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Week Ending : 18 October 1997 Issue : 03/42
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Petroleum, gold prices up as rupee devalued
Devaluation to fuel inflation
Revamping of foreign missions given up
Ayaz Baloch jailed: US regrets action
7,600 UBL employees sacked
Public safety commissions likely to be set up soon
Pakistan, UAE to discuss draft of extradition treaty
Govt adopts cautious approach
Lawyers advise Benazir to adopt wait and see policy
Drug prices to increase by 12pc
Defence team talks in US make no progress
---------------------------------
*From where to begin?
Lack of planning again surfacing in wheat flour crisis
Why the census was postponed
Govt wants banks, DFIs disinvested by March
Pakistan's privatization plan strongest in Asia, says World Bank
Pakistanis abroad losing confidence in rupee
CEPA gets extension
Forex reserves up by $191m
Planned and not a crisis move: Pasha
Equities await outcome of IMF meeting on 20th
---------------------------------------
Breathing space Ardeshir Cowasjee
Murder by any other name Omar Kureishi
Keeping secrets Hafizur Rahman
The sound of one hand clapping Irfan Husain
Reverting to type Amjad Hussain
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UBL dispense with services of Waqar, Mushtaq & Inzamam
Woolmer pleads for sporting wickets
PCB delays naming team for four-nation cup
Pakistan out of Champions Trophy tournament
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971016
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Petroleum, gold prices up as rupee devalued
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: The prices of petroleum products and gold prices
went up after the government devalued the rupee by 8.7 per cent on
Wednesday morning.
The cabinet took the decision on a proposal by the State Bank
governor at a meeting early in the morning. The finance minister
defended the decision at a press conference.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presided over the meeting at an odd hour
- 7.30am. The rise in petroleum prices in Karachi will be higher
than the rest of the country.
This is the first devaluation since this government came to power in
February.
Later in the evening, Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz defended the
decision at a Press conference and said the devaluation would not
affect the prices of essentials, e.g. electricity tariff, transport
fares, Atta, kerosene, HSD, diesel, furnace oil.
"Let me tell you that we will not allow price increases of any item
except for a few POL products," he further stated.
He listed a number of reasons that forced the government to effect
what he frequently termed "necessary exchange rate adjustment" due
to external and internal factors.
Finance minister Sartaj Aziz did not believe that the devaluation
would greatly affect the common man. "We have not so far allowed
major increase like electricity, gas and would be further watchful".
Responding to a question, Mr Sartaj Aziz disclosed that the
government had made certain arrangements to manage the devaluation.
"We have made certain provisions in the budget for future
adjustments by anticipating an exchange rate of Rs 43 for a dollar",
he added.
The Finance Minister pointed out that since the US dollar had gained
considerable strength against other currencies, the rupee had thus
effectively appreciated against these currencies. He cited an
example of the German mark, which was priced at Rs 26.20 in October
last year and was now available for Rs 23.20. The French franc had
gone down from Rs 7.80 to 6.90 and 100 Japanese yen from Rs 36 to
33.
"Then the currency upheaval in South East Asia became one of the
major factors", he said, adding that the Thai baht had been devalued
by 30 per cent against the US dollar, Malaysian ringgit and the
Indonesian rupiah by 17 per cent.
He said since many of Pakistan's exports, like textiles and rice,
competed in the world market with goods from South East Asia, "our
competitive advantage has further eroded.
"Besides these two external factors, a rate of inflation that is
higher than that in the countries with whom we trade also forced us
to devalue our currency", the finance minister said.
Sartaj Aziz said from October last year to June 1997 (in nine
months), the rate of inflation in Pakistan was 8.35 per cent (an
annual rate of 11.2 per cent), whereas the comparative rates of
inflation in countries like South Korea, Japan, USA, Germany and
China was 2.26 per cent, 1.86 per cent, 1.42per cent, 1.24per cent
and (-)0.77 per cent respectively.
He said exports increased by 15.2 per cent in July over the same
month last year and in August by four per cent, but later declined
by two per cent in September, making for an average growth of five
per cent for the first quarter of 1997-98.
"In the past 12 months, our exports to Europe have declined by about
10 per cent, to Japan by 20 per cent and to South East Asian
countries by 55 per cent", Sartaj Aziz said.
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971016
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Devaluation to fuel inflation
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Mohiuddin Aazim
KARACHI, Oct 15: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday
devalued the rupee by 8.71 per cent that enhanced the official
buying and selling prices of a dollar from Rs 40.52 and Rs 40.72 to
Rs 44.05 and Rs 44.27 respectively. In other words the price of a
dollar rose by Rs 3.53 on spot buying.
This is the first major devaluation of the current fiscal year. On
July 11 the rupee had shed six paisa against the greenback but that
was largely seen as a technical correction of the rupee-dollar
parity rather than devaluation. The first of the current fiscal year
this downward adjustment was the sixth by the PML government. The
cumulative loss of the rupee against the dollar in previous
adjustments was 40 paisa.
The devaluation evoked a mixed response among bankers and money
changers many of whom � particularly the money changers had no idea
about such a huge devaluation. "We are shocked. The market situation
was such that we expected devaluation but as the prime minister and
finance minister had categorically ruled out its possibility we
thought they meant it," said Munaf Kalia of Khanani & Kalia
International. Some senior bankers reached by Dawn expressed the
same feeling.
The devaluation had an immediate impact in the kerb market and many
people � particularly small holders � rushed to sell dollars for
profit taking. "Those who have the greenback in big amounts are
still waiting...they may offload their holdings within a few days,"
said a currency dealer. He said the buying and selling price of the
greenback rose from Rs 41.21 and Rs 41.26 on Tuesday to Rs 44.40 and
Rs 44.50 on Wednesday. This means that the spread between the
official and the kerb market rates rather narrowed that is a healthy
sign.
Nevertheless, some currency brokers say the price of a dollar may
touch Rs 45 in a few days widening the spread once again.
The lowering of the rupee value against the US dollar pushed up the
prices of almost all petroleum products, except diesel. Leading
petroleum dealers told Dawn the per litre prices of super and
regular grades of petrol shot up from Rs 18.55 and Rs 17.38 to Rs
19.10 and Rs 17.90, respectively. Pakistan Petroleum Dealers
Association had not notified increase in the prices of the two most
widely used petroleum products till late in the evening on Wednesday
but some petrol pumps had started charging the revised prices.
On the other hand the devaluation raised the Karachi Stock Exchange
index by 62 points on Wednesday and stock brokers felt the trend
might continue in the near future. "But as the devaluation starts
fuelling inflation it would rather make the small investors shy
away," said a KSE member Zafar S. Moti. He said the stocks of
efficient export-oriented industries, particularly such
multinationals as Hubco would fare well giving the market a boost
"but the overall impact of devaluation on the stock market would
depend largely on how it effects the price line and the cost of
living at home."
So far the cost of living is concerned the devaluation took its
first toll in the Jodia Bazar�the largest commodities market in the
country�on Wednesday. According to the chairman of Pakistan
Commodity Traders Association Raees Ashraf Tarmohammad the wholesale
prices of tea and milk powder rose by Rs 17 and Rs 9 per kg on an
average. "We did not expect such a huge devaluation," he said while
talking to Dawn on telephone. "It will increase the cost of imports
as well the total incidence of levies on imported items on the one
hand and lead to misdeclaration and non-documentation on the other."
Tarmohammad said the massive devaluation would encourage smuggling,
besides increasing the cost of living and the cost of investment.
"When the government devalues the rupee to help the export sector it
should simultaneously reduce import duties on at least essential
items."
Treasury managers of both local and foreign banks who foresee
another devaluation following before the close of the year were
among those who expected the move coming about more than others did.
"It was expected," said a senior manager at a foreign bank. He said
the devaluation would help ease the liquidity crunch in the market
with the increased inflow of the rupee equivalent of foreign
currency deposits.
"We expect an additional inflow of a few hundred millions of rupees
every day that would augment the State Bank efforts to ease off the
liquidity crunch in the market," the banker said referring to the
first ever two-day open market operation conducted by the SBP.
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971016
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Revamping of foreign missions given up
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Our Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: The Ministry of Commerce has apparently given up
its plan to revamp foreign missions abroad to boost the country's
exports.
Instead of introducing any new set procedures to weed out poor
performers, the vacancies are being filled in at different embassies
and high commissions according to old practices.
To fill these vacancies, no competition is being introduced, and the
ministries/divisions are being asked to nominate the officials
deemed suitable for the posts of trade ministers (grade-20), trade
counsellors (grade-19), and trade secretaries (grade-18), at the
embassies and missions.
An Establishment Division letter No F-II (3) Admin 11/97 dated
October 1, 1997, requires of the ministries and divisions to make
these nominations. The heads and high officials of these
ministries/divisions have been authorized to make nominations of
their choice, a practice which the commerce minister has been
lashing out at, in his recent speeches and comments on the issue.
The letter says that the required experience for the nominee is 3
years service at an economy-related ministry or department. The
ministry sources revealed that the last date for the October 1
announced nomination process has been given as October 8, and
suspect that the ministry has already chosen the officials for these
posts. "Otherwise, they would not have given such a short deadline",
said one official. He added that in many ministries/divisions, the
Establishment Division letter was received on October 4, which means
only four days given to the process of making nominations.
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971015
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Ayaz Baloch jailed: US regrets action
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Our Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: Mohammad Ayaz Baloch, tried by a Field General
Court Martial (FGCM) for seducing an officer of Pakistan Air Force
into drug trafficking, was awarded ten years' rigorous imprisonment
which is subject to confirmation by the convening authority.
Ayaz Baloch, son of Mohammad Nawaz Baloch and a resident of
Islamabad, was an employee of Drug Enforcement Agency of the US
Department of Justice.
He was arrested here after Squadron Leader Farooq was held in the US
on April 9, 1997, for drug trafficking and his accomplice Squadron
Leader Qasim Bhatti was held on April 17, on the same charges.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and his counsel put up
strong defence. The prosecution, however, presented irrefutable
evidence which led to the conviction by the FGCM.
Our Washington Correspondent adds: The State Department on Tuesday
regretted the decision of a Pakistani military court to sentence DEA
employee Ayaz Baloch to 10 years in prison saying: "We have always
believed he has done nothing wrong."
But a State Department official told Dawn the US respected the
Pakistani judicial process and would continue to work with Pakistan
in the efforts to combat drug trafficking.
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971014
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7,600 UBL employees sacked
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Nafisa Hoodbhoy
KARACHI, Oct 13: A total of 7,600 employees of the United Bank,
including 4,500 from Sindh, were sent home on Monday, reducing the
bank's nationwide strength by about one-third.
