to seek its permission to negotiate the existing but deficient Pakistan-Switzerland Tax Treaty approved in September last. The objective of the exercise is to catch the tax dodgers who have illicitly shifted capital outside the country.

Under the Restitution of Illicit Assets Act 2010, the Swiss government allows the exchange of information on dirty money in its banks. It will be no less than a miracle if the government succeeds in retrieving this illicit money, which Mr Dar claims is almost three quarters the size of Pakistan’s economy. But there is no dearth of sceptics who consider the pursuit of money lying in Swiss banks as a waste of time and taxpayers’ money. The claim about the size of the Swiss accounts held by Pakistanis is said to be rather exaggerated and most account holders are believed to have already moved their deposits to safer havens ever since Bern agreed to open up its banking system for outside scrutiny in a global effort to crack down on the movement of funds for terrorist activities.

Thus, the much better, more sustainable and easier way for the minister to increase tax revenues would be to reform the inefficient and corrupt tax machinery at home and bring tax thieves into the net instead of encouraging evasion through different incentive schemes. This is one of those areas of the economy where the government’s performance has been very poor. The failure to increase the miniscule base of taxpayers and punish tax dodgers means the government will again miss its target of Rs2.475 trillion by a wide margin. Although the Federal Board of Revenue has collected 15.5pc more tax revenue during the first 10 months of the present financial year, the IMF has further cut its tax collection estimate for the country. Most of us, as well as the minister, know that the economy cannot be turned around and sustainable, high growth rates cannot be achieved without raising the tax net and bringing the wealthy segments of the population into it. Ignoring this fact for a longer period in the hope of a Swiss miracle or more ‘gifts’ from the Gulf countries will only compound our economic difficulties at the expense of ordinary Pakistanis.

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If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.(Che Guevara)

Solar plant significance

IN these dark times of electricity shortages, any news that indicates an increase in the amount of power available for consumption must be appreciated, especially when the source of the electricity is clean, sustainable and green. This should be the case with the solar power plant inaugurated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Bahawalpur on Friday. A joint venture between the government of Punjab, the Bank of Punjab and a Chinese firm, this is the country’s first effort at generating solar power for public consumption, and while the additional power it presents to the grid will hardly resolve the country’s issues, it isn’t insignificant either. If all goes according to plan, the plant will start generating 100MW of electricity in December this year, and by 2016 will be contributing 1,000MW to the national grid. The prime minister has promised that by the end of his government’s tenure, Pakistan would not just be meeting its own power requirements but would even be producing surplus energy, including through alternate sources.

From the vantage point of the present, where load-shedding is for the citizens a regrettable aspect of life, and for industry and business appears nothing less than a death knell, contemplating a future where we will have surplus electricity feels nothing short of utopian. Still, while the government deserves luck in its endeavours, it is worth reiterating that Pakistan needs to work much harder at exploring alternate, green sources of power. Sporadically, there have been a few attempts in this regard, including the setting up of small- and medium-sized wind farms, to which has now been added this solar plant. The country has much power in natural assets that can be harnessed in terms of electricity generation. Sunlight is available in vast supply. And in the coastal areas, there is no shortage of wind. Both can be exploited to greater benefit than is currently the case.

Electoral reform process

THE first anniversary of last year’s general elections, which passed yesterday, is an ideal opportunity to look back at the democratic exercise, analyse it and incorporate the lessons learnt into a larger policy framework in order to undertake credible electoral reform. While 2013’s polls were on the whole free and fair and featured the highest voter turnout in decades, the process was not perfect. There were some irregularities that must not be there when the nation votes in 2018. Soon after the polls, there were claims of rigging; for example, candidates recovered ballot papers from unusual locations as ‘proof’ of wrongdoing while in a few constituencies, it was discovered that many votes were fake or unverifiable. While the angry clamour then has died down and the majority of political players have made peace with the 2013 results, some are adamant about the rigging claims. Neutral observers, such as the Free and Fair Election Network, have also pointed towards anomalies. For example, in a recent statement Fafen said over 71,000 irregularities were observed in last year’s polls. These included anomalies in pre-voting preparations and the voter identification process, as well as incidents of ballot stuffing. Yet, going forward, all stakeholders need to discuss how such irregularities can be overcome to make the electoral process more transparent.

