------------------------------------------------------------------- DAWN WIRE SERVICE ------------------------------------------------------------------- Week Ending : 02 December 2000 Issue : 06/46 -------------------------------------------------------------------
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CONTENTS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS + Deduction from F-16 money shocks CE + Govt attempts to put blame on Nawaz over F-16 money loss + NWFP preparing hydro-power policy + Lone calls for tripartite talks + LB polls in 18 districts on 31st: Results on Jan 6 + Export to Afghanistan, CARs in forex allowed + Saifullah convicted in Ehtesab reference + Pakistan recalls envoy from Dhaka + Pakistan receives BD govt's protest note + GDA inducts PML into its fold + Rs10 billion losses, fraud detected: NAB to investigate cases + Tarar asks India to respond to talks offer --------------------------------- BUSINESS & ECONOMY + IMF wants Pakistan to cut debt by June + CE to be briefed on new farm policy + Liquid forex reserves shoot up: IMF tranche + Sugar mills: Operations cease at beginning of crushing season + World Bank likely to offer additional funding + ADB to provide $52 million to help women farmers + 3rd phase of tax survey from 4th December + Asian Development Bank loan for farm sector + No political terms set, says WB + PTCL announces higher dividend on lower profit + World Bank assures 'special funding' to CBR + CBR issues one million NTN certificates + CBR seeks access to computer records --------------------------------------- EDITORIALS & FEATURES + Education, education, education Ardeshir Cowasjee + A penchant for sticking it in the mouth Ayaz Amir + Concept of secularism Irfan Husain ----------- SPORTS + Miandad confident of winning second Test + Pakistan tour: BCCI asks govt to reconsider decision
=================================================================== DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS 001201 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Deduction from F-16 money shocks CE ------------------------------------------------------------------- Rauf Klasra ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf summoned the finance minister and top officials of the finance ministry, foreign affairs, agriculture and economic affairs ministries for an emergency meeting here on Friday to discuss the F-16 vs wheat fiasco, as disclosed by Dawn on Thursday. The fact that Washington had deducted $60 million from the F-16 account was not disclosed to the chief executive in September and Gen Musharraf was reported to be furious on Thursday when he learnt about such a major development through the press. Top finance ministry sources told Dawn on Thursday that Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar had been directed to bring all the relevant record of the F-16 settlement with the US government and brief the CE comprehensively. Finance Secretary-General Moin Afzal, Agriculture Secretary Dr Zafar Altaf and the secretary of the economic affairs division, Nawaid Ahsan, have also been asked to attend the meeting. Sources at the chief executive's secretariat said Gen Musharraf could not believe that the finance and foreign ministries had signed such a one-sided agreement with the USA without taking him into confidence. One ministerial-level source, who was present at the meeting last March between Gen Musharraf and President Bill Clinton, recalled that Gen Musharraf had specifically requested the US president for the return of the F-16 money in cash and had been assured that the request would be considered. But without the chief executive's knowledge, officials of the foreign ministry and the finance ministry signed the agreements with the US for the payment to be made in the shape of commodities. And none of the three ministries involved in the deal - foreign affairs, finance and economic affairs - cared to inform the CE's secretariat. Even the Pakistan embassy in Washington did not pass on the information to the CE. The sources, however, said that before the singing of the agreement with the US early June the economic affairs division had sent a note, dated June 12, 2000, to the finance minister seeking his approval for the new arrangements. According to the copy of this note available with Dawn, the finance minister was told that the US government on April 6, 2000, had offered 240,000 tons of wheat with C&F value of $54 million (wheat value $30 million and freight $24 million), 50,000 tons of soyabean and 50,000 tons of soyaoil valued at $42 million during US FY 2000. In this offer, made under US PL-416 (b) programme, the cost of wheat was worked out on the basis of average procurement prices of the US government and a freight rate of $100 per ton, both of which exceeded the international prices by a wide margin. The economic affairs division said the US government had requested Islamabad to finalize agreement on this PL-480(b) programme by Sept 30. This offer was part of the repayment to the government of Pakistan under the agreement signed by Pakistan and US on 18-12- 1998 for the settlement of the F-16 repayment, the economic affairs division said. The economic affairs division note pointed out that it was agreed in the agreement that the US government would provide Pakistan goods and benefit of $60 million in FY '99 and of $80 million in FY 2000, respectively, in addition to the cash payment of $324 million. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001202 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Govt attempts to put blame on Nawaz over F-16 money loss ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Rauf Klasra ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf was informed by the foreign and finance ministers on Friday that the loss suffered by Pakistan in the wheat against F-16 scandal was mainly because of a one-sided agreement signed by the ousted prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, in December 1998. This convenient explanation was given to Gen Musharraf despite a revised agreement signed by the two concerned ministries in September this year which basically conceded linkage of the wheat received by Pakistan as aid to the F-16 account. Foreign ministry sources revealed that all the officials summoned by the chief executive on Friday to discuss the scandal had decided to shift the blame of the loss to the previous government, although documents show the deduction of $60 million from the F-16 account was conceded by the present government in September. No official statement was issued by either the chief executive secretariat or the finance or foreign ministries about the meeting but sources said the issue was quickly brushed under the carpet and everybody started congratulating each other on the IMF package. Attempts by Dawn to get an official version of the meeting from the foreign ministry, the finance ministry, chief executive secretariat or the press information department (PID) did not bear any fruit until late Friday night. The finance ministry spokesman, Dr Waqar Masud, when contacted by Dawn, said: "Yes, the meeting was held today to discuss the F-16 issue, however, I did not attend the meeting and can not make any comment on it." The emergency meeting, presided over by the chief executive, was attended by Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, Agriculture Minister Khair Mohammad Junejo, secretary-general finance Moin Afzal, finance secretary Younis Khan, foreign secretary Inamul Haq, agriculture secretary Dr Zafar Altaf and economic affairs division secretary Nawaid Ahsan. More details, obtained by Dawn through documents made available by the foreign ministry sources, showed the September last agreement, signed by the foreign and finance ministries, conceded extravagant freight rates of $80 a ton as against the prevalent market rate of $27 per ton of wheat. Thus while under the normal conditions the freight cost would have been about $11 million, Pakistan was charged $32 million. Not only this, Pakistan also conceded in September that the remaining $80 million, out of the total $140 million due in the F- 16 account, would also be received not in cash but as commodities and that too under rules governing the US aid PL-480 and PL-416 programmes. The sources said that this would mean another huge loss of millions of dollars to be paid in extra shipping charges to the US companies. Pakistan was actually paying its own hard currency to buy the soyabeans and soyaoil. The US government would even charge exorbitant prices for these commodities, much higher than the prevailing global market rates. Both the agriculture ministry and economic affairs division had protested over these high costs of shipment. According to documents available with Dawn, these protests were conveyed to the US authorities but were rejected. Documents reveal that under the September agreement, out of the remaining $80 million, the US will deduct $24 million as shipment charges for the import of 210,000 tons of soyabeans. Sources at the chief executive secretariat said the foreign minister briefed Gen Musharraf about the F-16 deal and put the whole blame on the shoulders of the jailed prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who had signed an agreement with Bill Clinton during his meeting in White House on Dec 2, 1998. These sources said the foreign minister conveniently avoided any mention of the September deal and Gen Musharraf was informed that after the Dec 2, 1998 meeting between Mr Sharif and President Clinton, Pakistan could not raise the issue again with the US government. It was decided that the issue be dumped and Pakistan be content with whatever it had received so far as it was feared that further probe into this issue could damage relations between the two countries. Sources said the meeting was also told that Pakistan's ambassador to the United States Dr Maleeha Lodhi had also sent a wire message to the foreign office to know the latest situation in Islamabad on the issue. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001201 ------------------------------------------------------------------- NWFP preparing hydro-power policy ------------------------------------------------------------------- Intikhab Amir PESHAWAR, Nov 30: The NWFP government is preparing a draft policy for exploiting the province's potential in hydro power sector as a cheap source for industrial development, official sources told Dawn. Under the policy, sites would be identified for the installation of small hydel power generation stations on the upper Swat Canal (Machay branch) for the interested private sector parties. Some 25 to 30 water fall sites, on the Machay branch, have been identified. Initially, three would be offered to the interested parties for developing small hydel power stations and industrial units. The power stations and industrial units would be set up by the interested parties concerned on 100 per cent investment basis. Whereas, the electricity generated therefrom would be brought under use only for industrial purposes and could not be supplied outside the premises of the unit. The power generation capacity of each of the power station would range from half to five megawatts. These sites would be offered to the private sector on lease. Main objectives of the policy include: 1) to utilise the NWFP's hydel power potential and 2) to encourage industrialists to develop their own power generation units, which would be cost effective in comparison with the electricity rates being charged by the WAPDA. The preparation work on the policy, jointly being prepared by the provincial power department, Sarhad Development Authority and the provincial irrigation department, is in final stages and it would be announced shortly after its approval by the NWFP governor in near future, the sources said. