Rampant corruption

ACCORDING to the Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International, Pakistan is the 34th most corrupt country out of 178 evaluated, slipping eight places from its previous ranking. The government`s response, predictably, has been to play down the report and highlight faults in methodology. Equally predictably, the report has been cited in sections of the media and circles opposed to the government as yet more proof of the PPP-led government`s corrupt practices. In fact, as the TI report itself makes clear what is being measured is “the overall extent of corruption (frequency and/or size of bribes) in the public and political sectors” which means it goes well beyond the narrow confines of a particular political government and looks at overall corruption in the state machinery. But whatever the misreading or misinterpretation of TI`s corruption index may be, there is also a reality to consider: in this case, it`s fairly obvious there is no smoke without a fire.

Tales of corruption are rampant, and rampant corruption is visible to whoever is able to look around the corridors of power. Government leaders, while occasionally acknowledging that corruption exists, have done nothing to address the problem in a meaningful way. The government likes to trumpet the fact that it has handed over chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee to the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, but is silent on the creation of the much-promised National Accountability Commission and has done little to promote adherence to rules set out by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority.

Notwithstanding the government`s own complicity in the problem and the fact that corruption is a serious menace, no debate on corruption in Pakistan can be complete without two points. One, from the earliest days of this country, corruption has been used as a stick to beat politicians with — and as a reason to justify extra-constitutional interventions. Democracy and good governance are not competing ideas and, given the political history of Pakistan, it needs to be reiterated — once, twice, a hundred times — that the problem of corruption must be addressed from within a democratic framework. Second, corruption of all hues, not just political corruption, must be acknowledged. Few question the institutional corruption of the security forces, which arrogate to themselves staggering privileges. The judiciary high and low is broken and rife with tales of corruption. The same goes for the state machinery involved in service delivery and for the police forces. Yes, politicians have a higher duty to abide by the law, but many others have taken public oaths they violate on a regular basis.

British visas

BRITAIN is not about to revert to its earlier, relatively hassle-free visa-processing procedure for Pakistan. This in a nutshell is the disappointing outcome of British Home Secretary Theresa May`s visit to Islamabad. Visa applications will continue to be processed in Abu Dhabi, and passports, we regret to say, may well continue to be lost. There was a time when the British visa service in Pakistan was considered the best among that of all foreign missions; however, last year it deteriorated considerably, with hundreds of students, businessmen and tourists complaining that their passports had been lost — either in the mess at Abu Dhabi or between Pakistan and the UAE — leading many to fear that they would recover neither their passports nor the hefty visa-processing fee they had been charged. While issuing or refusing a visa is a country`s prerogative, consular officials have to be mindful of the requirements of life in a global village and cope in a coordinated and efficient manner with the ever-increasing number of students, government officials and businessmen on the move. This is in the mutual interest of the applicant and the visa-giving country. The processing of visa applications in Abu Dhabi places Pakistani visa-seekers at a disadvantage, since the staff at the `hub` is unlikely to have that understanding of the applicant`s credentials which the high commission`s Pakistan-based staff is in a position to possess.

Because of the uproar last year over what can only be called the visa scandal, the situation has considerably improved this year, especially where students are concerned. But that doesn`t address the core issue. It is true terrorism stalks the land, but no diplomatic mission seems to be as nervous or panicky as the British high commission. All western governments have kept their visa missions in Islamabad and seem satisfied with the security provided by the host government. Britain alone has acted with unwarranted haste which has earned it adverse publicity. It is time Britain reconsidered its decision and activated its visa office in Islamabad. This will do more to improve its image than the aid it gives.

Respecting due process

THERE is a common perception that criminals and terrorists walk free in Pakistan because the courts fail to convict them. This perception is strengthened by the fact that there seems to be little effort at the institutional level to rectify the main problems responsible for this state of affairs: a weak system of prosecution and investigation. Resultantly, the security apparatus often applies extra-legal means to detain or punish suspects. Take the recent incident involving the superintendent and deputy superintendent of Rawalpindi`s Adiyala jail. The two were arrested from the Supreme Court on Tuesday when they appeared in a case concerning the alleged abduction of 11 men from the jail premises after the men were acquitted in several high-profile terrorism cases. In a petition filed with the court the men`s relatives claimed they were abducted from jail and had not gone `missing`. Apparently, the Punjab Home Department had issued detention orders for the men after their acquittal; though the Lahore High Court ordered that the men be released, they were allegedly handed over to the intelligence agencies.

This case highlights not only the lacunae of the legal system but also the fact that security agencies resort to questionable methods to keep suspects under detention. The problem is that militants go scot-free because the prosecution does not build a solid case against them largely because the investigation of crimes in Pakistan is an unscientific, shoddy affair. If security agencies are reasonably sure there is a strong case against suspects, they need to bring credible evidence before the courts. Without a doubt all those involved in terrorism should be tried and punished, but this must be done following due process. Abducting people, detaining suspects and using other unsavoury methods to extract information are not acceptable alternatives, even in the absence of an effective legal system.

Felling the future

Dawn Editorial
Friday, 29 Oct, 2010


THAT relevant laws and even decrees by courts can fail to prevent mismanagement and possible corruption is evident from the Khipro forest case. Created in the 1920s over 11,000 acres in Sindh’s Sanghar district, the forest is of crucial ecological importance.



It also generates livelihood for many groups of people including herdsmen. Alarmed by the leasing out of forestland and by habitat depletion in recent years, concerned locals filed two petitions in the Sindh High Court, pleading that the forest be declared a national heritage site.



The court issued on Oct 13 an interim stay order restraining officials from leasing out further Khipro forestland, and directed the forestry department to ensure that no more trees were felled. However, land continues to be leased out, reportedly to influential people who are burning and chopping down trees in a bid to create farmland.



According to a report published by this newspaper recently, a significant proportion of the forest, approximately 3,000 acres, has been leased out and trees on about 1,500 acres have been burned. This prompted local people to hold a protest demonstration.

It is a tragedy that the country’s natural and other resources continue to suffer degradation and depletion as a result of the short-sighted, self-centred concerns of power-brokers. Such parties’ ambitions are aided by the apathy of government departments whose task ought to be to protect the country’s resources.



The lack of protection of forestland is a grave issue, given that forests across the country are in danger. Apart from conversion into agricultural land, forests are suffering the bane of urban encroachment. In the northern parts of the country in particular, timber mafias operate with impunity and are responsible for the wholesale clearing of some forests.



The consequences include changes to the ecological balance, disturbances to the flora, fauna and citizens’ livelihoods, soil erosion and reduced water-catchment areas. It has also been estimated that the recent floods may have caused less devastation in the northern areas had the forests not been so badly depleted. It is time the country made the protection of forests a priority.

Development funds

Friday, 29 Oct, 2010

THE practice of giving development funds to parliamentarians for their respective constituencies often raises allegations of corruption. For this reason, the Public Accounts Committee’s call for a probe into the utilisation of such funds is welcome. A brainchild of the Zia regime, the practice has been perceived as a means of bribe, with accusations that the money is given to MNAs and MPAs to ensure their loyalty. Unfortunately, the lack of transparency in financial dealings has boosted such perceptions. How the money is spent and how much of it goes towards improving the quality of life is hardly brought to public knowledge. Over the decades, the quota of such development funds for each lawmaker has gone up. Considering that there has been little to show by way of development, there have been valid concerns of a proportionate rise in graft.

