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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 31 January 1998 Issue : 04/05
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Contents | National News | Business & Economy | Editorials & Features | Sports
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CONTENTS
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NATIONAL NEWS
Govt sets up five firms to support PR privatization
Pakistan should apologize to BD for '71 tragedy: Asghar
Sindh not to pay up Rs 4.4bn to WAPDA
MQM gives Eid gifts worth Rs10m to the poor
Accord for $10bn SAP signed with WB, donors
Islamabad receives Delhi plans for talks
PTCL shows interest to buy Paktel
Bomb blasts rock three Punjab towns
Shifa plans to set up medical college in Islamabad
---------------------------------
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Stocks performance improves despite weekend selling
Banks allowed to fix export bill rates
World Bank okays $2bn soft loan
Big power consumers get special concessions
Move to raise revenue by Rs60bn annually
Budget-GDP gap crosses IMF limit
---------------------------------------
EDITORIALS & FEATURES
Contempt of the people Ardeshir Cowasjee
Eid then and now Rifaat Hamid Ghani
Things to learn from China M.B. Naqvi
Are we sliding into fascism? Shameem Akhtar
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SPORTS
Duel in the dark that lighted cricket scene
Wasim is axed
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NATIONAL NEWS
980129
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Govt sets up five firms to support PR privatization
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Mahmood Zaman
LAHORE, Jan 28: As part of its plan to privatize the Pakistan
Railways (PR) the government is setting up three companies in
private sector and two in public sector by March 31.
The government has decided to sell almost all the railways assets
and hand over the PR's operational functions to the private sector,
more likely to some international consortium, by June 30 this year.
Pakistan Railways general manager Mohammad Afzal Khan told Dawn
that the three private companies would manage PR's infrastructure,
passenger traffic and freight business. International bidding have
been invited from April 1 by the Privatization Commission. At
present three foreign consultants firms, including the two hired by
the commission, are preparing separate inventories for each of the
prospective private companies.
Simultaneously, two public sector authorities, one functioning to
carry out heavy repairs and the other to dispose of surplus PR
land, make a permanent alternative disbursement arrangement for
about 120,000 pensioners, take decision about the future of about
100,000 employees and settle all other residual issues which may
not be falling within the privatization ambit, would be
established, according to the PR general manager. These bodies
would be temporary in character and would be dispensed with as and
when their job is completed, understood to be within a period of
four to five years.
The Privatization Commission, Mr Khan said, had hired the Hickling
Transom from Canada and the Link Laters and Paines from the UK, and
the Pakistan Railways has acquired the services of Irish CI
Consults to prepare inventories for private and public sector
companies and help the government in unbundling, restructuring and
corporatizing of the railways.
The steps for privatization are being taken in the light of the
Burki Report, presented to the federal government on March 20 and
approved in April, 1997. The report seeks merger of the ministries
for railways and communication to create a ministry for transport.
The government has taken certain administrative steps to the
direction and legislative measures are said to be in the offing.
RAILWAY BOARD: The PR general manager said the restructuring of the
Railway Board had been done and orders issued for its transfer from
Islamabad to Lahore. The board was likely to be house at the PR
headquarters and start functioning by the next week. It would be
assigned with the duty of organizing and facilitating the
privatization process.
Asked for his comments on the Dhaka demand, Mr Khan said he
sincerely believed that it would be a decent and proper course for
Pakistan to adopt, pointing out that he had all along condemned the
military action in former East Pakistan.
Mr Khan, who now heads an alliance of several parties,called the
Pakistan National Conference, said Japan and the US had also
publicly apologised for committing atrocities during the last world
war.
"It is apparent that even after 27 years, it will be a national
mistake to gloss over the events of 1971 tragedy,as has been done
by General 'Tiger' Niazi in his recent book and the reaction it
aroused, particularly from an important bureaucratic actor of that
period in his scathing criticism of Niazi's version of the 1971
story", he added.
The Foreign Office here declined to be drawn into any "on record"
comment on the Dhaka news report. It is, however, apparent that the
report has touched its raw nerves, particularly at a time when it
is making allout effort to bring to world attention the Indian
forces' oppression in held Kashmir.
Observers said the Foreign Office could still make amends for the
past lapse by accepting Islamabad's responsibility for the East
Pakistan tragedy.This would greatly strengthen its argument against
the Indian atrocities in Kashmir,they added.
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980125
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Sindh not to pay up Rs 4.4bn to WAPDA
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Sabihuddin Ghausi
KARACHI, Jan 24: The Sindh government has refused to pay WAPDA's
fresh electricity bill of Rs 4.40 billion for the period of July to
December 1997 on the grounds that it is "presumptive and
exorbitant".
In an official communication to Islamabad, the Sindh government has
made it clear that WAPDA was charging Sindh government four and
five times more than NWFP although the number of consumers in both
provinces are by and large the same.
Early this month WAPDA sent a fresh bill to all the four provinces
amounting to Rs 8.86 billion for electricity by three categories of
consumers which are the provincial government offices, local bodies
institutions and autonomous organisations. This bill pertains to
July to December 1997 period and has evoked anger among the
officials as well as legislators of Sindh.
Sindh has total number of 16,361 consumers and has been billed Rs
4.40 billion. It is four times more than the amount of Rs 1.02
billion bill to NWFP where the number of consumers stands at 15,498
which is more or less same as that of Sindh. It also reflects 50
per cent of the total amount of bill of all the four provinces.
WAPDA's bill for Sindh does not include Karachi where the main
secretariat, KMC, DMCs and principal offices of autonomous
organisations are located and billed by the KESC.
Yet another glaring disparity in WAPDA's "presumptive" bill pointed
out by Sindh government is in case of Punjab where the number of
consumers is 47,463, almost three times more that of Sindh but is
being asked to pay only Rs 2.95 billion.
Balochistan is another victim of WAPDA's "excessive and
presumptive" billing and is being asked to pay Rs 478 million. The
number of consumers in Balochistan is 3,514 which is almost 16 time
less than Punjab and about four time less than NWFP but is being
billed for 5.40 per cent of the total bill of all four provinces.
Islamabad has been informed of Rs 10.84 billion "over deduction" by
WAPDA at source from Sindh's share of funds in the divisible pool
during four years ending June 1997.
Another anomaly originating from the WAPDA's presumptive billing is
the amount recovered from Lahore Municipal Corporation and a small
town committee of Kandhkot in December 1995. "WAPDA billed Kandhkot
Town Committee for Rs 9.22 million in December 1995 when Lahore
Municipal Corporation was asked to pay almost half of the amount,
Rs 5.50 million" the Sindh government informed Islamabad in its
communication.
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980129
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MQM gives Eid gifts worth Rs10m to the poor
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 28: Addressing the annual relief programme of Khidmat-
i-Khalq Committee at the KKF compound on Wednesday, chief of the
Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain said the MQM is the only
political party that believed in providing grassroots level social
service.
At the KKF annual relief programme, Eid gifts, both in cash and
kind, amounting to Rs5 million each, were distributed to more than
2,000 needy persons.
Speaking over the telephone from London, MQM chief Altaf Hussain
traced the history of the KKF which he said was initially created
as Khidmat-i-Khalq Committee way back in 1978 immediately after the
formation of the All-Pakistan Mohajir Students Organization.
He said the MQM had realized from the very outset that in order to
change the prevailing inequitable system, a long and painful
struggle would have to be launched and to provide some succour to
the poor in the intervening period, the KKF (previously known as
KKC) was formed.
Mr Hussain said the MQM was striving for the elimination of poverty
from the country and to make Pakistan a technologically advanced
state. In this regard, he said, polytechnic institutions and
computer training schools needed to be established all over the
country.
Referring to the country's economy, the MQM leader said astable
government could not be provided because of steadily falling value
of the rupee and the resultant inflation.
Criticizing the political leadership of the last 50 years, Mr
Hussain said after the Quaid-i-Azam and Liaquat Ali Khan, power
remained concentrated in the hands of the "two per cent privileged
class." He said the policies of the power-hungry and self-serving
political leaders never reflected the true wishes of the masses.
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980128
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Accord for $10bn SAP signed with WB, donors
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: Pakistan and the World Bank-led multi donors
support group signed an agreement here on Tuesday for the $10
billion Social Action Programme, phase-II (SAP-II).
The representatives of the group later announced at a joint news
conference with Pakistan officials, including Dr Hafiz Pasha, that
the donors would provide $2 billion soft loan for the programme
shortly.
The negotiations between Pakistan government and the World Bank-led
group were held between Jan 22 and 27 this year which culminated in
the signing of the agreement. The draft of the agreement would be
presented by the World Bank to its board of directors on March 24,
and by other donors to their respective governments for approval.
Mr Ian Morris of the multi donors support group appreciated, what
he termed, strategic change in Pakistan's policy that convinced the
international donors to offer $2 billion assistance for the 10
billion dollar SAP-II.
