------------------------------------------------------------------- DAWN WIRE SERVICE ------------------------------------------------------------------- Week Ending : 19 August 2000 Issue : 06/31 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents | National News | Business & Economy | Editorials & Features | Sports
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CONTENTS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS + CE reiterates Pakistan's support for Kashmir + New system of justice to be introduced: Cabinet reviews strategy + Musharraf announces partyless LB polls + CE reshuffles National Security Council, expands cabinet + Most political parties reject devolution plan + NRB chief hints at imminent changes: Constitution being amended + Government asked to stop talking to traders + Offices of Commissioner, DC, AC abolished + Defence blames approver for bungling + Counsel justifies Nawaz's action + Commission for women constituted + Govt probing leakage, possible motives: Hamoodur Rahman report + 'Missiles' seen over Balochistan: ISPR offers no comment --------------------------------- BUSINESS & ECONOMY + Govt, traders agree on 1% turnover tax + 49 units to be sold for $4bn: Privatization plan unveiled + No loan to supporters of terrorism, says IMF + Tax appeals: Adjudication collectors powers enhanced + State Bank earns Rs30bn net profit in 1999-2000 + District govts to levy various taxes + Hubco to seek compensation + Lint cotton prices escalate by Rs500 + Farm, power sector use major foreign loans + Rupee hits lowest in inter-bank market + Frontier receives Rs990m from pool + Stocks still under pressure --------------------------------------- EDITORIALS & FEATURES + 'The buck stops here' Ardeshir Cowasjee + A revolution from above Ayaz Amir ----------- SPORTS 0817 Miandad's contract as coach extended 0818 PCB makes new terms for deal with IMG
=================================================================== DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS 20000817 ------------------------------------------------------------------- CE reiterates Pakistan's support for Kashmir ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Aug 16: The Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that Pakistan is committed to provide all diplomatic, moral and political support to the Kashmir's in their just struggle for self determination. Gen Musharraf said this while the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister, Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, called on him here on Wednesday. He assured Mr Chaudry that Pakistan would continue to strive for the Kashmiri's cause at all international forums. He said that the government fully supported all projects and schemes being undertaken by the AJK government for the uplift of the people. Mr Chaudry briefed the CE about his recent foreign trip during which he took the opportunity to inform the governments and people of the countries about the Kashmir dispute and the need to resolve it to attain lasting peace in South Asia. He discussed with the CE the measures being taken by the AJK government for the welfare of the people living close to the Line of Control, who are affected by indiscriminate and unprovoked firing by the Indian troops. He thanked Gen Musharraf for his support and added that the Kashmiris welcomed the principled stand taken by the Pakistani government with regard to Kashmir. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000817 ------------------------------------------------------------------- New system of justice to be introduced: Cabinet reviews strategy ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Aug 16: The federal cabinet on Wednesday discussed strategy for the implementation of local government plan, and decided to launch a campaign to seek people's support on this major structural change at grassroots level. Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf, who presided over themeeting, directed the ministers to visit district and tehsil headquarters to meet the people, including intellectuals and bureaucrats, to apprise them of fundamental themes of the devolution plan so that its implementation could be ensured. " The people have generally welcomed the devolution plan but some elements and politicians are opposing itfor their own vested interests," a cabient handout said, adding that the new plan was aimed at empowering the people to determine their own priorities for development and prosperity at union council, tehsil and district levels. The cabinet was informed that, to ensure speedy and inexpensive justice, a comprehensive judicial system, compatible with the devolution plan, would be introduced by the Supreme Court shortly. The cabinet observed that the district-level bureaucracy had been placed under the authority of the people's representatives and would be required to ensure the implementation of decisions taken by the elected forums. The CE emphasized the need for creating public awareness about the basic and vital improvements that would be made as a result of the devolution plan's implementation. The cabinet endorsed the CE's proposal that the fundamental beneficial changes, going to be brought about through the implementation of the plan, should be expressed in brief, simple, direct and persuasive message. These messages,it was decided, should be projected extensively, using all possible means of communications. The CE, wile talking about the new composition of National Security Council, said that the NSC had to oversee the general direction of the government on national issues, monitor its functioning and advise the cabinet on strategic matters. Gen Musharraf directed the ministers to ensure immediate and effective implementation of decisions taken by the government. He said that federalministries should closely liaise with the provincial governments to ensure the implementation of policies framed for socio-economic uplift of the masses. The cabinet approved the Promulgation of Privatization Commission Ordinance to enable the Privatization Commission to work more efficiently, and in a transparent manner. The ordinance also provides that 90 per cent of the sale proceeds would be exclusively used for debt retirement and 10 per cent for poverty alleviation. It also provides legal status to the commission as a corporate entity. Earlier, the chairman of the commission briefed the cabinet on principles, aims and objectives of the privatization programme. He presented a plan for the disinvestment of public sector enterprises. The chairman told the cabinet that maximum emphasis was being laid on restoring the confidence of local and foreign investors and enhancing the credibility of the commission to fetch maximum return for the sale of the enterprises. The cabient said the country's interests should be kept in mind while proceeding for the privatization of public sector units. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000816 ------------------------------------------------------------------- District setup, police to work under elected men: Musharraf announces partyless LB polls ------------------------------------------------------------------- By M. Ziauddin ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: The Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf, in his address to the nation on TV and Radio on Monday announced that the elections for the proposed local governments will be held on partyless basis with the minorities following the separate electorate system. The CE who spoke in detail for 70 minutes about the salient features of the finalized local government scheme said that 33 per cent of the seats in the grassroots governments will be reserved for women, five per cent for workers/peasants and five per cent for minorities. The district administration will be co-ordinated by a district coordination officer who will be a civil servant of grade 20. Revenue and magistracy will be separate offices in the district and the division as an administrative tier will cease to exist. The basic unit of the local government will be the union council with 21 seats and headed by union nazim and the naib union nazim. Members to the union council will be elected by direct vote. Of the 21 seats in the UC 12 will be general seats with four reserved for women and there will be six seats for workers and peasants, of which two will be reserved for women. The remaining three seats will be those of the union nazim, the naib union nazim and one reserved for minorities. Women seats, even if left uncontested and vacant will not be open to men and will remain vacant until filled through by- elections to be held every year. Each union as a whole will elect a union nazim and naib union nazim as joint candidates by direct ballot. The directly elected union nazim and naib union nazim will also become members of the zila council and tehsil council respectively. The tehsil council will comprise naib union nazims of all the unions of the tehsil. The numbers of general seats in a tehsil council will be the same as the number of unions in that tehsil. In addition, 33 per cent of the general seats will be reserved for women, five per cent for workers/peasants and five per cent for minorities. The electoral college for elections to the reserved seats will be the union councillors of the tehsil. The tehsil nazim and naib tehsil nazim will be elected as joint candidates with the union councillors of the whole tehsil serving as the electoral college. Directly elected union nazims will be members of the zila council also. The number of general seats in the zila council will vary depending on the number of unions in the district. The union councillors of the district will elect the zila nazim and naib zila nazim as joint candidates. The zila nazim and naib zila nazim will have academic qualification of at least matriculation/secondary school certificate or equivalent. In his speech which he delivered on the occasion of 53rd Independence Day of the country, the CE said, this devolution of powers plan would be irreversible. "The basic issue is to empower the impoverished and make the people master of their own destiny," he said. Under this plan, the district administration and police have been placed under the elected representatives of the people at district level. Through the devolution of power plan, induction of people's representatives of the district level, tehsil level and the union council level, who enjoy the financial autonomy, will be made. "We want to introduce essence of democracy and not sham democracy which promotes the privileged people and their offsprings. We will bring to the fore essence of democracy," the chief executive said. Spelling out four requirements for implementation of the plan to hand over power to the people at the lowest level General Musharraf said the first requirement was to make people master of their own destiny. The second was that district administrative functionaries should be put under the elected people which could ensure transfer of power to the masses. The third requirement was to give financial autonomy to the local government. The fourth requirement was to ensure speedy justice at the doorsteps of the people. Gen Musharraf said tehsil council will be run through its municipal administration which will provide all the municipal services across the tehsil. Municipal administration will be in all the tehsil and the latter will have their writ to the entire area of the tehsil including the villages. Under this plan there will be no split between the city and the village as has been the case in the past. This will also put an end to the development disparity between the urban and rural areas, he added. The rural areas earlier used to be under the district council but it will now be under the tehsil. This will ensure a planned development across the tehsil and will avoid haphazard developmental activities. The chief executive said every district will have a district council. It will be headed by the district nazim and deputy district nazim who will be indirectly elected on the basis of joint candidacy. All the nazims of the union councils will automatically become the members of the district council. There will be no direct elections for the members of the district councils. He said directly elected nazims of the union councils will become the members of the district council. However, district police chief or SP will not the under DCO rather he will be subservient to the district nazim. He said district public safety will monitor police in every district. Under the local government plan, each district will get funds on the basis of its size and level of the backwardness. This money will be released through a provincial financial award. Gen Musharraf said it has also been decided to introduce a city district system (CDS) in the federal capital and in all the provincial capitals. This decision has been taken in view of the overexpansion of some of the districts. The idea was to introduce the city district system in a tehsil which had become too big to be properly and efficiently managed. Under this system, there will be a planned development activities instead of a haphazard expansion. The initial idea was to introduce the CDS in 15 districts but later the idea was dropped, he added. Referring to his seven point agenda announced by him last October, Gen Musharraf said, the devolution of power plan was the sixth point. "But in my opinion, given its importance, it was on the top priority. It will bring far reaching consequences and will change fate of the country," he said. The Chief Executive said, he had given a blue-print of the devolution of power plan on March 23 and had promised to announce its final shape on Aug 14. "I am meeting this target," said General Musharraf. