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Predator Wednesday, June 10, 2009 01:56 PM

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Elections in Lebanon[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 10 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE electoral victory of the ruling ‘March 14’ coalition in Lebanon has been welcomed as a victory for democracy. With voter turnout over 50 per cent and no violence reported, Sunday’s polls were not what this strife-torn country is accustomed to. The coalition led by Saad Hariri’s party won a majority, proving that the unexpected can still happen. The Islamist Hezbollah that had successfully confronted Israel in 2006 and proved its military prowess in Beirut last year failed to demonstrate its political strength. Many factors contributed to the electoral outcome. One of them was the booming economy that went in favour of the incumbent. With a GDP growth rate of nine per cent in 2008, revenues growing rapidly, the number of tourists going up by 50 per cent and industrial exports expanding, there was no reason for the Lebanese to reject their government. President Barack Obama’s ‘new beginning’ speech in Cairo a few days before the polls also injected that much-needed feel-good factor that was needed to tip the scales. Does all this mean that Lebanon has entered a new era and that fractious politics has become a thing of the past?

One should not be over-optimistic. With the fragmented sectarian composition of its population given constitutional recognition through a system of political quotas and checks and balances, Lebanon can hardly hope for any single party to gain a majority in parliament. Every party that rules is required to seek the backing of allies to stay firmly in the saddle. Moreover, given its proximity to Israel, Beirut is expected to put up with a lot of meddling from its neighbours — Syria, Iran or Saudi Arabia. There is also the overt and covert pulling of strings by distant allies, mainly the US, which Lebanon cannot escape. Above all, Israel is a dominating factor in the life of any Arab country. Hence any government in Beirut has to tread carefully and address the “sensitive equations” referred to by a Hezbollah leader recently. Mr Hariri’s offer “to extend our hand to work together” with his rivals should be well received. But his refusal to opt for the ‘blocking minority’ formula that allows the opposition to veto a cabinet decision could create hurdles when he seeks to enter into a power-sharing arrangement that is durable. Moreover, the well-armed militias of various parties will continue to give their supporters disproportionate leverage.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]IDPs’ disillusionment[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 10 Jun, 2009[/B]

WHILE the Pakistan military’s latest offensive against the TTP and other militant outfits has achieved some success, gains are also being made on the ideological front. The past few months have seen the tide of public opinion turn — from a fearful or confused conciliatory attitude towards these groups to what the US-based

New Yorker magazine recently called an “antipathy towards the Taliban”. Reports suggest that this change of heart is true not only of the people displaced internally by the conflict, and therefore most directly affected, but also of residents in areas as yet unscarred by the battle. Deeply disturbing, however, is the fact that this antipathy is accompanied by a general lack of faith in the commitment of the government and the army to the long-term battle: the defeat of the Taliban and their ilk for good and the extension of the state’s writ and protection to all areas. The New Yorker magazine reporter pointed out that “a number of refugees and residents of Mardan questioned how serious it [the government] was about cleaning out the militants”.

This is worrying, for a population disillusioned with the government can become part of anti-state or militant groups in the future. The more than two million people displaced by the fighting are most at risk, for the state has done little to mitigate their suffering. Even when it is safe to return, these people will face an uncertain future in the battle-ravaged areas where the civic and administrative infrastructure is in a shambles, and where medical and educational facilities will have to be rebuilt from scratch. Refugees can be easily radicalised. The failure of the state and its institutions to protect, accommodate and later rehabilitate them increases the anger of millions, as does the rejection of their presence in Sindh and Punjab by political groups. This can well create recruiting space for militant outfits. For long-term success in the battle against the Taliban and other anti-state forces, it is essential that the military battle is followed by tangible steps towards civic development and economic uplift of devastated zones and the rehabilitation of the displaced.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Pakistan Railways[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 10 Jun, 2009[/B]

PRIVATISATION works when it builds capacity and improves products or services. In the case of Pakistan Railways, any sale by the state will most likely fail to meet the first criterion. Services may — and that’s a big ‘may’ — improve under private ownership. Train travel could conceivably become safer and more comfortable and dependable. At the same time, however, it is inevitable that loss-making routes will be done away with, which means that fewer stations will be serviced. Capacity will thus be reduced, not enhanced. In many remote areas, the train service represents a lifeline to the rest of the country and this link that sustains both travel and trade ought not to be severed. Britain’s privatisation of the rail system saw several stops disappear from the map for reasons of profitability. The same is bound to happen in Pakistan, with far greater adverse effect, if Pakistan Railways is sold. Jobs too will be lost in the downsizing effort and fares are likely to increase, again to the detriment of the public. What’s more, firing poorly paid workers is unlikely to turn Pakistan Railways around. What is needed instead is a complete rethink of the organisation’s top-heavy administrative structure. This can be done without selling the railways.

The railways minister was adamant on Monday that PR would not be privatised even though a cabinet committee had been formed to discuss the same. Admitting that “some people” want the sale to go through, he said privatising the railways would run counter to the ruling party’s manifesto. He also pointed out that the budget for the road transport network is nearly four times bigger than that of the railways. This is a key point. Pakistan Railways, which racks up billions in losses every year, is a victim of government neglect as well as mismanagement. Its fortunes could well be reversed through a combination of commitment, increased funding and honesty of purpose.

Substantial investment will be required to make train journeys safer and more comfortable. Staff performance must be improved and tracks upgraded to ensure smoother traffic flow at junctions and stations. When trains are delayed it is not just the passengers who suffer — Pakistan Railways’ budget also takes a hit. Fuel expenses accounted for over 32 per cent of PR’s operational costs in 2006-07. This figure would be lower were it not for the fuel wasted by locomotives idling for hours at stations or waiting elsewhere for other trains to pass. According to a report in this paper in February, “Locomotives stalled in yards and train delays resulted in the loss of 770,700 minutes between May 2007 and April 2008, causing a loss of Rs776,865,600”. Pakistan Railways need not be seen as a lost cause. There is massive room for improvement and it could be revitalised without being privatised.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - European Press FF have lost the right to dictate[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 10 Jun, 2009[/B]

SO, the medicine has been administered and now all we can do is wait, watch and hope, wondering if the patient will respond or succumb to the malaise…. [T]he patient’s well-being is central to all of our prospects and ambitions.

Stretching the medical analogy, almost as far as our credibility was stretched over recent years, hopefully we can begin to build a sense of optimism now that the fever has broken and the patient is in a position to respond. And what a response it must be. In the next few days Taoiseach Brian Cowen goes to the EU summit in Brussels, which is scheduled to finalise the legal guarantees to enable a rerun of the Lisbon Treaty in the autumn.

[B][I][SIZE="4"]The Irish Examiner[/SIZE][/I][/B]

A second rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, no matter how earnestly felt, would be suicidal. We simply don’t have the luxury of pretending that we can reject it and continue to enjoy the essential support of our European neighbours, support that proved absolutely vital in the last few months.

In the coming weeks An Bord Snip Nua will publish its assessment on how the public service might be reformed. If the report has the substance and sweep required … it will cause ructions amongst those in the firing line. Age-old privileges and authority will be challenged and those once thought untouchable will be taken out of their comfort zone…. It is certain, however, that the Commission on Taxation report on the tax system will have an impact on incomes.

This report is taking shape and will be with us long before the consequences of last Friday have faded…. [IT] will feed into the December budget…. These projects would stretch a government in rude health, but … [a] profoundly challenged government might find it all too much…. Of course there are other matters, such as our errant banks, the prospect of 500,000 people in dole queues before Christmas, energy dependence, collapsing pension schemes, great difficulties in agriculture too and many … more problems that can’t be ignored. In this context it would be appropriate for [the] government to give an outline of how it intends to proceed … [and] secure these objectives….

These unique circumstances present challenges for Fine Gael and Labour too. They are both a step closer to their holy grail and must now behave as they might should they assume power. They too must say how they would fix our world. If they don’t how can they expect to be given the opportunity? — (June 09)

Nonchalant Thursday, June 11, 2009 08:31 AM

Failure to protect
 
[B]Failure to protect[/B]
Dawn Editorial
Thursday, 11 Jun, 2009


The devastating strike against the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar is another sobering reminder that the terrorists are continually adapting their modus operandi and probing gaps in security arrangements in what should be high-security areas.

The attacks on the FIA centre in Lahore in March 2008 and the Marriott hotel in Islamabad last September introduced the devastation of truck-bombing to Pakistan and led to a scramble to put up heavy-duty security barriers at the entrances to buildings that could be potential targets of terrorists across the country. Then last month in Lahore, a similar attack on an ISI building may have been thwarted but it did severely damage a Rescue 15 building and killed dozens. Seemingly having learned from that experience, the terrorists in Peshawar arrived at the hotel in an innocuous looking car, and when the barrier was lowered for them they fired in the air dispersing the guards. Then, followed closely by the truck filled with the explosive material, they drove to their target. Even more alarmingly, the terrorists appear to have thoroughly reconnoitred their target: they exploded their truck at a point that caused maximum damage to the portion of the hotel that reportedly was occupied mostly by foreigners.

