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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 04 July 1996 Issue : 02/27
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Newspapers observe strike
US plans to broker peace in S. Asia
Child labour: Pakistan may lose duty free access to EU
Levies to be spent only on taxed area
Govt moves to offset SC order
Move afoot for combined opposition group in NA
LHC asks police to register case against PM
Political meddling blamed for fall in policing standards
Legislators asked to submit statements of assets by July 31
---------------------------------
CBR to raise revenue through new tax-payers
Exports face yet another bleak future
Wanted: more private capital for the power sector
The agony of the lending trap
Raising tax level : A recipe for truncating revenues?
Private freight train discussion on 9th
Govt-FPCCI talks on Sales Tax fail
Leading scrips show best gains amid brisk trading
Bears dominate stock market trading
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Imandar beshumar Ardeshir Cowasjee
A fate worse than death Mazdak
A handbag on the warpath Ayaz Amir
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POA submits names of Olympic contingent
Atlanta challenge highly demanding
Shahbaz axed from hockey team for Olympics
Bribery, match-fixing on ICC agenda
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960703
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Newspapers observe strike
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A Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, July 2: On the call of the Council for Joint Action (CJA) of the
PNPO and the APNS no newspaper was published on Tuesday to protest against
the imposition of general sales tax on the newspapers and the periodicals.
The offices of the newspapers and periodicals, however, remained open on
Monday and Tuesday.
Pakistan Newspapers and Periodical Association (PNPO) and All Pakistan
Newspaper Society (APNS) had given the call after the government remained
adamant on the imposition of general sales tax on the newspapers and steep
increase in sales tax and duties on the import of newsprint.
The CJA have already announced that if the government did not withdraw the
unjustified imposition of general sales tax on the newspapers and steep
increase in sales tax and duties on the import of newsprint, the newspaper
industry can go to the extent of indefinite closure of daily newspapers.
The CJA has termed the imposition of general sales tax on the newspapers an
attack on the freedom of press guaranteed under Article 19 of the
Constitution of Pakistan.
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960701
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US plans to broker peace in S. Asia
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, June 30: A blueprint of a South Asian Camp David accord
between India and Pakistan, circulating in the top US congressional circles
and think tanks for some months and considered to be the most likely course
of action Washington may take in South Asia, envisages a new generation of
leadership in both the countries to speed up the process.
The basics of what is known as the Cohen Plan have been discussed by
leading Democratic senators with President Clinton and other top ranking US
policymakers, an informed South Asian expert told Dawn, quietly passing on
a copy of the plan which spreads over three pages.
The author of the plan is Prof. Stephen Philip Cohen of the University of
Illinois, an informal consultant to the state department and considered to
be a respected authority on South Asian affairs in Washington. He drafted
the blueprint late last year and circulated it among those who had
influence and a voice in the policy formulation processes inside the
Beltway, an expression used for the political wheels which churn out
policies in the US capital.
It is almost agreed that the plan would begin to take practical shape as
one of the major foreign policy initiatives of the second Clinton
presidency, after the November elections or even a Republican regime as it
calls for a bipartisan approach, the South Asian expert said.
Prof. Cohen has outlined a seven-point strategy to implement what he calls
the Camp David process for South Asia in his confidential letters sent to
key congressional leaders. The main points of this strategy include:
1. It must be bipartisan. He advises Democratic senators: If you go to the
president, you should accompany a respected Republican senator. Our
engagement in the Middle East has been bipartisan, and has survived several
changes in administration.
2. It should be seen as a long haul. Like Cambodia and South Africa, as
well as the Middle East, it will take time. There will have to be a change
in attitudes, although I believe that a new generation of leaders in the
region will speed up the process.
3. Camp David should not come first. That is, Carters intense intervention
took place after several years of patient diplomacy. It is important to
have early high-visibility presidential support, perhaps a brief meeting
between prime ministers in the White House, or at Camp David, but we are
looking for trouble if the president (especially this president) is
required to broker a deal. Neither side is ready yet, both think they can
manipulate us (especially through Congress) without having to negotiate
seriously. When they are ready to negotiate then the president might become
involved.
4. We need a special emissary, someone with time, a solid reputation in
both countries, and the ability to retain the attention of our own
bureaucracy, and subordinate our diverse interest to the longer term goal
of reaching an India-Pakistan detente. The state department does not seem
able to assume this role (frankly, no one else in the bureaucracy seems to
pay any attention to them). An emissary might best be situated in the White
House where, however, there is little interest in South Asia except for the
proliferation issue) or department of defence. My own candidate would be
George Schultz, a realist with the respect of both sides and who
understands the tasks of consensus building (he single-handedly revived the
Middle East peace process), Mike Armacost was involved as a special
emissary at one time, and is another possibility, and so is the father of
the Middle East peace process, Hal Saunders, who introduced into South Asia
some of the ideas he developed for the Middle East.
5. A South Asia peace process will not be expensive (except in terms of
time). Unlike the Middle East where there has been a great deal of aid, we
should not emphasise military assistance, but technical aid and economic
investment. Our best argument is that a peaceful region is one where
American investors will put their money, and that in the long run this is
the best assurance of regional progress.
6. Congress can influence events positively. Congress will have to present
a united front to both India and Pakistan, as each tries to undercut the
other in whatever way they can. I like the idea of making aid conditional
on progress towards regional discussions.
7. An American helping hand (not a foreign hand) will be welcome in India,
despite the apparent opposition by the present Indian government. Indians
know they are in deep trouble in Kashmir, and do not want to alienate the
US. Thoughtful Indians also know that in the long run it is in their
interest to co-operate with Pakistan. Their support is for a fair,
consistent, and long-term American effort to assist the two countries so
that they can get down to the more important task of economic development
and social change.
Prof. Cohen stated in his confidential letters to congressmen: We have
wasted five years trying to develop a coherent policy for Pakistan and
India, but this is as good a time to start as any other. Such a policy
should be bipartisan, have visible high-level support, take time, not
immediately involve the president, requires a special emissary, not be
expensive, and, I think, will be accepted by India and Pakistan.
Both sides see us (correctly) as policyless, except for our non-
proliferation, human rights, and (recently) economic interests, Prof.
Cohen wrote. These are important, but there is no long-term perspective
whatsoever. Department of defence has a good relationship with the military
of both countries, but thats not a policy, just an opportunity.
South Asian experts said some of the basic prerequisites of the Cohen Plan
had already been met which was an encouraging sign for the US policymakers.
These include induction of a new government in India which is more
favourably inclined for talks with Pakistan than the Rao government.
Signs are also visible that there may be a change of government in
Pakistan as the Benazir Bhutto government was increasingly locked in
confrontation with other main pillars of democracy the judiciary, the
parliament and the press, the expert said.
These experts say while any unconstitutional change in Pakistan would be
frowned upon and be greatly unpopular in the US policymaking circles, any
change from within the system or through the judicial or electoral process
would not raise any eyebrows.
It may, in fact, be welcomed if it presented the chances of a possible
success of the Cohen Plan in particular and the US diplomacy in South Asia
in general.
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960701
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Child labour: Pakistan may lose duty free access to EU
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Shadaba Islam
BRUSSELS, June 30: For months, South Asia has watched uncomfortably from
the sidelines as the European Union has stepped up its public courtship of
East Asias leading economic powers.
Pakistan and India werent invited to the first Euro-Asian summit in
Bangkok in March. Both countries are on the receiving end of the EUs
latest moves to cut back Asias preferential trading privileges and are set
to lose their duty-free access to EU markets for textiles in two years.
European trade unions and industrialists are also insisting that both Delhi
and Islamabad should buy more European goods and take tougher action to
curb the issue of child labour.
Finally, however, some good news. European Commissioner Manuel Marin has
called for a reinforcement of the EUs political and economic ties with
India, saying the country must receive the same VIP treatment being
accorded to the East Asians.
Marin is also off to Pakistan in late July for talks on a new trade
agreement. After months of trying, Brussels and Islamabad have finally
agreed on a date for an encounter between the Commissioner and Pakistan
Prime Minister.
All fifteen EU capitals have received a 33 page strategy paper from
Commissioner Marin calling for a strengthened partnership with India.
Aides to Marin say he is making a long overdue wake up call
While some EU countries like Germany and Britain are already actively
seeking out investments and trading opportunities in India, other members
of the bloc arent yet aware of Indias enormous potential.
The European Commission is saying that ties between India and the EU
should be extended and deepened, says an EU official. India should no
longer be viewed as a mere beneficiary of EU aid. We should see it as a
partner.
Others in the Commission admit that many EU countries view of India is
still stuck in the 1980s. The recent fundamental changes that have taken
place in Indias foreign and economic policies have gone largely unnoticed.
India wants to beef up its relations with the West, the Commission paper
says.
At the same time, EU companies can stand to benefit from Indias economic
liberalisation and Delhis continuing search for foreign investors.
Policies followed by new Indian Prime Minister Deve Gowda are unlikely to
change this trend, according to Commission experts.
Much to Delhis chagrin, Marins policy paper doesnt call for any trade
concessions, only a promise that both sides will give priority attention
to eliminating obstacles to trade.
EU officials say this is deliberate: instead of getting entangled in petty
trade squabbles, Marin wants to focus on ways of reinforcing political and
economic contacts between the two sides.
Relations with Pakistan are on trickier ground. Although political and
economic ties between Brussels and Islamabad are largely problem-free,
complaints against Pakistans use of child labour made by international
trade unions have injected certain strains in the relationship.
The unions accusations havent stopped the European Commission from
pressing ahead with plans for a new trade and economic co-operation pact
with Pakistan.
