Drone rules

January 22nd, 2013

THAT the Obama administration is enamoured of the drone, the most high-profile weapon in so-called targeted-killing operations, is well-known enough. Weaponised drones, when used carefully and selectively in environments like Fata, can and do produce results — Pakistani officials have for years privately maintained the efficacy of strikes in Fata, even as they publicly denounce them and/or demand closer cooperation in the execution of strikes. But enemy kills alone do not account for the overall effectiveness of any new weapon of war — as has been borne out by the anger inside Pakistan and among national security officials that drone strikes in Fata evoke. With so little known about the operation of drone strikes by the CIA inside Pakistan, a report in the Washington Post detailing the Obama administration’s efforts to build a ‘play book’ guiding targeted-killing operations, in effect assassinations in remote areas, by the US has yielded some tantalising details.

Pakistan, as the Post reports, will be excluded from the new rules being developed for at least a year and perhaps up to two years. Why? “Imposing the playbook standards on the CIA campaign in Pakistan would probably lead to a sharp reduction in the number of strikes at a time when Obama is preparing to announce a drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan that could leave as few as 2,500 troops in place after 2014,” according to the Post. This is a remarkable admission and essentially makes clear that drones are being used to satisfy political timetables of the US. Concerned that post-2014 the regional environment may not permit as many strikes, could the US be rushing through strikes in Pakistan that more measured decisions would veto? That possibility is all the more stark given that the new rules will be immediately implemented in Yemen and Somalia. Is the Obama administration claiming that what’s good enough for Yemen and Somalia is somehow a bar too high when it comes to Fata?

Equally troubling is that the architect of the ‘play book’ will be the next director of the CIA. In effect, John Brennan has exempted the organisation he will lead from implementing the very rules he has authored when it comes to Pakistan. The Post story notes, “Senior (US) administration officials have expressed unease with the scale and autonomy of the CIA’s lethal mission in Pakistan.” Why the unease? At its core, it is not a good idea to give any intelligence agency the kind of powers the CIA has in Pakistan. Just look at Pakistan for evidence of what can go wrong when intelligence agencies grab more and more power.

A long struggle

January 22nd, 2013

HOPEFULLY, the prime minister’s approval on Sunday has clinched the issue. For the past one year, news of the impending regularisation of the services of more than 100,000 lady health workers had frequently been flashed in the papers. These contractual workers were believed to have almost got their due when their protests won them a notice from the Supreme Court in March 2012. In June, the court ordered permanent employment for LHWs, following which, in early July, the cabinet approved the case. Still, the shift, which was to cost an estimated Rs17bn, was delayed. Amid persistent protests by these workers, one of the objections to the regularisation had the usual political basis to it. Since the LHW programme was launched by Ms Benazir Bhutto as prime minister many years ago, the current PPP government was suspected of seeking to use the regularisation issue as a political and election ploy. Primarily, though, the package was stalled pending an agreement between the provinces, which hold jurisdiction over the health sector after the passage of the 18th Amendment, and the federal government over its financial costs. Despite the decentralisation, it was the centre which was paying the salaries of these LHWs. And as the provinces, mainly Punjab, held they did not have the money, Islamabad did finally commit itself to bearing the financial burden of the regularisation. On the authority of a spokesperson for LHWs, the prime minister has now committed to pay these workers up to the year 2017. This is sufficient time for the provinces to take over, or to work out a formula with the federal government for the continuation of this important programme.

Lady health workers have been in urgent need of security. Irregular employment did not go well with the responsibilities the LHWs were assigned. They have been operating at a most basic level under trying conditions, sometimes exposed to dangers graver than those generally associated with their duties. A fairer financial reward and employment security is the least the government can give to these women in the vanguard of the country’s health initiative.

Dangerous landscape

January 22nd, 2013

THE worsening economic and security circumstances in Pakistan have meant that those wishing to travel abroad often have to face a hostile terrain when it comes to obtaining visas. Pakistan also features on the travel advisories several countries issue to their citizens. Becoming a booming tourist destination is unlikely in the near future; neither do business and industrial activities attract foreign investors at any appreciable level. We have learned to accept these realities. Now, however, we are slowly having to come to terms with even sections of the animal kingdom staying away. Several parts of the country play host at different times to migratory birds; in August and September, for example, the arid terrain and foothills of Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa see an inrush of falcons from Siberia and other regions. But last week, wildlife conservators in the province raised alarm that migratory populations are declining — due to preventable causes.

On the one hand, environmental degradation and militancy is causing the loss of habitat and feeding sites. On the other, falcons are targeted by trappers who can sell them for anywhere between Rs1m and Rs10m to Arab nationals who use them to hunt and consider them as status symbols. It is not just falcons that are under threat; several other animal species, including the houbara bustard (which the falcons are used to hunt) and the snow leopard have been identified as under pressure or even endangered at various times. This is a sad indictment on Pakistan’s commitment to nature. While there have been efforts to remedy the situation, including by local wildlife departments, far more resources are needed. Field workers in the KP region that hosts falcons, for example, have no vehicles but each must police a 200 sq-km area against illegal falcon hunters. What will it take to jolt the state into action?

A common enemy

January 23rd, 2013

THE Indian home minister’s claim that the country’s largest opposition party is sponsoring “Hindu terrorism” is an explosive and alarming one, not just for India but also for Pakistan. It is a claim so serious, in fact, that it will not be taken seriously by some sections of its domestic audience unless the home minister shares at least some of the evidence he says he has; the current dynamics of Indian politics, with a government under pressure and elections within sight, will make it tempting not to take his allegation at face value. Presumably he would only have made it on the basis of reliable investigations at the highest levels. As a first next step, then, he needs to share whatever information he can.

But if we assume for a moment that the remark could not have been an off-the-cuff one, it is as disturbing here as it should be across the border, because religious extremism in India and Pakistan is rarely just a domestic issue. For one, there is the threat of cross-border terrorism, as in the case of the Samjhauta Express bombing, which killed mainly Pakistanis and which the home minister has also traced to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Second, just as some Pakistani right-wing and extremist groups are both anti-Hindu and anti-India, there is a fine line between anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan sentiments when it comes to the BJP’s affiliate, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The growth of violent religious extremism in India, if it is taking place in the way the home minister suggests, can only fuel animosity towards Pakistan and hinder the peace process.