What is equally clear though is that there was a spectacular failure of security at the hotel itself and the surrounding neighbourhood. Private security guards at the hotel were clearly not up to the task of fending off sophisticated terrorists on a suicide mission. Or were they complicit in the crime, as NWFP senior minister Bashir Bilour suspects. But where were the police and other law-enforcement personnel? With humanitarian workers and officials from international aid agencies flocking to help the IDPs in the north-west, the local, provincial and federal administrations should have already had a plan in place to protect the hotel.

After all, terrorist strikes in retaliation against the military operation in Malakand had already occurred and more were expected. Clearly, more — much more — needs to be done on the security front. If there is a shortage of personnel, then they must be urgently recruited. If there is a shortage of other resources, the relevant administrations must provide them to the law-enforcement agencies immediately. If the intelligence apparatus is stretched thin, then it must quickly be beefed up.

The neighbourhood in which the hotel is located ought to be kept in mind. The provincial assembly, Supreme Court registry, Governor House, Chief Minister House and Corps Commander House are all a stone’s throw from the Pearl Continental. True, the road on which the hotel is located is a major artery and security concerns must be balanced against the need of the population to move around. But the fact that a truck laden with explosives could travel unchecked on the road is extremely disconcerting. A system needs to be put in place that can screen all traffic, particularly heavy vehicles.

Predator Thursday, June 11, 2009 08:33 AM

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]A silver lining[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 11 Jun, 2009[/B]

MR Manmohan Singh’s statement in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday will be seen as the olive branch that is badly needed in the present state of impasse between India and Pakistan. By acknowledging honestly that it was in his country’s vital interest to engage with Pakistan, the Indian prime minister has indicated that the peace process could be revived. What is more significant is Mr Singh’s assurance that New Delhi is prepared to walk more than halfway if Pakistan accepts its share of responsibility in the partnership. This is one of the rare occasions that a silver lining has appeared in the dark cloud that has symbolised ties between the two South Asian neighbours since the Mumbai carnage. In recent weeks Pakistan has proposed the resumption of talks but India’s reservations were too manifest. It is now universally recognised that states should resolve their disputes through negotiations rather than recourse to war and violence. India and Pakistan too have made progress towards peace only when they have been engaged in a dialogue as happened in 2004-2008.

Mr Manmohan Singh speaks of Pakistan accepting its share of responsibility in the partnership. Any relationship of this nature has to be reciprocal if it is to be sustained. It is also important that the two sides should perceive a commonality of interest in the peaceful resolution of their disputes. After quarrelling on the agenda of their talks — negotiations focusing on Kashmir first and other wider issues later or vice versa — India and Pakistan managed to launch their dialogue in 2004. Much progress was achieved on a wide range of issues that allowed the two sides to open new doors of communication that also helped them address the Kashmir issue, though only peripherally. A beginning had been made. The Mumbai attack led to a breakdown of this process. True there was heartburn and differences in perception on the issue of terrorism, but these could have been talked out at the negotiating table if talks had continued. The Indian prime minister says Pakistan must accept its share of responsibility but it is not clear what is expected of Islamabad. But one would want the threads to be picked up from where they were dropped. Islamabad cannot be pushed to the wall and India should also understand how the Kashmir dispute, regarded as a core issue in Pakistan, creates constraints when New Delhi refuses to address its substance.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Failure to protect[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 11 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE devastating strike against the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar is another sobering reminder that the terrorists are continually adapting their modus operandi and probing gaps in security arrangements in what should be high-security areas. The attacks on the FIA centre in Lahore in March 2008 and the Marriott hotel in Islamabad last September introduced the devastation of truck-bombing to Pakistan and led to a scramble to put up heavy-duty security barriers at the entrances to buildings that could be potential targets of terrorists across the country. Then last month in Lahore, a similar attack on an ISI building may have been thwarted but it did severely damage a Rescue 15 building and killed dozens. Seemingly having learned from that experience, the terrorists in Peshawar arrived at the hotel in an innocuous looking car, and when the barrier was lowered for them they fired in the air dispersing the guards. Then, followed closely by the truck filled with the explosive material, they drove to their target. Even more alarmingly, the terrorists appear to have thoroughly reconnoitred their target: they exploded their truck at a point that caused maximum damage to the portion of the hotel that reportedly was occupied mostly by foreigners.

What is equally clear though is that there was a spectacular failure of security at the hotel itself and the surrounding neighbourhood. Private security guards at the hotel were clearly not up to the task of fending off sophisticated terrorists on a suicide mission. Or were they complicit in the crime, as NWFP senior minister Bashir Bilour suspects. But where were the police and other law-enforcement personnel? With humanitarian workers and officials from international aid agencies flocking to help the IDPs in the north-west, the local, provincial and federal administrations should have already had a plan in place to protect the hotel. After all, terrorist strikes in retaliation against the military operation in Malakand had already occurred and more were expected. Clearly, more — much more — needs to be done on the security front. If there is a shortage of personnel, then they must be urgently recruited. If there is a shortage of other resources, the relevant administrations must provide them to the law-enforcement agencies immediately. If the intelligence apparatus is stretched thin, then it must quickly be beefed up.

The neighbourhood in which the hotel is located ought to be kept in mind. The provincial assembly, Supreme Court registry, Governor House, Chief Minister House and Corps Commander House are all a stone’s throw from the Pearl Continental. True, the road on which the hotel is located is a major artery and security concerns must be balanced against the need of the population to move around. But the fact that a truck laden with explosives could travel unchecked on the road is extremely disconcerting. A system needs to be put in place that can screen all traffic, particularly heavy vehicles.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Silent sufferers[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 11 Jun, 2009[/B]

FORCED marriages are abhorrent in any situation but the practice becomes appalling when it involves underage children. Though the country’s laws recognise the marriage of underage girls as a crime, this practice remains widespread and constitutes a telling indictment of the manner in which women are victimised and basic human rights trampled in feudal social structures. More shocking perhaps is the fact that in Sindh’s Umerkot district there now exist brokers who link up buyers with parents — mostly fathers — willing to sell their daughters. ‘Marriage’ under such circumstances amounts clearly to selling a child into a life of slavery and all manner of abuse. Fuelled by poverty and ignorance though it may be, the practice is detestable. And yet it is only one of the many ways in which this country’s women are victimised. It is well known that in many parts of the country, women and young girls are bartered to settle disputes or discharge debts. Meanwhile, the trafficking of women and their sale into anything from prostitution to semi-slavery — often given the nominal cover of ‘marriage’ — continue unchecked. The state makes the right noises from time to time but nothing changes.

The project to modernise and civilise the country must start with protecting the rights of women. Expanded legislation is required to criminalise practices that are too often defended as ‘social’ or ‘tribal’ customs. Moreover the laws that exist, such as those against underage marriages, karo-kari and ‘honour’ killings, must be stringently applied. All too frequently, the perpetrators of such crimes go unpunished because of the influence or money they wield. The police force must therefore be made more accessible, effective and independent. A lasting change, however, requires that the societal mindset be altered and women be recognised as equal citizens and human beings. It took a graphic video showing the whipping of a young girl for Pakistan to recognise the excesses committed against women by the Taliban. Yet crimes such as those enumerated above take place every day, and society as a whole remains uncaring. We should not need a video of each victim’s suffering to realise that the country’s women are in need of protection, often from their own kin.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Middle East Press Helping citizens[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 11 Jun, 2009[/B]

DESPITE all the problems with the railways and other forms of land transport, Minister of The Egyptian Gazette

Transport Mohamed Mansour seems obsessed with the idea of introducing … means of transport in some parts of the country … for the benefit of investors and tourists. Before completing the free highway project he has launched between Cairo and Alexandria, Mansour announced the launching of another project … connecting Upper Egypt’s governorates with the Red Sea resorts….

This will encourage tourists to spend more time in Egypt and make transport safer for visitors after the many road accidents in which a lot of tourists have died. What we really need is a better train service for ordinary citizens. If we concentrate on projects that serve rich businessmen and foreign visitors, we will … deprive ordinary citizens of the fruits of economic reform. —(June 8)

[B][I]Justifying Afghanistan[/I][/B]

THE US does not want to keep its forces in Afghanistan on a permanent basis. This was one of the points made by [Barack Obama in] … Cairo.

… [T]he president has left open the whole issue of how … US troops may be expected to remain there. He said, “It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were no violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that is not yet the case.”

The US at this point should realise that all concerned states would like to see Al Qaeda defeated … but the answer for that does not lie in additional troops.

It lies in winning the support of the people. For that the US may have to make more efforts to minimise … civilian casualties. —(June 6)

Predator Friday, June 12, 2009 08:31 AM

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Iran’s presidential election[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 12 Jun, 2009[/B]

IRANIANS go to the polls today in what most observers believe is a race too close to call. Even though there are four candidates, the real contest is between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the conservative incumbent, and reformist candidate Hassan Moussavi whose green-coloured rallies gave a new and popular dimension to the campaigning that ended on Wednesday. Unless there is an upset, none of the four candidates — the other two being former speaker Mehdi Karroubi and former general Mohsen Rezaei — is likely to get more than 50 per cent of the vote, thus forcing a run-off. Former President Mohammad Khatami quit the presidential race in March but he boosted Moussavi’s chances by throwing his weight behind him. The reformists seem to have learnt their lesson, for in the 2005 election their boycott of the polls helped Ahmadinejad. This time bands of ‘green’ throughout the country are urging young people to cast their votes to swing the election in Moussavi’s favour.

