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DAWN WIRE SERVICE

------------------------------------------------------------------- Week Ending : 06 September 1997 Issue : 03/36 -------------------------------------------------------------------

Contents | National News | Business & Economy | Editorials & Features | Sports

The DAWN Wire Service (DWS) is a free weekly news-service from Pakistan's largest English language newspaper, the daily DAWN. DWS offers news, analysis and features of particular interest to the Pakistani Community on the Internet. Extracts from DWS can be used provided that this entire header is included at the beginning of each extract. We encourage comments & suggestions. We can be reached at: e-mail dws@dawn.khi.erum.com.pk dws%dawn%khi@sdnpk.undp.org fax +92(21) 568-3188 & 568-3801 mail Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Limited DAWN Group of Newspapers Haroon House, Karachi 74400, Pakistan TO START RECEIVING DWS FREE EVERY WEEK, JUST SEND US YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS! (c) Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan - 1996 ******************************************************************** *****DAWN - the Internet Edition ** DAWN - the Internet Edition***** ******************************************************************** Read DAWN - the Internet Edition on the WWW ! http://dawn.com Pakistan's largest English language newspaper, DAWN, is now Pakistan's first newspaper on the WWW. DAWN - the Internet Edition will be published daily (except on Fridays and public holidays in Pakistan) and would be available on the Web by noon GMT. Check us out ! DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS

CONTENTS

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NATIONAL NEWS

Wasim declines to defend anti-terrorism law SC Bar challenges judges' downsizing NA withdraws president, PM privileges Poverty Alleviation Fund Co registered Foreign scholarships being slashed Software engineers aboard to be lured back Presidents, PMs & others imported 48 duty-free cars Aliens may get legal status if registered India making talks doubtful SC suspends order to cut its strength ---------------------------------

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

-- Large-scale reshuffling in CBR planned Index falls 43.82 points on foreign selling Karachi stocks improve ahead of automated trading NWFP collects a dismal 3.3 per cent of target Scripless trading ECC closing down RECP, three other corporations PC move may give wrong signals Policy for value-added industry soon, says PM Process of National Bank sale initiated SBP to get tough on top 10 defaulters of each NCB HBL to extend time period for golden handshake ---------------------------------------

EDITORIALS & FEATURES

The legless chair Ardeshir Cowasjee Epidemic of despair Omar Kureishi Learning from the past Gen K. M. Arif (retd) Uncertain outlook for dialogue M.H. Askari Just so much garbage Rifaat Hamid Ghani Why this needless, draconian law? M.B. Naqvi -----------

SPORTS

Pakistan entries for Malaysian squash Pacer Akram selected for Sahara Cup Jansher stays on top of world squash Finances main problem for Akhtar Rasool: Atif PCB officials accused of demanding 'cut'

