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National News

Musharraf skips treason trial â€“ again

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: On Thursday when former military ruler retired General Pervez Musharraf finally decided to appear in the court, the presumable strain of his trial worries gave him â€˜heart problemsâ€™. And the news of his trip to the hospital simply turned the whispers about his departure from the country into open discussion.

The former president was on his way to the courtroom because the special court constituted for his â€˜high treasonâ€™ trial had on Wednesday ordered his appearance. When the three-judge court, headed by Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, was informed about his ailment, it exempted Musharraf from the appearance for the day and adjourned the matter to Jan 6.

On Wednesday, the court had ordered the former army chief to appear on Thursday and also warned that if he did not show up it could possibly issue arrest warrants.

But the proceedings began on Thursday without Musharrafâ€™s appearance, which was noticed by the court. Justice Arab, hence, before rising for a break at 11am ordered that he be produced within half an hour.

However, the half hour passed without resulting in the former strongmanâ€™s appearance. At this point, Deputy Inspector General (security) Jan Mohammad informed the court that Pervez Musharraf had suffered heart problems and had been diverted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC).

The court adjourned, later noting in its order that as the accused had been hospitalised for a check-up â€œwe decided not to issue arrest warrantsâ€.

Commando flies the coop?

But outside the courtroom, rumour and conjecture spread through Islamabad and beyond.

Television channels led detailed discussions on the rumours about Musharrafâ€™s departure from the country. The rumours had been there for days â€“ having strengthened since his interviews to channels and foreign media in which the retired general insisted that the army was unhappy with his trial.

Many people were convinced that the trial would not go through and he would escape by travelling abroad. These rumours simply gained further credence on Thursday morning when one newspaper reported that the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia was arriving to discuss this issue with the government.

The government did not help quell the rumours. While its representatives kept insisting that it had not given Musharraf the permission to travel abroad (his name is still placed on the exit control list), some of them also pointed out that the former dictator was in the custody of the courts and not the government. â€œThe ball is in the adalatâ€™s court,â€ said a cabinet member in a primetime talk show.

Theatre wallahs

A day earlier Ahmed Raza Kasuri, one of Musharrafâ€™s lawyers, had pointed out that the National Library Auditorium, which the federal government turned into the courtroom, looked less like a courtroom and more like a theatre staging a Shakespearean play.

His words appeared to come true on Thursday thanks to the lawyersâ€™ histrionics.

The duel of words got so heated that Musharrafâ€™s lawyers walked out in a boycott of sorts, though they later returned.

The defence lawyers were annoyed as the head of prosecution team, Akram Sheikh, suggested to the defence lawyer, Mohammad Ibrahim Satti, that the two sides stop attacking opposing counsel, warning that if it did not happen, he (Sheikh) would bring 1,000 monsters against Sharifuddin Pirzada.

When Satti took this message to Pirzada, the defence side decided to draw the judgesâ€™ attention to the incident.

Sheikh clarified that he had suggested to the two sides not to indulge in mud-slinging. â€œSatti has breached my trust and he is no more my friend,â€ announced Sheikh.

Not to be left behind, Rana Ijaz, another defence lawyer, said that Sheikh considered himself â€œa heroâ€ and that he (Sheikh) had promised Nawaz Sharif to humiliate Musharraf by hurling a shoe at him when he arrived at the court.

Earlier, Advocate Anwar Mansoor Khan also complained that someone had kept knocking at his flatâ€™s door all night, preventing him from sleeping. â€œTherefore, I cannot argue the case today,â€ he added.

Justice Arab, who seemed unhappy with the spectacle, remarked that â€œthese things happened in schools and collegesâ€, advising the counsel to act wisely.

No sign of â€˜minorâ€™ heart attack, say doctors

Aamir Yasin

RAWALPINDI: Former military strongman retired Gen Pervez Musharraf was taken to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) on Thursday when he complained of chest pain on his way to a special court hearing a treason case against him.

A senior official at the AFIC told Dawn that the former president had been brought to the emergency ward. His heartbeat was not normal and after some tests he was shifted to the Cardiac Care Unit-2 to keep him under observation. Otherwise, the official said, his condition was stable.

He said doctors did not suggest angiography till late in the night. â€œThe patient has been shifted to the CCU to keep him under observation and for precautionary measures. Otherwise, Mr Musharraf is fit,â€ the official said, adding that all necessary tests had been conducted and no sign of minor heart attack was found.

When this reporter tried to contact AFIC Commandant Maj Gen S.M. Imran Majeed, his staff said he was still at the CCU and they were not allowed to give detail to the media.

No official statement was issued by the army-run hospital about the condition of the former military ruler.

When contacted, Musharrafâ€™s personal physician and former AFIC commandant retired Maj Gen Azhar Kiani said it was not necessary that a patient might complain of heart attack. â€œSometimes a silent attack occurs and the patient is kept under observation. Maybe this was the condition of Gen Musharraf,â€ he said, adding that the former president was not suffering from diabetics, blood pressure or even hyper tension as he had recently gone through all tests and these were clear.

â€œApparently, Gen Musharraf is physically fit as he got off his bullet-proof vehicle and walked to a stretcher brought for him and then he was rushed to the emergency ward,â€ Mohammad Jamil, an onlooker outside the emergency department, told to Dawn.

He said he had seen the former presidentâ€™s side posture and he appeared to be fresh. â€œThere were no symptoms of sweating and his face was not pale when I saw him on the stretcher,â€ he said.

Mr Jamil said that before the arrival of Gen Musharraf, the hospital administration vacated the attendantsâ€™ room outside the emergency ward and army personnel took over the premises.

â€œLuckily, I was there for my motherâ€™s angiography and saw all the scenes,â€ he said, adding that the administration had forced all attendants to leave the place for security of the former army chief.

After the arrival of Gen Musharraf in the hospital, the premises became a no-go area for patients and attendants. Heavily armed military personnel were deployed in and around the hospital and police alerted in the city.

Earlier, roads along the Military Hospital and AFIC were closed for traffic. However, these were opened in the evening.

Muzaffargarh, Ahmadpur East selected for new N-power plants

Baqir Sajjad Syed

CHASHMA: Muzaffargarh and Ahmadpur East have been selected as sites for new nuclear power plants, according to PAEC Chairman Dr Ansar Parvez.

CHASHMA: Muzaffargarh and Ahmadpur East have been selected as sites for new nuclear power plants, according to PAEC Chairman Dr Ansar Parvez.

He was speaking at the â€˜dome-laying ceremonyâ€™ of the fourth 340mw unit at the Chashma Nuclear Power Complex (also known as Chashma-IV) on Thursday that marked the completion of civil works at the unit and would be followed by installation of a reactor.

Of the three sites proposed by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) to the government for new plants, Muzaffargarh and Ahmadpur East have been cleared by the Central Development Working Party, the technical forum for vetting development projects.

The PAEC chairman said that PC-1s for acquisition of land in Muzaffargarh and Ahmadpur East would soon be presented before Ecnec (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council), the supreme policy-making and project-approving body.

Both the sites would be having multiple 1,100mw nuclear power generation units.

â€œNuclear power has taken firm footing and would help alleviate energy crisis in the country,â€ he said.

Chashma-IV is said to be ahead of the schedule by about four months and would become operational in 2016 along with another unit of equal capacity that is being installed at the same venue â€” Chashma-III.

Chashma-III and Chashma-IV are the last of the 340mw plants being installed in the country which is now moving towards large-scale units.

Groundbreaking of the first two of 1,100mw was performed in Karachi in November.

Meanwhile, the 125mw Kanupp-I in Karachi, established in 1972, is expected to be phased out by 2019-2020 when first 1,100mw will become operational.

The government has decided to aggressively pursue the nuclear energy option to meet energy needs. Its plans include installation of seven 1,100mw plants in next 10 years to achieve the target of 8,800mw by 2030.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal, who was chief guest at the ceremony, said that the countryâ€™s reliance on nuclear power would grow. He called upon the world to cooperate with Pakistan to make it able to achieve its target.

Mr Ahsan said that being a responsible country that had a history of safe operation of nuclear plants Pakistan had the right to civilian nuclear energy.

Pakistanâ€™s access to civilian nuclear technology is restricted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for not being a NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) member.

Islamabad considers this treatment as discriminatory because India, another non-NPT member, has been given exemption by the NSG.

China has, however, ignored the international pressure and continued to support Pakistanâ€™s quest for nuclear energy.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said a day earlier that Pakistan and China had signed $6.5 billion loan for civilian nuclear energy projects.

Head of Chinese delegation Mr Li Ji Ze, a senior executive of China National Nuclear Corporation, while speaking on the occasion said that the Pak-China civilian nuclear cooperation had strengthened the strategic ties between the two countries.

This relationship, he said, was marked by sincerity.

Divergent views on PIAâ€™s privatisation

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Amid strong criticism by senators, two divisions of the federal ministry headed by Senator Ishaq Dar (privatisation and finance wings) on Thursday provided divergent information to a Senate committee about the proposed privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

A meeting of the Senateâ€™s Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Privatisation and Statistics headed by Senator Nasreen Jalil of MQM was informed by Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood Khan that the government was required to appoint a financial adviser for the privatisation of PIA by March-end under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As part of the $6.64 billion bailout package, the government was also required to privatise 26 per cent shares of the company to a strategic partner by December this year, said Dr Khan, adding that the companyâ€™s accumulated losses had crossed Rs180 billion.

Privatisation Secretary Amjad Ali Khan, however, told the same meeting that the IMF benchmarks regarding dates and the number of shares to be sold were not sacrosanct. He said they could be changed and would depend on the report of the financial adviser.

He said the entire process of PIAâ€™s privatisation would be firmed up depending on the advice of the financial adviser who is expected to be appointed in March this year. â€œIt would be the report of the financial adviser which will determine if privatisation could be done in 2014 or will be delayed for two years,â€ he said.

The adviserâ€™s report would suggest if the restructuring process could be completed in two to three years to make the entity viable for sale and to attract the best possible price.

The secretary added that even sale of 26 per cent shares was not sacrosanct and the number of shares could be increased or decreased.

On criticism from the PPP and MQM senators over the sale of public sector entities, Dr Khan said the sale process would take place in accordance with the law and the present government had decided to proceed with the sale of 65 entities approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) under the previous government.

He said the privatisation board had been constituted that would meet on Jan 8 to formally kick-start the privatisation programme. He assured the committee that the government would not show any haste in selling PIA, adding that the previous Board of PIA had also stressed the need for a public-private partnership for the betterment of the national carrier.

The deputy manager of PIA said the management committee of the national carrier had not been consulted by the Privatisation Commission or the Ministry of Finance about the PIAâ€™s privatisation plan.

Senators Fateh Mohammad Hassani and Islamuddin Shaikh expressed serious concerns over the governmentâ€™s privatisation plan.

Mr Shaikh accused the federal government of trying to create law and order problems in Karachi by going for PIAâ€™s privatisation through a pre-planned conspiracy.

The crux of their criticism was that the government was moving into the â€˜wholesale modeâ€™ to benefit a particular group. But, they said they would not let this happen.

Senator Kulsoom Parveen said it appeared that the government had already decided to whom the PIA would be given.

Sughra Imam asked the senior officials about the justification to privatise profit-making entities and claimed that the government had already decided to sell PIA to the Hariri family of Lebanon. She claimed that a person appointed by the prime minister as his adviser on aviation happened to be working for the Hariri family.

Committeeâ€™s chairperson Nasreen Jalil said the committee had serious reservations over the privatisation of PIA and that national assets should not be sold in a rush. She said the members of the committee were not against privatisation, but the government should take steps for protection of rights of employees, consult the committee for positive proposals and conduct the programme in a transparent manner.

She said the government should also take steps to transform loss-making entities into profitable organisations because the continuous sale process would take the nation to a stage when nothing would be in its own control.

China to give $6.5bn concessional loan for N-plants

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has signed a $6.5 billion â€˜concessionary loanâ€™ agreement with China for projects under civil nuclear cooperation, including development of two power plants near Karachi of 2,200MW, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said here on Wednesday.

â€œThis is a very big loan that China has extended. It is very cheap and will ensure uninterrupted power supply,â€ he said at a briefing on the economic situation for members of his cabinet and the media.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar made a detailed presentation.

But the prime minister made it clear that nuclear power projects usually take a long time to complete, like hydropower projects such as Dasu, Diamer-Bhasha and Bunji.

Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood Khan said a major part of the loan was concessionary for 15-20 years and some commercial, for 10 years.

Mr Dar chipped in that the loan agreement signed with the Exim Bank of China was at an average interest rate of 3-4 per cent and there was a moratorium on repayments for the first three years.

Replying to a question, the prime minister conceded that not only with Iran but Pakistanâ€™s trade with many regional and friendly countries, including Afghanistan, China and Turkey, was not up to the mark and required to be increased.

The finance minister said the government was making efforts to resolve the issue of non-payment of electricity dues with the provinces.

He said a proposal was under consideration to transfer the power companies at book value to the provinces and revive the office of federal adjustor for clearance of bulk energy dues.

INFLATION: While conceding inflationary pressure, the finance minister presented copies of two summaries the caretaker government had approved for increasing electricity tariff and raising Rs190bn in taxes under a commitment with the IMF that had been shelved by former president Asif Ali Zardari.

These decisions were required to be taken by the PPP and caretaker government to pass on the natural impact of energy tariff to the people but these were kept frozen for more than 15 months and â€œnow they are doing politics on inflationâ€, he said.

Mr Dar said the government had taken a bold decision to clear the backlog, resulting in inflation, but conceded that it had not been successful in improving energy sector recoveries.

Plan to strengthen NSC, says Sharif

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said here on Wednesday that he planned to strengthen the National Security Council (NSC) and make it an institutionalised forum with the power to take relevant decisions.

In the past, he said, stakeholders spoke differently, but now everyone should come and speak at this forum and then implement decisions taken there.

Addressing a special cabinet meting, he said the government was moving in accordance with decisions taken by an all-party conference about a peace initiative.

The best option is to achieve peace through talks. But â€œwhen we start dialogue, drones derail everythingâ€, he said.

The prime minister said it was a calculated decision of the government to address extremism through dialogue, whether some people liked it or not, and that was why he had declared in the presence of US President Barack Obama that drone strikes were not acceptable.

He said Pakistan had tried to improve relations with Afghanistan and persuaded the Taliban to hold talks through Mullah Baradar and with Afghan President Hamid Karzaiâ€™s peace council headed by Sadruddin Rabbani who was reported to have held ice-breaking meetings with the group.

â€œWe have to adopt a multi-pronged policy to address the challenge of extremism and terrorism. We have also decided that Pakistanâ€™s and Afghan soil or territory would not be allowed to be used in activities against each other,â€ he said.

Mr Sharif said he had talked to the Japanese prime minister and requested him to revive a $1.5 billion loan for Karachi Circular Railway.

â€œThey have agreed but want us to wait for at least two successful reviews by the IMF of our reform programme to move ahead,â€ he said, adding that it was his strong desire to give Karachi a modern transport system.

He said the entire world, including big powers like the United States, United Kingdom and Japan, wanted programmes and dialogue with the International Monetary Fund because investors and multilateral agencies looked at its reviews, but it was being seen as a negative thing in Pakistan.

â€œThis culture of criticism based on perceptions should end now,â€ the prime minster said.

8,900MW nuclear power generation planned

Baqir Sajjad Syed

CHASHMA: Pakistan plans to have seven functional nuclear plants of 1,100MW each by 2030 in addition to four units of 300MW, producing a total of 8,900MW of electricity.

CHASHMA: Pakistan plans to have seven functional nuclear plants of 1,100MW each by 2030 in addition to four units of 300MW, producing a total of 8,900MW of electricity.

Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Dr Ansar Parvez told newsmen on Wednesday at the Chashma Nuclear Power Complex, 280km southwest of Islamabad, that nuclear power was set to become a major player in the countryâ€™s power sector.

He was briefing journalists on the eve of the â€˜dome-laying ceremonyâ€™ of Chashma-IV nuclear power plant, which will mark the completion of civil works at the unit and will be followed by installation of the reactor.

In addition to the four units at Chashma, two of which (Chashma-III and Chashma-IV) are expected to start commercial operations by 2016, the government has begun work on two 1,100MW plants (Kanupp-II and Kanupp-III) in Karachi, whose ground-breaking ceremony was performed in November.

Dr Parvez said that work on five more plants of 1,100MW each would commence in next 10 years. â€œThe process for site selection of plants is continuing and with the passage of time indigenisation is increasing,â€ he said.

The country began its journey towards proficiency in nuclear energy in 1972. The PAEC chairman said the initial years were utilised in gaining experience in safe operation of plants, building confidence and acquiring technology. The platform, he underscored, was now ready for starting producing electricity from nuclear sources at a bigger scale.

â€œWith more than 55 reactor-years of successful operating experience to its credit, the PAEC can confidently move from technology acquisition status to actually starting contributing sizeable electrical energy to the system,â€ he said.

Dr Parvez said units of 300MW would no longer be installed after completion of Chashma-IV. The Kanupp-I, the 125MW facility and the first one to be set up in the country, he said, would meanwhile be wound up after Kanupp-II became operational.

The design life of Kanupp-I ended in 2002 and the plant was re-licensed by the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority in 2004 after upgrades.

â€œThe Kanupp-II and Kanupp-III will lay foundation of large-sized nuclear power plants,â€ he said.

He noted that availability of funds was not an issue for setting up more nuclear power plants, but agreed that there were no sources other than China from where the country could get reactors.

â€œPakistan is facing a global policy of denial,â€ he added.

Speaking about safety, the PAEC chairman said it was a top priority for the country.

Suicide blast hits pilgrimsâ€™ bus

Saleem Shahid

QUETTA: In a ghastly terrorist attack on the New Year day, at least one person was killed and 34 others â€” children and women among them â€” were injured when an explosives-laden vehicle targeted a passenger bus carrying Shia pilgrims on Wednesday.

The banned militant outfit Jaish al Islam has claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had been carried out to â€œavenge the Ashura assault on a madressah in Rawalpindiâ€. Most of the victims belong to Dera Ismail Khan and Kohat and were returning from Iran after visiting holy sites.

An explosives-laden vehicle rammed the bus, which was carrying 45 pilgrims and coming to Quetta from Iran, on Qambrani road in Akhtarabad, on the outskirts of the town, CCPO Abdul Razaq Cheema told reporters.

After the explosion the bus caught fire and was completely gutted. Fire fighters rushed to the site and put off the blaze after a battle lasting several hours.

The powerful blast rocked the locality and was followed by shooting by gunmen for some time.

Splinters of the exploding vehicle hit another vehicle in which Anti-Terrorist Force personnel were escorting the bus. Six personnel of the force were injured.

Eight women and five children were among the wounded pilgrims. Volunteers, aided by police and Frontier Corps personnel, launched a rescue operation, taking the dead and the injured to the Bolan Medical College Hospital.

â€œInitially, we received the body of an unidentified man and more than 20 injured,â€ doctors at the BMCH said, adding that most of the injured had been referred to the Combine Military Hospital (CMH).

Thirty one of the injured were admitted to the CMH and three were under treatment in the BMCH.

â€œSeveral victims have received burn injuries,â€ hospital sources said, adding that the condition of at least five of them was critical.

â€œPolice have found legs and other parts of the body of the suicide bomber at the place of the blast,â€ DIG (investigation) Syed Mobin Ahmed said.

â€œExplosives weighing 80 to 100 kilogram were used in the blast,â€ a bomb disposal expert said after examining the site.

Calling from an unspecified place on satellite phone, Jaish al Islam spokesman Ghazi Haq Nawaz told reporters that Ali Hasan, a member of the militant outfit, had carried out the suicide attack. â€œThe bombing was in revenge for the Rawalpindi attack and an (alleged) incident of desecration Holy Quran in Quetta,â€ he said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Balochistan Governor Mohammad Khan Achakzai, Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti condemned the attack and directed security forces to arrest the culprits.

Dr Malik Baloch said that the provincial government would bear expenses of treatment of the injured.

The Majlis Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen, Shia Conference and Hazara Democratic Party have announced a three-day morning and called for a shutter-down strike on Thursday.

Musharraf ordered to appear for hearing today

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: It was not a happy beginning of the year for former military ruler retired General Pervez Musharraf as the special court constituted for his â€˜high treasonâ€™ trial refused to give further exemption and ordered his appearance on Thursday (today).

The three-judge court, headed by Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, did not appear to have been satisfied with the defence lawyersâ€™ excuse of security concerns and indicated that it would issue arrest warrants if Gen Musharraf failed to appear before it.

Justice Arab said that since the accused was a former president and ex-chief of the army, the court chose not to issue his arrest warrants, but summoned him as per criminal procedure code for an offence for which bail was to be sought. â€œHe has so far not sought protection of bail and in such offence a police officer can arrest him.â€

Dictating an order after Wednesdayâ€™s proceedings, Justice Arab observed that despite issuance of summons the accused (Gen Musharraf) did not appear and the court was of the view that he should not be arrested as it would amount to his humiliation. But, he said, that â€œwe will be forced to pass an order for taking him into custodyâ€ and the court would issue an order on Thursday with regard to his non-appearance.

During the hearing, the defence lawyers and head of the prosecution team Akram Sheikh exchanged harsh words and abused each other. Gen Musharrafâ€™s counsel Ahmed Raza Kasuri called Advocate Akram a â€˜secretary to Nawaz Sharifâ€™ and the latter called the former â€˜prosecutor of Zulfikar Ali Bhuttoâ€™.

The defence lawyers also objected to the composition of the special court, but in a rejoinder from the judges they slightly retreated.

Anwar Mansoor Khan, another counsel for Gen Musharraf, said that although Justice Arab had not taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) of November 2007, he disqualified Gen Musharraf from contesting elections.

â€œMy Lord did not take oath under the PCO because it was in your lordshipâ€™s mind that it was an unconstitutional act,â€ he said, adding that though the process could not be changed, the judge could not be impartial in such situation.

The counsel said that Justice Yawar Ali, another member of the court, was a nephew of Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday who had issued a verdict in favour of the chief justice in 2007. â€œFormer chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry made him a judge despite the fact that the Lahore High Court chief justice did not recommend him because he wanted to pay back to Justice Ramday for restoring him.â€

Justice Yawar reminded the counsel that the LHC chief justice had not only recommended his name but also forwarded some observations to the Judicial Commission.

When Advocate Mansoor turned to the third member of the special court, Justice Tahira Safdar, she asked him whether he had gone through her service record.

The counsel replied in the negative, but said her father was active in the movement for restoration of the judiciary and died during a pro-Justice Chaudhry rally in 2007.

Correcting him, Justice Tahira said her father died in 1981 and she had been in the Balochistan Judicial Service since 1982.

Advocate Mansoor alleged that the prime minister and the former chief justice were inimical to Gen Musharraf because he had carried out a coup against Nawaz Sharif in October 1999 and suspended Justice Chaudhry in March 2007.

He said the special court had been constituted in haste and in violation of rules, alleging that Mr Sharif and Justice Chaudhry had misused the law and because of that he challenged the establishment of the court and its members. â€œHad such notification not been issued I would be the last person to criticise judges,â€ the counsel said.

Advocate Kasuri informed the court that Gen Musharraf was ready to attend the proceedings, but when he was about to leave his farmhouse security officials found explosives near his residence.

When the court asked the prosecution whether Gen Musharraf appeared before any court in the recent past, Advocate Akram said the former president had appeared before lower courts as well as the Islamabad High Court a number of times after his return in March.

Advocate Kasuri said his client was facing serious threats and his life was in danger. He warned that if anything happened to Gen Musharraf during his travel to or from the court, the judges would be held responsible.

â€œDonâ€™t try to threaten us,â€ Justice Arab told the counsel. He said the court could not stop working because of security threats. Courts heard cases even during times of war, he added.

The inspector general of Islamabad police briefed the court on security arrangements for Gen Musharraf and said that about 1,000 policemen had been deployed on the route from his Chak Shahzad residence to the special court. Officials of traffic police, bomb disposal squad and special branch were also deployed at different locations to ensure safety of Gen Musharraf.

PM asks Sami to â€˜broker Taliban talksâ€™

Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has turned to Maulana Samiul Haq, the chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S), for help in initiating talks with Taliban, in effect ruling out any major role for Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

â€œThe prime minister has asked me to help initiate the dialogue process,â€ Maulana Sami told Dawn after an hour-long one-to-one meeting with Mr Sharif.

The JUI-S chief said he had assured the prime minister of his full cooperation and told him that he would make every possible effort to bring the Taliban to the table.

He said he would keep Mr Sharif informed about developments after contacting the Taliban leadership.

The 76-year-old Maulana, who is also known as the â€œfather of Talibanâ€ and considered to have close contacts with them, had several times in the recent past offered to play a role in the governmentâ€™s efforts for peace talks with the militants.

However, Maulana Sami whose party has no representation in parliament had so far been kept out of governmentâ€™s move to devise its strategy in consultation with his rival, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl.

It is believed that the government has decided to work in cooperation with Maulana Sami on the basis of reports that his potential role in talks with Taliban has increased with the change in the leadership of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after the killing of its chief Hakeemullah Mehsud in a US drone strike on Nov 1.

Maulana Sami who runs Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak is reported to have maintained links with the new TTP chief, Moulvi Fazlullah, and his deputy Sheikh Khalid Haqqani.

â€œThe student-teacher relationship is there,â€ Maulana Sami said when asked about his â€˜good relationsâ€™ with new Taliban leaders. â€œHe himself says soâ€ was the Maulanaâ€™s reply when asked if Khalid Haqqani had studied in his Madressah.

He said the prime minister had told him that the government wanted to resolve the (terrorism) issue through dialogue.

He said he had asked the prime minister to ensure that the US would not sabotage peace efforts in future.

â€œI have asked him to get out of the war that has been imposed on us,â€ he said, adding that the government would have to convince the Americans that dialogue was in the best interest of Pakistan.

The Maulana said he had also asked the prime minister to ensure implementation of resolutions of parliament and decisions of the all-party conferences regarding drone attacks and to revisit the foreign policy.

When asked about the role of Maulana Fazl, he said it was everyoneâ€™s duty to contribute to efforts for peace in the country. â€œWe want to take all the people along.â€

He said anyone could be asked to play a role if such a demand was made by the Taliban.

He added that the government would have to review its policies against terrorism and halt actions against militants in North Waziristan where a number of innocent people had died in the recent military action.

When contacted, Jan Achakzai, a spokesman for the JUI-F chief, said no individual, be it Maulana Fazl or Maulana Sami, could play any effective role in eliminating terrorism and restoring peace without the involvement of local people in the process.

He said all previous efforts had failed because of non-participation of local people and the JUI-F believed that peace in the region was possible only through the participation of a tribal jirga in the process.

He claimed that the JUI-F was the only party which could play a positive role in making the governmentâ€™s peace efforts a success. â€œHowever, we wish good luck for Maulana Samiul Haq if he can bring peace,â€ he said.

However, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan denied that the government had given a mandate to any person to hold talks with Taliban

Talking to reporters after inaugurating a passport office in Rawalpindi, he said Maulana Sami had not been assigned any task and a government team was working to work out a strategy for the talks. The talks, he said, would be held in the light of the decision of the APC held in September.

He also said that no operation was under way in North Waziristan.

LHC annuls delimitation in Punjab

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court annulled on Tuesday the delimitation carried out for local government elections in Punjab and directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to undo the exercise in conformity with the constitution.

The decision came a day after the Sindh High Court declared illegal the delimitation exercise conducted in Sindh and directed the provincial government to hold the elections as per schedule â€œon the position as existing prior to delimitation processâ€.

A three-judge full bench of the LHC, comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan and Justice Atir Mahmood, ruled that sections 8 and 9 of the Punjab Local Government Act 2013 were unconstitutional and directed the provincial government to amend the act to assign the role of delimitation to the ECP.

The sections annulled deal with delimitation of union councils and wards in municipal committees.

The court issued the verdict on hundreds of petitions challenging the PLGA 2013 and for delaying the election schedule in the province.

At the outset, acting Advocate General of Punjab Mustafa Ramday argued that the provincial government had conducted delimitation in a transparent manner and also afforded an ample opportunity to the stakeholders to raise objections. He defended the Punjab governmentâ€™s powers to delimit union councils and said it had also carried out delimitation for the 2000 LG polls. Delimitation was not part of the election process, he added.

When Additional Advocate General Shan Gull pointed out that the law of a neighbouring country (India) also defined that delimitation was not part of the election, Justice Mansoor Shah asked him to assist the court in the light of Pakistani law.

The judge wondered when powers of the high court (under article 199) could not be curtailed, why section 10-A of the PLGA removed the role of the court. â€œWho will do justice if the government takes a wrong decision?â€

Advocate Azhar Siddique, representing one of the petitioners, informed the court that a division bench of the LHC had on Nov 7 ordered that elections be held on party basis and the ECP had issued the schedule on Nov 9. But on Nov 9, he said, the Punjab government through an ordinance had inserted section 10-A in the PLGA with a mala fide intention.

The section reads: â€œA court, officer or authority shall not review or correct any delimitation of a union council or ward after the notification of the election schedule.â€

When Mustafa Ramday argued that the high court could interfere only in case of any illegality, Justice Mansoor Shah said the new law did not define the role of the court.

Advocate Bakhtiar Kasuri, counsel for some petitioners, argued that the ECP was empowered to hold delimitation under the constitution, but the government did it unconstitutionally.

Before concluding the first half of the hearing, the court directed the acting AGP to seek instructions from the government whether it could ask the ECP for delimitation.

Mr Ramday later informed the bench that under the law, the government cannot ask the ECP directly for legislation.

The court then issued a short order setting aside sections 8 and 9 of the PLGA 2013 for being unconstitutional and directed the provincial government to amend the law so that the ECP could carry out delimitation in accordance with the constitution.

The detailed judgment will be issued later.

PPP leader Advocate Haider Zaman Qureshi said the verdict was a victory for the opposition. â€œThe PML-N governmentâ€™s plan to carry out delimitation and hold elections under its authority will now remain a distant dream,â€ he said, adding that the government could no longer usurp the inherent jurisdiction of courts.

The PTIâ€™s Punjab president, Ijaz Chaudhry, welcomed the decision and claimed his party stood vindicated.

Man acquitted in â€™09 awaits release

Wajih Ahmad Sheikh

LAHORE: A man ordered freed by the Lahore High Court four and a half years ago is still awaiting his release because the PCO judges who heard his case were shown the door before they could write down their ruling.

Bashir Bhatti, accused of murder, was all but acquitted by a division bench of the LHC on July 30, 2009. The two-member bench announced the verdict in open court. However, it did not grant Bhatti liberty in â€œblack and whiteâ€.