Iran’s 10th presidential election is in a sense a referendum on the hard-line president’s domestic and foreign policies, which enjoy the support of Iran’s powerful clerics, especially spiritual leader Ali Khamenei. The arch-conservative Council of Elders too has played its partisan role by disqualifying several candidates, including conservative Rafat Bayat, a female MP. Besides, Ahmadinejad enjoys popularity with rural people, on whose welfare he has spent a huge amount of money in violation of rules. With world oil prices down, the economic situation continues to be grim for a country which is the world’s fifth biggest exporter of crude. But inflation has come down from last year’s 30 per cent to 18.

The president has given no indication that he intends to give up his hard line toward the West and show flexibility on the nuclear question. Moussavi, on the other hand, stands for a flexible approach toward the West, because he believes Ahmadinejad’s policies enabled America to go the UN and place Iran under sanctions, thus aggravating the economic condition. What has endeared Moussavi to young people is his pledge to improve freedom of expression and liberalise the cultural scene. There is no doubt Iran stands at a crossroads. Victory for Ahmadinejad will mean a continuation of his hard-line conservative policies and a fruitless confrontation with America which under Barack Obama seems keen to turn a new leaf in relations with Iran and the Muslim world.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Police recklessness[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 12 Jun, 2009[/B]

DEATH is always unsettling. But it hurts more when it comes suddenly and that too at the hands of those who are supposed to protect life and property. It was this grievance that made the family and friends of a man who the Lahore police killed on Wednesday so enraged that they blocked roads and surrounded a local police station for hours. The circumstances that led to the death they were protesting are unclear. The dead man’s relatives say the police killed him without warning as he was driving to the police station in a car that had earlier hit his motorcycle. The police claim the owner of the car complained that someone was taking his car away; they cautioned the alleged car-snatcher to stop but he did not so they had no choice but to fire at him. One thing the two versions have in common is that it was a police bullet that killed the man.

This is definitely not the first incident of its kind, nor will it be the last. Shooting as the first recourse is a trademark of the Punjab police. They are also ill-trained and ill-equipped to tackle any situation without using violence. They lack the training and facilities to chase down errant vehicles and they are never prepared, let alone willing, to talk someone out of a crime situation. To top it all, they are jittery these days about their own security which makes them prone to knee-jerk reactions to anything looking remotely suspicious. But these are professional hazards the police should learn to live with, strongly internalising the notion that their job is to protect, not take, lives. They should know, in no ambiguous terms, that their powers and their weapons should be used to maintain law and order and not undermine it. Their valour should show through their discretion and their errors should result from caution, not from a wanton display of their authority and dubious expertise in using firearms. Every policeman should know that exceptional circumstances that may allow killing should be just that — truly exceptional.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Curbing extremism[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 12 Jun, 2009[/B]

AN amendment to the Pakistan aid bill moved in the US Congress requires, among other things, that Islamabad implement economic, legal and social reforms that would discourage “violent Islamic extremism”. Pakistani citizens must demand the same from their government. The fight against extremism in any form concerns Pakistan most deeply and directly, for as events in the country’s north-western areas illustrate, extremism and the militancy it sponsors represent a potent threat to the writ of the state. Firstly, of course, the militants must be effectively neutralised. The army operation should be taken to its logical conclusion and all areas be brought under the control of the government, while the millions of people affected must be rehabilitated. Reconstruction efforts need be initiated, in which regard the involvement of local people may well prove invaluable. Not only would they have an idea of where the money is best spent but such involvement would help return to them a sense of ownership.

Subsequently, the root causes of extremism will have to be addressed. It is vital that poverty alleviation measures be undertaken and employment opportunities be created in underdeveloped areas; an industrial base could be set up, for example. People with jobs and regular incomes are, after all, far less likely to turn towards extremism or militancy. And Pakistan will have to find ways of ensuring that development funds do not leak down corrupt or bureaucratic holes. Employment opportunities must be accompanied by the setting up of schools and vocational training centres. This requires a coherent education plan and a significantly bigger budgetary allocation. The education sector has traditionally been subjected to arbitrary changes; now a needs-assessment exercise by legislators and experts must lead to solid policy.

Concurrently, the madressah system must be reworked. Such institutions must be identified, counted and registered, after which curriculum reform can be devised. While all madressahs are not connected to extremism, their graduates are often unfit for the job market. This must be remedied. Furthermore, issues such as deficiencies in the state education system and the lack of access to it must be addressed, for these are among the factors that lead to the popularity of madressahs. Then there exists the pressing need for access to quality healthcare and, most vitally, justice in its real sense. We must learn the lesson taught by Swat, where the promise of justice under Sharia initially led many citizens to extend support to the extremists. Most importantly, perhaps, areas such as Fata, the rest of the tribal belt and the designated Northern Areas must be brought into the political mainstream. The Political Parties Act must be extended so that all political organisations can carry out their legitimate activities in all areas. Access to genuine representation allows citizens to effectively present their concerns, thereby reducing the need to bargain with a gun.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Bangladesh Press BNP’s reform agenda[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 12 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE BNP’s reform plan, at least the first phase of it, has been executed as the party announced [the] formation of the convening committees for its district (organisational) units. It will pave the way for the participation of … workers and leaders in the party’s overall reorganisation scheme.

We welcome the move that will initiate the process of internal democratisation of one of the two major political parties…. The real benefits of internal democratisation can be reaped through developing a system that will enable the upcoming, committed and dedicated leaders to rise to prominence within the party hierarchy, while discarding the failed and the disgraced who have outlived their utility.

BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia has to bear in mind that the defeat suffered in the Dec 29 general elections could be attributed as much to … corrupt party men as to [the] lack of internal democratisation which made it impossible for the party to face the situation as a compact outfit. The distance between the top leadership and workers … was far too visible.

[B][I][SIZE="4"]The Daily Star[/SIZE][/I][/B]

And what is particularly important here is to view the last election results as part of the cyclic ups and downs that any political party has to undergo in the highly volatile world of politics….

A party has to face such [a] political crisis by reinvigorating itself through new ideas, new plans and new faces of integrity and commitment…. But we notice that some of the leaders, having questionable credentials, have retained their positions in the committees. It may be rather difficult for the party to start anew while retaining the elements responsible to a great extent for the obloquy brought upon the party. The party has to concentrate on finding out the areas where things went wrong, instead of crying foul and holding certain ‘conspirators’ responsible for [its] election defeat. — (June 11)

Predator Tuesday, June 16, 2009 09:43 AM

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Militancy’s HQ[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 16 Jun, 2009[/B]

“IT has been decided that a comprehensive and decisive operation will be launched to eliminate Baitullah Mehsud and dismantle his network,” NWFP Governor Owais Ghani announced at a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday. For weeks now, skirmishes between the security troops and militants and air strikes in parts of South Waziristan Agency controlled by Baitullah Mehsud have built up the expectation that the Pakistan state may finally be preparing to take him on in a decisive battle. It is clear why: the Waziristan agencies have long been a viper’s nest. Militants based there have been involved in attacks against every conceivable target: across the Pak-Afghan border on foreign troops and the Afghan government and security forces; in the Malakand division and other areas against the Pakistan state and local rivals; and in Pakistan’s cities and towns against the state, security forces, sectarian leaders and the general population. Al Qaeda too is believed to have a substantial presence in the Waziristan agencies, and international terrorist plots, including the July 2007 attacks in the UK, have been traced back to the area. And there appears to be an almost endless supply of the dreaded suicide bombers who are trained in the area and then sent forth to wreak havoc and undermine the state’s will to fight the militants.

What is not clear though at the moment is what exactly the security forces’ plan is. Will they only go after Baitullah Mehsud and his network or will they try and clean up both South and North Waziristan Agency of all militants? The last time the militants in North Waziristan were taken on was in October 2007, but within weeks the state pushed for a peace deal after it suffered heavy losses. The deal was eventually signed in February 2008. In South Waziristan, the last round of major fighting was in January 2008, but there too heavy losses forced the state to quickly sue for peace. This time, the security forces’ strategy appears to be to cut off the three main routes leading to the South Waziristan bastion of Baitullah Mehsud and to use aerial power to pound his network. The operation underway in Frontier Region Bannu appears to be a part of that plan.

But it remains to be seen how far the state is willing to go, the losses it is willing to accept, the cost it is ready to impose on the local populations and to what extent it is ready to disrupt the various networks of militants that are intertwined. Just as importantly, the state must be careful about who it sees as its allies. Baitullah Mehsud has many rivals and enemies among the Mehsud tribe, but defeating him with the help of others only to see those others become the next menace — that must not be allowed to happen.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Peace process scuttled[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 16 Jun, 2009[/B]

A REVIVAL of the peace process now appears a virtual impossibility, not only because the Israeli prime minister on Sunday practically scuttled it but also because the White House welcomed his negative speech as “an important step forward”. Speaking at the Bar-Ilan University, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu said his concept of a Palestinian state was that it should have no armed forces. Besides he would allow settlements to grow, Jerusalem would remain Israel’s ‘united’ capital, and the Palestinians would have to recognise his country as a Jewish state. The crucial sentence had two ‘ifs’. He said: “If we get this guarantee for demilitarisation and necessary security arrangements for Israel, and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as the state of the Jewish people, we will be willing in a real peace agreement to reach a solution of a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state.” The words “demilitarisation” and “a demilitarised Palestinian state” and the “state of the Jewish people” and “the Jewish state” were repeated in the small but key sentence by Mr Netanyahu to emphasise that this was the central theme of his policy. The irony of it was that having himself attached conditions impossible for the Palestinians to accept for a revival of the peace process, Israel’s hawkish Likud prime minister called upon the Palestinian Authority to “begin peace negotiations without preconditions”. This duplicity received an appropriate response from PA spokesman Saeb Erekat when he said: “We ask the world not to be fooled by his use of the term Palestinian state because he qualified it.”

