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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 01 March 1997 Issue : 03/09
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Dual nationality Restrictions of visa may go
Army called out after clashes in Multan
Five killed in Lahore blast, firing on mosque
Asif caught on tape admitting drug trade : UK paper
PPP to sue Sunday Times
Beg says he is not answerable to court
New foreign secretary appointed
Eight-member federal cabinet sworn in
HRCP disputes turnout figures in elections
Siachen, trade should be basis of bilateral talks
---------------------------------
Foreign exchange reserves cross $1 billion mark
Traders fear misuse of green channel
State Bank spells out details
Nawaz to honour caretakers commitments
Victory carries a load of responsibility
Sharifs uphill task to reduce prices
Pakistans post-election economic prospects
Links to be forged with overseas stock markets
KSE index loses 43 points, fresh sell-off predicted
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Toil and tears Ardeshir Cowasjee
The high cost of intelligence Mazdak
Big Brother Omar Kureishi
Counting the cost of Kashmir Mazdak
Ultimate responsibility Hafizur Rahman
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Mujtaba, 91, helps Pakistan lift SAARC trophy
Zaheer wants more regional cricket matches
Jansher threatens to skip World Series event
Pakistans hockey potential
Venturing a verdict on the most dangerous attack
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970221
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Dual nationality Restrictions of visa may go
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 20: Pakistanis holding dual nationality may not be required to
obtain visas for entering the country of their origin as the federal
government is considering certain facilities for them.
Sources said relaxation in the visa restrictions for people of Pakistani
origin having dual nationality was being considered by the government of
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had recently appealed to the overseas
Pakistanis to deposit at least $1,000 in their accounts in Pakistan to help
reconstruct the countrys economy.
The appeal is reported to have already started getting a positive response
from the Pakistanis living abroad as, according to the State Banks
reports, Pakistans foreign reserves have been swelling since the victory
of Pakistan Muslim League in the general elections on Feb 3.
The sources said a final and formal decision regarding the relaxation in
visa restrictions to those having dual nationality was expected shortly.
A senior official of the FIA immigration, who asked not to be named,
however, told Dawn that he had been directed by his seniors to ensure
maximum facilities for the incoming people having dual nationality.
He said those possessing dual nationality in the United States and other
European countries were required to obtain a visa from the Pakistani
embassies in their respective countries for entering the country of their
origin. However, under the immigration rules, the such people holding
Pakistani passport along with their foreign passports could also enter
Pakistan without a visa, but they are given a landing permit for 72 hours
by the immigration authorities and were bound to obtain a visa from the
passport office if they wished to prolong their stay beyond 72 hours, the
official said.
The FIA official said maximum facilities to those with dual nationality
technically meant that they might not be required to obtain the visa for
their stay in Pakistan. They could enter the country on their foreign
passports, he added.
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970222
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Army called out after clashes in Multan
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Our Correspondent
MULTAN, Feb 21: The district administration had to call out army to
maintain law and order and avert any further untoward incident after three
people, including an ASI, were injured in a clash between protesters and
police near Chungi-No 9 on Friday afternoon.
The army is patrolling the Suraj-Miani, Khanewal Road, LMO Road, and
Kutchery Road areas.
Police also resorted to baton-charge and teargas to disperse a group of
protesters who turned violent after attending the funeral prayers for the
four people killed in the Iranian Culture Centre firing.
Funeral prayers for the four were to be held at 2pm at the sports ground,
but these were held at 4:30pm after the administrations assurance that
three Shia leaders, Prof Mazhar Husain Gilani, Allama Bashir Ahmed Momin
and Allama Ahmed Raza Najfi, would be released on Saturday morning.
Leaders of the PPP, the Milli Yekjehti Council, the Muslim League and the
Khidmat-i-Insaniyat Party also attended the funeral.
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970228
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Five killed in Lahore blast, firing on mosque
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Staff Reporter
LAHORE, Feb. 27: Five people were killed and over 15 suffered injuries in
two terrorist incidents in the provincial metropolis.
A bomb explosion at a busy wagon-stand near railway station claimed three
lives and injured 13 others, five of them critically, while two traders
said to be financiers of Sipah-i- Sahaba were killed and two others injured
in a shooting incident outside the Masjid-i-Shuhada.
Police said people were boarding a wagon at the railway station stand at
about 8.50 pm when a powerful explosion ripped through the vehicle. The
roof and doors of the vehicle were blown away and people sitting inside
sustained serious injuries. Flying glass splinters also injured a number of
people standing nearby. A few vehicles parked alongside the wagon were also
damaged.
Rescue operation started about 15 minutes after the incident. Eleven people
were brought to Mayo Hospital where three succumbed to their injuries. Some
people were under treatment at the Railway Cairn Hospital. Police cordoned
off the area soon after the incident and senior civil and police officials
visited the spot to gather first- hand information.
A bomb-disposal-squad official said an explosive device weighing about 1.5
kg was placed beneath the wagon, and it was premature to say whether it was
a remote control device. The van owner, Allah Ditta -said he saw no
suspicious person boarding or alighting. He said they had reached the
wagon-stand about 15 minutes before the incident and swept the floor of the
van. Nothing was present inside it. The bomb, he said, was placed beneath
the vehicle afterwards.
The identity of the people killed in the incident was not established and
the bodies remained at the hospital. Two of the deceased were teenagers
while the third was about 25-years-old.
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970225
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Asif caught on tape admitting drug trade : UK paper
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24: Authorities here were tight-lipped about the reported
disclosures by Londons Sunday Times that Asif Ali Zardari had been caught
on tape admitting his alleged drug connections and crimes.
The State Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the CIA were
separately approached by Dawn for their comments but each of them declined
to say anything at this stage.
We are not even in a situation where we can speculate about it, a State
Department official said when inquired whether in such cases it was
possible that the United States might ask for drug offenders to be brought
to the US for trial.
Declining to offer any further comments, the official said: We are looking
into these reports.
A CIA public affairs spokesman said he would not comment on the report
either.
The news, however, struck the Pakistani community and even these US
departments like a bomb shell. Scores of Pakistanis telephoned Dawn to know
whether it was correct and what had been the US reaction to the
disclosures.
The Sunday Times had revealed that an undercover agent, posing as a drug
dealer, had taped a five-hour discussion with Mr Zardari, in which he
revealed how he had been shipping heroin to the UK on a regular basis. Most
of the Pakistanis asked the names of the senior PAF officer and the
businessman who were allegedly present when the agent recorded the
conversation with Mr Zardari.
The Pakistan government should now get to the bottom of the case and
extract the truth from Mr Zardari as well as the PAF officer and the
businessman, a Pakistani American businessman said.
Observers said the timing of the disclosures was very relevant to the
situation in Pakistan where the caretaker government had failed to prove
any charge of corruption against Mr Zardari and had arrested him in
connection with Murtaza Bhuttos murder.
They said the authorities could now officially seek the contents of the
tapes and institute charges of drug trafficking against Mr Zardari and his
friends who were allegedly involved.
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970225
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PPP to sue Sunday Times
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 24: The Pakistan Peoples Party has decided to take legal
recourse against the Sunday Times for carrying, what they called, a
concocted and baseless story regarding the involvement of Mr Asif Ali
Zardari in drug smuggling.
The party is setting up a panel of lawyers to file legal damage suit
against the Sunday Times of London. The party high command is also writing
a letter to the CIA to make public the evidences, including the audio
cassettes proving Mr Zardaris involvement in drug smuggling.
The PPP chairperson is being made a target of senseless media propaganda
because she is perceived to be the main obstacle in the on-going conspiracy
against Pakistan, said a PPP spokesman.
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970225
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Beg says he is not answerable to court
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Staff Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 24: Former army chief Gen Aslam Beg told the Supreme Court
that he was not answerable to it regarding his actions as the chief of army
staff and the sitting COAS is the only competent and proper person to look
into the allegations or take action.
He made this statement after the issuance of notice by the Supreme Court on
the petition of Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan.
The former air chief had filed a petition against the former COAS alleging
that he had drawn Rs150 million from the Mehran Bank and had distributed
the amount to different politicians before the 1990 elections.
When the hearing started on Monday, Deputy Attorney-General Mumtaz Ahmed
Mirza placed a certificate from the secretary ministry of defence stating
that the ISI had not received any money.
The counsel for Gen Beg, Mohammad Akram Shaikh, demanded that Gen (retd)
Asad Durrani and General (retd) Naseerullah Babar should be summoned to the
court for recording their statements.
The three-member bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Justice
Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, Justice Fazal Ellahi Khan and Justice Bashir
Jehangiri, adjourned the hearing of the case till March 26.
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970226
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New foreign secretary appointed
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 25: The government on Tuesday removed Najmuddin Sheikh from
the office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs and appointed Shamshad Ahmed as
the new foreign secretary.
Shamshad Ahmed was a Special Secretary in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Najmuddin Sheikh, who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs for almost
three years, had been appointed by the government of Benazir Bhutto.
Shamshad Ahmed, who belongs to the 1965 batch, was also Secretary-General
of the Economic Cooperation Organisation. During his 32-year-long service
as a diplomat, he has been Pakistans ambassador to Tehran and South Korea.
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970226
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Eight-member federal cabinet sworn in
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 25: An eight-member federal cabinet was sworn in on Tuesday
night at a ceremony at the presidency here. President Farooq Leghari
administered oath.
The cabinet includes five ministers (including one adviser having the
status of a federal minister) from Punjab, two from NWFP and one from
Sindh.
Those who took oath as ministers from Punjab are Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain
(Ministry of Interior and Narcotics Control with additional charge of
Ministries of Railways, Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis); Chaudhry
Nisar Ali (Ministry of Water and Power with additional charge of Ministry
of Petroleum and Natural Resources); Syeda Abida Hussain (Ministry of
Population Welfare with additional charge of Ministries of Women
Development, Social Welfare and Special Education, Environment, Local
Government and Rural Development); Mohammad Ishaq Dar ( Ministry of
Commerce with additional charge of Ministry of Industries and Investment);
and Mushahid Hussain (Adviser to the Prime Minister on Information and
Media Development with the status of a full minister with additional charge
of Ministry of Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth Affairs).
The NWFP is represented by former National Assembly Speaker Gohar Ayub
(Ministry of foreign affairs with additional charge of Ministry of Kashmir
Affairs, Northern Areas, States and Frontier Regions) and Sartaj Aziz(
Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Statistics with additional charge
of Planning and Development Division) and Sindh is represented by Syed
Asghar Shah (Ministry of Housing and Works with additional charge of
Ministry of Education.
Lt Gen (retd) Majeed Malik has been appointed as Chairman Prime Ministers
Implementation and Inspection Commission with the status of a federal
minister. While all others are full ministers, Syed Asghar Shah has been
inducted as a minister of state.
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970227
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HRCP disputes turnout figures in elections
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Staff Reporter
LAHORE, Feb. 26: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has
reiterated that its teams observation of the turnout during the Feb. 3
elections do not somehow tally with the official figures.
In a Press statement issued on Tuesday, HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir
clarified that the HRCPs assessment of the elections so far remains the
same as it gave out on Feb. 4.
She said: It appears that there is another human rights body that has,
confusingly, adopted the same initials HRCP as that of the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan. It has just published its comments on the polls.
These have unfortunately widely been mistaken as ours. I wish to clarify
that HRCPs assessment of the elections so far remains the same as it gave
out in its Press release the following day.