But, the new agreement is expected to include a specific clause outlining
the EUs plans to help Pakistan in combating child labour.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has asked the
Commission to stop giving Pakistan trade preferences because under-age
workers are employed in its carpet sector.
EU member states are still divided on the issue. Despite several meetings,
they have been unable to agree on whether the European Commission should
start its own investigation into the ICFTUs allegations.
EU insiders say that instead of focusing on negative sanctions,
Commissioner Marin will tell Pakistani officials the EU wants to work with
Islamabad on development and education programmes to end the abuse of child
workers.
The focus is on positive incentives, according to the EU sources. As one EU
insider put it, child labour is unacceptable, but it cant be solved
through sanctions.
Still, the pressure to end the exploitation of under-age workers will
continue. EU policy makers are sensitive to charges that they cannot point
an accusing finger at Pakistan alone, when the ICFTU and others acknowledge
that the problem is equally severe in other parts of South Asia and Latin
America.
Hence the emphasis on development programmes and offers of EU help to
combat the problem. The inclusion of a specific clause on the subject in
the new pact with Pakistan will also ensure that the issue of child labour
remains in the spotlight in future relations between Islamabad and
Brussels.
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960628
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Levies to be spent only on taxed area
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 27: The Sindh Assembly passed a Rs 59.61 billion budget for
the 1996-97 year with a four amendments to the Finance Bill.
The most significant of these is the amendment that will make it compulsory
for the provincial government to utilise all taxes collected from a
particular district on development schemes for that district alone.
The other more significant amendment is one that will expand the tax base
in the service sector to include all professional groups previously
exempted. Further, the stamp duty on the transfer of shares has been fixed
at Rs 1. This is an amendment to section 3 of the Finance Bill. Under
another amendment, this time to section 4, 20 per cent of the annual
assessed value of any property will be levied as property tax.
The MQM opposition, continuing its boycott, was not present in the House.
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960628
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Govt moves to offset SC order
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Sajid Iqbal and Rafaqat Ali
LAHORE, June 27: Local bodies chiefs and public representatives, elected in
1991, dethroned in August 1993 and restored to their offices by the Supreme
Court were not allowed by the government functionaries to take over the
institutions.
A showdown occurred at least in Lahore and Rawalpindi where the municipal
chiefs and councillors, nearly all of them belonging to the Pakistan Muslim
League, occupied the offices of the administrators appointed by the
government. However, the administrators and other officials later told them
that they could take over the institutions only after the issuance of a
government notification in this regard.
Barely hours later, the Punjab government, in a bid to neutralise the
verdict of the Supreme Court, moved a bill in the provincial assembly and
got it passed within three hours, making the restored local bodies
ineffective. Immediately after the bill was passed, the Punjab government
appointed new administrators to all the municipal bodies throughout the
province.
In Lahore, in the wake of the Supreme Court judgement restoring local
bodies in Punjab, deputy mayors and councillors of the Metropolitan
Corporation of Lahore, thronged the Town Hall in the morning. Accompanied
by PML workers, they occupied the office of MCL administrator Tariq Shafi
Chak and PPP stalwart Haji Azizur Rahman Chan, who was recently appointed
by the Punjab government to take charge of the corporations affairs.
Neither of them was present in his office.
The PML men at the Town Hall met the MCLs chief officer and said they had
come to assume charge of their offices following the Supreme Court verdict.
They were told that they could do so only after the receipt of a government
notification, which had not been issued so far.
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960629
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Move afoot for combined opposition group in NA
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Ashraf Mumtaz
LAHORE, June 28: Efforts have been started for creating a combined
opposition group in the National Assembly to prevent the government from
pursuing anti-people policies and the PML is supporting these efforts.
The move is being billed as a precursor to a broad-based opposition
alliance.
A move is being made by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (Noorani group) which
wants that the PML and its allied parties, the parties in the Milli
Yakjehti Council and the recently-constituted independent group led by
Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan should join hands against the government.
Informed sources told Dawn on Friday that PML President Nawaz Sharif at a
meeting with Maulana Noorani supported these efforts and indicated that he
was willing to work in co-ordination with other parties which are not part
of the government.
Opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly Mian Shahbaz Sharif expressed
similar views at a couple of meetings with JUP Information Secretary Pir
Ijaz Hashmi.
The JUP (Niazi group), the Awami National Party and the Jamiat Ahle Hadith
of Professor Sajid Mir are already working as allies of the PML(N) and
invariably they follow all policies decided by Mian Nawaz Sharif.
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960704
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LHC asks police to register case against PM
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By Rafaqat Ali
RAWALPINDI, July 3: The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court ordered
police to register a case against the prime minister, interior minister,
chief minister Punjab, and three other officials of the district
administration on the complaint of Jamaat-i-Islami for the murder of its
two workers in Rawalpindi on June 24.
Justice Rashid Aziz Khan also held that if police at any stage of
investigation come to the conclusion that false statement was made by the
petitioner he should be prosecuted.
The order was passed on the petition of Amir Jamaat-i-Islami Rawalpindi
filed on June 25. Rawalpindi police refused to register a murder case of
two JI workers who were killed by the security agencies in Rawalpindi on
June 24.
The petitioner in his report had held prime minister Benazir Bhutto,
interior minister Naseerullah Khan Babar, chief minister Punjab Sardar Arif
Nakie, commissioner Rawalpindi Kamran Zafar, deputy commissioner Rawalpindi
Zafar Iqbal Awan, and assistant commissioner Iftikhar Shelwani responsible
for the killing of the two JI workers.
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960704
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Political meddling blamed for fall in policing standards
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By Mahmood Zaman
LAHORE, July 3: Punjab Police Inspector-General Abbas Khan has blamed
frequent conflicts between law and executive commands as one of the
important reasons for a gradual deterioration in policing standards.
He expresses this opinion in a paper titled Problems of law and order and
police reforms sent to legislators and other decision-makers in a bid to
stimulate thinking on the creation of a truly professional, democratically
controlled and politically neutral police force. A copy of his paper was
sent to newspapers also.
The papers release comes amidst Punjab-wide concern over deteriorating law
and order, particularly in the cities. He points out that overall crime
rate in the Punjab is on a consistent rise since independence. But, he
explains that the provinces population was 20.5 million in 1951 whereas it
is reported to be about 71 million in 1995.
The IG suggests that the Police Act of 1861, enacted to serve the colonial
requirements of the Raj, should be replaced. The new act, he pleads, must
provide for a police for the people and win the trust of society at
large.
He recommends the establishment of a multi-party public safety commission
at the federal and provincial levels which will safeguard the interest of
citizens and secure the police from external pressure. The commission will
have representation from politicians, jurists, scholars, journalists and
social workers.
To execute the commissions policy, the IG suggests a national police
agency under a senior officer with the responsibility for management of the
force, research and planning, training and traffic control on highways.
Mr Khan refers to a UN mission report presented to the government during a
recent visit which said the degeneration of the police force in Pakistan
was because successive governments had failed to equip the police with
adequate training as a result of which it was completely unprepared to deal
with the present situation. Since 1960, governments had ignored
recommendations of as many as 11 committees or commissions and four
international missions.
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960701
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Legislators asked to submit statements of assets by July 31
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Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, June 30: All the legislators have been asked to submit their
assets and liabilities statement to the Election Commission latest by July
31, says a press release issued here by the Election Commission of Pakistan
on Sunday.
The Senators, MNAs and MPAs are required under the provisions of Section
25B of the Senate (Election) Act, 1975 and the provisions of Section 42B of
the Representation of the People Act, 1976, to submit on the prescribed
form, a statement of assets and liabilities of his own, spouse and
dependent children and dependent parents, to the Chief Election
Commissioner, annually within one month from the end of each financial
year.
This information is in addition to the statement already submitted under
Sub-section (1) of Section 25 of the Senate (Election) Act, 1975 or Sub-
section (3A) of Section 42 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976,
the press release added.
All the senators, members of the National Assembly and members of the
provincial assemblies are, therefore, requested to send, on the prescribed
form, the requisite statements for the financial year ending on 30.6.1996
to the Chief Election Commissioner, Islamabad personally, through
authorised representative or through registered post, latest by July 31,
1996.
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960704
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CBR to raise revenue through new tax-payers
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, July 3: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR), has decided to
launch an intense campaign to substantially increase its revenue position,
specially by finding out new tax payers in the country.
The main thrust of the campaign is to unearth tax evaders and this job
will be done through examination of Capital Value Tax (CVT) payments,
electricity bills, school fees of children, foreign trip and mobile phone
charges for the items which formed an essential component of the tax -
returns prepared last year but were dropped except two on the directive of
the prime minister, said Chairman CBR Mr Alvi Abdul Rahim.
He told Dawn that his organisation planned to identify at least 400,000 new
tax payers. One of the main things would be that the shopkeepers and
owners of the factories would have to display their National Taxation
Number (NTN), he warned.
He said now the CBR has started issuing new flawless NTNs which have to be
obtained and displayed by all the concerned. And if they do not do that
they would have to pay a fine of Rs 2000, Alvi said.
He pointed out that the revenue collection have been raised to Rs 76
billion during 1995-96. But the new financial year will see substantial
increase because no tax evader will go unchecked, he stressed.
He said the tax receipts have gone up from Rs 36 billion to Rs 76 billion
just in three months, increasing the ratio of direct taxes as compared to
indirect taxes.
Mr Alvi pointed out that the CBR planned to undertake a better strategy for
improving revenue collection specially by enhancing its administrative
efficiency, conduction countrywide surveys of potential income tax payers,
and matching of information through computers and identifying non-NTN
holders.
