Post-NRO frenzy

Friday, 18 Dec, 2009

IN the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the NRO, the ever-churning political waters in the country have been stirred to a frenzy. Uncertainty, if not panic, is detectable in the ranks of the PPP brain trust as the judicial wheels have swiftly started turning with unknown consequences. Meanwhile, sections of the media have gone into overdrive against ‘tainted’ and ‘immoral’ NRO beneficiaries, regardless of whether the cases had resulted in convictions or not. Panic, glee, consternation, joy — amid the welter of emotions, few have thought to step back from the cacophony and find a way to protect the system and the transition to democracy. The post-NRO political landscape need not degenerate into a zero-sum game where the fate of individuals is elevated in importance above the fate of the system.

First things first, the judicial process unfolding to take the 8,000-odd beneficiaries of the NRO to their pre-Oct 5, 2007 status must be conducted with deliberateness and thoughtfulness. It is a process with no precedent in the country and it should be guided by the experts, unaffected by the political polemicists with barely concealed agendas. At the moment, it seems anyone who may or may not have ever seen a legal textbook or may or may not know the difference between civil and criminal proceedings is expounding on the effects of the NRO judgment. Such ‘expertise’, whether well-intentioned or not, is certainly undesirable. It is imperative that the judiciary in consultation with the relevant parts of the executive be allowed to develop a road map based on the Supreme Court’s judgment to restore the pre-Oct 5, 2007 position of the NRO beneficiaries — undoing an illegality, however blatant, must be done along legal principles, not political expediencies.

Next, the political forces on both sides must proceed with caution. The PPP-led government at the centre must resist the urge, if any, to ‘respond’ to its detractors. Instead, it must demonstrate a genuine will to implement the Supreme Court’s order and allow the law to run its course. After years, if not a decade, of claiming that ‘political persecution’ was behind the cases registered against its member, now is truly an opportunity for them to clear their names and get a fresh start. The opposition, meanwhile, needs to be mindful that any short-term ‘gains’ to be had by rocking the system can morph into long-term damage if it creates space for extra-constitutional forces to create mischief. The democratic system can emerge stronger from this watershed event, but only if everyone keeps one eye on weeding out corruption and the other on protecting the democratic system.

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Austerity measures

Friday, 18 Dec, 2009

AUSTERITY became a buzzword soon after this government came to power last year. But talk aside, little was done on the ground to minimise expenses. Indeed, the opposite was in evidence as the administration became more bloated for reasons of political expediency. Nor was any visible effort made to trim the fat where foreign tours were concerned. The president and the prime minister visited several countries accompanied by delegations whose size could not be justified on any grounds save those of appeasement. Ministers and provincial heads — the Sindh CM was a welcome exception — continued to move around with unnecessarily large escorts that served no purpose other than to massage the egos of our VVIPS. At the same time, government officials kept flying across the country to physically attend meetings which, as this paper suggested long ago, could easily be replaced by videoconferencing. The list of wasteful expenditure doesn’t end there but is much too long to be spelled out in this space.

Such official profligacy is nothing new in Pakistan. But what made it particularly distasteful was that it came at a time of severe economic stress when the country was looking to the IMF for survival and the ranks of Pakistan’s newly poor were swelling. Finally, however, the government appears to be moving in the right direction and it is hoped that the austerity measures approved by the federal cabinet on Wednesday will be implemented in letter and spirit. Slashing the number of ministries and divisions is the order of the day, as is cutting down on other expenses that have more to do with pomp and splendour than official business. Pakistan needs every rupee it can save. Also, as the finance minister pointed out the other day, the centre will be hard pressed to meet its NFC award commitments until federal expenditure is curtailed. Economics aside, there is a human element to the story. The government needs to show that it is alive to the misery of the people and is taking steps to alleviate their condition. One small step towards this goal is to refrain from frivolity in these grave times.

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Why the sluggishness?

Friday, 18 Dec, 2009

THE fact that the Sindh health department has not yet prepared the draft for a law to regulate public and private hospitals in the province is puzzling. In response to a member’s point of order the province’s health minister told the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday that the draft would ‘soon’ be sent to the law department for vetting. Why the delay? The current assembly has been there since April 2008. Did it not have enough time to produce a workable law? For months the press has been reporting that the provincial health department was in the process of finalising a law to monitor medical institutions. Though legislation cannot be bulldozed there is clearly a lack of urgency within the government with regard to this particular effort. This despite the fact that the president has lately called for an effective plan to curb medical negligence. The president’s statement came after a number of high-profile reports surfaced in the media of alleged malpractice by medical practitioners. Apart from cases that make the headlines, there are countless people in Sindh alone who fall prey to quacks at unregulated ‘hospitals’.

According to a report published in this newspaper, a draft ordinance had been finalised concerning the regulation of medical institutions by the previous provincial government in 2007. The report adds that the draft law never saw the light of day due to opposition from certain quarters regarding some of the law’s contents. One is not sure if it is lethargy or the machinations of vested interests that is blocking the finalisation of this law. Whatever the obstructions, the government needs to take up the matter with greater urgency. Our MPAs appear to excel at making self-congratulatory speeches. It would be nice if they introduced legislation to benefit the people of Sindh once in a while.

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OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press: Military operation in Orakzai

Friday, 18 Dec, 2009

THE prime minister … has hinted at a military operation in Orakzai Agency … The prime minister added that as in the case of the Malakand division no date had been fixed for the start of a military operation in Orakzai Agency.

The prime minister on the one hand gives assurances of an end to military operations in the war-torn tribal belt of the country and on the other defends the expansion of military operations. Such statements can neither help maintain law and order in the country nor ensure peace in the region.

In order to bring peace to the tribal belt, the government should stop all military operations and utilise all its resources towards the economic and social development of the people of the tribal belt. Otherwise, the law and order situation in the country can never improve. — (Dec 14)

Brown’s visit to Kandahar

BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid a surprise visit to the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. … Brown vowed to defeat the Taliban in the war on terror. However, he predicted that the next few months would be tough for Afghanistan. He stressed that … the Afghan government should … take a clear stance against the puritanical militia.

… Brown’s visit to Afghanistan came when the US president had approved a surge of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan. However, coalition forces … suspect that … the law and order situation can deteriorate in Afghanistan. In such a scenario it is the responsibility of the international community to bind the Nato forces … to building the capacity of the Afghan troops, so that after the withdrawal of international forces, they can defeat the local insurgents…. — (Dec 14)

— Selected and translated by Sayyed Fawad Ali

The deal that wasn’t

Monday, 21 Dec, 2009

COPENHAGEN wasn’t expected to deliver and it didn’t. To the dismay of eternal optimists, no progress was made in hammering out a binding climate change treaty that would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 after a fitful tenure. Arranged at great cost and bearing a huge carbon footprint, the Copenhagen round was dead on arrival given what had transpired in Singapore over a month ago. It was acknowledged at the time by leaders attending an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which also featured US President Barack Obama, that time had run out on securing an obligatory climate change framework at Copenhagen. The Danish prime minister, who as host of the Copenhagen conference dashed to Singapore to attend a special meeting, concurred. As such there was little chance that the developed world and developing countries would somehow pull together and miraculously agree on emission caps that can slow down global warming. Copenhagen was always going to be an acrimonious talk shop, and that is precisely what we got.

Yes, a select group of countries came up with an ‘accord’ that is not obligatory and was simply ‘noted’ by other delegates in a final resolution. Indeed, it is questionable whether the so-called deal even enjoys UN endorsement. Warming caps have been agreed upon but how these are to be achieved remains a mystery. Substantial funds have been promised to developing nations to help them cope with the fallout of climate change but this pledge too is short on detail. What we have been told, in effect, is that there is no option right now other than going about business as usual and subjecting the planet to a slow death. And yes, then we’ll talk some more in Mexico in November 2010.

The unkindest cut for many developing countries is that they will be hardest hit by climate change even though their emission levels are negligible on the global scale. Take the case of Pakistan. Our contribution to global warming is almost irrelevant, yet we are already facing the reality of erratic weather that is playing havoc with an agro-based economy. Sea levels are rising and vast swathes of arable land have been lost to intrusion, for reasons of climate change as well as reduced flows downstream of Kotri. Our glaciers are melting at a rapid rate, which means inundation in the med- ium term and ultimate drought. It must be accepted, sooner than later, that there is no Planet B. A global solution needs to be found.

