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D A W N W I R E S E R V I C E
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Week Ending : 10 May, 1997 Issue : 03/19
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C O N T E N T S
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N A T I O N A L N E W S
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Murder case if accident victims die of neglect
ECL will be made public
Corruption trials by one-judge benches
Consortium countries to hold next meeting in Pakistan: Sartaj
Package to spur capital market announced
Wheat shortage looms large over Sindh
Govt to pay $240m fine to power firms yearly
Six die as PAF plane jettisons fuel tanks
Law soon to rein in religious groups
Fortune in the garbage and missed opportunities
---------------------------------
B U S I N E S S & E C O N O M Y
---------------------------------
Forex reserves stand at $883.91m
GDP growth at 3pc against 6.3pc target
Import duties on oil exploration machinery waived
NBP should also be privatised, says World Bank
State-owned enterprises to be sold on cash
Budget deficit may touch Rs100bn mark, NA told
Only privatisation can reduce debt liability
Privatisation commission speeds up work
Next budget to be 13 per cent larger
Gainers trail far behind losers in dull trading
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E D I T O R I A L S & F E A T U R E S
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Karachi: degradation continues Ardeshir Cowasjee
Another holiday Omar Kureishi
Lust for land Mazdak
A new concern for human rights Rifaat Hamid Ghani
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S P O R T S
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Indian tour a real ordeal for cricket team
A fit case for national games postponement
Council to decide Aamirs fate on Wednesday
Centuries in both the innings of a Test
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N A T I O N A L N E W S
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970506
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Murder case if accident victims die of neglect
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, May 5: The prime minister on Monday said that negligence on the
part of police officials or the doctors in handling accident cases which
often resulted in loss of life should be treated as murder.
Mian Nawaz Sharif issued directives to the law ministry to make legal
provision for the registration of murder cases against police officials or
doctors not giving prompt attention to the injured, an official
announcement said.
Taking notice of reported cases of the injured not receiving first-aid
promptly, which often led to the death of the victim, the prime minister
observed that failure to render immediate medical aid in such cases
amounted to criminal negligence which called for severe penalty.
The doctors on duty usually wait for the arrival of the police and
registration of an FIR or an accident victim being formally referred to the
hospital by the police, before taking charge, but by then the patient often
dies.
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970504
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ECL will be made public
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, May 3: The government has decided to end the practice of putting
the names of political opponents on the Exit Control List (ECL) and also
inform in advance federal and provincial legislators that their names were
being included in the list.
Informed sources told Dawn on Saturday a decision had also been taken that
the ECL being currently updated would soon be made public. The ministry of
interior had approved the draft about changes, they said.
The new ECL which would have the names of about 1000 people would be
released to the print and electronic media after its approval by the
federal cabinet soon. The new computerised list would also be displayed at
all the airports of the country. Prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the sources
said, had directed minister for interior Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to stop
the compilation of ECL on the basis of political rivalry as had been the
practice.
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970504
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Corruption trials by one-judge benches
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Shujaat Ali Khan
LAHORE, May 3: The Ehtesab (Accountability) Ordinance is being amended to
provide for trial of cases filed under it by single judges of high courts,
Attorney-General Chaudhry Mohammad Farooq said here on Saturday.
Talking to Dawn, he said trial by single judges instead of division benches
would facilitate early disposal of corruption cases, stipulated by law to
take a maximum of 60 days. Initially, the ordinance envisaged hearing by
three-member full benches.
The AG said the proposed amendment would also obviate the need of reference
of a case to a third judge, should the two members of a division bench ever
return a split verdict. He appreciated the decision of the chief justices
committee that the judges seized of Ehtesab cases should not be assigned
other work to enable them to concentrate on and dispose of corruption cases
promptly.
The government, Chaudhry Farooq added, was fully aware of and responsive to
the public sentiment against corruption in high places. Eight new prominent
lawyers, including Justice (retd) KMA Samdani, Justice (retd) Qurban Sadiq
Ikram, advocate Iftikhar Ali Sheikh and Barrister Naeemur Rehman, have been
associated with the accountability cell for prosecuting Ehtesab cases. The
Chief Ehtesab Commissioners office has also been provided the services of
experienced prosecution deputy superintendents of police.
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970506
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Consortium countries to hold next meeting in Pakistan: Sartaj
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, May 5: Federal Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz on Monday briefed
the PML parliamentary group on his talks with the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), the World Bank in Washington and Aid-to-Pakistan Consortium
meeting in Paris.
Briefing the party legislators in presence of the prime minister he said
the consortium countries had been invited to hold the next meeting in
Pakistan and to rename it as Pakistan Development Forum.
Later at a press briefing he said private sector would also be involved in
the proceedings of the Pakistan Development Forum. He said the consortium
members appreciated the six different packages announced by the government
of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the revival of economy.
He termed the outcome of consortium meeting very positive compared to the
last years meeting.
The finance minister hoped that Pakistan would get around 2.6 billion
dollars from the consortium which would be disbursed in three different
installment in the next three years.
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970507
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Package to spur capital market announced
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, May 6: The government announced a package for the capital
development market that extends gains tax exemptions for another three
years, exempts bonus shares from tax and removes turnover tax on shares.
The tax on foreign investment in government securities like FIBs, STFBs and
corporate fixed income securities has also been withdrawn. A number of
major decisions were also taken to promote corporate fixed income
securities that were important for the mobilisation of savings and funding
companies. One of the major decisions in this regard was that the State
Bank of Pakistan has agreed to allow investment by Non Bank Financial
Institutions in listed debt securities for the propose of statutory
liquidity requirements as was the case with the investment in shares.
Talking about the decisions to promote corporate fixed income, the finance
minister said that fixed income securities would help mobilise savings
besides helping companies. He also said that the investment of provident
fund in listed fixed income securities would be treated at par with
investment in Federal Investment Bonds (FIBs), for the purpose of
exemptions from withholding tax. As in the case of FIBs, withholding tax on
income derived by a provident fund on fixed income securities could be
exempted if the provident fund produced exemption certificate from the
income tax authorities.
He also said that the rules framed by the Corporate Law Authority for
investment of Employees Provident Fund in listed securities were being
amended to allow investment of the Fund in the listed securities up to 20
percent instead of existing 10 per cent. The requirement of the cap of 1
percent of provident fund to be invested in corporate fixed income
securities of a single company was also being raised to 5 percent.
Present life insurance companies were mandated to invest a minimum of 60
percent in government and other approved securities which left discretion
of investment in corporate securities to only 40 percent. It was being
decided to reduce the minimum requirement of 60 percent to 50 percent this
year and 40 percent next year.
Aziz pointed out that the measures which required changes in administrative
circulars or rules will be implemented in the next few days but those which
required amendment in the Income Tax or other laws will be implemented
through the Finance Bill that will be introduced in the National Assembly
with the Budget in June 1997, he clarified. He told a reporter that one of
the basic bias against the foreign investment has adequately been covered
in the new capital market package.
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970507
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Wheat shortage looms large over Sindh
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Staff Correspondent
HYDERABAD, May 6: Acute flour shortage is looming large over parts of Sindh
as wheat stocks have exhausted and fresh supplies have not been received by
mills.
The president of the Chakki Owners Association, Haji Nawab Ali, told
newsmen that due to non-availability of wheat, 130 Chakkis would be shut
down from Wednesday (May 7). The shortage has already hit Hyderabad and a
large number of Chakki owners had staged a demonstration in front of the
Press Club to demand resumption of wheat supply operation. They alleged
that the supplies have been stopped by the food department.
Haji Nawab said that for February and March, Chakki owners had deposited
challans for 92,000 bags of wheat, but not a single bag was supplied to
them. He pointed out that they had no option but to purchase wheat from the
market at a rate of Rs800 per 100kg-bag against the official price of the
bag i.e. Rs665. Naturally, he added, the extra burden had to be borne by
the consumers whereas the blame was shifted to the Chakki owners.
Haji Nawab claimed that the wheat growers had been refusing to sell their
produce to the government, for they were getting a higher price in the open
market. He pointed out that majority of cultivators had sold their wheat
crop in the open market. As a result, he said, the vehicles arranged by the
government, were returning empty from certain parts of the Hyderabad
district as no wheat was available there. He added that there was no wheat
stock in governments godowns for onward supplies.
Haji Nawab said the government was supplying wheat to Chakki and roller
flour mills in Karachi but a step-motherly treatment was being meted out to
Hyderabad.
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970508
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Govt to pay $240m fine to power firms yearly
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Faraz Hashmi
ISLAMABAD, May 7: The government will have to pay penalties to the tune of
$20,000 per megawatt per month, from November this year, to foreign power
companies, besides sustaining incalculable revenue losses as it has failed
to construct 500 Kv transmission line to connect national grid system to
the new private power units.
Three private sector power plants, with a total generation capacity of a
little over 1000 Mw, are likely to be commissioned by the end of the
current calendar year but still the tenders for transmission line have not
been floated by the government, a source said. If the contract is awarded
even today, at least 20 months will be required to complete the 500 Kv
transmission line from Jamshoro to Lahore, the source added.
Under the agreement signed between the government of Pakistan and the
private power generation companies in case of default, on the part of
government either in the supply of fuel to these plants or purchase of
electricity, it will have to pay huge penalties. "If the power projects
are commissioned and the transmission line project is delayed then the
government has to pay the 60% capacity charges to private power generators
along with the lost revenues which may run millions of dollars," the source
said.
