------------------------------------------------------------------- DAWN WIRE SERVICE ------------------------------------------------------------------- Week Ending : 21 September 2002 Issue : 08/38 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents | National News | Business & Economy | Editorials & Features | Sports
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CONTENTS =================================================================== NATIONAL NEWS + Musharraf advises people to elect honest candidates + Political parties pledge to fight corruption + Key parties to ensure fair polls, transfer of power + Constitution's supremacy top priority of PPP: Babar + PPP(S) vows to stamp out poverty + PTI to reshape judiciary if voted to power: Imran + Alliance to work for unity, says Noorani + Muttahida promises to bring down prices + Over 8,000 in the run + EC announces final list of candidates + EU reduces number of observers + NA foresees strong opposition + PML-QA to back Musharraf's bid for presidency + NRB to restructure govt departments + 'Govt is not backing any candidate' + Civil servants warned against influencing poll results + HRCP casts doubts on fairness of elections + PPP, PML-N plans on seat adjustment off + 'Prestigious' seats in Punjab + LHC dismisses plea against Nawaz + Rejection of Shahbaz papers challenged + Shahbaz, Kulsoom appeal 'flawed' + Laws changed to keep Benazir out, court told + Benazir's poll petition comes up for hearing + Asif indicted in SGS reference + President says he is facing no threat + Harkat men given in police custody + IG confirms arrest of 7 suspected militants + 8 militants arrested in Karachi + Ramzi has not been arrested: Al Qaeda + Ramzi, four others flown out of Pakistan + Vital papers seized from Al-Shaiba + CID begins grilling 46 men handed over by Kabul + Forces fully equipped to face enemy: Law & order has improved + American approach seen as threat to world peace: Seminar + New US visa programme for students + Musharraf asks India to shun bilateralism + Pakistan invites APHC for talks: Mirwaiz assured of OIC help --------------------------------- BUSINESS & ECONOMY + $2.4bn accord signed with ADB + Asian Bank cuts risk premiums + Pakistan, US FTA likely + Fiscal law ready for cabinet approval + NFC silent on debt relief to provinces + Profit-selling halts upward drive on KSE --------------------------------------- EDITORIALS & FEATURES + 'Give me seven years...' Ardeshir Cowasjee + A year later Eric S. Margolis + Iraq's N-weapons: fact or fiction? Eric S. Margolis + Introduction to music Ayaz Amir + Devolution and revolution Irfan Husain ----------- SPORTS + Waqar's men cleared of any wrongdoing + Root causes behind team's defeats + Sacked Mudassar denies rift in team + Youhana also out of Aussie Test series + PCB keeps faith in Waqar for home Tests + No major changes in hockey team for Asiad
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NATIONAL NEWS
20020920
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Musharraf advises people to elect honest candidates
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Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: President Gen Pervez Musharraf appealed to the
nation to elect honest and dedicated candidates in the October
elections in order to have clean leadership which should only serve
the interests of the country.
"Politicians, bureaucrats, people of the armed forces and
businessmen have been indulging in corrupt practices in one form or
the other and that is why Rs1.3 trillion were eaten away during
1988 to 1999", he further stated.
Inaugurating a seminar organized by Pakistan Chapter of the
Transparency International, the president said he did not mean that
all the politicians, bureaucrats, armed forces men and businessmen
were corrupt and were involved in loot and plunder.
"There are good people who live every where in Pakistan but still
there are others who do not believe in any morality and frequently
indulge in corrupt practices", he added.
The president said that there are 10 per cent people who are
corrupt and another 10 per cent who are not corrupt in Pakistan.
"And there are 80 per cent people who sway to any side whenever
they get any opportunity therefore we must save them by providing
equal opportunity to grow and by ensuring adequate pay structure
and by giving them some better political system", he added.
The seminar was attended by the leaders of some political parties
including PML(N), PML(Q), MQM, PPP(S), Millat Party, Sindh
Democratic Alliance and Jamaat-i-Islami(JI). However, no
representative of the PPP and the PTI of Imran Khan attended the
seminar.
The representative of those political parties who were present on
the occasion signed a declaration pledging that they would not
indulge in corrupt practices in case there parties came into power
as a result of the Oct 10 elections.
The president claimed that higher level corruption did not exist in
the country today and that his three years period has proved to be
good compared to previous years.
"I am also declaring here that there has not been an increase of
single penny in my assets eversince I took power", he said. He also
gave a personal commitment to remain honest.
He said Pakistan has come a long way since 1947 and during this
period there had been development of infrastructure, roads, dams
etc. "We have certainly achieved a lot during the last 50 years but
we did not optimise our resources and one of the main reasons was
the corruption".
The president regretted today the majority of Pakistani people were
pessimistic and that there was a general apathy which was
surrounding the whole environment. He said he did not understand
why people were so demoralized and even any thing good was done it
was not recognized and appreciated. "Look we have taken a
successful action against Al Qaeda in Karachi but people say it was
due to Americans which is totally wrong as our people conducted the
whole operation", he said.
He also criticized the press for not playing its due role to
project good things and expose the corrupt practices. The president
said that corruption was seen in haves and have-nots. "Those who
already possess great deal of wealth, they are greedy and always
look for more ill-gotten money and those who do not have money,
they think this is their right to have ill-gotten money", he said.
He was of the view that corruption rose in Pakistan because there
was no check and there was no accountability. At the same time he
said that "there was no performance of the judiciary".
The president said during his three years experience in the
government, he has come to know many things about the corruption.
"First there is a corruption which is done with the connivance of
politicians and the bureaucrats and they do not feel tired of
eating development funds", the president said.
"Foreign assistance coming in Pakistan is also consumed through the
nexus of politician and bureaucrats. All kinds of development funds
are eaten away at the federal, provincial and district level", he
said.
"Then the businessmen get loans from ADBP and other banks with the
connivance of the bankers and do not return them due to which today
our banks have gone bankrupt".
"And then we witness nexus between the industrialists and the CBR
people for tax evasion. Similarly, people in the armed forces
indulge in corrupt practices specially in arms deals and other
defence purchases", the president said.
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20020920
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Political parties pledge to fight corruption
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Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: Political parties of different shades pledged
to implement an effective anti-corruption package after the
election.
Through the package, the accountability process and transparency
would be ensured through access to information at federal,
provincial and local government level, they decided.
The commitment, titled "our pledge to the people of Pakistan," was
made during a convention of political leaders organized by the
Pakistan chapter of Transparency International at the Convention
Centre.
Those who signed the pledge are: Millat Party chief Sardar Farooq
Leghari, Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) President Mian
Azhar, PML leader Sartaj Aziz, Abdus Sattar of Muttahida Qaumi
Movement, Imtiaz Sheikh of Sindh Democratic Alliance, Ashraf Malik
of Jamaat-i-Islami and Iqbal Khattak of Pakistan People's Party
(Sherpao). Ajmal Khattak left early but signed the pledge.
Jeremy Carver, the representative of the Transparency
International, told the audience that out of 12 political parties
invited, 10 had agreed to attend. The PPP, Pakistan Awami Tehrik
and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf were absent.
Mr Carver read out the pledge in which the political leaders
acknowledged the damage caused by corruption and the urgency of the
need for countering it. The said they recognised that continuing
international support for the country was largely dependent on the
prompt and effective national anti-corruption strategy.
The pledge stated that those who were elected and formed the
opposition after the election would play a full part in holding the
government accountable and to cooperate in non-partisan ways with
the adoption and implementation of effective anti-corruption
strategies.
The pledge said that when the new government was sworn in after the
elections, the politicians would work together to evolve an
effective system of accountability, including an independent and
effective judicial system, to eliminate corruption.
They pledged to serve the people with integrity and said corruption
crisis must be tackled openly by all. They also invited the
citizens to unite with them in their determination to rid the
country of corruption.
Speaking on the occasion, National Accountability Bureau Chairman
Lt-Gen Munir Hafeez said corruption had created the largest hole in
the fabric of democracy. "While all of us acknowledge that not all
politicians are corrupt, there is a general feeling that, lately,
the politicians with conviction and a desire to serve the nation
had gone into the background while it had come to be dominated by
mercenaries who entered for a profit," he observed.
The small set of political leaders had been responsible for giving
politics and democracy a bad name and destabilizing the country, he
said and added that corrupt elements existed in all sectors all
over the world and the it was true in Pakistan as well. However, in
politics and democracy the worst came out when those at the top
indulged in corruption and the honest were sidelined, he said.
He said years of plunder had left the economy in a shambles,
burdening it with unsustainable debt and extremely poor social
indicators.
He said the first victim of corruption was justice because the weak
failed to get their rights and the powerful usurped them. "Such a
social system was not sustainable and eventually there was a
breakdown of law and order, resulting in chaos," he said.
He said the public had lost faith in the governance system and the
democratic process.
Farooq Leghari called upon the West, United States President Bush,
United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Transparency
International to include corruption in their war against terrorism.
He said corruption could be eradicated to a considerable level if
the corrupt elements could not get safe havens through transfer of
plundered wealth to offshore companies. He said that about $50
billion had escaped Pakistan in the past years - an amount more
than enough to wipe out the external debt.
A way to tackle corruption, he said, was to respect the supremacy
of law, honour the Constitution and devise a system where the
judiciary was also made accountable.
He said that despite claims of economic development, poverty was
expanding.
Mian Azhar said the common man took the state as a supporter of the
corrupt. The state must convince the citizens that it was not
tolerant of corruption, he said.
Sartaj Aziz emphasized the need for judicial independence and an
independent investigating machinery to probe corruption charges. He
said that the manifesto of the PML, to be announced two days later,
talked in detail about corruption.
Abdus Sattar said corruption could be plugged if the sizes of
cabinets were restricted and the president, prime minister and the
chief ministers were allocated minimal funds, subject to scrutiny
of Public Accounts Committee. He said the parliament needed to be
made dynamic, the powers of NAB should be transferred to the
Ombudsman and discretionary powers should be looked into.
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20020921
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Key parties to ensure fair polls, transfer of power
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By Ahmed Hassan
ISLAMABAD, Sept 20: Almost all the major parties contesting general
elections have decided to join hands on one point agenda of
ensuring free, fair and impartial polls and smooth transfer of
power to the winning party, sources said.
Although these parties have failed in making any substantial seat
adjustments between themselves in a bid they earlier envisaged to
defeat the pro-government candidates, they clearly smell that if
they also failed in putting their act together they will lose
elections miserably if the feared manipulations were enforced by
their opponents on the election day.
A list of demands vis a vis holding of smooth polls is being mulled
at an appropriate level which will be discussed among the leaders
and made public probably at a joint news conference of these
leaders within the next few days, the source said.
"Efforts were being made to get at least the leaders of four major
parties, Makhdoom Amin Fahim (PPP), Raja Zafarul Haq (PML-N), Qazi
Hussain Ahmed (JI/MMA) and Imran Khan (PTI) together at a joint
news conference to pronounce their joint stand on the holding of
elections and the apprehensions attached to them", said a source.
Imran Khan chairman Pakistan Tehrik Insaaf who is spearheading the
campaign to rally the opposition parties affected by government's
actions dubbed as pre-poll rigging has completed first round of
talks with three major parties, PPP, PML(N) and JI/MMA.
He had told a news conference that he had talked by phone to Jamaat
chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed being last in the list who principally
agreed with my point of view and also agreed on taking a united
stand on holding of polls.
According to sources Mr Khan has undertaken the task of bringing
the mainstream political leaders to join hands against any effort
of manipulation in the general elections.
Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Raja Zafarul Haq in their meetings with
Imran Khan had agreed with the notion that the parties who don't
enjoy support from the establishment and were confronting the pro-
government parties should have a joint platform.
Sources said, Makhdoom told Imran that he will be right back after
consulting ARD chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and other component
party leaders.
In his telephonic talks with Imran, Qazi Hussain also promised to
discuss the issue with the components of the MMA during a rally in
Rawalpindi and to hold a meeting together with other political
leaders.
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20020920
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Constitution's supremacy top priority of PPP: Babar
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Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: The rule of law and supremacy of the
Constitution prioritizes the agenda of every candidate of PPP,
besides their pledge to resolve the grievances of the residents of
their respective constituencies.
This was said by Dr Babar Awan, PPP candidate for NA-48, at a
reception hosted in his honour by the Islamabad Bar Association
(IBA).
He said the PPP was striving for the cause of justice and well-
being of the countrymen despite its leadership being subjected to
the worst ever victimization.
He said the suppressed classes could never benefit nor peace in the
country could be restored if there was no "respect for the law and
Constitution".
The present government has made a mockery of law and Constitution
only to prolong its rule and for this purpose to defame the popular
leaders of the opposition, he said.
Mr Awan said it was a matter of pride for all citizens concerned
that the lawyers community was determined to safeguard their
Constitutional rights and all their interests.
Seeking all out support of the lawyers' community, he said: "He had
made it clear to the party chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, that he
would get all his pledges fulfilled if elected and that the party
leadership would not object to his intentions in case of his
success in the elections."
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20020921
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PPP(S) vows to stamp out poverty
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PESHAWAR, Sept 20: Chairman of his own faction of Pakistan People's
Party Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao has said that the PPP(S) will
continue its struggle for the rights of Pakhtoons and slated the
negative politics of frustrated elements who are out to mislead the
masses.
He said that the people were politically conscious and they would
reject them in October polls. He was addressing an election rally
at village Srekh Shabqadar, Charsadda.
He believed that it would not only stamp out poverty and
unemployment but it would also remove public grievances.
He further said that the PPP(S) would fight for the rights of
Pakhtoons and would further expose the so-called champions of
Pakhtoons' rights who were out to hoodwink them. He called upon
Pakhtoons to bury the hatchet and forge unity in their ranks for
the achievement of their rights.
He criticized the so-called sympathizers of Pakhtoons who for the
sake of personal interests wrote off their principles.
He alleged that the so-called well-wishers of Pakhtoons had done
nothing for them as they always relied on lip service causing great
pains to the nation.
He expressed the determination to change the politics and assured
Pakhtoons of pragmatic measures for changing their destiny.
Mr Sherpao contended that masses would say a big no to dirty
politics and respond positively to the constructive politics of the
PPP(S). He asked the people to reject vested interests in October
polls and vote honest candidates who could best serve them.
He said that October election was a golden opportunity to put the
country back on the track of democracy. He maintained that the
democratic institutions would be strengthened with the restoration
of democracy and the country would prosper.
He said the provincial autonomy would strengthen the federation. He
backed federal parliamentary democracy saying that it was the basis
of our political system and strong federating units were
instrumental for the stability of federation.-APP
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20020920
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PTI to reshape judiciary if voted to power: Imran
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Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) launched its
election manifesto with major focus being on freeing the judiciary
from administrative control and ensuring that no citizen was
deprived of justice and no political exploiter was able to
victimize anyone for his personal and political gains.
Unveiling salient features of the manifesto, Imran Khan said: "We
want to rid the poor masses of the coercion of the government as in
present state, all the institutions were sucking the blood of their
own people and they were made to serve them instead of they serving
the people.
"Our first and foremost task after returning to power, he said
would be to reshape the judicial system by enormously enhancing the
emoluments of judges changing the mode of their
appointment/promotion and freeing them of the administrative
influence in making their independent judgments".
He said western world's success lay in their independent judiciary
but in our case the predominant feudal hierarchy occupying the
power seat never allowed the judicial system to work independently
and to provide remedy to the poor and less privileged ones.
Imran said, we would lower the size and quantum of taxation
particularly end personal income tax to give the people direct
relief and enhance Zakat contribution through its judicious
utilization of providing the people free health and education.
A national level commission would be set up to overlook the
political victimization of the people by certain feudal
politicians.
Under an independent judiciary alone, he said the downtrodden could
get remedy specially the labourers in Pakistan, who were most
exploited workforce in the world.
