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Week Ending : 04 October 1997 Issue : 03/40
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Army may be called out to curb terrorism
$3.74bn spent on defence during 1995
Bonino narrates ordeal
Ehtesab chief on clarification mission to Switzerland
Ehtesab chief starts proceedings against PM in copter case
COMSATS to set up software college
PM vows to protect judiciary's independence
Deportees whose ship never sailed in finally disembark
---------------------------------
HBL writes off Rs 2.75bn debts in 1996
Bhutto-related Swiss accounts would be difficult to retrieve
The ever-elusive necessity of shelter
Financial sector reforms: a case for consumer credit agencies
CBR's successor to be armed with vast powers
News of forward cover fails to create buying euphoria
---------------------------------------
Madness Ardeshir Cowasjee
As walls go higher Hafizur Rahman
Was the PM's visit a non-event? Shaheen Sehbai
Who is responsible for academic loss? Sarfaraz Ahmed
Our colonial heritage Irfan Husain
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Lahore match belonged to Ejaz Ahmad
Aqib, three others, left out of first Test team
Row kicks up on replaced ball
Tickets at Rs 3,000
Pakistan beat Argentina to gain 5th spot
Jansher Khan pulls out of World Open
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970929
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Army may be called out to curb terrorism
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Raja Zulfikar
ISLAMABAD, Sept 28: The government has given its drug enforcement and
intelligence agencies a deadline of six months to curb gunrunning,
drug smuggling and terrorism, and may assign these duties to the army
in case the agencies failed to produce results, a government official
told Dawn.
"Army will possibly be engaged for anti-smuggling operations and
other assignments if the currently adopted measure of the government
remains unproductive by the first quarter of the next year," the
official added.
The official asking not to be named confirmed that the decision to
seek army's assistance in some key operations has already been taken.
It will, however, not be called out till the expiry of the six-month
period.
Meanwhile, informed sources said the interior ministry had been
monitoring the performance of its agencies on a regular basis ever
since the federal cabinet approved the National Action Plan against
terrorism in the third week of August.
"We would like our agencies to produce result rather than seek army's
help for anti-smuggling operations or for eliminating gunrunning,"
another government official commented.
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970930
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$3.74bn spent on defence during 1995
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Sept 29: Pakistan's total military expenditure in 1995
was $3.74 billion, according to the US Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency (ACDA). In contrast, China spent $63.51 billion and India
$7.83 billion, the ACDA said, in figures released last week.
According to the agency, the Pakistan's military expenditure per
capita in 1995 was $30, China's $53 and India's only $8. China's
armed forces in 1995 numbered 2.93 million against India's 1.265
million and Pakistan's 587,000. In terms of total worldwide military
expenditure, India ranked 18th and Pakistan 30th. China ranked 3rd,
after the US and Russia. Bangladesh's army with 115,000 personnel is
the 38th largest in the world and the estimated expenditure is $502
million. Sri Lanka's armed forces in 1995 numbered 110,000 with an
estimated expenditure of $585 million.
Pakistan had 4.6 soldiers per 1,000 of its population in 1995, India
1.4 and mainland China 2.5. In terms of expenditure per soldier, the
highest expenditure is in Japan � $209,400, followed by Kuwait
$174,400, Switzerland $173,600 and the US $171,500. Pakistan spent
$6,371, India $ 6,190 and China $21,680.
The publication analyses the military expenditure in South Asia
separately.
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971001
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Bonino narrates ordeal
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: European Union Commissioner Emma Bonino, who was
detained for three hours in Kabul on Monday, has said that her
organisation will continue offering increased humanitarian assistance
to the people of Afghanistan despite human rights violations there.
"This incident which occurred yesterday in the Kabul Polyclinics, and
which led to the detention of my delegation in forced custody by the
religious police for more than three hours, has its origin of
misunderstanding between our press people and local religious
authorities. The incident was closed with the apologies of the two
members of the Taliban administration, and I do not wish to dramatise
or dwell further on it", she further stated.
Speaking at a news conference here on Tuesday night, the EU
Commissioner pointed out that despite all kinds of harassment and
human rights violations, her organisation would not give up relief
efforts in the war-ravaged Afghanistan.
She regretted that random checks and arbitrary arrests were a fact of
life in Kabul and that public beatings for noncompliance of the
Taliban's dress code or beard standards had become a matter of
routine.
Asked whether the European Union would recognise the Taliban
government, she said unless the UN conventions on human rights were
implemented, there was no possibility to go for the option in the
near future.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the code of conduct and the style
of life imposed by the Taliban was resented by all those Afghans who
did not share Pashtoon culture and traditions, as abusive and
oppressive. And this includes the majority of Kabul's population",
she asserted.
Bonino told a reporter that she had met state minister for foreign
affairs Siddique Khan Kanjo on Tuesday and discussed with him
relations between Pakistan and her organisation. "We also discussed
the situation in Afghanistan and Mr Kanjo felt sorry on what had
happened with her yesterday in Kabul".
She said that the EU and Pakistan did not believe that there could be
any military solution to Afghanistan. " Only political solution would
work and I would propose my high authorities to further look into
issue so that there could be any lasting peace in that war-torn
country", she said. However, she regretted to offer any more comment
by saying that her mandate was only to supervise relief work and that
she should not be asked political questions.
She particularly expressed her serious concern over the women
population and regretted that they were living in highly bad
conditions. "I wish to add here a special thought for women of Kabul,
who were not long ago part of an urban and educated community which
took an active part in the public life of their city. I met some of
them in private, and it was one of the most moving encounters of my
life", she added.
She said that she was offered the facility to visit by helicopter
General Masood or Prof Rabbani or both, but ,"declined the offer as
the limited time available was barely sufficient to carry out the
planned humanitarian survey".
The EU Commissioner said that she did not consider Northern Alliance
as a better interlocutor than the Taliban when she visited Faizabad
area occupied by forces fighting against the Taliban.
To a question, Mrs Bonino pointed out that the EU was still the
largest donors of humanitarian assistance in the world. She said that
the European Community Humanitarian Office(ECHO) was the single
largest donor with an annual budget of 900 million dollars.
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971001
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Ehtesab chief on clarification mission to Switzerland
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M. Ziauddin
ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: Sen Saifur Rehman, chief of the Ehtesab cell, has
gone to Switzerland to meet the Swiss authorities to discuss the
alleged Bhutto accounts.
The visit reportedly pertains to clarifications sought by the Swiss
authorities about the evidence linking the accounts to proven
corruption. So far the Ehtesab cell is said to have provided the
Swiss authorities with no concrete evidence to back the allegations
that the so-called Swiss accounts of the Bhuttos contain ill-gotten
wealth.
Those who know the way the Swiss authorities work in such cases said
the Swiss authorities accept on face value such allegations levelled
by governments and freeze the identified bank accounts, but put the
onus of proving these accounts to be ill-gotten on the accusers.
This has been happening for the last 10 years or so because of
international pressure which had kept on mounting with stories of
Nazi gold and the siphoned off money of third world military
dictators being hidden in Swiss banks, the sources said.
"Also, the Swiss government's own investigations into such
allegations had been very cumbersome and time consuming," the source
added.
They also said SGS/Cotecna had completed its investigations into the
allegations that one of its senior officials had offered in writing
to pay an agreed percentage of its fees as a kickback to Asif Ali
Zardari.
The evidence gathered through this investigation is said to have been
provided to the Swiss government.
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971002
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Ehtesab chief starts proceedings against PM in copter case
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Our Reporter
LAHORE, Oct 1: Chief Ehtesab Commissioner Justice (retd) Mujaddid
Mirza on Wednesday started proceedings on a complaint against Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif filed by the PPP alleging that he bought a
helicopter from ill-gotten money and concealed ownership in
nomination papers filed for contesting elections to NA-12.
PPP counsel Babar Awan submitted before the Ehtesab Commissioner, who
held proceedings at his office in the GOR-1, that the assets which
were concealed could be assumed to have been created from corrupt
means as provided under Section 2 of the Ehtesab Act.
He argued that the respondent had contested a case in the Supreme
Court to get the helicopter registered in his own name. But this,
however, was not mentioned in the assets column in the nomination
papers filed through a confidant Asim Nabi.
In support of his contention about the machine's ownership, Mr Awan
said that Advocate Chaudhry Farooq (at present attorney-general) had
in October, 1996 filed a writ petition in the high court seeking
permission to get the MI-8 helicopter registered in Mr Nawaz Sharif's
name. Permission was refused and the matter was agitated in the
Supreme Court which allowed the appeal. Then the Civil Aviation
Authority's air-worthiness wing asked for transfer of the possession
deed from the previous owner of the machine.
Mr Awan said that Sheikh Muhammad Sani, a national of Saudi Arabia
owner of the Russian-made helicopter, issued a certificate in Mr
Sharif's favour. The machine was finally registered in his name on
November 21, 1996. But the fact was not mentioned in the nomination
papers filed before February 3 elections.
He said Mr Sharif's income tax returns for the same year were
Rs16,000 which, he added, could not be true for a person who owned a
helicopter.
He requested the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner to issue warrants of
arrest against Mr Sharif as he had done in some other complaints
referred to him.
Justice (retd) Mirza adjourned the proceedings till October 6 with a
direction to the complainant to produce the record of the case
proceedings of helicopter held in the Supreme Court. The proceedings
will be held in Islamabad.
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971003
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COMSATS to set up software college
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Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Oct 2: Commission on Science and Technology for
Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) plans to establish the
first-ever computer software college in the federal capital with an
objective to produce skilled manpower.
The college will offer short courses in latest software to the
computer graduates, Executive Director COMSATS Parvez Ahmad Butt told
Dawn.
COMSATS has already acquired space at the Constitution Avenue for
establishing the college likely to be commissioned by the end of
current year, said Mr. Butt.
He said the COMSATS would invite experts from around the world for
short duration courses of Pakistani software engineers to keep them
abreast with the latest developments in the field of soft-ware around
the globe.
He regretted that the country at present was not producing enough
computer graduates as required to keep a pace with the latest
development in the computer technology. Bangalore alone was producing
over 600 computer graduates every year, he added.
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971004
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PM vows to protect judiciary's independence
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 3: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said here on Friday that
due importance had to be given to the parliament's constitutional
obligation to act as law-giver and to the judiciary's role of
interpreting the law, but at the same time the "line of demarcation
between interpretation and transformation should not be overlooked.
"This is not intended to be, and should not be taken, as a criticism
of the judiciary. The judiciary in all our countries has played a
constructive role which we wholeheartedly welcome and support", he
told a gathering of chief justices from seven regional countries,
judges and lawyers, who are attending the three-day conference of
Saarclaw, which the prime minister inaugurated on Friday afternoon.
It had been and would continue to be an endeavour of his government
to protect and strengthen the independence of the judiciary and of
judicial institutions, he said.