He said the focus of the second phase of the Social Action
Programme would be on alleviating poverty, decentralization of
management and enhancement of community participation. The
representatives of the donors group that included United Kingdom,
the Netherlands and Asian Development Bank lauded the government's
policy aimed at ensuring transparency and proper utilization of
donors' aid.
A number of conditions were put by the donors to curb corruption,
appointments without merit and inefficient use of funds.
Prior to the negotiations on SAP-II, the WB and donors had made it
clear that no accord would be possible if certain conditions were
not met, including elimination of corruption. They stressed that
conditions should be improved to make the programme successful.
Consequently, Pakistan government agreed to enforce strict
procedure to guarantee transparency and efficient use of funds in
the implementation of SAP-II which would continue for five years.
The government has also agreed not to make political appointments
against the vacancies to be created by new projects under the
programme. The vacancies will be filled by the auditor-general of
Pakistan on merit.
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980125
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Islamabad receives Delhi plans for talks
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Hasan Akhtar
ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: The Pakistan foreign secretary has received
"some proposals" from his Indian counterpart which may break the
deadlock in opening a substantive dialogue on an eight-point agenda
to which the two sides had agreed in Islamabad last summer.
Foreign Office spokesman Tariq Altaf said at the weekly news
briefing here on Saturday that the Indian proposals were received
following a meeting in Dhaka in mid-January on the fringe of the
three-nation summit hosted by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina. The proposals were currently under study, he said, and
hoped that Pakistan would be able to respond as soon as it was
convinced that India was ready to make operational the Islamabad
understanding.
The spokesman reiterated Pakistan's commitment to hold talks with
India on bilateral issues, but pointed out that, right now, the two
sides were engaged in removing the stumbling block in the way of
addressing the substantive issues which, according to him, arose
when India distanced itself from the understanding reached on
making operational the mechanism for such a dialogue at the
Islamabad round of talks between the foreign secretaries in June
last.
Pakistan would engage itself in addressing the substantive issues
as soon as it was convinced that the Indian proposals encompassed
the mechanism that had been agreed upon, said the spokesman.
Answering questions, he conceded that the current Indian political
scene was relevant to determining time and date for dialogue since
India was on the verge of going to the polls to elect a new
government.
The spokesman asserted that whenever Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
had met Indian Prime Minister Gujral and he had met him four
times the "prime topic has been that the situation in Kashmir is
very bad, that the repression of the Kashmiri people should be
halted, and violations of the Line of Control should stop" to
create a sense of security in the region.
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980126
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PTCL shows interest to buy Paktel
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M. Ziauddin
ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: In what would appear to be a clear case of
policy aboutface the government is all set to take over Paktel, a
cellular telephone service operated by a Pakistan-UK joint venture
in the private sector.
The proposed takeover, certain to send confusing signals to
prospective foreign investors, could also cause the other two
cellular telephone operators, Instaphone and Mobilink, to panic and
pack up.
Pakistan Telecom Limited (PTCL) which has been on the privatisation
block itself since 1994, has expressed its willingness to mobilise
the needed 150 million dollars in foreign exchange to buy out the
shares of Paktel now held by the UK's Cable and Wireless (80 per
cent), Farooq Hasan (17 per cent) and Mrs Nek Mohammad Qureshi (3
per cent).
The government allowed cellular telephone service in the private
sector in 1990 when licences were issued first to two operators,
Paktel and Instaphone, and subsequently, to a third one, Mobilink.
Since then these three operators could expand their clientele to no
more than 100,000 subscribers.
Discouraged by slow growth and also because of the losses sustained
by Paktel due to disconnection of service in Karachi for almost two
years ostensibly because of reasons of law and order, Cables and
Wireless decided to sell its entire equity in Paktel to a strategic
buyer.
But with PTCL asserting its right of first refusal, prospective
private foreign investors have refrained from taking even a closer
look at the C&W offer.
Because of the PTCL's monopoly over voice communication the
cellular operators have to depend upon its network for their inter-
city traffic. These operators are not even allowed to lease voice
circuits from Pakistan railways or WAPDA.
Since the PTCL has a very large network and a virtual monopoly, it
is in a position to adversely affect the operations of cellular
companies. And if the PTCL also becomes a cellular operator by
taking over Paktel, the competitive environment would totally
become unfair. The PTCL can force the competition out of the market
by simply extending cross subsidies to Paktel for a few months.
The decision to buy out Paktel for the PTCL, is seen by independent
economists as not only going against the spirit of the government's
policy of privatisation but they think it would also discourage
healthy competition in the communication sector as the government
corporation already holds monopoly on voice communication up to
2002.
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980126
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Bomb blasts rock three Punjab towns
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Dawn Report
MULTAN, Jan 25: Three bomb explosions rocked Punjab on Sunday,
killing one and injuring 21.
A vendor was killed and six others injured as a bomb exploded at
Multan Cantt station five minutes after the Abasin Express had left
the platform.
Fifteen passengers were injured when another bomb went off on a bus
in Gujranwala.
In Jhelum all passengers on a bus had a narrow escape as a bomb
exploded after they had disembarked for prayers.
In the Multan blast vendor Waheed (20) suffered serious injuries
and died at hospital. Three others, Mohammad Arshad (13), Rab Nawaz
(24) and Shafiq (23) were hospitalized. Two others were discharged
after first aid.
The explosion was so powerful that roofs of tea shops were blown
up.
The police said "unidentified terrorists" had planted the bomb in
one of several wooden crates for currency notes lying uncollected
at the station for the last several days. The crates had been
booked for Okara.
"A big tragedy was averted as the bomb could have caused heavy
casualties had it exploded before the departure of the Abaseen
Express," an official told Dawn.
BUS BLAST: In Gujranwala, 15 people were hurt as a bomb exploded on
a wagon going from Gujranwala to Mandala Tagga.
The bus had left Gujranwala around 2pm, carrying 40 passengers.
When it reached near Mandala Tagga, on the outskirts of Gujranwala,
the bomb went off. It had been placed under a seat in the rear part
of the bus.
The injured passengers were rushed to the Civil Hospital, where
four passengers were stated to be in critical condition.
The deputy commissioner and the SSP reached the spot and supervized
the shifting of wounded to the hospital. The bomb disposal squad
also reached the spot and collected splinters of the bomb.
JHELUM: Passengers on board a Jhelum-bound bus had a narrow escape
when a bomb exploded five minutes after most of the people had
stepped off the vehicle at Jhelum's general bus stand.
Police said the bus had left Sialkot for Jhelum and after stopping
at Wazirabad and Gujrat, it reached Jhelum five minutes before
Iftar.
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980126
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Shifa plans to set up medical college in Islamabad
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Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: Plans are in advanced stage for the setting up
of Shifa medical college here, and postgraduate classes would be
introduced in the college, Dr M. Naseem Ansari, administrator of
the project, told Dawn.
He said the Shifa Foundation would, eventually, establish a
university but this would take time to materialize.
The administrator said the foundation had also drawn up plans to
establish a college of nursing to make up for the shortage of the
nursing staff in hospitals.
According to Dr Ansari, FRCP classes in post-graduate studies
basically on-job training were likely to start in March or April.
To begin with, eight to 10 students would be enrolled for this
course.
He said admission to the MBBS first year classes was expected to
begin in October or November. About 80 to 100 students were likely
to be admitted for this session.
Dr Ansari said the ratio of male and female students was expected
to be about 60 to 40. A decision on the matter was still awaited.
Similarly, a decision on the number of foreign students, to be
admitted to the college, was yet to be taken, he said.
Dr Ansari said the college would be completed at an estimated cost
of Rs40 to 50 million and housed in the additional block of the
Shifa Hospital covering a space of 4,500 square feet. He said the
college fulfilled all the requirements Pakistan Medical and Dental
Council (PMDC) of having a teaching hospital with 105 beds.
In two years, he said, the number of beds in the Shifa Hospital
would be raised to 250. Besides, he added, the hospital would
establish special wards for poor patients, involving lower medical
expenses. He further disclosed that soon there would be a
children's hospital for the medical college.
The college would be equipped with the latest laboratories, state-
of-art-equipment for medical investigation and all the facilities
that went with a modern medical college, he added.
Dr Ansari said computers would also be provided for teaching
students in the classrooms, and American teaching aids and
standards would be followed while assessing their abilities. The
medical curriculum, prescribed in Pakistan by the PMDC, would be
followed strictly.
Moreover, emphasis would be laid on Islamic ethical and cultural
studies while training the medicos, especially the students coming
from abroad.
===================================================================
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
980129
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Stocks performance improves despite weekend selling
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Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 28: Stocks gave another improved performance on
Wednesday despite weekend selling as investors made fresh active
covering purchases in the pivotals allowing the market to finish on
a promising note.
