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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 21 June 1997 Issue : 03/25
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FIA action against citizens held untenable
Consortium states back budgetary proposals
Pakistan has answer to Indian missiles
Rumours surround Kansi's arrest
Pakistan, US talks begin today
PIA Boeing escapes major tragedy
Benazir warns of action if Mazhar not recovered
Chinese, Pakistani mountaineers scale Nanga Parbat
---------------------------------
SBP cuts discount, repo rates
Bids for auditing taxable incomes
Forex reserves fall by $44m
IT relief for salaried groups
Too full of hopes, too tight to be true
The delinquent economy and its mentors
Experience economy and the high-tech job sector
Leading investors make heavy covering purchases
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Murtaza's murder Ardeshir Cowasjee
Back to the killing fields By Mazdak
What the tribunal did not say Aziz Siddiqui
Dirty tricks Hafizur Rahman
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Decline in athletics needs to be checked
Bangladesh, Kenya given one-day status by ICC
No provision for rain day in World Cup schedule
Wasim Raja likely to replace Mushtaq
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970615
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FIA action against citizens held untenable
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Shujaat Ali Khan
LAHORE, June 14: The FIA cannot as a rule proceed against private citizens,
the Lahore High Court has held in its detailed judgement on the two
acquittal petitions moved by the directors of the Sharif family's Hudaibiya
Engineering Limited and Hudaibiya Paper Works.
The court held that under Section 3 of the FIA Act of 1974, it can
investigate offenses only in those cases in which the accused is a
government servant or an employee of a corporation administered by the
federal government.
The Hudaibiya directors moved the Lahore High Court for their acquittal
under Section 265-X of the Criminal Procedure Code. According to them,
there was no possibility of their conviction on the basis of the material
produced by the prosecution or the FIA.
Barrister Ashtar Ausaf Ali appeared for the petitioners and Deputy
Attorney-General Khawaja Saeed-uz-Zafar for the FIA. The FIA case involving
Hudaibiya Engineering alleged that its directors, in collaboration with the
officials of Habib Bank A.G. Zurich, Lahore, and the Bank of America,
Lahore, under the influence of Mian Nawaz Sharif, managed to draw by
opening three fake accounts an amount of Rs 60 million. The loan was raised
against the account of Kashif Masood Kazi.
The case against Hudaibiya Paper Works alleged money laundering by its
directors through a loan obtained from Citibank, Lahore, against a fake
account in the name of one Mrs. Sikandara Masood Kazi.
The judgement said: "in the instant cases, undisputedly, neither any
employee of Federal Government nor of any Corporation created, controlled
or administered by the Federal Government is involved. "The alleged
offenses cannot be said to have been committed in connection with matters
concerning the Federal Government. The allegations against private persons
of allegedly opening foreign exchange accounts in foreign banks, against
which certain amounts were taken as loan by directors of private limited
companies cannot, by any stretch of reasoning, attract the jurisdiction and
authority of FIA, so as to enable it to register cases in respect thereof.
The investigations by the agency and submission of challan in court are
clearly without jurisdiction.
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970619
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Consortium states back budgetary proposals
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 18: The envoys of the Aid-to-Pakistan Consortium countries
have endorsed the broad economic measures contained in the 1997-98 budget
proposals and said the steps would help improve the overall economic
situation in the country.
Minister for Finance Senator Sartaj Aziz and Dr Pasha gave a briefing on
the budget to the envoys here on Wednesday and spelled out the government's
plan to reduce defence budget and substantially cut non-development
expenditure.
The envoys believed that the present budget could revive the industrial
sector and help the government achieve good economic indicators, Dr Pasha
said.
He said that the envoys had initially some reservations on the proposed
reduction in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), but later
realised the financial difficulties of the government.
Sartaj Aziz said the revenue estimates 1997-98 budget was based on reality.
He said the revenue targets of Rs348.8 billion fixed for the current
financial year by the PPP government were unrealistic and so those could
not be achieved.
Mr Aziz said the PSDP had been prepared keeping in view the need to
accelerate GDP growth and the need to quickly complete development projects.
He reportedly said there would be an increase of 13.9 per cent in social
sector expenditures during the next financial year as a result of higher
provisions for current and ADP expenditures in the federal and provincial
budgets. He also said the revival of industrial and agricultural sectors
would contribute to higher growth and improve revenue collection.
Sources said the new budget would lay a basis for uninterrupted flow of
funds from the consortium, out of $2.3bn approved by the Paris Club on
April 22 and 23 for 1997-98.
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970619
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Pakistan has answer to Indian missiles
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 18: The Chairman of NA's Standing Committee on Defence,
Colonel (retd) Serwar Cheema, said here on Wednesday that Pakistan had an
answer to nearly all the Indian missiles, but Islamabad did not boast of
the way New Delhi did.
At a briefing in the National Assembly, Cheema denied Press reports that
the army had called for more funds during a meeting of the NA's Standing
Committee on Defence and termed the report baseless.
The NA's Standing Committee on Defence had an in camera session on Tuesday
for four hours in which, Cheema said, all issues were discussed threadbare.
He told journalists that there was no demand at the meeting by any official
concerned with the Defence Department for a raise in funds.
The retired Colonel, who himself had been minister of defence during the
first tenure of the Benazir Bhutto government, said in reply to different
questions that there did exist an element of concern over India's
hegemonistic designs. He said New Delhi posed as if it were a super power
but Cheema made it clear that Pakistan could never be browbeaten.
He said there did occur a discussion at the committee's meeting about the
future strategy of the army which was nothing new because army planned
every thing well into the future.
He assured that in future it would be ensured to arrange proper briefing
sessions for the newsmen and they would be informed of the deliberations of
the meetings.
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970620
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Rumours surround Kansi's arrest
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Nadeem Saeed Malik
DERA GHAZI KHAN, June 19: Who was the person whisked away from a local
hotel on Sunday last in a mysterious operation reportedly organized by
military commandos? Was he Aimal Kansi or someone else? This was the most
asked question in this part of the country after the news of Mir Kansi's
arrest spread in the country through the media.
It may be recalled that at about 4.15 am on Sunday some 30 armed personnel
entered Shalimar Hotel and introduced themselves as military commandos.
They took positions and ordered the hotel employees on duty to lie down on
the ground.
They also severed phone lines of the hotel, and a few of them along with a
tall foreigner rushed to room number 312 where one person - namely
Saifullah Khan - of Waziristan agency had been staying since Friday evening.
After a very short span of time, the commandos and the foreigner came down
to the ground floor with a moaning person. The foreigner, who was perhaps a
CIA agent and had come to identify Kansi, was wearing Sindhi ajrak and was
heard saying 'thank you, thank you' to a man looking like an officer.
During the operation a local police party on patrol duty reached the hotel.
The policemen were also held up by the commandos, and were ordered to stand
still with their faces towards the wall.
Accomplishing their operation, the armed men drove towards Dera Ghazi Khan
airport in white-coloured Pajero jeeps where reportedly a military
helicopter and a four-seater plane were waiting for them. The police party
also left the place without inquiring about the matter from the hotel
management.
At about 5am, the copter and the plane took off to some unknown
destination, it was learnt.
The information gathered by this correspondent revealed that the commandos
who took part in the "kidnapping" operation reached here in a separate
helicopter which reportedly landed at the PAEC helipad.
The helicopter and the plane reached the airport only a few minutes before
the completion of the operation and immediately took off after picking the
"wanted man" and the foreigner, who accompanied the commandos in the
operation.
When contacted hotel sources said the "kidnapped" person was a medium-built
youth in his 30s, was trying to speak Seraiki but his Pashtoon accent was
clearly noticeable.
A room service waiter said that his (the kidnapped person's) black curly
locks were drooping on his forehead. It was learnt that he never ordered
for anything during his 34 hours stay in the hotel.
It was also learnt that the "victim" reported at the hotel reception on
Friday afternoon. But he was denied a room as he had only Rs 200 with him
at that time, while the management demanded over Rs 400 as advance for two
days stay. The person left the hotel and then returned at about sunset
time, and gave Rs 500 to the receptionist.
The white Pajeros bearing no number plates used in the operation, were seen
plying on city roads even on Thursday.
It was learnt that the operation was supervised by a military officer of
higher than brigadier rank.
Meanwhile, the Special Branch has taken in its custody record of the
Shalimar hotel, while officials of intelligence agencies are also
reportedly making inquiries from the hotel management.
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970621
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Pakistan, US talks begin today
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Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD, June 20: Some important outstanding issues relating to
narcotics, between Pakistan and the United States, are expected to be
discussed when talks between the two sides formally start here on Saturday.
The American team for the talks, led by the head of US Drug Enforcement
Agency, which arrived here on Friday, will have two-day discussions with
Pakistan authorities.
The issues which are expected to be discussed by the two sides include
signing of a memorandum of understanding between Pakistan's Anti Narcotics
Force and the US Drug Enforcement Agency ; release of Ayaz Baloch and the
fate of squadron leader Farooq Khan (who was arrested in Washington while
carrying heroin in a PAF plane).
The talks, according to official sources, have been arranged at the request
of the US which apparently wants to sort out some major irritants which
have surfaced recently between the two countries in the field of narcotics,
including the arrest of Ayaz Baloch..
The sources confided to Dawn that Pakistan would seriously consider the
United States request for the signing of a memorandum of understanding for
co-operation in the field of narcotics to avoid misunderstandings in future.
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970621
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PIA Boeing escapes major tragedy
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Dawn Report
KARACHI, June 20: A New York-bound PIA Boeing 747 flight narrowly escaped a
major tragedy when one of its four engines caught fire moments after the
plane took off from Lahore airport for Frankfurt on Friday morning.
The fire was put out by the crew through the plane's inbuilt
fire-extinguishing system, the trouble-hit engine shut down, and the
aircraft was diverted to Karachi where it landed safely.
Flight PK 715, carrying 275 passengers and 16 crew members, took off from
Lahore for Frankfurt en route to New York, Friday morning but had to be
diverted to Karachi when its engine no.2 caught fire. The plane landed
safely at Karachi airport at 11.20 am and all its passengers were shifted
to another aircraft, which took off after a five-hour delay. A PIA
spokesman told newsmen here that the pilot sensibly diverted the plane to
Karachi which landed on its three engines. All the passengers are safe, the
spokesman said and added that the PIA management has ordered an inquiry
into the accident The fire in the engine of the aircraft was seen by a
number of residents of the adjoining townships as the plane approached to
land at Karachi's Quaid-i-Azam International airport.