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960628
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Exports face yet another bleak future
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Muhammad Ilyas
ISLAMABAD, June 27: Pakistans exports face a bleak prospect in the
financial year 1996-97 again, after a dismal performance of this sector in
the current year thanks to higher taxes not only on the industrial raw
materials and machinery, but as well as, on hospital-related equipment,
according to knowledgeable quarters.
It, therefore, seems likely that the announcement of a new trade policy for
1996-97 will be delayed because the ministry of commerce officials are
still busy evaluating the impact of substantial increase in taxes on almost
entire spectrum of export-related imports.
This may necessitate re-adjustment of incentives for industries involved in
exports at higher tariffs.
It is feared that the inflated taxes will further hit the already
languishing manufacturing sector. There may also be a repeated recourse to
devalue the currency in the vain hope to strengthen the sagging exports,
and to enhance the competitiveness of our products in foreign markets.
As the experience of the current year shows, however, such adhocism will be
disadvantageous for our industry, because of the consequent rise in their
cost of production, according to the source.
Superficially, the budget has reduced the import duty on 282 items
including metals, chemicals, machinery and parts thereof, which are
essential for the manufacturing sector in general and the exports industry,
in particular.
In fact, however, 228 items have been burdened with additional taxes,
because each item, besides, import duty, has been made liable to 10 per
cent regulatory duty and 18 per cent sales tax.
Thus items on which import duty has been reduced from 65 per cent of CAF
value to 55%, 50%, 45% or even 35%, the taxation will far exceed that
original level after adding the regulatory duty and sales tax.
In same cases, the real tax effect may exceed 73%. In fact, according to an
analysis of the Central Board of Revenues lists of various categories of
items on which the taxes have purportedly been reduced, real tax relief has
been made available in the case of only 54 items. An informed source
doubted that reduced tax on these will have more than a nominal positive
bearing on foreign exchange earning capacity of Pakistan.
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960629
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Wanted: more private capital for the power sector
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*From M. Ziauddin
PAKISTAN will need to create additional power generation capacity of 54,000
MW in the next 25 years against the current production of 13,000 MW, in
order to meet its long term demand, increasing at the rate of 8 per cent
per annum, according to a latest report on the potential, problems and
prospects of power sector submitted to the government in March, 1996.
Also, the present generation capacity of 13000 MW has been found to be
extremely insufficient to meet the demand on a year round basis, at
different times of the year, particularly during the period of low river
flows, when consumers are subjected to load-shedding.
The magnitude of this shortage is estimated to be around 2,300 MW, about 38
per cent of the computed demand, persisting for several months during peak
load hours.
This results not only in inconvenience to normal life but a loss of
national work hours and discouragement to industry. The annual direct
economic loss to industry has been estimated to be about $ 500 million
because of load shedding.
At current generation prices, it would cost Pakistan at least $ 50 billion
to meet its demand for power over the next quarter century which would mean
an average investment of two billion dollars a year over the next 25 years.
Pakistan lacks this kind of spare resources considering the ever mounting
demands from competing sectors like, water, roads, communication,
transport, health, population, education and defence etc. Moreover, the
Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), the public sector
organisation which has been looking after generation, transmission and
distribution of power in Pakistan for the last four decades has gradually
turned into a white elephant saddled with a massive load of corruption and
totally incapable of ensuring efficient production and operation.
According to one rough estimate as much as 35 per cent of power generated
by WAPDA units is pilfered or wasted while the Authoritys financial
viability is becoming ever more doubtful.
The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that at the fag end of the
current year WAPDA had to seek an urgent assistance of Rs. 1.11 billion
from the government in order to avert a certain default.
WAPDA seemingly has neither the technical and management ability to perform
its functions efficiently, nor does it have the financial resources to make
the massive investments needed to add the required generation, transmission
and distribution capacity to meet the short and long term future demands.
In short, the power sector in the country is in dire straits at present.
The generation as well as distribution networks are the typical cases of
state-run dinosaurs in the developing world. The present problem is two-
pronged:
1. The gap between the demand and supply. It needs such massive investment
that it is no more possible for the resource starved government to finance
it. The capital is needed for the new power generation and also for the
maintenance and expansion of the existing power plants. 2. High
transmission and distribution losses have to be avoided. Distribution
networks also need capital for maintenance and expansion.
The only source for such huge capital now is the private sector.
It is almost impossible to mobilise the required capital and modern
technology to improve cost efficiency from the local private sector,
therefore international investment has to be sought. The current demand-
supply state is going to be changed once the power sector goes into joint
hands of the local/foreign private sector.
For one, more electricity will be available without even raising the
production because of better and efficient distribution. The efficiently
run networks will lower the fluctuation rate and this will result in a
higher demand due to satisfied consumers.
It was in this backdrop that the successive governments in Pakistan since
1985 were seen to be examining the possibility of inducting the private
sector in the countrys power sector. The 1300 MW Hub power plant which is
about to start supplying electricity to the southern part of the country
was the first power station entirely financed, installed and operated by
the private sector.
And following the announcement in 1994 of a highly attractive power policy,
the government has received proposals for production of 26,000 MW of power
in the private sector. So far the government has issued 34 Letters of
Support(LoS) for producing about 9062 MW(gross) MW of electricity. So far
financial close for 1900 MW has been achieved.
Those which have achieved financial close include: AES1 (Lalpir) for 337
MW; AES 11( Pakgen) for 337 MW; Kohinoor Electric for 120 MW; Southern for
112 MW; Japan power for 197 MW; Power generation systems for 110 MW; Tri
Star energy for 103 MW; Gul Ahmad for 125 MW and Uch for 525 MW. The total
power to be generated by these projects would come to about 3076 MW while
the eighth plan ending June 30, 1996 had envisaged commissioning of 2500-
2700 MW capacity in the private sector.
Meanwhile, the World Bank, in order to keep the consequent financial burden
(estimated to be about one billion dollars a year on tariff alone) on
Pakistan well within its paying capacity, has slapped a 2,500 MW limit
until 1998 on the issuance of LoS to private sector sponsors. Side by side
the government has also started privatising WAPDAs power plants.
Kot Addu was the first such unit to be privatised. It has gone to the world
reknown National Power of Britain and is expected to become cost efficient
in due course of time with the induction of the most modern management and
technical skills.
The government has also awarded to the National Power contract for laying
down the additional transmission lines to cater to the electricity
generated by the upcoming private power stations.
And with the initiation of the process of privatisation of Faisalabad Area
Electricity Board, the government has also begun handing over the function
of distribution of electricity to the private sector which would go a long
way in eliminating pilferages and correct billings, bringing down
considerably the cost of taking per unit of electricity to the consumers.
Electricity is presently available to only 40 per cent of the population
and per capita consumption of electricity per annum in Pakistan at 300 Kwh
is extremely low compared to world averages.
There are about 150,000 villages in Pakistan out of which only 35 per cent
have been connected to the national grid. Pakistan has a programme to
provide electricity to about 6000 villages a year. At this rate it would
take 15 years and a lot of money to give electricity to all the villages.
Moreover this will add an uneconomic load on the WAPDA grid which is
already recurring several billion rupees financial loss in connection with
rural electrification.
In order to provide electricity as social service to all the people it
would require some special programmes to tap all types of resources ,
hydel, solar and wind energy.
Hydel power being more economical and readily harnessable is considered to
be singularly capable of providing tariff relief to the consumers, utilise
indigenous resources, involve Pakistani entrepreneurs and provide benefits
of economic growth to the relatively backward areas of Pakistan. In this
connection, the government has already initiated a five billion dollar
project (Ghazi Brotha) of 1400 MW in the public sector. But in order to
fill the widening supply/ demand gap relatively quickly and more
economically the government has also prepared plans to induct the private
in the process in a big way.
The hydel power potential in Pakistan is estimated to be to the tune of
about 30,000 MW, only 15 per cent of which has been tapped so far. In this
regard the government is studying a proposal to create a Hydel Planning
Fund amounting to 30 million dollars.
This amount is proposed to be spent in preparation of feasibility reports
in the public sector as the key to success of hydel power policy is the
availability of reliable feasibility studies as these take a long time and
money to prepare. To facilitate the pace of feasibility studies, the
government will initiate preparation of such studies in the public sector
for many sites so that, after a few years, a number of feasibility studies
become available.
These feasibility reports can then be implemented by the private sector on
a competitive basis. In Pakistan, nearly all hydro potential results from
discharges into the Indus River basin.
Discharges result primarily from precipitation and snow melt in the
northern mountainous ranges of the country. Discharges take place in small
rivulets coming further down to the bigger tributaries of river Indus and
then to the Indus river itself.
The development of hydro power projects, however, are characterised by
remote locations and seasonal variations. Notwithstanding this, there are
several attractive sites near load centres, on the irrigation canals with
its quite vast network of 58,500 kilometres in length and withdrawals of
106 MAF.
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960629
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The agony of the lending trap
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Ikramul Haq
ANNUAL budget-making in our country has become a routine bureaucratic
exercise, devoid of any economic insight that can improve the existing
state of affairs. It is no longer a policy document that is reflective of
any kind of economic philosophy, not to talk of a measure through which the
ruling party intends to fulfil its election manifesto (probably a dead
entity now?)
Over the past, Pakistans reliance on foreign aid has increased manifold.
Now we find ourselves thoroughly caught in the lending trap. Not a single
budget during the last decade has suggested any means to reduce this
dependence on foreign and self-reliance is, perhaps, a forgotten word in
our economic planning. The rulers owe an explanation to the people of
Pakistan as to why they have been made a nation of beggars.