He reiterated his desire and that of his government to "consolidate
and promote the rule of law, which is the essence of a civil society
and indeed of democracy."
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970928
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Deportees whose ship never sailed in finally disembark
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Tahir Siddiqsi
KARACHI, Sept 27: Shattered and ill-clad, frustration writ large on
their faces, the 735 Pakistani deportees from Saudi Arabia touched
the soil of their motherland early Saturday morning when the
authorities allowed Egyptian ship Al Madina to berth at East Wharf.
It took almost 72 hours for the authorities to let Al Madina berth at
the port, which also carries 1,098 Indians deported by the Saudi
government for overstaying. After 11 days sailing, Al Madina waited
for permission from the authorities at the outer anchorage since
Thursday noon. The delay in the ship's berthing was attributed to
non-compliance of port clearance formalities by the shipping
company's agent.
The ship having a capacity of hardly 500 passengers, brought a total
of 1,834 Pakistani and Indian passengers, including women and many
children. It touched the East Wharf berth at 7:10am and passengers
started disembarking at about 9am when the port staff and FIA started
the immigration formalities and health check.
As the ship touched the port, a Pakistani woman gave birth to a baby
aboard.
Then other passengers started disembarking and at about 11:20am the
bodies of the two, Mehfooz Elahi from Attock and Mehmood Khan from
Bannu, were brought down. Mehfooz died on Thursday and Mehmood on
Friday aboard the ship when they were about to touch their soil. An
Edhi ambulance carried the coffins from the port. Their bodies would
be sent to their home towns.
Malnutritioned, badly treated and given water on payment of money,
almost all the passengers narrated stories of their miseries during
the voyage. They said they were not even provided with drinking water
by the crew what to say of food.
Only half-boiled plain rice with a little curry was served three
times a day. The crew members were selling water and other foodstuffs
on high prices and only a few could afford the amount the crew were
charging.
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970929
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HBL writes off Rs 2.75bn debts in 1996
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Dilawar Hussain
Habib Bank Limited continued to forge ahead in the key areas even
under the difficult economic and financial conditions of the year
1996. The Bank's deposits grew 9.7 per cent to Rs 213.5 billion at
December 31,1996 and the advances increased by 10.5 per cent to Rs
131.8 billion. With a network of 1,927 branches in Pakistan (14 new
branches added during the year) and 65 branches abroad, the Bank
claimed to serve as many as 11 million clients.
The bank posted group operating profit at Rs 2.3 billion for 1996,
which reflected improvement over the pretax profit at Rs 709.3
million made the year earlier. The 1996 operating profit, however,
turned to a loss of Rs 3.4 billion, after provision of a huge Rs
5,672.5 million for bad & doubtful debts.
President Shaukat Tareen explained that the Board had taken "a bold
initiative by deciding to create significantly large amount of
provisions against infected loan portfolio under Prudential
Regulations which are time-frame oriented and do not give any
weightage to the realisable value of securities/collaterals held by
the Bank against the infected loans."
In a note to the accounts, it has been stated: "Provision for bad and
doubtful debts has been made after considering the expected
realisable value of assets held by the bank as security. Provision
made during the year for bad and doubtful debts has been deducted
from the income under the head of 'interest and discount' for the
purpose of consistency in reporting and also in line with the
requirements of Banking Companies Ordinance 1962."
The expected realisable value of assets held as security, has not
been disclosed, which otherwise would have enabled analysts to know
the exact amount of outstanding debts taken care of.
It is, however, to be acknowledged that HBL has been bold to announce
the amount of provisions for bad and doubtful debts, while oddly
enough, banks are not required by law to disclose the figure.
Balance sheets of all banks, therefore, invariably show the amount of
advances with just the remark: "Other than bad and doubtful debts for
which provision has been made to the satisfaction of the auditors".
The Governor SBP, Dr.Mohammad Yaqub had admitted recently, that this
was a shortcoming in the presentation of accounts and that banks
would be asked to disclose the figure of provisions in the accounts.
Though no directive appears to have been issued yet, it is given to
understand that under the World Bank instructions, quite a new format
for balance sheet presentation of banks is ready and may be made
effective for banks from 1997 onwards. The significant feature of
HBL's annual report and accounts for 1996 is also the sum of Rs 2,753
million that the Bank wrote off/waived/reversed during the year,
against its infected loan portfolio.
The details have been provided in terms of sub-section (3) of Section
12 of Bank's (Nationalisation) Act, 1974. The sum is, of course, not
reflected on the face of the balance sheet and the amounts and the
parties benefiting are listed in a note to the accounts.
The relief provided has been classified under the heads 'write-off'
(meaning write off of principal amount due); 'reversal' (meaning
reversal of the previously booked interest amount) and 'waiver'
(meaning waiver of interest amount that was not booked).
M/s Abdullah S.Al-Rajhi Est. of Dammam Saudi Arabia has been
mentioned as the largest beneficiary, who secured 'waiver' of Rs
824.9 million and 'reversal' of Rs 102.2 million, which aggregated to
relief of over Rs 1 billion. The party though marked as 'non-resident
individual', has been grouped with the 'domestic' debtors and not
with those listed separately under 'overseas sector'. Nothing more
about the identity of the party, which got off with such a colossal
sum, has been mentioned in either the President's review or the
directors' report that accompany the annual accounts. The aggregate
overseas sector write offs/ waiver & reversal amount to Rs 1,032.4
million.
These were granted to 36 parties and individuals, mostly from UAE,
followed by comparatively lesser sums due from loanees in UK; Rehman
Bin Nasir Al Owais, UAE got the largest sum waived/written off,
amounting to Rs 160.5 million.
Among the domestic debtors, major beneficiaries include: Consolidated
Exports Ltd., Karachi Rs 88.2 million; Sindh Road Transport
Corporation, Rs 62.4 million; Jan Brothers (Pvt) Ltd, Peshawar, Rs
54.3 million; United Constructors, Karachi, Rs 45.4 million; Abbas
Khalili (deceased), Karachi. Rs 54.1 million and Sattar Cotton
Ginning Factory, Sakrand Rs 53.1 million.
Some of the other parties which secured the write offs/other reliefs
are clearly identifiable: Javed Press & Modem Graphic Services,
Karachi which owed Rs 2.5 million to HBL; the sum has been
'reversed'.
Then there is Rehana Woollen Mills Ltd of Haripur, which lists among
its directors Gohar Ayub Khan and his wife Mrs. Zeb Gohar Ayub Khan.
The firm owed Rs 5.4 million, of which Rs 0.9 million has been
'reversed' and the balance of Rs 4.2 million 'waived'.
M/s Agro Live Stock Corporation of Karachi, lists Mrs Zohra, wife of
Bashir Jan Mohammad as the director; half of the sum of Rs 4.2
million due, amounting to Rs 2.3 million, has been 'waived'.
Mobile Eye Service of Pakistan, Karachi belonging to Dr T.H. Kirmani
got Rs 6.6 million of its outstanding dues 'waived' and Rs 2.0
million 'reversed'. And interestingly, Rs 2.8 million out of the Rs
6.2 million owed by Hussein Lawai has been 'waived'.
The entire sum of Rs 2.5 million due from Hashwani Hotels Limited of
Sadruddin H.Hashwani has also been written off. The write-
offs/waivers/reversals of outstanding debts from parties easily
identifiable as thriving individuals or prosperous business groups
and who do not clearly fall under the category of the 'sick', is
intriguing.
The policy also seems in conflict with the SBP's much publicised
determination to recover every paisa from the solvent debt defaulters
after the expiry of September 5 deadline for debt settlement
incentive scheme.
Bad debt provisions:
HBL's write offs/ waivers/reversals and 1996 provisions together
could total to over Rs 10 billion. Mr Tareen had disclosed that of
the total banking sector loan defaults of Rs 120 billion, HBL's share
was Rs 42 billion.
He had also said he expected to recover Rs 17 billion. Reports
suggested that loan defaulters of Rs 28.5 billion had agreed to
settlement under the SBP incentive scheme that closed on September 5.
Of this, HBL's debtors had totalled Rs 11 billion. It is thus likely
that HBL may have taken care of more than half of its infected loan
portfolio during 1996.
Salaries, allowances, bonuses and Provident Fund:
HBL incurred expenditure of Rs 5.2 billion under this head, up 6.4
per cent over Rs 4.9 billion in 1995. The total number of employees
during the year were noted as 31,099, which produced per employee
costs at Rs 0.17 million.
Having reduced the staff strength by 7,597 (1,079 forced retirements
and 6,500 voluntary golden handshake), the Bank may save about Rs 1.3
billion from next year. Mr Tareen had estimated 10,000 job cuts and
saving of Rs 2.3 billion, after paying off Rs 11.5 billion in golden
handshake scheme.
Total assets and book value per share
Total assets of HBL at December 31, 1996 stood at Rs 362.335 billion.
It has been disclosed in a note to the accounts that "The bank's
properties were valued by independent firm of surveyors and valuers
as on December 31, 1996, which revealed a surplus of Rs 3,964
million. This surplus has presently not been incorporated in the
financial statements."
Including the surplus, total assets would however, increase to Rs
366.299 billion. The total number of outstanding shares in HBL being
Rs 240.25 million, each share of Rs 10 would be backed by assets of
Rs 1,524.66 million. The reserve fund and other reserves of the bank
stood at Rs 4,862 million, which produced the break-up value of the
share at Rs 29.60.
Given that the MCB was privatised at Rs 56 per share; ABL at Rs 70
per share and 40 per cent of Habib Credit & Exchange Bank was sold in
July at Rs 23.25, i.e. 3.3 times the book value of its share, the
fair market value of HBL share should be well above Rs 100 per share,
even after discounting for the bad and doubtful debts. All of which
means, that if even 40 per cent of the HBL stock was to be sold now,
it could fetch amount in excess of Rs 12 billion or $300 million.
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970929
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Bhutto-related Swiss accounts would be difficult to retrieve
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Dr Farrukh Saleem
THE GOVERNMENT of Kuwait has spent tens of millions of dollars in its
unsuccessful campaign to unearth Saddam Hussain's hidden wealth. The
Philippines government has been able to bring back no more than a
couple of million dollars after spending a hundred million dollars to
uncover an estimated $10 billion stolen by Ferdinand Marcos.
In the not too distant past, Chinag Kai-shek, President of the
Republic of China for over 30 years, ran away with much of China's
art treasures and emptied China's central bank reserves. In 1975,
General Ky stole a fortune from South Vietnam while Baby Doc Duvalier
looted the Haitian treasury for 15 years.
President Collor amassed millions of dollars until the Brazilian
House of Representative suspended the president from office and
instituted impeachment proceedings.
Over the past half a century, most of the $100 billion or so looted
by dictators and democratic rulers of the poorest of poor Third World
countries is yet to come back to its rightful owners. Part of the
problem is complicated international litigation technicalities.
