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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 10 January 1998 Issue : 04/02
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Contents | National News | Business & Economy | Editorials & Features | Sports
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CONTENTS
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NATIONAL NEWS
Four issues to dominate MQM meeting with PM
Ban on jobs to be lifted within a week
Amendments to Constitution soon: Nawaz
Visa policy for C. Asian countries relaxed
Local bodies elections deferred to April
F-16 aircraft Pakistan to sue US for return of money
13 freed children arrive from S. Arabia
Bhuttos amassed $1.5bn: US paper
---------------------------------
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Cotton crop estimate at 8.1m bales: APTMA
$2.5bn proposals finalized: BoI chief
Two thermal power plants fail to begin operations
CBR admits Rs9bn tax revenue shortfall in first 5 months
Market capitalization falls by Rs7 billion
Incentive package soon for high-tech industry
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EDITORIALS & FEATURES
The president in the shade Ardeshir Cowasjee
The holy terror Irfan Husain
1998 � more of the same Omar Kureishi
The ways of the prime minister Aziz A Siddiqui
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SPORTS
Forthcoming Pakistan-India hockey series welcomed
Wasim Akram vows never to lead Pakistan again
Twelve invited for Asian squash trials
Akram, Younis borderline cases for African safari
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NATIONAL NEWS
980106
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Four issues to dominate MQM meeting with PM
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 5: Four issues - related to the local bodies polls and
the existence of so-called 'no-go' areas in parts of Karachi's
eastern district - will dominate a meeting scheduled in Islamabad
on Wednesday (January 7) between an 8-member delegation of the
Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a senior
MQM leader said here on Monday after his return from London.
He also said that disassociating from the coalition government in
Sindh was one of the options but making such a decision would be
considered by the MQM's coordination committee only after the
meeting with the prime minister - a meeting he described as
"crucial" and not like meetings in the past.
The deputy convener of the MQM and its parliamentary leader in the
Senate, Senator Aftab Ahmed Sheikh told Dawn on his return from
London (he returned to Karachi on Monday morning along with Sindh
minister Farooq Sattar and Wasim Akhtar and MNA Babar Ghouri) that
the party delegation would raise the issue of the 'no-go' areas in
Karachi and tell the prime minister that unless they weren't
removed the local bodies elections couldn't be fair.
The MQM, the senator said, would also ask the prime minister that
1200 families displaced from these so-called 'no-go' areas be
rehabilitated, that the "escalation" of activities of activists of
the Mohajir Qaumi Movement led by Afaq Ahmed be curtailed, and that
they be disarmed and the patronage given to them taken back. He
said that these matters were discussed with MQM chief Altaf Hussain
in London from where several MQM ministers and legislators returned
on Monday.
Senator Sheikh said that right after the meeting with the prime
minister the MQM's coordination committee would go into session and
consider various "options" if a "satisfactory reply" was not
received from the federal government. The senator said that these
were not the party's "demands" or that it would be lobbying with
the prime minister, but that these points were "part of the accord
signed with the PML on February 21, 1997".
Responding to a question the senator said that boycotting the
forthcoming local bodies elections was not an option. He also said
that the party with the election of a new president was not
pressing for the Sindh governor to be replaced with its nominee.
The senator said that the MQM would be going into the meeting with
an open mind "expecting" that its viewpoint would be accepted by
the prime minister. Asked if the party's other major demands of
getting compensation and the establishment of a tribunal to probe
extrajudicial killings had taken a back seat, the senator said that
wasn't the case but a question of priority.
The senator admitted that the meeting of all the MQM's MPAs with
the Sindh chief minister on Saturday morning was "unusual" or
unprecedented but it showed the "seriousness" of the matter. The
senator also said that MQM delegation would invite the prime
minister to Karachi to inaugurate the newly-rechristened Khidmat-
i-Khalq Foundation. The prime minister was supposed to do this in
December but postponed that trip.
The delegation that will meet the prime minister will include,
apart from Senator Sheikh, federal production and industries
minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Senator Nasreen Jalil, MNA Kunwar
Khalid Yunus, and Sindh minister Farooq Sattar, Qazi Khalid Ali and
Shoaib Bukhari. Anees Ahmed advocate and MPA Zulfiqar Hyder who
went to London did not return with the rest of the ministers and
legislators on Monday.
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980109
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Ban on jobs to be lifted within a week
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 8: The Sindh government will be lifting within a week
the ban on 10,000 appointments in the education department.
The appointment of over 10,000 people, including 4,000 primary
schoolteachers, was suspended last month.
Sources said that funds for recruitment would be made available
from the Social Action Programme (SAP). Projects having components
of SAP include Sindh primary education development programme,
middle school project and Sindh girls education development plan.
These funds run into billions and all these projects needed urgent
attention as the deadline for their completion was nearing fast and
till today not even 50 per cent of work had been completed, sources
said.
For example, Sindh primary education development programme,
initiated a few years ago, is scheduled to be completed by coming
December and hardly 46 per cent of the work had so far been
completed.
As far as middle school project is concerned, the sources said, it
had almost come to a halt following a Rs 35million fraud in its
funds a couple of years ago, and certain steps were being taken to
bring the project on the rails.
The decision of the government ordering stay over the process of
appointment had jolted the entire education department as it had
already finalised lists of a good number of potential candidates.
Almost all the cases of those who appeared for interview tests for
the posts of 4,861 posts of primary school teachers had been
finalised. Besides, work was in progress on the recruitment of
around 6,000 people to various technical and non-technical posts.
According to sources, the selection committees had finalised lists
and hundreds of those selected were scheduled to be given
appointment letters.
They maintained that chief minister had given approval for filling
in the vacancies in September with a decision that recruitment to
grade 1 to 7 posts be monitored by additional secretaries and from
grade 8 to 15 by secretaries.
The sources maintained that the education department had begun the
process in the first week of April. In June, it invited
applications for over 4,000 vacant posts of primary schoolteachers.
Almost half of the Sindh government's entire workforce of 448,000
is from the education department alone. Out of Sindh government's
budget of Rs 41.051 billion for 1997-98, education received Rs
11.578 billion.
The Sindh government initiated a few months ago a recruitment drive
to add 18,668, including around 10,000 in education department,
more employees in existing workforce to push up its annual wage
bill by more than Rs 1 billion.
On completion of this additional recruitment, financial managers of
the Sindh government estimate that the total wage bill of the
province would go up to Rs 20.4 billion a year, from existing Rs
19.3 billion.
In addition, Sindh government pays Rs 3.3 billion to the retired
employees, which means a total payment of Rs 23.7 billion is made
only on account of serving and retired employees.
Officials say that grade-wise requirement of new employees with
financial impact on a virtual empty provincial exchequer has been
worked out.
According to this initial exercise, 12,930 jobs are being created
in grades 1 to 7 which would claim Rs 5.87 billion a year as basic
salaries and allowances. High number of 6,590 jobs are being
created in grade 5 followed by 2,945 in grade 1, 2,387 in grade 7,
448 in grade 6, 235 in grade 4, 187 in grade 2 and 138 in grade 3.
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980104
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Amendments to Constitution soon: Nawaz
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Staff Reporter
LAHORE, Jan 3: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said here on Saturday
the government was preparing a package of constitutional amendments
to avoid any possible crisis in future.
Talking to newsmen at Walton airport on his arrival from Pakpattan
by helicopter, he said a special committee had been constituted to
review the Constitution.
Governor Shahid Hamid, Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid and
provincial minister Haji Fazle Karim accompanied Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif during his short visit to Pakpattan.
"If the country is to be saved from any possible crisis in future,
a package of constitutional amendments is imperative", Mr Sharif
said.
He said the original 1973 Constitution was a consensus document but
a number of amendments were incorporated in it during the martial
law period. These amendments, he pointed out, needed to be
reviewed.
Asked whether the opposition would also be taken into confidence
before finalizing the proposed package of constitutional
amendments, Mr Sharif said: "Let the government first make up its
mind about the proposed amendments".
Replying to another question, the premier said positive aspects of
the Eighth Amendment would be incorporated in the package.
The prime minister said peace in Afghanistan would be possible only
through a broad-based dialogue.
Asked how the Taliban government viewed Pakistan government's
efforts for peace in the war-ravaged country, the prime minister
said: "Positively".
Regarding the 12 references against former prime minister Benazir
Bhutto and her husband Asif Zardari sent by the Ehtesab Cell to
Chief Ehtesab Commissioner Justice (retd) Ghulam Mujaddid Mirza, Mr
Sharif said they were old cases which had come to light now.
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980105
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Visa policy for C. Asian countries relaxed
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Our Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Pakistan government has announced a liberal and
comprehensive visa policy to promote relations with the Central
Asian States in the fields of trade, tourism, culture, and
education.
Federal interior minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, said this
while talking to newsmen here on Sunday.
He said the ministry had issued a notification regarding the new
visa policy for the Central Asian States, which has simplified the
acquisition of visa for all the bona fide businessmen/tourists of
the states of the former Soviet Union, i.e., Central Asian
Republics/ Commonwealth of Independent States.
Explaining the main features of the new visa policy, the Chaudhry
Shujaat said Pakistan missions in these states would issue visas to
genuine and bona fide businessmen/tourists. A visa fee of US $40
would be charged for a six-month multiple entry visa from the
nationals of these states.
He said the tourists from these states would be allowed landing
permit/visas for 15 days on arrival through chartered flights
arranged by designated tour operators. A visa fee of US $10 would
be charged for a single entry from each tourist, he added.
He said the tourists from these states would be required to have at
least US $500 per head and a return air ticket. They would not
carry any contraband item as may be notified by the Central Board
of Revenue (CBR).
