NEWS PULSE: DWS, Sunday 8th December to Saturday 14th December 2013

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National News

Bearer of â€˜good newsâ€™ asked to produce 14 detainees today

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: While Defence Minister Khawaja Asif tried on Friday to live up to his promise of giving â€˜good newsâ€™ relating to missing persons, he did not succeed in meeting the requirement set by the Supreme Court. Instead of producing the missing persons as the apex court had ordered, he provided some information which was considered to be incomplete.

Khawaja Asif, who had assured the court on Thursday that he would meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and come up with â€˜good newsâ€™, received a set of orders which he has to implement.

Not satisfied with the information provided by the minister, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry which had taken up a case relating to a missing man named Yasin Shah ordered the government to produce 14 of the 30 detainees before Justice Amir Hani Muslim, a member of the bench, at 10.30am on Saturday. Attorney General Muneer A. Malik is required to ascertain the status of the persons.

Khawaja Asif did not disclose the names but said that seven of them were living a free life and could be produced whenever the court so desired. Two are internees and information about five others are unsubstantiated but may be confirmed in a day or two.

In order to ensure that correct persons are produced, the apex court obligated the authorities to ensure the presence of one or two relatives of these persons who could identify them and, if needed, Justice Muslim and the attorney general may ask questions to ascertain facts and their status.

Internment Centre Malakand Superintendent Attaullah is also required to come along with relevant records to identify the missing persons.

The court ignored a request to involve the interior ministry to assist the defence ministry in the matter.

â€œIn view of the material which has been placed before the court and recorded in the orders of Nov 25 and 26, prima facie, it is believed that the statement made by Mr Attaullah is correct as the same has not be contradicted by any of the officers in the internment centre,â€ said the order dictated by the chief justice.

In his statement Mr Attaullah said that 66 undeclared internees, including Yasin Shah, had been handed over to him in September 2011 by the army authorities without any internment order. Thirty-one of them were later declared internees and the remaining 35, including Yasin Shah, were shifted out of the Malakand centre by the army authorities.

The court also ordered that relatives of Sardar Ali and Nadir Khan who had died on Dec 29 last year and July 1 this year, respectively, in the Lakki Marwat internment centre inside the Malakand garrison be produced before Justice Muslim to confirm if they had agreed to receive the bodies without autopsy.

Yasin Shah is in the unknown category.

The court also went through a confidential report submitted by Acting Defence Secretary retired Maj Gen Raja Arif Nazir but ordered that it be resealed and kept in safe custody of the court registrar.

The defence minister again insisted that none of these missing persons was in the custody of the armed forces.

The acting defence secretary tried to explain that the whereabouts of the persons in Kunar and Waziristan had been ascertained through intelligence but the information was still not certain.

â€œWe may not accept your statement in view of the overwhelming evidence,â€ the chief justice said and ordered that they must be brought.

The chief justice cautioned that the house must be put in order because whenever peace returned to the country the issue of missing persons would haunt them and all of them would be in trouble like Augusto Pinochet, the dictator of Chile who was tried for human rights excesses 20 years after his arrest.

When the court insisted that the missing persons should be brought to open court within the media glare, the attorney general said that if they were spotlighted there was a risk that they might be attacked.

â€œThey may be an asset and their identity may jeopardise their lives,â€ Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, a member of the bench, said.

SC names Gilani, Kazmi in Haj case

Syed Irfan Raza

The judgment did not specify penalties for former parliamentarians, government officials and tour operators involved in the scandal. However, the names of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and former religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi were mentioned as accused in the verdict.

The court took serious notice of obstruction by the then PPP government and bureaucracy in investigation of the case as well as the trend of re-employment of government officers after their retirement.

â€œThe FIA is directed to take strict action against all persons, including politicians, officers and others in echelons of power who interfered with and hampered the investigation,â€ the judgment said.

It said: â€œHaj tour operators charged Rs5000 extra from each Haji, which was in excess of actual amount. Such conduct on their part is tantamount to looting the Hajis who were performing a sacred religious duty.â€

The verdict explained that the case remained under trial in the apex court for three years because of several reasons, including political affiliation of the accused, transfer of investigators to different departments and non-extradition of some accused from abroad.

The verdict was issued by three judge-bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Amir Hani Muslim.

The court directed the FIA to investigate the matter and determine whether or not the extra amount charged by the authorities has been reimbursed to Hajis.

â€œThe government should issue guidelines regarding Haj arrangements, including hiring of buildings for providing accommodation to Hajis as well as transportation and other facilities during Haj,â€ the verdict said.

However, on the courtâ€™s orders, the government reimbursed an amount of Rs470 million to about 25,000 Hajis against the rent charged from them.

An FIR was also registered against a family friend of former prime minister Gilani, Zain Iftikhar Sukhera, for fraudulently obtaining post of information technology consultant (BS-20) in the IT ministry by misrepresenting himself and using fake certificates/degree.

Cases were also registered against Shakeel Ahmad Rao, former director general Haj; Ismail Qureshi, former establishment division secretary; S.M. Tahir, former joint secretary of the establishment division and some others for manoeuvring the appointment of Shakeel Rao as director general Haj in violation of rules.

The verdict also noted that Hussain Asghar had been removed to create hindrance in investigation into the case. After his transfer, things came to a standstill and no progress in investigation was made. He was later sent to Gilgit-Baltistan and appointed as DIG.

It said FIA Director General Malik Iqbal had assured to the apex court that as and when Mr Asghar reported to the FIA, the investigation into the Haj scandal would be handed over to him and the team already working with him would be re-attached with the officer.

Former religious affairs minister Hamid Kazmi was granted bail on statutory ground of delay in the conclusion of trial. This was the reason, the verdict said, the case could not be proceeded/concluded within reasonable time as the post of special judge (Rawalpindi) remained vacant and, therefore, the federal government had been directed to ensure appointment to the post expeditiously.

Regarding the appointments of Zain Sukhera and Rao Shakeel, the verdict said, then prime minister Gilani was required to join the investigation, but through a letter issued by the minister of law and justice on March 1 last year, the then government had informed the FIA that being the prime minister he enjoyed immunity under Article 248(1) of the Constitution.

GB council approves anti-terror bill

Farooq Ahmed Khan

GILGIT, Dec 6: The Gilgit-Baltistan Council unanimously approved on Friday the Protection of Pakistan Bill in a session presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his capacity as chairman of the council.

The bill provides for speedy trial of criminals involved in acts of terrorism and other heinous crimes like kidnapping for ransom and sectarian killing.

The prime minister praised security agencies for arresting suspects in the Nanga Parbat case and directed the Gilgit-Baltistan government to set up a special court for their speedy trial.

He announced that a special police force would be established to provide security along Karakoram Highway and in the region.

The council also passed its budget having an outlay of Rs826.6 million.

Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Birjis Tahir presented the budget in which Rs325m had been allocated for development projects and Rs501.6m for non-development expenditure.

Prime Minister Sharif announced that several projects would be undertaken to ensure socio-economic uplift of Gilgit-Baltistan. They include a cardiology centre.

Addressing PML-N workers in Gilgit on Fridayâ€š he said the people of the region would enjoy an improved service by the Pakistan International Airlines after new jets were inducted into its fleet.

He said the proposed economic trade corridor from Kashgar to Gwadar would benefit Gilgit-Baltistan.

The prime minister inaugurated a terminal at Gilgit airport, laid foundation stone of a 15MW power project in Naltar and took an aerial view of Attabad Lake.

Balochistan sets example for Punjab, Sindh

Saleem Shahid

QUETTA, Dec 6: While Punjab and Sindh continue to dither over when and how to hold local government elections, Balochistan shows the way and claims to have made adequate preparations for the polls set for Saturday.

Although there are obstructions, like an appeal by some parties to voters to stay away from the polling booths and kidnapping of some of the candidates elected unopposed, the provincial government and the Election Commission of Pakistan have expressed confidence to go ahead with the exercise and come up to the expectations of the people of the province.

The provincial government has declared Saturday as public-holiday and made extensive security arrangements. Under section 144, pillion riding has been banned in the province till Dec 10.

â€œArrangements have been finalised to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in a smooth manner.â€ ECP Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan said at a press conference after a meeting held to review poll arrangements. The meeting was presided over by Acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk.

At the meeting, Balochistan Chief Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad and provincial Election Commissioner Syed Sultan Bayazeed briefed the acting CEC on poll arrangements.

The ECP secretary said 18,000 candidates were contesting the elections in 4600 constituencies. Six million ballot papers have been sent to the 32 districts of the province. He said 33,000 polling staff had been appointed for 5,800 polling stations.

Over 54,000 personnel of the army, Frontier Corps, Balochistan Constabulary, police and Levies Force will be deployed in and around the polling stations and at sensitive points. More than 5,000 army troops will be on standby as a quick response force to deal with any untoward situation. Helicopters will be used for surveillance in sensitive areas.

He said the date of the elections had been fixed in accordance with the directives of Supreme Court and praised the provincial government for having made adequate arrangements in limited time.

He appealed to people to cast their votes as they had done during general elections.

The interest being taken by people in the polls, he said, was evident from the number of candidates.

In the first phase 22,000 candidates had filed nomination papers and after withdrawal, 18,000 remain in the field.

Secrecy shrouds missing personsâ€™ appearance

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: On Saturday, a day when the court usually does not hold proceedings, the defence ministry brought some of the missing persons before Justice Amir Hani Muslim to comply with the Supreme Courtâ€™s directives, but with their faces covered in order to conceal their identity.

But how many of the 14 ordered to be produced were brought to the court remained unknown.

â€œOnly six persons have been identified,â€ Attorney General Muneer A. Malik told reporters after attending over four hours of in-camera proceedings.

According to sources, seven persons were presented and their record would be placed on Monday before a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, which is hearing the case of enforced disappearance of Yasin Shah.

The bench had ordered the ministry on Friday to produce 14 of the 35 missing persons before Justice Muslim at 10.30am on Saturday.Their names were kept secret, but Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had informed the court that seven of them were free and could be produced.

The court had ordered that not only those seven but also two others who were interned, along with five people about whom information was still unsubstantiated, should be brought before the judge. Fourteen persons were brought at around noon in two vans which were parked just outside the Supreme Court entrance inside the premises. All of them, some young, some middle aged and a few old, jumped and rushed towards the nearest small courtroom amidst heavy police presence which cordoned off the entire area to prevent mediaâ€™s interaction with them so their relatives.

The same exercise was repeated when they were taken back after the proceedings at around 4.45pm.

The AG as well as Additional Attorney General Tariq Khokhar, acting Defence Secretary retired Maj Gen Raja Arif Nazir and Malakand Internment Centre Superintendent Attaullah, along with relevant record, were in the courtroom to identify the missing persons.

It is believed that the persons who waited in a different room were called one by one along with their relatives and examined by Justice Muslim with the help of Mr Attaullah.

The superintendent had informed the court that 66 undeclared interned persons, including Yasin Shah, had been handed over to him in September 2011 by army authorities without any internment order. Thirty-one of them were later declared interned persons and the remaining 35, including Yasin Shah, were shifted out of the Malakand centre by army authorities.

â€œPlease do not ask me about the numbers and do not put me in a number game,â€ the acting secretary said while talking to reporters. â€œWe have complied with the orders of the court to the possible extent.â€

Those who could not be produced would be brought on Monday or Tuesday, he said and added that the government was duty bound to obey the orders of the court.

â€œThis is the triumph of the constitution, the law and democracy,â€ AAG Tariq Khokhar said while talking to Dawn. Amina Masood Janjua, who is campaigning for the cause of missing persons had arranged a demonstration mainly comprising their relatives at the D-Chowk, complained that by concealing the names the authorities had confused the matter in such a way that all the relatives in the protest believed that the ones being produced were their near and dear ones.

Advocate Col Inamur Raheem expressed doubt that the persons being produced were the ones mentioned by Mr Attaullah.

This is the second occasion when missing persons have been produced before the court. On Feb 13 last year, the seven surviving Adiyala prisoners who had been missing were produced before the court, but in a very bad shape.

â€œThis is vindication of the stand taken by AAG Tariq Khokhar who had told the court that these persons were with them (defence authorities) and could be produced,â€ said a senior counsel.

The defence ministry, in a letter to the AG, had accused the AAG of misrepresenting its point of view and demanded his dissociation from the case. But the AG said that if the ministry was not satisfied, it should engage a counsel of its own.

World mourns peace icon Mandela

From the Newspaper

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 6: The world on Friday mourned South Africaâ€™s beloved Nelson Mandela, the iconic anti-apartheid hero and endearing former statesman who was hailed universally as an â€œincredible giftâ€ to humanity.

Mandelaâ€™s â€œrainbow nationâ€ awoke to a future without its founding father and its first black president, after he died late on Thursday aged 95 at his Johannesburg home surrounded by friends and family.

Three days of Mandelaâ€™s body lying in state in Pretoria will follow, and then on Dec 15 a state funeral will take place to bury his remains in his birth town of Qunu.

As his compatriots paid lively tributes to the revered former statesman with flowers, songs and dance, admirers from all walks of life around the world joined in an outpouring of emotion, lauding Mandelaâ€™s legacy and remembering key moments in the great manâ€™s life.

South Africaâ€™s archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, a fellow Nobel Prize winner, praised Mandela as an â€œincredible gift that God gave usâ€. In an address where he fought to hold back the tears, Tutu said his old friend was â€œa unifier from the moment he walked out of prisonâ€.

Mandela spent 27 years in an apartheid prison before becoming president and unifying his country with a message of reconciliation after the end of white minority rule. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with South Africaâ€™s last white president, F.W. de Klerk, in 1993.

Palestinians and Israelis, Beijing and the Dalai Lama, Washington and Tehran all paid heartfelt tribute to Mandela, describing him as one of the towering figures of the 20th century who inspired young and old with his fight for equality.

â€œWe will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again,â€ the US leader said. â€œHe achieved more than could be expected of any man.â€

Flags flew at half-mast in numerous countries, including the United States, France and Britain, and at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Paying homage to the late leader, British Prime Minister David Cameron said: â€œA great light has gone out in the world.â€

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Mandela â€œa giant for justice and a down-to-earth human inspirationâ€.

And a Paris summit of some 40 African leaders was overshadowed by Mandelaâ€™s death. An old associate, African Union Commission president Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said Mandela â€œwas a son who became larger than the continentâ€.

South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said the best way to remember Mandela was to free the African continent of poverty, unrest and disease.

â€œWe will do it in your name,â€ she said.

In Brazil, organisers of the 2014 football World Cup flashed Mandelaâ€™s image up on a giant screen and held a minuteâ€™s silence before the groupsâ€™ draw.

EXPECTED BUT SAD: While the ailing former statesmanâ€™s death had long been expected after a spate of hospitalisations, the announcement came as a burst of searing sadness nonetheless.

Mandela had waged a long battle against a recurring lung infection and had been receiving treatment at home since September following a lengthy hospital stay.

Mandelaâ€™s two youngest daughters were in London watching the premiere of his biopic Long Walk to Freedom, along with Britainâ€™s Prince William, when they learned of his death.British actor Idris Elba, who portrayed Mandela in the film, said: â€œWe have lost one of the greatest human beings to have walked this Earth.â€

Mandelaâ€™s eldest grandson expressed gratitude for the international outpouring of support.â€œThe messages we have received since last night have heartened and overwhelmed us,â€ said Mandla Mandela.

Outside his house in the upmarket Houghton suburb and at his former residence in the once blacks-only township of Soweto, scores of well-wishers danced and sang old songs of struggle to celebrate the man they lovingly call Madiba. His Dec 10 memorial service will take place in a 90,000-plus capacity Soweto stadium.

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take inspiration from Mandelaâ€™s struggle in the Middle East peace talks.

Israelâ€™s leaders paid tribute to Mandela, with President Shimon Peres â€” also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate â€” calling him â€œabove all a builder of bridges of peace and dialogue who paid a heavy personal price for his struggleâ€.

Even Syriaâ€™s beleaguered president, Bashar al Assad, ventured a homage on his official Facebook page, calling Mandela â€œa torch for the resistance and liberation from racism, hatred, occupation and injusticeâ€ and â€œan inspiration for all the downtrodden people of the worldâ€.

TERRORIST TURNED ICON: Once considered a terrorist by the US and Britain for his support of violence against the apartheid regime, at the time of his death Mandela was an almost unimpeachable moral icon.

His extraordinary life story, quirky sense of humour and lack of bitterness towards his former oppressors ensured global appeal for the charismatic leader.

A victorious Mandela served a single term as president before taking up a new role as a roving elder statesman and leading AIDS campaigner. He retired from public life in 2004.

He became commander of the armed wing of the then-banned ANC and underwent military training in Algeria and Ethiopia in the early 1960s.

He was arrested and sentenced to life in jail for sabotage in 1964. At his trial, he delivered the speech that was to become the manifesto of the anti-apartheid movement.

Ex-prisoner 46664 then took on the task of persuading de Klerk to call time on the era of racist white minority rule.

â€˜WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLDâ€™: After the ANC won the countryâ€™s first multi-racial elections, Mandela declared his intention to establish â€œa rainbow nation at peace with itself and the worldâ€.

Critics said his five-year presidency was marred by corruption and rising levels of crime. But his successors have never enjoyed the same levels of respect or affection.

Mandela divorced his second wife Winnie in 1996. He found new love in retirement with Graca Machel, the widow of the late Mozambican president Samora Machel, whom he married on his 80th birthday.

Myanmarâ€™s own democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi spoke of her â€œextreme griefâ€ at the death of her fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, who â€œmade us understand that we can change the worldâ€.

The Dalai Lama said he would miss his â€œdear friendâ€, whom he hailed as â€œa man of courage, principle and unquestionable integrityâ€.

Mandela is survived by three daughters, 18 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and three step-grandchildren. He had four step-children through his marriage to Machel.

His death has left his family divided over his wealth. Some of his children and grandchildren are locked in a legal feud with his close friends over alleged irregularities in his two companies.â€”AFP

Pakistan given duty-free access to EU markets

Mubarak Zeb Khan

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The European Parliament approved on Thursday the â€˜GSP-Plusâ€™ status for Pakistan which will allow duty-free access of its products to European markets.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The European Parliament approved on Thursday the â€˜GSP-Plusâ€™ status for Pakistan which will allow duty-free access of its products to European markets.

The parliament approved the â€˜Single Delegated Actâ€™ under which Pakistan and nine other countries will be entitled to the Generalised System of Preferences Plus Scheme.

The act will come into force on January 1 next year and will be effective till 2017.The law secured support of 406 members of the parliament, while 186 votes were cast against it.

The International Trade Committee of the European Parliament had voted for the move on Nov 5 on an application submitted to the European Commission in March.

Pakistan earlier enjoyed duty-free access to the EU market between 2002 and 2004 under the Drug Related Arrangement of the GSP Scheme, but it was ended when it was challenged at the World Trade Organistaion.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated the nation on the award of the status. â€œAward of the status shows confidence of international markets in the excellent quality of Pakistani products,â€ he said in a statement.

Mr Sharif said the resultant increase in exports would boost economic growth and generate millions of jobs. The textile industry alone, he said, would earn annual profits of over Rs1 trillion.

President Mamnoon Hussain also welcomed the approval of the GSP-Plus status.

He said the facility would significantly strengthen â€œour economy through greater trade, generation of economic opportunities and creation of more jobs for our peopleâ€.

The ministry of commerce said that as a result of the grant of GSP-Plus status the countryâ€™s exports to the EU might increase by around $1 billion in 2014. Last year, Pakistan exports to the EU stood at $6bn.

The sectors that are likely to benefit from the status include textile fabrics, yarn, textile garments including hosiery, bed, kitchen and toilet linen, footwear, protective leather gloves and sports gloves, ethanol and plastics.

It is expected that the enhanced access to the EU market will create about 100,000 more jobs in the manufacturing sector in one year.

Many Pakistani products like footballs, mangoes and other fruits, pine nuts, animal products, cutlery products, surgical instruments, basmati rice already have zero duty in the EU.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that a number of measures taken to fix the economy and gain the trust of international community were beginning to bear fruits. He said the facility would increase the countryâ€™s exports by $2bn.

The Foreign Office said in a statement that Pakistani embassies in the European capitals, the commerce ministry and the governor of Punjab had worked hard to make about the passage of the act.

â€œWe are grateful to the European Commission and member countries of the European Union for their unstinting support at every step of the process and to the European Parliament for the adoption of the Single Delegated Act,â€ the FO said.

Dr Malik lays stress on trade with Iran

Saleem Shahid

QUETTA, Dec 12: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik has said that Pakistan has cultural, economic and brotherly ties with Iran and promotion of trade will boost economic relations on both sides of the border.

Talking to Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Alireza Haghighian here on Thursday, the chief minister said people on both sides of the Pak-Iran border enjoyed great cultural, economic and blood relations and by providing immigration and trade facilities at Gwadar, Panjgur and Mand areas, the economy on both sides would flourish.

He said economy of people on both sides of the border were interlinked which needed to be promoted.

Accepting the invitation of Iranian ambassador, Dr Baloch said a parliamentary delegation of Balochistan would soon visit Iran to explore possibility of enhancing cooperation in agriculture, trade and other sectors.

The chief minister and the ambassador agreed to appoint focal persons to explore ways to bolster relations between Balochistan and Iran.

Apprising Iranian diplomat about concerns escalating from rocket attacks from Iranian side in Mashkel area of Washuk district, Mr Baloch said such incidents could create misunderstanding.

Jillani orders inquiry into TV coverage

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The first thing newly appointed Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani did after assuming his office on Thursday was to take notice of the allegation of selective coverage of the full court reference held to honour and bid farewell to outgoing CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Chief Justice Jillani directed the Supreme Courtâ€™s additional registrar, Mohammad Ali, to hold an inquiry and submit a report.

Television journalists covering the full court reference on Wednesday held a protest after a particular media house aired the exclusive footage of the former chief justiceâ€™s speech. They accused the court administration of favouritism towards the particular channel and discrimination against the rest of the media.

The chief justice took the notice on a note sent by SC registrar Dr Faqir Hussain stating that it was widely reported in the electronic and print media that a certain media group had been given access to the Courtroom No 1.

The note said it was alleged that the Supreme Court administration had been discriminatory in its treatment of journalists by favouring one media group over others.

â€œIn protest, the journalists covering the Supreme Court announced a boycott of the subsequent functions held in the court. The report portrays a somewhat negative perspective of the Supreme Court even though it strictly follows the policy of absolute neutrality and impartiality,â€ the note said.

During the court proceedings, representatives of the media reached the rostrum and invited the chief justiceâ€™s attention to Wednesdayâ€™s incident.

They said they had abided by rules when the court administration told them that TV cameras were not allowed inside the courtroom to cover the full court reference, but the footage was leaked to the particular media group. They requested the chief justice to take notice of it.

â€œI will take notice today,â€ the chief justice assured the journalists.

Meanwhile, in a clarification the SC office denied that the registrar had ever stated that the camera used to film the reference inside the courtroom was arranged by the court for the coverage.

Earlier during the court proceedings, Attorney General Muneer A. Malik congratulated Chief Justice Jillani on assuming his office and said: â€œOn this occasion I assure you of fullest cooperation from my office and I hope you will have wonderful time during your stint.â€ He said his foremost obligation would be to assist the court.

The chief justice thanked the attorney general and said the court would continue to uphold its constitutional oath.

Later the chief justice presided over a full court meeting. It attended by all judges of the Supreme Court and discussed measures to address the backlog and for providing relief to litigants.

There are 20,456 cases of different categories pending in the Supreme Court and its branches in the four provinces.

The meeting decided that the office would prepare on an urgent basis subject-wise categorisation of cases, including sub-categories and lists of cases to be fixed before two or three-judge benches. The proposed cause lists will be prepared and issued a month in advance. The cases of one advocate will not be fixed simultaneously at different stations or branch registries in different cities.

The meeting also decided to discourage unnecessary adjournments.

On the suggestion of the chief justice, the judges volunteered to forgo the coming winter vacation to reduce the backlog and decided to continue hearing cases in different benches at the principal seat in Islamabad and branch registries.

At the outset, the chief justice welcomed the judges attending the full court meeting and observed that its purpose was to take stock of the performance of the apex court and discuss ways of ensuring inexpensive and expeditious dispensation of justice in line with the mandate of the constitution and to augment disposal of cases for redress of grievances of the litigants.

The judges congratulated the chief justice and reposed full confidence and trust in his leadership. They assured him of their support and cooperation in his endeavour to advance the cause of justice and strengthen the system of administration of justice for the benefit of litigants.

New CJ sworn in

Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The new Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, was administered oath of office by President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The new Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, was administered oath of office by President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday.

The ceremony at the presidency was attended by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, federal ministers, parliamentarians and diplomats.

Retired chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who never attended any state function in the presidency during the five-year term of the PPP government, was also present.

Justice Jillani will hold the office for seven months and 18 days and retire on July 5 next year.

Both the government and the opposition have hailed his elevation to the post and expressed the hope that all institutions would work within their respective domains.

Justice Jillani was born on July 6, 1949. He did his masters in political science from the Forman Christian College, Lahore, LLB from the University of Punjab and a course in constitutional law from the University of London.

He started his carrier as a lawyer from the Multan district courts in 1974 and enrolled as an advocate of the high court in 1976 and of the Supreme Court in 1983.

He also served as additional advocate general and advocate general of Punjab.

He took oath as a judge of the Lahore High Court on Aug 7, 1994, and was elevated to the Supreme Court on July 31, 2004.

He refused to take fresh oath under the PCO after the imposition of state of emergency on Nov 3, 2007. As a result, he was rendered dysfunctional. He returned to the apex court in September 2009 after restoration of the judiciary.

Blast kills 4 troops in N. Waziristan

Pazir Gul

MIRAMSHAH, Dec 12: Four soldiers were killed and 10 others injured in a bomb blast in Spinwam area of North Waziristan on Thursday.

MIRAMSHAH, Dec 12: Four soldiers were killed and 10 others injured in a bomb blast in Spinwam area of North Waziristan on Thursday.

Officials said that an improvised explosive device placed along a road went off when a military convoy was passing through the area. The convoy was going from Spinwam to Dandi Kach Camp.

Two soldiers died on the spot and two others succumbed to injuries at the Combined Military Hospital in Thall Garrison. One of the injured was said to be in critical condition.

After the blast security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. However, no arrest was reported.

AFP adds: Ansarul Mujahideen, a little known militant group linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.

â€œIt is in retaliation to the drone strike in Hangu,â€ Abu Baseer, a purported spokesman for the group told AFP by telephone, threatening more attacks.

Come to NA or quit, Nisar tells ministers

Raja Asghar

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: Since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif doesnâ€™t come to parliament, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan oversees the treasury benches in the National Assembly, where he had a tough message for his cabinet colleagues on Thursday: Come to the house or quit.

Absenteeism on government benches has been quite striking in the present parliament, provoking opposition charges of their disinterest in debates on important issues such as on high prices on Wednesday and law and order on Thursday, forcing adjournment of the National Assembly for the second day running for lack of quorum.

However, the interior ministerâ€™s ire in the National Assembly came quite early in the day when Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had to defer a call-attention notice of five MQM members about what they called loadshedding of natural gas, because of the absence of Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, deputy minister of state Jam Kamal Khan as well as of the parliamentary secretary concerned.

â€œThis is unacceptable,â€ the interior minister said after he turned around and found none of the concerned functionaries present. The Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, said he too had no instructions on the issue, drawing chants of â€œshame, shameâ€ from opposition benches.

Chaudhry Nisar said that whether it be question hour or a call-attention notice, ministers must be present and do their job for which, he said, â€œwe are paid salaries and are accountable to the houseâ€.

They should â€œcome to the house or vacate their seats,â€ the minister said, adding they could be replaced by any member of the ruling party who were more punctual in attending the house.

He said he had already taken up the matter of ministerial absenteeism twice in the cabinet and would raise it again â€œmore forcefullyâ€.

While telling members that the prime minister had given â€œclear-cut instructionsâ€ to ministers to ensure their presence in the house, Chaudhry Nisar sought help from both the speaker and house members to enforce discipline: in the shape of â€œsternest actionâ€ by the chair against those who defied and privilege motions against them from aggrieved lawmakers.

However, Khaqan Abbasi came to the house before it was adjourned for â€˜zoharâ€™ and responded to the MQMâ€™s call-attention notice with the news of continuing problems in pursuing the Iran gas pipeline project due to Western sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme. The speaker said the minister had previously been in the Senate session at the same time.

But the interior ministerâ€™s warning did seem to have only a temporary effect as most treasury benches were again found empty in the later part of the sitting. This forced Asiya Nasir of the government-allied Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, who was chairing the proceedings at the time, to adjourn the house until 10.30am on Friday just as a member of the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf rose to point out the lack of quorum.

A member of the opposition PPP, Imran Zafar Leghari, asked the treasury benches to persuade the prime minister to grace the house, which he attended during the budget session in June. â€œThe beauty of the house is the leader of the house, who has not come here for six months,â€ he remarked sarcastically.

TRIBUTES: Earlier, before the start of a debate on the law and order situation in the country, the interior minister made a brief policy statement paying a delayed tribute to former army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who retired 11 days ago, and a rather timely one to former Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

While calling for giving up what he called a tradition of welcoming every incoming functionary and saying murdabad to every outgoing one, he said he would say zindabad to both Gen Kayani and Justice Chaudhry.

But in the debate on law and order, Awami Muslim League leader Sheikh Rashid Ahmed dismissed the interior ministerâ€™s tributes, saying â€œwhat great thing has happenedâ€ if a chief justice and army chief had retired and new ones had come, asking which other country had given two terms to an army chief.

He described the law and order situation as dismal due to infiltration of terrorists and police inefficiency and called Islamabad the â€œmost unsafe cityâ€ in the country.

A PTI member, Shireen Mazari who opened the debate, suggested three solutions: getting out of â€œAmerican warâ€ in Afghanistan, depoliticisation of police as she said had been done by the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and providing protection to judges and witnesses in prosecuting terrorists.

The MQMâ€™s Nabil Ahmed Gabol complained that the ongoing crackdown in Karachi had not produced the desired result because, he said, it had been directed against his party.

On points raised by former speaker Fehmida Mirza of the PPP and Tehmina Daultana of the PML-N, the petroleum minister cited difficulties relating to equipment and getting a contractor to build the Pakistani side of the Pak-Iran gas pipeline and said the project would be completed after these problems were overcome.

Frivolous petitions must end: Jillani

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: How the Supreme Court will function now that Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has doffed his robes. This is the concern being expressed extensively these days and which CJP-designate Tassaduq Hussain Jillani tried to dispel on Wednesday.

â€œThere is a need to reconsider and determine the limits and contours of jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution with a view to discouraging frivolous petitions and preventing the misuse of jurisdiction by vested interests,â€ Justice Jillani said, which many believe is the future roadmap.

Justice Jillani was speaking at a full-court reference held in honour of the outgoing chief justice in a packed to capacity Courtroom-1 which was also witnessed by members of Justice Chaudhryâ€™s family, including his son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar.

Attorney General Muneer A. Malik, Vice-President of the Pakistan Bar Council Qalbe Hassan and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Kamran Murtaza praised the role played by the outgoing chief justice and said he would stand up for his pro-active commitment to securing and realising fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution.

Justice Jillani candidly conceded that there was a perception shared by many that the thin line of distinction between the requirements of Article 199 and Article 184(3) was being blurred. Article 199 speaks about the jurisdiction of the high courts whereas under Article 184(3) the Supreme Court enforces and checks violation of fundamental rights.

â€œI believe that good governance and the rule of law have a symbiotic relationship. Good governance is not possible without the enforcement of rule of law in which every organ and institution of the state, including the court, has a role to play within the parameters of its authority spelt out in the constitution and law,â€ Justice Jillani emphasised.

He observed that on account of its mandate under Articles 184(3) and 187 of the Constitution, the apex court might be called upon to fill the gaps between the law and social dynamics, but while doing so the court had to defer to an equally important constitutional value of the trichotomy of powers as also the canons of fair trial, particularly in view of Article 10A (fair trial).

To substantiate this, he cited a quote from US Supreme Court judge Justice Robert H. Jackson â€” â€œWe are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.â€

Recollecting the events of March 9, 2007, when Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was deposed by then president Gen Pervez Musharraf, Justice Jillani said the court was then infused with a strong determination to abide by the mandate of its oath to â€œpreserve, protect and defend the constitutionâ€.

â€œThe restoration of the chief justice on July 17, 2007, was not glorification or reinstatement of an individual but rather a vindication of judgesâ€™ sacred oath of office. This spirit, this resolve and determination to abide by the terms of oath will continue to inspire us for the times to come and shall survive the retirement of the chief justice,â€ he said.

Eulogising the services rendered by the outgoing chief justice, Justice Jillani said he had forced â€œus to rethink and re-evaluate the fundamental questions regarding constitutionalism, law and judicial role and its relationship with the state, society and individualsâ€.

In his parting speech, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry regretted that the public administration was far from perfect and an unfortunate truth about the country was that â€œwe are replete with regulation with little emphasis on implementationâ€.

â€œA large number of voluminous rules and regulations exist to protect the life, liberty and property of the people. However, it seems that there is apathy with regard to implementation of these regulations. The state is mandated to ensure that these laws, rules and regulations are enforced,â€ he said.

He suggested that the Supreme Court should continue to focus on white collar crime, particularly the malevolent species of crime. â€œIts effects are wide-ranging and affect the public at large because of the billions that are sapped from the national exchequer,â€ he said, adding that the elite class had seen fit to devour the meagre resources of â€œour poverty-stricken country to meet their own endsâ€.

â€œThe governments come and go, but corruption is the one constant that not only remains but increases in magnitude,â€ the outgoing chief justice said, adding that democracy was impossible without free and fair elections all the way from the local government to the national level.

Journalists protest selective coverage

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was given a send-off on Wednesday with fireworks though the fiery farewell was different from the one expected.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was given a send-off on Wednesday with fireworks though the fiery farewell was different from the one expected.

On the CJâ€™s last day, the environs of the Supreme Court witnessed another protest against the judiciary.

However, the protesters were not lawyers or unhappy petitioners but angry reporters who were upset at what they saw as discriminatory attitude of the Supreme Court.

Their hours long protest ensured that the CJâ€™s last day and his farewell dinner passed in unpleasantness instead of pleasantry. Ordinarily it would have looked frivolous but not in the cut-throat competition for ratings among commercial TV networks.

Television cameras are usually not allowed inside a courtroom, but Wednesday was an exception. During the full-court reference for the outgoing chief justice which was held in the packed to capacity Courtroom No. 1, a television camera was spotted at the gallery of the courtroom recording the entire event.

After the reference, journalists including the print media representatives rushed to the ceremony hall of the apex court to have a chat with the chief justice, judges and members of the bar.

In the meanwhile, a reporter of a particular channel managed to get the television feed and aired the same through the DSNG van parked in the parking lot of the Supreme Court.

This infuriated reporters of other TV channels who accused the court administration of favouritism and discrimination against them.

Even personal secretary to the chief justice failed to dampen the tempers despite assurance that the Supreme Court registrar has ordered an immediate inquiry into the matter.

The registrar told Dawn that the camera was arranged by the court for the coverage of the full court proceedings.

Later, a meeting of the Press Association of the Supreme Court decided to boycott the dinner being hosted by the Supreme Court for the outgoing chief justice.

President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Kamran Murtaza also came along with other members of the SCBA to express solidarity with journalists.

When approached, the reporter who managed to get the footage said that it was a right of every journalist to do an exclusive work.

Power sectorâ€™s â€˜circular debtâ€™ piles up again

Nasir Jamal

LAHORE, Dec 11: The unpaid bills of power companies have again piled up to a precarious level of Rs216 billion in less than six months after the Nawaz Sharif government had settled the previous â€˜overdueâ€™ bills of both the public and private electricity producers and their fuel suppliers for the pre-March 2013 period.

While clearing chunk of the unpaid bills of the power companies at the end of June and the remaining in early July, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had vowed never to let what is commonly known as circular debt to rise again. The unprecedented step that pushed the budget deficit to 8.2pc of GDP last fiscal, he had claimed, would ease power shortages.

The government has continuously brandished what it calls as its first major policy achievement without acknowledging the resurgence of the debt during the early months of its own tenure.

In all the government had cleared the unpaid bills of the public and private power companies and their fuel suppliers to the tune of Rs480bn through cash payment of over Rs322bn just before the close of the last fiscal, and non-cash settlement of above Rs138bn in the first few weeks of the current financial year.

According to independent power producers (IPPs) sources, the government had initially continued to make partial payments to them against their bills for the post-March period. â€œEven these partial payments have been stopped for some time now,â€ a frustrated executive of an IPP said. â€œThe payment of previous bills accumulated under the previous set-up was the right steps in the right direction but it was wrong to assume that it would resolve all the chronic power troubles for ever.â€He said the IPPs could invoke sovereign guarantees if the government did not take steps to pay their bills over the next few weeks if not days. â€œThe last time the IPPs had invoked sovereign guarantees to pay off their creditors and suppliers, the size of their unpaid bills was far smaller than its current level,â€ he warned.

The IPPs blame the governmentâ€™s failure to cut the transmission and distribution inefficiencies and losses and theft amounting to one-third of the countryâ€™s total power productions, delayed increase in the electricity price, poor recovery of the unpaid bills of more than Rs500bn from defaulting consumers, etc. for the rapid growth in their unpaid bills.

Another IPP executive said the government was holding up â€˜overdue paymentsâ€™ to the power companies to meet the revenue targets given by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

â€œUnless the government realises the gravity of the situation for future supply of electricity and starts clearing the bills, it is going to become a major problem for it going forward,â€ he said.

According to the details of the unpaid bills of the power companies accumulated since April provided by the IPPs, the government owes Rs56.73bn to Gencos (public sector power generation firms), Rs3.77bn to Chashma Power; Rs3.48bn to hydel plants, Rs44.45bn to the IPPS (set up under the 2002 power policy), and Rs108.10bn to the IPPs (established under the 1994 policy).

The chief executive of a major private power company insisted the government must immediately get out of the power business by selling the public sector generation and distribution companies if it wanted to fix the collapsing power sector. â€œYou cannot hope to bring about improvements in the power sector or attract investment in new generation capacity unless the market forces are allowed to play their role.â€

Dar expects payment of CSF in four weeks

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: Pakistan chastised the United States on Wednesday over its threats to hold up coalition support fund reimbursements, saying the amount belonged to Islamabad and its disbursements should be speeded up.

â€œIt is Pakistanâ€™s money and belongs to the people of Pakistan. It is not a charity or donation. We will recover every outstanding dollar,â€ said Finance minister Ishaq Dar at a press conference on Wednesday. He said it was not Pakistan of the past and promised to get this money within two to four weeks.

The minister was asked to comment on a background briefing to journalists by the US Embassy in Islamabad in which US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel was reported to have asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief Gen Raheel Sharif to keep land routes open for US and Nato cargo, otherwise CSF reimbursements could be held up.

In his opening remarks, Mr Dar said some visible payments were due over the next few months. These would improve the countryâ€™s reserves position, he said, mentioning $850 million from the US on account of CSF among them.