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001201 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Lone calls for tripartite talks ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone, a central leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has said that any solution to the Kashmir issue can be achieved only with the participation of all the three parties to the dispute - Kashmiris, Pakistan and India. Talking to a select gathering at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) here on Thursday he asserted that "any attempt to ignore this fact is bound to fail". Mr Lone said Kashmiris pinned great hopes on Pakistan and their leadership would never make such a decision that would be harmful for Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan should trust Kashmiri leadership's commitment with the cause and ability to negotiate a settlement that is in the best interest of the people. Mr Lone said he met Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf and found him to be a "forthright and straightforward man". "Kashmiri leadership is united under the All Parties Hurriyat Conference banner and should ensure that the struggle in Kashmir meets its logical end of getting rid of the Indian occupation", Mr Lone said. He said to maintain unity and coordination between political and armed struggle was essential for the success of the movement. In this regard, he said, the APHC formation a few years ago, was a positive and bold step after which different parties shunned their differences and had been working together. "The enemy is trying its level best to harm this unity", he stated and added, "it is bent upon creating mistrust and division through malicious propaganda and mischievous moves". Those who spoke on the occasion were Dr Rasul Baksh Rais, former ISI chief Gen Hamid Gul, former ambassadors, Dr Maqbool Bhatti, Dr S.M. Koreshi and Ghayoor Ahmad, former secretary-general foreign affairs S.M. Zaki, Ms Shirin Mazari, director-general, Institute of Strategic Studies, Dr Kaneez Fatima, Air Marshal (retd) Khuda Dad and Kashmiri leaders Prof Ashraf Saraf, Yusuf Nasim, G.M. Safi and Altaf Qadri. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001202 ------------------------------------------------------------------- LB polls in 18 districts on 31st: Results on Jan 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Faraz Hashmi ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: The first phase of the partyless, local government elections in 18 selected districts will be held on Dec 31 and the results will be announced on Jan 6, according to the schedule announced by the election commission on Friday. The EC gave no explanation for the unprecedented gap in the announcement of results. However, an EC spokesman told Dawn that the commission would issue an explanation later. He pointed out that the compilation of results in each district, where up to a hundred candidates would be running for a maximum of 21 seats, was going to be a time consuming job. According to the schedule, returning officers in these districts will receive nomination papers from Dec 2 to 5, and objections to the nomination papers will be received from Dec 6 to 9. The nomination papers will be scrutinized from Dec 11 to 16, and the preliminary list of the contesting candidates will be made public on Dec 16. The returning officers would receive appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers on Dec 18, an EC press release said, adding that the appeals would be heard and disposed of on Dec 19 and 20. The last date for the withdrawal of nomination papers has been fixed at Dec 21 and the final list of the candidates with the symbols allotted to them will be announced on Dec 22. This will be the first time that 18-year olds will cast vote in an election in the country as the government has reduced the voters' age-limit from 21 to 18. There has been a great deal of controversy over the authenticity of the voters lists prepared by the National Database and Registration Authority. The EC had to withdraw those much publicized computerized lists replacing them with the manually-prepared ones. In the first phase, elections are going to be held in Bannu, Lucky Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts of the NWFP; Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Laiyah, Muzaffargarh, Sargodha, Bhakkar, Khushab and Mianwali districts of Punjab; Larkana, Jacobabad and Shikarpur districts of Sindh; Kech, Gwadar & Panjgur districts of Balochistan. Elections are being held on the Muslim seats for men and women, special seats for labourers and peasants, reserved seats for labourer and peasant women, and special seats for non-Muslims and Nazim and Naib Nazims. The 23 districts selected for the second phase of election to be held in February are: Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Mardan and Swabi in the NWFP; Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot and Narowal of Punjab; Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushahro Firoz and Nawabshah in Sindh, and Naseerabad, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi and Bolan in Balochistan. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001128 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Export to Afghanistan, CARs in forex allowed ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: The economic coordination committee of the cabinet approved on Monday the export of cement, rice, pharmaceuticals, glass sheets, G.I. pipes and hardware items to Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics against irrevocable LCs in foreign currency. There is already no restriction on exports to these countries in rupees. These items should be zero-rated for sales tax and eligible for normal duty drawbacks. "We have accepted one of the major demands of the Frontier province to allow the export of various items via land route", said Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz. He told Dawn that the NWFP businessmen had been given a big favour by the federal government and that they should export various items without misusing the facility. "Now it is to be seen whether they reach to Central Asian markets", he asked. The ECC meeting, which was presided over by the finance minister, also allowed the export of value-added articles, such as doors, windows frames, flush doors, panel doors and mouldings, made of substance forest woods. The meeting was told that 96.6 per cent of the revenue target had been achieved despite 14.2 per cent more refunds made as compared to the last year. The exports were up by 13.4 per cent in terms of value and imports by 15.1 per cent. The ECC took note of the trend in prices of sugar, tomato and tea. It was informed that sugar prices had started stabilizing as the mills had gone into production and supply of sugar was expected to pick up in December. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001201 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Saifullah convicted in Ehtesab reference ------------------------------------------------------------------- Reporter LAHORE, Nov 30: An accountability court on Thursday sentenced former federal petroleum minister Anwar Saifullah Khan to one year imprisonment with a fine of Rs5 million in default of which he will undergo imprisonment for a year more. The former minister during the PDF government ordered for illegal appointments of 145 people in the Oil and Gas Development Corporation. Judge Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui also disqualified Mr Khan from holding a public office for 21 years under section 15 of the NAB Ordinance. The court said the prosecution proved beyond any shadow of doubt that Anwar Saifullah Khan "while holding public office by corrupt and illegal means attempted to obtain pecuniary advantage for 118 persons and that actually 27 persons obtained pecuniary advantage by way of entering into the service of OGDC through backdoor". A ban was imposed on appointments before the 118 persons could start the job. It was said that the former minister misused his authority and directed the OGDC chairman to appoint 145 persons in the corporation in violation of rules. The convict in his statement said he was under pressure from parliamentarians who demanded that the government should fulfil its obligation of providing jobs. He denied having ordered for relaxation of rules. The court observed that the minister entertained applications from the parliamentarians unlawfully and got them scrutinized by his personal staff officer. It said by accepting parliamentarians nominees the minister denied job opportunity to those who did not have any connections. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001201 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan recalls envoy from Dhaka ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: The Government of Pakistan has decided to transfer Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner from Dhaka. This decision was conveyed to the Bangladesh High Commissioner in Islamabad on Thursday afternoon. This was stated by a Foreign Office spokesman here in a statement on Thursday. The spokesman said, "We regret the controversy surrounding the reported remarks of the Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner made at the BIISS seminar in Dhaka on Nov 27, 2000". The spokesman said, "It has become impossible for the office to effectively carry out his duties and responsibilities as member of the High Commission. "The government has therefore decided to transfer him from Dhaka. This decision was conveyed to the Bangladesh HC in Islamabad this afternoon," the spokesman said. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001130 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan receives BD govt's protest note ------------------------------------------------------------------- Hasan Akhtar ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: The protest note of the Bangladesh government has been received by the foreign office here, expressing Dhaka's resentment against utterances by Pakistan's deputy high commissioner Irfanur Raja at a seminar in Dhaka. The foreign office spokesman told Dawn on Wednesday that an interim report from the high commissioner in Dhaka had also been received. The protest note expressed Bangladesh's resentment but there was no demand for the withdrawal of the Pakistan diplomat. The deputy high commissioner was reported to have asserted that the atrocities committed by "the Awami League miscreants" during the 1971 war had sparked the troubles leading to the army action and bloodshed. The spokesman said that the FO would wait for the complete report of the high commissioner in Dhaka and ponder over the protest note before offering any comment. AFP adds from Dhaka: Some 3,000 men and women belonging to Bangladesh's top anti-fundamentalist group, which has been demanding since 1992 that war criminals be put on trial, at a downtown rally on Wednesday asked for Mr Raja's expulsion. Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad rejected the Pakistan plea for forgetting the "tragic past", saying "the question does not arise of forgetting the past." "We don't accept such an approach by Pakistan," the official BSS news agency quoted him as saying. S. Abdul Malek, political adviser to the prime minister, also criticized Mr Raja for his remarks. Awami League general secretary and local government minister Zillur Rahman, demanding Raja's "immediate expulsion" and "unconditional apology," said his "audacious comments about Awami League and the war of liberation have created a strong resentment in the minds of all patriotic and freedom-loving people of Bangladesh." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001127 ------------------------------------------------------------------- GDA inducts PML into its fold ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashraf Mumtaz LAHORE, Nov 26: The 19-party Grand Democratic Alliance, with a "majority vote" at an emergency meeting held here on Sunday, allowed its former adversary PML of Mian Nawaz Sharif to join the alliance to make joint struggle for the restoration of democracy. Over half a dozen smaller parties expressed their reluctance to sit with the man they had struggled against. However, some of them approached GDA President Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan subsequently and expressed their support for the alliance decisions. PML (Chattha group) president Hamid Nasir Chattha was among the staunchest opponents of the idea of the GDA joining hands with the party of Mr Nawaz. All anti-Nawaz people in the GDA are expected to part ways with the leaders they had worked with for about three years - first from the platform of the Pakistan Awami Ittehad and then the GDA. This was the last meeting of the GDA under the chairmanship of the Nawabzada and parties which approved induction of the PML will hold their next meeting in the company of their new ally, the PML, in Islamabad during the next few days. The alliance, according to informed sources, was being named the National Democratic Alliance and its maiden meeting would be held within a week. The Nawabzada, who had worked against the PPP with the support of the PML during the first Benazir rule and then against Mian Nawaz Sharif during both his periods, will head the new alliance. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001129 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Rs10 billion losses, fraud detected: NAB to investigate cases ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ihtashamul Haque ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: The Adhoc Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has uncovered losses to the tune of Rs10.5 billion as well as embezzlement of funds in the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and Gwadar Fish Harbour Port Project and decided to refer their cases to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for investigation. "We have been looking into the cases of PNSC, PQA and Gwadar Fish Harbour during the last two days and we found that their accumulative losses are enormous for which the NAB and the FIA are being asked to investigate the issue so that the culprits involved in it are brought to book," said HU Baig, Chairman of the adhoc PAC. He also disclosed that the PAC had proposed to the higher authorities to conduct a proper accountability of the present government employees. "We want to be fair about it so that nobody should say that PAC is not talking about the corruption of the present time," he added. He said that the cumulative losses of PNSC had reached to about Rs4 billion. This eroded 36.94 per cent of the equity worth Rs1.2 billion and that was why PAC had directed the ministry of communications to review the performance of the corporation and submit a report within 30 days. "But what is more frightening is that the corporation has been asked by the authorities concerned to forget about losses to the tune of Rs4 billion and start everything afresh," he said. Taking serious note of the fact that Port Qasim Authority after incurring an accumulated loss of Rs1.2 billion up to 1995-96, has failed to compile and submit its accounts to the Auditor General's office for a period of three years from 1996-97 to 1998-99, the PAC has directed the ministry of communications to submit a report within the next 15 days, subsequent to which the matter shall be considered for submission to the NAB. Baig also said that the committee has been informed that an amount of Rs1.4 billion was spent on the Gwadar Fish Harbour-cum-Mini Port Project up to December 1999 and that the project was yet to be completed. The accounts of this project for a period of over 22 years (1976-1999) have never been prepared and provided to the Auditor General's office. The committee also decided to refer to the NAB the drawing of double consultancy charges by an officer of the Postal Group who had been employed on deputation by an international organisation. # ORGANIZATIONAL FLAWS:# One of the senior members of the PAC, Lt- Gen (R) Talat Masood said that organizational and structural flaws in the PNSC needed to be removed to make the organization efficient and cost-effective. Baig said that the sanctity of the budget must be upheld under all circumstances. Unfortunately, he said, lessons were not learned from past mistakes and their repetition was causing further loss to the national exchequer. He stated that all the ministries and divisions should hold their departmental accounts committee meetings on a regular basis and the principal accounts officers should ensure that all causes of fraud and criminal negligence are immediately referred to the NAB and a quarterly review should be conducted to ensure implementation of the PAC directives. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001202 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tarar asks India to respond to talks offer ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Staff Reporter LAHORE, Dec 1: President Rafiq Tarar, maintaining that India cannot hoodwink the world community by announcing a temporary ceasefire in occupied Kashmir, said here on Friday that if New Delhi was sincere in solving the Kashmir dispute, it should reciprocate Pakistan's offer for talks. Talking briefly to reporters at the Pakistan Administrative Staff College, he said Pakistan was a recognized party to the Kashmir issue and India should open talks with it without delay. It may be pointed out that Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf had said it time and again that he was willing to hold talks at any level, anywhere and at any time. But, the gesture had yet to receive a positive response from the other side. Answering a question about Afghanistan, the president recalled that Pakistan had been providing shelter to millions of refugees for several years. He said the world community should also shoulder its responsibilities by extending help to the displaced Afghans, who were again coming to Pakistan because of the situation in their country. In his opinion, countries which had got independence as a result of the Afghans struggle against the Soviet occupation should also help Afghanistan overcome its problems. President Tarar told a questioner that Pakistan had always good relations with Bangladesh and there was no possibility of any deterioration on any pretext. He vehemently criticized Israeli oppression against the unarmed people of Palestine who were fighting for their rights. He called upon the Islamic world to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Palestine in their just struggle. Answering another question, the president said Pakistan had the right to sell its defence products as a means to get self-reliance. He said all possible efforts should be made to rid the country of dependence on others. Meanwhile, addressing a ceremony at the Administrative Staff College, the president said: "The task of those entrusted with the management of national resources has become all the more complex as the world shrinks to a global village. Flight of capital and skills to more profitable areas has acquired mobility and speed unknown in the past. Unskilled and semi-skilled labour which is in super- abundant supply in the developing countries, however, remains trapped in the countries of their origin, thus aggravating the already big divide between rich and poor countries". The president said the transfer of technology from the developed to the developing countries which could have alleviated the rigours of "this divide" to contingent on payment of huge costs which poor countries were unable to afford. The backbreaking debt burden and its servicing, coupled with other factors have created a vicious circle of poverty and under development which breed disillusionment, frustration, unhappiness and resentment. Pakistan, the president said, was also facing these problems and going through a remedial process which was bound to be painful. "The intensity of the pain of readjustment to the ground realities can be considerably reduced through productivity gains both in the short and medium term. Agriculture sector has promising prospects and so has textile and leather sector as well as small scale enterprises. If policy planners imaginatively focus on these sectors, their efforts can prove rewarding". The president said: "We may have the best of minds and the most competent policy planners but their ability and wisdom has not made a significant difference to the people. Officials at the subordinate level are still oblivious of the fact that they have entered into a social contract with the people which stipulates that they would honestly and diligently deliver quality services to the tax payers who foot the bill for their salaries and perks". He said the situation gets further compounded when those in position of authority start extracting illegal benefits from those who come into contact with them during official business. "It is time that we develop a culture of zero-tolerance for all sorts of corruption at all levels. A fool proof system needs to be put into place to ensure that corrupt and unscrupulous elements are exposed and weeded out". He said integrity was like delicate sapling which needed favourable climate and careful nursing if it had to prosper. "In our country, public servants play a leading role in setting the pace for social behaviour. I urge them to do quite a bit of self-introspection. The basic lesson which needs to be learnt at all levels is that every individual, family, business, organization, enterprise and entity must live within its lawfully established means and that habit of thrift and saving be cultivated as an article of faith. We have to return to the teachings of Islam to promote simplicity, and social responsibility and to discourage ostentation".