The minister said the tour operators would be responsible for the
arrival, stay and return of these tourists. Their arrival/departure
would be notified to the interior ministry along with particulars
of the tourists including their passport numbers.
He said henceforth the facility of landing permit/visa up to 15
days through chartered flights would also be valid for Islamabad,
Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta in addition to Karachi where facility
of landing permit of chartered flights was already available.
Chaudhry Shujaat said guidelines would be issued by the interior
ministry for the concerned tourists. The activities of both the
tourists and tour operators would be monitored for a period of six
months and the guidelines would be reviewed by the ministry, if
Necessary, at the end of the said period.
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980108
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Local bodies elections deferred to April
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Ihtasham ul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: The federal cabinet on Wednesday decided to hold
local bodies elections on April 18 on a non-party basis throughout
the country.
The cabinet also decided to hold the much-delayed national
population and housing census from March 2 to 18. A national data
base will be compiled during the census.
The cabinet dwelt at length on the holding of local bodies
elections in the light of recommendations made by the PML council
on Monday and took a note of the provincial governments' proposal
for postponing elections from February to April due to harsh
weather conditions in certain areas of NWFP and Balochistan.
The PML council had suggested the holding of local bodies elections
on party basis.
"Everything was changed at the eleventh hour as nobody knew that
the prime minister would surprise ministers by announcing LB polls
on a non-party basis," said a source.
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980106
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F-16 aircraft Pakistan to sue US for return of money
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Jan 5: Pakistan has reached a decision in principle to
sue the US for the return of the 658 million dollars it paid for
the F-16 aircraft and the only point to decide is when, diplomatic
sources said.
"What we are thinking about now is whether to file the suit now or
after the visit by President Clinton, if it is not too late," a
source said, confirming that at all levels of decision-making there
was consensus that the only way out of the impasse was to go to the
court.
The sources said the general view in Pakistan to take the legal
route had also been conveyed to top US officials including the
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright when she visited Pakistan
recently.
The state department reaction to these suggestions by Pakistan has
always been mixed. One official told Dawn some time back the
decision could cause some diplomatic problems between the two
countries, but it could not be said with certainty how exactly the
US would respond, officially.
Experts, however, say there was no other way to bring the issue to
a closure since the Congress would not appropriate the money to
refund Pakistan and the planes would not be sold to any country as
they are obsolete and expensive, compared to the hundreds of
similar US F-16 jets, waiting to be disposed of at a bargain price.
According to one expert even if Pakistan got the planes back, which
was almost next to impossible in the present circumstances, they
would be worth not much since Pakistan would not get the upgrades
and the parts to keep them functional.
Apart from the technical side, the price Pakistan has already paid
is now good enough to buy 200 such planes at the going market rate
of three million dollar a piece, and Pakistan would only be getting
28 obsolete aircraft.
Experts said the matters that need to be decided included the
interest on the amount that the US kept blocked for so many years
and how would that be paid.
Some influential Pakistanis, who have been working on this issue
privately, have discovered a legal fund, available with Congress,
which can be used to repay Pakistan, if the courts decided the
issue in Pakistan's favour.
While the return of the aircraft now looks almost impossible and
the repayment of the money is the pending question, many experts
and senior Pakistani diplomats are now convinced that the passage
of the Brown Amendment in 1995 was not in Pakistan's interest.
According to one senior diplomat Pakistan only got "crumbs" under
the Brown Amendment and the key issues remained unresolved while
the Benazir Bhutto government and her cronies made a big deal out
of the whole event as if US-Pakistan relations had never been
better.
"The US passed the Brown Amendment because they wanted to do it in
their own interest and the influential lobbies in Washington,
including the strong Jewish lobby, did not oppose it, because they
knew that Pakistan was not getting anything out of it," an expert
said. A senior Pakistani diplomat agreed with him fully.
Even journalists, who were pouring heaps of praises for the Brown
Amendment and its sponsors, both in Washington and in Pakistan, now
admit they were wrong and the whole exercise proved to be "too much
hot air, with nothing inside."
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980109
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13 freed children arrive from S. Arabia
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Dawn Report
LAHORE, Jan 8: Moving scenes were witnessed when 13 children
repatriated from Saudi Arabia where they were held on drug
smuggling charges arrived here on Thursday by a PIA flight from
Jeddah.
The children, mostly aged between three and 13, were originally
charged with drug trafficking but, following requests by Pakistan
authorities, released on humanitarian grounds.
The juveniles were caught along with their parents aboard two
flights from Pakistan in October 1996 and January 1997. Some had
heroin tailored into their clothes while others carried heroin-
filled capsules in their stomachs.
Flight PK 736 was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday morning, but was
delayed and landed at the Lahore airport at 10am on Thursday.
Pakistan's assistant consul-general at Jeddah accompanied the freed
children to Lahore. Seven of them, six belonging to one family, got
down here while the remaining were flown to Islamabad and Peshawar
to be handed over to their relatives.
Those who disembarked in Lahore were Gulshan, 17, Nargis, 13, Inam,
7, Muhammad Ali, 4, and Asma, a baby of 18 months �- all said to be
children of a resident of Gujranwala, Sajjad of Budha Gharaya �-
and Mushraf, 8. Mushraf is described as Sajjad's nephew.
Sajjad himself is reported to be a taxi driver trapped by smugglers
into sending women and children of his family ostensibly for Umra
but in effect to carry contraband drugs into Saudi Arabia. There
were 21 members in a group which went by a Saudi airline flight on
January 19 last year, and all of them were arrested at Jeddah
airport.
They were languishing in Saudi prisons till an appeal was made by
the Pakistan government for the release of the children in the
group. The grown-ups in the group are still in detention in Saudi
Arabia.
All the six children who reached Lahore on Thursday were allowed to
go with their relatives who had been waiting for them since
Wednesday morning.
The case of the seventh person landing in Lahore, five-year- old
Shahnaz, is different. Her mother is in a Jeddah prison while her
father in a jail in Gujranwala in connection with some other
charge. Her grandmother and aunt are also undergoing imprisonment.
There was nobody to receive Shahnaz at the airport.
She is being looked after by officials of the Overseas Pakistani
Foundation and has been temporarily lodged at the local SOS
village, a home for destitute children. She will later be shifted
to Kot Lakhpat jail where her grandmother and aunt are lodged.
Shahnaz allegedly carried heroin stitched into her clothes when she
travelled by flight SV-731 on Oct 5, 1996.
Mohammad Arshad, 3, and Zeeshan, 4, belonging to Taxila, were flown
to Islamabad by a connecting PIA flight which left Lahore at
12.30pm. Mohammad Ashraf Khan, assistant consul-general of Pakistan
in Jeddah, went with the children.
Noman Ahmad, 7, his sister Aisha Siddiq, 3, from Peshawar, Mehra,
5, and Sobia, 6 from Takht Bhai (Mardan) were taken to Peshawar on
Thursday evening. These six children were allegedly involved in
three separate heroin smuggling cases.
In the group disembarking in Lahore, 17-year-old Gulshan was the
only person able to give a coherent account of their tribulations.
She said she was happy to be home.
"We were sent to Saudi Arabia by Irshad, Javed and Anwar. We were
supposed to be going to perform Umra. They promised to give us some
money."
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980110
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Bhuttos amassed $1.5bn: US paper
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Masood Haider
NEW YORK, Jan 9: The Bhutto family and their associates generated
more than $1.5 billion "in illicit profits through kickbacks in
virtually every sphere of government activity" - from rice deals,
to sell-off of government land, airplanes deals with Dassault
Aviation, even rake-offs from government welfare schemes, claimed
the New York Times in a front page exclusive report.
The Times , which asserts that it had conducted its own "three
months long intensive investigations" into allegations of illicit
wealth acquired by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her
husband, Sen Asif Zardari, following the dismissal of her
government in November, 1996, says: "In 1995, a leading French
military contractor, Dassault Aviation, agreed to pay Zardari and a
Pakistani partner a $200 million commission for a $4 billion jet
fighter deal that fell apart only when Bhutto's government was
dismissed. In another deal, a leading Swiss company hired to curb
customs fraud in Pakistan paid millions of dollars between 1994 and
1996 to offshore companies controlled by Zardari and Bhutto's
widowed mother, Nusrat Bhutto."
The Times goes on: "In the largest single payment investigators
have discovered a gold bullion dealer in the Middle East who was
shown to have deposited at least $10 million into one of Zardari's
accounts after the Bhutto government gave him a monopoly on gold
imports that sustained Pakistan's jewelry industry. The money was
deposited into a Citibank account in the United Arab Emirates
sheikdom of Dubai, one of several Citibank accounts used by
Zardari."
The NYT writes: "The Pakistani officials say their key break came
last summer, when an informer offered to sell documents that
appeared to have been taken from the Geneva office of Jens
Schlegelmilch, whom Bhutto described as the family's attorney in
Europe for more than 20 years, and as a close personal friend.
Pakistani investigators have confirmed that the original asking
price for the documents was $10 million. Eventually the seller
travelled to London and concluded the deal for $1 million in cash.
The identity of the seller remains a mystery."
Schlegelmilch, 55, developed his relationship with the Bhutto
family through links between his Iranian-born wife and Bhutto's
mother, who was also born in Iran. In a series of telephone
interviews, he declined to say anything about Zardari and Bhutto,
other than that he had not sold the documents. "It wouldn't be
worth selling out for $1 million," he said.