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Unending water dispute

Monday, 21 Dec, 2009

THE dispute between Sindh and Punjab on water distribution from the Indus River system has dogged Pakistan’s politics and federation for decades and soured ties between the two provinces. Sindh invariably accuses Punjab of ‘stealing’ water from the other provinces’ share and blames the latter for the desertification of vast tracts of its own land which is causing grave damage. Obviously, Punjab rejects these charges and claims that it has many a time ‘gifted’ water from its share to Sindh in order to reduce the acrimony. Even the 1991 water accord which allocates the share of water to each province has failed to dissolve tensions between Sindh and Punjab.

Not a single season has passed without the two provinces sparring over the distribution of water since the accord was signed almost two decades ago. Therefore, the ongoing dispute on water-sharing for the remaining period of the current Rabi crops didn’t surprise many. That the Indus River System Authority has failed to find a solution and is forced to put in place an ad hoc arrangement to protect the current wheat crop in Punjab needs to be seen in the context of its inability to correctly predict shortages and measure transmission and distribution losses. At the heart of the current dispute is the disappearance of 2.5 MAF of water from the system. Irsa insists that Punjab has utilised it, but the latter maintains that it has not drawn it yet. Who is being economical with the truth? We may never know.

The discord on water distribution is unlikely to be settled unless we have technology to forecast shortages and correctly measure losses. But before that the political leadership of the provinces must sit across the table to thoroughly discuss the issue which has evolved over the years into a political dispute. The provincial leadership has recently demonstrated that it can take on very contentious issues (such as the inter-provincial distribution of federal tax revenues under the National Finance Commission) and show flexibility in stated positions to democratically settle disputes. The leadership should go with the flow and seek an end to water distribution disputes.


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Gas supply under pressure

Monday, 21 Dec, 2009

COMMUTERS using vehicles fuelled by CNG in Islamabad and the surrounding areas are experiencing considerable inconvenience on account of the mandated weekly two-day gas holiday for CNG stations that began recently. This is the first time that a regular suspension of gas supply has been imposed on CNG stations in the winter months since the promotion of natural gas as an environment-friendly fuel started some years ago. Given the advantages of CNG — lower prices, less polluting emissions and reduced dependence on imported oil — its popularity is not surprising. Within a decade Pakistan has become a world leader in CNG use, rivalling Brazil and Argentina for the top slot as the country with the largest number of CNG-powered vehicles and refuelling stations.

However, the gas holiday is a rude reminder of competing demands by the power, industrial, commercial, automotive and domestic sectors for gas, leading to strained supplies. There are longstanding complaints from the industrial sector about poor gas supply during winters when domestic consumption rises due to heating purposes. There are similar complaints about low gas pressure in homes in some localities. In fact, in some areas of the country there is no piped gas. The obvious solution lies in stepping up investment in gas exploration to enhance overall supply. But each sector also needs to play its due role in addressing the overall problem by adopting measures to ensure sustainable supplies of gas countrywide. In the transport sector particularly an important measure involves supporting infrastructure and services that favour high-capacity public transportation like mass transit railways. Removal of the bottlenecks impeding these systems in Islamabad and other cities will enable a more efficient use of natural gas as a transport fuel. Generating renewable gas for fuelling vehicles by turning biogas produced in waste landfills into compressed gas should also be considered.


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OTHER VOICES - North American Press Close Guantanamo

Monday, 21 Dec, 2009

THE White House … announced this week that the federal government would acquire a maximum-security prison in Illinois and use part of it to house inmates from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

… There are about 210 inmates in Guantanamo. The administration has said it plans to prosecute 40 in civilian or military courts, including five who will be tried in federal court in New York. Some of the others should be tried. Some … should go to other countries under supervision. Some should go free.

Sorting them out is a difficult process, and we are not happy with the way the administration has been deciding which prisoners should be tried in federal criminal courts and which should be tried in military courts. President Obama has yet to forswear the idea of indefinite detention without charges, as he vowed to do while running for president. And there are signs that he, like George W. Bush, will decree that the entire planet is a battlefield and anyone arrested anywhere on terrorism charges may be tried in military tribunals….

… Senator John Cornyn of Texas said housing detainees in American cells “will put our citizens in unnecessary danger”. We wondered if he didn’t know that there are more than 350 people currently serving sentences for terrorism in American prisons….

Democrats in Congress voted this week against providing money to close Guantanamo. The Democrats and some Republicans … who demanded the closing of Guantanamo for years need to step up. They can start by approving money to acquire and refit the Illinois prison. Mr Obama needs to make much more of a personal effort to keep this important pledge. Guantanamo needs to be closed. — (Dec 18)

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Electricity woes

Tuesday, 22 Dec, 2009

ANYBODY who lives in Pakistan knows that electricity is a problem in the country. More specifically, the problem is that consumers — industrial, commercial and domestic — are not receiving a reliable supply of electricity. But fixing that problem first requires understanding where the problem is emanating from, something the present government does not appear to have done as yet. At the most basic level, there are three stages in the electricity supply chain: generation, transmission and distribution. Thus far, the government’s focus has largely been on the power-generation side, an approach that underestimates the full scope of the electricity problem and is inadequate as a medium- or long-term solution to the power crisis. But even within the power-generation sector, the government’s approach has been misguided. To pump more megawatts into the national grid quickly, the government has controversially turned to rental power projects. At the same time, however, as reported in this newspaper yesterday, foreign investors looking to set up hydel projects are being thwarted by bureaucratic bottlenecks. So presently we have the peculiar situation of a government pledging to boost the total power-generation capacity via rental power plants because inadequate supply, in the government’s estimation, is the major problem — but that same government is doing little to help investors interested in setting up new hydel power plants.

The other inadequacy of the government’s approach on the power-generation side is that despite several attempts, the problem of circular debt has not gone away — meaning that a chunk of existing capacity is lying unutilised as power projects have been unable to clear their dues on time. The problem with the government’s approach is that it has focused on clearing existing debt without doing much to address the underlying factors creating the debt build-up. What this means is that every three to six months a fresh circular-debt crisis is all but guaranteed. And outside the power-generation sector, little attention is being paid to the problems plaguing the transmission and distribution sectors, where technical losses and theft swallow up to 40 per cent of electricity generated. All in all, the country’s electricity sector is a sobering example of the problems that governmental inefficiency and incompetence can lead to. But the truly scary fact is that change for the better is nowhere on the horizon.

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Lebanon-Syria amity

Tuesday, 22 Dec, 2009

THE rapprochement between Lebanon and Syria is a positive development that must be welcomed by all those interested in peace in the Levant. On Sunday, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and President Bashar Al Assad met in Damascus and agreed to open “new horizons” in a relationship that for the last five years had been marked by animosity. What soured relations was the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister’s father, former premier Rafik Hariri. For Lebanon, the murder had internal repercussions, too, for it plunged the country into instability and violence. The June election, which gave victory to the pro-western alliance led by Saad Hariri over the Hezbollah-led pro-Syrian group, could have thrown Lebanon into a new crisis, but the new government made two positive decisions: first, it included Hezbollah in the cabinet; second it authorised the militia led by Hassan Nasrullah to keep arms for defence against Israel. Saad Hariri’s visit, thus, was preceded by decisions that have gone down well with Syria.

Lebanon had been a part of Syria, and it was only after the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire that France — which had a ‘mandate’ from the League of Nations — turned it into a separate country. Unfortunately, the covenant devised by France established a delicate power-sharing balance between Lebanon’s various communities and was a source of instability leading to a destructive civil war (1975-90). Israel made its own contribution to regional instability by making periodic forays into Lebanon, the worst of them being the 1982 invasion and the infamous massacre at Sabra-Shatila. Syria never recognised Lebanon’s independence. But last year Damascus opened an embassy in Beirut. In April 2005, following international pressure, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon, but it still enjoys support from powerful sections in Lebanese politics and the establishment. Nevertheless, friendly relations with Syria are in Lebanon’s interest. What Lebanon needs is a long period of political stability so that it can attract foreign investment and capitalise on its tourism potential in a big way. Without friendly relations with Syria, the tiny country cannot have internal stability, and Prime Minister Hariri seems to have realised this truth.

