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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 07 August 1999 Issue : 05/32
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Contents | National News | Business & Economy | Editorials & Features | Sports
The DAWN Wire Service (DWS) is a free weekly news-service from
Pakistan's largest English language newspaper, the daily DAWN. DWS
offers news, analysis and features of particular interest to the
Pakistani Community on the Internet.
Extracts, not exceeding 50 lines, can be used provided that this
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(c) Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan - 1999
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CONTENTS
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NATIONAL NEWS
+ Keep national flag flying high, COAS tells armymen
+ Indian experts feel Nawaz should stay on
+ Indian envoys invite Pakistani journalists to visit Valley
+ Cabinet okays 15% General Sales Tax (GST) on POL, gas
+ KESC seeks Rs 5.6bn relief to meet loss
+ Riyadh denies seeking Nuclear arms from Pakistan
+ Babar wishes to disclose facts
+ PPP rally demands ouster of Nawaz govt
+ MQM seeks urgent meeting with COAS
+ SC suspends SHC order on Asif's parole
+ US house body not probing Benazir, Asif's accounts
+ Britain regrets attack on HC
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BUSINESS & ECONOMY
+ SAARC experts conference begins today
+ Flaws found in Wapda billing to Sindh
+ Donors stop funding Balochistan Social Action Programme (SAP)
+ Japan offers $300m for development projects
+ Rs150m uplift package for Quetta
+ Pakistan to take new diplomatic initiatives
+ CBR withdraws power of Customs officers
+ Dar terms talks with Hubco encouraging
+ Corporates may get cheaper bank credit
+ Housing scheme to create 3m jobs: Saif
+ Uncertainity in stock market continues
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EDITORIALS & FEATURES
+ Never despair Ardeshir Cowasjee
+ Getting on with life Ayaz Amir
+ The fatal fault-line Irfan Husain
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SPORTS
+ Senate body urges representative cricket selection committee
+ Pakistan to continue playing in Sharjah
+ Naushad heads new selection body
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NATIONAL NEWS
990801
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Keep national flag flying high, COAS tells armymen
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Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, July 31: General Pervez Musharraf, Chairman of Joint
Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Army Staff, has said the
recent battles on the Line of Control "redeemed our military
honour."
Addressing gentlemen cadets on the occasion of a passing-out parade
for the 99th PMA Long Course and 9th Technical Graduate Course, at
the Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, on Saturday, he said the
entire armed forces saluted the Ghazis and Shuhada, according to an
ISPR press release.
He said the battles had shown the enemy " the strength of our
resolve to uphold the integrity and sovereignty of our motherland
and have proved where the Pakistan armed forces stand; allowing no
evil eye to be cast on our nation."
Breaking the tradition, the COAS requested the audience, including
diplomats, defence attaches, serving and retired civil and military
officers and relatives of the passing-out cadets, to rise from
their seats as he ordered the PMA Senior Under Officer to present a
national salute to honour the Shuhada while the PMA band played the
national anthem.
Welcoming the passing-out cadets, into the officer corps, Gen
Musharraf reminded them that they had a special bondage with the
Shuhada and Ghazis. He said: "Let there be no doubt that you shall
follow in their footsteps, you shall emulate the finest traditions
of leadership set by them, that when you confront the enemy, you
radiate the aura of force to strike terror into their hearts".
The army chief exhorted the passing-out cadets that when they doned
the khaki uniform, their main purpose was to fight well, making
Pakistan's defence impregnable. "Live up to the trust and
confidence reposed in you by the nation, keep the national standard
flying high, irrespective of any cost and personal peril", he said.
Earlier, on arrival at the parade venue, Gen Musharraf was
presented the general salute. He then reviewed the parade.
Battalion Senior Under Officer Mohammad Afzal was awarded the
coveted Sword of Honour for being the best all-round gentleman
cadet. Company Senior Under Officer Fahad Yaqoob Awan won the
President's Gold Medal for being the second best cadet. The Chief
of Army Staff cane was awarded to Course Junior Under Officer
Waheed Abid.
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990806
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Indian experts feel Nawaz should stay on
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By Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Aug 5: India would offer Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
"anything in the world" to keep him in power as the alternative
could be a fundamentalist, Talibanist regime which would be much
more difficult to deal with, two top Indian envoys said in
Washington on Wednesday.
"We are ready to offer him the world, if our own interests are not
compromised," former foreign secretary J.N. Dixit, once an
ambassador in Islamabad, and N.N. Vohra, former national security
adviser and principal secretary to Vajpayee, told an elite
Washington gathering at the Stimson Centre.
They concluded their visit on Wednesday with a news conference
shortly after addressing leading think-tank experts, former
ambassadors, academics and media persons from India and Pakistan.
Michael Kreppon of the Stimson Centre presided over the session.
During the visit they met Karl Inderfurth of the State Department
and Bruce Riedel of the National Security Council in addition to
other officials, congressmen and senators.
Mr Dixit was asked how India viewed the alternatives to Nawaz
Sharif and what deal would New Delhi offer him to keep him power
and to enable him to sell the bargain at home, as pressure to
remove him, specially from religious extremists, was increasing
following the perceived surrender of Kargil at the Washington
summit.
Basically, he said, India would deal with any government that was
in power in Islamabad. But he quickly added that India was prepared
to offer anything in the world (to keep him in power) as the
options were not good.
Mr Vohra and Mr Dixit addressed the US audience using the jargon
and pushing the notions liked by these think-tanks, specially
stressing the softer and the more responsible side of the Indian
policy punctuated with catchy phrases like "restraint instead of
assertive posturing", "operational display of no- first-use of
nuclear arsenals" and "a reasonable compromise on Kashmir."
But some of the facts they revealed were assertive and categorical.
Mr Dixit, who said he was present at the time of the Simla Accord,
claimed that at Simla Pakistan had given "very categorical and firm
assurances" that the LoC would be sacrosanct and both sides would
remain committed to it.
"We remained committed to Simla for 27 years but now I think we
have to negotiate another Simla as I think the old Simla Accord is
no longer valid," he said.
He said India was ready for a reasonable compromise but Pakistan
would have to define what it meant by "new dynamics" of the
situation, something a senior Pakistani diplomat present at the
meeting had referred to.
"India should utilize this opportunity to come to a reasonable
compromise with Pakistan on Kashmir, protecting the genuine
interests of both the countries and based on the ground realities
as they exist today," Mr Dixit said.
Mr Vohra and Mr Dixit repeatedly said a practical solution of the
dispute was possible and India should be ready to open a dialogue
with Pakistan as soon as possible, possibly after the general
elections.
The two envoys were asked to elaborate the plans that were being
discussed but they did not, yet they conveyed the very strong sense
that India was prepared to accept the LoC as the recognised
international border and Pakistan should also agree to this.
"Pakistan should come out of its static complexes," Mr Dixit said
referring to the possibility of a breakthrough in their talks.
Asked why was India not ready to give the Kashmiri people the right
to decide their fate, he said it was Pakistan which had not
implemented the UN Security Council resolutions calling for a
plebiscite.
The UN resolutions had spelled out a number of steps Pakistan had
to take before the referendum could be held. These steps included
evacuation of all Pakistani troops from Azad Kashmir, creating a
stable administration and preparing for the plebiscite, he said.
"Whenever we refer to these steps as a prelude to Indian
obligations, the Pakistanis never come back with a response," he
added.
Repeatedly Mr Dixit said India wanted a strong and stable Pakistan
and at one stage he got irritated when he was told India had not
reconciled to the creation of Pakistan, and asked the questioner:
"What do you want us to do. Our prime minister went to the Minar-
i-Pakistan and said Pakistan will stay."
He said India had one partition and it did not want more. Pakistan
had two partitions. "We will never allow the germs of another
partition to grow by accepting that Kashmir could cede away from
India," he said.
"Any erosion or signal of erosion of our territorial integrity can
generate centrifugal forces affecting Indian unity," he observed
while commenting on the possibility of accepting US mediation on
Kashmir.
He said US mediation in the Middle East had left the Palestinians
high and dry and he strongly emphasised that the Palestinians had
received a raw deal. "They were forced out of their country and
what they have got is a strip of land. This is not fair," he said.
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990806
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Indian envoys invite Pakistani journalists to visit Valley
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Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Aug 5: Two top Indian envoys on Wednesday invited
Washington-based Pakistani journalists to visit the Indian-occupied
Kashmir, the first time Indians have ever done that.
The offer was made by former foreign secretary J.N. Dixit who told
a Pakistani journalist he could go and see for himself what the
"Kashmiri militants" had done there.
The offer was immediately picked up by other journalists who said
they all wanted to go and Dixit and his colleague N.N. Vohra were
caught in a fix as the Indian authorities had never before allowed
the Pakistani newsmen to enter the occupied territory.
President of the Stimson Center, Michael Kreppon, also joined in by
stressing that the offer should be extended to others as well.
A Pakistani activist physician, Dr.Nasim Ashraf, said other human
rights bodies and associations should also be allowed to go there
and see both the sides of the picture.
Dixit, who was caught in a self-created trap, tried to defend the
Indian government record by saying that most of the killings in
Kashmir were done by the Mujahideen. He argued that no member of
the Muslim community had migrated out of the state but the only
people who had to leave their homes were 200,000 Kashmiri pundits
who were scholars of all religions, including Islam.
No one believed that the Indians would actually let the Pakistani
journalists visit the occupied territory but all were in a mood to
take the offer at its face value and push the Indian envoys to
deliver on what they had offered.
Michael Kreppon, in his closing, remarks hoped that the offer would
be followed up by concrete steps.
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990805
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Cabinet okays 15% General Sales Tax (GST) on POL, gas
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Ihtasham ul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: The cabinet on Wednesday discussed the current
economic situation and tentatively approved some new measures,
including the levy of 15 per cent general sales tax (GST) on
petroleum products and natural gas.