An independent election commission would be constituted to stop
corrupt politicians from returning to power, once condemned by the
courts. He said biggest task ahead of his party would be to end the
shameless era of feudal influence in power politics.
Another area of attention for his party, he said would be to make
the increasing population a national asset by providing them labour
intensive businesses.
The PTI would declare an emergency in education to promote
education for all by calling out retired army and civil bureaucrats
and educated youth to first prepare a common and most advanced
syllabus and then spread education to every youth. Compulsory and
free education would be provided to female students up to
matriculation, he said.
"Our foreign policy would be realistic and based on self esteem and
not accept conditionalities imposed by the IMF and World Bank and
instead take steps for eradicating poverty, which they have
promoted through cutting financing in recession period", Imran
said.
To achieve maximization of foreign exchange reserves, he said his
party would give maximum incentives to the 3.7 million registered
overseas Pakistanis for enhancement of foreign remittances up to
three billion US dollars equivalent to the national deficit.
He said his party supported devolution of powers through local
councils but the government had politicized these councils by
involving them in electioneering.
A cursory look at the PTI manifesto showed that it has touched all
the traditional subjects such as interpreting democracy as
empowering the people, justice for all through ensuring rule of
law, political and economic sovereignty through 'Haqooqul Ibad",
economic prosperity through harnessing human capital and natural
resources, human development through investing in people, strong
federation through provincial autonomy and equitable distribution
of resources, international relations subservient to none, good
governance meaning efficient and transparent government and
security meaning complete protection of life and prosperity.
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20020921
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Alliance to work for unity, says Noorani
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Staff Correspondent
CHARSADDA, Sept 20: Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, president of the
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), has said that all the components of
the religious parties alliance would be merged into a single entity
to work for the unity of the nation.
He said the United States and all the secular forces were very much
scared of the unity of religious forces in the shape of the MMA in
Pakistan.
Speaking at a big public meeting held at the Municipal Park,
Noorani said the alliance would emerge victorious in the general
elections and would implement Shariat in the country. "Oct 10 will
be a day of Islamic revolution," he added.
The MMA chief said the alliance was a permanent one and was based
on principles.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Amir of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and general
secretary of the MMA, addressing the meeting, said an independent
nations had four things - freedom, religion, culture and economy.
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20020921
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Muttahida promises to bring down prices
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 20: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has promised to
reduce the prices of eatables and other essential daily use items
by 50 per cent within three months if voted to power.
This promise was made by the party's London-based chief Altaf
Hussain in a telephonic address to party supporters in three
different areas of the city.
Addressing large gatherings at Burnes Road, North Karachi and
Baldia Town simultaneously, Hussain focused on bread and butter
issues, but did not explain how he would bring down prices.
He said that the MQM is not against any party or community, but it
is striving for a judicious system, in which 98 per cent of the
people who are oppressed and belong to the middle and lower income
groups should also have their due rights.
We don't want to deprive the two per cent of their wealth and
facilities. We want the rest of the population to have an
honourable living, and that they not be jobless or left without
food, education, health care, and above all, justice, Hussain said.
He said that the MQM wants quality education for everyone, and
demanded of the government to provide the same facilities to the
children of the deprived majority which are available to the
children of feudals and other rich people.
He declared that when the MQM forms a government, it will allocate
a sizable portion of the budget for education, with a view to
providing quality education to all segments of society from primary
to the higher secondary level.
He also promised to cut down administrative expenses to divert
funds towards improving health care facilities - including
hospitals and maternity homes. He also promised to set up
industries in which ladies would also have the opportunity to earn
an honourable living.
Hussain also expressed concern over the inhuman and deplorable
treatment being meted out to women, and declared that such persons
who were guilty of this would be publicly punished by the MQM
government. He deplored sectarian killings and attacks on mosques
and imambargahs, and said such elements would be apprehended and
hanged publicly.
He said that the "huge" turn out at these meetings in Karachi,
Hyderabad and elsewhere proved that the masses are with the MQM,
and if the elections are free, fair and transparent, then it would
form the government in Sindh.
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20020917
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Over 8,000 in the run
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ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: The final and consolidated data compiled by the
Election Commission shows that there are 8,349 candidates
contesting for 342 national and 728 seats of four provincial
assemblies including reserved seats for women and non-Muslims.
For 342 seats of the national assembly including 60 reserved for
women and 10 for non-Muslims, there are 2,424 candidates in the
run.
For the 728 seats of the four provinces including the reserved
seats for women and non-Muslims, there are 5,925 candidates.
Following is the complete data of the candidates for 342 national
assembly seats.-APP
NA Women Non-Muslims
Area Candidates Candidates Candidates
(272 General) (60 seats) (10 seats)
Islamabad 28 0 -
Punjab 946 135 -
Sindh 634 79 -
NWFP 241 45 -
FATA 121 0 -
Balochistan 128 22 -
Total 2098 281 45
Distribution of seats of four provincial assemblies:
Province General Seats Non-Muslims Women Total
Punjab 297 8 66 371
Sindh 130 9 29 168
NWFP 99 3 22 124
Balochistan 51 3 11 65
Total: 577 23 128 728
The following is the data of the candidates for the four provincial
assemblies of the country.
Province PA Women Non-Muslims
Punjab 2386 261 36
Sindh 1561 210 85
NWFP 642 126 23
Balochistan 521 52 22
Total: 5110 649 166
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20020916
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EC announces final list of candidates
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Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: Another important phase of electoral process
completed when the Returning Officers (ROs) displayed the final
lists of candidates for National and provincial assemblies, setting
the stage for Oct 10 elections.
An official of the Election Commission said all the ROs have
displayed the final list of the candidates in their respective
constituencies. The EC will release the consolidated list of the
candidates for National and provincial assemblies.
The ROs for each constituency allowed election symbols to the
candidates at the production of party certificates. The independent
candidates were allotted election symbols from the list of symbols
drawn by the EC.
PPP leader Benazir Bhutto and PML leader Nawaz Sharif are out of
the race but their parties are in the field and are expected to
show their vote bank.
It is perhaps the first election that not a single candidate from
1070 National and provincial assemblies seats has returned
unopposed. The EC has denied the reports that one candidate for
Balochistan Assembly, Juma Khan, has returned opposed.
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20020920
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EU reduces number of observers
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Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: European Union announced it will not deploy the
same number of observers it had originally planed for the
forthcoming general elections due to Pakistan's "reluctance to meet
security requirements."
In a statement, John Cushnahan, chief observer European Union said,
"Our original intention was to eventually deploy a team of around
164 observers. For a number of logistical reasons, including the
initial reluctance of the Pakistan authorities to fully meet our
requirements relating to security, we will unfortunately be unable
to fulfil our original plan with regard to the deployment of the
full compliment of short-term observers."
It further said: "While this may be regrettable, we will ensure
that it will not impact negatively on our ability to complete our
full task, However, we do appreciate that the provincial
authorities are cooperating with the mission in order to ensure
security for the current team structure."
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20020918
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NA foresees strong opposition
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By Amjad Mahmood
LAHORE, Sept 17: The National Alliance (NA) sees a limited role for
future parliament, whose duration, it says, will depend upon its
conduct rather than the constitutional decree in the presence of a
powerful president and a strong opposition.
Although mostly old faces are potential winners in the October
polls, they will not be spared if they behave like in the past,
says NA secretary-general Mohammad Ali Durrani.
Talking to Dawn, Mr Durrani said he foresaw a strong opposition in
the post-election scenario besides a president armed with 58(2-B)
and the National Security Council, who would force the elected
representatives to behave.
The future MPs would be unable to indulge in corruption, he
claimed. The prime minister would have to show competence and set
his priorities right, he added.
Mr Durrani, whose NA is part of the Grand National Alliance, said
the GNA had a two-point agenda - to give the country a stable
government and ensure continuity of reforms introduced by the
military government.
About the allegations being levelled by almost all opposition
parties, he said the rulers would not commit the folly of rigging
the elections for fear of national and international pressure.
He predicted a low turnout in the October polls for, he said, the
masses did not see any change for the better in the future.
He was critical of involvement of Nazimeen in the politics. It was
a conspiracy of the bureaucracy to defame the office which had
snatched its powers, he alleged.
Answering a question about credibility of the polls if the PPP and
the PML-N boycotted them, he said their credibility would be
damaged to some extent if Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal followed the two
mainstream parties.
He, however, predicted that the local leadership of the two parties
would rise in revolt if their bosses sitting abroad chose to
boycott the elections. The leaders sitting abroad feared that in
case of electoral achievements in their absence they would loose
their control over their parties, he claimed.
About adjustments with the PML-QA, he said that to save the GNA
from any split, it had been decided that the NA and the PML-QA
would see to it that no third party won a seat in case of a mutual
confrontation.
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20020916
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PML-QA to back Musharraf's bid for presidency
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
LAHORE, Sept 15: Punjab PML-QA president Chaudhry Pervez Ellahi has
pledged to extend all kind of support to Gen Pervez Musharraf when
the latter seeks a presidential mandate in the parliament.
Speaking at Meet the Press programme, he said: "We say it boldly
that the incumbent government has done good deeds. We are not like
the hypocrites who have availed all privileges which the government
could provide and are now speaking against it after becoming sure
of their defeat in the October elections."
The PML-QA, if voted to power, would frame laws through the
parliament instead of the office of president (ordinances), he
said.
Replying to a question about sovereignty of the future parliament,
he said the war between the president and the prime minister for
attaining powers had already caused much damage to the country
while the powers so attained were always misused.
He said he believed that a system with checks and balances would
work more efficiently.
He denied claims of other politicians that the government was
indulging in pre-poll rigging and projecting the PML-QA. "No
government can afford a rigged election after seeing its aftermath
in 1977."
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20020917
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NRB to restructure govt departments
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: The military government has assigned the
National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) the task of restructuring and
rationalising various ministries, divisions and autonomous bodies,
Dawn learnt here.
Official sources said the chief executive's secretariat had issued
a directive to the NRB to review the progress made on the
rightsizing programme and examine whether further reduction was
possible in the government employees' strength.
The NRB has also been asked to study in detail the workload,
productivity and contribution of various ministries and autonomous
bodies in the national economy and suggest where the staff strength
was lower or higher than required and justify it with the
productivity.
The federal ministries, divisions and their attached autonomous
bodies have also been directed to cooperate with the NRB and
provide it with relevant data. The decision, say the sources, gives
a new lease of life to the think-tank that would had become
redundant after the referendum and October elections.
The committee had recommended that the office staff ratio in
federal divisions that was 1:4.5 in 2000-01 should be reduced to
1:3.2 in 2001-02 and to 1:2.5 during 2002-03.
Various ministries had voluntarily offered to abolish as many as
26,587 posts, most of which were vacant at the time. Around 90 per
cent of the rightsizing programme in various ministries has been
completed.
Against a target to abolish 26,587 posts on voluntary basis, over
23,500 posts have so far been abolished. Early this month, the
president had directed the ministries to abolish the remaining
posts against the target in the current month.
The ministries which met their targets are: the water and power
ministry with 10 posts; railways, 14,413); religious affairs,
seven; interior division, 212; health, 39; establishment, 254;
environment, five; and economic affairs, 105.
The cabinet division, culture and sports, industries and
production, information and media development, labour and manpower,
narcotics control, planning commission, population welfare, women
development and science and technology ministries failed to meet
their targets.
The communications ministry abolished 6,228 posts against the
target of 8,097. Commerce ministry could achieve only 20 per cent
of target by reducing 132 posts, education division achieved 18 per
cent target with 62 posts, finance by 11 per cent with reduction of
six posts, Kashmir affairs 86 per cent with 774 posts, petroleum 31
per cent with 73 posts and statistics division 91 per cent with 180
posts.
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20020919
-------------------------------------------------------------------
'Govt is not backing any candidate'
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: No close relative of any senior civil servant
is contesting the elections and no candidate is being supported by
the government, as it is committed to hold free and fair elections,
said an official spokesman.
Referring to certain allegations levelled by Tehrik-i-Insaf about
the interference of high government functionaries in the election
process, the spokesman said: "The elections are being held under a
totally independent and fully autonomous election commission."
Describing the allegations as baseless, the spokesman regretted
that repeated allegations were being levelled by the same party
against a senior civil servant, who for reasons of service
discipline cannot enter into a public debate on the issue.
He also denied the allegations levelled by Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf
about the involvement of a senior government officials in the
election campaign.
The spokesman, in a press statement issued, said "the daughter of a
senior civil servant who was planning to contest the elections in
Punjab voluntarily withdrew her candidature though she had all the
legal rights to contest."
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20020919
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Civil servants warned against influencing poll results
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Rafaqat Ali
ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: The Chief Election Commissioner warned that any
civil servant using official position to influence the election
results would be doing so "at his own risk and consequences."
The CEC directed the Inspector Generals of Police throughout
Pakistan to issue instructions to their subordinates "to behave
with the members of the public with due decorum and courtesy,
promote amity and aid individuals who are in danger of physical
harm."
The CEC took notice of the news items appearing in a section of the
press, which spoke of contesting candidates being harassed by some
police officials, an EC announcement said.
It recalled that in its previous directive, it had stated in clear
terms that the executive authorities in the federation and in the
provinces shall not exercise undue influence, affecting the
interest of any person intending to contest election.
"They shall act with neutrality and impartiality throughout the
election process and shall not use official influence or
governmental patronage in favour of a person intending to contest
election."
The Representation of the People Act, 1976, also specifically
provides that if a person, in the service of Pakistan, misuses his
official position in a manner calculated to influence the results
of the election, he would be guilty of an offence punishable with
imprisonment for a term which might extend up to two year, the EC
release said.
It is the statutory duty of every police official to protect life,
property and liberty of citizens.
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20020916
-------------------------------------------------------------------
HRCP casts doubts on fairness of elections
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 15: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
has expressed serious apprehensions about the shape of things to
come in the country's political sphere after the general elections.
Speaking at press briefing in a local hotel, the Chairperson of the
HRCP, Afrasiab Khattak, noted with concern the new laws governing
the conduct of the general elections and various measures
undertaken "to secure pre-determined results."
At the press briefing he was flanked by Hina Jilani, the Secretary-
General of the HRCP, Saleema Hashmi, Vice Chairperson of the Punjab
chapter of the HRCP, and I. A. Rehman, the Director of the HRCP.
Expressing serious reservations on steps such as "ignoring the
views" of an overwhelming majority of the people, political
parties, and various civil society groups, the HRCP chairperson
said the constitution must not be altered in any way other than the
procedure prescribed in the basic law itself.
"The regime has carried out changes to the 1973 constitution to an
extent that the basic features of the federation based on a
parliamentary form of government have suffered erosion," he said.
He was of the view that the proposed National Security Council
would negatively effect the status of parliament and the
concentration of powers in the hands of the head of state would
undermine the authority of the prime minister and the cabinet.
Hina Jilani said we consider most of the political steps since 1999
pre-poll rigging.
"The Legal Framework Order diminishes the importance of democratic
dispensation, and the HRCP will evaluate the forthcoming general
elections in the backdrop of marginalization of political parties,"
she added.
Responding to a question, I. A. Rehman said if level playing field
was not available, democratic choice would not be possible.
He appreciated the presence of foreign observer missions in the
country monitoring pre-poll activities, and said HRCP observers
would also accompany foreign observers during the polling process.
He claimed that only such ordinances as were against the interest
of the public had been promulgated, and said an ordinance
pertaining to access to information had yet to come.
"The HRCP is of the opinion that the post-election dispensation
will further polarize society and create new difficulties in the
management of state affairs," Mr Reman said.
The HRCP Chairperson, Mr Afrasiab, said the graduation condition
for candidates meant that now only a small minority had the right
to represent the people.