BUSINESS & ECONOMY DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001202 ------------------------------------------------------------------- IMF wants Pakistan to cut debt by June ------------------------------------------------------------------- M. Ziauddin ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: The new IMF stabilization programme under the standby arrangement, announced on Thursday, requires Pakistan to reduce its total public and private external debt by end of June 2001 to 266.2 per cent of the total foreign exchange receipts from 281.6 per cent recorded at the end of June 2000. Actual debt servicing on the other hand is required to be brought down to 28.9 per cent by the end of June 2001 against 35.2 per cent of foreign exchange receipts recorded on June 30, 2000. Foreign exchange reserves, in the meanwhile, are required to go up to $1.7 billion by June 30, 2001, but not including gold, foreign assets relating to foreign currency deposits contracted after May 1998 (FE 25s), foreign assets relating to short term swap and forward operations. The negative trade balance by the end of the current financial year is required to shrink to 1.8 per cent of the GDP from 2.3 per cent recorded during the last financial year. The negative current account balance, including official transfer, is required to maintain the last year's level of 1.6 per cent. Merchandize exports and imports are required to go up to 15.3 and 17.1 per cent of the GDP respectively by the end of the current financial year against 13.3 per cent and 15.6 per cent of the GDP, respectively, of last financial year. The real GDP at factor cost is expected to slow down during the current financial year to 4.5 per cent from 4.8 per cent recorded last year and the rate of inflation is required to be kept at around 6 per cent during the current year up from 3.6 per cent recorded in the last year. Gross national saving during the current year is required to go up to 13.9 per cent of the GDP from 13.3 per cent in the last year with the private savings contributing as much as 14.3 per cent against 15.3 per cent last year. However, the improvement in the gross national saving is to be achieved by reducing the negative public savings from 2 per cent of the GDP last year to 0.5 per cent in the current year. The gross capital formation is required to go up to 15.5 per cent of the GDP in the current financial year from 15 per cent in the last year with the public sector capital formation going up from 4.5 per cent of the GDP last year to 4.7 per cent in the current year and the private capital formation going up from 10.5 per cent 10.8 per cent. The budgetary revenue in the current financial year is required to remain at 16.5 per cent of the GDP, the same as last year, and the budgetary expenditure is required to come down from 22.9 per cent of the GDP in the last year to 21.8 per cent at the end of June 30, 2001. As a result the budgetary deficit is expected to come down to 5.2 per cent of the GDP in the current year from 6.4 per cent in the last year. The net foreign assets are required to go up to 5.6 per cent during the current year from last year's 1.5 per cent and net domestic assets in the same period are required to come down to 5.7 per cent from 7.8 per cent in the last year. Credit to private sector from these assets is required to go up to 6.9 per cent during the current year against 1.4 per cent in the last year and at the same time the credit to public sector is required to come down to 1.2 per cent in the current year from 3.1 per cent in the last year. In the same period broad money is required to go up to 11.3 per cent from 9.4 per cent in the last year. To stem the pressure on the rupee and bring official reserves to more comfortable levels, a stabilization programme supported by Fund resources was needed urgently, said the IMF executive board while approving the standby credit on Thursday. The board also noted that in the meantime, the external financial situation had become even more fragile (than what it was when the military government came to power in October 1999), partly because of large debt service payments and increased capital outflows as well as loose macroeconomic policies (of the present government). Cautioning the government, the Fund Board said that since there was "significant uncertainty surrounding the short term impact of revenue measures on the budgetary position, the authorities should stand ready to take additional measures if revenues fall short of expectations." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001202 ------------------------------------------------------------------- CE to be briefed on new farm policy ------------------------------------------------------------------- Rauf Klasra ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: The Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf, will be briefed on the new farm policy on Saturday, which aims at reorganizing the agriculture ministry on modern lines, establishing eight powerful crop commodity boards, 60,000 new rural cooperative societies and creating the National Agricultural Development Foundation (NADF). The 130-page policy has also recommended the creation of an "Agricultural Research Endowment Fund" to meet the requirements of the next century. Agriculture Minister Khair Mohammad Junejo and Secretary Agriculture, Dr Zafar Altaf, will brief the CE about the new policy named as "Pakistan Agriculture at 2000: Need for a paradigm shift into the 21st century". The briefing will be attended by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, the CE's advisor on Agriculture M Shafi Niaz and other officials of the federal government. The policy has recommended the establishment of commodities boards for crops like rice, fruits and vegetables, wheat, sugarcane, cotton besides similar set-ups for edible oil and kitchen items, poultry, dairy & livestock; to intervene in the market in case of surplus production of these commodities. These boards will determine the target and the size of these crops, identify issues, develop confidence among the stockholders, attempt at conflict resolution between stockholders, enhance agricultural exports through value addition and development of agro-industries in the rural sector, promote crop productivity and new technology through linkage with national and provincial agriculture research system and ensure price stabilization of agricultural commodities. The CE has also been asked to allow the imposition of levy of cess tax on each crop to help these boards to run their affairs on a self-help basis. The boards will be represented by the government, the growers, the traders, the businessmen and other concerned stockholders. The government's role will be only to facilitate the functioning of the boards. Another major recommendation of this policy is the establishment of rural cooperative societies with changed objectives. The policy said, 60 to 90 per cent of the cooperatives have been reported bogus, fictitious or just a one-man undertaking. Under the new initiative, the existing credit cooperatives may be converted as multipurpose cooperatives with the objective of supplying farm requisites like fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, farm implements and procure farm outputs like wheat, cotton and paddy. The policy said, "one village, one cooperative society" should be allowed to be established under the law ensuring maximum enrolment of farmers. Establishment of the National Agriculture Development Foundation will focus on agriculture exportable commodities, encourage farmers to grow more for export by developing agri- export farms, advise growers/ traders on how to avoid post harvest losses and provide technical assistance to control pests and extend the life of perishable farm products. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001201 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Liquid forex reserves shoot up: IMF tranche ------------------------------------------------------------------- Mohiuddin Aazim KARACHI, Nov 30: The State Bank received on Thursday $192 million in its account as the first tranche of a $596 million 10-month IMF standby credit that raised liquid foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan to $1.336 billion. "We have received 150 million SDR (special drawing rights) or $192 million in our account," chief spokesman for SBP told Dawn. The SBP received the amount in its New York account immediately after the IMF board of executive directors approved in Washington $596 million standby loan for Pakistan. The inflow of the IMF money boosted foreign exchange reserves to $1.336 billion on November 30 up from $1.129 billion about a week ago. The amount also included $481.7 million private foreign currency deposits of banks placed with the SBP as on November 30. Senior bankers said the news of IMF credit coming in resulted in a slight recovery of the rupee in post-closing trading in the inter- bank market. They said the rupee had closed at 58.05 to a US dollar at 12:00 noon but in the afternoon session it moved up to close at 57.80. In the open market, the rupee closed at 60.70/60.80 to a dollar against the previous close of 61.00/61.05 showing a recovery of 25 paisa. Currency dealers linked the gain to the news about the IMF money coming in. The rupee remains strong in the open market in Ramazan on the back of higher inflow of foreign exchange sent back home by overseas Pakistanis for pre-Eid purchases. Meanwhile, the State Bank said on Thursday it would keep the interest rates unchanged on foreign currency deposits of banks for December 2000. It told banks that one-week and one-month deposits would continue to earn 4.00 and 4.25 per cent return respectively. It said it would continue to pay 4.50 per cent on three month deposits. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001201 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sugar mills: Operations cease at beginning of crushing season ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: Facing non-availability of sugarcane, the Frontier Sugar Mills management on Thursday closed down the 1,200 ton per day capacity unit at the start of the crushing season. The FSM Managing Director, Iskandar Khan, told Dawn that despite an offer of Rs45 per maund of sugarcane purchase, the growers declined to supply the current crop cane to the millers. Growers representatives said that the growers had opted for selling their cane to the gur-makers, who are offering Rs47 per maund. One of the six sugar mills in NWFP, Saleem Sugar Mills, has already closed down due to these pressures. The FSM last year produced 5,324 ton of sugar, paying Rs64.39 million in taxes. Other millers in the area have pointed out that the sugar crisis is going to deepen as non-availability of sugarcane would soon cause the remaining five sugar mills in NWFP to close down. These mills produce 17,700 tons of sugar per day. In the current crushing season, they are not getting even 25 per cent of their crushing capacity cane. The sugarcane is being diverted to the production of raw sugar (gur). The Frontier sugar mills are procuring 5-18 per cent of their cane-crushing capacity for the last five years. The annual capacity is 1.5 million tons. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001201 ------------------------------------------------------------------- World Bank likely to offer additional funding ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: World Bank has expressed willingness to offer additional funds for the implementation of tax reforms, said Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday. "We have been told by vice-president Mieko Nishimizu that her bank is interested in extending additional funds for improving tax administration in Pakistan," he told reporters at a news conference. Pakistan, he pointed out, had made a formal request to the World Bank for additional funds for the financial restructuring of the CBR. Unsure about the size of the funding, the minister stressed that the WB's lending over the issue would be very important. Mr Aziz said the World Bank was also considerate towards offering funds for Structural Adjustment Loan in the power and banking sectors. Similarly, he said, negotiations with the Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank were progressing well for lending. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001201 ------------------------------------------------------------------- ADB to provide $52 million to help women farmers ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has decided to provide $52 million mainly to help farm women living in rainy areas of Pakistan. According to an announcement made here on Wednesday by the local ADB office, women will make up to 40 per cent of the beneficiaries of a project to help farming families in rainy areas through $52 million concessional lending. The project is a continuation of a previous project completed in 2000. The new project will raise incomes by providing a range of measures to increase agricultural productivity and by promoting livelihood enterprises. It will also improve life for rural communities through social services such as health and education by upgrading village infrastructure, including irrigation, rural access, roads and water supply. Altogether an estimated 830,000 people - 80 per cent of whom subsist on 50 cents a day or less - are expected to gain from the NWFP Barani Area Development Project. The NWFP has vast areas which include poor settlements that depend heavily on uncertain rain-fed agriculture. Half the population lacks adequate nutrition, one-third is landless. Women are often malnourished because of poor diet, a heavy workload and frequent pregnancies. They also lag behind in access to basic education and health services. "Society in the NWFP is conservative and male-dominated. To teach women, the project will provide a number of interventions targeted through women's organizations," said ADB economist Robin Erickson. The project will also support girls' education, teacher training and health awareness, which will be provided by women. In line with local norms, the project will provide logistics such as multi-seat vehicles, and separate living quarters and office space for women service providers. Importantly, the initiative for choosing and implementing projects will come from rural communities instead of government agencies as was previously done. Typically, villagers want safer drinking water, better access to agriculture extension services, technology and inputs, improved roads and transport, alternative livelihood opportunities, affordable credit, household fuel, basic social services and village infrastructure, improved roads and village infrastructure. Villagers will also organize themselves into clusters to make a more effective lobby for local government services. The new pattern of decision-making is in line with the trend towards decentralized government. In support of decentalization, the project will engage NGOs to a far greater extent than was previously done. NGOsare being encouraged to ensure that the project's activities are kept going after the loan closes. The execution agency for the project due to be completed in mid- 2008 is the province's Planning, Environment and Development Department. The total project cost is $99 million. The balance will come from the International Fund for Agricultural Development ($14.8 million), the Pakistani government ($20.1 million), participating financial institutions ($1.2 million) and beneficiaries ($10.9 million). DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001130 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd phase of tax survey from 4th December ------------------------------------------------------------------- Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana KARACHI, Nov 29: The government is starting spot assessment of business and industrial establishments from Monday, under third phase of tax survey and documentation of national economy, official sources disclosed on Wednesday. Sources said that complete spot assessment would be carried out in industrial establishments and of wholesalers, but for retailers the assessment will be selective, based on revenue potential. Around 20 per cent spot assessment of retail business will be done but the percentage will differ from market to market and those business centres and shops will be targeted who have higher revenue potential. For this purpose the CBR has constituted four-member teams comprising assistant collector sales tax, assistant commissioner income tax, army personnel and a representative of respective trade body. Initially, the spot assessment will be done in 13 cities where first two phases i.e. distribution and retrieval of tax survey forms have been completed. Sources said the assessment will be carried out with the help of data and information gathered from four sources - tax survey, utility bills, as well as information with income and sales tax departments. The teams will tally the information gathered from these sources with those of ground realities and in case of any discrepancy the assessee will be challenged and action taken against him/her as per the law. Spot assessment of those retail businesses, where authorities have detected lots of differences in their declarations and those disclosed in tax survey forms, will be undertaken. For this purpose, sources said the sales tax and income tax departments have already prepared verification notes of each assessee. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001130 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Development Bank loan for farm sector ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide $250m loan to help Pakistan for initiating sweeping market reforms in agriculture sector. The loan will be utilized to strengthen the rural financial markets and bring about institutional reforms in this sector. This was disclosed in a meeting held on Wednesday between the ADB Mission, led by Dr Raymond Renfro and the Agriculture Minister Khair Mohammad Junejo. Finance Ministry sources said that the concluding meeting will be held between the Secretary General Finance, Agriculture Secretary Dr Zafar Altaf and mission's head here on Thursday to finalize the loan details and conditionalities attached to it. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001129 ------------------------------------------------------------------- No political terms set, says WB ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: The World Bank has asked the government to resolve its balance of payment crisis, improve fiscal management and complete taxation reforms process with a view to improving the economy of the country. "There are no political conditions set by the World Bank to offer its assistance to Pakistan but there is a need to address seriousissues like BoP crisis, low exports andreduced revenues", said country director of the World Bank, John Wall. Export is a life-line for Pakistan which must be pulled out from the present stagnant, he added. Briefing newsmen here on Tuesday, he said that the World Bank, the IMF and the ADB would extend their all possible support to Pakistan. "But you need to overcome your problems on your own", he said adding that Pakistan's export was stagnant for the last many years and needed to be increased for which the government will have to make sure that the textile sector goes into value addition. He said Pakistan still has high interest rates of the banks and that tariff regime needed to be brought down further to have fair competition. Then, he said, culture of exemptions will have to be done away with and that the protectionist policies will not work to have certain improvement in the overall economy. Mr Wall said that the government was also required to remove the financial crisis of the provinces. He said provinces were facing serious risks due to their financial crisis. Responding to a question he said that provinces needed their financial restructuring so that they could strengthen their financial position which at present was very bad. "The provinces of huge development programmes which require finances and these finances would come when you affectively increase your revenues and exports". Asked about the visit of the vice president of the World Bank for South Asian Region, he said that Ms Mieko had discusseda number of important issues with the chief executive, finance minister, governor State Bank and other senior officials. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001129 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PTCL announces higher dividend on lower profit ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dilawar Hussain KARACHI, Nov 28: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), on Tuesday announced 22.5 per cent cash dividend for the year ended June 30, 2000. The payout was higher than the overall analysts' consensus forecast of 20 per cent dividend- same as paid last year. The market had been anxiously awaiting the dividend and the financial figures from the company, which were unveiled by the Board, after the close of business at the Karachi Stock Exchange, on Tuesday. During the day's trading, the PTCL stock shed Rs 1.60 to close at Rs 19.75; the scrip has not been able to break itself free of the current bear hug that seems to be squeezing the life out of the entire market. PTCL revenue numbers for the year 2000 at Rs 58,643 million, up 14.6 per cent over the earlier year's Rs 51,187 million, also came close to most analysts' expectations; ABN.AMRO was looking at revenue growth of 17 per cent; Global Securities 16.1 per cent and Invest Capital & Securities (InvestCap) at 14 per cent. PTCL's bottomline fell wide off the mark. Compared to the above analysts' forecast of pretax profit increase by 41; 46 and 34 per cent, respectively, the telecom posted pretax profit increase of just 29 per cent to Rs 22,726 million for the latest year, from Rs 17,568 million last year. The higher growth in revenue and profit before tax was foreseen as a result of the company's ongoing tariff rebalancing. Tariff increase in local calls, line rent and installation charges announced last year, were expected to cast a healthier influence on the bottomline. But it was at the after tax profit level that the analysts' were really seen to have been as wide off the mark as could be. Most were predicting minor increase in taxed profit or slightly pared earnings, but the telecom showed a stunning 24 per cent drop in after tax profit to Rs 13,331 million, from a year ago taxed profit at Rs 17,568 million. With the tax holiday coming to an end, PTCL had to provide, for the first time, corporate taxation in the sum of Rs 9,395 million for the year under review, which came to an effective rate of 41 per cent on pretax earnings. The telecom is also seen to have charged a substantial sum of Rs 7,609 million to the current profits, for an unfavourable adjustment marked as "effect of change in accounting policy". The details would be known when the complete annual report and accounts are available. Following the adjustment, the company had to tap Rs 7,609 million from the general reserves, to be able to pay cash dividend to the shareholders at enhanced rate of 22.5 per cent. On the earning per share (eps) at Rs 2.61, the PTCL stock is currently trading on the price-earnings multiple of 7.6x. On the basis of total return (estimated between 35 to 50 per cent) and low p/e ratio, most brokerages are putting 'accumulate' and 'buy' tag on the stock at the current price. The Board on Tuesday also announced that the Annual general meeting (AGM) would be held on December 30. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001128 ------------------------------------------------------------------- World Bank assures 'special funding' to CBR ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: World Bank has assured to offer "special funding" for undertaking tax reforms in the Central Board of Revenues (CBR). Official sources said here on Monday that the Vice President of World Bank Ms Mieko Nishimizu met Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf on Saturday and assured to extend special funds for undertaking reforms in the CBR. Although no specific additional funds were announced by the World Bank vice president, she said that tax reforms was an important area which needed special attention of the donor agencies and that it will oblige the government. Sources said that while Ms Mieko offered $300 million for Structural Adjustment Loan (SAL) for power and banking sector, she also assured to offer more funds for education sector. When contacted Minister for Finance Shaukat Aziz said that a two- day meeting with the World Bank delegation and its meeting with the chief executive remained "excellent" and Pakistan was expecting uninterrupted flow of funds from the bank. Responding to a question he said that the executive board of IMF will meet on November 29 and 30 to consider many important matters including resumption of Pakistan's assistance. He expressed hope that the government will get about $600 million loan under Standby Arrangement(SBA) from the IMF. He said later in the third week of January 2001 the Paris Club will meet to consider the request for restructuring of Pakistan's loans. "Generally, we have a strong support from the World Bank, IMF, European Union and Japan", said the minister for finance. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001126 ------------------------------------------------------------------- CBR issues one million NTN certificates ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: The count of National Tax Number (NTN) holders in the country has crossed one million, the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) statistics reveal. The remaining 400,000 income taxpayers registered with the department would be issued the NTN certificates, within the next 30-40 days, CBR officials said. Besides, 80 per cent of the 90,000 sales tax payers registered with the CBR have already received their NTNs, they added. The rest of sales tax payers' track record of filing tax returns over the past one year is being checked and they would be issued NTNs on clearance of their applications by the department. Figures, compiled by the Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL), a data maintenance arm of the CBR, indicated that it had issued 407,891 NTN certificates from its Karachi centre; 341,987 in Lahore and 250,187 in Islamabad. The above three centres cover the entire country for issuance of the NTN certificates. They issued 324,411 NTNs to the existing taxpayers from their Karachi centre; 275,879 in Lahore and 217,295 in Islamabad. The remaining NTNs were issued to the new applicants. The PRAL records also indicate that more than 200,000 new taxpayers also applied for NTN, of which 43,000 applications were rejected, due to incomplete information, submitted by the applicants regarding their business, occupations, incomes etc. The CBR officials said the new NTNs would help the tax authorities tally the income and turnover declarations of taxpayers with the Income Tax and Sales Tax departments. Mentioning of NTN on tax return has become mandatory for the taxpayers. Turnovers and other sources of the income of taxpayers, whose declarations with the Income Tax department, would not tally with the details supplied to the Sales Tax department, would be put to scrutiny. For this scrutiny, the CBR's allied departments are devising a mechanism that would be based on the data collection from the sources of imports (Customs Appraisement), salaries (employers' ledgers), turnovers (as per declaration and audit), and input purchase invoices etc. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001129 ------------------------------------------------------------------- CBR seeks access to computer records ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ikram Hoti ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: The Central Board of Revenue, which has evidence that the power sector, including Wapda, is evading general sales tax (GST) has approached the government to empower the tax authorities to have access to computer records of the power companies for audit purpose. Official sources told Dawn, CBR has the proof that public and private power companies, including WAPDA, KESC, Kot Adu and KANNUP, are evading GST. The CBR, which wants these companies to clear their January-October GST arrears by December 31, has reported to finance ministry that 31 power companies have not only evaded tax but also failed to file their tax returns regularly. Seeking action against these companies, the CBR has asked the ministry to immediately convene tripartite talks between the representatives of power companies, CBR and finance ministry. The round-table negotiations are to ensure that power companies not only pay tax and arrears but to guarantee that in future they would assess the tax correctly and file returns by the specified date regularly. The CBR has also informed the finance ministry that the power sector has claimed Rs8.718 billion in input (expenses on generation) adjustment while the total GST assessed by the power companies for July-October period is Rs8.22 billion only. The CBR said that out of 31 companies, only 12 are paying about 98 per cent of the total tax. These include Wapda, KESC, Hub Power Company and M/s Kot Adu Power Company Ltd. The CBR is currently devising procedures and means to assess the actual chargeable GST, and the actual admissible input tax adjustment to the power sector. According to official sources, the power sector is currently indulging in assessment of GST by calculating the tax on incorrect value thus committing under-assessment. Apart from this, these companies are involved in short- billing their electricity supplies, which ultimately impacts on the total tax receipts generated from this sector. The CBR is also taking measures to recover the GST, which was evaded by these companies. Preliminary audit conducted by CBR authorities in WAPDA's Lahore Chapter alone has revealed discrepancies of Rs1.2 billion and the CBR is now seeking permission of the government for conducting thorough audit of the power companies. The most regular evaders and reluctant tax-return filing companies listed by the CBR are Wapda, Kot Adu Power Company, KESC and Karachi Nuclear Power Station (KANUPP). The CBR has sought access to the computers of these companies for conducting an audit of these companies in order to assess actual payable GST. Last year too, the power sector proved evasive in paying GST. Originally a target of Rs8.2 billion was set for GST on electricity for 1999-2000. The net tax paid up to June 30, 2000 was Rs2.457 billion only. The government's decision regarding levy of GST became effective from January 1, 2000. However, Wapda and KESC did not file the first quarterly tax return which was due on March 21, 2000. The two organizations have since adopted a habit of late- filing the tax returns. The target had to be eventually revised downward to Rs2.44 billion.Back to the top
EDITORIALS & FEATURES
001126
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Education, education, education
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Ardeshir Cowasjee
NO one denies that the bigots in this country outstrip by far the
educated. No government since the government of the founder of the
nation has acknowledged the fact that the educated have a natural
ascendancy over the bigots and that therefore something has to be
done to eradicate the dangerous deficit.
This past month in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the large
majority of bigots have had a field day. They killed a Shia because
he was a Shia. They killed ten Ahmedis because they were Ahmedis;
they orphaned forty and injured thirty. The Government of Pakistan,
in its powerful wisdom, has announced that the suspect is 'the
hidden hand' of our traditional enemy. It goes without saying that
this perennial ubiquitous 'hidden hand' has never been found and
chopped off by any of our brilliant governments.
>From the better educated of the educated world, we and the
government should learn. A recent issue of the Journal of the Royal
Society of Arts (London) carried the transcript of a lecture given
by Professor Bob Fryer, Assistant Vice-Chancellor at the University
of Southampton. To quote :
"I sign up completely to the government's slogan of 'education,
education, education' and I admire recent iniatives. I make that
clear because I want to say a few critical things. My theme is the
relationship between schooling and lifelong learning, and while I
believe wholheartedly in the importance of education I believe it
is dangerous to assume that it can be the sole or even the most
effective tool of social change. It is wrong to assume that there
is a clear relationship between learning and happiness or learning
and work........".
Fryer talked about David Blunkett, the blind British Secretary of
State for Education, a man who had been in the education field for
years, having been allocated the education portfolio in the shadow
cabinet whilst the labour Party was in opposition. His guide-dog,
Lucy, a black Labrador, used to be a great favourite in the House
of Commons. She retired honourably as an old lady not long ago and
has been replaced by a younger, more agile yellow labrador guide.
To quote Fryer on Blunkett :
"David Blunkett has a wonderful vision which he expressed in the
Green Paper, 'The Learning Age', and which remains for me a
benchmark against which all initiatives need to be tested. In his
foreword, the Secretary of State wrote : "We need the creativity,
enterprise and scholarship of all our people. As well as securing
our economic future, learning has a wider contribution. It helps
make ours a civilized society, develops the spiritual side of our
lives and promotes active citizenship. Learning enables people to
play a full part in their community. It strengthens the family, the
neighbourhood, and consequently the nation. It helps us fulfil our
potential and opens doors to a love of music, art and literature.
That is why we value learning for its own sake as well as for the
equality of opportunity it brings."
"I cannot remember an official government publication that was
serious enough to capture the idea of spirituality as well as
creativity in the breadth of its compass. We need to remember what
Mr Blunkett said.
"It is impossible to believe that however good any school and
further education system was, it could deal with all the problems
encountered throughout life. Increasingly, directors of education,
head teachers, teachers and some school governors are realizing
that lifelong learning concerns them, but we still have a long way
to go and there are many challenges. . . . . . .
"Nearly eight million adults have serious difficulties with the
basic skills of literacy and numeracy. We have seven million adults
with no qualification whatsoever and 35 per cent of the workforce
has never been offered a single day's training. There has been a
welcome increase in learning at work in the past decade; the
downside is that it goes mostly to professionals who are already
highly qualified. We have a widening gap in qualifications,
achievement, aspiration, and access to information in
communications technology. We have too many people who are
indifferent or hostile to the opportunities of learning."
A country with an almost 100 per cent literacy rate has its
problems. Naturally of a different and less menacing sort from
those of a country such as this one with a true literacy rate of
some 20 per cent, with too many people aspiring to learn and too
few facilities for them to learn.
Fryer maintains that there is a huge gap between the educationally
qualified and unqualified. His question : What can schools do about
this? His answer: "They are remarkable resources and I would like
to see them made community centres of learning. Schools are the
most valued, accessible and safe places in most communities. We
need their buildings, their equipment and their teachers to be used
and celebrated by everyone.They need to be used not only during
school hours in school terms but during all hours throughout the
year. In addition to providing opportunities for children to reach
their highest possible levels, we need to raise the expectations
and aspirations of everyone in the community and imbue in children
the attitudes and competences of learning throughout life, not only
study skills, but a whole bundle of others, including critical
thining and cross-curricular compentence. These should become the
norm so that there is a habit of lifelong learning."
We in Pakistan need schools. Period.
