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Arain007 Tuesday, December 28, 2010 11:01 PM

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]A major tremor[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 29th, 2010[/RIGHT][/B]

The moves by the PPP to calm badly ruffled feathers amongst the MQM seem to have come to naught after all. Earlier signs that equilibrium had been restored after apparently cordial meetings between MQM delegations, the prime minister and the president have fizzled out following the decision by the MQM, after a marathon meeting, that it would pull out of the federal cabinet though it would remain a part of treasury benches.

With 25 seats, the MQM is the most important ally for the PPP which needs its support to maintain a simple majority in parliament. The PPP itself holds 125 seats. The new threat from the MQM poses for it many new problems. This is all the more so given the exit by the JUI-F which holds seven seats. Clearly, the president’s talk of imposing discipline on PPP lawmakers has not been enough to satisfy the MQM, angered by the recent comments of the Sindh home minister. The party, of course, has plenty of experience in coalition politics and how to exert pressure on governments. The failure of the PPP to keep intact its alliance could have very grave consequences for the future. This is something the party will need to think about in the wake of the situation that has arisen. It must try to analyse why it has had so much difficulty in retaining those who chose to link up with it after it was elected to power in 2008.

But for now, the PPP government faces ground that shakes beneath its feet. It will need to develop some strategy to combat the troubles it faces and ward off the looming danger. How it goes about this will be carefully watched. An alliance with the PML-Q has been talked about. Whether that party would be willing to go along with the ruling party is a moot point. It has for now not made its position quite clear. But the way politics in Pakistan functions generally means that ministries and other perks have a highly persuasive effect. Of course, there is ideology to consider. But right now, the requirement is to find stability and ground we can move safely along. This is vital both to salvaging the economy and creating the sense of political steadiness needed for this.


[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Who killed Benazir Bhutto?[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 29th, 2010[/RIGHT][/B]

President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also co-chairman of the PPP, spoke in Naudero on the third anniversary of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007 and did not make any major revelation about her killers. He had been saying that he knew who had killed her and people on both sides of the political divide wanted to hear him reveal names. The PPP supporters wanted him to finally nail the killers; the PPP-haters wanted to see him get into trouble by naming anyone without proper conviction.

TV channels actually let their not-so-literate newscasters use sarcastic sentences, as they looked back at President Zardari’s decision to approach the UN to get at the truth, and then, not being satisfied with it, descend into a curious silence before getting a joint investigation team (JIT) to move afresh on the case. During this process, opponents like Mumtaz Bhutto have been hinting broadly that Ms Bhutto was killed by those whom she was close to, making it quite clear that he, Mumtaz, held her husband responsible for her death (without providing any proof whatsoever). Unfortunately, a split within the PPP, headed by Naheed Khan and Safdar Abbasi, swelled the chorus, asking for ‘full investigation’ into the conduct of ‘all present’ at the place of the murder.

The UN inquiry was perhaps the wrong thing to do because the UN could never have fingered the killers. Yet there were things in its report that constituted good pointers. Like the Scotland Yard inquiry, it too reposed credence in the nexus between the Pakistani establishment and the terrorists in Fata. It took seriously the tape that had Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud discussing his assassination plot to get rid of Ms Bhutto for al Qaeda, whose spokesman had already warned that she was to be eliminated since she was deemed to be an ‘American asset’. You have to be from outside Pakistan to believe that Baitullah was no saint when he swore that “Taliban do not kill women”. Pakistanis simply refuse to see that a phone call from Islamabad can get anyone killed at the hands of the Taliban, even when it happens again and again in front of them.

The JIT, in November of this year, issued its 48-page inquiry report which said that the TTP had carried out the assassination. It stayed clear of the army personnel and other important members of the establishment but did say that the military “did not allow the team to get statements” from the military hierarchy. But it did something else which would scare off any TV channel know-all anchor: it indicted Baitullah Mehsud, and accused Ibadur Rehman, Abdullah and Faiz Muhammad (former students of Madrassa Haqqania, Akora Khattak in Nowshera), Ikramullah (suicide bomber), Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Hasnain Gul, Muhammad Rafaqat, Rasheed Ahmed, Nasrullah and Nadir of “carrying out, facilitating and financing the attack”.

Picking up cues from the UN report, the JIT also charged Syed Saud Aziz, a former Rawalpindi police chief, and Khurram Shahzad, a former superintendent of police, with criminal negligence of duty and “hosing down the crime scene”. The electronic media revisited the scene on the third anniversary of the assassination and found eyewitnesses who gave accounts, adding more details to the dossier. The local PPP leader who was in charge of managing the Liaquat Bagh meeting where Ms Bhutto spoke stated that the armoured vehicle which carried her away from the scene had one of its rear tyres flattened and was blocked by a crowd that did not belong to the PPP but could have been organised by persons from within the establishment. This crowd blocked the vehicle and allowed a man to fire at Benazir and a suicide bomber to emerge from Liaquat Bagh to blow himself up near the first assassin. Names have been named and they belong in the list presented to Pervez Musharraf by Ms Bhutto in a letter when he was in power. In this letter, she said that she had been told that the establishment would try to get rid of her. And this establishment contained elements who exercised policy control even after retirement. The JIT report demands action. Will the government be allowed to start action against the well-known “nursery” of jihad named in the report? Or will the trail fade like that of Pakistan’s earlier assassinations?

Arain007 Wednesday, December 29, 2010 11:05 PM

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]PM under assault[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 30th, 2010[/RIGHT][/B]

For once, the guns have been turned on the prime minister, rather than the president (who seems to invite the wrath of political rivals and the media more often than the rather amiable Mr Gilani). Maulana Fazlur Rehman, after quitting the coalition, has accused the prime minister of being the main player in the threatened breakdown of the alliance at the centre. This is in sharp contrast with the more usual portrayal of the prime minister as a peacemaker who has tried to keep parties from parting ways with the PPP — notably in the case of the PML-N. As is abundantly evident from Mr Sharif’s most recent attacks on the government, his efforts did not quite work.

