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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 13 June 1998 Issue : 04/23
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Contents | National News | Business & Economy | Editorials & Features | Sports
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CONTENTS
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NATIONAL NEWS
Rs 606bn budget for '98-99
No GST on less than Rs5m turnover
Kalabagh Dam will be built, says Nawaz
No-trust move filed against Mengal
National agenda of govt opposed
Resolution to be moved in US Senate on Kashmir
Pakistan suspected F-16s seen before tests were Israel's
Benazir asks SHC to declare govt's action illegal
Allies refuse to lend support: Parliament okays emergency
Plans to raise $1.16bn thru expatriates
Pakistan may export N-tech, says Chirac
12 die as rain wreaks havoc in Karachi
---------------------------------
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Budget described as 'uneventful'
Imports fall by 31pc 4.2 percent decline in exports during May
Incentives lacking to boost exports
$ down to Rs48.80 in kerb
Vendors stop spare-parts supply to PIA
Growth in GDP, revenue shortfall mark fiscal year
Non-development expenditure to be fixed at 60pc
Tax revenue target reset at Rs290 billion
No ban on carrying foreign currency
Index gains 31.23 points on massive buying
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EDITORIALS & FEATURES
The grand defaulters Ardeshir Cowasjee
Last in class Irfan Husain
Time to get serious about disarmament Zia Mian and Frank von Hippel
-----------
SPORTS
Pakistan slips further in international hockey
Pakistan contingent to comprise 59 members
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NATIONAL NEWS
980613
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Rs 606bn budget for '98-99
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M. Ziauddin
ISLAMABAD, June 12: Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz on Friday
presented a seemingly bureaucratic budget in the National Assembly
proposing an overall outlay of Rs606 billion to be financed by an
additional taxation effort of Rs16.4 billion and a record resort to
borrowing amounting to Rs198 billion including Rs43 billion from
banking sources.
The total taxation effort for the next year is projected at an
ambitious Rs354.5 billion against the current year's target of
Rs297 billion.
And despite looming sanctions and uncertainty surrounding the
country's ability to mobilise foreign resources the budget's
dependence on external resources continues to be a massive Rs142
billion, as much as 14.7 per cent more than what was received
during the current financial year.
Like in the past, the largest allocation of the budget has gone to
debt servicing amounting to Rs275 billion against Rs244 billion in
the outgoing year showing an increase of nearly 13 percent.
Besides, it is also proposed to double, in US dollars, the existing
baggage allowances.
The prime minister has already announced that if an overseas
Pakistani remits 100,000 dollars through banking channels, he will
have exemption entitlement of Rs400,000 which can be off-set
against liability of customs duty/sales tax on local purchase or
imports. If he remits 50,000 dollars then the exemption of taxes
will be to the extent of Rs200,000.
Following are some of the major measures proposed to mobilize
additional income and encourage investment:
The applicable corporate tax rates will be 33 % for public limited
companies, 43% for other companies and 58% for banking companies.
Adjustable withholding tax on monthly telephone bills has been
imposed in the range of Rs50 to Rs300. This will not apply to
monthly bills up to Rs1,000 and users of internet services. Mobile
telephone users will now pay a progressive tax depending upon the
monthly bill of each subscriber with a maximum of Rs400 per month
for bills exceeding Rs5000.
Advance tax payable by owners of cars of 1600cc to 1900cc has been
fixed at Rs2000 and vehicles with capacity of 2000cc at Rs3000.
Tax rates on perquisites, being a part of total income, are
proposed to be equated with the standard rates applicable to salary
income. Employees earning salary up to Rs300,000 would continue to
be outside the ambit of this provision.
Rebate of 40 per cent allowed to transport vehicle owners on their
incomes has been withdrawn.
A surcharge at the rate of 10 per cent of the wealth tax and
personal income tax payable has been proposed to be levied.
CVT presently chargeable on used cars purchases has been waived.
Duty has been reduced from 20 % to 10 % on bovine animals, from 35%
to 15% on manioc ( Cassava), from 45% to 15% on coconut seed/copra,
from 45% to 25% on bamboos and rattan, from 45 % to 35 % on
industrial glycerol, from 35% to 25 % on paraffin wax, from 35% to
10% on carbon black, from 45% to 10% on precision steel for safety
blades, from 35 % to 10% on check valves for tubes, from Rs10,000
per ton to 15% ad valorem on palm stearin, from 45% to 35% on palm
kernel oil, from 25% to 10% on densified wood and from 45% to 25%
on felt screen dryer.
Duty has been increased from 15% to 35% on glycerin, from 10% to
15% on iron oxide and titanium dioxide, from 10% to 35% on used
tyres and from 15% to 35% on DOP substitutes.
The specific rate of duty of 30 paisa per meter on cinematographic
films has been abolished. It will now attract only 25% duty.
Duty on disposable syringes has been reduced from 35% to 25% and on
a wide range of medical instruments and appliances from 25% to 10
%.
The ten per cent duty on personal computer has been withdrawn.
Likewise CD ROM are also proposed to be exempted from 35% customs
duty currently leviable. Beside automated cash registers are also
being exempted from 10% duty.
Ships imported into Pakistan during the next five years would be
totally exempt from customs duty and sales tax. Containers for use
on ships/boats are also proposed to be likewise exempted.
Presumptive income tax equal to one US dollar per GRT has been
imposed. A further amount equal to fifteen cents per GRT will be
payable per charter.
A 10 per cent uniform rate of duty has been proposed on the import
of aircraft, their engines and spares by both PIA and other
domestic airlines.
Airlines would further be provided the facility to pay 50% of the
duty as down payment and the remaining 50 % in two years in equal
instalments. The concessionary rate of duty has been extended to
used aircrafts, engines and spares.
Customs duty has also been reduced on a wide range of smuggling
prone items which include cheese, betelnuts, coffee, spices,
toiletries, printing ink, photographic films, crockery, blankets,
footwear, TVs, airconditioner and refreigerators, toys, stationery,
auto-parts not manufactured locally and other electromechanical
household appliances.
Internet services is proposed to be exempted from the levy of
central excise duty. This exemption will, however, be restricted to
such charges as are billed by internet services providers rendering
internet service to their customers and are in excess of the duty
paid charges of the Pakistan telecommunication corporation.
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980613
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No GST on less than Rs5m turnover
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Faraz Hashmi
ISLAMABAD, June 12: Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz on Friday said the
retail traders whose annual turnover was less than Rs5 million
would be exempted from general sales tax (GST).
Elaborating on the GST in his budget speech, the finance minister
said it was levied basically on consumption and its objective could
only be achieved through meaningfully extending it to the retail
stage.
He said the government was conscious of the fact that there were a
large number of retail traders who were too small to be brought
into the GST net.
Therefore, he said, it was proposed to adopt a gradual approach and
to extend the GST scheme to only big retail traders having annual
turnover of five million rupees.
The GST scheme, he said, should be a simple and practical scheme
and would have the following salient features:
(1) The registered retailer shall issue simplified tax invoices to
the buyer and the retail price shall be deemed to be inclusive of
the amount of sales tax.
(2) The registered retailer shall submit quarterly returns instead
of the monthly returns submitted by other registered persons.
(3) The retail traders below the aforesaid threshold of Rs5 million
shall have the option to work under the invoice-based retail tax
scheme if they want to avoid additional liability at one percent on
their inputs.
(4) Administrative arrangements are being made for minimizing
contact between taxpayers and tax collectors. Major concessions and
safeguards are being extended with a view to removing apprehensions
regarding income tax liability of persons entering the invoice-
based sales tax scheme. Net presumptive tax equal to one per cent
turnover shall replace application of existing GP rates subject to
the condition that income tax paid shall not be less than last
year's liability.
(5) Immunity is being provided from re-opening of previous
assessments of income tax of persons entering the invoice-based
sales tax system for the period up to the income tax assessment
year 1998-99.
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980612
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Kalabagh Dam will be built, says Nawaz
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 11: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced on
Thursday his national agenda that sought to recover over 1.25
million acres of land from landlords to be distributed among
landless peasants, construction of Kalabagh dam, imposition of the
GST, recovery of loans from defaulters and selling of state-owned
property including the PM secretariat and the PM house.
Announcing the national agenda on radio and television he vowed to
implement his plans even if he had to amend the constitution and
said he would not brook any opposition in this behalf.
Unfolding his agenda, the prime minister said that agriculture
sector would be given maximum attention and the lands in possession
of landlords in violation of agriculture land reforms would be
taken back and distributed among poor peasants.
He said 1.25 million acres of lands had been identified which would
be recovered forcefully if the occupants failed to return them
voluntarily.
About the Kalabagh dam, he said, it would be constructed. Mr Sharif
said he had decided to earmark Rs40 billion for giving loans to
farmers on easy terms during the next financial year compared to
Rs30 billion in 1997-98. The price of agricultural machinery would
be reduced in order to boost agriculture production, he said adding
that the cost of each tractor had been reduced by Rs100,000. In
addition to that sales tax on bulldozers, harvesters combined and
other machinery had been withdrawn.
He said that he had frozen foreign currency accounts with a heavy
heart because it was in the national interest. He said he was happy
that nobody complained against the freezing of his accounts by the
government. The prime minister called upon Pakistanis living in the
country and abroad to give generous donations to help the country
tide over the financial problems cropped up in the wake of
sanctions.
The prime minister offered to pay back all loans outstanding
against Ittefaq group and said he would offer Ittefaq group's
assets to banks so that the loans could be recovered by them.
The prime minister announced that overseas Pakistanis would be
offered 25,000 plots in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar which
they could acquire by paying in foreign currency.
"Those Pakistanis who would transfer $100,000 by Sept 30 through
banks will be allowed to purchase duty free goods worth up to
Rs400,000", he said. Likewise, those who would remit $50,000 would
be entitled to buy duty free goods worth Rs200,000.
He said that overseas Pakistanis would be issued 100-page passports
so that they do not face problems in their renewal every now and
then. They will be charged $150 for the new passport. The prime
minister also appealed to the Pakistanis living abroad to send
$1000 to their relatives through banks and not through Hundi.
Mr Sharif said he had decided to ensure education for every child
in the country and appealed to the people to bear the expenses for the
education of at least one child outside their family.
