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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 16 January 1997 Issue : 03/03
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===================================================================
SC rejects Benazir's request for full court
SC upholds Eighth Amendment
President seeking army help, SC told
Edhi not happy over decline in donations
CDNS to formalise president's role: Shahid
Govt authority to set up CDNS questioned
CDNS challenged in LHC
PPP wants Leghari's accountability
SC decides to merge pleas on NA dissolution
SC begins hearing in contempt case
Assurance by PM to IMF: SC to issue notice to AG
Murder case registered in gas disaster
LHC vacates stay order against promotions
Wounded were told by police to stay put
Spot memo was not prepared on the spot
Blood samples were sent to lab on Oct. 21, IO testifies
---------------------------------
IMF to release $80m before 18th
US firm gets PTC satellite contract
Phone exchange makers hit hard by smuggling
Concern over foreign firms' monopoly on air cargo
Energy prices raised to boost official revenues
Heavy discounting in money market
KSE index breaches 1,400 points psychological barrier
---------------------------------------
Ehtesab or Intekhab? 5 Ardeshir Cowasjee
The anatomy of violence Editorial Column
Smuggling of human beings Omar Kureishi
CDNS: a supra-cabinet Abbas Rashid
-----------
Pakistan's 8-wicket victory over West Indies
Jansher slams Olympic failure of 'white officials'
Jansher raps PSA's 1-month ban on him
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970114
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SC rejects Benazir's request for full court
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: The Supreme Court refused former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto's request to form a full court to hear her petition
against the dissolution of the assembly or expunge insinuations
made by President Farooq Leghari against Ms Bhutto from his reply
filed in the court.
"This (court) forum has been used (by the president) to slander
me," Bhutto's attorney Aitzaz Ahsan told the seven-member bench
when it resumed the hearing of Bhutto's petition after two months
of its filing.
Strongly agitating against the language used by President Leghari
against Ms Bhutto, Aitzaz said while the apex court had expunged
all innocuous parts of Bhutto's petition, it took no notice of the
"indecent" language used by the president in his reply. He also
pleaded the court to form a full court to hear Benazir Bhutto's
petition as had been the past practise. He said from Maulvi
Tamizuddin to Mian Nawaz Sharif case all politically important
cases had been heard by full courts. But the Chief Justice did not
agree to form a full court saying it would affect other litigants.
Aitzaz Ahsan told the court that the case was being taken up
exactly two months after it was filed on November 13. On the
contrary, he said, Nawaz Sharif case was decided in 37 days. He
mentioned that cases having political implications like the
Political Parties Act case, Election Symbol case or the case
involving the question of identity card for elections were all
heard by full courts. Similarly, he added, Dosso, Asma Jilani,
Nusrat Bhutto, Haji Saifullah, Khawaja Tariq Rahim and Mian Nawaz
Sharif cases were all heard by full courts.
Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah said it was his prerogative to decide
about the size of the bench. He asked Aitzaz Ahsan to make a
written request to the court for formation of a full court. "Your
request can be accepted or rejected," the Chief Justice said adding
that he had also to look after the administration of the entire
court.
Aitzaz said the formation of a full court was necessary because
firstly there was very limited time to decide the issue and
secondly the other side might seek review of the judgements passed
earlier by the full courts in Nawaz Sharif or any other case.
He said from the position taken by his rival Khalid Anwar,
advocate, it appears that the other side would seek a review of the
earlier decision. "Today a full court should sit and decided the
issue once and for all," he said.
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970113
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SC upholds Eighth Amendment
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: The Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment
was a valid part of the Constitution and Article 58(2)b, giving
power to the president to dissolve the National Assembly, was a
deterrent to the imposition of martial law in the country.
The seven-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief
Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, dismissed the petitions of Mehmood Khan
Achakzai and of five others challenging the validity of the Eighth
Amendment.
The Eighth Amendment was challenged on the ground that the National
Assembly, which had passed it under coercion, was in fact not a
valid amendment. The court was asked to strike down the amendment
on the basis of Nusrat Bhutto case in which the Supreme Court had
authorised the chief martial law administrator to make laws to the
extent of making arrangements for holding elections.
In its short order, the court held that "what it is the basic
structure of the Constitution is a question of academic nature
which cannot be answered authoritatively with a touch of finality
but it can be said that the prominent characteristics of the
Constitution are amply reflected in the Objectives Resolution which
is now a substantive part of the Constitution as Article 2-A
inserted by the 8th Amendment.
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970115
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President seeking army help, SC told
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said on Tuesday President
Farooq Leghari had been isolated after the dissolution of the
National Assembly and that the formation of the Council for Defence
and National Security was aimed at seeking army's support for
himself.
Mr Ahsan, who is representing Benazir Bhutto in the Supreme Court,
made these observations on the second day of hearing of her
petition challenging the dissolution of the assembly.
The court heard Mr Ahsan only for 95 minutes as earlier the chief
justice had called him and Khalid Anwar and the attorney- general
to his chamber to discuss the "procedure" for carrying out the
hearing.
Mr Ahsan told the bench that Article 58(2)b could only be invoked
in a situation similar to the 1977 scenario. He read out a
paragraph from the Supreme Court judgment in the Nusrat Bhutto
case, in which it was stated that the situation in 1977 had gone
out of control to such an extent that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had to
seek army's support and the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Committee, and all the three services chiefs had to issue
statements to show their loyalty to the elected government
"This could be equated to a similar situation prevailing today when
the President is isolated and has to use the Council for Defence
and National Security as crutches," Mr Ahsan said. He said Article
58(2)b had been included in the Constitution only to avert a
situation similar to that in 1977. He also quoted the National
Assembly proceedings at the time of the passage of this article, to
establish his point.
Mr Ahsan said that even a full Supreme Court, in the Haji Saifullah
case had taken note of the speeches made in the National Assembly
and declared that the intention was to exercise this power only
when the government machinery broke down completely.
Mr Ahsan said that on the contrary, there was no deadlock or
stalemate and neither there was a 1977-like situation in the
country when the president dissolved the assembly." On the
contrary, we had called back the army from Karachi," he asserted.
He said one or two judgements of the court against the government
were not enough to dismiss the government.
The chief justice asked him whether it could be said that the
president could dissolve the assembly after making an objective
assessment of the entire situation and that assessment could then
come under judicial scrutiny.
Mr Ahsan said this power, according to the former law minister's
statement in the National Assembly at the time of the passage of
Article 58(2)b, could only be exercised in a situation similar to
that in 1977.
"You can say that since this article was not available , the
Supreme Court had legitimised the martial law," the chief Justice
said.
Mr Ahsan said: "In the Saifullah case, the Supreme Court had held
that this power could be invoked only in a situation similar to
that in 1977. So we have to see what kind of situation was
prevailing at that time i.e. in 1977." He recalled that at that
time disturbances were beyond the control of the authorities; there
were allegations of large-scale rigging; educational institutions
and government offices had been closed and though many cities had
been placed under martial law, the insurgency continued. He said:
"In this situation the government machinery cannot run in
accordance with the Constitution; whereas in our case, we had
called back the army from Karachi." He said that in the Saifullah
case the court had said that the power to dissolve the assembly
could be exercised only when there was a civil war.
Earlier, Mr Ahsan gave arguments for impleading the president and
said the immunity granted to him by the Constitution was not
applicable to this case. He said Khalid Anwar had taken a position
that the president could not be impleaded in the case whereas the
president was a party to the Nawaz Sharif case.
Mr Anwar, replying to this point, informed the court that he had
requested it to implead the president during the hearing of Nawaz
Sharif case but the court had said the question of merit and
maintainability would be discussed together.
Earlier, when the court resumed hearing, the petitioner's counsel
also opposed the request of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement for making
it a party to the case.
Since MQM's counsel Farooq Hasan was not present in the court, the
matter was deferred.
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970115
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Edhi not happy over decline in donations
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Nafisa Hoodbhoy
KARACHI, Jan 14: The onset of the holy month of Ramazan has become
a test of popularity for veteran social worker Abdus Sattar Edhi
whose Edhi Trust suffered a decline of 40 percent in donations last
Ramazan and whose daily receipts have fallen in the same proportion
over the last couple of years.
Mr Edhi told Dawn that although cheques for Zakat, clothes and
rations had begun to arrive at his head office in Mithadar since
Ramazan began on Jan 11, by the 20th of Ramazan he would have a
better idea whether donations fetched during the holy month would
match up to the funds normally brought in each Ramazan.
Interviewed at his humble Mithadar office, Mr Edhi related that
last Ramazan the contributions to the Edhi Trust fell from Rs 40
million to 25 million - with his charitable organisation still not
recovered from the set-back. This year, he assessed the situation
to have become bad enough to defer the payment of staff salaries
till after Ramazan. However, apart from Ramazan, Mr Edhi has
suffered loss of 'khairat' (charity) normally given by the middle
class and business class, with donations falling from an average
daily of Rs 700,000 to Rs 400,000. The sharp decline in donations
coupled with the severe fall in the value of the rupee has,
according to him, forced him to cut down his network of social
services across the country.
The experienced social worker said there was a "very small class"
that donates to the Edhi Trust. With everything so expensive, they
too had been holding back on donations.
Mr Edhi traced the downslide for his Trust as beginning in January
1995 when he returned from a month-long exile in London, undertaken
to escape the pressure groups who had been bent on overthrowing the
government. He had secretly left on Dec. 8, 1994 to escape the
groups (amongst whose leaders he had named Imran Khan and Maulana
Israr Ahmed), to prevent them from using him to topple the
government.
The veteran social worker said that since the PPP government had
been in power at that stage, his departure had created the wrong
impression that he was a supporter of the PPP. This was despite his
categorical assertion that "I am not a politician". Mr Edhi
declared that he had temporarily fled because he could never
collaborate with the vested interests who were dividing people on
the basis of being Sindhi, Baloch, Mohajir and Pakhtun. During the
ethnic riots, he stressed, his ambulances had been picking up
bodies regardless of ethnicity. Despite this, he alleged that
"narrow-minded people had been spreading the poison of ethnic
differences".
He was also critical of the Jamaat-i-Islami, claiming that the
latter was intent on "bringing the nation to the brink of
disaster". For him, "The only religion I know is that of serving
humanity".
Two years from Edhi's self-exile, the Edhi Trust is in the throes
of a financial set-back, Edhi claiming he is being "punished for
speaking out". He regretted that on its 50th anniversary this
year, Pakistan was still far from its goal of achieving unity and
the mission elaborated by the Quaid-i-Azam for a comprehensive
social welfare system.
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970110
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CDNS to formalise president's role: Shahid
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: Defence Minister Shahid Hamid said that the
Council for Defence and National Security (CDNS) has been
constituted to formalise the role of the president in the affairs
of state.
