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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 15 February 1996 Issue : 02/07
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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
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US reports speculative, Assef tells Talbott
US defers decision on alleged Chinese technology sale to Pakistan
No early solution to Kabul issue in sight: FO
Food convoy crosses border : Factions open route to Kabul
India willing for talks with Kashmiris
Indias N-plan a threat to region
India, Pakistan urged to cut forces by 25 pc
Pakistan may ask US not to send Orion planes
SA group says Pakistan missile deal at risk
UK decides to deport : Pakistan HC employee
Go-ahead given to Gwadar port plan
Nawaz wants Sindh PA dissolved
Three MQM men killed in encounters
Youth killed, eight houses looted
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BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Trade deficit swells to $2.25bn during 7 months
Rs 46.117bn received through the sale of 100 units
IMF okays Pakistans financial measures
Pakistan has a clogged pipeline of $10 bn aid
CPI shows increase of 11.06 per cent
SBP, CLA need internal reforms, notes ADB study
OGDC discovers gas reserves near Sanghar
Turnover soars to 56m shares: index up by 65.38 points
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Within the realms of probability Ardeshir Cowasjee
A stranger in the House By Hafizur Rahman
The mystical element in Pakistani politics By Ayaz Amir
Defining Mohajir grievances Kaiser Bengali
The World Cup By Omar Kureishi
The road to economic recovery Sultan Ahmed
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The fascinating saga of World Cup
World Cup gets under way with hi-tech glitz
Pakistani cricketers in India after 7 years
Bal Thackerays lurking ghost buried
Cup organisers harden stance on Lanka matches
Australia, W.I. face fines of multimillion dollar
Now Aussies boycott Madras
Solidarity show by Pakistan, India
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960210
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US reports speculative, Assef tells Talbott
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Feb 9: Pakistans Foreign Minister Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali
had a 70-minute meeting with US Acting Secretary of State Strobe
Talbott and both sides later said the Chinese transfer of nuclear ring
magnets was discussed but US had not yet decided whether to impose
sanctions.
A State Department spokesman told the regular briefing Talbott and
Sardar Assef reviewed a wide range of issues including US-Pakistan
relations, regional security, Afghanistan and nuclear non-
proliferation.
Sardar Assef told reporters in a brief chat that the US had no reason
to be concerned about close relations between Pakistan and China as
the US intelligence agencies reports were entirely speculative
Theres no truth in them. We have flatly denied that any such thing
has happened, the Foreign Minister said, adding Pakistan had very
good relations with China but theres nothing that should be of
concern to the US.
Sardar Assef was having more meetings with US officials later on
Friday.
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960215
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US defers decision on alleged Chinese technology sale to Pakistan
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Feb 14: The White House again deferred a decision on the
alleged sale of nuclear technology by China to Pakistan but Defence
Secretary William Perry issued, by far, the most clear warning to
Beijing, saying that the US engagement policy is not a one-way
street.
Giving details of what laws may be invoked if the administration
determined that the Chinese had transferred ring magnets to Pakistan,
Washington Times said on Wednesday that China had violated Articles I
and III of the NPT as well as Sections 821, 822(a)(1), 822(a)(2),
824(a), 825 and 826 of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act, 1994.
Pakistan had violated Section 822(b) and 826(a) of the same act.
The paper said in an article, written by William Triplett, that the
ring magnets would allow Pakistan to effectively double its capacity
to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons production and these magnets
represented a substantial qualitative leap over anything Pakistan
possessed in the past.
It said that as a result of these violations, Pakistan, as the
receiving country, would be denied economic and military assistance,
including arms sales from the US while China would face serious
consequences.
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960209
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No early solution to Kabul issue in sight: FO
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Hassan Akhtar
ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: Foreign Secretary Najmuddin Sheikh, who had held
separate meetings here with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Allauddin
Brojourdi and the Uzbek Afghan commander of north Afghanistan, Gen
Rashid Dostum, has hinted that a peaceful settlement of the Afghan
civil war continued to remain evasive and no one should expect an
early solution to the problem.
During his weekly news briefing at the Foreign Office, he said he
would not say that there was an air of optimism in his discussions
with Mr Brojourdi.
Although, the foreign secretary described his meeting with the Iranian
foreign minister as most cordial, he conceded that Pakistan and Iran
differed in their attitudes towards a continuation of the Rabbani
regime. Pakistan had termed the Rabbani regime illegitimate, while
Iran believed that it would do business as usual with the regime.
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960215
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Food convoy crosses border : Factions open route to Kabul
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KABUL, Feb 14: A convoy of 18 United Nations trucks left Pakistan en
route to the beleaguered Afghan capital, carrying tons of much needed
food supplies, UN officials said.
The trucks were to travel via Jalalabad to Kabul. Pakistani border
officials confirmed the convoy passed into Afghanistan at about noon.
A Defence Ministry spokesman said the government and Hezb-i-Islami
factional commanders signed an agreement that should guarantee safe
passage along the road.
The International Committee of the Red Cross recently began an air
lift operation to bring essential food and medicine to Kabul.
The government also claimed to have secured an agreement with the
Hezb-i-Islami for the restoration of electricity to Kabul.
The main power plant for Kabul is controlled by rebels just east of
the city, leaving the capital without electricity for almost three
years.
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960211
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India willing for talks with Kashmiris
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Umashanker Phadnis
NEW DELHI, Feb 10: Senior officials of the Home Ministry have taken
note of the statement of the four militant leaders issued in Srinagar
on Thursday offering to respond to an unconditional dialogue on the
Kashmir issue and before the Home Minister, S.B. Chavan, comes up with
an action-oriented reaction, the statement will have been scrutinised
in all its aspects. For the time being, however, Mr Chavan made a non-
committal welcome statement on TV although he is yet to be more
definitive on the offer.
The home secretary, K. Padmanabhiaiah was, however, a little less
reticent and said both the prime minister and the minister of state
Bhuvnesh Chaturvedi have stated that the government was open for talks
with anyone. Here are these people saying that the gun has not worked
and that they would like to talk. We will certainly pick it up and
explore the offer.
Two factors with which the Home Ministry will be undoubtedly seized
are, firstly, what the impact of the militants offer has on the
thinking of the other militant groups and, secondly, a related
question on the hold the leaders have over their respective
organisations. There are also other issues involved such as whether
the militant leaders will be willing to accept the governments
precondition that any solution of the problem would have to be within
the confines of the Indian constitution in as much as the leaders have
said that their objective was freedom of the Kashmiri people.
The rather subdued reaction of the Hurriyat is being interpreted to
mean that its leaders and spokesmen are not too sure of the stand of
its 30 odd constituent units which are known to be pulling in
different directions both in respect of the means and end in respect
of their objectives. One of its constituents, however, the commander-
in-chief of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Rafiq Ahmad
for (Yeaseen Group) has questioned the credentials of the four
militants and has said they had no right to take such a step as they
were expelled from their parties.
Mr Shabir Shah, who has been actively working towards a negotiated
settlement of the Kashmir problem, did not quite denounce the
initiative of these militants but held the view that the proposal of
the young leaders did not make any sense as the issue demands to be
resolved with Pakistan which too is a party to the dispute, pointing
to the failure of the 1966 Tashkent and the Simla agreement of 1972,
he said, however, the two countries had to realise the basic reality
and accept Kashmiris as a party to the dispute and said unless the
tripartite talks are held, no solution be should possible.
In contrast to the reaction of these leaders, some of the militant
groups denounced the four as Indian agents and called upon them to
clarify their stand at the earliest or otherwise be prepared to face
the severest of punishments.
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960214
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Indias N-plan a threat to region
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Feb 13: Former prime minister and opposition leader Nawaz
Sharif has proposed a four-point interim nuclear arms control
agreement for South Asia.
Mr. Sharif was addressing the prestigious conference on nuclear non-
proliferation, hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for Inter-national
Peace.
The four points proposed by Mr Sharif are: 1) India to freeze its
nuclear programme since Pakistan has already done so; 2) Pakistans
need to have a sufficient nuclear deterrent against India be accepted;
3) Both countries sign the NPT and the CTBT and refrain from carrying
out any test or deployment of medium or long-range missiles against
each other; and 4) Both countries sign the fissile materials cut-off
convention and also agree to account for their existing fissile
stocks.
Non-proliferation will be successful in future if it becomes relevant
to ground realities, Nawaz Sharif told the conference in which he
laid out the threat perception of Pakistan vis-a-vis India and asked
the world experts to put themselves in Pakistans shoes to realise its
predicament.
Imagine if you were a small country with only a conventionally
equipped and relatively a much smaller defence capability, and you had
to face a hostile neighbour six times your size, with a threatening
arsenal of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons, medium and long-range
missiles loaded with nuclear heads along its borders and targeted on
all the key installations of your country, he said.
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960211
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India, Pakistan urged to cut forces by 25 pc
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Bureau Report
LAHORE, Feb 10: The Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and
Democracy has taken serious view of the rise in what it calls
aggressive militarism in India and Pakistan and has asked the
governments of the two countries to abstain from developing,
manufacturing and deploying nuclear devices, reduce their conventional
forces by 25 per cent and resume talks on all outstanding issues at
the highest level.
The Forums joint committee, in a statement simultaneously issued from
Lahore and New Delhi, said:
The Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy takes a
serious view of the disturbing rise in aggressive militarism in both
India and Pakistan recently. Continuous and wholly uncalled for
exchange of fire has been taking place across the Line of Control in
Jammu and Kashmir, taking a very heavy toll of innocent lives in at
least one tragic incident. Both governments have reiterated their
resolve to keep the nuclear option open. India has tested a surface-
to-surface missile, provoking Pakistan to vow not to stay behind. Both
sides have announced plans to acquire unaffordable military hardware
on a large scale, ostensibly to match or out-match the other side.
The Forum is convinced that the common people in both the countries
need and earnestly desire peace. Their governments are, however, bent
upon not only continuing a suicidal arms race but escalating it to
ever higher and more dangerous levels. The Forum therefore appeals to
the governments of India and Pakistan to pay heed to what their
peoples want, as reflected in the recommendations drawn up by over 200
prominent citizens from both sides.
These require (1) both governments to abstain from developing,
manufacturing and deploying nuclear devices, (2) both sides to reduce
their conventional force level by 25 per cent and (3) both governments
to resume talks on all outstanding issues at the highest level.
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960209
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Pakistan may ask US not to send Orion planes
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Feb 8: Pakistan is likely to ask the United States not to
send the three P-3C Orion naval reconnaissance aircraft as part of the
$368 million equipment, released as a result of the Brown Amendment
but not yet shipped to Pakistan.
Competent defence sources told Dawn the three aircraft were the
largest and the most important part of the package and accounted for
$139.1 million out of the total of $368 million.
A request in this connection may be made as early as Friday or
Saturday when the Foreign Minister, Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali, meets
Defence Secretary William Perry, or it might be postponed until the
meeting of the Programme Management Review (PMR) later in March.
Islamabad may instead ask the US authorities to dispose of these
planes to a third party and pay them in cash, like the F-16s these
sources said.
The definite reasons for a re-thinking in Islamabad for not accepting
the three aircraft were not available but experts involved with
defence sales said the Pakistan Navy would be very uncomfortable with
these aircraft and might have objected to their shipment as they would
be difficult and costly to maintain. A competent source confirmed that
the Navy had some reservations about the P-3C aircraft on the grounds
that looking after just three planes would be uneconomical and not
viable for the Navy.