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NATIONAL NEWS

=================================================================== 970831 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Wasim declines to defend anti-terrorism law -------------------------------------------------------------------- Shaheen Sehbai WASHINGTON, Aug 30: Senate Chairman Wasim Sajjad, an astute legal expert himself, on Friday declined to defend the controversial laws introduced by the Nawaz Sharif government. Mr. Sajjad, who is in US for the last 15 days to speak on 50th anniversary functions, was asked searching questions by Pakistanis living in the Washington area at a get-together arranged by the Pakistan Ambassador at the Embassy. "I welcome the Chairman as we were class mates in Lahore," Mr. Riaz Khokhar introduced him. After a brief "bird's eye view" of the situation in Pakistan in which Mr. Sajjad dealt with the economic and political situation and how the Nawaz Sharif government was tackling it, the floor was opened for questions. When asked about the controversial anti-terrorism bill, the Senate Chairman presented "both the viewpoints" before the audience, starting with the criticism that it gave sweeping powers to a police which "does not have a good reputation." He said the law had made confessions obtained by the police admissible in courts and that had generated a lot of criticism. The government, he said, was arguing that it was not dealing with a normal situation and so "for an abnormal situation, extra powers were needed." Asked whether as a lawyer and legal expert did he believe that seven days were enough to investigate a heinous crime and convict a person in a court and would not the police use the seven days just to "extract" confessions even from innocent people, Wasim Sajjad said: "You are an intelligent person. You can draw your own conclusions." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970902 -------------------------------------------------------------------- SC Bar challenges judges' downsizing -------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Sept 1: The Supreme Court on Monday received a writ petition challenging the federal government's decision of reducing the strength of judges of the apex court through an executive order. The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in its writ petition under Article 184(3), through its secretary Shamim Ahmed Bokhary prayed the apex court to declare the government's decision as "unconstitutional, arbitrary, whimsical and malafide." The SCBA also prayed the court to direct the government through secretary law, justice and parliamentary affairs to fix the number of judges after consulting the Chief Justice of Pakistan, and chief justice of the concerned high courts. The petitioner association which made "Pakistan" as respondent stated that order of the president to reduce the number of judges in the apex court was violative of the judicial independence which was guaranteed inter alia under Article 2 A of 1973 Constitution. It submitted that the executive had caused a blow to the independence of judiciary which amounted to the denial of fundamental right of getting justice to the citizens. The SCBA stated that order of urtailing the number of judges of Supreme Court was contrary to the aspiration and rights of the people of Pakistan. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970902 -------------------------------------------------------------------- NA withdraws president, PM privileges -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Sept 1: National Assembly on Monday passed three amendment bills withdrawing a privilege of the President and the Prime Minister to import a duty free car and their entitlement of income-tax free salary. The opposition Pakistan People's Party which did not oppose the bills termed these as 'symbolic gestures' of the government just to pretend austerity and called for more amendments to withdraw other privileges available to the president and prime minister. "It is hypocrisy" said Naveed Qamar who had proposed several other amendments in the same laws for withdrawing the privilege of the president and the prime minister to import items of personal use including food stuff and article of furnishing their residences. He pointed out that even the close relatives of the president and the prime minister were entitled to import the items of personal use. He said there was no limit on it. Instead of just pretending they should adopt real austerity measures, he said. "Prime minister still goes to Lahore twice a day on a chopper," he said. "Prime minister still travels in large entourage with cavalcade of officials limousines," he said reminding the treasury benches their claims to do away with the VIP culture. Waja Karim Dad of the PPP said that the members had been stripped off their privilege to use the VIP lounges at the airports while other officials were still enjoying all the perks. He claimed that one day expenditure of the prime minister house was Rs. 3.5 million. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970903 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Poverty Alleviation Fund Co registered -------------------------------------------------------------------- Muhammad Ilyas ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: The Planning Commission has got registered the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund Company (PPAFC) as a private limited company under Sec 42 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984, to tackle the problem through the provision of microcredit to the poor, an official source told Dawn Tuesday. It will be a non-profit organization with a board of directors at its apex and comprising three nominees of the Government and nine members from the private sector. For the present, the deputy chairman of the Commission, Dr Hafiz A. Pasha is chairman of BoD. Other two officials are the Finance Secretary, Moin Afzal and Secretary, Economic Affairs Division, Javed Burki. Nine non-official members of the BoD are well-known leaders of NGO movement, namely: M/S Abdul Sattar Edhi, Dr Ayesha Ghous, Dr Mohammad Tehseen, Dr Zulfikar Jilani, Zubaida Jalal, Suleman Sheikh and Humayun Murad. The immediate bases of the project are Prime Minister's announcements and Finance Minister's budget speech in which the Government pledged to stem the tide of poverty through various measures including, inter alia, the establishment of village and district support organizations and provision of micro credit for the poor, promotion of collective savings etc. He had admitted in his budget speech that the percentage of those under the poverty line had increased in the last ten years from 20 to 25%. The idea for PPAFC is basically derived from the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh which has successfully helped reduce population growth rate by providing microcredit and establish microenterprises in that country. But the main difference here is that Bangladesh is free of the feudal yoke, while Pakistan still groans under it, observed a veteran development economist who did not want to be identified. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970903 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Foreign scholarships being slashed -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mohammad Ilyas ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: The Federal Government has decided to slash the Merit Scholarship Scheme and to provide funds only for 47 people who are already studying abroad, according to an official source. The eighth five-year plan had set aside Rs 1.4 billion for scholarships, out of which an expenditure of Rs 700 million was meant for the Federal scholarship scheme. Even in the Annual Development Plan, an expenditure of Rs 20 million was envisaged. According to a revised plan to be considered by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), however, the provision has been reduced to a mere Rs 2.3 million to be consumed over the period 1995-99, i.e. for the duration of the training course of the individuals already studying abroad. The objective of the scheme was to make Pakistan self-sufficient in terms of highly qualified professionals with a view to reducing dependence on foreign experts. A total of 308 people benefited from the scheme. Out of these, 164 scholars completed Ph.D, and 40 others did M.Sc. Twelve of the beneficiaries failed to acquire any degree at all. Out of those who completed their course, 14 did not return to Pakistan at all. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970805 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Software engineers aboard to be lured back -------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: The federal government is planning to launch an ambitious programme to offer employment to the Pakistani software engineers working abroad. Source said the Information Technology Commission would announce the programme toward the end of this month. Talking to Dawn, the ITC Chairman, former Senator, Syed Mazhar Ali said the commission intends to revamp the country's information technology-related institutions which are presently producing 4000-5000 software engineers, a year. "In India, they produce more than 50,000 such experts every year, and if we produce them at the present rate, Pakistan would be tragically deficient in the fields of database development, education and marketing etc", he said. For this purpose, he added, the relevant institutions presently doing the systems analyses and other works, would be upgraded to the required level, with the help of Pakistani software engineers working abroad, to enable them to be capable of producing better and more exportable software producers. "These Pakistanis abroad need to be offered better salaries to attract them homeward, and the government is already working on a programme to acquire means and resources to allocate the required funds for this purpose". DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970805 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Presidents, PMs & others imported 48 duty-free cars -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: Presidents, prime ministers, governors, chief ministers and chiefs of armed forces imported 48 duty free cars since 1985, the National Assembly was informed on Wednesday. A list of the cars was presented in the House in reply to a question along with the value of the vehicles and duty and taxes exempted, showing that the exempted amount stood at Rs23,76,35,546. According to the details, three cars were imported by presidents, four by prime ministers, 22 by governors and acting governors, four by chief ministers and 15 by chiefs of armed forces. The list shows that opposition leader Benazir Bhutto happens to be the only prime minister who imported duty free car twice. Her party leader Chaudhary Altaf Hussain (late) also imported two cars during his tenure as the Punjab chief minister. On a point of order, after the question hour, the Parliamentary Secretary on Finance Kamil Agha said no member of the ruling party had imported duty free car. "It is not a tradition with the Muslim Leaguers to import duty free cars and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif neither as prime minister nor as a chief minister imported a duty free car." The following are the details: Name of Value Exemptions dignitary Description (in Rupees) (Rupees) Presidents/PMs 1. Gen. Muhammad Mercedez Benz 464,088 2,329,722 Ziaul Haq 300 ACL, 1986 model 2. Ghulam Ishaq Khan Mercedez Benz 300D 929,433 4,804,000 3000 cc 1991 model 3. Wasim Sajjad Mercedez Benz S-320 2,088,866 6,616,901 3000cc 