Explaining the reasons for the formation of the CDNS, he said the
Council would formalise the working arrangement between the
president and the prime minister and other senior state
functionaries.
"This is the fact of life known to all that the president has
informally been participating in the matters about Kashmir,
national security, intelligence agencies, sensitive and vital
economic issues." he said. The "informal arrangement" that were
there during the last ten years did not work and created
"misunderstandings, friction's and disagreements," he added.
The Council, he said would bring together on regular basis the
president, the prime minister, the senior ministers and the senior
most commanders of the armed forces to thrash out views on the
matters relating to national security, develop a consensus and
tender advise to the sitting government.
Asserting the role of the president, he quoted a recent judgment of
the SC in the appointment of judges case. The court, he said had
observed that after the 8th Amendment the basic character of the
Constitution had been changed.
"The basic character of the Constitution is now a mix. It is not
presidential, it was never meant to be. It is not totally
parliamentary, as it was intended," he cited from the judgment. e
further said that it was essential for the parliamentary system and
political stability that both the prime minister and president
should work in tandem.
The Council would ensure the protection and the continuation of the
steps taken by the caretaker government to arrest the economic
decline and to set the country on the road to economic recovery, he
added.
Brushing aside the criticism that the Council would involve the
armed forces in the politics, he said they were neutral. However,
he said that they were rightly concerned about the economic health
of the country as they consume 26 percent of the budget and 6
percent of the GDP.
He also rejected the views that the CDNS was a supra-
constitutional body. He said it has been formed under articles 90
and 99 of the Constitution which empower the president to lay the
rules of business for the running of the Federation.
Mr. Hamid refuted reports that the caretaker cabinet was divided
over the issue of formation of the Council. "Not a single
dissenting voice was heard," he said adding that the proposal was
approved with absolute consensus. He repeatedly said that the
Council has no executive role and it was only an advisory body.
Replying to a question, he said Defence Committee of the Cabinet
would continue to function.
Regarding a question about the defence budget, he said the present
government was not considering any cut in the defence budget given
the 'current security threat.'
About the recent meeting of the CDNS, he said it did not consider
any proposal with regard to the postponement of the election or
imposing financial emergency in the country.
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970112
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Govt authority to set up CDNS questioned
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Correspondent
HYDERABAD, Jan 11: The Director of Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan (HRCP) I.A. Rehman has severely criticised the
constitution of the Council for Defence and National Security
(CDNS) and said that the caretaker government under no
circumstances had the right to set up such a body.
Mr Rehman was of the opinion that even the elected government had
no right to impose non-elected people over the elected
institutions. He said previously even the price of a post card
could not be increased without the approval of the parliament but
now the tariff of gas, electricity and petrol had been increased
without the sanction of parliament.
The HRCP director said "The real fight is over the distribution of
the looted wealth of the country while no one is interested in the
welfare of the people," he observed.
Defending the role of the genuine non-governmental organisations,
he said the NGOs were not at all interested in taking over the
responsibilities of the government. In spite of the fact that HRCP
was a non-political organisation, yet it was doing its best to
ameliorate the lot of the people as best as it could, he remarked.
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970113
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CDNS challenged in LHC
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LAHORE, Jan 12: A division bench of the Lahore High Court
comprising LHC chief justice has issued notice to the State for Jan
15 on a constitutional petition challenging the formation of
Council for Defence and National Security (CDNS).
The petition filed by Tanveer Ahmad Qureshi, advocate, prayed the
court to declare the setting up of the CDNS as unconstitutional. He
submitted that the president by setting up the CDNS has "destroyed
the basic structure of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan".
The petitioner submitted that the president had no authority under
the law to legislate any other act or pass an order in the absence
of permanent Parliament.
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970112
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PPP wants Leghari's accountability
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 11: Claiming it to be a bid to obtain a litmus test of
the newly formed Council for Defence and National Security two PPP
Senators from Sindh have written to one of its member, Chairman,
Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), to prevail upon the
President to submit himself for accountability.
The text of the letter, addressed to Air Marshall Farooq Feroz Khan
by Senators Taj Haider and Imdad Awan, was released by Bilawal
House.
Recalling official claims that the CDNS also wanted accountability,
the PPP Senators wanted the President to face accountability in
respect of written-off loans in D. G. Khan Woollen Textile Mills,
loans to defaulters Jaffer Leghari (President's cousin) and Jamal
Leghari( his son) on November 7, 1996, two days after the National
Assembly dissolution.
Senators Haider and Awan claim these loans were advanced under
Prudential regulations in violation of the PDF government's
directive not to give funds to defaulters. They also want the
President to face accountability for alleged abuse of power in
getting back 35,000 acres of family land surrendered in land
reforms of the 1970s, spending Rs 220 million (22 crore) from
contingency funds in six months, for the alleged role of his
brother-in-law, Zubair, in trying to sell BCCI Pak (now part of
Habib Bank) to a Gulf group in which he is a partner.
The Senators also want the President to face the process for his
alleged role in trying to influence the sale of UBL to Basharahill,
misuse of Rs 6.5 million on his house at Choti from official funds
and misuse of official fuel to the tune of Rs 2.5M -3m per shikar
(sports hunting) undertaken by the President.
In their letter the PPP Senators have stated that as long as
President Leghari is in the office "it is impossible that there
will be any free, fair and impartial elections in February." They
alleged that everyday the President's and the caretaker Prime
Minister's campaign against the PPP and their statements were full
of false and malicious criticism of the party and the government
which they conspired to overthrow. "This propaganda against one
particular party does not serve the cause of free, fair and
impartial elections and the President' and the Prime Minister's
bias and prejudice is more than obvious," said the PPP Senators.
In this context, they recalled the statements of the caretaker
Prime Minister in which "he has falsely alleged that a phone call
was made to the IMF in Washington, requesting the Agency not to
release the next tranche of funds to Pakistan."
In this context, they also referred to the caretaker Prime
Minister's reported statement that his finance adviser had made
such an assurance to the IMF that the PDF government would not be
restored.
Despite the PPP's claim, the adviser on finance to the caretaker
Prime Minister has denied he ever made such a commitment.
The letter, copy of which has also been marked to the Chief
Election Commissioner, chief Justices of the high courts of Punjab,
Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan, COAS, CNS and CAS, the PPP Senators
have also taken exception to the alleged character assassination on
the official media in violation of the ruling of the superior
courts.
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970112
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SC decides to merge pleas on NA dissolution
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 11: The Supreme Court announced to club the three
petitions challenging the dissolution of the National Assembly by
the president on November 5,1996, and held that the question of
maintainability and merits of these petitions would be decided
together.
In all the three petitions the question of maintainability and
merits would be decided together as was decided in Mian Nawaz
Sharif case in 1993 by the Supreme Court.
The court gave three reasons for clubbing the petitions of Speaker
Yousaf Raza Gilani, deposed prime minister Ms Benazir Bhutto and
Mehmood Khan Achakzai. The reasons are :
"Firstly, that the main order impugned in all these three
petitions, i.e.C.P.59/96, C.P 59/96 and C.P 60/96 is the order of
dissolution dated 5.11.1996 which is very important and
adjudication of which would decide the fate of these three
petitions.
"Secondly, election schedule has been announced and we are running
out of time. In the meantime this court couldn't function because
of winter vacations from December 24, 1996 to January 6, 1997.
"Thirdly, since all these three petitions are to be heard together
in which the impugned order of dissolution is common and benefit of
hearing on the question of maintainability along with merits is
allowed by this court in Nawaz Sharif's case, hence it would be in
the interest of justice and would also be proper because of paucity
of time that we hear all these petitions together, and question of
maintainability will be taken up for hearing along side merits to
be decided at the conclusion of the proceedings."
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970112
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SC begins hearing in contempt case
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Jan 11: The Supreme Court started preliminary inquiry on
a contempt petition filed by Benazir Bhutto alleging that the
caretaker prime minister and his adviser on finance had assured the
IMF that the Supreme Court would not restore the dissolved National
Assembly.
Two PPP senators and two journalists appeared before the chief
justice in his chamber on Saturday and recorded their statements.
The court had issued notice to Senators Taj Haider and Imdad Awan
of PPP and two reporters, Chaudhry Mohammed Ilyas of Jang and Altaf
Hussain of The Nation.
Mr Haider told Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah that about 20 people
were present in the Senate Committee Room when Shahid Javed Burki,
the adviser on finance, had made the statement that Pakistan had
assured the IMF that the Supreme Court would not restore the
assembly and the government of Pakistan People's Party. Mr Haider
said he was shocked that, when a petition of the former prime
minister was pending in the Supreme Court, how could the caretaker
government give such an assurance.
Mr Awan told the chief justice that when the adviser on finance had
made the statement he, along with his party senators, had
protested. He said a number of newsmen were also present on the
occasion and had reported the committee proceedings accurately.
Mr Ilyas stated that his newspaper had accurately reported the
statement of the caretaker prime minister, made at a seminar in
Karachi. He pointed out that the same statement was also reported
by other newspapers and news agencies.
Mr Hussain stated that he had reported the proceedings of the
Senate Standing Committee on Finance and mentioned Pakistan's
assurance to the IMF that the Supreme Court would not restore the
National Assembly. He also produced a newspaper clipping according
to which an IMF spokesman was reported to have said that the former
prime minister had made no telephonic call to the Fund.
M. A. Farooqi, Additional Registrar, Supreme Court, was present in
the chamber of the chief justice when the statements of the two
senators and the two journalists were recorded. No date was fixed
for further inquiry.
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970113
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Assurance by PM to IMF: SC to issue notice to AG
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: The Supreme Court of Pakistan decided to issue
notice to the attorney-general for Pakistan to appear before the
chief justice in his chamber on Jan 15 to explain whether the
caretaker prime minister and his adviser had held out assurances to
the IMF that the Supreme Court would not restore the PPP
government.
The court is making preliminary inquiries on the petition of
deposed prime minister Benazir Bhutto alleging that caretaker Prime
Minister Meraj Khalid and his adviser on Finance Shahid Javed Burki
had committed contempt of court by assuring the IMF that the
Supreme Court of Pakistan would not restore the PPP government. The
assurance was given at a time when the petition was pending in the
Supreme Court for adjudication.
The court had issued notices to two senators and two journalists in
connection with the preliminary inquiry and all of them had
informed the court that the caretaker prime minister and his
adviser on finance had held out assurance to the IMF that the
Supreme Court would not restore the National Assembly and the PDF
government.
After the statement of the attorney-general on Jan 15, the decision
to issue or not to issue contempt notice to the caretaker prime
minister and his adviser would be taken.
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970110
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Murder case registered in gas disaster
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Staff Reporter
LAHORE, Jan 9: Following the death of four more people, the death
toll of Wednesday's gas disaster rose to 21 while about 100 are
still under treatment in various city hospitals.
