[B][U][CENTER]All sound and fury[/CENTER][/U][/B]
January 19, 2011

WITH pressure mounting on them to offer solutions to Karachi`s ongoing violence, the city`s rival political parties are trying to outdo each other with tired proposals that history has shown to be ineffective. The MQM has tabled a deweaponisation bill in the National Assembly while the ANP has been busy asking for the army to be called in. Both these methods have been attempted before, obviously without much success. A half-hearted shot at deweaponisation made in the mid `90s did little to disarm the city. According to the MQM, its suggested campaign will involve a gradual, multi-year, national process to curb first the production and transportation of arms, then the ownership of illegal weapons and lastly the ownership of licensed arms. While national deweaponisation is a welcome idea, its implementation, if taken seriously, will be key and will not be easy, likely requiring curfews and door-to-door searches across the country. As for the army, quite aside from questions about its knowledge of local dynamics and geography (relative to that of the police), bringing it in could restrict the civilian government`s ability to control the law- and-order methods used. Memories of atrocities committed during the military operation in the city in the early `90 are still raw.

The fact is that neither these proposals nor any others will work without political will. Between them, the city`s main political parties wield great influence in large swathes of this city that is awash in unlicensed arms. If they were really committed to deweaponisation — and in response to the tabling of the bill, the ANP said there should be a ban on all arms, by which it presumably means both licensed and unlicensed weapons — they could have arrived at an agreement to give up arms and asked their supporters to follow it long ago. And no matter what short-term results might be achieved by an external military force, Karachi`s demographic realities mean that without indigenous political will, a long-term peace is unattainable.

In the current scenario, then, these proposals appear to be attempts at political point-scoring rather than genuine moves to try to curb violence in Karachi. This is obvious from the fact that each party has presented a formula seemingly based on a calculated effort to attack the other`s advantages or exploit the other`s weaknesses. In a politically motivated attempt to appear to be serious about curbing Karachi`s violence while at the same time protecting themselves, the main players involved are tabling measures whose implementation is fraught with pitfalls and which have been proven to fail in the face of Karachi`s unique realities.

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[B][U][CENTER]
Bad education[/CENTER][/U][/B]

THAT standards of education in the country are plummeting was confirmed by the Annual Status of Education Report Pakistan 2010, launched on Monday in Islamabad. Undertaken by a number of organisations, it assessed the learning outcomes of school-going children. Depressingly, more than half the children surveyed could not read a sentence in Urdu or their local language. Around 56 per cent could not do two-digit subtraction sums while the level of reading and comprehension in English was, predictably, dismal. These findings can be taken as fairly representative indicators, given that the survey covered over 19,915 children in over 19,000 households across 32 districts in all five provinces as well as Azad Jummu & Kashmir and Islamabad. The outcomes remained similar regardless of whether the children attended private or government schools. In terms of provincial performance, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa appeared to be ahead, followed by Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, in that order. Even so, only 61 per cent of the children surveyed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could read a sentence in Urdu or their local language. If any further proof was needed that the country`s education system needs resuscitation, this is it.

Given that the survey found teacher attendance to be higher than generally assumed — 87 per cent in the public sector and a little higher than 90 per cent in the private sector — the problem appears to lie in the quality of teaching methodologies and curricula and in teachers` ability to foster comprehension. The solution to that lies, of course, in heavy investment, which the sector has been in dire need of for years. A surprise thrown up by the survey was the level of ability to read English in out-of-school children: 32 per cent stood at the beginner`s level, 49 per cent were able to read words and 28 per cent could read sentences. Clearly there is a need for serious interventions that range from improving teachers` abilities to drawing out-of-school children back into the academic circuit. These need to be formulated and implemented on a priority basis; for Pakistan to have a viable future, it needs an educated workforce.