Our Staff Reporter ads from Lahore: Soon after the plane was airborne that
its pilot, captain Khalid Iqbal, noticed sparks and immediately shut off
the engine.
The fuel tanks of the affected plane, PIA and Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) officials told Dawn, were emptied by the pilot near Thokar Niaz Beg
after the fire was extinguished as a further precautionary measure.
No one at Lahore airport could explain as to what actually happened. "Only
the flight captain or PIA engineers in Karachi can tell you anything about
the fault," a PIA official said. The airline's public relations officer
said the pilot had shown presence of mind in handling the emergency.
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970615
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Benazir warns of action if Mazhar not recovered
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 14: Leader of the opposition and former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto demanded that the Sindh chief minister should be sacked for
his alleged involvement in the abduction of Pir Mazharul Haq and warned
that her party may take extreme action if he was not recovered.
Ms Bhutto said kidnapping of Pir Mazhar was "political terrorism which
indicates that they don't want pluralism in democracy." She expressed
concern about the safety of Pir Mazhar and added that her party would not
"take it lying down any more." Ms Bhutto said she had kept quiet because
her husband was detained in false cases and her action to the contrary
would have been interpreted differently.
Ms Bhutto said that the Sindh PPP would discuss the situation in a meeting
and may give a strike call if Pir Mazhar was not recovered safe and sound.
"We suspect the chief minister to be behind Pir Mazhar's abduction" because
his family had a long history of political rivalry in Dadu district, said
Ms Bhutto.
The PPP chairperson said that terrorism had increased after the government
released many individuals who were allegedly involved in terrorist
activities. "They released such elements because they believe in politics
of terrorism," she added.
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970616
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Chinese, Pakistani mountaineers scale Nanga Parbat
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Staff Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, June 15: Six Chinese and two Pakistani mountaineers made history
when they scaled the 8,125 metre killer mountain Nanga Parbat from Diamir
side, hoisting atop the summit flags of the two countries as a memento of
their triumph.
The expedition to Pakistan's second highest peak was jointly launched by
the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) and the Alpine Club of
Pakistan. For the Chinese mountaineers, it was a landmark moment as this is
the first ever ascent of the Nanga Parbat by the Chinese.
The six Chinese who made it to the top are: Tse Ring Dor Ji, Gyal Bu, Re
Nai, Lu Tse, Ban Bar Dra Shi and Aga Bu from CTMA. Two Pakistani who
achieved the distinction are : Hav (Retd) Mohammadullah and Aziz Beg. For
Hav (Retd) Mohammadullah, it was another feather in his cap as he achieved
the distinction for the second time in his mountaineering career. Earlier,
he had climbed the peak of the killer mountain in 1989 as a member of the
army expedition to the Nanga Parbat.
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970618
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SBP cuts discount, repo rates
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Mohiuddin Aazim
KARACHI, June 17: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday cut discount
and repo rates by 1 per cent to 19 per cent. The move is aimed at easing
the liquidity crunch in money market and enabling the banks to cut their
lending rates.
The SBP issued two separate circulars announcing the cut in its discount
and repo rates, just hours after the meeting of the apex committee on
revival of sick units. The committee met to review progress on the recently
announced special scheme for the revival of sick units. SBP Governor Dr.
Muhammad Yaqub was in the chair.
Money market analysts say it is just logical to cut the discount and repo
rate at a time when the SBP is advising banks to reduce their lending
rates. The government has already withdrawn one per cent excise duty on the
bank advances. Combined together these decisions will help the banks cut
their excessive lending rates that slow down the industrial activity on one
hand and fuel inflation on the other.
Since the State Bank issued the circulars quite late in the evening the
reverberations of the cut in discount and repo rates could not be felt in
the money market the same day. But the move will surely provide a breather
to the market on Wednesday. On Tuesday the market closed on a tight note
with call rates ranging between 19.25-20.00 per cent. A discounting of Rs
1.2 billion was also reported. "It has been decided that the financing
facilities to be provided by the State Bank for meeting temporary liquidity
shortages shall, with immediate effect be remunerated by the recipients at
a minimum rate of 19 per cent on annual basis," says one of two circular
issued by the SBP.
The other says: "it has been decided to reduce the SBP 3-day repo against
short term federal bonds and federal investment bonds by 1 per cent to 19
per cent per annum with effect from 18th June, 1997."
Put simply the banks may now borrow short term funds from the SBP at 19 per
cent instead of 20 per cent to cover their positions on daily basis. They
can also enter into repo deals of STFBs and FIBs with the SBP at the same
rate for 3 days.
Money market analysts say the cut in discount and repo rates is a follow-up
of the recently announced 5 per cent cut in the statutory liquidity ratio
for banks and NBFIs. The SBP cut the SLR for the banks from 25 to 20 per
cent on May 28 and slashed the same for Non-bank financial institutions
from 19 to 14 per cent on June 7. The moves were apparently aimed at
pumping in additional liquidity in the money market to create surplus funds
for onward lending to the private sector.
The analysts say the 5 per cent cut in SLR followed by the withdrawal of
one per cent excise duty on bank advances and a one per cent cut in the
discount and repo rates are all in line with the supply side economics
being persuaded for the revival of the economy. They say with these
measures in place the government and the State Bank can rightly expect the
commercial banks and development financial institutions to bring down their
high lending rates.
The average lending rate of the commercial banks in Pakistan stands at
17.50 per cent with the highest rate being 24 per cent whereas the average
rate of return the banks pay to their depositors remains below 10 per cent.
The economic managers of the country are currently pursuing a three-pronged
strategy to slash this thick spread between the borrowing and lending rates
of the banks. Under this strategy additional liquidity is pumped in, fiscal
measures affecting the profitability of the banks are being corrected and
the banks are being asked to plug financial leakages and improve
professional competence.
Banking analysts say with this strategy having taken off the time has come
for the State Bank to ask the banks outright to cut their lending rates and
enhance return on deposits. They say this may be done anytime between June
and September adding that 2-3 per cent cut in lending rates can be expected.
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970620
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Bids for auditing taxable incomes
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, June 19: The government has decided to greatly marginalize the
role of the Income Tax Department as the private chartered accounting
companies are being given the task of auditing the accounts of the tax-payers.
In an interview with Dawn here on Thursday, he said that the decision of
appointing private audit companies was taken with a view to improving the
tax administration in Pakistan.
"The prime minister has approved new measures to strengthen the present
weak tax administration by seeking the services of the private sector", the
deputy chairman planning commission further stated.
He was of the view that the appointment of private audit companies would
eliminate to maximum extent the misuse of powers and chances of corruption.
Dr Pasha pointed out that much greater reliance was on computerisation of
the tax system to remove leakages. Then the new information technology
would be applied to minimize the chances of tax evasion, he added.
Responding to a question the deputy chairman planning commission said that
the system of self-assessment scheme would be strengthened.
He also said that the provincial tax system would be strengthened to net
new tax-payers and the informal sector which had been evading these taxes
for the last so many years. "The provincial excise department will be made
efficient so that it should provide us the details of the properties of the
citizens. Then motor vehicles section will be responsible for offering us
details about the vehicles of the public, and through the filing of income
tax returns by the telephone subscribers, lot of information would be
collected to tax the non-tax-payers".
However Dr Pasha clarified that the genuine people who would declare their
zero income would not be brought under tax net.
Answering a question he said that a decision had also been taken to
establish certain "reward and punishment system" in the Central Board of
Revenue(CBR). He said the details about the issue were currently being
worked out and would be made public shortly.
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970620
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Forex reserves fall by $44m
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 19: Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fell from $ 1.064
billion on June 7 to $ 1.020 billion on June 14-a decline of $44 million
within a week.
The latest weekly statistics released by the State Bank put the total forex
reserves at RS 41.205 billion or $1.020 billion on June 14 against RS
42.990 billion or $1.064 billion on June 7. The break-up shows that on June
14 the reserves held within the country totalled RS 32.513 billion or
$804.982 million whereas the balances held outside stood at RS 8.692
billion or $215.211 million. On June 7 the forex reserves within Pakistan
stood at the same level- RS 32.513 billion or $804.982 million. But the
balances held outside the country amounted to RS 10.477 billion or $259.40
million. This shows that during June 7-June 14 the reserves abroad declined
by $44 million.
Senior bankers term the fall in reserves as routine fluctuation and link it
to footing of enhanced import bill and a nominal outflow of foreign
currency swap funds.
They say that a rapid decline in the yield on six-monthly short term
federal bonds has reduced the earning on the swap funds. Hence the outflow.
The yield on STFBs has come down from a staggering 17.50 per cent in mid
May to 15.90 per cent slashing the thick spread between the cost of the
foreign currency funds and the return on their rupee equivalent.
Regardless of the fall in forex reserves during June 7-14 this is for the
third consecutive week that Pakistan managed not to decline the reserves
below $1.0 billion. On May 24 the reserves stood at $832.04 million.
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970620
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IT relief for salaried groups
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Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, June 19: The federal government has proposed under the 1997-98
federal budget a drastic reduction in the rates of the Income Tax payable
by the salaried group.
The Central Board of Revenue has presented a budgetary proposal subject to
the approval by the Parliament, to deduct the income tax from the salaried
group in accordance with the changes made in March 1997.
The income tax now to be deducted at nearly 50 per cent reduced rates would
be documented through the certificate issued by the employer in favour of
the employee, whose only income is his salary. The employee getting this
certificate would submit it at the specially created counters at the IT
offices, to prove that the tax has already been deducted from his income,
and that his only income is his salary.
These counters will be created after the budgetary proposal is passed by
the Parliament as part of the 97-98 tax proposals as incorporated in the
fiscal layout.
This proposal is based on the CBR's idea of activating the Section 55 (1),
Ist Provision (as amended in 1987) of Income Tax Ordinance 1979.
The change in rates is part of the Finance Bill issued along with the
budgetary documents on June 13, and is applicable from the salary to be
disbursed on August 1, 1997. Up to the salary to be drawn for the month of
June 1997, the old rates and method of deduction would remain operative.
The CBR officials approached by Dawn explained that the new rates and
method would be applicable only to the salary group which had no other
income. The certificate issued by the employer would also mention the fact
that the employee had no income other than the salary.