And it does the same here; Hafiz Saeed has reportedly already taken this opportunity to blame our domestic terrorism on Indian actors. The development underlines how important it is for both Pakistan and India to take seriously the spread not just of external threats, but also of home-grown violent extremism. Focusing on the former allows the latter to flourish, so that both feed off each other in a cycle that makes the entire region more violent. More importantly, as Pakistan knows only too well, religious extremism is insidious. It spreads faster and wider than is obvious, not just strengthening violent organisations but also transforming societal attitudes in a way that supports the growth of those organisations. Pakistan has seen the fallout from its own history of concentrating on foreign threats at the expense of fighting domestic ones and controlling the spread of right-wing ideas at home. As extremist viewpoints gain ground next door, India would do well to avoid the same mistake.

ECP on recruitment

January 23rd, 2013

THE Election Commission of Pakistan’s ban on fresh recruitments and on the diversion of development funds comes against a background of concerns voiced by many people who say such practices by the government amount to pre-poll manipulation. There is little doubt the federal and provincial governments are motivated by political considerations when they resort to “mass recruitments” to follow what is being seen as a “jobs for votes” policy. This recruitment spree has pitfalls, the gravest being the appointment of people who do not have the necessary qualification for the job. However, the ECP exempts appointees who go through the federal and provincial public service commissions. Banning all other appointments raises some questions, because this would have a bearing on the state’s obligations towards its citizens — providing employment being one of them. For instance, the inauguration of a dam or hospital cannot be put on hold in the pre-election period — one that may remain unspecified — simply because this would cast the ruling party or coalition in a positive light. In matters of recruitment, too, the planned expansion of a given department or autonomous corporation may occur in the pre-election period, and for that reason recruitment cannot be deferred. A distinction can be made in some cases; for instance, had the decision to regularise the services of 100,000 lady health workers — a laudable, much-needed move no doubt — come earlier , it could have dispelled impressions that the move was linked to elections.

As for the other complaint, there is absolutely no justification for diverting the money for development projects to the prime minister’s discretionary funds with a view to using the largess for obliging people in his constituency in return for votes. Development money being given to parliamentarians is itself a debatable practice. As experience shows, not all lawmakers use them for genuine purposes and many misuse funds. Monday’s ECP statement doesn’t specify cases where such diversions have taken place. It merely speaks of the “concern being voiced by people”. The federal government should take notice of the ECP’s warning because it specifically speaks of the prime minister’s constituency.

Tragedy in Greece

January 23rd, 2013

THE murder of a Pakistani in Greece over the weekend focuses attention on the phenomenon that is the Pakistani diaspora. In general, overseas Pakistanis are an asset for the nation. The billions of dollars they send home each year is not the only benefit for the country; of equal if not greater advantage are the skills they learn in the developed countries, and though a majority of them choose to settle abroad, some do return to enrich the country with their knowledge and experience in diverse fields ranging from fast food to information technology to nuclear science. They also happen to be an asset for host countries, especially in oil-rich countries, where they are to be found in every department of life. The dark side of it is the kind of tragedy that occurred over the weekend in Greece: in short, illegal immigration.

Pakistani emigrants without proper papers try to enter Europe via two routes: either to Sicily via Libya or to Greece via Iran and Turkey. The hardships they are likely to suffer — hiding in containers, trekking for miles in cruel weather, evading arrests — do not seem to deter them, even if their lives are at risk. They also have some knowledge of what would happen to them if they are arrested: few European governments deport them. If arrested, they are given legal help, and when on bail they earn without a work permit. In most cases, they are eventually allowed to stay on. Pakistan is not the only country that exports illegal immigrants. Many countries fall in this category — Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, India and China besides a large number of African countries. Tightening border controls is hardly the solution; the real and only solution is to educate and equip Pakistanis, remove poverty and create a prosperous society.

Consensus on militancy

January 24th, 2013

THE ANP’s proposed all-parties conference on terrorism is a decent idea on paper, but like most things that look good on paper, the reality may prove somewhat more difficult. The ANP’s interest in the conference is clear and its reasons legitimate: as one of the only mainstream parties that have taken an unequivocal stance against terrorism and militancy, the party has suffered greatly. Hundreds of party activists and leaders have been killed in recent years and now the ANP faces perhaps its greatest hurdle: launching an election campaign in a climate of fear in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Predictably, though, the ANP’s move has faced resistance from the usual quarters, particularly the mainstream religious parties that prefer the politics of appeasement when it comes to terrorism and militancy. True, part of the problem with the ANP’s attempt to convene an APC is the lack of a clear agenda and obvious doubts about how any new recommendations will be implemented. There already exist parliamentary recommendations for the fight against militancy and if those have gone unheeded, what chance of success for an APC?

Beyond that, though, the problem lies with the fecklessness of many mainstream political parties. Start with the JI and the JUI-F, both of which have already rejected an invitation to participate in the APC. Both have suffered at the hands of militants over the years and both will know that the first to suffer when militants take over are the mainstream religious parties for their ‘collaboration’ with ‘un-Islamic’ forces. Maulana Fazlur Rehman himself has been repeatedly attacked by militants and though it has been obvious who the perpetrators were, the JUI-F has preferred to target its rhetoric against ‘foreign interference’ and the US-led war in Afghanistan. Even when the militants themselves claim responsibility for spectacular, bloody attacks inside Pakistan, the JI and the JUI-F have been reluctant to denounce the perpetrators and the groups they represent.

The records of the PML-Q and the PML-N are hardly any better when it comes to denouncing all forms of terrorism and militancy, a fact made all the more troubling by the reality that Punjab is a growing centre of extremism and militancy. Imran Khan and his PTI have in recent months been somewhat better when it comes to at least condemning violence and denouncing some militant groups, but one of the party’s main electoral planks is still rooted in denial about what jihad culture has done to Pakistan. Faced with deep, almost across-the-board reluctance to even acknowledge the nature of the threat, the few in the political class who want to challenge it are helpless and impotent.