The Lahore District administration has imposed a complete ban on
the movement/transportation of hazardous chemicals and inflammable
material through the populated area. A murder case has also been
registered and the general manager of a private company has been
included into the investigations. Meanwhile, the area returned to
normality on Thursday. The district administration and a few NGOs
had set up their camps in the areas to provide medical and food
assistant to the affected people.
About 903 people were brought to hospitals from the affected
localities. Out of that 792 people have been discharged after first
aid.
According to the official sources, the police are seeking technical
report from different scientific bodies including Pakistan Council
of Scientific and Industrial Research to fix the responsibility of
gas disaster.
Lahore Deputy Commissioner Kamran Lashari told reporters that two
cylinders containing chlorine were dispatched by Crescent Greenwood
to the Ittehad Chemicals. He said the district administration had a
meeting with the officials of both the companies. "They have agreed
to share the responsibility of rehabilitation of effected people,"
he said.
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970110
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LHC vacates stay order against promotions
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Staff Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench vacated
the stay order granted against the promotions and issuance of the
notification of 56 joint secretaries to grade 21.
The court had directed the federal government not to notify the
promotion till January 9. Later the promotions were notified by the
federal government and the petitioners had moved a contempt
petition on which Justice Mian Nazir Akhtar on January 6 had
suspended the operation of the notifications.
When the case was taken up on Thursday, Justice Faqir Mohammed
Khokar after hearing the counsel for the petitioners, Shaikh Riazul
Haq, and the Deputy Attorney General Mumtaz Mirza, vacated the
stayed order issued on December 31,1996, and on January 6,1996.
The court, however, without formally admitting the main petition
for regular hearing decided to take it up for final hearing on Jan
14. The federal government is asked to submit the reply before Jan
14. Though the court didn't admit the petition for regular hearing
formally but Justice Faqir Mohammed Khokar advised the DAG to
consider the petition as admitted. "You come well prepared on
January 14, for final hearing of the petition.", he asked both the
counsel.
The court refused to initiate contempt of court proceedings against
the government for notifying the promotion of 56 joint secretaries
against in violation of the LHC order.
Justice Faqir Mohammed Khokar observed that it was not a case of
upgradation but of promotion of grade. Stay should not have been
granted in the service matters where there is no fear of
irreparable loss, he observed.
The judge in his order stated that no irreparable or even
substantial loss can occur to the petitioners if the stay was
refused.
The petitioners have alleged that the recommendations of the
hastily convened CSB-I are mala fide, arbitrary and without lawful
authority. They argued that the recommendations have been made on
the basis of the seniority list issued on August 1, 1994 which is
under challenge in the Supreme Court.
They stated that the posts in BS-21 fall in the senior management
level where, according to the establishment code, the promotions
are made on the basis of seniority-cum-fitness.
To ensure the selection of fit candidates by the CSB, the
establishment division is required to place a larger panel of
eligible officers before the board. In this case, they pointed out,
the federal government made a panel of only 73 officers out of
which 61 were recommended for promotion, giving much narrow choice
to the CSB.
They further pointed out that under Section 2 (B) of the Civil
Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules 1973, the CSB
is comprised of minister for the establishment division, chairman,
secretary law & justice division, member, secretary cabinet
division, member and secretary establishment, member. They argued
that the CSB-I was not properly constituted as the secretary
establishment is presently hospitalised and the law secretary is
not there. "The recommendations of CSB-I are wholly illegal, and
coram non judice," they contended.
The petitioners contended that though the promotion was not a
vested right yet the competent authority was under legal obligation
to consider the cases of promotion fairly, justly and equitably. It
is an established law that discretion cannot be exercised on whims,
caprices and moods of the authorities. The petitioners stated that
they had "legitimate expectancy" for being considered for
promotions to BS-21 and their vested rights have been materially
prejudiced by the hasty act of the respondent.
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970114
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Wounded were told by police to stay put
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H. A. Hamied
KARACHI, Jan 13: Testifying before the three-member tribunal,
investigating the causes of the death of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, a
police officer said some injured people had also been lying on the
scene of the incident after 10 pm, away from the six dead.
ASI Shahzad Hussain, said some people who had been lying on the
road were said to be injured because the policemen standing near
them had been directing them not to move or get up. "They should
lie in the same position." Later, he said, when he went back to the
police station in a police mobile, he saw three of the injured who
had been travelling along with the six dead.
The witness was answering a question from the tribunal as to how he
was sure that those sitting or lying on the road had been really
injured and not dead.
Q: What was your role in the incident and when did you came to know
about it?
A: When I reached the police station to report on duty on the day
of the incident, at about 9:30 pm, I was called on the orders of
the then SP Shukaib Qureshi, who wanted all officers at the PS
called on the scene of the incident.
When I reached the site, I saw the bodies were lying on the main
road, where I saw SSP Durrani, SP Shukaib Qureshi and ASP Rai
Tahir. By that time Mir Murtaza had already been shifted to Mideast
Medical Centre. The bodies had been lying on the road as they were
dropped dead, each in different posture.
I performed the mashirnama of all the dead, giving details of the
wounds, recoveries from their persons, their identifications etc.
Since I was not aware of their names, I numbered them.
The other two who were associated with this job, police constables
Mohammad Khan and Gul Pir both from Clifton police stations, had
not signed it. Mohammad Khan has been transferred to Darakhshan PS
and Gul Pir is still with Clifton PS.
Question from Justice Ghous: Do you know mashirnamas are prepared
separately for separate individuals till action under Section 174
is not completed. Until then the bodies are not to be removed?
A: Yes.
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970115
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Spot memo was not prepared on the spot
-------------------------------------------------------------------
H. A. Hamied
KARACHI, Jan 14: The first investigating officer of the case of the
murder of Mir Murtaza Bhutto told the judicial tribunal of inquiry
that the "Mashirnama" (spot memo) was not prepared on the spot as
required under law and the contents were included as directed by
the then SP investigations and inquiries, Shukaib Qureshi, and ASP
Rai Mohammad Tahir, both of whom were present on the scene of the
incident on Sept 20.
Sub-inspector Khurram Waris said he was named the first
investigating officer of the case in the FIR No. 386 lodged by the
late inspector Haq Nawaz Sial, after being taken to JPMC, with a
bullet injury in his left foot. This FIR was registered the same
night when the incident had happened.
He admitted to questions that before leaving the police station and
after returning from the hospitals entries should have been made in
the daily register but was not done so, because the practice is
different from what the principles are. In this case, he said, a
strange situation had been created, because the SHO of the same
police station was injured in an encounter between the police and
Mir Murtaza's men.
SI Khurram, deposed that on the day of the incident at about 8:45
pm a message was relayed on the wireless that there was an attack
on the house of DIG Karachi Range, and in about five to seven
minutes SHO Sial came to the police station in an injured condition
in a police mobile.
He said the SHO was to be taken to JPMC and he accompanied him
along with two ASIs, Badar and Fida, and when the doctor was about
to attend to him, Sial decided to go to Liaquat National Hospital,
because he was not feeling secured there. Sial's family also came
to the hospital and after treatment for the gunshot wound, they
left for home and the police returned to the police station.
The sub-inspector said the FIR of Sial was registered at 2200 hrs
and he was named the investigator.
Q: What did you do then?
A: I then went to the site where I saw a large number of police,
the entire area cordoned off, no electricity, no dead or injured
around and none in custody. There were also four vehicles of
Murtaza party. I collected empties from the scene and others were
helped in collecting them which had been lying scattered along the
footpath and the main Shahrah Iran on the side of the New Clifton
Garden.
The investigations were being conducted under the supervision of
the SP, Shukaib Qureshi, and the ASP.
Q: Where else you found the empties?
A: From the four vehicles belonging to the party of Mir Murtaza,
which were parked there.
Q: Were the police vehicles involved in the incident searched for
the empties?
A: No. Because they were not there in their original positions. I
was only told later by the police about their location at the time
of shooting. Since then they had moved because they were in use of
the police.
Q: Did you ask the SP or ASP why the police vehicles involved in
the incident were shifted from their original positions unless the
"Mashirnama" was not prepared?
A: I could not dare ask, because the investigations were being
carried out under the supervision of the SP and ASP.
Q: Is it not correct that all the objects involved in the crime
should not be disturbed until necessary investigations are
completed and "Mashirnama" prepared?
A: Yes.
Q: Before the investigating officer reached the spot of inquiry,
was it not considered unusual and extra-ordinary that the objects
should not be removed?
A: It was not an unusual phenomena for me because it was being done
in the presence of senior police officers higher than me.
Q: You made no mention in the "Mashirnama" that the investigations
had already started under the supervision of SP Shukaib Qureshi and
ASP Rai Tahir?
A: I made no mention about the presence of the SP or ASP who were
in fact the in charge of the investigation. After I had prepared
the "Mashirnama," I did read out the contents to them.
Q: Why did not you obtain their signatures on the document?
A: I could not dare do that.
Q: Is it not correct that when a "Mashirnama" is prepared it is
signed by witnesses?
A: This is correct, but this was not done so.
A: "Mashirnama" was prepared on the basis of information given to
you by others and without their information it could not have been
prepared. You have not stated who else contributed and what
information was given to you?
A: Yes.
Q: Is it correct that you were investigating officer only on paper
but actually SP Shukaib Qureshi or ASP Tahir were the investigating
officers. You were told to do what they wanted you to do?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you seal the pieces of evidence such as blood samples on the
spot?
A: No. The sealing material was not available at the place of the
incident. It was done later at the police station. It is written in
the Mashirnama that it was done on the spot in the presence of
witnesses, but actually the objects were sealed at the police
station.
Q: Earlier you had stated it was done on the spot but now you say
it was done at the police station?
A: A rough paper was made on the spot and the final document was
prepared at the police station after it had been cleared by the SP.
Q: Under the law, there has to be only one Mashirnama, there is
nothing like rough or fair?
A: Yes.
Q: Is it correct that it is not a complete Mashirnama?
A: No. it is not correct.
Q: Why the sealing material was not taken to the scene of the
incident?
A: It was never done during my entire service.
Q: Any statements recorded of the police officers on the spot?
A: No. There was no facility, no lights. Some statements recorded
by ASP Rai Tahir were given to me at the police station.
I was the investigating officer only for the first two days and I
had handed over the charge and all material to the Crime Branch
which took over the case on Sept 23.
Later, the tribunal called for the "Roznamcha" (daily reports) and
it was submitted by inspector Mohammad Amin, 52, of Gulshan Base
No. 1. It was produced under seal and the police have been asked to
submit some of the relevant pages in Photostat and return the
register after being sealed again.
