[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Flood devastation[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 17th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

For obvious reasons, as the heaviest downpours of the 2011 monsoon season begin in both Punjab and Sindh, the rains bring with them a great deal of anxiety. The memories of the havoc caused in 2010 are still fresh in many minds. But what is worrying is the indication that inadequate measures are in place to save people from suffering. The Sindh chief minister said on August 16 that over a million people have been affected in Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan and Mirpur Khas. The National Disaster Management Authority, in its briefing to the prime minister, also stated that people had been marooned, with the navy staging rescues. The president has ordered an inquiry and the prime minister has distributed relief goods, but there is doubt as to whether these steps translate into any real relief for panic-stricken people, some of whom have not recovered from the devastation inflicted last year.

Some media reports have spoken of shortages of food and other vital items in the region, which has been declared ‘calamity-hit’ by the Sindh chief minister. In the absence of adequate relief camps, help to victims is mainly being provided by other locals people not as badly affected. This situation does not say much for management by the government. As several international agencies have warned, there appears to be a lack of disaster-readiness and no evidence that lessons have been learnt from last year. While it is not possible to anticipate every twist a natural disaster may take, the monsoon itself comes as no surprise. Plans to distribute food and vital supplies and issue early warnings should have been put in place well in advance. But such forward-thinking it seems is not the strong point of our administrators and the brunt of this weakness is borne by the people. Concern over the maintenance of dykes and drains by the irrigation department had been raised last year too. So too had a whole range of other issues. But it seems too little has been done to translate discussions at meetings into realities on the ground, and the results of this failure are visible today in Badin. The monsoon is far from over and one hopes that at least some prevention measures will be put in place to minimise further displacement and losses.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]The kidnapped American[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 17th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

There is a tendency to assume that very American who gets into trouble has a CIA connection. With Raymond Davis, that did indeed turn out to be the case, but there is no reason to believe that aid worker Warren Weinstein was anything but what he claimed to be. It is too early to know if his abduction from his residence in Lahore was a case of kidnapping for ransom or if the motive was political, but that has not stopped the whispers. In either case, that question should now be moot; finding Weinstein is the priority.

As part of his work with JE Austin, Weinstein was helping import dairy chillers for farms in the rural areas of Pakistan. Like many other American aid workers in Pakistan, he was working on programmes for USAID, which could be a possible motive for his kidnapping. The danger now is that vital foreign aid programmes will grind to a halt as foreigners fear coming to the country and those who are already here flee in droves. This is especially true since Weinstein was living in the affluent Model Town area. Weinstein’s abductors need to be arrested and he must be recovered safely as soon as possible so that foreigners start feeling more secure here. The initial signs are not good as the police already seem to be scapegoating Weinstein for his own kidnapping. They claim that Weinstein should have registered himself with the police in Lahore, although how that would have prevented the kidnapping is not clear. Meanwhile, not only will every other US aid worker in Pakistan feel unsafe, they will also believe that their reasons for being in the country are being scrutinised. Here the fault lies with both the US and the Pakistan governments. Too many people, allegedly here for humanitarian reasons, have been found to do a bit of freelance spy work on the side. The worst example of this was the fake US vaccination programme that was actually taking DNA samples to locate Osama bin Laden. Section of the media loves nothing more than to cry CIA at every American. Weinstein, it seems, was caught between these competing narratives.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Zoo deaths[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 17th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Coming just a few days after they were born, the deaths of three cubs at the Karachi zoo come, as quite a shock. A fourth cub too is feared dead, with zoo authorities saying it has either run away or been eaten by the mother lion. Shocking though it may be, surprising it isn’t. Conditions at Karachi zoo have been getting progressively worse and it was only a matter of time before it lead to the premature deaths of animals there. Zoo officials are deflecting the blame from themselves, saying that the cubs were trampled to death by the lion. But there is a fear, probably justified, that the cubs died as a result of not being protected from rain.

It is worth noting that the cubs were born to lions who were illegally brought to Pakistan and thus confiscated and given to the zoo. Clearly there needs to be some restriction on which animals are allowed into the country and the process of bringing even the most harmless pets into Pakistan needs to be strictly regulated. But the policy of handing these animals over to Karachi zoo must be reconsidered in light of the death of the cubs.

The local government may also want to look at wider problems at the Karachi zoo. There have been several reports of animals being mistreated. Trying to privatise the zoo could be one solution. Also, many countries are doing away with the concept of keeping animals caged for the viewing pleasure of paying visitors. Instead they prefer keeping animals in their natural habitats so as not to cause them any undue suffering. This is where groups like the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the WWF should get involved to ensure that zoo authorities are held accountable for their mistakes. In a city where human life is given such low priority, care for animals may be too much to ask for. But how we treat helpless animals is also indicative of our level of humanity.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Pakistan’s relationship with America[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]August 18th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

At a well-attended meeting at the National Defence University in Washington on August 16, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta tried to describe the “troubled” Pakistan-US relationship. Mr Panetta, formerly director of the CIA, had a lot to say on the subject, while Secretary Clinton made a better effort to describe it as “bilateral efforts to preserve national interests of both sides”. According to a report in this newspaper, Mr Panetta said that the US had little choice but to maintain its relationship with Pakistan despite the latter’s contradictory behaviour as America’s partner in the war against terrorism. Ms Clinton thought that the US was willing to acknowledge the differences it had with Pakistan on approaching the war on terror and she said that this stemmed from the latter’s “national interest” to which it (Pakistan) had all the rights. Since Pakistan has always enjoyed more intimate relations with the Pentagon and less intimate ones with the US State Department, the press conference seemed like a switching of roles between the two over Pakistan.

Mr Panetta outlined the “differences” briefly: Pakistan has links with the Haqqani network, which he said was continuing to carry out cross-border attacks on US forces in Afghanistan and that it has “a relationship with the Lashkar-e-Taiba that goes into India and threatens attacks there”. He was clear in his mind that the US was compelled to maintain a relationship it did not relish because of the compulsions of war against terrorism in which Pakistan played a crucial role. Ms Clinton, however, conveyed the impression that though ‘transactional’, the Pakistan-US equation was not under sufferance and was there to stay. Both did not say what Pakistan’s interests were, but it would be fair to assume that a large portion relates to concerns about India. Also, of late, they would be concerned with the issue of drones in that Pakistan wants a complete end to this strategy used by the Americans. Panetta was more matter of fact. He included Pakistan’s status of a nuclear state as one of the factors that compelled the US to remain soft on Pakistan. It would not be out of place to presume that some observers will read this as a precursor to a coming rupture in ties between the two states.