The other day, the prime minister announced a grant of Rs20m for each of the PPP’s Punjab MPAs, following complaints that the PML-N government was ignoring them. It must now be ensured that there is transparency in the use of funds. This development money comes from the taxpayers’ pockets, and the public is entitled to an explanation from the lawmakers on how the money will be spent — especially when parliamentarians themselves indicate that it can be a source of graft. For instance, one MNA said that almost half the funds were funnelled into commissions and contractors’ profits. Another complained of how a contractor offered her a bribe to allow him to undertake development work in her constituency.

There are two aspects which must be considered; one involves an audit of the funds given to lawmakers, the other the desirability or otherwise of doling out money to lawmakers whose academic degrees and knowledge of development economics does not inspire much confidence. If the practice is to persist and parliamentarians are to get the funds, then they must be made to account for every penny through an institutional process. All accounts must, of course, be audited by the office of the auditor-general, who under Article 171 of the constitution is required to submit his report to the president (or governor), who places it before the National (or provincial) Assembly. From this point of view the functions of the PAC are of vital importance because the committee is comprised of the people’s representatives who are in a better position to perform oversight functions. It is time that stringent methods were put in place to ensure that there is no room for corruption and that the money is actually being spent on development.

SCBA election

Friday, 29 Oct, 2010

THE victory of Asma Jahangir in the Supreme Court Bar Association presidential election raises great expectations. She is an internationally-feted rights campaigner who has fought fearlessly for liberal, secular and democratic principles in Pakistan. That the premier bar association of Pakistan, a country founded by one of the finest lawyers of his generation, will now be presided over by a woman and a figure of Ms Jahangir’s stature ought to gladden the hearts of many who feared that the principles this country was founded on had been lost forever. Ms Jahangir has suggested she will use her presidency to steer the formidable legal talent available in the SCBA towards public service. She has also talked about the restraint various institutions must show to ensure a smoother running of the state’s affairs. In essence, she promises a rational and independent approach that should lessen the existing polarisation within the bar.

The run-up to Ms Jahangir’s election was itself reflective of how we need to go back to the old principles of advocacy and argument that the founder of Pakistan had championed. She won in the face of a sustained, vicious and vile smear campaign that must be condemned in the strongest terms. It goes to the eternal credit of the SCBA membership that more people voted to endorse Ms Jahangir, and so repudiate the smear campaign against her, than to succumb to the viciousness and reject her candidacy on various moral and religious pretexts. Nevertheless, it is a sobering thought that a significant number among what should be one of Pakistan’s most educated and professional cohort were reluctant to condemn outright dirty tricks employed to try and sway the election result. Now that Ms Jahangir has proved yet again to be a trailblazer, we hope the SCBA will throw its support behind its first woman president.

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Be shak, Main tery liye he jeeta hoon or tery liye he marta hoon.....!(Baba Fareed)
____________Punjab Police Zindabaad____________

Rehabilitation needs

Saturday, 30 Oct, 2010

THREE months after the Indus burst its banks and sent torrents raging across the country, the situation for flood victims remains critical. This was highlighted in a statement of the international aid agency Oxfam on Friday. The charity says funds are drying up, affecting the reconstruction effort. The challenges are daunting and need to be reiterated so that neither the government nor society becomes apathetic to the magnitude of the disaster. The spectre of disease looms large while sizeable areas, especially in Sindh, remain under water. Estimates of how long it will take for waterlogged areas to dry up range from three to six months. The UN’s message, echoing that of Oxfam, is equally clear: more money is required.

Yet it is not all doom and gloom. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has started distributing wheat seeds so that farmers can sow the crop for the next harvest. The government also plans to allot one million residential plots to flood-affected persons in eight cities to help them begin life anew, the Sindh government’s coordinator for relief told a seminar on Thursday. Though this is a positive step, the challenge for the government will be to implement this scheme in a judicious, transparent manner. Also, as was pointed out at the same seminar, the floodwater needs to be drained in a planned, technical manner, not as per the whims of ‘influential’ people. There are reports regarding the misuse of Watan cards. Apparently some elements are exploiting the flood victims by buying the cards from them at a nominal price. The fraudsters make a profit, but the victims are deprived of greater government assistance. Nadra needs to crack down on this so that only deserving people are issued the cards, while the government must tell the victims that by selling their cards to cheats they are actually being short-changed. Flood survivors have also claimed that health department officials are selling medicines meant for them. These allegations need to be investigated.

The UN has called upon the government to ensure that minorities, women, the disabled and other vulnerable segments of society are not further victimised by being discriminated against in the relief effort. The state must ensure that rehabilitation is a non-discriminatory affair and that everyone has equal access to help. Overall, the flood victims cannot be forgotten as other crises — contrived or otherwise — begin to dominate the headlines. Both the government and the international community need to sustain the effort, the former through seamless, effective management and the latter through extending technical, material and financial support.

Agricultural income tax

Saturday, 30 Oct, 2010

IT may be called the Reform Committee Group — a group of experts brought together at the federal level to address Pakistan’s woeful tax-to-GDP ratio — but it appears reform isn’t even on its agenda. According to a report in this newspaper yesterday, the RCG’s mandate has been limited to plugging loopholes in the existing tax structure, leaving the issue of a tax on agricultural income off the table altogether. Once again, the powerful landed lobby has prevailed in the corridors of power. Landowners put forward all manner of excuses for why they should be kept out of the income-tax net, arguing that they are already indirectly taxed, poor farmers will not be able to bear the burden, etc. But those are weak excuses. Just like salaried and self-employed individuals in urban areas are exempt from paying income tax below a certain threshold income, the same should be done to accommodate poor farmers.

It is far more revealing to debate the facts agriculturalists and big landowners tend to avoid mentioning. Agriculture accounts for nearly a quarter of Pakistan’s GDP, but only one per cent of its tax revenues. Farmers enjoy all manner of subsidised inputs — paid for by other taxpayers — from fertiliser to seeds to electricity. They can avail themselves of low-interest loans and enjoy guaranteed prices on their products in the form of support prices. In truth, hundreds of billions of rupees are transferred from the urban to the rural sector each year — much of it ending up in the pockets of big and powerful landowners. Anecdotal evidence alone demonstrates the capacity for the agricultural sector to pay income tax. Around the time lucrative cash crops are harvested each season, the demand for motor vehicles spikes, with Corollas and Civics disappearing from showrooms across the country. In the cities and towns of Punjab and in Karachi, multi-million rupee homes are maintained throughout the year, the ‘poor’ owners only turning up for a few weeks of rest and recreation. The regressive and skewed tax system in this country is unjust, immoral and must be changed. Agricultural income must be brought properly within the tax net.