Our teams which toured 100 of the National Assembly constituencies and
close to 200 of the provincial assemblies constituencies did report that to
the extent of their initial observations the polling was orderly and
according to the rules. But to confine an assessment of polling to the
motions of the casting of ballots is to under-define the concept of
fairness and freeness. We had pointed out that a number of other factors,
such as the conduct of the caretakers, the official pronouncements during
the run-up to the election, and the cases in the high courts and Supreme
Court, had also apparently greatly affected the process, the HRCP
chairperson concluded.
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970228
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Siachen, trade should be basis of bilateral talks
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27: The United States on Wednesday revealed the outlines
of what could be the beginning of a major negotiating process between
Pakistan and India in which Kashmir may not be on top of the agenda but
Siachen and trade issues are to be given top priority.
"It is up to the two countries to decide how they fit Kashmir into that
equation. It may be that India and Pakistan can get together and come up
with some kind of negotiating process whereby the political status of
Kashmir is not first on the agenda but rather Siachen is first and trade is
second," Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphel told an important
seminar on Pakistan's future, its domestic, foreign and economic policies.
The discussion was organised jointly by the US Institute of Peace and the
Middle East Institute in Washington. The panellists held a 90-minute
discussion on Pakistan's major political, economic and foreign policy
problems and some very interesting observations and comments were made
which could indicate how the US policy would now move vis-`-vis the new
government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in particular and Pakistan in
general.
On the economic problems facing Pakistan, Ms Raphel said Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif was aware how little manoeuvring room there was for his
government and she was glad that Mr Sharif had decided to abide by the
agreements with the IMF, disregarding advice to the contrary. "The basic
problem is that Pakistan spends too much and does not collect enough
revenue. The result of this is that it would be difficult for them to meet
the targets set by the IMF arrangements. We are pleased to hear that Nawaz
Sharif has decided to stick to the IMF arrangement and will try and
increase revenues by privatisation, retiring debts and asking expatriate
Pakistanis to put money into Pakistan," Ms Raphel said. She was very clear
that rejection of IMF agreements would have been disastrous for Pakistan.
"I don't think that would have worked and they would have run severe risk
if they walked away from that IMF programme," she said.
Suggesting measures that should be undertaken by the new government, the US
Assistant Secretary of State said: "Starting down the road to solving
Pakistan's economic problems is difficult because it needs austerity and
nobody is terribly keen on that. "The intentions of Nawaz Sharif are good
but he will have to work hard to sell the idea of austerity, to pay now and
get later. It is a hard concept to sell," she added.
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961128
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Foreign exchange reserves cross $1 billion mark
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Nasir Malick
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 27: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's debt retirement scheme is
receiving enthusiastic response from the people and the foreign exchange
reserves have crossed $1.0 billion, government officials said. Everyone is
contributing in whatever manner he can," an official said.
On Thursday, the prime minister received donations and fixed deposits worth
more than Rs2 billion during the businessmen convention, which was presided
over by him.
The government is mostly banking on Pakistani expatriates to send money by
donating or depositing $1,000 each in one of the three schemes launched by
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Commerce Minister Ishaq Dar said in an
interview that foreign exchange reserves stood at $1.065 billion as against
$780 million which the government had inherited from the caretakers. He
said in the first seven days after Nawaz Sharif took oath of his office,
foreign exchange reserves increased by $100 million while in the last three
days another $185 million were added to them.
Commerce Minister Ishaq Dar said the government was expecting to collect at
least $1.0 billion from local and expatriate Pakistanis for debt retirement
fund. He said the government would endeavour to increase the foreign
exchange reserves to $2 billion.
Pakistan has to pay more than $1.25 billion in debt retirement this year. A
government official said the proceeds from the privatisation of state-run
industries would also be used for paying off the national debt. He said the
previous government had not used the entire privatisation proceeds for debt
retirement. "The PPP government paid off $1.0 billion in debt servicing
though it could have paid more." He said the privatisation process was
being geared up so that the debt could be paid off as early as possible.
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970227
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Traders fear misuse of green channel
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Aamir Shafaat Khan
KARACHI, Feb. 26: The prices of some electronic items have come down in the
local market in anticipation of their influx through the green channel,
which the government had restored two days back.
Dealers at the Regal Chowk contemplate further decline in prices within the
next 20 days if the green channel, like previous experience, turns into a
Khepia channel.
They said the government this time had taken stern measures at the airports
to check illegal imports but former Chairman, Pakistan Electrical and
Electronic Manufacturers Association (PEEMA), A.H.A. Ahmed told Dawn the
goods had started arriving into the markets.
The misuse of green channel can only be curbed when the Customs department
becomes strict, otherwise the unscrupulous persons will take the channel by
storm, he added.
It may be noted here that the prices of electronic items move both ways in
the markets, depending on the activities of Khepias as well as on import
duties.
Mr Ahmed was of the view that the menace of smuggling through Afghan
Transit Trade (ATT) and other channels could only be tackled if the
government reduces the import duties.
Former President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Haji Shafiqur
Rehman in a letter to Nawaz Sharif urged him to issue orders for punishment
of officials who may be found to allow the misuse of the green channel.
He also urged the prime minister to fix 35 percent customs duty on the
import of tea, crockery items, electronics, perfumes, small auto spare
parts and spices as these items were considered preferable items for
Khepias.
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970225
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State Bank spells out details
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Feb. 24: The State Bank of Pakistan spelled out the foreign
exchange mobilisation programme announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on
Sunday evening to relieve the country of foreign debts.
While deposits would be accepted as outright donations and Qarz-i-Hasna for
a minimum period of two years from overseas as well as resident Pakistanis,
the State Bank has announced the rate of returns on profit-bearing deposits
in dollar, pound sterling and Deutsche mark of two-year, three-year, four-
year and five-year.
In a circular issued to all authorised dealers and all foreign exchange and
investment banks holding restricted authorised dealers licences, the State
Bank stated that the depositor would be entitled to receive funds in the
currency in which the deposit was made and the return would be payable on a
quarterly basis.
The State Bank has fixed 9% annual rate on five-year dollar deposit, 8.5%
on four-year dollar deposit, 8% on three-year deposit and 7.5% on two-year
deposit.
On pound sterling deposits, the State Bank has offered 9.75% annual rate of
return on five-year deposit, 9.20% on four-year, 8.80% on three-year and
8.40% on two-year deposit.
An annual rate of 7% has been offered on five-year Deutsche mark deposit,
6.30% on four-year, 5.70% on three-year and 5.10% on two-year.
The SBP circular made it clear that in case of two-year deposits there
would no encashment before maturity but has made provisions for premature
encashment of deposits of three-year and more.
Any depositor who wishes to receive the profit of his deposit in rupee has
been advised to indicate it in writing to the concerned bank which will
arrange for transfer of the rupee amount to a person designated by him.
The deposit will be kept in the name of the depositor. At the time of
placement of funds, or afterwards, another person can be designated to
receive the amount in case of mishap. The circular states that all the
authorised dealers have agreed to handle all remittances under this
programme free of charge and commission.
The circular has also mentioned procedure for the banks to record the name
and address of the person who is remitting the money specifying the purpose
and also the name and address of the person who would be claimant in case
of mishap.
Under this programme any person who remits and deposits one hundred
thousand dollars (or equivalent amount of other currencies) would be issued
a letter of appreciation signed by the prime minister in addition to
deposit receipt.
Similarly, a person who deposits one million dollar or equal amount in
other currencies would be invited to receive the letter personally from the
prime minister.
The circular also spells out the procedure for maintaining the record of
the deposits, donations and Qarz-i-Hasna in the banks and its subsequent
information to the foreign exchange department of the State Bank on daily
basis.
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970222
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Nawaz to honour caretakers commitments
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Ihtasham ul Haque
THE NEWLY ELECTED Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has assured the President
that his government will abide by the commitments made by the caretakers
with the IMF to combat the critical economic situation of the country.
The Prime Minister held a long meeting with the President along with his
economic and financial experts and said that he would continue the major
economic policies of the caretakers and that he would abide by the
commitments made with the IMF, disclosed the caretaker minister for
commerce, Dr Zubair Ahmad Khan.
He told Dawn that since the economic situation was still critical despite
the many efforts made by the interim government, the new government would
pursue the caretakers policies.
The President had done a very good job by providing an opportunity to both
the caretakers and the prime minister as well his economic team here on
February 16 to discuss important economic policies and their continuation
and I can tell you that the new government is equally disturbed about the
state of the economy and has assured to implement economic reform programme
agreed with the IMF, he stated. I can not say authoritatively that the
new government would re-negotiate any agreement with the IMF because they
are independent to take any decision, he added saying that the caretakers
could not force anyone to continue their policies.
However, he expressed his optimism that Mr Nawaz Sharif seemed serious
about rehabilitating the economy and would continue the polices of the
interim government. When we met in the Presidency, Shahid Javed Burki gave
the briefing during which I and Dr Hafiz Pasha were also present and Mr
Sharif was assisted by Mr Sartaj Aziz and Ishaq Dar and I found a
realisation in them to improve things in the light of our policies as well
as that of the IMF.
The caretaker commerce minister who would have relinquished the charge of
the ministry by the time this piece appears, said the caretakers were
leaving with the hope that the new government would strengthen the policies
given during the last three months to improve the economic situation.
He said the President had told the meeting that he would also be readily
available to advise the new government on economic issues. You know the
President himself is an expert on economic and financial matters and has
been giving advice to the previous government but their bad luck that they
did not listen to him with the result that they are not only out of power
but also being looked down upon by the people of Pakistan, he said adding
that the verdict of the people in the February 3 elections should be an eye
opener for the PPP if it really wants to remain in the political arena.
One of the major conditionaliites of the IMF was that Pakistan would have
to achieve 4 per cent GDP growth rate during 1996-97 and it had refused to
compromise on it. Experts believed that it would be an uphill task for the
Nawaz administration to achieve that formidable target without which things
would become very difficult for him.
We have no plans to re-negotiate anything with the IMF and we would
sincerely be trying to achieve 4 per cent GDP growth rate, said PML
Secretary-General Senator Sartaj Aziz, likely to be given the portfolio of
the finance ministry.
He told this correspondent that his government has set out its priorities
which primarily include the removal of distortions in the economy made by
the previous government. We are very conscious that we have a very hard
task ahead but we will try to correct things without being sluggish and
lenient, hoping that his government would be able to deliver something
that would help pull the country out of what he termed an economic mess
created by the Benazir government.
The IMF feels very strongly about the 4 per cent GDP growth rate, reducing
inflation to single digit, restricting borrowing to a Rs 22 billion limit
and making the central bank more independent specially to effectively run
the commercial banks and the Development Financial Institutions (DFIs).
Independent experts, though appreciating the concern of the new government
about the economy, were not sure whether Mr Nawaz Sharif would be able to
drastically cut the non-development budget and other unnecessary
expenditures. They said that past practice showed that every successive
government in Pakistan eventually succumbed to the pressure of its
legislators for offering them undue benefits.
Insiders said that Shahid Javed Burki had warned the new prime minister and
his team on February 16 that in case the agreement with the IMF was flouted
then the situation would become horrifying to the extent that no
international lending agency or foreign private bank would come to our
rescue.
He reportedly told them that downgrading of the credit worthiness of
Pakistan by Moodyss of New York had done great damage and that this must
be avoided in future.
In this regard, he claimed that he had persuaded another credit rating
agency- Standard and Poors- not to go for any downgrading of Pakistan.
