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National News

More to Pak-US ties than just drones, says FO

Baqir Sajjad Syed

ISLAMABAD: Without specifically naming the United States, the Foreign Office on Thursday said that the issue of drones would not overshadow the countryâ€™s foreign relations despite a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution which last week called for making drone attacks compliant with the international law.

Cooperation with the United States on Afghanistan, the FO said, would, however, depend on the future American presence in the neighbouring country.

â€œWe are very clear on that. Our foreign policy is not just on drones or our relations with one country. It is a wide spectrum. We have our national interests and we are working on many tracks with the international community to expand our relations and to promote economic development in Pakistan. We do not see the foreign policy or what we seek to achieve from it through the narrow prism of any single issue,â€ Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said at the weekly media briefing.

Her comments apparently contrasted the previous FO position that â€œdrone strikes have a negative impact on the mutual desire of both countries (US and Pakistan) to forge a cordial and cooperative relationshipâ€.

This position was last stated on Nov 1 and wasnâ€™t reflected in subsequent statements on drones though there has been a ritual condemnation of the attacks.

The spokespersonâ€™s remarks, which followed the latest drone attack in Miramshah and the first since the UNGA passed a resolution on drones, represented a possible softening of the governmentâ€™s position on drone strikes.

However, while reiterating the policy position on the attacks, Ms Aslam said the government condemned the Thursday nightâ€™s attack in North Waziristan for being â€œa violation of Pakistanâ€™s sovereignty and territorial integrityâ€.

â€œIt has been consistently maintained that drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives and have human rights and humanitarian implications. Such strikes also set dangerous precedents in inter-state relations,â€ she added.

She also noted that an international consensus against drone attacks existed now and was growing.

Regarding cooperation with the US on Afghanistan, she said, there was still lack of clarity about the future US presence in Afghanistan.

â€œIt depends upon the events in Afghanistan and what kind of presence the US will have after 2014,â€ she said.

INDIA: Stepping back from the governmentâ€™s claim that verdict on Kishanganga Dam by the International Court of Arbitration was a victory, Ms Aslam said she would not take it as a victory either for Pakistan or India.

She said it would rather be important to see how the verdict is implemented.

â€œWe have to now implement it in letter and spirit. In seven years we will see how things work out. I wonâ€™t subscribe to this attitude of claiming victory or loss on every issue,â€ she said.

Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif had previously said that Pakistan had achieved â€œa big victoryâ€ for the Arbitration Court had accepted its right to the water of Kishinganga as riparian state.

About upcoming meeting of Pak-India commerce ministers on the sidelines of a Saarc meeting, the spokesperson said it would review progress on a roadmap agreed upon by commerce secretaries in September 2012 for trade liberalisation.

â€œThe process (towards trade liberalisation) was disrupted when the composite dialogue got stalled. At this meeting, they (the ministers) would be reviewing what has been done and would chalk out a roadmap for the future,â€ she added.

CHINA: In reply to a question about nuclear cooperation with China, Ms Aslam said it was for peaceful purposes and was fully covered under IAEA safeguards, besides being in conformity with international commitments of both parties.

â€œThe cooperation between Pakistan and China in civilian nuclear programmes helps Pakistan in overcoming shortages of electricity and it serves the interest of the Pakistan as you are aware that nuclear energy is a part of our energy mix,â€ the spokesperson said.

NAB chief returns to office

Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD: NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry resumed work on Thursday after he was cleared by his own organisation in the NICL case.

ISLAMABAD: NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry resumed work on Thursday after he was cleared by his own organisation in the NICL case.

But Mr Chaudhry still faces a petition filed in the Supreme Court by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf challenging his appointment as chief of the National Accountability Bureau.

Mr Chaudhry went on leave on Nov 22 after the court directed his organisation to investigate whether he was involved in â€˜illegalâ€™ appointment of Ayaz Khan Niazi as chairman of the National Insurance Company Limited in 2009 and if obstructed the investigation into the Rs6 billion NICL scam.

â€œMr Chaudhry rejoined his office today and did routine work,â€ NAB spokesman Ramzan Sajid told Dawn.

The executive board of NAB had cleared Mr Chaudhry of charges levelled in the apex courtâ€™s judgment in the NICL case.

The investigation will, however, continue against other accused, including former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is accused of illegally appointing Ayaz Khan Niazi as NICL chairman. The NAB spokesman said: â€œAn investigation has been ordered against individuals who were identified in the investigation and accused of misusing their authority to hamper the probe into the NICL case.â€

According to the SC verdict, Mr Chaudhry had facilitated the illegal appointment of Mr Niazi while serving in the ministry of commerce as an additional secretary.

Mr Chaudhry was also accused of removing Zafar Qureshi, additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency, from the NICL case investigation in his capacity as interior secretary.

Mr Chaudhry, considered to be close to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was appointed as NAB chairman on Oct 10.

IGFC contempt charge dropped

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: After finally appearing before a two-member bench of the Supreme Court, Inspector General of Frontier Corps, Balochistan, Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid saw the contempt of court charge against him withdrawn by the court on Thursday.

The contempt notice had been issued on Dec 5 by an SC bench headed by then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for not complying with its earlier order of producing before Balochistanâ€™s Crime Investigation Department DIG Imtiaz Ahmed Shah the FC personnel accused of having been involved in enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

Despite earlier court orders, the FC chief was not appearing on the excuse of being indisposed. His deputy Brigadier Khalid Saleem was representing the FC in his place.

On Thursday, the two-judge bench comprising Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan decided to discharge the contempt notice after the FC IG appeared in person.

His counsel Advocate Irfan Qadir tried to brush aside the apprehensions that the FC was behind enforced disappearances in Balochistan. He said the contempt notice was issued because of misunderstanding and assured the court that FC would continue to find out the whereabouts of missing persons.

Referring to the allegations levelled against the FC, the counsel recalled that in its order on Sept 18, the apex court had categorised the missing persons by highlighting 12 cases in which 15 FC personnel were alleged to be involved.

He said that Kaho Khan, one of the missing persons for whom fingers were pointed at six FC personnel, had been recently traced by the Quetta administration. His recovery dispelled the impression that he had been picked up by the FC, he added.

Similarly, Advocate Qadir said, three personnel had been repatriated to the army after they completed their tenure in FC Balochistan. The interior ministry has also written letters to the departments concerned for their appearance before the CID, while details to establish the involvement of the remaining personnel are sketchy and inadequate.

The counsel pleaded that the name of FC be deleted from the list of respondents in different complaints for being insufficient in evidence and the relevant law-enforcement agencies be instructed for production/ recovery of the remaining missing persons.

However, he said the FC commandants concerned had been asked to continue their efforts and extend all possible assistance to the civilian administration in tracing the missing persons. The FC will keep informing the court about the progress made in this regard.

Advocate Qadir said all possible assistance was being extended to the investigation process in terms of provision of necessary documents, production of FC officials for recording their statements and contacting all alleged individuals and government departments/functionaries for providing their present addresses/whereabouts to the interrogators.

The FC Balochistan, he said, was also cooperating with the CID in its investigation into the matter.

New provincial ordinance to help improve governance, PTI claims

Intikhab Amir

PESHAWAR: Unveiling a new Right to Public Services Ordinance here on Thursday, Imran Khan claimed that once in effect the new law will help improve governance in the province. But other speaking at the ceremony urged the PTI-led coalition government to focus on improving services delivery within the existing legal framework first and questioned the potential efficacy of the new ordinance.

The ordinance renders government officers failing to provide public services to people liable to action under a legal framework which introduces a system of check and balance in the province. A three-member independent commission, â€˜right to public services commissionâ€™, consisting of a chief commissioner and two members will be formed and it will serve as an appellate forum. It will be empowered to impose fine on guilty officers. â€œIt (the new law) will change everything,â€ claimed Imran Khan and quoted the example of â€œNitish Kumar (Indian politician) who has managed to turn around his Bihar state (by introducing a similar law)â€.

Zafar Ali Shah, the secretary of provincial administration department, explained salient features of the ordinance, including the role of the appellate authorities, fines varying from Rs500 to Rs50,000, anticipated improvements in governance, and steps to be taken by the government to implement it.

Rustam Shah Mohmand, former chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, praised the efforts being made by the government to improve the governance, but said that there were areas which required quick action.

He said that â€œ90 per cent schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lack water, 80 per cent donâ€™t have toilets. This requires urgent action, rather than reformsâ€, he said.

His remarks attracted a quick response from Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Mr Khan who appreciated Mr Mohmandâ€™s remarks and said the new ordinance would bring about real change in the province.

â€œI am an idealist,â€ said Mr Khan. Not a single realist in history has achieved success,â€ he added. Expressing optimism about changing things in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through good governance, a corruption-free administration and culture of accountability, the PTI chief recounted the success he had achieved because of his idealism first in his cricketing career and later as a philanthropist.

Minister urges uniform curriculum

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to set up a National Curriculum Commission (NCC) to ensure that the provinces follow a uniform course of study in schools and colleges.

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to set up a National Curriculum Commission (NCC) to ensure that the provinces follow a uniform course of study in schools and colleges.

The Minister of State for Education, Training and Standards in Higher Education, Muhammad Balighur Rehman, has written a letter to the chief ministers, saying that lack of coordination among the provincial curriculum development departments is creating discrepancies in the quality and content of the courses.

He said the proposed NCC would have members from federal and provincial governments and it would be headed on a rotating basis.

Mr Rehman had said in a recent session of the National Assembly that the provinces would be producing students of different standards because of differences in their curriculum.

In the letter, he said that he wanted a forum where experts from all over the country could produce a uniform curriculum for schools and colleges to cater to the national requirements.

According to sources, the provinces are yet to respond to the proposal.

Before the 18th Amendment enforced in 2010, the federal education ministry was responsible for curriculum development.

When asked to comment on the move, Dr A.H. Nayyar, who has extensively worked in the field, said academicians generally believed that the curriculum development should be centralised. Under the 18th Amendment, the provinces prepare textbooks for their schools and colleges.

A reversal of this clause would require the difficult task of getting another constitutional amendment approved by parliament.

Therefore, the federal government which holds the power to form regulatory bodies may set up a curriculum regulatory authority, according to Dr Nayyar.

He said the private sector should also be involved in the process and consent of the provinces would be needed for such a move.

Drone strike kills four in N. Waziristan

Pazir Gul

MIRAMSHAH: Four people were killed and one man was injured in a US drone attack near Miramshah in the North Waziristan tribal region late on Wednesday night.

MIRAMSHAH: Four people were killed and one man was injured in a US drone attack near Miramshah in the North Waziristan tribal region late on Wednesday night.

Reports said that the drone fired two missiles at a house in Qutubkhel area, some 5km from Miramshah, leaving four men dead and injuring another.

The killed and the injured were said to be Afghan nationals.

The area residents surrounded the house after the attack and pulled out the bodies, the sources said, adding the bodies were charred beyond recognition.

The unmanned aircraft kept flying over the area after the strike that took place at around midnight, they said.

This was the first drone strike in the area during the month.

Working boundary tensions to be reduced

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

LAHORE: The bi-annual meeting between senior officials of Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) and Indiaâ€™s Border Security Force continued for a second day at the Rangers Headquarters here on Wednesday.

Sources told Dawn that both sides, which met after one and a half years, agreed to resolve the issues of unprovoked firing by the BSF on the working boundary, airspace violation by Indian helicopters and spy planes, prevention of inadvertent border-crossing and killing of innocent citizens.

They said Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) director general Major General Khan Tahir Javed Khan took up with BSF director general Subhash Joshi the most crucial matter of a series of indiscriminate firing and shelling by Indian forces on Pakistani areas in the past 18 months.

The two sides agreed that such shellings should be stopped, the sources added.

Five brigadiers, including the deputy director general, Rangers (Sindh), and three inspectors general of BSF attended the meeting. The BSF delegation comprising 13 officers had arrived in Lahore via Wagah on Monday.

The sources said that other matters, including illegal defence-related constructions on the border by BSF, illegal border-crossing and prevention of smuggling and release and return of Pakistani prisoners from Indian jails, would be raised in the coming days.

They said a joint communiquAtilde;© would be issued on Dec 28, the last day of the bi-annual meeting.

North Waziristan appears close to full-blown conflict

Ismail Khan

GUNS have fallen silent in Mirali â€” a bustling town 35km to the east of North Waziristanâ€™s regional headquarters of Miramshah, but now with rows of burnt down and bombed shops and houses.

The sudden flare-up and militaryâ€™s fierce response to a suicide bombing at one of its main camps in Khajori on Dec 18 have shown that the situation in North Waziristan remains volatile, dangerously close to a full-blown conflict.

That the peace process would be illusive was known to all but what many people fail to understand is just how complex it would be, given the large number of militant groups with different agendas and goals.

A ceasefire has now been in effect. But the question is for how long. The military is edgy. For far too long, they say, they sat out there, taking casualties.

Since September, they say, a total of 67 improvised explosives devices were planted to harm them; 40 were neutralised, 27 exploded, resulting in deaths and injuries to about a hundred of their men.

Since 2009, compared with other tribal regions, the casualty rate the military has suffered is the highest in North Waziristan and eleven times the casualties they have taken in South Waziristan. Patience has worn out.

â€œThe question is for how long,â€ asked one military officer. â€œItâ€™s better to go out and die fighting them than take casualties sitting inside our camps.â€

In Mirali the fighting has stopped but the situation remains fluid. The military, despite its furious response, says it is committed to the political leadershipâ€™s plan to initiate peace dialogue with militants in Waziristan.

Commitment notwithstanding, no-one in the know is willing to put his bottom dollar on the success of the yet-to-start peace process. Such is the complexity of the situation. There are so many groups and with so varied objectives that no matter whom the government speaks to sue peace, any of the groups not happy with the process can light a match to burn down the entire process. Consider what happened on December 18. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) posted an English translation of its statement on the Jamia Hafsa Urdu Forum on Tuesday, saying that the military responded with air and ground attack after a group of â€œfrustrated fightersâ€ had bombed a military convoy.

In the event, it said, fighters from the IMU, the TTP and Ansarul Mujahideen hit back to â€˜defend civiliansâ€™.

Two IMU fighters were killed and 22 foreign â€œrefugeesâ€ wounded. It put the civilian casualty figures at 70. The military, the IMU said, had suffered more than 300 casualties.

The military rubbishes the claim and insists that not a single soldier was killed or injured in the follow-up action which, it says, left more than 30 foreign militants dead, most of them Uzbeks.

This is what Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his pointman for the peace process in North Waziristan, Chaudhry Nisar, will have to grapple with: a plethora of militant groups ever keen to attack security forces and an increasingly edgy military. And they may not have much time at hand.

No-one seems to be in control in North Waziristan. Together with the military and the paramilitary, the political administration is confined to the fort in Miramshah. With curfew clamped, the military moves only on what is called the Road Opening Days, suffering roadside bombings and ambushes.

As for the militant groups, they are many. Government officials put the total number of local militant groups operating in North Waziristan, including the Haqqani network, at 43. Dattakhel-based Hafiz Gul Bahadar has the highest number of groups affiliated with him â€” 15, followed by 10 independent groups. There are six TTP-affiliated groups. The Punjabi Taliban have four groups.

In addition, there are 12 foreign militant groups, including Al Qaeda.

With a combined strength of roughly 11,000 fighting men, the Pakistani and foreign militant groups represent a formidable challenge, officials acknowledge.

Given the enormity and complexity of the problem, the lack of trust between the militants and the state and prevalent scepticism within the civil-military establishment regarding success and sustainability of the proposed peace process, the path to peace, if and when taken, would not be easy.

Accord to defuse LoC tensions

Baqir Sajjad Syed

The two countries agreed to a number of steps to keep the ceasefire accord intact.

The two countries agreed to a number of steps to keep the ceasefire accord intact.

â€œBoth DGMOs showed their commitment to maintain the sanctity and ceasefire on the Line of Control,â€ said a joint statement issued after the meeting of Pakistani DGMO Major General Aamer Riaz with his Indian counterpart Lt General Vinodh Bhatia.

The meeting, requested by Pakistan, was held at Wagah border on the Pakistani side.

â€œBoth sides reiterated resolve and commitment to continue efforts for ensuring ceasefire, peace and tranquillity on the Line of Control,â€ the statement said.

Pakistan accuses India of 416 LoC ceasefire violations this year while the latter blames the former for violating the accord about 150 times.

Repeated ceasefire violations this year -- first after the attack on a Pakistani post by Indian troops in January and then after another in August on Indian border patrol apparently by insurgents -- increased acrimony between the two countries. However, the biggest casualty was the peace dialogue which the two countries had resumed after the Mumbai attacks and none of its segments could meet this year.

Problems were also faced in scheduling a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. When the two leaders finally met in September they agreed to a meeting of the DGMOs for deliberations on the ceasefire violations.

The DGMOs meeting could not be scheduled for three months for unexplained reasons. The breakthrough finally came with a Pakistani invitation to Indian DGMO, which India immediately accepted.

Both sides described the meeting as â€œcordial, positive and constructiveâ€. However, details agreed by the two sides showed that they were serious about lowering the temperatures along their de-facto border.

â€œThe positivity at the meeting and the fact that it went so smooth is in itself a great confidence building measure,â€ military spokesman Maj Gen Asim Bajwa said.

A mechanism for notification of inadvertent crossers was also agreed upon.

Indian news agency PTI said that on his return from Pakistan, Lt Gen Bhatia told journalists that the aim of the meeting was to work out a protocol to defuse tensions and uphold the ceasefire on the LoC.

Both sides had assured each other that they would ensure there is no violation of the ceasefire in future, he said.

Pakistan had proposed the inclusion of foreign ministry officials in the meeting of the DGMOs, but India rejected the move. Pakistanâ€™s Foreign Office said last week that its proposal for including diplomats in such meetings was â€œstill on the tableâ€.

Lt Gen Bhatia did not respond to questions on whether the Indian side had raised the issue of the beheading of an Indian soldier on the LoC, the Indian news agency said.

Musharraf to be indicted on Jan 1

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: The three-judge special court constituted to try former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf for â€˜high treasonâ€™ decided on Tuesday to indict him on January 1.

ISLAMABAD: The three-judge special court constituted to try former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf for â€˜high treasonâ€™ decided on Tuesday to indict him on January 1.

â€œOn January 1 the court will read out the statement of charges against the accused,â€ said Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court who presided over the proceedings in the National Library Auditorium, Islamabad.

Other members of the court are Justice Yawar Ali of the Lahore High Court and Justice Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court.

After framing the charges the court will summon witnesses and evidence from the prosecution.

The court exempted the former military ruler from appearing on Tuesday after his counsel Anwar Mansoor Khan informed it that security personnel had found five kilograms of explosives and a pistol in a shopping bag near the residence of Gen Musharraf.

He said Mr Musharraf was facing serious life threats and it was not possible for him to appear before the court unless the federal government provided him â€œextraordinary securityâ€. He requested the court to order the federal government to provide security to Gen Musharraf.

Nasiruddin Khan Nayyer, special prosecutor for the federal government, said Gen Musharrafâ€™s presence in the court was mandatory because he was an accused in the case. He pointed out that since the former president had been facing a bailable offence, he must file an application for his pre-arrest bail. Otherwise, the court should issue his arrest warrants.

At the outset of the proceedings, Sharifuddin Pirzada, the counsel for Gen Musharraf, informed the court that the defence side had filed two separate applications challenging the constitution of the special court, appointment of its judges and selection of Advocate Akram Sheikh as head of the prosecution team.

These were similar to the petitions dismissed by the Islamabad High Court on Monday.

Relatively peaceful Chehlum

Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD: Blanket security thrown around Chehlum-related processions and events helped avoid any major incident after reports from intelligence agencies had warned of possible violence in various parts of the country.

Only Karachi witnessed several serious incidents.

The security arrangements in tension-ridden Rawalpindi made possible an incident-free procession, which activists of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat had threatened to disrupt.

Except for a few incidents of clashes between police and troublemakers in different parts of Rawalpindi, no major incident was reported from anywhere, much to the relief of a jittery populace which had experienced a two-day curfew for the first time in their life after a sectarian clash on the Ashura day last month. At least 12 people died in the clash.

The routes of main mourning processions in almost every city, particularly in sensitive ones like Rawalpindi and Karachi, had been sealed even a day before.

As part of security measures, mobile phone services were suspended in a number of cities for almost the whole day.

Meanwhile, the Sindh home ministry has extended a ban on pillion-riding in Karachi till midnight on Wednesday.

In Rawalpindi, some activists of the ASWJ attempted to enter the main procession route several times in the day, but all their efforts were foiled by timely action of police and personnel of law-enforcement agencies.

Police resorted to tear-gas shelling, baton-charge and aerial firing at Pirwadhai and Faizabad to disperse the troublemakers who tried to block different roads after their failure to intercept the procession. As many as 30 people, including two policemen, were injured in the clashes.

In Quetta, security forces thwarted a bid to attack processions when they arrested an alleged terrorist and recovered a huge cache of arms from a vehicle coming from Afghanistan.

Quaidâ€™s birth anniversary today

From the Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: The nation will pay tribute to Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah on his 137th birth anniversary today.

ISLAMABAD: The nation will pay tribute to Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah on his 137th birth anniversary today.

The day is a public holiday and the national flag will be hoisted on principal government buildings throughout the country. The day will dawn with special prayers for the prosperity of the country.

Cadets from the Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, will undertake the duty of ceremonial guards at the Quaidâ€™s mausoleum.â€”APP

Four killed in Karachi blasts

Imtiaz Ali

KARACHI: A bomb exploded outside an Imambargah in Orangi Town on Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring 13, minutes after an explosion on the route of the main mourning procession sowed fear in the city. Life had already come to standstill amid massive security arrangements for Chehlum anniversary commemorations.

Among the dead were two teenagers who were playing cricket.

The explosion on M.A. Jinnah Road happened before the start of the main procession, raising questions about security arrangements since the road was supposed to have been thoroughly searched by bomb experts.

In sector 11-E of Orangi Town, a bomb planted beside the wall of Azakhana-i-Kausar went off and partially damaged the wall. When police and rescue workers rushed to the place, another bomb planted on the traffic island facing the Imambargah exploded. Four people were killed and around 13, including a police officer and four volunteers, suffered injuries.

One of the victims -- 15-year-old Gul Zafran alias Sunny -- died before reaching the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

A critically injured Rabiul Awal Mazhar Hussain, 16, Irfan Rasheed, 50, and an unidentified young man died in operation theatre.

Police said Sunny and Rabiul Awal were playing cricket along with other boys while Irfan was a passer-by.

Dr Abdul Haq said 13 injured -- sub-inspector Mohammed Shafi and four volunteers of an ambulance service among them-- were brought to the hospital. Most of them were allowed to go home because their injuries were minor. The volunteers were shifted to a private hospital for further treatment. None of the wounded suffered life-threatening injuries.

The explosion, caused by the 500-gram improvised explosive device (IED) planted on the Imambargah wall, was used as trap to bring police and passers-by to the place, DIG Javed Alam Odho told reporters.

The second bomb weighed about two to three kilograms and was packed with nuts and ball bearings.

The blasts were aimed at creating fear and chaos since no Majlis or procession was taking place there at that time.

A minor explosion occurred in Orangi Town, near Banaras Chowk. Police said two men on a motorcycle hurled a â€œcracker-like thingâ€ at a playground, causing minor injuries to four boys playing there.

Minutes earlier, an explosion was heard on M.A. Jinnah Road but it did not cause any loss of life or damage to property. Police said the IED, weighing 500 grams, was attached to a signboard near Capri Cinema and detonated by remote control.

The explosion took place in a very high security area on the route of the main procession from Purani Numaish to Kharadar.

Shahid Hayat, police chief of Karachi, said it was an attempt to scare intending participants of the procession and divert attention of law enforcement agencies to carry out a major act of terror in another area. â€œBut terrorists have failed to create fear. Checking has been enhanced and sweeping of the area will be conducted again,â€ he said.

Suspected terrorist killed in raid

Meanwhile, Pakistan Rangers Sindh claimed to have killed a suspected terrorist who they believed might have been involved in the Orangi blast.

According to Rangers spokesperson, the paramilitary force conducted an intelligence-guided raid on a â€˜hideout of terroristsâ€™ in Khairabad area of Manghopir on Tuesday evening. â€œOn seeing Rangers, a terrorist later identified as Zohaib opened fire and was killed in the ensuing shootout.

â€œHis involvement in todayâ€™s blast can not be ruled out,â€ the spokesman said. An SMG and material for making IEDs, including explosives, were found at the hideout.

Five militants, FC man killed in Turbat gunfight

Saleem Shahid

QUETTA: Five militants and a Frontier Corps man were killed during an armed encounter in an area near Turbat in Kech district.

QUETTA: Five militants and a Frontier Corps man were killed during an armed encounter in an area near Turbat in Kech district.

An FC spokesman said in Quetta on Tuesday the gunfight took place on Monday night when a group of armed militants were returning after attacking the camp of a construction company. (The incident was partly reported by Dawn on Tuesday.)

According to sources, the militants first overpowered Levies personnel deployed at the camp of the company, snatched their official weapons and then carried out the attack with heavy weapons, including rockets. However, they did not harm the Levies personnel.

The FC spokesman said the militants wearing uniform of security forces were intercepted by FC personnel at Buleda Cross when they were fleeing after the attack. â€œFive militants were killed in the exchange of fire and two others injured,â€ he said, adding that the militants had taken away the bodies of three men and two injured with them while fleeing the scene taking the advantage of darkness.

He said a non-commissioned FC officer, Samar Gul, was injured. He died on way to hospital.

â€œThe bodies of two militants were taken into custody,â€ officials said, adding that FC personnel recovered arms and ammunition, including the official weapons which the militants had snatched from Levies personnel during the attack on the camp.

Situation called for emergency: Musharraf

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: For the first time since November 2007, former president and military strongman retired Gen Pervez Musharraf has accepted direct responsibility for the imposition of emergency in the country, but has claimed that it was only done upon receiving advice that the security of the country had been imperilled by some actions of then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and some other members of the superior judiciary.

In a belated petition seeking review of the apex courtâ€™s landmark July 31, 2009, verdict, Gen Musharraf argued that then elected prime minister Shaukat Aziz had recommended taking extra-constitutional measures of proclaiming the emergency. A 14-judge bench headed by then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had denounced successive military takeovers of the past four decades and their endorsement by the superior judiciary after declaring Gen Musharrafâ€™s emergency order and most of the actions taken under it, including the appointment of over 100 superior court judges, as illegal and unconstitutional.

Legal observers are of the opinion that at least a 16-judge larger bench needs to be constituted to hear and overturn the July 31 verdict.

Gen Musharrafâ€™s review petition was filed after a delay of over four years by Sharifuddin Pirzada, Mohammad Ibrahim Satti and Dr Khalid Ranjha.

It argued that the July 31 verdict should be set aside because both Mr Musharraf and Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry were at daggers drawn and rival because of a reference the former had instituted as then president against the latter on misuse of authority.

Gen Musharraf, however, expressed full confidence in the present Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and all its judges and said he had faith of an impartial adjudication.

Through a separate application, the former military ruler requested the court to suspend the July 31 verdict as well as the proceedings before a special court constituted to try him under treason charges.

The review petition cited a letter of the then prime minister to the then president (Musharraf) about security of Pakistan in which direct allegations were levelled against Justice Chaudhry and some members of the judiciary which subsequently resulted in the proclamation of emergency.

It argued that since the emergency had been clamped on the alleged misdeeds of Justice Chaudhry, he should not have headed the 14-member bench. It violated principles of administration of justice in which the accused was condemned unheard. The petition also targeted the Nov 3, 2007, restraining order issued by a seven-judge bench headed by Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and explained that Justice Rana Bhagwandas had signed the order on Nov 5, instead of Nov 3. Besides, the presence of Justice Ghulam Rabbani was also doubtful.

The petition disputed the restraining order by stating that it had been issued by the judges who already had ceased to hold their offices and by then a new chief justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar, had taken oath.

Moreover, till their restoration through an executive order of March 16, 2009, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges had accepted and obeyed the 2008 Tikka Iqbal Khan case of validating the Nov 3 emergency on the same ground of accepting the Oct 12, 1999, military takeover as well as the Nov 3 emergency itself.

Justice Chaudhry waited till the superannuation of Justice Dogar that was due on March 22, 2009, and then assumed the office on March 24, 2009, which showed the judges fully accepted the tenure of Justice Dogar.

Moreover, the petition said, at the time of issuing the July 31 judgment, the holding in abeyance of the constitution was not considered to be a high treason and, therefore, the apex court in its binding short order of July 31 had not ordered the trial of Gen Musharraf under high treason.

Curfew lifted after talks with Taliban

Zulfiqar Ali

PESHAWAR: A curfew imposed after a suicide bomb attack on a mosque near a checkpost and subsequent clashes between militants and security forces in North Waziristan was lifted on Monday following successful talks among the administration, representatives of local Taliban and members of a grand tribal jirga in Miramshah.

According to tribal elders of Mirali, the administration and members of the Taliban shura announced in Miramshah and adjoining villages that a ceasefire had been declared in accordance with a peace agreement signed in 2006.

People who had fled to Spinwam in North Waziristan and adjoining Bannu district in the wake of reported shelling by security forces on Wednesday night were asked to return to their homes.

Maulvi Gul Abbas, an elder from Mirali, quoted Taliban shura spokesman Ahmadullah Ahmadi as saying that all parties, including the administration, Taliban and elders, had agreed to follow the peace deal and to resolve issues in accordance with the agreement.

â€œThere will be no curfew in Miramshah, Mirali and other parts of North Waziristan and displaced people should start coming back to their homes.â€

â€œPeople hail this announcement,â€ he said, adding that the local administration had assured the jirga that affected people would be compensated.

Elders of the Utmankhel tribe, members of the Taliban shura and the administration had signed the peace agreement in Miramshah in 2006.

Major points of the agreement included a ban on cross-border movement of armed groups, expulsion of outsiders and foreigners from Waziristan, protection of state installations, return of troops to barracks and rehabilitation of affected people. The agreement was renewed in 2007.