Mere lip-service

Saturday, 30 Oct, 2010

GOVERNMENTS in Pakistan have proved better at paying tributes to cultural representatives than making a determined effort to provide help where it is most needed. Year after year we witness the handing out of the Pride of Performance Award to citizens who have achieved stature in, amongst other fields, music, acting, composing, singing, filmmaking, directing and a host of branches of the performing arts. Though this is well-deserved recognition of their achievements, we also witness year after year the falling standards of life of these artists. Formerly iconoclastic figures, when old, are left to fend for themselves; their awards are reminders that their country and fellow citizens have short, treacherous memories. Rarely, if ever, do governments institutionalise any means to provide meaningful support to these artists; support that could come in the form of medical cover, aid to the mourning families of dead cultural heroes or the building of institutions that would promote and bolster their art and provide jobs for the skilled and opportunities of learning for the unskilled. Little is ever done for them in concrete terms.

It was precisely this lack of concern to which veteran comedian Safirullah Lehri referred obliquely the other day at the Karachi Press Club. An actor who enjoys near legendary status in Pakistan’s film history, the extent to which Lehri has been helped in his old age is restricted to charity, such as a minister’s promise of Rs50,000. This was well-meaning, no doubt, but what is needed is an institutionalised form of help for the country’s cultural legends, so that these fields do not eventually die out. There are many other such artists, fondly remembered but left in old age to their own devices which, given the earnings in these fields, are poor across the board. The state of Pakistan has in this context been unforgivably uncaring.

__________________
Be shak, Main tery liye he jeeta hoon or tery liye he marta hoon.....!(Baba Fareed)
____________Punjab Police Zindabaad____________

Child sexual abuse

Sunday, 31 Oct, 2010


Although some provinces have introduced or will be introducing legislation which defines sexual abuse of children as a specific violation with a clear definition of punishment, the federal government is still procrastinating. — File
THE case of a 15-year-old boy being sexually abused by three fellow students in the hostel of a college affiliated with the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences appears to be Islamabad’s first reported gang sodomy case, in which the alleged perpetrators were juveniles themselves.

It highlights the prevalence of a criminal practice which, according to NGOs, is growing in the country. Two weeks ago, an NGO report revealed that 1,216 children had been sexually abused in the first half of this year as compared to 968 recorded cases in the corresponding period last year. The same NGO had earlier reported the number of cases in 2009 as over 2,000, 10 per cent up from 2008 and double the figure a decade ago. Given the under-reporting of such cases, these figures are believed to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Of particular concern is the fact that child sexual abuse prevails despite Pakistan being a party to at least four international instruments that aim to improve child rights. According to experts, this is because we have been slow to harmonise local policies and laws in accordance with international instruments. Although some provinces have introduced or will be introducing legislation which defines sexual abuse of children as a specific violation with a clear definition of punishment, the federal government is still procrastinating.

Besides, the provisions of juvenile justice contained in the Pakistan Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code are not applicable in Fata. Moreover, programmes for psycho-social rehabilitation and reintegration of sexually abused victims are under-developed. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Pakistan’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The government must commit itself to curtailing child sexual abuse by facilitating the enactment into law of the national child protection bill tabled in parliament over two years ago.

One League fits all

Sunday, 31 Oct, 2010

THE merger of four relatively smaller Muslim Leagues in Karachi on Friday is a continuation of the Pakistani brand of politics. The four Leagues — Functional, Likeminded, Zia and Awami — are seeking to reassert themselves in a political scene dominated by parties with a sizeable presence in parliament.

Following the merger, the new League’s head Pir Pagara said he was willing to “think about” or “consider” all those going around with the title of ‘Leaguer’ — including Gen Musharraf and his All Pakistan Muslim League. The Pir must have been joking. Clearly, the reunion of these elements will be a dull affair until the PML-N also joins in. And, presumably, the PML-N would not be inclined to share the same umbrella with Gen Musharraf.

The same holds true for the PML-N’s seemingly cold overtures towards PML-Q which, despite earlier contact with the Pir is not part of the merger. However, Nawaz Sharif has not ruled out an alliance with the PML-Q.

It is not surprising that the PML-N reacted with a strong ‘no’ to the merger. At this moment, the alliance has little to offer Mr Sharif, who represents a considerable challenge to the incumbents on his own. However, the importance the PML-N has attached to the alliance by describing it as an attempt to eat into its vote bank should give the Pagara camp some hope; there is no bigger reconciliatory factor in Pakistani politics than the fear of a division of the vote bank.

In his reaction to the Karachi merger, PML-N politician Ahsan Iqbal recalled how the Pakistani Islamic Front had been formed to divide the right-wing PML-N vote in 1993. Why would the party allow a repeat when by its own tacit admission the new emerging League under Pir Pagara has the potential to do so? Come an election, perhaps a more apt analogy would be with the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad, a forum created by the military establishment to take on Benazir Bhutto in 1988.

Perhaps some politicians are hoping, groping, longing for the same signal. It will be in the interest of politics that they are kept waiting.

Worrying signs

Dawn Editorial
Sunday, 31 Oct, 2010

A SPATE of attacks against schools in the north-west — schools have been blown up or partially damaged in Swat, Mohmand Agency and on the outskirts of Peshawar this month — indicates the Taliban are far from a spent force.

To be sure, after a series of military operations, the Taliban’s control over swathes of territory has been challenged and overturned. Swat, the tribal areas surrounding Peshawar, Bajaur, South Waziristan and Orakzai — the situation on the ground in each of these and several others is quite different from what it was two years ago.

Military actions have produced results. But incidents such as the attacks on schools highlight the limits of a purely military strategy. Blowing up or attacking a school requires no more than a handful of insurgents. It can be done stealthily and quickly.

Defending against that type of threat requires a comprehensive counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism strategy. But on neither count does the state appear to have a cogent or coherent plan.

Start with the military aspect. Even now, the state’s response seems largely to be reactive. When violence flares in an area, the security forces are rushed in or respond with fire-fighting measures. What is needed is a proactive and pre-emptive strategy.

The areas vulnerable to militancy are obvious, while the factors which create support for militancy are also relatively clear at this point. Needed is a strategy which identifies areas where militants could try and re-emerge or find a foothold, and to prevent that from happening. Yet, that alone will not secure victory against the enemy.

Having adopted American terminology — clear, hold, build — the security forces are coming up against the same constraints their counterparts waging a counter-insurgency next door are facing: the lack of a capable civilian/administrative mechanism to ensure success in the hold and build phases. From the lack of adequate policing and local intelligence — key weapons in the fight against militants blowing up schools, for instance — to the inability to deliver basic services to militancy-hit populations, the civil/administrative arm here in Pakistan is failing in a serious way.

Swat, which has seen measurable progress in the fight against militancy, has had minimal input from the local, provincial and federal governments. In every area, the lapses by the civilian side are substantial. For example, the National Counter-Terrorism Authority remains in limbo with little direction or purpose while the government debates the agency’s reporting chain. The attacks on schools could be a harbinger of worse things to come.

The political government needs to move beyond rhetoric and meaningfully contribute to the fight against militancy.

__________________
Be shak, Main tery liye he jeeta hoon or tery liye he marta hoon.....!(Baba Fareed)
____________Punjab Police Zindabaad____________

New additions

Dawn Editorial
Monday, 01 Nov, 2010


LANGUAGE is an excellent mirror to society, reflecting the socio-political conditions of the times. Several new additions to the Collins English Dictionary point to the impact the economic recession, technology and, of course, politics have had on English as a language.