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000816 ------------------------------------------------------------------- CE reshuffles National Security Council, expands cabinet ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Faraz Hashmi ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: The chief executive, Gen Pervez Musharraf, on Tuesday reconstituted the National Security Council, trimming its strength to seven and expanded his cabinet to 16 by inducting four more ministers. The NSC, besides the chief executive, now comprises chief of Naval staff, Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza, chief of Air staff, Parvaiz Mehdi Qureshi, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and Commerce Minister Razzak Dawood. Dr Attiya Inayatullah and Dr Mehmood A. Ghazi, former NSC members, have been transferred to the federal cabinet while Derick Cyprian and Iftikhar Hussain Shah have been replaced by Col (retd) S. K. Tresslor and Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf, respectively. Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf, the Railways secretary, has been given the charge of the communications ministry in place of Iftikhar Hussain Shah, who has been appointed as NWFP governor after the resignation of Lt-Gen (retd) Shafiq. Col (retd) Tresslor will hold the charge of sports, culture and youth affairs. Dr Attiya Inayatullah has been given the portfolios of women development, social welfare and special education, and Dr Ghazi has been assigned the portfolio of religious affairs, Zakat and Ushr. Mohammad Shafi Niaz, Sharifuddin Pirzada and Imtiaz Sahibzada have been removed from the NSC and appointed as advisors to the chief executive. Mr Niaz has been appointed as the advisor on food and agriculture, Mr Pirzada as the advisor on law, justice, human rights and foreign affairs and Mr Sahibzada as the chairman, federal land commission. The first expansion had taken place in January when two ministers were inducted in the federal cabinet. Later in March two more minister were included in the cabinet. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000816 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Most political parties reject devolution plan ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Staff Reporter LAHORE, Aug 15: A majority of political parties have rejected the devolution plan announced by Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf on Aug 14, terming it unworkable. However, some of them admit that the new system is better than the one which had been given by the National Reconstruction Bureau. Over three dozen parties which took part in the Aug 6 all-party conference had rejected the NRB plan. Commenting on the new system, suspended Punjab Assembly speaker Pervaiz Elahi said it was better than the one drafted by the NRB and was "practicable." He advised his party, the PML, that it should take part in the local elections. Pervaiz Elahi, also a former local government minister, had earlier rejected the NRB's proposals as full of contradictions and unworkable. He said a number of amendments proposed by the PML had been incorporated in the new system. In his opinion the decision to give the head of the district government more powers would help improve the administration. Also, he pointed out, the change in the mode of his election would require less expenditure and help end blackmailing of the union council members. The PML leader said that under the new system the head of the district government would be able to take independent decisions. HAMID NASIR CHATTHA: Pakistan Awami Ittehad Secretary General Hamid Nasir Chattha said apparently the system of indirect elections proposed for the head of the district council would not work. Such a system had failed during the Ayub era and would not work either now, he added. He said a final decision on the subject would be taken by the GDA, which is due to meet in Islamabad on Aug 23. ABID HASAN MINTO: National Workers Party (NWP) president Abid Hasan Minto said the military regime's devolution plan was on more than one counts reactionary and against democratic concepts. Besides, being a confused scheme, it provided for election at the local level on non- party basis. It also provided for separate electorate for religious minorities. A person who is genuinely interested in the political development of a decadent society and is in search of genuine democracy cannot support these notions, he said, adding building a society on democratic foundations is not possible by keeping politics out of grassroots level. That would further depoliticize the people and shall strengthen the influence of biradaris and tribes and promote the already entrenched feudal, economic and social mafias in society. The fact that mainstream political parties and their leadership in particular had proved anti-people and anti-democratic did not call for elimination of politics from elections, he said. On the contrary, the need was to strengthen the representative system and to encourage people at grassroots to provide political leadership. Minto said separate electorate was introduced by Gen Ziaul Haq not for providing representation to minorities but to divide the people along religious lines. Ever since religious conflicts and sectarian terrorism had played havoc with society. He said neither the mainstream Church leadership nor the intelligentsia of the religious minorities and their principal political parties had supported separate electorates. They wanted to play a role in the mainstream politics as members of a common Pakistani nation. "If the chief executive feels that they must have secure seats, the answer is not separate electorate but reservation of seats in the manner in which other disadvantaged sections of society such as women and working classes have been allowed in the very scheme." The NWP leader welcomed the resignation of federal minister Derick Cyprian from the cabinet. "His resignation does not only represent the reaction of the minorities but of all democratic people." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000819 ------------------------------------------------------------------- NRB chief hints at imminent changes: Constitution being amended ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ansar Abbasi ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: The government said on Friday that two amendments would be made to the Constitution to provide safeguard to the devolution plan. It would also be ensured that the future governments should not bulldoze the amendments, the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Tanveer Naqvi told a news conference. He said the two amendments were necessary at this stage. One of the proposed amendments, he said, would provide constitutional protection to the local government system and the other would ensure that the Constitution should not be amended by the future governments in 10 minutes as had happened in the past. "We will take all possible measures to ensure that the local government system could not be reversed by the succeeding governments," the NRB chief said in response to a question. Mr Naqvi also said that the NRB would now start work on the second phase of the plan under which the powers would be shifted from the federation to the provinces. In the same phase, to be completed by August 2001, the question of provincial autonomy would also be addressed. He hinted that the constitution might also be amended to meet the necessities arising out of the second stage of the plan. To a question, Mr Naqvi said the politicians, intelligentsia, academics and people from all walks of life would be consulted to prepare a framework for the transfer of powers from the centre to the provinces. The NRB chief disclosed that the bureau had also drafted a proposed law on local government in line with the devolution plan, which, he added, would soon be given to the provinces for promulgation. He said by Sept 30, the law would be enacted so that the local bodies elections could be held on schedule. The NRB, he said, was also preparing electoral rules on the basis of which the election commission would hold the local bodies elections. In a few months time the bureau would also evolve six major systems to be adopted by the local governments, the NRB chief said. These systems, he added, would address to the financial, administrative, planning, and legislative aspects of the local governments besides introducing citizens' monitoring system. An incentive system for government employees would also be introduced on the basis of reward and retribution concept. About police reforms the NRB chief said a new law would be introduced by replacing the outdated Police Act of 1861. He said the NRB was currently shaping up the new act and would promulgate it when finalised. He said the NRB was also contemplating reforms in the police service to improve the existing induction procedure, career, term of engagement, training, and pay structure of the police force. Answering a question, Mr Naqvi justified the elections on non-party basis and insisted that the candidates fielded by political parties did not serve the people. "They serve their political leaders and the parties," he argued and maintained that those elected independently "actually serve" the people. To another question, he said, a member of any political party could contest the forthcoming local bodies elections. But, he disclosed, no such candidate would be allowed to use the party's influence for his/her elections. When asked about the nature of appointments of district coordinating officers (DCOs), he said any one from any service group could be inducted at the district level bureaucracy. This post, he said, had not been specified for any particular group or service of the civil bureaucracy. APP adds: Naqvi assured that the elected members of the union councils would not be made an electoral college for election to any highest slot in the country. Responding to a question, he said the government had neither any intention in the past nor harbour it now and would not mull it even in future, to turn the elected councillors into an electoral college to elect the president as was done by President Ayub Khan. The 'basic democracy' system was used in Ayub Khan era to elect the president. The local government, he said, would be financially self-reliant. On the administrative system, he said, we are looking into matter as to what was the effectiveness of the department of magistracy, which was part of the colonial system. "We are looking whether there is a need for the administration to have the judicial power," he added. The chairman on developing the planning system said, they were working on the approach to start the process of planning from the lower tier to the upper level. On the legal system, he said as in the past, there should have the legal power at the district, Tehsil and the Union level. He said that the elections will be held in accordance with the 1998 census and at present the provincial government were carrying out delimitation of the union councils. He said all the union councils would comprise almost the same population to ensure equal representation of the people at district level. Gen Naqvi dismissed the contention that the present system was against the Islamic injunctions, saying the power devolution plan was to provide justice to the people. To a question if the government would be able to put police stations under an assistant superintendent of police (ASP), he said, it was possible as an officer of this rank needed training of six to one year. More officers of this rank would be recruited. This can be done either through lateral entry or some other way, he added. Replying to a question on first information report (FIR), he said, under the local government system this could be registered even outside the police station. Answering a question why the government decided to continue with the separate electorate for the minorities, he said this was one way of giving them representation. Mr Naqvi conceded that joint electorate was another way of allowing minorities to choose their representatives. Asked who decided to continue with the separate electorate, Mr Nagvi said, it was the government's decision. Replying to a question on the 1979 Local Bodies Act, he said, that only those provisions relating to the elections would be implemented. He said holding of local elections under the devolution plan would not violate Article 32 of the Constitution. To a question, he said, the party-based elections only bring in rich people to the fore as only they can afford to buy party tickets, leaving no room for the poor to contest the polls. TAXES: Responding to a question, he said, no district would be allowed to impose any import or export tax. "No tax will be allowed on the movement of goods from one district to another," he said. To another question, he said, the people of tribal areas were devising their own plan in the light of the local government system. Once they were able to conceive such a plan, he said, the government would help them in this regard. