------------------------------------------------------------------- DAWN WIRE SERVICE ------------------------------------------------------------------- Week Ending : 06 January 2001 Issue : 07/01 -------------------------------------------------------------------
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CONTENTS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS + Islamabad hopes for talks: Pullout of troops from LoC completed + APHC chief meets Pakistan envoy amid suspense + Plan for 2nd phase of polls announced + Election free and fair, says CEC + Germany resumes development aid + Some secret documents not included in HRC report + Ayub used Mujeeb to split opposition: HRC report + Exile put judiciary's credibility at stake: SCBA president + CEC to decide about Benazir's return: Yousaf + PPP regrets MQM 'accusation' + Similar policy for all provinces, says CE + City governments in 5 capitals by August + US pays damages to PIA --------------------------------- BUSINESS & ECONOMY + Petroleum prices increased: Fifth hike in a year + Worldwide fall in oil prices: Ministry seeks cut in power rates + Exporters allowed to transfer quota + US slowdown not to affect exports + Free cotton trade policy to continue + One-year performance: Economic downslide checked, claims govt + Rupee weaker: State Bank injects Rs13.5bn + Wapda plea for rate hike rejected: Nepra sees no justification + NIT seeks approval to launch five funds + Adjustment under IMF terms, says Shaukat --------------------------------------- EDITORIALS & FEATURES + Sharaf Sharif Ardeshir Cowasjee + Riotous times Ayaz Amir + The battle for hearts and minds Irfan Husain ----------- SPORTS + Pakistan wants to make tri-nation series annual event
=================================================================== DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS 20010106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Islamabad hopes for talks: Pullout of troops from LoC completed ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ihtashamul Haq ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: The process of withdrawal of Pakistani troops from the Line of Control (LoC) has now been completed to significantly improve relations with India, says a senior government spokesman. "The withdrawal of troops from the LoC has been completed from our side. It is a classified information to tell the exact number of troops that have been withdrawn but I can tell you that this number is quite substantial," said the Press Secretary to the chief executive, Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi. Speaking at a news conference here on Friday, he denied that there was any incident of heavy fighting along the LoC between Pakistani and Indian troops. "I have read some of the statements emanating from India about firing and heavy fighting on the LoC which are absolutely untrue," he asserted. Qureshi regretted that whenever there was pressure from world community on India to hold talks with Pakistan, the Indian leaders dragged their feet by saying that the environment was not conducive for talks. The situation, he said, was rapidly improving on the LoC which had also been appreciated by the international community. He expressed the hope that Indians would not be adamant to hold talks with Pakistan in order to remove tensions between the two countries. He, however, expressed satisfaction over the latest moves including the decision of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to visit Pakistan and to resolve long-outstanding disputes including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir. "There is a clear shift in the situation and there are some encouraging signs to see improvement of relations between India and Pakistan," said Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, who is also the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations. Responding to a question, the ISPR director general said that the government of Pakistan was investigating reports that Lashkar-i- Taiba was behind the killing of some people at Red Fort in Delhi. Similarly, he pointed out, the government agencies were also trying to know as to which Kashmiri organization had planned murder attempt against Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. "We are not sure whether these statements were made by anyone from Pakistani soil or were issued by those who are fighting with Indian forces in the occupied Kashmir," he added. The CE's press secretary accused Indian security forces of killing their own citizens and then putting the blame on Pakistan. "What happened in Taripura in the occupied Kashmir is before you, where a number of innocent Sikhs were killed by the Indian security forces but Pakistan was held responsible for it." Asked about the prospects of talks, he said some of the leaders within the APHC were expressing their serious concern over the continued repression in the occupied valley by the Indian security forces. "Some of the APHC leaders have rejected talks under these circumstances and India should take notice of it so that some meaningful talks could be held among the parties concerned," he added. To a question, he said that the National Security Council (NSC), which met on Thursday, had discussed Pakistan-India relations with special reference to arrival of the APHC delegation. Also, he said, the foreign minister had issued a detailed statement over the issue. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- APHC chief meets Pakistan envoy amid suspense ------------------------------------------------------------------- Jawed Naqvi New Delhi, Jan 5: The chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Abdul Gani Bhatt, held talks with Pakistan High Commisioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi here on Friday amid suspense over his proposed travel to Pakistan at the head of a still undecided APHC delegation. The meeting came also amid growing unease among some of Mr Bhatt's senior APHC colleagues over the likely agenda, or the absence of it, during the proposed visit that is scheduled to start on Jan 15. However, the chief concern on Friday continued to be the absence of any communication from the Indian government about the fate of travel documents which five, out of the seven members of the APHC executive council, do not have. Hurriyat sources said that uncertainty over passports had prompted alternative plans, namely, authorising Mr Bhatt to appoint some members of the APHC general council to the team, if they have passports. Mr Bhatt declined to say what he had discussed during his talks with Mr Qazi, which were held moments before the envoy was due to leave for Islamabad. Interestingly, the APHC leader cancelled a scheduled press conference at Delhi-based Foreign Correspondents' Club, citing the presence there of Farooq Abdullah, chief minister of occupied Kashmir. Some APHC leaders said the Hurriyat was so deeply divided over its plans to travel to Pakistan that Mr Bhatt was not very keen to face any embarrassing questions over the issue, preferring instead to cancel the long-planned press conference. While the Indian government continues its unbelievable prevarications over passports, some Hurriyat leaders confessed on Friday that New Delhi had unwittingly given them time to ponder over the rare visit to Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. According to this line of thinking within the APHC, comprising some 23 diverse groups fighting the Indian rule in Kashmir, the very idea that most members have virtually no base at all in Pakistan has the potential to become an embarrassment to them as well as to the chief host, the Pakistan government. The irony for the APHC is that one senior leader, who has been singled out for shoddy treatment by the Indian government and by some of his own Hurriyat colleagues, is Syed Ali Shah Gilani, the Jamaat-i-Islami representative in the group. "Is it not funny that barring the Jamaat-i-Islami, which has the street power and financial resources to muster an impressive show of protest and comradeship across Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, there is hardly any other member in the (APHC) executive council who could identify with a credible organization in Pakistan that has a standing among Kashmiri freedom fighters," one APHC official told DAWN. Indian media reports say that Mr Gilani's name does not figure in the list of those likely to be given passports. One analyst, close to the APHC, said he was puzzled by India's refusal to allow Mr Gilani to travel to Pakistan. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010102 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Plan for 2nd phase of polls announced ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Qadeer Chaudhry announced on Monday a plan for the completion of electoral rolls for the second phase of local bodies elections which will be held in 23 districts on March 21. The spokesman for the commission, Mohammad Dilshad, said that electoral rolls for the second phase would be finalized by Feb 19.He said the programme for finalization/completion of electoral rolls was as under: -Publication of draft electoral rolls for inviting claims, objections and corrections- 1-1-2001 -Filing of claims, objections and corrections-2-1-2001 to 11-1-2001 -Disposal of claims, objections and corrections by the revising authorities up to 18-1-2001 - Preparation of lists of additions, deletions and corrections by registration officers by 22-1-2001 -Supply of lists of additions, deletions and corrections to NADRA by 23-1-2001 -Incorporation of decisions of revising authorities in the electoral rolls by NADRA by 30-1-2001 -Publication of final electoral rolls on 19-2-2001 According to the spokesman,the following are the districts where elections in the second phase will be held on March 21: Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Mardan, Sawabi(NWFP), Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahimyar Khan, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot, Narowal(Punjab), Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushero Feroz, Nawabshah (Sindh), Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi and Bolan (Balochistan).-APP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010101 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Election free and fair, says CEC ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Dec 31: Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Qadeer Chaudhry on Sunday said that the election for the local bodies was held in a transparent, free and fair manner and there was no complaint of any undoing from any where in the country. Talking to APP at the concluding of the polling process, the CEC said he was fully satisfied with the election arrangements. The CEC, who witnessed the polling process in five polling stations in Bhalwal, said that he saw long queues both at the men and women polling stations. About the voter turnout he said it was about 35 per cent in most of the places in Punjab and the NWFP till 11.30am. Despite rain in Punjab and the NWFP, people showed keen interest to cast their votes, he said. About the results the CEC said the results announced by the presiding officers would be considered authentic. Unofficial observers at several polling stations around the country reported a generally low turnout, affected by rain. In a move to broaden the electorate, the government had lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 years. The elected members will take oath of their office after completion of the four-phased election process by Aug 14, official sources said.