The letters, dated Oct 10 and signed by the senior executive vice
president, Khalid A. Sherwani, cited Rule 15 (1) of the UBL (Staff)
Service Rules, 1981, and were served on all employees appointed or
promoted to their present grade on or after Oct 1, 1991.
Inquiries show that while UBL had 22,600 employees nationwide, the
7,600 employees who received the letters on Monday include 3,500
officers who were promoted out of turn from amongst the clerical
staff to officer status (Grade 3) when Azizullah Memon headed the
bank in 1993-94 and Aziz Memon was the CBA chief.
The UBL management refused to answer a query from Dawn. However, the
retrenchment letter issued by the management cited the large-scale
removal of employees as a "painful decision" undertaken on account
of overstaffing of the bank and in order to achieve its objective of
"right sizing".
With an estimated 3,000 Karachi-based UBL employees sacked, mostly
from the main branch and head office, bewildered workers were seen
on Monday afternoon milling around the UBL office on I.I. Chundrigar
Road. A heavy presence of Rangers, police and Brinks security were
posted to prevent any untoward incident.
While Monday's action affected employees from 200 of UBL branches
throughout Sindh, it was reported to have practically closed down
the UBL's Personnel Department, Medical Department, Clearing,
Sports, Printing and Stationery Departments throughout the city.
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971013
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Public safety commissions likely to be set up soon
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Raja Zulfikar
ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: A cabinet committee has proposed setting up of
public safety commissions (PSCs) in the federal capital and the four
provinces to enhance the overall performance of police, Dawn learnt
on Sunday.
The commissions would recommend to the government steps to do away
with all influences which affect the performance of the police.
Besides promoting professionalism in police, the PSCs � if formed �
would recommend training on scientific lines, suggest provision of
latest arms and equipment, and other facilities to the police.
The public safety commission would function as an independent body
answerable only to parliament and the prime minister.
The proposal for the establishment of the PSCs was discussed at a
recent cabinet meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif, but difference of opinion among the cabinet members
prevented a decision.
Knowledgeable sources told Dawn the proposal regarding PSCs saw
resistance by representatives of the provinces who pointed out
"certain flaws" in the commissions. The main objection to the
proposal was that the PSCs would cause total isolation of police.
"Police cannot function in vacuum," the opponent of the proposal had
said at the cabinet meeting.
Those who had opposed the establishment of the commissions had
reportedly stressed the need for involving MNAs and MPAs and even
senators who, they said, could help the police in arresting the
rising crime rate.
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971013
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Pakistan, UAE to discuss draft of extradition treaty
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Our Correspondent
ABU DHABI, Oct 12: Senior officials of Pakistan and the United Arab
Emirates, in a meeting here on Oct 18-19, will discuss the draft of
an extradition treaty, besides anti-drug trafficking steps, trade
and investment, and cooperation in cultural, educational, economic,
technical and manpower at the meeting of joint ministerial
commission.
Pakistani diplomatic sources said no list of the members of Pakistan
delegation has been received. But the delegation would include
senior officials of the Board of Investment and the ministries of
foreign affairs, interior, petroleum, labour and manpower, and other
related areas.
However, it is not expected that the extradition treaty would be
signed during this meeting. "The draft will be discussed at length
but due to disagreement on certain points it may not be finalized,"
the source said.
UAE has been pressing for extradition treaty with Islamabad as
usually the Pakistani fugitives sought by the UAE authorities are
involved in fraud and financial scams, it is learnt.
On the other hand, most of the Pakistani fugitives finding refuge in
the Emirates are involved in misappropriation of funds and
government taxes, and other social crimes.
"In the absence of an extradition treaty, it is difficult for the
Emirates authorities to hand over any fugitive to Pakistan," the
source said, as their law is very strict and requires satisfactory
evidence to take such measure," the source said.
UAE is more keen on an extradition treaty and measures to curb drug
trafficking from Pakistan.
The two countries have signed anti-drug trafficking agreement in
their meeting held in Islamabad in Nov 1996. In the agreement signed
by the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs Sheikh Hamdan bin
Zayed al Nahyan and his Pakistani counterpart Sardar Assef Ahmed
Ali, both sides affirmed their keenness to intensify efforts to
combat drug and narcotic trafficking and misuse.
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971014
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Govt adopts cautious approach
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Mohiuddin Aazim
KARACHI, Oct 13: While the private sector is poised to welcome
foreign investment in software industry the government appears to
have adopted a cautious approach in this regard.
"Yes it is time to invite foreign investment in the software
industry," said Mr. Ahmed Allauddin, President, Computer Society of
Pakistan (CSP). "May be we succeed in attracting some foreign
investment in the shape of joint ventures in the beginning," he
observed while talking to Dawn.
Mr Allauddin said initially Pakistan needs foreign investment for
training and software development projects. He further said that the
government may invite both local as well as foreign computer
companies to get its various departments computerized through turn-
key projects. "But while doing so the participation of the local
companies must be ensured," he suggested.
The country general manager of IBM-Pakistan, Mr Nisar A Memon also
felt that the government should rather go for turn-key computer
projects "if there is a resource constraint." Likewise, the CSP
chief also felt that foreign investment may also be attracted in the
private sector�whether directly or through joint ventures. He
emphasized that while dealing with the multinationals and foreign
investors the government must stick to its commitments "otherwise it
sends a wrong signal in the world market."
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971014
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Lawyers advise Benazir to adopt wait and see policy
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Staff Correspondent
LONDON, Oct 13: Opposition leader Ms Benazir Bhutto has been advised
by her lawyers here to adopt a "wait and see" policy over the recent
statements coming from the government leaders against her and Asif
Ali Zardari, sources close to her said.
Ms Benazir Bhutto who visited London recently, is understood to have
consulted her lawyers besides her confidants during her stay here to
discuss future strategy with them. A source close to Ms Bhutto said
she has been advised to adopt a "wait and see" policy and not to
take any step in a haste.
He said her advisers have told her that Pakistani officials will
find it too difficult to convince the British government to freeze
her accounts in the British banks as they will have to provide hard
evidence to establish their claim.
Besides, she has been advised that the British government would not
take any step unless it was established that the money in British
banks was laundered "drug money".
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971018
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Drug prices to increase by 12pc
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Azizullah Sharif
KARACHI, Oct 17: Prices of both imported and locally manufactured
medicines will shoot up by around 10 to 12 per cent in the wake of
latest massive devaluation of rupee by 8.7 per cent, sources in the
drugs manufacturing business told Dawn on Friday.
It would be the fifth increase during the last 21 months and it was
only in November last that the prices of medicines had gone up.
Even the four per cent relief on the prices of medicines, which the
government had passed on to consumers after Aug 15, will be eroded
with the enhancement of drugs prices shortly.
It was only on Monday last that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had
assured a well-attended convocation of Lahore's Fatima Jinnah
Medical College that prices of a number of drugs of common use would
be reduced from Oct 25.
When the finance manager of a multinational pharmaceutical firm, Eli
Lilly Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd, Farrukh Faiyaz, was contacted by Dawn to
know the impact of the latest devaluation of rupee on the prices of
medicines, he said that as far as the prices of imported medicines
were concerned they would definitely go up by 10 to 11 per cent.
A member of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and
the managing director of Lisko Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd, Nazar Talib, on
being asked to what extent would the prices of locally manufactured
drugs rise, said there would be an increase of around 11 to 12 per
cent on locally manufactured medicines.
Asked why the prices of medicines would be increased by 11 to 12 per
cent when the rupee has been devalued by 8.7 per cent, he said
actually the local manufacturers would have to incur an additional 3
to 4 per cent on paying duties for the import of raw material and
packaging material.
"Since almost 100 per cent raw material used in manufacturing
medicines is imported, we will have to pay more duties owing to
devaluation of the rupee," Nazar Talib added.
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971018
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Defence team talks in US make no progress
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Oct 17: No breakthrough was achieved on major issues
haunting military ties between Pakistan and US in two days of talks
at the Pentagon between top defence officials of the two countries.
Pakistan's defence secretary Lt. General (R) Iftikhar Ali Khan, who
led the Pakistani delegation and met the US Secretary of Defence
William Cohen separately on Thursday, told a news conference he
could not report any progress on the F-16 issue.
He said Pakistan had told the US that it had only two options - �
return of the planes or return of the money �- and there was no
third option.
But later answering questions the secretary said the legal option
was also there though it may be exercised when all other options
have been exhausted.
General Iftikhar said the F-16 issue was the yardstick of measuring
Pakistan-US relations as everybody in Pakistan saw our relations
through that prism but "I cannot report any progress on that issue."
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971013
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*From where to begin?
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Tasneem Siddiqui
CAN we solve our economic problems in the long run? What about the
governance issues? Do we have the potential, the capacity, the will
to come out of our present fiasco? There are a large number of
cynics and 'prophets of doom' who think Pakistan has no future. It
can't come out of the woods because of its multi-faceted crises. But
it is hard to share their pessimism. Pakistan definitely has a
potential to become strong economically. A turn-around in other
sectors is also not an impossibility.
There is no doubt that there are major problems that relate to the
way the government is organized and how it manages its affairs, but
the main resource of Pakistan are its people who are hardworking,
enterprising and full of creativity. They have faith in the
country's future. They can do wonders provided an atmosphere is
created where they can work freely and prosper.
We have seen in the case of South Korea that in the life-time of a
generation, from a poor, developing country it has become an
industrialized country. Today it is blessed with one of the world's
most vibrant economies (which is the 13th largest in the world) and
is now ready to formally saying good-bye to the developing world (G-
77) to join OECD � the rich man's club. Starting from a per capita
income of less than US $ 62 in 1962, can you believe it that their
per capita income is now US $ 10,000. Their exports will be touching
the US $ 200 billion mark by the turn of the century. All this has
happened in a time span of 30-35 years. In mid-sixties, their
experts used to visit Pakistan to learn from us the secrets of our
'success'. Now they have started giving aid to poor countries like
us. Some countries are lucky. They have their Muhathirs, Lee Kwan
Yus or Deng Xiaopings. If we do not have such visionaries amongst
us, at least we can learn from their experience. We can start a
process of reform and construction, and evolve our own strategy of
development based on the experience of Asian Tigers, and of course,
learning from our past mistakes.
For any reform effort to be credible, the first step would be to
regain the confidence of the people. We must admit that during the
course of the last fifty years, people have lost faith in the
political system and the government as such. When the government
loses credibility, the natural consequence is that its writ does not
run. State institutions become weak and are soon replaced by mafias.