He said disbursement of $381m from the US was due this month, while bills for the January-March period had been submitted to the US. About $790m is due from the US for eight months of previous services. He said the government was in talks with the US for early reimbursements.

The finance minister said in his recent meeting with Mr Hagel, he impressed that â€œthese delays in CSF payments are not properâ€. Mr Dar wondered how the agreements were finalised in the past with the US, saying these payments should have automatically gone into an Escrow account.

The minister said it was strange that Pakistan was still fighting for reimbursements it had expended 14 months ago. He said he had also directed the quarters concerned to submit bills of up to Sept 30 immediately to the US. â€œTherefore, total outstanding amount against the US is about $1.5 billion nowâ€.

Mr Hagel appreciated his position and asked â€œus to address our lethargy in submission of bills and they would fast-track disbursementsâ€, he added.

IRAN PIPELINE: In reply to a question on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, Mr Dar said Iran was not ready to finance the pipeline, contrary to claims made by certain elements. â€œSome people are just fond of laying foundation stones even though there was no financial close and no clues of funding,â€ he said without naming former president Zardariâ€™s visit to Iran to lay foundation stone of the pipeline.

Mr Dar said it emerged during his meeting with his Iranian counterpart in the US that Tehran had no plans to offer $500m. â€œDuring a meeting with the finance minister of Iran in the presence of the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and secretaries of finance and economic affairs, I raised the issue and asked about promised $500m and if this figure could be increased. I was told (by the Iranian minister) that Iran could not finance the project.â€

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: The finance minister said he would propose a constitutional amendment to make it binding on the caretaker government to clear the backlog of decision-making of the previous government before transferring power to a new elected government with a clean slate to put the responsibility where it belonged.

He conceded that the people faced inflation, but said it was because of clearance of the backlog. He claimed that the caretaker government had given a commitment to the IMF in April to impose Rs200bn of fresh taxes and the summary had been submitted to the president, but a decision was not taken.

Likewise, the international lenders were given an assurance about an increase in electricity tariff by Rs6 per unit and even a summary was also moved but then shelved. Then they promised to collect Rs2,050bn taxes, which ended up at Rs1,936bn.

â€œWe had to honour these commitments soon after coming to power,â€ he said, offering to make public summaries forwarded by the interim government and rejected by the former president.

FOREIGN INFLOWS: The minister contended that economic conditions were well under control and in some cases major targets, including that of economic growth, had been surpassed. He said the recent dip in foreign exchange was not unexpected and was projected in the budget.

The foreign exchange position would improve from now onwards and the rupee depreciation was already on a reverse gear. He said he would hold a conclusive meeting with Etisalat on Dec 18 following his discussions with UAEâ€™s Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed for payment of $800m on account of PTCLâ€™s sale and held up for seven years now.

Mr Dar said the auction for spectrum telecom would be held in February next year for which the government had issued binding timelines to the Pakistan Telecom Authority to generate $1.2-1.5bn.

Likewise, the government was preparing to launch of $500m worth of Eurobond and $500m remittance-based rupee bond to the Pakistani diaspora, followed by fast-track capital market-based disinvestment of government shares to end up at $20bn in three years.

ECONONOMIC INDICATORS: The minister said the government had decided to announce quarterly results for economic performance and the first quarter of the current year (July-September) results were very encouraging.

For example, the economic growth rate stood at 5 per cent of GDP, compared to 2.9pc of the same period last year. This was supported by 5.7pc growth in services compared to 2.9pc of last year.

Industry grew by 5.2pc compared to 3.1pc last year, while agriculture grew by 2.5pc compared to 2.7pc last year.

He said the industry and services surpassed targets by wide margins in the first quarter while the agriculture growth target was missed which required the government to focus on this sector now. The improvement was because of better power supply, he said.

Two killed in Quetta firing

Saleem Shahid

QUETTA, Dec 11: Two men were killed and a woman and five others injured in firing in various areas of the city during a protest march held against alleged desecration of the holy Quran here on Wednesday.

According to police, the mob pelted vehicles and shops with stones and torched three motorcycles. Police baton-charged and fired teargas shells to disperse the protesters and arrested over 20 of them in connection with the violence.

â€œThe protest began after pages of the holy Quran were found in crates of pomegranates allegedly brought from Iran to the Hazarganji Fruit and Vegetable Market,â€ a police official said, adding that an investigation had been launched.

A large number of activists and supporters of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) took to the streets with placards and banners. They marched on various roads and when they reached the main commercial area of Liaquat

Bazaar and Qandhari Bazaar, some people carrying sticks and clubs started ransacking the shops and pelting vehicles with stones.

The unruly protesters blocked roads by burning tyres and placing barriers at Manan Chowk, Mizan Chowk, Liaquat Bazaar, Masjid Road, Prince Road and Satellite Town.

Men on motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire in Liaquat Bazaar and Qandhari Bazaar, injuring six people. One of them, Zainul Abidin, died in Civil Hospital of bullet wounds.

Khali Ahmed Mohmand, who had been attacked in Satellite Town, also died in the hospital.

The Frontier Corps, police and Balochistan Constabulary were called in immediately. Police also fired into the air to disperse the protesters.

The law enforcement agencies stopped the angry protesters from entering the Alamdar Road area, a predominantly Shia Hazara neighbourhood.

The protest crippled life in the panic-stricken city for hours.

The security forces, deployed with armoured vehicles and reserve force, brought the situation under control.

Speaking at a press conference, ASWJ leader Maulana Mohammad Ramazan Mengal urged the government to investigate the incident and suspend diplomatic relations with the neighbouring country from where, he alleged, the fruit crates had been brought.

The Iranian consulate general issued a statement in the night, saying it had initiated an investigation into the desecration of the holy Quran.

â€œThe Consulate General, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Quetta, has contacted Pakistani officials to ascertain the real motives and to provide all information about the incident,â€ it said, adding that the desecration had been committed by enemies of Islam and this conspiracy had been hatched by non-Muslims. The elements involved in this act who want differences between the two brother and neighbouring Islamic countries of Iran and Pakistan will be exposed soon,â€ it said.

Secret detention has no legal cover

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: A day before taking off the robe after eight-year eventful tenure as the countryâ€™s top judge, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry handed down on Tuesday two judgments, both relating to missing persons.

In one verdict the chief justice categorically ruled that no intelligence or security agencies, including the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Frontier Corps, could secretly detain a person for a long time without sharing information relating to his whereabouts with his relatives.

Disposing of a case about production of 35 detainees, including Yasin Shah, who went missing in September 2011 after the army authorities had taken their custody from an internment centre in Lakki Marwat, Malakand, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the chief justice held that except for the regulations relating to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata), there was no other law which allowed security agencies to confine people without any authority.

The stance taken by the defence ministry that these persons were not in their custody, the verdict said, proved to be incorrect and regretted that only seven of the 35 internees had been produced on Dec 7.

Two of them died in the internment centre and one went to Saudi Arabia. Another two were released but their identity was kept confidential.

The verdict said police at times detained persons but under relevant laws after registration of FIR. It was the responsibility of the civilian government to ensure recovery of the missing persons, it added.

It ordered the prime minister as well as the governor and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure the recovery of the missing internees in seven days and submit a report to the SC registrar after taking strict action against those involved in enforced disappearances.

The judgment said the army authorities under the Pata regulations had taken away 35 detainees from the Lakki Marwat internment centre but only seven of them had been produced before the court and the whereabouts of the remaining could be known only to them.

But contrary to the expectations, the verdict failed to draw appreciation from the legal community.

Former Lahore High Court Bar president Ahmed Awais said that nothing substantial had come out of it. â€œIt is just an eyewash,â€ he said, adding that he was expecting some concrete steps against the political governments and civil and military bureaucracy because they had intentionally defied the courtâ€™s orders of producing the missing persons.

â€œFrankly, I would say the court directions will not provide any fruitful result,â€ he said, adding that the supremacy of the court had not been taken care of the way it should have been.

Tariq Asad, who had been pursuing the cases of missing persons, said that although strict actions had been ordered in earlier proceedings, an ambiguous and ineffective verdict was announced yet again. â€œThis shows that the judiciary is still not independent and the real power vests with the armed forces and agencies which control everything,â€ he said.

The judgment said that since no law existed about detention of the undeclared internees, except in KP and that too under Pata regulations, the other three provinces should also come up with proper legislation to discourage the tendency of enforced disappearances. The chief executives of the provinces should also ensure that enforced disappearances do not take place in future.

Referring to the jurisdiction of the apex court, the verdict cited the 1999 judgment in the Northern Areas case and held that being responsible for protection and enforcement of fundamental rights, the court had the authority to assume jurisdiction in such matters.

The court regretted that despite the involvement of the prime minister through Defence Minister Khawaja Asif in the matter and several orders issued since Aug 5, the remaining missing persons had not been produced.

Citing instances from different countries, the court observed that enforced disappearances were considered a serious crime the world over.

ADIYALA PRISONERS: In a separate judgment relating to seven surviving Adiyala prisoners accused of terrorism, Justice Gulzar Ahmed held that since they had been convicted by the assistant political agent of Lower Orakzai Agency and detained in central prison, Kohat, which admittedly is a settled area, the jail administration was directed to deal with them under the applicable prisoners law.

These prisoners had gone missing mysteriously from outside Rawalpindiâ€™s Adiyala jail on May 29, 2010, the day they were acquitted of terrorism charges for their alleged involvement in the audacious October 2009 attacks on the GHQ and ISIâ€™s Hamza Camp in Rawalpindi.

The court ordered that the convicts be provided safe and proper lodging in the jail and if they required any medical treatment which was not available in the jail hospital they should be taken to proper hospitals, preferably Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar. All efforts should be made to secure their health and life which is their guaranteed right under the constitution. They should also be given proper food and clothing.

Relatives and lawyers of the prisoners should be allowed to meet them without any hindrance, but subject to law.

The superintendent of Kohat central prison is required to submit to the SC registrar fortnightly reports on implementation of the courtâ€™s orders.

FC CHIEF: The Supreme Court ordered the interior secretary to submit on Wednesday (today) complete health record and ailment for which Inspector General of Frontier Corps Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid was admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology; whether he proceeded on leave and notification under which the command of the force was handed over to Brig Khalid Saleem.

Attorney General Muneer A. Malik is required to independently find out from the hospital facts about the ailment of the FC chief.

Chaudhry leaving an invigorated court

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: After serving in the Supreme Court since Feb 4, 2000, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is spending his last working day in the apex court on Wednesday.

Justice Chaudhry was elevated as the 20th Chief Justice of Pakistan in June 2005.

Justice Chaudhry changed the face of the Supreme Court. In the past, the apex court was known as the appellate forum of the provincial high courts, but after the success of the movement for the restoration of judiciary led to his return to his office, the chief justice exercised the â€œoriginal jurisdictionâ€ and took suo motu notice on a number of matters of public interest.

According to the statistics, the number of human rights applications filed in the Supreme Court exceeded 250 per day.

The landmark judgments passed by Justice Chaudhry included human rights cases related to missing persons, privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills, declaring the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) as void ab initio and sending home about 100 judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) of November 2007.

During his speeches at farewell receptions, Justice Chaudhry made it clear that in order to dispel the rumours of his extension he had directed Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain on Nov 22 to write a letter to the federal government for issuing a notification for the appointment of Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani as the next Chief Justice.

Justice Jillani will take oath of his office on Thursday.

He started legal practice at Multan district courts in 1974; enrolled as an advocate of high court in 1976 and was appointed advocate general of Punjab in 1993. He was appointed a judge of Lahore High Court on Aug 7, 1994.

Justice Jillani was elevated to the Supreme Court on July 31, 2004.

As he refused to take fresh oath after the imposition of emergency on Nov 3, 2007, he was made dysfunctional. After the restoration of democracy, he re-joined the court in September 2009.

Justice Jillani will serve as Chief Justice till July 6 next year, when he will reach the age of superannuation.

Sharif seeks better ties with Europe

From the Newspaper

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday that Pakistan was looking forward to enhancing its cooperation with its European partners in important areas, including trade, investment, energy, infrastructure development, education and human resource development.

â€œEuropean countries, as our largest trade and investment partners, enjoy a unique position in our priorities,â€ the prime minister said while addressing ambassadors of European countries at a luncheon hosted in their honour at the PM House.

Mr Sharif said his government was â€œvery satisfied and deeply encouragedâ€ to see the progress being made about grant of GSP+ status to Pakistan, which is going to be voted on by the European Parliament soon.

â€œI know this for a fact that our high hopes about Pakistan winning this status are very strongly founded on supportive and cooperative role of the resident missions,â€ he said.

The prime minister expressed his deep gratitude to the ambassadors for their support and assistance in this regard. He expressed confidence that given Pakistanâ€™s improving ties with the European countries, the ambassadorsâ€™ continued support would enable Islamabad to get the coveted status, thereby stimulating further its economic growth, curbing extremism and promoting social stability.

â€œPakistan is a country thatâ€™s full of potential, but which has yet to be fully exploited. We are looking to working closely with you, both in exploring, exploiting and developing this potential and realising the opportunities,â€ he remarked.

Talking about US drone attacks in Pakistan, the prime minister said the strikes proved to be counter-productive and added that Pakistan was continuously apprising the international community about the adverse impact of these attacks.

He said the world must find such ways of curbing terrorism which were not counter-productive.â€”PPI

Gas project with Iran to be pushed forward: govt

From the Newspaper

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: Pakistan will push forward with a pipeline to import natural gas from Iran, the Foreign Office said on Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: Pakistan will push forward with a pipeline to import natural gas from Iran, the Foreign Office said on Tuesday.

The pipeline will link Iranâ€™s gas fields to energy-starved Pakistan.

The US has opposed the project and instead supported an alternative proposal to build a pipeline from the gas fields of Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday that petroleum ministers of the two countries met in Tehran on Monday to discuss the project, which has been beset by repeated delays.

The two countries decided to fast-track the pipeline and formulate a road map to work out challenges, the ministry said.

The ministry said experts from both sides would meet soon to accelerate work on the pipeline.

Pakistani officials in the Tehran meeting also reiterated their governmentâ€™s commitment to fulfil its contractual obligation to the pipeline and stressed that the project is of â€œimmense importanceâ€ to meeting Pakistanâ€™s energy needs.

The agreement with Iran stipulates that Pakistan must construct its side of the pipeline by Dec 2014 but the project has met repeated delays. If Pakistan fails to meet this deadline, it will be liable to pay fines that could run into the millions of dollars per day.â€”Agencies

Man without a legal legacy

Arifa Noor

BEFORE Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry came along, the one resurrection known to mankind had been deemed a miracle. But Pakistanâ€™s chief justice managed it twice â€” in 2007 and then in 2009. And since his second coming, what a rollercoaster ride the inhabitants of the big white building on Constitution Avenue have been on. From the NRO to the prime ministerâ€™s appointments to missing people, nothing proved too small or too controversial.

Some of it, it is alleged, was driven by the CJâ€™s love of publicity. Itâ€™s plausible â€” on the first day of his restoration, he walked up the stairs to his office on the top floor of the building. The clever move provided visuals to the 24/7 news channels as each one of them showed the climb. It was a moment that captured the CJ and his era. For individuals â€” however larger than life they may be â€” are a product of their times and the CJ is no different. He captured the imagination of a nation that was tiring of a dictator and learning to shape its destiny as the news camera stood witness.

General (retd) Musharraf provided a focal point for those opposing him when he sacked the CJ. The political parties, the lawyers, the same middle class that Musharraf was said to have mid-wifed. And of course the television cameras turned this into the stuff of legends â€” the 26-hour journey to Lahore from Islamabad, the May 2007 visit to Karachi and even the final Long March in 2009.

The dictator slayer understood this. He returned after a revolution that had been televised and he ensured that the cameras didnâ€™t stop rolling.

He thundered against corruption, chastised bureaucrats and police officials, treating them with the contempt ordinary people wished they could exercise. He personified the aam aadmi when he reminded the politician that his job was to serve the people.

A lawyer who does not want to be named says: â€œThe CJ needs to be seen in his two roles â€” his historic defiance to Musharraf, which no one can ever deny him, and then as an ordinary judge where he faulted again and again.â€

His courtroom proceeded to provide fodder to the 24/7 ticker monster with a voracious appetite.

In an age of experience where politicians were bound by economic constraints and could no longer promise roti, kapra aur makaan, the CJ became the medieval king whose darbar was open to all those who could send in a petition or get a journalist to report their story.

At the same time, the traditional saviour of the people, the army, was also busy patching its uniform that had seen considerable wear and tear during the Musharraf era.

Within this context, Chaudhry made all the right sounds, especially for the burgeoning middle class that wanted not just employment and food hand-outs from its elected representatives but also merit and honesty.

He promised to check sugar prices, corruption, appointments made on the basis of nepotism and shady contracts that were finalised after alleged kickbacks. Cartel owners, investors and prime ministers were dragged to the courts.

Bureaucrats were kept so busy that they complained they had little time left for their work.

And most were treated with disdain. For instance, Adnan Khawaja, whom then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appointed as the head of OGDCL, was berated for his young age when he appeared in the court. Few managed to give as good as they got, such as former attorney general Irfan Qadir whose verbal sparring in Courtroom One was relished by many.

The Swiss cases proved such an obsession that the Supreme Court sent home an elected prime minister despite warnings that it would derail a fledgling democracy.

Perhaps, someone remembered that the middle classes in most developing countries have always prioritised honesty over democracy.

Be as it may, this was not the only time Iftikhar Chaudhryâ€™s court was accused of judicial over-reach. The International Commission of Juristsâ€™ latest report on the SC provides an excellent and comprehensive analysis of the courtâ€™s activities.

Ahmer Bilal Soofi, who is a Supreme Court advocate as well as a former federal minister, advocated for strategic judicial restraint in the future, adding that â€œeach time there is a violation of a rule or an audit objection, corruption cannot be assumed and a criminal case registered. The courts and NAB have to have proof of corruption before proceedingâ€.

He said the government, its bureaucrats and entrepreneurs should be given a chance to take quick decisions and turn the wheel of economy.

His views were seconded by a former government official who said that the SC had hampered decision making in the executive.

By this time, his earlier supporters had distanced themselves from him â€” the gutsy lawyers who had led the initial onslaught against Musharraf in support of Chaudhry (Asma Jahangir, Aitzaz Ahsan and Ali Ahmed Kurd, to name a few); political parties such as the PPP and the ANP that shed blood for his restoration became his biggest critics and even within the bars there were whispers. And then came the harshest blow â€” his sonâ€™s alleged corruption that left a dark stain on his reputation. Itâ€™s a stain that has not faded with time.

But the final blow came just recently when protesting lawyers outside his Court House were attacked by the police. The incident brought home his isolation from his support base.

But perhaps more importantly, Chaudhryâ€™s justice was of the medieval variety â€” akin to the caring rulers who roamed the streets to check on the welfare of their subjects. This individualised approach to justice remains just that â€” popular folklore that does not impress those who record history.

Sugar prices remained unchanged while the real estate juggernaut Bahria Town too ploughs ahead and McDonalds still continues to sell its burgers from the corner of the F-9 park in Islamabad; judgments cannot change market forces nor institutional working.

As an observer pointed out, â€œhe never strengthened the judicial system, especially its lower tiersâ€.

The most famous political cases drag on unresolved â€” soap operas in which the audiences have lost interest. The NRO implementation case; â€˜Memogateâ€™; Bahria Townâ€™s land cases â€” none has come to a clean end with a judgment that offers the flawed polity a new beginning or a new direction. The detailed judgment on the 18th amendment is also awaited.

Even with the missing peopleâ€™s case, where the CJâ€™s harshest detractors have praised him, the court has simply had the Angelina Jolie effect. The high-profile hearings have given it national prominence. But beyond that, the disappearances continue, the mutilated bodies are still dumped and the relativesâ€™ search has not ended. (A lawyer described the order passed on Tuesday as â€˜an eyewashâ€™.) In other words, at the end the CJ proved that while judges can aspire to be charismatic figures who speak â€œpopuleseâ€ instead of â€œlegaleseâ€, governance tasks are best left to those who accept the responsibility and the authority to rule.

His tenure reminds us that justice at the end of the day is not bigger than the system that ensures it. In most cases he had to turn to the very executive that he berated and held in contempt and asked it to investigate; establish facts or make laws. This is why perhaps all Chaudhry could do decisively was to overturn the NRO â€” that Musharraf had bulldozed in his last days and which enjoyed little to no support. So when the court asked parliament to ratify it, everyone backed off and Chaudhryâ€™s supporters chalked it down as a victory.

That is all the revolutionary judge will leave behind when he exits the big white building on Dec 11. Even the television cameras, his steadfast allies, will remain behind. He will walk away, aware that Musharraf will define Chaudhryâ€™s legacy as much as Chaudhry defines Musharrafâ€™s. The legal aspect will always remain secondary.

As journalist and analyst Nusrat Javed puts it: â€œThe chief justice is leaving as a strong man without a legacy.â€

The writer is Dawnâ€™s Resident Editor, Islamabad

US warns of funds delay

Baqir Sajjad Syed

ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: The United States asked Pakistan on Monday to continue fighting terrorists in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and keep the land routes open for movement of US and Nato cargo; otherwise its coalition support reimbursements and security assistance could be held up.

The message was delivered by US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif during his first visit to Pakistan.

The trip, which is also the first by an American defence secretary to Pakistan in four years, followed US decision to suspend the use of land routes through Pakistani territory in the wake of PTIâ€™s protests against drone attacks.

Mr Hagel opened his daylong trip with talks with Gen Sharif at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi and later met Prime Minister Sharif and his national security team at the Prime Ministerâ€™s House in Islamabad.

â€œSecretary Hagel stressed on his interlocutors to continue fighting terrorists and the importance of keeping land routes open,â€ a source said.

The routes, suspended in the aftermath of PTI protests, are critical to the US and coalition forces for pulling out military hardware before the completion of the drawdown. Moreover, inaction against terrorist groups and their safe havens could also complicate the situation in Afghanistan.

A US Embassy statement on the visit said: â€œPakistanâ€™s determined effort to root out terrorism and militancy on its own territory is essential for creating a stable environment for promoting economic growth and prosperity.â€

The Pakistan government has been making attempts at opening dialogue with terrorists to coax them away from militancy that has claimed tens of thousands of innocent lives.

The government claimed that when it was on the verge of beginning negotiations with former TTP leader Hakeemullah Mehsud he was killed in a drone attack. Agitated government ministers had termed Mehsudâ€™s killing a US â€˜ambush on peace initiativeâ€™.

Publicly the US has so far maintained an ambivalent position on Pakistan governmentâ€™s peace dialogue with militants.

In his meeting with PM Sharif, Secretary Hagel reportedly conveyed US governmentâ€™s serious concerns about the continued presence of terrorist havens in tribal areas and enhanced activities of militant groups, particularly the Haqqani network.

He also called for improved measures along the Pak-Afghan border for preventing terror groups from launching cross-border attacks on both sides.

Despite their consensus on fighting terrorism, the US and Pakistan have all along differed on the identity of the enemy and the strategy to fight them out.

Assuring Pakistani leaders that the US would not ignore the region after the drawdown slated to be completed next year, Mr Hagel said the US and its coalition partners remained resolved not to let militants destabilise the region.

â€œSecretary Hagel reviewed the mutually beneficial bilateral security relationship and reaffirmed the strong US commitment to fostering peace and security in the region. During his meetings, the secretary also emphasised the US desire for a strong, long-term partnership with Pakistan,â€ the US Embassy said.

The secretary spoke about the Coalition Support Fund and the security assistance, which are being used to build counter-terrorism capabilities of security forces.

The CSF has accounted for nearly half of US financial transfers to Pakistan from 2001 to June 2013. Pakistan has since 2001 received about $11 billion under this head from the US. The amount equals roughly one-fifth to one-fourth of Pakistanâ€™s total military expenditures during this period.

Pakistani claims for October to December 2012 are being currently reviewed.

Mr Sharif was told that it would be politically difficult for the Obama administration to get CSF bills reimbursed in case the routes remain closed for US/Nato traffic.

The prime minister said Pakistan remained committed to relations with the US and desired long-term and broad-based defence cooperation.

â€œThe prime minister stressed the importance of establishing a long-term and broad-based defence cooperation with the US on the basis of mutual interest,â€ a statement issued by the PM Office said.

It was unclear if Mr Sharifâ€™s words could be taken as an assurance for opening the routes.

â€œThe two leaders agreed to work together to strengthen Pakistan-US relations and advance the shared interest of a stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan and the region,â€ the PM Office said.

The Pakistani offer for greater defence cooperation also comes against the backdrop of continued stalemate between the US and Afghanistan over a bilateral security agreement that would provide a framework for the presence of US and allied forces beyond 2014.

Although the US continues to plan for the post-2014 presence in Afghanistan, the delay in signing a security agreement has forced it to look for other options.

Secretary Hagel is expected to meet leaders from other countries contributing forces to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan for deliberations on Afghanistan and the future presence of troops.

Agencies add: After leaving Islamabad, Mr Hagel flew to Saudi Arabia where he is scheduled to meet Crown Prince Salman.

Defence officials said in Riyadh that Mr Hagel had received assurances from the Pakistanis that they would take â€œimmediate actionâ€ to resolve the shipment problem. The officials did not provide details on how that might be done.

They said Mr Hagel described a political reality on Capitol Hill that could complicate support for the billions of dollars of aid Pakistan now received. It was Mr Hagelâ€™s intent to try and pre-empt any problems with the aid, said the officials.

During the Pakistan meetings some of the more contentious issues also were raised, including Islamabadâ€™s opposition to ongoing CIA drone strikes and Washingtonâ€™s frustration with Pakistanâ€™s reluctance to go after the Haqqani network, which operates along the border and conducts attacks on US and coalition troops in Afghanistan. The officials acknowledged that little progress was made other than to agree to continue talking.

Mr Sharifâ€™s office said the prime minister conveyed Pakistanâ€™s deep concern over continuing US drone strikes, â€œstressing that drone strikes were counter-productive to our efforts to combat terrorism and extremism on an enduring basis,â€ the statement said.

Mr Hagelâ€™s warning to the Pakistanis about the supply route reflects what has been a growing frustration among US lawmakers with Pakistan in recent years.The visit came after Mr Hagelâ€™s deputies withdrew a statement that Nato shipments out of Afghanistan through Pakistan would resume due to the end of anti-drone protests.

Mr Hagel warned Mr Sharif that US lawmakers could withhold military assistance if Islamabad failed to ensure security for the key supply route.

â€œThere will be those home back in Congress... who will seize upon this issue if it continues to be a concern,â€ a defence official told reporters after Mr Hagelâ€™s talks with the prime minister.

Question about judges goes unanswered

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: As parliamentarians continue to push ahead with their quest for transparency on the matter, a question was put in the National Assembly on Monday for the ministry of law, justice and human rights by a PPP lawmaker about the number of judges holding nationalities of other countries, but to no avail.

Surriya Jatoiâ€™s question was put in a category whose written answers are given but not taken up for discussion.

The ministry said in its reply that it didnâ€™t possess information sought in the question, but registrars of the superior courts had been forwarded the request.

The Supreme Court registrar said in his response quoted in the reply:

â€œNeither the constitution nor the code of conduct prescribed for the judges of the Supreme Court places any embargo on the honourable judges for holding dual nationality.â€

Registrars of the Lahore and Peshawar high courts reproduced the same response that since the law placed no such bar, the question lacked reasoning.

The registrar of the Islamabad High Court said: â€œDual nationality is no disqualification for judges of this court under any law of the country; hence the information sought is regretted.â€

Reply is still awaited from the Sindh and Balochistan high courts.

However, the Federal Shariat Court clarified, citing its record, that no judge, including its chief justice, held dual nationality.

A similar question has been asked in the Senate more than once. Failing to receive a satisfactory answer, the mover of the question, Senator Farhatullah Babar of the PPP, has once again sought a clarification during the ongoing session of the house from the ministry as to why it had failed to get the required information.

He argued that even if the constitution and the relevant code of conduct donâ€™t prohibit the judges from securing nationality of another country, what stopped them from making this information public.

The Senate is also discussing the procedure for the appointment of judges. Senators from PPP argued in a motion that the procedure lacked parliamentary oversight in its present form.

According to Kamran Murtaza, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, the SCBA is not in a position to comment on the matter.

â€œIf parliament passes a legislation which places a similar condition for the judges, the SCBA will support that,â€ he said.

The SC, through a landmark ruling in September last year, had declared lawmakers holding dual nationality disqualified. Following the ruling, many legislators lost their seats. In the general elections, candidates were asked to declare on oath that they did not hold foreign nationalities.

With the disqualification of a number of lawmakers, questions are regularly being raised if the same condition should apply to civil servants and members of the superior courts.

The Awani National Party, through a private memberâ€™s bill presented in the Senate, has sought an amendment to the constitution for barring civil servants in BS20 and above from keeping foreign nationalities.

Sui Northern suspends supplies for industrial, CNG sectors

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

LAHORE, Dec 9: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) decided on Monday to suspend, for an indefinite period, supplies to the industrial and compressed natural gas (CNG) sectors from 6am on Tuesday. The reason given is that its deficit has risen to more than 50 per cent of the demand.

By Monday, the gas requirement in the region covered by the company rose to 2.5 billion cubic feet with supply being 1.2 billion cubic feet, leaving a gap of 1.3 billion cubic feet.

According to SNGPL General Manager (sales) Mohammad Ashraf, the industries drew around 700 million cubic feet per day and the CNG sector 300 million cfd.

The domestic demand will rise to over one billion cubic feet in the coming weeks as temperature dips and people use geysers and heaters. Under the government policy, the domestic and commercial sectors remain a priority. Thus supplies were being diverted to them, the official said.

According to another official, the supplies to the two sectors will most probably remain suspended for about 10 weeks, but no final decision has been taken. â€œIt depends on the weather during January and February,â€ he said.

However, the schedule of indefinite suspension announced on Monday had been approved by the ministry, he said.

The All Pakistan CNG Association rejected the gas load management plan contemplating suspension of supply to the sector for an indefinite period.

The associationâ€™s supreme council chairman Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha said in a statement that other sectors facing disconnection could run their businesses by using furnace oil but the CNG sector had no alternative except natural gas.

He alleged that the decision had been taken to please the influential oil import mafia.

Efforts under way for talks with insurgents: Dr Malik

The Newspaper's Staff Correspondent

QUETTA, Dec 9: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has said that insurgency in the province can be ended through dialogue.

QUETTA, Dec 9: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has said that insurgency in the province can be ended through dialogue.

Speaking to officers attending a senior management course here on Monday, he pointed out that all the pervious insurgencies had been controlled through talks.

Mr Malik said his government was trying to initiate talks with disgruntled Baloch leaders to find a solution to the Balochistan issue.

The chief minister said the Balochistan government had appointed Senator Raza Rabbani as legal consultant to guide it in implementing the 18th Amendment. He said the provincial government had ensured transparent distribution of relief goods among survivors of the recent earthquake in Awaran and Kech, maintained peace during Muharram and successfully held local bodiesâ€™ elections.

The chief minister said highways in the province had been made safe and police and Levies force had been invigorated to curb crime.

He said steps had also been taken to improve the provinceâ€™s reputation with regard to corruption. The provincial government was making efforts to eliminate poverty and was focusing on education, health, mining, agriculture and livestock sectors, he said, adding that plans were afoot to build 200 dams in the province.

The chief minister said a donorsâ€™ conference would be organised soon and protection would be provided to investors in the province.

Nadra chief spurned move to get sensitive data

Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) had sought some sensitive information, including complete reports on thumb verification of voters, from the National Database and Registration Authority which later became a bone of contention between the government and Nadra, a document available with Dawn reveals.

An audit officer of the AGP had written a letter to Nadra on July 8, two months after the May 11 general elections, seeking details about financial and administrative matters of the authority as well as a report on the elections. According to the document, despite completion of an audit by the AGP, the interior ministry wanted an additional audit of Nadra through Waqar Alam, an auditor.

It is believed that the government wanted to get access to Nadraâ€™s report on the general elections through the additional audit.

However, Nadra Chairman Tariq Malik refused to provide sensitive record of elections, including thumb impression of voters, because under the directives of election tribunals he could not share such details with any individual, government department or even the Election Commission of Pakistan. The information could only be provided to election tribunals so that they could decide complaints about rigging in the light of Nadraâ€™s report.

The auditorâ€™s letter sought 17 kinds of details, including a complete report on verification of thumb impression of voters in the May elections, complaints received from MNAs, MPAs and the public about voter lists and reports prepared on the elections with regard to transparency and services provided by Nadra.

In a surprise move, the government removed Tariq Malik on the night of Dec 3 and appointed a new Nadra chairman within hours. But the Islamabad High Court struck down the governmentâ€™s decision the following day and reinstated Mr Malik.

The reinstatement apparently became a matter of ego for the government which levelled a series of allegations against Mr Malik. His appointment was termed illegal and he was accused of financial indiscipline in Nadra.

A day after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had invited parliamentary leaders of all political parties in the National Assembly to a meeting for resolving the controversy over alleged rigging in the May 11 elections, his ministry received a letter from the Nadra chief on Monday in which he rejected the allegations levelled by the minister. Mr Malik also explained why he had turned down the request for additional audit.

â€œI am submitting this clarification concerning audit of Nadra to allay any misperception and assure that Nadra is maintaining financial discipline. This is evident from the finding of Audit Report of 2012-13 of the Auditor General wherein financial position of Nadra has been described as satisfactory,â€ he said in the letter.

He said the statutory audit of Nadra by a chartered accountants firm, as per Nadra Ordinance (section 27 (2)), had been continuing since its inception and accounts for the year 2012-13 had already been audited.

Mr Malik said Nadraâ€™s stance concerning additional audit by the Auditor General was based on an advice by the law division that the AGP must spell out extent and nature of audit and notify through rules as a prerequisite to audit. He said the Public Accounts Committee had on March 7 formed a high-level committee to resolve this legal issue before commencement of audit and the case of Nadra, along with 18 other organisations, was still sub-judice in the Supreme Court.

â€œNadra, therefore, clarified to the ministry of interior that it will be a deviation of PAC directive as well as advice of the law division if additional audit by the Auditor General was to be undertaken without competition of prerequisites,â€ he added.

He said Nadra was fully cooperating with the audit team appointed by the Auditor General and audit was in progress. The letter said Nadra apprehended that without determining the extent and scope of audit as required under Article 170 (2) of the Constitution, unlimited discretion would become available to the auditors. â€œThis apprehension proved true when the audit team started requisitioning sensitive record pertaining to verification of election results.â€

It said the audit team was also requisitioning record pertaining to 2004-05 which, before the passage of 18th Amendment, was a past and closed transaction under the then provisions of law i.e. Article 169 of the Constitution, read with Section 11(2) of the Auditor General (Functions, Powers and Terms and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2001 (XXIII of 2001).

â€œIt is once again reiterated and assured that Nadra is making utmost endeavour to enforce proper financial management which has made this public sector entity profitable,â€ Mr Malik said.

Nisar wants poll rigging issue resolved

Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan invited on Sunday parliamentary leaders of all political parties in the National Assembly to a meeting for resolving the controversy over alleged rigging in the May 11 elections.

In a letter sent to leaders of parliamentary parties, the interior minister also sought to clarify the governmentâ€™s position on the sacking of Nadra chairman Tariq Malik, claiming that this had nothing to do with the issue of alleged poll rigging or verification of thumb impression of voters.

â€œI am taking this opportunity to ask you to give your considered opinion for the future course in this regard in a manner which is not prejudicial to the sanctity of the entire electoral process or the democratic institutions which appears to be the sole purpose behind this entire debate,â€ he said. â€œI am more than willing to organise a meeting of all the parliamentary leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly, for reaching a consensus in this behalf.â€

The government suffered humiliation last week when the Islamabad High Court suspended its abrupt sacking of the National Database and Registration Authority chairman.

All opposition parties condemned the governmentâ€™s action and alleged that the sacking was linked to verification of votersâ€™ thumb impression, especially in Punjab, the PML-Nâ€™s stronghold.

The government, through a notification, had removed the Nadra chairman without citing any reason and appointed a senior official of the authority, retired Brig Zahid Hussain, as acting chairman.

He regretted that â€œin the recent days and months the issue of verification of thumb impression on ballot papers has resonated in media, public debates, judicial hearings and even the parliamentâ€.

The entire debate, Chaudhry Nisar said, had initially revolved around the possibility of verification of ballots through a digital process applied by Nadra. â€œHowever, it had been contended that the same may not be possible because the magnetic ink for thumb impression was not used in the general elections.â€

Terming the removal of the Nadra chairman â€œa routine administration changeâ€, he said that â€œan impression has consciously been created as if the change is linked to the issue of verification of ballots which is erroneous, mala fide and patently misleadingâ€.

â€œIn case the relevant authorities failed to procure the magnetic ink in time what action was initiated by the previous government or the Election Commission which was overseeing the entire process?â€ he asked in the letter. â€œWho was responsible for start of this public debate on the issue and what was the motive behind this act?â€

Chaudhry Nisar informed the parliamentary leaders that it was originally contended that Nadra required a few billion rupees to procure the equipment for verification process, but â€œsubsequently verification process was started without procurement of the said equipmentâ€.

The minister said: â€œI would like to reiterate that Nadra is not a one-man organisation.

It comprises men and women of high calibre and honesty whose hard work and commitment have made Nadra the organisation it is today. Somebodyâ€™s inclination or love for an individual should not be allowed to cloud this reality through a media trial and turn this very important issue into a political circus.â€

Despite all this, he said, his government had no objection to the verification process under the supervision of any institution or authority, not only in four or 40 constituencies but in every single constituency.

â€œWe are also prepared to hand over the supervision of this entire exercise to retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf for absolute transparency,â€ he said.

Aam Aadmi dethrones Delhiâ€™s three-tenure chief minister

Jawed Naqvi

NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Voters in key Indian states produced a verdict on Sunday that mocked the exit polls and pricked a rightwing hoopla surrounding the rise of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi as a runaway winner of votes for next yearâ€™s general elections.

The final results of four state assemblies â€” Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh â€” were due to be announced late on Sunday. The north-eastern tribal state of Mizoram will get its results on Monday.

Most exit polls, not known for their veracity or accuracy, were proved wrong again as the BJP struggled to win a clear majority in the Delhi assembly although the voters did end Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshitâ€™s rare three-term tenure.

Contrary to the pollstersâ€™ prediction the mostly young voters chose the anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as the close number two runner-up in Delhi.

In spite of not getting a majority the BJP is still expected to form the Delhi government as it has emerged as the single largest party.

On Thursday, an India Today-ORG exit poll had given the BJP 41 seats, a clear majority, and the AAP just six. It turned out that the BJP was struggling to get 36 seats on Sunday, while the AAP had secured close to 28 seats.

The Congress was given 20 seats in the exit polls. It got just eight.

â€œThis is not my victory, but a victory of the voters of Delhi state assembly,â€ AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said. He trounced Ms Dikshit in her own constituency.

He was poised to win 158 seats and was initially a rival for Modiâ€™s mantle as a prime ministerial candidate.