The delay on the transmission line project by the government, he said can
become government's event of default which means additional liabilities
worth millions of dollars payable to the private transmission line company.
"The loss/penalty amounts to mind boggling figures," the source said.
When asked about the exact amount to be paid by the government in case of
default. He pointed out that three power plants with a total generation
capacity of over 1000 Mw are coming up from September to December in
Muzaffargarh Area. The capacity payments per megawatt per month is $20,000.
In case WAPDA fails to off-take power (1,000 x 20,000 = $20 million) $20
million per month penalty payments will have to be made by it, he added.
In case of delay of one year, the total loss would add up to (20x12= $240
million) $240 millions, he said. The delay, he feared, will be much longer
than one year. He said the losses in terms of revenue, which WAPDA
otherwise would have earned by supplying electricity to consumers, will be
much more than the penalties. Hence, the total loss/penalty incurred by
WAPDA will be incalculable in only Muzafargarh sector of the transmission
line project. However, the interest/mark-up on liabilities paid by WAPDA
will be over and above the losses and penalties.
Initially, the tenders for laying of the transmission line had floated in
1994 and the whole process from floating of tenders to the award of
contract had been completed in a period of one week. Haste demonstrated in
the award of contract was obviously because of the then government's desire
to complete the project in time in order to avoid consequential penalties,
the source said. However, certain bureaucrats at the PPIB, just for their
own petty interest and to prove themselves more loyal to the present
government, sabotaged the project, he said.
The contract of $700 million was awarded to the Indus Grid Company, a
subsidiary of National Grid Company, but the contract was later terminated
by the government of Pakistan.
Indus Grid Company has already filed a suit for $21 million against the
termination of the project. Under the agreement, the company had to
construct 500 Kv overhead transmission line covering 800 miles from
Jamshoro to Lahore. The project had to be developed under a 30-year build-
own-maintain-contract with an option for a five-year extension.
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970509
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Six die as PAF plane jettisons fuel tanks
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Mohammed Riaz
KARACHI, May 8: Six people died and seven others suffered serious burn
injuries when a Pakistan Air Force Mirage plane jettisoned two fuel tanks
over the densely-populated area of Gharibabad near Liaquatabad.
One of the two fuel tanks fell over the house of Yaseen and Zaheer, two
brothers living with their families. The tank pierced through the roof
causing a big explosion and triggering a blaze that killed many people. The
flames instantly spilled over to three adjacent houses causing extensive
damage.
According to a PAF press release, issued after the incident, a fighter
plane on a routine training mission developed a fault and had to jettison
its fuel tanks to save the aircraft from crashing over the populated area,
which would have resulted in a catastrophe. The PAF authorities expressed
deep sorrow over the loss of lives and ordered an immediate inquiry to
ascertain the cause of the incident and the extent of damage to civilian
lives and property.
The incident which occurred at 7.50am created panic among the residents who
suspected it to be an act of terrorism.
PM orders probe: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered an inquiry into
the tragedy.
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970509
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Law soon to rein in religious groups
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, May 8: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League resolved to rein in
religious parties and to bring a fresh legislation for further intensifying
punishments under laws dealing with terrorism, Dawn reliably learnt.
The Thursdays meeting of the parliamentary party was devoted to the issue
of sectarian -related violence, particularly in Punjab. Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif presided over the meeting.
The parliamentary party was of the opinion that activities of the religious
parties and sectarian groups should be restricted and that drastic actions
should be taken to end sectarian violence in the country. The members of
the ruling party and its coalition partners called for disarming sectarian
groups and launching a drive for the recovery of illicit arms.
Some of the members suggested that a curfew should be imposed on certain
localities known for harbouring terrorists, like Tokhar Niaz Baig , a
stronghold of Shia community in Lahore, and the police should make a search
for illegal arms. Others apprehended that the sudden increase in killings
and terrorist activities was part of a conspiracy against the government of
Pakistan Muslim League. They said prompt action should be taken to handle
the dismal law and order situation or it would spell disaster for the
country.
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970504
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Fortune in the garbage and missed opportunities
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 3: Pakistans first garbage-based compost fertilizer plant,
shut down more than a decade ago, has been offered for sale by the lead
bank, the newly privatized Bankers Equity.
Located on 13.45 acres of land in North Karachi, near the garbage dumping
ground, the Rs 27.5 million plant, had a total capacity of 148,300 tons of
compost fertilizer on the basis of three shifts per day and three hundred
working days in a year. The output comprised fine, rough and hardwaste
fertilizer in the ratio of 60:25:15.
The project, sponsored by Farooq Compost Fertilizer Corporation, (FCFC) was
based on the expectation that its daily requirement of 1,000 tons of
garbage would be met without any difficulty as the citys daily garbage
availability was then estimated at 4000-6000 tons. No import of raw
material was involved.
Sources close to the DFI syndicate which funded the project said the FCFC
management ran into rough weather when supplies of garbage became erratic.
Initially, the KMC officials opposed the lifting of garbage and later
conceded that solid waste could be collected from a portion of area
governed by the Corporation. It was also stipulated that the garbage would
be delivered at the factory gates.
A senior IDBP official who was involved in syndicated arrangement, when
contacted by Dawn said that the main reason for the closure of the plant
was critical shortage of garbage and sewerage water in the city drowning
the garbage dumps heaped on almost all street corners.
Owing to the organized opposition by the KMCs transport wing which was
responsible for lifting garbage, smooth supplies for running the plant
became impossible. Some KMC employees burned garbage in the street corners
instead of transporting the waste to the dumping grounds or the factory
gates. The vehicles were misused and fuel was allegedly misappropriated.
Sources said the FCFC operated with a fair amount of success in localities
like Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Clifton. It supplied thirty plastic bags for Rs 10
on a monthly basis to every household to collect the waste on daily basis.
No garbage was thrown on the streets. The city was thus saved from
pollution caused by burning of garbage. Starved of adequate supplies of raw
material, the plant set up in early 1980s had to be closed down, DFI
officials estimate, after one and a half years operation.
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B U S I N E S S & E C O N O M Y
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970504
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Forex reserves stand at $883.91m
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 3: Pakistans foreign exchange reserves slipped to $883.91
million on April 26 1997 from $909.89 million a week ago showing a decline
of $25.89 million.
According to the weekly statement of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the
foreign exchange reserves held within and outside Pakistan totalled Rs
35.568 billion or $883.91 million on April 26. A week ago on April 19, the
reserves stood at Rs 36.614 billion or $909.89 million.
The little fall is seemingly temporary, said a senior executive of a big
bank. He linked the decline in forex reserves to a possibly higher import
bill.
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970506
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GDP growth at 3pc against 6.3pc target
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M. Ziauddin
ISLAMABAD, May 5: The actual GDP growth rate during the first ten months of
current financial year has been estimated to be around 3 per cent with
agriculture showing a growth rate of 4 per cent, small-scale manufacturing
6 per cent and services 4 per cent.
According to informed sources the growth rate in large-scale manufacturing
is said to have recorded nil growth with sugar, cement and steel showing
massive declines. Energy sub- sector, especially electricity and gas, has
shown a healthy growth rate.
Meanwhile, revenue collection during the period has been estimated to be
around Rs225 billion against the full year target of Rs305 billion. Reports
said that in view of the disappointing collection in the 10 months the
government was contemplating to revise the full year target down to Rs290
billion. The original budgetary target for revenue collection was Rs341
billion.
The GDP was planned to grow by 6.3 per cent during the current year, to be
contributed by the sectoral growth rates of 5.0 per cent in agriculture,
7.9 per cent in industry and 6.1 per cent in services sector.
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970508
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NBP should also be privatised, says World Bank
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 7: The visiting officials of the World Bank who met top
bankers were of the view that in addition to the United Bank and Habib Bank
the National Bank should also be privatised.
The meeting held at the State Bank office, was attended by the presidents
of United Bank and Habib Bank and two senior executive vice presidents of
the National Bank. A source said the meeting split on the issue as the
representatives of the NBP observed that the privatisation would rob NBP of
its role as a public service organisation. He said the WB officials were of
the view that the State Bank being the supervisor of the banking system
might find alternate ways to see that the public service role of the NBP
was performed collectively by the entire banking sector. He further said
that the members of the WB team also felt that with the SBP being
responsible for streamlining the lending and borrowing operations of the
banking system as a whole there was little need to retain NBP in the hands
of the government. "What they implied was that the NBP role as a clearing
house for the government should not come in way of its privatisation," .
Another source privy to the meeting said. He said the WB officials also
felt that the privatisation of the NBPthe best among Pakistani bankswould
fetch a good price and generate enough revenue to steer the government out
of financial crisis.
The source said the meeting discussed at length the action plans of the
three banks aimed at downsizing their branch network and manpower to help
them raise their level of profitability. He said the WB officials were told
that all the three banks had drawn up concrete plans of getting rid of non-
profitable branches and surplus manpower but their respective boards of
directors were yet to finalise these plans. The boards of directors of the
NBP and the HBL have so far not been constituted by the new government
while the recently set up board of directors of UBL is yet to hold its
meeting. He said the WB officials set no targets for downsizing the
branches of the three banks or reducing their workforce but hastened to add
that "the two measures are supposed to be initiated before September when
Pakistan will start negotiating an IMF loan".