1994 model 4. Muhammad Khan Mercedez Benz 300SEL 5,46,850 27,45,187 Junejo 3000 cc Model 1986 5. Benazir Bhutto Mercedez Benz 500SEL 14,06,080 70,58,522 5000 cc Model 1989 6. Ghulam Mustafa Mercedez Benz 300 SEL 10,63,506 54,96,096 Jatoi 3000 cc Model 1991 7. Benazir Bhutto Mercedez Benz 600S 27,86,950 88,28,222 6000 cc Model 1991 Governors/Acting Governors 8. Gen. Jahandad Khan Mercedez Benz 300D 2,92,335 14,67,522 (Sindh) 2500 cc Model 1986 9. Lt.Gen. K.K.Afridi Mercedez Benz 300D 5,03,596 25,28,052 (Balochistan) 3000 cc Model 1986 10. Nawabzada Abdu Mercedez Benz 300 SEL 5,56,320 27,92,726 Ghafoor Hoti 3000 cc Model 1986 (NWFP) 11. Makhdoom Sajjad Mercedez Benz 300E 4,69,440 23,56,588 Hussain Qureshi 3000 cc Model 1986 (Punjab) 12. Gen. Muhammad Mercedez Benz 300D 5,05,931 29,01,645 Musa 3000 cc Model 1987 (Balochistan) 13. Fida Mohammad Mercedez Benz 300D 5,78,017 29,01,645 Khan (NWFP) 3000 cc Model 1987 14. Just. (retd) Toyota Corolla XL-II 1,56,859 3,03,130 Qadeeruddin 1300 cc Model 1988 Ahmed (Sindh) 15. Ashraf Tabani Mercedez Benz 260E 6,56,135 32,93,798 (Sindh) 2600 cc Model 1988 16. Amir Gulistan Mercedez Benz 300D 8,05,360 31,35,993 Janjua (NWFP) 3000 cc Model 1989 17. Fakhruddin G. Mercedez Benz 260E 8,71,500 43,74,930 Ibrahim (Sindh) 3000 cc Model 1990 18. General (retd) Mercedez Benz 300SE 8,35,056 43,16,165 Tikka Khan (Sindh)3000 cc Model 1991 19. Mehmood A. Haroon Mitsubishi Pajero 4,53,200 6,40,145 2446 cc Model 1991 20. Mian Mohammad Mercedez Benz 300SEL 13,14,328 74,53,881 Azhar (Punjab) 3000 cc Model 1992 21. Sardar Gul Mercedez Benz 300SEL 17,84,270 94,31,613 Mohammad Khan 3000 cc Model 1994 Jogezai (Balochistan) 22. Chaudhry Mohammad Mercedez Benz 5320L 16,25,000 53,46,250 Altaf Hussain 3000 cc Model 1993 (Punjab) 23. Lt.Gen.(retd) Toyota Corona 4,92,095 8,41,040 Mohammad Iqbal Model 1994 (Punjab) 24. Chaudhry Muhammad Mercedez Benz SO320L 16,75,190 51,51,209 Altaf Hussain Model 1994 (Punjab) 25. Maj.Gen.(retd) Mercedez Benz 250D 11,14,505 34,28,775 Khurshid Ali Khan 2500cc Model 1994 (NWFP) 26. Brig.(retd)Sardar Mercedez Benz S320L 21,26,451 65,42,027 A. Rahim Durrani 3000cc Model 1994 (Balochistan) 27. Lt.Gen.(retd) Mercedez Benz S320 21,89,469 71,84,743 Imranullah Khan 3000 cc Model 1994 (Balochistan) 28. Kamaluddin Azfar Mercedez Benz E300D 15,49,064 67,29,103 (Sindh) 3000 cc Model 1994 29. Lt.Gen.(retd)Raja Mercedez Benz S320L 23,30,287 83,58,503 Saroop Khan Model 1996 (Punjab) Chief Ministers 30. Syed Abdullah Mercedez Benz S320L 26,56,912 1,11,02,016 Shah (Sindh) 3000 cc 31. Aftab Ahmed Khan Mercedez Benz S32CL 24,74,395 1,01,17,237 Sherpao, (NWFP) 3000cc Model 1996 32. Sardar M. Arif Mercedez Benz S320L 27,71,807 1,18,71,655 Nakai (Punjab) 3000cc Model 1996 33. Nawab Zulfiqar Auston Martain 39,63,514 1,47,49,462 Magsi(Balochistan)Coupe Auto. 1996 Chiefs of Armed Forces 34. Adm.Tariq K.Khan Mercedez Benz 250D 1,94,000 11,49,450 Chief Naval Staff 2500cc Model 1985 35. Gen.Khalid M.Arif Mercedez Benz 250D 4,09,667 20,56,528 V.Chief Army Staff 2500 cc Model 1987 36. Air Chief Marshal Honda Accord 2,27,324 6,38,780 Jamal Ahmed Khan 1600cc Model 1988 37. Gen.Akhtar A.Rehman Mercedez Benz 260E 6,88,585 34,56,696 Chair. JCSC HQ, 2600 cc Model 1988 38. Adm.I.A.Sirohey Mercedez Benz 260E 6,78,327 34,05,202 Chief Naval Staff 2600 cc Model 1989 39. Gen.M.Aslam Beg Mercedez Benz 230E 5,18,735 26,04,049 Chief Army Staff 2300 cc Model 1989 40 Air Chief Marshal Mercedez Benz 260E 7,08,022 35,54,270 Hakeemullah 2600 cc Model 1990 41. Adm.Yasturul Haq Mercedez Benz 260E 8,12,000 4,19,725 Chief Naval Staff 2600 cc Model 1992 42. Mrs Nuzhat Asif Mercedez Benz S500 24,17,506 76,57,934 w/o late 5000cc Model 1993 Gen.A.Nawaz 43. Air Chief Marshal Mercedez Benz CE2500 12,00,242 38,02,022 Farooq Feroz Khan 3000cc Model 1993 44. Adm.Saeed Mohammad Mercedez Benz E250 13,02,357 42,84,754 Khan, Chief Naval 3000cc Model 1994 Staff 45. Gen.A.Waheed Mercedez Benz E300 14,11,974 50,54,866 Chief Army Staff 3000cc Model 1994 46. Gen.J.Karamat Mercedez Benz E300 12,29,311 44,82,375 Chief Army Staff 3000cc Model 1994 47. Adm.Mansoorul Haq Mercedez Benz S320L 35,35,473 11,531,175 Chief Naval Staff 3000cc Model 1997 48. AirChief Marshal Mercedez Benz S320L 20,23,847 67,01,088 Abbas Khattak 3000cc Model 1997 DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970805 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Aliens may get legal status if registered -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: Interior Minister Shujaat Hussain said on Thursday that the government was studying several proposals to give legal status to illegal immigrants, particularly the Bengalis, if they opted to stay in the country and got themselves registered. He was responding to a notice for discussion moved Syed Naveed Qamar of the PPP regarding the presence of illegal Bengalis and other illegal nationals who, the PPP leader said, were contributing to various crimes in Karachi. Mr Shujaat said his ministry had already prepared a summary to address the problem of illegal immigrants, at least for Karachi. The summary, he said, proposed registration of illegal immigrants in the Sindh capital so that their stay could be legalized, if they so desired. Otherwise, they would be sent back to their countries. The interior minister said the main cause of hindrance in the formulation of a national policy on illegal immigrants was that they hailed from various countries, the number of Bengalis being over 1.1 million. He said most of them had opted to stay in Pakistan at the time of partition and now had families here, and the government could not simply throw them out of the country. Mr. Shujaat Hussain said the next cabinet meeting would discuss a detailed report on the problem of illegal immigrants and might consider a proposal to start their registration. Dawn has learnt that the proposal, which was presented to the cabinet at a previous meeting, had suggested an amendment to the Foreigners Act of 1946 but the cabinet, after discussion, deferred the matter until more facts were brought to its knowledge. However, in the meantime, it issued instructions that Rangers, the Frontier Corps and the Coast Guard should keep an eye on the activities of the illegal immigrants in the country. The interior minister said on Thursday that the Rangers and Customs authorities had been told to control this problem for future. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970805 -------------------------------------------------------------------- India making talks doubtful -------------------------------------------------------------------- M. Ziauddin ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: Pakistan feels that some of the statements emanating from India regarding foreign secretary level talks between Pakistan and India have created doubts about the future of these talks. Sources said that the government has sought clarification from New Delhi in this regard. Meanwhile, if all goes well and the talks are held on schedule, the dialogue on Kashmir is likely to be upgraded to the level of foreign secretaries with the secondary issues left to be sorted out by the working groups. Under the joint statement issued on June 23, the foreign secretaries were to have a dual function in terms of the agreed mechanism. One, to deal with the issues of peace and security and Jammu and Kashmir and the other to coordinate and monitor the progress of working of all the working groups. They were thus to have separate meetings for each of these two distinct functions. However, in view of its importance and the fact that any progress in any other working group would have no meaning unless there was some substantial advance on the core issue, Pakistan now feels that the Kashmir problem should be handled by the foreign secretaries of the two countries while they are at the same time coordinating and monitoring the progress of the working groups. India is not likely to have any objection to the change in the structure of dialogue over Kashmir, because a separate working group on Kashmir in their view would perhaps serve as a red rag for the opposition BJP. Pakistan is said to be more interested in getting India to start talking on Kashmir, rather than in any particular structure for the dialogue on the core issue. "As long as India agrees to talk on Kashmir, Pakistan will talk whatever the forum," said an informed source. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970806 -------------------------------------------------------------------- SC suspends order to cut its strength -------------------------------------------------------------------- Rafaqat Ali ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: The chief justice of Pakistan, Sajjad Ali Shah, suspended the operation of the president's order reducing the number f judges of the apex court from 17 to 12. The CJ passed the order on a writ petition filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association. The main petition of the SCBA, challenging the government's decision, is still pending in the Supreme Court. After the order passed the government will now have to take a decision on the CJ's recommendation for the elevation of five judges to the apex court. According to the Supreme Court verdict in the judges case, the opinion of the chief justice of Pakistan carried great weight in the appointment of judges, and if the government disagreed with his recommendation, it could reject the name proposed by him but would be bound to give reasons in writing. The government's reasons for rejection of chief justice's nominee would be "justiciable". The chief justice in his interim order decided to place the case before a bench of three judges or more. Prominent constitutional lawyers S.M. Zafar and Sharifuddin Pirzada have been requested by the Supreme Court to appear as amicus curiae in the case when the petition came up for hearing. When the hearing of SBSA application resumed, Attorney- General Chaudhry Mohammad Farooq placed on record a copy of the summary moved by the law ministry on Aug 21, for the reduction of the number of Supreme Court judges, and also a copy of the letter sent by the chief Justice on Aug 20 for the elevation of five judges of high courts to the SC. The attorney-general, however, stated that the court should not look into the advice tendered by the prime minister to the president, as envisaged under article 48(4) of the Constitution. He informed the court that the government had "at present" no plan to introduce a bill for fixing the number of Supreme Court judges. The attorney-general had been asked by the chief justice on Thursday to inquire of the government if it had any plan to fix the number of SC judges through an Act of parliament. The chief justice observed that the question of independence of the judiciary and public importance was involved in this case, and it would be placed before a bench of three or more judges. Mr Bokhari further stated that, according to the constitutional history, the strength of the Supreme Court could be increased but not decreased. He said in the 1956 Constitution, article 148 had fixed the number of judges of the Supreme Court at six and authorized parliament to increase it. In the 1962 Constitution, he argued, article 49 envisaged that the number of judges might be determined by law or, until so determined, might be fixed by the president. He submitted that the 1973 Constitution provided in article 176 that the number of Supreme Court judges was to be determined by an Act of parliament, and until so determined, might be fixed by the president. He further submitted that even in 1971, when half of the country was lost, the number of judges of the Supreme Court was not decreased.