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Vicious cycle of torture

Tuesday, 22 Dec, 2009

THERE is no doubt about it: torture breeds torture. As was pointed out in a seminar in Lahore by the secretary general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, torture committed by the state infiltrates society and is manifested in the actions of individuals. It is time that the grave implications of torture are understood as it is not simply a human rights issue — which no doubt it is. It is one which invariably translates itself into a sociological and mental health phenomenon. Many of those who are traumatised by the torture inflicted on them by a more powerful institution — such as the police — are very likely to become torturers themselves if they acquire positions of power. Many victims of child abuse grow up to become abusers themselves. Since the state has a very visible role in perpetrating torture, a beginning will have to be made from there to break the vicious cycle that allows this evil to go on.

The international community recognised the gravity of this scourge in 1985 when the Convention against Torture was adopted. It came into force in June 1987 while the related optional protocol that sets up a subcommittee for the prevention of torture came into force only recently in 2006 when the required number of ratifications was received. Pakistan kept away until April 2008 when the PPP government signed the convention for which it must be given credit. But it is a pity that the convention has not been ratified and not a single measure has been taken to bring our laws in line with the obligations that follow from the treaty. Torture continues to be the norm in prisons and police stations in Pakistan. Ratification would be the first step. But thereafter a campaign should be launched to change the mindset of the people and police.

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OTHER VOICES - Sindhi Press Why such mistakes?

Tuesday, 22 Dec, 2009

WHILE respecting democratic norms, the government neither presented the NRO in parliament nor did it consider it appropriate to defend it in the apex court. … [T]he government did not take measures to meet the situation arising from the apex court’s judgment. … In the aftermath of the NRO, administrative disorder has begun, exposing the faults on the government’s part as there was no preparedness to meet the situation. This has affected the overall working and business of governance. The defence minister was stopped from going to China on an official visit…. The very next day it dawned on the NAB chairman that the minister’s name was mistakenly put on the list.

… If at all there was a mistake, how did it occur and that too by the head of an organisation which is responsible for accountability? This mistake defamed and damaged the image of the country as the minister was leaving abroad to sign a defence agreement. There could be a number of names which were included in the ECL due to a mistake.

… It appears that the government genuinely wants implementation of the Supreme Court’s judgment. This reflects its commitment to respecting the judiciary. On the other hand some political circles … are bent upon destablising the system at any cost. So much so that political elements who claim that they are the defenders of democracy have changed their stance and are demanding the resignation of an elected president. Strangely enough, these elements had at no stage demanded the resignation of President Musharraf…. When there is no reference in the judgment of the apex court why are such demands made? The judiciary however has saved the system…. The situation demands that political forces proceed with caution as detractors are active in trying to derail the system. The government should hold the NAB chairman accountable for damaging the image of the country…. — (Dec 19)

— Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi

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A lifeline?

Wednesday, 23 Dec, 2009

THE PML-N’s assurance to the PPP that it will not try and destabilise the government if the government implements in letter and spirit the Supreme Court’s judgment on the NRO is not a game-changer, but it is yet another sign that the PPP can survive the latest political crisis — though only if it plays its cards right. First, credit must go to the PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif who has apparently rejected the pleas of the more hawkish members in his party for now and refused to exploit the PPP’s precarious political position. Given the history of opportunistic moves by parliamentary oppositions in the country, it is certainly a relief from the point of view of protecting the transition to democracy that Mr Sharif has held his fire against a beleaguered government that was clearly in some disarray following the Supreme Court’s short order last Wednesday. But neither should too much be read into the PML-N’s ‘generosity’ and ‘good will’ — with the PPP floundering and under immense pressure from the courts, there is little to be gained for the PML-N by piling on further pressure.

Which brings us to our second point: fact is, grateful as the government should be for support from other quarters the government’s fate ultimately lies in its own hands. A week since the NRO judgment, the PPP has regained some of its poise and begun to understand that while some of its members will be under immense pressure, the judgment does not have to be the beginning of the end for the government itself. What’s needed, though, for survival is a seismic shift in the PPP’s attitude towards governance and politics. A business-as-usual approach will simply not do. On the political front, the PPP co-chairman, President Zardari, needs to realise the inevitability of the repeal of the 17th Amendment and use that occasion to begin to rescue his tattered reputation. If the constitutional amendment is shepherded through parliament quickly by the PPP, the party could rightly claim credit for that move and would gain some fresh political capital. But as in the case of the restoration of the deposed judges, if the PPP is seen to only reluctantly agree to the inevitable after it exhausts all avenues of opposition, then credit would go elsewhere — and the party would find itself under even more pressure.

The PPP would also be better placed to fend off political attacks if it worked seriously on improving its governance record. Presently, a cabinet reshuffle is believed to be on the cards, with a possible reduction in the unwieldy and unseemly number of cabinet members. But swapping or increasing portfolios of ministers will be meaningless if there is no sustained emphasis on a better performance by cabinet members. It won’t be easy, but there is no surer way for the government to recover its lost political ground.

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Credit where it’s due

Wednesday, 23 Dec, 2009

KILLING or forcing militants to flee doesn’t necessarily restore normality to the lives of displaced persons. Yes, the immediate threat posed by the Taliban is overcome when they are neutralised. But that doesn’t mean the people returning to their homes in Swat and elsewhere in Malakand can pick up where they left off now that the militants are on the run. Many have lost blood relatives in the conflict and livelihoods must be rebuilt from scratch after an ordeal that few Pakistanis can even begin to imagine. Those displaced from Malakand are back in their homes now for the most part. But have they been rehabilitated in the truest sense of the word?

Forget about loss of life, tremendous as it was. As we speak, people are deprived of livelihoods that would see them through to the next year. Crops could not be harvested in Malakand due to the battle against militancy, fruit rotted on trees and livestock perished through lack of care. What the people in conflict-hit regions need right now is not just military action against the Taliban but the means to ensure their survival after the war. Farmers need money for seed stock. Funds are needed to replace livestock that may have perished in the absence of caretakers. Feeding and sheltering refugees is of course the first step but the story does not end there. Lives are not rebuilt with food alone.

Seen in this light, the State Bank should be applauded for introducing an agri-credit scheme for war-hit areas. Those most gravely affected by the conflict must be reassured at every step that the state and people of Pakistan are behind them come what may. The flip side of that coin is hopelessness, and a sense of abandonment. As we mentioned at the outset, it is not enough to drive away the Taliban through military might. People must be given the means to go about life with a semblance of dignity and be able to live off the land like they have for generations. Soft loans extended to those devastated by war can only be seen in a positive light.


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Plight of prisoners

Wednesday, 23 Dec, 2009

THE plight of Pakistanis in Indian prisons is appalling. Many were picked up for no serious violation of the law — although overstaying or straying across the border inadvertently is a major crime in New Delhi’s legal lexicon. There are some prisoners — reportedly 32 in number — who have completed their jail terms but still remain behind bars. Cases of prisoners falling victim to torture have also come to light. What does one make of all this? Considering the fact that Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails suffer an identical fate, this is fast becoming a tit-for-tat game between New Delhi and Islamabad. This should not be the case, and the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi should be playing its due role in seeking to arrange the repatriation of prisoners who have served out their sentence as demanded by their relatives. It was recommended by the India-Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners, formed in 2007, that such prisoners should be repatriated without delay. There are said to be about 740 Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails and 585 Indians in our prisons. While the two governments continue to be locked in a meaningless confrontation on issues not always of a crucial nature, they pay scant regard to the human cost of their deadlock.

The Indian and Pakistan prisoners are among the biggest sufferers of the stalemate in India-Pakistan ties. Their problems — and there are quite a few — which could have been sorted out on the sidelines of the composite dialogue have now been pushed into oblivion. Last year an agreement on consular access was signed. Under this accord the two countries are expected to exchange lists of each other’s prisoners that they hold. While Pakistan sent its list in July it is not known if India’s list has been received by Islamabad. At least positive trends should be allowed to continue.

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OTHER VOICES - European Press The hardliners roar

Wednesday, 23 Dec, 2009

IT APPEARS that the president’s negotiations adviser Toumazos Tselepis cannot open his mouth without provoking a storm of protest by the leaders of all the hardline parties. … The latest uproar was caused by certain remarks Tselepis made regarding the rotating presidency…. He spoke about the shifting positions of specific politicians, who had reportedly lambasted the ‘presidential council’ … but were now behaving as if they supported it….

What followed was that everyone opposed to a settlement perched themselves on the moral high ground … and engaged in rampant pontificating about Tselepis’ “unacceptable” views. EDEK chief Yiannakis Omirou wondered whether the government’s enlightenment campaign about a settlement would consist of “misinformation, derogatory comments and mockery of different views”. DIKO deputy Nicholas Papadopoulos accused Tselepis of resorting to “distortion and lies”….