The two countries, unfortunately, are challenging each other to make the final decision and cut the umbilical cord. The US has not exactly followed Ms Clinton’s policy of restraint. It has suspended the strategic dialogue with Pakistan, withheld the $800 million in military assistance to Pakistan and arrested a Kashmiri activist that Pakistan funded, a revelation that surely must not have been new. Meanwhile, ‘leaks’ in the American press say that Pakistan allowed the Chinese a peek into the stealth technology of a US helicopter that crashed in Pakistan. (Both Pakistan and China have strongly denied this.)

It has to be said that Pakistan has acted out of anger rather than policy after the killing of Osama bin Laden, although the CIA-ISI spat was on since 2010 when a report prepared at an American university alleged that the agency was in effect funding the Taliban to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. The arrest of Raymond Davis in Pakistan was a nadir in this relationship. Nato supplies, already subject to colossal corruption, have been vandalised in Pakistan and American officials are being harassed in an unprecedented drive by the Pakistani police, which must be happening only with orders from elsewhere.

No matter what Ms Clinton says, the Pakistan-US relationship remains on a rocky path. Peoples on both sides suffer from paranoid emotions; and Pakistan could be standing on the precipice of a desperate decision to save its India policy at the cost of losing America’s support. Out of the two, most of the negative fallout will be on Pakistan. And that is precisely why it must let go off the anger over the Abbottabad raid and formulate its ties with America on the basis of pragmatism and reality.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Justice pending[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 18th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Why are some cases given more importance over others in this country? Some may say the answer lies in which case gets more media attention — but that’s not always true. The case of the Sialkot brothers’ lynching of last year captured the attention of the media as much if not more than the Sarfaraz Shah murder — both were caught on camera and both caused much outrage. Yet in the case of Shah, the verdict is out in a little over two months, and it is of course welcome, but why are the perpetrators of the Sialkot case still unpunished, even over a year after the gory incident?

Unfortunately, the case is now even more inconclusive than before, as two of the men accused of the lynching were granted bail earlier this month, on the basis that they were not nominated in the FIR and the police had failed to establish the allegation against them. Perhaps they are innocent, but then who is guilty for what clearly amounted to premeditated murder of two boys? Is it really impossible to carefully watch the video and identify the perpetrators or to get a hold of the policemen who cheered on the mob and hold them accountable? Last year, the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the case and a senior police officer was suspended. Is that all the justice the boys’ family will get? If the boys were thieves, as one report had claimed, this evidence too should be brought before the court. Given that the police were widely blamed for inaction in the massive public outcry that followed this atrocity, this may well be a case of evidence-tampering. It is when perpetrators of such crimes go unpunished that people feel neglected by the state and vulnerable since the law has failed to protect them. This case needs to be resolved by the courts or else, ironically, there will be a greater impetus among the general public to take the law into their own hands. And we all know, as in the case of these two boys from Sialkot, what the consequences of that can be. The brothers’ uncle, Khawaja Muhammad Amjad, summed it up pretty well, when he said, amongst pleas for justice, that the incident is not just one family’s issue, it concerns the entire society”.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Badin under water[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 19th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Badin has sunk slowly under water, the levels creeping up inch by inch almost unnoticed. It is now that the disaster in the district has struck in earnest that the customary rounds of meetings have commenced. We must hope, given that earlier warnings about better disaster preparedness were ignored, that these will result in much-needed relief reaching the one million people affected in Badin and the others surrounded by rising flood waters in five other districts of the province. The director-general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority has reported 14 deaths, 198 injuries and the displacement of over 17,200 people in six talukas of Mirpurkhas district. Relief camps, around 240 of them, have now been established to house the over 60,000 people displaced from Badin.

This is all very well. It is good news that measures are being taken to offer much needed aid to people. But it is unfortunate that this effort has come rather late in the day. At an emergency meeting to discuss the rain situation, the Sindh chief minister blamed district authorities for failing to do enough. He also called for better coordination and improved management to offer relief to people. Funds and instructions have now gone out to DCOs for this purpose.

It must, however, be said that these steps should in an ideal situation have been taken earlier. The main aim must be to prevent suffering caused by disaster rather than to pick up the pieces after the problem has occurred. The monsoon rains are hardly an unexpected event. They take place each year and modern weather forecasting makes it possible to predict when and how much rain will fall. Surely this ability should be used to plan evacuations, the immediate setting up of relieve centres and the provision of food supplies chalked out in advance, especially more so given the devastation of last year’s flood, the worst this country has ever experienced. It should also be possible to organise how different departments will work together and what they are expected to do as soon as the first signs of a possible calamity come in. Clearly, we have a lot to learn.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Fire and fury[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 19th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Despite the various meetings held over the last few days to discuss the situation in Karachi and the reassurances meted out that violence would be controlled, just the opposite has happened. We are seeing a return to the city’s most troubled times, with bodies in gunny bags turning up in street corners and the sound of gunfire filling the air. At least 30 people have died within a day, following the murder of former PPP MNA Waja Kareem Daad in Lyari on the morning of August 17. Police report that bodies in bags have turned up in various parts of the city – left there by unidentified persons even as helpless security personnel watched. This is a situation Karachi has witnessed in the past and one that its residents would have preferred not to witness again. Worse still is the fact that the shootings are continuing, with no indication as to when they will end. The toll seems certain to climb; more bodies are likely to turn up. The gang warfare is currently focused in Lyari but other localities are also affected and the radius could spread over the coming days.