In the border state of Rajasthan, where the Congress was set to lose power after losing its way with Muslim supporters, the BJP looked like a clear winner with about 157 seats in the 200-member assembly, way ahead of the poll predictions.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi said she was extremely disappointed with the results, attributing the loss to inflation. â€œWe need to have deep introspection,â€ she said.

â€œObviously people are unhappyâ€¦We need to take all the necessary action to improve our prospects for the future.â€

The elections were seen as a semi-final race to the general elections due by mid-2014. The BJP has named Hindutva mascot and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate.

His influence on Sundayâ€™s outcome has ranged between minimal in Madhya Pradesh and negative in Delhi, though the BJP is not officially admitting to it.

Imran asks Pakistan, India to cooperate in civil N-tech

Amjad Mahmood

LAHORE, Dec 8: Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan came up on Sunday with an unusual suggestion for improving Pakistan-India relations and said that as a confidence-building measure the neighbours should cooperate in civil nuclear technology.

Both countries should set up a joint nuclear power plant in an area along the border with half of the staff hired from each country for building mutual trust, he told journalists at the airport on his return after a two-day visit to New Delhi.

Accompanied by former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, he said the PTI was not against any country â€” neither India nor the US â€” but against their policies.

â€œWe are not anti-America. We are against US drones and its war against terrorâ€¦against Indiaâ€™s Kashmir policy under which it has sent 700,000 troops there.â€

He said he believed that without resolving these issues relations with these countries could not improve.

Referring to his meeting with Indian leaders, the PTI chief said they complained of involvement of Pakistani side in terrorism in their country and also expressed reservations about Mumbai attacks.

He said the hosts were told that Islamabad had similar complaints â€“ that New Delhi was supporting Taliban as well as insurgents in Balochistan.

He said he had put the suggestion about the joint nuclear power plant before the Indian leaders.

He said the Indian leaders were told that both the countries would have to speak the truth to their people and fight against poverty, instead of fighting against each other.

Replying to a question, Mr Khan said his party would go ahead with its plan to hold protests on Dec 22 in Lahore against the price hike and unemployment and announce ways to solving it.

Answering a question about the prime ministerâ€™s youth loan scheme, he termed it a pre-poll rigging by the PML-N government and called upon the Election Commission to see that after announcement of local bodiesâ€™ election schedule no scheme which might influence voters should be announced.

He told a questioner that his party had not abandoned its demand for verification of thumbprints of voters in four National Assembly constituencies in May 11 general election. He said the party would decide its line of action if the demand was not met.

Govt to press five charges against Musharraf

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: In the â€˜high treasonâ€™ case against former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, the government plans to charge him with abrogating, subverting, suspending, holding in abeyance and attempting to conspire against the 1973 Constitution by declaring emergency and overthrowing superior judiciary in November 2007.

In a formal complaint to be filed on Monday in a three-judge special court set up to try the former military ruler under Article-6 (1) of the Constitution, the government has not nominated any co-accused in the case.

This is despite the fact that clause 2 of Article 6 also holds â€œany person aiding or abetting or collaborating the acts mentioned in clause (1) shall likewise be guilty of high treasonâ€.

The complaint, a copy of which is available with Dawn, does not blame Gen Musharraf for the 1999 military coup.

Informed sources said the complaint No 01/2013 would be submitted to special courtâ€™s registrar Abdul Ghani Soomro, Sessions Judge of Sindh Judicial Service, through the FIA director general and the interior secretary. It will be filed under Article 6 of the 1973 Constitution, read with Section 5 of the Criminal Law Amendment (Special Court) Act 1976, read with Section 3 of the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973.

The interior secretary will act as the complainant and authorise the FIA DG to file the complaint.

The special court headed by Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court and comprising Justice Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court and Justice Yawar Ali of Lahore High Court has been constituted by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry at the request of the government under the Criminal Law Amendment (Special Court) Act 1976.

The complaint says that under Section 3(1), read with serial number 14 of the Schedule of the FIA Act 1974 (Act VIII of 1975), the FIA is designated/authorised to prosecute the offences punishable under the high treason act. It pleads that the accused be tried on five heads of charges as mentioned in Article 6 and, if found guilty of any or all the charges, be awarded punishment as mentioned in Section 2(b) of the High Treason (punishment) Act 1973 (Act LXVIII of 1973).

Under Section 2(b) of the High Treason Act 1973, a person found guilty of high treason â€œshall be punishable with death or imprisonment for lifeâ€, the complaint reads. Mr Musharraf who ruled the country for 10 years has been accused of committing all the five acts of high treason â€” he abrogated, subverted, suspended and held the constitution in abeyance or attempted or conspired to do so.

The complaint says that on the same day (Nov 3, 2007) the accused vide notification 2-9/2007-Min-1(A) also issued the Provisional Constitution Order 1 of 2007 which in express letter and spirit abrogated, subverted and suspended Parts II, III, IV, VII, XI and XII of the Constitution. This is the second act of high treason.

The accused who had â€˜occupiedâ€™ the high office of president in June 2001 had on Nov 14, 2007, issued the â€œProvisional Constitution (Amendment) Order 2007â€ to further amend the PCO-1 and hence also abrogated, subverted and suspended the letter and spirit of various provisions of the Constitution, including Parts I and XI, and hence committed the fourth act of high treason.

In view of the above grounds, â€œthe complainant seeks trial, conviction and punishment of accused Pervez Musharraf for all five separate offences of high treasonâ€ as envisaged in Article 6 of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973, read with Section 2 of the High Treason (Punishment) Act (Act LXVIII of 1973.

Parties start wooing independents

Saleem Shahid

QUETTA, Dec 8: Political parties have started contacting the independent candidates who won seats in different areas in local government elections in Balochistan to invite them to support their candidates for the posts of mayor of metropolitan and municipal corporations and chairmen of district councils and municipal committees.

According to unofficial results, independents have won over 600 seats in the party-based elections. The alliance of the National Party, PML-N and Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party has secured over 450 seats.

The Provincial Election Commission will announce the official results on Dec 10.

The victory of independent candidates in such large numbers has surprised political observers who had predicted less space for independents in the party-based elections because all major national and provincial parties, which had performed well in the general elections, were also in the run.

Although a large number of independent candidates were affiliated with political parties, they contested under different panels. Most of the panels and alliances were formed by political and tribal elders.

Several other parties, including both factions of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, ANP, PML-Q, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and both factions of Balochistan National Party have also won seats.

It is believed that the PML-N, PkMAP and NP might launch separate efforts to get their own candidate elected as mayor of Quetta.

Nawaz advises media to be â€˜justâ€™

Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: Seemingly unhappy over criticism of the government for the current wave of price hike, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has advised the media to â€œguideâ€ the government instead of â€œcriticisingâ€ it.

Speaking at a ceremony on Saturday after inaugurating a Rs100 billion loan scheme he had announced for unemployed youths in his address to the nation in September, Mr Sharif urged the media to be just.

The prime minister admitted that the country had been witnessing a price spiral because of an increase in power tariff, but at the same time he complained about the role of media in highlighting this aspect. He said there was a hue and cry when prices of onion and tomato went up, but there was silence when they came down.

Without elaborating, he said it was painful to see criticism even of his good actions.

Interestingly, during his speech, Mr Sharif asked the participants what was the Urdu word for onion.

While giving his thoughtful advice to the media, he ignored the fact that his media managers, as usual, had not invited reporters to cover the event and that he never had had any interaction with journalists in the capital since assuming office in June.

Like all rulers, Mr Sharif blamed his predecessors for the current crises, saying his government has inherited big problems, including a weak economy, power shortage, terrorism and law and order. He, however, added: â€œWe accepted the challenge and immediately started working towards solutions.â€

Mr Sharif criticised Z.A. Bhuttoâ€™s decision of nationalising institutions, including factories and mills. He said it was because of this wrong step that investors had started leaving the country. He was of the view that before Mr Bhuttoâ€™s decision in 1970s, the country was making good economic progress.

The prime minister claimed that there would be a complete transparency in awarding loan and an effective monitoring mechanism had been evolved to ensure merit.

Earlier, the honorary chairperson of the youth programme and the prime ministerâ€™s daughter Maryam Nawaz gave salient features of the scheme. She said the most important advantage of the programme was that youths would be converted from â€œdependentsâ€ to â€œprovidersâ€.

About 50 per cent of loans have been allocated for girls.

Maryam Nawaz told the gathering that pre-feasibility reports of 55 projects had already been prepared and were available on Smedaâ€™s website.

However, she said, if the applicant had his/her own business plan that too would be acceptable.

The loan will be disbursed through the National Bank of Pakistan and the First Womenâ€™s Bank.

Balochistan votes peacefully in local bodiesâ€™ polls

Saleem Shahid

QUETTA, Dec 7: Amid tight security, polling for local bodiesâ€™ elections was held largely in peaceful manner in Balochistan on Saturday.

QUETTA, Dec 7: Amid tight security, polling for local bodiesâ€™ elections was held largely in peaceful manner in Balochistan on Saturday.

Acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk visited different polling stations here and expressed satisfaction over the polling process.

Around 18,000 candidates are in the run for 4,600 seats of local bodies, including Quetta Metropolitan Corporation, four municipal corporations, 53 municipal committees and 32 district councils.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, 2,507 candidates have been elected unopposed and 508 seats have remained vacant because no candidate has filed nomination papers for them.

Except a few incidents of violence -- including firing incidents and clashes between rival groups in different areas -- the polling process remained peaceful across the province. Over 30 people were injured in the incidents.

Polling could not be held in Harnai district because some political parties and candidates staged a sit-in against the district returning officer (DRO) and returning officer (RO). The provincial authorities immediately intervened and changed the deputy commissioner and the additional deputy commissioner who had been working as the DRO and the RO.

Polling was suspended in some polling stations in Chaman, Qila Abdullah, Pishin, Mastung, Kalat, Zhob and Nasirabad due to minor clashes between the supporters of political parties.

Women voters faced problems in Gharibabad area on the outskirts of Nushki town as they were stopped for casting their votes. Amid protest by the women voters, local administration intervened and allowed them to cast their votes.

â€œSome people stopped women from casting their votes but the local administration resolved the issue after negotiation,â€ Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Younis Sanjrani told Dawn over telephone.

A similar situation was reported from Qila Saifullah where local elders decided not to allow women to cast their votes. However, local administration did not confirm the report and said that a large number of women had cast their votes in the district.

â€œThere is no tradition of barring women from voting in Balochistan,â€ Home Secretary Asad Gilani said.

In some areas the start of polling was delayed because of non-availability of voter lists and election material and late arrival of polling staff at polling stations.

Over 54,000 personnel of the army, Frontier Corps, Balochistan Constabulary, police and Levies Force were deployed across the province to ensure peaceful polling.

Nine districts had been declared sensitive areas but no major incident of violence took place there, according to official sources. However minor clashes were reported from Qila Abdullah and Kalat.

In Quetta, a large number of male and female voters were seen going to polling stations since morning. â€œLong queues of voters were present at male and female polling stations in different parts of the city and on its outskirts,â€ an official said.

Voter turnout was encouraging in Quetta and its suburbs. According to an estimate, around 35 per cent votes were polled in the first four hours in central areas of the city. Official sources said that overall turnout stood at 45 per cent in Quetta district.

â€œSince morning we are facing a huge crowd of voters,â€ the presiding officer of a womenâ€™s polling station in Nawan Killi said, adding that 30 to 35 percent votes were cast in the first four hours.

A better turnout was witnessed in some Baloch areas where it looked dismal in May 11 general elections. However, the turnout was better in Pakhtun areas than those populated by Baloch people.

NP emerges as largest party; independents win big

From the Newspaper

QUETTA: Independent candidates have won 493 seats in Balochistanâ€™s local bodiesâ€™ elections, according to unofficial results received till 11.30pm.

QUETTA: Independent candidates have won 493 seats in Balochistanâ€™s local bodiesâ€™ elections, according to unofficial results received till 11.30pm.

The National Party emerged as the largest party with 234 seats, followed by the PML-Nâ€™s 144, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party with 112 and its arch rival, the JUI-F, with 102 seats.

The PkMAP emerged as the leading party in the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation with 19 of the 58 seats. Fifteen independent candidates and seven of the Pakistan Muslim League-N had won.

Other parties which won seats in the corporation included JUI (Nazaryati) 4, Hazara Democratic Party 3, Balochistan National Party-M 3, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf 3 and National Party 2.â€”Staff Correspondent

US gets Afghan govtâ€™s assurances

From the Newspaper

KABUL, Dec 7: US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday said he had received assurances during a visit to Kabul that a long-delayed deal allowing US troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014 would be signed â€œin a timely mannerâ€.

The Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) has been at the centre of a public dispute between the allies, with the US increasingly frustrated by President Hamid Karzaiâ€™s negotiating tactics over the deal.

After meetings in the Afghan capital, Mr Hagel told reporters that Defence Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi â€œassured me the BSA would be signed in a timely mannerâ€.

Washington and Nato have repeatedly appealed to Mr Karzai to sign the BSA, which lays out the rules for US-led troops to operate in Afghanistan after 2014 on a mission focused on training and countering Al Qaeda-linked extremists.

President Barack Obamaâ€™s deputies have warned that unless Mr Karzai relents before the end of the year, there will be no option but to prepare for a full US exit â€” the so-called â€˜zero optionâ€™.

Mr Hagel arrived in Kabul after a visit to Bahrain, while Mr Karzai is due to visit Tehran on Sunday.â€”AFP

Imran suggests secret talks on Kashmir issue

Jawed Naqvi

NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Imran Khan says he supports secret talks between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue because open talks run the risk of being subverted by vested interests he didnâ€™t identify.

Mr Khan, who was speaking here on Saturday at an international brainstorming jamboree, ruled out a military conflict as a solution to any dispute between the two countries, not the least because both had nuclear-armed militaries.

â€œSecret talks are the best bet because otherwise there are strong vested interests on both sides to subvert them,â€ he said with a smile in reply to a question at The Hindustan Times conclave.

Mr Khan said cooperation between the two countries on issues like energy and food security was important and both could possibly have a joint civil-nuclear cooperation if his party came to power.

Reacting to a question on a reported statement by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that a fourth war between India and Pakistan is a possibility on the issue of Kashmir, Mr Khan said: â€œI donâ€™t think even Nawaz Sharif believes that because the two nations with nuclear weapons do not go to war.â€

Mr Sharifâ€™s office subsequently denied he spoke of a fourth war with India.

Kashmir remains the â€œcore issueâ€ of dispute between the two countries and once that problem is solved all other problems would go, the former cricket icon said.

He claimed that both the countries had almost finalised the details of a deal on Kashmir that could have possibly put an end to the problem in 2008 but the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai derailed the talks.

Mr Khan said both the countries needed to cooperate on major issues like food and energy security. â€œFor India, if it has to achieve growth of 9 to 10 per cent, you need energy and from where will you get energy? All the corridors, it may be oil from Iran or gas from the Caspian Sea, have to pass through Pakistan,â€ Press Trust of India quoted him as saying. â€œWe are facing a major problem of food security, so we can have cooperation on this. Plus, there are major issues like water security on which both the countries require greater cooperation,â€ he said.

According to the news agency, he said if his party came to power, it would undertake two major programmes with India â€“ try to bridge the mistrust and ask for a joint civil-nuclear cooperation managed and operated by the two countries on their common borders. Secondly, as a confidence-building measure his government would look to free prisoners trapped in Pakistani jails, who were arrested for either straying in Pakistani waters or for accidentally crossing the border.

Drones alternative to boots on ground: US lawmaker

Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON, Dec 6: Drones are an alternative to boots on the ground and will continue to be used in the war against terrorists, says Congressman Steve Chabot.

WASHINGTON, Dec 6: Drones are an alternative to boots on the ground and will continue to be used in the war against terrorists, says Congressman Steve Chabot.

The main objective of the meeting was to support a reform bill that seeks to make it easier for foreign doctors to study, train and work in the United States.

Although the chief organiser, Dr Talha Siddiqui, discouraged political discussions, almost all American lawmakers spoke about the roller-coaster relationship between Pakistan and the United States.

Congressman Chabot agreed with the observation that drone strikes had strained relations between the US and Pakistan and urged both countries to improve their coordination to remove misunderstandings.

He urged both to â€œdo all we can to control collateral damagesâ€™, i.e. civilian deaths in drone strikes. â€œBut the terrorists, who hide among civilians, are also responsible for these deaths,â€ he said.

Congressman Ed Royce, who heads the powerful House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also supported a long-term and strong relationship with Pakistan and pledged to â€œencourage reformsâ€ which would further strengthen democracy in that country.

Congressman Ami Bera, whose parents came from India, said the United States should continue to work for stability in South Asia, particularly after the withdrawal of American and Nato forces from Afghanistan after 2014.

The United States, he said, should encourage better trade relations among South Asian nations and should also help them meet their energy requirements.

â€œWe should particularly help Pakistan overcome its energy problems and support economic progress in that country,â€ he said.

Congressman Bera also emphasised the need to â€œkeep open the line of communicationâ€ for supplying US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Congressman Andre Carson, the second Muslim to be elected to the US Congress after Keith Ellison in 2006, said that the planned, partial withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan would further increase Pakistanâ€™s importance for the United States.

Mr Carson noted that as the United States saw its war efforts in Afghanistan collapse, it should encourage the neighbouring nations to work for bringing stability to that war-ravaged country.

Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth, a former US Army pilot who was severely wounded in Iraq, said â€œthe success or failure of US efforts in Afghanistan will also depend on its relationsâ€ with regional players.

If the United States was seem as â€œpushing for its interests too aggressively, we can endanger some of our key relationships.â€

Congressman Chris Van Hollen, who was born in Karachi in 1959, said â€œit would be a serious mistakeâ€ if the United States abandoned the Pak-Afghan region now as it did after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.

He acknowledged that Pakistan and the United States had differences on various issues but said that â€œitâ€™s important to continue this relationshipâ€ despite those differences. Almost all lawmakers who addressed the gathering also endorsed APPNAâ€™s support for a bill to reform the US Physician Access Act.

APPNA, which represents physicians of Pakistani origin in North America, is lobbying for the reforms because they seek to remove immigration limitations on alien doctors.

21 pro-Morsi female protesters freed

From the Newspaper

CAIRO, Dec 7: Egyptian appeals courts ordered the release on Saturday of 21 women and girls jailed over an Islamist opposition protest, after reducing harsh sentences that had sparked outrage.

CAIRO, Dec 7: Egyptian appeals courts ordered the release on Saturday of 21 women and girls jailed over an Islamist opposition protest, after reducing harsh sentences that had sparked outrage.

To chants of â€œGod is greatestâ€ from supporters in an Alexandria courtroom, the 14 women â€“ initially jailed for 11 years â€“ were ordered freed after receiving one-year suspended sentences.

The girls, whose case was heard in a separate court, were put on three monthsâ€™ probation after having initially been sentenced to juvenile detention.

The initial sentences shocked even supporters of the military-installed government when they were handed down last month, and images of the white-clad defendants also galvanised the Islamist opposition.

The women and girls were all released by nightfall, one of their lawyers said.

All 21 were convicted of taking part in a violent protest demanding Islamist president Mohamed Morsiâ€™s reinstatement following his overthrow by the army in July.

Wearing handcuffs but holding red roses, the 14 women appeared on Saturday dressed in white prison garb, with â€œfreedomâ€ scrawled in black marker on the palms of their hands.

Judge Sharif Hafiz found the 14 women guilty of three counts relating to violence during the protest, but reduced their sentence to one year and suspended it.

Their lawyer Ahmed al Hamrawy had urged the court to acquit them, arguing there was no evidence against them.

â€œThe sentence is satisfying to a degree, and it has a humanitarian aspect... but we will appeal,â€ Mr Hamrawy said after the hearing.

Heba Morayef, Human Rights Watchâ€™s director in Egypt, said the women and girls should not have been sentenced in the first place.

â€œThey didnâ€™t have any evidence tying the women to the commissioning of any violence,â€ she said.

During a recess before the appeals judge ruled, a defendant named Alma told AFP â€œthis is an oppressive sentenceâ€. She said her daughter was among the seven juveniles sentenced, and explained that they had both been near the Oct 31 protest by chance when arrested.

Another defendant, Aya Adel, said: â€œI have the right to express my opinion â€“ this is a constitutional right, and we are currently political prisoners.â€ Prosecutors charged that the women had fought with knives and thrown rocks during clashes that erupted at the protest in Egyptâ€™s second city.

Six men said to be Muslim Brotherhood leaders were tried in absentia in the same case and sentenced to 15 years.

They were found guilty of inciting the women to cut off key roads in Alexandria during the clashes.

There was a heavy police presence outside the court complex in the coastal city, where Morsiâ€™s supporters have repeatedly clashed with opponents and security forces.

During the recess, about 100 friends and relatives of the defendants stood outside the courtroom chanting â€œDown with military ruleâ€.

Hamdeen Sabbahi, a former presidential candidate, called on the interim president to pardon the girls and repeal the new law governing protests.â€”AFP

ASWJ leader killed in Lahore ambush

Muhammad Faisal Ali

The murder of Maulana Shamsur Rehman Muavia, 45, the president of the Punjab chapter of ASWJ, sparked protests in Lahore and some other cities of the province.

The murder of Maulana Shamsur Rehman Muavia, 45, the president of the Punjab chapter of ASWJ, sparked protests in Lahore and some other cities of the province.

Hundreds of charged activists held a march from Batti Chowk to Neela Gumbad in Lahore in protest against the incident.

Police could not determine the motive for the murder and said investigators were working on different angles, including the possibility of a targeted attack.

â€œI was taking the maulana to his Basti Saidan Shah residence in a car from Jamia Masjid Muhammadia Hanfia, Karim Park, after Friday prayers. As we reached Ring Road from Batti Chowk, unidentified people opened fire on the car,â€ driver Mohammad Adnan said.

Adnan, who suffered a minor wound, told Dawn at the Jinnah Hospital that Maulana Muavia was hit by several bullets. A passer-by was also injured and identified by hospital officials as Zafar Ahsaan, 23. A resident of Jaranwala, Ahsaan underwent surgery.

Adnan was not sure about the identity or the number of attackers.

SSP (Operations) Rana Abdul Jabbar said two men riding a motorcycle and carrying SMG rifles ambushed the maulanaâ€™s car when it slowed down while approaching the Ring Road.

He said the suspects apparently fired six bullets, three hitting the maulana. A Rescue 1122 ambulance took the maulana to Mian Munshi Hospital where he died.

Six empty bullet shells were found at the crime scene, he said.

The SSP said Maulana Muavia had apparently become the victim of targeted killing but it was too early to say that he had been killed on sectarian grounds.

An investigator said information about the maulana and his personal matters was being collected.

An ASWJ activist said Maulana Muavia was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. He used to lead Friday prayers at the Karim Park mosque. He said they did not know as to who could be behind the assassination.

The Ravi Road police have registered a murder and injury case under relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act against four unidentified attackers.

Officials said a constable had been provided to Maulana Muavia some time ago for security but the ASWJ leader had allowed him leave a few days ago.

Execution order for BDâ€™s Jamaat leader

From the Newspaper

DHAKA, Dec 8: A Bangladesh court on Sunday ordered prison authorities to hang an Islamist leader months after he was sentenced to death, raising fears of a new wave of clashes in the unrest-plagued nation.

Abdul Quader Molla, a key leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami, was given the death penalty in September when the Supreme Court toughened the life sentence originally handed down to him by the International Crimes Tribunal, a domestic war crimes court.

The ICT on Sunday â€œissued a warrant of execution for Mollaâ€, and sent it to the prison authorities, meaning the 65-year-old leader could now be executed any day unless he is pardoned by President Abdul Hamid or the case is reviewed by the highest court.

â€œThe prison authorities will now execute him in line with the jail codes,â€ prosecutor Zead Al Malum said, stressing that only a presidential clemency could stop the execution.

Deputy Law Minister Quamrul Islam said Molla could be executed â€œin the shortest possible timeâ€. He did not give any timeframe.

Defence lawyers said Mollaâ€™s verdict could still be reviewed by the highest court. But Islam and prosecutors differed.

â€œIt will be an act of murder if he is executed before the case is reviewed by the Supreme Court. It will be violation of the constitution,â€ defence lawyer Tajul Islam said.

Observers say Molla can be hanged on December 16 to commemorate Bangladeshâ€™s 1971 independence war victory. He was convicted of war crimes during the nine-month war.

He and other Jamaat leaders opposed Dhakaâ€™s independence from Pakistan.

Meanwhile, his execution could trigger a fresh wave of clashes in the country, already reeling from the deadliest political violence since 1971.

At least 150 people have died in clashes with police earlier this year after tens of thousands of Islamists rioted nationwide to protest the death sentences given to Jamaat leaders.

Another 70 people have died in the past six weeks after the main opposition and its Islamist allies including Jamaat launched mass protests to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and make way for polls under a neutral government.---AFP

Man pleads guilty in plot to smuggle statues

From the Newspaper

NEW YORK, Dec 7: A former manager of a now-closed New York art gallery has pleaded guilty for his role in an international scheme to smuggle ancient Buddhist and Hindu sculptures.

NEW YORK, Dec 7: A former manager of a now-closed New York art gallery has pleaded guilty for his role in an international scheme to smuggle ancient Buddhist and Hindu sculptures.

Federal officials say Aaron Freedman pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court in Manhattan on Friday to conspiracy and criminal possession of stolen property worth $35 million.

Authorities said Freedman, a resident of New Jersey, admitted helping the Art of the Past galleryâ€™s owner ship stolen items from India, Pakistan and elsewhere.

The gallery owner is in Indian custody. He faces stolen property charges in New York.

A defence lawyer told the New York Post that Freedman was taking steps towards rectifying his mistakes.

Officials said Freedman helped sell a $5m stolen statue of Shiva Nataraja thatâ€™s displayed at the National Gallery of Australia. The gallery says it will work with authorities.â€”AP

Money-laundering case: two arrested in UK, bailed out

From the Newspaper

LONDON, Dec 6: The London Metropolitan Police arrested on Friday two suspects in connection with a money-laundering case they are currently investigating.

LONDON, Dec 6: The London Metropolitan Police arrested on Friday two suspects in connection with a money-laundering case they are currently investigating.

Police officer Richard Jones told BBC that the suspects were moved to a police station in Central London and later released on bail. He said police were simultaneously investigating the money-laundering case and murder of Dr Imran Farooq.

According to a statement by Met police, two houses in West London were also raided.

The Anti-Terrorism Unit of Metropolitan Police conducted the raids.â€”INP

Pakistan clinch last-ball win over Afghanistan

From the Newspaper

SHARJAH, Dec 8: Pakistan overcame stiff resistance from Afghanistan to win the first-ever Twenty20 international between the two countries by six wickets here on Sunday.

SHARJAH, Dec 8: Pakistan overcame stiff resistance from Afghanistan to win the first-ever Twenty20 international between the two countries by six wickets here on Sunday.

Chasing a challenging 138-run target, Pakistan were held to the final over of the match and won on a wide off the last delivery of the match.

Skipper Mohammad Hafeez kept his cool to finish with a 37-ball 42 not out as Pakistan needed six off the final over bowled by Dawlat Zadran.

Pakistan got off to a solid start with a stand of 47 between Ahmed Shehzad (35) and debutant Sharjeel Khan (18) by the eighth over.

Despite a tight line and length by Afghanistanâ€™s bowlers, Hafeez and Akmal kept their cool, taking Pakistan close to their victory target. Akmal hit two sixes in his 28 off 23 balls.â€”AFP

Three members of â€˜Muslim patrolâ€™ jailed in London

From the Newspaper

LONDON, Dec 7: Three members of a self-styled â€œMuslim patrolâ€ in London who harassed passers-by for wearing short skirts, holding hands and drinking alcohol have been jailed, in a conviction welcomed by the local mosque on Saturday.

The men were jailed for up to 16 months on Friday after admitting a variety of public order and assault charges during â€˜patrolsâ€™ in December 2012 and January 2013.

One of the incidents was filmed by the gang and posted on YouTube, causing widespread public outrage and raising tensions in an area already targeted by far-right groups because of its large Muslim population.

â€œThese men routinely threatened and intimidated innocent members of the public whom they perceived to be behaving in an â€˜un-Islamicâ€™ manner,â€ said prosecutor Baljit Ubhey.

â€œThey would roam the streets, seeking out victims whom they could target, and chanting threats to â€˜kill the non-believersâ€™.

Some of the patrols took place near the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, which hosts 7,000 worshippers on a typical Friday and has strongly condemned the harassment.

A spokesman for the mosque says Muslims in the area have been attacked and it has received hate mail as a result of the patrols.

Executive director Dilowar Khan welcomed Fridayâ€™s convictions, saying bullying was un-Islamic and the menâ€™s actions were â€œpatheticâ€.

â€œWe hope these three men will take time during their incarceration to reflect upon the hurt and damage they have caused not only to their victims, but to the entire British Muslim community,â€ he said.

Jordan Horner was jailed for 68 weeks after pleading guilty to actual bodily harm, threatening behaviour and public order offences, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Ricardo Macfarlane received 12 months after admitting affray, while a third man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to 24 weeks for public order offences.

Pakistani sues US over his arrest

From the Newspaper

ORLANDO, Dec 6: A Pakistani immigrant who says he was held for more than 10 months in solitary confinement after being falsely arrested on terrorism charges has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Miami, saying he was a victim of â€œoverzealousnessâ€ in the US war on terrorism.

Irfan Khan, 40, emigrated to the US from Pakistan in 1994 and is a naturalised US citizen. He is the son of a 78-year-old south Florida imam who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in August for funnelling more than $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban.

The lawsuit says Irfan Khan was arrested in California in May 2011 on charges that included providing material support for terrorism and the Pakistani Taliban.

All charges against Irfan Khan were dropped in June 2012, but only after he had been held for 319 days in solitary confinement.â€”Reuters

Pakistani drug trafficker beheaded in S. Arabia

From the Newspaper

RIYADH, Dec 8: Saudi authorities beheaded a Pakistani man on Sunday after he was convicted of smuggling drugs into the Gulf state, the interior ministry said.

RIYADH, Dec 8: Saudi authorities beheaded a Pakistani man on Sunday after he was convicted of smuggling drugs into the Gulf state, the interior ministry said.

Mohammed Zayer Khan Qol was arrested as he was â€œsmuggling a large amount of heroinâ€ into the kingdom, said the statement published by the official SPA news agency.

His beheading in the western region of Makkah brought to 73 the number of executions carried out in Saudi Arabia this year, according to a count.

In 2012, the Saudis carried out 76 executions, according to a tally based on official figures.

Human Rights Watch put the number at 69.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punish-able by death under the oil-rich kingdomâ€™s strict laws.â€”AFP

Abdullah offers apology

From the Newspaper

NEW DELHI, Dec 6: An Indian minister apologised on Friday for causing offence after remarking that men were now â€œscared to talk to womenâ€ amid an ongoing public debate about sexual harassment following high-profile cases.

â€œIâ€™m scared to talk to a woman these days. I donâ€™t even want to keep a female secretary. Who knows, I might end up in jail because of a complaint,â€ New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah told reporters.

Speaking outside parliament, he added that he wasnâ€™t â€œblaming the girls. Iâ€™m blaming society itselfâ€.

After condemnation from womenâ€™s rights activists who accused him of trivialising a serious issue, he issued a partial apology for â€œhurting sentimentsâ€ but said he had been misconstrued.

Writing on Twitter, he said: â€œIâ€™m sure the attempt wasnâ€™t to trivialise important issue of womenâ€™s security so I hope dad apologises for the misplaced attempt at humour.â€

Widespread media attention on sexual harassment is part of changes brought about by the fatal gang-rape of a student on a New Delhi bus last December which led to profound introspection about gender inequality in India.â€”AFP

Four brothers drown in Indus

Waseem Shamsi

SUKKUR, Dec 6: Four members of a family drowned while seven others were saved when their boat overturned because of overloading in the Indus near Kashmore on Friday.

SUKKUR, Dec 6: Four members of a family drowned while seven others were saved when their boat overturned because of overloading in the Indus near Kashmore on Friday.

According to sources, the boat carrying people with their belongings overturned in the river near Nahar Pattan village in a katcha area of Gehal Pur.

Four brothers, identified as Talib, 34; Asif, 18; Wajid, 14; and Jamil, 8, sons of Battu, drowned and their bodies were later fished out by the villagers.

Those who came out of the river on their own or those who were rescued included Pehalwan, Munir, Hazoor Bux Dangar, Sajjad Ali, Hanif, Deedar Shah and Sultan Malik.

It could not be ascertained how many people were on the boat.

Police said their control room in Kandhkot had no information about the number of people missing or dead, but added that five people had come out of the river safely.

Jamaat leader hanged in Dhaka

From the Newspaper

DHAKA, Dec 12: Bangladesh on Thursday night executed an opposition leader convicted of war crimes hours after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal, officials said.

DHAKA, Dec 12: Bangladesh on Thursday night executed an opposition leader convicted of war crimes hours after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal, officials said.

The death threatened to spark new violence ahead of national elections next month.

Sheikh Yousuf Harun, chief government administrator in Dhaka, said Abdul Quader Mollah was hanged at 10:01pm.

Mr Mollahâ€™s party, the Jamaat-i-Islami, immediately called a nationwide general strike for Sunday.

The wife and children of Mr Mollah met the opposition leader at a jail in Dhaka for one last time hours before the execution, and found him to be â€œcalmâ€. â€œHe has told us that he is proud to be a martyr for the cause of Islamic movement in the country,â€ Mr Mollahâ€™s son Hasan Jamil said after meeting his father.

The 65-year-old leader was convicted of war crimes during the nationâ€™s war of independence in 1971. He is the first person to be executed after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2010 began trying people suspected of crimes during the conflict. Most of the defendants are opposition members.

Mr Mollahâ€™s execution had been placed on hold on Tuesday night just before he originally was to have been put to death. The Supreme Court rejected his final appeal on Thursday.

Jamaat-i-Islami, an ally of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, had warned of â€œdire consequencesâ€ if he were executed.

The two parties say the trials are an attempt to weaken the opposition and eliminate Islamic parties. Authorities have denied the allegations.

Security was tight around the jail in Dhaka where he was hanged. Extra police were deployed along with paramilitary guards on the streets of the capital.

Earlier on Thursday, party activists clashed with police, torched or smashed vehicles and exploded homemade bombs in three other major cities --- Chittagong, Sylhet and Rajshahi, TV stations reported.

Scores of people were injured in the latest violence to hit the country, which has seen weeks of escalating tension as it struggles to overcome extreme poverty and rancorous politics.â€”Agencies

Sindh ready for local govt polls on Jan 18

Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The Sindh government has finally agreed to hold local bodies elections in the province on Jan 18, giving up its stance of getting them delayed till March.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The Sindh government has finally agreed to hold local bodies elections in the province on Jan 18, giving up its stance of getting them delayed till March.

According to an official of the Election Commission, the chief secretary of Sindh has assured the ECP that requirements for announcement of the schedule would be met by Dec 17 and the schedule would be announced on Dec 18.

This is the fourth time that ECPâ€™s plan has been changed â€” from Nov 29 to Dec 7, Dec 9 and then Dec 13.

At a meeting on Wednesday with Sindhâ€™s chief secretary, local government minister and advocate general the commission said the polling date could not be changed without the approval of the Supreme Court.

On Thursday, the provincial government officially informed the ECP that it was ready for polls on Jan 18.

The ECP official said the delay in issuing the schedule would not create any problems because only 30 million, not 110 million, ballot papers would have to be printed following an amendment to the Sindh local government law.

It may be mentioned that the delay would mean a violation of a provision of the Sindh Local Government Act of 2013 â€” Section 35(2) which requires that the government shall in consultation with the Election Commission make an announcement of the date or dates on which the elections for the councils shall be conducted in Sindh, â€œprovided that the date or dates of such elections shall not be less than 60 days and more that 120 days from the date of such announcementsâ€.

The term of the local bodies in Sindh will be four years from their first meetings which will be held not later than 30 days after the names of the members are notified.

The mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen, vice chairmen and members of the councils will have to file declarations of their assets and liabilities within 30 2days after taking oath.

Saudi Mufti terms suicide bombers criminals

From the Newspaper

RIYADH, Dec 12: Saudi Arabiaâ€™s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh branded suicide bombers as â€œcriminalsâ€ who will go to â€œhellâ€, Al-Hayat daily reported on Thursday.

Suicide bombings are â€œgreat crimesâ€ and bombers are â€œcriminals who rush themselves to hell by their actionsâ€, he said during a lecture in Riyadh a few days ago, according to Al-Hayat.

He said suicide bombers had been â€œrobbed of their minds... (and) had been used (as tools) to destroy themselves and societiesâ€.

In February 2010, the Saudi Grand Mufti denounced terrorism as un-Islamic and condemned the killing of civilians, saying such attacks had nothing to do with Islam.

His latest remarks came after a preliminary inquiry into a Dec 5 suicide car bombing and assault on a Yemen defence ministry complex found that most assailants were Saudis. Fifty-six people were killed in the attack.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which was formed from a merger of the jihadi networkâ€™s Saudi and Yemeni branches, claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Tuesday, a Saudi court jailed an Al Qaeda-linked militant for 16 years for plotting to kill the Mufti and other clerics. Saudi militants have also been accused of suicide attacks in Iraq.â€”AFP

PPP, ANP seek clarification on Nato blockade

Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: Opposition senators from the PPP and Awami National Party questioned on Thursday the governmentâ€™s â€˜silenceâ€™ over the blockade of Nato supply routes by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and its allies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and asked the government to clarify its position on the issue.

â€œWhy has the federal government abdicated its constitutional role and allowed political parties to block Nato supplies,â€ PPP parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani said while initiating a debate on the governmentâ€™s foreign policy.

â€œCan this be taken as a tacit approval of the federal government?â€ he asked.

Mr Rabbani put 52 questions before the house and asked the government to clarify its stance on issues such as talks with the Taliban, Afghan policy, drone attacks, ties with India, and Pak-Iran gas pipeline project.

He asked the government to brief the house about the gist of visits the prime minister recently paid to the US and Afghanistan and the US officialsâ€™ trip to Pakistan.

Haji Adeel of ANP claimed that by blocking roads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa people of that province were being deprived of their sources of income because protesters were also stopping containers and trucks that were carrying goods under the Afghan Transit Trade.

He said the federal government was watching this as a spectator.

He regretted that no one stopped Nato supplies when weapons were being transported to Afghanistan through these routes but the same were being blocked now when foreign troops were about to leave the region.

The ANP leader said Afghanistan is a sovereign country and his party would strongly resist interference in its affairs. He asked the government to grant citizenship to those Afghans who were born in Pakistan.

During the question hour, the Senate was informed that by Nov 27 a total of 1,082 cases of missing persons had been registered.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Interior Balighur Rehman informed the house that the number of missing persons in the Commission of Inquiry of Enforced Disappearances stood at 813 and the number of cases pending before the Supreme Court was 304.