It is not easy to understand what the JUI-F chief has against Mr Gilani. It is conceivable that he seeks revenge for the dismissal from the cabinet of Azam Swati, following Swati’s clash with the former minister of religious affairs. It was this move which prompted a JUI-F exit from the government. But it is also possible that the Maulana wishes to exert pressure to seek other favours as part of a deal to return to treasury benches. As things stand, the PPP faces growing pressure following the MQM pull-out from the cabinet. In Islamabad, there are whispers of a plot brewing against Mr Gilani, with the JUI-F playing a role in the developing drama.

The soap opera which constitutes Pakistan’s politics continues; many watch mesmerised. The events highlight the difficulties of running coalition governments made up of so many different players with different interests, ideologies and agendas. What is unfortunate is that while such wars of words rage on and personal differences mingle with the political, the basic needs of people are neglected. While the JUI-F — and other parties — talk of serving the masses, they conveniently ignore the fact that their actions make this difficult. At present, we have an increasingly complex political situation, the question of the coalition’s future is uppermost in minds and, as a result, there is even less likelihood than before of people receiving the kind of governance they desperately need. Politicians engaged in ceaseless wrangling should consider this too.

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Explosion at varsity[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 30th, 2010[/RIGHT][/B]

The low intensity blast at the University of Karachi, injuring three students belonging to the Imamia Student’s Organisation (ISO), brings into focus the futility of having Rangers deployed on campus. The force failed to prevent the explosive from being brought onto campus and, despite angry protests from the ISO, failed to identify those responsible. The motives are unclear — though in the light of the situation in Karachi, it is possible to make intelligent guesses.

The stepped up violence at one of the largest institutions of learning in the country is disturbing. The university had remained closed for some time as a result of clashes between rival student groups. The ISO and the People’s Students Federation featured in the violence, disrupting exam schedules. Such frequent disruption of campus life does nothing to create an environment conducive for education. Universities are meant to be places where lectures, research and learning can take place in a spirit of serenity. When there is so much tension in the air, it becomes hard for students to focus on their studies and for teachers to teach. One was injured in the last round of clashes; others have been hurt in similar incidents at universities across the country.

It is sad that we are showing our young people how to walk along the path of violence. Dangerous games involving fire-arms or explosives are too well-known to many of them. Too few, meanwhile, understand the need for analysis and academic excellence that should be a part of higher learning. We desperately need to raise standards and ensure that our graduates and postgraduates are able to compete with the best in the world. For this to happen, a conducive atmosphere needs to be created so that education can proceed smoothly and students can walk through the gates of their colleges confident that, at the end of the day, they will be able to leave alive and unharmed.

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]From Ashes to dust[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 30th, 2010[/RIGHT][/B]

There used to be only three certainties in life: death, taxes and Australia winning the Ashes. Sure, England had won two of the last three Ashes series, but the Aussies could maintain that they had only lost those nail-biting series away from home, while mauling the Poms 5-0 at home. Now that England have regained the Ashes on foreign soil with two comprehensive innings wins, that justification no longer holds any weight. For the first time in 24 years, England will be leaving Australia with the urn safely secured and the cricket world order overturned.

In retrospect, Australia’s decline seems inevitable. No team can afford the loss of giants like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist in such a short period. With a bowling attack that lacked variety and batsmen who weren’t prepared to slog it out, accompanied by selection blunders that cried of desperation and panic, Australia knew they were second-best and they certainly played like it. Australia has been humbled. Humility and introspection will have to follow. Captain Ricky Ponting, for so long one of the best batsmen in the world, now looks like a shell of a man, unable to find his fluency. He is likely the first victim of Australia’s inability to regain the Ashes.

There is a bright light in England’s Ashes tour for Pakistan too. This series has demonstrated the cyclical nature of cricket. Yesterday’s world-beaters are today’s whipping boys. We saw this with the West Indian team of the 1980s, which could seemingly never lose, and then suffered a rapid decline. England’s renaissance has been a hard-earned one that was accompanied by great professionalism and an ace coaching staff. Even that would not have been enough were it not for the talent they had at their disposal. It may take us as long as it took the English to become world-beaters. But as this series has shown us, the only constant in cricket is change.

Arain007 Friday, December 31, 2010 09:41 AM

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Ending the decade with terrorism[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]December 31st, 2010[/RIGHT][/B]

The year 2010 brought to an end the decade that most inflicted violence on the common man in Pakistan, resulting in a response of ‘extremism’ from the country’s civil society. The terrorism exercised by the Taliban and al Qaeda against the state was paralleled by people’s own violence against people. What began in 2000 as a violent reaction against the incursion of Isaf-Nato forces in Afghanistan, reached a civil war-like level by 2010, rocking the country internally and causing violent events in the regional neighbourhood.

There is agreement among expert analysts that the state was responsible for causing itself to come apart at the seams through an embrace of jihad or covert war, starting in 1990. Non-state actors employed as warriors of Islam in Afghanistan and India turned against the patron state. In 2010, Pakistan saw two diametrically opposed policies being run by the ‘security’ state: nurturing non-state organisations as a challenge to India and the US; and fighting terrorism that these very militias inflicted on the people of Pakistan under the guidance of al Qaeda.

A study of the sermons delivered from the mosques in 2010 has revealed that clerical authorities are divided on the basis of intolerance. The year 2010 saw the climaxing of Deobandi-Barelvi conflict — in the shape of suicide-bombing of tombs of popular saints in Lahore and Karachi — on the issue of qabar-parasti (worship of tombs) debated by al Qaeda and its allied Deobandi madrassas. By the end of the year, the Barelvis seemed to rise as a counterforce to terrorism, but this hope was dashed when the clergy united across-the-board against any rationalisation of the blasphemy law. 2010 was the beginning of the conversion of the Pakistani state from ‘modern’ to ‘pre-modern’.

The misfortunes of Pakistan were foreign policy-related. And the central knot of conflict was in Afghanistan where an ‘India-centric’ Pakistan sought to head off possible Indian regional outreach, allegedly through the very terrorists it was supposed to fight. Since the economy was in a poor shape and in need of foreign assistance to make its essential purchases, the international community was in a position to exercise control over Pakistan’s conduct. Pakistan’s neighbours and some Nato countries, including the US, accused Pakistan of playing a double game, helping the terrorists strike inside Afghanistan to kill foreign troops.