This is what has exactly happened in Pakistan. Regaining peoples'
confidence will not be an easy exercise. To begin the process, our
ruling elite will have to completely overhaul the well-entrenched
system of patronage and nepotism, and replace it by a just and
transparent system, accountable to the people. The question is are
they ready to do it?
The second most important reform which is needed is reducing the
role of government to a minimum level and professionalization of
public services � as opposed to their politicization. For the last
three decades, what we have seen is the bloating of state apparatus
to an extent that now it has become a mammoth, unwieldy organization
that nobody can control. At the same time, all this time state
machinery has blatantly been used for political and private uses.
Now, there is hardly any distinction between public duties and
private gains. This has virtually maimed and destroyed the public
services and the facade of 'rule of law' lies deeply buried under
the debris is discrimination, arbitrariness and nepotism. This is
high time we have a lean and slim government and also restore the
principle of merit, make public services accountable to the
legislature, but at the same time save them from political influence
in their day-to-day working. A demoralized, corrupt, pliable and
incompetent civil service is antithetical to the needs of a
democratic society. But again the question is: are our ruling elite
ready to play by the rules? Are they ready to make the system
transparent? Are they ready to give information to the people about
everything?
The government's priority is for improved macro-economic management,
because unless we do that, we will soon face a default situation. In
the short-run, the government will definitely succeed in averting
this crisis, but this will only provide temporary relief. What we
need are the institutional reforms all round. We need to have a
close look at how our agriculture, industry and the service sectors
function. Conventional approach in propping up hand-picked,
inefficient, dishonest, 'robber barons' cannot help in reviving our
economy. We will have to loosen bureaucratic controls and reduce
redtape to encourage genuine entrepreneurs with new ideas, who want
to start a new era of industrial and business activity in this
country. They want to invest their own money and take risks. But
they are discouraged by well-entrenched bureaucracy and powerful
politicians. It is high time we accept the fact that most of
problems in industry and business emanate from the highly
'interventionist' role of the state. The sooner we reduce it the
better. Similarly, we will have to shift our attention from big,
inefficient, absentee landlords to peasant proprietors and support
them with credit and new technology, if we want to be self-
sufficient in food.
Rising poverty and the horrendous level of unemployment resulting in
worsening crime situation need long-term planning. At the same time,
if the government is serious in creating an immediate impact, it can
make a beginning by focusing its attention on the human resource
development. In the social sector, a change can easily be effected,
and at the same time its benefits will be far-reaching. It will be
the beginning of restoring the confidence of the people in
government machinery. In this regard following agenda needs
attention:
The first step in this direction should be that the government
should try to find out why our delivery system in the social sector
has failed. In spite of the fact that we have invested billions of
rupees in this sector, 50 per cent our children can't go to school,
because there are no schools available; 89 per cent people have no
sewerage services, whereas over 67 per cent people have no potable
water to drink. In spite of all publicity and rhetoric there are
hardly 18 per cent 'acceptors' of family planning practices. Our
ruling elite now accept that Pakistan's social indicators paint a
dismal picture. They also seem to know reasons for this poor
performance. But strangely enough, they do not change the policies
with regard to prioritization of needs, planning procedures, role of
communities in the whole exercise. Nor do they want to decentralize
the government working. We keep on doing the same thing again and
again knowing fully well that the results cannot be different. Our
planners should know that it is not the shortage of money, but the
way it is spent which makes the difference. In primary education,
basic health, and family planning we can achieve spectacular results
within 4-5 years if we change the existing system and start a
process of participatory development. How can we do that? From where
can we learn? That takes us to the next point.
The second major step should be that we make an inventory of
successful pilot projects in the country and study them carefully.
We are very lucky that in the last 15 years, a number of concerned
and responsive citizens have intervened professionally and have come
forward with the result of their research in the fields of primary
education, basic health, family planning, urban sanitation, housing,
solid waste management, even micro-credit. They have shown the worth
of their research by implementing their projects in different areas
of Pakistan. We should learn from these success stories. If their
approach and methodology is correct, we must accept it with an open
mind and make their approach a part of government planning and
development mechanism. Based on these research projects, not only
the people can be involved in the process of development but new
concept of public-private partnership can also be established,
reducing costs to government.
The third step to prove the seriousness of the government is to
carry out an exercise to make an inventory of incomplete or
abandoned schemes. Thereafter, attention must be focused to
operationalize these projects. There are thousands of schemes in
rural water supply, basic health, primary education where billions
of rupees have been invested but no benefit has accrued to the
people. Similarly, a large number of community centres, polytechnic
institutes for girls, working women hostels, stadiums, shopping
centres, libraries, which were started by one government or the
other, have been left incomplete or abandoned on flimsy grounds. If
the government can complete these schemes and put them to use, it
will be one big step to regain the confidence of the public.
The fourth step should be to understand and define the role of
different actors in the whole planning and development exercise. No
matter what we say, the government can't abdicate its social
responsibility. It has to strike a balance between market forces and
benign intervention. In order to improve its delivery system in the
social sector, the government has to test new concepts of
partnership with private sector, supporting community action,
sharing responsibilities and costs with beneficiaries, and promoting
support organizations to carry out research in cost-effective,
sustainable development.
The most important step should be to find out permanent solution to
our dependence on foreign loans � the one way can be that we get our
borrowings rescheduled with the stipulation of easy instalments.
That is a more appropriate way to come out of the debt trap on a
sustainable basis. But for that, we will have to stop further
borrowing and tighten our belts. Once we do that, we can stop taking
dictation from the IMF and the World Bank. There is no doubt that we
can finance most of our development, specially in the social sector,
with our own money. So far we have reaped very little benefits from
foreign assistance. Most of this money is either wasted, mis-
allocated or goes into the pockets of consultants, engineers and
contractors. We can make an experiment by not accepting foreign
assistance for social sector projects for the next 2-1/2 years and
try to complete the incomplete projects with our own resources. We
should go for foreign assistance only for big projects in the field
of energy, oil and gas exploration, big physical infrastructure
projects.
These steps may look small. But for achieving big results, a modest
beginning is the surest way to success. We have had enough of grand
designs. What did they achieve? If the government is serious about
its 'Vision 2010', it can start implementing the above agenda right
away. Most of these proposals do not require huge money. As a matter
of fact, they will save billions of rupees which are being wasted,
misallocated or plundered in the name of development.
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971013
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lack of planning again surfacing in wheat flour crisis
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahmad Hassan
THE NWFP at present has to depend for almost three fourth of its
foodgrain needs on imported wheat and rice from down-country and
abroad.
This is so not only because it has no sufficient land to produce
food enough for its needs but due to scarcity of water and lack of
political will of successive governments which is major hinderance
in turning the vast barren lands into fertile fields and cultivating
food crops to not only meet the province's own requirements but also
enable it export the surplus across the border.
Water scarcity has been a phenomena after partition due to lack of
sufficient irrigation facilities and of course want of Indus water
apportionment accords between the provinces. Although the said
landmark accords was signed in 1991 but even after that no serious
effort had been initiated to tap maximum amount of water in order to
develop provincial agricultural production.
However, the ongoing wheat crisis as far as the NWFP is concerned,
is far more due to the rampant smuggling of wheat flour to
Afghanistan than other factors.
According to an estimate, trucks full of wheat flour is smuggled via
the Pak-Afghan border at Torkham and other routes in the tribal
agencies.
Reliable sources state that some influential people have started
sending foodstuffs against fake permits reportedly issued by
authorities who have no authority of doing so. This has resulted in
panic buying, which creates a shortage of immediate nature in the
market. On the other hand, dealers take advantage of the situation
and put their stocks in secret godowns for black marketing.
The food minister, Farid Toofan, who belongs to the ruling ANP,
doesn't seem to be in control of the situation ever since the
previous crises that had hit the province so severely.
He is even blamed by his own party leadership for laxity and
leniency with flour millers who took advantage by allowing their
produce to be smuggled in every direction and leave the common
consumers without flour.
The deputy-speaker of the NWFP Assembly who is also a senior ANP
leader has most recently blamed the food department for failure in
provision of sufficient atta to the poor people. Although he
refrained from directly blaming his colleague, his clear pointer was
towards the newly appointed director food, from the post of
administrator, Peshawar Municipal Corporation.
The said director is said to be a man of confidence of the food
minister who it claimed is doing everything under his directives.
The cancellation of the permits of 30 small dealers of super fine
wheat flour (the High Court has stayed the cancellation now) and
awarding the same to some blue-eyed man of the minister.
The wheat flour crisis which hit the province in March to May
coincided with the coming to power of the present PML(N)-ANP
coalition government in the province is again emerging and another
acute shortage of wheat and wheat products is looming large in the
province.
Mr Toofan's hue and cry against the Punjab government for sealing
its borders for wheat entry into the NWFP aside, the issue is more
serious in the light of rampant smuggling.
The government, although claiming to have regularized and
streamlined the district-wise quota of wheat, it transpires that
when it is ground in the mills it falls short somehow, somewhere to
create artificial shortage in the local markets.
To overcome the irrigation crises, the provincial government has
recently undertaken medium-size irrigation projects of which Pehur
High Level Canal from Tarbela water resource hopefully would be soon
become a reality, while, Gomal Zam, Kuram Tangi Dams and Rodkohi
system in southern districts of the province have yet to get funds
for going ahead on physical work.
The situation now is that the province has to purchase wheat through
national imports and also to beg for part of it from the Punjab
government. Despite all the claims by the food department and the
provincial government, the wheat stocks position is worsening each
day and the one month godowning facility is always vulnerable to
keep the province self-sufficient in wheat supplies. The situation
has further aggravated apparently due to lack of experience of the
concerned officialdom and over-eagerness of taking political mileage
and publicity in the place of concrete steps by the political
government.
The fact of the matter is that there are reports of massive
irregularities in the award of permits of distribution of wheat and
wheat flour, whereas the concerned department has either no grip on
the whole sale and retail markets or they have some sort of under-
hand understanding with them which gives an impression that there is
no official control on prices.
Hence, atta prices suddenly soar on the transportation of food
grains across the borders. The flour mills which had played a dirty
role in the previous atta crises are once again using the occasion
to take maximum advantage from the crises.
The talk of the town during the earlier wheat flour crisis was that
every flour mill owner had earned enough to set up another flour
mill for himself. And ironically, the majority of them belong to
either the PML or ANP.