The demand for an independent Election Commission had not been
fully conceded, he said, adding that the decision that General
Pervez Musharraf would remain President for another five years as a
result of the referendum could not be justified by any democratic
criterion.
"Similarly, separate voters lists for Ahmadis cannot be defended,
and measures specifically targeting certain political elements and
individuals have been adopted," the HRCP chairperson said.
"There have been regular reports of transfers of government
officials despite prohibitory orders of the Election Commission,
and also reports of government resources and personnel being used
for selecting and screening candidates, and candidates being
pressured to withdraw from the contest," he added.
The "no-go areas" would make fair elections in those areas
impossible.
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20020920
-------------------------------------------------------------------
PPP, PML-N plans on seat adjustment off
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Raja Asghar
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan
Muslim League (Nawaz group) are new allies against the military
rule but are unwilling to share each other's votes, shattering
their own hopes for a significant seat adjustment for the Oct 10
elections.
But the two mainstream parties and one-time arch-rivals to each
other seem happy to have succeeded in overcoming mutual bitterness
of the past that contributed to the fall of four governments they
alternately formed between 1988 and 1999.
The two parties said they were no longer pursuing seat adjustment -
to back a single nominee of either party from selected
constituencies of the national assembly and the four provincial
assemblies to defeat pro-government candidates.
"Whatever (adjustment) was possible has been done and no more is
being done," a PPP spokesman said.
A PML (N) spokesman said his party felt the PPP "probably preferred
not to have considerable seat adjustment," which was touted as a
weapon to counter alleged poll-rigging plans that the government
vehemently denies.
But very little seat adjustments have been made by the two parties,
though the PPP has done a lot of seat-sharing with the Awami
National Party in the NWFP and the PML (N) was doing the same with
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.
The PPP and PML (N), each of which tried for the collapse of the
other's government for more than a decade, became allies in the 15-
party ARD in what appeared to be a move to end bitterness created
by 11 years of Gen Zia's rule.
With their recent conciliatory moves, the two parties moved a long
way from an era when PPP leader Benazir Bhutto branded PML (N)
"remnants of Zia" and PML leader Nawaz Sharif, in turn, questioned
the patriotism of the Bhutto family and once said "my blood boils
when I hear the name of People's Party".
Though the ARD, formed to oppose President Pervez Musharraf's
perceived plans to prolong military rule, could not turn into an
electoral alliance, its components - mainly the PPP and PML (N) -
promised seat adjustments to defeat rivals from the pro-Musharraf
PML (QA) and its allies.
"There has been (seat adjustment) wherever it was possible," PPP
spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Dawn.
But he acknowledged "what had been hoped for has not happened" and
ruled out any more adjustments because of what he called
unwillingness of workers and candidates of both parties for more
electoral accommodation.
But PML (N) spokesman Mohammad Siddique-ul-Farooque indicated his
party would have wanted more seat adjustments, which can now be
done only by retirement of candidates after the Election
Commission's deadline for withdrawal of candidatures passed on
Saturday.
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20020920
-------------------------------------------------------------------
'Prestigious' seats in Punjab
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ashraf Mumtaz
LAHORE, Sept 19: The National Assembly seats being contested by the
heads of the PML(QA), the Millat Party, the PML(N), the Pakistan
Tehrik-i-Insaaf, the Pakistan Awami Tehrik, the PML(Z) and the
central office-bearers of the People's Party Parliamentarians are
the most prestigious seats in the Punjab on which the respective
parties are focussing their energies to win them at all costs.
Defeat on these seats will mean the loss of face for the loser as
well as his party.
The results of the Oct 10 elections may be as unpredictable as were
those of the 1997.
Split of the PML, alliance between arch rivals PML(N) and the PPP -
though it could not translate into electoral adjustments even on
many important seats- alliance of all important religious parties,
increase in the number of assembly seats and the voters because of
the lowering of voting age from 21 years to 18 and total government
support to a particular party make it difficult even for the
stakeholders to speculate what is in store for them.
Another factor because of which the possible outcome of the
elections can't be forecast is the induction of a large number of
new faces in the electoral arena because of the education bar.
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20020921
-------------------------------------------------------------------
LHC dismisses plea against Nawaz
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Zeeshan Siddique
LAHORE, Sept 20: The Lahore High Court dismissed petitions seeking
permanent disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif,
Shahbaz Sharif and two other PML leaders from contesting any future
election.
A full bench of the LHC ruled that no petition seeking permanent
disqualification of a candidate could be allowed once he had been
okayed by the returning officer concerned.
Besides the Sharif brothers, the petitioner had sought
disqualification of Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Asad Ashraf, candidates
for the National Assembly from Lahore.
The bench comprised Justice Javed Butar, Justice Ejaz Chaudhry and
Justice Jamshed Ali.
The petition was based on allegations that the respondents had
actively been involved in organizing an assault on the Supreme
Court building in November 1997. It was maintained by the
petitioner that Shahbaz Sharif had himself monitored the assault
through a telephone call from the Prime Minister Secretariat.
It was further argued that the bill for the lunch offered to the
assailants had been paid by Khwaja Saad and Asad Ashraf. As alleged
by the petitioner, Khwaja Saad had been summoned thrice by the
Islamabad police but he did not appear before the inquiry team.
The petitioner sought the permanent disqualification of the four
because of their alleged anti-Pakistan conduct.
The bench observed that the petition was not alive to the extent of
Nawaz Sharif since he had already withdrawn his candidature and
hence could not be made a respondent in the petition.
The Deputy Advocate-General of Punjab assisted the court on this
point, saying that the election laws had given a right of
withdrawal to every candidate and such right had been exercised by
Nawaz Sharif.
The petitioner, who was told to produce the inquiry report of the
Supreme Court Assault Case to prove his case, was unable to do so.
In its detailed judgment, the bench was of the view that any writ
petition filed even by a rival candidate for declaring the other
candidate disqualified to contest the polls forever would stand
infructuous.
It was further observed that the petitioner was not a registered
voter of the constituencies concerned nor was he contesting the
elections from there so he could not challenge the candidature of
the respondents. It was observed that there was nothing on record
to show that the respondents had been convicted in the SC Assault
case to render them disqualified from contesting the elections.
PETITIONS: The bench fixed Sept 25 for hearing the petitions of
Shahbaz Sharif and Kulsoom Nawaz against their disqualification
from contesting the polls. The bench observed that it could not
take up the petitions for hearing on Friday since the court timings
had lapsed.
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20020920
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Rejection of Shahbaz papers challenged
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
LAHORE, Sept 19: The revised petitions challenging disqualification
of PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif and Kulsoom Nawaz from the
forthcoming elections were filed before the Lahore High Court after
the inclusion of 52 missing names of the respondents.
The LHC full bench comprising Justice Javed Butar, Justice Ejaz
Chaudhry and Justice Jamshed Ali would hear the petitions.
The LHC officials had returned the petitions unmarked, saying that
the names of the candidates of the respective constituencies for
which both Shahbaz and Kulsoom had submitted their nomination
papers had not been mentioned as respondents.
The petitions filed afresh include the names of candidates from NA-
119, PP-141 and PP-142 for which Shahbaz had submitted his papers
and NA-122 from where Kulsoom had been cleared by the returning
officer concerned.
Some 12 validly nominated candidates for NA-119, 19 for NA-141, 18
for PP-142 and 13 for NA-122 would be summoned by the bench as
respondents.
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20020919
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Shahbaz, Kulsoom appeal 'flawed'
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
LAHORE, Sept 18: Lahore High Court (LHC) officials returned the
petition against disqualification of PML-N leaders Shahbaz Sharif
and Kulsoom Nawaz, saying that it had a legal flaw.
The petition was filed by the counsel for Sharif family, Ashtar
Ausaf Ali, earlier in the day.
It was pointed out that the petition did not include the names of
those persons as respondents who had challenged the candidature of
Mr Shahbaz and Ms Kulsoom before the election tribunal. It was
maintained by the authorities concerned that under the law, no
petition could be entertained if the name of any respondent was not
mentioned in it.
When contacted, Mr Ausaf said he would include the missing names in
the petition.
Earlier, Mr Ausaf filed the petition before the full bench
comprising Justice Javed Butar, Justice Ejaz Chaudhry and Justice
Jamshed Ausaf Ali on behalf of the disqualified PML-N leaders,
asking the bench to set aside the judgment of the election tribunal
and direct the ROs concerned to include their names in the final
list of candidates.
According to the petitioners, the tribunal had no authority to
question the authenticity of signatures of the two candidates. The
appellants could not do so either, as they were not familiar with
the signatures of Mr Shahbaz and Ms Kulsoom.
It was pleaded that the onus to prove the authenticity of
signatures was shifted to the candidates who obliged by sending an
affidavit carrying two specimen of their signatures.
It was submitted that the tribunal had relied on an unattested
affidavit - apparently issued by the Pakistani Consulate General in
Jeddah - which intimated to the government of Pakistan that the
Jeddah office had not received the nomination papers of the two
candidates for attestation. The petitioners pleaded that this
affidavit had been produced by an individual, who was not inquired
about the source of this affidavit. "The tribunal readily accepted
the unattested document and brought it on record," the petition
submits.
With regard to the attestation of Mr Shahbaz and Begum Kulsoom's
signatures on the nomination papers, the petition contended that
according to Section 12(2) of the Representation of People's Act
1976, attestation of the candidates' signatures on filed nomination
papers was not mandatory. It was argued that the Jeddah consulate
general's attestation of signatures was, therefore, not necessary.
"No objection was raised by the RO concerned while receiving the
papers of the petitioners. Rather, he issued a clearance receipt
when the papers were filed, the petitioners maintained.
About the alleged default committed by Shahbaz, the petition
maintained that the tribunal had ignored the settled law that a
"pending recovery" did not constitute a loan - as defined in the
Representation of People's Act 1976.
It was argued that Mr Shahbaz had not acquired any loan in his own
name or in the name of his dependents or business concerns mainly
owned by him. The petition challenged the tribunal's finding that
the petitioner was the real beneficiary of the loan. Besides, the
assets of Ittefaq Foundries (Pvt) Ltd and Ittefaq Brothers Ltd were
taken over by the bank concerned, which was the final remedy for
both the parties, the petition maintained.
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20020919
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Laws changed to keep Benazir out, court told
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Shamim ur Rahman
KARACHI, Sept 18: Hearing of the petition of Benazir Bhutto,
challenging recent amendments to the Constitution and NAB laws was
adjourned to Oct 2.
The bench comprised the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court,
Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, Justice
Ghulam Rabbani, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Musheer
Alam.
Continuing his arguments, Barrister Kamal Azfar, the counsel for Ms
Bhutto, submitted that the amendments were not in conformity with
the objectives the Chief Executive had outlined in his address to
the nation after the military takeover.
Mr Azfar stated that in the light of the Supreme Court judgment in
the Zafar Ali Shah case, it was to be seen whether the
constitutional amendments were made to achieve the objectives
outlined by the CE.
Mr Azfar's arguments focused on the "colourable legislation" aimed
at eliminating Ms Bhutto from the election process and political
dispensation.
He argued that amendments to Article 63 were a "colourable"
exercise and added that Section 31-A was a deviation from the
principle of Natural Justice, i.e. opportunity of being heard, and
there was a deviation from Constitutional Amendment Procedure. He
said the impugned legislation was not warranted.
When the counsel contended that the petitioner had left the country
with the court's permission, the CJ observed that the permission
had been granted in one case.
Farooq H. Naek, attorney for petitioner, stated that the permission
was in all the three cases.
The bench advised the counsel to respond to the objections
pertaining to the approbation and reprobation of the Legal
Framework Order, raised by the Attorney-General.
Responding to the query, Mr Azfar referred to a recent judgment in
a suit and said that the choice of the forum rested with the
petitioner.
The petitioner, he submitted, was seeking remedy against the
decisions by returning officers belonging to Sindh. Mr Azfar said
that parliament had powers to legislate.
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20020918
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Benazir's poll petition comes up for hearing
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 17: When the constitutional petition of Benazir
Bhutto impugning the Legal Framework Order and recent amendments to
the constitution and NAB laws came up before a full bench of the
Sindh High Court on Tuesday, her counsel argued that the insertion
of clause (p) in article 63 (1) of the constitution was a
colourable legislation.
Barrister Kamal Azfar was making submission before the full bench
comprising the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, Saiyed Saeed
Ashhad, Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, Justice Ghulam Rabbani, Justice
Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Musheer Alam.
In the petition, filed by her attorney Farooq H. Naek, advocate, Ms
Bhutto has contended that clause "P" of article 163 (1) and/or
section 8 D (ii) n of CEO No 21 of 2002/CEO-211/or clause (r) of
section 99 of the Representation of Peoples Act of 1974 were
without lawful authority and of no legal effect.
It is also her contention that section 31 (a) of the NAB Ordinance
does not apply to her case and is without lawful authority and of
no legal effect.
Mr Azfar argued that this was a question of right of franchise of
an individual who had been elected by the people of his
constituency four times.
He submitted that when the election schedule was announced there
was no mention of absconcion as a ground for disqualification.
However, on 29th July the CEO No 21 of 2002 had been promulgated in
which this ground was added as clause 8 D (ii) n. One of the
grounds taken in the petition was that the clause 8 D (ii) n was
inconsistent with sub-clause H K & L of article 63 of the
constitution. Subsequently, a new clause "P" to article 63 was
substituted.
On the question of absconcion, Mr Azfar submitted that the Lahore
High Court did not apply ratio of the Supreme Court case in Ashfaq
Chief's case. He also cited Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi's case (1994)
which pertained to the right to franchise.
Justice Sabihuddin observed that the right of franchise was not an
issue here. He also asked the counsel to reply to the Federation's
objections on territorial jurisdiction as the petitioner was
convicted by the Rawalpindi bench of the LHC.
Mr Azfar submitted that the question here was about the vires of
the statute as the petitioner's grievance was against the returning
officers.
Responding to the objection with regard to territorial
jurisdiction, Ms Bhutto's attorney Farook H. Naek clarified that
before the order was passed by the accountability court-II, Sardar
Lateef Khosa had applied to appear on behalf of the petitioner. His
plea was requested on the ground that he had no locus standi as he
was not the aggrieved party. Therefore the question of territorial
jurisdiction did not arise.
Mr Naek, attorney for the petitioner, who is appearing as counsel
in those cases, informed the bench that intra-court appeals were
pending against such judgments wherein appeals filed by Sardar
Khosa had been dismissed in limine.
Responding to the objection regarding territorial jurisdiction, Mr
Azfar said all the respondents (returning officers) were situated
in Sindh province and that the petitioner had filed nomination
papers from constituencies in Sindh.
Mr Azfar cited extensively from Syed Zafar Ali Shah's case in
support of his contention that insertion of clause "P" in article
63 of the constitution was a deviation from the constitution and
beyond the powers of permissible deviations conferred upon the
Chief Executive.
He contended that the vires of the LFO and section 31 (a) of the
NAB Ordinance could be questioned before a court of law as power to
exercise jurisdiction came from the same judgment which conferred
limited powers of necessary legislation on the Chief Executive.
The bench however observed that "You are not realizing that there
is an extra-constitutional document, the PCO."
Mr Azfar, continuing his arguments, said that "judicial power
cannot be exercised with bias. No power can be exercised in
colourable way."
He raised a question that whether in the case of Zafar Ali Shah the
criterion of good governance which applied to the whole country
could also be applied to attract only one person out of 140 million
population.
Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan submitted that Ms Bhutto had
challenged the vires of the LFO on the one hand and was also
contesting election on a seat reserved for women in the National
Assembly which was created under the same law.
He said he would raise this aspect in the course of his arguments.
Three preliminary objections were raised by the Federation in a
rejoinder filed by Maqbool Elahi Malik, counsel for the Federation.
The first objection says that the petitioner is "an absconder and
therefore cannot seek benefit of equity jurisdiction."