Uneducated youth, he said, would be given loans ranging from
Rs10,000 to Rs300,000. Diploma and degree holders could seek loan
up to Rs5 million to set up cottage industry.
He said he had already announced to quit the prime minister's
secretariat and now he had decided to vacate the prime minister
house in Islamabad. "The PM secretariat will be sold while the PM
house will be made a guest house", he said.
"Similarly, a decision has been taken to convert governor houses
into guest houses to save undue expenditure. We have decided to
sell all state guest houses in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi and
spend the money for debt retirement," the prime minister said.
All official residences at tehsil and headquarters level would be
sold and money collected thus would be spent on providing basis
facilities to the people. He said that 50 per cent reduction in
expenditure had already been announced and now the government
planned to reduce 50 per cent staff of Pakistani missions abroad.
The prime minister said that in line with the austerity drive all
official purchases had been stopped and no new car, furniture,
refrigerator and air conditioner would be purchased. Fifty per cent
cut had also been imposed on the purchase of stationery. All
foreign trips of government officers had been banned and no
official ceremony would take place in any hotel.
He appealed to the people to curtail the use of tea and imported
oil to save precious foreign exchange.
He said a decision had been taken to replace what he termed "rotten
and old tax system". "All the black sheep in the tax department
will be thrown out of government offices", he declared.
The prime minister also announced the levy of GST and said details
would be announced by the finance minister in his budget speech on
Friday.
He said the government of Sindh and Balochistan had been directed
to enact a law for the recovery of agriculture tax. This tax would
also be recovered in Punjab and elsewhere, he added.
The prime minister gave four weeks to defaulters to return their
loans failing which action would be taken against them.
Mr Sharif called for discouraging smuggling and appealed to
shopkeepers to stop selling smuggled goods.
Issuing a warning to utility bill defaulters he said that those who
failed to pay their electricity and gas bills would be sent to
jails and the money would be recovered by selling their property.
The prime minister said that after conducting nuclear tests time
had come to offer sacrifices for the larger national interest.
Mr Sharif declared that Kalabagh dam would be constructed and said
that " we surprised the entire world by conducting a nuclear test
on May 28, we would surprise the nation by undertaking this huge
project."
He said that despite problems, national defence would be
strengthened at all costs. He said Pakistan had joined the nuclear
club of seven countries which was not an ordinary matter.
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980613
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No-trust move filed against Mengal
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By Our Correspondent
QUETTA, June 12: The Pakistan Muslim League filed a no-confidence
motion against Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Mohammad Akhtar
Mengal on Friday.
"I received a notice about the no-trust motion against the chief
minister late Thursday night," Speaker Mir Abdul Jabbar told Dawn.
The no-trust notice was given by members of the Pakistan Muslim
League (PML), a coalition partner of the Mengal government,
following serious differences on various issues, including the
nuclear tests conducted at Chaghi district of Balochistan.
The motion was signed by 11 PML members, including six ministers of
the party, the speaker said.
"After receiving the no-trust motion notice against the chief
minister, I have summoned the assembly session on June 15 at 11
am," the speaker said.
He said he had also received another notice signed by 11 MPAs of
PML and the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) for the requisition of an
assembly session.
The no-confidence motion was signed by Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi,
Syed Saeed Hashmi, Jam Ali Akbar, Malik Sarwar Khan Kakar, Sardar
Nisar Ali Hazara, Sardar Salah Mohammad Bhotani, Sardar Abdul
Rehman Khetran, Mir Jan Mohammad Khan Jamali, Mir Faiq Ali Jamali,
Haji Jafar Khan Mandokhel and Shaukat Masih.
The requisition notice was also signed by the same members,
excluding Sardar Salah Mohammad Bhotani. It was also signed by
JWP's Nawabzada Saleem Akbar Bugti.
Serious differences developed between the PML and the ruling BNP
after last month's nuclear tests.
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980612
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National agenda of govt opposed
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 11: Minutes after the Thursday night speech of
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the PPP rejected the national agenda,
saying it aims at dividing the country and alienating the
provinces.
Leader of the opposition Benazir Bhutto reportedly consulted
leaders of other political parties present in Islamabad and held
informal discussion on the prime minister's address to the nation.
She reportedly talked to the ANP leadership on Thursday night, a
PPP spokesman said, adding that the decision to build the Kalabagh
Dam and the so-called land reforms were arbitrary and devoid of
consensus.
The PPP said the Kalabagh dam had been rejected by the provincial
assemblies of the NWFP and Sindh and any attempt to construct it
without first arriving at a consensus would be disastrous for
national unity and integrity.
Referring to land reforms, the opposition party argued these
reforms were a farce. "Who will decide who acquired the land
through dubious and treacherous means," it asked. Moreover, the
spokesman said the mode of acquisition of land should not be
confined to agricultural land alone but extended to the acquisition
of factories and mills.
"The people must also know how the Sharifs acquired 31 mills in a
span of just 10 years."
The spokesman said the prime minister had admitted for the first
time that he was a loan defaulter.
"He must return not only the unpaid loans but also those that have
been rescheduled as the People's Party will not allow Nawaz Sharif
to write off loans from banks and expect the people to make
sacrifices."
ASFANDYAR WALI: ANP leader of the parliamentary party in the
National Assembly, Asfandyar Khan told PPI that the three smaller
provinces have "to live as colonies and slaves" of the bigger
province.
Reacting to the prime minister's package, he said the concept of a
federation had ended owing the fact that the three assemblies of
the federating units had passed unanimous resolutions against the
Kalabagh Dam but because one province wanted it therefore its
wishes would prevail.
He said at this sensitive time of our history the message that
should have been given to the world was one of unity but instead
two very controversial decisions had come about imposition of
emergency and the Kalabagh Dam, he added.
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980612
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Resolution to be moved in US Senate on Kashmir
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Staff Correspondent
WASHINGTON, June 11: A resolution will soon be moved in the US
Senate calling for UN mediation in Kashmir through a Security
Council resolution, leading Democratic senator Tom Harkin said in
Washington on Wednesday.
"I have already done a lot of work on this and we hope to pass this
resolution," Harkin told the annual meeting of Pakistani- American
Congress, held inside the Congress building where a record number
of 25 senators and congressmen registered their support for
Pakistan.
Most of these legislators, both Republican and Democrats, justified
Pakistan's nuclear tests as a "defensive action" and placed the
blame of the nuclear arms race squarely on India.
Among those who attended were senators John Warner, Tim Johnson,
Tom Harkin, Carol Moseley-Braun and Charles E. Grassley and
congressmen Dale E. Kildee (D), Sherrod Brown (D), James A.
Traficant, Jr. (D), David E. Bonior (D), James P. Moran (D), Dana
Rohrabacher (R), Harris W. Fawell (R), Edolphus Towns (D), John
Shimkus (R), Howard Coble (R), Vito Fossella (R), Thomas C. Sawyer
(D), Major R. Owens (D), Danny K. Davis (D), James A. Leach (R),
Nick Smith (R), Peter T. King (R), Dan Burton (R), Dennis J.
Hastert (R), Nydia M. Velazquez (D)and congresswoman Sheila
Jackson-Lee (D). More than 30 key Congressional staffers also
attended.
Doctors and community leaders from all over the US came for what
was billed as "Pakistan Day on the Hill". It has become an annual
event and it was sixth time it was celebrated on Thursday inside
the Congress.
Former congressman from Texas and a known Pakistani friend, Charlie
Wilson told the gathering he was surprised and pleased to see so
many members of Congress showing up at the Pakistani function which
he said was a record.
"I read it as a positive sign that the Hill is now realising the
Pakistani point of view and accepting it as genuine," Wilson said.
A Pakistan parliamentary delegation, led by Senator Akram Zaki also
came to attend the function but Mr. Zaki left in a huff, protesting
that he was too tired and was not being called to make a speech
before the US congressmen and senators. MNA Ejaz-ul-Haq was also
present but he also quietly slipped out before he was called to
make a speech.
Several Pakistani-American hosts regretted the attitude of the
Pakistani delegation leader as they were told that they would be
called to speak but after the US guests were given time because
they were coming out of an on-going session of both the senate and
the house of representatives.
Pakistani Ambassador Mr. Riaz Khokhar, however, waited for several
hours and was called to give his remarks at the end of long list of
speakers.
Senator Tom Harkin said his resolution would urge President Bill
Clinton to raise the Kashmir issue in the UN Security Council and
call for UN-sponsored mediation to resolve the dispute. It will
also ask the US representative at the UN to hold talks with both
Pakistani and Indian diplomats at the UN.
He said the US and the world community could not allow India to
walk away from the Kashmir dispute by claiming that it was its
internal matter.
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980610
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan suspected F-16s seen before tests were Israel's
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent
WASHINGTON, June 9: Pakistan secretly contacted the Israeli
government a few hours before it conducted its nuclear test to seek
clarification about the presence in the region of what it suspected
was Israeli F-16 aircraft, apparently poised to attack Pakistan.
This has been revealed by Yossi Melman, a respected Israeli
journalist and writer who specializes in intelligence and strategic
affairs and works for Daily Ha'aretz. He disclosed this in an
article in Los Angeles Times on Sunday.
Melman said the Pakistan fears of an Israeli pre-emptive strike
were not groundless.
In response to the Pakistan government contact, the Israeli
ambassador in Washington, Eliahu Ben-Elissar, hurriedly telephoned
his Pakistani counterpart, Riaz Khokhar, to assure him that Israeli
fighters were not in the area, that Israel was not involved in the
Indian-Pakistan conflict and that it had no intention of being
dragged into it, Melman wrote.
His article, however, gave the Israeli view of the Pakistan nuclear
test and how it would trigger a nuclear race in the Middle East. He
said a few hours before Pakistan conducted its second series of
nuclear tests, its radar screens identified enemy fighter planes
resembling US-made F-16s entering Pakistan air space.
"Since the Indian air force flies Soviet-made MIGs, the Pakistanis
concluded that the intruding blips were Israeli fighters preparing
to attack their nuclear facilities on behalf of India.
"Nawaz Sharif's government issued a strongly worded statement
warning India of a 'painful response' should India try to destroy
its nuclear facilities. Meanwhile, it secretly contacted the
Israeli government seeking clarification. Ambassador Ben-Elissar
telephoned Mr Khokhar to assure him that Israeli fighters were not
in the area, that Israel was not involved in the Indian-Pakistani
conflict and that it had no intention of being dragged into it.