Sources said that the President had also made it clear to the new
government without mincing words that there would be no free of all and
that he would be there to monitor the economic situation. He also explained
to them the role of the Council for Defence and National Security whose
main purpose he pointed out would be to ensure political stability and
economic policies continuation in Pakistan.
We are handing over power to the PML government with the hope that they
deliver, Dr Zubair said, hoping that the economic experts of the new
government would move forward for achieving economic betterment of
Pakistan.
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970222
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Victory carries a load of responsibility
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M. Iqbal Patel
PEOPLES verdict in 1997 election carried various messages particularly
that the people seriously take note of the activities of the rulers.
The lesson to the winning party is that the mismanagement of economy, the
misuse of powers, rampant corruption and mis-use of tax payers money
contributed to the debacle of PDF government and their defeat in the
general elections.
The people gave a massive mandate to PML(N) at a time when the nation is
celebrating its golden jubilee is a reflective of the expectations of the
people attached with the party that created Pakistan and is entrusted by
them to rebuild the nations economy and free it from the subservience of
the WB and the IMF. The PML(N), therefore, has to take some bold decisions
to put the economy on the right track.
The people are facing the pressure of rising prices. The average inflation
rate for last three years was officially put at around 11.7 per cent but
privately it was estimated at around 20 per cent. There is need to control
and stabilise the prices of kitchen items particularly on a priority basis.
The PDF and caretaker governments have increased the prices of gas,
electricity and POL frequently in order to reduce the budget deficit to 4
per cent of GDP. The caretaker during their short tenure raised the gas
charges twice aggregating 25 per cent. It was said to have been increased
on the demand of IMF which is said to be insisting on bringing gas price in
line with the cost of production. This justification would have been
correct if the gas companies should have been running in losses. Whereas
the annual report of one of the companies, SSGC showed a pre-tax profit in
their latest annual report at over Rs.1 billion. Same is the case with the
POL companies; PSO earned Rs 1175.62 mln profit in 1993-94.
The people are panalised by raising the energy prices for the inefficiency,
dishonesty and pilferages of the KESC, WAPDA, and the gas companies as is
reflective from the electric bills which other charges like FAC and
surcharges which include constitute more than 100 per cent of energy or
charges of the bill.
These companies are facing the liquidity crunch and cannot retire their
foreign debts. In fact, these companies should manage to collect their dues
/ arrears from the politicians who are the utilities defaulters. It would
help to improve their liquidity position instead of burdening the people
with high unforformidable utility charges. Prices of power, gas, petroleum
have a direct impact on the cost of production and transport, this burden
is shifted by industries and others to the people by raising the prices of
the goods and services on one hand and the export becomes incompetative on
the other. Thus all economic activities are affected.
The frequent increases in POL charges are reflective of the adjustment of
exchange rates of Pak rupees against dollar as required under the agreement
executed with the WB and IMF. These companies should, instead, adjust these
exchange differences against Exchange Risk Reserves to be created out of
annual profit of the company. Thereby increase in POL prices could be
avoided.
Manufacturing sector
The export during the first three years increased on an average, by 8.9 per
cent per annum against target of 12.5% while the import rose by 7.1 per
ceent per annum, the cumulative deficit in the trade account therefore
surpassed the plan target. Thus the economy is plagued by huge deficit and
trade imbalance.
Production has slowed down and more than 3000 industrial units have been
closed and the industry grew by only 2.6 per cent during the last three
years against the target of 10.5 per cent. The steps should be taken to
start and enhance their production through initiating fiscal measures such
as reducing the income tax rate at import stage, reducing the import tariff
of industrial goods and by reducing the rate of general sales tax.
These measures will revive the industrial activities, hence the production
will increase, export will be augmented, inflation will decrease, prices
will decrease and the employment opportunities will be increased.
Taxation & corruption
Our society is mainly faced with the problems that out of a population of
more than 130 mln only 0.80 people were paying income tax, there is massive
evasion of tax and the tax collectors remained corrupt.
Thus there is a need to widen the tax net, reinforce equity by widening the
base of direct taxation bringing farm income into tax net which was
estimated to fetch Rs 20.0 billion.
All the unnecessary exemptions should be eliminated, discrimination among
tax payers should be abolished and the salary income of public
representatives and of the government employees should be made taxable at
par with tax payers of the corporate sector.
The number of tax payers should be enhanced by encouraging new comers by
introducing a long-term at least for three years liberal self-assessment
scheme and other simplified procedures and systems.
Transparency International has labelled Pakistan the most corrupt nation in
Asia. The corruption is the leakage where form the tax revenue is flowed
out. The tax evasion and corruption in the tax officials are due to vast
discretionary powers vested with them under the income tax law. Therefore
these discretionary pow3rs of the tax officials should be minimised and be
made subject to check and balances which will help to minimise the tax
evasion and corruption. it is estimated that the prevailing scale of tax
evasion is to the tune of Rs 120 billion annually and scale of corruption
once about a decade ago was estimated by then Finance Minister to cost
exchequer at Rs 2.0 billion.
More revenue can be collected through a crusade against corruption rather
than imposing high rate of taxation. High tax rate elude the government
efforts to raise the revenue / GDP ratio. The maximum tax rates in most
countries of Far East are below 35 per cent as against the average of 65
peer cent in Pakistan. This situation suggests to reduce tax rate which
will yield high saving rate and tax revenue too.
Therefore restructuring the tax system which plugged off these leakages is
a need of the time which will increase the number of tax payers and will
enhance tax revenue collection as per target plan of the government.
A considerable money of Rs 135 billion is stucked up with the defaulters of
bank loans. A recovery process thereof should be started. The government
should require the individual banks to negotiate the matter with their
clients and to work out a compromised arrangement with them rescheduling
their outstanding loans and get the compromise sanctioned from the court as
provided under Section 284 of the Companies Ordinance 1984.
This way the defaulters will find it easy to repay their outstanding loans.
The banks thus will receive money. it will reduce the cost of credit which
hitherto have increased to over 20 per cent. Recovery of bank loans, will
increase the capacity of banks to give funds for the growth of industry
which will help in reviving economic activities.
Further, the government should look into the huge bank loans amounting to
Rs 9.78 billion which were not written off by the influential during 1986-
96 period.
The government should speed up privatisation through the process of stock
exchanges. It should also disinvest the shares held by it in the banks and
DFIs like MCB, ABL, PICIC, BEL and HBCCI.
These measures will broaden the base of stock exchange and will bring
stability. The money so generated through privatisation of units and
disinvestment of share of banks should be utilised in the retirement of
foreign debts: so as to reduce the debts service charges. This will also
infuse confidence of the donors.
The economy is plagued by huge foreign debts of some $30 billion which made
our nation a subservieent to WB and IMF who dictates us their terms and
interfere in governance of our economy. It, therefore, should be urgent
priority to retire these debts as soon as possible.
Their unrealistic prescriptions do not suit to our requirement and instead
it makes it still worse. The living examples are the deficit target set by
them at 4% of GDP, generation of revenue of Rs 41 bln through additional
taxes in the budget of 1996-97 to meet their conditionalities which proved
a blow to our economy, similarly imposing of GST that too at high rate also
have adversely affected our economy.
The government should approach the WB and IMF to re-negotiate the deficit /
GDP ratio higher than 4 per cent and to grant moratorium on servicing of
foreign debts at least for three years so that resources could be made
available to improve social services and revamp the infrastructure
facilities needed to boost national economy.
A big piece of the cake is eaten up in paying of debt service charges and
military expenditures which have damaging effect on the rest of economy.
Hence efforts should be made to retire the debts speedily. Further our
foreign policy should be reviewed to have better relations with our
neighbours, so as the expenditures on defence could be reduced which at
present accounts for around 6 per cent of the GDP against development
expenditures which has fallen from 7.7 per cent to less than 5 per cent of
GDP upto year 1995-96.
The defence expenditures are exceptionally free from scrutiny or audit. The
tax payers are deprived from their right to know the justification of such
huge expenditures.
Serious efforts be made to lessen the burden on the exchequer by cutting
down the number of miniseries, divisions and departments in both, the
federal and provincial governments.
This would improve save about Rs 35 billion. The savings can if certain
measures are undertaken to reduce the number of employees such as
attractive golden hand-shake and early retirement schemes by designed for
the employees would attract large number of employees out of government
service.
Similarly a freeze should be clamped down on all promotions, increments and
recruitments of the government employees.
These measures sound a bit harsh but will help economy and the country.
Last but not least government should cut their lavish official expenditures
such as on foreign medical treatment, foreign trips, haj, mra with large
entourages, form jumbo cabinets etc.
The measures suggested above would reduce the budgetary crises and place at
the disposal of the government substantial resources which could be
utilised to revive industrial activities in the country and would reduce
budget deficit to four per cent.
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970222
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Sharifs uphill task to reduce prices
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Sultan Ahmed
PRIME MINISTER Nawaz Sharif wants not only to hold down the soaring prices
in an environment of sustained high inflation but also bring down the
prices of essential goods for the common man significantly.
He has identified specifically, wheat flour, sugar, and vegetable ghee, the
prices of which rose sharply in recent weeks following maldistribution,
storage and administrative hiccups and dishonest business practices.
He began working on such a drive even before he was sworn in. His younger
brother, Shahbaz Sharif, had a meeting with businessmen immediately after
the election and pleaded with them to help bring down prices of essential
goods. You voted us into power, and now help us bring down the prices, he
said.
While various figures of price reduction sought or desired have been
mentioned, the minimum is a reduction of one rupee for wheat flour, two
rupees for sugar and three rupees for vegetable oil per kilo. Vigorous
efforts are already underway to bring atta prices down by one rupee per
kilo with which the flour millers are ready to cooperate more or less or
with demands of their own to make the concession real.
What is significant is that a substantial part of these items are imported
and the import continues with 2.4 million tonnes of wheat imports alone due
this year. Sugar import also continues as its production this year is not
expected to exceed 2.6 million tonnes which will be better than last years
2.47 million tonnes but far less than the 1995-96 output of 3 million
tonnes.
The demand of sugar growers for exorbitant prices up to Rs 50 per 40
kilogramme instead of less than a half of that fixed by the government is
bedevilling sugar production and delaying full sugar output.
Overall food prices in the world are now 1.5 per cent less than last year
in dollars and less than 8 per cent in sterling, but 7 per cent more than
last month in dollars and 8.8 per cent more than last month in sterling. So
the world price situation is better than last years particularly when the
imports are done in sterling.
In his earnestness to fulfil his electoral commitment, Mr Sharif may want
to subsidise these items as their prices have risen sharply in recent
months in Pakistan due to the 17 per cent devaluation of the rupee carried
out last year and the higher cost of production, transportation,
distribution and sale.
But that is taboo as far as the IMF and the World Bank are concerned. And
restrictions in that area are so rigid that even the Utility Stores were
restrained from selling their essential items which are usually formally
identified and listed by the government, that was a major departure from
the pattern followed at concessional rates in previous Ramazan. So the
future of Utility Stores is in serious doubt.
Not only does the IMF, which wants to bring down the budget deficit to 4
per cent this year and to 3 per cent next year, it wants all subsidies to
go as also does the World Bank, whose senior vice- president is Mr Shahid
Javed Burki, and who holds all subsidies as a dirty word in public finance.
When World Bank President J.D. Wolfensohn was in India recently, he was
questioned by the Press, very critically, about his opposition to food
subsidies. He said he was opposed to subsidies in the US and in Europe and
so he would be opposed to subsidies in India too as they would make the
Indian economy eventually non-competitive. When he opposed food subsidies
he was also arguing for better returns to the farmers.