-Agencies DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010103 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Some secret documents not included in HRC report ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: Some documents of secret and sensitive nature scanned by the Hamoodur Rahman Commission to formulate its report were not included in any of its (report) volumes. These documents, according to the HRC report, are however available in the folders containing original evidence and exhibits which were handed over in a sealed box to the then ministry of presidential affairs. SETTING UP OF THE COMMISSION: Looking for reasons behind the HRC's constitution, the report said, "Just a day after Lt-Gen Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi had boastfully announced that the enemy would enter Dacca over his dead body, this nation was stupefied at the news broadcast through the foreign media of the abject and ignominious surrender accepted by him on December 16, 1971, at a ceremony held at the Dacca Race Course by laying down his arms and of those under his command, variously estimated between 73,000 to 93,000 men and officers." The report said the same evening the then commander-in-chief of the Pakistan army and self-appointed president of Pakistan, Gen Yahya, in a message broadcast to the nation attempted to characterize this as the loss of only a battle in a particular theatre and announced his firm intention of continuing the war on the western front. "But again the nation received a greater shock when on the next day he (Yahya) took a complete somersault and acknowledged defeat by accepting the unilateral ceasefire offered by the prime minister of India at a stage when, according to official newspaper reports, the armed forces on the western front had been advancing every where into the enemy territory and had suffered no major reverses," the report lamented. The nation, the report said, was completely at a loss to understand as to what had happened to bring about such a shameful surrender and inexplicably hasty acceptance of the ceasefire. These feelings burst out in spontaneous wrath and charged the then regime of being guilty of some insidious conspiracy to dishonour and destroy the nation. The people, the HRC report added, demanded an open trial and punishment of those found to be guilty. The agitation attained such proportions that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the then deputy prime minister-designate, was hastily summoned back from New York where he had gone to lead the Pakistan delegation before the Security Council of the United Nations, and Gen Yahya transferred power to him on December 20, 1971. "It was in these circumstances that this commission came to be appointed by the new president soon after assumption of office," the report said. It acknowledged that the members of the commission, being members of the judiciary, were totally unfamiliar with military tactics or military strategy or the arts of war, and said they could only presume that the purpose of appointing such a high-powered presidential commission with such wide terms of reference was to bring out the truth in all its aspects without regard to the personalities involved, so that the public should have a clear picture of the causes which led to these disastrous consequences and know as to whether there was any basis for the charges made by the press and the public. Some, particularly from the armed services, had doubted the wisdom of appointing such a judicial commission to inquire into such a highly technical matter, the report said, adding, but it might be pertinent to point out that such inquiries were not unusual after a shocking military failure. In India the utility of a commission headed by a military officer, Maj-Gen Henderson Brooks, appointed to inquire into the debacle of the India-China war of 1962, was seriously questioned and most writers on the subject had since suggested that a much powerful presidential commission would have produced better results, it said. Fully conscious of its own limitations, the magnitude of the task entrusted to it and the enormity of the responsibility with which it had been charged, the commission had, therefore, endeavoured first of all to familiarize itself, as far as practicable, with the methodology and mechanics of warfare, the principles of its higher direction, the process of its planning and the methods of its execution with the able assistance of Lt-Gen Altaf Qadir (rtd), whose services were placed at its disposal as military adviser, and the representatives of the three services attached with the commission and various senior officers of the General Headquarters of the army who had taken great pains to brief the commission on the defence technology and its modus operandi. The HRC did not claim to have achieved any kind of perfection in any of these fields, but the first lesson it claimed to have learnt was that in order to find out the causes of the failure of any war they must first know as to why the war at all took place. Modern wars, the commission was told, were not fought in isolation. They were no longer merely questions of matching weapons or generalship. Military tactics, it was said, was directly linked up with political and diplomatic strategy. There were also psychological, sociological, economical and geographical factors to be taken into account. The commission also asked the then government whether it would like to be represented before the commission in any manner, and whether the government would like to put forward any particular point of view or produce any witness in this behalf. The commission was told that Yahya Bakhtiar, the then attorney-general of Pakistan, would represent the government and would assist the commission by, inter alia, producing documents and necessary witnesses, and Rafi Raza, special assistant to the president, would assist the commission by filing a statement embodying the facts within his knowledge as also the present president's views before assuming charge of his office on December 20, 1971. The attorney-general and Mr Raza also held discussions with the commission on some occasions. Mr Raza later formally appeared before the commission as a witness to place the official viewpoint of the Pakistan People's Party. The attorney-general was present during the examination of a few witnesses and briefly cross- examined them but he did not lead any independent evidence on behalf of the government. In addition the commission also issued letters and questionnaires to several people who were at the helm of affairs at the relevant time for eliciting their views in a more definite form. On January 20, 1972, the commission also addressed separate letters to the heads of 17 political parties in the country requesting them to send summaries of their views, appreciations and assessments of the matters under inquiry. It was inquired from them whether they would be willing to give evidence personally or send their representatives before the commission. The response was, by and large, satisfactory, although a few political leaders at first informed the commission that since the scope of inquiry was by its terms of reference confined to military aspects only and the proceedings were to be held in camera, they regretted their inability to assist the commission, the report said. It was, however, pointed out to them that the commission did not interpret its terms of inference as being so confined as to altogether exclude the other aspects, which had a bearing on the subject matter of the inquiry. This ultimately persuaded them to agree to assist the commission on the political aspects of the matter and as many as 23 political leaders were good enough to make available to the commission the benefit of their valuable views. In the meantime, it came to the knowledge of the commission that a large number of serving officers of the defence services, who were anxious to give evidence before the commission, were being deterred by the apprehension that they might be victimized for doing so. The commission therefore approached the president of Pakistan with a request to give a public assurance that no one who appeared before the commission would be victimized on that account. An official announcement was published in the newspapers on January 11, 1972, to the effect that the proceedings before the commission would be in camera, that the statements made before and addressed to it would be absolutely privileged and would not render a person making any such statement liable to any civil criminal proceedings, except when such statement was false. Though the GHQ also (at the suggestion of the commission) issued a circular letter informing all army personnel that they could send written statements to or appear before the commission on a purely voluntary basis, the commission found this circular letter inadequate and asked the defence services' chiefs to issue fresh letters clearly embodying an assurance that the serving personnel should have no feeling whatsoever of any victimization on account of their giving evidence or imparting information to the commission regarding its terms of reference. Later, during the course of examination of the witnesses or afterwards, no complaint was received that any serving personnel had in any way been victimized except for one solitary instance of alleged victimization of a naval officer, which was being inquired into by the naval authorities. The commission took great pains to see that no harm was done to any person who in any way assisted it. The commission was empowered to call before it any citizen of Pakistan, including the former president and chief of staff, to seek information. The commission could, if necessary, even issue warrants to secure the attendance of any person unless he was otherwise exempted by law from personally appearing before the court. The commission believed that it was in the national interest to hold the proceedings in camera because almost all the information which was likely to come before it would be of a highly sensitive nature and it would not be possible to make such information public or allow it to be published or broadcast when the armies of India and Pakistan were still facing each other on the western border. The commission proposed to discuss separately the question of higher direction of war and the planning for war, as this was a subject with respect to which the HRC had come to the conclusion that they were woefully unconcerned. "Some have even suggested that our strategy was so vague, our tactical objectives so obscure and our decisions so hesitant and faulty that the ignominy of the disaster lay more in disorganized activity and absence of coordinated effort rather than the lack of men and material during the closing phases of the war," it observed. To fight a war, it said, "we must have a national political objective, a war aim, a coordinated planing, a machinery for a proper direction of war, and, above all, the whole-hearted support of the nation in the war effort. Any maladjustment amongst any one of these factors was likely to lead to disastrous consequences." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ayub used Mujeeb to split opposition: HRC report ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bureau Report ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: Hamoodur Rehman Commission recorded a statement of a witness who claimed that the Six Points Programme of Mujeebur Rehman which served as a seed for Pakistan's break-up in 1971, were actually drafted by Altaf Gauhar. This was done on the instruction of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Ayub Khan, it was said, had actually used Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman to wreck the All Parties Conference called by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan in 1966 and to trigger a split in the opposition which had started mustering support for the ouster of martial law government. As to how Six Points Programme (SPP) came to be formulated or who formulated these, according to HRC, evidence in this was somewhat conflicting. Most people are of the view that Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman himself did not posses the necessary intelligence to formulate them, the HRC said. "Mr Nurul Amin thinks they were inspired by some foreign power. Some others think that they were drafted by a group of East Pakistani C.S.P. officers and a bank official.," the report said, adding, "one witness, A.K. Rafiqul Hussain, however, actually charged Mr Altaf Gauhar of being the author of the draft of the Six Points which he alleged was sent to Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman through the above mentioned bank official. This witness also charged that this was done at the instance of Ayub Khan himself because he wanted to utilise Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman to wreck the All Parties Conference called by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan." However, Altaf Gauhar denied that he had any hand in this. The Commission said that the witness, Rafiqul Hussain, came to know of it just a little before the conference when Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman handed over a copy of this to Manik Mian, the editor of Ittefaq, who was also a member of the Awami League. "Be that as it may, the fact remains that the 'Six Points' came into being just before this conference," the Commission remarked. What the Commission thought was important at the time of its deliberations that in 1966 a convention was called in Lahore to voice an organised opposition to the regime of Field Marshal Ayub Khan, the convener of which was Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan. The convention was attended by Sheikh Mujeeb and it is here that the famous Six Points Programme was first made public. "What is important is that the idea was conceived before the 1966 convention to which we have referred," the HRC said and disclosed just before the convention a copy of the Six Points had been sent to Mr Nurul Amin, leader of the Pakistan Democratic Party (ex-Vice President of Pakistan) who showed it to another member of his party, Mr Mahmud Ali (ex-Presidential Adviser and still continuing as state minister) and both agreed that it contained the seeds of secession which they could not support. Amin and Ali were under the impression that the former alone was the recipient of the copy but they were surprised when at the convention Sheikh Mujeeb suddenly and to the surprise of everybody, came out with the Six Points, the language being precisely the same as that which had been shown or sent to Mr Nurul Amin earlier in Dacca. Mujeeb's disclosure caused an immediate rift in the opposition itself and its efforts to mount an agitation for the restoration of democracy fizzled out. The HRC also reproduced the Six Points Programme as they then stood:- Point No.1. The constitution should provide for a Federation of Pakistan in its true sense on the basis of the Lahore Resolution, and parliamentary form of government with supremacy of legislature directly elected on the basis of