"Pakistani fears of an Israeli pre-emptive strike, however, were
not groundless. Since 1972, when Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto ordered his nation's best nuclear physicists to build a
bomb, Israel's worst strategic nightmares have revolved around an
'Islamic bomb'."
Israeli fears that Pakistan would share its nuclear know-how,
technology and materials with other Muslim or Arab countries
brought Israel and India closer together. Before the two countries
established full diplomatic relations, they clandestinely
cooperated on defence and intelligence matters.
In 1994, after India and Israel opened embassies in Tel Aviv and
New Delhi, they formalized their defence cooperation in an
agreement. Since then, collaboration on defence and security has
intensified.
India's leading defence scientist, nuclear-weapons expert and
national hero, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, visited Israel several times in
1996 and 1997, along with several other top Indian scientists.
Senior Israeli scientists reciprocated with visits to India. Brahma
Chellaney, a researcher at New Delhi's privately-funded Centre for
Policy Research, said during a visit to Israel last month that
India and Israel have set up several defence-related projects on
guidance and missile technology, special materials and electronic
warfare.
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980610
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Benazir asks SHC to declare govt's action illegal
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Reporter
KARACHI, June 9: Leader of the opposition Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday
filed a constitutional petition before Sindh High Court seeking a
declaration that the attorney-general's action in moving the Swiss
authorities against her was unlawful and of no legal effect.
The SHC bench, comprising Chief Justice Kamal Mansoor Alam and
Justice Ghulam Shabbir Soomro, issued pre-admission notices to the
respondents for June 18.
Talking to newsmen at the Karachi Press Club after filing the
petition under Article 199 of the Constitution Ms Bhutto rejected
as "a pack of lies" the allegations that she had committed fraud
and demanded of the government to prove it in court.
She acknowledged that various steps taken by the Swiss authorities
had done "enormous and irreparable damage to her reputation and
dignity within and outside the country."
"They have accepted Pakistan's request which has caused both my
party and myself enormous damage and I want to rectify the
position. I have not broken any law, I have served my country
faithfully and selflessly and have given it the best years of my
life," Ms Bhutto said.
The leader of the opposition in her petition maintained that the
attorney-general's statement before the Swiss authorities that he
had "authorised the commencement of the proceedings in the High
Court of Pakistan against Ms Bhutto and her husband Mr Zardari and
others claiming restitution proceeds resulting from fraud" is not
only "unlawful but also untrue."
"The attorney-general had no such authority under the law and the
Constitution," she said, adding that apart from the lack of
authority no proceedings had commenced in any Pakistani court
against herself, or her spouse before the impugned letter of
November 6, 1997 of the attorney-general.
An enraged Ms Bhutto told newsmen: "I have not committed any fraud
and not a single court has said that I have committed a fraud.
Fraud has been committed by the attorney-general and the whole
exercise is based on lies, distortion, torture and perjury," she
said, adding that she was "a victim of a vast criminal conspiracy"
against the people of Pakistan, herself and her family.
"I want the proceedings at Geneva to stop, I don't want the
proceedings to continue, I don't want to be indicted," she said.
Ms Bhutto claimed that the Swiss inquiry was based on "fraud
perpetrated by the attorney-general and chief of Ehtesab bureau.
In her petition, which was filed by Advocate Hafiz Lakho, the
opposition leader contended that the attorney-general was not
competent under any provision of the law to initiate proceedings of
the nature involved, against any citizen of Pakistan.
The federation of Pakistan through the justice ministry, the
attorney-general and the chairman of Ehtesab bureau have been made
respondents in the petition.
Ms Bhutto has taken the position that the operation of Ehtesab Act
1997 is confined to the territories of Pakistan and the chairman of
Ehtesab bureau could not act for and on behalf of the Pakistan
government inside or outside Pakistan.
She prayed to the court to direct the respondents to withdraw and
recall the letter of November 6, 1997 of the attorney-general and
also to declare the action to move the Swiss authorities as without
lawful authority.
The leader of the opposition said last week she learnt that Swiss
magistrate was considering issuing indictments against her husband
Sen Asif Ali Zardari and herself on the basis of material provided
by Pakistan. She contented that the "decision of the Swiss
magistrate and the proceedings preceding it were the result of
misstatement, misrepresentation and falsehood" contained in the
earlier correspondence and the attorney-general's letter of
November 6, 1997 addressed to the government of Switzerland.
Asked if she felt that the Swiss authorities were now better placed
to indict her, Ms Bhutto said: "They are acting on Saifur Rahman's
documents and if they accept what Saifur Rahman is saying is right
then the former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and caretaker prime
minister Moeen Qureshi, too, are drug smugglers."
"The Swiss and the British governments have accepted as Bible what
that crook and criminal attorney-general and Saifur Rahman have
said," she said in reply to a question in a very harsh tone and
accused them of conspiring against her and her party.
The opposition leader contended that no action against her could
have been taken except on the basis of a formal request made in the
name of the government of Pakistan based on facts certified to be
true by a duly authorised person on behalf of the government of
Pakistan. She said her requests for providing her with copies
documents were turned down by the authorities and this was already
the subject matter of a constitutional petition filed in the Sindh
High Court.
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980611
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Allies refuse to lend support: Parliament okays emergency
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, June 10: The resolution ratifying the president's
proclamation of emergency was passed by the joint sitting of
parliament on Wednesday with 166 votes in favour and 50 against it.
The members belonging to the MQM and the JWP did not turn up at the
time of voting while BNM members have refrained from attending the
entire session.
The ruling party strength was reduced from two-thirds to simple
majority due to the withdrawal of support of its allies. In a House
of 304 the ruling party could muster support of only 166 members on
the issue of emergency.
Speaker Illahi Bukhsh Soomro had to call division in the House as
the opposition challenged the voice vote. With the given number the
Muslim League was no more in a position to push through with a
constitutional mandate at its whims, said an observer.
The government had lost three-to-one as all the three small
provinces voted against the resolution, Opposition Leader Benazir
Bhutto said.
Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafar-ul-Haq wrapped up the
debate from the government side and reiterated that the government
would not use emergency against the opposition parties or to topple
any provincial government.
Emergency would not be used for settling political scores, he
assured the House allaying apprehensions of the opposition members.
He said that apprehensions aired by the opposition members during
the debate were not misplaced. The nation, he added, had a very
bitter experience of the emergencies imposed in the past.
Therefore, their fears were comprehendible.
Mr Haq said India, which claimed to be the biggest democracy of the
world conducted nuclear tests without taking even the cabinet into
confidence.
In Pakistan the government, he said, consulted all the political
leaders and ensued a debate on electronic and print media whether
the country should carry out the tests.
He said the government had received confirmed reports that Israel
air force planes had landed in Srinagar to launch an attack on
Pakistan's nuclear facilities. The government, he added, had
received these not only from its intelligence agencies but from a
friendly country.
Even the pictures of Israeli fighters landing at Srinagar airport
were available on the inter-net, he added.
Pakistan, he said, immediately deployed missiles with nuclear
warheads on its borders and warned India to refrain from any such
adventure.
Indian-Israel nexus which was not a new one, it was a very old
phenomenon, he said. It was established when Israeli consulate was
opened in Bombay.
Regarding the nuclear deterrent, he said that for the last 53 years
since the dropping of the nuclear bomb over Hiroshima, no two
nuclear powers had engaged in war against each other.
"This is the beauty of the nuclear deterrent, numbers do not
matter," he said.
Commenting on the bomb blasts he said an undeclared war was going
on in the country. These blasts were not linked to the sectarian
tension but aimed against the innocent people of Pakistan.
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980611
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Plans to raise $1.16bn thru expatriates
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Raja Zulfikar
ISLAMABAD, June 10: The government is considering a proposal to
mobilize about $1.16 billion from an estimated four million
Pakistanis working abroad, informed sources told Dawn on Wednesday.
The proposal, prepared in consequent to sanctions and economic
difficulties following nuclear tests, has been sent to Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif for final approval. Whether or not he
incorporates the proposal in his promised speech soon is yet to be
decided.
But sources said the proposal to raise the conceived amount
involves starting the Dubai-based foreign exchange lottery. With it
the government expects to generate $150 million in about three
years.
The incentive package contains another proposal according to which
Pakistanis after a stay of six months abroad, may be allowed to
import second-hand vehicles on payment of full duty in foreign
exchange which will earn the country $350 million.
The government also aims at getting $556.5 million from a housing
scheme for the Overseas Pakistanis. The provincial and capital
development authorities were requested to propose areas that could
be exclusively earmarked for them. Based on their suggestions, the
ministry of labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis has planned
five schemes for immediate launch.
Sources said one of the proposals says that any overseas Pakistani
who maintains a fixed deposit for 2-3 years may be allowed a reward
which could cover free import of tractor and agriculture machinery,
mini-buses etc. This measure, the government hopes, will generate
$30 million.
Another $36 million is expected to be collected by the sale of
parliamentary lodges. Presently, there are 362 parliamentary lodges
available. The ministry has proposed that these lodges be sold to
Overseas Pakistanis at an average of $100,000 per apartment.
The Overseas Pakistanis Foundation's self contributory pension
scheme, announced in 1997, calls for immediate contributions in the
first four years with pension payments after the 15th year. The
expected inflow will be approximately $25 million in the first four
years, rising to about $284 million by the end of the 15th year.
Contributions will be received in foreign exchange and payments
will be made in Pakistani rupees. The proposal to the effect
suggests that tax exemption for the pension scheme may be allowed.
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980610
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan may export N-tech, says Chirac
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, June 9: French President Jacques Chirac said on Monday
night if sanctions were imposed against Pakistan and millions of
people were made to suffer, Pakistan may export its nuclear
technology to other Islamic countries.
"But let me tell you that if the sanctions are decided, you will
have very big trauma in Pakistan... Many people will suffer with
the sanctions. Millions and millions of kids, families, older
people, and this will drive Pakistan to ask help of the Muslim
countries. And what can they give in exchange? Well, nuclear
technology. And all this is a kind of danger," he told TV channel
PBC in an interview.
Asked how dangerous was it for the rest of the world that India and
Pakistan now have nuclear weapons, Chirac said: "It's very
dangerous, very dangerous for two reasons. First, there are new
tensions in that area of the world, with India, Pakistan, China and
even others. And secondly, because we are going to break the
nuclear proliferation treaty and system, and this is very
dangerous.