Rates and method of deduction of IT for the salaried group also enjoying
incomes other than salary, are separately dealt with, under the Income Tax
Ordinance.
Rates as explained by IT officials to Dawn on the instructions of Member
IT, CBR Khwaja Sarwar, are as follows:
Upto the salary earned for the 97-98 financial year by Rs 50,000, is
exempted from payment of IT.
Under the rates (old) operative upto the end of July 1997, a surcharge at
the rate of 10 per cent, over and above the IT deductible, is added to the
total IT calculated.
The surcharge has now been done away with, for implementation of the new
(proposed) rates.
Clarifying the point, the CBR IT officials said that under the old rates,
if the monthly salary of an employee is Rs 30,000 (annual Rs 360,000), the
IT deductible on 300,000 is Rs 60,000, while the rest of Rs 60,000 is
leviable at the rate of 35 per cent (Rs 21,000), the total IT deductible
being Rs 81,000. From this amount a Basic Tax Credit of Rs 5000 is
deducted, bringing down the total IT deductible to Rs 76,000.
To this amount, a surcharge (@ 10 % = Rs 7,600 ) is added, increasing the
total IT deductible to Rs 83,600.
Under the new rates, a sum of Rs 44,500 is deductible as IT from this
amount of annually earned salary by an employee. The formula proposed lays
down that Rs 30,000 are deductible on Rs 300,000. On the remaining Rs
60,000, (@ 20 %) another Rs 12,000 are deductible, the total IT on this
amount of salary being 42,000. The Basic Tax Credit of Rs 2,500 is further
deducted from this total, asking the payee to deposit only Rs 39,500 as IT,
as against Rs 83,600 payable under the old rates. The rest of the rates are
as follows:
* Where the total income does not exceed Rs 100,000 = 5% of the total income
* Where the total income exceeds Rs 100,000 but does not exceed Rs 200,000
= Rs 5,000 plus 10% of the amount exceeding Rs 100,000
* Where the total income exceeds Rs 200,000 but does not exceed Rs 300,000
= Rs 15,000 plus 15% of the amount exceeding Rs 200,000
* Where the total income exceeds Rs 300,000 = Rs 30,000 plus 20% of the
amount exceeding Rs 300,000
IT further says that in the case of the working women, IT worked out on the
basis of the table shall be reduced by Rs 3000. No tax is payable where the
total income does not exceed Rs 60,000. It adds that in the case of other
salaried persons IT worked out on the basis of the table shall be reduced
by Rs 2,500. No tax is payable where the total income does not exceed Rs
50,000.
Furthermore, no tax rebate for investment in certificates, shares,
contribution made towards provident fund, premium paid in respect of life
insurance, etc. is admissible in any case.
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970616
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Too full of hopes, too tight to be true
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M. Ziauddin
It is a budget of hopes, rather full of hope.
Hope that our business community will take full advantage of the many
breaks offered in the budget to make more money. That after having made
these windfall gains, it would share part of these with the nation in the
shape of due taxes.
Hope that the CBR collectors will make honest efforts to dig out all the
taxpayers identified in the budget. That these collectors will not indulge
in siphoning off the legitimate dues accruing to the nation.
Hope that the government will have the political will and the determination
to downsize itself, financial institutions and corporations without losing
much time. That before the new year commences, the shopkeepers will agree
to a consumption tax (VAT) at the retail level.
Hope that Pakistan will get $3 billion in assistance (concessional and
non-concessional loans) during the next year. And above all the hope that
the weather would help.
There is no reason why the nation at large should not share these hopes. It
has had a rough deal all these years. Every time a budget is announced, it
is asked to tighten the belt and every time it tightens the belt, the extra
ounce of blood that is squeezed out of its system is transfused in part
into the pockets of the tax collector and in part into the coffers of those
who are paid to use this money for the well being of the nation.
This time, however, the budget-makers hope that this will not happen and
therefore, they want the nation to share their hope of anticipated
prosperity all around as a result of the new budget.
Well, there seems to be nothing left for the nation to lose anymore if it
wanted to share with the government these hopes. In any case, it is tired
of looking at everything with cynicism. But these forlorn hopes should not
make one lose sight of the fact that never before in the fiscal history of
Pakistan has tax collection jumped by over 27 per cent in a mere 12 months
or in absolute terms by about Rs 70 billion in one year.
Also one should keep in mind that this is the year of tax breaks by the
scores. It will take at least 18 to 24 months for the business community,
if it were to begin today, to start yielding this kind of revenue. So, the
hope that the CBR will collect an additional Rs 70 billion in taxes without
as claimed by Sartaj Aziz, the imposition of new taxes, is indeed a tall hope.
Of course, if in due course of the year, the shopkeepers agree to some kind
of consumption tax at the retail level, then perhaps it is possible to
achieve at least about 30 percent of this target.
While, still not losing hope, one should note that it is a very tight
budget. Too tight to be true. There are clear reductions in the expenditure
of general administration and annual development efforts and an inherent
decline in the defence expenditure if the rate of inflation is taken into
consideration.
These reductions have taken place in comparison to the current year which
was not a normal year. And there is every possibility that when the actual
accounts come in which takes at least 18 months or so, it would be found
that after all there were significant increases in the expenditure under
all these heads in the year, 1996-97.
So, unless, the government has made up its mind and has the political will
to downsize itself, financial institutions and corporations, thereby
reducing the burden on the budget by at least another Rs 10-15 billion,
there is no way the allocations under these heads for the next year could
be kept from overshooting.
So, while hoping for the best, one should always expect the budget to cut
loose by at least about Rs 50 billion in case the imposition of consumption
tax and downsizing efforts are delayed by even six months.
Even if it is implemented there is this possibility that the budget
(because it is too tight to be true) would go off the mark by at least Rs
30 billion which would either mean extra taxes during the course of the
year or more borrowing which would once again make the budgetary deficit
target of 5 per cent of GDP fixed for this year unreachable by at least 1-2
per cent. Again, while hoping for the best one should also expect the next
fiscal year to be as crisis-ridden as this year in terms of external inflows.
The consortium did not pledge any new assistance in Paris this year. The
Pakistan Development Forum is expected to meet in September for the
purpose. It appears too optimistic to expect the PDF to promise new
assistance without a positive nod from the IMF and the IMF is not likely to
give the nod unless the government actually carries out the promise of
downsizing and in the meanwhile, also does not withdraw the reforms
announced in the budget through issuance of individual SROs under pressure
from the business community.
In any case, if the government is expecting the IMF to agree to sign a new
ESAF accord before the end of this calendar year, then it is again, being
too optimistic. There is no way the IMF would enter into any agreement
with Pakistan before giving the 'home-grown' reforms announced in the
budget time to take roots and start yielding discernible results.
So, in the absence of concessional external flows, the government will have
to look for commercial loans to meet its day to day import needs (exports
would again take at least 18-24 months to pick up in response to the
home-grown reforms if at all) as well as its amortization obligations. And
this is where the crunch will come, because in the months ahead upto
December 1997, the government needs to mobilize an average of $500 million
every month to meet the combined burden of these obligations.
In any case, the new budget, 45 per cent of which has been consumed by debt
servicing proposes to balance the books with additional borrowing of at
least another Rs 270 billion including Rs 130 billion of external resources.
In view of the uncertainty about meeting the tax collection target for the
year, there is a likelihood of additional borrowing during the course of
the year, at least to the tune of another Rs 30 billion pushing up total
borrowing to Rs 300 billion.
One sincerely hopes that the hope about the weather comes true because
budget or no budget the well-being of most Pakistanis is totally dependent
on good weather, good crops, good wheat, rice and cotton outputs. But then
if there is even a slight reversal, then even the best of the budgets
cannot save the country from shortages, high prices and a serious slowdown
in the economy.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
970616
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The delinquent economy and its mentors
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S.M. Naseem
THIS YEAR'S Economic Survey on the Pakistani economy reads like the report
card of the typical delinquent child who engages in all fun and no study
the whole year and tries to make up by working hard a few days before the
examination. (i.e. the budget time).
Predictably, the grades are uniformly bad when the 'result' is announced by
the school principal (the Finance Minister). The overall grade (GDP growth
rate) is 3.1 which barely qualifies for promotion, but the student has
flunked in key subjects such as science (agriculture) and math's
(large-scale manufacturing) - in which his skill level has deteriorated. He
has done reasonably well in some soft courses such as Pakistan Studies
(small-scale industries) and dinyat (services), where the teachers
(statisticians) do not keep adequate records and go by the rules of thumb.
The delinquent child does famously in sports (inflation) and in chalking up
the canteen bill (government expenditure) way beyond his pocket money
(government revenues), leading to the indebtedness of his parents and,
since this has been happening year after year, to the sale of the father's
car or mother's jewellery (privatization) or asking some rich uncle, if any
are still willing to oblige, to lend a wee bit more (short-term external
borrowing from 'friendly' countries).
The school monitor (the State Bank) whom the principal has given new
responsibilities tries to inject some discipline and asks the children not
to hang around the school canteen (the banks) too frequently, but the
delinquent is a big bully and difficult to argue with and nobody wants to
get his nose bloodied.
Inevitably, scapegoats and alibis will be found for the boy's bad behaviour
in bad teachers (economic managers), bad company (discredited politicians),
neglect - often harshness - of parents (IMF, WB, WTO, governance) and poor
school facilities (infrastructure).
It helps greatly that the school administration has changed during the year
and the principal is wont to shift all the blame for the decline in student
discipline to the permissive policies of the predecessor school
administration.
The new principal lifts the restrictions on the sale of candies and soda
pops (demand management) imposed by the previous administration in the hope
that it will lead to better nutrition of delinquent children (sick
industries). Boys, he thinks, will be boys and hopes that sparing the rod
may indeed improve the child, however delinquent. But let us not carry the
facetious analogy too far.
The current economic situation is serious in almost every respect and does
not permit the slightest complacency. The country's economic growth rate is
one of the lowest in years, its agricultural growth rate is below the rate
of population growth, despite the absence of any major natural disaster.
The dream of becoming an Asian tiger sooner than other South Asian
countries whose economic performance was scoffed at is becoming ever more
remote.
