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DAWN WIRE SERVICE

------------------------------------------------------------------- Week Ending : 14 March 1996 Issue : 02/11 -------------------------------------------------------------------

Contents | National News | Business & Economy | Editorials & Features | Sports
The DAWN Wire Service (DWS) is a free weekly news-service from Pakistan's largest English language newspaper, the daily DAWN. DWS offers news, analysis and features of particular interest to the Pakistani Community on the Internet. Extracts from DWS can be used provided that this entire header is included at the beginning of each extract. We encourage comments & suggestions. We can be reached at: e-mail dws@dawn.khi.erum.com.pk dws%dawn%khi@sdnpk.undp.org fax +92(21) 568-3188 & 568-3801 mail Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Limited DAWN Group of Newspapers Haroon House, Karachi 74400, Pakistan TO START RECEIVING DWS FREE EVERY WEEK, JUST SEND US YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS! (c) Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan - 1996 DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS

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CONTENTS

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NATIONAL NEWS

PM : No nuclear test until security threatened Pakistan capable of meeting Indian challenge: Assef Islamabad reiterates support for CTBT Pakistan hopeful of getting FDP status in ASEAN Outdated law main problem of Pakistan, says US scholar Minority voters to be included in new rolls Karachi violence: Law enforcers, armed groups both responsible: AI UK says no proof sent against Altaf MQM worker Sherri killed in encounter ---------------------------------

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Feudalism stonewalls our economic development 6-point strategy devised for economic uplift: PM Trade deficit swells to $2.37bn during 8 months IMF allows gradual cut in tariff Stocks finish weekend session on subdued note Investors cover position at lower levels ---------------------------------------

EDITORIALS & FEATURES

Executive vs Judiciary Ardeshir Cowasjee Razia Bhatti Editorial Column An indictment and an eye-opener Editorial Column Going nuclear and beyond M.B. Naqvi Being grateful to our yobs Ayaz Amir Well played Karachi Omar Kureishi ----------

SPORTS

Cricket put on global map, say Cup chiefs A defective format for the competition A bang ends in a whimper Lack of leadership led to Bangalore fiasco End of road looms for Miandad The great pressure of expectations Runs & records but no excitement Dream Team Update - as at March 14th, 1996

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NATIONAL NEWS

960311 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PM : No nuclear test until security threatened ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, March 10: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said Pakistan will continue its peaceful nuclear programme and will not conduct a test unless its survival and territorial integrity is threatened. Commenting on the reported plans of India to conduct a second nuclear test, she said it was a matter of concern for Pakistan. Any nuclear test by India will have serious consequences, she said. Latest reports suggest that India is not in a hurry, she said, adding that it was an election year in India as well as in United States. Such thing are leaked in election years. She denied that there were chances of war between India and Pakistan. She said there was a tension between the two countries and it could not be eased unless the Kashmir was resolved under the resolution of United Nations. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960313 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan capable of meeting Indian challenge: Assef ------------------------------------------------------------------- Mohammad Malick ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: Expressing extreme concern at Indias increased belligerency, Foreign Minister Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali said that, to be or not to be, wont be the question if India goes ahead with its nuclear test and the world must understand that if India removes the deliberate ambiguity surrounding both countries nuclear programmes, then we will be forced to take similar measures for our protection. In an interesting choice of words, Sardar Assef for the first time used the term deliberate ambiguity while referring to Pakistans nuclear programme. Conceding Indian superiority in conventional weapons, he said: We cant match them tank for tank or gun for gun...the numbers are too great. Therefore, we had to develop a peaceful nuclear programme, and maintained a deliberate ambiguity. India knows, we know and also the world, that both of us have a certain nuclear capability. He went on to warn that, we dont want to get involved in a nuclear race but if India gives up this ambiguity and puts its cards on the table forcing a show of hand, then we, too, will be forced to do so. He said Pakistan was extremely concerned at the threats thrown by Delhi. These concerns, he added, emanated from a series of alarming developments like the testing and deployment of Prithvi missiles, test of Agni missile and now the Indian intention of testing a thermo nuclear hydrogen bomb. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960308 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Islamabad reiterates support for CTBT ------------------------------------------------------------------- Hassan Akhtar ISLAMABAD, March 7: Pakistan reassured the United States of its principled support for the early conclusion of a truly comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT) currently under international negotiations in Geneva. A Foreign Office spokesman said in-depth discussions were held on CTBT with Thomas Graham Jr., special representative of the US president on arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament. The spokesman, who was urged by newsmen to answer several questions on the American media reports about an impending nuclear detonation test by Pakistan if India carried out its second nuclear test, refused to be drawn into a detail discussion about it, pointing out that the foreign ministry had already given its reaction to the American media report. The spokesman, however, supplemented the earlier official statement saying: While taking appropriate steps to safeguard its security, I want to reiterate to you Pakistans principled policy. Firstly, Pakistan has nuclear capability but has decided at the highest level not to use it for non-peaceful purposes. Secondly, Pakistan has been in the vanguard of efforts globally and regionally to achieve the cause of non- proliferation. Our many proposals, including the simultaneous signing of the NPT, the creations of a nuclear-free zone in South Asia, have, however, foundered because of the Indian negativism. The spokesman further stated: The developments across the border have further retarded the prospects for non-proliferation besides (producing) destabilising consequences to which our statement referred to yesterday. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960310 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan hopeful of getting FDP status in ASEAN ------------------------------------------------------------------- Abul Hasanat BALI, March 9: Pakistan is hopeful that its request for the status of a full dialogue partner (FDP) in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be fully processed by the mid of this year. Briefing newsmen here about the outcome of the Prime Ministers visits to Brunei and Indonesia, the official spokesmen said the secretary- general of ASEAN, Ajit Singh, had assured them that in view of a very comprehensive case presented by Islamabad, Pakistans request should have an easy sailing through different committees for final decision within the expected time. India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in July 1993 and was granted the status of FDP in December last. Following that, it automatically became member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960311 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Outdated law main problem of Pakistan, says US scholar ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report PESHAWAR, March 10: Michael E. Hartman of University of California and a Fulbright scholar of the Punjab University , has said Pakistan needs an independent mechanism for efficient checking of crimes and elimination of civil rights abuses in society . Addressing a lecture on Evidence and Criminal Law, organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan at the Frontier Law College, Mr Hartman pointed out that the major problem which Pakistan faced today was the outdated law which was framed by the British 120 years ago just to protect the white ruling minority of the subcontinent. He said the Fulbright Commission, US, had allowed him to visit Pakistan and study its law and justice system. After spending two months collecting information on the issue, he had arrived at the conclusion that the organisation of police, courts and the prosecution were the same as years ago, which had caused many problems for society .He said the system needed complete overhauling. My study reveals that the Pakistani people are not corrupt or involved in inhuman practices by virtue of their culture or nature, but there are certain other elements which are affecting the lives of various sections of society. For instance, there are generally two types of organisations police and the judiciary  around which the whole justice process in this country revolves; whereas in the US we have a very comprehensive and fool- proof technology to meet modern challenges in the field of crime and guard against any lapses. We have four levels police, prosecution/attorneys, Judge and the Jury  and every effort is made to punish only criminals and not innocent people. These four old institutions work as a check over corrupt practices in relevant departments and dispense early and good justice to the people, Mr Hartman added. Most of the DIGs and other officers I met during my visits to various parts of Punjab admitted privately to me that they were corrupt because they have no fear of losing anything the job or promotion and they cared less about their salary, he said. Comparing the two societies, Mr Hartman said that in the US, 90 per cent of the present police officers had been promoted from the rank of constable, keeping in view their performance and integrity. Here, he said , a constable had nothing to lose for his wrongdoings except a few hundred rupees (salary) . Here , promotion to upper grade was not possible, which made him prone to corrupt practices. He opined that a corrupt system could be reformed through education. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960314 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Minority voters to be included in new rolls ------------------------------------------------------------------- Mahmood Zaman LAHORE, March 13: The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party is learnt to have decided to consolidate electoral rolls prepared for the next general elections by adding the names of voters belonging to the minority communities. At the same time it was proposed that efforts should be made to win support of the main opposition party, the PML(N), by suggesting certain alternatives to the dual voting right to non-Muslim minorities. The issue is important and we want to achieve a consensus on it, CEC members were quoted as saying . Central committee members suggested that an offer should be made to the opposition to either accept the proposed electoral reforms package or lend support to restore the joint electorate system if they were opposed to the dual voting right to non-Muslim minorities. The committee members, according to party sources, were confident that the opposition had a weak case, both politically and constitutionally on the electoral reforms package and may be left with no choice except to consider the government offer. A senior member of the committee said that since the original constitution stood for joint electorate, the members of the present legislature, who accepted the leadership of the authors of the constitution, should logically agree to restore its original provisions. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960312 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Karachi violence: Law enforcers, armed groups both responsible: AI ------------------------------------------------------------------- Athar Ali LONDON, March 11: Amnesty International has apportioned blame for continued violence in Karachi to both the law enforcement agencies and the armed opposition groups. In its latest report, Human Rights Crisis in Karachi, Amnesty International, which sent a team of researchers to Sindh in December, urged the government to adopt measures to stop the large-scale human rights violations which are regularly taking place in Karachi. Its document reported cases of arbitrary arrests, torture, deaths in custody, extra-judicial executions, disappearances allegedly committed by law enforcement personnel and the human rights abuses allegedly perpetrated by armed opposition groups. The team visited Karachi at a time when violence was at its worst and 1,800 people were killed in the city in 1995: these included members of different political parties, law enforcement personnel and apolitical residents, including women and children. Among many recommendations made in the report included the one which lays emphasis on the government to set up independent and impartial inquiries into every single report of unlawful detention, torture, death in custody, extra-judicial execution and disappearance, and to ensure that every member of the law enforcement agencies found responsible for such human rights violations is brought to justice. Only if the self- perpetuating cycle of violence, in which human rights abuses continue to be perpetrated without punishment and in which impunity facilitates further violations, is broken, people in Karachi can again live in safety and dignity and enjoy their fundamental rights. Another aspect that concerns, the AI is the reluctance by ordinary people to report human rights abuses perpetrated by armed political groups because of fear for their lives, and their lack of trust in the law enforcement agencies to protect them. The report pays tribute to members of the Press who courageously report ongoing human rights violations and abuses in Pakistan. Many of them have themselves been victims of violence. Journalists who have published reports on corrupt practices, on strife within the parties and on killings in Karachi have been targeted by armed political groups. In conclusion, Amnesty International has made several recommendations to the government and to armed opposition groups on the basis of the concerns expressed in the report. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960313 ------------------------------------------------------------------- UK says no proof sent against Altaf ------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Correspondent LONDON, March 12: The British government has so far not been provided with any documentary evidence by the government of Pakistan against Mohajir Qaumi Movement leader Altaf Hussain which might support its demand for his return to Pakistan to face prosecution. This was stated by British minister of state at the foreign office Jeremy Hanley, who visited Pakistan earlier this month. Mr Hanley told Dawn that during his meeting with Interior Minister Naseerullah Babar, he was told that he would be provided with documentary evidence showing Mr Hussains involvement in violence in Karachi, and that he was directing terrorist activities from his London headquarters. The British minister said that as long as he stayed in Pakistan such material was not handed over to him. Nor has any document been sent to him since then. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960312 ------------------------------------------------------------------- MQM worker Sherri killed in encounter ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ghulam Hasnain KARACHI, March 11: Mohammad Naeem Sherri, 26, carrying a head money of Rs five million, died with a companion in what the rangers claimed was an encounter in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Naeem Sherri, who had eluded the security forces for umpteenth time during the last many months and figured regularly in official versions of the violent incidents in the city, was allegedly required by the law enforcement agencies in a host of major cases of terrorism in which an unspecified numbers of people had perished. The house which was raided by the rangers had been rented out to the family of Amjad Beg who also died with Sherri. The deaths of two top party workers visibly shocked the MQM leaders. He (Naeem Sherri) was our national hero. They killed our hero, former minister Tariq Javed said. A rangers handout said Naeem Sherri died in the encounter with them in the early hours of Monday around 2am. Rangers, acting on information, carried out a raid at a house in Gulshan-i-Iqbal where Naeem Sherri was hiding. He opened fire with a mouser, resulting in bullet injuries to an officer, two inspectors and a sepoy of rangers. In retaliation by the rangers, Sherri, with one of his accomplices, was killed on the spot, the handout said. However, inquiries made by Dawn showed that the rangers killed Naeem Sherri as he tried to hide himself behind a television trolley during the raid. He was hit by many G-3 bullets fired from a distance of just few feet, doctors said. Three people, including two MQM men, died in three different encounters in the city on Wednesday, the rangers and police said.