‘Funemployment’, meaning the “enjoyment one had while on an unforeseen break from work” has been added, as have a number of words associated with the popular social networking site Twitter. But it is the new words influenced by politics that are perhaps the most interesting.



Conspiracy theories questioning the status of US President Barack Obama as a natural-born American have given birth to the word ‘birther’, which refers to someone who does not believe Mr Obama was born in the US.

Of course, politics and politicians have always had a great influence on language. Sarah Palin, former American vice-presidential candidate, has gifted English some absolute gems, such as ‘refudiate’, which has mercifully not been included in any dictionary.



Though Ms Palin has compared her language licence to the creative genius of William Shakespeare, it remains to be seen if the American politician will have the same effect on English as did the Bard. Former US president George W. Bush has also made some worthwhile contributions to English, such as ‘misunderestimate’, which are commonly referred to as Bushisms.



Closer to home, neologisms such as Af-Pak have gained currency, while the never dull political climate in Pakistan has given Urdu words such as ‘vuklagardi’ and ‘Nab- zada’. Perhaps these are proof that living lang- uages adapt to their times; history will decide whether these terms will endure or fall into disuse.

Dithering on LNG

Dawn Editorial
Monday, 01 Nov, 2010


THE liquefied natural gas import project is in jeopardy. Foreign investors backing the multi-billion-dollar project are said to have “run out of patience”.



They may walk out of the deal unless Islamabad moves quickly to finalise it within a month. The plan has already been delayed for more than one year in spite of the worsening energy shortages.



The bureaucratic lethargy and powerful lobbies representing furnace oil importers and the liquefied petroleum gas sector are to blame for this delay. It will be unfortunate for the country should the deal fall through.

The LNG imports are crucial for energy-starved Pakistan. The imports will substantially reduce the production costs of thermal power by replacing furnace oil and improve the efficiency of thermal-generation plants.



The replacement of furnace oil with the cleaner fuel is also estimated to bring substantial savings of over $40bn to the economy on the back of energy (furnace oil) imports over the 20-year life of the project. Moreover, the project will bring considerable foreign investment in the form of construction of a terminal for imported LNG.



Foreign investors looking for opportunities to invest here should be helped and not repulsed. The execution of the LNG project should encourage more foreign investors to come to this country.

More importantly, the LNG project must help the government to at least partially reduce the growing energy shortages that are dragging down the economy by causing massive production, job and export losses.



Electricity and gas cuts are forcing most industrial units to skip at least one working shift and lay off workers to save costs. A number of small manufacturing units have already closed down because of the unavailability of electricity to them for the better part of the day.



Nobody can do sustained business in this situation. The government must understand that it can no longer afford to delay projects that are crucial for improving the availability of electricity and gas. It should be prepared to pay a heavy political price for its inaction.

Education sector

Dawn Editorial
Monday, 01 Nov, 2010


PRIME Minister Gilani’s admission that the nationalisation of schools and colleges in the early 1970s by the PPP’s founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was a mistake is likely to revive debate on the topic. In real terms, the policy has effectively been rolled back over the past couple of decades and now private schools and colleges proliferate across the country.



But the prime minister’s assertion is nevertheless important for two reasons: one, because reflection on policy issues is a much-needed quality that political parties rarely display; and two, because the wider state of education in Pakistan continues to remain dismal and requires serious attention.

The wave of nationalisation across Pakistan under Mr Bhutto — everything from banks to heavy industries to education — occurred in the context of an international lurch towards left-wing politics. It was fashionable, it was simplistic and it proved thoroughly ill-advised. The motivation behind nationalising the education sector was laudable — free education for all —but it ended up destroying quality institutions while creating a new avenue for corruption (‘ghost schools’, for example).



Benazir Bhutto appeared to understand the need to reverse many of her father’s policies and used her periods in power to embrace the neo-liberal paradigm: deregulation and privatisation. But while such shifts in national economic and social policy have had profound effects on citizens, there has been little debate on these matters. In part this is perhaps because of the personality-driven politics of Pakistan, where criticising a party leader, former or present, is considered sacrilege.



Mr Bhutto’s policy choices in the 1970s continue to impact the economy and society in many ways today. If poor choices were once made, not being able to call a spade a spade, or a mistake a mistake, compounds the negative effects of those choices.

The second issue is that of the state of education in Pakistan: it is, to put it bluntly, quite dismal. The latest analysis, courtesy the State Bank’s annual report released recently, claims that while certain indicators have stabilised or improved slightly, Pakistan overall remains behind regional countries in the education sector.



The report highlights a familiar litany of problems afflicting the sector: low female and rural literacy, low primary completion rate, high pupil-teacher ratio, inefficient budgetary allocation, limited physical infrastructure and lack of trained teachers. Following the 18th Amendment, which has introduced a new right to free and compulsory education for all children of age five to 16, the PPP has a unique opportuity: with education now a provincial subject and given the PPP’s presence in central and provincial governments, the party can lead the way on education-sector reforms.

__________________
Be shak, Main tery liye he jeeta hoon or tery liye he marta hoon.....!(Baba Fareed)
____________Punjab Police Zindabaad____________

Obama’s India visit

Tuesday, 02 Nov, 2010


WE hardly need to raise the curtain to get a fair idea of what the American president’s visit to India holds for us. Presidents Clinton and Bush and now President Obama have all been wooed by the immense Indian business potential.



We also know that the world has debated Pakistan in the context of terror long enough for the topic to tax India’s powers of persuasion too much. India and the US, nay the whole world, is in agreement that Pakistan must play its role in reining in the terrorists.



What the Indians have not been able to achieve so far is to use this global Pakistani indictment to push Islamabad into a corner where it would have to give up on many of its long-standing demands, the most important being the demand for a solution to Kashmir whose people have faced the worst kind of oppression at the hands of the Indian state.



India has failed to meet this end just as Pakistan has been unsuccessful in pushing its status of a partner in the global war on terror to elicit favours from the US to India’s disadvantage.

Circumstances do not allow Mr Obama to come up with an aggressive statement of a change in intent and emphasis.



He has to keep both Pakistan and India happy. As previously, scorers in Pakistan and India may once again be left counting their gains by bringing out the nuances Mr Obama chooses to punctuate his visit with. In fact, in such a complicated situation, nuances and symbolism do matter; it is impossible to confine them to a single meaning and interpretation.

Closing schools

Dawn Editorial
Tuesday, 02 Nov, 2010


THE news that the Sindh education department plans to shut down over 1,100 government primary schools across the province because they are “non-viable” is cause for concern.



It needs to be ascertained what has made these schools “non-viable”: is it that successive governments have neglected education, or are other factors responsible? The Sindh education minister claims advertisements were published in newspapers listing the schools and seeking the objections of stakeholders.



But as Dawn’s report correctly pointed out, the ad says nothing about inviting objections; it is simply a massive, ambiguous list enumerating the details of the schools. The minister said the ad was published so that “non-viable” schools could be removed from the education department’s record and their buildings used for “some better purpose”.



The government must make it clear what this “better purpose” is, which necessitates the closure of such a large number of schools.

It would be understandable if the government were holding an administrative exercise, for instance short-listing schools located in the same compound that have been merged but that still exist as separate entities on government rolls.