There is hardly an issue of the World Bank News in which Pakistan does not
feature as a borrower, and often the largest borrower. We have been
receiving millions of dollars every year from the IMF and World Bank to
improve the countrys power transmission capability and many other
development projects.
A number of other loans have also been announced from time to time by other
agencies like the IMF. A spokesman of the World Bank was at a recent
meeting apparently so pleased with Pakistans amazing progress in
economic recovery that he thought that the next annual meeting of the Bank-
sponsored aid to Pakistan group would be a clinch.
The question arises: do we need this foreign money? Most aid programmes,
with the major exception of petroleum development, have one thing in common
- they have virtually no foreign exchange content and their financing has
to be done in rupees. For example, the improvement of civic amenities in
the Lahore walled city does not really call for World Bank money. We have
the necessary equipment and management capability to do it ourselves.
Foreign aid was initially meant to bridge the external payments gap arising
out of essential imports required for building up industrial
infrastructure. Later, the emphasis shifted from development to maintenance
and the so-called non-project aid was also used for this purpose.
Now the clever officials in the Finance Ministry have discovered a new
hurdle - the alleged shortage of rupee resources. Since their case is
palpably weak, they are trying to sell the package through such impressive-
sounding phrases as uplift of the poor, employment generation and rural
development.
I am not very sure whether the World Bank is not paying us a left-handed
compliment by giving us a good chit about our economic recovery. The year
1995-96 has been bad all round. Food grain production has gone down by a
million tonnes. For five long years we have more or less stood still, with
a few ups and downs in between, but that as not what is meant by
recovery.
Look at industry. It is conceded that overall industrial growth may be no
more than a measly two per cent. It was earlier expected to be around 5 to
7 per cent. That is what the Economic Survey issued on June 11 says. More
disturbing is the fact that our major industries like steel maintained
growth at a snails pace, varying from 0.5 to 1.5 per cent.
Pakistan Steel has large unsold stocks on hand and is said to have finished
the year with a whopping loss. Why does it have huge unsold stocks? Because
it could not compete with imported steel. And why did we import steel with
the money we borrowed from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)?
The net result of all this is inflation which has been in the double-digit
for the last many years. Farm products are the most affected in recent
years. The price of cereals went up by 25 per cent, oilseeds 20 per cent,
sugar 16 per cent and tobacco 29 per cent. The prices of industrial
products have also gone up.
The government now does not have much to crow about, since even the price
indicator, the only redeeming feature of a rundown economy, has decided to
play up. For a poor country like Pakistan, farm production, industrial
output and price inflation are the main indications. Then how does the
picture add up to one of amazing recovery. Would the picture have been
different, if we had more foreign exchange or aid to play with? Most
unlikely.
Take agriculture. One reason cited for the fall in farm output is the
increasing reluctance of farmers to use high-priced fertilisers.
But the country is not short of fertilisers at all. In a year in which the
governments coffers were full to the brim with foreign money ranging from
SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) from the World Bank, agriculture continued
to go downhill, pulling down many other sectors with it.
The same is true of industry. Businessmen have been complaining of poor off
take and high idle capacity, not of foreign exchange. In fact, if steel and
fertilisers, not to mention soda ash and synthetic fibres, had not been
imported so generously, industrial production would have improved, and with
it many other things.
The easy access to foreign exchange may have helped new industries but its
overall impact has been negative.
It has not even helped keep prices down, the main reason why imports were
allowed in the first place. Sudden imports, like sudden exports on an
unusually lavish scale, have an unsettling effect on economies like
Pakistan, which are neither fully industrial nor fully agricultural.
No doubt closed economies should be opened up, but the valves should be
opened gently, a twist at a time.
If there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is also no such thing as
free aid. If one is too casual in accepting aid, just because the World
Bank or some other organisation is overflowing with the milk of human
kindness, one will also be too casual in spending it.
Most of the projects taken up in the country do not require outside
assistance at all. People in the sub-continent have been building roads,
houses and huts for decades, if not centuries. All you need is cement,
bricks, pipes and steel. We make all these things here, and we have so much
surplus manpower, both technical as well as unskilled, that we dont know
what to do with it. Do we really need foreign assistance to do things we
can do on our own, and which we should do on our own, if self-reliance has
any meaning.
Peculiar psychosis
We are the victims of a peculiar psychosis which small men suffer from when
they have to handle big problems or what they consider big problems. We
think our problems are so vast that only international agencies like the
IMF and the World Bank can solve.
You want a 1,000-km canal to be dug up, call in the World Bank. You want to
lay a transmission line, call an IMF expert. You want to build 10,000 low
cost houses for the poor in Lahore, get a report from some UN agency. But
surely a 1,000 km canal can be done in a 100 stretches of 10 km each, just
as a colony of 10,000 houses can be taken in hand in lots of 100 or 1,000
units. We have the raw material, the men, the organisational skills. Then
why waste time?
Cherez la femme, meaning look for the woman, if there is a scandal. In all
international negotiations, it is look for the cash. The moneybags in
Washington keep on flashing green signals to Islamabad and other embattled
capitals of the impoverished Third World. Their message is loud and clear.
Come and help yourself. Why not! Because the Third World countries need the
money, because some of them may do, but because the bankers are flushed
with cash, more cash than they can use.
The World Bank, in fact, has a lot of cash floating about its vaults. Its
capacity to borrow is much more than what it is borrowing now and
subsequently the capacity to lend much more than what it is lending now.
There is the reason behind the generosity being showered upon us!
Our governments are hungry for cash: through subsidies, cash through loans,
and cash through grants.
This is unfortunate. Development requires money but more money does not
necessarily mean development, and often, as in the case of Pakistan, it may
lead to loss.
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960629
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Raising tax level : A recipe for truncating revenues?
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By Dr Farrukh Saleem
OUR budget-makers have once again elected to maintain the long-established
status quo wherein government revenues are deliberately overestimated and
its expenditures routinely underestimated. Even after an internationally
exaggerated revenue stream and under-budgeted expenditures, the true
budgetary gap still stands at a colossal Rs 163.8 billion; an alarming 189
per cent of the total expected direct taxation in the country. The plan to
fill the gap depends on foreign aid of Rs 102.9 billion, bank borrowings of
Rs 20 billion and additional taxation of Rs 40.9 billion.
Towards the second half of the fiscal year-and after a series of mini
budgets it will suddenly dawn on our financial (mis) managers that
government expenditures are far ahead of what had been budgeted for and the
expected revenues are far short of expectations.
There is simply no way of extracting additional taxation of Rs 40.9 billion
for the governments coffers because no one has yet derived a way of
sucking blood from stones.
Our financial wizards would then go on a borrowing binge, violating the
self-imposed bank borrowing limit by at least 400 per cent followed by a
desperate search for cash from every government-owned corporation in sight.
At the end of the year the governments hired financial jugglers shall go
on a frantic hunt for short-term domestic and foreign loans in order to
meet IMF conditionalities and ultimately report to massive doctoring of
figures.
Over-burdened payers
The truth of the matter is that the current net of tax payers is overly
burdened even under the existing tax regime and increasing their tax slabs
shall not yield any additional revenue for the government.
Dr Arthur Laffer, once a professor at the prestigious University of
Southern California (USC) and also an adviser to President Reagan,
theorised that starting at a tax slab of zero per cent government would not
be generating any revenue at all. Conversely, at a tax slab of 100 per
cent, no one would have any incentive to work (as the government is taking
away all of what one earns) and government revenue shall presumably be back
to zero.
Dr Laffer, therefore, postulates that government revenue that initially
increases as the percentage of tax slabs is increased, but that it take
shall begin to taper off, become flat for a while and any further increase
in the percentage of tax slabs from that point onwards shall actually
decrease the government revenue (see graph). There is, this, a particular
tax slab a definite percentage range where the government can actually
maximise its revenue.
The hypothetical Laffer Curve concept is now more than 15 years old, but
our government, it appears, is yet to comprehend the basic philosophy
behind any policy of rational taxation.
Our current set of economic managers feel as if a simple increase in the
percentage of tax slabs shall also result in increased government revenue.
Every successive government for the past several decades has been adamantly
increasing the burden of taxation on what essentially amounts to less than
one per cent of the countrys population.
Every year the revenue-expenditure gap deteriorates, and come the next
budget, we are surely going to require a further increase in taxation.
Given our constraint of 800,000 or so individual income tax payers, the
government has perhaps already crossed the optimal point where it could
maximise its own share.
Any increase, let us say beyond a 35 per cent to 45 per cent tax bracket,
is bound to be detrimental for the government itself. That is an economic
certainty and the past several budgets have already all but affirmed that
particular financial reality.
In the Pakistani context, the maximum direct tax revenue from the current
net of tax payers seems to peak out at around Rs 35 billion within the
range of a 35 per cent to 40 per cent tax bracket.
The government with new moves directed at income tax payers that take
individual slabs beyond that range shall not only decrease government
revenue but also slow down economic activity, lower the output of the
economy and further dampen the potential of revenue collection.
As long as we remain steadfastly committed to spending 15 per cent of our
direct tax revenue on defence, we are going to be left with no alternative
but to bring in more tax payers from the sectors that are not currently
under the tax net.
Fairplay missing
There is no denying also that government revenues need to be enhanced and
any revenue enhancement exercise shall not only be politically feasible but
economically efficient and equitable as well. The budget stands as a vocal
witness to the fact that the current leadership neither has any sense of
fair play nor of political or economic expediency.
The budget document increases the burdens on corporate employees while the
same document exempts the bureaucrats. It bestows exempt status to
residential properties of land-holders while it taxes urban dwellers. It
exempts Pajeros while shop-keepers must submit monthly return.