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960214
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SA group says Pakistan missile deal at risk
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JOHANNESBURG, Feb 13: A South African arms group said the leak of
sensitive information about the proposed sale of missiles to Pakistan
placed the deal at risk.
We are busy negotiating (with Pakistan), but to date no business
transaction has been concluded, Paul Holtzhausen, spokesman for the
Denel arms group, said.
We regret that certain sources chose to precipitate business
information...thereby placing important international transactions of
this nature at risk, he said.
Holtzhausen said he was not able to provide any more information about
the potential deal, which a South African newspaper quoted informed
sources as saying was worth 164 million dollars.
The Business Report said negotiations between Denels Kentron arms
company and the Pakistanis were at an advanced stage.
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960213
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UK decides to deport : Pakistan HC employee
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Our Correspondent
LONDON, Feb 12: Britain announced the deportation of a non-diplomatic
employee of the Pakistan High Commission in London for reasons of
national security. The decision came in the backdrop of a newspaper
report that an employee of the high commission had been caught
procuring equipment needed to run nuclear plants.
Mohammad Saleem, a locally recruited staffer of the Pakistan mission,
has been served with the deportation order by the Home Office. He has
14 days within which to appeal to the Home Office.
A British Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that the deportation
order had been served on Mohammad Saleem and the Pakistan High
Commissioner had been told about this. The Home Office said that
Mohammad Saleems presence in Britain was not conducive to public
good.
British Officials said that the move was made for reasons of national
security.
They said national security given as the reason for deportation
included activities connected with the spread of weapons of mass
destruction, implying that the deportation order was in some way
connected with Pakistans nuclear programme. The Evening Standard on
Monday claimed that on three occasions last year British Customs had
blocked shipments of sensitive equipment to Pakistan. The equipment
alleged to have been purchased in the name of Global Consultants, a
Pakistani firm.
Mohammad Saleem did not hold diplomatic status in the High Commission.
The Pakistan High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, Mr Wajid Shamsul
Hasan, said Mohammad Saleem was a clerk in the accounts department of
the High Commission and had been hired locally about six years ago.
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960213
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Go-ahead given to Gwadar port plan
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Feb 12: The federal government has formally decided to go
ahead with the construction of the much- delayed and controversy-
ridden Gwadar port.
Informed sources told Dawn here that the massive and strategically
important project, costing Rs 24 billion, was accorded formal approval
by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Kazi Alimullah, at a
central development working party meeting. The government will arrange
Rs 11 billion through federal annual development programme (ADP) while
Rs 13 billion in foreign exchange is being mobilised from other
sources.
Located opposite the Straits of Hormuz, it will serve as a mother
port, providing warehousing, transhipment and industrial facilities
for trade with over 25 countries, including the Central Asian states,
Afghanistan, the Gulf states, East Africa, Red Sea countries and
north-west India.
The objective of the project is to meet the countrys strategic needs
and serve as a standby to Port Qasim and the Karachi Port in case of
any emergency.
The scheme provides for the construction of a deep- sea port at Gwadar
in two phases. The first phase will be carried out under the public-
sector development programme, and the second phase will be taken up by
the private sector.
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960213
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Nawaz wants Sindh PA dissolved
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Feb 12: Opposition leader Mian Nawaz Sharif warned that
the Karachi situation would become irreversible if the Benazir
Bhutto government was not removed during the current year.
Anything could happen, he told Pakistani correspondents and local
Pakistan TV channel representatives when asked whether Karachi was
heading towards independence.
In his opinion the Benazir government was no longer in a position to
resolve the Karachi problem. Altaf Hussain told me that the day this
government was removed, 75 per cent of Karachis problem would be over
and the rest could be discussed between parties who trusted each
other.
Asked how could the situation be brought back to normal, Mr Sharif
said the Sindh Assembly should be dissolved and under Article 234, a
new chief executive of the province should be appointed in
consultation with the MQM and the opposition.
We had proposed this and the MQM would also have agreed to the idea
but the PPP rejected it. The army would also have supported it, he
said.
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960212
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Three MQM men killed in encounters
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 11: Sheikh Rehanuddin alias Rehan Langra, an MQM
activist, was gunned down in what the police described an encounter in
Sector 11-A, North Karachi.
His body was found in the upper storey of an underconstruction house
in 11-A, FT/24, where a shoot-out allegedly took place between Naeem
Sheri group and the police. However, Naeem Sheri, Shabir Nai, Tariq
Chamber and Baber Lahoti, managed to escape.
During the encounter, police claimed, Rehan Langra was killed and
other suspects escaped. Rehan was said to be involved in 48 cases,
including killing of Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam, SHO of the Al-Falah
police station and two constables.
Meanwhile, MQM Chief Altaf Hussain condemned the killing of Rehan
Langra and claimed that the police had arrested him two days back and
killed him in a fake encounter.
*****
TWO KILLED: Two MQM workers were killed in what police claimed was an
encounter with law enforcement agencies in Orangi Extension. The two
workers Siraj Muslim and Ibrar Salim the police claimed, were
killed when a shoot-out erupted during a raid on suspected house in
Ghazi Nagar by rangers and police.
In the raid, it was claimed, four suspects who were inside the house
fired at the rangers and the police. In the gunbattle which ensued two
of them were killed. A pistol and a mouser belonging to the two were
found.
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960215
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Youth killed, eight houses looted
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 14: A young man was killed, eight houses, a money changer
and a transporter were looted in armed hold-ups in the city.
According to police, a gang of bandits raided a village in Surjani
Town and held the occupants of eight houses hostages at gunpoint.
Later, as they were relieving them of their cash and valuables, one of
the occupants, Fazal Rahat, 24, a labourer, resisted them. The bandits
opened fire at him and got away with the booty.
Fazal Ahmed, hailing from Quetta, died on the spot. His corpse was
taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
In another incident in the same police jurisdiction, the owner of
Chand money-changer was robbed of Rs 700,000 at gunpoint.
According to an eyewitness three alleged bandits barged into the
office of the money-changer, opposite Nigar Cinema and robbed Rs 700,
000 at gunpoint. Two of them fled with the cash and a third one,
Raziman, was shot at by a shopkeeper and overpowered. He was hit in a
leg and was taken to the Civil Hospital.
960212
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Trade deficit swells to $2.25bn during 7 months
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 11: Pakistans trade deficit during the last seven months
amounts to more than 2.25 billion dollars. It exceeds projected trade
imbalance for entire 1995-96 and represents more than twice of 1.09
billion dollars loss suffered in international trade during first
seven months of 1994-95.
Official trade figures released depict an extremely dismal export
performance during January amounting to 648 million dollars which is
about 10 per cent lower than 717.153 million dollars earned a month
earlier in December 1995. It is hardly 2 per cent higher over 635.67
million dollars export earnings during January 1995.
In the last seven months, Pakistans total exports were to the tune of
4.16 billion dollars indicating a fall of 4.3 per cent over 4.35
billion dollars earned during July to January 1994-95 period. Import
bill during the same period went up to 6.42 billion dollars showing a
rise of almost 18 per cent over 5.45 billion dollars during 1994-95.
Businessmen fear trade deficit touching the alarming figure of 4
billion dollars by June next if governments measures to reverse the
downslide of exports and arrest import spiral fail. Even the stand-by
arrangement of foreign exchange cushion, obtained from the World Bank
would fail to absorb the mounting trade deficit and could plunge
country into a situation from where it would be most difficult to
retrieve, a leader of an export association remarked.
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960209
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Rs 46.117bn received through the sale of 100 units
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: The Privatisation Commission has received a total of
Rs 46.117 billion after selling out 100 state-owned enterprises and
all the 20 remaining units will finally be sold out by 1996.
There is not much delay in privatising the public sector units and we
are hoping to complete the entire privatisation programme by end this
year, said Chairman Privatisation Commission Syed Naveed Qamar.
According to the details, the Privatisation Commission collected Rs
30.5 billion on account of partially privatising the Pakistan
Telecommunication Corporation (PTC) of which Rs 27.5 billion ($862
million) came through the sale of its foreign shares while Rs 3
billion were received from local subscription.
The Commission acquired Rs 3.392 billion from the privatisation of
banks.
Also Rs 12.225 were collected through the sale of industrial units, of
which Rs 4.255 billion came during the present government.
Answering a question, Syed Naveed Qamar said that now there was a turn
for privatising bigger units like Heavy Mechanical Complex (JMC),
Pakistan Machine Tool Factory (PMTC) and Pakistan Steel Mills. This
process has in fact started with the taking up of bigger units like
Pak-Saudi Fertiliser and Wah Cement, he added.
Moreover he pointed out that the work is under way for the
privatisation of the United Bank, Bankers Equity and Faisalabad
Electricity Board. Similarly, work on the privatisation of Karachi
Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC) has also been started
simultaneously.
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960211
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IMF okays Pakistans financial measures
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Feb 10 : The International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave a clean
bill of health to the Pakistan economy here, and promised to offer
soon the second tranche of $80 million out of $600 million standby
loan.
Pakistans economy is poised to achieve 5.5 to 6 per cent GDP growth,
reducing inflation from 15 to 10 per cent, while foreign exchange
reserves are improving and the budget deficit is declining, Mohammed
A. El-Erian, head of the visiting IMF delegation, announced.
He pointed out that since the Pakistan economy had performed well, the
cancelled extended structural adjustment facility (ESAF) would soon be
re-negotiated to resume $1.5 billion lending programme.
The way the government is pursuing its economic policies, we are sure
it would further reduce inflation, strengthen balance of payments and
considerably curtail the budgetary deficit, he added.
Asked to comment on Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttos statement that
everything would be taxed and whether it was due to the IMF pressure,
he said his organisation supported Pakistans efforts to broaden the
current tax base. If you want to reduce fiscal deficit and increase
funding for social sectors then you will have to widen your tax base,
he added.
When the head of the IMF mission was pressed further over the issue,
Mr Jafarey came to his rescue by saying: You people are referring to
sales tax which is currently on the manufacturing stage and the
government has not decided, so far, on which items it is to be
levied.
Asked why the IMF was insisting on the GST and not putting pressure on
the real introduction of the agricultural income tax, Mr Erian said
Pakistan had, in principle, agreed to levy that tax and that the
government had taken steps to widen the net of that tax. At this
stage, Mr Jafarey pointed out that the governments of Balochistan and
the NWFP had already introduced that tax while it would soon be
introduced in Punjab and Balochistan. Nevertheless, agricultural
income tax was a provincial subject and we cannot force them to go
for it, he said, adding that wealth tax was a federal subject which
was effectively being imposed.
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960210
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Pakistan has a clogged pipeline of $10 bn aid
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Ihtasham Ul Haque
PAKISTAN is facing great hardships in receiving timely foreign aid,
specially because of not utilising the aid of over $10 billion in the
pipeline. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been writing individually
to all the concerned ministers to double their efforts to utilise this
huge assistance.
In a letter written to Minister for Industries and Production, Brig.
(retd) Muhammad Asghar, the Prime Minister asked him to gear up his
efforts for receiving adequate foreign assistance and ensure that this
did not lapse due to one reason or the other or resulted in
contributing to the addition of the already big pipeline.
I am writing to draw your attention to a subject which is of great
significance in the changing environment of the global economy. In the
post-cold war world, access to concessional assistance is becoming
increasing difficult. The proper and timely utilisation of viable
assistance, has therefore, assumed greater importance.
