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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 18 July 1996 Issue : 02/29
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Pakistan still undecided on CTBT
US arms spares released
Washington working on South Asia package
Orders reserved in appeals by three American students
Campaign against Sialkot footballs
PPP issues booklet to counter Imran
Contract system, ban on trade unions to go
IBM to computerise 68m identity cards
Leghari for NA, Senate bodies to check corruption
---------------------------------
President rings the alarm bells
Why the rupee keeps tumbling
Coming to grips with the electricity outage
5% CVT to be levied on 1500sq ft apartments
GST may be charged at 18pc, says CBR
National Discounting Services launched
Trade Policy aims at doing away with host of NOCs
Purchases of Rs 1.30 lakh allowed duty-free
KSE index breaks 1,600-point barriers
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The judiciary triumphs-V Ardeshir Cowasjee
Does this system deserve to be saved? Mohammad Malick
The answer is blowing in the wind Mazdak
The dilemma of Pakistani youth Ikramul Haq
A recipe for civil strife Ayaz Amir
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PTV coverage of Olympics and cricket
Imrans lawyer questions admissibility of some evidence
Anglo-Pakistan cricket ties to improve during this tour
Pakistan, India in same group in next World Cup
Prospects for hockey gold in Atlanta appear blurred
Extra security steps in Atlanta for India, Pakistan hockey
Dalmiya wants court to interpret ICC rules
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960718
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Pakistan still undecided on CTBT
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Hasan Akhtar
ISLAMABAD, July 17: Pakistan is understood to be still undecided on signing
the proposed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as it continues studying
the complicated and inconclusive diplomatic manoeuvres at the UN forum in
Geneva and in various world capitals which have remained involved in
hammering out the treaty for the last 40 years.
The CTBT has got stuck particularly in the latest stages of its
finalisation at Geneva where it was being debated, mainly as a result of
Indias stiff opposition to the draft treaty.
The change in the Indian position during the finalisation of the draft
treaty occurred from its earlier fervour rather abruptly in 1995 following
the indefinite extension of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and possibly
because of belated realisation by it that the nuclear powers could continue
some form of sub-critical nuclear testing and, thus, maintain their
arsenals despite the CTBT while debarring all its other adherents.
Pressing its opposition to the draft treaty which had been formulated after
meeting numerous conflicting amendments and demands from several of the
active participants in the CTBT debate, India explicitly linked the CTBT at
the Cartagene Non-Aligned Summit, to a commitment by the nuclear weapon
states to a phased programme of complete nuclear disarmament within a
time-bound framework to which several of the nuclear weapon states were
not willing to accept.
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960718
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US arms spares released
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Masood Haider
NEW YORK, July 17: After seven years of sanctions imposed under Pressler
Amendment barring military and economic aid to Pakistan, some 8 million
dollars worth of army spare parts left Philadelphia port on Tuesday night
aboard Pakistan shipping vessel M.V. Chitral.
The consignment which signals the implementation of the Brown Amendment
which stipulates release of some 368 million dollars worth of military
hardware to Pakistan consisted of rebuilt spares for tanks, army personnel
carriers, ARVS, etc.
The parts which were stored at US army storage facility in Seneca, New
York, were brought to the Philadelphia port two weeks ago to be readied for
shipment aboard M.V. Chitral.
The Brown Amendment which was passed following intensive lobbying efforts
by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who had insisted last year that either
Pakistan be given back the money it paid the U.S. government for the
military equipment or release the shipment, is a one time waiver until the
Pressler law is repealed.
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960716
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Washington working on South Asia package
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, July 15: The Clinton administration is earnestly working on a
comprehensive South Asia package that will include proposals on all hot
issues including non-proliferation, Kashmir, future US economic and
military co-operation in the region and may possibly be made public some
time next month, knowledgeable sources said.
The package will incorporate to a large extent the outlines presented by
Prof. Stephen Cohen which called for a South Asian Camp David accord and
may envisage sending one, or possibly even two, US envoys to the region,
they told Dawn.
While details of the proposals the administration may have in mind are not
yet available, sources said it was becoming clear that the package was
likely to come out not only before the November presidential elections but
even before the signing of the CTBT, currently stalled by the Indians.
The Cohen Plan, circulating inside the Beltway in policy-making circles for
several months, had suggested names of US special envoys to mediate between
India and Pakistan on Kashmir only but the administration is apparently
working on a much larger canvas and wants to include all relevant issues
that are inter-linked in the region.
Some of the names circulating on the Capitol Hill for being sent as special
envoys include Republican Sen Hank Brown and Democratic Sen Sam Nunn, both
of whom are retiring this November.
Sen Brown is well known in Pakistan and worked for the recent release of
military equipment to Pakistan while Sen Nunn is known to be highly
respected and may be acceptable to the Indians compared to any one else, if
they agreed to the US plans.
Some South Asian analysts, however, say a US initiative linking
proliferation issues to Kashmir could turn out to be a no-win deal for
Pakistan as under the ominous pressure of getting India onboard the CTBT
train, Washington may concede much more to New Delhi than may otherwise be
necessary and all at Islamabads expense.
They base their arguments on what they call the apparent fact that
Pakistan has placed all its nuclear eggs in the Indian basket.
Whenever any one talks of NPT or CTBT in Islamabad, what comes out is that
Pakistan would sign only if India does it. That practically means that
Pakistan has exported all the bargaining chips to New Delhi thus placing
India in the loveable position of extorting the best deal from the West,
the argument goes.
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960712
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Orders reserved in appeals by three American students
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 11: Orders have been reserved in the appeals filed by three
American youths who were sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment and
a fine of Rs 2 million each for attempt to smuggle 12 kg heroin out of the
country.
The appellants were Christopher Rollins Kelly, Ms Carrier Leigh Dempsey and
Ms Jody Lynn Fobled, all from New York and students.
They were arrested on July 11, 1995, at the Jinnah Terminal and sentenced
to imprisonment and fines on Oct 31 the same year by the special judge,
customs and taxation.
The heroin was recovered from their baggage.
The Americans, in their twenties and studying in various schools in New
York, have taken a plea of their young age and first time offenders,
without knowing the consequences.
Another appeal has been filed on behalf of the customs maintaining that the
sentences were mild and that they should be enhanced. Both the appeals have
been heard by the court and the judgement reserved for a latter date.
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960714
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Campaign against Sialkot footballs
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 13: A group of US Congressmen have mounted a fresh pressure
campaign against Pakistan for putting a ban on Sialkot-made sport goods,
particularly the footballs in the next Olympics to be organised at the US
city, Atlanta.
Sport goods exporters based in Karachi have received messages from
Washington which reveal that a group 38 members led by Representative
Joseph Keneddy, D-Massachusetts approached the Olympic Committee President
Juan Antonio Samaranch calling for a ban on soccer balls produced by child
labour.
In their representation, the US politicians alleged that soccer balls to be
used at this summers Olympic Games in Atlanta Georgia had been produced by
bonded labourers as young as 6 years old. Calling upon the Olympics not to
use balls tainted by the hands of child labourers, these Congressmen
charged that footballs are being stitched by children working under a
system run by labour contracting middleman. Under this system, children as
young as six or seven years old are reported to be working 80 hours a week,
earning at little as six cents an hour.
For quite long, Pakistan has been the main target of US politicians who
charge the Pakistani manufacturers and exporters of using child labour in
production of fine-hand knotted carpets and sport goods.
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960713
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PPP issues booklet to counter Imran
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Tariq Saeed
TOBA TEK SINGH, July 12: The PPP high command has released a booklet
Talking Points to counter anti-PPP remarks by Imran Khan. The PPP workers
have been provided with such booklets.
The booklet said: Imran Khans cancer hospital was built with almost 90
per cent support of the government.
The government contribution, included Rs 50 million donated by Mr Nawaz
Sharif when he was in office, price free land in Lahore donated by Mr Nawaz
Sharif, a medical camera worth more than US $2 million donated by a public
sector organisation during the Benazir Bhuttos government, and tax
concession amounting to Rs 300-400 million for import of machinery given by
the Benazir government.
Free tickets were also given by PIA for fund raising efforts. It was only
after eminent social worker Sattar Edhi alleged that Imran Khan wanted to
rope him into an extra-constitutional overthrow of the Benazir government
that the government stopped its support, the booklet says.
It also claims that Imran Khan has never explained how many private
patients are treated at full cost and how many patients are treated free at
his cancer hospital nor has be explained why the cost is astronomically
higher in his hospital than in government-owned hospitals.
Regarding television advertising, the booklet says while Imran Khan
complaints that the PTV does not allow ads for his hospital, he fails to
mention that he was allowed ads on TV during and before the Benazir
government.
The ads were disallowed only after the Edhi episode. Imran Khan never
refers to the PTV policy of not allowing ads to political parties or
individuals in the name of a social cause.
According to the booklet, Imran Khan says that he is against the VIP
culture.
Yet he insists on using the VIP lounge at airports, travels first class,
holds his Press conferences in five-star hotels and drives expensive cars
and jeeps. No-one would mind all this if Imran Khan did not lecture others
on simplicity, the booklet says.
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960718
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Contract system, ban on trade unions to go
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, July 17: The federal government has eventually formulated a
long-awaited labour policy that calls for immediately abolishing the
contract labour system and lifting of ban on trade unions in various
autonomous bodies.
The labour policy will be presented and approved by the cabinet on July 29
after which it will be implemented in letter and in spirit, declared State
Minister for Labour and Manpower Ghulam Akbar Lasi.
He said that the government had decided to eliminate what he termed the
menace of contract labour in all the private industrial organisations.
Although it took lot of time but a very comprehensive labour policy has
been prepared, he claimed.
Explaining the salient features of the labour policy Mr. Lasi said while
the issue of contract labour has been adequately covered in it leaving no
room for its continuation in whatsoever form, it was also decided to allow
the establishment of trade unions in all the autonomous and semi-autonomous
bodies.
The new labour policy also calls for lifting ban on trade unions in
various organisations including Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation and
Pakistan Television Corporation, the state minister for labour disclosed.
One of the major recommendations of the new labour policy is the setting
up of Minimum Wage Commissions both at the federal and provincial levels to
provide salaries to the labourers in such a manner that they should be able
to counter the effects of price hike, Mr Lasi added.
I want to make it clear that the industrialists would have to accept the
recommendations of the proposed Minimum Wage Commissions with a view to
offering reasonable salaries to the labourers and workers, he further
said.
Answering a question, he said it was very difficult for the government to
determine the salaries of the private employees.
We did consider to offer minimum salary of Rs3000 to Rs4000 but then we
concluded that the job should be done by the Minimum Wage Commissions, he
added.
These commission, he pointed out, would take into account the incident of
inflation on regular basis and determine the salaries of the labourers and
the workers.
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960713
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IBM to computerise 68m identity cards
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, July 12: The government has decided to award a Rs3.4 billion
contract to the IBM, Pakistan, for computerising 68 million identity cards
without, however, observing the laid down procedure of inviting tenders
through newspaper advertisements.
While a formal approval by the prime minister is still being awaited a
decision to award the contract to IBM has been taken in principle by the
Cabinet on a summary forwarded by the interior division.
The finance division has already cleared the contract documents while the
interior division is going through the fine print of these documents.
Under the proposed contract, the government will not spend a single penny
on the project while the general public will pay Rs50 for each card, out of
which the government will keep Rs9 and pass on Rs41 to the IBM.
It is not known how much did it cost the government to computerise the 9
million cards belonging to the people of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The
general public in these two cities obtained their computerised cards for
just as little as Rs5 called stamp fee.