He said 14 cases were pending before the Lahore High Court, 174 before the Sindh High Court, 101 before the Peshawar High Court and 22 before the Balochistan High Court. Forty cases were registered in Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Senate Chairman Nayyar Bokhari deferred the question when members from Balochistan expressed dissatisfaction over the reply, saying that the number of cases belonging to their province was not correct.

Meanwhile, responding to a call-attention notice moved by Moula Bux Chandio of PPP, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq said there was no proposal under consideration to close 450 small railway stations. He, however, said Railways was not in a position to open those stations that had already been closed, particularly the ones between Hyderabad and Badin.

Mr Rafiq said that in line with the Supreme Courtâ€™s decision, they were writing letters to all chief ministers to seek possession of Railwaysâ€™ land. He said the issue was being taken to the Council of Common Interests.

â€œIf the issue is not resolved, we reserve the right to go to the court,â€ he added.

Indian PM accepts invitation to visit Pakistan

The Newspaper's Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday got a formal invite from his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif for visiting that country, which was accepted, The Economic Times said.

The invite was handed over to Dr Singh by Mr Sharifâ€™s Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi and Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif who met the Indian prime minister for about half an hour.

Shahbaz Sharif was quoted as telling a group of reporters that the prime ministerâ€™s goodwill message was handed over to Dr Singh along with the invitation.

Asked about the response, he said Dr Singh had accepted the invitation. â€œLet us seeâ€.

Pakistani leaders have been extending invitation to Singh for the last few years but the Indian leader has said his visit would depend on the situation on the ground in terms of terrorism and the LoC.

Pakistan High Commission said the message of goodwill from Nawaz Sharif emphasised â€œPakistanâ€™s desire to forge friendly and cooperative relations with India in the interest of peace and prosperity of the people of the two countries and of the region.â€

The chief ministerâ€™s unusual meeting as protocol goes assumes significance given the disappointment expressed by India over the progress on agreed outcome of the meeting between Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistani counterpart in New York in September.

Besides Mr Fatemi, the Punjab chief minister was accompanied by Minister of State for Commerce Khurram Dastagir Khan and Provincial Minister for Education Rana Mashood Khan and High Commissioner Salman Bashir.

The chief minister also underscored the importance of resumption of dialogue and peaceful resolution of all issues.

Sharif can improve ties with India and Afghanistan, says US

Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON, Dec 12: The United States and India believe that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can succeed in improving relations with both New Delhi and Kabul, says a senior US official.

WASHINGTON, Dec 12: The United States and India believe that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can succeed in improving relations with both New Delhi and Kabul, says a senior US official.

And the United States wants Mr Sharif to have â€œa fair chance of being able to do soâ€, said US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, James Dobbins.

Pakistan, its role in Afghanistan and its relations with India were discussed thoroughly at a congressional hearing â€” â€œAfghanistan 2014: Year of Transitionâ€ â€” on Wednesday afternoon.

Congressman Ed Royce, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, brought the Pakistan element into the debate in his opening remarks, claiming Pakistanâ€™s military and security service continue to complicate matters by supporting the Taliban.

â€œPakistan is a double-dealer, paying lip service to cooperation with the US â€¦ while simultaneously undermining our primary objective of bringing Afghanistan under the control of a democratically elected government,â€ he said.

Congressman Ami Bera, a California Democrat of Indian origin, highlighted Indian concern that once the US withdrew from Afghanistan, â€œhardened, trained jihadi fighters will start shifting over to the Indian-Pakistan borderâ€.

â€œProbably the greatest contribution India could make and Pakistan can make in Afghanistan is improving their bilateral relationship,â€ said Mr Dobbins, while responding to Mr Beraâ€™s remarks.

This will have two effects: It will greatly increase the access of Afghan trade to India via Pakistan and will reduce the â€œhighly destabilisingâ€ competition between the two countries for influence in Afghanistan, he said.

â€œSo weâ€™ve been encouraging both Pakistan and India to overcome their differences in Kashmir, their differences over Afghanistan. And I think there is some hope with the new Pakistani government.â€

Ambassador Dobbins assured India that there was no near-term danger of foreign fighters shifting from Afghanistan to the Indian border. â€œBut the Indian concerns are legitimate and itâ€™s something that we do need to be careful about,â€ he said.

â€œDo you sense, in your conversations with the Pakistani government, (a) desire (to improve ties with India)?â€ Mr Bera asked.

â€œI do and I think the Indians do as regards the new prime minister and his civilian leadership,â€ Ambassador Dobbins replied.

But he also pointed out that in Pakistan â€œthe security sphere has been left largely to the military and theyâ€™ve been largely free of civilian oversight or control. The last time Nawaz Sharif tried to exercise that kind of control, he was overthrown by General Musharraf,â€ he added.

â€œSo he has to be careful about how quickly he moves to assert civilian control of the military and a stronger civilian role in designing and implementing Pakistanâ€™s national security policy.â€

Mr Dobbins noted that Mr Sharif was very clear that Pakistan could not be secure unless Afghanistan was at peace and relations with India improved.

â€œAnd heâ€™s tried to move in both directions. I think the Indian government takes him at face value and believes heâ€™s sincere,â€ he said.

â€œTheyâ€™re a little sceptical that he will prevail in exercising enough influence over the Pakistani military and weâ€™ll just have to wait and see.â€

Mr Dobbins noted that the Pakistani military too realised their biggest threat was internal and they needed the political leadership to take responsibility for â€œsometimes harsh measuresâ€ for dealing with this threat.

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, said in a recent meeting with her, Afghan President Hamid Karzai dismissed the US perception of an Iranian threat to peace in Afghanistan as â€œno problem at all.â€

Instead, he saw Pakistan as â€œthe real threat to stability for Afghanistan.â€

Ambassador Dobbins agreed with the observation that the arms and money flowing across the Pakistani border were â€œmuch more important than across the Iranian borderâ€ but told the panel that Iran too was â€œplaying both sides of the house.â€

Amid verbal duel, CJ orders replacement of FC head

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: On the last day of his eight-year tenure on Wednesday, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took up the Balochistan missing personsâ€™ case and handed down an order. The proceedings of the case saw a verbal clash between a counsel and the bench.

When Brigadier Khalid Saleem, who is at present heading the force, tried to explain that none of the missing persons was in the FC custody, the court said that without a proper notification by the interior ministry about his charge he could not be considered to be legally holding the command.

After the notification, the order said, the acting FC chief would ensure that the FC personnel allegedly involved in enforced disappearances appeared before DIG of Balochistan Crime Investigation Department Imtiaz Ahmed Shah in compliance with the earlier order.

It said the new FC chief, along with the provincial police and other law-enforcement agencies, would also ensure recovery of the missing persons, including Advocate Mir Ahmed Marwani who had been picked up from Khuzdar in Balochistan.

The new FC chief, the Balochistan chief secretary and the inspector general of police are required to appear before the Supreme Court on Dec 17 along with reports on progress in recovery of the missing persons.

The court said that since former FC chief Obaidullah Khattak had earlier given an undertaking in the court, all those who had affixed their signatures on the commitment to recover the missing persons would also appear before it to explain whether they had met the commitment.

The court regretted that despite protests by relatives of the missing persons, no-one took practical steps to redress their grievances. This is evident from the attitude of law-enforcement agencies as well as elected representatives who had promised to enforce fundamental rights in their election campaigns.

â€œSimilar is the position of the federal government, the prime minister and his cabinet as well as the elected representatives, particularly from Balochistan, despite the fact that they are aware of the miseries of the Baloch people,â€ the court said.

It observed that it was a responsibility of the executive authorities discharging functions under the constitution to enforce fundamental rights. The court regretted that there had been a hue and cry for many years and relatives of the missing persons were continuously holding camps in Quetta and even marched to Karachi on foot with their children, women and the elderly demanding their recovery.

ACRIMONY: At the outset of the proceedings an exchange of words took place between the bench and Advocate Irfan Qadir, representing FC chief Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid.

When Mr Qadir, a former attorney general, insisted that he should be heard, the court said that the right of audience could not be granted until the FC chief himself appeared to face the contempt charge.

He quoted a headline in a section of the press that a â€œpolitical superstar is bornâ€ and said that if it was true he would not like to leave his client at the mercy of the superstar. And if it was wrong, he said, the court should proceed against the media house under Section 8 of the Contempt of the Court Ordinance 2003 so that such stories were not published again.

Mr Qadir said he had not committed any contempt and all that he wanted was an action against the newspaper. He alleged that the bench was sitting with a mindset and getting personal.

The court said it was exercising restraint and asked the counsel not to be loud in the court. Now it has become a question of the dignity of the court.

At this Attorney General Muneer A. Malik stepped in to request the court to exercise judicial restraint since Mr Qadir was his predecessor.

The chief justice observed that the power to suspend a licence could be exercised by the chief justice straightaway.

But the counsel said the court could not go ahead or even revoke his licence without hearing him and emphasised that the Supreme Court rules were subservient to Article 10-A of the Constitution which ensures fair trial.

But despite the expectation after intervention by the attorney general, Mr Qadir did not offer any remorse or apology, but only demanded fair trial from the bench.

Detaineesâ€™ death: In its Tuesdayâ€™s judgment in the Adiyala Jail detainees case, the Supreme Court had declared that the death of four detainees during custody could not be proved to have been caused by torture, thus their death should be considered as natural.

Khursheed Shah elected PAC chief

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah of the PPP was elected on Wednesday chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah of the PPP was elected on Wednesday chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly.

Mr Shah was unanimously chosen as head of the PAC at its meeting held at the Parliament House. Bashir Ahmad Virk proposed and Javed Akhlas of the PML-N seconded his name.

After his election, Mr Shah announced that the committee would formally meet on Dec 31.

Besides taking up regular audit reports from 1998 onwards, the litmus test for Mr Shah-led PAC would be pending audit paras in the Rs2 billion NLC scam, lease of railways land to a social club in Lahore and summoning the Supreme Court registrar before the committee for scrutiny of SC expenditure.

When the previous PAC took up the NLC case and held three retired generals responsible for losses in the cell, former army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani announced that the GHQ would investigate the case. The investigation report is still awaited.

Since the audit para is still pending before the committee, it would surely be taken up by its new members.

The lease of railways land to Royal Palm Golf and Country Club in Lahore remained under discussion in the previous PAC. Federal auditors claimed that the lease of 141 acres of land resulted in over Rs10 billion loss to the national exchequer. Although the case is pending before the court, its audit para had to be settled by the PAC.

The previous PAC had repeatedly asked the SC registrar to appear before it for mandatory presentation of accounts, but a full court sitting stopped the registrar from doing so.

When asked if he will summon the SC registrar, Mr Shah said the PAC would follow the constitutional provision that a government organisation that received funds from the national kitty had to appear before the committee.

Audit reports from 2008 to 2011, when the PPP was in power, are ready to be taken up by the new PAC. Mr Shah said the PAC would work above party lines and thatâ€™s how it could carry out across-the-board accountability.

The PAC chairman said he would not meet principal accounting officers of government organisations to ensure transparency in the working of the committee.

Instead, the additional secretary of the committee will hold meetings.

Asked if he would use suo motu powers, Mr Shah replied in the negative.

Meanwhile, the government has also named parliamentary secretaries for various ministries.

SCBA suspends membership of its VP

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: Taking action for violating its discipline, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has suspended membership of Naeem Sarwar, its vice president, for hosting a farewell dinner in honour of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the SCBA presided over by its president, Kamran Murtaza, here on Wednesday. Mr Sarwar was accused of misusing the name of executive committee of the association at the dinner on Tuesday night.

â€œMr Sarwar misused the insignia and monogram of the association, otherwise considered to be the premier body of lawyers, while presenting a shield to the chief justice, which he should not have done,â€ a senior member of the SCBA told Dawn.

The lawyers had gathered outside the Supreme Court building to protest against the delay in establishment of benches of the Lahore High Court at the respective divisional headquarters.

The SCBA initially held the registrar of the Supreme Court responsible for the incident and demanded his resignation. But when the demand was not met, the bar association decided to cancel the dinner it had planned for the chief justice.

Under the SCBA rules, Mr Sarwar can move an appeal against his suspension before the Pakistan Bar Council which has also decided not to host any dinner for the chief justice.

Both the SCBA and PBC also decided not to attend Wednesdayâ€™s dinner hosted by the Supreme Court for the outgoing chief justice.

NAB decides to take action against Gilani

From the Newspaper

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: The National Accountability Bureau has decided to take action against former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani after he failed to appear on Wednesday before its investigators in connection with his alleged involvement in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam.

A source said NAB was considering different options, including police assistance, to bring him to the NAB headquarters to record his statement.

NAB spokesman Ramzan Sajid confirmed that the investigation team was looking into all options under the NAB Ordinance in this regard.

Mr Gilani is accused of being involved in what the Supreme Court called illegal appointment of former NICL chairman Ayaz Khan Niazi in 2009. He is also accused of issuing orders for transfer of former FIA additional director general Zafar Ahmed Qureshi and his removal in 2011 as head of the team investigation the scam.

Mr Gilani had defied five NAB notices in connection with his involvement in another controversial appointment of former Ogra chief Tauqeer Sadiq.â€”Syed Irfan Raza

Indian PM accepts invitation to visit Pakistan

The invite was handed over to Dr Singh by Mr Sharifâ€™s Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi and Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif who met the Indian prime minister for about half an hour.

Shahbaz Sharif was quoted as telling a group of reporters that the prime ministerâ€™s goodwill message was handed over to Dr Singh along with the invitation.

Asked about the response, he said Dr Singh had accepted the invitation. â€œLet us seeâ€.

The chief minister also underscored the importance of resumption of dialogue and peaceful resolution of all issues.

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka

From the Newspaper

DUBAI, Dec 11: Shahid Afridi starred in Pakistanâ€™s three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 international here on Wednesday. He scored an unbeaten 39, hitting a six in the final over to give Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Set a challenging target of 146, Pakistan lost Ahmed Shehzad in the third over but Mohammad Hafeez and Sharjeel Khan steadied the innings through their 57-run stand before they lost three wickets in the space of 7 runs.â€”AFP

Defence ministry may seek SC verdict review

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: The Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that it might seek a review of the Supreme Court verdict in the case of 35 missing persons.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: The Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that it might seek a review of the Supreme Court verdict in the case of 35 missing persons.

â€œWe are waiting for the detailed judgment of the honourable court so as to be able to analyse it after which we may go for a review petition which is our legal right,â€ a defence ministry official said after the verdict held that the military authorities had unlawfully taken away detainees from an internment centre.

The official said it had been a consistent position of the ministry that these persons were not held by the army or intelligence agencies. He recalled that of the 12 persons traced so far, seven had been presented in the court. None of them was in the custody of the military or intelligence agencies.

The official said that in its review petition the ministry might again call for constituting a fact-finding commission to look into the matter by visiting the internment centres. He said the defence ministry had made the proposal during the course of proceedings in the case, but it was apparently ignored.

He said efforts were still continuing to locate the remaining persons, some of whom might have settled in tribal areas or moved to neighbouring Afghanistan.

â€œFurther efforts are in hand to locate the remaining persons in the list. Unsubstantiated information about the location of some more individuals has been found and search for them is ongoing. Some of these persons are reported in North Waziristan while some ran away to Kunar and Nuristan provinces of Afghanistan,â€ the official said.

The Supreme Court verdict ordered the government to produce all missing persons before it in seven days and take action against those involved in unlawful detentions.

SC snubs plea against Malikâ€™s appointment

Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to hear a government plea against appointment of Mohammad Tariq Malik as Chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and referred the matter back to the Islamabad High Court with directives to decide it preferably within a month.

The government had challenged an interim order of the IHC suspending the termination of the service of the Nadra chief. It said the order had been issued on Dec 3 on a petition filed the same day without fulfilling the formality of issuing notice to the attorney general.

The bench of the apex court which heard briefly the two sides before disposing of the petition was headed by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and comprised Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed. The case will come up for hearing before a single-judge bench of the IHC on Wednesday.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for Mr Malik, said his client had been appointed for a three-year term under Section 3(5) of the Nadra Ordinance.

Those employed for tenure postings cannot be sacked in the manner the government has followed and the procedure through which the chairman can be removed was described in Section 3(12) of the ordinance.

He said concrete evidence was available to prove that Mr Malik had not been terminated for lack of qualification but the reason had something to do with the ongoing verification of votersâ€™ thumb impression.

Mohammad Akram Sheikh, representing the federation, said the chairman was a contract employee. Under the terms of the contract he could be removed on one monthâ€™s notice or on payment of salary for the period, he said.

He asked the court to stop the Nadra chairman from issuing media statements.

Mr Ahsan said it was the interior minister who was making public statements on the issue and had claimed in parliament that Mr Malik had been removed because he did not fulfil the required qualification for the post.

The federation had argued in its petition that Section 3(7) of the Nadra Ordinance had been violated by not appointing as chairman an eminent professional of known integrity and competence with substantial experience in the field of computer science, engineering, statistics, demography, law, business management, finance, accounting, economics, civil or military administration, or registration.

Kashmiris detained

From the Newspaper

SRINAGAR, Dec 10: Around 20 people were detained on Tuesday in India-held Kashmir while protesting on Human Rights Day against alleged abuses by security forces in the disputed region, police and witnesses said.

Police blocked several small processions by rights activists in Srinagar and at least three separatist leaders were put under house arrest, security sources said.â€”AFP

Pak-India N-war can cause global famine: report

Amin Ahmed

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: More than two billion people â€” a quarter of the worldâ€™s population â€” would be at risk of starvation in the event of a limited nuclear exchange, such as the one that could occur between India and Pakistan, or by the use of even a small number of nuclear weapons held by the US and Russia, says a report by an organisation founded by experts from the US and the former Soviet Union.

The second edition of the report, titled â€˜Nuclear Famine: Two Billion People at Risk â€” Global Impacts of Limited Nuclear War on Agriculture, Food Supplies, and Human Nutritionâ€™ released on Tuesday by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning â€˜International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear Warâ€™ (IPPNW), explains how the use of even relatively small nuclear arsenals of countries such as India and Pakistan could cause long lasting, global damage to ecosystems.

A nuclear war using as few as 100 weapons anywhere in the world would disrupt the global climate and agricultural production so severely that the lives of more than two billion people would be in jeopardy, the report said.

The findings paint an even grimmer picture in the case of nuclear famine, saying that Chinaâ€™s winter wheat production would fall 50 per cent in the first year and, averaged over the entire decade after the war, would be 31pc below baseline.

More than a billion additional people in China would face severe food insecurity. The total number of people threatened by a nuclear-war induced famine would be well over two billion. Corn production in the US would decline by an average of 10pc for an entire decade, with the most severe decline (20pc) in five years, soybean production would decline by about 7pc, with the most severe loss, more than 20pc, in five years.

There would be a significant decline in middle season rice production in China, and during the first four years rice production would decline by an average of 21pc; over the next 6 years the decline would average 10pc.

Increases in food prices would make food inaccessible to hundreds of millions of the worldâ€™s poorest. Even if agricultural markets continued to function normally, 215 million people would be added to the rolls of the malnourished over the course of a decade.

â€˜Nuclear Famineâ€™ is the second IPPNW report to address the global health and environmental consequences of a nuclear war using only a fraction of the more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world today.

Imran threatens street protests against â€˜vote riggingâ€™

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan asked the government on Tuesday not to create hurdles in the way of verification of thumb impression of voters as ordered by election tribunals, otherwise his party would be left with no option but to come on roads.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Khan said the PTI was watching patiently how the government had so far hampered the verification of thumb impression in constituencies where losing PTI candidates have challenged poll results.

He said if the practice of changing judges of election tribunals, removing chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority in the dead of night continued, the PTI would protest with a force that would be difficult for the government to control.

â€œI will talk to all like-minded parties and politicians, including Dr Tahirul Qadri, to move the masses against the government.â€

A PTI leader confirmed to Dawn that his party was working on a plan to launch a movement in February or March if the government did not address its concerns about alleged rigging in the general election.

Mr Khan reiterated his demand for recounting of votes in NA 122, 125, 154 and 110 to ensure fair elections in future.

â€œIf one goes by the assertions of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in the National Assembly that in the event of thumb impression-based counting, 60,000 to 70,000 votes in every constituency will be unverifiable, the entire election process becomes doubtful.â€

Referring to Nadraâ€™s probe in NA 256, Karachi-XVIII, Mr Khan said about 60 per cent of verified votes turned out to be bogus in the Karachi constituency. It suggested that there was a serious need to review the voting system, he added.

The PTI is pushing for recounting of votes in constituencies of NA speaker Ayaz Sadiq (NA 122-Lahore V), Water and Power and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif (NA 110-Sialkot I) and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq (NA 125-Lahore VIII).

â€œIf we are able to get election results of any of these constituencies reversed through verification of thumb impressions, it will make a huge dent in overall credibility of elections and put the PML-N on the back foot,â€ the PTI leader said.

He said his party had renewed its demand for recounting of votes because of the governmentâ€™s jittery reaction to the decision of an election tribunal on NA 118, which led to the removal of Nadra chairman Tariq Malik.

Mr Malik has said on record that he was sacked because the government was not happy with him for going ahead with recounting of votes in NA 118.

Imran Khan said the PTI would accept the result of recounting. â€œEvery time an election tribunal rules in favour of recounting, winning candidates get stay orders and now if the government manages to appoint the Nadra chief of its choice, who will accept his impartiality.â€

He urged other provinces to follow the PTI-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by using the biometric system in the coming local government elections.

Orders in missing personsâ€™ case not complied with: SC

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: Not satisfied with Saturdayâ€™s production of seven persons believed to have been taken away forcibly, the Supreme Court held that its order had still not been complied with and asked the government to explain under which law people were being detained in the militancy-infested areas.

â€œYou (government) do not have any law on disappearances,â€ Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed on Monday during the hearing by a three-judge bench of a case of a missing man, Yasin Shah.

The case was initiated on an application of his elder brother Muhabbat Shah.

â€œThe government could have promulgated an ordinance to regulate the detention of people believed to be missing,â€ the chief justice said, adding that internment centres must be run under Article 10 of the Constitution dealing with safeguards to arrest and detention.

â€œNow we are not going to insist on the production of more persons. Rather we are going to pass a binding judgment,â€ the chief justice said, adding that he still had 60 hours (referring to taking off his robes on Dec 11 as the chief justice) which would be like 60 years. â€œIt is a wrong impression that my successors will not follow the missing person cases.â€

If the prime minister had taken interest, he observed, the matter could have been resolved in 24 hours.

The superior judiciary is seized with a total of 721 cases of missing persons -- 44 pending in the Supreme Court, 345 routed to the apex court through its Human Rights Cell, 137 pending in the Peshawar High Court, one in the Islamabad High Court, 11 in the Lahore High Court, 165 in the Sindh High Court and 18 in the Balochistan High Court.

â€œThis is lawlessness,â€ observed Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, a member of the bench, referring to the large number of cases of missing persons.

Attorney General Muneer A. Malik assured the court that he would talk to Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif for a roadmap on the pending legislation regarding missing persons. He explained that instead of the law ministry, the draft law had been prepared by his office with the help of consultants.

Three bills -- the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance 2013, Anti-Terrorism Ordinance 7 and Anti-Terrorism Ordinance 8 -- are pending in the Senate and the National Assembly.

The AG said the authorities in the defence ministry had learnt their lesson well over the past 10 proceedings on the missing persons, but emphasised that the threat was existential and the secret dossier placed before the apex court in sealed envelops was filled with frightening instances of terrorism.

He requested the court not to issue any sweeping judgment which could hamper custody by security forces of miscreants in the operational battlefield zones.

Although he conceded that no notification for the requisitioning of the armed forces had been issued, the Action in Aid of Civil Power Regulations 2011 was promulgated under Article 247 (4) of the Constitution on June 27, 2011, which applied to the provincially administered tribal areas. The regulation gives the authorities power to exercise this with retrospective effect from Feb 1, 2008.

â€œThere is no cavil that the security authorities have to act under the regulations,â€ the attorney general said, adding that if the arrest and internment of the detained persons were within regulations, the ambit of Article 10 was out unless held otherwise by the apex court.

Acting Defence Secretary retired Maj Gen Raja Arif Nazir said two more missing persons had been identified and they would be produced before the court on Tuesday. He said the ministry was trying to trace the remaining missing persons.

BALOCHISTAN CASE: The Supreme Court expressed annoyance over the absence of Inspector General of Frontier Corps Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid who is facing a contempt charge for defying its orders in Balochistan missing personsâ€™ cases. The FC chief was required to attend Mondayâ€™s proceedings to justify why the personnel allegedly involved in enforced disappearances had not appeared before DIG of Balochistan Crime Investigation Department Imtiaz Ahmed Shah on Dec 1 despite a clear order of the court.

Advocate Irfan Qadir, appearing on behalf of the FC IG, informed the court that the officer was indisposed. He also said his client had reservations over the way the case was being conducted.

The counsel asked the court to issue an order which would be examined. If it was constitutional it would be obeyed, otherwise it would not be complied with, he said, adding: â€œThe armed forces are sensitive about the constitution and our forces are also following it like the judiciary.â€ But the court ordered the attorney general to seek instructions from the interior secretary and inform it who was commanding the FC in place of Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid so that he could be summoned.

The court praised the Balochistan government for conducting peaceful local government elections and expressed the hope that other provinces would follow suit.

The case will be taken up on Tuesday.

Global campaign for â€˜bill of digital rightsâ€™

Dawn Report

KARACHI, Dec 9: In the wake of American whistleblower Edward Snowdenâ€™s startling revelations about the extent of mass surveillance conducted by the United States and other governments, a multinational group of renowned writers has launched an appeal calling for an â€œInternational Bill of Digital Rightsâ€, drafted by the United Nations, to protect the privacy of the worldâ€™s citizens.

Named â€˜Writers Against Mass Surveillanceâ€™, around 560 authors, including Nobel laureates, from over 80 countries, including Pakistan, have signed the appeal.

The appeal says that â€œin their thoughts and in their personal environments and communications, all humans have the right to remain unobserved and unmolested. This fundamental right has been rendered null and void through abuse of technological developments by states and corporations for mass surveillance purposes.â€

It adds that â€œa person under surveillance is no longer free; a society under surveillance is no longer a democracy.â€ The joint appeal states:

â€¢ Surveillance violates the private sphere and compromise freedom of thought and opinion.

â€¢ Mass surveillance treats every citizen as potential suspect. It overturns one of our historical triumphs, the presumption of innocence.

â€¢ Surveillance makes the individual transparent, while the state and the corporation operate in secret. As we have seen, this power is being systematically abused.

â€¢ Surveillance is theft. This data is not public property: it belongs to us. When it is used to predict our behaviour, we are robbed of something else: the principle of free will crucial to democratic liberty.

The writers behind the appeal â€œDemand the right to determine, as democratic citizens, to what extent their personal data may be legally collected, stored and processed, and by whom,â€ as well as the right to obtain information about where their data is stored, how it is being used and the right to have the data deleted if it has been illegally collected and stored.

The appeal also calls on the United Nations to â€œacknowledge the central importance of protecting civil rights in the digital age, and to create an International Bill of Digital Rightsâ€ and for governments to sign and adhere to such a convention.

The Nobel laureates who are supporting the appeal include Orhan Pamuk of Turkey, J.M. Coetzee of South Africa, Gunter Grass of Germany, Elfriede Jelinek of Austria and Tomas TranstrAtilde;¶mer of Sweden. Scores of writers from most of the developed and developing countries have already signed the appeal.

Among the Pakistani or Pakistan-origin writers who have signed the appeal are Mohsin Hamid, Ahmed Rashid and Kamila Shamsie.

Also among the signatories are Umberto Eco, Margaret Atwood, Don DeLillo, Daniel Kehlmann, Nawal El Saadawi, Arundhati Roy, Henning Mankell, Richard Ford, Javier Marias, BjAtilde;¶rk, David Grossman, Arnon GrAtilde;¼nberg, Angeles Mastretta, Juan Goytisolo, Nuruddin Farah, JoAtilde;£o Ribeiro, Victor Erofeyev, Liao Yiwu and David Malouf.

The appeal has been organised by Juli Zeh, Ilija Trojanow, Eva Menasse, Janne Teller, Priya Basil, Isabel Cole and Josef Haslinger.

The joint appeal is appearing on Dec 10 (today) to coincide with the Human Rights Day, in over 30 newspapers across the globe. It can be viewed online at www.change.org/surveillance.

Thai premier calls elections as protesters flood streets

From the Newspaper

BANGKOK, Dec 9: Thailandâ€™s premier called for snap elections on Monday to try to defuse the kingdomâ€™s political crisis, but protesters vowed to keep up their â€œpeopleâ€™s revolutionâ€ as an estimated 140,000 demonstrators flooded the streets of Bangkok.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has faced more than a month of sometimes-violent rallies by protesters storming key state buildings in a bid to unseat her government and replace it with an unelected â€œPeopleâ€™s Council.â€

By dissolving parliament and calling new elections that her party is likely to win, the embattled premier aims to cool public anger without bowing to the demonstratorsâ€™ demands to suspend the countryâ€™s democratic system.

Protest leaders, however, said they were not satisfied and pledged to rid Thailand of the influence of her older brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon-turned-premier who was ousted by royalist generals in a coup seven years ago and lives overseas.

Addressing a cheering crowd from a newly-erected stage near the government headquarters, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban announced plans to set up a parallel government and told supporters they should be prepared to set up camp at the site.

â€œWe will select a peopleâ€™s prime minister and set up a government of the people and a peopleâ€™s assembly to replace parliament,â€ said Suthep, who faces an arrest warrant for insurrection.

Suthep envisioned a body that could redraft the kingdomâ€™s laws in preparation for eventual elections after at least eight months.

The political conflict broadly pits a Bangkok-based middle class and royalist elite backed by the military against rural and working-class voters loyal to Thaksin.

His overthrow in 2006 by generals loyal to the king ushered in years of political turmoil and rival street protests by the royalist â€œYellow Shirtsâ€ and Thaksinâ€™s supporters, known as the â€œRed Shirtsâ€.

Thaksin â€” who once described Yingluck as his â€œcloneâ€ â€” is widely considered the de facto leader of the ruling party, angering his foes.â€”AFP

Schedule for LG polls in Punjab announced

Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: The Election Commission of Pakistan announced on Monday the schedule for local government elections in Punjab, but put off issuing the same for Sindh for the third time in 10 days.

The schedule for both the provinces was to be announced on Nov 29 under the ECPâ€™s declared plan, but the date was changed to Dec 7 because of the failure of the two provinces to provide updated local government laws and rules and the notification of delimitation exercise.

Punjab informed the commission that it would complete the delimitation exercise by Dec 8. Sindh wanted a week to remove anomalies from laws and rules, pointed out by the commission but was asked to complete it by Dec 8.

Punjab met the requirement but Sindh failed again. But the ECP is still determined to hold the polls in Sindh and Punjab on Jan 18 and Jan 30, respectively, -- the dates given to the Supreme Court.

Briefing reporters after a meeting, Commissionâ€™s Secretary Ishtiak Ahmad Khan said that Sindh had been given the last chance to meet the requirements by Dec 12 and the poll schedule would be announced on Dec 13.

When it was pointed out that the Sindh cabinet wanted the polls to be held in March, he said the provincial government would have to approach the Supreme Court to get the date changed.

He said the ECP would announce the schedule on Dec 13, to comply with the Supreme Court orders.

He said the Sindh government had also sought guidelines from the ECP.

â€œThough it is not for us to legislate or conduct delimitation and our mandate is limited to the conduct of polls, we agreed to informally assist the Sindh government and sent a team there on Dec 7.â€

The team headed by Additional Secretary Syed Sher Afgan has presented its proposal but it is up to the Sindh government to accept or reject it.

Giving details of the schedule, he said a notice inviting nominations would be issued by returning officers on Dec 20 while nomination papers would be received from Dec 22 to Dec 27, and their list would be published on Dec 28. Objections will be invited on Dec 29.

The papers will be scrutinised between Dec 30 and Jan 4. Appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers will be filed on Jan 6 and 7 and disposed of between Jan 8 and 11. He said that Jan 12 would be the date for withdrawal of candidature and the final list of candidates with symbols allotted to them would be published the following day.

Polling will be held on Jan 30 and the results will be announced by returning officers on Feb 2.

Fazl meets PM before India visit

Kalbe Ali

ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is scheduled to visit India on Wednesday, called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday and held consultations with him.

During his meetings with Indian leaders, Maulana Fazl will explore possibilities of progress in ties between Pakistan and India.

In a statement, JUI-F spokesperson Jan Achakzai said Maulana Fazl and Mr Sharif discussed Pakistan-India ties with particular reference to the Kashmir issue. He said the prime minister apprised the maulana about the talks he held with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in New York recently.

Mr Sharif agreed with the JUI-F chiefâ€™s proposal for making new legislation for curbing sectarianism.

The statement said Mr Sharif and Maulana Fazl were in agreement that talks should be initiated with Taliban. The prime minister informed the maulana that the government was committed to resolving issues through talks.

Accountability court summons Zardari

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: The accountability court of Islamabad has summoned former president and PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari on Dec 23 for indicting him in the â€œpolo groundâ€ corruption reference.

But, the court commenced trial against Mr Zardari in other cases and summoned 17 witnesses on Dec 23 for recording their statements after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) conceded that no fresh indictment was necessary in the pending corruption references.

Farooq H. Naek, the counsel for Mr Zardari, said in the court on Monday that after the repeal of Ehtesab Act in 1998, the cases formed under Ehtesab Act could be taken up in accordance with the NAB ordinance. Since the indictment had already been done in the SGS, ARY Gold and Ursus tractors cases there was no need for fresh indictment, Mr Naek said.

At the previous hearing on Nov 26 the court had ordered fresh framing of charges on Dec 9 against Mr Zardari in the four corruption references â€” Ursus tractors, ARY gold, SociAtilde;©tAtilde;© GAtilde;©nAtilde;©rale de Surveillance (SGS) and polo ground.

Except for the polo ground case, charges in the three corruption references have already been framed.

In the Cotecna corruption case Mr Naek had sought copies of references from the NAB prosecution that was provided to him on Monday.

At the start of the hearing when the court asked Mr Naek why his client was not in the court, the counsel submitted an application for grant of exemption to Mr Zardari from personal appearance. He said the former president faced security threats.

The NAB prosecutor said that providing security to Mr Zardari was not responsibility of the bureau because he was not in its custody.

The court issued directives for Mr Zardari to personally appear before it at the next hearing.

Hagel due today in Islamabad for â€˜candid talksâ€™

Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON, Dec 8: US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will visit Pakistan on Monday for â€œcandid and productive conversationsâ€ with Pakistani leaders, the Pentagon announced on Sunday.

WASHINGTON, Dec 8: US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will visit Pakistan on Monday for â€œcandid and productive conversationsâ€ with Pakistani leaders, the Pentagon announced on Sunday.

Mr Hagel will be the first US defence chief to visit Pakistan since January 2010, when the former secretary Robert Gates visited Islamabad before relations between the two countries began to deteriorate.

â€œSecretary Hagel also looks forward to discussing with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and senior Pakistani officials the United States and Pakistanâ€™s common interest in a stable Afghanistan,â€ said a Pentagon spokesman Carl Woog. Secretary Hagel met Mr Sharif during the prime ministerâ€™s visit to Washington earlier this year and looked forward to his â€œcandid and productive conversationsâ€ with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad on Monday, Mr Woog said.

Three major incidents in 2011 â€” the elimination of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, a US air raid on a Pakistani border post and a shooting incident involving a CIA contractor â€”strained Americaâ€™s relations with Pakistan.

While briefing media on Wednesday on his planned visit to the Middle East, Secretary Hagel said he â€œmay (visit) some other countriesâ€ as well but did not name those other destinations.

But he announced his decision to visit Pakistan earlier on Sunday while addressing US troops at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan.

In Washington, US defence officials told reporters that besides bilateral relations, Secretary Hagel will also discuss Afghanistan and security threats with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad.

Also in Washington, the Pentagon released the transcript of Mr Hagelâ€™s briefing to the media in Kabul where the secretary also outlined his differences with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

â€œI never asked for a meeting with President Karzai. That was not the purpose of my trip, never suggested it in any way,â€ said Mr Hagel when asked why he failed to meet the Afghan president during his stay in Kabul.

â€œThis morning we were again told that there might be a meeting around 6 (pm),â€ Mr Faizi said. â€œOut of hospitality, we did prepare for a late evening meeting which finally did not take place. It is as simple as that, and not an issue.â€

Secretary Hagel, however, met the Afghan defence minister in Kabul and later told reporters that the minister had assumed that a bilateral security agreement with the US â€œwould be signed and would be signed in a very timely mannerâ€.

The US wants Afghanistan to sign this agreement as soon as possible so that it could plan for the deployment of about 10,000 troops after 2014, when Washington plans to pull out most of its combat troops from Afghanistan. Mr Karzai insists that the new Afghan president who would be elected in the general elections scheduled in April should sign the agreement. The US says such a long delay is unacceptable.

Responding to a question, Secretary Hagel ruled out the possibility of increasing pressure on President Karzai for signing the deal.

â€œI donâ€™t think pressure coming from the United States or more pressure is going to be helpful in persuading President Karzai to sign a bilateral security agreement,â€ he said.

Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, had sent a letter to the Obama administration suggesting that they simply ignore President Karzai and continue planning for a post-2014 presence.

â€œWell, you all know we are planning for a post-2014 presence here. You know Nato is planning for that. Our Isaf partners, many will still be involved with us if weâ€™re able to get an agreement,â€ said Secretary Hagel when asked to comment on Mr Levinâ€™s letter.

Ministry sends gas load management plan to PM

Sohail Iqbal Bhatti

ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has sent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for approval a summary which envisages suspension of supply of natural gas to all users, except domestic consumers, tandoors and some power plants, in January and February.

The summary (a copy of which has been obtained by DawnNews) also proposes loadshedding of gas for six days a week during March and April in view of a likely increase in shortfall of the fuel.

The average gas supply by the SNGPL and SSGC currently works out to about 3,734 million cubic feet per day and the estimated demand-supply position for the two utilities for winter shows a shortfall of 1,249 to 1,921 mmcfd.

â€œHistorically, gas demand during winter increases due to manifold increase in consumption in the domestic sector, in almost all areas of the SNGPL system and in some areas of the SSGC system, which constrains the companies to enforce gas load management plans in their respective franchise areas,â€ the summary reads.

Under the proposed load management plan, supply to domestic and commercial sectors will remain unchanged, as per the current supply priority order.

The PakArab, Agritech and Dawood Hercules fertiliser plants â€” which are on the SNGPL system â€” will remain closed during winter, while Engro will get supply from the alternative source of Mari gas field.

The only fertiliser plant on the SSGC system â€” Fauji Bin Qasim â€” will be supplied reduced volumes till mid-December and then will remain closed till the end of February. Thereafter, supply to the plant will be restored with reduced volumes.

Independent power producers Orient, Saif, Sapphire, Halmore and Kapco will get no supply while supply commitment on the SNGPL system with power plants Rousch, FKPCL, LibertyPower and Engro Power will be honoured. On the SSGC system, partial gas load management will be observed in the power sector.