Iran and India warned Pakistan of dire consequences if terrorist attacks inside their territories by Pakistani terrorists continued. The Pakistan army, after retaking control of Swat-Malakand in 2009, went out to Orakzai and South Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) to flush out terrorists harassing the major cities of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In Swat, as well as Bajaur and Khyber, the battles have fluctuated and the Taliban have a pattern of coming back and retaking territory.

In the midst of extremism, floods of historic proportions struck Pakistan in the middle of the year, converting 20 million people into refugees and adding them to the camps of people displaced by Taliban. The cost was pegged at $10 billion, clipping agricultural production in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Punjab and Sindh. The fact that Pakistan’s economy is predominantly agricultural and a majority of its people live in the countryside, the damage to standard of living was colossal, subjecting the affected masses to pauperisation. The government was unable to cope, given its traditionally curtailed service delivery outreach.

Although the State Bank pointed out slight improvement in the national economy over the past year, the demonstration effect of economic suffering through the media was overpowering. Being in the IMF programme, Pakistan was under pressure to expand its resource base. The old indirect Sales Tax had been rendered useless by exemptions and Pakistan had to agree to enforce a Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) which would rely on an efficient system of tax ‘draw back’ while bringing concerned sellers on the records of the state.

Despite the fact that scores of countries have successfully enforced the system without drowning in inflation, there was political opposition to the RGST, which was postponed, once again, in December through a period of grace. The State Bank kept the interest rate high to prevent hyperinflation, which meant more pains of economic contraction such as double-digit inflation and unemployment.

Coalition politics is meant for civilised societies. Countries like India have learned to live with coalitions at the cost of action on policies requiring consensus. But in Pakistan, it means a leap of the lemmings into the politics of toppling. The country remained politically unstable through 2010 with a painful series of revelations of corruption in the PPP-led coalition. When physically insecure and unsure of completing their term in office, politicians take to corruption, which damages much during an economic downturn, unlike ‘shining’ India where corruption is balanced by a high growth rate.

Judicial ‘activism’ in 2009, which created some of the factors of political instability, slowed down somewhat after the lawyers’ community underwent a split in 2010; it also suffered decline because the lawyers became violent. The 2007 stance the Supreme Court took on the Steel Mill privatisation cost a lot in 2010 in the shape of billions of rupees in subsidy; its interference in the market during the ‘sugar crisis’ actually increased the suffering of the people.

Most Pakistanis don’t believe that Pakistan has lost control of nearly 60 per cent of its territory. There is an insurgency going on in Balochistan which is 40 per cent of the country’s territory; there is a Taliban uprising in Fata which is seven tribal agencies along the length of Afghanistan; Peshawar, together with its ‘settled’ cities like Bannu, Kohat and Hangu, are under a kind of diarchy of the state and the Taliban warlords.

In Sindh, the Indus River has a stretch some 80 kilometres long where only the dacoits rule; in Punjab, the south is gradually succumbing to the influence of pro-Taliban ‘jihadi’ elements, forcing the ruling PML-N to fraternise with them. In Karachi, entire settlements comprising different ethnic-linguistic groups have become ‘no-go’ areas for the administration; and 2010 has seen a spike in ‘target-killing’ that the mega-city has not seen since the 1990s.

Arain007 Friday, December 31, 2010 10:36 PM

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Looking at the year ahead[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 1st, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

In 2011, Pakistan’s number one crisis will not be corruption, inflation or political instability, but the ongoing violence inflicted by the Taliban and the war in Afghanistan that is winding down to its final date in 2014. The year 2011 will be crucial, as it will decide whether the difference of opinion between Pakistan and America over Afghanistan will be resolved. It will also be a year of Pakistan’s correction of its unrealistic and unjustified opposing of China befriending India and the US in its strategic thinking.

The year 2010 ended with Pakistan telling the US that it is not yet ready to attack foreign terrorist safe havens in North Waziristan. This has happened apparently because of the diversion of forces made to counter resurgence of terrorist attacks in Mohmand and Bajaur agencies as well as some movement in Swat and Malakand. But this year may also see closer cooperation between the two allies: despite bad public optics, there is close coordination between the two militaries, the intelligence and police forces, through the institution of joint ‘fusion centres and cells’ at different places within Pakistan and Afghanistan.

More upbeat developments have been noted in Washington. Towards the end of 2010, Pakistani and US drone attacks had pulverised the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its foreign supporters, particularly the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which has now begun to head back to Central Asia. The war against the militants may now be conducted on the basis of intelligence fed by drones surveillance and passed on to the Pakistani military. What happens to Pakistan in the coming months will depend on how pragmatically army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani handles the situation.

It is dangerous to allow anti-American emotion to spread in Pakistan as it plays into the hands of al Qaeda and the TTP and makes any cooperation with the international effort against terrorism look like a betrayal of the Pakistani nation. The nation is expected to respond to terrorism in 2011 in two ways: by hating the Americans and by matching the terror of the TTP, with its own political and social extremism. The economy, ever the non-honour-based entity, depends on the US and the European Union for its survival. And the IMF bailout — sorely needed through 2011 — will be possible only if the military plays its cards right.

Coalition politics has predictably soured because of the primitive nature of Pakistani environment, driven as it is by a feudal mindset. No government, even when it has a two-thirds majority under its belt, has looked like it will last very long. Why not topple when toppling looks easy? And if Nawaz Sharif is lingering, let TV channels rebuke him with the dishonourable epithet of ‘friendly opposition’. The numerous strange bedfellows have started falling apart and the year 2011 will see a time-wasting unfolding of this tragic theatre, while the common man continues to bear the brunt of a dysfunctional economy, worsened by administrative paralysis in Islamabad and the provincial capitals.

Reflex, rather than reflection, will characterise the politicians’ conduct. Altaf Hussain of the MQM was once the most pragmatic — meaning adjustable — leader in the country. He was fearlessly ‘secular’ when no party was willing to say so; he supported the international community against terrorism and spoke about normalisation with India. Now he talks of ‘French Revolution’ — not knowing that it was a quick failure after four years of senseless blood-letting — and has become fashionably anti-American, supporting the dubious cause of Aafia Siddiqi.