One member of the bench, Justice Mian Najamuz Zaman, had taken oath on the Provisional Constitution Order of Gen Pervez Musharraf on Nov 3, 2007. The other member was Justice Rana Zahid Mahmood, who was appointed by the â€˜unconstitutionalâ€™ chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar. Both bench members were hit by the decision one day after they had ordered the acquittal of Bhatti: the judgment of July 31, 2009, passed by a 14-member bench of the Supreme Court.

An anti-terrorism court of Rawalpindi had awarded death sentence to Bashir Bhatti on murder charges in 2004 while he had been in jail since 2002. He was one of four accused tried on charge of murdering three persons. Bhatti was the only one to be convicted. The LHC bench, comprising Justice Zaman and Justice Mahmood, allowed Bashir Bhatti appeal against the conviction and acquitted him on merit. However, the judges neither issued a short order nor handed down the detailed judgment before leaving the charge as judges. The acquitted man has since been languishing in jail.

In its July 31, 2009, ruling the Supreme Court had given protection to the decisions by the PCO judges. â€œJudgments delivered or orders made or any decrees passed by any bench of the Supreme Court or of any of the high courts which comprised of or which included the judges whose appointments had been declared void ab initio, are protected on the principle laid down in Malik Asad Aliâ€™s case (PLD 1998 SC 161),â€ the judgment said.

Also, the then LHC chief justice, Sayed Zahid Hussain, had directed all the judges removed by the SC to complete their pending work before leaving the charge keeping in view the suffering of the common litigants, says a judge, who was also shown the door along with all other PCO judges.

Yet as Bhatti and his family waited, his acquittal order never materialised. In fact none was apparently ever drafted. It seems the judges who acquitted him had left the charge without completing their work.

An appeal is now pending for rehearing the case and has been fixed before different benches of the LHC. â€œThe appeal will be heard afresh now as the order of July 30, 2009, unfortunately, has no legal significance,â€ says Azam Nazir Tarar, Bhattiâ€™s counsel.

Advocate Tarar says the judges had announced in open court the order of allowing the appeal and staff of the court also mentioned the order in daily register of cases. Yet it brought no respite for Bhatti who has been in jail for the last 11 years. The judges were responsible to draft their ruling as announced in the open court even if they were not to be part of the bench from the next day, says Ahsan Bhoon, a â€˜PCO judgeâ€™ removed by the July 31 judgment.

Building of new N-plant to get dome tomorrow

Baqir Sajjad Syed

ISLAMABAD: The containment building of the fourth reactor at the Chashma Nuclear Power Complex would get its â€˜domeâ€™ on Thursday, marking the completion of major civil works at the unit.

â€œThe emplacement of the 180-tonne steel dome is a significant milestone in the installation of the reactor,â€ an official of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) said on Tuesday.

Chashma IV, as it is commonly known, is being built in collaboration with Chinese firms â€” China Zhongyuan Engineering (general contractor) and China Nuclear Industry Construction Company (installer). Shanghai Nuclear Engineering and Research Design Institute had provided the design for the reactor.

Two reactors are currently being installed at the Chashma Nuclear Power Complex â€” Chashma III and Chashma IV. Contracts for the two reactors were signed with the Chinese firms in 2009 and they are expected to begin commercial operations in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Officials associated with the nuclear programme believe that the two reactors could be commissioned before schedule.

Chashma III got its dome in March.

Both Chashma III and IV are 340mw pressurised water reactors. Chashma I and II, also provided by China, were 300mw each.

The PAEC official explained that installation of reactor equipment at the site would continue after the capping (â€˜dome layingâ€™) of Chashma IV.

The government has set a target of generating 40,000mw of electricity from nuclear sources by 2050.

The government says that access to cheap nuclear energy was vital for sustained growth.

â€œThe cost assessment shows that the unit cost of electricity generation from the new nuclear projects will be below those of the other major sources in the country apart from hydro electricity, and comparable to coal (imported or local) â€” the environmental impact of burning coal notwithstanding,â€ another PAEC official said.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the countryâ€™s largest nuclear power plant (Kanupp-II and Kanupp-III) with a combined generation capacity of 2,200mw was performed in Karachi in November. The city has a pressurised heavy water reactor Kanupp-I, a 125mw facility.

KP sets conditions for Pesco takeover

Intikhab Amir

PESHAWAR: In a quick response to the prime ministerâ€™s decision to ask the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to take over control of the electricity distribution system in the province, the PTI-led provincial government came up on Monday with proposals to take over the â€˜integrated power management systemâ€™.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, in letters sent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, made a formal offer on behalf of his government to take over administrative control of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) on conditions that would be hard for the federal government to accept.

â€œThey want to give us the role of meter reader but this is not acceptable to us,â€ KP Information Minister Shah Farman said at a press conference after a meeting of the provincial cabinet. The implications of the prime ministerâ€™s decision were discussed at the meeting.

The conditions Mr Khattak has put forth include delegating to the province the control of power generation units set up in its jurisdiction, excluding the province from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authorityâ€™s regulatory regime, handing over of a utility (Pesco) free of liabilities/losses/ debts, and a promise that the centre will pick the burden/onus of Pescoâ€™s annual losses for five years till its losses are brought down from the existing 56 per cent to the national average of 18 per cent.

â€œWe stand committed to our statement (about taking over Pesco). However, our focus wasnâ€™t merely the distribution of electricity but the entire system, including generation and transmission facilities,â€ the chief minister wrote to the prime minister.

In a press release on Sunday, the prime ministerâ€™s office announced that Mr Sharif would formally send a letter to the chief minister in a couple of days and ask the provincial government to assume the administrative control of Pesco.

But Mr Khattak wrote to the prime minister before the premier could send a letter to him.

The provincial government has put forth 11 conditions, one of which says: â€œFor generation units [including Tarbela hydro power project], all necessary measures must be immediately taken so that the plant and capacity factors are improved and brought to internationally acceptable range.â€

It has asked the centre to continue â€˜all ongoing extension or BMR programmes, funded by the Public Sector Development Programme, as per original plan and the existing sources of fundingâ€™.

â€œThe federal government shall address the inequitable investment through compensating allocations in next five Public Sector Development Programmes to improve electricity sector in the province,â€ the chief minister said. On the regulatory side, he has called upon the federal government to enable the province to effectively run the affairs of power system in the province â€˜â€˜through necessary legislation, amendment in statutory framework, regulatory regime and changes in the power policyâ€.

Since hydropower generation declines in winter because of low discharge of water down the stream from Tarbela Dam, he has asked for compensation for â€˜lean winter monthsâ€™ by guaranteeing supply of â€˜at least 1000MW to the province during winterâ€™ from thermal power generation units for â€˜seven yearsâ€™ in accordance with the Karachi Electric Supply Companyâ€™s model.

In this respect, the federal government has further been asked to â€˜immediately allocateâ€™ 200MMCFD gas to the province to enable it to establish thermal power houses to â€œcompensateâ€ for the dip in hydel generation in winter.

Furthermore, the provincial government has used the occasion to voice its grievances against the Water and Development Authority and demanded â€˜immediateâ€™ clearance of net hydel profit arrears as per decisions of the National Finance Commissions, the Council of Common Interest and other forums.

â€œWhile the past inequities may not be attributable to your government, the present infirmities and shortcomings certainly demand your immediate attention,â€ Mr Khattak told the premier.

FIA reluctant to focus on main accused in hawala scam

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency is alleged to have made three low-ranking employees of a foreign exchange company scapegoat in a hawala (transfer of money through illegal channel) scam while letting influential beneficiaries go scot-free.

According to documents available with Dawn, the company â€” Malik Exchange (Pvt) Limited â€” is owned by Abdul Raziq, a federal minister in the PPP government.

In November last year, the three employees accused of illegally transferring billons of rupees had requested the then FIA director general to arrest the real beneficiaries, including the owner and directors of the company. In January this year, the DG FIA also ordered an inquiry, but even after almost a year the real beneficiaries are still untouched.

An FIR registered with the FIAâ€™s economic crimes wing on May 5, 2009, alleged that Malik Exchange had made illegal transactions of Rs25.5 billion in seven months.

In late 2008, Khanani and Kalia International, a well-known foreign exchange company, was accused of illegally transferring $10 billion abroad. Its owners were acquitted by court in May 2011.

The people who are accused of making illegal transactions through Malik Exchange include Iqbal Z. Ahmed, who is already embroiled in the Rs22bn rental power projects scam; and Haris Afzal, an accused in the Rs8.404bn Haris Steel Mills loan scam.

Iqbal Ahmed allegedly sent Rs1.74bn out of the country to get foreign exchange for making his and other companiesâ€™ local payments.

But he denied any wrongdoing. In his statement recorded before the FIA, he said: â€œMalik Exchange was introduced to us by Haji Haroon of Karachi and the transactions we made were under the assumption that Malik Exchange was a legal exchange company.â€

On Oct 10, 2009, the FIA had written a letter to the National Accountability Bureau, Punjab, alleging that Haris Afzal, a director of Haris Steel Mills, had transferred millions of rupees out of the country through fake accounts of Malik Exchange. â€œSince NAB is already investigating Sheikh Afzal, Haris Afzal, Hamish Khan, etc, the above mentioned information is being provided for further necessary action,â€ the letter said.

The Malik exchange scam came to light in May 2009 when an additional manager of Standard Chartered Bank lodged a complaint with the FIA against some illegal and unauthorised transfers of money.

During investigation the FIA found that three employees of Malik Exchange -- Iqbal Afridi, Imtiaz Afridi and Mian Waris Gul -- were involved in the transfer of money through illegal channels. They admitted to have opened 21 fictitious/benami accounts across the country and illegally sent abroad Rs25.5bn in seven months.

Further investigation revealed that Abdul Raziq, six directors and a chief executive officer were allegedly involved in illegal transfer of the money.

Responding to FIAâ€™s questions, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Dec 24, 2009: â€œIt appears that various individuals operating benami accounts as mentioned in your letters were reportedly involved in illegal foreign exchange business under the auspices of Malik Exchange (Pvt) Ltd. Further investigations would facilitate in identifying the â€¦ trail of fundsâ€¦ [that] ended up in the bank accounts of sponsors/directors of Malik Exchange.â€

But the FIA implicated only Iqbal, Imtiaz and Waris and submitted a challan in a trial court in Lahore. In November last year, the three accused submitted an application to the FIA director general, alleging that the investigation officer of the case had exonerated the real beneficiaries and made them scapegoat. Subsequently, the DG FIA sought a report.

In his Jan 1 letter, the director of FIAâ€™s economic crimes wing said that despite â€œstrong evidence against them (Raziq and others) they have been let go scot-free and the three employees of the company (with a monthly salary of Rs10,000 each)â€ had been implicated.

Dawn has learnt that no fresh report has been prepared so far.

Waim Siyal, an official of the FIA, did not respond to Dawn queries despite having promised to do that.

When contacted, Abdul Raziq denied his involvement in the illegal transfer of money. â€œThe FIA conducted a number of inquiries into the matter but did not find any evidence against me,â€ he said.

Record cold wave grips parts of country

Kalbe Ali

ISLAMABAD/QUETTA: Almost the entire country was in the grip of a cold wave on Monday, with a number of cities and towns struck by temperatures ranging between -17C and -21C. The federal capital went through its most uncomfortable day in 46 years as the mercury plunged to three below Celsius.

And even Karachi, known for its mild winters, was not far behind, recording a minimum temperature of six degrees Celsius. The city is likely to face more cold on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A minimum temperature of -2.8C in Islamabad had been recorded in 1984, but the lowest temperature recorded in the city is -3.9C in 1967.

Officials said that the wave was the fallout of extreme cold weather conditions in Europe as cold winds coming from there dry up after crossing the Central Asian region.

These cold and dry winds are also delaying the winter rains as the strong currents push the warm, moist winds rising from the Arabian Sea.

â€œThese systems coming from the northwest last up to five or six days,â€ Meteorological Department Director Dr Mohammad Hanif said. The Met Office forecast very cold and dry weather for Tuesday in most of the country, with cloudy conditions along with rain and light snowfall over the hills at places across a swathe stretching from Gilgit-Baltistan to Lahore and Sargodha divisions.

â€œBut these are not the regular winter rains. They will only bring light rain because these clouds are part of the westerly wave that has separated from the European system and has reached up to Kashmir,â€ Dr Hanif said.

The winter rains are likely to begin after mid-January, which will be followed by the Siberian cold wave that brings very cold winds to the whole country.

The lowest temperature recorded on Monday was -15C in Kalat. It was -13C in Quetta, -12C in Skardu, -10C in Parachinar, -7C in Astore, Gupis, -6C in Malamjabba, Drosh and Murree and -5C in Gilgit.

It was the 14th day of a wave of very cold weather in northern Balochistan and Quetta. Meteorological department officials said they had recorded the lowest minimum temperature of -21C at Harboi hill station in Kalat, -17C in Ziarat, Khanozai, Toba Achakzai, Toba Kakari and Darra Kozak and -13C in Pishin and Mastung.

Pipelines burst after water froze and diesel in the fuel tanks of vehicles also froze.

Water overflowed from the sewerage system and froze on the roads. A layer of ice also formed around the walls of water tanks.

The suspension of gas supply and very low pressure increased the hardships of the people and the prices of coal, wood and kerosene skyrocketed.

Harboi, at 8,000-foot altitude, is rich with reserves of juniper forests and wildlife, including leopard, mountain wild goat Markhor, ibex, wolf, fox and wild rabbit. People of the area were forced to leave for warmer places, leaving some men to guard their homes. â€œPeople living in Harboi have dug trenches and lit juniper wood to save themselves from the extremely cold weather,â€ Mehboob Shahwani, a local, said.

He said gas supply to Kalat town was suspended. â€œTimber is being sold at Rs400 per 40kg and LPG gas at Rs220 per kg, which are unaffordable for the poor,â€ he said.

An All Parties Action Committee of Kalat called for immediate restoration of gas supply.

The situation in Ziarat, Khanozai, Qila Saifullah, Muslim Bagh, Toba Achakzai, Toba Kakari, Zhob and other areas was also worsening.

Ziarat was facing shortage of gas supply.

Roads and offices in Quetta wore a deserted look. The Met Office said the temperature there might drop to -15C. People of Sariab area blocked the Quetta-Sibi highway in protest against suspension of gas supply.

â€œOur children and elderly are falling sick because the SSGC has suspended supply to our area that has a large population,â€ Abdul Rashid told Dawn.

Sharif wants effective anti-terror laws

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for expediting work on anti-terror laws and said there should be no space for an enemy that had been attacking law-enforcement personnel and civilians persistently.

â€œThey (terrorists) must be prosecuted effectively,â€ the prime minister said while presiding over a meeting on anti-terror legislation on Monday. It was attended by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif, Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Ashfaq Nadeem, ISI Director General Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam and other senior officials.

The government had earlier promulgated three ordinances on countering terrorism â€” Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 (No VII); Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 (No VIII) and Protection of Pakistan Ordinance 2013.

The three ordinances are being deliberated upon by the National Assemblyâ€™s standing committee and have also been laid in the Senate.

South Waziristan development funds go to waste

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: On paper South Waziristan Agency (SWA) has received Rs4 billion development funds over the last five years, but on ground there is little to be seen where such a huge amount was spent in the tribal area.

The Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) headed by retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch has initiated an exercise to determine if the funds had been used for any development activity.

According to official documents, Rs4bn was released for development schemes in 14 sectors in the region. During its five-year tenure, the PPP had earmarked Rs8bn for South Waziristan but could release only half of the amount.

A ministry official said the purpose of the exercise is to find out how much money had been siphoned off in the name of development.

Besides the Rs4bn earmarked for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), he said, several lawmakers claimed to have spent their annual development grants on uplift schemes.

During the first year of the PPP government, every parliamentarian was given Rs10 million grant for development schemes in their constituencies. It was later increased to Rs20m.

â€œTruly speaking if the ministry goes ahead with scrutiny of all the schemes which have been presented on papers but are missing on ground, it will unmask many faces who have benefited in the name of violence-hit, poor masses of the agency,â€ the official said.

Several lawmakers, including those elected on seats reserved for women, had obtained funds for development projects in the SWA and other tribal areas.

Records of the ministry show that the PSDP had covered all sectors. Over the past five years the agency received Rs1.10bn for education, Rs280m for health, Rs920m for communications, Rs61m for housing, Rs101m for power, Rs62m for agriculture extension, Rs60m for livestock and dairy development, Rs273m for forestry, Rs40m for rural development, Rs295m for regional development, Rs417m for irrigation, Rs187m for technical education and Rs1.3m for social welfare.

The ministry official said that because of poor law and order it was not possible to take effective follow-up action. Hence, it appears that most of the funds landed in contractorsâ€™ pockets.

Famously, Bushra Gohar of the Awami National Party, got one such contractor arrested from the parliament lodges in October 2010. He had approached her with an offer of commission if she allowed him to complete a development scheme from her share of annual development grants.

The military also is not happy with the pace of development activities in South Waziristan after it cleared the area from militants back in 2009.

Development funds received from the PSDP are distributed to all tribal agencies and frontier regions under an annual development plan. The share of each tribal agency and frontier region is determined on the basis of a formula approved by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor whereby 65 per cent weightage is given to population and 35 per cent to other factors.

Centre agrees to hand over Pesco to KP

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: Accepting a demand made by Imran Khan last week, the federal government decided on Sunday to hand over administrative control of the electricity distribution system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the PTI-led provincial government.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will formally write to the KP chief minister in a couple of days, asking his government to run the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) which looks after the power distribution system and recovery of bills in the province.

A press release issued by the PMâ€™s office said that on a request of the Ministry of Water and the Power, the prime minister had decided in principal to write to the KP government to take control of Pesco. The letter will be sent in a couple of days.

The federal government is of the opinion that the letter would be in line with the 18th Amendment which allows provinces to take over the system and recover electricity bills.

At a press conference in Peshawar on Thursday, PTI chief Imran Khan asked the federal government to hand over Pesco to the provincial government for its effective management because the province was suffering from frequent power breakdowns.

Not satisfied with Pesco efforts to recover bills, Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif immediately accepted Mr Khanâ€™s proposal and said he would take up the matter with the prime minister.

The federal governmentâ€™s willingness to hand over Pesco to KP appears to be related to the Quetta situation where the electricity supply company (Qesco) has to recover Rs88 billion dues from consumers. Domestic users and industrial units in the city have to pay to Qesco Rs58 billion and the public sector Rs27 billion.

When Pesco stopped supplying electricity in August this year to areas with poor recovery of bills, violent protests erupted and Pesco offices and vehicles were set on fire, especially in Hangu.

Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali has been regularly raising the issue of power theft in KP and Balochistan in parliament.

Welcoming the federal governmentâ€™s decision to hand over the charge of Pesco to the provincial government, KP Chief Minister Parvez Khattak also asked the federal government to hand over control of electricity generation in the province. Mr Khattak reminded the federal government that the 4,200MW of hydel power was being generated in the province and asked the prime minister to let the provincial government handle the sector.

A handout issued by the KP government stated the chief minister as saying that a detailed letter would be written to the federal government in this connection. Tarbela dam is the main source of electricity generation in the KP. Taking the advantage of federal governmentâ€™s willingness to discuss the matters related to electricity, Mr Khattak also raised the issue of Rs100 billion royalty which he claimed the federal government owed to the province.

Officials on both sides are sceptical about the transfer of Pesco control to the provincial government. A PTI office-bearer said the federal government would neither hand over control of electricity generation to the KP government nor would the latter accept the job of mere bill collection.

A Wapda official said the federal government would be very happy if the PTI government helped it to recover bills.

Musharraf claims army support in treason case

From the Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Sunday denounced treason charges against him as a â€œvendettaâ€, and said he had the backing of the army in the case.

ISLAMABAD: Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Sunday denounced treason charges against him as a â€œvendettaâ€, and said he had the backing of the army in the case.

The 70-year-old said the â€œwhole armyâ€ was upset with the treason allegations.

The military has not made any direct public comment on the case. But it is thought to be reluctant to have its former chief suffer the indignity of trial by a civilian court.

â€œI would say the whole army is upset. I have led the army from the front,â€ Mr Musharraf told reporters at his farmhouse on the edge of Islamabad.

â€œI have no doubt with the feedback that I received that the whole army is... totally with me on this issue.â€

The treason charges relate to Gen Musharrafâ€™s imposition of emergency rule in November 2007, and if found guilty he could face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

An initial hearing in the case, being heard by a special court, was halted on Dec 24 after explosives were found along the route Mr Musharraf was to take to the court.

The case is due to resume on Wednesday, but Mr Musharraf said he had not yet decided whether he would attend. â€œThe way this tribunal was formed, which involved the prime minister and the ex-chief justice, this itself smacks a little bit of a vendetta,â€ he said.

The former president said he had no objection to defending himself before a â€œfair tribunal or courtâ€ but admitted he was not optimistic about the special panel convened to hear his case.

His lawyers have dismissed the charges as an attempt by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Gen Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, to settle old scores through the courts.

INFLATED ASSESSMENT: Defence analyst Talat Masood, himself a retired general, voiced scepticism about Mr Musharrafâ€™s claims of widespread support among the military.

He said that while some elements might be sympathetic, to say that the whole army was behind Mr Musharraf was an â€œinflated assessmentâ€.

â€œThe army has already given its nod as far as the trial is concerned,â€ Mr Masood told AFP.

â€œSome who have not reconciled with this reality will have to accept it later. Army has already accepted the reality.â€

Mr Musharraf returned to Pakistan to run in Mayâ€™s general election but it proved to be a disastrous homecoming. He was barred from running for office and hit with a series of serious criminal allegations dating back to his time in power, which ended in 2008.

These include murder charge over the assassination in 2007 of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, as well as charges over the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a deadly military action against militants in Red Mosque and the detention of judges.

He has now been granted bail in all of the cases against him and is technically a free man, but Taliban threats to kill him mean he lives under heavy guard.

Nothing has come so far of persistent rumours that a deal would be struck to let him leave Pakistan before facing the courts to avoid a clash between the army and government.

Mr Masood said he felt the case is a watershed in civilian-military relations, with the government trying to prove that not even senior officers are above the law.

As the treason case has drawn closer, Mr Musharrafâ€™s team has stepped up their media campaign to try to enlist international support.

At a press conference in London last week, his British lawyers urged the United Nations to intervene in what they called a â€œstage-managed show trialâ€ and asked London and Washington to â€œrepay their debtâ€ for Mr Musharrafâ€™s support in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.â€”AFP

Govt violating SC verdict in public sector appointments

Mubarak Zeb Khan

ISLAMABAD: Violating a Supreme Court judgment that a leading member of its own government, Khawaja Asif, had sought during the caretaker administration, the PML-N government has dismissed and appointed heads of public sector organisations without following the laid-down appointment guidelines.

Many appointments were made in the last six months without advertising the posts and following the process laid down for the appointment of heads of public sector organisations in the Khawaja Asif case.

The most glaring example of a violation is the case of the managing director Nespak, which appears to have relatively gone undetected. Amjad Khan was appointed, it is alleged, at the behest of the now speaker of the National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and, ironically, with the patronage of the Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif.

The post was never advertised and the board of directors consisting of mainly senior civil servants had already been approached by government officials and told that Amjad Khan was to be appointed hence the unanimous decision of the board to appoint him.

Amjad Khan was not interviewed by the board and appointed MD in August. The previous managing director, Asad I. Khan, who was a regular Nespak employee, had a year remaining before his retirement when he was removed.

Asad Khan told Dawn that the prime reason of his removal was that he did not promote two officers recommended by the sitting NA speaker.

â€œMr Sadiq asked me many times to promote the two officers out of turn,â€ he said, adding that it was a violation of the rules and would have been unjust with other officers.

He said that he also received threats from Mr Sadiq. â€œI will personally take you to the Public Accounts Committee,â€ Mr Asad said that he received this threat from the speaker along with another threat of grilling through FIA.

Previously under the establishment rules, three names were required to be recommended for approval and the prime minister was the competent authority to make the final approval. Subsequently, the Supreme Court ruled that a commission should be established for this purpose.

Inquiries were initiated by a sub-committee of the PAC under the chairmanship of Ayaz Sadiq to reject all potential contenders from within the organisation so that Amjad Khan, fifth on the list of seniority, could be appointed.

The irregularities in appointments were not confined to the MD Nespak, but blatant violations were also noted in other appointments in the last six months.

The Khawaja Asif case which has become the guiding jurisprudence in such matter was the case in which Mr Asif had challenged appointments, transfers and postings by the caretaker government.

The decision was announced after the elections and in paragraph 25 of the judgment the Supreme Court pronounced: â€œDuring hearing of the case, it has been pointed out to petitioner Mr Asif that although he being an elected Member of the Parliament had raised questions touching upon the transparency in the appointment of the heads of the autonomous, semi-autonomous bodies, corporations, regulatory authorities, etc., but in his own capacity as a public representative, he had also to ensure that all the appointments in such like bodies as well as the appointments on contract basis must be made in a transparent manner.â€

There is nothing in the judgment to suggest that it would have retrospective effect.

To the contrary, the guidelines provided by the court mandate a code of practice to ensure transparent merit-based public appointments.

The decision provides for the establishment of a commission that must, inter alia, take measures to ensure that processes for public sector appointments are conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are fully guarded against.

Rather than following the court order, the PML-N government has not only been disregarding the order in its own appointments but retrospectively implementing it for those whom they want to replace with their own people.

Female suicide bomber kills 14 in Russia

From the Newspaper

MOSCOW: A female suicide bomber killed 14 people on Sunday in a strike on the main train station of the southern Russian city of Volgograd that heightened security fears just six weeks before the Sochi Olympic Games.

Investigators said the unidentified woman set off her charge after being stopped by a police officer at the metal detectors of the central entrance to the station when it was packed with people travelling to celebrate the New Year.

Footage captured by a nearby camera showed a huge fireball blow out the heavy front doors and windows from the grey stone three-storey building. Huge billows of smoke then poured out as people scattered along the rain-soaked street.

Russiaâ€™s Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said officials had launched an inquiry into a suspected â€œact of terrorâ€ â€” the deadliest attack in Russia for almost three years.

â€œA suicide bomber who was approaching a metal detector saw a law-enforcement official and, after growing nervous, set off an explosive device,â€ Markin said in televised comments.

Doctors and police said 14 people were killed and 45 injured by the explosive equivalent of more than 10 kilograms of TNT.

The lifenews.ru website published a picture of what it said was the head of the young female bomber lying amid a pile of debris with her long brown hair spread across the floor.

The website identified the bomber as a woman named Oksana Aslanova who had been married to two different Islamists killed in battles with federal forces in the North Caucasus.

Female suicide bombers are often referred to in Russia as â€œblack widowsâ€ â€” women who seek to avenge the deaths of their family members in the fighting by targeting Russian civilians.

Olympic security fears

The city of Volgograd â€” known as Stalingrad in the Soviet era â€” was already attacked in October by a female suicide bomber with links to Islamists in the nearby volatile North Caucasus.

The Oct 21 strike killed six people aboard a crowded bus and immediately raised security fears ahead of the February 7-23 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

The Black Sea city lies 690 kilometres southwest of Volgograd and in direct proximity to the violence in North Caucasus regions such as Dagestan and Chechnya.

Militants are seeking to impose an Islamist state throughout Russiaâ€™s North Caucasus. Their leader Doku Umarov has ordered rebels to target civilians outside the region and disrupt the Olympic Games.

President Vladimir Putin, who has staked his personal reputation on the Gamesâ€™ success, was â€œimmediatelyâ€ informed of the attack, the Kremlin said.

â€œVladimir Putin ordered ministers and the heads of security agencies to take all measures necessary to establish the causes and circumstances of this act of terror, catching and bringing to justice those who stand behind it,â€ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Militant attacks have become part of daily life in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus but the Volgograd blast will be a particular concern to the authorities as the bomber struck a city of over one million in the Russian heartland.

Sundayâ€™s strike is Russiaâ€™s deadliest since a suicide bombing at Moscowâ€™s Domodedovo airport killed 37 people in January 2011.

â€˜Security stepped upâ€™

Russiaâ€™s interior ministry said separately that it was immediately stepping up security at all the nationâ€™s main train stations and airports.

â€œThese measures involve a greater police presence and more detailed passenger checks,â€ an interior ministry spokesman told the Interfax news agency.

Russian authorities have repeatedly vowed to take the highest security precautions in Sochi. There have been few indications to date of foreign sports fans cancelling their attendance out of security fears.

Female suicide bombers have repeatedly struck Russian targets during Putinâ€™s 14-year rule.

Umarov dispatched two women to set off blasts at a pair of Moscow metro stations in March 2010 that killed more than 35 people.

So-called black widows were also responsible for killing more than 90 people when they took down two passenger jets that took off from a Moscow airport within minutes of each other in 2004.â€”AFP

Sindh may follow suit

From the Newspaper

SOON after TV new channels reported the prime ministerâ€™s decision to transfer administrative control of electricity distribution system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the PTI-led provincial government, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah held a meeting with PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari and discussed the issue.

According to DawnNews, the meeting decided that the Sindh government would also seek control of power generation and distribution companies based in Sindh and a formal request to this effect would soon be made through a letter to be written by the provincial government to the centre.

Still no certainty on missing persons

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: The number of persons under detention at internment centres across the country is still shrouded in mystery. On paper they may not be more than 750, but the authorities concerned acknowledge in private that the figure stands at 1,577.

There is a need to regularise the detention by accounting for the 827 other persons by openly conceding their captivity instead of holding them secretly, said a highly placed source.

Many of them are either in the 27 internment centres established under the Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulations 2011 (21 in the federally administered tribal areas and six in provincially administered tribal areas) or in the 102 jails in different cities.

A disclosure of their identity will always help in taking care about the health and safety of the interned persons. They cited as example one camp at Lakki Marwat, which saw 83 families visiting and meeting such persons over the past five months, the source said.

Confusion about the number of enforced disappearances was also shared by rights activist Asma Jehangir, but she blamed the Supreme Court for it. The court should have encouraged lawyers, instead of complainants, to hear the cases because a number of them contain incomplete or unverified data, she contended.

Asma Jehangir recalled that the first-ever petition by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on the issue of missing persons was filed way back in 2007. It highlighted around 245 cases, which the apex court later referred to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED).

A review petition against the decision of referring the HRCP case to the CIED is pending before the apex court, Asma Jehangir told Dawn.

The commission is seized with over eight hundred cases whereas the federal task force had concluded that the total, including cases from Balochistan, stood at 850.

The Supreme Court recently accepted that 721 cases were pending with it and the high courts.

The plight of the interned recently came to light when the apex court took up the matter of Yaseen Shah, who went missing after a joint action by police and the armed forces against terrorists in 2010. His case was brought before the Supreme Court by his elder brother Mohabbat Shah, a resident of village Ghala, Tehsil Katlang of Mardan district (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

The case resulted in high drama when seven already freed persons, out of 35 missing, were produced before the apex court to comply with court orders, but a Supreme Court bench was not amused. The bench, headed by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, handed down a damning judgment on Dec 10.