The summary says: â€œIn Punjab, CNG stations will observe seven holidays (a week) from December to February and six holidays in March and April. In Sindh, three holidays will be observed in CNG sector. As Khyber Pakhtunkhwaâ€™s demand is expected to outstrip its supply, some load management will also be observed depending on demand-supply gap. There will be no load management in Balochistan.â€

In Punjab, the industrial sector, including captive power plants, will get no gas from December to February and will observe six holidays a week in March and April. In Sindh, one holiday per week will be observed in December and two from January to March.

Editorial News

Vicious circle: Circular debt again

From the Newspaper

THIS is the truth about circular debt: it can make policymakers go round and round in circles in search of a tool to break the chain. Just when government officials were congratulating each other on their â€˜successâ€™ in liquidating the unpaid bills of public and private power producers and their fuel suppliers accumulated over time, they find themselves standing against yet another mountain in the making. The power companiesâ€™ bills have spiked again to a staggering Rs216bn, or equal to 45pc of the previous bills of the Rs480bn cleared by the Nawaz Sharif government in its first month in power. That was billed as a great success and the government has since been trumpeting the clearance of that debt hoarded by its predecessor as a major policy feat. No one in officialdom is prepared to even acknowledge the debtâ€™s resurgence, let alone move to settle it.

When the government announced its plan to pay off the outstanding dues of power companies in one go, it had claimed the move was part of a major reform programme to fix the countryâ€™s collapsing energy sector. Soon it transpired that it didnâ€™t have a plan at all. The so-called energy policy came quite late in the day although the ruling PML-N had started working on it immediately after winning the May elections. Apart from a substantial increase in electricity prices for most consumers to ease pressure on the budget, the need for crucial reforms, aimed at reducing distribution losses, controlling electricity theft, revamping public generation and distribution companies etc seems to have been forgotten. Thereâ€™s little movement on the plan to privatise Gencos and Discos. This is so, despite repeated warnings from experts and private power producers who were the main beneficiaries of the governmentâ€™s decision to liquidate the circular debt. They have been pointing out that the clearance of unpaid bills alone wonâ€™t solve the countryâ€™s chronic power troubles.

Lack of implementation of energy sector reforms is not the only reason for the resurgence of the unpaid bills of power companies. The issue is also linked to the governmentâ€™s cash flow problems. The government hasnâ€™t been able to generate enough revenue to keep its budget deficit within the limits prescribed by the IMF under its $6.6bn loan arrangement, after paying the producers their bills. Unless the government works simultaneously on revamping the power sector and increasing its tax revenues, it will not be able to put the ever-agitated genie of circular debt back into the bottle.

Polio crisis deepens: Indiaâ€™s travel ban

From the Newspaper

THE failure of both state and society to recognise a crisis requiring urgent attention is astounding. It has been nearly a decade now since reservations started pouring in regarding the administration of the polio vaccine. Since then, resistance to the vaccine has grown exponentially â€” the trend has gone from a passive refusal to allow the administration of the vaccine to active resistance and aggression. Meanwhile, the incidence of polio within the country has been on the increase; in fact, there is alarming evidence that we are exporting it. The Pakistani strain of the virus has been detected in Asia and Africa, and just recently, medical experts warned that it could threaten Europe. It is little wonder, then, that India â€” which was recently declared polio-free â€” acted on Thursday on a recommendation first proposed in 2011 by the Independent Monitoring Board for Polio Eradication: after Jan 30, 2014, those travelling to India from Pakistan and other polio-endemic countries (Afghanistan and Nigeria) will be required to show proof of recent vaccination.

It is unfortunate indeed that matters have come to such a pass, and the possibility cannot be ruled out that other countries may follow suit. While the world, India in particular, must be urged to be patient â€” for such restrictions will affect a great number of people â€” the fact remains that it is imperative that Pakistan start putting its house in order in terms of countering the polio threat. While the danger has intensified, the state and its leaders have looked the other way. Though validation for the vaccine has started trickling in â€” Maulana Samiul Haq of the Darul Uloom Haqqania announced his backing for the vaccine a few days ago â€” much more is needed. The much vaunted â€˜national interestâ€™ that forms the backbone of the bulk of our leadersâ€™ rhetoric cannot be better served than by ensuring that future generations are not stalked by polio, and Pakistan is not a pariah amidst the comity of nations for failing to control the crippling virus.

Not by loan alone: Youth scheme

From the Newspaper

THE launch of the Prime Ministerâ€™s Youth Business Loan Scheme has generated excitement. In the first phase, the government plans to disburse Rs100bn among 100,000 loan-seekers who will be able to apply for a sum of between Rs100,000 to Rs2m. The ceiling indicates that in its attempt to ensure greater economic activity the scheme seeks to ensure that its impact is expansive. The smaller loans may also be ideal in the context of recovery, which is always a tricky proposition. Transparency and easy accessibility are essential to the success of such a programme. Another crucial factor is the creation of a favourable environment for loan utilisation. Without the provision of the right conditions for utilisation, the loan-granting authority and its intended beneficiaries could end up blaming each other. The repercussions of such failure can be dangerous for the two parties and for the banks.

The government understands the worth of the youth loan project. This, among other things, is borne out by the appointment of the prime ministerâ€™s daughter Maryam Nawaz to oversee the scheme. Something of a PML-N counterpart of Benazir Bhutto whose posters adorned the previous governmentâ€™s income support programme, Ms Nawaz would not have been advised to risk the scheme unless there were real prospects of some work to do and some popularity points to earn. The issue of the chair settled, the government needs to ask itself whether it can quickly create an atmosphere suitable to the utilisation of the funds on offer â€” like improvement in the energy sector, etc. The idea is, or should be, to encourage small-scale industrial entrepreneurship. That cannot happen without infrastructural support. What often happens is that the loans end up being used to set up shops with little or no addition to industrial production.

The road ahead: After Iftikhar Chaudhry

From the Newspaper

THE long goodbye is over and today begins the post-Chaudhry phase of the superior judiciary. The institution that Chief Justice Tassaduq Jillani will take charge of is stronger than what was inherited by Iftikhar Chaudhry, but there is still a long way to go before the superior judiciary establishes itself as a truly vibrant institution that operates within the confines of the law and the Constitution and that protects the rights of the people. Of the many challenges the court will have to grapple with, one of the foremost is of its own creation: the liberal use of suo motu powers on the touchstone of protecting fundamental rights. To be sure, the trend internationally is to read constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights in an expansive manner, which allows courts to enhance the peopleâ€™s social and economic rights and even protect the environment. But the Supreme Court here took activism to another, undesirable level with its interventions in controversies such as â€˜Memogateâ€™ and the scheduling of the last presidential election. Perhaps now is the time for the court to flesh out what are the rightful limits of suo motu powers and issue guidelines for the superior judiciary as to how and when to use these.

A second major area that needs attention is the improvement of the delivery of justice at the lower-court level â€” the first point of contact of the average citizen with the judiciary. That of course is not the sole responsibility or even prerogative of the superior judiciary: while the Supreme Court chief justice serves as the administrative apex of the judicial system, revamping the delivery of justice at the lowest tiers will require a great deal of cooperation and coordination with the federal and provincial governments. But it is possible for the superior judiciary to lead the way by producing a road map to a more robust, effective and transparent judiciary at the local level.

Third, and linked to the other two, is a need for the superior judiciary to redefine its vision and purpose. Grabbing near daily headlines with off the cuff remarks from the bench or issuing a flurry of orders that are sometimes only backed by detailed judgements much later is not really in the interest of judicial evolution or institutional stability. Where it is necessary to shake the system out of its torpor, stubbornness or cruelty, as in the case of missing persons, shock tactics may be helpful. But for the rest, itâ€™s better if the judiciary were to adopt a lower public profile.

Impunity must end: Missing persons

From the Newspaper

THE Supreme Courtâ€™s judgement on Tuesday which stated that intelligence agencies could not detain people without sharing information about their whereabouts with their relatives, is the latest in a series of events that have lifted the lid off the state within a state that exists in Pakistan. As the bench pointed out, apart from laws in the federally and provincially administered tribal regions, no legal cover was present in the country that sanctioned the confinement of people without authority. The judgement also observed that the army had taken away 35 detainees from the Lakki Marwat internment centre, but only seven individuals had been produced before court. The apex courtâ€™s remarks strengthen the view that the security establishment deals with elements it views as threats beyond the pale of the law. However, this approach allows for the illegal abduction, detention and torture of suspects. In a state that considers itself a democracy, this is unacceptable. The judgement, as well as other cases such as that of the Adiyala 11 and the Baloch missing persons, confirms that the security establishment is accountable to no one. Regardless of the fact that the suspects might be picked up on suspicion of militancy or separatism, arbitrary and illegal detention is completely unjustifiable. Thanks to the Supreme Courtâ€™s efforts the state, which up till recently said it had no information about missing persons, produced some of the â€˜disappearedâ€™ in court as we witnessed on Saturday. This shows someone within the establishment knows exactly where the missing are.

Unless proven otherwise, accusations of the intelligence agenciesâ€™ high- handedness will stand. The security establishment must come on record about the extent of enforced disappearances and resort only to legal means when it comes to pursuing suspects wanted for terrorism or militancy. Having said that, the civilian justice system must also start to deliver; the failure of the civilian administrative set-up in Malakand is a prime example of how the security establishment was given space due to the civiliansâ€™ inability to manage the situation.

Strange logic: A.Q. Khanâ€™s views on bombs and rights

From the Newspaper

DR Abdul Qadeer Khan may be able to solve the most difficult problems but that doesnâ€™t mean he always has a worthy audience or that the scientist himself fully knows his true status. It is suspected it was his humility that led him to believe that his speech at a seminar in Lahore held to mark International Human Rights Day required him to link the theme to his bomb-making expertise. A national hero, he is well past that stage. He does not need to relate everything to the bomb. But he did and the audience must have found it hard to understand why. He presented the bomb as the ultimate protector of human rights, saying the atomic bomb â€œsafeguard[ed] the human rights of a nation through the creation of a power balanceâ€. And that a nation which possessed the bomb was empowered to curb the rights of other nations. How Dr Khan arrived at this conclusion is unclear but his thought processes seem to have involved some complicated logic of physics if not the liberal application of poetic licence.

A true understanding of the correlation between the bomb and respecting peopleâ€™s rights requires elaboration. Meanwhile, weâ€™ll be stuck with the antics of the ever-explosive rights activists and wonâ€™t quite be able to ask the doves to clear the stage for real people with real peace remedies. This could have been our chance to denounce all those who had measured the bomb in terms of its lethal effects on the human race and the costs of denying development to the public. That wasnâ€™t to be and on current evidence most will struggle to even declare that eating grass is a basic human right of the people waiting for their bomb to cook.

Problematic ties: Chuck Hagelâ€™s warning

From the Newspaper

ON Monday, US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel came to Islamabad and essentially warned that disruptions of the Nato supply route through Pakistan could have repercussions in Washington that may imperil US assistance to Pakistan. Yesterday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif claimed his government is working urgently to address the terrorism threat inside Pakistan. Also yesterday, parliament passed a unanimous resolution calling upon the government to end drone strikes inside Pakistan. Three small episodes in the span of 24 hours, but each linked to the broader problem in Pakistan-US ties. Much is said, sometimes about convergences, sometimes about disagreements, by both sides, but neither side is willing to do what is necessary to stabilise a problematic but crucial relationship.

Start with Mr Hagelâ€™s veiled threat. In essence, the US defence secretary has warned that domestic politics in Pakistan ought not to get in the way of American and allied countriesâ€™ military interests in Afghanistan over the next year. The PTI may have appropriated an area of foreign policy and taken unilateral decisions that cannot be defended on the basis of law or convention, but thereâ€™s a clear political context â€” drones and their unpopularity inside Pakistan. Killing Hakeemullah Mehsud in North Waziristan and trying to kill a senior Haqqani Network leader in Hangu was the US demonstrating yet again that it continues to put the military and intelligence cart before the political and strategic horse. The drone strikes have further inflamed anti-US sentiment in Pakistan, making it even more difficult for moderate political forces here to find a way to balance both domestic and international pressures.

Then again, it is not as if the government has any clear policy on militancy to begin with. Mr Sharifâ€™s claim that his government is working on a â€˜war footingâ€™ to end terrorism is scarcely credible. Meanwhile, parliament exemplified the problem with the approach to fighting militancy in the country: lash out at drones; speak only in muted voices, if that, about the terrorists and militants who stalk this land. So, to the extent a difficult situation can be simplified, it appears to come down to this: the US wants to kill people on Pakistani soil in drone strikes and gets upset when Pakistanis react to those killings; Pakistan condemns the US for its drone strikes but cares little about the problem that has brought the drones over Pakistani airspace in the first place â€” terrorists and militants. Itâ€™s hardly a recipe for stability or mutual respect, but neither side appears willing to bridge the gap.

Political witch-hunt: Execution order in Bangladesh

From the Newspaper

UNLESS he is pardoned by that countryâ€™s president, Bangladesh Jamaat-i-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla will be hanged in â€œthe shortest possible timeâ€, according to the deputy law minister. This hurry to execute a man who belongs to an opposition party is shocking, especially when the higher judiciary could still reverse the death sentence. Mr Molla was given a life term by Bangladeshâ€™s International Crimes Tribunal for crimes against humanity he allegedly committed during the 1971 civil war. In keeping with the tenor of the times in Bangladesh, the Supreme Court chose to enhance the sentence to death last September. The â€˜internationalâ€™ tribunal that had tried Mr Molla is a Bangladeshi court, and legal experts say the trial fell short of judicial standards. Due process has not yet been completed, and a further appeal can be considered. Given this backdrop, hanging Mr Molla â€” the punishment is one that goes against all precepts of human rights â€” would amount to â€œan act of murderâ€ as noted by the defence lawyer.

Legal aspects apart, the very decision to try Mr Molla and others, including two members of the opposition Bangladesh National Party, for alleged crimes committed more than 40 years ago betrays a revanchist spirit on the part of the Awami League. What the country needs is reconciliation rather than revenge exacted mostly on Prime Minister Hasina Wajedâ€™s political opponents. Sheikh Hasina should learn from the spirit of forgiveness shown by Nelson Mandela at the peak of his power. The African icon asked his people not to take revenge on the white minority whose litany of crimes constitutes a history of its own. Mr Mollaâ€™s execution, if carried out, will provoke a backlash, which could throw Bangladesh further into the quagmire of political instability, violence and economic distress. Atrocities during the 1971 war were committed by more than one group, and it would be a miscarriage of justice if accountability is seen to be selective.

Orwellian tactics: Appeal against mass surveillance

From the Newspaper

IN the age of mass surveillance, where governments and corporations secretly snoop on citizens, the campaign for an international bill of digital rights is necessary. Calls for drafting such a bill have been made in an appeal spearheaded by Writers Against Mass Surveillance, a group of international authors. The appeal comes in the aftermath of the disturbing revelations made by American whistleblower Edward Snowden this year about the extent of mass surveillance undertaken by the US National Security Agency, Britainâ€™s Government Communications Headquarters and other intelligence set-ups. It is no secret that many Western governments have reacted to the disclosures using tactics more typical of dictatorships. For example, the UKâ€™s Guardian was hounded by British intelligence and so much pressure was put on the newspaper that its editors decided to destroy the Snowden files instead of handing them over to the state. In another example of overreaction, the Bolivian presidentâ€™s aircraft was made to land in Austria after Western governments believed Mr Snowden was on board, causing a diplomatic furore. While European and North American states are regarded as free and democratic societies, such methods, and the actual surveillance they are meant to cover up, are patently undemocratic.

Espionage has been a tool states have employed for centuries, and in the age of transnational terrorism it is important to keep tabs on those who want to endanger lives. But security concerns cannot be used to justify the erosion of civil liberties and violation of privacy. If such tactics by all governments are not confronted by the worldâ€™s citizens, the intelligence agencies will soon start setting the agenda. The appeal is important if an individualâ€™s privacy is to be protected from the prying eyes and ears of the state.

Pakistanâ€™s concerns: WTO deal

From the Newspaper

INDEED, the World Trade Organisation agreement last week in Bali, Indonesia, is hardly representative of all the issues that the stalled Doha Round has unsuccessfully attempted to tackle for the last 12 years to dismantle the fetters hampering freer global trade. Yet the pact is significant because it is expected to save the Geneva-based arbiter of global trade from becoming irrelevant at a time when most WTO members, particularly rich countries blocking the free access of exports from developing nations to their markets, appear to favour bilateral or regional arrangements. Hence, a jubilant WTO chief Roberto Azevedo described the agreement as an important stepping stone towards the completion of the Doha Round. The Bali package is the first global trade deal clinched under the umbrella of the WTO since the organisationâ€™s foundation in 1995 and is estimated to have paved the way for the addition of $1tr to global economic activity and 21m jobs by removing bureaucratic hurdles and simplifying customs procedures. Besides, it will help improve the access of exports from the Least Developed Countries to the markets of wealthy nations. Getting the Bali deal done meant that the 159 members of the world trade body had to agree to more flexible rules on farm subsidies, an issue that has divided developing countries for far too long. India, for example, insists on subsidising its farmers for the crops it buys for the governmentâ€™s domestic food security programme. Countries like Thailand, Pakistan and Uruguay, major producers of rice like India, say that the subsidised Indian farmers could negatively impact producers in their own countries. At the end of the day, India got what it wanted as others didnâ€™t want negotiations to break down. A â€˜peace clauseâ€™ was agreed upon to preclude any legal WTO challenge for four years against the countries breaching the farm subsidy limits as part of their food security programmes so long as the practice doesnâ€™t distort trade.

Regrettably, the absence of a federal commerce minister in the country shows the lack of seriousness on Pakistanâ€™s part towards global issues. Apart from writing a protest note to the WTO secretariat, the countryâ€™s trade officials havenâ€™t done anything to block Indiaâ€™s move. Perhaps, they didnâ€™t expect much support from other WTO members. This approach towards the multilateral trade negotiations betrays a lack of confidence and the absence of skills and competence for international trade diplomacy. It would have been much better had the countryâ€™s trade authorities been prepared to project Pakistanâ€™s interest and used the forum to voice their concerns even if their viewpoint was rejected.

â€˜Third-partyâ€™ change: Indian state elections

From the Newspaper

THE results of the state elections in India reconfirm a few trends. The Bharatiya Janata Party has captured Rajasthan, has retained Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is now the single largest party in Delhi. This boosts Narendra Modi as â€˜theâ€™ candidate for the prime ministerial office in the general elections next summer. Also, the voting patterns add to the growing worldwide evidence of how far off the mark pre-election projections and even exit polls can turn out to be. Whereas the pollsters are accused of trying to, subtly or clumsily, force a â€˜popularâ€™ choice on the electorate, this latest instance of the votersâ€™ defiance of predictions highlights their ability to not be over-influenced by data. It shows they can make up their minds independently. This is a sign of maturity and should deter the less careful and more ambitious calculators of public opinion everywhere.

The Indian state elections re-establish the growing assertive presence of the middle class in politics and the focus this involvement places on â€˜middle-classâ€™ issues, the most prominent among them being corruption. The Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as a force by securing a large number of seats in Delhi, containing the Congress but also denting the BJP. It appears that a sizeable number of Indian voters locate the reasons for political malfunctioning in the system itself, beyond the incompetence and corrupt practices of a single political party. This has created the conditions for a new party or third party to flourish, even if its existence is so far limited to a few locales and a few issues in the country. This is not at all dissimilar to what happened in the general elections in Pakistan. Whether or not the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has been able to live up to its promise post-polls, its voter appeal by and large lay in its ability to portray itself as a saviour, above the traditional parties and as a clean alternative. This third-party intervention, in both India and Pakistan, already signifies a change.

Unfortunate disruption: Iranian bookstall closed

From the Newspaper

ALL too often we are given grim reminders of this societyâ€™s lurch towards intolerance. Perhaps the most recent such reminder was the incident at the Karachi International Book Fair, which wrapped up on Monday, in which a bookstall set up by the Iranian consulate was shut down following a protest by the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat. The religious organisation took umbrage at some of the books on display at the Iranian stall because of their allegedly â€˜sectarianâ€™ content and complained to the police. Buckling under pressure, the police confiscated the books while the fairâ€™s organisers closed down the stall. The Iranian consulate has rejected the allegation that sectarian material was being displayed â€” indeed, it is debatable whether any diplomatic mission would publicly display inflammatory literature, especially in these times. The incident bodes ill for the future of cultural and literary activities in the country when extremists can have literature they deem unacceptable removed and dictate terms to society.

What is equally disturbing is that the incident occurred at Karachiâ€™s only major book fair. By definition, book fairs are supposed to encourage the freedom to learn, question, and explore new areas of knowledge. There has been valid criticism that over the past few years the number of religious books has been increasing at the fair, with some questionable titles on display. Yet in an open society all literature should have space and judgement should be left to the individual. But in Pakistan, powerful groups can dictate what is and what is not kosher for the masses. Today it is Iranian books; tomorrow, if religious extremists complain against other â€˜unacceptableâ€™ material, will the fairâ€™s organisers also cave in? Clearly, such incidents prove that in Pakistan extremism is not simply creeping; it is on the march.

Unfair remarks: PMâ€™s grouse

From the Newspaper

THE prime minister is upset that the media has not treated his government fairly or justly in its coverage of the governmentâ€™s performance so far and he specifically complained over the weekend that the great vegetable price inflation was highlighted far more than the recent downward trend in prices. Governments complaining about the role of the media in undermining them and treating them unfairly and unjustly is as old a complaint as the media itself. In reality, it is often the media that has been treated unjustly, unfairly and worse by governments throughout history, and that history certainly includes PML-N governments. To be sure, there are sections of the media here that often project themselves as participants in, instead of observers of, the political and governance process, but even that is not something a vibrant and thriving democracy cannot absorb.

What is troubling about the prime ministerâ€™s comments is that he has chosen to criticise the media at precisely the moment the country is looking to him to get on with the business of governance and policy now that a new army chief has been installed and a new chief justice of the Supreme Court will be sworn in this week. Is the prime minister once again simply looking for scapegoats?

It surely cannot bode well for the prospects of an improvement on the governance front.

No political will: Siachen freeze

From the Newspaper

Darâ€™s pie in the sky: Economic â€˜featsâ€™

From the Newspaper

Craven approach: ASWJ leaderâ€™s killing

From the Newspaper

APPEASEMENT, sympathy, fear, complicity, connivance â€” whatever the name, the game the PML-N has played in Punjab on the sectarian front is a dangerous, depressingly expedient one. The recent Muharram violence in Rawalpindi followed by the day-time assassination of an ASWJ leader in Lahore on Friday are just the visible spikes in simmering sectarian tensions in the province. And, now that it is ruling Punjab for the sixth year in a row with another four to come, much of the blame must be laid at the door of the PML-N. The party publicly denies that it has any links to or tolerance for violent extremist organisations in its Punjab base, but privately admits that the links that do exist are a political and security necessity.

Given the expansive infrastructure of hate that centres around the mosque, madressah and social welfare network of some extremist organisations, the latterâ€™s electoral and political influence have grown formidably over the years. The PML-N, like many other parties that have made similar Faustian bargains in the province, would like to pretend that it is only doing what is necessary to survive in a political climate that has been shaped for decades now by forces outside the politiciansâ€™ control. But that argument ignores two key points. First, as unquestionably the largest political force in the province, the PML-N in Punjab has unique responsibilities. If the politics of the province has been skewed over the years and extremism encouraged, it is the politicians who must lead from the front and offer a different â€” tolerant and inclusive â€” narrative and back it up with action. Forever lamenting the past while all too willingly adjusting to present-day distortions is not leadership; itâ€™s the pusillanimous politics of defeat.

Second, allowing the embers of sectarian hatred to quietly glow out of sight in the hope that it will be enough to prevent an outright conflagration is precisely the myopic approach that has led the country into the downward spiral of violence and religious strife. The PML-N in Punjab today echoes the security establishment of decades past in its attempt to collude with the radical fringe for patently regressive reasons. Just as the security establishment has learned, at great cost to the country, that the monster of extremism eventually turns on its creators, so the PML-N may learn, at great cost to Punjab and beyond, that sidling up to and fawning over extremist groups only erodes the space for all other politics, including the PML-Nâ€™s own. Itâ€™s not too late to learn from history.

Kudos to Balochistan: Local polls held

From the Newspaper

BALOCHISTAN deserves praise for being the first in the federation to hold local government polls on Saturday since the elected local bodies were wrapped up nearly four years ago. It has set an example that the other provinces, more stable and developed than Balochistan, should follow. The elected third tier of government is an essential component of democracy anywhere, but more so in Balochistan, considering the provinceâ€™s particular circumstances. Because of the Baloch peopleâ€™s lack of trust in Islamabad and other factors, such as the remoteness of many communities from the provincial capital, elected local representatives can play a key role in bringing development, prosperity and peace to the province. The fact that the polls went ahead and citizens participated is a positive sign. It shows that all is not lost and that the democratic process has continued despite the many hurdles that threatened to scuttle the polls, such as the separatistsâ€™ boycott, kidnapping of candidates and the general level of insecurity in Balochistan. The provincial government should be praised for holding the polls despite all odds.

However, it is also true that polling was not entirely a seamless affair. Reports indicate election staff arrived late in some areas, while there was a shortage of staff in other locations. It is also disturbing that women voters were temporarily barred from casting their ballots in Nushki district before the authorities intervened. And while incidents of election-related violence were few in number, the turnout was low in areas where the separatists have clout. Now that the elections have taken place, perhaps the real challenge starts. The newly elected local representatives will have to work overtime to resolve the peopleâ€™s problems in Balochistan â€” and these problems are clearly many. In the meantime, the Punjab and Sindh governments must seriously ponder what is preventing them from holding local polls. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration should also do the same if it can shift its focus from sit-ins and blockades to the larger issue of the peopleâ€™s welfare.

Pakistanâ€™s turnaround: Cricket hope

From the Newspaper

THE Pakistan cricket teamâ€™s recent victory over the formidable South Africans may well prove to be the much-needed shot in the arm for Misbah-ul-Haqâ€™s men. Beating South Africa on their own turf was quite an achievement. No other Pakistan team has pulled off a similar feat in the past. It seems that the scathing criticism of the team by the media and the former players, particularly after the 1-4 loss in the ODIs in the UAE, did some good and the players finally showed resilience and skill to tame a daunting opposition. One must admit that the turnaround in the national teamâ€™s performance has stumped even its worst critics. However, a keen analyst of the game will put the recent success down to the induction of young blood in the side which clearly made a difference to the overall approach of the team. Talented players like Bilawal Bhatti, Anwar Ali and Sohaib Maqsood contributed substantially to Pakistanâ€™s victory over De Villiersâ€™ army and refreshed the outlook of the team which for long had struggled to emerge from its pessimistic mindset.

Pakistanâ€™s upcoming assignment is no less challenging as they face the Sri Lankans in a full-fledged cricket series in the UAE. The islanders are not only more adept at playing spin as compared to the South Africans, they have a nice blend of youth and experience in the team to counter all kinds of situations which could be a point to ponder for the Pakistanis. It is, therefore, essential for the national selectors and the team management to keep the momentum going by giving maximum chances to newcomers and to inculcate a sense of self-belief among the players which will go a long way in uplifting their game in the years ahead.

Nelson Mandela: Death of a statesman

From the Newspaper

EVEN the worldâ€™s most prestigious award, the Nobel Peace Prize, was too small an honour for the giant Nelson Mandela was. Perhaps a more poignant tribute came from Bishop Desmond Tutu: â€œGod was good to us in South Africa by giving us Nelson Mandelaâ€. He was more than good. The white supremacist regime in South Africa would sooner or later have collapsed, as happened elsewhere. But it was the way that it ended, or was made to end â€” without bloodshed â€” that showed how Mandela stood head and shoulders above other freedom fighters of his times.

The â€˜white manâ€™s burdenâ€™ manifested itself in the colonised world in many ways; signs reading â€œdogs and Indians not allowedâ€ were just one of the many exhibits of the rulers. But in South Africa, the colonial approach was unprecedented in its brutality: the segregation of races â€” euphemistically called â€˜separate developmentâ€™ or apartheid â€” reduced native Africans to the status of animals. In the subcontinent, the British established â€œcivil linesâ€, which by convention forbade the natives from being the white manâ€™s neighbour. In South Africa, Bantus were bound by law to carry passes to move from a black zone to a white one. The cumulative effect of apartheid laws was that 80pc of South Africaâ€™s land â€” which belonged rightfully to all its people â€” was reserved for the ruling white minority. Mandela raised his voice against this precursor to Nazism when Hitler was still in the trenches in Flanders. He was arrested in 1962 and passed 27 years in prison â€” only to come out victorious.

But perhaps Mandelaâ€™s greatest achievement was that he prevailed upon his people to shun revenge. The setting up of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission helped heal wounds and spared the country what could have been a slaughter of unimaginable proportions as the victims, now unfettered, suddenly found themselves in a position of strength. Mandela was a conciliator, and there is no doubt he received valuable support from F.W. de Klerk, the countryâ€™s last white president. But without Mandela, who chose to serve just one term as president, the orderly transition to a racism-free democratic dispensation would have been unthinkable. In a world dominated by leaders with either autocratic tendencies or mediocre abilities, Mandela stood apart. Freedom fighter, democrat and above all great conciliator, the African icon had in him the rare combination of leadership, courage, wisdom and foresight. Forever in historyâ€™s spotlight, he remains in his death among the 20th centuryâ€™s greatest freedom fighters and statesmen.

Losing the battle: Polio emergency

From the Newspaper

AS the year draws to a close, the situation on the polio front in Pakistan sadly remains one of great concern. Looking at the figures of polio cases in the country this year so far (73, whereas there were a total of 58 cases in 2012), it appears that eradicating the crippling disease remains a distant goal. The same stubborn obstacles appear to be halting progress: ignorance, myths about the vaccination and insecurity. In many instances, parents themselves seem to be dooming their childrenâ€™s future by refusing anti-polio drops for them. WHO figures indicate that of the over 2m children missed nationwide during a recent anti-polio drive, over 47,000 could not receive the drops as their parents refused to have them vaccinated. The majority of refusals (nearly 25,000) came from KP. Corroborating this trend is the view of health officials that most polio victims in Pakistan are Pakhtun. In fact, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative says North Waziristan has the highest number of children paralysed by polio in the country. Health officials also want a â€˜polio emergencyâ€™ declared in Karachi because of the continued recurrence of cases in the metropolis.

The truth is a nationwide polio emergency needs to be declared. The state needs to tackle obstacles such as parentsâ€™ refusal with urgency. While other factors that are inhibiting anti-polio efforts, such as lawlessness and militancy, require time and complex efforts to resolve, changing peopleâ€™s perceptions about polio vaccinations is a more achievable goal should the state pursue it with dedication. Since resistance is highest in the Pakhtun community, the KP government should be putting in extra effort to engage tribal, community and religious leaders in polio awareness campaigns. A publicity campaign in Pashto should be undertaken to convince parents to have their children vaccinated. We must remember that if Pakistan continues to ignore the threat posed by polio, penalties such as international travel restrictions may be on the horizon.

Not a simple matter: Former Karachi nazimâ€™s resignation

From the Newspaper

FOR a party accustomed to calling the shots in Karachi, that too without a murmur of dissent, the MQM has had an eventful year. First the elections in May saw the PTI make inroads into the city. Then there was the fracas at a party jalsa, which precipitated a top tier reshuffle by Altaf Hussain. The ongoing Karachi operation has also seen the party under pressure from all sides. On Thursday night, Osama Qadri, a former MQM town nazim, was kidnapped. Although he was subsequently released, the motive of the kidnapping remains unknown. And all this against the steady drip-drip of news from London about Mr Hussainâ€™s troubles with the Metropolitan Police.

Although the MQM chiefâ€™s recent address to the party faithful had a resurgent note to it, there are signs of some friction within the leadership. It seems that former Karachi nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal, out of the country and virtually incommunicado since several months, had tendered his resignation from the Senate in November as requested by the party on account of his prolonged overseas stay. The MQM, which has inexplicably not yet accepted the resignation it asked for, says that Mr Kamalâ€™s absence is for personal reasons and rumours of his differences with the party leadership are not only â€œbaseless and fabricatedâ€ but that the party leadership wishes him well in resolving his current travails.

Even those who do not agree with the MQMâ€™s politics usually concede that Syed Mustafa Kamal did well by Karachi during his tenure. The former nazimâ€™s infectious enthusiasm and can-do spirit was translated into actual work, a trait much appreciated by people weary of self-aggrandising politicians inclined to little more than posturing.

Would it be unreasonable to conclude that by its vehement insistence on there being nothing amiss in Mr Kamalâ€™s keeping himself at a distance, the party doth protest too much?

Columns and Articles

Understanding inflation

Sakib Sherani

A NUMBER of worrying developments are playing out on the economic front. The government has sounded the retreat on documentation of the economy, and announced amnesty schemes to attract â€˜blackâ€™ money into the economy â€” yet again.

By punishing honest taxpayers and rewarding dishonest ones, the government has unwittingly reinforced the incentive for Pakistanis to remain outside the tax net. As in the past, the unintended consequences of this move will be:

1) By introducing tax holidays, it will legally reduce the pool of taxpayers the Federal Board of Revenue can tax, at a time when it is under tremendous pressure to increase tax revenue.

2) It will incentivise taxpayers in the formal economy to â€˜informaliseâ€™ and avoid the discriminatory costs of a high tax and regulatory burden being imposed on them, while large chunks of the economy operate profitably â€” and easily â€” outside the tax net.

The combination of the two unintended consequences will force the FBR to resort to what I have termed â€˜predatory taxationâ€™ â€” which will reinforce the vicious downward spiral on the tax side.

The governmentâ€™s return to its â€˜basic instinctsâ€™ of neither taxing the political leadership nor its constituencies will have yet another unintended consequence: it will fuel inflation.

Since 2008, Pakistan has been experiencing high inflation which has been unprecedented in its severity as well as its prolonged duration. Cumulatively, the price level as measured by the GDP deflator has risen 104pc compounded in the past six years, with food prices having risen 130pc.

This is the most sustained increase in prices in Pakistanâ€™s history. Inflation of this magnitude for such a period of time, leading to sluggish or negative real growth in wages, has adverse consequences for large parts of the population and has imposed substantial economic as well as social costs. These costs have been summarised in an excellent article recently by Dr Muhammad Yaqub, the former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.

Despite the devastating consequences of high inflation in Pakistan, successive governments in Islamabad have failed to understand â€” or even tried to comprehend, as evidenced by the PML-Nâ€™s lame excuses for the spurt in prices in the recent debate in the National Assembly â€” the nature of inflation and its sources.

Inflation is a complex interplay of a number of external, institutional, structural and policy variables. Nonetheless, one predominant factor is excessive money creation, caused by the failure to collect taxes combined with a failure to rein in government spending.

As pointed out by Dr Yaqub, and repeatedly by the State Bank over the past many years, it is no coincidence that the longest period of high inflation in Pakistan has coincided with one of the weakest fiscal performances in Pakistanâ€™s history.

Since 2008, the fiscal deficit has averaged 7.2pc of GDP each year. Tax collection as a percentage of GDP has averaged a paltry 9pc, sinking to 8.2pc in 2012-13. In one of the poorest performances in the countryâ€™s recent history, tax collection increased by around 3pc last year â€” less than half of inflation â€” with the FBR managing to â€˜captureâ€™ only 30pc of nominal GDP growth.

To be fair, however, with a rampant, and now growing, SRO culture, the failure to collect taxes should be laid less at the doorstep of the FBR than its political masters â€” first in the PPP government, and now its successor PML-N set-up.

As a direct result of the failure to collect needed tax revenue â€” that too in the form of direct income tax rather than via indirect taxes that burden the poor â€” the government has borrowed a mammoth Rs6,880 billion domestically. A large part of this is from the State Bank, with the central bank â€˜printingâ€™ a mountain of cash for the governmentâ€™s deficit financing during this period.

The â€˜moneyâ€™ channel to inflation works in a number of ways. These include the following:

â€¢ The phenomenon of too-much-money-chasing-too-few-goods;

â€¢ By leading to speculation in commodities when the central bank resorts to a policy of â€˜easy moneyâ€™ and artificially low interest rates (usually negative in real terms);

â€¢ By the de-basing of the exchange rate via an expansion of the monetary base;

The weakness of the rupee adds significantly to inflationary pressure in the economy since it affects the price of petroleum products, among other imported inputs. The price of furnace oil determines the generation cost of electricity, and a combination of international prices and rupee depreciation puts upward pressure on tariffs.

The price of diesel impacts transportation costs, which is a key component of food prices. It is not surprising, therefore, that the prices of non-perishable food commodities, which are generally transported over longer distances, have risen more than those of perishable ones in the past few years.

Another important channel by which the weak fiscal performance of the government transmits directly into inflationary pressure in the economy is via the taxation of petroleum products. As seen recently, the government failed to pass on a sharp fall in international oil prices to domestic consumers simply because it was earning â€˜windfallâ€™ revenues.

Higher inflation for 180 million Pakistanis appears to be an acceptable trade-off for the government as long as its key constituencies, traders and businesses, are spared taxation.

However, despite the fiscal and monetary underpinning to inflation, there are other factors at work that are not insignificant. These shall be explored in a future article.

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

Imran series, simple version

Ashaâ€™ar Rehman

ONCE a party is in protest mode, issues follow. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insafâ€™s (PTI) example illustrates that the protest also hides and overwhelms some aspects that could have otherwise attracted scrutiny and criticism.

In India recently, Imran Khan, arguably the second most popular Pakistani politician after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, showed his preference for a secret dialogue on Kashmir. â€œSecret talks are the best bet,â€ he was quoted as saying, â€œbecause otherwise there are vested interests on both sides to subvert them.â€

Had it been an occasional remark by a politician not as active as Imran is these days this Kashmir statement would have had the potential of kicking up a heated debate.

What does a secret dialogue mean, and does Imran think there are only two sides to the dispute? What about the third side, the Kashmiris? Did the PTI chief think the parleys he was suggesting had any room for sneaking in a Kashmiri or two just for lending them some precautionary universality?

Maybe Maulana Fazlur Rehman who has been reappointed as the Pakistani parliamentâ€™s famed Kashmir Committee chairman would want to ask these questions of Imran Khan. It is one thing to be having these parleys, but they have to be couched in proper diplomatic language, at a distance from the Imran series of simplistic, loudly proposed solutions.

The Insafians want to keep it simple. Drones, poll rigging and price hike, the PTIâ€™s choice of issues to agitate on and their equally simple method of protest are close to the hearts of a large number of Pakistanis. The biases of the people here are also reflected in the popular reactions and routine conversations post-Imran Khanâ€™s visit to India.

In comparison to the reported suggestion on Kashmir, there were quite a few hopeful voices probing the viability of a civilian nuclear cooperation which the PTI chief spoke about in India â€” no matter how impractical the idea may sound to experts.

Imran Khan has got his list right, even if so many would wish he had greater depth and so many others are keen to pull him down for his â€˜shallownessâ€™.

