------------------------------------------------------------------- DAWN WIRE SERVICE ------------------------------------------------------------------- Week Ending : 8 January 2000 Issue : 06/02 -------------------------------------------------------------------
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CONTENTS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS + Indian plane's hijacking: Pakistan seeks Nepalese findings + Talks with India at this stage ruled out: Musharraf + US senators coming for talks on vital issues + Justice Marri shot dead in Quetta + India asks Pakistan to either deport or punish hijackers + US warns Pakistan over Azhar's threats + Nepal expels Pakistan embassy official + Govt in no hurry over CTBT, says Sattar + Belgium told to sell N-spares to Kanupp + Court allows lawyers to meet Nawaz + Produced before court: Farooq says PPP leaders in barracks + Hakim arrested on corruption charge + Judge sees progress in serial killings probe + Pakistan, India swap lists of N-installations --------------------------------- BUSINESS & ECONOMY + Merger of 3 FIA wings likely to help NAB probes + Cut in NSS interest rates: Budget's burden to go down by Rs10bn + PTCL merged into S&T ministry + ECC revises tariffs to protect industry + Entrepreneurial risks: Too many eggs in business basket + Ministry of commerce to be restructured + Efforts on for non-Paris Club loans rescheduling + Four saving schemes exempted from IT + Accord on CED issue for air tickets soon + Drug Board rejects 100 import applications + Sales Tax Dept receives Rs1bn arrears --------------------------------------- EDITORIALS & FEATURES + Shining idea, abiding tragedy Ayaz Amir + Throw the rascals out Irfan Husain ----------- SPORTS + ICC may suspend ban on Shoaib Akhtar + India, Pakistan promise lively one-day contest + Watches: MQM sticks to its claim
=================================================================== DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS 20000107 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Indian plane's hijacking: Pakistan seeks Nepalese findings ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: Pakistan on Thursday asked Nepal to share the findings of an inquiry into the recent hijacking of an Indian airliner on a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi. The report would "hopefully provide important clues in determining the responsibility for the condemnable action," a foreign office spokesman said after the request was made to the Nepalese embassy here. The ambassador of Nepal was summoned to the Foreign Office on Thursday morning to receive this request for communication to his government, the spokesman added. The spokesman again insisted on Thursday it had no involvement in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines jet, even though India said it had evidence the hijackers were Pakistani nationals. Asked if the hijackers were indeed Pakistani, Altaf said: "We have not been given any evidence, we have not been shown anything. "They should have shared information with us, they should have come to us and said here are the names. But these people have another agenda." "They (Indians) themselves are neck-deep in this dirty game," Altaf said, using words Advani chose to describe what he viewed as Pakistan's involvement. INDIAN CLAIM: In New Delhi, India claimed on Thursday it had arrested four Kashmiris in connection with the week-long hijacking and accused Pakistan of masterminding the drama, adds Reuters. "Those on the trail of the wrongdoers have been able to make a significant breakthrough," Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani told a news conference. "Deny howsoever it may, Pakistan is neck-deep in this dirty game of hijacking." He spelt out six "tell-tale pointers" implicating Islamabad in the hijacking. Advani said four members of Harkat-ul-Ansar were arrested in Bombay on suspicion of providing support for the hijack plan two months before the hijacking. Two of the four were Pakistanis and one was a Nepali. The fourth was an Indian who, Advani alleged, was recruited by Pakistan's secret service while in the Gulf and later underwent intensive militancy training at two camps, one in Pakistan and the other in Afghanistan. Advani gave the names of the hijackers as Ibrahim Athar from Bahawalpur, Shahid Akhtar Sayed from Karachi, Sunny Ahmed Qazi from Karachi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim from Karachi and Shaqir from Sukkur. He released a letter written in June 1996 by former interior minister Gen (retd) Naseerullah Babar, to the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad seeking Masood's release on humanitarian grounds. In the letter, Khan described Masood as a young "Pakistani journalist... (who) travelled to India in February 1994 on a Portuguese passport under the name of Essa bin Adam. Apparently he had gone to India to see the conditions in Jammu and Kashmir himself for some report for his magazine". Advani claimed that a Pakistan embassy car arrived at Kathmandu airport just before the departure of the Indian Airlines plane. "Among the three officials who dismounted from the car and proceeded to the departure lounge was one who is believed to have supplied a consignment of RDX (explosives) to a group of Punjabi militants in Kathmandu some years back," he said. -Reuters DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Talks with India at this stage ruled out: Musharraf ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf asked India here on Tuesday to create a conducive environment for talks, but added that Pakistan would not beg for it. Talking to reporters after an Iftar-cum dinner, hosted by the Islamabad-based ambassadors of the Muslim countries in honour of President Rafiq Tarar and the chief executive, Gen Musharraf said India must create a conducive environment to start negotiations. "But let me tell you that we will not beg them for talks," he said, adding that Pakistan was not in any hurry to seek negotiations with India at this stage. He said Pakistan had nothing to do with the hijacking of an Indian airliner and called upon Prime Minister Vajpayee to "exercise restraint" in his utterings with a view to improve relations between the two countries. "I never imagined that Mr Vajpayee would go to the extent of openly maligning Pakistan and accusing us of hijacking which is totally false and baseless," he said. "Now I am convinced that India had hatched a conspiracy against Pakistan. This was their game, but it is good that the international community does not believe what they (Indians) are saying." The chief executive said India was trying to get Pakistan declared a terrorist state and that was why it was hurling unfounded allegations against it. "Initially, it was my suspicion that India had a certain political agenda but now the way Mr Vajpayee is continuously trying to involve Pakistan in the hijacking, I have no doubt that it was all pre-planned to declare Pakistan a terrorist state," he asserted. Gen Musharraf regretted that India did not appreciate Pakistan's sincere efforts to resolve the hijacking crisis on humanitarian grounds, but then hastened to add, "They are doing so because of their inept and ineffective handling of the hijacking drama for which they are being severely criticized even by their own people." He said India was facing internal pressure on various fronts which forced it to stage the hijacking drama against Pakistan. "Whenever there is an internal failure, the Indian leaders start targeting Pakistan and this time they had tried to put the blame of the hijacking on Pakistan." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000107 ------------------------------------------------------------------- US senators coming for talks on vital issues ------------------------------------------------------------------- Shaheen Sehbai WASHINGTON, Jan 6: A group of powerful US senators is going to Islamabad shortly to talk to Pakistani leaders on crucial issues of interest to the US, including terrorism, CTBT and President Clinton's visit to the region. Senator Tom Daschle, leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate, will be accompanied by Senators Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Harry Reid of Nevada and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii. They would be visiting Pakistan between Jan 9 and 16, Senator Daschle's press office confirmed on Thursday. The visit will be the first direct high-level US congressional contact with the new Pakistani military leadership and comes at a time when the US has some burning questions to ask about Pakistan's role in the context of international terrorism, nuclear non- proliferation and future of democracy in Pakistan. Sam Brownback, another important Republican senator, who recently sponsored the legislation in the Senate to lift sanctions against Pakistan and India, would also be travelling to Pakistan between Jan 9 and 16, though separately, informed sources said. A well- known name in the Pakistani community, Democratic Party senator Tim Johnson, who defeated the infamous Larry Pressler, will also visit Pakistan soon. The sources said the visits by these senators had been planned before Nawaz Sharif was thrown out in a coup and were to be part of an exploratory tour to pave the way for President Clinton's South Asia visit, but fast developing events in the region had led to the delays. It is likely that some of these senators may also visit India before or after their Pakistan visit. The hot subjects these senators are to raise in meetings with top Pakistani leaders, including Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf, will be the role of Pakistan in the context of international terrorism, highlighted by the recent hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft, which ended in the release of Kashmiri leaders. The US view of the hijacking drama and specially Islamabad's role has been greatly influenced by the Indian propaganda blitz that Pakistan had sponsored the hijackers, and their organizations, some of which are already on the State Department's list of terrorist outfits; and Pakistan must now do something concrete and quickly to stop being branded a terrorist state itself. The Indians have apparently been able to convince the US policymakers that the level of professionalism, accuracy, stamina and planning demonstrated by the hijackers was so high and perfect that they were highly trained commandos from some regular army unit and not just a bunch of happy-go-lucky freedom fighters. The senators will be seeking answers to these tricky questions from Pakistan authorities as they appear to be seriously concerned over the fact that Pakistan has not tried to catch the freed Kashmiri leaders and get details about the hijackers from them. The appearance of Maulana Azhar in Karachi, where he addressed a big gathering and also talked to the media, has created the impression here that Pakistan was allowing the hijackers and the freed Kashmiri leaders to get the maximum political and media advantage, thereby encouraging other such acts of terrorism and violence. The US senators will also be seeking a timeframe from Pakistan for the restoration of democracy which, they think, is vital for the White House to even think about President Clinton making a short stop in Pakistan during his visit to India and Bangladesh. Likewise, the signing of CTBT will be a crucial moot point as such a decision by Pakistan could greatly help President Clinton review his travel plans and make a brief stop in Islamabad or Karachi. Some influential Pakistani-Americans will also be travelling to Pakistan with the senators, it is learnt. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000108 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Justice Marri shot dead in Quetta ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent QUETTA, Jan 7: A senior judge of the Balochistan High Court, Justice Mohammad Nawaz Marri, was ambushed and killed by unknown terrorists at Zarghoon Road here on Friday morning. The security guard, sitting on the front seat, received bullet wounds. However, the driver of the car was unhurt. The terrorists, all masked, fled in a Land Cruiser which was waiting for them at the Khojak Road. Justice Marri received four bullets wounds on upper parts of his body and died on the spot. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital, Quetta, in another vehicle of the Balochistan High Court along with security guard where doctors pronounced him dead. The security guard, identified as Mohammad Ali, was admitted in the hospital where he was reported to be out of danger. Police sources said that a police contingent, escorting justice Marri, fired on the terrorists which was returned, but the police escort could not succeed in intercepting them. The cause of the killing of Justice Marri could not be known immediately. However, police officials did not rule out tribal enmity behind the incident. Justice Marri was on his way to the court around 10am in his official car along with driver and security guard. When the vehicle reached near St. Francis Grammar School at the Zarghoon Road, it was ambushed by unknown masked armed men who were waiting for the justice. They opened indiscriminate fire on the car of Justice Marri during which he received four bullets on upper parts of his body. Security Guard Mohammad Ali also returned the fire but could not stop them as he sustained bullet wounds on his hand and back side. The driver of the official vehicle did not stop the car and sped into the High Court premises where the seriously injured Justice Marri was shifted to another vehicle and rushed to the Civil Hospital, Quetta. However, he succumbed to the injuries and profuse bleeding. The doctors of the Civil Hospital declared him dead when he was brought to the hospital. However, according to eyewitnesses the assailants were more than five who were waiting for Justice Marri at the Zarghoon Road for some time while their Land Cruiser was parked at the Khojak Road. Soon after they saw the police escort of Justice Marri they came on the main road and after the escort van had crossed them they started firing on the vehicle of Justice Marri, an eyewitness told this correspondent who was present in the area when the incident took place. Another eyewitness claimed that the number of armed men was over ten and they escaped in two vehicles after killing Justice Marri. However, police sources did not confirm the presence of another vehicle of the assailants. The injured guard, who was admitted in the hospital, told newsmen that around four to five persons were involved in the firing. "I tried to return the fire but one bullet hit my weapon and injured my hand. I also received another bullet injury on my back," security guard Mohammad Ali said. The driver of the official car of Justice Marri, Noor Mohammad, said that when armed men, who were wearing mask, started firing he did not stop the car and sped it into the High Court building with full speed. Meanwhile, police blocked all the exit points of the City and started extensive search for the killers, SSP of Quetta, Mohammad Riaz Ahmed, said. A case has been registered against unknown armed men and a team of senior police officers has been set up for further investigations. Police sources said the cause of murder of Justice Marri could not be known immediately. However, one of the close relatives of Justice Marri, Shahnawaz Marri, told police that they knew who had attacked Justice Marri. He said that he would lodge an FIR against them. However, police sources said that as yet no written complaint was lodged by the relatives of the late justice. Late Justice Nawaz Marri has been survived by a widow and four sons. He belongs to Bijarani clan of Marri tribe. He was the younger brother of a former chief justice and former governor of Balochistan Justice (retd) Khuda Bukhsh Marri, and elder brother of provincial minister for Excise and Revenue Mir Mohabbat Khan Marri. He joined the profession in 1977 as a lawyer of the BHC. He was inducted as judge of the Balochistan High Court in 1994. He remained vice-chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council and President of the Balochistan Bar Association. He also served as assistant advocate general of Balochistan for many years. The funeral prayer of Justice Marri was held at the Railway Hockey Ground after Jumma prayers and was attended by Governor Mengal. Chief Justice Iftekhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Judges of the BHC, senior government officials, lawyers, relatives and a large number of people belonging to different walks of life also attended the funeral prayers. Later, his body was flown to his ancestral town Kohlu for burial, by a helicopter. In the meantime Governor Amir-ul-Mulk mengal has condemned the tragic death of Justice Mohammad Nawaz Marri and directed the police and local authorities to arrest the assailants within 48 hours. The governor presided over a high-level meeting in this connection in which the incident was discussed in detail and various decision were taken for the early arrest of the killers. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000108 ------------------------------------------------------------------- India asks Pakistan to either deport or punish hijackers ------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW DELHI, Jan 7: India on Friday asked Pakistan to either prosecute or extradite five men who hijacked an Indian Airlines plane as New Delhi sought to make its terrorist charges against Islamabad stick. A foreign ministry spokesman here said the "onus" was on Islamabad either to send the men, identified by India as Pakistanis, back here for trial or charge them at home, adding Pakistan was a signatory to a number of international conventions on hijacking. When asked if any country had questioned India's allegations of Pakistani involvement in the December 24-31 hijacking, he said: "We have had no feedback from anywhere which questions the veracity of what we have stated." Meanwhile, the faces of five Pakistanis identified by India as the hijackers of Indian Airlines Flight IC814 stared from the front pages of every newspaper here on Friday. The photographs and names of the five men - Ibrahim Akhtar, Shahid Akhtar Sayeed, Sunni Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Rajesh Gopal Verma - were released on Thursday as evidence of Pakistan's "neck deep" involvement in the hijacking. Following the eight-day drama, which ended after India agreed to release three jailed Muslim militants in exchange for 160 passengers and crew, India urged the international community - particularly the United States - to declare Pakistan a terrorist state.-AFP/Reuters DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000108 ------------------------------------------------------------------- US warns Pakistan over Azhar's threats ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent WASHINGTON, Jan 7: The US used strong language on Thursday saying Islamabad would be held responsible for any harm that may be caused to Americans as a result of, the recently-freed, Maulana Azhar's activities in Pakistan. State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin told a briefing at Shepherdstown in West Virginia, where Israeli-Syrian talks are in progress, and the language he used in warning Pakistan was quite strong. Rubin was asked about the speech of Maulana Azhar at Karachi where he had lashed out at the US and at India, vowing to continue to struggle against them. He said in his response: "We find his speech deplorable and unacceptable -his reported remarks about destroying America and India. Such language feeds a climate of hostility against both countries and incites (people to) violence." Rubin further said Pakistan must assure the safety of US citizens, Indians and all foreigners in their country. "We would hold the government of Pakistan responsible for Masood's activities which threaten the lives of our citizens. Masood Azhar is the secretary general of the renamed 'terrorist' organization. No country should permit terrorist activities to be organized from its territory, and we urge Pakistan to investigate carefully whether his (Azhar's) actions have violated any Pakistani law. If so, he should be prosecuted accordingly." Asked if Azhar wanted to remain in the country, would Pakistan be placed on the list of countries that support terrorism or harbour persons suspected of terrorism, Rubin parried the question saying: "I'm not going to speculate on the future. I think I used some quite strong language about our views on Pakistan's responsibilities here. When and if the Secretary places any new countries on the terrorist list, I will inform you, and I don't think there is any need to speculate in advance about that." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Nepal expels Pakistan embassy official ------------------------------------------------------------------- KATHMANDU, Jan 5: Nepal on Wednesday ordered the expulsion of a junior official from the Pakistan embassy in Kathmandu, a Foreign Ministry official said. He said Asim Saboor, a junior official at the embassy detained on Monday for exchanging fake 500-Indian rupee notes worth 50,000 rupees ($1,150), was told to leave the Himalayan kingdom within 72 hours. Saboor was expelled for his "involvement in an activity incompatible with his status", a Foreign Ministry statement said. Earlier the Pakistan embassy refused a request by the Nepal government to waive Saboor's diplomatic immunity without which Nepal could not initiate criminal proceedings against him. Pakistan embassy officials in Kathmandu were not immediately available for comment on the issue. Indian currency is freely exchanged in Nepal but banks under instructions from the Central Reserve Bank of India do not accept the 500-rupee notes.-Reuters DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Govt in no hurry over CTBT, says Sattar ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar on Tuesday said Pakistan would have the option to conduct a nuclear test if another country did so even after signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). He was speaking on the implications of the CTBT at a seminar conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies here. "If another country conducts tests, Pakistan's option to do the same remains open, irrespective of signing or not signing the CTBT. Nothing in the treaty imposes unilateral obligations on a state that has signed the treaty," he said. "Nuclear deterrence is indispensable for the defence and security of our country," he said. "The government is determined to maintain a robust and credible deterrent capability. The government is in no hurry to make a decision let alone sign the treaty." "The final decision will not be made unless an informed consensus emerges as to what will best serve the interest of our country," he said. On December 22, the CTBT came up before the National Security Council and the federal cabinet. It was agreed that signing the CTBT was too important a question to be decided in secrecy, said Sattar. "We want the people to understand the treaty and deliberate upon the merits of signing or not signing the treaty," he said. The foreign minister analysed various aspects of the treaty and said the question of the CTBT must be pondered on the basis of its objective merits. "Cold logic should guide us. Unfounded doubts and emotions should not be allowed to cloud judgment," he added. Abdul Sattar said Pakistan had declared a moratorium as it did not intend to conduct any further tests. However, he said, "Not signing the treaty has identifiable costs but not benefits. Singing the CTBT has no identifiable costs even though the benefits, too, are more intangible than concrete. A sound policy should keep Pakistan in the mainstream rather than push us to the fringe, liable to international isolation." He hoped the deliberations of the experts participating in the seminar would lead to a judgment that would best advance the national interests. Pakistan has always joined its voice in building a global consensus in favour of nuclear restraints. Now, as a declared nuclear weapon state, he said "Pakistan remains conscious of its obligations to the world community." Sattar observed that nuclear deterrence was indispensable for defence and security of the country and said the present government was determined to maintain a robust and credible deterrent capability. He said Pakistan was a declared nuclear state and referred to the commitment by the chief executive to exercise restraint and responsibility. Turning to the CTBT, he said of the eight states possessing nuclear weapons, six, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France and Israel, had already signed it. He said now India too was moving towards signing the treaty. "Confident of our capacity to deter an evil eye, we must not shut our minds to the imperatives of safeguarding Pakistan's good name and standing in the world," he said and added that the CTBT did not restrict research, development, improvement of design, production and accumulation of fissile material.-Agencies DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Belgium told to sell N-spares to Kanupp ------------------------------------------------------------------- Shadaba Islam BRUSSELS, Jan 5: The International Atomic Energy Agency has called on the Belgian government to press ahead with plans to deliver $2 million worth of electronic components to the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (Kanupp), saying the machinery is urgently required to ensure the security of the installation. Press reports published on Wednesday in Belgium said that Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based IAEA, has warned Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt in a letter that Kanupp can only become operational under required security and safety conditions if it has access to the Belgian equipment. Last summer Belgium suspended the delivery of the equipment because of concerns about Pakistan's nuclear plans. The Prime Minister's press service said that Verhofstadt had not received the IAEA letter dated November 18. "For reasons still to be established, the IAEA director general's letter has not reached the Prime Minister," a government communique said. The contents of the IAEA letter were, however, revealed in Wednesday's edition of the Libre Belgique newspaper. According to the Libre Belgique, the IAEA has cautioned the Belgian government not to insist that Kanupp should resume operations before getting delivery of the Belgian equipment, saying this could pose "serious security problems." The paper added that the IAEA had assured Brussels that the electronic machinery in question could not be misused for military purposes. The agency added that while Pakistan had not signed a complete security supervision treaty called a "full-scope safeguard" accord with the IAEA, international security norms were in application in Kanupp since 1969 under a specific accord concluded with the Vienna-based organisation. Controversy triggered by release of the IAEA letter on Kanupp could present Prime Minister Verhofstadt with his first political headache of the new year, according to Belgian commentators. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000107 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Court allows lawyers to meet Nawaz ------------------------------------------------------------------- KARACHI, Jan 6: Rehmat Hussain Jafferi, the administrative judge of anti- terrorism courts (ATCs), on Thursday allowed an application by Khalid Anwar, Ashtar Ausaf Ali and Iqbal Raad, advocates, permitting them to meet former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the main accused in the October 12 plane conspiracy case. The applicants, counsel for Nawaz Sharif, moved the court to meet their client for consultation on a number of cases pending against the accused before the superior courts. The court, deciding the application, ordered the superintendent District Jail, Malir, to ensure a meeting of the accused with his lawyers. The same court disposed of a similar application moved by PML leaders seeking a meeting with the accused Nawaz Sharif and others on Eid day.-APP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Produced before court: Farooq says PPP leaders in barracks ------------------------------------------------------------------- Reporter KARACHI, Jan 4: A top leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Dr Farooq Sattar, who is being interrogated by the National Accountability Bureau in an octroi contract case, said on Tuesday that he had been kept in the army barracks in Malir Cantonment where several PPP leaders and bank defaulters were also lodged. Dr Sattar was talking to reporters at the Sindh High Court where he made first appearance after detention. The court had allowed him to meet his lawyers and family. The PPP leaders kept in the army barracks are Nadir Magsi, Agha Siraj Durrani and Naveed Qamar. Besides, Islamuddin Shaikh, Munawar Sindhu, Zakaria Ghani, Abdul Shakoor Kalodi, Abdul Sattar Dero and Capt S.M. Ajmal Mahmoodi are the alleged bank defaulters kept there, Dr Sattar said. He said toilets were about 30 or 40 steps from the cells and the inmates had to wait for their turn. There was no tap- water in the toilets and they had to fetch water from a distance in bottles or cans, he said. Referring to the 1997 octroi case in which the NAB claimed he was involved, the MQM leader said no case had so far been registered against him. Nobody had told him about the quantum of loss he had allegedly caused to the exchequer in this deal, said Dr Sattar, adding that the matter was taken up by the high court and the Supreme Court. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Hakim arrested on corruption charge ------------------------------------------------------------------- KARACHI, Jan 4: The father-in-law of former prime minister Ms Benazir Bhutto has been arrested on corruption charges, his counsel said on Tuesday. Hakim Ali Zardari is under detention in a local hospital where he is undergoing treatment for a back ailment, Farooq Naik said. Hakim Ali Zardari is accused of illegally selling land in 1989 and 1990 which had been pledged to a government lending institution. Last month an anti-graft accountability court issued an arrest warrant against him. Mr Naik said the case had originally been initiated by the government of ousted prime minister Sharif as part of what the counsel claimed political victimisation. Ms Bhutto herself has been in London since April last year after being convicted along with her husband by an anti-graft court on charges of receiving kickbacks on a contract during her term in power.