The much-awaited speech went totally against President Barack Obama’s clear-cut stance that Israel must halt all settlement activity and that his administration stood categorically for a two-state solution. By insisting that Jerusalem would remain Israel’s capital, Mr Netanyahu ruled out the final status negotiations, and by demanding that Israel be recognised as a Jewish state he made it clear Palestinian refugees would not be allowed to return to their soil from where they were made to flee during the 1948-49 fighting. More astonishingly, he not only rejected President Barack Obama’s call for a settlements freeze, he said the settlements should be allowed to grow, saying the settlers were “not the enemy of peace — they are our brothers and sisters”. The rebuff to President Obama’s peace efforts is obvious, for Mr Netanyahu has given the world an unabashed dose of his intransigence.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Anti-terrorism force[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 16 Jun, 2009[/B]

IN stating that the “police are not trained to counter terror attacks” and referring to the need for a new security force dedicated to fighting terrorism, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has made a valid point. The methods pursued by the extremists at work in Pakistan resemble a form of urban warfare where it is not easy to tell a terrorist from a civilian. All a militant has to do to pass for a non-combatant is to temporarily abandon his weapon. This allows terrorists to melt at will into the civilian population, making the countering of possible attacks doubly difficult. While the military operation has certainly achieved some success, it is also certain that the army cannot maintain an indefinite presence in the affected areas — particularly with the military action being expanded to Fata. Once active military presence is withdrawn and displaced populations start returning, the task of ensuring law and order will, under the current circumstances, fall primarily to the police. But the police force in the conflict areas is already demoralised and suffers from issues endemic to the country’s civilian security apparatus such as the lack of training, funding and operational resources.

There is, therefore, a need to constitute a new security force trained specifically to counter terrorism. In this regard, it is encouraging that the government has announced the intention of setting up such a force in Swat. Such a force would be of use wherever there is evidence of militant or terrorist cells. To achieve long-term success, however, the intelligence-gathering network feeding the anti-terrorism force will prove of pivotal importance. The ability to tell a terrorist from a non-combatant will depend on local knowledge and require an ear-to-the-ground approach. The conduits of information available to the police must therefore be utilised to the fullest, for the police already have a wide network of informants and local knowledge. And while the anti-terrorism force must work in conjunction with the police, the two bodies must also remain distinct from each other to avoid issues of jurisdictional and operational overlap. Moreover, the police force must urgently be bolstered with resources and trained staff.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Sindhi Press Budget lacks relief aspect[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 16 Jun, 2009[/B]

THIS is the second budget of the PPP government. With revenue receipts estimated at Rs1.37tr, the budget envisages a total deficit of Rs722.5bn, 4.9 per cent of GDP. To meet this deficit, Rs264.9bn in external financing and Rs457.6bn in expected internal financing will be used. The government announced an ad hoc relief allowance of 15 per cent of pay of government servants. The common man expects some relief in terms of prices, job opportunities and services. It has been witnessed that whatever allocations are made for the poor, benefits do not trickle down. All this remains on paper. In reality problems are not mitigated.

The new budget carries a proposal for setting up a ministry of human rights, this is a welcome gesture. Would it be possible for this ministry first of all to look into the lack of poverty alleviation? This is a major human rights issue in Pakistan. As far as Sindh is concerned, there are certain proposals which would increase differences between Sindh and the federal government. Allocations have been made for the Thal canal and Bhasha Dam. The people of Sindh have reservations about Bhasha Dam, but they accepted it as they preferred it to the Kalabagh Dam. The case of the Thal canal is quite different. The Sindh Assembly has passed resolutions, while the PPP and other politicians who are in power today have been moving such resolutions in the assembly against the Thal canal. The incumbent Sindh chief minister had been head of the Anti-Thal Canal Committee which organised big rallies throughout the province against this water project. The people of Sindh had rejected Gen Musharraf’s Water Vision 2020 due to such controversial schemes. Allocating funds for this project compels people to think that the PPP is following Musharraf’s policies.

[B][I][SIZE="4"]Kawish[/SIZE][/I][/B]

Sindh and other provinces have to sustain financial losses as the issue of the NFC award remains unresolved. The PPP government has completed its two years, but no move has been made in this regard. At the micro level, there is nothing for the poor as prices have not been reduced. There is nothing for the common man in the new budget except for a price hike.

We have a long history of this. Unelected governments have ruled for so long that elected governments have to bear the burden of the former’s policies. People are not getting any relief, one of the major reasons might be the mistakes committed by dictators in the past and the fact that elected governments fail to address and correct these ills. At least there should be some indications that things are moving in the right direction. Salaries of government employees were increased in the last budget also but the inflation increased manifold.

In this budget there is no relief for the common man, while funds have been proposed for controversial projects and no measures have been taken to remove the sense of deprivation among the smaller provinces. — (June 14)

[B][I]Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi[/I][/B]

Predator Wednesday, June 17, 2009 09:35 AM

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Need to deliver[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 17 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE ranks of the doubters are diminishing by the day. It is well established now that Pakistan’s government and its security personnel are committed in their resolve to engage the forces of militancy and quell the obscurantists’ bid for power. Considerations of faith or religion are not first or foremost in the minds of the militants. Being able to take human life at will can be a heady drug and it gives the formerly unempowered Taliban foot soldiers a singular sense of importance. Fortunately, the citizenry has seen through the façade at long last and is now roundly condemning the militants. The political consensus on the need for a telling military operation against the Taliban is backed by public opinion. And this view seems to be shared by the majority of displaced persons from Malakand who want to see the Taliban routed once and for all so that life for them ceases to be a living hell.

It appears that what began in Swat, Buner and Dir is being extended to Waziristan and other parts of the tribal belt. Baitullah Mehsud and his Taliban HQ are now in the crosshairs, or so it seems. But this is no mean task and while the world realises that Pakistan cannot go it alone in this fight, it has been slow to come to Islamabad’s aid in combating both militancy and its socio-economic fallout. On Monday, Pakistan’s president, prime minister and foreign minister all reiterated the need for urgent help in the battle against the Taliban and the rehabilitation of millions of displaced persons. Pledges of support have not been delivered on and people are going hungry. Hearts and minds cannot be won this way. Whenever an individual loses faith in the state, the Taliban can claim a minor victory.

The World Food Programme is running out of food. The new US aid-to-Pakistan bill may still be months in the making. The EU has failed us in our hour of need and the Muslim world even more so. Pakistan needs logistical help in the physical fight against the Taliban. At the same time, people displaced by war need to be looked after, and not just in the immediate term. Even if they can be fed and kept relatively comfortable and disease-free — which is clearly not the case right now — their homes and towns will have to be rebuilt and they will need resources to make up for lost livestock and agricultural produce. As the foreign minister said, Pakistan cannot afford to divert from other sectors the kind of money needed to fight militancy and rehabilitate its victims.

That could further harm the economy and make people poorer. And that may generate a new generation of militants.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Sindh’s finances[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 17 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE Rs327bn Sindh budget for 2009-10 could not have been any better in these times of economic crisis. Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah patted himself on the back for not imposing any new taxes. But what is questionable is the manner in which the available resources have been distributed among various sectors especially when Sindh is faced with gargantuan problems which call for austerity in spending. Notwithstanding the financial constraints the province has conventionally faced, the available resources could have been more wisely distributed to ease the burden of the common man. With a slowdown in economic activity the resource gap can be expected to grow and the austerity measures the chief minister speaks of would require cuts in spending. How these cuts are instituted will be the key determinant of the success or failure of government policy. If the outgoing year’s accounts are anything to go by one cannot feel very hopeful. Due to scarce funds, the budget estimates for 2008-09 have been scaled down in the revised estimates for the same year in some sectors. For instance, the revenue expenditure on education is shown as Rs12.1bn in the revised estimates for 2008-09 when Rs15bn had been budgeted. Police also suffered cuts from Rs22.2bn to Rs21bn. But the expenditure incurred on the governor and chief minister went up from Rs1.2bn to Rs1.5bn while administration showed a jump from Rs111.7m to Rs119.6m.