LNG import

January 24th, 2013

THE import of liquefied natural gas has hit yet another snag. The government is all set to terminate the process initiated for the selection of a company to supply 400mmcfd of LNG for 15 years to plug the growing gas supply gap. The petroleum minister says the bid committee has done so with a view to making the process transparent in accordance with public-procurement rules. The minister’s summary to the Economic Coordination Committee for the formal termination and restarting of the process has been informed by objections raised by the three competitors, including a Turkish company, against one another. Though the deviations from the procurement rules by the competing firms are said to be minor, these could provide the affected companies an excuse to approach the courts and stall the process for a very long time. This is what had happened in the case of Mashaal, an LNG project in which a foreign company was given a 20-year supply contract. The minister’s logic is hard to dispute. But he should also explain how one bidding company was able to submit its bid after the cut-off date. The whole bidding process is being terminated for the sake of the transparency, delaying LNG imports, so the matter should be thoroughly investigated.

Such abrupt termination can quite often lead to suspicions of an attempt to protect a certain party. Consequently, it is imperative that the matter be looked into because the acceptance of the late submission of one particular company’s bid appears to be the main factor behind the scuttling of the entire process. Although most allegations of irregularities and corruption in various public-procurement projects over the last five years levelled by Transparency International are yet to be proved in court, it is in the government’s own interest to involve independent monitors in the LNG import project — just as it has done in the proposed sale of 3G telecom licences. Fairness in the award of the contract is crucial to early import of LNG to boost the energy supply for industry and other sectors of the economy.

Netanyahu’s victory

January 24th, 2013

THE man responsible for sabotaging the Oslo peace process is going to be Israel’s prime minister a third time. Tuesday’s elections gave Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-Beitenu alliance a reduced majority (from 42 seats in the outgoing Knesset to 31), but most observers say he will be able to form a government with the help of the right-wing Jewish Home Party and other hardliners to push forward his hawkish agenda. Despite the reduced margin of his alliance’s victory, it still remains the single largest group in parliament. The Jewish Home Party, which has managed to obtain 12 seats, believes Israel should annex large parts of the West Bank. In his victory speech, Mr Netanyahu made no reference to the Palestinian question and instead referred to Iran. He said that preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons remained his first priority. The other issues he talked about were domestic — stabilising the economy, controlling inflation, a more egalitarian military service and a vague promise to work for “peace in the region”.

With the exception of Yitzhak Rabin, no Israeli prime minister has pursued peace sincerely. In 1996, Mr Netanyahu won the election after he promised to stop the implementation of the Oslo accords and remained true to his word. Since 2009, when he became prime minister again, he has scuttled every attempt by President Barack Obama to revive the peace process. He has defied the UN and continued with settlements, and the new housing he promises will virtually divide the West Bank into two, making it impossible for a Palestinian state to be territorially contiguous. He has refrained from even paying lip service to the two-state solution, to which all previous Israeli governments stood committed. The peace process remains frozen, and it is evident Mr Netanyahu will use the fresh mandate to create more obstacles in the way of a Palestinian state.

DOWN to its current base in Bahawalpur, the idea of a new province in south Punjab has progressed some distance. Along the way it has won new backers and lost some. The PPP’s shift to reconcile Bahawalpur and Multan is significant. It gives greater purpose to the thrust, roping in politicians who wouldn’t earlier commit themselves to the initiative. Of course, the PML-N and its friends in other parties have not taken kindly to the initiative. The PML-N had once tried to use the Bahawalpur province bogey to counter the move for a Multan-centric ‘Seraiki suba’. Now it is staying away from a parliamentary committee that is deliberating upon a province which would include both Multan and Bahawalpur. The PML-N says the proceedings of the committee are unconstitutional while the counter-argument speaks of the need for doing one’s homework before the effort to make the required constitutional changes is undertaken. All this points to politics at its most basic, if crude is too offensive a term for our emotional politicians. An election is approaching and what we are witnessing is some urgent shoring up by parties in their ‘respective’ areas.

The PPP has chosen its area at the risk of conceding territory elsewhere. Once it has made this decision, it believes it has nothing to lose by appearing to be pursuing a southern Punjab province. While it understands the new province cannot — should not — be created without the assent of the Punjab Assembly where the PML-N is in a majority, it also knows the PML-N, wanting to protect its support base, will not join those deliberating upon a new province. One danger of this regional approach by two parties claiming a countrywide presence is that the issue will be sought to be resolved without a solid, well-thought-out debate. Already, the protagonists of the idea have decided to exclude some Seraiki-speaking areas from the south Punjab map to avoid complications. This could return to haunt today’s planners as unfinished business from a hasty bifurcation inspired by a general election and instigated by emotion.

There is also fear that this creation could lead to demands for similar divisions across Pakistan. That will be inevitable, whatever the stated basis for a new province, ethnic or administrative. South Punjab could well be the first one in a not so short queue but it may not be the destination for those demanding empowerment for the people at the grassroots. That empowerment will require even smaller units of governance, a local government that the politicians appear to have a consensus against.

A preventable tragedy

WHAT started off as an epidemic in upper Sindh is fast turning into a national health emergency. According to the World Health Organisation, over 100 children have died countrywide of measles-related complications in the first three weeks of this month. Most of the deaths have been in Sindh, yet fatalities from Balochistan and Punjab have also been reported. There have been over 90 measles outbreaks in Pakistan since the beginning of this year, while thousands of children remain at risk. The epidemic became particularly acute in the last few weeks of 2012; over 300 deaths were reported. If we compare the figures for the whole of last year and those of the first three weeks this month, the magnitude of the problem becomes clear. In Sindh especially, malnourishment in children and the effects of back-to-back floods have been blamed for the high death toll. Yet along with poverty and natural disasters, human ineptitude is a major factor in aggravating the situation. There have been issues with service delivery in Sindh, as reports have indicated that vaccinators have not been performing and have fudged figures, leading to legitimate questions being raised about the government’s claims regarding immunisation coverage.

Clearly, the state took the problem lightly when it was emerging, despite the fact that medical professionals had warned that a disaster was in the making. Even now, when the magnitude of the crisis is apparent, the state is unmoved. It appears the death of a few hundred children due to a preventable illness is not an issue for those in power, who are too preoccupied with the machinations of politics. This callous attitude needs to change immediately. A national emergency must be declared and a plan of action to deal with the measles epidemic launched forthwith. All children in areas deemed vulnerable must be immunised, with strict surveillance to ensure that no one is left out. In the long term, the routine immunisation programme must be overhauled and regular public-awareness campaigns highlighting the importance of immunisation should be undertaken so that such a tragedy does not repeat itself.