Others include lack of evidence, jurisdictional impediments,
difficulties in obtaining court convictions, problems with
identification of accounts, high legal fees and lack of follow- up.
Consider the Marcos case. Over the past 10 years of extensive
international litigation and expenses totalling over a hundred
million dollars, the Philippine government was successful in
identifying a few Marcos-owned real estate properties and around $475
million in two Swiss bank accounts.
The properties were auctioned off for over a hundred million dollars
while a good 97 per cent of the proceeds went to pay legal and other
recovery related fees. The Philippine treasury got back a meagre $3
million.
Out of the $475 million that was frozen in two Swiss bank accounts,
the Filipino people are yet to see a single penny. A news report from
Manila now suggests that "the government has entered into a secret
deal with the Marcos family as its most recent effort to recover so-
called ill-gotten wealth... The deal is expected to cover an
estimated $475 million in Swiss bank deposits."
The report states that "in exchange for 70-30 sharing of the Marcos
wealth, with the government getting the larger share," the government
now intends to clear Mrs Marcos and her children of 'all civil and
criminal' liabilities. The exoneration would also cover Mrs Marcos'
24-year conviction on two graft charges.
The report adds, "not only would the government abandon all civil and
criminal cases against the Marcoses... but that even the lone
conviction obtained against Imelda Marcos would be washed away."
Imelda, a former beauty queen, won elections and is now a politician.
Our own Ehtesab Cell was lucky enough to stumble onto documents that
have been lying right here in Islamabad. Documentary evidence has
established a link between the three accused � Benazir Bhutto, Asif
Zardari and Nusrat Bhutto � and the six shell companies (namely:
Capricorn Trading, Dargal Associated, Mariston Securities, Mariston
Business, Nassam Inc., and Bomer Finance) that were being used to
divert funds arising from kick-backs and commissions.
In the absence of such documentary evidence, the Ehtesab Cell would
have never been able to get the four Swiss bank accounts frozen.
To be certain, for every one account frozen, the Bhuttos must be
maintaining at least 10 other accounts for which documentary evidence
would never be available to the Ehtesab Cell and, thus, no question
of being able to repatriate funds held in those accounts.
It is unfortunate that over the past two decades scores of off-shore,
tax-heaven jurisdictions have cropped up all over the globe. In
common law, off-shore banking jurisdictions confidentiabty arises
through:
* Specific laws or regulations designed to enshrine banking
confidentiality;
* By the special relationship that exists between a client and their
professional advisers;
* In an express contract; and
* By virtue of the law of tort, whereby, for example, valuable
information with commercial value is protected against unjustifiable
use.
In simpler terms, the laws enacted in a number of off-shore
jurisdictions such as in the Isle of Man, Mauritius, Nevis, Niue,
Panama, Seychelles, Turks & Caicos, Uruguay, Vanutu, Western Sarnoa,
Jersey, Labuan, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Madeira, Malta, Netherlands
Antilles, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Guernsey,
Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Belize and Bermuda, allow formation
of companies with nominee directors acting as front-men, provisions
of bearer shareholding and hidden beneficial ownership.
An outsider is explicitly barred under the law of these jurisdictions
to try to uncover the ultimate beneficiaries. At times the banks
where such off-shore companies maintain accounts are not even aware
of the eventual beneficiaries.
There is a whole cobweb of dummy companies, front-men, nominee
directors and bearer shareholders that tracking down real owners
becomes almost next to impossible.
The uncovering of the Bhutto-related accounts in Switzerland is
actually a two dimensional event. From a purely economic perspective,
it does not mean much at all. Almost anybody who can afford to have a
Swiss account has one. Perhaps, none of our parliamentarians who
maintain assets abroad have declared their holdings either in the
wealth tax returns or their election declarations.
No significant amount of repatriation is expected neither is this
uncovering going to discourage anybody from looting the treasury and
diverting funds to overseas accounts.
>From a political stand-point, the Ehtesab Cell has pulled a fast one.
Benazir Bhutto is going to have an awfully difficult time getting out
of this one. In the words of a leading columnist: "PPP's goose has
been cooked."
Here is an instance where a specific link has been established
between four bank accounts and a particular group of individuals. The
real challenge now lies in proving "beyond any reasonable doubt" that
funds held in the bank accounts have actually been 'illegally
amassed'.
This is exactly where most Third World governments have failed in the
past.
The problem is that corrupt leaders almost always belong to countries
where corruption is widespread and investigative agencies are mere
tools for domestic political victimisation.
Corrupt leaders are often followed by more corrupt leaders who are
interested more in political damage rather than safeguarding the
national economic interest.
International litigation, on the other hand, is awfully expensive,
exhaustively demanding in terms of evidence and indeed a time-
consuming undertaking.
Corrupt investigative agencies often fail to gather appropriate
evidence. Third World courts are known for their lethargy and
inaction. Frozen accounts could, therefore, remain frozen for years
if not decades.
On a more positive note, the public opinion in Switzerland and the
recent anti-corruption statements by James D. Wolfensohn, the World
Bank's current President, are all expected to have an impact on how
bank regulators in Switzerland and elsewhere used to look at leaders
of Third World looting their national treasuries and depositing it
into banks under their jurisdiction.
If the Government of Pakistan (GOP) plays its cards right, the
Bhutto-related disclosures can actually become a test case for the
World Bank to prove its anti-corruption stance.
The Pakistan treasury, as a consequence, may even get some of what
has been stolen back into its coffers.
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970929
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The ever-elusive necessity of shelter
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Noman Ahmed
HOUSING in the urban areas is becoming inaccessible to the masses,
especially the lower and middle income groups. It is an irony that
the possibilities of acquiring shelter have gone beyond the reach of
the majority of people. One of the reasons is the declining number of
available options.
On an average, the cost of an 80 square yards plot in a remote
housing scheme in a large or medium city is at least Rs. 100,000.00.
An equal amount is needed to construct the most rudimentary abode
over it.
Similarly acquiring a basic shelter in a fringe squatter
approximately costs Rs. 100,000. Both the options are unaffordable
for the vast majority of the urban low income groups.
Theoretically, housing is of two kinds, owned and rented. These two
options are calibrated on the basis of socio-economic
characteristics, locational and geographical advantages, and the
process of housing development itself.
Whether in the public sector, housing schemes, the squatter
settlements, the trend of owned housing is towards the rise. For a
majority of the households, the only lifetime investment is buying or
constructing a house. This investment trend leaves little room for
any other productive utilisation of the already scarce capital. It
obviously stagnates the living standards of the people.
The need of shelter can also be catered through rental housing.
However in Pakistan rental housing has yet to acquire any significant
role in the shelter sector.
Status of rental housing: rental housing has had a weak tradition in
the country especially in urban areas where it usually flourishes.
For example, in Karachi, which is the largest and perhaps the most
speculative land market, the rental housing has never become an
expanding option. Careful estimates show that its current proportion
is as low as 5 percent of the total stock.
Factors that led to the inadequate performance of rental housing
sector are many. They can be traced in retrospect. According to the
housing census of 1960. Pakistan possessed a total housing stock of
7.795,166 units (1,685.214 in urban and 6,109,950 in rural areas). Of
this figure, 646,620 were rented (545,890 in the urban and 100.730 in
the rural areas) aggregating to 8.29 per cent of the stock. The
housing census of 1981 showed a further decline. A total of 6.5 per
cent of the housing was in the rental category.
Although no census was held afterwards, it is estimated that the
figure has not crossed the 5 per cent mark. This fact establishes
that no significant change is expected to occur in the rental housing
sector. It is also important to note that the National Housing Policy
of 1994 has not assigned any role to the rental sector.
Besides, the figures of informal housing which account for 35 per
cent of the total stock, are no different. For instance in Karachi,
the profile of squatter settlements prepared by the Karachi
Development Authority shows that 95 per cent houses are owned by the
residents while the remaining are rented.
Rental housing is the domain that is underscored by the concerned set
of actors.
It is found that public sector institutions contribute marginally in
the growth of rental housing. Instead of generating a conducive
environment where rental accommodation can expand as an enterprise or
devising attractive conditions for the other actors, the public
sector confines its efforts to providing a few units to some of its
employees. The Pakistan Estate Office and the Public Works Department
develop and allot housing to government servants.
However, the net proportion is negligible across the demand. Other
government departments also provide housing to their employees at a
very small scale.
The cost incurred in the process is very high as compared to the
number of housing units produced. The private sector contribution is
also minute and disorganised. Only individual entrepreneurs undertake
purchase of housing which is rented out in the market on a piece-meal
basis.
Besides, cooperatives have also remained a dormant factor in this
regard. In the usual practice, the cooperatives only attempt to
acquire land, sub-divide, and finally deliver it to the members. No
worth mentioning project has been launched for a rental enterprise.
Few social welfare and philanthropic organisations have catered to
the rental housing. Aga Khan Development Network and the
philanthropists of the Parsi community are prominent in this regard.
Issues
There are several reasons that did not let rental housing become a
prominent housing option. One of them is the obsolete and incongruent
set of laws and regulations. Major laws that govern the rental
housing include the Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act 1947, NWFP
House Control Act 1947, Sindh Rent Restriction Act 1947, West
Pakistan Urban Rent Restriction Ordinance 1956 and Cantonment Rent
Restriction Act 1963. Whereas the detailed contents of each of these
regulations are different, they are the same in their letter and
spirit .
The regulations provide greater security to tenant in comparison to
the landlord. In terms of conflicts, tenants enjoy greater leverage.
The laws do not encourage periodic increase in rent rates across the
rising inflation and decreasing value of the currency.
Most of the regulations hold the landlord responsible for all the
major repairs and maintenance.
Besides, in an environment where the over all conduct of the parties
does not show respect towards the laws of the civil society, the
tenancy pattern tilts in favour of the more powerful. increasing
violence in urban areas is also a major hindrance in the expansion of
rental housing.
In such circumstances when the investment is not safe from curses
like extortion and hijacking, the respective capitalists obviously
opt for safer options to avoid public dealing. Similarly the tenants
also find it a precarious solution since the dictums of the contract
are not able to safeguard their rights There are many procedural
drawbacks also. The existing institutional set-up is unable to
standardise the rental ceilings along any guideline. In a culture
where bye-laws are only meant to be by-passed, no stable mechanism
for a rental enterprise emerges out. In squatter settlements, the
rental accommodation can only be obtained through personal
assurances.
This creates disputes which further hamper in the increase of the
rental housing option. Besides, as most squatter dwellers are
occupants without titles, they seldom prefer to rent their abode to
any unknown party due to the fear of losing the property itself.
The regulatory framework that governs the tenancy is obsolete and
does not take into consideration the apparent realities that exist in
the society. For example there is a provision of raising of raising
rents up to rents 10 per cent. In some cases, the rate of inflation
simply overtakes the rental return which becomes a perpetual loss
oriented enterprise.
In the contemporary scenario,the public sector is constrained to
directly invest or facilitate in any domain of housing.