Although we were able to mobilise record level of foreign project
assistance amounting to $2.714 billion during the late financial year
in the public sector, we have to demonstrate to the donors that we put
this aid to best use, and in accordance with the shared priorities. I
would, therefore, like to see every effort made to ensure timely and
effective utilisation of aid already committed. We have built up a
pipeline of over $ 10 billion with a significant number of projects
moving slowly for one reason or the other and you will appreciate,
that there is no substitute for good performance when making a case
for further assistance, the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister is said to have taken a serious notice of slow
utilisation of foreign aid and asked the officials of important
ministries to look into the issue of slow utilisation of foreign aid
with details about their slow moving projects by saying, my office
will put up the next aid utilisation report in April 1996 and I hope
that you will be able to show better performance, Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto further stated in her letter.
One of the major reasons for slow utilisation of foreign aid,
according to officials, is the non-availability of matching rupee
resources in view of the acute budgetary constraints. Also red-tapism
in the bureaucratic set up is causing a problem for having timely
foreign assistance. Here the Prime Minister is said to have also
directed the senior officials of the important ministries to address
the issue and ensure that the aid in the pipeline is not further
increased and that the issue may not become an embarrassing factor at
the time of presenting the countrys case to the Aid-to-Pakistan
Consortium meeting in April at Paris.
The Paris Club has been warning Pakistan to arrange matching rupee
component and remove other bureaucratic bottlenecks for offering
timely foreign assistance, in the absence of which aid in the pipeline
has reached to over $10 billion . During Nawaz Sharifs period the
consortium had regretted to the then Minister for Finance Sartaj Aziz
at the Paris Club meeting to commit new assistance for 1991-92 by
saying that Pakistan should first utilise the aid in the pipeline
built over a period of many years.
The post budget estimates prepared by the Ministry of Finance reveals
that Pakistans total outstanding debts are to the tune of 30.7
billion at the end of 1994, out of which only $21 billion has been
disbursed and $10 billion is still in the pipeline.
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960213
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CPI shows increase of 11.06 per cent
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Muhammad Ilyas
ISLAMABAD, Feb 12: The rate of inflation registered an increase of
11.06 per cent during July-January, 1995-96 over the corresponding
period of the last financial year, according to the figures released
by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here.
It is up from 10.11 per cent of the first half of 1995-96. During the
single month of January, Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is deemed
to stand for rate of inflation, with 1990-91 as base stood at 169.41.
Thus, the increase was of 0.37% over the Index of December 1995 when
it was 168.78.
During January, 1996, all the group indices of the CPI showed an
increasing trend except food, beverages and tobacco, which group index
recorded a decrease of 0.37% over the previous month, FBS stated. This
was attributed to the decrease in the prices of tomatoes, cabbage,
carrot, peas, farm eggs, potatoes, onions, cauliflower, guava, ice,
radish and spinach.
The consumer price index for January, 1996, as compared to January,
1995 showed an increase of 8.93%. Food, beverages & tobacco group
recorded an increase of 6.21%; apparel, textile & footwear 10.79%;
house rent 9.23%; fuel & lighting 13.6%; household, furniture &
equipment etc. 14.06%; transport & communication 12.76%; recreation,
entertainment & education 17.19%; cleaning, laundry & personal
appearance 17.06% and medicines group 9.37% over the corresponding
month of last year.
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960211
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SBP, CLA need internal reforms, notes ADB study
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Muhammad Ilyas
ISLAMABAD, Feb 10: The capital market in Pakistan, in order to emerge
as a stable and credible source of investment, still needs
professionalism in its management as well as a much more strengthened
regulatory system.
This was stressed by a financial sector expert, who is closely
associated with stock market operations in the country.
He also stressed that it was now the time that the stock exchanges
moved rapidly towards automation and the development of Central
Depository which would enable book-based settlement system. Besides
streamlining the settlement procedures, Central Depository would also
help in bringing about transparency of trading. It is due to the lack
of full transparency and, therefore, confidence that, remarked an
Asian Development Bank study, the stock market is not perceived by
the average investor to be either efficient or fair and judicious in
terms of providing the investor a fair return. He, therefore, prefers
to invest his savings in multi-national corporations. It, therefore,
stressed: Incentives must also be provided for greater self-
regulation.
The study had pointed out a number of inefficiencies that impeded the
growth of securities markets in Pakistan: First, settlement
procedures are cumbersome and slow. It can often take 90 days to buy
and register a scrip. Disclosure is generally inadequate, reducing
investor confidence. Almost 40 to 50 per cent of transactions are not
reported by the market information facility, since they do not go
through the clearing house. Insider trading is widespread and
penalties are inadequate, although recent legal reforms have tried to
address some of the difficulties.
In order for the CLA to play its role as the most effective regulatory
body, it is essential that the many deficiencies in its staff be done
away with and systematic, consistent efforts made to induct
professional people and develop skills for tackling highly ticklish
technical challenges. Without such staff and adequate funds, CLA would
continue to be handicapped, especially in dealing with companies which
can engage the most expensive lawyers to represent their case. It
would also be seriously handicapped if it does not have full autonomy,
administrative as well as financial, and is perpetually saddled with
interference in its functioning as a neutral, specialised body with
its key functionaries enjoying security of tenure, the expert
stressed. In order to ensure that it can perform its regulatory
functions fairly, he cited the example of a neighbouring country
where the CLAs counterpart has been given quasi-judicial status.
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960214
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OGDC discovers gas reserves near Sanghar
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Our Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: A condensate gas discovery was made by the Oil and
Gas Development Corporation (OGDC) at Chak Dim-5 about nine kilometre
north-west of Sanghar Town.
According to a Press release, the exploratory well flowed at the rate
of 1130 barrels of condensate and 9.4 million cubic feet of gas per
day when put on a short test through half inch choke.
The reserves have been found at the depth of 2860 meters.
OGDC started drilling at Chak Dim-5 on November 29, 1995 and the well
was drilled to a total depth of 2908 meters.
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960215
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Turnover soars to 56m shares: index up by 65.38 points
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Commerce Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 14: Volume soared to attain the second-best single
session figure at 56 million shares, surpassing its last June 13
record of 46.5 million shares as both PTC vouchers and Hub-Power were
massively traded, accounting for 43 million shares out of the total.
The KSE 100-share index was last quoted at 1,823.10 as compared to
1,757.72, breaking the barrier of 1,800 points with a wide margin,
indicating that it is now heading towards its new chart point of
2,000.
Todays big show both in terms of big increase in the this index and
volume was largely the individual show as bulk of the support was
confined to PTC vouchers and Hub-Power.
Both the shares turned out a massive activity of 43 million shares,
out of the total volume of 56 million shares, dealers said.
While PTC vouchers were massively traded, up Rs 2.35 on a volume of
over 25 mill ion shares on heavy foreign buying caused by news of
sharp increase in prices of its GDR.
Hub-Power followed it, which traded about 18 million shares with a
fresh gain of 20 paisa.
Another notable feature of the day was a big spurt of Rs 45 in Parke-
Davis after the news of a final dividend at the rate of 80 per cent,
which made the total for the last year to 160 per cent as the
management had already paid an interim dividend of an identical
amount.
After the announcement of interim dividend last year, its share value
had hit the peak level of Rs 850 before falling to Rs 450 in late sell
off. It was quoted around Rs 650 after the announcement of the
dividend.
Other actively traded shares were led by Lucky Cement, higher 65 paisa
on 1.313 million shares, LTV Modaraba, up 50 paisa on 870,000 shares,
Dhan Fibre, steady 55 paisa on 834,000 shares, and Faysal Bank, higher
Rs 1.15 on 760,500 shares.
Dewan Salman after a relative quiet for the last several sessions
burst into activity, and was quoted higher by Rs 11.50 on a volume of
528,000 shares, followed by ICI Pakistan, up Rs 5 on 514,000 shares
and Fauji Fertiliser, firm one rupee on 485,000 shares. There were
several other notable deals also.
Trading volume soared to 56.045 million shares from the previous 32
million shares thanks to massive buying in pivotals.
There were 277 actives, out of which 183 shares posted good gains,
while 47 fell, with 47 remaining pegged at the last close.
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960209
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Within the realms of probability
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
MY friend of the felicitous phrase, Ayaz Amir, wrote in his column,
Political power and the judiciary (Dawn, January 29):
So inured have we become to scandals and shenanigans that nothing
amazes us anymore. Not even such priceless news as the reported offer
of Ms Bhutto to make Senator Jehangir Badr the chief justice of
Pakistan. No doubt this offer (at a gathering of the party faithful)
was made in jest. But then it is a measure of the steep road down
which we have travelled that some years ago no Pakistani ruler would
have had so complete a lack of culture as to utter a joke in such poor
taste.
Altaf Gauhar, wrote in his column President Leghari must act now
(The Nation, January 26): The public expression of the Prime
Ministers desire to appoint a party stalwart from Lahore or a former
associate from Kohat as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had no
purpose other than exposing the highest judicial office to ridicule
and contempt.
I say otherwise. I say, anything is possible in this day and age, in
the awami Islamic Republic. I say, there is a distinct possibility
that at some point in time Benazir may seat Badr in the highest
judicial chair of the land. Just take one historical precedent. Gaius
Seutonius tranquillus, the Roman historian, records in The Twelve
Caesars that when the fourth Caesar, Gaius Germanicus (Caligula) ruled
Rome he terrified all those who heard him with the remark, Remember
that I have the right to do anything to anybody. And he did.
To prevent Incitatus, his favourite chariot race horse from growing
restive, he picketed the neighbourhood with troops on the day before
the races, ordering them to enforce absolute silence. He built a
marble stable and an ivory stall for Incitatus, covered him with
purple blankets, and made him wear a jewelled collar. Incitatus also
owned a house, furniture and slaves to provide suitable entertainment
for guests who Caligula invited in his name. Caligula proposed to make
him a Consul (one of the two magistrates who exercised conjointly
supreme authority in the Roman Republic). A throw of Incitatuss head
would signify Yes, and a neigh No. So, what price Badr? Has his
future elevation been foretold in the stars?
What we must not forget is that like many of our insecure oppressive
rulers, Benazir too has to depend upon the sayings of saints and sufis
to bolster her ego and give her confidence for her forward planning.
She obviously feels that she can no longer solely rely upon the
efficacy of PTV and the other government media propagandists.
Inevitably, as soon as rulers are enthroned in a democratic
dictatorship they automatically assume they will be where they are for
the next hundred years, and that thereafter their progeny will follow
in their footsteps. The latest seer Lalan Faqir, in the district of
Tharparkar, has predicted that Benazir will last in her present
position for the next 15 years. Until another dreamer extends it to
25, Lalan, who is given regular joy-rides in our helicopter, will
remain Benazirs favourite and we will have to bear the flight and
other expenses which will be debited under the head of foundation
stone-laying or stopcock-openings in the area.
Reliance on seers, sages, and soothsayers is nothing new. Kings,
queens, princes, despots, dictators, tyrants have relied upon them
since rulers have ruled in this world. The Greeks used them, so did
the Romans. According to Seutonius, when, as a quaestor, Gaius Julius,
the first Caesar, saw a statue of Alexander the Great in the Temple of
Hercules at Cadiz, he was vexed that at an age when Alexander had
already conquered the whole world he himself had done nothing in the
least epoch- making. He dreamt the following night, much to his
dismay, that he had raped his own mother. He consulted his soothsayers
who greatly encouraged him by their interpretation of his dream
namely that he was destined to conquer the earth, the universal
mother.