The question is, what is to be done now? The same query has been made many times before over the past year. No answers have so far been provided; promises have been proved to be nothing more than rhetoric. The situation is an unacceptably dangerous one for the country as a whole, and of course for Karachi in particular. There has been far too much mismanagement of affairs in the city, allowing tensions to heighten and the wave of death to grow in size. It is essential that a strategy be devised to end the mayhem. Security forces at the moment appear to be unable to do anything at all. We wonder why this is the case. Their performance and abilities need to be reviewed. At the same time, all political parties involved need to adopt a more responsible attitude and play a role in ending the spree of killings that have taken so many lives and left behind a trail of terror.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Crusade against corruption[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]August 19th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare’s relentless crusade, which has included fasts unto death and street protests, has received both support and scorn. While granting that his indignation is sincere, it is important to point out that Hazare may end up being an inadvertent foe of the anti-corruption cause. In his activism, Hazare has aped the tactics of Gandhi, with his civil obedience and public fasts. But whereas Gandhi was fasting to gain independence from the British and an end to Hindu-Muslim violence, Hazare is merely trying to get an anti-corruption bill amended so that it does not exempt the prime minister, judiciary and much of the bureaucracy from the watchful eye of an independently-appointed ombudsman. That is certainly a problem with the bill but Hazare may want to tone down his rhetoric and actions. The chief weakness of the anti-corruption bill is, ironically, solely Hazare’s responsibility. Too much power is vested in the hands of the ombudsman who may end up being as unaccountable for his actions as the politicians he rails against.

Whatever reservations one may have about Hazare’s activism, there is no denying his passion. Imperfect though the anti-corruption bill may be, he has forced politicians to acknowledge him and at the very least pay lip service to his cause. It is hard to feel slightly envious while assessing his impact from across the border. The issue of corruption has been at the forefront in Pakistan too but here public anger is co-opted by adventurers, both military and civilian, who use corruption as an excuse to take power and politicians who promise to eliminate corruption but end up targeting only their political foes. From the Ehtesab Bureau to the National Accountability Bureau, the anti-corruption fight is limited only to those who are unlucky enough not to be in power. There is no doubting that Pakistan could benefit from an Anna Hazare of its own, one who has the courage to rise above political zeal, galvanise an apathetic public and demand across-the-board accountability for all political actors in the country.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Land of death[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 20th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

So, what can one say of a country where children bring violent death even as people are at prayer? What can one say of a land where places of worship are repeatedly stained by blood and the pieces of flesh torn from the bodies of people who were doing nothing more than offering Friday prayers when they were attacked? Many adjectives have been used: tragedy, mayhem, anarchy, brutality, evil and others too. All of these of course apply to the bombing at the Mandokhel Masjid in the Jamrud area of Khyber Agency, where dozens of people died and many more were injured after a suicide bomber detonated a vest filled also with pellets in the main hall of the building as prayers were coming to an end. The assailant is reported to have been around 15 or 16 years old, like those he killed a victim himself of the militant violence that has torn or country apart.

It is of course ironic that those who speak in the name of religion should carry out such attacks within mosques during the holiest month on the Islamic calendar. It is clear of course that these armies of death can have nothing to do with religion and all that it truly means. But this knowledge does not of course change the fact that we have more death in our midst, inflicted on people — including the elderly and children — in the most terrible way. It is clear too that the claims that have come from the military of success over the Taliban have only the most limited basis. There can be no victory when the Taliban and other forces which back them remain capable of carrying out such well-planned acts of mass murder. The bombings and the aftermath they bring in the form of grieving families and shattered lives has turned our nation into a land of death. There has been too much suffering; too much violence. When will it all end? We do not know for sure but surely it will not once the Americans leave the region, as many among us mistakenly seem to believe. Either way, we can answer this question ourselves, provided we have the courage, the sense and the wisdom to be able to understand that we ourselves our to blame for society’s descent into a whirlpool of extremism and militancy — and that we alone can stop it.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Karachi burning[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 20th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The latest bout of violence in Karachi would make even the most optimistic amongst us think that the city has been lost amid sea of blood. Murdered men are showing up in gunny bags and life in the city has ground to a complete halt. The numbers don’t lie. In the last three days over 50 people have been killed, while more than 300 people were murdered in the month of July. To blame the violence on gangs, as most politicians have done, would be far too simplistic. Certainly, criminal gangs have been involved but it is a well-established fact that in Karachi every powerful gang has an even more powerful political party providing it muscle, weaponry and protection. Were this simply a case of gang violence, the law-enforcement authorities would not have speedily melted away.

The nature of Karachi’s politics dictates that political violence invariably takes an ethnic tinge. The issue of how Karachi will be governed, whether under the commissionerate system or by a nazim, should be a simple administrative matter. The Pakthun population of Karachi, under the rubric of the ANP, is now aggrieved that the PPP has given in to the MQM’s demands and restored the local government system. The PPP has not helped matters by constantly vacillating, and thus managing to alienate both its allies. The solution to stemming the violence is both simple and yet impossible to achieve. The three main political parties in Karachi — the MQM, the ANP and the PPP — need to put their grievances aside for the sake of the city. This is easier said than done.

The sad truth is that violence is just another bargaining chip in Karachi’s power politics. Other solutions that have been suggested are likely to beget further violence. Bringing in the army or giving shoot-to-kill order to paramilitary forces, as we learned in the 1990s, will only deepen the anger and hate. The answer lies not with the men in khaki but with the civilians who were elected to keep the city safe.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Pressing for change in Syria[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]August 20th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus is now under the most severe pressure, and for good reason. The atrocities it has committed against its own people since March, which according to the UN have resulted in at least 2,000 deaths, can no longer be ignored by the world. Washington has condemned the unrelenting violence in a strong statement issued by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton which called for urgent reform in a country now being torn apart by violence.