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[CENTER][B][U][SIZE="2"]Talking finances[/SIZE][/U][/B][/CENTER]
January 20, 2011

THE ruling party and the country`s largest opposition party sat down on Tuesday to discuss a ten-point agenda for economic recovery and the process of turning it into a reform plan over the next few days. The move is a deeply welcome one. First, it signals a long-overdue recognition that the economy is the most urgent problem the country faces today. Those familiar with the meeting between the PPP and the PML-N say the tone was positive and constructive, further indicating an acknowledgment that there is a critical need to get our fiscal house in order. Second, the meeting points to a recognition that the federal government cannot save us from economic collapse on its own. Any successful reform plan will need to be owned by all major political parties and the provinces. Their inclusion will also help cultivate support among the media and the public. As such, the PPP`s meetings on Tuesday with the MQM and the ANP prior to its meeting with the PML-N, followed by meetings with the provinces on Wednesday, will only improve the likelihood of the plan having real impact.

That said, all stakeholders will need to seriously consider some politically difficult options. Measures such as reforming public-sector enterprises are important, but the gaping fiscal deficit cannot be narrowed without restructuring the economy through meaningful tax reform and expenditure control. So far, the former does not seem to be on the agenda. All means of increasing revenue should be on the table, including RGST and agriculture and property taxes. Since the latter two are entirely provincial subjects, the provinces will also have to think beyond politics and the short term. As for reducing non-development expenditure, this cannot be done without considering the replacement of blanket fuel and electricity subsidies with targeted ones. Pushing for politically popular moves, such as shrinking the cabinet and anti- corruption measures, will simply not be enough.

From a process perspective, bringing in independent experts would go a long way towards ensuring a meaningful rather than politically expedient outcome. Also, there should not be pressure to meet artificial deadlines. Currently the PPP has proposed that a consensus plan be presented to the president and prime minister on Jan 26, and the PML-N is still pushing for its 45-day implementation deadline. While a sense of urgency on the economy is needed, this rare coming together on fiscal matters would be wasted by hurrying through the process. There is a trade-off between what is economically desirable and politically viable, and the line must be drawn in such a way that fiscal recovery is not sacrificed for political point-scoring.

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[B][U][CENTER]A welcome move[/CENTER][/U][/B]

BY ordering Karachi`s city government to remove all encroachments from amenity plots, the Supreme Court has sent out a strong message. Though land-grabbing is a nationwide issue, it is particularly acute in this metropolis. It is no secret that criminals — in collusion with corrupt government officials and patronised by politicians — are involved in massive land-grabbing in Karachi. Over the decades land-grabbers have succeeded in eating away swathes of public space in the city. Governments have largely turned a blind eye to this racket. Civil society activists who have resisted land-grabbers have met with resistance, to the extent that some have been murdered. The rampant grabbing of land has also had a severe impact on the city`s law and order situation for when money, land and politics mix, the result is a toxic cocktail. Observers say that come election time, political parties parcel off illegally- occupied land to supporters in exchange for votes. Hence the more land a party grabs, the more voters it potentially signs up.

There have been successes in the battle to reclaim public land. For example, the Supreme Court ordered that a park in the Lines Area, Karachi, be restored while instructing a commercial enterprise operating on the land to pack up. But the successes have been too few compared to the rate at which mafias are gobbling up land. Since such powerful elements are involved in land-grabbing, the situation requires that institutions with clout and prestige, such as the apex court, set an example and take a firm stand in this regard. The chief justice, while issuing the order on Tuesday, said that no commercial activity could be allowed in parks. The civic authorities should take a cue from this directive and prevent the further commercialisation of public spaces, while making efforts to reclaim land that has been encroached upon. Also, government officials who work hand in glove with land-grabbers must be identified while the loopholes that allow changes in land-use laws need to be plugged. Perhaps these efforts can help check the forces defacing Pakistan`s urban areas.

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[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="2"]Transit trade scam[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
January 21, 2011

SHOCKING but expected. This is how the findings of the federal tax ombudsman`s report on a series of scams related to Afghan Transit Trade are largely being seen. The probe conducted on a Supreme Court directive does not reveal anything that we were unaware of before. It, however, highlights the fact that some powerful people, helped by corrupt customs authorities, are involved in smuggling in the name of transit trade. These concerns have been expressed for many years now. But, as pointed out in the report, the Federal Board of Revenue`s response had been to confuse the issue to protect its corrupt officials. Successive governments, including the incumbent one, also chose to look away rather than take action in spite of huge revenue losses and damage caused to domestic industry and investors. The matter was only taken seriously when the apex court took suo moto action on reports of smuggling of contraband items in the name of food supplies for the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan and ordered an investigation into the scam.