The large-scale manufacturing sector, which was once a jewel in the crown
of the Pakistani economy is increasingly becoming a thorn in its side. For
the first time, it has registered negative growth and has failed any strong
signs of revival, despite liberal fiscal support by the new Government.
Inflation is touching record levels. The agriculture sector, which because
of its large weight in the economy had always provided a source of
stability in Pakistan's growth performance, has also faltered and has
produced one of the lowest growth rates in years free from natural calamities.
The external sector is in a highly vulnerable situation with almost
stagnating exports, high debt servicing liabilities and foreign exchange
reserves insufficient to meet imports and debt servicing needs in a
sustainable way. In brief, it is difficult to exaggerate the seriousness of
the economic situation.
The confluence of these adverse economic indicators can hardly be treated
as accidental and it would be too facile to treat them merely as the
inevitable consequence of the economic policies of the previous regime,
however, inefficient, corrupt or unimaginative it may have been.
The causes of these unfavourable developments, even leaving aside the
foreboding on human development, governance and environment, frequently
aired by such great gurus as Dr. Mahbubul Haq, Dr. Eqbal Ahmad and Dr.
Tariq Banuri, are much more deep- rooted than the shenanigans of an
infamous couple and its associates during the past three years.
The cancer of our economic decline is much more deep-rooted and widespread
and systemic in nature than is being currently perceived and believed to
be. Unfortunately, the euphoria generated by the political success of the
ruling party has prevented it from looking into the real causes of this
decline and has caused it to be carried away by the rent-seeking lobbies in
our major economic sectors.
These groups are interested more in getting windfall gains from anticipated
policy changes rather than in reviving economic activity. The policies and
strategies being pursued by the government is focused on a small segment of
the economy, whose contribution to economic activity is falling, yet
because it is important in the country's body politic, it is able to pull a
disproportionate amount of resources towards itself, while other sectors
which need support in various forms languish without access to these
resources.
Urgent and credible steps need to be taken to stop this downward trend.
Pakistan is capable of a much better economic growth performance and its
present misfortunes can surely be reversed if prudent macroeconomic
policies are adopted and implemented. While the external sector
vulnerability is most worrisome, the continued expansion of the budget
deficit at a rate faster than GDP growth, largely through bank borrowing is
no less serious a problem.
The twin deficits in current account balance of payments and in the fiscal
balance go hand in hand and reinforce each other. They both reflect the
country's inability to generate sufficient savings to finance the
investment needed to cater to the country's growing needs for raising
production. It is imperative that the reduction of these deficits is
addressed as the country's most urgent task. The continuing fiscal and
current account deficits have led to unsustainable debt burden, both
domestic and external.
The servicing of the national debt is becoming an increasingly serious
problem and is expected to rise by 24 per cent in the next fiscal year,
constraining the government's ability to finance development and social
sector projects, which the country badly needs, in a non-inflationary way.
Although the Government can and does roll over its past debt by fresh
borrowing, this puts pressure on interest rates and raising the benchmark
interest rates for the private sector from the credit markets.
The part of the national debt which is owed to foreigners has even more
serious implications in that its interest is payable in foreign exchange
and in general, can't be rolled over. With the steady reduction in the
share of soft loans, the interest burden of the external debt is growing at
a faster rate and is causing serious balance of payments difficulties.
The most disquieting development in the external sector in 1996-97 was the
steady depletion of the foreign reserves, which plummeted to $836 million
by end-April, 1997 registering a decline of $1,229.5 million over the
end-June, 1996 level. Short-term liabilities registered a sharp rise,
mainly as a result of an increase of $980 million in foreign currency
accounts (FCAs), despite a fall of $492.4 million in commercial loans.
The share of resident FCAs in total FCAs has significantly increased from
50 per cent in July, 1996 to 54 per cent in March, 1997. During the same
period, the absolute increase in resident FCAs of $791.3 million were more
than four times larger than in those of non-resident inflows recorded at
$190.8 million. These unusually large increases in resident FCAs represent
an increasing trend towards the 'dollarisation' of the economy, which
diminishes the scope for monetary and fiscal management, in view of their
'safe haven' status.
More sustainable ways of building up foreign exchange reserves are needed,
if the economy has to function on the basis of right signals for
channelling resources, both human and physical, into productive uses.
Repeated write-offs, concessional packages and whitening measures for
ill-gotten money, which are becoming a regular feature of fiscal packages,
can have an addictive effect on the recipients and can only promote a
culture of unethical business practices.
After its emphatic electoral victory, the newly elected government
announced a number of important measures, as part of its reform packages,
designed to significantly alter the course of macroeconomic management
policies pursued during the first half of the fiscal year.
The government's new policy thrust consists of giving precedence to
policies which would promote supply-induced growth and investment,
especially in the industrial and agricultural sectors and exports, over
those of economic stabilization and demand management.
These policies, which have been reinforced in the Budget announce by Mr.
Sartaj Aziz rest a great deal on the government's unquestioned faith on
supply side economics and its instant impact on the revival and
acceleration of economic activity, which it is hoped will more than make up
for the reduction in tax rates on a wide range of incomes and commodities.
The policies of the present government are aimed primarily to revive the
large-scale manufacturing sector, which has a high incidence of sick
industries and whose slow growth has not only adversely affected overall
growth, but the shortfall in manufacturing production, especially of sugar,
fertilizers and vegetable ghee, is likely to put price and balance of
payments pressures.
A major concern about the government's economic reform measures,
notwithstanding the efforts towards the enlargement of the tax base and
effecting improvements in tax elasticity, the liberal tax concessions and
tax procedures provided are likely to be misused for non-targeted purposes,
resulting in the shortfall in tax revenues, without the hoped for increases
in output.
Another major source of depletion in government resources is likely to
arise from the reduction in import duties, which have been brought down
partly to revive industrial activity. Since import duties form a
significantly high proportion of our budgetary revenues a fall in them will
have to be compensated by increased taxes on those whose incomes rise as a
result of these measures. It remains to be seen if the government's fiscal
gamble will pay off or land it in a bigger fiscal mess.
The fiscal reform measures introduced by the government are designed to
rationalize the taxation structure and make it more incentive oriented and
are likely, in the medium to long term, to bear fruitful results that will
enhance the economy's growth prospects. However, they contain serious
underlying risks for economic management of the transition period in which
the fiscal and trade deficits may widen further before the hoped for
beneficial effects start to unfold.
The reform measure are also likely to bring forth with them considerable
hardships in terms of increased urban unemployment and poverty. It could
also entail a populist backlash which the government seems keen to avoid by
going in for softer fiscal options. If this were to happen, the long-term
measures could be seriously undermined. With a highly fragile external
position and a rising fiscal deficit, the risks of a debt crisis and an
inflationary spiral will loom large on the economy if these risks are not
anticipated and avoided.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
970616
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Experience economy and the high-tech job sector
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Maheen Zaidi
WE ARE living in an era of a dynamic and changing economy. The way
economies and employment trends have been revolutionized world-wide in the
past two decades has opened doors to innovation for the next century.
Business organisations are becoming more quality- and image-conscious,
focusing their needs on customisation. A new economy is emerging as a
result of customer-orientation and modernisation. While it still remains a
rudimentary phenomenon for the business world, the market wizards call it
the 'experience economy'.
We have learned about the UK industrial revolution after the Great
Depression and how it changed the employment structure and boosted supply
side economies through mass production. The industrial era had already
peaked when a few thinkers announced the arrival of the 'service economy'.
Today, experts are anticipating the end of the service economy and the
beginning of the experience economy.
In the present setting of mass customisation, companies find that they need
to repackage their products and services to deliver unique experiences.
Only those companies that can stage an experience out of their services can
get customers and charge a premium price.
How does the experience economy function and modify the way a company makes
its product or service marketable? Previously, when the industrial economy
shifted to the service economy, mass production required companies to wrap
services round their products to attract customers. In the experience
economy, company services are linked together to form events that
personally engages the customer.
INTERNET: Internet technology is another area that lends itself well to the
experience economy. "Smart" homes, communities, and cars become easier to
market. Surfing the web is about finding experiences-sights, sounds,
graphics, audio, video - on top of what used to be dry information
services. Electronic mail and interactive "chat rooms" are rich fora for
virtual experiences.
With the arrival of Internet and virtual reality, the high-tech job market
has observed a boom in justifying the trend towards experience economy.
Employment in the high-tech market has been soaring and shows no signs of
letting up soon. Nowhere is demand so high and the supply so small as in
the software engineering. Jobs for computer engineers and scientists are
projected to increase by 112 per cent and for system analysts by 110 per
cent by 2005 as compared to 1995. This has been predicted by Michael Farr
in "America's 50 Fastest Growing Jobs'. High-tech opportunities are most
promising for database programmers, multimedia specialists, and computer
networks. New media specialists will continue to thrive well into the next
decade as educational and marketing uses for web and home pages continue to
multiply.
Industries involved in satellites, aerospace and telecommunications will
soar. Electronics engineers and technicians now belong to a last growing
sector. The microwave industry, in particular, is suffering from a global
shortage of engineers able to design products for wireless communication.
Voice, video, and data delivery systems to business, schools and homes are
experiencing a tremendous growth, and the future potential is enormous.
Companies are scrambling to win contacts in developing countries to build
wireless infrastructures. AT&T employed fewer than 100 people abroad a
decade ago but currently has 50,000 employees overseas. The increase in the
digital cellular telephones will increase total jobs in the wireless market
to 1 million by 2005, according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry
Association.
On top of everything, inter-personal skill are becoming a job requirement
along with technical expertise and knowledge. There has been a cultural
change in the industry and there is a lot more working in teams-for example
design engineers working with procurement people.
New specialties will arise as computer-related innovations expand. For
instance, medical and pharmaceutical researchers report an enormous wealth
of scientific data that needs to be recorded and processed. However, large
scientific institutes report that they cannot find candidates proficient in
information technology and the physical sciences.
The experience economy is emerging just as the service economy is maturing.
Novelty, adventure and escapism are its hooks. The high-tech market is and
will remain an integral part of the experience economy as more and more
businesses are growing fond of customisation. As we are heading toward the
phenomenon of "global villagization" and information superhighway,
experience economy becomes inevitable due to the fact that we are not just
a global village but also a global market.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
970621
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Leading investors make heavy covering purchases
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 20: Stocks extended the overnight recovery on Friday as
leading investors made heavy covering purchases on selected counters on
predictions of sustained bull-run during the next week. The KSE 100-share
index gained another 7.21 points.