Karachi is in for more trouble, especially going by the recent verbal sparring between the MQM and the PML-N. The ethnic divisions of the megalopolis and its fallout of target-killing might escalate if the counterbalancing spat between Altaf Hussain and Nawaz Sharif doesn’t give way to a semblance of sanity. If it continues to escalate, it could very well send a wrong signal to the PPP. While the terrorism and violence that is manifest in Karachi is not driven by political parties, it does have to be handled by them collectively. It is a moot point whether 2011 will make this truth dawn on the political parties that have a following in that city.

If the reformed general sales tax (RGST) continues to be driven by politics, the year will be economically bleaker than last year. But like some other tragedies of the past — for instance the crisis of East Pakistan — the entire nation beating the breast on TV channels may be wrong. There is no running away from the need to expand the state’s resource base. There is a dire need also to stop relying on a miraculous and instantaneous cessation of corruption in order to somehow postpone tax collection. The year may not see any realistic move towards collecting from the rural aristocracy. The suffering will go on but may be alleviated a little by cooperating with the international community fighting terrorism.

Balochistan will simmer and public sentiment aroused in favour of the Baloch after the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, might have to give ground to the Pakistan Army’s unavoidable action against the insurgents there. The media have realised, but will not mention it, that truthful reporting from Balochistan is not possible and that any viable existence of an independent Baloch is a figment of the imagination. We could well have problems on our southwestern border if the army is forced to back out of the Balochistan crisis which is bound to peak during the year.

Will the PPP fall in 2011? For those nourishing their negative hopes on the media, it will come as a shock that any midterm change will not change things much, not even corruption. If it is a national government after the PPP — which means put together by the army — trouble with India will grow and more terrorist attacks from Pakistani soil will ensue, a recidivism that has got Pakistan nowhere in the past. Nawaz Sharif is right if he thinks winning midterm elections will be of little use if it puts him in the same bed together with the terrorists of south Punjab.

Arain007 Saturday, January 01, 2011 10:38 PM

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]‘Petrol bomb’ and other unfair labels[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B][B][RIGHT]January 2nd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]
The heading is irresistible: “Government drops another petrol bomb”, equating it with the terrorists who kill the common man in Pakistan; or “New Year gift of the government to the people”, etc. This would happen anywhere in the world because governments have to bear the consequences of an economy that is not doing well and is highly dependent on imported oil for its industrial and commercial needs. US President Barack Obama is unpopular today and might lose his second term because of the economy left behind by an earlier president and the banking collapse caused by one of capitalism’s cyclical crises.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) — whose name is frightening in itself — announced that it was raising the prices of petroleum products up by nearly Rs8 per litre (in the case of petrol used by cars). A spokesman for Ogra explained that the government was simply passing on the new price of crude oil in the Arab Gulf market which had surged by nearly 12 per cent. The ‘New Year gift’ should have been described as coming from a ‘friendly’ Gulf country but that is not how the politics of price hikes unfolds.

Was it wrong to pass on the cost of an imported item? If everyone is agreed that it was wrong, then the matter is closed and all the nearly abusive comment issuing from political quarters, including our clueless clergy, is justified. But if you think that it was right to keep the prices realistic, then one must think of describing the latest rise in more rational terms. Was Musharraf right in holding on to old oil prices when the global spiral began in 2007? He thought he could open the floodgates of new international prices after winning the 2008 elections. His calculation was wrong. What we got, as he rode into the sunset, was a whopping circular debt overhang of nearly Rs400 billion.

We would be right in thinking that not passing on the price means giving subsidy to all and sundry to enable them to squander an expensive resource. Hence, Ogra’s latest act should be seen in the light of a correction of past policies which caused bankruptcy in all sectors connected with refining and distributing imported oil. One of the reasons why we are on life support with the IMF is what was done, not by the present government, but by the Musharraf regime. The IMF whose last tranche has been withheld because Pakistan is not able to enforce the reformed general sales tax (RGST) says Pakistan is endangered by a deficit that will bring in hefty inflation. But what we are focusing on is inflation caused by the new oil price.

Who is right? The IMF pointing to our rising deficit or our newspapers shouting inflation after the oil hike? Of course, rise in cost will increase prices, but would that be the same as inflation emanating from a deficit? The cost-related inflation — even when it is across the board as in the case of oil — still gives the consumer an option to abstain. But inflation coming out of subsidy and money-printing, hits the poor directly and gives them no options at all. The IMF has warned Pakistan that its deficit is rising dangerously. The government, not able to levy direct taxes for traditional and political reasons, has borrowed Rs 1,500 billion from the State Bank (and it’s own revenue estimate is Rs700 billion). This is a recipe for hyperinflation which will translate into paying Rs100 for a box of matches.

From Ahsan Iqbal of the PML-N, to Imran Khan, the critics are acidic without being assiduous in their grasp of the economy. Corruption is a long-term disease and if it could sink a state it would have put paid to India long time ago. But with the Indian economy growing at the rate of eight per cent, corruption does little harm. Pakistan’s problem is its sinking economy and for that there are many reasons, including terrorism and extremism, the last attribute causing the country’s powerful and weaponised clergy to exhibit a wrath against the possible reform of the blasphemy law that will only harm Pakistan. As a kind of rebuke, the same night, the youth in big cities is doing cartwheels on the roads welcoming the New Year.


[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Blasphemy backtrack[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 2nd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

It takes only a miniscule drop of rain to send the government scuttling for cover. The threat by religious parties to protest any change in blasphemy laws has lead to an immediate process of backtracking. This has not been enough, however, to prevent the nationwide strike which went ahead on December 31. The pressure then is on.

The new minister for religious affairs, Khurshid Shah, told the National Assembly this past week that the PPP had no plans to repeal the law or make changes in it. Other members of the government have expressed similar sentiments. These contrast quite markedly with the bold assertions made previously about changing laws that have been misused to put hundreds behind bars. Most of them are innocent people who have been victimised by rivals attempting to settle some score. The blasphemy clause has become a highly convenient way to deal with those who become caught up in a row of any kind. The government should be emphasising this point, rather than cowering each time extremists come out on the streets to demonstrate their power. The degree of menace they present is overrated. After all, nothing of note had happened when major changes were made in the Hudood Ordinance during the Mushurraf era. It seems quite obvious that religious groups have more bark than bite.

