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National News

19 Taliban freed as ‘goodwill gesture’

Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD: The government announced on Thursday that it had released 19 non-combatant Taliban as a goodwill gesture for bolstering the peace process with the outlawed TTP.

But surprisingly, the claim made by the interior ministry was rebutted by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat which said that “release of some prisoners involved in petty crimes by the political administration has been wrongly connoted as release of Taliban prisoners”.

The statement emanating from the Prime Minister’s House was in fact a reaction to a report by an international wire service claiming that the prisoners were freed with the approval of the prime minister.

“It is clarified that there has been no authorisation given from the prime minister in this regard,” the brief statement said.

The interior ministry has announced the release of the first large batch of people since the launch of military operation in South Waziristan in 2009.

A spokesman for the ministry said the prisoners released were non-combatant Taliban belonging to the Mehsud tribe.

However, the confusion created by the contradictory positions taken by the interior ministry and the PM Office was soon over when hours after the denial, the latter confirmed the release of non-combatants and said the measure had been taken at the local level on the directives of the interior ministry.

“The interior ministry has now conveyed the details about the development to the prime minister and there is no room for any confusion at all,” the official said.

“The government and the armed forces have a policy to free those proved to be innocent as a result of investigations,” the ministry spokesman said.

Earlier, speaking at the launching ceremony of a think tank, ‘Centre for Policy Research and Dialogue’, the minister expressed optimism about progress in peace talks and said a meeting would soon be held to review the process.

He said he hoped that the efforts being made by the government would restore peace in the country.

After 9/11, he said, former rulers imposed a war on Pakistan which continued for over a decade. He regretted that nothing had been done in the past to resolve the conflict through dialogue. Those responsible for this state of affairs, he said, were now criticising the government.

He said it should be acknowledged that there were no acts of terrorism between 2001 and 2004 in tribal areas. No Pakistani citizen was involved in the 9/11 incident.

It is clear that the government has taken a conscious decision to please the Sajna group whose representative Azam Tariq is part of the militants’ team holding direct talks with the government.

All abducted guards alive, says Iran

Reuters

DUBAI: Iran has said five border guards kidnapped by Sunni militants are in good health, disputing a report that one of them had been killed.

The guards were seized while patrolling the frontier with Pakistan in early February. Jaish al-Adl, an Iranian Sunni rebel group in Sistan-Baluchestan province, later claimed responsibility.

“The kidnapped Iranian border guards are safe; there is no verified information to substantiate the terrorists’ claim of murder of one of the kidnapped soldiers,” official news agency Irna quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour as saying on Wednesday.

Jaish al-Adl said on its website last month that it had killed one guard. Last week the semi-official Fars News Agency also reported that one of the guards had been killed, quoting an “informed source”.

The kidnappings took place in an area with a history of violence and sectarian problems, and have raised tensions between Pakistan and Iran.

Court orders internee’s meeting with family

Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ordered the government on Thursday to either arrange a meeting, in complete privacy, of internee Tasif Ali with his wife and father-in-law within a week and warned that if it was not done the court would issue a summon for his production before it.

He disappeared on Nov 23, 2012, but the court was informed by the authorities on March 14 that he had been apprehended on March 5 this year and was kept in the Lakki Marwat internment centre under the Action (in Aid of Civil Powers) Regulations 2011.

On Thursday, the apex court took up an affidavit Dr Malik Muhammad Aslam had filed after meeting his son-in-law, along with Abida Malik, on March 29 in the Kohat internment centre where he was told by its authorities not to ask questions, but only answer whatever Tasif asked them.

According to the affidavit, when Dr Aslam informed the authorities that the apex court had ordered that the meeting be arranged in complete privacy, he was told that the court’s orders had no jurisdiction inside the internment centre.

Dr Aslam and her daughter Abida were each allowed to see Tasif for 10 minutes. Six security personnel were inside the room while the seventh was making a video recording of the meeting.

“The presence of uniformed persons is an intimidation,” Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk Mulk said and asked Additional Attorney General (AAG) Atiq Shah why the conversation between the family members had been restricted.

The AAG assured the court that its orders would be complied with and another meeting in complete privacy would be arranged.

But when he expressed doubt about the medicines being given to control diabetes, the court asked him not to say something about which he had no knowledge. At least the detained person had been examined by a doctor, the court said. The court directed the internment centre’s doctor to regularly examine Tasif.

Tasif was allegedly picked up by Maj Ali Ahsan of the Military Intelligence.

PPP asks govt to take political parties into confidence over TTP talks

M.B. Kalhoro

NAUDERO: The Pakistan Peoples Party has asked the government to take political parties and parliament into confidence over the talks with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

A meeting of the PPP central executive committee, presided over jointly by the party’s Patron-in-Chief, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, paid tribute to the leadership of Z.A. Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto for their struggle against dictators and for the restoration of democracy, rights of the downtrodden, labourers and haris.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Qamar Zaman Kaira said the CEC pledged to carry forward the mission of Z.A. Bhutto in light of the party’s manifesto. “We support the government in the talks with the TTP leadership. The PPP will not compromise on its principles,” he said.

Mr Kaira said the meeting also discussed reports of threat to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s life and resolved that such threats would not force the party leadership to go into hiding. The CEC asked the federal and provincial governments to initiate an investigation into the threat and punish the elements who were behind it.

The PPP criticised the federal government’s decision of sacking employees and called for its withdrawal immediately.

Mr Kaira said the CEC was satisfied with the trial of Pervez Musharraf for violator of the constitution for the first time in the country’s history and called for an urgent decision on it in accordance with law. It asked the government not to hide behind the courts and called for a fair trial.

Mr Kaira said the meeting urged the government to adopt an independent foreign policy.

The CEC endorsed the on-going dialogue with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and other political parties and authorised Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Asif Ali Zardari to take a decision.

The meeting backed the policies of Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari about Afghanistan.

In reply to a question, he said the Thar issue was discussed at the meeting.

The meeting decided that Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari would soon undertake countrywide tours, including Punjab, for reorganisation of the party.

Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, Rehman Malik, Aitzaz Ahsan, Sherry Rehman and Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed were some of the prominent figures who attended the meeting.

Boy killed in Afghan refugee camp explosion

The Newspaper's Correspondent

MANSEHRA: A minor boy was killed and four others were injured when an explosive device went off at the Khaki Afghan refugee camp on Thursday.

MANSEHRA: A minor boy was killed and four others were injured when an explosive device went off at the Khaki Afghan refugee camp on Thursday.

The uncle of Najeebullah said authorities were yet to establish whether it was a toy bomb or a hand-grenade that had exploded.

The Khaki police started investigation into the incident after registering an FIR.

AFP adds: “Up to six children were playing with a toy that they had found from the garbage they collected from nearby areas when it exploded, killing the boy and wounding four other children,” senior police official Khurram Rasheed said.

Musharraf may go to court on ECL

Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD: The government rejected on Wednesday a request by former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf seeking removal of his name from the exit control list (ECL).

ISLAMABAD: The government rejected on Wednesday a request by former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf seeking removal of his name from the exit control list (ECL).

“The request has been considered on the basis of record of pronouncements of the superior courts on the cited subject and pending criminal cases in various courts. The federal government is unable to accede to your request in public interest,” reads a letter written by the interior ministry to Mr Musharraf.

The former president had submitted the request on March 31 after the Special Court, which indicted him in the treason case, ruled that it was for the government to decide whether to keep his name on the ECL or not.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had consultative sessions with his party men on Tuesday, but most of them opposed a safe exit to Mr Musharraf.

Sources told Dawn that the government’s decision was also conveyed to the military leadership.

The sources said the interior ministry’s letter was delivered to Mr Musharraf at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi.

A source close to Mr Musharraf said “most probably we will soon be filing a petition with the Supreme Court”.

Prominent lawyer S.M. Zafar told Dawn it appeared to be more of a game of politics between the executive and the judiciary, with both sending the ball in each other’s court.

He said the only remedy available for Mr Musharraf was to go to the Supreme Court as both the Special Court and the executive had not taken a decision.

“This relief can also be given to Musharraf if he approaches the Supreme Court,” he remarked.

The former military ruler’s spokesman, retired Gen Rashid Qureshi, described the whole episode as ping pong between the government and the judiciary. He said the Sindh High Court had held that it was the federal government’s discretion to allow Mr Musharraf to travel abroad and a similar ruling was given by the special court.

He said it was surprising that the government once again had left the matter to the judiciary. “It could be a delaying tactic or lack of decision-making power. It appears the government wants to torture Mr Musharraf,” Rashid Qureshi said.

He said the government’s bias against the former president had become evident now. Nawaz Sharif was on record having said that he had nothing personal against Mr Musharraf, but the statement of his ministers Khawaja Asif, Saad Rafiq and Ahsan Iqbal betrayed their bias, he added.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said more than once that Mr Musharraf’s name was there on the ECL and would remain there till a court ruled to remove it, saying that the name was put on ECL on the court’s orders. He later said that the government had put his name on the ECL on its own as well in view of the cases of serious nature pending before courts.

IB chief to be retained on contract

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to give an extension to Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director General Aftab Sultan who retired on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to give an extension to Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director General Aftab Sultan who retired on Wednesday.

The officer of police services of Pakistan had been appointed to head the civilian spy agency in July last year.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Sultan confirmed that “I have been asked by the prime minister to stay put and carry on with the assignment”.

Govt may rely on majority for controversial bill

Raja Asghar

ISLAMABAD: A much awaited standing committee report on a controversial bill seeking to tighten terrorism prosecution came to the National Assembly on Wednesday, indicating the government will press its house majority into action after a consensus remained elusive.

But contrary to the government’s comfortable position in the 342-seat lower house, the Protection of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, some of whose provisions like permission to shoot suspects at sight, secret trials and longer detentions, have aroused fears of opposition politicians and rights activists, could get stuck up in the opposition-controlled Senate.

The standing committee on interior and narcotics control said in its report that it was with an “overwhelming majority” that its last meeting on Tuesday approved bill with some of its own amendments.

The bill, referred to it on Jan 30, seeks to turn a presidential ordinance into permanent law, which amends the original Protection of Pakistan Ordinance of 2013.

The amending ordinance is already in force and it was for fear of its uncertain fate in parliament that the government got its extension for a second period of 90 days through a vote of the National Assembly during its previous session.

The opposition leader in the house, Khursheed Ahmed Shah, had then advised the government to try for consensus on the bill to ensure its passage also by the 104-seat Senate, where his Pakistan People’s Party and its allies form the majority.

But his counsel that a consensus in the National Assembly would reflect in the Senate lost much credibility after some PPP senators and their allies blocked another government bill that was passed by the lower house with PPP support to pave the way for the appointment of a consensus chief election commissioner.

Wednesday’s standing committee report, recommending that the lower house pass the bill with some amendments proposed by it, included a dissenting note from two members of the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement, but none from the main opposition parties like the PPP and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf.

But even without giving a dissenting note, the government-allied Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F thought it fit to embarrass the government when one of its senior members, Maulana Amir Zaman, declared his party’s continued opposition to the bill if its concerns about what he called “anti-people” clauses were not removed.

More protests were in store for the government in the form of walkouts by the MQM and usually pro-government lawmakers from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas before the house was adjourned for a previously unscheduled recess for Thursday until 10.30am on Friday.

That recess was an apparent concession to the PPP to facilitate its members’ travel to the mausoleum of their party founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, at Naudero, Sindh, to mark the 35th anniversary of his April 4, 1079, execution after a controversial conspiracy-to-murder conviction.

Seven MQM members present at the time walked out of the house quite early in the day, and did not return for the remainder of the sitting, to protest against what one of them, Asif Hasnain, called a continuing appearance of mutilated corpses of his party’s followers in Karachi over the past 10 days.

He urged the president, the prime minister and the chief justice to take notice of what he described as “extrajudicial murders” by police and unspecified intelligence agencies.

The walkout by six Fata members came after one of them, Shahji Gul Afridi, shouted at the top of his voice his complaint that the government had “done nothing” for the good of the militancy-plagued Fata during nine months of its rule and that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had not even granted their request for a meeting with him.

Mr Afridi threatened that the Fata members would continue protesting until a commission was set up to redress “these reservations” as he waved a paper without revealing its contents.

NO RESPONSE: There was no immediate government response to some important questions raised by opposition members.

Khwaja Asif was not in the house at the time when Ms Shah demanded a government explanation about what she called its “hypocritical” move through a decision taken last week by the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet.

Another PPP member from Sindh, Imran Zafar Leghari, too got no reply to his query about whether the government’s negotiating team engaged in peace talks with Taliban rebels had demanded release of their abducted civilian captives like Ali Haider Gilani, a son of former PPP prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, and Shahbaz Taseer, a son of assassinated Punjab governor Salman Taseer, also of the PPP.

Minister of State for National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination, Saira Afzal Tarar, assured the house that the government would bring a new law to parliament to restrict increases in drug prices and set up, by the end of the year, a drug regulatory authority.

She made the statement while denying a reported 30 per cent increase in the prices of 179 life-saving drugs over the last few months as claimed in a call-attention notice of five PPP members, and blamed what she acknowledged as up to 15pc price increases on court stay orders obtained by some pharmaceutical companies and said the government was seeking to get them vacated by the Supreme Court.

PTI ready to hold LG polls in KP on 30th

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, the ruling party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, announced here on Wednesday that it was ready to hold local government elections in the province on April 30, putting the ball in the court of Election Commission of Pakistan to go ahead with the required arrangements.

The decision was taken at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the PTI’s core committee.

The PTI said it had asked the ECP and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to allow the KP government to hold the LG elections through biometric system by using electronic voting machines, but they had shown no interest in the request.

“The core committee has expressed its dismay over the lack of response on part of the ECP and Nadra,” said a press release issued after the meeting. The committee formally asked the ECP to expedite the election process because the KP government had completed delimitation of constituencies, it added.

The committee also asked the federal government to complete the procedure for allowing overseas Pakistanis to cast their votes. The party directed its members in the National Assembly to introduce a bill for amendments to the Constitution.

After the PTI’s announcement, the focus will now be on Punjab and Sindh as they have so far refused to hold LG elections on one pretext or the other. Balochistan held the elections on Dec 7 last year.

The Supreme Court had directed the ECP to announce by Nov 15 election schedules for the remaining three provinces.

The KP government’s announcement will put extra pressure on its counterparts in Punjab and Sindh.

However, the ECP did not agree with the PTI demand.

The PTI leadership, the official added, was playing politics with the date; otherwise they knew it was unrealistic at the moment. In reply to a question, the official said LG elections were most likely to be held in the three provinces together, early or late next year.

In the end, the party praised its workers for standing firm on the anti-drone issue which, it claimed, had compelled the Obama administration to stop drone attacks.

Ban on temporary recruitment lifted

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: The government has lifted a ban on recruitment of daily wagers with a temporary status in the public sector organisations, a provision which was allegedly abused by the previous rulers.

ISLAMABAD: The government has lifted a ban on recruitment of daily wagers with a temporary status in the public sector organisations, a provision which was allegedly abused by the previous rulers.

The government has allowed hiring of ‘contingent staff’ to meet the genuine requirements of organisations, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying in a handout issued by his office on Wednesday.

In a highly sentimental speech this week, the Leader of Opposition in the House, Syed Khursheed Shah, threatened to go on hunger strike if the government sacked the public sector organisations’ employees appointed during the PPP rule. He said it was the duty of every government to provide jobs to people instead of throwing them out of jobs.

The PPP is accused of having virtually stuffed government organisations such as PIA, PSM, Railways and CDA with contractual employees on a political basis.

On Wednesday, the National Assembly was informed that PIA maintained an unprecedentedly high number of staff per aircraft as compared to other countries of nearly 1,000. A large number of these employees were recruited by the PPP government, which is cited as a major factor in pushing the national airline to the verge of collapse.

The government has decided in principle not to extend the contract of any employee, which has resulted in ending the employment of a significant number of contingent staff. This figure will increase with time.

Sources in the PML-N said that like any other political party in power, there was a constant demand from lawmakers for jobs for their constituents.

“After having settled and assessed ground realities, the government has decided to lift the ban, but we will not misuse the option the way the PPP did,” a PML-N leader said.

He also approved posting of Shahid Ghaffar as Managing Director of the National Investment Trust and Tahira Raza as President of the First Women Bank.

PML-N in a fix over concession for Musharraf

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: An overwhelming majority within the PML-N is reported to be against allowing former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf to travel to the UAE to see his ailing mother and get treatment for his own heart ailment.

A party source privy to an intense meeting of the PML-N’s top leadership held at the Prime Minister Office on Tuesday to discuss the issue told Dawn that only a few were in favour of lifting the travel ban on the former army chief, who was indicted by the Special Court on Monday for high treason.

The media wing of the PM Office remained silent over the meeting, which was presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. It was attended, among others, by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for States and Frontier Region retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch, Information Minister Pervez Rashid, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi and special assistant to the prime minister, Irfan Siddiqui.

According to the source, the meeting lasted about three hours and witnessed some cogent arguments. The prime minister remained tight-lipped throughout the huddle and patiently listened to his party’s senior colleagues. He exhorted the participants to speak their mind over the issue.

Although in minority, the ones who spoke in favour of accepting Mr Musharraf’s application seeking removal of his name from the exit control list (ECL) argued that after his formal indictment, the first in country’s history, the PML-N had achieved its stated goal of putting the dictator on trial and now allowing him to see his ailing mother would further bring good name to the party.

“Our plate is already full of pressing issues such as militancy, energy crisis and a fragile economy. Therefore, it’s better to pay full attention to them instead of getting bogged down in the trial of Musharraf,” the source quoted a party leader as saying.

After the Special Court put the ball in the government’s court, “we should give Gen Musharraf relief on pure humanitarian ground and take due credit for that”, the leader added.

In its short order, the court had asked the former military ruler to seek his travel restrictions removed from the government because the matter did not fall under its jurisdiction.

The government had placed his name on ECL in response to a Supreme Court order issued on April 8 last year.

The three-judge Special Court ruled that the accused (Musharraf) was free to travel both inside and outside the country.

And the ones who were in majority and against the lifting of travel ban said the party since October 12, 1999, when the former army chief toppled the PML-N government in a coup, had waited for this moment and, hence should firmly stick to it.

“Even if we allow him to travel abroad to be with his mother on pure compassionate ground, opposition parties will cry hoarse against us for not standing our ground. Some even will accuse the government of giving him permission under some foreign pressure,” the PML-N source quoted a minister as saying. “Politically, it will be a suicidal move which the party leadership at best should avoid,” he added.

A close aide to the prime minister told Dawn: “As far as my personal observation is concerned, the government will remove his name from the ECL only on court orders, and not on its own.”

There will be a win-win situation for both the government and Mr Musharraf if he gets a favourable decision from the court because if the government does so, it will be in for lots of criticism.

Khwaja Asif and Pervez Rashid had on Monday announced in the National Assembly that the government on its own would not allow Mr Musharraf to travel abroad.

“To punish or set him free, the government will only follow the court orders,” Khwaja Asif said.

The prime minister’s aide said that eventually it would be Mr Sharif’s call whether to accept or reject Musharraf’s application.

However, regardless of the outcome, one thing is for sure — the prime minister by all means wants completion of Musharraf’s treason trial by the Special Court.

IB updates list of most wanted criminals

Faisal Ali Ghumman

LAHORE: The Intelligence Bureau, which has recently got Rs1.4 billion from the federal government for acquiring manpower, gadgetry and other resources to rebuild the organisation from scratch, has updated its first-ever list of most wanted criminals belonging to a Karachi-based political party and the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan who have been responsible for the unrest in the port city.

Although officials claim some high-profile arrests from a list of over 400 people involved in targeted killings and other acts of terrorism, extortion and cases of kidnapping for ransom since the start of Karachi operation in September last year, more than 100 have fled abroad.

The top-most civil intelligence network, which directly reports to the prime minister, is now trying to stand on its feet after a lapse of 13 years and for this purpose the prime minister has announced a Rs7billion package for restructuring of the organisation in three years.

Official sources said that of the Rs1.4b, up to Rs500million had already been spent on the ongoing Karachi operation in which IB officials had been given weapons, IT-related devices, computers and vehicles. They have also prepared an intelligence-gathering system to help the Karachi police in fighting acts of terrorism, sectarianism and gang wars.

Up to 500 officials, from constables to the assistant sub-inspectors, have been recruited in the IB for the purpose.

The newly-inducted officials are now under training at Simli Dam in Islamabad. The force’s strength is now around 3,100 after fresh induction, which sources said, was much less than what was required to deal with acts of terrorism in KP, Balochistan, Fata and other parts of the country.

Informed sources said that intelligence role of the IB in the ongoing Karachi operation and the number of arrests made by the Karachi police and Rangers had also been acknowledged by the Capital City Police Officer Karachi and the Director General of Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) at a recent high-level meeting presided over by the prime minister in Karachi.

The sources further said that political use of IB had been discouraged and the IB would now act purely as a counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence agency.

They said that a number of reforms were in the pipeline and if implemented, these would restore the previous image of the IB which had been weakened by a supreme intelligence agency of the country after the 1999 military takeover.

Sources said that the prime minister had held out an assurance to restore all powers that the IB had been given by former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Balochistan peace talks under way, says general

A Correspondent

GWADAR: The Commander of the Southern Command, Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua, has said that the process to resolve the Balochistan issue through talks is under way.

Addressing local elders and officials here on Tuesday, he said the army had been cooperating with the provincial government in its efforts to restore peace in the province.

He said steps had been taken to end unrest because development of the province was linked to peace.

He expressed the hope that after becoming functional Gwadar Port would help boost the economy of the country as well as of the province and create jobs for thousands of local youths.

Gen Janjua said implementation of agreements on major projects with China, including Gwadar Port, would lay the foundation of progress and prosperity in Balochistan.

He said “people of Balochistan are patriot and loyal to Pakistan” and they were aware of the importance of Gwadar Port for their future.

He was confident that the Baloch people would not allow ‘anti-peace elements’ to obstruct development activities in the province.

Gen Janjua said these elements killed innocent people and lost support of the masses.

He praised the Balochistan government for its efforts to maintain law and order. “The law and order situation has improved and people of Balochistan will benefit from it.”

He stressed the need for promoting trade with Iran and said that a proposal to set up a common border market was under consideration.

The commander said the Gwadar Institute of Technology was a gift from Pakistan Army. Its objective is to treat youths with technological skills and enable them to earn their livelihood in a respectable manner.

The Inspector General, Frontier Corps, Balochistan, Maj Gen Ejaz Shahid, said that a financially strong society strengthened the development process. He urged people to get their children enrolled in schools because no nation could progress without education.

He said security forces needed cooperation of local people to combat terrorism and heinous crimes.

Pakistan out of T20 tournament

Agencies

MIRPUR: Holders West Indies sailed into the World Twenty20 semi-finals after Dwayne Bravo’s power-hitting and Samuel Badree’s lethal spin bowling fashioned their comprehensive 84-run victory over 2009 champions Pakistan on Tuesday.

It was the first time Pakistan, finalists in the inaugural World T20 in 2007, failed to reach the knock-out rounds.

Darren Sammy’s men overcame a wobbly start to post a strong 166 for six before returning to bowl out Pakistan for 82 runs in 17.5 overs and set up a semi-final clash with Sri Lanka on Thursday.

India, who won the inaugural edition in 2007, take on South Africa in the second semi-final on Friday.—Agencies

NA says yes to madressah reform, dithers on YouTube

Raja Asghar

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly threw on Tuesday its weight behind the government’s plans to reform madressahs, adopting an opposition resolution calling for improving and regulating studies at religious seminaries. But, thanks to a ministerial dithering, a similar vote against a 1-1/2-year-old ban on YouTube video-sharing social website was put off.

However, on a day of strident attacks against dubious moves advanced in the name of Islam, most criticism across party lines, in an opposition-initiated debate, focussed on militants obstructing polio vaccination in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and adjoining Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and was marked by demands that the government make protection for polio vaccinators as condition of peace talks with Taliban rebels.

The government did not oppose the one-sentence resolution demanding that it “take steps to improve and regulate madressah education”, which was moved by a Pakistan People’s Party lawmaker, Nafisa Shah, who cited a similar aim set by the government in its recently announced “national internal security policy” as part of plans to secure madressahs against radicalisation or terrorist indoctrination of their students.

A government-allied religious party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F, many of whose senior members are running religious seminaries, has vowed to resist the planned reform that it says is part of a Western agenda, but none of its members came out to oppose Tuesday’s resolution, ensuring its adoption without a negative voice vote.

Ms Shah too acknowledged that only “some” of the thousands of private madressahs were involved in objectionable activities, crediting the majority with providing education to “the poorest of the poor” as she called for their “mainstreaming” with the inclusion of subjects like science and computer education in their syllabi so their degrees were recognised by the formal system of education and their graduates qualified for jobs.

Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Mohammad Yousaf resisted Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq’s advice that he need not speak after Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmed said he would not oppose the resolution, showed some soft corner for madressah operators. He said that most of things said against them were based on mere propaganda or lack of knowledge and that the government was already working with five madressah educational boards for the inclusion of “other subjects” in their syllabi.

The minister of state later cited the presence of just one word, “immediate” in the text of PPP lawmaker Shazia Marri’s resolution — that the government take “immediate steps to lift ban on YouTube” — for opposing the move against the September 2012 ban imposed by the previous PPP-led coalition government after YouTube uploaded a video derogatory to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

After Ms Marri and Arif Alvi of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf seemed to have convinced the treasury benches that time had come to lift the ban with adequate safeguards in view of the advantage of the hugely popular website, a US court decision asking the Google search engine to remove the objectionable video, the two sides seemed to have agreed on a revised text of the resolution. An amendment moved by Awais Leghari of the PML-N deleted the word “immediate” and gave the government up to two months to remove the ban “with adequate safeguards”.

But an apparent afterthought, also involving the speaker, Science and Technology Minister Zahid Hamid and PPP’s senior member Naveed Qamar, and after a reference was made by a ruling party member to a petition on the issue pending before the Lahore High Court, the vote on the resolution was deferred to the next private members’ day on April 8, the last day of the session.

It was again a motion moved by PPP’s Ms Marri seeking a discussion on “steps being taken by the government to completely eradicate polio in the country” that prompted some senior lawmakers to join the cause. Some of them warned the house about a time when out of the three countries not yet declared polio-free (Afghanistan and Nigeria being the other two), Pakistan could have an added stigma of remaining the only country in the world afflicted with the menace because of militant attacks on polio vaccinators.

A spirited call from Qaumi Watan Party leader Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao for including the issue in the agenda for government’s ongoing peace talks with Taliban militants was supported by several other lawmakers while some other suggestions included that the house pass a resolution making it obligatory for all its members to participate in vaccination campaigns and that parents of polio victims be punished for not getting their children vaccinated.

The chair ruled that the debate be continued on next Tuesday.

The day also saw a two-pronged move four Jamaat-i-Islami members of the house to oversee people morals met with a partial success when the house adopted a resolution moved by them asking the government to “take steps to impose immediate ban” on what it called immoral programmes on state and private television channels, but got a cold shoulder from Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada over their call-attention notice against perceived “obscene musical programmes on private channels.

The minister’s remark that accepting the Jamaat members’ demand to ban singing and dancing could suffocate society led to some angry exchanges between the two sides.

Court takes first step towards Musharraf’s trial

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: The high treason trial of retired General Pervez Musharraf brought a historical moment among twists and turns on Monday such as the former dictator’s appearance, his indictment and clarity on who is responsible for removing his name from the exit control list (ECL).

Despite his maverick defence team’s predictions of Sunday night (that the general might not appear in court), the retired general turned up at the Children’s Library auditorium bright and early, dressed simply in a shalwar-kameez and a black blazer.

Setting a new legal and historical precedent, the court indicted him — the first time that a military general has been charged for subverting the Constitution in Pakistan, which has witnessed three coups by three military dictators as well as the 2007 emergency imposed by Musharraf for which he stood in the dock on Monday.

Indictment means that the charges are read out to the accused, allowing the latter to respond to the charges. After this, the trial can begin. Till now, the Special Court set up to try Musharraf has been hearing the objections and petitions filed by his legal team and the real trial had not begun.

When Justice Tahira Safdar (of the Balochistan High Court) read out the five charges against Musharraf, he pleaded not guilty, as his newly hired lawyer, Barrister Farogh Naseem, stood nearby at the rostrum and listened.

After the charges were read out, Musharraf – with the court’s permission – spoke for half an hour, giving his point of view on the trial.

But while it was the indictment, which has set a legal precedent, it was the court order made public later in the day that caused the greater public excitement.

Ruling on the pleas by Barrister Naseem who asked that Mr Musharraf be allowed to travel abroad (to visit his sick mother and for his own medical treatment), the court pronounced that the decision to remove Musharraf’s name from the ECL lay with the government and not the courts.

The order was made public at five and by the evening, Mr Naseem had submitted an application to the interior ministry, requesting that his client’s name be removed from the ECL.

He told Dawn that the Special Court in its order made it clear that it did not place Mr Musharraf’s name on the ECL. He said that this was why he had now filed an application with the interior ministry for lifting the travel ban so that he could visit his ailing mother in the UAE, adding that the interior ministry had earlier rejected the application.

The charges framed The court charged Musharraf with five offences: accusing him of imposing emergency on Nov 3, 2007; issuing an unlawful “Provisional Constitution Order” (PCO) which empowered him to amend the Constitution; issuing an “Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2007” which resulted in the removal of numerous judges of the superior courts; issuing “Constitution (Amendment) Order, 2007”: and then issuing on Dec 14, 2007 a second “unconstitutional and unlawful (Second Amendment) Order, 2007”.

Before the charges were read out, Barrister Naseem requested the court to delay the indictment, arguing that he needed time to examine the proceedings’ record. But the court rejected his plea.

He also requested the court to allow Musharraf to proceed abroad to see his 95 years old ailing mother Zarin Musharraf, who was admitted to a hospital in the UAE, adding that Musharraf himself wanted to seek treatment abroad.

“A high treason case cannot stop anybody from travelling abroad,” he added.

It was Mr Naseem’s stand that the Special Court had the powers to allow Musharraf to travel, instead of the government or the Supreme Court.

However, Akram Sheikh, head of the prosecution team, argued that the court had to remain focused on the high treason trial. He pointed out that the accused was not in custody and that his (Musharraf’s) name had been placed on the ECL by the federal government and not the Special Court.

Clearly the bench agreed with Mr Sheikh.

Who controls the ECL?

In its order it clarified that “this court has not passed an order to place the name of the accused on the ECL, therefore, the federal government cannot refuse to review its decision merely because of the pendency of this case”.

This order created ripples across the country, giving rise to rumours and conjecture that Monday’s proceedings had set the stage for Musharraf’s release.

It is noteworthy that till now, government officials, including Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, have said more than once that the decision to allow Musharraf to travel lay with the courts and not the government.

However, the Special Court’s order on Monday seemed to made it clear that it was the government that will have to make this call – though the order also made it clear that the court did not disagree or oppose the accused’s movement.

The order stated: “Unless an accused is in custody, a criminal court cannot restrict his movement. He can work for gain anywhere and get medical treatment at a medical facility of his choice.”

Earlier on Jan 4, Musharraf’s wife had filed an application before the interior ministry, requesting that her husband’s name be removed from the ECL.

However, the interior ministry cited the treason trial and rejected the application.

In fact, this issue had been addressed by the Sindh High Court on Dec 23, 2013 when it observed that placing Musharraf’s name on the ECL “was the act of the federal government and not in consequent to the direction of this (SHC) court”.

Though Barrister Naseem was seeking eight weeks adjournment, the Special Court put off further proceedings of the high treason case till April 15.