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970116
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Blood samples were sent to lab on Oct. 21, IO testifies
-------------------------------------------------------------------
H. A. Hamied
KARACHI, Jan 15: The government of Sindh has extended the time
limit for two months for the submission of the report of the
tribunal of inquiry which is investigating the causes of the death
of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and seven of his men on September 20, 1996.
The last notification was issued on Oct. 17 for a period of one
month (Nov. 16) which was extended up to Jan 17. Now the deadline
has been extended up to March 17.
So far the tribunal has examined about 100 witnesses starting from
Oct. 22, and the record of evidence runs into a couple of thousand
pages, which is being typed daily by three persons. Simultaneously,
the typed pages are being bounded.
The tribunal comprise Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, judge of the
Supreme Court; Justice Amanullah Abbasi and Justice (Dr) Ghous
Mohammad. In addition to the tribunal work, these judges are also
sitting on the Bench in their respective courts.
The tribunal on Wednesday completed the evidence of sub- inspector
Khurram Waris of Police Lines, South, who was the first
investigating officer in the case registered on the complaint of
the late Haq Nawaz Sial, who was the SHO of Clifton police station
at that time.
Q: When the specimen were sent to the chemical laboratory?
A: Ten samples of blood and of clothing were sent on Oct. 21.
Q: The requirement of law is that samples are to be sent urgently.
What was the reason for the delay of one month.
A: According to law, it must be sent immediately, but I don't know
the reasons for delay.
Q: Were you examined by others in this case?
A: I was examined by the Crime Branch, ISI, British investigators,
AIG Noor Mohammad Pechoho, SSP A. D. Khawaja and AIG Ali Gohar
Mithiani and others.
Q: Do you know SHO Zeeshan Kazmi? Did you see him at the place of
the incident?
A: I know him but I did not see him there.
Q: Can you give any reason why ambulances were kept outside the
police station in Clifton with six bodies for two to three hours?
A: The identification was done by the SHO of Darakhshan police
station. I can't give any reason for the delay.
The recording of the statements of witnesses was adjourned until 11
am on Saturday.
===================================================================
970114
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IMF to release $80m before 18th
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will
disburse 80 million dollars to Pakistan any time after January 15
to improve its balance of payment position.
Official sources said that the IMF has communicated to the
caretaker government that 80 million dollars (53 million SDRs)
would be available for release positively before Jan 18 of this
month and that there would not be any delay in it.
Pakistan has also been informed that the IMF will provide the
remaining amount of 267 million SDRs under the Standby Arrangement
(SBA) in three equal instalments, 89 million SDRs each.
Sources said that the IMF has not attached any condition nor
refused to provide its assistance as was speculated in local
newspapers.
Sources said that the IMF was insisting on upward revision in
petroleum prices and once the government obliged it, all hurdles in
the way of the release of the next tranche will be removed.
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970114
-------------------------------------------------------------------
US firm gets PTC satellite contract
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Jan 13: A Connecticut hi-tech company has been awarded
a contract of an undisclosed amount by the PTC to provide private
satellite services in Pakistan, in collaboration with local private
sector providers, the company announced.
Claiming to be the world's first private sector company to provide
global satellite services, PanAmSat Corporation of Greenwich,
Connecticut, said it had already signed three contracts with
Pakistan firms for data communications services in Pakistan.
No price tag for the PTC contract with PanAmSat was given but a
company spokeswoman told Dawn that the contract was signed on
December 31, 1996 ,"fairly quickly after very friendly negotiations
with PTC."
Despite repeated requests, the spokeswoman for the company did not
give the cost of the contract , saying it was against the company's
policy to release financial data about customers.
The company said the three Pakistan firms which had acquired its
satellite services would use the PAS-4 Indian Ocean Region
Satellite to provide data services for private businesses, Internet
and specialised applications for the financial sector, airlines,
hotels, postal organisations, oil and gas companies and telephone
companies.
One of these three Pakistan companies, Acsys was already working in
collaboration with the American telephone giant AT&T, PanAmSat
said. It said it was presently providing satellite-based video and
data transmission services to hundreds of customers round the world
by operating a four-satellite global system - PAS-1 and PAS-3 over
the Atlantic Ocean Region; PAS-2 over the Pacific and PAS-4 over
Asia. PanAmSat plans to launch four additional satellites by 1998,
with the next launching of PAS-6 , scheduled over the Atlantic
Ocean Region ,in March/April this year.
The PAS-7, to be launched later this year, will cover the Indian
Ocean Region and will be much stronger than PAS-4. It was not
disclosed when the contract was signed by the PTC and who
negotiated it.
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970110
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Phone exchange makers hit hard by smuggling
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Mohiuddin Aazim
KARACHI, Jan 9: Local manufacturers of EPABXs commonly known as
internal telephone exchanges are in a fix over the growing
smuggling of different systems of these exchanges.
Dawn inquiries reveal that local companies engaged in EPABX
manufacturing that kept thriving during 1985-1995 now find it
difficult to continue their business.
"Many of us may close down their business because smuggling of
EPABXs are on the rise and that too under the guise of official
manufacturing licences," said a Karachi-based EPABX maker. He said
some foreign companies having such are not at all manufacturing
telecommunication devices and are simply engaged in selling these
products.
The No Objection Certificates issued by the PTA (formerly PTC)
requires the companies seeking NOCs to manufacture Telecom devices
in Pakistan and not just import them and sell them in the local
market. More than two dozen companies including multinationals have
the NOCs for EPABX manufacturing but hardly half of them fulfil
this requirement. "The rest of them only sell the finished products
whether the same are smuggled or imported."
Telecom industry sources said about a dozen genuine makers of EPABX
produce around 3000 sets of telephone exchanges worth at least Rs
100 million every year. They say the industry employs about 3000
Telecom engineers and technicians. But the plight of the industry
is that the smuggling of EPABX has grown to alarming proportions
forcing the local manufacturers out of the market.
Some foreign companies that are only represented by their Pakistani
agents and do not have any production facility in Pakistan are
openly selling their finished products. "This is a clear violation
of the NOCs issued to them but who cares?" complained the chief
executive of a local company.
A casual scanning of the list of the foreign companies that have
NOCs for manufacturing Telecom products shows that at least one of
them has no production facility at all. But it manages to sell its
products through its sales offices in Pakistan. Two other foreign
companies that have their production base in the country quite
often assemble their products here and do not manufacture. "This is
equally true in case of some local companies whose job is to
smuggle finished products and sell them," said the representative
of a foreign company having a licence for APABX making. "This is
the job of the Authority that issues the licences to see whether
the conditions they contain are met," he added.
A PTA official who declined to be quoted said: "We issue the NOCs
after a complete investigation and physical demonstration of the
proposed products at Central Telecommunication Research
Laboratory." "Besides we also keep a vigil on the activities of the
companies having these licences and occasionally take actions
against them."
Apart from smuggling and misuse of the NOCs issued for
manufacturing Telecom devices the rising cost of production of
EPABXs is also hurting the industry. The makers of telephone
exchanges and telephone sets have to pay 5% of the total cost of
production of their products as royalty to the PTA. Besides, they
have to pay 18 % sales tax and 2.5 % turn-over tax plus 3.5%
advance income tax on the supplies of their products. "These taxes
coupled with the ever-increasing utility charges and haulage keep
increasing our cost of production," said the chief executive of a
EPABX making company. "But we cannot pass it on to the consumers
because that can knock us out of the market."
The manufacturing of EPBAXs and telephone sets started in mid 80s
in Pakistan and since then the industry continued growing until
1995. The extent of the growth could be gauged from the fact that
the number of companies rose from one to more than two dozen during
this while.
According to rough estimates, the private sector has so far
installed at least 40,000 EPBAXs of varying capacity across the
country.
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970112
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Concern over foreign firms' monopoly on air cargo
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 11: The air cargo agents of Pakistan feel threatened
from the increasing presence and role of foreign freight forwarders
and apprehend that this may even lead to monopoly which could
stifle the growth of local industry.
Expressing their concern the Air Cargo Agents Association of
Pakistan (ACAAP) in a complaint lodged with Pakistan International
Freight Forwarders Council (PIFFC) pointed out that foreign freight
forwarders like M/s Heckay, Dart Express, Expediters and Fritz were
already working under joint venture in Pakistan since last couple
of years.
However, to ensure that these foreign freight forwarders do not
develop monopolistic hold in our market the ACAAP suggested that a
minimum binding condition should be laid down in the ownership
shares of such concerns. Agreement with maximum shares of local
investors would be in the interest of Pakistan economy and in turn
would help in growth of local industry, it added. The ACAAP further
stated that foreign freight forwarders were welcomed, but the ratio
of ownership shares should be on the basis of 51 percent local and
49 percent foreign so that there can be some sort of order in the
whole sector.
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970111
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Energy prices raised to boost official revenues
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Sultan Ahmed
IN A COUNTRY, in which energy has become extremely expensive in
terms of wages of earnings of the people, the government is relying
more and more on the energy sector to boost its revenues and
achieve four percent budget deficit at all cost as promised to the
IMF.
As a result the total revenues of the government from the oil and
gas sector as projected by the current year's budget presented on
June 13 last are Rs 41.33 billion under five major heads. And to
add to that POL prices were increased by the Benazir government
three times since August 20 last and twice by the caretaker
government.
Furnace oil prices have gone up by a stiff 125 percent within four
months, protests the cement producers and crippled the industry
which suffers from a production glut. Following the new measures
the total revenues of government from oil and gas are likely to
exceed Rs 50 billion.
In addition, we have been warned by the Ministry of Petroleum and
Natural Resources that we should now be ready for monthly increases
in POL prices as world prices rise. And since gas prices are linked
to the world furnace oil prices we are told gas, will cost more if
world prices of furnace oil rise.
While every government keeps on raising oil and gas prices in the
name of rise in world oil prices or the heavy devaluation of the
rupee, which makes energy far more costly in rupee terms, it has
been silent on its large revenue resources from oil and gas.
All considerations of the government and the real needs of the
economy, particularly the stagnant industrial sector are now
subordinated to the larger revenue quest in an effort to reduce the
budget deficit.
The IMF's World Economic Outlook published in October says that
while the average price of oil in 1996 was expected to be $19.42 a
barrel, that it will be $17.94 in 1997. An that will be a big drop
from Brent crude's $24.17 a barrel on December 30, but will the
people of Pakistan benefit by such a fall in prices, particularly
after Iraq oil sales bring down prices?
They should, but we would be told that because of the further
devaluation of the rupee or larger losses suffered by the gas
companies, the government may be slow in reducing Pol and gas
prices. The government may argue it has to make up the losses of
the two gas companies - Southern Sui Gas and Northern Sui Gas in
which the government has large interests.