But subsidies overall form a minuscule part of public expenditure. Food
subsidies this year are to be only Rs 6 billion compared to Rs 7.55 billion
last year.
The World Bank has mounted a campaign in Pakistan to do away with the
subsidies on imported wheat which enables the government to sell it in
Pakistan at prices at which local wheat is sold.
It sponsored a seminar of agricultural experts through the Agricultural
Prices Commission earlier to evolve a consensus on that. Major farmlords
and some top bureaucrats with large farms of their own supported the move
and argued they should be paid world prices for their wheat, in fact
inclusive of the landed cost of imported wheat which covers shipping and
insurance charges.
Currently Pakistanis are forced to pay higher prices for all imported items
because of the heavy devaluation of the rupee and also high prices for
vegetables in this winter when normally vegetable prices crash,
particularly winter vegetables. Some of the vegetables and fruits are
exported but the export earnings are very small compared with the stiff
prices Pakistanis have been paying for vegetables.
Fish prices have skyrocketed and better quality fish is scarce and too
expensive. Here again we are told of fish exports but again the import
earnings are very small. The dichotomy in both the areas persist.
If the government cannot subsidise food prices and even the Utility Stores
cannot be helpful in this area, and prices in Friday and Tuesday Bazaars
too have been high, how does Mr Nawaz Sharif fulfil his commitment to the
masses to reduce prices of essential items?
As they rejoice over his return to office he can ask the traders to reduce
their profits and lower prices. He has to ask the wholesalers, middlemen,
distributors and retailers to reduce their prices as their profit margin is
very large.
The difference between the prices at the Sabzi Mandi and at the retailers
end can be as much as 200 per cent. Pakistani businessmen have the highest
profit margin in South Asia, Indian businessmen on the other hand rely on
larger turn-over for their profits.
He could persuade the transporters also to reduce their profits. After all
he has helped them with thousands of trucks, buses, Suzukis, taxis and
other form of transport at vastly reduced prices, and he can exhort them to
respond to his call so that he can help them more later.
Of course, they will argue that both the Benazir government and the
caretakers have together increased petrol prices within six months by 18
per cent, kerosene prices by 34 per cent, high speed oil by 34 and light
diesel 42 per cent respectively and furnace oil by 46 per cent.
The caretaker government came up on February 4 with some token reductions
as world prices of oil have fallen by 10 per cent but the price of petrol
was not reduced at all. If Mr Sharif wants the cooperation of businessmen
and transporters in reducing prices, he needs to bring down POL prices in
line with the falling world prices by spring.
The government should also realise that when the prices of any items rises,
hoarding starts in anticipation of still higher prices, which comes to
pass.
In the process, adulteration and use of short weights and measures by
traders, particularly the retailers, become common.
Mr Sartaj Aziz says the Benazir government focused on demand management or
demand reduction by raising taxes and duties and increasing interest rates
but the new government will give more attention to the supply side.
On the physical side of demand reduction Mr Sharif wants small wedding
parties and less social ostentation. He deplores the practice of not only
politicians but also officers with apparent small incomes giving wedding
dinners for thousands of guests. Success in curtailing such ostentation
depends on the extent to which public figures will stay away from such
functions and enquire into the sources of income of the officers indulging
in such excesses.
Prices can come down instead of the Sensitive Price Index hitting 15 per
cent and consumer price index 13 per cent officially, and far more
actually, if agricultural production goes up along with industrial output.
China which had a 26 per cent inflation two years ago has a 6.6 per cent
inflation rate today because of sustained economic growth which is 9.9 per
cent now and will be 10.5 per cent in 1997.
Agricultural output went up in 1996 by 5.1 per cent and industrial
production by 20.4 per cent. Food grains last year registered a record
output of 480 million tonnes and meat and fisheries output went up by 10
per cent. And the Chinese yuan has come up from 8.48 to a dollar two years
ago to 8.29 now, the same as in February last year, making imports, cheaper
unlike us who have to pay 30 per cent more.
Indian example
The same has happened in India where inflation has come down from 12.2 per
cent last year to 8.5 per cent now because of the bumper harvests its
exportable sugar and cotton, industrial growth of 9.9 per cent and
reduction in the interest rate on short term lending from 12.97 per cent to
7.5 per cent now.
In Pakistan, prices have been rising as a result of a large mix of official
policies and irrational official steps. They include constant increase in
agricultural support prices, rise in taxes and increase in their variety,
rise in cost of production due to increase in power, gas and water rates,
soaring cost of transportation, high interest rates, frequent devaluation
of the rupee which pushed up the cost of imports and the high cost of
pervasive corruption and frequent strikes and shut-downs.
Mr Nawaz Sharif has to address all these problems almost simultaneously if
prices have to come down not on a tactical basis or for a short time but on
a lasting basis and stay that way.
All that has to begin with large cuts in official expenditure and an
insistent drive against corruption, particularly in the taxation services
which is too deeply infected.
If revenues increase and expenditure goes down, the government need not
foul up the consumer economy with various taxation, administrative and
monetary measures which have bogged down the economy and reduced large
scale industrial growth to a mere 2.6 per cent over the last three years,
which is the source of many of our fiscal and monetary problems and
consumer tears.
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970222
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Pakistans post-election economic prospects
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Dr. Mahnaz Fatima
THE EMERGING economic and political scenario thus far only serves to
confirm the various predictions made through these columns by this writer
during the caretaker interlude.
The question raised earlier by many as to how the caretakers planned to
provide continuity to their economic policies in the event of scheduled
elections, was answered quickly as soon as the CDNS was formed. Further,
several other developments served to confirm the Presidents and the
caretakers resolve to provide continuity.
One such notable move was the National Finance Commission (NFC) award which
needs to be dwelt upon as it also serves to illustrate another type of
continuity that might also be provided to the authoritarian and apathetic
style of economic governance we have been experiencing since the Burki-
Pasha team took over in November 1996.
The caretakers moved with great haste to finalise the NFC award before the
induction of elected representatives when, according to the informed, the
NFC award can only be given by elected representatives of the people, as
per the Constitution of Pakistan.
It seems that, in their exuberance, the efficiency-obsessed classical
economists even ignored the key constitutionality requirement, leave alone
the success that they might have achieved in somehow silencing the voices
of dissent. And, knowing the general levels of patriotism, such enthusiasm
could emanate only from a reasonable assurance of continuity not only of
their policies but also of themselves.
Even more audacious was the announcement of the NFC award on January 13,
1997, by the Pasha-Burki team contrary to the earlier indication that the
award would be signed by the President after conferring with the elected
government. So, this little act of courtesy to the elected government was
also decided against.
The above was done, in the aftermath of elections, amidst news reports
regarding Mr Burkis desire and assurance that the new government would
continue with caretakers economic policies which were nothing but a total
submission to IMF. This was followed by PML(N) former finance minister Mr
Sartaj Azizs quick confirmation of continuation with the IMFs package.
Further, there was an unprecedented lag between the holding of elections
and formation of government ostensibly for the submission of election
expenditure statements. An attempt was, perhaps, made by the caretakers to
fruitfully utilise the lag to influence decision viz-a-viz key cabinet
positions.
So, in addition to a quick report on the portfolios of foreign affairs and
defence, continuity was also reportedly confirmed for Dr Hafiz Pasha, who
held the position of caretaker Deputy-Chairman, Planning Commission. When
in office, both Mr. Burki and Dr. Pasha also symbolise the practice of
classical economic thought in the country. So, the intent of their
continuity was of great symbolic significance as it first means continuity
to the IMF package as also ardently desired by the President himself.
Secondly, knowing their position in office, their continuity also
symbolises the continuity of the extreme classical world view of economics,
generally oblivious to Third World constraints but occasionally garnished
with marginal social sector concerns for reasons of palatability. faith
in price-mechanism and the magic of the marketplace that could surpass
the most coercive practices; ruthless preoccupation with efficiency;
grossly overriding concerns for equitable distribution of income and
resources; non-interference by the government that could approach a virtual
abdication of government responsibility to the people; and a complete
apathy to popular economic opinion from a Third World perspective marking a
ruthless arrogance in style and deeds. Since Mr. Burki was asked to
continue, the intent appears to be in the direction of the continuation of
classical economic thought.
It is little wonder then that we see Mr Sartaj Azizs partially refreshing
statements viz-e-viz the IMFs package and targets followed by almost
nervous denials of the reported statements.
It should then be little surprise that the crucial NFC award was announced
quickly before making any attempt whatsoever to accommodate the concerns of
the elected representatives of the people of Pakistan. Behind this uncalled
for haste is yet another manifestation of conservative thought and elite
arrogance that the educated can think and act better than the people or the
masses in conservative terminology. This thought, if allowed to prevail,
will damage liberal democratic values even before they begin to spread
meaningfully in the country.
Helpless minister?
As a voter, one would, therefore, like to know if Mr Sartaj Aziz is being
inducted as the finance minister with his hands tied at the back, with a
Presidents man poised to serve as de-facto finance minister.
Will the voters of this country even be allowed a chance to get a real
glimpse of PML(N)s economic agenda in action whose central theme is
economic self-reliance? Or, will PML(N) be facing the brunt of an economic
die that has already been cast in the fashion of textbook classical
economics that failed to show results even in the First World where
governments intervened heavily in public interest until such time that
there was little need to do so.
If the above is true, then the elected government will virtually be a
captured one. As a voter, one would then like to see the real finance
minister stand up and take charge so that he is accountable before the
people or can get due credit if he manages to turn the economy around.
If the above argument is contended by our elected representatives and if
the elected representatives choose to continue to repose faith in the
caretaker economic policies; then too, one would be justified in urging the
elected government to let the continuing heir of the caretaker economic
legacy wear the coveted hat of the countrys finance minister.
In addition, our elected representatives confidence in the caretaker
economic policies would make one wonder even more about the post-election
economic prospects of Pakistan.
By now, the true ills of Pakistans economy are known to all and sundry. To
recapitulate, we have an inflated defence expenditure that is taboo to even
talk about publicly by the key decision makers or heads might roll.
Since even lay persons know about this huge burden, could one imagine that
Mr Burki would underestimate its effect on the economy in his honest and
free moments? However, Mr Burkis evasive responses, while in office,
served to demonstrate the impotence of key decision makers as far as
defence expenditure trimming/ reduction is concerned.
In fact, this is one expenditure that is justified by all office seekers,
politicians or otherwise, or else they cannot even think of continuing. All
future governments are expected to remain ineffective in this regard unless
the academics who may be holding ministerial offices in Islamabad can pick
up courage to begin to educate our Generals and the foreign office about
it.
Or, an unencumbered Mr Burki back in Washington would use his good offices
to make it yet another IMF conditionality for Pakistan to adhere to which
would be most welcome.
Second, there is a high debt-servicing burden which the conservative
economic thought is trying to shed selling off the states profitable
concerns.
If at all, this might prove to be a one-time remedy unless we quickly
develop internal resource generation capability to not only compensate for
lost government revenues from state enterprises but to also prevent
incurring of debt in future when we will be left with no state assets to
fall back on. A further assumption of the conservative economic thought is
that private enterprise, once unleashed, will work wonders.
In theory, it should show good results, if not wonders, only if the First
World behaviour patterns can be replicated in Pakistan.