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BUSINESS & ECONOMY

960309 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Feudalism stonewalls our economic development ------------------------------------------------------------------- Jafar Wafa IT IS common knowledge now that, according to a foreign NGO, Pakistan ranks third among the top-most corrupt countries, with China blazing the trail and Indonesia closely behind. But what baffles economists is the fact that, apart from being an Asian country by geographical accident, there is nothing in common, politically and economically, between Pakistan and the two leading lights. Ours is supposed to be a democracy of the Western model, in contrast with a totalitarian China and authoritarian, controlled democracy of Indonesia. Indonesia, which had been under military rule from mid-1960, had adopted a constitution that assigns a special role for the army in political affairs. Thus, corruption in China and Indonesia, despite their economic prosperity, can be blamed on their autocratic and authoritarian systems of government where the bureaucracy and the ruling clique have all the powers concentrated in their hands and are accountable to no one, let alone the people and their true representatives. But why is corruption rampant in Pakistan inspite of an Islamic Republican polity being firmly in place? We will find the answer when economic factors are analysed in what follows. Economically, China has set a global record of fast and sustained growth, at an average always of 10 per cent annually for the last 15 years or more. It is destined to occupy the top slot as an economic power outstripping the United States and Japan. There has been a consistent growth of nearly 7 per cent annum in Indonesia, which is likely to emerge as the second largest economy in Southeast Asia, full tiger among the present cubs. As for Pakistan, it is not even listed, by the Economist of London at least, as an emerging market. Our country is such a nonentity that Asia Week, its special anniversary issue of December 95, does not name Pakistan even in the 88-country list of tea consumption rating although we must have been consuming many times more tea than Israel, Oman, and Nepal. It appears, the world media still treat us as a part of historical India, though we only belong, like Nepal, to the same sub-continent as India. What our embassies and consulates do in off-shore chanceries to introduce to the media the country they represent is a question every one asks except, perhaps, those who run the country. When privatisation came to be recognised as the most effective recipe for economic health, China plunged headlong in the stream of privatisation despite the governments totalitarian trait, palming off the unmanageable and loss-making units into private hands, local and foreign, thereby reducing the share of state-controlled industries from 100 to a mere 40 in a decade and a half. Similarly, in Indonesia the process of privatisation, with or without transparency, is in high gear. It has recovered from the initial setbacks, as in the case of the national Telephone Dept, or Telecom, which is the fifth largest state undertaking with an annual gross revenue of $1.9 billion. Jakarta has now sold 19% of Telecoms shares, although at 25 per cent less than the original offer price. How many of our sick or healthy state-run enterprises has our government been able to self off even with controversial transparency, is not a well-guarded secret. He too have, of course, sold 26 per cent shares of the Telecommunication Corporation, but in an allegedly questionable manner, giving out inflated figures regarding the number of telephone lines in the network and its net revenue, with the result that these shares are being re-sold at an appreciable discount. Another instance of our objectionable conduct is furnished by our Privatisation Commissions backing off from disposing of UBL at the first resistance from prospective buyers thereby giving a red signal to other buyers who may be thinking of bidding for other state-owned enterprises. Thanks to the good sense of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation, its intervention has repaired the damage done. Foreign economists who have been watching the astounding phenomenon economic miracle in Southeast Asia with awe and admiration, have finally concluded that this economic boom has not come directly on the heels of accelerated tempo of exports and rapid pace of industrialisation. Such a process, through which the West has passed, takes a far longer time for the kind of long leap the Southeast Asians have taken in so short a period. It is begin realised that, in fact, the boom began with reform on the farmland in the neglected country side, launched through revolutionary land reform measures and by introduction of new technology to boost agricultural productivity and thereby disrupt the whole lot of peasants and farmers who constitute the bulk of every Asian countrys population. The land reform came in Japan after the nemesis of World War Two, which increased the farmers income substantially. The same thing happened in Taiwan and Korea where rural prosperity provided a big market for consumer goods at home before the expanding industries could find surpluses for exporting abroad. In China, private farms were allowed to be set-up experimentally. These farm plots proved to be model farms leaving the commune farms far behind in yield and quality of product. In Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia the palm tree growers and rubber planters turned into exporters and entrepreneurs. Coming nearer home, one finds the same thing happening across the eastern borer. India abolished absentee land lordism, Zamindari and Talukadari, relics of Mughal imperialism, which were purposely perpetuated by the British lest the multitude of rural masses awake and turned resourceful enough to imperil the colonial rule. According to the latest estimate of international agencies, 200 million people in India (one-and-a half times the total population of Pakistan) who have shifted from villages to urban centres, with their roots still in villages, constitute a thriving middle class capable of buying consumer goods and electronic gadgets made in abundance locally in the country, beckoning to the industrialised nations for investment in India to cater to the demands of the burgeoning new well-to-do class for more sophisticated products. The benefit of land reform in India is not reflected only in the emergence of a fairly prosperous and politically conscious middle class but also in the phenomenal progress achieved on the farm. For instance, although only about 15 per cent of the agricultural land in India is irrigated, against 65 per cent in our country, the cereal yield per hectare in the former stands at about 3,000 tonnes against a little less than 2,000 tonnes in the latter. Consequently, whereas Pakistan has been importing 2 million tonnes of wheat, at an average per year lately, India has a small exportable surplus of wheat after feeding seven times more mouths. Ours is still a feudal state, an anachronism in the dying years of the present century, with 70 of population living in villages, poor and politically powerless, eking out a living as serfs and bondsmen of the feudal lords. The latter, instead of caring for their vast landed estates and increasing farm production, are holding the reins of government. So what check on the extravagance and corruption of the rulers can such a mute majority exercise? Herein lies not only the answer to the unchecked corruption in Pakistan despite its democracy, but also the clue to the countrys economic backwardness. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960309 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 6-point strategy devised for economic uplift: PM ------------------------------------------------------------------- JAKARTA, March 8: Information, business and trade are the most critical elements of the integration of the world community, as we approach the new millennium, prime minister Benazir Bhutto said. To cope up with the new realities, she announced that her government has devised and is implementing a befitting six-point strategy for Pakistans economic development. She said this while addressing the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industries. The prime minister said: We move into a new economic and political era where the global community and the global economy are onethey are linked intrinsically, and will rise and fall together. Elaborating the six-point strategy, She said, we have to put in place a programme for macro-economic stabilisation so that investors can predict interest rates, and relative prices with a degree of certainty. Secondly, she said, the PPP government has had a long-standing commitment to alleviating poverty in Pakistan. I feel gratified that we have been able to translate that commitment into a Social Action Programme that aims to arm the poor with good health and education. This will upgrade our labour force, will promote equity and will lead to gainful employment, she said. Thirdly, the she said, we in Pakistan firmly believe that the engine of future economic growth is in the private sector. We have put in place a privatisation package that creates a highly favourable investment climate. Fourthly, we are conscious that downstream investment and manufacturing potential can be realised only through adequate infrastructure. Therefore, we have put in place an energy plan which has brought in foreign investment in power generation. The telecommunications sector has seen heavy investment too. Fifthly, although we are firmly committed to pursuing rapid economic growth, we are careful that this does not come at the cost of the quality of air that we breathe or water that we drink. For too long in the past, she said, Pakistan pursued a trade policy that sought to protect local markets from international competition. In the recent years, there has been a sea-change in our thinking and we have systematically brought down the protective walls that surrounded our economy, she said. The premier said, through ongoing reforms of the tariff-structure, customs, administration, export finance and strengthening of our international communications network, we are encouraging Pakistani manufacturers and producers to find their place in the international market. Private investment now has full legal and constitutional cover under the Foreign Private Investment (Promotion and Protection) Act which enjoys the support of all political parties. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960312 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Trade deficit swells to $2.37bn during 8 months ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, March 11: Pakistans trade deficit swelled to $2.37 billion in the last eight months as against $1.37 billion loss suffered in the international trade during July 1995 to February 1996. Official trade figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics showed total export earnings of $5.05 billion in the last eight months. This reflects an increase of 2.20 per cent over $4.96 billion earned during same period of 1994-95. In sharp contrast to this insignificant rise in export earnings, the import bill swelled by almost 18 per cent in dollar terms and over 26 per cent in rupee value during the period under review. In terms of hard cash, imports were worth $7.42 billion during July 1995 to February 1996 period, as against $6.30 billion imports during the same period of 1994-95. A worrying feature of the bulging import bill is the persisting downward trend of machinery and capital goods inflow for the second consecutive month, indicating a slowdown of investment in the country. Machinery import had come down to $193.44 million in January 1996 and went further down to $161.91 million in February. Import of machinery in February 1995 was worth $224.21 million. On export side, cotton showed phenomenal growth because its export in 1994-95 was insignificant. The cotton exports, during this term fetched $341.93 million. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960314 ------------------------------------------------------------------- IMF allows gradual cut in tariff ------------------------------------------------------------------- Mohammad Ilyas ISLAMABAD, March 13: The International Monetary Fund has allowed the Government of Pakistan to stagger the reduction of tariffs from 65 per cent to 35 per cent over a number of years instead of during the next financial year, Dr A.R. Kemal, Chief Economist, Planning Commission disclosed. He also stated that henceforth the Planning Commission would not remain content with processing and appraising projects but would also pursue the implementation with the executing ministries. The drastic reduction of import dues and slashing down of items on restricted list from 800 to 100 had not produced any positive effect on industrialisation in Pakistan, Dr Kemal observed. In spite of this knowledge, he remarked, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund put pressure on the Government of Pakistan to reduce the duty. While the industries which have no comparative advantage and are inefficient could not withstand the reduced protection, those industries which need three to five years to become viable, needed time to adjust with reduced duty rates on imports. It was, however, after the lowered tariffs began to hit such industries, the two Brettonwoods institutions had now demurred and advised the GOP to reduce these to 35 per cent gradually. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960308 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Stocks finish weekend session on subdued note ------------------------------------------------------------------- Commerce Reporter KARACHI, March 7: Stocks finished the weekend session on a subdued note as investors were not inclined to take new positions in the absence of new guiding factors. The Karachi Stock Exchange luckily did not break the 1,700-point barrier but stood at the edge of it and could move both ways after trading resumes next week. The 100-share index was last quoted at 1,700.70 as compared to 1,712.95 a day earlier, reflecting the weakness of the base shares. Although selling covered the entire list, it never assumed an alarming proportions as there were buyers at the dips, notably on blue chips counters. But persistent decline in prices of some of the most outstanding issues in the energy sector despite news of higher interim earnings worried some of the genuine investors. After steep rise during the last two weeks, both PSO and Shell, the two selling giants of the petroleum products, are under tremendous pressure and have lost substantial ground in the process. Analysts said investors are divided over the direction of the market during the next week and feared that the World Cup matches could take steam out of it at least for the near-term. Most of them predicted that the index could breach the 1,700- point barrier next week but will recover depending on the performance of the Pakistan team in the World Cup matches. But most of the blue chips remained under selling and ended with clipped gains under the lead of Abbott Lab, Dawood Hercules, ICI Pakistan and PIC, falling by Rs 1.25 to 10. Bank shares generally fell under the lead of Citicorp, Crescent Bank, Islamic Bank and some others as investors were not inclined to hold on to their positions. They were followed by Cement shares, which also fell where changed on renewed profit-taking, major losers among them being Cherat and D.G.Khan Cement. Fazal Textiles, Gadoon Textiles led the list of major losers in the textile sector and Dewan Sugar in the sugar group. The market was, however, not without some special features as a good number of leading shares managed to show fresh good gains under the lead of 4th ICP, Al-Noor Modaraba and Reliance Insurance, rising by Rs 1.50 to 10. The other good gainers were led by Atlas Lease, Fazal Textiles, Adamjee Insurance, Crescent Steel, International Industries, Philips, BOC Pakistan and Honda Atlas. Bata Pakistan also rose modestly after the announcement of an interim dividend at the rate of 10 per cent. PTC vouchers again topped the list of actives, easy 25 paisa on 12.571m shares, followed by Hub-Power, lower 30 paisa on 9.084m shares, Lucky Cement, down 15 paisa on 0.1.520m shares, Fauji Fertiliser, up 50 paisa on 1.198m shares, ICI Pakistan, down Rs 1.25 on 0.469m shares, Sui Northern, off 50 paisa on 0.245m shares, LTV Modaraba, easy five paisa on 0.211 m shares and Bank of Punjab, off 35 paisa on 0.182 m shares. There were some other notable deals also. Trading volume fell further to 28.2456m shares from the previous 29.043m shares owing to weekend considerations. There were 348 actives, out of which 207 shares suffered fall, while 68 rose, with 62 holding on to the last levels. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960314 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Investors cover position at lower levels ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Commerce Reporter KARACHI, March 13: Stocks turned in a mixed performance as investors covered positions at the lower levels but the rally was inconclusive owing partly to MQMs protest call against the killing of one of its activists. The broader market, however, showed signs of distinct recovery as most of the base shares managed to put on good recoveries, lifting the index by 13.61 points. The KSE 100-share index was last quoted at 1,638.26 as compared to 1,624.65 a day earlier. There is a perception and shared by many that the market was now well on the road to recovery, although it will not come with a bang but will be progressive. The market will have been in real trouble had it breached the barrier of 1,600 points but luckily it did not allow bulls to play their role, said a leading analyst. He said revival of demand at the lower levels, notably in the bank sector has raised hope that investors are back in the rings and may stay there as warranted by technical factors. Some of the leading shares, which recovered sharply on strong support at the lower levels were led by 9th ICP, Al-Faysal Bank, Faysal Bank, and Bank Al-Habib, which showed gains ranging from Rs 2.25 to 4.45, the biggest rise being in the last named bank share. The Askari General Insurance, which came on the board on Tuesday, maintained its upward drive on strong support and was quoted further higher by Rs 4 on a volume of well over 0.171m shares. Adamjee Insurance also came in for active short-covering at the lower levels owing to last three days sell-off and was quoted higher by Rs 3.50. Dewan Salman rose for the second on belated reaction to the setting of a PTA plant by 1997 at a cost of $400 million. After having lost sharply during the last three days, energy shares came in modest short-covering and rose under the lead of PSO, Genertech Pakistan, and Sui Northern and so did cement scripts, major gainers among them being D.G.Khan Cement and some others. Most of the MNCs, however, remained under pressure in the absence of strong foreign buying and ended further lower under the lead of Dawood Hercules, Hoechst Pakistan, Sandoz Pakistan, Brooke Bond Pakistan and Nestle Milkpak, falling by Rs 2 to 5. But the biggest decline was noted in Telecard, which fell by Rs 10 as buyers were not inclined to pick its shares owing to inflated levels. Among the locals, which fell sharply PILCORP, Atlas Bank, Metropolitan Bank, Bannu Woollen, and Sapphire Textiles were leading, falling by one rupee to Rs4. PTC shares were heavily traded, steady five paisa on 14.888 million shares followed by Hub-Power, lower 15 paisa on 10.788m shares, Dhan Fibre, up 15 paisa on 1.765m shares, Lucky cement, higher 40 paisa on 0.987m shares, ICI Pakistan, steady 15 paisa on 0.606m shares Fauji Fertiliser, up 25 paisa on 0.391 shares, and LTV Modaraba, unchanged on 0.109m shares. Trading volume rose to 32.099m shares from 24.933m shares a day earlier thanks to active trading in current favourites. There were 334 active, out of which 153 actives, out of which 153 shares fell, while 110 rose, with 71 holding on to the last levels. DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts* DAWN FACTS Another first from the DAWN Group of Newspapers --- the people who brought you the first on-line newspaper from Pakistan --- comes DAWN Facts, a new and powerful Fax-on-Demand service, the first service of its kind in Pakistan, giving you access to a range of information and services. Covering all spheres of life, the service arms you with facts to guide you through the maze of life, corporate and private, in Pakistan. With information on the foreign exchange rates, stock market movements, the weather and a complete entertainment guide, DAWN Facts is your one-stop source of information. DAWN Facts is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! DAWN Facts +92(21) 111-777-111 DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts* ------------------------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE TO HERALD TODAY ! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Every month the Herald captures the issues, the pace and the action, shaping events across Pakistan's lively, fast-moving current affairs spectrum. Subscribe to Herald and get the whole story. 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EDITORIALS & FEATURES

