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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 12 September 1996 Issue : 02/37
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Normality in Karachi victory for people: PM
PM, Nawaz exchange proposals for dialogue
Nawazs terms for dialogue with govt
US allows sale of Boeing to Pakistan
BD investigates possibility of Pakistans involvement
Jalalabad falls to Taliban militia
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Govt issues list of loan defaulters
Value of rupee lowered by 3.65 pc
Rupee losing trust on account of continual devaluation
Puny rate of savings impedes our economic growth
Foreign investors and special incentives
External debt stands at $29.57bn
PTCL sale to hit govt revenue
Stocks suffer widespread decline
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General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan Ardeshir Cowasjee
The democrat at home Hafizur Rahman
The dawning of a belated wisdom Ayaz Amir
Only guilty fear the truth Mohammad Malick
Frantic in Fort Munro Mazdak
The arrogance of power Omar Kureishi
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Team for Canada & Kenya ties named
Pakistan team off to Canada for Sahara Cup
The setback in the one-day cricket series
Pakistans impressive show in England
Pakistan has edge over India: Akram
Lamb joins Botham in libel appeal
Hong Kong Open Complacent Jansher gets a jolt
Pakistani shining as US tennis star
Go-ahead given to city sports project
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960907
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Normality in Karachi victory for people: PM
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Our Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 6: As the nation celebrated the Defence of Pakistan Day on
Friday, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto told a rally at the National Stadium
here that return of normality to Karachi was a great victory for people and
expressed the resolve to confront the enemies of Pakistan, internal and
external, with the support of the people.
Nothing will be spared to make Pakistan invincible and its defence
impregnable so that the enemy would not dare cast an evil eye on it, she
said and urged the people to unite against the enemies of the country.
We will confront the enemies of Pakistan with all our might to defend the
glory and honour of our nation, she declared amid applause.
Prime Minister Bhutto said it was a great day in the history of the
country, particularly for the people of Karachi who three years ago could
not have thought of holding such a function owing to the worst kind of
terrorism.
I am happy that peace has returned to Karachi and I commend the people
that by confronting terrorism they have saved Pakistan, said the Prime
Minister.
Referring to her governments efforts for peace and development, she said:
I dont want to see dead bodies in your homes, I want to see happiness on
every face.
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960909
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PM, Nawaz exchange proposals for dialogue
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Faraz Hashmi
ISLAMABAD, Sept 8: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and opposition leader Mian
Nawaz Sharif on Sunday exchanged proposals for setting up of an
accountability commission and initiating a dialogue between the two sides.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Nawaz Sharif proposed that a commission
comprising of senior judges should be set up to probe into allegation of
corruption against himself and the prime minister.
Ms Bhutto, however, suggested that the two sides should first formulate a
code of conduct before negotiations on constitutional reforms and talks on
other issues.
The opposition leader in his 135 minutes speech refuted charges of non-
payment of loans against his family concern, Ittefaq Foundry, and also
expressed willingness to present himself for accountability.
He charged Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari and Hakim Ali Zardari of
siphoning away over Rs. 3 billion from the nationalised banks and other
financial institutions.
Regarding the outstanding loans of Rs. 6 billion against Ittefaq group he
conceded that the group owe the loan.
Ms Benazir Bhutto later responding to the proposal of accountability
commission said that the representatives of both sides should first sit
together and chalk out a code of conduct.
She said the government was determined to recover the outstanding and bad
loans from the defaulter and it would do it with or without the co-
operation of the opposition.
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960911
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Nawazs terms for dialogue with govt
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: Leader of the Opposition Mian Nawaz Sharif has
expressed his willingness to hold dialogue with the government to
simultaneously discuss accountability, strengthening of the system and
immediate elections.
But everything should be openly discussed in parliament, he demanded.
Speaking at the joint parliamentary party meeting of the opposition here on
Tuesday, he pointed out that his party wanted to preserve the Constitution
with certain amendments that were needed according to national
requirements. The opposition is also prepared to co-operate in the
formation of a caretaker government to oversee the elections as well as
appointment of a neutral election commission, he added.
Nawaz Sharif opposed the proposal seeking a change in the system. There is
nothing wrong in the system, he said and blamed the bad governance of
Benazir Bhutto and her cohorts for all the ills in the country.
He also accused the prime minister of looting and plundering the national
wealth and alleged that she was avoiding the setting up of a judicial
commission because of being involved in corrupt practices.
She is not accepting my demand for the establishment of an independent and
high-powered judicial commission to start accountability precisely, because
she herself is involved in corruption, plunder and economic ruin, he
further alleged.
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960908
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US allows sale of Boeing to Pakistan
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Sept 7: The United States has allowed Boeing to sell its
aircraft to PIA and ensured that the Pressler amendment does not hinder the
deal.
The American Import Export Bank will provide credit to PIA to purchase
Boeing planes and the Pressler amendment would not stand in its way, said
the visiting US Assistant Secretary of Commerce Mr Raymond E. Vickery Jr.
I do not see that the Pressler amendment is a big problem and at the same
time I do not see it could obstruct business relations between the two
countries.
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960909
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BD investigates possibility of Pakistans involvement
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Hasan Saeed
DHAKA, Sept 8: Investigators in Bangladesh are examining the possibility of
Pakistan and Libyas involvement in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, a newspaper reported on Friday. The English daily, The New Nation,
quoted sources close to Awami League as saying that secret agencies have
specific information that Syed Farooq Rashid, one of the two masterminds of
the killing, and his men illegally imported huge quantity of arms and
ammunition from a Muslim country in Africa and a big Muslim country in
Asia.
The paper, however, did not name the countries it had mentioned in its
story, but named Pakistan and Libya in headlines.
The killers had also procured a huge quantity of arms from an armed tribal
group in Chittagong Hill Tracts through a businessman in Chittagong.
The paper had earlier reported that the American ambassador to Bangladesh
and representatives of the Indian government were actively involved in the
conspiracy.
The government of Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Mujibur
Rahman, has revived the case after 21 years and directed the agencies to
unearth the facts and figures behind the killings.
The government arrested Col Rahman and two of his accomplices on Aug. 13
and immediately constituted a case against killers of Sheikh Mujib, members
of his family and four of his aides.
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960912
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Jalalabad falls to Taliban militia
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Ahmad Hassan
PESHAWAR, Sept 11: Jalalabad, the capital of Afghanistans eastern
Nangarhar province, fell to the Taliban militia on Wednesday afternoon
without any resistance from the government forces.
The Taliban militia, led by Mulla Borjan, a prominent Taliban commander,
entered the city at 3:00pm on Wednesday and immediately took its control,
the sources said.
They said the Taliban occupied administration offices and residence of
Governor Haji Abdul Qadeer who had escaped to Peshawar along with his
brother and son on Tuesday evening.
The sources said the Nangarhar Shura troops either changed loyalties or
fled the city to avoid a clash with the advancing Taliban column numbering
only about 1000.
With the fall of Jalalabad, second largest city after Kabul, and
strategically important for being situated on the main highway between
Peshawar and Kabul, the Taliban are now in full control of the main route
between Pakistan and the Afghan capital.
The situation on Pakistan-Afghanistan border remained tense throughout the
day on Tuesday due to the uncertain condition across the border.
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960906
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Govt issues list of loan defaulters
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: The federal government on Thursday issued a list of
major 250 loan defaulters, with the Ittefaq group of Nawaz Sharif on top in
the private sector and Karachi Development Authority in the public sector.
The minister of state for law and parliamentary affairs, Mian Raza Rabbani,
made the list public at a news conference. He said: The standing committee
on law and parliamentary affairs which has been entrusted the task of
recommending ways and means to recover the staggering Rs95 billion from the
defaulters is expected to propose a new legislation for the purpose. He
alleged that the Constitution had been tampered with by the dictators and
said a new legislation was imperative to recover the stuck-up loans.
Mr Rabbani said the committee would be totally independent to recommend any
possible means for the recovery of the loans. One of the members of the
committee, originally a PML MNA and now the minister for science and
technology, Haji Nawaz Khokhar, is among the defaulters who had obtained
Rs361 million but never paid back. When asked how could Mr Khokhar be part
of the committee as he was a defaulter, Mr Rabbani said he would not like
to comment on it. When pressed, he said the committee had been set up long
ago and that he did not know much about it. Riaz Pirzada is chairman of the
committee and its members include Iftikhar Gilani, Muzaffar Hashmi, Zafar
Ali Shah, Rafiq Mehsar, Ghulam Farid Kahtia, Naveed Qamar, Mian Yasin
Wattoo and N.D. Khan.
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960911
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Value of rupee lowered by 3.65 pc
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Sabihuddin Ghausi
KARACHI, Sept. 10: The State Bank Governor, Dr Mohammad Yaqub, announced on
Tuesday that the government has decided to lower the exchange rate of rupee
with dollar by 3.65 per cent. Dollars official buying rate has now been
increased by Re 1.35. From Monday the new exchange rate has been raised
from Rs 35.62 to Rs 36.97.
It will make exports competitive, curtail imports and encourage overseas
Pakistanis to remit their earnings through banks as wedge between the
official exchange rate and kerb rate in open market has been narrowed
down, the Governor announced at a hurriedly called press conference amid
strong reports that dollar rate in open market has already escalated beyond
Rs 40 and was fluctuating somewhere between Rs 40.30 and Rs 40.50. He said
the action had been taken to strengthen the economy and not to weaken it
and the purpose is to boost the exports.
The governor offered detailed explanation of the implications of rupee
devaluation at the very outset.
He said there would not be much effect on the priceline of the items being
consumed by the poor people as their 95 per cent consumption is not related
to imports. However, Dr Yaqub was found wanting in answers when informed
that bulk of the quantity of crude oil and petroleum products are being
imported and a higher import bill would have direct and indirect effect on
almost all sectors of economy. In addition items worth over two billion
dollars including edible oil, wheat, tea, powdered milk, and a variety of
vegetables were being imported which were in the menu of the poorest people
in the country.
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960907
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Rupee losing trust on account of continual devaluation
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Sultan Ahmed
THE ceaseless, creeping devaluation of the rupee is making the people,
particularly business groups, lose faith in the future of the rupee, and
that has resulted in a large 10 per cent gap between the official exchange
rate of Rs 35.62-to-a-dollar and the free market rate of Rs 39.15.
Normally the difference has been around five or six per cent, or around Rs
2 instead of the current Rs 3.53.
And that has spawned a great deal of speculation that following the four
per cent devaluation of the rupee since January 1, there could be a further
four per cent devaluation before the end of the year, while the wilder
speculation takes the rupee much further down.
The rupee was depreciated officially three times in August and came down by
a total of 30 paisa to a dollar, and that gave a spur to a further rise in
free market prices, with the only reassuring news from the government that
its foreign exchange reserve had gone up to $1.8 billion from $1.5 billion
earlier.