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BUSINESS & ECONOMY

970831 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Large-scale reshuffling in CBR planned -------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: A complete change in the tax collecting regime of Central Board of Revenue has been charted out, after failure to meet the monthly target of collection, in July 1997. A reshuffle is on the cards, within the first week of September, of all the CBR officials directly responsible for collection, both at the headquarters in Islamabad and in the field. The officers to be re-posted/transferred belong to all the four main heads of tax like Customs, Sales Tax, Central Excise and Income Tax, and Dawn learned that the finance ministry has already okayed the proposal discussed by all the CBR members over the weekend. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970902 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Index falls 43.82 points on foreign selling -------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, Sept 1: Stocks fell across a broad front on Monday on near-panic selling by all and sundry, intensifying the current bear-run on the leading index shares and some other current favorites. The index was down 43.82 points or 2.5 per cent on foreign liquidation triggered by reports of devaluation of the rupee. The 100-share index was quoted at 1,698.33 in the morning session as compared to 1,744.64 at the last weekend owing to the weakness of the base shares. Analysts said the breach of the support level of 1,700 points could lead the market where bears want it too and the next resistance level could be 1,500 points or below it as investors are not inclined to buy at the falling prices. The closure of the stock market for official trading on Wednesday at the time of prime minister's visit also added to current bear-run as it is considered to be an unusual step as on such occasions markets should remain open, some stock analysts said. It was in this background that minus signs dominated the list as out of 345 actives 235 shares fell, 40 rose with 70 holding on to the last levels. An idea of the sell-off may well be had from the fact that the biggest gain noted yesterday was of one rupee and lowest 25 paisa. PSO led the list of leading losers, falling by another Rs 11, followed by PIC and Lever Brothers, which lost Rs 9 and 5. BOC Pakistan, Engro Chemicals and Telecard lost Rs 2 to 3 on persistent selling. PTCL and Hub-Power, well-known for their stiff resistance to larger decline, were also marked down by one rupee to Rs 1.20 and so were MNCs, notably Shell Pakistan and Pakistan Tobacco. Trading volume rose to 38 million shares from the previous 32 million shares bulk of which went to the credit of ICI Pakistan, off 25 paisa on 11 million shares, followed by Hub-Power, easy Rs 1.20 on 9 million shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, lower 45 paisa on 4 million shares, and Dewan Salman, easy 65 paisa on 3.500 million shares. Other actively traded shares were led by Japan Power, off 55 paisa on 0.900 million shares, followed by Engro Chemicals, easy Rs 2 on 0.343 million shares, Schon Bank, lower 55 paisa on 0.300 million shares, Pakland Cement, unchanged on 0.139 million shares, Bank al-Habib, up 25 paisa on 0.163 million shares, and KESC, off Rs 1.25 on 0.109 million shares. DEFAULTING COMPANIES: Barring an increase of one rupee in Bolan Casting on active support at the lower level, all other 16 shares which came in for trading suffered decline ranging from five to 50 paisa, biggest decline of 50 paisa being in National Modaraba, which was last quoted at 50 paisa against its face value of Rs 5. Bolan Casting finished at Rs 6 from the previous Rs 5 on a business of 1,000 shares, while Zainab Textiles was marked down by 10 paisa on 3,500 shares. Crescent Spinning was traded unchanged at Rs 6.50 on 4,500 shares. There was no deal in any other share. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970903 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Karachi stocks improve ahead of automated trading -------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, Sept 2: Stock on Monday fell across a broad front under the lead of pivotals but selling was not that as aggressive as was reflected by the light traded volume and extremely narrow price movements. But index managed to close above the psychological barrier of 1,700 points at 1,711.81, wiping out early morning fall of 5.29 points thanks to late selective support by some institutional traders apparently to demonstrate to the prime minister that the market was in a good shape. The market capitalization also rose from the three-month low level of Rs 526bn to Rs 529bn reflecting the strength of leading base shares in the afternoon session. Price changes were, however, fractional and reflected that both buyers and sellers are inclined to maintain a status quo ahead of automated trading after its inaugural by the prime minister today (Wednesday). The index in the morning session showed an extended fall of 5.29 points despite Monday evening session's modest recovery of 2.72 points at 1,695.53 as compared to 1,700.82 points a day earlier. Most of the blue chips again led the market decline under the lead of PSO, Telecard and Lever Brothers falling by Rs 3 to 15 without any large selling. They were followed by 8th ICP Mutual Fund, Adamjee Insurance, Nishat Mills, Askari Leasing, Faysal Bank, Glaxo-Wellcome Lab and Dawood Hercules, which suffered decline ranging from Re 1 to Rs 1.50. Some of the secondliners managed to put on good gains under the lead of Custodian Modaraba, which rose by Rs 2 and was quoted at Rs 3 against its face value of Rs 10 on a business of 1,000 shares. Others which recovered modestly were led by Engro Chemicals up Rs 2 and Kashmir Edible, Diamond Industries, Pakistan Gum Chemicals and Network Leasing rising by Re 1, each. Volume fell to 29 shares while the gainers trailed far behind losers at 227 to 60, with 71 shares holding on to the last levels out of the total 358 actives. The most active list was topped by ICI Pakistan lower 10 paisa on 6m shares; followed by Hub-Power up 10 paisa on 5.500m shares; FFC-Jordan fertilizer easy 15 paisa on 1.212m shares; Dewan Salman unchanged on 0.700m shares; and Japan Power, off 15 paisa on 0.246m shares. Other actively traded shares were led by the PTCL which was actively traded on spot basis and was quoted unchanged at Rs 34.75, reflecting investor-reluctance to part with their holdings apparently a in anticipation of an imminent price flare-up on revival of demand at the lower levels. Dhan Fibre fell 10 paisa on 0.128m shares and Maple Leaf Cement was easy five paisa on 0.129m shares. Defaulting companies: Trading in the defaulting companies was modest although some of the investors picked up shares at the current lower levels. But price changes were fractional in all the shares, which came in for trading. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970903 -------------------------------------------------------------------- NWFP collects a dismal 3.3 per cent of target -------------------------------------------------------------------- Intikhab Amir PESHAWAR, Sept 2: The NWFP government's claim that it recovered Rs 35 million on account of agriculture income tax, during the last financial year, proved an empty boast when revenue generation under that head finally stood at just over Rs 5.1 million, according to the official documents provided to Dawn. Well placed official sources of the provincial government told this correspondent that the province had recorded massive shortfall on account of agriculture income tax after the Board of Revenue (BoR), NWFP, the concerned authority, submitted to the finance department final figures to the tune of Rs 51,55,288. This is far less than what the provincial government projected in the 1996-97 financial year. Under the revised estimates of the last fiscal year the provincial government claimed that it recovered a total of Rs 35 million under that head whereas chief minister Mehtab Ahmed Abbasi, who is also the finance minister, had claimed, in his post-budget press conference on June 18, that the collection would finally stand at Rs 60 million. The fact is that till June 16, the day the provincial budget was presented, recoveries under that account had not crossed the four million figure. Official documents provided to Dawn show that till May 31 the NWFP government could collect only Rs 38,06,437 under that head as against the Rs 35 million projected under the revised estimates of the provincial budget. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970903 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Scripless trading -------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, Sept 2: The Karachi Stock Exchange will switch over to scripless trading from Sept 4, after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formally inaugurates the Rs 100m Central Depository System on Sept 3, at an impressive ceremony to be held to celebrate the historic event. The automated trading system already in practice on trial basis for the last few months, will get international recognition on Sept 3, putting the KSE on the list of selected band of fully automated world stock exchanges. 'The system will, among other allied benefits, will lead to more transparent share transactions, about which some of the leading foreign investors have doubts,' stock analysts said adding that 'could well mean a significant increase in daily volumes.' The work on the project was launched in 1995 under a turn-key assignment given to the IBM and during the last two years both the KSE authorities and the IBM personnel have been busy to meet the deadline set for its formal launching. 'Initially, trading will be a judicious blend of both automated trading and the decades old open cry system on some of the counters apparently in bid to allow the system to seek perfection through trial and error,' said a member of the KSE. The step apparently has been taken to keep busy over 1,000 agents of the members for some more months until they switch over to other jobs to avoid unemployment. Under the automated trading system buying and selling offers are routed through computers and there will be no need of agents for open cry purposes. Once the system is fully operational, physical handling of shares will be eliminated as all the transactions will be routed through book entry in the Central Depository, which will finally assume the role of a share bank. The active members of the KSE have already set up 900 booths both in the trading hall and in their offices and have a trained personnel to handle the job of scripless trading. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970903 -------------------------------------------------------------------- ECC closing down RECP, three other corporations -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: The Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet which met here on Tuesday decided to close down the Ghee Corporation of Pakistan, Rice Export Corporation, Utility Stores Corporation and the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, and directed that the corporations cease their business activities forthwith. The meeting also decided that liabilities of the GCP, RECP, USC and TCP would be cleared through the issuance of bonds in the next financial year. The suggestion of the finance division to issue bonds to clear the liabilities of the corporations was approved by the ECC, said Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz, who presided at the meeting. The bonds would be issued in 1997-98, he added. The ECC was presented a report on the financial difficulties of GCP, RECP, USC and TCP and it was also decided that they would no more carry out business activities. "When they have to be closed down and privatized why should they continue further business", Sartaj Aziz said. The ECC took up the issues relating to urbanization and decided that the programme for the upgradation of small and medium-sized towns with growth potential should be prepared by the provincial governments, which had originally conceived this idea. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970904 -------------------------------------------------------------------- PC move may give wrong signals -------------------------------------------------------------------- M. Ziauddin ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: A case has been prepared by the Privatization Commission (PC) justifying a request from the Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) to the government for permission to offload in small tranches, the 24 per cent of shares of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) held by the bank and other sub-underwriters. The permission, at this juncture, if given is likely to adversely affect the privatization of the SNGPL, the process which is now in an advanced stage. The MCB had acted as the lead underwriter for the public offering of shares of SNGP alongwith a number of sub-underwriters, under a July 1992 contract with the government. Since the issue was highly under subscribed, the MCB alone was left with the SNGPL shares valuing approximately Rs 950 million (14 per cent) while, the sub-underwriters were found holding 10 per cent of shares for which there were no buyers. The total shares of the SNGPL are estimated to be around 285 million. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970904 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Policy for value-added industry soon, says PM -------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, Sept 3: Prime Minister Mohammed Nawaz Sharif has advised the business community to take full advantage of the concessions provided to them through a package of reforms for the revival of the economy. Reminding them of the responsibility for payment of tax conscientiously and making use of amnesty for undeclared income through payment of taxes at the rate of 7.5 per cent, the prime minister warned after the expiry of the due date the government was determined to move against the tax evaders on the basis of the data available through the computer system of the tax administration. Nawaz Sharif was addressing the inaugural ceremony of "Central Depository System" held in a local hotel on Wednesday under the auspices of the Central Depository Company of Pakistan Ltd. The elite of the business community, chiefs of the financial institutions and diplomats attended in large number. Behind the podium was moss green banner with the slogan "Pakistan's Stock Market enters a new age". On its right was seal of the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan. At the dais Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was flanked by governor Sindh Lt Gen Moinuddin Haider, finance minister Sartaj Aziz and CDC chief executive officer Najam Ali on his right while CDC chairman Arif Habib, CM Sindh Liaquat Ali Jatoi, Corporate Law Authority chairman Shamim Ahmad Khan, IBM Pakistan chief Nisar Ahmad Memon and MCB chief Mohammed Mansha Khan on his left. Felicitating the sponsors, CDC, the prime minister said that the system of custody of shares and their electronic transfer would be serving all the three stock exchanges and would provide variety of services leading to increased efficiency and transparency of the market. Nawaz Sharif reminded the business community of its responsibilities and asked them to take full advantage of the concessions and initiatives announced by the government to increase production and expand exports. He said it was also important that after major changes in tax structure and system, every one must pay his tax promptly and accurately. The prime minister further stressed:" Our reform is a continuing process. In the next few weeks, we would be announcing a new industrial policy in order to shift the focus of our industrialization from low value added to high value added industry particularly the export oriented. "One of the serious setbacks received by Pakistan's economy has been the result of large scale nationalization in the early seventies which led to relegation of industrial activity to low value industries." The Prime Minister said that unless during the next few years the country made rapid progress in hi-tech industries like electronics, engineering and chemicals, it would not be able to compete in the international markets in the face of rapid globalization. Government was also determined to maintain consistency of its policies which was crucial for sustained economic development. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970904 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Process of National Bank sale initiated -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: The Privatization Commission on Wednesday invited applications for the appointment of a financial adviser for the sale of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), an official announcement said. The bank, established under the NBP Ordinance,1949, is one of the largest commercial banks and occupies a unique position in the financial sector, having a network of over 1,500 branches spread all over the country. It has also a presence at 24 international locations covering all the major financial centres of the world, including the USA, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Far East. The total assets of the NBP are estimated at R370 billion ($9.225 billion), with a deposit base of about Rs243 billion ($6 billion) and a net loan and investment portfolio of about Rs200 billion ($5 billion) as on Dec 31 last year. The financial adviser will be responsible for all activities leading to the sale of strategic stake and transfer of management control to a strategic investor. He will also be responsible for a detailed framework, financial valuations, structuring and marketing of the proposed activities to address and close all legal and commercial issues of the transaction. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970805 -------------------------------------------------------------------- SBP to get tough on top 10 defaulters of each NCB -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: The Ehtesab Cell of the Prime minister's Secretariat has asked the Governor, State Bank of Pakistan to furnish details about top 10 defaulters of each Nationalized Commercial Banks (NCBs) after their failure to pay off their loans. "The deadline of September 5 will end today (Friday) and those defaulters who did avail of the SBP incentive scheme, would now have to face a tough time", said a senior spokesman of the Prime Minister's Secretariat. Hasan Wasim Afzal, Joint Secretary of the Cell told Dawn here on Thursday that a list of the top 10 defaulters of each bank has been sought from the Governor, State Bank to take action against them for not making any commitments in settling their outstanding debts. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970806 -------------------------------------------------------------------- HBL to extend time period for golden handshake -------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, Sept 5: The time period for accepting the golden handshake will reportedly be extended up to Sept 15 during which some adjustments will be made for workers' benefits, according to reliable sources in the banking sector. Inquiries show that there are serious concerns amongst the HBL's senior staff, who joined the bank before 1975. They are of the view that under the old gratuity option of provident fund, they would be deprived of hundreds of thousands of rupees compared to the employees availing of the new pension scheme. Under the golden handshake offered by the HBL, the old gratuity option is to be calculated on the basis of self-contribution and the bank's contribution, with gratuity assessed as basic salary at the time of retirement divided by the length of service. Since most of HBL's employees had been unprepared for the golden handshake, having expected to retire at 60 years, they will be receiving considerably less than if they had retired on schedule. The new retirement benefit scheme is based on the employee's own contribution to service, with pension to be calculated on the basis of basic pay divided by seven, divided by length of service, divided by 300 multiplied by 2. Although HBL employees who had joined in 1975 were in a position to avail of the new scheme, the new pension benefits were reportedly twice offered to the older employees as well. However, being unprepared for the golden handshake, they had not availed of the scheme at that time. A delegation of bank union employees led by Habib Bank Workers Front president Habibuddin Junaidi had met the president Shaukat Tarin on Sept 1. The delegation had told the president that since most-senior employees, aged 55-60 years would opt for the golden handshake, they would be the losers under the old gratuity scheme. According to Mr. Junaidi, while the bank president is reportedly not reconsidering changing the old gratuity option for senior HBL employees, he was reportedly considering reframing the medical policy on the golden handshake. While the previous policy gives monthly ceiling on three basic salaries for 10 years for a final settlement, Mr. Tarin was acknowledged to have recognized the "human problem" this would create for retiring employees. Consequently, the HBL is reportedly considering changing the medical option provided in its golden handshake in favour of providing monthly medicines, with coverage for prolonged illness and surgery for life, as it would have under the usual retirement scheme. In response to the demands raised by the banking workers, the bank president is also reportedly revising its benevolent scheme to give a better offer to executives and officers. Furthermore, as a result of the pressure from bank union employees, the HBL is also reported to be reconsidering it original leaves policy in the golden handshake policy, which had allowed for encashment of only up to six month of leaves. Under the improved scheme for workers, the HBL is reportedly considering allowing the total encashment of outstanding leaves for employees opting for the golden handshake. ------------------------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE TO HERALD TODAY ! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Every month the Herald captures the issues, the pace and the action, shaping events across Pakistan's lively, fast-moving current affairs spectrum. Subscribe to Herald and get the whole story. Annual Subscription Rates : Latin America & Caribbean US$ 93 Rs. 2,700 North America & Australasia US$ 93 Rs. 2,700 Africa, East Asia Europe & UK US$ 63 Rs. 1,824 Middle East, Indian Sub-Continent & CAS US$ 63 Rs. 1,824 Please send the following information : Payments (payable to Herald) can be by crossed cheque (for Pakistani Rupees), or by demand draft drawn on a bank in New York, NY (for US Dollars). 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EDITORIALS & FEATURES