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000819 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Government asked to stop talking to traders ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ikram Hoti and Faraz Hashmi ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: The Central Board of Revenue chief has urged the government to immediately stop negotiations with traders on tax- related issues. "Such talks are deemed as weakness of the government and hamper the process of tax survey and documentation of the economy", CBR chairman told the corps commanders conference here on Friday. The Wapda chief also called the government to take stock of the fast- depleting water storage capacity and take measures for construction of more reservoirs. The first round of the two-day conference, which started at the general headquarters in Rawalpindi on Friday, was presided over by Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf. The conference, which is also being attended by principal staff officers, was given detailed briefings by Wapda chairman Lt- GenZulfiqar Ali Khan on water management and CBR chairman Syed Riaz Hussain Naqvi on the progress of tax survey and documentation of economy, an official statement said. The participants reviewed the prevailing geo-strategic environment in the region, the situation along the borders and line of control as well as working boundaries, it added. They also discussed internal and external security situation as well as defence-related matters. The CBR chairman revealed that the figures compiled so far through the survey, reflected that 50 per cent of the people with taxable incomes were out of the tax net and about one million registered taxpayers were under-reporting their sources and evading taxes. But the estimated Rs100 billion could only be generated from documentation of the economy and there was no need for making the overtures to the business bodies in connection with the measures being taken for detecting their actual source of income, Mr Naqvi maintained. In the light of deductions made so far, the survey needed to be conducted according to the plan, but it could not be carried out without "full and unswerving support" of the government, Mr Naqvi said. Only the present government could ensure realization of the goal. "But the process of retrieving the survey forms has been hampered substantially due to a number of recent statements issued by some important government functionaries on allowing some concessions to the traders", he added. The businessmen who had not submitted their forms so far, were awaiting concessions and delaying their response to the demand for data on their incomes which caused delay in completing the process, he added. With the help of figures and sketches drawn on history of dealing with the traders on taxation measures, Mr Naqvi said the traders generate a very small portion of the tax amounts on the basis of economic figures being documented through the survey of the business section. Most important areas in this respect, he stated, were the textile, steel, tanneries and to some extent, plastic manufacturing. The survey, he added, aimed at ledgering the close-to-actual figures on these sectors. The other important area, the CBR chief said, was matching the utilities-bills figures with the incomes declared by the people. The figures compiled on all these areas about their taxation potential reflected that these would account for more than 80 per cent of the revenue the government was aiming for. Hence no urgent need to approach the trade sector for a cooperation in conduct of the survey, he stressed. He further told the conference that the traders had a history of breaking promises of meeting the tax targets agreed with the government from time to time. Five schemes prepared to bring them into the tax-net and about 50 meetings convened so far to obtain their cooperation, had failed to yield any significant results. The traders' bodies had proved anarchic and agreements concluded with one set of them had not been acceptable to another group of bodies. WATER RESERVOIRS: The Wapda chairman, Lt-Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan, apprised the commanders that the depleting water storage capacity of the country by the year 2010 would reach at the stage where it had been before the construction of Tarbela Dam, an official source said. He told the conference that the water situation was becoming more serious with every passing day as the storage capacity was fast depleting with the flow of huge amount of sedimentation in Tarbela. He called for construction of more reservoirs to increase storage capacity. The chairman also briefed the conference about the strong sentiments prevailing in the country against the proposed Kala Bagh dam and his interaction with the leaders of public opinion in Sindh on the issue, they said. The Wapda chief said already 20 per cent capacity of Tarbela and 30 per cent of Mangla had been lost to the sedimentation. He added that on an average 500,000 tons of sedimentations were flowing in Tarbela reservoir every day. Lt-Gen Khan further said that with the construction of Kala Bagh dam the country would not add to its water storage capacity, only it would regain what it had lost because of sedimentation. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000816 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Offices of Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner abolished ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ansar Abbasi ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: The offices of commissioner, deputy commissioner, and assistant commissioner have been abolished in the devolution plan. The plan, announced by the chief executive, Gen Pervez Musharraf, on Aug 14, envisages a decentralised administrative set-up and a package of police reforms. According to the plan the district coordination officer (DCO) will coordinate between the district administration which will consist of 12 groups of offices each headed by an executive district officer. Both the DCO and EDOs will be appointed by the provincial government and their normal tenure of posting will be three years. The DCO can be prematurely transferred by the Zila Nazim (ZM) but only after giving him a formal warning and also stating the reasons for transfer to the chief secretary of the province. The EDOs can be transferred prematurely by the ZM with the consultation of the DCO. In case of difference between the two, the ZM will prevail. The ZM will initiate performance evaluation report of the DCO, however, the technical reporting officer will be the chief secretary and the counter-signing authority will be the chief minister. Such reports in case of EDOs will be initiated by the DCO and the counter-signing authority will be the ZM. POLICE REFORMS: The plan also envisages the setting up of national public safety commission (NPSC) comprising 12 members, half of whom will be MNAs, at least one from each province. The other half will be independent members to be selected by a panel consisting of Supreme Court chief justice, a minister nominated by the prime minister and Federal Public Service Commission chairman. The NPSC will monitor performance of federal law enforcement agencies. It will recommend panels of officers of the police service as heads of federal law enforcement agencies to the prime minister. It will also recommend panel of three officers to the provincial public safety commission (PPSC) for appointment as the provincial police chief. The PPSC will also comprise 12 members half of whom will be elected through voting by the provincial assembly and the other six independent members will be appointed by the governor, on the recommendation of the selection panel, consisting of high court chief justice, non-elected member nominated by the prime minister and another by the chief minister. The PPSC will have the responsibility for coordinating the functions of all public safety commissions within the province and also for evaluating their performance annually. It will also recommend persons for appointment as members of the police complaints authority (PCA). DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000816 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Counsel justifies Nawaz's action ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Shamimur Rahman KARACHI, Aug 15: Counsel for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday submitted before a full bench of the Sindh High Court that his client was justified in ordering the PIA plane, carrying Gen Pervez Musharraf, to be diverted to some place outside Pakistan, because the appellant was consolidating his position. Barrister Azizullah Shaikh took this position when the bench started hearing three appeals against the anti-terrorism court's April 6 judgment in the plane hijacking case. Mr Sharif has sought quashment of the judgment, whereas the state has appealed for enhancement of his sentence and conviction of six others who had been acquitted by the trial court. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Wahid Bux Brohi, resumed hearing after the Supreme Court had dismissed Mr Sharif's plea against the constitution of the full bench and allowed the advocate-general, Sindh, to produce additional documents to establish the government sanction behind the state appeal in the plane hijacking case. Challenging the conviction of his client, Mr Shaikh read out various portions of the statements of Aminullah Chaudhri ( approver), some of the prosecution witnesses and the FIR to bring out contradictions, and claimed that charges against him ( Nawaz) were not true. The counsel maintained that, if one section of the evidence was tainted, the entire evidence would fall flat. He claimed that it had all been done by Aminullah Chaudhri but his client was blamed. He further maintained that Mr Sharif had allowed the plane to land, which proved that he did not want Gen Musharraf to be killed, "By removing Gen Musharraf and ordering the plane to be taken outside Pakistan, he was trying to consolidate his position," submitted the counsel. "Where is the evidence that his power was being challenged?" asked Justice Osmany. The counsel claimed that his client had the right to remove Gen Musharraf and appoint Gen Ziauddin in his place as chief of the army staff. He reiterated that no hijacking had occurred and that Mr Sharif, in his capacity as prime minister, had ordered the diversion of the plane carrying Gen Musharraf. With regard to the prosecution's case that the appellant had ordered the plane to be taken outside Pakistan, Mr Shaikh claimed that "he (Nawaz) was consolidating his position because he was suspecting a coup by the army. This was not an abnormal behaviour of Nawaz Sharif to send him ( Musharraf) outside Pakistan ." In this context, Mr Shaikh cited the manner in which Iskander Mirza was ousted and sent out of Pakistan by Field Marshal Ayub Khan and Gen Gul Hassan; and Air Chief Rahim's removal by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. "It was not abnormal in case of Pakistan", he submitted, adding that "we have seen similar acts in the past, too, when the rulers had tried to consolidate their position and Nawaz Sharif also did the same. He was trying to keep him (Musharraf) out till his supporters were weeded out. It was normal". Making submissions on Mr Sharif's appeal challenging his conviction and the sentence awarded to him by the trial court, Mr Shaikh tried to cite what, he claimed, were contradictions in the FIR, and cross- examination of Col Atiq-uz-Zaman Kiyani and some other prosecution witnesses. Referring to the FIR, the counsel said that Nawaz Sharif and co- accused Shahbaz Sharif, Syed Ghous Ali Shah, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Senator Saifur Rahman, Saeed Mehdi, Rana Maqbool Ahmed and Aminullah Choudhry had been booked under sections 402 (B), 109, 140 PPC, read with section 324 (Qisas and Diyat), section 365 and section 7 (2) B of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. Later, sections 120 (B), 121,121 (A) and 123 were also incorporated into the FIR, he said, adding that these sections were later dropped when the trial had proceeded. The counsel recalled that the appellant was convicted by the trial court which awarded two life terms and a fine of Rs3 million or in default to undergo further imprisonment for five years. But, he said, the accused were not charge-sheeted under