While the loss and theft of power in KESC has risen to 40 percent,
as asserted by Mr. Javed Shahid Burki, Adviser to the Prime
Minister on Finance, the gas companies are suffering a loss and
theft rate of 10 to 11 percent while the world average, according
to petroleum Minister Javed Jabbar, is 1 to 1.5 percent.
The caretaker cabinet has now decided this heavy loss should be
reduced by half a percent each month until it is brought down to 5
percent. But unless radical measures are adopted that may not
materialised as reflected by the scandals in KESC where the loss
and theft rate has shot up from 23 percent to 40 percent now.
So the people of Pakistan have to pay a heavy price for not only
the rising world price of oil but also the perpetual devaluation,
the increasing theft and waste and the heavy taxes on the energy
sector which can hardly be called taxes.
Now the government is getting Rs 19.5 billion as surcharge on POL
and Rs 6,8 billion as surcharge on gas, making a total of Rs 26.3
billion. It is also getting Rs 2.15 billion as sales proceeds of
oil and gas and Rs 3.6 billion on royalty on oil and gas, making a
total of Rs 5.77 billion. Customs duty on POL brings in Rs 1.22
billion, excise duty on POL Rs 4 billion, and on natural gas Rs 3.2
billion, total of Rs 7., 2 billion.
The government's investment on seven oil and gas companies bring a
revenue of Rs 919 million, including Rs 285 million from Pak Arab
Refinery Rs 491 million from Sui Southern Gas Rs 63 million from
Pakistan State Oil, Rs 37 from Pakistan Oil Fields, Rs 29 million
from Pakistan Petroleum Rs 9.45 million from Mari Gas and Rs 4.25
million from Attack Refinery. That makes a total of Rs 41.33
billion before the five increases in POL prices and the 15 percent
ISO in gas price announced on December 30. And that is apart from
smaller incomes from this sector like the exploration licence fee
and the largest income tax payments of the seven oil and gas
companies inclusive of Pak Arab Refinery, Sui Southern and the PSO.
Efficient management of these companies following their
privatisation may increase the revenues from them further,
particularly the income tax after possible revenue leakage's in
such companies are checked.
The IMF wants the government to raise POL and gas prices not only
in consonarece with world prices of oil and to cover the frequent
devaluation of the rupee, but also to earn more revenues to bridge
the budgetary gulf.
Earlier it was in favour of the quarterly price adjustment the
Benazir government opted for but since last year it came in favour
of monthly price increases with all their disruptive consequences
on roads, in homes and factories. And from now on it wants monthly
adjustments in gas prices as well, which will boost inflation which
is already officially 11.8 percent and almost double that rate non-
officially.
When gas prices go up fertiliser prices rise up. And when gas
supply is reduced to the fertiliser companies the country has to
import fertiliser for which it does not have the requisite foreign
exchange.
The government argues that the gas prices for the lowest group of
consumers have not been raised substantially but that can bring
small relief to them as when gas, power and POL rates rise, the
cost of everything manufactured, traded and transported rises. Such
price rises have a multiplier effect on prices, particularly in a
sellers' market most of the time.
Unfortunately the efforts to get more oil at home has not been
successful. More oil has come up in Sindh, but the quantities are
too small. Major new companies are not coming up to explore oil in
a big way. In fact, some of the companies have left as they do not
find Pakistan too promising for major oil finds. And too little of
new exploration has been done in Balochistan because of the deadly
feuds between tribal chiefs in which the oil companies become
helpless pawns and their workers and staff are kidnapped for large
ransom.
There has been talk of offshore exploration of oil but while
foreign companies show initial enthusiasm for it there has been no
follow-up after the failure of such efforts nearly 20 years ago off
Karachi.
In Sindh when then look for oil, gas comes up but in small
quantities. Pumping it to proper destinations for purification and
joining the mainline gas supply is costly. Anyway as far as the
people are concerned they have to pay supply world price for their
own gas as the price is adjusted upward month after month.
We are now told cost of production of gas is Rs 88 per 1,000 cubic
fed while the following the 15 percent rise in gas prices, the sale
price is Rs 75 per 1,000 cubic feet. So a gap of Rs 13 for every
1,000 cubic feet remains to be adjusted and that is what the
subsequent increases in gas price is to cover. Meanwhile the
devaluation of the rupee will increase the prices further.
And when it comes to petrol and other oils the transporters and
petrol pumps too demand higher rates and get them. So the consumers
are made to pay more and more for all forms of energy in the names
of rise in world prices, devaluation, and rise in taxes an other
charges and then far more for all products produced, traded and
transported using any form of energy. The result is a manifold
increase in affiliation which official statistics understate
constantly and absolutely unconvincingly.
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970116
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Heavy discounting in money market
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 15: The money market that has been short of liquidity
for the last one week remained so with overnight call rate pegged
to 20 percent.
Money market sources said a huge discounting of Rs 15 billion plus
also took place on Wednesday. They said huge withdrawals by WAPDA
and HUBCO had forced the banks to go for discounting. Besides, some
withdrawals were made by the oil marketing companies to foot oil
import bills. Senior bankers said a discounting of similar order
had taken place on Tuesday also for the same reasons.
It was amid this backdrop that the State Bank of Pakistan conducted
an open market operation to suck in a nominal amount of Rs 125
million through sale of short term federal bonds. The OMO had
attracted bids worth Rs 1.70 billion for the STFBs but the SBP
accepted only Rs 125 million worth of bids at 16.5 percent and
rejected the rest. The SBP could generate only Rs 25 million
through outright sale of STFBs of January 4 issue though it had
received bids worth Rs 550 million.
It had received bids worth 1.150 billion for the 3-month repo of
the STFBs but it accepted only Rs 100 million worth of the same.
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970116
-------------------------------------------------------------------
KSE index breaches 1,400 points psychological barrier
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 15: The KSE 100-share index breached the psychological
barrier of 1,400 points. It was last quoted at 1,428.80 in the
official trading as compared to overnight's 1,397.22, showing a
fresh gain of 31.58 points as most of the base shares led the
market advance.
Later, in the computerised trading session, it rose by another 5
points to 1,432.92, signalling the advent of a sustained bull-run.
Bulk of the buying interest, however, remained centred around half
a dozen current favourites about half of the total volume was
confined to PTC vouchers and Hub-Power, which attracted massive
buying at the current lower levels and in turn boosted the index by
a hefty 35 points in the final analysis.
PSO was among the top gainers, which recovered another Rs 7.50,
followed by Adamjee Insurance, Gatron Industries, Telecard and
Glaxo-Wellcome, rising by Rs 3 to 4. Other good gainers included
ICP SEMF, Faysal Bank, Shell Pakistan, Fauji Fertiliser, Atlas
Honda Cars, Hub-Power, PTC vouchers and Crescent Steel, which
posted gains ranging from Rs 1.25 to 2.75.
Losses were mostly fractional, reflecting the absence of strong
selling barring Pakistan Oilfields and Parke-Davis, which suffered
fall ranging from Rs 3 to 5 on renewed selling. Nishat Chunian,
Abbott Lab and Packages were among the other prominent losers.
Trading volume fell to 28.491 million shares from the overnight's
29.451 million shares, owing to the absence of leading sellers who
kept to the sidelines anticipating further increase in prices.
The PTC vouchers again led the list of most active, up Rs 1.90 on
7.403 million shares, followed by Hub-Power, higher Rs 1.25 on
6.132m, ICI Pakistan, easy 45 paisa on 4.484m, Dewan Salman, firm
50 paisa on 2.655m, and FFC-Jordan Fertiliser, steady 25 paisa on
1.361m shares.
Other actively traded shares were led by Ibrahim Fibre, firm 10
paisa on 0.520m, Dhan Fibre, also up 10 paisa on 0.425m, ICI
Pakistan (r), easy five paisa on 0.423m, KESC, up 50 paisa on
0.245m, Sui Northern Gas, higher 75 paisa on 0.324m, and Faysal
Bank, up Rs 1.25 on 0.218m shares. There were several other notable
deals also.
On the corporate front, the board of directors of Ravi Alkalis has
announced right shares at the rate of 50 percent.
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961230
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ehtesab or Intekhab? 5
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
ONE cannot help but feel that the affairs of state are being
managed by sorry clowns. Were they not causing us and the country
so much distress, they might have proved to be amusing.
Prime Minister Presumptive Nawaz Sharif was in town last Saturday.
Presumptive he may be, a forgivable failing, but he is neither
pompous nor pretentious nor arrogant. Basically a shy man, his
company does not jar and one can enjoy being with him at the
luncheon table.
"I am very upset," he said to me over a bowl of Chinese soup,
"about what you wrote in your column yesterday. You have indulged
in character assassination. You say I am oonees to Benazir's bees.
Most unfair and quite wrong. You are my friend."
"I can afford you as a friend," I replied, "but not as a prime
minister. Once was enough. We can't suffer you and your men for a
second round. And as for character assassination, what character is
there left conjointly between you and Benazir to assassinate?"
Without exhibiting remorse, he admitted that he had made mistakes
(such as doling out billions worth of state land for political
gain, for milking the co-operative societies dry?), and after a
couple of helpings of grilled jumbo prawns, followed by ice-cream,
he walked to his Pajero and with flags flying he left for his Lyari
jalsa.
Nawaz, super-confident, has no doubts that elections will be held.
He was happy to hear that if Benazir and he were the last two
persons left on this earth, I'd vote in his favour.
Then came Asghar Khan, the Air Marshal. Still as straight up and
down as an arrow, a thorough gentleman who has never been anywhere
near the money-making game, he fully realises that elections will
but bring back the same old faces ready to once again put their
snouts back into the national trough as soon as they are elected
and snuff up whatever measly left-overs there may be. The past
three governments have been dismissed, all charged with corruption
and with having brought the country to an economic collapse, and no
caretaking government in between has bothered to initiate an
accountability process, or consider holding a referendum asking the
people what they want first accountability or elections? At his
Press conference he said, "It is high time to do it now. Declare
all those who were in the dismissed government set-ups disqualified
and then only clean people will be left to rule us."
He wants accountability before elections and the party he founded,
the Tehrik-i-Istiqlal, has decided to boycott the elections, if
held as scheduled on February 3.
Asghar was followed by the good old young Jamaat Qazi and his
dharna. Qazi cannot buy many votes, but he can collect a crowd (and
without paying). On Wednesday, some 100,000 people congregated in
Karachi to support him. He too is clear in his mind, Ehtesab
before Intekhab. He refuses to accept back into the assemblies the
same old corrupt faces. He and his party are boycotting the
elections.
Everyone in Pakistan wants elections but (repeat but) only after
the process of accountability disqualifies the robbers and thieves.