With the gap between the official exchange rate of the rupee and the free
market widening, a great many overseas Pakistanis who send home remittances
regularly are reported to be holding back their remittances and the people
in Pakistan who have dollars which they need to dispose of are not doing
that in the hope of getting more in terms of rupees soon, while others are
trying to buy more dollars to profit by the expected substantial
devaluation.
Unhappy experience
Pakistans unhappy experience shows that when the government finds exports
not going up in the manner sought, it comes up with large doses of
devaluation at a time, like the 10 per cent devaluation in the second half
of 1993 and the 7 per cent devaluation resorted to on October 28 last to
appease the IMF which was more keen on a budget deficit reduction on adding
a large doses of devaluation to the smaller ones which have become a
constant feature of our economy.
What is outrageous about what was done on October 28 was that while other
countries reduce import duties as they resort to substantial devaluation of
their currencies, the government came up with a 10 per cent regulatory duty
on all dutiable items and five per cent on others.
Worse has been the impact of the current budget with its additional
taxation of Rs 41 billion (former finance minister Sartaj Aziz says it is
in fact Rs 57 billion) which has enhanced the cost of production and
exports a great deal. The sustained devaluation enhanced the rupee cost of
all imports and increased the duties on all imports in terms of rupees,
including industrial raw materials and inputs into exports.
The other area where the devaluation of the rupee fails is in restricting
imports.
While devaluation normally makes imports more costly, decreases demand at
home, and lowers the imports, in Pakistan it tends to increase the imports,
as happened last year when imports increased to $11.7 billion against the
previous years $10 billion, a rise of 12.5 per cent against the targeted
10.6 per cent.
When it comes to exports, after the rupee was devalued by 14.67 per cent in
1993 instead of exports going up appreciably in 1993-94 they fell by 1.4
per cent spot-lighting the limitation of large scale devaluation of the
rupee in boosting exports.
In the same manner, despite the 7 per cent devaluation of October 28 last,
and the creeping devaluation, which preceded that and followed, exports
increased by 5 five per cent while the growth target was 14 per cent.
The Indian and Pakistan rupee have been moving largely along the same level
in recent years, but now the free market price of the Indian rupee at
35.70-to-a-dollar is almost the same as the official rate of the Pakistani
currency35.62, while the free market rate in Pakistan at Rs 39.15-to-a-
dollar is Rs 3.45 ahead of the Indian open market rate.
Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Minister of State of Finance, last week categorically
stated that there would be no devaluation of the rupee. Instead you will
see the rupee stable by the end of next month.
But then, in the past too categorical official statements of this kind had
been followed by substantial devaluation. In fact, we cannot expect the
officials to confirm that there would be devaluation of the rupee sometime
soon as that would send, the speculators and manipulators in the money
market on a tail spin and let them foul up the market.
Govts options
The government has usually two options to boost exports after setting a
high export target of $10 billion either to lower the duties and other
inputs cost of industries and exporters or resort to further devaluation.
Clearly, the latter option has proved counter-productive for increasing
exports except a for a short while immediately after a large devaluation,
and so the only option left with the government it so reduce the duties and
other inputs costs of the exporters.
However, the government is determined to increase its revenues at any cost
so as to reduce the budget deficit to 4 per cent of the GDP and get payment
of two tranches of 80 million dollars under the stand-by agreement for $600
million.
Meanwhile, the government claims its foreign exchange reserve, including
through short-term borrowing abroad, has risen to $1.8 billion, but a good
many debt repayments are due in the coming months and that will bring down
the reserve a great deal.
Of course, if the privatisation efforts become a success soon and power
projects and major banks get sold along with 26 per cent of the shares of
PTC to a major strategic buyer the reserve can go up appreciably.
Meanwhile, the foreign exchange deposits of resident and overseas
Pakistanis have gone up to $7 billion dollars, and if in the unsettled
conditions in Pakistan there is a rush to get back their dollars from the
banks, the government which has used up all that money will not be able to
repay that.
Of course, some of the large depositors have borrowed against their rupee
rupees at low interest rates but they own about two-thirds of the total
deposits only.
The others who own more than $2.5 billion would want that money immediately
as they are encumbered with rupee loans, and the government with its low
foreign exchange reserve meant for other purposes will find it hard to meet
their demands.
Hence the government should cease using up all the deposits and treating
even short-term deposits as its foreign exchange reserve, in the manner
many countries, including India, are doing.
This is an area which needs serious consideration from the government
instead of the issue being taken lightly and breezily hoping for the best
in these uncertain times.
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960907
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Puny rate of savings impedes our economic growth
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Jafar Wafa
THE CONFUCIAN countries of East Asia namely China, Japan, South Korea, Hong
Kong, Taiwan and Singapore - started their journeys on the road to the
economic miracle through learning and saving. Compared to our sub-
continent, literacy rates in these countries are as high as 75 per cent,
excluding Japan where well over 95 per cent people are literate.
Their gross domestic savings range between 35-40 per cent of the GDP. High
literacy rate has produced a balanced frame of mind in citizens of these
countries. Perhaps, this is why their interest in political polemics is
minimal. In China, Hong Kong and Taiwan neither elections have ever been
held, nor the people have any concept of a democratic polity which has been
bequeathed to the South Asians by the outgoing colonial power.
In other countries of East. Asia like Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and
Malaysia, there is either an autocratic rule or a one-party government.
There too, the citizens are not political minded. They are economic
animals, as the late Z.A. Bhutto had so aptly said about the Japanese.
In contrast, the literacy rates in South Asian states are as low as 37 to
50 per cent (36 per cent in Pakistan) with the exception f Sri Lanka where
it is as high a 90 per cent. Perhaps, this high literacy factor explains
why there has been no political upheaval of any kind in Sri Lanka. The
armed hostility to which that country is a prey to is not an internal
conflict, as is common knowledge, but the acts of Tamil insurgents from
neighbouring south India. These countries which are characterised by low
literacy and low savings rates, the teeming millions of destitute are being
ruled by dynastic leadership, at present mostly women belonging to the
families of slains political leaders, as in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri
Lanka. In India, political leadership had mostly been the proud preserve of
the Nehru dynasty with the redoubtable Indira Gandhi and her son closing
the dynastic rule. The East Asian countries have become tigers not only
through literacy but also through re-investment of their high amounts of
savings in nation-building activities.
It is doubtful if the Pakistanis and other South Asians can save as much
with the kinds of government they have at present, with the likely
exception of India where the administration has taken a left turn but
nevertheless stands on slippery ground.
Domestic savings are the highest (44 per cent) in China, a socialist
republic where the state provides almost free health care, free basic
education and heavily subsidised transport to urban commuters. The
Indonesians save as much as 37 per cent and the South Koreans and
Malaysians nearly 33 per cent of their gross domestic incomes. These rates
were as low as eight per cent in Indonesia and South Korea and about 24 per
cent in Malaysia during the sixties when they were not even cubs. In
Japan, however, the rate 34 per cent has been constant for more than three
decades of its post-war history.
The rate of savings in Pakistan is abysmally low. It is around 13 per cent,
having slid from about 1t per cent five years ago. How low it is can be
gauged from the fact that it is far less than 19 per cent in prodigal
America or 16 per cent in blue-blooded Britain.
Naturally, our rate of investment too has been as low as 19 per cent of GDP
throughout the nineties, same as in the UK and 3 per cent better than in
the US the two representative countries from the highly developed Northern
hemisphere, where domestic investment has already touched the ceiling and
whose capitalists are seeking propitious places off shore to invest for
higher return than at home. Our own country is one such propitious place
for them. So, we can not derive satisfaction from the mere fact that our
investment rate compares favourably with that in the United States or in
the United Kingdom as the levels of their economies bear absolutely no
comparison with ours. If at all comparison must be made, we should again
look eastward. Against our 19 per cent, the Chinese have lately been
investing at approximately 40 per cent of the GDP, the Indonesians at 36
per cent, the Malaysians at 34 per cent and the South Koreans at 37 per
cent of their national incomes.
Our government itself consumes 15 per cent of the available resources
which, in terms of percentage, is only marginally less than what the
various tiers of governments of the sole surviving superpower do. How
spend-thrift and expensive our government is can be realised when we are
told that the East Asian governments spend only 9 to 10 per cent of the
total national expenditure on themselves.
The rate of private consumption by citizens of these East Asian states
ranges between 50 to 60 per cent of GDP, allowing a substantial margin for
investment in industry and infrastructure.
Our people have the doubtless distinction of consuming nearly 75 per cent
of GDP on food, clothing, shelter and other needs, against a little less
then 70 per cent in neighbouring India, which is far more populous and
hardly more resourceful, and 18 to 20 per cent in US and UK.
We have to spend nearly 55 per cent, out of their aggregated household
expenses, on food along; against 50 per cent by the Indians, and as less as
16, 23 and 35 per cent by the Japanese, Malaysians and South Koreans
respectively. In US and UK, raw, uncooked food is cheaper than even in
these East Asian countries.
Skewed policies
This should be food for thought for our feudal-dominated government which
keeps on enhancing the procurement prices of wheat and sugar, every now and
then, and potatoes last week, making the staple diet of the masses costlier
and allowing higher incomes to flow into the coffers of the rich growers
who devote their energies more to extremely rewarding political pursuits
than to increasing the productivity of their unmanageably huge land
holdings.
These landed gentry, according to an estimate, own 70 per cent of the
arable land on which eight million peasants toil hard to cultivate food
grains and cash crops. The successive governments, including the popularly-
elected ones, have failed miserably to restrict human procreation, through
effective and pragmatic planned-family programmes, and to increase farm
production through effective land reforms.
If people spend more than half of their earnings on feeding themselves and
their large families, they can hardly save enough to invest in domestic
industry and infrastructure, which is a prerequisite for foreign
investment.
And if the government spends prodigally on its own parliamentary
paraphernalia and jumbo cabinet, it can hardly find enough resources to
spread literacy and sponsor research and development schemes in
universities and specialised institutions of higher learning.
Without learning and saving, as the East Asians have proved, the country
is bound to enter the next year (not next century) with a bigger begging
bowl in hand and a bloated, top heavy, wasteful government on its back.
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960907
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Foreign investors and special incentives
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R.M.U. Suleman
LATE last month, Syed Mohibullah Shah, Secretary of the Board of Investment
(BoI) held a Press briefing to recount Pakistans recent achievements in
attracting direct foreign investment and the problems encountered in doing
so. Earlier in the day, there was a review and decisions making meeting of
the Board presided over by its chairman, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Many projects were approved. Engro PVC plant is to be set up in
collaboration with Mitsubishi of Japan. Pharma plants are to be set up with
concessional customs duty of 10 per cent on imported machinery and raw
materials. Import levies on hotel items were reduced from 65 per cent to 25
per cent. Pakistan has also improved the incentive package for the food
industry.