In the past, the PPP had spoken out strongly against the blasphemy laws and the manner in which they were put to use. It is sad to see the party now moving backwards along the track without so much as an explanation. It is important that the blasphemy law be relegated to history. The courage to do so needs to be found. Even though they do not speak out, the ‘silent majority’ as it were, many people will applaud this. More and more citizens are shocked by the manner in which religion has come to be abused in our country. They seek from their leaders a willingness to undo the damage inflicted during the Zia years and ensure that the true values of Islam — peace, tolerance and mercy — once more become the norm in society, rather than engaging in political point-scoring. It is the rights of the people that need to be given priority.

Arain007 Monday, January 03, 2011 08:45 AM

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Day of reckoning?[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 3rd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

One may ask whether the headline of this editorial applies as much as to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani as the Sindh government. The former for sure will find it difficult to survive unless the PPP quickly finds a way to either convince its former allies to return to the fold, or forge fresh alliances. While the government is not immediately under threat in Sindh, it could very well be the next step of this gradual erosion of support for the PPP.

Going by the make-up of the province, the most stable government for Sindh would always been one where the MQM and the PPP share a coalition. The province and Karachi in particular may also be looking to some very uncertain days in the not-so-distant future. As for the federal level, the MQM has a hefty 25 seats in the National Assembly and Prime Minister Gilani will find it increasingly hard to command to the leadership of the house.

The MQM has said that its decision to sit in the opposition and in effect leave the government at the centre, is based on decisions such as increase in oil price announced on January 1 and the PPP’s insistence on the reformed GST. However, in the past couple of years, while the party has been in power, petrol prices have been raised several times so the cynic may wonder whether there is more to this decision than meets the eye. As for the RGST, the PPP has been unable to force a vote on it in parliament and the tax doesn’t in fact raise the rate of taxation but only broadens it to sectors of the economy that till now were outside the GST’s pale. Perhaps, points of conflict could have been the end of the nazim system for Karachi and the planned, but-now-delayed, decision to reintroduce commissioners. Also, the party has been of late complaining that some elements in the PPP were accusing it of being behind the violence in the city. That could also have been a bone an issue. One thing is for sure: the next few days will be tough for the PPP in Sindh and for the prime minister at the centre.


[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Fired up without any gas[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 3rd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Tempers are rising across Punjab over the lack of gas reaching homes and industries. In some cases, it seems we have reverted back to the Stone Ages. People desperate to make a meal collect wood to light outdoor fires. In factories, efforts are being made to run machinery manually.

The impact of the acute gas shortage in Punjab has been dramatic. The Punjab government claims a conspiracy has been hatched. Its contention is that the province is being deliberately deprived of gas in order to handicap the ruling set-up. People have been staging angry protests in Lahore and other cities. In some towns, there has been no gas for up to six days. Life has moved towards the impossible. Sui Northern Gas tells us the shortage in Punjab is caused by the fact that, constitutionally, the requirement is that gas producing areas be given priority in supply. This does not appear to be a strictly accurate account of events. In many parts of Balochistan there is no piped gas at all. The demands of people in this respect have been ignored for decades.

To make matters worse, the prices of gas have risen steeply over the last year. People resent handing over large sums of money for a utility they never receive. Apart from inconvenience, the energy shortage has crippled production. Smaller units have suffered immensely. In Faisalabad, we have heard of thousands of layoffs from the power-loom sector. This means more human misery. It also means a huge loss in economic terms. As the business community in Faisalabad has pointed out, the textile sector comprises a vital component of Pakistan’s exports. Losses can simply not be sustained. People are already out on the streets . The explanations by Sui Northern Gas carry no weight. Solutions have to be found before the energy crisis creates even more havoc.


[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Much-needed legislation[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 3rd, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

It is a sad comment on the state of our society that the law is often a step behind the myriad forms of brutality with which criminals strike their victims. The recently proposed law that seeks to criminalise disfiguring of women is a step in the right direction and a much-needed legal protection, though the very fact that a need arose for such a law is shameful.

Far too many men, it seems, think that attacking women with acid and horribly disfiguring them is a legitimate expression of whatever grievances they may feel. The law, as it currently stands, does not have a specific provision dealing with this crime and, as such, even the few who do get convicted of the crime often get light sentences.

It is a welcome development that the proposed bill, initiated by Fakhrun Nisa Khokher of the PPP and supported by Marvi Memon of the PML-Q, seems to have broad support across the political spectrum. This is a pleasant turn of events from the embarrassing ruckus in parliament that came about when previous bills concerning women’s rights were proposed, such as the Women’s Protection Bill of 2006. Perhaps our expectations are too low, but we are grateful that our legislators can agree that throwing acid on a woman’s face should be illegal.

The law was not voted on this past week, owing to procedural matters such as the absence of the law minister from the chamber as well as the desire of some members of parliament to further strengthen the law. As it stands, we see nothing wrong with the law and we hope this delay does not translate into the kind of orphaning that many a worthy piece of legislation has had to endure in the past. We hope that the bill becomes law soon and that parliament is able to take up further legislation protecting women’s rights, especially protections against violence, in the coming season.

Arain007 Monday, January 03, 2011 11:25 PM

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Going for a fall?[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 4th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

It is quite clear that the PPP-led coalition has evaporated in the National Assembly. What Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Sunday in Lahore — that his government won’t fall after the JUI-F and MQM sat on the opposition benches — looked like routine words of self-deception. He is now 12 seats short of a majority, and if rules be observed, President Zardari must ask him to show he has 172 votes in the House.

The PPP persuasion with the MQM has not worked. The JUI-F, too, has brushed aside blandishments. The PML-N says it is not going to bail out the government. The PML-Q says it, too, will not vote to give Mr Gilani the numbers he needs to survive. Outside, the internecine clerical opposition — ‘miraculously’ brought together on the question of the blasphemy law which the government was not even willing to amend — is threatening to make trouble in the streets.

The media has run away with the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s oil price hike and will not say that subsidising the latest rise in the global oil price will be more harmful than passing it on to the people whom an all-party opposition will not allow to be taxed under the reformed general sales tax (RGST). People are being interviewed on the hardship they face with high petrol price and gas shortage; and the media will not tell the people that gas has run short because of steep rise in consumption and the depletion of underground gas reserves.