The alleged documents included statements for several accounts in
Switzerland, including the Citibank accounts in Dubai and Geneva;
letters from executives promising payoffs, with details of the
percentage payments to be made; memorandums detailing meetings at
which these "commissions" and "remunerations" were agreed on, and
certificates incorporating the offshore companies used as fronts in
the deals, many registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The NYT says: "The documents also revealed the crucial role played
by Western institutions. Apart from the companies that made
payoffs, and the network of banks that handled the money - which
included Barclay's Bank and Union Bank of Switzerland as well as
Citibank - the arrangements made by the Bhutto family for their
wealth relied on Western property companies, Western lawyers and a
network of Western friends."
The documents leave uncertain the degree of involvement by Bhutto,
but they trace the pervasive role of her husband who turned his
marriage to Bhutto into a source of virtually unchallengeable
power.
Together, the documents provide a detailed look at high-level
corruption in Pakistan.
A worldwide search for properties secretly bought by the Bhutto
family is still in its early stages. But the inquiry has so far
found that Zardari went on a shopping spree in the mid-1990s,
purchasing among other things a $4 million, 355-acre estate south
of London. Over eight months in 1994 and 1995, he used a Swiss bank
account and an American Express card to buy jewelry worth $660,000
- including $246,000 at Cartier Inc. and Bulgari Corp. in Beverly
Hills, California, in barely a month.
In separate interviews with the New York Times in Karachi, Ms
Bhutto and Sen Zardari declined to address specific questions about
the NYT inquiry, which they dismissed as a political vendetta by
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In Karachi Central Prison, where he
has been held for 14 months on charges of murdering Bhutto's
brother, Zardari described the corruption allegations as part of a
"meaningless game." But he offered no challenge to the authenticity
of the documents tracing some of his most lucrative deals.
"Most of those documents are fabricated," Ms Bhutto said, "and the
stories that have been spun around them are absolutely wrong." But
she refused to discuss any of the specific deals outlined in the
documents, and did not explain how her husband had paid for his
property and jewelry. Lamenting what she described as "the
irreparable damage done to my standing in the world" by the
corruption inquiry, she said her family had inherited wealth,
although not on the scale implied by tales of huge bank deposits
and luxury properties overseas.
"I mean, what is poor and what is rich?" Bhutto asked. "If you
mean, am I rich by European standards, do I have a billion dollars,
or even a hundred million dollars, even half that, no, I do not.
But if you mean that I'm ordinary rich, yes, my father had three
children studying at Harvard as undergraduates at the same time.
But this wealth never meant anything to my brothers or me."
Some allegations against Bhutto and Zardari appeared in European
and American newspapers last fall, after Pakistani investigators
began releasing some of the Bhutto family documents.
But a much fuller picture emerged when several thick binders full
of documents were made available to The New York Times over a
period of several days in October. The Times' own investigation,
lasting three months, extended from Pakistan to the Middle East,
Europe and the United States, and included interviews with many of
the central figures named by the Pakistani investigators.
As striking as some of the payoff deals was the clinical way in
which top Western executives concluded them. The documents showed
painstaking negotiations over the payoffs, followed by secret
contracts. In one case, involving Dassault, the contract specified
elaborate arrangements intended to hide the proposed payoff for the
fighter plane deal, and to prevent it from triggering French
corruption laws.
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BUSINESS & ECONOMY
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Cotton crop estimate at 8.1m bales: APTMA
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By Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana
KARACHI, Jan 5: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA)
while putting current year's cotton production at a depressed level
of 8.1 million bales has urged the government to immediately impose
ban on cotton export and ensure availability of man-made fibre at
international prices.
In support of its argument APTMA has pointed out that with the
recent fog and adverse weather conditions in Punjab, the cotton
crop is not expected to exceed 8.1 million bales as compared to
last year's cotton production of 8.9 million bales.
APTMA, largest representative body of spinners and exporters in a
statement to the press has cautioned that the depressed cotton
production would trigger a serious raw material shortage for the
textile industry which would be needing around 8.9 million bales to
see the season through.
As against over optimistic government estimates of 11 million bales
of current cotton crop and last year's actual cotton production of
8.9 million bales, the current year's estimated production of 8.1
million bales would leave a shortfall of over 0.800 million bales
to meet the industry's current year requirement of at least 8.9
million bales, APTMA asserted.
Opposing the unrestricted export of raw cotton, APTMA stated that
to-date 0.27 million bales have been already physically exported
and if no immediate check is made on exports it will result in an
acute shortage of cotton for the local industry.
APTMA has claimed that even at this stage the industry is faced
with a shortage of 1.07 million bales and apprehends this deficit
will continue to increase with every consignment of cotton export.
Though export and import of cotton is free, but APTMA believes that
if cotton was imported the country has to bear the cost of inward
freight, transportation and handling charges which work out to
around 2 per cent of the international prices.
It has further stated that Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF), which is
another essential raw material for the textile industry, could very
well meet the gap, but only if it was made available at
international prices.
Giving details APMTA stated that at the moment the usage of PSF is
20 per cent against 80 per cent cotton. In order to meet the world
demand for blended textile manufactures and to reduce the over-
dependence on cotton it is essential that the usage of PSF was
gradually increased to reach the optimum ratio of 50 per cent, it
added.
However, the association feels that this could not be possible if
the government continues to allow free export of cotton and imposes
restrictive duties on the import of polyester to protect a handful
of local polyester manufacturers at the cost of the entire textile
industry.
The association fears that if the government does not immediately
come up with steps to ensure availability of raw material the
textile industry could soon drift back into chronic sickness after
getting impetus from business friendly government policies.
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980104
-------------------------------------------------------------------
$2.5bn proposals finalized: BoI chief
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: The Board of Investment (BoI) has finalized
"actual proposals" of $2.5 billion foreign investment in six months
of the current financial year, claimed Humayun Akhtar, Chairman,
BoI.
"We have been able to attract and facilitate actual proposals of
$2.5 billion foreign investment which is quite an achievement", he
further stated.
"I am not talking about so-called Memorandum of Understanding
(MoUs) but this has actually happened as the foreign investors have
started taking Pakistan seriously," he said.
Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, the BoI chairman pointed out that
these concrete proposals have been finalized by the Cabinet
Committee on Investment.
Responding to a question, he said that Minister for Finance Sartaj
Aziz chaired a high level meeting on Saturday in which a number of
important decisions were taken to promote local and foreign
investment in the country. The BoI chairman, SBP Governor, heads of
the financial institutions and number of concerned federal
secretaries attended.
"The meeting has constituted five different bodies to inter-act
with local businessmen and representatives of the multinational
companies to promote foreign investment in Pakistan," Mr Humayun
Akhtar said.
Giving deals, he said the "International Advisory Council of the
Prime Minister" has been set up which will comprise 15 prominent
local businessmen and key heads of the multinationals in Pakistan.
"This Council would target multinationals of this region for their
increased investment in Pakistan."
"Then we have set another advisory body which will comprise heads
of the banks and the DFIs, leasing companies, modarabas, chartered
accountant firms and representatives of multinationals operating in
Pakistan," he said adding that the job of this body would be to
offer input for attracting foreign investment in the country.
Similarly, he said the meeting has decided to constitute another
council which will be composed of top 50 businessmen of Pakistan.
"Then we have established a Private Sector Advisory Council with
BoI officials, local businessmen, multinationals, commercial
associations and representatives of the elected chambers as
members," he said adding that the task of this council would be to
provide input for enhancing local and foreign investment.
He said that it has been decided to focus on the manufacturing
sector specially to encourage high tech industries, export-
oriented, agro-based industry, petro chemical and mining processing
sector.
"We have decided that the heads of the local multinational
companies will be provided an opportunity to have one to one
meeting with the prime minister," he said.
The BoI chairman said that these foreign companies were very much
interested to raise their level of investment, provided some of
their problems were sorted out.
He said that a meeting between the prime minister and heads of the
local multinationals would be held in March or early April next.
He said that it was also discussed how to remove shyness of the
local businessmen to shift their thrust from traditional to non-
traditional manufacturing sector.
"Traditional manufacturing sector has reached its capacity and
there is now a high time to shift the thrust to non-traditional
sector," he believed.
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980104
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Two thermal power plants fail to begin operations
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Nasir Jamal
LAHORE, Jan 3: Two of the three thermal power plants set up in the
private sector around the Punjab capital failed to begin commercial
operations during 1997 according to the schedule due to, what
officials claim, the 'snags created by WAPDA.'
Three independent power producers (IPPs) � Southern Electric Power
Company Ltd (SEPCOL), Japan Power Ltd (JPL) and Kohinoor Energy Ltd
(KEL) � with a gross capacity of 383MW were allowed to set up
thermal plants in the vicinity of the city by the previous Benazir
Bhutto government as part of its energy policy to overcome the
power shortage in the country.
Only KEL, with a gross capacity of 131MW, could start supply of
power to WAPDA from November 10 after a prolonged dispute on
legality of June 20 as its commercial operations date (COD)
declared by an independent engineer.
'We've completed our arrangements. But WAPDA is unnecessarily
delaying approval of the operative procedures,' a SEPCOL official
told Dawn on Saturday. SEPCOL has a gross capacity of 117MW and was
scheduled to start commercial production in December.
'WAPDA has yet not completed synchronization of the plant with its
transmission system,' he said. 'However, we're trying to sort out
these problems with WAPDA officials.'
The official was hopeful that SEPCOL would be able to hammer out
the differences with WAPDA during the next week, beginning the 15-
day reliability run test sometime this month.
JPL, which was originally scheduled to complete in October last
year, will not become operational before the end of the first
quarter of this year. 'We hope that we'll start commercial
operations by the end of this quarter,' a senior JPL official said.