The private business behaviour pattern in Pakistan has, however, been
generally characterised with under-reporting incomes for tax purposes,
defaulting on loans, risk averse business practices, and siphoning away of
declared profits instead of reinvesting in business and industry in the
country.
The quick gains culture has unleashed business enterprise in a distorted
manner with the result that various government incentives and
business/industry friendly policies led to the development of businessmen
and tycoons, in all times, and to a retarded growth of business and
industry in the country which is indeed paradoxical.
One hopes that this is not the type of business enterprise symbolised by
Nawaz Sharif that refuses to agree to give due returns to the country. If
it does, then we might be in for yet another era wherein the business
classes will eat into the very vitals of the countrys economy with the
businessmen becoming richer and the business/industry becoming poorer
making it an almost zero sum game.
And, this is most likely to happen should the agricultural sector continue
to avoid their equitable income tax payment and continues to enjoy a
preferential treatment. Unless the major sectors of the economy begin to
give their due share equitably, we will remain caught in a vicious circle.
Virtuous cycle
If history does not repeat itself, and a virtuous cycle is developed, even
then the gains might never reach the people due to an iniquitous
distribution of assets and means of production that we are beginning yet
another journey with, if at all it is a new beginning.
Without definite policy intervention to redistribute assets before growth,
that is, land reforms and broad-based business ownership; national income
will continue to be distributed most inequitably with social unrest,
agitation, and anger simpering beneath the surface and justifiably so.
So, for our peculiar problems, classical or neo-classical economics has
little or no solutions. On the contrary, it might only serve to strengthen
the above coalition of major interests that would continue to grab major
shares of the pie thus working against the interest of the people, of the
countrys economy, and of the long term interest of the country itself.
The need of the hour is to provide teeth to the economy and not just keep
it afloat through a life-jacket of cosmetic applications to the national
accounts that is the second-best alternative that the classical economists-
cum-public finance experts propose for the country.
At best, this approach can only delay the crisis and might even aggravate
long-run survival prospects as irresponsible economic ways and/or
iniquitous distribution of income will be allowed even more time to
perpetuate.
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970301
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Links to be forged with overseas stock markets
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 28: The government is planning to adopt measures which will
attract maximum equity participation in Pakistani companies from Japanese
investors by creating congenial atmosphere based on confidence-building
efforts and close contacts between the stock exchanges of the two
countries.
For attracting maximum equity participation from Japanese investors in
listed companies as well as new floatations of shares from local companies,
the government would first like to see that Pakistani stock exchanges are
formally recognized by their Japanese counterparts.
The official sources said that to begin with, the Karachi Stock Exchange
(KSE) would be asked to seek formal recognition from the Tokyo Stock
Exchange (TSK) for which it had been advised to take the assistance of the
Japanese Securities Dealers Association (JSDA).
Besides, these sources said, leading Pakistani dealers and brokerage houses
having international affiliations would also be asked to forge links with
major Japanese securities and seek their collaboration and assistance in
attracting equity participations in Pakistani companies.
The government is also approaching local stock exchanges asking them to
organize a number of seminars in Japan so that awareness is created about
Pakistan in general, its economy and its stock markets. These sources said
that newly emerging Asian Tigers like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, even
Singapore organized such seminars which helped to attract participation of
potential portfolio investors from Japan and other developed countries.
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961128
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KSE index loses 43 points, fresh sell-off predicted
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Feb. 27: Massive selling in Hub-Power and PTC vouchers pulled the
KSE index below the psychological barrier of 1,700 points. The loss of
about 43 points in a session at 1,699 was an enormous one. But they failed
to pinpoint specific reasons behind the snap reaction..
Most of the investment shares, notably banks, are eroding major portion of
gains netted after the PML victory in elections and are apparently heading
towards their pre-reaction levels. Insurance shares followed them, although
Adamjee Insurance despite late selling managed to hold on to its early
gains and so did New Jubilee Insurance and some others.
Textile shares, however, evoked good interest under the lead of Burewala
and Dawood Cotton after the announcement of good dividend and so were some
others including Kohinoor Spinning and Nishat Mills. Synthetic shares were
actively traded under the lead of Dewan Salman, Dhan Fibre and Ibrahim
Fibre and so did most of sugar shares after good dividend announcements by
leading among them. Cement shares were actively traded both ways, but
leading among them ran into selling at the higher levels and ended lower,
big losers among them being Chakwal, Cherat and Maple Leaf Cement.
An interim dividend of 30% from PSO and 35% from Shell Pakistan triggered
heavy buying in both the shares but late selling allowed them to finish
with clipped gains.
Electrical shares, which rose sharply after the news of ban on luxury
items, came in for selling later and so did leading shares such as Engro
Chemicals, Fauji Fertiliser, Lever Brothers and some others. Singer
Pakistan, Reckitt and Colman, Hinopak Motors, BOC Pakistan, Ghandhara
Nissan and Dawood Hercules among the MNCs showed good rallies on active
short-covering.
Trading volume showed a fresh modest increase at 58.649 million shares from
the previous 56.814 million shares, although a half of which went to the
credit of Hub-Power and PTC vouchers. Hub-Power again topped the list of
most actives, sharply lower by Rs 1.05 on 13.700m shares, followed by PTC
vouchers, easy 70 paisa on 12m, ICI Pakistan, lower 55 paisa on 9.500m,
Dewan Salman, up 50 paisa on 6.500m, and Fauji Cement, lower 35 paisa on
3.130m shares.
Other actively traded shares were led by FFC-Jordan Fertiliser, off 35
paisa on 0.840m shares, followed by Dhan Fibre, easy 35 paisa 0.897m, Sui
Northern Gas, easy 35 paisa on 0.505m, and Japan Power, lower 15 paisa on
0.313m shares.
There were 389 actives out of which 258 shares fell, 72 rose with 59
holding on to the last levels.
DIVIDEND: Pakistan State Oil Company (PSO), interim 30%, Cherat Paper, 30%
interim, Sakrand Sugar, bonus shares 20%, Shahtaj Sugar, cash 15%, Attock
Refinery, interim 120%, and Fazal Cloth, cash 10%.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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970221
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Toil and tears
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
THE last population census was held in 1981. The next should have been held
in 1991, but was not. The true and changed figures would have suited
neither the party in power nor the party in opposition, as they would have
redefined most of the countrys constituencies and reflected the shift of
population from the rural to the urban areas.
Now, no figure, no statistics can be relied upon. It can only be estimated
that the population of this country is close to 140 million, of which 80
per cent are kept illiterate and ignorant to suit the purposes of their
various rulers.
It was on this basis that the government appealed to the electorate yet
again on February 3. The illiterate people voted in their representives by
ticking their chosen symbol.
Nawaz and his men won, leaving Benazir and her troupe far, far behind. The
usual international observers came and made the usual satisfactory noises.
The winners claim the elections were free and fair; the losers claim the
polls were rigged. The people should be satisfied. These elections were as
fair and free as any elections ever have been in our country, or will be
for a long time to come.
On Monday, February 17, Nawaz was voted in by 177 members as leader of the
house and prime minister. His opponent, PPP loyalist Aftab Shahban Mirani,
managed 16 votes. There was one abstention, Independent Asghar Khan of
Bhakkar (alias Halaku Khan), a former police officer of the Dirty Tricks
Brigade, now an honourable member who, knowing well how clean each side is,
refused to vote for either.
Halaku I have known since 1972, then a dreaded policeman who was sent to
Karachi by Bhutto to question me. Bhutto was desperately trying to find
some evidence against Altaf Gauhar who had been arrested on a trumped-up
charge and jailed. Halaku, quite happy to call a machine gun a gun
machine, ordered his sidekick to pick up Cowasjee Ardeshir, also bearded,
also a Parsi. This unfortunate man, totally ignorant of what was going on,
was taken to the police station and questioned late into the night, until
at last Halaku realising he had the wrong man, arrested me, the machine
gun, and released him, the gun machine.
Halaku has done well for himself, but not half as well as the Lahore
Chaudhrys, sons and relatives of Chaudhry Zahur Elahi, his contemporary in
the lucrative police service. Last year when he called on me (I was on a
visit to Lahore), he arrived in a chauffeur-driven spanking new Mercedes
escorted by his personal armed bodyguard. He was happy with life and said
he had then two of his relatives deputising for him, sitting as elected
members in the Punjab Assembly.
The National Assembly has so far done well for itself. It could not have
chosen a better, a more flexible, and more accommodating man as Speaker
than Ilahi Bakhsh Soomro, who was unanimously elected.
Ilahi Bakhsh and I have known each other since 1943 when we both read
science at the Dayaram Jethmal Sind College, Karachi. Later he moved to the
Nadirshaw Eduljee Dinshaw Engineering College to do his BE, and then went
off to America to do his M.Sc from Columbia Polytechnic. In 1951, it was
Illoo who helped arrange for our mutual friend Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to be
married to his second wife Nusrat, much against the will and wishes of
father Shahnawaz and his family. Illoo produced a Maulvi and the two were
wedded very privately, with only Karamdad Junejo and Ilahi Bakhsh standing
by on Zulfikars side and father Sabunchi with Nusrat.
Illoo joined the Sindh government engineering service in 1952. From 1966 to
1969 he was principal of his old college, which he managed to raise to
university status, transforming it into the NED University of Engineering
and Technology.
In 1970, much to Zulfikar Bhuttos annoyance, Illoos father, Maula Bakhsh,
won against the PPP candidate and was elected from Shikarpur. So, as soon
as he assumed power at the end of 1971 Bhutto sacked the son. The charge:
inefficiency and corruption. In 1973, Ilahi Bakhsh was jailed by Bhutto
on a trumped-up charge of having murdered a man who he had never met. His
family industries were also destroyed.
In 1985, he almost became prime minister of Pakistan when Zia was forming
his government, but fate eluded him and Pagaras chosen Mohammed Khan
Junejo was given the plum, and Illoo a ministership. When democracy dawned,
he stood from Jacobabad and was elected to the National Assembly. In the
last round, in 1993, he was defeated.
Somewhere around 1994-95, Ilahi Bakhsh emerged as a senior, mature
politician.
Sitting now on the high chair, he must take care of and preserve the human
dignity of the members who sit in his House. He should direct his gaze
towards Member Nusrat Bhutto. Our erstwhile friend is suffering from
Alzheimers and is not fully compos mentis. Iloo obviously cannot take up
the matter with Nusrat, but he can persuade Member Born-to-Rule Benazir to
stop using her mother. Taking off from a fathers grave is excusable, but
manipulating an ailing mother is beyond the bounds of decency.
Nusrat has paid more than her price for being a member of that Born-to-Rule
family. She has seen her husband hanged, her younger son die in mysterious
circumstances from a drug overdose, and her elder son gunned down by the
police on the road outside his own house during the regime of her daughter.
One of her two sons-in-law is in jail on a murder charge and the other is
out on bail on another murder charge.
As for the new ringmaster, Nawaz, by now he must find himself walking a
slack rope without either a pole to balance him or anyone handy to take up
the slack. The ordinary citizen cannot afford the luxury of being a party
to what he is likely to do, but he could write for Nawaz the speech he
might give at the inaugural session of our latest National Assembly:
My dear countrymen, my fellow travellers, my brothers, my sisters, my
supporters, my opponents: I stand before you as your leader. My aim is to
save this country, bankrupted by the excesses of the last three democratic
governments two of Benazir and one of mine. The President said that
Benazir and her husband have robbed you, the people, of $1.5 billion, of
which there is no proof. I must declare that my family, my friends and
myself have been accused of robbing you, the people, of the lesser sum of
$1 billion, of which there is also no proof.