Income taxation is a federal matter around the world but our federal
administrators deflect it to provincial authorities when it comes to taxing
agriculture incomes.
Income taxation ought to be source-neutral but in Pakistan if you make Rs
10 million every year by selling mangoes you are tax- exempt but if you
generate an income of a mere Rs 100,000 per year, the tax collector wants
to take it all. Rs 20 million of new taxation for the agriculturists and Rs
40 billion for the rest. Talk about discriminatory policies and the budget
has them all. Talk about equitable taxation and the budget has absolutely
none of that.
The only way out is not another increase in tax rates but a definite
decrease in across-the-board taxation that would not only increase the
supply of savings, but also expand output, employment and capital
accumulation. And along with all these increases the potential for
government taxation would have expanded as well. Is politics fast becoming
the last refuge for the most incompetent in the society.
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960703
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Private freight train discussion on 9th
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Mansoor Alam
KARACHI, July 2: Investors from the USA, Canada, UK, South Africa and Hong
Kong will participate in a meeting to be held next Tuesday to discuss terms
and conditions for operating private railway freight train, under the open
access policy announced by the government on May 14, 1996.
The meeting is being organised by the Private Power and Infrastructure
Board (PPIB), in a bid to commence private freight train operations in
Pakistan by end December, 1997. Bids will be submitted to (PPIB) in August,
1996 and the government expects to award the residual fuel oil
transportation contract to the successful party by October, 1996.
The successful company will provide an adequate amount of reliable
equipment, appropriate maintenance facilities and sufficient competent
staff to guarantee long-term security of the supply of fuel oil to the
power plants. Initial volume is 1.78 million tonnes per annum over an
average route length of 980 kilometres.
The opportunity exists to expand traffic volumes for oil and into other
railway freight traffic such as intermodal containers, perishable goods and
bulk materials of all kinds, including solids, liquids and gasses.
The private railway freight operating company will have an opportunity to
transport residual fuel oil, over Pakistan Railways track, from Pipri to 7
new power plants commencing from the beginning of July, 1997.
The successful company will contract with the Pakistan Railways to purchase
track access and secure its income through a long-term fuel transportation
agreement with the Pakistan State Oil, as well as granting incentives to
the new company.
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960704
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Govt-FPCCI talks on Sales Tax fail
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Our Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, July 3: Marathon talks between the government and the Federation
of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry concluded without an agreement
on the most cantankerous issue of fixed sales tax on 28 industries, FPCCI
President Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour told a news conference.
The government, he said, had reneged from its promise made last week to
continue the fixed tax scheme on the plea that the International Monetary
Fund had refused to budge from its insistence on doing away with it. The
government had, instead, advised the FPCCI leaders to approach the IMF in
this regard.
But we will not go to the IMF, the FPCCI president declared. It was for
the government to deal with the IMF whose conditions it had acquiesced in
without consulting the business community. Did they ask us before they put
the country at the mercy of IMF? asked Senator Bilour.
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960628
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Leading scrips show best gains amid brisk trading
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Commerce Reporter
KARACHI, June 27: Leading shares in unison posted one of best gains in the
years as year-end strong support figured prominently at the attractively
lower level. Trading was brisk but sellers were reluctant to sell
anticipating further rise in prices.
The market seemed to have derived its major strength from the news that the
government has accepted most of the demand of the business and industry
after Islamabads three-day meeting between the officials and big business,
they added.
Floor brokers said the current political tension and the Oppositions
threat to launch movement against the government to unseat it could take
its toll but indications are that positive corporate background news might
keep it in a good shape.
The portfolio buying figured prominently on most of the MNCs and local blue
chips lifting their prices beyond the expectations of any analyst just in
one go, they added.
Lever Brothers, for instance, rose Rs 100 to Rs 800, although it still far
below its peak level of Rs 1400, but demonstrated it is reeling back to its
chart point of Rs 1,000 during the next few weeks.
The interesting feature was that 2,200 shares were traded at the rising
prices and there were buyers well above this rate. After having risen by
well over Rs 30, Wellcome Pakistan maintained its upward drive on sustained
support and so did Reckitt and Colman, Rafhan Maize, Engro Chemicals, and
Brooke Bond, rising by Rs 5 to 11.
But notable feature was that both Siemens and Singer Pakistan after last
three days decline, came in for strong support at the lower rates and rose
by Rs 10 to 30, with dealing purely being on the spot basis.
Other good gainers were led by EFU, Sanghar Sugar, Shell Pakistan, PSO,
National Fibre, and Glaxo Lab, which posted gains ranging from Rs 5 to 8.
Al-Abid Silk, which has been under pressure for the last three sessions
recovered and finished higher by Rs 20.
Among the prominent losers Nestle Milkpak was leading, off Rs 6 followed by
International Industries, which fell by Rs 4 on selling at the higher
levels.
Other losers were led by BOC Pakistan, Ciba-Geigy, Bhanero Textiles,
Gulistan Textiles, and Pakistan Refinery.
The most active list was again topped by PTC vouchers, up 20 paisa on
14.587m shares, followed by Hub-Power, unchanged on 3.835m, Dewan Salman,
higher 95 paisa on 1.148m, FFC-Jordan Fertiliser, lower 25 paisa on 0643m,
Pak Commercial Leasing, off one rupee on 0.536m, Fauji Fertiliser,
unchanged on 0.224m and 4th ICP (r), lower 25 paisa on 0.175m shares. There
were some other notable deals also.
Other actively traded shares were led by 4th ICP, 25th ICP, Askari Bank,
Faysal Bank, Lucky Cement, Fauji Fertiliser and Reckitt and Colman, which
rose Rs 3 on 0.144m shares.
Trading rose to 26.544m shares from the previous 26.463m shares .
There were 385 actives, out of which 198 shares fell, while 99 rose, with
88 holding on to the last levels.
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960704
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Bears dominate stock market trading
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 3: Stocks remained in a bearish frame of mind as investors
were not inclined to take new positions even at the falling prices in the
absence of institutional traders.
The KSE 100-share index suffered a fresh decline of 6.15 points at 1,670.13
as compared to 1,676.28 a day earlier despite the fact that some of the
base shares managed to put on a better show.
The opening was a bit sluggish as investors were not inclined to take new
positions partly because of a virtual turmoil in the other major markets as
confusion about the sales tax persisted.
However, a massive activity in Hub-Power after the news that its management
will pay a dividend at the rate of 45 per cent after it plant goes into
full production by 1998, was the only redeeming feature of sluggish market.
It was in this background that the bulk of the interest was centred around
a dozen shares as no one was inclined to go beyond the safe havens. Prices
elsewhere, fell although fractionally.
Insurance sector, which has a credible dividend record also joined the
losers after it failed to achieve tax exemption on capital gains and bonus
income.
Textile shares, facing both the shortage of lint and liquidity problems
remained under pressure but leading synthetic shares were traded actively
under the lead of Dewan Salman and Dhan Fibre, finishing steady.
Cement and energy shares were actively traded under the lead of current
actives among them including Lucky Cement, Hub-Power, PSO, Sui Southern and
Sui Northern but on-balance closing was mixed.
Much of the activity in the chemical and pharma sector was confined to the
leading MNCs, which fell in general on selling at the higher levels which
fell under the lead of Ciba-Geigy, Nestle Milkpak, Reckitt & Colman, Parke-
Davis and some others.
Singer Pakistan and Siemen Pakistan, which were chief gainers before they
were put on the spot list suffered fresh setback and so did Lever Brothers
and some other leading stocks including Brooke Bond.
Hub-Power topped the list of most actives, up five paisa on 17.841m shares
followed by PTC vouchers, lower 40 paisa on 7.415m, Sui Southern, up Rs
1.15 on 1.300m, FFC-Jordan fertiliser 0.495m, Dewan Salman, easy five paisa
on 0.487m, Dhan Fibre, lower five paisa on 0.289m, Ibrahim Fibre, unchanged
on 0.324m and LTV Modaraba, up 10 paisa on 0.229m shares.
Trading volume rose fell to 30.641m shares from the previous 33m shares,
while losers led gainers by a big margin of 203 to 68, with 64 shares
holding on to the last levels.
An interim dividend at the rate of 15 per cent from Abbott Lab came at a
time when the market was already under pressure owing to external factor.
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960628
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Imandar beshumar
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Ardeshir Cowasjee
LAST WEEK I was away from Karachi. I was in Islamabad, that green green
capital that is truly a feast for the eyes of a man coming from the deserts
and degradations of the city of Karachi.
Whilst there I spent a lot of time with my friends, the Chaudhry of Chakwal
and the Begum of Bhagwal, Ayaz Amir and his wife Jamila. The Chaudhry has
beaten me to it this week. What I intended to write in my column today, he
has written already in his Monday column, and written better than I would
have done. Even the Pet-ford educated would go along with what he has
said.
Another attraction in Islamabad is my host, the jolly Miangul Aurangzeb,
Wali Ahad of Swat by birth, a cavalry officer of the Pakistan Army by
training, a first son-in-law by marriage, and now an honourable member of
the opposition gracing the National Assembly. For his convenience, he has
just declared that he is deaf.
Last Saturday afternoon we went to the circus. I was lulled to sleep by
Nasrullahs steady drone, but not for long. I was awakened by the thumping
of the Pipian desks heralding the entry of their bead-bearing star
performer.
My friend, Balakh Sher, Tumandar of the Mazaris and a former Caretaker,
then made a most sensible and life-saving suggestion: that Kashmir be made
a UN protectorate until tempers cool and then the Kashmiris be given the
choice over their own destiny, the third option included. This most
practical of solutions will stop the daily blood-letting of the Muslims.