‘I am not a traitor’

The Newspaper's Reporter

ISLAMABAD: “I am not a traitor,” said former president retired General Pervez Musharraf in his defence once the Special Court had indicted him on charges related to imposition of emergency in the country on Nov 3, 2007.

When Justice Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court read out the first charge against Musharraf, the former president glanced at his lawyer nervously.

However, he managed to collect himself and replied, “I plead not guilty”.

Even earlier, when he sat quietly watching the lawyers and the judges discuss the case, he appeared tense, focusing on the exchange taking place in front of him.

He repeated “not guilty” to all the five offences the learned judge read out.

Once this was done, the retired commando signed the charge sheet after which he began to speak and held forth for 25 minutes.

After stating that he was not a “ghaddar”, he further explained that he had not been avoiding the court.

He added that he had stayed away for three reasons — security (where he said he feared for the safety of others more than his own life); and his doctors’ advice which he had ignored and come to the Special Court twice.

“The third reason is legal, which I will not go into now,” he claimed, as he smoothly moved on.

He pointed out that since his return to Pakistan in March last year, he had appeared before 16 different courts, adding that he held the courts and judges in the “highest esteem”.

But Musharraf spent a relatively short time discussing his reasons for staying away as most of his speech focused on recalling his political and military achievements.

Explaining that he had a vision for a prosperous Pakistan, he said that he could not be a traitor.

“I have been the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) for 9 years and served the Pakistan Army for 44 years; I fought two wars — in 1965 and 1971 — and am still ready to lay down my life for my motherland.”

He said that those who sold the country’s secrets or those who looted public money or harmed the country by holding back its development were the traitors.

However, he stopped short of naming any such ‘traitors’.

It was at this point that the general indulged in rattling off macro-economic numbers as he was wont to do when he was at the helm of affairs.

“In 2008 when I quit as president the foreign debt stood at $37 billion which has now reached $50 billion,” he pointed out.

“I made the defence of the country stronger and introduced command and control system for the safety of nuclear assets,” he claimed.

“Empowering the people and making the country strong were my only sins,” he declaimed.

Though he spoke but fleetingly of Nov 3, 2007, for which he is now being tried, he did emphasise that the emergency was imposed after seeking the advice of the then prime minister, federal cabinet and other stakeholders.

However, he did not name the army officers or corps commanders who are also mentioned in the proclamation along with the civilians.

Regardless of who else was moved by Musharraf’s rhetoric it seemed that Akram Sheikh, head of the prosecution team, was.

As soon the general ended his speech, Mr Sheikh told the bench that the complaint the federal government filed before the Special Court never used the word “traitor” for Musharraf.

The complaint alleged that Gen Musharraf had imposed an emergency and abrogated the Constitution, he pointed out.

This is a case of violating the Constitution, he said.

Prices of petrol, other products reduced

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: As a result of improvement in the value of rupee, the government on Monday announced reduction in the prices of all petroleum products with immediate effect.

The prices were reduced on the recommendations of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) following a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

An official statement said that the prime minister had issued directives for passing on the benefits of appreciation in the value of rupee against US dollar to consumers.

The price of petrol was reduced by Rs1.72 (1.6 per cent) to Rs108.31 from Rs110.03 per litre and that of high speed diesel by Rs2.90 (2.5 per cent) to Rs113.85 from Rs116.75 per litre.

The price of kerosene, the poor people’s fuel which is mostly used in rural areas, was cut down by Rs5.61 (5.3 per cent) to Rs101.15 from 106.76 per litre.

Likewise, the price of light diesel oil was cut by Rs5.16 (5.1 per cent) to Rs95.06 from Rs100.22 per litre and that of high octane blending component by Rs4.66 (3.3 per cent) to Rs136.57 from Rs141.23 per litre.The reduction in prices was worked out on the basis of maximum petroleum levy permissible under an act of parliament.

Besides the Rs6 to Rs14 per litre petroleum levy, the government also charges 17 per cent general sales tax on the prices of all oil products.

An official statement said that the prime minister wrote a letter to all chief ministers after reduction in petroleum prices asking them to help reduce prices of other commodities.

“It is high time to pass on benefits of cheaper imports and cheaper cost of transportation to the citizens. People of Pakistan expect reduction in fares of urban and inter-city transport,” the prime minister said.

“I expect your personal interest and strong follow-up for immediate relief to the people of Pakistan,” he conveyed to the chief ministers.

Two killed as train comes under fire near Mach

The Newspaper's Staff Correspondent

QUETTA: An attack on a train near Mach in Bolan district left a policeman and a passenger dead on Monday. Six passengers were injured.

QUETTA: An attack on a train near Mach in Bolan district left a policeman and a passenger dead on Monday. Six passengers were injured.

The train from Lahore was going to Quetta.

The injured, two women among them, were taken to Quetta in a helicopter.

Militants sitting on a mountain opened fire at the Nawab Akbar Bugti Express in Paneer area after it had crossed a tunnel, railway official Abbas Ali said. Two bogies of the train were hit by bullets, sources said.

The militants used heavy weapons in the attack, Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman Khan Wasey said. The slain policeman was part of a security contingent deployed to protect the train.

Sources said that security personnel returned fire, forcing the attackers to flee.FC troops took the bodies and injured to Mach hospital from where they were airlifted to Quetta.

The deceased were identified as Mohammad Ali (police constable) and Mohammad Nadeem and the injured included Zabaida Kurd, Khadija, Abdul Qudoos, Mohammad Hussain and Nasrullah.

The spokesman said that FC troops had launched a search in the area for the assailants.

“The train later reached Quetta,” the railway official said, adding that security would be tightened to ensure safety of passenger trains.

Analysis: Why Jamaat discarded Munawar Hasan

Nasir Jamal

The arrival of Sirajul Haq as the fifth emir of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) is being interpreted variously. Most commonly, however, it is being viewed as the restoration in the Jamaat of the Qazi Hussain Ahmed strain of populist politics fired by a strong desire to evolve into a mainstream political party.

“Sirajul Haq will follow Qazi Hussain’s style of leadership,” one of the top Jamaat leaders from Lahore told Dawn.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity because of party discipline, he said: “He will prove to be more accommodating [in forging alliances with other parties] and avoid controversies because of his experience of working in the coalition government of the MMA [from 2002 to 07] and now with the PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”The election of a JI emir has always attracted considerable public interest because of the political ideology it represents and the street power it is supposed to wield, even though the JI has never succeeded in attracting voters to itself. The results have always been predictable, until Haq sprang this surprise.

He emerged as the winner on Sunday as the Jamaat Arakeen (members with voting rights) voted out the sitting emir, Syed Munawwar Hasan, for the first time in the party’s history. If this was not significant enough, he defeated another JI stalwart, Liaquat Baloch, a bit of a pragmatist politician himself with his own constant appeal, particularly in Punjab.

There are two points that need to be discussed. One, how is that the Jamaat broke away with its tradition of never voting out a sitting emir, even if it was accepted that Hasan was a somewhat reluctant candidate for re-election? And, two, if the fight effectively was between two more pragmatic, relatively young contestants in Haq and Baloch, how did the Jamaat members distinguish one from the other?

The answers to these questions can be found in the Jamaat’s politics under Hasan who has always been more of an ideologue in the party. It was quite clear that his style of politics created a craving for a return to the days of his predecessor. This is where leaders such as Baloch and Haq emerged as his likely heirs. It was to a large extent Hasan’s own preferences of partners — which saw the Jamaat allying itself with the PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — that could have given Haq an edge over Baloch.

Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based author and political analyst, who was expecting Baloch to replace Hasan, argued that Haq’s win was a rejection of his predecessor’s “combative style” of politics. “Syed Munawwar’s controversial statements undermined the Jamaat’s image outside the party. Siraj will follow Qazi Hussain to repair the JI image.”

He obviously was referring to the sitting emir’s statement declaring TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a drone strike, a martyr. He didn’t stop there and argued that if an American who died on the battlefield was not a martyr how could those from among the Pakistan army fighting [the American war] be termed as martyrs.

The statement had drawn a strong response from the army, which had called for an unconditional apology from the JI emir for hurting the feelings of the families of the thousands of Pakistani soldiers who had laid down their lives fighting the terrorists. Though the Jamaat defended its leader after the army condemned his remarks, it distanced itself from his statement by saying it represented Hasan’s “personal views”.

The anonymous Jamaat leader agreed with Dr Rizvi. “Syed Munawwar listened more to his heart. The kind of statements he has given in support of the Taliban didn’t represent the party’s stated policy or its culture. We do not have a soft corner for the Taliban. Our party has never favoured militancy. So when they got a chance, our Arakeen gave their decision [against him],” he argued.

While Farid Paracha, another top Jamaat leader from Lahore, agreed that the new JI emir would bring the same ‘concept of change’ as was brought in the party by Qazi Hussain whose protégé Haq is, he rejected ‘speculation’ that the Arakeen had punished Hasan for his controversial statement. “Syed Munawar, who is 73 years old and has some health issues, was reluctant to lead the party for another term. The Markazi Shoora turned down his request but the party Arakeen accepted it by electing a new emir.” He was hopeful that Haq’s election would revitalise the party and its workers.

The JI emir-elect has a public perception of being a hardliner and sympathetic to the militants. Yet both the Jamaat leaders and analysts reject this view about him. “Contrary to his public perception of being a hardliner, Sirajul Haq is a moderate [politician] in the old tradition of the Jamaat,” the anonymous JI leader contended.

People like Dr Rizvi warn against singling Haq out. “The JI as a party is supportive of the Taliban. Why single him out? He could be a bit more sympathetic [towards the militants] for being from the area.” He also rejected speculation that the military establishment engineered his win as part of its strategy to prepare the ground in KP for a post-Nato Afghanistan. “I don’t think the state can influence such a large number of voters [JI Arakeen] to manipulate the party emir’s election.”

While Haq’s victory is seen as a return in the Jamaat of a politically more accommodative era, the defeat of Baloch is being seen as consolidation of the forces in the party that want alliances with political forces like the PTI that are “ideologically more compatible”. “Baloch represents the Punjab party that is more inclined towards forging an alliance with the PML-N. This stance was rejected when Syed Munawwar refused to make electoral adjustments with the PML-N in last year’s elections and chose the PTI over it. The election of Siraj has consolidated that political outlook further,” said a senior journalist who also refused to give his name.

Thus Hasan may be gone, one of his legacies will survive, at least for the time being.

Musharraf’s lawyers hint at court boycott

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: Former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf is not likely to appear before the special court on Monday to face indictment in high treason case because of his ‘worsening health’ in the wake of hospitalisation of her mother Zarin Musharraf in the UAE.

According to sources close to the former army chief, after the admission of his 95-year-old mother to the W.W. Wilson Hospital in Sharjah, the former strongman’s cardiac condition has deteriorated and he has been shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) where he has been under treatment since Jan 2.

Mr Musharraf had to rush to the AFIC on Jan 2 after he suffered chest pain while he was on his way to the special court. Initially, he was kept in the ICU but was later shifted to a room.

The sources said that after Saturday’s news of ailment of his mother, Gen Musharraf had stopped meeting the visitors who used to call on him to inquire after his health.

He, however, held a brief meeting with his senior counsel Sharifuddin Prizada and Anwar Mansoor Khan on Sunday, while his doctors did not allow others to meet him.

Due to his health condition it is not likely that the doctors would allow Gen Musharraf to attend the proceedings where he would encounter harsh arguments of the prosecution team, the sources said.

The counsel would rather request the court to allow him to visit his ailing mother on humanitarian grounds, they said.

Some lawyers of Gen Musharraf’s team also expressed the possibility of boycotting the proceedings on Monday as, according to them, the presiding officer of the three-judge court could not proceed with the high treason case because he had indicated during earlier hearing that he would not hear the case. On Friday, after an unexpected and unusual rising of the court comprising Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, Justice Tahira Safdar of Balochistan High Court and Justice Yawar Ali of Lahore High Court during the hearing, defence and prosecution lawyers assumed that the bench had recused itself from further hearing.

However, in its written order issued later in the day, the court clarified that it had risen only for the day. The special court again ordered Mr Musharraf to appear in person on March 31 to face treason charges for imposing the 2007 emergency.

Rana Ijaz Ahmed Khan, counsel for Mr Musharraf, when contacted, said the bench should avoid hearing the matter further.

He said that the defence counsel would raise objection and request reconstitution of the court.

“We would also request the court to allow Gen Musharraf to meet his ailing mother abroad. In case the court would not consider our legitimate requests, the defence team would boycott the proceedings,” he said.

“Since Mr Musharraf was already in the AFIC and after the sudden hospitalisation of his mother his cardiac condition got worse, he is not likely to appear on Monday,” the lawyer said.

He said the government was also yet to notify screening of Mr Musharraf’s security staff. The interior ministry had issued a threat alert on March 10 that he could be assassinated by his own security guards, like former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was killed in January 2011, he said.

Unless the officials of law-enforcement agencies were cleared by security agencies he could not attend the court proceedings, the lawyer said.

Lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri, a leader of the All Pakistan Muslim League, said there was 50 per cent chance of Mr Musharraf appearing in Monday’s proceedings.

Another grave with 3 bodies found in Khuzdar

Saleem Shahid

QUETTA: Another three mutilated bodies were found in a grave in Totak area of Khuzdar district on Sunday.

QUETTA: Another three mutilated bodies were found in a grave in Totak area of Khuzdar district on Sunday.

According to official sources, Justice Noor Muhammad Maskanzai of the Balochistan High Court, who was heading a judicial tribunal investigating the discovery of 13 bodies in the area in the last week of January, went to Totak along with the deputy commissioner of Khuzdar and other officials after receiving a tip about the presence there of more corpses.

The bodies were found in one grave in the presence of Justice Maskanzai, the sources said. “The total number of bodies found in Totak has now increased to 16,” the sources said.

The bodies found on Sunday were taken to the Khuzdar district hospital, Balochistan Home Secretary Syed Asadur Rehman Gilani told Dawn.

Heavy contingents of law-enforcement personnel were deployed in the area.

“An 80-year-old man of Totak had informed the judicial tribunal about the presence of more bodies at the place,” a senior official said, adding that a search was carried out about half a kilometre from the place where 13 bodies had been found earlier.

The sources said that Khuzdar’s Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Afzal Sarpehra was in Totak along with security officials. “More places will be dug on Monday and recovery of more bodies cannot be ruled out,” an official who did not want to be named told this correspondent.

Two of the 13 bodies found in January have been identified, but the 11 others were not identifiable.

“The three new bodies were also not in a condition to be identified,” hospital sources said, adding that they were just skeletons.

The bodies have been kept in hospital where people started coming to see if it was possible to identify them.

“Only a DNA test can determine their identity,” the hospital sources said.

A team of doctors will examine the bodies on Monday and collect samples to be sent for DNA tests.

The chief justice of Pakistan had taken notice of the discovery of the 13 bodies and expressed dismay that the DNA test reports had not been submitted so far.

“DNA tests take around three months,” the official sources said.

The Balochistan government had set up the judicial tribunal which has collected evidence in Khuzdar.

The official sources said the tribunal had sought two more months for completing its report.

Justice Maskanzai has been staying in Khuzdar for five days in connection with the investigation.

Grey traffic causes $1bn annual loss

Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: Within two years the recorded volume of incoming international calls has dropped from an astonishing two billion minutes to less than 500 million minutes per month, giving a massive boost to grey trafficking in the country in which illegal telephone exchanges are used.

According to a Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) official, over the past one and a half years the country witnessed 75 per cent increase in grey trafficking which he mainly attributed to setting up of the controversial International Clearing House (ICH) by the PPP-led government in October 2012.

The PML-N government has done little to reverse the trend.

Although the PTA official was non-committal about the precise amount of loss the national exchequer had suffered because of the ICH, Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani of the PML-N put the figure at over $1 billion per year.

Dr Vankwani had on Thursday moved in the National Assembly a notice drawing attention of Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman Khan to the matter.

“One can put the blame for putting in place the ICH on the PPP-led government, but we have been running the government for 10 months and unfortunately are not able to curb grey trafficking which continues to afflict the telecommunication sector,” Dr Vankwani said while talking to Dawn.

The PTA official said that former IT secretary Farooq Awan came up with the idea of ICH and then implemented the highly contentious decision as chairman of the PTA.

Under the ICH, the entire incoming telephonic traffic was put at the disposal of the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited (PTCL). All the 14 long distance and international (LDI) licence-holding operators formed a consortium which through an agreement allowed the PTCL to manage the incoming telephone traffic and, in return, receive their proportionate share in the income.

According to Dr Vankwani, after the setting up of ICH in October 2012, the volume of recorded international incoming calls declined to less than one billion minutes per month within a few months.

The PTA official confirmed the figures of the PML-N lawmaker. The rate of incoming calls was increased by the previous PTA administration from 6.5 cents to 8.8 cents per minute, which also contributed to the swelling of grey traffic business which offered cheaper call rates to overseas Pakistanis.

“Throughout last year, incoming telephone calls only once crossed 400 minutes per month, which clearly suggested the degree of losses the government has suffered,” Dr Vankwani remarked, adding that with the increasing use of internet applications such as Skype and Viber, one could understand some decline in the use of telephone. But this sudden and sharp fall needed to be investigated at proper forum.

Dr Vankwani said the loss of one billion minutes to grey trafficking meant over $1bn loss to the national exchequer.

Grey traffic is defined as use of illegal telephone exchanges for making international calls, bypassing legal routes and exchanges. These illegal exchanges include VOIP (voice-over internet protocol) using a computer, GSM (global system for mobile) gateways, WLL (wireless local loop) phones or mobile SIMs.

This traffic may then be distributed onwards using WLL and mobile numbers. Grey routes are arrangements that fall outside the regular course of business among licensed telecom companies in each country.

In a telephonic conversation with Dawn, Minister of State for IT Anusha Rehman admitted that it was a faulty decision which led to the formation of ICH in agreement with LDI operators, but said some in the PTA argued that the amount of government receivables had increased over the years and, therefore, the arrangement should continue.

“I have asked for a comprehensive exercise by involving the finance ministry and the Federal Board of Revenue to determine the exact financial impact of the ICH. The future of ICH will be decided after receiving the findings from them,” she said.

Another PTA official told Dawn that the organisation had suggested to the IT ministry to impose a levy of 1.35 cents per minute and let the LDI licence holders compete among themselves. A summary to this effect is with the minister’s office.

The official alleged that people with vested interests were using their connections in the corridors of power to keep the present ICH arrangement in place, but a final decision would be taken by the government.

The official recalled that the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) had ruled against the ICH, describing the arrangement as cartelisation. It will be a tough call for the government if it decides to carry on with the ICH.

Speaking on the issue of grey trafficking in the National Assembly last week, former IT minister Awais Leghari had alleged that powerful lobbies were carrying out this illegal business through gateways set up in Karachi. He said the only and best possible way to deal with grey traffickers was to significantly cut down on access to promotion charges which the government received.

“Grey trafficking will die its own death if cheaper calls are made available to customers,” said Mr Leghari, who was minister in the Musharraf government but joined the PML-N after winning the election as an independent candidate.

The PTA official agreed with Mr Leghari’s suggestion and said that to avoid government tax LDI licence holders themselves were involved in grey trafficking.

KP minister Sirajul Haq elected JI emir

Amjad Mahmood

LAHORE: Sirajul Haq, Senior Minister in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet, was elected the emir of Jamaat-i-Islami on Sunday in what is being called an upset because it was for the first time in the party’s history that a sitting emir has lost the contest in an intra-party election.

He will take oath as the fifth emir for a five-year term within two weeks.

Announcing the result at a press conference, the party’s election commissioner Abdul Hafeez Ahmed said 30,759 Arakeen (members with voting right) had taken ballot papers and of them 25,533 were cast, showing a 85 per cent turnout.

The party shura (consultative body) had suggested three candidates — sitting emir Syed Munawar Hasan, secretary general Liaquat Baloch and naib emir Sirajul Haq — for the post, although the Arakeen were free to vote for someone else.

Interestingly, all the three candidates had remained Nazim-i-Aala (central president) of the JI’s student wing, Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba.

The Arakeen judge the potential emir on three grounds – piety and grasp on religious issues, sincerity and maturity.

Elected emir in 2009 with around 70pc votes for the first term, Munawar Hasan started losing his popularity within the party after JI’s poor showing in the 2013 general elections.

Mr Haq, who was runner-up in the 2009 contest with 28pc support, is naib emir of the party and the youngest among the three candidates this time.

Belonging to a religious family, he is considered to be well-versed with Islamic teachings. He was finance minister in the MMA cabinet in KP and held the same portfolio in the PTI-led coalition government.

He leads a simple life and lives in a small house in Dir.

As IJT chief, Mr Haq was an exponent of ‘Kashmir Jihad’. And a party press release says “Sirajul Haq has the qualities of a true Mujahid”.

Born in December 1962 at Samar Bagh in Dir, Mr Haq did his master’s in education from the Punjab University in late 1980s. He was elected to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in 2002, but quit his seat in protest against a US drone attack on a Domadola seminary.

He will have to quit the ministry before taking oath as the JI emir in accordance with the party’s policy.

Govt, TTP agree to extend truce

Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD: The committees representing the government and the Taliban agreed on Saturday to extend the ceasefire and take measures to speed up the dialogue process.

At a joint meeting, presided over by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and attended by members of the committees of the government and the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the two parties agreed to carry forward the peace process.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, the head of the TTP committee, Maulana Samiul Haq, confirmed that the ceasefire would continue beyond March 31, the date set by them. But he did not say whether the ceasefire was still “temporary” or “permanent”.

He said the interior minister had sought three days to specify the ‘practical steps’ to be taken by the government. According to sources, the allusion was to release of non-combatants belonging to the TTP.

The sources said the minister was likely to convene another meeting of the two committees in a few days and present views of the government and other stakeholders.

Then the Taliban committee would meet the TTP shura and the venue and time for another round of direct talks would be decided.

Maulana Haq said the agenda for the next round of talks would be finalised soon.

He was optimistic about the future of talks and said people should support efforts for restoration of peace. Doubts about the fate of the talks must not be created, he said, adding that there was no reason for despondency.

The sources said the release of hundreds of prisoners, including some high-profile people, and setting up of a “peace zone” to allow free movement of the Taliban were the main demands of the TTP.

They said the government was unlikely to accept the demand for establishment of a peace zone because it would mean allowing creation of a state within state. But they said commencement of the process of releasing prisoners from both sides could move things fast.

A source told Dawn that the next round of talks would take place next week at a new venue. The agenda for this crucial round would be finalised shortly, he added.

He said during the next round, the government committee would hand the TTP a list of about 150 people, including sons of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and slain governor of Punjab Salman Taseer, as well as Ajmal Khan, a former vice chancellor of a university in Peshawar, for their release from the Taliban’s custody.

Earlier, the interior minister called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and discussed with him the strategy for dialogue with the TTP. Steps required to be taken to ensure peace came under discussion.

The sources said the prime minister directed the minister to take all steps to bring peace in the country. He was quoted as saying that efforts should be made to make the dialogue process a success.

AFP adds: Maulana Haq dismissed speculation that peace talks were deadlocked, saying negotiations had made steady progress as he voiced optimism over a possible ceasefire extension. “Inshallah, the ceasefire will hold,” he said.

“The talks are not deadlocked, rather the meeting between the Taliban political council and the government committee marks a big progress,” Maulana Haq said.

Asked if the meeting also focused on the release of prisoners sought by the Taliban, he only said “all matters came up for discussion”.

Pasni radar station attacked; guard killed

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

KARACHI: Miscreants attacked a radar station in Pasni on Saturday, keeping it under their control for almost an hour and killing a security agency guard. They left only after the security forces were deployed to wrest the place from them.

No militant group came up with any claim about the attack till we went to press.

The Balochistan coastal town of Pasni, 365km west of Karachi, has an international airport, a fish harbour and is flanked by Gwadar on the west and Ormara on the east. Pasni airport is a few kilometres outside the town and the radar is perched on a hilltop at some distance from the airport.

This radar covers a distance of several hundred nautical miles and handles air traffic coming from the Middle East.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Abid Kaimkhani said the radar equipment had not been damaged and was functioning normally.

Although the Navy has a presence in the area, its spokesperson was unable to shed light on the incident.

ECL in focus as Musharraf’s mother hospitalised

Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD: After 95-year-old Zarin Musharraf, mother of the former military ruler, was admitted to the W.W. Wilson Hospital in Sharjah on Saturday, his sympathisers here speeded up efforts for removal of his name from the exit control list (ECL).

According to sources close to Pervez Musharraf, he may go to the UAE to see his ailing mother. The former president was admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) after suffering heart stroke on Jan 1 while going to a special court.The sources said the matter was being taken up with the government and his legal team was examining an order issued by the Sindh High Court (SHC) on his petition on Dec 23.

In the order, the SHC made it clear that placing Gen Musharraf’s name on the ECL “was an act of the federal government” and not consequent to a directive “of this court”.

The SHC rejected Gen Musharraf’s petition and observed that the Supreme Court in its order of April 8 last year had asked the interior secretary and the inspectors general of police of the four provinces to ensure that if his name was not on the ECL, “this shall be done forthwith”.

The special court rejected on Jan 31 a petition seeking cardiac treatment of Gen Musharraf abroad, saying “it does not possess power of judicial review of administrative actions as available to the high court”. “The jurisdiction of special court is confined to within the limits prescribed under the High Treason Punishment Act 1973 and Criminal Law Amendment (Special) Act of 1976.”

On Jan 5, Gen Musharraf’s wife Sehba submitted an application to the interior ministry for allowing him to undergo treatment abroad, but the ministry rejected the plea.

Faisal Hussain, counsel for Gen Musharraf, told Dawn that the ministry had rejected the application and the matter had again been brought before the special court.

However, Mohammad Ali Saif, another lawyer of Gen Musharraf, said he was considering filing a plea for ‘revision’ before the secretary. “We are considering the option of contacting the federal government in this regard.”

But serving a warrant on Gen Musharraf for his indictment in the high treason case on Monday also depends on permission by doctors treating him in the AFIC to leave the hospital for the court hearing.

The court issued a warrant for Gen Musharraf on March 14 and asked the Islamabad police to execute it. It asked the government to present him on March 31 after arresting him if he refused to appear before the court to face indictment in the high treason case.

Some officials believe that in case of refusal by the AFIC doctors to allow the former president to travel to the court, police could arrest him and detain him in the hospital till further orders.

According to police officials, a team constituted for the purpose will go to the AFIC on Monday morning, along with the SHO of Rawalpindi’s RA Bazaar police station, and serve the warrant.

If the doctors refuse to allow the police to take him to the court, they would have to issue a certificate describing Gen Musharraf’s health condition and advising that he is unable to travel, the officials added.

Ephedrine-like scam unearthed, probe ordered

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: The government has unearthed an ephedrine-like scam involving misuse of quotas for import of restricted substances by about two dozen industrial firms and tax machinery that may have international ramifications for the country.

“The scale and size of the import of Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) — a group of compounds and substances that deplete ozone layer — is not yet known,” said a government official. But at least 10 companies have been found involved in illegal import and more than a dozen firms have drastically exceeded their quota last year alone, he added.

He said the government had already ordered large-scale investigations into the matter. “The matter regarding illegal import of HCFCs during 2013 by the authorised importers and quota holders in excess of their allocated quota may be investigated,” the ministry of commerce wrote to the chairman, Federal Board of Revenue.

The FBR has been asked to not only take legal action against the importers concerned but also to proceed against customs officials involved in the illegal business.

Officials said the HCFCs were organic and synthetic substances used mostly by manufacturers of refrigerators, freezers, air-conditioners and fire extinguishing equipment, etc., and have been declared as ozone-depleting substances (ODS) under the Montreal Protocol of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Montreal protocol requires the parties, including Pakistan, to phase out production and consumption of such substances and restrict trade in these substances by 2020.

Besides broader damage to ozone, these substances can cause damage to plants, humans and animals in the nearby environment.

Pakistan, being a signatory to the Montreal Protocol on the substances that deplete ozone layer, was committed to control and regulate the import of HCFCs as per provisions of the said protocol, the official said. Therefore, the Ozone Cell of the ministry of Climate Change had introduced quota regime through which only 23 importers were allowed to import HCFCs in a pre-determined quantity. The names of these companies have been provided to all customs collectorates in the country and other agencies concerned.

The climate change ministry has raised alarm bells that during 2013 Pakistan has imported HCFC gases well beyond the authorised quota fixed for Pakistan under the Montreal Protocol, which was a matter of serious concern for the international community.

“HCFCs have been imported by 10 unauthorised importers whereas 10 authorised quota holders have imported HCFCs in excess of their allocated quota,” said the climate change ministry and asked the government to ensure that international commitments on climate change were fully honoured.

Separately, the ministry of commerce has reported that it had received reports regarding import of HCFCs by unauthorised importers through Hyderabad Customs dry port allegedly in connivance with the customs officials.

In the meanwhile, the officials said the ministries of climate change and commerce had introduced regulatory regime through public notices to streamline the procedure for import of HCFCs as per provisions of the Montreal Protocol.

Under this regulatory regime, the authorised importers are allowed to import these substances subject to the production or maintenance of a category pass book by each importer. Even this regulatory system was not being implemented by the agencies concerned in letter and spirit, the ministry of commerce said.

In a fresh directive, all the customs collectorates have been asked to ensure the implementation of regulatory regime to stop illegal import of HCFCs. Officials said at least 8.3 million tons of HCFCs were reportedly imported completely illegally by 10 companies in 2013 while 10 authorised importers had exceeded their quota by about 41 tons during the same period.

According to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency – one of the top campaigners in climate change efforts, HCFCs enter the human body primarily by inhalation of air containing these substances but can also enter the body by accidental ingestion or by dermal contact, leading to health effects, including chest tightness, irritation of the respiratory tract and breathing difficulties. Exposure to high levels of some HCFCs may also affect the nervous system, heart, liver, kidney and reproductive system while ingestion could cause nausea, headache, dizziness and disorientation.

The illegal importers included Al-Imran Corporation, Ishtiaq Traders, Linde Pakistan, MHS, S.T. Brothers, M.C. Master Supply Group, Pindi Karwan Goods, Rahat Inapex, Red Co International and Salman Traders.

The companies having drastically exceeded their quota included ICI Pakistan, Delite Appliances, Master Refrigerant, Nile Trading, S.A Khan Traders Lahore, Dawlance, United Refrigeration, Cool Industries Corporation, Katys and Attee and Co.

World observes Earth Hour

Agencies

SINGAPORE: Lights went off in thousands of cities and towns across the world on Saturday night for the annual Earth Hour campaign.

SINGAPORE: Lights went off in thousands of cities and towns across the world on Saturday night for the annual Earth Hour campaign.

Sydney’s Opera House and Harbour Bridge were among the first landmarks around the world to dim their lights for 60 minutes during the event, which was launched in the same Australian city in 2007.

An estimated 7,000 cities and towns from New Zealand to New York took part in the initiative.

Hong Kong’s stunning waterfront skyline was unrecognisable in the evening, with the city’s tallest skyscraper, the International Commerce Centre, stripped of the vast light show usually wrapped around its 118 storeys.

In the Indian capital of New Delhi, lights were turned off at major landmarks, including the India Gate.

In Pakistan darkness enveloped some 135 landmarks across the country when non-essential electric lights were switched off for 60 minutes at 8.30pm.

Taking part in the environmental campaign organised by the World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan, the Civil Aviation Authority saw to it that the hour was observed at all major airports in the country.

The staff of the Benazir Bhutto Islamabad International Airport organised a small walk to mark the occasion. Participants carried banners inscribed with slogans about conservation of energy and candles as they walked from Rawal lounge of the airport to its outer gates.