However, a look at the traded list of shares showed that a formidable
section of leading operators was not inclined to move out of the current
favourites owing to fears of law and order situation in the city.
Most of the speculative traders were in the rings and managed to lure back
a sizeable section of some idle investors, as was reflected by large volume
in a short Friday session.
The KSE index did rise but did not cross the 1,600 barrier, as predicted
late on Thursday evening, as profit-hunters clipped in part most of the
initial gains.
It was last quoted around 1,594.31 as compared to 1,587.10 a day earlier as
gainers maintained a modest lead over the losers at 108 to 98, with 74
shares holding on to the last levels.
The buying support though fairly aggressive was confined to four pivotals,
which have now assumed the role of safe havens.
"Investors buy and sell in PTCL, Hub-Power, ICI Pakistan and Dewan Salman
and mostly play within the settlement periods, seldom going beyond them,"
dealers said.
Despite a short Friday session, trading volume rose to 27.138 million
shares out of which 10 million shares went to the credit of ICI Pakistan.
Other actively traded shares were led by PTC shares, up 55 paisa on 7.670
million shares, followed by Hub-Power, higher 30 paisa on 5.115 million
shares, Dewan Salman, up 35 paisa on 1.95 million shares, and Pakland
Cement, easy five paisa on 1.131 million shares.
An interim dividend at the rate of 10% from the Board of Directors of
Abbott Laboratories was on the lower side of the market thinking but it
certainly reflected the conditions in the pharma sector and their annual
earnings. Final could be a bit lower but not that big as it should be from
a multinational.
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970615
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Murtaza's murder
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
HE lived by the sword, he died by the sword. He was never taught that "All
they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." There was no one
around to give him the old, old advice: "therefore all things whatsoever ye
would that man should do to you, do you even so to them." His father never
told him, as the Earl of Chesterfield told his son so long ago, in October
1747: "Do as you would be done by is the surest method that I know of
pleasing."
Born of Zulfikar and Nusrat Bhutto on September 18, 1954, he was brutally
murdered two days after his 42nd birthday by the men of his own sister's
government, employed by her, at our expense, to enforce and maintain the
rule of law.
Murtaza grew up surrounded by sycophancy and arrogance, he watched his
father ridicule and insult his friends, he was a witness to the trials and
tribulations of his mother. By the time he was four years old, his mother,
using her Irani connections with Nahid Iskander Mirza, had seen his father
safely into the president's cabinet. He then saw his father, on his own
merit, using his inimitable guile, make it with Ayub Khan as his minister,
and as his 'fifth son.' Then things turned sour, his father moved away, set
out on his own, and (so to speak) the child of the revolution ate up his
surrogate father.
By the time Murtaza was fifteen, his father was chairman of his own
political party. He watched the high jinks of the jiyalas, the joggling and
jostling for power by the budding politicos. He heard the shouts of
adulation from the crowds hailing their Quaid-i-Awam, wishing him eternal
life. His uncles were Mumtaz, Mubashir, Mustafa and Mustafa, Rafi and
Hafiz. By the time he was seventeen, half his country was deliberately lost
in order to enable his father, the first ever civilian chief martial law
administrator, to become president of what was left. In the years that
followed, he swiftly learnt all about betrayals and broken promises, how to
use violence, how to subdue, how to eliminate, how to torture, how to cling
to power. Sadist Masud Mahmood, chief of his father's private army, the
FSF, was a familiar figure in his life, as was Saeed Ahmed, both of whom
were to turn and be the instruments of his father's execution.
He was around when his father violated his own Constitution, when he then
arrested and imprisoned the Baloch chieftains, Sardars and Tumandars,
purely for political gain and self-perpetuation. He sat by while young
23-year-old Asad, son of Sardar Ataullah Mengal, was murdered in an
'encounter' outside the Karachi house of Tumandar Balakh Sher Mazari (his
body was never found), and while the toenails of young Asfandyar, son of
Wali Khan, were pulled out one by one (luckily Asfandyar survives to tell
the tale), and while Jam Sadiq Ali and Imdadullah Unar did away with
Khalifa Faqir Mohammed Amin and six Hurs, and while countless others were
murdered in acts of vengeance.
Murtaza knew all about how the keys of the prisons that held Sardars Mengal
and Marri, Bizenjo and Wali Khan were thrown away and lost until the cruel
military tyrant turfed out his father, opened the jail doors, arrested his
father, had him tried for his acts and omissions in the highest courts of
the land, hanged him in the dead of night, and buried him secretly in the
dawn's sad light. By the age of 25, he had seen it all, he had exiled
himself from the land of his birth. Before he was 30, he was a declared
international terrorist, chief of his own terrorist organization. By the
time he was 31, he saw his younger brother die a mysterious unnatural
death, and soon thereafter his elder sister married a man for whom he had
the highest disregard.
Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid and his brother judges, Justice Amanullah Abbasi
and Justice Dr. Ghous Mohammed, must be complimented on the painstaking
efforts taken over a period of seven months, examining 129 witnesses, most
of whom were either apathetic, or economical with the truth, or both. Those
who witnessed the proceedings observed how, with great patience, questions
had to be framed and reframed to get somewhere close to the truth.
The fourteen line summation on page 177 of the report says far more than it
reads: "Our answer to Term of Reference (a) is, therefore, that a plan was
made to trap the colleagues of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and to kill his
bodyguards and other armed companions and show it as a genuine encounter
with Mir Murtaza Bhutto's party being the aggressor and the police firing
in self-defense. Apparently, there was no plan to kill Mir Murtaza in view
of the clear directions of the then Prime Minister not to touch him, but
the concerned planners must have known the risk of Mir Murtaza becoming a
victim and, therefore, the plan must have been cleared by a much higher
authority than Durrani or Suddle." The word "much" is highly significant.
The "much higher authority" must include, but is not limited to, provincial
chief minister, federal home minister, prime minister, which would be the
correct official chain of command. But, in our case, a "much higher
authority" is not necessarily a strictly legal and official authority;
included may be those who exercise authority illegally and unofficially, of
which we have no dearth.
The tribunal has highlighted the many deficiencies in our system. Had
Murtaza, after he was shot, been promptly taken to proper emergency room in
a proper hospital, his life may well have been saved. In Karachi right now,
emergencies can only be reasonably efficiently dealt with in the AKU
Hospital, a private hospital. There is no government hospital worthy of the
appellation 'hospital'. There is no reason why the government cannot make
it mandatory for its hospitals to have properly manned (round the clock)
and equipped emergency / casualty rooms to deal with the many victims of
accidents, 'incidents', and so forth.
The tribunal has done well to bring to the fore the incisive judgement
delivered by Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, the following excerpt from
which each chief secretary of each province and each secretary of each
ministry should have prominently displayed in each office of each public
servant:
"We need not stress here that a tamed and subservient bureaucracy can
neither be helpful to a government nor is it expected to inspire public
confidence in the administration. Good governance largely depends on an
upright, honest and strong bureaucracy. Therefore, mere submission to the
will of the superior is not a commendable trait in a bureaucrat. Elected
representatives placed in charge of administrative departments of
government are not expected to carry with them a deep insight into the
complexities of administration. The duty of a bureaucrat, therefore, is to
apprise these elected representatives of the nicety of administration and
provide to them correct guidance in the discharge of their functions in
accordance with the law. Succumbing to each and every order or direction of
such elected functionaries without bringing to their notice the legal
infirmities in such orders / directions may sometimes amount to an act of
indiscretion on the part of bureaucrats which may not be justifiable on the
plane of hierarchical discipline. It hardly needs to be mentioned that a
government servant is expected to comply only with those orders /
directions of his superior which are legal and within his competence.
Compliance with an illegal or an incompetent direction / order can neither
be justified on the plea that it came from a superior authority nor can it
be defended on the ground that its non-compliance would have exposed the
concerned government servant to the risk of disciplinary action." (PLD 1995
SC 530, Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui and Raja Afrasiab Khan, JJ, Zahid Akhtar vs.
Government of Punjab).
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970621
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to the killing fields
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mazdak
ALTAF HUSSAIN's recent decision to shut down all MQM offices in Karachi was
received with a shudder across the country. But the on-going campaign to
shut down business in Pakistan's financial capital is a whole different
ball game.
We are being reminded that once again, Karachi is hostage to the MQM's
fortunes and misfortunes. A couple of days ago, a friend told me that his
banker had a pistol placed against his temple and told to shut his bank -
or else. This incident is being repeated across the city as shops and small
businesses are being forced to pull down their shutters. Obviously, it is
easier to exert pressure through strong-arm tactics than to call for a
strike against one's coalition partner.
Worse than large commercial districts being forced to close, corpses
bearing the signs of torture are turning up with sickening regularity; more
cars than ever before are being stolen at gun point; and armed robberies
have again become the order of the day. Does this sudden escalation in the
level of violent crime have anything to do with the release on bail of a
large number of activists? All the evidence points towards a return to the
Jam Sadiq period when his MQM coalition partners rode roughshod over
political opponents while their militant wing spread terror among opponents
and ordinary citizens alike.
Indeed, there is an eerie sense of deja vu about what is happening in the
city today. The somber headlines announcing the death and maiming of MQM or
Haqiqi militants, together with sundry innocent bystanders, have become
routine. And while the citizens of this blighted city duck for cover, the
rest of the nation looks on in disbelief and anger at yet another round of
bloodletting among the Mohajir community. The truth of the matter is that
although no non-Mohajir is going to say it out loud, the whole country is
sick and tired of the endless whining and warring that has become a
permanent feature of urban Sindh. Just after we thought that the recent
election would bring us some peace and quiet, we have been ambushed by the
unruly militants of the two factions of the MQM.
The fundamental problem arose from the initial attempt at forming a
provincial government in Sindh without first inviting the PPP - with the
largest number of members in the provincial assembly - to try and produce a
majority. Unpalatable as this might have been to Islamabad, this was the
democratic path, and by spurning it, the Muslim League lost whatever moral
authority it had in Sindh. By forming a coalition with a party that has far
more seats than its senior partner, the PML gave rise to far greater
expectations in the MQM than it could fulfil.
In addition to this inherent instability, the choice of the chief minister
and several of his cabinet colleagues has undercut the legitimacy of the
government.