The trouble started after the suicide attack on a mosque the mosque on Wednesday evening and subsequent military action in Mirali bazaar. The suicide attack left one soldier and a contractor dead and 11 personnel injured, while officials said 34 militants, a number of foreigners among them, were killed in clashes with the security forces.

But Maulvi Gul Abbas denied the official claim and said that around 60 civilians had been killed in shelling on Mirali and adjoining villages.

Residents said a large number of people stranded in Bannu returned to Mirali and nearby villages after the curfew was lifted at 2.30pm.

They said thousands of people were yet to return from Bannu.

Nasir Khan of Hesokhel village near Mirali said the clashes had forced about 70 per cent people of the area to leave their homes and go to Bannu and Spinwam.

He said people of Haiderkhel, Mosaki, Hesokhel, Hurmaz and Eidek had been living with relatives and friends in Bannu.

He said Mirali became a â€œghost townâ€ and a large number of people had to leave their villages.

Officials of the Fata Disaster Management Authority said they had no information about displacement of local people.

Countrywide loadshedding to increase from today

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: The government announced on Monday revival of electricity loadshedding for â€˜about two hoursâ€™ per day throughout the country because of an increased gap between power generation and demand arising out of annual canal closure and diversion of gas to textile industry.

â€œThe Indus River System Authority has reduced indents for annual canal closure due to which loadshedding of about two hours will start on Tuesday,â€ a statement issued by the ministry of water and power said. â€œInconvenience to be caused to the people due to loadshedding is regretted,â€ it added.

An official, however, told Dawn that loadshedding could go up to four hours on an average, but it would be kept at two hours in big cities and maximum loadshedding would be done in the rural sector and areas with lower recovery of bills. As a result, some consumers may complain of more than 10 hours of loadshedding.

He said the government was engaging with Irsa to persuade it to make higher water discharges from Tarbela dam to enable Wapda reduce electricity supply gap. At the same time, consumers have been advised to adopt energy conservation measures to minimise electricity shortage.

But Irsa had not accepted the water and power ministryâ€™s demand because of the absence of its chairman, an official said. He said Irsa had been asked to ensure at least 15,000 to 20,000 cusecs of water releases from Tarbela dam against usual discharges of about 8,000 cusecs for drinking purposes during annual canal closure. Discharges from Tarbela dam stood at 35,000 cusecs on Monday.

The official said the Irsa chief would be back in town on Dec 26 and preside over a meeting to consider the governmentâ€™s demand. He said the government had not asked for higher discharges from Mangla dam because Punjab had availed higher discharges from them and further depletion of storage could create operational difficulties.

An Irsa official said members of the authority appeared to be inclined to accept the government demand for higher water releases for more power generation, but for genuinely different reasons. He said the industrial sector was mostly releasing its waste into the river system and causing higher contamination. â€œEven though the drinking water was properly treated before use, there should be higher flows in rivers to enable filtration and treatment.â€

A power ministry official said the electricity shortage had been caused not only because of canal closure but a sudden drop in temperatures beyond freezing point in many parts of the country. On top of that, the diversion of 100 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from the power sector to textile sector had generated an additional shortfall of about 450MW.

The official said Sindh would close down Kotri canal on Dec 26, followed by Sukkur on Jan 6 while canals in Punjab would remain closed for annual maintenance between Dec 25 and Jan 31. As a result, the hydropower generation would fall drastically to 1,000MW for about 35 days.

Coupled with the canal closure, the production from Wapdaâ€™s thermal stations will remain static at 1,500-2,000MW because of the ongoing rehabilitation programme.

Maximum reliance will, therefore, shift to IPPs. As a result, the cost of electricity will go up in view of more reliance on furnace oil and diesel for power generation.

Troops called out for Chehlum security

Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD: The Chehlum of the martyrs of Karbala will be observed amid tight security across the country on Tuesday (today) with the deployment of over 10,000 army troops at sensitive places.

ISLAMABAD: The Chehlum of the martyrs of Karbala will be observed amid tight security across the country on Tuesday (today) with the deployment of over 10,000 army troops at sensitive places.

Though no official announcement was made by the interior ministry till late Monday night, media reports quoting unnamed officials of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said that mobile phone service in over 30 cities and towns, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Khairpur, Peshawar and Quetta, would be suspended on Tuesday from 8am.

According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations, more than 10,000 army troops will assist civil administration in maintaining law and order throughout the country.

Unlike previous years, the authorities are more concerned about security for the Chehlum day because of recent incidents of sectarian killings in different parts of the country.

Last month, Rawalpindi saw curfew for the first time after a clash between two sectarian groups on the Ashura day in which 10 people were killed.

The routes of main mourning processions in almost every city, particularly in sensitive ones like Rawalpindi and Karachi, have been sealed and no one will be allowed to join processions without a thorough body search.

In Rawalpindi containers have been placed to seal the procession routes. In Karachi, heavy contingents of Rangers and police have been deployed along the routes and around Imambargahs and mosques.

The processions will also be monitored through CCTV cameras.

Tension has gripped Rawalpindi after an announcement by the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat to stage a sit-in and a rally on Tuesday.

Police have launched a crackdown against those listed as troublemakers and so far arrested more than 35 people.

Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, in a meeting on Sunday, directed security agencies to carry out air surveillance of sensitive places in Islamabad and put the army on alert to meet any eventuality.

He said intelligence agencies and civil armed forces were providing support to the provincial governments in their efforts to maintain peace. Any act of violence would be dealt with an iron hand, he warned.

Pakistan, India DGMOs meet today

Baqir Sajjad Syed

ISLAMABAD: The much-anticipated and long-delayed meeting â€” agreed to by the Pakistani and Indian prime ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly annual summit in September â€” will finally take place today when Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia will cross the Attari-Wagah land border for talks with his Pakistani counterpart Maj Gen Amir Riaz in Wagah.

The meeting will address the issue of terrorism that has been simmering along the Line of Control (LoC) after violence and clashes this summer.

The talks would start at Wagah border at 11am and are expected to continue for over two hours.

The directorsâ€™ general military operations (DGMOs) of both sides would be assisted by four of their officers at the talks.

The Pakistan government had proposed the inclusion of diplomats in the negotiating teams, but the Indian government vetoed the suggestion.

This would be the first meeting of the commanders of the two countries at the DGMOs level since the Kargil crisis.

The DGMOs have been conversing over the hotline, but this would be first face to face contact since the Kargil crisis.

Military sources said that the meeting would discuss the situation on the LoC and working boundary and explore ways for defusing tensions.

â€œThe dialogue would take place in the context of the 2003 ceasefire accord and the existing mechanisms for addressing the violations. Weâ€™ll try to explore ways for strengthening the mechanisms to avoid hostilities along the LoC and WB in future,â€ an official said.

The Pakistan government last week invited the Indian DGMO after the Cabinet Committee on National Security instructed the ministries of foreign affairs and defence to â€œtake measures to facilitate regional peace and stabilityâ€.

The LoC and working boundary witnessed intense skirmishes this year. The clashes had followed January attack on a Pakistani military post by Indian troops and the August ambush on an Indian border patrol by insurgents.

Electricity dues pile up

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: Despite having pumped hundreds of billions of rupees to clear the circular debt build-up in the electricity sector, the government is yet to show any urgency for the clearance of a staggering Rs445bn of receivables owed to electricity distribution companies across the country â€“ jeopardising the financial viability of the entire electricity sector once again.

According to official documents available with Dawn, the major chunk of Rs325bn receivables was due from the private sector whereas the government organisations have to pay Rs120bn to electricity companies operating throughout the country.

A government official in the power sector told Dawn that the amount was pending for quite some time and accumulating and the powerful private sector consumers had been resisting to pay it on one or another pretext.

The main reason for the governmentâ€™s failure to recover the money, the official said, was political expediency. It is too early to determine whether the PML-N government would also avoid touching the influential defaulters.

A common tactic to delay payment, consumers go into litigation on outstanding bills and secure fresh connections, the official said.

Soon after assuming office, the present government paid Rs480bn to independent power producers and claimed that the payment was an attempt to clear the menacing circular debt and improve the flow of electricity in the national grid.

While the opposition in both houses of parliament cried foul recently that the money was paid to benefit IPPs owners, the circular debt has again starting building up, but the government claimed that it was because of a gap between cost and sale price of electricity.

The Quetta Electricity Supply Company leads in terms of its receivables which over the years have accumulated to Rs88bn.

The private sector has played a major role in bringing the company to its knees by refusing to pay its bills which as of October this year stood at Rs81bn followed by Rs7bn owed by the government.

The Peshawar Electricity Supply Company is the next which is also struggling to recover Rs85bn. Here too, the private sector has outstanding bills of Rs58bn against them, whereas Rs27 billion is owed by the public sector.

The receivables of the Sukkur Electricity Power Company are Rs70bn, including Rs45bn from the private sector and Rs25bn from public sector.

The Hyderabad Electricity Power Company is to recover Rs44bn, including Rs27bn from the government and Rs17bn from private consumers.

The Lahore Electricity Supply Company has Rs43bn outstanding â€“ Rs38bn against the private sector and Rs5bn against government organisations.

The Islamabad Electricity Supply Company has to recover Rs22 from the government and Rs4bn from the private sector.

The Multan Electricity Power Company has Rs31bn outstanding against the private sector and Rs2bn against the government.

The Gujranwala Electricity Power Company is to recover Rs7bn from the private sector and Rs4bn from the public sector.

The Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company has Rs10bn receivables against its consumers of which Rs139 million is due from the government and the rest from the private sector.

Announcement

From the Newspaper

THE offices of Dawn will remain closed on Wednesday (Dec 25) on account of Quaid-i-Azamâ€™s birth anniversary and Christmas.

THE offices of Dawn will remain closed on Wednesday (Dec 25) on account of Quaid-i-Azamâ€™s birth anniversary and Christmas.

Arrangements have, however, been made to bring out the newspaper on Thursday.

Centre, provinces in row over Irsa control

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: Despite losing a second water dispute to India in a row, the federal and provincial authorities continue wrestling over inter-provincial matters to have more control over the domestic water regulator â€“ the Indus River System Authority.

At the heart of the dispute is the position of Irsaâ€™s member federal lying vacant since October 2010. After the federal governmentâ€™s move to exercise its discretion in the selection of a suitable candidate was stayed by the Sindh High Court a few days ago, the centre has proposed a new way out without any success.

Sources told Dawn that on the demand of the National Assemblyâ€™s standing committee on water and power, the ministry of water and power has proposed the appointment of a person from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) as member of Irsa and has sought the authorityâ€™s comments on the proposal.

The sources said that while Irsaâ€™s member from Sindh has vehemently opposed the proposal, other members were of the view that the matter was legally and politically too complicated to be commented upon upfront without consulting the provinces and legal experts and then taking it up at a formal meeting of the authority.

Therefore, the Irsa chairman has informed the water and power ministry that it would convene a meeting of the authority on Dec 26 to reach a conclusion. The Irsa member from Sindh has, however, said that Fata was neither a stakeholder nor beneficiary in Irsa even though it contributed nominal water to the Indus system and hence it did not fall in the scope of 1991 water apportionment accord. Therefore, the Irsa member could not come from Fata, he has argued.

The expert said the matter simply was of inter-provincial nature and the only appropriate forum to consider nomination of an outside member was the Council of Common Interests that had originally approved the water apportionment accord of 1991 and the establishment of Irsa.

He said the government should have been careful in view of the stay order issued by the Sindh High Court on a petition of Ghulam Abbas Leghari, a candidate from Sindh, and Zamir Ghumro Advocate.

The water and power ministry had in the last week of November asked the provinces and Wapda to recommend one candidate each so that a nomination could be made out of five panellists by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Interestingly, the ministry of water and power forwarded Sindhâ€™s nomination to the prime minister with the recommendation that Mr Leghari be appointed as member Sindh, forgetting that another legally appointed member Syed Mazhar Ali Shah was already working in that position.

When that was pointed out by the prime ministerâ€™s secretariat, the ministry immediately withdrew the summary and requested the provinces and Wapda to send nominations for federal member.

The Punjab government, particularly Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, has been critical of the decision to have two members of Sindh domicile in Irsa. He had suggested to the federal government to appoint Irsaâ€™s federal member from Azad Kashmir or Gilgit-Baltistan to ensure impartial decision-making by the water regulator in the presence of equal representation from the four provinces.

In January 2011, the Sindh Assembly adopted a counter resolution asking the federal government to continue appointing federal member from Sindh.

To avoid a controversy, the federal government has not filled the post since October 2010 after completion of the tenure contract of Bashir Dahar.

Two hurt as shell hits Mirali house

The Newspaper's Correspondent

MIRAMSHAH: Two people were injured when an artillery shell hit a house in Manan Kot area near Mirali as the North Waziristan tribal region remained under curfew for the sixth day on Sunday.

MIRAMSHAH: Two people were injured when an artillery shell hit a house in Manan Kot area near Mirali as the North Waziristan tribal region remained under curfew for the sixth day on Sunday.

Locals said security forces, backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, fired back after terrorists attacked a convoy in Manan Kot. The convoy was coming to Miramshah from Bannu.

One shall hit a house, causing injuries to two people. Their names could not be ascertained.

Curfew continued to be in place in North Waziristan forcing people belonging to the troubled region to remain stranded in Bannu.

Imran puts pressure on govt

Mansoor Malik

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan gave on Sunday a nine-point agenda to end inflation, unemployment, corruption and various socio-economic problems and announced that the partyâ€™s â€œtsunami movementâ€ against price hike and oppression would be expanded to Sindh and Rawalpindi next month.

He was addressing a massive rally on The Mall which could not reach its Chairing Cross destination and ended at the GPO-High Court Chowk after travelling about one kilometre in over two hours.

A police contingent escorted the rally only as a silent spectator. But the Old Anarkali police later registered a report against leaders and workers of the PTI for violating Section 144.

Mr Khan said the tsunami movement would reach Sindh on Jan 6 and Rawalpindi on Jan 24. â€œThis movement will help to liberate Pakistan from American slavery, restore peace, bring investment and defeat inflation.â€

The PTI chief urged the government to curb power theft, bring haves into the tax net, revert GST rate to the May 11 level and take measures to let political leaders, industrialists and businessmen to bring their wealth back to the country.

He called for taking on the mafia making abnormal profits and warned the government against printing currency notes to meet its rising expenditure. He said the PTI would table a bill in the National Assembly for converting governorsâ€™ houses into parks and hotels and get additional revenue. All these measures would contain inflation and provide relief to the masses, he added. Mr Khan called upon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to join hands with the PTI for getting drone attacks stopped and ending Nato supplies for the â€œcause of peaceâ€.

He alleged that the present government was opposing the PTI actions to get US â€˜aidâ€™. â€œNato supplies were blocked to end terrorism and restore peace which will eventually bring investment and provide relief to the people.â€

He accused the government of announcing schemes to let (wealthy people) to whiten their black money.

In order to generate revenue, he suggested to the PML-N government to bring all wealthy people, including three million owners of big houses, into the tax net, plug pilferages in the power distribution system, bring money lying in foreign banks to Pakistan, fix corrupt people and adopt austerity measures to give relief to the masses reeling under unbridled price hike. The downtrodden, he said, were becoming unable to feed their children.

About the performance of his party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mr Khan said the PTI government was taking extraordinary measures and had sacked a minister of a coalition partner on corruption charges.

He criticised the role of the National Accountability Bureau which he alleged was carrying out orders of the prime minister. He said the KP government would soon set up an independent accountability cell with powers to make even the chief minister accountable. There will be no peace and no end to inflation without eradicating corruption.

Responding to allegations about power theft in KP, he said the PTI would eliminate the menace from the province if it was empowered to handle all matters relating to power supply.

Reiterating his demand for recounting of votes in four constituencies, he said it would have been done if the May 11 â€˜matchâ€™ had not been â€˜fixedâ€™ in Lahore. The PTI had accepted the election results, but not the rigging, he said, adding that his party and the masses were looking towards the Supreme Court for justice.

Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Syed Munawar Hassan said the government should hold talks with the Taliban and other stakeholders to restore peace in the country. The use of force had not achieved desired results in Balochistan and Karachi, he said, adding that the army operation in Waziristan should be immediately stopped.

â€œThe US has pitted Pakistanâ€™s army against its people as part of an international agenda,â€ he said.

Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid accused Prime Minister Sharif of â€œdistributingâ€ lucrative posts among members of his family. He said the federal government had launched Rs100 billion youth loan scheme, but nobody was ready to be guarantor of the poor youth.

Mr Rasheed said nobody was calling for mid-term elections but the demand was being made from within the PML-N ranks.

A large number of PTI workers and supporters had started gathering at Nasser Bagh early in the morning, but the rally gained momentum at around 2pm. The slow movement of the rally from Nasser Bagh to Chairing Cross caused some supporters to disperse midway.

A number of party workers and leaders, including Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, had reached Chairing Cross but faced embarrassment because the rally had stopped at GPO Chowk for Imran Khanâ€™s address.

Corrupt employees to get the sack

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: Branded as an exercise in clean governance, a new, fast-track initiative to dismiss employees of state-owned enterprises, and even civil servants, is being rushed through by the federal government in the form of the â€œElimination of Corruption from Public Service Ordinance, 2013â€.

Informed sources have told Dawn that the government has been waiting for the two houses of the parliament to prorogue so that it can promulgate the ordinance which provides for the dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement of employees of the federal government, its corporate entities, autonomous bodies and departments.

The new ordinance not only dramatically expands the definitions of corruption, inefficiency and misconduct that can be used to act against federal employees, but also whittles down the inquiry and appeals process to a matter of weeks instead of the existing three-to-six months.

Likely, the abbreviated inquiry and appeals process is to allow for maximum effect during the life of the ordinance. Following the 18th Amendment, a presidential ordinance is valid for only 120 days and must be approved by a resolution of either house of parliament if it is to be extended for a further 120 days.

With the Senate and the National Assembly having been prorogued on Friday, an official said, â€œThe ordinance is ready for the last few days and the President can issue it any moment because the PML-N government wants to move swiftly against a number of people inducted by the past governments into the government service, including those in the corporations like Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan International Airlines and oil and gas companiesâ€.

Under the ordinance, the government could get rid of any government servant of All-Pakistan Service or Civil Service of the federation, or who holds a civil post of the federation or any employee serving in any court or tribunal set up or established by the federal government, except a judge of the Supreme Court or High Courts or Federal Shariat Court or any court sub-ordinate to the High Court.

The ordinance also covers officers in a corporate body, corporation, authority, statutory body or any body established or controlled by the federal government or having government controlling shareholding, including chairmen and managing directors.

An official said tens of thousands of examples and cases were on record but no action was taken on corruption, misconduct and inefficiency over the last 10-12 years. These cases are being collected, he said.

The definitions of corruption, inefficiency and misconduct have been broadened under the proposed ordinance. For example, it states that if the competent authority (the prime minister or an individual authorised by the PM) is of the â€œopinionâ€ that a person is inefficient or guilty of being habitually absent from duty without prior approval or guilty of misconduct or is â€œcorrupt or may reasonably be considered as corruptâ€ â€“ defined as if the employee or his dependents or any other person through him or his behalf was in possession of pecuniary sources or of property for which he cannot reasonably account for or disproportionate to his known sources of income â€“ the employee would be liable to be dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired.

Before final action, the persons would be given only seven days of showing cause but this opportunity could also be withdrawn if the competent authority believed that in the interest of security of Pakistan or any part thereof it was not expedient to give such opportunity.

A person against whom action is proposed to be taken would be placed under suspension or sent on leave with immediate effect and the competent authority will appoint an inquiry officer or committee to communicate charges to the accused and record statements or collect record within 7 days and submit a final report in 15 days.

The proceedings would be held on a â€œday-to-day and no adjournment shall be givenâ€ and one-sided proceedings would be held if the inquiry officer or the committee believed the accused was hampering or trying to delay the process. The competent authority will have the powers to even dispense with the inquiry if it is already in possession of sufficient documentary evidence against the accused or for reasons to be recorded in writing and directly impose a penalty. The accused will have 15 days after penalty is imposed to make a representation to the prime minister who could modify the punishment.

The accused would have the right to appeal only before the Federal Services Tribunal within 45 days but the tribunal would not have the powers to suspend or stay the order of the competent authority.

Army chief vows to hit back against militants

Bureau Report

PESHAWAR: In an unannounced visit to the army corps headquarters in the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif vowed that terrorist attacks â€œwill not be tolerated and will be responded (to) effectivelyâ€, according to an Inter Services Public Relations statement on Saturday.

The army chiefâ€™s comments came after days of clashes in the Mirali region of North Waziristan in which, according to military claims, several dozen militants were killed, though locals disputed those claims and suggested many civilians too had died.

There was no mention in the ISPR statement of a much-speculated-about military operation in the troubled tribal region and it did state that the â€œCOAS reiterated full support to the government-led ongoing peace processâ€.

During his first visit to the Peshawar Corps Headquarters since assuming command of the army, Gen Raheel was briefed about various operational, training and administrative matters. According to the ISPR, Gen Raheel appreciated the resolve displayed by the officers and men during the fight against terrorism and for bringing stability to the militancy-hit areas.

The army chief also expressed satisfaction with infrastructure building and reconstruction work being undertaken by the army in Fata and the Malakand division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but urged the officials concerned to ensure quality and the timely completion of the projects.

Gen Raheel, who was received by Commander 11th Corps Lt Gen Khalid Rabbani, laid a wreath at Yadgar-i-Shuhada and paid tribute to the soldiers and officers who had sacrificed their lives in defence of the country.

After days of clashes and deaths in Mirali, there were no reports of fresh violence in the region on Saturday. However, the entire agency remains under curfew.

The army chiefâ€™s visit to Peshawar appears to have been scheduled after the attack on Wednesday night against security forces in Mirali.

Seen as a morale-boosting visit to reiterate support for troops on the frontline in the fight against militancy, the trip to Peshawar also gave Gen Raheel an opportunity to be personally briefed on recent events in North Waziristan.

Earlier in the week, after the COAS attended his first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security, the prime ministerâ€™s office issued a statement claiming that the use of force against the TTP was only an option of last resort.

Polio vaccinator shot dead

Ibrahim Shinwari

LANDI KOTAL: A polio worker was gunned down in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency on Saturday.

LANDI KOTAL: A polio worker was gunned down in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency on Saturday.

Officials said that anti-polio campaign supervisor Ghilaf Khan, 35, was administering polio vaccine at a government-run dispensary in the Ghundi area when he was attacked by armed men riding a motorcycle.

â€œGhilaf Khan received critical injuries and breathed his last on way to hospital,â€ an official said.

Assistant Political Agent Jahangir Azam Wazir described the incident as â€œvery unfortunateâ€.

He said eight suspects were arrested and 10 motorbikes impounded during a search operation after the attack.

Balochistan: madressahs the fallback option

Syed Ali Shah

AT the age of 40, Abdul Rahim Jan earns a meagre income of Rs9,000 a month selling potatoes off a pushcart in the dusty Nawan Killi area of Quetta.

AT the age of 40, Abdul Rahim Jan earns a meagre income of Rs9,000 a month selling potatoes off a pushcart in the dusty Nawan Killi area of Quetta.

â€œI cannot pay school fees or buy costly books for my children,â€ he tells Dawn. So his nine-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter study in two seminaries. â€œThe madressahs provide free religious education and food to them,â€ he says.

In Balochistan, there are thousands of families like that of Rahim Jan, pushed by a combination of religious, political and social factors into sending their children to madressahs. The madressah network, which is widely accused of recruiting â€˜jihadisâ€™ and financing militancy, is not just spreading rapidly here but is also actively discouraging formal schooling. Yet where the religious-right is manipulating the situation, the governmentâ€™s shortcomings are glaring, too: over 10,000 settlements across Balochistan have no schools at all, and the province has 2.3 million children out of school.

The Balochistan government has passed a bill declaring education free and compulsory under Article 25(a) of the constitution. Yet even those who could be in a position to improve matters present an alarming picture. Sardar Raza Muhammad Bareech, for instance, is the adviser on education to the provincial chief minister. â€œCan you believe that thereâ€™s a high school for girls in the heart of Quetta that has no functioning toilet?â€ he points out. The institution to which he refers has more than 2,500 students. In Mr Bareechâ€™s view, â€œwe need to recruit some 60,000 new teachers and open about 13,000 new schoolsâ€ to meet the target of educating all of Balochistanâ€™s children.

Figures available with the provincial education department show that there are 57,000 teachers employed in 12,600 primary, middle and high schools in Balochistan. But the provincial secretary for education, Ghulam Ali Baloch, says that there are more than 2,000 â€˜ghostâ€™ schools with around 4,000 â€˜ghostâ€™ teachers â€” institutions and educationists that are dysfunctional or exist solely on paper. Independent sources and educationists put these numbers even higher: well-known educationist Nazar Muhammad Bareech, for instance, claims that there are more than 10,000 â€˜ghostâ€™ teachers. Meanwhile, according to Ghulam Ali Baloch, almost half of the 22,000 settlements across the province have no schools at all.

In the absence of schools, madressahs have mushroomed up in Quetta and in other parts of the province. After the events of 9/11, when Pervez Musharraf decided that all seminaries across the country must be registered, in Balochistan the task fell to the Department of Industries and Commerce. An officer of this department told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that around 2,500 madressahs are registered with the Balochistan government, and the number of unregistered seminaries lies at more than 10,000. â€œMost of them are located in the areas bordering Afghanistan,â€ he said.

As in other parts of the country, Islamic fundamentalism in Balochistan can be traced back to Ziaul Haqâ€™s â€˜Islamisationâ€™ policies. But the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 contributed significantly to boosting radicalisation in the Pakhtun-dominated areas of the province. Madressahs have been used to recruit fighters and finance militancy. But they also provide accommodation, clothes, food and books to their students, a lure that poor people, especially in isolated areas, find attractive.

Yet the challenges thrown up by religion, poverty and other factors could be countered if only there were sufficient government schools. Educationist Zubaida Jalal, a former federal minister for education, believes that â€œthe government has failed to educate children.â€ She maintains that it is a myth that the sardars, or feudal lords, are an obstacle in the way of education in this province, and feels that poverty and unemployment are yet to be addressed here. â€œThese issues are a hundred per cent behind the radicalisation,â€ she says.

Cumulatively, the situation is such that the demand for madressahs in Balochistan seems to be increasing. Maulana Abdul Qadir Looni, the mohtamim or organiser of the Madressah Naumania and the secretary general of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Ideological, told Dawn that his institution provides religious education to 145 students. The number of students is constantly rising at seminaries, he said, but â€œwe have no space to give admission to new pupils.â€

NAB revives 300 high-profile cases

Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD: Reversing the last governmentâ€™s shelving of cases against certain politicians and bureaucrats, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has reactivated over 300 high-profile cases, sources in the NAB have told Dawn.

Affecting politicians belonging to the PPP, MQM, PML-Q and even the PML-N, the reopened cases includes those against Naheed Khan, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Aslam Bizenjo and Khawaja Riaz Mehmood, the in-charge of the Open Kutchery Cell of the last PML-N government.

The decision to reopen pending cases has been made in the light of recommendations given recently by the NABâ€™s special committee on pending cases.

â€œThese cases remained unattended due to different reasons for the last four years and they are still in inquiry or investigation stages and none of them has so far been sent to the accountability court,â€ a senior official of the NAB who did not want to be named said.

Former NAB chairman retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari had told media persons at a press conference that he wanted to reopen pending cases of politicians but the then president (Asif Ali Zardari) stopped him from doing so and directed him to keep the file of pending cases under his table.

The NABâ€™s special committee on pending cases had given one to four weeks to the regional headquarters of the NAB to send their report regarding further action on pending cases.

Responding to a question about cases of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari, the spokesman said their cases, being tried by the NAB, did not fall in the category of pending cases because they were already being tried in the courts.

â€œThese cases are being dealt by another committee,â€ he said.

The Garhi Khuda Bakhsh mystique

Qasim A. Moini

EVERYTHING about Garhi Khuda Bakhsh is surreal, especially if one is travelling to the Bhutto family mausoleum at night. On the dark, desolate road to Garhi, the mausoleum pops up from the darkness, bathed in white light, a mixture of Sufi dargah, Mughal monument and political statement. Whatever one thinks of the PPPâ€™s politics, the structure is striking.

Perhaps considering the role those entombed inside it have played in national politics, it may be a befitting monument, especially considering the Bhuttosâ€™ status as politicians-cum-folk heroes in Sindh. After all, as one government official posted at the mausoleum told this writer, while visitors come to pay their respects to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, some also come to â€œhave their prayers answeredâ€.

Considering the tragic way in which both father and daughter left this world, perhaps such a phenomenon is understandable, especially when one considers the strong culture of attachment to Sufi saints in Sindh; hence, it is not surprising that ZAB and BB have evolved into political â€˜martyrsâ€™ with an almost â€˜mysticalâ€™ aura about them in Sindh. Whilst both were capable leaders in real life but never far from the hurly-burly and grit of politics, in death they have been beatified, particularly by their supporters in Sindh.

Perhaps thatâ€™s why in the run-up to the BBâ€™s death anniversary, the environment in Larkana, home base of the Bhuttos, and its surroundings, is far from gloomy. In fact, as one walks and drives through the streets of Larkana, Naudero and Garhi Khuda Bakhsh itself, the feeling is more of being present at a political carnival.

All along the route to Garhi as well as in Larkana proper the PPP has set up camps to welcome supporters coming from across Sindh and across Pakistan. Large banners bearing larger than life portraits of provincial, district and local office-bearers crowd the banners, while the Bhuttos are also squeezed in.

PPP tunes, including the anthem Dilan Teer Bijan, blare out from stereos, as supporters break out in dance. In the dusty streets of Naudero, bands of youths march raising slogans and waving PPP flags and that of the Sindh Peoples Student Federation. Security, of course, was tight, as police personnel patrol the surroundings. All entrances to the Bhutto mazaar were sealed on Thursday night apart from one. Inside the mausoleum complex, however, was a different world.