The national exchequer is estimated in the report to have suffered a hefty revenue loss of up to Rs37bn in the last four years on account of pilferage of containers entering Pakistan under the transit trade pact with Kabul. This is just the tip of the iceberg. After all, it is near impossible to calculate the precise tax losses because we do not know and don`t have a record of what and how much had entered the country during these years under the transit facility. But the losses are clearly significant. Little wonder then that we remain one of the most widely taxed countries in the world with one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios. Taxes amounting to Rs500bn or more are evaded each year due to rampant corruption and inefficiency of the FBR, according to some economists. While the `big fish` and corrupt tax officials go on stealing from the exchequer, the common people continue to pay more and more taxes to fill the gap in government revenues.

The ombudsman`s report also accuses senior customs officials of being fully aware of what was going on under `transit trade`. It is impossible for the board to now plead innocence. Many of them were actually complicit to the crime. This shows that the efforts — spanning more than a decade — to reform and restructure the board have failed to turn it around into an honest, efficient organisation at the cost of the country`s economic progress. It is high time the board is brought under stricter scrutiny of parliament to make its working transparent and efficient.

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[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="2"]Austerity drive[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]

THE country`s economy is floundering and the government is so cash-strapped that the funding for crucial initiatives such as the Public Sector Development Programme has had to be slashed. The government has been called upon to launch an austerity drive and control spending, with the opposition demanding the reduction of government expenditure by at least 30 per cent. Meanwhile, given inflation and the rise in prices of essentials much of the citizenry is increasingly hard pressed to make ends meet. More and more people are slipping under the poverty line and families that earlier sent their children to school are having to divert these funds towards the purchase of daily essentials. This is the backdrop against which the government`s plan of spending Rs3bn expanding the Parliament Lodges in Islamabad must be seen.

Is the expansion really necessary? The seven residential blocks the lodges already have house 358 family suites for use of the country`s legislators. Under the new project, inaugurated by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday, two new blocks are to be built. These will contain 104 family suites and 500 quarters for the use of the legislators` staff. Set against the grim economic realities that the country and its legislators had better start to tackle seriously, the plan appears preposterous. First, there is the projected cost of construction, which will no doubt be met at the expense of other, civically more important projects. Then, there is the issue of transparency in the award of the contract. Suspicions of cronyism have been raised with the allegations that the project was awarded at rates that are 35 per cent higher than the actual estimated cost. The matter stands in need of review. Even if it is absolutely essential that the new blocks be built, every rupee spent by the government must be spent wisely.

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[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="2"]Called into question[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
January 22, 2011

IT has turned into a global embarrassment for Pakistan. An investigation published by the Centre for Public Integrity, a US-based non-profit organisation, has held American and Pakistani officials responsible for failing to prosecute all those involved in the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002. But in a particularly damning indictment of the Pakistani justice system, it claims that the prosecution here, with the help of police, fabricated and suppressed witness testimony in the trial of Omar Saeed Sheikh and three others in an anti-terrorism court. Those who have followed the case in Pakistan add that the investigation was carried out in a hasty and irregular manner because of a hurry to satisfy the US, combined with police inability to obtain convincing evidence. Since then, appeals have been languishing in court with infrequent hearings over nine years. According to observers, the outcome is likely to be the acquittal of all four men being held in custody. There is little doubt that Mr Sheikh was involved, and it would be a shame if poor investigation practices may lead to his eventual acquittal.

But this is only an internationally high-profile version of shortcomings in domestic terrorism cases that occur routinely and are reminders of the need for transparency, speedy trials and developing police capability. The police are hampered by lack of training and sophisticated equipment, encouraging them to rely on witness testimony — often fabricated — rather than forensic evidence. The report further claims that five suspects have died in suspicious circumstances and 14 remain free. Again, this is reminiscent of other terrorism cases in Pakistan in which suspects are killed in `encounters` or allowed to roam free. This particular investigation has garnered international attention, but it is sadly just one of many that have been mishandled in Pakistan.