As Caesar, Julius sent his heir, his great-nephew Augustus, off to
Appolonia to study Greek. Just before Julius was assassinated in Rome,
Augustus visited the house of Theogenes the astrologer, together with
his companion Agrippa. They both wished to consult him about their
future careers. They climbed up the stairs to his observatory and
Agrippa went in first and was prophesied such incredibly good fortune
that Augustus expected a far less encouraging response and felt
ashamed to disclose his nativity. Yet when at last, after a good deal
of hesitation, he grudgingly provided the information to Theogenes,
the astrologer arose and flung himself at his feet. Augustus had such
implicit faith in those who could foretell the future that he risked
all, had his horoscope published and struck a silver coin (the sole
prerogative of the current Caesar) stamped with his birth sign,
Capricorn. Luckily for him, Theogenes was right (otherwise Augustus
would have been disinherited or worse), news of Caesars murder soon
arrived. Soothsayers can get it right.
Nero, the sixth of the Caesars, also had his own personal astrologer,
Balbillus. After the appearance of a comet in the skies one night, a
phenomenon believed to herald the death of an important person,
Babillus told him that monarchs usually avoided portents of ill-luck
by executing their most prominent subjects and thus diverting the
wrath of heaven. After this, nothing could restrain Nero from
murdering anyone he pleased, on whatever pretext.
Vittelius, the ninth, was promised by a prophetess credited with
oracular powers, that he would have a long and secure reign if he
outlived his mother. So, when she fell sick, he had her starved to
death. What deeds at what cost have ruthless rulers perpetrated
throughout the centuries merely to hang on to power.
Forward to this century and to this country. Ayub Khan relied heavily
on Pir Dewal Sharif, as did many amongst the top army brass of the
day. Pir Sahib was renowned for his successful safarish for promotions
to the highest rank of various senior army officers.
Rangila Raja Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan sensibly sufficed himself with
the pleasures life had to offer him. He carried on regardless,
enjoying himself to the hilt, until he was done in by circumstance and
conspiracy.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, prior to his elevation to the top, placed his
reliance upon the advice and warnings of Mujibur Rahman Chishty. Once
in the top slot, there was no room for rivals, he became his own pir
and held the monopoly as far as political predictions were concerned.
Zia did not advertise his faith in pirs and their likes. His
peregrinations were not given the usual publicity. He had full
confidence in himself, in his ever faithful Arif, and in his Jadoogar,
and thus he survived for eleven years.
Benazir, during her first round, visited Bangladesh in October 1989.
She travelled to the small remote village of Chor Borkot and spent
four hours there with the bearded and portly seer, her fathers old
consultant, astrologer-cum-palmist, Mujibur Rahman Chishty. Chishty
revealed to her that democracy would prevail in Pakistan but that
Benazir should beware of a group bent upon ousting her. Within ten
months she was indeed ousted by a group of very determined opponents.
Though there were and still are many who think she was ousted by her
own party, through their inept corruption and total lack of ability to
govern.
Nawaz is a great one for pirs, a patron of the occult. His favourites,
who guided him through his first spell in prime ministerial office,
were the Pir of Mohra Sharif, the Pir of Golra Sharif, Sufi Barkat of
Faisalabad, and Dhanaka Baba of Mansehra (now equipped with a special
telephone, a helipad and a private metalled road leading to his
sanctum), who is allowed the liberty of briskly tapping our first
among equals on their fragile shoulders, blows that are supposed to
usher in luck and longevity in the power seat.
Our bureaucracy is also well equipped with seers and sages, the most
famous being Haji Akram, once Nawazs information secretary and Qazi
Aleemullah, his financial wizard. The latter is renowned for his
ability to phoonk maro, an ability much relied upon by Nawaz, who
would never visit Ghulam Ishaq Khan without first being phoonked by
Aleemullah. These two worthy servants of the government have been
adopted by Benazir, who feels the need to follow the pir pattern set
by Nawaz. Haji Akram has become her information secretary and is doing
his damnedest to see she stays where she is. Most worrying is the fact
that phoonker Aleemullah is the virtual head of our Planning
Commission. If it is his ability to ward off evil spirits that is
dictating the countrys future economic status, can we have much hope?
Now Benazir, too, is a frequent visitor to the Pirs of Mohra and Golra
Sharif, of Faisalabad and of Mansehra, all of whom are guiding our
destinies. She apparently is also hearing voices and is beset by
disturbing dreams, and has consulted both the professional and
bureaucratic cliques of soothsayers. Reportedly, none of them dare
offer an interpretation. No help being forthcoming, she, like us, will
have to rely on time.
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960214
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A stranger in the House
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By Hafizur Rahman
THE time is a few years into the twenty-first century, Pakistan having
crossed 2000 A.D. successfully, along with the rest of the world, and
without being left behind.
Two elderly gentlemen meet in the well of the old National Assembly
hall and are pleasantly surprised to see each other, and are very
happy too. Being old, and apparently tired, they sit down, one in the
seat of the Leader of the House and the other where the Leader of the
Opposition used to sit.
Nostalgia takes over. Old memories trip over one another as they
recall what both remember as the good old days. As it happens with
men and women, the ugly scenes in the House, the exchange of
invective, the occasional fisticuffs, are glossed over. Only the
pleasant incidents: the harmless repartee, the funny walkouts, the
rare support for a point made by the other party, the common dinners,
the Speakers discomfiture at members behaviour all these knock at
memorys door and are gladly admitted, recounted again and again and
laughed at.
Time passes like a flash. Before the two know, it is more than an hour
that theyve been sitting in what was always the House, and they
decide its time for a cup of tea and some refreshment. So they move
to the cafeteria. The dear old cafeteria! Here the rush of memories
becomes a torrent.
One by one they recall and savour the jokes made here, the daily Press
briefings by volatile members, the gallons of tea consumed by the
journalists. For, as they both say, this was the real place, the
National Assembly in its birthday suit.
They agree that it was here that members spoke from the heart (on
condition of anonymity of course) and where no inhibitions of party
discipline or restraint prescribed by religion stood in the way of
honest and candid expression.
What tickles the two most is that members would make fiery and
apparently right-from-the-heart speeches about a very serious matter
though more sanctimonious than sacred and come out to the cafeteria
and laugh uproariously, both at the subject and what they had spoken
about it.
They held the common view that his was the best and most interesting
aspect of life in the National Assembly, and applied equally to
members of the ruling party and the opposition without exception.
No, I am not foreseeing the future of the National Assembly. I am
neither a political astrologer nor a clairvoyant that I should be able
to look into the coming days. But, as things stand today,it is quite
possible that somewhere around the turn of the century the present
National Assembly died a peaceful death, unsung and unmourned. It was
probably killed by a chronic lack of work, the immediate cause being a
severe attack of quorumitis from which it could not recover. Its last
moments were marked by a walkout by the entire House, with the Speaker
caught napping. When he woke up with a start, it was all over.
Coming back to the present, we were talking, some friends who had
gathered for a chat, about the performance of the National Assembly
and the individual roles of the Speaker, the Leader of the House and
the Leader of the Opposition. One of us who had been a frequent
visitor to the House of Commons when in London, said that the number
of times in a year that the British Prime Minister was unable to
attend the sessions would be the same as the number of times the
Pakistan PM and the Opposition Leader had graced the NA with their
presence.
He also startled us with the information (I must check it though) that
every Tuesday it is the PM himself who answers all the questions,
including the supplementaries, during the House of Commons question
Hour, whether the questions relate to his departments or not.
A wag among us (there is always a wag whenever a group sits down to
gossip) said he wouldnt be surprised if one day a member with a sense
of humour rises in his seat and calls the attention of the Speaker by
exclaiming, A stranger in the House, Mr Speaker, a stranger in the
House! And then, pointing at either of the two Leaders, he lets go of
the witticism that he cant seem to recall having seen the gentleman
(or the lady) previously who had so confidently walked into the House
and occupied the seat of the Prime Minister/Leader of the Opposition.
I commented on this that it would have to be a member of one of the
smaller parties, for the PPP and the PML(N) dont joke about their
respective bosses. They cant.
No one can really say where the daily exercise of pointing out the
absence of quorum by an opposition member and the ringing of the bells
to muster the number of MNAs necessary for the House to function is
going to culminate.
But this I do know, as does everybody else probably, that no one is
seriously doing anything about it. The Prime minister issues stern
directives to her ministers and adherents to take Assembly work
seriously (presuming of course that she is serious about it herself).
The problem is that there is no one who can issue even a polite
reminder to the PM that example is better than precept.
That is not the only problem. The political, economic, social and
cultural life of the nation is becoming increasingly distanced from
the thinking and decisions of the National Assembly. It is as if the
members go through a charade without in any way affecting the day-to-
day life of the people outside the House.
The opening of this piece, describing the demise of the National
Assembly, is of course purely imaginary. But is it incredible,
impossible, or even highly improbable? There are more than one
scenarios that come to mind if the work of the NA comes to a virtual
halt because of the members indifference and neglect by the ruling
party. None of them is pleasant to visualise.
But it cant be absolutely ruled out that some day, someone claiming
to have the good of the nation at heart, may do something drastic.
Then we can just sit down on the floor and raise our hands in fateha,
not only for the dead House. but also for our democracy which died of
a broken heart.
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960212
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The mystical element in Pakistani politics
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By Ayaz Amir
HOW does the human mind learn to think objectively? When it frees
itself from mysticism and acquires the ability to think deductively.
In other words, when its conclusions are based upon certifiable
evidence.
It is important to emphasise this axiom of elementary logic because
many of the pronouncements of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), the
principal opposition party and hence the alternative to the PPP
government, are shaped by mysticism rather than by anything that even
a modest professor of the social sciences would describe as objective
thinking.
When does an automobile company, Honda or Ford, decide to produce a
new model? When it thinks there is a market for it. In a war when does
a general go on the offensive? When circumstances are in his favour
and he enjoys superiority over the enemy. In the politics of a
turbulent and immature country, when does a political party announce a
movement or when does it set a deadline for a governments ouster?
When conditions are ripe and people are ready to respond to its call.
To judge by the tone of the PML-Ns calls its latest being the
declaration, issued in tandem with its allies, that 1996 would be the
year of change it is tempting to conclude that such primary school
thinking is beyond its capacity.
Are the conditions for forcing mid-term elections better now than they
were in 1994 when Mian Nawaz Sharif launched a movement to get rid of
the government? If anything, the government is stronger, Benazir
Bhutto in the intervening period having tightened her grip on Punjab.
The PML-N, on the other hand, is betraying signs of mental exhaustion,
a circumstance emphasised by the tired ring of its policy statements.
It is also a measure of its physical exhaustion that against the
victimisation to which it has been subjected the cases against the
Sharif family, the imprisonment of Shahbaz Sharif, the sentencing of
Shaikh Rashid the PML-N has not been able to mount any credible
agitation. Compare this with the intensity of the Awami League
campaign against the government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in
Bangladesh and the relative impotence of the Pakistan opposition comes
into sharper focus.
