[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]HEC hiccups[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 9th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Academicians from across the country are joining hands to oppose the devolution of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) from the federal to the provincial level, as envisaged under the Eighteenth Amendment. The matter had been brewing for some time, but with 133 vice-chancellors opposing the move, 30 public-sector university heads joining in and the Sindh governor informing President Asif Ali Zardari of opposition to the move in the province, the president has promised to look into the matter himself. The decision will be eagerly watched.

Views from both sides of the fence, and from other directions, have been strongly expressed over the matter. It has been argued that the HEC should be done away with as it was set up — in 2002 — by a dictator. More rational comment focuses around the disproportionate budgets allocated to the HEC under Musharraf, with billions going into its account at the cost of primary and secondary education. The HEC and some university heads loudly protested the slashing of the budget to just over Rs15 billion last year against a demand for nearly double that amount. There is obviously a need to re-examine our education strategy as a whole and determine how money can be best spent, and where.

But the voice of academia must not be ignored. It seems obvious there is some logic behind their appeal, and a feeling that the HEC has indeed benefitted education at the higher level by opening up more universities, offering scholarships at the post-graduate level, highlighting the need to push up standards and cracking down on practices like plagiarism. It would be a pity if all this was lost in the process of devolution. The vice-chancellors and other stakeholders need to be heard. It is a good omen that the president himself has decided to look into the matter. We trust he will open up talks with all involved and reach a decision that can ensure gains made in the higher education sector are not lost, even as flaws in the working of the HEC are corrected to make it a more effective body.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Karachi blast[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 9th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

There are many reasons why Rainbow Centre, Karachi’s largest CD and DVD market, would be attacked. A low-intensity blast caused by a grenade on April 7 caused one death and 20 injuries at the centre in Saddar Town. Although the culprits haven’t been identified, speculation will invariably revolve around two possible motives. For one, Rainbow Centre has long been notorious for selling pornographic movies, earning it the ire of extremists. From 2007 to 2010, Rainbow Centre had received many anonymous threats and one hoax bomb threat that were believed to emanate from religious extremists. If indeed the Taliban or its ideological allies are responsible for the attack, then this is yet another sign that no part of the country is safe from their wrath.

The timing of the attack, however, is curious. The blast came just days after traders observed a successful city-wide strike against the practice of bhatta, the protection money that business are forced to pay to be permitted to ply their trade. It would not be beyond the realm of the possible that this grenade attack was meant as a warning shot or even punishment for any traders who do not play ball. The bhatta mafia in Karachi is tied up with the political parties of the city so any solution to it cannot hold without the active participation of these parties. That traders at Rainbow Centre are observing a strike after the blast shows that they also feel this may be the cause of the blast.

The belief that Karachi is immune to the violence rocking the rest of the country is nothing more than a myth. In just the last few months, there have been deadly attacks at a government office and a shrine. Meanwhile, target killings aimed at rival political groups have been steadily increasing over the last year. In such a climate, commercial businesses like Rainbow Centre are like sitting ducks. Pessimistic though it may sound, this is unlikely to be the last such attack.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Delays in passports[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 9th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

A quarter of a million Pakistanis are still waiting for their passports to be issued. Out of the 16 lamination machines that are used for passports, only 11 are currently functioning, leading to a massive backlog. Another six machines are being imported from Germany and it is expected that they will arrive in a few weeks. Until then, however, the number of people awaiting passports is likely to rise and there is still no guarantee that the new machines will solve the crisis. At least 15,000-20,000 people apply for a passport daily, most of whom will not be getting this essential travel document in the 15 days that they are supposed to.

None of the competent authorities seem to be aware if anyone will know how to operate these new machines, or even if they will work at all. The out-of-order machines have been non-functional for many months now and there seem to have been no attempts to fix them. Even worse, there is a feud going on between the National Database Registration Authority and the Directorate of Immigration in Islamabad as to who is to blame for the passport delays. An investigation needs to be launched in to this immediately to find out who is responsible and also to make sure that citizens start getting their passports on time as soon as is feasible.

If stopping people from travelling abroad was not bad enough, the passport fiasco is also likely to have a negative impact on Pakistan’s economy. With so many Pakistanis unable to take up jobs abroad simply because they couldn’t get their passport on time, there will surely be a drop in remittances in this and the next quarter. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, which had been dwindling for many years, were only recently shored up by remittances. The inexplicable passport delays may lead to a reversal of that trend. Apart from that, getting a passport is a basic right of all Pakistanis, one that is being violated by these delays.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Targeting freeloaders[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 10th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The Supreme Court bench hearing a case on the performing of Hajj by people on the government’s expense has won unreserved plaudits from Pakistanis. The honourable court on April 8 ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to recover money from 448 pilgrims who went for Hajj during 2009-10. The religious affairs ministry had ‘entertained’ these special guests on the basis of a letter from the interior ministry, which later tried to wriggle out of the scam. Rs36.4 million is outstanding against the privileged pseudo-Hajjis who tried to win salvation with taxpayers’ money.

Efforts are being made by the government to fend off the latest suo motu notice from the Supreme Court which alerted to the debasement of the sacred ritual of Hajj through corruption. Some ‘sponsors’ were named who supposedly bore the expense incurred by those who went on the pilgrimage, but the hidden truth was revealed by the remark of a judge on the bench who opined that “there would be serious repercussions if the state were to rely on individuals for sponsoring officially-sanctioned expenses since the sponsors would want to obtain maximum benefit in return for the favour”.

Armed with facts from earlier cases against the official handlers of Hajj, the honourable court found it easy to grasp the real harm the freeloading Hajjis had done to the state finances and to the cause of genuine Hajjis. To the so-called ‘after-the-fact’ sponsors it said that instead of earning sawab through sponsoring government sifarishis, it would have been better to donate the money to the victims of the worst flood in Pakistan’s history. It also observed that accommodating the freeloaders in buildings originally rented for the real Hajjis had contributed to the shortage that had forced the less privileged pilgrims to suffer hardships and cost the government Rs460 million later paid out in compensation to them.