Musharraf took over this country from a corrupt undisciplined man,
a dangerous despot, who sought to become the Shadow of God on
Earth, the Ameerul Momineen, by threatening to promulgate his 15th
constitutional amendment. Musharraf initially set out, so he
obliquely once informed us, to be another Attaturk. We saw him
relaxed and smiling, standing with his family and dogs. Soon
Attaturk was ditched and the dogs were removed from the public
limelight. For a few months I had quite a job convincing people
that he is no relative of Big Chief Wumilong Umboppa and that the
dogs have not been eaten up. Luckily and to my great relief, in his
August interview on the BBC, when asked a foolish question about
dogs being 'anti-Islamic', he answered, "Well I don't think dogs
are anti-Islamic, certainly. I don't know who called them anti-
Islamic. Well, let me admit to you very frankly, I love my dogs and
my dogs love me also. It's a mutual love."
In April this year, he made noises about introducing procedural
safeguards against the application of the highly controversial
blasphemy laws. These were and are being used to incriminate
innocent people. He was navigating soundly. Then suddenly, under
fundo-pressure, he retracted. Not even a weak man likes a
vacillating general.
The most important problem that Musharraf must address is that of
an illiterate population explosion which means an explosion of
bigots. Each minute eight babies are born in Pakistan, or 480 each
hour, or 11,520 each day, or 4,204,000 each year. Let us assume
that infant mortality takes its toll. Even then, at the end of five
years, the survivors, some three million-plus, would need to find
schools with places available. How does this government hope to
educate, in the true sense of the word, the coming generations and
endow them with free minds unless, as of now, it makes some move to
contain the obscurantists, the bigots?
Any suggestions? Will the educated educate us?
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001201
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A penchant for sticking it in the mouth
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Ayaz Amir
AND so after General Musharraf's petulance in calling off a meeting
in New York (during the UN Millennium Summit) with the Bangladesh
prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, for remarks delivered by her against
dictatorial rule in general (remarks that we took personally), we
now have one of our diplomats in Dhaka putting his foot into his
mouth.
Reportedly, he has said that the atrocities committed in 1971 in
what was then East Pakistan (do we even remember this?) were
sparked by 'Awami League miscreants' and not the Pakistan army.
This statement, made at a seminar in Dhaka, has upset people in
Bangladesh. The BD foreign minister has expressed his anger and in
front of the National Press Club during a demonstration the
Pakistani flag has been torched.
For its part the Pakistan foreign office in one of those statements
for which it is justly famous has urged Bangladesh to set aside the
'tragic past' and forge ahead with stronger relations. With the
kind of petulance that the Chief Executive showed in New York and
the subtlety one of our diplomats has demonstrated in Dhaka there
should be little problem in building an exemplary relationship with
Bangladesh.
Stupidity is of two kinds: forced (that is, by circumstances) and
gratuitous. I have heard it said of Nawaz Sharif (lately of the
Heavy Mandate, now Pakistan's leading democrat - along with, of
course, the Queen of the East) that if an arrow was flying past him
he felt impelled to catch it and stick it in his back. The Punjabi
translation of this is more earthy.
But then Nawaz Sharif represents a national trend. As a country we
have a tendency towards gratuitous folly. We have stumbled into
wars ('65 and Kargil being the prime examples) without
comprehending what we were trying to prove or achieve. We have sold
ourselves cheaply, as in Afghanistan, without realizing what we
were getting into. And we have flexed our puny nuclear muscles when
anyone with the least intelligence could have figured out that it
would serve our national interests better to keep them covered.
Let me be permitted a digression here. After India had carried out
its nuclear tests in May 1988 Punjab's Gauleiter, Shahbaz Sharif,
summoned his MPAs, division-wise, for a series of meetings. At the
meeting of Rawalpindi division MPAs, out of 22 members hardly three
or four spoke in favour of testing. The rest of them argued for
restraint and moderation. Let me put it on record that Raja Azmat
Hayat from Choa Saidan Shah, no Ph. D. from Oxford or Berkeley, set
the tone of the meeting by saying that we should ponder the fate of
the Soviet Union whose collapse had not been averted by all the
nuclear bombs in the world.
Visibly confounded, Shahbaz Sharif said that these might be our
personal opinions but what about our constituents? Having gone up
the length and breadth of my constituency in connection with the
local bodies elections which were then being held I piped up and
said that wherever I went I was asked about schools, hospitals,
roads and jobs but not at one place about whether we would give a
tit-for-tat response to India's nuclear tests.
To put this exchange in context it should be remembered that the
four districts of Rawalpindi division are from where the army draws
the bulk of its recruits. And this was the sentiment coming from
this so-called martial belt. But we went ahead with testing because
the decision lay not with ignorant MPAs but the stars of the
military establishment (the real force behind the folly of that
confused summer).
Given all this, what is a misjudged action in New York or a stupid
statement in Dhaka? We are good at this sort of thing. Bangladesh
should not be losing any sleep over it.
If anyone should be concerned it is us. Bangladesh is not just
another country for us. We have to be especially benighted not to
realize this. Its people were flesh of our flesh, blood of our
blood, soul of our soul. In pushing them against the wall, in
pushing them to seek India's help, we did violence not only to
them. We injured ourselves and committed something worse than
fratricide.
How forgetful can we be. If anything can be called Pakistani
nationalism - or more accurately subcontinental Muslim nationalism
- its cradle lay not in the areas which now constitute Pakistan:
Punjab, Frontier, Sindh, Balochistan. It is no small historical
irony that these areas were latecomers to the Pakistani dream. The
idea of Pakistan drew inspiration from two centres, north India
(now Uttar Pradesh) and East Bengal. The Muslim League saw its
birth in Dhaka. The idea of Muslim separatism gained strength from
the partition of Bengal in 1905. By the same token this sentiment
suffered a reverse when a few years later this partition was
undone. Let us not forget that at that time Muslims, Hindus and
Sikhs lived largely in amity in Punjab. In Bengal, on the other
hand, the sense of Muslim grievances, fuelled in no small measure
by the fact that the great movement of Hindu revivalism in the 19th
century arose from Bengal, was stronger.
In the 1946 elections which set the stage for the partition of
India it was only in Bengal that the Muslim League emerged as the
single largest party, capturing almost half the seats. In Punjab it
did well but its numbers were almost equalled by the Unionist
Party. In Sindh it won a large number of seats but could not
achieve a majority. When Jinnah gave his call for Direct Action in
July 1946 the Calcutta killings a month later convinced everyone in
India, including the British, about the gulf that had opened
between the two communities. Not that the Direct Action call was in
any way responsible for the Calcutta riots but that those riots on
such a scale happened in Bengal rather than anywhere else shows the
inflamed state of Hindu-Muslim feelings in the province. So the
question is pertinent: without the push that the Muslim cause
received from Bengal, could there have been a Pakistan?
We can be forgetful indeed. The provinces which conjoined to form
Pakistan were not forced to do so by the British. According to the
Partition Plan, power at the centre was to be devolved to the
Congress as the majority party. The princely states could choose
between independence or India and Pakistan. And, most important of
all for our purposes, the Muslim majority provinces could choose to
stay as part of the Indian Union or opt for Pakistan.
The Muslim halves of the Bengal and Punjab legislatures opted for
Pakistan. So did the Sindh legislature. In the Frontier because
there was a Congress ministry the issue was decided by a referendum
in which the overwhelming majority of the votes cast were for
Pakistan. In Balochistan in the absence of a legislature the Quetta
municipality voted for Pakistan. In Assam the Muslim majority
district of Sylhet decided by referendum to join Pakistan.
Pakistan thus came into being as the result of a freely-exercised
choice by the Muslim majority areas of India. It was born not by
coup or military revolution but by an act of pure democracy. East
Bengal, more than any other province or region, was pivotal to this
exercise.
How could the army bring itself to use violence against the people
of East Pakistan in 1971? If its higher command had been imbued
with any sense of history, could it have allowed itself to play the
infamous role it did? How could Yahya refuse to call a sitting of
the National Assembly? How could Bhutto speak the intemperate
language he did, thus encouraging the obduracy and belligerence of
the army command and stoking the fires of intolerance in West
Pakistan? And how could all of us be silent spectators of that grim
and tragic drama?
The foreign office, as so often in its history, is wrong once
again. We must not put the past aside. That's what we do all the
time: forget the past and repeat its follies. For once we must
understand the past and come to terms with it. This might just help
us rid our minds of the demons which impel us from one act of
gratuitous folly to another.
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001202
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Concept of secularism
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Irfan Husain
FOR the rich, the first thing that comes to mind when they are
contemplating Ramazan is not renunciation of material things and
prayer: they are more concerned about pulling their money out of
their savings accounts so that zakat is not deducted on the first
day of the holy month.