Direct foreign investment (DFI) during 1995-96 was reported to be $1.1
billion as compared to $442 million of 1994-95, an annual jump of about 149
per cent. A reverse trend was observed in portfolio investments which
dipped by 75 per cent from $1.0 billion in 1994-95 to $250 million in 1995-
96. Portfolio investments in 1994-95 were inflated by overseas sales of 10
per cent of PTC vouchers. The decline in portfolio investment is also
explained by persistent bearish pressures on our stock exchanges.
If both, the DFI and portfolio investments are added up, the total shows a
decline of 6.3 per cent from $1.442 billion in 1994-95 to $1.350 billion in
1995-96. In 1993-94 the total investments received were $649 million. In
the 1980s the total foreign investment flow was at a much lower rate of
$100 million per annum.
All these figures are based on BoIs departmental records and may differ
slightly from the records of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). These
numbers are, of course, not mere MoUs but funds verifiable from the SBP.
They are usually tied up with foreign equipment and supplies needed for the
fuel and power sectors.
Mohibullah Shah informed newsmen that 30 per cent of the investment was
made in the energy sector, while the remaining went to transport,
communications, agriculture and trading. As to the sources of DFI, the
leading investing countries in 1995-96 were the United States ($319
million),the United Kingdom ($317 million) and the other European
countries. The new non-traditional foreign investors during the year were
from Japan ($50 million), Hong Kong ($40 million) and the United Arab
Emirates ($40 million).
Zardaris assurance Mr Shah also added in this context that Pakistan had
also received a good response from South Korean investors and expressed the
hope that a significant investment would be coming from that country in the
near future. Federal Minister for Investment Asif Ali Zardari has assured
the visiting delegation of Daewoo that the policy guideline to attract
investment in Pakistan is based on No bureaucratic bottlenecks, with
smooth and congenial conditions. The delegation is visiting Pakistan to
explore new ventures for investment in the field of highways, hotels,
railways, petrochemical, telecommunication, agro- based industry, tourism
etc.
Zardari emphasised that it was fair to provide incentives to the investor
who brings in technology and the investors should invest in manufacturing
rather than trading. He advised government officials to provide land to
the interested parties as a part of equity. He also apprised the delegation
about the export potential if they invest in Pakistan. Pakistan has a vast
market around the Central Asian Republics (CARs) and the middle east.
The Chairman Daewoo group, Mr Chong Young Soo appreciated that with the
restoration of peace in Karachi, Pakistan has become a more attractive
destination for the investors. He expressed willingness to participate in
the privatisation of PTCL and the nationalised commercial banks. The desire
to open a new bank in the private sector was expressed.
Uncompetitive
Mr Shah went on to add that the cost of capital was raised by inefficient
banking system and the rising cost of utilities. These factors were making
Pakistan uncompetitive in the region and keeping the foreign investors
away.
The cost of investment is related to the cost of capital (the rate of
interest) and the cost of utilities. Due to inefficiency of our banking
system, the over-loading of deposit rate for the borrower at eight per cent
as compared with 1.5 per cent in most developed, East Asian and south-east
Asian countries.
Another factor, Mr Shah emphasised, was the withdrawal of the special
industrial zones (SIZs) package, which the government had offered to
foreign investors but had rolled back on the pressure of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). Shah said the BoI was working for the revival of these
special industrial zones to create competitiveness.
Only in eleven months, ie before this package was withdrawn, Pakistan
received project proposals worth $20 billion as against only $200 million
worth projects attracted by the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in the last 14
years. Conceptually, of course, SIZs and the EPZs zones are quite
different. The former represents an effort at decentralised
industrialisation backed by outright tax concessions. Such
industrialisation is often based on tax concessions and provision of
industrial infrastructure and the adjoining areas are also cultivated as
the market for the product of such industrialisation. Such zones add
substantially to the budgetary imbalance and could thus hardly be to the
liking of IMF.
EPZs, on the other hand operate as enclaves. Goods produced there are meant
almost entirely for the export market, without bearing any burden of export
levies. Domestic raw material entering the enclaves have to pay export
duties, if leviable. Goods manufactured in the enclave can also be sold in
the domestic market but after bearing the burden of all import levies.
The BoI had been arguing with the IMF that Pakistan was losing its
competitiveness because of the withdrawal of the package of incentives for
SIZs. If we want to bring foreign investment, we will have to give
investors special incentives, particularly when we lack infrastructure,
have a poorly qualified labour force along with high input cost of capital
and utilities, he maintained.
If we had stuck to this package, in a period of five years, new industrial
towns would have sprung up all over the country, creating job opportunities
and releasing pressure on the cities. This, however, is quite a romantic
view since the link between modern industries and mega cities is quite
organic.
Nevertheless, Pakistan was working hard to achieve an annual foreign
investment of around $5 billion by the turn of the present century. This
would mean an impressive quantum jump from Rs 1.1 billion in DFI received
in 1995-96.
In order to provide better services to the foreign investors, five senior
officers - one each from Customs, Income Tax, Water and Power, PTC, and
Immigration and Passports - are being appointed to the BoI. They will
represent the departments that the foreign investors are most concerned
with.
Portfolio investment in 1994-95 were on the higher side because of the
privatisation of state-run PTC. If we consider the PTC aspect, the
portfolio investment has remained unchanged during the last fiscal year,
Shah said, adding that another factor was that the stock markets had also
not been so vibrant during that period.
Pakistan would be actively participating in the talks being held on
multilateral investment agreement between the developed and the developing
countries to project its view point. We will be consulting other
developing countries before these talks.
Pakistan should compare its foreign investors incentive package with those
of East and South East Asian countries. A multilateral dialogue between the
developed and the developing countries on the question of Incentive
packages should be welcomed. Even the World Trade Organisation (WTO) may be
requested to take initiative in this matter. It will be best to evolve a
broad consensus before taking up the whole issue with the IMF.
Pakistan needs to be worried by the fact that no significant foreign
investment has so far been received in the manufacturing sector,
particularly for export oriented goods. DFI like foreign aid involves
reverse flows which usually expand with time and can reduce the net flow to
a mere trickle. The net inflow of foreign aid is a bare 16 per cent of the
gross inflow.
It is important to prepare five-yearly projections of inflows as well as
outflows of DFI on medium as well as long term basis. In the absence of
such projections, the country may be caught short without any warning.
There are no indication of BoI having yet applied its mind to such
problems.
There is also a need to examine the investment-export-growth nexus so
common in developing countries. Such studies carried out in other
developing countries provide overwhelming support to the proposition that
the investment ratio plays the key role in determining inter-country
differences in both growth and export performance.
The so-called efficiency of resource use which undergirds Fund-Bank
advocacy is of no relevance in this regard. No increase in the growth rate
can possibly occur unless the investment ratio is substantially raised.
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960908
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External debt stands at $29.57bn
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Sept 7: Pakistan is the 18th most indebted country in the world
with its total external debt standing at a staggering 29.57 billion
dollars, according to the recently released World Debt Tables.
The debt was equal to 56.6 per cent of the GNP, while the debt service
liability of Pakistan constituted a high 34.7 per cent of her exports on
the basis of the statistics pertaining to 1994. In terms of debt service
payment also, Pakistans position is 18th in the list of 136 countries that
are DRS (Debtor Reporting System of the World Bank) economies.
As an earner of foreign exchange, Pakistan ranks 23rd from the top.
Strangely, however, the report by the World Bank has placed Pakistan among
15 countries in the category Moderately indebted low-income countries
which also includes Nepal, Bangladesh and India.
According to the report, the total debt of developing countries, rising by
8 per cent, reached $2,068 billion at the end of 1995, up $147 billion from
1994. The over-all increase in developing country debt was mainly due to a
jump in net debt flows stemming from continued and expanding access to
private market financing by credit-worthy borrowers and to the exceptional
package for Mexico.
The total debt outstanding of South Asia in 1995 increased from $161
billion to $168 billion in 1995. This is 8 per cent of the outstanding
external debt of all low- and middle-income countries combined. It also
includes credit by World Bank/IDA to the tune of $43.5 billion. The region
received 5 per cent of aggregate flows to low- and middle-income countries
and 10 per cent of official flows.
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan together hold 90 per cent of the regions
outstanding debt, with India by far the largest borrower (60 per cent).
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960909
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PTCL sale to hit govt revenue
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Sept 8 : The Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs has
expressed its fear that the privatisation of Pakistan Telecommunication
Company Limited (PTCL) may lead to decline in government revenues and also
harm the interest of its employees.
Informed sources told Dawn here on Sunday that the officials of the
ministry had prepared a summary on the implications of privatisation of the
PTCL for consideration of the Federal Cabinet.
It said the T&T Department and the PTC were profit earning organisations.
On privatisation of these, the revenue of the government was expected to
decline. This aspect must be kept in mind before taking any final decision,
the ministry stated. Then there will be more than one license in the
private sector to provide telephone facilities. It, was therefore,
necessary to give full autonomy to the telecommunications regulatory
authority that there should be an independent regulatory body for
regulating the licences, monitoring of their operations, fixation of tariff
etc. in the public interest.
On privatisation, interests of the employees of the T&T Department and the
Corporation must not suffer. These employees were entitled to pension like
other government servants who were likely to lose their jobs when
telecommunication system is transferred to a private investor without
proper safeguards.
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960911
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Stocks suffer widespread decline
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 10: Stocks suffered widespread decline on Tuesday after the
news of four per cent devaluation of the rupee reached the rings as bears
indulged in haste selling fearing a massive sell-off.
Stocks are always allergic to any devaluation as it significantly erodes
their competitive edge and cheaper shares have no real value, said a
leading stock analysts.
He said what was more disturbing was that it came at time when the market
has already hit the bottom and there were fears of its imminent collapse.
Massive devaluations as the one witnessed on Tuesday gives bears an extra
leverage, which they use according to their whims without taking into
account its total impact, he added.
What was more important was that it works against the interests of foreign
investors who are already on their way out owing to the protracted bearish
spell, dealers said.
Floor brokers said the crisis period for the market is not still over but
rather it should expect further jolts in the wake of current devaluation as
foreign investors might think twice to re-enter the rings.
There is a total confusion in the rings and no one could really decide how
to react to the changed financial scenario, they added.
It was perhaps in this background that a record final dividend of 290 per
cent for the year ended June 30, 1996 by the directors of the Brooke Bond
Pakistan failed to inspire new buying on the blue chip counters. However,
its share value rose Rs 14.50 at Rs 151 for a 10-rupee share, with 1,300
shares changing hands.
The directors have already paid an interim dividend of 125 per cent or Rs
12.50 per share, which brought the total to 415 per cent a new record for
any share.
A 20 per cent cash dividend from Punjab Modaraba and an interim dividend of
10 per cent from the directors of Highnoon Lab were also on the higher side
of the market expectations but they came at a time when the market was
facing some other problems.
Leading shares, therefore, fell further under the lead of PSO, which
suffered sharp decline of Rs 12, sending shock waves on other blue chip
counters.