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[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="2"]Cabinet reshuffle[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
January 24, 2011

THE Federal Cabinet is set to be overhauled, a long-delayed change that may, briefly, raise the hope the government is finally getting serious about governance issues. But much will depend on the candidate selection and the portfolio allocation. Already there are indications fierce pressure on the prime minister may force him to stick with many of the familiar faces, simply shuffling portfolios around. In the present climate, that may be akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Let`s begin with what is wrong with the federal cabinet. In a word: everything. The fact that no one, not even parliamentarians, is sure about the size of the present cabinet ought to be astonishing, but has instead become just another marker of epic governmental waste at a time of great financial peril. The average voter would struggle to name more than a handful of ministers, ministers of state, special advisers, advisers with ministerial status, etc who are feeding at the trough at the moment. Who are the rest of these privileged souls and what are they doing? Whatever it is, steering state and society towards a better future does not appear to be part of their agenda.

To be sure, there are some very real political and democratic stakes at play here and the bottom lines are not always easy to find. Would giving, say, the Fata MPs or independents a few extra, patently unnecessary, ministries be worth it if it contributed to the government completing its term? How does one quantify intangibles such as the strengthening of long-term democratic trends versus the real and damaging costs of maintaining a bloated, inefficient cabinet? Be that as it may, the obscene excesses and privileges of power at a time many in the country are struggling to make ends meet demands some serious change. The 18th Amendment has introduced a clause that from the next election will `limit` the size of the cabinet to 11 per cent of the total membership of parliament. At present, that would mean an astonishing 50-odd cabinet members. But so bloated is the cabinet that a reduction to a `mere` 50 cabinet members would qualify as a serious change. Will the prime minister and his allies, so fond of issuing talking points about governance and the like, publicly pledge to abide by the constitutional limit?

Almost as important is a related point: the quality of the ministerial pool. Political heavyweights and personal favourites of party leaders do not automatically translate into good ministers. A survey of the performance of some of the most `high-profile` ministers over the last couple of years would bear out that fact. So as much as there is a need for fewer faces, there is also a need for newer faces, perhaps with some regard to merit and competence.

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[CENTER][B][U][SIZE="2"]Militants` godfather[/SIZE][/U][/B][/CENTER]
January 25, 2011

REPORTS that Sultan Ameer Tarar, aka Col Imam, a former ISI official and patron of the original mujahideen and later the Taliban in Afghanistan, has died have yet to be confirmed. However, the `news` is an occasion to dwell on the complex, almost inscrutable world of militancy inside Pakistan, and particularly in the tribal areas. Col Imam — kidnapped last March along with Khalid Khwaja, who was killed in captivity last May, and British journalist Asad Qureshi, who was released later in 2010 — is no ordinary former ISI officer or jihad patron. Long-time observers of militancy in the region refer to Col Imam as the `godfather of the Afghan Taliban`, a member of the security establishment here who was intimately tied to and supportive of the indigenous force that swept through Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. In fact, so influential and well-connected is the former intelligence officer that there is disbelief in some quarters that anyone would be bold enough to kill him. Perhaps he has died of `natural causes`, the speculation goes, because no militant offshoot, no matter how rabid or ultra-ruthless, would dare invoke the wrath of Mullah Omar in such a manner.

Of course, the speculation over the nature of Col Imam`s possible death itself raises an obvious question: why, then, was Col Imam held in captivity by militants operating in Fata since last March? Here lies an uncomfortable truth, at least for those still enamoured of the idea of `non-state actors` possessing some `strategic value`: like Frankenstein`s monster, what once made sense in laboratory conditions has proved to be a terrible, endless nightmare, unleashed in the real world. The militants who held Col Imam captive are believed to have demanded the release of 160 militants, apparently held by the Pakistani state in prisons and detention centres across the country. A militant benefactor being held by other militants as a bargaining tool for the release of yet other militants — this ought to be the stuff of fanciful fiction, but in Pakistan it has become terrifying, grotesque reality.

The questions, wheels within wheels and games inside games appear to be endless. Was Khwaja killed last year by the Punjabi Taliban because he was possibly lobbying the Fata/Pakhtun Taliban to turn on their new Punjabi allies? Did Khwaja or Col Imam `know too much`, code for other, possibly state, elements seeking to silence potential embarrassments? Qureshi, the British journalist, was released, but why and how? Will he reveal what he saw and heard while on his trip to North Waziristan? And what really is going on in North Waziristan Agency, which appears to be growing more inscrutable by the day?