… The general secretary of the Greens, Ioanna Panayiotou, an inexperienced politician, inadvertently revealed the real issue when responding … to accusations that some politicians were undermining the talks with their criticism. This was not undermining, but citing of [the] “objective truth”, she said. Tselepis had distorted [the] “historical truth” she said. According to Ms Panayiotou, critics of the president always cited the “objective truth” while his advisers distorted the truth....

The “objective truth” consists of Antenna TV taking a tiny excerpt of Tselepis’ speech, reporting it out of context and then getting politicians, who were opposed to the talks, to disparage it. Opponents … have the right to distort the truth … and belittle … but when someone from the opposing camp dares to answer back … they turn on him like a pack of hungry wolves. — (Dec 22)

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Judicial activism?

Thursday, 24 Dec, 2009

WITH the superior judiciary making it clear that it intends to pursue cases of corruption and graft vigorously, a certain segment among lawyers and the media is rightly cautioning the judiciary to avoid riding a wave of populist appeal. On Tuesday, while heading a Supreme Court bench that has taken suo motu notice of possibly dubious loan write-offs sanctioned by the State Bank, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry observed: “For [the] nation’s sake, we are ready to accept blame for our involvement in the loan write-off matter, but across-the-board action will be taken after providing opportunity to the bankers and the defaulters to pay back the outstanding money.” With utmost respect to the members of the superior judiciary, we would suggest that there is a problem in the way the court is approaching the matter.

First, justice — real, meaningful, fair and principled justice — ought never to worry about ‘being blamed’. Those who have done wrong in the eyes of the law are meant to be punished by the judiciary, that is after all one of the primary purposes of the institution. But perhaps Chief Justice Chaudhry’s concern stems from the perception that the superior judiciary is on a crusade to do ‘good’ in the eyes of the public and has already made presumptions about certain defendants. The thrust of the court’s inquiry into the loan write- offs is that wrong has been committed across the board. For sure, many of the write-offs may well be tainted. But that may not necessarily be the case in each and every instance and the State Bank’s policy may not have been created to encourage wrongdoing. Loan write-offs or write-downs are part and parcel of the risk of doing business in capitalist societies the world over. However, by promising to take action if the mon-ey is not paid back, the court appears to have already apportioned blame without having delved into the merits of the specific cases.

In the big picture, it appears that the loan write-off inquiry, the recent short order on the NRO, the affixing of the price of sugar and the investigation into the pricing of petroleum products are significant markers in an evolving judicial philosophy — a philosophy that is aggressively creating a wider canvas on which the superior courts are to operate. Given the broken system of governance in many areas, judicial intervention is probably necessary in many instances. But there is a thin line between wanted judicial intervention and unwanted judicial activism that encroaches on the domains of the other institutions of the state. Clearly, the constitution has made the judiciary the guarantor of the fundamental rights of the people and given the superior judiciary wide-ranging suo motu powers. However, the judges must pay heed to the fact that along with duties to the people, they also have a responsibility to fashion a stronger democratic and constitutional system.

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Peshawar Press Club attack

Thursday, 24 Dec, 2009

WORDS are not enough to condemn the suicide bomb attack on the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday. The attack has grave implications for the media and its role in fighting militancy in Pakistan. Many journalists have come under attack — in Pakistan 15 lost their lives in the year ending May 2009 and many more have received death threats. But so far individuals have been targeted not only by militants but also by the security agencies for their independent reporting. The media is never loved by those who fear disclosures of their wrongdoings. But when the state fails to protect journalists, they end up putting their lives on the line. The attack on the press club is a chilling message sent by the militants to all members of the media, regardless of their independent views or the political orientation of the channels and newspapers they work for. This is the first time such an attack has taken place and it appears that the militants are now desperate and realise that they are perhaps losing support of even those sections in the media that had at times been accused of boosting Taliban efforts to propagate extremism. It is about time the government tightened security for journalists and their institutions.

One must also salute the police force that is playing a heroic role in defending citizens from terror attacks. Many in the police have died in the line of duty. In spite of their inadequate training, insufficient equipment and facilities and poor monetary status, the police continue to perform their duty as best as they can. Head Constable Riazuddin Khan, who challenged the bomber and in the process lost his own life although he saved many others, is deserving of the tributes being paid to him. The Peshawar Press Club should honour his memory in some way.

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Licence to kill

Thursday, 24 Dec, 2009

IT seemed that sanity would prevail this year but the end result was quite the opposite. It was earlier reported that no special permits had been awarded this time round for the annual slaughter of the houbara bustard, an endangered migratory bird that is ostensibly protected under Pakistani and international law. However, it now transpires that Arab dignitaries have been awarded at least 27 permits for their wintertime shooting spree in Pakistan. Killing the houbara is illegal in this country — if you are Pakistani, that is — and that is the way the law should stand in perpetuity. That said, there must be a blanket ban on hunting the houbara and no exemptions should be made for Arab royals who covet the bird for its supposed aphrodisiac qualities. Each permit holder is expected not to exceed a set bag count but it is common knowledge that wildlife officials don’t have the wherewithal to keep the aristocrats in check. So what we get, year after year, is the massacre of a helpless little bird on the brink of extinction. Bag counts simply do not work. But that is perhaps neither here nor there because not a single houbara bustard ought to be killed by anyone, anywhere in this country.

The houbara’s migratory path once used to take it to the Gulf and beyond. But it was wiped out in the Arab states and now their dignitaries are bent, with the active support of the Pakistani state, on destroying what is left of the seasonal houbara population here. The problem with our wildlife and environmental protection laws is that they almost invariably come with riders that allow the authorities concerned to grant exemptions, permits for houbara hunting being a prime example. Laws are not enforceable when discretionary powers allow a government official to sanction the killing of an endangered species. This is not a sustainable approach and it is hoped that these loopholes will be noted and rectified by the country’s highest judicial authorities. This year’s slaughter of the houbara bustard has not started yet. It is not too late to prevent it.

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OTHER VOICES - Middle East Press Kurdish move?

Thursday, 24 Dec, 2009

IT has been nearly two weeks since the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, was disbanded … on the grounds that the party had ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. In an immediate reaction to the court’s ruling, members of the disbanded [DTP] announced their decision to resign from parliament. … However … 19 lawmakers … have decided to stay … under the banner of the Peace and Democracy Party….

The country is passing through difficult times. … There are fears that the tension could spread throughout the country, causing a sort of civil war…. We believe that the two key actors in the process of the Kurdish initiative, the government and the pro-Kurdish BDP, should review their policies in order to be able to impose some calmness on the nation. That requires wiser moves.…

Criticising the media for its coverage of street clashes and even claiming that this coverage was, in fact, encouraging the terrorists are … hard to understand. … — (Dec 12)

GCC threatened

THERE is no question that the ongoing fighting with Al Houthi rebels should come to an end soon. … For months now, Yemen and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in intense fighting with Al Houthi rebels, with progress being made by the authorities on several fronts.

Forces from both countries have intensified their military campaign … to stop any advances by the rebels. Yet the fighting has brought about unwanted repercussions. For one thing, it has created a humanitarian crisis … as many … had to be evacuated.…

In addition, the ongoing fighting means that a new war front has opened in the Gulf. Needless to say, the region is in no need of such turbulence….

… [T]he recent Gulf Cooperation Council summit agreed to address this war as a challenge…. This is a welcome step as it will necessitate a joint … effort to bring an end to the fighting. But … any resolution should promote long-term peace … rather than just a temporary fix. — (Dec 19)

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The way forward

Friday, 01 Jan, 2010

YOUSUF Raza Gilani promised on Wednesday that the 1973 constitution will be restored to its original form. While the statement of intent is commendable, we urge the prime minister to support his words with action on the ground at the earliest opportunity. Let’s face it, the PPP-led government has lost face on numerous occasions since it came to power early last year. First there was the inordinate delay in the restoration of the higher judiciary. Also, question marks still linger over whether this democratically elected government is sincere in doing away with the 17th Amendment and returning to a genuine parliamentary system of governance. It has troubled many that the president, Asif Ali Zardari, has been exercising a form of authority in which the powers of the head of state and head of government appear to be conflated. That is not in keeping with the norms of parliamentary democracy and this impression must be dispelled sooner than later.