News of a 10 billion soft credit line under the Social Action
Programme (SAP) seems to be the chief motivating factor behind the
market's stiff resistance to further decline.
The selling at the fag-end of the session, which clipped some of
the initial gains, did figure prominently on the overvalued shares
but it did not affect the general trend.
The KSE 100-share index did show a fractional decline of 2.06
points at 1,609.16 as compared to 1,611.22 points a day earlier,
reflecting the relative weakness of the PTCL, one of the major
weight holders in it, but there are no reasons to believe that the
market might be able to sustain the run-up in the post-Eid
holidays.
Apart from strong foreign support at the lower levels and for good
reasons, the sentiment was also influenced favourably by the news
that the World Bank will extend a credit line of $10 billion under
the Social Action Programme during the next couple of years.
"The new credit line will certainly relieve pressure on bank
borrowing enabling the government to divert funds meant for SAP to
some other vital development projects," analysts said.
But what is more important is that the new credit line shows
donors' confidence in Pakistan's economy and its repaying capacity,
they added.
Floor brokers said the market appeared to be in for a grand
technical rebound owing largely to changing economic scenario after
the World Bank goodwill gesture.
"A bail-out plan like the one for some major South Asian countries
might not be imminent but there is certainly rethinking among the
donors to come to Pakistan's aid to provide the much-needed push to
its failing economy," they added.
Bulk of the buying was again confined to Hub-Power, which posted a
fresh gain of Rs 1.20 on 19 million shares, followed by PTCL, off
25 paisa on 12.033 million shares.
However, most of the leading shares put on fresh good gains under
the lead of Adamjee Insurance, KESC, General Tyre, Dawood Hercules,
Fauji Fertilizer, CPC Rafhan, Mitchell's and Tri-Pak Films, which
posted gains ranging from one rupee to Rs 5.
Lever Brothers, Telecard, Mehmood Textiles, Shell Pakistan, Siemens
Pakistan and Pakistan Oilfields were among the leading losers,
falling by one rupee to Rs 10.
DEFAULTING COMPANIES: Over 15,000 shares changed hands in this
sector as investors covered positions in Mian Textiles, which was
traded higher by 10 paisa at Rs 1.10 against the face value of Rs
10 on 7,000 shares. Suzuki Motorcycle fell by the same amount at Rs
2.50 on 8,000 shares.
DIVIDEND: Hoechst Marion Roussel, cash 20 per cent on post-tax
profit of Rs 30.692 million. Polyron, nil owing to loss of Rs
33.896 million.
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980125
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Banks allowed to fix export bill rates
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Mohiuddin Aazim
KARACHI, Jan 24: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed both
local and foreign banks to fix their own rates for buying export
bills of all foreign currencies except for the US dollars. The
decision, which will take effect from Feb 5, is to enable the
exporters to sell their export bills to the banks offering the best
price.
The move has come as a part of foreign exchange reforms which the
State Bank initiated on Jan 21 by allowing the banks to fix their
own exchange rates for all foreign currencies minus the US dollar.
Senior bankers said the banks have been allowed to determine their
own rates for the bills on the condition that they would not charge
more than LIBOR plus 2 per cent on the same. This is the formula
currently being used by the Foreign Exchange Rates Committee for
fixing the rates for bills buying. The committee, which acts on
behalf of the State Bank, will cease to fix both exchange and bills
buying rates of foreign currencies except for the US dollars from
Feb 5.
"This is a great move. Now the exporters will be able to take
advantage of competitive rates," said the chairman of the FPCCI
export committee Wajid Jawwad.
Talking to Dawn on telephone, he said fixation of bills buying
rates by the banks themselves should lessen liquidity problems of
the exporters thereby leading to growth in exports.
Bankers say they buy those bills of export that are to be paid by
the importers after shipment of export products. When shipment of
export is completed the banks give to the exporter the rupee
equivalent of the export bill after deducting the prevailing LIBOR
plus 2 per cent of the foreign currency in which the export is made
as their cost and margin. Normally exporters can avail of this
facility for a maximum 120 dayspermission from the State Bank is
necessary for extending the facility beyond this period.
Since the banks would continue to charge the prevailing LIBOR plus
2 per cent as their cost and margin for extending this facility
there should be no great difference between the existing and future
rates of bills buying. But as all the banks would calculate the
LIBOR plus 2 per cent of any currency on the basis of their own
spot rate for that currency the bills buying prices would vary from
bank to bank offering multiple choices to the exporter for selling
the bills.
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980125
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World Bank okays $2bn soft loan
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: The government has approved a Rs500 billion
social action programme (SAP-2) for the next five years for which
the World Bank will also provide a soft loan of $2billion.
Sources told Dawn that Pakistan and the World Bank had finalized
all details here on Saturday for launching the SAP-2 shortly. The
deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Dr Hafeez Pasha, led
the Pakistani side for talks with the WB's senior executive Mr I.N.
Moris.
The government, on its part, approved Rs500 billion for the SAP-2
which will be announced at a news conference here on Jan 27 after a
special meeting to be presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Originally the planning commission had proposed Rs404 billion SAP-2
which had further been increased to Rs500 bn.
The details about the programme has just been finalized with the
World Bank including the "Expenditure Plan". The SAP-2 will be
funded by, beside the world Bank-led multi- donor support, the
entire UN system, Canadian International Development Assistance
(CIDA), European Union, Norway, KFW of Germany, United Kingdom and
the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan.
The major thrust of the SAP-2 is the alleviation of poverty and
improving human indicators. Its scope has also been expanded to
chapters like the primary healthcare, AIDs, tuberculosis and
referral hospitals. Primary education has been increased to the
level of middle education and the introduction of vocational
training.
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980129
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Big power consumers get special concessions
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Jan 28: The government announced here on Wednesday the
restructuring plan for Water and Power Development Authority
(WAPDA) that would provide reduced tariffs to industrial consumers
and additional Rs 11 billion to the organization.
It was also decided by the government to remove subsidy on
electricity in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), Azad
Jummu and Kashmir (AJK) and flat rates on tubewells.
A new package for electricity consumers specially industries was
unfolded by the minister for water and power after a high level
meeting presided over by the prime minister on Wednesday.
Raja Nadir Pervaiz told reporters at a news conference that the new
restructuring plan would reduce WAPDA's losses and help generate
about Rs 11 billion.
Giving details he said that it was decided to reduce system losses
by 1.4 per cent which would provide Rs 1.5 billion. Similarly, Rs
1.3 billion could be collected through savings and Rs 1.9 billion
by reducing operational cost and the rationalization of Tariff in
AJK. "And Rs 3.4 billion will be collected by reducing losses of
the KESC", he said adding that these measures would provide Rs 8.1
billion. "Hopefully we will get about Rs 4 billion by removing
subsidies and by offering incentives to the industrial consumers to
use WAPDA's excess power capacity", he further stated.
The Minister for water and power also said that a two part tariff
had been approved by the prime minister which would have four
features: the two part tariff will be applicable to consumers in
industrial, commercial and domestic (above3000 KWH per month).
For consumption in any month above the base consumption during the
same month in the previous year, the consumers will be charged a
special tariff of Rs.325/KWH; The special tariff will also be
offered to the shut-down industrial units to provide an incentive
for their re-opening; and special incentives will also be offered
for off-peak consumption through time-of-day metering and rates.
He said that a high-level meeting noted that there had been gradual
reduction in share of industrial consumption from 32.8 per cent in
1993-94 to 26.3 per cent in 1997-98.
Insiders said that the prime minister once again refused to allow
WAPDA to revise upwards its tariffs to avoid any likely political
fallout. He told the meeting that he could not afford to have any
increase in the users charges as the common man was already hard
pressed.
The prime minister expressed his concern during the meeting over
WAPDA's serious financial crisis which once had a surplus of Rs 10
billion in 1993-94 but was now facing a deficit of Rs 16 billion in
1997-98, particularly because of large payments to private powers
companies. "The high level meeting also noted with concern that non
payment of electricity dues by provincial agencies had reached
alarming proportions since deductions at sources were eliminated",
said the minister for water and power.
Raja Nadir Pervaiz said that it was decided that the issue of non-
payment of dues would be taken up with the provincial governments
to find viable solution of the problem.
He said that WAPDA was selling almost 40 per cent of its
electricity at less than half of its own cost of generation and
distribution and at one third of the cost of buying power from
Independent Power projects(IPPs).
He said the high-level meeting decided in principle the need to
gradually reduce subsidized sale of energy while keeping in view
the need to provide electricity to low income consumers at
reasonable rates.
He said the meeting was of the view that two part tariff being
prescribed for the industrial sector would increase the overall
consumption of electricity in the country and would eventually
bring down the average cost at which WAPDA was purchasing power
from the private producers. "There was also scope for rescheduling
the debt repayment of some of the IPPs in the initial years to
reduce the cost of the power", disclosed the minister for water and
power.