"We hope that a solution will come. But this solution should keep
the rules of the non-proliferation treaty. This is our position.
It's also the American position," he said.
Asked why France had not joined the US in imposing sanctions, the
French president said sanctions could not have avoided the tests
even if Pakistan and India knew perfectly that sanctions from
America and Japan would come. And we think it's not a good way to
avoid proliferation.
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980610
-------------------------------------------------------------------
12 die as rain wreaks havoc in Karachi
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dawn Report
KARACHI, June 9: At least 12 people were killed after rains
accompanied by thunderstorm lashed Karachi on Tuesday afternoon
followed by another spell in the evening. Five of the casualties
were due to electrocution.
Sub-Inspector Sabir was electrocuted when he touched a live wire in
a workshop in Garden police headquarter. Haq Nawaz, 60, and Arshad
Ahmed, died in separate incidents in Civil Lines area after live
wires fell on them.
In Parsi Colony, Soldier Bazar, another person, Karim, touched
A live wire and died instantly.
The fifth victim of electrocution was a 50-year-old man who died
near city court after touching a live wire.
Seven people, including a minor girl and two boys, were killed in
other rain-related incident in the city. A man was killed in
Ebrahim Hydery, police said, but gave no details.
Niaz Ahmed, 30, was killed in Joharabad when part of a garment
factory he was in, collapsed and fell over him.
Owais, a labourer, was killed after his truck skidded off the road
and overturned in Gadap area due to rain.
Another labourer Sher Mohammad was killed and cleaner Noorullah was
injured when their truck overturned on the National Highway, in the
limits of Sachal police station. Both were taken to the Abbasi
Shaheed Hospital.
Two boys were drowned one near Boating Basin and the other near
Native Jetty while they were enjoying the rains near seaside. A
seven-year-old girl drowned in Malir river which had swelled after
rain.
The Met observatory at the Quaid-i-Azam airport said it recorded
17mm of rain at its station at PAF Base Masroor and 13mm of
rainfall at its station at PAF Base Sharea Faisal till 8pm.
"The thunderstorm emanated from westerly winds," said a spokesman
for the Met office.
===================================================================
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
980613
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Foreign investors' response: Budget described as 'uneventful'
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dilawar Hussain
KARACHI, June 12: 'Foreign investors in the equity market are
terming the budget 1998-99 as 'un-eventful', analysts at brokerage
houses who got in touch with their overseas clients immediately
after the budget, commented.
They said the foreign investors felt that no major incentives had
been offered to stocks with the heaviest weightage on the KSE-100
index; investors were expecting tariff increases, which would have
raised price of shares in PTCL; enhancement in import duty on
fibre, that would have elated ICI, Dewan Salman and passing of some
sort of benefit of fuel prices slump that would have jacked up
Hubco. One analyst however, explained that raise in utility tariffs
could come in due course of time.
'Unless the detailed documents turn out an entirely different
story,' a head of broking at a foreign brokerage house stated, 'the
outlines presented in the finance minister's budget speech reflects
a soft budget, which belies the general expectations of tough
measures.' He said the focus seemed to be on managing fiscal
deficit and in doing so the external account seemed to have been
ignored. This, he said, was reflected in the reduction of import
duties across the board to encourage imports. 'Government has
continued to pursue its supply side economics,' said one analyst.
The reason, he mused, could be that either the Government was
looking at re-scheduling of debts or that it hoped that sanctions
would not last more than a few months. Most economic targets, many
analysts thought, were far too ambitious. One particularly quoted
the tax collection target set at Rs 367 bn for next year, raised
from current year's four times revised and still unachievable
target of Rs 305 bn. One analyst said the corporate sector was
expecting reduction in rates of taxation by three per cent: for
Companies from 33 to 30% and banks from 55 to 52%. That, however,
did not come about, said he, adding, that it meant that earnings
forecasts for most companies would have to be revised downwards by
3%. The reduction in import duty, one analyst, suggested could
improve earnings forecasts for Lever and Packages. The reason being
that the companies pass on the import duties to consumers and the
10% lower duty for import in bulk would be helpful to such
companies.
Most analysts, were however, unsure of the impact of new measures
regarding retail sales tax, but they generally agreed that it would
have inflationary impact. The imposition of 10% surcharge on income
tax and wealth tax was also seen as increasing burden on salaried
classes.
On the positive side, the fiscal measures to encourage stock
brokers to turn into corporate entities by allowing one year tax
holiday; the extension in capital gains tax for another year to
insurance companies; the restoration of tax exemption incentives to
Modarabas and the encouragement to mutual funds by attracting funds
of the Provident Funds, were all hailed as encouraging measures.
Further, the Government's efforts at targeting self-reliance in
agriculture, through various incentives to the agriculture sector
were seen as steps in the right direction, though some analysts
thought that in order not to displease the legislators, Government
had swept the sensitive issue of tax on agricultural income,
quietly under the carpet.
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980612
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Imports fall by 31pc 4.2 percent decline in exports during May
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Muhammad Ilyas
ISLAMABAD, June 11: The trade deficit during the period July-May
(1997-98) inched up with a slight rise of about $10 million to
$1.33 billion over the period July-April (1997-98) due to 4.2 per
cent drop in exports during the 11th month of the current financial
year, according to the foreign trade data released by the Federal
Bureau of Statistics here on Thursday.
The reason for this was the tardy growth of exports which
diminished somewhat the positive effect of steep drop in imports in
the current financial year. In the month of May, the imports were
lower by more than 31 per cent over the corresponding period of the
last year.
The total exports at the end of the first 11 months of the year
totalled $7.5 billion, leaving a gap of approximately $2 billion to
be filled in the month of June to achieve the target of $9.575
billion. This seems rather difficult, considering the fact that the
monthly average of exports in the last 11 months was $627.3
million.
The positive side of the story is that the imports totalling $10.7
billion too, are short of the target by $1.2 billion.
In the month of May, the figures of exports and imports are seen to
be running parallel in showing negative trends for all the major
groups.
With wheat missing from the list of imported items for the first
time in the current year after completion of the planned import of
4 million tons, even the primary commodities showed a decline of
32.8 per cent during the month. On the export side, primary
commodities were lower by 2.7 per cent.
Among the exports, textile products after barely keeping up the
figures for last year, registered an excessive decline of 8.3 per
cent.
Cumulatively, the ratio of imports supported by exports was 85.47
per cent during July-May (1997-98), compared to 70.24 per cent
during the corresponding period of the previous year. The
statistics, however, also show that the proportion of manufactures
in exports in July-May (1997-98) was lower 85.5 per cent than
that in the corresponding period of previous year 87.3 per cent.
The exports of primary commodities, compared to July-May (1996-97)
were up 19.1 per cent. In this category, the items which showed
positive trend were rice, raw cotton, fish & fish preparations,
vegetables and oilseeds, nuts and kernels.
By the end of May, the country had exported 19,74,670 tons of rice
for $523.8 million, 21.1 per cent more than the last year. A 576
per cent increase is also reported in export of raw cotton of which
87,289 tons were exported.
However, in dollars terms the percentage increase is lower,
indicating a slight decline in unit value. These two items jointly
accounted for 57.1 per cent exports of primary commodities.
The cumulative performance of textile manufactures continued in the
red, showing 0.31 per cent reduction over the 11-month period of
the last year, these totalled $5.00 billion. Their share in total
exports was 63.91 per cent, down from 66.65 per cent of the last
year.
The figures also show that cotton yarn exports have dropped by 9.61
per cent in volume this year. Its exports totalled 420,407 tons
this year, compared to 465,091 tons last year. In dollar terms,
cotton yarn exports amounted to $1.06 billion, compared to $1.29
billion last year.
In the period under report this year, however, cotton fabrics
topped the list, accounting for $1.13 billion, up from the last
year by 0.55 per cent. Other value-added items like knitwear,
bedwear, towels, tarpaulins, synthetic textiles, readymade garments
and other textile made-up have registered positive trend on the
basis of cumulative figures for the 11-month period.
However, when figures for the single month of May are taken, the
situation as regards to value-added textiles does not emerge as
very sanguine: not only cotton yarn is consistent in its negative
trend but cotton fabrics and readymade garments have also receded.
The exports of other manufactures, which show 29 per cent drop in
May are lower by 0.77 per cent also in respect of the total exports
during the 11-month period. In this category, exports of carpets,
petroleum & petroleum products, leather manufactures and surgical &
medical instruments have declined rather substantially.
Imports: Imports during July-May (1997-98) were lower by 14.5 per
cent, compared to corresponding period of last year. The items
which show increased imports are milk & cream, wheat, tea, palm
oil, and pulses. The food group imports totalled $1.72 billion
18.78 per cent as against $1.39 billion last year. Last year,
their total imports were a little less than 13 per cent. This is
mainly because of 100 per cent increase in import of wheat and 42
per cent rise in import of palm oil.
A noteworthy aspect is that while in quantitative terms, the import
of palm oil increased by 26.6 per cent, in dollars Pakistan had to
pay 42 per cent more ($572.3 million). This was because Malaysia
substantially increased its price of palm oil after the burning of
palm oil gardens in Indonesia. In this way, Pakistan was deprived
of whatever benefit it might have reaped from the drop in Malaysian
currency.
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980613
-------------------------------------------------------------------
'Incentives lacking to boost exports'
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Reporter
KARACHI, June 12: While hailing the budget proposals for the fiscal
year 1998-99, seeking to achieve the goal of self-reliance, the
business leaders were surprised over the Finance Minister's speech
for it did not carry any incentives for boosting the exports to
earn the much-needed foreign exchange for post-nuclear Pakistan.
These leaders were unanimous in their view that the only way out
for meeting the challenges arising out of economic sanctions would
have been to maximise exports as this would help bridging the
resource gap as well as the country's foreign exchange crunch.
They were dismayed that the proposals unfolded on Friday by the
Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz on the floor of the National Assembly
were totally devoid of any incentives for the export trade.
Despite some reservations on the new taxation proposals and their
likely impact on the export trade, the top business vowed to give
the new budget a fair trial, said a business leader.