The dead cant vote. I say, well done, Balakh.
On the way out we met that relatively decent veteran politician, silver-
haired Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, forlornly regretting that he had not sacked
Salman Farooqi, as he had promised to do on becoming Caretaker Prime
Minister in 1990.
Conversation in Islamabad centres around sleaze, the Surrey hideaway, loose
boxes, the affidavit of former ISI chief General Asad Durrani in which he
solemnly swears to have conspired to bribe politicians with the peoples
money, the admirably correct attitude adopted by our judges, the
Presidents frozen stance, the purchase of Mirages (obsolete as well as
futuristic), kickbacks, waste, the falling from grace of Vaseem Jafarey and
Falstaff Sadik, the exodus to come when the rats flee the sinking ship, and
the reawakening of Nawaz.
But strangely enough, no one amongst the 216 members of our Parliament
exhibited concern as to the state of our economy, as to how broke we really
are. One of them explained the apathy: no legislator in Pakistan has been
declared personally bankrupt. This phenomenon does not arise. Here, a
politician borrows as much as his influence allows and not in terms of what
he can pledge. Apart from that, when he borrows he knows the question of
repaying does not arise. He expects to have the loan written off. He
naturally thinks of his countrys borrowings in the same light.
Strangely also, many still give the benefit of the doubt to the President.
They say that basically he is a good man who has been and still is being
inveigled and manipulated. The purpose, they say, is to muddy him and
therefore he seems more spattered than he really is. For example, the
executive is procedurally impeding him from implementing the Supreme Court
judgement handed down in the Judges Case. His supporters maintain that at
least on one count he did not bend to pressure and denotify the Chief
Justice as he was advised to do. He may well have realised that for his
own survival he needs an independent judiciary. The opposition have, for
once, drafted and sent a sensible letter to the President urging him to
implement the judgement.
Leghari wants a second term. Like everyone else, once in a comfortable
chair, the thought of leaving it is frightening. But he knows that his
party does not want him re-elected. He must keep his options open, he must
be seen to be a good boy. As there was pressure to instal him for his
first term, there should be equal pressure to see him in for a second. In
view of the economic disaster facing us, he would have a better chance with
the people were he to curtail his shikar trips, and be seen to be as
austere as the President of India by driving around in a locally made car.
He is after all a Sardar, a Tumandar. Better is expected of him.
On to our de facto Finance Minister, Vaseem Jafarey. He has no one to blame
for his own predicament but himself. When he was shot out with the PPP
government in 1990, his complaint was, Well, what could I do? No one
listened to me. And yet, when he was asked in 1993 to rejoin the wagon, he
leapt on. Did he think he was dealing with leaders who had learnt a lesson,
who had been chastised and were repentant? The confidence that those who
knew him had in his integrity and financial ability has been dissipated.
His well-wishers defend him by insisting that he was never involved in the
taking of any kickbacks, or meddling in the making and breaking of shady
deals.
However, the knowledgeable maintain that whether he consciously helped him
or not, Jaffareys son-in-law, corporate lawyer Ahsan Rizvi, was given far
more work than he merited by the Finance Ministry, the Corporate Law
Authority and the Privatisation Commission, and that foreign firms dealing
with these three bodies were nudged into disregarding any conflict of
interest and retaining him at the fattest of fat fees. If this be true as
figures would suggest, it is a relatively minor sin.
Half of Islamabad says that Jafarey has asked to be relieved, but
permission has not been granted... The other half says that he is to be
made a scapegoat and sent home. One wonders which clever idiot, lured by
the prospect of amassing pelf, will volunteer to replace him. For what will
an honest man be able to do, what will he inherit other than unrepayable
debts? He will be lesser known and even lesser trusted by the World Bank,
the IMF, and any other lenders that he may find. He will be accused of
juggling with figures and he will be helpless when it comes to controlling
sheer blatant waste, such as the building of a monument in Islamabad to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Republic at a cost of some Rs 100
crores.
On the 24th, my last day in the capital, I was invited by Nawaz to a
Punjabi lunch. Suffering has done him some good. He has become more
coherent, more sensible, and can now string together a sequence of
sentences. My advice to him was that his cause would be better served were
he to convince the people that he is far from being a paragon of virtue,
but that he is the lesser of two evils. Whether the advice sank in is
questionable. He did say that were he to become PM once again he would
appoint me as his adviser-in-chief. My answer was that if he does become PM
again, he will have neither the inclination nor the time to even say hello
to me. This raised a laugh from the twelve men around the table.
The sleaze surrounding the Surrey mansion, the 335 acres, and the loose
boxes to stable 63 horses, has been dealt with by Nawaz correctly and
constitutionally, Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, read together,
stipulate that no be- iman can be a member of the National Assembly and
should he be found to be one, he will be disqualified. A very well-worded,
well-argued petition under Article 63(2) has been filed by Mian Mohammed
Nawaz Sharif and others against Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of
Pakistan, and Asif Ali Zardari, Member of the National Assembly. As
required, it has been handed over to the Speaker who is duty-bound to place
it before the Chief Election Commissioner. The petition relates to the
continuing gross violation of constitutional provisions of fundamental
importance by the respondents and prays that they be declared as having
become disqualified from being members of the National Assembly and that
their respective seats, NA-166 and NA-160, be declared vacant.
Lastly, whilst over in the States Professor Wirsing, Richard Haas and
Ambassador Oakley (and others) are researching and writing a report,
Pakistan, a Failed State, for their respective research councils, let
those of us who can, laugh. A wit has reminded Falstaff Sadik that when an
exodus starts and seats are scarce (with everyone wanting to run with
chickens and chattels), airlines normally restrict the carriage of weight.
In Iran in 1978-79 the total weight of a man and his baggage was restricted
to 250 lbs. If that applies here, Falstaff may just about be able to take
his toothbrush with him.
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960629
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A fate worse than death
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Mazdak
THE retirement of a civil servant, specially if he was fairly senior in the
hierarchy, is regarded as a time of mourning by him and his family: it is
almost as if he is shedding his earthly files to meet the secretary-general
in the Sky.
Whenever I attend farewell dinners or receptions for officials who have
attained the age of superannuation, I am always struck by the lugubrious
nature of these functions. Speech after speech eulogising the services of
the retiring official sounds as though he had been suddenly called away to
become a celestial OSD. Indeed, all these somewhat tedious affairs have a
funereal aspect. None of the speakers says he is envious of his departing
colleague for finally being out of the rat race; rather, there is a
distinct rather him than me tone to the speeches.
True, saying good-bye to a colleague does have an element of sadness, but
surely not to the point of deep gloom. The farewell gifts invariably
include a set of holy texts and commentaries; the implication being that
since the retirees life is now effectively over, he should spend his
remaining days in contemplation and prayer. Nobody thinks of giving a
camera or a stamp album to launch him on a new hobby. There are no jokes,
no reminders of humorous episodes.
Some of this despondency emanates from the knowledge that retirement leads
immediately and directly to a lower standard of living. There are no office
cars, no free telephones and a sharply reduced income. But more intolerable
than this financial hardship is the instant vacuum superannuation produces:
what will somebody who has been used to wielding enormous responsibility
and authority do with his time when he turns 60?
In many countries, civil servants cultivate hobbies and interests far
removed from their official lives. Here, this is the exception rather than
the rule. Our bureaucrats are usually so caught up with duties and
responsibilities that they have virtually no other lives. More often than
not, they take no vacations for fear that they will be re-assigned if they
take a few weeks off. They have few friendships outside their small circle
of professional colleagues, and apart from newspapers and official
documents, they dont read anything. Because of their narrow interests,
they are usually very boring company. Indeed, they quickly discover that
the people who cultivated them when they were in service now run a mile to
avoid them.
More than the drop in the standard of living it is the loss of status and
power that retired civil servants cannot come to terms with. After all, it
is not easy to be preparing the national budget one day, and suddenly
trying to cope with the household budget the next. This is why senior civil
servants fawn and crawl to somehow get an extension when they turn 60. In
fact, the last few months of their career are spent in desperate (and often
embarrassing) attempts to secure some official assignment. At the Secretary
level, income is not an issue. Status is. The value of the right to walk
into the VIP lounge at the airport cannot be quantified, but those used to
this privilege will kill to keep it.
Indeed, many of the perks available in the higher echelons of the
bureaucracy have no money value, but so completely spoil those who have
them that they simply cannot adapt to real life. For instance, most civil
servants I know have never stepped into a bank, a post office or an airline
reservation office; these simple but time-consuming tasks are performed by
flunkies. An official passport assures you a visa, and official number
plates will let you park anywhere you like. Above all, official status
gives you the priceless right to jump most queues. So while you may not
earn as much as a senior executive in the private sector, your many perks
insulate you from the grind of daily life in Pakistan.
After years of ever-increasing power and privilege, re-entry into civilian
life can be traumatic. Many civil servants age visibly on retirement. Their
stride loses its spring; their swagger is replaced by weariness; and their
arrogance is suddenly subdued. Now, they are willing and eager to talk to
all those they cold-shouldered. With nothing to do at home but nag their
long-suffering wives, they park themselves in the offices of junior ex-
colleagues, drink endless cups of tea and talk for hours about their past
bureaucratic triumphs. Unsurprisingly, their audience shrinks very quickly.
With no focus or purpose to their lives, with no hobbies or interests to
fill their days productively, retired people tend to go into terminal
decline. There are numerous studies correlating longevity to intense mental
activity. I regret to report that politicians, in particular, are prone to
live very long lives, not because they exercise their grey cells unduly,
but due to the fact that there is no retirement age in politics. But the
years sit heavily on those who have nothing to occupy their minds. Many
people suddenly acquire piety as a substitute for power, cynics think they
become born-again fundos to guarantee a corner plot for themselves in
Heaven. Be that as it may the incidence of unkempt beards seems to be
greater among retired civil servants than ordinary mortals.