It is also his contention that the petitioner wanted the SHC to sit
in judgment on an order passed by the LHC in a writ petition. He
claimed that the SHC lacked territorial jurisdiction.
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20020920
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Asif indicted in SGS reference
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: An accountability court indicted Asif Ali
Zardari in the SGS corruption reference. The charges, which were
read out in the presence of Mr Asif, were, however, denied by him.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing till September 30 for the
recording of evidence against the accused.
Asif Zardari was facing the charges of receiving $72.5 million (6
per cent commission of total amount received by the company from
the government of Pakistan) as kickbacks and by misusing his
authority as holder of the public office in the award of a pre-
shipment inspection contract to M/s Societe Generale Surveillance
(SGS).
The court had also framed charges against the former chairman of
Central Board of Revenue (CBR), A R Siddiqui, in the same
reference.
The same court has already convicted Benazir Bhutto, the former
prime minister, in the same case and awarded her three years
imprisonment under Section 31-A of the NAB Ordinance after
declaring her proclaimed offender.
According to the indictment, the contract was awarded to the SGS
through corrupt, dishonest and illegal means to obtain pecuniary
advantages through commission and kickbacks. These commissions were
earlier agreed to be paid by the M/s SGS to be submitted in the
bank accounts of Off-shore companies allegedly operated by their
fiduciary agent Jens Schlegilmilch.
The Off-shore companies include Bomer Finance Incorporated,
Mareston Securities Incorporated and Nassam Overseas Incorporated
of which, the reference alleged, both Benazir Bhutto and Asif
Zardari were the beneficiaries. The pre-shipment inspection
contract was awarded in September 29, 1994.
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20020920
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President says he is facing no threat
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that
there is no threat to his life and he is performing his duties
comfortably, without any fear.
"This is wrong to say that there is a threat to my life," he said,
adding that he always enjoyed visiting Karachi and moving in the
city freely.
Talking to reporters, the president said he believed in God
Almighty, the Protector of all. He said he had had dinners in Lal
Qila and Zamzama restaurants in Karachi, which, he added, amply
showed that there was no threat to his life as was often falsely
said these days.
In reply to a question, he said the law and order situation was
relatively better and there was no need to deploy troops during the
oncoming elections. He said that police and other agencies were
satisfactorily performing their duties to ensure the law and order
during the electioneering.
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20020921
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Harkat men given in police custody
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 20: Seven workers of the Harkatul Mujahideen Al-
Aalmi, arrested, with a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, were
given in police custody for interrogation till Oct 2.
Sharib (alias Asadullah alias Zahid alias Uncle) and Hafiz Mohammed
Zubair (alias Farhan alias Mufti Mohammed Hashim alias Ahmed), two
of the six absconding accused in June 12 car bombing on the US
Consulate and an attempt on the life of President Pervaiz
Musharraf, were produced before the judicial magistrate, East,
Zahida Perveen.
The police sought a 14-day custody of the two accused in a fresh
case pertaining to the possession of arms and ammunition and
objectionable sectarian literature.
A kalashnikov rifle was seized from accused Sharib, and one
kalashnikov and 30 hand grenades were seized from accused Zubair.
The accused who were arrested near Rangoonwala Hall within the
limits of Bahadurabad police.
Mohammed Shamim, another Al-Aalmi activist, who was arrested with
25 rocket shells near Denso Hall, was produced before the judicial
magistrate, South, Lubna Yousuf, who gave him to the police for
interrogation till Oct 2.
The police, however, could not obtain the remand of the four other
activists - Mohammed Taj, Mohammed Ismail, Abdul Munim and Maqsood
Ahmed - as the area judicial magistrates of the districts Central
and West were not available at the respective court.
The four activists were taken back by the police, and they will now
be produced on Saturday before the court.
Accused Mohammed Taj and Mohammed Ismail were arrested separately
in Orangi Town and the raiding party seized two drums of chemicals
each from their possession.
The other two - Abdul Munim and Maqsood Ahmed - were arrested in
Nazimabad. Nine rockets of 107mm and one kalashnikov were seized
from the two respectively.
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20020920
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IG confirms arrest of 7 suspected militants
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 19: Sindh IG Syed Kamal Shah acknowledged the arrest
of seven suspects of Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Alami and seizure of
arms and ammunition from them.
At a press conference in the Central Police Office, the provincial
police chief said the arrested suspects were wanted in the US
consulate blast and the April 26 plan to assassinate the President
on Sharea Faisal.
He rejected the impression that the suspects were about to execute
a third plot to kill the President arguing that the arms in their
possession were not in a staging state.
Describing Sharib as the group leader, Kamal Shah said a national
identity card showing his identity as Asadullah was also seized
from him.
He said Zubair, having several aliases, was initially arrested in
Bahadurabad and his arrest led to the capture of Sharib in the same
general area but a different spot.
The police chief described Zubair as a technical mastermind of
their organization, as for the communication they used e-mails with
coded messages. If the message by mistake went to a wrong person,
he could not make a sense out of it, the IG added.
Referring to the recovery of arms and ammunition, Kamal Shah said
the entire catch was not seized at one place but was found in
different parts of the city during raids.
Speaking about their involvement in different cases, he IG said
they were wanted in the US consulate bombing case, the April 26
conspiracy to assassinate the President, the Area-51 blast which
took place on the eve of the new year, the Aga Khan flats blast in
the limits of Pirabad and the McDonald's blast, which occurred in a
refuse bin.
He said during interrogation, the suspects revealed they had bought
arms and ammunition in the tribal areas in the NWFP.
To a question regarding their alleged links with Al Qaeda, Mr Shah
said so far the police had found no such evidence.
According to a handout distributed on the occasion, Sharib alias
Asadullah was arrested near Rangoonwala Hall in Dhorajee Colony,
and Hafiz Mohammad Zubair alias Farhan in Bahadurabad.
Third suspect Mohammad Taj was picked up at house number 314,
Sector 8-B, Data Nagar in Orangi Town, and Mohammad Shamim near
Denso Hall.
Mohammad Ismail was arrested in Shah Faisal's Baloch Para, Abdul
Munim in Al-Qureshi Little School, B-115, Iqbal Town, Nazimabad,
and Maqsood Ahmed at Salam Clinic, 20/21 Roedad Nagar, Paposh
Nagar.
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20020919
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8 militants arrested in Karachi
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Sept 18: Eight suspected militants of a Jihadi
organization were picked up and a considerable quantity of arms and
ammunition seized from them, police sources claimed.
The sources said that the suspects were picked up at different
places in the city. He identified them as Sharib, Abdul Moin,
Ismail, Taj Mohammad, Shamim Ahmed, Murtaza Maqsood, Asadullah
alias Shehzad, and Hafiz Mohammad Zubair alias Mufti, an employee
of the Pakistan Navy.
A senior police official, requesting anonymity, said the suspects
belonged to Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Alami.
The official said that the suspects, arrested by the police, had
been handed over to the Rangers.
Sources said that the police had recovered eight Kalashnikovs, 12
rocket launchers, 36 TT pistols, dozens of RPG-7, and hand-
grenades, 16 drums containing hydrogen-oxide and 10 bales of
potassium nitrate. Sensitive communication devices, which were used
to intercept the wireless communications on the police network,
were also retrieved from the suspects, they added.
No senior official, including the IGP, was available to confirm the
arrests.
Sharib was included in the most wanted list, and according to other
sources in the police, he had been picked up in the mid of June
soon after the US consulate bomb blast.
But, other sources said that the police on a tip-off conducted a
raid in the Pehalwan Goth and picked up Murtaza, who led the police
to arrest Zubair alias Mufti in the Koochi Camp and Sharib in the
Dhorajee Colony.
Police sources said more raids were conducted in Orangi Town and
Nazimabad in which more weapons were recovered.
The Sindh government had announced a reward of Rs18.5 million on
the arrest of nine most wanted suspects for their alleged
involvement in the bomb blasts and sectarian killings.
According to the sources, Sharib was wanted for his alleged
involvement in the Sheraton Hotel and US consulate bomb explosions.
The government had announced a Rs1.5 million prize on his arrest.
Another suspect Naveedul Hasan, carrying a reward money of Rs2
million, was also arrested for his alleged involvement in the US
consulate bomb explosion.
Besides, Ataur Rehman alias Naeem Bukhari and Faisal Bhatti alias
Zubair Chishtie, affiliated with a banned group, are also in the
custody of the paramilitary forces. They are included in the most
wanted list carrying Rs3 million reward each.
However, the police officially denied the arrest of any suspect
included in the most wanted list.
The Director-General of ISPR, Major General Rashid Qureshi, told
Dawn by telephone from Islamabad that seven people had been
arrested in Karachi and some of them were involved in the Sheraton
bomb blast. The suspects were being interrogated by the
intelligence agencies and police.
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20020919
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Ramzi has not been arrested: Al Qaeda
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CAIRO, Sept 18: An Islamic group denied US and Pakistani reports
that Al Qaeda's Ramzi bin Al Shibh, an alleged coordinator of the
Sept 11 attacks, was among those arrested in a raid in Karachi a
week ago.
Yasser Al Serri, an Egyptian who heads the London-based Islamic
Observatory and who spoke to AFP by telephone, cited a Yemeni
witness of the raid as saying that an informer misled police into
thinking they had arrested Ramzi in order to collect reward money.
The Islamic Observatory website, Al-Marsad, circulated a letter
from the Yemeni, Abu Shibh Al Kandahari, who said he witnessed the
arrest of the group last Wednesday before he fled.
"I deny the American allegations and those of the government of
Pervez Musharraf which say they have arrested Sheikh Ramzi bin Al
Shibh," the letter said.
The suspect "denied he was Sheikh Ramzi, but one of the mercenaries
who tipped off (the police) about the location said it to receive
the award," promised by Washington to whoever helped arrest him,
the letter said.
On Sunday, the website www.jehad.net carried a statement purporting
to be from Al Qaeda militants insisting the wanted leader was still
at liberty.
"The Mujahideen affirm that brother Ramzi bin Al Shibh has not been
arrested and is in their company," the statement posted on the
website said.
Serri said he could not rule out the possibility that bin Al Shibh
had been arrested elswhere but insisted he was sure the wanted
militant had not been detained as Islamabad and Washington
maintained.
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20020917
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Ramzi, four others flown out of Pakistan
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KARACHI, Sept 16: Pakistan handed over key Al Qaeda suspect Ramzi
bin Al Shibh and four others to US custody and they have been flown
out of the country, a government spokesman said.
"Five people have been handed over to US custody, Ramzi amongst
them," Major-General Rashid Qureshi said.
"I have no information on where they were taken." A senior
government official said earlier the five were flown to an unknown
destination.
Five others, who were also detained during raids in Karachi last
week, would also be leaving the country soon, an official said on
condition of anonymity.
The transfer was apparently kept secret even from top Pakistani
officials.
There was speculation the five men might have been taken to Bagram
air base in Afghanistan, the base for US-dominated coalition
forces.
BUSH THANKS: President Bush thanked Pakistan for its cooperation in
his war on terrorism, after Islamabad handed five suspects,
including alleged key operative Ramzi bin Al Shibh to US custody.
Bush said "we're making good progress," in the US hunt for Al Qaeda
and other terror suspects. Saying Ramzi had wanted to be the 20th
hijacker in the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on US targets, Bush said he
wanted to "thank the Pakistani government for cooperating with US
personnel to bring this person to justice. This guy's just another
killer, and we got him." -AFP
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20020916
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Vital papers seized from Al-Shaiba
-------------------------------------------------------------------
KARACHI, Sept 15: US and Pakistani agents who are interrogating top
terror suspect Ramzi bin Al-Shaiba and other Al Qaeda members have
seized evidence in their hunt for more operatives, a Pakistani
intelligence official said.
He said the investigators returned to two bungalows where some of
the suspects were arrested last week.
"The most vital thing they got is a telephone index and an office
file containing printouts of some e-mails," the official told AFP
on condition of anonymity.
The FBI is firmly in charge of the investigation, he said.
"The Pakistani intelligence officials have been asked to hand over
all such information to the FBI and work in accordance with
guidelines they receive from the Americans," the official said.
"These FBI officials are interrogating the suspects according to
their methods and even not allowing Pakistani intelligence to
interfere. The Pakistanis are supposed to extract maximum
information from the low-key suspects and convey it to the FBI
men," the official said. -AFP
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20020918
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Forces fully equipped to face enemy: Law & order has improved
-------------------------------------------------------------------
KARACHI, Sept 17: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said that
Pakistan's armed forces were fully equipped to face the enemy.
"Everything depends on threat perception, and to see as to what
your enemy is in possession of and what is your strategy and
whether you have the equipment according to that strategy," the
president said during a visit to IDEAS-2002 defence exhibition.
The five-day exhibition was inaugurated by the president at the
Expo Centre.
In reply to a question, Gen Musharraf said that there was no
indication of withdrawal of forces from the borders.
"There could be some movement in the wake of elections in the held
Kashmir and what happens thereafter, we will see," the president
said, adding: "We have no problem...we are not perturbed at all".
He said neither any significant expenses were involved in keeping
forces at the borders, nor the country's economy was over-burdened.
"We have made all arrangements and there is nothing of the sort to
worry about," the president said. The morale of our troops is very
high and rather they are happy over there, he elaborated. "Hence,
if they (India) want escalation, we have no problem, we are also
ready," the president declared.
Answering a question, Gen Musharraf said the government was trying
for the export of the country's defence products.
LAW & ORDER: Referring to the breakthrough achieved in smashing the
terrorists network, the president said it would bring a lot of
improvement in law and order all over the country.
He observed that there were local extremists who would
unnecessarily kill people in churches and carry out bomb blasts.
However, he pointed out, they all were either killed or caught.
The president pointed out that there were foreign elements who had
entered the country and said they should go and leave our
motherland and carry out their nefarious activities outside
Pakistan. "Why are they doing these ghastly and abhorrent acts in
Pakistan?" he asked.
Gen Musharraf said the government had gained significant success in
arresting those extremists in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad.
About sectarian violence which involved killing of doctors, the
president said no such thing had occurred for the last eight
months.
"I am quite confident that a definitive improvement is there; the
police, Rangers and intelligence agencies have done a good job, and
these will result in attracting more investments in the future," he
added.
On the arrest of top Al Qaeda fugitive Ramzi bin Al Shibh, the
president said that the accused had been interrogated and
information was being gathered.
Gen Musharraf said the security environment had improved; all the
hotels of Karachi were full to capacity, it was a matter of great
rejoice and happiness.-Agencies
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20020917
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American approach seen as threat to world peace: Seminar
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, Sept 16: The increasing American unilateralism and
destabilising effect of its frenzied approach to the international
and regional security paradigm came under scrutiny at the
international seminar on the "emerging security environment in
Asia".
Participants of the seminar, organized as part of Ideas 2002 Arms
for Peace international defence exhibition, also emphasised the
need for defining terrorism.
As the freedom struggle in Kashmir continues, the need for
resolving this dispute between India and Pakistan, through a
process of negotiations, was emphasised to end the violence to
eliminate a dangerous flash-point. Concern was also expressed over
the growing Indo-Israel nexus.
The participants were also concerned over the unchecked unilateral
actions being taken by the Israelis and the Indians against the
Palestinians and the Kashmiris. They said they believed that it was
the fallout of the American unilateralism.
Discussing the ramifications of a unipolar world, the need for
strategic restraint regimes to control arms races and nuclear
proliferation was also emphasised.
The security imbalance created by the inordinate amounts spent on
defence was also pointed out with an emphasis on investing more on
human development. The larger countries were called upon to send
signals of reassurance rather than heightened threats.
The need for moving towards co-operative mechanisms and processes
within Asia was also emphasised to avoid conflicts and violence.