A UN human rights team has already condemned the violence in Syria and the brutalities committed by the authorities and proposed that Syria be brought before the International Criminal Court. At a new meeting on the issue, Britain, Germany, France and Portugal have urged the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against Syria which could include a freeze of its assets, an arms embargo and a ban on travel by Syrian nationals. It is not only the West that is appalled. Syria’s Arab neighbours, who had remained quiet for far too long as rioting began in March this year, have begun to speak out. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar have already recalled their ambassadors. Tunisia has become the latest country to follow callings its ambassador home for ‘consultations’. Turkey which shares a long border with Syria has called for calm and an end to the killing as has Jordan which believes leadership change is now urgently needed in Syria. The question is how soon this change will come; it has been too long already. It is only now that the world has woken up fully to the situation, and the brutalities committed by the present regime. These have included according to the UN the execution of 26 blindfolded men at a football stadium in Daraa — the southern city where protests have been concentrated since the start of the uprising. The Vatican has expressed concern over the safety of Syria’s sizeable Christian minority. This simply cannot continue and Bashar al-Assad must step aside and allow fresh elections.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Calling in the army is no solution[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B][B][RIGHT]August 21st, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The violence in Karachi has crossed all bounds. On August 19, there were 21 more deaths in various parts of the doomed city while, in Korangi, the police itself came under fire from a dozen motorbike-riders who killed four policemen and injured 25. The police itself is now being ambushed with impunity and those doing the evil deed have yet to be even formally identified. Senior police officials of the city have been declaring that they have some target killers in their custody but they have yet to be presented in a court of law for prosecution, only if to mollify a very frustrated and angry general public. In fact, on August 20, the Sindh home minister was quoted by a television channel as saying that a “hundred target killers” have been arrested, but one hopes this will not become yet another in a series of empty meaningless statements. Given the gory events of this year, most analysts are agreed that the ethnic war in the city is being fought by the three ruling political, parties — the MQM, the PPP and the ANP — after converting themselves into narrow ethnic-based entities.

Given this situation of total helplessness, the demand for ‘army action’ seems to be gaining ground. The industrialists of Karachi, who provide the economic backbone to Pakistan, have joined other citizens in calling for ‘army intervention’. The President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry has formally said: “Given the grave circumstances where civil law-enforcement agencies have failed in restoring peace in Karachi, which has now become a hub of bloodshed, the army must be called in as it is the last resort to enforce peace in the city.” Of course, senior police officers are still making reassuring noises in the wake of the most shocking ambush against their men, but the truth is that the people of Karachi have lost all faith in the civilian law-enforcing elements even though they are reinforced with paramilitary forces.

It is all very well to talk about calling in the military but it is important to first carefully scrutinise the situation that it will be required to handle and how the ‘interventions’ of the past that happened in the early 1990s could be repeated successfully in the Karachi of today. It is crucial to study the sociology of a city where ethnic warriors are actually representing two entities, the ethnic group they pretend to represent and the political party that has encouraged the development of a frozen ethnic vote and which provides them refuge from the arm of the law. Also to be kept in mind would be the financial aspect of the current war: no matter who is doing the fighting, using expensive sophisticated weapons requires money; therefore the army will not only be confronted with bhatta-extorting mafias but also well-armed terrorists. The army will, sooner or later, find itself in a situation where it will have to confront the people themselves. This will happen eventually given the state of the city and with dozens of people being killed every day, with no semblance of government and with public anger and frustration because of this inaction running high. Remember the city is engulfed in no ordinary disorder; and will the army officer in charge of the situation order the opening of fire on these citizens?

The last time the military was asked to step in, the then army chief refused and presented an awkward conditionality: I will have to set up my own courts manned by my own mid-level officers; and the punishments they hand down will not be struck down by reviewing judges already swooning with fear. When this situation arose, the elected government recalled periods in national life when martial laws were imposed on the nation and military courts dished out unfair penalties to persons perceived by the generals as ‘enemies of the state’. In addition to this scary jurisprudence of ‘assistance to civilian rule’, there is another question to consider. The Pakistan Army is busy fighting the terrorists in the tribal areas in battles that remain inconclusive because of their non-military nature. It is also standing up to the rest of the world in the political interpretation of what the intra-state conflict in Pakistan is all about. It may be unwise to ask it to embroil itself in the conflict of Karachi. This is something that the political parties need to sort out themselves because, as much as they contribute to the problem, the solutions lies with them.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Miltants’ ideology[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 21st, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

It may be a bit of a stretch to say that the militants who have declared war on Pakistan have anything resembling a coherent ideology but the release of an audio recording gives a glimpse into their savage world view. The conversation is apparently between a militant and a religious scholar who works for the army. In it the militant explains how killing civilians in mosques is acceptable if they are hypocrites who do not buy into the militants’ ideology. Coincidentally, this recording was released around the same time that nearly 50 people were killed while offering Friday prayers at a mosque in Jamrud on August 19. The militant in the recording also explains that he sees no distinction between Pakistani and US soldiers and defends the killing of women and children.

This recording should be an eye-opener for those who maintain that the militants are simply fighting the Pakistani state because of its closeness to the US. Rather, they are seeking to violently impose their version of Islam on the entire country. Anyone who does not buy into their beliefs is considered a legitimate target. What is most telling about the recording is its complete disregard for the sanctity of life. The militant welcomes the 2005 earthquake for killing thousands of military personnel but does not pause to consider that it also took hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. If there is one lesson to be learned from this recording, it is that you cannot negotiate with people so blinded by hate that they are willing to murder at will and without thought.

Even more than the militant’s twisted understanding of religion, what is more worrying is that he had this conversation with an employee of the army. We have frequently heard about the radicalisation of the army and here we seem to have proof. Although the scholar frequently challenges and disagrees with the militant, that is not enough. The army needs to explain why one of its employees was in contact with a militant. We are supposed to be at war with the militants, not discussing the finer points of religion with them on their own terms. And the war, we should always remember, has been declared by the militants, not us.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Looking the other way[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 22nd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

According to a report in this newspaper, the banned terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad is trying to make a comeback, collecting funds through ‘ushr’ in south Punjab — where the government has failed to collect agriculture tax — and limbering up to claim its pound of flesh in a troubled and confused Pakistan on behalf of its master, al Qaeda. All its banned publications like Al Qalam and Muslim Ummah, together with the banned Al Rasheed Trust’s Zarb-e-Momin and Islam are allowed to be printed by the state through issuance of ABC certificates by the ministry of information and this enables them to solicit advertisements. (Zarb-e-Momin was once edited jointly by the Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar and jailed terrorist Omar Sheikh.)