But it would be inexcusable if the government has made plans to shut down the schools without having a coherent strategy in place to improve academic standards. Nationalisation — though perhaps well-intentioned — has proved an ill-judged move and the prime minister’s recent comments appear to have restarted the debate on its effects on Pakistan’s system of education.



Yet that does not allow the government to abdicate its responsibility of providing quality education to the people.



The state of education across the country is far from satisfactory. In Sindh’s context, especially with the 18th Amendment making education a provincial subject, it must be asked whether the move to close down so many schools will improve the situation — or make it worse. In fact, the state needs to improve the quality of education offered in public-sector institutions and apply innovative techniques to do so.



Some NGOs have done commendable work in bringing quality education to the underprivileged. Perhaps the state can combine forces with such organisations to help improve the public school system.

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Price hike

Dawn Editorial
Tuesday, 02 Nov, 2010

A SHARP spike in petroleum prices — petrol, diesel and kerosene will be dearer by between six to nine per cent — has been approved by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority. The move will have a deleterious effect on industrial production and drive up inflation, which has remained high in recent years.



While it appears the move is in line with the increase in international oil prices, the oil-pricing mechanism in use in Pakistan passes on disproportionate increases to consumers. The blame for this must lie with the government, which in the summer pledged to deregulate the price of petroleum products.



It has not moved quickly enough to have the requisite legislation vetted by the concerned ministries and presented in parliament. (An Ogra amendment bill is necessary for the de-regulated environment to allow the authority to make certain desirable interventions when the market-based pricing mechanism proves inadequate.) It is a familiar tale of legislative procrastination that debunks all the rhetoric about interest in people’s welfare.

The measures mooted in the summer included deregulating the price of petroleum, doing away with the ‘deemed duty’ given to oil refineries and abolishing the Inland Freight Equalisation Margin. Presently, under the regulated price mechanism, oil-marketing companies and dealers earn a commission on the sale of petroleum products which is calculated as a percentage of the price of those products.



There is no apparent justification for this — regardless of whether petrol costs Rs10 or Rs100, the cost to an OMC or a dealer to physically deliver the product to a consumer ought to remain the same. But windfalls profits have clearly been earned over the last decade.



Deregulation would eliminate that problem. Similarly, the deemed duty paid to oil refineries was meant as a special, time-limited measure to help the refineries expand and upgrade their facilities so as to meet European standards and to reduce the sulphur content in petroleum products.



But eight years into the deemed duty regime, the refineries continue to claim the money on the grounds that they need it for financial survival, ignoring the original, quality-oriented purpose of the duty. If the government had acted quicker on the legislative front, such a sharp increase in petroleum prices may well have been avoided.

There is also the question of taxation. Approximately four out of every 10 rupees spent on petroleum products are pocketed by the government in the form of indirect taxes. Lacking the political will to collect more direct taxes, the government continues to rely on a highly regressive tax system. Notwithstanding the government’s claims, poor governance has a direct impact on petroleum prices.

__________________
Be shak, Main tery liye he jeeta hoon or tery liye he marta hoon.....!(Baba Fareed)
____________Punjab Police Zindabaad____________

Epidemic of fear

Dawn Editorial
Wednesday, 03 Nov, 2010


THERE is a fine line between raising awareness about a disease and generating fears of an epidemic outbreak. The former serves to inform and reassure the public whereas the latter spreads panic.



Blurring this line by, for instance, making careless remarks about the extent of the spread of the disease and insufficient stocks of medicines, etc., is likely to result more in an atmosphere of fear than an actual epidemic. This seems to be the situation with the current outbreak of dengue fever and the more severe though less widespread dengue haemorrhagic fever.



On the one hand, the government has been accused of under-reacting to this year’s dengue outbreak, which is admittedly the most severe since the disease surfaced here some years ago. On the other hand, the overreaction of some medical experts has generated fears about dengue which are out of proportion to the actual threat. No doubt the dengue danger remains. But what is needed is an efficient response, not unnecessary hysteria.

The public needs to be accurately informed about dengue fever: how it is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, that it is not contagious — isolation wards are not required — the precautions that can be taken to avoid dengue, and its symptoms and treatment.



In this, the media has a crucial role to play. The federal and provincial governments too need to involve communities in battling the threat. This must include a review of the 2006 policy of insecticide fogging to determine whether the correct sprays are being used and whether indiscriminate fogging has done more harm than good by making the mosquitoes resistant to the insecticides.



Failure to devise an efficient anti-dengue strategy and to keep the dengue risk in a balanced perspective will lead to an irrational rather than a rational framework for dealing with the virus.

A vicious circle

Wednesday, 03 Nov, 2010


A PAINFUL increase in the duration of loadshedding over the past week has added to the miseries of the people of Karachi. Honest power consumers who pay their bills on time are being made to suffer due to the economic mismanagement of the government and a tussle within the energy sector.



While loadshedding in the city has gone up to 10 hours in some parts, the Karachi Electric Supply Company and the Sui Southern Gas Company have been waging a war of words against each other in the media. The KESC published an advertisement on Tuesday blaming the increased power cuts on short gas supply and circular debt. The utility claims the amount of gas supplied last week was 75 per cent less than its quota, which is affecting power generation.



However, the SSGC claims that the dramatic drop in gas supply is not because of the KESC’s unpaid bills, but because of the closure of gas fields for “annual maintenance”. The KESC says that various federal and provincial government customers owe it over Rs50bn, while admitting that it also owes others billions of rupees (Rs22bn being claimed by the SSGC).



It says that unless the government pays the KESC, the utility will not be able to clear its dues.

There is certainly a culture of non-payment in the country, with the government leading the way in this regard. This has helped make circular debt the monster it presently is.



It is said the KESC is responsible for around 25 per cent of circular debt, yet it is certainly not alone as none of the provincial governments are particularly bothered about paying their power bills. If the government does not pay the power producer, the producer ends up not paying the oil\gas supplier hence the circle continues to viciously feed on itself.



To a large extent, the solution lies in making recoveries and reducing transmission and distribution losses. The state’s financial planners need to have in place a progressive plan to end this parasitic culture of non-payment so that the nation’s power woes can be addressed.

Talk of elections

Wednesday, 03 Nov, 2010

LEADER of the opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar has once again publicly mused about the possibility of mid-term elections to ‘get rid of’ the present government in Islamabad.



Legally speaking, such a call is within the framework of the constitution, which stipulates the maximum term of a government is five years but does not prohibit elections from being held earlier.



And certainly there are circumstances imaginable in which a mid-term election may become a necessity — because a coalition fails or a fundamental policy matter may require a political appeal to the electorate, for example.



However, at present it is difficult to build a politically strong case for the need for mid-term elections. Failures of governance by the present political government are real and serious enough but the opposition has not mooted alternative ideas.



Speaking outside parliament on Monday, Chaudhry Nisar criticised the government for the hike in petroleum and electricity prices and bemoaned the plight of the common man because of inflation.



Yet at no point has the opposition suggested what it would do differently on petroleum pricing, how it would handle circular debt in the power sector and what fiscal or monetary policies it would deploy to try and tamp down inflation. Is change for change’s sake something that the democratic project in Pakistan needs at the moment?