There were two sessions. The first dealt with the Asian security
scenario and the second was focused on the Asian Defence market.
Inaugurating the seminar, former army chief Gen Jehangir Karamat
said the regional security scenarios in Asia would be affected by
domestic disparities and vulnerabilities and political upheavals
leading to instability and social turmoil.
This aspect, he said, acquired great importance in the context of
the ongoing war on terror because besides destroying terrorist
structures a war would also have to be waged for the hearts and
minds of people.
Examining the developments since 9/11, it was contended that
normality in Afghanistan was essential for peace and stability in
Asia. After the recent events and the ongoing situation in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, the epicentre of terrorism no longer
existed - it was now a widely-dispersed phenomenon. It was
emphasised that close international co-ordination and co- operation
was required to remove the challenge that terrorism posed to
democratic societies and states.
Commodore Fasahat H. Syed (retired) spoke on the four sets of
security paradigms which included proactive planning and
programming to deal with terrorism.
The political suppression was another major cause which ultimately
led to acts of terrorism, he said. It included denial of the right
to self-determination, duplicity in the conduct of international
relations, selective dispensation of politico-economic justice,
neo-colonialism, double standards by the UN in implementing its
resolutions, indifference of big powers towards resolving of
conflicts and funding of radical and extremist organizations.
Keynote speaker Prof Zhu Febg of China examined the effects of 9/11
on the security paradigm and said regional stability was still on
the brink in South Asia owing to the conflict between India and
Pakistan. He emphasised the need for dialogue and activation of
regional and sub-regional institutions. He said he believed there
was need to search for a new security edifice.
Iran's Dr Amer Mohammad Yousefi's presentation was mainly focused
on littoral states of the Gulf region and the Caspian sea and the
oil and gas reserves. He said hegemonic pressures from Russia, with
whom Iran had entered into many strategic agreements, might cause
problems for Iran.
Tim Kennedy, who serves as a consultant to the Pentagon, presented
the western perspective on the same topic and maintained that press
reports saying that President Bush would revise the plan to
construct a pipeline from Central Asia through Afghanistan to
Pakistan was a significant development.
He said the international war on terror, energy resources, and
NATO's strategic transformation were just a few of the reasons why
the stability of the Caspian States was of vital interest to the
region, the West and the world.
He said the most obvious impediment to peace and stability in this
region was the Allied military action in Afghanistan. Mr Kennedy
also dealt with the military action against the Taliban and Al
Qaeda.
He also referred to the presence of an Indian military base in
Tajikistan, which reflected New Delhi's desire to play a role in
the new Great Game.
But he evaded to define terrorism. When asked to answer the growing
perception that the US war on terror was selective and directed
against the Muslims, he restated the official US policy and said it
was not so.
Shireen Mazari said that with the nuclearization of South Asia, the
Asian defence parameters, in the form of distinctive strategic sub-
regions, were challenged by states like India, which now saw their
strategic operation milieu in the form of "southern Asia"
stretching from West Asia to East Asia. She came hard on the Indian
designs and the US policies.
For Pakistan, joining the US-led anti-terrorist coalition reflected
a major policy shift in that it required withdrawing support from
the Taliban government, which had seen Pakistan as one of its
leading allies. For Pakistan the logic of this shift was clear: to
preserve its strategic assets and national sovereignty. As the war
progressed in Afghanistan, US demands on Pakistan increased, but,
unfortunately for Pakistan, the US economic commitments still
remained unfulfilled.
The present danger for Pakistan, she said, was the shift in the
focus of the war against Al Qaeda. With members of this group on
the run and US inability to nab the leadership, attention was
focusing on their possible presence in Pakistan. There was also
increasing US involvement with the Pakistani security agencies, she
added.
One major reflection of the negative fallout of 9/11 on Pakistan
has been the introduction of a new form of terrorism within the
country - that of suicide bombings and the indiscriminate targeting
of foreigners.
Questioning the morality of US unilateralism, she said that overall
the presence of the US and other Western forces in Afghanistan had
brought in an external military dimension into the region, which so
far had not created any stability. Since the International Security
and Assistance Force in Afghanistan had an area of operation
limited to Kabul, the lack of law and order continued to pervade
the rest of Afghanistan and the situation had been further
aggravated with a revival of warlordism. A further factor of
instability had been almost total sidelining of the Pakhtun Afghan
population from the structures of power. Given that this group was
the largest single ethnic Afghan group, such a situation would only
extend the political instability.
Dr Mohammad Selim of Egypt focused mainly on the Middle East and
the American and UN indifference over Israeli brutalities against
the Palestinians.
He said situation in South Asia was serious and escalation of
tension between India and Pakistan was a major concern of the
Arabs. A war between the two would have serious impact on the Arab
economy and politics.
He called for demobilization of troops from the borders and
beginning of a dialogue to include Kashmir as one of the issues.
He also said the Indo-Israeli nexus was a cause of concern to the
Arabs, especially Egypt. He suggested ways for forging cooperation
among Arab and other Asian countries.
He emphasised that the Arabs needed to reassess their Asian
paradigm in many ways. Perhaps, the most important of them is to
establish a pan Arab-Asian institutional framework for cooperation
similar to the Europe-Asia Forum. The League of Arab States is
already in the process of establishing a Sino-Arab Forum for
cooperation. Such a forum should be expanded to comprise other Arab
Asian counties or similar forums with these opportunities should be
established. The Arabs also need to revise their economic Asian
paradigm towards integration between economic, political, and
cultural issues.
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20020916
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CID begins grilling 46 men handed over by Kabul
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By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Sept 15: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) has
started interrogating 46 Pakistani nationals handed over by
Afghanistan to Pakistan. Well-placed sources in the police said the
46 men, all residents of Sindh, most of them belonging to Karachi,
went to Afghanistan to help Taliban fight the international
coalition forces. After Taliban government was toppled, they were
arrested and remained in the custody of the coalition forces, who
handed them over to the new Afghan government.
After negotiations between the governments of the two countries,
they were handed over to Pakistan and shifted to their native
province. They were not set at liberty and remained in the custody
of the CID for investigation.
The 46 men shifted to Karachi are: Badshahzada, North Nazimabad;
Mohammad Tahir, Orangi Town; Mohammad Nazeer, New Karachi; Ahmed
Hussain, Landhi; Mohammad Imran, Landhi; M. Arif, Clifton; Kashif
Malik, Nazimabad; Azhar Khan, Landhi; Abdul Tawab, Manghopir; M
Sultan, North Nazimabad; M. Usman, Korangi; Shamshad Ahmed, Baldia
Town; Mutiur Rehman, Federal B Area; Abdul Wudood, North Nazimabad;
Abdul Jalal, North Nazimabad; Malik M. Farhan Aslam, Model Colony;
Abdul Haleem, North Nazimabad; Shireenzada, North Nazimabad;
Mohammad Jan, North Nazimabad; Khilzar Khan, North Nazimabad;
Kamran Jamshed Bhatti, Korangi; M. Fayyaz, North Karachi; M.
Mujahid, Landhi; Ashraf Bakhsh, Landhi; Zeeshan Saeed, Landhi;
Afzal Anwar, Landhi; Tanveer Anwar, North Karachi; Ghulamullah
Jilani, Orangi Town; Mohammed Naveed, Gulistan-i-Johar; Humayun
Mehmood, Landhi; Zulfiqar, Golimar; Mohammad Muneer, PIB Colony;
Zafar Khan, Gizri; Shehzad Baloch, Gizri; Raees Majeed, Korangi;
Shaaban, Model Colony; Izharul Haq, North Nazimabad; Shehbaz Abdur
Rasheed, Landhi; Mohammad Shakir Ali, Surjani Town; Hasnain Ali
Khan, Korangi; Syed M. Iqbal Shah, Landhi; Eedo Haji Suleman
(mentally retarded), Tando Allahyar; Sikandar Ali, Nawabshah; Abdul
Ghani, Khairpurmirs; Bedam Ali, Nawabshah and M. Bilal Khoso,
Jacobabad.
The sources said investigators were trying to ascertain as to who
had convinced them to go to Afghanistan and what means they used to
cross the border illegally.
The financial resources, supply of weapons and ammunitions to them
and other things are also being investigated. The investigators are
further collecting information about the family background of these
men.
They said some of these men had acquired education from various
Madaris and the police had associated a number of persons in
different Madaris with the investigation.
They said interrogating these men would help lead the police to
locate more Al Qaeda men hiding in Sindh, especially in Karachi.
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20020921
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New US visa programme for students
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ISLAMABAD, Sept 20: An official with the US Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) told a Congressional committee that
the agency foresees successful and timely implementation of a new
system for the issuance of foreign student visas.
The new system is known as the Student and Exchange Visitor
Information System (SEVIS) and it will greatly enhance our ability
to track and monitor foreign students and exchange programme
visitors, according to Janis Sposato of the INS Immigration Service
Division.
The new programme is being implemented under mandates issued in
legislation passed after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, said a
press release issued by US Embassy here on Friday.
The US Congress recognized a need to impose a more rigorous system
for issuing and monitoring foreign students visas upon the
revelation that several of the hijackers responsible for the
attacks had entered the country under the old system.
With SEVIS, Sposato said INS will be exerting greater control over
institutions authorized to admit foreign students in F and M visa
status."
The institutions first will have to apply for certification for
participation in the foreign students programme, and Sposato said
that the process is under way.
"SEVIS enables schools and exchange visitor programme sponsors to
transmit electronic information and event notifications, via the
Internet, to the INS and the Department of State throughout a
student's exchange visitor's stay in the United States," according
to the testimony Sposato presented to the committee.-APP
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20020920
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Musharraf asks India to shun bilateralism
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By Ihtasham ul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: President Gen Pervez Musharraf advised India to
give up the bogy of bilateralism and engage itself in
multilateralism or Saarc-based resolutions of disputes in South
Asia.
Inaugurating a two-day international conference on peace and
security in South Asia organized by the Institute of Strategic
Studies, the president said: "The forum of Saarc needs to be made
more potent and mandated to play a pro-active role in regional
conflict resolution."
Any talk of security, peace, stability, cooperation, progress,
poverty alleviation, economic progress and trade cooperation ends
up in focusing on the India-Pakistan relations, he maintained.
Gen Musharraf said that improvement of India-Pakistan relations
depended on resolution of the Kashmir dispute. "The earlier we
understand this reality, in India and Pakistan, the better it will
be for the region."
Over the years, the president pointed out, India had developed an
extraordinary doctrine of bilateralism which sought to sell its
neighbours one-to-one relationship and resolution of differences
through bilateral negotiations. Through this high-sounding
mechanism, he said, India unabashedly exploited its superiority in
size and strength over states much smaller.
He said India desired to mould South Asian relations to suit its
own great power ambition.
The president said that the essential first step for peace,
security and prosperity in the region required a peaceful and fair
resolution of differences and creation of an environment of trust
among the nations concerned. "While issues of peace and security
concern all South Asian states, it cannot be denied that
normalization of relations between India and Pakistan is a pre-
requisite to the realization of the vision of a peaceful prosperous
South Asia."
The key to normalization of relations between India and Pakistan,
the president maintained, lay in progress towards the resolution of
the core issue of Kashmir. He stressed that a principled resolution
of Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiri
people, would unlock the doors of normalization of relations.
He said that deployment of Indian forces in forward and strike
locations entailed a grave security risk for the entire region.
"There is a need to sit across the table and thrash out our
differences...and this is also the opinion of the world."
Pakistan, he said, had made major commitments and taken significant
steps to ease the current crisis. He said India's continued
intransigence in the hope of further concessions was totally
misplaced.
"There will be no more concessions from Pakistan and New Delhi must
take substantive reciprocal steps if it is serious about its
declared intention of walking to high road to peace," he declared.
Gen Musharraf stated that Pakistan was neither allowing, nor
sponsoring, nor encouraging any kind of movement across the Line of
Control, the Working Boundary and the international border. "Any
claims to the contrary are motivated and false."
He said that it was practically impossible to completely seal the
LoC. If India with larger force deployed, cannot seal the LoC, it
should not expect this from Pakistan, he maintained.
The president said that the continuation of Kashmir struggle
despite the measures taken by Pakistan to prevent the cross-LoC
movement had proved the point that the struggle was an indigenous
movement with grass-roots support in occupied Kashmir.
He said that an early acknowledgement by the Indian leadership of
this fact would bring it closer to the solution of the Kashmir
dispute.
Another source of great concern to Pakistan, he said, was India's
feverish conquest for hi-tech weaponry and force multiplication.
Giving details, he said between 1998 and 2001 India purchased
weapons worth $7 billion and increased its defence budget by 50 per
cent. "India has earmarked $4.5 billion for defence purchases this
year."
He said it was an open secret that while India continued to raise
the Chinese bogy, bulk of its forces and strategic assets were
deployed against Pakistan. He said Pakistan did not intend to get
involved in an arms race and it had rather invited India to jointly
reduce defence expenditure.
On the other side, he said, Pakistan had kept its defence budget
frozen over the last three years.
The president referred to his statements in the United States and
reiterated the peace offer to India. He said the offer included
peaceful resolution of disputes, no-war pact, mutual reduction of
forces and denuclearization in South Asia.
Referring to the doctrine of preemptive strikes, the president said
it could apply between unequal opponents or adversaries.
In the case of equal adversaries, he explained, application of this
doctrine would lead to war which would be extremely dangerous. "It
would be more dangerous in case the adversaries are equal and have
nuclear potential."
Gen Musharraf said there should be no doubt that the doctrine of
preemptive strike did not apply in India-Pakistan context at all,
at least in the foreseeable future.
Earlier, the chairman of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Aga
Shahi, said that South Asia had become the most dangerous place in
the world and emphasized the need for resolution of disputes on an
urgent basis.
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20020915
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Pakistan invites APHC for talks: Mirwaiz assured of OIC help
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By Jawed Naqvi
NEW DELHI, Sept 14: President Pervez Musharraf has invited the All
Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to hold talks with Kashmiri
groups in his country, the group's senior leader Mirwaiz Maulvi
Umar Farooq told Dawn from New York.
The former APHC chairman also said he had invited Abdelouahed
Belkeziz, secretary-general of the Organisation of the Islamic
Conference (OIC), to visit Kashmir.
He said the offer had been accepted in principle.
Mirwaiz, who is Kashmir's spiritual leader, said he had invited
Pakistan's National Kashmir Committee Chairman Sardar Abdul Qayyum
for talks either in New York or later this week in London. Qayyum
is currently on a tour of the Gulf states, he said.
Gen Musharraf and in a separate meeting, Pakistan's Foreign
Minister Inamul Haq, were also briefed about the recently set up
Kashmir Committee in India. "They expressed their approval of the
effort," Mirwaiz said.
The officially encouraged Indian committee is headed by Ram
Jethmalani, a former law minister, who has argued in favour of
Kashmiris' right to self-determination as an integral right of its
people.
"We acknowledge the efforts the United States is making to
facilitate a purposeful dialogue between India and Pakistan and in
that context, to maintain contact with the Hurriyat Conference. We
place the trust in US Secretary of State, Colin Powell that he will
not countenance any attempt to ignore the wishes of the people of
Kashmir and bypass the expression of those wishes," Mirwaiz said in
a statement.
"The American effort would, however, be far more constructive than
it has proved so far if its focus would be on putting the Kashmir
dispute on the road to a settlement rather than merely obtaining a
reprieve in the situation of tension," Mirwaiz told the OIC contact
group on Kashmir.
In his meeting with the Kashmir contact group of the OIC, Mirwaiz
was accompanied by Gen Mohammad Anwar Khan, President of Azad
Kashmir, Barrister Sultan Mehmood, former Prime Minister of Azad
Kashmir, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director, Kashmiri American
Council and Mr Faiz Naqashbandi, leader of the APHC, Azad Kashmiri
Chapter.