In December 2003, Jaish tried to kill General Pervez Musharraf through one of its activists near Rawalpindi, after receiving some level of inside information from a sympathiser in the police, evidence of which was discovered later from the attacker’s cellphone. Musharraf had also been targeted earlier, by some low-ranking employees of the Pakistan Air Force (some of them were eventually sentenced by a court to prison terms) — since the jihadis the state had nurtured against India were put off by his policy of going with America after 9/11. Today, the entire nation is put off with Musharraf for ‘enslaving’ Pakistan to the Americans, and writers/journalists who allege in their books that the military has been penetrated by al Qaeda activists or that personnel have sympathies with militant outfits are mysteriously killed. If one reads the Jaish newspapers, one will realise that the war in Kashmir is still going on and the ‘martyrs’ of Jaish are routinely being received back from Indian-administered Kashmir.

Yet, Musharraf was not what he appeared to be, a liberal general willing to fight terrorism. The irony is that his favouring the jihadis did not incline the jihadis in his favour. It is worth pointing out that when the Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Maulana Masood Azhar, was released from an Indian jail in a prisoner exchange in December 2000, following the hijack of an Indian aircraft to Kandahar, he was permitted to stage a huge rally in Karachi attended by gun-toting followers. In 2001 the various Kashmiri guerrilla groups fighting the jihad were asked to unite under Azhar but this move was unsuccessful. Clearly, times have changed and such groups, (once?) nurtured by the state, are now out to force their former masters to stand aside.

British-Pakistani terror suspect Rashid Rauf, who ‘escaped’ from the custody of police in Rawalpindi in 2007 was a Jaish activist and had planned a terrorist act at Heathrow Airport. Jaish activists are ‘allegedly’ also said to be working with al Qaeda and the Haqqani Network in North Waziristan and around Darra Adam Khel with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Its leader Maulana Masood Azhar — Pakistan says he is not in Pakistan — writes articles under a pen name in his banned publications and, from the looks of what he writes, travels to North Waziristan quite frequently. After the recent release of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s Malik Ishaq from a jail in Lahore, the sectarian clout of Sipah-e-Sahaba has increased. Both are devotees of the founder of Sipah, late Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, and today are said to have considerable influence in south Punjab.

The nexus with the state has often been mentioned in the international press. A large body of literatures exists that details the interface the state of Pakistan enjoys with Jaish and LeT and there are recent publications pointing to the helplessness of the state to cleanse itself of these old terrorist connections because of ‘penetration’ of its rank and file with jihadi zeal. The phenomenon of journalists dying after disclosing new facts about this interface has scared the Pakistani citizen who is already less informed about such shadowy outfits as Jaish than his counterpart abroad. And the official doctrine of ‘India-centrism’ tends to confirm this bond. In Bahawalpur’s Model Town, Madrassa Usman-o-Ali is the nerve centre of sectarian jihad, established by Maulana Masood Azhar, intelligence reports about whose activities are regularly being sent by the Intelligence Bureau to the chief minister and governor of Punjab. We are forewarned — but will we do anything about it?


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Dangerous for journalists[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 22nd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The sense of threat faced by journalists in the country seems to be growing. A number have, as a direct result of their writings, faced threats, warnings and subtle intimidation in various forms. Some of those privileged enough to do so have chosen to leave the country, at least for a short period, or set up base at a safer location away from their own homes if they can. But not many journalists have such luxury. Instead, they die — in a country now rated by monitoring bodies as the most dangerous in the world for media professionals.

And it seems steadily to be becoming more dangerous still, forcing the office of the UN’s Human Rights Commissioner to make a terse comment following the death of two more journalists within eight days — one in Balochistan and one in North Waziristan. This brings to nine the number of journalists killed so far this year. Sixteen died in 2010 according to the autonomous Committee to Protect Journalists based in New York — more than in any other nation of the world. The UN office has called for all parties responsible to stop the killings and urged the government to take immediate steps to “independently investigate these cases”. But is this, realistically speaking, likely to happen? More than two-and-a-half months after the brutal killing of Saleem Shahzad, the bureau chief of the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online, there has been little progress in investigating his death. The ISI had been mentioned by the APNS and Human Rights Watch, both of whom Mr Shahzad had written to prior to his death, as the most likely culprit if anything happened to him. Nothing has come of this — and, of course, we do not know what force or forces are behind the other killings. There is also the still-unresolved case of Hayatullah Khan.

Stringers and reporters, especially in conflict zones such as Fata, are the most vulnerable to such murder. It is the responsibility of state, and also of the organisations they work for, to ensure they can do their job safely and bring in information to citizens whose right to know the truth in all parts of the country as it unfolds must not be curtailed.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]More bodies in Kashmir[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 23rd, 2011
[/RIGHT][/B]
In the 64 years since both India and Pakistan gained independence, the two countries have fought multiple hot wars and a never-ending hostile cold war over the disputed region of Kashmir. Both feel Kashmir is an integral part of their territory and are willing to go to any lengths to assert that belief. Lost in the midst of this wrangling are the hopes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people. We are only now beginning to discover what happens when the actual residents of Kashmir become mere pawns in a power play. The discovery of over 2,000 people buried in unmarked graves should not come as a surprise. Indian security forces have shown themselves to be ruthless and bloodthirsty in their repression. Of course, at times, the militants have been involved in acts of violence as well.

The first thing the Indian government must do is use all the resources at its disposal, especially DNA testing, to identify as many of the bodies as possible. The identity of the victims will give some clue as to who is responsible for their murders. Far more importantly, it will give the families of some of the over 10,000 people who have ‘disappeared’ in Kashmir a chance to learn the fate of their loved ones. Whoever the men in the unmarked graves might be, they deserve something more than to be written off as mere statistics in a bloody territorial dispute.