universal adult franchise. Point No.2. Federal government shall deal with only two subjects, viz; Defence and Foreign Affairs, and all other residuary subjects shall vest in the federating states. Point No.3. A. Two separate but freely convertible currencies for two wings may be introduced, or B. one currency for the whole country may be maintained. In this case effective constitutional provisions are to be made to stop flight of capital from East to West Pakistan. Separate Banking Reserve is to be made and separate fiscal and monetary policy to be adopted for East Pakistan. Point No.4. The power of taxation and revenue collection shall vest in the federating units and that the Federal Centre will have no such power. The Federation will have a share in the state taxes for meeting their required expenditure. The Consolidated Federal Fund shall come out of a levy of certain percentage of all state taxes. Point No.5 i) There shall be two separate accounts for foreign exchange earnings of the two wings. ii) Earnings of East Pakistan shall be under the control of East Pakistan government and that of West Pakistan under the control of West Pakistan government. iii) Foreign exchange requirement of the Federal government shall be met by the two wings either equally or in a ratio to be fixed. iv) Indigenous products shall move free of duty between two wings, v) The Constitution shall empower the unit governments to establish trade and commercial relations with, set up trade missions in and enter into agreements with, foreign countries. Point No.6. The setting up of a militia or a para military force for East Pakistan. Till the 1965 war, the HRC observed that notwithstanding their (East Pakistanis) sense of isolation there was no lack of patriotism in the people of East Pakistan. They stood solidly as a Nation and their only regret was that they had had no opportunity of fighting the enemy shoulder to shoulder with their brethren in the West. The East Bengal Regiment fought a valiant battle at Khem Karan and East Pakistani pilots in the air force won the Nation's esteem by their daring deeds. "There was no question of secession even up to this stage. The nation was one and every East Pakistani would have gladly laid down his life for the defence of his country. The sense of frustration, however, deepened after the war by the realization that in a crisis the West would not be able to come to its rescue and East Pakistan would be left to defend itself." Discussing factors which contributed in uniting the political forces against Gen Ayub, the HRC also referred to the appointment of Nawab of Kalabagh as governor of West Pakistan and Mr Momen Khan of East Pakistan. "The former did not believe in democracy and the later was an extremely unpopular figure in East Pakistan, but both ruled with such ruthlessness that the image of the Field Marshal's regime was considerably tarnished. They freely arrested political leaders, closed down newspapers and even forfeited presses. Their actions in no way helped to relax the mounting tension in the country." Another factor which gave rise to considerable dissatisfaction at this stage was the part played by the sons of the Field Marshal themselves, the report said, adding, they not only interfered with the day-to-day administration of the country but sought also to utilise their position for obtaining undue personal advantages for themselves. One of them was elected as a member of the National Assembly and even aspired to become an industrial magnate under the patronage of his father. Apart from this, the report said the rapid pace of industrial development of the country resulted in an unequal distribution of wealth. The wealth of the country gradually accumulated into the hands of a few families of West Pakistan. It was generally alleged that all the wealth of the country was concentrated in the hands of some 22 families in West Pakistan. Apparently, therefore, prosperity and development was more rapid in West Pakistan. The East Pakistanis dubbed them as exploiters of East Pakistan and built up their main propaganda of hatred of West Pakistanis on the basis of this economic disparity, combined with the fact that the Field Marshal ruled with the support of the Army consisting mainly of West Pakistanis. Although Martial Law had avowedly come in to end corruption it is paradoxical that during the Constitutional regime of Ayub Khan corruption increased at an alarming rate. The Basic Democracy System, it was said, had spread corruption into every nook and corner of the country. "The government itself, it was further alleged connived at, if not, actually encouraged their corruption for they formed the Electoral College for the election of the President himself. They openly sold their votes to the highest bidder. The Field Marshal's policy of appeasement of the Army by giving them lands, increased pay and pension benefits and other venues of employment after retirement also tended to create a feeling of resentment." All these factors had contributed to build up the opposition against the regime and the country was seething with discontentment when Z.A. Bhutto formed his People's Party in 1967 and joined in the agitation against the Field Marshal. The opposition, at first was mainly directed against the tyranny of the governors of the two provinces and abuse of the powers under the emergency. The political parties launched an agitation for the lifting of the emergency and four of the major parties formed a combined opposition under the name of the United National Command. The People's Party led by Mr Bhutto did not join this Command but continued its agitation separately for the restoration of democracy and more equitable distribution of wealth. The government, however, remained adamant. The political leaders including Mr Bhutto were arrested and with its majority in the National Assembly the government actually procured a resolution for the continuance of the state of emergency in Pakistan. At this stage differences arose between the Nawab of Kalabagh and the Field Marshal, as a result of which the Nawab resigned and General Muhammad Musa, the then Commander-in-Chief, was appointed governor in his place. General Yahya Khan was promoted as Commander-in-Chief. General Musa released a number of political detenues and took some other conciliatory measures by pardoning the heads of Mari, Bugti and Mengal tribes of Quetta and Kalat divisions and restoring the Sardaris of their families. In East Pakistan, however, Momen Khan continued his repressive measures. Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman along with 35 others were charged with a conspiracy to separate East Pakistan by a violent rebellion. The trial known as the Agartala Conspiracy Case opened in June, 1968. The agitation in West Pakistan also, in spite of the conciliatory measures taken by General Musa, continued to gather momentum and assumed serious proportions in November, 1968. Almost every section of society joined the revolt. Lawyers, doctors, students all started coming out in processions, abusing the Field Marshal and demanding his resignation. The Field Marshal himself was fired upon at Peshawar while addressing a meeting. All efforts to suppress the agitation having failed, the government at last released all political detenues and invited the opposition leaders to a Round Table Conference to be held at Rawalpindi. The political parties, which had now formed a Direct Action Committee, demanded the lifting of the emergency as a condition precedent to the acceptance of the invitation to attend the conference and continued their agitation. A countrywide strike was called on the 14th of February, 1969. Many processions were taken out on this day, which came into clash with the police and many people were injured. Mr Bhutto also, whilst still under imprisonment, went on hunger strike for the immediate lifting of the emergency. This was at last done on the 17th of February, 1969, and as a result thereof Mr Bhutto was freed. The DAC now agreed to attend the Round Table Conference but the People's Party, the Awami League and the National Awami Party refused to attend the conference. Pre-Conference parleys held on the 19th February ended in a deadlock. The DAC then demanded that Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman should also be brought to the conference table. The Sheikh at first agreed to come on parole but in the meantime another incident occurred. One of the accused in the Agartala Conspiracy Case was shot dead on the allegation that he was trying to escape. When his body was handed over to his relatives it was taken away in procession. The mob joined in and feelings ran so high that serious disturbances took place on the 19th of February, throughout East Pakistan. The police had to open fire in Dacca, Kushtia and Noakhali resulting in the death of nine persons and injuries to 51 others. Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman refused to attend the Conference unless the case was withdrawn. On the 21st of February, Field Marshal Ayub Khan announced his decision not to contest the next elections for the presidentship and on the 22nd the Ordinance setting up the Tribunal to try the case against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his co-accused was repealed, with the result that the Sheikh was a freeman, although neither acquitted nor discharged. The Sheikh attended the Conference at which the Field Marshal agreed to introduce the parliamentary system of government, to have the assemblies elected directly and to hold elections on the basis of adult franchise. Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan dissolved the Direct Action Committee but the Sheikh dissociated himself from the combined opposition on the ground that it had not supported his demand for regional autonomy and the break up of the One-Unit. Field Marshal Ayub Khan, also replaced his governors. The agitation, however, continued in East Pakistan and between the 10th and 20th of March, 39 persons were killed in Dacca and many cases of arson and looting took place. The appointment of the new governors had, as was expected, relaxed the tension somewhat and the movement was beginning to subside when suddenly on the 25th of March, 1969 the Field Marshal announced that he had relinquished his office and handed over power to the Commander-in- Chief, General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Exile put judiciary's credibility at stake: SCBA president ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent SUKKUR, Jan 5: The president of Supreme Court Bar Association, Abdul Haleem Pirzada, has said that the exile of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had staked the credibility of the judiciary, and time would come when this case would be reopened. Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, he said that the President had no legal power under Article 45 of the Constitution to send Nawaz Sharif into exile. This even amounted to jailbreak by the present government, he remarked. He said that Nawaz Sharif had been a convict in the plane hijacking case, moreover so many cases were pending in the courts. He questioned the validity of this action as in what capacity the government would answer the courts when these cases are heard? He said with this act the judicial system had lost its credibility, and once the people loose their faith in the system no one can stop them from resorting to unconstitutional and unlawful methods to achieve their rights. He said there was no clause in the Constitution, which could empower the government or the President to exile anybody to a foreign country, nor there was any precedence in Islamic Shariat. He termed the Provisional Constitutional Order an unlawful act of the government, and said that the decisions under the PCO was challengable. He said the judicial system had been under jeopardy, because the judges took a wrong turn by taking oath under the PCO. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- CEC to decide about Benazir's return: Yousaf ------------------------------------------------------------------- Reporter LAHORE, Jan 5: Pakistan People's Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto has left the decision about the timing of her return to Pakistan to the party's central executive committee which will give her a green signal after completion of necessary preparations at the grassroots level. This was stated by PPP vice-president Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani while addressing the party workers at a function held in connection with the 73rd birthday of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on Friday. Mr Gilani was among the PPP leaders who met the party chairperson at the United Arab Emirates. "The ball is in the court of PPP leaders and workers and the timing of Ms Benazir's return will depend on the time taken by the party cadre to organize themselves to face the challenge," he said. Mr Gilani said the greatest contribution of the late Bhutto to the country's politics was his initiative to bring the politics from the drawing rooms to the common man. Efforts were being made by the military regime to reverse the process, he added. He said the local government system and devolution plan were part of the new move of the military regime. Mr Gilani said a majority of those elected as nazim and naib nazim were from the feudal background. There would further pick and choose in the subsequent phases, he continued. He said it was on the government agenda to oust Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto from politics and it had succeeded in accomplishing its task. Addressing a function held in connection with the 73rd birthday of the late Z. A. Bhutto at the residence of Mian Misbahur Rehman, he said the committee was headed by former federal minister Mian Raza Rabbani and would start work shortly. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 010105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PPP regrets MQM 'accusation' ------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: A spokesperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party has regretted the attitude of the MQM wherein it had accused the PPP and PML of committing "murder, raids, arrests and extra judicial killings" of its members. In a statement on Wednesday the spokesperson of the party denied that the PPP had indulged in victimization of the MQM. "The PPP was a political government whereas the administration was in the hands of officers responsible for the same under the constitution and law of Pakistan. Those officers had to fulfil their duties where they saw the law being broken or acts of terrorism and violence being committed. It is wrong to blame the officials for carrying out their duties, to protect the life and liberty of citizens". The spokesperson recalled that "the human rights organizations had raised the issue of extra judicial killings. The PPP asked the judiciary to look into these complaints. Consequently 126 judicial inquiries were held. Not one case of extra judicial killing took place." The spokesperson said, "The MQM should agree to a respected human rights organization holding inquiries into allegations that its workers were trained to kill, kidnap, rob banks and indulge in acts of violence. These atrocities were committed against rangers, police, politicians, businessmen, taxi drivers and other poor people. The heirs of the affected persons have their lives destroyed by such acts." He said, "The PPP recognizes the MQM as an important political force. However, it makes a distinction between the political wing of the MQM and its terrorist wing". In conclusion, he said, "The PPP and MQM have different interpretations of history. The politics of tolerance calls upon both to respect divergence of views and avoid dictating a view to the other." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 010104 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Similar policy for all provinces, says CE ------------------------------------------------------------------- KARACHI, Jan 3: Chief Executive, Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Wednesday that federal government is maintaining a balanced policy for all the province and the same policy is being pursued in respect of urban and rural areas within the provinces. He stated this at a meeting with the members of Sindh cabinet held at the Governor House. The meeting was also attended by Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro and Corps Commander Lt-Gen Muzaffar Usmani. He pointed out that as per government policy attention was being paid on priority sectors like Gomal Dam in NWFP, coastal highway in Balochistan, Right Bank Outfall Drain and K-3 bulk water supply project in Sindh and major problems of Lahore in the Punjab. On the occasion, the governor and members of the cabinet briefed the chief executive about their respective departments. Gen Musharraf appreciated the functioning of provincial administration under the guidance of Governor Soomro and observed that he was trying to bring improvement and delivering the goods. He said agonies of the past be now forgotten and everyone should work unitedly for a brighter future. The chief executive was informed that eight different sub- committees had been formed which were working for the revival of economy, promotion of agriculture and industrialization, solution of urban and rural problems etc. Gen Musharraf said that he was regularly getting a feedback about these committees which were doing a good work with effective community participation. Speaking about the first phase of local bodies elections in Larkana division, the chief executive expressed satisfaction over greater participation of people particularly by womenfolk.-APP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010103 ------------------------------------------------------------------- City governments in 5 capitals by August ------------------------------------------------------------------- Rauf Klasra ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: The federal government on Tuesday announced establishment of city governments in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar before August this year. Briefing newsmen about the results of first phase of local bodies polls held on Dec 31, the Federal Minister for Rural Development and Local Bodies, Omar Asghar Khan, said that election schedule for these five big cities would be announced soon. Referring to the devolution plan, the minister said that although powers and functions of the federation and provinces would be decentralized, the existing structure of federal parliamentary system would not be disturbed. Omar Asghar said that the decentralization of powers, functions and resources would be carried out while remaining within the limits of constitution and existing legal provisions to maintain the parliamentary system of the country. On the question of bringing about required changes in the existing laws to accommodate the local government plan, Mr Khan said required changes would be made in the law to give legal cover to the new set up before the completion of local bodies election process in August. The minister said that the elected councillors, who have been elected for three years, would receive no salary. The minister also reaffirmed government's commitment to hold general elections on party basis before October next year. On the question of turnout in the recent elections, Omar Asghar claimed that according to results of 435 union councils, which have so far been received, turnout was 43.5 per cent. "This is quite encouraging," he added. The minister said the Election Commission would announce the final result of LB elections on Jan 6. The minister said government was also launching a training programme to train 130,000 councillors from all over the country on issues like governance, budgeting, rules of business, financial aspects, administrative matters, and development orientation and local government plan. He said that the government had also decided to set up federal support unit in the Local Government Ministry to advice and coordinate with the provinces on the matters related to local government plan. The minister said the work had also been undertaken on electoral reforms in the country. He said these reforms would be announced before the holding of elections for National and provincial assemblies next year. He clarified that there was no restriction on the people from minority groups to contest elections for the posts of Nazims and Naib Nazims. To a question regarding political parties' candidates who got elected in the local bodies polls, Omar Asghar said there was no restriction on the workers of political parties to contest the election. However, they are barred from using the party platform. The minister claimed that quite many doctors, lawyers and unemployed people had won the election, which was a good sign for the basic democracy. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20001231 ------------------------------------------------------------------- US pays damages to PIA ------------------------------------------------------------------- Masood Haider NEW YORK, Dec 30: The US government paid Pakistan International Airlines almost half a million dollars in damages after a US federal appeals court on Thursday found it unlawfully ordered the airline to pay for the custody of passengers seeking political asylum in the United States. In last several years the US immigration department had ordered PIA to pay for the upkeep of passengers who were incarcerated after they applied for political asylum until their case was adjudicated by the US Courts. Mr Mumtaz Alvi a prominent New York lawyer told Dawn that the US Court of Appeals for Federal Court, reversed a decision of lower courts which had held that PIA could not proceed with its lawsuit against the US Department of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). It held that INS had unlawfully directed PIA to take custody and pay for the maintenance of passengers until the date of their asylum hearings. These hearings were held months after the passengers who arrived by PIA flights in New York PIA was forced to hire security guards and leased several hotel rooms to secure their asylum hearings. The US appeals court held that by passing a statute known as the 1986 Immigration User Fee statute, which created a new fund for use by INS in taking custody of passengers seeking political asylum in the United States effectively stripped INS of the authority to order PIA to pay for the keep and custody of these passengers.
=================================================================== BUSINESS & ECONOMY 20001231 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Petroleum prices increased: Fifth hike in a year ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ihtashamul Haque ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: The government has announced an increase in the prices of petroleum products. The increase, which ranges between 6.82 per cent and 22.48 per cent, comes into effect immediately. This is the fifth increase made over the past one year. The new increase is in addition to the 40 per cent increase that has already been effected over the past 12 months. Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Petroleum and Natural Resources Secretary Yousef Abdullah said the government would receive Rs7 billion through new oil prices to "offset the impact of the increase in international prices". "The upward revision in oil prices was inevitable," he said, admitting that the increase was being announced though international prices were showing a declining trend. The increase, he explained, had been made in view of the review conducted for the months of September, October and November when international prices had been high. He said that in case international prices continued to decline in March 2001, the government would decrease petroleum prices. The secretary said the government had suffered a loss of Rs1 billion owing to the delay of about 15 days in announcing new oil prices. "We did not want to increase oil prices in Ramazan and preferred to suffer the loss of Rs1 billion," he observed. Another reason why oil prices had been increased, he said, was the appreciation of the dollar vis-a-vis the rupee. Over the past three months, the price of dollar had increased from Rs57.28 to Rs58.25, forcing the government to revise the prices of petroleum products upward, he said. Mr Abdullah said that Pakistan imported 85 per cent petroleum products and it had no choice but to pay more for petroleum prices as and when they were revised upward in the international market. He claimed that the prices of petroleum products in the country were low, compared with those in many countries in the region, especially India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. "And then we did not seek more taxation for petroleum products," he said, adding that there was a usual 15 per cent general sales tax in force. The petroleum secretary regretted that the government had not been able to offer any relief to people, "but I promise that if world prices continue to decline, we will certainly pass on its positive effect to people in March 2001". He admitted that prices of most commodities, including transport fares, would go up owing to the increase in the prices of petroleum products. Parrying questions about the undue advantage that traders and businessmen take of new oil prices, he said: "This job should be looked after by the provincial governments and local administrations as it has nothing to do with us." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 010104 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Worldwide fall in oil prices: Ministry seeks cut in power rates ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ihtashamul Haque ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has called for reduction in electricity charges following a 22 per cent decrease in the furnace oil prices during the last one year. "We certainly want reduction in electricity tariff for the consumers because of the huge 22 per cent reduction in the furnace oil prices," said Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Abdullah Yousuf. Speaking at a news conference here on Wednesday, he said that the issue should be considered by Wapda, KESC and other Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The furnace oil import, he pointed out, has been de-regulated for all power producers including Wapda and the KESC and that they should now consider reduction in power tariff for consumers due to the continued declining trends of the product. Interestingly, while the petroleum ministry was seeking reduction in power charges, Wapda has just been allowed to revise upward its tariff by 9.54 per cent by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) from September 2000. "This is a simple formula and it does not require much to ponder. If the input cost has reduced, output cost should automatically go down," he added. The petroleum secretary also disclosed that the government was considering allowing general traders to import furnace oil. "At present general traders are not eligible to import furnace oil but they would soon be allowed to enter the field," he said, adding that the government wanted to further de-regulate the furnace oil import for the benefit of all businessmen. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 010105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Exporters allowed to transfer quota ------------------------------------------------------------------- Rauf Klasra ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Ministry of commerce on Thursday announced Textile Quota Management Policy-2001, carrying rewards on one hand to encourage exporters and penalties on the other to bring about transparency and fair play. Under the new policy, the specific categories, for which exceptional flexibility of 4,000 MT allowed by European Union is to be used, would be determined by Quota Supervisory Council (QSC) and communicated to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). Following acceptance of the European Union, the EPB shall allow the textile associations the use of exceptional flexibility on notified terms and conditions. For good performance, all eligible exporters would get additional quota as a reward. In addition the government has also accepted a major demand of textile exporters by allowing them to transfer their official quota as well as one purchased from the open market. The policy, for the first time, allows the quota holders to surrender their performance quota upto September 30 every year without forfeiture of security deposits. The additional quota reward, announced in the Quota Policy- 2001 on Thursday, would be given to exporters to encourage greater utilization and higher per unit price. Terms and conditions of such rewards would be notified well in advance by the government. Reward allocations would be made from the growth quota, subject to such limits as the government may determine. The policy also allows exporters to transfer their entitlement (government) quota as well as the one they had purchased from the open market. However, quantities obtained through auction, reward, flexibilities, including exceptional flexibility, first-come- first served facility, and one-time usage and such other allocations as determined by Export Promotion Bureau would not be transferable. Separate coloured sheets with consecutive page numbers shall be added to the category pass-books in which necessary entries of non- transferable quota would be made (for shipment purposes). The new policy said that no transfer-OUT would be allowed until the exporter's passbook has been audited by the auditors. Textile associations shall ensure that forms are issued in serial order and that no blank transfer forms are issued. These associations will also be required to maintain proper records of issued forms. In case any fake or forged transfer form is detected, the concerned association would be held responsible and action would be taken against it under the law. The garment manufacturing units in Export Processing Zone have also been allowed to purchase quota through foreign exchange encashment certificate at price not less than that, which prevailed at the last auction. On the issue of surrender of quota, the policy said, quota holders would be eligible to surrender their performance quota, without any loss of security deposits and the textile associations would immediately provide details of such surrender to the EPB for disposal on such term and conditions, as may be notified. As far as the entitlement, allocation and utilization of the quota is concerned, an exporter's entitlement for the year would consist of total shipments made in a particular category in the preceding year and adjusted for over or unauthorized shipments, one time use, deductions, and or flexibilities. Final annual entitlements would be authenticated by the respective textile associations and finally determined by the auditors by April 30. The exporters would also be entitled to flexibilities on their entitlement plus quotas obtained through auction, reward, and or on first-come-first serve basis. On the issue of exceptional flexibility, the policy said that specific categories, for which exceptional flexibility of 4000 MT allowed by European Union is to be used, would be determined by Quota Supervisory Council (QSC) and communicated to EPB. Following the acceptance by the European Union, the EPB would allow the associations, the use of exceptional flexibilities on such terms and conditions as notified by the EPB. However, exceptional flexibility allocations would be for one time use. Under the new policy, allocation of quotas would be made against periodical security deposits as follows: First quarter nil, Second Quarter nil, third Quarter 0.5 per cent and Fourth quarter one per cent. The periodical security deposits would be calculated on the basis of average FoB prices obtained for the categories in the preceding year. As regards the auction of growth quota, Policy Order-2001 said that the quantities available from growth quota would be notified and put to auction in commercial lots by the EPB. As much as 50 per cent of available growth quota would be placed in first auction, 25 per cent in the second and the remaining quantities in the third auction. Only registered exporters, who are members of a textile association, would be eligible for purchase of quota through auction. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 010105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- US slowdown not to affect exports ------------------------------------------------------------------- Jawaid Bokhari KARACHI, Jan 4: The feared prolonged slow-down of US economy is unlikely to impact adversely on Pakistan's exports at least during the current year. Hard landing of the US economy is presently ruled out by the business community in view of the official steps being stipulated to handle emerging indicators of a slow-down. US is the biggest export market for Pakistani merchandise. Sales touched $2.1 billion in fiscal ending June 2000, nearly a quarter of the country's total exports. The annual trade surplus soared to record $1.5billion. Exporters and manufacturers engaged in trading with the United States say that our prices are competitive for the quality range offered. This is indicated by the growth in exports over the past few years. Earnings from sale of merchandise were to the tune of $1.36 billion in 1995-96. Going by the export trend over the past few years, official target for exports to the US for current fiscal has been hiked by over 20 per cent. There is a consensus among exporters and economists that the Bush administration would succeed in preventing hard landing. The Fed decision on Wednesday to lower the interest rate by half per cent to 5.5 per cent would cheer up the US bourses and intending three trillion dollar cut in taxes would help prop up the consumer's purchasing power, says a leading industrialist and exporter of textiles to the United States. The United States had a decade of sustained economic growth without the cyclic boom and bust. Economists say that America had a good time for such a long spell. The US will now have either the hard or soft landing, which will spill over the industrialized world. These are countries, having deeper access to the US markets and those exporting high value-added goods that would be hurt the most. Over 60 per cent of Pakistan exports and bulk of trade surplus are earned from developed countries. Western Europe buys goods worth $2.5 billion against Pakistan's imports of $2 billion from the region. Trade experts say it is the rich nations that have the purchasing power to buy foreign merchandise. Over 61 per cent of the Pakistani export earnings come from developed countries and less than 39 per cent from the developing countries, which often suffer from scarce forex resources. A former commercial counsellor in Los Angles says that producers and exporters should focus on the US market. It is the biggest market for widest possible variety, quality and range of products, with differing prices. Even the entire production of a large number of industries could be re-oriented to meet goods in demand in the United States. Big orders can be secured by meeting specific needs. This is what South East Asian countries like Thailand and South Korea are doing. To double or treble exports in short-term, there is need to increase, step by step, sales of value-added goods. The potential of export of merchandise from Pakistan to the United States is vast when seen in the context of US global imports. Secondly, the quality and price of most of the products offered compete with those from China, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia Hong Kong and India and not against goods and services offered by industrialized west. In case of soft landing of the US economy, consumers are expected to cut their expenses on imported high quality goods from western Europe or Japan and may show their preference for cheaper variety from developing states like Pakistan, says a businessmen. Official figures indicate US imports of Pakistani cotton fabrics and made-ups are around 10 per cent each of its global imports.The share of readymade garments is just over 1.1 per cent and cotton yarn and knitwear each under three per cent. Carpet and rugs picked up in last fiscal to clinch a share of nearly nine percent. In rice exports, we have lost the market to India. Pakistan's share in the total US rice import is currently at 4-5 per cent. Other items like leather and leather garments, sports goods, surgical instruments, fish and fish, fruits and vegetables were all under one per cent of the overall US imports. Bulk of the exports to the United States are of food and clothing that would still be in demand whether there is hard or soft landing of the US economy. Lower incomes would raise demand for cheaper goods. But it would not be all smooth sailings for local exporters. Shabir Ahmed, Chairman, Pakistan's Bedwear Exporters Association, says that Pakistan should monitor closely the economic development in US and Europe and respond to the emerging challenges promptly. The threat to our exports from Chinese and Indian goods should not be taken lightly. With indicators of the slow-down in US economy, currency experts forecast that the US dollar may not be able to sustain its strength and parity against euro and other hard currencies. It would mean expensive imports and cheaper exports for the Americans. Pakistan's imports from the USA have dropped sharply. Imports from the US may pick up. Exports may find the going tougher. The favourable trade balance may shrink. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 010105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Free cotton trade policy to continue ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Current policy of free import and export of cotton would continue and no government intervention would be made in this regard. This was decided at a meeting of the Federal Textile Board chaired by the Minister for Commerce, Industries and Production Abdul Razzaq Dawood. The Board would continuously monitor progress for investment in spinning for import of machinery under BMR-expansion or new units, the meeting decided adding, APTMA would take the proposal of Commercial Warehousing Scheme with the banks at their own. If needed, government intervention would be solicited for support from the State Bank, the meeting further decided. The meeting noted that the textile industry was in need of importing various synthetic fibres, which are not locally manufactured through an easy mechanism. S.R.O 818, the meeting decided was to be made user friendly and a list of M.M.Fibres & Yarns not produced locally be prepared for change of tariff. A meeting should be convened to discuss on the issue with stakeholders (synthetic fibre manufacturers and importers of synthetic yarn) for producing high value added garments for exports, the board observed. Regarding Technology up gradation in weaving, the meeting decided that Ministry of industries, commercial banks and State bank would sort out issues pertaining to availability and disbursement of funds to the powerloomers under L.M.M scheme as well as for imported/second hand shuttleless looms. The representative of the State bank said that the bank would also look into the issue at their own. It was also decided that the dyes not manufactured in Pakistan be listed and issue of reduction in import duty be taken up with CBR.