It was followed by MNCs such as Engro Chemicals, Telecard, Shell Pakistan,
Fauji Fertiliser, Knoll Pharma and Lever Brothers, falling by Rs 2 to 5.
Among the locals, 4th ICP, MCB, ICP SEMF, Pakland cement, KESC, Nishat Tek,
and Lucky Cement were leading losers.
Apart from Brooke Bond, other notable gainers were led by Atlas Lease,
Ahmed Spinning, Kohat Cement and Pakistan House International rising by one
rupee to Rs 2. The most active list was again led by PTC vouchers, off 50
paisa on 7.336m shares, followed by Hub-Power, lower 10 paisa on 3.596m,
Dewan Salman, off 80 paisa on 1.282m, Fauji Fertiliser, down Rs 1.85 on
1.518m, and Nishat Tek, off Rs 1.80 on 0.346m shares.
Other actives were led by NDLC, easy 20 paisa on 0.302m, Lucky cement, off
one rupee on 0.320m, Dhan Fibre, up 10 paisa on 0.284m and MCB, off Rs 1.25
on 0.237m shares. There were some other notable deals also.
Trading activity rose to 21.101m shares from the previous 11.828m shares
owing to large volume in PTC. There were 283 actives, out of which 151
shares fell, while 55 rose, with 77 holding on to the last levels.
Later in the computerised trading, the KSE 100-share index fell by another
1.19 points at 1,330.95, while all the three shares, which came in for
trading finished with an extended decline under the lead of Fauji
Fertiliser, which fell 75 paisa on 13,500 shares.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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960906
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General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
HISTORY is not being taught in our schools today, neither as a compulsory
nor an optional subject. Those schools that follow the syllabus of the
Government Board of Secondary Education have to teach in the 9th and 10th
(the last two classes) what is termed Pakistan studies.
This includes a bit of this and a bit of that, including scrappy geography,
civics (whatever that may be), politics and whatever history of the world
and of Pakistan the government of the day feels it is desirable to impart
to its future citizens.
We know that today the children are simply taught that it was General Yahya
Khan who was responsible for the loss of East Pakistan. We do not know how
many of them learn that Yahya, having accepted full responsibility as
former President, Chief Martial Law Administrator and commander of the
countrys armed forces after he was deposed asked repeatedly, right up to
his dying day, that he be tried for treason, that he be court-martialled
and that he be given a public hearing before the Hamoodur Rahman
Commission.
Yahya (PA 98), known to be a good soldier, was commissioned on August 26,
1938, from the Indian Military Academy Dehra Dun, as the Kings cadet,
Hissam Effendi winning the sword of honour, and Yahyas lifelong friend,
Abdul Hamid Khan (Burmese Hamid) passing out the same term.
At the age of 34, Yahya was the youngest brigadier in the Pakistan Army.
made commander-in-chief in September 1966 by Ayub Khan, he was renowned
neither for his sobriety nor for his academic astuteness, but he did have a
high IQ. Nevertheless, he was no match for the guile and gall of Mujibur
Rahman and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who manipulated him with ease in 1971.
Just before he died in August 1980, 16 years ago, Yahya handed over his
files and some video cassettes to his son, Ali, with words that still ring
in his ears: Redeem my honour if you can, but dont get yourself killed
doing so.
Yahya was not corrupt. He did not acquire plots, he did not sell arms,
neither did he sell himself. Ali today is one of the poorest sons of a
former C-in-C or COAS of our army. Ali did nothing with the papers handed
over to him, perhaps for want of help and wherewithal. He was a junior
executive in Burmah Oil Co when Yahya was removed from power, and ten days
after Bhutto took over, Jimmy Midwood, the CEO of BOC sent for him and
regretfully told him that he had no option but to sack him as he had
received orders to do so from the Presidents secretariat.
Lawyer Aristoon Basit of Lahore, who read law at Yale (1963-68), pleads in
high falutin Urdu before a judge fluent in English, Sindhi, Pashto or
Punjabi but whose Urdu is definitely a second if not a third language, and
in fluent English before a judge whose English is somewhat shaky. He is the
editor of Legal Opinion, a quarterly published from Lahore, and a sponsor-
director of four Idaras of unpronounceable nomenclature.
Basit has now compiled a book The Breaking of Pakistan, containing papers
written by Yahya in which he describes the interaction between him, Bhutto
and Mujib that led to the disintegration of the country. Most of these
papers were those submitted by Yahya to the Hamoodur Rahman Commission,
plus other sworn statements and affidavits. In his introduction, he
explains:
Yahya thinks that it was the Mujib-Bhutto interaction which broke
Pakistan. Indeed, he puts the major share of the blame on Z. A. Bhutto, the
minority leader, who insisted to be treated as equal to the majority
leader. Between these covers the reader will find Yahyas perception on the
subject. He is obsessed with the theme that a congruence of objectives
had emerged between Bhutto and Mujeeb pursuant to which East Pakistan
garrison was made to surrender to seal the fate of united Pakistan. Even in
his Commission Statement he persistently suggests that Pakistans war
effort was sabotaged from within, particularly on 3.12. 71 when the pre-
emptive strike ordered by him was deliberately made to abort. Having
pointed it out repeatedly he wrote quite self-consciously, I regret again
that it is not in my power to overcome my obsession.
In explicit terms Yahya has accused Bhutto of having worked systematically
for the expulsion of East Pakistan from the Federation as he wanted to
acquire power at all costs. As Yahya narrates the events from the inside,
Bhuttos position of Idhar ham, udhar tum, acquires a sinister
significance at the juncture it was adopted. Bhutto had repeatedly
suggested to Yahya either to arrange for the secret murder of Mujib while
in jail custody or to order his execution on an ante-dated order.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a power-hungry person who exploited the social
climbers techniques of projecting special relationship with the Army
Brass. He was a narcissist with a tendency to megalomania as well as
intrigue. He had no commitment to any doctrine or to Pakistan. He
manufactured his own charisma without any ethical scruples.
Sheikh Mujib was a greedy and immature person who never outgrew the role
of an agitator student leader. Indians had bribed him to launch an anti-
Pakistan movement in East Pakistan to which extent the allegations in the
Agartala Conspiracy case were true. They had also implanted a phobia in his
mind that even if he were to win a general election and become the prime
minister real power will not be transferred by the Pakistan Army.
Throughout the tenure of his military dictatorship, 1969-71, Zulfikar
Bhutto had been intriguing to oust Yahya and take over power with the
connivance of, inter alia, General Gul Hassan and Air Marshal Rahim Khan.
Yahya started his commission report: .... There was no price I was not
willing to pay for preserving the integrity of Pakistan. I knew I could
only get what I wanted from East Pakistani leaders and not West Pakistan
leadership. It is for the Commission to assess how wrong I have been ...
Today is 18th January 1972. This day I have received a letter No. 6-ICW/72
dated 11th January 1972 from Mr Justice Hamoodur Rahman, the Chief Justice
of Pakistan. I am living at the Forest Dak Bungalow, Banni, a hot and humid
place near Kharian Cantonment. My abode is quite a bit removed from the
Grand Trunk Road. I am required to give my statement not later than January
24, 1972, in other words, within six days. Notwithstanding the constraints
of time, I value the opportunity to tell my side of the story for whatever
it be worth. I also feel reassured by the fact that the Chief Justice of
Pakistan is at the head of this Commission and that he is a Calcutta
Bengali by ethnic origin.
He also filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court (1649/78) from which
I quote one excerpt: ..... . It would not be proper for me to say anything
derogatory about this lady (Mst Akleem Akhtar of Gujrat, nicknamed General
Rani) who had been introduced to me by Zulfikar Bhutto himself as his
godmother. Basit has not printed the eight-page questionnaire sent by
Hamoodur Rahman, but Ali Yahya has it and has shown it to me. Reading it, I
could not help but recall the story doing the rounds after WW2. A German
concentration camp commander, Oberststurmbahnfuhrer Franz-Ernst von
Stubelchen und Stiffleinberg, assembled all the Jews in the camp. Today is
der Fuhrers birthday, he announces. In honour of the great day, I am to
pose you questions. Choose one man from your ranks to answer. If he answers
them all correctly, you are all free to leave. But should he fail to answer
even one, you are all consigned to the gas chamber. Samuel Fiegelbaumsohn
stepped forward. First question: Which crack Atlantic liner sank before the
outbreak of the Frist World War? The Titanic, came the answer. Gut, how
many funnels did she have? Four. Sehr gut, how many passengers did she
carry? 1,308. Gut, gut, and how many lives were lost? 815. Right, and what
were their names? Basit says that the entire first edition of 5,000 of his
books was sold. He feels that a certain party has bought the whole lot.
Good for Basit. He should print a second edition of a further 5,000. The
other Yahya, who survives, is shown in Basits book in not too good a
light. I suggest he find himself a copy and read it.
The picture you see is that of Yahya as he looked when he joined the IMA.
Some may even mistake him for his son Ali, who has now been encouraged to
print The Yahya Khan Papers.
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960911
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The democrat at home
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Hafizur Rahman
A PROMINENT political personality has advised the younger generation (for
the umpteenth time, I think) to protect and preserve our traditional moral
values. He didnt say it, but he could have added that since we, the older
generation, have failed to do anything about these values, we might as well
shift the responsibility on to the young.
What is the easiest thing in the world? Yes, you are right: to give free
advice. Since our leaders are doing it all the time, and whatever bilge
they utter has somehow got to be reported, journalists are always on the
lookout for suitable synonyms in this regard. Advised, exhorted, called
upon, appealed, recommended, advocated, warned, counselled, cautioned
these are the verbs most used in our newspaper stories reporting speeches
and statements.
Moral and ethical values is a beautifully vague expression. Nobody in
Pakistan has been able to define them, especially when they are also
traditional and hoary. Therefore, leaving them aside for the present, let
us look at what we are doing to protect and preserve democracy which is an
almost palpable experience and involves such high principles as tolerance
and all the values that we shout about so much, so often.
A politician comes home from a meeting where he has been talking about the
blessings of democracy and the absolute need for a democratic way in
politics. His sincerity is without doubt. But look what happens as soon as
he doffs the mantle of politician and dons that of husband and father.
The audience changes from political colleagues and followers to the wife
and children and the servants. All of a sudden the dedicated democrat is
transformed into a hard-headed autocrat, even a dictator, accustomed to
having his every word obeyed without demur because he is the head of the
family.
Day in and day out we lecture people on the need for democracy in our
political dealings with the opposition and those who differ with us.
Experts, teachers, editors and government leaders are at pains to inculcate
the democratic spirit of tolerance in students and young people. There is
incessant talk of the need to acquire and apply the democratic approach for
solving all our problems.
Of course all this is said and done in blatant disregard of the obvious
yawning gap between precept and practice. But who am I to suspect peoples
intentions? I take them at their word when they proclaim pontifically that
democracy should prevail in every walk of life.