The Indian government has often made the implausible claim that those killed by their security forces and those who have gone ‘missing’ were all militants. This has been thoroughly debunked thanks to the tireless work of Indian and international human rights organisations. Hopefully, the discovery of these mass graves will lead to pressure on the Indian government to rethink its policy of mass detentions, military action, curfews and severe repression. Far more likely, though, is the possibility that the mass graves will be written off by India as the doing of militants, supposedly sent from Pakistan. Such a defiant posture would not only set back the barely-surviving peace process, it would be a grave injustice to the beleaguered people of Kashmir.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Change in Libya[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 23rd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The world woke up on August 22 to news that to many would have seemed completely unbelievable a few months ago. Most Libyans, and indeed people everywhere in the world, have the image of Moammar Qaddafi, the eccentric and ruthless ruler of the country, etched firmly into their minds as the head of the world’s 12th largest oil-producing country. For almost 42 years, he has held on to power without so much as a wobble. But following a rebel rush on Tripoli on August 21, in a move being termed ‘Operation Mermaid’, with Nato airplanes offering aerial support, Qaddafi’s time in power may have run out. His younger son, Saif alIslam is reported to have been captured by rebels. Saif, like his father, is wanted by the International Criminal Court at the Hague for crimes against humanity. Qaddafi’s elder son, Mohammad alQaddafi has surrendered. The whereabouts of the world’s longest serving dictator are unclear, but it is believed his last audio addresses may have been made from a hospital. It seems very possible his days of absolute rule are over. If this is not the end, it is certainly the beginning of the end.

The scenes of joyous celebration in Tripoli and Benghazi, cities that rebels say are now almost entirely in their hands, replicate the footage that emerged from other Arab capitals as a dramatic surge for change swept across the region. It is unknown, however, how long fighting may continue; a spokesman for Qaddafi has spoken of a violent war and the dictator himself has urged Libyans to fight the rebels. Still less certain is the future of Libya. The rebels have no clear leader and assessments suggest a tussle for power between various factions is possible. The rebel National Transitional Council says it has a plan, but the nature of this is unclear. The reports that the US has set up a task force in Dubai to ‘stabilise’ Libya are also worrying in that the voice and aspirations of the Libyan people, who have for over six months waged a valiant battle for freedom, must come through, without any overseas manipulation or ‘guidance’. They must now be permitted to determine their own destiny without outside intervention as ‘freedom day’ for a long-oppressed country draws nearer.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Waqar’s resignation[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 23rd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The resignation of Waqar Younis as coach of the Pakistan cricket team is sure to elicit mixed reactions. The beloved Shahid Afridi resigned the captaincy and retired from international cricket in part because of a feud with Waqar, whom he felt was undermining his authority. At the same time, there has been a marked improvement in our cricketing fortunes since Waqar took over from the malleable Intikhab Alam. We reached the semi-finals of the World Cup and, even though we weren’t consistently winning Test series, at least managed to pull of respectable draws. Waqar also brought a much-needed focus on fitness, discipline and, at least in the bowling department, technical improvement. It is unfortunate that he had a clash of wills with Afridi and for that he deserves much of the blame, but to judge his tenure on the basis of one feud would do this legendary cricketer a disservice.

Ultimately, Waqar’s resignation is about more than just one person. He cited medical reasons for his departure and it is no wonder that he was worried about his health given all the stress he has been placed under since taking over. He has had to deal with the ramifications of the spot-fixing crisis, train a team that cannot play at home, manage players who are constantly at loggerheads with one another and report to a chairman who is easily the most incompetent in the history of international cricket. It is a shame that Pakistan has had to go through so many coaches and captains when the president has the power to remove the person who is at the root of the malaise that blights our cricket team. It is Ijaz Butt, not Waqar Younis, who should have been announcing his resignation. When Waqar was asked if he would be recommending a replacement for himself he just wryly smiled. That is because Waqar realises any involvement with the cricketing set-up in the country should come with a warning label: being in the vicinity of the poisonous atmosphere of Pakistani cricket can be extremely hazardous to your health.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Who will rescue Karachi?[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 24th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani sat with the Sindh cabinet on August 22 and decided to launch ‘surgical operations’ against the target-killers of Karachi. The term ‘surgical operations’ has over time become such a platitude that no one cared about the wording and two gentlemen present — Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik and senior Sindh Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza — reportedly exchanged insults to show they didn’t really believe the said ‘surgical operations’ would lead to anything.

The MQM, far from joining the cabinet, which some reports would have us believe as recently as over the weekend, is on the warpath again, half-complaining, half-threatening while plainly accusing the PPP and “some of its ministers” of patronising the killers behind the deaths of recent days and taking bhatta. When it called for a ‘day of mourning’, in effect a strike, the city obeyed, something which should open President Zardari’s eyes to the situation on the ground. Perhaps his first reaction should be to ensure that Dr Mirza takes a back seat since every time he speaks his mind, the situation gets from bad to worse.

Our leaders should also avoid saying things like: “We need to take action now; otherwise it will be too late and someone else would come to do the job.” Such statements anger an already angry and frustrated citizenry further and do nothing other than lowering the government’s already-low credibility with the public. The fact is that it is already very late and action should have come much sooner. This was made clear by the MQM who reportedly refused to see the prime minister during his visit to Karachi. In turn, when he failed to see a delegation of industrialists and businessmen who thought they could suggest alternatives to his many failures in Karachi, he failed to realise the fact that the businessmen are the real party in Karachi; the others are simply exploiters and hangers-on.

The ANP, too, is angry with the PPP and did not attend the meeting. It was enraged by the unholy despatch with which the commissionerate system it favoured was scrapped. It wants the army to be called in to restore peace to Karachi. If one was to judge the prime minister’s visit, it would be fair to say that almost no one was pleased with his presence. Should this mean that the prime minister should stop his meaningless routine and let President Zardari handle the situation directly? Perhaps, MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s statement on August 22 demanding that he step down should be seen in this context.

Anybody looking in from the outside would favour the restoration of the local bodies in Karachi because it was during the phase when they were in place that Karachi became known to the outside world for its urban governance, not only under the MQM but also under the Jamaat-e-Islami. But President Zardari was made to taste the bitter medicine of partisan politics when his own party sulked after his go-ahead to the local bodies elections; and the Sindhi nationalists thought it was time to attack him from the rear. The PPP-voter thinks like the nationalists but votes for the PPP.