>From the foregoing it does not follow that the PML-N, in order to
recover from its exhaustion, should don the robes of pacifism. If it
feels that its interests are best served by a militant policy, or if
it thinks that national circumstances warrant an aggressive posture,
it is entitled to say and do what it likes as long as its actions are
within the law. But if at all it has a concern for its credibility,
its declarations must be related to performance. We all know what
became of the boy who always cried wolf. Since being thrust into the
wilderness of opposition in 1993 the PML-N has cried wolf so often
that it faces a serious crisis of credibility. When it hurls a threat
these days how seriously is it taken by its own workers let alone the
government?
Movements in any case are not born out of thin air. A leadership must
have the gift of analysis which should help it decide whether
conditions are ripe for a particular course of action. When
circumstances are not favourable leaders worthy of the name build up
their strength and bide their time. Revolutionaries, who if anything,
are more impatient than parliamentary politicians, do the same: wait
for the right moment to strike. The PML-N, on the other hand, seems to
be made up of the most impatient collection of politicos in the
subcontinent. Scorning introspection or analysis, they can be found
repeating the mantra that Benazir Bhuttos continuation in power is
fatal for the country and therefore it is of the utmost national
importance to get rid of her. But how precisely this supreme
imperative is to be met elicits a gabble of mystical responses.
Benazir Bhutto may be presiding over a government more distinguished
for its ineptitude and the aura of corruption surrounding it than
anything else. But that is hardly the point. The question that needs
asking is: is the government firmly in place or is the opposition
capable of forcing its hand?
About the governments grip on the present situation there should
scarcely be any doubt. Inflation may be high and there may be no end
in sight to the problems of Karachi but the blitheness and even
arrogance with which Benazir Bhutto is exercising power almost lend
themselves to the impression as if she has no opposition to contend
with. Two years ago when there was an opposition government in the
Frontier and a difficult chief minister in Punjab she may have
appeared vulnerable but not today when she is riding roughshod over
everything.
As for the PML-Ns ability to launch a movement, we know from the
experience of the last two years that its bark has been worse than its
bite. It is true that wherever Mian Nawaz Sharif goes he pulls in the
crowds. It is equally true, however, that in a democracy popularity
can be transmuted into the coinage of power only at election time. And
when that is going to be is something, alas, that only Benazir Bhutto
can decide. Nawaz Sharifs votes in Punjab probably exceed Ms
Bhuttos. His supporters will happily vote for him and his anointed
candidates when the time comes. But they will not be cannon fodder for
any movement that he may call. This is the reality that the PML-N
leadership, both of the first rank and the second, is having a hard
time accepting.
It is also worth remembering that the two great movements in our
history in 1968 against Ayub Khan and in 1977 against Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto were almost spontaneous expressions of discontent. There was
no visible build-up to either of these upheavals. One moment the sky
was clear; the next all hell had broken loose. The PML-N, however, by
setting deadlines for the governments ouster is trying to stir the
elements. In this endeavour its success is proving to be no greater
than that of the eight-party opposition alliance, the MRD, whose
greatest accomplishment during its existence was the passing of stern
resolutions against the Zia regime. When the 1988 elections came round
(with no little help from the heavens because if General Zia had not
met his Maker, the holding of those elections would have become
problematic) Ms Bhutto became prime minister. But it took an election
for her to come to power just as it will take either another election
or divine help (which on current evidence does not seem to be
forthcoming) for Nawaz Sharif to again look for his place in the sun.
There is another point worth bearing in mind. The suffocating nature
of the Ayub and Bhutto regimes played no small part in creating a
groundswell of opposition against them. By 1968 the intelligentsia and
the middle classes, surfeited with the regimes propaganda, wanted a
change. By 1977 Bhutto had managed to instil a hatred almost
pathological in character in the minds of his opponents. They were
prepared to go to any lengths to get rid of him.
By contrast, much as PML-N partisans would dispute this statement,
Benazir Bhutto inspires anything but hatred at a mass level. Ridicule
and amusement, yes; at times astonishment at the contortions that she
can go through. But not the pathological hatred that her father was
such a past master at evoking. The very blandness of this government,
the fact that the greatest charge against it (the perennial exception
of Karachi apart) is not the torture of political opponents but the
taking of commissions, is a point in its favour because the passion
necessary for a political movement to succeed is not stirred by weak
emotions.
The catharsis of democracy is also helping this government. The Press
is free to write; the opposition free to say what it wants. What if
the exercise of this freedom has not the slightest effect on the
governments actions? At least it allows the massed ranks of the
disgruntled to get things off their chest which, as any quarrelling
couple will vouchsafe, is a great dissipater of strong feelings.
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960213
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Defining Mohajir grievances
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Kaiser Bengali
THE year 1995 claimed 2,095 lives on account of the continuing
violence in Karachi. And the year 1996 commenced with over two dozen
deaths in the bombing of a bus on Shahra-e-Faisal, marking yet another
escalation in the battle zone that Karachi has become. The interior
minister, a general, continues to make bombastic statements
reminiscent of the wild claims of Generals Tikka Khan and Niazi only
about a quarter of a century ago. They could retire to lick their
wounds in the luxury of their homes unaffected by the ravages of war.
But East Pakistan was a thousand miles away. Karachi is just down the
road.
The boom of guns in Karachi will reverberate through calm and serene
Islamabad as well. The cycle of violence by the terrorists and
counter-violence by the states law enforcement agencies has already
drenched Karachi in blood and gore and disrupted the port citys
economy, with equally serious ramifications for the national economy.
The depth of alienation of the Mohajirs is fast reaching a point where
hostile foreign interests are beginning to be drawn in and the break-
up of the country is not likely to remain a remote possibility.
The turmoil in urban Sindh can be correlated with the rise of the MQM.
And the rise of the MQM signifies the search for a political identity
for a section of the people of Sindh now identifying themselves as
Mohajirs. It is a search which has, most unfortunately, been
accompanied by violence and bloodshed. It has become a saga of
terrorism perpetrated by those without uniforms as well as by those in
uniform. The victims in either case are the people of Karachi. All
along there have been charges and counter-charges. Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto has rightly described the situation in Karachi as a
mini-insurgency, but political measures to counter the insurgency are
conspicuous by their absence. Parliament has deliberated on the issue
umpteen times, but the occasions have been used by members to score
points rather than to dispassionately analyse the problem and suggest
remedies.
Ironically, however, the MQM itself has over the last decade
completely failed to articulate Mohajir grievances or formulate a
cogent set of demands. This is evident from the randomly shifting
kaleidoscope of MQM rhetoric and demands. There is little in common
between the set of demands presented by the MQM to the PPP in 1988, to
the IJI in 1990 and again to the PPP at various rounds of negotiations
since 1993. There is also a tendency on the part of the MQM to
obfuscate their own initial demands by subsequently adding a host of
peripheral issues. However, enough is enough. Mohajir interests cannot
be served by breast-beating alone. It is now imperative to define
Mohajir grievances and to put forth the minimum set of demands.
The Mohajirs began to emerge as a political force in the mid-
seventies with the formation of the All Pakistan Mohajir Students
Organisation and entered the national stage in 1985 with the formation
of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement about a decade later in 1985. Over the
decade since, the MQMs fortunes have ebbed and flowed. There is one
constant, however. In all the elections since 1985, it has proved
itself to be the overwhelming voice of the Mohajirs and remains so
even today.
It may be necessary to step back and dwell briefly on the question of
the issue of the term Mohajir for the purpose of political
identification. There are a host of factors determining the formation
of an identity. One of them is shared grievances or sense of
deprivation or persecution, which sets in motion a search for a common
platform from which shared grievances can be aired. In the thirties
and forties, religion provided the common platform for subcontinental
Muslims of diverse ethnicity, language and culture to unite for
articulating their demands. In the late sixties, language provided the
common platform for the Bengalis of erstwhile East Pakistan.
In post One-Unit Pakistan, close to 10 million residents of Sindh,
largely concentrated in Karachi and other urban centres of the
province, found that they had on hand a crisis of political identity.
They were residents of Sindh but were not Sindhi. They were variously
called Urdu-speaking, New Sindhis, etc. They also felt that their
political and economic privileges had been consistently eroded over
time. The search for a common platform began. Religion or language
could not serve as a rallying point as they did not provide the
exclusivity necessary for identity formation. Territorial
identification was also ruled out, given that they were scattered
across the province.
Common ground was found in the fact that they or their parents or
grand-parents had migrated from various parts of India as a by-product
of partition of the subcontinent and creation of Pakistan. Given the
environment of an identity vacuum, this common heritage rapidly
acquired the status of a common denominator for the emergence of a
political identity. The term Mohajir thus represents a political
identity arising out of a historical process over the last half a
century. Mohajir political identity is now a reality and needs to be
accepted as such by Sindhis as well as people of other provinces.
Mohajir grievances are rooted in economic and political factors. In
this context, three major grievances can be identified. These are (1)
unemployment, (2) lack of control over local resources and (3)
virtually complete absence of effective participation in provincial
and national political decision making.
(1) Unemployment: Unemployment is the number one economic problem of
the people of Pakistan. If underemployment is taken into account as
well, close to about one-fifth of the countrys labour force can be
classified as unemployed. Unemployment levels are relatively higher in
Balochistan, the NWFP and rural Sindh. Even in Karachi, unemployment
among the Baloch of Lyari is twice as high as among the Mohajirs. Yet
unemployment has failed to emerge at the top of the national political
agenda, but has become the major factor in Mohajir insurgency.
The answer to this conundrum may be found in the structure of Mohajir
society. Unlike Sindhis, Balochs, Pukhtoons or Punjabis, Mohajirs are
totally urban with no rural links. It is a measure of their urbanity
that the level of Mohajir literacy and education is higher than in the
rest of the country. In the Orangi slum area, for example, there are
over 600 private neighbourhood schools and the literacy rate is said
to be around 90 per cent. The educated unemployed have been known to
be more politically volatile the world over.
More significantly, Mohajir society is characterised largely by
nuclear families while the traditional joint family system is largely
prevalent in the rest of the country. A joint family system permits
the sharing of consumable resources even by those who are unemployed.
In a nuclear family, the unemployment of the bread earner leads to a
situation of abject desperation. And if there are young educated sons
in the family who are unable to provide for day-to-day needs in
support of their aging parents or for the marriage of their sister or
sisters, it is considered a matter of personal failure and shame. The
unemployment of the educated Mohajir youth is the single largest
factor in the unrest in urban Sindh.
(2) Control over local resources: The unemployment and economic
deprivation would have been palatable if the country or the region
dominated by Mohajirs was resource poor. The facts are to the
contrary. Karachi is the economic engine of the country, contributing
about 20 per cent of national gross domestic product, 40 per cent of
federal tax revenues and 80 per cent of provincial tax revenues.
Mohajirs have little say in how and in whose interest these revenues
will be spent. There are other lucrative sources of under-the-counter
income for those in charge of the city. There are four major sectors
land, water, transport and police which generate millions of rupees
in illegal gratification. A sample survey in the Saddar area of
Karachi showed that hawkers pay about Rs 300,000 per day in bribes to
the various authorities. The total catch from land, water,
construction, transport, drugs, prostitution rackets etc. is estimated
to exceed Rs 3 billion per year. Those in charge are generally non-
Mohajir, while the millions are generated largely from Mohajir
pockets. The Mohajirs are no longer prepared to tolerate the
institutionalised corruption which has torn the social fabric of
Karachi. They are no longer prepared to accept the position of the
docile goose that lays the golden egg for those in power at national
and provincial levels. And they are no longer averse to challenging
the overt and covert transfers of income at their expense.