970831 -------------------------------------------------------------------- The legless chair -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ardeshir Cowasjee "THE main function of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee during peacetime will be planning for the defence of the country, including planning of war. He will not interfere with, or give directives to, the Services about their normal function nor will he exercise any executive authority in time of peace.... "In peacetime, where there is diversion of views among the Chiefs of Staff, and the Committee is unable to agree, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee will present the alternatives, as formulated during discussions and give his advice to the Defence Minister for his decision." (White Paper on Higher Defence rganization, issued by the Ministry of Defence, Islamabad, May 11, 1976). And should war be upon us: "During war (declared or undeclared), when the Prime Minister has informed the nation that the country is at war or facing a war-like situation, the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee will assume responsibilities as Principal Staff Officer to assist the Prime Minister (Defence Minister) in the supervision and conduct of war and as overall coordinator to the extent authorized specifically in that behalf by the Prime Minister who will continue to exercise Supreme Command over the Forces... During war the Chairman JCSC will have to take decisions as authorized by the Defence Minister." (White Paper...). That is to say that the Chairman will play golf in peacetime, and caddy for the Prime Minister should we find ourselves at war. The legless chair upon which to seat the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee was first conceived in 1975 by the then prime minister, doubling as defence minister, with the sole purpose of its acting as a perch for senior military officers who were to be sidelined by an upward shunt, or by those who he hoped he would be able to manipulate to conform with his mind-set. The creation of the Higher Defence Organization (HDO) was announced to the nation by the prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, during his broadcast of December 20, 1975, the fourth anniversary of his assumption of supreme power in Pakistan. It was said that the HDO "takes into account the historical setting, experiences, and the national temperament of Pakistan." This temperament, after a lapse of 50 years, still has to be even vaguely defined. Ever afraid of the only disciplined party in the country, and the largest, the army, Zulfikar declared that "the government is confident that the new organization will not only provide the country with an efficient machinery but will also secure an effective civilian supremacy which is in consonance with the nation's paramount aim." In the latter part of 1975, Bhutto having noticed the obsequious bowing and scraping of the sixth down the line, Lt General Zia-ul-Haq, and having considered him totally servile and incapable of holding a divergent view, let alone even dreaming of turfing him out and taking over the country, made up his mind to make him his army chief. To do this he had to ignominiously shunt into a siding the much senior and more competent Lt-General Mohammed Shariff. He did this, on March 1, 1976, by promoting him and appointing him as his first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. The legless chair was occupied by General Shariff until he retired, after the fall of Zulfikar, whereafter Admiral Mohammed Sharif, then Zia's Chief of Naval Staff, officiated as Chairman until April 13, 1980, when Zia's friend, General Mohammed Iqbal Khan, was sent to sit in it. Iqbal was followed on March 22, 1984, by Zia's other close friend General Rahimuddin. He made way on March 29, 1987, for the super-rich General Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan of ISI fame who left this world with Zia in the skies over Bahawalpur. He was succeeded by retired CNS Admiral Iftikhar Ahmad Sirohey, appointed Chairman on November 10, 1988. General Shamim Alam Khan, never to be COAS, followed him on November 10, 1991, and on November 10, 1994, came the present incumbent retired CAS Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan. The high-sounding Chairman can only do what he is told to do by his boss. Apart from serving no useful purpose, he, his commodious chair, his accouterment, his staff, their houses, their rest houses, their travels and world tours, their privileges and their perks all cost us a great deal. They consume funds and manpower that could be far better used. The running of his organization, its offices, training establishment and college, and the jaunts and joyrides in which he and his men indulge themselves has cost the nation an average of Rs 100 million per year. This means that so far, from 1976 to 1997, over Rs 2 billion has been squandered, Rs 2 billion that could have been put to some useful purpose for the benefit o the people of the country. Up to 1976, before Zulfikar for his own purposes decided that something more was needed, there was what was known as a Joint Chiefs Committee, served by a Joint Chiefs Secretariat headed by a Chairman appointed from amongst the three service chiefs. It served its purpose, and for almost thirty years of the country's life was considered to be sufficient. Farooq Feroze's term expires this year on November 9. Would it not be prudent to disband his organization at this time and revert to economic simplicity? Downsizing has to be done; it is now essential. We know that the first priority of our leaders is to amass power and pelf, and the second priority to amass more power and more pelf, and that all they pray for, day and night, is that they remain in power for ever and ever. When we talk of reality - the safety and security of the people's lives and property, the 40 million who live in absolute poverty, the 70 million without access to health facilities, the 100 million illiterate - the voice of the government from Islamabad says that we are countering government rhetoric with emotionalism. When defence is discussed, it is purely in terms of more spending, more money-making deals. Nawaz Sharif is so evidently on a power-consolidating binge. His constitutional amendments and his acts manifestly prove it. He is out to destroy the independence of the judiciary. Why else would he reduce the number of Supreme Court judges? This has been done merely to block the passage of those recommended for elevation by the Chief Justice who either would not suit his purposes in the Supreme Court or whom he would miss in their respective High Courts. This undermining of this vital institution must be resisted. Then, observe how Chapter 2 of our Constitution dealing with the armed forces has been chopped and chipped by three leaders for their own expediency. Article 243, "Command of the Armed Forces", originally read: "(1) The Federal Government shall have control and command of the Armed Forces." Zia added: "(1A) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces shall vest in the President." Clause (2) of Article 243 originally read: "The President shall, subject to law, have power: "(a) to raise and maintain the Military, Naval and Air Forces of Pakistan; and the Reserves of such Forces; "(b) to grant Commissions in such Forces; and "(c) to appoint the Chief of the Army Staff, the Chief of the Naval Staff, and the chief of the Air Staff, and determine their salaries and allowances." Zia added in (2) (c), after the word "appoint": "in his discretion, the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee". By his 13th Amendment, hurriedly passed without debate, Nawaz Sharif has changed Zia's clause (2) (c) to omit the words "in his discretion." So, we now have a Supreme Commander, the President, a Tumandar no less, who is content to remain subservient and powerless, and a prime minister who has acquired his power but has omitted to constitutionalize the fact. An incongruous situation. One must now suppose that Nawaz Sharif will swiftly consult his legal adviser and think about rushing through another amendment, after suspending the rules of business, and after the lily-livered opposition has staged another 'walk out' instead of holding their ground and recording their reasons for either agreement or dissent. We, the 140 million, can only blame ourselves for the worsening situation, for allowing a one-party system to take root, further endorsing fascism. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970901 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Epidemic of despair -------------------------------------------------------------------- Omar Kureishi I WENT to Islamabad last week and as I entered the Jinnah Airport terminal building, an announcement was blaring out over the public address system that was cautioning/warning/ threatening all and sundry that smoking was strictly forbidden in the airport building. When I got on board the aircraft (it was three hours late) we were informed that smoking was banned on all domestic flights. I presume that this ban is in the public interest, a concern for the health of the people. No one can fault this. But will it make people give up smoking? If the idea is to keep the airport building and the aircraft free from the pollution of cigarette smoke, it merely papers over the cracks because on the way to the airport one breathes air so foul that it is the equivalent of smoking ten packets of cigarettes. The solution clearly is to catch them young, before they light up their first cigarette and get hooked. It may be too late for those who are hooked. They may give up the habit on the advice of their doctors. But clearly we need to target those who have not yet taken up the habit. Simply put, prevention is better than cure. I myself took up cigarette smoking to show off to myself that I had grown up. It was the sort of ego-thing. I smoked surreptiously because I knew my father would murder me if he found out. Thus there was the thrill of conspiracy, all very foolish reasons. I am sure that had there been this vigorous anti-smoking campaign in those days, if the glamour had been taken out, I would not have lit up. In other words, we should remove the inducements. Tobacco companies maintain that their advertisements and their sponsorship of sports do not encourage the young to take up smoking. Why then are they spending millions and millions all over the world? All advertising is a come-on, a selling proposition. But that is the least of our problems, that is to say, when we are confronted with the staggering and horrendous figures that there are 5.6 million drug addicts in the country and the number is increasing. It is further claimed that the addicts are consuming 16,500 kg of heroin daily. I think we need to ponder over these figures, understand that we are dealing with an epidemic and then feel very concerned and get very alarmed. The problem or the disease has to be addressed two-fold. First there is the easy availability of drugs. This is clearly a failure of law-enforcement agencies. The inability to stop pushers. But far more important, we must address the despair that turns people into junkies. What sorrows are they trying to drown? What strains are they trying to remove? What hell are they escaping from that makes them want to enter a different kind of hell? Surely not a better hell. One reads of the intensification of efforts to prevent the smuggling of heroin from Pakistan. We read too reports each day of some passengers being apprehended at airports with drugs concealed in their baggage. This is as it should be. There are international obligations to meet. Pakistan is already known as the largest exporter of heroin in the world. But what about the smuggling of heroin into Pakistan? That heroin that is meant for domestic consumption? After all these 5.6 million addicts get their heroin from dealers and pushers in this country. What efforts are being made to dry up this supply? But most of all we need to look at the demand side. Why do people, the young in particular, turn to heroin? It is a fact of life that heroin addicts are to be found among the poorer sections of society. There is, therefore, a direct connection between drug addiction and quality of life. This is true all over the world. The vast majority of junkies are to be found in the inner cities, among slum dwellers and those who live on the margins and the sharp corners of life. Not all the policing and the vigilance will be able to stop drug addiction unless the reasons why people turn to drugs are removed. Sniffing cocaine may have been the in-thing and a status symbol among the glitterati of the Western world. But it no longer is. Now it is seen as a sickness. While dealing and pushing drugs should be considered a criminal activity, the addicts must not be treated as criminals. They are victims of an unjust society that has made their lives so desperate that they will cling to anything that will provide them some temporary relief, even if, in the long run and the not-so long run, it may kill them. We must consider too that not so long ago, there was not a single heroin addict in this country. What factors led to the present epidemic of 5.6 million heroin addicts? Clearly there were external factors that colluded with internal forces. The first advanced their geopolitical agenda and the second enriched themselves. It was an unholy alliance. When we are sternly lectured about the export of heroin by our friends, we need to remind them that they were our original partners in this crime! Social psychologists and behavioural scientists will be able to identify the causes of drug addition. The law-enforcement agencies will point to the efforts they are making to eliminate this menace. But that is getting us nowhere for research shows that the numbers are increasing which means that the problem is getting worse. If we are to avoid a national disaster, obviously some major action will be required. But first of all we must accept that we are standing precariously on the edge of a precipice. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970902 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Learning from the past -------------------------------------------------------------------- Gen Khalid Mahmud Arif (retd) THE Golden Jubilee year of Pakistan's independence (August 1997) justifies self-approbation and self-reproach. The national gains and losses during this five-decade long period may be comprehensively and objectively analyzed to learn from our acts of omission and commission and to plan for a better future. First, the past. Ancient India was neither Hindu nor Muslim. It existed much before the light of Islam radiated fourteen hundred years ago or Hinduism spread in India about six hundred years before the birth of the holy Prophet (PBUH). The case of India's physical identity is also similar. Its existing geographic unity is a recent phenomenon. Culturally old but politically young, the India of distant past was a land of paradoxes, a bunch of kingdoms and mini-states of varying and frequently changing sizes, each enjoying a modicum of sovereignty. India was never a united country. Its national unity was largely forged during periods of Muslim and British rules. Even then 563 princely states existed in India at the time of its independence in 1947. The emergence of current India out of immense diversity is writ large in its composition and behaviour. The fissiparous tendencies and the regional pulls that keep surfacing here and there in the country are the result of the rich cultural and social heritage of its various regions which are highly proud and deeply sensitive of their distinct identity, developed languages and fascinating history. "India is a Hindu country," declares L.K. Advani of the BJP, adding, "it may be multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-racial but its culture is one. The culture is Hinduism." This rings an alarm bell in a country that claims to be a secular state. The Muslims feared the risk of this culture being imposed on them by the extremist majority in case partition had not materialized in 1947. The emergence of Pakistan not only enabled its people to live in accordance with their own ways of life but also imposed a check on India to treat its minorities fairly. True, this moral pressure was neither strong nor effective but without it the plight of the minorities in India might have been worse. The Hindu fundamentalists maintain a highly offensive posture. Bal Thackray had arrogantly announced during the premeditated Bombay Massacre in 1992, "Forget the government. No Allah will save the Muslims here." India's media claimed that over 2000 Muslims were killed in Bombay now renamed as Mumbai. Bal Thackray remains unpunished in "secular" India. The past five decades gave freedom, identity and self-respect to the people of Pakistan that defy quantification in mathematical terms. This gain outweighs all other considerations. The delight of being the masters of their own destiny is better known to those who have faced the pangs of slavery. We are not second-rate citizens in our own state, a phenomenon not uncommon in some countries. We availed many other mundane benefits. These might not have been spectacular but realism demands that we judge ourselves from where we started. In 1947, India's economy was largely under the control of the Hindu community. It dominated sectors such as industry, trade, commerce, banking, exports and imports, and agriculture. The Muslim share in these sectors was small. So also was the case in the social sectors - health, education, transport, medical care, housing etc. Pakistan inherited backward areas virtually void of industrial infrastructure. For strategic reasons the industrial complexes in the undivided India were located far away from the traditional land invasion routes to India from the west. Additionally, the border areas were kept undeveloped to provide manpower for the armed forces of the British Raj. Despite such handicaps Pakistan has laid the foundations of a fairly firm industrial base to reach a take-off stage. This is an impressive success story. As a nation we did not exploit our full potential and mismanaged our affairs. Our rich and talented demographic resource was not harnessed to its optimum ability. Pakistan, a perfectly fine and robust country, has been let down by its greedy and incompetent leadership. Our downward slide is a painful story. Painful, because we lost East Pakistan and despite this shock this land of the pure was judged last year as the second most corrupt country in the world. Its national riches were mercilessly siphoned off to the personal accounts of the policy makers and their accomplices in a grand national loot. Banks were used as instruments of state coercion to punish political opponents. The bank loans were given to the privileged few without adequate securities, with the full connivance of the bank authorities. Many defaulted. Some loans were written off. Democracy was derailed. The politicians blame the generals for entering the political field seen off-limits to them. The generals chide the politicians for making a mockery of democracy and creating the conditions that endangered national security. The judiciary excelled in delays and gave controversial judgments. The octopus of bureaucracy kept creeping its tentacles and accumulating authority, and lately wealth, under its wings. The constitution-making was delayed. When made, it was soon upturned for valid and invalid reasons. The resultant confusion and uncertainty retarded national progress. Some political parties, loud in democratic rhetoric, are autocratic from within. Internal elections are foreign to them. The nominated office bearers dutifully "elect" their party chiefs. Such parties are treated by their lords as their fiefs. Pakistan's body politic suffers from the cancer of dynasty controlled political parties. The assemblies are dominated by a mixed bag of literate and semi-literate rural gentry and brief-less lawyers who are opposed to any reforms that may erode their grip on the legislatures. Ayub's land reforms were largely frustrated by this powerful land Mafia. It is a rebuke to our sagacity that our political parties aided, abetted and prompted defection of legislators for reasons of tactical gains. Mercifully, an anti-defection law was made a part of the Constitution in 1997, a full fifty years after gaining independence. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government and the opposition deserve credit for this achievement. This belated maturity is a positive development. The parliamentary system suits our law makers because it provides them lollipops in the administration. The jumbo size cabinets and battalions of advisors have frequently flourished in the past at the cost of the tax payers' money. A constitutional limit may be fixed for the maximum size of the federal and the provincial cabinets. Likewise, we may downsize the federal and the provincial governments by forty per cent. The removal of fat will promote efficiency and save avoidable expenses. The country needs land reforms. The Indian model may be useful. All state lands, stud lands and Jagirs etc. granted in the past for the services rendered for the British Crown may be immediately resumed. The supporting laws may be speedily enacted before the time runs out for such acts. In the interregnum an agricultural tax be levied on all agricultural incomes. The failure of our archaic education system is writ large by our low literacy rate and linguistic-cum-ethnic pressures on the society. A uniform syllabus in all the educational institutions in the country is the dire need of the time to promote national cohesion. So is the need for a joint electorate for the assemblies to achieve greater internal unity. The system of separate electorate has long run its course. The country needs internal peace. It has suffered violence for too long. A comprehensive and a bold economic package may avert the present economic crisis. Bhutto's nationalization policy in the mid-seventies was a monumental blunder. It destroyed the national economy and checked the industrial progress made during the Ayub era. The bold and innovative decisions taken in 1997 may be firmly implemented. Our labour laws are defective. The right of hire and fire may be restored with sufficient safeguards against excesses committed by the employers and the employees. The trade union activity should be healthy, constructive, legal and peaceful. We have learnt at our cost the need to discover a new wealth of wisdom to upgrade national institutions and downgrade personalities howsoever mighty they may be. Civilian dictators are as bad as the military dictators can be. Reject both. No system can survive if the deviators keep thriving in it. We may ruthlessly and fairly get rid of the dirty fish to clean our national political pond. The first fifty years of our independence have ended in a confusion. We are down and under but not without a lesson. Let a new equilibrium emerge out of this confusion to fertilize our minds for a better future. The government has the requisite majority and the public mandate to show tangible results. This chance has come only once in the last five decades. Will we avail or lose it remains to be seen. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970903 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Uncertain outlook for dialogue -------------------------------------------------------------------- M.H. Askari THE fate of India-Pakistan relations seems to be interminably suffering from uncertainty: when the government on either of the two sides is too sure of itself, it seems to feel little compulsion to work towards normalisation, and when it is not strong, it does not feel confident enough to take a bold initiative and risk its survival. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif won the last elections with an unusually large voter support and would appear to be in a position to carry the entire nation with him but Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, on the other side of the divide, is perched on top of a 13-party coalition representing mainly a broad range of regional parties and is not too sure when the carpet may be pulled from under his feet. To make matters worse, the domestic situation in both countries continues to be unpredictable; in Pakistan because of the economic mess and the factional divisiveness and in India because of the rising tide of Hindu chauvinism which threatens the secular platform of the coalition partners of the United Front. The net result is that the hard-liners on both sides appear to be confident that they can obstruct the process of normalization to which otherwise both Messrs Nawaz Sharif and Gujral stand committed. It was not too long that the fog of uncertainty seemed to be clearing and the outlook for a meaningful dialogue to resolve all bilateral issues looked fairly bright. After two rounds of talks the foreign secretaries of the two governments seemed agreed on a common agenda. However, at the time of writing, the prospects for a third round again appear to be befogged. Even more enigmatically, the Indian prime minister has come up with an unusual demand, that in his proposed meeting with the US President later this month there should be no discussion on India-Pakistan relations and Washington appears to have yielded to the pressure. It is an established protocol that at any summit meeting, leaders of two countries engage themselves in a tour d'horizon which in practical terms means a review of the current situation in all areas of common interest, especially of developments in their respective regions which can impinge on their bilateral relations and matters of mutual interest. It would be naive to deny that the stability of the region and relations between Pakistan and India have throughout the fifty years since the subcontinent secured its independence been of considerable concern to Washington. Mr. Gujral's insistence upon leaving any reference to India-Pakistan relations out of the agenda of his talks with President Clinton is therefore both unrealistic and unreasonable. If the position that he has taken is meant to convey to his own people that he would not accept any pressure from the US president, he could have been more specific and not mystify the situation for the policy-makers in Pakistan. Mr. Nawaz Sharif has demonstrated an admirable level of political maturity by not making the issue a subject of public debate, having abstained from coming out with any rejoinder to the statements of his counterpart in New Delhi. There has been a persistent feeling that the resumption of the bilateral talks between India and Pakistan in recent months has to a great extent resulted from American interest in using its good offices. It is possible that Islamabad may have felt the pressure from Washington more than India has because of the critical economic problems that it faces and the heavy dependence upon IMF and the World Bank which are institutions used by Washington to promote its own foreign policy and not for the altruistic purpose of rescuing nations which happen to be in economic distress. New Delhi, too, is under strong political and economic pressure, to a large extent because of the Kashmir situation and would presumably not be averse to accepting outside help in restoring peace and calm in the region. Mr. Gujral is also fully aware of the serious nature of the social and political problems that his government faces with escalating pressure from the regions to free themselves from the control of the centre. Kashmir, because of the extreme militancy that it has suffered for the past ten years and the deep mistrust of New Delhi's designs by the Kashmiri people, is the major challenge confronting the Indian government. The Kashmir issue is undeniably the major hurdle in the way of normalization of relations between Pakistan and India and the seminar held under the auspices of the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Muzzafarabad on August 24-25 did a great deal to place the problem in its proper perspective from the point of view of the Kashmiris. At the end of the seminar it was clear that the political leaders and opinion-makers on the western side of the LoC in Kashmir feel deeply anguished at the international community's apathetic attitude but in no sense feel despondent about the ultimate outcome of the Kashmiri people's armed struggle against the Indian security force. Even though the seminar spent a disportionately great deal of time reviewing the events of the past - what may now be called history - the message that it wished to convey to the outside world was that the Kashmiri people would not yield on their basic demand of self-determination. Unfortunately, what remained unclear was how, and how soon, would the ultimate goal would become a reality, especially if recourse to an outside power, such as the US for mediation or for facilitating the negotiations for peace is to be ruled out. Several of the speakers at the seminar, including Mr. Yusuf Buch, probably the most seasoned expert on the Kashmir problem, and Mr. Abdul Sattar, former foreign secretary and former caretaker foreign minister, did not seem to place much faith in the good offices of the US. Mr. Buch left no doubt that, in his opinion, the US is "a status quo power, par excellence" and it viewed with suspicion any "movement that seeks to