Heedless nation

THIS is a country where putting in place and getting the public to adopt even the most obvious of safety measures often presents formidable challenges. Yet some hazards pose such a serious risk to the public that it is imperative that the state exert every possible effort to develop safety mechanisms and inspection systems, ensuring that they are adhered to. It should also initiate a large-scale awareness campaign about such dangers. As such, the explosion of a liquefied petroleum gas cylinder in Lahore’s Defence Housing Authority on Wednesday afternoon should be taken as a dire warning. Reportedly, the cylinder was lying in the kitchen of an eatery, and it exploded with such force that nearly three dozen people were injured and no fragment of the container could be found.

While some laws regarding safety mechanisms are in place, there is hardly any oversight in terms of standards regarding pressurised LPG cylinders, even though they are very commonly used across the country for heating and domestic purposes. Compressed natural gas cylinders, too, have become a ubiquitous feature in motor vehicles, but is each and every filling station checked for safety? There have been some instances where CNG kits are said to have been the reason behind fires. The developed world has adopted extremely stringent conditions under which these, and LNG cylinders can be used. The manufacture and maintenance of the cylinders themselves involve exhaustive and extreme tests, a far cry from the footpath industry that their repair and filling has become in Pakistan. Anything containing pressurised, flammable gas must be kept away from heat and fire; but LPG cylinders next to an open barbecue are a common sight. While we can argue that the state must do its bit, what will it take to make people concerned for their own safety?

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Yes We Can Do It!

Rights of detainees

THE admission by Attorney General Irfan Qadir that as many as 700 detainees are being held in internment centres under the Actions in Aid of Civil Powers regulations promulgated in 2011 and in effect in parts of Pata and Fata has once again brought into the spotlight a little understood, or explained, part of the state’s attempt to fight militancy. First, the state’s, largely the security establishment’s, point of view. There exists within Pakistan a non-international armed conflict. Under the provisions of the constitution (Article 245) and the Geneva Conventions, the state has the right to detain and try individuals allegedly involved in armed conflict with the state. The law under which such individuals are detained and are to be tried provides safeguards against abuse. It grants the detainees certain rights. The problems with that narrative are many, however. Pakistan has not expressly declared that there is a non-international armed conflict taking place on its soil, even if that conflict is effectively treated as such. Why has Pakistan not made that declaration, which would help dispel many of the doubts about the powers under the aid-of-civil-powers regulations? Because presumably it would give the ICRC access to the conflict zones, a move the security forces have been reluctant to allow.

Next, the retroactive application of the law — detainees held from before the promulgation of the regulations are also covered by the regulations — the open-ended period for which detainees can be held and the low evidentiary threshold in a trial have all been criticised by human rights groups, both national and international. The problem is not, as the security establishment would argue, that the state’s hands are being tied by such criticism in the critical fight against militancy but that the instruments the state deploys in that fight, particularly the legal instruments, ought to meet a higher standard than ‘it’s necessary/what else can we do?’

There are in fact several things the state can do to help improve the image and implementation of the 2011 regulations. To begin with: own them more publicly, explain the safeguards built into them and their international acceptability and then, through more open and trans-parent implementation, demonstrate that practice is not a world removed from theory. Instead of trying detainees under the FCR, as the regulations allow, the government can set up a specialised judicial framework adequately staffed with judges and prosecutors in which detainees are given a fair trial. Failing that, the state will remain tainted by the stain of the Adiala 11, seven of whom are still under detention and yet to be tried under the regulations.

Industrial tragedies

MORE than four months after the Baldia Town factory fire in Karachi killed over 250 people, the tragedy is in the news again, and not necessarily for the right reasons. On Thursday, the prime minister’s press secretary denied that Raja Pervez Ashraf had ordered the murder charge against the factory owners to be dropped. He said the prime minister had merely wanted a “reinvestigation” into what is indeed one of the world’s worst industrial tragedies. Yet the denial has not stopped a hardening of postures, with industrialists pitted against those rightly concerned about labour rights. Seen as defenders of the capitalist class, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry insists there is no justification for registering a case of murder against the owners of Ali Enterprises and that what led to the calamity was negligence on the owners’ part. In fact, the KCCI chief insisted, it was “an accident”. The Awami Workers’ Party, the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education Research, a group of lawyers and some NGOs have reacted angrily to the purported move to drop the mur-der charges. They claim that the change in the nature of charges would amount to a miscarriage of justice.

However, looking at it from society’s point of view, what matters is the need for avoiding a repetition of such calamities and protecting workers’ lives and labour rights throughout Pakistan. This also means the government should not act in a way that raises suspicions about its motives. The factory management had not bothered to enforce even rudimentary safety measures, and the relevant government departments had discontinued visits to check working conditions. The factory was not even registered with the Sindh Labour Department, and it is surprising that an Italian company should have given a certificate to the factory on all counts. We hope that the denial by the prime minister’s office is not a sham. As the country’s chief executive, he should ensure the prosecution of the guilty — even if they happen to be resourceful tycoons — the payment of compensation to the victims’ families and, above all, an overhaul of the inspection mechanism to prevent similar tragedies.

Literature across borders

IT is unfortunate that two Pakistani diplomats posted in New Delhi were barred from proceeding to the Jaipur literary festival. Yet it is significant that a group of Pakistani writers did make it to the event, in the face of threats by some Indian hardliners. This was no doubt a victory for those wanting to sit together and debate. True, those who oppose people from both sides of the border coming together continue to be around. But even if their number does increase after the recent Line of Control violations, the windows through which the two neighbours can have an exchange of thought are now harder to shut than before. There is no bigger proof of this than the non-official contacts that can broaden dialogue and widen the constituency for peace. In this category, the ‘literary contact’ is critical. It is frank in admitting the problem, and delivering the response. The writers’ eloquence is in addition.

For long this literary contact had been restricted to writers and their readership across the border. Initially, one saw more Pakistani writers travelling to India to collect their share of praise. Then, with tensions easing, Indians started coming to Pakistan. This exchange has contributed to a situation where literary festivals in India have seen Pakistani writers as the star attraction and Indian writers featuring as major crowd-pullers in Pakistan’s literary fairs. The expanding body of literature in the English language in both countries and the demand the writers of these works have created across old divides have facilitated this process of coming closer. As Karachi readies itself for a new edition of its literary festival next month and Lahore prepares to initiate one of its own, the trend that has defied the hardliners in Jaipur must continue in the interest of freer mingling.