Pakistan refused to avail of Stand-by Arrangement worth $180 million and
opted for negotiating Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) with
the IMF after undertaking a series of reforms meant to correct structural
imbalances in its economy. The WB team is here in connection with the
appraisal of the execution of $216 million Financial Sector Deepening and
Intermediation Project (FSDIP).
The source said the members of the WB team made inquiries relating to the
measures these banks were supposed to take under the project. "More or less
the WB officials confined themselves to discussing the issues within the
scope of FSDIPexcept for the NBP privatisation issue," he added.
Negotiated in late 1994, the FSDIP covers a vast scope of financial sector
reforms including reforms in the banking sector aiming to make the
financial institutions capable of responding to the challenges of an
emerging global economy.
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970510
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State-owned enterprises to be sold on cash
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, May 9: The Privatization Commission has decided not to accept
any guarantee for the payment and will now privatize the remaining state
owned units only on cash.
No public sector entity would not be sold on any guarantee as buyers often
do not pay their outstandings. We still have to recover Rs 1.6 billion from
the defaulters, said the chairman of the Privatization Commission Khauja
Muhammad Asif.
Talking to Dawn here, he said that Schon and Tawwakal groups were the main
defaulters who were being forced to clear their dues. But mainly it is the
Schon group which is the biggest defaulter.
Answering a question, he said if they involved a first class bank which
enjoyed reputation beyond any doubt, its guarantee might be accepted for a
little delayed payment. Naturally if such a bank extends this guarantee
for any buyer than we can always ask it to pay on behalf of the defaulter,
he added.
He said a decision has been taken that as long as he was the chairman of
the Privatization Commission, he would not allow the privatization proceeds
to be stuck up any more.
The Chairman of Privatization Commission was certain that the government
would be able to get around one billion dollars during 1997-98 through the
privatization of various government corporations.
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970510
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Budget deficit may touch Rs100bn mark, NA told
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, May 9: Federal minister for commerce Ishaq Dar informed the
National Assembly Friday that the budget deficit in the year 1996-97 would
further swell by Rs40 billion from the expected shortfall of Rs60 billion.
He also disclosed that the ambassadors abroad had been asked to keep in
constant touch with the foreign trade ministries and that their performance
in this regard would be monitored.
Condemning the previous PPP government for the expected increase in budget
deficit, the minister said, This shortfall has already happened and the
present government cannot be blamed for it.
He said the economic mess the PML government had inherited from the
previous government required a great deal of effort to rectify. He said the
government had already taken the initiative and announced six different
packages for different sectors to turn around the economic down-slide of
the country.
He said the government would soon bring a financial package for about 4,000
sick industrial units of the country. The previous government, he charged,
had so heavily borrowed from banks that nothing was left for the private
sector.
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970505
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Only privatisation can reduce debt liability
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Dr Farrukh Saleem
THE GOVERNMENT of Pakistan (GOP) must pay out a colossal $3 billion to
foreign lenders between July and December 97. The national treasury has
less than $1 billion.
The IMF has already cancelled the $810 million stand-by arrangement (SBA).
We continue to run an average monthly trade deficit of $250 million. The
Ministry of Finance (MoF) has borrowed more than Rs 70 billion from the
banking system against system against a committed level of Rs 40 billion,
and the spendthrift government continues to spend close to Rs 200 billion
over and above its expected stream of revenues. We also continue to suffer
a budgetary deficit that now amounts to 8 per cent of GDP and an annual
trade deficit of over $3 billion (5 per cent of GDP).
While the debt crisis, in tandem with the twin deficits of trade and
budget, continues to stare the nations economic future right into its eyes
the entire government machinery is pretending as if every thing was just
normal. The real of our national predicament remains that our leaders have
managed to land us into a debt trap, a balance of payment trap and a severe
liquidity crisis while the indigenous economy itself has always remained
intrinsically viable.
Although Habib Bank Limited (HBL), National Bank Limited (NBP), United Bank
Limited (UBL), Allied Bank Limited (ABL), National Investment Trust (NIT),
National Development Finance Corporation (NDFC), Pakistan Steel Mill,
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan National Shipping
Corporation (PNSC), WAPDA and KESC have all been looted by our native sons
and daughters the country still has what is required to turn things around.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTC), the mega telecom
monopoly, could fetch some $6 billion just by itself. The Jamshoro Power
Station, a little less than a billion dollars. Habib Credit & Exchange, Sui
Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), PIA,
Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC),
OGDC, Heavy Mechanical Complex, Heavy Electrical Complex, PECO, Pakistan
Machine Tool, State Engineering, State Life, nationalised commercial banks
(NCBs), development finance institutions (DFIs) and all the various
electricity boards could easily generate a few more billion.
All that is needed is a determined political will to privatise the entire
public sector, a well-deliberated policy of transparent privatisation and
an efficient Privatisation Commission (PC). According to Dr Amjad Waheed, a
reputed finance expert, in our current economic scenario, the office of
the chairman of the Privatisation Commission should be considered as the
second most important public office right after the Prime Ministers.
It is rather quite unfortunate, however, that the entire 9- year history of
various Privatisation Commissions appointed by one martial law and at least
four democratically elected governments is not promising at all. It was
actually the Zia government that promulgated the first Disinvestment
Ordinance on the 16th of July, 1988 (NDA) under the chairmanship of Mr Aziz
Zulfikar.
Chairman Zulfikar had exhibited a desire to privatise 14 public sector
units and 20 per cent shares of the nationalised commercial banks (NCBs)
The NDA did not fulfil any of its objectives.
During the first Benazir government, the prime minister had said that the
nationalisation of the banks was a wrong policy. Benazirs Minister of
State for Finance, Ehsan-ul- Paracha, had told the Press that the
government wanted to sell shares in PIA, Pak Saudi Fertiliser and the
Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB).
In the May of 1990, a meagre 10 per cent of PIAs shares were listed on the
Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), but the Bhutto government could not withstand
the pressure from MCBs labour union and thus failed to achieve anything
substantial on the privatisation front.
Mr Nawaz Sharif during his first tenure appointed Lt. Gen (rtd) Saeed Qadir
as the chairman of his governments Privatisation Commission.
Gen Qadir was instructed to sell off government-run banks, the Sui
companies, PIA, DFIs, Pakistan Steel, Trading Corporation of Pakistan
(TCP), Rice Export Corporation (REC) and some 160 other public sector
units.
The IJI government did manage to privatise a number of minor units, but
most of the privatised entities ended up in the hands of Nawaz family
friends, cronies and business associates. MCB and ABL privatisation are two
credits to Gen Qadir, but MCB was sold to the Mansha group which was then
closely affiliated with the prime minister and ABLs privatisation was
frequently criticised by the Press of having strong elements of favouritism
and of lacking transparency.
In 1993, upon Benazirs re-election, Saeed Qadir was arrested and Syed
Naveed Qamar appointed Chairman of the Privatisation Commission (date of
appointment November 24, 1993).
Mr Qamar had committed to privatise some 25 state-owned enterprises (SOE),
including PTC, NDFC, PNSC, IDBP, WAPDA, KESC, Sui Northern, Sui Southern,
Bankers Equity Limited (BEL) and UBL.
The soft-spoken Naveed Qamar, who later became a federal minister, did a
lot of soft-speaking during his 35 months at the helm but failed to
privatise anything substantial.
The current government of Nawaz Sharif has brought in MNA Khawaja Asif as
chairman of the PC.
The new chairman started his stint by flying off to the Gulf wanting to
raise dollars for the Prime Ministers Debt Retirement Plan (completely
ignoring his primary responsibility) and upon his return promised to put
new life into the 9-year-old privatisation exercise.
The Privatisation Commission continues to lack the expertise, ability,
sophistication, organisation, skill and also the personnel to make it all
happen. While time shall be Khawaja Asifs true judge, international
players remain pessimistic.
Additionally, the funds that have so far been raised by selling the family
silver to foreigners have all been eaten up by political governments. When
more than Rs 30 billion worth of PTC stock was sold during Mr Naveed
Qamars tenure, most of the proceeds went towards deficit financing and
very little went towards actual debt retirement.
The Debt Reduction Fund (set up by the Moeen Qureshi government) is yet to
see a single rupee flow towards it and Benazirs Future Generation Fund
hasnt seen anything either. Other than PTC, a paltry amount of Rs 12
billion has so far been realised through the 9-year privatisation exercise
which is neither here nor there and was, therefore, also eaten by the
deficit.
How can a government whose treasury is empty and one that owes $3 billion
in the immediate future disregard the one and only avenue that is available
to it? Why is an elected government so adamant in humiliating its
constituents by not building up sufficient reserves to meet its committed
payment obligations? Maybe because the PML government has been given some
sort of a political understanding that our resourceful western allies would
at the last moment bail us out of our dire financial predicament.
Its not that the country lacks the resources to pay off its debts. Its just
that we currently lack the liquidity, while the fact remains that the
nation does possess a whole bunch of real operating entities that if
liquidated properly can pay off close to 50 per cent of the debt (while the
remainder can be serviced comfortably). Once off-loaded to the private
sector our internal deficit would also come down.