The MQM feels that since they have been kept out of power at the centre,
they should be compensated at the provincial level. Also, as some persons
with questionable antecedents have been accommodated in the cabinet because
they are independents and their support was needed for the survival of the
provincial government, the MQM justifiably felt left out in the cold. And
to rub salt into the wounds, whatever portfolios they have got have been
stripped of their job- and income-generating functions.
Although the MQM feels aggrieved at this stepmotherly treatment, it should
realize that over the years, it has antagonised each and every power centre
in the country. Even the PML that is currently allied with it distrusts
Altaf Hussain and only puts up with him and his party because they see this
arrangement as the only way to govern Sindh and keep the PPP out. But this
cynical deal has a hefty price tag, and it is one we are paying now.
Isolated and bitter, the MQM is demonstrating its power. Tired of waiting
for the government to deliver on its promise to sort out the Haqiqis, its
militants are determined to do the job themselves and have provoked the
inevitable response.
Even Benazir Bhutto's strongest detractors admit that if she did anything
positive in her last stint, it was to restore peace to Karachi. The price
may have been inordinately high in terms of custodial killings and
wholesale arbitrary arrests, but most of 1996 witnessed a degree of peace
in our streets that we had almost forgotten. Gradually, people started
going out in the evenings, and gunfire did not break out every few hours to
startle sleeping children. Business returned to normal and there wasn't a
strike every second say.
Suddenly, all this seems a distant memory. The problem is that by allying
itself with the MQM, the PML has painted itself into a corner: it can
neither get a divorce nor sustain this uneasy marriage for very long. The
current situation is too unstable to survive.
As insurance, the PML is trying to wean away some PPP MPAs so that the MQM
is no longer essential to its ambitions. But it has a long way to go: the
MQM has 26 members, and it is doubtful if any of them are up for sale.
Meanwhile, even if Liaquat Jatoi wanted to concede all of the MQM demands -
and there is little to suggest that he would hang tough when push comes to
shove - he is not autonomous in his dealings with his coalition partner.
Sections in the establishment are known to have strong reservations about
the MQM, as does much of Islamabad's power elite. In a sense, both the PML
and the MQM have few options but to live with each other, but both feel
that they have made too many concessions without getting enough in return.
It is difficult to see how such an untenable situation can last for five
years.
Since a PPP-PML deal does not seem to be on the cards - although there are
no permanent friends or enemies in politics - some people are calling for
governor's rule as a solution. But even this is only a temporary quick-fix
as there is nothing on the horizon to indicate that fresh elections in
Sindh will yield radically different results. Whatever scenario one looks
at, the prospects for the MQM are not very bright: given Karachi's level of
politically motivated violence, another crackdown may well be in the offing.
Sooner or later, the MQM leadership will have to learn that politics is
about building bridges and making friends, and not about alienating all
potential allies. One hopes this will sink in sooner rather than later.
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970615
-------------------------------------------------------------------
What the tribunal did not say
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Aziz Siddiqui
EACH side is drawing its mead of comfort from the Nasir Aslam Zahid
tribunal report. Ms Bhutto thinks her camp stands absolved from all blame.
The Muslim League men are cock-a-hoop that they have got a new dollop of
grist to their anti-Bhutto mill.
This is not because the report is equivocal. It is because in the
apportioning of blame it is conclusive only to the extent of the evidence
it had, which is to say not conclusive enough to altogether preclude almost
any of the possibilities. It seems to exonerate or indict no one wholly and
finally of the primary responsibility.
Ms Bhutto's assumption, for instance, that her husband and the Sindh chief
minister of her time have been cleared of any involvement is a case of over
reading the text. What the tribunal declines to accept is the allegation of
Mrs. Ghinwa Bhutto and her partymen that Mr. Asif Zardari, DIG Mr. Shoaib
Suddle, SSP Mr. Wajid Durrani and some others had hatched a conspiracy to
dispose of Mir Murtaza Bhutto at the time they had met for a wedding in
village Janan Soomro, and that later, a day ahead of the killing, they and
some others had finalized the scheme in the Chief Minister House in
Karachi. In the tribunal's view, some of the other testimonies did not seem
to fit in with this conspiracy theory, and the PPP (SB) itself did not come
up with any evidence for its allegations. However, what is not proved does
not necessarily by that token stand disproved.
Similarly about President Farooq Leghari's involvement, what the tribunal
does is to discount Ms Benazir Bhutto's conspiracy theory. She had said
that the killings on Sep 20 and the toppling of her government a
month-and-a-half later had a direct link. One was a prelude to the other, a
case of getting one Bhutto to get at the other Bhutto. She also had a
theory about how the Clifton operation was planned. One or more agents
provocateurs had been planted, she said, either in the police ranks or
among Murtaza' bodyguards just to fire a shot or two to cause a panic and
trigger a general mayhem.
The tribunal's contention once again is that the allegations were too
general and ambiguous. Ms Bhutto had said that she had come to know of
President Leghari's mind a long time ago. Why had she held back until now?
She had claimed that she had details in her possession of the conspiracy to
eliminate her brother, but in the event she produced none. Once again, the
tribunal only refuses to go by allegation alone, especially in the absence
of a lead that could be pursued.
The tribunal does seem to rule out by implication any direct involvement of
Ms Bhutto herself in her brother's killing. There was a directive from the
PM House that Murtaza should not be touched and also that no agency should
enter 70 Clifton. The tribunal is in fact critical of the second part of
the order which it says was illegal. The police should have either
disregarded it or sought its withdrawal if it thought there were terrorists
among Murtaza's bodyguards who needed to be apprehended. That in the
tribunal's view would have pre-empted the need for the operation that ended
so disastrously.
The tribunal thinks that that indeed was the purpose of the whole exercise
- to get the suspected terrorists. The latter had been involved in raiding
a CIA centre a few days earlier in search of their companion Ali Sonara and
then in a couple of subsequent bomb blasts in the city. Which is why the
inquiry characterizes the operation as an act of extra-judicial killing:
deciding to shoot down troublesome persons that the police had thought
would be hard to get otherwise. The tribunal believes there was no design
to kill Murtaza himself or even his political colleagues.
But it also makes a strong caveat. In an operation of this kind there could
never be a guarantee that the bullets would seek out only the intended
targets. Even with the best of care the probability remained of the others,
even Murtaza himself, getting in the firing line. Therefore, says the
report, wherever the operation had been conceived, the go-ahead for it must
have come from a level much higher than that of a DIG or SSP. Obviously
those quarters had to be people who could accept the possibility of Murtaza
being gunned down at the end of the day. That view creates room for
speculation, and not such a wide room either.
Ready to seize this opportunity has been the gentleman who apparently
occupies the customary slot of the shadowing official debunker of the
opposition leader. According to him, Benazir has been totally exposed by
the inquiry tribunal. Said he: "The tribunal report is a strong indictment
of Benaizir government since it has said in categorical terms that the
Murtaza murder was pre-planned and that the higher authorities had okayed
it." According to him, the inquiry report had confirmed what he thought was
already a widely-held perspective among the people of Pakistan regarding
the involvement of the government in the murder of Benazir's brother.
What the report actually says is as follows: "...a plan was made to trap
the colleagues of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and to kill his bodyguards and other
armed companions and show it as a genuine encounter, with Mir Murtaza
Bhutto's party being the aggressor and the police firing in self-defence.
Apparently there was no plan to kill Mir Murtaza in view of the clear
directions of the then prime minister not to touch him..." Two paragraphs
later the tribunal reiterates the point "...according to our view based on
the facts and material brought on record, the plan was to kill the
bodyguards and other armed companions of Mir Murtaza Bhutto." How that
translates into 'categorical terms that the Murtaza murder was pre-planned'
only the official spokesman who made that claim can explain.
As for the tribunal remarking that "the plan must have been cleared by a
much higher authority than Durrani and Suddle," the possibilities can
indeed include the prime minister, but more than once elsewhere the report
emphasizes that Bhutto's concern was to protect Murtaza. Obviously, the
official spokesman was only keen on somehow using the report as another
timely instrument to tar the face of the opposition with. He could not
admit the possibility that higher authority may include elements acting
independently, such as sections in the various intelligence agencies, as
Benazir has since speculated.
If the government had sense this would be one aspect of the Bhutto era that
it would do nothing to exploit for political ends. It should instead allow,
even facilitate, the truth to come out, only hoping that when it does it
would itself damn its foe. As this newspaper suggested in its editorial the
other day, it should even go ahead and publish the report of the British
investigating team of Benazir Bhutto's time, even if that report does not
suit its political purpose. This will at least demonstrate its bona fide
and perhaps help the probe on its way. The jury is still out on who bears
the ultimate guilt.
Politicians do not draw a line in mud-slinging, but the common people do.
Consider the possibility of the insinuations in this case eventually
proving wrong. This will be one falsehood people will find hard to forget.
It will do the political stock of the persons and party concerned no good
at all. As Inspector Haq Nawaz Sial in the Murtaza case has just shown, it
doesn't help to shoot oneself in the foot.
Much the most productive part of the tribunal report wasn't even included
in its terms of reference. It is the recommendations it makes at great
length about the future.
The common people know only too well how rotten the police sector is. They
have little trust in its auspices, whether it is for traffic violation or
burglary, rape or murder. They have learnt that its driving impulse is not
to prevent or punish crime but to benefit from it. If now an accustomed
malaise gets highlighted by the accident of a cause celebre there can only
be hope that the light wouldn't quickly fade away.
Who doesn't know that the police doctor can even destroy evidence,
sometimes for political but often for monetary considerations; that the
bulk of recruits to the police ranks of recent years have been former
criminals themselves; that illegal detentions and extra-judicial killings
are common; that the ends of police investigation are further defeated by
lack of even the elementary training and equipment to meet the new
pressures; that there is almost nothing, and not just the mortuaries, that
is right with our hospitals and clinics; and that the medico-legal trap of
our system imposes such cruel burdens that often instead of being a help
against crimes it becomes a tyranny against the victims of crime.
The tribunal makes detailed and perceptive recommendations in respect of
some of these aspects. When the government has done with flogging the
report for its political potential it can turn to this aspect too. Earnest
initiative in the directions indicated here will do it more credit. Nothing
in the recommendations is non-practicable. And all of it cries for
attention. Even more than who killed Murtaza Bhutto.