APTMA chairman (SB zone) Humayun Ellahi Shaikh said: 'We are
totally disappointed over the budget proposals as they carried no
incentives to arrest the sagging textile exports.' Only in May
textile exports dropped by 4% with further fall feared as Pakistani
exporters are losing against their Indian counterparts, he added.
Chairman, Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association Shabir Ahmed
suggested that the government should have at least allowed
exporters to retain 40% of the hard currency earned through
exports. He was highly critical for not having incentives for
export trade.
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980613
-------------------------------------------------------------------
$ down to Rs48.80 in kerb
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Reporter
KARACHI, June 12: The rupee recovered another 70 paisa against the
US dollar in the open market on Friday as the greenback fell to Rs
48.80 from Rs 49.50 on Thursday. This brings the total gain the
rupee made during the last two sessions to Rs 1.70 to the dollar.
On Wednesday the greenback had reached a historic high of Rs 50.50.
Money changers said the rupee closed at 48.60 and 48.80 to a dollar
for spot buying and selling against the Thursday close of 49.20 and
49.50. They said the rupee recovered as speculative buying of the
greenback ceased with the rumours of devaluation having evaporated
in the air. They said since the budget 1998-99 announced on
Saturday evening did not envisage any devaluation the rupee might
become more stable in the open market in the next week.
In the inter-bank also the rupee remained firm against the dollar.
Bankers said the rupee was bought and sold against the dollar on
the spot counter in the band of Rs 44.32-Rs 44.49.
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980610
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Vendors stop spare-parts supply to PIA
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Reporter
KARACHI, June 9: Vendors in the international market have stopped
supply of spare-parts to PIA demanding clearance of outstanding
bills.
It is reliably learnt that due to non-availability of the spare
parts, three Airbus-300 were grounded one after the other. However,
the PIA engineering department find out an outlet to make two
airbuses operative by grounding another A-300 whose two engines
were removed and were installed in the two grounded A-300 buses.
Aviation sources said that the Airbus with registration number BAY
was grounded on May 31st due to defect in one of its engine, while
BBV was knocked out on June 3 and BFL on the next day leaving only
7 airbuses operational.
The engine could have been made operational had its spare parts
were available which were out of stocks. Later the PIA engineering
wing grounded another Airbus BEL and take out its two engines,
which were comparatively powerful, and installed them in the Airbus
BAY and BBV.
The sources said that the bills of the vendors were lying with the
finance department for payment.
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980611
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Growth in GDP, revenue shortfall mark fiscal year
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ihtasham ul Haque
ISLAMABAD, June 10: The Economic Survey for 1997-98 released here
on Wednesday showed mixed trends in the economy, including a 5.4
per cent GDP growth, a five per cent fiscal deficit, a sharp
decline in the inflation rate and serious revenue slippages.
Due to these factors, the annual collection target was revised
downwards four times during the year, finally being brought down to
Rs 297.6 billion from the original target of Rs 340 billion.
"The biggest challenge for us during the current financial year was
to stay afloat", said Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz.
He told a news conference at the time of releasing the Economic
Survey that the government had been successful in containing the
budget deficit as it remained one of the major worries. "We will
have to face hardships for two or three years. After that the
situation is likely to improve greatly."
The Survey claimed that a GDP growth rate of 5.4 per cent had been
achieved by pursuing supply side policies and demand management
during 1997-98. The growth rate last year was 1.3 per cent.
The growth was supported by a strong performance in the agriculture
sector, which grew by 5.9 per cent, followed by a seven per cent
increase in the manufacturing sector.
The large-scale manufacturing sector registered a growth of 6.2 per
cent. Real per capita income increased by 2.8 per cent against a
reduced income of 1.8 per cent last year.
"Notwithstanding these encouraging developments, the relatively
weak performance of tax collection remains a major issue which
needs to be addressed by broadening the tax base and reducing tax
evasion", the Survey admitted.
Surprisingly, the Economic Survey talked about the reduced revenue
target of Rs 297.6 billion, which was otherwise officially kept at
Rs 305 billion till Tuesday.
This was the fourth revision during the year. First, the annual
target was reduced from Rs 340 billion to Rs 324 billion, then to
Rs 305 billion, and finally it stood at Rs 297.6 billion.
According to the document, fixed investment increased by 6.5 per
cent and national savings as percentage of GNP increased to 15 per
cent from 11.3 per cent last year.
"A notable development in the current year has been a sharp decline
in the rate of inflation, which has declined to 8.2 per cent during
the first ten months of the current fiscal, against 11.6 per cent
during the corresponding period last year", the Survey said, adding
that the current inflation rate was the lowest in the 1990s.
Reduction in the fiscal deficit was termed a notable improvement.
It was estimated at five per cent of GDP (Rs 148 billion). Last
year it was recorded at 6.2 per cent.
Bank borrowing for budgetary support remained within the credit
plan target of Rs 52 billion, while the trade balance during July-
April 1997-98 registered a 54.2 per cent increase and stood at
1,325.2 million dollars.
The current account balance during the first nine months of the
current fiscal improved by 65.7 per cent and stood at 1,127 million
dollars, as against 3,288 million dollars during the corresponding
period last year.
The major contribution to the improvement in the current accounts
balance came from a sharp decline in imports, some improvement in
exports, a substantial increase in workers remittances and almost
55 per cent increase in the inflow of Resident Foreign Currency
Deposits.
The agriculture sector showed a growth rate of 5.9 per cent. Last
year it had shown a zero growth rate.
The value addition of major crops increased substantially by 8.4
per cent, compared with a negative growth of 4.78 per cent in 1997-
98. The growth rate of minor crops increased to 3.29 per cent in
1997-98 from 1.12 per cent last year.
The sub-sectors of livestock and fishing showed growths of 4.83 per
cent and 6.73 per cent respectively, while the forestry sub-sector
recorded a steep decline of 23.18 per cent in 1997-98, compared
with a positive growth of 1.87 per cent last year.
The manufacturing sector showed a growth of 6.96 per cent, compared
with 1.19 growth per cent achieved last year.
The large-scale manufacturing sector registered a higher growth of
6.19 per cent, as compared with the negative value addition of 2.29
per cent in 1996-97.
The services sector experienced a growth rate of 4.77 per cent
during 1997-98, compared with last year's growth of 2.1 per cent.
Considering an annual construction of houses at the rate of three
per cent in urban areas and two per cent in rural areas, the
present number of available housing units was estimated at 19
million _ signifying a backlog of four million units at the
beginning of the ninth five-year plan.
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980612
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Non-development expenditure to be fixed at 60pc
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahmad Hassan
PESHAWAR, June 11: NWFP Chief Minister Sardar Mahtab Ahmed Khan has
said that a bill is being introduced in the provincial assembly
which will bind all the future governments to maintain a ratio of
40-60% for development and non-developmental expenditures.
In an exclusive interview to this correspondent on Thursday, the
chief minister said, "I am going to make drastic reforms by setting
priorities of the government right and giving a rationale between
development and non-development expenses."
The chief minister, who also holds portfolio of finance, said it
was a matter of pride for his government that by maintaining strict
financial discipline it had overcome huge deficits.
When asked about his government's plans to counter ANP and PPP's
bid to mount pressure in the coming budget session, the chief
minister said, "We are quite prepared to face them effectively."
He regretted that some forces of status quo were unhappy with him
because of his clear intentions of making dynamic changes in the
working of the government.
Responding to a question with regard to reported dissent
within his party, Sardar Mahtab said that the forces of
destabilization were unable to reconcile with the notion that
anyone should remain in this office for over a year.
They feel that they alone have the right to rule the province but
they have failed to deliver as far as development of their own
areas. As many as 8,000 tongas were still plying in Mardan today
which is considered power base of a certain party, quipped the
chief minister.
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980607
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Tax revenue target reset at Rs290 billion
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, June 6: The Central Board of Revenue is being given a
revised target of tax collection of Rs 290 billion for the entire
current financial year.
The ministry of finance sources said Saturday that the Budget Wing
has cleared the new target of Rs 290 billion, and was to
communicate it to the CBR. This would mean a second downward
revision of the tax revenue target during second half of current
fiscal.
Both the first revision from Rs 324 billion to Rs 305 billion, and
then to Rs 290 billion, have been granted by the ministry at the
request made by the CBR.
The total collection made between June 1997-May 1998, has been Rs
248 billion, out of which Rs 2 billion are still said to be in the
pipeline. Thus the total collection to be made in June 1998 to
fulfil the annual target is Rs 57 billion.
The rate of collection per month kept in view, the CBR is supposed
to collect only Rs 25 billion in June, with a 12-month shortfall of
Rs 32 billion. However, the CBR has assured the Ministry of Finance
that it would collect Rs 30-35 billion in June. This would mean a
total shortfall of about Rs 20 billion.
The CBR was discouraged by the May 1998 collection, which remained
23 billion. The total collection by end April 1998 was Rs 225
billion, while the total tax revenues collection amount by the end
of May was Rs 248 billion. Having collected this amount with a sum
of Rs 6 billion arrears included, the CBR hopes that the amount of
arrears still left un-collected is Rs 5 billion. Hence the optimism
that the total collection might reach the figure of Rs 290 billion.
These arrears have been piling up over the past about 11 months,
under all heads of the tax revenue, mostly under the Sales Tax,
Income Tax, and the money stuck in litigation cases now being
extracted by quick decisions.
Apart from this, the CBR is also planning to show a sum of about Rs
2 billion as collected in May and June, through non-payment of
refunds. The CBR, as reported by Dawn recently, launched a campaign
to convince the ST depositors of the corporate sector not to file
claims of ST refund due to be paid in the month of June, and the
end of May.
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980609
-------------------------------------------------------------------
No ban on carrying foreign currency
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Reporter
KARACHI, June 8: People coming home or going abroad can bring in or
take out foreign currency purchased from the open market there is
no restrictions whatsoever by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The SBP has not issued any "formal or informal instructions to any
agency operating at airports to stop people from carrying foreign
currency obtained from the open market," an official told Dawn. SBP
Governor Dr Muhammad Yaqub is also on record saying that carrying
foreign currency obtained from the open market by overseas
travellers has not been banned.
The SBP has also not changed the official quota of the foreign
exchange that people travelling abroad could take from the
commercial banks. It remains unchanged at $50 per day for every
individual with a maximum of $2100. But the procedure for obtaining
the foreign exchange quota has been modified and the banks are now
supposed to issue a certificate verifying the genuineness of the
visit. Foreign exchange quota at higher rates can also be claimed
from overseas travellers of eligible categories the details of
which have not been made public so far.