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[B][U][SIZE="2"]Vigilantes against women[/SIZE][/U][/B][/CENTER]

TWENTY-year-old Saima was electrocuted to death on Friday in Bahawalpur district on the orders of a panchayat comprised of her father and three uncles, because she had eloped with a man of her choosing. That same week, Najma Bibi was paraded around her village in Khanewal district with her hair chopped off and face blackened in accordance with a panchayat`s orders, after her in-laws accused her of having illicit relations. In a trend that is nothing short of shameful for the country, informal `courts` are continuing to hand out judgments against women in the name of honour despite having no legal mandate. In addition to the fact that they have never had legal authority (except for a semi-official status in the tribal areas), the Sindh High Court proactively declared them to be unconstitutional. As for a woman`s right to marry a person of her choice, relevant in Saima`s case, numerous court judgments have upheld it and consent is considered vital in an Islamic marriage. Aside from violating human rights, then, these are blatantly extrajudicial actions that cannot go unpunished in any society that claims to value law and order.

The police do seem to have been somewhat active in both cases. That of Saima came to light after the police interrupted her funeral, seized her body and insisted on an autopsy. Three members of the panchayat are in custody. Two panchayat members have been arrested in Najma Bibi`s case, although reportedly there is pressure on her from the police to reach a private settlement. But given the government`s repeated failure to deliver justice in previous instances, and Pakistani society`s toleration of barefaced discrimination against women, the these too will be obstructed through bribery or political pressure or be transformed into `personal` issues to be dealt with between the families. One also questions the role of the Supreme Court`s Human Rights Cell if incidents like these can continue to take place. Given these circumstances, there is a dire need to treat Saima and Najma Bibi as the wake-up calls they constitute about how vigilante `justice` continues to haunt the women of Pakistan.

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[CENTER][B][U][SIZE="2"]The Palestine papers[/SIZE][/U][/B][/CENTER]
January 26, 2011

DRAWING conclusions from leaks — whether verbal or written — of diplomatic negotiations, in which arcane nuances often count for everything, is tricky business. A party may adopt a negotiating position only to pin the interlocutor down, with a hard line here or a generous offer there, the aim in the latter case being nothing more than to show a commitment to talks. During the failed Camp David II summit in 2000, Israel and America offered ‘some streets’ of Jerusalem to the Palestinian side.

News network Al Jazeera has now shared with Britain’s The Guardian newspaper leaked documents concerning ultimately unsuccessful negotiations held between the Palestinian Authority and Israel during the era of US President George Bush. There were two rounds of talks: the roadmap that Mr Bush unveiled in 2003, visualising a Palestinian state by 2005, which was immediately accepted by then PA chairman Yasser Arafat. Later Mr Bush undermined the roadmap by saying 2005 was an unrealistic date for a Palestinian state to emerge. The Annapolis declaration of 2007 was another half-hearted attempt, in which several Arab states were involved. It pledged to create a Palestinian state by the end of 2008, by which time Mr Bush knew he would be on his way out of the

White House. Nothing came of this diplomatic extravaganza, and then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returned home to declare he was not bound by the Annapolis deadline. The leaked documents that have now come to light concern this closed chapter of the Middle East talks.

According to these so-called Palestine papers, the Palestinian leadership agreed to Israel’s annexation of all but one Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem and made concessions on how many Palestinian refugees could return to Israel. The ‘offer’ appears to be simply an indication of the Palestinian side’s willingness to go the extra mile to seek a peaceful solution. The PA delegation knew then, and knows now, that Israel considers Jerusalem its ‘eternal capital’. The leaks seem intended to embarrass the PA, then Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei and the chief Palestinian negotiator at the time, Saeb Erekat. If the Palestinian leaders did indeed make that offer to the Americans and the Israelis, the Bush-era talks stand consigned to the dustbin of history. Mr Qorei is a skilful negotiator who was present at the Camp David II talks. As a veteran Palestinian leader he knew the mindset of the intransigent other he was talking to.