The hour was also observed at provincial legislatures, including the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies. Other important buildings where lights were switched off were the National Assembly, President House, Prime Minister House and Clock Tower, Faisalabad. —Agencies

Govt efforts insufficient to reverse looming Disney ban

Afshan Subohi

KARACHI: The fate of Pakistani suppliers of Walt Disney merchandise hangs in the balance as government efforts to persuade the premier US company to review its decision to remove Pakistan from the list of permitted sourcing countries from next month have failed to yield results so far.

The private sector feels the government has done too little, too late.

In September last year, the US giant dropped a hint to suppliers that it would sever trade ties with companies in Pakistan if the country failed to meet the minimum qualifying requirement of scoring 25 points for placement on the World Governance Index. Pakistan scored 18 points on the basis of assessment of its performance on governance indicators that covered business environment, better work standards and human rights.

The assessment was said to be based on data collected by the World Bank on multiple governance indicators of 215 countries.

Also, a senior officer of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) told Dawn that after the [2012] Baldia fire incident at a garment factory Walt Disney sent a letter expressing concern about safety standards in the industry in Pakistan. They gave Pakistan one year’s time to implement standards at factory floors. It must be the reason why they have taken the extreme action.

Failing to deal with the problem individually, the affected companies approached the government through their collective platform, the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA). It impressed on the government to engage with the International Labour Organisation and other monitoring agencies, besides Disney, to find a way out.

All major exporters are fully compliant as their partner companies in the West obligate them. Getting a clean chit on all kinds of social audits is a prerequisite if you wish to enter the Western market. But the general quality of governance and legal framework in the country is beyond our ambit. It would be highly unfair if the export community were to suffer for no folly of theirs, Sheikh Ilyas Mahmood, Chairman of PTEA, told Dawn in Faisalabad.

This decision has the potential of triggering a snowball effect. I have no doubt in my mind that if Disney leaves, Mattel will follow suit. Imagine what will happen if other US companies such as Walmart, Kmart, JC Penny, Macy’s, etc. start withdrawing. Do you think the Europeans will ignore this? If the government fails to take it as a priority economic diplomacy issue Pakistan can lose on its already tiny share in global trade, Azhar Majeed Sheikh, a former vice president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, commented.

The hierarchy in the relevant ministries was reluctant to come on record, but they did agree that the current cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not realise the urgency of the issue.

Some senior bureaucrats in the ministry of textiles told Dawn privately that the ministry approached Disney to negotiate a solution. It did agree to defer the decision for a year if Pakistan joins the Better Work project of the ILO indicating its intent to implement 27 UN conventions.

We approached the ILO office in Geneva, Switzerland, but it was probably too late. Their central secretariat said that they could only entertain two countries in a year and for the current year they have already committed to Myanmar and Bangladesh.

PHYSICAL INSPECTION:

The ILO consented to consider Pakistan for 2015, but declined citing capacity limitations to entertain Pakistan’s application for 2014, an official told Dawn over telephone from Islamabad. The ILO expressed concern over discontinuation of physical inspection of factories and urged for its revival immediately.

Post-18th Amendment the authority to conduct inspections to check on implementation of rules and regulations related to decent work standards has been devolved and the responsibility now rests with the provincial governments. From what I know, no inspections have been carried over the past five years in Punjab, which announced it had stopped the practice, or in Sindh, which did the same quietly, an officer well-versed on the issue said.

We are asking the provincial governments but they are not bothered, another official with the ministry of textiles said.

The companies directly affected by the Walt Disney decision have been knocking on every door in desperation.

We have been corresponding with relevant departments (the federal ministry of textiles, commerce and industry). We directly approached Jalil Abbas Jilani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, to help us resolve the issue. On our request the ambassador did meet the management of Disney, but unfortunately nothing tangible came out of that interaction, a businessman told Dawn.Mr Jilani was approached in Washington for comment, but his response could not reach us by the time this piece was filed.

Over a dozen textile companies manufacture and export merchandise to the Walt Disney Company from Pakistan. These include known players such as Sitara, Younus, Arzoo, Afroze, Liberty, Kamal, Sadaqat, MK Sons and Nimra Textiles. The collective worth of their exports to the brand holder is projected to be $200 million.

Apparently even TDAP was caught unawares. The authority’s secretary, Rabia Javeri Agha, was not accessible while Chairman S.M. Muneer said he needs some time to settle down as he was appointed chairman of the entity early this month.

It seems that Mickey Mouse has made Pakistan look like Goofy. Exporters seem to be behaving like Donald Duck quacking noisily but achieving little, Majyd Aziz, the witty business leader from Karachi, commented.

Information on the internet reveals that the Disney decision was an outcome of an internal exercise to review policies and procedures. It led to changes in its sourcing guidelines with the aim to improve management practices to more aptly respond to challenges associated with a complex global supply chain.

Girl dies in Quetta bomb blast

Saleem Shahid

QUETTA: A girl was killed and 18 people, three security personnel among them, were injured in a bomb blast in the Sariab area on Saturday.

QUETTA: A girl was killed and 18 people, three security personnel among them, were injured in a bomb blast in the Sariab area on Saturday.

Police sources said that an improvised explosive device was planted in a rickshaw parked near Gahi Khan Chowk. The device went off when the vehicles of Frontier Corps passed by the rickshaw.

The wounded, including three women passersby and a seven-year-old girl, were shifted to civil hospital where the girl died.

“The condition of five people is serious,” hospital sources said.

Apparently, the target of the attack was the FC troops. “One FC vehicle was damaged in the blast,” Imran Qureshi, a police officer, told Dawn.

Sarbaz Baloch, who identified himself as spokesman for the banned Baloch Republican Army, in a call to the media said his group had carried out the attack.

City police chief Abdul Razzaq Cheema told AFP the wounded included up to eight children.

Quetta has been hit by numerous attacks in recent years, including two devastating bombings in early 2013 which killed nearly 180 people.

Balochistan is rich in copper, gold and natural gas but is the country’s least developed province. This has served to exacerbate a long-running nationalist and separatist movement.

South Africa in World T20 semis

AFP

CHITTAGONG: South Africa produced a clinical performance to beat England by three runs in Chittagong to advance to the World Twenty20 semi-finals on Saturday.

CHITTAGONG: South Africa produced a clinical performance to beat England by three runs in Chittagong to advance to the World Twenty20 semi-finals on Saturday.

AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla hit half-centuries to anchor South Africa’s highest total of the tournament of 196-5 before Wayne Parnell took 3-31 to keep England down to 193-7 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium.

South Africa are the second team to qualify for the semis after 2007 champions India cruised to the last four from Group Two.

The defeat, their second in three Group One Super-10 matches, sent 2010 champions England out of the semi-final race.

England, who chased down a 190-run target against Sri Lanka on Thursday, failed to match that performance with Alex Hales (38), Jos Buttler (34) and Ravi Bopara (31) unable to benefit from good starts.

Parnell, who was released from the squad for two days to attend a court hearing relating to drugs charges in the 2012 Indian Premier League in Mumbai on Friday, dismissed Michael Lumb (18), Hales and Moeen Ali (10) to jolt England after they got off to a 46-run start by the fifth over.

Hales hit six fours and a six off 22 balls but once he departed the target continued to climb with 45 needed off the last three overs and 22 off Dale Steyn’s final over.—AFP

Footprints: tenous 'truce' in Lyari

Saher Baloch

KARACHI: After weeks of staying at home as grenades and bullets flew overhead, Rafiq Memon reopened his paan shop in Karachi’s Kalakot recently, almost two weeks after a truce was brokered by Qaumi Awami Tehreek president Ayaz Latif Palijo in the wake of a bloodbath that killed scores of people.

Almost six months ago, gang member Noor Mohammad, aka Baba Ladla, of the now defunct Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) accused another senior member, Zafar Baloch, of siding with paramilitary forces in its ongoing operation, as a result of which his men were being targeted, a PAC member said. A few days later, Zafar Baloch was killed near Bizenjo Chowk by armed men on motorbikes. This resulted in the creation of two splinter groups in Lyari, one headed by Uzair Baloch, the other by Baba Ladla. Since then, both groups have been on a rampage, abducting, killing and harassing residents. Asked why the PAC and its splinter group had chosen him, Palijo said: “I don’t have any petty vested interest in Lyari. I don’t have a business outlet, neither am I an elected member from Karachi. That’s the only probability why they came to me.”

As the news of the ceasefire first filtered out, many heaved a sigh of relief. Nevertheless, people are uncertain.

The surrounding area near Gabol Hall — now renamed the Al-Noorani Community Centre — in Kalakot is packed with cars and rickshaws. Inside the hall, old-time and new PPP activists are attending the funeral of MNA Shahjahan Baloch’s mother. Sitting nearby, a senior party member and activist showed interest in speaking about the current ceasefire in Lyari, while requesting anonymity.

“There are three factors at play here,” he explained. “First, both splinter groups have exhausted their manpower. Their men fight with each other during the day and hide from Rangers at night. It has taken its toll.” Also, he went on, for the past one month, activists and PPP members from the area have been trying to mediate between the groups as it was evident that both would eventually agree. But on March 11, Fateh Zikri, brother of gang leader Ghaffar Zikri — now a close aide of Baba Ladla — was killed in a Rangers encounter, followed by an armed attack reportedly by Zikri’s men inside a market named Jhatpat near Chakiwara. The next day, paramilitary forces killed another 10 of Ladla’s closest aides, including his brother-in-law Asif Niyazi, in an encounter.

“The groups knew they have to reach a truce but neither of them wanted to back off first,” the PPP worker said. “And the PPP’s top cadre was apathetic as ever. That’s when Uzair and Ladla agreed upon Ayaz Latif Palijo’s name.”

Though it has elicited curiosity from all quarters, Palijo’s liaison with the PAC started during their joint participation in the Sindh Mohabbat Rally against the division of the province in May 2012. The rally came under fire near the old city area, Paan Mandi, killing 11 and injuring more than 35. In a press conference later, Palijo did not mince his words whilst lashing out at those he thought were responsible for the attack — a step that brought him even closer to the PAC as both followed the same ideology and shared an enemy.

Nevertheless, people are reluctant to come back, said the activist. One of the families that returned a few days after the ceasefire found the door and windows of their home missing along with jewellery, furniture and official documents.

“Think of it as a short break before another fight ensues,” said Memon.

‘Burka Avenger’ wins US award

Reuters

NEW YORK: Burka Avenger, a Pakistani animated series about female empowerment, was among the international programmes honoured on Wednesday at the annual Peabody Awards, the oldest and one of the top honours in broadcasting.

Other winners were Danish political drama “Borgen” and a Philippine television network’s coverage of November’s Typhoon Haiyan that killed more than 6,000 people.

The Peabody Awards recognise the best in television, radio, internet broadcasting, producing organisations and individuals. A record 46 awards were handed out this year.

The winners will be honoured at a ceremony in New York on May 19.

Netflix political thriller “House of Cards” and jail house comedy-drama “Orange Is the New Black”, along with a trio of HBO documentaries, headlined the American winners.

Public broadcaster PBS won 12 awards, including one for “League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis” about football’s long-term health risks and “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy”, which examined the Jewish roots of American musical theatre.

“House of Cards”, which was the first online-streaming show to win an Emmy award, was praised for Netflix’s unique approach of releasing all the season’s episodes at once.

“Netflix took binge viewing to a new level and obliterated the idea that a hit TV show needs a slot in prime time,” the Peabody panel said.

Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black”, about a bisexual woman reunited with her ex-lover in prison, was lauded for its “complex, riveting character study rich in insights about femininity, race, power, and the politics, inside and outside prison walls, of mass incarceration”.

Pakistan seals border for Afghan elections

Baqir Sajjad Syed

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Thursday that it had sealed most of its border with Afghanistan, except for certain mutually agreed crossing points, for elections in the neighbouring country.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Thursday that it had sealed most of its border with Afghanistan, except for certain mutually agreed crossing points, for elections in the neighbouring country.

“Extra security measures would remain in place till the conclusion of the electoral exercise in Afghanistan,” military spokesman Maj Gen Asim Bajwa told Dawn.

Thousands of additional troops have been deployed to guard the 2,640km long porous Pak-Afghan border for preventing any unauthorised crossing. These troops are in addition to the 158,000 troops already present in the bordering tribal regions.

“Naturally, there have been requests … we would be taking additional measures for security,” she said.

Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stepped up attacks in the run-up to April 5 presidential and provincial council polls. Afghan officials have blamed some of these attacks on Pakistan – a charge that has been strongly denied by Islamabad.

The Taliban had warned Afghans on Wednesday of further strikes and said that voters and election workers would be considered legitimate targets.

The FO spokesperson said “Pakistan has no interest in the Afghan elections being disrupted as it would only complicate the efforts to stabilise that country.”

She said Pakistan hoped that Afghan voters would turn up in good numbers despite the Taliban threat.

Ms Aslam described the upcoming Afghan elections on Saturday as a milestone towards stabilising the war-torn country.

“This is a historic moment for the Afghan people in their democratic journey. We hope that the Afghan nation would emerge stronger and more unified as a result of the forthcoming elections. As the friends and well-wishers of the Afghan people, we extend our best wishes for successful elections and a peaceful democratic transition,” she said.

There are over 3 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, but Ms Aslam noted that the Afghan government had, unlike before, not asked for assistance in making voting arrangements for them.

IRAN: About Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s planned visit to Iran, the spokesperson said, dates had not been fixed so far.

The visit would be preceded by a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Commission.

“We still do not have precise dates for the prime minister’s visit. The two countries are discussing this. We would like to see a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Commission before the prime minister’s visit so that we have substantive agenda for this visit.”

She said Pakistan would like Mr Sharif’s visit to be “a major step forward in our bilateral relations”.

Police report blames govt officials for Thar disaster

Faiza Ilyas

The report prepared by DIG Hyderabad Range Dr Sanaullah Abbasi, SSP Badin and member of the inquiry committee Sarfraz Nawaz and ASP Qazi Ahmed area and member Asif Amin Awan will be submitted to the Karachi Registry of the Supreme Court which had taken notice of the death of children in Thar because of malnutrition. The report was prepared on the directives of the apex court. The report was provided to Dawn by Faisal Siddiqi, a Karachi-based lawyer.

The report says the request for declaring Thar as a calamity-hit area was delayed at the district level for more than two months. “The request was forwarded by the Tharparkar deputy commissioner (DC) to Mirpurkhas commissioner. Two of the three mukhtiarkars (heads of revenue departments at the taluka level) submitted their reports to the DC by the end of September last year and the third on Nov 28, after a delay of almost two months. But the DC office did not ask him to submit a report if there was any emergency,” the police report says.

There was a further delay at the Sindh secretariat level. The secretariat took three months to act on the summary (submitted on Dec 23, 2013) as the notification declaring Thar as a calamity-hit area was issued on Feb 28 this year.

The government, according to the report, usually declares a state of drought in Thar by September or October when there is less than normal rainfall.

However, the district administration wrote several letters to the relief commissioner for clearing the liabilities for a long period, but in vain.

The report says there was an increase in the number of child mortalities at the Mithi Civil Hospital over the past three years. About 141 children were killed in 2012-13 and 196 in 2013-14. There was a sharp increase in deaths in June, July and February.

“The situation is very alarming as 79 per cent of the posts in specialist cadre and 65pc posts in general cadre are lying vacant in the district health facilities. Death of children due to carious causes can be attributed to non-availability of paediatricians,” the report says.

Power tariff raised for Karachi

Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has approved up to 70 per cent increase in electricity tariff for Karachi-Electric consumers.

Through a series of tariff determinations in the matter of revenue requirements of K-Electric, the power regulator also increased by 100 per cent rates for lifeline consumers who consume less than 50 units per month.

The tariff determinations of K-Electric had been piled up for about six quarters due to legal and procedural difficulties. As a consequence, the applicable tariff for domestic consumers in Karachi was significantly lower than in other parts of the country since the government jacked up rates for distribution companies of Wapda in October last year.

In the process, Nepra also had to revise its own determinations on the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and removed errors committed by the K-Electric. Now, the electricity tariff would become uniform across the country and reduce government subsidy by about Rs20 billion, an official estimated.

According to Nepra’s decision, the tariff for domestic consumers using less than 50 units for sanctioned load of less than five kilowatt has been increased to Rs4 per unit from Rs2.

For residential consumers using up to 100 units, the tariff has been reduced by 69 paisa per unit to Rs5.10, down by about 12 per cent. Likewise, the rate for those consuming 101-200 units has been reduced by 79 paisa per unit to Rs7.32 per unit from Rs8.11, down by 9.7 per cent.

For those consuming more than 700 units per month the tariff has been jacked up by 21.4 per cent to Rs18.29 per unit from Rs15.07. Likewise, the peak rate for time of use for consumers was increased by Rs3.22 per unit to Rs21.48.

An official said Nepra had also reduced the slab benefit for consumers who would now be eligible for only one lower slab, unlike the previous exercise of the benefit of all previous slabs.

The tariff for commercial consumers has been also increased by 29 paisa per unit, ranging between 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent. The commercial tariff for less than 5kw load was increased from Rs18 to Rs18.29 per unit, while for those above 5kw, the rate was increased by 1.8 per cent from Rs16 to Rs16.29 per unit.

The rate for industrial consumers has been increased by about 6.11 per cent from Rs18 per unit to Rs19.10.

Nepra officials said the new rates had been approved on the basis of rate of subsidy approved by the government for each consumer category. He said the government would issue a notification to the K-Electric within this week for implementation.

Police officer dies in Cairo campus blasts

AFP

CAIRO: Two bombs targeting security posts near Cairo University exploded in quick succession on Wednesday killing a police general, followed by a third blast as police and journalists gathered at the scene.

Witnesses said the blasts sent up a cloud of smoke and dust near the campus, the scene of repeated clashes in the past few months between Islamist students and police personnel.

The third bomb struck close to the main gates, where police investigators and journalists had gathered, causing no casualties.

The bombings were the latest in a spate of attacks against the security forces since the army overthrew elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July.

They came less than a week after the army chief who toppled Mr Morsi, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said he was leaving the military to stand in a presidential election set for May.

A fourth bomb placed in a car parked near the university was defused, security officials and state television said.

The interior ministry identified the slain officer as Brigadier General Tarek al-Mergawi. An assistant interior minister, Major General Abdel Raouf al-Serafi, and four other policemen were wounded.

A police general at the scene said the bombs were concealed in a tree between two small police posts.

A Cairo University student said he ran out of the campus after hearing the blasts. “I found a lifeless man in plain clothes and a policeman bleeding from his leg,” said the student, Amr Adel.

A senior detective, Mr Mergawi would have been in civilian clothes.

Amateur footage posted on an Egyptian newspaper’s website showed policemen running out from a cloud of smoke and dust sent up by the first explosion.

The second bomb went off moments later.

Interim prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab led Mr Mergawi’s funeral procession, as policemen carried the coffin draped in a red shroud.

The government says militants have killed almost 500 people in attacks since Mr Morsi’s overthrow.

Most of the attacks have taken place in the Sinai Peninsula but the jihadists have increasingly targeted police in the capital and in the Nile Delta to its north.

Taliban suicide attack in Kabul leaves six police officers dead

AFP

KABUL: A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up at the Afghan interior ministry on Wednesday, killing six police officers just three days before the country’s presidential election, which the militants have vowed to disrupt.

The attack came as the three leading candidates to succeed President Hamid Karzai made a final push for votes with rallies on the last day of campaigning.

Kabul has been rocked by a string of high-profile attacks in the run-up to Saturday’s election, which will be the first democratic handover of power in Afghanistan’s history.

“The suicide attacker wearing a military uniform detonated himself near the gate of the ministry killing six policemen,” interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.

He said the blast occurred in an annex to the ministry, which is one of the most closely-guarded buildings in the Afghan capital.

“The explosion shook my shop. I saw a column of smoke coming out of the ministry,” shopkeeper Rahim Gul said. “Around 10 minutes later an ambulance rushed in and came out quickly from the ministry.”

A diplomat in the Indian embassy, which is adjacent to the ministry, said he heard a huge bang and that he and his colleagues were ordered to shelter in reinforced safe rooms.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack through one of their recognised Twitter accounts.

In February 2012 two US military advisers were shot dead at the interior ministry during a wave of anti-Western unrest sparked by the burning of copies of the Holy Quran by American forces.

Meanwhile, the presidential election is seen as a benchmark of progress since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001, and the militants have urged their fighters to target polling staff, voters and security forces.

Another IEC centre, Kabul’s most prestigious hotel and a guesthouse run by a US anti-landmine charity have also been targeted in recent weeks.

Police seize books in Gwadar

The Newspaper's Correspondent

GWADAR: Police claimed to have seized ‘objectionable’ material, including books, here on Wednesday.

GWADAR: Police claimed to have seized ‘objectionable’ material, including books, here on Wednesday.

A police team raided Al Badar Bookshop and news agency, seized a number of books on Balochistan and the Baloch people and arrested Khuda Bakhsh, a salesman.

“Police raided the bookshop after receiving information about objectionable books and other material kept there,” District Police Officer Pervez Umrani said.

The policemen also confiscated two well-known books on Balochistan’s history -- Lala Hatu Ram’s ‘Tariekh-i-Balochistan’ and Dr Shah Mohammad Marri’s ‘Baloch’.

A case was registered against the owner of the shop under Sections 109, 123A and 124A.

Police also seized a number of CDs from a shop on Airport Road and arrested its owner.

Two booksellers had been arrested in Turbat a day earlier.

Number of foreign students in UK declines for first time in 30 years

AFP

LONDON: The number of international students attending England’s universities has dropped for the first time in three decades, a study said on Wednesday, with students from India and Pakistan hit by tighter visa rules.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England found foreign student numbers declined by 1.5 per cent in 2012-2013 — the first fall in 29 years. Numbers fell to 307,205, down from 311,800 the previous year.

Meanwhile the trebling of annual maximum tuition fees to 9,000 a year is deterring European Union students, according to the report.

The number of full-time EU undergraduate entrants to English higher education institutions dropped from 23,440 last year to 17,890 — a fall of 23.7 per cent — which the study said was “probably due to the increased tuition fees”.

Heavy reductions in postgraduate entrants since 2010-11 have slashed numbers from India (51 per cent, 7,000 students) and Pakistan (49 per cent, 1,400 students). However, there was strong growth coming from China (44 per cent, 8,300 students).

The study found that almost as many Chinese students were studying full-time postgraduate courses as English ones.

The University and College Union (UCU) said changes to the rules governing student visas and domestic concern about immigration were damaging Britain’s image abroad, giving the impression to students from India and Pakistan that they were not welcome.

At the same time, other countries were striving to attract more foreign students.

Blast in Afghan town near Chaman kills 2

The Newspaper's Staff Correspondent

QUETTA: Two people were killed and 13 others injured when a bomb exploded in Vesh Mandi, an Afghan town in Kandahar province across the Chaman border, on Wednesday.

QUETTA: Two people were killed and 13 others injured when a bomb exploded in Vesh Mandi, an Afghan town in Kandahar province across the Chaman border, on Wednesday.

Militants fitted a remote-controlled improvised explosive device to a motorcycle and parked it near a bank and detonated the IED when a police vehicle reached there, an Afghan security official told reporters in Chaman by phone.

Two people died and 13 were injured. A portion of the bank building collapsed and several vehicles, buildings and shops were damaged by the impact of the explosion.

Security personnel took the bodies and the injured to hospital where condition of four was said to be critical.No one claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.

CIA misled public about interrogation methods: Post

AFP

WASHINGTON: The CIA misled the government and the public about parts of its interrogation programme for years, the Washington Post said on Tuesday, quoting a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Specifically, the US agency hid details about the severity of its methods, overstated the significance of plots and prisoners and took credit for critical pieces of intelligence that detainees had in fact provided before they were subjected to harsh techniques, the Post said, quoting officials who saw the 6,300-page report.

It was constructed with detailed chronologies of dozens of CIA detainees.

The paper said the report described a long-standing pattern of unsubstantiated claims the CIA sought permission to use — and later tried to defend — excruciating interrogation methods that yielded little to no significant intelligence, according to US officials who reviewed the document.

“The CIA described (its programme) repeatedly both to the Department of Justice and eventually to Congress as getting unique, otherwise unobtainable, intelligence that helped disrupt terrorist plots and save thousands of lives,” said one US official briefed on the report.

“Was that actually true? The answer is no.”

Current and former US officials describing the report spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue and because the document remains classified.

The report includes what officials described as damning new disclosures about a sprawling network of secret detention facilities or “black sites” that was dismantled by President Barack Obama in 2009.

The report describes previously undisclosed cases of abuse including the alleged repeated dunking of a terror suspect in tanks of iced water in Afghanistan.

This method bore similarities to waterboarding but never showed up on any list of techniques approved by the Justice Department, the Post said.—AFP

Turkish police use water cannon to disperse protesters

AFP

ANKARA: Turkish riot police on Tuesday deployed water cannon against protesters who claimed vote-rigging in weekend local polls in which the Islamic-rooted party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared sweeping victories.

About 2,000 supporters of the main secular opposition party had massed outside the offices of elections authority in the capital Ankara, chanting “Thief Tayyip” and “Ankara, don’t sleep. Stand up for your vote!”

Police then unleashed water jets to disperse the vocal and passionate crowd — recalling the street clashes that started last June in Istanbul’s Gezi Park and kicked off months of political turmoil in the country.

The top spokesman for Erdogan’s party condemned the rally, saying on TV: “You cannot claim a victory that the people have not given to you by massing crowds in front of the election board.

“Everyone has a natural right to object but no one can achieve anything by mobilising the crowds through social media and provoking them,” added Huseyin Celik of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Sunday’s municipal polls were seen as a referendum on the 11-year-rule of Erdogan, who is popular with many Turks for driving strong economic growth but has been accused of an increasingly authoritarian ruling style.

Turkey’s two biggest cities, Istanbul and Ankara, were the top prizes in the elections, in which Erdogan’s AKP declared sweeping wins, despite recent graft claims against the premier’s inner circle and an Internet clampdown.

Claims of election fraud have circulated on social media, including a photo which purportedly shows ballots in a garbage heap, and there have been complaints over power blackouts in some areas during the evening vote count.

The race was especially symbolic in Ankara, the inland capital built by the secular founding father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who established the Republican People’s Party (CHP), now the main opposition group.

Pro-CHP demonstrators massed outside the Supreme Electoral Board building after Ankara mayor Melih Gokcek, in power for 20 years, had declared victory with a wafer-thin margin of about one per cent.

The crowd chanted, “We are the soldiers of Ataturk,” a popular CHP slogan.—AFP

US spy who leaked details of Pakistan’s N-programme may be released

Masood Haider

NEW YORK: Jonathan Pollard, the former US intelligence agent who was convicted of spying for Israel, by compromising Pakistan’s nuclear secrets, could be released before the Jewish holiday of Passover as part of efforts to save Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, an Israeli official involved in the talks reportedly told CNN.

Reports of Pollard’s possible release came as US Secretary of State John Kerry travelled to Israel on Monday to try to mediate a dispute between Israel and the Palestinians over the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Kerry was in Belgium on Tuesday but would go back to Israel on Wednesday and also visit Ramallah, West Bank, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

No decisions have been made about Pollard’s release, which sources familiar with the talks have cautioned is far from certain and would need to be approved by President Barack Obama.

Pollard’s possible release was being discussed as part of a broader agreement that has not been finalised yet, an agency report said.

NUCLEAR SECRETS:

Pollard, who was jailed in 1987 for spying for Israel, gave his spy handlers information on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, according to declassified documents. He is currently serving a life sentence for selling classified information to the Israeli government between 1985 and 1987.

On December 14, the Central Intelligence Agency declassified its official damage assessment of Pollard’s espionage, who some counter-intelligence officials at that time believed was the most prolific mole that ever spied on the US government for a foreign country.

Former US president Bill Clinton, who was considering releasing Pollard in 2000 to save the Middle East peace talks, was stopped by the top Pentagon generals from agreeing to any such deal. At that time now deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then Israeli prime minister Ehud Barack were at hand in Camp David as the talks failed.

But Israel persisted and former president George Bush had to listen to his generals despite Israeli pressure.

The second time that the CIA declassified the document, titled ‘The Jonathan Jay Pollard Espionage Case: A Damage Assessment’, was when an appeal was filed by George Washington University’s National Security Archive.

A newspaper report said that even though this latest version of the declassified document was still heavily redacted, it contained some new information. One new revelation is that Pollard’s Israeli handlers specifically asked him to acquire intelligence collected by the US government on the Pakistani nuclear weapons programme.

In a section titled ‘Implications of Compromises: What Israel Gained from Pollard’s Espionage’, the CIA assessment states that Pollard focused on “Arab and Pakistani nuclear intelligence” and gave his Israeli handlers information on a secret Pakistani ‘plutonium reprocessing facility near Islamabad’.

Further information in the declassified report about this subject is completely redacted. The question is, what kind of information on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme did Tel Aviv acquire from Pollard?

According to A.Q. Khan, the so-called father of the Pakistani nuclear bomb, Islamabad was able to detonate a nuclear device “within a week’s notice” by as early as 1984.

IntelNews has also reported that the US was aware of Pakistan’s plans to build the bomb in the 1970s and had been working along with other Western countries, including the United Kingdom, to prevent Pakistan’s covert attempts to purchase ‘grey area’ technologies for its programme.

UN says ready to evacuate 19,000 Muslims in CAR

AFP

GENEVA: The UN’s refugee agency said on Tuesday it was prepared to help evacuate some 19,000 Muslims at risk of attack from mainly Christian militias in the conflict-torn Central African Republic.

GENEVA: The UN’s refugee agency said on Tuesday it was prepared to help evacuate some 19,000 Muslims at risk of attack from mainly Christian militias in the conflict-torn Central African Republic.

“What we don’t want is to stand by and watch people being slaughtered,” UNHCR spokeswoman Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba told reporters in Geneva.

She pointed out that so-called anti-balaka militias controlled major routes to and from Bangui as well as a number of towns and villages in the southwestern part of the country.

They posed a particular threat to Muslims in the PK12 neighbourhood of the capital, in Boda, Carnot and Berberati to the west and Bossangoa further north, she said, lamenting that “we fear for the lives of 19,000 Muslims in those locations”.

“UNHCR stands ready to assist with their evacuation to safer areas within or outside of the country,” she said, pointing out that so far “the only thing keeping them from being killed right now is the presence of (international) troops”.

UN staff were heading to the town of Bemal in the north on Tuesday to discuss possibly relocating Muslims there, but Lejeune-Kaba said this was difficult, since locals feared welcoming evacuees could attract unrest to their area.

The chronically unstable Central African Republic sank into chaos after the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels who had helped topple president Francois Bozize a year ago refused to lay down their arms and went rogue.

Their campaign of killing, raping and looting prompted members of the Christian majority to form the anti-balaka vigilante groups, which are also accused of atrocities.

Around 8,000 international troops are working to contain the crisis in the former French colony, where more than 2,000 people have been killed since December.

At the height of the crisis in December and January, more than a quarter of the country’s 4.6 million people had fled their homes.

A new surge in bloodshed has forced nearly 16,000 people from their homes in the capital since early last week alone, Lejeune-Kaba said.

According to UNHCR numbers, 637,000 people in total are now displaced inside the country, including 207,000 in Bangui, while 82,000 mostly Muslim Central Africans had streamed into neighbouring countries in the past three months.

The increase in violence has claimed more than 60 lives in the capital since March 22, Cecile Pouilly, spokeswoman for the UN’s human rights office, told reporters on Tuesday.

She pointed especially to a grenade attack on a funeral service in Bangui that claimed at least 20 lives on March 27, and to the 24 people killed on Saturday by Chadian soldiers.