A smattering of PPP workers, curious villagers and security men milled about. Perhaps the small crowd was a result of the biting cold at that time of night. To beat the cold vendors hawked boiled eggs, chaat, poppadums and of course steaming hot tea. But, as some present at the mausoleum remarked, the crowd would start building up by daybreak.

The stage set up for the event was impressive; in fact, it resembled something out of a rock concert, complete with bright lights, brighter PPP colours and portraits of BB, Asif Zardari, Bilawal and ZAB. As a technician told this writer, sound and light specialists had been brought in from Lahore and Karachi.

Again all this is understandable; Dec 27 has turned into an annual show of strength for the PPP, especially this year, when it was routed across the country in general elections except in Fortress Sindh. â€œNo other party has a real presence in this area. People have an affinity for the Bhutto family. Mohtarma gave jobs to the people,â€ remarked Rashid Abro, a Naudero-based journalist.

â€œThey may have been waderas, but they were waderas with a heart. They mixed with the awaam,â€ added Manzoor Mangi, a local poet.

Perhaps thatâ€™s what lies behind the Bhutto mystique in Sindh. ZAB and BBâ€™s populist political legacy mixed with the fact that no other party has tried to reach out to Sindhâ€™s people ensures that despite all the serious allegations of corruption and misrule directed at the PPP, especially in its last stint in power, it will continue to attract voters in the province. Even if the broken streets and ramshackle homes right outside the Bhutto mausoleum are a world away from the gleaming structure inside the high walls of the complex.

Court sets aside sacking of Pemra chief

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court set aside the sacking of Chaudhry Rashid Ahmad and reinstated him as chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Thursday.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court set aside the sacking of Chaudhry Rashid Ahmad and reinstated him as chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Thursday.

In his judgment, Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan also declared null and void the appointment of Rao Tehsin as acting chairman of Pemra.

The court observed that the government had the power to terminate the contract of Pemra chairman, but no one should be condemned unheard.

The government sacked Mr Ahmad on Dec 15. He obtained a stay order from the court for his temporary reinstatement, but he could not resume his duties because the government did not withdraw the notification about the appointment of Rao Tehsin as acting Pemra chief.

Barrister Wasim Sajjad, the counsel for Mr Ahmad, argued before the court that his client was neither given a show-cause notice nor was any inquiry conducted before his dismissal.

He said that Mr Ahmad belonged to the information group and his entire career involved interaction with the media. He said the petitioner was appointed as Pemra chairman when a petition related to the appointment of Dr Abdul Jabbar as acting chairman was pending before the Supreme Court and the government submitted before the court that a process for selection of a suitable person as new Pemra chief had been started.

During the process seven people, including the petitioner, were short-listed and the minister for information and broadcasting finalised names of Dr Abdul Jabbar, Ghulam Murtaza Solangi and Rashid Ahmad for submission to the prime minister.

Barrister Sajjad said that after the approval of the prime minister on Jan 25, the president approved the appointment of Mr Ahmad as Pemra chief.

Advocate Afnan Karim Kundi, the counsel for Pemra, argued that there was no mention in the Pemra ordinance of an inquiry or a show-cause notice before the sacking of the chairman.

He informed the court that a corruption reference of Rs28 million against Mr Ahmad was pending with the National Accountability Bureau.

Advocate Kundi said that being the information secretary, Mr Rashid himself moved a summary for his appointment and removed the part from the summary where the establishment division had noted its objection against his appointment as Pemra chairman.

Hafiz S.A. Rehman, counsel for the federal government, informed the court that the summary moved for the appointment of Pemra chairman on January 26 was against rules and regulations.

He said that despite having been rejected by the establishment division, the summary was approved.

Khaleda under virtual house arrest, says opposition

From the Newspaper

DHAKA: Bangladeshâ€™s opposition accused authorities of placing their leader under virtual house arrest on Thursday, as tens of thousands of troops were deployed across the country ahead of general elections next month.

As two more people were killed in the build-up to the January 5 polls, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said police were barring anyone from visiting their leader Khaleda Zia at her home in Dhaka.

The move comes after Ms Zia, a two-time former premier and arch rival of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, called for supporters to stage a mass march on the capital this Sunday to scupper the polls.

The BNP is one of 21 opposition parties which are boycotting the elections over Prime Minister Hasinaâ€™s refusal to stand aside and allow a neutral caretaker government to organise the elections.

The countryâ€™s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-i-Islami, has also been banned from taking part.

â€œSince yesterday she has been under virtual house arrest,â€ BNP vice-president Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said. â€œPolice are not allowing anyone, including party leaders and activists, to meet her.

â€œIt is part of a government move to foil the December 29 march for democracy.â€

Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka police Lutful Kabir confirmed that extra officers had been deployed outside Ms Ziaâ€™s home in the upmarket Gulshan neighbourhood but said the move was designed to â€œenhance her securityâ€.

Police confirmed that two senior BNP members, including a current lawmaker, were detained outside her home on Wednesday night but denied the arrests were made because the two wanted to meet her.

Another BNP lawmaker was arrested separately in the capital on Thursday, police spokesman Masudur Rahman said.

With Ms Hasina and her Awami League party determined to hold the elections, troops are being sent to nearly every corner of the country at the end of what has been an unprecedented year for political violence.

A total of 271 people have been killed since January, either in protests or by Islamists who have seen several of their leaders sentenced to death. A ruling party activist was hacked to death in the western district of Rajshahi on Thursday, deputy police chief of the region Mostafa Kamal said.â€”AFP

Dozens held in Egypt

From the Newspaper

CAIRO: Egyptian government increased pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday, detaining at least 38 of its supporters on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organisation the day after it was declared one by the government, security officials said.

General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief who led the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July, said the country would be â€˜steadfastâ€™ in the face of terrorism, after a small bomb went off in Cairo, wounding five people.

The government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group on Wednesday in response to a suicide attack a day earlier that killed 16 people in the Nile Delta, accusing the group of carrying out the bombing. The Brotherhood, which claims up to one million members, condemned the attack.

The move gives the authorities wider scope to crack down on the movement that propelled Morsi to the presidency 18 months ago but has been driven underground since the army toppled him.

Sixteen of the arrests were in the Nile Delta province of Sharkiya. The state news agency said those held were accused of â€œpromoting the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood group, distributing its leaflets, and inciting violence against the army and policeâ€.â€”Reuters

CDWP approves projects worth Rs4.7bn

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party approved on Thursday eight development projects at an estimated cost of Rs4.7 billion.

ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party approved on Thursday eight development projects at an estimated cost of Rs4.7 billion.

A meeting of the CDWP presided over by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal referred another four projects worth Rs33bn to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council for approval.

The CDWP approved a project worth Rs173 million for providing health insurance to poor people in district Gilgit.

The meeting recommended to the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet a Rs22.8bn project for integration of health services delivery with focus on child health, lady health workers and nutrition programme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It approved improvement and reconditioning of the 52km Noseri Leswa bypass road at Neelum Valley, Muzaffarabad district, which would cost Rs965m; 40km improvement, metalling and blacktopping of Athmuqam Karen bypass road at a cost of Rs842m and construction of a flyover at Koyla Phatak in Quetta at a cost of Rs1.4bn.

The CDWP approved the Balochistan Small Scale Irrigation Project at a cost of Rs2.2bn and a project worth Rs6.2bn for the establishment and operation of basic education community schools in the country (2012-16).

It gave concept approval of a technology park development project at Islamabad at a cost of Rs5.4bn to help improve performance of the information technology sector.

It approved a Rs162m joint institution cooperation project with Norway in the sector of culture, sports and tourism.

Muslim Brotherhood declared a terrorist group

From the Newspaper

CAIRO: Egyptâ€™s military-installed rulers declared the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted president Mohamed Morsi a â€˜terroristâ€™ rganisation on Wednesday, after blam-ing it for a deadly police station bombing claimed by militants.

A Muslim Brotherhood leader lambasted the drastic decision and vowed the movement would keep up its protests across Egypt, despite the move which is unprecedented for the 85-year-old Islamist group.

The decision is likely to accelerate a crackdown on the movement that has killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Islamists, in street clashes and seen thousands imprisoned since Morsiâ€™s overthrow by the military in July.

It lumps together Al Qaeda-inspired militants who have killed scores of policemen and soldiers with the more moderate Brotherhood movement, although authorities have provided no proof the groups are related.

The announcement comes a day after a suicide car bombing at a police station killed 15 people, in an attack condemned by the Brotherhood and claimed by an Al Qaeda-inspired group based in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

â€œAll of Egypt was horrified by the ugly crime committed by the Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday morning, when it blew up the Daqhaleya police headquarters,â€ the cabinet said in a statement.

â€œThe government has decided to declare the Muslim Brotherhood movement a terrorist organisation,â€ it said, referring to terrorism clauses in the countryâ€™s penal code.

â€œMembers who continue to belong to this group or organisation following the release of this statement will be punished according to the law,â€ said the statement.

The Brotherhood condemned Tuesdayâ€™s powerful bomb attack in the city of Mansoura, north of Cairo.

â€˜Protests to continueâ€™

One of the few senior leaders of the Brotherhood to have avoided prison said the Islamists would continue with their protests. â€œThe protests will continue, certainly,â€ said Ibrahim Munir, a member of the groupâ€™s executive council who is in exile in London, adding that the move was â€˜illegitimateâ€™.

â€œThis is an attempt to frame the Brotherhood.â€

Morsiâ€™s supporters, who continue to organise near-daily demonstrations demanding his reinstatement, insist they are committed to peaceful protest.

But their demonstrations have dwindled in size due to the security crackdown, and civilians who oppose the Islamists often criticise the rallies.

Social Solidarity Minister Ahmed al-Borei said at a news conference that the government would ban all the Brotherhoodâ€™s activities, including protests.

Morsi, now on trial for various charges, remains a divisive figure in Egypt following his overthrow on July 3, after millions took to the streets demanding his resignation.

Egyptâ€™s first democratically elected president, he ruled for one turbulent year and now stands accused of incitement to kill protesters and colluding with militants to carry out attacks in the country.

Meanwhile, the cabinet had come under increasing pressure to declare the Brotherhood a terrorist group following Tuesdayâ€™s bombing.

â€œEgypt enveloped in sadness... and the government waffles,â€ read the front page banner of the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper on Wednesday.

An Al-Qaeda-inspired group spearheading attacks in Sinai had earlier claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing of the Mansoura police headquarters.

The group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, had previously claimed several high-profile attacks since Morsiâ€™s overthrow, including a Septem-ber assassination attempt against the interior minister with a car bomb outside his home.

â€œYour brothers in Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, with the grace of God, were able to target the Daqhaleya police headquarters,â€ the group said in a statement posted on militantsâ€™ website.

The group which is composed mostly of Egyptian Bedouin has been critical of the Brotherhoodâ€™s style of politics and advocates armed attacks.

Morsi and the Brotherhoodâ€™s leadership face trial on charges of colluding with militant groups, including the Palestinian Hamas movement, to launch â€˜terroristâ€™ attacks in Egypt.

He is also accused of involvement in attacks on police stations and prisons during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. â€”AFP

Attempt to smuggle weapons to Karachi foiled

The Newspaper's Staff Correspondent

QUETTA: The Levies Force claimed to have foiled on Wednesday an attempt to smuggle a huge quantity of illegal arms and ammunition from Balochistan to Karachi.

QUETTA: The Levies Force claimed to have foiled on Wednesday an attempt to smuggle a huge quantity of illegal arms and ammunition from Balochistan to Karachi.

Sources said Levies personnel intercepted a pick-up at a checkpost near Kirdgap area of Mastung district and during search found illegal weapons, including 62 AK-47 rifles, 30 pistols of different types and thousands of rounds.

People travelling in the pick-up escaped, the sources said.

Deputy Commissioner of Mastung Mehrab Shah told this correspondent that the weapons were being smuggled to Karachi.

He said personnel of Levies Force and Frontier Corps had launched a search operation in the area for the suspects.

Pope prays for a better world

From the Newspaper

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis offered a Christmas wish on Wednesday for a better world, praying for protection for Christians under attack, battered women and trafficked children, peace in the Middle East and Africa, and dignity for refugees fleeing misery and conflict around the globe.

Pope Francis delivered the traditional â€œUrbi et Orbiâ€ (Latin for â€œto the city and to the worldâ€) speech from the central balcony of St Peterâ€™s Basilica to 70,000 cheering tourists, pilgrims and Romans in the square below. He said he was joining all those hoping â€œfor a better worldâ€.

In his first Christmas message since being elected pontiff in March, he asked for all to share in the song of Christmas angels, â€œfor every man or woman... who hopes for a better world, who cares for othersâ€, humbly.

Among places ravaged by conflict, Francis singled out Syria, which saw its third Christmas during civil war; South Sudan; the Central African Republic; Nigeria; and Iraq.

â€œToo many lives have been shattered in recent times by the conflict in Syria, fuelling hatred and vengeance,â€ he said. â€œLet us continue to ask the Lord to spare the beloved Syrian people further suffering, and to enable the parties in conflict to put an end to all violence and guarantee access to humanitarian aid.â€

The conflict in Syria is estimated to have killed more than 126,000 people since it first started out as peaceful anti-regime protests in 2011 and the violence there has unsettled the Middle East as a whole.

In Iraq on Wednesday, militants targeted Christians in two attacks, including a bomb that exploded near a church during Christmas Mass in Baghdad. The separate bombings killed dozens of people.

â€œLord of life, protect all who are persecuted in your name,â€ Francis said.

The pope also prayed that God â€œbless the land where you chose to come into the world and grant a favourable outcome to the peace talks between Israelis and Palestiniansâ€. He then explained his concept of peace.

â€œTrue peace is not a balancing of opposing forces. Itâ€™s not a lovely facade which conceals conflicts and divisions,â€ he said. â€œPeace calls for daily commitment,â€ Francis said, reading the pages of his speech as they were ruffled by a chilly wind.

Francis prayed that refugees receive hope, consolation and assistance. He added that â€œour thoughts turn to those children who are the most vulnerable victims of wars, but we think, too, of the elderly, of battered womenâ€ and others.

In the Middle East, pilgrims celebrated Christmas in the ancient Bethlehem church where tradition holds Jesus was born, as candles illuminated the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filled its overflowing halls.

This yearâ€™s turnout was the largest in years in Bethlehem, and the celebrations have been marked by careful optimism amid ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Leaders expressed hope the coming year would finally bring the Palestinians an independent state of their own.

The top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, led a prayer for some 1,000 worshippers. â€œThe whole world now is looking at Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus,â€ Twal said in his annual address, adding that the message of Jesus was one of â€œlove and reconciliationâ€.

Bethlehem lies 10 kilometres south of Jerusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.

Following a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, the numbers of visitors to Bethlehem had plunged. But thanks to a period of relative calm, they have been steadily climbing in recent years.â€”Agencies

Philippine minister to resign over unfulfilled promise

From the Newspaper

MANILA: The Philippinesâ€™ energy minister intends to resign after failing to keep a promise to restore electricity to all typhoon-ravaged areas by Christmas Eve, a presidential spokesman said on Wednesday.

Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla plans to file his resignation on Thursday, President Benigno Aquinoâ€™s spokesman Edwin Lacierda said on ABS-CBN television.

â€œHe intends to submit his resignation, perhaps by tomorrow. Whether the president will accept his resignation, let us wait for that conversation to take place,â€ said Lacierda after speaking to the energy chief.

Petilla had earlier promised to restore electricity to all towns hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan by Christmas Eve but had failed to reconnect the supply to three towns, the spokesman said.

Lacierda said Petilla had done an â€œadmirable jobâ€ considering the scale of the disaster.

The typhoon, one of the strongest ever to hit land, flattened whole towns and left over 6,100 dead and almost 2,000 missing when it struck the central Philippines on November 8.

While power has been restored in a few selected areas of the affected towns, many districts still have no electricity after the storm tore down power lines across a wide area.â€”AFP

Mukherjee approves formation of Aam Aadmi Party govt

From the Newspaper

NEW DELHI: Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared the decks for formation of a minority government in Delhi and chief minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may be asked to prove majority by January 3, official sources said on Wednesday.

According to the sources, the home ministry has received a formal communication from the president on government formation and this has been forwarded to Delhiâ€™s lieutenant governor (LG) Najeeb Jung.

â€œIt means the LG can now decide when and where to hold the swearing-in ceremony,â€ a ministry official told IANS. A statement by the Delhi secretariat said: â€œThe president has directed that Kejriwal may be asked to prove his majority on the floor of the house within seven days from the date on which he takes the oath of office.â€

The AAP said that Kejriwal would take oath as Delhiâ€™s chief minister on Saturday at Ramlila Maidan.

â€œWe have requested the lieutenant governor that we want to take oath on December 28, and he has agreed,â€ AAPâ€™s Kumar Vishwas told reporters.

The president has also approved the list of six AAP ministers â€” Manish Sisodia, Somnath Bharti, Satyendra Kumar Jain, Rakhi Birla, Girish Soni and Saurabh Bhardwaj â€” to be sworn in, said a statement.

The AAP has 28 seats in the 70-member house. The Congress, which is extending outside support to the government, has eight legislators.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won 31 seats in the December 4 assembly polls.

By arrangement with the Times of India

Eight mine workers kidnapped in Harnai

The Newspaper's Staff Correspondent

QUETTA: Eight workers were kidnapped from a coal field in Harnai district on Wednesday.

QUETTA: Eight workers were kidnapped from a coal field in Harnai district on Wednesday.

More than 10 armed men stormed a camp of a private company in Shahrag area early in the morning, awakened the eight sleeping workers and whisked them away.

The labourers belong to Shangla area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Most miners working in Balochistan hail from the province, particularly from Swat.

According to a district administration official, security forces rushed to the place and launched a search operation in the mountainous area but without any success.

â€œNo group or organisation has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping,â€ he said. He added that a banned militant outfit could be involved in the incident.

Since the beginning of Baloch militancy, several incidents of kidnapping of mine workers have taken place in and Shahrag, Degari, Sourrange and Mach.

In July last year, militants kidnapped and killed eight workers.

Three members of Turkish cabinet resign over graft investigations

From the Newspaper

ANKARA: Three top Turkish ministers resigned on Wednesday over a high-level graft probe, with one of them calling on the prime minister to step down in a major escalation of the biggest scandal to hit the government in years.

After announcing his own resignation, Environment Minister Erdogan Bayraktar raised the stakes by calling on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to follow suit. It marks the first time Erdogan has faced such a challenge from a minister in his own Justice and Development Party (AKP).

â€œI am stepping down as minister and lawmaker,â€ Bayraktar told the private NTV television. â€œI believe the prime minister should also resign.â€

Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan and Interior Minister Muammer Guler also announced they were quitting on Wednesday.

The sons of both ministers are among the two dozen people who have been charged as part of a wide-ranging bribery and corruption probe that has ensnared close government allies and top businessmen.

Bayraktarâ€™s son was also detained last week, but has not been formally charged and has been released pending trial.

Those caught up in the police raids are suspected of numerous offences including accepting and facilitating bribes for development projects and securing construction permits for protected areas in exchange for money.

Erdogan, who has led Turkey since 2002 as the head of a conservative government, has described the probe as â€œa smear campaignâ€ to undermine Turkeyâ€™s ambitions to become a major political and economic power.

In a televised speech on Wednesday, he did not comment on the ministersâ€™ resignations. Instead, he again blamed the probe on â€œa conspiracyâ€ and â€œinternational powersâ€ and insisted the AKP had a clear record.

The damaging probe comes ahead of crucial local elections in March and presidential elections in August.

Bayraktar said the vast majority of construction projects mentioned in the investigation were carried out with the premierâ€™s approval. â€œItâ€™s the prime ministerâ€™s natural right to work with or remove whichever minister he would like to,â€ he told NTV in a live broadcast.

â€œBut I donâ€™t accept any pressure to resign over an operation involving bribery and corruption... because a big majority of construction plans in the investigation dossier were carried out with the approval of the prime ministerâ€.

The television network then cut the live feed in a move that immediately raised a stir on Twitter, with critics slamming it as censorship.

The political tensions of the past days have hurt the already slowing Turkish economy, pushing the national currency to hover around record lows against the US dollar. The lira weakened to 2.0907 against the dollar at Wednesdayâ€™s close. The Istanbul stock market plummeted by 4.2 per cent to 66,096.56.

Erdogan, who has responded to the investigation by sacking dozens of police chiefs, is expected to reshuffle his cabinet shortly in light of the corruption controversy.

Caglayan kept up the governmentâ€™s defiant stance in his resignation announcement, declaring that the investigation was â€œclearly a hideous plot against our government, our party and our countryâ€. â€I am stepping down from my post as economy minister so that this ugly game targeting my close colleagues and my son will be spoiled and the truth will be revealed,â€ he said.

Both Caglayan and Guler have rejected the bribery accusations against their sons.

The corruption scandal has angered citizens, thousands of whom took to the streets of Istanbul on Sunday calling on the government to step down.

Erdoganâ€™s image was already bruised by a wave of anti-government protests in June that were sparked by plans to raze an Istanbul park.

Muslim cleric Gulen has denied being behind the graft investigation. His reported dispute with Erdogan is thought to be linked to government plans to shut down a network of Gulenist schools, a major source of revenue for the group.â€”AFP

PCO judges may file review petitions

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Encouraged by former president Pervez Musharrafâ€™s review petition against the Supreme Courtâ€™s decision invalidating the Nov 2007 imposition of emergency, a number of judges affected by the SC decision are also weighing whether to follow suit.

According to sources, a number of those commonly described as â€˜PCO judgesâ€™ were waiting for the review petition by Gen Musharraf and now are seriously pondering over filing similar petitions in the Supreme Court.

Musharrafâ€™s lawyer Mohammad Ibrahim Satti filed the review petition on Monday, claiming that the emergency had been clamped on advice by then prime minister Shaukat Aziz that the security of the country had been imperilled by some actions of then chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and some other members of the superior judiciary.

But the registrarâ€™s office returned it on Tuesday, citing reasons that the petition was scandalous for using intemperate language against judges and that Gen Musharrafâ€™s plea was for a second review that was not possible to entertain.

The first review was sought Anwar Bhinder, one of the aggrieved parties, and rejected by the court.

â€œWe will file a chamber appeal by Friday against the decision of the registrarâ€™ office,â€ Advocate Satti told Dawn, adding that it was the first review petition on behalf of the former army chief who was the main affected party and had been condemned unheard in the 2009 verdict.

The chamber hearings are usually taken up by a judge nominated by the chief justice and in case the judge upholds the decision of the registrarâ€™s office, a second appeal before a three-judge bench in the open court is permissible.

â€œWe have incorporated our entire defence in the review petition and we will take a stand before the three-judge special court conducting trial of Musharraf under treason charges that our appeal is pending before the apex court,â€ Advocate Satti said.

About the allegation of using scandalous language, he said the defence argument before the court would be that the former chief justice and some judges harboured a grudge against Gen Musharraf and therefore were biased.

â€œWe know the outcome of the appeals and the review petition but still we will take a chance,â€ he said.

The sources recalled that over 100 superior court judges had to leave their offices as a result of the verdict and many of them had also to withdraw their subsequent appeals against the Supreme Courtâ€™s contempt notices for taking oath under the provisional constitution order (PCO).

But contrary to Gen Musharraf, who had challenged the verdict only to the extent of the observations made against him, the former judges would also a seek review of portions of the ruling carrying adverse remarks against them, sources said.

A 14-judge bench of the apex court, headed by then chief justice Chaudhry, while dealing with the issue of taking oath under the PCO had held that the PCO judges had shut their eyes when it was obvious that they were not judges under the constitution and therefore they were intruders because they attempted to perform the duties of an office without authority of law and without public acquiescence.

BD opposition plans march to derail polls

From the Newspaper

DHAKA: Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia on Tuesday called on citizens to stage a mass march to the capital Dhaka in an escalation of protests aimed at derailing controversial January elections.

Ms Ziaâ€™s call stokes tensions in the impoverished country, with over 100 people already killed in clashes since late October when the opposition launched the protests to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and make way for the polls to be held under a neutral caretaker government.

â€œI urge all citizens to march to Dhaka on December 29. This march is to say â€˜noâ€™ to these farcical elections and to say â€˜yesâ€™ to democracy,â€ Ms Zia, a two-time former prime minister, said in a speech.

â€œWherever you are, carry a red and green national flag and march to Dhaka. We call this a march for democracy,â€ she said in the capital.

She asked the citizens to form â€œprotest committeesâ€ in every village to foil the polls.â€

The centre-left government insisted it would go ahead with the January 5 polls despite a boycott by opposition parties and major foreign nations announcing they wonâ€™t send any election observers.

On Monday, the United States joined the European Union and the Commonwealth countries in refusing to send observers to monitor polls, denting the credibility of the elections.â€”AFP

Irregularities in PSO cost Rs10bn last year

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: The Auditor General of Pakistan has pointed out losses of about Rs10 billion to the national exchequer in 2012-13 because of irregularities in Pakistan State Oil and massive violation of rules and political interference in its administrative affairs.

Besides financial irregularities, the 100-page audit report has pointed out dozens of irregular promotions and appointments on senior management positions, including that of the managing director and deputy managing directors on external pressure, in addition to those coming directly from the prime ministerâ€™s secretariat.

The violations include suspicious verification of degrees of senior executives.Although the recent settlement of Rs480bn circular debt was not the subject of the audit, the report found faults with the arrangement under which in just one case, the PSO is estimated to have suffered a loss of Rs1.140bn because of non-recovery from independent power producers.

In its reply, the PSO management did not contest the reference to irregularity but said the loss was caused due to instructions of the water and power ministry to provide furnace oil to IPPs â€“ particularly Saba Power and Southern Electric â€“ on credit and efforts were being made to recover the amount.

It said that under settlement of the circular debt the government initially included Saba Power and Southern Power for payment of amounts due on account of supply of furnace oil by the PSO. But later they were excluded. The audit said the claim about possible recovery was not tenable as the plants of both companies were non-operative and hence responsibility should be fixed and amount be recovered.

The report also pointed out overpayment of Rs5.4 million to a former managing director of PSO and irregular appointment of deputy managing director finance and information technology. It said the external pressure for promotions and inductions was so serious that ministers and the PMâ€™s secretariat used to dictate them. In some cases the officers wrote protest notes on files but met political demands.

The audit report also highlighted Rs3.9bn blocked because of supply of furnace oil to the Karachi Electric Supply Company at the rate of natural gas despite a massive gap between the two prices and pointed out Rs541m unjustified payment of pension to a few employees.

It said the PSO also suffered colossal losses because of increased sales to retailers ahead of price revisions. A loss of Rs93m was caused in demurrage claims due to abnormal delays and Rs14m on irregular leave encashment.

A loss of Rs18m was caused to the PSO during the current year because of excess payment to a deputy managing director and Rs71m because of irregular and non-transparent award of a contract. Illegal hiring of legal counsel to defend contempt of court proceedings against a managing director for not obeying court orders has also been noted.

Another loss of Rs1bn was caused to the exchequer because of irregular inclusion of import duty on high speed diesel purchased locally, while a loss of Rs870m was due to non-submission of copies of different contracts to national accountability.

Irregularities were also found in modernisation of petrol pumps and tank-lorry calibration, imprudent investments in one-stop shops, theft of diesel and furnace oil, misappropriations and non-recovery of share for upgradation of retail outlets from the private sector.

Punjab campus all quiet

Behzad Taimur

IN a quiet corner of the vast New Campus of the University of Punjab (PU), and partially hidden by a row of eucalyptus trees, lies the sprawling, carton-like hostel Hall Number 16. The rumble of an occasional rickshaw and the clank of a rusty bicycle are the only sounds in the vicinity of the high red-brick walls of the building.

It is hard to imagine that this building, located in a tranquil area of Lahore, was not too long ago the site of a violent stand-off between the university administration and the Islami Jamiat-i-Tulaba (IJT), the student arm of the Jamaat-i-Islami.

The university administration tried to get the hostel, then occupied by IJT activists, vacated in order to accommodate women students who over the past few years have come to increasingly dominate the student population at PU. When the administration moved to clear Hall Number 16, the IJT began to agitate, and blocked the cityâ€™s major thoroughfares setting alight at least one bus.

The administration called in the police to restore order. In an early morning raid on the hostel, the police cleared the building and arrested several IJT activists. They claimed to have recovered empty liquor bottles and a bullet from the room belonging to the IJT university nazim. An FIR has been lodged against the nazim under the countryâ€™s anti-terrorism laws.

But life seems to have moved on at the Hall. Women students, many of them newly admitted to the university, have been moved into the vacated premises. According to university students, most of the male students who had occupied Hall Number 16 have been allotted rooms in other hostels for men. However, students say, that IJT members who study at the law college have not managed to secure allotments. They refuse to comment on whether they think that this was a punitive measure.

But for now, all seems quiet. The new occupantsâ€™ colourful garments, hung out to dry, flutter in the afternoon breeze. Two guards sit outside the hostel door taking in the mild winter sun. They look at passers-by with interest, split between suspicion and hope. A brief conversation could after all break the monotony of their duty.

The IJT did hold a small protest in front of the Punjab Assembly on Dec 12, but it doesnâ€™t appear to have a definite game plan to regain lost territory and is subdued at the moment. â€œI will shortly meet the Jamiatâ€™s top leadership, and we will hammer out a plan of action,â€ says Rab Nawaz, the IJT nazim at the university.

Students say the administration is installing CCTV cameras at Hall Number One, a hostel which is a known IJT stronghold. They suggest it is an effort to push the IJT out of the university. Rab Nawaz says the administration had made a deliberate decision not to allot rooms in Hall Number 16 from the beginning of this year with the aim of having it vacated.

Some students say the administration has been bringing in a growing number of students from Balochistan in an effort to build a parallel student force to weaken the IJTâ€™s hold. The IJT, on the other hand, insists it is open to having Baloch and Pakhtun members, and that they have agreed to cooperate with the group.