For the incoming year many heads have registered an increase. But they can be expected to face cuts when deficits have to be bridged. If we take the examples of law and order and education as well as administration, our policymakers’ priorities become clear. In 2009-10, administration shows a jump of 21 per cent from the amount budgeted in 2008-09. It will be Rs135.2bn. The increase for education and law and order is nine and 15.6 per cent respectively. The latter heads may ultimately face cuts because administration has traditionally been the most privileged item on the agenda and is not allowed to face any cuts. Although funds are important for they indicate the priority a sector is given in the scheme of things and allow the government to plan and implement schemes, strategies and capacity to absorb funds are also important. For instance, more than an expansion in manpower, the police need training and equipment. But only Rs560m has been allocated for training which is a miserly two per cent of the total expenditure on police. Similarly, teachers’ training has not received the importance it merits.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Iraq war inquiry[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 17 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE Labour government’s role in the Iraq war is one of the most sordid chapters of modern British history. Few actions by a British government have aroused so much anger and protest at home and abroad than Tony Blair’s decision to be part of the Bush administration’s Iraq war. Baathist Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, and Saddam Hussein had rebuffed Osama bin Laden’s attempt to turn his country into a base of operations for Al Qaeda. He had no WMDs, and when the Security Council passed a resolution calling for inspections, Baghdad accepted it. After extensive inspections, including those of Saddam Hussein’s palaces, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, led by Hans Blix, reported that it had found no “smoking gun”. But the Bush administration still decided to attack Iraq without a second UN resolution authorising the war, and found a willing tool in the Blair government.

Then began a demeaning intelligence game across the Atlantic, with the Bush and Blair governments apparently doctoring intelligence to make a case for war. President Bush quoted a British intelligence report, which claimed that Baghdad had tried to procure uranium from Niger: it turned out to be false. An unfortunate result of the way Britain’s intelligence dossier was ‘sexed up’ was the suicide by David Kelly, a scientist. This centred round the ‘45-minute’ controversy, for the dossier claimed that Iraq could mobilise its WMDs, which purportedly included both nuclear and chemical weapons, within 45 minutes. It was later confirmed that the original dossier didn’t say this and that this was inserted by Britain’s director of communications. The truth was that Israel considered Iraq the greatest threat to its security, and had the satisfaction of seeing America and Britain do the job without incurring losses itself. But both America and Britain suffered thousands of dead, while Iraq’s civilian casualties range between 300,000 and over half a million. There is no doubt the inquiry report will make new revelations about the goings-on that led to the war and the conspiracies that resulted in the tragedy of Iraq.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - European Press Carter report: returning our TV[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Wednesday, 17 Jun, 2009[/B]

EXECUTIVES at the BBC are bracing themselves for the publication this week of Lord Carter’s report on broadcasting. Britain’s television industry is going through a period of unprecedented change. “On-demand viewing” is already a reality, and may soon be ubiquitous. ITV is on the verge of bankruptcy, brought down by the effects of a combination of the recession in advertising, the proliferation of competing channels and some very poor decisions by its managers. It is not alone in facing financial crisis: the viability of all three of the major terrestrial commercial channels is very uncertain.

What is certain is that the BBC will remain as the linchpin of British television and radio — as indeed it should. At its best it provides a service of unrivalled quality, and if anyone wants an idea how abysmal broadcasting might become if it ceased to exist, they need only look at Italian or French television. That said, the Corporation is hardly free of faults. Its recent lapses of judgment on matters of taste and decency have been shocking. It has been, and continues to be, grossly profligate in the way it spends the £142.50 licence fee it collects from each person with a colour television. The absurd amounts it pays some of its presenters seem likely to be reduced — but it also has too many tiers of managers collecting £100,000 or more, and no one has yet talked about cutting their pay or jobs.

[B][I]The Daily Telegraph[/I][/B]

Lord Carter will probably suggest that some of the licence fee goes to prop up local news programmes from ITV…. That would certainly be a better way of using the BBC’s resources than some of the schemes its managers have backed….

BBC executives fear that the government will replace the six-yearly assessment of the licence fee with an annual audit of the way the Corporation spends our money. We appreciate that anxiety: annual assessments by government of whether the BBC is spending its money “correctly” would risk greater political control and interference, which is something best avoided. Reducing the licence fee, or giving a slice of it to fund public service broadcasting by private channels, would be a better way of making the BBC do what its managers have so far been unable to: control its costs. — (June 13)

Predator Thursday, June 18, 2009 02:42 PM

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Desertification and its fallout[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 18 Jun, 2009[/B]

‘CONSERVING land and water’ was the dominant theme of this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, an event that was observed across the globe on Wednesday. Desertification — the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas — is a growing problem in Pakistan and could assume catastrophic proportions if current trends continue. Here’s what the government’s Sustainable Land Management Project has to say: the livelihoods of two-thirds of the population are linked to arid or semi-arid areas, which comprise nearly 80 per cent of the country’s total land mass. And according to other environment ministry estimates, 38 per cent of Pakistan’s irrigated land has been lost to waterlogging while soil productivity has diminished elsewhere because of higher salinity and sodicity levels. Much of the blame can be pinned on poor water management and destructive agricultural practices such as over-cultivation, excessive use of pesticides and run-off from unlevelled farmland that pollutes water bodies and causes soil erosion. Reduced water flows also play a part. Besides affecting crop yields, an acute lack of irrigation water can lead to fields being left barren and thereby susceptible to wind erosion. Other factors include a growing number of livestock and resultant overgrazing, deforestation, erratic weather associated with climate change and rising salinity due to sea intrusion.

Loss of arable land and grazing grounds affects livelihoods and the worst hit may have no option but to migrate, increasing stress on land and water resources in other areas and possibly triggering a new cycle of degradation. Growing pressure on shrinking resources also carries with it the potential for conflict between communities and even nations. Already there are some 24 million ‘environmentally induced migrants’ across the world and the UN estimates that their number could reach 200 million by 2050. The outlook for Pakistan is particularly bleak given that the glaciers that feed the Indus, the country’s agricultural lifeline,

may disappear in another 50 years if global warming continues apace. Migration induced by environmental degradation is on the rise here and the ranks of the poor are growing. As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon put it, “the poor will be the first victims [of desertification] and the last to recover.”

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Handshake in Russia[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 18 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE leaders of India and Pakistan shook hands again, this time in Yekaterinburg on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. As in 2004 when their predecessors’ encounter at the Saarc summit in Kathmandu had launched the composite dialogue between their two countries, the meeting between President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to revive the moribund peace process. Four rounds of the dialogue had been held until last year. But the Mumbai terrorist attacks last November stalled the exercise. It is therefore a happy development that New Delhi and Islamabad have decided to reopen communications and discuss issues at the negotiating table. The foreign secretaries will meet before the NAM summit, scheduled in July, where Mr Zardari and Mr Manmohan Singh will review the prospects for talks. These meetings might appear to be more procedural in nature. Nevertheless they will be important as they will set the tone of the dialogue in the months to come. If they have a positive impact on the atmospherics of the talks these encounters would have been worth their while.

The only caveat is that this will entail further delays before the interlocutors begin to address substantive issues in earnest. The problem with setbacks such as the one caused by Mumbai is that they take the peace process back to square one that requires the two sides to start from the beginning. For instance at Yekaterinburg both the leaders took their time to reiterate their stated positions. India wants greater cooperation in good faith from Pakistan in investigating cases of terrorism against it. Pakistan expects the Kashmir dispute to be addressed as a result of this exercise. Both know that these objectives can be achieved only after a confidence-building exercise has created some measure of trust between them. To revive the dialogue after an impasse can be quite a challenge and invariably requires the friendly intervention of friends — the US on the present occasion.

When India and Pakistan meet again they would do well to focus on the key problem that threatens the peace and stability of South Asia i.e. terrorism which has grave implications for the future of both countries, given the fact that terrorists recognise no international boundaries in their operations. It is important that neither government provide any kind of sanctuary to terrorists operating against the other in the misplaced belief that this strategy promotes its political interest. It is time both realised that terrorism is a double-edged sword that also destroys its protector and patron. Hence the Saarc mechanism that has already been set up to investigate and fight terrorism must be activated and used effectively to the advantage of both.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Unrealistic Punjab budget?[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 18 Jun, 2009[/B]

PRUDENCE demanded that Punjab prepare a cautious budget for the financial year 2009-10 and attempt to achieve its priority development goals while living within realistic financial means over the next one year. But the provincial government did not take that road, perhaps believing that it must follow populist policies even if it were short on cash to finance its development budget. Here is a classic case of passing the buck: the federal government’s budget for fiscal 2009-10 is dependent on the aid it expects from abroad while Punjab pins its hopes on the centre. The province’s development package of Rs175bn for the next year is already facing a resource gap of more than Rs26bn. This could fall apart if the federal government fails to collect the targeted tax revenue to transfer the promised funds — Rs421bn in Punjab’s case — to the provinces under the NFC award. Analysts predict that the Federal Bureau of Revenue will not be able to meet its tax collection target, just as it was unable to do so during the outgoing fiscal, not least because of sluggish economic conditions and the even slower industrial recovery.

The tax revenue target of Rs49.6bn, too, appears to be unrealistic, particularly because it has been increased from just over Rs28bn collected during the outgoing year and without imposing any new tax or even revising upwards the existing tax rates. This means that a possible financial crunch could result in development targets going topsy-turvy in no time because of the lack of money to finance schemes. It could also force the provincial government to borrow money from commercial banks. The worst scenario is a financial crisis without a contingency plan.