Given the presence of the all-important political prerequisite to undertake
transparent, efficient privatisation all that remains is a lag, between
privatisation proceeds to fill up the treasury and the debt servicing
timetable.
The cost may be high, but the lag can certainly be filled by bridge
financing through willing institutional investors. Then there is also the
$600 million gold hoard that can be used as collateral for some additional
financing at favourable rates.
The country is essentially economically viable and financially feasible.
Political prerogatives actually lie right behind most of our economic ills.
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970505
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Privatisation commission speeds up work
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Faraz Hashmi
THE NEWLY CONSTITUTED privatisation commission, at its first meeting,
decided to adopt fast track policy for laying off public sector
corporations to generate additional foreign exchange which the present
government has pledged to use only for retiring the countrys debt.
The units identified at the commissions meeting included a gas pipeline
company, two power distribution net-works, a bank and several other
relatively small industrial units.
In the case of Habib Credit and Exchange Bank whose privatisation is in an
advanced stage and nine companies have already been qualified. The
commission has decided to lay off 70 per cent shares in one go. The
commission will retain 20 per cent shares for public offering and the
remaining 10 per cent will be given to the employees.
Fauji Foundation, Daewoo, Habib AG Zurich, Al-Barka, Al- Mashrik, Al-Fahim
and a consortium headed by Shiekh Zaid Bin Sultan Al Nayhan. The commission
hopes to fetch Rs 2 billion.
The transaction of the HCEB is likely to be completed before June. The
government is pushing the privatisation of HCEB through and in a clear
departure from the previous practice, the companies pre-qualified will not
be placed before Cabinet Committee on Privatisation for final ratification.
The Habib Credit and Exchange Bank (HECB) was incorporated in June 1992.
All the 600 million shares of the HCEB are owned by Habib Bank Limited. The
bank has reserves of Rs 93 million and deposits of Rs 7,182 million.
In 1995, the bank earned a net profit of Rs 160,761,000. It has only three
branches all over the country with estimated assets of around Rs. 13
billion.
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines, Limited, with a total number of 1,102,000
consumers and annual sale of 52,183,426 hundred cubic metres of gas is one
of the biggest gas utility companies is also included in the list of units
identified for privatisation in the current year.
The sectoral break-up of the sales indicates that 15.23 per cent was sold
to the power, 19.97 to fertiliser, 1.17 to cement, 30.46 per cent to
general industries and 33.46 per cent to domestic and commercial sector. In
the year 1994 the total revenue generated by the gas sales amounted to Rs.
9449.843 million as against Rs 7,666.689 million in the preceding year.
The government under an agreement with the World Bank had conceded to
reduce the public sector share-holding to 40 per cent. Hence in July 1992
the government offered 51.27 million ordinary shares to the general public
to reduce its share holding to 60 per cent.
Later, in August 1994, First Capital Securities Corporation, Limited, and
Smith Barney Inc. were appointed financial adviser for privatisation of
SNGPL.
Now the government intends to sell a further 34.18 million shares to some
foreign company in order to reduce the share- holding to 40 per cent.
British Gas of the U.K., Novacorp of Canada, UNICOL of USA, Petronas of
Malaysia, Gas De France and Tenneco companies have shown interest in SNGPL.
However, before offering the management stakes to some foreign company, the
government wants to put in place a regulatory frame work to watch the
interest of consumers as well as the investor.
A bill seeking the establishment of Gas Regulatory Authority is on the
anvil and likely to be placed before the Parliament within the next few
months.
The company during its 30 year long history expanded its high pressure
transmission system from about 380 to over 1990 miles and the low pressure
distribution network from 56 to over 9600 miles.
Over the years, it has also developed expertise in laying of pipelines and
other related construction. At present the company is working on project
called project-6 phase II.
The project envisaged laying of 743 miles (1196 Kilo metres) of
transmission lines of varying in size from 16 diameter to 30 diameter
along with additional compression capacity of 12,000 BHP. The project is
scheduled to be completed by June 1997 which will increase the transmission
system capacity to 1050 MMCFD.
The Karachi Electric Power Supply Corporation (KESC), a company responsible
of fulfilling the power needs of the countrys biggest metropolis, Karachi,
is one of the two power units to be sold this year. However, given the
financial health of the company the government will have to do a lot of
financial and managerial adjustments for making it attractive for the
foreign investors.
The KESC having a total installed capacity of 1738 MW is presently
generating around 1200 MW from six thermal units installed at Port Qasim
and four units in Korangi. The total staff strength of the company is
around 13,000 including 1200 officers. The per-unit production cost of KESC
is slightly higher than the countrys main power generation company WAPDA
as its entire generation system is consists of thermal power generation
units.
M/S NatWest Markets have been appointed as the financial advisers for KESC.
Faisalabad Area Electricity Board (FAEB) is one of the eight distribution
areas of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). The FAEB has a
potentially growing demand however it also faces serious problems of under-
investment in the distribution system, poor operations, high losses and
pilferage.
International Finance Corporation has been appointed financial adviser for
the privatisation of FAEB.
The financial advisers after conducting their due exercise have recommended
a number of options to the government for the transaction of the FAEB.
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970505
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Next budget to be 13 per cent larger
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M. Ziauddin
THE NEXT BUDGET to be announced on June 14, is likely to be around 13 per
cent larger in size than the current one which when announced was estimated
at Rs 500.2 billion.
Resource availability during the next financial year starting from July 1,
1997 is likely to be highly uncertain and may even stagnate at the same
level as in the current year, estimated at around Rs 480 billion. Net
revenue receipts for 1997-98 are not expected to go beyond Rs 320 billion,
mainly because of the reduction in import tariffs from a maximum of 65 per
cent to 45 per cent.
The collection from income tax and sales tax are also expected to be lower
because of the lowering of rates and slabs. The capital receipts (net) for
the next year too are likely to be less than what was estimated to be
collected in the current year. Receipts from external resources for the
coming year, however, are estimated higher at around Rs 120 billion.
The overall expenditure on current account in 1997-98 is estimated around
Rs 450 billion, while on development around Rs 115 billion.
The expenditure on the running of the civil government are likely to be
around Rs 50 billion, almost the same as in the current year despite the
pressure of an inflation rate of around 13 per cent. The expected
downsizing of the government is likely to provide room to budget makers to
make do with no increase in the budget for running the civil government.
The provinces will receive no more than Rs 140 billion from the divisible
pool of federal taxes despite the new NFC formula, because as a result of
the expected lower collection during the year, the size of the divisible
pool would not enlarge by any significant margin.
It is going to be a highly reformist budget with pronounced emphasis on
accelerating production. That is a clear break from demand management to
the supply-side, with the hope that with the increase in production
activity, revenues would also go up.
There is nothing wrong with this theory and it has got more logic than the
demand management policy in a country whose population is growing at the
rate of 3.5 per cent. But this policy does not take into consideration the
people who are supposed to enhance the production, make larger profits and
pay from them their dues to the government.
Over the last 50 years these people have learned only to take from the
governments and pay bribes to government minions. They simply cannot
operate with one account book. It is in their blood to continue cheating
the government, whatever the colour of the government, khaki, red or green.
That is how they have accumulated their riches which they use to buy
property in the rich west and where they send their children for education
because in their opinion Pakistani cities are too dirty to live in and the
countrys education system is too inferior for their children.
When the army rules the country, these so called entrepreneurs get the
maximum freedom to rob the nation because the martial law authorities
having very little idea of how to run the economy or any knowledge of
politics, seek the help of these businessmen to protect them from the
backlash of the people.
Next, when democracy returns they refuse to cooperate with governments led
by the feudals on the grounds that since the feudals do not pay any taxes
why should they. And when a business friendly party like the PML(N) comes
to power, they still do not pay their taxes because they think the friend
would look the other way.
One has no disputes with the incentives offered by the new government to
the business community. In theory these incentives should encourage the
business community to step up production and also pay their taxes to the
government honestly. But the ground situation indicates the very opposite.
Even if the businessmen were to push up production activity, it would only
add a per cent or two to the countrys annual industrial production and to
the exports and then the businessmen will pocket all the profits by
greasing the palms of the tax collectors.
Instead of manufacturing, if the government were to give incentives to the
services sector and throw the country open for the multinational services
companies dealing in telecom, banking and insurance etc, offering them a
level playing field, not only would the countrys income and export growth
jump immediately manifold, but its revenue collections increase
proportionately because foreign companies pay their taxes more honestly
than local ones (for example compare the taxes paid by all the members of
APTMA the richest Pakistanis to that paid by one foreign bank).
In fact, many multinationals are looking for a regional base with adequate
socio-physical infrastructure from where to go into the quality markets of
Central Asia, the Middle East and quantity markets of North India and
Southern China.
Pakistan has enough number of skilled people and the needed physical
infrastructure for laying the foundation of such a base.
On this foundation, we can build a profitable edifice of a hub by directing
the budgetary revenues more and more towards manpower development and
construction of roads, bridges, seaports and railway lines going across
countries.
There is no economic mileage for countries like Pakistan in manufacturing
any more. It will take us at least about two more decades to catch up with
even the regional countries in the manufacturing sectors.
Also, our businessmen who were born and who thrived in a protective
atmosphere where they were not even obliged to pay taxes do not have the
competence and capability of taking up the manufacturing challenge of the
times.