However, I have vowed that my new government will not victimise anyone,
friend or enemy, but at the same time will continue the process of
accountability, barely started, and will spare no one, not even the
President or my talented brother, Shahbaz. Cases in court against us and
the Chaudhrys which have been adjourned for good reason will not be
withdrawan.
The President has committed a gross indiscretion. Knowing how broke we are,
just before Eid this month, he chose to fly in a 200-seater Boeing 707 to
perform Umra at your expense. Had he felt that it was below his dignity to
travel by PIA, or Saudia as I did, he could have arranged to charter a
Tiger Moth. Vain pomp and glory we can no longer afford. I hold him
accountable and will be asking him to make good our loss. In the interests
of open government I will make the issue public.
Following Mr Jinnah, who said in his inaugural speech that his first
priority was to maintain law and order, my government will ensure the
safety of life and property and will take action against those responsible
for the political extra-judicial killings. The culprits will be found and
punished, as will the killers of Editor Salahuddin, whose heirs suspect
that it was the MQM that had him murdered, of Lawyer Nizam Ahmed and his
son who it is suspected were murdered by the PPP, and the killers of Mir
Murtaza, the beloved brother of our former prime minister.
Congratulating me in the Assembly on February 17, Benazir seemingly said
that the goose that lays the golden eggs is now on a life-support system,
the eggs broken and scrambled. Let us now unscramble them. The task is
onerous but with help I can succeed. To work is a basic human need, which
maxim we must heed and work harder.
Whatever I will do on the economic front will of necessity be harsh,
stringent and incisive. The bitter pill will have to be swallowed for many
a long year.
Not wishing to emulate Churchill, I offer you nothing but sweat, toil and
tears. Again, not wishing to emulate Garibaldi, I say to anyone who loves
his country: Follow me.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
970301
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The high cost of intelligence
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mazdak
ON 5 November last year, the surprising thing was not that Benazir Bhuttos
government was dismissed, but that the ex-prime minister was surprised by
the Presidents action.
Considering that she had pumped in billions into the Intelligence Bureaus
already-swollen budget, one would have thought she would have detailed
assessments of Mr Legharis plans and timetable. Presumably, the IB would
also have advised her on how to prevent her administrations premature
demise. Indeed, she was just as stunned when she was sacked in 1990. In
both cases, the rest of us could see what was coming without recourse to
what passes as intelligence reports in Pakistan.
One of the many items on the presidential charge-sheet against the Bhutto
government was that the IB was tapping telephones on an unprecedented
scale. Hundreds of tapes are said to have been recovered on which the
conversations of the mightiest in the land have been recorded for
posterity. Masud Sharif, the agencys director, has stated in court that he
ordered this massive bugging operation on his own initiative. Maybe so,
although this is not a very flattering comment on Benazir Bhuttos control
on an agency which reported directly to her.
Whatever the truth of the matter, the fact remains that this vast
intelligence-gathering operation was only possible due to the increased
resources (i.e., our tax money) made available to the IB by the previous
government. The only reason for this expansion was to keep a closer eye on
political opponents, and where necessary, to coerce them. Putting aside the
morality of the whole exercise, the fact is that ultimately, the IB failed
in its mission. When push came to shove, Masud Sharif and his army of
spooks could not warn their boss of her impending ouster.
This is true in varying degrees of virtually all governments and all
intelligence agencies. In fact, Pakistans history is littered with
intelligence failures. And yet, successive rulers have pinned their hopes
for survival on amoral and ambitious spymasters who have convinced their
masters that they will ensure their political supremacy indefinitely.
However, when the crunch came as it has all too often in our chequered
history these agencies and their chiefs proved to be frail reeds. From
Liaquat Ali Khans assassination to the anti-Ayub movement; and from the
PNA pahya-jam to the proliferation of ethnic and sectarian terrorism, our
intelligence agencies have few successes to boast of. In 1965 when the
Indian army attacked Lahore, we were caught completely by surprise.
The one major operation that was a qualified success was the ISIs handling
of the Afghan war, but that was in partnership with the CIA, and was more
in the nature of covert warfare than an intelligence-gathering exercise.
Also, the ISI lost its bearings once the Soviets withdrew and ended up by
forever backing the wrong horse in the Afghan power struggle.
So why do our rulers continue pumping money into the black hole of spying?
Clearly, they seem to lack confidence in democratic institutions and their
own popularity. Indeed, as soon as they come into power, they forget about
their party workers and start relying on the bureaucracy. In line with this
shift comes an increasing dependency on intelligence agencies which, for
their part, start spinning all kinds of conspiracy theories to strengthen
their control over paranoid rulers.
The Benazir government set some kind of record in lavishing resources on
the IB which was expanded dramatically to take it down to the tehsil level.
All kinds of sophisticated bugging equipment was ordered, but ultimately,
none of this proved to be enough.
The reason why our intelligence agencies have such a dismal track record is
the quality of manpower they deploy. A couple of years ago, the UN was
recruiting police officers for contract appointments in Bosnia. Almost all
the officers of the elite police service of Pakistan who tried for these
assignments flunked the English test; and most of the ones who made it to
Bosnia then failed the driving test and ended up doing desk jobs. And this
is the officer class who man some of the most senior positions in IB and
the FIA.
The IQ and educational level among the rank and file can easily be
imagined. While these people are capable of following and bugging the
governments political opponents and other such enemies of the state,
they cannot meaningfully analyse the vast amounts of data they gather.
The most difficult and creative aspect of intelligence work is to sift
through facts and conjecture and come up with accurate forecasts. This is
an area our operatives are seriously lacking in. One reason, of course, is
that they do not want to be the bearers of bad news. The products of a
society of sycophants, they try and insulate their masters from the real
world by controlling the information they have access to. They are also
aware that if they paint too many gloomy scenarios, they may easily be
replaced by people who will put a rosier gloss on depressing news.
General Durranis list of politicians who were on the ISI payroll in the
1990 elections shocked nobody, just as General Begs confession that 140
million rupees were funnelled from Mehran Bank to the presidents election
cell has scarcely caused a raised eyebrow. In most other countries, heads
would have rolled, but we are so used to the armys role in politics that
instead of trying politicians who accept such tainted funds, we elect them
to high office. Indeed, the whole scandal was not even an issue in the
recent elections.
One reason the entire accountability exercise was such a resounding failure
under the caretaker government was the FIAs inability to deliver. Despite
a wealth of information about sundry scams, none of the corrupt politicians
and bureaucrats have been charged with the serious financial irregularities
we know them to be guilty of. The few sharks who were arrested are free on
bail, while several small fry are languishing in jail because they couldnt
afford to pay off their investigators. Many witnesses to financial scandals
have not come forward to give evidence because they fear they would get
shaken down by the FIA.
It is high time the entire network of civilian and military agencies was
appraised by subjecting it to a cost-benefit analysis. By now, most
politicians in and out of power have been subjected to the attentions of
one or another of these organisations; they have also seen the quality of
their output. It is time that we put some intelligence into our
intelligence agencies and removed the flab.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
970223
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Big Brother
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Omar Kureishi
CAN a news-item be both amusing and menacing? I suppose it would depend on
the disposition of the reader, the general outlook he or she brings to
life. Sometimes that which is meant to be sinister turns out to be comical
and that which was meant to be comical is actually intended to be
threatening.
Thus the news-item creeded by APP, and therefore bearing an official stamp
of approval, about the presence of a multitude of big brothers in the
Parliament House on the day when Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as prime
minister was prominently displayed by the newspapers, the prominent display
constituting its own displeasure. The news-items lead paragraph says it
all: There were all there. The eyes and ears of the government. There were
more men of the intelligence agencies in the Parliament House than there
were MNAs as election of the Leader of the House was in process.
The report adds that Parliament was literally swarming with unknown people
of sensitive agencies who stood guard at every nook and corner of the
building. Their presence was also felt by Shahid Khakan Abbasi who brought
it to the attention of the Speaker Ilahi Bakash Soomro.
My reaction to this news-item was one of weariness. Some things never
change, particularly a mind-set. There is, probably, a standard operating
procedure that is automatically activated given a certain set of
circumstances. It would be interesting to know how far this standard
operating procedure dates back and whether anyone has seen fit to change it
or, at least, to update it. All rules and regulations and procedures must
have flexibility in them.
The question that needs to be asked is what was the specific purpose or the
reason to have these swarms of people standing guard at every nook and
corner of Parliament? Was it surveillance? Or was it a form of
intimidation? I have always maintained that unlike justice which should not
only be done but seen to be done, security or intelligence-gathering must
be done but not be seen to be done. As they say in spy novels, if an
agents cover is blown, he ceases to have any utility. Or to give a more
current example, if you know your phone is tapped, you are hardly likely to
give out the sort of information for which a bug has been installed on your
telephone.
There is one significant fact of intelligence-gathering and that is that it
tends to fail when it is most needed. This is not only true of this country
but even of countries which have the technology to tell you what Saddam
Hussain had for breakfast on a particular morning. For all its formidable
reputation, the CIA failed miserably in Vietnam. The Vietnamese peasant in
black pyjamas known variously as gook or Charlie, neither being terms
of endearment, was one step ahead of the CIA. So much so that during the
January 1968 Tet Offensive, the American Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker had to
flee the Embassy in his night clothes. The equally formidable Mossad was
not able to prevent the assasination of Rabin and nor RAW, the assasination
of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
And there can be no more absurd performance then that of the FBI when they
picked up the bombing-suspect of the Atlanta Games, the luckless Mr Jewell
whose life was turned upside down and who was arrested, interrogated and
might even have been convicted. The FBI was shown to be clueless when it
came to investigating the crash of TWA 800 because the FBI operated from
the start on the assumption that it was an act of terrorism and then
proceeded to work backwards. They would have done the same in the case of
The Oklahoma bombing had they not been stopped dead in their tracks.
Otherwise Islamic Fundamentalists had been nominated as the villains.
In any case, domestic intelligence-gathering has all but ceased to have any
usefulness since it is mainly used to keep a vigil on ones political
opponents. That being the case, it is a gross violation of its terms of
reference and its charter of duties. To start with, a distinction has to be
made between the State and the government of the day. Intelligence agencies
are meant to keep an eye on the enemies of a country. In other words, to
forestall subversive elements, subversive to mean those who present a clear
danger to the security of the state, those who may be passing on
information to a countrys perceived enemies. They have no role to play in
the political process of the country.
When a political party is in the opposition, its more prominent members
attract the attention of what are called sensitive agencies. Why should
this be so? It is not unlawful to be in the opposition. Why then should
they be treated as suspects? The irony is that the whole procedure is
reversed when a government changes. But the fault does not lie with the
intelligence agencies. It lies with the government itself.
A long time ago, I wrote that we should not only dismantle the machinery of
the police state but the state of mind that goes with it. In these times
when we have become cost-conscious, we might consider the waste of money
involved in gathering information which has no validity and which, in the
end, serves only to harass ones opponents.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
970222
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Counting the cost of Kashmir
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mazdak
NAWAZ SHARIFs recently-enunciated resolve to break the deadlock with India
over the festering Kashmir problem represents the first window of
opportunity for improving relations with our neighbour in nearly eight
years.