“It appears that Chadian soldiers fired indiscriminately at a crowd following an incident,” she said, stressing that her office was “still trying to confirm the exact affiliation of these soldiers”. —AFP

Drug smugglers use hostages to ensure payments: report

Dawn Report

KARACHI: Drug smugglers operating from Pakistan are using human hostages to ensure payments from their East African clients in return for drug consignments, investigations carried out by the Herald have revealed.

In many cases, these hostages spend months in inhuman conditions in places such as Gwadar and Turbat before being able to return home. The presence of the hostages — who effectively serve as human promissory notes in smuggling deals — first came to official knowledge when two of them, one from Tanzania and the other from Zambia, escaped from the custody of their captors in Gwadar in December 2013.

On the information provided by them, the law enforcement agencies later recovered three more hostages from the same house where they were kept in custody. In two separate raids in February and March, the police and Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel also recovered about eight hostages from different houses in Turbat, the headquarters of Kech district in Balochistan.

The hostages travel to Karachi from their home countries on business visas and are then taken to places where they are kept under strict watch. Many of them are chained and tortured on a daily basis, after their compatriots fail to send money in return for the drugs they receive from Pakistan-based smugglers, says a detailed investigative report being carried in the Herald’s April issue that will hit newsstands on Wednesday (today) across Pakistan.

Cameron orders probe into Muslim Brotherhood

AFP

LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday he had ordered an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood over concerns that the group, declared a terrorist organisation by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, was linked to violent extremism.

Key leaders of the group have been based in London since the toppling of the Islamist Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi last year and a crackdown that has seen hundreds killed and thousands arrested.

Egypt welcomed the British inquiry, which will reportedly see intelligence agencies assessing claims that the Brotherhood was linked to a suicide bus bombing that killed three South Korean tourists in February and to other attacks.

Cameron said the inquiry was partly because of concerns over extremism following the brutal murder of British soldier Lee Rigby in a crowded London street by two Islamist converts last year.

“What I think is important about the Muslim Brotherhood is to make sure we fully understand what this organisation is, what it stands for, what its links are, what its beliefs are in terms of both extremism and violent extremism, what its connections are with other groups, what its presence is here in the United Kingdom,” Cameron told a joint press conference with visiting Italian premier Matteo Renzi.

The inquiry by Britain’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, John Jenkins, would paint a “complete picture” of the organisation, Cameron added.

Egypt’s foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty welcomed the investigation, saying in a statement that he “hoped the matter will be addressed with the necessary seriousness and attention”.

The Brotherhood’s leader Gomaa Amin, who came to London before the coup for medical treatment, and Ibrahim Munir, a member of the group’s guidance council, are both currently based in the British capital. The group’s press office is also based in the city.

They gathered in a flat above an Islamic charity office in the drab northwest London suburb of Cricklewood, according to the Times newspaper, which first reported details of the investigation.

The Muslim Brotherhood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But a spokesman was quoted by The Times as saying it was a “religious obligation for any Muslim Brotherhood member” to cooperate with the review and to respect British laws.—AFP

Sri Lanka seeks ‘divine help’ to avoid power cuts

AFP

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s energy minister offered flowers and lit thousands of oil lamps as she prayed for rains to replenish drought-hit reservoirs used by hydropower plants, an official said on Tuesday.

Minister Pavithra Waniarachchi illuminated the sacred temple town of Anuradhapura with 4,000 coconut oil lamps seeking divine help to end the drought and offered alms to local monks on Monday.

She also offered a pot of water to Buddhism’s holiest tree, the Sri Maha Bodhi, in the north-central temple town of Anuradhapura as a symbol of her faith.

“She took a pot of water from a hydro-reservoir which had hit rock bottom and offered it to the Bo tree (Sri Maha Bodhi),” her spokesman Sisira Wijesinghe said. “The hope is that there will be rains soon.”

The tree — which has the scientific name ficus religiosa — is believed to have grown from a sapling from the tree in India that sheltered the Buddha when he attained enlightenment more than 2,500 years ago.

Sri Lankans seek blessings from the tree at times of crisis.—AFP

Chinese general charged with graft

AFP

BEIJING: A top Chinese military officer has been formally charged with corruption after he was exposed as owning dozens of homes, gold statues and luxury liquor, state media reported on Tuesday.

BEIJING: A top Chinese military officer has been formally charged with corruption after he was exposed as owning dozens of homes, gold statues and luxury liquor, state media reported on Tuesday.

Gu Junshan, a former lieutenant general and deputy logistics chief for the People’s Liberation Army, is the highest-ranking officer to face a military trial since 2006, the state-run Global Times newspaper said.

He was charged with embezzlement, bribery, misuse of state funds and abuse of power, Xinhua said, quoting the military prosecutors’ office.

Gu has been under investigation for more than two years. In January, widespread coverage of his opulent lifestyle in China’s strictly controlled media indicated that authorities wanted to publicise his alleged misdeeds.

He owned dozens of apartments in central Beijing, and his mansion in Puyang in the central province of Henan housed several gold art pieces, the magazine Caixin reported at the time.

The home was modelled on the Forbidden City, the former imperial palace in Beijing, covered one hectare and was dubbed the ‘General’s Mansion’ by locals, it said.

Officials seized “a gold boat, a gold wash basin and a gold statue of Mao Zedong” along with “crates of expensive liquor” on the premises, it added.

Gu’s name disappeared from an official list of personnel at his logistics department in early 2012 and eventually from the entire defence ministry website, and he left his post that year, Caixin said.

He joined the military in 1971 after finishing school, began handling military business operations in Puyang in 1985 and rose over the next decade to oversee logistics in the area.

Gu become deputy chief of the PLA General Logistics department in 2009, and he “profited from the projects and land deals” in which he was involved, Caixin said.

Gong Fangbin, a professor from the PLA’s National Defence University, told the Global Times that “few officers” with the rank of lieutenant general had stood trial in recent decades.

“The trial at military court wouldn’t be made fully public due to the fact that it may involve confidential military information, though Gu’s criminal facts and sentence will be announced,” Gong said, according to the newspaper.

A commentary in the People’s Daily newspaper, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party, described Gu as a “worm who has eroded the Great Wall”. “The PLA’s infinite glory was humiliated because of scum including Gu Junshan,” the commentary said.—AFP

Footprints: Printed in Peshawar

Aurangzaib Khan

There is a campaign poster glued to the wall at the back of the counter at NTR Printing Press where Maqbali Khan sits relaxed, smoking a cigarette on a quiet Sunday morning. It is one of several, printed for candidates of Afghan provincial councils contesting the April 5 presidential and provincial council elections in Afghanistan.

The poster promotes a woman candidate in Takhar, a province north-east of Afghanistan, bordering Tajikistan. “Raza-i-Khudawand raza ma ast, Quran qanoon ma ast”, is the candidate’s rallying cry inscribed in red, at the top of the poster. At the bottom, it says: printed at Ariya Matiba, a printing press in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Except it is not. The poster, and many others for candidates in Afghanistan’s presidential and provincial council elections, is printed at the printing presses in Peshawar. Hopeful faces of Afghan election candidates look at passers-by from shop fronts and walls all over the narrow, paper-littered street of Jhangi Mohallah. If one didn’t know better, one would be forgiven to believe that this is a street in Afghanistan, caught up in campaign fever, its inhabitants rooting for their favourite election candidates.

The posters with Afghan candidates — bearded, shaved, turbaned and, in the case of women candidates, draped in the modest halo of a shawl — offer an interesting insight into the presidential elections where scholarly politicians have partnered with former Jihadist warlords in a bid to win over the ethnically divided electorate.

Competing for the presidential post are eight candidates. The number of candidates for provincial councils runs into hundreds. In terms of campaign funding, that translates into big money. According to the Afghan news network, ToloNews, campaign material printed abroad for the 2009 presidential elections cost a whopping $20m.

After the election campaign kicked off on Feb 2, the Afghan Industrial Union (AIU) criticised candidates for printing campaign material abroad, especially Pakistan. Other countries claiming a share of the printing pie are Iran, India, China and the United Arab Emirates. According to ToloNews, there are 130 printing agencies in Kabul but “the demand for these agencies is not nearly as high as that of Peshawar’s”.

“The Afghan government has asked candidates not to publish campaign material abroad,” says Khan, exhaling curls of smoke into the cool, damp air of his office. His press is one of the 1,800 printing presses — with some 20,000 workers — jostling for space in the narrow Jhangi Mohallah in Peshawar. “The printing businesses in Afghanistan outsource because they don’t have the capacity to print huge orders.”

Printing campaign materials in Peshawar makes economic sense for the candidates and the canvassers — locally called “convincers” who are local or Afghan commission agents that secure orders in Afghanistan to print here. They have to pay in Kaldara (Afghan Pashto for the Pakistani rupee) rather than in the Afghani, stronger than the Pakistani currency in terms of exchange value in dollars.

Also, there are some four thousand printing presses in Jhangi Mohallah and Dhaki Nalbandi — another street nearby — together and competition reduces cost without compromising quality.

“The profits go to those who bring the business,” says Zahid Hussain, 38, owner of the Zahid Printing Press. “We only got 10 per cent of the business this time, the rest stayed in Afghanistan due to their government policy to discourage printing abroad. We have heard the Chinese, Iranians and Indians have set up printing businesses there.”

Printers in Jhangi Mohallah, including the mild-mannered general secretary of printers’ union, Raja Saeed, echo Hussain’s opinion. Having reaped windfalls during the 2005 and 2009 elections in Afghanistan when most of the campaign materials were printed here with workers staying up all night to deliver orders, they blame the Afghan government decision to invest in domestic printing industry for their reversal of fortune.

Over the years, trained workers from Peshawar and Lahore have moved to Afghanistan when opportunity beckoned. For handsome pays, they helped establish printing businesses owned by Afghans with their art and technique. These businesses now compete for share in a business that was once entirely the preserve of printing presses in Peshawar — from religious books and NGO publications to official and election materials. It helps that the donor community and the Afghan government favour local businesses to strengthen them.

“In 2005 when the first presidential elections happened in Afghanistan, we worked like it was local elections,” says Saeed. “We were engaged at all levels of work — printers, designers, plate makers, film printers, labour and transporters. Back then the candidates would come here to order in person, now we only get commission agents. When they take back the orders, they are harassed by the Afghan border guards.”

With only four days to go before Afghan presidential elections, the press machines in Jhangi Mohallah have fallen silent, hulking in the shadows of ill-lit basements, ground floors and top. A labourer heaves to tighten the knots on last of the orders, cartons full of campaign cards for the presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah. The card promises reform that has long eluded Pakistan’s war-wracked western neighbour.

Russian PM’s Crimea visit angers Ukraine

Reuters

SIMFEROPOL (Crimea): Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev flaunted Russia’s grip on Crimea by flying to the region and holding a government meeting there on Monday, angering Ukraine and defying Western demands to hand the peninsula back to Kiev.

The Ukrainian government denounced the visit, a few hours after the latest round of crisis talks between Russia and the United States ended inconclusively, as a “crude violation” of the rules of diplomacy.

Russia said it had pulled some troops back from near Ukraine’s eastern border, a move that could ease tension in the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War. The Defence Ministry said a motorised infantry battalion was being withdrawn from the region. A battalion numbers between 300 and 1,200 men.

However, Medvedev’s visit taunted Western leaders by underlining their inability to force President Vladimir Putin to relinquish Crimea, seized after the overthrow of Russian-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and annexed on March 21.

Accompanying Medvedev, outspoken Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin - targeted by Western sanctions - left no doubt about the symbolism of the trip, saying on Twitter: “Crimea is ours. Basta!” Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed by telephone ways of stabilising Ukraine and another former Soviet Republic, Moldova.

A Kremlin statement quoted Putin as calling for a comprehensive solution that would be a “blockade” on Moldova’s breakaway region of Transdniestria.

Soon after landing in Crimea’s main city of Simferopol with several members of his cabinet, Medvedev held a government meeting attended by Crimean leaders and outlined moves to revive the region’s struggling economy.

“Our aim is to make the peninsula as attractive as possible to investors, so that it can generate sufficient income for its own development,” he said, sitting at a large desk with Russian flags behind him.

“And so we have decided to create a special economic zone here. This will allow for the use of special tax and customs regimes in Crimea, and also minimise administrative procedures,” he told the meeting, broadcast live on Russian state television.

In comments that made clear Russia had no plans to give back the region, he set out moves to increase wages for some 140,000 state workers in Crimea, boost pensions, turn the region into a tourism hub, protect energy links, end reliance on Ukraine for water and improve its roads, railways and airports.—Reuters

Request for details of CIA chief’s visit turned down

Baqir Sajjad Syed

ISLAMABAD: The Defence Ministry refused on Monday to share details of CIA chief’s visit to Pakistan with the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

ISLAMABAD: The Defence Ministry refused on Monday to share details of CIA chief’s visit to Pakistan with the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

The committee had asked for details of the visit of CIA Director John Brennan to Pakistan in the last week of February for meetings with Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif and ISI Director General Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam.

The committee had initially asked the Foreign Office on the CIA chief’s visit at the last meeting on March 18. However, the issue was deferred after the FO said the matter was out of its purview and later defence ministry was asked to furnish the information.

Foreign affairs and defence have long remained the exclusive domain of the military and to some extent the executive, but parliament, amid a newly felt sense of supremacy over other state organs, is testing its limits, and the call for information on the CIA visit was part of that process.

“There is no information that can be shared with the committee,” Defence Secretary retired Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik told the panel.

He said he was appearing before the committee to express his deference for the Senate body. He, however, said that Brennan’s visit was a routine visit and part of regular exchanges.

“The focus of discussions during the confidential CIA visit remained on exchange of intelligence on hardcore intelligence related issues,” Mr Malik said in a written statement placed before the members.

The position taken by the defence ministry, nevertheless, satisfied the curious members, who no further insisted on pursuing the matter.

BAHRAIN: The Foreign Office, meanwhile, in a rare figure shared with Senate panel said about 10,000 Pakistan regulars were serving in Bahrain’s defence forces.

Additional Secretary Foreign Office Naela Chohan said the visit of Bahrain King Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to Joint Services Headquarters, during his trip to Pakistan in March, was on Bahrain’s request.

She said Pakistan had desired a Free Trade Agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and better relations with Riyadh and Manama could help Pakistan achieve that objective.

Senator Farhatullah Babar, meanwhile, said that he would take the government word that Pakistani servicemen would not be deployed in the Middle East, but demanded an assurance that delivery of weapons through irregular channels would be checked and movement of militants would also be disallowed.

US ambassador Powell quits India job

The Newspaper's Correspondent

NEW DELHI: US ambassador to India Nancy Powell resigned from her job on Monday amid local media speculation she was being eased out for Washington to start afresh on ties with New Delhi where a new government is due to take charge by mid-May.

Reports said the announcement of her resignation to her colleagues in the US mission here came a week after media reports that she may be shipped out by the Obama Administration to “clean the slate” with India. Ms Powell has been in India for less than three years.

“US Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell announced in a US Mission Town Hall meeting March 31 that she has submitted her resignation to President Obama and, as planned for some time, will retire to her home in Delaware before the end of May,” an announcement in the US Embassy website said late night on Monday.

Press Trust of India quoted embassy sources as not wanting to hazard a guess on the decision of the 67-year-old career service officer to quit her post and return home at a time when India is in an election process and Washington is also deeply interested in its outcome.

There was media speculation a week ago that Powell would be replaced with a political appointee as an attempt by the Obama administration to “clean the slate” with India.The report had said Powell had dragged her feet on meeting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and was perceived as being “too close” to the UPA’s foreign policy establishment.

However, when Washington decided to warm up to Modi, who is perceived as one of the front runners for the prime minister’s post, Ms Powell met Mr Modi on February 13, ending a nine-year-old boycott of the Gujarat leader on the issue of 2002 post-Godhra riots.

The US move marked a u-turn in its earlier stand of having nothing to do with Modi, whose visa it cancelled in 2005 under a domestic law on the issue of “severe violations of religious freedom”, PTI said. Ever since it had refused to review its policy.

Earlier, the EU and Britain had also ended their boycott of Mr Modi and warmed up to him in the ru-up to the polls.

Plane search intensified as relatives seek answers

AFP

PERTH: Family members of Chinese passengers on board a missing Malaysian airliner arrived on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur — some angrily seeking answers and others seeking closure — as the search for the plane intensified.

Eight ships — the largest number so far — and 10 planes from six countries were sweeping a vast expanse of the southern Indian Ocean off Australia for wreckage from the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, as the hunt entered its fourth week.

Nothing has been seen of the plane or its 239 passengers and crew since it vanished off radar screens during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

Hopes of finding physical evidence of a crash have been repeatedly raised by debris sightings, then crushed as the items turned out to be random sea junk such as fishing gear.

As the hunt resumed 1,850km west of Perth, Australia said its former military chief Angus Houston would head a new unit to help in the search, which involves the militaries of seven nations — Australia, China, Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Houston would coordinate diplomatic contacts between search participants, and ensure families got all the information and help they needed.

About two-thirds of those on board were Chinese and their loved ones have complained bitterly about what they see as Malaysia’s secretive and incompetent handling of the search. Kuala Lumpur has official responsibility for the operation.

Twenty-nine family members arrived on Sunday in Malaysia to push for more answers, according to an official of the Malaysian Chinese Association which is providing support for them. An airline official earlier put the figure at 39.

Many passengers are particularly incensed at the announcement on March 24 by Prime Minister Najib Razak that — based on detailed British analysis of satellite and other data — the plane had been lost at sea. Clinging to shreds of hope, several desperate relatives refuse to accept this until wreckage is found.

“Tell us the truth. Give us our relatives back,” read one poster displayed by the Chinese relatives who travelled to Malaysia. But not all were in militant mood.

At a briefing by Malaysian officials for family members in Beijing, a woman said not all the group members took the trip to put pressure on the Malaysian government.

“Some of the next of kin want to see for themselves the last place where their loved ones ever set foot,” she added, breaking down in tears.

Abbott said the Australian government “won’t rest until we’ve done everything we reasonably can to get those families and to get the wider community of the world a little more peace and a little more insight into exactly what happened”.—AFP

Ruling party takes lead in Turkey’s local polls

AFP

ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party took a strong early lead in local elections on Sunday, television channels reported, despite turbulent months marked by mass protests, corruption scandals and Internet blocks.

If the initial trend holds up, it would considerably brighten the outlook for Erdogan, who had gone on a weeks-long campaign ahead of the vote widely seen as a referendum on his 11-year-rule.

With over 18 per cent of the municipal votes counted nationwide by early evening, his Justice and Development Party (AKP) was at almost 50 per cent of the vote, the private NTV television reported.

CNN-Turk said the AKP looked to have scored around 48 per cent of the votes cast nationwide, based on more than 10 per cent of the ballots counted, and was ahead in megacity Istanbul and the capital Ankara.

Erdogan has been eyeing a run for the presidency in August — the first time voters will directly elect the head of state — or may ask his party to change rules and allow him to seek a fourth term as premier.

Despite much criticism at home and abroad over what critics have labelled his increasingly authoritarian rule, Erdogan and his party, have drawn large crowds cheering the man sometimes dubbed “the sultan”.

Earlier on Sunday, casting his own vote in Istanbul, Erdogan had voiced confidence in a victory, saying that “our people will tell the truth today...what the people say is what it is.”

Anticipating a poll triumph, a boisterous crowd of his flag-waving followers were watching TV coverage on a large screen outside AKP headquarters in Ankara, waiting for Erdogan to give a “balcony speech”.

Months of political turmoil — fought out in fierce street clashes and explosive Internet leaks — have left Turkey polarised between Erdogan’s conservative supporters and a secular political camp.

The premier’s heavy-handed response to being challenged on the streets and online has included a deadly police crackdown on protesters in Istanbul and blocks on Twitter and YouTube.

The clampdown has alienated Nato allies and detracted from Erdogan’s much-lauded record of driving an economic boom and transforming the country spanning Europe and Asia into an emerging global player.—AFP

Karzai takes allegations against Pakistan to US

KABUL: In a phone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Hamid Karzai accused Pakistan of being behind a recent series of attacks and of blocking his government from striking a peace deal with the Taliban, the Afghan president’s office said on Sunday.

Karzai routinely makes such accusations against Islamabad, but his tone in recent days has been particularly pointed and direct. They come after three attacks in five days in Kabul, the latest coming on Saturday when assailants fired machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades at the country’s electoral commission ahead of next week’s general election.

In his conversation with Kerry on Saturday, Karzai alleged the attacks were complex in nature and stage-managed by ‘foreign intelligence agencies’, a reference to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

He also told Kerry that he did not accept US arguments that it had no influence “over countries that support terrorism”, and said the US’s refusal to go after the Pakistani intelligence agency could further hurt its relations with Afghanistan.

US officials confirmed the phone call took place but declined to comment on the conversation.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the recent violence in Kabul. Islamabad has a long and complicated relationship with the group, but few analysts accept Karzai’s allegations that Pakistani intelligence agencies and not the Taliban are staging attacks.

Pakistan denies that it is assisting the Taliban. “It is highly disturbing that attempts are being made to somehow implicate Pakistan in this terrorist incident,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement issued after the Afghan presidency blamed Pakistan for a March 21 assault on the Serena Hotel that left nine dead.

“We reject the insinuation. The tendency to immediately blame Pakistan is unhelpful and should be discarded.”

According to the Afghan presidency, Karzai told Kerry that the Taliban were willing to talk to his High Peace Council, a body tasked by the president to spearhead reconciliation with armed opposition, but Pakistan was stopping the militants from starting a dialogue.

The Taliban have denied any talks with Karzai and said they do not want to speak to the Afghan president. However several Taliban leaders have met members of Karzai’s High Peace Council in the UAE, according to both Taliban and high peace council members.—AP

Minor girl raped, slain

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter

KARACHI: A five-year-old girl was abducted, raped and tortured to death in Napier area on Sunday, police said.

KARACHI: A five-year-old girl was abducted, raped and tortured to death in Napier area on Sunday, police said.

City SP Sheraz Nazeer said the girl along with her parent came from Surjani Town to visit her maternal grandmother and she went missing on Friday evening. This was not reported to the police.

Napier SHO Azam Khan said her body was found on the staircase of an office of a political party near Noor Bibi building in Bheempura. The office has been closed for quite some time.

The body was shifted to Civil Hospital where doctors reserved the cause of her death, said a hospital official.

UN report on impact of climate change ready

AFP

YOKOHAMA: Leading scientists and officials completed a fresh climate report on Sunday expected to lay bare the grim impact of climate change, with warnings that global food shortages could spark violence in vulnerable areas.

Part of a massive overview by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) set for release on Monday, the report is likely to shape international policy on climate for years to come, and will announce that the impact of global warming is already being felt. Some 500 scientists and government officials have been gathered since Tuesday in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, to hammer out its wording.

It will serve as the second of three volumes about climate change’s causes, consequences and possible solutions by the expert panel.

The work comes six months after the first volume in the long-awaited Fifth Assessment Report declared scientists were more certain than ever that humans caused global warming.

A leaked draft of the report warned that rising greenhouse gas emissions would ‘significantly’ boost the risk of floods while droughts would suck away sustainable water supplies.

A ‘large fraction’ of land and freshwater species may risk extinction, and a warming climate is projected to reduce wheat, rice and corn yields, even as food demand rises sharply as the world’s population grows.

Meanwhile hundreds of millions of coastal dwellers around the world would be displaced by the year 2100, the draft said, while the competition for dwindling resources could even spark violent conflicts.

However, the world could avoid many of the worst-case scenarios with swift and decisive policy steps to cut emissions now, the scientists urged.

The delegates were originally expected to finish drafting the official summary text late on Saturday evening, but needed extra time to update definitions and digest new approaches.—AFP

Modi will get tougher with China, Pakistan, say aides

Reuters

NEW DELHI: India will get tougher on territorial disputes with China and in its rivalry with Pakistan if opposition leader Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister in May after a general election, according to two of his aides.

Modi, a Hindu nationalist and frontrunner in the five-week election starting on April 7, has taken an aggressive tone against the two neighbouring nations.

On the campaign trail, he has warned Beijing to shed its “mindset of expansionism” and in the past he has railed against Pakistan for attacks by Muslim militants in India.

“I swear in the name of the soil that I will protect this country,” Modi said at a rally in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh last month, a region claimed by China.

India, China and Pakistan are all nuclear powers. They are also jockeying to take positions in Afghanistan as Western troops start to withdraw from the war-torn nation after a 12-year militancy.

Modi has painted the ruling Congress party, which has been in power for more than 50 of the 67 years since India became independent, as weak on national security. However, the country is one of the top buyers worldwide of military hardware, purchasing about $12.7 billion in arms during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, everything from basic military goods to an aircraft carrier.

Modi’s two advisers said that while his foreign policy would be muscular, it would also aim to keep a lid on regional tensions to allow a focus on reviving the economy.

“Ours will be an economy-driven foreign policy and the whole idea is to build India’s economy so solidly that you can deal with other countries on our own terms,” said a strategist involved in formulating the manifesto of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

As leader of the economic-powerhouse state of Gujarat for more than a decade, Modi has courted investment from China. As prime minister, the advisers say, he would seek to steer a course between defending India’s security interests and growing business links with the world’s second biggest economy.

Modi has never clearly spelled out his foreign policy vision, but he has praised former BJP prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee — who ordered a series of nuclear tests in 1998 — for adopting a strategy based on both ‘Shakti’ and ‘Shanti’, Sanskrit for power and peace.

“The Chinese will understand the new PM is not a wimp and they won’t do anything adventurous,” the BJP strategist said.

The advisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the BJP’s manifesto is still under wraps, said Modi would move quickly to lay out India’s core security interests in its neighbourhood, replacing what they dismissed as a reactive policy under the Congress party.

Topping the list will be an early settlement of the border dispute with China, an assertion of India’s primacy in the Indian Ocean, and low tolerance of Muslim militancy that India believes is often backed by Pakistan.

“You will see a more nationalistic approach on issues relating to terrorism in our neighbourhood. It is a much more hard view of these things,” said one of the advisers.

Outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pushed for peace with Pakistan, and had hoped to visit his birthplace in Punjab in a final gesture of reconciliation before leaving office.

Rajiv Dogra, a former Indian ambassador to Pakistan, expects a more forceful policy under a BJP government, both because of domestic pressure and an uncertain regional environment as the United States pulls out troops from Afghanistan.

“So far there has been a consensus in India — irrespective of the complexion and change in government — on the broad foreign policy contours,” he said. “But this time, if there is a change in government, I do expect a break from that tradition.”—Reuters

Footprints: Entombed in decay

Majid Sheikh

DAI ANGA has always fascinated me. Why would a dai — a wet nurse — to Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan be buried next to his daughter Sultan Begum? The status of the dai must have been very special in the Mughal scheme of things. Her tomb and mosque are today protected monuments, or at least we think so. She had the mosque built in 1635 before proceeding for Haj, while her tomb was constructed in 1671 during Aurangzeb’s reign.

But little is known today about this woman, probably because she was not a ‘royal’. Her son Rashid Khan, a top archer of his time, was killed fighting for Dara Shikoh against Aurangzeb. The mere fact that her tomb was built during Aurangzeb’s reign, alongside the monarch’s favourite sister’s last resting place, speaks volumes for Dai Anga — and Aurangzeb.

With all these thoughts, I set off last Tuesday to visit both the mosque and the tomb in Lahore. If you proceed along Nicholson Road towards the railway station, you cross the Allama Iqbal Road coming from Garhi Shahu. As you proceed straight on this road, take a left turn on the road called Dai Anga Street. It ends at the gate leading to the famous Platform 1, where the film Bhowani Junction was shot.

To the left is the mosque which I entered. It was amazing to see how huge it is, exquisitely decorated in floral tilework dulled by nearly 380 years of weathering. This is the second oldest Mughal-era mosque in Lahore. The Mariam Zamani Mosque, inside the Walled City (which no longer has any walls left), is the oldest.

I walked inside the main hall. It was empty as it was not prayer time. Ropes, wooden planks and a ladder were positioned because there was a lone worker busy decorating the inner roof. Was this serious conservation work being undertaken on a ‘protected monument’? I called out, and down came an old man, Riaz Ahmed Sirhindi. He turned out to be an old acquaintance who has been working on mosques and conservation projects for well over 50 years.

We went over the quality of the work, and I pointed out that modern tiles and cement were not what true conservation was all about, let alone reconstruction with similar limestone material. He smiled and said: “Sheikhji, forget serious conservation, there is no money, no mind, no patience for that. Some private persons are collecting funds and doing up this mosque to the best of their understanding.”

What could one say, for Sirhindi is an artisan in his own right.

“Our children are not interested, and now I just earn my daily wages.” I walked away in silence.

With these thoughts in mind, I reached the tomb of Dai Anga, next to the University of Engineering and Technology. Apart from containing an impressive structure, it must have been in its time an imposing garden. The Punjab Horticulture Authority has taken over what little is left of the garden while the Archaeology Department is responsible for maintaining the structure. Forget the huge garden that has been encroached upon — as recently as a few years ago a major chunk of the left portion of the main garden had new housing on it. There is a case in court and an ‘appropriate’ stay order.

The main structure is in reasonable shape, though it is falling apart at a few places. Some recent limestone patchwork can be seen. The sad thing is that the entrance to the lower level where the two graves exist have been walled up and covered. On the main floor are brick markings that point to the graves quite a few feet below. The main structure represents among the finest early Mughal-era constructions in Lahore.

The marble and precious stones that once embellished it were removed by Sikh forces. The British managed to preserve the main monument. After 1947, slow decay set in. The old dai evokes no interest among scholars or archaeologists. The garden has disappeared. The finest rose garden — Gulabi Bagh — of Lahore is no more.

But then what is in a name, be it a rose or a woman who was merely the ‘wet nurse’ of an emperor a long time ago.

Missiles fired from Afghanistan land in N. Waziristan

The Newspaper's Correspondent

MIRAMSHAH: Eight missiles fired from across the border in Afghanistan landed at a place in Ghulam Khan tehsil in North Waziristan Agency on Saturday.

MIRAMSHAH: Eight missiles fired from across the border in Afghanistan landed at a place in Ghulam Khan tehsil in North Waziristan Agency on Saturday.

No loss of life or property was reported.

Sources said explosions caused by the missiles were heard far and wide.

Local people have expressed concern over the incident and urged the government to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

They attributed the incident to military exercises being carried out by allied forces in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, US drones continued low-level flights in different areas of North Waziristan Agency, according to the area residents. They said the unmanned planes hovered over the border areas in Shawal, Datta Khel, Hamzoni, Miramshah, Ghulam Khan and Mirali.

The sources said that four to six US drones flew at low altitude also in different parts of South Waziristan Agency.

Editorial News

Underhand tactics

Editorial

MUCH as the focus may be on what transpires at the negotiating table in the TTP-government dialogue process, what is taking place away from the negotiating table is equally, if not more, important. With the month-long ceasefire announced by the TTP having officially expired at the start of the month, the outlawed group has cleverly tried to put the government under renewed pressure by officially remaining undecided about continuing the ceasefire while having hard-line chapters of the TTP publicly muse about their intention to end their participation in the ceasefire. What that craftiness adds up to is two things: one, it puts pressure on the government to make further concessions to the TTP or else risk renewed violence in the country; two, it signals to the public that the TTP leadership is committed to talks, but is under great pressure internally to not talk — meaning, the public should be grateful for the TTP’s restraint and its willingness to keep in line the more agitated of its component groups.