With reference to reforms, the Election Commission of Pakistan has done well to come up with a draft strategic plan for 2014-2018. By inviting debate from political parties, NGOs, civil society and the government, a comprehensive path towards electoral reform can be paved. The proposals include complete independence of the ECP, specifically empowering the commission to appoint election officials. The ECP has also highlighted the objective in the plan of developing biometric voter identification and introducing electronic voting machines by the time the next polls take place. Electronic voting machines are already in use in India where they have streamlined the process. Hopefully, if reforms are pursued with dedication and honesty in Pakistan, and most importantly, implemented in their true spirit, the electoral process should become a much more transparent and error-free exercise.

The wages of violence

LONG after every vestige of the blood and gore has faded, long after the cacophony of headlines has receded into the past, the memory of violence lingers. It impresses itself in a myriad ways on the lives of survivors: in the physical wounds, the emotional toll, the lost livelihoods. Over the last few years in Pakistan, violence has become synonymous with terrorism, which has claimed over 50,000 lives. However, as a recently released British Council report, Next Generation: Insecure Lives, Untold Stories, explores, that is only part of the picture. Violence in our society has evolved into a pervasive, multi-dimensional malaise that, if left unchecked, threatens to unravel the gains painstakingly accrued over the past decades. The potential for long-term and far-reaching repercussions is very real, for violence impacts not only survivors, but those who witness it, as well as victims’ family members, sometimes in life-altering ways. Given Pakistan’s age demographics, the British Council report looks at the issue from the point of view of a critical segment of Pakistani population: its youth.

Two-thirds of Pakistanis are under 30 years old, with the median age being only 21. This youth bulge could be a potential asset but in the absence of policies for a more equitable and inclusive society, the frustrations simmering in this demographic may further nudge the country towards instability. The report gives voice to over 1,800 stories of young people across Pakistan and includes a national survey of more than 5,000 such individuals. Together they offer a glimpse into what the study describes as “the public health crisis that is emerging from the trauma of conflict and violence”. A significant minority of respondents — 22pc — said they had directly experienced violence themselves or knew someone who had.

Violence in Pakistan is often rooted in cultural and economic factors, but in many respects it is an indictment of a state that has long shirked its responsibilities towards its citizens. There is among Pakistanis in general a profound disillusionment with the institutions of the state to safeguard their rights. Where young people are concerned, the psychological fallout of dashed hopes and thwarted ambitions engenders depression and mental illness, fuels rage, and further perpetuates the cycle of violence. In a society awash with guns, a culture of machismo, and the paucity of legal means of recourse, violence is increasingly seen as an acceptable way of settling disputes. In the process, society is fragmented along ethnic and sectarian lines. A divided polity is scarcely equipped to fight the existential crisis that Pakistan faces today. There must be a concerted effort by the state to address the underlying factors that perpetrate this culture of violence. The time for band-aid solutions is long gone.

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If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.(Che Guevara)

The PTI challenge

NOW that the rally is over and any hopes the PML-N had of celebrating its election anniversary in style have been dashed by the PTI’s pugnacity, there is the small matter of sifting through recent events and trying to understand what they could possibly mean. First, the good news. The PTI rally in Islamabad — which was the centre of attention, despite smaller rallies held by Tahirul Qadri supporters in various cities — saw a large number of people register their peaceful protest and then disperse in an orderly manner. There was no violence and no degeneration into a sit-in, meaning that most of the worst fears before the rally were quickly dispelled. In addition, Imran Khan’s core demands regarding the election process are reasonable and could — in fact, ought to be — addressed inside parliament. Short of dissolving the Election Commission of Pakistan — whose members’ terms are constitutionally protected — the ideas that nudge Pakistani elections from the terrain of acceptable and credible to truly free and fair ought to be welcomed, analysed and adopted as necessary.