Responding to a question he said that theft and losses of the WAPDA
were a matter of serious concern. However, he expressed hopes that
new restructuring plan would take care of the issue.
To another question he said that power theft in India was 27 per
cent compared to 23 per cent of WAPDA.
He said that WAPDA was selling electricity at reduced rates while
it was purchasing it at higher rates from the IPPs. "In fact we are
selling electric on 1/3 rates".
Minister for finance who was also present during the press
conference said that WAPDA was a national institution which would
not be allowed to be destroyed and that the government was taking
all possible measures to improve its performance.
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980129
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Move to raise revenue by Rs60bn annually
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 28: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved here on
Wednesday the "restructuring and revamping plan" of the Central
Board of Revenue (CBR) to make it fully autonomous with a view to
achieve Rs 60 billion annual increase in the revenues.
The prime minister also approved renaming of the CBR as Pakistan
Revenue Services (PRS) which will now have all the autonomy in
terms of management and financial resources.
He was presiding over a high level meeting to discuss various
issues including WAPDA and the CBR.
"A high level meeting chaired by the prime minister today has
approved the complete restructuring and revamping plan to
substantially increase revenue by one per cent of the tax/GDP
ratio," said Finance Minister Senator Sartaj Aziz.
Speaking at a news conference after the high level meeting, he said
that a serious effort for the first time has been made by the
government to increase revenues. "One per cent increase in the
tax/GDP ratio should give us additional Rs 60 billion every year,"
he added.
He, however, made it clear that the government did not want to
burden people with more taxes and that the job of increasing
revenues will be achieved through short and long term plans.
Giving details, he said that the Pakistan Revenue Service would be
governed by a high level Policy Board to be headed by the prime
minister himself. The finance minister would be the deputy chairman
of this new board.
Minister for commerce, deputy chairman, planning commission,
secretaries finance and establishment and four eminent
professionals of the private sector will be members of the board.
The CBR chairman would also be member of the Policy Board and its
ex-officio secretary.
The prime minister would nominate, on the advice of the minister
for finance, members of the board for two years.
This Policy Board would be responsible for setting performance
standard for PRS, approving its expenditure budget subject to final
approval of the National Assembly, monitoring overall performance
and prescribing policy on management and functioning of the PRS.
In the initial phase of restructuring, the Policy Board would be an
active body which would also have a role in making initial
recruitments. The remuneration package to be evolved by the Policy
Board for PRS employees would be based on market rates in the
private sector.
So far as the jurisdiction of the policy board regarding tax policy
matters is concerned, the same would be subject to the overall
budgetary and policy framework of the government.
The Policy Board will get public participation through consultative
councils to be set up at regional level.
The day to day functioning of PRS will be performed by the
Executive Board. In order to substantially strengthen PRS, apart
from the existing four members for direct taxes, customs, central
excise and sales tax, six new members would be hired on contract
from the private sector. They would be reputable professionals in
the field of tax policy, information management, audit, legal
matters, public affairs and human resources-cum-logistics.
While the existing line members would concentrate on collection of
government revenue, the members will spearhead the process of
change. The restructuring effort at the operational level would
strive at maximizing and expanding the tax base, increase
elasticity of tax system so that expansion in economy automatically
yields more taxes without enhancing tax rates and to provide a
simpler and more friendly tax system.
"A conscious effort would be made to simplify laws and procedures,
better allocate official resources, promote document based self-
assessment, enhance reliance on post-facto audit on the basis of
risk assessment and setting up tax payer facilitation centres for
providing advice and educational material."
The revamped tax system will be extensively supported by state of
art computerization and information management capability. Several
peripheral functions would be out sourced in keeping with the
overall policy of the government.
The tasks ahead have been identified in terms of short term and
medium term/long term goals. In order to gain maximum advantage,
extensive use of professional consultants having appropriate
international exposure will be made.
As a result a team of consultants would be deployed in February to
walk through the existing systems in the various departments of CBR
with a view to re-engineering the existing process.
The objective would be to immediately facilitate the taxpayers and
to plug loop-holes. Some benefits of this would occur within a few
months while the entire exercise would be completed in about one
year.
"The longer term objectives are to redesign the entire tax system
in order that the modern concepts of taxation can be implemented
with extensive use of computerization," the finance minister said.
This phase of business re-engineering would take two years or more.
A different team of consultants would be engaged for this, he
added.
The prime minister was also informed that international donors like
the World Bank are highly supportive of the government's plan of
restructuring the tax system as greater resource mobilization alone
can provide an answer to the economic difficulties. The
international donors would provide liberal technical assistance for
this purpose.
The prime minister also directed that all tiers of employees of CBR
should be involved in the restructuring as without their active
support optimal results would not be possible.
The prime minister also approved the gradual transformation of all
cadres of employees of CBR along corporate lines which, while
providing substantially higher salary and benefits, will have to
necessarily be linked with reduced security of service.
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980128
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Budget-GDP gap crosses IMF limit
-------------------------------------------------------------------
M. Ziauddin
ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: The overall budgetary deficit to the GDP ratio
in the first six months of the current financial year has already
crossed 6 per cent against the whole year target of 5 per cent
fixed by the IMF under its three-year 1.6 billion dollar structural
adjustment agreement.
So far the government has borrowed Rs40 billion from banks, Rs30
billion from non-bank sources and Rs100 billion from foreign
sources which brings the total borrowing for financing the current
year's budgetary gap to around Rs170 billion against budgeted
overall borrowing of nearly Rs200 billion, including bank borrowing
of Rs48 billion and external borrowing of Rs129 billion for the
whole year.
The GDP growth rate which was fixed at 6 per cent in the budget was
revised downwards recently by the finance minister who said the
country would now be able to achieve a growth rate of a little over
5 per cent because of slow down in the large scale industrial
sector and the damage sustained by the cotton crop.
On June 30, 1997 the gross domestic product (GDP) of Pakistan was
estimated at around Rs2.56 trillion. A 5.2 per cent growth during
the current year is expected to take the GDP in absolute terms to
around Rs2.70 trillion.
Against this anticipated GDP of Rs2.70 trillion for the whole year
the government has already borrowed Rs170 billion or 6.30 per cent
of the GDP in the first six months.
An improvement in the situation could be achieved if by end June
1998, the growth rate is accelerated to around 6 per cent or the
borrowing is contained to around Rs135 billion.
Non-bank sources were tapped by the government to meet the
shortfall in revenue collections which is expected to become more
acute in the coming months. In the absence of any downsizing of the
government, slow privatisation and failure of the schemes for the
recovery of bank defaults and whitening of black money, the current
expenditure has shot out of the budgeted limits.
The government has adopted a strategy of improving its cashflow
management by cutting development expenditure and increasing its
reliance on non-bank sources for deficit financing by borrowing
long-term through government savings schemes and short-term from
foreign commercial markets.
If the shortfall in revenue collection expands further in the
coming months and less than budgeted resources flow in from
privatisation and bad debt recovery scheme, the budgetary gap is
expected to expand further forcing the government to borrow more
which could take the overall budgetary deficit well past 8 per
cent, the point reached in 1992-93.
Meanwhile, the debt servicing is now testing critical limits, where
the government has been sucked into a vicious spiral of financing
repayments with shorter term, and more expensive commercial debt.
Rising international interest rates, stagnant exports and global
volatility are expected to worsen the burden. Pakistan's sovereign
credit rating is also expected to remain B2 (Moody's) with no
upward revision in the next 12 months.
The removal of a freeze on utility prices in the current quarter,
and a one time push of 1-2 per cent due to further weakening of the
rupee, could push inflation back to 15 per cent by the end of the
fiscal year.
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EDITORIALS & FEATURES
980125
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Contempt of the people
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
COMPLYING last week with the notices received from the honourable
Supreme Court summoning us, we lawyers, columnists, authors,
editors, and other citizens who refuse to, and cannot, defend
ourselves by sending in an assault mob trooped up to Islamabad,
to the apex court of the Islamic Republic.
We were asked to 'show cause' why action should not be taken
against us in terms of the Constitution and the law for what we had
either written or published in 1994 and 1995.
The bench of seven honourable judges, headed by Chief Justice Ajmal
Mian, hearing the contempt of court cases accorded a most patient
and civil hearing to the lawyers pleading on behalf of their
clients, particularly to that old indefatigable crusader and
lawyer, Habibul Wahabul Khairi, who most forcefully defended
himself. And, the first law officer of the land, Attorney General
Chaudhry Mohammad Farooq, was most fair and saw no contempt in any
of the alleged contemptuous statements.
However, we are precluded from further commenting upon the conduct
of these subjudice cases for fear that by so doing it may be held
that the course of justice will be prejudiced.