The court described the practice of enforced disappearances as a crime against humanity and also ruled in another judgment issued the same day about seven Adyala missing persons that no intelligence or security agency, including the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Frontier Corps, could detain any person forcibly in a secret manner for a long period without sharing information about his whereabouts with his relatives.

â€œIt is only because of an absence of accountability,â€ emphasised the source when asked why people were still being kept in detention secretly.

His opinion was shared by Raja Muhammad Irshad, who represented the intelligence agencies before the Supreme Court in a number of cases. He argued that although the action in aid of civil power regulations was quite comprehensive, there existed no law to bind the authorities to disclose the identity of a detainee to his family or to the public. An order of the court was the only exception.

â€œI have reservations over the verdict since terms like â€˜crime against humanityâ€™ have been used without an understanding of repercussions,â€ she explained.

HOPES LOST: On the other hand, Amina Masood Janjua, chairperson of the Defence of Human Rights (DHR), insisted that she would continue arranging camps next year to highlight the plight of affected families since she had little hope left of getting justice from the Supreme Court or the parliament.

Meanwhile, the source admitted that unless recommendations finalised by the federal task force were translated into a law, the issue of enforced disappearances would not end.

He recalled that the recommendations in the shape of a draft bill had already been submitted to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had formed a high-level committee headed by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif. Other members are the attorney general and the secretaries of defence, interior and law. The committee is expected to finalise a law on the missing soon, he added.

Ex-CJ requested residential plot days before retirement

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had sought allocation of a pricey residential plot in Islamabad days before his retirement, reversing a decision made to much acclaim in 2009.

ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had sought allocation of a pricey residential plot in Islamabad days before his retirement, reversing a decision made to much acclaim in 2009.

A now-lapsed prime ministerial scheme had given approval for allotment of plots to bureaucrats and members of the superior judiciary. Dr Faqir Hussain, Registrar of the Supreme Court, wrote a letter to the Director General of Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation, on Nov 28 seeking allotment of a plot to the then chief justice. In the letter, the registrar said: â€œAs per rules, Mr Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan, is entitled to a residential plot. Therefore, you are requested to finalise the process of allotment under the prime ministerâ€™s package at the earliest.â€

The SC registrar wanted allotment of plot No 45-D in Sector I-8/2, measuring 600 square yards. Justice Chaudhry had turned down the allotment of the same plot to him in 2009. However, sources at the housing ministry told Dawn that the plot had already been allotted to another applicant.

However, it added, if the government accepted the application of Justice Chaudhry, another plot could be allotted in D-12/2. In fact, the ministry official said, plot No 114-A, Street No 7 in D-12/2, had been marked for the former chief justice by the government.

An official of the Supreme Courtâ€™s secretariat confirmed forwarding of the application to the housing ministry. But when a query was put to the SC registrarâ€™s office, it replied in writing: â€œFormer Chief Justice of Pakistan may be contacted for the purpose, if one so desires.â€

In Aug 2009, a number of judges, along with Justice (retired) Chaudhry, were issued allotment letters. But in a surprising move, the foundation received another letter from the same deputy registrar in which it was told that the chief justice had refused to accept the offer letter.

â€œSince the chief justice had never asked for it, therefore, the said offer may be withdrawn immediately,â€ the deputy registrar wrote in his letter to the Housing Foundationâ€™s secretary.

Complying with the request, the secretary withdrew the offer.

Justice Chaudhry probably didnâ€™t think it appropriate to get a plot from the PPP-led government as it had initially opposed his restoration, commented a lawyer.

However, such was the lure of residential plots carrying fabulous price tags that even non-PCO judges, including the sitting Chief Justice, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Gilani, and a close friend of the former CJ, Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, did not follow Justice Iftikhar Chaudhryâ€™s example and benefited from the generous scheme introduced by Shaukat Aziz, now in self-exile.

The request by Justice Chaudhry has put the present government in a bind since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced rescinding of his predecessorâ€™s special package in July. The SC registrar had cited the prime ministerâ€™s package for the allotment.

According to the media wing of the prime ministerâ€™s office, Nawaz Sharif has ordered discontinuation of allotment of plots to BPS-22 officers and judges.

The prime minister, according to an official privy to the development, had been given a special presentation on the allotment of plot to Justice (retired) Chaudhry. He was told that the former chief justice had a right to claim a plot since the allotment was due in Aug 2009. But a note of caution was added: more than 200 civil servants could apply for the favour if the government accepted the former CJâ€™s request.

In order to silence critics, the government was advised, it could re-issue the previous allotment letter that the former CJ had turned down in 2009.

According to sources at the housing ministry, a decision on Justice Chaudhryâ€™s application would be made only after the posting of a new secretary.

In the absence of a secretary and an additional secretary, a joint secretary is running the ministryâ€™s day-to-day affairs. â€œOnly a federal secretary can issue the allotment letter,â€ an official said.

Helpless in the face of a determined enemy

Ismail Khan

PESHAWAR: Close reading of the inquiry report into the Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak is certain to send chills down the spine, particularly the sketch contained therein showing police and military deployment (at a time when an attack seemed imminent) as opposed to the pickets set up by militants.

The ease with which militants effectively demobilised law enforcement agencies from responding to the attack, freed 253 prisoners and then returned to their tribal sanctuaries ought to have set alarm bells ringing at multiple levels. The raid was, in the words of one analyst, akin to briefly having taken over the town.

Instead, the 21-page inquiry report â€” a copy of which is now available with Dawn â€” was shelved.

Three hours later, seven teams of militants had taken up position on roads and rooftops at ten different places around the prison. These were aimed at blocking the movement of security personnel and reinforcements, sealing off the area and preventing access from the eastern and western ends of the city.

This was followed by a spectacular series of explosions and gunfire designed to create confusion and inspire fear in security personnel and citizens, the report notes.

Having cut off all access to the prison, the militants then fired rocket-propelled grenades at its gate, broke open the cells and barracks â€œmethodicallyâ€, and freed 253 prisoners. The report concedes that four prisoners from a minority sect were identified and executed.

Chillingly, â€œabout 25 minutes into the attack a militant using the call sign of Tariq 2 (DSP City) came on the police wireless frequency taunting the police â€” threatening to raze the city to the groundâ€, notes the report.

According to the findings of the inquiry committee, the entire operation inside the prison took no more than 45 minutes. However, militants in the pickets on roads and rooftops around the incarceration centre maintained a presence for nearly two hours.

â€œThe attacking party took the Daraban and Aarra road routes to reach their safe haven; a couple of militants used the Yarak (Bannu) road to make their escape good [sic], while those manning roads and positions disappeared in the city,â€ says the report.

The document is silent, however, on what action â€” if any â€” was taken by the police and the military that were also holding positions in the vicinity (as shown in the rough sketch annexed to the report) to capture the fleeing militants and prisoners.

What it does provide are details of the elaborate measures taken by the police, the Elite Force, the army, and district and divisional commissioners to ward off the attack following a July 27 intelligence warning. These included meetings, visits to the prison, joint mock exercises and the deployment of personnel.

Having probed the role of the district officers of the civil administration and that of the police and the Elite Force, the inquiry committee recommended punitive action.

None was taken. The brunt of what was actually the failure of the state apparatus to prevent or respond to the raid was borne by officers of the prison department â€” whose jail manual authorises them to quell unrest within prisons alone.

The Pakistan Army, says the report, was conducting its own investigation into the debacle.

Either the chief minister did not take that early morning briefing or his staff did not inform him. Either way, no action was recommended or taken against any of the officers at this secretariat.

The report dismisses the â€œthinkingâ€ as â€œflawedâ€ that â€œthis state of affairs [would] taper down and eventually halt with the withdrawal of foreign troops from the Afghan soil. The withdrawal of foreign forces will only eliminate the Nato versus Taliban layer of conflict within Afghanistan â€” militant groupsâ€™ presence in Fata will continue and so will the attacks in settled areas,â€ it warns.

Concluding its recommendations, the inquiry committee asked the PTI-led government to emphasise upon the federal government the need to â€œextricate all armed groupsâ€ from the country. As long as even a â€œsemblance of these outfitsâ€ continues to exist, warns the report, â€œattacks on government installations and personnel shall continue unabated, irrespective of any obsessive strengthening of the provincial security apparatusâ€.

Five shot dead in Keenjhar lake shrine

Iqbal Khwaja

THATTA: Four youths and an old man were found shot dead on Saturday evening at the mausoleum of the legendary â€˜Nooriâ€™, located on an islet in the middle of Keenjhar Lake.

THATTA: Four youths and an old man were found shot dead on Saturday evening at the mausoleum of the legendary â€˜Nooriâ€™, located on an islet in the middle of Keenjhar Lake.

The dead were Malik Mohammed Ali, Adnan Yousufzai, and Sohail Masood of Karachi, Jahangir Akhtar of Gilgit and Bilawal Khan of Rawalpindi.

The police seized a Honda car that was leased out from Bank Islami and registered on Jan 24, 2006.

Sources said Keenjhar police arrested Gul Mohammed, a motorboat operator who was reportedly hired by the deceased for Rs1,000 to visit the mausoleum.

Eyewitnesses told Dawn that after parking their car by the lake, some people hired the boat and sped towards the mausoleum.

They said the motorboat returned within 30 minutes and the operator told them that the picnickers had asked him to pick them up later.

The boat operator said that when he did not get any call by evening, he went to the islet to bring the five men back. However, he was horrified to see all of them in a pool of blood.

He said they had been shot in their heads and were lying beside the grave. He then rushed to the police station to give information.

Imtiaz Shah of the Sindh Tourism Development Corporation, Thatta ASP Asad Malhi and other police officials told Dawn that surprisingly all the deceased who were attired in jeans seemed to be sitting, as if praying. And all of them had been shot in the head.

The sources said that wallets, cellphones and identity cards belonging to the five were collected by police. However there was no trace of the weapon used in the murders. Some pellets were found, though.

When contacted, Thatta SSP said he didnâ€™t believe that only five people had visited the mausoleum or that the picnickers had committed suicide. He said another boat could have followed the one hired by the deceased to get to the islet.

The police official noted that there were no signs of any resistance that might have been put up by the five ill-fated men. â€œThe men could have jumped in the lake to save them but that did not happen, either,â€ he remarked.

â€œItâ€™s quite strange that the men chose to visit the mausoleum in the evening in this cold weather. Itâ€™s desolate at this time of the day.â€

The bodies of the deceased were later shifted to a bank branch near the lake. No FIR had been registered till the filing of this report.

Nepra approves 27 paisa hike in power tariff

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority approved on Thursday an increase of 27 paisa per unit in power tariff for all companies of Wapda under monthly fuel adjustment.

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority approved on Thursday an increase of 27 paisa per unit in power tariff for all companies of Wapda under monthly fuel adjustment.

The Central Power Purchase Agency had requested Nepra to allow a 45-paisa increase for the next billing month on account of higher generation cost during November last year.

About a fortnight ago, Nepra had rejected the application for want of data on system losses and verified expenses of gas infrastructure development cess being paid to independent power producers despite being held in abeyance on judicial intervention.

In the absence of verifiable data about cess collection, Nepra did not allow the amount to be recovered from consumers in the shape of 18 paisa per unit and approved an increase of 27 paisa.

The decision to allow 27 paisa increase was made at a public hearing presided over by Nepraâ€™s acting chairman Khwaja Mohammad Naeem.

The increase will be charged in the next billing month.

The Central Power Purchase Agency had reported that its average fuel expenses on power generation in November was worked out at Rs7.42 per unit compared with reference fuel cost of Rs6.966 per unit approved by Nepra and hence the requirement for tariff increase.

Treason trial and rumours

From the Newspaper

From the moment the three judges of the special bench set up to try retired General Pervez Musharraf for treason entered the cold auditorium on Thursday morning, they faced a crowd of unrelentingly aggressive lawyers. Most of them offering arguments were far more senior to those seated on the podium, under a huge painting of a young Jinnah clad in a suit, against the backdrop of a library.

On one side of the makeshift courtroom was what appeared to be the most formidable defence team put together in recent times. From the glassy-eyed Jadugar of Jeddah to Anwar Mansoor Khan to Khalid Ranjha and Ahmed Raza Kasuri â€” the legal eagles were ready to fight for their client. Whatâ€™s not clear, however, is what attracted the motley crew to the case: the cause or simply the moolah.

On the other side was the thickset Akram Sheikh, â€˜heavyweightâ€™ enough to single-handedly take on the legal galaxy.

As it happened, the first salvo on the judges was a gentle one. In his soft-spoken manner, Khan, a former attorney general, spoke about his â€˜perturbed state of mindâ€™. He said it had been framed by â€˜namaloom afraadâ€™ â€” not the Karachi variety obviously â€” who had kept knocking on his door all night. This harassment, he felt, was not only unacceptable but also enough to adjourn the proceedings (if not scuttle them altogether) to Monday.

The judges were not impressed.

The heavy guns were then brought out.

As Sharifuddin Pirzada was helped up to the rostrum, one of his co-counsel, Ibrahim Satti, accused Sheikh of having threatened the entire defence team.

Satti told the bench that in response to Kasuriâ€™s allegations a day earlier â€” who had told the court that Sheikh was â€œNawaz Sharifâ€™s secretaryâ€ â€” Sheikh had, before the judges appeared, threatened to unleash â€œa thousand monstersâ€ on Pirzada & Co.

â€œMonsters?â€ whispered those seated on the low green chairs of the auditorium to confirm that they had heard it right. An unrepentant Shaikh raised the temperature in the room by admitting to the entire conversation.

In the ensuing pandemonium, Khan and others walked out, oblivious that Pirzada was still hanging on to the podium (literally) and talking to the judges.

â€œOne can only hope that this is his last case,â€ remarked a journalist. â€œBut what if thereâ€™s another PCO to be defended?â€ mused another one, ever a pessimist.

But the â€˜mother of all walk-outsâ€™ lasted only as long as their clientâ€™s resolve to be a politician â€” instead of an invulnerable dictator â€” and face courts and the tribulations of a political career.

They returned soon enough as Pirzada had in their absence answered in the affirmative (with the qualification of â€œprobablyâ€) when the judges asked if Musharraf was going to appear in court. A day earlier the court had ordered that he be produced on Thursday.

As a result, the former dictator had been expected at nine-thirty in the morning. But he was missing when the trial and fireworks began, though the Rangers were present not just inside the auditorium but also around the small building which is located right next to the huge prime ministerâ€™s secretariat that Nawaz Sharif now works out of.

By eleven-thirty, it was being whispered that he had left for the court.

But as his lawyers continued to wrangle for an adjournment, it was suddenly announced by a police official that Musharraf had got a â€˜heart problemâ€™ and was diverted to the AFIC, apparently the last refuge of â€˜faujisâ€™ being chased by courts.

Long before the news came, though, few had believed that he would actually turn up â€” his appearance in court would have led to charges being framed; Musharraf becoming an accused instead of simply being a suspect; and his trial for treason finally getting under way.

And this is precisely what his lawyers focused on avoiding.

They had thrown a raft of petitions at courts in general â€” challenging the formation of the bench of the special court; the appointment of the prosecutor; and the trial of Musharraf in a civilian court. They have now filed these petitions with the special court after they were rejected by regular courts.

Their argument on Thursday was that the trial could not begin till these objections are addressed.

And then there is the quiet campaign about harassment (remember Khanâ€™s â€˜namaloom afraadâ€™) and unfairness.

One of the less high-profile lawyers held forth in front of a few hacks about the unfairness of the trial. â€œThis would never happen in England,â€ he said. He ran off before he could be asked if a dictator that fired a judge and imposed a state of emergency â€œwould happen in good olâ€™ Englandâ€.â€”Arifa Noor

Another blast hits Hezbollahâ€™s bastion: four dead

From the Newspaper

BEIRUT: A car bomb killed four people in southern Beirut on Thursday, the fourth attack to hit the Hezbollah bastion since the Shia group announced its intervention in Syria last year, the health minister said.

The bombing came just weeks after a twin suicide bombing killed 25 people at the Iranian embassy in the same area and marked a new breach of the tight security in Hezbollahâ€™s stronghold.

Hezbollahâ€™s public confirmation last April that its fighters had intervened in the Syrian civil war alongside President Bashar al Assadâ€™s forces has deepened sectarian divisions.

â€œThe toll from the terrorist explosion in Haret Hreik is four killed and 65 wounded,â€ Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said in a statement.

Earlier, a ministry source had reported five killed.

A source said he saw flames and smoke rising from burning vehicles and at least three damaged buildings.

Hezbollahâ€™s Al Manar television aired footage of bystanders scrambling to douse burning vehicles in a car park beneath a building whose facade had been burned out.

â€œThe terrorist explosion targeted a densely populated residential area, just 150 to 200 metres away from Hezbollahâ€™s political bureau,â€ Al Manar reported, but said the building was not thought to have been the target.

The district is symbolic for Hezbollah, which once based many of its leadership institutions in the area.

Much of the neighbourhood was reduced to rubble during the massive Israeli air bombing that accompanied its 2006 war with Hezbollah, but it has since been rebuilt.

The blast hit the busy Al Arid Street commercial district. Panicked residents scurried around the streets as Al Manar broadcast warnings to leave the area for fear of further bombs.

The official National News Agency reported that the blast was caused by an explosives-packed four-wheel-drive vehicle.

President Michel Sleiman said the car bomb had been planted â€œby the same hand that plants terrorism, killing and destruction everywhere in Lebanonâ€.

In a statement, he called for solidarity among the Lebanese and dialogue among the countryâ€™s divided leaders, and called on the security services to double their efforts and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said â€œthe hand of terrorism does not differentiate between us, and it does not want stability for this country.

Rather, it is planning a despicable conspiracy to drown the Lebanese in sectarian strife.â€ The US embassy tweeted: â€œWe condemn todayâ€™s terrorist bombing in #Dahieh #Beirut. Our condolences to the victims and their families.â€

And British Ambassador Tom Fletcher tweeted: â€œCondemn unequivocally todayâ€™s callous attack in Beirut. Lebanese civilians again victims. Thoughts with their families and emergency teams.â€â€”AFP

Passengers stranded in Antarctica rescued

From the Newspaper

SYDNEY: All 52 passengers who spent Christmas and New Year trapped on an icebound Russian research vessel in Antarctica were airlifted from the ice on Thursday in a dramatic rescue mission.

SYDNEY: All 52 passengers who spent Christmas and New Year trapped on an icebound Russian research vessel in Antarctica were airlifted from the ice on Thursday in a dramatic rescue mission.

A Chinese helicopter which landed on a makeshift landing pad next to the marooned ship ferried the scientists, tourists and journalists in groups of 12 to an Australian government supply ship, the Aurora Australis.

The passengers had been stuck for 10 days in thick pack ice 100 nautical miles east of the French base of Dumont dâ€™Urville after their vessel Akademik Shokalskiy became frozen in place.

Three icebreaking ships had been unable to clear a path to it.

â€œAurora Australis has advised AMSA that the 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy are now on board,â€ the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said late on Thursday.

Expedition leader Chris Turney expressed his â€œgreat reliefâ€ that the complex operation, which had been fraught with setbacks and challenges, finally went off without a hitch.

â€œWeâ€™ve made it to the Aurora Australis safe and sound. A huge thanks to the Chinese and the (governmentâ€™s) Australian Antarctic Division for all their hard work,â€ Mr Turney tweeted

The Sydney Morning Herald, which has a reporter aboard the Aurora Australis, said many of those brought off the Russian ship were relieved, with one woman crying tears of joy.

â€œIt really has been an emotional rollercoaster,â€ Joanne Sim told the newspaper.

Their ordeal began on Dec 24 when a southerly front and blizzard trapped the Shokalskiy in a dense ice field which several icebreakers â€“ the Australis, Franceâ€™s Lâ€™Astrolabe and the Chinese-flagged Xue Long â€“ were unable to penetrate.

Efforts to reach the Russian vessel by sea were abandoned on Tuesday in favour of an aerial rescue using the Xue Longâ€™s helicopter, but heavy weather and sea ice stymied efforts until late Thursday.

A window of favourable weather allowed the Chinese crew to begin ferrying passengers at around 5pm Australian time (0600 GMT), with groups collected from a landing pad stamped out in the ice beside the Shokalskiy and ferried to an ice floe near the Australis.

AMSA confirmed that all passengers had reached the Australian ship at 10:16pm, some five hours after Mr Turney first announced that the mission was under way.

Though they are free from the ice the group is not expected to reach dry land for several weeks yet, with the Australis having to travel back to the southern city of Hobart via Australiaâ€™s Casey Antarctic base to refuel.

The Shokalskiyâ€™s crew of 22 will remain on board until the ice breaks up and she can sail on under her own steam. The ship is well provisioned and those on board have not been in any danger.

Mr Turney posted a number of videos documenting the rescue, including the red helicopterâ€™s first touchdown on the landing pad, the initial group of passengers trekking across the ice and a second load taking off towards the Australis.

The initial plan had been for the helicopter to ferry the passengers back to the Xue Long, where they would board a barge to be transferred to the Aurora Australis, the Australian governmentâ€™s Antarctic re-supply ship.

But sea ice prevented the Australis from launching its barge on Thursday, forcing a rethink.In the end, the passengers were flown from the stranded ship to an ice floe near the Aurora Australis, and then brought on board the Australian icebreaker in a rescue ship.

AMSA had estimated the rescue would involve five trips of up to 12 passengers and another two flights for equipment and luggage.

Passengers on the stranded ship â€“ an eclectic mix of scientists, tourists and journalists â€“ had been following in the footsteps of Australian Sir Douglas Mawson and his 1911-1914 expedition.

The team has been carrying out the same scientific experiments that Mawsonâ€™s group conducted during their expedition, partly in an attempt to discover how quickly the Antarcticâ€™s sea ice is disappearing.â€”AFP

Kejriwal wins trust vote with Congress support

Jawed Naqvi

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal won the trust vote on Thursday for his six-day-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government with the backing of his erstwhile bete noir, a clutch of Congress party deputies.

The confidence motion moved by PWD Minister Manish Sisodia was carried after a four-and-a-half-hour debate at the end of which Mr Kejriwal appealed to the members to decide â€œon which side they areâ€.

â€œI want to present three issues. Delhiâ€™s aam aadmi (common man) has taken the lead in telling the country as to which direction the national politics should go. They should also decide as to which side they areâ€¦,â€ the 43-year-old head of the minority government said.

The Congress on its part has promised support â€œeven for a full five-year termâ€ if Mr Kejriwal continues to pursue his promised pro-people policies.

Promising to take stringent action against anyone corrupt whether in the previous Congress government, the municipality controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party and his own government, Mr Kejriwal said he was not seeking support of the members for his party or even the government but for the issues facing Delhi.At the end of the debate, pro tem Speaker Matin Ahmad asked those in favour to stand up followed by those against.

Later, he declared the motion as passed and congratulated the chief minister before adjourning the house.

The 28 AAP members along with seven of Congress, a lone Janata Dal (U) member and an independent stood in support while 31 members of BJP and one member of its ally Akali Dal stood against it.

The fate of the motion was a foregone conclusion after Congress leader Arvinder Lovely declared that his partyâ€™s seven members would support the government and said the backing would continue as long as the regime worked in the interest of the people, even for five years.

However, the BJP opposed the confidence motion and accused Mr Kejriwal of compromising with the â€œcorruptâ€ Congress for power and becoming silent on the corruption of the previous Congress government.

Replying to the taunts by the BJP that he has stopped talking of the corruption of the Congress after taking support from it, Mr Kejriwal said: â€œI want to assure the house that anyone found corrupt whether those in the last 15 years of the Congress government or (the municipal council) or our own government, we will take stringent action against them.â€

Giving a definition of who is an aam aadmi, he said that it was one who wanted to live honestly and by truth whether he was rich or poor.

â€œAll of them can be called aam aadmi. Who were we? We were all outsiders, we were small people without any capability,â€ Mr Kejriwal said, adding that the countryâ€™s politics had been spoiled and abducted.

The politics has become corrupt because of criminalisation. Education, health and roads are in bad state because of corrupt politics, he said.

â€œWe need to get together to cleanse the politics. We were challenged to enter politics, contest elections and make your own laws. The fight was impossible and there was zero possibility of victory and then we decided to take the plunge and cleanse politics.

â€œThe leaders of big parties made the biggest mistake thinking where was the common man going to contest elections.

â€œThen we decided to contest elections. People used to make fun of us. Fourth and Eighth of December, a miracle happened. I was an atheist but now I realise there is God. People of Delhi proved truth canâ€™t be defeated,â€ he said.Mr Kejriwal said that the people of Delhi took the first step of showing the nation the direction in which the nation could be liberated from corrupt politics.

Supreme Court seeks defence ministry report

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has sought a report from the defence ministry in a case about a missing person after the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance (CIED) concluded that the matter pertained to enforced disappearance.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan took up on Wednesday the case of Atiquer Rehman, an engineering student at the University of Lahore, who had gone missing from Ferozwala in Sheikhupura in July 2012.

The court asked Additional Attorney General Tariq Khokhar to inform the defence ministry about the entire situation, especially in the light of a fresh report submitted on behalf of the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence on Tuesday. The two premier agencies claimed that they had neither picked up Rehman nor had any information about his whereabouts.

On the other hand, the CIED in its findings said on Tuesday that prima facie the case of Atiquer Rehman was of enforced disappearance and the intelligence agencies should be asked for his whereabouts and recovery.

Tariq Khokhar informed the court that Atiquer Rehman had received in July last year a phone call from his friend Abdul Wahid for a meeting. Both met at a place near Ferozwala police station and bought some snacks from a nearby shop. They were later picked up by a raiding team comprising personnel from Punjab police, some plainclothes policemen and commandos.

Four of the seven eyewitnesses said in their statements that the policemen and commandos who had come to pick up Rehman and his friend in different vehicles were in their respective uniforms.

Abdul Wahid was released after four months and he said in his statement that he and Rehman had been kept separately during captivity.

A joint investigation team comprising officials of intelligence agencies and civil security agencies sought more time to complete the probe into the case.

The court will resume hearing after 10 days to consider a report to be submitted by the additional attorney general after informing the defence ministry about the issue.

Palestinian envoy dies in Prague home blast

From the Newspaper

PRAGUE: The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Jamal al Jamal, was killed by a blast in his Prague residence on Wednesday, police said, ruling out a terrorist attack.

PRAGUE: The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Jamal al Jamal, was killed by a blast in his Prague residence on Wednesday, police said, ruling out a terrorist attack.

â€œWith regret, we confirm this information (on his death) provided by the emergency services,â€ Prague police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova said.

â€œThe evidence the police have doesnâ€™t suggest anything like a terror attack or that a specific person would set up a system with the intention to hurt or kill anyone,â€ she added.

Daniel Langer, surgeon at the Prague military hospital to which Mr Jamal was taken, told Czech television the ambassador had suffered devastating â€œhead, belly and chest injuries following an explosion.â€

Mr Jamal, who took office in October, had only recently moved to the new residence on the northern outskirts of Prague.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said the blast occurred on Wednesday morning as Mr Jamal â€œwas opening an old safe which had been brought from the previous embassy (building) to the new one.â€

â€œMinutes after opening the safe the explosion took place, causing serious injury to Ambassador Jamal who was taken to hospital and operated on,â€ the ministry said in a statement.

Ms Zoulova said the blast was probably caused by an anti-theft system on the door of the safe.â€œWe cannot rule out mishandling the device. The victim has died so it will be harder to prove the cause,â€ she said, adding the police were also searching a building next door which also belongs to the Palestinian embassy.

Quoting sources close to the police investigation, the Novinky.cz news site said the police had found â€œa significant quantity of weapons and explosivesâ€ in the building.

â€œI cannot confirm this information right now,â€ said Ms Zoulova.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said it would â€œsend a high-level delegation to Prague (on Thursday) to speak with Czech officials and cooperate in the investigation into the cause of the explosion.â€â€”AFP

US assails planned release from Afghan prison

From the Newspaper

KABUL: The United States on Wednesday criticised the planned release of 88 suspected militants from an Afghan jail, branding the men as â€œdangerous individualsâ€ who could threaten security as Nato forces withdraw from the country.

Disagreement over the fate of the prisoners is the latest point of friction between US and Afghan authorities who are stuck in a bitter stalemate over a security accord that would allow some US troops to stay after 2014.

Bagram jail was finally handed over to Afghan control by the US in March after a public stand-off with President Hamid Karzai, who has presented the jail as a symbol of Afghanistanâ€™s efforts to regain its national sovereignty.

Many of those still held in Bagram are suspected high-level Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, and the US has long been concerned that Afghanistanâ€™s weak and corruption-prone security forces could allow them to return to the battlefield.

â€œThe Afghan Review Board has exceeded its mandate and ordered the release of a number of dangerous individuals who are legitimate threats,â€ Colonel Dave Lapan, a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

â€œBased on the evidence and the risk these individuals pose to the peace and security of the Afghan people... their cases should be addressed by the formal Afghan justice system.â€

The review board last year ordered the release of 648 prisoners, of whom 560 have been freed. The US is disputing the release of the final 88.

The 12-year war in Afghanistan is increasingly unpopular in the US, and often fraught relations between Kabul and Washington have again worsened over Mr Karzaiâ€™s refusal to sign the security accord.

Some analysts believe the Afghan government hopes that the Bagram prison releases could help kick-start moribund peace talks with the Taliban who were ousted from power in 2001.

This year will see the end of the US-led Nato combat mission in Afghanistan as 85,000 foreign troops pull out, though the security accord would allow several thousand US soldiers to remain to train and advise Afghan security forces.

Signing the agreement is a precondition for the delivery of billions of dollars in Western aid for Afghanistan.

A leaked US intelligence assessment said this week that progress in Afghanistan was likely to be seriously eroded by 2017 even if some US troops stay and Western powers continue to support Kabul financially.â€”AFP

India setting up anti-graft watchdog

From the Newspaper

NEW DELHI: Indiaâ€™s president took the final step to create a powerful anti-graft watchdog on Wednesday, signing it into law two years after a mass anti-corruption movement swept the country and galvanised politicians into action.

Parliament saw rare unity last month when the ruling Congress and main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) approved the bill creating a corruption ombudsman with sweeping powers to prosecute politicians and civil servants.

President Pranab Mukherjeeâ€™s approval of the law comes as the country gears up for elections due by May.

Voters have become increasingly incensed by a string of corruption scandals that have engulfed the nation.

Anti-graft hero Arvind Kejriwal, now Delhi chief minister, and his upstart Aam Aadmi party, whose mission is to clean up pervasive corruption and create a â€œbribe-free Indiaâ€, trounced the Congress party in Delhi state polls last month.

Mr Kejriwal was a key member of the anti-corruption movement launched by social crusader Anna Hazare who demanded the tough law back in 2011. Legislation was stalled by political bickering and debate about the extent of the billâ€™s scope. The Congress-led government has been hit by a series of graft scandals, from allegations of illegal distribution of telecom licences to the 2010 corruption-tainted Commonwealth Games.â€”AFP

Iranian embassy explosion suspect held

From the Newspaper

BEIRUT: Lebanese troops have arrested the leader of the Al Qaeda-linked group that claimed a double suicide bombing at the Iranian embassy in Beirut in November, the defence minister said on Wednesday.