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[U][B][SIZE="2"]Courting disaster[/SIZE][/B][/U][/CENTER]

VARIOUS parts of the country have been hit by earthquakes in the recent past. On Monday a quake jolted the country’s northern regions, including the Rawalpindi-Islamabad area and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir. Measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, it drove panic-stricken residents out of their homes even as memories of the devastating October 2005 earthquake were still alive in people’s minds. On Jan 18, an earthquake measuring 7.2 shook the south-western parts of the country. No loss of life was reported in either case, although a woman in a Quetta hospital died of a heart attack in the wake of the Jan 18 quake. Luckily the devastation that occurred was nowhere close to what could have taken place.

The lesson to learn, therefore, is that disaster can strike at any time and the country’s administrative and other infrastructure had better be prepared. Unfortunately there is little indication that this is the case. Not much has been achieved by way of developing standard operating procedures for calamitous situations, whether natural or otherwise. Little coordination or planning was evident between various federal and provincial disaster-management authorities in response to the floods that devastated swathes of the countryside last summer. Months on, the needs of thousands of victims remain unaddressed. The same sort of chaos and lack of response planning is evident in the aftermath of terrorist strikes, even though these cause geographically more limited devastation. Each time, the authorities appear to have been taken by surprise. Unless this changes, Pakistan is simply courting disaster. It is time that federal and provincial governments turned their attention to the task in order to ensure that in case of a natural disaster, the response patterns of the recent floods and the 2005 earthquake are not repeated.

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[B][U][CENTER]Chehlum blasts[/CENTER][/U][/B]
January 27, 2011

THE two blasts in Lahore and Karachi on Tuesday on the occasion of Chehlum are a grim reminder that the threat from militancy remains clear and present. In Lahore a suspected teenaged suicide bomber blew himself up when police stopped him from entering the main mourning procession. In Karachi`s Malir area, a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded near a police van at a time when mourners were returning from the Chehlum procession. Though over a dozen people were killed and scores injured in the two incidents, the loss of life would have been far more extensive had terrorists succeeded in striking the main processions in both cities. In Lahore`s case the procession had not yet reached the spot where the bomber was when he blew himself up, while in Karachi, the blast occurred far from the route of the Chehlum procession.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the Lahore blast. The attacks show that militant groups — whether jihadi, sectar- ian or a toxic combination of the two — are still very much active and willing to make their presence felt by attacking `soft` targets. In 2010 there were multiple vulgar displays of the militants` power across the country, including attacks on the Youm Al Quds rally in Quetta and Youm-i-Ali procession in Lahore, the Data Darbar blast and the assault on Ahmadi places of worship in Lahore. Early last the year a bus full of mourners was attacked in Karachi, also on the occasion of Chehlum, as was a public hospital where the injured were taken. Shias are choice targets for militants but are not the only group on the hit list. Any large religious gatherings or processions — especially if they happen to be of a group that does not subscribe to the militant worldview — are easy prey for terrorists as they are difficult (if not impossible) to secure and it is easy to infiltrate the crowd.

Officials are right when they claim that due to the police`s multi-tiered security set-up a greater tragedy was averted. Multiple checkpoints manned by law-enforcers and volunteers have proved effective at dampening the terrorists` efforts to cause large-scale havoc. If secur-ity forces remain vigilant and continue to cooperate with members of the community, the damage can be lessened if not prevented. Policemen, who bore the brunt of both attacks, deserve praise for putting their lives on the line despite low pay, poor training and morale, as do volunteers such as scouts. It is very difficult to stop those willing to kill and be killed in the name of paradise. Better intelligence and preparedness are perhaps the only ways to handle such security threats.

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[B][CENTER][U]Speaking in tongues[/U][/CENTER][/B][/CENTER]

A MOVE by 22 members of the National Assembly leads to a situation somewhat akin to Heller`s catch-22 — you are in trouble if you ask and in trouble if you don`t. A private `languages` bill introduced in the assembly is full of contradictions and omissions that could cause fissures too difficult to heal. The bill seeks to replace Article 251 of the constitution that specifies Urdu as the only national language of the country. The proposed replacement reads: “The national languages of Pakistan are Balochi, Punjabi, Pushto, Shina/ Balti, Sindhi, Seraiki and Urdu.” A report in this paper questions why Shina and Balti have been bracketed together, while three other major dialects of the region have been ignored. Now if that slash is there because of geographical reasons, the same formula could arguably be used to club together many others on this list itself. Many in Punjab will be offended by the `divisive` mention of Seraiki and there will be voices defending the current exclusive status of Urdu as a language that `binds Pakistan together`. This paper`s report also lists some other major lang-uages spoken in Pakistan that are missing from the proposed clause. These include Brahvi and Gujarati and of course Hindko, a language which the parliament in Islamabad should be familiar with only if its members were listening.