But, sources said, it once again deferred the announcement with
regard to the new oil and gas prices. However Minister for Finance
and Commerce Ishaq Dar assured the cabinet that the common man
would not be burdened by the new oil and gas prices as both would
be adjusted against the petroleum surcharge and the gas development
surcharge.
This was the second time in a fortnight that the cabinet had
postponed a decision on an upward revision of the prices of gas and
petroleum products, fearing perhaps strong public reaction.
"It will be announced at an appropriate time. But the main thing is
that the IMF has been assured that it will be done within this
month, specially the upward revision in gas tariff," sources said.
The sources said Mr Dar told the meeting that Pakistan had no
choice but to accept some of the conditionalities of the IMF. He
said that the Fund authorities were also demanding the early
establishment of Pakistan Revenue Authority (PRA).
The bill for PRA could not be passed in the last National Assembly
session due to reported opposition by the ruling party MNAs.
The cabinet also called for a comprehensive review of the
government's media policy in the post-Kargil situation with an aim
to win the support of the international community for the Kashmir
cause.
The meeting expressed dissatisfaction over the official media
policy and stressed the need for taking new measures to counter the
Indian propaganda in the West against Pakistan and its stand on
Kashmir.
"The entire focus was on the media today with many participants
wondering how to repair the damage," a source who attended the
meeting said.
He told this reporter that everybody wanted the government to
overhaul its media policy so as to remove the apprehensions in the
United States, the G-8 countries and the European Union about
Pakistan and its help to the Mujahideen inside the Indian-held
Kashmir.
The sources said the cabinet was of the view that the media policy
did not help in effectively projecting Pakistan's case on Kashmir
and Kargil. In this regard, it was suggested that senior
journalists be taken into confidence and given regular background
briefings, a common occurrence in other countries.
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990807
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KESC seeks Rs 5.6bn relief to meet loss
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Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Aug 6: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority
(Nepra) on Friday completed hearing of a petition of Karachi
Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) for allowing it 1.16 per cent
reduction in power tariffs.
The case officer Mr Abdul Qadeer in his speech repeated the
efficiency measures promised by MD KESC in his statement including,
reduction of losses by 11 per cent from 38 per cent to 27 per cent,
reduction in capital expenditure, increasing monthly collection of
85 per cent from billed amount and a total recovery of Rs 6 billion
out of Rs 18 billion outstanding energy dues and reduction in non-
development expenditures.
He also reminded that KESC had sought relief from the government in
order to fill the deficit of Rs 5.6 billion. These include
reduction of losses by 11% bringing down from 38 per cent to 27 per
cent, reduction in capital expenditure (not quantified), monthly
collection of 85 per cent from billed amount and a total recovery
of Rs six billion out of Rs 18 billion outstanding energy dues and
reduction in non-development expenditure (not quantified).
The said relief comprises a waiver of development surcharge on
furnace oil (Rs 1500/m ton), Conversion of TFC's Rs 11.5 billion
into equity, further roll over of short-term loans and medium term
loans in financial year 2000-2001 & 2002.
He asked KESC officials whether they had received any indication
from the federal government to provide them financial relief to
compensate the gap likely to occur by the reduction of tariffs. The
KESC official replied in negative.
The case officer commented that during the course of hearing KESC
submitted their plan for loss reduction for six per cent only. How
the balance of five per cent losses would be achieved, remained
still unanswered. KESC also did not provide any plan for reduction
in capital expenditure of Rs. 6.3 billion for financial year 1999-
2000 included in the petition.
In fact KESC had admitted in the wake of cancellation of ADB 6th
project loan and European Investment Bank (EIB) loan they were
looking for alternative sources of funding.
He said KESC had not provided any plan for reduction in capital
expenditure of Rs 6.3 billion for financial year 1999- 2000
included in the petition.
In fact KESC had admitted that in the wake of cancellation of ADB
6th power project loan and European Investment Bank (EIB) loan,
they were looking for alternative sources of funding, he added.
If they are able to find the sources for foreign funding, they
would like to spend the whole of Rs.6.3 billion, he said.
All four interveners namely KCCI, ABAD, APTMA and Representative of
Gaddap farmers, also pleaded in favour of uniformity of tariff
rates.
At the conclusion of the hearing Nepra Chairman, Javed Akther
thanked KESC and Nepra officials for smooth conduct of the hearing
and reaffirmed his resolve to accord top priority to the consumers
interest.
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990806
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Riyadh denies seeking Nuclear arms from Pakistan
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RIYADH, Aug 5: Saudi Arabia is not trying to acquire nuclear
weapons and wants to see the Middle East free of weapons of mass
destruction, the defence minister said in comments published on
Thursday.
As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Saudi
Arabia "wishes to see the area free of mass destruction weapons
including nuclear weapons," the minister, Prince Sultan, was quoted
as saying by the daily, Asharq Al-Awsat.
Sultan was responding to a report Wednesday in the Guardian
newspaper of London, which claimed that the prince's recent visit
to Pakistan was aimed at buying nuclear weapons technology.
Sultan said he did not go beyond the main gates of the Kahuta plant
and the tour did not include the secret sites.
'We value that the relationship with Pakistan is always friendly
and strong and this relationship should not be interpreted
otherwise," the London-based Arabic-language daily quoted Sultan as
saying.-AP
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990802
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Babar wishes to disclose facts
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Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Aug 1: Former interior minister Naseerullah Babar, a
retired major-general, has said that according to some press
reports a US congressional sub-committee has begun an investigation
into the legality of opening of some bank accounts and money
transfers by the Citibank with a view to checking global money
laundering.
In a statement issued here on Saturday, Mr Babar said that he
wished to make public some facts about money laundering to which he
had become privy as interior minister for any benefit that the
congressional sub-committee might like to draw from it.
Mr Babar said that when he was the interior minister, the
government had learnt that Nawaz Sharif family's business concern
had illegally transferred to Pakistan $2.5 million in the form of
travellers cheques drawn on the Hollandia Bank, Saudi Arabia.
"Being a wire transaction involving a sum of more than $10,000, the
transaction was reported to the US Central Bank under the US law.
The transaction raised suspicions in Pakistan about Nawaz Sharif
family's overseas business interests and accordingly the government
of Pakistan hired a private agency in the US M/s Kerrol Detectives
to investigate into the US- based business concerns of Sharif
family including M/s Chudrein Incorporated and M/s Star Trading
Company", Babar said.
He said that at the time the treasurer of the Chudrein company, one
by the name of Khalid Shaheen Butt and a family friend of the
Sharif, had been sentenced to seven years in jail in the US in a
case involving narcotics and had come out of the jail after serving
his term.
He said this was enough for the government of Pakistan to initiate
a probe into the US-based business concerns of Sharifs and to ask
for the extradition of Khalid Shaheen Butt.
Mr Babar said: "The detectives Ms Kerrol gave us some information
but withheld some apparently at the behest of the US government
forcing the Pakistan government to terminate the contract with it."
"We gave the photocopies of the travellers cheques used in the
transaction of$2.5 million through Hollandia Bank to the US
ambassador in Islamabad with the request to initiate action against
the people involved (as the US law had also been violated) and to
extradite Khalid Shaheen Butt.
"The ambassador later gave us photocopies of travellers cheques of
another $2.5 million through which money had been transferred, upon
which I remarked that the crime had been compounded as a total of
$5 million had thus been transferred illegally," he said.
He also advised the government of Pakistan to find out the account
holder of the Hollandia Bank in whose name the travellers cheques
had been purchased and the amount transferred. However, before it
could be done the government of Benazir Bhutto was dismissed.
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990805
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PPP rally demands ouster of Nawaz govt
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Reporter
KARACHI, Aug 4: A massive turnout in the Pakistan People's Party's
"Nawaz Hatao" rally on Wednesday criticized "the repressive and
fascist polices of the regime" and its alleged compromise on the
Kashmir issue. It also called for the removal of Nawaz Sharif to
save Pakistan.
The rally, which started from the Merewether Tower and culminated
at the Quaid's Mazar, was led by PPP vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin
Fahim, Senator Syed Qaim Ali Shah, president of Sindh PPP, Nisar
Khuhro, N.D.Khan, Taj Haider, Afaq Shahid, Rahim Baloch, Waja
Karimdad, Nabeel Gabol, Munawar Suhrawardy and other provincial and
local leaders of the party.
PPP activists from various parts of the city, carrying party flags
and portraits of Ms Bhutto, who had converged on the starting point
much ahead of the scheduled time, kept raising anti-government
slogans.
A large number of those people who were sacked by the Nawaz regime
also participated in the rally.
No untoward incident was reported as the procession on wheels
rolled through the main business centres under strict security
measures taken by the organizers and the local administration.
The rally reached the terminating point in about three hours where
leaders gave vent to their feelings.
PPP vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim accused the Nawaz regime of
isolating and humiliating Pakistan on the Kargil issue. He said
that due to his self-centred and ill-conceived polices Pakistan
stood completely isolated and even its trusted friend like China
was distancing itself from Islamabad.
Paying tributes to the valour of armed forces and the Mujahideen in
Kargil, he accused the Nawaz regime of deliberately undermining the
institution of the armed forces. He deplored the prime minister for
"selling out" Pakistan's and Kashmiris' interests in Washington.
Senator Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the massive turnout had proved
that the PPP was still a party representing the masses whom Nawaz
Sharif was trying to eliminate for establishing his dictatorial
rule. Sen Shah declared that the people would resist such attempts
with all the power at their command.
PPP Sindh chief Nisar Khuhro said that the rally was people's
rejection of the policies of Nawaz regime which had deprived them
of their livelihood, usurped their rights and was pushing through
the process of one-man fascist rule.