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Yes We Can Do It!

28.01.2013

Pointless exercise

THE parliamentary committee tasked with formulating and laying the legislative groundwork for a new province — a legitimate, longstanding demand of the Seraiki-speaking people — in south Punjab is patently an election-year gambit in which politicians are playing politics and trying to manipulate the emotions of voters. With the PML-N boycotting the parliamentary committee and the Punjab Assembly, whose assent is required for carving up Punjab, opposed to debating the bifurcation of Punjab while leaving other provinces untouched, the parliamentary committee’s recommendations are likely to go nowhere soon. In that milieu, it was almost inevitable that the committee’s proceedings would lead to peculiar recommendations. And so on Saturday the committee approved the draft of a constitutional amendment for the creation of the ‘Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab’ province — and included within its limits the districts of Mianwali and Bhakkar.

The decision came as a shock to some in Mianwali, who immediately took to the streets to stage protests and denounce the parliamentary recommendation apparently taken without any meaningful input from the representatives of the two districts. If Mianwali and Bhakkar can be clubbed into a south Punjab province for whatever reasons, then why keep out D.I. Khan? Sometimes politicians looking to gain an electoral edge can be too clever by half, and end up creating more of a mess without even necessarily gaining any electoral advantage. Another indication that the committee has failed to evolve a workable consensus on the basic building blocks of a new province is the dithering over whether Bahawalpur or Multan will be the new capital — or perhaps both.

All of this will only give the PML-N, perhaps the PTI too, more reason to cry foul and push back harder against the PPP–PML-Q combine in the province. The leader of the opposition Nisar Ali Khan took to the airwaves to issue a robust condemnation of the parliamentary committee’s proposals and the back-and-forth is only likely to grow louder in the days ahead. Lost in all of this is the raison d’être of new provinces: bringing government closer to the people so that it can be more effective and accountable. Activating local governments would in fact make the most sense to help achieve that goal but it happens to be the very thing politicians resist most. Instead, they are busy recommending there be 23 new senators, a governor, a chief minister and an assortment of ministries — all of which means more posts to accommodate more politicians. Instead of catering to a genuine demand, the debate is becoming pointless and controversial. Sadly, it is here to stay.

Security risk

EVERY country keeps a strict watch over foreign nationals entering its territory to ensure that aliens operate within the conditions stipulated by their visas. We would have thought that Pakistan has more reason than most to keep an eye on the movement of foreign nationals. Two pieces of information that emerged last week, however, indicate that not only does there appear to be insufficient oversight where foreigners are concerned, parts of the official machinery are through negligence or simple corruption actually colluding in taking the state for a ride. A recent field survey conducted by the Special Branch of the Punjab Police found that there are 444 foreign students in madressahs across the province, of which 289 do not hold valid documents or visas. Meanwhile, the Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior was informed a week ago that over the past 12 years, the National Database and Registration Authority has detected more than 27,000 cases of foreigners having acquired, by hook or by crook, computerised Nadra identity cards, which can legally be possessed by Pakistanis alone. But when these cases were forwarded to the Intelligence Bureau or the police’s Special Branch, as per procedure, nearly 23,000 were returned as verified. The Nadra director general complained that his organisation is not mandated to challenge the clearance report; while a police representative complained that the Special Branch’s staff strength — which stands at 600 — is too small to carry out proper verification.

This indicates that there are thousands of people in the country illegally, most of them in possession of documents that wrongly show that they are Pakistani nationals. This is a security risk that ought to be taken far more seriously. Sufficient evidence is on record that at least some of those that have taken up arms against the state and society are not Pakistani nationals, and some strands of the violence in this country are underpinned by the influence and operations of non-local groups and individuals. While it is apparently unable to control the spiralling violence in the country, can the state at least crack down on those who are obvious security risks?

Disdain for history

WERE it not for state intervention, public access to the Dharmarajika stupa in Taxila may have been blocked off, as a private landowner had built a wall cutting off the footpath connecting the monument to the access road. Fortunately, the assistant commissioner of Taxila ruled that the construction was illegal and built on state land; the individual in question had earlier claimed the property next to the stupa was his. Though the intervention is welcome, it is strange that no action was taken when the controversial construction was taking place close to the ancient site in the first place, that too on encroached government land.

As per the Antiquities Act, 1975, it is unlawful to block public access to heritage sites.

As it is the situation in Taxila — a treasure trove containing architectural gems from the region’s Buddhist past — is not good. Reliable reports indicate that a number of stupas in the Unesco-designated world heritage site have been razed, while industries have sprung up in the ancient town’s vicinity. What is more, land around the site is being snapped up at low rates by well-connected individuals, to be used for commercial purposes. Yet neglect is not limited to Taxila; for example politically powerful individuals have tried to occupy parts of the Makli necropolis in Sindh, while flood victims had been housed on the site, causing considerable damage to the exquisite tombs. Perhaps the root of the problem is a disdain for and ignorance of history in this country, both in the state and society. We do not learn history, hence we do not learn from it. The state is least concerned about the upkeep of heritage sites, while most people consider ancient monuments to be mere piles of brick and stone. If such attitudes prevail, Pakistan’s rich historical heritage will very soon be lost forever.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

29.01.2013

YouTube blockade

WHAT began as an outrageous situation and was expected to be resolved promptly is starting to feel uncomfortably as though it might become a permanent bar on citizens’ rights to access the internet — and that too because of governmental apathy. In September, cowed by the havoc wreaked in Islamabad by rioters protesting against the availability on YouTube of an offensive film trailer, the government cut off total access to the site. The indignant citizenry required an answer, so we were told that Google, the giant that owns and operates YouTube, had been approached with a request that the offensive content be taken down, but had refused. Since Pakistan was not in a position to manually restrict access to offensive sites, the government explained it had no choice other than to entirely restrict access to YouTube. It was meanwhile generally known that some other countries, including Egypt and India, had managed to have access to the offensive content selectively curtailed, leaving the rest of YouTube open.