There is also a related issue — about local government elections — which Chaudhry Nisar chose to keep quiet about.



Ostensibly because of ‘law and order’ and ‘security’ reasons the Punjab government, led by Mr Nisar’s party, the PML-N, is delaying the next local government elections in the province.



In reality, there appears to be little appetite within the PML-N for local government elections in Punjab because control of the district administrations through the provincial government apparatus has already been achieved.



So there is this peculiar contradiction wherein PML-N leaders such as Chaudhry Nisar appear fixated on the need for a ‘representative’ government at the centre, but the party itself is standing in the way of giving the people a representative government at a lower tier.

In fact, holding local government elections in the province would also demonstrate if Mr Nisar’s hypothesis is true: do the people really want a change in government? A convincing showing by the PML-N in local government elections would strengthen its hand and make a better case for changing the government in Islamabad.



The selective focus on the need for elections at one tier of government but not another cannot be reconciled with democratic principles, small or big. Let Punjab vote, and then talk of Pakistan voting may become more pertinent.

__________________
Be shak, Main tery liye he jeeta hoon or tery liye he marta hoon.....!(Baba Fareed)
____________Punjab Police Zindabaad____________

Schools without principals

Dawn Editorial
Thursday, 04 Nov, 2010

ALL claims of improving education are rendered hollow by the shocking revelation that half of the public schools in Rawalpindi district have been functioning without principals for at least two years. Some have been without a principal for as many as eight years.



According to a report in this paper, out of 311 government schools in the district, the post of principal is vacant in 152. Senior teachers are filling in as administrative heads — but without the corresponding pay and perks. It is not surprising then that the acting principals are indifferent to their duties. Teacher absenteeism is also a major problem.



Poor administration, together with lack of proper buildings, classrooms and other facilities associated with education reflects poorly on any government effort to improve primary and secondary education.

The above picture is fodder for the debate in the country on education funding, particularly funding for primary and secondary education as opposed to tertiary education. While this debate emerged as a result of the previous government’s pro-tertiary education policy, it has been fuelled in part by studies elsewhere which claim a correlation between education funding and economic inequality.



Over-investment in tertiary education per pupil, some studies claim, generates higher inequality and can be detrimental to a country’s output, while higher funding for primary and secondary education results in the opposite.



While it cannot be denied that tertiary education is critical to a knowledge economy, maintaining a balance in primary and secondary education investment is no less crucial. So long as there is a large unmet demand at the base of the education pyramid where it is obvious that many schools lack staff and facilities, it is difficult to justify increased public investment in tertiary education. So if development funds have to be slashed, funding for primary and secondary education must be spared.

PM’s reaction

Dawn Editorial
Thursday, 04 Nov, 2010

A DAY after the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar, fired a broadside against the government and speculated about the possibility of mid-term elections, Prime Minister Gilani hit back in equally strong terms.



Declaring himself as the only constitutional figure with the right to call mid-term elections, Mr Gilani fiercely rejected the possibility and defended his government. Mr Nisar’s comments on Monday had raised an important question: can the country afford change for change’s sake? The answer: no.



However, Mr Gilani’s comments raise an equally important but different question: can the country afford a government just for the sake of being able to claim it has an elected, representative government? The country certainly needs an elected and representative government, but that is not sufficient.



The country also needs a government that is interested in matters of governance. Unhappily for Pakistan and unfortunately for its citizens, the PPP-led coalition in Islamabad appears to have little to no interest in governance issues.

Examples of government indifference — and worse — to governance matters abound. At around the time the prime minister was verbally hitting back at the opposition in parliament, a few blocks away the government’s economic team was struggling to explain to the IMF/World Bank what the government plans to do about the serious economic crisis afflicting the country.



From tax reforms to power- and commodity-sector liabilities to fiscal and monetary-sector reforms, the questions put to the government by the IFIs and the international community are met with deafening silence. Government officials often talk about their concern for the plight of the ordinary citizen, but when it comes to taking decisions at the policy level that could alleviate the suffering of those citizens, somehow deeds do not match words.

Elsewhere, on the security front, while other elements of the state are struggling to find a winning counter-insurgency strategy in parts of Pakistan, the government appears to have little interest in helping out. Cities and towns across the country have been attacked, but the government has been unable to draw up a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy.



Admittedly, many of the responsibilities for such measures will fall under the provincial domain, but the executive at the centre shows little interest in even prodding the provinces or taking the political lead. The PPP election manifesto was based on the five Es: education, employment, energy, environment and equality.



Where has there been positive movement on any of those fronts? The prime minister is right, the country can ill-afford mid-term elections. Equally, however, it can ill-afford a government which doesn’t govern.

Blow to Democrats

Dawn Editorial
Thursday, 04 Nov, 2010


CONSIDERING the formidable array of anti-Obama forces in the American establishment, the results of Tuesday’s mid-term polls aren’t surprising.



While the Democrats have retained their majority, though thin, in the Senate, having lost six seats, the extent of the Republican grab of the lower house is stunning. Once again, though not unusual in US politics, an American president has the disagreeable task of dealing with a House of Representatives having the wrong majority.



This is bound to make things difficult for President Barack Obama and maul if not block his reform agenda in the remaining two years of his term. As John Boehner, the man tipped to be the House speaker, said, “We are going to do everything … to kill it, stop it, slow it down, whatever we can”. This Republican negativism will have to be tackled if he is to have a second term.

While the Democratic administration’s failure to address America’s economic problems — the low growth rate, the budget deficit and unemployment — was a major factor in the Republican victory, one has to reckon the hostility Mr Obama faced from day one for being America’s first black president. An added offence for the white Christian supremacists was the Hussein in his name.



Notice the decision to cancel the scheduled visit to a Sikh temple during his upcoming visit to India because a scarf would add to the misgivings about him.



This racial and denominational prejudice was exploited by the Republicans, who made the majority of the voters pooh-pooh some of his positive deeds like the healthcare reforms and the decision to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan from July next. Also, his special broadcast to the Muslim world from Cairo has not gone well with many in the American establishment, and the traditionally pro-Israel media has not failed to note his snubbing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.



The results of the mid-term elections are a wake-up call for the Democratic administration. President Obama must deliver. He must address America’s economic woes, reduce unemployment and make serious efforts to stop the arch- conservative Tea Party, whose economic and political clout fostered Tuesday’s debacle.

__________________
Be shak, Main tery liye he jeeta hoon or tery liye he marta hoon.....!(Baba Fareed)
____________Punjab Police Zindabaad____________

Cinematic invasions

Dawn Editorial
Friday, 05 Nov, 2010


IT is a formula that supposedly proves our patriotism and protects our sense of a distinct Pakistani culture. So what if it leaves critical questions unanswered? Members of the National Assembly on Wednesday reiterated the old position on the power of Indian films to corrupt the minds of Pakistan’s youth.



One MNA pointed out that Pakistani “children are now incorporating Indian [read Hindi] words … in normal conversations”. The culture minister had his answer ready: Indian films are shown in theatres in Pakistan to keep alive the cinema culture in the country.

If only the minister had greater means at his disposal to keep cinematic traditions going. And if only our sensitive lawmakers could come up with a better response to the ‘problem’ they have identified. Those who are keeping the cinema alive in Pakistan still make the rather expensive visit to cinema houses, mostly to watch films produced in India by Indians.