Thus, rental housing becomes a remote possibility, The Eighth Five
Year Development Plan has not envisaged any direct investment in the
housing sector. Besides, for private sector, buying and selling
property is a more profitable business with lesser risks and a high
rate of return .
Cooperative and informal sectors are not adequately prepared to
undertake this tasks. Unless drastic changes in the contractual and
administrative setup are incurred, less change is expected to come.
Another significant factor is the relationship of rental housing with
land prices. In urban areas where residential land use prevails, land
prices are rising rapidly.
Thus the cost of construction makes it an all the more costly affair.
When a property unit is built and fails to offer even a meagre 0.5
percent as its rental value, the feasibility of the enterprise
weakens. For instance, in Defence Housing Authority Karachi where an
average property unit of 3000 square feet costs Rs. 7 million, the
maximum rent per month that it can draw is Rs. 30,000 which is even
less than 0.5 per cent of the investment.
lf the same owner sells this property in the market after one year
without renting it, the probable return that may obtained can be as
high as 20% on the original investment. Same ratio is valid for
apartments end smaller residential units.
Absence of monetary incentives and subsides also restrain the
investment in rental housing. No financial option that encourages
investment by the private sector in the rental housing exists. In a
situation where annual housing demand is 875,000 units per year, the
paralysis of rental market is a grave consequence. Only shanty towns,
sub-standard housing and squatter settlements will continue to
result.
Scarcity of rental housing can also be gauged as a development
indicator. The societies in which residence / property ownership and
consequent trading is high and regarded as a factor of security, are
apparently less developed in nature. Most of the urban centres of the
developing world display this scenario.
Contrarily the societies where rental housing is adequately available
show the stability of civic institutions and the over all prospects
of prosperity.
This is a factor which is common in most of the developed countries
and is also spreading in the urban centres of newly industrialised
countries. The excessive investment in property market is an
indicator of the reduced number of opportunities available for
investments. It also shows the relative insecurity and instability of
the economic environment and absence of mutual trust between a
trading partner.
Unfortunately this is the scenario which prevails in Pakistan. The
country has experienced some of the most shaking financial scandals
has not only taken away the trust of common people from other
investment options but also magnified the managerial lacking of the
government to safeguard the people's capital.
Rental housing is a viable option for shelter which is least explored
by our policy makers . It has the capacity to provide decent and
compatible residential alternative to the emerging lower and middle
classes . Certain basic steps have to be taken by the respective
quarters to make this option deliver the goods. They are as follow:
Direct incentives should be allocated for investors and entrepreneurs
who intend to develop and manage rental accommodation. Philanthropic
organisations and charities may also be contacted for the purpose.
The concept of public private partnership must be explored for its
available options. As housing provision / facilitation is a
continuous process, innovative ways and means must be sought. Public
sector organisations such as House Building Finance Corporation may
extend support to cooperatives and NGOs who intend to develop and
manage large-scale rental housing projects.
Similarly the municipalities in cities that experience housing
shortage must be made a partner. Contractual modifications are utmost
important to make such enterprises work in the overall respect. Pilot
projects based on these concepts should first be tried.
Laws and regulations must be revised and made compatible with the
conditions in which rental market operate. It must create enough room
to accommodate the private sector with its limitations.
However these steps shall require an unabated commitment on the part
of the government to fulfil its responsibility to improve the civil
society. Lest the proposed suggestions will remain a remote
possibility.
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970929
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Financial sector reforms: a case for consumer credit agencies
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mansoor H. Khan
At times, one cannot help, but envy the present decision makers of
Pakistan. No doubt immense problems have surrounded us, however, many
of these problems only require simple commonsense solutions! No one
will deny that we need a sophisticated financial system that allows
quick business and where transactions are executed rapidly with
minimal transactional costs.
Unfortunately, the existing financial set-up of the country does not
allow this and days even weeks pass by only to verify the identity
and the financial standing of the parties.
Even this lengthy due diligence fails to provide any real protection
as it is mainly conducted to satisfy the requirements laid down in
some manual which in almost all the cases do not make any financial
or legal sense.
This laxit~ becomes monumental in case of small transactions
involving consumers or consumer credit issues � for a new telephone
connection, PTC requires an affidavit to the el'fect that the
subscriber will make the bill payments on time! A need arises to
check the identity and the financial standing of a person when credit
is extended in some form, either directly through a bank or
indirectly by a utility like WAPDA, KESC, PTC or some gas company. In
Pakistan, for these smaller unsecured credits, the system is
completely outdated, and at odds with the demands of modern business.
This article will briefly discuss: (i) why the institutions in
Pakistan are unable to extend unsecured credit; (ii) what issues and
proble~ms have arisen because of this inability; and (iii) how
consumer credit agencies will help in facilitating unsecured credit
business in Pakistan.
(i) Inverse Robin Hood Phenomenon
Institutions are reluctant to extend unsecured credit mainly because
there is no inexpensive and effective method for its recovery in case
of a default.
The only avenue available is that of recovery through law courts,
however, experience indicates that f'or the recovery of small
unsecured credits, resort to law courts is never a viable option for
any institution � invariably, the institution ends up paying several
times more in legal fees than the amount originally lent and even
alter all this hassle it does not make a full recovery. Most
importantly, even after a favourable decree is awarded by the court'
there will be no collateral that could be attached. I'he same
defaulter, during the pendency of the law suit and thereafter, rips-
ol'f several other institutions and continues doing so through out
the rest of his or her life, as there is no system in place whereby
one bank could check what has been the experience of the other banks
with a certain individual.
This and similar shortcomings, translate into a restraint on the
ability of financial institutions to provide unsecured credit to
people without collateral, something I would term "Inverse Robin
Hood" phenomenon. While the liability side of all the commercial
banks mainly consists of savings of small depositors, the doors of
these banks are closed to the same small depositor in case they need
an unsecured loan for starting a small business. The State Bank of
Pakistan's Prudential Regulation No. III confirms this apprehension
where it specifically disallows banks from extending unsecured credit
the value of which exceeds one hundred thousand rupees.
Under this regulation no bank can extend unsecured credits the
aggregate value of which exceeds the total capital and the general
reserves of that bank.
This directive of the State Bank, though objectionable from a public
policy stand point, however indicates that unsecured credits have
traditionally been at greatest risk in Pakistan.
On the one hand, banks cannot be forced to make available clean
facilities when the past experience shows that there is a very little
chance that the banks will ever see that money again.
However, on the other hand, as a matter of public policy, all avenues
should not be closed to an entrepreneur if he does not possess an
adequate collateral. Therefore we need a strategy where the
institutions could advance unsecured credit but at the same time are
adequately protected against defaults.
(ii) Speed of Business
Studies have now found a correlation between the time it takes to
install a new telephone line and the overall economic development of
a country. The following discussion would try to explore the basis
for this correlation. PTC for instance, requires 9-10 documents for
the approval of a new telephone connection or for the up- gradation
of an existing telephone line � this includes a copy of the title
deed of the property where phone has to be installed.
Though PTC has a legitimate right to cover itself against the future
risk of non-payment by its subscribers we need also to keep into
account the loss the whole country suffers in terms of wasted
productive hours when people waste time going from one office to
another while getting new phone connections instead of working on
their jobs. PTC or WAPDA or the gas company may have saved a few
million by insisting on some totally useless documents or affidavits
we should however rest assured that the country on the whole loses
billions on account of delays cased by similar requirements.
Another example of this waste is the way utility bill payments are
made. PTC has 2.8 million lines in service, which means that each
month, if it takes an average of one hour to make a bill payment by
actually visiting the bank and making a cash payment, on average 2.8
million productive hours are wasted every month or 33.6 million hours
every year.
If we also include the time wasted on bill payments of WAPDA (9.07
million customers in 1994) and the gas companies, the annual wastage
would come close to 200 million hours. If the same payments are made
by way of bank cheques which are then mailed to the respective
utilities all this time could be saved.
(iii) Consumer Credit Agencies
In an efficient financial system, people who show a consistent record
of financial responsibility are rewarded while those who fail in this
respect are disciplined by excluding them from the net of credit
worthy individuals. In this context, the consumer credit agencies can
effectively identify financially responsible individuals. These
agencies basically maintain records or credit histories of
individuals and make them available to authorized institutions or
individuals.
They receive information about individuals from the institutions that
they visit while applying for a credit. Slowly and gradually, they
collect all the vital information about an individual which is stored
in computers in a central data bank and is available on line to other
financial institutions to evaluate whether an individual who has
applied for a credit from them is a good risk or not.
In this respect, these agencies play an important role by cleaning up
the system by excluding people with bad credit histories either
because of previous defaults or late payments or bad cheques that
they have written. Following information forms part and parcel of a
consumer credit agency's data on any individual:
1. Present and all the past addresses;
2. total income and its source;
3. Iiabilities, like number of dependents, house rent etc.;
4. total credit received, from ail the sources;
5. complete data if the individual has ever been 30/60/90 days
delinquent in loan payments;
6. if he has ever defaulted;
7. if the individual has ever filed for personal bankruptcy; and
8. if his cheques have ever bounced.
These agencies normally keep records for upto seven years. A bad
entry in a record literally deprives the individual of any and all
the credit in the next seven years.
This deterrent has proved more effective than resort to law courts
for recovery of small amounts and brings in financial discipline and
responsibility among consumers. Though its not illegal for banks to
provide credit to an individual with a bad credit history�the credit
officer would have to come-up with a very good explanation in case
the creditor with an existing bad credit history defaults.
A credit check with one of the credit agencies should be a regular
practice amongst the financial institutions before approving a
credit.
(iv) Conclusion Once we have similar credit agencies in place in
Pakistan, the approval process for consumer credit in Pakistan will
become much simpler. Instead of producing all those voluminous
documents for new phone or gas connections all that would be needed
would be a credit check. Utilities and other institutions will be
more willing to accept payments by cheques as records of bounced
checks will go into the credit histories.
These agencies will also make positive contributors towards the tax
system in due course by encouraging documentation of transactions. In
the presence of these agencies the banks will have no excuse in
denying credit to an entrepreneur without a collateral but with a
good credit history.
With these agencies new laws would have to be introduced which
guarantee the right to equal credit and also ensure that a certain
percentage of a banks' assets is reinvested in the community where
the bank does business under the community reinvestment plans.
The national identity card system needs to be computerized too so
that it gives out reliable and accurate information.
If the identity card system is faulty, which it is at the moment, it
would be very easy for individuals to change their identities by
using fake identity card numbers.
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of
the World Bank Group, has reportedly done some studies in this area
and IFC's technical assistance could be obtained for the setting up
of these agencies in Pakistan.
The banks in Pakistan can pool financial resources for the setting up
of an agency which would benefit them indirectly by lowering the
default rate in their loan and credit card transactions and will also
make profit for them as these agencies work on fee basis.