He said that the people were fed up with the policies of "neo-
colonialists pursuing apartheid policies towards the smaller
federating units".
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990805
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MQM seeks urgent meeting with COAS
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M. Ziauddin
ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: Facing what looks like increasing internal
pressure to adopt a harder line for settling its disputes with the
government, the MQM leadership is seeking afresh an urgent meeting
with the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Pervaiz Musharraf
in the belief that only the army could offer the party the relief
it seeks.
MQM Senator Nasreen Jalil told Dawn on Wednesday that her party
considered Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as part of the problem and,
therefore, the question of meeting him for seeking relief did not
arise at all.
She said those in the party who were pressing for a harder line
were totally disillusioned with the approach of the leadership to
seek understanding with the successive political governments in the
country without much success.
Each of these governments, she said, had failed one after the other
to give any succour to the Mohajir community which she claimed was
the 'largest minority' in the country.
She referred to the latest phenomenon at the hunger strike camps of
MQM which, she said, manifested in the flag-waving Jeay Sindh
workers expressing their solidarity with her party. "Do you
understand what would happen if the two, the disillusioned MQM
members and the Jeay Sindh workers, were to join hands?" she asked.
She did not rule out the possibility of Altaf Hussain being
sidelined and the leadership of Mohajir community going into the
hands of the hardliners if the powers that be did not act in time.
Earlier, MQM's deputy parliamentary party leader in the National
Assembly, Kunwar Khalid Younis talking to Dawn here on Wednesday
said that it would be in the government's interest if the
democratic debate, which was going on within the MQM since the
submission of resignation by some of its members, ended on a
positive note.
Otherwise, he warned, the central leadership of the PML would have
to contend with a new and more disastrous wave of militancy.
He called upon the government to immediately remove the names of at
least three Rabita Committee members from the ECL so that they
could go to London and try to persuade these disillusioned
elements' against taking a harder line.
He assured the government that the party leadership wanted to work
within the constitutional parameters of Pakistan.
He admitted that an increasing numbers of MQM supporters were
finding it difficult not to agree with these 'disillusioned
elements' and also that the MQM leadership at the moment was
engaged in finding out which way the wind was blowing among its
supporters.
He suspected that some elements in the government wanted the
hardliners in the MQM to break away so that the government could
finally do to the party what it had failed to do in the army action
of 1992.
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990806
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SC suspends SHC order on Asif's parole
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KARACHI, Aug 5: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court of
Pakistan, Karachi Registry, on Thursday suspended the order of a
division bench of the Sindh High Court passed on August 3, granting
an extension in the parole of PPP Senator Asif Ali Zardari.
The government of Sindh, through Advocate General Sindh, on
Thursday filed a leave to appeal application before the Supreme
Court, Karachi Registry, challenging Mr.Zardari's parole extension
order of division bench of the SHC.
While hearing the matter, the bench comprising Chief Justice
Supreme Court of Pakistan Justice Syed Saeeduzaman Siddiqui,
Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed and Justice Kamal Mansur Alam held that
the Sindh High Court had no jurisdiction to pass such an order or
extend the parole period of any under-trial prisoner after an
amendment to the Sindh Prisoners Act in February 1999.
The government can only release an under-trial prisoner for a
period of upto eight hours on parole, the bench maintained.
Farooq H. Naek, who appeared for PPP Senator Asif Ali Zardari in
the Supreme Court on Thursday, was directed to file a freshly-
amended petition in the Sindh High Court.
When the contempt of court matter came up for hearing before
Justice Hamid Ali Mirza and Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani in the
Sindh High Court, Abu Baker Zardari, the counsel for Asif Zardari,
requested withdrawal of the contempt of court application and the
petition in which the mother of Asif Zardari requested for the
extension in parole till Chehlum of her grandson Mir Sarwar Talpur.
The court dismissed both the petitions and the application.
On August 3, the same bench had allowed an extension in the parole
of Mr.Zardari till August 6.
Mr. Zardari was taken to Kot Ghulam Mohammad on August 4, from the
Central Prison Karachi, to offer condolences to his sister Faryal
Talpur, on the demise of her son and was brought back to the jail
the same night.-PPI
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990803
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US house body not probing Benazir, Asif's accounts
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Correspondent
NEW YORK, Aug 2: The focus of the US house banking committee,
headed by Congressman Dan Burton, is completely on the alleged
Chinese government's contributions to the Democratic Party's 1996
presidential race and not on the transfer of monies by the former
Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali
Zardari, sources close to Burton's office told Dawn.
However, Senator Carl Levin's office which is looking into
Citibank's transfer of monies on behalf of world's elite denied the
reports that they were probing into Ms Bhutto and her husband's
bank accounts.
"This is not in our purview. We are looking into banking practices
of Citibank", said one official in the US Senate banking
committee's office.
"Our investigations into Ms Bhutto and her husband's accounts vis-
a-vis Citibank have not been completed as yet. So we are not at
liberty to say anything," said Robert Roach, an aide in the
committee office of Senator Carl Levin told Dawn by telephon.
Asked about the report in the New York Times, Roach said "Frankly I
do not know how the Times got that part in the report. We have not
talked to their reporters."
As to how serious is the investigation into Ms Bhutto's affairs,
Roach said, "We are looking into Citibank handling of the transfer
of monies and not investigating anyone else."
Meanwhile, Mark Corralla, an aide to Congressman Dan Burton, told
Dawn that "Citibank is fully cooperating with us" on the issue of
Chinese government's transfer of monies to the Democratic Party
during its election campaign.
"Earlier we had some problem but it is all settled now", Corralla
said. Congressman Burton, in his quest to get President Clinton and
the Democratic Party on the issue of "illegal campaign
contributions" from foreign government's, has initiated the
inquiry. His aides on Capitol Hill refer any questions about
investigations into Ms Bhutto and her husband's accounts to Senator
Carl Levin's office. "We have nothing to do with it", Corralla
said.
Last week the New York Times reported that the US Congress had
begun two separate investigations into Citibank and the
confidential world of private banking, a growing and highly
lucrative service which include transfer of funds on behalf of
world leaders by the bank. Topping Dan Burton's list are
allegations of Chinese involvement in the financing of the 1996
election campaign, including $300,000 in Chinese government money
for the Democratic Party that was wired from Citibank's Hong Kong
branch.
Burton, chairman of the House committee on government reform,
complained in a letter to Citibank about "undue delays" and a
"seeming lack of compliance" with a committee subpoena for records
on the $300,000 wired to a Democratic fund-raiser. Bank records
list the sender as Ms Liu, a Chinese military officer and aerospace
executive whose father was then China's senior military official.
Ms Liu's Citibank transfer came a few days after the head of
Chinese military intelligence told Ms Liu and the fund-raiser,
Johny Chung, that he would soon have Ms Liu forward $300,000 to
Chung to support President Clinton and the Democratic Party,
according to Chung's testimony last May before Burton's committee.
Chung pleaded guilty to campaign-related charges, and was sentenced
to probation after cooperating with the investigators.
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990806
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Britain regrets attack on HC
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Our Staff Correspondent
LONDON, Aug 5: Britain has regretted Wednesday's attack on the
Pakistan High Commission building in Central London in which two
employees of the high commission were injured and damage was caused
to the parked cars and the property.
"We do regret the injuries and the damage caused as a result of the
incident," a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman
told Dawn.
She said that according to her understanding, the Metropolitan
Police had allowed the demonstrators to hold peaceful protest
outside the high commission building but more demonstrators turned
up than the original estimated figure given by the organisers to
the police.
"Police enforcements were called but unfortunately the damage had
been done before they could arrive," she said.
Asked whether Pakistan High Commission has lodged any formal
protest with the Foreign Office, the spokeswoman said she had no
information about that.
However, a spokeswoman of Pakistan High Commission said that
Pakistan's High Commissioner Mr Riaz Sami on Thursday went to the
Foreign Office to register his protest against the failure of the
British police to protect the high commission staff and its
building from the attackers.
She said Mr Sami met the permanent under-secretary in the Foreign
Office and handed him over a three-page "note verbale".
The spokeswoman said that the British Under-Secretary regretted the
incident and assured maximum protection to the high commission
staff in future.
She said that the Chief Superintendent of the Police's Diplomatic
Protection Group also called on the high commissioner this
afternoon to regret about yesterday's incident and to assure that
such things would not be repeated in future.
However, there has been no word from the police about its
negligence and failure to protect the embassy staff.
Normally, the demonstrators are allowed to stage protest
demonstrations at quite a distance, as was in this case, and police
don't allow any one to cross the temporary iron fencing.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police have charged one of the two men
arrested yesterday in connection with the attack on the Pakistan
High Commission building.
The 24-year-old man, who has been charged, was released on bail to
appear before the Bow Streets Magistrates on September 9.
The second 20-year-old man has also been released on bail pending
investigations. He has been asked to appear in the police station
on August 23.
Around 70 Afghan demonstrators, opposed to the Taliban movement,
turned violent during a peaceful protest yesterday causing injuries
to two high commission employees, damaging the cars parked outside
the high commission building and breaking window panes.
A petition handed over by the protesters to the officials of the
Pakistan High Commission accused the ISI of creating the "mercenary
group" of Taliban in 1994 and beefing it up with armed Pakistani
nationals from Punjab and NWFP besides extremist elements from
other countries.
"ISI is bringing in more and more mercenaries in Afghanistan,
manipulated to have been fighting a holy war against infidel," the
petition said.
It said the truth was that the Islamic Afghanistan and the United
Islamic Front were indigenous Afghan Muslims defending
Afghanistan's territorial integrity, independence, national
identity, historical and cultural identities, self-determination
and religious values of its people against the tyranny of the
Taliban, including Pakistani aggressors.