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970618
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dirty tricks
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hafizur Rahman
AS an expression for underhand criminal political activity, "dirty tricks"
gained currency in the United States and then all over the world, when the
Democrats' office in Watergate Building was burgled to extract secret
information which could be used by President Nixon against his opponent.
Of course, Watergate itself as a synonym for meeting one's Waterloo became
even more widely known when Mr Nixon had to leave the White House rather
ignominiously. Since then there have been numerous "gates" (including
President Clinton's "Paulagate" named after a girl friend). However,
without drawing inspiration from Watergate, many politicians in our country
regard dirty tricks as legitimate activity, deriving sanction from that
adage that everything is fair in love and war - and politics.
Every political party in Pakistan has its hatchet men whose business it is
to devise ever-new methods to promote the party, not by improving its own
performance but by frustrating the plans and designs of opposing parties.
They are the dirty tricks boys.
They are seen at their best when they are acting on behalf of the party in
power, because, by the very nature of our political traditions, they need
financial and physical assistance which only the ruling regime can provide
- through the official and bureaucratic means at its disposal.
The most frequently seen reaction of worsted opposition parties is impotent
rage and ineffectual indignation. Their men shout themselves hoarse from
the rooftops that the regime is using this and that unfair means against
them, that all limits of decency have been transgressed, and that the
government is employing threats, bribery and arrests to undermine its
opponents and to hide its own misdeeds.
But the ruling party remains unmoved by these protests. And then, if by
chance the ruling party is unseated and the opposition comes into power it
loses no time in assuming the holier-than-thou mantle of the ex-government
and starts doing exactly what it had been complaining about so far.
The erstwhile ruling party too loses no time in forgetting what it used to
do to intimidate, harass and persecute its opponents, and begins to
complain bitterly against the dirty tricks indulged in by its successor.
Thus the roles are switched instantaneously.
Without throwing light on events of recent years - they are too fresh to
bear repetition - let me go back in time. Some dirty tricks in the
political arena of Pakistan have acquired the dubious honour of becoming
legends. One of the most memorable of these was the abduction of Mir Ghulam
Ali Talpur (in 1955) on camel-back, so that he should not be able to vote
against Sindh's acquiescence in the amalgamation of the western provinces
into One Unit.
I now forget why a more convenient mode of transport was not used at that
time, but I suppose a camel in Sindh has a more romantic aura (shades of
Sassi and Punnu!) than a motor car.
Actually it was the camel's part in the affair which made it an
unforgettable event, because, otherwise, abduction and kidnapping and
unlawful detention of opponents are routine business and hardly ever excite
comment.
In Punjab I have seen various means being adopted to disrupt opponents'
public meetings. The simplest, of course, used to be the clipping of
loudspeaker wires. The public could not hear the speaker, and could only
see him gesticulating like a monkey and would begin to laugh. There is
nothing more insulting for a public orator than mob laughter.
If the meeting was arranged under a shamiana, the stay ropes could be
sliced. One of the most effective ruses, which remained, popular for a long
time in the rural areas, was to make the crowd run helter skelter by
shouting "Snake! snake!" Everyone loved it.
A well-remembered master stroke of the ruling junta was when a public
meeting scheduled to be addressed by the late Z.A. Bhutto in Lahore's Gol
Bagh could not be held because the gardeners of the Municipal Corporation
had flooded the ground a few hours before the meeting.
The flooding was officially described as routine activity on the part of
the gardeners who were later duly rewarded for their efficient
implementation of orders. This was when Mr Bhutto had left Field Marshal
Ayub's government after Tashkent and was striving to form the Pakistan
People's Party. In their time Mr Bhutto's hatchet men displayed their own
genius in the line of dirty tricks and opponent-bashing.
But of course all these incidents are from comparatively simpler days, when
billions of rupees in brand-new brief cases had not yet entered the scene
and horse-trading was unknown. Now it's a different picture altogether.
The outstanding characteristic of dirty tricks in our national politics is
that everyone, including the public, seems to have a short memory. As
political affiliations change, former sworn enemies sort of kiss and make
up, and then forgive-and-forget becomes the over-riding sentiment.
Indignities, and even torture, practised on one another are shoved in the
background, and it looks as if the antagonists have been bosom friends ever
since they came into being as political entities.
This is one of the most fascinating aspects of politics in the entire
subcontinent, but particularly so in Pakistan. It is something that never
fails to surprise foreign observers and commentators. Things have come to
such a pass that our politics is not supposed to be complete without this
extracurricular contribution on the part of wily advisers.
The present dispensation in Pakistan is very much a political government,
composed mostly of politicians who claim to have reformed themselves and
given up the bad ways of past regimes. By and large the people too expect
Mian Nawaz Sharif to provide a clean administration in which dirty tricks
have no role. But what do you say to the opposition's charge that the
accountability process, now being espoused with such diligence and
determination, is another name for dirty tricks!
===================================================================
970616
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Decline in athletics needs to be checked
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Lateef Jafri
As five days of excitement, challenge and drama meandered into history and
the curtain fell on the 26th National Games at the flood-lit Hockey Club of
Pakistan Stadium many misconceptions were removed. It was pointed out
before the start of the biennial extravaganza that weather in June will be
too hot and perhaps the competitors will not be able to give of their best.
Apart from the high level of humidity, the temperature, thankfully, was not
much of a handicap.
Unlike the last edition of the games in Quetta when many disciplines had to
be shifted to other centres Karachi had the venues to stage 22 events and
thus the sports fans had the opportunity to see the intensity of combat and
the thrills of the duels in all the items. Certainly during such a big show
some deficiencies are found in human effort. But apart from the inaugural
day when there were slips on the part of the organizers no complaints could
be pointed out for the rest of the four days.
On the concluding day the arrangements were almost precise. In fact the
spirit of the volunteers was admirable. Dr. Farooq Sattar, Senior Minister
in the province, and Dr. Nishat Mallick, known for his enthusiasm in sports
medicine and now an elected member of the National Assembly, had plenty of
vigour and zest to see that the disciplines were conducted faultlessly,
though some venues were located very far off and some had to be organized
at odd hours of night. Perhaps both wanted that the next bid for the SAF
Games and Asian Games should be made by Pakistan for the cosmopolitan city
of Karachi. Why not Karachi, the sports fans asked with some degree of
emphasis, with the facilities, infrastructure and the multinationals
available for such giant exercises as the Asiad and the purely regional
seven-nation South Asian fiesta? This is the dream of the young and
energetic Chief Minister of Sindh, Liaquat Ali Jatoi. Perhaps he will be
successful with the aid and help of such ardent planners as Dr. Farooq
Sattar and Dr. Nishat Mallick, who worked day and night to see that no
discordant notes were struck during the hectic four days after some
derailments on day one. Dr. Farooq Sattar, in his capacity, as chairman of
the organizing committee, took serious notice of the flaws in the inaugural
ceremony and removed from the posts those who were found wanting. No
lethargic persons were needed to spoil the show.
Taking the massive work and the stupendous effort required in the national
games it was successful to a considerable extent. The organizers can look
forward to get the arrangements for a bigger assemblage of competitors and
for more delightful moments for the spectators.
The critics and complainants have pointed to the protest lodged by the
Sindh participants on the non-payment of the allowances. This was on the
concluding day. But perhaps this was a minor lapse for the organizing panel
had enhanced the daily stipends of the competitors to remove the disparity
in the monetary benefits of the sportsmen and sportswomen and the
officials, most of them joy-riders. What was the need of the managers and
coaches in the disciplines in which the country is among the 'also-rans'.
The tartan tracks in Karachi were a new phenomenon; certainly the Sindh
centre gave a modern athletic flavor to the events unlike the previous
national games held here way back in 1988 and 1980 and even earlier. Some
damage had been done by the Rangers, who had taken possession of the
premises and the ground for a few years. However, it goes to the credit of
the Sindh Olympic Association and its legion of energetic athletic workers
that the tracks were made ready for the competitions in which power,
mobility and grace were on view.
As was being predicted before the national games the Pakistan Army
deservingly clinched the coveted Quaid-i-Azam Trophy for the 18th time - or
if the earlier efforts of the Services are to taken into cognizance the
number goes up to 21. Rigorous drills and daily practice since the days of
Brig Rodham and the zealous coach, the late Maj. S.A. Hamid the Army
competitors have stolen the limelight in the National Games and the yearly
athletics meets, as held last January in shivering cold in Larkana.
Taken in totality there was more decline than progression in athletics,
whatever may be the complaints of the Army trainers and WAPDA coaches about
lack of facilities and modern infrastructure. Traditionally they are in the
business and they should have given better results.
Maqsood Ahmad of the Army had a sprint double with a 100 metres timing of
11.05 and 22.98 in the 200 metres. On poor tracks, made out of raw earth,
and in biting cold Maqsood had sprinted well to record 10.51 second and
21.99 in Larkana. At the previous edition of the games at Quetta he was
10.6 and 22.1 in the two dashes at the finishing line. Quetta's competition
was more strenuous situated as the city is at a high sea level. But Maqsood
emerged successful with powerful and skilful efforts in the Balochistan
capital. Why this deterioration in an year when Asian Athletics
Championship are programmed and the SAF Games are to be held in Kathmandu
or Dhaka.
The hurdles were usually the strong items for the Pakistani athletes. Both
Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Amin, the winners in Karachi, were SAF Games
silver medalists. In Karachi there was a fall from grace. Razzaq and Amin
neatly crossed the sticks. They were not so sound in the straight and the
forceful acceleration was missing. Razzaq in the high hurdles, clocked
15.06 seconds and Amin was home in 51.02 in the 400 metres hurdles. In
Quetta Razzaq had exhibited a fine burst of speed for his timing of 14.6
seconds. Amin improved in Karachi but in Quetta despite the cold climate
and high sea-level he had recorded 51.1 seconds. At the Madras SAF Games
Razzak had run in 14.45 to claim a silver. Amin too had shifted gears in
the straight to come out second in 51.35.
Did Banaras Khan, an international jumper, show more powerful efforts with
the experience of the SAF Games. Banaras started well from the runway to go
to 7.64 metres in the long jump and 15.86 in the triple. It was an
enjoyable sight. Banaras was some steps ahead of his efforts in the Madras
SAF Games where his distances were 7.53 metres for a 4th placement and
15.68 for a third slot in the hop, step and jump. There was a leap-forward
from Quetta (7.52 metres and 15.17 in the two events).