But most students are not too concerned. â€œWe never knew what was happening,â€ says one student. â€œThere was a protest, but it was not all that the media made it out to be. The media tends to exaggerate.â€

Others think both the administration and the IJT are equally to blame. â€œThe IJTâ€™s way of protesting was wrong â€¦ manhandling teachers, blocking roads or setting buses alight is no way to protest,â€ says a sociology student. â€œThe administration needs to build more hostels to accommodate the ever-increasing student population, instead of trying to house it in the existing, few hostels.â€

For now, the university sports grounds near Hall Number 16 continue to resonate with the sound of a red cricket ball striking against the studentsâ€™ bats. Only the roar of the rare plane flying across a wintry stretch of the blue sky can drown out the steady thud of the ball.

NAB clears its chief in NICL case

Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has saved its own Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry in an inquiry into the Rs6 billion National Insurance Company (NICL) scam, but has ordered a formal investigation against former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

The bureau also ordered investigation against former law minister Babar Awan in a case regarding the Nandipur and Chichoki Mallian power projects.

According to sources, the NAB chief was exonerated on Monday by the bureauâ€™s executive board at a meeting presided over by acting Chairman retired Rear Admiral Saeed Ahmed Sargana.

The NAB chairman, who is on leave, may join his office after this decision.

However, a press release issued after the meting did not mention that the chairman had been cleared of the charges.

NABâ€™s spokesman Ramzan Sajid said: â€œAn investigation has been ordered against those identified in the inquiry who allegedly misused their authority to hamper the investigation into the NICL case.â€

The NAB chairman was facing the charge of having been involved, in his capacity as the commerce secretary, in the appointment of a former NICL chairman and of having ordered, after becoming the interior secretary, the removal of former additional director general of Federal Investigation Agency Zafar Qureshi from the investigation.

In a verdict issued on Nov 22, the Supreme Court had asked NAB to investigate its own chairman and other accused in the case.

The NAB chief was appointed on Oct 10 after a constitutional process but his appointment was challenged in the Supreme Court by the PTI and he went on a long leave when the court ordered the investigation against him.

The spokesman said the board had upgraded a separate inquiry against people accused of misusing authority in appointment of former NICL chairman Ayaz Khan Niazi, including former prime minister Gilani and former establishment secretary Abdul Rauf Chaudhry who is now serving as the Federal Tax Ombudsman.

Mr Gilani joined the investigation by sending his lawyer before NAB investigators last week.

The NAB board also authorised an inquiry against former law minister Awan and officials of the ministries of law and justice, finance and water and power on allegations of having delayed the Nandipur and Chichoki Mallian power projects, causing a loss of Rs113 billion to the national exchequer.

The board ordered an investigation into a Rs1.23bn scam in the Pakistan Steel Mills against its former chairman Mueen Aftab Sheikh, former director (commercial) Sameen Asghar, former managing director Rasool Bux Phulpoto and others.

5 journalists killed in attack on Iraq TV

From the Newspaper

TIKRIT (Iraq): Suicide bombers assaulted an Iraqi television station headquarters on Monday, killing five journalists, the latest in a series of attacks against the media, police officers said.

TIKRIT (Iraq): Suicide bombers assaulted an Iraqi television station headquarters on Monday, killing five journalists, the latest in a series of attacks against the media, police officers said.

At least 17 more people were killed in other violence, including four officers who died when mortar rounds struck a military base.

And the defence ministry announced that Iraqi forces destroyed two militant camps, with officials saying the civil war in neighbouring Syria was driving the violence.

The dead from the attack on Salaheddin television in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, were the chief news editor, a copy editor, a producer, a presenter and the archives manager, the police officers said, while five of the channelâ€™s employees were wounded.

Two of the bombers blew themselves up during the attack, and security forces killed the other two when they stormed the building.

Last week, militants attacked the Tikrit city council headquarters, killing a council member and two police.

Iraq has come in for repeated criticism over the lack of media freedom and the number of unsolved killings of journalists.

The country is experiencing the worst violence against journalists in years, with 12 killed in attacks since Oct 5.

Other violence on Monday left at least 17 more people dead. Mortar rounds struck an army base in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad, killing a brigade commander, three other officers and two soldiers, security officials said.

Bombings and shootings in Baghdad killed at least nine people and wounded 21, while two more people died and eight were wounded in Mosul and Baquba.

Meanwhile, defence ministry spokesman Mohammed al Askari said Iraqi forces had destroyed two militant camps in Anbar province.â€”AFP

Kalashnikov inventor dies at 94

From the Newspaper

MOSCOW: Mikhail Kalashnikov, whose work as a weapons designer for the Soviet Union is immortalised in the name of the worldâ€™s most popular firearm, died on Monday at the age of 94.

MOSCOW: Mikhail Kalashnikov, whose work as a weapons designer for the Soviet Union is immortalised in the name of the worldâ€™s most popular firearm, died on Monday at the age of 94.

Kalashnikov once aspired to design farm equipment. But even though his most famous invention â€” the AK-47 assault rifle â€“ sowed havoc instead of crops, he often said he felt personally untroubled by his contribution to bloodshed.

â€œI sleep well. Itâ€™s the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence,â€ he said in 2007.

Kalashnikov died in a hospital in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurtia republic where he lived, said Viktor Chulkov, a spokesman for the republicâ€™s president. He did not give a cause of death. Kalashnikov had been hospitalised for the past month with unspecified health problems.

The AK-47 â€” â€œAvtomat Kalashnikovâ€ and the year it went into production â€“ is the worldâ€™s most popular firearm, favoured by guerillas, terrorists and the soldiers of many armies. An estimated 100 million guns are spread worldwide.

Though it isnâ€™t especially accurate, its ruggedness and simplicity are exemplary: it performs in sandy or wet conditions that jam more sophisticated weapons such as the US M-16.

â€œDuring the Vietnam war, American soldiers would throw away their M-16s to grab AK-47s and bullets for it from dead Vietnamese soldiers,â€ Kalashnikov said in July 2007 at a ceremony marking the rifleâ€™s 60th anniversary.

The weaponâ€™s suitability for jungle and desert fighting made it nearly ideal for the Third World insurgents backed by the Soviet Union, and Moscow not only distributed the AK-47 widely but also licensed its production in some 30 other countries.

The gunâ€™s status among revolutionaries and national-liberation struggles is enshrined on the flag of Mozambique.

Kalashnikov, born into a peasant family in Siberia, began his working life as a railroad clerk. After he joined the Red Army in 1938, he began to show mechanical flair by inventing several modifications for Soviet tanks.

The moment that firmly set his course was in the 1941 battle of Bryansk against Nazi forces, when a shell hit his tank. Recovering from wounds in the hospital, Kalashnikov brooded about the superior automatic rifles heâ€™d seen the Nazis deploy; his rough ideas and revisions bore fruit five years later.

â€™â€™Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer,â€ said Kalashnikov. â€œI always wanted to construct agricultural machinery.â€™â€™â€”AP

Major reshuffle in army hierarchy

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif on Monday named Lt Gen Obaidullah Khan as the commander of the Armyâ€™s Strategic Forces Command (ASFC).

ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif on Monday named Lt Gen Obaidullah Khan as the commander of the Armyâ€™s Strategic Forces Command (ASFC).

The appointment came as part of a major reshuffle in the army -- the largest since Gen Sharif took over armyâ€™s command last month.

Lt Gen Obaidullah, who was promoted over the weekend as three star general, replaced Lt Gen Tariq Nadeem Gilani.

The ASFC is a component of the National Command Authority (NCA), which is responsible for development and employment of nuclear weapons.

While the decision making regarding deployment of nuclear weapons is centralised with the NCA, the strategic forces command of all the three services are responsible for looking after the training, technical aspects and administrative issues.

The ASFC has gained added significance following the introduction of short-range tactical nuclear weapons.

The change in the leadership of the ASFC follows the change at Strategic Plans Division (SPD), where retired Lt Gen Khalid Kidwai was last week replaced by Lt Gen Zubair Mehmood Hayat.

Lt Gen Obaidullah is presently posted as General Officer Commanding at Kharian. He earlier served as Inspector General Frontier Corps (IG-FC). He is from the Artillery wing of the Army.

Outgoing ASFC commander Lt Gen Gilani has been appointed as the Chief of Logistic Staff. The position had fallen vacant following retirement of Lt Gen Haroon Aslam after he was superseded last month.

Meanwhile, Lt Gen Javed Iqbal has been posted as Corps Commander Bhawalpur in place of Lt Gen Hayat, who has been transferred to SPD.

Lt Gen Iqbal is currently president of the National Defense University, Islamabad.

In another important shuffle, commander of the Army Air Defense Command, Lt Gen Zamirul Hassan Shah, has been posted as adjutant general.

He has been replaced at the Air Defense Command by another recently promoted general -- Lt Gen Zahid Latif, who prior to his elevation was serving as director general of Personnel Services at the Military Secretaryâ€™s Branch of the General Headquarters.

Lt Gen Ikramul Haq has been posted as Inspector General Training and Evaluation -- a slot that fell vacant after appointment of Gen Raheel Sharif as the army chief.

Lt Gen Haq is currently vice chief of general staff.

Inside the PMâ€™s Lahore constituency

Nasir Jamal

THE 60-plus man walking along the colonial-era General Post Office building in Lahore smiled when I interrupted his peace to ask if he was an Imran Khan supporter. â€œThat does not matter. I like to be a part of any political rally in the city, to get the drift of things,â€ he replied, and then he came up with his latest update: â€œThe presence of so many people here today exposes a vacuum. Some party has to fill itâ€¦ Imran is the only political challenge to Nawaz Sharif in my hometown as of today.â€

This was not just his hometown; it was Nawazâ€™s home constituency. This is from where the PML-N leader had returned to the National Assembly in the May general elections, as he had done in the earlier elections. If that was not symbolic enough, The Mall or Mall Road is from where operate some of the most affluent and influential traders who have sided with the Sharifs over all these years. This was where the free judiciary was centred, where the PTI and PML-N sympathisers had marched shoulder to shoulder until they succeeded in bringing back Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The scene has since changed, the paths have diverted. Now thousands of Imran supporters have turned out to ask for justice for people crushed under high inflation.

The fog has cleared overnight but a clear direction needs to be set. For now the encompassing grey complements the expectancy about the hitherto unknown in the crowd â€” out to probe the future but not averse to enjoying their day out.

They wave party flags and carry their leaderâ€™s pictures, roam around from one end of the rallyâ€™s route to another, overall creating the festive mood the PTI has come to be known for.

In the run-up to the PTI show, the Shahbaz Sharif government had run a much-publicised campaign to bring down prices of the essentials. â€˜Subsidised bazaarsâ€™ had sprung up in the city and raids against profiteers had been routine. The protesters were now seeking to dispel any impression of a relief having been provided to the people.

Many among them went the old way of wearing garlands comprising naans, potatoes and onions, posing proudly for photographs for a quick release on the social media â€” to combat the PML-N voices in charge of running down the PTI demo on television channels.

â€œTodayâ€™s rally will not help bring down the prices. But at least we have Imran Khan speaking against inflation. Where are the other so-called pro-poor parties?â€ retorted an elderly woman. She had been provoked by a reporter who pointed out that the rally had pushed up the prices of snacks being sold by vendors along The Mall.

The Sunday rally did not rival the two Imran meetings in October 2011 and in March this year. They were not supposed to. This was quite a large gathering nonetheless, attracting people of all ages from all over.

They were protesting the failures of one government, but they had a government of their own, too, bringing out another difference between then and now.

â€œIt doesnâ€™t matter if our government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can deliver on all the promises made in the election campaign or not. What matters to me is that our leaders are working hard to achieve what they had promised on drones, the Taliban and corruption,â€ said one participant. â€œAt least, they are trying and not lying to us like do the top PPP and the PML-N leaders.â€

Thatâ€™s pretty much the same argument the PTI cadres have been offering to every criticism of the party. The numbers and the mood in the anti-inflation rally indicated that for the moment many are prepared to lend an ear to Imran Khanâ€™s version.

NA speaker seeks better communication among Saarc countries

From the Newspaper

Addressing inaugural session of the Seventh Conference of the Association of Saarc Speakers and Parliamentarians in Male, Maldives, Mr Sadiq remarked: â€œThe multiple deficits of information, communication and goodwill in this age of globalisation have hindered the optimum realisation of our common dreams.â€

According to a message received here, he said that through enhanced people-to-people contact, expanded trust base and renewed spirit of partnership the desired goals could be achieved.

â€œAs parliamentarians, we must exploit our role for our combined benefit. It is our duty to build bridges and not create divisions,â€ he added.

Maldivian President Yaamin Abdul Gayoom was the chief guest on the occasion.

Mr Sadiq attended the ceremony as chief of a six-member delegation of Pakistani legislators.â€”APP

Mehsuds: interred in an alien land

Ismail Khan

PESHAWAR: Rapa Khan is a Shamankhel Mehsud by tribe and like many of his fellow tribesmen with two houses â€” one in the Mehsud hinterland and the other in neighbouring Dera Ismail Khan or Tank district â€” every summer, he would make a trip to his native Sararogha in South Waziristan.

â€œThings have changed,â€ Rapa Khan muses. The Mehsuds, no matter where they lived, have tried to bury their dead in their native land. But with the military now in control of parts of their territory and militants still holding out in the countryside, the 73-year-old Rapa Khan, like thousands of Mehsuds, is reluctant to go back, not even to bury his dead.

The launch of a full-scale military operation Rah-i-Najat (the path of salvation) against what used to be the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) headquarters in October 2009, led to the displacement of nearly 90,000 Mehsud families from their native land. Three years later, only 5,615 families have returned, while some 83,000 families continue to live in despair, away from their hearths and homes.

As it is, the process of return of the IDPs has been slow. Authorities say they are undertaking the process in a phased manner to carry out rehabilitation in a way that is acceptable to all. But both return and rehabilitation have hit snags, not for want of will or determination on the part of the authorities but because of lack of funds and, most importantly, a still uncertain security environment in the tribal land.

â€œWe are short of funds for rehabilitation purposes,â€ says Ghulam Habib, director operations, Fata Disaster Management Authority. â€œWe need $170 million.â€

To begin with, the one major factor restraining the Mehsuds from returning home was the TTP threat warning tribesmen to avoid getting caught in the crossfire between the warring sides.

With Hakeemullah Mehsudâ€™s death in a drone strike on Nov 1 and a less assertive militant commander ruling over the Mehsud hinterland that threat no longer remains a major concern.

But the Mehsuds are still not comfortable with the idea of returning. â€œThe situation there is still far from satisfactory,â€ Rapa Khan argues. â€œWe are not convinced. The military is there and so are the militants. What if war breaks out again?â€ he reflects. â€œUnless there is 1,000 per cent guarantee of peace, few people would think of undertaking the journey back home.â€

The fear of the Mehsuds is not entirely misplaced. Authorities recently de-notified Chaghmalai as a combat-free zone to allow the process of return to begin, but discovered their mistake soon afterwards.

â€œNot all of Chaghmalai is clear,â€ confides a government official.

Security officials acknowledge that while the number of roadside bombings and attacks on security posts in the Mehsud heartland has dropped, these continue to be a headache.

In fact, there is hardly anything left of their home for the Mehsuds to return to. Large swathes of the tribal hinterland now present the look of a wasteland â€” nearly flattened as they have been in a devastating conflict. Tedious as the screening process for the returning Mehsuds may be, another major discouraging factor has been the loss of all that they had.

â€œNothing is left there,â€ Rapa Khan laments.

And this, coupled with a less than certain future in their homeland, has compelled a large number of Mehsuds, to relocate to other places. Many have settled down in Karachi, others have moved to Lahore, or settled down in places like Abbottabad, Mansehra, Peshawar, or in the districts of Dera Ismail Khan and Tank, to stay closer to their native land. Breaking with their centuries-old tradition of burying their dead in their own soil, Mehsud diasporas that have sprung up in parts of the country, are now acquiring land for graveyards.

â€œRehmatullah Master died recently and we buried him in Dera Ismail Khan,â€ Rapa Khan says of his long-time friend. â€œHe was a schoolteacher from Ahmad Wam. We could have buried him in his village but there is no-one of his family there, so what was the point?â€

Erdogan blames foreign envoys for graft probe against allies

From the Newspaper

ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to expel foreign ambassadors on Saturday, blaming them for a vast corruption and bribery investigation mounting against people close to his government.

Riot police, meanwhile, stood guard as hundreds protested against the government.

The premierâ€™s accusations come after two government ministersâ€™ sons were arrested, along with several others, including Suleyman Aslan, the CEO of state-owned Halkbank.

In total, 24 people were jailed pending trial, accused of taking or facilitating bribes. Turkish media reports say the investigation relates to illicit money transfers to Iran and large-scale bribery for construction projects.

Mr Erdogan said the â€œdirty operationâ€ was timed to harm his government before March local elections.

The elections are seen as a vote of confidence in his decade-long tenure which has been shaken by summer protests over what critics call growing authoritarian rule.

Mr Erdogan is expected to run in Augustâ€™s presidential elections as he is barred from running for a fourth term as prime minister. General elections are scheduled for 2015.

â€œSome ambassadors are engaged in provocative acts,â€ Mr Erdogan said on Saturday in the Black Sea city of Samsun.

â€œStick to your duties. If you exceed your powers, this government will exert its authorities to the limit. We are not obliged to keep you in this country.â€

Some 500 people staged protests in the capital Ankara on Saturday, calling on the government to resign over the corruption allegations. Similar protests were also held in the cities of Istanbul and Izmir. Some of the protesters made a casket of shoe boxes.

Reports said police seized $4.5 million in cash stashed in shoe boxes from Mr Aslanâ€™s home.

Although he didnâ€™t name the ambassadors, Mr Erdogan has backed allegations in pro-government newspapers which accuse the United States and its ambassador of being behind the corruption probe that has ensnared close political allies, including cabinet ministers and the mayor of an Istanbul district that is a stronghold of his Islamic-based Justice and Development Party.

Commentators in Turkey have accused the US and Israel of being behind an attempt to pressure Halkbank, a Turkish financial institution.

Saturdayâ€™s arrests included Salih Kaan Caglayan, the son of Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan and Baris Guler, the son of Interior Minister Muammer Guler.

In another move likely to anger critics, the government changed regulations on police operations on Saturday, forcing officers to seek the permission of most senior officials and prosecutors for investigations and arrests.â€”AP

Editorial News

Lawmakersâ€™ finances

From the Newspaper

AS in the past, the wealth, income and tax details of lawmakers revealed by the ECP have made newspaper headlines and stirred up a spicy debate in the media. These discussions throw up delicious titbits which are readily lapped up by hungry consumers. This is how it has been for the last many years while matters should have moved on from there to a deeper probe of what these â€˜revelationsâ€™ mean. The talk about money â€” or in some cases the lack of it â€” makes for good TV watching. It is quite natural that â€˜agitatedâ€™ politicians put in the dock by anchors and commentators should react strongly to allegations of tax evasion and illegal asset accumulation that are publicly levelled against them.

In one instance, for example, a lawmaker went on to indirectly accuse the host and his employer of similar financial misdemeanours. Another politician tried to save the situation by suggesting that the matter be left for the Federal Board of Revenue to probe. If any parliamentarian has made a false declaration of his assets and has not paid the required amount on his income or has not filed his tax returns, the FBR should punish him for his actions. Indeed, this is the proper way of turning the exercise of making public representatives declare their assets and tax details into something more meaningful than mere ritual.

But few in the FBR can muster the courage to launch an investigation into the wealth and tax declarations of MPs. Who would want to stir up a hornetsâ€™ nest at the cost of his job, although even a cursory look at the declarations of some of the politicians may be enough to expose the discrepancies between their lifestyle and income and assets. Or why would one risk pointing out that one MPâ€™s house in Islamabadâ€™s sector F-7 is priced at Rs1bn while anotherâ€™s in the same locality is valued at Rs1.6m? The presence of only six billionaires, including the prime minister, in parliament is as puzzling as the number of legislators without cars. The increase in the fortunes of the premier to Rs1.7bn from the Rs261.6m he had declared when he filed his nomination papers for the May polls needs at least an explanation if not a probe. Weâ€™re not saying that the lawmakers have made false declarations. The government must, nevertheless, order the FBR to look into their financial details in order to clear their names. This will also give the board a reason to investigate the wealth of other holy cows â€” generals, judges, lawyers, journalists, businessmen, etc â€” to discourage future tax evasion.

Uniform curriculum

From the Newspaper

THERE is no doubt that the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution that devolved many aspects of governance and administration from the centre to the provinces was a landmark step that met a long-standing demand. The provinces should have control over as many matters as possible that directly concern them. There are, however, some areas where total provincial autonomy has raised concerns, for example, drug regulation and certain aspects of the provision of healthcare. On Wednesday, another tricky area reared its head: curriculum development. The minister of state for education has written to the provincial chief ministers pointing out that poor coordination among provincial departments responsible for curriculum development was â€˜creating discrepancies in the quality and content of the coursesâ€™.

The government is now proposing to set up a national curriculum commission to ensure that a uniform course of study is followed in schools and colleges across the various provinces. The proposed commission would include representatives of the provincial and federal governments, and its head would be appointed on a rotational basis. Notwithstanding the strong and valid arguments for provincial autonomy, at least in theory the governmentâ€™s suggestion is a logical step forward. That the curricula of different provinces have been tinkered with at different times and by different governments and political parties to perpetuate one ideology or the other, to the detriment of studentsâ€™ ability to think critically, is a matter of record. It is in this context, perhaps, that subjects such as history and religion should be standardised â€” and in a way that there are no biases, and no revisions of historical fact. And yet, in other subjects, how practical is the argument for a uniform curriculum? For instance, students from remote, underdeveloped regions, where teacher absenteeism is rife, may not be at par with their counterparts in urban areas. Would the former be able to attain the same number of marks in exams as those students who have had a better grounding in the subjects being tested? These loopholes require extensive discussions and all the provinces have a crucial role to play in identifying the drawbacks of a uniform curriculum and ways of overcoming them. Without provincial consensus and input, the centreâ€™s suggestion will not work.

Brotherhoodâ€™s persecution

From the Newspaper

BY declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, the military junta has taken Egypt a step closer to authoritarianism. Already banned, the Brotherhood has now been accused of bombing a police headquarters last Tuesday, although the organisation has denied involvement in the crime, and an Al Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility for the blast. But the attack seems to have provided army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Sisi with the pretext he was looking for to root out the party. The decision to declare the Brotherhood a terrorist outfit hasnâ€™t come from an impartial investigative panel or from a court; it has been so decreed by a general who overthrew the Brotherhoodâ€™s elected government headed by Mohammed Morsi. Thousands of Brotherhood workers are in prison and Mr Morsi faces a number of charges, including treason. The partyâ€™s supporters had every right to protest against their governmentâ€™s dismissal. But the military-led government responded with a brutal crackdown that killed at least 550 people in Cairo last August. Since then, Brotherhood supporters have been continuing their protests, and some demonstrations have indeed degenerated into violence. But that still does not make the Brotherhood a terrorist militia.

Egypt is now under a brutal military dictatorship, which has suspended the constitution, is ruling by decree and is in the process of drafting a new basic law which will be put to a referendum, followed by an election. However, the exercise will be anything but transparent because the party that won Egyptâ€™s first fair elections and secured a majority will not be allowed to take part in the polls. The absence of civil liberties has also alienated liberal sections of Egyptian society and added to the militaryâ€™s isolation. For all practical purposes, the gains of the Tahrir revolution have been frittered away, and Egypt seems headed towards a new Mubarak-style civilian dictatorship.

Long-term solutions

From the Newspaper

IT is a sign of the times when â€˜onlyâ€™ a handful of deaths means that an occasion has passed off relatively peacefully. At least four people were killed in Karachi on Tuesday as Imam Husainâ€™s Chehlum was being observed when a bomb went off outside an imambargah in the cityâ€™s Orangi Town area. In another time and place such senseless violence would have caused widespread shock. But in todayâ€™s Pakistan both the state and society heave a sigh of relief when acts of terrorism take few lives, because we are aware of the mass slaughter terrorists are capable of carrying out. But itâ€™s also true that Karachi remained the only spot where innocent blood was spilt; almost everywhere else in the country Chehlum passed off without incident. Before Chehlum, Rawalpindi was particularly tense because of the sectarian violence and bloodshed that erupted when mourners passed by a mosque on Ashura.

The authorities deserve praise for managing the situation despite high threat levels. Police, paramilitaries and the army had been deployed across the country, especially in locations considered extra sensitive, which helped maintain order. Attempts to foment trouble by extremists were quickly dealt with in Rawalpindi. However, there were chinks in the armour, as the Karachi blasts showed. Apart from the deadly bombing in Orangi, another device exploded on the route of Karachiâ€™s main mourning procession on M.A. Jinnah Road. Credit must go to the citizens for remaining calm. Had the device exploded whilst the procession was under way, a major tragedy would have resulted. This shows that even better intelligence and preventive security steps are needed. Every year the threat level during religious occasions goes up, which means the security establishment needs to stay ahead of the curve.

While preventive security is important, the factors behind sectarian militancy and communal violence must be addressed, with all sides ready to amicably resolve matters that could cause violence â€” such as the routes of processions and the use of loudspeakers to fan hate speech. The ulema have a major role to play. A code of ethics to ensure sectarian harmony was mentioned a few weeks ago. This needs to be discussed and have the consensus of all schools of thought so that it can be effectively implemented. Most importantly, there must be zero tolerance for hate speech that demonises any sect or religion. Senior clerics must make sure those at the neighbourhood mosque level are not involved in spreading communal hatred, and where there are provocations the state must act under the relevant laws. Perhaps if such space is eliminated for extremists, all communities in Pakistan could live in peace and practise their faiths without let or hindrance.

Tough times continue

From the Newspaper

IF the man on the street frequently uses the word â€˜haplessâ€™ to describe his own condition, there is no dearth of reasons why. In a country where not even the most basic rights and comforts are a given, this is what the majority of citizens views as a certainty: resources will only grow scarcer, and life tougher. Consider, for example, the crippling shortages the citizenry has faced this year. The summer saw endless hours of the suspension of electricity. Such was the level of frustration that protests, often violent, became routine in this context in both the urban and rural areas. Dwindling reserves of natural gas meant a slowdown in industry, again affecting jobs and incomes, and long queues of vehicles waiting to fill up with CNG. Come winter, and the problems have intensified. Across the country, increased usage of gas coupled with low pressure means that many households are not getting enough gas to even fire up their stoves, let alone keep warm. Meanwhile, on Monday the government announced that countrywide load-shedding will increase; in some areas it might be up to eight to 10 hours a day. This, it said, was because of the diversion of gas to the textile industry and an increased gap between electricity demand and supply as a result of the closure of canals.

The statement issued by the Ministry of Water and Power noted that â€œinconvenience to be caused to people due to load-shedding is regrettedâ€. That would be enough, perhaps, if the issue under discussion was some small bother, a minor hassle for a few people to contend with. Given that this is far from the case, people may well find themselves wondering whether the state is, step by step, abandoning its responsibilities towards them and leaving them to fend for themselves. In the domestic sector, load-shedding affects ordinary people the most; the generators of the affluent roar into life minutes after the power lines go dead. The same goes for disruptions in domestic gas supply, which cut right to the heart of the normal functioning of households. Surely the state can legitimately be expected to do better than the equivalent of throwing up its hands in despair, citing shortages.

PCO judges

From the Newspaper

A CHANGE at the top of the institution is always accompanied by talk about personalities. But over and above the personal touch of a new incumbent, his preferences and priorities, there is always this urge to draw on experiences while strengthening an institution. Among the issues in discussion after the departure of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is the not so minor one about the powers of the judiciary and the sensitive matter as to who should hold the judges accountable. The reason for this review is offered by many instances, not least the complicated matter of the judges who were shown the door for having allowed themselves to be part of the bench in the brief interim when Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar had sought to act as the chief justice of Pakistan.

Of particular interest has been the case of judges who had originally sworn on the Constitution before they took a second oath under the Provisional Constitution Order of Nov 3, 2007. A legal point was raised about the guarantees their original allegiance to the Constitution offered them. Another contention related to the â€˜unfairâ€™ matter of the PCO judges finding themselves in a situation where the courts were required to adjudicate on an issue that concerned the judges on the bench directly. The review petitions filed by a number of PCO judges sent packing after the restoration of the â€˜rightfulâ€™ judiciary were dismissed and perhaps their â€˜badâ€™ example was a reason for the chief justice to seek maximum powers, even arbitrary authority, in the appointment of judges. The task for the future is to create a system that rationalises and that has maximum protection against allegations of bias. The restoration of the real judiciary is a source of pride to many in this country, but this success shouldnâ€™t in any way make people oblivious to the need of constant improvements in the system. Such an objective can only be achieved by constitutional provisions that are informed by debate by both the legal minds and legislators.

A meeting to clear the air

From the Newspaper

DIPLOMATIC, business and people-to-people contacts apart, a meeting between the senior military officials of two countries with an unfortunate history of hostilities has its own symbolism and value. The getting together of the directors general military operations of Pakistan and India at Wagah on Tuesday is significant, primarily because the meeting will improve understanding between men who, responsible for minding frontiers that have been the venue and source of sudden tensions gripping the two nations, are in the thick of it. The meetings can be used for making the point that skirmishes on the border are more a result of some, largely misunderstood, military manoeuvre and not reflective of national policies. The DGMOs have taken their time coming together. The push came following the meeting between prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Manmohan Singh at the UN headquarters in New York in September. Clearly, the DGMOsâ€™ meet was all the more necessary because the hotline connecting the two militaries was not having the desired effect.