The state of Pakistan suffers from many financial ills of long gestation. Indeed, some ‘peripheral scams’ have gone on for so long that elected and unelected people attached to the state consider it their right to bite off little bits of the budgeted expenses, even during times of economic emergency. One after the other, elected parliaments have seen prime ministers and presidents throw away taxpayers money on ‘guests’ they take along when they go abroad on official visits. Such ‘visits’, with hundreds of guests travelling, has been with us right from the beginning and our best rulers have been guilty of it. Some of the beneficiaries have now become popular leaders. One can recall at least one who voluptuously reclined on a couch in the most expensive hotel in London — every bill was paid by the state — and boasted on a Pakistani TV channel that he was having the best of times, while his prime minister parlayed with his British counterpart. There are many in the world of Pakistani media, too, who have accepted such freebies and collected the infamous TA/DA (travel allowance/daily allowance).

What has hit the people of Pakistan in the face this year is the Hajj scam. A very pious-looking minister for religious affairs has lost his job and is facing possible conviction for corruption in the handling of the biggest state undertaking abroad: Hajj. If you look at the mass of pilgrims who go for Hajj and Umrah every year, you will realise that most of them are poor and from rural areas where religious devotion remains strong. Considering that it costs an average of Rs250,000 for a person to perform Hajj, one can imagine the hardship people go through for fulfilling their religious duty. The state has consistently let down these people in all kinds of ways, including the mess regularly created by the mishandling of their transport on the state-owned airline. In addition, the pilgrims are overcharged for accommodation and its location is usually far from where it is supposed to be. But since the pilgrims are mostly not very well-off or well-connected, nothing is done to stop their exploitation. The Supreme Court will hopefully have set at least one thing right with its latest public interest litigation. It will have removed the shame of debasing the faith of Islam with scams.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Matters economic[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 10th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The PPP government has found itself stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to economic policy. Several important decisions need to be made which will make the party unpopular with ordinary Pakistanis but are crucial for Pakistan’s financial well-being. What complicates the situation is that these measures are also being advocated by multilateral donors, so those who are against them — several political parties (including some of the PPP’s allies), the traders and business community and large sections of the media — are able to politicise them and taint them in a way that makes it difficult for the government to press ahead.

The State Bank’s second quarterly report for fiscal year 2010-11, unveiled on April 8, is critical of the government’s inability to raise revenues and recommends reducing the petroleum subsidy as well as implementing the reformed general sales tax. The latter was completely mishandled when time came for it to be implemented. However, it is never too late, and the government needs to bring back this issue and clear some of the confusion that was propounded by some sections of the media. It should also educate Pakistanis on the benefits of having a documented economy and a wider tax net. The issue of the subsidy on petrol has been debated in this space before as well and it is worth reiterating that continuing the subsidy will further balloon the fiscal deficit by placing inflationary pressures on the economy because the government will be forced to borrow from the central bank (a euphemism for printing more money). The fact of the matter is that the fiscal deficit is bound to widen until and unless the government is able to generate more revenue — and a sustainable solution will be found only in a rational widening of the tax net so that those who do not pay any tax now are made to fulfil this legal obligation.

The SBP report’s estimate on GDP growth is in line with the current pessimistic outlook for the economy and it remains to be seen whether the two to three rate predicted by the central bank will, in fact, be achieved.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Nurseries of hate[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 11th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The interview run by Express 24/7 with Umar Fidai, the 14-year-old would-be suicide bomber, was revealing for many reasons. It confirmed, for one, that there are a lot of foreigners among the militants. According to Umar, Arabs, Tajiks and Uzbeks are among those receiving training in North Waziristan. Since so many of the international terrorist plots that have been uncovered over the last decade have been found to have originated in Pakistan, which seems to have become a hub and training ground for foreign militants, this was something that was already suspected and has now been proven by someone who was in their midst. Since the government writ barely applies in North Waziristan and other tribal areas, there seems to be very little that can be done to stop their influx. This adds strength to the idea being strongly advocated by the US, that a military operation in North Waziristan is the only way to tackle militancy.

Umar also revealed that there were some Punjabis among the 350 or so men that he saw receiving training. This, too, does not come as a shock to most, but it does belie the words of the provincial government in Punjab, which has sought to downplay the threat of the Punjabi Taliban. In fact, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had denied that such a thing as the Punjabi Taliban even exists, claiming that talk of it was simply a ploy to create differences between the provinces. Umar’s interview should serve to force Sharif to get his head out of the sand and acknowledge the very real threat his province, and the rest of the country, faces.

Above all, Umar’s interview has put a human face on the destruction extremism has caused in Pakistan. It is very hard to blame a teenager who lost his father in a blast and who apologised to the nation for the actions he was about to undertake and for becoming embroiled with terrorist outfits. That he found himself in this position is not his fault. It is the fault of a government that has forsaken the most vulnerable and, above all, the militants who have no regard for human life.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Unclaimed killings[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 11th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The US State Department report for 2010 has raised memories of events that had been forgotten by many of us at home. The detailed report identifies impunity as a key human rights issue in Pakistan, and, to illustrate this, points to an investigation which, we were told by the chief of army staff, had been initiated into an internet video apparently showing the shooting of six men by personnel in military uniform. Since then, we have heard nothing regarding the findings of these inquiries. Other than this incident, we do not know what the full story is behind the mass graves found in Swat or the accounts from human rights bodies of extrajudicial killings by security personnel. What is true is that none of the 2,600 militants reported to have been arrested in Swat have been produced before a court.