The feudals, the industrialists and the civil-military bureaucracy among
them have looted the country and siphoned off their loot to foreign lands.
They can not be depended upon any more for the rebuilding of an almost
shattered economy.
If they get another chance (which they seem to be getting) they will
squeeze the last drop of the nations blood (if that drop is there).
In the beginning this policy would cause a lot of dislocation and hardship,
but at the end of this tunnel there probably would emerge a new kind
entrepreneur in Pakistan who would have the capability of fighting it out
in the world market place without the need of any government protection or
the subsidy umbrella.
Of course, in the process, todays rich would disappear and the share of
middle classes in our population would become the largest which in turn
would cause the rate of population growth to go down considerably.
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970510
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Gainers trail far behind losers in dull trading
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 9: Stocks finished the short Friday session on an uncertain
note as investors were not inclined to make fresh bigger commitments even
at the current lower levels despite a massive relief package announced by
the finance minister last Tuesday to put market back on the rails. There
are tidal wave of buying orders as widely speculated in the pre-package
session but rather sellers are active to pull themselves out from the
market at each rise, analysts said.
They said no one was inclined to move out of the safe havens until they
felt that the nation was at peace, which meant investors were yearning for
sectarian harmony as well as good news from the economy.
The KSE 100-share index after early fall of five points later managed to
cut to only 0.87 points, reflecting the relative strength of some of the
base shares and was last quoted at 1,551.93 in the morning session as
compared to 1,552.80 a day earlier.
Later in the evening session it fell further by 3.98 points at 1,547.95 as
compared to morning sessions 1,551.93 on strong weekend selling in some of
the current favourites, notably Dewan Salman, Hub-Power, PTC Vouchers and
ICI Pakistan, which suffered fresh fall ranging from five to 20 paisa.
Volume figure fell from last two sessions 73 million shares to 48.107
million shares owing partly to short weekend session. Gainers again trailed
far behind losers at 159 to 73, with 75 shares holding on the last levels.
Bulk of the selling was, however, confined to Hub-Power, PTC vouchers and
ICI Pakistan, which together accounted for 34 million shares, with ICI
Pakistan again leading the list, with a figure of 14 million shares.
Massive either-way activities daily in these most active shares do not
reflect any adverse comment on their interim earnings but the extent of
speculative trading as investors are not inclined to move out of them owing
to bad news from the economic front and about the sectarian tension. All
these shares move in a cycle of Rs 3, being the lower and higher playing
limits and in the process all gainers, no losers, dealers said.
Analysts the multi-million relief package announced by the finance minister
on Tuesday should have provided the much-needed bullish leverage to
speculative forces but no one is inclined to take risks. Despite good news
in the backdrop of the package, no one could precisely predict about the
direction of the market at this stage owing to negative news on the law and
order front,they added.
An increased cash dividend at the rate of 35 per cent as compared to
previous years 30 per cent by Smith Kline & French(SK&F) and a modest
payout of 10 per cent from the board directors of Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills
was well-received in the market and was expected boost their shares value
in the coming sessions, dealers said.
Strong selective support was, however, evident on a number of counters as
some of the foreign funds covered position at the lower levels, PSO was
leading among them, up Rs 7 followed BOC Pakistan and Dawood Hercules,
which rose by Rs 6 to 6.50.
Insurance shares continued to derive strength from the cut in the
investment ratio as announced in the package and rose further by Rs 3 for
IGI and Dadabhoy Insurance.
Losers were led by Singer Pakistan, Shell Pakistan, Fauji Fertilizer,
Pakistan Gum Chemicals, Nestle Milkpak and Citicorp, which fell by one
rupee to Rs 2.
ICI Pakistan topped the list of most actives, easy 40 paisa on 14.449m
shares followed by PTC vouchers, lower also by 65 paisa on 15.520m shares,
Hub-Power, off 10 paisa on 12.302m shares and Dewan Salman, easy 20 paisa
on 2.270m shares.
They were followed by Faysal Bank, lower 25 paisa on 0.229m, Dhan Fibre,
easy 15 paisa on 0.169m , Sui Northern Gas, off 50 paisa 0.138m and Nishat
Fabrics, steady 10 paisa on 0.103m shares.
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970504
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Karachi: degradation continues
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Ardeshir Cowasjee
REASONS for the dismissal of the Sindh government in November 1996 included
sleaze and corruption. Specifically declared were the criminal practices of
the Karachi Development Authority (KDA a nest of corruption) in
collusion with the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA), the spread of
illegal buildings and the consequent degradation of the environment of
Karachi.
The illegal conversion and sale of land, and the illegal construction of
high-rises are one of the most lucrative sources of corruption. Over the
years, hundreds of amenity plots have been illegally converted and sold at
throw-away prices to the nominees of our politicians in power, residential
plots have been commercialised with no regard to any rule or regulation and
hideous highrises have sprung up in every area of Karachi designated as
purely residential. The criminals involved in this mass-scale degradation
have been, as is the norm in this country, those men placed in positions to
guard the peoples rights: the chief minister, his cabinet ministers, the
ministry of housing and town planning, the KDA, the KBCA, the police and
the lower judiciary.
The shehris of Karachi, spearheaded by the NGO Shehri conducted a long,
hard, difficult campaign against the blatant proliferation of illegal
constructions throughout the city. By mid-1996 their efforts culminated in
the sealing of 260 unauthorised structures in the PECHS, Garden East,
Garden West, Jamshed Quarters, Karachi Cooperative Housing Societies Union,
Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Clifton, KDA Schemes 33 and 36, and other areas of
Karachi. Shehris complaints also forced the government to suspend 29 KBCA
officers.
In November 1996, the caretaker government of Chief Minister Mumtaz Bhutto
proclaimed that Ehtesab was a priority on its agenda. But certain of its
actions were out of keeping with its proclamation. It reinstated 15
suspended KBCA officers, and served notices to the remaining 14 which would
have led to their dismissal. Come the new government of Chief Minister
Liaquat Jatoi in February 1996 and the 14 were also reinstated. Thus was
any form of Ehtesab in the KBCA negated, it apparently being accepted by
both governments that, in spite of the rampant evidence on the ground to
the contrary, the KBCA harboured no corrupt officers.
With the advent of the weak Jatoi government, the lucrative portfolio of
Housing and Town Planning (H&TP) has been given, under pressure, to an MQM
member of the fragile coalition, Wasim Akhtar, who can only act under the
direction of the committee sanctified at 90, led by Farooq Sattar. As
we all know, not one member of the committee can even sneeze without
consulting their Supremo who leads from far-off London. Minister Akhtar and
his men are seriously considering regularising all 260 illegally built
sealed structures, in total disregard of the fact that in 1994, the Sindh
Assembly passed a law banning such regularisation. The attempted
justification announced for this projected illegal action is to raise money
for the KDA that has been rendered bankrupt by corruption. What will happen
is that there will be further corruption, much money will be exchanged
under the table between corrupt officials, politicians and members of the
building mafia.
An old team of KDA/KBCA professionals are trying to jockey themselves into
positions of power. This team of tried men hopes to be in charge of
overseeing the regularisation.
However, the regularisation team has one stumbling block in their way.
The caretakers under Mumtaz Bhutto did do one right by the KBCA and
Karachi. Caretaker Maqbool Rahimtoola, in charge of H&TP, sought, found and
transferred from Hyderabad Syed Mohammed Misbah, a tested and reputably
honest individual, and installed him as Chief Controller of Buildings
(CCOB) in the KBCA.
The succeeding MQM minister tried to transfer Misbah back to Hyderabad, but
the move failed as the secretary of his ministry, Shah Mansoor Alam, backed
by Chief Secretary Saeed Mehdi, held firm. Thereafter, Minister Akhtar
sought help from Chief Minister Jatoi. Fortunately for Karachi, this was
not forthcoming and Misbah is still with us.
What to do? How to bypass Misbah or render him ineffective? A devious
scheme was, therefore, engineered whereby there would be two CCOBs, the
second to be team member Mohammed Hussain. This has not yet actually
happened, though misleading Press statements have been issued and printed
notifying the manoeuvre. MQM leader Farooq Sattar, when contacted, has
categorically stated that the party will not allow this double-dealing to
be perpetrated upon this suffering city and confirmed that certain false
statements have been insinuated by irresponsible journalists.
The caretakers also tried to do well by setting up two committees in an
effort to suitably address the citys building problems. The Oversee
Committee of 16 comprises citizens, environmental NGOs, builders,
professional architectural and engineering bodies, and related government
agencies, is to monitor the performance of the KBCA. The committee has met,
but owing to the changeover of governments and to the attempts of the KBCA
to see that it does nothing, little has so far been achieved. The second,
the Task Force on Irregular and Unlawful Construction of 10 is made up of
citizens, lawyers, KBCA and KMC officers, and representatives of the police
and administration. This Force has been successfully rendered helpless by
interested officialdom and thus could achieve nothing during its notified
term of 90 days. Its tenure has not been extended. Why?
The degradation of this city, engineered by the corrupt, continues with
rapidity. Shehri has filed many suits and petitions in our courts which are
pending, the most noteworthy relating to the following:
The government is in the process of illegally converting and selling four
large open amenity plots so far used by the Karachi Transport Corporation,
ostensibly to generate funds to pay off KTC debts. To cover the illegality
an ordinance has been promulgated. Twenty-eight citizens and Shehri have
filed a constitutional petition against this blatant disregard of public
interest.