The stage is set for change. The JUI-F, now keen to get rid of Mr Gilani, wants Mr Nawaz Sharif to stand aside and let the government fall. The PML-N has, so far, said that it will not give Mr Gilani the vote to save his skin, but is less sure about in-house change after Gilani. It has the second largest vote in the National Assembly but it is still less than what the PPP has, which means Mr Sharif will head a weaker coalition than even the PPP’s. Today, his party is meeting with him to decide if the PML-N will go for dissolution of the Assembly and gear up for midterm elections.

Deserters have been talking to people they were not wont to talk to in the past, which looks like orchestration. The MQM is talking to the Jamaat-e-Islami; it is also talking to the PML of Pir Pagaro. The JUI-F and MQM are talking to PML-Q to hear Chaudhry Shujaat say he will not throw a lifeline to Gilani. The trend towards toppling is so strong, the PML-N may have to reconsider. Mr Sharif had rebuffed two moves in the past: a move by Pir Pagaro to unite the myriad Muslim Leagues to bring about change of government; and he rebuffed the MQM rather unceremoniously which unleashed a war of words the country had never seen.

Mr Sharif has hinted that the storm gathering against the PPP coalition was a kind of puppet show orchestrated by the establishment that had once ousted him from power. He says he will not be a part of any unconstitutional move to topple the PPP, but what is happening in the country hardly looks unconstitutional. The PPP has been tainted by scandals that no PPP supporter can ignore. Mr Gilani has been making appointments that were unwise, if not disingenuous. Given its flat-footedness, the PPP has attracted some of the opprobrium held over from the past that it did not deserve.

It is decision time for the PML-N. To be more precise, it is time for Nawaz Sharif to move quickly on the path of pragmatism. Does he want midterm elections? He has been ambivalent on the question. The hawks want the PPP out so that they can exploit the current peak of popularity in the gallup polls. Mr Sharif, however, has given evidence of some lateral thinking. Would it be wise to step in the shoes of a PPP under attack from terrorism and saddled with a strained economy?

Governability is at a low ebb. A PML-N government will be no less helpless facing the economic crunch or negotiating peace with al Qaeda, the Baloch separatists and a very hostile Sindh. Will Mr Sharif save the PPP and allow it to run a minority government? And for how long?


[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Sad exodus[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 4th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The rate at which Pakistan is losing its diversity as a nation bringing together many kinds of people, is terrifying. Those who have lived together for centuries, as part of well-integrated communities, now eye each other with suspicion.

From Balochistan, hundreds of Hindus are stated, according to a report in this newspaper, to be planning to depart — either to other parts of the country, or, in some cases, to India. The spate of targeted kidnappings in the province is a chief reason for their fear. Most Hindus are ethnic Baloch, members of major tribes who, in the past, have enjoyed the protection of the sardars. The worsening law and order situation in the province, however, makes them vulnerable to kidnappings. In many cases, the perception that Hindus are rich businessmen and more likely to pay ransom because of their minority status adds to the risks they face. According to the provincial home department, there have been 291 abductions and eight kidnappings for ransom this year alone. Many of the victims have been Hindus, with several prominent members of the community, including spiritual leader Lackmi Chand, head of the largest Hindu temple in the province, taken away by unknown abductors. Their whereabouts in many cases remain unknown — and in cases where money is not demanded for a release, the motive seems unclear.

The degree of terror that the minority communities face everywhere is growing rapidly more acute. This Christmas, Christians marked the occasion with sorrow overtaking joy, as protests were staged to seek the release of blasphemy victim Aasia Bibi. Sikhs have been targeted in the north, Ahmadis subjected to devastating bombings and minority Muslim sects attacked in similar fashion. The Hindus of Balochistan have lived in the towns and cities of the province all their lives, as did their parents, their grandparents and others who came before. It is tragic that they should now feel so unsafe in their own homes. We need immediate measures to return to the non-Muslims of our country some sense of security and to create a situation that acknowledges that they, as citizens, are equals who have a right to the same protections as the Muslims who make up over 95 per cent of the population.

Arain007 Wednesday, January 05, 2011 02:41 PM

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Utter madness[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 5th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The assassination of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer in Islamabad by one of his own police guards, in one of the federal capital’s most upscale markets (often frequented by foreigners, diplomats and the well-heeled) should open our eyes to the utter madness engulfing our nation. According to Interior Minister Rehman Malik, the killer surrendered himself after doing the ‘deed’ and said that he did it because the governor had called the blasphemy law a “black law”. The assassination comes a few days after a countrywide strike by religious parties, fully backed by banned militant and sectarian outfits, against any government plans to change the blasphemy law. In the run-up to that strike, Mr Taseer and his PPP colleague, the courageous MNA and former information minister Sherry Rehman, were singled out by name by the obscurantists and many of the statements that were made by the leaders of some religious parties bordered on incitement to violence. Mr Taseer had also spoken out in defence of Aasia Bibi, after visiting her some weeks ago in prison. He had pledged to do all he could to free her since, in his view, she was innocent of the charge against her because she had not committed blasphemy and was being victimised because she was a Christian.

In all of this, the Punjab governor said all the right things and it was heartening to finally see someone speak with the voice of progressiveness and respect for human rights that the PPP had historically been associated with. And now it is revolting to see the same man done to death, so viciously, and that too by a member of his own police guard, someone whose duty it was to guard him with his own life. The policeman who killed Mr Taseer was, in all likelihood, so indoctrinated by the culture of hate and intolerance that pervades against minorities, especially on the blasphemy law in this country, that he must believe that his action will guarantee him a place in heaven. And it will not be long before we will find many people, in the media and on television in particular, who will become apologists for the killer and try to justify his actions. In this it needs to be said, clearly, and again and again, that Salmaan Taseer was not a blasphemer and he was not an apostate. He said what needed to be said because the blasphemy law is misused and targets defenceless people who, more often than not, belong to the minorities and any country comprising civilised and sensible people, would have in-built provisions to prevent its misuse. And for that he should not have been killed. But what we have is utter madness, a situation where those who try and speak out for the poor and defenceless, for the victimised and the harassed, are targeted themselves. And Mr Taseer’s untimely and tragic death shows that position and power doesn’t play a role in this — one can be the governor of the country’s largest province and an important member of the ruling party but all of that comes to naught in front of a brainwashed individual who thinks that taking another man’s life is a passport to heaven.