Indian films were not allowed to run in Pakistani theatres until it became abundantly clear that an overwhelming majority of cine-goers had turned their backs on whatever was being made in Pakistan in the name of cinema.



Simply put, they did not opt for what they did not like. The same applies to the CD market where otherwise entertainment-starved Pakistanis appear to be exercising their right to choose freely. Certainly the MNAs’ concerns are shared by a large number of their compatriots.



But the best response in this situation would be to invest in local films and give people another option. Whether we call it ‘sapna’ or ‘khwab’, in the end what matters is how free the people are to dream their dreams and what facilities they have to turn these into reality and, every once in a while, see them transferred onto celluloid.

Iraq’s terror wave

Dawn Editorial
Friday, 05 Nov, 2010


A NEW wave of terror and the rise in casualties have added to the uncertainty about Iraq’s post-war political set-up. Astonishing as it sounds, the warring politicians have not been able to form a government some seven months after the March election.



The attack on the Chaldean church on Sunday in Baghdad was brutal, leaving 50 dead and over 100 injured. Two days later, six car-bomb blasts across Baghdad’s Shia districts killed and injured over 300. The killers at the church were reported by survivors to be speaking non-Iraqi Arabic, and Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the carnage.



Whether the assailants were foreigners or not is of less importance; what is more worrisome is the rise in terrorism, while a politically stable government is nowhere in sight.

Regrettably, Iraqi politicians have disappointed their voters and Iraq’s well-wishers abroad. It is true the March 7 elections gave no clear majority to any political bloc.



But that does not mean that those who sit in parliament should be utterly indifferent to their people’s sufferings and fail to realise the consequences of a country without representative government. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki continues to govern as head of a minority government, because Ayad Allawi’s Iraqi National Movement, which secured the highest number of seats, has refused to sit with him.



The Kurdish parties, too, have not confirmed reports that they are willing to work with the Maliki-led bloc. The Maliki government has also declined Saudi Arabia’s offer to help in government formation, thus perpetuating the political status quo in which matters seem to be slipping out of the state’s hands.



An indication of the parliamentarians’ self-aggrandisement is their decision to increase their salaries and allowances to $22,500 a month, even though they have worked only for 20 minutes since the general election. Foreign business wants to invest in Iraq, and for the first time in 20 years a foreign airliner landed in Baghdad on Monday.



Yet the country’s internal scene inspires little confidence among investors because the politicians have yet to prove that they can work democracy and give the Iraqi people peace and progress.

Unclear stance

Dawn Editorial
Friday, 05 Nov, 2010

CONCERN about the effects of the price spiral as well as a possible realignment of political forces in Islamabad may have prompted the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to adopt a harder stance in parliament. Members of the MQM, which is part of the ruling coalition at the centre and in Sindh, walked out of the National Assembly on Wednesday to protest the hike in petroleum prices.



The party said it would boycott the house proceedings till its ‘demands’ were met. The MQM’s senators also marched out of the upper house for the same reasons while there was a walkout during the Sindh Assembly session as well.

Fissures in the coalition have been growing. Aside from spiralling prices, which the MQM knows will not go down well with its largely middle-class vote bank, the party also has reservations about the way the law and order situation in Karachi is being handled. Interior Minister Rehman Malik met party chief Altaf Hussain in London, where Mr Hussain delivered a litany of complaints to the minister.



One of the MQM’s key grievances is that its voice is not being heard within the coalition. A change in the political calculus at the national level must also be considered to understand the current impasse. There is a sense that something is brewing in Islamabad and the MQM may be preparing to jump ship if it feels that sticking with the PPP may no longer be politically propitious.



The PPP has made recent overtures to the PML-Q which forms the third largest bloc in the National Assembly and could come to the PPP’s rescue should the MQM leave the coalition. At the same time feelers are being exchanged between the PML-N and the Q-League, once considered an arch-enemy.

As before, the MQM may be pacified by the PPP leadership and all will be right. But in the long run this situation is not sustainable. Although coalition governments are difficult ships to steer the world over, Pakistan’s situation is particularly odd. It is strange for a coalition partner to stage walkouts and boycotts and threaten to quit the government, and yet to retain plum ministerial posts in both the federal and Sindh cabinets. The MQM should take a clear line about which boat it wants to sail in.



Ultimately, all players — including the PPP — must realise that political wheeling and dealing and using boycotts and walkouts as instruments of policy is a double-edged sword. While these may bring short-term benefits, if the parties concentrate too much on the power game and pay no attention to good governance, democracy will be the biggest loser.

__________________
Be shak, Main tery liye he jeeta hoon or tery liye he marta hoon.....!(Baba Fareed)
____________Punjab Police Zindabaad____________

Air safety standards

Dawn Editorial
Saturday, 06 Nov, 2010


The crash of a small charter aircraft in Karachi on Friday morning shortly after take-off is a reminder of the need to constantly review and enforce air safety protocols in Pakistan.

The plane, owned by a local charter company and hired by an Italian oil firm, was headed to an oilfield in the interior of Sindh. Twenty-one people, mostly employees of the oil firm, are believed to have died in the crash. The plane crashed on the grounds of the Central Ordnance Depot, a military installation near the airport. Initial reports suggest engine failure resulted in the tragedy, but only a full investigation will reveal the actual circumstances responsible for the crash. The accident occurred while memories of the catastrophic Air Blue crash — the worst aviation disaster in the country’s history — are still fresh. However, perhaps a greater disaster was averted for if the charter plane had crashed in a densely populated area or if a larger passenger plane had been involved, the scope of the tragedy would have been amplified.

Pakistan has generally had a good air safety record. Yet as the International Civil Aviation Organisation has pointed out in the past, there are areas where there is room for improvement. These include a shortage of qualified inspectors and a need to increase safety oversight activities, especially of commercial air transport operators. The country has seen a proliferation of private airlines since the 1990s; some have survived while others are history. The Civil Aviation Administration, in its role as the air safety regulator, needs to keep a strict check on all commercial airlines, including the flag carrier, as well as charter operators to ensure that aircraft meet international safety standards and are airworthy. No corners can be cut when it comes to safety of the aircraft and the professional competence of the cockpit and maintenance crew. If the plane is not fit to fly, it should remain grounded. The air safety regime must be reassessed and the loopholes plugged to make sure that Pakistan’s skies remain safe so that future tragedies are prevented.

Threat to witnesses

Dawn Editorial
Saturday, 06 Nov, 2010

The fact that witnesses, including police officers, often do not appear before a court of law out of fear is one of the reasons why the conviction rate in Pakistan is so low.

Courts then release the accused because of lack of evidence. On Thursday, an anti-terrorism court in Peshawar directed the Nowshera police to ensure the appearance of prosecution witnesses in a case concerning a shootout between suspected militants and security officials. Those who failed to turn up — repeatedly — in court were two police officials and a doctor. This is not a phenomenon confined to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Throughout the country, witnesses have often baulked at testifying in court because they fear for their lives. In Karachi, which unfortunately has become notorious for ethnic and sectarian killings, the problem exists in acute form. Dangerous criminals and suspected terrorists have quite often been acquitted for want of evidence or because witnesses turned hostile. Ignoring cases where parties are bribed, witnesses feel panicky, because there have been numerous instances where those whose evidence could have been crucial in deciding a case were gunned down on the court premises or on the way to court by the accomplices of the accused. Such is the law and order situation that often trials — especially those concerning blasphemy cases — have had to be held in jails to ensure the safety of the witnesses and judges.