The petition said that today there were thousands of armed
Pakistanis physically stationed in Kabul, fighting against the
people of Afghanistan.
It demanded immediate return of all Pakistani volunteers and armed
mercenaries from Afghanistan; an end to mass killings and ethnic
cleansing by the Taliban; registering cases against those involved
in committing genocide of the Afghan people.
PROTEST: Pakistan on Thursday summoned the British high
commissioner in Islamabad and lodged a strong protest over an
attack on the Pakistan High Commission in London on Wednesday by
demonstrators alleging Pakistan was supporting Taliban in their
current military campaign.
The British high commissioner was summoned to the Foreign Office
and was, "told that the British government had not provided
adequate protection in accordance with their responsibilities,"
said an FO statement here.
"Apart from causing damage to the High Commission's premises, the
miscreants broke furniture and damaged the High Commission's
vehicles," it said.
The British high commissioner was told that Pakistan would be
entitled to "claim damages as provided under the law."
"This is a misfortune that such charges have been levelled against
us from time-to-time," the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
Mohammad Siddique Kanju said.
Pakistan's policy has been "crystal clear" and the allegations were
"baseless", Kanju said.
Pakistan wanted Afghanistan's people to determine their own fate,
Kanju said, adding that it was in Pakistan's interests to see a
peaceful resolution of fighting.
"We want the people of Afghanistan to resolve their issues by
holding mutual negotiations and they are also anxiously awaiting
the restoration of peace. The children there have heard no other
voice except that of ammunition for the last 20 years," Kanju
said.-APP
===================================================================
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
990805
-------------------------------------------------------------------
SAARC experts conference begins today
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: The first ever conference of SAARC tax experts
will be held here on Aug 5-7 on avoidance of double taxation in the
member countries. The conference will devise a system for mutual
administrative assistance required for up-gradation of tax
administration, auditing skills and a deeper understanding of
international tax rules for bettering tax monitoring and
collection.
Central Board of Revenue announced here on Wednesday that the
conference would be inaugurated by Senate Chairman Wasim Sajjad and
it would deliberate on the intricacies of international taxation in
the face of growing international economic relations and rapid
increase in the operations of multinationals.
The influence of these factors on tax administration in the
developing countries and several tax treaties, most of them half a
century old, would be the focus of deliberations.
The CBR Chairman would present Pakistan's view on the agenda and
the objectives while representatives of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka would form a working group to evolve
the goals of the conference.
Focal point of the deliberation would be the emerging trends in the
treaties for avoidance of double taxation concluded by SAARC and
the scope of multilateral tax treaty; taxation of multinational
companies with particular reference to transfer pricing and their
tax treatment in SAARC; setting up a permanent common forum for
exchange of information, conducting specialised training
programmes.
CBR said that the conference would help forge a better relationship
among tax administration of member states. It is expected to
further expand and strengthen economic and political ties among the
members.
Its major objective, however, is to explore possibilities of having
a multilateral tax treaty for avoidance of double taxation among
SAARC countries.
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990804
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Flaws found in Wapda billing to Sindh
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Faraz Hashmi
ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: Some glaring discrepancies in the record of at
source deduction of electricity bills from the account of the Sindh
government surfaced on Tuesday when the record was produced before
the one-man arbitration commission of Justice (retd) Shafi-ur-
Rehman.
The record of at source deduction of the year 1996 and 1997 showed
that the bills served to the Sindh government departments by Wapda
were not in line with the formula of presumptive billing it had
jointly worked out with the Ministry of Finance, a source told
Dawn.
In case of presumptive billing, where meters were not available,
Wapda and the Finance Ministry had decided to work out the bills on
the basis of 12-month average. But the record showed sharp
variations in the bills, confirming the fact that Wapda did not
stick to the formula, the source said.
The record of arrears also had some inexplicable variations. It
showed that all the arrears of the Sindh government had been
cleared in October 1996. But in the very next month, an amount of
one million rupees was again deducted on account of the arrears.
Wapda's evidence, with the statement of General Manager Customer
Services Abdul Wali, was completed on Tuesday, and the government
of Sindh would present its evidence before the commission from
Wednesday.
The Sindh government intended to present five witnesses from
various provincial government departments, which had been using
about 90 percent of the electricity.
The dispute between the Sindh government and Wapda has been going
on for the last several years. Wapda is claiming an amount of Rs.
11 billion as outstanding against the Sindh government while the
provincial authorities are of the opinion that Rs.5 billion had
been deducted in excess to its actual bills.
Before the appointment of an arbitrator, three committees had been
constituted by the federal government to resolve the dispute but
all these committees had failed.
Minhajul Hassan Syed and Chaudhry Mohammad Akram, two former
chairmen of Area Electricity Board, Hyderabad, who appeared before
the commission from the Wapda side had stated that all the billing
had been done in Wapda House, Lahore, and they had not provided any
data about the power consumption in their respective area
electricity boards.
Whereas Mr. Wali put the entire responsibility of billing on
Hyderabad Electricity Board.
M.A.Lodhi, a consultant, Tanveer Siddique and Shamsul Hasan Sheikh,
senior engineers of Wapda, and Qayyum Baig, deputy director
commercial, were the other wit-nesses produced.
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990805
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Donors stop funding Balochistan Social Action Programme (SAP)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: International donors have stopped funding the SAP
(Social Action Programme) projects in Balochistan because of poor
implementation, it is learnt. Knowledgeable sources told Dawn that
the donors have expressed their complete dissatisfaction over the
implementation of SAP projects in Balochistan and had suspended the
funding until their objections were removed.
Additional chief secretary of the Balochistan government, Maj
(retd) Nadir Ali, when contacted said that the stoppage of the SAP
funding was partial and the province was still getting SAP funds
for education sector.
A World Bank official in Islamabad, on condition of anonymity,
denied that they had "completely" stopped the funding but admitted
that the province had been warned that the SAP funds would be
suspended if its objections were not removed.
Reliable sources told Dawn that the major chunk of SAP aid for
Balochistan was stopped a few months back after the government's
failure to address the issues concerning implementation of the SAP
projects.
The donors had mainly objected to the poor implementation of these
projects and had specifically mentioned the issues like misuse of
project vehicles by provincial ministers and officials; the non-
transparency in expenditures; and tender violations etc.
These sources said that a delegation of World Bank and Asian
Development Bank officials had recently met the additional chief
secretary Balochistan, dealing with the SAP projects, and urged for
an improvement in the implementation of SAP projects in order to
revive the suspended aid.
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990806
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Japan offers $300m for development projects
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: Japan will offer 300 million dollars to Pakistan
in 1999 for some of the on-going development projects, according to
Japanese embassy press release issued here on Thursday.
Japan has emerged as the largest donor to Pakistan as it had
disbursed 495 million dollars in 1998, despite sanctions Tokyo had
imposed on Islamabad following the May 28, 1998 nuclear tests.
"Japan has continued to extend assistance for the on-going projects
such as OECF Yen loans, Grant Aid and Technical Cooperation", the
press release said.
In 1998, the net disbursement of the Japanese assistance amounting
to 495 million dollars included 424 million dollars in yen loans,
56.65 million dollars as Grant Aid and 13.94 million dollars as
Technical Cooperation.
Furthermore, out of the 3.3 billion dollars worth of loans
rescheduled by the Paris Club for Pakistan for two years, the
Japanese share is about 700 million dollars.
The main reason why Japan's net disbursement in 1998 has increased
so sharply was the inclusion in the total amount of the impact of
Paris Club debt rescheduling.
Due to this debt relief, Pakistan was exempted from repaying the
arrears outstanding at the end of 1998, while at the same time
receiving a large amount of financial assistance for the new
development projects committed before May 1998, as well as for the
on-going projects.
Pakistan, thus, ranked the 5th largest recipient country of
Japanese assistance out of 160 countries after China, Indonesia,
Thailand and India. The share of Japan's assistance amongst the
Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries is expected to go
up more than 127 per cent over its own share in 1997.
In the year 1996, a total of 282 million dollars were disbursed to
Pakistan out of which 192.83 million dollars were net yen Loans,
68.36 million dollars as Grant Aid and 21 million dollar as
Technical Cooperation, the total amounting to is 83.3% of the share
released by DAC countries.
In the year 1997, disbursement of 92 million dollars took place out
of which 33.8 million dollars were as yen loans, 42.8 million
dollars as Grant Aid, and 15.54 million dollars as Technical
Cooperation, equivalent to 107% of DAC share for Pakistan.
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990804
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Rs150m uplift package for Quetta
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent
QUETTA, Aug 3: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a development
package of Rs150 million for Quetta here on Tuesday and said that
Rs100 million would be provided by the federal government in this
regard.
He made this announcement during a meeting with the newly-elected
Mayor of Quetta Municipal Corporation (QMC) and councillors who
called on him here at the Governor's House.
Balochistan Governor Miangul Aurangzeb, Chief Minister Mir Jan
Mohammad Jamali, Home Minister Jafar Khan Mandokhel, Minister for
Communications and Works Saeed Ahmed Hashmi and PML president of
Balochistan and special adviser to the PM, Syed Fazal Agha, were
also present on the occasion.
Mr Sharif said that the provincial government would also provide
Rs50 million for the Quetta development package.
He assured the elected representatives that the federal and the
provincial governments would provide all possible resources for the
resolution of the problems being faced by the people of provincial
capital, and development of Quetta.
Referring to the problems faced by Quetta, Mr Sharif said that to
resolve the drinking water problem and other issues, huge funds and
resources were required. His government, he said, would make all
out efforts to arrange funds from its resources for their
resolution.
However, the PM said that all issues and problems could not be
resolved overnight, it would take time. He said that elected
councillors should also come forward and play their due role for
the development of Quetta and resolution of the problems being
faced by the people.