I am fortunate in having lawyer friends with the capacity, ability
and understanding as possessed by Jadoogar Sharifuddin Pirzada,
senior advocate Aziz Munshi and Barrister Makhdoom Ali Khan, all
three so supportive of the rights and freedoms of the people.
Without demur, they came with me to Islamabad, to plead for me,
giving freely of their time and effort, charging no fee. Up-and-
coming constitutional lawyer, the thorough Makhdoom, junior-most of
the three (who I consistently discourage from pleading for our
governments), did massive research on the genesis and scope of the
law of contempt, wading through international and national case
law. For the public good, he has been commissioned to write a much
needed book on this aspect of the law.
Sitting in the courtroom for three days, I had time to reflect on
the judgment (PLD 1977 SC 482) of my late lamented old friend and
lawyer, that renowned judge of Pakistan, Dorab Patel, relevant
passages of which were cited by Makhdoom and warrant reproduction:
"But I venture to think that if respect for the courts rests only
on the law of contempt, then it is resting on foundations of sand.
In the long run, if public confidence in the Courts is to be
maintained, it must rest on surer foundations than the sanctions
available to us under the law of contempt, and in the ultimate
analysis public opinion is the only sure foundation both for
respect for the law and for maintaining public confidence in the
Courts. Therefore, in so far as we have been entrusted with the
task of laying down the law of contempt and as we are also the
judges of our own cause when we exercise this jurisdiction, we
should not lay down a principle which is shocking to the public
conscience because this would not be a proper exercise of our
discretion and because this would undermine public confidence in
the administration of justice by alienating public opinion." and
"... Of course an allegation of bias of a serious nature may be
derogatory to a judge and through the judge to the court which he
serves, and the question in such a case would be of the advantages,
if any, of convicting for contempt the person who advances such an
allegation. The only advantage which I can see is that the fear of
contempt proceedings would deter people from making such
allegations openly and from publishing them. This however might not
stop the truth from coming out and an insidious whispering campaign
against a judge might do far more harm to the prestige of the court
than the alternative course of permitting a litigant to ventilate
his legitimate grievances...." and
"...Now, I respectfully agree with the view that courts should be
protected against 'disgruntled (and) unscrupulous litigants.' But
it is a very different thing to say that Judges must be absolutely
immune from all criticism, and the necessary implication of the
draconian proposition laid down by S.A. Rahman and Kaikaus, JJ, is
that Courts of Justice must silence the truth in order to preserve
public confidence in the administration of justice. With the utmost
respect I cannot agree with this proposition."
And, Dorab quoting Lord Denning:
"This is the first case so far as I know where this Court has been
called to consider an allegation of contempt against itself. It is
a jurisdiction which undoubtedly belongs to us, but which we will
most sparingly exercise; more particularly as we ourselves have an
interest in the matter. Let me say at once that we will never use
this jurisdiction as a means to uphold our own dignity. That must
rest on surer foundation. Nor will we use it to suppress those who
speak against us. We do not fear criticism, nor do we resent it,
for there is something far more important at stake. This is no less
than freedom of speech itself. It is the right of every man in
parliament or out of it, in the press or over the broadcast, to
make fair comment, even outspoken comment, on matters of public
interest. Those who comment can deal faithfully with all that is
done in a court of justice. They can say that we are mistaken, and
our decision erroneous, whether they are subject to appeal or not.
All we would ask is that those who criticise us will remember that,
from the nature of our office, we cannot reply to their criticisms.
We cannot enter into public controversy. Still less into political
controversy. We must rely on our conduct itself to be its own
vindication."
The Supreme Court is housed in an architecturally and aesthetically
perfect building. To design this building, Architect Khwaja
Nasiruddin, heading PEPAC in the 1970s, had the good sense to
commission Kenzo Tange, "the foremost Japanese architect in the
decades after World War II." As with the country in general, this
fine building is being brought into a state of decay and disrepair.
I suggest that the new Chief Justice, Ajmal Mian, walk around the
corridors along which the public plough their weary way, never
traversed by the judges. I also suggest that he pay an incognito
visit to the conveniences provided for the relief of the awam.
More important, each day he should leave Tange's building by the
exit used by the awam, and observe and contemplate on the
monstrosity that faces him the ridiculous, horrific and most
contemptible structure accommodating the prime minister's private
and personal secretariat. This building, if one can call it that,
personifies the contempt in which the self- styled so-called
leaders of this sad and sorry country hold the people over whom
they rule.
The good Justice Ajmal Mian will face a building which no architect
of Pakistan or of Wango-wango would dare claim to be his creation.
It is capped by 17 domes squatting upon 17 turrets, and has cost
the exchequer, inadequately serviced by less than 100,000 tax
payers, Rs 117 crores (Rs. 1,17 billion).
It is Nawaz Sharif's brain-child, conceived in his first round,
during which construction of the monstrosity was started. He was
followed by Benazir Bhutto who shared his contempt for the people
and went ahead with the completion of the building, handing over
the interior decoration to a cousin. (On the books, each internal
door has cost the taxpayers Rs 5 lakhs.).
No discussions of any importance to the poor of this nation takes
place in the gaudy gilded cabinet room in which the PM sits with
his ministers. Nawaz Sharif announces his decisions, all around him
nod, some chant in unison, "There is nothing to fear, you are on
the right track. Allah taala nay aap sey ab to bahout kaam lainah
hain."
The expenses of the PM's house and secretariat averages Rs 75 lakhs
per day. Compare this to the annual budget of Rs 40 lakhs for drugs
and medicines for the casualty department of Karachi's main public
hospital, Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre. When the country's
ministers are accused of being parasites, feeding on the blood of
the people, they gaze heavenwards and murmur, "Allah maaf karey."
Though Allah is Beneficent and Merciful, he does mete out justice
in his darbar and there is no reason why any of our sinners should
be forgiven. They will boil in oil.
Visiting the Domes and Turrets one day, I heard the sounding of an
electronic gong. Fire? I asked. No, the prime minister has just
left his palace and is on his way to fairyland. Roll out the red
carpet, bow down and worship: Baa adab, baa mulahzah, hoshyar,
Baadshah salamat aarahe hain."
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980129
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Eid then and now
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Rifaat Hamid Ghani
EID MUBARAK the golden jubilee Eid. What was the very first Eid
in Pakistan like? It must have been full of hope despite the pain
of the price paid in blood for the right to observe it as a free
people, confident of their right to realize and assert their
sovereign identity.
Things change, as they must, and the way we observe Eid too has
changed over the years. What better cultural index of a society
than the way its people express themselves in keeping with the
tradition of such occasions? Eid is more than just another
festival; it is an occasion of profound religious significance for
all Muslims everywhere. It's a joyous occasion because it marks the
end of an ordained period of voluntary abstinence and restraint
the culminating point of a process of self-verification which is
the essence of Ramazan fasting and prayer.
Of course, the day begins with the offering of the congregational
prayer in mosques and Eidgahs everywhere. The change now is that
many mosques or approaches to them will be heavily guarded: not
because of a fear of some alien intrusions or attacks, but because
there has been sectarian bloodshed and violence in the month of
Ramazan itself, the month of restraint, self-discipline and
moderation. That's not how it should have been in a land which is
supposed to epitomize the golden principles of unity, brotherhood,
tolerance and compassion of Islam. The security measures at places
of worship testify to a grievous failure.
It makes such an ugly picture that we really cannot be blamed for
tending to look away from it. There may be a terrorist factor or an
externally engineered design behind it all, but there is also the
worst kind of intolerance, fanaticism and animosity at work in our
ranks. And because our rulers play upon and manipulate religious
sentiment to keep people distracted from their failures and
deficiencies, successive governments have not felt impelled to
tackle the problem of divisions and dissension within.
In a sense every time a party talks about the ideology of Pakistan
to imply that other political parties do not believe in it, value
it or adhere to it, inevitably strikes a theocratic chord and puts
a primium on dogma and particularism. The way General Zia exploited
religion and ideology to overcome opposition and keep people
divided is unfortunately living history. The impact of the
theologists is epitomized in thundering from the pulpit and the
madrassa.
The outlook of most who inculcate the thoughts and ideas of the
obscurantist school is not of religious scholarship so much as of
plain bigotry. The voice of the enlightened Muslim is denigrated as
an echo of westernism. In any case, it does not penetrate or
resonate strongly enough to have an impact on those generally under
the spell of demagogic zealots in our midst. The Pakistani Muslim
identity is not emerging quite the way it should; its very
formulation is being warped.
After the Eid prayer, it is Eid in the home that fills out the
picture of the observance. Sweetmeats, new clothes, Eidi these
are the accoutrements and accessories of the joyous occasion. But
even here in fifty years evolution has not been positive. The
middle way is what Islam recommends. Arrogance is one of the worst
trait. Good things of life are for those who can afford them; envy
is what drives the rest into trying to catch up. Many families
still savour the day as it should be, but the collective picture
that emerges is of gross vulgarity on one side and acute
deprivation and resentments on the other.