-AFP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000107 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Judge sees progress in serial killings probe ------------------------------------------------------------------- Reporter LAHORE, Jan 6: Judicial Magistrate Mian Ghulam Hussain on Thursday extended till January 13 the physical remand of self- confessed killer of 100 children, Javed Iqbal, who was produced in the court along with two co-accused. The court noted in the order that "some progress has been made in the investigation", and granted a police request for the extension of the remand. Replying to a court question, Iqbal said they had not been tortured and that they were being provided necessary facilities in custody. To another question, Iqbal said he had not engaged any lawyer. Asked if he wanted to say anything regarding the police request for an extension of the remand, he said he accepted it. The court asked if he wanted to say further, the accused replied he was guilty (Mein qaum ka mujrim hoon) The court noted in the order that the accused intended to confess guilt. It told the accused that he was not bound to do so, but if he still wanted to make a confession it could be used against him. The court said the same went for the co-accused, one of whom admitted that he had relations with Iqbal. The court said Iqbal could think over it till the next date of hearing. The investigation officer, Masud Aziz, DSP, told the court the police had made some recoveries from the accused. They had traced the shop from where the accused bought acids and also recovered some receipts. The IO also produced in the court four charts recovered from the residence of Iqbal with messages written on them. The court asked the accused to sign the charts and made them a part of the record. The accused initially objected, saying the charts already carried his signatures. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000102 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan, India swap lists of N-installations ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: Pakistan and India have exchanged lists of their nuclear installations and facilities through diplomatic channels, a foreign office statement said on Saturday. The annual swap was under an agreement signed by Pakistan and India on prohibition of attacks against each other's nuclear installations and facilities, it said. Under the agreement the two countries are required to exchange the list of their nuclear installations on the first working day of every year.-AFP
=================================================================== BUSINESS & ECONOMY 20000103 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Merger of 3 FIA wings likely to help NAB probes ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ikram Hoti ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: The government has decided to merge three FIA wings into one in order to create an economic intelligence agency to assist the National Accountability Bureau in its prosecution against the white-collar criminals. Officials dealing with the job of creating a NAB organ by dissolving the FIA wings told Dawn here on Sunday that the work would "hopefully be complete in January 2000." They added that the FIA wings to be merged into one were Commercial Banks Circle, Economic Investigation Circle and Financial Crimes Prosecution Wing. The merger of these three FIA circles was intended to be the initial step toward right-sizing the FIA, and strengthening the NAB investigation and prosecution organs. The right-sizing of the FIA had remained on the agenda of last three governments, but had never been carried out in practice. While the FIA, after this step, would remain an exclusively social crimes investigation and immigration control apparatus, the NAB would be turned into the country's most powerful financial crimes and corruption investigation body, apart from being the central prosecution-assisting organ of the state. In matters relating to financial crime and corruption investigation, the wings chopped off the FIA and given under the control of the NAB would now be manned by professionals recruited and hired both from the state and private sectors, said the sources. "Since most of the technical assistance needed by the kind of investigation jobs generated by the NAB would not be available with the state sector organisations, the private sector firms like the stock exchange, security exchanges, and international finance- movement monitoring institutions would also be allocated such assignments", said a senior government official. He added that the NAB was supposed to allocate these jobs, and hire private sector assistance in a manner that those numerous businessmen, bureaucrats and go-between persons currently facing charges, or were expected to face some, did not come to know about the identity of such investigators. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000103 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Cut in NSS interest rates: Budget's burden to go down by Rs10bn ------------------------------------------------------------------- M. Ziauddin ISLAMABAD, Jan.2: The burden on the current year's budget will go down by an estimated Rs10 billion following the cut in the interest rates on National Savings Schemes (NSS), it was learnt here on Sunday. The current expenditure for 1999-2000 was budgeted at Rs525.9 billion including Rs160.61 billion for taking care of interest on domestic unfunded debt amounting a total of Rs487 billion. Now this expenditure will come down to Rs150.61 billion as a result of the reduction in the NSS rates. Another positive development which independent banking experts anticipate, following the move, is an across-the-board reduction in overall bank interest rates by about 2 per cent. The yields on the treasury bills, which will be offered subsequently, would also go down pro rata, further easing the burden on the budget, these experts said. All this, they said, would have a salutary effect on the overall domestic cost of production and at the same time would also, to a large extent, neutralize the adverse impact of the recent increases in the prices of petroleum products on the rate of inflation which at present was estimated at 6 per cent. The reduction in bank rates was expected, as a corollary, also to make bank advances less prohibitive for the genuine investors who for the last several years had greatly reduced their borrowings for investment because of uneconomic bank rates. According to informed sources, the savings of Rs10 billion from current year's debt servicing, in all likelihood, would be spent on SAP projects the expenditure on which has gone down, mainly because of resource constraints, by 10 per cent annually in the last three years after showing a growth a rate of 24 per cent in the years immediately preceding 1997. Under the SAP arrangement this year the donors had committed to reimburse about Rs12 billion, the amount the government had budgeted for various SAP activities for the year which in foreign exchange amounted to $268 million but because of resource constraints the government has not been able to make these expenditures in the first place to qualify for the reimbursement. The sources said if the Rs10 billion saved from interest payment was diverted to these SAP expenditures, the government would not only make a positive beginning towards poverty alleviation but would also be assured of a reimbursement of $268 million, the resources needed badly for taking care of a significant part of the balance-of-payments arrears. The poor performance of the SAP in the last three years is attributed by experts to the fact that nobody at the top had felt personally responsible for the programme, " nobody owned it and the cabinet committees set up earlier at the federal and provincial levels to implement and monitor the programme were made redundant." At present the entire SAP budget amounting to Rs70 billion was being handled by a grade-21 officer (the Federal SAP Coordinator- FSC) plus his three assistants. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PTCL merged into S&T ministry ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: A joint meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) and the federal cabinet decided here on Wednesday to merge the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) into the Ministry of Science and Technology. The meeting also sought to drastically improve the performance of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) before their privatisation. Sources said the meeting was told that the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) would start its mobile phone service in April/May this year to compete with national and international cellular companies. The meeting directed officials of the PTCL to provide better and inexpensive mobile services to its subscribers. Instructions were also issued to the PTCL officials to remove leakages in the organisation so that it could be put up for effective and profitable privatisation. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- ECC revises tariffs to protect industry ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ihtashamul Haque ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) approved here on Tuesday, a number of changes in the tariff of different items to remove anomalies in the duty structure and provide protection to the indigenous industry. These include reduction of customs duty from 10% to 5% on VCM, removal of 5% CED on import of sack craft paper and 5% CED on local manufacturing of paper sack, reduction of CED from 15% to 5% on polyester chips and from 10% to 5% on polyester filament yarn. It was decided for the UFMC that if the C&F price does not exceed $800 per ton then protective duty will be applicable in a graduated manner to maintain landed cost at not less than Rs61,000 per ton. It was decided to remove 5% CED on BOPP film if used in the film of capacitor grade. The ECC which was presided over by Minister for Finance Shaukat Aziz also allowed the ministry of communication to the signing of implementation agreement with M/s Alcatel SpaceCom for the launching of telecommunication and broadcast satellites into the Geostationery Orbit. The entire expenditure on the project will be arranged by the foreign investor. The meeting was presented a report on the potato crop and was informed that the crop for the last two years has been excellent and the estimate for the next crop also indicate a reasonable surplus for exports. It was informed that new markets are being explored for the export of surplus potato. The committee therefore allowed 25% concession on freight for the export of 100,000 tons of potatoes during the period January-September 2000. The