Yet, the government too seems involved in subterfuge. The Prime Minister’s Office has tried to downplay reports of low-level prisoner releases and denied that the unusual move is a part of the dialogue process with the TTP, but it does appear that the government is simultaneously trying to dangle a carrot in front of the TTP while maintaining deniability. As the identities of the released figures becomes clear as does the meaning behind what is undoubtedly not simply a routine move, more will be known on whether the government is seeking to buy more time for dialogue or if a truly decisive stage in the negotiations is at hand. Either way, the hard choices for the government will eventually have to be faced. Before that, however, is the issue of resisting the TTP’s thinly veiled blackmailing tactics. Rather than allowing the TTP to shape the issue of whether the ceasefire should be officially extended or not, the government should itself come out and demand an extension — and also a commitment that it will continue so long as the dialogue process goes on. That way the TTP would be denied the leverage of reconsidering its ceasefire every few days.

For all that the government can and should do to stand firm and ensure the dialogue process does not drift into the realm of the unconstitutional and unacceptable, there is also a need to keep a check on the government’s own agenda. On the political side, other than the prime minister and the interior minister, there are few who are privy to the government’s strategy and approach. The PTI may have an idea owing to its representative on the government negotiating committee, but neither has parliament been taken into confidence nor have the provincial governments. Surely, the PML-N’s word alone is not enough in this critical process.

Unsavoury spectacle

Editorial

There is a basic reason the political class as a whole, and the PML-N in particular, ought to resist the rush to condemn Mr Musharraf: too much piling on and gloating would make the very idea of a trial seem politically motivated and thus strengthen the essence of the Musharraf camp’s defence. What Mr Musharraf stands accused of is a crime against the Constitution, of using the power of his army office to illegally overthrow the democratic order to perpetuate his own hold on power. That is not a crime against a set of judges or a given government or a particular political personality, but against the state and society itself. For that crime to be duly punished and done so in a fair, transparent and legal manner, it is best to let the court process unfold according to the letter of the law. Whether Mr Musharraf is entitled to travel abroad or not, for example, is a question of law, not personal opinion. Prejudging the entire process because there are political points to be scored and political capital to be reaped is a disservice to the very principle that is allegedly at stake: the supremacy of the Constitution and the law.

KP’s LG polls initiative

Editorial

IT would be a pity if the PTI’s willingness to hold local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on April 30 were to fall victim to the crisis that seems to be brewing between KP’s ruling party and the Election Commission of Pakistan. On Wednesday, the PTI’s core committee announced that the provincial government was ready for LG polls by completing the process of delimitation of constituencies. The sticking point now is the voting process. The PTI wants the polls to be held on a biometric basis and has contacted the ECP and the National Database Registration Authority for switching over to electronic voting. However, the ECP seems unwilling to adopt this voting mode and cites many reasons why this is not possible by the end of the month — for instance, 1.2 million KP voters have old national identity cards. Also, electronic voting machines will be available only after the ECP invites tenders, and this is not possible in the time left. The ECP also suspects that the PTI is playing politics, given its row with Nadra over the verification of thumb impressions.

Intel challenge

Editorial

AMONG the many things Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promised upon returning to power for a third time, one of the more interesting, and important, was a pledge to restructure the Intelligence Bureau to make it more effective and less politicised.

The idea was to finally put the IB in its rightful place as the pre-eminent civilian intelligence organisation.

As reported in this newspaper yesterday and sourced by an IB insider, the federal government has partially delivered on its promise by providing more money, equipment and manpower to an organisation that suffered very real neglect during the near-decade-long military rule of Pervez Musharraf.

Most immediate has been the change seen in Karachi, with the IB playing a significant role alongside the law-enforcement agencies in the operation there.

However, much as the IB may want to pat itself on the back, there are enormous challenges that still remain to be addressed for the intelligence community as a whole.

The list of problems is long, both the generic and the specific. In the case of the ISI, there is little to no clarity on the scope of its mandate, its drift from intelligence-gathering to operational activities or even its legal origins. Surely, having grown to the size and influence the ISI has by now, a mandate that is legislated and parliamentary oversight are two basic, and still missing, requirements.

But there are wider problems, not least of which is politicisation. The IB itself has recently been drawn into a semi-controversy over its alleged spying on politicians and journalists.

Beyond the vaguely worded accusations and the equally murky denials, there is little clarity on the matter, leaving many to wonder whether professionalisation of the IB still means politicisation to some degree.

Then, there is the elephant in the room: the civ-mil imbalance. The National Internal Security Policy drawn up by the interior ministry has a section that deals with intelligence coordination between civilian and military spy agencies, and the creation of a ‘National Intelligence Directorate’ appears, at least on paper, to be a reasonable step.

But the real issue is whether the government has the capacity or the will to change the habits and thinking of entrenched and powerful intel organisations and their institutional backers.

It is in the very nature of the intelligence business to be suspicious of other organisations within even the same state structure, to drift into areas where they have no business or legal mandate to do so and to all the time raise the spectre of threats real and imagined to justify their ever-expanding presence. To be sure, Pakistan needs both an internally and externally strong intelligence set-up.

But what is needed and what is actually produced can hardly be assumed to be the same thing. The intelligence community needs serious attention and detoxification.

Madressah reform

Editorial

THE issue of madressah reform was raised in the National Assembly on Tuesday when the house adopted an opposition resolution demanding that the government take steps to “improve and regulate” education in seminaries.

As militancy has gained ground in Pakistan over the past few years, the role of madressahs, particularly those promoting extremist mindsets or worse and acting as nurseries for jihadi and sectarian groups, has come under close scrutiny.

Though it would be wrong to tar all seminaries with the same brush as many madressahs genuinely focus on purely religious studies and do not promote violence, ever since the 1980s, the politicisation of seminaries, in the shadow of the Afghan ‘jihad’, has resulted in some madressahs becoming hotbeds of extremism. Attempts have been made to ‘reform’ the seminaries, including during the Musharraf years and the last PPP government’s tenure.

Yet these have made little difference mostly due to the pressure of the religious right. Religious parties feel that the government wants to control the madressahs under the guise of reforms, hence they are guarding their turf fiercely. But reforming madressahs should not necessarily be about control of institutions or doing away with religious education.

Rather, it should focus on ensuring that madressah curricula do not contain hate material, and, in fact, equip the thousands of graduates that seminaries produce every year with marketable mainstream skills that will help them get jobs in different sectors.

The fact is that madressahs have also mushroomed because the state has failed to create a viable, equitable system of public education. Our system is class-based and skewed against the poor.

Though some people do send their offspring to madressahs out of religious beliefs, many simply have no other choice. Either there are no public schools in their native areas, or the schools that do exist hardly deliver quality education.

Meanwhile, the free boarding and lodging many madressahs offer is an added advantage to poor parents. Madressah reform is essential and religious quarters should work with the state to bring seminaries into the mainstream.

But more important is the need for the state to overhaul the broken public school system to deliver decent education to youngsters that will help them become productive, enlightened citizens.

Utterly disgraceful

Editorial

PAKISTAN’S topsy-turvy campaign at the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh ended on Tuesday with an ignominious 84-run defeat against the West Indies.

PAKISTAN’S topsy-turvy campaign at the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh ended on Tuesday with an ignominious 84-run defeat against the West Indies.

The capitulation of Mohammad Hafeez and his men in the key clash, upon which had hinged hopes of the team’s making it to the semifinals, was unbecoming of a club outfit, let alone a national team.

It must surely rank as one of Pakistan’s worst performances in international cricket. It is also the first time that Pakistan has failed to make the World T20 semis in the seven-year history of the event.

While millions of fans around the world are feeling cheated by the manner of the defeat, critics are not surprised. Many had been highly sceptical of the team’s composition from the outset.

They had rightfully questioned the appointment of Hafeez as skipper for the important ICC event following his below-par showing during the past two years, both as player and leader.

Besides, the induction of the ageing trio — Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Umar Gul — had not gone down well with the critics either as the three have looked completely out of sorts in this ‘slam bang’ format of the game. The inexplicable sidelining of Mohammad Talha and Sharjeel Khan too, defies logic and must be looked into.

To say the abject loss warrants a postmortem is an understatement. And not just of the players but also of those running the show at the Pakistan Cricket Board.

The defeats in the opening match against arch-rivals India and the West Indies on Tuesday have yet again exposed the brittle strategy of our cricketers in pressure situations.

They may have the talent to overcome mediocre opposition such as Bangladesh and a few others but certainly lack the calibre and technique to tackle top international teams.

The team’s poor show also puts the much-trumpeted line-up of coaches including Moin Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Shoaib Mohammad and Mohammad Akram under the spotlight. They must shoulder the blame for cricket’s dark hour.

Problematic mismatch

Editorial

THE wide gap of close to Rs1.50 in the price of the dollar in the inter-bank and kerb market means that Pakistan is effectively maintaining two exchange rates.

THE wide gap of close to Rs1.50 in the price of the dollar in the inter-bank and kerb market means that Pakistan is effectively maintaining two exchange rates.

Such a large difference between the official and unofficial exchange rate for an extended period of time can hardly be considered a good sign for an economy such as Pakistan’s that is facing a balance of payments crisis.

The gap offers many people an incentive to conduct their foreign exchange transactions in the black market, out of the regulator’s view; it affects foreign flows into the country and impedes the smooth movement of foreign currency.

More importantly, it can be a cause of abrupt and disruptive changes in the exchange rate.

Pakistan has experienced in the past all the negative effects of a loosely regulated kerb market operated by private currency dealers.

There have been times when the activities of the open market overshadowed the official channel and pushed the Pakistani rupee into a freefall, encouraging the flight of capital from the country to more stable destinations.

This always makes the job of the State Bank — the key regulator of Pakistan’s financial markets — to defend the rupee more difficult, especially when it is low on foreign exchange reserves.

While inadequate regulatory controls and their loose application for fear of political clout of the dealers is one important factor behind the growing discrepancy in the inter-bank and kerb rates, we cannot ignore the fact that this is also a sign of insufficient supply in the market of the reserve currency — the dollar in Pakistan’s case.

Indeed, the government has been successful in its recent efforts to cause the rupee to appreciate against the dollar by almost 10pc.

But the fact remains that official reserves with the State Bank remain dangerously low in spite of the recent foreign flows, mainly in the form of a $1.5 billion grant from Saudi Arabia, and the supply of the greenback in the open market remains tight.

Demand, on the hand, has seen a considerable rise, expanding the official and unofficial exchange rates. This difference is unlikely to be bridged without building reserves.

Even the realisation of flows estimated in the last quarter of this fiscal may not succeed in narrowing this mismatch.

Saga of the ‘missing’

Editorial

WHILE relatives of ‘missing’ people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata and Balochistan soldier on in the quest for their loved ones, the earth continues to throw up grisly evidence of some of the disappeared in the latter province. Since Sunday, four decomposed bodies have been found in the same area of Totak where 13 corpses, some partially buried, were discovered in late January.

A judicial commission appointed by the Supreme Court has been investigating the matter.

Redressal for the families of the missing also suffered a setback in court on Monday when a witness in the case of Masood Janjua from Rawalpindi was not allowed to testify via video link from a UNHCR camp in Sri Lanka.

The apex court has consistently pursued the issue of enforced disappearances since 2006, and its tenacity has resulted in a number of such individuals belonging to KP and Fata being produced before it, thereby bringing some relief to their families.

By summoning senior military officials to answer questions from the bench, the court has underscored the principle that no individual or institution is, or at least should be, above the law.

The government’s recent step of seeking the trial of two military officers for their alleged role in the disappearance of the Baloch — though unlikely to address the issue in any meaningful way as the officers are scarcely senior enough to have taken such action without orders from above — can also perhaps be interpreted as taking its cue from the Supreme Court’s proactive approach.

The problem of enforced disappearances has particularly bedevilled efforts by the Balochistan government to establish its writ in the province.

Needless to say, the security establishment, accustomed to acting with impunity in furtherance of its definition of the ‘national interest’, has not given up its secrets easily.

It has only partially complied with court orders to produce the detainees, that too after much prevarication and empty assurances. Still, the court must continue to maintain pressure until each and every forcibly disappeared person is accounted for.

As citizens of Pakistan, whatever their ideological affiliation, such individuals deserve nothing less.

Even in the case of Masood Janjua, who it is claimed was killed by ‘non-state actors’, the court must demand further investigation so that the truth behind his disappearance can be established. Other organs of the state should step up and play a responsible role at this critical juncture.

Confronted with overwhelming evidence of its culpability in enforced disappearances, it is time the military undertook a clear-sighted appraisal of its tactics, and held senior officials accountable for human rights violations instead of offering up junior personnel as scapegoats.

At the same time, parliament needs to craft legislation that allows the war against terrorism to be conducted and prosecuted effectively without sacrificing the principles that underpin the claim to being a democracy.

Cycle of exploitation

Editorial

WORKING in conditions that amount to modern-day slavery, brick-kiln workers in Pakistan are exploited by greedy kiln owners and ignored by a state that has little interest in their welfare. Bonded labour is a national problem, though it is particularly acute in Punjab, where most kilns are located, and Sindh.

Agriculture is another sector where bonded labour is a matter of concern. And as a story published in this paper on Sunday points out, the deplorable practice of bonded labour is thriving even in the suburbs of the federal capital.

Even though the state has mandated that kiln workers be paid a few hundred rupees per 1,000 bricks, many owners pay even less than this pittance. At the root of the problem is the payment of peshgi, or advance, by kiln owners;

labourers take relatively high advances due to sheer poverty to pay for children’s wedding expenses, meet medical emergencies or other essential needs and end up working to pay back the amount for the rest of their lives. Some die before paying back the advance, which then has to be paid off by their children or other family members.

Millions of people are caught up in this dehumanising cycle of exploitation.

There is, of course, a federal law against bonded labour and the peshgi system.

But who in Pakistan is interested in enforcing laws that protect the poor and the weak? Moreover, after devolution only Punjab has passed a specific law against bonded labour, though enforcement leaves much to be desired.

Along with passing relevant legislation, the provinces need to take practical steps to ensure kiln workers and labourers in other sectors are not being

employed through the peshgi method or forced to work under conditions that violate fundamental rights. Kiln owners who flout the law must face the music regardless of the clout they enjoy. Empowering district officials in this regard is essential. Also, kiln workers need to be registered with the state in order to have access to social security benefits.

Musharraf’s indictment

Editorial

A HISTORIC day it was yesterday as for the first time ever a former army chief and military dictator stood before a judge and faced charges of violating the Constitution. Whether a trial of Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution will make it more difficult for future coup makers is an important question, but not the only one. Surely, if the Constitution is sacrosanct and the democratic will of the people is to be protected as a foundational value of the state, then a power grab in violation of the Constitution and democratic values ought to be punished, as stipulated by the Constitution itself. And while a court judgment alone is unlikely to deter a future dictator, the polity here has evolved and a trial could be the capstone of a new Pakistan in which coups are much more unlikely for a variety of reasons.

Now for the complications. As known to one and all, Mr Musharraf was indicted for the November 2007 Emergency that saw him try to extend his hold on power by ousting a superior judiciary that may have stood in the way of him gaining yet another term as president. But, as also known to one and all, nothing Mr Musharraf did on Nov 3, 2007 would have been possible if it were not for the fact that he had already overthrown the Constitution and grabbed power — back in October 1999. Trying the former dictator for actions that were only possible because of the original sin, the original coup, without so much as a mention of the original sin is problematic, and inadequate. Yes, the events of 1999 have gone through a far more complicated legal path and validation than the events of 2007, which were not sanctified by the courts or parliament, but there is a simple, undeniable fact that ought to hold: power was grabbed illegally in 1999 by Mr Musharraf under the same Constitution that he stands accused of violating in 2007. Furthermore, there must be questions asked about whether Mr Musharraf alone should face history’s judgment, or whether the many individuals whose collaboration was necessary for sanctifying and perpetuating Mr Musharraf’s rule ought to also face trial.

Nevertheless, a process is under way now and the immediate question is what will be its outcome. If indictment took far too long, a trial itself with Mr Musharraf inside the country is still far from a certainty. The will-he, won’t-he question has immediately taken centre stage: will Mr Musharraf be allowed to travel abroad, thereby reducing the likelihood of a return to Pakistan ever again, or won’t he be allowed to do so? For now, the matter appears to be the federal government’s to decide, but it is likely to seek direction from the Supreme Court first. The pre-trial circus may yet continue for a while.

Importance of standards

Editorial

IN an increasingly globalised world, compliance with international standards concerning labour conditions and quality control is playing a key role in determining who has access to lucrative foreign markets, and who gets locked out. Due to the negligence of both the state and the private sector, Pakistan has in the past lost foreign clients; the EU ban on import of Pakistani seafood, lifted not too long ago, is a case in point. Another possible ban may be on the horizon as US entertainment giant Walt Disney is considering ditching Pakistan as a source for products. Unless the situation changes drastically, over 12 Pakistani firms will lose their Disney contracts because the country has scored poorly on an index grading performance on indicators such as working standards and human rights. It is believed that 2012’s horrific Baldia factory blaze in Karachi, in which over 250 were killed, as well as the failure of provincial governments to conduct physical inspections of factories, played a role in convincing Disney to part ways with Pakistani producers unless things improve. As some exporters fear, if Disney leaves other major American and European players may also stop doing business with us.

Pakistan is paying a heavy price for poor governance in multiple ways. The lack of physical inspections and other oversights not only put workers’ lives at risk, they also mean loss of business. Over time provincial labour departments have become dysfunctional and almost redundant. Labour unions have also failed to raise a voice for workers’ rights and to demand the enforcement of standards mandated by the International Labour Organisation and other global bodies. In the near term, sustained economic diplomacy is needed to convince Disney and others that Pakistan is working to improve labour conditions, while practical steps need to be taken to support the country’s claims. If provincial governments, especially Punjab and Sindh, publicly announce that physical inspections of factories are to be resumed, it may play a role in convincing foreign buyers to stay, while attracting new business. Global markets are becoming increasingly competitive and unless all stakeholders are willing to face the challenge and work towards implementing international standards, Pakistan will trail far behind fast-developing economies.

Intra-party elections

Editorial

THE Jamaat-i-Islami is Pakistan’s only mainstream political party which practises internal democracy. Sirajul Haq’s election as emir on Sunday after a trilateral contest reaffirms this point in a country where most parties are controlled by political dynasties. This is true of South Asia at large. In India, the Nehru family monopolises the leadership of one of the biggest parties, the Indian National Congress — Rahul is the fifth generation Nehru. In Sri Lanka, the Bandaranaike family has phased out, but in Bangladesh Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed have for decades headed the parties representing their husband and father respectively. One reason for the JI’s democratic structure is the fact that it is an ideological party. Ghaffar Khan’s party, too, was ideological in Pakistan’s early decades. But barring the election of Ajmal Khattak as its chief, Bacha Khan’s party — its name changing many times — went back to the family fold. As inevitably happens, such parties split not on principles but because of family quarrels. Today Begum Nasim Wali Khan heads her own party but with the same nomenclature.

The PPP is in a class by itself. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is the fourth generation of the Bhuttos to be in politics, and he is now the populist party’s fourth Bhutto to head it after founder-grandfather, grandmother and mother. The split within the party was again not on principles, for it is Murtaza Bhutto’s widow, Ghinwa, who calls her party PPP, with ‘shaheed’ added to differentiate it from the family rivals’ enterprise. Surprisingly, even though feudals do not head the PML-N, its ownership pattern is hardly different from parties in feudal control. It too has become the Sharifs’ monopoly, with scions Maryam and Hamza being groomed for tasks ahead. In Balochistan, with a small middle class, no one should be surprised if the Balochistan National Party-M and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party have become family enterprises, with sons succeeding fathers. With this perpetuation of family control, and lack of elected hierarchies, most politicians’ commitment to democracy appears hollow.

Forgotten Balochistan

Editorial

THE attack on a radar station in Pasni may be a small incident in the larger, darker scheme of things in Balochistan, but it is yet another reminder that the low-level insurgency in the province could explode once more with devastating consequences for the province and the federation. Unhappily, Balochistan appears to have once again become the forgotten province. Vast swathes of the Baloch populated areas are all but cut off to the outside world and to the media. Quetta is heavily barricaded and while still relatively accessible, is hardly the preferred destination of anyone outside Balochistan. Bodies of activists linked to separatist politics continue to turn up. The missing persons issue continues to inflame. Meanwhile, the provincial government, of which there were such high expectations last summer, has descended into internecine coalition warfare. Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch seems a man overwhelmed and unable to give much, or any, attention to his principal task: returning normality in a security sense to the province.

Just as egregious, given the role that the centre has to play in brokering a peace between the army-led security establishment and the separatists, is the approach of the federal government. Having ceded its claim to the top job in the province, the PML-N leadership in Islamabad, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in particular, appears uninterested in investing any further political capital in the provincial government, meaning little headway can be made. The juxtaposition between the pre-election promises and the post-election actions of Mr Sharif are startling: where he once talked bluntly and repeatedly about the need for dialogue in Balochistan, it seems the only dialogue the prime minister is interested in today is with the outlawed TTP. Is it the case that once again the perceived relative importance of some regions over others is making itself felt? Is Balochistan destined to remain on the back burner forever, or at least until events cause a fresh conflagration?

If even the interest and will to bring peace to Pakistan’s geographically largest and strategically vital province are in question, there is little point in reiterating the well-known first steps that have to be taken. Who to talk to and how to go about it becomes a secondary issue when it’s not even clear that the governments, federal and provincial, even see talks as a priority issue. In fact, perhaps the most important preliminary step the federal government could take now is to stop the infighting in the provincial coalition government by issuing clear instructions to the provincial PML-N leadership. Surely, Prime Minister Sharif could not have believed that once he had overruled his party leadership in Balochistan and installed the National Party’s Abdul Malik as chief minister, it would be smooth sailing. But the prime minister seems far too distracted by the dialogue with the TTP to pay much attention to Balochistan at the moment.

Drug price increase

Editorial

REVISION in the prices of drugs in Pakistan has been hotly debated for sometime now. Pharmaceutical companies have been arguing a price increase is long overdue and in November last year they said an 18pc increase in the price of many medicines was imminent. The impression gathered at the time was that the government was ready for a compromise, on two conditions. One, the government wanted the makers to shortlist drugs for the increase. Two, the government insisted on a 15pc rise at the most. Finally, on Nov 28, 2013, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan notified a price increase of 15pc on a number of drugs, excluding those categorised as life-saving. The hike was criticised as a cruel blow to Pakistanis who were already struggling in the face of high inflation. An immediate withdrawal of the increase was demanded and the call was heeded by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on whose direction Drap withdrew its notification only a day after its issuance.

Everyone knew this was not the end of the drive for price increase. The pharmaceutical companies were determined to pursue their case further and four months down, reports now say prices of a large number of drugs, including life-saving ones, have been increased in one leap by an average 30pc. The sharp rise has been pointed out by an organisation called the Young Pharmacists Association. Some established drug companies say they have never heard of the YPA and question the given figures. It is also said in some cases the increase is a result of a Sindh High Court ruling which had stayed the withdrawal of the notification issued by Drap last November. In any event, the matter is once again before the government and the pharmaceutical industry is soliciting the prime minister’s involvement for price rationalisation. Given the intensity of the lobbying and that ways have already been found to up the prices of some if not all drugs, this is a difficult one for the government and it could end up conceding some ground to the drug makers. The question is what price compromise is finally agreed to, and just how big a drain it will be on the people’s pocket.

Hindu temple desecration

Editorial

INCIDENTS of communal violence targeted at Sindh’s Hindu population are occurring with disturbing regularity. On early Friday morning a Hindu temple in Hyderabad was set on fire by unidentified arsonists, resulting in damage to an idol and the structure itself. Earlier this month a dharamshala in Larkana was attacked by rioters after a Hindu man in the town allegedly desecrated the Holy Quran. These attacks send ominous signals to Sindh’s Hindu community while they indicate that the pluralistic atmosphere of the province is deliberately being poisoned. Sindh is not immune to the tide of fanaticism that has overwhelmed Pakistan. And unless consistent efforts are made by the state and society to address such violent incidents, the situation will only deteriorate. A number of suspects were picked up on Saturday while Sindh police officials are looking into different angles to unmask the culprits behind the temple attack. Apart from the involvement of extremists, the possible role of IDPs and land-grabbers is also being examined. Unless proper investigations are conducted, this case, like many before it, will remain unsolved, which will not bode well for religious harmony in Sindh.

As historian Dr Mubarak Ali stated in a lecture in Karachi on Friday, to sit quietly as intolerance grows against non-Muslims is akin to acceptance of communalism. Political parties and civil society in Sindh have spoken out against the acts of desecration. Yet more needs to be done to promote interfaith harmony amongst the people and to actively oppose the communal narrative. It is not enough to simply say that Sindh is the land of Sufis; society must indicate through its actions that the message of amity and brotherhood preached by the mystics of yore is still alive in today’s Sindh and that the hateful narrative of zealots has no place here. The state, on its part, must bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice to show non-Muslims it is serious about protecting their places of worship and to send a strong message to communalists.

Tough economic choices

Editorial

NOT many will dispute the government’s claims of a perceptible improvement in economic indicators over the last nine months. Price increase has slowed down, large-scale manufacturing growth is escalating, fiscal deficit remains in control, pressure on the external account has somewhat eased and foreign exchange reserves are building up, and the exchange rate has improved in spite of projections to the contrary. Business and consumer confidence in the economy is surging as indicated by different surveys carried out in recent months and the increase in private credit off-take.

Observing these ‘positive’ changes in the economic outlook, few would challenge the perception that the incumbent government has somehow proved itself to be a ‘better manager of the economy’ than its predecessor. Indeed, it has. The IMF and the State Bank have acknowledged it again in their separate reviews of the performance of the economy on Friday. Similar improvements in the economy were noticed a few months after the previous government signed a loan deal of above $11bn with the IMF in 2008 and agreed to implement some tough conditions to stabilise the economy. Both the IMF and the central bank had extolled the ‘achievements’ in similar fashion. But the mirage of economic recovery did not last long. To be fair to the IMF and State Bank, it should be pointed out that both had consistently warned the finance team of the risks of losing sight of governance and the fiscal reforms needed to sustain the gains made in the early months of the IMF’s Stand-By Arrangement.

The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also facing the same choice today. The fiscal gains made so far have been achieved at the cost of development and improvement in tax collection. The external account and exchange rate stability owes to the one-off dole from Saudi Arabia in return for we don’t yet know what. Short-term growth prospects hinge on the sale of next-generation mobile spectrums, official foreign inflows and the recovery of unpaid PTCL privatisation proceeds. But medium- to long-term sustainability will depend on implementation of tax and financial reforms, the removal of structural impediments including the energy crunch, improvement in security conditions and the flow of private domestic and foreign investment. Mr Sharif is considered much better placed to take the politically unpopular decisions necessary for a sustainable economic turnaround because of his strong mandate and the unwavering faith of the bazaar in him. He has taken a few difficult decisions such as raising electricity prices for all and sundry but stopped short of taxing the wealthy and powerful. If he fails to take tough decisions thus sparing his core constituency, history will not judge him much differently from his predecessors. Nor will the voters forget.

Another attack on the media

Editorial

THE motive for attacking Raza Rumi, a liberal and outspoken national commentator on politics and society, is relatively easy to guess: it was meant to silence his voice forever and to send a message to anyone else espousing similar views in the public sphere. For the media as a whole, the attack in Lahore on Mr Rumi, in which a driver lost his life and a guard was injured, is yet another ominous sign that the pressure building on the media may be about to reach the point of explosion. While individuals, including Mr Rumi, have been named in militant hit lists, the signs are that something far bigger and terrible in scale and impact against the media may be imminent. Quite what that may be is difficult to know, but the lethality and ferocity of the militants and their willingness to kill and intimidate must never be underestimated.

The challenge really is for the media now to band together and figure out an effective strategy to counter the militants’ pressure. The Express Media Group, which had been targeted four times, tried the tactic of muting any criticism of the TTP and sundry militant groups after three of its employees were killed in January, but that has clearly not worked. In truth, there is little individual media houses or under-threat journalists can do on their own to ensure the safety of all who work in their organisations. However, collectively there is much that can be done — if owners, editors and heads of news channels sit down together and urgently work out both a set of demands and recommendations. The state is not entirely powerless and the militant groups are aware of the power of the media to inform the public and shape national discourse — which means a united front by the media can help win back the space that has been eroded for an independent and free media to operate in. The stakes could not be higher. A democratic polity in which the rule of law, civil society and democratic institutions dominate is only possible when the media is free to inform and act as a watchdog. Whatever the flaws of the media, surely a frightened and intimidated community of journalists is a disservice to everyone.

Modi’s anti-Pakistan rhetoric

Editorial

IT is a pity that one of the strongest contenders for prime minister in India should find it necessary to play the anti-Pakistan card. In a recent speech at Hiranagar in India-held Kashmir, the BJP’s Narendra Modi labelled two of his political rivals “agents of Pakistan” and called them enemies of India. One of the politicians he referred to is A.K. Kejriwal, New Delhi’s former chief minister, who will challenge Mr Modi in Varanasi. Coming from a man whose party could sweep the polls, this kind of demagoguery is disheartening and raises serious questions not only about India’s future relations with Pakistan but also about the general direction that India’s politics and society will take if the BJP is elected to power. Popular passions once aroused can jeopardise efforts to normalise ties. We can relate to this observation, for it is not only the right-wing in Pakistan that indulges in India-bashing, mainstream parties, too, have resorted to it, thus weakening the peace process. But mercifully, Pakistan’s mainstream parties seem to have moved on, for India hardly figured in Pakistan’s last two general elections. Similarly, it would be better for Mr Modi to concentrate on national issues — such as inflation and corruption — and the failure of his political rivals to resolve these. In fact, he would be well-positioned to flaunt his home state’s economic progress during his rule, and promise a similar lift for the entire country, since the corporate sector would want a business-friendly BJP to be in power. Instead, he has chosen to debase the political dialogue.

Already, Mr Modi’s reputation has been tainted by his alleged role in the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, and by demonising Pakistan in his speeches he will only reinforce the image of being anti-Muslim. In Pakistan, while there have been hiccups along the way, overall the PML-N government has shown that it is keen to revive the peace process. Mr Modi would do well to reciprocate and refrain from employing anti-Pakistan rhetoric to win votes.

Columns and Articles

Budget thoughts

Sakib Sherani

WHAT ‘Grand Design’ will inform the formulation of next year’s budget? And what should that design be?

WHAT ‘Grand Design’ will inform the formulation of next year’s budget? And what should that design be?

By the time final shape is given to the federal budget, it is clear that both, the country’s forex constraint as well as the government’s budget constraint, will have eased considerably. The first tranche of the largesse from the Gulf is expected to be followed by at least one more, while inflows from the 3G/4G spectrum licence auction and a sovereign Eurobond offering should be in place as well. On the back of the reverse capital flight triggered by recent moves, the forex market should continue to witness stability and strength.

The forex inflows, and resultant build-up of the country’s reserves, are more than likely to pave the way for the government to return to its ‘basic instinct’ of big-ticket infrastructure spending, loan hand-outs and generous tax incentive schemes — IMF concerns notwithstanding.

Should this occur, it would be the continuation of the same muddled thinking displayed by all governments in this country since the 1980s — that the economy can somehow grow sustainably on loans and tax incentives alone, without fundamental reform.

At the heart of the required reforms are two that are inter-related: fiscal reform and the restructuring of the civil service.

For reasons that are now known to all, Pakistan needs to introduce equity, fairness and transparency in its public finances. On the tax side, this means broadening the taxpayer base to include the millions who either do not pay at all, or who dishonestly pay a token amount — such as most parliamentarians — to be able to be counted as ‘honest’ taxpayers. The injection of equity and fairness into the tax system will increase the moral authority of the state to collect its dues, while allowing for a substantial reduction in the tax burden of honest companies and individuals.