And yet prevail it does not. Because we have decided that it is only in
politics that democracy is required in order to achieve a harmonious
balance between ambition and tolerance. Otherwise in our private daily life
everyone of us wants things done according to his wishes, his lights, his
opinions.
Take the average head of an average family. Normally the father who,
because he provides the money, calls the shots. He rules the home like an
absolute monarch, with the queen agreeing with most of his whims and
fancies. Together they believe that they have to run their childrens lives
for them, howsoever old and intelligent the boys and girls may be.
They firmly believe that even if their offspring are forty years old,
married and earning their living, they, the parents, must always remain
wiser than they all-knowing. The parents may be near-morons, the children
may be near-geniuses, but the syndrome will hold good.
If the sons and daughters so much as whisper the desire to differ, the
father will threaten to throw them out of the house (economic blackmail)
while the mother will utter weird oaths like May you see my dead face!
and Ill never bless you the milk I fed you! (emotional blackmail).
By the way, this last is the most stupid, selfish and meaningless oath I
have ever heard, and implies that the mother is putting a price on her
milk.
A daughter wishes to marry the man of her choice. The prospective young man
may be the ideal one available. But just because the democrat father was
not initially involved, he must oppose the match. It is just like saying,
Nobody will vote against my wishes. I will tell you who you must vote
for. The politician will never do this in politics, but the home is a
different turf altogether. Here there is no place for democracy.
A son has no aptitude for science or mathematics. He knows that if he goes
on with these subjects in college he will fail and make a mess of his
education. But his democrat father has set his heart on engineering as a
career for him. So the poor boy must carry on against his own better
judgement, against his personal inclination.
Marriage and a vocation in life are very important matters. But even in
making minor choices the will of the parent or parents must hold sway. A
child does not like tomatoes, but must be made to eat them because they
make blood. (Of all the silly notions!) No matter if the poor kid throws
up.
The children will not be allowed to meet Uncle So-and-So or Aunt Such-and-
Such just because they and the parents have been at loggerheads over some
trivial quarrel which took place twenty years ago and which makes no sense
now. Other curbs on the children are predicated by the reason: I have said
so and thats the end of it. No other explanation is considered necessary.
Thats democracy for you.
How can one be a real democrat unless one allows the principles of
democracy and mutual respect for differing personal opinion to rule ones
life in everything that one does? My thesis is that you have first to be a
democrat in your own home, in your mohalla, and your city before you can
claim to be a champion of democracy at the national level, or even dream of
contributing to democracy at a still higher plane. That can come only by
giving everybody the right to have an opinion of their own, by recognising
that right and by fighting for it.
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960909
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The dawning of a belated wisdom
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ayaz Amir
WHAT was said about the Bourbons that they forgot nothing and learnt
nothing applies equally well to Ms Benazir Bhutto. If she studied history
at Oxford, she should be taking time off from her current zeal for
stentorianism and apply herself a bit to the study of the 1977 movement
against her father. If there is one overriding lesson to be culled from
this study, it is that Mr Bhutto in that summer of long ago did too little,
too late. Reputedly a master of political timing, he was always one or two
steps behind time.
Ms Bhutto is doing exactly the same thing now. Elementary political sense
should have told her not to cross swords with the Chief Justice, not
because this would have violated any canons of propriety or
constitutionalism but because it would have been against her political
interests. But having been driven by her prejudices rather than anything
better into the maws of this encounter, the next best thing she could have
done was to live with the Supreme Court judgement that on March the 20th
delivered a sharp rap on the wrists of her government. Any politician worth
his salt takes defeat and victory in his stride. Ms Bhutto took her reverse
badly and spared no occasion to ridicule the Supreme Court. Full six months
later she is retracing her steps and making peace overtures to the Chief
Justice. The hapless judges who were the objects of her ill-judged
munificence are now being made to divest themselves of their tattered robes
of office. A welcome dawning of wisdom but a bit late in the day.
Consider this next example. Ever since being returned to power in 1993 Ms
Bhutto has had no decent truck or liaison with the other side of Pakistans
two-party system, the PML(N). In urging some understanding to be struck
between the two sides, newspapers have run out of ink and cliches. But to
all these urgings Ms Bhutto turned a deaf ear, arrogant in her belief that
the opposition had run out of steam and ideas and that her own grip on
power was secure. Now that the waters seem to be closing in on her, she has
changed her tune and has started referring to Mian Nawaz Sharif as a
partner in democracy, with a stake as great as hers in preserving the
system and in foiling the designs of unholy adventurers. A similar tune
played eight months ago would have been interpreted as a gesture of
moderation and statesmanship. Coming in the midst of a crisis whose effects
are buffeting her government, this new stance of peace, even if it should
be examined closely by the opposition, is bound to be viewed as an instance
of opportunism dictated by desperation.
Or consider the newly-discovered zeal to go after bank defaulters. The
lists now being published would have had a far greater impact had they
come, and corresponding action taken, when the country was being rent by
cries that the greed and corruption of the high and mighty and
mismanagement generally were knocking the bottom out of the economy. Mr
Bhuttos Islamisation measures undertaken in April 1977 (again born out of
desperation) did not stem the surging tide against him. The lists of
defaulters coming out now are not going to cleanse her governments image
or convince a people schooled in cynicism that after the corruption and
mayhem of the last three years the country is poised to enter a new era of
rectitude and integrity.
The point, however, is that even if Ms Bhutto is guilty of the sin of the
Bourbons, nothing that she has done today is in the least surprising. As
T.E. Lawrence writes in the very beginning of his Seven Pillars of
Wisdom, Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our
circumstances. What Benazir Bhutto stands charged with today was inherent
in her circumstances. She was not an untried quantity in 1993. The nation
had had ample experience of her ways and of the proclivities of her
followers when the PPP under her command strode to victory in 1988. It was
not just that her enemies conspired against her and left her with no peace.
Through her own inexperience, and at the hands of her own tastes and
prejudices, she also became her own worst enemy. Thus, much before her
dismissal her performance stood condemned in the public eye.
In 1993 when circumstances or rather the ill-luck of her enemies allowed
her to stage a comeback, what the nation saw was not the return of a
revivified prophetess, her ideas crystallised in the wilderness, but
someone whose moods, talents and blind spots were fully known to her
audience. People do grow with age but barring miracles pygmies do not
become giants and Chamberlains are not suddenly transformed into
Churchills. What we are now seeing of this shining order could thus easily
have been foretold. Nor did Ms Bhutto disappoint her critics. Some of the
egregious blundering of her first term in office was avoided but the basic
pattern was repeated: power in the hands of a kitchen cabinet and the same
heedless regard for the consequences of corruption.
Now that the expected has come to pass, the question is where do we go from
here? A Caesarean operation has both its strong advocates and its
attractions but it still begs many questions. Who will bring it about and
how? And, considering our history, where is the guarantee that it will not
create more problems than it will solve?
In the heat of enthusiasm that is building up in favour of Caesareanism let
us not forget that precisely the same arguments that are being marshalled
today were being echoed in 1990 when pressure grew to dismiss Benazir
Bhutto from the prime ministership or in 1993 when the army of malcontents,
which in those days used to wind its way to the Presidency every day, was
urging Ghulam Ishaq to dismiss Nawaz Sharif. Pakistani history has a habit
of repeating itself. It is being repeated again except that a growing body
of opinion has convinced itself that the consequences and the results this
time will be different. While it is entirely possible for this view to be
right, a measure of scepticism is still in order if only because we have
been too many times down this road before.
If there is any merit in the Eighth Amendment Constitution (vastly
different in spirit and texture from the original 1973 Constitution) it is
that it gives the country a system of checks and balances. If a chief
executive is allowing himself too much rope, then the other cogs in this
system are not doing their duty. For instance, now that efforts are afoot
to patch up matters with the Supreme Court, it is reasonable to assume
that, among other factors, the President too has used his influence or his
annoyance to bring this needless crisis to a satisfactory conclusion. But
at the same time it can also be argued that if the President had asserted
himself a bit more in the beginning as, for example, when it was well
within his powers not to confirm the jiala judges just a day before the
supreme court verdict in the Judges Case things might not have reached
the pass that they eventually did. Again, if the President had not gone
along with the gung-hoism which led to the ouster of the Sabir Shah
government in the Frontier, the long train of events leading to the
exacerbation of differences between the government and the opposition might
have been averted.
The moral of the story is that even without resorting to the kind of
drastic measures that are currently being advocated, the President can
assert himself more and bring the government to its senses. We have seen
the salutary effects of pressure on Ms Bhutto. Had she not been in a
corner, she would not have been extending olive branches to Mian Nawaz
Sharif or suddenly discovering in herself an enthusiasm against defaulting
loans. We have seen a hyper-active Prime Ministers office over the last
three years. It is now time for the President to take a close look at the
powers of review (but not of dismissal) which are his to exercise under the
Eighth Amendment.
He can easily put the government under notice that financial shenanigans
will not be allowed. Why, for instance, cannot the Presidency and the army
between them finally scotch the incipient Mirage deal in its tracks?
Thirty-two aircraft for four billion dollars. Before the President thinks
of stepping into de Gaulles shoes, let him prove himself by putting an end
to this kind of nonsense. And while he is at it he could also curtail the
baronial pomp of the Presidents office, and not repeat the practice of
which he has been guilty in the past of fulfilling the obligations of his
own piety at public expense. So far the government has presumed upon the
Presidents unwavering support. Let him show that this presumption is
unfounded and then if nothing ensues he can think of the next step. But one
thing at a time, please.
If people are fed up with the existing state of affairs, and if they have
lost hope in their established leaders, no one should be under any illusion
that their hopes are centred on the Presidency. Sardar Farooq Leghari must
win his spurs first in smaller endeavours before presuming upon the
nations goodwill and understanding if his heart finally tells him that the
time has come for him to move on to bigger things.
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960911
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Only guilty fear the truth
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Mohammad Malick
ISLAMABAD: A day starting with an almost 4 per cent devaluation of the
rupee is bound to prove ugly for any incumbent government. Add to that the
perception of its shying away from a process of fiscal accountability and
the net result is a sheepish silence. And a subdued treasury was what
Tuesdays proceedings were all about.
The opposition must love it. Every day one opposition stalwart or another
gets up and hammers away at the government for its incomprehensible
aversion to the formation of a judicial accountability commission. Instead
of hitting back with some logical arguments all that the government has to
offer are rather lame sounding excuses such as, certain laws are already
there to achieve the same results, or the competent courts are there.
The latest favourite is refer to the house committee on law which is
already dealing with the issue of loan defaulters, an excuse forwarded by
the interior minister once again after Asfandyar Wali had boxed in the
treasurys ears over the commission issue, yet again.