(3) Political participation: In a larger context, the most important
factor in Mohajir insurgency is the sense of political redundancy.
Given the constitutional and electoral system in the country, the
Mohajir electorate is in a position to command a maximum of 8 per cent
of National Assembly seats. In a situation where a virtual two-party
system has emerged, smaller parties have lost the leverage they could
have commanded in a hung parliament. Effectively, parliamentarians
belonging to smaller parties, like the MQM, can only make eloquent
speeches. The Mohajirs position in the provincial assembly is even
more redundant. With only 28 per cent of seats, they are not even in a
position to withhold quorum. The MQM has mostly boycotted the present
assembly sessions, but that has not prevented the assembly from
conducting its sessions and passing legislation. If the MQM does
decide to attend the assembly sessions, the best they can do is to
make eloquent speeches.
The Mohajirs are not even able to exercise their writ in the cities
where they dwell. Ironically, even the holding of local bodies
elections will not enable the urban population to exercise effective
control over their local affairs. This is because the only function
over which city mayors have exclusive jurisdiction is sanitation. All
other functions are either wholly or partially under the control of
provincial or federal governments. In Karachi, the mayor is the
chairman of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), but the
managing-director is appointed and can be removed by the provincial
government. Land is controlled by the Karachi Development Authority
(KDA), a provincial government organisation. However, large tracts of
land in Karachi are under the jurisdiction of cantonments, railways,
etc., and, as such,federally controlled. Transport and police are
provincial subjects and electricity, gas and telephones are federally
administered. It is clear that the Mohajirs are not in a position to
exercise any leverage at either the federal, provincial or local
level. Given this state of political redundancy, the Mohajirs feel
they do not have any stake in the system.
The crux of the problem is that the country is facing a constitutional
crisis. The 1973 Constitution was framed in the aftermath of the
rupture of Islamabad-Dhaka relations and the seccession of East
Pakistan. Considerable attention was, therefore, accorded to Centre-
province and inter-provincial relations. The Constitution provided for
a federal list, a concurrent list, a National Finance Commission,
etc., and the then government also created a ministry of provincial
co-ordination. However, it was then assumed, perhaps rightly so at the
time, that the provinces were internally politically homogeneous.
Provisions for intra-provincial relations are, therefore,
conspicuously missing from the Constitution.
Two decades down the road, more than half of which was spent under the
trauma of military rule, the assumption is no longer valid. Sindh has
two clearly defined political entities: Sindhis and Mohajirs.
Incidentally, other provinces are in the same boat. Punjab is beset
with the Seraiki identity and the nascent Potohari identity; the NWFP
has to reckon with the Hazarwal identity; and Balochistan has to deal
with the Baloch-Pukhtoon divide. The Mohajirs have put their case up
front, albeit without grace. Others will not be far behind. And if the
brutal state response in Karachi has any lessons to offer, others may
show even less grace whenever they decide to take up the cudgels on
behalf of their cause.
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960211
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The World Cup
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By Omar Kureishi
THE World Cup is a festival of cricket, an occasion of joy or put less
exuberantly, a respite from the despair and tensions of our daily
lives. In more parochial terms, it is the chance to make us feel like
Pakistanis, even if fleetingly for the few weeks that the tournament
lasts.
To a man, woman and child, we will cheer our team irrespective of
differences that are based on narrower allegiances and all sorrows
will be forgotten and all grievances will be put on hold. The World
Cup will demonstrate that national unity is not a slogan. Imagine what
will happen should Pakistan win the World Cup, there will be an
explosion of happiness from the Khyber to Karachi. And imagine if
Pakistan should not win. A disappointment more akin to mourning will
descend on every household. Both joy and anguish are a part of caring
for your country.
There is a down side to the World Cup as well. International sport has
become a substitute for war. What is supposed to be healthy
competition has become an ugly national confrontation and rather than
generating goodwill there is an upsurge of jingoism that one
associates with battle. Each international sports tournament carries
the seed of conflict and countries have actually gone to war over the
result of a football match. After all, we must not forget that we came
close to breaking off diplomatic relations with Argentina when we felt
that the referee from that country had played foul in Pakistans
hockey defeat in the Munich Olympic Games in 1972.
A lot of controversy has been kicked up by the Australians who say
that their players have been receiving hate-mail from Sri Lankans and
Australia, at one stage, thought that that was enough to pull out from
the World Cup. The Colombo bomb blast is something else and has
nothing to do with cricket. It is not the players who are infected
with this national passion, though they compete fiercely, but the
supporters of national teams. Football hooliganism has more or less
been accepted and one budgets for some broken skulls but Monica Seles
was stabbed by a Steffi Graf fan and tennis is supposed to be a gentle
game.
Hooliganism is creeping into cricket as well, particularly the one-day
game. Those of us who were at Edgbaston in 1987 for the one-day
international are not likely to forget the riot that erupted and one
Pakistani fan all but had his throat slit. The riot was started by
National Front supporters, admittedly a lunatic-fringe organisation
but the foremost passion that day at Edgbaston was Paki-bashing. As
someone who has been covering cricket for over forty years, I have
seen the intrusion of the values of tabloid journalism in cricket
coverage. I covered Pakistans tour of England in 1992 and the English
journalists who sat in the press-box saw themselves as war-
correspondents. It was a shameful performance but the most unfortunate
aspect was that these journalists felt no shame. They fabricated
stories, sought sensationalism and thought nothing of slandering not
only the Pakistan team but Pakistan itself.
One can only hope the coverage of the World Cup will be more
restrained and the hospitality of the host countries will not be
abused. Both the hosts and the guests have certain obligations. They
must respect each other. One does not expect the media to behave like
yobs.
But international sports events, and this includes the World Cup, have
been taken over by commercial entrepreneurs and we are talking about
big money. The first World Cup in 1975 was mainly about cricket. The
1996 World Cup is only incidentally about cricket. It is about
marketing and if it was at all possible one has no doubt that even the
air we breathe would have been sponsored. I have no real quarrel with
this because the World Cup is a great commercial opportunity and we
live in a world where market forces are held to be sacrosanct and if
big bucks are there to be made, they will be made.
After the opening of Scottish commercial television, Lord Thompson of
Fleet described it as just like having a licence to print your own
money. One gets the impression that the World Cup is being seen in
the same light. What we have is a classical monopoly situation. What
becomes the determining force is maximum profitability and not the
public good. I hope that the general public will not be forgotten at
match centres and they will be provided basic facilities, at least. By
basic facilities I mean access to drinking water which may seem
elementary but which was in very short supply when the Sri Lankans
toured Pakistan. I know from personal experience that at Rawalpindi it
was difficult to get a glass of water even in the television
commentary box.
I know that a lot more money is to be made from hiring out corporate
boxes but the game of cricket is sustained by those who will not be
watching from these boxes. The general expectation is that a lot of
people will prefer to watch the matches on television and spectators,
from a revenue point of view, are increasingly getting irrelevant. But
thousands will still want to go to the ground to absorb the atmosphere
which is not available if one watches on television and they will want
to be a part of the proceedings. Any actor knows what it is like to
perform before a live audience. It is the interaction between the
players and the public that makes a great cricket match. This public
must be treated right and not taken for granted. Not ripped-of.
There is one final point and that is the security aspect. No one in
his right mind will suggest that there should be any relaxation in
this area. We must remain vigilant and ensure that vested-interests do
not cause us any embarrassment. The security should be done but not
seen to be done. Sometimes it happens that the cricket public is
harassed in the name of security. We must never lose sight of the fact
that people go to a cricket match to enjoy themselves. It is a fun
occasion. We must do everything humanly possible to allow this public
to have fun.
There will always be trouble-makers but these are in a tiny minority.
Good security can flush them out. There is no need to be heavy-handed
with the majority of the public. And most of all exuberance should not
be mistaken for hooliganism. But the responsibility also lies with the
public. Discipline and enjoyment are not mutually exclusive.
The eyes of the world will be on Pakistan. It is a wonderful
opportunity to show the best face of our country. It should be a happy
face. The television audience will be in the region of one billion. We
should send out a message to this audience that not only do we enjoy
our cricket but allow others to do the same. But the main business of
the World Cup is cricket, not business. And while we want the Pakistan
team to win, it wont be the end of the world if it doesnt. Thats
called hedging ones bet. But Pakistan as a country can win.
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960215
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The road to economic recovery
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Sultan Ahmed
THE official macro-economic management has received a clean bill of
health from the IMF mission which studied the new fiscal and monetary
trends in the country. The IMF is confident that if there are laxities
or deviations from the course prescribed by it the government will
fall in line fully by June and accomplish all the targets underscored
by the IMF board on December 13 following bilateral negotiations in
November.
The government has earned the kudos from the IMF by coming up with a
mini-budget prior to the new negotiations on October 28 to correct the
deviations of the June 14 budget which did not levy enough taxes as
the IMF had demanded to sustain the now scraped 1.5 billion dollar
Enhanced Structural Enhancement Facility for three years.
But the IMF has provided only 80 million dollars as the second tranche
of 600 million dollars standby arrangement, and not the 200 million
dollars indicated earlier, or 145 million dollars reported later. But
the IMF could argue that since Pakistan had obtained more funds as
external aid or through borrowing abroad it did not need the 200
million dollars immediately. Or was the reduction in the second
tranche designed to make the government conform to the stiff IMF
targets and financial restraints and not go on a fiscal or monetary
wild goose chase again?
Surely the government has bound itself to do a great deal and achieve
many tough targets within the next five months. If it has to achieve
all that, it will have to abandon many of its profligate ways, slash
non-productive and administrative expenditures a great deal, even if
it need not cut the defence expenditure as the IMF now wants to only
contain that in view of the military tensions in the region.
But can the economy be so well managed within the next few months that
inflation comes down from 15 per cent to nine per cent by June, which
is the target of the current budget as well? If it can, unlike last
year when instead of the promised seven per cent inflation we got
double that figure, nothing can be better. But that surely needs far
more than tight monetary control, severe checks on credit, which is
one of the major tools for fighting inflation in our midst, and not
the only tool, and poor interest rates.
Right now, immediately after the IMF forecast of remarkable
improvements in the balance of payments and foreign exchange reserves
soon the trade figures for the first seven months of the current
financial year ending January 31 are utterly upsetting. Exports for
the first seven months of this financial year ending January show a
fall of 4.3 per cent instead of the targeted rise of 14 per cent
after last years 17.9 per cent increase which has resulted in a
trade deficit of 2.25 billion dollars. And that is more than the
deficit of 2 billion dollars anticipated for the whole year and twice
the deficit of 1.09 billion dollars incurred in the same period last
year.
Making the deficit so large was also the rise in imports by 18 per
cent instead of the targeted 10.6 per cent rise. There is no report of
a substantial rise in home remittances, which last year rose by 29 per
cent, to offset its impact. Hence the balance of payments deficit
which was budgeted to rise to 4.1 per cent of the GDP in the current
year, from 3.5 per cent last year, may exceed that figure
substantially unless effective and adequate remedial measures are
taken in the next few months.