Indeed, no prime minister in recent times in either country has enjoyed the
kind of mandate Nawaz Sharif does, together with the freedom of manoeuvre
it confers. Even Indira Gandhi did not gain such a sweeping majority after
her victory over Pakistan in 1971. So this government can begin the
politically difficult task of setting the pace. And while the Indian prime
minister may still be a prisoner of the past as well as a tenuous
parliamentary majority his Pakistani counterpart has no such constraints.
Obviously, there can be no unilateral declaration of peace. The residue
of half a century of animosity still distorts perceptions on either side,
but if anybody can break out of the vicious cycle both India and Pakistan
are locked in, it is Nawaz Sharif with his rock-solid majority. In
addition, his right-of-centre, Muslim League credentials will help deflect
the predictable accusations that he is soft on India. So just as it took
a Republican president of the United States to make peace with China, and a
Likud prime minister to open talks with the PLO, it will need a
conservative prime minister in Pakistan to achieve a breakthrough with
India. As we saw, Benazir Bhuttos efforts to forge closer ties with India
in 1989 foundered on the rocks of Indian obduracy and incessant attacks
from her opponents. Perceived as a liberal, she had little credibility with
right-wing politicians and Pakistans powerful establishment. Nawaz Sharif
does not suffer from this handicap.
Although the number of people advocating an all-or-nothing solution to the
Kashmir problem is mercifully declining, they still constitute a strong and
vocal lobby. And failing a plebiscite they are sure Pakistan will win, they
insist on clinging to the current ruinous status quo. Their Indian
counterparts, for their part, hang on obstinately to their mantra of
Kashmir being an integral part of India. Neither side will budge an inch,
and both countries slide deeper and deeper into the morass of poverty and,
at the end of the millennium, total irrelevance.
Just as the 20th century was about naked military power, the next century
seems likely to be dominated by economic clout. Already, various regional
groupings are positioning themselves: the European Union, ASEAN and NAFTA
are powerful economic alliances that are dominant in the world economy. By
comparison, SAARC is a pathetic joke, largely because of the endless
bickering between India and Pakistan.
Quite apart from the debilitating financial cost of maintaining a huge
defence establishment, we must count the political cost we have incurred in
the past as a result of various direct and indirect military interventions.
The only justification for the bloated defence budgets on both sides is the
unending tension over Kashmir. Although India has regional pretensions as
well as a disputed border with China, most of its armed might is poised on
our eastern flank. Once we can shed this millstone around our necks, we can
finally turn our attention to the long-deferred problems of poverty,
disease and illiteracy.
There has been much talk about foreign investments in the recent past;
indeed, given the decline in bilateral and multilateral aid, this is now
the only realistic route to development. But how many investors would like
to put their money into an explosive subcontinent where Kashmir might
provide the spark at any moment? With the whole world to choose from,
businessmen are unlikely to flock to an area faced with the danger of a
nuclear confrontation triggered by an unresolved territorial dispute.
Our diplomacy, too, has become one-dimensional as a result of our inability
to sort out our quarrel with India. In foreign capitals around the world,
our poor representatives try yet again to interest their long-suffering
hosts to take up cudgels on our behalf. Prodded by politicians in
Islamabad, our ambassadors and their aides scurry around, waving ancient
Security Council resolutions on Kashmir. Whenever possible, their victims
duck for cover; but when caught, they wear a mask of pained resignation.
Its high time we realised that the rest of the world is slightly
underwhelmed by the whole problem, and just wishes it would go away. If
there is any concern in any quarter, it is only because both India and
Pakistan are covert nuclear powers. Freed from the deadweight of Kashmir,
our diplomats might be able to get on with their job, which is to improve
our relations with the rest of the world. Had we really cared as much
about the people of Kashmir as we do about their land, we would at least be
discussing the socalled third option instead of insisting on our hardline
position. Indeed, initial autonomy to be followed a few years later by
final talks on the question of sovereignty may be the only hope for a
peaceful settlement. A variation on this theme was proposed last year by Dr
Mahbubul Haq, and he had several hawks claw at him in print. But although I
have often disagreed with him in the past, I find much merit in his idea.
While many zealots in Pakistan are more than ready to fight to the last
Kashmiri, they have few suggestions to offer on how to end this state of
confrontation. But Nawaz Sharif is a shrewd businessman with a sharp eye
for the bottom line. He no doubt sees the huge commercial advantages that
would accrue to both sides if trade was to open up: our industrialists
would have a huge market for their products; similarly, many raw materials
would become far cheaper with resultant advantage to consumers. Both
economies would benefit from a reduction in military expenditure on the one
hand, and greater trade on the other.
It is true that ultimately, human problems cannot be subjected to simple
financial analysis. But by clinging to a formula that is dead and buried,
we are ensuring that the only way we will be able to help our Kashmiri
brethren is to observe an annual strike in their name.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
970226
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Ultimate responsibility
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hafizur Rahman
A COLUMNIST of an Urdu daily has wistfully recalled how Mr Lal Bahadur
Shastri thought it proper to resign, when he was railway minister of India,
because there had been a serious railway accident involving a large loss of
life.
Mr Shastri could have done nothing to prevent the accident, but he felt
morally bound to lay down his office. The columnist bewailed the fact that
the principle of ultimate responsibility in democracy was no longer
observed at least not in Pakistan.
Certainly it is cause for sorrow that politicians become glued to the chair
if inducted into an office (of profit). The fact is that if they were ever
given the choice, they would probably be ready to surrender a few years of
their lives rather than give up a chair. After all the chair is the thing.
I remember a rather telling observation said to have been made in this
connection by Sir Chhotu Ram, the distinguished Revenue Minister of pre-
partition Punjab, who, incidentally, did much to free the Punjab peasantry
(most of whom were Muslims) from the economic clutches of the Hindu bania.
He was once asked why he or his colleagues did not choose to give up office
of minister when all the time they complained that it was a bed of thorns
and an utter museebat.
A rank realist, Chaudhry Sahib is reported to have replied, Bhai, when a
minister alights from a flag car, and the police guard stands to attention
and salutes him, it is as good as half a bottle of whisky. It is this
stimulant, this heady feeling, which does not let him resign.
Heard in the accent of Karnal and Rohtak, the area Sir Chhotu Ram came
from, this pearl of wisdom has a flavour all its own which no English
translation can convey. But Chaudhry Sahib spoke the truth. The exercise of
authority, the opportunity to feel and use power, the panoply, the
adulation of fawning sycophants and (nowadays) the material privileges
all these are no joke.
How many people are able to get them even for a few minutes in a lifetime?
It would take a truly great man to be able to see the principles through
the haze and glare created by these trappings of office. As for railway
accidents and the like, they will go on happening anyway. Who can stop
them?
What my columnist friend does not know is that, at the time it took place,
Mr Shastris resignations had its reverberations in Pakistan too. A few
months later there was a railway accident of almost the same magnitude in
this country somewhere in Sindh. The matter was debated in the Central
Assembly, as it was then called. Some of the members referred to the ethics
of Mr Shastris action and eulogised its democratic spirit. They even
called for similar sacrifice on the part of the then Railway Minister.
The minister, Mian Jaffar Shah of Mardan, got up to reply to the debate and
ended by saying in the most indignant tone, All this talk about resigning
because of a railway accident. Never. I shall not resign. By the grace of
God I am a Muslim. I shall never follow in the footsteps of a kafir!
Thus it was that the Islamic spirit of Mian Sahib prevented the Government
of Pakistan from losing a very energetic and useful minister. Because,
quite apart from his English bloomers (he once described the members of a
visiting Turkish delegation as these honourable Turkeys, and would
invariably say filful instead of fulfil) Mian Jafar Shah was a magical
manipulator of elections and an invaluable asset for any political regime
willing to go through them.
I think it is not without reason that those of Pakistans personalities who
are inclined by temperament towards dictatorship decry parliamentary
democracy as being unsuitable to our psyche. If we were to follow the
traditions of Westminster and other alien institutions, our ministers, both
federal and provincial, would be resigning every week because of one
trespass or another. We might then have to import ministers from abroad.
The trouble with these foreign institutions is that they treat ministers,
and even prime ministers, like ordinary human beings and then expect them
to behave like angels. How can we, simple mortals that we are, live up to
such superhuman expectations, when each one of us, sinners as we all claim
to be, wants to excel others in confessing to be gunahgar?
Whenever someone, in excess of modesty (or hypocrisy), describes himself as
a sinner, I am always tempted to ask him why he sins at all and what
prevents him from giving up sin. Once you have called yourself a sinner
and you should know yourself best because anyone else calling you that
might be guilty of calling a spade a spade all your efforts, your mental
faculties, your moral strength, should be directed towards reforming
yourself. As someone aspiring to be a good Muslim you should be doing your
best to become deserving of a better epithet than a sinner.
Confessing to a crime, which is a wrong in the eyes of man-made laws, may
be pardonable. But a sin is against the law laid down by the Almighty
that is, if you are a believer. Instead of trying to wash that sin, people
go on proclaiming that they are gunahgars, sinners. Is this just an attempt
to sound humble, or am I looking at it from the wrong angle?
I admit that in these times it may not be possible for a Mohtasib, or even
perhaps for a computer, to keep track of the misdemeanours of ministers and
elected representatives, but let us, for Gods sake, reintroduce some old
respected traditions and practices of democratic government. That of
ultimate responsibility, for example.
The long years of military rule have played havoc with these traditions and
practices, and what sounded ethical, say, 20 years ago may appear to be
foolish and unnecessary today. Add to this the complete failure of elected
regimes since 1988 to support, encourage and respect traditional values,
and its no surprise to find our politics at the nadir of self-degradation,
individually as well as collectively.
Now that a new regime has come into power, elected by an overwhelming
majority, and promises to conduct itself on a moral plane in all spheres of
national life, let us see what it has to offer that is different and good
and decent. It would be prudent, however, to keep our fingers crossed.
===================================================================
970301
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Mujtaba, 91, helps Pakistan lift SAARC trophy
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Hasan Saeed
DHAKA, Feb 28: Favourites Pakistan A lifted the 3rd SAARC Cricket Trophy
beating holders India A by virtue of better run-rate in the rain-marred
final at the Dhaka Stadium today.
The final match between the two arch rivals earlier began at 10.40 a.m.
(local time), 85 minutes late due to heavy fog in the morning with the tie
reduced to 44 overs.
Put to bat first, Pakistan, A were all out for 199 runs in 43.2 overs with
skipper Asif Mujtaba topscoring with 91 runs in 104 balls.
Mujtaba was caught 9 runs short of his maiden SAARC century, but his
captains knock won him the Man of the Match award. He also received the
Man of the Tournament award for his prolific batting in the competition.
In reply, India A managed to score 124 runs losing 5 wickets in 31 overs
with a S. Sarath and S. Prasad batting on 35 and 3 runs respectively.
But then the Dhaka afternoon sky gave in and poured 2 mm rains in 10
minutes that halted the match. Finally, the last showdown had to be
abandoned, putting a gloomy end to the four-nation biennial meet which
opened on Feb 19.
Pakistan A were declared champions according to the run-rate as holders
India A were still 39 runs short of the asking runs in 31 overs. India
needed 163 runs in 31 runs to win the match on better run-rate.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed distributed the trophies as chief guest
at a simple ceremony.
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970227
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Zaheer wants more regional cricket matches
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Staff Correspondent
DHAKA, Feb. 26: Zaheer Abbas, manager of the Pakistan A cricket team now
plying the SAARC tournament, is delighted to be in Dhaka heading the
favourite of the current engagement.
In an interview with English daily The Star he said he was always happy
to be in Dhaka where he delighted huge cricket-loving crowd during his
playing days.