Asfandyar made observations which unquestionably echoed the silent thoughts
of the ordinary citizens. If the government and the prime minister had
nothing to hide, why were they afraid of forming such a commission,
specially when the leader of the opposition has already offered himself as
the first lamb at the slaughter altar of accountability? he asked testily.
The only response that he got from ministers Raza Rabbani and Gen
Naseerullah Babar, however, was for the opposition to go talk to the house
committee on law and justice which had already been entrusted with the task
of suggesting legal amendments to make the top loan defaulters cough up
their loans. Like in most other instances, the government loyalists had
once again missed the point altogether.
To begin with, the terms of reference of the house committee are entirely
different from the oppositions demand of a judicial commission. The
committee is to come up with desired changes in the law to ensure a
speedier recovery process of funds from loan defaulters whereas what the
opposition has been clamouring for is a transparent accountability, first
of the parliamentarians and then of the top civil-military bureaucracy. But
the even more important aspect is of creating a permanent check against the
real, or perceived, acts of corruption by the nations political elite.
Such a mechanism is badly needed if our politicians are serious in
arresting the fatal depletion of public faith in the integrity of elected
representatives and the viability of the democratic process itself.
Who is afraid of accountability except the guilty. As Asfandyar bristled:
Why is the government running away from it? Lets start with Nawaz, then
Benazir, and the process must start from the front benchers and then move
towards the back benchers. For once the forgotten back benchers on either
side must have been secretly grateful for their lesser political fortunes.
As for the house committee on law, Asfandyar had another concern. Pointing
out to the presence of federal minister Haji Nawaz Khokhar on the
committee, he snapped: He is a loan defaulter himself. Do you think the
treasury controlled committee would allow passage of laws that would
incriminate Khokhar himself?
Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and Hakim Ali Zardari offered inconclusive, and equally
unconvincing, denials of any influence peddling in their financial dealings
but as Khwaja Asif claimed, this was not the issue. Slightly modifying the
oppositions earlier allegations, he said the manner in which the loans
worth over Rs3 billion had been doled out by state-run banks suggested at
least the patronage of the ruling family even if it were accepted for
arguments sake that they did not own those industries directly.
It is questionable whether the prime ministers family, as charged by the
leader of the opposition, was a direct beneficiary but it is a fact that
loans were dispersed rather promptly to known friends of the ruling family
and that three billion rupees are out there somewhere, and thats the
bottom line. The prime minister must ensure that the current status of
these loans is divulged to the nation because any secrecy on this front
only stands to tarnish her own image.
The government could begin by revealing details of the eight cases cited by
the opposition leader and in the next phase could take up the list of
influential defaulters named by Khwaja Asif. It is about time the
government started fighting because in all fairness there is hardly any
dearth of skeletons in the oppositions cupboard but the cagey government
reaction to the commission proposal is making it look like the only sinner
on the block, which it surely is not. But who will convince it to call the
oppositions bluff?
By the time the issue of the rather steep fall of the rupee, about Rs1.10
against the dollar, was raised by Sheikh Rashid, the Karachi stock market
had already witnessed a drop of almost 13 points while the dollar was
fetching a little over Rs41 in curb trading. Sheikh Rashid asked: Why
doesnt the government tell us what it plans doing with the economy? As if
the government knew.
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960907
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Frantic in Fort Munro
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Mazdak
THE good news is that the Prime minister has announced her intention to
eliminate what has come to be known as the VIP culture.
Now for the bad news: this newspapers correspondent in Dera Ghazi Khan
informed us last week that Hundreds of people remained stranded for
several hours on the DG Khan-Quetta road as local [sic] administration kept
blocked the traffic due to President Legharis visit to Fort Manro [sic] on
Friday evening. Fruit and vegetables were spoiled due to over 12-hour
blockade of traffic on the road as this route is commonly used for supply
of daily-use articles from Balochistan to the Punjab. Apparently, the
President was expected to reach Fort Munro in the evening, but over-zealous
local bureaucrats closed the road at midday, causing a huge traffic jam on
the narrow road. The reporter concluded his story cryptically by informing
us that this fiasco made the situation complex. Ill bet. Can you imagine
the epithets that must have been hurled at the local administration, the
government and the President by the irate mob of drivers and passengers?
Must have turned the air blue. We should all be grateful that the President
was spared an earful of the choice language that was probably used.
But to be fair to him, I am certain that Mr Leghari had no idea of the
inconvenience to say nothing of the financial loss his visit caused to
thousands of people. As usual in such cases, petty functionaries eager to
score points and cover their own flanks over-step all bounds of reasonable
security precautions. Concerned only about the impression they will make on
their superiors, they cant be bothered about minor details like public
convenience.
This incident is a good example of the VIP culture the Prime minister has
vowed to eradicate. Well, she can start by ordering an inquiry into why
thousands of people had to wait for hours in the heat just to ensure that
the Presidents cavalcade could glide into Fort Munro without being
inconvenienced by the odd truck or wagon. As a politician, Benazir Bhutto
cannot be unaware of the negative fallout of such hamhanded bureaucratic
actions. And yet the DG Khan incident is only the tip of the iceberg:
nowhere are power and privilege abused as much as they are in Pakistan.
When the PM talks of ending the VIP culture, she makes it sound like a
long drawn-out crusade. Actually, unlike problems like poverty or
corruption, much of the VIP syndrome can be eliminated by simple
administrative steps. For instance, take the whole wretched VIP lounge
concept. Originally open only to a handful, it now caters to the frail egos
of literally thousands of people. Every grade 21 officer and above, plus
hundreds of more junior bureaucrats (and their uniformed counterparts in
the defence services), have access to these exclusive areas, as do all
(repeat, all) past and present members of assemblies and their families.
As a result of this devaluation of VIP status, the lounge at Islamabad is
now frequently more crowded than the passenger lounge for ordinary mortals.
All the Prime Minister has to do is issue instructions closing down all VIP
lounges at airports across the country. What will happen is that these so-
called VIPs will have to walk through normal passenger areas which may
result in irreparable damage to their swollen self-esteem, but will not
cause the collapse of civilisation as we know it. After all, bureaucrats,
ministers and MPs in other countries rub shoulders with ordinary passengers
without picking up any contagious diseases.
Another simple administrative measure that will go a long way in softening
the impact of so-called VVIP movements is to severely limit the number of
official meeters and greeters and sundry sycophants who invariably turn
at the airport to receive the Prime Minister and President when they arrive
anywhere. I once counted 56 cars in the PMs motorcade when she was being
escorted from the airport to Bilawal House. OK, so a few cars with cops are
needed as are a couple of limousines carrying the Chief Minister and the
Governor. But does every officer in the Sindh Secretariat and his brother
have to turn up? And each government MP plus every aspirant to high office?
Do so many cars have to clog the main road, keeping ordinary citizens
waiting every time the PM comes to town? Fifty-six cars? Please give us a
break.
When Benazir Bhutto came to power in 1993, she issued instructions that
none of her ministers would use more than one official car. This rule was
widely welcomed by the public, but was soon observed only in the breach by
those it was aimed at. Now, each federal and provincial minister has a
fleet of literally dozens of cars and jeeps. These worthies have
circumvented the PMs instructions by the simple expedient of ordering
departments and autonomous organisations under their control to hand over a
certain number of vehicles, or else. So when the government recently
announced a ban on the purchase of official cars, ministers were not put to
any inconvenience. But then they seldom are. The PM only needs to issue
fresh instructions, transferring these hijacked vehicles back to their
rightful owners.
One manifestation of the VIP syndrome that not only annoys paying
passengers in PIA, but also causes a loss to the airline is the business of
special quotas for various departments on all domestic flights. Thus, seats
are blocked for the PMs Secretariat, the Presidency, GHQ, the Ombudsmans
office, CAA, the Coast Guards, sundry Corps Commanders and service chiefs,
and several other officials and organisations. This list, too, grows longer
every year. When these quotas are not utilised, the seats are released a
few hours before take-off, with the result that they often remain vacant.
No commercial airline anywhere in the world has any comparable arrangement.
But this is another expensive approach the PM can end with a stroke of the
pen.
In short, if the Prime Minister is really serious about ending the VIP
culture that has taken root here, she does not need a two-thirds majority
in Parliament, nor does she have to wage a long struggle against
insurmountable odds. All she needs is the will to actually do away with
these archaic privileges that bureaucrats and politicians have grabbed for
themselves.
For starters, she should find out for herself what happened recently in
D.G. Khan, as should the President.
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960908
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The arrogance of power
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Omar Kureishi
VIP culture is the latest fad, the catchall phrase that is buzzing around
and is being roundly condemned, including by those who are its
beneficiaries. It is being portrayed as a self-evident evil and there are
strident calls for its abolition.
It has become like Mark Twains weather: everybody complains but nothing is
done about it. Calls for its abolition misses the point. VIP culture is a
state of mind and is not some kind of a surcharge that has been levied
though it can be indirectly considered that as it has financial
implications. Mrs Sarojini Naidu said of Mahatama Gandhi who had made a
fetish of austerity and travelled in a third class railway carriage that
Gandhiji did not realise how much it costs to keep him in poverty. Our VIPs
too do not realise how costly it can be to give them the perks that they
demand by way of a right while shedding crocodile tears about the cost of
living and the burden that the awam must carry.
What is being targeted are manifestations of a so-called VIP culture, the
pomp and ostentation, the privileges like the somewhat absurd car number-
plate that says Senator or MNA by virtue of which traffic rules are relaxed
and there is no compulsion to stop their vehicles at a red light. Or the
bullying of PIA ground staff to demand a seat even when none is available
and all but forcibly getting it, thus setting a high example and
underscoring, in the bargain, the virtues of democracy. The main thrust is
against public representatives and it is their conduct or misconduct that
comes in for sharp criticism.
But the fact of the matter is that VIP culture goes much beyond these
public representatives and it operates in all spheres of life. It has to go
with power and the exercise of it. While absolute power corrupts absolutely
even a little power corrupts in its own little way. The billing clerk at
one of the public utilities has power over the consumers when a bill has to
be re-adjusted. When you present your ticket at an airline counter, it is
the man or woman behind the counter who has control over you and can decide
arbitrarily whether you will travel or not. The lift man in a government
secretariat building may choose not to take you up or make you wait while
he smokes a cigarette. For that very brief moment all these people are VIPs
and they enjoy that moment. But this does not come in the category of VIP
culture as it is perceived.
What is perceived is the political equivalent of conspicuous consumption,
the privileges are flaunted and there is an element of arrogance in the
flaunting, amounting almost to a mocking. I dont think the people would
particularly mind if we were an enormously rich country but we are not. Or
so we are told tirelessly. In fact the picture of the economy that is
painted has no shades of light and dark. It is one of unrelieved darkness
and we are not wanting in soothsayers of gloom whose crystal ball shows the
imminent collapse of the economy. Any household faced with the prospect of
approaching poverty will make drastic re-adjustments, will, first of all,
eliminate what are perceived to be luxuries and will try and safeguard the
basics. VIP culture is a luxury and that is the kindest thing I can say
about it.