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971002
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CBR's successor to be armed with vast powers
--------------------------------------------------------------------
M. Ziauddin
ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: The proposed Pakistan revenue service (PRS), the
new corporate name for the Central Board of Revenue (CBR), will have
three federal secretaries and perhaps an equal number of private
sector representatives.
Federal Finance Secretary Moin Afzal is likely to serve as secretary
of the PRS. Federal secretaries Afzal Kahut (Establishment) and Mian
Tayyab (Cabinet) will be itsmembers.
The PRS will have its own service rules providing for summary
dismissal of corrupt and inefficient officials and quick rewards for
honest and efficient employees.
The private sector representatives on board are likely to be
technocrats � everyone coming from a specific discipline, like
information technology, law etc.
A former senior vice president of the World Bank, Syed Shahid Hussain
(likely to be appointed PM's adviser on economic affairs), will be
made in charge of the process of corporatization of the CBR.
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971004
--------------------------------------------------------------------
News of forward cover fails to create buying euphoria
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 3: Stocks recovered across a broad front on Friday on
active short-covering triggered by news of relative calm on the Line
of Control (LoC) in Kashmir and some rethinking by foreign investors
about the likely impact of the recently restored forward cover on
share business.
News of city violence and fear of law and order in other parts of
sensitive areas should have prompted hasty selling by jobbers and
weakholders but they held on to their positions, telling bears that
they could absorb negative news if there are matching positive
corporate developments.
The market did not witness a buying euphoria on news of forward cover
but those who could interpret its provisions correctly made massive
buying on some of the MNCs, notably Hub-Power and others, analysts
said.
If all goes well on the political front, including peace with
judiciary, there is nothing to prevent the market to respond
bullishly to its technical demands, they added.
"The market is looking for an opportunity to rise to its pre-reaction
levels and now the moment seems to have come and release of first
tranche of IMF credit line could provide the much-needed push to it,"
dealers said.
The weekend profit-selling, largely coming from the day traders, did
push the KSE 100-share index from the early high level of 1,863
points to 1,858.81 points as compared to 1,852.14 a day earlier,
clipping the initial gains to only 6.67 points. The underlying
sentiment showed that the rally could be carried on to the next week.
The market's firm stance was also well-reflected by a fresh increase
in the total market capitalization, which surged Rs 1.842 billion to
Rs 562.197 billion as against Rs 560.355 billion a day earlier.
Energy shares led the market rally under the lead of Hub-Power, which
finished the week's highest level amid massive trading. Indications
are that it could hit its previous peak level of Rs 62 on the
strength of its working results for the first quarter.
Along with PSO and Shell Pakistan, which finished higher despite
weekend profit-selling, Japan Power and Southern Electric, both
foreign-based shares, also joined the list of most actives on heavy
buying at the lower levels.
KESC and some others including S. G. Power, which came out with a
good dividend of 25% for the last year, followed them, finishing with
good gains.
Bank shares also remained in active demand at the lower levels as
most of them have a tremendous potential to rise from the current
lower levels on the strength of higher earning for the first quarter.
MCB, Askari Bank, Bank Al-Habib, Faysal, Schon, Prime and some other
banks also tended higher.
Chemical shares after early fall under the lead of Fauji and Engro
Chemicals came in for active support later and managed to finish
partially recovered. FFC-Jordan Fertilizer followed their lead and so
did BOC Pakistan despite weekend recovery.
Glaxo-Wellcome Pakistan, Packages, 20th ICP Mutual fund, Burshane
Pakistan, IGI and some others managed to finish partially recovered.
Pakistan Refinery, National Refinery, Pakistan Tobacco, Rafhan Maize,
Parke-Davis, Lever Brothers, Fateh Textiles, Reckitt & Colman,
Adamjee Insurance, PIC and Dewan Salman remained under pressure and
could not fully recoup early losses.
Modarabas, mutual funds, leasing shares and most of the textile
shares showed fractional price changes amid alternate bouts of buying
and selling.
Trading volume rose to 42 million shares from the overnight's 40
million shares, thanks to massive activity in Hub-Power. Gainers
maintained a fair lead over the losers at 88 to 66 with 52 shares
holding on to the last levels.
Hub-Power topped the list of most actives, up Rs 1.15 on 19.283
million shares, followed by PTCL, easy five paisa on 7.533 million
shares, ICI Pakistan, lower five paisa on 4.217 million shares, Japan
Power, up 20 paisa on 3.547 million shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer,
lower five paisa on 1.510 million shares.
Other actively traded shares were led by Dewan Salman, easy 10 paisa
on 0.544 million shares, followed by KESC, lower also 10 paisa on
0.418 million shares, Engro chemicals, up one rupee on 0.369 million
shares, Packages, higher Rs 3 on 0.267 million shares, and Fauji
Fertilizer, up Rs 1.25 on 0.645 million shares. There were some other
notable deals also.
DIVIDEND: S. G. Power, cash 25 per cent.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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970928
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Madness
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
THOSE that are half-mad are infinitely more dangerous than the mad.
The mad can be certified and put away; the half-mad are free to live
amongst us and are allowed to get away with unquantifiable harm,
which, when regarded in comparison with the quantum of poverty and
misery that this country faces, is in itself madness.
Last week, the Senior Minister of Sindh, MQM's Farooq Sattar, with
some of whose convoluted logic at times one can stretch oneself to
compromise, or even agree, came visiting, together with his new-found
friend, Shahida Chishti whose card introduces her as "Associate
Secretary, 26th National Games and Special Representative on Sports
and Culture to Minister, Local Government, Sindh." She lives in
Islamabad but flies down to Karachi on a regular basis.
Their plea was that they needed the people's help to keep open
whatever open spaces there still are, to preserve the few playgrounds
for people to play upon, to nurture the parks for the people to relax
in, to save the trees, to stop the concrete rot. An applaudable
cause, I agreed, in which the people will support them.
The main item on their agenda was a handkerchief-sized open square,
designated as a park, in the congested, badly-planned, and even more
badly built-up, Gulshan-i-Iqbal which had been violated by the
construction therein of a women's swimming pool and a women's
gymnasium, both on a grandiose scale, both of which had been left
uncompleted by the previous government. This government, strapped for
funds, was unable to undertake any further construction, and, in any
case, no money was available to administer and maintain such schemes.
So, their logic dictated, what had been built must be demolished,
regardless of the millions already spent, and the open square
restored to its former dilapidated glory.
Their next item was a half-built olympic-scale indoor sports stadium
in the Kashmir Road park and sports complex area. Again, millions had
been wasted, and no money was available to complete it, and in the
event of completion, to run it. So, therefore, this too must be
demolished. Nothing new, nothing strange. My initial reaction was to
tell them that we the helpless people were neither 'shocked' nor
'grieved', having endured workings of many a warped, half-mad mind.
Sher Shah Nawaz Suri embarked upon a motorway-building project in the
middle of the country connecting no end to no end, which was shelved
by Benazir Bhutto merely because it was Nawaz Sharif who had
initiated it. But she was not that mad, and did not destroy what had
already been built. Merely because the previous government had
embarked upon a misadventure was certainly no reason to throw money
down the drain. One must find ways of saving whatever had been built
or half-built, and put it to some use that required no further major
expenditure. No sane man can agree to support destruction. What
stands must be salvaged.
My suggestion was that the environmental NGO Shehri's engineer,
Roland de Souza, other like-minded citizens, and I would visit both
sites and see what could be done. Roland is variously called John,
George, Ronald or David by the officials of the KMC and KDA who have
not so far come across this strange name and cannot get it round
their tongue (Roland is not perturbed, he was known as Tom in his old
college, the NED).
Roland and I set off for the Gulshan square, traversing miles of pot-
holed roads, many of which were covered by overflowing sewage. The
half-built building we saw in the park truly amazed us. It was
obviously conceived and designed by someone totally divorced from the
realities of the surrounding poverty and misery, whose sole interest
was name and fame. The square is bounded by four narrow lanes, one
awash with sewage water. The grandiose columned entrance led into a
would-be gymnasium, alongside which was a half-completed swimming
pool.
The entire built area was to be surrounded by high walls, capped by
an imported 'Skylite' dome. Was this really necessary? And what on
earth was the point of an indoor jogging track on the first-floor
balcony around the pool? A covered pool, a covered jogging track,
centrally air-conditioned? What about breathing, what about the cost?
The accompanying KMC experts were stoic. Those involved in getting
richer wanted the project completed. Those left out wanted the
structures demolished. All held their peace, hoping to lean on the
winning side. With averted eyes, one of them explained that the
chastity of the women had to be protected; they had to be cocooned
from the eyes of peeping-toms.
In this Gulshan square stood a dilapidated tennis court, which,
according to some locals, had been there for over ten years and upon
which not a single set of tennis had yet been played. At one end
stood a completed strip of what appeared to be a maintained building
of the tennis court vintage. It houses a library and a reading-room
for women on the ground floor, we were told, and on the first floor
an exercise-hall replete with exercise machines, and the
administrative offices. Entering the library and reading-room, we
found no books, no magazines, no newspapers, just empty shelves, an
empty centre-table, and a few chairs. So much for our literacy chase.
The exercise-hall was more promising � in good shape and indeed full
of machines, but with just two females exercising themselves. The
hall could easily hold an aerobics class of, say, a hundred, which
means that two classes a day could exercise close to two hundred
women badly in need of exercise and physical discipline. However,
such is the appeal of fitness and trimness that a mere average of
between 20 to 30 visit during any one day. We were told that the
membership was around 500, a highly optimistic figure. This being so,
what on earth was the point in building another women's gymnasium in
the same area? we enquired. Logic, yet again, was defied.
Farooq Sattar was very keen to have our assessment and our agreement
to the demolition. We told him to hold his horses and to ask his
engineers to take their cost estimates and plans to Roland-Henry-
George-Ronald-Donald's office where he and his men would assess how
much would be required to salvage the construction and how it could
be put to some sort of good use. Sattar's men did not turn up at the
appointed time and a further meeting was arranged.
While all this was going on, Sattar's park man, Hanif Nasir, kept
ringing to enquire as to Donald's decision. Sattar then rang to
express his disappointment at our not agreeing with his 'bold' (as he
termed it) plan to destroy, which he wished to commence before he
left for his weekly London rendezvous. He wanted to teach 'them' a
lesson. Teach whom? What lesson? We had to remind him that any fool
or illiterate (and there are lots around) can destroy, it being such
a simple act.
The next call came from Roland, very early on Wednesday the 24th, to
tell me that Farooq and his underlings had all gone mad. A resident
of the Gulshan square had rung to tell him that a bulldozer had
arrived with a demolition squad and they were about to commence work.
Act, Roland urged. How? I asked. Recheck, I told him. This is
unbelievable.
Roland asked a colleague from Shehri, Professor Noman, to 'rush' to
the site to observe firsthand. He confirmed that action was imminent.