- APP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010102 ------------------------------------------------------------------- One-year performance: Economic downslide checked, claims govt ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: Despite inheriting a faltering economy, the Musharraf government took some vital and far-reaching steps in the year 2000 that helped check economic downslide and put the country on path to sustained growth. A government spokesman, giving details of the performance in the outgoing year, said much had been achieved on the economic front through concrete steps that would have far-reaching results on country's economy, which was showing signs of revival. Mentioning the milestones, the spokesman said, Rs25.5 billion had been recovered from loan defaulters and Rs390 million deposited in the national exchequer on account of recovery from the corrupt people, foreign investment was pouring in, exports had registered an 11.3 per cent increase in the first five months of the current fiscal year, and the growth in tax revenues had been 11.3 per cent in the first five months of the fiscal year. "A massive poverty alleviation programme worth Rs35 billion has been launched, a tax amnesty scheme has brought additional revenues of Rs10 billion, the Pakistan Steel Mills has touched a a level of sale to the tune of Rs445 crore." The dawn of the new century also saw the heralding of a true democratic era in Pakistan as the country took the first important step on the road to democracy with the conclusion of the first phase of local government elections in 18 districts on Sunday, the spokesman said. "The historic process of empowering the people has begun," he said. "The first phase of local bodies elections in 18 districts has been completed today. Voters have exercized their right to elect their representatives at the union council level with great enthusiasm and fervour, as they genuinely believe that the new system is going to make them masters of their own destiny," he stated. Recounting the achievements and performance of the government, the spokesman said, Gen Musharraf in his first address had promised to introduce genuine democracy in the country at grass-roots level. "The process has started and the local bodies will be in place by August 2001." He stated that the resolve of the present government to clear Aegean stables of misrule, root out corruption, revive shattered national confidence and restore genuine democracy in the country was now rekindling hope and optimism among the people of Pakistan. "The policies of the present government have started paying dividends to the nation. The negative slide down and deterioration of national institutions has been arrested. "The economy is showing signs of revival, foreign investment is pouring in, and the accountability of the corrupt is in full swing."-APP DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 010105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Rupee weaker: State Bank injects Rs13.5bn ------------------------------------------------------------------- Mohiuddin Aazim KARACHI, Jan 4: The State Bank on Thursday pumped in Rs13.55 billion in inter-bank market for one week at 11.5 per cent but the direct injection fell short of the market appetite for funds. Consequently, banks had to borrow overnight funds worth more than Rs40 billion from SBP through regular repo of treasury bills at 13 per cent. On the other hand exchanged rates fluctuated wildly in inter- bank market and the rupee lost 35 paisa to a US dollar: It closed at 58.80 on Thursday against the previous close of 58.45. Bankers said some ready transactions took place at Rs58.90 to a dollar. Bankers said the rupee continued its slide despite the money market being tight on the back of dollar buying by two state-run and a partly privatized bank. "These and other banks were buying dollars mostly to cover their oversold positions," said treasurer of a bank meaning that the buyers had earlier sold dollars beyond their limits. Bankers said there was some corporate demand for the dollar as well. A state-run bank tried to cool off the pro-dollar sentiment by selling a few million of them but to no avail. In the kerb market, however, the rupee recovered 15 paisa and closed at 61.15 to a dollar for spot selling on Thursday up from 61.30 on Wednesday. Currency dealers said the rupee recovered as speculators sold part of their dollar inventories. The inter-bank market remained speculation free as the cost of dollar holding remained prohibitive because of liquidity crunch. An SBP official said banks were not speculating against the rupee and the local currency was losing its worth due to real demand for foreign exchange. But why then the central bank injected less than expected liquidity in the market on Thursday indicating that it would keep money market tight to stabilize rupee? "The answer is that though the recent fall of the rupee is not driven by speculative forces a liquid market may invite them in action," the official said. Bankers said what refrained SBP from making a big injection of funds into the market on Thursday was that an inflow of Rs23 billion is expected next week. In the mean time banks started preparing themselves for making a $50-55 million debt and interest payment on behalf of Hub Power Company next week. Bankers said the foreign banks that would be handling the outflow may start buying dollars from the market on Friday pushing the rupee further down. They said these foreign banks - four in number - normally get some relaxation from the SBP in buying dollars from the market to make debt payments of Hubco. These banks are (i) Citi bank (ii) ABN Amro (iii) Deutche Bank and (iv) Bank of Tokyo. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 010105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Wapda plea for rate hike rejected: Nepra sees no justification ------------------------------------------------------------------- Faraz Hashmi ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has rejected Wapda's review petition asking for an increase of 64 paisa per unit instead of the allowed rate of 16 paisa per unit. "Wapda's request for allowing further raise in tariff has not been accepted," Nepra said in a press release issued on Thursday. "Nepra has examined the ministry of water and power's request, but has found no reasonable ground to review its determination." The review petition was filed by the ministry of water and power on behalf of Wapda, saying that the increase of 16 paisa per unit allowed by Nepra on Dec 2, was not enough to cover the financial burden of the authority on account of increase in international furnace oil prices. Nepra, in its ruling, also referred to the ministry of petroleum's reported assertion that the benefit of decrease in furnace oil prices in the international market should be passed on to the consumers. "The matter is covered in Nepra's determination of tariff where increase and decrease of fuel prices is to be automatically adjusted in the consumer end tariff by Wapda every quarter with the approval of the authority," it said, adding that the first review of the automatic tariff adjustment formula would take place in March 2001. An official source said Wapda had asked for an increase in tariff by 64 paisa per unit when the furnace oil price in the international market had shot up to Rs15,000 per ton from Rs11,000 per ton. Since then the furnace oil price had gone down by 22 per cent to Rs10,000 per ton, just nullifying the justification for any increase, he added. He said the increase of 16 paisa per unit allowed to Wapda on Dec 2, on an average, comes to 4.7 per cent as against 19.70 per cent demanded by the authority. Wapda had sought the increase for meeting additional burden of Rs17.718 billion it faced due to increase in fuel prices. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20001231 ------------------------------------------------------------------- NIT seeks approval to launch five funds ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sabihuddin Ghausi KARACHI, Dec 30: The National Investment Trust (NIT) is seeking a go-ahead signal from the government to launch five different funds for public offering in next three to six months. All these are to be open-ended and close-ended funds and will to be floated in a period that is expected to extend from 24 to 30 months. It would be NIT's first major initiative, as for the last more than 35 years it has confined its public offerings to the registered and unregistered units only. These funds, which the NIT proposes to offer to public are (1) Islamic Fund (2) Privatization Fund (3) Regular Income Fund (4) Safe Capital Scheme and the (5) Information Technology Fund. Flotation of these funds however, depend on a host of factors. First and foremost is the proposed merger of NIT with that of Investment Corporation of Pakistan (ICP) and the subsequent privatization. This possible merger of the two financial institutions, offering close-ended and open-ended funds and subsequent privatization, is expected to be a long drawn process. Nonetheless, the financial analysts and investment executives in NIT are convinced that the merger of NIT and ICP and the privatization could be taken up simultaneously with the flotation of the funds. The new team of sponsors after privatization is expected to continue with this funds flotation programme and may even expand it more. The open-ended Islamic Fund is expected to be the first public offering through three stock exchanges to tap what the NIT analysts believe huge funds available within the country and outside from the resident and non-resident Pakistanis who look for Shariah compliance avenues of investments. This fund is designed to provide the investor with protection against the long-term effects of inflation by a mix of capital gains and regular income to be generated from a combination of regular income and equity investments that comply with Shariah. A Religious Board will be constituted to oversee all the operations particularly the avenues of investments. Conventional banking, depository and financial institutions and conventional insurance companies have been ruled out of the investment possibilities from the proposed Islamic fund and the Religious Board will approve the Shariah compliance companies where investment could be made. The NIT has proposed to form an Investment Management Company (IMC) that should float a series of close-ended privatization funds through stock markets for each of the public sector enterprises that are offered for public disinvestment. The IMC is proposed to have a capital base of Rs50 million which would be equally shared by the NIT, Pak-Kuwait Investment Company, Pak Saudi Investment Company, Faysal Bank, Al-Faysal Islamic Bank, National Bank of Pakistan and private groups. This company is expected to float a series of privatization funds of Rs250 million to Rs3 billion depending on the general capital market conditions, liquidity, investors' appetite and the capacity of the companies that are to be offered for disinvestment. The NIT analysts want foreigners to participate in the subscription of these funds. The proposal is to offer a close-ended fund that will become open- ended on expiry of five years period when the privatization process is completed. The authors of this scheme are undecided on how to handle the privatization proceeds. One of the proposals is to retain the privatization proceed and re-invest it for disinvestment of other companies. Another proposal is to distribute this privatization proceed to unit holders. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20001231 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Adjustment under IMF terms, says Shaukat ------------------------------------------------------------------- ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday said, the fuel price adjustment was part of an agreement signed with the IMF and its implementation would enhance the country's credibility. He said that the new prices would be reviewed on March 15 and hoped it (prices) would come down owing to the declining trend in oil prices in the world market. The government made on Saturday made an increase of Rs2.25 per litre in motor spirit and Rs3 per litre in high speed diesel. The minister recalled that the government had announced a formula early this year to fix the oil prices. This formula was included in a recent agreement with the IMF for a $596m standby loan, he said. "The price adjustment is an important part of the IMF agreement," Mr Aziz said, adding, "its implementation will enhance Pakistan's credibility". Under the agreement, he explained the petroleum prices would be adjusted quarterly in line with the international market prices, on the basis of prices prevailing during the last three months. The new prices is on the basis of daily average of oil rates that Pakistan paid for buying oil from the international market in September, October and November, he said. Mr Aziz said the oil prices in the world market were now showing downward trend and hoped, the prices would come down during the next review on March 15. He said that it often happened in the past that Pakistan got the first instalment after the agreement with the IMF but later failed to follow the agreed conditionalities. -APPBack to the top