"Consistently with our stand, we have shown repeatedly that we are
prepared to reciprocate any gesture of genuine goodwill and to
cooperate in a credible effort to achieve a just and durable
settlement of the dispute concerning our life and future. Along
with the Kashmir Committee headed by a respected former law
minister of India, we have agreed that the peace process could best
be nurtured through a structured dialogue involving all concerned
parties," he told the OIC group comprising foreign ministers of
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Niger.
"We have thus demonstrated our earnest resolve, insofar as it lies
in our power, to help take the poison out of the Kashmir dispute.
But the resolve will be of little avail if the Government of India
continues to follow a course that is as moribund as it is fraught
with dangerous consequences, not least for India's own welfare and
influence."
The OIC secretary-general thanked the members of the Kashmiri
delegation for updating him about an issue which concerns not only
the Ummah but also the whole world owing to its impact on
international peace and security -- the disputed question of
Kashmir.
Abdelouahed Belkeziz also said it was on the basis of the analysis
that the OIC had been exerting sincere efforts to find a peaceful
resolution to the Kashmir dispute.
"Following the escalation of tension in May, I have issued a press
release in which I deeply deplored the deterioration of the
situation between the two countries to such a degree that
disastrous consequences could ensue," he told the meeting.
He said he had expressed total readiness to use his good offices so
as to ease tension and help settle the outstanding issue between
India and Pakistan.
"Mirwaiz, on behalf of the APHC, extended an invitation, to the
secretary-general to visit Kashmir and assess the situation on the
ground. The secretary-general gladly accepted the invitation in
principle," the APHC statement said.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY 20020917 ------------------------------------------------------------------- $2.4bn accord signed with ADB ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: The government and the Asian Development Bank signed $2.4 billion agreement to reduce the incidence of poverty to less than 15 per cent by 2011. "Initially we have signed the agreement worth $2.4 billion assistance but ADB aid portfolio will increase if Pakistan continues to implement its reform agenda", said the visiting ADB Vice President Myoung-Ho Shin. Speaking at a joint news conference along with Minister for Finance Shaukat Aziz, Mr Shin, however, warned that the ADB assistance was conditional and could be withdrawn if Pakistan did not stay the course. "We hope that the new political government will continue implementing the reform agenda beyond October this year", he added. He said that the poverty reduction partnership agreement set out the common vision of both the Government of Pakistan and the ADB for drastically reducing poverty in the country. The agreement sets a medium-term target of reducing the incidence of poverty to 25 per cent by 2006 and raising the GDP growth to over 5 per cent. It supports the government's objective of reducing poverty below 15 per cent and raising GDP growth to 6 per cent by 2011. The agreement was signed by Dr Waqar Masood Khan, secretary economic affairs division (EAD) and ADB's Country Director Marshuk Ali Shah. Mr Shin said that the ADB will be for governance reform, more assistance for health & education, water supply and urban development, agriculture and rural development, energy, transport and industry sectors. He was hopeful that the ADB's new financial support will promote good governance, generate productive jobs and support human development by improving the access of the poor to education and health programmes. Mr Shin said that the Bank's support will aim at promoting gender equality and the support of development of small and medium enterprises. "We will also encourage the private sector of Pakistan and promote regional cooperation", he added. Mr Shin further said that the ADB which has offered roughly $1 billion for 2002, will maintain the same level of financial support in 2003. He praised the government for implementing reform agenda and said that the ADB fully supported the government's long-term goals of attaining universal primary school enrolment and reducing the population growth rate to less than 1.6 per cent by 2011. Mr Aziz said that the government was very thankful to ADB for being the biggest donor for Pakistan. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020921 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Bank cuts risk premiums ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Sept 20: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) reduced Pakistan's country risk premiums for its Political Risk Guarantee (PRG) facility due to improved foreign exchange reserves and positive steps taken by the government to improve the economy. The ADB provided a US$150 million PRG facility to Pakistan last September to help exporters lower costs of imported raw materials, spare parts and production equipment. The PRG facility enables international banks confirming eligible letters of credit issued by Pakistan banks to receive an ADB guarantee covering Pakistan's country risk (including currency convertibility and transfer). The facility enables Pakistan to become more export competitive by helping small- and medium-sized exporters. The ADB has lowered country risk premiums as follows: for letters of credit less than the 90 days, the premium has been reduced to 1.2 per cent per annum from 1.5 per cent per annum; for 90 days to 180 days, to 1.15pc from 1.45pc; for 181 to 360 days, to 1.1pc from 1.4pc; and for over 360 days, to 1.1pc from 1.35pc. "This reduction in premiums reduces costs for exporters, making them more competitive internationally. We are supporting private sector transections which have significant development impact," notes Werner Liepach, ADB's Principal Financial Markets Specialist in charge of the facility DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020917 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan, US FTA likely ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: Pakistan and the United States are likely to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) soon to provide more concessions to each other's businessmen. Official sources said that the FTA came under discussion between President Bush and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in New York. The US president told President Musharraf that since his government was extending all out support to America against terrorism Pakistan will be provided increased economic assistance including more market access to its products. The sources said that President Musharraf asked his American counterpart that Pakistan did not want to seek unilateral economic assistance but it wanted some better arrangements like signing of the FTA for improving its economy through more market access and adequate tariffs. The Pakistani delegation was also told that the US government had decided in principle to write off $1 billion debt, out of total of $3.2 billion Pakistan owes to the US. The issue has been notified in the US budget for 2003 and will be formalised after the approval by the US Congress. The sources said that Pakistan had been assured that its present level of $300 million annual assistance would be increased to $500 million. The US government assured Gen. Musharraf that more resources will be lined up specially for Pakistan's health and education sectors. Both sides have agreed to work closely to enhance their trade and economic relations and the issue will now be figured during Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz's visit to Washington later this month. He was going there to attend the annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020919 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Fiscal law ready for cabinet approval ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ihtashamul Haque ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: The government has finalized the draft Fiscal Responsibility Law, which aims at eliminating the entire revenue deficit (approximately Rs 125 billion) by June 30, 2007 and to reduce the outstanding public debt (approximately Rs1500 billion) to 60 per cent of GDP by June 30, 2012. According to official sources, the ordinance would be promulgated immediately after the cabinet approval, which would give its assent within this month. The draft law was to be enacted by August 31, 2002, but delayed due to government's preoccupation with political matters including the holding of general elections. The draft law finalized by the Ministry of Finance is now being sent to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for necessary vetting within this week. The government has accepted and incorporated in the draft law some of the proposals given by the private sector experts and professionals to make this law more effective. The sources said it had been decided to withdraw the provision of suspending the salaries of the cabinet members in case any government crosses prescribed limit for spending. The draft law also seeks to reduce the outstanding public debt by at least 2.5 per cent of GDP every fiscal year, while ensuring that social and poverty related expenditures are not reduced below 4 per cent of the GDP. It also requires the government not to issue guarantees, including those on rupee borrowing by public sector enterprises, minimum rates of return, output purchase agreements, and other claims and comments for any amount exceeding 2 per cent of GDP. According to the draft, the government can deviate from various targets only on grounds of unforeseen demand on its resources due to national security or national calamity, which would be determined by the National Assembly. The draft law provides for the establishment of a Debt Policy Coordination Office (DPCO) that would serve as Secretariat in the Ministry of Finance, and prepare a 10-year debt reduction path to be followed by the government. The DPCO will be responsible for monitoring and analysing the performance of the government, and would submit annual reports to the cabinet. If the government fails to meet the target of debt-to-GDP ratios over two years period, it would be required to take all necessary actions to return to the debt reduction path delineated by DPCO by the end of next two years. The sources said that Economic Adviser of the Ministry of Finance Dr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan is being appointed as the head of the DPCO. Instead of promoting Dr. Khan in Grade 22 as was earlier being considered, a decision has been taken to offer him M-1 package which is considered fairly adequate. As long as the new economic adviser is not appointed, he will handle both the assignments. According to the draft law, Article 166 of the Constitution empowers the federal government to borrow for financing its budgetary expenditures within such limits as the Parliament may fix from time to time. The Parliament never enacted a law to prescribe these limits. As a result, successive governments demonstrated complete lack of fiscal responsibility, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. With the result the outstanding public debt increased from 66 per cent of the GDP in 1980 to 102 per cent in 1999, the level at which it was unsustainable. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020921 ------------------------------------------------------------------- NFC silent on debt relief to provinces ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Sabihuddin Ghausi KARACHI, Sept 20: The federal government is showing no inclination to offer any debt relief to the provinces in the National Finance Commission award. The three "small" provinces Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP carry a debt burden of about Rs145 billion on which Islamabad is charging an exorbitant interest rate of about 18 per cent. Budget documents shows that NWFP carries the highest debt burden of Rs86 billion followed by Rs43 billion on Sindh and about Rs16 billion on Balochistan. Debt portfolio of NWFP includes Rs43 billion cash development loans, about Rs16 billion SCARP loans and about Rs27 billion SAP-tied loans. Sindh's debt portfolio shows Rs24.8 billion cash development loans, Rs13.4 billion SCARP loans and Rs5.3 billion SAP loans. Well placed sources say that the representatives of the three provinces will again demand some relief in debt servicing from Islamabad in the crucial meeting of National Finance Commission (NFC) being held on Sunday. The federal government has suggested to the provinces to seek loans from market and foreign donors at lower rates to retire Islamabad's expensive loans carrying interest rate of about 18 per cent. The Sindh government has recently retired Rs2 billion federal loan from a virtually interest free 100 million dollars credit given by the World Bank. "It will give us an annual saving of Rs400 million, which would have been paid as interest," the Sindh Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh claimed on more than one occasion. It shows that annual interest on Rs2 billion loans was about 20 per cent. Since 1972, when elected provincial administrations took charge, the federal government started offering cash development loans, SCARP loans to finance tube wells and rupee component for the SAP- tied schemes. This loaning was abruptly stopped in 2000- 2001 when provinces were asked to finance all development schemes through their own resources. Small provinces have been agitating before the previous as well as the current Commission to get some relief in debt servicing. Debt servicing takes up more than 21 per cent of the revenue expenditure budget of NWFP, almost 16 per cent of Sindh budget (it was 26 per cent in 1994-95), while Balochistan had been deferring the payment on the expectation that Islamabad would provide some relief in the awaited NFC award. Provinces have blamed the federal finance ministry of carrying out arbitrary calculations "on the basis of a complicated formula" without consulting provinces. The federal finance ministry fixes the annual payments for principal and interest amounts. This amount is then deducted at source from the instalments of monthly provincial shares in federal divisible pool of taxes. Once deducted, the provinces have no options but to accept it. This system has given Islamabad an image of "extortionist and usurer" that has Continued on Page 11NFC silent on debt relief to provinces fleeced and continues to fleece small provinces since the time of their re-emergence in 1970 after break-up of one unit. How unjust this system of debt recovery is, it has been well illustrated in the budget documents of Sindh and NWFP. The White Paper issued by NWFP government states that Peshawar has paid back to Islamabad about Rs74 billion during 1972-73 to 2001- 2002. It has adjusted Rs7.36 billion principal amount while Rs66.50 billion went for payment of interest. The NWFP estimates that it will make a total interest payment of Rs125.5 billion on Rs44 billion principal amount of cash development loans till 2024-25. "The total payment to the federal government would be 386 per cent of the principal amount by the year 2024-25," the NWFP White Paper reveals. Sindh's story of debt servicing is no different from NWFP. Sindh received total amount of Rs36 billion cash development loans in last 26 years. It has paid back more than Rs59 billion that adjusted only Rs6.5 billion principal amount and Rs52.75 billion went for payment of interest, and, therefore, there is still an outstanding amount standing at more than Rs30 billion. "Is this federal relationship or a colonial bondage" is the bitter remark of a cynic officer in a private conversation. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020921 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Profit-selling halts upward drive on KSE ------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Reporter KARACHI, Sept 20: Stocks finished the weekend session on an easy note as jobbers took profits at the inflated levels in the absence of strong follow-up support from the leading institutional investors. The selling in part was also attributed to below market expectations dividend by some of the leading oil companies, which had been in strong demand during the pre-dividend sessions and had risen sharply. All the leading energy shares were sharply lower barring Shell Pakistan, which managed to close with an extended gain of Rs.3. But analysts say the retreat was technical and in no way reflected the market's inability to breach through the index level of 2,000 just in one go. However, as was widely speculated, the index failed to touch the high mark of 2,000 and after a slight rise, ended lower by 8.15 points at 1,981.08 as compared to 1,989.23 a day earlier, reflecting the weakness of leading base shares. However, at no stage the underlying sentiment weakened, and indications are that the market will resume its upturn when it reopens on next Monday. "The bulls are not inclined to be outwitted by the bears at this stage as they will think about a technical retreat after consolidating the index level above 2,000," one broker said adding "the next week could witness a sharp turnaround beyond the 2,000 index level thanks to active short- covering in the pivotals." Cash dividend at the rate of 30 and 80 per cent by Attock Refinery and Pakistan Oilfields, two leading oil companies seem to have fallen below market expectations and the consequent selling in them. Floor brokers said their share values had risen sharply during the pre-dividend sessions amid rumours of higher dividend but their final payout triggered a good bit of selling not only in them but also in other energy shares, notably Pakistan Refinery. But some other said another negative factor, which halted the market's upward journey, was weekend selling by jobbers and short- term dealers as they were not inclined to hold long positions owing to risk involved in the intervening two official closures. HinoPak Motors, Dilon, Bannu Woollen, Shell Pakistan and Gatron Industries, which rose by Rs.2.55 to 3 were leading among the gainers. Other notable gainers included Third ICP, Lawrencepur Woollen, Liberty Mills, Al-Ghazi Tractors, HinoPak Motors, Abbott Lab, Berger Paints and Packages, which posted gains ranging from Rs.1.50 to 2.55. Losers were led by Pakistan Refinery, PSO, Millat Tractors, Attock Refinery and Pakistan Oilfields, off Rs.2.35 to 7.55 followed by Meezan bank, Crescent Textiles, Sapphire Fibre, Cherat Cement, National Refinery and Cherat Papers, off one rupee to Rs.1.90. Trading volume rose to 109m shares from the previous 102m shares as gainers held a modest lead over the losers at 121 to 110, with 71 holding on to the last levels. PTCL, topped the list of most actives on reports that its sell-off may be delayed, lower by 15 paisa at Rs.19.95 on 31m shares followed by PSO, off Rs.2.80 at Rs.189.50 on 14m shares, MCB, higher 35 paisa at Rs.27.15 on 12m shares, Engro Chemical, higher 80 paisa at Rs.62.40 on 11m shares, Sui Northern Gas steady 10 paisa at Rs.15.40 on 7m shares, Hub-Power unchanged at Rs.27.50 on 4m shares and National Bank, up five paisa at Rs.22.90 on 3m shares. Other actives were led by Dewan Salman, up 55 paisa on 6m shares, FFC- Jordan Fertilizer, steady by 15 paisa on 4m shares, and D.G. Khan Cement, lower 25 paisa on 3m shares. FORWARD COUNTER: Barring heavy selling in PSO, speculative issues on the cleared list performed well under the lead of Engro Chemical, which rose by 65 paisa at Rs.62.40 on 0.879m shares. Volume leaders were again led by Hub-Power, up five paisa at Rs.24.30 on 7.442m shares followed by PSO, off Rs.1.95 at Rs.189.90 on 6.562m shares and PTCL, easy five paisa at Rs.20 on 5.554m shares. DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Shares of a dozen companies came in for trading under the lead of Kausar Paints, easy 10 paisa at Re.1 on 25,000 shares followed by Schon Modaraba, unchanged at Rs.0.50 on 5,000 shares and Sahrish Textiles, lower 15 paisa at Rs.0.70 on 3,500 shares.Back to the top