change an existing dispensation unless that change is perceived to be necessary for a defined American interest." (emphasis added). Mr. Sattar suggested that India's projection of the Kashmiri freedom fighters as Islamic fundamentalists may have been a factor with the US threatening in 1992 to place Pakistan on its list of terrorist states. He, however, disclosed that it was as a result of "preventive diplomacy" by the US that averted the danger of pre-emptive air strikes against Pakistan recommended by Indian military planners in 1990. He nevertheless expressed the view that the US being "disinclined to displease India", tended to equate the Kashmiri fighters with terrorists, "equating (India's) state terrorism with acts of freedom fighters." It cannot be said that the seminar reached any clear conclusions which would suggest a way out of the stalemated situation in Kashmir. Despite the large-scale repression and brutalities committed on the Kashmiri people, it would be too optimistic to suggest that the freedom fighters by themselves would within a predictable time-frame be able to attain their goal of azadi. Several of the speakers seemed to place too much trust in the UN's will to implement its resolutions which the Security Council adopted nearly fifty years ago. Stressing the chaotic conditions and the nascent breakaway movements in many parts of India, Prof. Aftab Ahmad of Bangladesh maintained that the UN and the world powers, specially the US now had the opportunity "to redefine the strategic priorities of the region vis-a-vis the aspirations of the people." He perhaps placed too much faith in the sense of morality of the Western countries when he suggested that the Kashmir issue was part of the "unsettled business" of the 1947 partition and it was high time that the international community discharged its responsibilities to the Kashmiri people. A more pragmatic approach to the problem was suggested by Mir Abdul Aziz, a prominent Kashmiri writer and one of the pioneers of the Kashmiri people's liberation movement, in a private conversation with this writer. He proposed that the Kashmir issue could be settled step by step and the first step should be the abolition of the LoC giving the Kashmiri people on both sides the opportunity for free interaction and contacts, especially in the economic field. He believed that tensions would defuse once the Kashmiri people had free access to their kith and kin in both parts of the disputed state and help to reintegrate their economic activity. He felt that economic activity in the Indian held Kashmir would start picking up once this happened and that this would greatly mitigate the hardships of the Kashmiri people on the other side of the divide. Surprisingly, many of the speakers at the seminar suggested that Pakistan should upgrade its help to the Kashmiri freedom fighters, and proposed that the assistance to the freedom fighters should not be confined to moral and diplomatic but also include material support. The ramifications of such a move can be altogether unpredictable and lead to escalation of the fighting beyond the borders of the state. At a time when Pakistan is faced with innumerable domestic economic and political problems it is doubtful whether this would be the wisest course for Pakistan to choose. Somewhat unexpectedly, it was a military participant of the seminar, retired Major-General Nishat Ahmad, President of Islamabad's nstitute of Regional Studies, who stressed that Kashmir was a political problem and that there could only be a political solution to it. He agreed with what he called the counsel of Pakistan's "friends" who believed that the country should concentrate on its economic development and reduce the burden of high defence expenditure. However, it had to be recognized that this could not be done unilaterally by Pakistan which had been the victim of Indian aggression more than once. As a military man, Gen. Nishat Ahmad did not mince his words and said in a forthright manner: "My sincere suggestion to our neighbors is that they cannot keep a people subjugated permanently through use of force." He then went on to declare: "Let us mutually reduce the deployment of forces in Kashmir drastically and allow free inter-action between the people of Kashmir; this will perhaps enable us to chart a new course which may not be visible or not acceptable at the moment." These words clearly seemed to echo what Mir Abdul Aziz told this writer privately. Is there anybody listening in New Delhi? DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970904 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Just so much garbage -------------------------------------------------------------------- Rifaat Hamid Ghani SOME of Karachi's garbage disposal equipment has been dispatched to Hyderabad in connection with a cleanliness drive there. Obviously, cleanliness is considered a short-term project there for the quipment to be on loan. What happens to Karachi while it's away and what happens to Hyderabad once it is returned? If memory serves right, it took several months to clear some garbage disposal and collection trucks from the port - the ones that had een gifted to Karachi. It could take Hyderabad some years before its ans are ordered or donated and then cleared and sent on. But then all of us are used to living with garbage. Somebody voiced the opinion that nobody in Karachi would notice the absence of the equipment because it has been so long since the city has had a cleaner face. Still there are degrees of filth that have to be taken into account. Wading through garbage one foot deep would be worse than wading through a thinner layer of it. Think of Empress Market: even the bus drivers have problems negotiating the litter ridden, rutted patches there. There is one thing to be said in favor of garbage accumulation in Karachi. It is not subject to class. Garbage collects everywhere. Defence and KDA and Clifton have their problems with the polythene bags and conspicuous consumption makes the household garbage accumulation in some affluent areas exceptionally high. Maybe one day our civic authorities will have mastered the concept that it is not enough to collect garbage from one point simply to dump it elsewhere near by. We need garbage disposal not transference. And what about recycling? One hears a lot about it these days but only as a conceptual desirability. Urban development has been curious in Karachi. The city expanded without a thought as to the provision of a civic infrastructure. But now, even in areas where there once was an infrastructure of sorts and the basic civic services were functional, things have changed. Poor maintenance has taken its toll. Sometimes a kunda is more reliable than the conventional connection and cheaper to boot. Tankers have to supplement the water that pipe connections provide. The ones who matter in our society are beginning to realize that something has to be done to expand the infrastructure and maintain it, otherwise even they will cease to be served. When it comes to using jargon though we have progressed by leaps and bounds. We are supposed to enter the twenty-first century with a bang not a whimper and there are slogans to match. The catchphrase for health was health care for all but the new millennium is about two years down the road. A friend who indulges in the luxury of civic consciousness is still not going in for purified bottled water in the home because it is too expensive to provide it for the servants as well and it makes him gulp to say: that's your water, and this is mine. But even with the best will in the world, how much can he or anyone else do in a private capacity to improve the lot of their domestic help? In more general terms they remain deprived. To take just one example: the man in the street's favorite remedy is an injection from the doctor or a glucose drip when feeling low. To be taking a mere Aspirin seems like stinting on their health. What the less-than-sterile drips and syringes may be doing to public health is something the privileged will only feel a sense of urgency about when the consequences begin to threaten them too and the problem has become too enormous to be dealt with easily or effectively. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970805 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Why this needless, draconian law? -------------------------------------------------------------------- M.B. Naqvi THE president has issued an order to reduce the number of judges in the Supreme Court of Pakistan to just twelve from the present strength of 17. It is not known whether he has done it under any of the remaining Eighth Amendment powers or he was acting on the advice of the cabinet through the law ministry. In the given background it is to be presumed that he seems to have been working on the cabinet advice. Thus, if any blame has to attach to this reduction in the apex court strength and effectiveness, or its ability to discharge its duties efficiently, the responsibility must rest with the federal government. As it happens, the whole country is reverberating with rumors of a serious divergence of opinion between the government of Mian Nawaz Sharif and the superior judiciary in general and the Chief Justice of Pakistan in particular over the new act to counter terrorism. None of it seems groundless. The senior members of the bar and the bench, along with all liberal opinion in the country, regard this as a black law. It is this background that makes the presidential order suspect. In any case, what is certain is that reducing the strength of the top court at a time when a huge backlog of work remains to be cleared can only reduce the effectiveness and the ability of the apex court to complete its work in reasonable time. That this goes against the grain of what the PM and the members of his government claim to want to ensure for the people: inexpensive and expeditious justice. Here is the government ensuring that there would now be even more delays in disposing of important cases that go up to the SC. This would be paradoxical were it not for the background of serious personal divergences of opinion between the government and the superior judiciary. In the given circumstances all human rights organizations and liberals will definitely side with the judiciary and hold the government wrong and culpable for an action both arbitrary and thoughtless. This is a question on which to stay neutral or unconcerned will amount to a dereliction of a citizen's duty toward society and his own conscience. The proper thing for an aware citizen is to sound the alarm over the government's state of mind. It is giving way under the strain of the sectarian warfare now going on mainly in Punjab and in its panic it is rushing to arm the police with such sweeping powers that threaten the very basis of a civilized existence. One is not necessarily accusing the government of bad or anti-democratic intentions, though this is not a case where any benefit of the doubt can or should be given to the government. As a general rule where citizens' rights are involved, this benefit should go to those who may be complaining against an executive's high-handedness - its gradual tilt towards authoritarianism. The root cause of the discord between the judiciary and the government - incidentally a recurrent theme in the country's turbulent political history - was the recent anti-terrorism law. The PM somehow appears firm on this sort of approach while, true to his salt, the CJ, and indeed any member of the judiciary, could possibly be happy. Thus the PM and his government seems to fear that SC, or even a high court, might strike down this law just as soon as an opportunity presents itself. The fear may not be unjustified. All honor to our judges for the government to entertain such fears about their conduct. One only hopes that the senior judges will make the official fears come true. There is simply nothing to be said in government's defence, except to ask for understanding: it appears panic-stricken and does not know anything better. What all liberals must remind it is that it should take an appraising look at the police forces at its command. Does any sane citizen trust them either for their conduct or intent. The government leaders fail to remember what they have seen, and occasionally experienced when in opposition, that all previous governments have used the police for questionable political purposes. Secondly, the police, when given an inch, have taken a foot. Look at the record of the Sindh Police. Gen Babar seemed to have ordered a certain number of suspects to be dealt with in a certain manner and it went berserk and did what so many judges and courts are still seized of. The record of the Punjab Police in mistreating citizens and staging fake encounters and rapes in police custody, etc, is not too dissimilar to that of its Sindh counterpart. Can such police forces be trusted with sweeping powers? Ask any citizen of Sindh or a newspaper reader of Lahore and he would tell you. And how wide-ranging these powers are that have been lately conferred upon the police forces? A policeman can shoot to kill a person whom he suspects that he is likely to commit a terrorist act. He can enter any house without a search warrant, if he just suspects that it harbours a terrorist or a would-be terrorist or illegal arms at any time on his own authority. Then, the kind of expeditiousness - timeframes for completion of this or that function or process - that the act envisages in administering justice militates against all time-tested cannons of justice. One feels proud of one's judiciary for insisting on doing full, not partial or hurried, justice. It is to be hoped that all the liberal-minded people, not just the human rights activists and organization, would rally round the judiciary full-throatedly and some public-spirited citizens should file writs with superior courts for getting this obnoxious law struck down. It is not that one is unmindful of the evil that sectarian and religious intolerance can do or are doing. This certainly has to be tackled and most urgently. But the nation does not have to be panic-stricken like the government. Retaining poise and commonsense, let the subject be intensively discussed, giving due weight to the views of those who are simply not carried away by any prejudice or whose ability to be tolerant is known. The prime minister and his government will do themselves credit if they go by the precedent of their own party leader of yore - Mohammad Khan Junejo - to consult the entire intelligentsia in a proper manner. Let them not hot-heatedly rush into thoughtless action that can badly backfire, without solving any problem. Let them not create bigger problems for themselves and for the country.