The US report, other than extrajudicial killings, also points to torture and disappearances as key issues. Like other studies in the past, it notes that the security set-up in the country operates beyond the control of the civilian administration. This is a problem that, over many decades, has acted to weaken democratic control over the country. The notion that key institutions and agencies cannot be questioned is a strongly established one and helps determine the manner in which we, as citizens, look at our state and events that occur within its boundaries. The instances of violations of other kinds have also been narrated, including deaths based around the issue of the blasphemy law. The passage of a law on harassment of women in the workplace ranks among the successes mentioned in the report.

The areas we need to work on are quite obvious. The rule of law needs to be applied equally and evenly. Matters such as disappearances and the shooting of people for unknown offences cannot just be brushed under the carpet. We need to bravely address these issues because that will built respect for the state and its institutions in the eyes of ordinary Pakistanis.

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"][U]
Medical negligence?[/U][/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 11th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Deaths due to negligence are, tragically, not that unusual at our hospitals. But, in many cases, the patients who died at public sector hospitals over the last month in Punjab perished as the direct result of a somewhat different kind of neglect. At least 22 deaths took place as a consequence of the strike by young doctors. The chief justice of the Lahore High Court has ordered the chief secretary to set up a commission to inquire into ascertaining responsibility for these deaths, and asked why nothing was done to prevent them. The role of the health secretary has been questioned as has that of the chief minister, with the court asking why Shahbaz Sharif, who usually does not show hesitation in suspending officials, had chosen to do little this time round.

Certainly, even with the strike now over, there are many questions that need to be answered. The petition before the court asks essentially that doctors responsible for the strike, and for the suffering of thousands, be punished. Like a classic murder mystery, there are many suspects in the cases of the multiple deaths. The Punjab government has said it would take more resources than it has available to meet the doctor’s demands; the Young Doctor’s Association seeks equal pay for doctors everywhere and says a huge brain drain has occurred due to the failure to establish this, while there have also been suggestions that the strike may have been orchestrated by senior doctors, with a demand made for the dismissal of the principal of a leading medical college.

The commission to be set up needs to look into all these aspects of the strike, go about the business of determining guilt and also review the other issues raised by the young doctors, including those pertaining to work conditions, so that a similar situation can be avoided in the future.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Making sense of the census[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]April 12th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The sixth population census of Pakistan is under way. The Statistics Division of Pakistan (SDP) began its work on April 5, and we hope that it has studied the problems it had faced during the rather chaotic work it had done in 1998, the last time we held our national headcount. Complaints and warnings have already started pouring in from linguistic-ethnic-religious communities fearing undercounting. In Karachi, the ANP and the Jamaat-i-Islami have already registered their caveats. Fears that old mistakes could be repeated are not misplaced. For now, it is just the house-count, which will finish on April 19; the headcount will start on October 6. The cost: Rs5 billion.

A census is for the organised states, not for states thin at the seams and subject to no-go areas, ‘ungoverned spaces’ and terrorism. The gigantic task will involve teams conducting the survey in 25 divisions, 139 districts, 424 census districts, 533 tehsils, 62 towns, 1,470 urban union councils, 50,612 villages, 6,055 rural union councils, 62 towns of the city districts, 174 municipal committees, 286 town committees and 43 cantonments. A total of 146,270 enumerators, all teachers, have spread to find out what the population is today and in how many category it falls. In 1998, it was 132 million and the guesstimate today is that it will be over 175 million.

The census is funny because of the way it has been looked at. The subaltern studies of the British Raj blame communalism on the census which separated people on the basis of religion, which the government used to ‘divide and rule’. Yet knowing the nature of the population is essential to target the country’s economic development efficiently. Today in Pakistan, there are communities that fear undercounting — Rasool Baksh Palijo’s Awami Tehreek has already warned that Sindhi households are being undercounted — while there are also those like the Ahmadis who don’t want to be counted for fear of being attacked. And those of them who want to own up will have to sign an insulting affidavit anyway. The Baloch fear undercounting in Balochistan, while the Pakhtuns of Balochistan fear that their majority there will be made to shrink. When the division of federal revenues was done on the basis of population, there was a general tendency to over-count till the census itself became bogus.

Some statistics are avoided because of the guilt the state feels about certain evils it cannot prevent. One such example that comes to mind — and we mention this at the risk of sounding controversial — is the division of the Muslim majority according to various sects. Whether this should be done is something for the government to decide but one cannot ignore the fact that the proportion of say Shias in the population varies from between 10 to 30 per cent, depending on which sect is being asked. The census will not count them for the same reason that cropped up in subaltern studies.

Christians are especially irked by undercounting. They say they were 3.5 per cent of the population in 1947 and the reserved seats given them in parliament were 10; today they estimate, quite fairly, that they must be 10 million, but undercounting deprives them of the additional reserved seats. They want the staff of the missionary schools included among the census-takers to reflect the true spread of the community in the last 10 years. Hindus of Sindh fear that they too would be ignored during the house-count, especially as their Bheel and Kohli farm workers are nomadic and have left the Hindu-concentrated Thar region to find livelihood elsewhere because of the general famine-like conditions during the current economic crisis.

The country is in the clutches of forces that want to create chaos, and a census is a very important and key instrument to end this chaos because it is a powerful policy-forming and implementing guide for the government. Paramilitary personnel will be on hand and, if need be, the army will offer facilitation in areas under Taliban threat. But the counting must take place and should be done better than in 1998.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]The MQM in Punjab[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 12th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain projected a mainly liberal view of the world as he addressed a large rally at a football ground in Lahore. The impressive turnout at the event, even if many of the participants had been brought in from outside the provincial metropolis, will not please the Punjab government which had opposed the rally. Conversely it goes to help the MQM re-define itself as a party which expands beyond urban centres in Sindh or is associated only with a specific ethnic group.