That said the provincial government must be commended for increasing allocation for pro-poor subsidies — cash transfers to poor families, provision of sasti roti, subsidised tractors for farmers, etc — to a whopping Rs30bn. The efficacy of these schemes had remained open to question until now, though, as these were initiated by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to counter the impact of similar schemes launched by the PPP government at the centre: the Benazir Income Support Programme and the Benazir Tractor Scheme. To improve on its current reputation of being a provider of relief to target groups, the provincial government must extend the scope of these subsidies to include areas of the province where people voted for its coalition partner PPP and the PML-Q in last year’s election.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Middle East Press To plan for retirement[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Thursday, 18 Jun, 2009 [/B]

IN these difficult economic times, people across the world are digging into their savings to cover their daily living costs, leaving them ill-prepared for retirement at the end of their working lives. A survey of 15,000 people across the world by HSBC Insurance revealed that 87 per cent have no idea how much money they will have when they retire, leaving only 13 per cent feeling well prepared for [retirement]….

The survey showed that, across the world, people have a poor understanding of how to save for retirement and lack access to good financial advice. This is a strong argument for governments to [encourage] financial education…. In many countries like the UAE, governments have programmes in place to take care of … retired citizens…. However, this will become more difficult as populations age….

Everybody has the responsibility to make sure they are able to take care of their financial needs later in life… For those who are young … it may seem as though there are still many years ahead to get ready for retirement. But the uncomfortable truth is that you have to start saving for your old age as soon as you start earning…. — (June 12)

PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration … that he would accept the principle of the creation of a “demilitarised Palestinian state beside the Jewish state” was a small step in the right direction, despite being abominably late in coming….

His new position further validates the two-state solution which is accepted by the majority of the Israeli public…. Netanyahu needs to ask himself if his stubborn resistance to a Palestinian state prior to Sunday contributed to Israel’s national interests, or if it was only a desperate attempt to buy time…. The prime minister also needs to explain to the public why he waited three months and got involved in a public and unnecessary confrontation with President Barack Obama before he became willing to state the obvious.Netanyahu’s test will be to translate the speech into a practical policy: was its purpose to fend off US pressure at a minimum price without upsetting his coalition partners to the right? Or did it represent an ideological change in direction…. Netanyahu skipped past the first hurdle of his second tenure as prime minister when he received praise from Obama for the speech, but that is only one small step. The burden of proof is still on him. — (June 16)

Predator Friday, June 19, 2009 08:27 AM

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Wheels within wheels[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 19 Jun, 2009[/B]

SOW the wind and reap the whirlwind. The full ramifications of the dangerous game played by Pakistan’s security establishment over the past few decades are now being felt where they hurt the most: at home, on our own turf. Misguided policies of strategic depth in Afghanistan created a cadre of highly trained and motivated militants who are now beyond the control of their original keepers. Perhaps equally disastrously, Pakistan’s policy of turning more than a blind eye to sectarian and ‘jihadi’ outfits that looked eastward rather than across the Durand Line produced a breed of fighters that has now been deprived of a cause. Their guns, as we speak, are trained inwards and terrorism within the borders of Pakistan is the curse of the day. The ‘jihadis’ of the 1990s are today’s terrorists, harbouring a serious grudge against a state that seemingly jettisoned them after joining the ‘enemy’ camp. What once came across as a symbiotic relationship turned adversarial soon after 9/11, possibly under duress. Our very own militants, it seems, have come home to roost.

The ‘Punjabi Taliban’ cannot really be linked to the Afghan war; their ideology has its roots elsewhere. These are people who were/are steeped in sectarian hatred and a passion for an armed approach to ‘resolving’ the Kashmir dispute. Yet, they now enjoy solid linkages with the Taliban who are engaged in a bitter war against the states of Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as Nato forces. The origins of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan have little in common, but that has not prevented these organisations from pooling resources in what has become a joint ‘struggle’ against the forces of democracy and modernity. The TTP’s Darra Adamkhel chief, whose ultimatum apparently forced the closure of Peshawar airport on Wednesday, was once a member of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. Also on Wednesday, the Punjab police paraded before the press one of the alleged perpetrators of the assault against the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. In effecting his arrest, the law-enforcement agencies claimed to have cracked a ‘Punjabi Taliban’ network. The Taliban ‘movement’, clearly, is amorphous and its tentacles are spreading despite the state’s recent military gains. The arrest in Lahore could well be cited as an intel success if the case against the accused can be proved. But it also highlights the enormity of the task at hand, for there are wheels within wheels when it comes to tackling the Taliban.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]An avoidable crisis[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 19 Jun, 2009[/B]

KARACHI, along with other parts of Sindh, plunged into darkness on Wednesday after the city was sudden-ly disconnected from the national electricity grid. What went wrong and what or who is to blame? It appears that tornadoes — known to occur at this time of the year — damaged Pepco’s Jamshoro-Dadu and Jamshoro-Hub lines which supply around 700 MW to Karachi every day. The city is supplied electricity from three other sources (KESC’s own power-generating plants, including some rental plants; independent power producers; and the nuclear plant Kanupp) which provide slightly more than two-thirds of the electricity available in recent days. So why did a sudden loss of one-third of the electricity supply result in a total failure of the system? It should not have. There appears to have been failures at two levels. One, the cascading effect could have been minimised: there is no obvious technical reason why losing part of the electricity supply must necessarily result in the tripping of all other systems. Two, even if reasons of safety or the fact that the system is old and dilapidated meant that the system had to shut down in its entirety, there is no reason why it could not have been reactivated sooner. Many parts of Karachi were still without electricity on Thursday afternoon, more than 18 hours after the crisis first hit.

The city, it appears, was once again the victim of KESC’s incompetence. Never mind the press briefings, hurriedly arranged huddles with the city’s rulers or advertisements in the media touting the KESC’s management, there seems a fundamental inability on the part of those in charge to prepare for and react to crises. Note, the weather that caused the initial damage is seasonal - where was the planning to address its potential effects? And if a total shutdown was inevitable, then where was the planning to get the system up and running again as soon as possible? Surely to not prepare for one possibility is bad enough — to not try and contain the fallout and mitigate the suffering inflicted on the city for a day and a half was even worse.

And there was much suffering. Emergency systems were disrupted, hospitals could not operate properly, perishables in people’s and businesses’ refrigerators were lost, and, not least, after a day of heat and during a night of high humidity, millions of people in one of the world’s largest cities spent a sleepless night. All of this because of the managerial and operational incompetence of a power company that the city has no choice but to rely on. Will heads roll? Will people be held accountable? Will something be done to prevent a repeat? Or will the city go into the rainy season ahead exposed and helpless?

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]EU and Pakistan[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 19 Jun, 2009[/B]

PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardari’s summit meeting with the EU’s current presidency is expected to open a new chapter in Pakistan’s relations with Europe. The statement issued after the summit in Brussels spoke of kick-starting a strategic dialogue covering security, aid, trade and measures to promote democracy. This is most encouraging. As Mr Javier Solana, the EU’s high representative for the 27-member bloc’s Common Foreign and Security Policy, wrote in this newspaper, a secure and stable Pakistan is essential for the people of Europe. Therefore the EU perceives Pakistan’s war against terrorism to be a joint endeavour. This will be widely welcomed because Islamabad is well aware that its fight against the Taliban cannot be undertaken single-handedly, given its limited resources. In this context, the EU’s offer to help Pakistani police in their fight against militancy should be of enormous practical value since this is an area where Pakistan is on weak ground. Similarly, the EU’s offer of 72m euros as humanitarian aid for the IDPs should boost Islamabad’s relief and rehabilitation efforts for the war-affected people.

The summit in Brussels also signals the broadening of relations between the EU and Pakistan. As Mr Solana observed, this relationship that was mainly about trade has moved towards a strategically focused partnership. This is not simply because of Pakistan’s changed circumstances. The EU has also developed from a regional grouping for economic cooperation into a major political entity under the Treaty of Amsterdam of 1997. But this should not detract from the EU’s role as a global economic power and how it can use this potential for promoting peace. Thus the EU is Pakistan’s major trading partner which accounted for 20 per cent of its trade in 2007 when it imported 3.8bn euros worth of Pakistani goods. Yet at Wednesday’s summit some Europeans concerned about their own industries resisted moves to offer tariff concessions to Pakistan as an incentive to stimulate its economy. In the end, all it received was a vague offer of a free-trade agreement some time in the future. It is time the industrialised world understood that Third World countries can benefit more from trade incentives rather than having aid poured into their coffers.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press Need for cultural revival[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Friday, 19 Jun, 2009[/B]

EVERY society goes through a phase in which a state of disorder causes anarchy. But in the process it gets acquainted with values which are rooted in a political culture of broadmindedness, knowledge and established values. Political awareness ensures cultural progress of a nation by developing a value system in which archaic cultural values that do not conform to the present nor meet demands of the age are resisted vehemently.

When we talk of an old culture, it comes to mind that its relics can be found in the peripheral plains of a country. Cities which normally make strides towards civilisation have few of them which is unfortunate because these relics keep us tied to our history, identity and the nation. Historical relics and artefacts illustrate a history of the struggle by a nation to make life easy and fruitful. But it does not mean that we should be prisoners of our past.