In turn, this will unleash a virtuous spiral: the tax arbitrage between formal and informal businesses will narrow even further, reducing the incentive for companies in the formal economy to move over to ‘the other side’, and for businesses in the informal sector to stay undocumented. In addition, by lowering the tax burden on the formal economy, it will spur investment — creating jobs as well as new tax revenue for the government.

On expenditure reform, the government will have to go further than its somewhat half-hearted announcement of an across-the-board cut in non-salary expenditure of ministries and divisions. The bloated size of government/the public sector is showing up increasingly in two areas:

1) The size of the wage bill, which has increased 3.5 times (247pc) in just four years since 2009-10, to 2pc of GDP

2) The pension liability, which is completely unfunded, and which now accounts for 4.9pc of total expenditure (or 0.8pc of GDP).

Unfortunately, while the ‘liability’ side of the civil service is increasingly visible, the size of its pay and perks is not showing any positive correlation as yet to performance. This brings into sharp focus the urgent need for ‘big and bold’ moves on revamping the governance architecture of the public sector, with creating an effective, innovative and more responsive civil service the centre-piece of any reform effort.

Only when the government has put in place a viable institutional framework, with all the other cogs many of us have written about over the past few years, will it have laid the basis for sustainable growth that would be both jobs-creating and investment-inducing. Unfortunately, some recent actions of the government demonstrate that it has a fuzzy vision at best of how to put Pakistan onto a path of high, durable growth. So far, it has focused its efforts on arranging new loans rather than on resource mobilisation. On tax broadening, while the finance minister’s efforts at publishing the tax directory of parliamentarians is a commendable first step, listing them as tax-filers or payers on the basis of deduction at source of tax on their salary is a travesty. Public scrutiny of parliamentarians’ tax behaviour should be taken to its logical conclusion — the application of legal provisions and sanction for non-compliance.

On the civil service side, the prime minister has just lifted the ban on recruitment — a sure vote-getter, but a fiscal party-spoiler.

There are other areas where economic policymaking needs to be more coherent and coordinated. Take one of the flagship schemes of this government: distribution of laptops for students. Instead of relying on expensive, imported laptops for a select few, putting in place the incentives for local manufacture of cheap laptops for the benefit of thousands more would have created jobs and had other positive spill-overs.

At a secondary level, the government is borrowing heavily from long-term bonds — while telegraphing to the markets a declining inflation path, and hence, lower interest rates. At current yields and volumes, it will end up paying at least Rs 15-20 billion more in interest costs each year, for the next five to 10 years, than if it would have borrowed more smartly through short-term T-bills. As these examples demonstrate, there is room for potential saving, and better policy, in virtually every area the government operates in.

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

Tuesday, April 1

Asha’ar Rehman

DAZED and exhausted, denied and more than a bit surprised, Pakistanis have just been through one of the most exciting phases in their history, lasting a full few hours, last Tuesday.

DAZED and exhausted, denied and more than a bit surprised, Pakistanis have just been through one of the most exciting phases in their history, lasting a full few hours, last Tuesday.

In the end, the day failed to live up to its billing. The aircraft that had supposedly arrived to fly retired Gen Pervez Musharraf away to safety remained unfilled. But while the surrender against the West Indies in Dhaka was total it did not pass without providing a few new angles to the forever running and essential Pakistani debate about who is a national traitor and what betrayal hurts us more at a given time. Could we have fared better had Saqlain Mushtaq, the inventor of modern spin, not delivered our cricketing secrets to West Indies as their consultant?

By the end of it, more people might have been interested in investigating the cricketing betrayals than investigating Musharraf, but for a long time before fizzling out, the two developing stories had the same pattern or at least the same intensity about them. The excitement peaked about the same time and just when some of us thought that Gen Musharraf was all packed to leave, Pakistan appeared, momentarily, to establish its writ in Dhaka.

The two twists afterwards coincided: just as Bravo unleashed his reign of terror on his hapless Pakistani opponents inside the stadium, the leadership in Islamabad wrote their own chapter in bravado by denying passage to Musharraf. A cause to celebrate, but not compensation enough.

Come to think of it Gen Musharraf did not do all that badly on the day pitted for attention as he was up against something as big as cricket. In fact, with all those news flashes to his credit, at times he did manage to get the gaze turned off the game.

The script writers had everything meticulously planned. The scenarios heard around the living rooms included one where Gen Musharraf was to fly off — unnoticed in the din of celebrations — just when the Pakistan cricket team was to defeat the West Indies in the big T-20 game.

The escape scenario had its ‘reasons’. So many of us were so sure that the big boys here, there and elsewhere had decided to let Musharraf go and all that was needed now was a befitting event that could camouflage the commando escape. And there can never be a cover more proper than the joyous outpouring of emotion generated by a big cricket victory.

With or without such imaginative schemes in mind, Pakistanis were expecting two bits of big news by late evening on Tuesday, April 1. They were generally confident of victory in Dhaka and by and large they were resigned to the inevitability of Gen Musharraf flying away, maybe never to return. It didn’t pan out this way and since then a grand operation in accountability has been ordered at the Pakistan Cricket Board. It has the same intensity about it and even more of a public focus on it than the case of Gen Musharraf.

In the run-up, throughout the day, rumours about Gen Musharraf’s ‘impending’ escape wouldn’t stop, and these went around weaving webs so thick that it made clear thinking almost impossible. He might still manage to go, but some positives leads were noted during the day which merit being pursued to the benefit of the system.

Some ‘discussion’ was shown to have taken place and some rules, it appeared, were reinforced. There was news about the prime minister calling consultative meetings, calling them off and then calling the advisers all over again. He met his party men in Islamabad, the ‘sources’ revealed, and the disclosed reliable accounts emanating from these sessions created the healthy impression that these were democratic discussions bringing together various opinions.

Everyone present at these PML-N meetings chaired by the prime minister, it was conveyed to us on good authority, had a frank say. Not just that, the remarks were more or less representative of the various opinion patterns visible in the country by and large, giving the prime minister a picture of the public mood.

It was rightly pointed out that the decision to let Gen Pervez Musharraf go could have some really bad effects on the politics of the ruling party. There were those who saw it as more than a case against one individual. They argued that Musharraf’s accountability was essential to democratic process in Pakistan and necessary for deterring coups in future.

Whereas the day had begun with forecasts which promised Musharraf’s departure, the PML-N members managed to convey the rare impression that they were not pandering to some pre-agreed line. Through a series of relays from the venue of the meeting, an impression was successfully created that the group was not just going through a ritualistic exercise. They were shown to have been actually in discussion, the sign of a strengthening democracy.

There was of course the alternative, actually the first, dominating account, which sought to reduce all this activity in the name of democracy into a façade, or a sideshow. The version which says Gen Musharraf will finally find — or will be shown — a way out still runs powerful. This version could well be closer to reality but it did feel good to be putting your faith in the signs of resistance by those shown to be in power. Not all that bad a day, Tuesday, April 1.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Ruling Pakistan

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar

WILL Musharraf be allowed to leave? Are there cracks developing within the PML-N on the matter? How does all of this augur for the relationship between Nawaz Sharif and the chief of army staff that the former recently appointed? Welcome to Pakistan, a proverbial haven for rhetoric and speculation, where interest in the fate of a general trumps analysis of the deep state that the former served.

Truth be told, the Musharraf saga is no longer news — notwithstanding the rantings and ravings of the TV media. When the story first broke, democrats rejoiced in the knowledge a coup-making general would be tried for the first time in this country’s history.

Yet we also knew then that Musharraf’s beloved army would tolerate only so much public humiliation and that the hue and cry would eventually die down. Alas we will have to put up with the drama for a little while longer, but soon Musharraf will be yet another military dictator fallen from grace, nestled away in the far reaches of our collective consciousness. It is a matter of when, rather than if.

I am not suggesting that the legal case against him is of no consequence to this country and its long-suffering people. Indeed, the fact that Musharraf is in the dock and that the current army leadership is reportedly having to negotiate for his departure does reflect that the once taken-for-granted fact of military domination in Pakistan has now given way to an altered political economy.

But to develop a sense of what exactly has changed, we need to focus less on Musharraf’s person and think deeply about the evolving structure of power in Pakistan that has thrown up an event as momentous as Musharraf’s indictment.

A healthy debate has emerged recently — some of it taking place on these very pages — about Pakistan’s ‘new’ political economy, framed in part around the question of whether the military remains the most powerful institution in the country. The most popular hypothesis doing the rounds is that other institutional actors, the judiciary and media foremost, have come to exercise significant political influence which is both cause and consequence of a curtailment in the military’s power.

Other participants in the debate have drawn attention to the rise of social classes and ideological forces that, while not necessarily in direct conflict with historically powerful class and institutional actors, still represent considerable change. The two that are most often flagged are a ‘nativised’ bourgeoisie that occupies urban spaces and operates largely outside the realm of formal legality, and religio-political groups that also thrive in the undocumented economy and now exercise considerable economic and cultural sway.

In this developing discussion, one of the most crucial sticking points is whether or not the state retains the cohesion that one typically assumes in referring to it.

So, for instance, state patronage for religio-political groups — militant or otherwise — is a widely acknowledged fact of recent Pakistani history. But in sociological terms it is just too simplistic to view the religious right as an extension of the ‘state’. Moreover, the state is anything but a monolith, even if one could argue that the military institution still has an apparent fondness for certain brands of religious militancy.

I think that this debate has a long way to go yet, although all the notable contributions to it offer considerable insights into our political economy. There is one aspect, though, that remains greatly underspecified: is the prevailing structure of power, as diffuse as it may have become, actually threatened by a counter-hegemony rooted in a politics of the working poor?

It may be true that the military’s power is no longer unquestioned in the way that it once was. It can also be argued that other classes and institutions have forced their way into the reckoning, and that a process of democratisation — defined loosely — is proceeding apace. Furthermore, there are visible cracks emerging in the ideological edifices of state — particularly military — power; liberal alarmism about the impending takeover of Pakistan by the religious right actually betrays the tremendous contestation taking place within both state and society about the ideological foundations of Pakistan.

All of this is well and good. But where are the people in all of this? Change does not wait for popular forces, of course. But can a case really be made that in today’s Pakistan the toiling classes actually feel more empowered than a generation ago? Beyond the populism of the superior judiciary and the corporate media, is democratic accountability a reality for a poor villager or slum-dweller?

The hegemony of the artifact that is the post-colonial state — including the military — is crumbling. But real change will come about only when working people have the necessary vehicle — and belief — to build something new atop the wreckage.

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

Misplaced pessimism

Jon Boone

ELEVEN months before the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan ended the combined brains of the US intelligence community were asked to guess what would happen in the country.

ELEVEN months before the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan ended the combined brains of the US intelligence community were asked to guess what would happen in the country.

“We judge that the Najibullah regime will not long survive the completion of the Soviet withdrawal even with continued Soviet assistance,” surmised the 1988 National Intelligence Estimate. “The regime may fall before withdrawal is complete.”

The spies turned out to be completely wrong. Afghanistan’s last communist president survived for three years after the last Soviet troop crossed the Amu Darya. It was only after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, ending the flow of vital economic and military subsidies to Kabul, that Najib fell.

A quarter of a century on from the predictions of those long forgotten intelligence analysts, a foreign policy wonk like Vali Nasr is merely channelling today’s received wisdom when he writes in his recent book, “Very likely, the Taliban will win Afghanistan again.”

For the doom-mongers, tomorrow’s presidential election has long been seen as harbinger of Afghanistan’s post-Nato collapse. Certainly the 2009 experience disheartened many of us who watched it from close quarters. Election day was the most violent 24 hours since 2001. Millions of fraudulently cast votes shone an unsparing light on the malfeasance of the Afghan government and the ineffectualness of the Western donors paying for the exercise.

The second round was abandoned after a murderous attack on a UN guesthouse. Karzai was, in effect, illegally reappointed president without winning the 50pc of the votes the constitution said he needed.

Things don’t look much better this time round. Despite assurances from officials that lessons have been learned the electoral system remains fundamentally broken, with millions more voter cards in circulation than voters. Once again candidates have a strong incentive to cheat if they are reliant on support from the rural Pakhtun south and east where the Taliban can deter voters with the threat of violent reprisals.

A non-Pakhtun robbed of the presidency by massive fraud in the Pakhtun south is the stuff of nightmares for those inclined to predict an ethnic civil war. But last time round those of us who predicted disaster after the botched election were proved wrong. Abdullah Abdullah, denied the second round he was entitled to, did little more than stand in his rose garden and tell the world’s press he was not best pleased. I can’t see him rallying his old Northern Alliance comrades to take up arms this time either.

Most surprising was how few Afghans shared the outrage of disillusioned Westerners at what appeared to be Karzai’s screaming lack of legitimacy. Even those that voted for other candidates tended to accept him as their president with a shrug.

As in Najibullah’s day, the Afghan state is much less fragile than pessimistic observers would have you believe. Despite all the criticism and alleged corruption, support for the post-2001 political and constitutional settlement remains surprisingly strong. Afghans like their democracy and their elected institutions, imperfect though they may be. Surveys suggest more than 70pc of Afghans are planning to vote this weekend.

The security forces may have been built up in a terrible hurry after 2009 but they have improved remarkably in a short period. Despite the rapid falling away of foreign assistance they won almost every battle they fought last year. And they have the huge advantage of not being culturally clueless foreign infidels.

The strength of the Taliban-led insurgency has been absurdly exaggerated. They have just a fifth of the manpower of the mujahideen of the 1980s and none of the nationwide breadth.

The anti-Soviet struggle was a national liberation struggle attracting support from all groups (and political backing from the entire non-Soviet world). Today the Taliban recruits exclusively among a disgruntled subsection of a single ethnic group. It means the Taliban insurgency has been unable to generate the spread of violence across the country that the mujahideen were capable of. Today insecurity is only chronic in relatively few of Afghanistan’s 400 or so districts — mostly in areas of the rural, Pakhtun south and east where government forces are absent. Most Afghans (increasingly urbanites) are largely unaffected.

Despite a decade of crafty political messaging, often exploiting Nato’s many spectacular own goals, the Taliban have failed to build popular support. A rash of anti-Taliban uprisings and the emergence of pro-government local militias in the south and east suggest their popularity may even be weakening in their so-called heartlands.

In short, never be afraid to bet against the received wisdom on Afghanistan. Exciting though predictions of catastrophe may be, the coming years are likely to look a lot like the recent past, whatever the outcome of the election. Expect a continuation of the stalemate between a government that can’t be toppled and an insurgency in parts of the rural south east that can’t easily be stamped out.

The writer is the Guardian’s Pakistan correspondent.

Twitter: @Jon_Boone

The right to play

I.A. Rehman

THE celebration of the first International Day of Sport for Development and Peace on the coming Sunday (April 6, 2014) will be an appropriate occasion to determine whether the children and youth in Pakistan can enjoy their right to play.

It was only in August last year that the UN General Assembly decided to focus on April 6 — the date of the opening of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 — each year on the contribution sport can make to education, human development and elimination of social conflicts.

Considerable credit for promoting the philosophy of sport for development and peace goes to an international initiative, Right to Play, founded by a four-time Norwegian Olympic gold medalist, Johann Olav Koss.

The organisation claims that it is helping one million children in more than 20 countries every week to use the transformative power of sport to “build essential life skills and a better future”. The concept that sport and physical exercise promote physical and mental health and enable people to overcome their racial, ethnic and class distinctions is not unknown in Pakistan.

The issues that need to be addressed during a debate on sport for development and peace here are: does the educational system attach due importance to sports? Are the sports bodies properly organised and adequately provided for? Did the objectives of the youth/sports festivals recently held in the various provinces include the promotion of social peace and harmony?

It is no secret that the education authorities do not give sport and physical training their due place in the scheme of public instruction. The surveys of what our schools lack do not always refer to the absence of playing fields and sports activity.

Gone are the days when a high school without a playing ground was not counted among respectable institutions.

While this condition must still be enforced in areas where land is available, in crowded cities other means need to be explored. The local government institutions can perhaps create regular sports and physical training facilities by building playing grounds and gymnasia for clusters of schools.

The state of sports organisations is causing serious concern to all sports lovers. The tussle between two national Olympic associations is quite a scandal. The hockey federation is paralysed by lack of resources and the state’s indifference.

The game of cricket has been sullied by a vulgar competition for power and money among administrators and players both.

The defence establishment still dominates the national athletic scene but it has failed throw up worthy successors to Brigadier Rodham, who had guided stars like Abdul Khaliq and Fazl-i-Raziq, or to air force officers who had pooled their resources to launch Hashim Khan on his march to glory on the squash court.

The present-day cricketers, most of whom appear to have come out of Kerry Packer’s stable, and their employers, as well as other sports organisers must realise that periodic tournaments are no substitute for year-round grooming of talent at schools/colleges and at clubs, such as we had in all major cities till some years ago.

There is little doubt that a large number of people took part in the youth festivals held in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. But these activities attracted criticism on a number of counts. Sport and culture seemed to have been exploited for promoting the narrow interests of the political authorities.

There was an excessive reliance on public funds and bureaucratic channels, and too little on fostering volunteerism and encouraging local, especially rural, communities to democratically organise themselves. The bid to fuel nationalist fervour, by viewing neighbouring countries as enemies and not as bona fide competitors, crossed the limits of decency.

One must admit the valuable initiatives taken by the corporate sector not only in regard to cricket and hockey but also for other sports, such as polo, golf and snooker. It is necessary to benefit from the talent and resources of these organisers in the national planning stages.

While designing a vastly improved national calendar of athletic and sports events, both in educational institutions and outside, the goals must be clearly defined. One of the goals must be to offer equal chances to people to excel on the field, regardless of their belief, ethnicity or social status.

Children of different religious communities must be encouraged to play together. This will promote inter-faith harmony better than the authorities’ empty rhetoric. Our sports planners should realise that if the Afghan cricketers can give their people an identity they did not have before, is it impossible to attract the tribal population to sports?

What sport should be encouraged where, should be decided on the basis of the relevant community’s resources and preferences.

For instance, soccer, the world’s most popular game, has been neglected in Pakistan because its best players belonged to the permanent target of indifference and discrimination — Balochistan. Likewise, the failure of a land of rivers to throw up swimmers and boatmen of international calibre can only be attributed to the ruling elite’s myopic approach.

Before anything worthwhile can be attempted the policymakers must accept the children’s/youth’s entitlement to sport as one of their fundamental rights and that all sports activity should be related to the people’s supreme need for a democratic, tolerant, and prejudice-free order.

Besides, sport is needed not so much for the state’s glory as for helping more and more Pakistanis realise themselves as successful sports persons. The pleasure of excelling in sports is a worthwhile end in itself. n

Karachi operations

Faisal Siddiqi

VIOLENCE, crime and chaos have become a permanent feature of life in Karachi. What has also become a recurrent reality is the state’s response. Since the late 1980s, various kinds of operations have been initiated involving the police, paramilitary and regular armed forces, intelligence services and special courts like the Anti-Terrorism Courts. Underlining the state’s response is the ‘policing theory’ about the prevention of violence and crime in Karachi.

This theory is based on the fundamental assumption or myth that a radical reduction in violence and crime in Karachi is possible by merely adopting a de-politicised law-enforcement response and through an effective criminal justice system that ensures convictions. Will the present Karachi operations based on this policing theory fail or succeed? A complicated answer follows this question.

Avoiding anarchy: Karachi experienced a complete breakdown of order and violent anarchy from 2007 to 2013.

A fundamental cause of the state’s complete breakdown was both its inability to deal with the causes of this anarchy and its loss over the monopoly of the means of violence. In short, Karachi was handed over to various armed political, religious and criminal gangs, with the state being just one among the armed groups.

The result was expected — a deadly, violent Karachi infected by an unending supply of weapons and bombs.

What the ongoing Karachi operations have done is to try to re-establish the state’s monopoly over the means of violence with operations in various no-go areas and against various elements regarded as untouchable. This is the first step to save a divided and unequal city from complete anarchy.

In Karachi, there are no ideal choices. For the time being, the choice is between the terror perpetrated by the state and terror inflicted by other armed groups. The former is preferable because at least there is some institutional control over state violence and there is nothing worse than violent anarchy in an armed and divided city.

In short, the brave police, Rangers and other personnel, who have lost their lives, have saved this city from complete anarchy.

Understanding violence and crime: But warding off anarchy does not necessarily mean a radical reduction in violence and crime. Half of the violence caused in Karachi has roots in political and religious conflicts, which cannot be solved through a policing and legal response unless the roots themselves are tackled.

As for crime and criminal violence engaged in by persons or groups for personal gain, these are committed by two distinct groups i.e. persons with a criminal record and first-time offenders.

More than a century of research in crime and crime prevention has shown that neither are persons with a criminal record, nor can first-time offenders be, deterred by strong policing and effective convictions.

For example, among the developed nations, the US has the highest percentage of violent crime despite having the largest prison population (over 2.2 million prisoners in 2011) and an effective criminal justice system but still some 67pc of the prisoners commit a crime within three years of their release.

Hence, a policing theory based on the incapacitation and deterrence of criminals will not work because it does not deter them, let alone deter first-time offenders.

Research after research has shown that the ‘criminal justice prevention’ approach by itself does not work unless it is combined with: a) the ‘development prevention’ approach that targets high-risk individuals in broken and excluded families and communities; b) the ‘community prevention’ approach changing socio-economic conditions especially drug abuse; and c) the ‘situational prevention’ approach by reducing opportunities for crime mainly through structural and technological interventions.

In short, a divided, unequal and chaotic Karachi — a situation that results in violent crime — cannot be fixed without political, economic and social intervention.

Same failed story: Instead of dealing with violence and crime as a political, social and economic problem, the state has again adopted the strategy of trying to eliminate terrorism and crime by destroying or incapacitating certain terrorist and criminals.

The strategy is simple. First, label people as terrorists and criminals so that they are seen as devoid of any humanity and deprived of rights and reduced to evil beings. Second, kill them in legally justified encounters, which are never investigated.

Third, torture them on the moral excuse of deterring them, collecting evidence and saving other lives. Fourth, lawfully or unlawfully detain people on the belief (as opposed to evidence) that they are terrorist and criminals. Fifth, have them convicted by special courts on little or no evidence.

As in the past, this will not work because to adapt a political saying to the Karachi situation, how many terrorists and criminals will you kill as they will emerge from other houses unless you deal with the political, economic and social causes of terrorism and crime in Karachi.

A policing strategy will be effective to reduce arms and bombs in Karachi and to avoid anarchy but weapons and bombs don’t kill — people kill people.

Unless the rich and powerful in Karachi are willing to share their wealth and power with the rest of Karachi and are willing to contribute to order and justice in this city, terrorism and crime will continue to remain avenues for persons trying to achieve the good life and power through illegal means.

As a famous American sociologist aptly remarked, Al Capone is really a capitalist by other means.

The writer is a lawyer.

Playing with fire

Moazzam Husain

TO diagnose Saudi Arabia’s fear instincts, one would have to travel back to 1979. That year saw the Iranian revolution, and Ayatollah Khomeini’s subsequent talk of ‘exporting’ the revolution which has left Saudi Arabia with an exaggerated fear of Shia expansionism.

That same year, hundreds of armed extremists seized the Grand Mosque at Makkah. Shortly afterwards, two brigades, roughly 10,000 Pakistani troops, were deployed to Saudi Arabia under a bilateral joint military agreement aimed at protecting the Saudi monarchy.

One part of Saudi Arabia’s anxiety stems from its perception of a growing Shia footprint which now includes the Bashar al Assad regime in Syria, the Hezbollah militia’s strength in Lebanon, the Maliki government in Iraq, and the three years of Shia led pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia is also suspicious of its own Shia population in the Eastern Province, where it fears the radical Hezbollah al-Hejaz is active.

At the same time, it is nervous about any domestic unrest that may be inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings. This nervousness was apparent when it announced a generous financial support package for its own population in 2011.

It is particularly wary of the mobilising capacity of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose political Islamism and grassroots activism are anathema to the House of Saud, whose grip on power comes from keeping religion under its own tight control and patronage.

And even as Egypt’s military junta has ousted the Brotherhood’s government (and received billions of dollars in Saudi largesse), it has stoked much Islamist resentment in the Arab world.

In the clearest sign of this fear, Saudi Arabia has recently declared the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation and passed new anti-terror laws that Amnesty International regards as a tool to crush peaceful expression.

Saudi Arabia also faces a radical Islamist threat from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which is now lodged in Yemen. It is entirely plausible that AQAP has been making every effort to penetrate Saudi Arabia’s state institutions and security forces.

Saudi Arabia promoted the Syrian rebellion against Bashar al Assad. That proxy war has reached a stalemate. The rebellion has been hijacked by jihadist groups who have turned on each other.

The fighting is out of anybody’s control and now Riyadh fears the fire may spread. Many Saudi fighters who had joined the rebellion could become the link between underground Saudi Islamist groups and jihadist groups fighting in Syria. In a royal decree announced last month, Saudi Arabia has banned its citizens from participating in the Syrian civil war.

A prolonged conflict in Syria could also spill over into Egypt where an Islamist movement against the military junta is in early stages. That would further complicate the Kingdom’s threat matrix.

The recent quiet sidelining of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, head of Saudi intelligence (and the mastermind of the campaign to overthrow Assad), is the clearest sign of this reordering of threat priorities. He is no longer to be in charge of Saudi policy on Syria which will now be handled by Interior Minister Prince Mohamad bin Nayef. Nayef’s skill set? Counterterrorism work against Al Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia may yearn for an early end to the war and the establishment of a transitional government in Syria, but is this objective realistic? Would Assad’s ouster necessarily end this war? Are the Russians going to stand by and watch the demise of their only ally in the Arab world? How will they likely respond to anti-Assad rebels receiving shoulder-fired anti-tank and anti-aircraft (and possibly even heavier) weapons, that Pakistan has been showcasing at its IDEAS defence exhibitions?

How will Iran respond as these weapons arrive in Jordan for subsequent issuance to selected rebel groups? There may well be an end user agreement; but do we really intend to monitor and enforce it? Are our trainers and other mercenaries also expected to arrive in Syria? And as the situation further complicates, will our friends in the Gulf expect other quid pro quo?

Some reports indicate that the Saudis are considering a standby force ready to put down Islamist and Shia uprisings whenever and wherever they may appear in the Gulf.

Such questions need to be pondered by our policymakers before further entangling us in this crisis. The parliament is the forum for such debates and policy appraisals.

Our representatives may also want to revisit the reasons why recently the US had hesitated to arm the rebels. They may similarly want to evaluate other risks and repercussions of this engagement. It’s time to open the windows and let in that fresh air.

The writer studied Middle East politics at the American University in Cairo.

Rupee appreciation

Hammad Siddiqui

SOMETHING quite remarkable has been witnessed of late: the dollar has depreciated significantly against the rupee. As this has been a highly noticeable and largely unexpected event, it has raised a plethora of questions in the minds of citizens, and conspiracy theories have done the rounds.

Yet dollar depreciation against the rupee is not as mysterious as it would appear if one understands the role of foreign currency reserves in deflating speculative sentiments. Why do we need to hold foreign currency reserves in the first place? The short answer is that we need to defend the currency from speculators who bet that the currency will fall in value.

An easy way to do that is to sell the currency in forward contracts. Once a major player starts selling, word would quickly spread in the inter-bank and the open market, prompting more speculators to do the same. If there is no major buyer with pockets deep enough, the currency will crash, with depressing implications.

Imports, that include essentials such as cooking oil, would become very expensive, further adding fuel to the already high inflationary fire, and pushing more people towards poverty.

Holding sufficient foreign currency reserves means that the central bank can become a buyer with deep pockets. The larger the reserves, the deeper the pockets, and the higher the hurdle that speculators need to cross.

If speculators know that the country has sufficient reserves, they are likely to realise that they will not succeed in lowering the value of the currency further via selling pressures in forward trades. So, the primary function of holding foreign currency reserves is to deter speculators from attacking the currency.

Countries typically hold reserves in some other country’s currency for this purpose, and for obvious reasons they prefer to hold the currency of a larger country with deep and highly liquid markets. Hence, the dollar is the currency of choice across the globe.

Naturally, if a country gets a large, unexpected boost, as in Pakistan’s case recently, to its reserves, it deflates the speculative sentiment. So, the recent dollar depreciation comes as no surprise once we take into account the relatively large unexpected inflow.

But what do we do with foreign currency reserves lying idle? There are obvious opportunity costs of having large sums of money tied up in a foreign currency as this money cannot be used for more productive purposes. The country has to pay this cost if it wants to avoid speculative attacks on its currency. However, it should attempt to minimise this cost.

Currently, we are holding all of our reserves in dollars and these reserves are invested in US Treasury debt that pays a very low interest rate because the US dollar is the most popular reserve currency globally, with reportedly over 60pc of all reserves across the globe in US dollars.

These countries mostly buy US Treasury debt with their reserves — the demand for US treasury debt is very high. Consequently, the US Treasury needs to pay very little return on the amount borrowed.

It is true that the US Treasury debt market is the most liquid market in the world, and countries can quickly sell dollar-denominated debt and make dollars available to defend their respective currencies.

However, Pakistan is a relatively small country and markets in the euro or pound sterling should be deep enough for us in our time of need. We should be able to sell euro- or pound sterling-denominated debt quickly, access these foreign currencies, and defend the rupee if such a need arises.

Hence, we should consider diversifying into other foreign currencies, in particular if the return on the euro or pound sterling-denominated debt is higher than the dollar-denominated debt.

As we are a poor country, intelligently managing our reserves by investing in a number of major currencies will minimise the opportunity cost of holding reserves. Furthermore, in recent history, the US has had a budget crisis, a debt ceiling crisis, and a credit-rating downgrade. So, the US market is not as attractive as it used to be from the safety standpoint.

Hence, diversifying foreign currency holdings makes sense both from the risk as well as the return perspective. You may have heard that there are no free lunches in economics. If you lower risk, you lower the return as well.

However, for a country like Pakistan with a small economy, such a free lunch is possible. Diversifying foreign currency holdings could improve the return while lowering the risk. n

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

h.siddiqi@uq.edu.au

The siege within

Zahid Hussain

ON his return to London after signing the Munich agreement in September 1938, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain said to a cheering crowed: “I believe it is peace for our time.” The ‘peace’ that Chamberlain claimed to have won entailed serving Czechoslovakia on a plate to Adolf Hitler.

Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement did not bring peace, but plunged the world into a catastrophic war.

We have had our own Munich-like moments while dealing with the militants challenging the state. But the irony is that we refuse to learn from history. Remember what happened in Swat just a few years ago? A peace deal there in 2008 led to the release of all the top militant commanders captured during the military operation.

They went back to the area and butchered their opponents. The territory fell to the barbaric rule of Mullah Fazlullah. That, however, did not deter our leaders from giving the illusionary peace another chance. One more peace accord in 2009 allowed the militants to advance further into neighbouring districts.

But we are in the habit of repeating our mistakes. Yet again we are engaged in so-called peace negotiations with terrorists who are responsible for a bloodbath that has claimed thousands of innocent lives.

The details of the first round of direct talks last week between the government and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan leaked to the media sounds like a comic opera. Held at some remote TTP base in the tribal region the meeting turned out to be more of a catharsis session for the Taliban with their ‘respected teacher’ Maulana Samiul Haq.

But there was no hint of any flexibility in their hardline position. The talks have apparently hit a road block with the Taliban demanding the release of 300 to 400 captives in the custody of Pakistani security forces, mostly said to be hard-core militants, and withdrawal of the military from South Waziristan.