He urged them to serve the people without any discrimination.
Earlier, Mayor Abdul Rahim Kakar apprised the prime minister about
the problems of Quetta and requested that a development package for
the city should be announced.
He and other councillors welcomed the decision of the federal
government regarding abolition of octroi and Zila Taxes.
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990803
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan to take new diplomatic initiatives
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: The cabinet committee on Kashmir decided here on
Monday to reactivate Pakistan's foreign missions in order to draw
the international attention on Kashmir.
Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz who chaired the committee meeting told
the participants that it was now imperative to take new diplomatic
initiatives with a view to seeking the international support on
Kashmir.
Informed sources said that the meeting was of the view that the
government's efforts should be synchronized with the struggle of
All Parties Hurriyat Conference to effectively highlight the
Kashmir issue.
Minister for Kashmir Affairs Lt-Gen Majeed Malik, Information
Minister Mushahid Hussain, Minister for Religious Affairs, Raja
ZafaruL Haq, the deputy chairman, Planning Commission, Ahsan Iqbal,
foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmad Khan and director general external
publicity, Rauf Malik attended the meeting.
Sources said the meeting was of the view that the people needed to
be told that the withdrawal of Mujahideen from Kargil was not the
end of every thing and that the Kashmir problem was very much
alive.
The meeting was told that Pakistan was in touch with the Clinton
Administration to resolve the 50 years old Kashmir problem. In this
regard the meeting referred to President Clinton's statement that
he would take personal interest in the resolution of the dispute.
Sources said the foreign secretary informed the meeting that
Pakistan's missions abroad were being given the task of
highlighting the Kashmir cause in the backdrop of Kargil crisis.
"The meeting discussed how to expedite the post-Kargil situation
and realise the international community that without the resolution
of Kashmir problem, there cannot be any peace between India and
Pakistan", a source said.
He said that the US, G-8 countries, China and Russia had been
chosen as the special target countries to remove their
"misunderstandings" about the eruption of Kargil crisis.
The meeting, sources said, noted that there was a communication gap
between the government and the people over what was termed "Kargil
episode" and that Pakistan had achieved its objectives to strongly
put across its point of view in the world. What people were not
realising, the meeting observed, was that Kargil was not meant to
capture Kashmir or New Delhi and that the sacrifices of the
Mujahideen would not go waste as many people were saying in the
country.
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990806
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CBR withdraws power of Customs officers
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: Central Board of Revenue has withdrawn powers of
the Customs officers in six major collectorates of the country to
deal with the export-related goods' assessment.
Through a notification No C 2 (2) L&P/98-Vol-IV, dated Aug 5, 1999,
the CBR has amended its previous notification No 899 (I)/98, dated
Aug 17, 1998, which had authorized these customs officers to deal
with these matters.
Under the amendment, the additional collector of customs and
central excise, Faisalabad, allowed to exercise the powers of the
collector to deal with the export work as AC (Export), would retain
the authority, but other colleagues of his have been stripped of
these powers.
In line with this notification, the additional collector (Exports)
Customs and central excise, Peshawar, would replace the deputy
collector customs and central excise, Peshawar, as officer
authorized to exercise the collector's powers to deal with the
export works.
At other stations too, the deputy collectors customs and central
excise would be stripped of such powers, and, under this
notification, additional collectors (Exports) would be taking over
in Rawalpindi, Multan, Hyderabad Gujranwala and Quetta.
The notification defines "export work" as follows: Export work
shall include all work relating to processing and examination of
exportmanifests,bills of exports, export shipment documentation,
export goods, rebate of central excise duty, duty drawback,
repayment of customs duty, temporary imports, manufacturing bonds,
No-Duty-No-Drawback Scheme, Export Processing Units, Export
Processing Zones, the Common Bonded Warehouses (conventional) Rules
1998, export related surveys and certificates, export statistics
etc, in respect of goods and raw materials for manufacture of goods
meant for export.
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990806
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dar terms talks with Hubco encouraging
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: Pakistan and Hubco officials opened their fresh
negotiations here on Thursday in a bid to resolve their lingering
differences relating to power rates.
"I had a positive and productive meeting with Hubco authorities
today", said the Minister for Finance and Commerce Ishaq Dar after
the meeting. He said technical details will now be discussed and
sorted out to reach a settlement with Hubco.
The finance minister, however, asked the waiting reporters not to
expect the two parties to reach a settlement overnight after having
remained at loggerheads for the last three years.
"I can not give you any timeframe in this regard," the minister
added.
The beginning, he said, has been good as both sides have expressed
desire to sort out their differences as early as possible.
The Chief Executive of Hub Power Company (Hubco), Sheikh Mohammad
Alireza and Vice President of National Power Mr Peter Windsor met
Mr Dar and Chairman WAPDA, Lt Gen Zulfikar Ali Khan and gave their
side of the story of the continuing conflict between the company
and the government over a number of issues including the tariff.
"They discussed the progress of on-going negotiations regarding
Hubco in a cordial and open manner. Both sides agreed that in the
spirit of sincerity, good faith and professionalism they will work
together as a team to resolve all the outstanding problems", a
government press release issued after the meeting said.
M/S Xenel of Alireza has 15 per cent shares while National Power
which manages Hubco enjoys 25 per cent shares in the company.
Sources said that the representatives of ENTERGY, the second
largest US company in power generation and Commonwealth Development
Corporation which have also a fair number of shares in Hubco were
also expected to attend the next meeting in Lahore on Friday.
The finance minister had held an internal meeting here late Tuesday
evening with the representatives of WAPDA, Ehtesab Bureau, Private
Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and the NDFC and collected
preliminary information about tariff and other issues.
However, sources said that there was no hope of immediate
breakthrough in talks and that unless the government was ready to
concede on some issues, Hubco would not agree to reduce its tariff
by more than half a per cent or a maximum of one per cent.
Hubco has been maintaining that if it was allowed to directly
import fuel oil and permitted as well to export 500mw surplus power
to India, it could consider some significant reduction in the
tariff.
Also it wanted that WAPDA should give up its demand that the
company return Rs 16 billion which the Authority has claimed Hubco
has received in excess.
Four of the smaller Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have so far
agreed to lower their tariffs by approximately Rs 4.8 to Rs 5.8 for
each KWH unit. However, officials said that these companies did not
matter and according to them unless issues relating to Hubco and
Kapco were settled, the multilateral aid agencies would never be
satisfied.
"The government now plans to be flexible and Mr Dar has taken the
prime minister into confidence in this regard after having met with
the World Bank and the IMF officials in Washington last week," a
source said.
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990805
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Corporates may get cheaper bank credit
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mohiuddin Aazim
KARACHI, Aug 4: Efficient corporates may have easier access to
cheaper funds if the government does not suck in the bulk of more
than Rs 150 billion inflow in the inter-bank market due in August -
September. Senior bankers told Dawn that Rs 54.30 billion worth of
inflow was expected in August and that of Rs 96.65 billion in
September with the maturity of treasury bills and federal
investment bonds.
"This would enable the banks to offer cheaper credit to their
corporate clients," said a senior treasury official of a foreign
bank. "But that would be possible only when the government leaves
the bulk of the liquidity in the market."
Senior executives of both local as well as foreign banks said banks
with surplus liquidity would cut their corporate lending rates by
1-2 per cent for 1-6 month tenors. But they said since the demand
for credit from the private sector was not likely to rise
significantly they might have to reinvest surplus funds in treasury
bills.
Corporate lending rates which differ from bank to bank and from
client to client currently range between 9-13 per cent for 1-6
months.
Senior bankers say they would be able to cut these rates to 8-11
per cent if the government does not suck in the bulk of Rs 150
billion inflow due in August and September.
In July the inter-bank money market had seen a net inflow of only
Rs 26 billion through 15 maturities of varying volumes. This kept
inter-bank lending rates at ease when the inflows were huge and
pushed them up when they were not.
That was precisely why the market saw call rates oscillating
between 0.75 per cent and 3.0 per cent in the first ten days of the
month before shooting up to 11-13 per cent in the last 20 days. But
on July 31 the rates once again dipped to 2.5-3.25 per cent on an
inflow of Rs 8.8 billion.
Senior bankers said the call rates oscillated wildly between 0.75
and 2.50 per cent on Wednesday (Aug 4) in the wake of a Rs 10
billion maturity only two days ago.
Treasurers of local and foreign banks say the yield on T-bills may
fall in August and September from the current level of 7-8 per cent
on large inflows of liquidity. "But if the banks are able to
channelize more credit to the private sector then it may be
difficult for the government to slash the yields on T-bills," said
treasurer of large state-run bank.
Bankers are not sure of how much funds the government and the State
Bank may suck in from the market in August and September but most
of them say the government borrowing would be sizable- if not
excessive. "The government borrowing from the system would be
significant as it would need additional funds for its housing and
self-employment schemes etc," said treasurer of an investment bank.
"Despite that enough funds might remain in the system forcing the
commercial banks to cut returns on our special deposits," he said.
Investment bankers say they are currently earning 9-10 per cent on
their special deposits with the commercial banks fearing that the
same may be slashed if the commercial banks fail to find fresh
avenues of corporate lendings.
"This may force the investment banks to offer lower returns to the
depositors because that is the only way out," he said making a
reference to low credit demand from the private sector. "Only a
handful of efficient corporates with good track record would gain
in this situation as both commercial and investment banks would be
willing to offer them more credit."
Senior bankers offer divergent views on the demand pattern for
private sector credit in the months to come. Whereas some of them
foresee no significant growth the others say a possible phasing out
of export subsidies by the State Bank may require the banks to
offer larger credits to the private sector the others say they have
not received any such indications.