Home Remittances: No home remittance in foreign currency can be
credited to a foreign currency account maintained in Pakistan home
remittances can only be credited to a rupee account here. The rate
at which the home remittances in foreign currency would be
converted into rupees for crediting in local currency account would
not be Rs 46 per dollar. This is a special rate applicable only on
withdrawals in rupees from foreign currency accounts in Pakistan.
Home remittances would be converted into rupee accounts at the
exchange rate of the banki.e. anything between Rs 44.05- Rs 44.49
per US dollar.
No local or foreign individual who is a resident of Pakistan can
put in or take out foreign currency from a foreign currency account
in Pakistan.
Similarly no firms or companies working in Pakistan including
foreign-controlled companies and branches of foreign companies
except for exempted categories can put into or take out foreign
currency from foreign currency accounts.
Foreign nationals who are not resident of Pakistan are exempted
from this restriction. Also exempted are oil and gas exploration
companies and mineral companies and foreign contractors who finance
their operations in Pakistan from foreign currency funds received
from abroad.
Nevertheless there is no restriction on withdrawing any amount in
local currency from foreign currency accounts. The account holders
can make withdrawals at a special rate of Rs 46 per US dollar.
The special exchange rate applies on those foreign accounts which
will be converted into rupees before 1st September 1998. Till that
time such accounts will also enjoy exemption from probe by income
tax authorities, banking confidentiality, exemption from wealth tax
for six years and exemption from income tax on the interest or
profit accruing on them. Though the State Bank or the government
had not said so, linking tax exemptions to withdrawals in rupee
from foreign currency accounts till 1st September 1998 clearly
implies that the exemptions would not be valid after that date.
New Accounts: No local or foreign individual who is a resident of
Pakistan can open a new foreign currency account. Nor any firm or
company operating in Pakistan including foreign-controlled
companies and branches of foreign companies can open a new foreign
currency account in Pakistan. For all other categories of account
holders there is no restriction on opening of foreign currency
accounts.
Hardship Cases: The State Bank says it is ready to consider any
hardship case which is not covered by the circulars that it has so
far issues in respect of foreign currency accounts. Such cases
should be referred by the bank maintaining the foreign currency
account concerned to additional director of the State Bank's
foreign exchange department at fax no: 2422083.
An example of hardship cases is a foreign currency account holder
receiving his pension in foreign currency from abroad. A retired
employee of a US-based organisation told Dawn he was his pension in
foreign currency used to be credited into a foreign currency
accounts he maintains in Pakistan but now his bank has regretted to
credit his pension in his account.
A SBP circular (FE 18) issued on Monday once again clarified that
"no fresh deposit can be accepted in the foreign currency accounts
of persons (irrespective of their nationalities) residing in
Pakistan, and firms and companies functioning in Pakistan,
including foreign-controlled companies and branches of foreign
companies, except the exempted categories."
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980613
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Index gains 31.23 points on massive buying
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Reporter
KARACHI, June 12: Stocks showed an improved trend in the pre-budget
trading session on Friday as most of the leading shares recovered
smartly on strong support at the lower levels.
Rumours of a harsh budget owing to typical conditions were afloat
earlier in the session. Investors led by financial institutions
build-up long positions in the pivotals, pushing the index up by
31.23 points amid an air of optimism.
Although kerb trading is banned, there was whispering of further
improvement when the market re-opens on next Monday and, as a
result, some of the market leaders were quoted further higher in
kerb trading.
"The market has reasons to welcome the budget as it maintained a
near-status quo as far as the corporate sector is concerned and
also provided some incentives where necessary to pull the market
out of the current impasse, said Nasir Bukhari, head of KASB & Co.
Other reasons including nuclear tests fall-out and negative impact
of economic sanctions might further take their toll.
Incentives for mutual funds, permission to the KSE members to
convert their brokerage houses into private limited companies,
surcharge of wealth tax and capital gains benefits all point
towards salvage of the market, it was a consensus at the KSE board
meeting held to discuss the budget.
However, official reaction of the KSE will be known by next Monday
after its board holds another meeting and issues official
statement.
Unlike previous years, the Board of Directors of the Karachi Stock
Exchange did not hold special session apparently to save the
already massively battered market from speculative forces.
But the budget was widely welcomed by the brokers and agents as it
allayed fears of massive new taxes and could enable investors to
build-up viable positions on the current lower levels.
Although budget did not provide special reliefs for the ailing
capital market excepting retaining the corporate taxes at the
previous levels, the progressive increase in sales tax on turnover
basis could make products more expensive.
In the pre-budget session, the market sentiment showed a distinct
improvement as was reflected by massive buying in the pivotals and
current favourites.
The KSE 100-share index recovered 31.23 points at 1,062.54 as
compared to 1,031.31 a day earlier, pushing the market
capitalization up by over Rs 7 billion at Rs 308 billion.
Massive buying in the leading base shares, notably PTCL, Hub-Power
and ICP Pakistan, was said to be the chief factor behind the
market's late run-up but analysts were not sure it could be
sustained.
"The new budget has other priorities than the stock trading as
demands of the nuclearized Pakistan have undergone a major change,"
dealers said.
Speculative buying in the energy shares on rumours of an increase
in POL prices seemed to have evoked sympathetic support on the
other pivotals, putting the market back on the rails, although
temporarily.
The big gainers were led by Shell Pakistan and PSO which rose by Rs
18 and Rs 4 respectively, while Lever Brothers maintained its
upward drive and finished with an extended gain of Rs 40. National
Refinery, Mari Gas and Kohinoor Power also rose modestly.
Chemical shares, notably Engro Chemicals and Fauji Fertilizer, were
also actively traded at the current lower levels and both finished
modestly recovered.
Most of the investment shares, notably mutual funds, modarabas and
leasing shares, rose in anticipation of tax relief but insurance
shares fell for no apparent reasons.
Losers were led by EFU Insurance, New Jubilee Insurance, Al-Ghazi
Tractors, PEL and Telecard, falling by one rupee to Rs 2.50 on
stray selling.
Trading volume fell to 75 million shares from the previous 80
million shares but gainers maintained a modest lead over the losers
at 51 to 43 with 27 shares holding on to the last levels.
Back to the top.
===================================================================
EDITORIALS & FEATURES
980607
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The grand defaulters
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
THIS country just cannot afford them. The headcount was provided
two days ago by the obliging Minister of Information, Mushahid
Hussain, but the list has not recently been updated. Any errors in
names or positions are his responsibility.
The President of the Republic, Rafiq Ahmad Tarar is a former judge,
not particularly renowned for his judgment. He may have surpassed
the retirement age for judges of our Supreme Court, but he is
sprightly enough to have braved the cold winds of Quetta last
November when he was there to carry out an 'assignment.'
As head of state, he is propped up by a brigadier of the Pakistan
Army acting as his military secretary, by a colonel as his deputy
military secretary, a Lt. Commander of the Pakistan Navy as his
ADC, a squadron leader of the Pakistan Air Force as another ADC,
and a second brigadier as an OSD (Administration). His civilian
force consists of a principal private secretary, a private
secretary, an assistant secretary (protocol), a press secretary, a
director-general (public relations), a PRO, a superintendent of
police in charge of security a staff of eleven officers plus a
few hundred lower-order staff to tend his opulent mansion and its
lush grounds, bolstered by a team of tall bodyguards who line the
corridors of his dwelling and ritually change guard each day to the
sound of trumpets that herald the raising and lowering of the
national flag in step with the rising and setting of the sun.
The nuclear-age Prime Minister, Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, does
far better. To hold his hand, he has a special adviser (SAPM) in
the form of Anwar Zahid, said to be a good officer and a loyal
friend who has been with him in one position or another since the
early 1980s when Nawaz Sharif was launched on his political career.
Zahid retired from the civil service two years ago but on Nawaz
Sharif's return was recalled to action. Again, it is said that
throughout he has done his best to guide and advise the young Nawaz
Sharif, but his sound advice was and is too often ignored. Anwar
Zahid has been conferred with the rank of a federal minister.
During Nawaz Sharif's first term in office, he was his principal
private secretary, a post now occupied by Saeed Mehdi, also a good
friend and firm favourite.
To assist him further, Nawaz Sharif has just appointed as his
special assistant Begum Ishrat Ashraf, a party worker, president of
the women's wing of the PML, conferring upon her the rank of a
minister of state (MOS). She is wife of Jaffer Iqbal, the Deputy
Speaker of the National Assembly. All within the family.
A retired major-general, Sikander Hayat Khan, is chairman of the
PM's Monitoring and Evaluation cell; a serving brigadier, Sabahat
Hussain, is Nawaz Sharif's military secretary with a commander of
the Pakistan Navy, Misbah-ul-Islam as his deputy. Wing Commander
Aqil of the PAF is the PM's ADC.
Also in the PM's secretariat, Nazar Mohammed Shaikh occupies the
position of additional secretary (Social Sector), Sohail Rasheed
additional secretary, Accounting and Coordination Cell, Farogh
Naveed, additional secretary, establishment and finance. The PM's
press secretary is Rai Riaz and his political secretary is that
controversial figure, a retired Lt.-Colonel of the Pakistan Army,
Mushtaq Tahirkheli, said to be one of the stalwarts in the
forefront of the PML storming of the Supreme Court last November
who was sacked for the leading role he played, and almost
immediately forgiven and reinstated.
The PM has at his beck and call two joint secretaries, one in
charge of administration and one dealing with the public; two
private secretaries; one PSO (Crime); a director of protocol; and a
section officer. His principal private secretary has a couple of
PSOs working for him as does the retired major-general. Tahirkheli
has his own PS.
These are the listed aids to our prime minister. There may be many
more not yet grafted on to the official list.