Also, lest we forget, since we all, especially in this country, tend to have very short memories, the blood of Salmaan Taseer is on all our hands. We, each one of us, are to blame for his assassination. And this is because, when he was being targeted by the extremists and the religious elements in our society, when some people came on television and hinted that Mr Taseer was, in effect, wajibul qatl we did nothing to stand up and support him. It is these same people who are now targeting Sherry Rehman — how many members of civil society rallied to her defence, except for a few hundred people in the federal capital?

The PPP is known to be a party of progressive values with a vision, and it needs to reclaim that space and fight the extremists. It needs to provide exemplary punishment to the killer and it should not back down from modifying the law since it is much misused and cause for violence. If this is not realised and nothing is done on this front, we will all be victims of the same fate that befell Salmaan Taseer.

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Serving self-interest[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 5th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

For natural reasons, the political situation prevailing in the country is being followed by a great deal of interest from many quarters. But as has been the case with Pakistan politics for as long as most of us can remember, selfish interests, centred around the desire to attain power, override wider ones, especially the desperate need for democracy to continue uninterrupted and for an elected government to complete its tenure. This has not happened since the 1970s — and this tradition of incomplete periods in office contributes to the sense of uncertainty we encounter whenever a civilian government is in power.

Even those who bombastically describe themselves as patriots seem to have no problems in suggesting the democratic process be derailed. In a statement in Dubai, former dictator Pervez Musharraf has said his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) would be ready to contest midterm polls even at a few weeks’ notice. As is not unusual in the case of Mr Musharraf, his projections and expectations are hugely unrealistic. The APML hardly exists as any kind of entity and there is no evidence at all that people favour the return of an ex-president whose popularity ratings had slipped to rock bottom levels by the time he completed his nine years in office.

We cannot deny that the present government has not always ruled with wisdom; issues such as growing inflation have adversely affected the lives of millions. There are other problems we are all familiar with. But midterm polls could aggravate rather than ease the situation. We need to establish a tradition of stable democratic rule if we are to have any hope for the future and political parties should be pushing for this. Other than Musharraf, leaders representing all kinds of parties are looking for a similar disruption in the process; this is true even in cases where they do not say so openly. The assessment of possibilities is going on everywhere and chances are being examined. More than anything else, Pakistan needs politicians who are capable of looking beyond their own interests and at those of their country at the wider level. We must hope such individuals can be found, especially as it has been, for many years, hard to spot them.

Arain007 Wednesday, January 05, 2011 11:41 PM

[B][SIZE="5"][CENTER]The monster rising within us[/CENTER][/SIZE][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 6th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

The member of the Punjab ‘elite’ force, Mumtaz Qadri, guarding Governor Salmaan Taseer who killed him had had himself included in the personal security squad of the governor during his visit to Islamabad. According to a report quoting an investigator who interrogated the killer, Qadri told his colleagues in the squad that he would murder the governor and that they should not fire at him because he would surrender after the act. It seems that the squad let him do the job, acquiescing in it, after his colleagues had called him a junooni (fanatic). That the man was removed from the Special Branch earlier because he was a ‘security risk’ should have caused senior officers to take him off the governor’s personal security detail altogether, but that did not happen. One is forced to assume that policemen are recruited without much regard for their orientation. Like lawyers, most policemen come from small cities and rural areas and have an extremely conservative worldview. Since the police is the vanguard of the fight against so-called Islamic outfits like al Qaeda and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), strict screening is necessary but is not done.

Controversy over the blasphemy law has been tragically divided on the basis of Urdu-English readership vis-a-vis the print media. The Urdu press has maintained a conservative point of view close to the clerical consensus developed through an aggressive campaign by the Deobandi-Ahle Hadith-Barelvi schools of thought. Mumtaz Qadri could have only read the more emotive stance taken by the Urdu press and TV channels where fatwa-like statements of religious leaders were being publicised. The prayer leader of the mosque he frequented probably did the rest of his brainwashing.

After the murder, over 500 clerics of the Barelvi school have praised Mumtaz Qadri for killing Governor Taseer, urging Muslims across the country to boycott the funeral ceremony. (It is likely that the khateeb of Badshahi masjid declined a request by the administration to lead the funeral prayers.) The message was: “No Muslim should attend the funeral or even try to pray for Salmaan Taseer or express any kind of regret or sympathy over the incident.” The fatwas regularly printed in the Urdu press had apostatised him for opposing the blasphemy law, completely ignoring the fact that objections raised by most experts were related only to the enforcement of the law.

Some thought the unprecedented clerical campaign was a mullah-military orchestration, but the truth is that instead of becoming a counterforce to the Deobandis and Ahle Hadith, the Barelvis joined the very elements that had attacked the shrines held sacred by them.

Intimidation works in Pakistan. Maulana Sarfraz Naeemi was killed by a suicide bomber after he opposed suicide bombing. Swat’s university chancellor and Islamic scholar Farooq Khan was killed after he condemned the enforcement of the so-called Islamic punishments in Orakzai Agency. Enlightened Islamic scholar Javed Ahmed Ghamidi was challenged again and again till his school was attacked and he simply removed himself from the discussion of the blasphemy law to which he was opposed.

Who organised the latest campaign against the government, after a PPP MNA brought a proposed amendment bill to parliament? Despite the intellectual consensus that only the procedures needed to be changed to prevent abuse of the law, and the government’s disavowal of any amendments in the law, the virulent campaign continued. A UN-banned jihadi outfit declared in its banned publication that it had organised the campaign by calling together all the leaders of the religious parties. The jihadi organisation is internationally recognised as a state-protected outfit and has been noted as a close collaborator of al Qaeda inside Afghanistan. The TTP’s deputy leader, Maulvi Faqir Muhammad of Bajaur, has already declared his organisation’s backing to the campaign.

The Federal Shariat Court, in its recent verdict, has thrown out procedural changes made in rape cases where women — the victims — are actually victimised under the law, more or less, like victims of the blasphemy law. This has unfolded within the general trend of making Pakistan ready for an al Qaeda takeover whose leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, has written a critique of the Pakistan Constitution, negating the present order in the country and proposing a new one, more in agreement with the madrassa clergy. Some madrassas are even distributing the Zawahiri constitution in Pakistan. Is it intimidation pure and simple, or is it a sign of the nation making ready to welcome a new order under the terror of al Qaeda and the TTP?