"In my view a large sum of surplus liquidity may find its way into
national saving schemes which still offer up to 16 per cent
return," said treasurer of a private bank. The logic is simple:
Huge liquidity with limited scope for extending corporate lending
would force the banks to cut deposit rates and that in turn might
lure the savers into NSS or other areas.
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990803
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Housing scheme to create 3m jobs: Saif
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: Prime Minister's Housing Scheme would provide
houses to 500,000 people besides creating two to three million new
job opportunities in the construction industry.
This was stated by the chairman of Prime Minister's Housing Scheme,
Senator Saif-ur-Rehman here on Sunday.
Saif-ur-Rehman said the basic objective of the scheme was to
provide shelter to the needy people, generate employment and to
revive economic activities.
He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would formally perform the
ground-breaking ceremony in Sindh in the first week of this month.
Giving details of the scheme, he said: "Initially, the work to
complete 50,000 housing units will be started within the next two
months and will be completed in 12-15 months."
Saif-ur-Rehman said in the first phase, 120 different sites had
been selected in all four provinces including the federal capital.
He said all the contractors had been directed to complete the
entire work in 12-15 months. "They will have to work day and night
without break."He added that a concept of reward and punishment had
been introduced this time.
"The contractors who will complete their work within the stipulated
period will be awarded bonus while others will have to pay penalty
for not completing the task in time."
After the start of the work on this project, the activities of
about 40 industries relating to construction would increase
tremendously.
"There will be an increasing pressure of work on them and they
should be ready to meet the requirements for the project"
He expressed the fear that there might be shortage of construction
material including cement, bricks, steel and urged traders and
industrialists to increase their production to meet the challenge.
The government, he added, had formed a committee to make the entire
programme transparent which has short-listed 120 contractors in a
systematic way.
He said four kinds of designs had been finalized for the middle class and
lower middle class citizens. The government would not
charge cost of the plots.
Flats containing two and three rooms will be constructed in big
cities while houses having one to two rooms would be built in small
towns.(APP)
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990807
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Uncertainity in stock market continues
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Aug 6: Stocks finished the weekend session on an easy note
as the prevailing uncertainty about the tariff issue with the Hub-
Power despite on-going positive talks with its visiting team
continued to inspire selling from all and sundry. The KSE index was
off 2.13 percent or 26.35 points at 1,207.89.
Massive renewed selling in Hub-Power was said to be chief
destabilizing factor as speculators again managed to manipulate the
situation in their favour after spreading a number of rumours.
"Negative rumours coming in the rings in quick succession kept
investors as well as brokers at their toes all the time as they
failed to decide how to behave amid a spate of sellstops.
Never before in the history of stock trading the market has been a
hostage to one issue alone as the tariff cut with the Hub-Power
management. Perhaps it was because of the fact that a formidable
section of investors including the foreign one has a big stake in
it and that is why the market is dancing to its tune for the last
about 16 months.
"The market is up when investors cover positions in it and it is
down when they took profit or indulge in hasty selling and it
reflects in a way its vulenerability and lack of strengt,", said a
member of the KSE.
The KSE 100-share index was off 26.35 points or 2.5 percent at
1,207.89 as compared to 1,234.24 a day earlier,reflecting the
distinc weakness of of Hub-Power and PTCL,the two mega issues
having 43 percent weightage in it.
Although the first round of talks between the finance minister
Ishaq Dar and the visiting Hubco team led by its chairman was said
to be very encouraging investors were not inclined to make fresh
commitments but rather preferred to take profits at the available
margins.
Speculators appear to have again a field day as they managed to
manipulate the situation in their favour after circulating negative
rumours about the possible deal on the tariff cut issue,analysts
said.
"The today's Lahore meeting between the two teams might not be
final but there could a broad consensus on the issue but
speculators projected it as a failure as the contenders were not
inclined to give concessions", they added.
There is,however, a loud whispering in the rings that the current
meetings between the two teams might be final and issue will be
settled as desired by the donor countries,some brokers who are
active buyers at the dips said. Big losers were led by the energy
sector under the lead of Hub-Power Shell Pakistan andPSO,which fell
by Rs.1.50 and 3.60 followed by the Insurance and auto
sector,notable losers among them being Adamjee Insurance, Habib
Insurance,Al-Ghazi Tractors and Millat Tractors,which suffered
decline ranging from Rs.1.40 to 3.00.
Other losers included Dawood Hercules,General Tyre, Cherat Paper
and Dadabhoy Insurance, which fell by one rupee to Rs.1.25.
Prominent gainers were led by IGI,9th and 2nd ICP Mutual Funds, BOC
Pakistan,Pakistan Tobacco, and Abbott Lab,which posted gains
ranging from one rupee to Rs.3.75.
But the biggest rise was noted in Singer Pakistan,which rose by
Rs.9.18 after being ex-dividend and ex-bonus.
Trading volume fell to 176m shares from the previous 270m shares
but losers maintained a strong lead over the gainers at 47 to
88,with 41 shares holding on to the last levels.
The most active list was again topped by Hub-Power,one rupee at
Rs.19.70 on 95m shares followed by PTCL,lower 80 pasia at Rs.21.45
on 44m shares, PSO,off Rs.3.60 at rs.130.20 on 18m shares, Fauji
Fertiliser, easy 40 pasia at Rs.48.70 on 5m shares and ICI
Pakistan, lower 20 paisa at Rs.9.95 on 3m shares.
Other actively traded shares were led Sui Northern,easy 40 paisa on
2m shares, Bank lof Punjab,lower 40 paisa on 1.462m shares,Engro
Chemical, off 25 paisa on 0.928m shares,Dhan Fibre,easy five paisa
on 0.909m shares and KESC,lower 25 paisa on 0.892m shares.
DEFAULTING COMPANIES: Shares of MaCdonald Lyton Corporation(M.L.C.)
which ruling at 80 pasia against its face value came in for active
support at the unchanged rate on 10,000 shares.Gammon Pakistan and
ravi Rayon wer traded unchanged and off 10 pasia respectively on
1,000 shares each.
DIVIDEND: Quality Steel Work,cash eight percent for the year ended
June 30, 1999.
BOARD MEETINGS: Reckitt and Colman on Aug 10,FFC-Jordan Fertiliser
12, Smith Kline & French 13,Crescent Star Insurance 17, and Fauji
Fertiliser 18.
Back to the top
===================================================================
EDITORIALS & FEATURES
990801
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Never despair
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardeshir Cowasjee
LAST week the normally polite and courteous son of a gentleman
admiral friend of mine, unable to control his frustration, angrily
told me, "You are a sap." [Sap : a foolish and gullible person -
abbreviation of dialect 'sapskull' person with a head like sapwood.
OED]
When I asked him what he meant, he said, "You are a silly optimist.
You keep on writing and you hope things will improve, governments
included. It is all a waste of effort. How many read what you
write?"
"You for one," said I. "Nothing wrong with trying to move things
along. If I can get through even one skull a week we might arrive
on the up- road by 2099. The last 52 years have been disastrous,
the only major achievement being the loss of half the country. That
too with the greatest of ease. A feat unparalleled in modern
history. But one must never despair."
Of choice and ignorance Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is a despot. It
is easy for him, for none of his cabinet ministers talk back to
him. Stoically, they maintain that they only speak when asked to do
so, and render advice such as he would like, if and when advice is
sought. They are incapable of understanding that a cabinet is
collectively responsible for the life and liberty, the health and
welfare of 140 million people, each minister being responsible in
proportion to his capability.
Nawaz Sharif has no opposition. The rightly discredited opposition
parties, greedy and envious, remain disunited and at odds with each
other. Even the traditional 'common enemy' cannot bind them
together. They are incapable of following a coherent and sustained
agenda. The one-point agenda is to get rid of Nawaz Sharif so that
they can get into the act, which will not help us one iota.
Jinnah's prophesy that each successive government of Pakistan will
be worse than its predecessor still holds good.
We have to tolerate all that is heaped upon us. We would be
somewhat better off were our leaders to realize that Pakistan is
akin to a patient in a hospital's intensive care unit, with feeding
pipes and tubes stuck up every possible orifice , breathing and
living on a supply of oxygen, and that it is imprudent, if not
fatal, to play tricks or to try to delude those who control the
nourishment and oxygen supply.
To live, people need money, for which we must have a sound economy,
to generate which needs investment. Neither local nor foreign
investors are interested in this country. We have had no
substantial fresh investments during the past few years, and now we
hear rumblings about a couple of multinationals closing up shop and
moving out. The mutinationals are here principally for their own
good. They are prepared to suffer, up to a point, insecurity,
maladministration, high taxes, and the impossibility of getting a
fair decision from the law courts, as long as they can make a
decent profit. To pull out is no difficult task. Many have budgets
larger than that of this country. All they have to do is pull out
their company flag from the world map hanging in their board rooms.
Case in point : General Motors. They were well established in this
country, and were prepared to expand, in what we now call the good
old days, the days when we were thriving and progressing under Ayub
Khan. But even those days were intolerable for GM. They sold out
and moved on to greener pastures.
Now, who can tell Nawaz Sharif and how that it is time to stop
talking about Kargil, about how he did so and so, and said so and
so to so thus achieving victory and triumph and international
plaudits, and get on with rebuilding the credibility and economy of
the country. But it seems that he and his government's concerns are
now concentrated on stifling dissenting voices, such as those of
Najam Sethi and Hussain Haqqani, both incapable of toppling or even
shaking his wobbly government.
Haqqani was jailed for 77 days and was finally released on bail
without anything having been proved against him. His body still
bears the marks of the torture inflicted on him. Following form,
various government agencies and courts will harass him in one way
or another for months to come.