Now the businessmen have despaired of the stakeholders, seeing them as target-killers and ‘bhatta’-takers, and want the Sindh government to call in the army. They have no way to defend themselves and their assets against the savages who kill one another, financed by extortions that are rapidly emptying Karachi of its investments, which is losing billions every day, because of strikes and shutdowns caused by the seemingly never-ending violence. Alas, the army simply cannot handle today’s Karachi with all the stakeholders armed with lethal weapons and given that the political parties need to step up and take charge of the situation and own up to the responsibility that the solution to the problem must come from them.

One clear option, and which should have been tried many weeks ago when the death toll was decidedly lower, would be to give a free hand to the police and the paramilitary forces to strike at the culprits without discrimination. This should be supplemented by a comprehensive in-house weeding process by all political parties so that their ranks and cadres are purged of all elements involved in acts of violence and/or target killings.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Still running[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 24th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Since 1999, when the issue of the thousands of children who had run away from home or gone missing came up in a big way following the confession of Pakistan’s most notorious serial killer, Javed Iqbal, that he had murdered 100 small boys and dissolved their bodies in acid, we appear to have forgotten about such kids. While doubts have been cast over Iqbal’s claims since his 2001 suicide in jail, the fact remains that thousands of children vanish from their homes each year. According to a study last year, by the UK-based humanitarian organisation, Plan International, around 3,000 children vanish from home each year. In the absence of a database, the precise number is almost impossible to establish. Some are kidnapped, some lost and some run away. Most are aged between five and 16 years — and are never found again. Past studies by human rights groups in the country suggest that most of these children quit their homes due to financial stress or domestic discord. Others run away to escape brutality at schools and madrassas.

There appears to be good reason to believe that the number of children leaving home has increased as the economic situation in the country worsens. Insecurity of other kinds adds to the problem. The failure of police to take serious note of complaints by parents whose children have gone missing means efforts to locate them are at best half-hearted. These children are, of course, in an extremely vulnerable situation. Many fall victim to criminal gangs; others succumb to drug addiction, most often to ‘glue’ in the form of cheap adhesives spread on cloth or cardboard and sniffed up — with a disastrous impact on health.

There is too little effort underway to remedy the situation. The talk we had heard in the early 2000s of ensuring that the police do more to keep track of runaway children has come to naught. It is uncertain what it will take to wake us up to the dangers inherent in this situation and move authorities to take action which can prevent another Javed Iqbal from emerging one day to prey on society’s most helpless members.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Serial killers in our midst[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 25th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

What is one to make of the most disturbing of revelations made following the arrest by police in Karachi of four men suspected of involvement in target-killings? One is compelled to ask this question because as it turns out, the men have confessed, according to police, to abducting several victims, raping and torturing them, and then killing them. The suspects have said that they killed those who had done the same to their (the suspects’) colleagues, but who knows what the truth is. The scenes that can be seen on some of the videos, now leaked on the Internet, of those abducted standing naked, tortured and then their throats slit are reminiscent of a grotesque horror film, with a psychopathic sadistic serial killer. However, in this case, the footage seems real, from some home in some part of Karachi.

One was unable to even finish watching the videos and could only wonder that perhaps the city of Karachi is now fast becoming acquainted with the phenomenon which till now was confined mainly to the developed world, especially America — that of sadist, psychopathic serial killers who kill with no remorse or guilt. One has to wonder that what kind of dehumanisation process the killers themselves must have gone through to be able to engage in such ghastly acts given that most ordinary people would not be able to do such things even to animals. In fact, in this context it is worth pointing out that many psychologists and criminologists are of the view that one of the traits — as being part of the ‘MacDonald triad’, or also called the ‘triad of sociopathy’ — shared by many serial killers (based on interviews with many convicted ones in America) is that they tortured animals at an early age. The videos show some of the worst cases of violence, torture, mutilation and desecration of dead bodies that have perhaps ever come to light since Pakistan’s existence. In all of this, it is most disheartening that the government’s response is, as mentioned in a statement by the Sindh chief minister released on August 24, to ask all criminals “to leave Karachi or else”, instead of, say, improving intelligence or targeting the places where such acts happen. No wonder that the residents of Karachi are left with little hope of protection against the killers in their midst.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]What next for Libya?[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 25th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

When President Obama launched the war to support the anti-Qaddafi rebels in Libya, he said that the action would take “days, not, weeks”. The Libyan dictator proved more resilient and bloodthirsty than even his worst critics expected and ended up lasting more than four months. Finally, his time seems to be up. Qaddafi has gone into hiding and given the bunkers he is rumoured to have built throughout the country, there is no guarantee he will be found anytime soon. Still, Qaddafi can run but he will not be able to hide forever. The question is, what will be done with him once he is found and captured.

The rebels must resist the urge to dispense victor’s justice. Qaddafi’s alleged crimes are shocking both in their scope and brutality. The proper thing to do would be to try Qaddafi in an open court, preferably the International Court of Justice. This should not be because Qaddafi deserves the legal protections he denied to all Libyans but because it would symbolise a new, more open Libya, one that abides by international norms.

The disparate groups that formed the anti-Qaddafi opposition now also need to prepare a transition to democracy. Fighting to oust a dictatorship is one thing; resisting the temptation to wield absolute power yourself, quite another. The signs so far are not encouraging. One rebel commander was killed last month and opposition fighters immediately started hurling accusations at one another. Other rebels have quit the Transitional National Council that was supposed to be the united front of the opposition. At some point in the near future, the United Nations may have to step in to ensure an orderly transition and the international community will certainly have to help in the holding of elections. The stalled economy will have to be kick-started by resuming the production and sale of oil, and the ruined infrastructure rebuilt. Libya’s hated dictator may be gone but the country’s long nightmare has not yet ended.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Murder mystery[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 25th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, the inspector-general of police for Islamabad has given the latest version of the murder in March this year of former minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti. Just days before, another police report had suggested a family feud may have been behind Bhatti’s murder. Inspector Bin Yamin has said a Taliban group was, in fact, responsible. This indeed seems likely given that the Taliban had taken responsibility right after the killing; it should not need much detection by the police to figure out who’s responsible and make arrests.