These are red lines the government would find hard to cross without its relations with the military being affected. But the prime minister is so eager to get the talks going that he may accept some of the Taliban’s demands including the release of some prisoners.

Even if talks remain stalemated, the TTP has already achieved some of its objectives. The military operation in North Waziristan has been postponed indefinitely and action against the network in other parts of the country has been halted.

Some media reports quoting intelligence sources said that under the cover of the ceasefire, the TTP has removed much of its ammunition and fighters from North Waziristan. The advantage the army had gained earlier this year by destroying some of the militant camps and ammunition dumps seems to have been lost after the truce.

The biggest victory for the TTP is that direct talks with the government have legitimised its activities. With the terrorist infrastructure intact, peace will remain elusive. A strengthened TTP with a degree of legitimacy will present a much greater threat to a weak state, allowing the terrorist network to enforce its retrogressive ideology through brute force.

Last month’s Islamabad court attack during the negotiations has made the TTP’s intention very clear. Though the network has denied its involvement, some reports quoting intelligence sources confirmed that the TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah ordered the massacre.

The attack seemed to be aimed at bringing the government under pressure before the start of the talks. Most shocking, however, is the way in which the interior minister tried to cover up the TTP’s links to the attack.

Even if the two sides reach some kind of agreement, the militants are not going to give up violence. The fear is that instead of high-profile mass killings the militants may resort to targeted killings of opponents and critics. The attack on journalist Raza Rumi that killed his driver is just a trailer of things to come.

What is most disturbing, however, is that the government’s policy of appeasement has divided the country on provincial, ethnic and sectarian lines. The much-touted consensus among the political parties on talks with the Taliban is all but broken.

Many political parties may not be willing to publicly disassociate themselves from the resolution passed by the all-parties conference, but they have little faith that the talks could restore peace in the country. While all the major political forces in Sindh favour a tougher position, Punjab-based parties have adopted a conciliatory approach towards militancy.

The militants have cleverly exploited this divide and selectively target only those political parties that are actively resisting them. The TTP has refused to release the sons of late governor Salmaan Taseer and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani because the PPP government in Sindh is cracking down on the group.

Legitimising the TTP has, in fact, increased the sense of insecurity not only among the minority sects, but is also of concern to the majority Sunni Muslims who believe in a more tolerant Islam. Any deal on the TTP’s terms will plunge the country into civil strife destroying its social fabric.

On April 30 every year the army observes Martyrs Day paying homage to the soldiers who gave their lives fighting militancy. The table of the family members of these soldiers expands each year with increasing numbers dying on the front line.

How will the new army chief face the families of those killed by the terrorists who the state is now surrendering to? It is not peace, but the destruction of the country that our leaders are bargaining for.

The writer is an author and journalist.

After the UN

Rafia Zakaria

LAST Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) finally did what it should have done a decade ago when the first drones flew over North Waziristan. In a statement following the passage of a resolution introduced by Pakistan, Yemen, and Switzerland, it instructed all states to ensure that the use of armed drones complied with international law.

Specifically, the language of the resolution instructed “all states to ensure that any measures employed to counter terrorism, including the use of remotely piloted aircraft or armed drones, comply with their obligations under international law ... in particular the principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality”.

The text of the resolution reflected the compromises that must have been necessary in paving the way for a small state like Pakistan to finally get it passed. First among these was that it named no names.

The US, the world’s chief drone aggressor waging drone wars in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Somalia, was not named. Also absent was any enumeration of consequences. Instead, the resolution laid out the next steps, which were predictably in the realm of what the UN does best: it asked for Navi Pillay, the head of the UNHRC, to hold “expert discussions” on drone warfare.

It is a tragedy that can only be wept for in the dark, lonely corners of a Pakistani (or Rwandan or Syrian or Iraqi) newspaper.

Doing so is not to detract from the strategic acumen of Zamir Akram, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, who finally managed to get Pakistan’s position recognised and supported by member nations in an environment where the qualms and queries of small nations do not normally draw ears, let alone votes.

Accomplishing the passage of a resolution that even indirectly chastises the only boss of a unipolar world is a victory and must be recognised as such.

It is the quality of the victory, and the difficulties in achieving it, that make up material for lament. In a world that is full of conflict and overreach, the one transnational organisation that was supposed to provide the basis for achieving international consensus, enabling a consideration of principles, and curbing overreach by brute force, seems grossly incapable of doing so.

In the 10 years it has taken the UN to issue this exhortation, Pakistan has been ripped apart by the consequences of imperial overreach. Displacement and demographic upheaval, political unrest, and deepening rifts are now part of Pakistan’s post-drone landscape. A religious right stands ennobled, and overtly anti-state forces are dictating terms at peace negotiations.

Pakistan’s particularities are hardly the basis for calling out the UN as an institution no longer able to accomplish its purpose. This week brought the announcement of an investigation into the Sri Lankan civil war, during which the country’s government has been accused of slaughtering nearly 40,000 people.

Like the resolution on drones, the announcement was lauded by human rights groups and is indeed a step forward in holding parties responsible. However, while it may yield solace and closure and accountability, the investigation comes after the war and after people are dead. Weighed on the scales of “preventing” such cataclysms, the effort is completely ineffectual, as has been the case so often.

Indeed, even in the past month, the UN did make an effort to thwart ongoing conflicts; to provide, as was hoped at its inception, the force that would stand up for the little guys.

On the same day that marked the passage of the drone resolution, Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special envoy for Syria, was unable to break the deadlock between the Assad regime and the Syrian opposition.

In a statement he apologised to the Syrian people, saying: “I am very, very sorry and I apologise to the Syrian people that their hopes which were very, very high here, that something will happen here.” It was the sixth consecutive day of talks; while they went on, the violence in Syria continued to escalate. The UK-based Syrian Human Rights Observatory estimates the death toll to have topped 140,000.

High hopes, it seems, are all that the UN offers populations caught in contemporary conflicts. The question remains whether this in itself is enough to support and sustain an institution that cannot force superpowers to stop meddling, at least not until after they have accomplished their interventionist goals.

Whether it is Russia in Crimea, the US in Yemen and Pakistan, or anywhere else, the actions come late or not at all. In cases such as Syria, where various conglomerations have aligned on various sides, no action is possible at all.

Given this track record, and the continuation of an organisationally flawed system of vetoes granted to a few, the UN seems ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of contemporary conflict.

If all the world requires resolutions that decorously request superpowers to behave (knowing they will be ignored) and expert discussions in well-appointed conference rooms, then a different organisation — one that costs a lot less and works a lot more — can easily be envisioned to take the place of the UN.

As it exists, the UN is an organisation that generates hopes and promises but delivers only discussions and digressions, and belated chastisements, none of which the world’s war-weary need or should be forced to tolerate.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Back to the future?

Mahir Ali

SOMETHING quite remarkable happened in Egypt last week. And no, it wasn’t Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s long-expected announcement about discarding his uniform and putting himself forward as a presidential candidate.

It was the sentencing to death of 529 people for the death of a single police officer, following a two-day trial.

That must be some kind of record. And it’s only a small part of a pattern of repression that evidently exceeds by a fairly wide margin not only what Mohamed Morsi’s deeply flawed administration was capable of, but also the level of state terror that sustained Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship.

The vast number of people currently in detention does not include those responsible for up to 1,000 deaths last August, when security forces fired on crowds staging a largely peaceful sit-in in protest against the military coup that toppled Morsi, the country’s first elected president.

Morsi’s majority in the run-off vote no doubt had something to do with the fact that his opponent, Ahmed Shafik, was perceived as a representative of the old order. That order, mind you, wasn’t overthrown when Mubarak received his marching orders. The army under Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi gave the impression of channelling the popular will as it continued to wield power.

The Muslim Brotherhood was apparently caught unawares by the anti-Mubarak upsurge and remained on its fringes at best. It initially feigned a lack of interest in contesting the presidency, then changed its mind. And Morsi subsequently declared that he would govern on behalf of all Egyptians.

He signally failed to live up to that promise, but was careful not to mess with the military, which retained its autonomy and its privileges.

Part of the background to Sisi being named military chief and defence minister in August 2012 was his role as the point man of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) in its contacts with the Brotherhood, a capacity in which he is said to have insinuated that he was a sympathiser.

His reputation as a devout conservative helped, and the Brothers may have been impressed as well by his handling of the controversy over the utterly reprehensible practice of conducting virginity tests on female detainees.

There can be little doubt that a substantial proportion of Egyptians were relieved by Morsi’s overthrow, and that the conduct of the Morsi administration accounted in large part for the antipathy it inspired.

For all that, it was an elected government, and voting it out of power would have aided the institutionalisation of democracy in a country that seemed eager just two years earlier to embrace the concept. Its belated designation as a terrorist outfit was clearly politically motivated.

Egypt is certainly not immune to Islamist terrorism, but surely it doesn’t require any special insight to grasp how blocking electoral avenues for Islamists might push some of them towards radicalisation and violence. Egypt’s history bears testimony to this sorry trend.

Sisi’s much remarked-upon popularity suggests that many Egyptians were sick of Mubarak after 30 years, but not entirely averse to the system he represented. Next month’s presidential election will complete its resuscitation. With the result considered a fait accompli, there is so far just one contender apart from Sisi.

The margin of Sisi’s success will be of academic interest. Mubarak unfailingly managed to achieve an official approval rating in the high 90s. Sisi may have the sense to be a little more modest — but it’s hard to tell, given that a personality cult with messianic overtones is already in place. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t wish to be perceived as another Mubarak, but welcomes unsubstantiated comparisons with Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Those may not go down too well in Egypt’s neighbourhood, where relief over the demise of the Morsi government ranged widely, from Israel and the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad to Saudi Arabia. Russia’s Vladimir Putin was perhaps the first foreign leader to endorse Sisi’s then undeclared presidential bid.

US Secretary of State John Kerry stopped short of unequivocal support, but Washington has long been trying to find an excuse to rescind the sanctions it felt obliged to impose after the coup.

Sisi will, it seems safe to say, be welcomed on to the international stage. What he intends to — or can — deliver in terms of easing his nation’s socio-economic stresses and strains remains to be seen.

But what are the chances that his already demonstrated proclivities towards silencing all dissent, Islamist or liberal, will be tempered by absolute power? And, more importantly, what will the majority of Egyptians do once they realise their actions and votes have paved the road back to the future?

mahir.dawn@gmail.com

In a diseased state

Zubeida Mustafa

THE health sector in Pakistan is in a crisis. Various reports and surveys paint a bleak picture which is not surprising given the breakdown in the healthcare infrastructure.

THE health sector in Pakistan is in a crisis. Various reports and surveys paint a bleak picture which is not surprising given the breakdown in the healthcare infrastructure.

If the country has a high infant mortality rate, if polio cases have taken an upwards turn and the state of health is abysmal, prompting observers to warn that the Millennium Development Goals are unachievable, the root causes are obvious.

In every sector of life, human resources are central to performance. Qualified and well-trained manpower (and also womanpower) with professional commitment and motivation can overcome many barriers that can come in the way of success.

A look at the state of the human resources in our health sector is quite revealing. Dr Shershah Syed, ex-secretary general, Pakistan Medical Association, and ex-president, Pakistan Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, is articulate when shedding light on what is ailing medical education and planning.

Having been an inveterate champion of the people’s right to healthcare, he has immense capacity to identify the cause of a problem and to fearlessly call a spade a spade.

He identifies three basic causes for the malaise in human resources in the health sector. First, the poor quality of medical education which has hit rock bottom, the exception being the few pricey institutions in the private sector. Second, there is an intense shortage of doctors and surgeons in the country.

Third, the poor planning of health manpower has resulted in a lopsided structure that is inadequate for our needs.

In some ways, this reflects a grave paradox in the system. Why should a country with 129 medical colleges face a shortage? One reason is that the medical graduates being produced are generally of poor quality and unemployable.

The better ones form the brain drain that is robbing the country of its best talent. Those who choose to stay in Pakistan and work are not necessarily the best stuff that goes into the making of a competent doctor. Many, especially women, who study medicine do not practise.

The fact is that the recently dissolved Pakistan Medical and Dental Council that supposedly regulated medical education was not doing its job honestly. The medical community demanded the abolition of the PMDC which had become virtually a mouthpiece of the private sector whose interests it had begun to scrupulously safeguard.

Eight years ago, Dr Shershah tried to correct the balance in the PMDC’s composition when he was elected to the council as the representative of the doctors from Sindh. But he was not allowed to participate effectively in its proceedings despite a ruling of the court.

Over the years, medical colleges mushroomed all over the country many of which did not even meet the specified criteria but yet managed to obtain the PMDC’s recognition. Nineteen of them are reported to have paid Rs50 million each to get registered. It is unbelievable but the fact is that many of them do not even have the 150-bed hospital that is mandatory for a medical college to function.

Other requirements such as a full-time faculty for the basic sciences and laboratories are also missing. Some of these institutions were functioning as evening colleges and charging exorbitant fees. Some parliamentarians are said to be involved and at one stage NAB was asked to look into the matter.

The medical community’s persistence has paid off. In February, there were reports of 24 or so medical and dental colleges on the hook as they lacked the basic conditions prescribed for them.

In March, the federal health minister went further and dissolved the controversial PMDC and announced the formation of a seven-member committee which has been given 120 days to hold fair elections for a new PMDC.

Given the representative composition of the committee, hopefully the new body will resolve the crisis.

The new PMDC may play an efficient regulatory role. What, however, needs to be addressed urgently is the lopsided health manpower planning. No need assessment has ever been carried out. Rational estimates call for 10 paramedics/nurses for every doctor produced.

Instead, Pakistan produces one nurse/paramedic for 10 doctors. This reflects the class biases in our society: paramedics and nurses do not enjoy the same social status as doctors. And we know how our education system is skewed against the underprivileged.

The private sector is not interested as nursing schools do not earn as much profit as medical colleges.

In that context, the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation’s move to launch courses to produce physician assistants is a bold step in the finest tradition of social justice. Some medical universities are following suit now. But their high fees — SIUT does not charge a penny — may yet erect barriers for the not so affluent.

www.zubeidamustafa.com

Limitations of monetary policy

Shahid Kardar

THIS writer has argued before that it is not possible to manage inflation through just one or two policy instruments, especially when one instrument, the interest rate, is expected to achieve multiple objectives. The reason is that the sources of demand in the economy are households, the corporate sector and the government, which in turn receive money from different sources.

The role of each source and what can be done about it is somewhat limited, especially because the acts of one can nullify the actions of others, at times as a result of unanticipated developments. For example, when the State Bank of Pakistan increases the interest rate, it expects a change in the borrower’s behaviour. However, if the largest borrower, the government, continues borrowing to finance expenditures more than its revenues, it negates the objective of raising the interest rate.

Again, policy instruments to contain domestic demand can be rendered redundant by remittance inflows or donor assistance which create an additional demand for goods and services.

The effectiveness of State Bank policy to ‘target’ inflation is constrained by the structural nature of the problems. Monetary policy instruments have limitations. An increase in the interest rate cannot fight imported or food inflation when the latter is high because a) the wheat support price is above its international price; b) increases in energy and oil prices raise farming, processing and transportation costs; c) yields per acre of crops continue to be low; d) there is hoarding, and cartelisation.

Similarly, large areas of the economy suffer from rigidities in the prices administered by the government, poor governance adding to the costs; the tax structure is dependent on high rates of GST and other indirect taxes; and powerful cartels manipulate prices. These prices are not affected by weakening demand for goods and services and the government’s profligacy that keeps high budget deficits whose financing raises the interest rate on borrowings and crowds out the private sector seeking funds for investment.

It is such factors that make it difficult to handle inflation. For instance, addressing food inflation requires a comprehensive policy package comprising policies that incentivise increase in yields and cost efficiencies in production processes and an open trade policy to counter cartel formation — measures beyond the scope of monetary policy.

The stubbornness of a high inflation rate in a relatively depressed economy reflects the gap between the economy’s falling demand and supply capacities, the latter manifesting the rate of growth of the economy’s output. Such an outcome is only possible if productive capabilities are either not keeping pace with demand (reflected as higher imports) or have actually declined, a worrisome development and that too only partly because of lack of availability of energy at affordable prices. The latter is a particularly serious issue for small and medium enterprises.

This has happened because of weak private sector investment (although there’s some recent improvement mainly in sectors getting under-priced gas), despite the large-scale manufacturing sector having picked up the market share from SMEs that are winding up and made decent profits. Other key factors have been poor productivity (failure to get higher outputs from existing resources) and investment in unproductive projects or those that have stalled.

Furthermore, simply pursuing single-mindedly the goal of checking inflation can adversely impact growth and employment creation. The State Bank does not have an adequate set of policy instruments to stimulate growth, lower the rate of inflation and ensure stability of the currency exchange rate, all at the same time. Moreover, inflation targeting has not been adopted as the sole objective by all central banks. Economic power houses China and America appear as non-inflation targeting countries.

The monetary policy should focus only on tackling the domestic business cycle. In developing countries if growth has to be given an impetus it requires low interest rates. But a sharp decline in inflows of external capital may warrant high rates of interest to incentivize foreign inflows (as has been one of our arguments for jacking up interest rates) which, in turn, can worsen the adverse movement in the domestic business cycle.

The internal and external imbalances of advanced economies can be addressed simultaneously. They can afford the luxury of printing currencies, because the latter can be freely converted and traded in international financial markets, ie they can conduct their monetary policy freely to meet the requirements of the domestic business cycle.

Conversely, the currencies of developing countries are not freely convertible and tradable. These economies need capital inflows and donor support to maintain foreign exchange reserves in tradable currencies to enable them to face any crises in financing external obligations. In our case, external payment crises require bailouts by the IMF and other multilateral and bilateral donors and ‘special friends’ in the Middle East.

The Pakistani rupee is ‘free floating’ when it comes to trade in goods and services as well as the ‘capital account’ (especially in the case of non-residents). Any restriction on bringing in and repatriating foreign capital will make external investors reluctant to bring in this money. And reliance on large inflows of borrowed capital on a continuous basis is not sustainable. It enlarges these imbalances over time, creating conditions for external payment crises. The threat of such crises forces countries like Pakistan to opt for a monetary policy instrument, a higher interest rate, to tackle external crises — an intervention more likely to fail.

The writer is the Vice Chancellor of Beaconhouse National University.

Righting the left

Jawed Naqvi

WHERE is the left in the crucial Indian elections and what role is it hoping to play when the hurly-burly is done with? People say the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has gingerly stepped into the vacuum the left’s palpable absence has created. And it is a fact that the AAP has picked up many of the motifs that were or still are identified with communists and old socialists.

For instance, high-octane corruption was hitherto seen as a facet of a politician’s compromised morality, his proclivity to become rich overnight. The AAP has brought the politician’s corporate ally into the frame, starkly, irrevocably.

To begin with, belling the corporate cat has not been an easy enterprise for most Indian parties, notably including the communists. Other than the legendary Feroz Gandhi and a little less stridently, though still relatively earnestly, communist deputy Gurudas Dasgupta, politicians have been coy in going for the jugular of big business, the fountainhead of corruption in India.

To name names authoritatively of big tycoons or to spell out their precise nexus with the political class has been a rare occurrence. Some years ago a Bahujan Samaj Party MP had dared to publicly unveil a dossier on Reliance Group, but he later switched his party.

Journalist Hamish MacDonald wrote a researched exposé of the house of the Ambanis in 1998. The book was not even allowed to be circulated in India though how or why this could happen remains a mystery. I am not aware of any communist intervention in parliament or outside, much less from a bourgeois party, to probe how an important exposé could just disappear from the country’s bookstores.

On the contrary, there is an oft-quoted comment, which riles. Tycoon Mukesh Ambani apparently assured Hillary Clinton, that she need not worry excessively about Indian communists since they were potentially better at free market business than their Chinese counterparts. Eyebrows were raised again when the Left Front, while in power in West Bengal, reportedly helped Ambani favourite Pranab Mukherjee pluck an unlikely Lok Sabha victory. Mukherjee showed up in MacDonald’s insightful book on Reliance. He figured in the AAP’s anti-corruption campaigns.

When Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980 after a stint in the post-emergency wilderness, Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani was said to have escorted her on the victory lap. There is little irony that the AAP sees a reversal of roles whereby Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, is the new favourite of big business. The AAP stresses though that Mukesh Ambani is running both Congress and BJP politics.

The left’s slogans in 1977 have waned. “Ye Tata-Birla ki sarkar nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi.” (Damned if we let this Tate-Birla government work.) The roles switched when the communists invested a bulk of their political capital in shoring up Tata’s Nano car project on land they took from the poor. Defeat in the next elections became inevitable.

Unless there is a profoundly sound reason for their stand, people do feel a degree of embarrassment at the communist stand on political probity. The left had opposed, uncharacteristically it would seem, a proposal to bring sources of donations to political parties under public scrutiny. By contrast, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, with whatever little political clarity he may have, insists on accepting only transparent donations.

That still doesn’t answer the question though. Where is the left today?

The last we heard, the communists were seeking a tie-up with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha. The former movie star is expecting to sweep the polls in her state.

Not only did Jayalalitha dissolve the short-lived bonding with the left in Tamil Nadu, she heaped humiliation on them by dialling up their bête noire in West Bengal, the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Bannerji.

Someone asked Arvind Kejriwal whether he would try to forge an alliance with Jayalalitha. “Were there no corruption charges against her?” he asked, in the process subtly underscoring his own watchword of probity. That’s how the left used to speak of bourgeois politics; not any more though. They have generally had a very good assessment of the pervasive opportunism their regional allies from previous experiments have gone on to embrace.

Perhaps that’s why the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the principal vanguard of the Left Front, is chary of holding forth about a third alternative this time around. Yet they have the closest of ties with the Samajwadi Party, which had replaced the left in the UPA II after supporting a civilian nuclear deal with the US. The Samajwadis stirred the communal pot in Muzaffarnagar.

Two or three things matter to India’s mainstream left without generating enthusiasm among its supporters. They include issues on which it is seen as coming close to the right-wing state. The left is perceived as according primacy to the decimation of the Maoists in Chhattisgarh even ahead of their fight against the BJP’s communal fascism. Maoism is an existential issue for the left and there can be arguments on both sides about how to move forward.

The other issue is the left’s perceived alienation from the Muslim masses. Apparently this is being corrected by seeking out Saifuddin Chodhury, a former comrade who has credit with secular Muslims of West Bengal.

That still doesn’t explain why the left has fallen off the radar, nor why it let the AAP step into its enormous if faded shoes.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Flaws in NISP

Moeed Yusuf

IT was expected that the release of the National Internal Security Policy (NISP) would generate debate. And the document does a decent job of presenting the myriad challenges at hand in a fairly coherent manner, identifying problems and highlighting aspects that need to be worked on.

But the document seems to have drawn its most significant conclusion even before the writing began: the interior ministry should lord over everything internal security-related.

Had the exercise been done objectively, the document’s own situation analysis and proposed solutions should have led it to acknowledge that the ministry would be punching above its weight by posing as the kingpin.

The most refreshing part is that the document does not downplay the reality that we’re in a mess that requires us to comprehensively address the supply (education, societal narratives, intolerance of diversity, etc) and demand side (militant infrastructure, etc) of terrorism and the limited state capacity to course-correct.

This implies that the policy toolkit must comprise traditional hard security measures and other responses that fall outside its ambit. To its credit, the NISP document acknowledges so; it lists the various aspects that need attention, and presents a specific coordination plan with Nacta, the counterterrorism authority, at its centre.

But rather than acknowledging that the interior ministry forms only one important part of the toolkit, it seeks to position the ministry as the supra-body that owns NISP and that ought to coordinate all functionaries and specialised agencies even though some of them are not under its command and deal with issues it has no expertise in.

Even as you read through the document, it is clear that aspects that fall within the traditional purview of any interior ministry have been properly thought out. Others dealing with national narratives, education reform (which incidentally is limited to madressahs), broader criminal justice reforms, reconstruction, etc that the ministry is neither well versed in nor has the credibility to handle are dealt with far more superficially.

The organogram of Nacta that embodies all these aspects makes for a comical read. We are told that bureaucrats, sitting in this body effectively run by an executive committee headed by the interior minister (the Nacta Act puts it under the prime minister but this has been diluted by a mere notification that it will be handled by the interior ministry administratively) will steer the national coordination of anti-extremist narratives, madressah reforms, legal reforms, physical reconstruction, dialogue with extremists, etc.

Has anyone paused to ask why would these organisations and agencies that are being asked to take their lead from the ministry play ball? And how in the world will the ministry pull this off?

I have yet to study this more thoroughly but a quick check with some of these entities tells me that none have bought into the bureaucratic restructuring and subtle shifts in clout, in favour of the interior ministry that NISP necessitates. All seem to see NISP as the interior minister’s baby that stretches way beyond his ministry’s remit or capabilities.

We’re back full circle. Remember the 2009-10 tiff between Tariq Pervez, the founding Nacta coordinator, and then interior minister Rehman Malik? It was exactly about this: is Nacta coordinating everything that is relevant to internal security or only those internal security functions that rightfully lie in the interior ministry’s domain? If the former, should it not be housed in the Prime Minister’s Office? This was Pervez’s view at the time but he lost the battle with the result that Nacta remained a political football.

Here is a specific way forward.

The current document needs to be renamed the ‘National Counterterrorism Strategy’ (‘NCS’) and parsed of all parts but those dealing directly with things that fall under the traditional purview of the interior ministry which should own only the ‘NCS’.

A truly empowered Nacta, focused only on strategic coordination (but with no law enforcement operational mandate) and run by the national coordinator on the prime minister’s directions should then be tasked to work with relevant ministries/provinces to produce coherent strategies on each of the aspects identified in the current document that falls outside the ministry’s traditional remit. These plus the NCS will form NISP that will now have given equal weight to all supply and demand side and state capacity issues linked to internal security.

Each relevant federal or provincial ministry/agency will be the lead in its area of constitutional authority/specialisation. Nacta will coordinate these efforts — but with the prime minister’s weight behind it and without any one-line ministry lording over it. This is the only formulation that the military, crucial to internal security restructuring, won’t see as a joke.

The writer is a foreign policy expert based in Washington D.C.

Nature of the state

Arif Azad

MAMA Qadeer’s long walk to Islamabad ended up at the UN. The decision of the marchers to go over the heads of Pakistani state managers and seek UN intervention in the missing persons’ case caused an outcry among some commentators.

Yet the intent from the beginning was to draw the world body’s attention to the issue of the ‘disappeared’ when the state had failed to come clean about its role in the unfortunate saga despite a series of judicial interventions.

Mama’s Qadeer’s desire to bypass the state is nothing new and signals a deep disillusionment with the state’s capacity and will to address grievances relating to the missing persons. From the early years, smaller nationalities in Pakistan have viewed the elite nature of the state with suspicion, finding it inadequate to address their political and economic concerns. They have seen the state as grasping, extractive and unrepresentative. Simply put, they’ve equated the Pakistani state with Punjab’s domination.

There is substance to the deep-seated disenchantment of the smaller provinces with the configuration, and composition of the Pakistani state. In fact, the nature and character of the Pakistani state in a post-colonial setting has been endlessly debated. Sociologist Hamza Alavi characterised the Pakistani state as an overdeveloped, post-colonial state with military-bureaucratic complex lording over all aspects of society in cahoots with the landed elites and business class. However, in recent years, this concept has been critiqued as too institutionally focused.

The Pakistani state’s narrow base faced its first serious challenge when the 1954 provincial elections in East Pakistan returned unexpected results with opposition parties winning hands down. This wake-up call to become more inclusive elicited the opposite reaction, with Pakistan amalgamating the provinces under one homogenised unit.

Understandably, this triggered movements for provincial autonomy which were suppressed with a brutal hand. The result was the 1971 dismemberment.

But in the last decade, the static, institutionally limited, elite and insular character of the state has come to be vigorously contested. This challenge has emanated from new institutional actors such as the media, judiciary and parliament as pointed out by political economist Akbar Zaidi.

The emergence of these new actors and social forces are forcing a rethink of the overdeveloped thesis of the state by a new breed of academics. The variations on the overdeveloped state give primacy to new social forces and the larger society in shaping the state’s future contours. These new developments have seen a diminution of the role of certain institutional actors in the state from hegemonic to mere vote-holding, according to Akbar Zaidi.

This development is going hand in hand with the drastically reduced role of the state in fulfilling its prime function of internal security and exercising its sole monopoly over violence, as exposed by the rise of the Taliban and private mafias.

Further proof of the fractured nature of the state can be gleaned from the statement of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when he pointed out the existence of a parallel state within the Pakistani state.

Despite the changing nature of the state, Balochistan still feels more alienated from Pakistan compared with other provinces. Over the years, Sindh has considerably enhanced its representation and stakes in the state through the PPP’s periodic stints in federal power. KP too has developed huge stakes in the state through its representation in state institutions such as the bureaucracy and military and the wider footprint of the Pakhtun-dominated businesses all over the country.

Balochistan, in contrast, has a list of unaddressed grievances beginning with the incorporation of the Kalat state, long-running military action in the 1970s and the killing of Akbar Bugti in recent years. These have been further inflamed by the deeply emotive issue of the missing persons. While this issue has received some attention from newly assertive actors — the media and judiciary — the state has failed to give a coherent account of its role in this deeply emotional human rights issue.

Having failed to elicit this coherent account, Mama Qadeer resorted to the long march with a view to highlighting the emotional plight of the families of the missing. Seen in this light, the march pertained more to raising the debate about the changing nature of the state and its tin-eared response to the legitimate concerns of the grieving families.

Mama Qadeer’s march to Islamabad should have focused our mind on the important question of why he opted to bypass the state rather than why he chose the UN path. The debate should be used to dissect the evolving nature of the state and how to reshape it to fit the rapidly mutating landscape of 21st-century Pakistan.

The writer is an Islamabad-based development consultant and policy analyst.

drarifazad@gmail.com

Towards absolute power again

Babar Sattar

DO all rulers wish for absolute power? Most of them probably do. Do they have their wish granted? Not many in this day and age are as lucky as Nawaz Sharif. Lord Acton had famously warned that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Richard Fallon, our constitutional law professor at Harvard Law, had concluded at the end of his course that the law’s best bet against abuse of power has been to require it to be widely distributed, regulate discretion of power wielders and subject their decisions to disclosure and scrutiny.

Livid at the whimsical appointments and transfers undertaken by the caretakers in 2013, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the current defence minister and possibly the sanest voice in PML-N, filed a petition before the Supreme Court. The apex court accepted his petition and undid the caretaker appointments.

But it went on to hold that, “to ensure fundamental rights … a commission headed by and comprising two other competent and independent members having impeccable integrity… is required to be constituted by the federal government through open merit-based process having fixed tenure of four years to ensure appointments in statutory bodies, autonomous bodies, semi-autonomous bodies, regulatory authorities, to ensure the appointment of all government-controlled corporations, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies etc”.

The court also laid down the terms of reference for the commission. While it is undesirable for courts to legislate under the garb of exercising judicial authority, the PML-N never sought a review of the ‘Kh. Muhammad Asif case’ and insisted that the order would be implemented in letter and spirit. In compliance, on July 22, 2013 it issued a notification constituting the Federal Commission for Selection of Heads of Public Sector Organisations and notified 58 organisations in relation to which the selection commission would make appointments.

As it settled in, along with enjoyment of power came second thoughts. On Jan 13, 2014, the government issued another notification reducing the number of organisations falling within the selection commission’s jurisdiction from 58 to 23. Still unsatisfied, the government through a notification dated March 4, 2014, also excluded two critical corporate sector regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Competition Commission, from the selection commission’s jurisdiction.