Eid milan is the last of the essentials. The streets may either be
eerily quiet, or clogged with traffic with all the hazards that go
with it. Family lunches and gatherings are giving way to the
assembly at some convenient if modest community centres or elegant
clubs. Families are sometimes more anxious to impress one another
than just to be together and exchange greetings and share
sweetmeats and so on. The numbers gathering at the elders' table
are dwindling. KFCs and the Pizza Huts are taking over. Even
sweetmeats have to be upbeat and trendy: is the delicacy Turkish
delight Egyptian-style? Did you bring it back from Dubai? What does
the label on the cake box say?
Packaging and presentation is of the essence. That's progress when
there's something inside the pretty wrapping. But not if it merely
cloaks a realization that the spirit and substance of it all are
diminishing fast.
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980127
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Things to learn from China
-------------------------------------------------------------------
M.B. Naqvi
PRIME MINISTER Nawaz Sharif is soon visiting China. In view of the
long-standing friendship between the two countries, it would be
meet if this visit does not remain a usual protocol one.
Pakistan is 50 years old as an independent state and its economy
happens to be in straits and its political life is showing
disquieting, indeed dangerous signs and propensities.
Internationally it is pretty much isolated. Let PM Sharif seek some
light from the east and try and learn the secret of what has made
China's development an envy of most countries in the world. Only
that will make the visit worthwhile because in less than 50 years
China has achieved not merely a great power status, but also
economic and monetary sinews which support that status.
Two outstanding leaders of China have shaped its destiny after the
1949 victory over Kuomintang. The first was Mao Zedong along with
the galaxy of his colleagues and the second was Deng Xioping who
undertook in 1978 the programme of four modernizations. Mao got
China out of the middle ages and the mire of underdevelopment and
then went on to ensure rapid industrialization as well as excellent
under the circumstances social services covering everyone among
the Chinese. Mass under-nourishment, illiteracy and ill health more
or less vanished from China.
Just when the country's pace of development was beginning to
decline, Deng introduced a new policy orientation of relative
opening-up of China to the rest of the world. Ever since, the 1978
programme of Chinese development has been an envy for the rest of
the world. It has grown by over 10 per cent annually and its
monetary reserves have been high and its balance of payments is in
comfortable surplus.
Chinese progress in both economic and military terms has been
enviable. There is obviously much to learn from it. But certain
questions arise and will have to be answered before an
underdeveloped country can benefit from the Chinese lessons. The
main threats to China today are two: will overheating of its
economy begin to produce adverse results and will the new wealth
now being largely cornered by a small section create new social
tensions? A subsidiary question concerns the future of social
services.
Pakistan would want to learn a great deal from China. But before
that we have to know where we went wrong. After all, we had started
at least two years before the old corrupt regime was defeated in
China. Pakistan's progress has been marred by frequent regressions
and debacles. The country came to a sorry pass half way through its
independent life. Today its condition is causing anxiety; the
economy is teetering on the brink of loan repayment default and
catastrophe.
There is need to make a clean break with the recent past. But the
government seems to have no new idea on that. All it knows is to
rush to the IMF, seek guidance from it and sink deeper into the
mire of debts and commitments it knows it cannot meet. There is
obviously something that we do not know and have missed. That
should be the leading question in the mind of most Pakistanis,
including the prime minister, who should seek some light on the
subject from China.
No doubt, the primary aim of the visit is to cement the ties
between the two countries and to continue the cooperation that
already exists. China has been very cooperative and helpful to
Pakistan. Indeed, Islamabad has acquired the regrettable habit of
taking Chinese friendship for granted. Pakistanis are not too
mindful of what they owe to China. Hopefully, that should end now.
We should study what China is trying to do and what are its
overriding concerns. Can we be helpful in any of its concerns? And
we should know what our own situation truly is and what help can we
reasonably ask from the Chinese and what can the Chinese be
realistically expected to provide.
Pakistan's primary need is twofold: First and foremost, it must
make its economy turn around and put it on the road to industrial
development of the right kind. It should be a sustained process
of development that should lead to further development and it
should benefit the people of this country in matters that are their
primary concern: jobs, a social safety net, provision of social
services like health care, education and technical help and
guidance in developing agriculture and productivity in the
industrial field. There may also be some scope for not merely
technical aid but for cooperation in the fields of scientific and
technological initiatives.
Insofar as sciences and high technology are concerned, China can
provide places for students and research scholars in Chinese
institutions of excellence. There can also be joint research with
joint ventures in both big industry, infrastructure and high
technology. Above all, the Chinese can provide advice on combining
social concerns with the requirement of rapid economic growth the
fields in which the Chinese have made a happy combination.
But that leaves out the question of what are China's foremost
concerns. Obviously the primary one is its own growth in the
economy as well as in the political strength and influence. Once it
goes on growing economically and does manage to distribute the
fruits of growth more or less equitably, the next focus of concern
is its role in the international arena. The Chinese have provided
ample indication of their own priorities and aims. They have
declared their chief foreign policy concern is to ensure that the
world should in fact become a multipolar; it should cease to be
dominated by one superpower. Among its day-to-day policies, the
chief short- to medium-term objectives of its foreign policy are
managing its own relations with the US and coping with the growing
power of Japan.
In neither of these cases is China taking any rigid view. Although
the US is pursuing a two-track policy of both 'engagement' and
containment, the Chinese are responding positively to the
engagement part of the US policy and are taking counter-measures in
relation to the containment component of the American policies
without saying anything needlessly harsh or hurtful. They are
relying on their own military and political clout to counter the
American efforts to contain China and to isolate it.
The Chinese do not hesitate to flex their muscles where it is
needed such as on the Spratly islands or in the case of Taiwan and
certainly Tibet.
On the larger international plane, the Chinese have taken a bold
initiative in rebuilding friendship with Russia. As far as it lies
in China's power, it would lead Russia out of its quagmire of
economic regression and anarchy compounded by political confusion.
China's own strategy towards Japan is not to stumble into
adversarial relations. Here, it has not followed a two-track policy
like America. It has mainly a single-track policy of friendship on
honourable and peaceful terms. It wishes to ensure that Japan
remains a peaceful and peaceable nation and does not embark on a
course of bellicosity or to adopt an active foreign policy that may
lead to 1930s- like aggressive economic and political offensive
that pushed South East Asia into the Second World War.
It does not complement the policy with any military threat, though
it leaves no one in doubt that its own military power remains a
deterrent to all evil designs against it.
For the rest, China regards itself as a Third World country and
wishes naturally to lead it. This is a field in which Pakistan
should encourage and indeed request China to adopt a more active
leadership role by mobilizing and organizing the Third World on
issues connected with globalization. The position of the Third
World in the new world economic order, supervised by WTO, happens
to be at its lowest ebb. Hence the need for a 'reassemblement' of
the Afro-Asian and Latin American sentiment in an organized form.
Pakistan needs to learn primarily to stand on its own feet and to
do what it can with its own resources. For knowing this Mr Sharif
does not have to go to China. But from China we can learn the
formula for ensuring rapid growth and combining it with social
concerns of the people. Maybe, the latter part holds the key to the
former. Specifically Pakistan government can learn a lesson or two
from the Chinese on making their armed forces a productive factor
in the economy.
Not only are the armed forces not a burden on the Chinese economy;
they in fact contribute to the growth of the economy as well as to
national income without ceasing to be a strong fighting force.
If we can do some such thing we can find a way out of the debt trap
much more easily. That is the way to turn the economy around and to
attract China into the industrial growth of Pakistan by offering it
opportunities for investments that yield it normal returns.
Chinese help should benefit both countries and we should reorient
policies of economic development in a fashion that approximates, to
a growing extent, to the Chinese model of combining social goals
with rapid economic growth. Let us beware that the Chinese do not
relish frustrations of the kind they have experienced in the
Saindak project.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
980126
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Are we sliding into fascism?
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Shameem Akhtar
WE are being warned by certain cry-wolf columnists and orphaned
politicians that the spectre of fascism is haunting Pakistan and
would soon tighten its throttling grip on the nation. The cause for
all this alarm lies in their fear of the parliamentary rule that
has come to stay despite their attempts to topple the
representative government.
They branded the government as fascist because it deleted Article
58-2b which had empowered the president to dismiss the government
and dissolve the elected parliament. Yet the 13th Amendment, which
did away with this undemocratic provision, a relic of the fascist
rule of Zia, was not the work of the three- party ruling coalition
alone. It was passed unanimously by the parliament, with all the
parties vying with one another in its support. Outside the
parliament, Jamat-i-Islami, which had boycotted the polls because
the president did not listen to its call for accountability first,
maintained its support for the 8th Amendment since the Zia days
when it was his partner in the government.