Some prominent names of mills owners from the ruling coalition
parties include, the Bilour brothers of ANP, Haji Javed (PML),
Senator Javed Iqbal Abbasi (President of Flour Mills Association),
Syed Ali Shah, MPA, and senior vice-president of PML-N, Yousuf Ayub
Khan provincial minister for C&W. Senator Syed Qasim Shah (PML),
Senator Saranjam Khan (general secretary, PML).
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971013
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Why the census was postponed
--------------------------------------------------------------------
M. Ziauddin
The sudden attack of second thoughts with regard to holding of the
much postponed census is understandable. Perhaps the government had
genuinely wanted very much to get it over quickly. Perhaps that was
why it had put it high on its agenda soon after having romped home
with a massive mandate in the February 1997 elections.
But perhaps the looming challenges of holding the census on October
18 had seemed too perilous in the balance for the government to go
ahead as scheduled. Therefore perhaps the decision to postpone the
head count by about six months.
But the question is, would the government be in a better position
six months hence to cope with these formidable challenges. It has
been only seven months since it came to power. The mandate which is
seemingly overwhelming is still by and large in tact despite the
continuing sluggishness in the economy and high prices.
The understanding with the coalition partners, ANP and MQM is still
good despite the occasional frictions. No major financial scandal
about the government has come to light so far, despite there being
no marked change in the style of governance. The main opposition is
seemingly out and out with corruption charges chasing the top
leadership all over the world. This is an ideal situation for any
government to tackle any number of Pandora boxes. But still, it has
chosen to postpone the inevitable.
There is no guarantee that this situation would last for another six
months. And by March 1998, the new date fixed for the census, things
may not be as smooth as they are today for the government. And if
the reason officially forwarded for the postponement is taken as
correct, then what is there to stop our Southern neighbour which
does not every want to see Pakistan take the road to progress and
prosperity, from engaging the Pakistani troops once again in March
simply to force us to postpone the census.
A periodic census is essential for the planning and management of
the economy. Without knowing how many people there are, where, in
which age group, and with what income and educational bacground
etc., it is next to impossible to know how much to produce and what,
where to distribute and how much and what kind of investment to
promote. It is also next to impossible to know how many can pay the
taxes. That is why the CBR has never been able to estimate even
approximately how much revenue it would collect during a particular
year.
The last census in this country was held in 1981. It is almost 18
years since. A new generation has been born. But we do not know the
size and the profile of this generation. Pakistan's economy has many
problems, some gigantic and some not so gigantic. But the mother of
all problems is the lack of reliable data. And this problem is
directly related to the continuing delay in the holding of the
census. Every time we make a budget, we use the rule of thumb while
estimating expenditure and income and every time the estimates go
off the target by the billions forcing the government of the day to
resort to borrowing.
The social sectors have suffered the most due to the absence of an
updated head count. Not only have these sectors received ever
shrinking resource allocations, but also what was allocated was
perhaps spent wrongly because of lack of reliable data on the in
coming student population or the population- hospital ratios.
Physical planning has also suffered greatly due to non- availability
of data on population distribution and area-wise density.
Consequently, the cities are turning into ghettos as despite the
visibly steep increase in the urban population of Pakistan in the
intervening period, the extent of developmental attention being paid
to the cities and towns has remained unchanged since 1970s.
The urban population has increased steeply partly because of the
galloping population growth throughout the length and breadth of the
country and partly due to ever increasing migration from rural areas
to urban areas because of dwindling employment opportunity there.
The biggest sufferer in this regard is the urban Sindhi. The cities
of Sindh are overflowing while the physical infrastructure in these
cities have simply collapsed. Overall the population of the province
has increased manifold compared to the one recorded in 1981. But
neither has the province's financial allocation under the national
financial commission (NFC) award has increased proportionately, nor
has its quota of government jobs been enhanced. Also the province's
seats in the assemblies have remained static at the 1981 level.
During this period the economy of the Punjab has grown at a
relatively faster pace and at the same time the population of its
cities has increased mainly due to migration from rural to urban
areas.
However, the overall provincial population has not increased at the
same rate as Sind because, the overflows in the Punjab cities went
to Sindh urban looking for livelihood and partly also because the
relative improvement in the living conditions in the Punjab cities
because of economic progress there has perhaps motivated the urban
families to keep their respective counts down.
However, Punjab continues to get the NFC award allocations as well
as the job quotas on the basis of 1981 census. The number of its
assembly seats have also remained in tact.But this has not improved
the lot in the cities because rural Punjab has been getting a
disproportionately higher share of the money and jobs from the
provincial allocations despite a drastic reduction in their share in
Punjab's population.
In NWFP the population of Yousufzais is being overtaken by the
Mohammands. Both are Pathans, but because of change in the
demography of the sub-tribes, the political and economic power in
the Pushtun areas of NWFP is likely to change hands once the census
is held.
Perhaps, due to the influx of Afghans and the impracticality of
sorting them out from the local population, the overall population
of NWFP has increased significantly since 1979. Still, the rate of
increase in this province has remained less than that of Sindh
because most of the overflows in the NWFP cities have also spilled
over into Sindh urban.
But the rate of increase in the province is still higher than in
Punjab. So, perhaps after the next census NWFP is likely to gain
significantly allocation-wise as well as job-wise.
And its seats in the assemblies are also likely to increase at the
cost of the Punjab.
In Balochistan too the Afghan refugees have played an important role
in upsetting the demographic distribution of Pathan and Baloch
population. It would be only logical to sort out this issue before
holding the census. Afghans are not Pakistanis.
They have no right to claim Pakistani citizenship and reduce the
local Pakistani population into a minority. The issue of Balochistan
is qualitatively different from that faced by the Pathans of NWFP.
In that province the influx of Afghans has only increased the number
of Pathans.
It has not turned the local population into a minority. So, while it
would be highly welcome to sort out the two Pathan (Afghan and
Pakistani) communities in NWFP and make the Afghan Pathan to go back
to their own country, the sorting out in Balochistan is essential.
In order to hold the census and still not upset the present
politico-economic power balance, it has been suggested by some
quarters to continue with the present resource distribution basis
and also keep the number of seats in the assemblies same as at
present for at least about two more census.
But this would create more problems than it would solve. So if
anybody is thinking on those lines, he should take a second look at
this idea and try to fathom its ramifications and implications for
Pakistan as a nation state.
The government has announced the postponement of the census less
than two weeks from the due date, fixed soon after it had come to
power. In the intervening seven months millions of rupees had been
spent in preparations for the census.
All this has gone waste. Perhaps an equal amount was lost when the
first Nawaz government stopped the exercise mid-way through in 1991.
The new date fixed for the head count is March, 1998. A number of
exercises would need updating entailing further expenditure.
According to one estimate the country has already spent about Rs.
700 million on the preparations for the 18 October census. Rs. 40
million has been spent on printing and stationary alone. And the
central government has allocated Rs. 300 million to the army, Rs. 30
million to Balochistan, Rs. 90 million to the Punjab and Rs. 40
million each to Sindh and NWFP for census purposes. All this money
has now gone waste. It is therefore imperative that more
postponement are no made if not for any other reason at least for
the sake of economy.
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971015
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Govt wants banks, DFIs disinvested by March
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ihtasham-ul-Haque
ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: A special cabinet meeting here on Tuesday
expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of privatization
process, and the deteriorating financial affairs of the Water and
Power Development Authority (WAPDA).
The Prime Minister took exception to WAPDA's poor performance and
warned officials of serious consequences if things did not improve
within a few months.
Informed sources told Dawn that the Prime Minister was unhappy to
note that the privatization process of state-owned corporations was
too slow and ordered that it be speeded up so that the entire
exercise was completed by June next year.
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971018
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan's privatization plan strongest in Asia, says World Bank
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: The World Bank has noted with satisfaction the
progress made in Pakistan's power sector "where private investment
of $5 billion has been committed."
In the country brief on Pakistan released here on Friday, along with
the World Bank Annual Report 1997, the World Bank has singled out
Pakistan's privatization/private infrastructure programme for
commendation, describing it as "the strongest in Asia � along with
the programme in the Philippines."
Building on a strong track record of 1996 when a number of important
transactions were completed and others brought to an advanced stage,
the government is expected to complete several additional major
transactions this year, the Bank hoped.
According to the World Bank report, Pakistan faced governance
problems, including politicization of routine public sector decision
making; declining effectiveness and capacity of public institutions;
lack of effective law enforcement and timely dispensation of
justice; evasion of taxes, loan repayments, and utility bills; and
underdevelopment of local governments and other civil society
institutions.
These factors have severely reduced the effectiveness of public
expenditures and tax collection machinery, held back and distorted
the development of the private sector, weakening macroeconomic
management, harmed the environment, and exacerbated the other
structural problems Pakistan faces, maintained the Bank report.
The structure of the economy and exports, in view of the Bank,
remains too reliant on agriculture and cotton-based industries,
leaving Pakistan vulnerable to external and internal shocks and
limiting growth prospects.
Despite past performance, industry and agriculture are still
inefficient and uncompetitive in many respects, "both agriculture
(major crops) and large-scale manufacturing suffered negative growth
in 1996-97, and exports declined by 5 per cent."
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971018
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistanis abroad losing confidence in rupee
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
KUWAIT, Oct 17: Pakistani expatriates in Kuwait are divided over the
repercussions of the devaluation of the Pakistan rupee by 8.71 per
cent.
The news of the devaluation spread like wildfire among the community
members here, who rushed to money changers to find out the current
rate of rupee against Kuwaiti Dinar and US dollar.
The exchange rate for one thousand Pakistani rupees slipped from KD
7.540 to KD 6.920.
Shabbir Hussein Jamani, General Manager of the Oman Exchange
Company, said that Pakistanis will further lose confidence in the
Pakistani rupee and the overseas Pakistani community would rely on
US dollars as far as investment in the country was concerned.
"The overseas Pakistani community have lost confidence in their
currency and are after US dollars for their savings, because the
government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has offered 9 per cent
interest on for five-year dollar deposits, while the interest rate
on the rupee deposit is 15 per cent, which is actually less than
that of the US dollar deposits".
Syed Ajaz Hussein, General Manager of Overseas Exchange Company,
said that the devaluation would cause inflation since the cost of
import would rise in terms of Pakistani rupees.
Ajaz Hussain said that there were so many other factors which had
affected Pakistan's exports, that include uncompetitive prices, poor
quality of products and dishonest behaviour of our exporters.
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971018
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CEPA gets extension
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: CEPA Energy Pakistan Limited, a subsidiary of
Consolidated Electric Power Asia Limited (CEPA), officially
announced on Friday that it has been given a one-year extension by
the government of Pakistan for achieving financial close for 1320mw
Keti Bander power project.