960308 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive vs Judiciary ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ardeshir Cowasjee THE conflict is age-old, and in countries such as ours is destined to endure. Over-populated by illiterates (increasing at a growth rate of over 3.5 per cent per year) who are paid to vote in their leaders with their feet by ticking a symbol, or threatened with reprisals if they do not, there is no foreseeable solution. We are ruled by an undemocratic political party which not once in its life span of a quarter century has felt sufficiently secure to even rig an in-house leadership election. Two pillars of the state, the legislature and the executive, are riddled with corruption, politics has been criminalised and has destroyed all the democratic institutions left to us by the Raj and those which we have vainly tried to build up. The third pillar, the judiciary, is now politicised as never before. Divided from within, it needs the support of the fourth, the Press, which must, in these times of dire straits, tell the people of the true facts and build up public opinion to strengthen those endeavouring to save our judiciary and help it gain its independence from the tyranny of the executive. The hearing of Rais-ul-Mujahideen Habibul Wahabul Khairis writ petition, the 1995 Judges Case, which commenced on November 5 in Islamabad, was resumed in Karachi on March 3. The legal lights of the Potohar Plateau descended upon the sandy plains of Sindh. For four days I had the pleasure of sitting in between my friend and counsel, Jadoogar of Jeddah Sharifuddin Pirzada, former attorney-general, consistent ardent defender of all PPP governments, Yahya Bakhtiar. I reminded the two gentlemen that both have now reached a stage where it is more important for them to dwell on what good they can leave behind for posterity rather than on how they can further adversely affect us in their chase for transient glory. On the first day, Cambridge Chaudhry Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, defender of the government, lucidly rounded off his arguments begun in Islamabad last month. He respectfully put it to Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justices Ajmal Mian, Fazle Ilahi, Manzoor Hussain Sial and Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, that the word consultation means neither consent nor consensus. His point is that if the President (prompted, of course, by the Prime Minister) decides to appoint, say, an Oxford Chaudhry as the Chief Justice of Pakistan, and if the retiring chief justice, for good reason, says no, a meaningful consultation has taken place and the Oxonian can thus be appointed. As for qualifications for this position at the pinnacle of our judiciary, if a man has simply been enrolled as a high court advocate for a period of 10 years, even if he has not practised at the Bar during that period, he qualifies. The Chaudhrys closing arguments were easily understood and were heard until the judges rose for the mid-morning recess. The President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (on court notice), my friend Akram Shaikh, then took over, using arguments as weighty and as substantial as he himself is. This was the first time I had heard him argue in court. He had clearly done his homework and with great clarity presented an account of how judicial appointments have been made and how, when they have been made departing from the conventional norm of seniority and suitability, there has been great resentment in the judiciary itself and amongst the members of the Bar. Akram also replied to a somewhat puzzling proposition raised by Aitzaz in his earlier arguments. According to the senator, once a man takes an oath, no matter how undesirable and politically partisan he may be, he is miraculously and immediately transformed into a benign, objective, apolitical human being. This, said Akram (of course in courtly and judicial language) was utter rot. No mans character undergoes a whitewash merely by him swearing an oath, and no oath can change the public perception of that man built up over the years. Countering Aitzaz, Akram said that were the sole qualification needed to be a judge a 10-year period of enrolment as a high court advocate, and were a sworn an oath capable of converting a bounder into an angel, then, as recently contemplated by Ms Bhutto, she could justifiably appoint Jehangir Badr as her chief justice of Pakistan. Akram finished off by requesting their Lordships to plug all holes, end the controversy now plaguing the judiciary, and settle for all times to come the matter of the appointment of judges. He expressed the Bars regret at the pressures exerted by the federal government on the Chief Justice during the hearing of the case and gave his assurance of the Bars full support to the court in its hour of test and trial. Akram was followed by Dr Riazul Hassan Gilani, a former Deputy Attorney- General, now representing the Lahore High Court Bar Association (also on court notice), who enlightened the court on the Islamic aspect. He took just over a day, speaking in fluent Urdu, to make one significant point. As far as Islam is concerned, the chief justice is supreme and his word is the law of the land. The others are of little or no relevance. At the end of the Doctors enlightening lecture, the executives senior defending counsel, Yahya, asked me if I had understood it all. As much as you have, I replied. There is no risk of Yahya trying to rebut any of the irrefutable Islamic points of reference. The weaver of magic spells then took the floor, the Jadoogar of Jeddah rose in his role as the senior-most amicus curiae, and to an appreciable extent commenced to redeem himself. The courtroom was full. Without doubt, he is a master of the history of the law and of the constitutions of the subcontinent, and of his country in particular with much of the making of which he has been involved. He confesses that any wrong he may have done was done under the prevailing circumstances in the larger national interest. But now, to his credit, he admitted: The despotic regimes and some of the democratic governments by their actions and deeds have impaired the independence of the judiciary. But two or more wrongs do not make one right. The independence of the judiciary must now be preserved and protected. Time being of the essence, (Justice Sials last working day before his retirement on March 20), Sharifuddin followed the process taught to Mohammed Ali Jinnah by John Molesworth Macpherson and handed over to the judges a brief on the points upon which he would elaborate. He touched the very source, the report of the committee formed in 1945, in undivided India, to formulate the future constitutions of the subcontinent, headed by that eminent jurist Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and with Justice Jaykar of the federal court of India (later to sit on the Privy Council in England) as a member. The committee visualised a parliamentary form of government being introduced, with the judiciary being subjected to tremendous political pressures, and thus realised the absolute necessity of ensuring its independence under all foreseeable circumstances. Acknowledging that the president would either have to act in his own discretion, or as advised by the prime minister and the cabinet, or perhaps by others, the committee concluded that as far as the judiciary was concerned, the president should and must be guided by the advice of the chief justice of the country. The recommendations formulated by the Sapru Committee concerning the appointment of judges of the supreme and high courts were bodily lifted by the framers of the 1949 Indian constitution and of Pakistans 1956 Constitution and the same provisions have been incorporated in our subsequent Constitutions, including that of 1973. Sharifuddin quoted Winston Churchill: The independence of the judiciary from the executive is the prime defence against tyranny. And Lord Lane, a chief justice of England: You can have the best law, perfectly drafted, but if it is administered by a bad judge it is useless. And Palkhiwala of India: You must have courts of law as watch-dogs of freedom and not poodles of the party in power. And our own Shafiur Rahman: it is a misfortune that our Constitutions have not evoked that commitment, respect, regard and attention from the constitutional authorities and statutory functionaries which they deserve. Our constitutions have been abrogated, held in abeyance for periods longer than promised and have been massively deviated from. Sharifuddin has made an impressive start. He was on his feet when the court rose on Wednesday afternoon and will continue on Sunday morning. Attorney-General Qazi Jameel, who turned up on the third day, asked me who I was representing. The people of Pakistan, I told him. His view was that it was he who was representing the sovereign people of Pakistan. But he knows that we know that he serves only the people who reside in the prime ministerial palace on the hill in Islamabad. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960313 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Razia Bhatti ------------------------------------------------------------------- Editorial Column RAZIA BHATTI is no more. In her death Pakistan has lost one of the most courageous journalists who wielded her powerful pen to uphold truth and oppose all forms of suppression of basic freedoms. Her life-long mission and commitment was to fight for justice in a country which has "bartered away the promise of its birth", to use her own words from an editorial comment which appeared in the first issue of Newsline which she edited with fine professionalism until the day of her death. Razia was from the younger generation of journalists who entered the profession at a time in the sixties when the infamous Press and Publications Ordinance ruled the roost. Yet, she was not the one to be overawed or intimidated easily by the prevailing odds, and developed a style of writing at once powerful and perceptive. Later when she became editor herself (of Herald) Razia showed creativity and drive in laying down a new format for the magazine, focusing on the burning issues and concerns of the day, and in making it a new and powerful voice in periodical journalism. In the process, she often encountered obstacles but remained steadfast and uncompromising in her approach and spirit. After a twelve-year eventful stint at the Herald, she founded a new magazine Newsline which established her journalistic skills and courage beyond doubt. Razia Bhatti's crusading spirit was widely recognised. She won the International Women's Media Foundation Award for "courage in journalism" in 1994. Even after this when unwise rulers tried to browbeat her, she fought back bravely and won. In the process, the cause of Press freedom was advanced one more crucial step. What stands out as her most significant contribution to journalism in Pakistan, apart from her exceptional courage, was her professional approach to issues. This involved for her and for her team of dedicated colleagues consistent hard work, meticulous planning and proper selection of topics she wanted to write about or have written on for her paper. While she took an avid interest in political issues, her concern was equally strong to promote justice in every walk of life. Hence issues such as literacy, population, education, health, women, crime, violence and the like found a place in her magazine. Not many editors thought it worth their while to do features on the dacoits in Sindh (to the extent of getting them interviewed in their hideouts) or investigative stories on the narcotics trade which won her the Folio Asian Magazine Publishing Award (Singapore) in 1987. Razia made her mark in the annals of Pakistani journalism and the trail she has blazed will doubtless show the way to many young and aspiring journalists. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960312 ------------------------------------------------------------------- An indictment and an eye-opener ------------------------------------------------------------------- Editorial Column THE Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has done a good job by taking note of the deplorable state of education in this country. The HRCP's annual report points out a number of shocking lapses in this sector which should put all of us to shame. The fact which is not always duly recognised is that corruption and apathy, especially in the primary education sector, rob our children of their birthright. This is supported by statistical data in the HRCP report. Only 28 per cent of the girls and 53 per cent of the boys are enrolled in school. Out of these 70 per cent of the girls and 50 per cent of the boys drop out before completing primary schooling. Small wonder that Pakistan's literacy rate is a measly 36 per cent, one of the lowest in the world. The most dismal aspect of the primary education sector in this country is the government's appalling neglect of its basic responsibility of educating the child. It has increasingly been left to the private sector to set up schools to educate our children, which it does largely for a profit. According to the HRCP, there are 10 to 15 private schools for every government school in a number of towns and cities. But what also needs to be emphasised is that the private sector is not interested in operating in the rural areas where 68 per cent of the population lives. Ironically, the government institutions which are required to meet the bulk of the primary education need of the people are the victims of neglect, corruption and indifference. Thus, 38,000 primary schools are said to be without buildings, 50,000 have no boundary walls, 46,000 have no water and 60,000 have no toilets. The government's professed commitment to education notwithstanding it has failed to promote this sector significantly. The education budget has no doubt been enhanced. From Rs. 2.2 billion in 1985-86 the education development budget shot up to Rs 7.5 billion in 1994-95. The total expenditure on education is today 2.4 per cent of the GNP when it was 1.8 per cent ten years ago. But this increase in allocations is not making a corresponding impact on the quality of education, the number of institutions being opened and the enrolment ratio. Why? Partly because of the corruption and rot that have made deep inroads into education, and partly because of a general apathy towards this key sector of our national life. The HRCP reports confirm this trend. It informs the readers that a sizable number of schools in the rural areas (500 or so in Sindh) are being used as godowns or private guest houses. In Punjab, the World Bank's loan for 3,600 schools was used for building only 19 schools. And, of course, it might be added here that the phantom schools which exist only in the records of the education department are not too rare a phenomenon in Pakistan either. What then needs to be done? Apart from the numerous recommendations made by the HRCP, the key issue is that of eliminating corruption and making an honest and sensible use of the finances available for education. This can only be ensured if an awareness is created among the people about their children's birthright to education. In this way they can themselves be encouraged to act as pressure groups and demand schools for their children and act as watchdogs in relation to the performance of the schools in the public sector. There is also the need to bring the monitoring of schools to the grassroots level. For this purpose, it is important to set up parents-teachers committees (which, incidentally, are provided for under the law). These could also coopt non-parents as members who are public-spirited people and are willing and are able to help check irregularities in the education sector. There is also need to reactivate the directorates of schools to get them to perform their basic function of inspection of institutions. They no longer appear to be doing that. If the government feels that schools no longer need to be inspected, they might as well be disbanded, so that the money spent on maintaining teams of school inspectors is put to some productive use. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960309 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Going nuclear and beyond ------------------------------------------------------------------- M.B. Naqvi THE chances are that Pakistan may not opt to sign the CTBT or NPT, and also the expected Convention envisaging the stoppage of the production of fissile material. Although there is a pressure from hardliners for declaring the country a nuclear weapons state after assembling and exploding the nuclear device, it is uncertain whether such a step would in fact be taken anytime soon. A note of caution seems to be in order. Perhaps there has been a hush-hush kind of understanding or ditente, albeit still informal, between Indian and Pakistani hardliners who had been paradoxically brought together by Americans in their non- proliferation pursuit. The understanding appears to be based on mutual recognition of each other as a responsible nuclear state which will commit itself to building an American-Russian style ditente over nuclear matters, with talks and agreements over various measures of mutually balanced disarmament and force reductions. It is not certain as to where the idea originated, though a few Indian hardliners are known to have been proposing it during the last four or five years. The American attitude is not one of either shock or disbelief; indeed the two otherwise hostile and hawkish sets of individuals have certainly been coming closer to each other on this particular subject, while hostile stances continue over other major questions. The putative strategy appears to be to present a joint Indo- Pakistan demarche on the Americans for a kind of opt-out of South Asia from the desired world-wide non-nuclear regime that the US and other western powers are trying to create in Geneva. This is predicated on the assurance that this region would be governed by a bilaterally controlled nuclear regime, with necessary agreements eventually being agreed upon to make it safe for itself and for rest of the world. The assumption appears to be that the US will accept the fait accompli because there might be no other option left to it. The push for a nuclear test by both India and Pakistan is meant to clinch the issue so that the rest of the world should be left with no choice but to accept the emergent fact of life: two nuclear powers in South Asia deterring each other perpetually while painfully building what structures of peace may be unavoidable. On the principle where there is will there is a way, it is useless to discuss its initial feasibility. What peace-loving democrats need to do is to examine the consequences of Pakistan exploding its way into the nuclear club. The first consequence would be that the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan would stand frozen. The hope of Kashmiris deciding their own future would be virtually pre-empted. Why? because since the deterrence between India and Pakistan would notionally be total neither will have any option or even incentive to change any of the basic policies hitherto followed; the Indians will sit tight over Kashmir and try to suppress their movement for Azadi with renewed effort and undivided attention. The relationship between India and Pakistan would also be forced into permanent hostility with having to tom-tom a strange kind of friendship, with hostility intact, being constantly reshaped, as, say, was the case after SALT I and SALT II treaties between the US and Soviet Union. It would not be friendship nor would it be pure enmity; since each would be conscious of its ability to inflict crippling blows on the other, both would keep gnashing their teeth in impotent while their leaders will have to smile every now and then at photo opportunities. But there would be few people-to-people contacts. The promise in this hopefully growing ditente will be a reduction in the arms race in all the three main categories of armaments: the conventional arms, the nuclear weapons and missile or delivery vehicles. The proposition is, it can be asserted on the basis of facts of history. It did not happen between the Russians and the Americans, otherwise the Soviet Union would not have collapsed under the strains caused by a non-stop arms race, especially in the conventional arms race. The doctrine that was developed after the French had crashed their way into the nuclear club holds that once a state acquires a nuclear capability and begins to deter its adversary, the next inexorable development is that a wholly new conventional armaments race begins. No matter what the initial hopes might be on the subject, going nuclear does not come cheap. For ensuring the credibility of the deterrent, it needs to be constantly updated by both sides and that requires improving the technology and frequent testing of new developments and inventions. This may not be the maximally expensive like conventional weapons systems but are not necessarily very inexpensive. The missile race is even more difficult to control. The kind of disarmament measures that the talks about the rockets and MBFR negotiations could achieve in the Russia-American case may not be as easily available to India and Pakistan. Why? because both the superpowers had attained a level of strength in all branches of warfare that an actual reduction in the main weapons systems was technically beneficial to both sides; it was essentially rationalisation of the two deterrents. Moreover, the superpowers had no bitter or bilateral territorial disputes in which masses of people on either side could be involved; there was something ersatz in the supposed bitterness between the two sides. In the case of Pakistan and India the disparity between what they can acquire and or produce is so great that the Indians would constantly be tempted to disregard the puny Pakistani effort and be done with Pakistani pretentions. All that they may then have to do is to steel themselves for a certain (limited) degree of possible destruction in India so that they could, by threatening actual war, either force the Pakistanis to blink or present the prospect of utter devastation of all its urban-industrial centres at the cost of a fairly small loss in India (in comparative terms). Indian Realpolitik wallahs can in fact bank on bluff to force the Pakistanis into utter quiescence. The kind of blind passions that frequently motivate Indians and Pakistanis can certainly make them act irrationally. Remember 1947 saw the worlds greatest ethnic cleansing in the then India ever, with seven to eight million refugees moving in one direction and nine to 10 million moving in the other. The kind of decision Pakistani authorities made in 1971 cannot be called rational. The sort of blind hatred that motivates the mobs in a communal riots in India is not at all rational; politicians may calculatingly spark them off for political benefits, but those who kill act foolishly. Didnt responsible political leaders plan and had the Babri Masjid destroyed and then did not the large scale killings of religious minorities in 1984 (in retaliation of Mrs Indira Gandhis murder) and of over two thousand Indian Muslims after certain bomb blasts had rocked Bombay with many fatalities. Those who claim that Indian and Pakistanis are responsible and as cool and calculating as any western leader does not, in view of the experience, ring true. Both states are fundamentally brittle and vulnerable to not only secessionist movements but liable to produce political leaders that are too cynical, not to say unpredictable. This writer believes that if Churchill, Stalin or Hitler had nuclear bombs, any of them would have used them in Europe. The US after all did it. No doubt many people believe that the US could not have nuked Germany as it did Japan for racial reason. One does not buy the racial argument. Arent Serbs and others in Balkan capable of making one another if only they can? For Pakistan, the issue must be faced squarely about the Rupees, Annas and Pies. The kind of relationship the country now has with the IMF is, to put it bluntly, one of being in a court of wards. For, every decision and new policy is being vetted by the IMF and the World Bank. In essentials our budget is determined by the IMF. Our economic sovereignty is a myth. Every few weeks either a mission comes to take stock of how the government has behaved or Pakistani officials have to go and report compliance to world moneymen. Talking of an independent nuclear deterrent against the wishes of the international community is moonshine; so long as Pakistan is dependent on others for cash, those who plan a deterrent with borrowed money are being totally unrealistic. Moreover there is no uncertainty that Pakistani hawks are not being led up the garden path. By going nuclear they are obliging Indian hawks no end; they would be paving the way for India to do what it has dearly wanted to do. It would provide a wonderful alibi to the Indian chauvinists to remove all stops and go nuclear full-scale. While the Indians can, with some fortitude, hardship and difficulties, can ride out of the loud international outrage and censure, the same cannot be said for Pakistan. The kind of sanctions that such a step would invite will be so crippling and destabilising that it is difficult to countenance their effects. Try as one might, no positive benefit seems to be in store by the kind of recommendation that some of our hawks are making. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960311 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Being grateful to our yobs ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ayaz Amir HEROISM in the Islamic Republic is an enterprise fraught with the greatest risks. As the yobs and louts who make up our cricketing team will soon realise  that is, if the swift and cruel winds of nemesis have not touched and burnt them already  in this land of romance and eternal dreams the higher you rise the harder you fall. If ever a team carried with it the prayers and hopes of an entire nation of 120 million souls (or given our gift for procreation, is it now 130?) it was the one which stepped on to the field at Bangalore. Pakistanis are an easily excited people at the best of times. But at Bangalore their team was not just trying to defend the World Cup which they had won four years ago at Melbourne. Nor was it simply trying to fight its way to the semi-finals. It was playing India in a knockout match and that meant stirring all the atavistic memories which are brought to the surface when India and Pakistan square off in any major encounter, whether on or off the playing field. Happy the day when both countries can learn to compete normally. But till it arrives they will have to live with the mutual intensity which adds so much colour and venom to their relationship. It is small wonder then that had our yobs acquitted themselves well they would have won not just a crucial match but the 4th Battle of Panipat, demonstrating in the process that superiority which every true-blooded Pakistani is convinced their country enjoys over the land of Lalas and Brahmins. But since they stumbled and almost gave away the victory that for some time at least seemed to be within their grasp they have lost not just a match but betrayed the entire nation. No sense of doom is ever complete without a search for scapegoats. If newspapers are to be believed, as soon as it became apparent that our hopes were about to mingle with the dust, there was a rush of callers venting their anger at what they considered to be the sources of our defeat. So low is the credibility of the national team that there were people (again according to Sunday mornings newspapers) who were not above thinking that the Pakistan captain Wasim Akram did not play in the match because of reasons other than his unfitness (meaning thereby that he had taken money to stay out of it). Some callers were of the outraged opinion that the lewd and unIslamic music and pop shows being shown by Pakistan Television as part of the World Cup buildup were responsible for the plight of the national team. A popular target of anger is also that egregious song hum jeetain gay (We will win) which was PTVs idea of raising the nations morale. But far from being angry at our cricketing yobs the nation has reason to be grateful to them. Now that Pakistan has received its come-uppance from India (hard though it is to admit to this sentiment) there will hopefully be an end to the hype which has surrounded our cricketing effort and also to the arrogance of our leading cricketers. That sportsmen who distinguish themselves in their respective fields of endeavour deserve all the praise and money that they can get is something with which no one will quarrel. That cricketing is now a more lucrative venture than it was, say, two decades ago is also all to the good. At the same time, however, is it too much to ask that sporting heroes, especially our native ones, should be able to wear their greatness lightly? Ever since they won the last World Cup four years ago, Pakistans cricketers have made a running spectacle of themselves by indulging constantly in infighting, factionalism, gross indiscipline and revolts against various captains and by lending themselves to the suspicion of throwing away games for the sake of money. The only thing that could have made up for this sustained loutishness would have been success on the playing field. But as aficionados of the game would know better than I, our cricketing ability has been going steadily downhill over the last four years. When was the last time our team gave a good account of itself? And what sense is there in concluding that a team or rather a cricketing establishment devoid alike of purpose and spirit had a sporting chance to lift the World Cup once again? Spectacular performances do not just come out of the blue. They flow from good selection, rigorous training, motivation and team spirit  qualities conspicuously missing from our cricket over the last four years. Consequently, now that we have met our deserts at Bangalore, our managers right from the head of the cricketing board to Arif Abbassi deserve not just to be sacked for their maladroitness, because that would be too benign a punishment for them, but to be strapped and put on public display. As for the cricket team itself it deserves to be ignored for a while which for the big egos who make it up will be punishment more severe than any other in the world. There is, accordingly, a kind of poetic justice in the defeat of the Pakistan side. Their victory would have brought joy to a nation which in other respects has so little to be genuinely happy about. But the downside of this is that the nation would have had to put up with the arrogance of these yobs for another four years, a prospect calculated to daunt the stoutest heart. Four more years of bragging and strutting about. And four more years of bad Coca-Cola and Pepsi commercials woven around the real and imagined prowess of these heroes. Defeat has a bitter taste especially on the morning after, but as time passes and we see a more chastened side, a side and an establishment more ready to accept the habits of modesty, we may come round to thinking, undoubtedly painful though the process would be, that some good has come from this defeat after all. Since defeat is an orphan and victory an offspring with many parents, if we had won at Bangalore, many and varied are the people who would have claimed credit for it. Arif Abbassi and his crew would have considered their rank incompetence vindicated. Mr Asif Zardari, who is doing everything these days from cleaning up our ozone layer to bringing in foreign investment, would have thought his offer of plots and money to our players justified. Ms Raana Shaikh, PTVs energetic boss, would no doubt have thought that the asinine ditties and programmes being shown on PTV (hum jeetain gay and the rest of the sorry gang) had been instrumental in raising the teams spirits and the nations morale. And there would have been more Pepsi and Coca-Cola commercials. From all these hazards the nation has been saved. Who knows from this experience the yobs of our cricket team may learn to conduct themselves as a team instead of as a bunch of egoists nursing their mercenary instincts. And while this may be too much to expect, they may even learn to play cricket for the glory of the game itself (old-fashioned as this concept may sound) than for more tangible things like residential plots and bagfuls of prize money which it is no small mercy they will have to do without on this occasion. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960310 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Well played Karachi ------------------------------------------------------------------- Omar Kureishi IT IS no secret that there were serious misgivings about Karachi as a venue for World Cup matches. There were fears about the security of the teams, there were concerns about law and order and it was entirely possible that an incident could have been created that would have disturbed the peace in the city. It is no secret either that Karachi is perceived as a high risk city, the foreign media has been covering it with gusto, the BBC and CNN faithfully reporting whenever there has been trouble. Foreign travellers have been advised to give Karachi a miss. I know of many Pakistanis who live upcountry who are most reluctant to visit Karachi. I myself will avoid a late night flight because I would just as not risk going to the airport. When the Australians and the West Indians refused to play in Sri Lanka because they considered Colombo an unsafe city, many felt that it was only a matter of time before some visiting team decided they did not want to play in Karachi. Although there has been a perceptible improvement and the violence appears to have abated, we know that it only takes one spark. There is still uneasiness and we walk on egg shells. Karachi is still a troubled city. Given this background, the reality on the ground, the temptation must have been there to take no chances with the World Cup. Had anything gone wrong, it would have derailed the tournament. I am glad that the temptation was resisted and the decision to go ahead with the matches taken. There was an element of gamble involved. It was Karachis moment of truth. As we all know, the people of Karachi gave a befitting reply to the merchants of gloom. Not only were the matches played without any incident of any kind but the Karachi cricket public set a very high example for cricket crowds in other cities where the World Cup matches are being played. It was an exemplary crowd. What I liked best of all was that it was a good natured crowd and a very sporting one. It supported Pakistan vigorously, as it should, but it generously applauded the opponents, showing that it knew its cricket too. The Delhi crowd, by contrast, showed itself to be shamelessly partisan and the TV commentators mentioned this obliquely. When a Sri Lankan batsman got to his fifty, there was pin-drop silence at the ground apart from the cheers raised by the few Sri Lanka supporters. When South Africa beat Pakistan, our public appreciated the high class cricket played by the visitors. Apart from being sporting, it was a patient crowd. The security arrangements were tight, too tight in my view but I was told that it was necessary and about which I am not convinced. Be that as it may, the crowd did not show their resentment though they must have been inconvenienced. They were searched, or frisked in popular parlance, and they were forbidden to take any kind of foodstuff into the ground. A lady had a bar of chocolate confiscated and another had brought a sandwich with him and rather than have it confiscated he ate it there and then. The crowd was thus put at the mercy of those who had been given the franchise to sell food items at the ground. A cricket match is a family outing and people pack their lunches and have a sort of picnic. Sometimes, in the past, I would be invited to share a meal during the lunch break and it was great fun. In this respect, the matches were austere. Still it did not damp the enthusiasm of the people who went to the ground in such large numbers. I have been going to the National Stadium for many years, covering cricket. I have often despaired of sections of the crowd whose idea of exuberance was hooliganism. Many a match has been disrupted in Karachi because the crowd went out of control. I worried on this account as well. Not this time. It was an impeccably disciplined crowd. No one walked in front of the sight screen, a fairly common occurrence, not even a policeman. And when the matches were over, the crowd dispersed and drifted away. Pakistan had lost the first match but there was no public expression of disappointment, not even a few well-chosen expletives that would have been justified, if not deserved. All in all it was a wonderful show. But where do we go from here? I think the cricket has provided us with an opportunity to bring Karachi back on the rails. The capacity to have fun is still there. I thought one would never see such a large crowd in Karachi, a crowd that had not been rented, but one which was of diverse political opinion, act with such a sense of responsibility and indeed dignity. Although South Africa and England had their supporters, the crowd was overwhelmingly cheering for Pakistan. I have always believed that we come together as a nation whenever our cricket team is playing. On the surface it seems like a frivolous observation. But the World Cup has shown that despite difference, we all want Pakistan to win. This is something positive. The idea of being one people is very much alive. Admittedly, not much work is getting done during the World Cup. People are either at the matches or glued to their television and radio sets. Wherever one goes, the talk is about cricket and nothing else. This may seem to be a waste of time but it is infinitely more healthy than strikes and all the other activities that bring the country to a standstill. A day after the England match, the Governor of Sindh, Mr Kamaluddin Azfar invited me to lunch. It was in honour of a visiting British delegation. they had gone to the match and although England had lost, they were full of praise for the Karachi crowd. Also present at the lunch was the Interior Minister Gen. Naseerullah Babar. I had a long chat with him and he told me that not only should the Karachi crowd be given the Man of the Match award but they should be given a Pride of Performance medal. I told him that it was an excellent idea and there was a need to put the bitterness behind us, to mend fences and bring Karachi back to its rightful place as the first city of Pakistan. He agreed wholeheartedly. Cricket has provided a perfect platform. Now it is upto the politicians to carry the ball. One must never forget that the breakthrough in China- USA relations, which were far from friendly and verged on outright hostility was provided by ping-pong diplomacy. Why cant a cricket crowd bring the warring factions together? Many of us who have been writing about the situation in Karachi have stressed over and over that the majority of the people in this city want to live in peace and go to a cricket match, if they want to, without fear. The point has been proved.