The sit-in against the drones in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa led to a familiar scene where the PTI was not just reprimanded as the uninitiated child of Pakistani politics, it was also widely ridiculed. The criticism this time was on an even larger scale than previously. At one point during the drone dharna the empty chairs in the PTI sit-in camp were flashed in the media to bring out lack of interest.

A few days later, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel came over to reconfirm just how effective the sit-in had turned out to be. The PTIâ€™s simple, â€˜crudeâ€™ method had succeeded. Islamabad under the charge of Nawaz Sharif had been clearly told to ensure open routes or risk delay in the much-needed aid from the US.

The government in Islamabad had so far limited themselves to reminding the PTI of the disservice it was doing to the country. Now it had to find a way to engage Imran Khan in an effort to find a way through for the Nato supplies.

Against a PML-N so renowned for taking high moral positions, the PTI politicians cannot be faulted for thinking that this places them at a vantage point. As does all this controversy surrounding the allegations of rigging in the May general elections.

By a conspiracy of various factors the PTI has been made to look like a party which is being denied a simple, reasonable request. All it wants is a rechecking of the votersâ€™ thumb impressions on not all but a few constituencies. But all it has got so far are delays in legal proceedings to meets its demand and some customarily loud non-explanations from the other side.

Of late, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the interior minister, has added an element of desperation to the governmentâ€™s answer to the calls for the thumb impression affair.

Quite in the mould of the previous government which pleaded it be allowed to rule in the name of strengthening democracy, and not simply as a consequence of a right given to it by the electorate, Chaudhry Nisar last week asked for a show of sagacity from politicians to avoid bringing the whole of the May elections into disrepute.

In an Assembly session closely following the attempted sacking of National Database and Registration Authority head Tariq Malik, Chaudhry Nisar had this to say: â€œI am taking this opportunity to ask you to give your considered opinion for the future course in this regard [rigging allegations] in a manner which is not prejudicial to the sanctity of the entire electoral process or the democratic institutionsâ€¦.â€

This was again a PTI gain. If anything, both the interior ministerâ€™s tone and his content emboldened Imran Khan.

Two days after Chaudhry Nisarâ€™s speech, the PTI chief warned the government against â€œcreating hurdlesâ€ in the way of vote verification and threatened it with a mass protest. â€œI will talk to all like-minded parties and politicians, including Dr Tahirul Qadri, to move the masses against the government,â€ Imran said.

By drawing upon Dr Qadriâ€™s image of a leader with a proven ability to gather a sizeable number of troops for the march towards correcting the system Imran hinted he was less simple in his approach than he generally appeared to the analysts.

The suspension of the Nato supply and the vote verification issue do create problems for the federal government just when a local bodies election is around the corner. And then there is a big anti-inflation protest the PTI plans to launch later this month. The PTI is hoping to put up a large enough show in Lahore on Dec 22 and would want to carry the anti-PML-N mood into its campaign for the local government polls. Successful or otherwise, unlike some of the others, it will not be blamed for a lack of effort. It is undergoing the right exercises in an effort to make a fight of it.

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

Banana republics no longer

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar

AS the great defenders of state sovereignty continue their TV-friendly holy crusades against foreign domination, the voices that seek to expose the actual working of global structures of domination become increasingly marginal.

Very few Pakistanis know that the ninth ministerial summit of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) took place in the Indonesian resort town of Bali this past week. Even if no one else did, those who make their political living by decrying Pakistanâ€™s slavery to the US should have been paying attention to the WTO summit and its implications for us.

While the WTO has lost much of its mojo since the failed Doha summit of 2008, it is still the embodiment of the neo-liberal â€˜consensusâ€™ that was fomented after the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

The WTO came into being in 1995, some 40 years after the so-called â€˜free worldâ€™ had fashioned the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to regulate global trade and financial flows.

Of course, during the Cold War trade and finance were not globalised in the sense that they have since become. The WTOâ€™s coming into being signified the structural changes in the global political economy following the end of Sovietism.

As it turned out, very soon after its constitution, the organisation became the lightning rod of the so-called anti-globalisation movement, with the massive protests during the Seattle summit of 1999 triggering a new phase of anti-imperialist politics that was both similar and distinct from that which had prevailed through much of the 20th century.

The primary difference appeared to be that the state was no longer considered the means to challenge imperialist power, with â€˜social movementsâ€™ widely projected as the new site of popular resistance.

However, the rise to power of leftists in a number of Latin American countries over the past decade â€” the region in which the anti-globalisation upsurge was at its strongest â€” suggests that the state is not as obsolete as some might have thought in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet debacle.

Sadly in Pakistan a substantial anti-globalisation movement is conspicuous by its absence. Relatedly, there are no viable contenders for state power on the immediate horizon who might actually be willing to take the proverbial bull by its horns in the manner of the late Hugo Chavez.

Chavez and his allies in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and, of course, Cuba, championed a politics against foreign domination that is much more vigorous than anything we know in Pakistan.

Importantly, it is also a substantive politics that relies not on misleading slogans and distractionary tactics that are standard practice for virtually all mainstream political forces in this country, especially those on the right of the ideological spectrum.

To be sure, the Latin American left is extremely concerned with the question of state sovereignty. It foregrounds much of its political programme on the imperative of ending the historical subjugation of the state to â€˜big brotherâ€™ Washington.

Indeed, the US has treated the majority of the American continent as its fiefdom since as early as 1823 when then president Monroe infamously warned European powers not to challenge Washingtonâ€™s hegemony over the Western hemisphere.

Thus Latin American states have sputtered along in the shadow of the American Empire since much before 1954 when our military establishment decided to sell its soul to Washington.

Yes, we have suffered a great deal due to direct and covert military interventions by the US in this region, but Latin America has been no less a victim, with some of the most brutal and violent imperialist incursions of modern times taking place on that continent.

The difference between the politics of sovereignty that prevails in Latin America and that which exists here is that they look to build bridges with all freedom-loving peoples of the world whereas our right-wingers feed us rhetoric about the unbridgeable divide between Islam and the West and the latterâ€™s unending conspiracies to undermine our faith.

There is no question which is the principled anti-imperialist position.

This rather long digression brings me back to the WTO. In contrast to our populistsâ€™ convenient neglect of global structures like the WTO, Latin American states have taken numerous concrete steps towards wresting genuine economic and political freedom.

Perhaps most importantly, under the leadership of Hugo Chavez, a Bank of the South has been created to reduce and ultimately eliminate the influence of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

These initiatives will be judged by posterity. In contrast, our right-wingers can be judged in the here and now.

When the religious parties were in power in then NWFP between 2002 and 2008, they were quite happy to sign one agreement after another with the World Bank and IMF. I suspect the trend will be similar for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, the PML-N and the Jamaat-i-Islami this time around as well.

That this constituency of self-proclaimed anti-imperialists does not possess the political courage required to defy international financial institutions is one thing; even worse is that they have managed to dumb down our political discourse to the extent that there is complete silence on significant events like the WTO ministerial.

The media and â€˜civil societyâ€™ are also culpable. The latter in particular should recall its claim to being part of the anti-globalisation movement until not so long ago. The erratic nature of its campaigning lies in stark contrast to the consistent and rooted politics necessary for real change to take place in Pakistani society and the world more generally.

For the record, it was more of the same in the latest WTO round. The Bali Package has further opened up poor countries for penetration by multinationals under the guise of a â€˜Trade Facilitationâ€™ agreement, whilst giving the former nothing in return.

The Latin American countries once known as â€˜banana republicsâ€™ are trying to build an alternative to the WTO and the global trade and financial architecture more generally. Meanwhile our self-anointed leaders are planning their next dharna.

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

The proactive approach

Muhammad Ali Musofer

CHALLENGES are viewed as an integral part of individual and collective life. However, it is pertinent to examine how emerging challenges are responded to in society.

CHALLENGES are viewed as an integral part of individual and collective life. However, it is pertinent to examine how emerging challenges are responded to in society.

Generally, proactive and reactive approaches have been observed when responding to situations encountered by an individual or society. These approaches have different implications for society.

The proactive/thinking approach encourages taking responsibility for oneâ€™s life or for society. Proactive people/societies recognise they are responsible for facing challenges to improve their situation and donâ€™t just sit around blaming external forces for the situation.

Proactive people/societies understand their strengths as well as their shortcomings. They celebrate their strengths and work to improve their shortcomings. They develop the insight to anticipate future challenges and devise doable strategies to deal with them wisely.

On the other hand, reactive thinking is often affected by external forces or the physical environment. Reactive individuals or societies react only when crises approach. Avoiding taking responsibility for the situation, the reactive approach sometimes leads towards blaming others for the challenges. At times, reactive people believe that conspiracies are hatched against them. They usually fail to understand their strengths and weaknesses. They find external sources to blame for their behaviour.

Like many other faiths, Islam stresses significantly on the importance of proactive thinking and action in order to respond to societal issues creatively. The Holy Quran extends lucid guidelines for taking responsibility for worldly and spiritual success. For instance, it is said â€œAnd there is not for man except that [good] for which he strivesâ€ (53:39).

Likewise, a nationâ€™s transformation depends on its social awareness and struggle for improvement, as the Quran says, â€œâ€¦God does not change the condition of [a] people until they change what is in themselves. â€¦â€ (13:11).

The life of the Prophet (PBUH) is the best example of how to be a proactive individual by taking social/moral responsibility. This proactive approach on the part of the Prophet was not on specific occasions or specific days. He conducted himself in such a way throughout his life.

The Holy Prophet dedicated his life to reflect on and seek solutions to the issues and challenges of the society he lived in. He actively participated in addressing the social issues confronting society by implementing the social and ethical principles of Islam.

Hence, there are ample examples in the teachings of Islam that stress on proactive thinking and action to develop a better society.

A quick look at the state of the Muslim world reveals that many Muslim societies, like Pakistan, are facing various internal and external challenges. The societies have shown considerable resilience to the challenges; however, it is observed that many of the persisting issues are the product of a reactionary approach to emerging challenges.

For example, in Pakistan issues like rampant violence, falling educational standards, the power crisis etc., have been neglected, which has created an emergency-like situation in the country.

It is observed that at times external forces are viewed as being solely responsible for the daunting challenges and little responsibility is taken to respond to the issues seriously. In spite of even an emergency-like situation little consensus is found on pressing issues. Conspiracies are seen behind every positive or negative event in the country.

In this scenario, there is a dire need to shift the frame of reference. Changing the reactionary culture in society requires educating people about how to take responsibility in order to develop society positively. In this regard, serious steps need to be taken at multiple levels such as through education, the media and the interpretation of faith.

Education is viewed as a powerful tool to reshape a societyâ€™s thinking. To cultivate the culture of proactive thinking and approach, the education system needs to be reviewed in terms of policy, curriculum, teaching and learning in the classroom.

Students need to be provided opportunities to be engaged in the process of reflection in order to make them understand the challenges of society. The process of teaching-learning needs to be transformed from rote learning to action-based learning. Students need to be involved in different projects to instruct them about how to be engaged in solving the issues of society by taking responsibility.

The role of the media cannot be overlooked in educating the masses. In Pakistan, the media sometimes creates hype by focusing on conspiracy theories. In this regard the media needs self-reflection about how it can educate and motivate the masses to take responsibility in order to respond to the challenges of society actively.

The media needs to focus on the real issues of society and educate the people on how they can contribute to society. Along with the challenges, positive activities need to be highlighted to provide examples of good practices in society.

Furthermore, religion as a strong social institution can play a vital role in shaping the attitude of people in society. In this regard there is a need to interpret faith so that it can help people mould their attitudes so that they get involved in the development of society as a religious obligation.

In sum, proactive thinking is an important approach to respond to societal challenges actively. The teachings of Islam stress on accepting responsibility for personal and social development.

There is a need to promote proactive thinking in Muslim societies like Pakistan. In this regard, social institutions such as education, media and religion need to play a significant role to inculcate the culture of proactive thinking.

The writer is an educator.

muhammad.ali075@yahoo.com

The genius of Mandela

I.A. Rehman

MOST of those paying tributes to Nelson Mandela are focusing on his qualities that they themselves hold precious and thus they present a variety of portraits. But he was a greater person than the aggregate of his qualities and achievements.

No comment on Mandelaâ€™s life is complete without reference to his 27 years in prison, his release and his becoming the first black president of South Africa. But there was much in his life, between these milestones, that should be of interest to students of politics and social change.

When the 46-year-old Mandela told the court in 1964 of â€œhis ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunityâ€, an ideal for which he was prepared to die, he mentioned his ideal and not the means. For he was changing from a hardline champion of the use of force into a man of peace. It may be useful to recall Mandelaâ€™s years as a militant revolutionary, or as a â€œterroristâ€ as Mrs Thatcher and other priests of reaction called him.

The African National Congress (ANC), Mandelaâ€™s political alma mater, was wedded to non-violence. Mandela argued that after the failure of a prolonged non-violent struggle a change of tactics was necessary.

In 1961, he formed, independently of ANC, an organisation called Umkhonto to carry out acts of sabotage. The resolution embodying this change of strategy is a remarkable manifesto of armed struggle, a concept that has been thoroughly vulgarised in recent years. Sabotage was to be directed at government installations only and no human life was to be threatened. A few acts of sabotage were indeed carried out.

Subsequently, Mandela visited several African countries to seek support for his military operations and took part in the training of his soldiers by the Algerian veterans of guerilla war.

How did Mandela return to non-violent struggle and become an apostle of peace, tolerance and reconciliation? He has himself given a detailed account of his long walk to freedom but perhaps the main factor of change in his outlook was the power of the international opinion that began to side with the African youth.

While the leading powers resisted the Third Worldâ€™s demands for sanctions against the apartheid regime, except for its ouster from the world of sports, public demonstrations across the world in support of the prisoner on Robben Island broke the back of racist hardliners.

The adoption of a new political creed accompanied Mandelaâ€™s all-round development. As he viewed the barren landscape of Robben Island he rediscovered his love for the natural flora and fauna of his land and the beauty of its folklore. He further developed his method of formulating his views before making any statement; fiery rhetoric was replaced with a persuasive narrative.

He also learnt to cherish the support of his comrades and to suffer bereavement and betrayal with quiet dignity. A huge capacity to bear hardship, including quarrying of stone from a hard rock and the frustrating task of concealing his writings, enabled him to reject freedom on a half-ticket and to hold on till the apartheid regime saw no escape from capitulation.

Further he developed his creed of forgiveness and fair play; he was mortified to see a young warder exposing himself to punitive action by being kind to a prisoner. (Later on he would ask his prison tormentors to tea in a supreme gesture of reconciliation.)

The position he had acquired by peaceful defiance of tyranny enabled him, after release from custody, to lay the foundations of a democratic South Africa. He devised new strategies, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to unify the black population of South Africa and unite them with the whites, and thus avert a widely feared civil war. Stepping down from the office of president after one term only he again set a noble example of freedom from lust for power.

Within a few years he succeeded in instilling in the dark-skinned Africans, not only of his country but the whole world, a sense of equality and pride in their capability they had not had for several thousand years. Of course, he had some forerunners but to him fell the credit of defining the new African identity, an achievement unparalleled in history.

While extolling Mandelaâ€™s greatness and his achievements some commentators have mentioned his failure to train successors worthy of maintaining his record of sagacity, austerity and integrity. But how could Mandela develop a good cadre from his prison cell?

While his stature grew his party barely survived. He was a general with a few comrades but without troops worth the name. Now that he is gone his people may realise the need for new leaders, honest and capable enough to lead them out of the present uncertainties.

Mandela is also criticised for not bringing about a socio-economic revolution along with his political triumph, especially for accepting a compromise that left the whites free to enjoy their wealth and to augment it. The question is: did Mandela have the means to usher in the kind of a revolution that was expected? Surprisingly some of the critics do not dispute the theory that politics is the art of the possible.

The answer to both these questions will have to wait until it is realised that all revolutions in history only opened the way to change that did not always follow. The last word on Mandela revolution will be said only after we have understood the end of Franceâ€™s republican revolution in an upstart monarchy, the collapse of the Russian revolution after only seven decades and Chinaâ€™s courtship of world capital.

A fistful of dollars

Khurram Husain

PAKISTAN did not enter a world of globalised capital flows on the heels of an economic crisis.

PAKISTAN did not enter a world of globalised capital flows on the heels of an economic crisis.

India had its balance of payments crisis in 1991, Bolivia and Poland were frontrunners in â€˜shock therapyâ€™, later applied to many other countries as well. Many other countries were forced to seek a rescheduling of their external debt in those years, and implement a package of reforms as a consequence.

Pakistan had no game-changing economic difficulties in those years. The balance of payments remained tight, but the level of reserves did not change appreciably.

There was one major reason for this: our external difficulties were underwritten by assistance from the advanced economies of the world, in return for our role in what was called the Afghan jihad at the time.

There was one large rescheduling of our external obligations in 1981, and no more after that till 1999, proof that in spite of volatile current and capital accounts, the countryâ€™s credibility with its external creditors was underwritten by powerful friends.

Some might find this description a bit puzzling. After all, arenâ€™t the â€™90s remembered as a decade of sanctions, of living practically on the edge of default? Given this, how can someone argue that our reserves were actually underwritten by outside powers?

The underwriting was done primarily through the IMF, and the amounts given were always just barely enough to keep the country afloat. And thatâ€™s what you get when you seek outside powers to underwrite your reserves: you get kept on a tight leash, which can be yanked at any moment.

This support had two important consequences. Their respective crises forced developing countries in other parts of the world to band tightly together, to develop trade relationships with their neighbours. Intraregional trade grew with spectacular speed in the decade of the 1990s, with South Asia as one of the few places where this did not happen.

For the other regions â€” Africa and the Middle East â€” one can debate how and why these regional patterns did not materialise. But for South Asia the answer is relatively simple. India is a large enough economy to stand on its own and never saw much of an economic necessity in reaching out to its neighbours.

Meanwhile, Pakistan â€” which would have been the real beneficiary of expanded trade ties with its neighbours â€” was too busy pursuing geopolitical objectives to worry about economics.

Here is the first consequence of having had our reserve level underwritten by others: we were freed from the burden of finding our way in the new world that was emerging all around us, and as a result never put in place the reforms that would have been necessary to attract foreign capital.

The bulk of the foreign capital that Pakistan attracted in the 1990s came via two major channels: the foreign currency accounts and investments in the energy sector.

The first saw the build-up of huge vulnerabilities since they were mostly short-term deposits, meaning they could be withdrawn at a momentâ€™s notice. Given that most amounts had already been borrowed by the government and spent, there was no guarantee that the banking system could honour even a small run on these accounts.

The energy sector investments registered as reserves initially, but once they were up and running and the profits had to be repatriated and oil had to be imported, it turned out they were in fact foreign exchange liabilities.

In 1995 and again in 1996, the country flirted with a foreign exchange crisis. In both cases, a steep devaluation followed by harsh revenue measures helped pull back just long enough till outside money arrived.

But in 1998 the lid was blown and the massive unsustainability of the entire enterprise was laid bare when the foreign exchange accounts saw a massive run and had to be frozen, while the energy companies were pushed into a coercive renegotiation of their tariffs.

This time outside money did not arrive, as a penalty for conducting our nuclear tests, resulting in the first rescheduling of our external debt obligations since 1981.

Other countries had their crises too during this decade. Letâ€™s recall that Mexico had a meltdown in 1994 that required a $40 billion bailout (the largest ever at that point in time). Later of course, East Asia took the mother of all bailouts with its currency crisis in 1997.

But in both cases â€” Latin America and East Asia â€” the countries of the region emerged stronger, and even more tightly knit together than they were in the decade past.

Pakistan on the other hand, only emerged from its one game-changing crisis thirstier yet for foreign exchange. The tight leash returned in 2000 with a tiny amount of money from the IMF, just enough to last six months.

Our thirst was slaked only by the arrival of massive quantities of external support following 9/11. No meaningful reforms had been implemented, proof of which is the economyâ€™s continuing inability to accumulate reserves or generate revenues without external support.

The consequences of eschewing a regional link-up have been enormous for Pakistan. In a world where more and more countries began to learn how to seek their economic well-being from transnational private capital flows, we remained dependent on multilateral money, or complex forms of borrowing like the foreign currency accounts.

As a result, we have squeezed an increasingly rigid fiscal apparatus for incremental revenues, relied on rentier terms for private capital to generate investment and growth, spent our national savings to pay for consumption, squandered our natural endowments like water and gas to compensate for loss of competitiveness elsewhere, etc. The list is endless.

All the while, the most natural step to take was to start normalising trade relations with our neighbours. The terms of trade we could build after that would have been a far more reliable foundation for our economic future than the fistful of dollars that our geopolitical games keep us searching for.

The writer is a business journalist and 2013-2014 Pakistan Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington D.C.

khurram.husain@gmail.com

Twitter: @khurramhusain

Rue the silence forever ...

Jawed Naqvi

WHAT senior politician Imran Khan has said about Narendra Modi is what you would have expected him to say. Pakistan would do business with whoever is chosen to lead the big neighbour, the former cricketer told an international conclave in Delhi.

That was tame if, as some would say, a bit Chamberlain-like. Imran had clearly dodged the issue. The Chinese are slammed all the time by their biggest trading partner over alleged or real human rights abuses. But the criticism exists in harmony with certain inviolable principles.

Why is it that we sit up and applaud when the European Union ticks off Modi, or when the Americans bar him from visiting their country for alleged persecution of Christians and Muslims?

The way it is being seen in large swathes across the world, Modi had gone seriously out of line on key issues of human rights.

As far as I can remember, the Pakistan government did take up the issue of the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat, just as Indians rightly go livid when Hindus or Christians are killed or harassed in Pakistan.

It is curious though that the outrage is limited to the abuse of religious minorities. Why should we cherry-pick our grievances when there is a whole deluge of them?

I read about Sheema Kermani putting up an excellent and brave show in Karachi to shine the light on the travails of women caught in the politico-ethnic conflict in Balochistan. Her Indian colleague Mallika Sarabhai has done great work among the traumatised women of Gujarat. Should their hearts beat for each other or not?

It is thus that I feel Imran Khan and those in power in Islamabad have to look beyond Pakistanâ€™s unnecessary caution to call a spade a spade when it comes to principles whether they concern Jaffna Tamils, Kashmiris, Palestinians or people killed in Gujarat and Karachi.

Ditto for Indians who choose to ignore the wider rights abuse in Pakistan other than the all-pervasive problem of terrorism. And why should Imran Khan, if he does find the courage to berate Modi, expect cotton wool treatment from Indians when people are massacred or alienated in Balochistan?

Pakistanis and Indian peaceniks only have to take a leaf from Indo-Pak history. I think former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee did well to provisionally suspend talks with Pakistan in protest against Gen Musharrafâ€™s coup against prime minister Nawaz Sharif. It is another matter that there was no principle or consistency in the stance that India took.

As foreign minister, the same Vajpayee had implicitly endorsed Gen Ziaâ€™s coup and had refused to petition the military regime against the execution of Z.A. Bhutto. Indira Gandhi may be intensely disliked by the right-wing in India and Pakistan, on the other hand, but she did speak up for Bhuttoâ€™s life and against Zia although she was in opposition.

As it happens, the hackneyed shibboleths that Imran used in Delhi were not his alone as they have been shared by other Pakistanis to stay away from controversy. That is a bit like driving past a bleeding man who has been hit by a speeding car.

It is a fact that whoever runs the government in Islamabad would have the responsibility to deal with whoever is in power in Delhi. To that extent the Imran rejoinder to a question at the Delhi meeting was both diplomatically proper and politically correct. It is doubtful though if it is also morally tenable.

So who is the role model then, Vajpayee as prime minister or Vajpayee as foreign minister?

Let me go a step further. I think when we are dealing with grave problems in our respective backyards â€” lethal Muslim extremism in one, relatively less lethal Hindu extremism in the other, with overarching neo-con economic palliatives the only choice being offered to both â€” serious measures are needed to douse the fire and fight the fight at home and jointly.

And that warrants our attention on domestic politics while keeping an eye peeled for the difficulties that friends across the border may be facing. Grinding poverty and more exploitative measures on the anvil on both sides are designed to inevitably lead to political instability within.

Consider the possibility that the failure of India-Pakistan talks from Lahore in 1999 to Sharm El Sheikh more recently reflect aspects of intensifying domestic crises in both countries. Both are caught in a rightward political spiral, the only difference being that Pakistan seems to want to get out of it, while India seems to be willingly wading into it.

It was international human rights day on Tuesday, and I am reminded of the times when Indians and Pakistanis at the popular level intervened freely in each otherâ€™s problems whether they were about dictatorships or other assorted bigotries.

Majrooh Sultanpuriâ€™s call to rally Pakistani masses against Ayub Khanâ€™s military rule was just one example of this memorable bonding.

Sutoon-i- daar pe rakhte chalo saroâ€™n ke chiraagh/ Jehaaâ€™n talak ye sitam ki siyah raat chaley.

Jala ke mishal-i-jaaâ€™n, hum junooâ€™n sifaat chaley/ Jo ghar ko aag lagae hamare saath chaley.

It was a battle cry from a concerned Indian poet for his comrades in another country to rise against their dictator.

Fahmida Riaz may have made the last significant intervention from a Pakistan poet against the religious madness engulfing India with the rise of right-wing Hindu revivalism from the late 1980s onwards.

Sardar Jafri may have exhorted peaceniks to bring the fresh air from the Indian Himalayas and the fragrance from the gardens of Lahore to mingle into the future.

But there are bombs exploding in Lahore today, and the rush of military preparedness has polluted the Himalayan snow. They both affect each other adversely. And we donâ€™t want to rue tomorrow the silences of today.

The writer is Dawnâ€™s correspondent in Delhi.

jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Suo motu or societal failure?

Sameer Khosa

MANY have celebrated the frequent use of suo motu jurisdiction by the Supreme Court of Pakistan over the last few years as an assertion of the independence of the judiciary and a championing of the causes of the poor and helpless. Others have decried it as undue judicial activism and interference in the affairs of the government.

However, regardless of the rights and wrongs of doing so, one thing should be clarified: the use of suo motu jurisdiction in this manner represents not the success of the judiciary, but its failure; not an assertion of the rule of law, but its weakening. It is the single most telling indictment of the lack of capacity of normal judicial (and law enforcement) procedures to address the problems plaguing the average citizen of this country.

On Nov 27, 2013 the Supreme Court ordered criminal action against police officials for failing to register a complaint and taking appropriate action on the information that a deaf and mute woman had been gang-raped in Punjab. The fact that a deaf and mute woman can be raped in this country but is unable to have a police report registered in the case without the Supreme Courtâ€™s intervention is not a success of the Supreme Court â€” it is societyâ€™s failure.

The fact that inspectors general of police of a province have to appear in the highest court to answer for every such instance is a sign of an unresponsive state. There is something wrong in society when an ordinary person has to depend on the sympathies of the highest court to obtain redress.

The Supreme Courtâ€™s response to this malaise has been to expand its use of suo motu powers to hitherto unprecedented extent. Ultimately, this response is typical of our response as a country to most problems in recent times. Rather than working towards a strengthening of the institutional response mechanisms, we seek instant fixes and immediate gratification.

This is exactly what the Supreme Court does when it seeks to solve each problem that comes to its notice by taking suo motu notice rather than strengthening our lower judiciary so that such matters do not need to be taken up at the Supreme Court level.

Ultimately, this approach fixes a symptom of the problem while making the problem worse. We have already seen this happen. A wronged person in our society no longer seeks justice at the lower forum. Instead, he approaches the media and through the media appeals to the chief justice to take notice of their problem. Therefore, it has resulted in a lack of faith in the lower forums.

Consequently, the capacity and willingness of the lower forums to deal with such problems diminishes even further and ironically increases reliance on the all-powerful ever-sympathetic Supreme Court. And when the Supreme Court reaches its capacity, as it ultimately will, the ordinary person will have nowhere left to go.

A lawsuit, even the smallest one, by definition represents the point of societal breakdown. Laws are meant to regulate our society. When the ordinary mechanisms of society fail to offer us protection of the law is when we approach the court. Therefore, every litigant in court represents a way in which ordinary society has broken down.

Meaningful â€˜rule of lawâ€™ would have consisted of actual judicial reform that addressed the problems of litigants and strengthened the lower judicial forums and increased their capacity to deliver justice. This run-to-the-media and get-the-attention-of-the-Supreme-Court version of rule of law that has been created is not â€˜rule of lawâ€™, it is the rule of one court of law.

True, other courts are somewhat taken up in the same vein. However, this masks the other fundamental problem â€” suo motu jurisdiction depends on the court taking jurisdiction â€” in other words, it depends on the court, not the person, what disputes it hears. In this way, it strengthens the court and not the people.

Is it a wonder that people, instead of taking their matters to appropriate courts or forums for redress as a matter of right, have begun to â€˜appealâ€™ to the court to take jurisdiction of their cause? So, even where other courts or judges have begun to assert themselves, this constitutes an assertion of the judiciary, not an assertion of the law.

While one can understand a well-intentioned temptation to use oneâ€™s own office or power to do good for the people, it can ironically lead to institutions becoming dependent on the person or office to perform rather than gain strength as a whole.

This problem by no means is that of the judiciary alone. For example, it is what the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf is also guilty when it chooses to take matters into its own hands and hail its workers transforming themselves into highway inspectors turning back trucks carrying Nato supplies.

If parliament is not responding to their demand and the federal government is not listening then why not just do it yourself? This too ironically wins a small (farcical) battle for the PTI but at the cost of weakening the state (whose very weakness it is protesting). It is also what is at play when people call for army intervention when democracy does not respond effectively.

It is high time that Pakistanâ€™s love affair with vigilante-ism and extraordinary intervention ends. Those in a position to use institutional strength would do well to realise that the greatest service to this country they could render would be to build the strength of those institutions. The solutions to immediate problems should not compromise this ultimate aim.

The writer is a Lahore-based lawyer.

skhosa.rma@gmail.com

Case for nuclear energy

Shahid-ur-Rehman

THE groundbreaking ceremony of the K-2 and K-3 nuclear power plants on the Karachi coast last month took many people by surprise because no government document had ever mentioned the feasibility of such a big project in Karachi or at any other site in Pakistan.

Moreover, some Western diplomats have pointed out that â€œno reference pointâ€ exists for a 1,100MW power plant in China, which means that China has not built or operated a 1,100MW nuclear power plant to date and would be building its first such plant for export to Pakistan.

This is not extraordinary or uncommon in Pakistan-China relations. Chinaâ€™s first export order for a 210MW thermal power plant was meant for Guddu in 1980 followed by three identical plants at Muzaffargarh. Today China is exporting thermal power plants all over the world.

In 1990 when Benazir Bhutto and former Chinese prime minister Li Peng signed the agreement for setting up a 300MW nuclear power plant at Chashma in Mianwali district, China was operating a solitary 300MW nuclear power plant, for which a pressure vessel was supplied by South Korea. When it was known that China would supply a second 300MW plant to Pakistan, all members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) refused to supply the pressure vessel for this plant.

It was said that China would not be able to build the thermal power plant, but China built the pressure vessel indigenously with participation of engineers from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). Today China has supplied four 300MW nuclear power plants to Pakistan, of which two are in operation and two are nearing completion.

Local contribution to these four plants has progressively increased over the last 20 years as Pakistani engineers and scientists have taken part in the setting up of these plants from the designing stage to construction. Thanks to the expertise and base set up for indigenous contribution to these plants, today Pakistan can embark upon the indigenous construction of 300MW nuclear power plants, including pressure vessels.

It can be said with confidence that revision of the PAEC target of generating 40,000MW nuclear energy by 2050 from 8,000MW by 2030 is not merely building castles in the air, as can be said about several other mega projects in the energy sector, which have been in the pipeline for decades.

It was perhaps by pre-arrangement that on the day after the groundbreaking of K-2 and K-3, senior officials from Pakistanâ€™s nuclear establishment â€” the Strategic Plans Division, PAEC and the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority â€” made a rare appearance at a seminar arranged by an Islamabad-based think tank, and addressed possible criticism that was expected about the nuclear project in Karachi.

As K-2 and K-3 are among the few nuclear power plants being set up after the March 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, they all made frequent references to lessons learnt from Fukushima.

â€œSeismic, oceanic, tsunami and other related data of the last over 50 years was collected, analysed and incorporated in the design of K-2 and K-3,â€ Tariq Binori of the Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs section at the Strategic Plans Division told the seminar.

Tahir bin Tariq, director safety, PAEC told the seminar that while preparing contingency plans and safety measures for Kanupp (K-1), K-2 and K-3, the tsunami that hit the Gwadar and Makran coast in 1945 was extensively studied. Several additional safety measures have been incorporated based on lessons learnt from Fukushima.

He recalled that in the Fukushima tsunami waves had run over the barricading walls breaking the emergency power system and a hydrogen explosion in the reactor building had led to a meltdown of the reactor core.

The PAEC has provided for higher retaining walls and more than one alternative power system which would be located at higher ground and at a distance. Moreover, hydrogen immobiliser has been provided to prevent accumulation of hydrogen inside the reactor building.

It is also said that facing acute financial problems, funding the nearly $10bn nuclear power projects would be difficult for Pakistan. However, people are unaware that nearly 45pc of the cost would be covered by China, in the shape of state credit and suppliersâ€™ credit. This means that Pakistan would be required to arrange $1bn per annum over the construction period.

The PAECâ€™s nuclear power plants are being treated by Pakistan as independent power projects, which means that their tariff comprises of capacity payments and energy charges. The energy charges of thermal IPPs have bogged down Pakistan in the vicious circle of circular debt. On the other hand, the energy component of a nuclear power plant is marginal as compared to thermal IPPs as it is only indexed to uranium prices and the cost of fuel fabrication.

Pakistan boasts it has a hydro potential of 60,000MW but has managed to develop only 6,000MW to date while mega projects like Kalabagh, Bunji, and Bhasha dams are still on the drawing board.

It is said that Pakistan has coal reserves which can create 40,000MW for â€˜hundreds of yearsâ€™, yet the country has failed to supply coal for its solitary 150MW coal-fired power plant at Lakhra. The incumbent government announced with great fanfare the setting up of a 6,000MW imported coal-fired power plant at Gadani but recent reports have suggested that the project is being shifted to the Bin Qasim area in Karachi.

Pakistan has failed to develop its hydro potential and coal-based power plants during the last 20 to 30 years. Imagine the scenario if we fail to develop mega hydro potential and indigenous coal reserves in the coming decades, as has happened in the last three decades, while at the same time failing to set up nuclear power plants.

The writer is author of Long Road to Chagai, a history of Pakistanâ€™s nuclear programme.

A womanâ€™s burden

Rafia Zakaria

â€œIT is now more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier in modern conflict; and to be a poor woman even outside the theatre of war is to be at risk of starvation and displacement.â€ These were the words of Maj-Gen Patrick Cammaert, a former United Nations Peacekeeping commander.

According to a recently published essay, War, Climate Change and Women, of the worldâ€™s approximately 50 million people displaced from their homelands, 80pc are women and children. Of the 1.3 billion people living on less than $1 a day, 70pc are women.

Among the chronically hungry people in the world, nearly 60pc are women. As the worldâ€™s climate changes, its burden will also likely be borne disproportionately by women.

Pakistan is no different. According to the Sewa Development Trust, a humanitarian organisation undertaking various development projects in Sindh, this country is severely impacted by climate change even though it produces little of the worldâ€™s greenhouse gas emissions.

The impact of climate change can be seen in the melting of the Himalayan glaciers. This is expected to cause an increase in floods in the next several decades, followed by drought conditions as the rivers fed by the glaciers recede from their beds. This will directly affect the availability of freshwater for nearby communities.

To the south, rising sea levels are expected to further endanger the coastal areas along the Arabian Sea, which could face flooding both from the sea and the rivers. The rising temperature of the seawater is further expected to reduce fish populations and other marine life, directly impacting the livelihoods of fishermen.

According to reports, over 110,000 acres of coastal land in Pakistan has already been affected by the intrusion of saltwater from the sea. It has also been predicted that the average temperature in Sindh is expected to rise by five degrees Celsius over the next century.

All in all, the reduced ability to produce crops and the increasing population of the country are likely to together create a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions. Pakistanâ€™s women will likely suffer the most.

A report recently issued by the NGO Shirkat Gah looks at the impact of climate change on women in Kharo Chhan near Thatta district. With a population of 29,000 people, Kharo Chhan has no government offices in the area except for a Basic Health Unit. Only one village is connected to the electric grid. No police station exists, and of the 125 girls theoretically enrolled in the primary girlsâ€™ school, only 20 show up every morning.

The story is even more dismal at the middle school, where, of the 18 enrolled students, only three attend. There is a lack of female teachers even for them.

That is the story of the infrastructural deficiencies.

The reduction in the agricultural potential of the land has led many of the men in the area to migrate to nearby cities in search of jobs. This in turn has added to the already significant burden on the women left behind.

The drying up of wells and rivers means they have to walk farther and farther in search of potable water for their households, and driftwood to burn in their stoves. The long time it takes to collect these further reduces the time they can spend

caring for their children and older relatives, let alone themselves. The impact can be seen in the increase in health problems faced by the women, which are likely to result in even lower mortality and life expectancy rates.

The story of Kharo Chhan reveals how the shift to cash crops and the use of chemical instead of natural fertilisers has sped up the process of climate change on a beleaguered population. Women, already lacking control over the resources of the community, carry the burden of the shift and lack the capacity to turn things around.

In other parts of Pakistan, the impact of climate change is likely being further exacerbated by war. At the same time, little is being done to study the impact of ethnic and sectarian conflict, security operations and drone strikes on women and children.

Data from earlier conflicts in other parts of the world reveal that war nearly always has an impact on the environment and, again, unleashes the brunt of its brutalities on women and children.

In Pakistan, the lack of any statistical data on women whose breadwinners have been killed means that the impact of conflict on the lives of women and children is largely invisible.

The women who are forced to stay indoors in Taliban-dominated areas, or prevented from going to work or school, are hence the unconsidered victims whose numbers and suffering are largely uncounted in connections between climate change and conflict.

Together, an environment being rapidly depleted by the consequences of unfettered consumption and short-term gains, and a political system rent by conflict, present a grim situation for the next generation of Pakistanâ€™s women.

Turning around the pace of environmental depletion requires education and capacity building, both long-term investments that find little attention in times of trouble.

In the past several years, Pakistan has faced a slew of climate-induced natural disasters. None of them, however, has been able to awaken local governments or change the framework of thinking about development in meaningful ways.

In light of the data available on climate change, Pakistanâ€™s precarious location downstream from melting glaciers and as a coastal country with an already warm climate, future natural disasters are a certainty. As the aftermath of previous disasters demonstrates, those burdens will be borne â€” again â€” by the women of the country.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Under the halo, a militant red?

Mahir Ali

BACK when the groundswell for Nelson Mandelaâ€™s freedom from incarceration began gathering momentum across the West in the 1980s, it wasnâ€™t unusual for supporters of South Africaâ€™s racist regime to dismiss him as a communist and a terrorist.

In Britain, the student wing of the Conservative Party reportedly was distributing posters and stickers that called for Mandela to be hanged. Margaret Thatcher called the African National Congress (ANC) a â€œtypical terrorist organisationâ€.