The build-operate-transfer(BOT) project of the IBM which will earn it a
neat package of Rs2.78 billion and the exchequer around Rs522 million will
be handed over to the government after an estimated four or five years, the
time required to complete the computerisation of all 68 million cards.
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960715
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Leghari for NA, Senate bodies to check corruption
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, July 14: Declaring the corruption as a national problem,
President Farooq Leghari called for setting up of select committees of
the Senate and the National Assembly to probe deep into the issue of
corruption and find remedies to eradicate this evil from the society.
In a letter written to leader of the opposition Nawaz Sharif, in response
to his demand for a referendum on the setting up of permanent judicial
commission for probing corruption charges, the President pointed out that
the job could be done by the proposed select committees of the Parliament.
This is a second letter written to Nawaz Sharif by the President. In a
previous letter written tow days ago, the President told the opposition
leader that the government had started implementing the decision of the
Supreme Court on the appointment of judges.
I am sure you will agree with my view that corruption is a national
problem and the fight against corruption requires a non-partisan approach.
If, therefore, I were to refer your proposal to a referendum it would
politicise an issue which requires for its resolution the united efforts of
not only the government and the opposition but of all the citizens of
Pakistan, he said.
He said as he was writing the leader of the opposition he was
simultaneously asking the prime minister to agree to set up select
committees of the Senate and the National Assembly. I hope the majority
coalition and the opposition along with all other members of the Parliament
will co-operate in setting of the select committees, he added.
Mr Leghari expressed hopes that the government and the opposition will
begin constructive changes through Parliament to manifest national unity on
such issues as Kashmir, national security concerns, economic problems, the
issue of women seats and any necessary amendments required in the
Constitution.
We must not allow artificial politicisation of the issue of corruption.
Neither will any meaningful resolution emerge from accusations and counter
accusation. But we, the public representatives, will be failing in our duty
if we try to ignore the issue or obfuscate it.
He also referred to the governments point of view on corruption and said
that it (government) claimed to be alive and conscious of the menace of
corruption and placed it high on its priorities for its eradication. The
government is of the view that the constitution and law provides adequate
mechanism for the process of accountability and that proposed judicial
commission would hinder, and not aid, the fight against corruption, Mr
Leghari said.
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960712
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President rings the alarm bells
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Sultan Ahmed
PRESIDENT Farooq Leghari has spoken strongly on the fragile state of the
economy and various malpractices for a second time within ten days.
Evidently he has become so sensitive to the current economic conditions
that he is hardly missing a significant opportunity to speak out.
He spoke on the parlous state of the economy and the visible failure of the
ruling and owning classes at the Lahore Press Club, and returned to the
subject with greater vehemence at the convocation of the National Defence
College.
He laments that the countrys monetary policy is currently hostage to large
budget deficits, inefficient and corrupt public sector banks and DFIs and
vested interests determined to exploit the banking system. And he asserts
that a system that required the political leadership to impose additional
taxation simply to offset its own drag is not worth keeping. And he
deplores the fact that despite heavy taxation we fail to achieve the
deficit targets because the tax efforts are swallowed by an inefficient,
corrupt or leaking system.
He has come up with a candid analysis of our fiscal and monetary maladies
with which the public is in full agreement, but he has not suggested the
requisite specific cures. He has very obviously shied away from suggesting
expenditure cuts or other officially impalable remedies. Instead he has
merely urged controlling government borrowing to reduce inflation.
The fact is that if the expenditure is not cut, and what is spent is not
made very effective in the current budget as well as development outlay,
the budget deficit would remain large and have awfully deleterious impact
on the economy and the life of the people as a whole. And the expenditure
cut has to begin right from the top, with the top people on whom a great
deal is spent serving as models for the people and diligent monitors of the
economy during the crisis years which are likely to last long. If not, the
current expenditure will keep on leaping up, as it has been. It rose by Rs
60 billion last year to Rs 353 billion and will rise by Rs 42 billion this
year, as has been budgeted with additional taxation of Rs 41 billion, and
the entire economy will be fouled up. And as the tax efforts fall short of
the targets, as President Leghari has underscored, the government will
print more currency notes for which a target of Rs 20 billion has been set,
borrow more externally and internally, misuse the privation funds, and
aggravate the inflation.
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960713
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Why the rupee keeps tumbling
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Sultan Ahmed
WHEN the Pakistan rupee crossed its 35-to-a-US dollar barrier as June was
ending, and came down to 35.10 to a dollar on June 30, it marked the
Pakistan currency shrinking to just below 10 per cent of its value from its
peak of Rs 3.35 to a dollar in its hey day until 1953.
The real external value of the rupee comes down to under five per cent of
the old dollar if the heavy inflation the US had suffered earlier is taken
into account, and the fact the dollar depreciated by 75 per cent against
the Japanese Yen and to a lesser extent against the German mark and Swiss
franc is not lost sight of.
By now the rupee is Rs 2.73 below its official rate at Rs 35.10-to-a-dollar
in the open market, and shows the shrinking value of the rupee and the
direction in which the wind is blowing. It gives greater credence to the
prediction that by the end of the year or early next year the rupee may be
40-to-a- dollar.
In fact, following the same kind of drift, the Bangladesh currency is 41
Taka-to-a-dollar and Sri Lankan rupee 54 to a dollar while the Indian rupee
holds good at 34.99 to a dollar after going down further.
No wonder Pakistanis converted more of their rupees into dollars and kept
them in their foreign exchange bank accounts last year. As a result as the
countrys foreign exchange earnings and home remittances fell far below the
target, resident Pakistanis placed $508 billion more in their bank
accounts. And the foreign exchange projection is that the same will happen
this year too. The government is pleased about it as it can make use of the
dollars to raise its low foreign exchange reserve or meet its soaring
external expenditure when the export performance is disappointing and home
remittances are falling.
Of course, such steady and sustained devaluation of the rupee, 26 times
last year inclusive of the 7 per cent devaluation of October 28 has not
fulfilled the purpose for which it has been undertaken. It has neither
increased the exports appreciably nor shrunk the imports, which it makes
far more expensive. In spite of the devaluation of 11 to 12 per cent last
year exports which were to rise by 14 per cent have risen by about six per
cent only, and imports which were to rise by 10.4 per cent, rose to 16 per
cent. And the imports rose despite the imposition of 10 per cent regulatory
duty on all dutiable items and five per cent on others, except a few,
although both the devaluation and enhanced duty made the imports far more
costly.
Pakistan had the same experience in 1993 after the Nawaz Sharifs and Moeen
Qureshis caretaker government had devalued the rupee by 10 per cent, in
what was Described by the caretaker finance minister Babar Ali as a one-
time devaluation. Exports, instead of rising that year, fell by 2 per
cent.
What is obvious is that neither the creeping devaluation of the rupee that
we have tried since it was de-linked from the dollar in 1982 nor the large
doses tried in 1993, nor the mixture of large and small devaluations have
paid any dividend.
It may be argued that the other countries of South Asia have done likewise
and the Indian rupee is almost on par with Pakistans. The fact, however,
is that this is happening in a country which could make a spectacular
success of its non- devaluation policy in 1949 which held good until 1953
when the rupee was brought down to Rs 4.75 to dollar what is at issue is
the quality of the economic management and leadership.
In fact, such sustained devaluation while not solving the basic problem of
small and sluggish experts at a time when South Koreas exports have
crossed the $100 billion mark, has created a host of problems across the
economic spectrum. If inflates the cost of all imports and the import
duties based on ad varolem. Sales tax rises further, and together makes
investment far more expensive, rendering repayment of the foreign loans and
now the increasing short-term foreign exchange loans are far more expensive
in a country with an overwhelming debt burden.
Another major problem it is creating is that it spurs the farmlords to
demand international prices in their rupee equivalent for their product,
including cotton, wheat and other items imported by Pakistan to supplement
indigenous production. They are already free to export their cotton at
world prices without any of the old export duties and they want the same
prices for wheat. The fact is that as the rupee gets more and more devalued
the gap between the import prices of food items and the support prices,
which are increased from time to time, widen and that spurs the demand of
the farmlords for the latest international prices in rupee.
However, as long as inflation, which is acknowledged as the mother of many
evils, and certainly of devaluation, continues the rupee will have to be
devalued to keep even the existing level of exports going. Increases in
support prices on an annual basis and sometimes more than once in a year,
steep rise in the prices of power, gas, water, POL, higher taxation all-
round with the provincial governments and municipalities joining in to
boost the levies, higher wages and the impermissibly high interest rates
add to the inflation in Pakistan. Moreover, if devaluation increases the
prices of imports, the higher cost of imported inputs in the export
industries accelerate the inflation and devaluation further.
The fact, however, is that if we do not check the double menace, it will be
a long time before the per-capita income becomes $500 per year, while we
proudly say it is Rs 16,623, but with the fast-eroding Pak currency.
And this is a symptom of distorted economic progress. The richer we seem to
get, the poorer we actually are in dollar terms.
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960713
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Coming to grips with the electricity outage
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Wasful Hasan Siddiqui
PAKISTAN experienced the worst power crisis in the third quarter of 1994.
Beside frequent prolonged breakdowns in most parts of the country, there
was complete darkness one night in September 1994 all over the country.
The reason for non-supply of power was attributed to major breakdowns in
the hydel power generating system which disturbed entire transmission
system of the country. The failure of the hydel power projects in
maintaining regular supply was stated to be drought due to which the water
level in reservoirs touched an all-time low. In addition, shut-down of
thermal units due to technical problems was responsible for a shortfall of
electricity of about 3,750 MW against the total generation capacity of
11,646 MW.
The standard to measure the progress and prosperity of the nation,
individually and collectively, is the per-capita consumption of
electricity. The higher the per-capita consumption of power, higher will be
the standard of living of the nation.
The 1992 per-capita consumption of electricity for various countries and it
is apparent that consumption in developing countries is very low compared
to the developed industrialised nations. The former, such as Pakistan, may
experience periods of rapid growth, as for example in the late 1980s, but
to sustain this, an adequate and reliable electricity supply is essential.
Present installed capacity of power generation, both of WAPDA and KESC
(KANUPP included) is not more than 11,646 Megawatts.
There remains a demand and supply gap of 2000 MW in the peak months of low
hydel inflow in December every year. Power is available to 40 percent of
the population (30 percent urban and 10 percent rural). That means that
agriculture which is the backbone of the economy and being the largest
source of employment, which accommodates 52 per cent of the countrys
labour force, gets very little electricity.
Power is one of the sources of energy of the total commercial energy supply
in the country. Power accounts for 16 per cent.
Solar energy which is a cost-effective means of power can also be a source
of continuous supply of electricity. It can be used for water pumping,
lighting, fans and for other small electric appliances in remote areas
where electricity from the national network can not be provided. Solar
energy is however not yet fully developed for common use in Pakistan.
The total installed capacity in Pakistan is 11,646 megawatt out of which
WAPDA shares 84 per cent whereas KESC (KANUPP AND PASMIC included) meet 16
per cent of the demand.
With the commissioning of the new power projects totalling 10081 MW (US
based Entrepreneurs: 3509 MW, Hong Kong-based Gordon Wu: 5280 MW and Hubco
Power projects: 1292 MW), the power supply at the end of year 1997 will
cross the figure of 21727 MW as subsequently more agreements with Hong Kong
and South Koreans have also been signed. This power supply by all standards
is still not sufficient to meet all our power requirements so as to bring
our industrial growth at par with developing nations. There shall however
remain a big gap in demand and supply of electricity at the turn of the
century.