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SPORTS

960312 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Cricket put on global map, say Cup chiefs ------------------------------------------------------------------- CALCUTTA, March: Delighted World Cup chiefs believe they have put cricket on the global map and given it the perfect chance to challenge other major sports for international exposure. Their confidence is such that they are already declaring the event a huge success even before the climax and hailing it a watershed in the games move into the big league. Weve globalised cricket like never before, said Amrit Mathur, a member of the joint Pakistan-India-Lanka organising committee (PILCOM). I think the introduction of 12 teams has been a success, he said. I think with the United Arab Emirates, Holland and Kenya getting such international attention, other developing cricket nations would now try harder to qualify for the World Cup. Mathur went on: Cricket has to battle with such established sports as golf, tennis and soccer for media attention. We are still a long way away from competing with them, but at least a start has been made. I dont see the cricket World Cup expanding to 32 teams in the near future, like its happened in football. Not in the next 20 years at least. The event has not been without hitches, however. First there was the security concerns which led to unprecedented match boycotts by Australia and the West Indies. Then South Africa and Zimbabwe called for a change in the format, arguing  despite the success of Kenya in particular, who beat the West Indies in one of the biggest shocks in the cups 21-year-history  that many early games against the qualifiers were devoid of drama. The huge geographical distances needed to be covered by sides have also been unappreciated, while the lack of crowd support in Pakistan reduced most games not including the host country to a deathly hush  including the quarter-final between England and Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960313 ------------------------------------------------------------------- A defective format for the competition ------------------------------------------------------------------- Samiul Hasan THE 6th World Cup would be remembered for long for many reasons; Pakistan losing to India in the quarter-finals by 39 runs, Australia and West Indies refusing to play in Sri Lanka, Javed Miandad appearing for the 6th consecutive time since 1975, Sri Lankas all-time highest score in one-dayers against Kenya, explosive batting displays by Sanath Jayasuriya, Kenyas shock win over West Indies, controversy around Australia-West Indies league match etc. It will also be remembered for the fact that this was the second time India-Pakistan were hosting the mega event taking it into Sri Lanka and including them as co-hosts. However, the subcontinent might not earn this honour for almost a couple of decades as the World Cup would in future be hosted on a rota basis. Yet another thing for which this World Cup might be remembered for long is the format that has generated considerable debate. This is not the first time the defective format has reflected adversely on this premier competition. The 5th World Cup, co-hosted by Australia- New Zealand, had experienced similar oddities heightened by the ridiculous situation in which South Africans, on the verge of victory needing 22 runs off 13 balls, were made to score 22 off just one delivery following rains and were deprived of the right to play the final. Sports organisers and policy-makers have to look after a host of things. That is their job. Most important of these include policies and plans to promote the game and to help achieve ever-higher standards. The format of a tournament acquires special place in this context, and it goes without saying that they seem to have left much to be desired in this respect both for the 5th World Cup and the 6th. To begin with, the best points of the 4th and 5th World Cups changed without any rhyme or reason and that resulted in Pakistan-India quarter- finals clash at Bangalore on Saturday. In the 1987 and 1992 World Cups, the host teams, if they qualify, were to play their sudden-death match in their country. Consequently, Pakistan played the 1987 semi-finals at Lahore against Australia and India took England at Bombay. Similarly, in the 1992 World Cup, New Zealand faced Pakistan at Wellington and though Australia could not make to the last four, England and South Africa (after finishing second and third) met at Sydney. Then, while preparing the draws of this World Cup, the decision-makers did not take into account the performances of the teams in the previous World Cup. As a result, all the four semi-finalists of the 1992 event were placed in Group B alongwith two qualifiers (Emirates Cricket Board and Holland) while all the teams who couldnt finish in the top four were put in Group A with Kenya as the third qualifier. The format designed for the World Cup exposed the lack of knowledge of the officials of the people who control cricket in Pakistan. Now compare them with the thorough professionalism of the Indian officials and one would find that local organisers have still a lot to learn from the neighbouring cricket board. The Indian organisers kept provision for a loss in the league games and thus, kept the No 2 and No 3 teams of Group A in their country. Pakistani officials, on the other hand, failed to realise the complexities of it quite naively agreed upon to keep the No 1 and No 4 teams in the country. Therefore, India (with two league defeats) played Pakistan (with one defeat) at Bangalore and fully cashed in on the home advantage to score 288 and then restrict Pakistan to 249 in 49 overs. Then, nobody ever anticipated a situation where a competing team would back out and concede a walk-over and two `valuable points. The 6th World Cup experience would make them wiser. Australia and West Indies had little hesitation in conceding the walk-overs and the two points because they did not apprehend any setbacks or problems in making the quarter-finals stage. That is the major defect of this format and the planner failed exactly for that reason. If the format and rules of the competition had also provided for two penalty points (in addition to walk-over points), the situation would have been totally different. But the biggest criticism of the format came when manager Intikhab Alam presented the hypothetical situation of Pakistan having an opportunity of playing the quarter-finals at the home ground (Faisalabad) by throwing away their two games against England and New Zealand. This was allegedly put into practice at the controversial Australia-West Indies game and the Aussies, according to critics, did not give their best and meekly surrendered to West Indies implying thereby that they rewarded them for having gone along on the decision not to play matches in Sri Lanka. This allegation is on the ground that in the event of a West Indian defeat, Kenya would have automatically qualified for the quarter-finals as they had already defeated the West Indies in the preliminary round match. Intikhabs views and the Jaipur match are not the contentious issues. The crux of the matter is that the format did not oblige the teams to give their best at each outing. Any format which does not extract the best from the players and the teams reflects adversely on the competence of those behind such a game- plan. The cause of cricket and in fact, all other sports and performing arts is best served when conditions conducive to super-human performances are created. Nothing would, however, work unless there is a top class format to extract the last ounce of energy from each competitor and the teams. That is where this World Cup, like the previous one, failed miserably. A relevant point in this connection is the schedule of matches. During the league ties, there were up to three matches on a single day, and at the sudden-death stage there were two quarter-finals on each day (March 9 and 11). Cricket fans all over the world would be particularly watching the proceedings of the quarter-finals but were denied it as the transmission covered one and ignored the other. The planners could have easily scheduled a match each dayfrom March 8 or 9 onwards. Even if there was another day added to the schedule, heavens would not have fallen. Also, it would have been in the fitness of things if Sri Lanka, as co-hosts, had staged at least one quarter- finals (the one that was played at Faisalabad), while India staging both the semi-finals should have shared it with Pakistan. That would have been a more equitable sharing of the matches of this tournament. There is no doubt that the men at the helm of affairs of cricket in the nine top-class Test playing countries and the others (three of whom made the World Cup qualifiers) have been extremely harsh to the millions of the cricket lovers all over the world. The lesson to be learnt from it is that the thinking on the rules and the format for the next World Cup must begin right away; it must be entrusted to persons who specialise in this particular job and not necessarily to the ones who run the boards and manage cricket affairs otherwise. In fact, one-day cricket has brought revolution to the game in all respects. There is need to acknowledge the wind of change and the challenge thereof and constitute experts committees to go into all related matters and problems in order to accelerate the pace of this cricket revolution. It is in this context one sympathises with Kenyans who narrowly missed the chance to make historic entry into the quarter-finals. West Indies exit from the World Cup in the qualifying round would have not destroyed cricket in the Caribbeans. Kenyas qualification would have perhaps generated cricket fever in that country to enable it to attain Test status by the year 2000 or thereabouts. It is the loss to cricket. If the defective format had any role in Kenyas elimination in the league, its like killing a baby before its birth. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960312 ------------------------------------------------------------------- A bang ends in a whimper ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tanvir Ahmad BANGALORE: How high the Pakistan team was rated here before the first knock-out match of this World Cup is amply evident from a report in the Times by Indias Bangalore correspondent, which begins: India exceeded all expectations today. They defeated Pakistan in an emphatic fashion.... Both observations are full truths. When the Pakistanis arrived here on Thursday on the all important leg of their title campaign, they were greeted with awe and respect. Local newspapers billed them as hard nuts to crack and the bookmakers rated them as firm favourites for the Saturday match. Cricket experts, gathered in this beautiful, lush green South Indian city from all over India, described the match as the real final of this World Cup. A Hindi newspaper said: Today will be the Maha Yudh (great battle) of cricket. India will have a difficult time to contain batsmen like Aamir, Saeed Anwar, Ejaz and Inzamam with Salim and Miandad making the rearguard. A local English language daily dubbed it as the Mother of all matches (of this World Cup). What started with a bang, ended in a whimper with Pakistan subdued by a comparatively less penetrative Indian attack. In fact, Pakistan, for all intents and purposes, had surrendered in the 25th over and from then on Malik and Miandad simply went through the actions. In between wicketkeeper Rashid Latif tried to lift the morale by hitting Srinath over the fence collecting 13 runs from the Indian seamers 8th over. When he was out in the 42nd over at 231, the curtains were finally drawn. To attribute the submission  for that is what it was  to the absence of Wasim Akram would be self-deception. Pakistan has in the past also played without him and Waqar Younus and Aqib Javed have not only shared the burden but have done the job for their team. The official version would like to divert the attention from the real reasons to this aspect and many of us may be carried away by it. Pakistan, after all, won the 1992 World Cup without Waqar Younis. At that time Wasim, Aqib, Aamir Sohail and Mushtaq took Pakistan through to the title. This time Waqar was there and also the rest but Pakistan failed to contain India at the most crucial stage  the last 5 overs made all the difference in the end. One was baffled to observe