[B][I][SIZE="4"]Daily Wahdat, Peshawar[/SIZE][/I][/B]

In the case of Afghanistan, the young educated lot looks at with disapproval at all those things that are in conflict with the values and culture of a modern and civilised Afghan nation. Art, skills, music, calligraphy, sculpture and so many other such things are part of a culture…. During the decades-long war Afghanistan has witnessed the ransacking of its centres of culture and its relics. Its museums and historical sites have been pillaged mercilessly — even now in some provinces and regions the heist of artefacts is rampant.

The government of Hamid Karzai, which enjoys worldwide recognition, should put in place a plan to introduce Afghanistan to the outer world as a modern developing country which cares about its history, culture and values. The young, school-going generation should be educated on the cultural and historical richness of the war-torn country, so that they can feel proud of their past.

The information and cultural ministry of Afghanistan, and similar ministries in provinces, owe a duty to their nation to rehabilitate the debilitated culture of Afghanistan and reactivate all cultural centres on a war footing. All poets, writers, intellectuals and politicians should play a positive role in this endeavour. — (June 18)

Selected and translated by Faizullah Jan

Predator Monday, June 22, 2009 07:53 AM

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]IDPs: no solution in sight[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 22 Jun, 2009[/B]

IN a message on World Refugees Day on Friday, Prime Minister Gilani appreciated the support of the international community for the approximately three million external refugees from Afghanistan living in Pakistan for the past three decades. This, the largest refugee population anywhere in the world, has over the years constituted a heavy burden on the Pakistani state. It also holds deep implications in the current context, for the scale of the Afghan refugee crisis must be juxtaposed with the issue of the people displaced internally by the fighting against the Taliban in the north-western parts of the country. Official estimates put the number of IDPs at over two million. The actual figure is likely to be much higher.

Now, the government claims that some areas have been cleared of the militants and is sending out appeals for the IDPs to return. The issue is not so easily resolved, however. For one thing, the military operation is set to expand to other areas that continue to harbour militant cells, including Waziristan and parts of Fata. While necessary, the move will result in the destabilisation of civilian life — the further displacement of people is virtually certain. Secondly, the military continues to encounter pockets of resistance even in areas that the government has declared “safe”. This, in conjunction with the fact that the administrative and utilities’ infrastructure of the affected areas is in tatters, means that the IDPs are reluctant to return to their hometowns. Of the estimated 700,000 people who fled Buner, for example, only about 6,000 have returned after the area was declared ‘safe’, according to District Coordination Officer Yahya Akhundzada. Stressing the need for people to start returning to the secured areas, Mr Akhundzada noted rightly that this would build confidence which would contribute to the defeat of the Taliban. But the government must offer more than mere assurances of safety. It must demonstrate the administrative resolve to reconstruct the battle-ravaged areas, which includes setting up education and health facilities and creating employment opportunities. It must also demonstrate the ability to rehabilitate the IDPs. Most importantly, the government must show the political will to change policies that allowed the creation of the militant-Taliban nexus in the first place. Otherwise, Pakistan risks adding the IDPs issue to the Afghan refugee crisis which remains unresolved despite the passage of three decades, and of continuing to create circumstances that stoke extremism.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]The water crisis[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 22 Jun, 2009[/B]

WATER shortfalls may be seasonal, temporary or cyclical, and as such can be overcome in due course when nature becomes more benevolent. Unfortunately, that is not the case in Pakistan where water resources have been under severe stress for a long time. The downturn continues and the country is now on the brink of water scarcity — availability in 2005 stood at a mere 1,100 cubic metres per capita. Let’s put this into perspective. A country is classified as water-stressed when annual supply dips below 1,700 cubic metres per person, and is said to face water scarcity below the 1,000 cubic metres per person mark. The situation wasn’t always so dire in Pakistan: per capita water supply stood at a robust 5,000 cubic metres in 1951. It has since plummeted by almost 80 per cent and, according to WWF Pakistan, could drop to as little as 700 cubic metres per capita by 2025. Demand has so dramatically outstripped supply for a number of reasons. These include an ever-burgeoning population, the absence of integrated water management, irrational use and lack of awareness of the need to conserve. Wasteful farming techniques, leakages in the irrigation network, climate change and the over-exploitation or pollution of natural aquifers and other water bodies also rank among the major culprits. At the same time, little attention has been paid to rain harvesting and the storage of seasonal flood waters.

It is said that future conflicts will be rooted in disputes over water. Take the case of Pakistan and India. Tensions related to water-sharing are nothing new in the subcontinent but they received fresh impetus with the construction of Baglihar Dam in Indian-held Kashmir. Last year Pakistan demanded compensation for reduced water supplies, which apparently hurt agricultural productivity in this country. But the potential for conflict runs deep and is not limited to states taking on other states. Within nations, downstream users may accuse upper riparians of stealing their water and thus their rights and livelihoods. This has long been a simmering issue in Pakistan, one that has stoked the fires of nationalism and increased the trust deficit between provinces. Water-related issues can also pit village against village, clan against clan and farmer against farmer. From the international stage to rivalry between individuals, the potential for conflict exists at every level.

We are not only wasting but also contaminating our water, thereby reducing its usability. Untreated industrial and domestic effluent is being discharged into water bodies and pesticides from farms are finding their way into streams and groundwater. Water quality is as important as its quantity because it affects the health of the nation, the productivity of its workforce and the arability of its land. Our policymakers must rise from their slumber and grasp the linkages between the adequate availability of clean water and social and economic development.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Apathy of parliamentarians[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 22 Jun, 2009[/B]

“ONLY ‘baboos’ (government officials) and not Assembly members are required to be punctual.” This nugget of wisdom was uttered in the Punjab Assembly on Friday by the provincial law minister, when the opposition pointed out that there was no quorum. In fact, at 9am, when the Assembly should have begun its session, not a single treasury member was present in the house. Perhaps for reasons of old habits, which die hard — since the boot could be on the other leg some time in the future — the opposition came to the treasury benches’ rescue by saying that the 30-minute suspension could be extended and that it would not ask the chair for an adjournment. Finally, the session began nearly two hours late, and this on a day when the MPAs were to discuss the 2009-10 budget. The man who crafted the budget and whose duty it was to defend the increase in the non-development expenditure, Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, reached the precincts of the Assembly at 10.15am. To his rescue rose Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, himself late by an hour and 50 minutes. Instead of being apologetic Rana used the ‘baboos’ as a red herring.

The MPAs’ late-coming and banter come against a grim national background. A full-fledged rebellion is going on in Swat and Fata, and the Taliban have chosen Punjab’s capital city as a focal point of their attacks, spewing death and destruction. In addition, there is economic gloom, constantly rising inflation and the acute power crisis, besides bad governance and corruption. While there is no quick-fix solution to these problems, our parliamentarians, whether in the provincial assemblies or in the federal parliament, show an attitude that betrays a lack of commitment to the cause of those who elected them. More important, the parliamentarians forget that one of their major duties is to help strengthen democratic institutions. The ‘baboos’ that the law minister railed against often consider themselves the government because the MNAs and MPAs have failed to set higher democratic standards, which alone can tame Pakistan’s powerful bureaucracy. No wonder democratic governments in Pakistan are politically weak.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - North American Press A stop sign for human trafficking[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Monday, 22 Jun, 2009[/B]

IT’S not every day that the US government gives Nigeria a shout-out for a job well done. After all, the State Department labels this African nation’s human rights record “poor” and its 2007 presidential election “seriously flawed”. But this week, the State Department praised Africa’s most populous country for its progress in prosecuting human traffickers and helping their victims. “I can’t talk about Nigeria enough,” said Ambassador Luis Cde-Baca…. In only five years, Nigeria has advanced from the State Department’s human-trafficking watch list to its top tier of countries fully complying with standards to eliminate servitude.

In its ninth annual report on human trafficking, the State Department said … that the economic crisis has made people more vulnerable … to enslavement. Of the 175 countries and territories it rated, the 2008 report put 52 of them on its watch list, up from 40 the year before — a 30 per cent increase.

And yet, since 2000, more than half of all countries have enacted laws that ban human trafficking. Non-governmental organisations are working more closely with law enforcement and that’s leading to thousands of prosecutions. Last year, nearly 3,000 traffickers were convicted. It’s the law-enforcement follow-through that counts most, and that’s one reason why Nigeria moved into the top-tier rank. Over the last year, it investigated 209 trafficking cases resulting in 23 convictions — more than double the convictions from the year before. That number is small considering that 150 million people live in this West African country. Nigeria is a source and a destination for coerced labour. Boys are forced to work as street vendors and beggars, in stone quarries and as domestics. Women and girls are trafficked mostly for the commercial sex trade and as servants.

But Nigeria’s anti-trafficking trajectory is moving in the right direction. The government is making a concerted effort to train law enforcement and cooperate internationally. Last year it helped in the arrest of 60 Nigerian trafficking suspects in Europe. It has increased funding for its anti-trafficking programme and is assisting victims by working with NGOs…. Nigeria’s efforts are even more remarkable given what happened elsewhere on the continent. Of the seven countries demoted to the report’s worst-performing category, six were from Africa (the seventh was Malaysia, where traffickers are exploiting migrants from Burma, or Myanmar). Mr CdeBaca said several of these countries had stalled in their commitment to curb “hereditary slavery”, in which a slave The Christian Science Monitor

caste serves the same families, sometimes going back hundreds of years. He singled out the West African countries of Chad, Mauritania and Niger.