The total investment in power systems of expansion and development during
the period 1981 to 1990 was US $ 6.000 billion approximately comprising US
$ 2.900 billion in foreign exchange and US $ 3.100 billion in local
currency. For the current decade, however, the total requirement is
anticipated at US $ 17.500 billion, US $ 9.000 billion in foreign exchange
and US $ 8.500 billion in local currency, which is equal to 3 times
increase over the previous decade.
Against the international standards loss of 16 per cent the transmission
and distribution losses in Pakistan are reported at more than 30 per cent
of the total power generated. KESC suffered line losses more than 30 per
cent in 1994 95 (27.30 per cent in 1992-93) The reasons attributed to the
losses are as under:
i. Distribution network: Distribution network of WAPDA and KESC is not
efficient. It needs major rehabilitation and augmentation.
ii. Theft: Unauthorised connections/kundas by the unscrupulous persons with
the connivance of utilitys staff members is the main source of theft of
electricity.
Sources of power generation
The additional power generation requires massive capital investment. This
in turn will increase the demand for fuel resources and its handling.
Therefore emphasis has to made on the selection of indigenous resources,
wherever these are available. Based on this assumption, a suitable choice
can be made out of the following projects:
i. Hydel power projects (both large and small).
ii. Thermal projects based on coal.
iii. Combined cycle thermal power projects based on low calorific value of
gas.
iv. Co-generation power projects based on biomas (bagasse).
v. Power projects based on furnace oil.
Nature has gifted this small country with an parallel network of rivers and
dames having hydel inflow from huge glaciers, water-falls and springs from
the worlds highest mountainous range in the north, which maintains a
regular hydel inflow in Indus water system and its tributaries. This
natural advantage is a source of sufficient water which is more than 146.39
MAF with a reservoir storage of 14.93 MAF and canal withdrawal of 104.63
MAF. The rest is drained out in the sea. This natural source of water is
sufficient to produce 40,000 MW (approximately) electricity at cheaper
cost.
The price of electricity passed on to customers, besides profit element,
contains two cost components i.e. an energy charge and demand charge. The
energy components is related to consumption and reflects the Utilitys
energy costs. Demand component is related to the capacity of the Utilitys
generating plants, transmission lines and distribution equipment which
carry energy to the users. The demand component reflects Utilitys capital
costs. Hence the need for DCM can be regarded as arising from:
i. Avoiding investment in power plant.
ii. Economical losses due to blackouts.
iii. Replacing future power plants.
iv. Help to environmental protection.
i). Demand measurement: By means of meters, the users demand is measured
by the Utility organisation. the users can also employ the same source of
data to analyses the electrical load at their plants.
ii). Daily demand profile: Peak demand or the average power that
establishes the capacity of the Utilitys facility that is required by the
user is defined as the average power represented by the two contiguous at
fifteen minutes interval with the highest number of pulses over the period.
iii). Practical demand analysis: Demand meter readings are available from
the Utility as tape recorded, written recorded or real time data. This data
may be entered into the system on the users premises and transmitted to a
remotely situated time shared data processing service centre. There, the
data is processed and the results are transmitted to the user, which it
reports at the data terminal.
New energy policy: In view of the growing demand and in order to fill up
the supply-demand gap of electricity, a new energy policy has been
announced by the Government. A Rs 700 billion five-year plan has been
launched to generate electricity from a rational mix of hydro-flows, gas,
oil and Coal. The plan envisages investment of 330 billion rupees in the
public sector and 370 billion rupees in the private sector.
The biggest incentive to the power companies is the pass-on option. It
implies that a fluctuation in fuel prices and currency exchange variations
will not be borne by these companies, as such increase in cost will be
passed on to the consumers. Similarly, the tariff structure is dollar-
dominated formula which would act as a cushion against the depreciation of
Pak Rupee. These measures are undoubtedly aimed at safeguarding the
interest of the Power companies at the cost of the consumers.
The power purchase and fuel supply agreements were initiated for the
projects, and would have now been already finalised. The projects are
expected to start operations by late 1997.
AGRI-ELECTRIC Projects: Agri-electric Power Inc., of Louisiana have
proposed to set up and construct a 10 MW power generation plant, using rice
husk as fuel at Larkana District in the Sindh province.
KABIRWALA Power Project: Kabirwala power project is 14 MW combined cycle
power station, using natural gas of low BTU and pipeline gas as fuel. It is
located in District Khanewal in Punjab.
INVESTMENT FUNDS: Smith Barney and First Capital Securities are planning to
launch a US$ 150 million Capital Energy and Power Development Fund, which
will provide a portion of the senior debt financing required by a pre-
identified package of projects.
SEPCO Projects: Sepco is in the process of implementing an electric power
generation project, with a capacity of 310 MW (210 MW simple and 100 MW
combined cycle) with a total value of US$ 200 million.
UCH power project: The Uch power project is a 584 MW combined cycle power
station, using low BTU gas from Uch gas field, to be located in the
District Nasirabad, in Balochistan province. It is due for commissioning in
October, 1997 and has an estimated total value of $ 600 million.
WAKGAS: The Wakgas power project is a 800 MW barge-mounted power station
based on heavy-fuel oil diesel engine. The project is located at Port
Qasim, in Sindh province, and is due for commissioning in September, 1996.
The total estimated value of the project is $880 million.
POWER GEN. CORP. Projects: Synergics Energy Development, Inc., of Maryland,
US and Power Gencorp Ltd., of Lahore, Pakistan have agreed to jointly
develop, finance, design and construct and operate three hydroelectric
power plants in the province of Punjab, totalling 75 MW in capacity at
total value of $ 55 million.
Entech Inc. of Dallas, TX and Power Gencorp Ltd. of Lahore, Pakistan have
signed an agreement to jointly develop solar power projects in Pakistan,
including an initial project valued at more than $ 40 million.
Hong Kong based Gordon S.Y. Wu (power projects of 5280 MW = $ 7.7 billion).
Gordon Y.S. Wu, of Hopwell Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd., has started setting up
eight coal-fired projects of 660 MW each from Karachi to Gadani.
Environmental Hazards
Under the MOU signed with Hong Kong based Power tycoon Gordon WU, coal
fired eight power projects of 880 MW each will be located at the coast of
Arabian Sea around Karachi.
Power Generation projects likely to come up around Karachi will add 1,850
tons of sulphur dioxide per day into the already polluted city environment.
The existing power generation plants emit an estimated 600 tons of sulphur
dioxide into Karachi atmosphere per day.
According to recently prepared report on Karachi atmosphere, the city is
already under threat of extreme pollution level. At present, different
types of vehicles, steel mills, oil refineries, industrial units, aircraft,
railway engines, ships, use of as for cooking, use of air conditioners and
burning of wastes emit about 1,500 tons of sulphur dioxide and over two
tons of toxic material in the air per day.
The report further estimates that the city will have over 4000 tons of
sulphur dioxide and five tons of toxic material added to the air per days
as and when all the power generation project based on oil and gas come on
line, as well as the population grows by a million, and the number of
industrial units and vehicles goes up.
In addition to this, the thermal power plants will produce a certain amount
of carbon and nitrogen oxide through fuel burning process.
The report says that only waste burning in the city produces about 1,074
tons of nitrogen oxide per day.
The report expresses fear that Karachi might experience acidic rains in
future as sulphur dioxide mixed with water, rain or dew, produces sulphuric
acid.
Such rainfall has proved to be a bane for Northern countries, affecting the
acid content of soil and water bodies, and pitting the surface of stone and
marble facades of old buildings. The worst hit will be the vegetation that
helps to reduce the carbon dioxide content of the air.
The report mentions that fuel oil, currently available in the market,
contains 3.5 per cent sulphur and when the oil burns its emissions contain
7 per cent sulphur dioxide.
In the fuel oil, the total concentration of metals, such as cadmium,
nickel, vanadium and beryllium is over 100 parts per million (PPM). This
would mean that a plant burning one million tons fuel oil will release some
100 tons of toxic material, the report calculates.
The report indicates that seven fuel oil-fired power generation plants are
planned to be set up, including a 600 MW in North Karachi, a 196 MW at
Mauripur, a 125 MW in Korangi Town, a 288 MW in Korangi Creek, an 800 MW
near Port Qasim and a 463 MW gas fired plant at Manora Island. These
proposed plants are in addition to the current ones at Hawkes Bay, Ibrahim
Hyderi, Korangi and two at Port Qasim.
In the opinion of the renowned Environmentalists, Karachi is a highly
polluted city which is estimated to have 832,966 Vehicles. Bin Qasim Power
plants, oil refineries and many industrial units which are a sources of
immense pollution and health problems. Present source of pollution are as
under:
The hot water discharged from WAK GAS Generators and salt released from
water purification plants will destroy the marine life under sea water. The
destruction of mangroves will release the silt from their roots which will
block the creeks and water paths thus making them unsuitable for ship
movements.
Acid rain: Karachi gets annual fall of dew between 25-30 mm which is a
source of life to grass and green plants. The dew will be heavily polluted
which may cause damage to the grass and vegetation.
Hydel power policy: Realising the need of hydel Power and its cost-
effectiveness, the Governments has decided to formulate a hydel power
policy to attract private participation for hydel power generation in
Pakistan.
Power Regulatory authority for power sector: In 1994 Federal Cabinet had
approved the establishment of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority
(NEPRA) to oversee and regulate generation, transmission and distribution
of electricity in the private sector.
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960715
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5% CVT to be levied on 1500sq ft apartments
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 14: Capital Value Tax (CVT) at the rate of 5 per cent will
also be charged on the purchase of flats and apartments having a covered
area of 1500 square feet or more.
However, the Finance Act 1996, while giving exemption from the levy of CVT
to a residential plot having an area up to 240 square yards and a flat or
apartment with covered area less than 1500 square feet, it has levied 5%
CVT on purchase of all other urban properties.
Until last year, CVT was not being charged on urban immovable property if
land area was only up to 240 square yards. After changes brought about in
the Finance Act 1996, in Section 7 of the Finance Act, 1989, CVT will now
be charged on the purchase of flats or apartments, if covered area is 1500
square feet or more.
The act stipulates that immovable property other than residential plots of
land with an area up to 240 square yards and flats and apartments with
covered area less than 1500 square feet situated in urban area will fall
under the levy of 5% CVT.
While defining the urban area, the Finance Act 1996, envisages that area
falling within the limits of metropolitan corporation, municipal
corporation, municipal committee, town committee, cantonment board or the
Islamabad Capital Territory.
It is for the first that the CVT has been extended to rural areas also, as
it will now be charged at 5% on the purchase of agricultural land. However,
this would be chargeable in case the value of such agricultural land was Rs
200,000 or more.
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960715
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GST may be charged at 18pc, says CBR
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, July 14: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) would start
collecting General Sales Tax (GST) at the original 18 per cent rate in case
it felt difficulties to meet the revenue targets during 1996-97.
The GST which has been brought down from 18 to 10 per cent after offering
concessions and exemptions to the FPCCI will be revised again to 18 per
cent if we could not realise our revenue targets, declared Chairman CBR
Mr. Alvi Abdul Rahim.
Speaking at a Press conference he, however, insisted that his department
will be able to collect required level of taxes through GST despite
exemptions and concessions extended to the business community.
These exemptions relate to textiles, garments, hand made carpets, surgical
equipment and sport goods. Asked whether the IMF has toughened its stand
against these exemptions, he said, he has never been a member of the
governments negotiating team to conduct talks with the Fund therefore he
could not say anything about it.
The Chairman CBR for the first time admitted that there has been a
consistent problem to address the issue of manipulation of figures or
doctoring of figures. I would not personally call it a doctoring of
figures or manipulation of estimates but I admit that there have always
been differences between the CBR and the Auditor General over the figures
of revenue collection.