EDITORIALS & FEATURES 20001231 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sharaf Sharif ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ardeshir Cowasjee At the ending of this millennium the Sharaf Sharif era of our country has drawn to its close. Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif has been banished and General Pervez Musharraf rules the roost. But, with Pakistani politics and its super-mercurial flow, there is no guarantee that the man who robbed the nation (at best the first crook, or at worst the second) will not stage a successful comeback. The probability is he will stay away for as long as Musharraf remains in the saddle, but he could return as prime minister with Musharraf as president - or, the ways of this country and its ignorant people being exceedingly strange, even vice versa. On October 17 1999, five days after the general rode in with his men, he spoke : "My dear countrymen, my aims and objective shall be : 1) rebuild national confidence and morale; 2) strengthen the federation and remove inter-provincial disharmony and restore national cohesion; 3) revive the economy and restore investor confidence; 4) ensure law and order and dispense speedy justice; 5) depoliticise state institutions; 6) devolution of power to the grass-roots level; 7) ensure swift and across-the-board accountability." Objectives 1) to 3), admittedly difficult, have not been achieved, as have not 5) and 6). Objectives 4) and 7), relatively simple and achievable, remain similarly unachieved. There is absolutely no reason why, with the army exercising abundant power, law and order cannot be enforced. It is not understandable why saboteurs and obscurantists are allowed to hold sway and why violators of the law are not found and punished. As do the politicians, our army men maintain that a foreign hand, or a hidden hand, is at play and cannot be found. This is inexcusable. Oddly, Musharraf's objective listed at number 4 was the premier objective of the country's Founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. On August 11 1947 he told the members of the constituent assembly : "The first and foremost thing that I would like to emphasize is this - remember that you are a legislative body and have all the powers. It therefore places on you the gravest responsibility as to how you should take your decisions. The first observation I would like to make is this - you will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state". The general exercises and possesses more power than any legislative body could ever have. Yet people lose their lives, their properties are destroyed, and religious beliefs are tampered with. Obscurantists and street forces are able to threaten and intimidate our military men. As for the judiciary, it has been so badly mauled that it is unable to right itself. Charging those who say this with alleged contempt of court helps not a whit. When it comes to justice and accountability, the only court which could successfully deal with thieves and defaulters such as the Sharifs was the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in England. Hudaiba Paper Mills Limited (first defendant), Mian Shahbaz Sharif (second defendant), Mian Mohammad Sharif (third defendant), and Mian Mohammad Abbas Sharif (fourth defendant), borrowed money from Investment Funds Limited, operated by Al-Tawfik Company. A master of the court, not even a judge, served an order on the defendants on September 4, 1998 and the court attached valuable properties in London owned by the Mians : 16, 16A, 17 and 17A Avenfield House at 117-128 Park Lane, London. End of story. The Mians paid up. The loan plus interest, amounting to approximately $450 million, was repaid within 16 months. The master of the court recorded the "consent order" signed by the solicitors of both sides on January 25, 2000. The money, the Mians say and which we don't believe, was paid back by an Arab "friend" of theirs out of mere love and affection. At the request of both parties the court ordered that the details of the repayment not be disclosed. The lenders and the court were satisfied that justice had been done and naturally they had no objection to a "friend" paying the debts of a "friend". The Mians owed almost half a billion dollars which they held abroad and which they repaid. How many of us have a "friend" who out of love and affection will repay for us our debts totalling millions of dollars? Now to the nitty-gritty of money, the rupee, which once was made up of 16 annas, or 64 paisas, or 192 pies. As a schoolboy I was given four annas a week as pocket money as were most of my friends. The father of a school friend, Rustomjee Perozshah Kharas, an auctioneer to the Crown, a man who valued money, used to give the same royal sum of four annas to his son, my friend Jhangu Kharas, with the admonition "Khajo, peejo, ney majha kerjo, pun kharab rastay Napier Road ni turaf jasso tau autey weekay nahin apas". (Eat, drink and make merry, but if I find you are straying into the wicked Napier Road area you will get nothing next week.) Our present-day financial wizards Moeen Qureshi (chairman), Sartaj Aziz (vice chairman), Professor Doctor Hafiz Pasha (managing director), Javed Jabbar (director) and other luminaries and office bearers of the Social Policy and Development Centre, core funded by the good Canadians, have produced a report for the year 2000. In true Pakistani style it is entitled "Social Development in Pakistan - Towards Poverty Reduction", when it should have been given the title "Bankrupt Pakistan". Apart from this it is a fairly accurate report. Moeen Qureshi is a highly intelligent person who has spent most of his life in a civilized society. For three months in 1993 he was our caretaker prime minister and it remains beyond my comprehension how a man such as he could have succumbed to the charms of Benazir Bhutto, that accomplished robber of the people's money, and appointed Maula Bakhsh Abbasi, a known confirmed robber, to head our then reasonably solvent National Development Finance Corporation. Abbasi proceeded to rob the NDFC bone dry and is now as can be expected a declared absconder. Sartaj Aziz, once Nawaz's finance minister, was privy to the shenanigans of his boss but did not have the decency to either resign or try to do something to prevent Nawaz from robbing. Hafiz Pasha is a talented man who tried his hand at planning and policy-making during Nawaz's second round. He failed and gave up. Now he has gone to the UN in New York as an assistant secretary for economic affairs. We wish him luck. How much robbing can the people endure and our country bear ? The first paragraph of the synopsis of this report sums it up : "Today, 46 million people of Pakistan are poor and one in every three families is unable to meet its basic requirements of nutrition and other needs. During the decade of the '90s [Bhutto/Sharif years] the number of poor has increased by as much as 25 million. If present trends continue then we expect that within the next three years the number of poor will increase by another 14 million and approach 60 million, almost 40 per cent of the population. Clearly poverty has emerged as the principal problem requiring urgent attention if a large-scale social breakdown is to be averted, with its concomitant implications for law and order". For years to come we will remain broke. All the government organizations and institutions, many of which do not justify their existence, and the armed forces are all living beyond their means. The country's revenue earnings amount to some Rs.450 billion per year. Debt servicing takes care of around Rs.350 billion and the armed forces consume Rs.230 billion (130 b. salaries and other recurring expenses ; 50 b. defence spending - tanks, aircraft, ships, etc - in Benazir's time this cost us 100 b per year ; 25 b. pensions ; 20 b. ISI and paramilitary - rangers/coastguards/levies/constabulary ; 5 b. nuclear deterrent, capital and recurring). Any Ataturks in sight ? Moaning and groaning and giving in to threatened riots and marches on the capital does not help. Tomorrow is the first day of the next millennium. We must thank our stars that despite the destroyers of our country who have led us since Jinnah died in 1948 we have so far only lost half of it. Now, on the foreign affairs front, would it not help if we were to adopt a less belligerent posture? DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 010105 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Riotous times ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ayaz Amir SHOULD the Hamood Report be read as dirge or high drama? The army command living it up, General Yahya in thrall to various beauties, he and General Hamid conducting the nearest thing we have had to bacchanalian orgies, Lt-Gen Niazi (as given to sensual delights as his superiors but, coming from Mianwali, somewhat less polished) smuggling betel leaves and living it up in Dhaka: this is the stuff of Falstaffian comedy. What is the Hamood Report? Essentially, wisdom after the event. When the events of 1970 and 1971 were unfolding most people in the know, and this included junior army officers such as myself, had a fair idea of how the senior command was disporting itself and spending its free time. Tales of copious drinking (Ghalib surely would have approved) and other delights abounded. As a captain posted in Lahore, where Lt-Gen Niazi was corps commander before being sent to liberate East Pakistan, I well remember how the more knowledgeable amongst us used to regale each other with stories of his escapades with the famous Mrs Saeeda Bokhari of some sector of Gulberg. Someone even told me that while visiting his favourite lady the Corps Commander, Lahore, was given to wearing calf-length boots, as a mark, I would suppose, of his Mianwali machismo. Furthermore, that before climbing the stairs to her flat he would make a beeline for some nearby bushes and there relieve himself. Festive warlord indeed. High boots and relieving oneself in the bushes: try as I might I find it hard to work up a patriotic indignation over these telling details. While the Higher Command was thus preparing itself for war, how was the political warlord of West Pakistan conducting himself? Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was threatening to break the legs of those of his MNAs who had the temerity to attend the scheduled National Assembly session in Dhaka - whose postponement triggered the chain of events which culminated in the surrender ceremony at Paltan Maidan, again in Dhaka. When the drama of it all ended and Bhutto was ensconced in power in what remained of Pakistan the search began for scapegoats and the readiest to hand were booze and women, Pakistan's humiliation being blamed on these kindred vices. In this frenzied orgy of righteousness few people chose to consider that in 1971, even if Pakistan had been led by a college of cardinals, the same policies would have led to much the same disaster. Yahya's drink was first- rate and his black beauties (there being several in his stable) sublime. It is his policies which were to blame. It is also sobering to remember that those policies were backed by the entire West Pakistani establishment, from the mandarinate of Islamabad to the great political warlord himself, Zulfikar Bhutto. Not only this but the Jamaat-i-Islami, which later became one of the most ardent purveyors of the booze-and-women theory of national humiliation, was amongst Yahya Khan's foremost supporters. So much so that its then chief, Mian Tufail Muhammad, famously said that the president was about to give the country an "Islamic" constitution. And this when the lights were already closing in on the Yahya era. From no single quarter have Pakistan's villains sprung. They have come from all sides of the national compass. The army command's great fault in '71 was to mix up the issues of peace and war. If Yahya Khan and his generals had stuck to their peacetime vocation of exercising power, the sun would not have set so tragically on their wining and dining. But the Fates pushed them into the vortex of events they could neither comprehend nor control. Even if there had been no Mata Haris at their court they would still have been driven on the rocks. It can be argued of course that booze and women robbed Yahya and his coterie of the power of lucid thinking. Maybe so although looking at some of the other highpoints of Pakistani history I find it hard to subscribe to this theory. How did we stumble into the '65 war? Ayub drank moderately and was certainly not given to late- night trysts with black and other beauties. How did we decide to carry out our nuclear tests in May 1998 or, a year later, rush into the Kargil adventure? Both decisions, each disastrous in its own way, were made in a flush of flaming sobriety. Caesar was abstemious in food and drink (although less straight in the matter of choosing his bed partners). Napoleon hardly tasted alcohol. Hitler was a puritan in most matters, including sex. Ataturk drank to excess and liked amorous company. Churchill was a serious drinker. Stalin was given to all-night drinking orgies in the Kremlin. RAF and Luftwaffe pilots in the second world war seldom went short of good wine and champagne, none of which impaired their fighting ability. Either way the evidence is not conclusive. Sobriety is no automatic guarantee of statesmanship, drink not always the shortest route to hell. To be sure Yahya (lucky devil) was in the arms of his women when he should have been studying his war maps. But then Yahya's inclinations were well known much before Ayub picked him to be army c-in-c. In normal times he would have made a genial commander. It was just his luck to be presiding at the high table when adverse winds were driving Pakistan into stormy seas. Maybe the praetorian tradition which is strong in Pakistan is to