Regardless of any controversies surrounding the MQM, it must be acknowledged that much of what Altaf Hussain said, speaking in traditional fashion over the telephone from London, made a great deal of sense. In an age of unrelenting extremism, it is always comforting to hear liberal opinions expressed without apology and without the sense of fear which keeps so many of us moored to particular ideas. Hussain lashed out strongly against traditional practices, including ‘watta satta’ marriages, in which one set of brother and sister siblings are married to another set, honour killings and marriages to the Holy Quran. He also opposed the military action in Balochistan, US drone attacks and borrowing from the IMF. More controversially, he advocated the creation of other provinces in Punjab, though only after a referendum.

There is no doubt we need mainstream parties ready to break the vision of the world projected by the establishment. This is especially important in Punjab — where such views are heard less infrequently than in each of the three smaller units. But despite the good showing at the meeting, it will take time for the MQM to carve out any distinct niche for itself in Punjab and especially in central cities, such as Lahore, where parties with a traditional hold will not easily let go. But in politics, diversity is almost always welcome. The arrival of the MQM in the country’s largest province offers just this, and also puts before people a set of views that acts to offer them possibilities that lie outside the usual framework within which they think and act.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Pakistan, US and their intelligence agencies[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]April 13th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The ISI and CIA are talking in Washington. These talks, by all signs and tokens, are not so much talks for reconciliation, as for laying down a new regime of relations between the two. Since both spearhead the policies of their governments in the neighbourhood of Pakistan, the Pasha-Panetta talks will shape the Pak-US relations in the days to come. The commentators are talking in terms of a break in the relationship by referring to Pakistan’s desire for a reformulation mainly centred on Pakistan’s decision to curtail American interests in Pakistan, especially in the activity of the CIA.

The Pakistani public is on board. The media, after the Raymond Davis episode, has shaped the Pakistani opinion, which in turn has compelled the PPP government to align itself more closely with the GHQ, with President Zardari telling a British newspaper in an interview that the US-led war in Afghanistan is “seriously undermining efforts to restore Pakistan’s democratic institutions and economic prosperity”. That widens the scope of the ‘objections’ Pakistan has expressed to American policy in the region. It means that Washington’s ‘Afghan policy’ is not in sync with Pakistan’s own national objectives.

A lot of harsh things regarding American policy have been said in public in Pakistan, trumping the official line in their intensity. One argument which has always been seen as ‘official thinking’ is that the Americans are not in the region to confront al Qaeda and ensure peace in Afghanistan, but to destroy Pakistan’s nuclear capability by somehow disabling its nuclear arsenal. If this were true, then from the Pakistani point of view, the Americans should not be in Pakistan at all but the two should be arrayed against each other as enemies. If you listen to the TV anchors in Pakistan, many of them see America as an enemy of Pakistan and portray the so-called ‘bad’ Taliban killing innocent Pakistanis through suicide-bombers as being on the payroll of the CIA.

On the American side, think-tanks and politicians are increasingly pointing to the ‘dubious intent’ of the rulers in Pakistan. A recent report by the US Congress said that Pakistan had no effective policy against terrorism and did not seem to care much about the growth of the power of al Qaeda and its ancillaries often called ‘jihadi organisations’. Needless to say there is a marginal opinion too in Pakistan which marvels at the real intent of the state of Pakistan as it fights a fluctuating battle against terrorists in the Tribal Areas that seems to be going nowhere. There is also a gap between these marginal observers and the official opinion about the drones operated by the CIA.

If one were to take the pulse in Pakistan, anti-Americanism is at its most intense among the public. But there is also the consensual lament about the radicalisation and extremism of Pakistani society. No matter how hard one tries, one cannot link this extremism and intolerance to the Americans — although some religious parties do. There is also no coherent opinion about the Taliban and al Qaeda comparable to the clarity expressed in hatred of America. The state is seen by all as too weak to stand up to the terrorists and criminals preying on the common man and crippling Pakistan’s economy through ‘protection money’ and disruption of business.

Pakistan’s economy is in dire straits and the only country willing to assist Pakistan substantially is the US. From the above facts, it seems Pakistan wants to force a change in America’s policy towards Pakistan. The current talks between the CIA and ISI have come in the wake of a period of non-communication between the two agencies. Pakistan’s Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has ‘the nation behind him’, but he must know precisely whether the US ‘needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs the US’.

We all know that terrorism is coming out of North Waziristan. General Kayani will have to do something about it if he wants the drone attacks stopped. And he will have to take another look at the ‘jihadi’ organisations who owe allegiance to al Qaeda and not to Pakistan and with whom it is unclear whether the Deep State has fully severed its ties.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Solutions to energy crisis[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 13th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Since it came into power in 2008, the PPP government’s efforts to tackle the power crisis have rarely gone beyond the superficial. A perennial favourite; instituting daylight savings and moving the clock back one hour, has negligible effect on power consumption in a country where sunlight is already so plentiful during summer. At the same time, the government has buckled under pressure from its allies and opposition parties whenever it has tried to raise the prices of petroleum products. Given this history, it is hard to avoid being pessimistic about Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s three-day conference on our energy crisis. And Gilani’s hope that leading national politicians will offer sound advice on whether to continue petroleum subsidies is even more naive.

Given the severity of our energy crisis, the recommendations that cropped up at the conference did not do much to inspire confidence. Once again, instituting daylight savings was suggested, as were other stopgap measures like two-day weekends. These are ideas that have been tried, and failed simply because they are little more than public-relations exercises meant to convince the public that the government is trying to do something to alleviate their misery. Similarly, calling for greater foreign investment in our nascent energy industry is not a solution but a pipe-dream, especially considering the law-and-order situation and the Balochistan High Court ruling on the Reko Diq project, both of which would scare off any potential investors from abroad.