Now, to a criminal breach of trust a crime punishable by law
committed by Benazir Bhutto and her underlings. In 'Ehtesab or
Intekhab? 2', I gave details of the misappropriation of Baitul
Maal trust funds. The former Ameen ("the most trustworthy") of the
fund, M.A.K. Chaudhry, has written at length, a letter in this
newspaper (Jan 5) and a column in The Nation (Jan 8). In trying to
prove his innocence, he has further incriminated himself and his
cohorts. Chaudhry wonders how I managed to get hold of a classified
document. He cannot be ignorant of the fact that when an officer
knows he is doing wrong, he marks his writings 'Secret'. This
neither makes the contents of the document secret, nor classifies
it... And, importantly, there should be nothing 'secret' regarding
the disbursement of the people's money held in trust.
I refer Mr Chaudhry to the President's written statement filed in
the Supreme Court in reply to Benazir's Constitutional petition
59/96, published over the space of several days in this newspaper.
He should read paragraphs 256 to 264 dealing with the disbursement
of Pakistan Baitul Maal funds supposedly to the "needy" Kalpar
Bugti tribesmen.
On 24/3/94, the Ameen wrote to Minister Naseerullah Babar: "There
is no precedent of Baitul Maal assistance to such a large group of
persons who are displaced on account of political persecution." Now
he contradicts himself: "Therefore, assistance of Rs 50 million to
the Bugti tribesmen, who were driven out of the hearths and homes
by a stronger faction, was in no way anything out of the ordinary
routine. The PBM Charter justifies it without any shadow of doubt."
In the same letter, the Ameen describes the procedure laid down for
the disbursement of funds held in trust, and then goes to say:
"This procedure will obviously have to be by-passed." Why? Just
because he wanted to keep himself in the good books of the Prime
Minister, Minister Zardari and Minister Babar?
The Ameen informs us that "the Prime Minister's Secretariat has a
public grievance cell which receives thousands of applications for
assistance. There is ample staff there to sift these applications.
Deserving ones are passed on to Zakat administration and PBM." That
in no way exonerates him, Ameen of the PBM. It is he who is
responsible for the funds placed in his trust, it is his bounden
duty to ensure that they are not misappropriated. As a public
servant, he is primarily answerable to the people, not to the prime
minister.
As an Ameen, Chaudhry had no business to act as a flunkie of the
PM's handmaiden. On 1/9/95 he personally handed over to Naheed Khan
in the PM's secretariat cheques totalling Rs 34,90,000, made out
and given in violation of rules and procedure. Further: "In gross
violation of the rules, sums totalling Rs 6.171 million and Rs
27.05 million were sanctioned on the directions received from Ms
Khan and Mr Rehmat Ullah respectively." (Written statement, para
263). Rehmat Ullah has been described as a "consultant" to Benazir.
Para 262 of the written statement details how the same thumb was
impressed on 325 receipts against the names of 325 different
persons; another thumb was impressed 265 times against 265 receipts
in different names; yet another 118 times, and one more 114 times.
It ends, "In other words, it is obvious that the lists of alleged
recipients are bogus and have been created and concocted for the
express purpose of stealing Baitul Maal funds."
Now, with what faces, what tongues, do Leghari and his men say that
proof enough cannot be found to convict Benazir, husband Asif and
their cohorts of any crime? Why are the people being misled? Why
are the President and his caretakers playing tricks with the
people?
Each morning we read in the Press detailed explanations as to what
the prime minister did not actually say, or what exactly it was
that he meant, when he uttered two days previously. We are also, of
course, told what he said the day before. For days we were told by
the leaders that the matter of the formation of a National Security
Council had not arisen. Now we have a Council for Defence and
National Security. This Council will give, we are told,
"meaningful" and "mature" advice which the cabinet of ministers is
not bound to accept. Our caretakers do make complete sense.
Our laws are based on the logical presumption that the majority of
our elected representatives and our administrators are honest,
competent, and worthy of the people's trust. Our laws are not made
to cover a situation in which three successive prime ministers,
plus their ministers and minions, have been utterly corrupt,
untrustworthy and incompetent and have, for personal gain and power
perpetuation, meaningfully and purposefully robbed the national
exchequer and rendered the country bankrupt. Our laws need to be
amended.
Every sane person in this, or in any country that concerns itself
with us, is firmly convinced that Benazir and Nawaz, all those in
their past federal and provincial cabinets, and all of those thrice
elected as our representatives are totally unfit to stand for
election to be returned to the assemblies from which they have just
been booted out.
The people do not want those against whom substantial proof is not
available to be summarily convicted and jailed. What they do want
is that those collectively responsible for bankrupting this country
not be given another chance to loot once again. They want them
disqualified for seven years from standing for election. This may
be insufficient punishment, but it would at least be better than
letting them get away scot free.
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970111
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The anatomy of violence
-------------------------------------------------------------------
THE rising crescendo of strife and violence in society over the
past several years should be a matter for profound concern to our
politicians, administrators, economists, lawyers, sociologists,
religious leaders, academics and those entrusted with the
investigation of crime and the maintenance of law and order.
Whenever an incident involving crime, terrorism, or inter-personal
and inter-group violence takes place, it is invariably the
custodians of law who attract the most criticism for dereliction of
duty and ineptitude. Indeed quite often this criticism is valid,
but sometimes it is wide of the mark.
The problem here is that both the rulers and the common people tend
to view the issue of conflict and violence as being mainly one of
law and order. This amounts to taking a simplistic view of a multi-
dimensional problem. Indeed if some identifiable groups of persons
have to take most of the blame for the wide prevalence and rapid
spread of conflict and violence, it is the successive governments,
both military and civil. They have blatantly relied on the police
and the intelligence agencies for controlling eruptions of violence
and have miserably failed to grasp the problem in its myriad
aspects. Hence they have been unable to adopt a comprehensive
strategy for combating it.
In what particular aspects have the political rulers failed to cope
with the increasing incidence of violence and terror? They have
disappointed the people's expectations in many areas of state
activity. They have failed, to put it rather simply, to offer a
blueprint for establishing a pluralistic, democratic, progressive,
egalitarian and just society and to demonstrate that conflicts and
contradictions can be resolved without bloodshed. The rulers have
failed to ensure a clean, efficient and responsive administration
which could address the people's problems and grievances from day
to day. Their policies have been based on elitism in handling
education and medical aid, transport needs, the housing problem,
bank financing of business activity, the needs of agriculturists,
etc.
Emphasis has throughout been laid on satisfying the demands of the
upper ten thousand rather than meeting the simple needs of the
millions. The frustration and sense of betrayal this approach
causes among the people often leads to violent protest against
authority.
Ours is a strife-torn and violence-prone society which is showing
signs of increasing intolerance and which, given a measure of
incitement and provocation, is ready to explode into hate-driven
bloody conflict. To make matters worse, the country is awash with
unlicensed modern weapons a gift of the Afghan war. Given an
environment of violence and the free availability of automatic
weapons, inter-group conflicts proceeding from differences between
ethnic communities, tribes and clans, rival political forces and
religio-sectarian groups all too readily degenerate into violent
internecine clashes.
The State's defences against violence spawned by a fanatical and
bigoted approach to perceived conflicts of interest or ideological-
political incompatibility are growing weaker by the day even though
we have been feverishly enlisting more and more people in our
police, intelligence services and numerous para-military outfits.
This is consuming more and more resources which a cash-strapped
country can better spend on spreading education and creating jobs.
But excessive reliance on state violence to curb violence in the
community has not only proved unrewarding; it has even proved
counter-productive by creating a more widely pervasive atmosphere
of alienation, fear and violence. Increasing waste of funds on the
state's apparatus of coercion is taking away from the meagre
resources available for socio-economic development. Combating
eruptions of violence is not the function of police forces alone,
even if they are better armed and more mobile. We need elaborate
studies of the causative factors and grievances that impair social
contentment and of the sources of conflicts and contradictions that
often lead to the use of force.
Our need is for a right mix of policies in several spheres of
endeavour if we are to be enabled to exorcise the ghost of all-
round escalation of violence and encourage pacific ways of
conflict-resolution to create a more tolerant social milieu and to
build a juster and more compassionate society.
It is imperative to improve the system of justice in order to add
to the capacity of the judiciary to settle rival claims and resolve
conflicts. To counteract anger and desperation among the youth it
is necessary that we institute a system of just rewards for work
and substitute the rule of merit in official appointments and
promotions for patronage and nepotism. Our school system can play a
part by teaching impressionable minds to embrace the higher values
of humanism and compassion and brotherhood of humankind, to accept
diversity in society, to respect heterodoxy and to protect a
minority's right to be different.
Our religious schools, in particular, need to review their syllabi
so as to inculcate tolerance, broad-mindedness and to discourage in
their pupils an approach based on exclusivism and preference for
conformism. Our religious leaders need to be more vigilant against
the elements within who emphasise sectarian differences and
sanction the use of force against those holding different
convictions.
Our media, more particularly the electronic media, have to guard
against the grave risk inherent in glorification of violence. This
often looks innocent enough, but when a hero is allowed to avenge a
wrong by taking the law into his own hands and, in pursuit of this,
to use physical force with great brutality to settle scores, the
story-teller is actually popularising resort to violence.
For a people to eschew violence and adopt pacific ways of securing
redress of grievances or of settling differences, it is necessary
that they should believe that they are treated with justice,
fairplay and compassion. Given the fact that we have affluence,
often the result of ill-gotten wealth, co-existing with poverty,
often the result of a denial of fair opportunity, it is hardly
logical to expect society to show signs of harmony and contentment.
The gap between indulgence and penury and between privilege and
deprivation is too wide to allow us the luxury to hope that society
will move steadily towards balance and harmony and acquire the
virtue of being at peace with itself.
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970112
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Smuggling of human beings
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Omar Kureishi
IS it the enticement of greener pastures or just an escape from
lives of desperation that makes "illegal immigrants" take such
enormously high risks? Are these risks worthwhile given that they
could end up in watery graves? Thirty-one Pakistanis were reported
killed while 37 were reported to have survived after their ship was
hit by another boat off the coast of Sicily.
These are the details of the ill-fated voyage: A passenger ship
named Friendship, flying the Panamanian flag, set off from
Alexandria in Egypt for Italy carrying nearly 400 illegal
immigrants from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. There
were 88 Pakistanis on board. They had previously entered Egypt in
small groups from different parts of Pakistan via Sri Lanka, Dubai
and Syria.
After sailing 24 hours, the Friendship transferred all its
passengers to a cargo ship. Later the passengers were off-loaded on
to a fishing trawler which sailed for 14 days and reached somewhere
near the Sicilian coast. On December 25 the captain of the ship
announced that they had reached their destination and within 2
hours they would land in Sicily. They were later transferred to a
small ferry which had a maximum load capacity of only 80 passengers
but nearly 300 were dumped into it. The ferry boat developed engine
trouble and water started rushing into the boat. A fishing trawler
was called for help but when it appeared on the scene, the two
boats collided. As a result the ferry boat sank and about 289
passengers were drowned.