Managing Director CEPA Raymond Hill in a statement issued from Hong
Kong said they had received a one-year extension to its power
purchase agreement.
Previously both CEPA and the government of Pakistan had the option
of terminating the PPA on September 30, 1997 if the project did not
reach financial close.
"Under the terms of the extension, CEPA and the government of
Pakistan are committed to seeking solutions to several issues of
concern in the current PPA," Mr. Hill said.
These issues include the cost of power from the plant and of the
transmission line, the obligation of the provincial government of
Sindh to provide associated infrastructure, and matching the project
schedule with the country's needs for electricity capacity, he said.
"Based on our past close working relations with government officials
in Pakistan, we are optimistic that our ongoing negotiations will
finally achieve mutually beneficial resolutions on the outstanding
issues during the extension period," said Mr. Hill.
A subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company, the largest
electricity producer in the U.S. CEPA has power plant operations in
China and the Philippines with a total combined installed capacity
of 3,995mw.
There are also other power projects under development in major Asian
markets including India, China, Indonesia and the Philippines. CEPA
has pioneered the use of the BOT (build-operate-transfer) structure
in completing the first power generations facilities with private
sector participation in emerging Asian markets like China and the
Philippines, he added.
The CEPA project at Keti Bander also involved construction of a deep
sea port and an industrial zone. The power project was to be
completed in two phases. The first phase envisages setting up of two
1320mw generators on the imported coal and in the second stage six
more generators with a total capacity of 3960mw were to be
installed.
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971018
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Forex reserves up by $191m
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 17: Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves rose by $191
million from $1.357 billion to $1.548 billion on October 11.
According to the figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan on
Friday, the total reserves as on October 11 included $974.780
million held within Pakistan and $573.125 million outside the
country.
On Oct 4, the foreign exchange held within country stood at $473.904
million whereas the balances held abroad totalled $883.285 million.
This means that while the reserves held within the country rose by
more than 100 per cent the balances held overseas dropped
drastically during the week ended Oct 11.
Senior bankers and money market analysts reached by Dawn failed to
give reasons for such a phenomenal rise in the reserves held within
the country. They said there was an inflow of foreign currency swap
funds worth less than $100 million coupled with another inflow of
about $50 million on account of the increase in Nostro limits�and
could not identify other major sources that doubled the reserves
held within the country. The SBP had raised the Nostro limits by 15
per cent on Oct 1.
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971018
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Planned and not a crisis move: Pasha
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Hafeez A.
Pasha has said that the government would not have to mobilize
additional $3.40 billion or Rs 152 billion as a result of 8.7 per
cent devaluation of Pakistani currency announced on Wednesday.
"The government would manage the impact of the devaluation by
keeping the inflation rate under control, and by getting additional
$1 billion from exports", he further stated. He said that the
inflation would have to be contained at 10 to 12 per cent to meet
the objectives of the devaluation.
Speaking at a news conference here on Friday, he did not agree with
the independent experts and economists that the government now
needed additional $3.40 billion Rs 152 billion specially to cover
the increase in the debt-servicing of its foreign loans. He insisted
that there existed a "cushion" in the budget to meet the expected
devaluation and that the government would be able to manage
everything within the budgeted amount, fixed for the current
financial year.
One of the major considerations to devalue rupee, Dr Pasha, pointed
out was to arrest declining trends in exports that were specially
witnessed in the month of September. "But we will be able to get
additional $600 million to $700 million due to increase in cotton
production and over $300 million from the export of the manufactured
goods", he claimed. "Then we would have a bumper rice crop along
with sugarcane crop".
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971018
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Equities await outcome of IMF meeting on 20th
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 17: Stocks on Friday lacked the anticipated post-
devaluation buying euphoria as foreign investors took profits at the
inflated levels after the local follow-up turned shy owing partly to
weekend considerations and partly to fears about inflationary
pressures on the economy.
The KSE 100-share index after early weakness managed to finish with
a modest gain of 3.82 points at 1,978.66 as compared to 1,974.84 a
day earlier, reflecting the strength of some leading base shares.
The interesting thing was, however, that leading index shares
including Hub-Power and PTCL, which have a weightage of about 43 per
cent in it finished reacted and it rose, though modestly, without
them.
The market capitalization showed further increase of Rs 943.232m at
Rs 593.090bn as compared to Rs 592.146 a day earlier, as some of the
higher capitalized share tended further higher.
Despite a relative weakness of the blue chips selective support
figured prominently on a number of counters, which enabled the index
to finish with an extended modest rise after early decline of 10
points.
"The strength of the energy sector under the lead of PSO and Shell
Pakistan did not allow the market to finish the weekend session
easy", some dealers said.
But they hoped the market will resume its upturn when the trading
resumes next Monday as the basic fundamentals has undergone a major
change after the devaluation, they added.
Some analysts expect a massive inflow of foreign support but after
the IMF Oct 20 meeting, which will approve $1.06bn credit line under
ESAF .
"Both the devaluation and the release of the first tranche of IMF
credit line could boost the market to new peak levels", they added.
Both PSO and Shell Pakistan again came in for strong support on the
perception of higher sale volumes owing to an increase in the
petroleum prices and so did some other energy shares.
While PSO finished with an extended gain of Rs 13.45 at Rs 462
against the face value of Rs 10, Shell Pakistan surged by Rs 20 to
Rs 352, its new career-best level.
Other good gainers were led by Sapphire Fibres, Crescent Steel and
Lever Brothers which rose by Rs 3.20 to 10. They were followed by
Bolan Bank, MCB, Nishat Mills, Lakson Tobacco and some others.
Losses on the other hand were fractional and reflected lack of
support rather than large selling from any quarter. However, some of
the MNCs, notably Reckitt and Colman, Engro Chemicals, and Knoll
Pharma remained under pressure and ended further lower by Re 1 to Rs
2 and so did International Investment Bank.
Among the locals, 9th ICP Mutual Fund and Century Paper were
leading, falling by Re 1 to Rs 1.25.
PTCL whose board met in Islamabad on Oct 15, declared an increased
dividend of 10 per cent for the last year ended June 30,1997. The
company earned post-tax profit of about Rs 12bn on sales volume of
about Rs 41bn. But its post dividend performance was not that
impressive.
Trading volume fell from the overnight's 102m shares to 57.641m
shares owing to the absence of leading buyers. There were 192
actives, out of which 81 shares fell, while 66 rose, with 45 holding
on to the last levels.
Hub-Power topped the list of most actives, easy 15 paisa on 15.552m
shares followed by PTCL, lower 30 paisa on 14,299m shares; ICI
Pakistan, off also 30 paisa on 13,044m shares; Japan Power, up 30
pasia on 6.678m shares; FFC-Jordan Fertiliser, unchanged on 1.840m
shares.
Other actives traded shares were led by KESC, up 55 paisa on 0.943m
shares; followed by Southern Electric, firm 15 paisa on 0.553m
shares; Sui Northern, steady 10 paisa on 0.364m shares; Sui
Southern, unchanged on 0.331m shares; Pak-Suzuki Motors, up 25 paisa
on 0.359m shares; Chakwal Cement, firm 10 paisa on 0.334m shares and
MCB, higher Rs 1.75 on 0.246m shares. There were some other notable
deals also.
Defaulting companies: The trading in this sector was largely
confined to Schon Bank,which rose 40 paisa to Rs 12.50 on a volume
of 0.269m shares. Sunshine Cloth was traded at the last level of Re
0.50 on turnover of 2,500 shares.
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971012
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Breathing space
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
THE visit of the Queen and Prince Philip, and the Prince's meeting
with his old polo-playing friend, Brigadier Hesky Baig, brought back
memories of the now dormant Pakistan Parks and Playing Fields
Association.
It was founded by that likeable man, Ahmed Jaffer and was affiliated
with the British Playing Fields Association of which Prince Philip
is Patron. In the 1950s and 60s, Hesky and Philip had played a lot
of polo together, at Cowdray Park and at Windsor, mostly in opposing
teams, occasionally in the same team. Hesky, of course, in those
years, his heyday, was the sole Pakistani of his playing era with a
6-goal handicap.
Ahmed Jaffer, later in his life spent more time in London than here,
and when he sojourned at Karachi it was mainly to chair the annual
general meetings of the twenty-seven associations of which he was
president. As they were all held on consecutive days, the samosas
and pakoras and biscuits growing steadily staler and soggier day by
day, Hesky and I as vice-presidents of the Parks and Playing Fields
Association managed to prevail upon him to hold our meeting on his
first day in town.
The last time we met was in the Zia days. The General-President had
posted his army friends in various civil corporations. One rotund
Brigadier, whose name neither of us can readily recall, was the
administrator of the Karachi Municipal Corporation. The subject of
polo matches between India and Pakistan cropped up, and the
patriotic Brigadier's contribution was to tell us to forget about
playing games. What was needed was "aik aur round" of warfare. We
lost the previous wars, morale is low, we need a lift. A second
patriot agreed: "Yes, now is the time. One of our soldiers equals
three of theirs." A third patriot: "Wrong, it's one to five." Hesky
and I looked at each other and asked what would happen to our morale
if "aik aur round" was also lost. Should we not rather stick to
playing polo? Traitors one and two were soundly admonished for even
harbouring such unthinkable thoughts. Ahmed is dead, Hesky and I
are in the winter of our lives. The Association must be revived to
essentially keep open the city's lungs, its open spaces. Let us see
how these have been encroached upon by marauders conspiring with
corrupt politicians and controlling authorities.
Take the revised Kehkashan Scheme 5, approved in 1972, and let us
assess what has happened to its handkerchief-sized planned open
spaces. Starting with Blocks 8 and 9, to the left of the Main
Clifton Road (going towards Clifton) between the Teen Talwar and the
Do Talwar roundabouts. The lessors of this land are the KDA but the
controlling authority is the Clifton Cantonment Board (CCB) which
has been very lax, or corrupt when it comes to the change of land
use.
In Block 8, Plot ST-2 is designated as a park. The Sindh government
and the CCB agreed that a school should be built on this plot to
compensate for a school plot in Shireen Jinnah Colony that had been
grabbed for a highrise. The citizens of the area shouted 'Stop', but
to no avail. Help came from Lt. General Lehrasab Khan, Commander 5
Corps, who had just taken over. His gun, which made no noise, was
effective. Construction stopped at ground level, the excavations
were refilled, but the plot still lies mucked up and undeveloped.