Rana Ghufran Husain of WAPDA, a bronze winner in Madras, though retained
his shot put title but propelled the metallic ball much behind the Quetta
or Larkana throws (17.01 and 17.44). He will have to improve a lot over the
poor performance of 16.40 in Karachi. At the Madras game he had shied the
ball to a distance of 17.62 metres.
WAPDA's corps of women athletes were on top in the National Games and
Shabana Akhtar dazzled in many disciplines, her specialty of long jump
included.
Though Shabana could not repeat her record-breaking feat of Madras of 6.31
metres a confident leap of 5.80 metres at the Coaching Centre showed that
her form continues and she may yet claim laurels in foreign meets. A double
in sprints demonstrated her fluent style and grace. Certainly she can yet
go far in track and field events.
WAPDA have produced quality athletes. Their women are on the march and have
quelled the challenge of the Army. It seems that the ladies will not be
behind the men, even in foreign test and trial, if they are sent to
regional competitions.
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970618
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangladesh, Kenya given one-day status by ICC
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Qamar Ahmed
LONDON, June 17: The revamped International Cricket Council meeting
concluded today at Lord's by granting both Bangladesh and Kenya a special
one-day international status.
The new status would mean that both the emerging countries will have an
official status of any one-day international that they play against each
other or against other countries. Besides, three- or four-day games played
by the two countries against full member countries, other recognised first
class teams and between the two countries will be taken as first class games.
Bangladesh's application for Test status was given careful consideration
and it was decided that Bangladesh should undertake an intensive programme
of 'A' team matches and tours and their progress will be closely monitored
over the next 12 months and then there will be a further review in the next
years at ICC conferences.
The world championship of Test cricket was discussed in depth as well and
various proposals were made for which a small committee has been
established to investigate all the options at the next Executive Board
meeting which will be held in December in Calcutta. The three-man committee
will consist of Sir John Anderson, Mr Denis Rogers of Australia and Dr Ali
Bacher of South Africa.
"It is a complex issue and deserves thorough consideration, each proposal
having an impact on the future tour programmes of all countries," said
Jagmohan Dalmiya, the new ICC President.
In January 1998 the first Youth World Cup will be played in South Africa.
The nine full members will be joined by seven teams from associate member
countries. Namibia and Kenya have already qualified to represent Africa,
two countries will be picked from the 1997 Asian Cricket Council Trophy,
two will come from International Youth Tournament to be held in Bermuda
next month and the final country will be the next highest placed from the
1997 ICC Trophy.
It was also endorsed that cricket will be one of the disciplines in the
1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur for the first time.
Belize, Cayman Island and Sweden have been accepted as Affiliated members
of the ICC bringing the total to 16 besides the 23 associate members of the
ICC.
Also a new five region structure was approved in principle and ICC will be
employing a full-time development manager stationed at Lord's with
subsequent appointments of development officers in each of five regions.
India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are to promote the game in the Gulf and Asian
region. Australia and New Zealand are to look after the Pacific countries
like Fiji, England is to see European cricket development and South Africa
the developing affair in their region.
An initiative has already been taken to enter into negotiations with the
Disney World to establish an international standard cricket facility at
Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
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970619
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No provision for rain day in World Cup schedule
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Sports Reporter
KARACHI, June 18: The World Cup 1999 itinerary seems to be interesting with
highly competitive matches but the major loophole is that there is no
provision for rain day.
In a country like England where rains come down in force and within no
time, rain days should have been given as much importance as appointment of
third umpire. So much so, there is no reserve day in the semifinals and the
final which are the only knock-out games.
The experts of the game feel that no reserve days meant that there would be
another rain law which will be effective if the match was not possible
because of inclement weather. So far, no rain law has been standardised by
the ICC and different countries adopt different rules according to their
convenience.
But no rain law can be as ridiculous as the 1992 one when South Africa,
after needing 21 off 11 balls in the semifinals against England, were set
to achieve 21 runs off 1 ball after rain had interrupted the game by 15
minutes.
The visible change in the itinerary is the elimination of the quarter-final
stage which saw two of the best sides-South Africa and Pakistan-crash out
for no reason in the 1996 event.
Instead, the three top teams from the two groups will go into the super six
stage and play league matches. The two best sides go through the semifinals.
However, this programme means that one of the best sides in each of the two
groups of the preliminary round will fail to reach the second round. With
England, India, South Africa and world champions Sri Lanka in Group A,
prospects are high that even the host country or for that matter the
defending champions may fall earlier than expected.
On the contrary, the Group B, in this context, seems comparatively easier
as New Zealand, which is placed with Pakistan, Australia and the West
Indies in Group B, are not the best of limited overs sides and are yet to
win a one-day competition since 1971 when the first-ever one-day
international was played between England and Australia.
The change in the format means that continuous efforts are in progress to
make the extravaganza more thrilling, sensational and competitive. The
format of the first three editions of the World Cup was similar before
alternations were made in the 1987 when 10 teams were divided into two groups.
The format of the 1992 World Cup was billed as the best ever as the
tournament was played on single league basis with the top four teams
qualifying for the final. The layout of the 1996 came for criticism when
all the four semifinals of the 1992 event were beaten in the quarter-final
which was included for the final time. Its elimination from the 1999 World
Cup format confirms the point.
World Cup itinerary:
Group A: England, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Kenya.
Group B: Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, Scotland, New Zealand, Bangladesh.
May 14: England v Sri Lanka (Lord's)
May 15: India v South Africa (Hove); Zimbabwe v Kenya (Taunton)
May 16: Australia v Scotland (Worcester); West Indies v Pakistan (Bristol)
May 17: New Zealand v Bangladesh (Chelmsford)
May 18: England v Kenya (Canterbury)
May 19: Sri Lanka v South Africa (Northampton); India v Zimbabwe (Leicester)
May 20: Australia v New Zealand (Cardiff); Pakistan v Scotland
(Chester-le-Street)
May 21: West Indies v Bangladesh (venue in Ireland TBA)
May 22: England v South Africa (The Oval); Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka (Worcester)
May 23: Kenya v India (Bristol); Australia v Pakistan (Headingley)
May 24: West Indies v New Zealand (Southampton); Scotland v Bangladesh
(Edinburgh)
May 25: England v Zimbabwe (Trent Bridge)
May 26: Sri Lanka v India (Taunton); South Africa v Kenya (Amstelveen)
May 27: West Indies v Scotland (Leicester); Australia v Bangladesh
(Chester-le-Street)
May 28: New Zealand v Pakistan (Derby)
May 29: England v India (Edgbaston); Zimbabwe v South Africa (Chelmsford)
May 30: Sri Lanka v Kenya (Southampton); West Indies v Australia (Old
Trafford)
May 31: Scotland v New Zealand (Edinburgh); Pakistan v Bangladesh
(Northampton)
Super Six Stage:
June 4: Group A 2nd v Group B 2nd (The Oval).
June 5: Group A 1st v Group B 1st (Trent Bridge).
June 6: Group A 3rd v Group B 3rd (Headingley).
June 8: Group A 2nd v Group B 1st (Old Trafford).
June 9: Group A 3rd v Group B 2nd (Lord's)
June 10: Group A 1st v Group B 3rd (Edgbaston).
June 11: Group A 3rd v Group B 1st (The Oval).
June 12: Group A 2nd v Group B 3rd (Trent Bridge).
June 13: Group A 1st v Group B 2nd (Headingley).
Semi-finals:
June 16: Team 1 v Team 4 (Old Trafford)
June 17: Team 2 v Team 3 (Edgbaston)
Final:
June 20: at Lord's
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970621
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Wasim Raja likely to replace Mushtaq
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Samiul Hasan
KARACHI, June 20: Cricketer-turned-teacher Wasim Hasan Raja is most likely
to replace Mushtaq Mohammad as cricket manager of the Pakistan team.
According to well informed sources, the Chief Executive of the Pakistan
Cricket Board (PCB), Majid Khan, had a detailed discussion with the former
left-handed batsman earlier this week when the board official was in London
in connection with the ICC meeting.
It is believed that the London-based Wasim Raja has accepted the offer and
would be taking over the charge of the team later this month. Raja,
according to sources, will be awarded a 12-month contract starting next
month's Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
However, what still remains an unanswered question is how the PCB will get
Wasim Raja released. Raja is an English lecturer in a Surrey school and has
been associated with that institution for the last six or seven years.
The other intriguing question is what will be the terms and conditions of
Wasim Raja's contract with the PCB as Mushtaq Mohammad was being paid Rs
40,000 per month. The families of both Wasim and Mushtaq, it may be
mentioned here, are settled in England.
Wasim Raja and Mudassar Nazar were in line for the vacant coach's job after
Mushtaq Mohammad broke with the PCB for reasons for under payment last
month. But Nazar's controversial role in 1991 when he spoke on ball
tampering in his capacity as Pakistan A coach and failure to handle the
national team two years later in the West Indies where four cricketers were
put behind bars on `constructive possession of marijuana', left the cricket
administrators with no option but to further limit their choice to Wasim Raja.
In the present circumstances, the choice of Wasim Raja appears to be
sensible and wise.
Wasim Raja, the 45-year-old pinch-hitter of his days, represented Pakistan
at all levels of the game. Thus, his knowledge about the demands and
rigours of modern day cricket will be second to none.
Raja appeared for Pakistan in 57 Tests between 1972 and 1984 in which he
scored 2,821 runs at 36.16 and also picked up 51 wickets at 35.80. Raja has
an experience of 54 one-day internationals in which he mustered 782 runs at
22.84 besides 21 wickets with his gentle but crafty leg-spinners.
However, the point which gives Raja an edge over all others is his
qualification as a specialized coach. Raja took coaching courses in England
and after receiving the degree trained and guided budding youngsters in
England.
At a time when immense importance is being given to qualified and trained
coaches, Raja's induction in Pakistan cricket may solve numerous problems
as it is no hidden secret that local boys carry all the major technical
faults when they play at the highest level because they bypass the process
of undergoing a coaching scheme as there is no proper arrangement of
coaching in the country. The areas in which major improvements are
desperately required are fielding and running-between-the-wickets.
With Wasim Raja also an intellectual, he may be of significant help to the
captain of the team in chalking out plans and strategies as in modern day
cricket.
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