The official said JPL, having a gross capacity of 135MW, could not
start commercial operations due to failure of WAPDA to complete a
132KV transmission line linking the plant with its system.
'The transmission line could not be completed due to resistance
from influential agriculturists from whose land the transmission
line is to pass through. But it's not our headache,' the JPL
official said.
He said they had operated one of their 24 engines on the occasion
of the company's annual general meeting last month. He admitted
that the project management was itself behind the schedule, but did
not explain the reasons for the delay. 'Even if we had completed
all our arrangements, we could not have tested power load due to
absence of the transmission line,' he argued.
The JPL official claimed that WAPDA had secretly conveyed it to all
IPPs not to go into commercial operations in 1997 because 'WAPDA
wanted to avoid paying us additional bonus tariff incentive of 0.25
cent per KWh'. All IPPs were promised premium if they completed
their projects before the end of 1997.
Another private sector power project � EAS Lal Pir � being
established by an American company at Muzaffargarh has failed to
become operational as scheduled.
When a senior WAPDA official was contacted, he refused to comment
on the allegations levelled by the officials of the IPPs. 'It is
what they think. They are trying to hold WAPDA responsible for the
delay in the completion of their projects to avoid penalty they
would have to pay in case of delay in the start of power supply,'
he said.
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980108
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CBR admits Rs9bn tax revenue shortfall in first 5 months
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: The National Assembly's Standing Committee on
Finance was told here on Wednesday that there has been Rs 9 billion
tax revenue shortfall during the first five months of the current
financial year.
"The CBR authorities have informed us today that despite lot of
efforts there has been a Rs 9 billion tax revenue shortfall in the
first five months of 1997-98," said Chairman of NA Standing
Committee on Finance, Sardar Mansoor Hayat Tumman.
He told Dawn after the meeting that the NA committee would now meet
again on January 16 to further discuss the performance of the
Central Board of Revenue (CBR). "New CBR Chairman Moeenuddin has
also been asked to attend the meeting," he added.
He said the committee could only discuss issues related to CBR and
that in the next meeting other economic issues would also be
deliberated upon.
"In the next meeting we will discuss CBR performance on Customs and
Central Excise Duties beside banks and the DFIs."
Sardar Mansoor Hayat said it was for the first time that the CBR
officially admitted that there was a Rs 9 billion tax revenue
shortfall. He did not believe that this shortfall was much more as
has been published in different newspapers.
"I do not think they can hide anything from us and if at all they
could do so how the hell they are going to hide it from the IMF,"
he asked.
However, he said that concerned officials were still waiting for
the final collection data to reach CBR on January 15. Nevertheless,
he pointed out that the CBR had admitted this Rs 9 billion
shortfall in tax revenue collection.
He stated that according to CBR officials non-tax revenue
collection would be more to offset the impact of shortfall in tax
collection.
Responding to a question, he said that he believed the overall Rs
324 billion target for 1997-98 was too high to be achieved. "I
sincerely believe it is a very ambitious target," he said adding
that it should have been around Rs 280 billion keeping in view
various tax exemptions and rebates offered by the government during
the last few months.
Moreover, he said that the last year target was Rs 286 billion and
as such there was a sudden increase of Rs 38 billion which, "I
think is not justified."
Asked whether the committee members were satisfied with performance
of the CBR, he said by and large the organization was making all
out efforts to increase its revenue generation position.
"But we stressed the need for broadening the tax net with a view to
increase revenues," he said hoping that the new CBR chairman, who
belongs to a private sector and enjoys rich experience, would help
improve the overall performance of the CBR. "We were told that
policy level changes are being made in the overall structure of the
CBR to substantially increase revenues," said Sardar mansoor Hayat
Tumman.
He agreed that without enhancing revenue base the funding problems
of the government could not be minimized. He said that the National
Assembly's Standing Committee on the Ministry of Finance has
decided to regularly meet to offer suggestions for bringing
improvements in various government departments and agencies.
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980106
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Market capitalization falls by Rs7 billion
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 5: Stocks gave another poor performance on Monday as a
section of leading operators continued to offload long positions on
selected counters, pushing the KSE 100-share index by another 27
points.
A fall of 27 points or 1.56 per cent in the index means wiping out
of market capitalization of about Rs 7 billion just in one go,
which is said to be an impressive figure for a single-session
trading.
"The Moody's downgrading of Pakistan's credit worthiness to the
lowest grade of "E" seems to have intercepted the budding rally as
investors moved out of the rings with the same speed as they
entered early last week, leaving a long list of casualties behind
them," analysts said.
However, a big decline in share values of most of the MNCs, notably
BOC Pakistan, Abbott Lab, Ciba-Geigy, Engro Chemicals, Gillette
Pakistan and some others, worried local institutional traders as it
may reflect the exit of some foreign investors after offloading
long positions, some dealers said.
The market direction is expected to be set by the new account
buying and if it failed to boost it then investors should be ready
to live with a longer bearish spell, they added.
But some leading stock analysts are not inclined to entertain
bearish ideas for the long-term as much has now changed on the
political front and that could lead to sound sustained economic
revivals during the months to come.
"Those who could peep into the future are least worried over the
market's snap reversal after a sustained run-up as they foresee
better days ahead for the share business," they added.
They said stock markets the world over generally derive strength
from higher economic indicators and political stability and
Pakistan is moving towards that end.
The KSE 100-share index lost another 27.10 points or 1.56 per cent
at 1,708.04 as compared to 1,735.14. The market capitalization also
dropped by about Rs 7 billion at Rs 513 billion as compared to Rs
520 billion at the last week.
Although bulk of the selling was confined to the trend-setters such
as Hub-Power, PTCL and ICI Pakistan, which together command a
weightage of over 45 per cent in the KSE index, it caused
sympathetic liquidation on other blue chips too.
Analysts said the impact of Moody's negative rating of Pakistan's
economy will ultimately be absorbed as it works as psychological
depressant rather than a real bearish factor.
But the state of the economy and not very encouraging increase in
the foreign exchange reserves, despite a number of incentives given
to boost exports, certainly worry investors, notably the foreign
ones, they added.
A section of leading operators, however, believe the selling
islargely technically-inspired as no one is inclined to hold long
positions for obvious reasons.
The interesting feature was that some big inter management deals
were noted in the modaraba and leasing sector at the unchanged
rates and that could be prelude to management changes in the coming
weeks, dealers said.
Trading volume showed a sharp increase owing to active selling in
the current favourites, rising to 35.441 million shares as compared
to 21 million shares at the last weekend.
Out of the 180 actives, 92 shares fell, mostly fractionally, 32
rose with 56 holding on to the last levels.
The most active list was topped by Hub-Power, lower 65 paisa at Rs
56.05 on 9.463 million shares, followed by ICI Pakistan, down Rs
1.20 at Rs 18 on 9.133 million shares, PTCL, off 70 paisa at Rs
31.90 on 8.219 million shares, Askari Bank, easy 50 paisa at Rs
28.50 on 0.737 million shares, and Southern Electric, off 35 paisa
at Rs 15.40 on 0.584 million shares.
Other actively traded shares were led by Union Leasing, unchanged
on 0.450 million shares, Ibrahim Leasing, off 50 paisa on 0.450
million shares, Asian Stocks, unchanged on 9.435 million shares,
Nishat Mills, off 80 paisa on 0.567 million shares, and FFC-Jordan
Fertilizer, easy 40 paisa on 289 million shares. There were several
other notable deals also. Big gainers were led by Paramount
Spinning and Shell Pakistan, which came in for active short-
covering and rose by Rs 3.80 to Rs 5.
Losers were led by Ciba-Geigy and BOC Pakistan, which posted losses
ranging from Rs 3.25 to Rs 4.
DEFAULTING COMPANIES: Suzuki Motorcycle again came in for modest
selling and fell by 25 paisa at Rs 2.55 on 2,000 shares.
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980110
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Incentive package soon for high-tech industry
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: The government is formulating a policy framework
and liberal incentives package for software and related services
industry in Pakistan.
"We have chalked out a four-pronged approach towards Pakistan's
initiative for the development of high-tech industry in the
country", he stated.
He was speaking at the launching ceremony of "Action Learning
Centres of Software Programme", here on Friday.
He said that the development of skilled manpower in the field of
infrastructure and related services was also the part of the four-
pronged strategy. "Infrastructure development through Software
Technology Parks Scheme and aggressive national and international
marketing would further form part of the strategy", he added.
He said that the government has already announced liberal fiscal
incentives for software exporters which included income exemption
for software companies and duty free imports of hardware and
software for the purposes of software exports.
He said over 200 software companies have been registered with the
Software Export Board. These companies were involved in software
development and export, ranging from low tech data entry, medium
tech millennium projects to high tech image processing and chip
designing. "These companies and their expertize have been
documented in a directory of software companies for the ease of
larger software and related services companies all over the world
in finding partner companies in Pakistan". This directory, he
pointed out, was available with PSEB for distribution to anybody
who was interested in it.
He said that the lack of an educated workforce was a major hurdle
for developing expertise in the field. "To cater for the shortage
of trained manpower quickly and effectively, PSEB conceived the
idea of Action Learning Centres of Software (ALCoS)".
The minister for commerce said that a decision has been taken to
allow private sector to establish these centres.
The government, he said, was providing all possible help for the
success of this initiative by announcing incentives like five-year
tax exception for computer training institutes established between
July 1, 1997 and June 30, 2000.