Majid al Majid, the emir of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, â€œwas arrested by the intelligence services of the Lebanese army in Beirutâ€, Defence Minister Fayez Ghosn said.

â€œHe was wanted by the Lebanese authorities and is currently being interrogated in secret,â€ he added.

Saudi Arabiaâ€™s interior ministry also confirmed that Majid Mohammed Abdullah al Majid, a Saudi citizen, was on a list of 85 suspects wanted by the kingdom.

The Azzam Brigades was designated in the United States as a â€œterrorist organisationâ€ in 2012, and has in the past claimed responsibility for firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon.

The group was formed in 2009 and is believed to have branches in both the Arabian Peninsula and Lebanon, with the latter named after Ziad al Jarrah, a Lebanese citizen who participated in the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.

The Lebanon branch has sporadically fired rockets into northern Israel since 2009 and the Brigades also claimed responsibility for the 2010 bombing of a Japanese oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.

It is named after the Palestinian mentor of the late Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. He was killed in a 1989 bomb blast.

According to Islamist websites, Majid was declared as the leader of the Brigades in 2012.

On Wednesday, a Twitter account belonging to Sirajeddin Zreikat, a member of the Sunni extremist group, appeared to have been suspended. Zreikat had claimed responsibility in the groupâ€™s name for the Nov 19 double bombing at the Iranian embassy in Beirut that killed 25 people.â€”AFP

Complete US pullout not desirable: Jilani

Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON: The withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan is not desirable, says Pakistanâ€™s new ambassador as the United States prepares to begin the pullout.

WASHINGTON: The withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan is not desirable, says Pakistanâ€™s new ambassador as the United States prepares to begin the pullout.

â€œEven the talk of US pullout has started having its impact. Pakistan has started to receive more Afghan refugees than before,â€ said Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani. â€œThis shows that the people of Afghanistan too have fears.â€

The United States plans to withdraw most of its combat troops from Afghanistan by Dec 2014. Although it intends to leave behind a smaller force to help the Afghan government, Kabulâ€™s continued refusal to sign a required security agreement can jeopardise this plan too.

Talking to Dawn on his first day in office, Mr Jilani said his first priority would be to strengthen trade and economic ties with the worldâ€™s economic superpower.

â€œDefence and security ties obviously are equally important but cooperation in the energy sector would be the main task that one has to carry forward,â€ he said.

Mr Jilani, who has served in India too, urged New Delhi to take advantage of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifâ€™s genuine interest in improving relations with the neighbour. â€œThey will lose a big opportunity if they do not,â€ he said.

The prime ministerâ€™s visit to Washington in October, he said, also gave him â€œa degree of advantageâ€ in his new assignment by â€œsetting the tone for a very positive engagement between the two countriesâ€.

The â€œpositive vibes we got from all sidesâ€ during the visit and after â€œgive us a good hope that we will be able to maintain this trajectory in relations,â€ said Mr Jilani.

The ambassador agreed with the suggestion that 2014 would be crucial for determining Americaâ€™s role in South Asia but said that itâ€™s still early to speculate how the situation would shape up.

â€œIn case the bulk of the troops withdraw, the major responsibility would lie on our shoulders. Security responsibilities, previously being shared by others, then exclusively become Pakistanâ€™s responsibility. It is certainly going to be a big challenge,â€ he said.

The expected withdrawal of US troops would require Pakistan and the United States to coordinate very closely for peace and stability in Afghanistan, said Mr Jilani while noting that â€œthere are more convergences now than was the case in the pastâ€.

The decision to leave some US troops in Afghanistan or withdraw all would depend on the United States and Afghanistan signing a bilateral security arrangement, because BSA was also a congressional requirement, he said.

Commenting on a recent US intelligence report which predicted that the Taliban would regain their influence if Nato forces withdrew, Mr Jilani said the Taliban were an important factor in Afghanistan and so far all efforts to bring about reconciliation between the Taliban and others produced no results.

â€œFrom our assessment, they will continue to play a very important role and thatâ€™s why Pakistan feels that this process of reconciliation is key to stability in Afghanistan,â€ he said.

Reconciliations between the Taliban and the Afghan government and among all other factions in Afghanistan were both extremely important, he said.

The holding of fair and free elections in 2014 would also play a crucial role in bringing stability to Afghanistan, said the Pakistani envoy while noting that for first time the Afghans were going to elect somebody of their choice.

Reconciliation and dialogue with Taliban has always been a consistent policy of Pakistan, which was â€œmisread and misinterpretedâ€, said Mr Jilani who was his countryâ€™s secretary for foreign affairs before coming to Washington. â€œBut now the world has come around to accepting Pakistanâ€™s point of view.â€

Hailing the Doha process as a positive development, Mr Jilani noted that those Taliban leaders who went to Doha were still there, indicating their continued interest in the dialogue process.

Mr Jilani rejected the claim by some US lawmakers that while verbally Pakistan supported the US peace plan for Afghanistan, secretly it backed the militants.

â€œWe did everything possible to play a very positive role, deployment of troops on the Afghan border and our efforts towards various initiatives were all deeply appreciated by the core group,â€ which includes Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States, he said.

â€œMy effort would be to develop better understanding, particularly at the level of the US Congress. This (criticism) shows that there are certainly a lot of misperceptions about what Pakistan is and has done. It will require more interaction with Congress.â€

While Pakistan was trying to curb militancy in the tribal belt, â€œwe feel that some responsibilities lie on Nato and Isaf forces as well,â€ Mr Jilani said.

â€œThe militants have to travel 20 kilometres to cross into Afghanistan and 300 kilometres to reach Kabul. Now whose responsibility it is to control those 300 kilometres?â€ he asked. â€œWe donâ€™t have a military presence inside Afghanistan.â€

Mr Jilani noted that in the last two years, cooperation among US, Pakistan and Afghan forces had increased to a great extent and military to military and intelligence to intelligence cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan had also improved.

The ambassador rejected the suggestion that Pakistan was against giving India a role in Afghanistan.

â€œPakistan will not object to any legitimate mandate that is pursued by any country, but when they go beyond their legitimate mandate, we will have very serious concerns,â€ he said.

â€œWe have no problem if India plays a stabilising role, but to destabilise Pakistan by using Afghan territory that will be a major concern.â€

Asked if he believed India was involved in stirring trouble in Balochistan, Mr Jilani said: â€œIndia is certainly not playing a very positive role, they are definitely involved.â€

Asked if he agreed with the US intelligence assessment that by 2017 the central government in Afghanistan may become irrelevant, the Pakistani ambassador said that would also depend on how the international community stayed engaged with Kabul.

He also urged all neighbouring states to observe complete non-interference in Afghanistan if they wanted to give that country a chance to stabilise.

Tax returns: PAC seeks clarification

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: Perturbed by media reports about non-submission of tax returns and hiding sources of income by lawmakers, the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly has sought clarification from the finance secretary and chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue.

A meeting of the committee presided over by Syed Khurshid Shah of the PPP on Tuesday said that FBR chairman Tariq Bajwa and Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood owed an explanation about â€˜distortedâ€™ information attributed to their departments on tax returns of parliamentarians.

Sheikh Rohail Asghar of the PML-N appeared more upset because of what he described as a deliberate campaign to discredit members of parliament by releasing wrong information about their taxes and returns.

â€œAs a member of the National Assembly my tax is deducted at source, but I am being painted as if I donâ€™t pay taxes. It is ridiculous,â€ he said.

Naveed Qamar of the PPP also said that a full-fledged campaign had been launched against lawmakers which needed an urgent clarification from the FBR chairman.

Musharraf files intra-court appeal

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: A day before his possible indictment by a special court, former president retired General Pervez Musharraf filed on Tuesday an intra-court appeal (ICA) against rejection by the Islamabad High Court of his three petitions seeking â€˜high treasonâ€™ trial by a military court and challenging the establishment of the special court and its members and appointment of Advocate Akram Shaikh as head of the prosecution team.

The IHC dismissed the petitions on Dec 23, a day before the commencement of his trial for high treason.

In his judgment, Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan of the IHC had observed that â€œthe contention of (Musharrafâ€™s counsel) is not correct for the reason that the petitioner is being tried for the offence committed under Article 6 of the Constitutionâ€¦..since the constitution has overriding effect over all the other laws, including the Pakistan Army Act, the prayer that the petitioner be tried under the Army Act is not correctâ€.

The ICA filed by Gen Musharrafâ€™s lawyer Dr Khalid Ranjha in the IHC contended that the appellant was entitled to be treated on a par with other identical matter. It said: â€œOf recent General Khalid Gul Khan, General Muzaffar Afzal and General Khalid Zaheer held offices of director general of NLC and on being found involved in misappropriation they were sought to be tried by the National Accountability Bureau. They stood retired but the army intervened and restored their ranks even so as to render them triable before the court martial.â€

The ICA said the army opted to try its officers because the offences had been committed by them at the time when they were on the roll of the army. The federal government referred the case for court martial.

The appeal said the right of fair trial and due process was fundamental right of the appellant, adding that he had the right to be treated like others before a court of competent jurisdiction i.e. court martial.

It alleged that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had some personal grudge with Gen Musharraf and they played active role in the establishment of the special court and appointment of its three members.

The deepest scars

From the Newspaper

The whirr of the sewing machine comes to a halt as Mohammad Ali looks up.

The whirr of the sewing machine comes to a halt as Mohammad Ali looks up.

The clean, square-shaped face looks younger than the 28 years he quotes as his age.

He was injured in Kurram in April 2012. After six months at a military hospital in Kohat, he was sent to the Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (AFIRM) Rawalpindi, where he continues to be treated.

He has now been a familiar face at AFIRM for ten months as he is fitted with a prosthetic leg and undergoes therapy. He is being taught how to use a prosthetic limb as well as go about everyday life. In addition, Ali is also learning to sew so â€œI can be of use when I return to my unitâ€, he says softly, without any doubt in his voice about his â€˜returnâ€™.

The young man from Skardu had joined the army in 2006 and after six years, he is among those jawans of the Pakistan army who have paid the real price for the war the country has been fighting in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas since 9/11.

Pakistanâ€™s complex and troubled relationship with its armed forces has meant that very little attention has been paid to the young men who have died or suffered serious injuries while fighting in Fata. Debating the militaryâ€™s conduct in the war and its successive chiefsâ€™ attitude towards the militants, few have remembered the fate of uniformed survivors, along with the civilians, of the terrorist attacks.

As Ali moves around the hospital on his crutches, he provides a human face to this story.

According to a newspaper report, the armed forces have suffered over 15,000 casualties in Fata since 2008.

And many of them, like the young man from Skardu, end up at AFIRMâ€™s sprawling premises in a busy corner of Pindi. This military-run institute provides tertiary level care to ordinary soldiers who need to be fitted with prosthetics; teaches them how to go about their ordinary daily routine after having lost a limb; speech therapy for those who may have suffered injuries to their brains; and physical and mental rehabilitation.The wards of AFIRM are a painful reminder of what this war has meant for ordinary young men who entered the army.

All of them remember the exact date on which they were injured. There is no vagueness about that day.

â€œSipahi Mohammad Tauseefâ€ lies in bed, his lanky body covered by a white sheet. He was injured on â€œMay 12, 2012â€ within months of his entering the army while Abdul Malik from Lakki Marwat, who can sit up on his bed and joined the Frontier Corps back in 2007, was injured on â€œJune 28, 2012â€. But beyond the dates, their stories merge into one another. Most of them recount that they are out on a patrol on foot when the convoy hits an IED. Evacuated to the nearest hospital, they are treated there â€” amputations and surgeries take place as does the paperwork for a place at AFIRM. Pindi usually becomes their next destination.

Though it is difficult to get exact figures from the military or the hospital of the injured soldiers since 9/11, the hospitalâ€™s rapid expansion in recent years provides some sense of the numbers. It was only an outpatient institute till 2005 which has since transformed into a 100-bed hospital while catering to 1,000 outpatients every day. Its beds are reserved for soldiers who spend months between here and home as they are treated.

Malik was in Sibi at a checkpost. He and three others moved to the side of the road where they triggered a land mine at â€œeleven in the morningâ€. He caught the worst of the blast â€” first evacuated to the headquarters, he was sent to CMH Quetta, where a rod was placed in his left arm and the right one amputated before he was sent to AFIRM.

He goes home occasionally to visit his family but keeps returning to the hospital.

Tauseef, on the other hand, suffered a spinal injury due to which he has no sensation below his waist because of which he cannot even spend too long at home â€” without expert care, an overlong stay at home gives him bed sores. His doctor, a petite, fair, young woman in a sari and a head scarf, explains that he may be given stem cell therapy.

What are the chances of such patients? She says that â€œif successful, the patients can get sensation backâ€ in their limbs but not â€œmotor skillsâ€. â€” Arifa Noor

Prices of petrol, diesel may rise

From the Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: Prices of major petroleum products like petrol and diesel are expected to increase by up to 2.6 per cent on Tuesday night.

ISLAMABAD: Prices of major petroleum products like petrol and diesel are expected to increase by up to 2.6 per cent on Tuesday night.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) sent a working paper to the government on Monday after calculations that the petrol price would have to be increased by Rs2.91 per litre and that of diesel by Rs2.63 per litre.

However, it recommended to the government to reduce the petroleum levy to keep the prices unchanged to protect consumers from inflation.

In its working paper, Ogra estimated that ex-depot petrol price would be increased to Rs115.67 per litre from the existing Rs112.76, up by 2.58pc. The price of high speed diesel was calculated to go up to Rs119.38 per litre from Rs116.75, showing an increase of 2.25pc, or Rs2.63, per litre.

According to Ograâ€™s calculations, the price of kerosene will go up to Rs109.38 from Rs108, up by Rs1.38 or 1.28pc. The price of light diesel oil will rise by Rs1.80, or 1.78pc, to Rs103.04 from the current Rs101.24 per litre.

The ex-depot price of high octane blending component has been estimated at Rs141.23 per litre for next month compared with the current Rs137.73, showing an increase of Rs3.6, or 2.61pc. â€”Khaleeq Kiani

Sindh delimitation exercise illegal: SHC

Tahir Siddiqui

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has declared as illegal the entire delimitation exercise carried out for local government elections in Sindh and directed the provincial government to hold the elections as per schedule â€œon the position as existing prior to delimitation processâ€.

In a 78-page judgement on Monday, a two-judge bench, headed by Justice Mohammed Ali Mazhar, said the provincial government might request the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan for an extension in the date of elections if it thought that delimitation was necessary before the polls.

The court suggested that an independent commission should be formed by the government â€œwith proper rules and procedure to deal with the objections and also provide an independent forum of an appellate authority to hear and decide the appeals in delimitation casesâ€ if the date of elections is extended by the apex court.

With these directives the court disposed of as many as 17 petitions challenging the delimitation process.

The court struck down the amendments made through sections 3, 4 and 8 of the Sindh Local Government (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 (passed by the Sindh Assembly) whereby a proviso has been added to sub-section (1) of section 13, sub-sections 12 & 14 have been added to section 18 and a substitution made in Schedule-I, in Part-C under the head â€œUnion Committee in Metropolitan Corporationâ€ for the figures â€œ40,000-50,000â€ to the figures â€œ10,000 to 50,000â€ in the Sindh Local Government Act 2013.

The court ruled that the amendments were in violation of sections 12, 13, 34, 35, 36 and 153-A of the LG Act and also contrary to articles 17, 25, 140A, 218 and 219 of the Constitution.

The order said: â€œThe entire delimitation exercise carried out by the delimitation officers is declared to have been conducted in violation of sections 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, and the guidelines issued by the government. Consequently, the final delimitation proposal published in the official gazette on 13.11.2013 for Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and Larkana divisions and the notification dated 21.11.2013 published for Karachi Division both are set aside.â€

The court observed that delimitation of constituencies was a serious business â€œwhich cannot be done in a slipshod manner or in spur of moment but it requires hectic and strenuous effortsâ€.

â€œEven in our own Delimitation Act, 1974, detailed procedure is provided for delimitation of constituencies in which the commission has to receive and consider representation, hold inquires, summon witnesses and record evidence and shall prepare and publish in the official gazette a preliminary report,â€ the bench said.

No doubt, it observed, the provincial government had prerogative to delimit union councils and wards under sections 10 and 11 of the SLGA 2013, but under the letter of law it was clearly provided that it had to maintain territorial unity.

â€œWe feel no hesitation to hold that sub-sections 12 and 14 added to section 18 of SLGA 2013 by third amendment ordinance, whereby a mandatory condition was imposed for formation of panel that consists of nine candidates, were illegal and in violation of articles 17 and 25 of the Constitution,â€ the court said.

It noted that through imposition of amendments, an independent candidate who might be so pious, competent and had integrity and entitled to contest election was ousted, which was a sheer violation of sections 35 and 36 of SLGA 2013 in which no condition of panel was imposed.

The court observed that under the fresh rules, no individual could contest the election as an independent unless the person formed a panel. It termed the law unique and said it infringed upon the fundamental right of a citizen.

The court said that no justification had been forwarded by the provincial government for this amendment except that this exercise would save a large number of ballot papers.

Taliban to grow in strength by 2017, says US report

Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON: The Taliban and other militant groups will have the upper hand in Afghanistan by 2017 even if the United States maintains a small military presence in the country, says a new US intelligence report.

Known as the National Intelligence Estimate, the report includes input from all 16 American intelligence agencies and is prepared for US policymakers and lawmakers.

In another report also released this year, the US intelligence community predicted that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba would continue to be the most multifaceted and problematic of the Pakistani militant groups. â€œThe group has the long-term potential to evolve into a permanent and even Hamas/Hezbullah-like presence in Pakistan,â€ it warned.

The Washington Post, which has seen a copy of the latest estimate, reported on Saturday that it portrayed a dismal picture of the security situation in Afghanistan.

It warns that the situation would deteriorate even more rapidly if the US and the Afghan government do not sign a security deal for keeping a small international force in Afghanistan after next yearâ€™s drawdown of American troops.

The report claims that any gains made by the United States and its allies will be lost by 2017 as the Taliban and other groups become increasingly influential in the war-torn country.

Another version of the 2013 report, which covers first half of the year, say that Pakistan is â€œintently focusedâ€ on Afghanistan, anticipating Isaf drawdown. The Pakistani government has attempted to improve relations with Kabul and to ensure that its views are taken into consideration during the transition period.

The Pakistani military this year continued operations in Fata, and, as of late 2012, had forces in place for an operation against the militants in North Waziristan. There were fewer domestic attacks by TTP militants this year than in the previous several years.

Since the latest report comes at a time when the United States prepares to withdraw most of its combat troops from Afghanistan, it focuses on the situation in that country.

Although its predictions are bleak, the report dispels the impression that the deterioration will bring the Taliban into power.

Instead, it predicts that the central government in Kabul may lose influence over parts of the country and become increasingly irrelevant. This will be a repeat of the conditions that led to the Afghan civil war of 1992-1996.

â€œThis conclusion is widely shared among US officials working on Afghanistan,â€ the Post reports

US intelligence analysts did not provide a detailed mapping of areas they believe are likely to become controlled by specific groups or warlords in coming years, the Post adds.

The central government will lose control also because it will not have the power to â€œpurchaseâ€ loyalties of regional warlords, the report says.

The earlier version of the 2013 report also includes an assessment of Pakistanâ€™s economic troubles.

â€œEconomically, trouble looms. Pakistan, with its small tax base, poor system of tax collection, and reliance on foreign aid, faces no real prospects for sustainable economic growth,â€ it warns.

Commenting on the economic performance of the previous Pakistani government, the report says that it is â€œunwilling to address economic problems that continue to constrain economic growth.â€

S. Arabia pledges $3bn for army: Lebanese president

From the Newspaper

BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia has pledged $3 billion for the Lebanese army to buy equipment from France, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman announced on Sunday.

BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia has pledged $3 billion for the Lebanese army to buy equipment from France, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman announced on Sunday.

The kingdom â€œdecided to provide generous assistance to Lebanon in the form of $3 billion for the Lebanese army to strengthen its capabilities,â€ Sleiman said, adding that it was the largest assistance provided in Lebanonâ€™s history.

French President Francois Hollande, on a visit to Saudi Arabia, said his country would â€œmeetâ€ any requests from Lebanon.

â€œI am in touch with President Sleiman... If requests are addressed to us, we will meet them,â€ Hollande told reporters answering a question about Sleimanâ€™s announcement that came as the French leader arrived in Riyadh for talks with King Abdullah.

The aid pledge comes amid mounting sectarian tension in Lebanon related to the war in neighbouring Syria.

Lebanonâ€™s powerful Hezbollah movement is fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assadâ€™s forces against an uprising that many Lebanese Sunnis support.

Saudi Arabia is a leading backer of the dissidents battling Assadâ€™s regime, which has relied on strong support from Iran.

Sleimanâ€™s announcement comes two days after a bombing that targeted a leading critic of Hezbollah and the Syrian regime, though the Saudi aid pledge did not appear to be directly related.

He said the money would be used to buy weapons from France, pointing to the â€œhistorical ties that link it to Lebanon and the depth of the military cooperation between the two countriesâ€.

Sleiman did not specify what weapons would be purchased.

Lebanonâ€™s armed forces are woefully under-equipped and face multiplying security challenges, underlined by the bomb attack on Friday and rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel on Sunday that prompted return fire from the Jewish state.

The armed forces are responsible for domestic security as well as national defence, and contain members from across Lebanonâ€™s multi-sectarian population.

The powerful Hezbollah movement remains the countryâ€™s best-armed and trained organisation however, and its arsenal has drawn domestic criticism, including from former prime minister Saad Hariri and the so-called March 14 coalition.

BD police stop Khaleda from leading march; two dead

From the Newspaper

DHAKA: Police barred Bangladeshâ€™s opposition leader from leaving home on Sunday to lead a banned march in protest against an upcoming election, as two people died in battles between her supporters and security forces.

Police fired water cannon and shotguns during clashes throughout the capital with hundreds of demonstrators, some of whom threw home-made bombs.

Scores of officers blocked Khaleda Zia from leaving her home in an upscale neighbourhood in Dhaka in her car for the march, fearing her presence would inflame unrest in the build-up to the Jan 5 election.

Ms Zia, a two-time former premier, had been scheduled to address supporters converging in Dhaka for the march that she called to try to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to quit and halt the poll.

Ms Zia, who is under de facto house arrest, harangued the rows of officers barricading her front gate, as she again urged her supporters to converge in the capital for the so-called â€œMarch of Democracyâ€.

â€œYouâ€™re supposed to be on the streets, why are you now in my gate? Donâ€™t touch me!â€ Ms Zia told the officers.

â€œThis government is illegal. Democracy is now dead,â€ she told reporters gathered at her house.

The march is the latest tactic by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies in a campaign to force Ms Hasina to quit and make way for a neutral caretaker government to oversee the polls.

Police battled protesters who tried to gather at the oppositionâ€™s headquarters, the national press club and other places throughout Dhaka.

In the Rampura neighbourhood, officers fired shotguns at more than 200 bomb-throwing demonstrators in clashes that left one person dead. A security guard at Dhakaâ€™s Kamalapur Railway Station was killed by a small bomb thrown by protesters, a senior police officer said.

â€œWe fired shotguns to disperse the protesters who exploded dozens of small bombs (in Rampura),â€ assistant police commissioner Nur Alam Siddiqui said, adding that one protester later died in hospital.

Ruling party activists armed with sticks and rocks also attacked pro-opposition lawyers and demonstrators outside the countryâ€™s top court and at the press club.

Police fear the rally will provoke more bloodshed after what has already been the deadliest year for political violence since independence in 1971.

Protests, strikes and transport blockades called by the opposition throughout the country since October have left more than 100 dead and crippled the impoverished nationâ€™s economy.

Police detained more than 1,000 opposition supporters as a â€œpreventive measureâ€ before the latest march, while authorities suspended Dhaka-bound bus, ferry and train services â€“ virtually cutting off the city from the rest of the country.

Police spokesman Rahman said the arrests were made before the march â€œto prevent acts of violence and sabotageâ€.

â€œWeâ€™ve not approved the BNP protests. So anyone trying to gather outside the BNP office will face arrest,â€ he said.

Five sand-laden trucks were parked outside the gate of Ms Ziaâ€™s residence before the march, apparently to stop her from leaving.â€”AFP

NSA tapped into undersea cables: report

From the Newspaper

BERLIN: The US National Security Agency has collected sensitive data on key telecommunications cables between Europe, North Africa and Asia, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Sunday, citing classified documents.

Spiegel quoted NSA papers dating from February and labelled â€œtop secretâ€ and â€œnot for foreignersâ€ describing the agencyâ€™s success in spying on the so-called Sea-Me-We 4 undersea cable system.

The massive bundle of fibre optic cables originates near the southern French city of Marseille and links Europe with North Africa and the Gulf states, continuing through Pakistan and India to Malaysia and Thailand.

â€œAmong the companies that hold ownership stakes in it are France Telecom, now known as Orange and still partly government-owned, and Telecom Italia Sparkle,â€ Spiegel said.

It said NSA specialists had hacked an internal website belonging to the operator consortium to mine documents about technical infrastructure including circuit mapping and network management information.

â€œMore operations are planned in the future to collect more information about this and other cable systems,â€ Spiegel quoted the NSA documents as saying.

Der Spiegel has over the last several months reported mass NSA spying on targets in the United States and abroad using documents provided by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

A White House-picked panel this month recommended curbing the secretive powers of the NSA, warning that its spying sweeps in the â€œwar on terrorâ€ had gone too far.

US President Barack Obama plans to address the report in January.â€”AFP

Miramshah blast: two injured

The Newspaper's Correspondent

Security personnel cordoned off the area and conducted a search operation. Gunship helicopters were also called in to help in the operation.

Security personnel cordoned off the area and conducted a search operation. Gunship helicopters were also called in to help in the operation.

Meanwhile, a bullet-riddled body of an Afghan citizen was found near Amin checkpost in Miramshah on Sunday. The corpse was sent to Afghanistan.

Illegal abroad, victims at home

Zulqernain Tahir

LAHORE: Sent home from Greece on board a special flight, Ishtiaq Ahmed was faced with a deporteeâ€™s second nightmare: â€œWill they put me behind bars?â€

LAHORE: Sent home from Greece on board a special flight, Ishtiaq Ahmed was faced with a deporteeâ€™s second nightmare: â€œWill they put me behind bars?â€

After the flight landed in Lahore, Ahmed felt so weak in the knees that he could barely stand up. He feared being pounced upon by the officers of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and put in jail for eternity.

â€œFinally, I mustered up the courage and walked up to the immigration counter,â€ he says and recalls the horror befalling him as he heard the dreaded words. â€œ â€˜You --- you step asideâ€™.

â€œThe immigration official then looked at my passport and remarked: â€˜You are deportee, wait hereâ€™.â€

â€œI begged them for my freedom as I had already suffered a lot before getting deported for my illegal entry into Greece.â€

What Ahmed got in return was a series of tough questions. The FIA men made him fill in a form detailing his stay in Greece. But they were more interested to know about the human smuggler who had overseen his illegal transportation to Greece.

Pakistan is a signatory to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) document which makes it mandatory to â€œtreat deported persons as victimsâ€.

Ahmedâ€™s freedom upon his return home was thanks to that document but there are still complaints that Pakistan is far from fully meeting its obligations.

Recently the FIA headquarters issued a circular to the immigration staff at all airports of the country. It said the FIA personnel were to ensure that deported persons were treated as victims and were not detained.

Before Pakistan signed the IOM document a few years ago FIR could be registered against all deportees under Immigration Ordinance. Under the law, a deported person faces imprisonment of up to 10 years and fine. However, the FIA no more applies it to all deported persons.

Greece is the favourite destination for Pakistanis. Only Lahore airport received over 2,000 deported persons (victims) this year. â€œMore or less a similar number was received by the other major airports, Islamabad and Karachi,â€ an FIA official said.

The number of deported persons from Saudi Arabia has swelled this year following its crackdown on illegal immigrants. During the last few months some 7,000 Pakistanis have been deported from Saudi Arabia, according to officials.

The â€˜victimsâ€™ divulge the details of the smugglers to the FIA but when the time comes not many of them turn up to testify against the smugglers. â€œUsually they make out-of-court settlements, contributing their bit to the poor conviction rate,â€ an official said.

Ahmed reached Greece early this year through a land route --- Balochistan, Iran, Turkey --- before being caught. His advice to those who may care to listen is: â€œThere are no guarantees that you will reach the dream destination safely.â€

Open season in punjab

Salman Rashid

Indeed, in April 2013, this writer saw frequent groups of grey partridges feeding fearlessly by the side of the less frequented roads of the Soon Valley.

Indeed, in April 2013, this writer saw frequent groups of grey partridges feeding fearlessly by the side of the less frequented roads of the Soon Valley.

But good things do not last forever. A notification issued by the Department of Forests, Wildlife and Fisheries permitted licensed hunting of partridges every Sunday from Dec 15, 2013 to Feb 15, 2014 in 27 sub-divisions of Punjab. One among these was Khushab sub-division of which the picturesque Soon Valley is a part.

As day dawned on Dec 15, there descended upon the idyllic glens of Soon men in four-wheel-drive vehicles to ride roughshod over range and farmland in pursuit of game birds. Though the licence permitted a bag of only six grey partridges and five see-see, the hunters, mostly well-connected, blatantly exceeded the bag limit.

As the second Sunday of the hunting season ended, Haral had an audience with Asif Bha Awan, the provincial Minister for Forests, Wildlife and Fisheries, to request an immediate moratorium on hunting. According to Haral, the minister expressed his powerlessness in reconstituting the ban.

He also points out that in 2011 the season was declared open but a simple petition to the DCO at Khushab led to the ban being re-enacted after just one Sunday of shooting.

Asif Haral says that two Sundays of chasing after spooked cattle and blocking mindless drivers from entering the fields has frayed the nerves of local livestock and land owners. He fears it is only a matter of time before things turn ugly.

Dr Farooq Awan, a native of Naushehra town in Soon Valley working for the agriculture department, estimates that no fewer than 100 hunting parties invaded the valley on the first two Sundays. He concurs with Arif Haral that bags exceeded the permitted limit.

According to him, although there is a clear danger of things turning ugly, the more alarming aspect is that in eight weeks, the birdlife of Soon Valley will be all but exterminated.

The writer is author of several books

Student dies in clash at Al Azhar

From the Newspaper

CAIRO: A student was killed on Saturday and scores were arrested when supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood clashed with police at the Cairo campus of Al Azhar University, state media reported.

CAIRO: A student was killed on Saturday and scores were arrested when supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood clashed with police at the Cairo campus of Al Azhar University, state media reported.