Luckily, I managed to get hold of our chief secretary, senior
bureaucrat Saeed Mehdi, who so far has proved to be both reasonable
and decisive, capable of independent necessary action, and I asked
him to do something to help, galvanize his civil servants and get
them to restrain the KMC men. He promised to do so before he left to
bow and scrape before the President of the Republic who was in
Karachi that day. We agreed that until he got his troops going, it
would be a good idea to organize a burqa-clad woman to block the
bulldozer's progress, Tiananmen Square-style, flay her bosom and
wail.
The wailing, aided by some sensible men of the area, managed to
prevent extensive damage, but not to entirely save the construction.
Readers of this newspaper will have seen the photograph published
last Thursday showing how a large portion of the front structure has
been pulled down.
Non-practising healer, physician Farooq Sattar, has let down the
side, his old school and mine, the Bai Virbaiji Soparivala Parsi High
School, founded in 1859 by that far-sighted good Parsi and livery
stable owner, Shapurji Hormusji Soparivala.
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971001
--------------------------------------------------------------------
As walls go higher
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Hafizur Rahman
A district magistrate has prohibited the use of walls for the writing
of any kind of slogans, for or against anything. While not wanting to
see the writing on the wall is an understandable weakness with us, it
seems that short of banning all sorts of walls, this particular DM
has thought it prudent to stop people from writing on them.
The news report does not specify the walls to which the DM's order
applies. Is it applicable to boundary walls or ordinary house walls,
and does it cover jail walls and toilet walls? The last-mentioned
(their insides at least) are the most favourite writing tablets of
graffiti composers and are witness to many a masterpiece that was
born in a washroom and died there.
If the executive really had the means to stop people from writing on
walls, a large number of persons in every city would lose their means
of livelihood. You would then not be able to read ubiquitous slogans
in Urdu saying "Release Miss Naheed Khan at once" or "Yusuf
astrologer: the only reliable knower of your future."
There are certain advertising agencies in every city of Pakistan,
without posh offices and without pretty girls sitting at reception
desks, which specialise in transmitting your message on to bare
walls, whether the message is about the need for Islamisation or
about a popular washing machine or carries the address of a quack to
whom you can turn after dissipating your youth.
The practice of writing on walls is so widespread that if the
advertisers were to be told that the wall-owner does not like such
inscriptions on his property, he might not be able to understand why.
In his opinion all walls are public property, and if you can defecate
against them why can't you write on them?
It is not the advertisers' fault that the number, length and height
of walls in the country are increasing day by day. I am not joking.
It is a fact. And it is not because more and more houses and other
structures are being built. It is because walls provide a
psychological protection against social contamination and fear of the
unknown intruder, maybe up to no good. I have lived in Lahore's
Model Town before partition. At that time you were not allowed to
have a boundary wall on the side of your house facing the road. It
could only be a green hedge. Now most of the houses there have become
enclosed in walls. I see no other reason for this other than a
feeling of insecurity. People get frightened by all sorts of things,
even when other people look at them from outside.
It is not only the citizenry that is infected with fear. The
authorities too seem to suffer from unknown dangers. Danger from
where? Fear of what? Of the people? Maybe. Look at the boundary wall
of Lahore's beautiful Governor's House. In any civilised country the
house would be displayed to the public on fixed days. But what do the
inmates of this palace do? Every few years they make the wall more
and more impregnable.
It started in the sixties when the wall was raised by a couple of
feet. The time was Ayub Khan's martial law. After a few years the top
surface of the wall was treated with broken bottle glass. This was
followed by an additional three feet in height in the form of barbed
wire.
The latest device to protect the inmate was searchlights every twenty
yards or so along the wall. Add to this the routine police patrol 24
hours a day and you get the impression that this is not the residence
of the Punjab Governor but Fort Knox where the United States
Government keeps its gold.
Go into any street in any part of Karachi or Lahore or even Islamabad
(described as a comparatively safe city) and you will see either new
walls being constructed or old ones being given more height. Why this
obsession with security? Why do people want to be cloistered, and why
this abnormal fear of other human beings? What are they trying to
hide? The worry of the rich is understandable, but what's eating the
middle class which has hardly anything for dacoits and robbers or for
a grasping government?
Is it that in the prevailing free-for-all where even the most
ordinary family manages to acquire something or the other beyond its
normal means, an element of secrecy must be maintained? Is that why
there is so much stress on chaardivari, the four walls? It is mutual.
You don't peep over my wall and I won't peep over yours.
Then, go into the localities where you have big and small bungalows
or semi-detached villas. Huge iron gates bar the entry of even the
residents who have to honk the car horn for minutes before they are
let in. The more well-to-do have a two-way talkie installed at the
gate so that anyone wanting to come in may announce his identity.
Just like the dens of super crooks that you see in the movies. The
only thing now left is to have a password. If Sonny has forgotten the
password when he comes in late at night, daddy's not going to let him
in. One asks: why this obsession to enclose oneself, and against
what? Against whom? I have questioned many friends. "There are no
hawkers in this locality, no buffaloes, not even a stray dog; against
what evil contingency do you keep your outer gate closed?" There is
no plausible explanation. Only a vague answer, "You never know these
days."
We must ask ourselves about the fears of "these days" that haunt us.
We must make a collective effort to get rid of these fears, whether
they are real or imaginary. We shall have to have more trust in
humanity, in our neighbours, in our relations. But to fight these
fears we must first know them. And also decide whether it is society
that can help us to get rid of them or the state. It's no use tilting
at unknown windmills.
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971002
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Was the PM's visit a non-event?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaheen Sehbai
FOR THE US media, Congress and American citizens, Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif never visited their land. Only a handful of White House
and state department folks and their bosses met him, as if it was a
ritual they have to perform with every visiting head of state or
government. For Mr Sharif they extended the ritual for a few more
minutes.
Technically Nawaz Sharif was not on an official US visit and that is
the explanation senior Pakistani diplomats give for the lack of
public interest in the visit.
But these very diplomats had worked hard to give the impression that
the Nawaz-Clinton meeting would not just be a courtesy call but
"substantive" discussion on bilateral issues would take place and the
president would not be seeing the prime minister in the manner he
meets all heads of state coming to the UN General Assembly.
And Nawaz Sharif had come not with just good wishes and empty words
for the international community but with solid, well considered peace
offers for India, specially significant because he was offering a no-
war treaty and a freeze on all weapons, nuclear, ballistic and
conventional, even without the Kashmir dispute getting any closer to
resolution than it has been for the last 50 years.
The no-war pact offer had been cleared by the top decision-making
'body', the troika and the rest. It was meant to present Pakistan in
a light that would create an image that it was not Islamabad but New
Delhi which created all the obstacles to peace in South Asia and the
White House and state department must take note, before the US
president embarks on a South Asian journey early next year.
Thus for all practical purposes, an official US visit to Washington
may not have been any more significant than his UN sojourn,
particularly when a full media team and a big flock of economic
managers accompanied him to do their business on the sidelines. It
was by no means a low profile affair and lack of media and public
interest in US, therefore, has to be explained.
Normally when a country launches a major initiative in diplomacy, it
is accompanied by a media blitz which focuses international attention
on the initiative. Special efforts are made to draw the best of the
world media to discuss the initiative and heads of state or
government go out of their way to accommodate journalists, both at
home and abroad, to broadcast their message as far and wide as
possible.
Nothing of the sort happened with the Nawaz peace initiative. Why? is
a difficult question to answer but top Pakistani diplomats in the UN
and the US were seen working towards the other end �- cancelling any
media engagements that Islamabad's media managers may have put in
place.
It is now known that CNN, New York Times and several other important
newspapers and TV stations were in the long queue to seek Nawaz
Sharif's time but were frustrated. Even a Pakistani media news
conference after the meetings between Mr Sharif and Mr Clinton and
with Mr Gujral was cancelled by the diplomats but was arranged at the
last minute by Information Minister Mushahid Hussain.
At a similar, almost forcibly arranged, briefing for the Pakistani
media accompanying the prime minister, top Pakistani diplomats had
tried to throw cold water on the visit. One diplomat gave such a
defeatist view of the Pakistani efforts that he had to be grilled by
the newsmen to shake him up. "We do not care for results, which may
be positive or negative, but we can only make our best efforts," was
the punch line the top diplomat repeatedly gave to newsmen.
Naturally, when the top most implementers of the policy are so weak-
kneed and trembling in their shoes, what results could Nawaz Sharif
expect from their efforts.
Probably the Indians too knew about the state of mind of our key
diplomatic stars in the UN and the US. They totally ignored Pakistan
and just forgot Nawaz Sharif's major peace initiative as well, as if
nothing had happened. This new strategy was news for the Pakistanis
coming from Islamabad but also for those based in New York. It was a
continuing policy which they probably had not conveyed to Islamabad
out of fear or even expediency based on their own career interests.
For the first time this policy of ignoring Pakistan was mentioned to
the Pakistani media team by senior diplomats at their forced
briefing. "We are more worried about this new strategy because now we
are failing to bring India to our level of engagement, as we used to
do in the past. The Indians have now realised that by reacting to
Pakistani actions and statements, they were downgrading themselves,"
one of them had explained.
This non-engagement policy was visibly upgraded by the Indians to the
level of the prime minister and when I.K. Gujral simply ignored Nawaz
Sharif's no-war pact offer in his UN speech, even the US and UN media
were surprised.
So journalists covering the Nawaz visit were wondering what was going
on in the diplomatic corridors of Pakistan. On the one hand the media
attention that Nawaz Sharif could easily have got, specially after
his no-war offer, was deliberately blocked by the managers of the
Nawaz visit, on the other there seemed to be no ready strategy to
counter the latest Indian tactic of ignoring Pakistan.
The Indians were now talking from a much higher platform, raising
their stature to a global power instead of a regional state involved
in war games with its neighbours. Pakistani diplomats seemed content
at remaining bogged down deep below.
Foreign policy and the foreign office in Pakistan have thus a lot of
questions to answer but while Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan was
accompanying the prime minister, his own position seemed tenuous, at
best. First, he was not given the proper respect that he needed and a
man of Gohar Ayub's stature had to come down and complain to the
journalists that his room was so small, he could not even invite a
single guest for any discussion.
Whether and when his lodging problems were resolved is not important
but Gohar Ayub was conspicuous by his silence during the visit. He
appeared to be hanging around, doing nothing, not even elaborating
the grand new Nawaz peace initiative to either the Pakistani or the
US media.
Why was everybody so apologetic and shy to talk about the no-war
offer, when it should have been the other way around so that the
world could have registered its impact and put the heat on the
Indians to respond, is a mystery yet unresolved.
So the Americans were not made to take notice of the Nawaz visit and
his diplomatic moves, the Indians deliberately ignored whatever the
Pakistanis were doing and the rest of the world did not care. Was the
visit then only for domestic propaganda purposes. Whether any mileage
was achieved on that front is also a big question.