Politicians are taking cover. In Punjab, the ruling party is gradually turning away from its more pacific Barelvi hinterland in central Punjab to the more powerful jihad-oriented Deobandi centres of power in the south. No one wants to be killed like Governor Taseer. Who can prevent police employees from following in the footsteps of their masters? The PPP prime minister is leaning on his Syed origins to say he could not allow any changes in blasphemy law because he was a descendant of the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

All our wounds are internal. They are not inflicted by Blackwater, Mossad or RAW but by our own extremism. Senior police officers who come on TV to say that terrorism targeting innocent people is actually perpetrated by a “foreign hand” should take a look at the men they recruit to look after ordinary people. It is quite clear that no reorientation is imparted to men after recruitment into the police department. The cleric is free to inject into them whatever pre-modern ideas of governance and retribution he has grasped with his narrow mind. Extremism is Pakistan’s social response to al Qaeda’s cruel domination.

It is often said that terrorists — and extremists who side with them — are let off by the courts because Pakistan’s prosecution of cases is below par and that the quality of policemen is poor. But it is also true that if an accused is not a terrorist and is poor, he has short shrift in our lower courts. Besides, many sessions courts have begun giving punishments which indicate that the courts themselves are becoming conservative. In many parts of Fata, the TTP already cuts off people’s hands, as if setting up a model to emulate.

Arain007 Friday, January 07, 2011 11:49 AM

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Conspiracy behind killing?[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 7th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Was the heinous act of murder which ended the life of Governor Salman Taseer the act of a single, deranged fanatic — or was there a wider conspiracy behind it?

The most direct suggestion that Taseer’s murder was politically motivated has come from law minister Babar Awan, who has said the intention was to derail the democratic process at a time when it is already in crisis. Though it is not clear how the murder of Taseer would tie up with the withdrawal of the JUI-F and MQM from treasury benches, it certainly adds to the problems faced by the PPP. President Zardari has been cautious, hinting at political motives but stressing that this aspect needed to be investigated.

There is no doubt that an investigation of high quality — and credibility — is essential. It is shocking that a man with a background as dubious as that of assassin Mumtaz Qadri was allowed to guard the governor. Qadri, associated in the past with at least one religious outfit, had been rejected for Special Branch duty. He himself had made the request to be assigned with the governor. Was the decision to favour him simply the result of a nonchalant approach? Or was there more to it? Had Qadri really informed his fellow guards of his plans as some reports suggest? These questions need to be answered.

We need to ensure that we do not get caught up in a tangled web of intrigue or constant exchange of accusations. Cooperation between the Punjab government, the central government, the police and other agencies is vital. If there was a broader conspiracy, it must be uncovered; if not, measures must be taken to remove men like Qadri from the police force. At the very least, negligence was involved in the death of Taseer. Others, too, could die if the matter is not properly inquired into and remedial measures taken.

[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Mounting pressure[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 7th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Nawaz Sharif has decided to play hardball. The ultimatum he delivered to the PPP at a meeting of top party leaders in Islamabad left no doubts on this score. The question is: are the tough demands made by the PML-N possible to meet within the 45-day period Mr Sharif has laid down? The PPP has been given a few days to reply either in the positive or negative.

The demands are such that it may not be possible to make such a response. The issues are complex and, in the context of Pakistan, we all know how difficult it is to bring about change instantly. The nine-point agenda presented by the PML-N seeks, among other things, a reduction in petrol prices, the ouster of corrupt ministers, the appointment of independent members to vacant Election Commission seats and a new accountability law which follows the outline drawn up by the PML-N. Even for a government working at full capacity, this is not an easy set of challenges. For an administration within which inefficiency and disharmony often prevail, it may be impossible to implement the list of demands placed before it.

The PML-N has been in government enough times to know what problems the PPP will face. Though the 72-hour deadline originally set for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer has been extended following the murder of Governor Salmaan Taseer, the PPP faces other difficulties. It is, for instance, locked in a struggle to keep its government intact. Talks continue with allies who have quit the coalition as well as potential new partners. The move by the PML-N is obviously aimed at piling on the pressure at this point. Nawaz Sharif has said the same agenda will be placed before opposition parties if the PPP fails to give an affirmative response. We wonder what the real purpose behind the ultimatum is. Perhaps it is designed to force the PPP to give a negative answer. After all, it is hard to see how corrupt officials can be identified and sacked within days. Perhaps the PML-N just wants to look like the good guy and force the PPP into the role of the villain.


[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Cricketers in trouble[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]
[B][RIGHT]January 7th, 2011[/RIGHT][/B]

Even if we adopt the traditional innocent-until-proven-guilty posture, there is no denying that Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir are in trouble. It was not just their careers that were on the line as their spot-fixing hearings began in Doha, Qatar on January 6. How the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reacts to the likely guilty verdict will show a lot about the future of cricket in the country.

Of the three accused, Butt is least likely to be allowed to play cricket ever again. By all accounts, he was the ringleader of the alleged cheaters and it was in his room that a large amount of cash was found. If found guilty, nothing short of a life ban would suffice. The same is true of Asif. Having survived two drug busts, the pacer doesn’t deserve a third chance. In his off-and-on career, Asif has been as indiscreet off the field as he has been brilliant on it. But talent is no defence. Age, however, may be grounds for leniency. Amir, given his youth, can surely plead for leniency. If a guilty verdict is forthcoming, it would be appropriate to give him a shorter ban — say, two years. That should be a punishment sufficient to deter him from future misdemeanours without destroying his career.

A guilty verdict should also bring a long overdue end to Ijaz Butt’s disastrous tenure as chairman of the PCB. It says a lot about his mismanagement that, despite the rumours which had been swirling since our tour to Australia at the start of 2010, it was a tabloid that finally forced us to look seriously at corruption in the game. Butt’s defensiveness after the damning allegations were aired, going so far as to baselessly accuse the English of match-fixing, should have been the last time he was allowed to embarrass Pakistani cricket. We desperately need a chairman of unimpeachable honesty who will be able to overhaul our decrepit system. Ijaz Butt is not the man for that job.


07:05 PM (GMT +5)

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