What these figures show is that the standard cure of the IMF to combat
falling exports and rising imports, which is substantial devaluation
or realistic pricing of the rupee, does not work in Pakistan. If three
months after the devaluation of the rupee by 7 per cent, or an overall
ten per cent since the June budget, exports have fallen instead of
rising substantially and imports have risen by 18 per cent,
devaluation is not the right or sole cure for the rising external
trade deficit but is a kind of ultimate remedy that has failed in
Pakistan, as it did in 1993-94 as well when a 10 per cent devaluation
was resorted by Nawaz Sharif and Moeen Qureshi governments as avowedly
a one- time cure. Hence the IMF delegation leader Mohammad El-Erain
says there is no need for further devaluation of the rupee now even if
the exchange rate of the Indian rupee is lower.
There is a notable discrepancy in the statements of the IMF and
Pakistan in regard to the use of the sale proceeds of the
privatisation. While the IMF maintains the government has committed
itself to use the sale proceeds to reduce the soaring national debt,
chairman of the Privatisation Commission Naveed Qamar says the
government will use those funds for debt relief after June. The
question which instantly arises is what would the government do with
the vast funds from the sale of UBL, 26 per cent of the shares of PTC,
Bankers Equity etc., and why cant the government at the level of the
Prime Minister make a categorical statement that all the funds right
now would be used for debt reduction.
If that is done, the debt will come down substantially and the
provision for debt servicing in the new budget will be far below the
Rs 157 billion provided for in the current budget. And that will
reduce the need to borrow unlimited funds, help lower taxation and
devote more funds to the grossly starved human development.
But the fundamental issue in which the people as a whole are
interested is whether the IMF projection of inflation coming down from
15 per cent to nine per cent by June will really materialise? Last
year inflation was double the budgeted figure of 7 per cent. And this
year the budget projection too is 9 per cent. But while the IMF talks
of a 15 per cent inflation now, the Federal Bureau of Statistics
speaks of an 11.06 per cent rise in the Consumer Price Index which
shows the gross inadequacy of that index at a time when the cold
market reality is far different.
But the IMF cure for lowering inflation is primarily through reducing
the money supply and curtailing bank credit by restricting the volume
and making it more costly which has given us the highest interest ever
we had. But if at a time of rising cost of investment, production and
sales such credit crunch leads to a downturn in industrial production
and exports that will be a self-defeating exercise. The IME is,
however, hopeful that the economic growth this year would be 5.5 to 6
per cent unlike last years 4.7 per cent. And yet the new target is
quite below the budget projection of 6.5 per cent, and based primarily
on the good cotton crop and expected excellent wheat output because of
the winter rains. The IMF talks of good progress in the manufacturing
sector too but ground level reality does not endorse that.
Whatever the ultimate reality, promoting and sustaining a high rate of
economic growth, and not merely setting growth targets of 6.5 to 7 per
cent and then let go, should have the top most priority for the
government. That alone is how we can increase the national and per
capita incomes, increase employment and exports and expand the
revenues on a durable basis instead of tactics like employing video
cameras to trap buyers in shopping plazas who evade taxes.
We are told the government is now considering a comprehensive overhaul
of the economy to eliminate chronic distortions afflicting it and make
it more responsive to the emerging challenges in the global markets. A
comprehensive working paper on the subject came for discussion for two
hours after the meeting of the Economic Committee of the Cabinet on
January 29, and that paper seeks greater emphasis on increasing
foreign investment, local investment, productivity, broadening the tax
base, saving the income tax payers from corrupt officials, and
bringing the black money into the white economy. It also wants a new
taxation system, which while not reducing the overall revenues would
make the burden on the masses equitable and largely acceptable to
them.
Not that such papers have been missing in the past. What matters is
what those who call the economic tunes want and how much of that they
are ready to implement in a system based excessively on privilege,
prerogatives and protection for the powerful. We have a taxation
system in which those who do not pay taxes feel very safe and
altogether privileged, while those who pay are harassed and not
recompensed. Can all that change now in the face of the fierce fight
by the feudal lords to preserve their fortresses of privilege, tax
exemption and freedom from many of the laws of the land in practice.
Even an institution like the Asian Development Bank underscores the
need for good governance, in the manner the World Bank too has done,
to make its programme effective. Good governance it says includes
accountability, real popular participation (and not the ritual of
occasional or even periodic elections) predictability and
transparency. In all these areas the system in Pakistan has been
failing woefully. The whole ADB package hangs together. Without
transparency there cannot be accountability and without
predictability, particularly in the economic and political sectors,
there cannot be stability and steady progress. But instead of
predictability what we have is ad-hocism or one-step forward and two-
steps backward shuffle, and vast chasms between policies and
practices, between policies and bureaucratic procedures and the ham-
handedness of the Central Board of Revenue and the ubiquitous FIA.
Now if things go wrong economically the government can readily blame
the World Bank, IMF and the Asian Development Bank for it, although
most of the time we drive ourselves into the kind of situations where
their aid and dictates become imperative. Clearly the cures for the
economy are obvious, and they are not economic alone. Good governance
is a comprehensive regimen, and that has to begin with good, clean and
transparent politics, and the politics of consensus and not conflicts.
Space for this public service announcement is courtesy Xibercom (Pvt.)
Ltd.
e-mail: ak@xiber.com
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960210
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The fascinating saga of World Cup
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Qamar Ahmed
LONDON: Since the first one-day international was played at Melbourne
in 1970-71 as a replacement for a rained-off Test, the game has
evolved into a marketable industry. It cheered the crowd, provided
entertainment and most of all at the end of the day there was also a
winner. The crowd loved it and so did the players who enjoyed
themselves and found some kind of relaxation in the instance brand of
cricket.
Now 25 years on, one-day matches have become a money-spinning affair
and the finance it generates has helped to keep the game alive and it
certainly has enhanced he standard of fielding and the standard of
living of most the players who over the years have made it into their
national teams. Because of its popularity and the income that it
provides, the respective boards of the cricket playing nations can now
afford to provide a lot better facilities for their players and
official and for the ones who aim to the reach to the top.
Advertising and marketing industries are thriving because of it and
the electronic media with the advent of satellite television are
having a field day. It is no wonder then that the last five World Cups
made such an impact on the cricket loving public and the advertisers
alike. The sixth World Cup starting from February 14 has already
accumulated millions in finances even before it has started. The rough
estimate is that the organisers of this sub-continents second
extravaganza will net over 35 million pounds in TV deals and
sponsorship rights, the spoils of which will be mostly shared by
Pakistan and Indian cricket boards.
Prudential, an insurance company was the first to get on to the
bandwagon to sponsor the first three World Cups played in England in
1975, 79 and 83. The fourth World Cup played in the sub-continent in
1987 also had a sponsorship from an insurance company. The Reliance
World Cup as it was named. In 1992, it was the tobacco company Benson
& Hedges in Australia and New Zealand who pumped in the money as are
the Indian Tobacco Company for the present Wills World Cup. From pound
100,000 sponsorship in the first World Cup, it has now grown into a
multi-million affair which could be judged from the fact that the
winner of the Wills Cup in 1996 will walk away with pound 30,000 and
the beaten finalist will have a purse of pound 20,000.
In the first World Cup in 1975, Sri Lanka and East Africa were the
other two countries along with England, Australia, India, Pakistan,
New Zealand and West Indies. Despite injuries to their two batsmen,
the Sri Lankans deserved a lot of credit for scoring 276 for 4 against
Australia at The Oval against Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson but
Pakistan and West Indies in the same group outplayed them. The East
Africans lost their three group matches by huge margins but none as
embarrassing as was the defeat of India by England in the opening
game. In reply to Englands 334 for 4 in 60 overs with Denis Amiss
making 137, India could manage only 132 for 3 in 60 overs. Sunil
Gavaskar batted all through the 60 overs for a humiliating unbeaten
36.
The toughest match was between Pakistan and the West Indies at
Edgbaston. After Pakistan had made 266 with the help of fifties from
Majid Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad and Wasim Raja, The West Indians were
faced with defeat with 64 runs required in 14 overs with Deryck Murray
and Roberts, the only men left. With five remaining 23 were still
required and Sarfraz Nawaz had finished his 12 overs taking 4 for 44.
In the last over five runs were needed which West Indies managed to
the disappointment of Pakistan supporters.
And it was West Indies by virtue of that incredible victory who played
in the final against Australia at Lords in front of 26,000 capacity
crowd. Gordon Greenidge and Alvin Kallicharan were out cheaply and so
was Roy Fredericks who while hooking Lillee for six tripped on to his
wicket. But Rohan Kanhai made 55 and the captain Clive Lloyd hit a
hundred (102) in only 82 deliveries with 12 fours and two sixes to
destroy the Australians. A stand of 56 between Ian Chappell and Aland
Turner was broken by a run out, one of five in the match, three of
them by the then young Viv Richards. Even a 41 runs stand between
Lillee and Thomson could not help. From 9 balls 18 runs were still
required when Thomson was run out for 21 and the West Indians walked
away with the Cup.
In the second World Cup in 1979 for the first time the umpires were
asked to penalise negative bowling. After the inaugural ICC Trophy
which was competed by 15 teams in England, both Sri Lanka and Canada
qualified by beating Denmark and Bermuda. England and New Zealand once
again qualified for the semi-finals and this time they meet each other
which England won by 9 runs at Old Trafford. Graham Gooch scored 71
and for New Zealand John Wright made 89.
Once again the best match of the tournament was at The Oval between
West Indies and Pakistan. An opening stand of 132 between Gordon
Greenidge and Desmond Haynes helped West Indies make 293 for 6.
Pakistan with Majid Khan and Zaheer Abbas in flow sharing 166 in 36
overs were well in control before Colin Croft struck and got them both
as West Indies won by 43 runs. Zaheers 93 was classic and Majid with
81 was magnificent. In the final at Lords Viv Richards made 138 and
Collis King 86 with ten fours and three sixes to enable West Indies
make 286 for 9. A 129 runs opening stand by Mike Brearely and Geoff
Boycott at slow pace was not enough as Joel Garner with 5 for 38
assured the Cup for West Indies again.
India who had beaten West Indies in an earlier group match walked away
with the 1983 World Cup beating the West Indies in the final at Lords
by 43 runs. Zimbabwe had a shock 13 runs win over Australia. Sri Lanka
also won their first ever match in World Cup by beating Pakistan by 11
runs. England was the most impressive of teams by winning five of
their six 55 over games from group matches doubled in number with each
side playing the others twice. Through an incredible innings of
unbeaten 175 by the Indian captain Kapil Dev, India had qualified for
the semi-final. Against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells in Kent India were
reduced to 17 for 5 when Kapil walked in to hit 16 fours and 6 sixes
to leave India 266 to defend. They beat Australia by 118 runs and
England by four wickets at Old Trafford. In the final although they
were restricted to 183 as Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall and Michael
Holding hurled their thuderbolts, they bowled West Indies out for 140
to lift the Cup.
Their win helped them to popularise the limited over game in the sub-
continent and with Pakistan they made a successful bid for the 1987
World Cup, backed by their sponsors. On 21 venues 27 matches were
played in Pakistan and India and overs were reduced to 50. Australia
had one run win over India the championships. Despite a hundred by
Javed Miandad, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by only 15 runs. Zimbabwe came
within three runs of beating New Zealand through entertaining 141 by
David Houghton and England beat West Indies by two wickets, needing 91
runs in the last ten overs.
India and Australia finished on top of group A while Pakistan one of
the favourites also ended at the top of their group. In Lahore however
Pakistan were gored by Australia in the semi-final by 18 runs.
Australias 267 for 8 proved a bit too much for the asking.