Qisas and Diyat laws, neither were formalities in this regard fulfilled. He prayed for a re-trial on account of non-compliance of Qisas and Diyat laws. Referring to the evidence of Lt-Col Kiyani, Protocol Officer, 5 Corps, the counsel argued that the FIR was well- thought- out and well- typed before it was given to police officials for action. He maintained that the complainant had defied constitutional authority of the prime minister when he ( Kyani) recognised Gen Musharraf as the Chief of Army Staff, ignoring the announcement of his removal and appointment of Gen Ziauddin in his place. The counsel also levelled similar allegations against the corps commander and other senior officers who had gathered at the airport to receive Gen Musharraf. . The complainant was a serving officer and was supposed to receive only serving officers, not retired ones , he said. Mr Shaikh pointed out that, at the trial stage, the defence side had objected to the statement of the complainant as it was based on "heresay". The complainant had been re-called and examined further by the trial court, said the counsel, pointing out discrepancies in the statements. However, when the complainant was asked by whom he had been examined, he had failed to name those officials or agencies, said Mr Shaikh, adding that it was also unbelievable that a senior army officer had been ignorant about the change in command at the topmost level. At this stage the chief justice observed that, after the Supreme Court judgment on petitions against Oct 12 takeover, these arguments by Mr Shaikh were not valid. Reading out portions from the statement of Choudhry Mohammed Zubair, sub-inspector, Airport PS, who had registered the FIR on the written complaint by Col Kiyani, Mr Shaikh said he had conceded that till Nov 10, 1999 no report or FIR was lodged at PS Airport by any individual passenger or else and even police did not lodge any FIR. He also read out portions of the statement of Zahid Manzoor, Protocol Officer, Prime Minister's House, Islamabad. He said names of Saifur Rahman, Shahbaz Sharif and Saeed Mehdi had not been mentioned in the FIR. He maintained that Saeed Mehdi was only obeying orders, but his name was included in the statement given by the prosecution witness because he(PW) had an axe to grind. The counsel maintained that the entire episode was enacted because of the approver, Aminullah Choudhry, the then director- general of Civil Aviation Authority. He had gone scot- free and instead Mr Sharif was tried and convicted, he added. Mr Shaikh claimed that the allegations against his client were a "bundle of lies" and in this connection he referred to what he considered to be inaccuracies in the timings of occurrences and substance of the statements. At the outset the counsel drew attention of the bench to the non- compliance of the court's order to provide names of those who had handcuffed the former prime minister after the military takeover. After the chief justice observed that the non-compliance gave the impression that the prosecution had little respect for the court's order, the advocate- general assured the bench that the orger would be complied with on Wednesday. Mr Shaikh requested the court to adjourn the proceedings at 12.45 pm till Wednesday morning. His request was granted. Mr Shaikh also filed power of attorney on behalf of Saifur Rahman in the appeal filed by the state against his acquittal. Ejaz Batalvi, Khawaja Haris, Mir Muhammed Shaikh, Manzoor Ahmed and others represented the accused, besides Mr Shaikh . Syed Ghous Ali Shah and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi were present in courtroom during the proceedings as they were appearing in person in their defence. The prosecution side included Raja Qureshi, advocate- general, Sindh; Barrister Zahoor-ul-Haq and others. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000817 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Commission for women constituted ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Aug 16: The government on Wednesday constituted a National Commission on the Status of Women, which will be headed by the NWFP Minister for Women Development and Population Welfare, Dr Shaheen Sardar Ali. The commission has been set up in exercise of the powers conferred under section 3 of the National Commission on the Status of Women Ordinance, 2000 (xxvi of 2000). Two members of the minorities were also includedin it. The members are: Dr S.M. Zaman, Chairman, Islamic Ideology Council; Dr Faqir Hussain, Secretary, Pakistan Law Commission; Dr Farida Ahmed (Scholar) from Karachi, Dr Rukhsana Zia (Punjab), Nigar Ahmed (Punjab), Ms Charmaine Hidayatullah (Sindh); Ms Mumtaz Rashdi (Sindh), Ms Maryam Bibi (NWFP), Ms Bushra Gohar (NWFP), Dr Nagina Baloch (Balochistan), Ms Rahila Durrani (Balochistan), Ms Syeda Gul (AJK), Rani Ateeqa (Northern areas), Dr Begum Jan (FATA), Ms Mira Phailbus (Minorities), Ms Aban Marker (Minorities), Secretary (Law Justice & Human Rights Division (Ex-officio), Secretary( Finance Division (Ex-officio), Secretary (Interior Division) (Ex-officio), Additional Secretary( Women Development and Social Welfare) (Ex- officio/Secretary). Terms of office and conditions of service of the chairperson and members will be determined by the federal government. -APP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000814 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Govt probing leakage, possible motives: Hamoodur Rahman report ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ashraf Mumtaz LAHORE, Aug 13: The government is finding out how the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report, published by an Indian magazine, reached India and who was responsible to keep it in his custody despite the change of governments, Information Minister Javed Jabbar says. Talking to Dawn on Sunday night, he said the government would make an appropriate statement at an appropriate time to inform the nation about the factual position. "The government is already seized of the matter." The minister said: "One hopes that the document contributes to a future which is better than the past." According to other official sources, the government is also trying to determine the possible motives behind the publication of the report at a time when the Indian government is coming under increasing international pressure to hold talks with Pakistan on the longstanding Kashmir dispute. The sources said the government would ascertain if the report was 'doctored.' On the other hand, Maj-Gen Rao Farman Ali Khan (retired), a former political adviser to the East Pakistan governor, says the report published by the Indian magazine seems "genuine" as it contains all what he had said before the Hamoodur Rahman Commission. Talking to Dawn, he said there was no reason to say that the report was fake. He said he had himself gone through the original reports because of which he was in a position to say that what the Indian magazine had published was not concoction. According to published reports, the commission had exonerated Lt-Gen Tikka Khan, Sahibzada Yaqoob Khan and Maj-Gen Rao Farman. However, it had called for public trial of Generals Yahya Khan and Abdul Hamid Khan, Lt-Generals A.K. Niazi and Gul Hasan, Maj-Generals Umar, Mitha, M. Rahim Khan, Mohammad Jamshed, Abid Zahid and Brig Jahanzeb Arbab. Rao Farman pointed out that although the commission was supposed to determine the causes of the military defeat in East Pakistan, it had also touched upon the political aspects of the matter. He said "political bungling" was the major reason behind all what happened in East Pakistan. Had the Indian army not intervened, East Pakistan would not have separated, Farman said. He said New Delhi had exploited the situation to an extent that Pakistan's army had stood completely alienated. In his opinion the surrender could have been averted by agreeing to a ceasefire. Asked how in his assessment the report could reach India, Gen Farman Ali Khan said that originally 12 copies of the report had been prepared, two of which had been taken by the late Z.A. Bhutto. However, one copy was taken back when the military raided his Larkana residence following the 1977 takeover. Maybe, he speculated, somebody had sold any copy of the report to make money. He said it was wrong to say that all copies of the report had been destroyed. A former interior secretary, MAK Chaudhry, he pointed out, had also written in his book that he had seen a copy of the report in the interior ministry. He proposed that the government should publish the report in full as what had been published by the Indian magazine was only a part of it. Former army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg said that the government must find out how the report reached Indian hands. He said copies of the report were supposed to be with only a few people like the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the defence ministry. He said when he was army chief, the report was not available with the GHQ and thus he had never seen it. Gen Beg said the publication of the report by an Indian magazine was very embarrassing for the Pakistan government and every citizen of the country. He said now the government should publish the full account of the report, along with other reports which so far had not seen the light of the day. The former general, who now heads a political party, said there was no justification for protecting the people who were guilty. In his opinion, instead of offering excuses and apologies, the government should publish all reports. The 1965 war assessment, the inquiry report on the 1988 air crash which had killed Gen Ziaul Haq and many others, the Ojheri Camp and the Kargil episode reports should also be made public, Gen Beg said. He said there was no point in hiding facts. Gen K.M. Arif (retired) said that the report had already been published by a UAE-based English language daily some 15 years ago and thus there was nothing surprising if some Indian magazine published it now. He said he was unable to say anything about the authenticity of what had been published. However, he proposed that like other countries the Pakistan government should also set a time frame after which even sensitive reports should be published. He said after over two decades had gone by, the government should release the bulk of the report on the 1971 tragedy. Gen A.K. Niazi could not be contacted despite repeated efforts as his family members in Lahore said that he had gone to Mianwali and was not available on any phone. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000816 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Missiles' seen over Balochistan: ISPR offers no comment ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Saleem Shahid QUETTA, Aug 15: Flares, presumably those of missiles or rockets, were seen flying over Quetta and other cities of Balochistan late Tuesday night causing scare among the people. Several people and officials claimed to have spotted the flares over Quetta, Loralai, Qila Saifullah and other areas of Balochistan. However, the officials concerned did not confirm the destination, landing of these flares and any damage in any area. The DC, Barkan, Iftikhar Chaudhary, confirmed by telephone that he had seen the flares, crossing the sound barriers over the skies. He said the flares or "missiles" were moving with a very high speed in a row of six to seven. When contacted, Shoib Mir, deputy commissioner, Loralai, also confirmed the flying of the flares, "possibly rockets or missiles" over Loralai. The DC said that the people in Hostri, Kocha Killi and Mara Tangi had also spotted those objects and confirmed it to him. Both the officials said that there were no reports where those "missiles" had landed. The political agent, Chagai, also confirmed the flying of missiles or rocket with high speed over Chagai district. Some reports suggested that the "missiles or rockets" were flying from west to east. Rafaqat Ali adds from Islamabad: An ISPR spokesman ruled out the possibility of any attack on any part of Afghanistan like the Americans made earlier on the hideout of Osma Bin Laden. Gen Rashid Qureshi, the ISPR director-general, when contacted by telephone late Tuesday night, said there was no veracity in such reports. He was asked if he had any information of any blast or sighting of missiles, he said he was not in a position either to confirm or deny it. He said only after checking up with the relevant authorities he would be in a position to say anything.