The idea is, or should be, that formal recognition by the state would bolster these languages and the groups which speak them, and remove misgivings that are based on sometimes perceived but quite often real discrimination. It could well have been described as a long-awaited step towards realising the demand that, right from the primary school level, students should be taught in their mother tongue. But how do you react to the suggestion that something as personal as religion should be taught to students in a language that they may find foreign? The bill`s proposal for teaching Arabic as a compulsory subject at school level is as debatable as its selection of the languages that it deems should be declared national. The 22 backers of the bill will be under pressure either to add to the list or back off. Tongues are going to wag. The national house is poised for divisions.

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[CENTER][U][B]The Arab scene[/B][/U][/CENTER]
January 28, 2011

Tunisia-inspired movement has created ripples across the Arab world. The intensity of the stir in Egypt may be nowhere near what happened in the western world`s favourite holiday resort in the Maghreb, but there appears to be real political flux. The diversity in culture and the internal political make-up is obvious enough from even a cursory survey of capitals such as Riyadh, Beirut and Cairo. But if there is a common thread that runs through the fabric of the Arab world`s political ethos, it is the suppression of the democratic will of the people. Either there is an absence of democracy, as in most Arab monarchies, or if there are elections and referenda, as in the `northern belt`, they are manipulated to give quasi-civilian dictators a 90 per cent win. Hereditary rule is not confined to the monarchies, and some Arab civilian strongmen nominate their sons as successors.
Beyond the current wave of open defiance of authority in Egypt and elsewhere, muffled anger has existed in the Arab world for decades. The oil-rich dynasties may have given their people prosperity and a tax-free life. But the absence of rudimentary notions of democracy has alienated the intelligentsia and the fast-expanding educated middle class that, despite censorship and bans, know the world they live in. The regimes in non-oil economies have given their people neither a decent standard of living nor representative government in the accepted meaning of the term. Most Arab leaders today stand discredited. While leaders like Nasser, Bourguiba, Ben Bella and Anwar Saadat could perhaps claim to have some support from their people and certain achievements, today most Arab governments from the Atlantic to the Gulf have offered their people little that could give them a stake in the status quo. One or two Arab states have made attempts at reform. An Arab monarchy like Kuwait may put in place a pliant representative structure, but even in countries where elections are held periodically transparency in voting and an even playing field for all political parties and elements is lacking.

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[U][B][SIZE="2"]Back on track[/SIZE][/B][/U][/CENTER]

KEY to normalising the situation in the areas cleared of militants is the resumption of ordinary activities. In this regard it is encouraging that a skiing gala started at the tourist resort of Malam Jabba on Wednesday. Arranged by the Provincial Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Settlement Authority, the event is being supported by the Malam Jabba Pioneer Skiing School and is scheduled to last till Jan 30. The inauguration of the gala sends out the signal that the area, which not too long ago was at the centre of the fight with militancy, is once again functioning under the writ of the government. The Malam Jabba ski resort — the largest such facility in the country — was burned down by militants in June 2008 after having been closed for nearly a year. It is hoped that the festival receives a fair number of visitors and that the proceedings are not interrupted by any untoward incident. However, encouraging signs are there since a peace festival held in Swat last summer attracted over 40,000 people.
Tourism constitutes a significant source of income for the area and its residents. Prior to activities being interrupted by militancy, Swat and its environs attracted a good number of visitors from across the world as well as other parts of Pakistan. The area was in particular favoured by trekkers and mountaineers. The Malam Jabba ski resort, meanwhile, had begun to acquire some recognition in international skiing circles. What was developing into a promising and profitable industry was brought to a grinding halt when militancy reared its head. Now that the area
is back in the state’s control, there is a need to invest in tourism-related activities. The government should use the opportunity to improve infrastructure and facilities for more than anything else, prosperity will ensure that the area’s residents are loyal to the state.