Sethi was in for a shorter period as luckily for him he had
international support. The charges against him were heavy -
sedition, treason, etc - but all were withdrawn as they could not
be made to stick. But his harassment continues. The latest
government move is a petition filed before the Chief Election
Commissioner by Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a member of the National
Assembly. MNA Shah is one of those who offer themselves up on a
platter to Nawaz Sharif as willing tools to do his every bidding.
Shah was one of the hecklers in former Chief Justice Sajjad Ali
Shah's courtroom the day prior to the storming of that honourable
institution by the government goons.
Shah's petition "involves the jurisdiction of the Chief Election
Commissioner for the following reliefs:
"1) Firstly, the religious status of the Respondent No.1 be
determined on the touchstone of the definition of 'Muslim' and
'non-Muslim' given in Article 260(3).
"2) Secondly, his name be struck off from the voter list to a
Muslim seat of any Assembly if he is so listed and does not fulfil
the requiremnents of a Muslim as given by the Constitution.
"3) Thirdly, his name be struck off from the electoral rolls to a
non-Muslim seat as well since he has violated Article 63(1)(g) and
Article 62(h). "
Absurd, said many of us, including my senior counsel, Jadoogar of
Jeddah, Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada: the Chief Election Commissioner,
an independent-minded man, will throw the petition out in limine.
The CEC ruled otherwise and held a hearing on July 28. Present in
Islamabad before him that day were not just members of the press
and public but representatives of the diplomatic corps of First
World countries who believe that religion is solely a matter
between a man and his God, who were keen to observe how God is
invoked in the courts of Pakistan and how the seeds of a religious
inquisition are being sown. The hearing was adjourned to a date in
October.
Sharifuddin's opinion is that the CEC has no jurisdiction to go
into the question as to whether Sethi is a Muslim or not,
particularly after Sethi's public pronouncement that he is a Sunni
Muslim. He told me how, when he was law minister a question arose
about the elevation of a judge to the Supreme Court as an
allegation had been made that he was an Ahmadi. The judge concerned
wrote a letter to the law minister stating that he was a practising
Muslim and the matter ended there. All concerned were satisfied and
the judge was duly elevated to the Supreme Court.
Sethi is also being savaged by the hounds of the income tax
department. His home has been attached and some 90 old settled
cases have been reopened and queries raised and charges levied. I
sympathize with him.
Twenty-three years ago I was thrown in the mill in the days of
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto during which a special income tax harassment
cell was set up and a man with sadistic tendencies found and
appointed to head it. This man, Anwar Shaukat, was given an office
in the Central Board of Revenue premises in Islamabad and unlimited
power. Each week I had to fly up and sit for hours reading in his
waiting room, which reassembled the ante-room of the Chamber of
Commerce President, filled with businessmen of all grades and
shades. When I was summoned into his office, I would take my book
in and place it on his table with the spine facing him. One day it
would be 'The Last Days of Hitler' by Hugh Trevor-Roper, the next
'The Last Hundred Days' by John Toland, and the next 'Hitler: The
Last Ten Days' by Warren Tute. The titles succeeded in unnerving
Shaukat who would angrily ask me each time why it was that I read
such books. I explained that they were all relevant.Were Sethi to
follow this example, he may have a problem as the man now harassing
him is quite likely to have never heard of Hitler. And he may not
be as lucky as we were. Our assessment order finally arrived on
July 4 1977, ordering payment of a huge unpayable sum within a
week. By dawn the next morning Zia had taken over. Anwar Shaukat
and his hounds were untraceable.
But Sethi must not despair.
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990806
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Getting on with life
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ayaz Amir
THE people of Pakistan, or such of them as are foolish enough to
take some interest in national affairs, would gladly leave the
recent saga of foolishness and humiliation behind them and get on
with life. But only if their betters would let them.
Not a day goes by without a fresh utterance to test the nation's
patience. Occupied Kashmir is soon going to be ours (Nawaz Sharif).
India will be forced to the negotiating table (Nawaz Sharif). When
the armed forces and the people are one no harm can come to
Pakistan (General Musharraf). There are then the information and
foreign ministries which can be trusted to come up with their own
absurdities. The only person who has stopped being inventive is
Ishaq Dar who keeps saying that fresh taxes will not burden the
common man.
After the nuclear tests last year the nation was informed that the
PM's secretariat, an enduring monument to our aesthetic
sensibility, was to be vacated for reasons of austerity. Now it
transpires that it is to be re-occupied. To show the government's
love for the Northern Areas, the cabinet is slated to meet in
Skardu. Then it is announced that after all it will meet in
Islamabad.
Amidst this hectic activity the prime minister decrees the
construction of a new state guest house at Bhurban, Murree. In
Lahore he inspects the model of the new airport terminal, whose
outlines resemble the mock-Mughal facade of the PM's secretariat,
and orders that it be completed by next year. Meanwhile, in the
name of road development, the vandalization of Lahore continues,
with age-old trees being pulled down and ever wider malls being
built to accommodate the traffic sense peculiar to this country.
Things have been brought to such a pass that ordinary people (as
opposed to drawing room literati) are past caring. Weary of sights
and sounds which keep recurring like scenes from a bad dream, and
their last illusions lying broken and scattered over the landscape,
they are past caring and, to the government's infinite joy, past
protesting. Burning tyres, erecting barricades and braving police
lathis after all are functions of hope, vigour and enthusiasm. When
from the body-politic these vital qualities are drained, from
whence should arise the spirit of protesting?
The people of Pakistan have tried everything: repeated
dictatorships, experiments with different brands of democracy, the
rise and fall of Benazir, the glittering summits of the heavy
mandate. They have raised monuments to the Chaghi hills, hailed Dr
A.Q. Khan as their deliverer and believed with all the fervour of
their emotional souls that the defence of the country had become
impregnable. The lies and absurdities they have put up with would
have caused an upheaval in any country similarly placed. But their
stamina for more experiments now lies exhausted.
It is a strange country indeed where a ghost from the past such as
Roedad Khan should emerge from the mists to preach, of all things,
a revolution. Every despotic regime in recent memory he faithfully
served. The burden of the infamies then gathered by the country he
valiantly bore but the infamy of Kargil has cut him to the quick
and made him write a frenzied piece in the News with gems such as
this: "What a terrible burden of guilt our rulers bear. One day
this treachery shall be avenged and out of all this would come the
politics of the future." He goes on to ask, "Who will light a
candle in the gloom of our morale?" The answer should be obvious:
another Zia-ul-Haq with Roedad Khan as his secretary-general of the
interior.
An invaluable insight into the intellectual calibre of our
governing classes is afforded by the spate of memoirs to have come
out in recent years. While not a few of them are badly written,
virtually all of them are self-serving, making their writers out to
be infallible individuals who held aloft the banner of rectitude
while everything around them was collapsing. In some cases, it is
true, these writings are a useful addition to the historical record
but the reader who might be looking for any traces of grace,
modesty or humanity in them is likely to be disappointed.
If such be the state of the brightest and heaviest stars in the
national firmament, of what account are Nawaz Sharif's reputed
limitations? He has been false to no one, least of all to the
masses who put their trust in him. The foolishness was that of the
masses if they saw wonders in him which never existed.
Endlessly restless and therefore flitting from here to there,
fascinated with gewgaws and gimmicks, believing that somewhere
through the woods lies a golden short-cut which if discovered would
turn the burden of governance into a perpetual holiday, are vintage
Nawaz Sharif traits which at least the members of Pakistan's
permanent politburo (Roedad Khan being an erstwhile member of this
club) should have fully known when they went about creating him as
a counter-weight to Benazir Bhutto. But they were blinded by their
prejudices, hating Benazir more for being her father's daughter and
less for her presumed failings.
Indeed when it was discovered that Benazir was quite unlike her
father and that her reigning passion was to feather her nest rather
than to rock the national boat, many of the politburo members who
had earlier thought her to be the very personification of
fickleness and evil gladly took up service under her. The history
of Pakistan is replete with such ironies.
It is also instructive to remember that while Benazir cut her
populist moorings and became a child of the civil-military
establishment, Nawaz Sharif moved in the opposite direction. From
being a creation of the establishment he became his own man,
especially after his falling out with President Ishaq Khan in 1993.
In other words, he freed himself from the clutches of the English-
speaking establishment and successfully created a Punjabi or a desi
mass constituency for himself which ultimately culminated in the
heavy mandate of 1997.
The tragedy is that while the intellectual and moral calibre of the
English-speaking governing classes was always low, that of the desi
crowd which has assaulted Islamabad on the strength of the heavy
mandate is even lower. Between them Pakistan's goose is being
cooked.
Seen in this perspective, Kargil was not an aberration which
occurred suddenly, out of the blue, because of someone's folly or a
momentary lapse of judgment. The manner we lurched into it,
unthinkingly and on the basis of a set of false assumptions,
reflected the intellectual bankruptcy which holds sway in our
corridors of power. The attendance at Clinton's court put the
spotlight on our moral bankruptcy.
The point to note is that both these qualities did not develop
overnight. They are rooted in the ethos and temper of our ruling
classes.
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990807
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The fatal fault-line
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Irfan Husain
THE brief student revolt in Iran (and its swift and brutal
suppression) brought to the surface the fault-line that exists to
varying degrees in virtually all Muslim nations.
The latent tension between moderate, modernizing elements and
retrogressive forces continues to cause minor and major eruptions
around the Islamic world, and the rest of the international
community has not remained immune from their fallout. The former
view Islam as a peaceful faith which encourages education and
democracy; for this group, there is no contradiction between
material well-being and progress on the one hand, and spiritual
attainment on the other.
The extremist elements see the world as a hostile place with the
enemies of Islam arrayed implacably against the believers. They
view modern education with great suspicion as much of it has
originated in the West. For them, democracy is a tool that they
seek to use to attain power.