blame. Maybe if democracy had not been derailed civilian leaders would not have taken as readily to failed and expensive wars. But this is to second-guess history and is like saying that Germany would not have plunged into the first world war if the militaristic spirit had not been so strong in it. This precisely is the point. The baptism of Germany at the hands of Bismarck took place at the altar of militarism. How could Germany escape one of the defining influences of its birth? The strength of the praetorian tradition in Pakistan is not because of the subverting of democracy. This is too simplistic an explanation. In what is now Pakistan the praetorian tradition has always been strong. In Ranjit Singh's kingdom, which encompassed Punjab and much of the Frontier (and which in these parts was the last settled political order before the arrival of the British), the most powerful element was the Khalsa army. Being the kingdom's mainstay everything else was subordinated to its interests. For their part when the British finally annexed Punjab some years after the death of Ranjit Singh they introduced a system of administration which was more military than civilian. Henry Lawrence, the man at the epicentre of Punjab events (after whom is named Lawrence College in the hills), chose a group of brilliant young men as his political assistants: James Abbott (after whom we have Abbottabad), Herbert Edwardes (Edwardes College, Peshawer), Joe Lumsden (who raised the Guides Cavalry), Jack Nicholson (of Nicholson's Monument at the Margalla Pass near Taxila), Hodson (of Hodson's Horse) and several others. All of them were junior officers of the British Bengal army. They proved great administrators but were at heart soldiers. In the relief of Delhi during the Sepoy Uprising of 1857 some of these men, especially Nicholson, played an important part. What is of interest to us, the imprint of their administrative methods long survived them. The district and police officers of Pakistan may not know much of the origin of their services. They may lack the spirit and competence of their forebears but to the extent that they have a collective unconscious it is haunted by the memory of those shadowy figures who imposed British order on the parts which now form the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Democracy and its trappings have merely scratched the surface of this more timeless reality. >From all of which I conclude that whatever Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan might say we are not going to be rid of the praetorian tradition in Pakistan any time soon. General Musharraf may choose to formally retire to the barracks tomorrow but this tradition will continue to cast its shadow on our polity. This, to my way of thinking, is the grim reality.Even so, if the praetorian tradition is to remain with us for some time more (and who knows how long this 'some time' may be) why should it not learn to tame the spirit of frivolous adventure? Yahya Khan was brought down not by his black beauties (to say as much is to do a grave injustice to those women of great zest and charm) but by not heeding the wisdom of Horace's words, " Brute force bereft of reason falls by its own weight..." For the generals of today brute force comes dressed in the garb of infallibility which leads them to believe that while everyone else in Pakistan is a fool or a scoundrel they alone of God's creation know best. TAILPIECE: Apropos of the great Ranjit Singh, he drank to excess, took opium daily and had a stable of mistresses of both sexes. His durbar was the scene of greater licentiousness than Yahya Khan could ever have imagined. Yet he was a great ruler because he knew where to draw the line and for as long as he lived did not cross swords with the British except in peace. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20010106 ------------------------------------------------------------------- The battle for hearts and minds ------------------------------------------------------------------- Irfan Husain LAST Christmas, a suicide bomber blew himself and a number of Indian soldiers up in Srinagar. Since this type of attack has been unusual in the Kashmir conflict, there was some speculation about the bomber's identity. According to a recent edition of The Asian Age, a certain Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad, leader of the London-based Al Muhajiroon group, has claimed to have recruited Mohammad Bilal, 24, for the attack. According to him, Bilal's brother and cousins have also been trained by his group, and his parents were "proud of their son's sacrifice." Apparently, Bilal was recruited in 1994, and has spent much of his time in Pakistan since then, receiving weapons training as well as participating in several raids into Indian Kashmir. Omar Bakri has told the press that he and his group have recruited over 600 Britons (presumably of Pakistani descent) in universities and mosques to fight in Kashmir. He also finances Al-Maddad which, with other groups, recruits around 2,000 young men from all over Britain. According to him, these volunteers are sent abroad for training to Pakistan, South Africa, Nigeria or Afghanistan where they learn of "weapons and explosives." Such recruiting, funding and training activities are being targeted in Britain by a new anti-terrorism law that is expected to be enacted in February. Under the new law, police will have far- reaching powers to prevent groups from supporting and launching terrorist acts from British soil. This law makes no distinction between 'jihad', just freedom struggles and straightforward terrorism. Once the law is passed, people like Omar Bakri can be prosecuted and jailed. As this law will also prohibit exiles from inciting supporters to violence in other countries, presumably Altaf Hussain and the MQM, among others, will be affected. Indeed, a number of countries - Pakistan among them - have long protested that self-styled British- based exiles have escaped justice at home, and are abusing liberal British laws to exhort their supporters to acts of terrorism. Given tough extradition requirements, politicians can (and do) sit in London and live off their ill-gotten gains issuing statements critical of their rivals. As long as they do not break British law, they can indulge in all sorts of subversive activities aimed at governments in their home countries. But the new law will at least discourage residents from using British soil to recruit and train terrorists. However, apart from the legal aspects of such activities, people like Omar Bakri and his cohorts have inflicted serious damage to race relations in Britain. To be told that not only was a suicide bomber recruited and trained in their country, but his parents are actually proud of his act, is to reinforce the worst impression the British have of Muslims generally, and of Pakistanis in particular. Suicide is considered a sin in both Islam and Christianity. It is therefore difficult for westerners to empathize with parents who profess to feel pride when their son blows himself up along with soldiers from a country generally admired in the West. Indeed, there is scarcely any other act that would cause as much revulsion as suicide bombing. It should not surprise us when Pakistan's cause in the Kashmir conflict receives little support abroad. As it is, there is so much that divides orthodox Muslims from their white, Christian neighbours. The real and perceived injustice meted out to women in some Islamic communities is a constant source of misunderstanding and friction. When Britons read about young Muslim girls being forced to marry against their will, they have reason to be unsympathetic to a patriarchal culture where parents can decide their children's future without any semblance of free choice. Secularism is now so deeply ingrained in the western psyche that even well-travelled, liberal people have a problem in understanding a society where every action in a believer's life is dictated by faith. When Afghan Taliban refuse to allow women access to a doctor in the name of Islam, the most tolerant westerner is revolted. So when the United Nations slap fresh sanctions on the Taliban, nobody protests. And when successive Pakistani governments persecute religious minorities, it is not difficult to see why we have such a bad image abroad. The bottom line here is that right or wrong, good or bad, Muslim countries generally have a very bad press in the West. From oil- rich Arabs to the bigots everywhere, Muslims have acquired a very poor image. By losing the propaganda war-virtually by default - Muslim countries and causes have lost the support of powerful western nations and institutions. Apart from the grim human-rights record most Muslim countries have piled up, very few of them have democratic practices or institutions. All these factors have combined over time to ensure permanent tension between Islam and the West. Against this backdrop, when people like Omar Bakri openly boast of recruiting thousands of young men to fight friendly countries abroad, we should be prepared for a backlash. Today it is an anti- terrorist bill; tomorrow it can be tougher sanctuary and exile laws. Or legislation can make it harder for immigrants to get citizenship in Britain. And before we talk about racism, let us remember that Saudi Arabia and the UAE hardly ever accord citizenship to foreigners, no matter how long they have been resident in these countries. Muslims across the world are resentful - often with good reason - of the hostility they attract in the West. When a white American blew up a public building killing scores of innocent people, the first reaction was to accuse Muslim terrorists. Such racial profiling has been criticized, but given prevalent threat perceptions among western security forces, acts like the Srinagar suicide bombing will only reinforce and sharpen existing prejudices. At least half of all freedom struggles are aimed at swinging public opinion around to the side of the oppressed. This is especially important when there is no realistic chance of military victory. However, misguided extremists attack the innocent as they are seen as soft targets, thereby losing popular support for their cause. This makes the task of security officers easier as they can use the most oppressive means and justify them as necessary to fight a cruel foe. In this mounting cycle of violence, diplomacy and public relations fall by the wayside. Omar Bakri and his followers and supporters would do well to remember that the battle for hearts and minds is not won by suicide bombers.
SPORTS 20010101 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan wants to make tri-nation series annual event ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Our Sports Reporter KARACHI, Dec 31: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) for some flexibility in the 10- year schedule which will be discussed and approved at Melbourne in February. A spokesman of the board said the ICC has been requested to keep the provision for an additional team each year to assist Pakistan organize a triangular one-day competition. The tournament will be staged in accordance with the format of Australia where the third team visits for the tournament if it is not playing a Test series there. Pakistan has also shown interest in hosting two home series' with the triangular tournament sandwiched between the two rubbers. Last year, Pakistan and India competed in the Australian event while this year Zimbabwe will be the third nation to join the West Indies and the home team. Pakistan last organized a triangular competition is 1994 which was also played Australia and South Africa. In 1997, a quadrangular competition to celebrate country's 50 years of independence was held. "We want to make the triangular tournament an annual feature. It would not only result in financial gains, it would also help us distribute the games equally to all the centres. Need not to say that cricket will flourish," the spokesman said. The official added that the PCB would also press the ICC to make available a standby team or compensate for the financial loses if India refuses to tour Pakistan. According to the 10-year programme, India are scheduled to visit Pakistan thrice. The cancellation of next year's series here has already incurred a $15 million loss to Pakistan. SELECTION POLICY: On an another front, chairman of selectors Wasim Bari said the fitness and form of some of the key national players would be monitored before they are considered for the tour of New Zealand in February. "We would see Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Mohammad Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad, Younis Khan in action before deciding if they are worth retaining or regaining their places in the team," Bari conceded. Some of these players are expected to figure in the Patron's Trophy which commence from January 26 as they are not entitled to play in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy for not being registered by their parent associations. The players will get at least two rounds to prove their form and fitness as it is expected that the board would organize a reconditioning camp from Feb 7. The team departs on Feb 12 for New Zealand for three Tests and five one-day internationals. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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