the difference in the two sessions, the first 40 overs and the last 10 overs, and was unable to comprehend what bad omen had struck the bowlers and the fielders. Frankly, the quality of fielding in this match was well up to the mark, Pakistan not allowing India to score at more than 4 runs an over in the first 10 overs when Sidhu and Tendulkar were at the crease. To restrain the Indian run-machine was a good job done by the Pakistanis. Later on, as the innings progressed, the run rate slowly went up reaching 4.70 in the 40th over, but India had lost Tendulkar, Majrekar and Sidhu. At 200 they lost Azhar in the 42nd over. There was jubilation among the Pakistan supporters (and dont be surprised  there were quite a large number of them here) and a hushed silence fell over the ground. What followed was simply amazing and unbelievable. The fielding fell to pieces. Waqar completely lost his rhythm while Aqib, who in any case was not bowling at his best in this match, and Ataur Rahman simply panicked against Jadejas onslaught. These 8 overs, which saw India come out of the woods to pile up their highest-ever in a one-day game against Pakistan, were the real test and the boys failed in it. Surprisingly with four former captains in the field at that crucial juncture, none was able to revise the strategy to stop India. They say that a one-dayer is not decided till the last ball is bowled. For those of us in the media centre at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, India had already won half the battle. Chasing anything over 250 needs planning at every stage. batting in the first 10 overs had to be different and once a run rate of something like over 7 runs is established, the batsmen have to consolidate, and be content with something like 4 an over. After 25 overs the pace is again accelerated so that the required run rate does not go beyond 6 to make things difficult if a few quick wickets fall. Pakistan never planned their innings while tackling the huge 288 run target. Run chase under flood lights is in any case difficult than in day light. For this reason alone Azhar opted to bat after winning the toss. Sohail and his senior team-mates and the manager appeared oblivious of this fact. The openers made a scintillating start, collecting 84 runs in first 10 overs. this was time to apply the brakes and put pressure on the Indian fielding by taking singles and twos. But the acting skipper was probably thinking of hitting out all those 288 runs himself alongwith his partner. Or he had no faith in those who were to follow. He lost his wicket as if in a hurry and then Ejaz and Inzamam, caught in the same frenzy, went out cheaply. With four top order batsmen gone, pressure had now started mounting. It is a mystery as to what was bugging the Pakistani batsmen at 130 runs in 20 overs with Inzamam batting and Malik, Miandad and Rashid to follow. The only conclusion one can draw is that the team played in a reckless manner, had not planned to meet the various eventualities and probably the leadership was confused as well. Or is it that they relaxed, first when they had contained India at 200 (in 40 overs) and again when the Pakistani openers had hoisted 84 in first 10 overs and thought they had won the match. I would like to give Azhar full marks for his leadership. He was concerned but not confused when he lost Tendulkar and Manjrekar rather early. He also kept his cool when Aamir and Saeed went on the rampage. That made all the difference in the world. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960313 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Lack of leadership led to Bangalore fiasco ------------------------------------------------------------------- By S.A. Meenai Following the wave of lamentations and lashing fury sweeping Pakistan after the Bangalore fiasco in which factors other than cricket find pronounced expression, it will be proper though difficult to analyse the defeat mainly in terms of field performance. At the very outset certain quirks of fate queered the pitch for the visiting team. The skippers decision to skip the vital match was virtually a knock-out blow that completely upset whatever combat strategy or battle plan might have been drawn. It meant that Pakistan had not only to play without their key bowler and best all-rounder but minus the leader. The loss of toss was another stroke of bad luck. Batting second on a slow wicket in flood-light - to which they were not very well-attuned - posed a difficult proposition. Added to this a huge and hostile crowd not only rooting for home side but hooting the one opposite, stretched gangled nerves to the utmost limit. All these unfavourable conditions and climate, notwithstanding, there was no justification for the faults of omission and commission that led to the ultimate ruin and reverse. While it is unfair, particularly in a team game like cricket, to pinpoint any one person or player for a setback, the brunt of the blame in this case lies on Amir Sohail, the acting captain, who utterly failed to stem the tide when the going was rough or steer the side to success when it seemed within grasp. Specifically, when Waqar Yunus and Aquib Javed were bowling their last overs and Jadeja was enjoying the feast of runs at their expense, irrevocably imperilling the chances of Pakistan, Amir appeared to be a helpless spectator instead of a sensible guide. If he found himself at his wits and, he should have consulted Javed Miandad or Salim Malik. This lapse on his part was serious enough. But what followed was simply inexcusable. True the two most experienced fast bowlers could not be absolved as their costly ineptitude knew no bounds. Yet Providence provided an ideal chance for Amir to repair the damage when he and Anwar Saeed were hammering Indias attack almost as they pleased. It seemed that what Waqar and Aquib had squandered with their right hand would be saved by this left-handed opening pair. Such seeming prospects, however, proved to be illusory as both of them simultaneously lost their head, their wickets and the match. The batsmen to follow though seasoned were so shaken by this inexplicable indiscretion that they succumbed to a moderate Indian attack almost without a fight. Thus was ignominiously thrown away the World Cup crown that was so gloriously earned in Melbourne four years ago. This critical assessment of the Bangalore battle will remain incomplete without a brief reference to Javid Miandads last appearance. His inclusion in the team after the pathetic performance in Karachi was presumably as a cricket brain rather than as a batsman who in his prime could and did play a decisive part in many epic encounters. But by placing him on the boundary line, the captain not only subjected him to an unfair trial at his age, but also signalled a message that he had no intention of soliciting the shrewd veterans advice. This sort of unwarranted presumptuousness bordering on arrogance in fact was also one of the root causes of the miserable failure against India as also the despondency that has gripped the nation after the Bangalore debacle. But that is another story. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960309 ------------------------------------------------------------------- End of road looms for Miandad ------------------------------------------------------------------- BANGALORE, March 8: If anyone is a cricketing Houdini it must be Javed Miandad. Comebacks, escape acts and outrageous stunts are his bread and butter, so much so that rumours of a permanent exit sound like yet another illusion. But the man himself insists he will be gone for good after this World Cup is done, which for Pakistan or India will be in Bangalore, a fast- growing city enthralled by the potential drama on its doorstep. Defeat will involve a massive loss of face and public humiliation for the losers, which makes some degree of controversy almost inevitable. If it does turn out to be Javeds final throw, he could not have wished for a more loaded set of dice. Too many tears for the man responsible for one of crickets most unsavoury incidents  his infamous bat-wielding at Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee  would be inappropriate and Javed has never been one for gushing accolades. He would far rather be remembered as a thorn in the side of all his opponents, an artful dodger who developed into a lovable rogue. Most of Pakistans rivals, and some within his own dressing-room, will dispute the lovable bit, but none can deny his competitiveness. This tournament has been a classic illustration of precisely that. Selected for a record-breaking sixth World Cup in what was widely rumoured as a political move to take him past Imran Khan, Miandad has struggled for a big score and has had to endure persistent questions about his fitness. In the nets he had his stumps immediately rearranged by Waqar Younis, but reacted as though the bowler had merely happened to hit an extra set secretly erected by the groundsman without his knowledge. More than 1,000 World Cup runs have clearly given him the confidence to ignore such trifles, and he seems more concerned with reminding younger players of their place in crickets pecking order. The quality of cricket has come down, no doubt about it, he said. There was a time when every team had a bunch of fine players. That is not the case any more. It is a debatable argument, particularly given the current strength of his own team, but Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam is adamant Miandad remains a positive influence within the squad. There is no doubt about his ability, the only question was about his fitness, said Intikhab, recalling Miandads two-year absence with a serious leg injury. Hes a true team man. After 124 tests, 34 as captain, and more than 230 one-day internationals, it would be more accurate to say that Javed, 38, knows precisely what makes Pakistan cricket tick. Volatile is an understatement and only the thick-skinned or quick-witted last long. If we are not divided we are not content, Javed said with a laugh recently. But sometimes I think it is a miracle we can do so well in spite of all the problems. Pakistans progress to the knock-out stages, even allowing for a group defeat by South Africa and the side strain affecting captain Wasim Akram, has been almost serene by their normal standards, which only adds to the air of expectancy ahead of their day-night Indian showdown. For Miandad the streetfighter, the end of the road is finally in sight. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960314 ------------------------------------------------------------------- The great pressure of expectations ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ayaz Memon Is it one of the quirks of cricket that all the four semi-finals of this World Cup should be from Group A, or is there a genuine cricketing reason (whatever that may mean)? In a matter of two days, England  weary, woeful, mournful England  were flattened by beef-enriched Sri Lanka, cocky Pakistan had their ego- deflated by traditional bakras India, strong South Africa were swept aside by a resurgent West Indies, and New Zealand were put firmly in their place by the thoroughly professional Aussies. So what went wrong with Group B? There are various theories put forward by sundry critics, but strangely not one examines the role spectators can play in enhancing (or diminishing) a teams performance. It might sound facetious, but I think the teams which played most of their matches in Pakistan suffered because of very poor spectator response. Many cricketers and managers complain about pressures of expectations, but this pressure has undeniable uses. The best players reserve their best for the big occasion. The big occasion means when there are large audiences, who edge mediocre players on to great deeds, or can deter the seemingly great from doing their wont. Teams which played in Pakistan, coasted through their games. There was no pressure of expectation, no public scrutiny, no instant post-mortems, no feedbacks, no debate. While Group A was fraught with high drama and tension, Group B remained insipid and tepid. Englands most daring act was in beating Holland and UAE, Pakistan got terribly involved in the melodrama about Javed Miandads batting position. And who had heard anything about New Zealand till they arrived at Madras a few days ago? Match that with the trauma of Richie Richardsons side, Indias sudden slump which saw them lose two games then recover, and