Shaimaa Mounir, a student activist, said the dead student was Khaled El-Haddad, a supporter of the Islamist movement which has continued daily protests after the government designated it a terrorist organisation recently.

State-run newspaper Al-Ahram said security forces fired teargas to disperse pro-Brotherhood students who were preventing their classmates from entering university buildings to take exams. Protesters threw rocks at police and set tyres on fire to counter the teargas. Al-Ahram quoted a health ministry official as saying that one student had been killed and five injured.

Police arrested 101 students for possession of makeshift weapons including petrol bombs, the state news agency reported. Calm had been restored, and scheduled exams went ahead after the morning clashes.

Al Azhar, a respected centre of Islamic learning, has for months been the scene of protests against a â€œmilitary coupâ€ that deposed Mohamed Morsi as president in July after a year in office.

The Brotherhood condemned what it called a â€œviolent crackdown on student protestsâ€, saying in a statement that the deployment of security forces on university campuses was an attempt by the government to â€œsilence any voice of oppositionâ€.

Two university buildings caught fire in Saturdayâ€™s violence. State TV broadcast footage of black smoke billowing from the faculty of commerce building.â€”Reuters

Actor Farooq Sheikh dies

Jawed Naqvi

NEW DELHI: Indian actor Farooq Sheikh, the plump and unlikely hero of many Bollywood films, has died. He was 65.

NEW DELHI: Indian actor Farooq Sheikh, the plump and unlikely hero of many Bollywood films, has died. He was 65.

Press Trust of India reported that Sheikh suffered a heart attack on Friday in Dubai, where he was visiting with his family.

Starting with a scrupulously understated career in 1973 with M.S. Sathyuâ€™s cult movie Garam Hawa (White Heat), Sheikh played the role of a young man who preferred to join a workerâ€™s rally in India when he was offered to choose to go to Pakistan.

The story of Salim Mirza, played brilliantly by Balraj Sahni, the ordinary Muslim who stays back in Agra after the partition, became popular in both countries for its balance between sensitivity and poetic irony. Ismat Chughtai and Kaifi Azmi wrote it.

Sheikhâ€™s unimposing sense of timing in comic essays prompted Satyajit Ray to assign him the nugget role of a nephew who strikes up a sexual liaison with the cuckolded nawabâ€™s wife in Shatranj Ke Khiladi (The Chess Players).

Sheikhâ€™s role unobtrusively underscored the decay and defeat of an era in a politically charged denouement that ends with the triumph of foreign rule over the kingdom of Oudh.

However, it was his chemistry with Deepti Naval, every cinegoerâ€™s girl next door, and who played his sweetheart in several quietly successful movies that Sheikh will be best remembered for. Chashm-i-Buddoor was one such movie in which three competing Romeos chase Deepti, but only one wins her heart.

The role of washing powder-selling Neha played by Deepti in that Sai Paranjpe magic changed the destiny of a generation of Indian girls. Most of those girls named Neha would be about 30 today, thatâ€™s when the film was released, and the choice was inspired by the romance of Deepti Naval and Farooq Sheikh in that film.

Paranjpe used Sheikhâ€™s controlled histrionics in another wonderful film â€“ Katha, in which he played a romantic conman as a perfect foil to Naseeruddin Shahâ€™s character of a simpleton. The heroine again was Deepti Naval.

Muzaffar Ali got playwright Asghar Wajahat to write one of the best roles Farooq Sheikh played in the small budget film, Gaman, (The Departure). The small town migrant to Mumbai (Farooq) was paired with the dusky Smita Patil in this tragedy about the alienation of workers in an industrial society from their home and hearth.

Ali again cast Sheikh with Rekha in Umrao Jaan. A tragic role in Bazaar, (The Marketplace) pitted him against the immensely talented Supriya Pathak and Smita Patil.

Sheikh appeared in very few commercially driven films but even there he left his mark with aplomb, for instance in Yash Chopraâ€™s Noorie.

â€œGod! Farooq Sheikh passes away! A true gentleman, a wonderful colleague! A quiet honesty about him. Very very sad,â€ wrote his colleague Amitabh Bachchan.

Shah Rukh Khan tweeted: â€œMy biggest regret that I never got to spend time with you, Faroukh sahib, as I had requested. Should have done it earlier. I feel so sorry.â€

Editorial News

Security: mere words

From the Newspaper

THE National Security Council will be strengthened, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared on Wednesday â€” a statement that raises more questions than it answers. Perhaps the prime minister misspoke in referring to the NSC, for when the Defence Committee of the Cabinet was restructured in August, the NSC terminology was specifically avoided and what was birthed instead was the Cabinet Committee on National Security. The difference, presumably, was because of the civiliansâ€™ long-standing reluctance to institutionalise the security establishmentâ€™s role in the crafting of security and foreign policies, at least in a body like the NSC, which would operate alongside rather than under the cabinet. Since the CCNS is viewed as a compromise NSC, the prime ministerâ€™s misstatement could be seen as merely a slip of the tongue. Except, it does raise questions about the seriousness with which the government is working on a new security architecture and policy of the country. For if even the name of the body tasked with overseeing national security policy is misspoken, what does that say about the quality of the discussions within it?

More importantly, how, exactly, does this government intend to go about reorienting national security? Mr Sharif has repeatedly stated that the central planks of his security and foreign policies are better ties with neighbouring countries and an emphasis on trade. That means a focus on resetting ties with Afghanistan and India, while ending the domestic militancy and terrorism threat. But when it comes to taking meaningful steps towards those goals, the PML-N has had little to offer so far. Even the latest step it has taken on the dialogue front with the TTP is more bewildering than reassuring, with few able to understand how Samiul Haqâ€™s induction as an interlocutor between the government and the TTP will work alongside the other channels the government had shown interest in following.

To expect some major overhaul in six months of policy problems that are as complicated as they are old would be unrealistic. But it is the lack of initiative and ideas on the governmentâ€™s part that is truly worrying. On Wednesday, Mr Sharif touted his governmentâ€™s attempts to facilitate talks between the Afghan Taliban and the Karzai government â€” but then in late November Mr Sharif had to stand next to Mr Karzai in Kabul and pledge to allow Afghan officials to meet Mullah Baradar months after he had been allegedly released by the Pakistani state. Everything the government claims to be pursuing on the security- and foreign-policy fronts seems to be rehashed versions of previous attempts that no government was really able to follow through on. Where there is originality â€” as with Mr Sharifâ€™s unquestioned desire to rapidly normalise ties with India â€” there are just words and meetings. Change will only come if the prime minister is willing to back up words with actions.

Acquitted, but still in jail

From the Newspaper

BASHIR Bhatti, a 70-year-old inmate at Adiala Jail, could have been out four years ago if the Lahore High Court bench which acquitted him on July 30, 2009 had enough time to write down the ruling. The order was never written and while the following day has been hailed as a defining moment in the countryâ€™s history, it had grave repercussions for the accused in this instance. On July 31, 2009, the Supreme Court ordered the judiciary purged of those who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order of November 2007. The two judges who had acquitted Mr Bhatti in a murder case, unfortunately, carried the â€˜PCOâ€™ stigma and made their exit. Their unfinished business included the drafting of the judgement that would have set Mr Bhatti free. His lawyer says the appeal will now have to be heard afresh, meaning an extension in the uncertain period for the accused.

This is a glaring example of justice denied, even at a time when the drums were beating in celebration of Pakistanâ€™s advance towards an independent judiciary and rule of law. The accused here has been punished for events he had no control over. He was an appellant looking for relief, regardless of the reputation of the judges. He did not have the freedom to choose a bench of his liking. He moved court, as the court then existed. If anything, the much-maligned PCO judges would appear to him to be the providers of justice as opposed to the judiciary revived or born of the July 31 order, which has paid him no attention since. There may be others like him affected by the sudden change in judges, overlooked by the charged reformists under the leadership of then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Bashir Bhatti has been in jail for more than a decade, which is a long period for a case to be decided. Meanwhile, the grand title of an independent judiciary will ring hollow if it does not entail efficiency by adjudicators at all tiers. Someone has to take the blame for this serious oversight. More importantly, someone has to look into it and see if there are any more like Bashir Bhatti and ensure justice for them without further delay.

Bloody beginning

From the Newspaper

WHILE most of the world welcomed 2014 with celebrations, Pakistan rang in the New Year with a deadly suicide bombing in Quetta on Wednesday. A vehicle loaded with explosives rammed into a bus in the outskirts of the Balochistan capital carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iran. As per reports on Thursday, three of the victims had died while several more were injured. The atrocity illustrates that while dates may change and there may be highs and lows in violence, in Pakistan very little changes where the ongoing wave of religious and sectarian terrorism is concerned and the threat it poses to society. It shows that militants are as unrepentant as ever and willing to shed innocent blood to carry forward their agenda â€” fuelling sectarian hatred in this case. Authorities from the president and prime minister on down have expressed shock over the incident. But much more than outrage and sympathy is required to neutralise the killers that have drenched this country in blood.

For the last couple of years, Balochistanâ€™s roads and highways have become open hunting grounds for terrorists; pilgrims were also targeted in 2011â€™s bus ambush in Mastung. While the new government in Balochistan has taken steps to increase security, such as providing escorts to buses, clearly more needs to be done. After all, when IEDs or suicide bombers are involved, there is little that escort vehicles can do; a vehicle was tagging the ill-fated bus on Wednesday but obviously could not prevent the bombing. The apparent remedy is to strike at the root of the problem. The security establishment has a fair idea about the whereabouts and bases of sectarian and religious militants in Balochistan, especially considering the thick security blanket over the province. The infrastructure of terror needs to be dismantled while better intelligence is required to prevent future atrocities. Balochistanâ€™s terrorism problem will not be solved overnight; however, if the authorities continue to look the other way while the killers go about their business with impunity, more tragedies can be expected.

The wrong choice

From the Newspaper

A PATTERN seems to be developing in the governmentâ€™s so-called strategy against militancy: after meetings with security officials, the resolve to defend the country by whatever means â€” militarily too â€” is reiterated, while after meetings with political allies, the preference for talks is reinforced. If that were not confusing enough, there is no consistency in the talks strategy either, even on something as seemingly straightforward as who will be the principal interlocutors between the TTP and the federal government. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared to have authorised Samiul Haq, the so-called godfather of the Afghan Taliban because of its leadershipâ€™s ties to the maulanaâ€™s infamous madressah in Akora Khattak, to reach out to the TTP and set the stage for dialogue.

What, then, has become of Fazlur Rehman, a fierce rival of Samiul Haq, and his efforts to try and set the stage for dialogue? And what has become of the team of so-called notables who Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan had been on the verge of sending to the Waziristan agencies before Hakeemullah Mehsud was killed in a drone strike? Are the interior minister and prime minister even on the same page anymore? For the interior minister appeared to contradict the prime minister hours after the announcement of Samiul Haqâ€™s new task. The questions just keep piling up, with answers nowhere in sight. About the prime ministerâ€™s new point man for negotiations too there are several questions. Samiul Haq may have some ties with the new TTP chief and his deputy, but in May this year, in an interview with this newspaper, he admitted to knowing little about the TTP and the various groups that operate under its umbrella. So is the government really still just splashing about, looking here, there and everywhere for anything that may work in its bid for talks with the TTP rather than having a focused strategy?

If the possibility of the government not having a coherent strategy to deal with militancy half a year into its rule is unsettling enough, what is equally worrying is how tone-deaf the government appears on the signalling front. Ultimately, government-appointed interlocutors are supposed to help work towards an agreement that reinforces the status quo of the state and the constitution being the only acceptable centres of power and legitimacy. But how can a known Taliban sympathiser help achieve that? Yet again, the government seems to be willing to cede the narrative, initiative and control of a dialogue process to elements who have more in common with the Talibanâ€™s worldview than what Pakistan should be: a constitutional democracy with modern rights and freedoms.

The struggle to live

From the Newspaper

THE last six years or so have been hard for the low- to middle-income segments of the population because of the fast escalating cost of living and shrinking real income. But the last year â€” 2013 â€” was the most difficult of all. Most families seem to have even lost the dim hope of maintaining their existing â€˜standard of livingâ€™ in 2014. Many have already used up their life savings in the last few years as they struggled to cope with rising energy, food, healthcare and education prices. The prices of essentials, according to a report carried by this newspaper on its business pages on Wednesday, shot up significantly during the second half of last year to December as the government implemented a harsh economic and financial reforms programme that has again spared the wealthy. This year too doesnâ€™t promise any relief from the rising price of living for the vast majority of the people. Little wonder then that the prime ministerâ€™s directive in December to hold the oil prices at the previous monthâ€™s level hasnâ€™t impressed many.

It is normal for governments and economists across the globe to compute the impact of inflation on the people through different kinds of indices â€” consumer price index, wholesale price index, or sensitive price index â€” that provide an average of the rise in the prices of essential items on various groups of consumers. These indices tell only a small part of the story. No index can tell how many families stopped sending their children to school after a 50pc increase in the electricity prices. Nor has any index the power to predict how many men, women and children will be forced to sleep on empty stomachs when vegetable prices quadruple overnight. Havenâ€™t we seen our friends and relatives avoid consulting a doctor because it could mean cutting back on some other â€˜more importantâ€™ expense? Policymakers are yet to order a census to calculate the number of people pushed into abject poverty because of the persistently soaring prices and job losses. There is little chance of improvement in the life of common Pakistanis unless the government starts aligning its economic and financial policies to their needs.

Policemanâ€™s murder

From the Newspaper

THE murder of Inspector Bahauddin Babar on Tuesday in Karachi brought 2013 to a bloody close for the personnel of the Sindh police: over 160 policemen were killed in the metropolis in the year gone by. There could be a number of preasons why Inspector Babar was targeted. The slain officer had taken action against religious extremists as well as criminals associated with gangs, while he had also taken part in a Karachi operation in the 1990s. In fact, the number of theories linked to his death reflects the variety of threats in Karachi, as religious militants, common criminals and political militants all contribute to the violence. However, it is believed that the increased targeting of policemen in 2013 was a reaction to the police and Rangersâ€™ operation against criminals that began last September.

It is widely agreed that to defeat urban crime and terrorism the civil police force must be made strong and effective. But, in the case of the Sindh police, especially those serving in Karachi, it seems the state â€” particularly the provincial government and police hierarchy â€” are least interested in the safety and well-being of the force. Despite the large number of policemen falling prey to targeted killings there is no visible zeal on the police departmentâ€™s part to capture and punish the killers of its men. Public statements aside, police officials do little to ensure proper investigations are conducted into the murder of policemen, while at the prosecution stage the stateâ€™s response is equally wanting. And when policemen do lose their lives in the line of duty, the process of obtaining compensation is made unashamedly Byzantine for family members. While the police force is itself guilty of callousness towards its own, the public is just as unmoved about the plight of policemen performing their duty in highly demanding circumstances. The state needs to investigate and punish those involved in murdering policeman while citizens can play their part by at least empathising with officers killed or injured on duty.

Civil-military equation

From the Newspaper

IT could be the last throw of the dice by a desperate man. Indeed, there is little reason to believe him. But former president-cum-army chief Pervez Musharrafâ€™s claim that he has the support of the army as he tries to fight off an imminent trial for treason has raised a number of awkward questions for that most awkward of equations: the civil-military imbalance. Thus far, the army has not taken Mr Musharrafâ€™s bait, refusing to either distance itself from or comment on the former dictatorâ€™s claims about the institution he led for nearly a decade. Silence, as is the wont here, can be interpreted either way: it could be yet another manifestation of the post-Musharraf army leadershipâ€™s decision to steer clear of overt politics or it could be that Mr Musharraf has once again spoken brashly and revealed behind-the-scenes pressure and bargaining. Whatever the truth â€” and the truth is rarely, if ever, known to the public when it comes to the doings of the army leadership â€” this is a certainly a delicate moment for the new military leadership.

As ever, the problem is that the perpetrator is also a victim of sorts and the victims, perpetrators of sorts. Mr Musharraf is clearly and unquestionably guilty of overthrowing the Constitution and illegally installing himself in power in 1999. That coup was facilitated by many, endorsed later by some and finally indemnified by parliament. It was never a single individualâ€™s decision or doing. But the former dictator is not even facing trial for 1999; he has only been charged with the imposition of emergency in 2007. And while everyone â€” including then-prime minister Shaukat Aziz â€” has tried to distance themselves from the November 2007 emergency, there is little doubt that there were many supporters of that move too. So if Mr Musharraf is puzzled or bewildered, as his flurry of recent interviews seems to indicate, why he alone faces trial, he does have a point. But the civilian leadership is quiet on that matter, preferring to cast Mr Musharraf as the only villain in the piece.

Elsewhere too the civilian leadership is silent: there is no movement at all on the Supreme Court judgement in the Asghar Khan case which set the stage for the trial of another former army chief and a director of the ISI. Presumably, that is because of the awkward issue of the principal beneficiaries of the rigged 1990 elections being back in power today. Nevertheless, while the civilians continue to fail on some fronts, the onus really ought to be on the army. No more protected class; Mr Musharrafâ€™s fate should be decided by the civilians and the courts.

LG poll mess

From the Newspaper

IT would be a pity if local government elections in Sindh were to fall victim to a legal tangle. The provincial government is in a quandary. On Monday, the Sindh High Court declared the amendments it made to the relevant law unconstitutional but decreed that the elections be held on time â€” Jan 18. Information Minister Sharjeel Memon said the ruling would be challenged in the Supreme Court and for that reason the elections would have to be postponed. Evidently, the three parties that went to court have won politically and legally. The MQM, PML-N and the PML-F had petitioned the Sindh High Court against the Sindh Local Government (Third Amendment) Ordinance because it was in conflict with several articles of the Constitution. At the same time, they pleaded that the polls be held on Jan 18. The court agreed with the three parties and declared the amendments ultra vires of the Constitution. The MQMâ€™s plea was that the clauses added to Section 18 of the bill had created disparity in the delimitation of many constituencies, some electoral units having as many as 50,000 voters and some as few as 10,000.

The Sindh government has paid for its haste. Despite its majority in the provincial assembly, it should still have had the sagacity to amend the law after consulting the other parties. It ignored this vital principle of democracy and now has to face a negative court verdict. Although it followed the legal route, the MQM should also realise that it could have had an LG law acceptable to it if the party had joined the provincial government. Are municipal elections now possible in Sindh? Clearly, the answer lies with the Election Commission of Pakistan. Even if the Supreme Court grants a stay against the high courtâ€™s decision, elections will still be held on Jan 18 under the law the Assembly amended. In November, the Supreme Court upheld the ECPâ€™s request for postponing the elections in three provinces. This breather should have enabled the ECP to get ready for the job. The body charged with the task of holding elections must now declare categorically whether it is in a position to hold the municipal polls on Jan 18 â€” something Balochistan did last month.

Bilawal House security

From the Newspaper

UGLY scenes were witnessed near Bilawal House, Asif Zardariâ€™s Karachi residence, on Sunday as PPP and PTI workers traded blows after Imran Khanâ€™s supporters showed up to protest against the barricades surrounding the premises. The clash was predictable as tension between both parties had been brewing after Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made uncharitable remarks about Imran Khan during his speech at Garhi Khuda Baksh on Dec 27. It was after this speech that the PTI suddenly felt the urge to protest against the encroachment on public roads for Bilawal Houseâ€™s security. The violence could have been avoided had senior party leaders on both sides reined in their respective supporters during the protest.

It is true that Mr Zardari and his family face significant threats, especially considering the former presidentâ€™s and his sonâ€™s outspoken criticism of militants. And after having already lost Benazir Bhutto to an act of terrorism, the lesson is that the threat must be taken seriously. However, the question remains: does providing sufficient security to Bilawal House and its residents necessarily have to mean encroaching upon public space and causing inconvenience to area residents? Ever since Asif Zardari entered the presidency, those living and working around Bilawal House have had to suffer as access to homes and businesses has been severely restricted. During his tenure, the thick layer of security was perhaps justified. But now that he has left office, does he face the same threat level? Providing security to Bilawal House must be balanced with the right of local citizens to move about freely. While the PTIâ€™s protest was motivated by political point-scoring, the inconvenience to area residents â€” in fact, to residents in all areas where streets have been blocked due to the presence of â€˜importantâ€™ people in their midst â€” is very real. Hence the PPP should free up the roads around Bilawal House, even as the state continues to provide proper security to the party leadership. Other barricaded areas, too, must not be allowed to hamper public movement.

Opportunity and perils in 2014

From the Newspaper

NOW the real business begins â€” or could, if the leadership so willed it. The year 2013 was one of unprecedented transition, even of the unexpected kind with the elimination of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakeemullah Mehsud. Thus far though the new parliament, new prime minister, new army chief and new Supreme Court chief justice have no great achievements to their name â€” and perhaps having spent only months, and in some cases just weeks, in their new jobs it was unrealistic to expect too much of substance. But at this point the excuses must end. Great opportunity and, as ever, threats are at hand. Most obviously, the eyes of the world will be on Pakistan as the drawdown and handover in neighbouring Afghanistan take place. But internally too there is much that can be fixed â€” or go further wrong if the right decisions are not taken. And of all the key figures, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be the leader with the biggest stage to prove if he is capable of true leadership.

Start with internal security. The TTP remains a formidable threat to the security and stability of Pakistan as do the other militant and sectarian groups that have spread out across the country. In fact, militancy and terrorism are the single greatest threat to Pakistan today. The security establishment has finally accepted that fact after many years of vacillation, but now it is the political class that remains unsure about the extent of the threat. Whether it is because of the politics of Imran Khan or Punjabâ€™s bargain with the militant devil, the PML-N government has thus far remained content with its anti-militancy strategy resting at talks about talks. That must change, and it inevitably will once the TTP settles under its new chief â€” for talks, as articulated by the government, is a chimera. And if talks do fail, or never get off the ground, then what is the alternative? It is not enough that the PML-N wants to raise a special counterterrorism force in Punjab. Surely, a national approach is needed and must be demanded of a prime minister who represents all of Pakistan.

The second area which needs urgent focus is the economy and the energy sector. The prime minister has talked a good talk when it comes to the economy, but, as ever, the actions donâ€™t quite match. Take last weekendâ€™s decision to hand over Pesco to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government after Imran Khan demanded it. By now, the PML-N should have a clear road map for reforms in the electricity sector, especially on how to turn around the various component organisations in the sector. If that were the case, then why would the PML-N just hand over a distribution company to a provincial government? It does not send a very reassuring message about the federal governmentâ€™s confidence in its own plans, to say the least. And there is very little left to say about the terrible budget management of the PML-N so far.

The third challenge is of the political and governance kind. Certainly, there is unprecedented space for the democratic process in Pakistan today. But the political leadership â€” at the centre or in the provinces â€” has not been able to raise its own performance yet. Ultimately, be it the civil-military divide or the publicâ€™s disenchantment with politicians, it will take better leadership and better results by the politicians themselves to protect and strengthen the democratic project.

As for the prime minister, India and Afghanistan beckon â€” a historic opportunity to reset ties for the better with important neighbours who will undergo their own transitions in the year ahead. Mr Sharif has said so many of the right things about both countries and does appear to mean them. But history will only be made by a leader who is willing to lead from the front. The country can only hope Nawaz Sharif is that leader in 2014.

Pesco challenge

From the Newspaper

THE â€˜face-offâ€™ between the PML-N and PTI on the critical issue of the countryâ€™s power troubles is nothing but political posturing by the two rival parties. When Imran Khan claimed at his partyâ€™s anti-inflation rally in Lahore that the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could control the massive financial losses being suffered by the Peshawar Electric Supply Company, plug the widespread power theft and recover bills from consumers, perhaps he was not expecting such a prompt and â€˜positiveâ€™ response from the rulers in Islamabad. The PML-N government at the centre was quick to accept the â€˜offerâ€™ because it afforded the party a very good opportunity to put its rival on the mat. On the recommendation of his water and power minister, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has agreed â€œin principleâ€ to give Pescoâ€™s control to the PTI government. So what is the hitch, and why the hesitancy?

The KP government has now come up with a long list of demands â€” such as clearance of the companyâ€™s balance sheet, continuation of the federal subsidy to compensate for Pescoâ€™s losses that have been incurred over a period of five years, handing over of all hydel generation projects, the assurance of the supply of 1000MW electricity to the province during winters, and what not â€” that the centre must accept before it transfers Pesco to the KP government. If the PML-N knows that the provincial government cannot fix the festering power problems, the PTI is also quite conscious of the fact that the centre cannot and will not agree to its new set of demands. It is regrettable that both the parties are trying to score points at the cost of economic progress in the country, and are only exacerbating the anguish that the persistent power shortages are causing to the people. If the two parties are serious about tackling the power problem, they should sit across the table and also invite other major parties and stakeholders to discuss the issue in a manner that leads us all to a durable solution. Political posturing will not address any issue â€” be it the power crunch, economic slowdown or militancy.

The best course for the KP government, or, for that matter, the other provinces, is to encourage and facilitate investors in setting up power plants in their areas rather than making â€˜devolution of the power sectorâ€™ an issue of provincial autonomy. The federal government shouldnâ€™t hesitate in extending help to them in wooing investors as it has been doing in the case of Punjab that is also being ruled by the PML-N. It must not let its focus move away from its declared policy of privatising the power sector â€” generation, transmission and distribution â€” and let the market forces play their role in fixing it. The mess the countryâ€™s power sector has been led into by decades of inefficient, centralised control are too big for the federal and provincial governments to handle. The political parties need to understand that politicking on issues that are stalling the economy and causing huge suffering to the people will not get us anywhere.

D.I. Khan jailbreak: damning report

From the Newspaper

IN the years that Pakistan has been mired in militancy and terrorism, there has been no dearth of detractors maintaining that it is the inefficiencies of different arms of the state â€” if not outright collusion â€” that has allowed matters to reach such a pass. This charge is hotly denied, by state representatives who say they have no part in the mess, and by a citizenry that cannot digest the levels of ineptitude on part of the leadership that this would imply. Unfortunately, there is no denying that with distressing frequency, evidence of such monumental incompetence surfaces that questions cannot but be raised about the stateâ€™s levels of political will and operational ability. In this category must be included the revelations about Julyâ€™s Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak, when militants managed to free over 250 prisoners without so much as a peep from the law enforcement and security apparatus.

It could be argued that a jailbreak on such a large scale would have been difficult to counter â€” except that not only had a similar incident taken place before, this time there was even intelligence that an attack was imminent. Clearly, no lessons were learnt from the assault in Bannu last April, claimed by the TTP, which resulted in nearly 400 prisoners being sprung from jail. Further, in the case of D.I. Khan, the civilian and security administrations had been made aware of the threat and had even made efforts to ward it off. If this was the state of preparedness of the authorities in an area which has long borne the brunt of militancy and terrorism â€” one that has, with great fanfare, been announced as having been brought back into the fold of the stateâ€™s writ â€” what the situation must be in other areas can only be guessed at. Most worryingly, perhaps, the report notes that about half an hour into the assault on the jail, a militant came onto the police wireless frequency to taunt the law enforcers and to say the city would be razed to the ground. The confidence is astounding; the image conjured is of a savvy, well-equipped militant network running merry rings around a helpless state and security apparatus.

The report refers to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan as a â€œFrankensteinâ€ and warns that as long as â€œeven a semblance of these outfitsâ€ exists, the violence will continue unabated and all strengthening of the security apparatus will be in vain. Is the state refusing to look the threat in the eye? Is it shying away from recognising the enormity of the problem? Or, even more disturbingly, is it impotent, unable to muster the strength and intelligence that the task requires? On the answer to this question hinges the future of the country.

Unfair land allotment

From the Newspaper

Then there is the request by former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to have a property in an upscale Islamabad neighbourhood allocated to him â€” four years after he had rejected the very same property. True, there is nothing illegal in simply making a request under the then applicable rules. But the problem is with the rule itself, introduced by Shaukat Aziz as prime minister in 2006, and generally rules that grant civil servants public land must be questioned. Why must any public official be entitled to state land on retirement? Often the properties in question are in some of the most expensive residential neighbourhoods in the country. Surely there is something very wrong with an incentives structure that instals decades-long servants of the state and the people among the propertied elite of the country once they have retired.

The drone challenge

From the Newspaper

DRONES are a problem, but so is Pakistanâ€™s drift towards international isolationism â€” that is the essence of what Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif warned on Saturday, echoing the words a day earlier of the Foreign Office spokesperson, who rightly asserted that there was more to foreign relations than just one issue. The problem though is twofold: when the government speaks sensibly, it speaks too timidly; and there is little apparent effort to find a sustainable solution to the drone conundrum beyond accepting both drones and the political heat they bring as faits accompli. Mr Sharif in particular seems to be perfecting the art of saying the right thing, but then doing little or nothing to back it up. And while words matter, so does the venue. A few words about Pakistanâ€™s drift into isolationism at the inauguration of a new Foreign Office building is neither enough nor the right venue.

The problem with drones is that all sides involved are showing little understanding of or consideration for the complex big picture. The CIA, obsessed as it is with retribution or just preventing another 9/11 after missing the first one, has taken killing from the sky to extremes without caring much about the political and diplomatic ramifications on the ground. The White House has backed the CIA in a myopic and misguided continuation of Bush-era policies, perhaps also because no US president wants to be the leader who let the next 9/11 occur, and the other options in Fata are much less palatable. The security establishment here was, and perhaps still is, content to play yet another variation of a double game â€” this one of private support and public criticism. The civilian governments at the centre have been unable to offer a policy on drones that bridges the gap between US demands and domestic opposition. And then, perhaps looming larger than anyone else on this issue in recent times, there is the PTI and sundry right-wing parties who seem to believe that everything other than militancy itself is the problem in Pakistan.

Troubling as the misdeeds and inaction of the other sides are, what is particularly disturbing about the PTI approach is that it has mistakenly conflated US drones in Fata with the international coalition of troops in Afghanistan. They are not US supply routes that the PTI is bent on disrupting through Pakistan, they are supply routes that many other countries use and will want to rely on as they pull their troops out of Afghanistan. In fact, had it chosen a more patient and mature approach, the PTI may have found that many other countries are also uneasy about drones and want new rules of the game drawn up.

Bilawalâ€™s politics of words

From the Newspaper

Future action cannot be restricted to flaunting oneâ€™s bravado. It has to be about coming up with alternative schemes to improve the lot of the people, economically and socially. The remarks about â€˜cowardlyâ€™ opponents and the droll allusions to a tsunami as he took pot shots at rivals are not going to do the trick. For the PPP to stay relevant in the countryâ€™s politics, the young leader will have to understand what kind of party worker, or â€˜jiyalaâ€™, the situation demands. And he would have to go one step further to accept that the anger of the jiyalas against the party is symptomatic of the reservations that the people at large have vis-Atilde; -vis the PPP. Bilawal Bhutto Zardariâ€™s thunder will signify little unless he takes a look at how some other young scions of known political families are going about consolidating their family and party legacy which the PPP chief too is so eager to strengthen. Flashy slogans have a short lifespan in these times of increased public awareness and informed public demands â€” shorter than in the past anyway. Longevity requires maturity. The young politician has shown energy. He must now come up with policies to reconnect with the people and their aspirations.