On to the federal ministers and those holding the rank of minister,
in the order they are listed. Former Ittefaq functionary Ishaq Dar,
commerce; Azam Khan Hoti, communications (has he gone or not
gone?); Survivor Sartaj Aziz, finance, economic affairs and
statistics; Gung-ho Gohar Ayub Khan, foreign affairs; Policeman
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, interior; Healthy Chandi, Syeda Abida
Hussain, population welfare plus science and technology; Chaudhry
Nisar Ali Khan, petroleum and natural resources; Spin Doctor
Mushahid Hussain Sayed, information; Khalid Anwer, law and justice
(how I regret having called him Cicero); Streetman Shaikh Rashid
Ahmad, culture, sports, tourism and youth affairs; Syed Ghous Ali
Shah, education; camp-follower Mian Abdul Sattar Laleka, food,
agriculture and livestock; Chandi's cousin Makhdoom Mohammad Javed
Hashmi, health; Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, industries and
production; retired Lt-General Malik Abdul Majeed, Kashmir affairs
and Northern Areas; octogenarian black-haired Mian Muhammad Yaseen
Khan Wattoo, parliamentary affairs; Sardar Muhammad Yaqub Khan
Nasar, railways; Zia's opening batsman Raja Mohammad Zafar-ul-Haq,
religious affairs, Zakat and Ushr and minority affairs who does not
believe that religion is between Man and his God; retired Major
Raja Nadir Parvez Khan, water and power; Makhdoom Syed Ahmed
Mahmud, MOS environment, local government and rural development;
Muhammad Siddique Khan Kanju, MOS for foreign affairs; Master
Mariner turned land-lubber Captain Haleem Siddiqui, MOS for water
and power; Tahmina Daultana, MOS for women development, social
welfare and special education; Disappointing Doctor Hafiz Pasha,
deputy chairman, Planning Commission; son of a rich general Humayun
Akhtar Khan, MOS for investment; Aga Ali Shah, MOS for housing and
works; Ahsan Iqbal, MOS for planning, the 2010 man; the nondescript
getting-richer-by-the hour Khwaja Mohammad Asif, chairman of the
privatization commission.
Forty-two fully-fledged federal secretaries service these ministers
and their ministries.
The lucky rewardee parliamentarians who hold the lucrative post of
parliamentary secretary / adviser, supposedly stand-ins for
ministers who are not present at assembly sessions and many of whom
have appointed their own 'stand-ins': Ijaz Ahmed Shafi, commerce;
Malik Umar Aslam Khan, communications; Shaikh Liaquat Hussain,
culture, sports and tourism; Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf, education;
Rana Mohammad Hayat Khan, environment and local government; Mian
Mohammad Afzal Tarar, food and agriculture; Malik Lal Khan, housing
and works; Haji Mohammad Akram Ansari, industries and investment;
Anwar-ul-Haq Ramay, information; Sahibzada Farooq Anwar Abbasi,
labour, manpower and OPF;Rana Zahid Tauseef, petroleum and natural
resources; Iftikhar-ul-Hasan Shah, religious affairs; Ghulam Haider
Thind, railways; Rao Qaiser Ali Khan, water and power; Abdul Matin
Khan, women development and social welfare; Syed Zafar Ali Shah,
parliamentary affairs; Rana Tanweer Hussain, parliamentary
secretary to PM; Frontier Pir Mohammad Sabir Shah, adviser to PM
for national affairs.
Those listed above (barring the door-openers, spectacle-case
carriers and menu-holders) are the Grand Defaulters of the Republic
of Pakistan. Collectively they encouraged the people to buy foreign
exchange, and deposit and earn on it (in FE) in Pakistan, with no
questions asked, no taxes payable. Now these sovereigns have
reneged on their sovereign promise to the extent of $12 billion.
Adding insult to injury, they tell us that the dollars, pounds,
yens, what have you, will be paid back in worthless paper. They
urge us to collect our bits of paper whilst the printing press
still has paper upon which to print. If we do so by a set date,
they say 'as an added incentive' they will not renege on their
promise of 'no questions'. But, the value they have arbitrarily
fixed is their own set rate and has nothing to do with the real
worth, the market rate. So we lose on that score also.
On the pretext of an emergency, they have declared an Emergency
(which our fellow bomb-burster did not do), suspending our
Fundamental Rights, one of which is to sue them in their own
watered-down courts. Most of them have not suffered at all. They
are Grand Defaulters, highly indebted to the people of Pakistan,
having used their positions to reschedule their loans, thus
increasing their indebtedness. All of them are culpable, their
culpability being in direct proportion to their real or feigned
intellect and former integrity. They may well have fooled the many,
but they have not fooled the few who never had any trust in either
them or their word and always anticipated that the day would surely
come when the FE bubble would burst. As is always the case, the
real losers are the poor, the already deprived, of the nation.
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980613
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Last in class
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Irfan Husain
A SOCIETY'S development and evolution can be accurately gauged by
how many books its citizens read. By this measure as, indeed, by
most other criteria Pakistan must rank among the world's most
backward nations.
Most people cite our low literacy level of 35 per cent as the main
reason for this state of affairs. While even this pathetically low
rate is questioned by educationists, it does give us a literate
population of nearly 50 million out of a total population of 140
million, a reading population the size of England. And yet if a
book sells a thousand copies in any language in Pakistan, it is
rated a bestseller.
The other reason given for poor books sales is the low income level
in Pakistan. It is true that the prices of books have increased at
a rate far higher than the common man's disposable income.
Nevertheless, restaurants along Karachi's Zamzama Avenue remain
packed despite their steep prices and mediocre fare. It would be
interesting to conduct a survey of clients at these eateries to
determine how many books they have bought last year. And yet they
think nothing of paying 500 rupees per head for largely forgettable
meals.
In a sense, we are caught in a vicious cycle: because so few people
read, there is very little incentive for writers to pour their
blood and sweat into creative efforts that will go unremarked and
unread. Also, because of very limited sales, print runs are small,
forcing publishers to keep prices high. Far from getting royalties,
writers often have to pay to see their books in print. At best,
they get a certain number of free copies to show for their labours.
Imported books are out of the reach of most people due to the
continued slide of the rupee against both the dollar and the pound.
Due to the even higher exchange rate for books set by the State
Bank, a paperback with a price tag of six pounds is sold locally
for around 500 rupees. Over the years, foreign publishers have
steadily increased prices to reflect real costs and hefty profit
margins. And while salaries have gone up proportionately in the
West, they have not followed suit in Pakistan. The result is that
most people can no longer afford to buy even pocket books any more.
And those who can, prefer to spend their money on other pleasures.
The state of public libraries is hardly conducive to promoting the
reading habit. Budgets now barely cover staff salaries and
overheads, and hardly any new books are being purchased in
university and municipal libraries. Public reading rooms are mostly
shabby and run down with mouldering old books and demoralized
staff. Small wonder that young people hardly ever wander into these
relics of the past.
The low income argument is demolished on both sides of our borders:
both India and Iran have vibrant publishing industries supported by
a large reading public. New authors and books are constantly in the
public eye, and writers are often well-known and respected public
figures. Apart from works written in local languages, foreign books
are quickly translated and widely read. The New Delhi Book Fair is
one of the biggest of its kind and attended by publishers from
around the world.
Turn by turn, the film industry, television and the internet were
supposed to spell the demise of the print media. Nothing of the
sort has happened. Over the years, publishing has thrived in the
West, the bastion of electronic entertainment. New titles continue
to pour off the presses and fill smart (and expensive) bookshops
from Tokyo to Toronto. The fact that the world's biggest bookshop
has a virtual existence on the internet (check out its website at
amazon.com) indicates the convergence of various media. And
discussions about books and authors on TV and the radio have huge
audiences. Speculation about the next winner of the Booker Prize
fills newspaper columns in the British press weeks before the
event, and the award itself is watched by millions.
To return to the earlier point, why are we in Pakistan so averse to
books? Part of the reason, I suspect, is the lack of encouragement
to read that most of our schoolchildren get from their teachers.
Narrow syllabi and poorly educated teachers combine to make reading
a very boring if essential task. The magic of the printed word is
completely lost in the tedium of the classroom. Students are seldom
required or encouraged to pick up a story book for the sheer
pleasure of it. Most parents share this apathy, alas, and few
children grow up with any love or respect for books.
Another reason for our poor reading habits is that the books
produced locally are of such poor quality. A child condemned to
attend the public school system is given poorly produced, badly
illustrated books printed on awful paper. Local novels and works of
general interest are often shoddy publications, even when they are
produced by our leading publishers. The excuse is that by using
better paper, prices would rise, thus reducing the already low
readership. But computer technology has reduced the cost and time
involved in typesetting, so it is high time our publishers focused
on improving quality. However, the provincial Textbook Boards have
a lot to answer for as they decide what books are to be published
for the public school system, and supervize the printers. The
Accountability Cell would be doing us all a big favour by turning
its sights on these malign organizations that have caused so much
havoc.
So what?, I can hear some readers ask. What does it matter if we
don't read books? For a start, we cut ourselves off from the whole
exciting world of ideas. The vast collection of books on literature
and science are part of our heritage, but of what use are they if
we don't take the time and trouble to read them? And if we don't
read, it is unlikely that we will write and communicate our
experiences to the rest of the world.
I have just finished reading Rohinton Mistry's "A Fine Balance",
and I think this is what has prompted this column. The finest novel
I have read in a long time, this massive, searing work transforms
the reader's world view, just as all great literature sets out to
do. And yet Mistry is only one of many Indian writers of his
generation who have been accorded places of honour on the
international literary scene. How many Pakistanis qualify to join
this company? Unless we start reading more, we will be consigned to
stay at the bottom rung of the intellectual ladder.
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980612
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Time to get serious about disarmament
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Zia Mian and Frank von Hippel
INDIA and Pakistan's nuclear tests are a challenge that can be met
in either of two ways. One would be to simply recreate the nuclear
status quo with two more nuclear weapons states and accept the
enormous dangers for the people of India and Pakistan and the rest
of the world.
The alternative would be to take international steps to devalue
nuclear weapons' possession by moving the nuclear goalposts toward
disarmament.
The history of the past 50 years teaches that nuclear weapons are
unusable for rational military purposes and that their existence
makes ordinary human miscalculation or madness potentially
catastrophic.
Yet the nuclear weapons states act as if they are giants in a world
of pygmies creating indignation in many countries and a
temptation for nationalistic parties like India's newly governing
Bharatiya Janata Party.
The demands being made by the international community are that
India and Pakistan not test again, and sign the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty. It appears that India may be willing to do so.