"Today India is one of the largest exporters of software and
related services in the World", Ishaq Dar said. He pointed out that
Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Singapore have achieved the Asian Tiger
status and their multi-billion dollar economies by aggressively
concentrating on their Information Technology (IT) industries.
Malaysia, China and Thailand were the favourites of the largest
multinational IT companies for investment purposes.
"The statistics are truly mind boggling. No doubt these are
exciting times to be living in", he added.
"Nations who anticipated that IT would affect every walk of life,
took steps and measures to capitalize on this $600 billion
opportunity", he said adding that the phenomenal pace of change and
the benefits it brings to those who have captured this opportunity
and has tempted and caught the attention of those outside the
cooperate circle as well.
He pointed out that the software industry was all set to become
"the industry" by the year 2010. The revolution brought about by
the advances in the field of IT took place in the last two decades
only.
As a matter of fact it was only 10 years back when the likes of
Microsoft, Intel, and IBM started giving new meaning to computing,
software and its related services.
The commerce minister said that the organizations which have
managed to capitalize on this opportunity were the business giants
of today which include Microsoft, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Cisco,
Intel, Motorola were involved in one or more ways with IT.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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EDITORIALS & FEATURES
970802
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The president in the shade
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
TWO weeks ago, I was wrong when I wrote: "During the three years he
sat there, one sole judgment authored by the Honourable Justice
Tarar was recorded in a PLD � his concurring judgment in the case
of the 1993 dissolution of the National Assembly restoring Nawaz
Sharif." Two judgments of his have been recorded, the second being
Criminal Appeal No. 74/SAC/L, decided by Tarar on February 19,
1994, reported at 1994 SCMR 1466.
This was the case of "Muhammad Ashraf and Others versus The State,"
an appeal against the enforcement of the Hudood Ordinance and the
conviction of the appellants by the Special Court for Speedy Trials
No.II, Lahore. Muhammad Ashraf, Khalid Javaid and Zafar Ali had
been sentenced to have their right hands amputated from the wrist
and their left legs from the ankle, to seven years RI, and to a
fine of Rs.20,000 each. Their crime was the theft of Rs.40,000 and
of a licensed pistol from one Zahid Mahmood, and for "causing him
simple and grievous injuries" in the process.
The learned honourable Chairman of the Supreme Appellate Court,
Justice Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, headed the bench comprising members
Justices Afrasiab Khan and Muhammad Zubair. The honourable Justice
Tarar wrote the judgment. His concluding paragraph :
"Before convicting the appellants, the learned trial Court
considered all the relevant provisions of law, including sections
10, 11, 16 read with sections 7 and 20 of the Offences Against
Property (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance 1979 which cater for
situations where Hadd shall not be imposed and/or enforced and on
proved facts rightly concluded that the offence committed by the
appellants squarely falls within the ambit of section 17(3) of the
Ordinance. The only punishment provided by section 17(3) is the
amputation of right hand from the wrist and left leg from the ankle
which has been imposed by the learned trial Court and we confirm
the same." To repeat, the year was 1994.
Another interesting case has come to light involving the honourable
and learned Justice Tarar. On August 3, 1994, Justices Munir Khan
and Mir Hazar Khan Khoso of the Supreme Court heard the matter of
"Khalil-uz-Zaman versus Supreme Appellate Court Lahore," reported
at PLD 1994 SC 885. This was an appeal against the judgment of that
court dated March 14, 1993, passed in Criminal Appeal 91/SAC/L/92.
The chairman, again, of that honourable Supreme Appellate Court was
Justice Tarar, sitting with Judges Raja Afrasiab Khan and Abdul
Majid Tiwana.
Justice Tarar wrote the judgment (not reported), opening up : "This
appeal by Khalil-uz-Zaman convict is directed against the judgment
of the learned Special Court for Speedy Trials-II Lahore, whereby
he was convicted u/s 302 and 324 read with Section 337-F of the
PPC. Under Section 302-PPC he was sentenced to death as Tazir and
was directed to pay Rs.50,000 as compensation to the legal heirs of
Mst Aasia Perveen deceased u/s 544-A of the Cr.P.C. and u/ss
324/337-F of the PPC he was sentenced to imprisonment for 10
years...." He finished off: "In the circumstances, the appellant is
liable for Qatl-e-Amd u/s 302(a) of the PPC punishable with death
as Qisas. In that view of the matter, the order directing payment
of compensation is set aside. His conviction and sentence u/s 337-F
is also set aside and with the above modification his appeal is
dismissed."
Supreme Court Judges Munir Khan and Khoso heard the convict's
appeal against Justice Tarar's judgment, and, inter alia, in their
judgment have recorded :
"...we are in no manner of doubt that the trial Court and also the
learned Appellate Court had no lawful authority / jurisdiction /
power whatsoever to convict the petitioner under section 302 PPC or
to impose penalty of death on him, and have acted in gross
violation of law. The Courts derive authority to punish the accused
from the statute. If the statute does not provide death penalty for
the offence then obviously the Court would have no jurisdiction to
award the same, and, as such, the conviction and sentence of the
petitioner recorded under section 302 PPC is coram non judice.
"...If the impugned judgments are allowed to stand then the
petitioner would be deprived of his life obviously in pursuance of
orders which suffer from lack of jurisdiction and authority, gross
carelessness, illegality and were violative of Fundamental Rights
guaranteed by the Constitution. Fortunately for the petitioner, our
Constitution gives protection to the citizens of Pakistan against
illegal treatment in the matter of life, liberty and body.... In
this case the Courts, vide impugned judgments, have ordered the
petitioner to be hanged to death although he was/is not liable to
death in law for the offence allegedly committed by him. There can
be no case more fit and proper than the present one for
interference in exercise of our original jurisdiction under Article
184(3) of the Constitution."
"....Had the Courts taken the trouble of reading three sections of
the Pakistan Penal Code, i.e. section 306, 307 and 308, we are sure
they would not have sentenced the accused/petitioner to death under
section 302 PPC. The error committed by the Courts in convicting
the accused/petitioner under section 302 PPC and sentencing him to
death is so serious that had the petitioner eventually been hanged
to death, we are afraid it would have amounted to murder through
judicial process. Needless to say that plea of good faith/bona
fide/ignorance of law/incompetency is/are not available in such
like cases." The case was remitted back to the Lahore High Court
for a "fresh decision in accordance with law." The year was also
1994.
Another much discussed case involving the good Justice Tarar dating
back to circa. 1994 involved a 20-year old girl and a young man
accused of adultery and of killing the girl's husband. On very
flimsy evidence they were convicted by a sessions judge in the NWFP
to be hanged to death. They appealed to the High Court but the
sentence was upheld. They then appealed to the Supreme Court where
they found Justice Tarar. He upheld the sentence and the 20-year
old girl would have been hanged but for an ultimate presidential
reprieve.
Three years later, whilst the Anti-Terrorism Act was being drafted,
retired judges now Senators, Rafiq Tarar and Afzal Lone, were
called in. They recommended what could be termed a parallel
judicial system composed of special courts with special judges with
special powers to try all those suspected of terrorist acts. Chief
Justice of Pakistan Sajjad Ali Shah objected, and proposed that
suspects be tried in the normal course by sessions judges
(requesting that many more be appointed). To expedite matters,
trials could be held in the jails. Those convicted could appeal to
the High Court, and then to the Supreme Court. The CJ assured the
prime minister that he would see that the entire trial period was
completed within three months.
Nawaz Sharif did not want trials held in three stages, so it was
finally agreed by all that the sessions court stage would go, that
suspects would be tried in the High Court, and then allowed an
appeal to the Supreme Court.
However, much to the CJ's surprise, when the Act was passed by
parliament, the law laid down that a suspect would be tried by a
special judge in a special court, that an appeal would lie only
before a special tribunal of two specially appointed high court
judges, that no bail would be granted, and no appeal to the Supreme
Court allowed. All as initially recommended by Tarar/Lone.
Such is the recorded mindset of a judge (thank heavens, no longer a
judge), a Senator, and now the president.
After he had been nominated on December 15 as the Muslim League
presidential candidate, minister of thought control Mushahid
Hussain declared Tarar to be a "moderate Muslim" On December 18,
Acting Chief Election Commissioner Mukhtar Junejo rejected his
nomination papers under Article 63(g) of the Constitution.
Rather than honourably withdrawing from the race, Rafiq Tarar
appealed for help to the prime minister and to the law ministry.
The law ministry confidently announced that Tarar's appeal would be
placed before Justice Malik Qayyum of the Lahore High Court,
brother of PML MNA Malik Parvez, that an interim stay would be
given on the EC order, and the dates of subsequent hearings of the
case would be so adjusted as to allow Tarar to successfully contest
the election. This happened, and as things now stand, Tarar is
president subject to the EC order being struck down by the High
Court and then by the Supreme Court.
With all this behind their head of state, � the judgments and the
new law � and with him and the prime minister on the march for
"Reform", should we be a very frightened nation ? Wake Up.
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970802
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The holy terror
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Irfan Husain
AMONG all the many forms of violent death, there is something
especially gruesome and stomach churning about getting one's throat
slit.
There is an element of proximity combined with a cold, deadly
deliberation that makes this method of killing so repugnant. Also,
I suppose this kind of butchery is normally associated with the
ritual slaughter of animals, and therefore makes one equate human
victims with sacrificial lambs. When one reads about the
interminable killings in Algeria, where the death toll is now over
100,000, the mind cannot absorb such mindless viciousness. Tens of
thousands of women, children and babies have had their throats
slit, and untold people have been decapacitated. Most of these
massacres have been carried out in the name of Islam, and are
alleged to have been perpetrated by the Groupe Islamique Armee
(GIA).