Cricketâ€™s winners

From the Newspaper

Columns and Articles

The expendables

Faisal Bari

WHEN there is excess labour, compared to capital, the price (or wage) that labour can command, in a capitalist market-based system, will be low. There is no guarantee that the price would even be enough to allow people medium- to long-term survival. For unskilled labour the wage might drop to the level that shortens life spans and gives the labourers just enough time to reproduce the next generation of workers before becoming useless for the employer.

Pointing this out in all its grimness was one of the contributions that Karl Marx made through his writings. The worker is good only as long as he/she can work, and will be paid only as much as the demand/supply market clearance model suggests, and with excess supply this might mean very low wages, and definitely not a â€˜living wageâ€™.

The model is seen at work in many areas in our society. The daily-wage earners lining the streets in a number of places in big cities, looking for work but usually not finding much, are just the most visible reminders of this phenomenon.

The development of the welfare state, with rules about minimum wages, working conditions, social security, access to health and education, and rights for organisation and agitation, allowed some buffer for the workers. And in many advanced countries, especially in Europe, workersâ€™ rights have, over time, become quite entrenched, and though contested at times, accepted.

Rashid worked for 10 years in an oil-rich country in the Gulf. He was a construction worker. After 10 years of hard labour he has been forced to retire and has returned to Pakistan. Today he is not able to do much. Due to the harsh working conditions he toiled under and with limited access to good food and quality healthcare, he developed a number of ailments that, over time, have become serious.

Today his liver function stands severely compromised, he has diabetes, his kidneys do not work well, his eyesight has deteriorated and these ailments have also contributed to serious cardiac issues. He started developing some of these medical conditions after only about five years of work but he did not seek medical care and did not let his employers know as he was afraid they would cancel his employment authorisation and send him back. But after 10 years, he could not go on.

Working in the open in the extreme summer weather of the Gulf is hard enough; to do so perched on a precarious scaffolding hundreds of feet above the ground, and with little access to water or nourishing food, is torturous. But such were the conditions Rashid had to face every day. And he could not afford to complain or do anything about it.

He was definitely able to earn more in those 10 years than he would have in Pakistan. But the cost has been high. Now his only hope is that his children will be able to benefit from his sacrifices and leapfrog forward owing to the better quality of education he has been able to give them.

Gulf countries provide chilling examples of unfettered market-based wages and work condition-determined outcomes. Many of these countries rely heavily on imported labour, with few rights if any, for most of the unskilled work.

The general impression is that in allowing labour to come to these countries they are doing a favour to labour from less developed countries in South and East Asia. The countries that send them and the labour that works in the Gulf in general, also share the impression. The result is that few rights are accorded to imported labour and there is almost no agitation on the issue even by the countries sending the labourers.

Pakistan relies heavily on foreign remittances, especially from the Gulf states. If insisting on better working conditions means fewer people being taken from Pakistan, the government will be loath to agitate on the issue with the concerned states. So, our need for having our people exploited, as Rashid was, is no different in practice from that of the people responsible for exploitation. People like Rashid will continue to pay the price. They will remain expendable.

Rashid was a construction worker at a large construction company. He still had some formal representation as he used to work in public spaces. Ann, a domestic worker, told me that her last employer, a European couple, used to beat her and verbally abuse her quite regularly. She felt she could not complain to her sponsor as that could mean she would have to go back home. Of course, there was no question of going to the local police. She just waited till her employer left and she was placed with a new employer.

The situation is, clearly, no better in the countries exporting labour. Rashid and Ann would not have left, had conditions been better. But that is not the issue. There is no inevitability about how the current institutional structures have been shaped. They are not ordained in any sense. They are the outcome of manmade architecture. They can be changed and have been changed in many countries.

The Gulf states have the resources to be able to do this. International organisations and countries sending labour should try to encourage a move in the right direction. The situation in labour-exporting countries is more complex.

Till the right to a life of dignity is accepted, the struggle must continue.

The writer is senior adviser, Pakistan, at Open Society Foundations, associate professor of economics, LUMS, and a visiting fellow at IDEAS, Lahore.

Camel caravan

Ashaâ€™ar Rehman

THE news photo of a mule trying to beat the winter chill with a sweater borrowed from its master. The chimpanzee in the Lahore zoo partaking of evolution with sips of the tea served to it to keep warm. Not too long ago, the invasion of Dawnâ€™s lifestyle event by dogs, both ferocious-looking and cuddly. The animals were out in strength in December 2013 to state their relevance to the times.

When the Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif chose to take the visiting Turkish prime minister on a cultural tour â€” to Aitchison College, where else? â€” he chose the buggy as the transportation mode for the occasion.

But that perhaps was not appreciation enough for the Turkish help Shahbaz Sahib has been getting to improve the flow on Lahoreâ€™s roads. So the chief minister stood proudly in his latest get-up, like Omar Sharif playing a character from the Muslim past in a misty Hollywood period film, as a pedigree horse was delivered to His Excellency Tayyip Erdogan.

For those with other preoccupations, a non-governmental organisation fell back on an old method to communicate. It hired a donkey cart, foisted it with banners carrying some basic information for the local government aspirants, and made it roam the streets of Faisalabad.

By far the most eye-catching sight was when the state minister for education, Mian Baleegh-ur-Rehman arrived at a conference in Bahawalpur riding a camel adorned with fast Cholistani colours. Accompanied by the host, the vice-chancellor of Islamia University Bahawalpur, Rehman was there as the chief guest at the trail-blazing conference on camels.

The conference rounded up a series of appearances hinting at some kind of revival of interest in the camel. The camel sacrifice on Eidul Azha is an option more and more Pakistanis are going for with time and in Lahore, it is usual for the sellers to announce availability of camel meat in advance to ensure a good number of buyers.

If this according to the supply-demand theory indicates a rise in the camel population, the countryâ€™s parallel-cures discourse has also been flooded with references to the magical powers of camel extracts, including camel bone which can help get rid of arthritis pain, not to speak of the one that can stave off evil magic. Camel milk is increasingly cited as an effective potent against ailments. Sellers in Karachi, being more enterprising, have deemed it profitable to unfurl notices offering milk at Rs200 a litre.

In backward Lahore, you can have it for half the price, provided you are able to locate the â€˜nomadsâ€™ and their ever-disappearing caravans. Lahore, though, has seen merit in following the Karachi beach in using the camel as a vehicle for making a safe enough cultural statement.

The Punjab capital has pushed its famed tongas into near-oblivion and into the less-advanced districts. But it has allowed the camel-driven carriage to add some spice to the proceedings on The Mall.

This somewhat abrupt â€˜revivalâ€™ of the camel obviously feeds the debate everyone here is eager to take part in. The advance of the camel has to be, inevitably, linked with the Arabisation of the country, as another sign of how the growing links with the Gulf are forcing the converts to emulate without any thought for their local roots and surroundings.

That debate is not going to end soon in the desert our political landscape has turned into. In the meanwhile, it would not do business interests any harm to view the camel conference in a local context, which is native to the desert and Cholistan.

According to a handout by the Islamia University Bahawalpur this first ever International Camel Conference brought together more than 300 delegates, including researchers, scholars, scientists, camel breeders and industrialists from all over the world. Papers were presented focusing on â€œthe safety and growth of this old friendly animalâ€.

For his part, Mr Baleegh-ur-Rehman â€œagreed over the establishment of an International Research Centre on Camel at Bahawalpur and assured complete cooperation on behalf of the federal government for its establishment, with the view that more research and work was still needed in this field to highlight the socio-economic and scientific importance of camelâ€.

He expressed pleasure over the participation of national and foreign delegates in the conference and termed it a big achievement for the promotion of the basic objective of the conference as the papers and the recommendations made by the delegates would help a lot in finding better ways to utilise this historical animal.

He recalled that â€œrecently China had started trade through camelâ€ keeping in view that camel transportation was much better in tough climatic conditions and hard areas while the role of camel for our national defence would always remain highly important so we had to focus on further growth of this animal in own and national interest.â€

Definitely, our â€œownâ€ interests dictate the federal government lives up to its promise. There are plenty of reasons to invest in camel breeding, to protect and invest in the â€œhistorical animalâ€. Among other dangers, it needs a better defence against disease, like the one which reportedly killed 120,000 camels in Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur and Bahwalnagar in the space of two months in 2011.

And before the research widens and a centre for the purpose in Bahawalpur is established, it is good to have the stories emanating from the area having the camel without the horrifying cries of a â€˜kidâ€™ accompanying them. A camel serving the national interest is a relief from the camel-kid who is a source of collective shame.

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

Never-ending game

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar

IF thereâ€™s one subject that the mainstream Pakistani intelligentsia takes seriously, it is regional and global geo-politics. Accepting the diversity, complexity and conflict within our society is beyond many of our brightest minds. But assume that Pakistan is a monolith, engaged in existential conflicts with other states and these same minds prove themselves second to none.

This is not to suggest that international relations isnâ€™t a legitimate field of knowledge. But reducing it, as our establishment lackeys are prone to do, to a narrative of unending conspiracy is another matter. Having said this, thereâ€™s a long history of proxy wars and intrigues in our wider region that precedes the Pakistani state.

It has been almost two centuries since the British and Russian empires pioneered the so-called Great Game as they struggled for control over Central and Southwest Asia. The world has changed since then, but the colonial game has yet to be confined to the dustbin of history.

Amongst its other inheritances, Pakistan was bequeathed with a â€˜strategic locationâ€™. Accordingly, successive (military) rulers have never ceased to remind us about our status as â€˜frontlineâ€™ state. A growing number of people here now recognise the need to move beyond the static worldview that has made perennial â€˜enemiesâ€™ of our immediate neighbours, but those who have made their living on such enmities will not give up their calling so easily.

It is thus that â€˜expertsâ€™ are speculating furiously about the future regional balance of power as the US â€˜drawdownâ€™ deadline draws nearer. Those close to the establishment seem to think that post-2014 Afghanistan is again ours for the taking. The truth is they are simply refusing to acknowledge the host of possible permutations.

To be sure, there are not just a handful of players in the game. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states claim a stake because they comprise the wider region. Beyond this are the global powers â€” most prominently the US â€” that continue to demand a place at the main negotiating table. If thereâ€™s to be some kind of durable peace in Afghanistan and the region, a regional consensus will have to be forged, regardless of Washingtonâ€™s preferred end result. This is why we ought to move beyond our obsession with strategic conflict and start imagining strategic cooperation.

The government would argue that it has done exactly that by engaging China immediately after coming to power. But that is neither here nor there. China has never been regional public enemy number one. That mantle has always belonged to India, with Afghanistan a close second.

Sadly little has changed on that front. Our establishment and its ideologues still view every sign of cooperation between our two immediate neighbours as a conspiracy against Pakistan. We are also not comfortable with Iran, which has an influential role to play both in Afghanistan and the region more generally. There was a suggestion that the gas pipeline project would help turn over a new leaf in relations with Iran and India, but that initiative appears to be dead in the water.

At the end of the day, our closest allies in the region remain the Sunni supremacist states in the Gulf. Notwithstanding the destructive role that our Muslim brethren have played in fomenting bigotry and violence within Pakistani society, our trust in them has not wavered, and is unlikely to in the near future.

For their part, none of these states, least of all the Gulf kingdoms, have yet to take the lead in generating a regional consensus, for Afghanistan or more generally. Hamid Karzaiâ€™s recent rants against Washington suggest that contemporary alliances are hardly to be taken for granted either.

All this suggests that the â€˜Great Gameâ€™ is alive and well. Chances are that things will get even more gory and desperate for the millions caught in the crossfire before anything gets better. And all states who act in the name of these people will continue insisting that their strategic initiatives are in the â€˜greater national interestâ€™.

Yet we cannot obsess about others. Those struggling for the cause of regional â€” and by extension internal â€” peace in this country must continue to wage the battle against a myopic military establishment that seeks to drum up nationalistic frenzy at every available opportunity. Such a policy can only be the source of more proxy wars, palace intrigues, and perhaps most importantly, social discord within Pakistan.

Resisting this policy â€” whether itâ€™s called strategic depth or anything else â€” is an uphill battle because there is no obvious blueprint for peace. Meanwhile influential political and intellectual constituencies simply do not tolerate any affront to monolithic Pakistani nationalism. But regardless of the constraints, all progressives must come together and take on this fight. The game has already gone on too long.

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

Importance of reading

Amin Valliani

THE first command of Allah is about reading (96:1). Generally, reading means to make sense of a written text.

THE first command of Allah is about reading (96:1). Generally, reading means to make sense of a written text.

However, at the time of the revelation, there was no written text in sight. This gives us an idea that reading is not limited to written, printed or electronic text, but includes unwritten text spread all around.

The universe itself is a gigantic, cosmic book having divine signs to be read, reflected on, ruminated and comprehended. One can also read the human face or natural phenomenon appearing in time and space. This leads one to discover possible future trends and happenings.

Over the last many centuries, the sedulous reading of the unwritten text in nature has enabled humans to fathom the innermost mysteries of the natural world. This has also promoted many new branches of science.

The Holy Quran exalts those who have the ability to read. They are considered the cream of society having an additional responsibility on their shoulders to respond to the queries of those who do not know (10:94). For they know and comprehend matters more than others.

The Quran goes a step further, showing the importance of reading in the hereafter. It says that on the Day of Judgement people will be asked â€œRead your book. You yourself are sufficient as a reckoner on this dayâ€ (17:14). If a person does not know how to â€˜readâ€™ in this world, will they be able to read their account in the hereafter? This invites Muslims to acquire the ability of reading as part of the preparation for the ultimate accountability in the hereafter.

History offers evidence that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) used even the services of war captives of the Battle of Badar to make Muslims learn reading and writing as a condition to secure their release.

One of the fundamental aspects of Islam is the special emphasis on knowledge, and reading forms one of the basic means of gaining knowledge. The Prophet encouraged Muslims to read the Quran. In addition to its divine origin, the Quran has remained accessible in all ages; its reading invites believersâ€™ reflection. It lights the path of spiritual development, enables one to differentiate between right and wrong. It develops forward thinking, piety and awareness of the present, past and future to meet any exigency. Believers become more conscious of the purpose of their life and accountability in the hereafter.

Later, many new books were written in the fields of exegesis, hadith, history, philosophy and literature etc. The Muslims were enthusiastic in reading them and their intellectual development owes much to their reading and reflection.

The Quran itself encourages believers to read the Holy Book as it is the source of inspiration, spirituality and guidance. Following its revelation, it was accessible to every Muslim. Other branches of knowledge emerged later but were based on the Quran.

In every society, different forces â€” positive and negative â€” work against each other. In order to make society move in the right direction, development of progressive or reformatory material and reading thereof changes peopleâ€™s minds. It directs them towards development and motivates them to be ethical and conscious of othersâ€™ feelings, contrary to the corrosive material that pollutes peopleâ€™s minds.

For example in pre-Islamic Makkan society, there was a poetic genre called hiju (satire) which contained slanderous propaganda against an enemy person or tribe, triggering the fire of war in society. The Prophet disliked such literature which caused rancour in society.

No nation can ever develop without inculcating the reading habit in its young ones. Reading complements and supplements the development process. A less-read person is often less capable of forward thinking, therefore, he cannot be an active participant in the development of his or her family, society or country. An educated and well-read person is an asset for the nation and can generate ideas for the solution of problems.

It is very unfortunate that we are witnessing the dying culture of reading in our society. People spend their leisure time in gossip, involving themselves in activities of questionable benefit, even though reading has vast benefits. A good book has the capability to change a personâ€™s outlook, personality and habits. A well-read person usually remains serious in dealing with society and its issues.

Our educational institutions need to take some serious steps to inculcate the reading habit at the school and college levels. Students are sometimes forced to read their course books to get good results in examinations, but many rely on â€˜guess papersâ€™. Most students are not inclined to read any literature beyond their course books.

The young need to be motivated through incentives to read good books along with their course books and also draw messages for practical application. The reading of good books impacts students all through their lives.

The writer is an educationist who has written extensively on Islam.

valianiamin@gmail.com

The remaking of PPP

I.A. Rehman

THE interest a large section of society showed in Bilawal Bhutto Zardariâ€™s speech of last Friday is understandable. The qualities of leadership he can display will be an important factor in the remaking of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

One does not have to be a supporter of the PPP to realise that its resurrection is necessary for keeping alive the option of establishing egalitarian democracy. It is for the same reason one welcomes the signs of activism in left-of-centre groups, such as the campaign for land reforms of the Awami Workersâ€™ Party and the decision of the Awami Party of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistanâ€™s National Party to work together.

These efforts are welcome because the political landscape is now almost wholly occupied by rightist formations â€” from right and extreme right to militant right.

In this situation there will be little room for welfarism, basic liberties will be at a discount, the space for civil society organisations is bound to shrink, and the moves to end the imbalance in civil-military relations may run aground. The rise of indigenous neo-con theorists is ominous because they have less capacity to do good than their Western godfathers while their potential for causing harm is perhaps unlimited.

Pakistan badly needs strong left-of-centre voices to prevent the state from becoming completely insensitive to the needs and aspirations of the impoverished masses. The developments in PPP are important because of the partyâ€™s past successes and since it still has a power base in one federating unit.

There was much in Bilawalâ€™s latest speech that deserved notice. His stand on terrorism, for instance, won applause for his courage and clarity of perception. He should know that there is no possibility of a non-Muslimâ€™s becoming prime minister for many decades, yet he lifted the hearts of non-Muslim citizens as nothing else has done since the Aug 11, 1947 speech of the Quaid-i-Azam. Still, much more has to go into Bilawalâ€™s education and training before he can claim the mantle of his mother and grandfather.

The stress on the grooming of Bilawal seems to be part of the belief that the PPP must throw up a dominating leader who has a direct rapport with the masses. That alone will not be enough. The party has a huge leadership vacuum at the centre. Most of the dignitaries that flanked the party chief during the recent past have pushed themselves into the political wilderness and are more of liabilities than assets. In fact, the decline in the quality of the partyâ€™s central leadership has been going on for nearly two decades.

Mr Bhutto was fortunate in having around him quite a few leaders of standing in politics whom he often had to listen to. As he lost them one after another the quality of central leadership declined and Benazir Bhutto had to make do with a company in which spurious coins freely jostled with genuine currency. Bilawal will not be able to do much unless the gap at the top is filled by persons of high calibre and unimpeachable integrity.

The same holds good for the partyâ€™s leadership at the provincial level. One of the major mistakes of the PPP during the past six years or so has been its lack of interest in training good provincial leaders. It needs efficient organisers at the district and city levels too.

The PPP will do itself wrong if it does not properly analyse its latest debacle. Mr Zardari is miles off the mark when he says that the party sacrificed 100 seats in order to save its workersâ€™ lives. The plain fact is that in the last election, the PPP had neither workers of the kind it had 10-20 years ago nor local level leaders. Worse, in the 2013 general election it suffered a hefty erosion of its vote bank, something that had never happened before.

The party has never bothered to understand why the educated middle class, the lower middle class, the artisans and petty businessmen, and the workers, on whose support the party rode to popularity in 1970, deserted it in the years that followed. This exercise has long been overdue.

The politically conscious and hordes of the poor had flocked to the PPP in 1969-70 because of what it stood for. What does it stand for now?

The slogans of 1970 have little pull today. The party in its bid to woo the affluent sections of society gave up the cause of peasants and workers long ago, a costly blunder. Punjab can no longer be seduced with the promise of a 1000-year war with India. Roti, kapra aur makan â€” the slogan of unmatched strength ever â€” does not move the have-nots because no set of rulers showed the will to fulfil its promise.

The PPP also needs to give up the habit of blaming external elements for its misfortunes. That thesis is only partly correct; for much of its undoing the party has to blame itself.

The people need a new political thesis that offers something to all the diverse elements constituting Pakistanâ€™s pluralist society. The remaking of PPP demands a great deal of work at the grass-roots level so that the party can win back the alienated cadres and convert the youth to its point of view. Electoral politics is important but more important perhaps is the need to build the party from the village and town level up. There is more wisdom and a greater capacity for sacrifices there than at the top.

New Year thoughts

Khurram Husain

THE New Year brings old thoughts to mind. This time, our dear country, that we have grown to love and hate in the same breath, that has given us so much and asked for nothing in return, is presented with an opportunity that comes very rarely.

The year 2014 sees the arrival of a new leadership team into power in all countries in our region. A great cycle that began in Pakistan in March 2013 will complete itself by March of 2014 when elections in India and Afghanistan will bring a new leadership with a fresh mandate into power.

In between, Pakistan and Iran have seen new leadership teams come into power.

By March â€” barely into the first quarter â€” new faces will be holding power in the capitals of all four of our neighbours. And in June, the drawdown of American forces in Afghanistan gets under way. By end 2014, new leadership in all four contiguous neighbours of Pakistan will be staring at each other without superpower presence. In short, the new leaderships will be left to their own devices to find their way forward.

This is not a minor thing. Never before has there been a 12-month period that has seen new leaderships emerge in all our contiguous neighbours, with the international environment turning at the same time.The importance of the moment that will open up in 2014 should not be underestimated. For decades now, Pakistan has been trapped inside a low growth equilibrium, and the biggest reason for our dismal economic performance is our isolation from our own neighbours.

Itâ€™s important to understand this, because distractions are available in generous quantities. A school of thought says that only â€œcorruptionâ€ is responsible for our economic condition. Another school says lack of institutions or governance weaknesses are holding the country back.

Each of these schools has their evidence to present. The corruption crew typically parades quantities, about how much money can be said to be stashed abroad or how low the tax-to-GDP ratio is in Pakistan.

Of course, none of these are minor points. Corruption and poor governance have indeed plagued our country for long, and perhaps itâ€™s important to point out that civil as well as military governments have been equally guilty on both counts.

But itâ€™s also important to understand that countries around the world have managed to experience high rates of growth with levels of corruption and misgovernance higher than in Pakistan. Indonesia is one example, Mexico another.

In fact, examples of countries with high levels of corruption and misgovernance coupled with high growth rates are numerous â€” Russia, China and, yes, India. Nobody wants to argue that these are unimportant factors in any countryâ€™s development, but they are not determinative.

Itâ€™s important to understand this for one simple reason. A section of Pakistanâ€™s polity has been pursuing ambitions of dominating the region by force with the use of proxy forces. This ambition has been calling the shots in our policy world for well over a quarter century now. And now, more than ever, this ambition needs to be restrained.

The reason why Pakistan had to largely sit out the growth phenomenon of the 1990s, and become addicted to a malign form of growth in the 2000s, is because the country has become isolated from its neighbours, and therefore has had to travel the world in search of aid to keep itself afloat.

Corruption and misgovernance have played their part in retarding the potential of growth here, for sure, but theyâ€™ve not been the root cause, which is quite simply the enormous isolation that Pakistan has suffered from all along. Isolation from its own neighbours.

And now, quite possibly for the first time in history, a window of opportunity is opening up that has the potential to deliver us from this isolation. A new government has come into power in Pakistan that sees normalisation of ties with neighbours as its most important priority. Next door, Iran has a leadership that wants to reverse the macho and turbo-charged march towards increasing isolation that the previous leadership had brought. And we wait to see what happens in Afghanistan and India as 2014 rolls ahead.

Once the new teams are in place, itâ€™ll be important to start down the path of regional integration. Currently the US is pushing its own vision of regional integration for South and Central Asia, what they call the â€˜Silk Routeâ€™ plan.

This planâ€™s foundations are in energy: Central Asia is an energy surplus region whereas South Asia is in an energy deficit. A pipeline to carry natural gas from the fields of Turkmenistan and an electricity transmission line from the region can potentially generate enough revenue to feed the Afghan National Army, and heat a lot of homes along the way. No wonder thereâ€™s strong buy-in from the Americans.

But geopolitics and superpower interests aside, there is a strong national interest on Pakistanâ€™s side to pursue greater regional integration. That interest is entirely economic, because through growing regional ties our economy can find the next growth frontier that it desperately needs.

The problem with the American vision is that it excludes Iran. The sentiment against Iran is so strong in Washington D.C., youâ€™d think it was the Iranians who had overthrown American democracy and imposed a brutal dictatorship on these people for half a century.

Pakistan is key to a making regional integration happen in South and Central Asia. The year ahead presents a unique opportunity to make this happen. Letâ€™s see how things work out.

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

Sanitation goals

Shah Nasir Khisro

PAKISTAN faces a crisis that threatens the lives of millions of Pakistanis every year. It is also a crisis which in its resolution offers the potential for increased wealth, health and dignity for the whole country.

This crisis is in our access to water and, in particular, sanitation. They are the most basic of daily human needs, human rights recognised in international conventions to which Pakistan is a signatory, yet still far from the reach of many ordinary Pakistanis.

Pakistan is due to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the number of people without access to water by 2017. However, the situation for sanitation is bleak: 43 million people still defecate in the open, and the sanitation MDG may not be met until 2027.

The public health implications are severe. Some three million Pakistanis face infections from waterborne diseases every year. Children are especially affected by illnesses such as diarrhoea, often caused by unsafe water and inadequate sanitation, and killing more under-fives around the world than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

Tackling this public health blight could bring huge economic dividends, with research from the WHO showing that every $1 invested in sanitation returns $4 to the wider economy. It could also advance gender equality and education, with women no longer forced to search in the dark for a place to defecate or look after children absent from school due to lack of sanitation or menstrual hygiene facilities. However, to do this requires a new policy approach.

During reconstruction after the 2010 floods, NGOs built thousands of latrines and water supply schemes. But despite the good intentions many systems were unsustainable due to the lack of operation and maintenance training given to local populations.

There was a culture of subsidy in calamity-hit areas. Local authorities absolved themselves of responsibility for water and sanitation systems and instead looked to external donors. But many private water service providers refuse to cover operation and maintenance costs due to low tariffs and poor profitability. Access to water and sanitation, a human right essential to lives and livelihoods, must be protected and fulfilled, regardless of profitability.

There is a lack of policy on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in Pakistan, and where it exists it tends to be poorly informed and often implemented without consulting local people.

In order for Pakistanâ€™s water and sanitation policies to succeed, two things need to happen. First, cabinet members should approve funding for water and sanitation programmes for the provinces, where local solutions can then be employed. This would address the crucial need for more policy and funding for sanitation at the national level.

Second, policies need to provide room for localised solutions by facilitating local participation in innovation and decision-making on water and sanitation systems. It is common sense that the people who access WASH projects are the people who will best know the cultural context and feasibility of a local project. Now that provinces are responsible for the management of water resources under the 18th Amendment, we hope to see the application of more local solutions to complex contexts of water and sanitation.

National and provincial politicians have allocated funds to water and sanitation. But in places like Fata, KP, interior Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, open defecation is practised widely and using a toilet in the home is considered to be taboo. The solution is about more than funding. As Jan Eliasson, UN deputy secretary general, says, we must dismantle taboos: â€œAs was the case for the word â€˜toiletsâ€™ a few years ago, it is time to incorporate â€˜open defecationâ€™ in the political language and in diplomatic discourse.â€

Raising the political profile of water and sanitation can also be boosted by demand from the Pakistani people, who have already shown their mass concern for this issue. Last year, Pakistanis contributed nearly 500,000 signatures to a global petition calling on decision-makers to keep to their promises on water and sanitation.

The World Walks for Water and Sanitation, coordinated by the End Water Poverty coalition that I am a member of, runs from March 15-23 to coincide with World Water Day. It is the worldâ€™s largest mobilisation for water and sanitation and one of the largest annual mobilisations of any kind. We ask that as many people as possible join us to ask their political parties to include sanitation in their manifestos as well as demand legislation recognising water and sanitation as a basic human right.

Tackling sanitation must be a central concern of government, and we, as citizens, must remind our leaders that we face a severe public health crisis, but one that which if we invest in the right way we can overcome and in doing so increase our national wealth, both economic and moral.

The writer is executive director of the NGO, Integrated Regional Support Programme.

The voting dead

F.S.Aijazuddin

DEAD leaders in Pakistan do not forfeit their constituencies. If anything, their vote bank increases as time passes. No one listening to Bilawal Bhuttoâ€™s speech at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on Dec 27 could have had any doubt that the late Benazir Bhutto and her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto still control their Pakistan Peoples Party â€” from the grave. The road from their imperial mausoleum leads straight to the ballot box.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto died in 1979. Many Pakistani presidents have died since then â€” Ziaul Haq (1988), Ghulam Ishaq Khan (2006) and Farooq Leghari (2010). Ziaâ€™s son Ejazul Haq went into politics, Ghulam Ishaq Khanâ€™s son Mamoon abstained from it, and Farooq Leghariâ€™s son Owais never left it. Mr Bhutto ensured that his daughter Benazir would never have such options available to her. Her destiny was predicated from her cradle to her grave. She became a wife, then a mother, but she could never bring herself to renounce the white veil that marked her political persona.

It has taken six years for her son Bilawal to reach the age when he can vote for himself. He has almost five years more to go (unless there is a snap general election in between), during which he will be required to demonstrate qualities that he may have inherited but which nevertheless will have to be tested on the anvil of experience.

In many subtle ways, there could not have been a better regent since his motherâ€™s untimely death than his father Mr Asif Ali Zardari, for no other president in modern times â€” except perhaps for US president Bill Clinton â€” has swum so close to whirlpools of self-destruction, and survived.

Former presidents find that time weighs heavily on their hands. Some endow libraries in their name, establish archives of their presidential records, write self-serving memoirs, attend the funerals of their colleagues, or in time plan their own.

Mr Zardari is not one for libraries or archives. He is too reticent to write his memoirs. His security detail will prevent him from attending any public funeral. And he is too active to contemplate his own departure from the world. Having stood on the bridge of the PPP since becoming a widower, his mission is to ensure that his son is trained to captain the ship of state when the time comes.

And when will that time come?

Judging from Bilawalâ€™s dramatic debut, in his mind even yesterday is a day too late. He is understandably impatient to claim his inheritance. If his speech at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh is any indicator, Bilawal is not in need of any further tuition.

He has obviously studied footage of his motherâ€™s speeches and subconsciously absorbed many of her characteristic inflections. He has observed to the point of imitation the oratorical mannerisms of his grandfather, even standing at the podium (like Mr Bhutto) with his sleeves half rolled, one fist on his hip and the other flailing in the air.

His speech â€” even if crafted by someone else â€” was burnished by him personally. In it, he derided Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif with an irreverent glee bordering on impudence. From the height of the elevated platform, Bilawal could see their imperfections all too clearly.

Less visible through the protective glass screen that isolated him from his public were the weaknesses of his own party workers. They lost him the last election; they need him more than he needs them to win the next.