Everymanâ€™s Christmas

From the Newspaper

â€˜TIS the season to be jolly, and Pakistanâ€™s no slouch when it comes to the Christmas spirit. Markets selling yuletide paraphernalia are doing brisk business and, in urban centres, the malls â€” if not the halls â€” are decked with red and green, and Christmas trees aplenty. There are perceptibly larger numbers of visitors drawn by the festive ambience centred around the Christmas/holiday season and its traditional markers. All of which is evidence that even in a country like Pakistan, where religious divides have increased over the last several years, Christmas has transcended the realm of the spiritual. It has, much as in Christian-majority countries in the West since many years, been embraced by market forces that have claimed it (not to mention other religious festivals) as their own. In the process, it also appears to have become a more inclusive occasion, partaken of without guilt or fear in a society where minorities have to contend with growing insecurity to their lives and property.

Today, on what is also the birthday of the Quaid, is perhaps an opportune time to reflect on the superficial nature of this â€˜inclusivityâ€™. Mr Jinnah was always an unflinching advocate of the right of minorities to live in dignity as equal citizens of the state. Pakistan has sadly followed a very different trajectory. This year there will be little Christmas cheer in the homes of some 80 people who were killed in the suicide bombing on Sept 22 at the All Saints Church in Peshawar. Nor, one would imagine, will the residents of Lahoreâ€™s Joseph Colony â€” which was ransacked by a mob in March this year provoked by an accusation of blasphemy â€” be able to celebrate the occasion without trepidation. To be sure, these incidents elicited a storm of condemnation, particularly the Peshawar one given the loss of lives. And the show of solidarity by Muslims for the Christian community in the aftermath of the church bombing suggested that for most Pakistanis, inured as we are to violence, this was beyond the pale. However, all minorities are not equal. Some suffer in silence, living in communal isolation, their right to freedom of worship severely curtailed, their lives in continuous peril. No amount of tinsel can obscure that ugly reality.

A weapon for the ages

From the Newspaper

This country has, over the recent decades, had good reason to rue the entrenchment of the Kalashnikov culture. The tendency to resort to arms, to which society started becoming addicted in the â€™80s, has only grown stronger, and no end is yet in sight. But the death of Kalashnikov may be a reason to reflect that a weapon is, after all, only as lethal as the intent of the person who carries it. The path to establishing peace in Pakistan is to address the causes of violence; the methods are but a roadblock.

Trade with India

From the Newspaper

THE Nawaz Sharif government is believed to have decided to de-link the issue of trade relations with India from the progress on the slow-moving composite dialogue between the two countries. The decision, if implemented, should significantly boost bilateral trade that has increased from $1.8bn to $2.6bn since the resumption of commerce secretary-level talks in April 2011. A newspaper report has quoted anonymous sources as saying the state minister for commerce could announce certain actions Islamabad is deliberating in order to further liberalise trade with India during his visit to that country next month. The report also suggested that secretary-level talks may be on the anvil in the near future to move forward the stalled trade liberalisation process. An important measure that Pakistan plans to take is to increase the number of items that can be traded through the Wagah-Attari land route from the present 137 to 500. It represents a major move towards complete normalisation of bilateral trade.

Indeed, Pakistan and India have made a lot of progress on trade normalisation in the last three years. Yet a number of issues and impediments created by both sides continue to impede the free flow of goods across the border. If Pakistan, for example, is dragging its feet on allowing the free movement of goods via the only land route and resisting containerisation of trade, India is not ready to lower the quality standard barriers that restrict our exports. The two neighbours have also yet to allow free vehicular movement to help business cut costs and delivery time. This is despite the desire of businessmen on both sides for a free-trade regime. Issues such as the barriers imposed by quality standards are being hammered out under the umbrella of Safta, but are unlikely to be implemented unless Pakistan and India agree on them.

However, the dismantling of many an impediment in recent years promises a bright future for business and trade relations between the two largest South Asian economies. It may take some time but both countries will finally have to accommodate each otherâ€™s concerns and agree to trade freely for their own and the regionâ€™s prosperity. The good news is that the political leadership on both sides realises this. If the previous PPP-led government had successfully resolved numerous differences on trade and investment issues, the PML-N leadership isnâ€™t sitting idle either. The recent visits of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and prime ministerial adviser Sartaj Aziz to India also focused on improving trade ties with India. Once we are able to pull down the barriers impeding the free flow of trade, progress on other bilateral issues will follow.

Chehlum security

From the Newspaper

ENSURING Chehlum passes off peacefully today will be a major challenge for the administration and security forces. After all, it has only been 40 days since sectarian violence broke out on Ashura, when clashes occurred as a mourning procession passed by a mosque and madressah in Rawalpindi. Several people were killed while rioting and arson followed in the garrison city, while a number of other areas of Punjab saw communal clashes. The violence was apparently sparked by an inflammatory sermon made from the mosque, after which the situation spiralled out of control. Yet even after the violence directly related to the events in Rawalpindi subsided, other incidents with a sectarian hue have continued ever since. For example, a deadly bomb blast occurred in Karachiâ€™s Ancholi neighbourhood while a suicide bombing occurred outside an imambargah in Rawalpindi. Faith-based targeted killings have also continued, especially in Karachi and Lahore; at least two Shia scholars as well as the Punjab chief of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat have been among the victims. Therefore, Chehlum will be taking place in a highly charged atmosphere, and securing the mourning processions and assemblies will be as big a challenge as securing Ashura. Suffice to say, the authorities have their work cut out for them.

Rawalpindi will obviously be watched closely. Unfortunately, the clerics associated with the madressah that was at the centre of the storm on Ashura are going ahead with a meeting to remember the victims killed in the violence. There is reason to be concerned as the meeting will be taking place on the route of the mourning procession, though the authorities have sealed the venue. There are other potential flashpoints in the country such as Karachi, Quetta and Lahore where the authorities will need to be extra vigilant. Though deployments of police have been made and the army is on stand-by in many places, the administration should not hesitate to call in the military should matters get out of hand. It is hoped the state has learnt a lesson from the Rawalpindi tragedy; the administration needs to move in at the first sign of trouble and not let the situation snowball into a wider communal conflagration that is difficult to control.

Policing on a prayer

From the Newspaper

AT a gathering at Islamabadâ€™s Margalla police station on Saturday, a police official said that â€œthose who come to power neglect the police in Pakistanâ€. The problems faced by the department are indeed monumental, and range from the force being ill-equipped, under-trained and vulnerable to political interference to facing criminals that are as chameleon-like as they are implacable. And yet, these men stand on the front line, defending citizensâ€™ lives and legitimate interests â€” often with their own safety at risk. The task they face is formidable, and a clue to just how formidable it is can be gleaned from the nature of the gathering in Islamabad: it was a Quran khwani where scores of students from a religious seminary recited verses to seek divine help for the police in controlling crime.

That matters have come to such a pass will inevitably raise a smile or two, particularly since the Margalla police station is located in what is amongst the most affluent areas in the city. Humour aside, though, the level of frustration that the holding of such an event denotes is worthy of focusing on, and being taken very seriously indeed. There is no way in which a force as emasculated as the police in Pakistan can be expected to effectively counter the level and nature of crime and terrorism the country faces today. Not only are there the well-known issues â€” a few of the more endemic ones have been enumerated above â€” the list of woes seems actually to be growing. For example, as investigations undertaken by this newspaper and published recently show, in the Sindh police force the ages of the men on active duty average at 45 â€” well beyond the optimum. This is a consequence of age-limit relaxations whilst hiring new recruits in recent years, and of irregular recruitments. And such a challenge is only amongst the simplest of many. Can we still hope for some political will being brought to bear on this issue?

Wrong way to purge

From the Newspaper

RATIONALISING the employee count at public-sector enterprises, weeding out inefficient, corrupt and surplus employees of the federal government, holding public-sector employees accountable â€” all of those are good and necessary goals that any government interested in responsible, responsive and effective governance should be pursuing. However, governments here seem to specialise in the art of taking a sound idea and executing it in the poorest way imaginable. According to a report in this newspaper yesterday, the PML-N government is planning to promulgate a presidential ordinance, now that the last parliamentary session has been prorogued, that will allow for the rapid dismissal of possibly tens of thousands of employees of the federal government, its corporate entities, autonomous bodies and departments.

To be sure, the government has identified a genuine problem in the state apparatus: there is overstaffing, there is corruption, there is misconduct and there is inefficiency. However, will a turnaround of public-sector enterprises and government departments be effected simply by wielding a bigger stick to coax efficiency and good conduct out of federal employees? The very route the government is contemplating for the new legislation â€” a presidential ordinance â€” indicates a desire for short cuts instead of meaningful, well-thought-out institutional reform. Bypassing parliament in legislative matters will win the government four months â€“ the life span of an ordinance post-18th Amendment; it can only be extended once â€” during which period it probably hopes to wield the scalpel as widely and deeply as possible before the window of opportunity closes and the ordinance either lapses or is presented to a parliament that will likely demand significant changes.

A slimmed-down federal government â€” or public-sector enterprise workforce â€” will not automatically translate into a better executive and bureaucracy. For that the several comprehensive sets of reforms drawn up over the years to improve the bureaucracyâ€™s performance will have to be dusted off and implemented. And the key to those various sets of reforms suggested is to balance accountability with positive incentives â€” not just dangling a draconian new law over the heads of federal employees. Within public-sector enterprises, while overstaffing is a burden on the exchequer, the issue of social justice must surely come into play too: does it behoove a government to lay off thousands in hard economic times? Perhaps most unsettling is the growing realisation that the PML-N approach to governance has changed little since the party was last in power in the late 1990s. A decade and a half later, all the ideas seem to be stale and recycled from economic and governance models whose assumptions and goals have been challenged in recent years. More than harsh and draconian new laws, what Pakistan really needs is fresh ideas.

Bound to fail

From the Newspaper

THE government has formalised the much-touted amnesty scheme that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced late last month to woo tax dodgers. The scheme that spells out wholesale incentives for tax thieves to whiten their illegal money kept at home or abroad is founded on two assumptions. First, it will encourage the dodgers to bring out their illegal wealth and invest in industrial projects to create jobs in order to avail themselves of the amnesty. Second, the hoarders of illegal wealth will also agree to live an honest life in future and regularly pay their taxes and file returns by whitening their black money, which will help increase the present tax-to-GDP ratio of around 9pc to a respectable level. While the governmentâ€™s intentions behind launching this scheme may be good, the plan is flawed and unlikely to yield the desired results.

Few, if any, would want to risk investing in an economy that has long been beset with chronic energy shortages, law and order issues and weak economic fundamentals such as high inflation, inadequate foreign exchange reserves, a volatile exchange rate, a large fiscal and current account deficit, etc. And not many have faith in the ability of the policymakers to resolve these issues in the next two and a half years, the period during which the scheme will remain effective. Moreover, the results of similar money-whitening schemes in Pakistan and elsewhere donâ€™t corroborate expectations that those working on the fringes or outside the formal economy will start complying with tax laws in order to benefit from one-off incentives. Few like to get into the tax net. Even the figures for tax filers released by the Federal Board of Revenue a few days ago show that the numerous concessions the government had given to non-filers in the last three months have failed to woo them into the net. The number of returns filed â€” in spite of repeated extensions in the deadline to Dec 15 â€” shows an increase of just above 9pc to 815,000 from last year. Our policymakers must realise that growth wonâ€™t revive unless the economy stabilises, and tax collection cannot improve if the reforms discriminate against honest taxpayers and favour the dodgers, instead of the other way round.

Fraudulent venture

From the Newspaper

A SCAM being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau these days indicates that it is impossible to stereotype the ingenious schemers out to deprive the people of their money. They can range from an entrepreneur running a fraudulent cooperative with ostensible solemnity, to an influential pir, to now a set of muftis or exalted religious scholars. Reports say seven companies, run by â€˜religious scholarsâ€™, which were allegedly involved in fraud under the cover of Modaraba or the Islamic mode of investment are now under the microscope. Five people have been arrested and the estimated money which has to be recovered from them has touched the Rs30bn mark. A NAB official says those who had invested in the scheme were initially reluctant to lodge their claims. While they obviously wanted their respective amounts returned they were told by some scholars and prayer leaders that the accountability bureau would keep 25pc of every recovery that was made. There may be some other reasons why the expanse and the total size of the scam took time to emerge, not least likely of them the social position that those who operate in the name of religion command.

No less than 40 imams are said to have been involved in this case. This is a large number for an operation that demands utmost discretion and secrecy. Yet it took the activity a long time to be exposed in the public domain. When a complaint was made in September, it was said some of these Modaraba scams had been going on for at least three years. Although the pious covering has been lifted from this project, the public has yet to receive due warning about the dangers inherent in all such schemes. As in the past, this time too there has been no official intent on display to make people aware of the dangers of putting their money in schemes that lack transparency and adequate guarantees. However above-board money ventures may appear, there is always room for caution.

North Waziristan dilemma

From the Newspaper

EVENTS this week in North Waziristan have underlined a central truth in the fight against militancy: the civilians donâ€™t understand the true nature of the threat and the military is yet to understand how to fight it effectively. After a suicide bombing on and an ambush of military personnel earlier this week, the army responded by attacking militants â€” attacks that have allegedly claimed the lives of many civilians or at least non-combatants, though the army denies this. Whatever the true facts behind the events â€” and they will perhaps never be established independently because the area is virtually sealed off to outsiders â€” it is clear that this was in retaliation to a specific set of incidents, not the start of a military operation in the region. Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif confirmed as much with his statement yesterday that â€œterrorist attacks will not be tolerated and will be responded [to] effectivelyâ€.

That a military operation in North Waziristan was necessary years ago is indisputable. Quite why that has not happened or whether one is now likely is in dispute however. The problem, originally, appears to be Gen Kayaniâ€™s reluctance to launch an operation in North Waziristan. Whether it was because of a genuine need to obtain political assent and backing for an operation (other than South Waziristan, the army has launched operations in all tribal agencies without specific approval from the political leadership) that would be more complicated and, presumably, fiercer than all other operations or because Gen Kayani believed an operation would undercut the armyâ€™s other strategic policies is not clear to this day. But it is undeniable that the space for militants in North Waziristan has grown unacceptably large over recent years to the point that it genuinely threatens the stability of much of Pakistan proper. Virtually every major attack in Pakistanâ€™s provinces in recent years has been traced back to the tribal agency.

Also undeniable is that the armyâ€™s policy of cutting deals with some militant groups â€” the good Taliban/bad Taliban approach â€” has helped expand the space for militants in North Waziristan, including the ruthless foreign militants aligned with Al Qaeda. North Waziristan today has not become the single greatest threat to the security and stability of Pakistan by accident. A refusal to make hard choices when the problem first arose; an inability and unwillingness to break from failed policies of the past; a false pretence that containment of the problem was akin to solving it; and a tendency to pass the buck â€” all contributed to the creation of the explosive and lethal cocktail of militancy present in the tribal area today. Ultimately, though, apportioning blame for past mistakes will not deal with the problem in the present. If the security establishmentâ€™s mistakes contributed to the creation of the terrifying reality in North Waziristan today, the political leadership is compounding those errors by failing to provide the right leadership, even as the army appears to have come around to understanding its mistakes.

The governmentâ€™s policy of dialogue with militants is both theoretically and in practice riddled with holes. All that can be discerned up till now is that the government wants dialogue as the first option and is content with bemoaning the lack of progress in talks â€” a non-strategy strategy if ever there was one. And the government itself accepts that talks are ultimately a way of isolating the true ideologues and hardliners among militants who will then be dealt with as necessary. The question for the government is, who are the militants in North Waziristan if not the true hardliners? And where is the planning for dealing with militant groups who refuse to talk or accept the supremacy and legitimacy of the Constitution and state as presently configured? A new government, a powerful prime minister, a handpicked army chief â€” surely, together they can offer more in terms of national leadership than what is on display at the moment. It is not enough to pledge that militant attacks will not be tolerated and will be responded to on an incident-to-incident basis. The country needs more from its political and security leadership.

LG polls on the horizon

From the Newspaper

AFTER a prolonged period in which the country had no elected third tier of government, it appears that all four provinces will soon have representative governments in place at the grass roots. Balochistan took the lead as polls were held in the province on Dec 7 and the official results have been announced. The dates for Sindh (Jan 18) and Punjab (Jan 30) have also been finalised by the Election Commission of Pakistan. In KP, however, the situation is unclear as the ANP has challenged the local government law in court. There are observations that the polls may be held by March. As the situation in KP illustrates, the process is still not without controversy. In Sindh, the opposition, led by the MQM, has condemned the amendments to the LG law while the Muttahida said it will protest against the legislation. Objections have also been raised about the â€˜controversial inkâ€™ to be used in Punjabâ€™s local polls.

Letâ€™s face it. The elected provincial governments havenâ€™t exactly been enthusiastic about holding local government elections. In fact, were it not for the Supreme Courtâ€™s pursuance of the matter, the political parties would have most likely put the polls on the back burner indefinitely as witnessed during the tenure of the last government. While most if not all parties hailed the decentralisation resulting from the passage of the 18th Amendment, they have not been as eager to devolve power to the third tier. It appears to be a matter of control and retaining power at the top in a centralised structure, with the provincial capitals taking over Islamabadâ€™s role. In both Punjab and Sindh, the provincial governments have not been fair where the passage of their respective LG laws is concerned; they appear to have been tailored to suit the treasury. Punjab wanted to hold non-party elections until a court order changed this provision, while in Sindh the LG law has been amended thrice. It seems that in all provinces save Balochistan, the incumbents fear the outcome of local polls, should voters give opposition parties a chance to run the local bodies. Also, the bureaucracy and the politicians who are comfortable ruling through bureaucrats (the PML-N is an example) fear the steel frame may be loosened if elected officials call the shots at the grass roots. In Sindh, the PPP fears that without strong provincial oversight it may lose whatever influence it retains in urban Sindh to the MQM.

Unless differences over the LG laws and other controversies are settled, the polls may be a flawed exercise. A consensus-building exercise is needed at the provincial level similar to the one that was undertaken at the central level in the run-up to the 18th Amendment. Unless the parties settle their differences and agree to allow democracy to flourish at the third tier, we may witness a new power struggle between the provincial and local governments.

Columns and Articles

Preparing for scarcity

Sakib Sherani

BARRING its formative years, generations of Pakistani policymakers have comfortably operated with one â€˜givenâ€™ or constant: resource abundance. From vast tracts of fertile arable land to generous flows in its rivers, from reservoirs of natural gas to an enterprising and hardworking population, nature has been bountiful in its resource endowments to Pakistan.

Despite such abundance, Pakistan has utilised its resources poorly. From a combination of one the worldâ€™s largest rivers (Indus, with an annual flow twice that of the Nile), and the biggest contiguous irrigation network in the world, instead of producing large exportable surpluses, the country runs up an ever-rising food import bill that is currently around $5 billion.

Against a world average of over 50pc (India: 40 pc), Pakistan stores only 8pc of the water flowing in its rivers â€” allowing 92pc, or a mammoth 130 million acre feet (MAF), to flow into the sea each year. Similarly, against a hydel potential estimated at well over 40,000 MW, Pakistan produces a fraction, at 6,700 MW from its water resources.

From its fertile soil, the country produces a variety of crops. However, in each case, the crop yields in Pakistan are between 20 to 40pc below world average. Hence, the average wheat production per hectare in Pakistan, at 2,787 kilogrammes (1,128 kg per acre), and the cotton yield at 769 kgs per hectare, are both substantially below the world average.

Pakistan is the fourth largest cotton grower in the world. However, from each ton of cotton produced, Pakistan earns approximately $6,000, versus $34,000 by China. Bangladesh, without cotton of its own (but with preferential market access), manages over $20bn of garments exports â€” against around $5bn of the same from Pakistan.

These are just some examples. The list of underutilisation and egregious mismanagement of resources goes on and on. In a testimony to its grossly inefficient use of factor endowments, in overall terms, Pakistan has been eking out a progressively lower rate of growth since the 1990s with deployment of a given resource envelope â€” from an already relatively low base.

Pakistan is not unique in how it runs its resources into the ground. In many senses, it displays the same characteristics that other â€˜resource-cursedâ€™ countries, particularly in Africa, do. While resource-rich countries are generally poor and underdeveloped, their politicians and bureaucrats are invariably super-rich and plushly comfortable.

According to a recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute, 69pc of people in extreme poverty are in resource-driven economies, while for 80pc of resource-rich countries, per capita income is below the world average â€” despite their factor endowment.

Given an abundance of resources at its disposal, Pakistan could, decade after decade, arguably â€˜affordâ€™ to use them unwisely and inefficiently â€” in short, to waste them. However, a new reality has been slowly emerging since the 1990s â€” the reality of a shrinking resource envelope.

A dangerous combination of a burgeoning population, natural resource depletion, the inability to tap available reserves due to inadequacy of fiscal resources, a lack of political vision and bureaucratic competence and capacity, have produced the scarcities which Pakistanis are becoming familiar with: shortages of natural gas, electricity, water, fruits and vegetables, to name a few.

Hence, per capita water availability has declined by around 84pc since 1951, while energy availability has fallen 8pc since 2008. The trend in the availability of these two basic resources at least is unlikely to change â€” climate change is likely to affect both the availability of fresh water resources as well as arable land.

The lack of emphasis on building a modern, progressive tax edifice in Pakistan that encompasses its elites means that, progressively, the country will have fewer and fewer resources to import energy while its demand will rise exponentially. The combination of an expanding population and constrained fiscal resources will also mean that increasingly, in the years ahead, Pakistan will also be facing tough trade-offs â€” as in importing energy versus food-grains.

That this grim future should unfold is not inevitable or preordained, of course. Numerous examples can be drawn upon of countries that have been severely resource-constrained, but that have used this scarcity to their advantage â€” by becoming super-efficient in their use. Faced with an â€˜oil shockâ€™ following the Arab embargo in 1973, the US worked assiduously to reduce its dependence on oil â€” introducing measures ranging from speed limits on highways, the promotion of car pools and public transport, to the stipulation of â€˜standardsâ€™ for fuel consumption in cars and mandatory energy audits in industry, among others.

Israel, faced with a harsh landscape and climate, poured resources into agronomy and food security, turning the Negev desert and parts of the Jordan Valley into its bread basket. It also invested heavily in developing its human and social capital, to provide avenues for growth and exports for the country in high technology. Similarly, relative to the needs of a modern industrial economy, Japan has been resource-starved since decades. However, this has not stopped its march to industrial prowess on the global stage. Singapore is yet another resource-constrained nation beating the odds with vision and commitment.

Countries that have developed even with severe resource constraints, however, have had one big advantage at their disposal â€” strong institutional frameworks. Out of all the developing resource challenges faced by Pakistan, the lack of strong institutions is perhaps the biggest â€˜scarcityâ€™ of all.

The writer is a former economic adviser to government, and currently heads a macroeconomic consultancy based in Islamabad.

Benazir and successors

Ashaâ€™ar Rehman

SIX years ago on this day, Mian Nawaz Sharif stood in a shocked General Hospital in Rawalpindi consoling workers of a political party he had fought against all along, promising them justice and continuity.

Benazir Bhutto was not just any political leader. She was our investment which we had banked on for so long, taking risks and experiencing setbacks along the way. In her death we suddenly, or ceremoniously, realised the true worth of the sum she now represented and looked for her successors.

The country, or a large visible, influential part of it, cried out that Nawaz was what we were left with after the brutal snatching away of Ms Bhutto on Dec 27, 2007. We had only him, the second long-term bond, that the poor us had placed our hopes in. The remaining half, the only remaining half, of the treasure map was all we had to continue forward with our journey to safety and stability.

The election following the assassination was won by the PPP, with some areas in the country appearing to have voted out of sympathy. Ms Bhuttoâ€™s party was in power, bearing the legacy of the compromise she had been forced to strike with a somewhat milder model of a military dictator just before her death.

The PPP now had the government, but Nawaz clearly had momentum by his side â€” momentum not just in the traditional sense where he would assume the role of a government-in-waiting as soon as his rival, Ms Bhutto, came to power. According to many, he now had the popular mantle of Ms Bhutto in his advance against the set-up headed by her spouse, the never so popular Asif Ali Zardari.

Over the last six years, Mian Nawaz Sharif has represented the only hope for a large number of Pakistanis after Benazir, but he has never been compelled to practise the popular politics in the style and manner of Ms Bhutto. Everyone knew, including perhaps Ms Bhutto herself, that the days of the populism that sustained her party through the 1980s and 1990s were over.

The Pakistan of the 21st century was a country transformed. The rich-poor divide, the rural-urban tensions largely in Punjab, had long served the PPPâ€™s interest. These had been blurred under Gen Pervez Musharrafâ€™s supervision. It was feared the PPP was left to operate in the areas where the rural clash with the urban was still visible and relevant. And this is how it turned out to be over the next few years, manifested most sharply in the partyâ€™s reduction into a regional, Sindh party in the 2013 election.

Nawaz Sharif, the â€˜brotherâ€™ who had arguably succeeded Benazir as the politician Pakistanis had patiently waited for to mature and deliver in the meanwhile chose his popular moments with care, but in the changed times he had no compulsion to acquire the idiom and lay claim to the political content of his predecessor. That idiom was lost, which he left the intra-PPP heirs of Ms Bhutto to scour for after the PPPâ€™s latest experiment in power came to an end in 2013.

Nawaz Sharif has taken his time recalling Bulleh Shahâ€™s verse that puts man before his choice of the worship place. As he uses the famous lines by the Sufi to mark the latest Christmas he does it with the confidence of an indulgent soul who knows that it is but a brief spiritual excursion to suit a passing moment. He understands, he has always understood, that soon he is going to return to mind the store, his true required vocation in the public eye.

The party on the other side, the self-avowed beneficiary of the investment that the people had made in Benazir, is still caught up in the misty surroundings of the shrine it hangs on to. The PPPâ€™s current leaders, the future of the party and the country, are uncannily reminiscent of the past custodians of the shrine as they spruce up and face up to the shopkeepers more aware and conversant with the language of the bazaar.

As per tradition, the PPP is looking for victims. In the workers who are going to be laid off as a result of privatisation which most believe cannot be delayed any more. In politicians such as Yousuf Raza Gilani who it now is desperate to portray as martyrs. That is an old strategy which brought the PPP success in the past. Only, the people today are far too hard-pressed to worry about their own lives and far more demanding of their rulers.

Today they vote for those more likely to deliver and not simply for those who can do no more than project themselves as deserving on the basis of their sacrifices and victimhood.

Six years since her death Benazir Bhutto continues to act as the measure to gauge the popularity of her party. But, quite sadly for those who yearn for a more practical, relevant antithesis against the all-encompassing model, her memory is invoked rarely on the publicity posters the aspirants of the local government elections have installed on the street poles.

In large parts where it acted as the other choice, her partyâ€™s flag has been overtaken by the green and red of Imran Khanâ€™s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the build-up to a contest against the PML-N. The PPPâ€™s presence is estimated by the number of caravans the party was and was not able to send to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh to mark the sixth anniversary of Ms Bhuttoâ€™s passing. That signifies little more than ritual.

The writer is Dawnâ€™s resident editor in Lahore.

Poles apart

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar

IT was in the 1990s that the â€˜Asian Tigersâ€™ emerged as the poster-children of global capitalism. South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong took on and improved upon the statist, export-oriented Japanese growth model. Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam soon graduated into the rapidly expanding ranks. Today it is India and China that are said to lead Asiaâ€™s challenge to the hegemony of Western capitalist powers.

Yet, in contrast to the narrative that persisted throughout the 1990s, today itâ€™s not possible to ignore the deepening contradictions of â€˜Asian capitalismâ€™. Since the East Asian financial crisis of 1997 that paralysed the economies of Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand, the cracks have grown. Last year in China alone it was reported that 180,000 â€˜mass incidentsâ€™ â€” a euphemism for protests â€” took place.

Those who follow world affairs know that Thailand is the most recent â€˜Tigerâ€™ to be gripped by political unrest. Over the past decade or so the countryâ€™s politics has been broadly divided into two camps â€” the â€˜Red Shirtsâ€™ and the â€˜Yellow Shirtsâ€™. Given that Thailand, like Pakistan, has been dominated by a praetorian military, thereâ€™s comparative significance in studying recent political and economic developments in that country.

In the immediate aftermath of the 1997 crisis, inequality and unemployment in Thailand increased, with rural areas bearing the brunt of the rollbacks. The growing social polarisation created space for the populist former business tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra to come to power in 2001 on a pro-poor platform.

Shinawatraâ€™s popularity increased spectacularly as he redirected not unsubstantial government funds towards rural areas, whilst also initiating a quasi-universal healthcare programme. This was not structural reform, but a watered-down version of neo-liberalism. It garnered Shinawatra a popular base but far from resolved the growing contradictions of (Thai-style) Asian capitalism.

The propertied and urban middle classes were not impressed. Thus emerged the â€˜Yellow Shirtsâ€™, a street movement that barely disguised its loyalty to the Thai monarchy and the latterâ€™s military guardian. The men in uniform promptly ousted Shinawatra in a bloodless coup in 2006, claiming that the prime minister and his associates were guilty of massive corruption, eventually banning him from politics and sentencing him to prison.

Shinawatra fled the country, returning briefly after the victory of his new party in elections which were eventually held in 2008. He left soon after, as the tug-of-war between the pro-establishment Yellow Shirts and the Red Shirts became more confrontational. He has not returned since, but his sister, Yingluck was elected prime minister after her party â€” the successor to her brotherâ€™s banned outfit â€” swept general elections called in 2011.

This followed almost two years of political stalemate spawned by the refusal of the military-monarchy-judiciary triumvirate to allow the government elected in 2008 to function independently.

In recent days the Yellow Shirts have been back out on the streets following Yingluckâ€™s announcement of snap elections. In response the Red Shirts have warned they will also take to the streets if yet another democratic mandate is threatened even before it has materialised.

Thailandâ€™s unique and unstable political calculus is a warning to all neo-liberal ideologues who insist that rabid free-market policies and technocratic rule are the two main ingredients of successful statecraft in the contemporary period.