Although the government has made a provision for those wishing to retire
before they turn 60, hardly anybody has taken advantage of this facility.
Like leeches clinging to their host, bureaucrats hang on to their official
perks until the very last day, hoping against hope that they will get a
reprieve. The prayers of a chosen few are answered, and their assiduous
toadyism pays off in the shape of an extension or a contract. But because
they owe their fleeting reincarnation in the bureaucracy to their political
masters, they become their creatures, bartering away their souls in a
Faustian bargain. Since a contract can be cancelled or not renewed, these
superannuated civil servants, haunted by insecurity, tender no advice that
may annoy those in power. In effect, they lose whatever spine or principles
they might once have possessed.
To all intents and purposes, they are marionettes manipulated by those who
gave them a reprieve.
To some extent, one can sympathise with their plight: at 60, most people
are mentally and physically active and alert, and should not be condemned
to a life of inactivity. But in a sense, it is the fault of this particular
category for not having any interests outside their careers. In other
countries, their counterparts look forward to retirement so that they can
devote their time to their hobbies.
So when you hear of some civil servants soldiering on, selling their
independence for another year or two in harness, dont be too harsh in your
judgement of these time servers.
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960701
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A handbag on the warpath
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Ayaz Amir
MRS THATCHER was supposed to have a deadly handbag. It struck out at
everything within sight. Something of the sort we are seeing in Islamabad
these days. There is no rational explanation otherwise for the fights this
government is picking. Reactionary forces, says the Prime Minister, are out
to get her. If the truth was known, it is only her own capacities which are
finally catching up with her.
At the beginning of this year everything seemed fine with Ms Bhuttos
government. Admittedly, it was not doing too wonderful a job in office.
Agreed also that the economic situation was grim. But in political terms at
least there was no discernible threat that the government was facing. Yet
six months down the road, not only has the Prime Minister seen to it that
her government is embroiled in a thicket of wholly unnecessary
controversies. Like a commander who has lost sight of the wood for the
trees, she is making her own predicament worse by refusing to keep her
handbag by her side.
What does Lucratius say of the man who to escape his restlessness rushes to
and fro? Before all else, he counsels, (he should) seek to understand
the nature of things. Instead of trying to understand the nature of her
troubles, Benazir Bhutto is detecting conspiracies in every corner.
It is useless at this stage to say that she should not have sought a
confrontation with the judiciary or that she should not have deliberately
provoked the Chief Justice. Those deeds having been committed, there is no
use in crying over them. Even so, little purpose is served by reinforcing a
bad policy as Ms Bhutto seems bent upon doing. The Supreme Court restores
the local bodies and just a day later the Punjab provincial assembly
revokes the very law from which the local bodies derive their sustenance.
To add insult to injury, the PPPs wise in Punjab, Malik Mushtaq Awan (the
very person for whose daughter special arrangements were made when she was
recently to sit for an examination) comes on television and says that this
step has been taken in order to make the local bodies set-up more
democratic.
As for the Prime Minister, who has developed a knack for delivering herself
of unnecessary statements, she has gone on record as saying that the
judiciary should remain neutral and that it should not play in the hands of
a particular political grouping. As if this was not enough, she went on to
add that this political grouping had offered to the judiciary that if it
were to act against the government, it (that is, the judiciary) would be
rewarded with the highest offices in the land. What is anyone to say of
this? When rulers feel cornered they start saying things which have little
relation with reality or logic. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lost the political
initiative in 1977 he started delivering all kinds of wild statements:
going to the Fawara Chowk in Rawalpindi and speaking of the conspiracies
afoot to unseat his government and then making that memorable gesture of
touching his chair and saying that his kursi was strong.
It is just not the budget or the firing on the Jamaat demonstration in
Rawalpindi which are responsible for the plight of the government. A
government sure of itself could have handled the reaction to an unpopular
budget. An administration with steadier nerves would have handled the
Jamaat protest in a more sensible manner. It is the confrontation with the
judiciary which is now into its third month which has spread the impression
that this government does not know what it is doing. And it is the pretty
estate in Surrey (reports of which the government has not been able to
effectively deny) which has sapped the moral authority of the government.
Power is at its most effective when it comes coupled with moral
incorruptibility.
Not that the leading lights of this government had built any enviable
record for themselves as far as corruption is concerned. Indeed, the line
between public office and private advantage has been completely blurred in
Pakistan. Still, Surreyhouse has a tangible form, which people can see and
touch, which mere rumour and innuendo do not. The leading lights of this
government can deny everything. They can demand proof for every allegation
of wrongdoing. But how do they erase the impression of Surreyhouse from the
public mind?
There is no grand conspiracy at work which has brought all these elements
of destruction together. The crisis with the judiciary has been of Ms
Bhuttos own making. The elements did not ask her to seek a fight with a
Chief Justice whom she herself had favoured by elevating him over the heads
of colleagues senior to him. It was hubris and nothing else which was
behind her anger when she saw that the Chief Justice (in the matter of Agha
Rafiq who thus enters the history books) was not doing her bidding. But
even when the worst was over she could have helped contain the damage had
she not behaved in what can only be called a juvenile manner after the
Supreme Court verdict in the judges case. But she lost no opportunity in
berating and even ridiculing the judiciary. And now to crown everything
comes the charge that a certain political grouping (no marks for guessing
which one) had made the offer of high political offices to the judiciary if
it helped in removing this government. Verily, whom the gods wish to
destroy they first make them ridiculous.
It is easy enough to say that something is wrong with the air of Islamabad.
It breeds arrogance in whoever comes to occupy its high perches. The
setting of Islamabad, the circumstance that it can hardly be called a
Pakistani city, and the mock grandiosity of its hideous architecture, are
certainly responsible for pushing rulers so far away from reality that they
no longer have any understanding of how the rest of the country, or at
least ordinary people, may be feeling. But that is not the whole story.
There is something ingrained in our character which makes all of us,
especially our rulers, impatient of restraint. With us power is properly
appreciated as power if it can be exercised arbitrarily. To question power
or even to say that the exercise of power must be regulated by law is akin
to the greatest sacrilege. In this the highest officials of the Republic
are at one with the SHO and the patwari. Question an SHO as to why he is
doing a certain thing (like not registering an FIR or implicating someone
in a false case) and his amazement if not his anger will be unrestrained.
The same holds true for higher officials.
But while touching theoretical heights, more pedestrian considerations
should not be forgotten.
Ms Bhutto is a politician of some strengths and many weaknesses. She has
energy and a quick intelligence. And she is a doughty fighter. But
throughout her political career she has given few signs of possessing those
qualities which come under the rubric of wisdom and vision. While having an
eye, and often a sharp one, for smaller things, she misses out on the
larger picture. What is her government about? What were ever its
priorities? Apart from a string of meaningless cliches, has she or anyone
close to her ever come around to answering these questions?
It is no accident that she is surrounded by mediocrities and charlatans.
They tell her what she likes to hear. Anyone else, with intelligence and
judgement and the integrity to speak his or her mind, would just not
survive in her company.
It is worth pointing out at this juncture that it is only so much that a
person can learn on the job. Wisdom, intelligence, integrity are not
qualities that one can just pick up along the way. Mostly (although not
always) one either has them or one does not. Prior to 1988 there was
nothing in Benazir Bhuttos political record that could make anyone think
that she would scale the heights of political performance as prime
minister. As expected she made a hash of things. When she became prime
minister again she was still the same person who had spawned an era of
corruption and mismanagement during her first term. Her first government
was chaotic and visibly so. Her second government is no less chaotic in its
functioning. The only difference is that greater care has been taken of
appearances. In other words, the same thing with better make-up.
Had Benazir Bhutto only been able to keep the hubris which lies in wait for
all Pakistani rulers in check, there is no reason why she should not have
been able to complete her term comfortably. After all, there was no
immediate threat she was facing. The opposition was strong but it was not
posing too many problems. Inflation was at an all-time high but even this
the people were reconciling themselves to. Indeed, at the beginning of this
year even hardened conspiracy theorists were coming round to the view that
here was a government safely ensconced in office till the next elections.
But come March, traditionally a fateful month for Pakistani politics, and
all these safe conclusions began gradually to unravel. First the row with
the judiciary which the Prime Minister spared no effort to fan into a
raging fire. Then as if to prove Shakespeare right that when troubles come
they come not in single file but in battalions, Surreyhouse. Then through
Mr Jafareys wisdom, the budget. Then through the administrations
coolness, the Jamaat demonstration with its tally of four dead. And then
the Supreme court judgement restoring the local bodies. The Wattoo case is
soon to be heard in the Lahore High Court. It is anyones guess how it will
turn out.
What is plain, however, is the governments predicament. It is hemmed in
from all sides. Far from trying to understand this situation or trying to
understand the nature of things, Ms Bhutto continues to be in a combative
mood. Doughtiness is a great quality but only if it is accompanied with
good judgement. Otherwise it is only another name for misguided obstinacy.
===================================================================
960704
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POA submits names of Olympic contingent
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ilyas Beg
LAHORE, July 3: Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) sent names of all
members of the Pakistani contingent which will be received by the 26th
Olympic Games Organising Committee in Atlanta on July 4 (Thursday).
The POA Secretary General Muhammad Latif Butt said that the Pakistan Hockey
Federation (PHF) had sent the names of 16 players and four officials on
Sunday afternoon. That facilitated the POA in finalising the names of the
Pakistani contingent for onward transmission to the organisers. They had
fixed July 5 as the deadline for finally receiving the names of all members
of contingents from the National Olympic Committees of the world.