ST-4, another park, has been encroached upon by the Imam of the
mosque on neighbouring ST-5 who has walled-in a sizable portion. On
other parts illegal houses have been built. Much of it remains open,
but, again, undeveloped.
ST-6, a park or a playing field, remains open. But the CCB has
allowed Juma Bazaars to be held thereon, which entails one day to
rig stalls, one day for the market, one day to unrig stalls, and
another day to clear up the debris. This means that for only three
days a week is there undeveloped breathing space where boys can play
cricket.
ST-8 is also designated as a park. On half of it now stands a
magnificent Bohra masjid, and the other half has been occupied by
Edhi.
In Block 9, most of park plot ST-5, opposite the Islamic Chamber,
has been encroached and built upon. A minute portion remains open,
but this could be built upon any day.
A portion of ST-10, another park, was given away in 1996 by the
Chief Executive Officer of the CCB to a friend for a gymasium.
Another portion has been converted into a veritable stinking slum,
occupied by bagpeople, junkies, eating and doss houses. A decent
sized portion remains to be saved and developed.
Across the Clifton Road are the blocks controlled by the KBCA. Plot
ST-6 in Block 7 is a designated park in which a monument was to be
put up. It was given away by former chief minister, Jam Sadiq Ali,
to his old teacher, Bishop Anthony Lobo, who was told to forget
rules and regulations and build upon it an extension of St Michael's
School. Construction was started, the people went to court,
construction was stayed, the people are still in court, and the park
space stands desecrated and unusable.
ST-5, a park, has been entirely illegally walled-in by the mullah of
the mosque on the adjacent plot.
Parts of all the pocket-sized squares designated as parks, ST-6,
7,8,9 and 10 have been encroached upon.
The Nahar-e-Khayyam, an open space, is for the most part an open
sewerage line into which flows the untreated waste of the entire
adjoining areas. In the era of Benazir-1, her cronies planned to
reclaim it and build five highrise complexes (shops and flats). The
citizens went to court and are still in court. The polluting
sewerage continues to flow.
Moving on to Block 5, to ST-15, yet one more park that has been
encroached upon and desecrated, this time by the lessors themselves,
the KDA, for a residential colony. They ran out of money and a few
half-built houses stand upon it.
Before a park could be built upon ST-23, half of it was converted
into residential plots and taken over by bureaucrats. The principal
beneficiaries were ex-bureaucrat Salman Faruqui, retired bureaucrat
Saeed Qureshi, and serving bureaucrat Salik Nazir Ahmed. Salman
occupied an extra portion merely to house his chowkidar. Following
his fall, this has been retrieved for a children's park.
Half of park plot ST-21 has been occupied by the Civil Aviation
Authority on which to build houses for its officers. This was
disputed by the people, the CAA are hanging on, but the space
remains open. The other half was taken over by the KMC in the days
of Benazir Bhutto and her helicopter pilot KMC's Fahim Zaman, and a
half-built structure for an open air theatre stands there. The
people will have to go to court to keep ST-21 open.
Block-6 consists of the Boat Basin and a peripheral garden. The
water forms a part of the eastern backwater and is controlled by the
Karachi Port Trust. The garden belongs to the KDA. Through a
convoluted manoeuvre the KMC, neither lessors of land nor water,
signed the whole lot away to Asif Zardari's friends, the Gittus of
Dolmen apparently in connivance with absconding former chief
minister Abdullah Shah, and his adviser, absconding Tony Casino. In
July 1997, additional chief secretary and secretary for local bodies
and rural development, Ahmed Maqsood Hameedi, who controlled the
KMC, ordered the cancellation of the agreement with the Gittus.
Hameedi now stands OSDeed on the orders of Altafbhai of London town.
An area sliced out from the garden was allotted to the Pakistan Navy
to build a sailing club. Former CNS, Admiral Mansur-ul-Haq,
inaugurated a non-functional building, which remains as it was for
want of funds. A novel way of raising money envisages the leasing of
the roof to a displaced wedding caterer to run a restaurant,
ostensibly for members and 'visiting members.' This latter category
is described as any member of the public who visits. Under no
definition can a club run a restaurant open to the public. COMKAR,
Rear Admiral Fayyaz-ur-Rehman, has promised to right the wrong.
Under the present straightforward CNS, Admiral Fasih Bokhari, this
space is unlikely to be surreptitiously commercialized.
Now, who is willing to come forward and revive our old Parks and
Playing Fields Association, to save and then to nurture our
breathing spaces, to produce enough funds to go to court and keep
what little is left from the clutches of the marauders and the
conniving corrupt authorities?
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*
971014
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Murder by any other name
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Omar Kureishi
NOT all murders are equal. There is a sort of class distinction that
classifies them. There is a murder, pure and simple and most foul,
the taking of a human life for private or personal motives.
This is a lowly homicide. Then there is a political killing. This
does not qualify as murder and how it is treated depends very much
in which camp the killer and the killed belong. In any event, it
enjoys a higher status. It may be carried out in pursuit of private
ambition but it falls in the public domain. And then there is
assassination. This is in a deluxe category, the equivalent of
travelling by Concorde, the Brahmin of murders.
In each case the end-result is the same. A human life has been
extinguished. When one considers how hard we try to keep alive, even
those who are terminally ill will rage against the dying of the
light, we will go to doctors, we will take precautions, we will give
up dangerous and unhealthy habits, at great inconvenience, we will
pray: the will to survive is powerful. Yet how cheap human life is
and how easily it can be taken away, not always by accident or
illness but by a conscious decision of someone to terminate the life
of another one. Just like that, by blowing out a candle.
As a case in point, there was the decision of Mossad, the Israeli
secret service (not so secret) to kill a Hamas leader in Jordan. The
Israeli prime minister Banjamin Netanyahu does not distance himself
from this decision. He owns it and justifies it by saying that it is
his job to send assassination squads to hunt for men he considers
his enemies. By any definition, by any legal standards, Benjamin
Nethanyahu is an accessory to murder, though in this case, attempted
murder because Mossad horribly botched up the hit. If the botched up
attempted murder had not been so grave and sinister an offence, it
would have been hilariously funny, something out of either the
Keystone Cops or Pink Panther.
Nihal Singh, the editor of Khaleej Times is a serious writer and is
not given to levity. Something about this botched up murder or
attempted murder must have touched his funny bone. He describes it
in these words: "If they were not so tragic, recent developments in
the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation seemed to assume comic
proportions more suited to second-rate pulp fiction than to real
life. Imagine the pantomine. We have two spooks in Amman following
their quarry in a car with their accomplices riding separately. They
overtake their target and spray him with a mysterious poison out of
a stick they take out of a bag. The bodyguard of the Hamas leader
Khalid Meshal gives chase and hold the spooks long enough to be
arrested. The spooks cover was blown off immediately because they
did not want Canadian consular assistance despite allegedly being
Canadian. And then followed frantic efforts in several capitals to
bring the improbable story to an end, with Joran's Prince Hassan
dispatched to Washington with a letter. The founder of the Hamas
movement, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin languishing in an Israeli jail, was
released at the dead of night and sent to Jordan. There was no deal,
said King Hussain." And Nihal Singh goes on.
Mossad has a reputation that invests it with almost super-human
powers. It has been involved in several spectacular coups, including
the kidnapping of Eichman and the raid at Entebbe that released the
hostages of a hi-jacked aircraft. But they blew this one suggesting
that they are, after all, human.
Mossad is not the only intelligence agency that has been involved in
dirty tricks including murder. No country can do without its spooks
and they have come to become a government within a government, with
an agenda of their own. It is well known that the US CIA made
several attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. It is not at all
certain whether these attempts were made with the approval of the US
president. Several political leaders, including heads of government,
have died in mysterious circumstances and suspicion has fallen on
some of these spook organizations which may have been behind these
deaths, if not the assailants. This amounts to official banditry and
if a group of private individuals were to do what these agencies do,
they would be branded as criminals and if they represented some
political cause, they would be called terrorists. Yet these official
"murders" are not treated as murders but as a part of policy. The
same applies to custodial deaths and killings as a result of
encounters. This is semantic jugglery but it involves a human life.
The pity is that there is no international court where specific
individuals could be prosecuted for specific murders. Had Mossad
succeeded in killing the Hamas leader, the Israelis would obviously
have denied having anything to do with it. But the real tragedy is
that the murder attempt having been botched up, those Mossad agents
will get off scot-free. They may incur the displeasure of their own
government, not for attempting to murder a human being but for
failing to do so. It is this twisted morality that is so hard to
understand. How many public leaders who we have revered had blood-
stained hands? And to think that we consider Jack the Ripper a
monster! And Benjamin Netanyahu is still prime minister which is
just as well for had he been a private individual, he would have
been in jail.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*
971015
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Keeping secrets
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hafizur Rahman
I HAVE always wondered why nobody ever tells us how many billions
the ten richest men in Pakistan possess. You will read in newspapers
a list of the ten richest men in America published regularly by
Forbes' Magazine and Fortune. The latest came out in Fortune some
weeks ago. Reports are also published about the most moneyed persons
in Britain, Germany and Japan, even Australia, but never about
anyone from Pakistan and India. Why?
There is a reason why our Croesuses never disclose to newsmen or
anyone else how much wealth they have accumulated. It is
understandable since most of them do not pay the taxes they should
be paying. People make guesses about their financial worth, but if
these billionaires were to admit the veracity of these figures they
would be hard put to it to explain where it all came from.
And since no one can make so much money in Pakistan (and India) by
fair and legal means, these gold-plated billionaires would at once
be collared by the Central Revenue hounds and made to account for
every penny they have gathered.
It is now common knowledge that wealth these days is of two kinds;
white and black. It is the ambition of every businessman,
industrialist, defence contractor and real estate merchant to
collect as much black money as possible, since this colour money is
neither traceable nor taxable.
Nowadays we have a new category in Pakistan. This is the chap
ostensibly doing nothing but possessing billions � maybe from
traffic in heroin � paying no taxes and, socially, trying to climb
to the top in order to be counted among the "nobility." For we are
very broadminded in these matters. We are not bothered where a man's
gold comes from, whether from drug-dealing or the white slave trade.
As long as he has the shekels he can count on us for our respect and
on our daughter for a wife.
Actually the disinclination to reveal how much money one has is a
national trait in the subcontinent. For all I know it may be a trait
common to the whole of the East, though I can't be sure, never
having travelled beyond Karachi. And there are good reasons for
maintaining secrecy in the matter.
We are essentially a society of joint families howsoever our
families may have become westernized or dispersed in composition. We
feel responsible for our relatives, even distant relations, and if
we are not able to help them when they are in financial need we feel
guilty. Being Muslim also has something to do with this feeling.