A multi-storeyed shopping mall being built at the Do Talwar roundabout on
a residential plot. The building of this monstrosity has been challenged by
the citizens and orders on the injunction application filed are now
awaited.
Fourteen green belts and amenity plots have recently been illegally
converted and commercialized so that shops, offices and flats may be built
thereupon. Four large conversions are SNPA-32 and 82, KCHSU Blocks 7 and 8,
STH-1 Block 1 Gulshan-i-Iqbal, SB-23 Block 4-A Gulshan-i-Iqbal. The
citizens have filed petitions objecting to certain of these conversions and
Shehri, subject to the availability of funds, will file against the
remainder. Will the affluent please donate?
Glass Towers on the main Clifton Road was specifically mentioned in the
Sindh Government Dissolution Order of last November. The Jatoi government
has conceded that Abdullah Shahs government did wrong by authorizing the
construction of 19 floors and have cancelled the permission and have
restricted the builders to ground plus four. As regards the protrusion of
the building onto the roadway expansion reservation, this is being
litigated.
On the judicial side, last year a delegation from Shehri met Chief Justice
of Sindh Mamoon Kazi and apprised him of how the corrupt builders of the
city were using the lower courts as tools of illegality and obtaining
status quo orders, etc, thus preventing the authorities from demolishing or
taking action against them and allowing them with impunity to continue
their unlawful construction. They were assured that neither Shehri nor any
citizen need have any fears when cases are heard by the superior judiciary.
(The citizens indeed have no fear facing the senior experienced judges of
the Sindh High Court). The CJ instructed a member of his investigation team
to look into this matter.
Shehri has been made effective through much effort and is being ably run by
its General Secretary Amber Alibhai, with much help volunteered by Victoria
de Souza and Barrister Qazi Faez Isa. Also on a voluntary basis, all
technical advice is given by Engineer Roland de Souza and Engineer
Professor Mohammed Nauman of the NED. These two are rendering invaluable
civic service to the distressed city of Karachi and to its harassed and
troubled people. Any citizen seeking advice can telephone or fax Shehri at
4530646. What we need are volunteers of integrity and stamina to chase
government officers and to collect donations.
What we must organise is a computerised data base, a permanent staff in the
office, and the manning of the Peoples Counter at the KBCA office. Shehri
is a non-profit-making NGO, surviving on donations. We, the people, cannot
expect any help from our governments and must rise, mobilise ourselves and
fight for our rights.
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970505
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Another holiday
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Omar Kureishi
COMING in the wake of Eid holidays, four in all which included a Sunday, we
had another holiday last week. This one was for May Day which is observed
to pay homage to the Chicago workers who laid down their lives in 1886,
more than a century ago, for the cause of the working class.
Clearly the economy of the country must not be in a state of shambles, as
is the perception and clearly we are in the enviable position, not
available to even the most affluent and developed country, that we can
continue to afford shutting down the country without seemingly severe
repercussions. Are we blessed with such resources that have the magical
powers of re-generation, that are self-restorative?
May Day has lost most of its relevance except as a defining moment in the
struggle of workers against rapacious Big Business. Such a movement had an
ideological content and we lent our support to the solidarity of the
working classes. In industrialised societies, it had a certain rationale.
In mainly feudal Pakistan, the labour work-force tills the land and nobody
really gives a fig about their rights or empowers them with collective
bargaining and there is no such thing as a minimum wage for them or agreed
working hours. Perish the thought that these tillers of the soil would go
on strike!
I write this not to belittle the rights of the industrial workers but to
put May Day in its proper perspective. That is to say, does it warrant
being declared a public holiday? By ideological persuasion I have always
considered myself a non-doctrinaire social democrat. I believe that workers
have rights, that an economic system that permits the rich to get richer
and the poor to remain poor is unjust and immoral. The world has moved on
since 1886 and the robber-barons of those days who ran sweatshops and
treated their workers as chattels, the Mr Hyde face of capitalism, have
been replaced by more benign masters.
This change of heart was not voluntary. It was the organised labour
movement that brought it about. But in the process the rights of workers
were subordinated to the ambitions of the leaders of the movement.
Alongside Big Business, there emerged Big Labour and the workers were
reduced to pawns. The clarion call of workers of the world unite became a
hollow slogan.
All this too has been rendered obsolete by the new and eminently
respectable creed of privatisation. Public ownership or state-owned
enterprises has become synonymous with inefficiency and incompetance and
even countries like China do not consider market-forces to be an ill-wind.
The Labour Movement, as we knew it, is a romantic memory. Now the accent is
on efficient enterprise and if this means downsizing an organisation,
thats the way its going to be.
The move in most developed countries is to the right and even Tony Blairs
Labour Party is indistinguishable from John Majors Conservatives. Is
militant trade-unionism a thing of the past? It would be very hard to
square it with privatisation. The aim of privatisation may be greater
productivity and efficiency but its end-objective is greater profitability,
the bottomline. What it means in a nutshell is that the business of
business is business. Or put it in the colloquil, theres no such thing as
a free lunch.
My purpose, however, is not to trace the decline of the labour movement but
to make a case that we cannot in this country afford to observe so many
holidays. If it is our avowed ambition to become an Asian Tiger or a World
Tiger, we cannot do so with the existing work-ethic. We want foreign
investment and we offer our labour-force as an incentive. We need to
demonstrate that we are a hardworking people. One way to demonstrate this
would be to prune the number of holidays. It is not only that we have an
unconscionable large number of official holidays, we tend too to be
cavalier about unofficial holidays by way of calls for hartals. Not one
of these hartals or strikes has advanced the cause for which these calls
are made. All they have achieved is that they have cost the country a good
deal of money and inconvenienced a lot of people.
But hard work on its own has the ring of a slogan. The working conditions
too have to be provided. And the motivation. We need to develop a system of
reward and punishment. We should be able to provide that kind of job
satisfaction where a worker feels that he stands to benefit if he puts in
an honest dayss work. If his rewards are the same as those who are
shirkers or sluggards, then there is a problem. This may be one reason why
government employees, as an example, are not exactly renowned for being
workaholics. Guaranteed job security and governed by a system that does not
take performance into consideration in promotions, there is no incentive
for any of them to put in that extra effort, to walk that extra mile.
The ideal answer, of course, would be to privatise the bureaucracy. But
that doesnt sound practical. There is one other thought I would like to
offer if we want to make up the lost working hours because of holidays. We
could agree to work on the weekly holiday as a sort make-good. There are
certain holidays that are justified, religious and national days. All
others seem to me to be luxuries which we simply cannot afford. Add to
these power failures and water shortages and a general decaying
infrastructure and we will find that we have a long way to go before we can
aspire to become a prosperous nation. There are other obstacles but our
preference for days-off as against days-on will even stand in our way even
of some sort of economic recovery.
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970510
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Lust for land
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Mazdak
THERE are times when I am convinced that the entire nation has been gripped
by some terrible, unreasoning and insatiable craving for land.
Qabza groups go around, terrorizing old ladies into vacating their houses;
con artists extract money from gullible pensioners for housing societies
that exist only on paper; property sharks flout construction laws to
squeeze every last inch of saleable or rentable space out of their hideous
highrises; bureaucrats lie shamelessly to get plots in every government
housing scheme; and politicians break every law to grab land wherever they
can.
So far, it appeared that only university professors had stayed out of this
sordid national land grab. No more, alas. Ever since the scandal
surrounding the attempt to carve up Islamabads Quaid-i-Azam University
land surfaced over a year ago, we have watched, with horror and sadness,
the spectacle of respected teachers trying to feed at the same trough with
the previous governments MNAs. Indeed, so far has the rot set in that for
the last week, QAUs staff has been on strike, demanding that this
government withdraw its orders cancelling the allotments. One can only
shake ones head in amazement at the depths to which we have descended as a
society.
The whole sorry saga began in 1995 when the PPP government decided to curry
favour with the MNAs by allotting them prime university land. As a
sweetener, the staff were included in the scam, and reports have it that
some of them immediately flogged their allotment letters to politicians who
hadnt been doled out plots in the controversial scheme. Those who sold out
early were the lucky ones because almost immediately after the story broke
in the national Press, there was a firestorm of protest. To his credit,
Nawaz Sharif, then leader of the opposition, instructed his party members
to return their plots, and he has consistently stuck to this position by
reiterating the decision taken by the caretaker government to cancel the
whole scheme. But even some well-meaning people, my friend Ayaz Amir among
them, took the position that the university staff deserved to have their
own plots when almost everybody was a member of some housing scheme or
other. However, the point they missed was that QAU had a limited amount of
land that was originally allocated to it 30 years ago for developing
research, teaching and recreation facilities. If each generation of staff
members to say nothing of successive crops of MPs were going to grab a
piece of university land, very soon there would be none left for expansion
and development.
By all means let CDA make a tract available to QAU staff for a housing
society along the lines of hundreds of similar schemes all over the
country. In fact, I understand that land in G-13 has been earmarked for
this purpose. This needs to be expedited to sate the terrible land hunger
that has gripped these professors to such an extent that they are said to
be flouting a stay order issued by the Lahore High Court, a clear directive
from the chancellor, President Farooq Leghari, to cease and desist, and a
sharp prime ministerial reprimand.