meeting decided that resident business ventures in the service sector engaged on providing services at ports by way of setting up an operating container or oil terminals as well as those infrastructure and service sector projects which are covered by the Investment Policy 1997 would be exempted from presumptive tax and be taxed on net income basis Thye also reviewed the prices and availability of essential items in the country and noted that there was a general stability in the prices of kitchen items and prices of 18 out of 21 kitchen items either declined or remained stable. The Index of Kitchen Items decreased on average by 2.59% since July 3, 1999. The ECC is also monitoring the 18 selected items which are generally consumed during Ramazan. Out of the 18 items, the prices of 11 items (such as various fruits, potato and onion) have registered decline during the week ended on December 30, 1999 as against December 21, 1999. The prices of 5 items (such as dal) remained unchanged while the prices of two items (such as baisan and yellow dal) registered minor increase. The reasons for the decline in the prices of 11 items include the better supply situation owing to the seasonal factors and better management and vigilance of the Price Monitoring Committee at the district level. The committee was informed that stock position of POL, wheat and fertilizer was quite satisfactory in the country. The meeting was also attended by the Minister for Commerce, Food and Agriculture, Environment, Local government, Rural Development, Labour Manpower and Overseas Pakistani, Chairman Privatization Commission, Secretary General Finance concerned Federal Secretaries and other senior officials. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Entrepreneurial risks: Too many eggs in business basket ------------------------------------------------------------------- THE truest measure of how thoroughly the new entrepreneurialism has permeated the United States may be the changing ways in which people are being paid for their work. For generations, most working people sought a fixed wage, predictable raises, health benefits and a company pension. But increasingly such stable arrangements are giving way to ones that are more flexible, less certain, often riskier and sometimes more rewarding: in short, more entrepreneurial. -Instead of straight wages, workers are agreeing to be paid in ways that vary with their performance or their company's. Almost two- thirds of 2,800 companies surveyed annually by the American Compensation Association - a veritable Who's Who of corporate America - use bonuses, incentives and goal-sharing arrangements to adjust what some or all of their workers make depending on performance. That's up dramatically from the start of the decade, when less than 15 percent relied on such schemes. -Instead of avoiding business risk, many people are embracing it by accepting various forms of company stock as part of compensation. One-third of companies recently surveyed by the Federal Reserve offer stock options - the right to buy shares at a fixed price - to at least some employees below executive rank. Private surveys indicate the number could be even higher. -Instead of relying on employers to offer and manage their retirement benefits, millions are taking on the task themselves. Individuals, rather than employers, now make the basic investment decisions - and bear the investment risks - for almost half of the nation's non-Social Security retirement savings, up from a little more than one-third 15 years ago. A recent Federal Reserve study concluded that the use of options and bonuses has grown so extensive it helps explain one of the great economic mysteries of the decade: why regular wages haven't exploded in the face of unemployment at a 29-year low. Government statistics don't fully reflect variable pay options. The rewards of no-limits pay have become increasingly apparent as the economic expansion of the decade has proceeded. Much less apparent have been the new risks Americans are bearing as they forsake their old social compacts with employers - a comfortable living in return for a career of loyalty - for new, entrepreneurial arrangements. That's because the economy and the stock market have done so spectacularly well that they have masked many of the risks. It is also because the experts who are pushing the new arrangements have played down their dangers. As the boom has continued and consumers have purchased with growing abandon, workers have found it increasingly easy to hit the targets needed to collect their bonuses and goal-sharing payments. And for those worried about what would happen if the growth stops, economists such as Harvard's Martin Weitzman argue that giving companies the right to cut pay in downturns is good for workers because it means that fewer are likely to be laid off. But the new pension arrangements may be even more vulnerable to setbacks than the variable pay schemes. The rise of self-directed retirement plans such as 401(k)s at the expense of more traditional company-controlled pensions has come in an era of sustained growth. It has been accompanied by a significant decline in employer contributions to all types of plans (down 15 percent after inflation since the mid-1980s) and a big jump in stock investment of retirement money (up from less than one-third in the mid-1980s to well over half last year.)-Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) Los Angeles Times DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ministry of commerce to be restructured ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Minister for Commerce, Industries and Production Razak Dawood said on Tuesday his ministry will be restructured to respond to the challenges of globalisation of economy. He chaired a meeting which was attended by chief executives/sector specialists from the private sector and officials from the Ministry of Industries and Production. The agenda for the meeting included reorganisation and revitalisation of the Ministry, Industrial Policy, role of Board of Investment and future export strategies. He said a long term vision for industrial development and economic growth was needed in view of liberalisation of international trade in the years to come. He stressed that consistency in economic policies and provision of level planning field were the basic requirements of a growth oriented industrial sector. The Minister admitted that the Ministry had become fairly weak over the years due to transfer of its major functions to other ministries/departments. However, with the return of SMEDA, BOI etc the ministry would be strengthened and revitalised. The Minister invited views from the participants for the development of long term vision for the industrial sector in the areas of textile, software development, chemicals and engineering. He also invited suggestions for making the industrial sector competitive to meet challenges of free international trade. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Efforts on for non-Paris Club loans rescheduling ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: The government is on course to meet requirements for getting the loans rescheduled from the non-Paris Club countries, said Shoukat Aziz, federal finance minister. Talking to reporters here on Tuesday evening, the minister said the government's policy of getting its loans and Euro-bonds rescheduled has meet the desired success and the loan-awarding agencies have appreciated this accomplishment. The minister said the IMF had changed its loan awarding policy and now it was demanding the loan-money's utilization for the projects of poverty alleviation and social action programme. He added that there was no cause for panic on the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court to do away Riba from the economy of Pakistan. He said the government is taking measures to bring its economic and financial decision-making in line with this decision and the ministries of law and finance are coordinating for this purpose. The Law Division has formed a special committee to make changes in the legal structure attached to the financial procedures and policy implementation in consonance with the Islamic injunctions. On the other hand, he added, the finance ministry's special committee created for this purpose is taking up the matters relating to loans obtained by the government, to turn their operation as per the requirements of Islamic financial system. The minister said the government is taking steps to create a sense of participation among all the four provinces by allocating equitable shares from finance to the smaller provinces, and by helping them in financing the development projects. Such projects in the NWFP and Balochistan are being given top priority. He assured the consumers that the prices of petroleum products would be reduced according to the reduction in international prices of these products. He said prices of consumer goods either remained stable or showed a trend of reduction during the Ramazan. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Four saving schemes exempted from IT ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: The Central Board of Revenue has clarified that it has issued no notification to impose 10 per cent income (withholding) tax on profit/interest of certain National Savings Schemes for which the government has restored exemption on Dec 16, last year. The impression lately created by certain news items appearing in a section of the press that the withholding tax (WT) was still being deducted in violation of the government's decision to withdraw the tax, was incorrect, says a CBR press release issued here on Tuesday. It says the correct position is that WT was imposed through SRO 1012 (I)/99, dated Sept 3, 1999, on interest/profit derived from the following NS schemes which were previously exempted: Savings Accounts: Mahana Amadni Accounts (monthly instalment) does not exceed Rs1,000; Special Savings Accounts/Certificates (registered) for individuals/local bodies; and Defence Savings Certificates. In accordance with the government's decision, SRO 1343 (I)/99, dated Dec 12, 1999, was issued restoring tax exemption in respect of the above mentioned schemes from which exemption had been withdrawn through SRO 1012 (I)/99, dated Sept 3, 1999. This was clearly explained in the following words: "The decision dated Sept 3, 1999, to levy 10 per cent WT on certain NS schemes has been withdrawn and the exemption on profits of schemes which were exempt till that date has been restored. "A detailed circular No 31/1999, dated Dec 29, 1999, has already been issued by the CBR clarifying that only the tax exemptions withdrawn through SRO of Sept 3, 1999, have been restored through SRO of Dec 16, 1999." WT is, therefore, being rightly deducted out of interest/profit paid on National Savings Schemes other than those four the names of which have been mentioned above, it adds. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000107 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Accord on CED issue for air tickets soon ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: An agreement between the Central Board of Revenue and All Pakistan Travel Agents Association (APTAA) is likely to be reached in the next couple of days for thepayment of 5% Central Excise Duty on air tickets. The CBR had imposed a 5% CED on the travel agents approved by International Air Travel Agency (IATA), in '95, and under the procedure of payment of this duty, the travel agents were bound to deduct the deduct it from ticket-buyers for depositing into the state treasury. However, the travel agents failed to make these duty deposits and have been repeatedly receiving notices from CBR for payment on this count. A meeting between the APTA leaders' delegation, led by its president, Waqas Ahmed, and the chairman CBR was held on this issue Thursday. The CBR demanded that the entire amount of unpaid duty since its imposition in '95 be deposited. The APTA leaders, however, pleaded that they could presently deposit the amount for the period starting from '98, and in future they would be depositing it regularly. The meeting remained inconclusive and the two sides are expected to meet again, before or immediately after Eidul Fitr, to settle the issue. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000107 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Drug Board rejects 100 import applications ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: The Drug Registration Board of the Health Ministry on Thursday rejected 100 drug import applications to curb the import of fancy drugs and non-essential vitamins. Director General of Health Ahsan Ahmed told APP that the board's decision to disapprove 100 applications was aimed at encouraging drug manufacturing in the country, besides saving millions of dollars in foreign exchange. He said 117 applications were received for grant of import licences of different drugs, including those being manufactured locally. Out of these, he said, only 17 licences for essential drugs were approved. He said the board also cancelled manufacturing licences of six pharmaceutical companies on the grounds that they were producing spurious and substandard drugs. He said that manufacturing licences of local pharma companies Azad, Uni Pharma, United drugs, were cancelled as their products were substandard. Three manufacturing licences of local companies, Cessna, Al-Amir and B. Braun were cancelled as these companies had stopped production but other parties with vested interest were using their licences for manufacturing spurious drugs. The Drug Registration Board also banned manufacturing of vaccine vials of multiple use. He maintained that the manufacturers were asked to produce single-dose vail's of different vaccines, including typhoid, penicillin, septamicyne and dozen other such vaccines to check the spread of hepatitis. The board also decided to check manufacturing of substandard syringes by un-registered companies. He said some companies were un-registered in Pakistan but were manufacturing syringes which were dangerous for health and could cause hepatitis and other diseases. The board asked these companies to get registered and follow the standard and procedures set by the ministry of health according to WHO instructions by June 1, 2000. The DG health said that some multinational companies were issued licenses for manufacturing different drugs but instead they were importing these drugs under import licenses wasting country's precious foreign exchange. He said the board decided to cancel these licenses and the companies were asked either to manufacture these drugs locally or face cancellation of their licenses.-APP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sales Tax Dept receives Rs1bn arrears ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: The Sales Tax department received Rs one billion in deposit of arrears in the month of Dec '99, according to Central Board of Revenue (CBR) records. The deposits of arrears received in Dec '99 have been unprecedented for a fiscal month, said an official. Having gathered pace in Nov '99, the government campaign was intensified to improve recovery the following month. In the course of arrears-depositing during each month of a financial year, taxpayers are bound to clear all their un-litigated dues. This is imperative to show a 'nil' balance on assessment-deposit sheet for a month in which a sales declaration has been made and the department informs the taxpayers of un-cleared dues.However, 'the practice has been that the taxpayers have been reluctant to pay even after repeated reminders and notices sent up by the ST collectorates.' The trend would, hopefully, be arrested, and 'the taxpayer who has been attempting to evade the tax money listed as arrears and which remained unpaid for long periods, would find it difficult to keep these dues for long without filing convincing appeals against the collectorates' claims', thee official added.Back to the top
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EDITORIALS & FEATURES
20000107
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Shining idea, abiding tragedy
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Ayaz Amir
THE closer I get to becoming a senior citizen - or an "uncle" as
one is increasingly called in this country - the more I realize
that Pakistan, far from being an historical aberration or a product
of any divide-and-run strategy by the British, was an historic
inevitability. It had to come into being because of the
irreconcilable differences between the Hindu and Muslim races. I
find it utterly amazing that there are people both here and in
India who should think otherwise.
A book I have just been reading is Nirad Chaudhuri's stunning
"Autobiography of an Unknown Indian." After having read it I am
ashamed of the fact that it had to take me half a century to reach
it. Anyone interested in the recent history of the sub-continent,
especially the revival of Hindu nationalism in the 19th century,
should take this revelatory book to heart and chew its contents
slowly. A more insightful look at the psychology of the Hindu mind
over the ages would be hard to come across.
One of the things coming out strongly in Chauduri's account is that
Hindu nationalism was not born as a consequence of British rule. It
was there when the Muslims first arrived on this land and, feeding
on rancour and hatred, it festered within for all the long
centuries that the Muslims ruled India. Undergoing a revival in the
19th century at the hands of such enlightened teachers as Rammohum
Roy and Swami Vivekenanda, it became corrupted when it came under
the influence of Gandhism which returned Hindu nationalism back to
the crude, atavistic forms it had acquired in response to the
Muslim invasions.
Since the Muslims of the subcontinent also had a consciousness of
separate identity, Hinduism and Islam in India were fated to follow
divergent paths. Partition, therefore, far from being a tragedy,
was driven by the forces of historic necessity. To historians my
submissions would sound banal and over-simplistic, as perhaps they
are. All I want to say is that the precise idea of Pakistan may
have been articulated in the 1930s or '40s, but its seeds were sown
when the first Muslim conquerors came to India a long time ago.
In setting down these facts (for so I take them to be) my intention
is not to do my bit to stoke the fires of India-Pakistan animosity
which already are blazing away merrily without needing any help
from anyone. I am just trying to make a point, that too for
domestic consumption.
And the point is that if the idea of Pakistan (while considering
this, please keep the demons of literalism at bay) lay embedded in
the alluvial soil of the Indo-Gangetic plain for so long, then it
is likely that the realization of this idea will survive the
ravages of history.
In other words, Pakistan is not an artificial construct like
Yugoslavia or indeed the Soviet Empire whose break-up we have
witnessed. It would therefore be quite wrong to label it a 'failed
state' because this tag implies that such a state, collapsing under
the weight of its failures, is about to have its name erased from
the calendar of nations. Unless the entire sub-continent reverts to
the chaos and disorder which existed in India between the twilight
of the Mughals and the advent of the British, this is unlikely to
happen.
Now if it is accepted that Pakistan will be around till the final
trumpets sound, it follows that when with every change of
government Pakistanis mount the house-tops and shout that this is
their last chance, they stand guilty of collective stupidity. If
Pakistan is going to be around till global warming gets the better
of all of us, how can Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif or General
Pervez Musharraf be our last chance?
Rulers will come and go, as will finance ministers with their
promises to take us to the moon, but even if each one of them is
worse than the other, Pakistan with all its debts and mishaps will
remain - not because it has received a special dispensation from
the gods but simply because its scaffolding rests on a thousand
years of history. This does not mean that we have open licence to
commit what folly we please. But it does mean that we should learn
to temper some of the morbidity which strikes us whenever one
government falls and another takes its place.
The question of the idea addressed, what then is Pakistan's abiding
tragedy? It is simply this that the guardians of its flame, whether
chosen by accident or design, have been unequal to the task
entrusted to them. The idea of Pakistan has been betrayed by the
country's successive rulers and this fact, more than anything else,
accounts for the mordant and unrelieved quality of Pakistani
cynicism.