But this applies only to the Sunni majority as the Shias fought to
get exempted from this religious levy when it was first imposed by
Zia in the early eighties. Indeed, thousands of Sunnis have
declared themselves Shias to escape this tax. Non-Muslims are
already exempt. Indeed, this is one of the few advantages of being
a member of a minority in this country; the other being able to
legally buy booze. Unless, of course, you are an Ahmadi, in which
case prohibition laws apply. So the poor Ahmadis have all the
problems of being declared a minority without being able to benefit
from their status.
I bring up these exceptions in the legal system as an example of
the confusion caused by trying to frame laws in accordance with a
religious faith that is not followed by all the citizens of
Pakistan. Under such a dispensation, it is inevitable that every
law does not apply to every citizen, and this is the essence of a
civilized, democratic order. In a society like ours, all citizens
cannot be equal, and for people like me who maintain that everybody
must be equal in the eyes of the law, this is an unacceptable
situation that has led to many of the contortions and distortions
our legal system has been prone to.
By definition, democracy implies equality, and yet by basing laws
on a faith that is not universal, we are excluding people from the
ambit of the democratic order we are trying to create. In both
Israel and Pakistan, the two states created in the name of religion
in modern times, citizens who do not subscribe to the faith of the
majority have been marginalized. In Israel, non-Jewish Arabs cannot
buy property in certain areas. But while they suffer from
discrimination in many more subtle ways, they do not face
persecution to the degree Pakistan's minorities do. They do not,
for instance, face the consequences of the iniquitous blasphemy
law, and nor do they have to contend with the divisive system of
separate electorates.
In Pakistan, secularism has been a pejorative word because of the
unfortunate (and inaccurate) translation of this concept into Urdu:
'Ladinyat' or irreligiousness. Yet my Webster's Third New
International Dictionary defines secularism thus: "...a system of
social ethics based upon a doctrine that ethical standards and
conduct should be determined exclusively with reference to present
life and social well-being without reference to religion." No
mention of godless heathens here.
In the recent book 'Confronting Empire' containing interviews with
the late and much-missed Eqbal Ahmad, the interviewer, David
Barsamian, asked the famous teacher, activist and columnist about
his views on religion. Eqbal replied: "I am very harshly
secularist. But let's be clear about what 'secularism' means to me,
and ought to mean generally to everybody else. In its original
meaning it doesn't mean that you are irreligious or that you are
opposed to religion. Secular to me means that the laws of the
state, the laws of society, will not be enacted in accordance with
some divine injunction; they will be enacted in response to the
needs of society. Law treats everybody equally - be they
Christians, Jews, Hindus, or Muslims - and is made for everyone
equally. That's secular to me. It's in that sense that to me Israel
is not a secular state, nor is Pakistan, but the United States is."
There is a general misconception in Pakistan that only religion
keeps the tidal wave of immorality from inundating Pakistan, and if
we were to become secular, we would be swamped by obscenity and all
kinds of evil western influences. We tend to forget that most
Muslim countries are secular and the standards of morality are
generally far higher there. Indeed, nations like Turkey, Morocco,
Tunisia and Algeria have smaller non-Muslim minorities than we do.
Granted that they are not all shining examples of democracy, but
their laws do not distinguish between one faith and another. We
need to reflect on the universality of values: the aim of all major
religions and value systems is to promote harmony, honesty and
equality. There is thus no basic contradiction between secularism
and religion: the former only suggests that faith is a private
matter between the individual and his Maker. Edmund Burke, in his
opening speech at the impeachment of Warren Hastings in 1788, makes
this point very well:
"The laws of morality are the same everywhere, and... there is no
action which would pass for an act of extortion, of peculation, of
bribery, and of oppression in England, that is not an act of
extortion, of peculation, of bribery and oppression in Europe,
Asia, Africa, and all the world over."
The problem with states created in the name of religion is that
politicians and bigots tend to justify the existence of their
countries with an excessive outward show of religiosity. Thus,
Israeli rabbis try to block all transport on Saturdays, the Jewish
Sabbath, while our mullahs are on the verge of declaring interest
illegal, thus precipitating a major financial crisis. In both
cases, the zealots do not have the education or the sophistication
to grasp the requirements of modern states plugged into a global
economy.
As experience has taught us (or should have done by now), democracy
and bigotry are incompatible, whether this ideological fervour
stems from religious belief or a blind commitment to any other kind
of dogma. These positions lead followers to assume an attitude of
righteousness that is the very anti-thesis of democracy. Dogma
teaches that only one point of view can be correct; and if this is
so, all those who have not seen the light are wrong, and therefore
deserve to be treated as second class citizens, if not as actual
enemies of the ideological state.
In 1947, there was a famous case in the United States (Emerson
versus the Board of Education) in which the plaintiff pleaded that
the government should permit the teaching of Christian dogma in
public schools. Mindful of the fact that many non-Christians were
enrolled in the school system, and that one kind of religious
instruction may offend certain sects, the court threw out the plea.
In his ruling, the judge, Hugo La Fayette Black, said:
"The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state.
That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve
the slightest breach."
SPORTS 001128 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Miandad confident of winning second Test ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Samiul Hasan FAISALABAD, Nov 27: Pakistan coach Javed Miandad showed great optimism ahead of Faisalabad Test against England saying his side will pull off a win in the match starting here on Wednesday. "I am confident that Pakistan team will win the match as we enter the match with a positive frame of mind," Miandad told reporters after team had nets at Iqbal stadium. The touring England side had to practice at Bohranwala ground, adjacent to their hotel because lack of nets at Iqbal stadium. "I have seen the pitch and it's hard and will take spin. We have not decided on the combination but will definitely have a spin dominating attack," he said. The match will again be affected by foggy weather and day's play is likely to be curtailed. During this time of the year fog descends and shorten the day by a significant margin. Pakistan's speedster Wasim Akram will celebrate his 100th Test in Faisalabad but he may not find the pitch to his liking and will have to use all his guile to make this occasion memorable for him. Leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is certain to make his debut. Pakistan may play off-spinner Arshad Khan and with Saqlain Mushtaq, spearheading the "tweakers", Pakistan will enter the match with three regular spinners plus leg-spinning allrounder Shahid Afridi. "Kaneria has impressed me when I saw him bowl in the nets and he is our future prospect," Miandad said.Kaneria, 19, will be hard pressed to live up to the expectations and pressure on him will be more in the wake of Mushtaq Ahmed's failure in the drawn Lahore Test. When asked why Pakistan failed to press home the advantage of spinners in the first Test, Miandad said pitch in Lahore was turning but it took slow turn and made England's work easy. "It did take spin in Lahore but since it was slow turn England's batsmen coped with our bowling but this time it will be different," he said. England team captain Nasser Hussain did not talk to the press on Monday but will brief about his team's possible line-up on Tuesday. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001127 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan tour: BCCI asks govt to reconsider decision ------------------------------------------------------------------- CHENNAI, Nov 26: Indian cricketing authorities on Saturday urged the government to reconsider its decision to cancel a tour of Pakistan by the Indian cricket team. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was planning to appeal to the government to reverse its decision in the interest of promoting the game in the region, A C Muthiah, the board's president said. The heads of the cricket boards of Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Bangladesh were also scheduled to meet Indian authorities to request clearance for the tour, Muthiah said. Last week, the Indian government cancelled a tour of Pakistan by its cricket team. The ICC had recently threatened to disqualify India from international cricket if the Pakistan tour was called off.-AP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 001127 ------------------------------------------------------------------- GDA inducts PML into its fold ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashraf Mumtaz LAHORE, Nov 26: The 19-party Grand Democratic Alliance, with a "majority vote" at an emergency meeting held here on Sunday, allowed its former adversary PML of Mian Nawaz Sharif to join the alliance to make joint struggle for the restoration of democracy. Over half a dozen smaller parties expressed their reluctance to sit with the man they had struggled against. However, some of them approached GDA President Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan subsequently and expressed their support for the alliance decisions. PML (Chattha group) president Hamid Nasir Chattha was among the staunchest opponents of the idea of the GDA joining hands with the party of Mr Nawaz. All anti-Nawaz people in the GDA are expected to part ways with the leaders they had worked with for about three years - first from the platform of the Pakistan Awami Ittehad and then the GDA. This was the last meeting of the GDA under the chairmanship of the Nawabzada and parties which approved induction of the PML will hold their next meeting in the company of their new ally, the PML, in Islamabad during the next few days. The alliance, according to informed sources, was being named the National Democratic Alliance and its maiden meeting would be held within a week. The Nawabzada, who had worked against the PPP with the support of the PML during the first Benazir rule and then against Mian Nawaz Sharif during both his periods, will head the new alliance. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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