Finally, CDA put a stop to clearing and levelling work but adamantly, the
staff union has gone on indefinite strike in a move to pressure the
government into restoring the plots they had grabbed. There is a danger
that in order to avoid further loss of teaching time, the government may
cave in. This would be a big mistake because once such a dangerous
precedent is established, there is no telling where it will stop. Perhaps
the staff at the presidency will demand a part of the presidencys lawn to
be earmarked for a housing scheme of their own; or the workers at Lahore
Zoo will carve up the gardens and displace the animals.
In every saga, there are heroes and villains. Dr Pervez Hoodhboy, brilliant
nuclear physicist, maverick activist and a professor of physics at the QAU,
has fought a virtually single-handed battle to keep the university free of
encroachers. For his pains he has been threatened, his house has been
stoned, and he was placed on the Exist Control List. Helped by a handful of
colleagues and off-campus supporters, he has lobbied hard and successfully
to block this project, earning the hatred of his fellow-teachers.
In order to prevent this kind of attempted land grab from being tried
again, the government needs to consider enacting a law aimed at blocking
the conversion of land allotted to a teaching or research institution into
private use of any kind. The urgency for this kind of legislation will
mount as population grows inexorably, especially in our overcrowded cities,
and the hunger for land gnaws at the conscience of even the most upright of
people.
What moves seemingly decent people to such extremes of desperation to
acquire property? After all, here is the cream of our intelligentsia taking
to the streets in an effort to obtain some prime land by hook or by crook.
Granted that the temptation is substantial: word is that for the limited
time that some deals were done, the going rate for a kanal (or 500 square
yards) was in the region of four million rupees. How else could an
underpaid university teacher hope to get this kind of money? But the point
is that a lecturer knows how much he is going to be making when he enters
the profession.
Although this is an extreme case of the illness, hardly anybody in Pakistan
is immune. At parties across the land, the talk is of how much land prices
have risen or fallen. (Seldom the latter, actually). Newspapers are full of
reports about illegal highrises, failed housing schemes, irregular
allotment of plots, and endless litigation to either pull off or fight off
a land grab. Such limitless greed can only be ascribed to a growing
tendency to grab what one can, but even this facile explanation cannot get
to the bottom of what is happening at the QAU for here, reason and logic
fail.
It would appear that in the Land of the Pure, the impure are grabbing all
the corner plots.
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970508
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A new concern for human rights
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Rifaat Hamid Ghani
HUMAN rights and political suppression the awareness of the one creates
the awareness of the other. A juxtaposition seems inevitable. Our
government just passed a bill that provides for conferring decorations and
awards on those who have rendered outstanding service in the fields of
public welfare and human rights. Should one laugh or cry? It is as if it
seeks to absolve itself by conferring blessings on others.
A government or a society that could hold its head high in that context,
would be considered qualified to make such judgements and awards; it ought
to be comparatively free of such evils that call for crusading activists in
human rights. Or is that not quite true? Should America that gave Martin
Luther King his cause have its credentials questioned when honouring him?
Mandela could well create a personal award, as an inveterate fighter for,
and defender of human rights. South Africa that epitomised the outrage of
apartheid is a symbol of the whole battle for human rights. And yet, in the
new republic there, the activists against apartheid themselves seek amnesty
before the Truth Commission.
Having passed through a baptism of fire, a state or its representatives can
perhaps confer honours redolent of an assumed right to moral judgment
without seeming presumptuous. Ms Benazir Bhutto who came to power in 1988
after years of political victimisation at the hands of a military dictator
could offer such honours and be applauded. But a Benazir-led government
that devised such an award would be as unconvincing today as Mr Nawaz
Sharif's seems. For what have governments in Pakistan done except provide
fuel for the flames that kindle the struggle. To put it diplomatically, a
government here has yet to be accredited to the cause. But it is reassuring
that the language of human rights is kept current.
Maulana Edhi, that great philanthropist and essentially non-controversial
humanitarian, had left the country at one point. Even if he were offered
the new honour, he would probably decline it politely: for men like him
decorations are merely ornamental. Would Asma Jehangir receive an award
from President Leghari with greater equanimity than from, say, his
predecessor? Is it more comforting to have the stamp of approval from
Benazir or Nawaz?
Such awards are best devised within the context of the Nisar Osmani Award
for courage in journalism, for whatever may be said about the Press and its
shortcomings, the PFUJ was a beacon when no other was in sight. Even the
HRCP was not in existence then: it evolved as part of a worldwide movement
and in easier times when even the dictatorially inclined would feel the
need to pay at least lip-service to human rights, civil liberties and the
like. The Commission does admirable work today in pleading cases and
building up a supportive network of national and international public
awareness. But alas the day is still distant when human rights activists
can turn to a government of the day for support.
And yet, it is quite possible to contemplate an Akhter Hameed Khan or
Adeebul Hassan Rizvi being fittingly honoured - without bringing in the
prickly question of whether the giver truly believes in what the recipient
stands for. That kind of humanitarianism is transcendental. However, when
we honour those fighting against the negation of civil liberties or
political oppression, it is harder to dissociate ourselves from the
question of how, why and by whom.
The government would be rendering more practical service to human rights if
it showed courage to tackle discriminatory laws against the minorities and
dealt with the incongruities in the Hadood Ordinances which are patently
unfair to women.
===================================================================
S P O R T S
===================================================================
970505
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Indian tour a real ordeal for cricket team
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Lateef Jafri
THE cricket selectors, faced with the ticklish job of naming a national
squad when many top-line players are either injured, unfit or have to
fulfil their engagements with the English counties, have announced a squad
for the Indian quadrangular named as the Independence Cup.
The selectorial panel could not but have made a search for the touring lot
from amongst the available resources. Even if one finds that Aqib Javeds
energetic capacities as a seamer have not been ignored and he has been
brought into the conglomerate, certainly the absence of Wasim Akram and
Waqar Younis will be severely felt for replacements of the stature of the
two Ws have yet to be found.
In the spinning department Saqlain Mushtaq may fearfully be tired out for
his combination with Mushtaq Ahmad has been separated, the latter
reportedly having knee trouble and has but to play for English county
Somerset.
Bowling was supposed to be the main weapon of Pakistan in any global or
regional competition. With its depleted strength it is to be seen how the
country fares against Sri Lanka, day by day getting more powerful and
resilient, India on their own soil and New Zealand, conquerors over the
Lankan outfit in a recent Test series. One can only expect Abdul Razzaq,
Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Hussain to prove their utility against the three
rival combinations at different settings and different wickets in India.
After a far from satisfying trip to the pearl island and not much rest the
national squad may find the Indian tour, with long journeys to various
venues, a rather arduous one.
Many followers of the game are critical of giving the helmsmanship of the
team to Rameez Raja when it was entirely due to the austere and watchful
155 of Salim Malik that Pakistan was saved from a rout in the second Test.
Rameezs contribution was a nought when Pakistan needed a responsible and
pugnacious innings from the captain. His field placings and bowling changes
too were questionable. Why the preference of Rameez over Salim Malik, ask
the fans of the game?
The return to competitive cricket of the brisk and nimble stroke-maker,
Saeed Anwer, and his selection to the squad for India cannot but be
welcomed. Alas! one felt he would have accompanied his opening partner in
so many bold and amazing innings, Aamir Sohail. But regretfully the latter
has to go through the travails of a two-year ban. Saeed Anwer is just back
from ailment. He has not played any cricket at home since last November.
One hopes he does justice to his responsible assignment for an early
breakthrough will considerably harm Pakistans batting.
The omission of Asif Mujtaba, a useful all-rounder, is surprising. His
performance in Sri Lanka had not been far from impressive. Besides, in the
SAARC gold cup he won appreciation for his outstanding show.
The three competing teams in the Independence Cup viz Pakistan, India and
Sri Lanka have more or less wearied themselves out with the first mentioned
having a disappointment in the Sharjah Cup, which was lifted quite
deservingly and with better cricket by the islanders. It is to be seen if
the Pakistan side can yet exhibit a gutsy performance and have not been
depressed by the Emirate setback.
Chasing 426 with two wickets gone for 28 Pakistan had very little chance to
play out a full day. However, with the initial support of Ijaz Ahmad, who
curbed his impetuosity, and latterly in combination with Inzamam, Salim
Malik rose to the occasion to play a splendid innings of 155 which turned
out to be match-saving for Pakistan as at stumps on the last day they were
285 for five.
For Pakistan Saqlain Mushtaq once again confirmed his growing stature as a
shrewd off-spinner. In the absence of the famed Ws Saqlain bowled
devotedly, deceiving the batsmen with flight and turn. His 15 wickets in
the short two-Test series was a fine return when one finds that the Sri
Lankan batsmen were usually in command.
The series was especially successful for the experienced Lankan willow-
wielder, Aravinda de Silva, whose sound and organised batting yielded him
three centuries, two in each innings in the second Test at the Singhalese
Sports Club. His 437 runs in four knocks had a Bradmanesque average of
218.50.