On its own, this makes horrific reading. It does not require too
fertile an imagination to visualise the kind of hell in which these
passengers must have lived, the wintry conditions being only a part
of their misery. The dead were gone, claimed by the sirens of the
sea. But for the living, those who had survived, another hell was
starting. They were dumped near the Greek coast off the
Pelopponnese and left in a deserted house, where they were kept
without food and water. They fled the house and were taken into
custody by the police, in the circumstances, an act of mercy.
But there has to be a bureaucratic twist. According to the police,
investigations into the affair would be completed in a couple of
weeks. Interpol will be asked to join the investigation. On
completion of the inquiries, the Greek authorities would make
arrangements for their deportation to Pakistan in consultation with
the embassy in Athens. When and if they reach Pakistan, one
presumes that they will be arrested and prosecuted. Their only
consolation will be that it will be a Pakistani jail but they can
argue, if they still have the strength to argue, that they were
fleeing from a Pakistani jail of sorts in the first place.
It was a journey that went horribly wrong and all reasoning says
that it should not have begun. Yet it is unthinkable if not the
folly of the wildest optimism that this tragedy will in any way
deter those who may be planning to do the same, leave the country
by any means possible. They will sell all their belongings and beg,
borrow and steal to meet the costs involved in smuggling themselves
out. It is not cheap and those who trade in the smuggling of human
beings will tell you that apart from enriching themselves, they
have to enrich a wide variety of officials without whose help this
trade would not be possible. There is both a human and an inhuman
side to this business of illegal immigration.
I have met innumerable young men and women who have sought my help
in getting them out of the country. Could I help to get them a
passport? Do I have any connections with any of the embassies so
that they could get visas? Any country, any visa for once they are
out, they will make their way. I tell them that I can neither get
them a passport nor a visa because what they are planning is wrong.
But having got off my high horse, I think to myself: do they have
any alternative? Unless one can offer them hope, why should one
prevent them for looking for it elsewhere? And one finds wishing
them the best of luck, for God knows that they will need luck. But
then who doesn't need luck?
We tend to be scornful of these illegal immigrants mainly because
we consider that they bring a bad name to our country. By that we
mean that they are a source of embarrassment to us when we
ourselves travel abroad. For we are all treated in those foreign
lands as if we are illegal immigrants. To present a Pakistani
passport at the immigration counter on arrival is to be made to
feel a criminal. And in our private conversation we curse the Pakis
who arrive with forged documents. The irony is that we think
nothing of taking their foreign exchange remittances and these
remittances once used to be a vital segment of our economy.
Those of us who worked for PIA in the sixties know how much we owed
to what we would contemptuously describe as "bukra traffic." Only
the more sensitive among us realised that we owed our salaries to
these "bukras." They did not speak a word of English and indeed
were illiterate. But these were not men of straw. These were men of
steel. They braved the social hazards, they braved the climate,
they braved the ridicule that they were put to, they even braved
the Pakistan Embassy who regarded them as an infernal nuisance. In
1962, there was a small-pox scare in the UK because it was believed
that one of the Pakistani immigrants had brought it with him. The
media in that country had quite a field day and it went to town. I
was in England then and the Pakistan Embassy reaction to this scare
was to distance itself from this nasty business.
But many of those Pakistanis have made good. Who knows, those who
drowned off the coast of Sicily too might have made good?
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970114
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CDNS: a supra-cabinet
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Abbas Rashid
WITH the formation of the Council for Defence and National Security
a number of things have happened. The army's role in the affairs of
the state has been institutionalised at the highest level, its
regular input in governance assured; our parliamentary system of
government, in effect, has moved closer to becoming a presidential
one; in the absence of representatives of the provinces and the
presence of federal ministers, it is also a more centralised and
less federal system; a supra-cabinet is now in place with a system
that is much closer to Turkey's without there being any apparent
legal or constitutional sanction for it being so.
At another level, the CDNS is a kind of insurance policy for
President Farooq Leghari. He cannot afford to see former prime
minister Benazir Bhutto return to office, nor can he trust Nawaz
Sharif the man considered most likely to form the next government
not to start asserting himself against the president once he is
safely in place. With the CDNS, the prime minister will be cut down
to size and the president will have been assured 'continuity' as a
virtual executive head for this term and beyond. Which also means
that elections have now become fairly certain.
The advent of the CDNS was attended by a considerable degree of
confusion. Just before its existence was formalised by a
presidential ordinance and the amendment of the rules of business,
caretaker Prime Minister Malik Meraj Khalid declared emphatically
that he had no knowledge of anything of the kind being on the
anvil. Then there was considerable verbiage expended by the
caretakers aimed at underlining the supposed distinction between
the National Security Council idea favoured by General Ziaul Haq
and the council at hand.
To start with, the change in nomenclature is apparently meant to
reassure all those who are concerned about a continuation, even
enhancement, of the Zia legacy by President Leghari via the new
institutional arrangement. Those not so easily persuaded are meant
to find relief in the distinction, made ad nauseum by members of
the caretaker cabinet, to the effect that CDNS will only function
in an advisory capacity and is not meant to be a supra-cabinet
body.
Unlike Zia's national security council, it is not a constitutional
body nor, emphasise the caretakers, does it contravene the
Constitution. It is essentially meant to facilitate consensus at
the highest levels between the country's political and military
leadership, enabling speedier and improved decision-making,
presumably with a little help from the senior bureaucrats present.
As such, its membership consists of the following: the president,
the prime minister, foreign minister, defence minister, interior
minister, minister/adviser for finance, chairman of Joint Chiefs of
Staff Committee, Chief of the Army Staff, Chief of the Naval Staff
and Chief of the Air Staff.
So what then are we to make of the CDNS? For a start, the idea that
such a body would have a purely advisory function is utter
nonsense. Obviously, a body that consists of the highest civilian
and military brass in the land is not about to take kindly to its
'advice' being turned down. It goes also without saying that some
of its members will be more equal than others. Even if the civilian
six stand together, it is unlikely that they will assert themselves
against the military four, if the past is any guide. Also the
presence of the latter virtually guarantees that the next
government will not be able to do away with this new 'arrangement.'
Hence, if continuity is assured we have taken a giant step towards
transforming our political system from a parliamentary to a
presidential one. Let us here remind ourselves of the fact that it
is the president who heads and convenes the CDNS while the prime
minister attends as an ordinary member. Clearly, the effect is one
of reaffirming the president as an executive head an anomaly in a
parliamentary system.
In a recent PTV discussion, three ministers of the caretaker
regime, Messrs Shahid Hamid, Shafqat Mahmood and Irshad Haqqani,
responded to these concerns along different lines. Haqqani's thesis
was interesting and perhaps central to the caretakers' operative
framework. Essentially, he said, politicians fluffed it after the
restoration of democracy in 1985. More so, the governments that
came in after 1988 let the people down. Further, accountability
today is a widespread demand and it has to be decided if the
country is ready for yet another government of the same kind of
performance if given "a 100 per cent free hand." Society's
imperfections are reflected in the legislature and as such the
legislature to be elected will again be far from perfect and not
very different from the last four, despite the steps that the
caretakers have taken.
Hence, according to Mr Haqqani, people have started seeking an
arrangement that can bring collective wisdom to bear on issues
pertaining to important matters of state. In other words, what we
have here is a prescription for restraining the next government as
well as the legislature since we expect these to perform as badly
as the last four have done. And since the politicians are the ones
to have let the people down, it is clear that the political wing of
the CDNS will not be the one supplying most of the wisdom.
Mr Shahid Hamid, a man of few words, restricted himself to
emphasising the advisory nature of the CDNS. He did not say why in
that case there was such a rush to form this body and why it could
not have been left to an elected government to do the needful. On
another occasion he also suggested that the CDNS was aimed at
providing substance to the position of the president under the
Constitution. Even if his reading of the Constitution on this point
were to be accepted as accurate, it is difficult to see how
'substance' could be provided without a 'substantial' amendment to
the Constitution.
Senator Shafqat Mahmood asked an interesting question: in effect,
are we to let the country collapse while we pursue some abstract
democratic ideal? Of course, the corollary of this rhetorical
question is that less democratic strategies will ensure that the
country will not collapse. Obviously, this is tenuous logic. But in
a sense this is the heart of the problem that the nation faces on
the eve of its 50th birthday. Yes, democracy has not delivered. We
are now running out of options as well as time. And people find it
increasingly difficult to believe that a democratic process which
allows for the most phenomenal excesses of corruption as well as
incompetence and suffers from a profound absence of institutional
content will in the fullness of time transform itself into the kind
of framework that nations need to realise their potential and shape
their destiny. But how does involving the army and giving it a much
greater role in governance take it any nearer to our goal?
The Pakistani state and society is still far from recovering from
the effects of 11 years of General Zia's rule. The legacy which
some of our political leaders are also proud to own included an
unprecedented rise in organised ethnicity and sectarianism, and the
introduction of the heroin and Kalashnikov culture. Let us also not
forget that many in the martial law regime did not exactly set high
standards of honesty and integrity in office. And neither was
General Ayub Khan's rule the unmixed blessing that it is held out
to be. Even as the rate of growth climbed under the tutelage of the
Harvard Advisory Group and we now have a variation of the latter
in the form of World Bank and IMF representatives running the
economy the income inequalities and tension between the Eastern
and Western wings rose sharply with grievous consequences that
manifested themselves very soon after Ayub's departure.
So, where does that leave us? In desperate straits. And the answer
does not lie in coming up with institutional arrangements that
dilute democratic and federalist norms, but in giving substance to
democracy and federalism. For, if the civilian-political leadership
has proved itself incapable of running the country surely the
military dictator who has from time to time usurped power for long
periods, has proved himself equally, if not more, incompetent. The
apprehension then is that such arrangements in the absence of
thoroughgoing reform in all spheres pertaining to society,
politics, economy and defence may only serve to further confound
governance rather than facilitate the pooling of wisdom that Mr
Haqqani and others of his ilk optimistically refer to.
The army, of course, has always been a strong presence behind the
scenes. It can always use its influence positively within the
existing institutional arrangements such as the defence committee
of the cabinet. Bringing all kinds of issues pertaining to state
and society almost directly within the army's realm is hardly a
recipe for good governance. For while the CDNS does little to
enhance the capability of those whose primary task it is to address
these matters, it pushes the army into areas that it is neither
trained nor oriented to deal with. And an assertive general can
quite easily forget that his primary task is not that of governance
but of securing the country's borders.
It is instructive, however, that a newspaper survey has put two-
thirds of its respondents as supporting the formation of the CDNS.