The truth is, there is very little that can be done to solve our energy crisis. Pleas for conservation and reduction in power usage tend to fall on deaf ears. There is only one way to reduce the demand for power, and that is by reducing the subsidy on it. This will lead to a painful increase in prices throughout the economy but given the perilous financial situation of our government and the high demand for petroleum products, it has now become unavoidable. In the long run, Pakistan has to develop its own sources of energy. New gas fields and coal mines have to be found and tapped. Above all, solar and wind power need to be heavily invested in as an environmentally-friendly alternative.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Spirited away[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 14th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The sight of stranded cars and motorcycles was a common one in Lahore and other cities of Punjab, on April 13, as the All Pakisan CNG Association, backed by petrol dealers, began what they say is an ‘indefinite’ strike. The shutdown by the CNG Association came after talks with the Punjab government — over a reduction in the two day period per week when gas is not supplied to stations — failed to result in a deal. The association has also complained about the erratic supply of gas from Sui Northern Gas. Petrol pump owners, meanwhile, are displeased over disputes regarding land leased for their stations and also say they back the demands of CNG dealers.

Without going into the merits or demerits of the demands made by the CNG Association, the main issue to consider is the plight of consumers. Many were caught without warning, some were unable to reach workplaces because of the lack of fuel while there have been complaints of sales in the black, at exorbitant rates. To make matters worse, no one seems to know when sales will resume. There seems to be no plan from the provincial government to ease the suffering of the tens of thousands affected by the strike. More could join their ranks if the action continues for some days.

People are in no way responsible for the situation; they have not created shortages of gas, yet they are paying the heaviest price for the situation that has developed. We have seen the ruthless exploitation of ordinary people in the past, with stations slamming down shutters ahead of anticipated price rises in order to maximise profits. The situation this time round may be the result of other factors. The grievances of CNG dealers cannot be described as baseless. Lack of business for two days each week obviously brings serious financial losses. That said, the matter clearly needs to be sorted out by the government, specifically by the ministry of petroleum and natural resources, since it also has jurisdiction over the supply of CNG to commercial as well as domestic users. This also goes to show that our energy crisis is not confined only to issues related to loadshedding.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Karachi and the census[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 14th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Just a few days ago, Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced that there would be a significant reduction in target killings in Karachi now that many of the culprits had been apprehended. The hollowness and naivety of those words are already apparent as three census workers, along with five others, were shot dead in the city on April 12. Politically motivated violence in Karachi has become such an ingrained fabric of the city that even government employees going about vital business of the state are no longer immune to its repercussions. It is far too early to say with any certainty who is behind the killings but there are some pertinent facts to notice.

Firstly, the census was supposed to have been conducted in 2008. That it is already three years late points to the insecurity of mainstream political parties in the country. Pakistan has witnessed significant migration of its rural population to urban centres since the last census was conducted. This should lead to more parliamentary seats being allotted to cities like Karachi after the census is completed. Since the MQM dominates the politics of Karachi, this would obviously give the party greater electoral gains. It is perhaps surprising then that the three census workers who were killed belonged to the MQM.

But there is a need to look beyond — the outbreak of political violence in the metropolis goes beyond just one party. The government has already hinted that an outside actor, most likely the Taliban and its ideological partners, are behind the violence. That seems slightly far-fetched given that the political parties in the city already have sufficient motive to go on killing sprees. None of these parties have been willing to rise above their own self-interest to save Karachi. Instead they have been all to willing to engage in a war of words and blame their opponents. The savage murder of the census workers should convince all to rise above rhetoric and strive for peace. If even that doesn’t do the trick then target killings in Karachi will continue to be a norm.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Honest means[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 14th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Honest actions in our society almost always take us rather by surprise. There has been so much talk of corruption, wrongdoing of all kinds and other malpractices in our midst that we seem to have lost our sense of perspective and become obsessed by these notions. Even small acts of honesty make news — as is the case of the report from Gilgit of a teenage boy from a poor family in Hunza, who found a wad of notes totalling Rs5,000 in a bazaar and, rather than pocketing, took it to the office of a media organisation so the rightful owner of the lost cash could be tracked down.

Perhaps the action of young Shahid Karim stems from the emphasis on community and a spirit of common sharing engrained in Hunza society. This reminds one of the hotel employee in Gilgit who last year returned a large sum of money left behind by a Japanese tourist and received an award from the then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer for doing so. But are these actions truly exceptional? It is possible that given the deprivation we see in our society, many would be tempted to pocket cash they come across. But it is also true, for all the petty corruption we see, that there are many who still choose to do the right thing. Not every story makes the media, but we hear now and then of rickshaw drivers who have returned valuables left in their vehicles or shopkeepers who have gone out of their way to trace out those who left a wallet laden with notes in their store.

Perhaps we have been guilty of over-demonising our society. From time to time, we need to turn to what is good within it, to the work of philanthropists who donate silently, to those who work to reunite lost children with families and to others who regularly offer their expertise as doctors to those in need. In a time of growing hopelessness, it is also important to consider all that is good and, perhaps, to consider ways to expand it.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Pakistan, US — different wavelengths[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]April 15th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

On April 13, a fresh drone attack hit a vehicle near the town of Angoor Adda in South Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan, killing Afghans trespassers. Pakistan, already in protest against drone attacks by the CIA, has handed a note of protest to the US ambassador in Pakistan, Cameron Munter, saying drones are now “the core irritant” between the two allies in the war against terrorism. The fact that the attack took place immediately after a meeting between ISI chief General Ahmad Shuja Pasha and his CIA counterpart Leon Panetta, gives the latest drone attack the definition of a signal from Washington: We are on a different wavelength.