What is important to bear in mind, however, is that the motivating
force of this cynicism is neither nihilism nor a sense of despair.
Far from being so effete or defeatist as to question the very
purpose of the country's existence, it rather asks, often with
anguish in its voice, why the country's circumstances are not
better than they are, why inadequacy is the defining characteristic
of Pakistani leadership, why Pakistan and Pakistanis should be the
butt of international criticism. Behind such expressions of concern
lurks the hope that Pakistan too can be a proud nation liberated
from the never-ending cycle of reliving its past.
But this cynicism also recognizes that while certain things measure
up to the idea of Pakistan, others do not. Bumbling political
leadership is a bad thing but it is a fact of political life.
Countries, even the most advanced and developed, get good rulers
and bad. Life goes on. But political power in the hands of the
military is a distorting influence, an aberration, because in no
respect is it consistent with the spirit which underlies the
creation of Pakistan.
True, Pakistan's democrats have been their own worst enemies. But
that should mean the replacement of one legitimate sovereign by
another till the golden mean is struck and not the replacement of
democracy by a different animal altogether.
Although the wisdom of the masses is a meaningless cliche, nothing
is more misleading than the assertion that illiteracy and poverty
make the people of this country unfit for democracy. If being
illiterate they could vote for Pakistan, and being poor keep faith
with the country (which is more than can be said of the educated
and the rich), they are fit enough for democracy. But only if their
betters will let them be and not thrust fresh political experiments
upon them after every few years.
These may sound like metaphysical calculations but going beyond
them, how can we close our eyes to our own history wherein military
rule is remembered more for the enduring damage inflicted than any
good achieved? We must suffer from a strange death-wish to want to
go down the same paths again.
Those who, struck by a loss of memory, say that this government
will be different should look closely at its performance over the
last 90 days. No one is saying it should have wrought miracles in
this period. But at least it should have been able to get its
direction straight and, if asked, been able to point out the
difference its coming has made.
For most people the initial burst of euphoria with which the advent
of the military was greeted is over because the realization,
although slow in coming, has finally dawned, that replacing mufti
with khaki in the seat of power has made no difference to their
lives.
True, under the aegis of the army's monitoring teams, encroachments
have been removed and some roads cleaned up. An accountability
drive of sorts is also sputtering along. For the rest, all the
glowing characteristics of subcontinental administration - bribery,
work-shirking, inefficiency - remain in place. What justification
then for rolling up the baggage of democracy?
Nor must eyes be closed to another danger. The army is getting more
embroiled in civilian affairs: WAPDA, railways, district
monitoring, canal desilting, in addition to the other jobs it is
doing. What if it becomes an expert in everything else and starts
getting rusty about its primary function for which the nation feeds
and clothes it? That would be a bit like the crow in the old fable
who wanted to walk like a peacock and could not but in the process
forgot how it was to walk like a crow.
This is no reflection on the fighting qualities of our officers and
jawans (who will always do their duty) but just a reminder of what
happens to army commands when they pile up too many extraneous
things on their plate.
DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS
20000108
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Throw the rascals out
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Irfan Husain
I AM writing this on the first day of the new millennium
overlooking the Indian Ocean, which stretches out to the horizon A
few yards away, it cascades onto a golden beach in an endless
series of rolling breakers.
The last ten days have passed very quickly on a spectacular beach
in a village called Mirisa on the southern-most tip of Sri Lanka. I
have done very little but swim, read, play bridge, eat and drink
and talk to close friends. But in the midst of this idyllic
vacation, I have been thinking about the problems of poverty that
faces the countries of the subcontinent.
When Bernard Tavernier, the sixteenth century French explorer,
travelled across India, he was struck by the prosperity of the
people he saw around him when compared to Europe. In his account of
his voyage, he talks admiringly of the thriving urban centres and
the security provided by the state. He could not have foreseen that
within the space of two centuries, the situation would be radically
reversed and riding on the crest of the Industrial Revolution,
Europeans would master the world.
On the first day of the 21st century, it is pertinent to ask why
over a billion South Asians remain among the most backward in the
world. The countries they inhabit have been richly endowed with
resources and a basically talented population. Why then do we
continue to wallow in poverty while the rest of the world strides
further and further ahead?
Much of the answer lies in the conflicts and divisions that afflict
the region. A country like Sri Lanka, blessed with a superb
climate, rich soil and plentiful rainfall, should have been doing
far better than it is. With a literate population and an adequate
infrastructure, one would have thought that it would be on an Asian
tiger growth curve. But largely because of its unending civil war,
foreign investment has not flowed in to the extent one would have
expected.
India and Pakistan remain locked in a mindless conflict over
Kashmir. This dispute has brutalized the people of Kashmir over
whose wellbeing this quarrel is supposed to be about. It has
drained the exchequers of both countries, warped their political
development to varying degrees and has contributed to Pakistan's
isolation. Pakistan, being the smaller and less stable state, has
suffered far more grievously.Owing to this conflict, regional trade
has received a huge setback as the South Asian grouping, SAARC, has
been paralyzed into irrelevance. Whereas such regional arrangements
have brought prosperity to other parts of the world, we deny
ourselves the benefits of cooperation due to the self-defeating
rivalries and disputes that have sharpened over time instead of
dying down as they have in many other regions.
In the Fifties and Sixties, there was a belief that the problems of
poverty could be solved with money. Experience has shown that this
tenet of faith is demonstrably false. After 50 years and 40 billion
dollars in loans, Pakistan remains at the bottom of all social
indicator tables, and its economy teeters on the brink of collapse.
So clearly, money by itself is not the answer to our woes.
To varying degrees, the people of South Asia are victims of a
rapacious and shortsighted ruling class. In the early days of
Pakistan, politicians in West Pakistan blocked a constitution based
on the universal principle of 'one-man, one-vote' as this would
have transferred power to the eastern wing; this selfish approach
led inexorably to the creation of Bangladesh and the traumatic
events of 1971.
In India, the grip the Nehru family had on political power proved
to be ultimately harmful. And partly due to the fact that the
Nehrus themselves were of Kashmiri pandit stock, the resolution of
the festering Kashmir issue has remained elusive. For their part,
Pakistani politicians and generals have raised the stakes over this
quarrel to such an extent that it is difficult to see how we can
ever restore peace to the subcontinent.
And we need to be very clear that without peace there can be no
prosperity. Untold billions have been sunk into sterile bickering
while the real problems of the people remain relegated to the back
burner. Despite the many advantages South Asia enjoyed on
independence when compared with other backward regions (a
relatively developed infrastructure; an efficient bureaucracy; and
familiarity with the English language with all this implies in
terms of access to the rest of the world), we have frittered away
our heritage. In Pakistan, we have tried to establish our
legitimacy by manipulating religious sentiment and trying to
pretend that we are not of South Asian stock. This has resulted in
an identity crisis that has produced a succession of lost
generations.
While sections of Indian society are making rapid progress now that
the heavy hand of the state is gradually being lifted from the
private sector, far too many people are condemned to live below the
poverty line. The caste system remains a blot on Indian democracy.
Bangladesh has made significant progress since its bloody birth in
1971, but it remains a hostage to a high population and a predatory
elite.
All these problems are man-made and we can resolve them all, given
common sense and resolve. But we choose instead to invent useless,
time-wasting, energy-sapping issues and conjure up conspiracies to
explain our own failings. Most of our politicians are too immature
and too devoid of vision and ideas to seriously tackle the vast
problems that beset us; instead, they waste their time and our
resources, brandishing weapons at the enemies they have themselves
created. By keeping the region in a constant state of turmoil, they
have diverted attention from the real issues of poverty, and
prevented the people from demanding decent governance and a measure
of prosperity.