EDITORIALS & FEATURES 20020915 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Give me seven years...' ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ardeshir Cowasjee "Give me seven years and I'll change the complexion and culture of politics in Pakistan," said Musharraf to an applauding 'jam-packed' crowd of Pakistani-American 'elite' assembled in the city of New York on Friday to hear him speak for 80 minutes. According to a news report, this was the same elite crowd which had been as equally generous with its applause to Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in 'yesteryear'. 'They always give a big hand to Pakistani leaders but to Musharraf, with Abdul Sattar Edhi by his side, they gave a standing ovation.' To effectively change anything in this country in seven years is not impossible, but it is improbable. To do so, General Pervez Musharraf would have to be a dictator in the true sense of the word. But Musharraf says, "Let me tell you, I firmly believe in democracy. I am no usurper of power. I am going to give it over to the elected people and my role will be that of a neutral umpire." The man is a commando, trained to take risks. Presumably he has calculated that by the years 2009 he will be ruling over an illiterate, ignorant, bigoted mob of some 180 million, the majority of whom will also be hungry and thirsty. As for today, just what has he on his plate? According to an AFP report printed on the back page of one of our morning newspapers, dateline Multan, September 13, headlined 'Teacher cuts boy's tongue' says: "A religious school teacher allegedly chopped off the tongue of his 13-year old student to destroy evidence after he allegedly saw the teacher sodomizing another student, his family said." The boy, in the small town of Yazman, had reportedly seen the learned teacher sexually assault a fellow student in a side room of the school a couple of weeks ago. He was warned by the imparter of religious knowledge, Bashir Ahmad, not to open his mouth; if he did he would lose his tongue. But the boy told his parents, and on September 3 the teacher got hold of him and cut off his tongue with a razor. No arrest has so far been made as no complaint has yet been lodged with the police. The recent scandals concerning the Roman Catholic church and the homosexual activities of some of its priests have been largely reported in the foreign media, but there has been no instance of any of the accused good fathers amputating tongues or any other portion of the human anatomy. Was Bashir Ahmad, with his religious background and his knowledge of the holy scriptures, at heart a mere barbarian? Had he no thought as to what effect his actions - sodomy and tongue amputation - would have upon his students? What else was in the news yesterday? Atal Behari Vajpayee, in his turn, in the tit-for-tat exchange (as the foreign media has referred to the two addresses by the head of state and head of government of Pakistan and India, respectively addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations "in his mother tongue, Hindi, in which he is known for his oratorial flourishes." No statesman he, as Musharraf showed himself to be no statesman. Had Vajpayee had the stuff of statesmanship in him he would have ignored Musharraf's speech the previous day and touched upon the issues with which the democratic developed world is now wholly concerned - the Middle East and, more importantly, Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Another headline: 'Musharraf rejects LoC conversion into international border'. We have rejected the conversion of the 'line' for over half a century, and by the look of things, with the status quo of the firm 'principled stand' adopted by Pakistan for over half a century, the rejection will continue for the next half century. Bigotry is born of ignorance. During the three years he has been with us, had the general been confident and strong enough he would have wiped away the blasphemy laws and the Hudood Ordinance, or at least changed the administrative processes which allow them to be abused and misused for personal vengeance or gain. How many men has he been able to free who are languishing in the death cells or in other cells of our prisons having been wrongly charged under these iniquitous laws? How many women who have been raped have ceased being in turn victims of the law and accused of adultery? Not one of us will be at all surprised if the four men who raped the woman of Meerwalla are acquitted and freed to rape again, rather than sent to the gallows. Democracy is being once more cobbled up. Who do we now have coming into our assemblies? For instance, the honest Chaudhrys of Gujrat, the honest Sherpao of the Frontier, the honest Imtiaz Sheikh of Sindh, the party of Altaf Hussain of London whose members have already started extorting 'bhatta' (a.k.a. election expenses) from the people and disfiguring the city with graffiti. The one decent monument we have, Bhutto's Teen Talwar, stands disfigured with 'MQM' sprayed all over and around it. Education is the sole answer to the travails and troubles with which this country is faced, and it cannot be encapsulated. I have on my desk an e-mail message from an Indian, a Hindu, professor friend of mine who teaches at a university in the US. He is concerned about Pakistan, and would like India to coexist with us. He opens up with the Gujarati salutation 'Sahebji' and goes on to say: "I have some disturbing news. Pakistani students who have applied to come to the US for post-graduate degrees, Masters and PhDs, are categorically rejected. No explanations provided. In general, a Muslim/Arab-sounding name is especially researched for its religious affiliations and if found Islamic - turned down. "Muslim professors in US universities are under pressure not to recruit Muslim students and they are obliging. The number of students from Arab/Muslim countries has reached a record low. The slack is picked up by Indians and Koreans (who are in great demand), and the visa status for J-1 exchange and H-1 is "Currant" - i.e. no restrictions on numbers and duration. This was bound to happen sooner or later but I was amazed at the suddenness and unanimity of the ranks joining in. Education is the first and final frontier, everything else is in between. There can be no commerce, no development, no nukes, without education (unless you are ready to pay retail prices, the way Pakistan is doing and in the process going bankrupt). When will the rulers of Pakistan understand the economics of what is the price the people of Pakistan are paying to languish in the dark ages?" To Musharraf's credit, he realizes the importance of this disturbing news and he took up the matter with President George Bush when they met in New York. Reportedly, Bush has promised to do something to ease the situation. Let's hope he moves quickly before too much time is lost to our blocked students. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020916 ------------------------------------------------------------------- A year later ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Eric S. Margolis A year after the 9/11 attacks on the United States, we know remarkably little about the attackers, or about who really organized the complex operation that seems well beyond the capabilities of amateur terrorists. Among the major questions are those that are discussed below. The suicide attackers were apparently middle-class Saudis, though some identities are still in question. They were quiet, well- educated, 'westernized' technical students living in Hamburg, Germany, whose links to Osama bin Laden's Afghan-based Al Qaeda remain uncertain. Part of the attack planning was done in Spain. The men who piloted the doomed aircraft were trained at American flying schools. Some may have briefly visited Afghanistan, but none resided there or were known Al Qaeda members. Were they sent by Osama bin Laden? Osama lauded the attacks that murdered 3,000 civilians, but denied involvement, though a trail of circumstantial evidence leads to him. Al Qaeda is portrayed by the US government and media as an octopoid, world-wide conspiracy with thousands of members. In fact, Al Qaeda - which began as a guest-house for holy warriors during the anti-Soviet struggle in Afghanistan in the 1980s, never numbered more than 1,000 men, and usually much less. Today, there are probably only 300 or so hardline Qaeda members, scattered mainly in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Europe. But there are numerous other underground, militant Islamic groups that align themselves from time to time with Qaeda, or draw inspiration from Osama bin Laden's fiery preachings. Such fighting groups as Egyptian Jihad, Gamma Islamiya, and Algeria's Armed Islamic Groups, have formed a loose anti-American/anti-Israel alliance of convenience. But other Islamic groups, notably Lebanon's Hizbollah, have nothing to do with Al Qaeda. Nor do Iraq and Syria, whose rulers have been targets of Osama bin Laden's wrath for a decade. The Taliban and a variety of Muslim resistance groups - Kashmiri independence fighters, anti-communist insurgents from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Filipino Moros, and Uighurs fighting China's ethnic absorption of Eastern Turkestan (Chinese Xinjiang), have all been lumped together as 'Al Qaeda.' Some of these Islamic international brigades were trained in old Afghan camps originally funded by CIA. Others went through two service support and commando training camps run by Al Qaeda - a sort of Islamic version of Ft. Bragg, home of the US Green Berets. The biggest camps were not run by Al Qaeda, but by ISI - Pakistani intelligence outfit - preparing holy warriors, or 'jihadis.' Many of the 1,000 prisoners captured and murdered by Uzbek forces of Gen. Rashid Dostam - assisted by US Special Forces - were from the international brigades. President George Bush claimed America was attacked because the assailants 'hated' democracy and America's way of life. He describes terrorism as pure evil, unrelated to any specific political events. This is nonsense. The US was attacked because of its deep involvement in Mideast affairs, and total backing for Israel's iron-fisted repression of the Palestinians. In July, Washington agreed to Israel's request to replenish huge amounts of heavy munitions used in crushing the Palestinian intifada. These included $80 million worth of TOW heavy anti-tank missiles to be fired at buildings, tank shells packed with thousands of razor-sharp flechettes, and Hellfire air-to-ground missiles. Israel reportedly used more heavy munitions against Palestinians in one week last April than it expended in the previous 20 years. American money and weapons kill Arabs, Arabs kill Americans. Osama bin Laden arrogated to himself the right to champion revenge against the United States for the bloodbath in Palestine. "There will be no peace in America," Osama warned, "until there is peace in Palestine." These frightening words were never widely reported in the North American media, which is filled with uninformed commentators explaining why Muslims are inherently bloodthirsty or anti-western. America's virtual military occupation of Saudi Arabia, its punishment of Iraq that caused at least 500,000 civilian deaths, and Bush's planned jihad against Iraq have enraged the entire Islamic world against the United States. There is little doubt more attacks against American targets will be coming. Such is the cost of empire. Did the 9/11 perpetrators foresee the immense damage they would inflict on the United States? Besides the 3,000 Americans murdered, $70 billion in property losses; $10 billion so far of airline losses; insurance rates across the US soaring by up to 300 per cent. September 11 suicide bombing helped puncture the stock market tech bubble that brought $3 trillion in equity losses that cost 160,000 jobs. The next attack on the US may be designed to cause more economic mayhem rather than kill people, targeting telecommunications nodes, power systems, and airports. The 9/11 attack triggered a psychotic episode in the Bush administration, producing a futile invasion of Afghanistan; plans for war against Iraq, and possibly Iran, spurred by the embarrassing failure to find Osama bin Laden or crush Al Qaeda.- Copyright Eric S. Margolis -2002 DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020919 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Iraq's N-weapons: fact or fiction? ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Eric Margolis Does Iraq have nuclear weapons? Last week, Britain's authoritative International Institute for Strategic Studies issued a study that concluded Iraq had the ability to produce a few nuclear devices but lacked the enriched uranium or plutonium to do so. The Institute's report was clearly timed to provide more justification for a US-British attack on Iraq. The US and British governments as well as world media made use of the report to intensify claims that Iraq was a grave nuclear threat. As a long-time member of the Institute, I was disappointed that it would so easily yield to pressure from the British government by producing a report that was misleading and sensational. Instead of supporting 'regime change' in Baghdad, the IISS might do better to review its own weak leadership at London HQ. Iraq has no nuclear weapons or fissionable materials. This fact has been certified by the UN's nuclear inspection agency. As to the IISS's claim that Iraq has the capability to produce nuclear devices, so do more than 40 nations. Making a nuclear weapon is relatively simple. Take 4-9 kilos of highly enriched uranium or plutonium, surrounded with a specially shaped shell of high- explosive lenses, and detonate. The recipe is available on the internet. The trick is acquiring highly enriched uranium or plutonium. This process requires hugely expensive, laborious separation and enrichment using banks of centrifuges, as well as expertise in fusing, and shaped-charge explosives. In the 1980s, Iraq was indeed working on a crude nuclear weapon. Saudi Arabia secretly funded this top-secret project in order to counter Israel's large nuclear arsenal, believed to number over 200 devices. Iraq acquired uranium from South Africa in exchange for oil. South Africa, which produced eight nuclear devices, secretly obtained its nuclear weapons technology from Israel. Ironically, South Africa later sold the Israeli uranium enrichment technology to Iraq. When Saddam Hussein stumbled into the trap laid for him by George Bush senior by invading Kuwait in 1990, his scientists were within a few years of producing a primitive nuclear test device. During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq's total nuclear and, in fact, total national industrial infrastructure, were pulverized by massive US bombing. Before the war, Iraq had been the most technologically developed and best-educated nation in the Arab world. After, Iraq was reduced to pre-World War I level, with even its water and sewage systems wrecked by America's ruthless air campaign. However, Iraq still retains a cadre of about 10,000 trained nuclear scientists and technicians. Unless they are all shot, Iraq will in theory be able one day to build a nuclear weapon, provided it can obtain fissionable material. Once the crushing blockade of Iraq is lifted, Baghdad might be able to produce 1-2 nuclear warheads within five years. But having warheads and delivering them are two different things. Iraq currently lacks aircraft or missiles to deliver nuclear weapons beyond 70 miles range. Iraq is a leading Arab nation with the Mideast's second largest oil reserves. Unless the US succeeds in implanting and maintaining a compliant regime in Baghdad, such as it has done in Kabul, whatever brutal general that succeeds Saddam will eventually seek nuclear weapons. Why? First, to counter Israel's nuclear monopoly. Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iraq and Iran with nuclear weapons, and is considered a mortal threat by the Arabs and the Iranians. Second, because Iraq fears neighbouring Iran, which has three times its population. Interestingly, every Iraqi leader since the 1920s has vowed to invade Kuwait and reunite it with Iraq. Why, in fact, should Iraq not have the right to possess nuclear weapons to protect its vast oil reserves? President Bush claimed this week that an attack on Iraq was justified because it had refused to bow to UN resolutions and had weapons of mass destruction. Bush could just as well have been talking about Israel which ignores scores of UN resolutions and refuses to admit UN nuclear arms inspectors. Or of India, which also ignores UN resolutions on Kashmir, and is developing a very large nuclear arsenal with Israeli aid, that includes nuclear-armed ICBM missiles that will soon be able to reach the US. The original 1990 UN resolution authorizing military action to evict Iraq from Kuwait had a little-noticed article that called for the Security Council to immediately begin a process of regional nuclear arms control and disarmament. This provision was totally ignored, yet it offers a key to the Iraq problem. Instead of Bush threatening a purely aggressive war against Iraq the US, EU, and Canada should begin an intensive campaign to rid the Mideast of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Regional disarmament cannot be accomplished until all nations, including Israel and Iran, are thoroughly inspected by impartial specialists - the Canadians would be ideal. There must be no repeat of the 1990's, when many UN inspectors in Iraq turned out to be the US and Israeli spies whose job was to target Saddam Hussein for assassination. Mr Bush might even begin this overdue process by getting rid of a lot more of his own weapons of mass destruction.- Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2002 DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020920 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction to music ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Ayaz Amir Years ago at school I came across a book entitled "Hundred Great Lives." There is a time during one's youth when such anthologies exercise a great hold on the mind. The reason, I suppose, is that every boy and girl with some imagination subconsciously believes that, with a bit of luck, he or she is also destined to join the company of the select and the brave about whom they are reading. So as I read the book avidly it was only to be expected that I was assailed by dreams of romance and glory. One thing about this book struck me, however. It had only two photographs. One, perhaps inevitably, that of Sir Winston Churchill. The other of Ludwig Van Beethoven. More arresting was the inscription under the second picture: "If man's fate is to suffer in an unfriendly universe, Beethoven's music creates the spirit to endure and even to exult in the endurance." I wondered what the words meant. Could there be music so powerful? Years later in an attic to which I had gained temporary access I came across two records. One was something by Brahms (I forget precisely what), the other a recording of Beethoven's concerto for violin and orchestra, the only one he ever wrote. At first I felt myself at sea, this being my very first introduction to classical music, western or eastern. But I soon found myself enjoying the flourishes and crescendos which, in any case, I would had to be an ass not to like. In no time I was listening to this music all the time. I struck gold, however, when I came in possession of a cassette of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. This was grand stuff and was like a revelation to me. Its effect was overwhelming and amply bore out E. M. Forster's testimony that the Fifth was "the most sublime piece of noise ever to enter human ear." Even a person deaf to the sound of music cannot help being effected by it. If there is any perfect introduction to classical music it is this. Simply because you can't go wrong with it. Play it to a donkey and chances are he too will be affected by it. There is nothing squeamish or half-hearted about the Fifth Symphony. It is a headlong assault on the senses and carries all before it. Does it convey anything? I think it is a tribute to the ability of the human spirit to surmount all odds. I have read somewhere that in the Second World War news of allied victories on BBC used to be heralded by the opening bars of the Fifth Symphony. (In much the same manner, when the tide of war turned against Germany, bad news on radio Berlin was usually prefaced by something from Wagner's Gotterdamerung, the Twilight of the Gods.) For a long time my classical collection remained restricted to these two or three pieces. I was only able to add to it when I went abroad. The trouble was my knowledge of music was patchy and selective, there being no guru or maestro to guide me. So it was only natural that there should be broad gaps in my musical education. I became familiar with Beethoven's symphonies but not with his piano concertos or string quartets. It was the same with Mozart. I listened to his symphonies but remained ignorant of his operas. Later I made it a point to make up this omission. I must confess, however, I am no fan of The Marriage of Figaro or Don Giovanni. They may be great operas but, barring incidental passages here and there, they leave me cold. If I was ever stranded on a desert island my favourite operatic music would be Verdi and Puccini. With Puccini again you can't go wrong. Until today my knowledge of Bach remains confined to a few of his Brandenburg concertos. This is unforgivable but it just goes to show my patchy education. A piano concerto of Grieg's which remains one of my favourites was recommended to me by a sympathetic salesgirl at a record shop in Moscow. It was from her too that I gained an introduction to Liszt's Hungarian rhapsodies. Wagner's Meistersingers I also bought from the same shop. So it has been over the years, picking up odd bits of music here and there. Thanks to my trips to Delhi I have managed to acquire quite a respectable collection of Indian classical music. But I remain a partisan in music, returning to a few favourites time and again. My test of great music has always been its ability to put me to sleep. So when I draw the curtains in my bedroom I end up listening either to the great Kishori Amonkar, Mallikarjun Mansur (a hot favourite), Pandit Kumar Gundharva or Raga Jai Jai Wanti sung by Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. I have three Jai Jai Wantis: one played on the flute by Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, another on the shehnai by the great Bismillah Khan and the last sung by Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Each is superb in its own right but if a tyro is permitted his opinion, one's heart misses a beat when Ghulam Ali Khan, clearing his throat, moves magisterially (a word I use advisedly) into the notes of this raga. Jai Jai Wanti itself is a splendid raga. Who composed it, pandit or sage? On which sacred mountaintop (or hallowed riverbank) did the moment of inspiration come? Alas, the answer is lost in the mists of time. What makes Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's singing of it so special? First of all his unrivalled virtuosity. Second his voice, always melodious but in this instance its timbre and tone so rich one wonders where it was cured. Wine cellar or deep chamber cut into the earth? In this raga his voice also has--how should I put it?