The names of the members of Pakistani contingent are:
Hockey Team: Mansoor Ahmad (captain), Tahir Zaman (vice-captain), Khalid
Mahmood, Muhammad Danish Kaleem, Naveed Alam, Rana Mujahid Ali, Muhammad
Usman, Muhammad Khalid, Muhammad Shafqat, Irfan Mahmood, Kamran Ashraf,
Muhammad Shahbaz Junior, Muhammad Sarwar, Aleem Raza, Muhammad Nadeem (ND),
Rahim Khan.
Officials: Samiullah (manager), Jahangir Butt (coach), Dr Mazhar Naeem,
Bert Bunnik (Video Operator)
Boxing: Abdul Rasheed Kamrani, Sifarish Khan, Usmanullah, Abdul Rasheed
Baloch.
OFFICIALS: Syed Muhammad Ghaznavi (manager), Rafael Ramirez, (coach), Col.
Samad Mir (Technical Official)
Athletics: Aqarab Abbas, Shabana Akhtar.
Swimming: Kamal Salman Masud. Manager: Mian Abdul Wajid.
Wrestling: Muhammad Bashir Bhola Bhala.
Chef-de-Mission: Air Vice-Marshal Garooq Umar.
Administrative Officer: Abdul Haq Chanar.
Secretary-cum-Treasurer: Chaudhry Muhammad Arif.
Observer: Second World Islamic Countries Womens Games Organising
Chairperson Seemen Farooq Umar.
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960703
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Atlanta challenge highly demanding
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A. Majid Khan
KARACHI July 2: Mansoor Ahmed, the first-ever Pakistani goalkeeper to lead
the hockey team in the Olympic Games, said here this afternoon that the
selected squad is a balanced side and it is getting into rhythm to launch
its assault at Atlanta for winning back the title.
Talking to Dawn, Mansoor of Pakistan Customs, stated the Atlanta Olympic
tournament is more challenging and formidable as compared to the 1992
Barcelona Olympics as the national hockey has gone through crisis on the
eve of the summer games. Pakistan secured third position in the last
Olympics when there had been no crisis and the side went to Barcelona with
the best preparations, he pointed out.
The weather at Atlanta , where the Olympic Games start on July 19, would be
warm similar to Karachis and would also be suited to Pakistan and India
and not the European teams, he said. We have played at Atlanta about three
months back and Pakistan won the six-nation tournament with India finishing
at number two,added the captain.
Mansoor Ahmed, making his third successive appearance in the Olympic Games
starting with the 1988 Seoul Olympics, further stated that the recently-
concluded two four-nation tournaments in England and the Netherlands, have
further provided an opportunity to the team to assess its shortcomings and
to overcome them.
We went through hard competitions and it was the second time after the
Berlin Champions Trophy following the 1994 Sydney World Cup that we
competed against the strong European teams, he added.
The Olympic skipper, with 215 international caps to his belt, said Pakistan
stands a fairly good chance to earn semi-final berth from its six -team
pool which included defending champions Germany, India, Spain, Argentina
and hosts United States of America.
The other team to enter the semi-final would be Germany. From the other
pool Australia and the Netherlands are considered favourites to reach the
semi-finals, stated the Olympic captain
The Pakistan squad, he said , is scheduled to fly to Canada for a four-
match series against the national team at Vancouver before proceeding to
Atlanta on July 9. We would be having two weeks for our final tune-up for
the Olympic Games and he said the team would click to produce its best to
qualify for the semi-finals. The battle in the penultimate round would be
more tough and hard and if we did not miss the chances Pakistan should
reach the final for an eye on the gold medal, emphasised Mansoor Ahmed.
The teams main schemer is Olympian inside right Tahir Zaman and also extra
responsibility lies on the shoulder of centre forward Kamran Ahsraf and
inside left Mohammad Shahbaz in the Pakistan attack to make it lethal and
effective in terms of getting goals. They are fully capable of breaking any
defensive network, he added.
When questioned about the absence of former Pakistan captain Shahbaz Ahmed
who did no make himself available for the team, Mansoor preferred to
refrain from making any comment, saying we are concentrating on the final
build-up of the team for the upcoming challenge at Atlanta.
To another question about the poor convertibility of penalty corners, the
Olympic captain admitted that our rate of conversion certainly needs
improvement. Now at the Atlanta battle , the skipper stated, we would be
relying more on direct hits rather than on the indirect ones. He mentioned
that Danish Kalim along with Naveed Alam would be used most for conversion
purposes.
Mansoor disclosed that Dutch Bert Bunnik, the trainer, who joined the
Olympic squad, this morning carried the penalty corner exercises at the HCP
Stadium and gave valuable technical tips in conversion of penalty corners.
When further questioned about rejecting the rightful claim of Mohammad
Anis, basically a left-winger who, also as centre forward gave a fine
performance on the European tour but surprisingly Nadeem, (ND) who was not
even in the eight standbys of the Olympic squad, was selected Mansoor
replied that Anis should not be disheartened. He is young and fine attacker
and has a bright future, said Mansoor.
The captain said Centre forward Kamran Ashraf, who toured Europe nursing
his knee injury, has fully recovered and has started his trainings. Kamran
has been out of practice for about a month when he injured his knee in a
practice match at the Pakistan Customs Complex.
Mansoor said that the Atlanta challenge is highly demanding and the team
would give its best to come up to the expectations of the nation which is
looking forward to see us return home victorious.
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960630
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Shahbaz axed from hockey team for Olympics
-------------------------------------------------------------------
LAHORE, June 29: Former captain Shahbaz Ahmad Senior has been finally
dropped from the 16-member Pakistan hockey team chosen on Saturday for the
26th Olympic Games to be held at Atlanta from July 19 to Aug 4.
Shahbaz Ahmad led the Pakistan team to victory in the 6th World Cup hockey
at Sydney and the Champions Trophy at Lahore in 1994. He along with other
23 national players had refused to appear in the national trials at Karachi
for the selection of Pakistan team for the two four-nation competitions. He
has been replaced by Mohammad Nadeem (ND), who had been specially flown to
Holland for the back-to-back four-nation tournament along with Mohammad
Asif Khan on the request of manager Samiullah to reinforce the Pakistan
team badly beaten in the first tournament at Milton-Keynes (England).
A Press release issued by Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Secretary Col.
Mudassar Asghar says: The national selectors (Akhtar Rasool and Mir
Zafarullah Jamali) touring with the national hockey team on its twin 4-
nation tournaments after detailed discussions with manager Samiullah and
coach Jahangir Butt have decided the 16-member hockey team for the
Olympics. Player Mohammad Nadeem was included after thorough discussions as
player Shahbaz Ahmad had declined at the last-minute to accompany the team
on twin 4-nation tournaments.
The PHF Secretary has also announced that Bert Bunnik would be the video
operator for the Olympic Games. He is a FIH trainer and would also
supervise physical training of the players during the national camp at
Karachi.
The Pakistan Olympic Association had asked the PHF to finally provide the
names of the 16 players who would take part in the Atlanta Olympics latest
by June 29 so that those could be sent to the Games Organising Committee
before July 5. That has been set as the last date for submission of the
names of all the sportsmen and officials to the Organising Committee by all
the National Olympic Committees.
The following are the 16 players of the Pakistan hockey team:
Goalkeepers: Captain Mansoor Ahmad and Khalid Mahmood, Full-backs: Mohammad
Danish Kaleem, Naveed Alam, Rana Mujahid Ali. Half-backs: Mohammad Usman,
Mohammad Khalid, Mohammad Shafqat, Irfan Mahmood. Forwards: Vice-captain
Tahir Zaman, Kamran Ashraf, Mohammad Shahbaz Junior, Mohammad Sarwar, Aleem
Raza, Mohammad Nadeem (ND), Rahim Khan. Manager: Samiullah. Coach: Jahangir
Butt.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
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Bribery, match-fixing on ICC agenda
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Samiul Hasan
KARACHI, June 29: The International Cricket Council (ICC) is trying to rake
up the dead bribery and match-fixing controversy and has put the issue as
one of the items on the agenda of its annual meeting at Lords to be held
on July 9 and 11.
According to sources, the ICC will be seeking its members views to form a
sub-committee to investigate and report in detail the incident that
reportedly occurred during Australias tour of Pakistan in 1994-95.
Allegations were levelled against Salim Malik by Shane Warne, Tim May and
Mark Waugh five months after the completion of the series.
The approval of the members is being seen as just a formality by the
sources who maintained that the ICC has already taken the opinion of at
least four cricket boards supporting the supreme body along with Australian
Cricket Board (ACB) and the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB).
The ICC Chairman, Sir Clyde Walcott, and Chief Executive, David Richards,
have already been empowered to constitute a committee to probe and tackle
the issue which rocked the international cricket early last year, sources
said.
The members in the committee, likely to be three with a convenor, will be
proposed by the two ICC officials and the other members will be requested
to unanimously approve them, sources added.
The Chief Executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Majid Khan, was
taken aback when asked about the ICC intentions regarding bribery and
match-fixing.
The ICC must be worried because match-fixing has crept into sports like
football and snooker. I think, in the meeting there will be discussions how
to keep cricket away from these ungamely things, Majid said from his
Lahore residence.
The former Test opener said he wasnt sure if the deliberations would be
directed towards the Pakistan-Australia series. I personally feel, the
discussions will be held to generalise the overall situation.
However, if it came to Pakistan, well, then we will handle the situation
accordingly, Majid stated.
Dawn page