Meanwhile, the Peshawar judge has said that if the witnesses did not appear at the next hearing he would conclude the case in their absence. This directive makes sense. The police’s failure to provide security to witnesses and court staff has served to embolden terrorists and criminals. There is no doubt the resources of the police and security forces are overstretched, but this doesn’t justify giving a free hand to criminals to eliminate witnesses.

Talks with IMF

Dawn Editorial
Saturday, 06 Nov, 2010

Talks between the IMF and a state usually focus on technical matters of finance and the economy: what is the targeted rate of growth, inflation, budget deficit, etc? In this regard, the talks held this week in Islamabad between the IMF and the federal government were no different.

The IMF wanted hard estimates and clear commitments on a range of conditions before agreeing to release the sixth and next-to-last tranche of the $11.3bn stand-by arrangement entered into by Pakistan in 2008. Yet, perhaps the most important subtext of the week’s negotiations was a question of a very different nature from economics and finance: does the government in Islamabad have the political will to take the hard decisions necessary to pull the economy back from the brink? On the evidence of the last couple of years, the answer would appear to be no. But time has almost run out. Very soon the very real possibility of the financial collapse of the state could become a reality.

At the moment, the government appears to suffer both from a lack of capacity and will to tackle the economic crisis. The capacity issue is acknowledged by the finance ministry’s own plans. Among other measures, the ministry has recommended that the heads of public-sector enterprises and bodies such as the revenue board, the statistics bureau, the public-sector procurement regulator authority, the public service commission, etc be appointed on merit and be allowed to work and complete their terms free from political pressure. It really makes no sense to talk of, for example, plugging the Rs250bn hole public-sector enterprises blow into the federal budget each year without first entrusting those enterprises to competent and professional managers. The lack of political will is apparent from the government’s track record. The resolution of the dispute between Sindh and Islamabad over sales tax on services drags on, peculiarly so, as the same party is running the governments in both places. Meanwhile, the power-sector crisis has grown faster than the rate at which power tariffs have increased. Elsewhere, commodity operations the state finances to keep the agricultural sector liquid and for redistribution purposes have grown into a new crisis, with several hundred billion rupees now stuck up.

The reality that economic managers are unable to take serious decisions without political ownership was apparent this week as the principals in the finance/economic team rushed to Karachi to meet President Zardari while the IMF team waited in Islamabad. There is no problem with technocrats deferring to politicians; after all it is the politicians who are elected to lead. Unhappily, it remains to be seen if the politicians are willing to lead.

Flood victims without food

By Meer M. Parihar
Saturday, 06 Nov, 2010

FAMILIES displaced by Pakistan’s worst floods have started moving back to their homes.

Still, thousands of victims, among them those hailing from district Dadu, Sehwan taluka, some pockets of district Qamber-Shahdadkot and Balochistan, are living in camps as their homes are still under water.

Those who have come back are eking out an existence that is more miserable than it was before the deluge. They are either without shelter or living in dangerously damaged structures surrounded by disease-ridden water. There is no livelihood activity on the horizon. The lack of education, health facilities and potable water has been a defining feature of their lives. In fact, most of the displaced, on return, feel that they were comfortable in the camps.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, the receding water has left behind silt deposits that will improve the soil’s fertility, leading to expectations of a bumper crop harvest. But in the flood-hit areas of Sindh and Balochistan, the land in many parts is still under water.

Sindh is a lower riparian and the water table has always remained high here. It reached its maximum level after the recent inundation. By the time the water evaporates, the season for rabi (winter) sowing will be over except for the riverine belt — where most landholders are usurpers. Hence, free agricultural input for rabi crops in Sindh may not benefit the majority of the landless and small farmers. The government, therefore, must revisit the package for rabi sowing.

Another factor that may have escaped the notice of donors, NGOs and even senior government functionaries is that the entire flood-ravaged area in Sindh is concentrated near non-perennial canals except for the Manchar lake belt. And there is no guaranteed supply of water for rabi crops per acre yield.

The sowing of the next kharif (autumn) rice crop commences in June and harvesting starts in late October next year. Until then, there appears to be no means of livelihood for the victims. As they return, they may have foodstuff enough for, say, a month. But what will happen over the next few months? Will the sum of Rs100,000 for each affected family be sufficient for raising temporary shelters, providing support to crumbling roofs and walls, the purchase of winter-related items and, above all, for food the prices of which are skyrocketing?

On the other hand there appears to be no initiative like a ‘work for food’ programme to engage the idle workforce of the flood-ravaged areas. The urban centres of Sindh, where the rural unemployed move for earnings, are already saturated.

In this scenario, it is the prime responsibility of the government to ensure food security for the flood victims until the next kharif crop. It would not be for the first time that the flood victims would be getting free foodstuff. Those displaced by the Swat operation on return received food supplies for several months through hubs for which the spadework was done jointly by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the army.

Flood victims of Sindh and Balochistan deserve the same. International as well as local donors will surely support this arrangement if transparency, in the identification of beneficiaries and distribution, is ensured.

So far as Sindh and Balochistan are concerned, work towards rehabilitation might take years. This is unlike the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab where the delivery of keys of newly constructed houses has already started.

The government must seriously devote itself to hastening the completion of a field survey in a transparent manner and in the shortest possible time. Unfortunately, going by the past record of the identification of affected people and the losses sustained as a result of calamities, the results of such a survey may well be questionable. It may not be a bad idea to involve the army in the task of assessing the losses and if that is not acceptable then the force could be assigned the job of monitoring.

The havoc wreaked by the floods has further pushed the people into the abyss of poverty. In Sindh and Balochistan, the majority of landless and small farmers are dependent on seths for the supply of seeds and other agricultural material at high interest rates. But this time, their standing crops have been completely damaged by the floods, hence few will be able to clear their liabilities. They have thus been trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and to pull them out from this the government needs to intervene positively.

The rural economy of Sindh and Balochistan is dependent on agriculture and allied sectors, hence agro-based activities should be the top priority and the availability of quality seeds, fertilisers and pesticides during the next kharif sowing should be ensured.

Small farmers in flood-ravaged areas who could not reap rabi crops must get free inputs including early maturing varieties of grain and other cash crops, which require less water and can withstand salinity and changed cultivation patterns.

Livestock farming, an alternate source of livelihood of the rural poor and of community farming, should be among the top priorities. Similarly, fish farming of saline and brackish water species in waterlogged areas and the coastal belt, with public-private participation, must be boosted.

Last but not least, the existing network of technical training facilities should be activated and crash programmes in skill development started. Most importantly, the restoration of the damaged irrigation network must be ensured before the next kharif sowing.

meer.parihar@gmail.com

__________________
Be shak, Main tery liye he jeeta hoon or tery liye he marta hoon.....!(Baba Fareed)
____________Punjab Police Zindabaad____________