--a languid quality which is another sign of his mastery. It's like an old troubadour all too sure of what he is doing. In form and method Indian and western classical music are far apart. But in substance they come close to each other. The defining quality of all great music is passion and verve. Indeed this is true of all the arts. Great painting and great writing have the same quality. In order to qualify for the title of greatness they must be sustained by feeling and gusto. This is why a Puccini opera or a raga sung by Kishori Amonkar have much the same effect on the mind. The forms are dissimilar, the substance much the same. And here's an example of passion in writing, H. L. Mencken recording his opinion of Beethoven's Third Symphony. "The older I grow, the more I am convinced that the most portentous phenomenon in the whole history of music was the first public performance of the Eroica on April 6, 1805. The manufacturers of progamme notes have swathed that gigantic work in so many layers of banal legend and speculation that its intrinsic merits have been almost forgotten. Was it dedicated to Napoleon 1? If so, was the dedication sincere or ironical? Who cares--that is, who with ears? It might have been dedicated, just as well, to Paracelsus or Pontius Pilate. What makes it worth discussing today and forever, is the fact that on its very first page Beethoven threw his hat into the ring and laid his claim to immortality. Bang!--and he is off. No compromise! No easy bridge from the Past! The Second Symphony is already miles behind. A new order of music has been born. The very manner of it is full of challenge. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020921 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Devolution and revolution ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Irfan Husain As the election campaign stutters along its no-frills, no- thrills path, the parties and politicians that have survived the arbitrary and often illogical screening process are going through the motions of asking people to vote for them. The people justifiably want to know what politicians have done for them in the past and what they propose to do in the future. Nothing very much, is the honest answer to both questions. Nowhere is this more evident than in the backwaters of Karachi: a visit to Orangi and places like the Buffer Zone and Federal B Area show yet again how hard life is for the vast majority of our citizens. And yet, the good news is that in the face of terrible adversity and criminal neglect by the state, the people condemned to live in these disadvantaged areas are resilient and hardworking, and more often than not develop their own solutions rather than wait for lethargic and corrupt government agencies to intervene. The Orangi Pilot Project, of course, is a path-breaking initiative that is now widely replicated in Pakistan and abroad. It has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of poor people by empowering them and showing them how to take charge and change their environment. There is a dynamism at work in these localities that is in sharp contrast with the complacency and stagnation that has become a hallmark of our so-called posh housing societies. For instance, the literacy rate in Orangi, a low-income area of 1.2 million souls, is a startling 83 per cent. And this has not been achieved by the government's education department; rather, rudimentary, make-shift schools were first run in small homes and under canvas. Now, there are signs for private schools in just about every lane. One businesswoman has contributed five million rupees for a pucca school that is now functioning, teaching boys and girls from class one to class eight. Incidentally, I was told that after 9/11, fewer parents now enrol their children in madrassahs, preferring to send them to normal schools. Contrary to stereotypes, the most forward-looking community in Orangi are the Pakhtoons. They work hard, help each other get a start and the second generation of settlers want to marry educated girls. I met two young Pathans who are involved in running schools, including six home-based girls schools supported by the Trust for Voluntary Organizations. Orangi is home to literally thousands of cottage industries that make a wide range of products from Benarsi silk saris to spare parts for cars. Many of these entrepreneurs started off with small loans they received from the micro-credit branch of the OPP. In the Buffer Zone (our bureaucratic approach to naming localities never ceases to amaze me), there are literally hundreds of small weaving and garment factories working round the clock. In one such operation, I sat on the floor with a hundred or so workers, listening to my old friend Javed Jabbar make his campaign pitch. In his short address, he managed to bring in the population problem, his audience's civic problems and the threat posed by the WTO agreement to their jobs. How he does against the MQM juggernaut in this election race is another matter; in any case, I wish him luck. The well-to-do of Pakistan do not realize how deep and wide the gulf between them and the have-nots has become. Arif Hasan, the perceptive and indefatigable observer of social and physical changes taking place in Pakistan, laments in his book, 'The Unplanned Revolution': "The rich now live in ghettos, surrounded by armed guards and security systems. They are developing their entertainment, recreational, educational and commercial facilities in their own areas. Old Karachi food, book and other retail outlets have relocated to these posh neighbourhoods, and boutiques selling first world designer goods and international chains selling fast food have sprung up. "Their children do not visit the National Museum or the Karachi Zoo and are more at home at London's Hyde Park than at Safari Park in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Their textbooks, too, teach them nothing about their city, its history, its problems or its culture. The sprawling lower-middle-class settlements of District Central, the katchi abadis of District West, or the chaos of the inner city simply do not exist for them. Thus Karachi has lost what is perhaps a city's greatest asset - an interested, informed and enlightened elite - and in the absence of such an elite, a decline in civic services and institutions is bound to happen." According to General Musharraf and his acolytes, these problems are supposed to be solved by the devolution of power initiated by this government. To check the situation on the ground, I met one nazim of the union council in Orangi. Outside his office, the road was under construction, and I thought he had begun some development work, even if it was on his doorsteps. The reality was very different as this disgruntled elected official told us: "In the new system, the local union councillors and their nazims are elected directly, while the town and city council nazims are elected indirectly by us. Thus people in our area who have problems come to us to sort them out while we only have a monthly budget of Rs 75,000. After rent, salaries and utilities, there is hardly anything left. None of the proposals I have sent to the nazim of the Town Council have been approved. The road under construction you see outside has been in this condition for over a year." And yet, despite the abject failure of the state in helping the poor (or perhaps because of it), there have been notable successes. For instance, many neighbourhoods have negotiated an arrangement with the KESC to supply electricity to a central point, and the people have undertaken the task of distributing it to homes. The electricity company is happy because it collects revenues more easily, and the citizens feel they have solved this problem through their own initiative. Every second house has a telephone and cable connection. To quote Arif Hasan again: "Karachiites are living in dramatically better environmental conditions at the micro level in spite of increasingly bad conditions at the macro level. The number of one-room houses has fallen from 45 per cent to 30 per cent. ... and the number of three-room houses has increased from 14 per cent to 21 per cent. The number of houses with electricity connections has increased from 66 per cent in 1980 to 94 per cent in 1998 and the number of houses with piped water connections has increased from 44 per cent to 74 per cent in the same period..." Clearly, the impact of these changes is bound to be profound. As urbanization forced the European feudal classes to share power with the bourgeoisie at the end of the middle ages, so too will an increasingly aware urban population in Pakistan demand the transfer of political power from the feudal-military nexus that has obtained the monopoly of power in Pakistan.
SPORTS 20020919 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Waqar's men cleared of any wrongdoing ------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW DELHI, Sept 18: An International Cricket Council (ICC) investigation into Pakistan's defeat in the Champions Trophy last week has cleared the team of any wrongdoing, official sources said. "The matter is over and Pakistan does not have to worry about anything," the source said, adding the Pakistani team management had been informed about it. The ICC had announced that its anti-corruption unit reviewed the tapes of Pakistan's eight-wicket defeat to hosts Sri Lanka in the tournament opener played last Thursday. Pakistani manager Yawar Saeed confirmed he had been told by the ICC that the issue was now closed. "I was given a copy of the ICC statement issued and told there was nothing to worry about," Yawar said. "The matter is finished." Media reports suggested that the investigators were particularly interested in the run out of Pakistani batsman Yousuf Youhana for zero in the 10th over of the innings. The ICC statement confirmed the anti-corruption unit (ACU) had asked for tapes of all games in order to review any "unusual" incidents. "Specifically, it has reviewed a number of incidents that took place in the opening match of the tournament between Pakistan and Sri Lanka," the statement added. Sources said such action was "normal procedure" and would not have been made public had a furore not been created after commentator Tony Greig announced on air that the tape of the first match had been sought. The ICC is not bound to reveal its findings unless "something dramatic turns up," the source added. -AFP/Reuters DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020919 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Root causes behind team's defeats ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sports Correspondent LAHORE, Sept 18: Lack of fitness, a proper game plan and confidence are the root causes behind the defeats of the Pakistan cricket team in the last three tournaments. This was observed by the former Test cricketers who participated in an one day long seminar held. The seminar presided over by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Lt Gen. Tauqir Zia, also informed the attendance that the same reasons were also marked by the team management. The former Test cricketers suggested the PCB to develop fresh talent in order to make replacement for the players who might lack form or fitness. The participants also suggested that there should be more tours by Pakistan 'A', Under-19 andUnder-17 to other countries on reciprocal basis. The discussion also considered the plan about the possible replacement of the coach of the team Mudassar Nazar. The PCB chief informed the gathering that Richard Pybus was coming to Pakistan to meet him in order to settle his assignment as new coach of the Pakistan team. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020918 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sacked Mudassar denies rift in team ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Imran Naeem Ahmad ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: Mudassar Nazar, sacked as Pakistan coach following a string of poor performances denied that there was any rift within the team. "All this is absolutely rubbish," he told Dawn after meeting the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Lt Gen Tauqir Zia in Rawalpindi. Mudassar was asked to return from Sri Lanka where Pakistan have still to play Holland in their second group match of the ICC Champions Trophy to explain the reasons for the side's poor showing in recent tournaments. In a meeting, described as "good" by Mudassar, the coach presented a detailed report on the causes that led to the fall of the team that has lost six of its last 10 One-day Internationals. He said that the players were feeling burnt-out because of an overdose of cricket and some of them needed to be rested before the next year's World Cup in South Africa. Mudassar said that he had no regrets on losing his job. "It was performance oriented and because we did not do well in the last three tournaments, I was expecting this." "Before the three tournaments we had done well by winning the majority of the matches but then when things began to go wrong it was difficult to check them." DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020918 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Youhana also out of Aussie Test series ------------------------------------------------------------------- KARACHI, Sept 17: Pakistan batsman Yousaf Youhana has been ruled out of next month's Test series against Australia with a shoulder injury, a spokesman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said. "Doctors carried out a bone scan on Youhana's shoulder in Kandy and it was confirmed he would not be able to play the test series," the spokesman said. "Youhana will not be considered because doctors have advised him to take four to six weeks rest." Youhana is the fourth senior member of the crisis-hit Pakistan side to be ruled out of the Tests. Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar have opted out of the series while Inzamam-ul-Haq has been advised to rest to recover from a foot injury. Youhana has been carrying the shoulder injury for the last two months. He was sent back to Pakistan from Nairobi last month on disciplinary grounds, but played in Pakistan's defeat by Sri Lanka. "Obviously the selectors would now consider a replacement for Youhana before the Test series, which is very important to us," the spokesman said. -Reuters DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020916 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PCB keeps faith in Waqar for home Tests ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Samiul Hasan KARACHI, Sept 15: Waqar Younis retained Pakistan captain for the three-Test home series against Australia to be played at offshore venues of Colombo and Sharjah with the opener starting Oct 3. The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, told Dawn from Rawalpindi that although he was concerned and worried with the sudden slump in the team's form, "the board still had faith in Waqar's abilities as captain". The PCB left the cricketing fraternity mesmerised when it named eight probables, including former captain Moin Khan, but put Waqar's extension on hold. The speedster was initially given a term till the back-to-back tournaments in Tangiers, Nairobi and Colombo. Waqar's men are under the hammer following defeats in six matches out of 10, including a no-result against Australia. "We are retaining Waqar for the Australian series and would continue to monitor his performance as well as of his team. Naturally, his team will be now under a closer watch since he is expected to motivate the boys and try to put the team back on winning track," the PCB chairman said. Waqar's own performance as captain has been splendid and his success rate in the 10 Tests has been 80 per cent. But all might count for nothing if his team continues its decline. DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS*DWS 20020921 ------------------------------------------------------------------- No major changes in hockey team for Asiad ------------------------------------------------------------------- By Mohammad Yaqoob LAHORE, Sept 20: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) named a 16- man team for the Asian Games that will be held in Busan between Sept 29 and Oct 14. Only two changes were made in the 18-man side that returned last week after completing a more than 10-week tour of Europe during which it also participated in the Commonwealth Games and the Champions Trophy. Kamran Ashraf and Mohammad Usman were left out while Khalid Saleem was added. Kamran last week announced his retirement from international hockey while Usman pulled out because of hamstring injury. Inside-left Khalid Saleem was recalled after he was declared fit from back injury. The team that was originally scheduled to be named on Sept 18, was also delayed because the selectors were waiting for the clearance on Khalid. "The national selection committee members, after thorough discussion have recommended the below-mentioned final line-up, approved by the president PHF," the press release stated. Team: Goalkeepers: Ahmad Alam, Muhammad Qasim. Full-backs: Sohail Abbas, Tariq Imran, Zeeshan Ashraf. Half-backs: Ghazanfar Ali, Wasim Ahmad, Muhammad Saqlain, Dilawar Hussain. Forwards: Mudassar Ali Khan, Muhammad Shabbir, Kashif Jawwad, Muhammad Sarwar, Nadeem Ahmed, Khalid Saleem, Rehan Butt. No changes were made in the team management that comprise Lt Col Zafar Ali Khan (manager), Tahir Zaman and Asif Bajwa (coach and assistant coach) and Waqar Saleem (doctor/physio). ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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