In fact, the combination has left Thai society smouldering as relatively privileged classes stand in unison with unelected state institutions willing and able to thwart democratic processes and those who crave to join the ranks of the privileged respond in kind by supporting rank populists.

Thereâ€™s no question of mapping the Thai situation onto this country, but the similarity of mainstream politics being based around two competing poles â€” far apart from each other â€” is difficult to ignore. Here too one pole is occupied by relatively affluent segments who tend to be wary of politics and loyal to state institutions, while on the other pole are less affluent segments that want to be integrated into the structures of power via elections but are still viewed suspiciously by the state.

On the sixth death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, itâ€™s worth considering the hypothesis that Pakistani politics â€” at least of the mainstream variety â€” still revolves around pro- and anti-Bhutto camps. Things have changed considerably in the last decade or so, especially with the emergence of right populism to largely replace the left populism associated with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his progeny. Yet there is still great polarisation along pro- and anti-Bhutto lines, both in terms of access to state power and sources of wealth.

Crucially, neither pro- nor anti-Bhutto camps represent an alternative to neo-liberal policies. That they appear poles apart has much to do with the absence of a genuine alternative to status quo. It is only when this alternative emerges that this countryâ€™s people will break free both of state domination and the populist spell.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Growth potential

Hammad Siddiqui

GROWTH results from the realisation of value-generating opportunities. Opportunities are based on ideas. Some ideas are new such as the invention of the smart phone. Often, the opportunities are based on old ideas in a new context.

For instance, Javed is a skilled electronics repairman who works part-time in Lahore. People in his hometown have to travel over 60 kilometres to get their electronic items fixed. They would surely benefit if there is a repair shop in their town. Even though it is a value-generating activity, there is nothing fundamentally new about the idea of opening an electronic repairs shop. It is the context of his hometown that makes it interesting and workable.

It is important to realise that at the core of most opportunities in a developing country like Pakistan are ideas like this. This is very different from what one would expect in a technologically advanced country like the United States. In the US, Costco could only gain an edge over competitors like Target or Sears by thinking of innovative warehousing and distribution mechanisms that had never been tried before.

Opportunities of the former kind (replicative opportunities) do not require much expenditure in resources for discovering them. People discover them as they go through life and gain experience. However, opportunities of the latter kind (innovative opportunities) are more challenging to discover and require that considerable resources are devoted to the discovery process.

Replicative opportunities can be termed the low-hanging fruit of development, and it makes good sense to emphasise them in any growth strategy drawn up for Pakistan.

People like Javed can be found everywhere. They understand their local context, have the necessary skills and are able to spot opportunities that would create value if implemented. However, the traditional financial sector does not extend financing to them because these people cannot provide collateral, and the microfinance sector does not give large enough funding needed for most small new ventures. It is quite clear that there is a missing market here.

In the above context, the prime ministerâ€™s youth business loan programme is well intentioned, and aimed at addressing the issue of a key missing market. However, an incorrect financing contract has been adopted as a delivery vehicle for financing. The government intends to provide funding through â€˜debt contractsâ€™ or loans at subsidised interest rates.

Under a debt contract, a lender has no share in the upside potential beyond the fixed payoff. So, his focus is naturally on minimising downside risk. The same thing is happening with the Youth Business Scheme. Due to the focus on minimising downside risk, which is inevitable in a debt contract, an applicant for funding is required to provide a guarantor with declared assets at least 1.5 times the amount of funding requested. Also, the applicant is required to bear 10pc of the project cost. These conditions mean that a large number of genuine entrepreneurs with low cost workable ideas are left out. Naturally, a debt contract is not considered a good option for encouraging entrepreneurship. Thatâ€™s where venture capital financing comes in.

For the Youth Business Scheme, it appears that the reliance on debt contract is due to the lack of institutional capacity to handle other types of contracts that are more suitable for encouraging entrepreneurship.

A better alternative is to run the youth business scheme with a fundamentally different and a state contingent contract. A venture capital or a modaraba contract seems best suited for it. In sharp contrast with a debt contract, a venture capital contract preserves the relationship between risk and reward with riskier projects also getting financed because of greater expected reward.

The consideration of upside potential versus downside risk then determines the financing decisions rather than just the â€˜downside riskâ€™, which is the case with a debt contract. And so, financing could be extended to people with the best ideas and not just to people who could provide collateral. A venture capital or a modaraba contract also breaks the de-leveraging-aggregate demand channel so negative shocks are not spread.

How can institutional capacity be developed to implement such a contract? Microfinance institutions have developed extensive monitoring and selection networks that allow for very high recovery rates. Their existing networks can be tweaked for the youth business scheme.

It is not hard to get an idea of how many sales a small venture is generating simply by observing it. And, the peer pressure that mitigates moral hazard in a micro-loan contract can be leveraged upon to mitigate it in small venture capital contracts too. So, I would suggest that the government implement the scheme through venture capital (modaraba) contracts in partnership with selected microfinance institutions.

The writer is a research fellow at the Risk and Sustainable Management Group, University of Queensland, and associate professor of economics at LUMS.

h.siddiqi@uq.edu.au

Our neglected have-nots

I.A. Rehman

THE killing of an Indian fisherman Naranbhai Sosa reportedly by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency on Oct 11 last has again highlighted the enormous suffering caused to the subcontinentâ€™s have-nots by insensitive administrators on both sides of the borders.

Last Thursday, Indian fisherfolk representatives met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand a meeting of the Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency representatives and a proper inquiry into Sosaâ€™s killing. It would be good if, without waiting for a move by New Delhi, Islamabad announced its readiness for an inquiry by a joint India-Pakistan team. The Pakistani authorities should also inquire into the killing of an unarmed Indian fisherman, if such an investigation has not already been held.

The Indian fisherfolk leaders have also asked their government to unilaterally and unconditionally release the Pakistani fishermen held in Indian prisons and their boats. The Pakistani fisherfolk will make a similar plea to their prime minister if they could gain access to him.

India is reportedly holding about 200 Pakistani fishermen and their 150 boats, while the number of Indian fishermen and their boats in Pakistanâ€™s custody is said to be 229 and 780, respectively. The hardship caused to more than 400 families is no small matter. Both sides must immediately release the fishermen and their boats.

As a rule, the practice of detaining fishermen for crossing the national limit and confiscating their boats should cease. At the most they may be fined in addition to confiscation of their catch and warned of detention for a subsequent offence.

The problems of fisherfolk have been on the fringe of the Indian and Pakistani governmentsâ€™ attention for decades. Every now and then they release some captives but the call for creating a permanent mechanism to expeditiously solve the cases of fishermen who stray beyond the national maritime zone remains unanswered.

Humanitarian considerations apart, there is a need to recognise the fisherfolkâ€™s centuries-old rights and practices to make a living by fishing in the open sea. The leaders of both the countries must dispel the impression that their class bias against the poor and resourceless in their communities prevents them from resolving even small issues. Otherwise, the death of a single fisherman on the sea should have sent shock waves across the subcontinent.

The fisherfolk constitute a significant part of the labour force in the subcontinent. Despite the struggles of their fairly well organised unions they have failed to get their due from their national leaderships, although the latter cannot possibly deny that the test of their democratic professions lies in satisfying the modest aspirations of the underprivileged.

The fisherfolk of India and Pakistan form part of a large horde of the poor in these countries who continue to be cheated out of the fruits of freedom and supposedly democratic systems.

Those who suffer more than their compatriots include prisoners from across the border, women caught in trafficking rackets, refugees and migrant workers searching for means of livelihood.

Whatever the position of the two neighbouring states on bilateral disputes and differences, they should not fail to draw up concrete plans to mitigate the suffering of the underprivileged on either side of the border.

A revival of India-Pakistan friendship is one of the objectives on which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is clear, consistent and credible. And now that the Punjab chief minister and his Indian counterpart have shouted â€˜kodi kodiâ€™ in unison the call for normal ties between the two South Asian neighbours cannot be dismissed as ranting by subversive elements.

It is clear that pro-poor policies on both sides will generate a strong pressure against the warmongers and hate preachers who have been flourishing by stoking the fires of animosity between the two peoples. The next most rewarding efforts would be a reduction in visa formalities for travel from one country to another to the barest minimum possible, if they cannot be abolished altogether.

Unfortunately, the leaders of both India and Pakistan are often diverted from the road to normalisation by their momentary concerns. The common attitude is that nothing sensible can be done till the Indian general election is over. This is a strange case of a stateâ€™s abdication of its duties out of fear that its good deeds may cause it greater loss of votes than its misdeeds.

However, the people cannot be blamed for expecting a thaw in New Delhi-Islamabad relations following Mian Shahbaz Sharifâ€™s wooing of the Indian public with his poetry recitals.

Consider, for instance, this appeal from an Indian organisation that wishes to exchange peace delegations to its Pakistani friends: â€œWe want to come in Pakistan for best friendship between both the countries. We will invite you people for attend the peace conference at India in our organisation. I have submitted all papers for group visa at high commission office of Pakistan at Delhi. I remain 12 days at Delhi for that work. Last they told me you can try [the] chief minister of Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif. He also wants friendship between both the countries. Allah will help us and [I will] also try [the] home ministry at Islamabad-Pakistan.â€

In any case, Pakistan should do its homework and prepare its proposals for making the life of poorer citizens on both sides a little more bearable.

Anyone working on this script will find that people-friendly initiatives can help India and Pakistan solve all their problems â€” from fishermenâ€™s woes to trade bottlenecks, to disputes on sharing of river waters, even Kashmir.

Independent judiciary

Basil Nabi Malik

THE retirement of the former chief justice brings to close another milestone in the history of the judiciary.

THE retirement of the former chief justice brings to close another milestone in the history of the judiciary.

The judiciary has accomplished many feats in recent years, including the consolidation of its sphere of influence, the championing of the cause of human rights, and successfully taking on political leaders as well as military officials in a bid to hold all accountable. That said, the actual struggle for an independent judiciary is yet to be won.

Judicial independence encompasses the idea of the judiciary, as an institution, remaining independent of the executive and legislature so as to ensure its impartiality in decision-making and insulation from any external influence. However, judicial independence has always been analysed from the prism of an external attack on the institution.

Hence, most case law that has developed in relation to the concept has dealt with methods to insulate and protect the judiciary from attacks by the executive, legislature or even political figures.

What has seldom been discussed is the fact that the very essence of judicial independence stems not from insulation from external aggression alone, but from internal introspection aiming to reform the perceived and actual institutional deficiencies present therein. Such introspection is pivotal for a truly independent judiciary in as much as such measures shall increase the credibility of the judiciary in the eyes of the public, and afford it greater ability to resist any external attack on its independence.

There are a variety of areas in which the judiciary will need to focus in order to better itself. However, three problem areas require immediate redressal. Firstly, perceived corruption in the judicial apparatus hits out at the very idea of judicial independence. Although the pervasiveness of actual corruption may be miniscule compared to the perceptions that inevitably shape public opinion, it is necessary at the outset to make efforts to dispel any such impressions, if they exist.

One step in this direction would be for proceedings/inquiries against judges or judicial officers to be made as open and transparent as possible. That said, and considering that many complaints could in fact be frivolous or an attempt to bring into disrepute a certain judge, it may be prudent that in such cases, as determined by the inquiry itself, only final decisions be made public as opposed to the transcripts of the complete proceedings.

Furthermore, once an inquiry confirms wrongdoing, prompt action must be publicly taken in accordance with its findings and recommendations.

Additionally, the manner and nature of appointments to the lower judiciary also require streamlining in certain provinces, if not all. For example, in Sindh, the process by which judges are appointed to the lower judiciary is governed by the Sindh Judicial Services Rules, 1994.

Although the rules do delineate the general qualifications needed to apply to the said posts, they appear to be silent about the standards and qualities being evaluated by the Provincial Selection Board, constituted by judges of the high court, in accepting or rejecting candidates. The rules are also silent on the detailed syllabus to be studied for purposes of succeeding in the written examinations.

This in essence allows the Provincial Selection Board to exercise a great deal of discretion whilst choosing certain candidates over others, and also puts candidates at a disadvantage as to what is expected of them. It was perhaps in light of this that upon the establishment of the Islamabad High Court, the Islamabad Judicial Service Rules, 2011, were enacted whereby a clear syllabus was provided as well as what was expected of candidates in their respective interviews.

Another matter of importance, and somewhat conjoined with the issue of appointments as well as perceived corruption, is that of providing attractive salary packages to judges of the lower as well as higher judiciary so as to insulate them from financial pressures, as well as to further attract competent candidates with integrity.

Although significant progress has already been made on this front in recent times, it cannot be denied that the salary structures of the judiciary still require urgent revamping to achieve a more robust judicial outfit.

Finally, the judiciary must also look to develop a framework within which suo motu powers are to be exercised. Such unfettered powers violate the very ideals of judicial independence which espouse institutional independence over that of any one individual.

In essence, such unfettered powers dilute the ability of the institution as a whole to chart a course of action for itself as opposed to a course being charted out by one individual for the institution. It is in light of this that the judiciary would do well to channel or limit the said powers in a manner whereby fundamental rights may be protected without giving too much discretion to any one individual to pick and choose cases for judicial review or scrutiny.

Judicial independence is a concept which has an external as well as internal component. Although most jurisprudence has been founded upon external aggression seeking to stifle judicial impartiality, little attention has been paid to the influence of internal reform on the independence of the institution. This is where the focus must now lie.

In fact, it is about time that all realise that the judiciary of today faces a greater threat from lack of introspection as opposed to an external attack on its independence. If truth be told, the fight for an independent judiciary shall be fought and won within, that is, in the accountability of oneâ€™s own actions.

The writer is a lawyer.

basil.nabi@gmail.com

Twitter:@basilnabi

Flawed recruitment

Syed Saadat

LAST month, the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) announced the results for the written CSS exam 2013. Out of 11,406 candidates only 238 were declared successful in the exam meant to ascertain who is worthy of being a part of the civil service of Pakistan and who is not.

First, heartiest congratulations to the more than 11,000 failed candidates for having saved themselves from thankless low-paid drudgery. Civil service is only a shadow of the glorious impression it has left on the minds of aspirants.

Authority has been diluted to the level that any Tom, Dick or Harry with a camera and microphone in hand can question your integrity by misrepresenting you. The judiciary might nail you for doing your job inefficiently and political bosses can do the same for doing it efficiently.

Surprisingly, there are still many who aspire to join the civil service of Pakistan, but then many of them are shunted out by the inept evaluation system.

The pass percentage this year was a dismal 2pc and this was the result of only the written portion of the exam. The psychological test and interview stage has not even started. Is this reflective of the dwindling standard of education or the falling intellectual level of our youth? Actually, it is the failure of the evaluation system.

There are around 250 vacancies this year in the federal service. A globally accepted principle for all recruiting agencies is to interview or shortlist three candidates for a single vacancy so that there is enough room to choose the most appropriate candidate and ensure that the exercise is not rendered ineffective by lack of choice.

The result that the FPSC has announced after having overcome challenges like answer sheets stolen from a centre in Faisalabad and the subsequent cancellation of papers is faulty if one is to go by the standard principles of the recruitment procedure. But one cannot blame the FPSC; it is like a home for retired civil servants, generals and judges.

A glance at the current members and chairman is enough to lend credence to this statement. When the world is moving to specialised recruitment agencies run by human resource management professionals, we are happy to go through the bizarre drills that were set in motion decades ago.

There is no objectivity in the exam, the syllabus or format has not changed much in decades, the use of computers in marking or taking exams is non-existent. Around the world assessment tests like GRE, GMAT and TOEFL provide an evaluation mechanism that is impartial and uniform. But it takes initiative to bring such changes and with due respect bureaucrats, that too retired and re-employed, canâ€™t be expected to show that.

Then the checking of answer sheets of all subjects is arbitrary, depending on the checkerâ€™s humour. Customs, Income Tax, Audit and Accounts, Railways, Pakistan Post and Pakistan Administrative Service are service groups for whom subjects like accounting and financial risk management are relevant but there are no signs of these.

Ironically, the scientific reason behind why ships float and needles sink is part of the compulsory portion of the syllabus. The fact that state institutions are neither needles nor ships explains why our bureaucracy is often clueless when they sink into deeper trouble.

Earlier this year, the provincial quota in the federal service was extended further. The urbanites forming the majority in the civil service know little about remote regions so the quota system does have its relevance.

However, the recruitment procedure fails at this level as well as mostly these quotas are not filled for lack of enough successful candidates from these regions. Generally every year, a sizable number of seats are carried forward to the next year from the quotas of Sindh rural, Sindh urban and Balochistan.

This is bound to happen this year as well. The problem with this backlog is that 10 years down the line there will be a gap in serving senior officers from the remote regions.

When these seats are not filled in the year they are announced, it leads to a lopsided seniority list with candidates from remote areas being overwhelmed by officers from better developed provinces. This renders the quota system useless â€” ironic, since it is in place for proportional representation of all provinces at all levels in the federal bureaucracy.

We would not want the decision-makers in the years ahead to have no representatives from rural Sindh or Balochistan because no candidates were selected in 2013 to fill those seats.

Lastly, reforming the recruitment system needs initiative and our leadership doesnâ€™t seem to know the importance of quality human resource. No matter how many PhD scholars a country produces and how many entrepreneurs spring up in the wake of easy loan schemes, an inefficient bureaucracy multiplies everything with zero.

The writer is a civil servant.

syedsaadatwrites@gmail.com

The India factor

Sunil Sharan

AMERICA has been outsourcing software development to India for years, but now it seems to want to outsource diplomacy as well.

AMERICA has been outsourcing software development to India for years, but now it seems to want to outsource diplomacy as well.

Fed up with Hamid Karzaiâ€™s intransigence, the US is hoping that India can convince him to sign a post-2014 security agreement that will leave thousands of American troops in Afghanistan. Karzai has put the agreement on hold until the US stops shedding, in his opinion, needless Afghan blood, and enables him to strike peace with the Taliban.

India has found fast friends in Karzai and his inner circle of Northern Alliance members. Pakistan continues to wager its bets on the Taliban. But as Vladimir Putin says, no one knows what will happen in Afghanistan after 2014.

What explains Karzaiâ€™s fascination for India? Is it because he went to college in India? Maybe so, but many leaders study abroad without developing fierce attachments. Is it because of the squabble over the Durand Line with Pakistan? Still, he is a Sunni Muslim who leads a staunchly Islamic country. It should be easier for him to bond with his Muslim counterparts in Pakistan than with non-Muslims in India. Or, is it because he feels let down by both the US and Pakistan, and feels that the only way to safeguard himself is by reaching out to India?

Quite possibly it is a combination of all. Karzai was good friends with George W. Bush, who had a certain affability about him that is missing in the aloof Obama. Bush encouraged India to invest in Afghanistan. Obamaâ€™s ascent changed equations.

Karzaiâ€™s weekly video conference calls with the US president were stopped. His re-election in 2009 was called into question, which stung him. Obama, initially, veered sharply towards Pakistanâ€™s take on Afghanistan.

Drones, Raymond Davis, Bin Laden, Salala, the Haqqani network, all put such a strain on US-Pakistani ties that Obama turned turtle. He had previously refrained India from training the Afghan military, but now over 1,000 Afghan troops have been to Indian military academies.

Pakistan believes that Indiaâ€™s consulates in Afghanistan foment trouble against it. India and Afghanistan on the other hand charge Pakistan with sheltering terrorists. Pakistan has long been thought of as treating Afghanistan as its backyard. It, instead, is now gripped with the paranoia of being encircled by Kabul and Delhi.

Karzai and Delhi both believe that Pakistan has a stranglehold on the Taliban. But even when the Taliban reigned supreme in the 1990s, after having received immeasurable support from Pakistan, the Talibs never reconciled to the Durand Line.

Now who controls who is all up in the air. Pakistan is ravaged by its own Taliban, and the question is if Islamabad could influence the Afghan Taliban, would it not make them stop the TTP? Does the TTP even pay heed to the Afghan Taliban? Does anyone in South Asia listen to anyone else?

The Americans are terrified of another 9/11, and even in retreat, want to manage the situation. But did no one tell them that tired invaders cannot afford to be choosers? Napoleon and Hitler both left Moscow in tatters, the British and the Russians quit Afghanistan similarly, none had glorious stories to tell, only tales of woe.

One moment Washingtonâ€™s against Pakistan, then it turns to Islamabad and rants against Karzai, then it lurches towards India. Its efforts to strike a deal with the Taliban independent of Karzai have come unstuck. Too much blood has been spilled between the Americans and the Talibs for rancour to dissipate easily. Karzai senses the mood. If he has to go down, fighting he will go.

So the outreach to India for arms, money and men. An India that is wary of who will take charge of Afghanistan. Will all its projects, training and arms fall into the wrong hands, only to be used against it? This is Russian roulette at its best.

There is a relatively simple solution. If the Russians and the British did not get down to playing the Great Game in Afghanistan, so must not the Indians and the Pakistanis. The two have become desensitised to brinkmanship. If strategic nukes and missiles are not enough, then battlefield nukes with shorter fuses are primed for action.

All along meaningless words of peace are mouthed. India has concerns about Afghanistan. So does Pakistan. They must sit down and accommodate each other. America is bereft of the power to make them see reason. It can only prod and cajole.

Afghanistan is not a localised conflict like Kashmir, Siachen or Sir Creek. It is not a playground for Pakistan and India to play out their fantasies. It is, in fact, a time bomb that could shortly explode in their faces and everyone elseâ€™s unless they stop fuelling the fire.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

sunil_sharan@yahoo.com

North Waziristan cauldron

Zahid Hussain

IT was not the first time a Pakistani military post was attacked and our soldiers were killed by militants in North Waziristan. But the retaliation by the troops to last weekâ€™s ambush in Mirali that reportedly killed five soldiers was indeed swift and fierce. Heavy fighting involving artillery fire and helicopter gunships left dozens of alleged militants killed.

That was not entirely unexpected from an army constantly under insurgent attack and with an escalating number of casualties. The incident reflected the growing frustration in the military command over the prolonged indecision of the national leadership on how to deal with militant sanctuaries in the region presenting the biggest threat to internal security.

But such punitive action in the absence of a clear counterinsurgency strategy has its downside too. The relentless artillery pounding of terrorist hideouts located amidst civilian population centres carries the risk of collateral damage. It is therefore not surprising that the offensive may have cost some civilian deaths as alleged by some political parties. The fierce fighting also forced many to flee their homes evoking angry protests feeding into the militantsâ€™ narrative against military action.

This apologetic stance adds to the militant propaganda campaign. In fact some political parties such as the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and other right-wing groups echo the militant version of events in North Waziristan adding to the prevalent confusion over the gravity of the terrorist threat.

While the TTP plans to engage security forces in new guerilla warfare, the national leadership does not seem to have a clear strategy to respond to this threat. Last week, the top civil and military leadership approved a much-delayed draft of a new national security policy. But thereâ€™s a long way to go before it is implemented.

Although its contours are not clear, officials claim the proposed policy provides a comprehensive strategy to deal with militancy and terrorism. The policy awaits cabinet approval. It is still to be seen how effective this will prove.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the new policy assigns top priority to dialogue with the TTP and the use of force would be the last option. There is certainly no disagreement on peace talks with the TTP or any other group. But the main issue is whether the militants are interested in constructive dialogue and will give up violence.

It is not the first time that peace offers have been made by the government. In fact, more than half a dozen peace deals were signed with militants in the past. None of them have worked â€” the peace accords were used by militants to regroup and expand their activities.

One such deal which is not effective anymore was reached in North Waziristan with local tribesmen in 2006. Thus the arguments by the PML-N government and political leaders like Imran Khan that peace has never been given a chance are flawed. It is also not true that the peace deals were broken because of US drone strikes.

How long will the government keep begging for talks while the TTP keeps blowing up our soldiers with IEDs and killing innocent people? What is most dangerous is the narrative adopted by some political leaders that talks were the only option. It does not only breed inaction, it also legitimises militant violence.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

Twitter: @hidhussain

Art and abandonment

Rafia Zakaria

THEY came at the invitation of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The painter Samuel Fyzee Rahamin and his wife Atiya took up residence on Karachiâ€™s Burns Road. They named their house Aiwan-i-Rifat after a house left behind in Bombay, and like that house they painted it white.

It was supposed to reflect the germination of a vibrant and burgeoning cultural life in a new city, a new country. That, they supposed, was the reason the countryâ€™s founder had invited them; painter and his writer wife entrusted thus with overseeing the birth of art in a newly created country.

Samuel Fyzee Rahamin was certainly qualified for the task. He had trained in London in the early 1900s under the American painter John Singer Sargent, whose paintings currently command prices above $10 million. He had also received instruction from the British pre-Raphaelite painter Solomon Joseph Solomon. His own work was shown at renowned galleries in both London and Paris.

A Jew who converted to Islam after his marriage to Atiya Fyzee, Samuel Fyzee Rahamin became, on his return to India, art advisor to the Maharaja of Baroda. In this capacity he advised the Maharaja in the acquisition of works of art that formed the basis of an impressive collection.

Five paintings are still on display at the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery in Baroda. Six more of his paintings, which include portraits of the Maharani of Baroda and various other princes, are on exhibit at the Maharaja Fatesingh Museum. He also did portraits of the Nawab of Janjira and painted the first dome of the Imperial Secretariat of New Delhi. His work was also acquired by the Tate Museum in London, where it remains.

When Samuel and Atiya came to Karachi in 1948, things were for a while just as they should have been. The couple, which had been involved in organising many cultural and musical activities and entertainments in cosmopolitan Bombay, applied their creative verve to their new milieu.

In the early days of the Aiwan-i-Rifat, there were musical evenings and poetry soirAtilde;©es. Samuel and Atiya had in the early days of their marriage collaborated on a book on Indian music, and now they brought together aficionados of classical music and dance at their salon in Karachi.

It seemed that the seeds of art, music and cultural production that were being sown would grow. Samuel Fyzee Rahamin continued to paint, and Atiya continued to write, and together they continued to put their faith in an artistic future for a new Pakistan.

Art and appeasement do not enjoy comfortable cohabitation. It is quite likely that Samuel and Atiyaâ€™s failures at the latter led to their eviction from the second Aiwan-i-Rifat, just a few years after their arrival in Karachi. According to historical sources, they managed to annoy a government official. This led, in turn, to the loss of their home.

When they left, they took with them their considerable collection of books and art, trying still in their later years to foster the artistic collaborations for which they had been invited to Pakistan.

It was a task that was increasingly difficult in a country unsure of the status of art in its society, plagued by questions of what kind of art would be permissible enough, pure enough to belong to a country that had been created in purityâ€™s name.

The second tragedy of Samuel Fyzee Rahamin features neglect, apathy, and disdain in starring roles. In 2009, the construction of the Fyzee Rahamin Art Gallery and Auditorium was taken up by the city government of Karachi, after many failed attempts begun and abandoned in the 1980s and 1990s.

The paintings of Samuel Fyzee Rahamin hang in the palace museums of India, in the Tate Gallery in London, and are also stowed away in a poor and neglected space in a congested corner of Karachi. The largest portion of his collection, allegedly including 1,500 rare texts on art history and various treasures collected by his wife Atiya, all languish under the auspices of the now defunct KMC.

The neglect of Fyzee during his lifetime reflected the failure of the Quaidâ€™s experiment in sowing the seeds of art in a desert city, a possible premonition of the cultural wasteland it became.

Since his death, both governments and promises have come and gone, and all have failed to resurrect the original promise, the tragic idealism of Samuel Fyzee Rahamin, a painter who came to Pakistan but was never, in life or in death, embraced by it.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Making a meal of it

Mahir Ali

WHILE growing up in Lahore a long, long time ago, eating out with the family usually entailed a choice between Shezan Oriental and Shezan Continental. The menu item I invariably opted for at the latter was chicken Atilde; la kiev.

Long before I had any inkling of the geopolitical significance of the nomenclature, experience taught me that the dish required a slightly delicate approach. If one plunged in with a knife and fork by slicing it in the middle, the likely consequence was a greasy mess as the melted butter gushed out from its confines with sufficient force to splatter one of the diners.

A gentle poke with a fork released the pressure, and even then it was wiser to slice it at the tail end.

The political equivalent of such dinner-table etiquette could have come in handy when Ukraineâ€™s President Viktor Yanukovych announced last month that a free-trade treaty with the EU was off the menu for the moment. The inevitable consequence was a bit of a mess in Kiev, as Ukrainians began pouring on to the streets not only to denounce Yanukovychâ€™s decision but to demand his removal from power for kowtowing to Moscow.

Vladimir Putin would undoubtedly like Ukraine to be part of the Eurasian Union he intends to launch in 2015, with Belarus and Kazakhstan already on board and several other post-Soviet states expected to opt in. The idea is anathema to a substantial proportion of Ukrainians, who bristle at the prospect of a return to Russian domination and would be thrilled to cast off existing links in return for progressive integration with the Western sphere.

There are plenty of others, though, who at the very least are comfortable with being close to Russia (in some cases Soviet nostalgia even stretches to the urge for a political reunion), which happens to be the primary market for Ukrainian exports.

After demonstrators in Kiev earlier this month toppled a granite representation of Vladimir Lenin, the BBCâ€™s Steve Rosenberg travelled to Luhansk in the eastern part of the country where he encountered not just four Lenin statues but also Soviet Street and Young Communist Lane â€” as well as overwhelming opposition to the demands of the capital-city protesters.

The east belonged to the tsarist empire for centuries, which helps to explain why Russian, rather than Ukrainian, happens to be the lingua franca in those parts. And the Orthodox church holds sway there, whereas the west is Catholic to a considerable extent.

There is scattered support for the idea of a split, but it is not widely seen as a desirable solution. The question that is not raised frequently enough is: why canâ€™t Ukraine be economically close to both the EU and Russia? Is Putin the chief obstacle?

Pressure from Moscow was clearly involved in Yanukovychâ€™s decision to maintain a distance from Brussels, although his claim that the move was made in Ukraineâ€™s best interest is not necessarily nonsensical, given that the dire economic straits in which the country finds itself could well be exacerbated by the EUâ€™s prescriptions.