Not surprisingly, Nawabzada Nasrullah, embittered by his
humiliating defeat in a constituency which he regarded as his
fiefdom, joined forces with the fellow feudalist, Sardar Farooq
Ahmad Khan Leghari. One can understand the nature of this unholy
alliance between the two exponents of feudal order. A member of the
Ahrar Party in the pre-partition days, Nawabzada Nasrullah formed a
party of his own, after the establishment of Pakistan, in defence
of the landowning aristocracy of the country. As for Farooq
Leghari, his lust for land impelled him to use his office for sale
and acquisition of land in questionable deals.
Fearful of the inroads of agrarian reform which the dominant
nouveaux riche class in the government had on the agenda, the two
fellow feudalists with the blessings of a soothsayer, also a
feudalist, embarked upon a counter-revolutionary struggle against
the parliament. Hence, a spate of petitions challenging the 13th
and 14th Amendments and as the majority of the judges of the apex
court would not concur with the then Chief Justice, Sajjad Ali
Shah, in the disposal of certain matters, they were dubbed rebels
by both the president and the former occupant of the office of the
Chief Justice. The Chief Justice asked the president to seek the
removal of five senior judges of the apex court through the Supreme
Judicial Council, a request which Leghari was only too glad to
comply with: he told the prime minister to see that it was done.
Nawaz Sharif refused to act at the president's behest.
In fact, the Chief Justice has no legal authority to ask for the
removal of the judges of the superior courts, for under Article 209
(5) "it is on the information received from the Supreme Judicial
Council or from any other source that the president shall direct
the Council to inquire into the matter." And since Article 48 binds
the President to exercise his function according to the advice of
the prime minister, Farooq Leghari could not ask the Council to
remove the five judges of the Supreme Court.
As for the revolt of judges, it is something unheard of in the
history of judiciary. For revolt, mini-revolt or mutiny are alien
to the working of the courts where each member is entitled to his
opinion even if he happens to be in the minority of one. The law
reports record the dissenting judgments alongside the majority
opinion. Mr Sajjad Ali Shah gave his dissenting judgment upholding
the dismissal of the Nawaz government and the elected National
Assembly.
In 1919 National Socialist German Workers' Party was formed and
under Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933 after winning the
elections of the Reichistag on a populist and patriotic manifesto
which promised jobs to the jobless, redemption of national honour
by abrogation of the dictated Treaty of Versailles and rearmament
of the country. The Nazi leader demanded lebensraum or the living
space eastward of Germany for his people who were gifted with
tigerlike qualities. The Fuhrer then banned all the parties, took
over the newspapers or closed them, established party / government
control over educational institutions from kindergarten to the
universities, replaced youth bodies with Hitler Youth and labour
unions with government-sponsored Labour Front and packed the courts
with Nazis. The Nazi Party, as the country's only ruling party was
known, denigrated Christianity and sought to substitute a new
religion, the German Faith for it.
The Italian and German systems had many traits in common. They both
were a reaction against the national humiliation suffered during
the first world war. Their nationalisms had xenophobic overtones.
Both Mussolini and Hitler were apprehensive of the communist take-
over and would take no chances with a pluralist society. Both
glorified war as a means to salvage national honour. In Spain they
helped install General Franco in power by military intervention in
the civil war against the liberal- socialist-communist coalition
during 1936-1939.
More recently, we have witnessed prototypes of fascism in the
racist Pretoria and Southern Rhodesian regimes and Pinochet's rule
in Chile. In Pakistan, the regimes of Ayub, Yahya and Zia were all
fascist to the core. Yet how many columnists then dared to call
them fascist? Not many, really. Instead, they have reserved their
sharpest shafts to assail the soft-spoken Muslim league leader
Nawaz Sharif who holds the massive mandate of his people. A fascist
prime minister would not have gone to the court to express regrets
over some unintended offence caused by his utterances.
Some of these columnists have now taken on the newly-elected
president for his being a good Muslim; at least one of them objects
to his patriarchal beard. In a vile attack on Tarar's alleged
association with the evangelist centre, Rai Wind, a columnist
forewarns that all would be gone with the wind. He once lampooned
the muezzin for his call for prayers as "howling." He wouldn't say
a word, though, about Jimmy Carter being a priest.
The present governments both at the centre and in the provinces are
coalition governments, with several parties sharing power. There is
no single party rule anywhere in the country, so how can it be
fascist? The newspapers are free and the opposition parties hold
rallies and demonstrations against the government. Rather than
taking over the educational institutions and nationalizing the
industries and business enterprises, the government is busy in
privatization at times amid vehement public protest. Unlike some
fascist demagogues, Nawaz Sharif does not breathe fire and
brimstone against India but waves olive branch and offers to do
business with New Delhi and talk about Kashmir and other matters
around a negotiating table.
Some of the rank fascists in the country do not like his
conciliatory policy towards India and would leave no stone unturned
in reviling his popularly elected government, demanding its
dismissal and recommending its replacement with a set-up made up of
technocrats and intelligence agency high-ups to rule the people. In
other words, they ask for a fascist coterie in place of a popular
government. Some of the opponents of the present government
severely criticised the armed forces for not throwing out the Nawaz
Sharif government and elected members of the parliament when they
had a perfect setting for such a take- over.
It may be recalled that on the death of Ziaul Haq in a plane crash,
certain self-appointed Rasputins had advised the former COAS,
General Mirza Aslam Beg, to assume the presidency and proclaim
martial law but the army chief snubbed them and instead let the
succession be determined by the constitutional process. If the
general were to disclose their identity, one wouldn't be surprised
if they are the very people who had prescribed the same remedy to
Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari: a fascist rule with hand- picked
advisers, including themselves.
If the 13th Amendment were abrogated without giving the government
side an opportunity to be heard, it would be miscarriage of
justice. And for President Leghari to have dismissed the government
and the National Assembly under the restored provision of the
Constitution, Article 58 (2b), would have meant the imposition of
fascist rule on the nation. In fact, the triumph of the parliament
against the autocrat president has saved the country from the
scourge of fascism.
===================================================================
SPORTS
980126
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Duel in the dark that lighted cricket scene
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Lateef Jafri
There was a pathos for Pakistani cricket fans over the ending of
the Independence Cup in Dhaka and the success achieved by India in
the final. For Pakistan having knocked up a safe and an impregnable
score of 314 in 48 overs defeat was unimaginable. Yet the honours
went the other way in a match that was melodramatic in character
from start to finish.
Whatever agony may have been felt by the Pakistani supporters at
the Dhaka Stadium and the viewers of the tie on TV in this country
when the winning stroke was made by India's little-known player,
Hrishikesh Kanitkar it was lyrical cricket all through. No doubt
India lifted the Independence Cup but with the stirring batsmanship
in the Bangladesh capital it was cricket that ultimately won.
Perhaps luck turned its back on Pakistan on that fateful Sunday
with the Dhaka Stadium packed with a mighty concourse in all the
stands. India had lost seven wickets for 306 when Javagal Srinath
skied a ball from off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq. It appeared to be a
baby's catch. Three fielders were in position to catch hold of the
ball but it fell to the ground right in their midst, baffling the
players and the onlookers and even Srinath, the stroke -maker.
This fielding lapse at a critical juncture of the Indo- Pakistan
cricket tussle swung the wheel of the match towards India and away
from Pakistan. With two balls left and three runs to be had
Kanitkar got the fifth one away, somehow towards somewhere which
was the midwicket boundary. this put an end to the exciting duel.
One can easily question the decision or the wisdom of match
referee, Mike Denness of England, to allow the game to continue in
poor light. Even the Zimbabwe umpire, Russell Tiffin, had earlier
thought of suspending the match and had walked off the field along
with his South African associate, Rudi Koertzen, the Pakistani team
following them to the pavilion. At that time, the 40th over, India
were 258 for 2 but still behind the asking run-rate.
Two many signals for wides - of even playable and straight balls
especially by Zimbabwean umpire Tiffin, added to Pakistan's
problems. The rule says: "If the bowler bowls the ball so high over
or so wide of the wicket that, in the opinion of the umpire, it
passes out of reach of the striker, standing in the normal guard
position, the umpire, shall call and signal 'wide - ball' as soon
as it has passed the line of the striker's wicket."
Thirteen runs from wide -balls lightened India's labour and effort.
Then was Aamir Sohail caught by keeper Mongia off Harvinder Singh's
delivery? It was clear to all on TV that Sohail had not touched the
ball but the appeal by Mongia, who is usually in the habit of
confusing the umpires, was upheld by Tiffin. Some of the umpires'
misjudgments tilted the scales the other side and helped India's
bid for victory.