It is difficult to say much about the size and representativeness
of the sample and hence about the accuracy of the results. But it
is certainly not impossible that such sentiment exists for there
can be no doubt that there is greater disillusionment today than
perhaps ever before with political parties, institutions of civil
society, and as a consequence even with democratic norms.
But what the civilian-political elite and its military counterpart
has to realise is that this is a buck that cannot be passed. It is
the former that will have to find within itself the competence,
integrity and the vision to take charge and to do the job it is
supposed to. Alternatively a grass roots movement can come up with
a new order but that is another story altogether. In any case, it
is not for the military to preside over the enterprise of
governance. An arrangement such as the CDNS may work if it has a
clear focus and does not contravene the requirements of a
democratic and federal parliamentary system but it cannot do the
politicians' job for them.
According to a newspaper report, in the first meeting of the CDNS
the military top brass have asked for the process of accountability
to be speeded up. (But the top leadership of the main political
parties is apparently to be exempted from the process so as to
ensure that they do not have grounds for boycotting the elections).
The question that President Leghari who chaired the meeting needs
to ask himself is whether, apart from a mandate, he and the
caretaker government have the credibility and the political will to
undertake such an exercise seriously. Considering that President
Leghari even went to the extent of amending by ordinance the
definition of a loan 'defaulter' and lost the services of perhaps
the most respected member of the caretaker team, Fakhruddin
Ebrahim, in the process, it is very likely that what we will see in
the coming days is a partisan drive against one political party
rather than the initiation of a process of significantly improved
governance under the aegis of the Council for Defence and National
Security.
===================================================================
970115
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan's 8-wicket victory over West Indies
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Qamar Ahmed
SYDNEY, Jan 14: If Pakistan's eight-wicket win over the West
Indies, their first in this World Series against them is taken as
the rehearsal of the best of the three finals to be played between
the two countries then Pakistan can look forward to the glorious
days ahead.
One hopes that it is a precursor to better results but Wasim
Akram's men ought to make sure that they do not suffer from a false
sense of superiority after their victory over West Indies which had
eluded them in this series. West Indies having lost their first two
matches to Australia in the World Series last month were given the
lease of life by Pakistan who lost to them.
Since the West Indians have not looked back as they beat Australia
in the third Test and kept their winning streak going before
tonight when Pakistan got the measure of them.
Pakistan's well-deserved victory at the SCG was win having put West
Indies in and bowled them out for 181 in the 48th over with Saqlain
Mushtaq and Waqar Younis making life difficult for them.
Their job was made easier later by an opening partnership of 90
between Aamir Sohail and Inzamam-ul-Haq who delighted a crowd of
19,011 with their stunning stroke-play. Aamir made 55 with nine
fours before being bowled by Jimmy Adams and Inzamam later was
caught at the wicket by Junior Murray off Patterson Thompson for 42
having batted for 125 minutes.
For Pakistan in fact it was an easy sailing as Ijaz Ahmed, the man
in form, and Zahoor Elahi picked up runs at will. The two put-on 58
runs for the third wicket unbroken stand to steer Pakistan past the
required score.
Ijaz made 43 in 42 balls and Zahoor 31 in 45 deliveries. Aamir and
Inzamam were the ones whom Pakistan lost in quest of runs. This
thumping win over West Indies is itself a commentary on Pakistan's
progress in this series. Saqlain, the Man of the Match must be
proud of his colleagues who took over from where he had left.
The West Indians, who in their every victory in the current series
of one-day matches, had chased the set target successfully were
restricted to only 181 before being out in the 48th over. Brian
Lara was rested and so were Courtney Walsh and his bowling partner
Curtly Ambrose but that had nothing to do with their batting
failure against Pakistan.
After being put in they were in tatters on a wicket on which the
ball came slow off the wicket. The Pakistani bowlers, Saqlain
Mushtaq and Waqar Younis, had their fair share taking four and
three wickets for 17 and 35 respectively.
Only Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who made 72 and Adrian Griffith, who
scored 47 and a shared 106-run stand for the third wicket, offered
resistance as wickets tumbled and the Pakistan bowlers took a firm
hold on them.
Sherwin Campbell was caught in the first slip by Inzamam-ul-Haq off
Waqar Younis in the third over. Junior Murray and Chanderpaul put
on 40 for the second wicket when Saqlain struck in his second over
and had Murray taken at deep square leg for 22. Chanderpaul, the
most consistent batsman for West Indies, however cruised along
reaching his fifty in 84 ball and with four fours. Mushtaq Ahmed,
who gave away 44 runs in his seven overs, ended his flourishing
innings as he came in for his second spell. Wasim Akram took a
waist high catch at cover when Chanderpaul when 72.
>From 156 for 2, West Indies crashed to 181, losing their last eight
wickets for only 25 runs. Saqlain brought back for his second spell
had Adrian Griffith caught at mid-wicket by Aamir Sohail when 47
and Roland Holder was leg before on the second and fourth ball of
his fifth over and later Waqar also bagged two wickets in his ninth
over. Robert Samuels was leg before and the captain, Carl Hooper,
was caught at mid-wicket by Aamir Sohail. And when Jimmy Adams
played on to Saqlain and Mushtaq ran Nixon Mclean out, Wasim Akram
came back to knock out Patterson Thompson's middle stump to get one
wicket.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES
S.L. Campbell c Inzamam b Waqar 3
J.R. Murray c Ijaz Jnr b Saqlain 22
S. Chanderpaul c Akram b Mushtaq 72
A.F.G. Griffith c Sohail b Saqlain 47
R. Holder lbw b Saqlain 2
J.C. Adams b Saqlain 11
R.G. Samuels lbw b Waqar 3
C.L. Hooper c Sohail b Waqar 1
I.R. Bishop not out 2
N. McLean run out 1
P.I.C. Thompson b Akram 2
Extras (b6, lb4, w5) 15
Total (47.3 overs) 181
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-50, 3-156, 4-159, 5-160,
6-165, 7-169, 8-176, 9-179
Bowling:
Waqar Younis 10-1-35-3 (2w)
Saqlain Mushtaq 9-0-17-4
Wasim Akram 8.3-1-17-1 (2w)
Mushtaq Ahmed 9-0-51-1 (1w)
Ijaz Ahmed 3-0-16-0
Aamir Sohail 8-0-35-0.
PAKISTAN
Aamir Sohail b Adams 55
Inzamam-ul-Haq c Murray b Thompson 42
Zahoor Elahi not out 31
Ijaz Ahmed Snr not out 43
Extras (b1 ,b4, w7) 12
Total (2 wkts, 40.2 overs) 183
Fall of wickets: 1-90, 2-125
Bowling:
Bishop 7-0-20-0 (2nb)
Chanderpaul 3.2-0-19-0 (3w)
Thompson 10-1-64-1 (2nb, 1w)
Adams 8-2-30-1 (2w)
McLean 5-0-28-0 (1w)
Hooper 6-0-21-0 (0w)
RESULT: Pakistan won by 8 wkts
Man of the Match: Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan)
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
970112
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Jansher slams Olympic failure of 'white officials'
-------------------------------------------------------------------
LONDON, Jan 11: Pakistani world champion Jansher Khan could face
disciplinary action for making accusations that "white officials"
in charge of squash have failed to get the sport into the Olympics.
Jansher, the record eight-time world champion, claims in 'Squash
Player' magazine that there is a conspiracy amongst the top
officials who he believes do not want to see an Asian win an
Olympic gold and are failing the game at all levels.
His comments were dismissed by Professional Squash Association
(PSA) executive director John Nimick, who said he was surprised
Jansher has never presented his concerns about lack of Asian
influence to the PSA. Nimick said "The Hi-Tec PSA Super Series and
the explosion of television coverage contradicts Jansher's view
that the PSA is doing nothing for the sport."
Nimick could fine Jansher who, only three days ago, was banned for
four weeks and fined a thousand pounds for pulling out of last
month's Mahindra International three days before the Bombay
tournament was due to start.
The PSA chief executive points out that the World Squash Federation
is the body recognised by the International Olympic Committee
rather than the PSA, which chiefly represents the players, and that
it is Australian players who have the greater right to feel let
down at this time. He said "It would benefit Australian squash
players if they got into the 2000 Olympics in Sydney because they
have several medal prospects. "However, they are being rebuffed by
both the Sydney organising committee and by the IOC."
The WSF has sought Olympic participation in Barcelona, Atlanta and
Sydney. Ted Wallbutton, the WSF chief executive, says every squash
player in the world will share Jansher's frustration that the game
cannot gain Olympic recognition while badminton, baseball and other
sports have.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
970113
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Jansher raps PSA's 1-month ban on him
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, Jan 12: World Squash Champion Jansher Khan has condemned
the decision of Professional Squash Association (PSA) to impose a
ban on his entry into the world squash circuit for one month for
his last-minute pulling out of Muhindra International tournament
last month, and asked the authorities of the Pakistan Squash
Federation (PSF) to take serious notice of the PSA decision to save
the Pakistani players from such decisions in future.
Talking to DAWN, Khan termed the PSA decision unjustified and
unreasonable. The world squash champion rejected the impression
that he withdrew from the event on security reasons. Rather he
added, his decision was based on purely personal reasons. He said
that he had informed the PSF authorities about his inability to
appear at the Bombay tournament which, he added, was duly conveyed
to the PSA authorities.
Terming the PSA decision unjustified, Jansher said there were some
other players, too, who also pulled out from Muhindra
International, but the PSA had not taken any notice of them. He
maintained that he withdrew his name from the tournament before
draws were taken out while a couple of players from Australia and
Egypt's number one Ahmed Barada pulled out their names after the
tournament organisers completed draws. "The PSA decision is based
on bad intentions and it should have not adopted double standards",
the world champion said.
Replying to a question whether the zero number imposed on his
record for missing the Bombay event would have any adverse affect
on his international ranking, the world champion replied in the
negative. He maintained that he had already been declared the World
No 1 in the fresh world ranking announced on Jan 1.
Whereas, he added, the ban could not affect his ranking as well
because during the one month period there are no major 3events to
take place, and he was scheduled to play his first tournament - the
Australian Open - of 1997 at Australia from Feb. 13 which would be
the international circuit's first tournament, he remarked.
Rejecting PSA's claim that the Muhindra International was a major
supporter of squash, the champion said that Pakistan was the
biggest supporter and promoter of the game because, he added, it
organised seven major squash events every year while India had only
one tournament - Muhindra International - at its credit for the
whole year. He said before banning him the PSA should have
reconsidered the services of Pakistan for the promotion of the
game.
He also said that he was giving more business to PSA than Muhindra
because he had been offering five percent of the prize money of
every tournament which he won during the last ten years.
He expressed satisfaction over PSF authorities taking up the issue
on his behalf and asked them to pursue it seriously to avert such
happenings again in future against Pakistani players.
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