It may take Bilawal some more months and much practice to reach the high levels of oratory his mother and grandfather had attained. He has time on his side. In a sense, Garhi Khuda Bakhsh can be regarded as Bilawalâ€™s Agincourt, his fiery speech the equivalent of King Henry Vâ€™s exhortation to his troops before that famous battle. â€˜We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;/For he to-day that sheds his blood with me/Shall be my brotherâ€™.

Bilawal offered his own blood, and pointing dramatically to the white mausoleum beneath whose domes were interred the entire top soil of his forbears, he added for better measure the covenant of his young sisters Bakhtawar and Aseefa â€” yet another generation of Bhuttos pledging themselves to service and, if necessary, sacrifice.

This brand of necro-politics is peculiar to the subcontinent where our dead â€” whether royalty or nobility, saints or sinners, but especially martyrs â€” exercise a peculiar posthumous power over the living.

Perhaps the most extreme case must be that of Shah Yousaf Gardezi, a 12th-century Afghan buried at Multan. It is said that for decades after his death, he would give his benediction to visiting devotees by extending his hand through a hole in his grave. He never knew what he was setting in motion.

The writer is an author and art historian.

www.fsaijazuddin.pk

Mindless populism

Zahid Hussain

IT has been over four weeks now since the Nato ground supply line through the Torkham border was blocked. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has declared it a tactical victory for its anti-drone campaign. Yet, last week a drone strike in North Waziristan reportedly killed four militants.

So, where does the PTIâ€™s protest go from here? Imran Khan vows to continue his campaign till the US gives in. The latest strike, however, shows this is certainly not going to happen. It is something of a stretch to think that the US could be forced to change its policy by this isolated protest.

Not only has the PTI led itself into a blind alley, its senseless action has undermined Pakistanâ€™s position on the drone issue, increasing the countryâ€™s international isolation. Not surprisingly, the PTIâ€s solo flight finds support only from the Jamaat-i-Islami and the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Both these groups have been directly affected by drone strikes, killing several of their members and commanders.

The absurdity of the mob action has become more apparent as most of the Nato cargo shipment has long been diverted to other routes. While the stick-wielding PTI workers have blocked the Torkham crossing, the Chaman supply route is open. In fact, Torkham was not the main transit point prior to the PTI protest. The number of Nato cargo trucks passing through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had declined sharply over the last several months.

The US and Nato are now increasingly using the Central Asian route. That may be much costlier, but at least it is open and safer. Most of the shipment passing through Pakistan now consists of coalition withdrawal military hardware. What purpose does it serve to stop it?

What the PTI does not understand is that Nato has nothing to do with the CIAâ€™s drone operation. Pakistan is bound by international agreement to allow the passage of Nato cargo shipment to Afghanistan. But this irrational action has created an embarrassing situation for Pakistan. Drone attacks are a serious issue and concern Pakistanâ€™s sovereignty, but they should be dealt with more prudently at the national level, not through mob action.

It sets a dangerous precedent when a provincial government unilaterally takes a decision on an issue that involves international agreements and foreign policy. The PTIâ€™s strange logic is that it is just implementing an APC resolution and the Peshawar High Court ruling ordering the Pakistan government to take measures to stop drone strikes.

Imran Khanâ€™s politics is full of paradoxes. His slogan for change got his party support from the youth and an educated urban middle class disillusioned with the established parties. A new generation of young professionals among the ticket holders made the party even more attractive for voters.

But the so-called party for change has allied itself with the most retrogressive right-wing politics. In fact, the Jamaat-i-Islami having been marginalised in electoral politics is now piggybacking on the PTI.

Imran Khanâ€™s one-dimensional approach to the drone issue has blurred his partyâ€™s position on the much graver problem of violent extremism and militancy that has led to a thousand times more civilian deaths. Its vociferous support for reconciliation with the Taliban when the militants continue to attack Pakistani forces and civilians make us wonder which side of the conflict the party is on.

It appears that the PTIâ€™s anti-drone campaign is not as much a protest against the US breaching Pakistanâ€™s sovereignty as a defence of militants under attack. The drone strike on a madressah in Hangu in KP that killed five senior members of the Haqqani Network triggered the blockade. No doubt, the attack inside Pakistani territory violating our sovereignty is unacceptable. But foreign fighters taking sanctuary inside the country is an equally serious national security issue.

And it is certainly also the responsibility of the provincial administration not to allow Afghan insurgents to operate from its soil. It is very clear that the US drone strikes will not stop until Al Qaeda and other militant sanctuaries in the tribal areas are not cleared.

Instead of keeping a singular focus on drone politics the PTI could serve the people of KP much better by getting its priorities right on militancy. In fact, the policy of appeasement has allowed the militants much more space in the province. The presence of the Taliban is reported to have increased in Peshawar and the surrounding areas.

With a sympathetic government in the province they have nothing to be afraid of. Some 279 civilians and 40 security personnel were killed in 22 suicide bomb attacks in the province in 2013 alone.

It is indeed commendable that the PTI chief has pledged to personally spearhead polio vaccination efforts in the troubled province that has remained the centre of the Talibanâ€™s resistance to the immunisation campaign. Several vaccinators have so far been killed in the militant attacks in the province. The success of the vaccination campaign is directly linked to the battle against violent extremism.

It is not the drone attacks, but militancy and terrorism which present the biggest threat to Pakistanâ€™s security. The drone strikes are now taking place only in North Waziristan where Pakistani forces are also fighting local as well as foreign militants. That raises the question of whether drones targeting the common enemy are more dangerous, or the policy of appeasing the Taliban. Imran Khanâ€™s populist drone politics only strengthens the militant narrative of war against the Pakistani state.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

Twitter: @hidhussain

The myth of progress

Rafia Zakaria

THE first day of a New Year arrives full of portent and promise. In its empty expanse of days, we see possibility â€” the chance to do things differently and, by definition, better.

THE first day of a New Year arrives full of portent and promise. In its empty expanse of days, we see possibility â€” the chance to do things differently and, by definition, better.

In the unfilled blankness of unmarked weeks and months, we see opportunity. On the first day, we can stare at the pure realm of potential, unsullied by disappointments or devastations.

The belief that oils the arrivals of new years and new centuries is simply faith in the maxim that things constantly and continuously get better. It is this belief in linear progress that imagines the human march as one towards constant improvement. The passage of time is thus constantly positive, arriving again and again at a destination that is an improvement over the last.

This year we can get somewhere further than where we were last year; in a hundred years we will have gone even farther on this scale of continual betterment. Science and technology lend credence to the idea of mankindâ€™s linear march of progress; we know more, can prove more, can understand more and, consequently we conclude, we must be improving, gaining, ascending, rising.

The expansion of our economic activity, the connectivity of our world through communication and travel, the advancement of our ability to treat diseases and find cures are further evidence of our continuing improvement. Moral and philosophical heft is added to the precept of progress by other examples â€” the abolishment of slavery, the idea of human rights, the legal enabling and idealisation of equality â€” all substantiating the idea of constant progress.

Even detractors cannot but pivot their arguments on the same linear model of the human journey. Recent commentators critiquing the inability of the worldâ€™s current inhabitants to take seriously the threats of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, global warfare and rampant inequality all simply reverse the thesis. In other words, they allege a path of devolution or depletion, a simple regression in opposition to the idea of constant progression.

If the optimists of the world imagine history marching towards something better, the pessimists suggest a march backward â€” a coming of end-times, a prediction of apocalyptic change. Most times, they do not think that progress is unachievable, even unattainable, but simply that the current course has to be drastically changed in order to put humanity back on the path of progress.

The path of progress as a philosophical precept, a mode of ordering history, thus remains intact. If only we can stop polluting, become more faithful, more conscientious, they insist, we can return to the linear path towards something better.

A truly alternative view of the world would discard altogether the idea that history is ordered along a linear scale. One of the contemporary proponents of such a worldview is the political philosopher John Gray. In books such as Heresies: Against Progress and Other Illusions, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and other Animals, and the recently published Silence of Animals: On Progress and Other Modern Myths, Gray takes on the idea of progress as a way of understanding time and history.

According to Gray, improvements in government and society are real, but largely temporary. Not only can they be lost, they necessarily will be. In Grayâ€™s world, therefore, nothing is getting better or even worse; instead we are stuck in ever-repeating occurrences of gain and loss. History, hence, is not linear but cyclical, and our fortune at being born or living at a particular time depends largely on our luck of having been born at a juncture of this repetitive gaining and losing. In his thesis, however, progress and advances must be distinguished; advances are possible but, even as they occur, they are condemned to eventually being erased.

The consequences can be felt most proximately when applied to actual events. Historic events such as the French Revolution or, in the subcontinentâ€™s case, the Partition of India, have meaning only in the limited realm of the context in which they inhabit. Their meaning is, in this sense, imposed by those who live the event or by those who remember it, rather than by some intrinsic moral value that would make it better or worse for mankind.

Meaning, like the belief in progress, is for Gray a crutch; most people, he insists, believe in progress, because without it they would not be able to get out of their beds in the morning. Progress, then, is the lie we tell ourselves to evade the fact that the world around us is not marching towards some ultimate goal, that we inhabit but a moment in time in a universe whose workings we only minimally understand.

At the inception of 2014, belief in progress is a choice. For those in Pakistan who believe they have been abandoned at the periphery of what is otherwise a global march from one achievement to another, there can be some solace in the fact that those on top will eventually, cyclically topple. The degradations imposed by imperialism and occupation can thus be blunted by faith in the cyclical nature of things, in the inevitability of decline of the now triumphant.

This dissection of progress, applied as a salve on our own wounds of underachievement, comes, however, at a cost. While those who strive to keep their spots at the top may believe in progress, so as to maintain their dominion over the world, the failure to believe among those at the bottom can mean apathy, dissolution, and, for at least another year, despair.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Ring in the new, old

Mahir Ali

THERE is a poignant moment in Shakespeareâ€™s Scottish play where Macbeth, the blood on his hands still fresh, wonders: â€œBut wherefore could I not pronounce â€˜Amenâ€™? I had most need of blessing, and â€˜Amenâ€™ stuck in my throat.â€

Likewise, there are occasions when the traditional turn-of-the-year greeting sticks in the throat. When there are too many places where the reservoirs of peace and goodwill have almost been depleted.

Would â€œhappy new yearâ€ have much resonance, for instance, in the worldâ€™s youngest nation, South Sudan, where the Grim Reaper has been afoot of late? Or in Syria, which may have been spared the carnage that Western military intervention would inevitably have entailed, but where any light there may be at the end of the tunnel is too dim to be perceived? Or, for that matter, in the city once known as Stalingrad?

The freshly dug mass graves in South Sudan are perhaps the most striking reminder of humankindâ€™s capacity for inhumanity. Arguably, they also demonstrate the folly of investing too much hope in inadequately thought-out innovations.

The emergence of one or more new nations is also considered an eventual possibility in the Syrian context, but should that eventually turn out to be the case, what are the chances that the wheels of progress wonâ€™t be clogged with the coagulated blood from the appalling conflict that continues to unfold?

One can meanwhile hazard the conjecture that there is a symbiotic relationship of sorts between some of the worst transgressors in Syria and the perpetrators of carnage in Volgograd, the Russian city that recently experienced a pair of heinous suicide bombings. The terrorist attacks are assumed to be a warning in the context of next monthâ€™s Winter Olympics in Sochi, quite possibly aimed at dissuading prospective international participants from venturing thither.

The killers may also have intended to undermine Russian President Vladimir Putinâ€™s recent PR offensive, in which he sought to airbrush his image as an intolerant authoritarian via an amnesty for activists who ought not to have been incarcerated in the first place. Chances are the atrocities are also not unrelated to the ruthless policies Putin has pursued in Chechnya.

That does not make them any less unconscionable, however. And one of the consequences of the bombings will be to guarantee that many of those who may previously have anticipated with some pleasure the prospect of Putin ending up with some egg on his face will now be hoping that nothing goes terribly wrong at the Games in Sochi â€” where security will undoubtedly be much tighter than it has hitherto been in distant Volgograd.

Long before then, though, there will be other areas of concern as 2014 kicks off â€” notably in Bangladesh, where elections scheduled for next Sunday are being boycotted by the opposition, with predictably troubling consequences.

The boycott is based on Prime Minister Hasina Wajedâ€™s refusal to revert to the previous norm of a caretaker administration in the run-up to elections â€” although she offered the opposition half the seats in her cabinet as recompense. Bangladesh has been beset in the past year by divisions over war crimes trials for those who evidently collaborated with the Pakistani military in the 1971 genocide â€” and the manner in which this trend has generally resonated in Pakistan points to a continued refusal to budge from a perversely distorted perception of the past.

Bangladeshis for the most part have few illusions about what transpired four-plus decades ago, but the Awami League no longer holds sway the way it did in 1970, and effectively uncontested polls will have unpleasant repercussions.

A vaguely comparable situation has emerged in Thailand, where the protests that followed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatraâ€™s attempt to amnesty her exiled brother, Thaksin, prompted the government to pledge early elections, now scheduled for Feb 2. But the opposition intends to boycott them, not least because it has no hope of scoring a win; instead, it has been calling for an unelected council to alter the political set-up before any further democratic exercise is permitted.

Itâ€™s no coincidence that the opposition represents the outnumbered, largely urban elites, while the Shinawatra-led party commands the allegiance of most of the rural poor.

These two controversial elections will serve only as the starting point for a year that marks the centenary of the industrial-scale conflict that was billed as the war to end all wars, but the slaughter it entailed on a then unprecedented scale turned out merely to be the precursor for even worse to come.

It is far from clear that humanity has learned all that much in the intervening century, notwithstanding the progress in so many spheres.

It would be insincere to apologise for beginning the year on such a sombre note, but I do hope to be proved wrong on every count.

mahir.dawn@gmail.com

The Chinese way

Zubeida Mustafa

I BEGIN with a prayer for 2014. May our rulers realise the importance of good education for all and may they acquire the wisdom to know how to go about providing it. Amen.

I BEGIN with a prayer for 2014. May our rulers realise the importance of good education for all and may they acquire the wisdom to know how to go about providing it. Amen.

The concern expressed the other day by the federal minister of education about discrepancies in standards of students from different provinces on account of the lack of uniformity in the curriculum all over the country shows why the above prayer is so timely. It is not quite clear what is upsetting the honourable minister.

If he is worried about diversity in the syllabi, which is inevitable in view of the autonomy the provinces now enjoy, he must guard against our traditional love for conformism. Let a hundred flowers blossom, Mr Minister.

If Mr Balighur Rahman is really worried about disparities in the academic abilities of students, he would do well to understand how the education system in Pakistan encourages that. If Sindh, with the highest number of ghost schools in the country â€” said to be 7,000 â€” cannot produce competent performers, is it surprising? The fact is that standards depend on how the curricula are implemented, the quality of teachers and the management of the school system.

Now that someone in authority is speaking about equity and discrepancy, it is time to remind the powers that be that differences in academic quality produced by the multiple systems that operate in the country are more if not equally dangerous. Their impact is widespread. Mao Zedongâ€™s hundred flowers are blossoming in Pakistan not in the content of education and the ideas it stimulates but in the methods adopted to sustain inequity in society.

Setting aside the madressahs which are untouchable holy cows and operate in a world of their own, we have private schools for the super elite, private schools for the middle class elite, private institutions for the poor, state supported-cadet institutions where only the privileged can go, and of course the huge public-sector system that caters to the children of the lesser gods.

One common feature in the schools for the elites of all varieties is the examination system and the curricula prescribed by the foreign examiners that they follow. According to British Council sources as cited by the press, in 2013 nearly 16,000 Pakistani students appeared for their O- and A- Levels exams, sitting for 180,000 papers for which a sum of Rs720 million was collected. Obviously this sum can only be spent by the rich.

But can they be blamed? A look at our local exam systems would explain the malaise that has crept into the education sector. There is organised cheating in exams, substandard assessment of scripts and question papers that encourage rote learning from keys. With the entire system so exam-centred, it is inevitable that this sector is corrupted. This has fostered the trend towards foreign exams that enjoy credibility although they alienate one class from the majority.

What should be done? Exhorting the local boards to pull up their socks is futile. Banning the foreign exams will irretrievably damage education by levelling down the standards. The Aga Khan Examination Board offers a good alternative, though regrettably it has not been given a fair chance.

Why not try the Chinese model? After all, China-Shanghai topped the rank in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Developmentâ€™s PISA (Programme for International Studentsâ€™ Assessment) results announced recently for the 2012 tests. Chinaâ€™s 15-year-olds outperformed youngsters from the Western economies in maths, science and reading, in which the studentsâ€™ capacities are tested.

Chinese diplomats are reticent to a fault. Hence my sources of information had to be unofficial. Two schoolteachers who have worked in China answered my questions. Both confirmed that all Chinese children (with the exception of foreign passport holders) are required to put in nine years of compulsory schooling (that leads to the Gaokao â€” the local college entrance test). Thereafter they have the choice of joining foreign-owned coaching centres that have mushroomed offering IGCSE courses and exams. These are strictly regulated by the local authorities.

True, the wealth factor also figures in China as these institutions are expensive and unaffordable for the average Chinese child. But indigenising the first nine years of school education for all at least ensures that the local language and culture is preserved. Besides, those who go on to appear for the IGCSE are not alienated from their compatriots as we find in our society where children are studying in separate streams from the start.

When the children of the elite are required to study in the mainstream system, there is bound to be pressure on the educationists to improve the system. In China the legacy of the equity of yesteryear is still strong. This has a positive impact on the mainstream education system. What else could one ask for?

www.zubeidamustafa.com

Counterterrorism confusion

Tariq Khosa

ALTHOUGH more than six months have elapsed since the new government came to power, neither the federal nor provincial policymakers have been able to formulate a clear strategy on combating terrorism and organised crime.

At the federal level, thereâ€™s no internal security policy. Two, the peace talks with the Taliban have not begun in the wake of US drones hitting targets in Fata, exposing the weakness of our security establishmentâ€™s half-hearted operations in the militantsâ€™ sanctuaries.

Three, the Cabinet Committee on National Security has yet to come up with a clear role and charter along with the rules of business for its secretariat pertaining to whether it will be under the prime ministerâ€™s office or the cabinet division. Such decisions have implications for the professionalism and autonomy of a set-up tasked with devising and implementing a national security policy.

Four, the National Counter Terrorism Authority has neither been reorganised nor staffed with professionals. A decision on posting an experienced counterterrorism expert as Nacta head is still pending. Thereâ€™s confusion whether Nacta should report to the prime minister (as per the law) or to the interior ministry.

Such indecision is sending mixed signals as if the political leadership is facing resistance from all-powerful stakeholders. Professionals usually look to Punjab for providing the lead in facing challenges arising out of internal security threats such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistanâ€™s countrywide acts of terrorism. They often quote the example of the firm political will displayed by the Punjab government in the 1990s to tackle sectarian terrorism. It was then that the Crime Investigation Department was created by raising a special cadre of police and security officials with intelligence, analysis and investigative sections to augment the capacity of the district police to apprehend the sectarian terrorists of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Mohammad.

The Anti-Terrorism Act was promulgated in 1997 with the provision of speedy trials before special courts, resulting in the death penalty for 72 terrorists within two years.

In order to provide muscle to the law-enforcement machinery, specialised combat squads called elite police units were raised, along with a state-of-the-art training facility in the suburbs of Lahore and trainers especially seconded from the SSG commandos. The Punjab police, assisted by intelligence and investigative agencies, squarely met the threat of sectarian terrorism and acquitted itself well because it had a clear mission and an able leadership.

Today, Punjab is emitting confused signals as it struggles to organise itself to face far more devastating terrorist outfits that threaten to shatter the peace and cause mayhem in the otherwise comparatively tranquil economic powerhouse of the country.

In a meeting presided over by the prime minister, the Punjab government decided to raise a counterterrorism force comprising 1,500 retired and serving army and intelligence officers and to place it under the home instead of the police department. The CID, which had been upgraded to the Counterterrorism Department during the previous tenure of the Sharif government, is to be disbanded or placed under the home secretary. This decision means that the essentially policing function of counterterrorism is to be given to serving and retired military officers under the bureaucratic command of the home secretary.

It also means that the authority of the inspector-general as commander of police is to be further eroded and the officers and units under him to be placed under a non-professional bureaucrat. Instead of strengthening or reforming the police, politicians and bureaucrats are expressing no confidence in the present 250,000-plus policemen and policewomen.

This retrogressive step is a reminder and extension of decisions taken by the military rulers and their political surrogates in handing over law and order in Karachi to the Rangers under army command and taking away the counter-narcotics role from the police and creating the Anti-Narcotics Force under serving army officers.

This trend of militarisation of civilian policing functions continues even under a democratic political dispensation. The prime minister seems disillusioned with the performance of the police who he believes are responsible for the failure to control crime, including terrorism. He wants a new force raised, instead of relying on an institution perceived as criminalised and corrupt.

The politics of patronage and kinship, institutionalised in Punjab since the 1990s, has resulted in the deterioration of police professionalism and discipline. Successive political governments are responsible. Loyalty rather than merit has been the matrix of the governance framework. This has resulted in institutional decay.

The present state of affairs in Punjab also reflects police command failure. While some mid-level and junior officers have raised their voice and conveyed their concern through the Police Service of Pakistan Association, senior commanders have chosen not to speak. They lack the courage to respectfully inform the chief executive that nowhere in the world are counterterrorism functions outside the purview of policing. Many countries have raised specialised task forces or professional counterterrorism units such as the SO15 in Scotland Yard UK, the NYPD CTF in the US and the National Investigation Agency in India. They are all under police command. Our prime minister and the Punjab chief minister would have surely learnt from the Turkish prime minister that counterterrorism is handled by the Turkish National Police with whom the Punjab Police have signed an MoU on capacity building and reforms.

This matter is too serious to be made a turf issue between the bureaucracy and the police. They must rise above petty service rivalries and think about the principles of policing a society through a chain of command that upholds the rule of law rather than the use of force. Police commanders must stop acting as loyal courtiers of politicians. Integrity, professionalism and hard work will earn them respect from the public they serve. It is time to speak up and be counted.

The writer is a retired police officer.

Unlikely twins

Jawed Naqvi

THE way Indians assiduously imitate Pakistan, I get nightmares of Indian pilots blowing the conch shell in a religious ritual for the take-off. I have no idea who hijacked the planeâ€™s loudhailers in Pakistan to offer recitation of religious verses on its commercial flights and why. Has that deterred air pockets and late arrivals?

India to me is growing in its fascination for the younger sibling for all the wrong reasons. Take my motherâ€™s reaction when she returned to Lucknow in the 1960s from her sisterâ€™s home in Karachi. She brought back fabulous stories of imported cars and other assorted goodies that, as Gandhiâ€™s spartan children, we were scrupulously trained to shun.

Everyone in Karachi kept a new bar of branded soap on their washbasins, we were told to intermittent gasps of disbelief. The surprise was rooted in the reality that Indians were mostly taught to use a single bar of soap till it was worn out and literally vanished in our palms.

Full-blooded consumerism thus came to India from Pakistan. The masked longing burst open with the free market policies unveiled by Manmohan Singh in 1991. As for the obsession with stock markets, feverishly promoted by the corporate media, they were frowned upon as sinful in India, a trick the rich played on the poor to keep them in perpetual penury.

The team of Raj Kapoor and Khwaja Ahmed Abbas told popular stories on celluloid to packed halls of how an essentially wholesome man could be destroyed by the lure of the satta bazaar as the bourse was pejoratively called. Iconic thespian Dilip Kumar played a frustrated journalist in Zia Sarhadiâ€™s Footpath who finds himself singing Shaam-i-gham ki qasam, aaj ghamgeeâ€™n haiâ€™n hum, the song number with its self-inflicted sadness. It was filmed on a muddled hero pondering over his murky world as a rich upstart but who stole his innocent brotherâ€™s money to conquer the bourse.

Few would believe that it was the Karachi Stock Exchange on Chundrigar Road that led the field among South Asiaâ€™s speculative money-spinners as early as 1949. Within a year of the 9/11 chaos sweeping Pakistan, the Karachi bourse held its own to be declared the â€˜Best Performing Stock Market of the World for the year 2002â€™.

That a thriving bourse doesnâ€™t necessarily translate into a growing, or even equitable, economy is a lesson carefully hidden from over 800 million Indian victims of the casino economy their country has become, not unlike the route taken decades ago by the younger twin next door.

Indiaâ€™s growing love of the army, a new love-hate tango with America, infusion of religio-nationalist motifs in cricket, and the arrival of Arvind Kejriwal as an anti-corruption Don Quixote in Imran Khanâ€™s image represent more recent acquisitions imbibed for better or worse by the senior sibling. Let me touch on each very briefly.

Among the most televised responses to the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008 came from renowned TV analysts who called for the suspension of parliament and handing over the country to the army. As worrying as a pivotal role the new middle class is willing to give the army is the militaryâ€™s increasing penchant for meddling with civilian decision-making.

There have been reports of Indian army officers keeping secret funds to topple civilian governments in Kashmir that cross their path. The senior twin is happy to learn from the cub sibling.

Does the ongoing anti-American uproar in the Indian media presage hardline nationalism that has become the staple of Pakistanâ€™s love-hate relationship with the US? The denial of a visa to Narendra Modi has irked the Hindutva hardliners, and the row over a diplomatâ€™s cheating of a housemaid has only widened the aperture to a lurking tendency that India possibly shares with its neighbour.

The Cold War saw a clearly divided domestic stance towards the US in India, but mainstream parties leading a chorus of protest against a newfound ally is new.

As for cricket, an advantage India had over Pakistan was that it could flaunt its multicultural, multi-religious reality on the cricket field. The rise of Chaudhry Abdul Jalil in Pakistan, the bearded cheerleader of his countryâ€™s cricket team, would have gone largely unnoticed. Yet, before you could figure out the symbolism of a cricket-obsessed pious Muslim, bearing undertones of Pakistanâ€™s troublesome and troubled nationalist identity, there was an Indian, sure enough, to keep him company.

If Chaudhry Abdul Jalil didnâ€™t mask his religious identity in a cricket stadium, the conch shell blowing Sudhir Kumar Gautam found no reason to hide his Hindu-ness. His clean-shaven head with a sacred ponytail worn usually by orthodox Brahmins, and a moustache he covers with the colour of the Indian flag, Gautam says he sees Sachin Tendulkar as Lord Ram and himself as his mythical foot soldier Hanuman.

A distinctly religious motif to cheer an Indian cricket team would have been dismissed as a gimmick in the Nehruvian era. But the unemployed youth from Bihar has been virtually advertised as a foil to Pakistanâ€™s cheerleader. We seem to be heading back to the days of Hindu and Muslim Gymkhanas.

Finally, I donâ€™t believe that supporters of Kejriwal are aware of the National Accountability Bureau of Pakistan, the countryâ€™s apex anti-corruption organisation. It is charged with the responsibility of elimination of corruption through a holistic approach of awareness, prevention and enforcement. But has it succeeded, or will it? While Kejriwal reflects on an answer, we remain suspended on a wing and a prayer with or without the blowing of conch shells.

The writer is Dawnâ€™s correspondent in Delhi.

jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Ownership of oil & gas

Ahmer Bilal Soofi

A MOST fundamental change ushered in by the 18th Amendment is making the province an equal owner of oil and gas found on its territory. Earlier, only the federal government had ownership of oil and gas. The changes in Article 172 make both the provincial and federal government equal owners.

The two coastal provinces, Sindh and Balochistan, have also been given the additional advantage of sharing ownership of oil and gas that may be found within Pakistanâ€™s territorial waters. In other words, both Sindh and Balochistan, by virtue of the amendment in Article 172, are equal owners of oil and gas resources found in their waters and that fall into three distinct legal regimes.

The first regime pertains to the internal waters within the indents of the coastline including those within creeks. However, this excludes the water in port areas which will continue to belong to the federal government as such waters are generally covered under a notification issued by the centre under the Ports Act, 1908.

The second comprises the water body inside the base line of Pakistan which is notified under the 1982 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea read together with the 1976 Maritime Zones Act.

The third regime includes the territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles that are granted to Pakistan under Unclos and would otherwise be viewed as federal territory. However, by virtue of Article 172, any oil and gas reserves present up to 12 nautical miles are declared as being in joint ownership of the coastal province which in this case is Sindh and Balochistan along with the federal government.

Article 172 also makes it clear that the area beyond 12 nautical miles and up to 200 nautical miles, comprising Pakistanâ€™s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), is in effect a â€˜provinceâ€™ of the federal government and the ownership of all minerals and resources in this economic zone vest with the federal government to the exclusion of the coastal provinces. The same is the case with Pakistanâ€™s continental shelf that extends up to 350 nautical miles (inclusive of 200 nautical miles of the EEZ).

In this regard, Pakistan has successfully pleaded its claim to control over the continental shelf before a special commission set up under Unclos. Oil and gas, and mineral and fish resources found within the limits of the EEZ and the continental shelf belong to the federal government which has the right to dispose of them through a licensing regime or another contractual framework.

Article 172 is not self-executing. To execute it properly â€” to confer equal title to the provinces with the right to dispose of the oil and gas by becoming a co-licensor â€” the Regulation of Mines and Oil Fields and Mineral Development (Government Control) Act 1948 and several rules made thereunder require extensive amendments.

Further amendments in rules governing the downstream and upstream activities of oil need to be carried out to delineate a clear role for the provincial governments. Without these, Article 172 will not be executable in its true spirit.

It should also be noted that Article 172 protects ongoing commitments made to existing licensees and foreign investors. In other words, it is effectively prospective, and legally speaking will be applicable to new discoveries and oil fields that provinces may explore directly or through a licensee. Article 172 does not bind an existing licensee to share the money with the provinces simply on account of the conferment of a provinceâ€™s additional title under Article 172. Existing licensees are to continue in their dealings and relationship with the existing licensor that is the federal government.

The provinces need to discuss and make a decision on the legal approach to legislative changes in petroleum rules. For example, one approach is to become a co-licensor. Or the office of the director general, petroleum concessions, may be changed to a panel that can include a provincial representative as a licensing authority.

Another approach is that the province be given a role in executing the terms and conditions of the licences. Yet another way forward could be to amend the term â€˜federal governmentâ€™ to mean both the federal and provincial governments. These are broad suggestions and the provincial experts need to examine them. It must also be ensured that amendments do not prove disruptive to the otherwise dependable methodology of granting licences for oil and gas.

To execute Article 72, the changes above are also necessary because the foreign investor will never be advised by his legal advisors to invest in a province where the title of the licensor himself is not clear and not properly reflected in the rules. Therefore, provinces should prepare proposed amendment drafts and engage with the federal government to make necessary changes to the federal laws and rules.

The writer is a former caretaker law minister.

ahmersoofi@hotmail.com

â€˜Apologiesâ€™ in public life

Arif Azad

RECENTLY, retired Gen Pervez Musharraf â€˜apologisedâ€™ for his misdeeds in office. Such an apology is a rarity in Pakistan. Yet, it did not go far enough. In fact, it was an expression of mild regret.