Going by the numbers in parliament, there is no stopping the government from doing away with the distortions made to the constitution by “dictators”, which is how the PM described those who amended the state’s charter to their short-term benefit. Surely the PPP will be supported by the PML-N and several other parties if it decides to table a resolution asking for the scrapping of the most contentious aspects of the 17th Amendment, specifically the powers enjoyed by the president. The question is: how many dictators are to be included in this review? Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N appears to be interested only in undoing the steps taken by Gen Musharraf. But what about Gen Zia and his blasphemy laws and the Hudood ordinances? If the constitution is to be restored to its original form, those distortions to the constitution must also be discarded. But will the PML-N, whose members enjoyed Zia’s patronage and is far more conservative in its outlook than the PPP, agree to such fundamental changes?

Mr Gilani has offered an olive branch to Mr Sharif by stating that the PPP is in favour of discarding the third-term bar on premiership. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, only Mr Sharif is in a position to benefit from this constitutional change. The PM has also made an effort to emphasise that there is no gulf between his office and that of the presidency. This resolve is important when some in the country are rooting for selective accountability. Let us not forget that many charged with corruption went scot-free under the Musharraf regime simply because they agreed to play ball. Everyone deserves a fair hearing.

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CNG woes

Friday, 01 Jan, 2010

CNG stations in Punjab and other parts of the country have been on strike since Wednesday, creating difficulties for hundreds of thousands of motorists. The indefinite strike to protest against a proposed rise in the fuel’s price and the twice-weekly closure of gas stations, is not just raising the cost of commuting, it is also hurting the flourishing businesses of pump owners. The latter contend that the two state-owned utilities have enough gas to meet the requirements of all consumers — domestic, industrial and the motorists. They are right in their claim as far as it concerns the lack of competence and efficiency at the gas utilities, an issue compounded by the government’s lack of planning to augment supplies. But the fact remains that there has been a phenomenal rise in the demand for gas. It is because of this increase in demand — especially by domestic consumers since the advent of winter — that the country is facing gas shortages. In view of this, it is difficult to support the demands of the owners of CNG stations that the government restore their supplies for seven days a week, even though it means more shortages for domestic and industrial consumers.

But their concerns about the proposed increase in gas tariffs cannot be dismissed out of hand. The increase, reported to be in the range of 18 to 26 per cent, will reduce the difference between CNG prices and those of petrol to just 18 per cent compared to 55 per cent as per the petroleum policy 1992. They argue that the increase will force most motorists to revert to petrol causing massive losses to pump owners. Even in the light of the government’s argument that the price rise is imperative to ensure profitability and the sustainability of gas utilities as well as to discourage gas wastage in a country facing a massive energy crunch, the point of view of the owners of CNG stations is not misplaced. The government must find a way to protect the Rs180bn invested in the CNG sector because of the price incentive to both investors and consumers. The two sides need to sit across the table and seek a solution via dialogue.

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Green light for by-poll

Friday, 01 Jan, 2010

WEDNESDAY’S Supreme Court judgment should not be considered NA-55 specific; its implications are wider and would seem to cover all constituencies where by-elections had been postponed. Striking down the Lahore High Court’s decision, which had ordered the postponement of the by-election in NA-55, an SC bench headed by Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said that the Election Commission of Pakistan was an organisation “not subservient to any executive authority”. On the contrary, it said, the executive authority was supposed to help the ECP in the discharge of its duty. In October, the Lahore court ordered the postponement of all by-elections following the Punjab government’s plea to the court that the ECP had not taken its views into consideration before announcing the by-election schedule. The court, in fact, chided the ECP for showing undue haste in the case of the NA-55 by-election. The Supreme Court, however, was clear on the issue when it ruled that the ECP was an independent body and that even parliament could not clip its powers.

There was much weight in the plea by Wasim Sajjad representing Sheikh Rashid Ahmed that when elections could be held in Afghanistan and Iraq, and were held in Pakistan in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, there was no reason why polling could not be conducted in NA-55. We hope the Punjab government realises that the spirit of the SC order covers all those constituencies — including NA-123 — where by-elections were postponed. Of course, several religious and political personalities are on the Taliban’s hit list — that goes without saying. But, as implied in the question posed by Mr Justice Shakirullah Jan during the proceedings, a bad law-and-order situation had not prevented the provincial government from carrying out other activities. With all legal and administrative hurdles removed, there is no reason why the former prime minister should not make a fresh bid for parliament.

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OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan

Friday, 01 Jan, 2010


IN 1979, the US was petrified when Soviet forces entered Afghanistan…. The US and Europe were perturbed by the fact that the Soviet forces had reached the borders of their major ally Pakistan. They contacted Arab states and compelled them to oppose the Soviet-backed Afghan government, arguing that communists were atheists and posed a major threat to the Islamic world. That is why the Saudi government … issued an edict in favour of waging a holy war … against the then Afghan government. Millions of Afghan refugees are still living in Pakistan and other countries [where they came] in search of shelter.

The then ruler of Pakistan … Gen Ziaul Haq started sending rioters to Afghanistan in the name of jihad to fight the Soviet forces. It was under his supervision that ‘jihadi’ militants were trained and sent across the border to fight the ‘infidels’. The same hooligans are now striking inside Pakistan. … Waliur Rehman, commander of the banned militant organisation Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, made an interesting claim. He told the media that the TTP had sent thousands of militants across the border into Afghanistan …. He said the Taliban in Afghanistan needed help from their Pakistani counterparts after the US and Nato forces approved a surge of thousands of troops in the country.

[A] spokesperson for US troops in Afghanistan, has rebuffed the claims…. … Wali also vowed that the TTP would stand by Pakistani forces in case the US troops tried to attack the country. Pakistan … launched Operation Rah-i-Nijat in South Waziristan against TTP militants. Thirty thousand troops were sent to the area to fight the militants, who are believed to number some 20,000. The Taliban commander rebuffed the claim of the Pakistan military that 600 militants have been killed….

… It seems that the Pakistani Taliban have decided to create turmoil in Afghanistan in name of jihad. Some hidden agencies are also involved in disrupting peace in the war-torn country. But they should know that Afghan society has undergone many changes during the last 30 years and now the term ‘jihad’ means hooliganism to them. — (Dec 26)

— Selected and translated by Sayyed Fawad Ali

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A time for peace

Monday, 04 Jan, 2010

PAKISTAN has often been ruled by generals and it is no secret that our armed forces wield considerable influence over civilian administrations as well. Nowhere is the military’s say greater than in the sphere of foreign policy vis-à-vis hostile neighbours or ostensible allies that sometimes try to dictate terms to Islamabad. But India’s history is different, and it has made much over the years of its democratic credentials and a system under which the armed forces are wholly answerable to the government of the day. So how then are we to interpret a recent statement by the Indian army chief that his country can take on both Pakistan and China simultaneously? He even suggested that a “limited war under a nuclear overhang” is possible in South Asia. Is this Gen Kapoor’s personal opinion or is he articulating government policy? What precisely is the nature of this new ‘offensive’ nuclear doctrine and why is it needed in the first place? And could it be that Indian generals, as opposed to elected politicians, are now calling the shots where regional policy is concerned?

Islamabad’s rejoinders have been stern, and perhaps never more so than on Saturday when CJCSC Gen Tariq Majeed warned against “outlandish ... strategic postulations”, adding that Gen Kapoor “knows very well what the ... Pakistani armed forces can pull off”. It seems that the government in India, or perhaps its military, is upping the ante for no plausible reason. Despite the hope offered by the Sharm el-Sheikh talks last July, there has been little or no movement on resuming the composite dialogue between Pakistan and India despite Islamabad’s stress on cooperation rather than animosity. New Delhi ought to note that the Pakistan Army is engaged in an all-out assault on the militants who are our mutual enemies. Raising the temperature, hinting at war no less, serves no constructive purpose whatsoever at this critical juncture. It should be obvious that there can be no winners in a nuclear conflict between the two countries — both will be wiped out, that much is guaranteed. The time has come to put the horrors of Mumbai behind us and work collectively towards peace in South Asia.