But it seems a little unfair to target only the public representatives.
Admittedly these public representatives have a high profile and since they
are given to sermonising and moralising, their actions, their lifestyles
are contrasted with what they advocate with such strident voices. In a
manner of speaking these public representatives are accountable.
But what about the bureaucrats? Admittedly they do not travel around in
motorcades and traffic is not held up. But in their quiet way, they are the
real beneficiaries of the VIP culture. In respect of the public
representatives, we are in the area of vanity. All the fuss that is made of
them is intended to pamper to their ego. To the bureaucrat, the VIP culture
is the exercise of power. They are the movers and shakers and they are not
accountable. It is possible that they do not set out to be arrogant but the
system makes them so.
I have written about this before but nothing typifies this arrogance more
than the simple (or not so simple) refusal of the bureaucrat to return a
telephone call. Given that there is no way that you will be connected when
you make the telephone call, you will be told that the person is in a
meeting. This is an automatic reaction and I rather suspect that it is a
recording. A new variant of this, depending on the seniority of the person,
is that he has gone to the Prime Ministers Secretariat. Perish the thought
that the call will be returned.
I have a suspicion that this unwillingness to return a call is written in
the service code of the bureaucrats. This too is a manifestation of the VIP
culture and when if the VIP culture is abolished, this aspect of it will be
exempted. When VIP culture is abolished, it will wound the vanity of the
public representatives. But there is nothing we can do that can menace the
power of the bureaucrats.
One final thought: I am surprised that public representatives who rely on
the goodwill of the public in order to stay in office have not realised
that while they may be influencing people, they are certainly not winning
friends by this political conspicuous consumption.
===================================================================
960906
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Team for Canada & Kenya ties named
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Ilyas Beg
LAHORE, Sept 5: A 17-member Pakistan cricket team, comprising 14 players
and three officials, was announced by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on
Thursday for the 5-match Sahara Cup one-day international series against
India in Toronto (Canada) and the quadrangular tournament in Kenya.
The biggest surprise is the omission of the dependable wicketkeeper/batsman
Rashid Latif, who not only played notable part in Pakistan teams victory
in the first Test against England but also batted magnificently in the last
one-day international in highly trying circumstances during the just-
concluded tour to help carve out a creditable win for Pakistan.
Also axed from the Pakistan cricket team, who made a successful tour of
England this summer are pacemen Ata-ur-Rehman and Muhammad Akram,
experienced all-rounder Asif Mujtaba and opener Shahid Anwar.
Included in the fourteen-member side are opener Saleem Elahi and promising
all-rounder Azhar Mahmood. Younger brother of Test all-rounder Manzoor
Elahi and international player Zahoor Elahi, the young opener is a good
fielder. He had scored an enterprising century against the visiting Sri
Lanka team but could not do well during Pakistan cricket teams tour of
Australia. He has been a consistent scorer during the domestic competitions
during the last many seasons. Azhar Mahmood is a dashing batsman, good
fielder and a useful medium-pace bowler, who shows promise.
Led by world-class all-rounder Wasim Akram, the Pakistan team consists of
four openers Aamir Sohail (vice-captain), Saeed Anwar Shadab Kabir and
Saleem Elahi. It includes three pacemen viz Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and
Shahid Nazir. Only wicketkeeper taken in the side is Moin Khan, who scored
a century against England during the recent tour of England. Middle-order
batting has been strengthened with the inclusion of Ejaz Ahmad, Inzamam-ul-
Haq and Salim Malik. The spin department will be looked after by the
experienced leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmad, who proved a match-winner in
England. Promising off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has also been retained in
the team. The two genuine all-rounders in the team are Wasim Akram and
Azhar Mahmood. However, Salim Malik and Aamir Sohail can also be included
in that category due to their utility as bowlers, though the two are of
different types.
The fourteen players and the three officials are:
Captain Wasim Akram, vice-captain Aamir Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Ejaz Ahmad,
Inzamam-ul-Haq, Salim Malik, Saleem Elahi, Azhar Mahmood, Waqar Younis,
Mushtaq Ahmad, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shahid Nazir, Moin Khan, Shadab Kabir.
Officials: Tour Manager Mian Muhammad Munir (President, Lahore Division
Cricket Association), Cricket Manager Mushtaq Muhammad and physiotherapist
Dr Dan Kiesel.
Majid Khan said that the Pakistan cricket team will leave for Canada on
Sept 11. After playing five one-day international matches of Sahara Cup in
Toronto (Canada) the team will return to Karachi on Sept 25. The team,
after a three-hour stop-over in Karachi on that night will fly over to
Kenya for the four-nation tournament. Besides Pakistan and the host nation
Kenya, the sixth World Cup champion Sri Lanka and South Africa would also
be taking part in the competition of one-day internationals there.
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960911
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Pakistan team off to Canada for Sahara Cup
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Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 10: The Pakistan cricket team minus its skipper Wasim Akram
left here for Toronto, Canada, in the small hours of Wednesday to
participate in the five-match series for the Sahara Cup against India.
Wasim Akram left early Tuesday morning for London where he had a meeting
with his financial adviser, family sources confirmed. The sources, however,
stated that Wasim would be joining the team at the Toronto airport on
Thursday. He had to discuss some business work with his financial adviser
but he will be arriving Toronto on time, skippers spouse, Huma, said.
The Pakistan cricketers assembled in the city on Tuesday evening before
taking a flight to Frankfurt on way to Toronto.
Wasims deputy Aamir Sohail, Waqar Younis, Mushtaq Ahmad, Saeed Anwar,
Saqlain Mushtaq, Azhar Mahmood, Inzamamul Haq, Salim Elahi and Shahid Nazir
arrived in the evening from Lahore while Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmad joined
their mates from Islamabad. Local boys Moin Khan and Shadab Kabir had
checked-in in hotel late afternoon.
Pakistan open the five-match series against the traditional rivals on
Saturday and then play the next match on the following day. After a two-day
rest, Pakistan-India will clash again on Wednesday while the final two
games will be played on Saturday and Sunday.
Pakistan at present enjoy the cutting edge over India because of recent
success on the second half of the England summer. India, on the contrary,
toured England in the first half and failed to won a single match on the
tour. However, the advantage may be nullified because the conditions in
Toronto are unknown.
Whatever may be the outcome of the series, the followers of the game are
likely to see some of the most thrilling games in the next 10 days.
*From Canada, the Pakistan cricket team will return to Karachi after a six-
hour transit, will leave for Kenya where it will participate in the
quadrangular tournament also to be competed by world champions Sri Lanka,
South Africa and hosts Kenya. The only change to take place during six
hours transit at Karachi will be the replacement of the Tour Manager. Mian
Munir will be replaced by Nusrat Azeem.
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960907
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The setback in the one-day cricket series
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Lateef Jafri
Pakistans 1-2 setback against England in the one-day internationals must
have come as a shock to the Pakistani fans and supporters who were present
in large numbers at the playing venues as it came to and those watching the
matches live on TV.
Why this abysmal outcome for a team which had shown its all-round strength
and high calibre to pin down England in the strenuous Test encounters and
why suddenly the reversal in situation that enabled the losing side to turn
the tables later on? How is it that a metamorphosis occurred for a squad
which was brimming with confidence when it set its foot on the English
soil?.
It is possible the visitors may have become over-confident against a foe
which was apparently weak and frail against a more balanced combination; it
is also possible that Pakistan may have taken England lightly after their
success, recorded in a felicitous fashion, in the Test series. England,
mauled earlier in five-day duels, took the one-dayers as a challenge and
every player determinedly and sensibly contributed his bit to get the
verdict in the teams favour.
The view that a switch from the ordeal of the Test matches to instant
cricket made a world of difference and Pakistan was unable to attune to the
new circumstance is unacceptable since the Test triumph had given a
psychological advantage to the visitors. Their tails were up and had they
played as devotedly and stoutly as in the Test series the result may have
been different as they clinched a well-merited victory in the last one-day.
The line of least resistance in the first two limited-overs was
inexplicable and cannot but be deplored. If at all the Pakistan outfit
locks horns with India in the Canadian city of Toronto with the same lax
approach the team will be in for trouble despite the latters poor record
in England and their far from impressive attack.
Many put forward the view that Pakistan had not been able to assert their
supremacy on previous tours of England in the one-dayers, having won the
Test duels in style. In 1987 Pakistan had bowed to England by 4-1, in 1992
they had lost by a margin of 2-1. However, Pakistan had the resources to
lower the colours of England even in the limited-overs tussle and the team
should have found the inspiration from the earlier success and shown the
foresight to tackle the problematical moments in the first and second one-
dayers. After all England had been beaten by a comprehensive margin of
seven wickets in the World Cup last March.
Cricket Manager Mushtaq Ahmeds opinion that the players had wearied out
after the Test series is a misconstrued logic as during the present-day
cricket the games are played round the year and the players are all
professionals. They are supposed to stand up to the stress and strain of
combative cricket for five days or in the changed situation of one-dayers.
Besides, the tour had a shortened itinerary - three Test matches and three
limited- overs ties. The cricketers, one can easily presume, had the
physical strength to meet the English challenge if they had exhibited the
shrewd skill and adroitness and the managers had made the necessary pre-
match planning.
Among England batsmen Nick Knight was the pick of the lot, scoring two
centuries in succession at Birmingham and Notthingham. He had his one-day
debut in the series and yet he demonstrated easeful strokeplay against top-
class and varied bowling.
Englands batsmen plundered 292 in the second one-day at Birmingham, a
target almost impossible to be attained by the visitors. It beats ones mid
how they could thrash a bowling reckoned as the most venomous, penetrating
and having biting spin. During the 1992 trip the England batsmen set a one-
day record of the highest innings by amassing 363 for 7 ( in a 55-over
match) with vigorous hitting of an attack consisting of Wasim Akram, Waqar
Younis, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aamir Sohail and Aqib Javed. This time again they
lustily hit the bowling.
Many other English batsmen viz Stawart, Maynard and Atherton prospered in
what were the agonising first two one-dayers for Pakistan. Adam Hollioake
was a discovery as a medium-pacer as he took eight wickets with his canny
length and line. However, the most impressive of the English bowlers proved
to be Robert Croft, always troubling the batsmen, keeping the runs down
with his intelligent off-spin.
It was poetic justice for a team which was termed favourites at the start
of the one-day series that it snatched the spoils of the last match in what
turned out to be a thrilling and breath-taking encounter. In the first ball
of the last over Saqlain Mushtaq, trying a hefty swipe, was caught off
Hollioake. And then seven runs were to be scored in five balls. Rashid with
the boldness that he has cut the bowler towards point for a four. The next
delivery was hit over the bowlers head and the game was Pakistans for an
exciting and deserving win. Saeed Anwar and Ijaz Ahmad had earlier played
enterprising, though watchful, innings to lay a fine foundation for
Pakistans victory. However, it was the courageous knock of Rashid that
earned success for Pakistan when all hopes had been lost and the visitors
were struggling for runs. It is sad that his claims for the Sahara Cup and
latterly for the Kenyan trip have been ignored.