Four months later, it has become clear that as is often the case, at fault is not the other party but the government of Pakistan. As reported by this newspaper yesterday, what this country does not have in place is a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the US under which, amongst other matters, an internet company could be directed to comply with the laws of another country. Had this paperwork been in order, for Pakistanis, too, access to only the objectionable content could have been restricted. Worse, there seems to be hardly any concern or movement on part of the relevant administrative quarters to set into motion the process of signing a MLAT with the US — even though, according to the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, the treaty could be negotiated and signed within a couple of months if the Ministry of Information Technology pursued the matter.

The film and the offence it caused have long since faded from public consciousness but the lack of access to a popular site used for dozens of different purposes is a daily — and unnecessary — inconvenience. More importantly, it is a bar on our civil liberties. The government needs to immediately do what is required to restore Pakistanis’ full access to the internet. Further, it must get its house in order and ensure that in all areas, the paperwork is ready and available. On Saturday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik promised once again that YouTube access would be restored within a week, after the installation of filtration software. We hope that this time he can make it happen, and permanently.

Punjab’s gas shortage

PUNJAB has experienced the worst-ever gas shortages this winter. Though the people were not expecting a miracle to rid them of the shortages, no one had imagined that these winter months would prove to be so difficult. The fertiliser plants in the province have not been getting gas for sev-eral months now. The industry, which continued to receive the fuel, albeit partially, for its captive power generation and processes through the last year, finds its supplies suspended since Dec 5. CNG stations are closed for an indefinite period. Domestic consumers are facing low gas pressure, not enough even to cook food. It is, therefore, no surprise that all affected consumers — from housewives to factory owners — are running out of patience. In this context, the protest by textile factory owners and their workers in Faisalabad over the past weekend was just a warning of the shape of things to come if gas is not restored to industrial units soon. Though the federal adviser on petroleum has promised to restore supplies to the textile industry two days a week from Feb 1, this is not enough.

Who is to blame for the ongoing energy crisis that results in losses of up to three per cent of the overall economy every year and which has wiped out hundreds of thousands of jobs? The government, of course, and its policymakers. But the government appears least bothered about the issue, let alone about solving it. Even the prospect of the fast-approaching general elections hasn’t worked. The violent protests over gas and electricity shortages across Punjab during the last five years have failed to stir it into action. The generic official response of rationing gas and electricity for different sectors has only exacerbated the crisis. The latter will not go away unless new supplies through imports are added to the system. That requires concerted efforts and an integrated energy policy. Additionally, the cost of all fuels should be brought at par for all sectors so that nobody feels discriminated against. This could be done by calculating the average cost by raising the price of cheaper fuels and reducing that of expensive ones.

Train in trouble

THE partnership between business and railways has hit snags yet again. The Business Train, a landmark initiative that promised to show Pakistan Railways the way forward, has come to a halt. At the time of writing, negotiations between the railways officials and their private-sector collaborators had failed to put the train back on track. The Railways wants its partners to pay it the outstanding amount of Rs310m that has taken about a year to pile up. The other side has so far been unable to clear the bill, which is surprising given that the Business Train plied the busiest Lahore-Karachi-Lahore route. Along with it, Shalamar Express and Night Coach are also operated with private assistance. These three trains have been clocking the best time over the last few months even when the Railways’ own major services, such as the once much-fancied Karakoram Express, have been lagging far behind.

The Night Coach and Shalamar Express are doing well enough for Railways officials and others to wonder what really ails the Business Train. While some of these officials complain that the private-sector partner had not invested enough money in the venture, independent observers including journalists are of the opinion that far from being a struggle as it is often made out to be, this should have been a profit-making project right from the word go. Some are hopeful the train can still be fixed and live up to its original billing. The Railways does have a responsibility to keep the Business Express on track, but it is in a really bad financial situation. This is one instance where the temptation to blame the public sector has to be resisted and a way found to ensure the outstanding amount is quickly cleared and the Business Train allowed to continue.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

Time for truth

IT is only as information has leaked out in bits and pieces over the years that we have understood how Kargil came to be what it really was: a poorly planned and badly executed operation that put hundreds of our soldiers at risk, and not the mujahideen-led jihad initially sold to the nation. New revelations paint an even bleaker picture of this gamble that Gen Musharraf took as army chief. One man’s testimony cannot provide a complete picture of a controversial armed conflict. But when the head of the ISI’s analysis wing at the time says he only found out about the operation after it had been launched — and that the same was true for most of the corps commanders and senior army staff, including the head of military operations — his words should prompt yet another look at the Kargil fiasco. Not taking the senior leadership into confidence, both within the army and in the other armed forces, had obvious consequences: the lack of a viable strategy, inadequate logistical planning and a poor calculation of the Indian response, all of which cost Pakistan the lives of hundreds of soldiers, further damaged relations with India and contributed to the political upheaval that followed.

And yet aside from occasional insights provided by those who are relatively well-informed and have chosen to speak up, there is no objective public record of what took place. Gen Musharraf had reportedly banned discussion of the topic at the National Defence University, where military operations otherwise form important case studies. And while it eventually surfaced that scores of Pakistani soldiers had died, the lies the media was fed in the early days of the conflict indicate that misinformation was a critical component of this operation. Told in daily press briefings that this was a mujahideen struggle and shown what appeared to be mujahideen training camps, reporters were blatantly used to mislead and rally the public.

Many questions still remain, including about the role of the political leadership. Was the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, aware of the plan? Was he ordered to seek out American help for a ceasefire, or was he responsible, as Gen Musharraf has claimed, for the operation’s failure? A decade and a half later, it is time for an objective, official examination of the facts, and for making them public. If Lt Gen (retd) Shahid Aziz and others who have spoken up are wrong, they should be contradicted. Even though preventing future mistakes is all that can be done now, the country deserves to know the truth.

Another round?

ON and on it goes, the endless sparring between the judiciary and the government, and the government’s proxies sometimes. Fasih Bokhari, chairman of the National Accountability Bureau, has written an extraordinary letter to President Zardari and very deliberately made its provocative contents public. The Supreme Court, Mr Bokhari has alleged, is grossly interfering in NAB’s workings and its actions may even amount to “pre-poll rigging”. Separating the substance of the chairman’s accusations and the likely intentions behind them present two very different pictures. First, the likely intentions behind the letter. In writing to the president, Mr Bokhari appears to have cast aside all semblance of neutrality and independence. It is not so much the thrust of the NAB chairman’s complaints against the superior judiciary but the person he has addressed them to that is deeply problematic. Is President Zardari somehow supposed to come to the rescue of the allegedly besieged Mr Bokhari and NAB? In writing to the president, was Mr Bokhari evoking shades of Naeem Bokhari’s open letter to Gen Musharraf that led to the dismissal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in 2007? That these questions need be asked at all in this moment of growing controversy and crisis is itself a testament to the unnecessary and regrettable politicisation the NAB chairman has stirred up.