Human trafficking occurs in every country, including the US — which for the first time will be rated in next year’s report. No doubt, it, too, can do more to stop this serious crime. At the end of the day, it’s not enough to pass laws banning human trafficking. Cases must be investigated, suspects prosecuted and traffickers convicted. Nigeria has shown the political will to follow through. Other countries can, too. — (June 19)

Predator Tuesday, June 23, 2009 07:53 AM

[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="DarkGreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Balochistan’s poverty[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 23 Jun, 2009[/B]

BALOCHISTAN’S budget for 2009-10 is a reminder of the province’s deep-rooted economic and political problems. Facing the challenges of growing political violence and rising poverty, Quetta is in dire need of permanent sources of funds for development. Though the provincial government will spend Rs18.5bn on development next year, the amount is not nearly enough to build a durable economic infrastructure or to provide quality public services like education, healthcare, drinking water, roads, etc to the population of the province. Given its vast size, sparsely scattered population and difficult terrain, Balochistan must spend a lot more on its development than the rest of the country. For example, a road 500km long in Punjab would link scores of villages, towns and cities and connect hundreds of thousands of people if not millions. The same length of road in Balochistan would cost more and hardly connect a couple of villages and a few hundred people.

Nevertheless, in spite of its meagre resources, the Raisani government has done a good job during its first year in power. It created more than 4,200 jobs, constructed schools, colleges and hospitals and tried to provide some relief to the poverty-stricken people. Its budget for the next fiscal also contains several pro-poor measures: food subsidy, increase in the minimum pension of provincial employees, subsidy on agricultural tube-wells, etc. In addition, the provincial development outlay, which is just twice the size of Lahore’s development programme for the outgoing year, seeks to build a definitive social and economic infrastructure and to create employment. The federal government has helped the Raisani government undertake development works. Islamabad has picked up the province’s overdraft with the State Bank of Pakistan freeing annual resources of Rs4.2bn for its development. The federal government will spend Rs71bn under its Public Sector Development Programme in Balochistan during the next one year. There is a clear-cut shift in the federal attitude towards Balochistan’s problems. The change also reflects growing realisation in Islamabad that the ongoing political violence stems partly from the large-scale frustration among the people, resulting from the lack of development over the past six decades. The people of Balochistan must get complete ownership of their natural resources as well as of their coasts. That may not bring about peace in the immediate future.

But that would be the single-most important step towards a lasting solution to the province’s economic and political problems.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Power of passion[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 23 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE skipper of the underdogs summed it up nicely after winning the semi-final. There is little to celebrate in Pakistan these days, said the man from Mardan, but the nation’s cricketers are determined to bring a smile to people’s faces. And that the Pakistan team certainly did with sterling back-to-back performances after a lacklustre start to the Twenty20 World Cup. For a while it seemed that the nation’s joy would be confined to seeing India exit the tournament at the Super Eights stage. The clinically efficient South Africans lay ahead in the first of the two semi-finals, a contest Pakistan was tipped to lose. How could so mercurial a side prevail over a machine programmed to win? Never mind, Pakistan did it anyway. And on Sunday, it was Sri Lanka’s turn to be reminded that Pakistan can put in a crackerjack performance when it counts most.

An unpredictable side, of course, but also most sublimely, sweetly brilliant when it matters. As one commentator, former England player David Lloyd, put it: “It’s Pakistan. And yes, you might say fittingly.”

Fittingly indeed. Pakistan’s victory in the T20 World Cup final sends a clear message that we will not be written off, come what may. Yes, it is perfectly understandable that foreign teams are unwilling to play in Pakistan. After all, the Sri Lankan side, which alone stood by us in our time of trial, came close to dying on Pakistani soil. We are now resigned to the fact that we will either have to play our ‘home series’ at offshore venues or not play at all. So how are things any different now? Pakistan’s victory tells the world that we can win wherever we might have to play. Even in India, which with its deep pockets now virtually controls the ICC. It will take some doing to crush Pakistan’s spirit. We will not simply go away and sulk. We can triumph in the face of adversity.

Besides the cup, the best thing this slam-bang version of cricket delivered was a sense of self-belief. Also, this Pakistan side seems to enjoy itself on the field; it’s not just another day at the office for men who once liked playing cricket for its own sake. Gone too for the most part are those pumped up ‘I would be a serial killer if I weren’t a bowler’ celebrations that some subcontinental players had picked up in recent years from Caucasian teams. Why be angry when you take a wicket? That’s not our style. This team smiles and exults when it gets a batsman out, like the West Indians did in their heyday. If there is any friction behind closed doors — and it could well be that for a change there isn’t — it doesn’t show on the field and that’s what counts. This Pakistan side has done us proud.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]Post-election protests in Iran[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 23 Jun, 2009[/B]

WITH the post-polls protests in Iran escalating by the day, we now have an announcement from the Council of Guardians that some discrepancies have been detected in the results. Three million votes are under scrutiny. This adds a new element to the Iranian crisis that has kept the world on tenterhooks for the last fortnight. State television reported 10 deaths in Sunday’s demonstrations, bringing the total tally of casualties to 17. Until the Council of Guardians’ new position, it appeared that the government, which includes President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who represents the religious establishment, was not willing to accede to popular demand. But the protests do not seem to be on the way to petering out as happened in 2003 and 1998 when Iran was convulsed by demonstrations. Mr Ahmadinejad’s opponents are convinced that the results were rigged, though no proof is available in the absence of independent observers. The president, who claims the support of 63 per cent of the electorate against Mr Mir Hossein Mousavi’s 33 per cent, has denied allegations of foul play. He accuses the US of meddling in Iranian affairs and instigating the protests.

Irrespective of who wins, or if there is a compromise, one fact can no longer be denied. A large number of Iranians, especially among the post-revolution generation, now want reform — albeit within the Islamic system. With the active backing of Mr Rafsanjani and Mr Khatami, both of whom have presided successfully over Iran’s destiny in different official capacities, Mr Mousavi is proving to be a heavyweight. What is more, the religious establishment has split and the clerics in Qom are supporting the opposition. Mr Ahmadinejad is said to enjoy the support of the rural masses who have been won over by his populist politics. He also has the backing of the Revolutionary Guards and its auxiliary — the Basiji — militia. With 35 per cent of the Iranians living in the countryside, Mr Ahmadinejad will have to contend with changing realities. One hopes that the use of force is not an option to maintain the status quo.

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[B][U][CENTER][COLOR="darkgreen"][SIZE="5"][FONT="Georgia"]OTHER VOICES - Sindhi Press Blackout in Sindh[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/U][/B]

[B]Tuesday, 23 Jun, 2009[/B]

THE entire province of Sindh including Karachi plunged into darkness when the high-tension power line of Jamshoro developed a fault last Wednesday night. Sindh braved a blackout of 24 to 48 hours. Residents of Hyderabad and Karachi passed the night roaming the roads. Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf and the chief minister of Sindh apologised for this breakdown. The matter was then discussed in the National Assembly along with the provincial assemblies. The Senate’s discussion of the budget was interrupted by an uproar over the power breakdown and the issue was thoroughly debated. The cause of the breakdown was a wind storm of medium intensity which lasted for half an hour coupled with light rain which hit some areas of Sindh. The result was the collapse of the entire power supply system.

The issue was taken up in the Sindh Assembly where the Sindh chief minister admitted on the floor of the House that there was a big power crisis and that the situation in interior Sindh was worse. What has become evident is that if there is a major power outage in Karachi it becomes a national issue and debated at all forums while in the case of interior Sindh the matter is ignored consistently. The Sindh Assembly put forward a motion unanimously seeking a report from Hesco and KESC within 15 days regarding the failure of power supply. KESC and Hesco remain unaccountable, as they are not answerable to any authority. The Met office had been announcing the weather forecast but these power companies failed to take precautionary measures and prepare for any eventuality.

In fact we have no system in place to deal with such situations. Neither the government nor power distribution companies considered having underground lines for power supply. There are countries where heavy rain and snowfall are routine. One cannot even imagine a power outage lasting a few minutes in these countries. We are running the power supply system on an ad hoc basis and are not ready to think otherwise.

Power theft and unannounced loadshedding have become a hallmark of power companies and there seems to be no hope of improvement because theft and corruption are so deep-rooted. While we may be unable to take major decisions and make policy changes, at least line losses can be reduced by streamlining and repairing the distribution system. The minister for water and power claimed that by December there would be no loadshedding. People highly doubt this as indications which may lead to the fulfilment this claim are missing. In fact no relief is being given to the common man as even the subsidy on electricity is being withdrawn. Recently a further rise of 17 per cent in power tariffs has been made. These two decisions are anti-people measures and should be withdrawn.

There is an urgent need to control unnecessary use of electricity by government and private consumers. At marriage halls misuse of power is commonplace which can be avoided. However, all this needs management and commitment. Unfortunately we lack these as time has proved. Cautiousness in power consumption and strict monitoring can yield results. A limit should be placed on operating air conditioners at offices and in residential areas.

This incident demands an impartial inquiry which should bring those responsible to justice and unveil the real reasons behind the failure. — (June 18)

[B][I]Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi [/I][/B]


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