Saeed Anwar again proved to be a consistent run-getter. Ijaz too batted
gallantly, sure and brisk. Though Aamir Sohails contributions in the first
and third matches were not insignificant he did not appear his usual self
batting with swift energy as an opener.
Waqar again had the pace and the venom in his bowling though one thought
Wasim Akram was losing much of the fire and control for which he had been
known.
Both the newly-inducted players in the last encounter viz. Shahid Anwar and
Shahid Nazir, proved their success in their own fields for which credit has
to be given to the previous selectors who performed their duties well and
had picked up a balanced side, including the raw hands.
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960907
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Pakistans impressive show in England
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Qamar Ahmed
LONDON: Pakistan on their nine weeks tour of England raised themselves
above their normal standards to achieve what they did by winning the three
match Test series with an emphatic margin of 2-0 and ending the tour in a
befitting manner with a sensational win by two wickets in the third and
final one-day match at Trent-Bridge.
Taking into consideration their overall performance against the Counties
where they won five of their eight matches and their victories against the
National Cricket Association (NCA XI), the Minor counties, the MCC and
Scotland in one-day matches, their only defeat against a county
Warwickshire and their two off-colour outings in the first two one-day
internationals, one could not help praising their single-mindedness and
consistency with which they were able to maintain superiority. At times
even in the face of provocation and mind-boggling umpiring decisions, they
displayed tremendous restraint. Not that they were not tested. They were,
by a certain section of the media and a couple of malicious and impish
comments on television at the beginning of the tour. But if tolerance is
virtue then I can assure you that this Pakistan team led by Wasim Akram
passed the test by miles which others before him failed.
For this the credit goes not only to all the members of the team but to the
management on tour consisting of Yawar Saeed and Nasim-ul-Ghani, two
experienced hands in this game who as incharge of man-management and team
management left nothing to be desired. They made sure that every member of
the team is well looked after and well advised whenever advice was needed.
Not many teams on a tour of England have left so much good will and so many
friends as did this Pakistan team which fact has even been recognised by
the local media and the officials of the game in England.
Immaculately dressed in their green Pakistan blazers, they travelled in
their team coach and entered the grounds as an international team should do
thus raising their profile as the members of a country which is
unquestionably, the best. That they suffered very few injuries on this tour
was mainly due to the effort of Dan Kiesal, their Eveready physic whose
expertise kept them well tuned.
Pakistans 164 runs win in the first Test at Lords, their well contested
drawn Test at Headingley and their breathtaking victory at The Oval in the
final Test which gave them their fifth successive win in a series against
England would not have been possible if their batting line-up had faltered
or their bowling had failed.
Pakistan should be proud of this team.
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Pakistan has edge over India: Akram
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Samiul Hasan
KARACHI, Sept 8: Pakistan captain Wasim Akram on Sunday opined that
Pakistan enjoyed a psychological advantage over India for the Sahara Cup
but advised his players and followers of the game not to be complacent.
I agree that at the moment, we enjoy a cutting edge over India but we
should not forget that India is a strong team and has beaten us in the
past, the skipper said from his Lahore residence.
Pakistan put up a much impressive show in the second half of summer in
England winning the Test series 2-0 though lost the one-day series 1-2.
India, in the first half of English summer, failed to win a single match
losing the Test series 1-0 and the one-day series 2-0. Indian problems
compounded in Sri Lanka where they failed to qualify for the finals of the
quadrangular event won by the world champions, Sri Lanka.
The Indian team possesses some very talented players and if they click,
they can make things difficult for the opposition, Akram said.
Akram expressed his displeasure over the itinerary of the Sahara Cup. I
dont think it is ideal. It is very difficult for the cricketers to play
back-to-back one-day matches. I feel that while preparing the itinerary,
the organisers considered the comfort of the spectators rather than the two
teams.
The Sahara Cup matches will be played on Sept 14, 15, 18, 21 and 22.
Discussing the quadrangular tournament in Kenya where Pakistans main
rivals will be South Africa and Sri Lanka besides Kenya, Wasim Akram said
the stakes will be high because nowadays, the enthusiasts want to see top
grade one-day cricket.
Pakistan, this season, will be playing at least 26 one-day internationals
in Canada, Kenya, Sharjah, Australia and at home.
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960912
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Lamb joins Botham in libel appeal
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Athar Ali
LONDON, Sept 11: The former England Test cricketer Allan Lamb has now
declared that he also intends to file an appeal against the High Court
verdict in the libel case he had jointly brought with Ian Botham against
Imran Khan. The jury by a majority of 10-2 had on July 31 dismissed the
case against the former Pakistan Test captain. The plaintiffs were asked to
pay the legal costs which are estimated to be 500,000 pounds.
The jury verdict came after 13 days of hearing during which several cricket
personalities, past and present, including the England captain Mike
Atherton, appeared to give testimony. Ian Botham and Allan Lamb had alleged
that Imran in a news magazine interview had accused them both of being
racists and attacked their upbringing and class. Ian Botham also accused
Imran Khan of saying that he had cheated at the game and that all top
England bowlers of the past twenty years had on occasion indulged in ball-
tampering.
Imran Khan had denied both the allegations. he said he was misquoted the
racist remarks and had offered to publicly state this but the plaintiffs
refused his offer. He also denied having called Botham a cheat in a
newspaper interview. The interviews were given when the ball-tampering
accusations against Pakistani bowlers on the 1992 England tour were fresh
and were being repeated by the British media.
Imran Khans solicitor on Monday, following reports of Ian Bothams
intention to file an appeal, had said that the action if brought will be
vigorously fought. Now Lamb has decided to join with his former team mate
to go for appeal.
Lamb today instructed his lawyers to file an appeal against the High Court
verdict. Ian Botham, who was the first to make the decision, is taking the
plea that the jury in the trial was misdirected.
If the appeals by Botham and Lamb are admitted the hearing will not take
place before next summer. The appeal can only be made on technical grounds
and no fresh evidence can be admitted.
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960907
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Hong Kong Open Complacent Jansher gets a jolt
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A. Majid Khan
Before launching his assault for the eighth victory in the Hong Kong Open
squash championship defending champion Jansher Khan, stated at the
Islamabad Press conference, that he was mentally and physically fit for the
coming event but his defeat in the final against Australia world number two
Rodney Eyles and that too in straight games showed that he was not in top
fitness and form.
The great Khan, the number one player of the world circuit, is a great
retriever and even after losing the first two games he had demonstrated his
fighting capabilities to overcome the challenges. This had happened on
several occasions. The score-line (10-15, 10-15, 5-15) suggests lack of
preparation and stamina.
The surprising failure of top seeded Jansher the pre-tournament favourite
at the hands of stroke-maker Rodney Elyes whom the Khan had several times
humbled hands down. About four months back the mighty Khan crushed Rodney
Eyles 1513, 158, 1510 in the British Open final for his fifth victory
is nonetheless a warning for the Champion.
Press reports about the Hong Kong final led the keen observers of the game
to believe that Jansher Khan did not go through the required hard training
before the tournament as he used to do, before embarking on a super series
event.
After winning the AlAhram International in Cairo on May 22, Jansher Khan
had almost three months lay-off as there had been no other super series
event in between the Hong Kong Open, which he had won seven times. He might
have got complacent and did not go through the required regimen.
Rodney Elyes domination of the front of the court further post-match
indicated that Jansher Khan could not dislodge him from the Tee obviously
because the Khans length fell short. The Australian proved dangerous on
the front court as he produced a variety of strokes to make his rival
commit unforced errors.
The Khan, in his statement, also accepted that his winning backhand volleys
let him down and he would work harder for the next tournament.
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960907
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Pakistani shining as US tennis star
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON: A young Pakistani-American, son of a Peshawar University
Engineering graduate who emigrated to the US in early 70s and carved out a
successful engineering business for himself, is creating history on the
American tennis scene. He is poised to become the first Pakistani to hit
the top 10 ranking players in America and he is still not yet 16.
Rameez Qamar, a high school freshman (a student of the 9th class) of the
Robinson School in Virginia, is already hitting the headlines in the US
media. He has won the singles title of the State of Virginia, Washington
D.C. and Maryland and is ranked No.1 in the US Tennis Associations Mid-
Atlantic Region. He is ranked number 4 in the overall under-16s.
Rameez, a shy lanky youngster, has only one passion, to play tennis, win or
lose, and he is doing it with full support and back-up of his family his
engineer father Syed Javed Qamar and an understanding mother who knows the
kid and his dad have to travel all over the country, leaving her and a
younger son behind.
The tennis big sponsors are already homing in on the boy. Prestigious firms
provide him with all his outfits take care of his rackets and playing gear
and at a tender age, Rameez is beginning to feel what stardom looks like.
He has won title after title in Virginia and the US schools circuit and has
created a record of becoming the first 9th grader to ever become the state
champion. Once 16, he will enter the main US circuit and already he is
preparing himself for the big show.
I am going to try and make it by playing tennis and playing it well, he
told me in his Fairfax county home. Sitting in the middle of what looked
like a wholesale store of trophies, medals and certificates, stacked in
every open space in his living room, Rameez is mindful that his brilliance
is earning him a special status in the US, being the first immigrant to
reach the top.
While he keeps his focus on the ball and his next match, Rameezs father
Javed, himself a recognised table tennis player of the middle 60s in
Pakistan, who represented the NWFP in national championships, has his eyes
on what the new status of Rameez can do to help tennis in Pakistan.
Javed, who officiates as the manager for Rameez, says tennis in Pakistan
could get a big boost if talented players like his son could contribute to
their countrys efforts in coming up to the world standards.
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Go-ahead given to city sports project
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Saghir Ahmed
KARACHI, Sept 11: KMC was given a go-ahead signal on Wednesday by the Chief
Minister, Syed Abdullah Shah, for reviving the development project for
sports activities on the Kashmir Road Complex, spread over 30 acres.
The project envisages mainly laying of an astroturf for hockey, tartan
track, a football ground and velodrome, besides construction of five
swimming pools in each district.
The KMC Director of Sports Saifur Rehman Grami informed the Chief Minister
that the plan had earlier been approved and tenders had been floated after
designing the details of the project for which a sum of about Rs 55 million
was earmarked in 1995-96 but it lapsed for various reasons and the project
was put into cold storage as no funds have been earmarked in the current
financial year, he added.
The Chief Minister expressed his displeasure over the situation and
directed KMC Administrator Sibghat Mansoor to inquire under what
circumstances the funds got lapsed.
Besides, the Administrator was also asked to examine the position of KMC
budget for funding this multi-million-rupee sports project during the
current financial year in order to enable him to decide the government
share, the CM added.
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