Some of the umpiring decisions and referee John Reids verdicts were
questionable, especially the fine imposed on Ijaz. It was reported that the
latter used foul language against Sri Lankan captain Ranatunga on the
field. No written complaint was made by the island captain and yet the
punishment was announced. Besides, during the hearing the Chief Executive
of the Lanka board, elder brother of Arjuna, was also invited to the
discussion. Ijaz had denied the accusation.
For naming the team to Sri Lanka the selectors did not take care to form a
100 per cent physically fit squad. It is incomprehensible why time and
again players with suspect fitness were inducted into the national outfit
to lock horns with a combination which thrice pinned down the Pakistani
side in the Sharjah Cup encounters. Besides, the island squad had earned
the reputation of gallant warriors after their merited triumph in the sixth
World Cup.
>From day one of the teams arrival in Colombo Wasim Akram, the captain
complained of shoulder injury. He watched the opening two-day game from the
pavilion. Waqar Younis, the other fearful and antagonistic pacer, reported
unfit just on the eve of the first Test, his left foot giving trouble. The
ordeal in the five-day match was certainly beyond and above the two young
under-studies viz. Mohammad Zahid and Shahid Nazir, sent with the side as
extra seamers. Then as the two youngsters had concealed their pain and
injury and as if fate had designed to give a punishment to the selectors
both went out of commission on the third day of the second Test. It was a
lame-duck attack with Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmad, having little
pretensions to seam bowling, had to be given the responsibility of trying
their hands at the new ball. The bowling proved ineffective. The spinners
had to operate on and on. Were they also to go unfit? What was the
procedure of selection? Were the players with physical incapacity to be
risked to figure in international duels? Unfit players are sidelined as Sri
Lanka did by resting their key bowler, Muthiah Muralitharan, in the second
Test but he will be fighting fit for their next fixtures in India.
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970505
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A fit case for national games postponement
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A. Majid Khan
Since the eighth South Asian Federations (SAF) Games, scheduled in
Kathmandu in September this year, have been postponed to next year,
possibly before May, the holding of the 26th National Games in Karachis
hot, humid and oppressive month of June also needs shifting to November or
December, more conducive and suitable for the games.
The postponement of the Kathmandu event though in the air for sometime was
confirmed by the Pakistan Olympic Associations Secretary Latif Butt on
April 28.
The holding of the 26th National Games was linked with SAF Games as the
POA, it is said, insisted on holding the games at least three months before
the Kathmandu event as the national federations needed time for teams
preparations.
The SAF Games, according to announcement, have been shifted because infra-
structure for the 12-discipline Kathmandu event would be completed within a
years time. It is the second time that Kathmandu would be staging the SAF
Games.
The 26th National Games Organising Committee, having very short time at its
disposal, is endeavouring hard to overcome the June challenge by meeting
rupees one crore and 20 lakhs expenditure as well as for holding all the
disciplines at various centres of the city. Hardly five weeks are left for
the five-day National Games, scheduled to commence from June 8-12.
The organising committee seems to have followed the dictates of the POA for
the timing of National Games because of as the month of June suits the POA
Vips and the participating national federation boses. It is another thing
that the greatest sufferers would be the men and women sweating out in the
21 disciplines.
The National Games should have been staged last year but were delayed
because the POA did not resolve the Sindh Olympics Associations six-year
old dispute. Luckily it was the turn of Karachi that made the POA to act
and resolve the SOA dispute otherwise it might have remained unsolved. Not
only that the POA allotted the National Games to the provincial government
for the first time in Pakistan Olympics history as all the national games
in the past had always been allotted to the provincial Olympics
associations. Moreover the newly elected body of the SOA was further
deprived of its right for organising the National Games when an organising
committee was formed hardly a week before the SOA elections.
The putting off the 26th National Games is the need of the hour and the
organising committee chairman Dr Farooq Sattar, Senior Sindh Minister for
Local Bodies and Kachchi Abadi, now can take up the issue with the
authorities both in the interest of Karachi and Sindh in the wake of
shifting the Kathmandu SAF Games to next year.
The POA might come out with the plea that since the 1998 National Games, by
rotation, are to be held next year in Peshawar, the Karachi National Games
should be held in June 1. This contention, if taken by the POA, has no
logic as the 26th National Games are to be postponed only for four months.
It is also not necessary to hold the National Games before the SAF Games as
on several occasions the National Games had been organised with no link
either with the Olympics, Asian, Commonwealth and the SAF Games.
Next year the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games besides the postponed
SAF Games, are to be held and Pakistan would be competing in these games.
Let the POA workout its plan and policy for allotting the 1998 National
Games to NWFP Olympic Association with the consent of the provincial
Olympic body and avoid dictating terms because it is the organisers who
spent huge amount of money on the National Games.
Moreover the 26th National Organising Committee seems to have ignored the
advice of its chairman Dr Farooq Sattar when he specifically said that due
to the financial crunch the expenditure on officials should be curtailed.
According to an announcement made recently by the organising committee over
800 officials, including the POA top brass, Federations high officials,
technical and other delegates would be in the city for the games when the
number of the men competitors would be 1544 and women, 228. It means lakhs
of money would be spent on the officials, when their number can easily be
reduced to 200 as Sindh in its fold have capable technical men to organise
every discipline.
It is also a record that a good number of National Sports Federations,
affiliated with the POA, also hold their national championships during the
National Games at the expense of the hosts. It seems to be totally wrong as
national championship cannot be part of the National Games but the POA
remains silent on the issue. If any national federation cannot hold its
annual national championship regularly the POA should take notice of it and
ensure that such federations fulfil their constitutional commitments.
The POA has to announce its policy decision on this and the 26th National
Organising Committee should also take up this vital issue with the POA
authorities. The wrong that had been done in the previous National Games
should be rectified.
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970510
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Council to decide Aamirs fate on Wednesday
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sports Reporter
KARACHI, May 9: The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Syed
Zulfiqar Ali Shah Bokhari, has summoned a special meeting of the Executive
Council on Wednesday (May 14) to consider the appeal submitted by Aamir
Sohail against a two-year ban imposed on him last month.
The Press statement stated the PCB Chairman, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah
Bokhari, exercised his prerogative under article 9 of PCB Constitution to
convene the meeting at a shorter notice.
It is being anticipated that the Executive Council may reverse its decision
of endorsing the Disciplinary Committees decision of two-year ban on Aamir
Sohail for making betting and match-fixing allegations against some of his
team-mates.
The Aamir Sohail episode has reached this sensitive stage purely due to the
interest taken and intervention made by the government through Mr Mushahid
Husain, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Sports, who Sunday last had
submitted a compromise formula, also agreed by the PCB Chairman.
On the basis of that formula, Aamir Sohail on Wednesday filed a petition in
which he appealed to the Executive Council to reverse its earlier decision
so that he could resume his career as a professional cricketer.
It may be mentioned here that the PCB Chairman had promised Mr Mushahid
Husain that if Aamir Sohail filed an appeal, the PCB Executive Council, the
higher body of the cricket board, in return, would lift the ban.
According to the PCB Constitution, any decision earlier endorsed by the
Executive Council, can only be reversed by the same Executive Council. The
PCB Chairman has made it clear that since the punishment had been ratified
by the PCB Council, therefore, neither the Chairman nor the Executive
Council had the authority to exonerate Aamir Sohail, the PCB Press release
added.
It is difficult to gauge the attitude of the Disciplinary Committee members
who are likely to watch helplessly their decision get overturned by the
Council. Cricket history doesnt show any major decision taken by the
Disciplinary Committee without the support of the Executive Council.
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970505
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Centuries in both the innings of a Test
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mohammad Shoaib Ahmed
Sri Lankas Aravinda de Silva wrote his name into the record books with the
second century of the match in the Second and final match at Colombo April
29, 1997. He becomes the 39th player to perform the feat on the 44th
occasion the third Sri Lankan to do so. Graham Gooch is the only batsman,
in Test history to score a triple-hundred and a century in the same Test
against India at Lords in 1990. Four others have a double-hundred and a
century in the same Test to their credit. Greg Chappell, Sunil Gavaskar,
Lawrence Rowe and Doug Walters.
Graham Goochs aggregate of 456 runs (333 plus 123) is a world record in
Test cricket, outstripping by a long way the two previous records for the
highest aggregate by a batsman in a Test, Greg Chappells 380 (247 plus
133) Aus v NZ (Wellington 73-74) and Andy Sandhams 375 (325 plus 50) Eng v
WI (Kingston 29-30). Sunil Gavaskar holds the record for registering
separate hundreds in the same Test on as many as three occasions, whilst
Englands Herbert Sutcliffe, Australias Greg Chappell and Allan Border,
West Indies George Headley and Clyde Walcott have each done it twice.
The West Indian Lawrence Rowe is the only one to perform this twin century
feat on his Test debut. The Aussie Allan Border is the only one to register
150-plus in both innings. The Sri Lankan Duleep Mendis is the only one to
hit exactly the same scores in each innings. Two Aussies brothers, Ian and
Greg Chappell, created a unique and hitherto unprecedented record of both
hitting two separate tons in each innings of the same Test.
When Aravinda de Silva played two marvellous innings, both unbeaten and
both top scoring knocks for Sri Lanka in each innings of the Second Test at
Colombo (SSC), he got his name inscribed in the record-books on many
counts.
Hereunder the complete list of these 44 instances, arranged in the
chronological order and in terms of countrywide grouping.
Dawn page