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The politics of sugar

Monday, 04 Jan, 2010

WHAT was an open secret in the sugar industry is now coming to pass: the sugarcane crop has shrunk this year, driving up the price of the primary input of refined sugar and leading to a fresh spike in the price of sugar across the country. So alarming is the situation that credible reports indicate sugarcane growers are demanding up to Rs230 per 40 kg for their crop, as opposed to the official rate of approximately Rs100. Pleading helplessness, sugar millers are jacking up the price of sugar they refine so that by the time sugar reaches the end consumer after passing through the hands of various middlemen and ‘investors’, it is costing up to Rs80 per kg in parts of the country. Adding to this picture of misery, the delay in the import of sugar has meant that sugar may now have to be imported at approximately Rs65 per kg, which is likely to be the baseline figure for the price of sugar in the year ahead.

How have things got so bad? Despite the fierce attention paid by the media to the sugar crisis and the Supreme Court’s intervention, the fact is the sugar supply chain is rife with manipulation and unethical, and possibly illegal, behaviour — and until those underlying problems are addressed, consumers will always get a raw deal. Start with sugarcane, the basic input of sugar. It is a crop thoroughly infused with politics and the subject of an almighty tussle between growers and millers. Small growers are completely marginalised and utterly powerless in this game, but the large growers and middlemen do extract their pound of flesh from the millers. Next, millers are up to mischief at the output end by colluding to fix the price of sugar — a reality finally being probed into by the CCP. On Jan 1, the CCP issued show-cause notices to three sugar mills after earlier only issuing a notice to the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association. We hope the process will lead to the exposure of all corrupt practices and result in the punishment of the guilty. For too long fat-cat sugar millers with political connections of the highest order have feigned innocence and claimed they are ‘managing’ the interests of all sides, including the consumer.

Then there is governmental inefficiency, collusion and negligence. The domestic and worldwide sugar-production outlook is reasonably well known. If sugar has to be imported, which at present it must, then why does the government rarely seem to get a good deal for consumers? The purpose of regulation and state intervention is to ensure that the interests of the weak (usually consumers) are protected — something few would argue the government is doing well at the moment.

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Trees in danger

Monday, 04 Jan, 2010

IF current proposals are anything to go by then the Punjab government’s Danish School System will wipe out thousands of trees located in forests that enjoy the official status of ‘reserve’ i.e. land that cannot be used for anything other than plantation. At least three of the proposed Danish schools are being planned in the reserve forests of Chichawatni in district Sahiwal, Kharian in district Gujrat and Takht Parri in district Rawalpindi. To clear the proposed 150 acres of land for just one school will mean the elimination of 46,000 trees. Media reports suggest that a much-needed amendment in forestry laws is not going through because it will hinder the setting up of schools in forests by making it illegal to use ‘reserve’ land for any purpose other than planting trees. If nothing else, this will give Danish schools a negative image even before they start to function. To save its latest educational initiative from controversy and allow it to start and run smoothly, the Punjab government would do well to keep it away from the forests. Forest reserves are by no means the only places left in the province where the schools can be set up.

But it is not for the sake of the Danish schools alone that forested land deserves to be spared the axe. The need for trees in a climatically stressed and environmentally vulnerable country like Pakistan cannot be overstated. Already too many forest areas have disappeared in the country to allow any more green patches to disappear. Danish schools should not become the enemies of the conventional wisdom, re-emphasised during the recent global summit on climate change, that forests are the lungs of the earth. Squeezing the lungs to create room for expanding the minds of future generations can hardly be called a wise move.

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OTHER VOICES - North American Press Why didn’t they see it?

Monday, 04 Jan, 2010

IT will take some time before all the facts about the Christmas Day terrorism plot are known and analysed. One thing is already clear: The government has to urgently improve its ability to use the reams of intelligence it receives every day on suspected terrorists and plots.

There were plenty of clues about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow a hole in the side of Northwest Flight 253. But no one in the vast (and vastly expensive) intelligence and homeland security bureaucracy put them together.

In May, Britain refused to renew Mr Abdulmutallab’s visa and put him on a watch list. In August, the National Security Agency overheard leaders of an Al Qaeda branch in Yemen discussing a plot involving a Nigerian man. In November, Mr Abdulmutallab’s father, a respected banker, warned the American embassy in Abuja … that his son was being radicalised and had disappeared in Yemen. The son was put on the least-restrictive American watch list — one that flagged him for future investigation. His plane ticket to Detroit was bought with cash. He boarded the trans-Atlantic flight with no luggage….

Either the National Counter-terrorism Centre didn’t get all of the information it was supposed to get — or it utterly failed to do its job … No doubt sorting through heaps of information and determining what is urgent or even worthy of follow-up is daunting. Still, it is incredible, and frightening, that the government cannot do at least as good a job at swiftly updating and correlating information as Google….

We will reserve judgment about whether anyone should be fired for what President Obama has rightly called a “systemic failure”….

What is needed now is what was needed after 9/11: a clear-headed, non-politicised assessment of what went wrong and non-hysterical remedies that work this time. The United States cannot be enclosed in an impermeable bubble. But Mr Abdulmutallab never should have been allowed to board that plane. — (Jan 1)

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Al Qaeda in Yemen

Tuesday, 05 Jan, 2010

YEMEN, it appears, is the new Fata, an Al Qaeda base where wicked plans to destroy western civilisation and overthrow governments are being hatched. Or at least that is the gist of some of the more hyperbolic commentary since the Christmas Day attempted plane bombing in the US was linked to an Al Qaeda offshoot in Yemen. Does Yemen have an Al Qaeda presence? It certainly appears so. Air strikes on Dec 17 and Dec 24, allegedly carried out by the US, targeted suspected Al Qaeda militants there. Since 9/11 there have been a series of attacks on western targets, essentially American and British, in the country. And of course there is the notorious bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 near the port of Aden. In addition, January 2009 saw the creation of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, a terrorist group seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate in Yemen and Saudi Arabia after toppling the governments there.

But while there certainly appears to be an Al Qaeda presence in Yemen, little is really known about the scale of the threat, or even the country itself. As is the case with any impoverished country with complex internal politics and a weak state, knowing exactly what is going on in Yemen is fiendishly difficult for the outside world and cannot be reduced to sound bites. And to some of us here in Pakistan, the talk of Yemen slipping towards becoming a ‘failed state’ where global jihadists are rampant is eerily reminiscent of much that has been said about this country.

Clearly, Yemen has the type of conditions Al Qaeda would like to exploit: high unemployment, serious levels of poverty, water shortages, declining oil revenues, a population suspicious of the West, a strongman president inclined to support the West on occasion, and a secessionist movement in one part of the country and a bitter insurgency being fought in another part. Perhaps inevitably, and with little clear evidence, Pakistan and Afghanistan have also been thrown into the mix, with some suggesting that militants fleeing this part of the world are relocating to Yemen, among other places. Without a doubt, Al Qaeda must be fought wherever it exists. But our concern at this point is that rushing to judgment makes winning that already tough fight all the more difficult.

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Environmental plan

Tuesday, 05 Jan, 2010

THE cost of environmental degradation is massive. According to a World Bank estimate, damage to the environment costs Pakistan nearly a billion rupees a day. What’s more, this is a conservative estimate because lack of data prevented the World Bank from assessing fisheries and coastal zones, both areas where degradation losses are huge. Across the nation, unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation are spreading diseases which affect individual well-being and livelihoods besides putting added burden on a healthcare system already on the brink of collapse. Air pollution is hampering child development and affecting public health in general, especially that of the poor. Meanwhile, irrational use of water and pesticides is waterlogging arable land and poisoning waterways and aquifers at a time when the country is becoming increasingly water-scarce. Deforestation, for its part, is affecting traditional ways of life, changing local weather patterns and causing soil erosion. And the list doesn’t end there. In short, environmental degradation is increasing human misery, reducing biodiversity and impeding the country’s productivity as a whole.

Urgent remedial action is needed. In this connection, we welcome the reported proposal for a five-year plan under which environmental damage is to be tackled on a number of fronts. Drawn up by a Planning Commission working group, the programme is to come into effect this year and will focus on water management, sanitation, air and other forms of pollution, deforestation, waste management, energy conservation and the fallout of climate change. The need now is to get this ambitious and generously funded plan past the paperwork stage so that work on the ground can start as quickly as possibly. But hurdles will remain even if that were to happen. Honesty of purpose is not Pakistani officialdom’s strongest suit and neither is efficiency. Wastage of resources is rampant and key projects are sometimes abandoned after spending billions.

For words to match deeds this time round, it is imperative that oversight of the five-year environmental plan is not left to bureaucrats alone. Success is unlikely if experts in the field do not have the primary say in the programme’s implementation.