The reality also is that the moment it becomes known that we have
struck gold, we are likely to be besieged by a host of nephews and
brothers-in-law and friends and acquaintances who, it seems, had
been waiting in the slips to make a catch. That is why we may be
rolling in what it takes but we never admit it.
You can try it. Ask anyone whom you trust and who trusts you. It may
be your bosom friend or business partner or an office colleague or
your own brother. Ask him how much he is worth and he'll be evasive
or hesitant or he'll tell a white lie, but never the truth. This has
become a habit with us.
In fact, more often than not, the man you ask will start complaining
about his lack of means and even his downright poverty. "It's
sufficient, thank God, that we are able to have two meals a day," is
the most you will get out of him.
On the other hand, people in the West are not secretive about their
financial position. Maybe because they know that no indigent friend
or greedy relation is going to ask them for a loan or a gift as a
matter of right. In our part of the world if my brother has a lakh I
assume it as a matter of course that half of it belongs to me.
Come to think of it, we are inclined to be close and secretive about
most family matters. If we have suffered a financial reverse we'll
never take friends and relations into confidence. If there has been
a serious illness in the family � particularly cancer or a heart
attack � the fact will be kept from acquaintances.
If there is talk about a match for our daughter it must be kept
hush-hush. And if the match is broken then of course it assumes the
proportions of a defence secret. Strained relations between our
daughter and her husband, which may lead to divorce, can only be
talked about over our dead bodies.
If there is lunacy in the family it is treated duly like a skeleton
in the cupboard. Dismissal from service is described as voluntary
retirement, and even honourable retirement is something that must
not be loudly mentioned. It is as if the poor official has been
guilty of an indiscretion and shouldn't be reminded of it.
Other affairs like sale or acquisition of property are not for other
people's ears. Some people go so far as to hide the pregnancy of a
newly married daughter, as if a mere whisper about it would cause a
miscarriage to take place.
Why is it that we want to hide our personal information from other
people? At the same time we can never keep a secret. Whether this
secret pertains to the state or to individuals � our friends, our
relations, our enemies � it is impossible for it to remain confined
to the circle from where it is not supposed to leak out.
Our government leaders and successive regimes derive full advantage
from this national propensity. While their own secrets also become
known to all and sundry, they succeed in finding out the innermost
and closely guarded decisions of the opposition parties through the
ubiquitous intelligence agencies and the ever-obliging "mole" placed
within every political party.
This insider is ready to betray his friends either for money or just
to please the powers-that-be. Apparently mutual trustworthiness is
not our strong point.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*
971018
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The sound of one hand clapping
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Irfan Husain
POLITICIANS never seem to realize that a mandate � massive or not �
can slip away as remorselessly and as quickly as sand in an
hourglass.
With his two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and the
opposition in disarray, perhaps Nawaz Sharif can be forgiven his
hubris and his complacency. Having neutered the president and nailed
PML members to their assembly seats by making floor-crossing
illegal, the prime minister is as secure today as he can be in a
country where no elected government has completed its tenure in the
last twenty years. From this position of strength, he feels he can
take on any party or institution except, perhaps, the army. Thus, he
has moved � unnecessarily and clumsily, it is true � to clip the
judiciary's wings. Although we have not seen the final act of this
time-wasting and energy-sapping drama, it gives us an insight into
the mindset of this government. Basically, Nawaz Sharif feels that
with his overwhelming legislative strength, he does not need to
consult anybody but his kitchen cabinet. Nor does he need to evolve
a consensus.
The recent censorship policy and the way in which it was announced
is a case in point. Nawaz Sharif walks into the PTV studios in
Lahore, gives the staff there a lecture on his half-baked concept of
"Islamic values", announces that henceforth, men and women will not
appear on the small screen "in close proximity"; there will be no
pop music; and long-haired men will not be permitted anywhere near a
TV camera. The PM went on to say that he would rather shut PTV down
than have it compete with foreign channels.
Now this would have been perfectly OK had he threatened to shut down
a unit of his Ittefaq Industries empire, but PTV is a national asset
(or liability, depending on your point of view) on which the
taxpayer has been forced to shell out billions of rupees over the
years. Who is Nawaz Sharif to shut our national television down
because he doesn't approve of pop groups or men with long hair? Why
doesn't he switch channels as the rest of us do so frequently when
confronted with PTV's usual offerings?
It is this arrogance that is beginning to take on ominous overtones.
The prime minister would do well to remember that power has limits,
just as it carries certain responsibilities. One of them is to set
an example by respecting institutions and not treat them like his
personal handmaidens.
During the first half of her second (curtailed) term, Benazir Bhutto
looked firmly entrenched. With her man in the presidency, and a
supportive COAS in GHQ, only a foolhardy person would have predicted
her early exit. Blinded and made deaf by this feeling of
invulnerability, she proceeded to mess things up on a truly grand
scale. Finally, in her usual arrogance, she antagonised the
judiciary because of her husband's petulance. The rest, of course,
is history. While Nawaz Sharif has been careful in avoiding any hint
of financial scandal � mainly because virtually no deal of any
magnitude has been finalized these last few months � he has taken on
the bureaucracy and the judiciary in no uncertain manner. The former
has reacted by refusing to take decisions that might result in
inquiries and suspensions, while the latter has gone public on
matters that are normally discussed behind the scenes.
After eight months, the PML government looks as rudderless and
clueless as it did when it took over earlier this year. Apart from
its single point agenda of accountability, there is little sense of
purpose or direction. And even on the accountability front, it has
lost credibility by being so blatantly partisan and engaging in a
vendetta against Benazir Bhutto and her family. While even the most
ardent PPP supporter will want the Swiss connection pursued to its
logical conclusion, the cases against many others are crawling along
at snail's pace.
The economy is still in the doldrums, and the stock market
languishes without any sign of revival.
A mandate is not something you keep around to display and gloat over
as if it is a family heirloom; nor is it intended only to ramrod
legislation through Parliament without discussion or debate.
Rather, it is accorded to a political party by the electorate in the
expectation that their lives will be improved. By this yardstick,
there are yet no grounds for optimism. Granted that only eight
months have passed since this government took over, we have been
given no reason to expect that there is light at the end of this
particularly long and dark tunnel.
The only genuinely courageous initiative Nawaz Sharif has taken was
to try and improve ties with India. Unfortunately, vested interests
and hawks on both sides of the border have blocked this move, and
the last few weeks have witnessed regular exchanges of artillery
fire across the ceasefire line killing dozens of civilians. Clearly,
there are people in both countries' military establishments who are
unhappy over the prospect of peace between the two countries.
Relations with Iran, on the other hand, have hit rock bottom.
Apart from this step, removing the president's powers to sack a
government and preventing floor-crossing are the other two major
initiatives Nawaz Sharif can boast of. However, the latter two moves
can be seen as insurance policies aimed at ensuring that he
completes his tenure. However, the millions of Pakistanis who helped
him win his landslide victory would be justified in asking: "What's
in it for us?" So far, nothing this government has done is of direct
benefit to the people. Inflation is still eating into the income of
the average citizen; law and order are limited to well-guarded
sections of Islamabad inhabited by diplomats, ministers and senior
bureaucrats; and our macro-economic woes continue unabated.
And yet, there are any number of actions Nawaz Sharif can take that
will directly affect the lives of millions. for example, the
recommendations of the committee set up under Justice Nasir Aslam
Zahid to inquire into the status of women have been submitted to the
government.
If they are accepted and enforced, this alone would ensure Nawaz
Sharif's place in history. But does he have the courage to take on
the small but vocal obscurantist lobby? Nothing he has said or done
so far suggests that he does. Ayub Khan faced them when he enacted
the Family Laws Ordinance nearly 35 years ago, and this piece of
legislation continues to give women whatever small degree of
protection they have today.
So far, all Nawaz Sharif has been able to do to touch the lives of
the masses is to order the termination of thousands of jobs. Indeed,
the only people who think his government is doing a good job is the
coterie of sycophants surrounding him. From a distance, however, all
the rest of us can hear is the sound of one hand clapping.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*
971018
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Reverting to type
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Amjad Hussain
Blaming the white man for ail our ills has become almost a second
nature for us. He is there ready to be used as a convenient scape
goat for all national disasters that have befallen us in the fifty
years of our history. Be it sectarian violence in the cities, or the
decimation of industrial structure, or the gradual mutilation of the
institutions, it is always the white man in pursuit of his
opportunistic designs who has been credited with these abominable
achievements.
Is it that we seek absolution in blaming others for our own
shortcomings and escape our responsibility or is it a refuge we look
for every time we have to face the unpalatable truth about us and
the society in which we live in that drives us to look everywhere
else except ourselves for an answer?
Irfan Hussain's column on Our Colonial heritage (Dawn, October 4th)
has outspokenly highlighted this unremarkable historical trait in
our biological makeup.
We blame and criticize the white man but have we ever taken the time
to thank him for all the nice things he has done for us? The only
thing the white man should not have given us are those awesome
weapons that have wrecked so much carnage and havoc both here and in
other parts of the Muslim world.
Our white men, the British, were successful in colonizing us because
of the decay in the structure and system of governance caused by
years of depravity and neglect of the rulers. It was shocking to
learn that a certain Maharaja or Nawab, I forget which, used human
baits on his frequent tiger hunts. Are there any further depths of
degeneration society could sink into?
The British came to our soil as traders not conquerors but when they
saw the crumbling edifice they stepped into the place of the
deceased Mogul Empire as arbiters and keepers of peace. It was
during the reign of George II that Robert Clive destroyed the French
power in India and conquered Bengal as the first great continental
area of British rule. The acquisition converted the East India
Company from an armed trading corporation into an Asiatic power. By
and large Indians began to find that under the British flag, and
under theirs alone, was to be found security from warlike invasion
and from grosser forms of domestic oppression. And upon that was
based both the permanence and the justification of the British Raj.
Lord Wellesley did most to expand the British power and to justify
its expansion. He broke the power of Tippoo Sultan of Mysore and of
the great Maratha Confederacy of Central India, whose horsemen had
so long attacked and threatened all the neighbouring States. The
implications of this policy of expansion as we have seen would have
no geographic boundary save the Himalayas and the sea. It was to be
proved by repeated experience in Punjab and elsewhere that peace in
India could only be maintained by the acknowledged suzerainty of a
single power. That few will be inclined to dispute.
In India the process of the growth of fine traditions of Anglo-
Indian rule had already begun among soldiers and civil servants who
were devoted not to personal gain but to government as a means of
peace and welfare for millions.