For its part, the Algerian government is not entirely blameless in
this shadowy civil war. Many independent reports have accused
various security and intelligence agencies of playing an active
role in this slaughter of the innocents at worst, and of turning a
blind eye to these atrocities at best. Some of the bloodiest
massacres have been carried out a few hundred yards from army
barracks, with the killers carrying out their gruesome deeds at
leisure. Despite the heart-rending screams of the victims which
would have normally woken the dead, there has been no response from
the nearby security forces. In addition, there are literally
hundreds of documented cases of torture, abduction and killings
laid at the door of the government by journalists and human rights
organizations.
Shortly after the first-round election victory of the religious
party Front Islamique de Salut (FIS) in 1990, the Algerian
government cancelled the second round, thus depriving FIS of its
right to form a government. At around this point, I met the
Algerian ambassador at a small dinner party in Washington, and
asked him if he didn't think his government's decision would
precipitate a civil war in his country. Very suave and urbane, he
was very confident that the situation would be handled without much
fuss.
Basically, he argued that if the fundamentalists seized power
through the ballot, they would never leave by the same means as
they would block any future elections that threatened their hold on
power. I pointed out that the (secular) Algerian army would be in
the background and ensure that the rules of the game were not
changed by the FIS once it was in power. Events have shown that the
ambassador was wrong in his assessment, and the Algerian government
has neither the vision nor the will to restore peace to that
strife-torn land.
Meanwhile, a fertile country, well endowed with natural resources,
is steadily sinking into chaos and anarchy.
Thousands of miles away, a much poorer country is well advanced on
this route. The present rulers of Afghanistan seem determined to
drag their hapless nation back into the stone age. With each
passing day, the plight of our neighbours worsens. Apart from the
poverty that is grinding the people down, they are being
simultaneously robbed of their human dignity by the Taliban. These
backward fanatics remind me of cruel little boys who derive
pleasure from pulling the wings off butterflies. The daily edicts
emanating from Kabul are reminders of how terribly things can go
wrong in a very short time. Afghan women have been reduced to
nameless, faceless creatures that exist on the periphery, and
Afghan society has been sent backward to a forgotten, pre-Islamic
era where only the rulers had any rights. Rulers, I might add, who
are in power today, thanks to the support they get from Pakistan.
Many Muslims around the world have (rightly) objected to the
negative stereotypes of Islam that fill the Western media. Arabs
are caricatured, and the Islamic world demonized as a matter of
routine by even the most sober newspapers. But in our anger, we
forget how much we contribute to these stereotypes. When a reader
in London sees pictures of Algerian babies with their throats cut
lying dead in pools of their own blood; or an American sees a TV
report of Afghan women being caned in the streets of Kabul because
their chadors do not quite cover their toes, we shouldn't expect
them to be sympathetic towards the Islamic world.
Basically, opinions and views are formed by words and images
absorbed over the years. Turkey was recently refused admission into
the European Union for the umpteenth time because of what it has
been doing to the Kurds for decaes. Indeed, if we are willing to
look at facts objectively, it is difficult not to arrive at the
conclusion that some of the worst human rights abuses in the world
are occurring today in Muslim countries. In an era of instant
communications, these images of mayhem and barbarism are flashed
around the globe. Small wonder that followers of the faith have a
negative image in the non-Muslim world. Unfortunately, the track
record of secular governments is just as bad as that of so-called
Islamic models. Both Syria and Iraq � to mention only two Muslim
countries � are police states that use torture and coercion as a
matter of routine. Yet their leaders get re-elected time and again
by farcically large margins in elections that are a mockery of the
real thing. Oil-rich sheikhs squander their undeserved and unearned
fortunes in casinos and jewellery shops around the world. Democracy
is practically non-existent in most of these countries whose
leaders are famous only for their profligacy and cruelty. And
despite their routine condemnation of the West, they make sure that
their investments are made in New York, London, Paris and Zurich.
In spite of Pakistan's long and repeated bouts of martial law, it
remains probably the most democratic Muslim country in the world.
It certainly has a free press: you probably couldn't read this
article anywhere else in the Islamic world. But we, too, seem
determined to send out the wrong signals: our support to the
Taliban, the endless battles between various groups of
obscurantists, and our treatment of women and the minorities, have
all combined to place us firmly in the category of bigoted,
repressive states. Certain things happening in the recent past have
confirmed that we, too, are determined to travel back in time to
our distant past.
We'll probably find that the Taliban have got there before us.
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980105
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1998 � more of the same
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Omar Kureishi
IS there a difference between revelry and celebrations? The stern
press note about how the New Year was to be ushered in or rather
not ushered in clearly indicates that in the minds of the
authorities there is.
Revelry is perceived to be rowdy and disorderly and probably
offensive in that there is about it something of the sinful values
of the decadent West. Celebrations would suggest that there is some
sort of control on our emotions, that happiness must be felt
without being seen to be felt. Five- star hotels took no chances
and they advertized in the newspapers telling the public to stay
away on New Year's Eve. One had visions of the owners bolting the
door and locking up shop. Thus 1998 made a relatively quiet
entrance and, perhaps, it was just as well for it promises to be
just as barren as 1997 was.
The proliferation of foreign television channels enables us to get
a pretty good idea of what is happening in the world and what is
happening is that on a daily basis somewhere there is a war going
on, people are being massacred or there is famine. Nothing to
suggest that there has been an improvement in the human condition.
There is a good deal of news about the revolutionary advances in
technology, about globalization but alas none of this has produced
even a microscopic diminution in the misery of the lives of a great
majority of the people. Statistics of social progress are
depressing because there is no profit to be made in the alleviation
of poverty.
Happily, the same cannot be said of our own television and although
PTV gets its share of flak, or more than its share, it must be said
that unlike foreign television channels, PTV exudes good cheer.
Down in the dumps, concerned about the state of the economy and the
ongoing political conflicts, one has to watch Khabarnama to know
that at least all's well with Pakistan. I once asked a news reader
how it felt to be reading out one-sided version of domestic events
and he told me that we should be grateful for, at least, for the
duration of the newscast we are getting good news. He had a point.
Whatever else may be said of PTV, it remains an island of optimism
in a sea of cheerlessness.
New Year is the time when people make resolutions. It is a kind of
therapy, a conversation with oneself for the purpose of self-
correction and ironing out the wrinkles of bad habits. I too have
made a resolution and it is to watch less television and do more
reading. I once used to have friends who read books as a passion
and we would spend endless hours discussing the books that we were
reading. It was a long time ago and those years have simply
vanished from my memory as have those friends, some of whom
vanished for good and are probably browsing in book-shops in the
sky.
I have just re-read Ryszard Kapuscinski's The Emperor which is a
portrait of the last nightmare days of Haile Selassi. I was first
drawn to the book because I felt that there was a comical element
as well as a sinister element to the pursuit of power. I had seen
decent people change, change not only in attitude but change
physically. Kapuscinski confirms this. "First, the whole figure of
a man changes. What had been slender and trim-waisted starts to
become a square silhouette.
It is a massive and solemn square; a symbol of the solemnity and
weight of power. We can already see that is not just anybody's
silhouette, but that of visible dignity and responsibility."
Kapuscinski describes how the steps become solemn, feet firmly on
the ground, the body bent slightly forward to show determination to
push through adversity. He says that facial features become solemn,
almost stiffened, more worried and closed.
"The gaze changes too, its length and angle are altered. The gaze
is trained on a completely unattainable point. In accordance with
the law of optics, an appointee cannot perceive us when we talk to
him since his focal point is well beyond us. Speech is another
post-assignment symptom.. meaningful pauses and changes of
intonation, misty words and a general air of having known
everything better and for a longer period."
I have often felt that one picture is worth a thousand words and
have regretted that the political cartoonist has not been given his
rightful importance. But sometimes, a good writer can put into
words what a cartoonist would find impossible to draw.
I picked on this particular passage from a remarkable book because
it applies so universally. Not just political power but any kind of
power, the sort that one exercises, even briefly when an
opportunity presents itself. I once wrote: give a small man power
and he will show you how small he is. I write of power in the
context of the disempowerment of people through technology, the
automatic lift has made the lift-man obsolete, direct dialling has
made the operator unnecessary and so on. But technology has its
limitations. For which we should be thankful. The other day, there
was a traffic jam and people were held up. The reason was that
someone very very important was due to do us the honour of passing
through. Although vastly inconvenient, it was comforting to know
that human folly still prevails. It seems a high enough note on
which to end this new year greeting.
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980104
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The ways of the prime minister
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Aziz A Siddiqui
THE prime minister's style of governing and how he makes his
decisions when he has to is now folklore. It may have the sound of
a joke but it often has the effect of black humour. From his
telephone link to the people to his choice of the president of
Pakistan the tragi-comedy has many facets. His media managers and
his eager clan of close kinsmen do sometimes seem to have turned
his running of the state into pretty much of a burlesque.
There was first his recourse to the modern equivalent of the sultan
roaming the streets at nights in disguise and listening in to
citizens griping behind bolted doors. Mian Nawaz Sharif had the
people calling him on telephone for an hour or so everyday.
That want on for some time, but then the novelty and the publicity
value of it wore off and he tired of it. It has come back recently
in the form of internet. The PM will now be available to the people
via the cyber space but at second remove after the information
ministry bosses.
The chances are, this experiment will have an even shorter life.
The device isn't at hand for many people and its use is far less
amenable to media hype.