Read this way, the attack means a lot of things, all negative. It means that the Raymond Davis case and the way it was handled still rankles the Americans. Pakistan’s request that the CIA restrict the activities of its operatives in Pakistan has not been welcomed, and Pakistan’s analysis that CIA activities don’t help in the war against terrorism has not convinced Washington. The latest attack also highlights the different interpretations placed by the two sides on the nature of terrorism.

The American side looks at the presence of terrorist warlords in North Waziristan as a threat Pakistan must remove as its first priority. It looks at the gathering of all sorts of local and foreign terrorist groups, under the protection of Pakistan’s own local warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, as dangerous to the presence of Nato-Isaf troops in Afghanistan and shares this perception with its allies, although there are a number of voices among them who disagree with the policy of drone attacks against the wishes of the Pakistan Army and the anti-American agitprop in Pakistani media.

In Pakistan, the more intense reaction emanates from lobbies that don’t want the Pakistan-US relationship to continue at its present footing and would favour a complete rupture if the US does not respect Pakistan’s sovereignty. Retired military officials with persisting misgivings about the real intent of the Americans, look at the current crisis in the Pakistan-US relations as an ‘opportunity’ for Islamabad to break free and become ‘autonomous’ in its foreign policy. Add to that the ‘universalised’ belief in Pakistan that America actually wants to ‘take out’ Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, and you have the endgame of relations between the two countries.

The more moderate observers think that the two sides should come to an understanding over the drones and the presence of foreign terrorists in North Waziristan. They take account of the fact that Pakistan’s stance has certain flaws of analysis that must be covered with flexibility of approach. One such voice argues “Pakistan has no publicly available evaluation of its own performance against the militancy from either the civilian government or the military”. Although the media is generally with the Pakistan Army on the issue, some voices still challenge the official stance on drone attacks.

Who is looking at the bilateral equation as ‘transactional’ after the American assertion that it wants to move away from it? Some experts believe that it is the Pakistan Army, aware that its objectives in the region diverge from those of the US, that wants the transactional approach back. One reason it is not willing to unveil its real intent behind keeping the North Waziristan enclave intact could be the fact that Islamabad is unclear of the future power map in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan-US equation is in the balance while the capacity of the two to punish each other, in case of a breakdown, is not equal. There is evidence that the Pakistani stance is moving away from the nuanced approach that makes reconciliation possible, to a more robust opposition to the demands the world is making on it to face up to the militants who infest not only North Waziristan but other parts of the country too, and threaten to strike outside the country’s frontiers.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Without a trace[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 15th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Some five years after the issue hit the media, we have barely moved a few paces forward in the case of the missing persons. While some of those who had ‘disappeared’ over the years, most notably since 2002, have returned home — often bringing with them dire warnings not to talk about their ordeals — others continue to go missing, particularly in Balochistan. In its latest hearing in the matter, the Supreme Court has displayed evidence of growing frustration and impatience, and summoned a slew of officials — including the interior minister, the interior secretary, their eight provincial counterparts and the five IGs of police — to explain why so little is happening.

The court has also made it clear that the various secret agencies are not above the law, and it has every intention of holding them accountable for their actions. Relatives of missing persons had complained about inaction against the agencies by the Commission on Missing Persons, set up under the additional attorney general.

The crux of the issue lies here. Courts have been convinced for years — like most others who have followed the case — that agencies are behind the ‘picking up’ of people and the terrible atrocities committed against them in some cases. The problem is that the authority to take these agencies to task has been lacking; even the media has hesitated to expose what is happening. As a result, the problem remains unsolved. In Balochistan, more people continue to vanish; it is becoming harder and harder to distinguish which abductions are the acts of criminals and which of agencies. As the court has also stressed, parliament needs to play a more active role. The issue is one that should concern each and every one of us. So far, the battle for the recovery of individuals has been led by their relatives, and a few human rights groups. We need now to see it as a wider problem — one that concerns not only a few people who have disappeared, but also the nature of our state and the role of secret agencies within it.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]HRCP’s State of Human Rights 2010 report[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]April 16th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

In the coming days, it is probable that media attention on the annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) will be directed at a few predictable targets. The HRCP’s State of Human Rights 2010 report provides exact figures regarding many items that are currently making headlines. It tells us, for example, that 957 people were killed last year in US drone strikes while another 1,159 people were killed in suicide terrorist attacks. With ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha recently complaining to his CIA counterpart Leon Panetta that the number of civilians being killed in drone attacks was actually feeding terrorism, it is useful to know that drone attacks have killed nearly as many people as terrorist attacks themselves.

The HRCP report also states that in the last calendar year, 99 members of the Ahmadi community were killed while 64 people were charged with blasphemy, out of which three were killed in police custody. But the most lives were taken by sectarian violence between Muslims as 418 people, mostly Shia, were killed in violence between different Muslim sects. Once again, the fact that the Ahmadi community is facing unparalleled discrimination, that the blasphemy laws are being misused and that Pakistan is beset by sectarian violence should not come as news to anyone, but the work done by the HRCP shows the extent of the rot in society. These are issues that have been in the news recently and the HRCP report gives some statistical basis to buttress that coverage.

It is all well and fine to discuss and be outraged by these statistics. However, it would be doing a disservice to the work put in by the HRCP not to focus on some of the more neglected human rights abuses they have documented. The province of Balochistan, as always, tends to be overlooked, both by the central government and the media. While there has been a lot of hue and cry over target killings in Karachi, the HRCP report points out that there were 117 such incidents in Balochistan. Additionally, the migration of repressed Hindus out of Balochistan, a province that once had a reputation for being friendly to minorities, has also been mentioned. It is essential to educate ourselves about these facts since the government, after announcing a much-hyped plan for bringing peace to Balochistan, seems to have put the issue to one side.