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971003
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Who is responsible for academic loss?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sarfaraz Ahmed
KARACHI, Oct 2: A gathering of around 50 out of 65-member faculty of
the St Joseph's Government Girls College vowed on Thursday that they
would continue their boycott of classes until the former principal of
the college was re-posted.
They also announced that they have postponed the planned programme of
the golden jubilee celebrations scheduled to be held this month at
the college having a strength of around 3,000 students.
The founding plaque of the college, opened in 1951, says: "The
college for women dedicated to St. Joseph's was raised by the
Daughters of Cross who have served education in Karachi since
1862..."
A visit to the St Joseph's on Thursday showed not many students but
almost every single member of the faculty was present at the college
premises except the principal, Prof Mustajab Zohra, who has gone on
leave after coming to the college for three days in a highly charged
atmosphere.
"The education department is solely responsible for the present
situation," said the teachers in a chorus when asked what they felt
about the academic loss of students as they had been deprived of over
100 hours of education when one takes into account eight periods of
different subjects in a day.
"Indeed, it is highly unfortunate that we have been forced to boycott
classes, but we have been left with no other choice to take this
course in order to save the prestige of this college," said a senior
teacher.
They also produced the resolutions adopted by students in support of
their stand.
According to the documents made available by the teachers, Ms Kaniz
Jafar Abedi, who had been working in this college for last 34 years,
including four years as principal, had gone on a 60-day medical leave
to the US on May 14, 1997.
On July 25, she sent a fax message to the secretary education
requesting an extension in leave for what she claimed she had
suffered an acute attack of angina and had to seek emergency medical
help. At present, she added, she was not in a position to undertake
the journey back home and the leave should be extended up to Aug 26.
The acting principal, Ms Mary Caleb, who had been officiating in Ms
Abedi's absence and forwarding all her documents to the director of
college education, sent her request to the higher authorities a day
later.
On Aug 26, when the period of extended leave had also expired, Ms
Abedi sent another letter requesting further extension in leave up to
Sept 26 on medical grounds.
In support of her request, she also dispatched the letter of Stony
Brook University Hospital and Medical Centre, New York, where she was
undergoing treatment, which stated that Ms Abedi had been admitted on
Sept 8 for urgent coronary artery bypass surgery after her
catheterization.
The hospital added that her previous hospitalization was for unstable
angina and the present one for a coronary angioplasty.
However, Prof Mustajab Zohra, an officer of BPS-20, was posted as
principal of St Joseph's Government Girls College against, what the
notification issued on Sept 13 said, "an existing vacancy."
The college staff in a letter to the chief secretary on Sept 16
registered their protest and termed the new posting orders unjust,
saying "it will be unjust on humanitarian grounds to take such a step
in her (Ms Abedi's) absence which can have an adverse effect on her
health. Even otherwise, a person proceeding on medical leave does not
relinquish his/her charge in this manner."
They further said that the administrative matters of all nature, be
it admissions, examinations, discipline, attendance and all other
related matters were being taken care of very efficiently by the
acting principal, the entire teaching and non- teaching staff.
They also suggested that if at all Ms Abedi was not re-posted, then
one of the 15 teachers who had completed 30 years in this college
might be made the principal.
According to them, Ms Abedi had returned home from the US and had
reported to the Services and General Administration Department about
her availability.
The college directorate, however, had already stated that the former
principal of St Joseph's had to obtain fresh posting orders.
It had said that Ms Abedi's had proceeded on ex-Pakistan leave and
the period of the leave, extended on medical grounds, had now crossed
three months.
According to service rules, all officers returning from their long
leave and leave on medical grounds could not directly join their
previous posting, even if that post is lying vacant.
On the posting of Prof Mustajab, the department said that she was the
senior most officer of BPS-20, was working as additional secretary
(academic) in the education department, and had also remained on ex-
Pakistan leave for more than three months.
"She returned to Pakistan on December 1, 1996. Since then, she had
been waiting for her posting," the department added.
Answering a question, the college directorate said that posting of a
grade-20 officer in a college where a grade-19 officer was required
for principal's job had become a routine matter since the
introduction of a four-tier formula a few years back.
In this regard, the directorate gave the examples of colleges such as
National College and Sir Syed College where the posts of principal
needed a grade-20 officer but this post was being held by grade-19
officers.
Similarly, the former principal of APWA Girls College was of grade-20
instead of grade-19.
The teachers alleged that during her three days at work the new
principal gave admission to even B-graders when the college had
already closed admissions on 88 per cent marks for candidates seeking
admission on merit.
"This is highly unacceptable as the prestige of the college is being
compromised," said the teachers who added that they were highly
professional and dedicated to the cause of education.
They claimed there are teachers in this college who have not taken
even a day's leave. They included the officiating principal, Ms Mary
Caleb, and former principal Ms Abedi.
They also claimed that the syllabus of every class is completed in
time and mid-term examinations are conducted for all the classes
regularly.
The teachers said that in the absence of Ms Abedi the examination of
arts, science and commerce along with practicals had been conducted
as per government instructions and regular classes were started on
Aug 20, and added that more admission were made when the government
sent its own list.
"I was not the least interested in my posting as principal of the St
Joseph's," Prof Mustajab Zohra said and added that she had been
subjected to uncalled-for hostility ever since she took the charge as
the principal.
She said before her last assignment was of additional secretary
(academics) which was a job given to a senior most professor and the
posting in the past of professors such as Obaidur Rehman and Hashmat
Lodhi on the post of additional secretary (academics) were cases in
point.
Prof Mustajab said all the vacant posts of senior officials were
filled in during the reign of the previous caretaker government when
she was badly ignored.
She conceded that a summary with regard to her transfer from the St
Joseph's was in the process of finalization. She said at present she
had taken leave from the college owing to a highly non-cooperative
attitude of the staff towards her.
The professor questioned why couldn't the staff end their boycott in
the larger interest of the students and for the prestige of the
college.
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971004
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Our colonial heritage
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Irfan Husain
OUR golden jubilee has become like a scab on the wound of our 50-
year-old history as an independent nation: you know you shouldn't
scratch, but sometimes the itch becomes unbearable. So you keep on
scratching exposing the wound and delaying the healing process.
While pundits and public alike have been engaged in breast-beating
over all that has gone wrong, and are currently locked in endless
analysis of how and where we lost the way, we have not really
examined the legacy of our colonial past. Khalid Hasan is one of the
few columnists to have discussed the issue in a recent article. In
his usual wry and forthright manner, he has made the point that we
have not deteriorated as a society after the British left: we have
just reverted to type. The colonial experience imposed a set of rules
and modes of behaviour that were not the norm in the subcontinent.
Ideas like democracy, sportsmanship, hygiene and concern for others
beyond one's immediate family were all foreign to us before the
British introduced them, and imposed them on us through education,
example and law.
After their departure, the hold these values once exerted on society
and the individual has steadily weakened because our leaders have not
set the same lofty example their British predecessors did, and the
influence of our current crop of educationists is marginal at best.
The less said about the deterrent effect of the law the better. With
the fading of our Western heritage from public memory, we are
becoming what we were before the colonial interregnum: cruel,
dishonest and lazy. This will not be a popular viewpoint, but just
look at the evidence around us in the shape of the repeated failure
of the democratic process: the endless corruption and the murder and
mayhem that have become a way of life and death. Anybody doubting
that this is how we were a couple of centuries ago only has to read
contemporary 18th century accounts of life in India, specially among
the aristocracy.
Apart from attitudes and values, the physical infrastructure left by
the British has declined beyond repair. the once-proud North Western
Railway � renamed Pakistan Railway, but not a single track mile added
to it since 1947 � has deteriorated to a level where it is an ordeal
to travel by train. Roads that were once clean and well-maintained
are now filthy and pot-holed. Graceful public buildings are now
fading and covered with posters and graffiti. Public utilities, once
the model of efficiency, are now a shambles.
But the institutions we inherited have suffered far more grievous
damage these last fifty years. Governance has become a pale shadow of
what it was in 1947. Standards of public morality and law and order
have reverted to the 18th century levels. The educational system
collapsed long ago under the weight of nationalization. The
judiciary, despite the occasional bright spot, has been unable to
meet the challenges of the times and has disappointed more often than
it has delivered. The civil service, once the backbone of British
India, has lost its own backbone. The defence forces, while
maintaining the veneer of their proud traditions, have lost their
professional edge owing to their frequent incursions into civilian
domain.
Perhaps our biggest loss has been the erosion of tolerance. This most
precious of virtues was never fully digested by us despite the best
efforts of our colonial mentors, but we made some semblance of
getting along with our neighbours. However, this pluralistic attitude
was undermined long before the British left with the sharpening of
the political divide between the Hindus and Muslims leading to the
partition of India.
Indeed, this traumatic act was an admission of the inability of the
two communities to live side by side in peace and harmony. It should
surprise nobody that this same spirit of intolerance should continue
to haunt us fifty years later. If we could not live among Hindus as a
minority in a united India, it seems that Sunni Muslims cannot live
as a majority with Shias, Ahmadis, Hindus and Christians in Pakistan,
just as we could no longer live with Bengalis in 1971. The triple-
headed hydra of ethnicity, sectarianism and regionalism is growing
stronger by the day, fed by prejudice and hatred, and emboldened by
weak governments and cynical leaders without principles or vision.
An example of this lack of tolerance and consideration for others was
provided by a section of the crowd watching the recent one-day match
between Pakistan and India. By throwing stones at Indian fielders,
they disrupted proceedings four times, depriving the home team of
three overs. They also sent a signal to millions of viewers around
the world that we were incapable of watching Indian cricketers in
action without trying to harm them. Compare this hooliganism with the
discipline and fortitude displayed by hundreds of thousands of
mourners who gathered in London recently at Princess Diana's funeral.
We have become so used to blaming the British for all our problems
that it has become a cliche. In fact, they have become a scapegoat
for many of our blunders. However, we must face the fact that they
left fifty years ago, and if the institutions they created here did
not suit us, there was nothing stopping us from changing or improving
them. But while we have torn down the edifice of the Empire, we have
been unable to replace it with an indigenous one. What now exists is
a surreal, Kafkaesque confusion of ad hoc measures imposed on a
decaying and obsolete substructure of colonial rules and laws. In
fifty years, we have been incapable of revising and reforming our
laws, procedures and rules of business in the light of modern
realities.
Indeed, we have been too ungracious to acknowledge the contribution
made by the British. For an instant, imagine life in this part of the
subcontinent had they not come to these shores at all. Would we have,
for instance, made the investment needed to put the railway system in
place? Had they not introduced the concepts of the rule of law,
equality and universal education, would newspapers like the one in
your hands been published? I strongly suspect we would have looked up
to Afghanistan as a model of progress in this scenario.