Taking up the Pakistani challenge it was Tendulkar who set the tone
and tenor of fast scoring hitting up 41 from 26 balls with the aid
of seven drives to the fence and a towering six. Tendulkar set
about the bowling, right form the first ball, the picture of
belligerence and menace. In 48 overs the scoreboard moved with
quickening speed and showed 71 when the former captain departed. In
fact Saurav Ganguly, the centurion and later to be declared man of
the match, took the cue from him to exhibit daring strokes. Robin
Singh, sent earlier and who helped Ganguly to get 179 for the
second wicket, played an innings of aggression and defiance. He was
lucky enough on that day for it was a featherbed and he calmly made
strokes for during the whole tournament he had not reached double
figures.
It was inadvisable on the part of Rashid Latif, the Pakistani
skipper, to follow the policy of Wasim Akram of not placing a
sentry on the long on and long-off regions of the field. The error
must have cost Pakistan many runs, which too gave the advantage to
India. Azharuddin, by keeping the alert Sidhu or some one else
there, saw to it that boundaries were cut into twos or ones. The
Pakistani total must have soared beyond 340 had not the Indians
guarded the fence. Little Master Hanif Mohammad had correctly
blamed Pakistan's below par fielding as the main cause of the Dhaka
upset. One stumping chance was missed and a bye that went to the
boundary in the penultimate over spoiled Pakistan's chances.
Pakistan started in rampaging brilliance with Shahid Afridi hitting
18 off 20 balls. Later the thunder of the strokes of Saeed Anwar
and Ijaz Ahmed earned multitudinous cheers of the crowd. They
unmercifully pulverised the Indian attack. The Dhaka spectators
enjoyed full flavour of cricket. The pair's batting may advance the
cause of the game in Bangladesh. If a fair assessment was to be
made of the day's batting the prize should have gone to Saeed
Anwar, whose 140 had a maximum of controlled aggression, instead of
Ganguly, a centurion of the winning side.
Many think that had Inzamam been sent after Ijaz's gutsy 117,
instead of Azhar Mahmud and Mohammad Husain, perhaps the score may
have further multiplied. It was a case of over - confidence on the
part of the captain to have changed the batting order, possibly
because the total was looking impressive after crossing the 300
mark.
On a dead wicket Saqlain Muhstaq tossed up fascinating off-breaks
to the batsmen. He had started picking up wickets when that easy
catch off his bowling a skier fell to earth. But in the whole
tournament he bowled craftily and with resolution, sometimes
sending unplayable spin. Saqlain was quickest to reach the
milestone of 150 wickets in one-day internationals to prove his
class in global cricket.
Pakistan lost three out of four encounters against India. They made
a courageous bid to overtake the Indian total in the round-robin
fixture but missed the target by just 18 runs. The match was over
bar the shouting when Inzaman's gallant and hard -hitting innings
of 77 came to an end, caught on second attempt by Tendulkar,the
bowler. The later batsmen, including Rashid Latif, tried hard but
failed in their effort. Perhaps the 19 runs given by erratic
medium-pacer Fazle Akber in his initial two overs settled the issue
in favour of India. One finds from Press reports that the bowlers'
name was again submitted by the selectors for the African excursion
but the board's council turned down the recommendation.
Many cricket enthusiasts have a feeling that if the heavy weaponry
Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram - would not have been ignored and
would have accompanied the national team to Dhaka perhaps the
outcome have been different. It is still unexplained why Waqar was
left out of the pack; his galloping strides and electric pace would
have sent panic in the Indian ranks.
Wasim's exclusion was also surprising when charges against him are
yet unproved. He says he is fit. If there are doubts a medical
panel should give the right verdict on his fitness or otherwise.
For Bangladesh the tri-nation competition was a test of their
capability to stage a big cricket show. No untoward incident was
reported and the independence silver jubilee tournament as a whole
was a success organisationally. The match was held up for 25
minutes during third final due to insufficient lighting but this
deficiency may hopefully be rectified before future contests are
arranged.
As a team the ICC Trophy winners gave a good account of themselves
in the opener against India. Somehow or the other the big occasion
unnerved them in their second league tie against Pakistan. But they
may improve and cause surprises in future matches under the
guidance of such reputed technocrat as Gordon Greenidge of the West
Indies.
The final was a heart -throbbing thriller and the characters in it
will come to mind year after year. The game was undoubtedly played
in its gayest spirit.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
980126
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Wasim is axed
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Omar Kureishi
IN its latest issue Time magazine has a feature on fake and
adulterated medicines that pose health risks greater than the
disease they are meant to cure. Even before I read the feature I
was convinced that Pakistan would figure prominently as being one
of the countries where this racket flourished. My hunch was right.
Pakistan is more than mentioned in the dispatches. When the BBC
does a documentary on child labour, showing horrendous pictures of
children working in carpet factories, it is Pakistan that has a
starring role. And so it goes on, drugs, illegal immigrants, money
laundering, the long list of international crimes, Pakistan manages
to get its name sullied. Very rarely do we get to read a positive
story about Pakistan except when its cricket team is playing. Even
then the praise is grudging but atleast it is praise.
My association with cricket goes back many years. I have seen the
acorn develop into a full grown sturdy oak. I have rejoiced at its
triumphs and wept at its failures. I have never held any official
position in cricket, as a matter of personal choice, but I have
been an insider. I am that spectator who sees more of the game. The
emotional involvement of the people of Pakistan with cricket is
deadly serious. Those cricket fans in Thatta who smashed their
television set when Pakistan lost to India in Dhaka may have gone
over the top but there is no doubting the bitter disappointment of
the cricket public. I consider this emotional involvement to be
healthy for I have always maintained that cricket provides a
binding ethic. Cricket is one of those rare occasions when we all
become Pakistanis. It is an uplifting sight to see Pakistan flags
being waved at cricket grounds, particularly when the team is
playing on foreign soil.
This is the second column that I am writing on cricket affairs in a
matter of a couple of weeks. This is because I am distressed to see
what is potentially the best team in the world being turned into a
mediocre one. Whether this is due to faulty judgment or a whimsical
exercise of arbitrary power that manifests itself in decisions that
defy logic but come gift- wrapped in self-righteousness, I cannot
say. I refer specifically to the treatment that has been meted out
to Wasim Akram, culminating in him being axed from the team for the
tour of Southern Africa. Even the PCB will have to admit that Wasim
Akram is one of the world's greatest cricketers. Obviously he could
not to be dropped on the grounds that he was not good enough. So we
are told that he is unfit.
I would have thought that a better excuse could have been conjured
up. If the PCB feel that the cricket public will swallow the
unfitness excuse then it obviously holds the intelligence of the
cricket public in very low esteem. Let us accept that this is a
valid reason. Then obviously Wasim Akram must have been put through
a rigorous fitness test. He wasn't. He played for PIA against ABL
and pulled up in the second innings with a minor hamstring injury,
one of the most common injuries. One does not even have to see a
doctor for it. The team physio works on the injury and removes the
niggle.
If indeed the PCB had any doubts about Wasim Akram's fitness, one
would have thought that they would have moved heaven and earth to
have got him fit, so valuable a player is he. Or he could have been
asked to join the team when he had regained full fitness. Instead
the door has been shut on him. I'm afraid this fitness excuse is
eye-wash and the PCB should have had the courage of its convictions
to come out with the real reason.
The real reason is the suspicion that he is tied up with bookies.
As real reason is the suspicion that he is tied up with bookies. As
far as I know, no proof exists, only perceptions and insinuations
and innuendos. If the PCB has solid proof then this should be
handed over to the competent authorities for match- fixing is a
crime. Not to hand over this proof is to conceal evidence which in
turn is a crime, what is called obstructing justice.
After Pakistan was knocked out of the Quadrangular tournament the
air was thick with rumours that the fate of Wasim Akram has been
sealed. Injury had nothing to with these rumours. It was the
certainty that he was mixed up with gambling syndicates. Losing in
Sharjah was the final nail. He dropped a couple of catch in a
crucial match and came in to bat ahead of Azhar Mahmood and this
was considered conclusive evidence of a sell-out. On such
absurdities is the career of a national hero destroyed.
By the same token, Pakistan lost to India at Dhaka, after making
314 giving the Indians a formidable task of overhauling this
massive total. The Indians did so, aided and abetted by putrid
fielding and the captain, Rashid Latif himself missed three
stumping chances. No one in his right mind will conclude that there
might have been more to this defeat. Why not? Why doesn't Wasim
Akram get the same benefit of doubt? Why does the PCB not realise
that these persistent rumours of match-fixing represent a
management failure? First Salim Malik and now Wasim Akram. Who is
next? Surely the charter of the PCB does not make it immune to
accountability. We must protect our cricket stars, not throw them
to the wolves. We must show some respect for natural justice, not
contempt for it.
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