When reminded that the prime minister has also taken a note of the issue by
saying that she too was informed that the CBR doctored figures and that she
has asked the Auditor General (AG) to investigate the issue, Mr. Alvi said
he would not comment on it as he was not present on the occasion when Ms.
Bhutto made these observations.
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960716
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National Discounting Services launched
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 15: National Bank of Pakistan formally launched National
Discounting Services Limited (NDSL), a wholly owned subsidiary, from the
floor of the KSE.
The Chairman of the company, Mr.M.B.Abbasi said that NDSL had been formed
on the basis of a thorough study conducted by Bear Sterns Jehangir Siddiqui
Ltd in collaboration with KPMG Peat Marwick. Mr Abbasi observed that the
company would provide financing through discounting and the objective was
to provide better utilisation of idle current assets on flexible terms and
conditions, catering to the liquidity requirement of clients. He stated
that the setting up of NDSL would promote the secondary market in which our
country lags far behind.
Corporate sector, Mr Abbasi said, was still in its infancy with all
emphasis on the primary market. The highly developed financial centres
(such as New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong), he said, had very
well developed and sophisticated secondary markets which worked to further
reinforce the primary market and the stock exchanges in those countries.
The growth of financial markets, he said, was critically dependent on the
development of secondary market. He observed that the WAPDA and other bonds
could not succeed because of the absence of a secondary market where the
bond holder could discount his holding.
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960716
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Trade Policy aims at doing away with host of NOCs
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, July 15: The federal government announced the Trade Policy for
1996-97, that aimed at doing away with host of NOCs, offering substantial
incentives to the exporters including the removal of condition for
obtaining authorisation for the re-export of imported goods, and the
permission to private sector to export cement.
This is going to be the last Trade Policy being announced by the
government because from today the exporters would not have to seek
permission for various things from the Ministry of Commerce, said Chaudhry
Ahmad Mukhtar.
The Commerce Minister told Dawn before going to Television Station for
recording his speech that the PPP government in his third Trade Policy has
virtually removed all restrictions that were hampering the countrys
exports and disturbing the exporters.
Todays Trade Policy marks the beginning of no more governments controls,
virtually no more controls and the practice of announcing Trade Policy
every year has now ended for ever, he declared. Every thing has been de-
regulated.
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960718
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Purchases of Rs 1.30 lakh allowed duty-free
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 17: Under the new baggage rules announced by the government,
a passenger with a stay of six months abroad has been allowed duty free
allowances of an approximate value of Rs 1.30 lakh, which also includes
gift allowances of an aggregate value of Rs 10,000 in a calendar year.
The new baggage rules which have come into force from July 1, 1996, has
also given allowances worth Rs 10,000, for purchases to be done by a
passenger from Duty Free Shops.
The baggage rules will apply to all incoming passengers except those to
whom the Passengers Baggage (India-Pakistan) Rules, 1979, the Tourists
Baggage (Import) Rules, 1971, or the Pilgrims baggage (import) Rules, 1972,
apply.
The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) through SRO No 402(I)/96 has framed
rules for incoming baggage of the passengers arriving from foreign
countries having a stay of less than six months, six months or more and for
passengers under 18 years of age.
Duty free allowances: A passenger with a stay abroad of 6 months or more
will be allowed to bring in the following goods free of customs duty and
sales tax:
1) Personal wearing apparel and clothing accessories.
2) Handbags and travel goods.
3) Medals, trophies and prizes bestowed upon the passenger.
4) Personal jewellery of value not exceeding Rs 50,000 for lady passengers
only.
5) Other goods of personal adornment, toilet requisites, including electric
shaver in use.
6) One watch and one travelling cloth.
7) Spectacles and other physical aids in use.
8) One cigarette lighter, two fountain pens, one pen-knife and similar
objects of personal use normally carried in the pocket, in the hand bag or
on the person.
9) One electric iron and one electric hair dryer for lady passengers only.
10) One perambulator or go-cart and toys in reasonable quantity if in use
of an accompanying child.
11) One invalid chair in use.
12) One photographic camera and 10 rolls of films.
13) 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 1/2 kilogram of manufactured tobacco or
an assortment of cigars and manufactured tobacco not exceeding 1/2 kilogram
in weight.
14) 1/4 litre of perfumed spirits and toilet water, of which not more than
1/8 litre is to be of perfumes.
15) Professional tools, instruments, apparatus and appliances acquired
abroad in connection with his profession or calling subject to the
aggregate value of Rs 50,000.
16) One portable radio-cum-tape/cassette recorder of value not exceeding Rs
2000.
Gift allowances: Goods which are imported by a passenger in reasonable
number or quantity for making gifts or to give as souvenirs subject to the
limit that the aggregate value of such goods does not exceed Rs 10,000,
will be allowed free of customs duty and sales tax as gift allowance. These
allowances will be halved on the second visit in one calendar year and will
not be admissible on subsequent visits in the same calendar year.
Dutiable allowances: Goods of personal, professional or household effects
whether used or not, acquired abroad will be allowed on payment of duty and
sales tax without limit.
Allowances for passengers under 18 years of age and regardless of the
duration of their stay abroad will enjoy the following allowances:
Personal wearing apparel, clothing accessories, and goods of personal use
which are in the actual use of the passenger.
Any other goods or personal effects whether, used or not, acquired abroad
on payment of customs duties and sales tax, provided that the aggregate
value of such goods does not exceed Rs 10,000 in one calendar year.
Re-import of baggage: (1) Goods otherwise liable to duty and taxes shall,
upon return of the passenger, be importable free of duty and taxes, if
taken out of Pakistan against export certificate at the time of the
passengers departure.
Goods imported as unaccompanied baggage will be charged to customs duty and
sales tax, except personal wearing apparel and books.
The gift allowances do not cover airconditioner, cooking range, deep
freezer, gas appliances, microwave oven, refrigerator, sewing machine,
television, video-cassette player, video-cassette recorder and washing
machines.
Import of arms and ammunition, obscene or subversive literature, parlour
video games, or parts thereof, and alcoholic beverages is prohibited.
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960718
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KSE index breaks 1,600-point barriers
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 17: Stocks were in a terribly bad shape as sellers appeared
to be in a bit haste to get out of the market disappointed apparently by
the political uncertainty.
The KSE 100-share price index breached the psychological barrier of 1,600
points for the first time during the last six months and it could be
beginning of a great retreat in the coming sessions.
It was last quoted at 1,592.02 as compared to 1,615.25 a day earlier,
reflecting the weakness of the base shares.
It was not a single negative factor but a combination of bearish news,
which are not allowing the technical factors to play their due role and the
bad thing is that there are no signs of recovery.
They said the selling was not that alarming but what weighed heavily
against the sentiment was slack demand and investor apathy.
The market is the victim of slack demand rather than any other single
negative factor and until investors are back in the rings there is a remote
possibility of a turnaround, they added.
The interesting feature was that bulk of the selling was directed against
blue chips, which fell in unison notably in the chemical and pharma sector
as most of the MNCs are stilling ruling at the higher prices.
PSO, Shell Pakistan, HinoPak Motors, and Fauji Fertiliser, therefore, led
the list of leading losers, falling by Rs 1.75 to 3, biggest decline being
in the KESC, which fell sharply as a section of investors took profits at
the available margin. Brooke Bond followed them, falling by Rs 1.25.
Among the locals, Askari Leasing, 8th ICP, Faysal Bank, Gulistan Textiles,
Sana Industries, and Searle Pakistan were leading losers, which suffered
decline ranging from one rupee to Rs 3.
Fourth ICP Mutual Fund also attracted large selling from some genuine
investors and was marked down by Rs 22 on a turnover or only 500 shares.
Most of the leading shares fell in unison but some of the second-liners and
blue chips managed to finish modestly higher on stray support under the
lead of 13th ICP, Attock Refinery, Ados Pakistan, Knoll Pharma and
Mitchells Fruits, which rose by one rupee to Rs 1.5.
The newly listed Commercial Union Assurance was, however, an exception,
which remained in strong demand apparently from some of the London-based
foreign funds and was quoted further higher by Rs 2.05 on a large business.
On the corporate front, the board of directors of Khyber Tobacco has
announced a cash dividend at the rate of five percent for the year ended
June 30, 1996.
The most active list was topped by PTC vouchers, easy 60 paisa on 6.704m
shares, Hub-Power, off 80 paisa on 4.272m, Commercial Union Assurance,
higher Rs 2.05 on 1.372m, Sui Southern, lower 60 paisa on 0.483m, ICI
Pakistan, easy 15 paisa on 0.394m shares.
Other actively traded shares were led by Dewan Salman, off 50 paisa on
0.328m, Dhan Fibre, lower 15 paisa on 0.398m, KESC, off Rs 4 on 0.171m,
Schon Modaraba, up 10 paisa on 0.151m and Lucky Cement, steady 10 paisa on
0.140m shares.
Trading volume rose to 19.724m shares from the previous 15.792m shares
owing to large activity in PTC vouchers.
There were 348 actives, out of which 194 shares suffered fall, while 68
rose, with 86 holding on to the last levels.
DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*DAWNFacts*
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960712
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The judiciary triumphs-V
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Ardeshir Cowasjee
IT HAS so often happened during the course of history a head of state or
government appoints a general or a judge thinking the appointee to be a
creeping invertebrate that will unquestionably do his bidding, and then
surprisingly the man shows his spine, sticks up for his cause, and stands
erect.
One famous case is that of President Theodore Roosevelt (1858- 1919) and
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr (1841-1935). Holmes, a Weld Professor at the
Harvard Law School, was appointed to the Bench of the Supreme Judicial
Court of the State of Massachusetts in 1882. In 1899 he was appointed its
Chief Justice. Misjudging him, taking him to be docile and spineless, Teddy
Roosevelt elevated him to the US Supreme Court in 1902.
Shortly thereafter came a case in which an order of the President was
challenged. The majority decided in favour of the President, Holmes was the
sole dissenter. An angry Roosevelt, disappointed with his choice, publicly
exclaimed: I can carve out of a banana a judge with more backbone than
that. When the remark was repeated to Holmes at a party at the White
House, all that he had to say to the politicians around him was: What else
can you expect from a shallow intellect? What you and the President want is
not justice, but favour. And when I am sitting on the Bench, I dont give a
damn as to what you and the President want.
Roosevelt was a big man. He extended his hand and thereafter the two got
along famously. Holmes, known as The Great Dissenter because of the
brilliance of his dissenting opinions, retired from the Supreme Court just
before his 91st birthday. It was Holmes who stated the concept of clear
and present danger as the only basis for limiting free speech. Holmes was
a bigger man.
Now to home ground and to the recent burgeoning of the full and conscious
independence of our judiciary. The government was getting away with murder.
What the Press euphemistically refers to as our leadership expected the
Chief Justice of Pakistan to conduct himself like an SHO (as wrote the
Chaudhry of Chakwal) and when he did not, its response was worthy of a
neighbourhood tough. The judges and their families were harassed.
During the pendency of the judges case the house of the Chief Justices
daughter was raided, his civil servant son-in-law Syed Parvez Ali Shah was
suspended. After the short order was handed down, the CJs crested Karachi
car was hijacked, its driver thrown on to the road and told that the toughs
knew whose car it was and that the owner would be equally drastically dealt
with. The CJs telephones have been tapped, his offices and houses bugged.
The government went to great lengths to try to have him denotified by the
competent authority. Later, death threats were delivered.
One former judge has already been killed. That vociferous supporter of the
independence of the judiciary, Nizam Ahmed (together with his son) was shot
down in broad daylight in Karachi outside his home. The message thus sent
makes death threats ominous.