If there is indeed a conspiracy, it has been hatched jointly by the
politicians and the ruling elites of South Asia in an effort to
conceal their incompetence and venality. For instance, the World
Bank or the IMF has not decreed that the police in the region
should be so brutal and yet ineffective. The Americans do not urge
our rulers to be devoid of integrity and intelligence. The ISI has
not produced the rise of Hindu nationalism in India, just as RAW
has not instigated the fundamentalists in Pakistan to drag the
country back to the medieval era. All these problems have been
created and condoned by our rulers.
But in the ultimate analysis, it is the people of South Asia who
have given the power to the ruling elite to misgovern us, and if
things are to change, we will have to reject them once and for all.
=================================================================== SPORTS 20000107 ------------------------------------------------------------------- ICC may suspend ban on Shoaib Akhtar ------------------------------------------------------------------- Samiul Hasan KARACHI, Jan 6: Shoaib Akhtar is all set to figure in the triangular series in Australia after the International Cricket Council (ICC) sought explanation from its advisory council regarding the suspension of the Pakistan fast bowler. The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Lt-Gen Tauqir Zia, said from Lahore on Thursday that he received the information from country's perminent representative in ICC, Ehsan Mani. "According to Ehsan Mani, Jaghmohan Dalmiya (ICC president) has told Sir Clybe Walcott (chairman technical committee) to settle this issue in the next 48 hours," the general said, adding: "Explanation has been sought from the advisory panel as to what were the grounds on which such an extreme action was taken." The advisory panel of the ICC on illegal deliveries suspended Shoaib Akhtar from international cricket on Dec 30 despite the fact that onlysix out of nine members attended the meeting. Pakistan's representative Intikhab Alam was not allowed to sit when the committee passed the judgement on Shoaib. The general said Dalmiya issued the instructions after he received Pakistan's protest. Pakistan has also challenged the suspension of Shoaib Akhtar and has requested that the ban be suspended. "The development is very encouraging. We have received indirect information that the ban on Shoaib Akhtar will be suspended," he said, adding: "The exact picture will clear tomorrow (Friday) afternoon when I discuss the issue with Dalmiya on telephone." The PCB chairman said he was keen to see the advisory panel meet as soon as possible so that the player is cleared to play in the tri- nation series in Australia. "I am pretty confident that Shoaib Akhtar will figure in the contest though his appearance in the back-to-back matches on Sunday and Monday seems to be out of question," the general said. The general said he would like Imran Khan to attend the advisory panel meeting. He said Imran was very clear in his mind that Shoaib's action was legal and has several arguments to support his belief. "But if Imran is not available, Intikhab will be asked to attend the meeting. It has now been made clear by the ICC that Intikhab will be allowed to sit when the panel makes its decision," Lt-Gen Tauqir said. The PCB chairman stressed that Pakistan has claimed that if there was suspicion about Shoaib's bowling action when he was delivering an express fast delivery or a bouncer, he should be no-balled instead of banning him. "Now how can he be banned if there is an element of doubt when he bowls an express fast delivery. He should first be called and then warned before he is suspended and told to remodel his bowling action," said the general. The general said he was extremely sad over the controversy following board secretary Shafqat Rana's statement. He termed the controversy unnecessary. "I have asked Shafqat over his remarks. And he has denied the he spoke of racism. "But as a policy decision, I have decided that only I will speak on cricket matters. No one else is allowed to give statements," he said. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000108 ------------------------------------------------------------------- India, Pakistan promise lively one-day contest ------------------------------------------------------------------- BRISBANE, Jan 7: Asian rivals India and Pakistan have united in a common goal to defeat world champions Australia when the limited- overs tri-series opens here on Sunday. They believe the one-day contests will be more competitive than the recent Test series in which Steve Waugh's men swamped them both by identical 3-0 margins. "One-day cricket is a new ball game, because everything depends on how you play that day," Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar said. His Pakistani counterpart Wasim Akram added: "Australia may be the world champions, but no team can take anything for granted." Odds, however, favour Australia, who defeated India in the super- six league and Pakistan in the final on their way to winning the limited-overs World Cup in England in June. Pakistan's build-up for the gruelling 12-match preliminary league has been ruined by the ban on speedster Shoaib Akhtar for a suspect action and three successive defeats in warm-up matches. India, who ended the Test series on Tuesday, have had to quickly get into the one-day mode without a warm-up match for their five one-day specialists who flew in earlier this week. The series opens with a double-header here with Pakistan playing Australia on Sunday, before taking on India on Monday. After four matches each across Australia, the top two teams will contest the best-of-three finals from Feb 2. While new pace sensation Brett Lee joins 12 members of Australia's World Cup winning squad, Pakistan still nurse hopes that Shoaib will be available for the series. A decision on Pakistan's request to reconsider the ban was expected to be announced on Friday night by International Cricket Council president Jagmohan Dalmiya. Dalmiya told reporters from his home in Calcutta that he was keen to arrive at a quick settlement of the raging controversy after consulting West Indian Clyde Walcott, the head of ICC's cricket committee. "This thing has affected us all," Wasim Akram said. "I don't know what is happening, but hope the ICC will act quickly." While Australia selected 13 players for the series and Pakistan 14, India have 16 players to choose from after opener Venkat Laxman's last-minute inclusion following his brilliant 167 in the third Test. India, who have not won a Test match outside the sub-continent since 1986, have also not won a limited-overs tournament away from Asia after the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985. They begin the series under a cloud over the continued omission of former captain Mohammad Azharuddin, the world's most experienced one-day player, reportedly at the behest of Tendulkar and coach Kapil Dev. The duo refused to discuss the issue, saying it was a "confidential" matter between them and the selectors. But reports in the Indian media suggest that Azharuddin may well join the side if the batting falters in the first few matches. A similar move is reportedly being made in Pakistan to draft out- of-favour opener Aamir Sohail after Akram's men lost two practice games to Australia 'A' and one to Queensland. The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to wait till the first two games before taking any decision on the temperamental, but experienced Sohail. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000103 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Watches: MQM sticks to its claim ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent LONDON, Jan 2: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Saturday released "details" to establish his claim that Karachi Corp Commander General Usmani had distributed costly wrist watches to those Station House Officers (SHOs) of Karachi who had been involved in the extra-judicial killings of MQM workers. "I am grateful to the ISPR (Inter-Services Public Relations) which by denying my claim has provided me an opportunity to release evidence about the distribution of those watches by General Usmani," Mr Altaf Hussain said in a press statement here. He claimed that 25 wrist watches were smuggled by Shabbir Jadoon, "a well-know carrier" who runs a shop from the basement of Tibet Centre in Karachi. Of these, Mr Altaf Hussain claimed, Shabbir provided 11 watches to General Usmani and fictitious receipts of these wrist watches were obtained from a shop at Zaibun Nissa Street in Karachi on December 24, 1999 to establish that these were not smuggled watches but purchased locally. Later these were distributed by General Usmani among the SHOs at a party where they were invited. Mr Altaf Hussain claimed that Shabbir was recruited by Major Ajmal of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 1995 to work for the organisation. He claimed that on the behest of ISI, Shabbir recently lodged a complaint against Major Dabbur Khan of Coast Guard Karachi. He claimed that the SHOs were awarded these watches to encourage them to kill MQM workers and supporters. Referring to the ISPR's denial, Altaf Hussain said that by denying the "facts", ISPR has established that it is least interested in the national integrity. Mr Altaf Hussain claimed that he was well aware that Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf has no power and he was working as a "front man" for those who were running and controlling the affairs of the country. MILLENNIUM FUNCTION: Meanwhile according to another press release, a simple function was arranged on Friday evening at the MQM International Secretariat to welcome the new millennium. ------------------------------------------------------------------- You can subscribe to DWS by sending an email to <subscribe.dws@dawn.com>, with the following text in the BODY of your message: subscribe dws To unsubscribe, send an email to <unsubscribe.dws@dawn.com>, with the following in the BODY of you message: unsubscribe dws ------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to the top.
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