His talks with Putin last week were followed by the announcement that Russia would buy Ukrainian government bonds worth $15 billion â€” effectively a bailout â€” and discount gas sales to its neighbour by almost a third. It is unclear what Yanukovych may have promised in return.

Back in the days of the so-called Orange Revolution nearly a decade ago, when Yanukovych was first cast in the villainâ€™s role (not entirely without justification), he was seen as more or less a Russian pawn.

Putin has lately been on something of an uncharacteristic charm offensive ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics, with a wide-ranging amnesty and a pardon for Mikhail Khodorovsky. He is nonetheless likely to remain uncompromising when it comes to defending what he perceives as Russiaâ€™s interests vis-Atilde; -vis its neighbours. Ukraine has, for the moment, gingerly picked its side, though the internal conflict over its future is far from over.

mahir.dawn@gmail.com

Opportunities for all

Zubeida Mustafa

ONE major flaw in the education sector in Pakistan that hardly ever figures in popular discourse is the deeply rooted inequity which denies underprivileged children access to academic excellence. This is not a one-time phenomenon. It is a self-perpetuating one.

The offspring of middle-class parents face a formidable challenge when they seek admission to a public-sector medical university, let alone the elite private institutions which charge a forbidding fee. Even government institutions now impose heavy tuition charges that are unaffordable for the majority of the people. Denied education of good quality, can these children ever hope for upward mobility which comes with a good job?

In this context, it was a pleasure to see history being made at Pakistanâ€™s first physician assistantsâ€™ convocation at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantationâ€™s SIMS (Sindh Institute of Medical Sciences). Last week, 252 young graduates (58pc women) received their four-year BS degree in various medical technology disciplines ranging from operation theatre science, to nuclear medicine and radiotherapy. Thirty-four nurses (including five men) also received their diplomas.

What makes SIMS different from other medical colleges and universities that have now followed suit and begun to train physician assistants? SIMS has proved that technical education can be made accessible to the underprivileged. Charging fees which run into lakhs of rupees, other institutions are following the iniquitous pattern set in recent years.

The basis of this approach is the SIUTâ€™s philosophy that has spawned SIMS. The objective is not to meet any market demands for commercialisation purposes.

Dr Adib Rizvi, director of the SIUT, has unwaveringly believed that healthcare is the birthright of every person and no one should be allowed to die because he or she cannot afford medical treatment. In line with this principle, the SIUT has treated ill people free of charge, all the while ensuring their dignity, for the last 40 years. In the market-driven world of profits and commercialism, the SIUT has strived to uphold its philosophy by developing a model which Dr Rizvi insists can be emulated.

SIMS was born in 2009 as a degree-awarding institution when an acute need for trained manpower began to be felt. The Zainul Abideen School of Medical Technology had already been set up in 2005 followed by the School of Nursing in 2006. Since the SIUT also deems education (including access to technical education) a fundamental right of the people, this parallel expansion made sense.

As is the SIUTâ€™s culture, the constant struggle to raise the bar continues. While talking to some of the graduates who were awarded the four-year BS degree last Wednesday, I got an insight into the transformation SIMS had brought into their lives. Abdul Qadir, a graduate in operation theatre science and now working at the SIUT, went to a government school and a public-sector college. With the tough competition and high fees for admission to technical institutions, there were few prospects of his talents ever being allowed to bloom.

At SIMS he passed the entry test comfortably and the four-year course has groomed him for a successful career. He says what he found most useful was SIMSâ€™ clinical-centred teaching along with lectures on theory.

This is what equity in education means. It is not just opening doors for everyone, but also providing equal opportunities for high quality education for all. In fact, this must be introduced from the primary level to be effective.

Only conscientious government functionaries can do that. It is not generally remembered that the SIUT began as an eight-bed ward of the Civil Hospital that was nurtured into the exemplary institution it is today. It is not an NGO as Dr Rizvi did not use the Civil Hospital Karachi as a stepping stone to build a private charity hospital as others have done.

www.zubeidamustafa.com

Incompatible with technology

Shahid Kardar

WHAT is one to make of the societal exhortation to focus the nationâ€™s energies on acquiring scientific knowledge and updating the technological base to traverse the 21st century with some degree of confidence? Although it may appear fashionable to be pessimistic about our chances of â€˜making itâ€™, one wonders how we can imbibe scientific thoughts and methods with the intellectual baggage we carry. Can we reinvent and modernise government and private businesses? Does the youth and new breed of young entrepreneurs provide greater future hope?

Any nationâ€™s response to technological change is partly influenced by the environment and partly by genetics. Pakistani society is inherently at odds with technology. Whereas axiomatic reasoning and treatment defies any prior knowledge, we take many things as given â€” prior beliefs cannot be questioned. We are a nation of believers. We are used to being given ideas and accepting them. For example, the educational examination systems are based on the concept of the textbook as gospel. Then there is the socio-cultural set-up which insists that our elders, our religion, etc, are always right. Such an environment is incompatible with scientific analysis.

The process of analysis is missing only partly because of the lack of literacy and poor quality of education. Its absence is more because of our beliefs. We cannot â€˜discover thingsâ€™ for ourselves and are, therefore, excluded from participating in the development of technology involving innovation, automation, analysis and information gathering. In other words, the support base for technological growth is weak.

We can admittedly import technology (through the process of technology transfer) but within severe limits. The industrial sector has little need for local technology. Both private- and public-sector managers seek more dependable sources in international markets against whose purchases they can retain some foreign exchange abroad (through commissions or over-invoicing of imported goods). We, therefore, have a technologically dependent industrial structure whose machinery and technical processes have primarily been imported. Thus, thereâ€™s little scope or incentive for indigenous technology to blossom.

Whole-scale import of technology also becomes a problem, not because those who have developed it will not part with it easily but because technology must improve productivity, and productivity is a marginal concept. In a society where profits are made without competition and on merit but by â€˜fixingâ€™ deals and arranging â€˜desiredâ€™ import duties and sales tax rates through the infamous SROs, productivity is an alien concept. In a system in which the well-connected prosper through the abuse of discretionary powers without fear of being challenged thereâ€™s no need for professionals, quality management or the technology embodied in people â€” human capital.

As the system is not driven by productivity considerations adapting to local conditions becomes a problem. When promotions in the public sector are based on seniority or â€˜right contactsâ€™ and not on merit and performance, how can the state system recognise and reward productivity? The incongruence of society with technology has made technology and scientific methods irrelevant.

Technology is like a hybrid in our society. Hybrids like a kinnoo, a mule, etc, cannot reproduce themselves. You cannot nurture these concepts because the processes and requirements for doing so are missing â€” in particular, the support base and cultural environment for technological growth.

Our value function for time is also short. We donâ€™t believe thereâ€™ll be a tomorrow. This has been prompted not just by political uncertainty but more by insecurity and fear that the system will not be fair, the rules of the game will be changed to suit family, friends, patrons, etc. Rent-seeking elites have traditionally dictated industrial and trade policies. The system lacks transparency because thereâ€™s no commitment to the need for a level playing field.

Then thereâ€™s the fear of change caused by technology because of lack of control over it. For example, businessmen do not computerise their accounts because they want to maintain two sets of books â€” one for themselves, one for the tax authorities. For the older generation of businessmen with limited exposure to computers, controlling a manual system maintained by the accountant is simpler than a computerised system which can also maintain two sets of books.

However, in the latter case, the businessman, essentially because of his own lack of knowledge, is not confident that he can exercise the kind of the control he does in a manual system for recording transaction.

Similarly, bureaucrats fear loss of control over information which gives them special privileges and powers. In such an administrative culture, acceptability of technology becomes a problem.

Finally, there is lack of institutional capacity to undertake scientific and technological research of even basic nature, to adapt simple technology to local conditions, because the state does not have the management capability to even affect transfer of technology let alone promote technological growth.

The bulk of local science and technological research, despite the heavy rhetoric, is run by mediocre individuals whose work is of poor quality and irrelevant to the countryâ€™s developmental requirements. Scientific research is planned by bureaucrats. They manage the science in this country, and the few scientists in the top echelons of management in the different science-related departments and institutions function mainly as scientist-bureaucrats. It will, therefore, serve little purpose to pull up the establishments dealing with science in Pakistan for their abysmal failure in not seriously attempting to solve the problems confronting the nation.

However, change is afoot which provides hope for the future. This includes massive improvements in access to internet, new and younger businessmen/entrepreneurs seeking a more competitive environment, an assertive media and growth in social media, the demands on government to share information and the resulting legislation for Freedom of Information, etc.

The writer is the vice chancellor of Beaconhouse National University.

Rape, left and right

Jawed Naqvi

AFTER a routine autopsy at a Delhi hospital, Khurshid Anwarâ€™s damaged body was brought to the Communist Partyâ€™s Delhi headquarters, its portals now an abbreviated shadow of glorious days when it was the sole standard bearer of Indiaâ€™s working class.

Anwarâ€™s comrades saluted him with clenched fists and grieved with his inconsolable wife. He had apparently killed himself by misusing gravity. The plunge from the fourth floor terrace was an act of defiance, not unlike the 53-year-old victimâ€™s uphill struggle he had embraced against religious fascism of Hindu, Muslim, all hues.

Some comrades say a lynch mob of news vendors killed Anwar after his ideological foes from the Hindu right falsely accused him of raping an activist from another NGO. The allegation pertained to a party he hosted for colleagues at his house in September, where the alleged rape victim was a guest. A note he did not share with anyone was retrieved from Anwarâ€™s office proclaiming his innocence.

However, he had already been condemned. His leading tormentor was a woman activist who had boarded the Narendra Modi bandwagon. She filmed Anwarâ€™s alleged accuser and a copy of the CD found its way to a malicious TV anchor. Indian laws prohibit showing the picture of a rape victim but law has never deterred the right.

Anwar was still bracing to take the fight to his foes when a leading woman activist from a fellow communist bloc he respected also joined the accusation battery. It broke his heart and he died without being offered a hearing by an ally whom he admired greatly.

I am among those who have known Khurshid Anwar as a fearless fighter for the wretched of the earth. He was a gentle soul who had waged many battles on behalf of and together with workers, peasants and women in different fields â€” abused Dalit women, dispossessed tribal women, raped Muslim women. He deserved to be heard at least by his fellow leftists.

A simple cremation followed, which again raised conversely defiant questions. Why was a communist from a Muslim cultural milieu of Allahabad brought to the Nigambodh Ghat to be incinerated instead of being buried like everyone in his family? Pablo Neruda and Faiz Ahmed Faiz were buried, as was Karl Marx too. Over two decades ago, Safdar Hashmi, another promising communist of Muslim origin was cremated in Delhi after he was murdered by Congress party goons.

A comrade wrote on Facebook that this was Anwarâ€™s way of expressing his belief in secularism. I am left speechless. Had someone said incineration by relatively clean compressed natural gas was environmentally friendlier there would be a reason to applaud. Advertising secularism or even oneâ€™s atheism by choosing a mode of going back to clay is a novelty that only a very troubled communist movement could explain.

It is perhaps this overused faith in symbolic acts passing for higher ideological principles that have moulded into a mountain-load of trivia, trapping much of Indiaâ€™s left in debilitating confusion. A glimpse came at a memorial meeting for Khurshid Anwar where his grieving comrades slammed the right but reserved vitriol also for a section of the left. In a way it was a continuation of an old pattern.

In the past communists across the world would readily split over, say, an incident like the one on the Ussuri River in the 1960s. That event brought communist China and communist Soviet Union to the brink of war but its echo was felt thousands of miles away in a hamlet in Naxalbari in West Bengal. Thatâ€™s how reverberations of a distant stand-off within the communist bloc would be imbued with ideological colour for local consumption. The resurgent Indian right has been taking advantage of the leftâ€™s tendency to pounce on each other. The right thus helps itself to easy victories against a divided people.

Rape is easily the most horrendous crime against women. It becomes that much more revolting when it is carried out by a mob with political patronage against a targeted community. Recent anti-rape laws passed by parliament were designed to fill some loopholes. The left participated in the framing of the more stringent anti-rape laws. Khurshid Anwarâ€™s tragedy has prompted some of its proponents to now consider a re-look and the reasons are not far to seek.

There have been three incidents of rape or sexual harassment naming those that supported the new laws. In one case, Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal has been put on trial for apparently molesting a junior colleague. Tejpalâ€™s magazine did great service for victims of rape at the hands of the organised right, which makes his alleged assault on his daughterâ€™s friend that much more bizarre. And yet, Soni Soriâ€™s story, in which the police who shoved stones into the tribal womanâ€™s private parts were given gallantry awards, would have gone largely unnoticed had Tehelka not shone the light on the tragedy.

Justice A.K. Ganguly earned a round of applause from the liberal corner when the former Supreme Court judge put the focus on the mistreatment of women in Indian scriptures as one of the legacies that women continue to endure at the hands of Indian males. That must have seriously offended many obscurantist Indians. Now the judge stands accused by an intern of making sexual overtures to her in a hotel room.

Khurshidâ€™s tragedy is a link in this troika of ironies. All three events have helped turn the focus from the more institutionalised rape carried out by indoctrinated mobs, for example, in Muzaffarnagar and Gujarat. The left needs to discipline its own. But someone has to take on the right.

The writer is Dawnâ€™s correspondent in Delhi.

jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Slide towards isolation

Khadim Hussain

IT is ironic that in the wake of the right-wing political mantra about a â€˜freeâ€™ and â€˜sovereignâ€™ Pakistan, recent reports on socio-cultural indicators depict a dismal picture of the countryâ€™s strategic, political and civilisational isolation from the rest of the world.

Such socio-cultural indicators include our status in education, health, human rights and security in comparison to regional and international states. While rejecting governmental statistics, Unesco ranks Pakistan at 180 in the global literacy index. The BBC adds that even amongst those who are literate, the overwhelming majority is comprised of the elderly generations â€” this means that the literacy rate in the country decreases with the increase in population. This seems anachronistic in the context of the Millennium Development Goals.

While the rest of world has almost succeeded in defeating polio in all its forms, the national and international media report that there has been a 24pc increase in the number of polio cases in Pakistan. As reported earlier this month, in Fata alone some 47,099 parents refused to allow the vaccine to be administered to their children due to multiple reasons. Prominent amongst these reasons are the threats issued by militant organisations.

Womenâ€™s rights constitute only a segment of human rights in general. A column by human rights activist I.A. Rehman published recently in this newspaper reported that â€œaccording to a non-official count 5,151 women have been subjected to violence this year in Punjab alone â€” among them 774 murdered, 217 killed for â€˜honourâ€™, 1,569 abducted, 706 raped/gang-raped and 427 driven to suicideâ€. If this is the situation regarding this one sector in a single province, the overall situation regarding human rights in Pakistan is not difficult to gauge.

A global risk analytics organisation, Maplecroft, released a report entitled Human Rights Risk Atlas 2014 on Dec 4. It puts Pakistan in the â€œextreme riskâ€ countries as far as human security is concerned. Pakistan stands fourth in the list of highly risky countries while Afghanistan stands sixth and Myanmar stands eighth.

The semantics and implications of freedom, sovereignty and autonomy seem to have become relative in the present world. States appear to walk a tightrope while keeping a balance between preserving their sovereignty and strategic-economic-political cooperation with each other. The recent past is replete with examples of states leaning towards one or the other extreme of the sovereignty continuum at the cost of political and economic losses and gains.

States that opted to sail against the tide of civilisation, mainstream international political discourse and a mainstream economic paradigm put themselves at the risk of marginalisation. They also pushed their citizens towards higher levels of socio-economic misery. This is not to say that sovereignty is, in itself, irrelevant but to emphasise the urgency of inevitable regional and global cooperation in almost all spheres of life.

Isolation usually starts from the contours of foreign policy and reaches civilisational anachronism. In the current world, a country might face three structural and strategic setbacks if it slides into isolation regionally and internationally. First, it might become embroiled in severe economic straits. Second, it might lose the strategic gains that are necessary for political influence. Third, isolation might lead a country to historical and civilisational anachronism.

The labyrinth of a centrist mindset, elitism and autocracy led Pakistan to the negation of democratic pluralism on the one hand and a monopoly over foreign policy by unelected power centres on the other. Religious zeal and super-patriotism came in handy in legitimising this monopoly by powerful centres of power.

The political fault lines of the deprivation in Balochistan, the black hole of Fataâ€™s Frontier Crimes Regulation and the intermittent taking over of power by non-elected regimes are but a few examples of internal marginalisation.

The use of â€˜jihadâ€™ and the consequent facilitation of private militias in achieving foreign-policy objectives, support for non-state proxies in our western and eastern neighbourhoods and the lack of vision in finding common grounds for trade and commerce with the Central Asian Republics, the Far East, Gulf states, Europe and North America led to external isolation.

This vicious circle needs to be broken. For this to happen, Pakistan needs to take measures on an urgent basis to halt internal marginalisation and external isolation simultaneously. The emerging voices of the media, civil society organisations, think tanks and the intelligentsia need to facilitate the government and political leadership in formulating policy frameworks that will break these vicious cycles.

Given the phenomenal changes that are going to occur in the region over the coming year, Pakistan might find itself in a critically challenging situation. It needs to keep in mind that history might not repeat itself all the time.

The writer is a political analyst.

khadimhussain565@gmail.com

Twitter: @khadimhussain4

Why not Pakistan?

Arif Azad

THIS country has been falling behind in many social development indictors in comparison to regional countries. This comes out clearly when the recent trajectory of Nepal and Pakistan on mother, newborn and child health (MNCH) programmes is compared.

In recent decades, Nepal achieved huge strides on MNCH programmes, which have put the country in a position to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets. Pakistan, however, is way behind.

Nepal forged ahead in dead earnest and the result has been astonishing. It is one of the few countries in Asia which are on course to meet MDGs 4 and 5. Its estimated maternal mortality incidence â€” or maternal mortality ratio â€” has been brought down from 850 in 1990 to 229 per 100,000 live births in 2011. By 2015, Nepal aims to reduce this to 135. In line with this trend, the under-five mortality rate declined from 118 to 54 per 1,000 live births in 2011.

This turnaround has been made possible because of strong political will and ownership of the programme, a sustained policy focus on MNCH and a progressive increase in the MNCH budget. This is in addition to a dedicated voluntary force of health workers, gross reduction in out-of-pocket expenses and a broader gender empowerment agenda alongside a considerable decline in poverty figures.

Pakistan set up its own MNCH programme between 2005 and 2007 and has made some headway since then. Yet it is nowhere near the pace required. At the end of 2012, various estimates put Pakistanâ€™s maternal mortality ratio at 276, well behind the target of 175 per 100,000 live births by 2015. Similarly, the under-five mortality rate remains stubbornly high at 94 per 1,000 live births. The total fertility rate, too, remains high at 4.1, or four children per fertile mother, as compared to Nepalâ€™s 2.6 â€” despite huge amounts of money being poured into the MNCH programme.

Pakistan has a limited-time window to get its act together on the MNCH front if we are to come within even striking distance of the MDGs. Nepal can serve as an example.

What essentially drove the Nepal programme was total governmental ownership. Similarly, in Pakistan, the government should wholly own the programme while making a strong case for indigenous investment in the MNCH programme as a top strategic priority.

This enhanced commitment should involve a reorientation of male-dominated political parties that tend to see the MNCH as a womenâ€™s health issue. Nepal has shown the way by enhancing MNCH budgets and empowering women, in addition to formulating integrated policies on safe motherhood.

The MNCH programme should be integrated into provincial health strategies. Currently, it appears as a stand-alone national programme unaligned with local health strategies and plans. There is poor alignment with the population welfare departments which focus on the provision of contraceptives and population control through birth spacing. A large part of Nepalâ€™s MNCH success is owed to its seamless integration with other facets of the health system.

Nowhere is this coordination more pronounced than in the misalignment between the lady health visitors, lady health workers and community midwife programmes. Over the past decades, various donor-funded and government-initiated programmes have led to an army of trained LHVs, LHWs and CMWs. Yet they tend to work in isolation. They need to be brought in alignment under one unified vision on delivering MNCH goals.

The issue of induced and safe abortion remains an underemphasised and overlooked area, even though it contributes significantly to maternal and child deaths due to complications associated with poor health management and poverty. In a recent seminar, these issues surfaced as amongst the major concerns. This needs to be addressed as an urgent concern within MNCH programmes.

Most fundamentally, out-of-pocket expenses are an almost insurmountable barrier in accessing MNCH services here. Despite well-funded MNCH programmes, governmental health facilities are not equipped to provide the full care that mothers and newborns require. As a result, private-sector MNCH care has grown, to the detriment of poor families.

The large part of the Nepalese success story lies in making the MNCH services free and accessible at properly equipped health centres. Reducing out-of-pocket expenses assumes special significance in Pakistan against the backdrop of unregulated and growing private healthcare, runaway inflation, rising food costs, and increasing poverty that exacerbates existing female malnutrition with knock-on effects on maternal and child mortality.

What Nepalâ€™s MNCH programme shows is that donor money, when leveraged wisely into well-resourced, politically championed and well-aligned national and local MNCH programmes, can not only reverse poor health outcomes but also put a struggling system on a healthy, sustainable track.

If Nepal can do it, why not Pakistan?

The writer is a development consultant and policy analyst.

drarifazad@gmail.com

Bigoted and smug

Babar Sattar

OUR National Assembly has condemned Abdul Quader Mollaâ€™s execution (Bengali citizen, Bengali political leader, hanged after trial before the Bangladeshi International Crimes Tribunal and after appeal and review before Bangladesh Supreme Court). It has â€œdemandedâ€ from Bangladesh â€œnot to give new life to matters of 1971 and close all cases against the leadership of JI [Jamaat-i-Islami] in Bangladeshâ€.

We have just proved that not only are we still unapologetic over the horrific crimes we perpetrated in â€˜East Pakistanâ€™ but are also smug about such bigotry.

Three historical facts are now well documented. One, we treated Bengalis so poorly from 1947 to 1971 that it caused the majority of Pakistanis to seek â€˜independenceâ€™ from the minority in West Pakistan through a violent struggle that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.

Two, whether it was Awami League zealots, India trained and nurtured Mukti Bahini, or Bengalis within the military, paramilitary and police who rebelled against Pakistan during 1971, Bengali freedom fighters were savage in their treatment of Biharis, non-Bengalis and especially Pakistani soldiers and their families.

And three, the treatment meted out to Bengalis by Pakistan Army, and the private militias it raised and sponsored (Al Badr, Al Shams and Razakars) to enforce the stateâ€™s writ in East Pakistan in 1971, was heinous and barbaric.

By asking who started the rape and murders and whether Mukti Bahini was more vicious or the Pakistani Army, we confirm that the bigoted mindset that led 56pc of Pakistanis to carve out Bangladesh to protect their rights is still thriving in Pakistan. This is alarming not just because the resolution passed by the National Assembly has sullied our relationship with Bangladesh and added fuel to fires already raging there, but because the same mindset is responsible for keeping Balochistan ablaze and for Baloch youth going missing.

If citizens indulge in savagery against the state or fellow citizens, can the state respond in kind and inflict revenge not just on criminals but also on others who share their ethnic identity? Explaining the looting of civilian shops in East Pakistan in 1971, the Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report quotes Lt-Gen A.A.K. Niazi as having stated on the first day of assuming command: â€œWhat have I been hearing about shortage of rations? Are not there any cows and goats in this country? This is enemy territory. Get what you want. This is what we used to do in Burma.â€

Gen Niazi (nicknamed â€˜Butcher of East Pakistanâ€™) acknowledged to the Hamoodur Rehman Commission that ghastly crimes had been committed against Bengalis by stating that four days after assuming command he, â€œinsisted that loot, rape, arson, killing of people at random must stopâ€.

Another witness, Lt-Col Mansoorul Haq, told the Commission that, â€œa Bengali, alleged to be a Mukti Bahini or Awami Leaguer, was sent to Bangladesh â€” a code name for death without trial, without detailed investigations and without any written order by any authorised authority.â€

Brig Karrar Ali Agha in the worth-reading Witness to Carnage 1971 has documented in detail the events leading to the emergence of Bangladesh, including the crimes committed by the Bengali freedom fighters and our army. While he explains crimes committed by the army as revenge in response to crimes first committed by Bengali freedom fighters in March 1971, the tales are mind numbing.

He states that, â€œseveral officers were given to conducting night raids at private residences and dragging away any girls they found attractive for the nightâ€. When one such report (that personnel of East Pakistan Rifles had sodomised Bengali women) was brought to the notice of Col Fazal Hameed, deputy director general of EPR, â€œhis only outraged reaction was that while rape was understandable under the circumstances, sodomising a woman was rather shamefulâ€.

Agha states that at a meeting of top military brass of East Pakistan held on Dec 30, 1970, when he opined that in case of a military action in East Pakistan the Bengali troops in EPR and the army would revolt, Brig Ghulam Jilani Khan (later governor Punjab) responded in chaste Punjabi with this nugget: â€œO Agha Sahib, donâ€™t you worry, we will â€¦ their mothers, we will â€¦ their sisters.â€ Could the Bengalis be seen and treated as enemy aliens devoid of dignity and fundamental rights even if waging a war against their own state?

Notwithstanding the provocation, what Pakistan did in its eastern province was inexcusable. Pakistanâ€™s response to Mollaâ€™s hanging is wrong because we are no innocent bystanders endowed with the moral authority to pass any judgement over Mollaâ€™s conviction. Molla has not been executed for his love for Pakistan, but for the murder and rape of fellow Bengalis even if he did so in the name of Pakistan. Where was our honor or sense of justice, pricked by the death of a foreigner, when our state executed and ravaged thousands of our fellow citizens in 1971?

With Bengali blood and gore on our hands, what business do we have lecturing Bangladesh to seek national cohesion by pursuing South African style truth-and-reconciliation instead of delivering victorâ€™s justice (as we did in 1971)? Bangladesh has hanged not a Pakistani but its own citizen.

Whether Molla committed the crimes alleged or is a casualty of revenge is a matter for Bangladesh and its people to ponder. Letâ€™s worry about the extrajudicial killings and quality of justice in Pakistan instead of condemning the justice system of another sovereign nation state.

The writer is a lawyer.

sattar@post.harvard.edu

Twitter: @babar_sattar

Opposition politics

Umair Javed

THE most difficult position in all of Punjab â€” some might even say Pakistan â€” is currently held by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insafâ€™s Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed. Leading an opposition consisting of 56 members, split across seven antagonistic political parties, against 314 PML-N legislators is proving to be an immensely arduous task.

Compounding the issue is the ruling partyâ€™s de facto insistence on maintaining floor discipline and unity on legislative matters, which ensures that bills are bludgeoned through the treasury benches without too many second thoughts. Given this context, periodic squeals and cries, and perhaps the judiciaryâ€™s mood, remain the oppositionâ€™s only hope for affecting law and policymaking in the province.

Imran Khan is fairly cognizant of this reality. He knows full well that the five-year monopoly accorded to the PML-N by voters in Punjab can turn into a 10- or 15-year one if the government plays its cards even marginally right.

This is partially why heâ€™s chosen to go into protest mode â€” talking about mid-term elections and taking on big-ticket items like Nato supplies, drones, inflation, and most commendably, polio vaccinations. Itâ€™s a desperate way of keeping the party in the news till it produces something flashier and flaunt-able by way of good governance and service delivery in KP. The other half of the opposition, the PPP, is rejuvenating itself in Sindh, whilst appearing considerably deflated in Punjab. The partyâ€™s district organisations in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin have been torn apart by factionalism, and most recently in Lahore, the cityâ€™s president and former ticket-holder â€” Arif Naseem Kashmiri â€” defected to the PML-N.

As Mian Manzoor Wattoo gears up for a mobilisation tour of North and Central Punjab ahead of next monthâ€™s local government elections, there is plenty to suggest that he continues to be viewed as an outsider by the partyâ€™s rapidly depleting rank and file.

The impotent condition of their political opposition in Punjab is probably a comforting sight for the PML-Nâ€™s leadership. Their biggest challenge continues to be the peaceful accommodation of their constituency level lynchpins, primarily through local government elections, and the sustenance of their core electorate â€” through policy interventions and patronage.

At a deeper level though, this current electoral configuration is proof of how the party has kept up with Punjabâ€™s changing socio-political landscape.

There are two clear indications of this comparative advantage that the PML-N enjoys over others in Punjab. The partyâ€™s constituency-level structure continues to enlist highly skilled, and successful â€˜political entrepreneursâ€™ â€” hard-cut characters whoâ€™ve made their bones through local government elections during the 1980s or the previous decade.

Ninety per cent of their ticket-holders in the last general election had contested provincial or National Assembly elections previously (for any number of parties), and nearly 75pc of them had served at least one term as legislators. This preference for experienced, micro-level politicians ensures an active link between executive authority and voters, and one thatâ€™s frequently punctuated with patronage and favours.

The second indication is that the PML-Nâ€™s top tier recognises the importance of service delivery, and perhaps more crucially, the â€˜appearance of doing somethingâ€™ in the eyes of the Punjabi voter.

From youth-oriented loan schemes, metro bus corridors, large-scale infrastructure improvements, and the right noises over the energy crisis, to the obvious showboating of Bilal Yaseen sealing a few restaurants every week for â€˜health violationsâ€™, these practices help build the partyâ€™s repute as a party of action.

In turn, this repute gives it a clear advantage over the PPP, and a de facto advantage over the PTI, which makes the same noises but isnâ€™t in power to demonstrate its ability.

Facing this context, the PPP and the PTI have two different options â€” cynical protest politics that attempts to undermine the PML-N at the constituency level, or an earnest politics that builds coalitions of supporters and enduring party structures. The PPP tried to go with the first option in May â€” apparent by their choice of Manzoor Wattoo as provincial president, and the amount of development money poured into Rawalpindi and Multan â€” and failed miserably.

Similarly the PTI, initially hoisted by Punjabâ€™s Prado-Prada crowd, ultimately succumbed to the desire of enlisting Jamaat/Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba dissidents, B-grade â€˜political entrepreneursâ€™, and other odds and ends, in their master plan of electoral conquest.