Nizams murderers have, of course, not been found. The authorities
investigating the murder have established that at the time of his death
Nizam was Nawaz Sharifs counsel in three defamation suits filed against
him: Civil Suit 632/93, filed in the Sindh High Court by MNA Asif Zardari
claiming Rs 5 crores (lawyers, S. Salimuddin and Nafis Usmani); CS 637/93,
filed in the SHC by Qaim Ali Shah claiming Rs 1 crore (filed by Barrister
Kamaluddin Azfar); and CS 638/93 filed by stalwart Ghulam Kadir Palejo also
claiming Rs 1 crore (lawyer, Nafis Usmani).
Nizam had also taken over as counsel (the original counsel Shamshad Lari
having died) in a case involving an 8,000 sq yd prime plot of land, right
next to the Awami Markaz on Sharea Faisal, originally reserved by the KDA
as a parking lot. Pressure was exerted, and the KDA sold the plot to a
nominee of a palace favourite at the throwaway price of Rs 2.5 crores as
against an approximate market value of some Rs 30 crores.
A public interest constitutional petition was filed against the sale, a
stay was granted by a division Bench of the SHC headed by Justice
Wajihuddin Ahmad. Two other lawyers, Abdul Hafiz Lakho and Raja Qureshi,
then stepped in for the defendants, the case was transferred to another
Division Bench, comprising Justices Abdul Latif Qureshi and Ali Mohammed
Baloch which, without giving Nizam an opportunity to file a counter-
affidavit, discharged the stay order. Nizm was preparing an appeal to the
Supreme Court.
Nasir Aslam Zahid, Chief Justice of the High Court of Sindh, in 1994 was
punished and sent to the Federal Shariat Court. That not being considered
sufficient reprisal for his sins, his wife, a physician working at the PIA
medical centre in Karachi, was transferred to the outpost centre at
besieged, riot-torn Korangi. She stuck it out for two years. She was
recently brought back to base, from where she has now retired. Her dues
have not been paid. Some well-wishers have made noises and offered to act
as a bridge between her husband and the executive. She has since been asked
to work on a contract basis, has obliged, but is not being paid. Her pay
slip mentions her salary: Rs.00.00.
Justice Zahids son-in-law, an officer of UBL in Abu Dhabi, was suddenly
transferred back to Pakistan, and asked to vacate his house on 24 hours
notice. He has managed to fend for himself.
Justice Fazal Elahi of the Supreme Court, who sat on the Bench hearing the
judges case, was another victim. His son, a civil judge in the NWFP,
suddenly found himself transferred to Booni, an outpost in Mastuj district
of Chitral.
Where is Booni? A plane lands at Chitral town, weather permitting,
sometimes after a lapse of a month. To reach Booni, some 60 miles away, one
mounts a horse, advances at a walk along a steep and narrow path, travels
for four days, and, horse permitting, one arrives. Booni is at 36.15N
parallel, close to Tirich Mir in the Karakoram, the mountain that rises
above 25,000 feet.
The harassment continues. Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shahs son- in-law,
Parvez Ali Shah, remains suspended, his petition filed in the SHC remains
unheard. During the hearing of the governments review petition in the
judges case, efforts were made to deprive him of his official car and
residential telephone. The CJs other son-in-law, Syed Mehdi Ali Shah, who
has just completed his pre- service training at the Peshawar Academy, has
been posted as Assistant Commissioner under training and SDM at Mitthi,
surrounded by dunes, deep in the Thar desert. To get to Mitthi, one can
motor up to Naukot, whereafter the journey has to be completed in a four-
wheel-drive vehicle.
Further trouble for Mehdi Ali Shahs family. His brother, another
government officer, Syed Mustapha Ali Shah, lives with their mother in a
government house in Karachi. He was served with a notice on July 3 to
vacate the house within seven days. A petition was filed in the High Court
and the ejectment notice was then withdrawn on July 8.
The infantile thinking of our competent authorities is truly beyond
belief. But they cannot and will not grow up. Do they themselves really
believe that their wanton acts and stupidity can benefit them? Fortunately
they help us, as it firms the resolve of the judges and others who are
subject to their whims, it encourages them to fight on and to persevere.
Nothing changes. In 1954, forty-two years ago, when the One Unit issue was
to be voted upon in the provincial assembly, the then chief minister,
Mohammed Ayub Khuhro, in cahoots with his minister Pir Ali Mohammed Rashdi,
realising that the honourable Mirs of Talpur would vote against their
proposal, acted. Mir Ali Ahmed Talpur was arrested on a trumped-up charge,
Mir Rasul Bakhsh Talpur managed to escape and hide, and the smallest and
gentlest of the three, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, was bodily picked up and
bundled off on the back of a camel to Mitthi, the same old Mitthi in the
Thar desert.
Reverting to the review petition in the judges case, the government could
only depend on that strong leader, Cambridge Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan. Rather
than produce the records, which would be fatal, the government chose to
withdraw. He said Government implementing Supreme Court judgement
Leghari. Our judges can hold their heads high.
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960717
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Does this system deserve to be saved?
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Mohammad Malick
ISLAMABAD: Justice Javed Iqbal has been called many things. As a sitting
judge, he was Noora by an infuriated Ghulam Gilani Malik, and then having
been sworn in as a senator on PML ticket, his own party members called him
a disappointment. Arguably he has contributed far less in way of articulate
speeches or thought- provoking legalistic interpretations than was expected
of him. But on Tuesday, the son of Allama Iqbal spoke after a long time,
and spoke well.
Taking part in the ongoing debate regarding the future of the federal
parliamentary democratic system, Javed Iqbal lamented about certain
impressions that may not necessarily be true but nevertheless harbour
disturbing consequences for the system itself. The press has gone hoarse
crying about the governments non-chalant attitude towards the fact that in
politics perceptions are far more important than reality. His conclusion
was precise and brief like a judges short order. He perceived the
government as being the biggest threat to the system with mid-term
elections offering the only way out of this crisis. Any government
supporter would naturally fling aside this demand but a genuine government
sympathiser would strain his grey matter to ponder the arguments cited by
the former high court judge. Most of them made sense, some of them
suggested an alarming scenario.
Talking about Article 6, pertaining to treason, he argued that it was not
confined to abrogation of the Constitution but also included acts of
subverting the document. In his opinion, many actions of the government
qualified in this category. Could it be that the government had attempted
to sabotage the Constitution by defying the constitutional independence of
the supreme judiciary by not imposing its writ. The government may not have
refused to obey the court but has yet to prove otherwise. It was a former
chief justice of the American Supreme Court who once said: We are
subservient to the Constitution but Constitution is what we interpret it to
be. The government would be wise to remember this.
Hammering on the perception theme, Javed Iqbal said he wasnt aware of why
the Lahore High Court had suspended the Wattoo case hearings despite a
Supreme Court directive of wrapping up the case before the summer holidays.
Unknown to Javed Iqbal, however, Islamabad circles are attributing this
suspension as a sign of a rapprochement between Chief Justice Sajjad Ali
Shah and the government. One senior PML leader pointed out that the other
tell-tale sign could well be the hearing date set for Begum Nasim Wali
Khans petition on the Mehrangate affair.
The sooner the date, the greater the tension and vice versa, was the cited
logic.
Coming back to Javed Iqbal made observations regarding the use, rather
abuse, of constitutional provisions in the federal governments intrusion
into provincial autonomy. The manner in which the government had
orchestrated the legal, yet unethical, ouster of the Sabir Shah and Wattoo
governments does tend to augment his criticism. The government has
persistently defended its actions on legal grounds but in all seriousness
is legality the only touchstone of good governance?. Is it not equally
important for a government to appear equally moral and ethical as well.
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960713
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The answer is blowing in the wind
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Mazdak
THE one common theme in history is our predilection for organised violence.
Warfare has driven human progress in an incessant cycle of gore and glory.
But while history books and the biographies of kings and generals describe
and glorify past battles and campaigns, few chroniclers tell us about the
suffering of the foot soldiers, the devastation caused by armies and the
pain of families deprived of husbands, sons, husbands and lovers. For
posterity, only the joy of victory and the hubris of the victors remain:
all else death, defeat and dishonour are buried in collective graves
with the dead.
Perhaps it is this selective memory that propels each generation of young
men to seek fame and fortune through the profession of arms: whenever
jingoists and tubthumping politicians climb on the bandwagon and summon
their nation to war there is never any shortage of volunteers. Religion,
honour, territory and imagined slights have all triggered off bloody
conflicts, even a soccer game has caused a war. But despite the lessons of
history, when the war-drums beat and the banner of national honour is
raised, few resist the call to arms.
In Pakistan, past campaigns of the 1948 and 1965 wars have been endlessly
and passionately described and romanticised. While the exploits of the
heroes of these conflicts are taught to every schoolboy, the death and
destruction caused by these wars although very limited by modern
standards are glossed over. It goes without saying that the lessons of
the 1971 war are taught neither in schools nor in our military academies.
Although it is the best teacher, defeat seldom makes for edifying reading.
After the shattering military and political reverses of 1971 as well as the
sweeping geopolitical changes that have taken place in the last quarter
century, the entire balance of power in South Asia has undergone a sea
change. For starters, India now enjoys a preponderant and overwhelming
qualitative and quantitative military advantage over Pakistan; its economy
is far larger and more diversified, and thus able to support a
sophisticated defence industry; and perhaps most crucially, it is training
tens of thousands of engineers and scientists every year. And although the
collapse of the Soviet Union has cost it an important ally, it has improved
its relations with the United States. On the other hand, we can no longer
expect the same degree of unstinted support from China and Iran that our
planners had earlier factored into their war games. The Americans have
clearly distanced themselves from us after the exit of Soviet forces from
Afghanistan.
All these factors underline our increasing isolation and a proportionate
tilt in the power equation between India and Pakistan. Our nuclear
programme keeps an uneasy balance, but in the absence of tests and a proven
delivery system, this is not a very credible deterrent. As long as
relations between the two countries remain tense, and weak governments
remain hostage to their own rhetoric and the hysteria they have themselves
whipped up, the chances of a bloody and costly war are uncomfortably high.
But this time around, given the technological advances made in the last two
decades, the level of destruction will be unprecedented, even without
recourse to nuclear weapons. Think of Iraq after the Gulf War.
Mercifully, there are still sensible people on both sides of the border who
are convinced that we must de-escalate and come to some kind of agreement
over Kashmir. I have discussed the Kashmir issue in this space before, but
what has changed drastically during this period is the nature and
composition of the Indian government. The new Prime Minister is from the
South, and has no emotional tie with the Valley; in Inder Gujral, India has
a foreign minister who has repeatedly argued for better relations with
Pakistan. Granted, a large country like India does not change its policies
and long-held positions overnight with a change in government, but I
believe there is window of opportunity that we must exploit.
For a start, we must step back from our maximalist, all-or- nothing
position. Nobody is going to hand over Kashmir to us on a platter, and
whatever the hawks in and out of the army may think, we cannot wrest it
from India by force of arms. This is an unpalatable fact of life
politicians and military planners must come to terms with. Basically, we
must decide who and what we are really concerned with: the Kashmiri people,
or the territory of Kashmir. If we care about the former, then we should be
doing something about ending the bloodshed and the Indian occupation. Since
we can do neither by force, we have to negotiate. So far, India has taken
the position that since the events in the Valley are an internal problem,
it will not discuss them with anybody else. It is time India got off its
high horse as well.
Clearly, both sides will have to show more flexibility and imagination if
an acceptable solution to all three parties to the conflict is to be found.