At Bombay England we helped by Graham Gooch who made 115 out of 254
for 6 of Englands total against India. Mohammad Azharuddins 64 was
not enough for India to reach the final. India and Pakistan stayed out
with their dreams shattered.
An estimated crowd of 70,000 at Eden Garden saw Australia win the Cup
against England. Australia with David Boon making 75 and Mike Valletta
and unbeaten 45 reached 253 for 5. England at 135 for 2 after 31 overs
were well on their way when a reverse sweep by Mike Gatting changed
the complexion of the game. In the end England could manage 246 for 8,
Bill Athey made 58, Alan Lamb 45 and Mike Gatting 41.
Pakistans World Cup campaign in 1992 was started with heartaches and
disappointments as it began to lose matches. West Indies beat them by
10 wickets in the first match. Rain saved them from defeat against
England at Adelaide after they were shot out for only 74. A defeat by
India and South Africa was nothing to cheer about and a win against
Zimbabwe virtually meant nothing.
But suddenly they started to emerge when wins against Australia and
Sri Lanka and successive victories against New Zealand enabled them to
reach the first final. England, their opponents had all the confidence
but they were beaten by Pakistan by 22 runs at the MCG as Pakistan for
the first time won the Cup. The heroes of that World Cup for Pakistan
were Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram and
Mushtaq Ahmed and Ramiz Raja.
Being the champions, Pakistan would be under immense pressure in the
next few days. Like the rest they will have sleepless nights but
hoping that bright prospects await them.
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960212
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World Cup gets under way with hi-tech glitz
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CALCUTTA, Feb 11: Crickets most controversial World Cup opened here
with a display of fireworks which matched the mood of the organisers
after a failed bid to convince Australia and the West Indies to play
in Sri Lanka.
Some 110,000 spectators at the floodlit Eden Gardens sat spellbound
through a spectacular 75-minute opening ceremony that blended hi-tech
laser shows with traditional Indian dance and music.
Conceived by Italian showman Gianfranco Lunetta, who put on similar
shows at the soccer World Cup in 1990 and the Barcelona Olympics in
1992, the inaugural carnival was watched by an estimated two billion
people around the world.
The ceremony began just four hours after organisers emerged from a
protracted crisis meeting to announce that they had failed to persuade
Australia and the West Indies to play in Colombo.
The meeting, chaired by International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman
Clyde Walcott and attended by officials from all the 12 participating
nations, lasted almost 15 hours but failed to come up with a solution.
But the organisers announced that crickets premier event will go
ahead as planned and Sri Lanka will be awarded unprecedented walkover
wins for the matches if Australia and the West Indies fail to show up
in Colombo.
The opening ceremony began on schedule at 6:00 pm (1230 GMT) with the
entry of all the 12 participating teams in the stadium in alphabetical
order, led by Mark Taylors Australians.
The Pakistanis, seen on Indian soil for the first time in seven years,
received warm applause. But the biggest cheers were reserved for
Kenya, making their World Cup debut, and hosts India.
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960211
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Pakistani cricketers in India after 7 years
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CALCUTTA, Feb 10: Pakistani cricketers stepped on Indian soil for the
first time in seven years, hoping to make up for lost time by winning
both friends as well as the World Cup.
Wicket-keeper Rashid Latif said he hoped to also use the teams brief
trip to Calcutta for Sundays opening ceremony to trace his elder
brother Shahid, whom he has not seen for 22 years.
Please give me the telephone number of the Statesman (newspaper),
Latif asked an official as soon as the Pakistanis landed at the
Calcutta airport amid tight security. My brother works there.
Latif was not in the Pakistani team which won the Nehru Cup tournament
in Calcutta on their last visit to India in 1989. Since then, Pakistan
have twice cancelled scheduled tours to India citing security fears.
Skipper Wasim Akram, who was beseiged by autograph hunters at the
airport terminal, said he was delighted to come to India.
I have many friends here, so India is like home to me. I am happy to
be here because we always look forward to coming to India, the ace
all-rounder said.
Akram was confident about Pakistans chances of defending the World
Cup, which they won in Australia in 1992 under Imran Khans captaincy.
Believe me, we are going to win the World Cup again. The boys
are relaxed and that is a good sign, he said.
Pakistan will return home after the opening ceremony for the
preliminary league in which they are grouped with England, South
Africa, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates and Holland.
Pakistan may have to return to India for the quarter-final if they
finish second or third in their group. A first or fourth position will
keep them at home.
Both semi-finals will be played in India. Lahore, in Pakistan, is the
venue for the March 17 final.
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960213
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Bal Thackerays lurking ghost buried
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ISLAMABAD, Feb 12 (APP) : Pakistani cricketers, with one stroke, have
ruthlessly cut the fanatic Bal Thackeray as well as blatantly fussy
Aussies to the quick.
For almost four years, Bal Thackeray had been vowing never to allow
Pakistani cricketers to set foot on Indian soil. But the Pakistanis
triumphed over this bigot by turning up in Calcutta for the World Cup
opening ceremony.
The Pakistani cricketers participation in Calcutta ceremony comes as
another poignant reminder that Aussies have been blowing security
concerns out of proportions to the point of ruining mega-event of One-
Day cricket.
The participation could not have come at a more opportune time since
it has accentuated the vacuousness of Australian and West Indies
assertions that they their lives would be at peril in Colombo.
Even a spokesman of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has sought
to reassure the Australians by assuring them that they could play in
Colombo without any fear.We have nothing against foreigners, the
spokesman said.
But the bloated fears of the Australians would not be assuaged even by
assurances coming veritably from the horses mouth.
The Pakistanis, on the other hand, ran more insidious risks for Bal
Thackeray has a tremendous clout in parts of India and his zealots
were capable of striking at the Pakistanis in any part of that
country. Further, Thackeray had not retracted on his words unlike
categorical assurances by the LTTE spokesman. The Pakistanis took the
Indian officials firm security guarantees at their face value and ran
the gauntlet. No harm came to them and they came out with flying
colours from this situation. This perhaps leaves out the Australians
as mere sissies and cowards, as one Colombo newspaper put it.The
Australians behaviour reinforces the hypothesis that perhaps more
than security concerns had made them raise a hullabaloo about playing
in Sri Lanka.
Even before the blast that killed 86 people in Colombo and provided
the Aussies with a final pretext to pull out, they had been hesitant
to play their World Cup matches in Sri Lanka, tracing death mail to
their players and acrimony that marked their home series against
Australia and Pakistan.
But former Pakistan captain Salim Malik also underwent the scare of a
bomb hoax at his home as did the Australian fast bowler Craig
McDermott.
It can be safely assumed that such pranks of hoax bomb calls and death
threats through the mail can be played by unscrupulous elements in the
run-up to a sporting event.
Pakistans greatest ever batsman Javed Miandad even invited Bal
Thackeray to come over to Lahore to watch World Cup final.The World
Cup is about goodwill and affinity among people and not about
fomenting hatred.
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960209
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Cup organisers harden stance on Lanka matches
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NEW DELHI, Feb 8: World Cup cricket organisers rejected last-minute
attempts to shift matches out of Sri Lanka, insisting Australia and
West Indies must play there or forfeit the games.
Inderjit Singh Bindra, Indias cricket board chief and a member of the
tournaments Pak-Indo-Lanka organising committee (PILCOM), said
Australia and West Indies had insulted the host nations. There is
no question of changing venues, he added.
Bindra said it was unlikely a compromise would be worked out at a
meeting of cricket administrators in Calcutta, a day before the
opening of the competition.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), the games governing body,
have called together officials from the three host nations and
Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Kenya for the meeting in
Calcutta.
Australia and the West Indies rejected offers by the Sri Lankan
government and PILCOM to fly the teams from neighbouring India on the
morning of the match by special flights.
Bindra said he was terribly upset by the attitude of the two teams,
saying they had insulted the hosts and hurt their national prestige.
He added that PILCOM will hold a separate meeting in Calcutta on
Saturday to consider penalties that may be imposed on Australia and
West Indies for boycotting a match, unprecedented in World Cup
history.
Another PILCOM official said this week that seeking compensation from
the defaulting nations could not be ruled out.
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960213
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Australia, W.I. face fines of multimillion dollar
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NEW DELHI, Feb 12: Australia and West Indies face the prospect of
multi million dollar fines for refusing to play World Cup matches in
Sri Lanka, angry organisers said.
They will not get away lightly, and you can be sure that the last has
not been heard on this episode, said Inderjit Singh Bindra, president
of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Australia and the West Indies face the possibility of heavy fines,
probably in the region of three or four million dollars, said Bindra,
a senior member of the joint Pak-Indo-Lanka organising committee
(PILCOM).
Arjuna Ranatungas men were awarded four points for the forfeited
matches, meaning they have qualified for the quarter-finals even
before the first World Cup ball is bowled.
Australia and West Indies have opened up a pandoras box, an
agitated PILCOM convenor-secretary Jagmohan Dalmiya said.
Dalmiya said PILCOMs decision to send a joint India-Pakistan team to
play a goodwill match against Sri Lanka in Colombo would serve two
purposes. It is a measure of our solidarity with the Sri Lankans, but
more than that it will prove that conditions were conducive to playing
in Colombo, he said.
Sri Lanka had expected about 35,000 to 50,000 spectators for each of
the matches against Australia and West Indies. Tickets priced between
500 and 2,000 rupees (37 dollars), or the average monthly income of a
Sri Lanka, sold out last month.
PILCOM is unlikely to take any action against the two defaulting teams
before the month-long tournament, which kicks off on Wednesday, until
after the final at Lahore, Pakistan on March 17, an official said.
But a lot will happen after that, the official, who requested
anonymity, said. A split in world cricket cannot be ruled out.
Nothing can be ruled out.
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960214
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Now Aussies boycott Madras
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NEW DELHI, Feb 13: Australias under-fire World Cup squad, who
forfeited their opening match in Sri Lanka over bomb fears, have now
refused to practise in the southern Indian city of Madras.
Mark Taylors men were due to train at a bowling academy in Madras
before their game against Kenya in neighbouring Visakhapatnam on
February 23.
But on Monday the Australians announced they wanted to train instead
in the western metropolis of Bombay because Madras was too close to
Sri Lanka.
Ironically, the academy is run by former Australian fast bowler Dennis
Lillee, and the decision to stay away coincided with a strong rebuke
for the team from former national skipper Ian Chappell.
Chappell, writing in the Indian Express on Tuesday, said the boycott
of Colombo brought no honour and had the potential to ruin a
tournament that had all the earmarks of being the best World Cup yet.
Madras is the capital of Indias Tamil Nadu state, which is separated
from Sri Lanka by a narrow strip of sea and which once harboured Tamil
separatist guerrillas.
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960212
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Solidarity show by Pakistan, India
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CALCUTTA, Feb 11: India and Pakistan, bitter foes in three wars,
agreed to combine for a goodwill game in Sri Lanka on the eve of the
cricket World Cup.
The extraordinary show of sub-continental solidarity came after
Australia and West Indies confirmed their refusal to play Cup matches
on the island because of safety fears.
Indias captain Mohammad Azharuddin will lead the combined squad of
12, with six players from both India and Pakistan, in the match
against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Tuesday. The World Cup starts the
following day.
It is good, in a way we will get some practice, Sri Lanka captain
Arjuna Ranatunga said.
The aim of the occasion is to show that India and Pakistan were
satisfied with the assurances of safety given to Australia and West
Indies by the Sri Lankan authorities.
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