Sri Lankas lingering anger at being snubbed by Australia and the West Indies, to realise why teams from Group A were keener hungrier for success. As a spectator of sorts, I know what role audiences have played in ensuring the high drama of matches played in India. When Pakistan came to Bangalore, they were hardly prepared for the pressure from a 50,000 crowd, or a fiercely determined Indian side. They relied on history to see them through, but they should have realised this was not Sharjah, leave aside Karachi. Would it have been different if the teams from both Group had criss- crossed and played both in India and Pakistan? Certainly, there would have been better audience in Pakistan. There might have been some political jugglery to do, but as the Bangalore quarter-final showed, where theres a will, theres a way for Pakistan to play in India, or the other way around. Think of the bonanza for the cricket lovers  Pakistan versus South Africa at Calcutta, and India versus Australia at Lahore! Instead, we were fortuitously pitted against each other for one match, after which political skulduggery has taken over. The Pakistan players have been threatened with dire consequences, and the government has ordered an inquiry into their defeat against India. Wholly foolish, these sentiments. Frankly, Pakistan got what they deserved. The two most disappointing teams in Group B were England and Pakistan. England appear to have suffered from overtheorising under Ray Illingworth. But mere theory is never enough. At any given time, you need a full complement of fit players. And these players need to show some derring-do occasionally. Pakistan, on the other hand, suffered from an overdose of adrenalin. When the occasion demanded circumspection and a cool head, they plunged in with passion, daring and not a little foolhardiness. The complaint about Englands players is that they get tamed too easily, lack spark; about Pakistan that they are mercurial, gifted but wholly individualistic, and uncontrollable except by a tyrant or a towelling personality who can command respect. I dont know what can help English cricket, but Pakistan have a ready remedy. If Imran Khan can be convinced that managing a cricket team could be as challenging as pursuing a political career (in the subcontinent, often one actually means the other), there is hope for a quick turnaround. And nobody is saying that Imran Khan is a tyrant. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960310 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Runs & records but no excitement ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ayaz Memon IN the first fortnight the World Cup lacked the three vital ingredients to make it come alive  a close contest, an upset, and a controversy involving Javed Miandad. By the end of the third week, each of these events had happened, and all was well with the cricketing world. For two weeks, there had been too many one-sided matches, strong teams had cake walked over the so-called minnows, the major batsmen and bowlers had made easy pickings. There had been results, runs and records. But no drama and little excitement to justify the hype that this was the greatest sports show of the decade. An enthralling India-Australia match under brilliant floodlights at the Wankhede dissipated the humdrumness of the tournament till then, gave it the kiss of life, as it were. There was the majestic batsmanship of Mark Waugh and Sachin Tendulkar to savour, the speed and spirit of Damien Fleming to admire, and the guile and genius of Shane Warne to marvel at. It was a close game which had millions of viewers worldwide glued to their TV sets, and giving their assent that this was now the real thing. The World Cup had finally arrived. Two days later, the West Indies virtually signed their departure from the tournament. The stunning win by Kenya had critics hurling shards or sympathy at Richie Richardsons beleaguered side. The West Indies became easy game for these head-hunters, which critics reckoned had come to India only on a goodwill, learning mission. Unbelievable, insane. But, forget cricketing reputation and logic, better believe it, for this is the World Cup. Remember Australia in 1983 and England in 1992, both victims of Zimbabwes enthusiasm, and carefree play? And can anybody in India forget the fateful day, June 25, 1983 when the mighty West Indies were humbled in the Prudential Cup final. When it comes to the World Cup, the David and Goliath saga is revisited many times. Meanwhile, on the same day that the West Indies were getting their noses rubbed into the Pune Stadium ground, across the border Javed Miandad was stirring up a hornets nest. No complaints. This was sorely needed for what is a World Cup without calumny and controversy. The refusal of Australia and the West Indies to play in Sri Lanka was now old hat. Stories about the life and loves of Mohammed Azharuddin had become predictable and boring. Mike Atherton made a valiant attempt to inject some pep by redefining a journalist as buffoon, but had his bluff called and apologised abjectly the next day. There was surely need for some spice. Enter Miandad. Those uninitiated into the ways of this game may not know that there are players and personalities. And there are some personalities who always court trouble, even if not of their own making. Javed Miandad and controversy go hand-in-hand Great batsman he surely is, but even greater rabble-rouser though whether this should be viewed negatively is open to interpretation. Had he been an Englishman, he would have usurped W.G. Graces position as the most colourful personality to have ever played cricket. Being only a Pakistani, he is viewed less generously, often disparagingly. Of course, he was going to demand his number four batting position and a greater say in the team strategy. If Wasim Akram and Intikhab Alam did not know this, they were being naive. If not this, then Miandad would have asked for something else. The point is that if Miandad is contented, he wouldnt be Miandad. And if Miandad is not Miandad, can there be a wholesome, enjoyable World Cup? So there we are, this crazy cricket carousel called the World Cup entering into its last fortnight, the three essential conditions fulfilled, and now progressing at a gallop towards its climax. The excitement is at fever pitch, and if the results of the two matches played in the last couple of days is any indication, there is tremendous drama in store. Sri Lanka, for instance, overwhelmed India with the most sizzling batting display at Delhi on Saturday, and Pakistan, in spite of the Kabhi haan-kabhi Na syndrome of confused Intikhab Alam, finally did not tank their game against England. That is two unexpected events on successive days, and perhaps a portent of things to come. How about a devious Anglo-Caribbean conspiracy which speaks of lulling every opponent into complacency, and setting up a date to meet in Lahore on March 17? May sound far-fetched. But this is after all, the World Cup where strange things are known to happen. The disbelieving can consult Mr Kapil Dev or Mr Imran Khan. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 960314 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dream Team Update - as at March 14th, 1996 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PCODE N A M E COUNTRY POINTS 1 MARK TAYLOR (C) AUSTRALIA 123 2 IAN HEALY (VC) (WK) AUSTRALIA 76 3 MICHAEL BEVAN AUSTRALIA 90 4 DAMIEN FLEMING AUSTRALIA 185 5 STUART LAW AUSTRALIA 110 6 SHANE LEE AUSTRALIA 14 7 CRAIG McDERMOTT AUSTRALIA 20 8 GLEN McGRATH AUSTRALIA 85 9 RICKY PONTING AUSTRALIA 189 10 PAUL REIFFEL AUSTRALIA 102 11 MICHAEL SLATER AUSTRALIA 0 12 SHANE WARNE AUSTRALIA 184 13 MARK WAUGH AUSTRALIA 577 14 STEVE WAUGH AUSTRALIA 305 15 MICHAEL ATHERTON (C) ENGLAND 119 16 ALEC STEWART (VC) ENGLAND 86 17 DOMINIC CORK ENGLAND 206 18 PHILLIP De FREITAS ENGLAND 209 19 NEIL FAIRBROTHER ENGLAND 98 20 DARREN GOUGH ENGLAND 151 21 GRAEME HICK ENGLAND 277 22 RICHARD ILLING WORTH ENGLAND 84 23 PETER MARTIN ENGLAND 126 24 JACK RUSSEL (WK) ENGLAND 67 25 NEIL SMITH ENGLAND 154 26 ROBIN SMITH ENGLAND 105 27 GRAHAM THORPE ENGLAND 279 28 CRAIG WHITE ENGLAND 13 29 STEVEN LUBBERS (C) HOLLAND 129 30 REINOUT SCHOLTE (VC) HOLLAND 0 31 FLAVIAN APONSO HOLLAND 160 32 PAUL JAN BAKKER HOLLAND 60 33 PETER CANTRELL HOLLAND 220 34 NOLAN CLARKE HOLLAND 65 35 TIM De LEEDE HOLLAND 90 36 ERIK GOUKA HOLLAND 39 37 FLORIS JANSEN HOLLAND 25 38 ROLAND LEFEBVRE HOLLAND 143 39 MARCEL SCHEWE HOLLAND 64 40 KLAAS JAN VANN NOORTWIJK HOLLAND 168 41 ROBERT VAN OOSTEROM HOLLAND 12 42 BAS ZUIDERENT HOLLAND 116 43 MOHAMMAD AZHARUDDIN (C) INDIA 158 44 SACHIN TENDULKAR (VC) INDIA 573 45 SALIL ANKOLA INDIA 0 46 AJAY JADEJA INDIA 194 47 VINOD KAMBLI INDIA 181 48 ASHISH KAPOOR INDIA 20 49 ANIL KUMBLE INDIA 367 50 SANJAY MANJREKAR INDIA 151 51 NAYAN MONGIA (WK) INDIA 104 52 MANOJ PROBHARKAR INDIA 81 53 VENKATESH PRASAD INDIA 165 54 VENKATAPATHY RAJU INDIA 168 55 NAVJOT S. SIDHU INDIA 178 56 JAVAGAL SRINATH INDIA 200 57 MAURICE ODUMBE (C) KENYA 232 58 ASIF KARIM (VC) KENYA 31 59 RAJAB ALI KENYA 171 60 DEEPAK CHUDASAMA KENYA 81 61 TARIQ IQBAL KENYA 27 62 HITESH MODI KENYA 53 63 THOMAS ODOYO KENYA 42 64 EDWARD ODUMBE KENYA 60 65 LAMECK ONYANGO KENYA 0 66 KENNEDY OTIENO KENYA 152 67 MARTIN SUJI KENYA 128 68 BRIJAL PATEL KENYA 0 69 DAVID TIKOLO KENYA 16 70 STEVE TIKOLO KENYA 231 71 L.K. GERMON (C) (WK) NEW ZEALAND 206 72 N.J. ASTLE (VC) NEW ZEALAND 181 73 C.L. CAIRNS NEW ZEALAND 204 74 S.P. FLEMING NEW ZEALAND 228 75 C. HARRIS NEW ZEALAND 261 76 R. KENNEDY NEW ZEALAND 87 77 G.R. LARSEN NEW ZEALAND 66 78 D.K. MORRISON NEW ZEALAND 80 79 D.J. NASH NEW ZEALAND 133 80 A.C. PARORE NEW ZEALAND 149 81 D.N. PATEL NEW ZEALAND 34 82 C. SPEARMAN NEW ZEALAND 196 83 S.A. THOMPSON NEW ZEALAND 216 84 R.G. TWOSE NEW ZEALAND 180 85 WASIM AKRAM (C) PAKISTAN 125 86 AAMIR SOHAIL (VC) PAKISTAN 357 87 IJAZ AHMED PAKISTAN 207 88 MUSHTAQ AHMED PAKISTAN 215 89 SAEED ANWAR PAKISTAN 329 90 INZAMAM UL HAQ PAKISTAN 145 91 AAQIB JAVED PAKISTAN 146 92 RASHID LATIF (WK) PAKISTAN 71 93 SALEEM MALIK PAKISTAN 198 94 JAVED MIANDAD PAKISTAN 69 95 SAQLAIN MUSHTAQ PAKISTAN 45 96 RAMEEZ RAJA PAKISTAN 2 97 ATA-UR-REHMAN PAKISTAN 25 98 WAQAR YOUNIS PAKISTAN 274 99 HANSIE CRONJE (C) SOUTH AFRICA 331 100 CRAIG MATTHEWS (VC) SOUTH AFRICA 162 101 PAUL ADAMS SOUTH AFRICA 70 102 DARYL CULLINAN SOUTH AFRICA 270 103 ALAN DONALD SOUTH AFRICA 160 104 FANIE De VILLIERS SOUTH AFRICA 52 105 ANDREW HUDSON SOUTH AFRICA 285 106 JACQUES KALLIS SOUTH AFRICA 68 107 GARY KIRSTEN SOUTH AFRICA 401 108 BRIAN McMILLAN SOUTH AFRICA 160 109 STEVE PALFRAMAN (WK) SOUTH AFRICA 85 110 SHAUN POLLOCK SOUTH AFRICA 168 111 JONTY RHODES SOUTH AFRICA 64 112 PAT SYMCOX SOUTH AFRICA 119 113 ARJUNA RANATUNGA (C) SRILANKA 239 114 ARVINDRA D' SILVA (VC) SRILANKA 371 115 MAVAN ATAPATTU SRILANKA 0 116 UPUL CHANDANNA SRILANKA 0 117 KUMARA DHARAMASENA SRILANKA 114 118 ASANKA GURUSINGHE SRILANKA 247 119 SANATH T. JAYASURIA SRILANKA 347 120 ROMESH KALUWITHARANA (WK) SRILANKA 87 121 ROSHAN MAHANAMA SRILANKA 80 122 MUTTIAH MURALITHARAM SRILANKA 135 123 RAVINDRA PUSHPAKUMARA SRILANKA 20 124 HASHAN TILLEKERATNE SRILANKA 128 125 CHAMINDA VAAS SRILANKA 123 126 PRAMODAYA WICKREMASINGHE SRILANKA 4 127 SULTAN ZARWANI (C) UAE 101 128 SAEED ALSAFFAR (VC) UAE 5 129 IMTIAZ ABBASI (WK) UAE 25 130 SHAHZAD ALTAF UAE 20 131 MOHAMMED ASLAM UAE 38 132 SHAUKAT DUKANWALA UAE 214 133 SHEIKH MAZHAR HUSSEIN UAE 104 134 MOHAMMAD ISHAQ UAE 76 135 ARSHAD LAIQ UAE 86 136 VIJAY MEHRA UAE 49 137 GANESH MYLVAGANAM UAE 41 138 SALIM RAZA UAE 157 139 SYED AZHAR SAEED UAE 188 140 JOHANNE SAMARASEKERA UAE 150 141 R.B. RICHARDSON (C) WEST INDIES 187 142 J.C. ADAMS WEST INDIES 134 143 C.E.L. AMBROSE WEST INDIES 171 144 K.L.T. ARTHURTON WEST INDIES 27 145 I.R. BISHOP WEST INDIES 57 146 C.O. BROWNE (WK) WEST INDIES 79 147 S.L. CAMPBELL WEST INDIES 57 148 S.C. CHANDERPAUL WEST INDIES 136 149 C.E. CUFFY WEST INDIES 26 150 O.D. GIBSON WEST INDIES 31 151 R.A. HARPER WEST INDIES 311 152 R.I.C. HOLDER WEST INDIES 5 153 B.C. LARA WEST INDIES 234 154 C.A. WALSH WEST INDIES 163 155 A. FLOWER (C\WK) ZIMBABWE 56 156 E.A. BRANDES ZIMBABWE 7 157 A.D.R. CAMPBELL ZIMBABWE 139 158 S. DAVIES ZIMBABWE 9 159 C.N. EVANS ZIMBABWE 92 160 G.W. FLOWER ZIMBABWE 140 161 A.P.C. LOCK ZIMBABWE 56 162 H.R. OLONGO ZIMBABWE 0 163 S.G. PEALL ZIMBABWE 39 164 H.H. STREAK ZIMBABWE 165 165 P.A. STRANG ZIMBABWE 297 166 B.C. STRANG ZIMBABWE 50 167 A.C. WALLER ZIMBABWE 159 168 G.J. WHITALL ZIMBABWE 71

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