To assume control of the affairs of another key regulator, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, the government has just promulgated the PMDC (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014. Given the dismal state of public health in Pakistan the less said about the PMDC’s performance the better. But as a matter of law, regulatory authorities fall within Part II of the Federal Legislative List and within the Council of Common Interests’ jurisdiction, without consulting which any change within PMDC’s structure ought not to have been enforced.

The PPP government had initiated a Safe City Project in Islamabad in 2009. The $124.7 million project awarded to a Chinese company in an unsolicited bid and in breach of PPRA framework was challenged before the Supreme Court. Through its ruling in the ‘Raja Mujahid Muzaffar case’, the court struck down the contract in 2012 and held that, “not only the contract dated 29.12.2009 was entered into in violation of the law in a non-transparent manner but was also at a cost which to say the least is suspicious if not vastly inflated”.

But the PML-N government has revived the Safe City Project and awarded it to the same Chinese company reportedly on the same terms and conditions. Likewise, the Supreme Court had struck down corruption-dripping RPP contracts amidst much fanfare (for which PPP prime ministers are facing accountability courts). It has now been reported that the Rental Power Plants have been revived and rendered kosher by the PML-N government under the cleaner name of Short-Term Independent Power Plants.

During the last two and a half decades umpteen judgements have been rendered to painstakingly separate the judiciary from the executive and explain how such separation is a cardinal feature of our Constitution. The country celebrated the culmination of such process in 1996 with the ‘Al-Jihad Trust Case’ and once again with the restoration of the ‘independent-minded’ judges in 2009. And what do we get in 2014 after all the effort, lecturing and hullabaloo? A serving DMG officer posted as registrar of the Supreme Court.

It doesn’t matter that the officer has a stellar reputation. This isn’t about the individual. It is about the unambiguous principle that the judiciary must be functionally, financially and administratively independent of the executive. And not to protect judges, but citizens who have a fundamental entitlement to have their rights and obligations adjudicated by chambers of justice capable of functioning as neutral arbiters without any interference.

But here we have the Supreme Court and the government joining hands to appoint a serving civil servant, dependent on the executive for his future appointments and promotions, to serve as the key interlocutor between the apex court and the rest of the world (including the government and all other litigants).

The PML-N’s proclivity for absolutism has begun bringing back ugly memories from 1997-99. The selective practice of principles has many names: opportunism, nepotism, cronyism, hypocrisy etc. There are two ways to bridge the gap between law and practice: by conforming practice to law or by amending the law to reflect prevalent practice. If we have an elite consensus against changing our sordid ways, let’s just change the law to avoid its mockery at least. Won’t the honest admission that we are a rotten lot preserve some of our dignity? n

The writer is a lawyer.

sattar@post.harvard.edu

Twitter: @babar_sattar

Who rules Pakistan?

Umair Javed

A MONTH or so ago, political economist Akbar Zaidi published a piece in Economic and Political Weekly calling for a revision in our academic understanding of state and society in Pakistan. A fundamental question emerging from that discussion, and one that hasn’t been asked, not directly in any case, for sometime now, is ‘who wields political power in Pakistan?’

In the first two and a half decades after independence, the answer was fairly straightforward. The civil-military bureaucracy was in the driving seat, the landed elite was an intermediate force, and the major business families were junior partners. All of this has changed since the late ’60s and early ’70s when the advent of mass politics through social movements, and finally a general election, first introduced new political stakeholders.

The prevailing opinion though seems to suggest that ‘the same characters’ have been in power since 1947, (naturally) at the expense of the common man. This assertion may be true in the sense that working class individuals have never been overt or covert beneficiaries of political power, but it’s false as far as access to power for many other characters — especially those quickest to take on the common man label — is concerned.

Regardless of popular opinion, the composition of our politically affluent class has drastically changed since those first two decades after independence, and this process of change continues to exhibit significant fluidity.

While the civil and military bureaucracy, and part of the landed elite, remain a permanent fixture, urbanisation in Punjab and to a lesser extent in other provinces, has led to the political consolidation of businessmen. Industrialists running large-scale manufacturing concerns have regained their status as beneficiaries of government largesse, as have money-changers, stock-market manipulators, and organised groups in the retail/wholesale sector.

Despite their cries of anguish over load-shedding, taxation, and infrastructure, business owners, and their many lobbying associations, get their way with the state more often than not. It also helps that many of them have initiated political careers on the side, thus ensuring a close link with state power at every level.

Another emergent group, and this one’s a standout feature from the last two decades or so, has been urban professionals. Media personnel, lawyers, doctors, bankers, development sector workers, and other assorted members from this particular societal section, have suddenly become active arbiters and in some cases, the most powerful ones, on several social and political issues.

The lawyers were instrumental in building a corporatist movement around the autonomy of the judiciary and since then have been seen rallying against allegedly blasphemous videos and politicians; media personnel have utilised cable television pulpits to induce shifts in public opinion on issues such as democracy and Sharia; while bankers and corporate professionals have suddenly become indispensable technocratic resources (as the Privatisation Commission and Board of Investment will testify).

Those smart enough to play their cards right end up with a government office — an advisory, ambassadorship, or a ministry of some kind. One particular professional exhibited such dexterity that he vacationed in the Prime Minister’s Office for a while before exiting without much of a trace (or memory).

The third cabal joining the rank of those holding sway is organised religious actors. Much has been written about their power to sway policy and discourse around issues of women, minority rights, and this recent CII proclamation on child marriage is merely another demonstration of their claims to power.

In consequence of these attempts to wield political power through puritanical standards of public morality and religion, they’ve opened up the door for the militant right, which holds entire sects hostage, and seeks to reshape the state and radically redefine the practice of politics.

What’s important to take from all this is that the emergence of these new groups has placed countless strains on the fabric of the state. Power is fractured between multiple claimants, and tussles take place in several domains.

The most obvious domain is that of service delivery — where does a road get built; which neighbourhood gets a new water supply; which denomination gets a government-sponsored mosque allotment. These battles are then simultaneously replicated in the domain of government policy — does the government increase taxes to meet its own revenue requirement, or give tax exemptions to businesses; does it maintain the legal age for marriage, or give in to the demands of the religious groups?

Finally, and perhaps most worryingly, there is a struggle over the exercise of violence itself, best exemplified by the rise of Islamic militancy across the country. While the Pakistan military continues in its role as the most powerful actor in the country, especially in relation to other societal groups, its monopoly over violence, and to a lesser extent its hegemonic status as a state institution, has been compromised over time — not least by its own actions and policies.

In the face of meagre resources, and an incredibly fragmented polity, the ability of various state institutions to retain autonomy of action, and balance out aspirants to power against each other, has withered away. Those who profess a static reading of Pakistani politics are mostly incorrect. The country has changed considerably, the composition of its power elite has changed, and socio-economic and cultural transformations have produced new groups with lofty aspirations to power.

Whether these changes represent something positive though is a different question, and one that appears

increasingly unlikely to yield an affirmative response.

The writer is a freelance columnist.

umairjaved87@gmail.com

Passing the baton

Qasim A. Moini

PART-medieval kingdom, part-theocracy, with elements of the modern state (shorn, of course, of any vestiges of democracy) thrown in, it will be interesting to see if the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can carry forward this puzzling combination into the future.

And central to the continued success and survival of the Saudi project is a smooth generational shift from the current rulers, sons of Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, the monarch who founded the kingdom in the 1920s, to his grandsons. In this context, the recent appointment of Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, Ibn Saud’s youngest son, as deputy crown prince and now officially second in line to the throne, by King Abdullah, has temporarily cleared some of the confusion over Saudi succession.

A former air force officer who has served as Saudi Arabia’s intelligence czar (and is not unknown in many of Pakistan’s power circles for his ‘interest’ in our internal affairs), Prince Muqrin was earlier considered an unlikely candidate for the Saudi throne. But now, he may assume the title of king sooner than many think — that is if all goes according to plan. While Muqrin is in his late 60s, King Abdullah is around 90 while Salman, the crown prince, is in his late 70s. If numerous sources are to be believed, both the king and crown prince are in failing health.

Perhaps that is why King Abdullah made the binding decision to clear the decks for Muqrin, in order to assure Saudis as well as the world that all is well in the House of Saud where orderly succession is concerned. After all, two crown princes (Sultan in 2011 and Nayef in 2012) have already predeceased the king.

These are turbulent times as unpredictability surrounds Saudi Arabia. The usually warm Saudi relationship with the US has experienced a frigid chill of recent, with Riyadh and Washington DC diverging considerably over how to handle hotspots such as Egypt, Syria and Iran.

There has been erratic Saudi behaviour on the external front, with the kingdom refusing to take its temporary seat at the UN Security Council, reportedly in protest against American regional policies; this is believed to be the first incident of its kind in UN history. Relations with Gulf Cooperation Council member Qatar, the gas-rich emirate on the Saudi east coast, have also recently soured. Meanwhile, internally, the biggest issue remains discontent in the kingdom’s Shia-majority eastern province.

In short, the troublesome winds of the Arab Spring continue to blow, and the House of Saud is gravely concerned should they head in Riyadh’s direction. That is why it is important to show the world — and its own citizens — that royal succession will not be a messy affair.

But the billion-riyal question that nobody seems to have an answer to is, who will rule Saudi Arabia once all of Ibn Saud’s sons have passed on? The real test of smooth succession will come when the line of sons has been exhausted and the grandsons take over.

Interestingly, even Muqrin’s appointment as deputy crown prince was not entirely smooth: Saudi media reported that “…The majority of members [of the royal Allegiance Council], which exceed three-quarters of those present, backed the appointment”. If one’s reading between the lines is correct, Muqrin’s appointment was not unanimously supported by all the princes who sit on the Allegiance Council. Could this be the shape of things to come?

It is only a matter of time before the next generation of the House of Saud takes the reins, as soon as the last of their uncles rides into the sunset. That’s when things will really get interesting. What happens after Muqrin is anybody’s guess.

Saudi Arabia is a kingdom with thousands of princes, both ‘major’ and ‘minor’, this designation depending on how close their relationship with Ibn Saud was. In the desert kingdom the maternal lineage of a contender, as well as his ability to convince the powerbrokers within the clan of his merits, are key markers of success.

With no transparent system of governance, palace intrigues, tribal politics and a Machiavellian web of alliances and cliques, observers both inside and outside Saudi Arabia are left guessing about what course the future will take. For instance, Nayef’s progeny are said to be powerful. But what if Muqrin nominates one of Abdullah’s sons to repay the king’s favour? The possible scenarios are countless.

Due to Saudi Arabia’s position as a deep-pocketed petrochemical powerhouse, and the fact that it hosts Islam’s two holiest sites, the Arab and Muslim worlds, as well as the greater international community, will be following developments in the House of Saud very carefully.

The writer is a member of staff.

qasim.moini@dawn.com

A bumpy ride ahead

Huma Yusuf

PRIME Minister Nawaz Sharif’s third term in office was meant to be the golden era of Pakistan-India relations, an opportunity to finish what he started with Atal Behari Vajpayee in the 1990s. But prospects for bilateral bonding looked increasingly dim last week.

On this side of the border, Sharif dropped the idea of granting India MFN status, conceding he had failed to drum up consensus (likely among the security establishment). And on that side, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi decided to take his first pot shots at electoral rival Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party by labelling him a Pakistani agent, one of the three kinds of ‘AKs’ popular in Pakistan. (The others are AK-47s and A.K. Antony, the defence minister who said men dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms — as distinct from Pakistani soldiers — were responsible for killing five Indian troops last year.)

Pakistan-bashing is an old trick used by Indian politicians in campaign mode, and few expect the strident rhetoric to survive the government transition. But the fact that Modi’s default stance is anti-Pakistan raises worrying questions about the fate of Pakistan-India ties, especially as Modi looks increasingly well placed in India’s electoral race. However, it is far from certain that Modi will be India’s next prime minister; a strong BJP may yet have to form a coalition with partners who could reject his prime ministership.

Modi is known for anti-Pakistan rhetoric, which he relied on to bolster his Hindutva credentials ahead of being nominated by the BJP. And of course there’s the matter of his alleged role in the horrifying communal violence in Gujarat in 2002. But whether this troubling track record will translate into an aggressive posture towards Islamabad is unclear. In dealing with Pakistan, Modi will be torn between a desire to pursue his economic agenda and a need to maintain his reputation as a man of action.

To be the ‘CEO’ that India is supposedly hankering for, Modi will have to improve trade relations with Pakistan. Bilateral trade stood at $2.6 billion in 2012-13 but could amount to 10 times as much if normalised. Moreover, strong ties with Pakistan are a prerequisite for India to gain access to markets and mineral and energy resources in Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia.

But as strongman du jour, Modi will struggle to make overtures towards Pakistan at the same time that Islamabad is negotiating peace deals with the Pakistani Taliban. Concerns about India being impacted by militancy stemming from Pakistan ride high and recent incidents — clashes along the LoC earlier this year and recent arrests of members of the Indian Mujahideen, one of whom is reported to be a Pakistani national — are unlikely to make Modi amenable to seeming soft or indecisive on the issue of terrorism. Indeed, in comments about Pakistan during his first public rally as BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Modi focused on the fact that the international community had not been sufficiently critical of terrorism emanating from Pakistan and urged Islamabad to eliminate poverty to prevent the country from being a breeding ground for militancy.

Much of how Modi deals with Pakistan — if he becomes India’s next prime minister — will depend on how the BJP fares in the election, whether it has coalition partners, and if it chooses to prioritise economic issues or its traditional Hindu-right ideology. Modi’s desire — or reluctance — to fashion himself as a legatee of Vajpayee will also matter: he might take advantage of the fact that the right-wing BJP is in no danger of being attacked from the right for engaging Pakistan (there are even some who think Modi might use a soft line on Pakistan as a way to erase lingering questions about his role in Gujarat and stance towards India’s Muslim community).

It’s too soon to tell (even though polling kicks off a week from today), particularly since the BJP has yet to release a manifesto. What is clear is that Pakistanis will continue to distrust Modi no matter what. This will reduce public and political support for Sharif’s pro-India stance, especially at a time when emboldened militant groups will use Modi’s prime ministership to escalate anti-India, anti-Hindu rhetoric, and discredit elected politicians who call for improved relations with Delhi.

Sadly, all this bodes poorly for the region. There are many urgent matters on which it is in Pakistan and India’s long-term interest to work closely, ranging from water and energy security to the endgame in Afghanistan, where fears of a return to proxy warfare are mounting. It’s another South Asian irony that deepening democracy across the region is unlikely to result in better diplomacy.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

huma.yusuf@gmail.com

Twitter:@humayusuf

No policy clarity

Munir Akram

AT present, the pervasive characteristic of Pakistan’s security policies — regarding the TTP, Afghanistan and India — is reactive incoherence.

AT present, the pervasive characteristic of Pakistan’s security policies — regarding the TTP, Afghanistan and India — is reactive incoherence.

TTP: Despite the TTP’s escalated violence, the government has persisted in its preference for ‘talks’. The objectives sought to be achieved are unclear. Obviously, the government cannot accommodate any of the main demands of the TTP without compromising Pakistan’s Constitution and the country’s progress and prosperity. What is required in essence is the TTP’s surrender. Can this be achieved through talks and at this time?

The right time to negotiate with the TTP would be once it is militarily and politically on the defensive. This is the lesson of other successful counter insurgencies. Islamabad has reversed this order.

Nor can negotiations succeed unless these are conducted with the ‘principals’. Neither of the negotiating committees contains these. The TTP is a hydra-headed monster, which includes a score of extremist parties and groups, with diverse aims, composition, locations and affiliations. A large number of its members are foreigners — Arabs, Uzbeks and Afghans. Its affiliations are complex: Al Qaeda supports it; Afghan intelligence collaborates with it, and Indian intelligence has infiltrated it. Can negotiations succeed with these elements? Perhaps the government is smarter than presumed and will utilise these talks to divide the TTP into the good, bad and ugly. Perhaps it needs to go through the motions of these talks to justify the military action that will be inevitably required to defeat the TTP. Whatever the policy, it needs to be clearly articulated and secure public support. Else, it will fail.

Afghanistan: The ongoing transition in Afghanistan is likely to be messy and potentially dangerous for Pakistan. Yet, Islamabad is strangely silent on the developments next door. There has been no concerted response to President Karzai’s repeated diatribes against Pakistan and its security forces and agencies. Nor has any view been expressed on the US plans to leave behind a rump force in Afghanistan post-2014.

Even if Washington secures Afghan agreement to this, sustaining this reduced force will be difficult. Thus, unless a negotiated peace is achieved, Afghanistan is likely to descend into civil war. This will spread to Pakistan and also compromise Pakistan’s goal of neutralising the TTP.

Pakistan is well placed to promote a negotiated peace in Afghanistan. But to do so, it has to exercise its reputed influence with the Afghan Taliban; separate them from the TTP; build confidence with the successors of the Northern Alliance; promote dialogue with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and China to forge regional support for a negotiated settlement.

India: The Pakistan government has made several gestures and pleas for good relations with India. These overtures have not been reciprocated. New Delhi has refused to engage with Pakistan except on terrorism and trade. It is obviously a tactical imperative for Pakistan to ease tensions with its eastern neighbour, particularly while it is preoccupied with internal security challenges and the difficult situation on its western border. But the gestures made to India need to be calculated and well-timed. Above all, these should not compromise Pakistan’s vital interests or positions.

The thesis that trade is the panacea for resolving Pakistan’s problems with India is naive and fallacious. Policies should not be adopted merely to ‘look good’. Offering MFN status to India on the eve of its elections and while the US and EU are filing WTO complaints against Indian trade restrictions, is to say the least, bad timing.

Islamabad needs to recognise, as New Delhi has, that Pakistan-India relations will remain adversarial. The primary requirement is to manage relations in ways that avoid crises and conflicts. Two issues are central to such management: Kashmir and the military balance. India’s ongoing repression in Kashmir can erupt at any time into widespread violence and spark a crisis. Pakistan needs to deploy its diplomacy to halt Indian excesses in Indian-held Kashmir and draw world attention to the legitimate aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Absent this, the Indian narrative of ‘Pakistan-sponsored terrorism’ will gain greater credibility.

Second, the international community must be made to realise that India’s feverish arms build-up is likely to create a situation where a future crisis or conflict between Pakistan and India can escalate quickly to the nuclear level. Unfortunately, this danger was not projected by Pakistan at the recent Nuclear Security Summit in the Hague.

The management of relations with India will become immensely more difficult if Narendra Modi becomes prime minister. Being business friendly is Modi’s slogan; in essence he remains a Hindu supremacist. His animus towards Pakistan, and Indian Muslims, may soon become visible. How will Pakistan respond?

There are three preconditions for policy clarity and their effective implementation.

One, a strategic vision. Is Pakistan’s leadership still guided by Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan as a democratic, progressive and tolerant state? If so, our policy direction should be clearly opposed to that of the religious extremists. Two, effective and professional institutions. Unfortunately, barring pockets of brilliance, Pakistan’s institutions of governance have steadily deteriorated over the past six decades. Three, consultation and coordination. Unless the executive and its ministries, parliament and the judiciary, as well as the armed forces, operate in unison, incoherence will not be overcome in policy formulation or execution.

Pakistan needs to get its policy house in order. The Ukraine crisis has illustrated how internal confusion, corruption and chaos can quickly become an existential threat to a nation.

The writer is a former Pakistan ambassador to the UN.

Reversing course

Cyril Almeida

THEY don’t want trade. And Nawaz has given them what they want.

THEY don’t want trade. And Nawaz has given them what they want.

They’re all trying to play it down. You’ll see; we’ll get this done. Just wait a bit. What’s a few months in the larger scheme of things?

But keep probing and the shoulders begin to sag. They don’t want trade. They don’t want normalisation. And the civilians don’t know what to do about it.

The non-event of a trade deal with India that was to be signed with much pomp and ceremony falling through has received little attention.

That makes sense. The game-changer was still some way off. Other stuff was happening in Pakistan.

What doesn’t make sense is why Nawaz backed down.

Nawaz was the guy who was supposed to have got it. Turn east, not west. The boys’ obsession with the eastern border had led to fears on the western border that led to choices that had engulfed Pakistan itself in flames.

The way out was obvious: turn east, not west. Normalise ties with India, tamp down militancy domestically, then wait for the peace and security dividend.

Instead, Nawaz has turned his back on the east and focused his attention on the west — just to keep Fata from spilling over into Punjab.

What the hell happened? This isn’t small-bore stuff, this isn’t tactics — this is the whole bloody game itself.

You don’t make that switch and pretend that nothing’s changed. The whole edifice of hope in Nawaz v3.0 was built on that dual assumption: he’d open up to India and slap down militants.

So, what happened?

The boys scuttled the deal. As simple as that.

That nonsense about Foreign Office reservations, issues over timing and special interests objections is just that — nonsense.

Special interests in trade and industry had been won over and appeased for a while. Everyone — everyone — knew about the Indian election and had an eye on the clock. And the idea that Tariq Fatemi or Sartaj Aziz would scuttle their boss’ signature policy initiative is risible.

No, Foreign Office is code because there are two foreign offices: one that the boys control, the other that the civilians nominally head. And consensus is also code: it’s not intra-civilian where the consensus was missing, it’s civ-mil.

If we know who Nawaz yielded to, more difficult is to fully figure out why.

The first step is easy enough to guess. It’s a tale of two deals: one with the TTP, the other with India. Both deals need the boys’ assent and both deals the boys are opposed to in the shape and form Nawaz wants.

So Nawaz chose: dialogue over trade; west over east; more-of-the-same v game-changer.

You can see why he did it: the dialogue option is his idea, he’s staked his political reputation on it and he’ll be judged by the outcome.

But then trade was his idée fixe — it was the thing that had defined him, the conviction that had given birth to a thousand hopes.

Nawaz probably thinks nothing has changed. That politics is about moments — now is the moment for peace, so get the dialogue done and then return to trade in a few months’ time.

Except, it doesn’t work that way. Concede so early and the next time becomes harder still. The enemy has seen weakness and the enemy’s been playing this game for longer than Nawaz has been around. Six months is the new 90 days.

Still, in his mind, he may believe it isn’t capitulation, just smart play, a tactical retreat.

It’s what came next that tore away the fig leaf and ripped everything to shreds.

March 23 Pakistan — but Punjab in particular — became jihad central. There they were, the anti-India lot, running around the country, telling everyone what the meaning of Pakistan is.

You know why they did it. The TTP has been dominating everything. They are everywhere and all that anyone can talk about.

So the other lot had to remind everyone that they’re still around, that they aren’t about to be pushed to the margins and that the TTP isn’t the be-all and end-all of all things Islamist.

But why did Nawaz let them do it, on that scale, on his own turf?

He, or one of his eager minions, could have hit speed dial and said: Hafiz bhai, you are like a brother to us and a true patriot. All of Pakistan will always be grateful for the services you have rendered to the nation. Can we humbly ask for a small favour: please, keep your activities low key on Sunday? We will be truly grateful, Hafiz bhai.

Hell, they could have even come up with a ruse. Every other day, the Punjab government is rounding up kids and getting them to set some silly world record or the other.

It’s March 23. Take a few thousand of them to Minar-i-Pakistan and have them sing the national anthem while draped around the minar or bake the world’s largest cake shaped like the national flag or build a human pyramid in green and white.

And before that ring up Hafiz bhai and request him, humbly, to not steal the Punjab government’s thunder and to not compete on that day with essential politics.

But nothing of the sort happened. What did happen was that the man running Pakistan allowed the men who would like to run Pakistan to run around his province spewing hate and venom.

Paralysis? Drift? Looks more like capitulation, really.

The writer is a member of staff.

cyril.a@gmail.com

Twitter: @cyalm

Call of duty

Razeshta Sethna

WHEN a community healthcare worker in Pakistan leaves her home armed with a medical kit, she may have stepped on the frontline of a dangerous war in which extremists stand opposed to polio vaccination campaigns.

While the Lady Health Worker programme progressed as a successful primary healthcare model, many of its members have now become a target for the Taliban who oppose the polio vaccine for political reasons as well as demonise it as a Western ploy to sterilise children. The systematic killing of LHWs, key to Pakistan’s immunisation programme, threatens not only the polio eradication drive, but forces community workers away from delivering primary healthcare and other immunisation services.

There was no public outrage and no vociferous political condemnation when Salma Farooqi, a community health worker and mother of five in Peshawar was kidnapped, brutally tortured and shot recently because she was participating in a three-month anti-polio drive in KP.

Hardly surprising then is the general lack of recognition for LHWs who work under life-threatening conditions as inoculators and are thus responsible for reducing the burden of disease. Earning a pittance, around $2.50 per day, and with few career prospects, many like Salma are compelled to work in high-risk districts, where even policemen are hesitant to accompany them.

Around half the reported polio cases in Pakistan originate from conservative tribal areas because either families fear Taliban reprisals if they fail to resist vaccination drives or are influenced by the militants’ narrative.

Over two decades, community health workers have brought healthcare into people’s homes, helping to reduce maternal and child mortality, advocated effective family planning and communicated awareness to lower the incidence of preventable diseases.

In many ways, LHWs are a significant cog in the wheel because of their outreach and local acceptance that enables home visits and operating out of a health house (clinic within the home) where women are educated in hygiene, immunisation, nutrition and family planning.

For this job they must have continuous access to training and healthcare resources. Empowering women workers otherwise unable to work through proper employment — because of minimum opportunities and patriarchal traditions — is actually progress with a green signal.

Initiated in 1994 by Benazir Bhutto and implemented by the health ministry, the LHW programme is focused on family planning and primary health services but has since expanded to include immunisation drives and related health-awareness campaigns.

Medical experts endorse the success of this all-woman trained workforce of 110,000.

Documenting its effectiveness, a study found that the programme had expanded to serve more disadvantaged populations, but that communities in greater numbers required healthcare access. Recommending its scope and impact, doctors explain this cadre should be further expanded because the programme assists only 60pc of the population. Adopting legislation to protect and define the role of community health workers lends legitimacy and acceptance.

Recently the implementation of the Punjab Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Authority Bill 2014 led to the decision to regularise the services of 48,000 LHWs after a long protest and hunger strike.

Although isolated areas would benefit from the kind of services provided, poor security measures and conservative thinking among male community leaders makes LHWs job dangerous. Studies have also found that they suffer occupational stress because of irregular and inadequate salaries and travelling long distances for work.

Inconsistent medical supplies, lack of a career structure and difficulties in communicating effectively with the families are additional challenges. Monitored by provincial and district coordinators, one health worker visits about 200 houses every month; and talks to around 1,000 people, all the while working with a local government health facility for training and medical supplies.

Developing a similar programme for male health workers aimed at targeted populations with incentives for clinical training would augment primary healthcare provision.

WHO has identified Peshawar as the “largest reservoir of endemic polio virus in the world” but migrations, and with them the spread of the poliovirus and enhanced threat to vaccinators, means other provinces too should take on security responsibilities and render them effectively. Responsibility for future generations and the task of improving vulnerable lives drives Pakistan’s women health workers to square up to the threats that their job involves.

The writer is a journalist.

razeshtas@gmail.com

Memories of Thar

Abdul Qadir Junejo

THE story of famine in the Thar desert is a long and miserable one, filled with grief, desperation and death, affecting people, young and old, as well as livestock.

THE story of famine in the Thar desert is a long and miserable one, filled with grief, desperation and death, affecting people, young and old, as well as livestock.

If someone could gaze into the past, one could discover the occurrence of drought known as chhpnu — many people ominously termed it the ‘black drought’.

It had hit in 1899 and went on for about 10 years. But at that time there were various natural indicators that warned local people of the approach of drought. One of these was the south-western howling wind, which would blow during all four seasons during the drought years. Otherwise in normal conditions the wind would only blow in the months of April and May — springtime in Thar. The movements of animals, birds and insects also warned the people in advance about the advent of the drought.

At the start of the drought the first victims would be the doves falling from the dried branches of trees out of thirst and hunger. They would die on the spot. In the second phase cows would drop from the dunes from hunger while goats would eat sand or bushes as a substitute for grass because of the non-existence of fodder in the shape of plants.

Out of all of Thar’s livestock, the camel was the hardiest, staying alive in those tough conditions.

The ‘ship of the desert’ facilitated people’s migration towards the ‘green belt’ of Sindh. Moreover, all the routes were buried under the sand because of harsh winds, leaving people lost. But it was the camel’s credible instincts which led the Tharis to the nearest green belt. The humped animal was nothing less than a saviour.

At that time only some Rajput families owned big chunks of cultivable land. They used to pile up grain and dry grass for tougher times. Because of that they themselves and their cattle were able to survive in harsh conditions, and during the drought they did not have to migrate anywhere.

Their usual intake was camel milk and bread made from bajra (pearl millet), a modest diet that was capable of protecting them from various sorts of diseases also. But nearly 80pc of the people of Thar were poor and could not afford such ‘luxuries’, thus they had no option but to leave for the green belt.

At that time the nearest place of shelter for them was the Hakro river, a tributary of the mighty Indus at the brink of Thar that was filled with water for the whole year.

Fast-forward to the modern age, and it is an unusual fact that in the period of retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who belonged to Thar, served as Sindh chief minister; though he only got three years to govern, in those three years he built a network of roads in the far-flung areas of Thar.

This enabled people to reach well-to-do areas to get relief even during difficult conditions. He was well aware of the conditions of Thar.

Yet it is a great tragedy that during the period of democracy Sindh has been drowned in the ugly waters of corruption and negligence.

Not only the politicians but the bureaucrats working under the politicians have turned out to be oblivious towards the problems of the common people of Sindh. The terrible behaviour of politicians and officers towards the drought in Thar is an example.

However, there are also some other factors behind the tragedies that have struck Thar this year. Rains come to Thar between July and the first half of September.

But tragically last year the rains came late. As a result, seeds did flourish, but the plants died before they could grow, because the second spell of rains did not take place.

The winter too was late in its arrival this year. After many years it was for the first time that the temperature reached zero in Thar.

As a result of the harsh winter, children and vulnerable adults were overtaken by khirtio, a sort of pneumonia in which first the victim goes through a non-stop bout of coughing and in the second phase the lungs are affected.

At the same time asthma-like symptoms combine with the deadly pneumonia, thus the victim eventually takes his or her last breath.

Already shortage of food and harsh environmental conditions signalled the coming of disaster. There was evidently no way out for the poor people to escape death. To some extent death is bearable, but the seemingly eternal wait for death is always unbearable.

The writer is a playwright.

DAWN Media Group, Haroon House, Karachi 74200, Pakistan

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Number of foreign students in UK declines for first time in 30 years

Blast in Afghan town near Chaman kills 2

CIA misled public about interrogation methods: Post

Turkish police use water cannon to disperse protesters

US spy who leaked details of Pakistan’s N-programme may be released

UN says ready to evacuate 19,000 Muslims in CAR

Drug smugglers use hostages to ensure payments: report

Cameron orders probe into Muslim Brotherhood

Sri Lanka seeks ‘divine help’ to avoid power cuts

Chinese general charged with graft

Footprints: Printed in Peshawar

Russian PM’s Crimea visit angers Ukraine

Request for details of CIA chief’s visit turned down

US ambassador Powell quits India job

Plane search intensified as relatives seek answers

Ruling party takes lead in Turkey’s local polls

Karzai takes allegations against Pakistan to US

Minor girl raped, slain

UN report on impact of climate change ready

Modi will get tougher with China, Pakistan, say aides

Footprints: Entombed in decay

Missiles fired from Afghanistan land in N. Waziristan

Editorial News

Underhand tactics

Unsavoury spectacle

KP’s LG polls initiative

Intel challenge

Madressah reform

Utterly disgraceful

Problematic mismatch

Saga of the ‘missing’

Cycle of exploitation

Musharraf’s indictment