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[CENTER][U][B][SIZE="2"]Privatisation or bust?[/SIZE][/B][/U][/CENTER]
January 31, 2011

ON Saturday, Pakistan Railways announced an increase in passenger fares and freight charges of between 10 and 20 per cent. The same day, the Planning Commission in a new report recommended an initial partial privatisation of the Railways. The problem is straightforward: Pakistan Railways is sinking. Mismanagement, underinvestment, overstaffing and a fare and route structure that is politicised and inefficient mean the entity is on the verge of collapse. Of course, the problem goes far beyond Pakistan Railways. In 2009-10, losses at Pepco, PIA, Railways, Pakistan Steel, NHA, Passco, TCP and Utility Stores added Rs245bn to the federal budget. Given the deteriorating fiscal situation, losses on this scale are simply unsustainable.
So what is to be done? Privatisation has many supporters, especially among economists and experts, but there are certain other realities to consider. Pakistan Railways alone employs 90,000, which makes it a grossly overstaffed organisation. But with inflation soaring, the economic slowdown widening and deepening and a weak government looking ahead towards the next election, lay-offs will be politically difficult. So trimming the fat from public-sector enterprises as a first step towards privatisation is unlikely. One of the ideas that is being pushed is restructuring the boards of public-sector enterprises to bring in professional and competent managers. But without revamping the powers of the boards and senior management, new faces are unlikely to make a fundamental difference. Meanwhile, jacking up fares, such as the Railways has resorted to doing, will not necessarily bridge the revenue-expenditure gap: one of the major problems facing the Railways is that passengers routinely avoid paying fares.
There are some out-of-the-box solutions available, however. PIA is an airline with massive debt and losses that show no sign of abating. Perhaps the `bad` assets could be parked in a separate account and some other international airline could be invited to run the feasible/profitable parts of PIA on behalf of the owners, i.e. the Pakistan government. By tapping international expertise, the viable portions of PIA`s business may at least be salvaged. Other innovative ideas could help rescue the other public-sector enterprises. At this point, so dire is the situation that even the more unusual of ideas should be given consideration. Imagine what even half of Rs245bn could do to improve the living standards of millions of Pakistanis.

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[B][U][CENTER]Telling tales[/CENTER][/U][/B]
THE interior minister`s latest claim, made in the National Assembly on Friday, is that in his possession lies the blueprint for a conspiracy to break Pakistan up. Apparently the ongoing unrest in Balochistan is the first stage of this scheme. The masterminds behind it went unnamed, and the plot has apparently been foiled through the military`s efforts. Just three days earlier, Mr Malik had declared while talking to reporters that `terrorists` plotting to kill journalists and the MQM, ANP and PPP leaderships had been captured in Karachi. Apparently their plan had been “to turn Karachi into Lebanon”. The dramatic nature of these unsubstantiated claims does nothing to inspire the people`s confidence in the interior minister`s ability to ensure their safety. It simply increases scepticism about the competence of the administration, feeds into a sense of insecurity and fuels conspiracy theories, especially about foreign interference.
More importantly, given the fact that both Balochistan and Karachi remain areas of unrest the administration has not managed to tackle, Mr Malik`s assertions come across as attempts to explain away complex internal problems and thus save the government the effort of having to solve them. The Balochistan claim was made in response to an MNA`s complaint about the unexplained disappearances and extrajudicial killings that are continuing unchecked in the province. These are valid concerns about human-rights abuses that have long ignited outrage in the province. Mr Malik`s claim seemed dismissive of the concerns of the Baloch people and came across as an attempt to absolve the state of responsibility by linking their treatment to some larger, mysterious plan to Balkanise the country. As for the Karachi story, it conveniently followed an outburst of violence in the port city and targeted action by Rangers. The claim that all three of the city`s major parties are under threat from the same source trivialises and covers up the complex ethnic and political violence that plagues the city. Mr Malik`s statements often have the effect of either feeding conspiracy theories or of creating a sense that the government is fabricating explanations in order to save its own skin. A little more thought put into them would be welcome.

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