Unhappily, and not unusually, the Supreme Court itself is not entirely blameless in the present situation. The RPP case has emerged almost from nowhere to threaten a fresh political and constitutional crisis. The timing of the verbal order — followed by a less clear written order — to seemingly arrest the prime minister while Tahirul Qadri and thousands of his followers were calling for the ouster of the government a few hundred yards away was tone deaf, to say the least. The chief justice tasking a two-member bench of the Supreme Court to look into the death of NAB officer Kamran Faisal before even the basic facts are established seems unnecessary and premature. The only positive so far: even as the sparring has picked up again, neither the government nor the court appears to be truly spoiling for another major fight.

Shabby report card

AS the results of a recent survey show, the state of education in Pakistan quite expectedly continues to be abysmal. Indicating that the ‘education emergency’ is not over (indeed it may be getting worse), the Annual Status of Education Report 2012, launched at the Planning Commission in Islamabad on Monday, throws up a number of depressing facts. For example the survey, carried out in public and private educational institutions across the country, shows that the number of students who drop out of school before reaching class X is staggeringly high at 75 per cent. What is more, Pakistan’s students are underperforming even when it comes to the basics. The survey says that 81 per cent of class III students could not read class II-level English sentences. The figures for students who could not do simple sums much below their grade level were similarly disappointing. At the provincial level, Balochistan and Sindh have the most worrisome set of indicators. With the province already plagued with violence and lack of governance, the future of Balochistan’s children looks increasingly bleak; 34 per cent of youngsters are out of school. Sindh follows close behind.

The problems on the education front are multifarious: while a disturbingly large number of children are out of school or habitually absent, those who do show up are not learning much. Surveys like these are instrumental in producing solid data that identify the problem areas. The next, more difficult, step is implementing long-lasting solutions. It is hoped that those in power, and those who will follow them, take note of these dangerous portents and devise sustainable strategies that can reverse the decline, and ensure that these are immune to political tinkering. The unfortunate reality in Pakistan is that the real issues — education, health, economic planning etc — get lost in the hurly-burly of politics.

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Yes We Can Do It!

31.01.2013

Risk to public health

IT is a frightening indictment: a judicial probe into the Punjab Institute of Cardiology deaths that occurred a year ago has revealed that effectively the only protective system against substandard or incorrectly constituted drugs exists at the manufacturing stage. In other words, the state does virtually nothing to ensure that all locally manufactured drugs are safe for consumption, do not contain any surplus ingredient and have been manufactured and tested in compliance with the Current Good Manufacturing Practices; routine compliance audits of pharmaceuticals are not conducted. How serious an issue this is, is evident from the tragedy that led to the probe in the first place: towards the tail-end of 2011, mysterious deaths started being reported from Lahore hospitals, prompting an inquiry by the Punjab government and police. By the time the cause — batch J093 of the medicine Isotab distributed by the PIC through its free pharmacy — had been identified, countered with an antidote and recalled, 213 patients had died and about 1,000 others had suffered adverse symptoms.

The report, finalised by Justice Ijazul Ahsan and handed over to the Punjab home secretary last month, holds most of the parties involved responsible, foremost among them the Karachi-based pharmaceutical that got the constitution of this batch of Isotab wrong. However, it also points out that the distributing company omitted mention of batch J093 in the delivery receipt for the PIC, as a result of which the latter did not include samples from it while having suspect drugs tested. Indeed, it seems to be mere good luck that led to the identification of the cause of the deaths, for according to the judicial probe even the police inquiry and the Punjab administration’s response lacked direction or force. In terms of the PIC, the report points out that the staff of the pharmacy’s storeroom and inventory control that checked and approved the consignment also need to answer the question of why they missed the presence of batch J093.

It is to be hoped that this report will prove to be a wake-up call and that the health authorities will begin to keep a strict eye on the manufacture, distribution and sale of drugs. There was earlier some confusion after the passage of the 18th Amendment as the health sector stood devolved as a provincial subject. But now the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, signed into law last year, needs to start an immediate overhaul of the drugs sector. It must stringently apply the law where available and propose new legislation where required. Pharmaceutical products that can make people ill constitute a deadly risk.

Tax exemptions

SIX hundred billion rupees borrowed from the IMF between 2008 and December 2012 — and Rs700bn granted as tax exemptions over the same period, the Federal Board of Revenue informed the Senate on Tuesday. Bald figures can often be misleading — not all borrowing is undesirable and some tax concessions may stimulate growth — but they can also be revealing. The juxtaposition with IMF borrowing and tax exemptions falls into the latter category: evocative figures that tell a sordid tale as Pakistan once again slips towards the IMF embrace. With the financial year more than halfway through already and with a general election on the horizon, the possibility of economic reforms at this time is nearly zero. Factor in the utter incompetence and recklessness of the PPP-led federal government and the likelihood of reforms at this moment does become zero.

Yet, if a constituency for reforms is ever to be created, the complex ways in which the state bestows favours on favourites has to be understood. The principal figure in this racket is something known as a Statutory Regulatory Order. While the power to tax ought to be the remit of parliament, the SRO is an often-abused instrument for the executive to override legislative requirements. The PPP did not invent the SRO and is far from the only government to have abused the regime: the Musharraf government before it did and if a non-PPP government follows, it will likely do so too. There is an analogy here: like the suo motu powers of the superior judiciary, the SRO regime is not inherently a bad idea. But when used too often and almost as a default instrument, it undermines the wider system. The SRO regime has been used to grant such wide-ranging tax and duty exemptions that it has effectively dismantled the overall tax system. What is especially harmful about it is that it is used to favour big business and the best-connected special interests. The tax-to-GDP ratio will not be restored to a healthy number merely by ending the abuse of SROs, but clamping down will send a strong signal that the big boys don’t have a free run

A different challenge

IT is not a pleasant situation. The Pakistan women’s cricket team may not be one of the prime contenders for the World Cup tournament that gets under way in India tomorrow, but the circumstances have already made it the grittiest. Before taking on the usual challenge posed by other competitors the Pakistani cricketers must first deal with the very special treatment they have so far received in India. To begin on an inauspicious note, the venue of the Pakistan games had to be shifted from Mumbai to Cuttack following serious threats by hardliners. That was disappointing enough. Now it is learnt that the team has been literally kept in protective custody and is not allowed to leave the premises of the stadium where it is going to play. The adjoining club where the Pakistani cricketers are lodged may be a good enough substitute for a hotel, but it cannot quite reduce the psychological impact the limitations must be having on the players.