The weekly kutchery in the Model Town home in Lahore has had the
most success with the media. From the prime minister's squatting
beside a child for a fetching public posture to an aide clutching a
dumpy woman under one arm and reading her application from the
other, it has all been good spectacle for the press, and the
photographers and reporters have revelled in it. But again the
routine motions were bound to pail with time and there must also
have been a limit to the chastisement to officials and largesses to
the people that even a prime minister could hand out week after
week. The experiment now appears to have begun panting for breath.
The rulers' accessibility to the people is a good thing but this
cannot now best happen the way it used to a few centuries ago. The
state's responsibilities have become far more wide-ranging and
complex and both the people and their problems are now more
numerous and diverse.
In a democratic-like order there is not one ruler but many, and
even if a prime minister wants to appear as the sole dispenser of
good things it is bound to be asked, for instance, if he is the
prime minister of the country or of a tiny part of his
constituency. And no matter how accessible he is, he can meet, or
receive calls from, only a small fraction of people with grievances
to press, and he can redress the grievances of even a smaller
fraction of them.
If his intervention does bring some relief to these few it can add
to the despair of a lot more of the others.
Besides, government machinery today has to work by a variety of
rules and procedures. Impromptu directives will often be based on
insufficient evidence or incomplete information. They can end up
doing more injustice than justice.
A police official asked to be handcuffed on the spot or the
chairman of an authority ordered suspended forthwith did induce
throaty slogans of hail and welcome but they had omitted
consideration of some other relevant factors and had to be judges
impugnable by the courts afterwards.
Finally, the method puts a premium on individual relief rather than
institutional reform, on temporary help to a few rather than a
correction for the benefit of all for all the time. It makes the
one a substitute for the other.
Ordering at one kutchery that all the handshaken UBL employees be
embraced back into the fold, or at another that the temporary
lecturers on notice be given another year's extension may be sound
action, but the ad-hockery creates problems elsewhere.
It undermines the institution, the policy process and the follow-up
action behind the earlier decision (which to must have emanated
from the government thinking of that time).
It erodes the credibility of institutional decisions as such. It is
elementary that when an action is reversed it must usually be made
to flow from a rethinking of the essentials, not to spring purely
from the supposed largeness of an individual's heart.
Similarly, going out and commisserating with a rape victim is good-
neighbourly behaviour. It may bring some balm to the family's
would. But a government's essential responsibility isn't that of a
good neighbour's. It has to demonstrate keen and urgent attention
to getting to the bottom of the crime, and not just in words only.
That almost never happens. And when the victim family knows who the
criminals are and also that the arms of the law will never reach
them, it can only feel contempt within its heart for the show of
commisseration.
The style of governance has also been remarkable for its aversion
to public debate. From the change in the weekly holiday and ban on
wedding feasts to the two constitutional amendments and the new
laws on ehtesab and against terrorism, the government allowed
little or no respite for airing of views ahead of the decisions.
This indicates a suspicion of even marginal involvement of the
people in decision-making. It circumvents the opportunity for
educating and mobilizing public opinion. It smacks more of the
dictatorial or monarchical method of imposing decisions and only
asking for obedience.
Then there is evidence of this clannish hand in decision- making,
which is a step further down from the purely personal style. The
latter allows some room for professional and political advice; it
is also a little concerned about image. A clan is more rigid and
closed, it is more narrowly demanding, more of a world unto itself,
and more keen to shape the rest of the world to the service of its
interests.
Consider the choice of the new president. It is almost clear that
it was purely a family decision. The outsiders had little, if
anything, to do with it. Such posts are normally used to broaden
the coalition of interests, limit the era of conflict or diminish
any source of friction. No such creative political engineering was
put to work here. Given all and more of Mian Nawaz Sharif's
political requirements, there was virtually nothing in Mr Tarrar's
record to commend him above all the others.
There was plenty, on the other hand, not to enable him even to be
short-listed.
It could only have been personal consideration that nevertheless
made him the sole choice for the post. It was that he commanded the
family trust above all others. He could be depended on to render
total loyalty to them regardless of all other corsiderations. After
their experience of the two previous presidents and given that even
divested of his fangs, a president could still be a spoiler,
especially in situations of emergency, of which the prospects were
never slender, implicit loyalty had to be the ultimate test.
Mr Tarrar had proved it in his personal relations with the family
and in the public areas that they had been most concerned about,
such as in the recent crisis with the judiciary. His hatred for the
Bhuttos also matched their own.
Other high-level appointments also seem to have been based on, and
look likely in future to be based on, the same overriding
considerations.
All this does not augar well for capable consensual governance.
There is no indication where the resistance to it will come from.
Sections of the judiciary may to some extent feel they have a
certain reputation to live up to. But largely the pressure against
the personal and clannish tendencies will have to emerge from
within the party.
Its members will have to recover some of the political will they
have surrendered. They will find this important for their own
political survival too.
===================================================================
SPORTS
980105
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Forthcoming Pakistan-India hockey series welcomed
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By A. Majid Khan
After a lapse of about a decade the revival of men's hockey test
series of eight matches between Pakistan and India is generally
welcomed. It is hoped the coming February series would give
considerable boost to the game in the two countries, once regarded
and recognised as leading nations in the game.
Strained political relations were the main stumbling blocks in
Pakistan-India hockey relations. The last test series in 1988 had
ended in a draw with Pakistan and India winning two matches each,
while the two ended without definite result.
The eight-match series commences with the first four matches
starting from Feb 28 at Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi.
After a week's break the Pakistan team will go to India to play
four matches at New Delhi (March 19) in Punjab, Hyderabad and
Madras. The series ends on March 26 as the last Test Madras.
The coming series would provide an ideal opportunity to Pakistan
and India to improve their financial position as the public
response is expected to be fairly high. Their traditional rivalry
still remains the core point of the matches to be played between
the two countries.
The recent meeting of the high up of both Pakistan and Indian
Hockey Federations, held at PHF headquarters at Lahore, had decided
to acquire the services of foreign international umpires through
the good offices of the International Hockey Federation as the
performance of the referees belonging to the two countries had been
controversial. The FIH would not be found lacking in providing the
services of foreign umpires, having international reputation.
Hockey, both in Pakistan and India, has gradually lost its mass
appeal in the wake of their teams unsatisfactory performance in the
international hockey. Pakistan indeed, had better hockey record as
compared to India. Even today Pakistan is the World Cup title
holder and India has no international title in its bag today.
The past achievements however, are part of the history and for
making new history both Pakistan and India will have to work very
hard with missionary zeal to improve their competitive standards.
The standard bearer of today's world hockey is neither Pakistan nor
India but Europe and Germany who have emerged as the strongest
hockey nations with new ideas and new formations that outwitted the
challenge from Asia, once a dominating force in international
hockey.
Pakistan and India still earnestly believe in playing traditional
system of 5 - 3 - 2 - 1 formation, a system discarded by European
nations over three decades ago. The no-off-side rule is another new
element in world hockey and both the countries, so far, have failed
to show their mastery in its wake. It only shows that both the
countries lack in developing new strategies to keep abreast of the
new rules and conditions.
A case in point is the conversion of the penalty corner. Both the
countries usually follow the foreign tactics when they watch them
or play against them. But they hardly evolve their own strategy in
scoring or thwarting and blocking the challenge posed by foreign
teams. They usually blame Europe for changing world hockey rules as
they dominate the world hockey today. Since there is no apparent
sign that rule making will be in the hands of Asians or they will
be able to act as ruling force in the FIH, therefore we should
direct our energies in popularising the international version of
hockey in Pakistan and India.
It had been generally observed that Pakistani and Indian players,
having more flexibility in their reflexes enjoyed an advantage over
foreign players. They are more skillful in dodging as compared to
heavily-built Germans, Dutch and Australians, but the foreign
players certainly enjoy the advantage of better gathering, marking
and hitting.
The foreign players and coaches discuss in detail the advantages
and disadvantages of their strategy whereas in Pakistan and India
the sole authorities are the managers and coaches who in many cases
do not have much knowledge about the latest developments in the
prevailing pattern of the game.
In Pakistan we have to bring to our fold more educated and brainy
players to understand what tactics they would have to adopt in a
given situation in top flight hockey. The game's role in the
educational institutions, should as such be increased to produce
educated talent.
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980104
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Wasim Akram vows never to lead Pakistan again
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Samiul Hasan
KARACHI, Jan 3: Pakistan cricket started the new year on a wrong
foot when Wasim Akram expressed his inability to lead the national
team in future.
Wasim Akram's decision includes the forthcoming tour of Africa
where Pakistan play three Tests against South Africa and two Tests
against Zimbabwe besides a series of one-day games in the two
countries.
"I have conveyed my decision to the cricket authorities and they
have accepted it," the star allrounder told Dawn from his Lahore
residence.
"It has been one of the most difficult decisions to take but I have
decided to play as an ordinary member in the team in accordance
with the mental pressures I was in," said Akram, who has 334 Test
wickets and 341 one-day scalps.
"Whatever cricket is left in me, I want to enjoy it as a player not
as captain," stated Akram, who recently spearheaded Pakistan to a
3-0 win over the West Indies, 2-0 win over England in 1996 besides
guiding Pakistan to its first World Series Cup win in Australia in
17 years.
Akram needs 29 runs to join the elite company of Kapil Dev, Ian
Botham, Sir Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan to grab 300 wickets and
2,000 runs in Test cricket.
Akram led Pakistan in 17 Tests winning nine, losing four and
drawing four. In 72 one-dayers under his captaincy, Pakistan won 43
games, lost 28 with one ending in tie. Personally, he took 78 Tests
and 112 one-day wickets as captain.