Now the less welcome news. Regardless of what Imran Khan wanted to talk about, the entire event on Sunday was shrouded in mystery and intrigue. With anti-democrats crawling out of the woodwork in recent weeks and issuing dark warnings about unspecified threats to the system, the May 11 rally was always going to become a focal point of speculation — even if the PTI itself was not involved in any of the anti-democratic fervour. While neither should it have been expected nor would it have been good politics to leave the field open to the PML-N on May 11 to set the tone for the day, perhaps the PTI should have done more to distance itself from the speculation that Sunday was meant to be a repeat of Oct 30, 2011 — when Imran Khan effectively and famously began the PTI’s election campaign a year and a half before elections were due. The fact is, through much of this country’s chequered political history, anti-democratic forces have piggybacked on populist politics to either keep the democratic project off balance or to derail it altogether. Much as the PTI may be contesting the PML-N for primacy in Punjab, the PTI and Imran Khan should also keep in mind that if they agitate too much, the democratic system itself can come under threat.

Finally, a word about the PML-N’s own approach to politics and the PTI challenge. Much as the party would like to downplay the PTI challenge, there are a couple of issues the ruling party cannot afford to ignore. Imran Khan is still capable of drawing a crowd and the PTI does continue to attract at least curiosity from a wide section of the public. So, if governance does not improve, the ruling party could find itself under real pressure in its Punjab heartland.

IMF’s praise — and criticism

THE IMF has praised the Nawaz Sharif government’s economic policies and its effort to stabilise the economy that was on the brink of disaster only a few months ago. The macroeconomic fundamentals are indeed looking up. The budget deficit has been brought under control; the foreign exchange stocks are shoring up; the pace of increase in prices has been arrested somewhat; the economy is growing faster than many had anticipated; tax revenues are up, etc. Satisfied with the progress Islamabad has made so far, the IMF is expected to release the fourth tranche of $550m — the last to be released during the present financial year — from its $6.7bn Extended Fund Facility at the start of next month. Now is the time to consolidate the gains made so far as macroeconomic risks such as inflation remain. This was pointed out by the IMF mission chief on the conclusion of the third review of the country’s economy under the EFF loan.

These gains will be difficult to reinforce without the government taking certain politically tough decisions. These would include broadening the tax net and reforming the crumbling power sector — actions that the government has been postponing since it came to power 11 months ago. It will also have to reverse some controversial decisions such as the tax amnesty announced for tax dodgers if it wants to see the economy recover and be able to stand on its own feet. Both the energy shortages and the financial difficulties facing the government on account of its low tax revenue collection are major constraints on the creation of jobs and economic growth. In other words, the future prosperity of the ordinary Pakistani depends largely on the government’s willingness to take on the chronic issues pulling the economy down. Macroeconomic stability achieved on borrowed money is always short-lived. And when the process reverses, the major sufferer is always the common man. It is time the government starts giving something back to the masses who had brought it to power and have waited patiently for the promised turnaround. If the government wants, the next budget could be the first step towards easing the economic pressures being faced by ordinary people.

Measles deaths in Sindh

OVER the past few years, measles outbreaks have had a particularly devastating effect on Sindh, resulting in a high number of fatalities. There were over 100 measles-related deaths in the province last year, while the disease spread to other provinces as well; in 2012 there were over 200 deaths in Sindh. Deaths have again been reported this year, particularly from the Sujawal and Thatta districts of Sindh. Official figures say 12 children have died so far, though some media reports claim there have been a higher number of deaths. Health officials in the province say nearly 700 measles cases have been reported so far this year. While the deaths of children due to the highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease are indeed deplorable, there is still time to act before measles spreads further and results in even more fatalities.

The reason why measles has claimed so many lives year after year is due primarily to the low routine immunisation coverage. It is fair to say that if the state had plugged the gaps and conducted the immunisation programme more thoroughly, measles would not be resulting in so many deaths. For example, one medical expert quoted by this paper said immunisation coverage in Sindh was only 29pc. The mother of a child who recently died in a measles outbreak also told this paper that there were no arrangements for administering routine vaccinations in her village. Along with insufficient immunisation coverage, high rates of malnutrition in Sindh make children even more vulnerable to disease. Clearly, the provincial health authorities can do much more not only to make people aware of the importance of routine immunisation to the health of their children, but also to ensure that vaccination facilities exist at the local level, especially in far-flung areas. Elected representatives must also play a greater role in convincing local people to get their children vaccinated and to ensure that the funds, manpower and logistics are in place to immunise all targeted children in their constituencies.

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If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.(Che Guevara)