=================================================================== BUSINESS & ECONOMY 20000818 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Govt, traders agree on 1pc turnover tax ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The government has reportedly agreed to reduce the turnover tax from two to one per cent. An agreement to this effect is likely to be signed between the traders and the government in next couple of days, says a government official involved in the negotiations with the traders. The government's chief negotiator, Altaf Saleem told Dawn here on Thursday that a final round would be held on Monday. When contacted, the trade leaders told Dawn that the talks would start on Friday and "most probably an agreement will be arrived at on Saturday." The officials, who have finalized the formula, said that major issues, including the turnover tax, had been resolved. The traders wanted the turnover tax rate to be reduced to 0.5 per cent and the government has all along insisted on the two per cent with some other concessions. "We have succeeded in getting the turnover tax reduced to one per cent", said a trade leader. Officials, who have worked out the formula after a round of talks held here Thursday between the traders and the chief negotiator, told Dawn that the traders were being offered a simplified version of the scheme as compared to the taxation regime under the Finance Ordinance, 2000. The eight-point formula provides for treatment of the traders' stocks under amnesty scheme, reduction in turnover tax (1%), a non-gross- profit-based rate of income tax, immunity from audit under self- assessment scheme, increase in exemption limit for assessment of turnover, simplified documentation, and deletion of tax procedures hampering implementation of the new package. The traders' proposal, that a new amnesty scheme be given to them for clearance of their stocks at 2 per cent of the value as against 12 per cent, 13 per cent and 15 per cent under the Tax Amnesty Scheme (TAS), has been accepted. However, stocks put up for declaration under the formula would be subject to audit at the discretion of the tax authorities, wherever necessary. The traders' proposal regarding assessment of stocks has also been accepted with a slight modification. The proposal was that once the stocks are determined, a six-time multiple of these stocks should be worked out to determine the turnover (sales) for three years, in case of wholesalers. For retailers, the multiple was proposed to be three- time. However, the government has said that it should be one year not three years, with the reservation that "the multiple should be five- time and 10-time, respectively. "These multiples would vary for various categories of traders as per the final agreement between the two sides", says the formula. On the net profit rate issue the traders' proposal that once the turnover is determined a certain ratio may be taken as the NPR-income which may be taxed on the standard rates, has been accepted. The traders' proposal that the NPR calculation should be valid for three years has, however, not been accepted. It was proposed that the retailers' NPR should be at 3.5 per cent and the wholesalers' at 0.5 per cent. However, after a modification the traders have accepted its applicability for one year with the condition that the NPR for wholesalers would depend on traders' categories. The details of which would be finalized through further negotiations. The traders proposal for fixing the turnover tax exemption limit at Rs2.5 million (from Rs1 million), has not been included in the formula after lengthy talks in this connection. Documentation of sales/purchases of the traders now stand simplified, and the traders would keep records on a register, on daily and monthly basis, showing their bills-in business. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000818 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 49 units to be sold for $4bn: Privatization plan unveiled ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ikram Hoti ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: Privatization Commission chairman Altaf Saleem on Thursday announced a $4 billion plan for the sale/ disinvestment of 49 public sector enterprises and shares. The chairman told a press conference that the process would be completed in two years and added that a regulatory framework, to be announced shortly, would govern this process. The sale/disinvestment of utilities organizations would be covered by a regulator for price control, shares would be handed over to bidders with the debt burden, and benchmarks would be set for evaluation of the organizations and their shares, he said. The financial and utilities organizations which are to be unloaded wholly or in part by December are: Allied Bank (disinvestment of 49 per cent shares); NBP, HBL, MCB and Sui Southern Gas Company (public offer); nine oil/gas fields (working interest); LPG and meter manufacturing units of the SSGC, SNGPL and PSO, POL, ARL (minority share-holding); PSO shares in PRL; and Pak-Saudi Fertilizers. Industrial units are: Pak Steel Fabricating, Suzuki Motorcycles Pak Ltd, Sindh Engineering, Kohinoor Oil Mills, Morafco Industries, A.C Rohri Cement, Javedan Cement, Lyallpur Chemicals, Hazara Phosphate, Ravi Rayon, Larkana Sugar Mills, Shahdadkot Textile Mills, Talpur Textile Mills, Dir Forest Complex, PECO (Badami Bagh), and TDC Vehicle Engineering. Besides, transactions envisaged to be undertaken during the medium- term privatization plan (ending on June 30, 2002) include telecommunication, financial/banking, oil/gas, power/electricity, insurance, industrial, etc. The following projects and organizations fall under the medium-term privatization plan: PTCL, Telephone Industries of Pakistan, CTI, HBL, UBL, First Women Bank, NIT, ICP, OGDC, Pakistan Gas Corporation, working interest in nine oil/gas fields (other than those included in the short term), Pakistan Petroleum, PSO, SNGPL, SSGC, KESC and the National Power Construction Company. The insurance companies to be disinvested under the long-term plan are: State Life Insurance and Pakistan Insurance Corporation. The industrial units listed under this plan are: Pak-American Fertilizers, Pak-Arab Fertilizers, A&B Industrial Gases, Maqbool Oil Mills, E&M Oil Mills, Sargroh Vegetable Ghee Mills, Thatta Cement, Mustehkam Cement, Spinning Machinery, Republic Motors, Pak Motor Car Company, PECO (Kot Lakhpat), Harnai Woollen Mills, and Bolan and Lasbella Textile Mills. The list also includes Flattis Hotel, Lahore, and National Construction Company. Explaining his strategy for the ambitious plan, Mr Saleem said measures were being taken to safeguard the state and consumer interest, and to obtain a reasonable price. "Transfer of debt to the buyer will be secured, without which we won't be selling these assets". The plan carries a debt of about $11 billion. He said the PC was being cautious and selective in its sale plan. "But that does not mean we would be over-cautious. We won't let the prices of the listed projects deteriorate" and at the same time "we won't go for a throwaway price". The response to invitation of expression of interest on the LPG business privatization, he said, had been encouraging as 25 companies had approached the PC. In reply to a question regarding the post-sale follow-up, he said that out of Rs59.6 billion worth of sale so far conducted, only Rs2.5 billion was outstanding due to litigation. "That is not a discouraging performance," he remarked. He said that data on privatization over the past 6-7 years in the region indicated that Pakistan did not fare badly. Privatization worth $1.7 billion was achieved by Pakistan in the period in comparison to $1.6 billion by Thailand and $900 million by Malaysia. The minimum regional achievement was $1.5 billion, reflecting the performance of Pakistan on the positive side, he maintained. The PC chairman said that smaller projects would be the first to be privatized to be followed by the medium and large-scale ones. The unprofitable organizations had been causing a Rs100 billion annual loss to the exchequer, he said, adding that a strategy for damage control was being applied to siphon out these projects before they became junk and others, which still were profitable, became unprofitable. The banks in the state sector needed an injection of Rs29 billion a year, and still they were being considered "our crown jewels," he said. The total loss incurred by the state sector organizations ate up as much as 30pc of the total tax collection every year, he added. Only the KESC, he said, had consumed Rs35 billion over the past five years, and it would need another Rs60 billion in the next two years. In reply to a question about leak-out of the reference price of the state sector organizations put up for bidding, Mr Altaf said that since a number of organizations, including private companies, were involved in the process of evaluation "there is a slim chance of protecting the reference price figures. However, he added, efforts were being made to check such leakages. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000813 ------------------------------------------------------------------- No loan to supporters of terrorism, says IMF ------------------------------------------------------------------- By M. Ziauddin ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: Countries identified internationally as supporters of terrorism and those with corrupt and undemocratic regimes are not likely to get IMF assistance and its advice. At a recent question-answer session held at the National Press Club in Washington DC, IMF managing director Horst Kohler explained the Fund's policy in this regard. He, however, qualified this policy by stating that the IMF on its own cannot square the circle, according to the transcript of the Q/A session put on the IMF website. The questioner had asked if the IMF should make loans to countries identified as supporters of terrorism. Mr Kohler in his reply said: "Certainly not, but the IMF is not - how should I say - the Lord who knows everything. And the Fund cannot square the circle. We have an assessment. We go to the countries with all of the best experts we have in order to assess the situation. We are often in a situation, not knowing exactly all the details of the situation." He said the Fund should be even more careful, particularly in the field of corruption of undemocratic regimes, not to work with them, "but this is then, also, an issue of our shareholders to come more clearly out how they see this country and the cooperation with this country." Mr Kholer believed writing off debts was not the right way to help poor countries and in his opinion if debt relief went again in the pockets of corrupt people then the very purpose of providing the relief to that country would be nullified. He said debt relief should be combined with improvement in policies, but "we should not ask from the debtor countries the impossible on statistics... but in the end, we also want to see some response in better policies." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000818 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Adjudication collectors powers enhanced: Tax appeals ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ikram Hoti ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The government has empowered the tax adjudication collectors to hear appeals against tax and duty assessment of unlimited value of goods imported into Pakistan. In this connection, a notification No C.2(9) L&P/96, dated Aug 16, 2000, has been issued here on Thursday by the Central Board of Revenue, which specifies the powers of the recently created seven Tax Adjudication Collectorates in the country. The collectors have also been authorized to impose penalty against the tax and duty evaders under the relevant provisions of the Customs Act, 1969. The additional collectors of adjudication would be hearing case involving goods the value of which should not exceed Rs1.5 million (excluding the value of conveyance used for transportation of seized goods), and the imposition of penalty. The deputy collector of adjudication shall adjudicate cases involving goods the value of which does not exceed Rs500,000 (excluding the value of conveyance used for transportation of seized goods), and the imposition of penalty. In cases where the goods are illegally imported both in terms of duty and nature, the collector of customs shall adjudicate without limit of value and imposition of penalty. The additional collector of customs shall adjudicate cases involving goods the value of which does not exceed Rs1.5 million and to the imposition of penalty. Similarly, deputy collector of customs shall adjudicate cases involving goods the value of which does not exceed Rs500,000 and to the imposition of penalty. Assistant collector of customs shall adjudicate cases involving goods the value of which does not exceed Rs250,000, and to the imposition of penalty. The assistant collector customs or the deputy collector, in- charge of Manifest Clearance Department, shall adjudicate cases of short landing without limit as to the value of goods and to the imposition of penalty. The principal appraisers and superintendents of customs shall adjudicate cases involving goods the value of which does not exceed Rs50,000, and to the imposition of penalty. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000818 ------------------------------------------------------------------- State Bank earns Rs30bn net profit in 1999-2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Mohiuddin Aazim KARACHI, Aug 17: The State Bank earned a net profit of more than Rs30 billion in fiscal 1999-2000: In 1998-99 its net profit totalled Rs28 billion. An official of ministry of finance told Dawn that SBP earned a gross profit of Rs35 billion in the last fiscal year. But a net loss of Rs4 billion booked in foreign exchange regime reduced it to something between Rs30-31 billion. The net profit of the central bank has marginally exceeded the revised target of Rs30 billion declared in the budget 2000-01: The initial target set in the 1999-2000 budget was Rs35 billion. The official said the target for the current fiscal year is Rs23 billion. The State Bank profit forms part of non-tax revenue and is the second largest source after interest on income from state-owned property and commercial enterprises. The budget 2000-01 projects non-tax revenue at Rs120 billion for the current fiscal year down from the revised estimate of Rs131 billion for fiscal 1999-2000. Sources close to SBP say that SBP buying of dollars worth $1.6 billion from the open market and the impact of rupee depreciation on its consumption from holdings in SDRs resulted into a loss of about Rs7 billion. But a profit of about Rs3 billion on forward cover business reduced the total loss in foreign exchange regime to Rs4 billion. SBP had to buy dollars from the open market at a price higher than the one in the inter-bank market in the wake of the foreign exchange crisis that had hit the country after it went nuclear on May 28 1998. Similarly the depreciation of the rupee in the last fiscal year resulted in larger outflow of the rupee equivalent of the SDRs consumed during this period. Officials of ministry of finance say one reason for projecting lesser SBP profit (Rs23bn) for the current fiscal year is that SBP may have to continue purchasing the dollars from open market. They would not reveal the estimated size of SBP buyings this year but sources close to multilateral agencies say Pakistan has agreed to limit such buyings to somewhere between $1.0-$1.5bn. They say actual buyings would depend largely on how soon IMF and the World Bank provide financial relief to the country. But leading currency dealers say the State Bank has so far not made any major buying in the first one and a half months of this fiscal year. "They (SBP) have not withdrawn from the market. But from July 1 their buyings have slowed," said head of a big money brokerage who declined to be quoted. The currency dealer whose network stretches through Karachi to Dubai- says lately the State Bank has made some efforts to rather institutionalize its forex buyings. "They (SBP) are talking to major suppliers of foreign exchange in the open market. They want them to sit with them and find out how SBP can continue to buy from the open market without letting the market go erratic." Officials keep a mum on this subject but a couple of leading currency dealers in the town say they do not see any reason for the open market going volatile if SBP starts buying dollars in a more systematic way. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000818 ------------------------------------------------------------------- District govts to levy various taxes ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ansar Abbasi ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The proposed district governments will impose a number of new taxes like on births, deaths, marriages, etc., and the National Reconstruction Bureau will prepare a schedule of those taxes, it is learnt. The schedule, to be ready by early next year, will be provided to every district government so that they could levy the taxes. The existing local government laws provided cover for taxes on births, deaths and marriages but these taxes were never collected, sources said. "We will also propose some new taxes so as to generate enough resources for the district governments," an NRB source said. All those taxes at the union, tehsil and district level which were covered under the law but were not collected, would be collected under by new set-up, he added. The revival of octroi taxes is also under consideration. Abolished by the PML government, the octroi tax had been a major source of revenue for the local government institutions in the past. Sources further said that the Supreme Court would shape up a comprehensive judicial system compatible with the devolution plan and capable of ensuring speedy and inexpensive justice. Almost 250 laws would be amended for the decentralization of extraordinary authority that, under the existing system, was vested to the office of the deputy commissioner, they said. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000817 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Hubco to seek compensation ------------------------------------------------------------------- KARACHI, Aug 16: Chief executive Hub Co said on Wednesday that the company will seek compensation from the government after the Supreme Court judgment barring the Company's move to seek international arbitration. Speaking at an annual briefing, the chief executive Syed Khursheed Husain while lauding the comments about the Hub Co by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, said these observations should be converted into action to solve the long standing dispute between the company and the Wapda. Khurshid said if Hub Co is guilty of corruption and higher cost, it should be punished under the law or the government should not level these charges against the company once for all. Referring to the present state of negotiations, he said Hubco had dispatched a counter proposal to Wapda, but no reply had been received so far from the Authority. Talking of financial results, he said the provision for bad debts has wiped out the entire profit of the company for two years. He said the actual tariff of the company was 3.87 cents per kilowatt which is 1.94 cents higher due to various costs including higher fuel charges. Giving details, he said, fuel charges were higher by 50% while the devaluation affected tariff by 30% and inflation by 8%. He said under-utilization of the plant was one of the reasons which increased tariff for the company and added that the actual tariff will have been at 3.39 cents if Wapda would have purchased more electricity. Referring to the reply of Hub Co through 50 questions asked by FIA, he said the company has submitted the reply and now the ball was in government's court. Suggesting measures for breaking the impasse between the government and Hub Co, he said, the environment of mutual trust and understanding has to be created between both the parties. The company has throughout the year ended June 30, 2000 fulfilled its statutory and contractual reporting requirements and completed all responses required by all Pakistani investigating agencies. "We strenuously deny any allegations of wrongdoings and are confident we will be vindicated," contended Khursheed. He complained of non-payment of full liabilities by Wapda and added it was the second year that the Company operated under "extremely difficult circumstances." According to him, the company continues to receive significantly lower payments than originally contracted with Wapda and guaranteed by Government of Pakistan. Despite all financial difficulties, Hub Co operated its power plant in accordance with terms of its contracts and fulfilled all obligations to its creditors. However, due to length of ongoing dispute and in conformity with generally accepted International Accounting Standards (IAS), Hub Co has provided fully for outstanding sums owed by WAPDA, its only customer. He expressed confidence that dispute with WAPDA will be resolved and that amounts outstanding will be recoverable.-APP/PPI DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000816 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Lint cotton prices escalate by Rs500 ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Staff Reporter KARACHI, Aug 15: Lint cotton prices have, over the last three weeks soared by Rs500.00 per maund (37.32 kg), owing to pressure on ready supplies and rising mill demand and spinners fear they are heading for a new seasonal peak level. "The export target of $6.4 billion set for the textile sector for the current year may not be achieved as the rising prices have eroded our competitive edge on the world markets", most leading spinners fear, "lower textile export could have negative impact on the national export target of $10 billion". Spinners were optimistic that the world market outlook has changed in line with Pakistan textile vision for the next three years after the lifting of anti-dumping curbs by the Japanese spinners imposed in 1995, but the local price flare-up could upset the targets. After having harvested a bumper crop of 10.5 million for the last cotton season, spinners were in a pretty comfortable position as far as the supplies of lint at competitive rates were concerned. "But the free market economy seems to have taken initiative from them after the entry of exporters in the cotton trade", market sources said. There was no price war between the major groups but foreign sales of about 0.7 million bales of lint and physical shipment of half a million bales so far have put spinners on the defensive as pressure on ready supplies caused the price flare-up. "We don't expect prices could climb down from the current highs until picking of seed cotton resume in the Punjab cotton belt, which again is expected to turn out another bumper crop", spinners say. What seems to have gone wrong with the official thinking was that emphasis was laid on lint exports to earn foreign exchange without taking into account the home demand of the textile industry, which has now more spindle in operation than a couple of years back, spinners claim. The net increase in lint prices was of the order of Rs500.00 per maund, making the cumulative rise over the last three weeks well beyond their export parity levels. The lowest was hit at Rs1,700.00 for the new crop NIAB from the lower Sindh cotton belt as compared to the prevailing Rs2,200.00. "The lint cotton is being more expensive each day eroding our competitive edge on the world markets for textiles", complains a spinner. Most of the spinners have curtailed their daily offtake from the market as yarn prices are not showing sympathetic increase both in the local and the foreign markets, said a leading cotton broker. He said spinners have cut on their daily offtake in the hope that prices could come down from the current peak levels after more ginneries resume production in the lower Sindh cotton belt by the next week. "The current price flare-up is in part fuelled by higher phutti prices as ginners have no option but to toe the line of growers", he adds. Phutti prices are being quoted around Rs910.00 to 915.00 per 40 kg and indications are that they may touch the peak of Rs1,000.00 dictated by the law of supply and demand, most ginners fear. What seems to have further added to the current price flare-up was reports that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) unlike its previous tenders it is not offering lint for local sales and perception of short supply triggered the current price flare-up in new crop, dealers said. According to market sources, the TCP has floated an international tender for 30,000 bales of various varieties including fine type of Afzal on Aug 16 and keeping in view the current world bullish markets, it is expected to get higher prices from the foreign buyers. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000816 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Farm, power sector use major foreign loans ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: The agriculture, water and power sectors have consumed $19.93bn since '60 which is 48.25% of the $41.16bn loan received from the international agencies and countries by Pakistan. This has been disclosed in the first-ever report on the sector-wise utilization of foreign debt taken by Pakistan since '60. The report was presented to the chief executive Gen Pervez Musharraf during a recent briefing on foreign debt. Total loan has been calculated at $41.16bn, out of which agriculture, water and power sectors consumed $3.2 and $16.63bn respectively during the last 40 years. Quoting from the report, sources said, $5.61bn which is 13.6% of the total foreign loan, was utilized in the public sector industry since '60. The telecommunication and communication sectors utilized 14.2% of the total debt which is $ 5.82bn, while the population and welfare sector utilized $0.55bn which is 1.3% of the total loan. Similarly, $ 1.64bn were borrowed for investment in education, science and technology sectors during the last three decades, which is 4% of the total foreign debt. A sum of $ 0.94bn was obtained from the foreign lending agencies for the development of rural sector which is 2.3% of the total foreign debt. While, "other sectors" received $6.76bn in these 30 years as a loan. This amount is 16.4% of the total amount received so far by Pakistan. The report said that it will be interesting to see a comparison of debt-GDP ratio with regional countries. It said, the China and Malaysia took huge loans but unlike Pakistan, their economies benefited enormously, creating opportunities to pay back the loan. The report said during the same period, India took $93bn loan. Its GDP was $ 731bn (thus loan was 13% of the GDP), China took $159b and its GDP was recorded at $4420bn (3.6% of the GDP), Malaysia's foreign debt is $39bn. Its GDP is $215bn (18.5% of the GDP), Thailand received $90bn debt. Its GDP is 369, thus 24.4% of the GDP. The report said that Pakistan's foreign debt/GDP ratio is 51%. The report said, Pakistan has borrowed indiscriminately without building corresponding ability to pay back. Resultantly, Pakistan stand as one of the highly indebted countries of the world with its total debt equal to the GDP or six times the annual government revenue. That is why, the report said, despite rescheduling, there has been a net outflow of capital as the following figures of last six months (July 99-Dec99) indicate: Inflow of loans /grants was $ 909m while, outflow (debt servicing) was recorded at $1.346bn, thus $437m is deficit. The report further said that Pakistan has been borrowing funds both from domestic and foreign sources without any assessment of either the requirement or an analysis of the cost of borrowing. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000817 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Rupee hits lowest in inter-bank market ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Mohiuddin Aazim KARACHI, Aug 16: The rupee hit a lifetime low of 53.80 to the US dollar in inter-bank market on Wednesday losing 25 paisa in a single session. But in the open market it remained almost stable at 56.35 to a dollar mainly because the rates in the open market have already reached the peak and no major demand is in sight. Bankers said the dollar traded between Rs53.65 and Rs53.80 on Wednesday up from Rs53.50 and Rs53.55 on Tuesday. They said the dollar shot up on high demand fuelled primarily by increased oil payments by local and foreign banks. Bankers said unlike in the past the State Bank left some local and foreign banks on their own to finance oil payments that in turn created heavy demand for the dollar. Officials remained tight-lipped but sources close to SBP said there was no change in the oil payment policy meaning that SBP would continue to foot part of fuel oil import bills on its own. But the sources said SBP had never followed-and would not be following in future-any fixed formula for sharing oil import bills with banks. They said it all depends on market conditions. Sources close of SBP said it was difficult to say if the State Bank had completely stayed away from financing oil payments on Wednesday or it had reduced its share. "Whatever the case maybe but it was one of the reasons for the fall of the rupee in inter- bank market," one of the sources remarked. Bankers said SBP did this deliberately in an effort to let the rupee reach a desirable level in the wake of declining Indian rupee and Bangladeshi taka. Indian rupee depreciated by 4.6 per cent against the dollar in the past two and a half months and the taka was devalued last week by 5.5 per cent. Against this, Pakistani rupee has depreciated by 3.5 per cent since June 1 2000 when the State Bank first allowed a 20 paisa downward adjustment in the unofficial cap it had introduced after floating the rupee in May 1999. One June 22 there was another downward adjustment of 20 paisa in similar fashion-and finally on July 20 the State Bank lifted the cap altogether. During this period the dollar has gone up from Rs51.90 as on May 31 to Rs53.80 on August 17. This means the dollar has gained 3.66 per cent against the rupee-or the rupee has depreciated by 3.55 per cent. It is against this backdrop that top bankers are foreseeing a little more depreciation of the local currency. They believe so because monetary managers always tend to make the Indian rupee as well as Bangladeshi taka-and some Far Eastern currencies a point of reference for judging whether Pakistani rupee is overvalued or not. But how soon the State Bank would allow the rupee to reach a new low- and whether transfer of oil payments to the banks would continue to be the only way of doing this-are burning questions. "Every central bank has some surprises up its sleeve," said a source close to SBP. "Let us see what they do. But transferring of oil payments largely to banks is certainly a simple way of making downward adjustments in exchange rates." But he said this would not necessarily mean sort of complete withdrawal of SBP from financing oil import bills because "our inter- bank market is not so deep to do it alone without pushing the dollar up to some unsustainable highs." Last fiscal year Pakistan spent on the import of POL products $2.7 billion or more than 25 per cent of its total import bill of $10 billion. Sources close to SBP said what made the rupee lick a new low on Wednesday was not only higher oil payments by some banks but also the psychological impression that it had cast on the market. "Whenever rates go up bankers start telling the exporters to delay realisation of export proceeds for a day or two and advise the importers to make quick buyings. This happened on Wednesday also," one of the sources explained to Dawn. "This is precisely what we are supposed to do. Our job is to advise our clients and help them earn more and lose less," said a foreign banker when asked to comment on it. But he said there was no panic buying by importers for they have already made enough forward buyings that kept forward premiums almost unchanged at Rs1.70-Rs1.75 over spot price for six months; 80-85 paisa for three months; 27-30 paisa for one month and three to five paisa for one week. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000817 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Frontier receives Rs990m from pool ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Intikhab Amir PESHAWAR, Aug 16: NWFP received over Rs990 million as its share from the federal divisible pool for the first month of the current financial year, official sources told Dawn here on Wednesday. Apparently, the money released by Islamabad is considerably more than the amount the province had received in the corresponding period during the 1999-2000 financial year. In July 1999 the province had been released a sum of just over Rs220m from the FDP against its monthly proportionate share of Rs1405.62m out of an initially projected total annual share of Rs16867.703m for the 1999-2000 financial year. "This time round the province received an amount of Rs770m over and above the sum it had received as its share from the FDP for the first month of the 1999-2000 financial year," said a high ranking official of the provincial government. However, the money received appears to be less than the proportionate monthly share of Rs1696.73m out of a total annual share of Rs20360.790m, the province has been projected to receive from the FDP during the 2000-2001 financial year. According to some other official sources, apart from the Rs990m received by the province, a sum of Rs550m to Rs600m book adjustment has been made from the Frontier's FDC share on account of debt servicing. During the current financial year the provincial government would repay a total of around Rs8263m from its over Rs60bn internal and external liabilities. Apart from the FDC share, the province has also received two monthly instalments of Rs72m each as the share of its local councils. The province would receive from the federal government a total of Rs866.661m as the share of its local councils for the 2000- 2001 financial year. Similarly, out of Rs4310.712m total subvention the province would receive in the current financial year, the proportionately monthly target of Rs359m has also been released for the month of July making the provincial government to meet its expenses from its own accounts. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000819 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Stocks still under pressure ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Staff Reporter KARACHI, Aug 18: Stocks on Friday remained under pressure as leading shares finished fractionally lower on stray weekend selling but larger decline was resisted thanks to the presence of selective support at the dips. The massive privitazation programme spread over the next two years should have generated a good bit of optimism in the market but investors stayed away apparently awaiting more details about the sell-off announced in the draft ordinance. "The steep decline in trading volume at 72m shares reflects investors are taking time to readjust themselves to the new corporate realities in the backdrop of sell-off over three dozen public sector entities including banks and leading energy shares", analysts said. However, the activity appears to be a jobbing affair as both jobbers and short-term dealers were the main players, with leading foreign funds and institutional traders keeping to the sidelines. The KSE 100-share index fell by 12.70 points on late weekend selling after early run-up and was last quoted at 1,571.97 as compared to 1,584.67 a day earlier, reflecting the weakness of Hub-Power and PTCL. The massive privatization programme announced yesterday by the Privatization Commission, aiming at to disinvest government stake in three dozen state-owned units including some mega issues such as PSO, Habib, and United Bank, Sui Northern and many others failed to generate buying euphoria widely speculated by some stock analysts. But the sell-off news will certainly enthuse investors, notably foreign ones as legal cover will be provided through an ordinance expected to be promulgated by the president during the next week. "About 10 per cent share of all the listed companies to be disinvested will be sold through the stock exchanges, which will certainly lure investors back in the rings with a view to take positions at the current lower levels", stock brokers said. Dividend news from the fertiliser sector, notably Engro Chemical and Fauji Fertiliser were below the market expected but viewed in the broader outlook the higher cost of inputs including gas has significantly eroded their profitability. Fauji Fertiliser's second interim at 20 per cent on aftertax profit of Rs917 was below the market perceptions but there was no selling in its amid hopes that the final could be higher owing to higher export prospects of urea. Although minus signs again held a strong lead over the plus ones, some of the leading shares managed to finish with good gains, major gainers among them being Siemens Engineering, Glaxo-Wellcome, Bolan Casting, Shaheen Insurance and Millat Tractors, which rose by Rs 2.75 to 6.25. Other gainers were led by Grays Leasing, Nagina Cotton, Pakistan Synthetics, AttocK Refinery, and International Industries, rising by one rupee to Rs1.45. Losses on the other hand were mostly fractional barring sharp setback in Pakistan Tobacco, PSO, General Tyre, BOC Pakistan, Janana Demalucho Textiles, Phlips and Lever Brothers, which suffered fall ranging from Rs1.05 to 11.50. Providence Modaraba, which rose sharply a day earlier also finished reacted by Rs3.40. Trading volume fell to 72m shares from the previous 98m shares reflecting that investors held on to their positions rather than indulging in selling. Losers held a strong lead over the gainers at 139 to 64, with 37 shares holding on to the last levels. The actively traded shares were led by PTCL, off 25 paisa at Rs26.55, followed by Hub-Power, easy five paisa at Rs16.60 on 12m shares, ICI Pakistan, lower 15 paisa at Rs14.55 on 8m shares, PSO, off Rs1.90 on 7m shares, Sui Northern off 35 paisa at Rs15.70 on 5m shares. Other actives were led by World Call Payphone,of 45 paisa at Rs23.00 on 3m shares, Telecard, lower 65 paisa on 2m shares, Dewan Salman, easy five paisa on 1.388m shares and FFC-Jordan Fertiliser, lower 15 paisa on 1.304m shares. DEFAULTING COMPANIES: Activity on this counter remained slow as investors kept to the sidelines owing partly to weekend considerations. Colony Textiles came in for stray support but was quoted unchanged at Rs3.50 on 2,000 shares followed by Mehran Jute, easy five paisa at Rs0.25 on 1,000 shares and Crescent Board, up five paisa at Rs3.10 also on 1,000 shares. BOARD MEETINGS: Dawood Hercules on Aug 19, Central Insurance Aug 22, Premier Insurance Aug 25, Adamjee Insurance Aug 29. Market at a glance TONE: easy, total listed 763, actives 240, inactives 523, plus 64, minus 139, unc 37. KSE 100-SHARE INDEX: previous 1,584.67, Friday's 1,571.97, minus 12.70 points. TOP TEN: gainers Millat Tractors Rs6.25,Glaxo-Wellcome 3.55, Shaheen Insurance 3.50, Bolan Casting 3.25, International Industries 1.45. LOSERS: Philips Rs3.45, Lever Brothers 11.50, Providence Modaraba 3.40, Janana demalucho Textiles 2.25,PSO 1.90. TOTAL VOLUME: 71.771m shares. VOLUME LEADERS: PTCL 18.489m, Hub-Power 11.681m, ICI Pakistan 7.813m, PSO 7.358m, Sui Northern 4.724m shares.Back to the top