The situation does prepare the ground for conjuring up images of a Rocky-style finale — an underdog overcoming the greatest of odds to triumph over the more fancied and more privileged. While there is no bar on dreaming, realities dictate that the game must go on, whatever the constraints. Pakistan’s inability to host international cricket has put it on the back foot and many instances in the recent past show the choice is not Pakistan’s. Only last month, it had to shift its home series to India and play it on India’s terms, for want of an option. The compensation was some good displays by the men led by Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez. Sana Mir’s team is carrying itself with a lot of grace in trying conditions. This is victory enough.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

01.02.2013

More of the same

THE State Bank of Pakistan’s annual review of the state of the economy during the last fiscal year underscores the same risks and solutions as highlighted in the SBP’s previous reports and monetary policy statements. Given the fact that no fundamental policy changes have been made over the last several years to implement the much-needed fiscal, governance and power sector reforms to “lift economic growth”, the review was not expected to be any different. It more or less sums up the performance of the economy, though not as comprehensively as many would have liked, without being too harsh on the government. It does leave us guessing about issues such as plans to apply for a new IMF loan to ward off another balance-of-payments crisis. It also does not have a clear-cut position on commercial banks still being hesitant to lend money to private businesses to lift investment and growth. Perhaps, the SBP doesn’t want to spread panic in the market and bring the weakening exchange rate under further pressure.

What it does tell us is that the government will again miss almost all its budget targets although the economy will grow at the same rate (3.7 per cent) during the current fiscal at which it had expanded last year. The fiscal deficit will not be as large as it was last year (8.5 per cent of GDP). However, it will be large enough (six to seven per cent) to force the government to continue to soak up most credit from the banking sector at the expense of private investment and growth. Though the warning of the fiscal deficit pushing the country into a debt trap is a little premature, the deficit remains a major factor in blocking early recovery. Inflationary pressures persist in spite of declining prices over the last several months. The current account deficit will be below one per cent of GDP. Nevertheless, its financing will be a problem unless the government successfully sells 3G telecom licences and receives the remaining PTCL privatisation proceeds from Etisalat. Indeed, the solutions to our persisting economic troubles lie in initiating fiscal and governance reforms, restructuring public-sector entities and investing in economic and social infrastructure as suggested by the bank time and again.

With the incumbent government completing its term in power in the next few weeks, it is impractical to expect it to implement the required reforms that it failed to carry out in the last five years because of political problems and deteriorating security conditions. But the next government coming into power after the elections will not have the leeway to delay them.

Homework not done

THE Iran-Pakistan pipeline is back in the news. The federal cabinet has ratified the deal that, the petroleum minister says, had previously been “initialled”. Great news for an energy-starved country? Not so fast. According to a report in this newspaper yesterday, “a committee comprising ministers for finance, law and justice, petroleum and natural resources and the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan has been constituted to “further analyse the project.” The devil could lie in that small detail — death, or interminable delay. As the worst gas shortages in the country’s history begin to ease with the approach of spring, the government appears to have belatedly woken up to the need to deliver on the promises it keeps making. As ever, the results are mixed. On Tuesday, the government scrapped the tenders for the import of liquefied natural gas after objections were raised concerning the technical compliance of two of the three bidders. The immediate question: were the errors unavoidable given the complex nature of such bidding processes or was the supervision lax and ineffective?

Essentially, the country faces two, interrelated crises: of gas availability and of gas allocation. The availability question can only be addressed by further supplies, in the near term almost certainly by imported gas rather than by immediately finding and tapping the country’s potential gas reserves. But since last summer, when the petroleum minister announced a new policy, nothing much has happened on that front. Welcome as the IP pipeline would be, Pakistan still does not appear to have done its homework to see the project through in a timely manner. Analysing a project is well and good, but this government’s credibility when it comes to delivering on mega projects is low and the IP pipeline may not be any different. Then there is the matter of taking on the various mafias that have used political influence to cling on to their shares of depleting supplies. De-prioritising CNG should have been done much, much earlier — but it wasn’t, and even now it is far from clear if the government has the resolve to carry out its own plan.

Trout from Swat

IN these times, thoughts about Swat and its recent past must inevitably include the excesses of the TTP and the attack it carried out on Malala Yousufzai last year. Yet previously, the scenic valley was a flourishing tourist spot, with unique industries such as the farming of the rainbow trout. The large volume of visitors, mostly domestic, was catered to by bustling hotels and several touring choices. These included Saidu Sharif where the palace (now a hotel) of the first king of Swat is located, Kalam with its stunning views of the Falaksair peak, and Malamjabba, which remained filled with visitors during the winters too thanks to its ski slopes. It is instructive to note, though, that when the TTP first eyed its prospects in the valley and attempted to take control, it was initially given some measure of backing by the local population because of the perception that the state was not willing to offer sufficient support in terms of development. A prime point of contention was the judicial system traditionally seen as slow-moving and corrupt.

Post-Taliban, improvement has been introduced in some areas, for example the 2010 initiative to reform the legal system. Meanwhile, many of the hotels have reopened and visitors have started trickling in. More is needed, though, as a recently unveiled strategy to revive the trout farming sector underscores. According to the Swat Aquaculture: Sector Recovery and Development Strategy, this sector came to a complete halt in 2009 when the military operation was launched. Despite some interventions, including by USAID and the Provincial Relief, Rehabilitation and Settlement Authority, its commercial outlook remains poor — potential notwithstanding. Support from the government and donors, however, could turn the situation around. The proposal deserves serious consideration, for such interventions can prove crucial to restoring a citizenry’s faith in the state.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)