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SPORTS

970902 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan entries for Malaysian squash -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sports Reporter KARACHI, Sept 1: The Malaysian squash circuit of three tournaments with a total cash prize of US dollars 22,000/- has drawn a good number of Pakistan entries, particularly of talented and up-coming youth, keen and enthusiastic to earn points for improving their international rankings. Except seasoned international campaigner Mir Zaman Gul, who is reigning senior Asian squash champion, Amjad Khan, Mansoor Zaman, Kashif Shuja, Shamsul Islam Kakar, Ejaz Azmat, Humayun Khan and Zubair Ali Khan are all promising youngsters having entered the circuit. Waseemul Haq too has entered the Malaysian circuit. The three lower prize money tournaments, two in Kuala Lumpur and one in Sarawak, are the sanctioned events of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and lower ranking players from Finland, Hong Kong, Australia, India, New Zealand, Germany, Egypt, Canada and hosts Malaysia have entered the circuit. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970902 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Pacer Akram selected for Sahara Cup -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ilyas Beg LAHORE, Sept 1: The tall and lanky Test paceman Muhammad Akram, rated highly by experts due to his control over length and direction and fiery pace and who had the honor to represent Northamptonshire during this English cricket season nearing its end, stages a comeback into the Pakistan senior cricket team. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive Majid Khan told this reporter in an exclusive meeting on Monday afternoon that the selectors recommended the name of Muhammad Akram to fill the 14th slot in the Toronto-bound Pakistan cricket team. That would leave for Canada on the 10th of this month and take part in the second Sahara Cup Cricket series against the Indian side from the 13th. The Indian team has also been already chosen. In fact, the 14 players of the Pakistan cricket team for the series had been picked much before the Indian team was finalized. However, the PCB Council had to drop young paceman Shoaib Akhtar on the day of its meeting (August 23). That very day a facsimile message was received from the Pakistan "A" cricket team manager Justice Ijaz Yousaf, who had complained about "misbehaviour" of the youngster during the tour of Britain and advised not to include him in the Pakistan squad despite the fact that the boy had done well as a fast bowler. "The selectors put to trial the other young Test paceman Shahid Nazir, who was a strong candidate for inclusion into the side, but were not satisfied with his fitness and form. They have given their verdict in favour of Muhammad Akram", said the former Test captain and now the PCB chief executive Majid Khan. The Toronto-bound Pakistan team captain Ramiz Raja, who returned on Saturday after holidaying in Britain, told this reporter in a brief chat on Monday morning that he was scheduled to reach Karachi in the evening. In all probability, Ramiz Raja will resume training in the camp on Tuesday. Spinner Mushtaq Ahmad had played important part in winning the first Sahara Cup Cricket series against India last year on the turning Toronto pitches. He would be sorely missed this time like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Mention of the speed-merchant Waqar Younis reminds one that the lethal bowler has expressed his inability to play for the Pakistan team because he was busy in helping his county Glamorgan in gaining top-berth in the All-England Championship. The 17-member Pakistan team is: Captain Ramiz Raja, Vice-captain Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Salim Malik, Ejaz Ahmad Senior, Inzimam-ul-Haq, Moin Khan, Hasan Raza, Azhar Mahmood, Muhammad Akram, Aaqib Javed, Kabir Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Muhammad Husain. Manager: Maazullah Khan. Coach: Haroon Rashid. Physiotherapist: Dr Dan Kiesel. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970904 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Jansher stays on top of world squash -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sports Reporter KARACHI, Sept 3: Pakistan's squash wizard Jansher Khan completed four years of his status as world number one in the September rankings announced today by Professional Squash Association (PSA). Eight-win World Open record holder Jansher Khan, who on Aug 31 regained the title of the Hong Kong squash for a record eighth time, maintained his hold on the world number one ranking since September 1993. The PSA September rankings (previous rankings in bracket) 1. Jansher Khan (Pakistan-1), 2. Rodney Eyles (Australia-3), 3. Peter Nicol (Scotland-2), 4. Jonathan Power (Canada-4), 5. Simon Parke (England-5), 6. Ahmed Barada (Egypt-6), 7. Chris Walker (England-7), 8. Del Harris (England-8), 9. Brett Martin (Australia-10), 10. Zubair Jahan Khan (Pakistan-9), 11. Dan Jenson (Australia-11), 12. Mark Cairns (England-13), 13. Anthony Hill (Australia-12), 14. Mark Chaloner (England-14), 15. Alex Gough (Wales-15), 16. Craig Rowland (Australia-18), 17. Derek Ryan (Ireland-17), 18. Julien Bonetat (France-16), 19. Paul Johnson (England-22), 20. Martin Heath (Scotland-20). DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970805 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Finances main problem for Akhtar Rasool: Atif -------------------------------------------------------------------- Walter Fernandez KARACHI, Sept 4: Brig (retd) Manzoor Hussain Atif, Senior Vice President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and Chairman of the World Hockey Rules Board, has lauded the election of former Olympian Akhtar Rasool as President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) in an exclusive interview to `Dawn' here on Thursday. "I feel extremely happy for Akhtar Rasool, who is the first Olympian or in other words a `Technocrat' to have been elevated to the position of the Pakistan hockey supremo from the post of the PHF Senior Vice President and that too, in the Golden Jubilee year of the country's creation," added Brig. Atif, a former PHF Secretary, who returned home today after an almost nine-month stay in Harrare (Zimbabwe) where he was attending to his personal business. "After a pretty long time Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Managing Director has not been elected as the PHF President. However, the National carrier which has been a great benefactor of the country's hockey for over three decades, should continue their support in the very same fashion as before," said the FIH Senior Vice President. "The National carrier also arranged to host the Champions Trophy World Hockey Tournament in the country every two years. PIA also defrays the entire expenses for the tournament besides providing the visiting teams and officials with tickets and daily allowance," stated Brig. Manzoor Hussain Atif. "Akhtar Rasool is the product of the game. So he will understand every aspect of it and I wish he turns out to be a success," said the Guru of the World Hockey Rules Board. "But what really is required for Akhtar Rasool to become a success as the Pakistan hockey boss should be plenty of finance. But with him being a member of the Pakistan Muslim League and the Prime Minister also from the same party that should not be found wanting," explained the FIH Senior Vice President. "Nonetheless, what Akhtar Rasool should initially concentrate on, is trying to institutionalize the finances of the federation. For even if the government is changed that then would not financially affect the PHF," opined Brig. Manzoor Hussain Atif. "The PHF was in the pink of health during the tenure of retired Air Marshal Nur Khan. Although, Nur Khan was not a hockey technocrat, he was a brilliant administrator and contributed a hell of a lot in terms of finances to the PHF. Since I filled the latter role as the PHF Secretary, I must add Nur Khan had a tremendous mind and had the uncanny knack of sifting out what was good for the game from my numerous conversations with him," concluded the Chairman of the World Hockey Rules Board. Brig. Manzoor Hussain Atif, who at present is not in very good health, has shed aside all his personal business for the time being and is proceeding to Islamabad on Friday to have a complete medical checkup. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS* 970806 -------------------------------------------------------------------- PCB officials accused of demanding 'cut' -------------------------------------------------------------------- By Samiul Hasan KARACHI, Sept 5: In one of the biggest financial scandals involving the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), three of its officials were accused of demanding kickbacks in a financial deal estimated to be around Rs 10 million. One of the three officials was PCB Secretary, Waqar Ahmad, it was alleged. However, when the 'commission' was declined by a representative of a multinational company, Waqar Ahmad and his two companions advised the PCB chief executive, Majid Khan, to end the 10-year-old working relationship with Adamjee Insurance Company. EFU, another multinational insurance company, was awarded the contract. S.M Aslam Khan, Deputy Manager (Development), Adamjee Insurance Company, alleged that Waqar Ahmad and his other two colleagues had demanded a kickback of 22% from an outstanding premium of Rs 1,167,050 which the PCB had been delaying since March this year. "On June 25, I was directed by Majid Khan (PCB chief executive), to talk to a committee which was formed by him. During the course of the meeting apart from technical points of the insurance policies, they (committee members) insisted that how much rebate or commission I could offer them," Aslam Khan alleged. Aslam states that according to the demand of 22% from the pending claim of Rs 1,167,050, the committee was to get approximately Rs 215,000. Aslam continued saying that when he refused to accept their claim, they (committee members) said they would invite other insurance companies "and whichever insurance company will offer them the best rate of commission, they would consider that." "I must tell you here that no insurance company can give you rebate because it is forbidden legally," Aslam pointed out. Aslam further alleged that the PCB officials wanted him to issue a cover note for the players, National and Qadhafi Stadia and Cricket House for a year which he did. Aslam emphasized that once a cover note was issued, the establishment stood committed with the insurance company. "The insurance company, on the other hand, stood committed to cover the risk." "On May 22, I went off the way to get the cover note for the players, stadia and Cricket House. Normally, we don't issue cover notes without payment but in their (PCB) case, we did it considering our old relationship with them besides they (PCB) being a reliable organization," Aslam said. "Majid Khan could neither take a stand for a firm decision on his honorable commitment nor he understood the commercial implications of a cover note," he added. Aslam said the players and stadia cover was for a year. He added that the PCB used to issue them a program of the team's nternational commitments but the players were endorsed accordingly because some were retained and some dropped. Aslam admitted that a claim was filed by the PCB but it was not honored because the premium was not paid. "Inzamamul Haq was injured in Sri Lanka and the PCB filed a claim but was rejected outright because no premium was paid. Had the premium been submitted, Inzamam would have got the match fee which he couldn't because he was not insured." Aslam also cited an example of Tauseef Ahmad whose Rs 50,000 medical expenses were paid by his insurance company as the player was comprehensively insured. A detailed report with documentary evidence has been dispatched to the Patron of the PCB, President Farooq Ahmad Khan. "I have nothing to hide and want to keep the President informed about the corruption which has started creeping in the PCB," said Aslam Khan. Efforts were made to contact the PCB officials, for their version, but none was available for comment.
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