I am no Anglophile, but the fact is that the British did far more
good than harm in India, as well as in their other colonies. Compared
with other colonial powers, they have an outstanding record of
providing decent, progressive government wherever they ruled. We have
much to be grateful to them for. Unfortunately, we have repaid them
by changing all the names of our roads and buildings to erase their
memory from public consciousness.
We still ape some of their outer characteristics like going to clubs,
speaking their language, and playing their sports. But we have proved
to be incapable of assimilating their true heritage: a value system
built around tolerance, decency and justice.
===================================================================
971003
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lahore match belonged to Ejaz Ahmad
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Salahuddin Ahmad : Fromer National Selector
Pakistan raced to victory in the third and the deciding one-dayer at
the packed-to-capacity Qadhafi Stadium against India amidst a torrent
of sixes and fours flowing from the torrid bat of Ejaz Ahmad.
The way he hammered the Indian bowling, it seemed that he was hungry
for an early dinner at home before it got cold or, was the visiting
side keen to see Lahore by night. Without detracting a bit from the
wonderful willow-wielding feat by Ejaz one must put on record the
shrewd captaincy of Saeed Anwar who master-minded a brilliant
strategy for the convincing success. Right from his decision to put
the Indians in after winning the toss to his fine field placing and
handling of bowling resources on a perfect batting track, his
leadership carried the stamp of class.
Shahid Afridi set the pace with power-packed strokes but Ejaz soon
overpowered not only his younger partner but baffled the opponents
who were dumb-struck by his lightning flashes. The day-and-night
belonged to him and the rest of the proceedings were reduced to mere
formality.
The Indian batsmen, with the exception of Ajay Jadeja who played a
real professional innings according to the situation, all other top
order Indian batsmen played reckless shots, including experienced
Azharuddin, Robin Singh, Ganguly and of course, to some extent,
Kambli. Tendulkar was out on a good outswinger from Aquib Javed when
he played with open chest.
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971004
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Aqib, three others, left out of first Test team
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ilyas Beg
LAHORE, Oct 3: Experienced fast-medium bowler Aqib Javed and opener
Aamir Sohail have not been included in the 14-member Pakistan team
named for first cricket Test against South Africa to be played at
Rawalpindi from October 6.
Star opener Saeed Anwar has been retained as captain,
wicketkeeper/batsman Moin Khan as his deputy and former Test batsman
Haroon Rashid as coach of the team. The final eleven will be picked
on the morning of the match.
Also dropped from the team, which convincingly won the last of the
three-game one-day international series against India, is the Test
left-arm spinner Muhammad Hussain, who held two spectacular catches.
Interestingly, openers Ali Naqvi (who batted well in both innings of
the Combined XI) and Muhammad Ramazan have been included in the
national side for the first time. Saleem, youngest of the famous
Elahi brothers, Manzoor and Zahoor, has also been included and so
have been young paceman Shahid Nazir, Muhammad Akram and middle-order
batsman Muhammad Wasim. All these selections hint at selectors'
efforts to 'search' reliable batsmen because the team has been
failing time and again in this department.
The national selection committee, which held deliberations whole day
on Thursday and met on Friday at the Qadhafi Stadium, with former
Test paceman Salim Altaf in chair, delayed the announcement of names
of the players till mid-day to get information about the three-day
Combined XI vs South Africa match.
The endorsement of members of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
Council was also sought before handing over the names of the players
to mediamen. The coach Haroon Rashid and the captain Saeed Anwar also
gave their views during the meeting.
The Pakistan team is:
Saeed Anwar (captain), Moin Khan (vice-captain), Ejaz Ahmad Senior,
Inzamam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Wasim, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis,
Mushtaq Ahmad, Shahid Nazir, Azhar Mahmood, Muhammad Akram, Saleem
Elahi, Ali Naqvi, Muhammad Ramazan.
Coach: Haroon Rashid.
Physiotherapist: Dr Dan Kiesel.
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971002
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Row kicks up on replaced ball
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 1: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has expressed its
unhappiness over the comments made by skipper Saeed Anwar after
Pakistan were beaten by India in a cliff-hanger on Tuesday.
Anwar, on Tuesday, had said that his team was robbed of the match
when a fresh white cherry was handed over to his bowlers in the 42nd
over.
"But what Anwar has not realised is it was a bad captaincy by him as
he didn't bowl Waqar Younis his full quota of 10 overs. Secondly,
there was no complaint by him when Younis was able to extract swing
from that ball in the penultimate over in which he conceded two runs
and took the wicket of Saba Karim," a spokesman of the PCB,
requesting not to be quoted, said.
The spokesman stated that the ball was now in the court of
disciplinary committee chairman as Saeed Anwar had publicly
criticised the cricket setup.
However, when asked why the authorities couldn't provide used balls
which forced the umpires to take off the shine of it but failing to
soften it up, the spokesman was unconvincing, saying only four balls
were available from the Hyderabad match because before that no
matches had been played here with the white balls.
He parried the question when asked the World Cup was played with
white balls and there should have been reserve balls as Pakistan had
hosted 17 matches, including the final.
It has been officially learnt that Sri Lankan Match Referee Ranjan
Madugalle had also contacted PCB Secretary Waqar Ahmad on Tuesday
morning to point out that there were no reserve balls available.
Waqar Ahmad had told Madugalle that the board had no stock of used
white balls, sources said.
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970930
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Tickets at Rs 3,000
--------------------------------------------------------------------
By Our Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 29: A record sale of more than Rs four million had been
noted by Monday evening but still the tickets were available but on
the black marketeers.
According to sources, the black marketeers had brought tickets in
bulk when they came up for sale on Sept 24.
This correspondent also came across a black marketeer outside the
National Stadium, the venue of the match, who demanded Rs 2,500 for a
ticket whose value had been fixed at Rs 600 by the Pakistan Cricket
Board (PCB).
"I am a professional. I have invested Rs 25,000 and aim to earn Rs
250,000 in return," said Sohail Rathore, a black marketeer, adding:
"I have no fear for the police. I have settled everything and that's
precisely why I am here unnoticed."
"I had anticipated in advance that this match would be a sell out
match. It's an art of business and it's what I am doing," Rathore
said.
Several other telephone calls came to this newspaper's office and the
dejected spectators levelled serious allegations against the cricket
board, local authorities and the law-enforcing agencies.
But the local authorities flatly refused to accept their claim. "It's
all nonsense. We are not selling any tickets. It is a matter between
the PCB and Habib Bank," an official of the KCCA, the hosts, said.
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970928
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan beat Argentina to gain 5th spot
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sydney Friskin
MILTON KEYNES, Sept 27: Pakistan completed their campaign in the
sixth Junior World Cup hockey tournament in fifth position but they
had to fight hard for their 4-2 victory against Argentina who led 2-1
at halftime.
The ultimate result was not what Pakistan had set out to achieve
eleven days ago but by the end of the day the forwards seemed to have
found a winning pattern. Pakistan were able to suppress but never
entirely subdue Argentina whose skills and athleticism enabled them
to make deep in-roads into Pakistan's defence, particularly in the
first half.
Once again Pakistan made useful substitutions in the front line by
bringing on Haider Hussain and Zahid Afzal. In all they made four
substitutions with Ali Raza and Abu Baker also being deployed.
Pakistan: Mohammed Qasim, Salim Aamir, Tariq Imran, Irfan Yousaf,
Imran Yousaf, Wasim Ahmad, Zakir Ullah, Ejaz Imran, Mohammad Farooq,
Mohammad Khalid (capt) Babar Abdullah, Substitutes used: Zaid Afzal,
Haider Husain, Abu Baker, Ali Raza.
Argentina: J. Grondona, G. Orozco (capt) J. Espairs, M. Pellegrino,
S. Raffo, J. Hourquebie, F. Zylberberg, E. Paulon, M. Ocana, T.
MacCormick, L. Deambrosi.
Substitutes used: G. Garreta M. Vila, L. Melgarego, P. Cammareri.
Umpires: S. Graham (Wales) and Hl Jamson (England).
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971003
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Jansher Khan pulls out of World Open
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A.Majid Khan
KARACHI, Oct 2: Pakistan squash has run into crisis as reigning world
champion Jansher Khan, record holder of eight wins, has skipped next
month's Kuala Lumpur World Open, casting doubts whether he would go
with the national team for the World Team Championship to be held
also in the Malaysian capital following the conclusion of US dollar
1,30,000 super series.
Yesterday was the last date for sending entries to Cardiff -based
Professional Squash Association (PSA) both for the Pakistan Open and
the World Open. But the entry lists received here today from the PSA
showed no entry of defending champion Jansher Khan. in the World
Open. The Khan has entered the US dollar 70,000 Golden Jubilee
Pakistan Open, scheduled in Islamabad from Oct 24.
The World title is now open in the absence of Peshawar-born Jansher
Khan and Australia's world number two has been top seeded and
Scotland's Peter Nicola is seeded second.
Pakistan Zubair Jahan Khan, currently ranked tenth in the world, has
entered the 21st World Open, scheduled from Nov 4-9 followed by World
Team Championship from Nov 10-15. Both the major events are to be
held in Kuala Lumpur.
World number one Jansher Khan, serving in the PIA, is currently away
from the country competing in US dollar 26,000 international
tournament, which has commenced from Oct 1 at Hamburg, Germany,
ending on Oct 5.
Jansher Khan is not available to explain what has led to his skipping
of the World Open but doubts have been expressed about his avoiding
to go to Malaysia as it is generally said and reported that his
divorced wife Violet, through a court degree, is entitled to get the
maintenance allowance for herself and her son, named Imran.
Jansher Khan, who won the I989 World Open at Kuala Lumpur, did not go
to Malaysia for well about seven years and this led to serious doubt
about his participation in the World Open.
Jansher's absence from Kuala Lumpur World Open seems to be an
indicator that he might not be available for the Pakistan team though
the PSF has already exempted him from the national trials also and
named him captain. Zubair Jahan Khan, ranked tenth in the world, has
also been exempted from the national trials, being held here at the
PIA Jahangir Khan Squash Complex to pick two top players of league to
complete the four-member team.
The 24 players who have entered the Kuala Lumpur World Open are:
Rodney Eyles (Australia),Peter Nicola (Scotland), Jonathan Power
(Canada), Simon Parke (England), Ahmed Barda (Egypt),Chris Walker
(England), Del Harris (England), Brett Martin (Australia), Zubair
Jahan Khan (Pakistan), Dan Jenson (Australia), Mark Cairns (England),
Anthony Hill (Australia), Mark Chaloner (England), Alex Gouch
(Wales), Craig Rowland (Australia), Derek Ryan (Ireland), Julien
Bonetet (France), Paul Johnson (England), Martin Heath (Scotland),
Amir Wagih (Egypt), Stephen Meads (England),Paul Gregory (Germany)
Tony Hands (England) and Graham Ryding (Canada).
Pakistan's World No 28 Zarak Jahan Khan is among the 24 players who
will compete in the qualifying round to fill eight places, reserved
in the 32-man main draw of the World Open.
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