Whether we like it or not, the UN resolutions of 1948 have lost much of
their force: apart from lip-service from a few friends, no major player in
the comity of nations thinks they are workable or enforceable. So instead
of flogging a dead horse, we have to take a fresh approach. There are a
number of plans and possible solutions that have been floated from time to
time, but have been stillborn because of obduracy on both sides of the
border. But perhaps the time has come to dust them off and let somebody
mediate between the India and Pakistan. So far, the former has shot down
any such offer, but with the recent change in government, perhaps a behind-
the-scenes initiative can work.
Next year, both countries will celebrate 50 years of independence. it would
be a fitting anniversary gift to the people of the region if an end to the
permanent state of hostilities could be negotiated. The prospect of trade
is a good beginning, and the recent exchange of letters between the two
prime ministers is an excellent prospect. Even more encouraging is the
recent offer of talks at any level from the Indian Foreign Minister. All
these suggest that the leaders of both countries are conscious of the need
to step back from the brink, and establish normal relations.
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960715
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The dilemma of Pakistani youth
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Ikramul Haq
EVERY society tends to ignore its more troublesome characteristics. Most
often they are taken for granted because their recognition would be painful
for those who want to maintain the status quo.
There is nothing surprising, then, if the rulers in this country show
little concern when their actions subject the citizens to the greatest
psychological strains. This indifference is usually disguised by a kind of
rhetoric, which prevents real understanding of the situation.
Against this background let us look at the problems of the youth in
Pakistan. From different platforms on the Youth Day, young men and women
are told that they live in a God-given country, achieved in the name of
Islam after sacrificing thousands of lives in a long struggle against the
infidels. Having been reminded of this fact, they are called upon to
sacrifice their lives for the defence of the ideological frontiers of the
state. From these quarters efforts are being made to convince the youth
that because of the great sacrifices of their elders they live amidst
unprecedented new opportunities that could have never come their way in an
undivided India. The purpose of all this is very clear: to leave the youth
with the illusory conviction that the mere fact of achieving independence
is sufficient to prevent them from thinking what happened in this country
after 1947.
Knowing fully well the emptiness of such sermonising, the youth draws its
own conclusions about the social realities on the basis of its daily
experiences. However, in shaping the overall behaviour of the youth,
political oppression of the past four decades has played the most
significant role. A Pakistani hardly 45 years old has, in such a short
period of his life, witnessed two horrible wars, three martial laws,
political torture of the crudest form, mass imprisonment, victimisations of
people in the name of religion, sectarian and ethnic clashes, and, the most
painful of all, public and political hangings. All this has inculcated in
him the deepest sense of cynicism. Cynicism is the key word to explain the
general attitude of our youth towards life. For them the only reality of
life is an endless struggle for adjustment with a system based on
oppression, inequality and injustice. Their cynicism is, thus, totally
justified.
To have grown up in families where unquestionable obedience to parents
(authority) is expected, money and power are the most cherished values,
caste and creed have been very important issues and sect and ethnic
affiliations are considered a sacred theme. The young people have seen at
least one thing: the obvious contradiction between principle and practice
of the elders. This has led to what can be termed as institutionalisation
of hypocrisy. The gap between values and actual practice is accepted as a
fundamental truth of life. The Pakistani youth faces a number of problems
like unemployment, deteriorating academic standards, political violence on
the campuses, pressures of rigid family system and alienation. But like
other sections of society, the youth, too, is divided: some of them are
defenders of the present system, others oppose it and aspire for a change.
The youths revolt or organised opposition against the established system,
as we have witnessed in the West during the 1960s, is almost non-existent
in our society. But, of course, it is understandable that in our peculiar
political conditions it has been very difficult to organise students and
other young people as an effective political force. Nobody has tried to use
their potential for bringing about a change in society, although they
displayed their strength and importance during the campaign against the
Ayub government. That was a spontaneous reaction, not a planned one.
In our present-day reality, the most disturbing aspect of the youths
behaviour is the growing use of narcotics, especially heroin. This
phenomenon cannot be viewed in isolation from the existing socio-political
and economic realities. The concern shown by official quarters always tends
to ignore the relationship between drug abuse and the existing social
pressures. The end result is the exaggeration, misconception and
misunderstanding of the entire problem. Instead of looking into the factors
behind drug addiction, the authorities are busy showing their concern over
rapid increase in the number of addicts every year.
Twelve years ago, on the new years eve, a journalist friend wrote:
Nineteen eighty-four is here. And the people have a choice. If they have
no raison detre, why dont they smoke heroin instead? The same is true, I
think, in 1996. Who is responsible for the heroinisation of Pakistan?
Thank God, the authorities have failed to see any foreign hand in this
entirely self-created problem.
The national survey on drug addiction, carried out by the Pakistan
Narcotics Control Board, estimates the rate of drug addiction in the
country at over 15 per cent among the youth. In 1995, the total number of
addicts in the country was 3.01 million, and the rate of increase is said
to be 40,000 per year. The most disturbing fact revealed by the survey was
the growing number of heroin addicts in the country with the average age of
users falling below 24. According to a conservative estimate, there are
over 1.52 million heroin addicts in Pakistan.
A survey of 10 colleges and two universities of Lahore, conducted by this
writer in 1995, showed some horrible facts related to drug abuse among
students. According to the survey, the majority of students surveyed (67%)
reported using one or more drugs. This and many other surveys clearly show
the rising number of young drug addicts in the country. A number of
research studies done in Western countries associated drug experimentation
with the failure of the education system to address the needs of the young
for personal identity, self-esteem and social competence.
The important question is: how much is drug use related to our value
system? In our society the growth of drug use among the youth is a
manifestation of non-conformity and a quest for self- expression in a
social set-up which has little to offer them. They are victims of the
authoritarian attitudes of parents and teachers, are resentful of social
restraints and above all, lack of love and affection. Then, nobody is
willing to understand their problems sympathetically.
Rejection of the unfortunate addict, juvenile delinquent and dissident
young person is an easy escape from collective responsibility. Those who
control the existing institutions and matter in the land must realise that
the young people detest the prevailing set-up because they observe and know
how much cruelty and stupidity contribute to the strengthening of this
oppressive system. These young people no longer want to be a part of this
oppression and cruelty. A majority of them have no alternative.
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960715
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A recipe for civil strife
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Ayaz Amir
OF all the hatchet jobs being performed on this unfortunate country by a
government which has lost all touch with reality, none is more sinister in
its intentions, or more explosive in its potential consequences, than the
recent amendment in the income tax law which permits incredible as it
sounds private parties to assess and then collect income tax.
The relevant portion of the amendment reads as follows: ...the Central
Board of Revenue, may with the prior approval of the Federal Government,
appoint any private agency to exercise the functions and powers, including
assessment of income and collection of taxes, of any income tax authority
subordinate to it in respect of such persons or classes of persons, incomes
or classes of incomes, cases or classes of cases or such areas as may be
assigned to it...
Talk of entering the 21st century or vaulting into the ranks of the Asian
tigers. By this one measure, thrust at the last minute (and surreptitiously
at that) into the Finance Bill 1996, a hundred and fifty years of history
has been put into reverse gear, with the Republic at one stroke being
hurled back into the times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh when the revenue of
various districts used to be farmed out to private individuals.
Admittedly, the sins of the people of this country are many, none in this
respect being greater than the unholy tolerance they have always shown for
the most corrupt regimes. Even so, nothing that they have done stands up to
the iniquity of this measure.
What does this amendment imply? Simply this that the federal government can
designate any area in the country town or district where the income tax
will be assessed and later collected by a private party, not on the basis
of any set principles but purely on the strength of what that private party
can squeeze from every assessee. Out of the total revenue farmed in this
manner, the assessing and collecting agency will collect a fixed
percentage, which, according to some newspaper reports, is as high as 15
per cent. Will this not open the floodgates of arbitrariness?
Just imagine the scene. A private party, backed up by the strength of
prohibited bore weaponry, descending upon shops, markets and warehouses and
using terror and extortion as instruments of tax assessment. This is the Al
Capone principle dressed up in the finery of the law (for whether this
measure is immediately implemented or not, after its passage by the
National Assembly it now stands as the law of the land). The higher the
assessment, the greater the percentage of the collecting agency. Qabza
groups and land mafias already pose a serious threat to the rule of law in
the Islamic Republic. Imagine a qabza group as the highest taxation
authority in any given area of the country.
It is the British who should have imposed such an arbitrary order on a
conquered territory. But the British gave us laws based on equity and
justice. At every step in the income tax laws which exist, and which this
government has tried to subvert through its latest amendment, the interests
of the citizen and the taxpayer are protected against arbitrariness. Tax
assessment is not a whimsical exercise. It has to be based on proof and
documentation. Even after an assessment is finalised, the assessee has two
rights of appeal within the income tax system and two further stages of
appeal, if a question of law arises, resting with the high courts and the
Supreme Court. Lengthy though this procedure may be, its aim is to balance
the legitimate interest of the state to collect revenue with the interest
of the citizen not to be dealt with arbitrarily.
Over the years, it is true, the income tax system has become one of the
major players in the national corruption league. But then this indictment,
with equal justice, can be laid at the door of every other state
institution: from the police and the criminal justice system to the
commanding heights of the economy and the highest echelons of government.
But this is an indictment of the way we administer our laws, not of the
laws themselves. The income tax code does not sanction tax evasion just as
the Constitution does not allow the use of power for questionable ends. If
there is laxity in the collection of taxes, the answer lies not in throwing
the baby out with the bath water, as the government is trying to do, but in
improving tax administration.
After all, from the earliest times till the present, what have been the
foremost functions of an organised polity, be it the nation-state or a
medieval monarchy? They are to maintain law and order and to collect
revenue. Everything else, from the provision of justice to ensuring the
common good, comes afterwards. A state unable to discharge these primary
functions forfeits its raison detre because its failure in these fields
amounts to breaking the unwritten contract that exists between it and its
citizens.
Does not the government accordingly realise that implicit in the amendment
which it has smuggled into the tax code is the damning admission of its
failure to implement and administer the existing laws of the land? But
faced with this failure, what does it seek to do? Not improve the
administration of the laws as it should be doing. Nay, for the rule of law
it substitutes the rule of the qabza group. Accept this logic and the road
to arbitrariness is thrown wide open. The distinction between due process
and the law of the jungle disappears. Taxes are not being collected
properly, so tax collection is handed over to a qabza group. But what if a
government is not being run properly? What if it is saddled with charges of
epic corruption and colossal maladministration? Should not then the same
logic apply? The courts have given us the doctrine of necessity. Through
its assault on the taxation system this government is toying with the
intention of giving the nation a crash course in qabza taxation. It would
beware lest it be hoisted on its own petard.
About this amendment, however, there is more than meets the eye. It was
approved by the cabinet (on the basis of a summary prepared by bureaucrat
Javed Talat who, as it so happens, has nothing to do with the ministry of
finance at the moment this being another example of the ad-hocism which
passes for due procedure in this government) after the Finance bill had
already been placed before the National Assembly. Hence this amendment was
inserted into the Finance Bill only during its third reading when the
opposition was not present in the house.
First of all, no servant of the state, which is what the more self-
righteous mandarins like to call themselves, should have had anything to do
with such an outrageous proposal. But setting this point aside, in his
summary Javed talat had put many ifs and buts all of which were brushed
aside summarily by the Prime Minister who was heard muttering that the
contract had to be given to Ghurki (Khalid Javed Gurkhi, the MNA from
Lahore, who is positioning himself to become the Lord Collector of Lahore).
Not a single soul present in the cabinet meeting raised then tiniest
objection save for Mustafa Khar (for which may an indulgent Providence
forgive him his other sins).