In many material respects India benefited from various improvements
and reforms introduced by the British administration. Railroads,
bridges, roads, and irrigation systems were constructed; telegraph
and postal services were established; and they stopped all manner of
cruelty including the practice of burning widows on the funeral
pyres of their husbands. In places where there had been no rights,
no justice, no law other than the arbitrary whim of the ruler, they
instituted individual rights. In many cases they made it possible
for the first time for persons to own property and go to court to
recover damages for harms done.
What has been our contribution? Instead of building on the legacy
left behind by the colonial rulers ours have presided over its
progressive destruction.
The democratic institutions and traditions, the infrastructure and
the system of administration have all been eroded by the criminal
neglect of the handful who have ruled since the birth of the
country. That scourge of mankind, slavery, was abolished in the
Empire in 1833 and yet here we are close to the end of twentieth
century witnessing enslavement of people before our very eyes.
Khalid Hasan is right when he says that we have reverted to type
because for example, in the colonial days the feudals were prevented
from the use of slave labour on their farmlands, they were prevented
by the long arm of the British who had instituted checks and
balances against the misuse of power by their protegees whom the
British got to know very well during their conquest of the sub-
continent.
Today the descendants of the same landlords sit in the legislative
assemblies to ensure that the privileges which they have multiplied
over the years remain undisturbed and continue to grow in line with
the multiplication of their progeny.
Is it any wonder that almost all the feudal lords supported the
demand for a separate Muslim homeland? Does it not lead one to
speculate that their support for the movement was based more on
convenience rather than conviction? Free from the constraints
imposed upon him by an impartial administrative machinery to enforce
justice the feudal joined hands with military and civil bureaucracy
to entrench his position on the land which was handed to his
ancestor for favours done and services performed for the British.
The civil military bureaucracy is no better when it comes to power
and privilege. Here again one can see reverting to type because
these two institutions were nurtured under the fine traditions of
British civil and military service and therefore should have stayed
away from politics and offered their vast administrative and
military experience to the inexperienced politicians who took over
after the death of Jinnah.
Yet very soon after independence these two institutions took over
the levers of power and thereafter systematically destroyed the
institutions, traditions and conventions of parliamentary democracy
to maintain their hold on power.
The destruction of traditions and conventions began with Nazimuddin
taking over as governor general after the death of Mr Jinnah. He
became prime minister after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan.
Ghulam Mohammad took over the governor generalship when Nazimuddin
switched from the largely ceremonial to the executive role. Both
appointments had constitutional implications which were ignored at
the time. Nazimuddin was chief minister of East Pakistan before he
succeeded Mr Jinnah as governor general. He therefore breached the
convention that a nonpolitician be appointed governor general.
Ghulam Mohammed was responsible for contravening two conventions:
having served as finance minister, he too was a politician and
additionally he was a former civil servant and civil servants by
convention were not allowed to fill the office of governor general.
The idea being that if the governor general was to be impartial, it
was considered advisable that he should not be associated with any
one particular interest in the government. Ghulam Mohammad had a
long career as a civil servant and events later proved that he
utilized his connection with the bureaucracy to extend his political
power.
Conventions of a constitution are often more important than its
written parts. This is particularly true of constitutions which have
their roots in the unwritten constitution of England.
By contravening established conventions our earlier rulers nipped
the infant parliamentary democracy in its bud. The succession of
dismissed prime ministers first by the governor general and later by
the President bears testimony to the struggle for power between the
two institutions of the state.
Our history is replete with examples of the extreme lengths which
the head of state has gone to in order to maintain his hold on the
levers of power. Starting from the dismissal of Nazimuddin by
proclamation on April 17, 1953 to the dismissal of Benazir Bhutoo in
November 1996, the motive behind each dismissal has always been the
same, quest for power.
Ghulam Mohammad dismissed Nazimuddin because he probably felt
threatened by Nazimuddin's close association with his old enemy,
Fazlur Rehman and feared that Nazimuddin would remove him as
governor general. The dismissal did not provoke a single protest and
was later described as "one of the most popular coups in history".
Ghulam Mohammad sought to strip Nazimuddin of all political support,
retaining six of the nine members of Nazimuddin's cabinet. The three
who were dismissed along with Nazimuddin were the most influential
members of the Muslim League and potentially the most difficult to
control. They were replaced by three figures with little political
strength. With the dismissal of the three, the last of Mr Jinnah's
cabinet choices were removed from the administration thus
eliminating the Muslim League as an independent voice in the central
government.
Nazimuddin's dismissal was an attack on the Constituent Assembly.
Ghulam Mohammad had demonstrated that the confidence expressed in
Nazimuddin by the assembly meant nothing. By appointing his own
prime minister Mohammad Ali Bogra, Ghulam Mohammad began to exercise
powers similar to Mr Jinnah who as governor general appointed a
prime minister independent of the Constituent Assembly.
The next move in his relentless pursuit of power was forced upon him
when the Constituent Assembly moved to replace governor general's
office by the office of the President who was reduced to a mere
figurehead. This threat from the assembly was dealt with by the
simple expedient of dissolving it and declaring a state of emergency
throughout the country. The central point is that whenever the
governor general and later the President felt threatened they took
immediate action to remove the threat, whether perceived or real, to
maintain their hold on power.
Our history makes sad reading. We have floundered on the path of
history as selfish, autocratic and short sighted people and the
colonial interlude was the only time during which those natural
instincts were suppressed.
With the removal of the colonial restraint we have reverted to type
and seem incapable of curbing those instincts. Let us hope that the
recent confrontation between the executive and the judiciary is not
a prelude to another contest for unbridled power by the chief
executive of the country.
For if it is a struggle for supremacy of power as we have witnessed
in the past than we should have no hesitation in supporting the
judicial arm of the constitution to keep a check on an executive
with brute majority in the legislature.
Let us make sure that this time around the infamous natural
instincts are restrained by the popular will of the people. That
will be the ultimate triumph of democracy.
971014
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UBL dispense with services of Waqar, Mushtaq & Inzamam
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Special Representative
PESHAWAR, Oct 13: United Bank Limited (UBL) has terminated the
services of Pakistan Test stars Waqar Younis, Mushtaq Ahmed and
Inzamamul Haq with effect from Oct 11, well informed sources
revealed here on Monday.
Besides, these three current players, nine other cricketers were
terminated, including skipper Tauseef Ahmad and basit Ali.
The 12 cricketers sacked are: Waqar Younis, Mushtaq Ahmad, Inzamamul
Haq, Basit Ali, Tauseef Ahmad, Umer Rasheed, Salim Jaffar, Hasnain
Kazim, Iqbal Imam, Aamir Bashir, Mohammad Ramazan and Javed Sami
Khan.
Informed sources stated that Younis, Ahmad and Haq will be served
with termination letters later this week while the other nine have
been served with the notices.
Sources stated that the nine players were formed the backbone of the
United Bank in Karachi while Waqar Younis is posted in Vehari,
Mushtaq Ahmad in Sahiwal and Inzamamul Haq in Multan.
Sources added that the sacking of the 12 cricketers was because the
bank terminated 6,000 employees who were either appointed or
promoted after Oct 1991.
Each appointed at a gross salary of more than Rs 100,000 a month.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*
971015
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Woolmer pleads for sporting wickets
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Special Representative
PESHAWAR, Oct 14: South Africa's coach Bob Woolmer has seconded the
idea that the International Cricket Council (ICC) should sit and
decide which type of wickets were best for the promotion of the game
in general.
"The ICC should definitely discuss about the uniformity of the
wickets rather than showing their authority that wickets should be
like this or that," he said in an interview to Dawn.
"The ICC should do what they think is right for Test cricket. The
important thing is that they have to sell the game to the public,
the sponsor, the television," Woolmer opined.
"The ICC should realise that they need to make sure that they keep
the game in the forefront of everyone's eyes," said the Indian-born
Englishman.
About the Rawalpindi wicket, Woolmer said it was favourable to
batsmen. Two of the best bowling attacks could get only 16 wickets
with only two-and-a-half innings being completed. It wasn't a bad
wicket but it was a good batting wicket that made bowling difficult,
he said.
In the long run, Woolmer continued, if you see every single Test of
two-and-a-half innings, Test cricket will become boring and not many
people will come and watch the game, he stressed.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*
971018
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PCB delays naming team for four-nation cup
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Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 17: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is delaying the
announcement of the 14-member team that will take part in the
quadrangular tournament.
The four-nation event begins at Lahore from Nov 1 and is being
participated by world champions Sri Lanka, South Africa and the West
Indies, besides the home country.
Investigations reveal that the selectors have submitted the team to
the cricket board. In fact, the team was submitted when the
selectors discussed the second Test squad.
It was also confirmed that Mushtaq Ahmad has requested that he wants
to concentrate more on Test cricket than one-day games. According to
sources, Mushtaq felt more pressure in the limited overs games.
Meanwhile, Inzamamul Haq has not been approached by the cricket
board regarding his Toronto case. On Wednesday, an impression was
given that Inzamam might have to go to Toronto but the factual
position is that PCB's solicitor, Ali Sibtain Fazli, is handling his
case and so far has not contacted the burly batsman.
The 14 finalised by the selectors are:
Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Aamir Sohail, Ali Naqvi, Ijaz Ahmad,
Inzamamul Haq, Mohammad Wasim, Moin Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mohammad
Husain, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aqib Javed and Azhar Mahmood.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*
971015
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Pakistan out of Champions Trophy tournament
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Michelangelo Rucci
ADELAIDE, Oct 14; Pakistan has conceded. There is no more business
to be done by the world champion at the 19th FIH Champions Trophy
here after Pakistan fell embarrassingly to the foot of the table
without a victory after a 1-3 loss to its bogey team Korea last
night.
It is the first time Pakistan has lost three consecutive games at a
major international tournament � and it will need to find something
extra to take the points from Olympic finalists Spain and the
Netherlands in the next three days.
Last night's crushing defeat the Pakistanis third in three matches
after losses to Germany and Australia at the weekend has ended any
chance of Pakistan claiming a medal here, just 10 months after it
played off against Olympic champion the Netherlands for the
Champions Trophy in Madras, India.
It was Korea's first win at its first Champions Trophy series "we
have no excuses," said Pakistan coach Jahingir Ahmed Butt. "We
should not have lost tonight we played very good hockey and I can't
give you the reason for this defeat.
"We have so many good chances in the first half that we should have
won by three or four goals. But we didn't.
"And now we are out of this tournament. All we can do now is prepare
for the World Cup next year."
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