Ronald Reagan said in 1981 the regime in Pretoria deserved American support because South Africa â€œhas stood by us in every war weâ€™ve ever fought [and is] a country that strategically is essential to the free world in its production of mineralsâ€.

Four years later he noted: â€œThey have eliminated the segregation that we once had in our countryâ€¦â€ In 1986, the US Congress had to override the delusional presidentâ€™s veto in order to impose sanctions.

Three decades later, praise for Mandela in the wake of his demise last week has been more or less universal, with only a few organs revisiting the communist-terrorist angle in a denigrating manner.

Most of the paeans and eulogies have predictably steered clear of awkward facts and focused instead on the deceased leaderâ€™s undeniably lofty moral stature and conciliatory nature.

But itâ€™s important to remember that Mandela did once embrace armed struggle â€” including terrorist tactics that targeted symbols and uniformed representatives of the apartheid regime, rather than civilians â€” and it has lately been confirmed that he was not only a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) but sat on its central committee.

The violence planned or perpetrated by the ANCâ€™s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), was a direct response to the racist regimeâ€™s brutality, exemplified by mass shooting and targeted assassinations as well as arrests and torture.

The SACP was closely aligned with the ANC, and a party spokesman declared last Thursday that it wasnâ€™t just Mandela but all the activists who were in the dock at the notorious Rivonia trial in 1964 were communists.

In his celebrated speech at that trial, Mandela noted that â€œfor many decades communists were the only political group in South Africa prepared to treat Africans as human beings and their equals; who were prepared to eat with us, talk with us, live with us and work with us. They were the only group which was prepared to work with the Africans for the attainment of political rights and a stake in societyâ€.

He also denied being a member of the SACP â€” evidently a tactical canard, albeit one that may have made the difference between indefinite incarceration and rapid execution for Mandela and his comrades.

Interestingly, the SACP has betrayed few qualms about the neoliberal agenda that the ANC adopted in post-apartheid South Africa, abiding by its part of a deal with local and international capital that ostensibly accounted for a relatively peaceful transition from minority rule to one man, one vote.

As a consequence, poverty remains entrenched among the black majority, while former ANC stalwarts feature prominently among a relatively tiny African elite of multi-millionaires.

Would it be unfair to see this, too, as a part of Mandelaâ€™s legacy? Itâ€™s more complicated than that, of course, although the adoration he inspires at home is occasionally tempered by the perception that the awe-inspiring political strides he facilitated as well as his successful focus on the cosmetics of reconciliation overshadowed a failure to relentlessly pursue social justice, and his loyalty to the ANC precluded criticism that may have helped to curb some of its excesses.

It is, meanwhile, also commonplace to gloss over the crucial role that the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign played in convincing the pillars of apartheid that business as usual was no longer a feasible option. This may in part reflect the fear that too vivid a reminder of its effectiveness might encourage a push for action on a comparable scale against Israel.

Speaking of which, let us also not forget the fraternal relations that existed between Israel and the apartheid state, stretching to cooperation on the security front and, amid even greater secrecy, collaboration in producing nuclear weapons.

Nor should we overlook the fact that among those attending Tata Madibaâ€™s funeral rites this week, there are some who were less than thrilled when, on his first overseas trip after he was set free, Mandela insisted on personally thanking the likes of Fidel Castro and Muammar Qadhafi for their unstinting solidarity with the ANCâ€™s struggle â€” and others who bristled when, after completing his presidential term, he found no reason to mince his words in lashing out at the aggression against Iraq.

The radical edge that Mandela never completely lost was as much a part of his complex personality as the disarming smiles and gentle sense of humour that charmed the doting multitudes. The flirtation with violent resistance and communism (thereâ€™s no evidence that his opinions in the latter context were ever doctrinaire) was arguably crucial to his evolution.

As late as 1985, he turned down an offer of freedom in return for renouncing violence with the words: â€œOnly free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts.â€

Mandela never claimed to be a saint or a miracle-worker, and in retrospect a beret may conceivably suit him better than a halo sponsored by any of the clay-footed politicians and celebrities who are seeking one more time this weekend to wallow in his radiant aura.

Let us hope the authorities will at least honour his wish that only a simple stone should grace his final resting place, bearing only the name â€œMandelaâ€. That should suffice for generations to come, provided it is spared the indignity of a whitewash.

mahir.dawn@gmail.com

Houbaras at risk

Zubeida Mustafa

LAST Wednesday, a little over 20 Karachiites gathered in front of the Sindh Wildlife Office to raise their voices to prevent the extinction of the houbara bustard, the elegant and colourful bird that makes its appearance in parts of Sindh and Balochistan in the winter months.

The houbara story in this country is a long one and the size of the demo in that context was not big enough to attract public attention. But being in the designated Red Zone (the Governorâ€™s House is in the vicinity of the Sindh Wildlife Office) the protest was at once noticed by the custodians of the law.

Deeming the protesters to be harmless the police allowed them to stand there for a while before they moved on to the Karachi Press Club on the suggestion of the law enforcers. That was a clever step as anything happening at the KPC has a better chance of getting some media coverage.

Yet I feel this protest was of great significance. Probably for the first time some people in Pakistan were willing to speak up for the endangered houbara. We certainly have come a long way. I remember in the 1990s, the then editor of Dawn had sent me to one of those meetings the Ministry of Information was fond of convening periodically to remind the press of the boundaries of its freedom â€” needless to say very restricted.

The meeting had a single item agenda â€” the houbara bustard. The peremptory orders were: no names to be quoted please. The role of the Arab sheikhs and princes in the destruction of the houbara bustard was not to be publicised. These rulers were after all our friends and we had to welcome them. So it is progress of sorts that today we can demonstrate and circulate pictures of butchered houbaras held up by their killers.

What has not changed, however, is the vulnerability of the houbara â€” it continues to be an endangered species. In fact, what has grown is the passion of Gulf rulers for houbara hunting and the avarice of our own rulers for petrodollars.

According to this paper, 33 â€œspecialâ€ permits have been issued for the current hunting season to various emirs, sheikhs and businessmen from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with each permit allowing 100 kills. Last year the number was 25. This is in gross violation of the law as this bird is said to be protected since it is in danger of extinction.

Animal lovers are shocked by the brutality inflicted on these migratory birds. The licences allow hunting only by falconry. The protesters were demanding that the permits be revoked and the official responsible for issuing them be taken to task.

The government has announced that there will be a moratorium on houbara hunting in the 2014-2015 hunting season. But one can well ask, why not immediately?

The fact of the matter is that it requires two to tango. Pakistan is guilty of neglecting wildlife (remember the green turtles) and in this case of allowing the wanton destruction of birds that are our winter guests.

The hunters from the Gulf give an ironic twist to the situation. Recognising the threat of extinction of this beautiful specimen of nature conventionally hunted by falconry, Abu Dhabi has set up the International Fund for Houbara Conservation that has launched breeding programmes to boost the number of their own birds. This is important for the survival of their falcons that feed on houbara meat.

The houbara population has declined by 35pc in the last two decades. It is strange logic that the Gulf states should be preserving the birds in their region while poaching on the houbaras that visit Pakistan from China.

In the end analysis, Pakistanâ€™s government machinery must take responsibility for the ills caused by the houbara hunters. Beginning with the â€œspecialâ€ permits, one can well ask why they are granted to any royalty from an oil-rich sheikhdom just for the asking. They can be refused but are not because the payoffs they fetch to individuals are lucrative.

Given the long record of overkill and the absence of any checking mechanism there is no way to determine the number of birds hunted. Small wonder the casualties are more than officially sanctioned. This would not have been possible had Pakistan taken a firm stand to safeguard its own interests.

A classic example of some individuals being the illegal beneficiaries of this annual hunting gala are the expensive perks they leave behind for their benefactors. The numerous Prados with Dubai number plates that ply with impunity on the Karachi roads are gifts of the houbara hunters. These vehicles are never registered and no taxes and duties are ever paid on them. This only encourages corruption and ostentation of the worst kind.

In a country where it is easy to entice people in authority with offerings such as these one cannot condone this wrongdoing. If we had a strong tradition of honesty and integrity we could have resisted all the malpractices and saved the houbara bustard without much ado.

www.zubeidamustafa.com

Wrong taxation approach

Shahid Kardar

THE system of taxing company incomes that uses net profit as the basis for determining tax liability reduces the incentive to save, and encourages expenditure.

THE system of taxing company incomes that uses net profit as the basis for determining tax liability reduces the incentive to save, and encourages expenditure.

The tax authorities are conscious of the bias that this concept induces. That is why they take various steps â€” including those that are essentially arbitrary â€” to restrict the urge of companies to inflate even legally permissible expenses by not being frugal.

Taxmen either disallow certain categories of expenditures or, to use a commonly employed term, â€˜add backâ€™ for calculating taxable income, different proportions of expenses appearing under different expenditure heads on the plea that the amount disallowed is an estimate of the non-business aspect of the expenditures.

It should be obvious that the tax authorityâ€™s adoption of such a practice introduces discretion in the assessment of taxable income. Hence, one of the charges of harassment of the taxman.

In this writerâ€™s view, the problem is far too fundamental and serious to be left to either the discretion of the tax authorities or to some amendments in tax rules. There is a need to curb wasteful expenditure in an effective manner.

Tax laws do not incentivise to â€˜economiseâ€™ and promote frugality in spending habits. If anything, there is an in-built premium in favour of wasteful expenditures. They encourage owners or directors to camouflage personal consumption expenditure as business expense â€” so high is the personal gain from espousing such a policy. Increasing company expenditure by a few percentage points can yield a tax-free benefit of many times the net personal incomes of those individuals from, say, dividends on their share holdings.

The application of such an approach by the income tax authorities is inefficient in checking profligacy. These practices act as a disincentive to the capital accumulation required for accelerating the pace and raising the level of investment.

Building and maintaining lavish lifestyles in the shape of hugely expensive offices and residences, luxury chauffer-driven limousines, large entertainment bills, frequent foreign travel of families at company expense, etc are practices that get a fillip from the taxation philosophy to tax net profit. This does immense harm to the dire need to cut down extravagance and high living.

All this becomes possible because such â€˜benefitsâ€™ can be hidden in the many expense heads that can be used to disguise the nature of the activity performed. There are a whole range of expenditure categories that can be used for hiding what are essentially expenses of a personal nature.

The rule that only those expenses would be admissible in estimating taxable income provided they are wholly and exclusively for the purposes of business is extremely difficult to apply because the concept underlying â€˜purpose of businessâ€™ can be viewed differently by different parties. What to a particular businessman is critical expenditure for promoting business may be wasteful or non-business even from the point of view of another businessman let alone the taxman.

And no major benefits are likely to be derived through further amendments in the rules or laws to tackle the confusion arising from the notion and perception of an exclusively business expense. Therefore, it would be naAtilde;¯ve to presume that such procedures and habits can be dealt with effectively under this entrenched philosophy.

Hence, the urgent need to reform the system of company taxation that can tackle the problem of avoidable and gratuitous expenditure. From the discussion it should have become apparent to a perceptive reader that the best way to deal with this disease would be to tax expenses rather than profits.

The objective of a good tax policy should be to curb profligacy and consumption and promote savings and thereby capital accumulation and investment. The taxation of expenditure can make a significant contribution to capital accumulation by deterring the urge to spend heavily on inessentials or on expenditures that are essentially of personal nature which support the lavish lifestyles of directors or owners at company expense.

The other advantage of this approach would be that the more efficient and productive users of a given set of resources would pay, in proportionate terms, a smaller amount of tax than the inefficient users of a similar set of resources, thereby introducing a welcome bias in favour of efficient users of scarce resources, particularly raw materials, energy and capital.

Such a strategy would also be in line with the viewpoint of taxing consumption underlying the governmentâ€™s commitment to the IMF and our development partners that its tax reform agenda includes the extension of the general sales tax to the retail level.

However, some adjustments would have to be made in the implementation of this approach. To begin with, an important component of business expenditure includes wages. A tax on total business expenditure would work against the more important objective of increasing employment opportunities. It will be awkward to view lightly such an issue in a labour abundant economy.

Therefore, to deal with this concern it may be desirable to exclude wages from the costs deemed liable to the expenditure tax. The wage bill to be treated as an admissible expense may be further categorised into earnings below and above a certain level of wage. And the wage costs of those earning below a certain level/amount may be treated as the only admissible non-taxable business expense of the company.

In this writerâ€™s view, depreciation should be treated as taxable expenditure. But if this treatment is considered too harsh then the existing basis of tax depreciation allowances may continue to be accepted as admissible expenditure.

Finally, so as not to discourage investment in new projects and enterprises operational expenditures for the first two to three years of commercial production (the formative years) could either be exempted from tax or taxed at a lower rate.

The writer is a former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.

An incoherent foreign policy

Kaiser Bengali

THE landmark agreement between the US and its allies and Iran on the nuclear issue is a regional and global game changer.

THE landmark agreement between the US and its allies and Iran on the nuclear issue is a regional and global game changer.

A new world alignment appears to be emerging that places the US and other western powers on more or less the same platform as China, Iran and India.

The world of eyeball to eyeball confrontation with fingers on the nuclear trigger ended with the Soviet Unionâ€™s collapse. Thereafter, the US attempt to act as the sole superpower ended with the Iraq and Afghanistan fiascos. Realising that a multipolar world has emerged, the US appears to have more or less set aside the containment policy with regard to China and opted for a policy of â€˜competitive cooperationâ€™ instead.

A fundamental rethink also appears to be under way in the US Middle East policy, which has over the last eight decades been guided by the Westâ€™s energy security needs. Israel was planted in the region exclusively for that purpose.

However, technological advances have enabled the US and Canada to tap shale oil and placed oil self-sufficiency on the North American horizon.

Freedom from dependency on Middle Eastern oil is likely to allow the US to loosen itself from half-a-century-old policy pegs and venture into new directions. The brusque manner in which Israeli and Saudi concerns regarding Iran have been brushed aside may indicate the shape of things to come.

These fundamental changes imply that Pakistan too may need to rethink its regional policy parameters. From the 1950s, Pakistan trapped itself in a â€˜surrogacy syndromeâ€™ and accepted US patronage, which reached its peak during the 1980s under Gen Zia, and continued under Gen Musharraf.

Over the last decade, however, Pakistan-US ties have lost their sheen. Pakistan now appears to be seeking a strategic shift towards China as a counterweight to the US.

The fact is that Pakistanâ€™s foreign policy has now lost all semblance of coherence or direction. Its foreign policy has been completely India-centric and managed on parameters fixed in concrete. It is like a boxer whose feet are glued to the ground and who, as a result, cannot make the moves to tackle the oncoming punches.

Having abandoned, de facto, the demand for a plebiscite in Kashmir, Pakistan no longer has any Kashmir policy other than to try to bleed India; a policy that has failed to hurt India, but is bleeding Pakistan instead.

Rather, its policy of patronising and using terrorist proxies as foreign policy tools has made it suspect in the eyes of almost every government (including that of most Muslim countries) and lost it respect. This includes Iran and, to an extent, even China.

Pakistan may claim to have made sacrifices for Afghanistan, but Pakistanis are detested by almost every segment of the Afghan population. On account of their post-2001 betrayal, even the Afghan Taliban do not trust Pakistan anymore. Pakistan stands friendless regionally and globally.

Pakistanâ€™s foreign policy establishment has always been divided between the Foreign Office and GHQ, with the former playing more of a post office role and ISI upstaging GHQ on occasion.

Now, it has become even more disjointed with the likes of Chaudhry Nisar, Imran Khan, Munawar Hasan and Fazlur Rehman trying to ramrod a Sultan Rahi-Maula Jat style of foreign policy, particularly with respect to America. Fuel to the fire is added by a section of retired military officers and religious parties, Americaâ€™s darlings in the 1980s and who now feel jilted.

Meanwhile, the US appears to have lost all trust and confidence in Pakistan. While an ally in the â€˜war on terrorâ€™, many top Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders have been netted or killed in Pakistan. They include leaders nabbed from the residences of religious political party leaders and the Al Qaeda chief himself who was traced to within a mile of the Kakul cantonment.

More recently, an Afghan Taliban leader was murdered in the outskirts of Islamabad and other senior Afghan Taliban military commanders were killed in a US drone strike in Hangu. That these gentlemen did not have a visa to enter a sovereign nation does not bother the Sultan Rahi-Maula Jat brigade.

While Pakistanâ€™s surrogacy of the US was always deplorable and many faults can be found in the US treatment of its surrogate, the hysteria directed against the US smacks of gross immaturity.

The US-Iran rapprochement is a wake-up call and Pakistanâ€™s foreign policy establishment units â€” military and civilian, formal and informal, in offices and on the streets â€” need to read the writing on the wall. Failure would mean that Pakistan would be treated as an irresponsible, lawless, tantrum-prone child and left out of the regional equation.

The US-Iran rapprochement has significant implications for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Iran shares a long border with Afghanistan and the US is building a modern highway to link Herat near the Iranian border to Kabul via Ghor province in south-central Afghanistan.

It is likely that the Iranian ports emerge as major Afghan transit trade routes, costing Pakistanâ€™s economy dearly. Itâ€™s also likely that the US will begin to deal with Afghanistan politically and militarily largely through Iran, bypassing Pakistan.

As such, if Pakistan thinks that it can hold the US hostage vis-Atilde; -vis Afghanistan, it may be mistaken. There is a possibility of a US-Iran-India-Afghanistan grouping emerging, and if Pakistan is isolated today, it may be in danger of becoming even more isolated.

The reliance on China is like standing on thin ice, particularly vis-Atilde; -vis the US. China has effectively abandoned its traditional support for Pakistanâ€™s stand on Kashmir and now supports the Indian stand â€” bilateral negotiations; a shift that has gone unreported in the Pakistani media.

As such, China may be unlikely to stand by its traditional alliances for long if Pakistan continues its obstructionist role in the region. Given the tectonic shifts taking place in strategic alignments, it is imperative that Pakistan reviews its policies to date and adopts a policy based on rationality.

The writer is a researcher.

Informality and the private sector

Umair Javed

STANDING true to their pre-election commitments, the PML-N government has chalked up a list of 30-odd state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that will see gradual government divestment from both management and ownership.

The logic given, and one echoed by many economists and policy analysts in the country, is that SOEs in their current, fiscally inefficient shape place an unaffordable burden on the economy, and are serving as nothing more than a crass source of political patronage.

Overstaffing, mismanagement, and outright negligence at every level cost the government in the shape of a bloated wage bill, and regular, expensive bailouts. There are two complementary strands of thinking informing this policy trajectory â€” the first is the need for the government to be fiscally efficient, rational in its expenditure, and potent in its ability to generate tax revenue (something that would be possible to extract from profitable private sector entities).

The second strand is an ideological commitment to market principles, a belief in private sector-led economic growth, and a need to reduce channels of political patronage.

A linear, and perhaps caricatured, reading of the agenda would go something like this â€” the government divests from these entities, encourages private sector investment, draws greater tax revenue, and the benefits of economic growth will rain down on everyone.

Perhaps the most telling thing about this policy framework is the absolute absence of labour welfare anywhere in the discussion.

At most, labour and issues of employment are dealt with as an afterthought with two usual refrains â€œprivate sector growth will offset unemployment generated by privatisationâ€, and â€œa growing economy is in everyoneâ€™s favourâ€. Such statements, apart from being the utterings of a (only slightly) guilty conscience, are ahistorical and show a lack of understanding of the current state of labour in Pakistanâ€™s private sector.

Leaving agriculture aside, around 37pc of all labour is employed in small-scale manufacturing, transport, retail, wholesale and related services. Tertiary services such as banking, insurance and telecom employ a very small fraction of the labour force, and large-scale manufacturing accounts for only 18pc of employment.

By some estimates, nearly 70pc of all labour in urban areas is employed within the informal sector â€” implying that there is no job security, no benefits and no minimum wage enforcement.

Verbally contracted informal labour working in warehouses, construction, and unregulated factories of various kinds is exposed to a variety of hazards, often resulting in permanent injuries, or as we saw in the case of the Karachi and Lahore factory fires, death.

To make matters worse, employees are regulated by a variety of â€˜unofficialâ€™ ways, like caste hierarchies, parasitical jobbers, debt-bondage, shaming and moral sanctions, and distributing work obligations within the labourerâ€™s family.

Credible research on the economy in India showed that informalisation of the labour market grew in tandem with overall private-sector growth in the economy.

According to an estimate developed by Barbara Harris-White, as the Indian economy grew by an average of 5pc over three decades (â€™70s-â€™90s), and the population at 2.2pc, formal, organised labour in the â€œcorporate private sectorâ€ grew at 0.1pc. A small portion of labour absorption was taking place in the form of state employment, while the vast majority found work as informal labour.

The interesting parallel for Pakistan here is that since the â€™80s, the country has witnessed stagnation, and gradual fragmentation in manufacturing.

Informal subcontracting, operating in small, cramped â€˜unitsâ€™, has become common, while the bulk of economic growth is explained by a dynamic, but severely unregulated services sector â€” which now contributes more than 50pc to the GDP.

It is a commonly accepted fact that in a country of 180 million, where the median worker is poor and largely unskilled, service-sector oriented growth cannot be seen as a panacea for the issue of under and unemployment.

Worryingly, a report in this very newspaper pointed out that the governmentâ€™s new turning-a-blind-eye investment scheme is predicted to result in traders and small businessmen taking out money from under their mattresses and expanding their largely informal labour-employing, and often illegal enterprises, or investing in unproductive, speculative sectors like real estate.

The popular thinking on privatisation also misses the point on exactly why state employment is such a coveted political good.

Due to a whole host of factors, some pointed out above, the average labourer would prefer engaging in collective action for state employment over slaving it out in hazardous, repugnant conditions in what passes for the private sector in Pakistan.

Similarly, politicians accruing short-term benefits see the obvious returns of providing patronage in this manner. State employment guarantees minimum wage enforcement, post-retirement benefits, and the ability to engage in bargaining, whereas there is nothing remotely close to this in the ever-expanding sphere of the informal economy.

Compounding the problem, attempts â€” mostly half-hearted and impotent â€” to regulate labour conditions by the state have failed repeatedly on account of compromised intentions, and private rent-seeking practices amongst state functionaries.

A recent speech by the patron-in-chief of the PPP, on the partyâ€™s foundation day, was an important and much-needed reminder for bringing the labour question back into the debate on privatisation and private-sector growth.

If the state is serious about the issue of employment â€” and Nawaz Sharif has recently said it was â€˜heartbreaking to see unemploymentâ€™ â€” it needs to develop a coherent, empirically sound agenda of national development.

This agenda should not just talk in abstract terms of â€˜fiscal efficiencyâ€™ and â€˜rationalisation of expendituresâ€™, but in the real terms of equitable growth, and dignified employment.

Similarly, policy analysts and champions of the free market â€” many of whom have lived a state-subsidised existence for most of their lives â€” should see the dissonance in the state doling out favours to businessmen, and goodies and presents for career-bureaucrats and military officers, but being asked to cut back on employing working class individuals.

The writer is a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics.

umairjaved87@gmail.com

Integrated healthcare

Arif Azad

LIKE most countries in the region, healthcare in Pakistan is delivered through a mixed public-private system.

LIKE most countries in the region, healthcare in Pakistan is delivered through a mixed public-private system.

While private healthcare provision was initially on a small scale, it has grown exponentially over the years, so much so that according to a recent study conducted by the Asian Development Bank and Australian Aid, private healthcare provision in maternal and child health accounts for over 70pc of overall healthcare provision. Publicly funded hospital-care provision, by contrast, accounts for only about 30pc.

This indicates a growing trend towards purchasing private healthcare, highlighting the state of the public health system that is creaking under the twin pressures of resource constraints and increasing patient-load. The indications are that this trend is set to grow, given the low priority accorded to health in government budgets.

According to an international finance corporation study conducted in 2011, there are 100 private healthcare establishments in Karachiâ€™s Nazimabad, 40 in Lahoreâ€™s Allama Iqbal town and 30 in Faisalabadâ€™s Jinnah colonies. This picture is replicated across the country. More significantly, big US-style corporate hospitals are also being built by investors (mostly doctors) with experience of Americaâ€™s privately funded system.

The transplantation of a US-style private healthcare system onto a middle-income country such as Pakistan has all sorts of implications for healthcare provision and policy at large. Some of the issues are regulation, affordability, the accountability of private healthcare providers towards their clients and the sectorâ€™s integration with the larger public healthcare system. No wonder, then, that just as more and more people are being forced into seeking private healthcare options, their disillusionment is also growing. The spectrum of private healthcare usersâ€™ grouses range from botched or unnecessary operations to inadequate or poor services, high costs of surgical and post-surgical care and a total lack of accountability and transparency within the sector.

The government, however, has thus far desisted from any concerted move towards regulating the private healthcare sector and bringing it under a comprehensive regulatory framework. This step has acquired urgency now, as out-of-pocket medical financing has spiralled out of control and is tipping a growing number into unexpected poverty.

It is estimated in the ADB/Ausaid report that out-of-pocket expenses per person come to about $91 a year, which is way above the regional average. When translated into the financial burden on ordinary Pakistanis, the report estimates that in 2005-2006, 4.7pc of the population â€” or 7.5 million Pakistanis â€” were pushed below the international poverty threshold as a direct consequence of out-of-pocket medical expenses.

The situation calls for comprehensive governmental action to reduce medical impoverishment and get the healthcare provision mix right for greater health goals. The regulation of the private healthcare sector should form the first pillar of this action.

A beginning can be made by undertaking a comprehensive survey of the private healthcare landscape. This should be followed up with the establishment of a private healthcare regulatory authority which must take up the registration and monitoring of private healthcare facilities as its core function. The resultant register would serve not just as a referral centre for regulated private healthcare providers but also act as a weeding-out centre for under-qualified private providers.

The regulatory authority would have to frame rules and regulations requiring private healthcare providers to be transparent and accountable to the users of their services. An important aspect of this regulatory thrust should involve the establishment of complaints procedures regarding negligence, overcharging or poor care.

This would be a step towards not just making the sector transparent and accountable but also towards improving the standards of care, and increase confidence in the private healthcare-provision sector. Allied to this should be the provision that private healthcare entities should be statutorily compelled to frame and publish patientsâ€™ rights charters setting out a minimum standard of care.

As a further part of its regulatory regime, the government should devise standard treatment protocols/guidelines to be followed in the private sector as a way to prevent unnecessary surgeries and the over-prescription of medicines.

A report recently highlighted a growing trend in private hospitals to perform avoidable Caesarean sections in order to make money. There is also evidence, and everyday experience, of the over-prescription of medicines in the private sector. Two surveys published in the early years of the millennium established that private hospitals tend to prescribe 4.5 medicines per patient as compared to 2.77 medicines per patient in public hospitals. To curb these profit-maximising practices, some sort of ceiling can fixed.

A rigorous system of random annual inspections of private healthcare entities should be instituted, and those found wanting can be struck off the register or put under tight monitoring oversight. Here, the government can team up with consumer and patient rights groups, enabling them to act as permanent watchdogs. As a way to strengthen their oversight role, the inspection teams should include representatives from consumer and patient rights groups and other health rights groups.

Lastly, and most importantly, the private healthcare sector should be integrated into government health policy and planning. This can be done by making it mandatory for private healthcare providers to publish data on the number of patients and the types of ailments treated, the procedures performed and rationalising how the work done by the private sector aids governmentally defined health goals and policy.

In this way, both the private and public sectors can become conscious and responsible partners in the promotion of broader health goals while keeping healthcare costs for ordinary Pakistanis at the minimum.

The writer is an Islamabad-based development consultant and policy analyst.

drarifazad@gmail.com

Judging Chaudhry

Babar Sattar

IT is ungracious to take pot shots at someone walking into the sunset. But to refuse to take stock of the performance of a public office holder as remarkable as Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and draw lessons for the future is also undesirable.

In measuring up Chaudhryâ€™s tenure as chief justice there are five broad areas that invite comment: judicial independence; suo motu powers; judicial appointments; judicial reform; and Arsalan Iftikhar.

CJ Chaudhryâ€™s lasting contribution to Pakistan is that no one dare mistake the judiciary for being an extension of the executive anymore. Judges no longer fear falling out of favour with the ruler of the day and we are better off for it. CJ Chaudhry might be retiring and the pendulum of activism might swing back a notch causing desirable correction, but the Supreme Court will remain a powerhouse.

Freedom from external interference is one dimension of judicial independence. The other is the ability of the individual judge to discharge functions without interference from peers. This dimension, fettered historically by the misconceived notion of pater familias, has suffered further under CJ Chaudhry who ran a tight ship.

In the initial run after restoration, judges shared the desire to stick together and fight their fights against the PCO judges and the NRO government. This is when we saw large benches and unanimous decisions. The bonhomie probably ended with the challenge to the 18th Amendment.

As some judges refused to become party to striking down a constitutional amendment, the matter had to be sent back to parliament for reconsideration as a compromise.

Internal differences grew with the Memogate controversy and the trigger-happy use of suo motu by CJ Chaudhry. And we saw in the last year excessive reliance on administrative powers to constitute smaller benches, pack off independent-minded judges to other cities along with inconsequential cases and reserve suo motus and other populist matters for Court One.

The use of suo motu by CJ Chaudhry has been problematic. Since its use rests on the will of one man, its exercise is random and inconsistent by design. For example, there is no way to understand suo motus over increase in sugar prices or recovery of two bottles of wine from someoneâ€™s luggage except as whimsical populism. Mediaâ€™s role in suo motu incitement also cultivated its raunchy relationship with the CJ office that is not in accord with the judicial code of conduct.

By laying down no clear judicial tests for â€˜public importanceâ€™ and â€˜fundamental rightsâ€™ for Article 184(3) purposes or clarifying the nature of relief the court ought to grant, suo motu has become a source of legal uncertainty. The manner of its use denied the accused the presumption of innocence, curbed the right to appeal, and raised doubts about the court ability to act as an impartial arbiter of the law.

The use of suo motu might have cultivated in public mind the image of the chief justice as a saviour. But it has done so at the expense of our ordinary judicial system as everyone now wishes to be heard directly by our highest court. It is true that the need for suo motu arises due to a malfunctioning governance system. But it is equally the failure of ordinary judicial processes that create a need for fire brigade operations fulfilled in turn by Supreme Courtâ€™s suo motus.

The moment of utter shame for CJ Chaudhry (and the entire court) was the Arsalan Iftikhar saga. Loud protestations of innocence did not prevent the courtâ€™s fall from grace in the pubic eye. If there was a time when CJ Chaudhry ought to have resigned to save his honour instead of showing up for work with the Holy Book in hand, it was when his son was caught red-handed.

CJ Chaudhryâ€™s legacy is a mixed bag. He will be remembered as the politician judge who resurrected an independent judiciary, but driven by power, went too far pushing personal agendas and wading into the business of other vital state institutions. None of this should however prevent the Supreme Court Bar Association from preserving tradition and hosting a farewell dinner for the outgoing chief justice even if not for the man.

The writer is a lawyer.

sattar@post.harvard.edu

Twitter: @babar_sattar

Far behind in the race

Moazzam Husain

WHEN the rupee started to weaken earlier this year, the government responded by intervening in the currency markets.

WHEN the rupee started to weaken earlier this year, the government responded by intervening in the currency markets.

Speculators knew that the government with limited reserves could not play the game for long. That is when the State Bank pulled the second lever; it began to raise interest rates.

When there was no let up in the capital flight the government put a lid on the amount of cash that could be taken out. But still the rupee continued to slide so the government decided to approach the UAE government for the remaining $800 million proceeds from the PTCL privatisation to build reserves.

Then recently it offered twin amnesties to black money and to tax evaders. The naive hope is that this money â€” instead of being â€˜dollarisedâ€™ â€” will be invested in manufacturing ventures.

Managing exchange rates is a firefighting measure. At best you deal with symptoms of the real malaise and delay the inevitable. At a fundamental level, Pakistanâ€™s economic competitiveness has been in steady decline over the years.

Today the country ranks 133rd out of 148 surveyed. This means that most goods are now not viable for production in Pakistan and the few that are, are fast losing their shine. This applies to not just manufactured goods but many of our farm products as well.

In a free trade world, this situation places Pakistan at a major disadvantage. A free trade agreement with China has brought an influx of Chinese goods but very little has gone in the opposite direction. Going forward, the situation for Pakistan looks set to worsen.

Two factors have brought us to this pass. One is the failure to develop indigenous energy resources. Today a substantial part of our import bill is fuel. The second and far more serious has been our failure to develop efficient, world beating industries in some key sectors (with few exceptions like cement, fertiliser and textile spinning).

This was done on the back of a high standard of national education and a high domestic savings rate. In Pakistan these factors were not present.

In our case, the Five Year Plans were of academic value and even that process was later all but abdicated.

The national innovative capacity is the ability of a country to produce and commercialise a flow of innovative technology over the long term. This can be thought of as the software.

Empirical studies have found that innovative capacities of economies are very closely correlated with both competitiveness and with GDP.

Pakistanâ€™s steel mill never really got going and the hydrocracker plant never progressed beyond the feasibility study phase. No government bothered to develop or even articulate a credible innovation strategy.

Research and academic institutions remained weak and under-resourced with little linkage to industry. Pakistani firms also do not spend much on R&D, preferring instead to buy licensed technologies or turnkey industrial solutions.

Any strategic process creates winners and losers. Big push export strategies would need to be implemented in these three or four industrial sectors in addition to the large domestic market so the necessary scale effects can be achieved. With this in mind, a series of interventions will need to be planned.

The other and somewhat less daunting challenge would be to develop indigenous energy resources.

As usual, the hardest part is the politics.

The commodity most needed is political will, and as of now, that is the commodity that is in short supply.

The writer is a business strategist and entrepreneur and is also assisting the Planning Commission of Pakistan and its working groups tasked with developing the countryâ€™s Vision 2025 and the 11th Five Year Plan.

http://moazzamhusain.com

History of our times

Hajrah Mumtaz

THOSE who remember it â€” and there should be many â€” do so with unalloyed fondness.

THOSE who remember it â€” and there should be many â€” do so with unalloyed fondness.

The year was 1984 and in much of the West, it was a time of prosperity. In other parts of the world, the news was not so good. Ethiopia, for one, had been hit by a famine; images from those dark years in this part of Africa still do not cease to haunt.

They certainly caught the imagination/compassion of Irish singer-songwriter Bob Geldof, who together with Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, co-wrote the song Do they know itâ€™s Christmas? to raise money for the famine victims.

Grouped under the label of Band Aid, many of the biggest music industry icons of the time participated in the recording of the song, or the B-side â€˜Feed the Worldâ€™ compilation.

The reason I take the opportunity to dwell upon this heart-warming moment from the past is that Band Aid, and the Live Aid concert that followed a year later, became the face in popular Western imagination of a massive push to donate funds to famine relief efforts.

The West, both private citizens and governments, sent millions of dollars in aid.

(Of course nothing in this world happens without political motivations. For instance, at the time the famine struck, the Ethiopian government was fighting rebellions in two of its northern provinces.

The Cold War was ongoing, and the Soviet Union had invested billions in the country, providing its own officers to support the government. In January 1983, Ronald Reagan issued a national security directive that aimed to confront growing Red influence in the developing world.)

In March, 2010, the BBC broke the story that much of the Ethiopian famine aid money had unbeknownst gone to the rebels and been spent on huge weapons purchases. But that does not take away from the fact that nearly 30 years on, in popular imagination, the Ethiopian famine stands out as a series of tragedies, a time of stark misery and deprivation.

As always, though, there are other sides to the picture. As this countryâ€™s citizens know all too well, tragedy can abound and yet there can be pockets of prosperity; death may haunt each step and yet a more or less credible semblance of â€˜normalâ€™ life can go on.

To quote the website, â€œYes, this was a time of great famine, civil war, Red terror, and a Stalinist dictatorship and other not-so-nice things. But, as importantly, this was also a time of growing up, lasting friendship, first kisses, heartbreaks, wild parties and other such life-changing events. â€˜Time to put down our soul roots,â€™ as one participant put it.â€

Hereâ€™s whatâ€™s been on my mind since the Injera Westerns project was brought to my attention. Despite the unprecedented turmoil the country has experienced at various levels for well over a decade now, there appear few signs â€” other than in the fine arts community, notably â€” to document this fast-paced descent into madness.

Given the available literature and cultural output such as film, theatre or television, apart from the sporadic exception, it seems unlikely on current evidence. That makes it likely that in future, our awareness of our experiences now, will be coloured â€” distorted, perhaps.

The importance of documenting the experiences of those that saw history firsthand is hardly a novel idea. In the subcontinent, groups of researchers, some academic, some people-powered, have over the years initiated projects to record the stories and experiences of the fast-fading generation that witnessed the partition.

Some of them are available on the web, others are in private libraries and collections. Wherever I have come across them, these stories have wielded immense power and emotion â€” because they are personal accounts of ordinary people to whom history, in a way, happened to happen (as opposed to also the haunting but, crucially, different, accounts such as those penned by Manto).

In the future, newspaper columns and blogspots will provide some idea of how dark the night felt on Dec 27, 2007 after Benazir Bhuttoâ€™s assassination, or when the Peshawar church was bombed, or how gut-wrenching the sight was of Quettaâ€™s Hazaras alongside the coffins of their dead that they refused to bury.

But in the future, Pakistanis and the world will need more, much more, about the here and now, and its personal dimensions, to develop any meaningful understanding.

And in such a project, perhaps, of the peopleâ€™s stories, could lie the seeds of a cohesive, strong and agreed-upon-by-all counter-narrative that this country so desperately needs to turn the tide.

The writer is a member of staff.

hajrahmumtaz@gmail.com

Outsourced security

Huma Yusuf

FOLLOWING a troubling spate of abductions of doctors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial government last week announced that it would issue arms licences to the medical community.

FOLLOWING a troubling spate of abductions of doctors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial government last week announced that it would issue arms licences to the medical community.

This decision puts the provinceâ€™s doctors in charge of their own safety, and is thus an abdication of the stateâ€™s basic responsibility to provide security for all citizens.

Sadly, the provincial governmentâ€™s decision should not come as a surprise. At multiple levels, the state has long outsourced security provision, undermining a key aspect of its statehood â€” the monopoly on violence. By allowing the number of actors who can legitimately (or illegitimately, but with state sanction) use physical force to proliferate, the state has fuelled rather than checked cycles of violence.

Interestingly, this tendency to outsource the provision of security â€” as well as the use of force to enforce order â€” is more an indictment of Pakistanâ€™s democratic institutions than of the security environment.

The KP government is not the first to outsource security provision to a professional community. In 2011, Karachiâ€™s traders complained to then interior minister Rehman Malik that they were being threatened, abducted and in some instances killed by extortionists.

More broadly, the massive growth of private security firms in the past decade has underscored the stateâ€™s shrinking mandate for security provision. There are approximately 350 private security firms in Pakistan, employing more than 300,000 guards. The governmentâ€™s failure to regulate this sector or demand greater transparency from security companies indicates a willingness â€” or at least a ready resignation â€” to disperse the responsibility of keeping Pakistanis safe.