However, as far as he was concerned, he had done no wrong. Whatever he did, he said, was overwhelmingly dictated by his larger concern for Pakistan. In any event, what this apology shows is that the culture of apology may be taking off in Pakistan in line with its flourishing international career.

An apology can range from regret, accepting responsibility for past mistakes and misdeeds, genuine repentance, offering some form of restitution or compensation as a token apology, to asking outright for forgiveness.

Apologies are offered by states, corporations, institutions and individuals. They are offered to states, individuals and groups. Tony Blair apologising to Ireland over Britainâ€™s failure to prevent the Irish potato famine of the mid-19th century is an example of state-based apology.

State-based apologies are issued to victims deemed to have been harmed by either state inaction or violent aggression. Bangladeshâ€™s demand for a similar apology from the Pakistan government for atrocities committed in East Pakistan falls in the same category.

Apologies serve an important role in closing off nasty bits of the past, promoting reconciliation and social cohesion. Where this apology culture does not take root, the country remains adrift and floundering without any moral compass.

Japan has elaborate forms of apologies expressed in the ordinary course of the day. This aids social cohesion and breeds general amiability in society. In Japan, apologies are expressions of humility, meekness and guilt. If it is felt that the guilt is too great and apology does not justify its depth than the â€˜honourableâ€™ course traditionally resorted to is hara-kiri.

However, there are other ways to expiate for oneâ€™s sins. John Profumo, the rising aristocratic Tory minister in the 1960s, resigned in ignominy for misleading his family and the parliament over his affair with a call girl. He was so deeply marked by a sense of guilt over his indiscretion that he spent the rest of his life serving the destitute, washing dishes in the Toynbee Hall in East London.

This international trend has reached our shores too. Politician Javed Hashmiâ€™s apology to the nation some years ago for serving in Gen Ziaâ€™s cabinet was a breath of fresh air. He also advised both the Sharif brothers to do the same for choosing exile during the Musharraf regime.

In the Mehrangate scandal, the PPP demanded Nawaz Sharif issue an apology for accepting money from the ISI during the 1990s, while the latter has asked the PPP to apologise to the nation for misgoverning the country during the last five years.

However, when these voluntary apologies do not come through, they are dredged up and coerced through the vehicle of public inquires or judicial commission. Such investigative bodies are set up with a view to ferreting out the truth about a particular tragedy. The Hamoodur Rehman Commission exemplifies this approach where the debacle of East Pakistan was analysed and it was recommended the perpetrators be held accountable.

The consequences of not learning lessons, not implementing a single recommendation, and, in fact, suppressing the report for long are still with us as evidenced in a range of interfering reactions to the hanging of a Jamaat leader in Bangladesh for war crimes. South Africa has taken a lead where the Truth and Reconciliation Commission offered a non-violent and peaceful way of confronting past misdeeds and allowed the white oppressors to say sorry to their victims.

But Pakistan has led the trend in offering â€˜advanceâ€™ apologies. Lately, the federal minister for power, Khawaja Asif, offered an advance apology for inflicting a fresh round of punitive power and gas load-shedding on hard-hit consumers at a time of increasing utility bills, vanishing supplies and a harsh winter.

This newly minted art of advance apology exonerates the government from not only fixing the present flaws in the energy policy but also for its future neglectful bungling. This indeed takes the art of apology-issuing to a new level.

The question of apology is also quite germane to the process of negotiation with the Taliban under way. In many parts of the world when such negotiations are contemplated, an apology is often demanded from the violent non-state actors in advance.

Perhaps recognising its violent past, before entering into peace negotiations with the British government in the late 1990s, the Irish Republican Army made it a point not only to renounce violence but also to put its existing stockpile of arms under verifiable inspection. In Pakistan, instead of being apologetic ourselves towards the militants, should we not be using the vehicle of apology-seeking as a precondition to test the seriousness of the Taliban?

The writer is a freelance contributor.

New Year resolutions

Babar Sattar

Paranoia is a mental condition in which one loses touch with reality. If you took Pakistan to a psychiatrist, it would be prescribed a pill. Individuals inspire themselves in different ways: motivation can come from the constructive desire to succeed or from negative emotions such as jealousy. But hatred for others canâ€™t be the source of inspiration leading an entire country towards progress. If our national leadership is united over one thing, it is blaming the world for our failures.

Why not follow Chinaâ€™s example? At some point a few decades back the country decided to throw its head down and singularly focus on building itself up â€” its economy, its security, its infrastructure â€” without projecting its power outward. And nothing succeeds like success. India is another example. Over the last two decades it has accumulated the ability not just to pull its weight but also assert its influence.

The defensive US posture in the row over the arrest of the Indian diplomat in New York isnâ€™t about Americaâ€™s adherence to Indias concepts of honour or Indiaâ€™s willingness to defend such honour. It is all about Indiaâ€™s ability to protect its interests. Twenty years back, mistreating an Indian envoy would have been equally wrong. But with a broken economy and limited leverage, Indiaâ€™s threat of reprisal would have meant nothing. Today, it is not in US interest to mistreat an Indian envoy.

We are faced with complex problems and the solutions arenâ€™t simple either. Drones, for example, are instruments of execution and can never be justified from a rule of law perspective. But so long as we have terror sanctuaries within our territory that threaten other states (not to mention our citizens) and we want to tell the world to take a hike for it is our land and thus our way, our very genuine case against the use of drones in our territory will find little traction.

The manner in which we have defined our mission as a nation and our relationship with the world has embroiled us in a vicious cycle of hate, violence and resentment thatâ€™s eating us up from within. Letâ€™s focus on building our ability to defend our interests as a nation-state and we will find our honour getting defiled less and less.

If we donâ€™t fix our security we canâ€™t fix our economy. Without a vibrant economy we canâ€™t invest in education and health or preserve our natural resources. Without human and natural resources essential to sustain a population our size and creating opportunities for upward mobility, we will be a cramped, hot, illiterate, angry, scary place in 30 years that will have nothing to feed on other than primitive notions of honour and injured pride.

The writer is a lawyer.

sattar@post.harvard.edu

Twitter: @babar_sattar

Reform the regulator

Zulfiqar Ali

THE countryâ€™s power sector has remained mired in crisis for more than a decade, with chronic power shortages and rising â€˜circular debtâ€™ threatening to bankrupt power and other energy companies.

Most reform efforts have remained incomplete. The power sector has not been able to plan, finance and implement new generation projects, or increase efficiency and reduce losses in distribution. The sector is now essentially insolvent.

The establishment of an independent regulator, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), in parallel with the unbundling of Wapda in the late 1990s, was meant to be the basis for a financially independent, efficient and deregulated power sector. Nepra was established in 1997 through the Nepra Act, which grants it the exclusive right to license and regulate all power generation, transmission and distribution companies in Pakistan.

Nepra is governed by a five-member board (â€œthe authorityâ€), comprised of the chairman and four members. The chairman is selected and appointed by the federal government, and each province appoints one member. All five members of the authority are appointed for a maximum of two four-year terms.

As an independent and apolitical entity, Nepra was supposed to set cost-reflective tariffs for power generation and distribution companies (â€˜Discosâ€™), while ensuring that consumer interests â€” price and the quality of service â€” were protected. Yet the decade-long power and energy crisis suffered by Pakistan is sufficient evidence of the complete failure of both energy policy and regulation in the country.

The lack of an integrated energy planning and policy framework is one major cause of this failure, but the inability of purportedly independent regulators to drive any significant or sustainable reform across the energy sector is an equally large contributor.

Instead of moving tariffs towards long-term costs of service, Nepra has focused on trying to reduce or control tariffs with arbitrary assumptions and unrealistic performance targets. This has driven returns in the distribution sector to a ridiculously low level, and essentially bankrupted the Discos. They could achieve substantial efficiency gains, but these will only be sustainably realised through new investment.

Nepra has undermined the ability of Discos to raise capital by undercutting returns to a point where consumer-facing Discos earn lower returns on equity than single asset, contracted independent power producers that benefit from sovereign guarantees.

Nepraâ€™s strategy is at odds with experience elsewhere, where public and private utility companies were given strong incentives to invest and realise efficiency gains and were then allowed to retain these gains for a defined period.

Nepra has become the biggest stumbling block to reform and progress in the power sector. The process for tariff determinations is arbitrary and lacks any foresight or vision; the objective is now only to deliver results that are politically palatable. On quality of service Nepra has defined detailed performance standards, but failed to consider the investment required to achieve these standards. By miring itself in bureaucracy and failing to make the difficult decisions required of an independent regulator, Nepra has failed the consumers it should protect.

In order to prevent the power sector from falling into terminal decline, reform of the regulator and an overhaul of regulatory priorities are absolutely essential. Nepra in its current form is not capable of defining a new vision or setting priorities that will deliver sustainable improvement. It is essential that its structure, staffing and objectives be completely revamped.

As a first step, new members with relevant experience in the industry must be appointed to lead Nepra and define a clear, comprehensive regulatory vision for the power sector. The regulator must be able to guide Discos to develop and implement long-term plans for loss reduction and service improvement, and ensure that they can fund the necessary investment.

In addition, Nepra must review and realign returns in the power sector to match risks. Returns to higher-risk activities such as distribution must exceed returns to low-risk generation assets. Furthermore, the body must be given clear and unambiguous guidelines to ensure that the long-term costs of service are fully reflected in tariffs, and that Discos and generation companies are not left insolvent.

Regulatory reform must also include the introduction of multi-year tariff control periods for Discos. As in other jurisdictions, the regulator must be required to formulate tariffs that remain in effect for three- to five-year control periods. These tariffs must incentivise new investment, promote efficiency, and deliver appropriate returns. Discos must be allowed to retain the benefit of efficiency gains within each control period.

The regulator should require all Discos to develop service quality improvement plans, and ensure that these plans are fully funded from current or future tariffs.

Once the correct incentives are in place and funding is assured, then the regulator can credibly and authoritatively demand compliance with performance standards, failing which fines or penalties should be imposed. These structures have worked well in other countries, and there is no reason why they should not succeed in Pakistan.

Once this revamped regulatory regime has achieved the basic objectives of creating a financially stable and reasonably efficient power sector, it can then move to the next phase of deregulation and begin to increase competition in the sector.

The long-term target should be a fully deregulated sector with competition in all sub-sectors from generation to distribution, with the benefits of competition accruing to consumers. This is only possible once the sector as a whole is solvent and able to attract investment.

The writer served as head of Regulatory Affairs for KESC from 2009-11.

The â€˜harbâ€™ at home

Zarrar Khuhro

ANALOGIES are inexact. Comparisons quickly become clichAtilde;©d. Afghanistan was not exactly Vietnam, and Somalia and Syria are not exactly Afghanistan. But it is also true that while history (to paraphrase Mark Twain) does not precisely repeat itself, it certainly does rhyme.

Itâ€™s doing that right now in Syria, which has become, as Afghanistan did years ago, a rallying point for radicals. And just as Afghanistan provided the petri dish where the bacillus of Al Qaeda first gestated, Syria is the new breeding and testing ground for the latest incarnation of this transnational phenomenon.

Blame it on, among other things, the flypaper strategy. A retrospective justification for the US invasion of Iraq, hereâ€™s how it went: by having a US presence in Iraq, militants who wanted to attack the US would flock to Iraq instead of plotting to attack the US homeland.

The US military was thus the paper, and the militants were the flies. No one bothered to ask the Iraqis how they felt about being ground zero for this kind of experiment. The liberated tend to have little say in these matters. No one calculated whether more flies were being created than were being caught.

Al Qaeda survived, albeit not in its former shape. Its leadership scattered and decimated, it was no longer capable of carrying out complex international assaults against the West. The Americans remained targets of opportunity but the real enemy was closer at hand.

This was not so much new but a return to the old. Traditionally, the â€˜near enemyâ€™ was the oppressive Arab state. The â€˜farâ€™ enemy was the West; the forces that kept those regimes in power. Osamaâ€™s choice to target primarily the US was a departure from tradition, and was by traditionalist jihadis.

Indeed, Al Qaeda central seemed deeply confused about the Spring, as evidenced in its messaging. But then came the Egyptian counter-revolution, spurred by the Muslim Brotherhoodâ€™s critical, and very stupid, overreach.

Al Qaeda had its â€˜I told you soâ€™ moment, its ideological space. The physical space came thanks to Syria, where street protests quickly became armed rebellion. The Free Syrian Army was slowly but surely replaced by what is now a largely Islamist uprising.

While some fly the jihadi colours simply because it makes it easier to attract funding (secular nationalism isnâ€™t very sellable), there are groups like the Islamic State in Syria (an outgrowth of Iraqi Al Qaeda) and Jabaht Al Nusra, which openly fly the Al Qaeda flag and are among the most effective fighting forces on the ground.

They are also openly and viciously sectarian, something that will have severe consequences for the entire region for years to come. Marry this phenomenon to the increased Iranian and Hezbollah involvement and you have the greater Middle Eastern war unfolding.

And, just like in Afghanistan, the ranks of the extremists are bolstered by foreign fighters who number close to 11,000 according to some estimates. This time, they hail not just from the Arab states, but also from many European countries.

The Syrian conflict will end, as all conflicts do, and these fighters will need to find a new war. As with the Afghan veterans of old, they will form a mobile, trained and indoctrinated core which will impart deadly skills onto another generation of militants. It will be the gift that keeps on giving, and none of the littoral states will remain immune for long.

Consider that our part of the world is still suffering from the blowback of what Brzezinski called â€˜a few riled up Muslimsâ€™. This time around, the aftermath will be wider and deadlier, but barring a few sporadic assaults, the West will remain largely immune.

For America, the â€˜Muslim warsâ€™ are effectively over, and the hyperpower has set its sights further to the East. This swarm of flies, this plague of locusts will find thus targets closer to home. We are the near enemies now, and our countries will all qualify as Dar-ul-Harb.

The writer is a member of staff.

zarrar.khuhro@gmail.com

Twitter:@ZarrarKhuhro

Missing doctors

Bina Shah

A SEMINAR was recently convened by Appna, the Association of Pakistani Physicians in North America, in order to get to the root of what has turned out to be a complicated problem concerning female medical students in Pakistan today. Why is it that when 80pc of Pakistanâ€™s medical students are female, only 30pc of those graduates go on to practise medicine in Pakistan later on?

The seminar brought together physicians based in North America, Sindh medical school leaders, and students at local medical schools. Whereas the doctors spoke with voices of authority, experience and compassion for the medical studentsâ€™ dilemmas, the students revealed the truth about the intense pressure that these young women face to stop practising medicine â€” in other words, to give up what is most dear to them.

The problem isnâ€™t what happens during the five years of medical school. It is what happens almost on the day after she graduates: sheâ€™s pressured into giving up the house job that a young medical graduate must undertake before being able to specialise. Out of 24,000 doctors that go on to specialise in their profession, only 7,000 of those are women. The rate of dropouts in the medical profession is staggeringly high for its female graduates.

The result: a serious shortage of medical personnel unable to serve their communities or pay back the investment that the government made in their educational career. And Pakistani women are suffering the consequences of not being able to go to a female doctor for their medical issues.

The principal of SMBB Medical College Lyari, Dr Anjum Rehman, told the panel that rates of female-specific cancers and subsequent mortality rates are shockingly high, especially for women living in rural areas and the peripheries of the big cities of Pakistan, because there arenâ€™t enough female doctors to treat them.

Is this because, as one panelist suggested, Pakistani women lack the will to work, or feel no need to do so because they are being taken care of by their husbands after marriage? The young women listening in the audience were quick to disabuse us of those misconceptions. â€œIt isnâ€™t that we lack the will to work,â€ said one young woman who had left her family in Balochistan to come live in a hostel and attend Sindh Medical College, against the criticism and disapproval of her extended family members. â€œWe have decided that no matter what happens, we will complete our studies.â€

The truth is that young women doctors are discouraged from working by the families that they marry into, particularly the mothers-in-law. These matriarchs dream of having a doctor as a daughter-in-law, but when she arrives, they feel that thereâ€™s no better sign of obedience than her staying home and not going out to make use of the degree that she spent so much time and effort to earn.

Husbands play along with this power struggle, or denigrate the womenâ€™s low salaries, taunting them with the fact that they could earn much more if they had gone to school for an MBA instead.

Thatâ€™s not all: the rates of sexual harassment and bullying of female doctors in local hospitals is extremely high. I heard tales of broken locks on duty room doors, patients who harass doctors but are untouchable because of their political connections, and female doctors who have nowhere to change their clothes before they go into the operating theatre. With these kinds of working environments, is it any wonder that our young female doctors get discouraged and decide that it is better to drop out?

There are solutions to this problem: the implementation of anti-harassment and anti-bullying laws in the workplace, better salaries for young working doctors, flex time and childcare facilities as well as professional tracks that enable young women to get back into the workforce after maternity leave.

The US Pakistan Womenâ€™s Council is trying to put a mentoring programme in place that will match young medical students to practising physicians in order to give them the encouragement and support that they need. But we need to eliminate the mindset that says a young woman doctor is better left as a trophy to gather dust on the shelf if we truly want to help Pakistanâ€™s daughters succeed in the noblest profession.

The writer is an author.

Twitter: @binashah

Education and extremism

Muhammad Amir Rana

IN reaction to Malala Yousafzaiâ€™s speech to the Youth Assembly at the United Nations in July this year, the Pakistani Taliban advised her to return home and to join any madressah for girls. In return, they offered her â€˜amnestyâ€™.

Interestingly, Taliban commander Adnan Rashid, who made the offer in a letter to Malala, did not have any objection to her right to education but to the medium of education. Not just the Taliban, a segment of the madressah establishment, too, opposes formal education provided by the public sector, looking on formal education as un-Islamic and believing this system spawns â€˜secularâ€™ generations.

On the contrary, social scientists and educationists are concerned about the curriculum taught in public schools and think it is fixated on religion and ideology and that it needs to be reformed. Many studies on the syllabi in Pakistan corroborate their view.

Interestingly, both the madressah establishment and secular segments of society oppose the formal education system for divergent ideological reasons. Though these anti-public education segments do not represent the majority of their class, they do contribute to the stateâ€™s attitudes towards education. Despite the Constitutionâ€™s Article 25A, which ensures an equal and compulsory right to education for every citizen, the federal and provincial governments are not prioritising education in their development discourse.

Both segments are the beneficiaries of their own educational systems. Both madressahs and elite educational institutions target the public-sector formal education system and demand reforms. At the same time, they contest demands for reforms in their own education system. Both have active alliances and unions to resist any attempt at the reform of their respective educational systems. These alliances also enable them to safeguard their so-called class interest through resisting educational reforms.

The pessimist mindset is not ready to realise that education is a social instrument for developing human resources and for human capital formation. Pessimist elites in India and Bangladesh had similar fears until a few decades ago. But both countries gradually saw that literacy leads to education and results in empowerment, which enables one to contribute to community development.

No doubt, the current education systems including the formal, the elitist and the religious education institutions need massive reforms, but on the baseless fears of extremism, a small job market and economic burden, the nation cannot be kept illiterate and ignorant.

There is a dire need to combine all energies to promote and reform the education sector. Instead of blaming the education system for the common man, there is a need to focus more on literacy and educational reforms.

The writer is a security analyst.

The future â€” again

Cyril Almeida

NEW Year predictions usually arenâ€™t worth the paper theyâ€™re written on. For who, with TUQ running around the country this time last year, would have bet on a straightforward transition ending with a whole lot of ennui setting in?

But, because itâ€™s that time of the year and silly optimism or dark pessimism are around in spades, letâ€™s gaze into the crystal ball. This year, since little is happening and even less expected, itâ€™s relatively easier.

There are really just three options, of the obvious variety anyway: 2014 could be the year of Nawaz; it could be the year of Imran; or it could be the year of the Terrorist.

Nawaz is the one with all the options. India, Afghanistan, domestic militancy threat, economy, Iran â€” he could smash through any number of barriers.

Itâ€™s all lined up for him â€” has been lined up for him for months now â€” and there for the taking.

All Nawaz has to do is reach out and grab. OK, maybe not as simple as that, for the opportunities are lined with explosive downsides, but still, itâ€™s worth a shot.

But thereâ€™s no life there. Itâ€™s almost come to the stage where you have to search for a pulse. Shake it, turn it upside down and shake it again, flip it over and pummel it a bit â€” nothing. Itâ€™s lifeless this Nawaz government.

And latest exhibit: werenâ€™t we supposed to see renewed vigour and purpose after the exit of the two chiefs?

How they whispered about the great plans that would be unveiled, the great moves that would be made â€” or just the great plans that they would work on fervently till Jan.

And now we know what those plans are: a couple of regional road projects and a great big park along the original motorway.

Thatâ€™s what, if the rumours are to be believed, is keeping the mighty Mughal PM occupied. Maps and designs and minutiae of a couple of regional road projects up north and a great big park near a famous spot along the original motorway.

Thereâ€™s also the bit about super-ministries to operate from the PM house: special prime ministerial teams on top of the prime ministerial cabinet to get things to work.

Yâ€™know, cause the best way to get things to work is to add another layer of control and then personally monitor it. It will all work out gloriously. Like it did for the Mughals.

So how the heck could 2014 be Nawazâ€™s year if thatâ€™s all heâ€™s got in the bag going into it?

Because what held true in May 2013 also holds true in Dec 2014: heâ€™s got the political space, heâ€™s got the political capital, heâ€™s got the experience, heâ€™s got the big picture figured out, and heâ€™s got the public support. Heâ€™s just got to do it â€” take charge.

But then thereâ€™s Imran. Brandishing his right-wing colours, clueless about governance, unable to get out of campaign mode â€” it all looks pretty desperate for Imran. Unless youâ€™re Imran looking at Imran and all that he surveys.

Imran has figured out that politics isnâ€™t necessarily about delivering results; itâ€™s about winning votes. And you can sure as hell win votes without delivering results.

The recipe starts with poor results â€” of the old guys in power. Since thereâ€™s never a shortage of that, throw in some emotive issues and double down on both: hammer away at the weakness of the status quo and drum up the insults heaped on the emotional side of national affairs.

The headlines follow and Punjab stays in play â€” meaning 2014 could be Imranâ€™s year, shaping the national narrative by keeping the Sharifs pinned down and dragging all of us closer to his utopian dystopia.

But then thereâ€™s option three: the Terrorist. Talks here, talks next door, talks everywhere â€” itâ€™s good for business. Real good.

For down the narrative continuum heâ€™s being pushed â€” from Terrorist to Militant to Insurgent to Misunderstood Fella â€” while up the capability and planning continuum heâ€™s dragging himself: if not NWA, heâ€™s got Punjab; if not Punjab heâ€™s got next door to the west; and if not next door to the west, heâ€™s got little pockets across the rest of Fata and KP â€” so many places, so many options to find sanctuary in and to plot and scheme.

That sets up a potentially great year for the Terrorist. And to align the stars in his favour yet more, the army will have to balance its opposition to the talks-first approach of the pols with the impact that opposition will have to perceptions of civ-mil relations just as the transition to democracy starts to look irreversible.

So looking good for the Terrorist all round in 2014.

But letâ€™s rewind a year. The same was true for all three a year ago: it could have been the year of Nawaz or the year of Imran or the year of the Terrorist.

Elections made all three a possibility. And all three tried their damnedest to win.

The result? They split the honours. Which is why each is here, at the end of this year, still vying for honours â€“ for next year.

Itâ€™s become a Pakistani solution to Pakistani problems: no one really wins, no one really loses, nothing really gets figured out, everything is kicked down the road â€” for resolution later, or maybe just never.

Nawaz, Imran and the Terrorist shared the honours this year. So why not share them next year too? And the year after?

Everyone wins; Pakistan loses. See you next year.

The writer is a member of staff.

cyril.a@gmail.com

Twitter: @cyalm

Human bombs

Mohammad Ali Babakhel

THE grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al Sheikh, recently termed suicide bombers as â€œcriminalsâ€ who will go to â€œhellâ€.

THE grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al Sheikh, recently termed suicide bombers as â€œcriminalsâ€ who will go to â€œhellâ€.

In the post-9/11 scenario â€œsuicide terrorismâ€ captured worldwide attention. The use of hijacked aircrafts in the 9/11 attacks changed the dynamics of diplomacy, politics and defence.

Suicide bombings require extensive background preparation. The tactic is employed in a situation where a group lacks resources and confronts a mighty enemy. The attackers hit civilians instead of the forces housed in fortified structures.

With one big explosion these organisations earn worldwide publicity and compel society to question the competence of its law enforcement agencies. Suicide terrorism enhances the bargaining strength of those that resort to it. Hugh Barlow, in his book Dead for Good, termed suicide attacks as the new development in the history of â€˜martyrdomâ€™, terming it â€œpredatory martyrdomâ€.

The frequency of such attacks is high either where a regime is seen as sympathetic to a foreign occupant or a foreign force is directly administering an occupied territory. When an ideology appeals to the psychology of an individual, it facilitates the talent-hunter in conscripting the right man for the right job. The synchronisation of psychology and ideology kills geographical distances. Consequently, Fata has witnessed the influx of Chechens, Arabs, Africans and Uzbeks.

Among the high-profile people who have been targeted and have survived terrorist attacks are Pervez Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, Asfandyar Wali, Aftab Sherpao, Sikandar Sherpao, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Ghulam Bilour. Those who have been killed, along with hundreds of innocents, include Benazir Bhutto, Bashir Bilour, Israr Gandapur, Malik Saad and Safwat Ghayur.

To demoralise law enforcement agencies, extremist groups have targeted police and security agenciesâ€™ training facilities, including the Punjab Regiment centre in Mardan, the police training college in Hangu, Lahoreâ€™s Manawan police academy and a centre in Dera Ismail Khan.

Radical changes in the frequency and technique of attacks have also been witnessed. According to statistics compiled by the website Pakistan Body Count, since 9/11 Pakistan faced 402 suicide attacks, 223 of them in KP alone and 18 in Islamabad itself.

During 2009 Pakistan was badly hit with 90 attacks, the highest-ever in a single year.

In Pakistan, suicide bombing is dominated by males, as opposed to the female suicide squads. In Chechnya, between 2000 and 2005, 43pc of such attacks were carried out by women. Using women attackers offers certain advantages such as extensive media coverage. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a woman suicide bomber in 1991, while Wafa Idris from Palestine also captured the attention of international media. In Pakistan, the first suicide attack by a woman was carried out in Peshawar in 2007.

Without authentic information, attacks cannot be averted but law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies can reduce their incidence if we keep an eye on recruitment, indoctrination and training of extremist groups, as well as their sources of funding and the technology they use. With synchronised action, it is possible to protect citizens from a violent death.

The writer is a deputy inspector general of the police.

alibabakhel@hotmail.com

Good riddance, 2013

M.J. Akbar

THE sense of an ending â€” a phrase borrowed from the title of Julian Barnesâ€™ moving book â€” inevitably breeds nostalgia for a year that has just passed.

THE sense of an ending â€” a phrase borrowed from the title of Julian Barnesâ€™ moving book â€” inevitably breeds nostalgia for a year that has just passed.

Fortunately, nostalgia does not regress into the welter of headlines that claimed daily attention, a toxic porridge of conceits, hypocrisy and lynch mob hysteria that often sought relevance in the name of virtue. There were more illuminating moments in solitude.

One of the great pleasures of 2013 is recent: the just-concluded first Test between India and South Africa, which I watched from the comparative loneliness of a holiday resort in Kerala. This was an absorbing Test of skill and character by two teams determined to win, and if they could not, then deny victory to the opponent.

The last day was a magnum opus thriller, brilliant spurts of lightning across large patches of steady play: to watch India slip was agony, but to turn off the television was impossible.

Defeat is easy to accept. We do it every day of our normal lives. But defeat so close to victory is another story. The biggest reason for defeat is not the strength of a victor but the complacency of a loser. If you take anything for granted, the prize will slip away before your troubled eyes.

If you think there are too many secrets on the cover, rest assured this is no exaggeration judging by what is revealed between the covers. If you want to revel in America-bashing, go ahead. There is enough to fuel a lifetime of fulminations. But I also marvelled at the unwritten sub-text, which neither author chose to stress: how focused and unrelenting America, with its many leaderships, is when it comes to national interest.

National interest is a moveable feast. This decadeâ€™s convictions can be the next decadeâ€™s disaster. There is probably some wrong in every right, even if the proposition does not work the other way around. But national policy is made by present vision, not hindsight.

In the 1950s America believed it was fighting a Cold War against world domination by communists, and if morality became hostage to this conflict, so be it.

That American and European generation of Eisenhower, Stalin and Churchill had just survived a war that could have shattered the West and the East completely (if, for instance, Germany had also been able to construct nuclear weapons by 1945). It did not need any lessons in cynicism, or worried too much about casualties.

In 1971, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were focused on another great game that they knew would change the dynamics of international relations (as indeed it did) and impact world affairs for generations.

One wonders when Indiaâ€™s foreign policy will be injected with a little more steel of self-interest, instead of being a charity shop of good intentions. It is good that Indian diplomats have stood up for one of their own in America. But this is only evidence of what they can do, individually and collectively, if they are given the freedom to stand up for their country with equal backbone.

The remembrance of things past, to use another book title, can be a mixed joy. On balance, I am relieved that 2013 is over, never to return. Long live 2014!

The writer is an author and editorial director of The Sunday Guardian, published from Delhi.

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DWS, Sunday 29th December 2013 to Saturday 4th January 2014

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Musharraf skips treason trial â€“ again

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Sharif wants effective anti-terror laws

South Waziristan development funds go to waste

Centre agrees to hand over Pesco to KP

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Govt violating SC verdict in public sector appointments

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Sindh may follow suit

Still no certainty on missing persons

Ex-CJ requested residential plot days before retirement

Helpless in the face of a determined enemy

Five shot dead in Keenjhar lake shrine

Nepra approves 27 paisa hike in power tariff

Treason trial and rumours

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Passengers stranded in Antarctica rescued

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Supreme Court seeks defence ministry report

Palestinian envoy dies in Prague home blast

US assails planned release from Afghan prison

India setting up anti-graft watchdog

Iranian embassy explosion suspect held

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Tax returns: PAC seeks clarification

Musharraf files intra-court appeal

The deepest scars

Prices of petrol, diesel may rise

Sindh delimitation exercise illegal: SHC

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BD police stop Khaleda from leading march; two dead

NSA tapped into undersea cables: report

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Illegal abroad, victims at home

Open season in punjab

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Actor Farooq Sheikh dies

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Acquitted, but still in jail

Bloody beginning

The wrong choice

The struggle to live

Policemanâ€™s murder

Civil-military equation

LG poll mess

Bilawal House security

Opportunity and perils in 2014

Pesco challenge

D.I. Khan jailbreak: damning report

Unfair land allotment

The drone challenge

Bilawalâ€™s politics of words

Cricketâ€™s winners

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The expendables

Camel caravan

Never-ending game