Akram's decision is believed to come in the wake of media and
public criticism after the Pakistan team lost the quadrangular
tournament and the Champions Trophy last year under his captaincy.
The critics attributed the loses to match-fixing, the allegations
yet to be substantiated by the accusers.
Akram said he called on the PCB chief executive Majid Khan in his
office on Saturday morning. Also present during the deliberations
were chairman of selectors, Salim Altaf, and Talat Ali, chairman of
the disciplinary committee, said Akram.
"All of them gave me a good hearing and admitted the pressure I was
in. They were sympathetic and endorsed my decision. They admitted
that I have come for a rough treatment,' he said.
Asked if he was persuaded to continue as captain, Akram replied in
the negative.
Akram was first appointed captain in 1993-94 on the tour of the
West Indies but was dethroned 12 months later by a group of nine
cricketers who rebelled against him. Akram regained captaincy on
the 1995-96 tour of Australia where Pakistan lost 2-1.
Elaborating the reasons for taking this extreme step, Akram said:
"Allegations of match-fixing have been the backbone of all reasons.
These baseless accusations have taken a toll on me and I find
myself in no man's land.
"I am not motivated any more to lead the team. And when I am not
geared up myself, how can I lift my team on a demanding tour of
South Africa and Zimbabwe," he said.
"Naturally the boys also come under pressure and they look for the
captain to lift them. But in the present situation, I am in no
position to support them because I am myself down.
"I don't find any strength in myself to sustain any more pressure
and unjustified criticism which to an extent is personal," he
claimed.
"I have badly lacked in backing up or support from the concerned
authorities," he said.
Akram said he had enjoyed playing and captaining the side � the
things he was missing now. "I am not enjoyin captaincy any more so
what's the point in doing the job which you can't enjoy. It's then
better to step down and let another man take over the team."
Akram said he has been receiving death threats and his family
members were being harassed. "After serving the country with
distinction for so long you get this treatment, it is depressing
and upsetting."
Akram said Pakistan teams have lost in the past but betting or
match-fixing allegations were levelled. "To rub salt into the
wounds, no investigations have been carried out to convict or
acquit the guilty.
"Only once match-fixing probe was done (in 1995) in which the
accused player was acquitted as the accusers failed to prove the
charges," he said.
However, Akram promised that he would extend full support to
whoever steps in his shoes. "My priority has always been to play
and perform for country. Captaincy has been secondary to me.
"I would fully contribute as a player and would also help the
captain in taking any ticklish decisions. Since I am in the
twilight of my career, I would like to contribute by grooming up a
couple of good pacers."
Haroon Rasheed, who served as coach in Akram's last three
assignments as captain, said he was sad with the decision of the
pacer. He, however, said Akram was a professional cricketer and if
he has taken such decision, there must have been a good reason to
it.
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980108
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Twelve invited for Asian squash trials
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By A. Majid Khan
KARACHI, Jan 7: Eight time world champion and world number one
Jansher Khan has been exempted from the Asian squash trials while
12 other players, not among the top ten world rankings, are to
appear in the national trials which will be held here from Feb 5 at
the PIA Jahangir Khan Squash Complex. The Pakistan Squash
Federation Secretary Squadron-Leader S.M. Fazal, told Dawn today on
telephone from Islamabad that the federation has invited 12 players
to appear in the eight-day trials for selection of Pakistan team
for the seniors Asian Squash Championship.
The 9th Asian Squash Championship is scheduled from Feb 13 in
Seoul, South Korea Pakistan would be defending the team title as
well as the individual event, won by Mir Zaman Gul in the last
championship held in Amman, Jordan, in 1996.
The players, listed for the trials, are Jahan brothers � Zarak and
Zubair � Mir Zaman Gul, Amjad Khan, Kumail Mahmood, Kashif Shuja,
Ejaz Azmat, Umer Zaman, Shams-ul-Islam Khan Kakar, Mansoor Zaman,
Humayun Khan and Mohammad Hussain. Sq-Leader Fazal stated that
under the new selection policy of the federation, a player, who is
among the top ten world rankings, is exempted and squash wizard
Jansher Khan is the only one which stands exempted from the next
month's trials in Karachi. Previously, the players, who were among
the top 15 world rankings, were exempted from the national trials.
Therefore, those invited for the Asian squash trials are not even
among the top 15 and they have to appear in the trials to prove
their form and fitness, said the federation secretary.
The Pakistan squad will consist of four players.
The trails, he stated, would be on the single league basis and each
player has to play two matches each day, one in the morning and the
second in the afternoon, to show his top physical fitness. Last
year while selecting Pakistan Team for the Kuala Lumpur World Team
Championship, the PSF held the trials on single league basis and
each player played two matches. Those who lacked in required top
physical condition, after playing three or four matches and having
no chance of selection, later withdraw, observed the secretary.
There would be no change in the mode of trials as it is the
decision of the federation, emphasised the secretary.
The selection of the Pakistan team would be purely on merit and on
the basis of trials, he said.
The five-member national selection is headed by PSF Senior Vice-
President Air-Vice Marshal Zahid Anis and other members of
committee are former British open champion Qamar Zaman, ex-world
number two and national coach Mohibullah Khan, Sq-leader S.M. Fazal
and Farhan Samiulla.
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980105
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Akram, Younis borderline cases for African safari
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Samiul Hasan
KARACHI, Jan 4: The three-member national selection committee meets
later this week to pick the 15-man team for the South African tour
with speed merchants Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis being borderline
cases.
According to investigations carried out by this correspondent,
either one of the two pacers is likely to get the axe. Sources said
Akram was on top of the hit list.
Wasim Akram on Saturday had vowed never to lead Pakistan again. But
board sources said his place in the national team was also
doubtful.
The cricket board has provided relevant material to its probe
committee which has been directed to prepare and submit a detailed
report on the basis of which the authorities can take any action.
Justice Ijaz Yousuf, Balochistan High Court Judge, is a member of
that committee.
The board officials were also unsure of the fact if Wasim Akram has
regained complete fitness from a bowling shoulder injury.
Sources said Akram had told cricket officials on Saturday that he
would be playing a Patron's Trophy match for Pakistan International
Airlines (PIA) at the National Stadium. The match begins from Jan
10.
"We will closely monitor Akram's bowling in that game before
deciding whether to select him or not. But one thing for sure is
that he (Wasim Akram) is no more an automatic selection," sources,
requesting not to be quoted, said.
Waqar Younis, who was left out of the Dhaka triangular team along
with Wasim Akram, is said to have lost his pace and venom. The
selectors, according to sources, were of the view that the pacer
was also struggling to get into his bowling rhythm.
"He could have sorted out his problems by playing in the domestic
circuit. But he didn't. We have serious reservations if he is fit,"
sources said.
The board officials admitted that Younis was only 26 years of age
but said "only on paper. We doubt if he has told his real age. We
suspect he is 30 as his bowling shows. His body has refused to take
further strain and that may be one of the prime reasons for decline
in his strike-rate."
These stern observations of the authorities on the two lethal
bowlers are believed to be because of three reasons. 1 � The PCB
chief executive Majid Khan's statement that the two were past their
prime and no more could run through the innings, 2 � the selectors
policy of injecting fresh blood, 3 � to weed out the players
suspected of match-fixing.
It may be recalled that Salim Malik was discarded after Toronto's
Sahara Cup on similar grounds though the batsman scored 237 runs in
three Tests last year. Need not to mention the PCB's hit-list of
four players comprising Salim Malik, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and
Ijaz Ahmad.
But the experts of the game believe that South African tour was a
gruelling one and the inclusion of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis was
a must. They argued that the wickets in South Africa were bouncy
and seaming ones which would give Pakistan the edge over the hosts
if the new ball was shared by the two speedsters.
Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis have shared 572 wickets between them
with Akram (334) having represented Pakistan in 72 and Younis (238)
in 48 Tests.
The selectors have apparently pinned down their hopes on Azhar
Mahmood, Abdul Razzak, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Zahid though the
latter is still on the casualty list and trying to regain fitness
after undergoing back surgery last August.
The chairman of selectors, Salim Altaf, said from his Lahore
residence on Sunday that the selectors would meet either on Tuesday
or Wednesday "depending upon the arrival of Zaheer Abbas from
Karachi."
He said since the tour would be a long one, he would like to ask
the board to have a 16-man team "but it depends entirely on the
board how many players have to go."
South Africa came here with 15 players and according to reciprocity
they would entertain an equal number of players when Pakistan reach
there early next month.
The chief selector refused to indulge himself when asked if his
panel would be axing Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. "It is matter of
just two or three days and you will get the answer yourself. I
don't want to comment at the moment because it was quite
premature."
He, however, did indicate that the selectors would surprise the
followers of the game when he said: "We might give a jolt to a
couple of players."
Altaf, who leaves for South Africa as Pakistan Under-19 manager on
Wednesday evening, said the selectors would submit their team to
the cricket authorities on the day they finalise the side.
"The authorities, if they deemed it necessary, would make changes
in the team in the background of national team's performance in
Dhaka," he said.
He said three or four one-day specialists will be named later on
when the tour enters the one-day stage. "They will replace those
who will go there primarily for Test matches."
Shahid Afridi, Aqib Javed and Manzoor Akhtar are believed to be
those players.
With the fate of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis undecided, the
remaining 13 players may be:
Rashid Latif (captain), Saeed Anwar (vice-captain), Aamir Sohail,
Ali Naqvi, Ijaz Ahmad, Inzamamul Haq, Mohammad Wasim, Hasan Raza,
Moin Khan, Azhar Mahmood, Abdul Razzak, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq
Ahmad.
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