Daily Star (DS): What has been your thought on the tournament so far?
Zaheer Abbas (ZA): It has been a very good tournament, nicely organised.
The only thing I am disappointed with is the absence of big crowds. After a
full house in the first match I expected similar crowds in the subsequent
games. Unfortunately, that has not happened.
DS: And your teams performance?
ZA: It has been good except for the wides and no-balls. The main reason for
that is that the bowlers are bowling without studs and spikes on their
boots. They are also bowling on a surface unfamiliar to them. Otherwise
they are usually very accurate.
DS: What do you think of the Bangladesh side?
ZA: They have improved quite a lot in the last few years and I expect them
to improve even more in the near future. Since you have someone like Gordon
Greenidge, there is more scope for improvement. It will also help develop
specific skills. I think it is a good sign that you are getting
professionals from different fields.
DS: How you think countries like Bangladesh should go about developing
their cricket?
ZA: The most important thing is exposure. You have to go abroad more often
and get exposure. For example, when Sri Lanka first came to the
international scene, they went abroad frequently and that is how they
developed. I think you should start off by visiting the SAARC countries
Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. Playing in their domestic tournaments, like
one of your teams is doing now in Pakistan, will help too. Only with such
exposure can you learn about your faults and develop your technique. You
could also hold this SAARC tournament more frequently.
DS: How much scope do you think does Bangladesh have for developing in
cricket?
ZA: You have tremendous scope. You see, three SAARC countries have won the
World Cup and are the top teams in the world today. So why can Bangladesh
not do well and go on to play at the international level? The atmosphere
here is conducive to cricket: there is a lot of interest in the game and
with proper initiative Bangladesh should be able to reach that stage. The
people here love this game and you should develop the game as quickly as
possible.
DS: Of late, Pakistan has been producing a number of quality young players.
What do you think is the reason behind this trend?
ZA: Talented youngsters have always been there but it all depends on the
selectors if they are to surface internationally. I am in the selection
committee and we do not mind taking a few risks. We have to show our
confidence in youngsters. We have even given break to some body as young as
Hassan Raza, the 14-year-old kid. This also serves as an incentive to
upcoming players. Every parent will now tell their child that he could play
for Pakistan even at the age of fourteen only if he is good enough. This
works as a psychological boost.
DS: Players like Mohammad Wasim, Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi have
shown good temperament despite being newcomers to the international stage.
How has this been possible?
ZA: We have a high standard of cricket in domestic competitions as we take
our game very seriously. The boys are used to playing competitive cricket.
They also play for different companies back home and to keep their jobs,
they have to try and improve constantly. This helps to improve the standard
and also to build temperament.
DS: What is the criterion of selection for the Pakistan side?
ZA: Apart from ability and current form, discipline and approach to the
game are considered. But in my opinion fielding is a very important factor.
Regardless of the fact that you are a world class batsman or bowler, if you
can not field well, you have no room on my team. It is very simple -
fielding is the first priority.
DS: Pakistan had gone through a phase of a disciplinary crisis of sorts a
few yeas back. Now things seem to have settled down. How has such a
transition been possible?
ZA: The change actually took place as more youngsters came up. Now we have
got less player-power as we have developed a good team of back-up players.
Anyone whether he is a world class player or not can be replaced by a
younger player. A competent replacement is always available. No one in the
Pakistan team is indispensable.
DS: So you think players like Mohammed Zahid and Shahid Nazir can step into
the boots of Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis even?
ZA: That only time can tell, but they definitely have the potential to do
so.
DS: What is the actual role of a manager in modern-day cricket?
ZA: The manager is there to solve problems for the players. We are here to
help them out, to constantly guide them. The boys out there are not
computers, they have to be told what is good for them and what is bad. It
helps when the manager himself is an ex-player as he can understand the
players problems better. I think having a good manager definitely affects
a team.
DS: India and Pakistan have not played a series against each other at home
for some time now? Do you think this trend should change?
ZA: They should definitely play frequently. Understandably, there is always
a fear of unrest among the public. But I think this will normalise if more
matches are played. Otherwise, all the tension is concentrated on one or
two games only. We should also play with each other to improve our games.
If we play among ourselves in the SAARC region, it will help all the
countries develop better technique and temperament. That will help our
region to claim the top spot in world cricket. In that respect, this
current tournament is a good step.
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970225
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Jansher threatens to skip World Series event
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A. Majid Khan
KARACHI, Feb. 24: World Open record holder Jansher Khan today announced to
skip the PSA Super Series finals in case the new American scoring system of
nine points is not altered to by 15 points.
Addressing a Press conference at the PIA headquarters soon after his
reception was over, world champion Jansher Khan said that he had informed
today his London manager to contact the Professionals Squash Association
(PSA) Executive Director John Nimick on his conditionality of participation
in the top eight-man contest of the Super Series standing.
Jansher urged that the PSA Super Series should be contested on 15 points
system and not on nine points. Last year I competed in the event and the
experimental nine points system, according to him, resulted in his defeat
on the eve of the British Open. It had a bad psychological effect, though
he retained the British open title for the fifth successive year last year,
the champion added.
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970222
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Pakistans hockey potential
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Syed Mohammad
Pakistans prospects in the coming Olympic games were bright to some my
statement may seem strange. But it is not. I say so because hockey is in
her blood as it is in the blood of other South Asian teams. But Pakistani
players are tougher then other South Asia.
However, hard the Europeans may try they cannot acquire the natural talent
with which South Asians have been gifted because of their sharper reflexes.
European supremacy depends on changed rules and change in the playing
surface and scientific physical training hard hitting, fast running and
bulldozing. These can be thwarted by clean stick work.
What is needed is the attention of the Pakistan Hockey Federation. It has
to ensure that the toughness the players possess has to be maintained. The
players have to be looked after. Nourishing and light food, exertion to
capacity of each player. The amount of rest needed by each player. Every
player should be provided the kind he needs.
Then comes the most important thing i.e. coaching. The coaches should not
be left to do what they like. Then work had to be supervised. Wholesale
coaching is not the answer.
Individual coaching as opposed to collective coaching is the key point for
improving the performance of players. After mastery of ball control and
stick work, players have to be taught team work. This is done during the
course of games played for improving team work.
Forwards have to be taught dodging dribbling and short passing, while
defenders have to be taught accuracy in tackling. Forwards have to be
taught to make opening for penetrating enemy defence. Defenders have to be
taught to block the openings enemy forward have been trying to make.
Defending players have to be taught accuracy in tackling and interception
of enemy passes.
At the conclusion of each field game after the players have changed into
dry and warm clothing and had ample nourishing refreshments, faults should
be discussed. During the field game on the following day players should be
directed to avoid the faults committed in the game played during the
previous day.
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970222
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Venturing a verdict on the most dangerous attack
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Lateef Jafri
WHICH is the best and most varied bowling side today for consistent effort
and constant success in Test matches and limited-overs internationals, ask
cricket enthusiasts?
Is it the world champions, Sri Lanka, with its own strategy on the field
and fighting capacities, even in difficult circumstances? Who would have
thought that India, on their own happy hunting ground of Eden Gardens,
would crash to the pace and sharp spin of the Lankan bowlers in the
semifinals of the World Cup? Once Sachin Tendulkar and Sanjay Manjrekar had
left the Sri Lankan bowlers length and curve defied drives. They were 120
for 8 when crowd trouble, at a place where the fans always enjoyed the
thrills of the game, stopped the fixture for good and the match referee,
Clive Lloyd of the West Indies, had but to intervene and give his ruling in
favour of Lanka. Jayasuriya, the bowler, was unplayable; his slow stuff,
sent with amazing steadiness, harried the Indian batsmen.
In the final, the Lankans beat the redoubtable Australians by seven wickets
to lift the coveted cup for global one-dayers. However, cricket observers
and critics can, under no circumstance, agree that the island attack is the
most balanced, if not the most destructive. Is Chaminda Vaas, their medium-
pacer, in the class of Allan Donald, the South African, or Curtly Ambrose,
the West Indian. Certainly no spinner of the island can be bracketed with
Warne and Tim May for his spinning art.
The Australian bowling, minus Craig McDermotts velocity and double-swing,
has lost its force and sting, whatever may be the physical strength of
McGrath, Angel and Reiffel. The Australians, no doubt, have a consistent
artist and a classical spinner in Shane Warne, who is a pleasure to watch.
His guile would worry the most organised batsmen but where are the fearsome
match-winning pacers? The late Leonard Hutton, knighted for batsmanship and
captaincy, once described the Australian attack of the 1950-51 series as
the most varied and difficult one of the post-War era. Lindwall and Miller
formed a ferocious new-ball pair. Then came Bill Johnston with his cutters.
Ian Johnson and Jack Iverson provided the variety but the whole bowling set
taxed the skill and technique of the batsmen, English, South African and
the West Indian, considering that the three Ws Worrell, Weekes and
Walcott were then at the apogee of their form. Perhaps during the Bradman
captaincy from 1946 to 1948 the Australian bowling had the same all-round
excellence as stated by Hutton except that Dooland, McCool, Ring and
Johnson were backing the fast attack since Iverson had an entry in the Test
team much later.
The Australian combination of Gregory, McDonald and Mailey had the force
and fire of true seamers and the dexterity of a spinner. But after a few
years McDonald left Australia to demonstrate his demolition act at
Lancashire. Mailey, as experts are agreed, was too expensive. The Grimmett-
Mailey pairing did not last long for the latter left the Test scene in 1926
for the inimitable Clarrie Grimmett to alone exhibit his clever spin and
deceitful googly. But where was the brute force with the springing strides
of Lindwall, Miller and Johnston?
England had a strong attack in the fifties with Bedser, Statham and Trueman
quite dangerous for the Australians as also the Carribbeans. Then Laker and
Lock dazzled the onlookers with their variations of flight and spin. The
bowling had balance and variety. Yet what is the English bowling of today?
Certainly it cannot be compared with the bowlers of yore. Even most of the
West Indian trundlers, leaving aside Curtly Ambrose, are getting old. A new
energetic lot will have to take over from them. Gilchrist, Hall, Holder,
Holding, Clarke, Marshall, Croft and Garner, with venomous and nasty speed
left competitive cricket, as everybody has to do, long ago and the
Caribbeans have no more breath-snatching speed merchants.
One can risk a claim that Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram of Pakistan form the
most dangerous and effective fast bowling duo in the present-day cricket-
playing countries. The pair will shake the batsmen with sheer speed or
slight change of pace. The long run and galloping stride of Waqar would
make the rival batsmen fearful of the bowler. Then the alarming pace would
strain the nerves of many a technically-sound batsman. Wasim has few peers
as a new-ball bowler. With the perfect shape of a pacer Wasim would send
his swinging, bouncing deliveries to puzzle the batsmen and get an early
breakthrough. If Aqib Javed may not have been sidelined from the mainstream
outfit for reasons better known to the officialdom of the cricket board,
perhaps Pakistan may be called to be having the most menacing fast attack.
Yet the two Ws are in a class into their own. As Mushtaq Ahmad and Saqlain
Mushtaq come to show their pretty and clever bowling the variety is
enthralling to behold. It is the most balanced attack both for the sweat
and labour of one-day as well as for five-day tussles of Test matches.
The Pakistani bowling is good enough to wreak havoc on any field, at home
or away. If the team is let down it is only by a brittle middle-order or if
one of the regular opening batsmen is ill or is driven out of the squad for
reasons other than cricket.
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