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Medical emergencies

Tuesday, 05 Jan, 2010

COULD lives have been saved had a coherent contingency plan been in place at Karachi’s Civil Hospital, or CHK, on the day of the Ashura blast? This is a valid question in the light of

Dawn’s report on the “serious lapses” at CHK with regard to the handling of the injured who were brought in following the blast. Owing to its proximity to the blast site CHK received the most victims. Though the facility was already on alert because of Muharram, confusion appears to have reigned supreme. The process of prioritising patients according to the seriousness of their condition — or triage — seems not to have been followed. Doctors at the hospital have also complained of a shortage of equipment and an emergency plan that exists only on paper. A proper list of the dead and injured has still not been prepared.

This state of affairs is not just limited to CHK. Most government hospitals in the city have emergency facilities that leave much to be desired. Considering the precarious security situation all over the country, it is time that our officials came up with a workable plan to deal with large-scale emergencies. As doctors have observed, ad hoc procedures should be done away with and a proper contingency plan put in place. Emergency drills must take place several times a year. Also, doctors need security to carry on their duties without being disturbed by traumatised attendants while, to facilitate the arrival of patients, all encroachments blocking hospital entrances must be removed. Public-sector hospitals in the city, whether under federal, provincial or local jurisdiction, must have an integrated emergency plan. Once this plan is put into action, major private hospitals should also be brought on board. Meanwhile, the health authorities would do well to establish trauma centres in various parts of the metropolis.

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OTHER VOICES - Sindhi Press Political confrontation

Tuesday, 05 Jan, 2010

SMOKE is still emanating from the arson incident that took place after the Ashura tragedy in Karachi and a terrorism act in Lakki Marwat…. On the political front, confrontation is pushing the system towards instability. When such a situation prevails in a country, it demands efforts for national integration, but here [the trend is] opposed to it. Therefore the crisis continues to linger, becoming more complicated.

… When a political system is destabilised it is not necessary that some other party comes into power. … The country has been subjected to a series of destructive experiments. The government claims that conspiracies are hatched against it, while the opposition says if the government improves its performance it will see no conspiracy. There’s nothing new in questioning the performance of the government. … [But] it happens that in many cases questioning and criticising … is not for improvement but to create problems for the government. This we have witnessed during the last two terms of the PPP and PML-N governments. Opposition for the sake of opposition did not yield results. … Some other force may derive benefit from this confrontation and once again the political forces might be pushed out.

The country can ill afford confrontation in the present situation …. If [there are] forces that have no qualms about taking human lives, what would the situation be if this confrontation benefited them? What will happen to the people? Extremism has thrust a war on the country … the situation demands that political parties do not destabilise each other. There is a need to introduce a new tradition of tolerance for the continuity of democracy. Those who have come with a five-year mandate to rule should be allowed to do so. … (Jan 3)

— Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi

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Peshawar woes

Wednesday, 06 Jan, 2010

A SPATE of bombings in Peshawar has kept the NWFP capital in the headlines in recent times. But unbeknownst to people outside the city, the daily lives of the residents of Peshawar are becoming even more miserable as a result of man-made problems on other fronts. Start with electricity, or rather the lack thereof. With power generation plummeting over the winter across Pakistan, Peshawar has been one of the hardest hit cities, suffering power outages of up to 12 hours a day. The situation raises at least two questions. First, is the burden of ‘loadshedding’ being shared fairly across the country? There has been speculation that the National Power Control Centre in Islamabad is resorting to cutting power to the NWFP when the power requirement further down in the country spikes. Second, why are the power outages in Peshawar so erratic and seemingly unplanned? Elsewhere in the country, loadshedding schedules are announced by the local distribution companies and, by and large, adhered to. But Peshawar is not so lucky; residents complain that when the power goes off, they have little idea when it will be switched on — it can be an hour, or two, or six. The massive disruptions caused, to industry, homes, commercial establishments and even emergency services, are not very difficult to imagine.

Next, the supply of petrol and diesel to the city is haphazard and the source of a great deal of aggravation to Peshawarites. The reason for shortages of petroleum products is only partly security-related (several fuel depots have been closed in the province due to the fear of terrorist attacks). Profiteering appears to be a large part of the problem. As the first of each month approaches, which is when the price of petrol and diesel are announced, fuel stations in Peshawar curtail supply in the anticipation of earning a windfall through price adjustments. Sometimes the virtual shutdown continues for days, as was the case at the start of this month when petrol and diesel were not available in many places even on Jan 3. Given that at the moment the northern parts of the country are also suffering from acute shortages of gas and CNG, Peshawar is sometimes left all but fuel-less.

We understand that security issues are the top priority for the city’s and the NWFP’s administrators and that administrative resources are stretched thin. But surely the problems relating to the supply of electricity and fuel we have highlighted here are not beyond solution. The residents of Peshawar deserve a break, and officials should work harder to give them one where possible.

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Sweeping powers

Wednesday, 06 Jan, 2010

THE interior ministry has decided to give the paramilitary Rangers in Karachi sweeping powers to curb violence, specifically the targeted killings that are occurring with increasing frequency in the city. Among these powers is the authority to arrest anyone involved in violence for 90 days. According to official figures, 256 people have been killed in the past six months alone in incidents of targeted killing. There can be no two views on the need for the state to deal firmly with criminals and violent elements within the ambit of the law. But we question the wisdom of giving such extensive powers to the Rangers. Are the Rangers meant to aid Karachi’s regular force in curbing crime? Or does the move reflect the state’s lack of trust in the capabilities of the police force?

Reports about the increase in the Rangers’ powers had been circulating for months. Some have justified giving the Rangers more powers because of the general consensus that the police are too politicised to be able to operate independently. It is argued that if the Rangers carry out operations against politically linked suspects on their own, they could do a better job. Well-connected suspects are said to be freed from police custody because of their links to those with clout. Though the politicisation of the police is no secret, bypassing the civil law-enforcement structure is surely not the answer. In order to achieve results, wouldn’t it be better to overhaul the provincially controlled police and improve the investigation process than grant the federally controlled Rangers far-reaching powers?

We must also see the Rangers’ past record in Karachi to decide whether giving the paramilitary force extra powers would be beneficial in the long term. The Rangers have been in the metropolis for over two decades now. Their performance can be described as patchy at best; they have also been criticised for standing aside when a deteriorating law and order situation has caused trouble to flare in the city. The Rangers’ commercial activities have also drawn censure. Police reform and de-weaponising Karachi are the key to peace in the metropolis, not sweeping powers for the Rangers.

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Changed fortunes

Wednesday, 06 Jan, 2010

REVELLING in fanfare that contrasts starkly with its current financial insecurity, Dubai on Monday celebrated the formal opening of its crowning architectural project, the world’s tallest skyscraper. But the $1.5bn half-mile-high tower, referred to since its groundbreaking as the Burj Dubai, was renamed the Burj Khalifa — an acknowledgment of the financial help extended to Dubai by the Abu Dhabi ruler in the recent past. The Burj’s new name reflects Dubai’s recognition of its sorely diminished economic circumstances. Over the past two decades Dubai had transformed itself into the Middle East’s commercial hub, boasting business-friendly trading policies, relative security and high levels of overseas investments. Indeed, less than two months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Dubai had held a lavish $24m opening ceremony for Atlantis Hotel.

During the past year, however, property prices in many areas collapsed by nearly 50 per cent, based as they were on easy credit and overbuilding during a real estate bubble that has since burst. Dubai’s financial condition sent shockwaves across world markets when it announced plans to reorganise its main conglomerate, the state-run Dubai World, and sought new terms in repaying a debt amounting to some $26bn — with Abu Dhabi coming to its rescue with a multi-billion package. The Burj Khalifa can then be seen as a barometer of Dubai’s changed fortunes. The five years it took to construct the tower saw Dubai’s property prices go from the world’s best performing to the worst. Indeed, even the wisdom of going ahead with the project was in question. It has been argued that the Burj Khalifa has given a much-needed boost to Dubai’s battered reputation by reminding potential investors that the accumulated debt had at least produced a tangible infrastructure. Nevertheless, it is quite obvious that it will take more than the proud ownership of the world’s tallest building to turn Dubai’s fortunes around.