However, the standing committee has expressed a lack of satisfaction with the police briefing. What is all the more relevant is that some five months after the broad daylight killing of a serving minister we still have no idea as to who may have been behind it. There is a sense of hopelessness in the efforts by police so far; perhaps they are also not quite as determined as they should be to get to the bottom of what was one of the most sensational murders in recent history.

The fact is that we need these crimes to be solved on an urgent basis. It is disturbing that even in the case of the murder of former Punjab Governer Salman Taseer at the start of the year, little progress has been made in the trial. Too often, Taseer’s own character and behaviour has come under the limelight rather than the act of murder committed by his police guard. This is unacceptable. It is only if the criminals behind such acts of violence are punished and brought to justice that we can hope to see an end to such killings; until that happens, many others will remain at risk. The police needs to take notice of this and step up it’s efforts against the militants. The Taliban and groups which back them need to be driven out of our society. We must pursue this aim relentlessly. Otherwise, we will not see an end to terrorism and the loss of life it repeatedly brings with it in our lifetime.

[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Pakistan-China relations[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 26th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar is not far wrong when she says her country is committed to strengthening anti-terror cooperation with China, rejecting reports that her country was a haven for militants blamed for an attack in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang. Committed Pakistan is all right, but her assurance about Pakistan not being a safe haven for terrorists will be taken by Chinese leaders with a pinch of salt.

However, Pakistan’s attitude towards the issue is quite different with respect to China compared to how Islamabad responds when the same matter arises with America, and how the latter puts pressure on it with regard to the same ‘safe havens’. That, too, is understandable because the Pakistan Army disagrees intensely with America over the future dispensation of Afghanistan and remains deeply wedded to its rivalry with India. In simplistic terms — more in vogue in Pakistan than China — Pakistan and China have the same enemies: the US and India. Pakistan has profound differences with the US over how the war against terrorism is to be fought and has become overly sensitive to how much the Americans can do in Pakistan ‘to help it fight al Qaeda’. The bilateral equation is all but gone after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. As for the Chinese, they don’t think in black and white as the Pakistanis do. Beijing does not react with knee-jerk policy changes as Washington does. It looks at Pakistan as a strategic partner quite apart from the latter’s potential of becoming overrun by the ideology of the terrorists. It is also not ready to replace the quondam Soviet Union as an ideological rival of the US. Pakistan will be making a great mistake if it thinks that China will fight the US and India for it. What is more of a truth is that China will help Pakistan survive if Pakistan takes the path of peace and free-trading, the Chinese trade mark for the 21st century.

China has been misunderstood in Islamabad. It is not going to dish out cash — of which it has a large reserve — rather; it will help Pakistan complete important projects, something at which Pakistan is not very good. There is big money linked to some very important projects with Chinese cooperation. For instance, there is the JF-17 fighter aircraft deal worth as much as $5 billion. There is Gwadar port, which has been built with initial Chinese investment of up to $400 million and there are two nuclear power plants at Chashma, each worth around $900 million. And there is also a proposal for Chinese help in building a dam on the Indus, with the scheme costing, according to Pakistani officials, as much as $15 billion. China calls the shots in Central Asia and its powerful centralised state apparatus will see to it that no province succumbs to religious terrorism and extremism unlike in Pakistan. The region’s economies are already connected with China and committed at the Shanghai Forum to fight terrorism unlike Pakistan which shelters outfits declared as ‘terrorist’ by the UN (where China voted in favour of the bans). Pakistan’s myth-making about America trying to grab Central Asian natural wealth should be put at rest because much of that has already been appropriated by China.

In 2009, the pipeline taking Turkmen gas to China was opened and, by 2013, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong will be using natural gas supplied by the 1,833-kilometer-long Central Asia pipeline. The other myth that America grabbed Iraqi oil should be corrected as well. China and India got all the fat Iraqi contracts after the Iraqis refused to privatise their oil wells. China is among the most pro-trade countries in the world but Pakistan is still biting its nails over trade with India. And it is the major trading partner and financier of America who fought the Iraq war with Chinese money. It is true that Pakistan has great love for China but Chinese nationals have died working in Balochistan, Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The Lal Masjid episode, if one recalls, was triggered by al Qaeda-linked fanatics who attacked Chinese nationals working in Islamabad. Pakistan-China relations are in danger of being undermined by Pakistan’s total lack of understanding of Chinese thinking and by Pakistan’s refusal to be realistic in its foreign policy.


[B][U][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Descent into darkness[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U][/B]
[B][RIGHT]August 26th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The four-day Eid holidays announced by the government do not bring only joy for the people of Lahore. There is also trepidation at what lies after the usual celebrations are over. There has been a warning that the hours of loadshedding will increase still further after Eid due to the suspension of gas to independent power producers (IPPs) operating near Lahore. This will push the power shortfall up beyond the 1,000 to 1,500 MW mark where it stands at present — already failing to meet the demand of 3,400 MW of power needed by Lahore to keep its lights blazing, its fans whirring and, most importantly, its factories running. The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd. Company has said the suspension of gas supply to the IPPs was unavoidable due to the planned closure of the Qadirpur gas field from August 29 to September 17 to carry out maintenance work. However, these technical details will obviously do little to appease the angry people of a city which has seen over five or six hours of loadshedding on a daily basis even during Ramazan. In some localities, the power cuts are for much longer than that.

Pepco has stated, in a gesture of reassurance, that there will be no cuts during the coming Eid holidays. But this can bring only limited comfort given that prolonged loadshedding is likely to lie beyond this brief period. What is also alarming is that there seem to be no swift solutions in sight. Every few months or so, the hapless citizens of this country are told by one minister or the other that electricity loadshedding will soon end. In fact, a senior member of the current cabinet had said a couple of years ago that it would end by 2010! Pepco states that one of the reasons for the shortfall is the high demand of industries such as those producing cement and textiles which need a continuous supply of electricity. It has been suggested to these industries that they cut down on production to ease the load on the power supply system. But obviously this is impossible. Neither the industries themselves nor our economy can sustain further losses. Other answers need to be found which can keep the commercial sector working and prevent the collapse we are already seeing as small businesses are forced to shut doors and turn employees away.