The principle of qabza taxation is bad enough, contrary as it runs to
everything that a civilised polity should hold dear. But the intention (yet
to be put into effect) of farming out the income tax assessment and
collection of Lahore to Khalid Gurkhi MNA of all people gives rise
immediately to a host of other misgivings. Gurkhi is a known tough of the
border area of Lahore. According to newspaper reports (yet to be denied by
anybody), in anticipation of his being appointed as Lord Collector of
Lahore, he has applied in large numbers for prohibited bore weapons and a
fleet of vehicles at concessional rates. Is this a curtain-raiser on events
to come? And will income tax be collected from the traders of Lahore at
gunpoint? If so, what is the purpose of this exercise? To fill the depleted
coffers of the state or to punish the citizens of Lahore for supporting
Mian Nawaz Sharif?
In any event, even the blind should be able to see that this is a formula
for perpetrating civil strife in the capital of Punjab. Thus far both tax
collection and tax evasion have been conducted according to the book. Tax
inspectors do not call on their assesses kalashnikovs in hand. Nor do
assesses short-change the state through the display of firepower. But if
the rule of law is to be set aside and the Pakistan Taxation Service (PTS)
is to become the Gurkhi taxation Service (GTS), then does it take much
imagination to foresee that violence or the threat of it will beget
violence?
Already as a nation we have done our best to destroy all laws and
institutions. If better sense does not prevail and this madcap scheme is
allowed to exercise its fatal charm on the minds of the present ruling set,
there should be no doubt whatsoever that the fair city of Lahore will be
turned into one vast race course for the hounds of anarchy.
===================================================================
960718
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PTV coverage of Olympics and cricket
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Sports Reporter
ISLAMABAD, July 17: Hockey and cricket enthusiasts will have a on
television owing to Pakistan Televisions live coverage of the Atlanta
Olympics and England-Pakistan series from July 20 to Sept 1. The live
coverage and recordings will be televised on the PTV national networks.
A complete details of PTV coverage was obtained here from the television
headquarters which stated that a total of 119 hours of international sports
will be telecast from July 20 till Sept 1. This includes approximately 87
hours live coverage of cricket series. There will also be about six hours
of recording.
For the Olympics 20 hours live coverage has been made possible while three
hours recording will also be televised.
PTVs live coverage on Atlanta includes opening (July 20 at 4.45 am to 9.30
am) and closing (Aug 5 at 5.45 am to 9.30 am) ceremonies and finals of
mens hockey (Aug 3rd at 4.15 am to 7.00 am) and soccer (Aug 4 at 1.30 am
to 3.30 am). Live coverage of Pakistan pool matches against Spain (July 22
at 5.45 pm to 8.00 pm), Germany (July 25 at 4.45 am to 7.00 am), India
(July 27 at 2.15 am to 4.30 am), Argentina (July 28 at 5.45 pm to 8.00 pm).
First semi-final will be telecast live on Aug 1 from 4.45 am to 7.00 a.m.
Besides, PTV will also be producing a daily summary on the highlights of
Atlanta Olympics fixtures from July 21 till Aug 5. The programme
approximately of 60 minutes duration will be shown daily at 10.30 p.m.
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960718
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Imrans lawyer questions admissibility of some evidence
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Athar Ali
LONDON, July 17: As the hearing of the libel case brought against Imran
Khan by Ian Botham and Allen Lamb, two former England Test cricketers,
resumed for the third day in the High Court, a good deal of stir was caused
when George Carman QC, the defendants lawyer, disagreeing with a ruling on
the question of the admissibility of certain evidence told Mr Justice
French that he wanted to challenge it in the Court of Appeal. The jury was
called in and told of the development. Mr Justice French said this may take
a long time but until the matter was sorted out he could not proceed with
the hearing.
The judge then called for a recess for the two counsels to find out how
soon the Court of Appeal could convene to give its verdict. There were
hurried consultations and much exchange of documents. What the dispute was
about was summed up earlier by the judge for the jury when he told them
that a fundamental problem regarding the admissibility of certain evidence
had arisen on which he gave his ruling but one or both parties do not agree
with it and one or both the parties want to approach the Court of Appeal.
He told the jury that it will mean extra costs and is the worst of events
but he could not go on with the hearing.
He adjourned the hearing until the result of the enquiries about how soon
the Court of Appeal could meet was known.
When the court reassembled at midday, Carman and Charles Gray QC, the
counsel for the plaintiffs, informed the Judge of a formula having been
devised to resolve the conflict without going to the Court of Appeal. I
herald good news, said Carman. The dispute arose when Gray objected to the
admissibility of statements made or articles written by some cricketers. He
argued that clippings to be made available to the jury should relate to
those who will be later called as defence witnesses for him to be able to
cross-examine them. Carman gave the names of witnesses, including Mike
Atherton, the England captain; David Lloyd, the England coach; Geoffrey
Boycott, Mike Hendrick, Tony Lewis, Christopher Martin-Jenkings, Ted Dexter
and Derek Pringle, who will be subpoenaed.
TOUGH QUESTIONING: For the rest of the day Ian Botham, the former England
captain, was on the witness stand facing tough questioning from Carman. He
at times quibbled with Imran Khans counsel when he cited rules of cricket
and quoted from writings of other cricketers, including Mike Atherton, to
make the point that lifting the seam of the ball, application of lypsol or
sun cream has been a common practice in cricket though this was against the
rules. Botham kept on repeating himself saying, I have never done it. He
denied having ever broken the rules of cricket on bowling which in his eyes
amounted to cheating. At one point he said he had no thumb nails left to
scratch the ball as he has had the childhood habit of chewing them.
He was also questioned about the reason for not going to South Africa on
two occasions. He in his testimony yesterday had said that on one occasion
he refused because his friend the West Indies cricketer, Viv Richards, was
being allowed to enter the country only after being made an honorary
white, which he considered a slur. He refused because he thought he would
be going with a multi-racial team. There was no financial consideration
attached.
The second occasion arose, admitted Botham, when he was angry because he
was not included in the 1989 England team to tour West Indies and started
negotiating for a 500,000 pounds tax-free fee to go to South Africa on a
rebel tour. But realising that it was not the right thing to do he broke
the negotiations with the South African Cricket Board. I was entitled to
change my mind said Botham when Mr Carman hinted that he was willing to go
on a rebel tour for the sake of money.
The defence lawyer then told Botham that on June 12, 1994, following the
publication of the Ivo Tennant biography of Imran Khan, his client had sent
him a letter apologising for certain negative comments made in the book,
and attributed to Imran. But Botham said he had no idea what it was about.
He admitted having made a contradictory statement yesterday while in the
witness box. He said: it is not an easy job to stand here. I made a
mistake.
SEAM PICKING: He refused to be drawn into commenting on Imran Khans
writings and interviews to the effect that there was a simmering debate
going on about ball-tampering at the time these were made. He said the
matter came to a head in 1992. Seam lifting, he said, has been going on
since the year dot but he stated that he personally had not been guilty
of it.
Carman cited the rules relating to bowling to say that seam picking and the
use of any artificial substance to the ball is disallowed. Botham considers
seam picking near to cheating as it is against the rules and anything done
against the rules is in his dictionary cheating. However, the use of sweat
is an accepted practice.
The argument then moved on to the short pitched bowling. Botham did not
consider bowling bouncers as cheating. It is the umpires discretion to
caution a bowler if he exceeded the limit on intimidatory bowling, which a
bouncer is.
After the lunch break when the court resumed, Mr Justice French told the
jury that from the opening remarks on Monday by the plaintiffs counsel
they may have formed the impression that there has been no apology from the
defendant. They were told to ignore these remarks.
Botham continuing with his cross-examination said that if rules on
intimidatory bowling are contravened that, in his view, constitutes,
cheating. But on further questioning he said he has never been warned for
intimidatory bowling. There was much argument at this stage and at one
point Botham told the counsel that he was dealing with the game as it is
run. It was, he said, a legal part of the game to bowl short-pitched balls.
He was then reminded by Carman that in the 1985 Australia-England series he
was warned against intimidatory bowling.
He was then questioned about a video shown in the court yesterday of the
1982 Test series in which he was seen throwing the new ball to Bob Taylor,
the then England wicket keeper, who the commentator Ted Dexter was heard
saying on the video, gave a thorough going to the ball perhaps to remove
some of the lacquer.
Botham said that he always used to throw the ball to the wicketkeeper to
remove moisture from it which gathers when the ball is freshly taken out of
its plastic bag. He did not dry it himself because his hands used to be
sweaty and sometimes full of dirt.
Video shown again: Before a video of the 1982 Test in which Botham is seen
pressing the ball hard was shown again to the jury, Botham was questioned
by Imran Khans counsel whether he was trying to alter the shape of the
ball, which, Mr Carman added, was against the rules of the game. Botham
explained that he had neither gouged nor tampered with the ball. He had not
scratched it as he does not have big enough finger nails. He offered to
show his thumb nails to the counsel.
Carman told Botham that it was up to the umpire to change the ball if it
was felt necessary because it had lost its circular shape. He suggested
that Botham was in breach of the rules in trying to alter the shape of the
ball.
The counsel drew his attention to the fact that in the Sun newspaper in
1994 his client had tried to focus on the ball tampering controversy asking
the cricket authorities to do something about it. But Botham kept on
avoiding any comment on this. He did not agree with the assertion that seam
lifting was a common practice and did not amount to cheating. When pressed
for a straight answer by counsel, Botham said maybe Imran wrote the Sun
article as a smokescreen for his own activities.
I have never cheated, he repeated with some irritation. Mr Carman retorted:
A lie is a smokescreen when you lied about your criminal offences. Botham
said he panicked in front of 100 journalists, referring to the drug-taking
scandal in which he was involved during his tour of New Zealand with the
England team.
He was then asked to comment on extracts read to him from Mike Athertons
book. A Test of Cricket, in which he says that the application of all kinds
of agents on the ball has been going on since the game began. Atherton has
got it wrong, said Botham. It is not an accepted part of the game. He was
equally dismissive of what David Lloyd, the present England coach, has
said. Lloyd admitted that roughing the surface of the ball had gone on in
the county circuit. The court was then shown a video of a programme in
which Geoffrey Boycott also admitted that it had become an acceptable
practice in England.
The counsel then pointed out that his client never named Botham in the Sun
article, which is the cause for the libel, as being guilty of ball
tampering. But Botham said that the article said that all leading England
bowlers had at one time or another indulged in it and he being the leading
England wicket taker considers it to be a libel against himself.
Bothams cross-examination will continue on Thursday.
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960714
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Anglo-Pakistan cricket ties to improve during this tour
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Qamar Ahmed
LONDON, July 13: The cricketing relations between Pakistan and England have
not been cordial to say the least since England captain Mike Gatting and
Pakistan umpire Shakoor Rana involved themselves in a finger-wagging match
in a Test at Faisalabad in 1987 after the umpire had rightly warned the
England captain to stop incommoding the batsman, Salim Malik.
Pakistans request to exclude Ken Palmer and David Constant from the panel
of umpires during their series in England earlier the same year and
Englands refusal to do that had not done much to create good will between
the two cricketing nations.
Englands defeat later in the final of the 1992 World Cup in Australia came
as a salt on their wounds and the 2-1 defeat in the Test series the same
year in England at the hands of the touring Pakistanis did not help the
cause either. The relationship soured with ball-tampering allegations
against the Pakistan bowlers Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Aqib Javed.
There was a lot of apprehension over the treatment that England would get
in Pakistan during the 1996 World Cup. But there were no mishaps. In fact
they were given a war welcome and were looked after well. The England `A
team earlier was given as much attention by the Pakistan cricket
authorities. Things were forgotten as far as the people in Pakistan were
concerned.