These two categories of Muslims are locked in battle from Turkey to
Indonesia even though the battle lines are often blurred. This
struggle was waged in the western, Christian world several
centuries ago, and largely won by the forces of modernization, but
not without much bloodshed and suffering. It took centuries for
this ideological clash to be resolved. In Israel, this struggle
between modern, secular Israelis and orthodox, fundamentalist Jews
continues.
India, too, is undergoing a struggle between ultra-nationalistic,
extreme right elements like Shiv Sena and Indians educated in the
western tradition who would like their country to remain secular.
Indeed, they view this as indispensable if the multi-ethnic and
multi-religious nation is to stay together.
At least some of this tension is a function of poverty. As the
elites have sought a modern education for their children and
acquired a lock on power, the have-nots have flocked to the
fundamentalist banner. They feel marginalized in an increasingly
technological world, and hence the entire process of modernization.
Unable to fit in, they want to bring the whole edifice down in the
name of creating an "Islamic society." Nobody is sure of how such a
society would function in today's complex world, but this is the
Holy Grail sought by green-turbaned zealots across the globe.
Even immigrants sitting comfortably in the United States have their
own websites on the Internet from where they exhort those of us
living in Islamic countries to pull down corrupt governments and
replace them with perfect Muslim rulers. Where these paragons of
virtue are to come from is not clear.
Another reason for this global convulsion is the failure of the
post-colonial elites in most developing (and Muslim) countries to
provide good governance. Their dismal performance has fed fuel to
reactionary Islamic parties who then tout their model as the
panacea for all social and economic ills. In countries like Turkey
and Algeria where they have received electoral majorities (or were
poised to), they have been blocked by secular armies that view
themselves as the guardians of secular democracy. This, in turn,
has resulted in fresh tension; indeed, Algeria has witnessed a
decade of unrelenting bloodshed in a ferocious civil war.
Iran is an interesting case study for it is the only major nation
where an Islamic revolution has been successful. The recent
disturbances are the harbingers of more opposition to the Islamic
government for a whole generation has grown up under it, and many
of them are unhappy with the wide gulf between the rhetoric put out
by the ruling clergy and the grim realities they see around them.
The liberal President Khatami's election was the first
manifestation of this growing unrest among the post-revolution
generation; it remains to be seen what form and direction this
dissatisfaction will take. But it is too facile for the clergy to
blame outsiders for this state of affairs.
In Pakistan, despite their repeated electoral defeats, the
religious right appears to have won the war. More and more, its
leaders are writing our internal and external agenda. The face of
the country has been transformed over the last two decades as a
succession of military and civilian governments have caved in to
extremist demands. Women and minorities have felt the full fury of
this growing zeal. Now, Muslim sects are feeling the heat.
An interesting phenomenon is the growing fanaticism amongst the
younger generation of Muslim immigrants in the West. In a search
for identity in an alien culture, tens of thousands of young Muslim
men and women have acquired a militant outlook. Clearly, a modern
education does not automatically produce a rational individual.
In the long run, there is no doubt that reason will triumph as the
only other option is chaos and anarchy. But as the eminent
economist Keynes reminded us, in the long run we are all dead. What
about the immediate future? One answer is to let Islamic parties
assume office when they win an election. They will be exposed as
groups who have no solutions to the problems of the modern world.
By not allowing them to govern even when they have a majority
behind them - as they were excluded in Turkey and Algeria - they
are permitted to simultaneously play the roles of martyrs and
saviours.
Another, more difficult, solution is drastic improvement in the
quality of governance prevailing in much of the Muslim world. The
explosive population growth in many of these nations, combined with
massive corruption and a progressive breakdown in law and order,
have led to a situation where armed militias are virtually running
a parallel government. Weak, inefficient politicians have buckled
under instead of resisting their extreme demands.
In Pakistan, we face the possibility of having the Islamic Ideology
Council strike down the entire interest-based banking system.
Already, the term "interest" has been replaced with the euphemism
"mark-up". Prohibition and a ban on gambling have deprived the
exchequer of billions of rupees every year.
If the oil-rich Arab states are thus far exempt from these
tensions, it is largely because with their low populations and
gushing oil wells, they have been able to pamper their citizens
over the last few decades. However, for them the crunch will come
when oil prices continue falling and their generous support net
collapses. I just hope I'm around to watch when that day arrives.
===================================================================
SPORTS
990806
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate body urges representative cricket selection committee
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahmad Hasan Alvi
ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: Standing Committee of the Senate on Sports,
Cultural and Tourism has underlined the need for the promotion of a
healthy sports culture in the country and observed that the
sportsman spirit, could only be achieved by promoting sports at
alllevels,irrespectiveoftheregionalor gender considerations.
The committee, which met under the chairmanship of Senator Justice
(Rtd) Dr. Javed Iqbal in the parliament house here today, also
discussed the performance and selection of Pakistan junior cricket
team currently visiting European countries.
It noted that the Pakistani players had a great potential and they
could make a real difference in the world tournament, if properly
regulated, motivated, trained and given due incentives as national
heroes.
The Committee called for greater participation of local players at
the at the level of junior team in the larger interest of the game.
The Committee also took note of the absence of the chairman of the
ad hoc committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board and advised the
Ministry to ensure his presence in the next meeting.
It unanimously recommended that the selection committee of the
Pakistan Cricket Board should be made really representative of all
the four provinces and that only merit and past performance must be
the sole consideration for the selection of the Pakistan cricket
team.
The Federal Minister for Information, Culture and Sports, Mr.
Mushahid Hussain Syed informed the Committee about the steps taken
by the government for the promotion of sports in the country and
also referred to the launching of the sports channel by the
Pakistan Television.
He said that the Government was fully alive to the importance of
sports and was already considering a comprehensive sports promotion
programme which would also be referred to the Standing Committees
of the two Houses of the Parliament to seek the advice and guidance
of the parliamentarians.
The Committee also took note of the gradual deterioration in
various disciplines of sports which were once synonymous with the
word of Pakistan and observed that the sports like hockey and
squash also needed due patronage, as in the past, Pakistan had
almost a monopoly on these sports, which was gradually sliding
away.
The committee discussed the issue of the women cricket and felt
that there was a strong need to develop a sense of homogeneity,
cooperation and mutual understanding among different sports
organisations representing the women folk.
The Committee decided to constitute a four member Sub-committee
headed by Senator Syed Iqbal Haider to make contacts with PCB and
women cricket organisations with a viewto motivatingthemfor holding
electionstoensuretheir representation at national level.
The other members of the sub-committee include Senators syed Aqil
Shah, Muhammad Zahid Khan and Haji Gul Afridi. Senator Aqil Shah
was of the view that cricket affairs had been discussed from
various dimensions and they should now maintain low profile on the
issue not only in the press but also in other forums.
The Committee recommended that Arbab Niaz StadiumPeshawar and other
such facilities in other provinces should be handed over to
Pakistan Cricket Board for the development of sports activities in
the country.
The meeting was attended besides the Chairman of the Committee
Senator Justice (Rtd) Dr. Javed Iqbal and Federal Minister Mushahid
Hussain Syed, by Senators M. Zahid Khan, Syed Iqbal Haider, Syed
Aqil, Haji Gul Afridi and Muhammad Zahid Khan and Secretary of the
Committee Mr. Jamil Ahmad Qureshi, Advisor on Sports Mr. Ali
Muhammad Khawaja and senior officials of the Ministry, Pakistan
Sport Board and Pakistan Cricket Board also attended the meeting.
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990805
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan to continue playing in Sharjah
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Correspondent
LAHORE, Aug 4: Pakistan will continue playing cricket in Sharjah
after Cricketers Benefit Funds Series (CBFS) chairman Abdur Rahman
Bukhatar increased Pakistan match fees. Pakistan Cricket Board ad
hoc committee chairman Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and CBFS chairman Abdur-ur-
Rahman Bukhatar signed the agreement at the Gaddafi Stadium on
Wednesday.
The agreement will get in force after completion of the existing
contract which is in order till Decemeber.
However, both the officials who held one-to-one meeting for two
hours did not disclose any term and condition of the agreement.
Talking briefly while handing over a Press release to the mediamen
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman said that the agreement was good for PCB as it
would get a bigger share our of the earnings of the Sharjah
tournament. He said that PCB now would share profit with the CBFS
which it would earn from the tournaments.
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman lauded the services of Abdur Rahman Bukhatar which
he rendered for promotion of cricket in the region. He said that
all the matters were solved amicably and the agreement was signed
in good atmosphere.
Mr Bukhatar said that money was no problem with CBFS and he only
wanted to continue cricket in Sharjah.
Pakistan now will participate in the Sharjah Cup to be held in
October.
According to the agreement, the CBFS will also provide money to PCB
for development of cricket in Pakistan.
The Press release says" It was agreed that while the present
contract shall be honoured by both the parties till the expiry of
it's term, but thereafter all tournaments to be organised under the
auspices of CBFS shall be held on profit sharing basis. This term
also applies to tournaments arranged by CBFS outside Sharjah. It
was also amicably mutually agreed that CBFS will get involved in
development of Cricket in Pakistan by way of providing a reasonable
sum of money for that purpose", the Press release concluded.
It was learnt through reliable sources that after signing of the
agreement, Pakistan is likely to get about $100,000 more to what it
is getting presently for each competition.
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Naushad heads new selection body
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Correspondent
LAHORE, Aug 3: Col. (R) Naushad Ali has been appointed as chairman
of the Pakistan Cricket Board selection committee on Tuesday.
Former captain Ramiz Hasan Raja and Abdul Raqeeb were named as
members of the committee.
Col. Naushad Ali who is also the advisor to the PCB ad hoc
committee chairman Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, has been a member of the
selection committee for five times.
Ramiz Hasan Raja as been assigned the job of a selector for the
first time while Abdul Raqeeb had earlier served as a selector for
juniors.
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