Presumably, these â€˜strategic assetsâ€™ were cultivated to further Pakistanâ€™s security goals while putting the least number of Pakistanis at direct risk (of course we all know how that turned out).

In an ironic twist, having proved unable to keep certain militant groups in check, the establishment has it seems outsourced security provision to the United States. The US, in turn, executes that responsibility in the form of drone strikes against militant hideouts in the tribal belt.

The erosion of the stateâ€™s capacity to provide security and maintain order â€” as manifest in the above examples â€” is equivalent to the erosion of the state. This is not only at a conceptual level where statehood is threatened once the monopoly on violence is squandered. This is because security outsourcing becomes a convenient substitution for institution-building. The fact is, in each instance where the state could not provide security it was because the democratic institutions that oversee security provision were not up to the task.

Security provision fails when the government infrastructure that nurtures healthy institutions falls short. For example, policing is not only about having and carrying the right weapons. It works in the context of legislation, regulation and oversight mechanisms necessary to promote the growth of robust, uncorrupt agencies that are both proactive and accountable to the public. Shortfalls of policing should therefore be seen as the result of governance failures.

Similar logic applies in the case of state security. Strategies of outsourcing security to the Frontier Corps in Balochistan or to anti-India militant groups are driven by the failures of inclusive democracy and diplomacy, respectively.

Sadly, outsourced security leads to a downward spiral of institutional decline. No one can be held accountable for the failure to provide security when it is outsourced.

In sum, the chronic habit at various levels of the state of outsourcing security provision points to a fundamental crisis in democratic institution-building. This is worth pointing out at a time when Pakistanâ€™s democratic consolidation is being widely praised, not least because of the recent appointments of a new army chief and Supreme Court chief justice and ongoing local government elections.

Though significant, these developments will not signal true progress unless they lead to the maturing of the institutions that deliver public services, of which security is arguably one of the most important and state-inherent. By reframing shortfalls in security provision as a democratic challenge, we can hope to address the problem more efficiently and coherently.

The writer is a freelance contributor.

huma.yusuf@gmail.com

Twitter: @humayusuf

Iran deal: regional view

Munir Akram

THE â€˜interimâ€™ agreement on Iranâ€™s nuclear programme reached in Geneva two weeks ago was a seminal event in Iranâ€™s relationship with the West and the world.

THE â€˜interimâ€™ agreement on Iranâ€™s nuclear programme reached in Geneva two weeks ago was a seminal event in Iranâ€™s relationship with the West and the world.

The Rouhani governmentâ€™s posture reflects the desire of most Iranians to end the onerous economic sanctions and Iranâ€™s political estrangement from the West and the international community. Iran agreed to freeze its nuclear programme while the final agreement is being negotiated. The major reciprocal concession it received was not the access to $8-9 billion of its own frozen assets, but the acknowledgement that the final accord would include agreed provisions on the future nature and level of its enrichment programme.

Within the parameters sketched in the interim agreement, Iran will not be able to develop nuclear weapons quickly. Even if Iran is allowed to enrich uranium to 5pc, it would be unable to produce sufficient highly enriched uranium for one to two weapons for at least a year. A yearâ€™s notice would be sufficient for the international community to pursue coercive options to stop or slow down a possible Iranian breakout bid.

What the nuclear agreement with Iran will do is open the door to securing its cooperation to address the three-dimensional threat that has emerged in the region: civil wars and internal turmoil within countries (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Bahrain, Afghanistan); the Shia-Sunni violence (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain, Pakistan) and the spread of Al Qaeda affiliates and subsidiaries from Yemen to Libya to Mali.

The veteran US ambassador, Ryan Crocker, was quoted recently as saying: â€œBad as (Syrian President) Assad is, he is not as bad as the jihadis who would take over in his absence.â€ The Geneva II talks, scheduled for early 2014, can be expected to try and make peace between Assad and the â€˜moderateâ€™ opposition and sideline the extremist groups fighting against Assad.

Given its tangible military and material support to Damascus, Iran has huge influence, even greater than Russiaâ€™s, with the Assad regime. One should expect that, despite the known resistance from some quarters, Iran will be invited to Geneva II and could make an important contribution to its success.

Beyond Syria, Iranian cooperation could be also forthcoming to deal with the Al Qaeda threat. As a US expert said last week, â€œâ€¦ the worm has turned in the Middle East in the minds of American policymakersâ€. Gone are the dreams of the â€˜Arab Springâ€™ and the triumph of democracy; counterterrorism is back on the top of the American agenda.

Most importantly, working with other global and regional powers, especially Saudi Arabia, Iran can help to control the rampant Shia-Sunni violence not only in Syria but also in Iraq and to build political solutions for the divisions afflicting Lebanon and Bahrain.

The prospect of a growing Iranian role in the region has caused trepidation in some Gulf Cooperation Council capitals. To allay this, Iran has extended its â€˜charm offensiveâ€™ to its Arab neighbours. Through the media and visits, Iranâ€™s foreign minister has sought to reassure GCC countries that Iran seeks good relations with them.

Obviously, the process of building mutual confidence between Iran and its Arab neighbours, particularly Saudi Arabia, will be painfully slow. Yet, the three dimensional threat is creating common ground between Iran and its Arab neighbours which can provide the foundations for a future entente.

The impact of the Iran agreement will also extend to South Asia. Iranâ€™s cooperation, if aligned with efforts of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, could enhance the prospects of security and reconciliation in Afghanistan; ease Sunni-Shia tensions in Pakistan, and advance the prospects of regional trade, gas pipelines and transit arrangements.

Thus, the stakes are high, for the major powers and regional states, in the forthcoming negotiations on Iranâ€™s nuclear programme. While anticipation about the prospects of a deal should not divert focus from securing a credible foreclosure of Iranian nuclear weapons, nor should scepticism be allowed to scuttle an agreement whose promise is so extensive for the region.

The writer is a former Pakistan ambassador to the UN.

Failure and success

Cyril Almeida

WE know what he did: dragged his institution out from underneath the heel of the boot and the civilian. We know what he didnâ€™t do: fix much of anything.

WE know what he did: dragged his institution out from underneath the heel of the boot and the civilian. We know what he didnâ€™t do: fix much of anything.

So now weâ€™re left with the legacy question: what did it all add up to?

For a bottom-line kinda guy, CJ Iftikhar will know the uncomfortable truth: he was a lame duck for much of his final stretch in office.

Say what? Hasnâ€™t he been busy as a bee, suspending people, dispensing Chaudhrian justice, harassing the government and the mighty night and day?

Well, sure, but who cares?

Unless you were the sucker caught in the line of fire, the Court of Chaudhry came down to this: it was a force for disruption, but not the force for radical change that it wanted to be.

The moment of truth came with the sacking of YRG. Remember him? Pakistanâ€™s longest-serving prime minister? Yeah, weâ€™ve all moved on.

Sacking Gilani was the absolute most a judiciary could do. That and sanctifying a coup, which wasnâ€™t on the cards anyway and would have been slightly awkward for you-know-who.

So here at long last, with the sacking of Gilani, was the judiciary of the judiciaryâ€™s dreams: dominant, powerful, able to bend the mighty to its will, ruling the rulers, as it were.

And it led to nothing.

Yeah, there was a media frenzy. Yeah, your average person had an opinion about it. But the system kinda shrugged and moved on.

The nuclear button had been pressed. Nothing exploded.

Instead, the politicians shrugged and elected a new prime minister and then both sides of the aisle congratulated him and accepted his legitimacy.

And just like that, it was over. The secret was out, the ones who mattered knew: Chaudhry had done his worst and no one really cared.

From there, it was an inevitable countdown, to this week, to Dec 12.

Even the theory of an extension didnâ€™t gain much traction. For while nobody doubted that an extension was desired, just like it surely was by Kayani, there was an obvious problem: wanting something isnâ€™t the same thing as being able to get that something.

Bye-bye, Kayani. Bye-bye, CJ. Hello, system.

So now what? Now nothing. Or not much anyway.

Step One has been figured out. Pakistanâ€™s problem for the longest time was that everyone wanted to do someone elseâ€™s job. The army wanted to run the country. The politicians wanted to be bureaucrats and policemen. The judiciary wanted to lecture others about their jobs instead of focusing on their own.

Now we kinda have a fledgling consensus: Smithian specialisation/Montesquieuian separation of powers is the way to go.

Politicians decide, army defends and judges adjudicate. We may not have the details quite worked out yet, but more folk will agree more vehemently than ever that itâ€™s the only way to go.

And hereâ€™s what makes it seemingly durable: the creeping consensus has emerged from a history of failure.

Letâ€™s go back to Chaudhry to explain.

Broadly speaking, there are four categories of interventions he specialised in: political, governance, economic and military. A sweeping approach befitting a man with a sweeping agenda. But public opinion received each intervention differently.

The political interventions have been panned: donâ€™t sack prime ministers or presidents, let the people decide, the people have spoken. From a systemic perspective, thatâ€™s an excellent thing.

The governance interventions have gone down reasonably well: go after the corrupt, punish violators of the public trust, make the rulers follow the rules, the people have agreed. From a systemic perspective, thatâ€™s a reasonably OK thing.

The military interventions have been acclaimed: no more coups, find our missing people, the public has agreed. From a systemic perspective, thatâ€™s a critical evolutionary step.

And in the overall response to each of the four broad categories in which the CJ dabbled, there is a discernible, historical shift; a shift in the national approach to matters of politics and governance and how the state ought to run and by whom and to what end.

But CJ Iftikharâ€™s failure was the systemâ€™s success: he grabbed back the space that rightfully belonged to the judiciary, but was rebuffed when he tried to grab much, much more.

Bye-bye, CJ. Hello, system.

Now, Step Two: figuring out how to get the damn system to deliver.

The writer is a member of staff.

cyril.a@gmail.com

Twitter: @cyalm

Legal fraternityâ€™s conundrum

Taffazul Haider Rizvi

SINCE the judicial awakening of the legal fraternity in Pakistan in 2007, a thorny issue being faced by both the bar and the bench is the demand by many districts in Punjab that high court benches be established in their respective districts.

In the jurisdiction of the Lahore High Court â€” the oldest seat of justice in Pakistan â€” the establishment of benches started when Ziaul Haq promulgated the High Courts (Establishment) Order (Punjab Amendment) Ordinance, 1981.

Through this ordinance, high court benches were created overnight in Bahawalpur, Multan and Rawalpindi. Under the rules, all matters pending within the area assigned to a bench are to be filed before and disposed of by that bench.

It was felt at that time that the paramount reason for promulgating the ordinance was not any legal expediency; rather it was the anti-dictatorship stance of the lawyers from Lahore which irked Zia.

He dealt a deliberate blow to the Lahore High Court Bar by creating circuit benches and taking away legal work from Lahore-based lawyers.

This obviously added to the legal fraternityâ€™s dislike of Ziaul Haq who was never allowed to set foot on the premises of the Lahore High Court despite all his efforts.

Mr M.D. Tahir, a lawyer known for his pro bono work, filed a writ petition with himself as petitioner challenging the establishment of these benches. But there was no judicial determination and the petition after more than two decades was eventually disposed of due to the petitionerâ€™s demise.

Pakistan is not the only country where the courts have had to deal with such divisions. In the Eighth Amendment case of the Bangladesh Supreme Court the martial law proclamation order no. 11 of 1982 led to the division of the high court into four permanent benches.

The jurisdiction of the high court over the permanent seat was curtailed as benches had mutually exclusive jurisdictions.

On appeal, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh held the amendment of Article 100 to be void and the benches were quashed.

In India, the legal fraternity in the south is demanding circuit benches of the high court and a Supreme Court circuit bench in south India. Lawyers in Meerut and Ghaziabad want circuit benches of the Allahabad High Court but their demands have not borne fruit.

If population explosion is cited as a reason for more high court benches then Uttar Pradesh, whose population is more than Pakistanâ€™s, should have benches all over the state rather than just one circuit bench â€” the Allahabad High Court in Lucknow.

Similarly, Indian Punjab and Haryana are two states but have only one high court that functions at Chandigarh with jurisdiction over 40 districts of two states.

The Lahore High Court Bar Association, one of the oldest bars of Pakistan, has made its stance on the subject very clear by declaring through a resolution in March 2013 that it opposed any suggestion of creating additional benches of the Lahore High Court.

It has also called for members to be allowed to file petitions before any bench of their choice. Mr Abid Saqi, president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, says that lawyers have raised a banner for consolidation of the high courts and not for driving a wedge between them.

The decision to establish benches at Multan and Rawalpindi was a deliberate one by a military ruler to divide the Lahore High Court Bar; justice is not a â€˜vegetableâ€™ that it should be delivered at the doorstep, rather, it requires assistance from both sides of the bar; the dispensation of justice as per the law is a serious matter, says Saqi.

He further quotes the examples of India and the US where the Supreme Court holds hearings only in the capital city.

Interestingly, in Pakistan, under the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, the jurisdiction of the principal seat (Islamabad) is open and any appeal or petition can be filed before it, irrespective of the area of origin, but before the high court benches the jurisdiction is mutually exclusive.

Whether or not we need additional circuit benches is a burning question which will have arguments on both sides; but where the existing circuit benches in Multan and Rawalpindi are concerned, though established in 1981, to date it is lawyers from Lahore who have been engaged in important cases.

When the Lahore High Court was established, one of the objectives was to distance itself from local disputes, so that the law could be applied in an objective manner away from local persuasions.

Lahore has the unique distinction of being the legal capital of Pakistan. We as members of the legal fraternity owe allegiance to the Lahore High Court; letâ€™s not be a party to destroying a glorious and historical institution.

The writer is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

thrizvi@hotmail.com

Disciples of a deeper faith

M.J. Akbar

IS Britainâ€™s Prime Minister David Cameron an unabashed hypocrite, or is he merely another Conservative politician? His tribute to Nelson Mandela, delivered before cameras perched outside his famous address 10 Downing Street, was fulsome. But Cameron forgot to mention that when he was at university, he kept a â€˜Hang Mandelaâ€™ poster in his rooms.

Cameron and his Tory circle still revere Mrs Margaret Thatcher, who was instrumental in propping up South Africaâ€™s apartheid structure long after America and most of the West understood that there could be no justification for its racist cruelty, and that support for such barbaric injustice undermined the claims of democratic nations to represent the best of modern civilisation.

The British Conservative school of thought, which included its share of much-promoted historians, was the last holdout. It remained insistent that colonisation and such evil variations as apartheid were good for â€˜nativesâ€™ who had been â€˜blessedâ€™ by European intervention in their histories. Admittedly, the British Raj was far less malevolent than apartheid, but explain that to the millions of Indians who died in famine and the Chinese who became slaves to opium.

It is entirely consistent that two of the three greatest visionaries of the 20th century emerged from the horrors of South Africa (and one, Martin Luther King, from the long shadow of slavery in the United States). Perhaps it requires the worst levels of degradation to inspire the genius of a Mandela or a Mahatma Gandhi. You have to experience hell in order to understand that the alternative cannot be revenge, which would only create another hell with a different power structure. As Gandhi used to say often enough, if we take an eye for an eye very soon the whole world will become blind.

We should never underestimate the rage that a Gandhi or a Mandela experienced when they set out to challenge systems that, according to prevalent wisdom, would survive for centuries. But they understood that the secret of oppression lies less in the strength of the master and more in the weakness of the slave.

Their challenge was similar. They had to liberate their own people from fear if they wanted to destroy the dictatorships which had usurped their nations. Their own lives, their exemplary courage and unsurpassed sacrifice, became beacons that rescued helpless and hopeless generations from the vicious grip of tyranny.

Never, never, never, said Mandela, as he took the oath of office after 27 years of youth lost in an island prison, would South Africa see the return of brutal subjugation. And in 1947, once Gandhi had broken the shackles, the great European project of Afro-Asian colonisation crumbled like a palace built on sand.

But what is truly astonishing is that, unlike communists who killed their tsars with a manic glee, Gandhi and Mandela understood that the future would be best protected by assimilation instead of civil or uncivil war.

The easy thing to do about great men is to remove them from our lives and stick them onto the insipid pages of clichAtilde;©d textbooks. We ordinary mortals do not possess the character to emulate a Gandhi or a Mandela, who chose the abstemious culture of an ashram or suffered the loneliness of prison when surrender would have restored the comforts of existence.

We do not have the inner power to place the turmoil of our hidden, weak, frail and contradictory selves for inspection on public display, as Gandhi did in his autobiography. But we can learn something from their extraordinary philosophy of compassion. Gandhi and Mandela were disciples of a deeper faith: they turned the other cheek â€” and did so before merciless enemies who had the temerity to call themselves Christian.

They believed that the meek must inherit the earth. They loved their neighbours as themselves, particularly if the neighbour was a Muslim when they were Hindu, or white when they were black.

But they were wise enough to understand that without idealism on the horizon, the politics of any society or nation gets lost in a maze that quickly degenerates into a fetid prison of the mind.

They both believed in God. They did not get a chance to converse in this life, but perhaps their souls will meet in Heaven. As they look down they cannot be entirely content with the deviations and corruption of their inheritors. But I am sure they will both be pleased with Cameronâ€™s honest and heartfelt tribute, for that represents their ultimate triumph.

The heir of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher knows that the half-naked fakir and the black young man prevailed in the long war because they believed in peace.

The writer is an author and editorial director of The Sunday Guardian, published from Delhi.

Sedition & democracy

A.G. Noorani

IT is truly astonishing that throughout the Third World leaders of the freedom movement, who suffered under repressive laws framed by their colonial masters, had no qualms whatsoever in retaining those very laws on the statute book and enforcing them against their own citizens in order to buttress their power.

One of the most hated provisions of the law was Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It defines the offence of â€˜seditionâ€™ in broad general terms, and makes it punishable with imprisonment for life. It originally figured as Section 113 in Macaulayâ€™s Draft Indian Penal Code of 1837-39. It was unceremoniously dropped when the Code was enacted in 1860 but was restored by an amendment in 1870.

A recent case has aroused public anger against this archaic law. A respected academic Dr Binayak Sen was convicted of sedition by a sessions court and sentenced to life imprisonment. Section 124-A punishes anyone who â€œbrings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the governmentâ€. â€˜Explanationsâ€™ clarify the meaning. It is not an offence to criticise â€œthe measures of the governmentâ€ provided you do not â€œexcite hatred, contempt or disaffectionâ€. The government must be loved, not hated.

There were conflicting rulings during British rule. Matters came to a head in 1942 in the Federal Court of India. In a masterly judgement by the great judge, draftsman of the Government of India Act, 1935, Sir Maurice Gwyer, the chief justice, held that â€œpublic disorder, or the reasonable anticipation or likelihood of public disorder, is the gist of the offenceâ€.

Sir Zafrullah Khan and Justice S. Varadachariar concurred. Predictably, the Privy Council disapproved of it. The Supreme Court of India followed the federal court and held that the words used must reflect â€œthe idea of tendency to public disorder by the use of actual violence or incitement to violenceâ€.

Some of the observations made by the court are wide of the mark. The case was decided on Jan 24, 1962. A review is called for. Section 124-A needs to be redrafted; better still, deleted. As Sir Maurice Gwyer remarked: â€œMany judicial decisions, in particular cases which were no doubt correct at the time when they were given, may well be inapplicable to the circumstances of today.â€

The Supreme Court of India said that the very creation of â€œdisaffectionâ€ leads to a â€œfeeling of disloyalty to the government ... or enmity to it imports the idea of tendency to public disorder by the use of violenceâ€. It upheld the constitutionality of Section 124.

The citizen owes no loyalty to the government; only to the state. â€œDisaffectionâ€ inevitably follows from censure. Lord Bridge sharply pointed out in a judgement of the Privy Council in 1990, that â€œthe very purpose of criticism levelled at those who have the conduct of public affairs by their political opponents is to undermine public confidence in their stewardship and to persuade the electorate that the opponents would make a better job of it than those presently holding officeâ€.

He viewed a law which criminalises statements â€œlikely to undermine public confidence in the conduct of public affairs with the utmost suspicion. â€¦ It would on any view be a grave impediment to the freedom of the press if those who print, or a fortiori those who distribute, matter reflecting critically on the conduct of public authorities could only do so with impunity if they could first verify the accuracy of all statements of fact on which the criticism was based.â€

A law which penalises such criticism is violative of the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and is, therefore, unconstitutional. In Britain, there have been no prosecutions for sedition since 1947. A leading barrister who specialises in cases concerning freedom of speech remarked in 2002 â€œthe offence now serves no purpose in the criminal lawâ€ and is violative of the guarantee of free speech embodied in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In 1951, the Canadian Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgement in which it remarked â€œprobably no crime has been left in such vagueness of definition â€¦ and its legal meaning has changed with the yearsâ€. A criminal law which is ambiguous in its definition of an offence is unconstitutional for that reason alone.

The court emphasised on the intention of the alleged offender. â€œThe seditious intention upon which a prosecution for the seditious libel must be founded is an intention to incite violence or to create public disturbance or disorder.â€ A law commission recommended its repeal.

We have gone way beyond the submissive citizen in the early years of independence from British rule. The citizen is more assertive, articulate and better informed. He has learnt the techniques of organised protest â€” angry and rebellious.

One is reminded of the famous dissent of Justice Oliver Wendell Homes in the US Supreme Court in 1925. â€œEvery idea is an incitement. It offers itself for belief and, if believed, it is acted on unless some other belief outweighs it or some failure of energy stifles the movement at its birth. The only difference between the expression of an opinion and an incitement in the narrower sense is the speakerâ€™s enthusiasm for the result.

â€œâ€¦If in the long run the beliefs expressed in proletarian dictatorship are destined to be accepted by the dominant forces of the community, the only meaning of free speech is that they should be given their chance and have their way.â€

In 1962 the Supreme Court of India did not consider the considerable progress in Britain and elsewhere in liberalising the law on sedition. The very existence of Section 124-A of the Penal Code has a chilling effect on freedom of speech and expression. It deserves speedy and unceremonious burial.

The writer is an author and a lawyer based in Mumbai.

Let glory be the CJâ€™s

Abbas Nasir

CHIEF Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry seems determined to end his long and eventful tenure in a blaze of glory.

CHIEF Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry seems determined to end his long and eventful tenure in a blaze of glory.

In the process, there is hope that at least some of the hundreds of missing people would get some relief. Perhaps more significantly, the agony of their loved ones would end as they will finally get some information about them and, in many cases, be reassured that they are still alive.

The Supreme Court has been hearing the cases of some of these missing people for months but has been stonewalled because of the power and the authority (real even if not constitutional or legal) of those responsible for the disappearances.

And the devastation these wreak on the loved ones cannot be imagined by some of us who have never experienced such pain. What else would motivate an old man, women of different ages, even young boys and girls to travel on foot several hundred kilometres?

Despite the mediaâ€™s patchy coverage (which may have reflected pressure from the all-powerful perpetrators of this crime) the Quetta to Karachi march led by Mama Qadeer under the aegis of the Voice of the Baloch Missing People â€“ VBMP â€” was an epic event.

To me its significance was no less than, for example, the marches the chief justice led after he was â€˜suspendedâ€™ from office or the one which Nawaz Sharif led leading to the restoration of Justice Chaudhry to office. Youâ€™ll ask why? Well the other marches had definitive political motives and objectives while the VBMP march seemed like a last-ditch attempt by the loved ones of those missing to find a solution to their burning issue within the parameters of the federation of Pakistan.

If we still remain unmoved who knows what consequences might follow. The (currently indisposed) inspector general of the Frontier Corps, Maj-Gen Ejaz Shahid, has already tweeted pictures of Mama Qadeer allegedly holding up an â€˜Azad Balochistanâ€™ flag and cutting a (photoshopped) cake.

It isnâ€™t clear whether it was his high-pressure job or the relentlessness of the Supreme Court scrutiny of his actions (and the activities of those under his command) but for the past several weeks the general sounded like he was under immense stress, with signs of frayed nerves.

On Oct 31 he tweeted: â€œIn our appeasement, while acknowledging political issues and need for resolution, we are condoning criminal activitiesâ€; the same day, he also lamented: â€œDying crocodiles, falling arrogants are continually provided oxygen to survive in confused society by some media circles.â€

A few days later on Nov 20, when a bomb went off in Quetta, Maj-Gen Ejaz Shahid tweeted: â€¦ â€œSympathise with innocent killed injured or with Mama Qadeer and associates whose orchestrated propaganda is being boughtâ€.

(The tweets in direct quotes have been reproduced without editing) It was clear that the good general was irked by the 70-year-old Mama Qadeer whose blistered feet are a testament to his commitment to the larger cause of the missing Baloch. In his own case, Mama found closure when he found the bullet-riddled body of his â€˜disappearedâ€™ son months ago.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ordered the IGFC to appear before it. His continued absence meant he may face contempt charges. Then official â€˜sourcesâ€™ informed us that the general has been admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology with a heart ailment since Nov 29.

The repercussions of a heart ailment for those in service can be devastating. Such an ailment normally means a medical â€˜de-categorisationâ€™ and a near-certain end to a career no matter how glittering. Despite serious disagreement with him, one can only wish him a speedy recovery.

Whether or not those in charge of the security policy in Balochistan realise, they have been given a gift in the form of Dr Abdul Malik Baloch as the chief minister who is a nationalist committed to a peaceful and constitutional struggle for Baloch rights.

For his stance, he and party leader Hasil Bizenjo have taken considerable flak from the separatists and have been called all sorts of names. The state needs to strengthen their hands and not continue in its callous ways, embarrass them.

Just weeks ago Hasil Bizenjo told the media that there was a decline in the number of dumped bodies of Baloch activists since his government had taken up the issue. A few hours later three bodies were dumped not far from his constituency. Such mindlessness leaves one benumbed.

I donâ€™t support the murder of innocent non-Baloch civilians whether teachers or mine workers by separatists. That violence is equally mindless. But there is a need to distinguish between the condemnable excesses of non-state actors and the state bound to upholding the law.

What alarms people with an interest in and knowledge of Balochistan is that where earlier conflicts may have been led and controlled by tribal leaders these disappearances and extrajudicial killings are now creating deep-seated resentment vertically and horizontally across class structures in the province.

We need to listen to Mama Qadeer, pay attention to him. The battleground for Pakistanâ€™s heart and soul lies elsewhere. Letâ€™s not create a quagmire here when there is every possibility there is a way out. Trust and empower the current Baloch leadership to assuage the pain. The results will follow.

And, in his final week in office, if the chief justice forces us even some steps down that path, provides some relief to those who have had a thorn of uncertainty, of not knowing the fate of their loved ones, in their sides for months on end, let glory be his, Arsalan Iftikhar or not.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

The way of the Janissary

Irfan Husain

THE heated speculation and feverish commentary over who would become Pakistanâ€™s next army chief after Gen Kayaniâ€™s retirement would not have been out of place in a closely fought election.

This keen, almost unhealthy, interest reflects the armyâ€™s pre-eminent position in Pakistanâ€™s politics. More welcome were the calls to redress the military-civilian imbalance that has built up over the years. In an editorial, this newspaper called for Nawaz Sharif to reclaim civilian control over foreign policy towards Afghanistan, India and the United States.

It is widely believed that the prime minister picked Gen Sharif â€” even though more senior officers were available â€” because he thought links between their respective fathers would bind the new army chief to him.

He made a similar mistake when he handpicked Gen Musharraf in 1999, superseding several other more senior officers, on the assumption that a Mohajir would have no constituency of his own, and thus depend on the ruling party for support.

He forgot that the military provides a powerful constituency, and the officer class is loyal, first and foremost, to the institution that has pampered them much of their working lives.

And like other institutions, the military has interests and perks to protect. Thus the army chief will always work to ensure the primacy of his power base, irrespective of his ethnic background or clan connections.

Given our many military interventions, invariably legitimised by the judiciary, the political class has been weakened and hamstrung in its efforts to assert itself. Its own venality, inefficiency and lack of vision have not helped its cause.

And as the army has accumulated political power, it has used its clout to establish a host of industrial, financial, real estate and commercial interests. Retired officers are given berths here if they canâ€™t be accommodated in different branches of the civilian bureaucracy.

Other armies in other periods have behaved similarly. Centuries ago, the Janissaries spread terror as the Ottoman Empire expanded into Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. These elite troops inspired shock and awe among opposing forces as they provided the cutting edge to the Ottoman sword.

But then something changed, and the Janissaries declined, decayed and were decimated. Jason Goodwin describes the process in his Janissary Tree:

â€œIf the Ottoman Empire inspired fear throughout the known world, it was the Janissaries who carried the fear to the throats of the unbelievers. The conquest of Sofia and Belgrade. Istanbul, itself, wrested from the Greeks in 1453. The Arab peninsula, and with it, the Holy Cities. Mohacs, in 1526, when the flower of Hungarian knighthood was cut down in the saddleâ€¦ Rhodes and Cyprus, Egypt and the Saharaâ€¦

â€œUntil â€” who could say why? â€” the victories dried upâ€¦ The Janissaries petitioned for the right to take up trades when there was no fighting â€¦ They enrolled their sons into the corps, and the corps grew reluctant to fight.

â€œThey were still dangerous: loaded with privilege, they lorded it over common peopleâ€¦ Designed to die fighting at the lonely outposts of an ever-expanding empire, they enjoyed all the licence and immunity that the people and the sultan could bestow on men who would soon be martyrsâ€¦ But they no longer sought to martyr themselves. â€œThe men who had been sent to terrify Europe made a simple discovery: it was easier â€” and far less dangerous â€” to terrorise at home.â€

Sultans who tried to rein them in were overthrown and often brutally executed.

Goodwin continues: â€œThe common people became afraid of them. In trade, they exploited their privileges to become dangerous rivals. Their behaviour was threatening and insolent as they swaggered through city streetsâ€¦â€

Finally, after a string of defeats at the hands of highly disciplined European armies â€” and, humiliatingly, even an Egyptian force under Ali Pasha â€” the sultan set up the New Army, modelled along modern European lines.

This force was used to level the Janissary barracks in 1826 with heavy artillery, killing hundreds in a surprise attack, and scattering the rest. Janissary power was finally broken.

Readers can draw whatever parallels they choose from this bit of Ottoman history. But one thing is clear: institutions guard their perks and privileges jealously. Power is never handed over; it has to be taken, often by force.

Obviously, thereâ€™s little possibility of setting up our own New Army to cut the existing military down to size. Given Pakistanâ€™s history, reclaiming basically civilian powers from the military is no simple undertaking, whatever well-meaning editorial writers might urge.

Nonetheless, the linkages between the economy, defence and foreign policy can no longer be ignored. We need good relations with Afghanistan and India. And whether we like it or not, America is too powerful to bicker with forever.

While Nawaz Sharif would like to have normal ties with all three, the army has its own agenda, and keeps civilians out of the loop as it makes its calculations and arrives at its decisions.

Thus far, the prime minister has showed little stomach for a confrontation with anybody, leave alone the powerful military. I suppose one canâ€™t really blame him, given his own experience. After being bitten twice, most people would be wary of tackling a tiger.

And yet if he expects to achieve all he promised, he needs to move quicker than he has thus far. However, the master key to many of our problems is in GHQ. Above all, he needs the army to be onside for any strategy designed to fight the holy terror that is devastating the country.

The trick then is to establish civilian control without alienating the military. Our knowledge of Nawaz Sharifâ€™s past performance, as well as of the armyâ€™s arrogance, does not allow us grounds for optimism. Iâ€™m afraid the wait for a New Army and a sultan with fire in his belly will be a long one.

irfanhusain@gmail.com

Different approach

Shada Islam

IT was an intriguing question. Last week as it became clear Ukraineâ€™s President Viktor Yanukovych was not ready to sign an association and free trade pact with the European Union, a friend called up to ask just why the EU was so anxiously courting Kiev but continued to cold-shoulder Turkey which has been trying to negotiate membership of the 28-nation bloc for years and years.

â€œPlease explain,â€ my friend persisted. One is a country of little global relevance, in the midst of a financial crisis, whose leaders clearly want closer relations with Russia, not the EU. The other is a major regional and international power, with a booming economy, whose government is beginning to tire of knocking on Europeâ€™s doors.

â€œWhereâ€™s the logic? What kind of EU foreign policy is this?â€ he asked.

It was a good question. But Iâ€™m not sure there is a satisfactory answer.

Partly of course itâ€™s good old-fashioned geopolitical rivalry between Russia and the EU, with Ukraine and others in the region including Moldova and Georgia being pulled in two directions.

Ukraine is part of the EUâ€™s much-touted â€˜Eastern Partnershipâ€™ initiative meant to offer trade, aid and other forms of assistance to draw six one-time Soviet satellites â€” Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan â€” closer to the EU.

The countries themselves often see special ties with the EU as a stepping stone to membership. But despite the continuing East-West tussle with Russia over winning friends and allies in the region, EU has made no promise it will welcome these nations into the club.

Ukraineâ€™s stinging snub to the EU was made at a two-day Eastern Partnership summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, last week.

Soon afterwards, of course, protests erupted across the capital, with people demanding the resignation of President Yanukovych and insisting they wanted closer ties with Brussels. Mr Yanukovych, meanwhile, left for a tour of China in search of economic aid.

The consensus is that Ukraineâ€™s government gave in to pressure from Moscow which strongly opposes the EU deal. A Russian squeeze has cut Ukrainian trade with its main economic partner by some 25pc this year and the countryâ€™s steel exports are suffering amid weak global demand. The former Soviet republic has long pressed Russia for a discount on gas supplies, arguing that high prices are suffocating its economy.

But, despite Ukraineâ€™s reversal on the EU deal, Russia has yet to offer new loans or other support, such as cheaper gas.

The crisis has again exposed a tug-of-war in Ukraine. Since the Orange Revolution nine years ago, Kiev remains undecided on whether to go with the EU or remain closely allied with Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to bring the Ukraine into his sphere of influence through integration into a Moscow-led customs union which in the future shall be transformed into a fully fledged â€˜Eurasian Unionâ€™. In the past few months, the Kremlin has put considerable pressure on Ukraine to move over to this camp.

Trying to defuse the protests, the Ukrainian government has defended its foreign policy switch by saying that it marks only a pause in moves to integrate further with Europe, rather than an about-turn. As the furore continued in Kiev, the EU took the modest step of starting visa liberalisation talks with Turkey, a first step in a process that could last years.

True, Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu described the decision as â€œa historic day for the Turkish people and the EUâ€ â€” the agreement will finally allow Turks to travel visa-free to the EU â€” but the reality is different. Ankaraâ€™s bid to join the EU â€” made at least four decades ago â€” remains in quasi-limbo even as Turkey gains international recognition as a regional leader and an important global actor.

Although it is recognised as an official EU candidate country and started membership negotiations in 2005, talks have been long and painful. In addition, Germany and France have insisted that the entry discussions be â€œopen-endedâ€ meaning the country will not automatically become an EU member at the end of negotiations.

The Turkish government crackdown on protesters earlier this year put the talks on freeze until October. They have now resumed, but several so-called negotiation chapters are permanently blocked by Cyprus, whose northern part is recognised only by Ankara. Even the visa negotiations are likely to be difficult. Turkey believes the visa agreement will be negotiated within three years. But EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has refused to be drawn into a time frame.

In fact, starting visa freedom talks puts Turkey in the same boat as other â€˜neighbourhoodâ€™ countries which have even more distant membership prospects: Moldova and Georgia. So why the difference in EU approaches to Kiev and Ankara?

For one, unlike Turkey, Ukraine is not in line to join the EU. The EU offer of an association and free trade pact is in no way comparable to the rights and obligations that are part and parcel of becoming an EU member. Second, the EU is determined not to allow Russia to bully and coerce its neighbours and views the â€˜Eurasian Unionâ€™ initiative as a ploy to reduce the attraction of its own Eastern Partnership pacts. Third, Ukraine is recognised by all as a European and Christian country while many in the EU continue to insist that Muslim-majority Turkey is neither European nor Christian and therefore has no place in the Union.

In the end, however, there is probably nothing like a little East-West competition and Cold War-inspired geopolitical rivalry to sharpen the EUâ€™s sometimes slow foreign policy reflexes.

The writer is Dawnâ€™s correspondent in Brussels.

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SC names Gilani, Kazmi in Haj case

GB council approves anti-terror bill

Balochistan sets example for Punjab, Sindh

Secrecy shrouds missing personsâ€™ appearance

World mourns peace icon Mandela

Pakistan given duty-free access to EU markets

Dr Malik lays stress on trade with Iran

Jillani orders inquiry into TV coverage

New CJ sworn in

Blast kills 4 troops in N. Waziristan

Come to NA or quit, Nisar tells ministers

Frivolous petitions must end: Jillani

Journalists protest selective coverage

Power sectorâ€™s â€˜circular debtâ€™ piles up again

Dar expects payment of CSF in four weeks

Two killed in Quetta firing

Secret detention has no legal cover

Chaudhry leaving an invigorated court

Sharif seeks better ties with Europe

Gas project with Iran to be pushed forward: govt

Man without a legal legacy

US warns of funds delay

Question about judges goes unanswered

Sui Northern suspends supplies for industrial, CNG sectors

Efforts under way for talks with insurgents: Dr Malik

Nadra chief spurned move to get sensitive data

Nisar wants poll rigging issue resolved

Aam Aadmi dethrones Delhiâ€™s three-tenure chief minister

Imran asks Pakistan, India to cooperate in civil N-tech

Govt to press five charges against Musharraf

Parties start wooing independents

Nawaz advises media to be â€˜justâ€™

Balochistan votes peacefully in local bodiesâ€™ polls

NP emerges as largest party; independents win big

US gets Afghan govtâ€™s assurances

Imran suggests secret talks on Kashmir issue

Drones alternative to boots on ground: US lawmaker

21 pro-Morsi female protesters freed

ASWJ leader killed in Lahore ambush

Execution order for BDâ€™s Jamaat leader

Man pleads guilty in plot to smuggle statues

Money-laundering case: two arrested in UK, bailed out

Pakistan clinch last-ball win over Afghanistan

Three members of â€˜Muslim patrolâ€™ jailed in London

Pakistani sues US over his arrest

Pakistani drug trafficker beheaded in S. Arabia

Abdullah offers apology

Four brothers drown in Indus

Jamaat leader hanged in Dhaka

Sindh ready for local govt polls on Jan 18

Saudi Mufti terms suicide bombers criminals

PPP, ANP seek clarification on Nato blockade

Indian PM accepts invitation to visit Pakistan

Sharif can improve ties with India and Afghanistan, says US

Amid verbal duel, CJ orders replacement of FC head

Khursheed Shah elected PAC chief

SCBA suspends membership of its VP

NAB decides to take action against Gilani

Indian PM accepts invitation to visit Pakistan

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka

Defence ministry may seek SC verdict review

SC snubs plea against Malikâ€™s appointment

Kashmiris detained

Pak-India N-war can cause global famine: report

Imran threatens street protests against â€˜vote riggingâ€™

Orders in missing personsâ€™ case not complied with: SC

Global campaign for â€˜bill of digital rightsâ€™

Thai premier calls elections as protesters flood streets

Schedule for LG polls in Punjab announced

Fazl meets PM before India visit

Accountability court summons Zardari

Hagel due today in Islamabad for â€˜candid talksâ€™