The report also uses harsh words for the structural flaws in the political system in the country. While praising the government for the passage of the 18th and 19th Amendments, it noted that legislation had become difficult to pass thanks to inaction by the Senate. Mentioning the extensive use of suo motu notice by the judiciary, the report also seemed to implicitly criticise the political parties for not taking action and thereby forcing the judiciary to take note of corruption and inefficiencies. The HRCP also pointed out that our prisons are filled to nearly double their sanctioned capacity, while the frequent use of the death penalty means that there are nearly 8,000 prisoners on death row. These point to a breakdown on almost all levels of government and society.

Women’s rights, too, seem to have taken a back seat last year. Thanks to the lethargy of the Senate, the Domestic Violence Bill was allowed to lapse while sections of the Protection of Women Act were nullified by the Federal Shariat Court. Rape and honour killings continue unpunished while women parliamentarians, who are most likely to speak out on these issues, are sidelined mainly because most of them were chosen on reserved seats.

Ultimately, the HRCP report has not made any startling disclosures. All the problems it has mentioned are those we know about and mostly chose to ignore. Its immense value lies in the meticulous research the group has done to show us exactly how bad the state of human rights in Pakistan is by giving us exact numbers.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Realities of revolution[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 16th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The unexpected call given by philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi for a “bloody revolution” in the country during a talk in Karachi indicates the extent to which frustration and desperation has seeped into our society. Edhi, a man known for the gentleness of his nature and his enormous compassion, would normally be the last person expected to urge a violent uprising of any kind. But it appears that more and more people in our nation are becoming convinced that this is the only way to bring about change. Recent events in the Middle East obviously influence the thinking and mindset of many.

To his credit, Edhi made it clear he did not seek a curtailment of the government’s term. He also spoke out against the misuse of funds by many different categories of people, including politicians, and stated that a time may come when citizens needed to take matters into their own hands. The views expressed by Edhi also indicate a growing tussle with despondency. While he himself suggested hard work as a means to move beyond this, the fact is that most people lack the capacity to dedicate themselves to others the way Edhi has done for so many decades. Ways need to be found to alleviate their suffering — and there is indeed a risk that if this does not happen, things may spiral out of control.

We should keep in mind that things are becoming more and more urgent by the day. Even though revolutions are being painted as a desirable event by many, they are in reality often unpredictable, messy affairs which can end in uncertain ways. In our particular situation, the presence of a well-armed force like the Taliban makes this all the more true. Other solutions need to be found. The call by Edhi should act as a warning of how dangerous things are becoming, compelling even the most tolerant and clear-thinking of persons to consider the possibility that solutions may lie only in an upheaval which dramatically changes the order of things and the lives of people who face incredibly tough circumstances.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Target killings: How not to solve the issue[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]April 17th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Sindh’s former home minister Zulfiqar Mirza, who should have done something about the killings in Karachi, has left the scene accusing a coalition partner of the foul deed. Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, has tried to put the ineffective poultice of peace on the city’s wounds but with little result. Now, he has said no political party is involved in the killings. He also makes the incredible claim that his efforts have borne fruit and that now there are no target killings in Karachi. To further justify what must seem to many to be an unbelievable assertion, he has said that many of the people who die in Karachi are killed by criminal mafias who hide behind party labels.

If one were to carefully analyse what the minister has said, it seems that he considers much of what the people of Karachi perceive to be organised target killings as ordinary crimes perpetrated by various vested interests, and that political parties are being given a bad name by these mafias. Taking this ‘logic’ one step further, this would mean that the three coalition partners, whose leaders (barring the interior minister of course) from time to time have accused one another publicly of the violence, are to be exonerated of any blame. And this is precisely the opposite of what needs to be done if the country’s largest city and business and commercial centre is to rid itself of this dreaded affliction. Political parties need to own up to the violence that their animosity for each other is generating and they need to weed out the black sheep among their ranks and pledge to live in peace and in an atmosphere of compromise.

The police have usually shielded itself against official retaliation by giving vague explanations and hiding behind the fact that it is highly politicised and used by the political parties for their own ends. However, the current head of the city police should be applauded for having the courage to say that some of the alleged target killers arrested by his force, after interrogation by a joint investigation team, comprising police and intelligence agencies, turned out to be affiliated with political parties. In light of what the media has been reporting in recent days from the confessions of the arrested suspects, what the interior minister is saying does not sound very credible. The minister might have said what he said to patch up ties between his party and an ally in Sindh but his statement will lower the morale of the police because it directly undermines what a senior police officer was brave enough to admit in public.

Terrorism by religious-sectarian partisans and al Qaeda in Karachi has given rise to a copycat trend among the politically-linked communities. Starting in the 1990s, the embedding of al Qaeda in Karachi and the linkages it formed with jihadi militias saw the retreat of state authority in the face of religious crime, much inspired by the earlier practice of the violent extraction of bhatta by non-religious party activists. This means that today, the target killing also involves sectarian parties and groups.

The ANP has to deal with the issue of defending not only those who are its members or sympathisers but also those who are Pashtun but may not owe their allegiance to it. This can be explained by the fact that a party such as the ANP, because of its secular ideology, may want to support all Pashtuns regardless of their political affiliations, in an effort to wean them away from supporting militant groups active in Karachi.

The MQM claims that its members are killed in larger numbers than those of the other two parties. In this case, too, it could be an effort on the part of the MQM to claim leadership of the entire ethnic group and give it protection with an eye on future elections. In the process, it is the criminal mafias of the city, growing on the basis of bhatta and grabbing of property, who benefit through the shifting of blame. And the ordinary resident suffers the most in all this, because he has little choice but to fend for himself.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Across the LoC[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 17th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Right now, mainly as a result of the actions of the hawks who play an unrelenting role in determining affairs between New Delhi and Islamabad, there seems to be little hope of finding a lasting solution to the Kashmir dispute that, over the last 63 years, has triggered three wars between the two countries. But, as a result of efforts made in the past, things have improved for Kashmiris on both side of the Line of Control (LoC), carved out soon after Partition.