Under this background, the 1996 tourists from Pakistan have arrived in
England to play another Test series although England for some reason has so
far resisted any attempt to play a series in Pakistan since that sad
episode in Faisalabad in 1987.
The 72-day tour is already in full bloom. Pakistan had a drawn game against
Glamorgan. They beat Somerset handsomely, drew a game against
Northamptonshire and then beat the Minor Counties in a one-day match.
Already Saeed Anwar had notched up two centuries, including a double one,
so have Aamir sohail, Inzamam-ul-Haq and the youngster Shadab Kabir with
innings of 99 and 51 against Northants and is showing signs of promise.
The bowlers Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Ata-ur-Rehman, Mushtaq Ahmed and
Saqlain Mushtaq have also shown that they will not be easy men to handle.
The first Test of the three-match series will be played from July 25 at
Lords and now after a rather low-key series against India, everyone in
England is waiting for fireworks, on and off the field.
The Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, is not worried about what happened in the
past. He thinks it is all history and he thinks that this England tour will
be a very important one and would help to cement the relationship between
the two countries.
This tour means a lot to me and my team, because if you perform well in
this country you are recognised and rated as a good player and, he thinks
that every member of his team is proud to be here.
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960712
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Pakistan, India in same group in next World Cup
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Our Correspondent
LONDON, July 11: Pakistan have been placed in Group B for the 1999 Cricket
World Cup tournament to be played in England. India are also in Group B.
Twelve teams will take part in the tournament, three of whom will be
decided in March next year after the completion of the ICC Trophy
competition.
The team draw for the next World Cup was held at Lords after the
completion of the International Cricket Council meeting, the ICC Chief
Executive, David Richards, conducted the draw.
Sri Lanka as the winners of the 1996 World Cup tournament were placed in
Group A and Australia, the runners-up, at the top of Group B.
Next came the turn of India and West Indies according to the seeding of
teams decided on the basis of the previous tournament. India was given
Group A and West Indies Group B. South Africa (5) was drawn in Group A
while Pakistan (6) was placed in Group B.
In Group A is England while New Zealand are placed in Group B. The ninth
Test playing team, Zimbabwe, is also in Group A and the winner of the ICC
Trophy finds the tenth place but in Group B. The runners up of the ICC
Trophy will be placed in Group A and the team in third position will earn
themselves a placing in Group B in the World Cup.
The first round will be played on a round-robin basis, the top three teams
from each group going to the second round. The top four from round two will
move to the semi-finals.
The final will be played in June 1999 at Lords.
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960713
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Prospects for hockey gold in Atlanta appear blurred
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Lateef Jafri
It was on Monday, April 6, 1896 that the first modern Olympic Games were
launched in the Greek capital. It was a small beginning at Athens. However,
the centennial one of 1996 opening on Friday, July 19, will provide one of
the greatest spectacles of this century with a cast of thousands in
Atlanta. This will be the second time in eight years that a breath-taking
five-ring circus will be witnessed in an American city.
For hockey it will be the third time that an American town at two nylon
grounds, will host a thrilling variety of Olympic competition. It was at
Los Angeles in 1932 that British India scored authoritative victories over
Japan and the United States. Swift moves flabbergasted the Americans in the
last match. The legendary Dhyan Chand sent in eight goals while his
brother, Roop Singh, had a greater haul, netting 12.
Fifty-two years later Los Angeles became the happy hunting ground for
Pakistan, a country not on the world map in 1932. Pakistan were not the
favourites. Yet the aggressive front-line combination of Kaleemullah,
Manzoor Jr, Hasan Sardar and Hanif Khan removed Australia from their path
to enter the final. Early July morning in 1984 Pakistan showed unbridled
enthusiasm to upset the applecart of West Germany and ascended the podium
to get the coveted gold after 16 long years. If Pakistan has recorded a
unique triumph in an American venue eight years ago, can it be counted
among the elite group or the country is still trying to get over the recent
hiccups? Has Pakistan exhibited consistency of form in foreign competitions
to give cause for hope and confidence on the threshold of another Olympic
campaign.
Weather, similar to Karachis, and an earlier win in the pre-Olympic
tournament at the same place may instil a feeling of optimism in the
combination that initially landed in Vancouver to play a few tune-up
matches against Canada. The outfit had expected to improve their mode and
method in Canada. They had also planned to attain the needed co-ordination
and harmony in Vancouver. They had a hard fought win in the tour opener but
then their form see-sawed. However, they possessed the resources to outwit
a team, which could not qualify for the Olympic competition.
If the Atlanta extravaganza demands a powerful performance what is the
track record of the country during the last eight or nine months to
evaluate its chances among the 12 competing nations divided in two pools?
Pakistan, the defending champions, slipped to a third slot in the 17th
edition of the Champions Trophy in Berlin in October last. Thankfully, they
smothered the challenge of the Netherlands to go up the rostrum to take the
bronze medal. One thought that Pakistan will regain their efficiency and
team-work; pace and precision will be their forte. Their surrender to the
Indians in the regional battle of strength in Madras in December came as a
shock to the hockey world, especially because the scoreline was a whopping
5-2 in favour of the Indians. The Pakistanis could find no refuge from the
ceaseless assaults of the Indian right duo of Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh
Kumar. The left half, Khwaja Junaid, appeared past his best and was time
after time beaten by the cascade of sallies of Pillay and Mukesh. The
energy and competence of the Indians delighted the home crowds and
demonstrated the true elements of the Asian artistry. Shahbaz Ahmed, the
noted schemer and inner, was hesitant in his moves and appeared to have
lost much of the sparkle of the 1994 Champions Trophy and the World Cup.
Pakistan endeavoured to show some progression and the players exuded
assurance in April while taking their revenge from India at the pre-Olympic
invitational contest at Atlanta, the site of the upcoming competition.
However, soon the problems started. A few days before the squads departure
to meet European commitments a players revolt halted the camp sessions and
preparations for two important tournaments. The team had setbacks both at
the new English stadium at Milton Keynes and Amstelveen in Holland. The
European hockey powers, Germany and the Netherlands, gave little chance to
Pakistan to settle down. But consolation wins over Britain in both the
contests saved them from taking the wooden spoon. Yet, there was all-
pervading gloom in the hockey circles over the European showing.
The ups and downs of the statistics point out that the days of Pakistan to
be counted among the favourites and top echelons of hockey are gone.
Whatever fervour and skill may be in the side it will be difficult for the
combination to meet the challenge of the modern-day firm defences and
bustling thrusts of the Europeans and the Australians. While the deep
defence is far from solid, a lack of authority is noticeable in the middle.
The forwards will have to put in extra effort to take their team forward in
the pool where they have to face such strong contestants as Germany, the
defending champions, Spain, as also arch-rivals, India.
Germany as the title-winners at Barcelona, have a fine record for some
months. Having won the European laurels at Dublin last August they repeated
their success two months later at their own centre of Berlin lowering the
colours of a resilient Australian outfit in the Champions Trophy. They
continued to dictate terms over Australia even in the four-nation contest
in Hamburg in April with goal-getting methods in movements. Germany picked
up the top honours in Milton Keynes while toppling Holland in June though
the latter had the last word in Amstelveen. With such a splendid record and
known for their fighting qualities Germany have the right ingredients that
go to strike gold in such a hard and important competition as the Olympics.
Australia are usually a mystery side. Having always been among the odds-on
favourites their lot had been an unfortunate one for even the New
Zealanders clinched the Olympic title in Montreal in 1976 and Australia was
brought down to become the silver medalist. The Australians were unbeaten
in a four-nation series in May in Cairns and Brisbane in which India, New
Zealand and South Africa featured. They had a satisfying tournament in
Hamburg. Their vibrancy and mobility in the front and their pugnacity in
defence may stand them in good stead at Atlanta. If they maintain their
tempo of workouts they may get their first gold.
The Netherlands are strong contenders for the top honours. With lethal
hitters of penalty corners in Floris Bovelander and Taco van den Honert
their chances can at no time be minimised. Besides, they have a balanced
and nippy forwardline and resourceful middlers and defenders. Their last
win at Amstelveen over Germany may be taken as to have enhanced their
prospects at Atlanta.
India too is no more among the also-rans. Having put up a resilient show at
Hamburg against Germany and Australia and earlier Down Under they may
exhibit the streaks of the Asian tactics and may upset the calculations of
many countries. It is to be seen how they fare in this 12-nation contest.
Apart from Germany, Australia and Holland the picture appears blurred and
winners may come from amongst them.
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960713
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Extra security steps in Atlanta for India, Pakistan hockey
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By Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, July 12: Extra security measures would be taken for the
Pakistan-India hockey match in the Atlanta Olympics where the authorities
do not rule out the possibility of bombings, kidnappings or even Japanese-
style poison gas attacks.
Consequently a joint security operation by FBI, CIA, the Defense
Intelligence Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the State
Department, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Atlanta and Georgia
police, besides other agencies, has been launched in the Olympic city.
The operation was described by the New York Times as the largest
peacetime security operation for a public event in US history.
Officials said on Friday despite such a massive operation, extra security
measures would also be in place for sensitive events like Pakistan-India
hockey match or Bosnian-Serb ties.
With an event of this magnitude which is world-wide in scope and truly
historic, it is reasonable to expect we will have some threats, Bill
Rathburn, the Security Director for the Olympics, said in Atlanta.
But we have, at this point, no credible threats, Rathburn told a news
conference, adding that he was not worried that the security will be
stifling or overwhelming or offensive in any way.
It said there were three times as many guards as athletes, computerised
credentials that recognise hands and can be turned off by remote control,
ubiquitous television monitors (including some in a blimp overhead), and
intelligence agents preparing an antipathy matrix of who in the world is
angry at whom.
The underlying fear for the scores of federal and state agencies co-
operating in the effort is that the extravaganza will be a tempting target
for terrorists, foreign or domestic.
The cost of security is expected to run to at least $303 million, with the
federal government picking up some $227 million of the tab, and the rest
divided by local governments and the Olympics committee.
A centre at which security efforts will be co-ordinated, looking like a
space launching command, is packed with computers capable of zooming from
maps of whole city blocks to seating sections of stadiums. It will be
staffed round the clock by representatives of agencies, including the FBI,
the CIA, the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms, the State Department, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, Atlanta and Georgia police and other agencies.
Advanced devices, however, are to provide much of the protection for the
sites of the Olympic contests and the Olympic village in which the
athletes, their coaches and trainers will live, said Rathburn, the Security
Director.
These include a scanner that matches hand geometry a three-dimensional
model of a hand embedded in a computer chip on the credentials to the
bearers real hand for a foolproof identification.
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960713
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Dalmiya wants court to interpret ICC rules
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Qamar Ahmed
LONDON, July 12: The International Cricket Councils annual conference is
over without coming to a decision as to who will be their next chairman.
The election to pick a candidate ended in an impasse as was expected. It
should not have been the way it did.
Jagmohan Dalmiya, Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI), one of the three candidates for the post of the chair, won the
majority vote but yet was unable to win because he did not get two-thirds
backing of the nine Test-playing nations. As per constitution of the ICC
one had earn the vote of six full members to be elected irrespective of the
majority vote of the 22 associate members.
In the first ballot he had the support of 16 votes, compared to 15 by
Malcolm Gray of Australia and 9 by Krish Mackerdhuj of South Africa after
which the last named had the decency to withdraw. In the second ballot
Dalmiya won by 25 to 13 against Gray but he had the support of only four
full members and Gray had three with two of the full members abstaining.
Dalmiya was told that this is not enough and Sir Clyde Walcott will
continue for another year and not beyond and a new chairman will be elected
at the next meeting.
With the existing system in force how then it will be possible to come to a
decision if a situation like 1996 election is faced by the ICC.
Dawn page