=================================================================== EDITORIALS & FEATURES 20000813 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 'The buck stops here' ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ardeshir Cowasjee On May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri, a son was born to John Truman, mule trainer and farmer, and his wife Mattie. They were undecided whether to honour her father or his. In the end they compromised with the letter 'S'. It could be taken to stand for Solomon, or for Shipp, but in fact stood for nothing, a practice known among the Scottish- Irish even for first names. The baby was named Harry S. Truman. He was schooled locally, but was unable to go on to college, family finances not permitting, and he could not get into West Point because of an eye defect. So he started life as a farmer, served as the local postmaster, worked as a road overseer, and then joined the National Guard. During WW1 Captain Truman distinguished himself in heavy action and was commended for his bravery and other leadership qualities. After the war he became a partner of his haberdashery firm in Kansas City, and slowly, over the post-war years developed an interest in politics. It was in 1935 that he entered the US Senate as Democratic Senator from Missouri. In the 1944 presidential elections the Democratic Party nominated him for vice-president and on January 20, 1945, a dying Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with Harry Truman at his side, was sworn-in as president for the third consecutive term. Truman's vice- presidency lasted 82 days during which time he met Roosevelt only twice. When Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Truman was sworn-in as President of the United States of America. In 1949 he was sworn in for a second term in the White House. A firm and decisive man with courage that matched his convictions, he was never afraid to take unpopular decisions and to stick to them. A hand-lettered sign on his desk read : "The buck stops here". (Also attributed to Truman is the expression : "If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen".) Firm non-corrupt hands on the tiller is what has been needed for many a year in this unruly nation of 140 million, largely illiterate, inhabitants. There should be, and now must be, no room for flip- flops. On April 10 2000, our federal minister of finance Shaukat Aziz wrote to Air Marshal (retd) Azeem Daudpota. This letter was reproduced in my column last Sunday. The finance minister is keen to collect money. A delegation of the builders9 mafia had officially called on him and tempted him with the offer of enriching his exchequer by crores of rupees. He was unaware of their reputation and practices; he was ignorant of the environmental problems faced by Karachi; he knew nothing of the all-pervasive corruption that had overtaken each and every official building authority of the city, on a par with the corruption of the builders' and developers' fraternity; so he quickly passed on the buck. He confesses that he was ill-informed. To the Air Marshal Governor he wrote, ". . . . a review will have to be carried out on a case to case basis and the gross and blatant violations will have to be treated separately . . ." Good old Daudpota was assured that the crores offered by the builders in return for condonation of their violations of the law, and permission to continue with the violations, would flow into the coffers of Sindh. He inquired into the matter, and found that the committee constituted to look into such affairs had not been able to sort them out. So he reconstituted the committee, naming as convener Tasneem Ahmad Siddiqui, a member of the Governing Body (GB) of Karachi Development Authority. The committee members were three others of the GB - Architect Arif Hasan, Nazim Haji, Commissioner of Karachi Shafiq Piracha - plus Chief Controller of Buildings (CCB) of the Karachi Building Control Authority/KDA. This committee was notified and formed "to visit each [of 262] sealed buildings and formulate its recommendations in respect of stability of the buildings, state of occupation, environment, state of utility services, status of court decisions and proposed penalty, if regularized, along with the proposed draft notification/ordinance . . ." Three committee members are government servants and have little choice but to follow the directives of the government and to show acute sensitivity to the prevailing official nuances. Of the three, Tasneem and Shafiq are men of integrity, as are Nazim and Arif. The CCB by tradition established over the past couple of decades has been a man efficient and practised in the arts of corruption. He has always played a part, directly or indirectly, in whatever has been built illegally, unlawfully, wrongly, unsafely, dangerously. The present incumbent has been an officer of the KBCA for some twenty years. The committee has to submit its report to the governor of Sindh, now Mohammedmian Soomro. It feels it should do so without routing it through the GB of the KDA. Governor Soomro is 'pressing' for this report. He does not have the sign "The buck stops here" on his shiny desk nor does he pretend he is capable of seeing that it stops there. Tasneem's committee has found that there are a lot more than 262 buildings involved. They will also soon find that the builders who fleeced the people have wound up their businesses and disappeared and have dissolved their 'entities' responsible for the faulty or illegal buildings. The committee admits it has had no time to go into each case and has had to rely on information fed to it by the CCB. It is recommended that they consult Barrister Naim-ur-Rahman who knows all about the court cases, Barrister Faez Isa, chairman of SHEHRI who has written tomes on the subject, and Citizen Engineer Roland deSouza, also of SHEHRI, who has all the faults and illegalities documented. The table shown here (courtesy Roland deSouza) concerns just one illegal construction which has been illegally regularized by the Building Controller (BC) and other officers working under the CCB against whom no action has been taken. The same builders have to their record some 30 other buildings constructed in violation of rules and regulations which have in some form or the other been regularized. The most important item are the COS, i.e. the compulsory open spaces round the building, vital for the safety of life and limb, which have not been kept open. Now, who decides where minor infringements end and major begin? After the military takeover of October 1999, the builder of this building visited the KBCA officers bringing with him a colonel and a major so as to convey the 'right message'. The army officers were assured by Building Controller that there were no violations or deviations and that all was well within the laws. They accepted his certification. All was naturally not well, but within a matter of days, all was 'regularized' for the builder by Building Controller. Business remains as usual.
=================================================================== SPORTS 20000817 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Miandad's contract as coach extended: Team leaves for Singapore ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Sports Reporter KARACHI, Aug 16: Javed Miandad was given an extension until 2003 World Cup as team coach by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hours before the team's departure for Singapore to participate in the triangular series starting from Aug 20. The decision was take on Wednesday during the advisory council meeting of which the former captain is a member. Miandad was initially given a contract until Pakistan's tour of New Zealand in February next year. But Moin Khan, who was also retained as captain until New Zealand's tour, has not been given any further assurance. "His contract will be reviewed after March. If the team performs well and he improves his own form, there is no reason why he is not given an extension. But appointing him captain till the World Cup now doesn't make any sense," a spokesman of the PCB said. He added that Miandad has been given a long term keeping in mind the board's policy of continuity and emphasis on the tournament to be played in South Africa. The spokesman added that the chairman of the PCB Lt Gen Tauqir Zia and Miandad had a long discussion before reaching a consensus. Although the general was not available for comments as he had left for Gujranwala, the spokesman admitted that a decision on Miandad's coaching fee was also discussed and finalized. He said Miandad will get what the senior most players will receive from the board. This arrangement is the same as Miandad had agreed during his last term between September 1998 and April 1999. "Miandad will receive an equivalent amount as that of Wasim Akram because he is the only player in the highest slab. Same would be the pattern of his payment for the four-month tour between February and July," the spokesman said. It was also clarified that during off-season, Miandad would not be paid. "He will be considered on duty during the season only, like the players." Miandad, who left Wednesday evening for Singapore with the team, said he was happy with the extension. But he repeated that whether an extension was given or not, he would have been part of the cricket setup in his capacity as member advisory panel. "Of course, it is an honour to have retained the board's faith. I have always played and worked for the betterment of Pakistan cricket and now that I have been appointed a long-term coach, my responsibilities are more challenging," he said. Miandad admitted that he can now work and prepare a team keeping in mind that he has to be responsible for the team's performance in the South African competition. "Every tournament and series leading upto the World Cup is important and crucial. But now I can experiment a bit with the players, reshuffle them so that by the time the competition is round the corner, we are better equipped," the cricket genius said. CONTRACTS GIVEN TO PLAYERS: The PCB awarded fresh and upgraded contract to its 14 players who left for Singapore on Wednesday evening. The contracts included an additional clause included on the instructions of International Cricket Council (ICC) that no player would be allowed to place bets or get involved in match- fixing. It has been made mandatory for a player to inform the team management if he is approached by a bookmaker. Disciplinary action would be taken against a player who fails to report any contact with a bookmaker. The PCB, in its continued effort to curb match-fixing and betting, has strictly warned the players of dire consequences. However, it was not confirmed if the ICC's new orders of captains signing declarations that their team has not been involved in match- fixing would be introduced from Singapore. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20000818 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PCB makes new terms for deal with IMG ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Sports Reporter KARACHI, Aug 17: As the fate of next month's Toronto series hangs in the balance, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) laid down fresh demands for the revival of the contract with International Management Group (IMG). A spokesman of the PCB said this was the last year of the five-year agreement between PCB and IMG and if the organizers were keen to extend the contract, fresh negotiations will have to take place. He said the PCB would agree to play in Toronto in future if the organizers doubled its appearance money from half-a-million dollars which it was getting under the present contract. The spokesman emphasised that whatever the IMG may say, as far as the PCB was concerned, this is the last edition. "I know the contract is for five series' with India in Toronto. But if India doesn't play until 2010, will the contract keep its original shape? "Besides, the PCB didn't refuse to play India in Toronto. It was India who backed out. So the onus lies on them and not us," the spokesman added. Meanwhile, a representative of TransWorld international (TWI), television wing of IMG, said on Thursday that an official announcement regarding the Toronto series was expected in the next 48 hours. He admitted that at the moment, Australia and South Africa have rejected the offers to become the third team. But added that the IMG has approached other Test playing countries. At the moment, every team is either involved in cricket or is preparing for the future assignment which makes IMG's task of getting a team more difficult. Sri Lanka, one of the favourites who might bail out IMG, will be touring South Africa shortly; New Zealand will play Zimbabwe; England and West Indies are currently engaged in the series which doesn't end until the first week of next month; and Australia have already turned down the proposal. Meanwhile, website total-cricket.com quoted Sri Lankan cricket board spokesman Chandrasin Perera as saying that his team had the inclination and free time to either replace India or play both India and Pakistan separately. He, however, said no official invitation has been made by IMG until Thursday. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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