It has now been six years since a bus service linking the two parts of the divided Kashmir Valley began as a means to allow divided families and others to meet. Over 15,000 Kashmiris have since used the service — 9,581 from Pakistan and 6,395 from India. After the launch of the bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar in April 2005, another service between Rawalakot and Poonch was added in 2006 and the running of buses increased to once a week rather than fortnightly. The small step forward has already helped thousands over a relatively short period of time. Of course, much more could be done to bring together divided families on both sides of the LoC but for that a significant measure of vision and statesmanship is required of India’s and Pakistan’s leaders.

There have, over the years, been proposals on how this could be achieved. A ‘soft’ border for Kashmiris at the LoC has been suggested, as well as relative autonomy for the two parts of the territory. All of these offer practical solutions. Others can be thought about. But the problem is that those who claim to stand for the rights of Kashmiris, notably in Pakistan, insist that only a ‘final’ solution, a ‘conquest’ of the territory, can be the goal. This angry chorus from the hardliners and their allies makes it hard for governments in either country to move forward — and in the meanwhile, the people of the Valley, who have gained so much from a relatively minor measure such as the bus service, continue to suffer, wondering if a day will come when peace and serenity can be restored to their beautiful valley, which has, for decades now, known no lasting peace.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Future of flood victims[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 18th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

There have been expressions of concern over the last few weeks from humanitarian agencies regarding the rehabilitation of the millions across the country who suffered as a result of the titanic floods which swept across the country in 2010. UK charity Oxfam had, a short while ago, stated in a press conference that people were suffering as a result of failure on the part of authorities in Pakistan to launch a comprehensive recovery plan and begin its implementation in practical terms. Based on a survey, Oxfam had noted that what people desired most was not handouts but livelihoods. The UNDP and the National Disaster Management Authority have since then announced a more detailed plan to help people recover from the devastation that destroyed their homes, their lands and their lives within minutes. The plan envisaged by the agencies includes measures to tackle the destroyed agricultural sector, curb employment, rebuild infrastructure and improve education and health.

It has been made clear that funding is required for this. Agencies have, for some time now, been complaining of a drying up of the money coming in for flood recovery measures. We have seen in the past that the attention span of the world community in the aftermath of disaster is often short. This is all the more true when focus swings away as it has now, with multiple disasters in Japan necessitating the need for relief workers to go to the stricken nation. It therefore seems somewhat unlikely that more money is going to come in from overseas. We need to find our own means to ensure that flood victims are able to move back towards normalcy. The absence of facilities in so many locations even before the floods adds to the difficulties inherent in this. It is also necessary to take note of people’s fervent assertion that what they need most of all is jobs. As the primary stakeholders in the process of rebuilding, their views must be given priority and every effort made to involve them in the decision-making process, rather than steaming ahead on the basis of plans drawn up in offices.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Delays in passports[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 18th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

In announcing its Hajj policy for this year this past week, the government said that Saudi Arabia had increased the quota of pilgrims allowed from Pakistan by nearly 20,000, bringing the total number of pilgrims to over 196,000. With the government accepting applications from April 15, there is likely to be a huge increase in demand for passports in the coming months. Already, a quarter of a million people are waiting for passports that should have been delivered to them. There is every possibility that new applicants will face similar delays and be unable to secure their passports in time for Hajj.

The regular fees for getting a passport is Rs2,100 and is supposed to take 12 working days, while an urgent passport costs Rs4,000 and should be in the hands of the applicant in five working days. Right now, urgent passports are taking longer than regular passports should, while those who have applied for regular passports are having to wait as long as four or five months to secure their travel document. There have been conflicting reports to explain the delay. The official explanation is that some of the limited number of machines that can print machine-readable passports are suffering from technical faults. There have also been allegations that the government has run out of the special illumination paper that is used in passports.

Whatever the true reason for the delays, it is the job of the directorate general of immigration and passports to ensure that the process gets back on track. Getting a passport is the right of every Pakistani and by not giving it to them in a timely manner, the government is impeding this basic right. Meanwhile, the travel plans of Pakistani who may be going abroad to work or study have been left in tatters. With the coming deluge of Hajj applicants, this brewing crisis could soon explode into a public scandal. Whether the fault is in the machines or the government has run out of paper, neither problem should take this long to fix.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Security at banks[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]April 18th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The theft of nine million rupees from a bank in Jodia Bazaar in Karachi on April 14 was, not surprisingly, carried out in connivance with a guard who was supposed to be providing security to the bank. This is the fifth major bank robbery in the city this year — after over 20 last year — and, in most cases, those meant to be guarding the banks turn out to be the looters. While it is easy to criticise private security firms that provide these guards and the banks that hire them, it is time to address the root cause of the sudden rise in bank robberies.

Private security guards, despite being entrusted with the job of safeguarding millions of rupees, are barely paid minimum wage. Expecting them to risk their lives for the money of others, when they are finding it difficult to make ends meet in these hazardous economic times, is perhaps not the wisest security plan. Then again, even banks and their employees have little reason to spend a lot of money or risk their lives protecting what is in the vaults. The banks insure their cash at hand and even stand to lose very little, while employees are hardly likely to risk their lives playing the hero and standing up to men with guns. Thus, not only do security guards have an economic reason to turn against their employers, they also know they are unlikely to meet any hurdles along the way.

The issue, however, has to be tackled immediately as it is affecting our national security. We have been told many times that the Taliban in Karachi are funding their country-wide reign of terror through bank robberies and kidnappings. With the banks little more than sitting ducks, it is possible that millions are being added to the coffers of the militants. Only once it is ensured that guards are paid salaries and provided life insurance in accordance with the dangers associated with their job, will banks have reasonably sound security.