Brajesh Mishra, principal secretary to India's prime minister, has
announced a testing moratorium, adding that "we would like to
convert the moratorium into a formal obligation." And Indian
weapons scientists claim that they can maintain and further develop
their nuclear weapons expertise in the same fashion as the United
States, with subcritical tests and computer simulations.
Pakistan's leaders may not feel themselves to be in the same
position, especially if they believe India's claim that it can now
produce thermonuclear weapons of unlimited power.
Indian officials have also indicated that New Delhi will drop its
opposition to international negotiations to ban production of
highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons, the fissile
material cutoff treaty. India's position now appears to be that if
it can keep what it has and produce more during the negotiations,
it is willing to negotiate.
Pakistan, which has a much smaller stockpile, is much less
positive. On May 19, Munir Akram, the Pakistani ambassador to the
Conference on Disarmament, declared that, in Pakistan's view, the
fissile material treaty is "an entirely irrelevant goal at this
moment."
India is behaving like a state that has successfully broken into
the nuclear club, and Pakistan, after hesitating over the likely
ruinous price of membership, has decided that it must join as well.
Israel slipped in long ago, thanks to US willingness to cast a
blind eye in its direction. Other states such as Iran and Iraq, and
then perhaps South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, wait in the wings.
To break this dynamic, the United States, Russia and the other
charter members of the club must make it more credible that they
really intend to put the club out of business. The first step would
be to end the civilization-endangering practice of keeping nuclear
missiles on hair-trigger alert, a posture that India and Pakistan
are threatening to imitate.
The United States should immediately ratify the test ban treaty and
thereby encourage Russia and China to ratify. (Britain and France
already have). Bringing the treaty into force is a key first test
of the world's willingness to walk away from nuclear weapons.
The United States, Russia and China should underline the
irreversibility of their commitment by shutting down their nuclear
test sites. (France already has. Britain, which has no test site of
its own, used that of the United States).
The United States should cut back drastically its lavish "Stockpile
Stewardship Programme" which inspires fears both at home and abroad
that it intends to continue the nuclear arms race alone.
The United States, Russia, Britain and France should act on their
1996 commitment to place excess fissile materials under
international safeguards as soon as possible.
Russia and the United States could start by immediately committing
to reduce their stockpiles of unsafeguarded fissile materials to
the levels required to maintain only the 2,000 to 2,500 strategic
warheads that have been agreed to for START-3. This would capture
non-strategic and nondeployed warheads as well, achieving a more
than 90 per cent reduction from peak cold war levels.
They should also announce that they intend to reduce further to
1,000 warheads each, and to organize multilateral negotiations on
much deeper cuts to levels that would provide a staging ground for
negotiations on abolition.
Only by making clear that the nuclear game will end soon can we
reduce the incentive to begin playing.Dawn/IHT Service
(Mr Mian is a Pakistani physicist and a research associate at
Princeton University. Mr von Hippel is a professor of public and
international affairs at Princeton. They contributed this comment
to The Washington Post.)
===================================================================
SPORTS
980608
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan slips further in international hockey
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Lateef Jafri
Europe picked up the main honours in the just-concluded ninth World
Cup to confirm its high position in the hierarchy of global hockey
and to mark the return of the power base of the game to the West.
Scenes of tumult and applause were witnessed in the Dutch city of
Utrecht as their team touched effulgence in the evening's sinking
sun and lifted the glittering cup with the map of the world
engraved on it, announcing them as the worthy champions of the
globe.
What were the factors reasons behind the Netherlands success? There
was a hint of anxiety in their camp when their pack was battered by
Germany in the group match by a whopping margin of 5-1. After this
match their coach had reportedly left the venue with a sorrowful
face. The outfit was without their lethal penalty corner strikers,
Floris Bovelander and Taco van den Honert. Even as the concluding
duel started Spain shaped much better than Holland in threading
their frontline sallies. The Dutch were under considerable
pressure.
But as the saying goes 'fortune favours the brave,' the Dutch came
back into the match with verve and panache and in a test of
mobility and power they ran away the winners. In a nutshell
determination, discipline, skill and the spirit to fight back were
the components that stood pronounced in their victory over Spain by
what is now technically called a golden goal.
The Spaniards had become slack in their workouts in the second
session and since there is no cure available for the malaise of
complacency they had to pay the price for it. Once two goals were
netted by the Dutch 10 minutes before the end the initiative was
snatched by them and with a blend of co-ordination and aggression
their frontline unsettled the Spanish defence. Even during the
sudden-death period the Dutch engineered quicker forays. On the
other hand, the Spanish attacks came in fits and starts. Their
assaults were effectively curbed by the Dutch middlers and deep
defenders.
The Netherlands ascended the podium for the cup and the top
accolade for the third time in the 27-year history of this high-
voltage global competition, in which 12 nations participated, six
countries having come via a qualifier held in Kuala Lumpur in March
of last year. However, the Dutch triumph conveys their capacity to
quickly fill in the breach for the departure from the hockey scene
of the many experienced stars and strikers who served the country
well during their hockey careers. It also shows how strenuously
their training process goes through round the year, even in the
indoor contests in shivering cold weather. Besides, with stress or
full fitness they maintain a degree of consistency in their
movements needed to threaten rival tacklers. After the Atlanta
Olympics two years ago when they clinched the gold medal the World
Cup was an outstanding achievement for them.
Twentyseven years after their silver in the inaugural World Cup in
Barcelona, where they were a dark horse, the Spaniards have
improved on and with a capacity for improvisation and imaginative
workouts they stunned the heavyweights in the last Olympics by
bagging the second slot. Even in this tournament they brought down
Germany, one of the favourites, in the semis with better ball
control, greater speed and a style of their own. They are a new and
vigorous force on world hockey scene and have ascended many steps
up on the ranking ladder.
The Asians were found wanting in this stiff challenge. South Korea,
champions at Hiroshima in the Asian Games four years ago and known
for their first-time passes and fine marksmanship, slipped to
seventh place. Many were surprised to see their stature going down.
They failed to get qualification for the next two Champions
Trophies. Both the Netherlands and Germany shook them in the pool
ties but even New Zealand upset their applecart. They usually had
their hands full in the deep defence; in onward movements their
usual vibrancy was missing.
For India it was an atrophied showing and they could never
demonstrate any ardour in their combats. As some experts have
pointed out their experienced hands are getting stale. As other
teams are developing into well-knit outfits the whole Indian
training programme appears ill-planned. The defeat by Canada must
have been an object lesson to them. Both their main weapons,
Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar, were not in full physical shape
and the result was a depressing ninth slot. With wrong application
of the Asian ploys it appears that for both India and Pakistan it
is on the verge of extinction. Alarming as it many sound a new
approach is needed to remove the misgivings in this regard.
Twelve year after the Willesden stumble a fifth placement was the
poorest for Pakistan. It betrays the steep falls in the hockey
standards of the country in contrast to the vast progression the
hockey powers of Europe and Australia have made. Even in the first
round-robin encounter against Malaysia, though won by Pakistan by
7-2, it was not an easy affair for they had to concede a
surprisingly high number of 12 penalty corners. Not a balanced
formation, Malaysia appeared trustful after the lemon time and
cashed in on two penalty corner awards. The match exposed chinks in
the armour of the Pakistani set the weakness in the half-line and
the deep defence was for all to see.
After the expected retirement of Shahbaz Ahmad and Tahir Zaman
young faces will have a difficult work on hand. It is to be seen
how the training for the Commonwealth Games, the Champions Trophy
and the Asiad proceeds.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
980609
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Pakistan contingent to comprise 59 members
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By Our Sports Reporter
ISLAMABAD, June 8: Pakistan contingent for 16th Commonwealth Games
would comprise 59 members, according to a decision of the 58th
Executive Committee meeting of Pakistan Sports Board which met here
today.
The meeting held after a lapse of two and half years was presided
over by Minister for Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
However, no official of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA)
attended the meeting. The absence of the POA representative was
criticised by the Minister. Out of the total of 17 members of the
Executive Committee 13 participated. The meeting discussed five-
point agenda.
The minister informed the meeting that in compliance to the
national austerity drive, there would be a 50 percent reduction in
the sports budget. Keeping the national policy in view, a 59-member
Pakistan Commonwealth contingent was approved by the house. The
proposed representations in sports like gymnastics, cycling,
shooting, swimming, badminton etc were slashed.
Only medal winning sports like hockey, boxing, weightlifting,
cricket, squash (both being contested for the first time at the
commonwealth games) will form the squad. The house was informed
that the 33 air tickets being provided by the Commonwealth Games
organisers would also be utilised for the purpose of reducing
expenditure on participation. The administrative staff would
comprise chef-de-mission and secretary-cum-treasurer, which would
be nominated by the minister.
The 16th Commonwealth Games are being held at Kuala Lumpur from
September 10-20.
Taking a serious view of Pakistan's lacklustre showing in the 9th
World Hockey Cup hockey at Utrect, and decline in other sports, a
review of last ten years performances of all national federations
affiliated with Pakistan Sports Board was demanded in fifteen days
period by the minister.
Although, the proposal of punishing the inoperative and spiritless
federations was presented in a very vague form to the reporters,
but the report based on last ten years performance could lead to
dissolution and other disciplinary measures against the
federations. The Director General, Sports Board, informed reporters
that the board had in hand an amount of Rs 17 million for the
preparation and participation of national contingents to the three
international events which include Commonwealth, Asian and SAF
games next year.
However, DG PSB, was dissatisfied with the response from various
national federations including football, badminton, basketball,
wrestling etc. which have failed to initiate their training camps.
Besides, the other camps already which are already in process are
short of full strength.
The meeting gave approval to the affiliation of Pakistan Judo
Federation and Pakistan Karate Federation, with PSB separately. The
affiliation cases of Pakistan Power Lifting Federation and Pakistan
WUSHU Federation were deferred for further examination.
Finalisation of Pakistan contingent for the Asian Games was
withheld. A decision in this regard would be taken later. The 13th
edition of the games are being held at Bangkok from December 6-20.
The Sports Board had shortlisted 17 sports which included hockey,
volleyball and boxing as the main contenders. Other events included
are athletics, archery, badminton, cycling, golf, Kabbadi, rowing,
shooting, squash, swimming, snooker, table tennis, tennis,
weightlifting, wrestling and yachting.
The meeting gave approval for enhancement of daily allowances of
national boxing probables to Rs.200 per day per person, in view of
nutrition requirements.
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