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OTHER VOICES - European Press Generosity and compassion

Wednesday, 06 Jan, 2010

OVER two million euros were raised for l-iStrina on Boxing Day and there were no prizes on offer. It was just a fun night organised by the president’s office and the Maltese people really showed their generosity. At a time when things are not so good, a vast majority of the general public dug into their pockets while other people took time out to take part in the actual games. The contribution was truly felt. Some eyebrows were raised when people suddenly remembered that Dar tal-Providenza had their own annual fundraiser on New Year’s Day. Would the people respond? The answer is an emphatic yes. A record sum … was raised and again, it is clear, the people responded to the call for help.

The centre provides much needed respite for people who are truly in need of it. It also provides care and treatment for people who have very severe disabilities. The contribution which it makes to our society is indispensable, no questions asked. … The church-run centre obviously runs at a loss and we must, as the general public, find more ways to help. Make no mistake, the home (one would never call it an institution) does have a healthy fundraising drive. The new year’s day fundraiser and the volleyball marathon are examples of this.

The government and its ancillaries help, as do the other political parties. There is also healthy sponsorship from companies in the private sector. But perhaps the most important gestures are those by groups of people who carry out all sorts of activities throughout the year to raise money for charity.

… More and more people seem to want to take part in charity drives and the key to it all is that doing so allows us to escape our humdrum lives for a while. It allows us to feel good by doing something good. Most charity activities also involve physical activity and socialising, so it also does the individual taking part some good too. …. — (Jan 4)

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Religion in politics

Friday, 08 Jan, 2010

IN a move aimed at reviving the spirit of Bangladesh’s original 1972 constitution which barred religion in politics, the Bangladesh Supreme Court recently lifted a four-year stay on an earlier ruling. As a result, the country’s dozens of Islamic political parties can no longer campaign under the banner of religion, and are likely to be forced to drop the religious reference from their names. The court declared as void ab initio the relevant fifth amendment to the constitution, which was carried out in 1979 during a Bangladesh Nationalist Party government. It allowed religion-based politics — which then flourished.

Given that Bangladesh has amongst the world’s largest Muslim populations, this is a quantum leap forward. The court decision, if upheld during appeals, will affect scores of powerful political parties and their voters, including the BNP now in the opposition. Yet it is worth noting that the verdict does not affect Islam’s constitutional status as the state religion or religious text that was incorporated in the constitution. Implicit, therefore, is the recognition that whatever the dominant religion, the business of the state and politics must be conducted independently; and that far from yielding benefits in terms of just and legitimate governance, the confluence of religion and politics can wreak havoc on a country’s political fabric.

Pakistan would do well to dwell on this. Religion, when enmeshed with politics, can deepen polarities and derail the examination of issues from the perspective of logic and the aggregate national benefit. We have seen, for example, how politics and state policies underpinned by religious diktat can lead to laws that are discriminatory and can be used as tools for victimisation. The Qisas and Diyat Act, the Hudood and the blasphemy laws are cases in point. At the very least, a political fabric woven from religion will either dismiss minorities and their rights, or polarise politics between dominant and minority religions. Pakistan made the state the custodian of religion through the 1949 Objectives Resolution, which was later made the preamble to the constitution by the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government and added as an annex by Ziaul Haq. Although religious parties have not historically fared well in elections, Pakistan’s politics have, over successive decades, been coloured by religion. The separation of religion and politics will, of course, neither automatically ensure justice nor guard against the misuse of religion. But it can be a first step towards delineating the private and public spheres. This may be a good time to revisit Mr Jinnah’s 1947 address to Pakistan’s first constituent assembly, when he eloquently stated that religion had nothing to do with the business of the state.


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Spreading terror

Friday, 08 Jan, 2010

FOR the most part, Azad Jammu and Kashmir managed to escape the violence that has engulfed Pakistan in recent years. But the last six months or so have seen a spike in terrorist activity, the most recent being Wednesday’s deadly suicide attack outside a military barracks in Tararkhel. Security forces in AJK were earlier targeted by a suicide bomber in June last year, an incident that claimed the lives of two soldiers. Then, in November, three men blew themselves up after they were besieged by police and area residents in Muzaffarabad. Luckily, the only casualties were those suffered by the terrorists. About a month later, a suicide bomber killed at least seven mourners participating in a Muharram procession in Muzaffarabad. Wednesday’s bombing was reportedly the first such attack outside the AJK capital.

Clearly, the tentacles of terror are spreading. When the Taliban and their affiliates first turned against Pakistan, their sphere of operations was limited mostly to the NWFP and Fata. But their reach grew under a government that was ostensibly fighting militancy and at the same time cutting peace deals from a position of weakness. The so-called Pun-jabi Taliban started making their presence felt and various extremist outfits across the country also closed ranks with the tribal militants. The state capital was attacked, as were several towns and cities in the NWFP, Punjab and the tribal belt. But the worst was still to come in the wake of the concerted military offensive launched last year.

Finding themselves on the run for once, they lashed out with attacks on soft targets as well as security installations. Hundreds of civilians were killed by bomb blasts. Peshawar was hit repeatedly. The terror spread to southern Punjab and last month several Ashura mourners died in a blast in Karachi. The attack has yet to be linked to a specific group. It is clear that extremist elements want to so terrorise the nation that public support for the military operation wanes. That hasn’t happened so far — indeed the opposite has occurred. It is now incumbent on all sections of society to ensure that the battle against militancy is taken to its logical conclusion.


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Tourism policy 2010

Friday, 08 Jan, 2010

THE government has said that the National Tourism Policy 2010 is on the anvil. One hopes it will be unveiled soon. The fact is that there is a lot of potential for tourism in Pakistan if it is properly tapped, given the rich cultural, archaeological and natural heritage the country possesses. These have drawn travellers from all over the world, and can attract more if the tourism infrastructure is efficiently organised and vigorous promotion campaigns are launched. Tourists, although greatly reduced in number, have continued to visit this country in spite of a weak tourism strategy and the dangers of terrorism. It would be criminal now to neglect this sector. The number of foreign tourists entering Pakistan grew steadily in the years 2003-06 when it touched a record high of almost 900,000. Thereafter it has been on the decline. Earnings from this source fell from $260m in 2006 to $243m in 2008. It is, therefore, an encouraging sign that the government is seeking to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed by conflict — especially in Swat — and is offering incentives.

Since there are many areas that are relatively secure, such as the Kalash valleys, Gilgit, the Galiyat, the archaeological sites of the Indus valley, the Gorakh hill station and the beaches of the Arabian Sea it is important that the new policy focus on them to give a new fillip to tourism in Pakistan. The strategy should aim at bringing domestic tourism in its loop by promoting modest travel costs and adequate board and lodging facilities. The revival of tourism can offer many advantages apart from the increased economic earnings it would fetch the country. A rise in the number of tourists coming from abroad would help improve the country’s image. Both domestic and foreign tourists would also boost the sectors related to tourism, such as local crafts and the catering industry.


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OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press US funds for tribal areas

Friday, 08 Jan, 2010

US ENVOY to Pakistan Anne Patterson has announced that her country would donate Rs4.5bn for the development of war-torn South Waziristan…. Patterson regarded the aid as part of an agreement signed on Sept 30, 2009, under which the US government promised to donate Rs75bn. The US government will directly channel this money to the Fata secretariat. The money is to be spent on the construction of roads, the provision of drinking water … and the building of an electricity network. Appreciating the efforts of the people of South Waziristan, the civil administration there and the Pakistan Army, the US ambassador said that it was due to their determination that the militants were on the verge of defeat in the area.

The US has been a major contributor to donations for the tribal areas of the country. During the last two years, the US has spent more than Rs8bn on education, health and other development projects…. The US has also donated Rs25bn for the internally displaced people of the tribal belt and the NWFP. However, the US has also increased drone attacks in the war-torn region…. These attacks have caused outrage … throughout Pakistan. … Pakistan … stands firmly as a frontline ally of the US. In fact, Pakistan is playing a more crucial role than any other nation in this war and whatever the US is donating is the country’s right. In the post 9/11 scenario, the US and other nations need to help Pakistan by exhibiting the same sincerity with which the country is fighting terrorism. Most of Pakistan’s internal problems are economic. Therefore, these countries should … rescue the country financially. This will help Pakistan remove the tag of a state heading towards failure and earn it respect…. Pakistan should be respected for its efforts against terrorism. The people of the tribal areas can only be taken on board to fight against extremism and terrorism if their social and economic problems are solved… — (Jan 2)

— Selected and Translated by Sayyed Fawad Ali

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