As it turned out, the PTIâ€™s leadership in Punjab, consisting of ex-Jamaatiyas like Ijaz Chaudhry, or second tier characters like Abdul Aleem Khan, simply didnâ€™t have the skill or networks to outmuscle the ruling party.

Clearly, the option failed for both parties in May, and given the strength of the PML-Nâ€™s core electorate and its burgeoning cadre of constituency level operators, petty protesting and inducing factionalism wonâ€™t succeed anytime soon.

The second option, however, calls for long-run planning and organisation, the ability to demonstrate service-delivery success in KP and Sindh, and most of all, the ability to debate the PML-Nâ€™s lawmaking and policy interventions in an objective, public manner. No guarantees of success with this option either, but as of this point it remains the only untested alternative.

To reluctantly borrow some of Khanâ€™s lingo, the PML-N has not only mastered the provinceâ€™s political wicket, it is actively working to minimise the oppositionâ€™s chances of scoring on it. Latest proof of this is the new local government system, which will help accommodate their disgruntled party workers, whilst retaining control with the provincial executive through bureaucratic straitjacketing.

Electoral politics without the presence of an effective, organised opposition can prove harmful in the long run. As Pakistanâ€™s largest province, and in many ways the arbiter of national political outcomes, Punjab stands to benefit from the consolidation of the PTI and revival of the PPP as genuine alternatives for the voters. Till such time, however, it appears to be smooth, unfettered sailing for the PML-N.

The writer is a freelance columnist.

umairjaved87@gmail.com

Going by guesstimates

Hajrah Mumtaz

I MAY not be alone when I confess that Iâ€™ve had to more or less give up watching local television programming because of what seems to me to be the abysmal standard of content.

I MAY not be alone when I confess that Iâ€™ve had to more or less give up watching local television programming because of what seems to me to be the abysmal standard of content.

But whenever I have raised this reservation with TV people on both the entertainment and news sides, they have silenced me by quoting, primarily, ratings. This is what is popular, they argue, this is the sort of television Pakistanis want to see.

The shows I appreciate least are often the ones that get the highest ratings. The higher the ratings for a show, the higher, generally, the advertising it receives and thus, the higher the revenue it earns.

On Thursday, though, there was an intriguing little news report in the papers: a certain private company has announced a partnership with another company to increase the TV audience measurement service in the country. I am gratified to learn that with the rapid meter technology, data on peopleâ€™s viewing habits will be collected and delivered using a built-in modem and GPRS connectivity.

But I am even more gratified to learn that this particular company is the national television ratings provider. It introduced electronic overnight TV ratings data in Pakistan in 2007 and its panel initially covered three cities, which has over the years been expanded to nine cities and â€” get this â€” 675 households.

Television execs say that they do not depend solely of course on these â€˜people-metersâ€™ to gauge what has clicked with the audience. The sources such an estimate can come from include the buzz around a particular show (which is non-empirical data, but not necessarily unreliable) and how much advertising itâ€™s drawing (which is hard data).

Now consider this: a new, local-language newspaper was some years ago seeking to make sweeping inroads into the newspaper-buying market in Pakistan.

Large-circulation newspapers in the country print from a limited number of locations; editions that have been finalised earlier than the absolute, city, deadline (called the dak edition, from the Urdu, meaning â€˜mailâ€™) are dispatched to rural/remoter areas (from where the organisation does not publish).

So, for example, a paper might run off its dak edition from Karachi or Lahore by, say, 9 or 10pm, load it on to vans and send it off to be picked up by hawkers in interior Sindh or rural Punjab; the edition that is to be distributed in the city is finalised much later, during the small hours. The more remote an area, the later (broadly speaking) national newspapers will start showing up.

The just-setting-up-shop newspaper decided to adopt a strategy that would circumvent all this tediousness, and invested in printing from nearly a dozen different cities and towns. This meant that even the editions reaching rural/remote areas would have the late news, and the copy would arrive on the doorstep of even shops in the interior bright and early, neatly undercutting the competition.

It should have worked. But it didnâ€™t, because despite the large circulation this paper quickly attracted, it was not getting the advertising that would make this a feasible business model. Notwithstanding the number of copies the paper was selling, advertisers did not consider the newspaperâ€™s buyers a lucrative market (even though it is possible to think of plenty of things that can be advertised in a rural-agricultural economy â€” particularly when this is the dominant employment sector â€” albeit not carrying the price-tag of a sports car).

So this is my question: how do advertising executives actually, empirically, know what is popular among the Pakistani audience?

Their offices are located in the larger urban areas, far from the realities and concerns of the overwhelming number of people. They subscribe to a particular demographic experience (urban, educated, English-speaking, middle- to upper-middle class, between say 25 and 45-50 years of age).

With sparse rating data and hardly any real feedback at all from the majority of the 180 million plus population, how do they in their hermetically sealed towers decide what sells?

After all, a man marooned on an island may prefer the bananas to the coconuts found there, for if there arenâ€™t any strawberries heâ€™ll never even discover his predilection for them.

There seems to be great danger in Pakistanâ€™s advertising-reliant media situation that the corporate world is making a top-down guesstimate, supporting through its rupees what it thinks the people â€˜out thereâ€™ will like â€” or, worse, what it prefers itself. And they may be getting it quite wrong, leaving audiences to choose between pappy bananas and dry coconuts.

Isnâ€™t it time the media tried to serve up a truly multi-continental menu so that people can explore and identify what they like? For all we know, it might turn out to be like religion: Pakistanis love it, but theyâ€™ve never voted for the religious right in any significant numbers.

The writer is a member of staff.

hajrahmumtaz@gmail.com

Art reflects parallels

Huma Yusuf

LONDONâ€™S Tate Britain museum is currently a site of destruction. A thought-provoking exhibition, â€˜Art Under Attackâ€™, brings together works of art from the museumâ€™s collection that have been vandalised in the past 500 years.

A stroll through the galleries yields glimpses of decapitated angel statues and defaced murals â€” wood and stone scoured in an effort to stamp out intangible things such as faith, ideas, values. Though removed from Pakistan in space and time, the exhibition offers insight into our evolving political landscape.

Much of the exhibition comprises ruins of iconic â€” in the sense of relating to an icon â€” Catholic art: fragments from stained glass church windows; crumbling figurines of saints; brusquely whitewashed paintings of the Virgin Mary.

These ruins date from the time of Henry VIII. On breaking from the Catholic Church, he ordered the dissolution of all churches and monasteries in England. To eradicate what he considered to be the spiritual and moral corruption of the â€˜old religionâ€™, Henry VIII ordered churches to be ransacked and iconic images to be destroyed.

The crackdown was thorough: one heartbreaking exhibit explains how the manuscripts in Roche Abbey were burnt to fuel the fires needed to melt the magnificent stained glass windows celebrating Christâ€™s life. New injunctions also prohibited creating more images and shrines.

The attack against iconic religious art continued under Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Their fundamentalism led to the eradication of centuries worth of mediaeval art and religious cultural tradition. This part of the exhibition highlights the savagery of religious intolerance, and also its futility â€” the Catholic faith endures, and much work is being done to recover and preserve the remains of Catholic iconic art.

It is easy to draw parallels between Henry VIII and attempts by violent extremist groups in present-day Pakistan (and Afghanistan, Mali and elsewhere) to stamp out local religious and cultural heritage as a form of control, intimidation or enrichment (attacks against churches were a strategy by Henry VIII to transfer the wealth of the church to the crown). I left this part of the exhibition feeling enraged at the brutality and ignorance of religious intolerance and extremism.

But my rage was chastened in another part of the exhibition, which showcased artworks that had been attacked by suffragettes â€” women who campaigned for the female right to vote in England. In 1913 and 1914, the British suffragette movement became more militant, and women began attacking art in public museums and galleries.

Rallying under the cry â€˜deeds not wordsâ€™, the suffragettes were increasingly outraged by the fact that objects (including works of art depicting women) were idealised by society while real women continued to be marginalised.

Their attempts to attack famous art works put the staff of British museums and galleries on high alert â€” the institutions even considered proposals to ban women from entering museums. But the vandalism quickly provoked public anger, and suffragettes were portrayed by the media as assaulting the essence of the nation.

There is an irony in realising that religious fanatics and womenâ€™s activists eventually resorted to the same type of violence in order to meet their goals. While religious intolerance is abhorrent, womenâ€™s mobilisation for political participation is a worthy cause. But it is clear that the means employed by the two groups were equally crude and counterproductive.

Art history may have a lesson for Pakistani liberals whose increasingly strident rhetoric is in danger of being branded a form of extremism. In their defence of human rights and demand for universal security, liberals are increasingly ready to label opponents with the same black and white constructs their opponents slot them in.

Imran Khan is Taliban Khan, and there is increasingly little appetite to consider the complexity of his political position (consider the befuddled responses to his welcome comments about polio vaccination). Similarly, frustration with the governmentâ€™s wishy-washy counterterrorism strategy, which is still focused on talks, is provoking calls for stern military action with no regard for human rights, due process, or the possibility of militant rehabilitation.

The same applies to the drone debate that occurs behind closed doors: many liberals support strikes because they believe terrorists deserve no better.

Liberal ire is a very far cry from the mass murder and terrorism that characterises the most extreme groups, and by no means can the two be compared. But beware slippery slopes: extreme rhetoric can, for example, lead to widespread support for discriminatory laws such as anti-terrorism legislation that deprives people of justice and rights, or backing for ill-thought-out military action.

Moreover, it counterproductively perpetuates cycles of hate: think of the suffragettes whose actions caused them to be widely despised despite the validity of their campaign. This should not be the fate of liberals as they coalesce in an effort to consolidate democracy and security in Pakistan.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

huma.yusuf@gmail.com

Twitter: @humayusuf

The tripolar order

Munir Akram

WHILE all politics is local, specific issues and events are also affected by the push and pull of global power politics. The bipolar world that emerged after the Second World War was in many ways simple: two powers â€” the US and the Soviet Union â€” controlling clear geographical areas with two different and mutually exclusive economic systems.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall, this bipolar world gave way to the â€˜unipolar momentâ€™ â€” from 1989 to 2003 â€” when the US and its Western allies, dominated world politics and economics. This singular structure collapsed after Americaâ€™s unilateral invasion of Iraq and the 2008 Western financial crisis.

Today, while policy and media attention is focused on several specific events and crises, such as Syria, North Korea and Ukraine, most of these events are being influenced by the interaction of the interests and priorities of three powers: America, China and Russia. The magnitude and scope of the power of each of these three centres is different and unequal.

America is no longer the world hegemon; but it remains the single most powerful nation. Its power flows from its primacy in the military, economic and technological spheres. Its â€˜soft powerâ€™ and cultural influence is pervasive. The scope of its interests â€” geographic and sectoral â€” are extensive. Yet, it is also clear that the â€˜powerâ€™ of the US and its allies is declining in relation to the rest of the world, especially a rising China and a revived Russia.

China â€” the Middle Kingdom â€” was the worldâ€™s most powerful and advanced civilisation for millennia. It is now on a trajectory to recover its place as the worldâ€™s largest economy within a decade. Its military power and role is growing rapidly. Chinaâ€™s new â€˜confidenceâ€™ in dealing with other nations, near and far, is evident.

Yet, Chinaâ€™s major strategic concerns are either domestic â€” to preserve its hard-won reunification; or regional â€” to ensure that the nations on its periphery are friendly or at least non-hostile. Unlike the US, China does not propagate its â€˜valuesâ€™ to others and holds back from interfering in their internal affairs. This is both a strength and a weakness.

Russiaâ€™ power almost evaporated after the collapse of the former Soviet Union and during the Yeltsin era when Moscow largely adhered to US and Western political, economic and diplomatic priorities. Utilising the leverage provided by Russiaâ€™s oil and other natural resources, its nuclear and military capabilities and the disciplinary mechanisms of the Soviet state, President Vladimir Putin has successfully revived Moscowâ€™s influence and role especially in Europe and Asia.

However, with an insufficiently developed economic and financial system, growing centrifugal forces, particularly in Muslim-majority regions, and a declining population, Russiaâ€™s rise may not be sustainable without major socio-economic reforms.

The tripolar world is similar to its bipolar predecessor in some ways. The US and Russia have â€˜areas of influenceâ€™. The US leads the Anglo-Saxon countries, Europe, Japan, South Korea and much of Central and South America. Russiaâ€™s sphere is limited mainly to the CIS countries and Central Asia.

China, on the other hand, has no â€˜formalâ€™ allies. Pakistan comes closest to this definition. Chinaâ€™s influence is exercised largely through economic leverage which is considerable. But Beijing is increasingly willing to assert itself when its national or territorial interests are at stake, as in the maritime disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan.

Unlike the US-Soviet Cold War, todayâ€™s tripolar world is complex. Rivalry and proxy conflicts coexist with close interdependence and common interests.

Great power rivalry covers support for opposing sides in territorial and internal disputes, contest for natural resources, competition for markets, hostile arms development and deployments and ideological propagation.

Simultaneously, there are significant areas of common interest and interdependence: trade and finance, energy, natural resources, migration, climate change.

In the current power paradigm, there are at least a dozen emerging countries which possess the capacity to play an â€˜independentâ€™ power role in future. These are: India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and Kazakhstan.

At present, however, they are able to exercise influence only in conjunction with one or the other of the three principal world powers. But their future acquisition of the instruments of power, and their alignments, will determine whether todayâ€™s tripolar world will become multipolar or be reduced to bipolar rivalry between the US and China.

In this context, the fate of Indiaâ€™s aspirations for global power are particularly relevant. These aspirations have been badly dented in recent months as the challenges of poverty, a stratified society and endemic corruption accompanying its much heralded democratic governance become fully evident. It would appear that Indiaâ€™s independent great power role will be postponed at least for a decade or two.

Another major determinant will be the final resolution of the internal stresses and divisions within the Islamic world. These divisions are between the modernist and secular visions of Islamic elites versus the conservative and â€˜Islamistâ€™ preferences of their masses.

In some Muslim countries, this division has been accentuated and compounded by external (American) intervention and escalated to violence and terrorism â€” local, regional and global. Now, this modernist-conservative division is being further confounded by the growing conflict between Sunni and Shia Islam.

The Islamic world has the potential to emerge as a fourth â€˜poleâ€™ in the global power structure, but only if the internal divisions can be effectively addressed and overcome by Muslim leaders and their peoples.

The writer is a former Pakistan ambassador to the UN.

The murk of NWA

Cyril Almeida

NOBODY knows yet. But we may all be about to find out. What, if anything, does a new chief mean for the fight against militancy? The initial clues are tantalising. And, if you scratch a little deeper, also familiar and depressing.

Hereâ€™s one sequence, or at least one way of looking at the sequence: CCNS meets; CCNS talks about talks; CCNS talks about other stuff too that may or may not be linked to a military operation; CCNS goes home.

And then stuff happens in NWA â€” stuff that has happened before and will happen again; but this time the army bares its teeth and snarls back â€” leaving a bunch of people dead and triggering arguments over whether they were civilian or militant.

So what happened in the CCNS? The problem is, while we can know what was debated and decided â€” several people were present â€” we canâ€™t know what was absorbed by the two men who matter: Sharif the boss and Sharif the other boss.

The new Sharif is rumoured â€” oh how the rumours swirl around the boys â€” to be clear-headed about the militant threat. This, the rumour mill quickly adds, is supposed to be A Good Thing.

But the last chief was also supposed to have been clear-headed about the militant threat by the end of his reign. That didnâ€™t add up to much of A Good Thing.

Letâ€™s take the rumour mill at its word though. New chief, new resolve to fight militants â€” slight problem of that clashing with the polsâ€™ talks-first approach.

Which is why the CCNS modified its language ever so slightly. Yes to talks, but letâ€™s also figure out the other stuff that needs to be done â€” just in case talks fail.

Securing Fata, monitoring the more monitorable of the people traffic across the Pak-Afghan border, de-escalating tensions along the LoC â€” was focus switching to NWA and the pieces for a military build-up and eventual operation being put in place?

Not so fast â€” weâ€™ve been here many times before. And the pols are still hammering away at their talks-first option.

But then Mirali happens. Thatâ€™s the other NWA, the one around which, loosely, the Pak-centric militants have hunkered down.

It was nothing the army hasnâ€™t seen before: a suicide attack followed by an ambush of the rescuers. Usually, it ends up as a brief headline on TV or as an inside-page story in the papers. Thatâ€™s because usually the army doesnâ€™t respond like it did this week.

So, to the next big question: was the angry response calibrated and, if so, at what level?

This much we know: a whole bunch of people died in the armyâ€™s retaliation. The army claims they were all militants. The militants claim they were all civilians. The locals suggest civilians were killed.

Itâ€™s been going on for so many years now that you can guess what happened. The initial attack provoked a belligerent response; the excessive force used was either deliberate â€” a way of sending a message â€” or because they didnâ€™t care or because they still donâ€™t know how to protect non-combatants.

But who ordered it? There are several possibilities, up and down the chain of command.

If it came from the top, from the new Sharif, then, Isloo, we have a problem. Cause that would mean that the new chiefâ€™s clear-headedness on the militant threat has already drifted into hot-headedness when it comes to accepting whoâ€™s really the boss â€” old Sharif or new Sharif.

For old Sharif was clear in the CCNS: talk first; fight later, if necessary. Within hours though there was fighting in the field â€” and not just any field, but in the heart of darkness itself.

Coincidence? Sure, and Santaâ€™s set up shop in North Waziristan.

But, and the army will never admit this, thereâ€™s another possibility: the troops out in the field were sending a message to GHQ.

Tired of being picked off, clear on who the enemy is, desperate to take the fight to the enemy, but frustrated by the two-term chiefâ€™s unwillingness to go it alone, without the assent of the pols, the leadership out in the field has decided now is the time to see if something can be done.

A clear-headed new chief in GHQ, a government that insists peace with monsters is possible, an enemy who rejects talks altogether â€” so why not tip the argument in favour of the rational for once? And thereâ€™s nothing like a suicide attack-cum-ambush to justify a furious response.

But hereâ€™s the truly troubling bit. Say there was no conspiracy, say the chief had nothing to do with it, say no one was sending a message to anyone, assume it was just one of those things that happens in a conflict zone â€” even then, was this all that theyâ€™ve got, was this all that theyâ€™ve learned in all these long years of conflict?

Collective punishment, mass destruction, a stampeding elephant, a raging bull â€” itâ€™s like weâ€™re back in 2004.

Ten years on, hereâ€™s what should have happened:

OK, so youâ€™ve hit us again; now, weâ€™re going to show you how we can hurt you. Because they have the intelligence, they turn up outside the home of a big suicide-trainer or mission-planner â€” and they flatten it with him inside. Or they ambush a militant kingpin or two shuttling around NWA in the hours after the attack.

That would demonstrate an intelligent lethality, the kind the enemy will fear. But just blowing up stuff to get some foot soldiers who are cannon fodder anyway?

Scarier than the possibility that we donâ€™t want to fight in NWA is the possibility that we still donâ€™t know how to fight in NWA.

The writer is a member of staff.

cyril.a@gmail.com

Twitter: @cyalm

Polio: the national cost

Arsla Jawaid

THIS year, Pakistan has recorded at least 77 polio cases compared to 58 in 2012. Pakistanâ€™s rising polio count is not only problematic for the state but also poses a tremendous threat to the international community.

With 1.5 million Pakistani children at risk of polio, since June 2012, the polio vaccination ban in North and South Waziristan has deprived close to 290,000 children from receiving the vaccine. Since July 2012, more than 30 people, including polio workers and security personnel have been targeted and killed for administering the vaccine that is increasingly viewed with suspicion. The inaccessibility of areas as well as intensifying polio reservoirs in Fata, Karachi, the Quetta block and parts of KP further complicate Pakistanâ€™s slow efforts to eradicate polio.

While refusal cases are largely demand-based and exist in communities faced with abject poverty, misperceptions deeming the vaccine â€˜un-Islamicâ€™ are also rampant. However, the CIA strategy to run a fake vaccination campaign, initially perceived to be an anti-polio campaign, to hunt down Osama bin Laden has perhaps been the single most harmful factor impeding the tireless efforts of the global health community.

Health workers are increasingly viewed as CIA operatives and the fallout of such an uninformed and ill-advised strategy has dealt a devastating blow to polio eradication efforts in Pakistan.

The issue however, has now extended beyond the boundaries of the state. Pakistanâ€™s inability and disinterest in eradicating polio no longer only affects its own children but also the global population. In the past two years, poliovirus strains from Pakistan are reported to have been exported to other countries leading to serious health concerns.

In January 2012, 21 people in China were affected by a poliovirus strain emanating from Pakistan. The same strain was detected in Egypt, Palestine and Israel prompting immediate anti-polio campaigns in all three countries. Seventeen cases of polio in Syria have also been linked to Pakistan, causing international concern.

Polio exportation prompted the World Health Organisation to declare that if Pakistan failed to eradicate polio by 2015, its citizens could be facing international travel bans.

Most recently, in order to prevent the crippling virus from returning, India became the first country to issue a ban on Pakistanis wishing to travel after January 2014. Pakistani visitors will have to provide a certificate of vaccination proving that they have received the oral polio vaccine in order to enter India.

This is perhaps exactly what is needed. The state has taken its responsibility of eradicating polio far too lightly. The virus occurs in areas that face abject poverty and is essentially a poor manâ€™s burden. Lady Health Workers who bravely administer vaccines in high-risk areas have not received their salaries for the past six months.

While the state remains uninterested and ineffective, the private sector too is largely absent from health efforts because frankly, polio does not affect them. Eradicating polio is a responsibility of all stakeholders. The private sector and NGOs are faced with a tremendous opportunity to serve as a pressure group and get involved with not only greater understanding but also dedicated commitment. By involving different stakeholders, sustainable efforts illustrative of an informed and sensitive strategy are urgently needed.

Only when influential Pakistanis are directly affected and will face travel bans from the US or UK, be prevented from taking summer vacations in Thailand or planning destination weddings in Turkey, will they take the eradication of polio more seriously. However, eradicating polio should be more than just another golden star, a fist pump, a Nobel Prize or a shining trophy. The state has done little to address the security situation, the polio ban in Waziristan, or the problem of inaccessible areas and remains mum when facing Taliban threats.

Previous media strategies to create awareness and garner support have backfired. Involving religious scholars to issue fatwas has also shown limited progress. The involvement of such influential actors is imperative to create awareness but perhaps a more revised, cohesive and wider strategy along with greater political will is needed.

One hopes that the newest entrant in the field, Imran Khan, will remain cognizant of the various challenges facing polio eradication and not simply build castles in the air. For one thing is for sure, Pakistan may have been able to afford a political experiment but efforts to eradicate polio, simply khan not.

India successfully eradicated polio in 2011 and will be declared polio-free next year. None of the 11 cases recorded in Afghanistan this year are indigenous; all emerge from the Eastern region, closer to Pakistanâ€™s border and are linked to cross-border transmission. In the next few years, Pakistan may very well be the only remaining Asian polio-endemic country finding itself between two neighbours, both of whom are successfully polio-free.

If for nothing else, Pakistan should strive to eradicate polio out of just pure competition.

The writer is a journalist.

arslajawaid@gmail.com

Unilateral world

M.J. Akbar

WHEN the incredible litany of silly reasons for great events is written, top billing must surely go to this rationale from the 1950s for American policy towards Pakistan. I owe the anecdote to an excellent new book, The Brothers, by Stephen Kinzer.

For eight years during the Dwight Eisenhower administration, John Foster Dulles, as a puritan secretary of state, and Allen, as the rather more amorous CIA chief, constituted the most powerful sibling partnership in American history.

They went about saving the world with the passionate commitment of a virtuous wrecking crew, and turned large parts of the map into a black and white movie coloured with bloodstains.

To be fair, they had just emerged from a barbarous war in which millions were killed in the name of patriotism, and a genocide occurred in the heart of Europe. They were fearful of repetition. But the cloaks they wore, and daggers they flourished, did almost as much damage to America as it did to its foes. Nothing, however, quite explains the naivetAtilde;© of John Foster, at least in this instance.

Dulles was very keen to bring Pakistan into yet another of his regional alliances against communists. This one was Seato: the South East Asia of this bloc stretched, on the Dulles drawing board, from Iraq and Iran to Indonesia.

Having given up on Pakistanâ€™s fractious civilian politicians, Dulles wooed the new nationâ€™s generals with a gift they could not refuse: weapons, with a finesse through civilian government, a legacy that has contributed to ambitions in the barracks and consequent coups.

Dulles explained to the journalist Walter Lippman in an interview. â€œIâ€™ve got to get some real fighting men into the south of Asia. The only Asians who can really fight are the Pakistanis. Thatâ€™s why we need them in the alliance. We could never get along without the Gurkhas.â€

A puzzled Lippman pointed out: â€œBut Foster, the Gurkhas arenâ€™t Pakistanis.â€

â€œWell,â€ said the sanguine Dulles, â€œthey may not be Pakistanis, but theyâ€™re Muslims.â€

â€œNo, Iâ€™m afraid theyâ€™re not Muslims either.â€

â€œNo matter!â€ exclaimed Dulles imperiously, and carried on for another half an hour with a suitable sermon on how to stop reds from menacing our beds.

Todayâ€™s secretary of state John Kerry knows geography, history and religion much better than his predecessor, but incidents arise, minor or major, that still leave one wondering: how far is Washington from the rest of the world? Or how far are the rest from Washington?

A curious aspect of American foreign policy in the American century â€” the 20th â€” has been the oft-mentioned tendency to retreat into isolationism. This is not quite correct. America has been neither isolationist nor interventionist, as much as unilateralist. It is a worldview that emanates easily from the fact of military supremacy and the gradual imposition of superpower culture through the wings of trade and mass entertainment.

The Romans believed that their empire was good for the defeated with as much sincerity as Americans believe that their forms of government, and their values, are synonymous with civilisation. In a variation, America would prefer to co-opt nations into its umbrella, rather than seize them, because democracy and liberty are its fundamental values.

But when persuasion fails, responsibility for the expansion of civilisation is so easily transferred to the Pentagon.

The superpower model becomes inarguably superior, whether it is in the macro functioning of legislatures, or micro arrangements for domestic service. Any alternative is dismissed as unjust, inadequate or illegal. This logic does not, however, always travel in both directions. An American working in India earns an American salary, but is highly unlikely to pay by American norms for cooks in the Delhi embassy (technically, American soil).

It is not the financial difference that grates upon the rest of the world, but the implicit sense of superiority, the feeling that there are always two laws, one for a superpower and one for the rest of the world.

America can, for instance, demand, and get, diplomatic immunity for Raymond Davis, a spy masquerading as contractor, who killed two men in Lahoreâ€™s broad daylight. Islamabad accepted this fudge as the price of relations with Washington. Other nations might not be able to comply with equal felicity, not least because their elected governments have to factor in public opinion.

Governments, as we have seen, can sometimes get things right for the wrong reasons. This is more difficult when it comes to the street. In the case of Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat who was treated harshly by a pompous American law enforcement officer, tensions will cluster around popular opinion long after they have eroded in government. Washington and Delhi need to recognise this, quickly. A ship cannot be lost for half-penny of tar.

The writer is an author and editorial director of The Sunday Guardian, published from Delhi.

DAWN Media Group, Haroon House, Karachi 74200, Pakistan

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Saturday, December 28, 2013

DWS, Sunday 22nd December to Saturday 28th December 2013

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National News

More to Pak-US ties than just drones, says FO

NAB chief returns to office

IGFC contempt charge dropped

New provincial ordinance to help improve governance, PTI claims

Minister urges uniform curriculum

Drone strike kills four in N. Waziristan

Working boundary tensions to be reduced

North Waziristan appears close to full-blown conflict

Accord to defuse LoC tensions

Musharraf to be indicted on Jan 1

Relatively peaceful Chehlum

Quaidâ€™s birth anniversary today

Four killed in Karachi blasts

Five militants, FC man killed in Turbat gunfight

Situation called for emergency: Musharraf

Curfew lifted after talks with Taliban

Countrywide loadshedding to increase from today

Troops called out for Chehlum security

Pakistan, India DGMOs meet today

Electricity dues pile up

Announcement

Centre, provinces in row over Irsa control

Two hurt as shell hits Mirali house

Imran puts pressure on govt

Corrupt employees to get the sack

Army chief vows to hit back against militants

Polio vaccinator shot dead

Balochistan: madressahs the fallback option

NAB revives 300 high-profile cases

The Garhi Khuda Bakhsh mystique

Court sets aside sacking of Pemra chief

Khaleda under virtual house arrest, says opposition

Dozens held in Egypt

CDWP approves projects worth Rs4.7bn

Muslim Brotherhood declared a terrorist group

Attempt to smuggle weapons to Karachi foiled

Pope prays for a better world

Philippine minister to resign over unfulfilled promise

Mukherjee approves formation of Aam Aadmi Party govt

Eight mine workers kidnapped in Harnai

Three members of Turkish cabinet resign over graft investigations

PCO judges may file review petitions

BD opposition plans march to derail polls

Irregularities in PSO cost Rs10bn last year

Punjab campus all quiet

NAB clears its chief in NICL case

5 journalists killed in attack on Iraq TV

Kalashnikov inventor dies at 94

Major reshuffle in army hierarchy

Inside the PMâ€™s Lahore constituency

NA speaker seeks better communication among Saarc countries

Mehsuds: interred in an alien land

Erdogan blames foreign envoys for graft probe against allies

Editorial News

Lawmakersâ€™ finances

Uniform curriculum

Brotherhoodâ€™s persecution

Long-term solutions

Tough times continue

PCO judges

A meeting to clear the air

Everymanâ€™s Christmas

A weapon for the ages

Trade with India

Chehlum security

Policing on a prayer

Wrong way to purge

Bound to fail

Fraudulent venture

North Waziristan dilemma

LG polls on the horizon

Columns and Articles

Preparing for scarcity