| November 6, 2001 | Tuesday | Shaba’an 19, 1422 |
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Victory at Sharjah
Timber smuggling
THE destruction of several factories in the Gaza Strip by Israel on Sunday is the latest in the continuation of armed attacks by the Sharon government on Palestinian civilian targets. Luckily, no one was killed, but four factories — one of them a carpentry — were destroyed by missile attacks. Israel alleged that these factories were being used for military production. It is not clear, however, how the Palestinians would develop the knowhow to manufacture weapons in conditions of siege. Theoretically, the Gaza Strip — barring the Jewish settlements — is an area fully under the control of the Palestinian Authority. However, this control is only theoretical; for all practical purposes, Gaza is not only under occupation but virtually under conditions of siege.
Since the second intifada began in September last year, the casualty figure has risen to about 1,000, but there is no evidence that Ariel Sharon is even remotely interested in ending the bloodshed. Since coming to power in February this year, he has carefully dodged a meeting with Yasser Arafat. He has also refused to stop settlement activity in violation of the rules of war and against the recommendations of the Mitchell Commission. Side by side, his government has continued to demolish Arab homes, especially in Al Quds. His other crimes include the murder of Palestinian leaders, whose number in the last few months has gone up to 60.
Sharon knows what embarrassment he is causing to Washington in the present context. Whatever America’s record in the Middle East, at the moment at least it wants Israel to behave responsibly and resume the peace process. The sensitivities of the world coalition’s Muslim members are weighing heavily on Washington. The more Sharon resorts to state terrorism the more the Bush administration comes under criticism about the moral justification of bombing Afghanistan. By punishing the Taliban while ignoring Sharon, Washington is open to the charge that it is only Muslims who in its eyes are terrorists and others are not, even where their record speaks for itself. An indication of Sharon’s guilty conscience is his decision to postpone his Washington visit. Obviously, there he expects some grilling for his foul deeds and for him to explain why he is refusing to negotiate. So he would much rather be obdurate in his ways than be held to account for his actions and policies.
It is time the Bush administration realized the problems that Sharon’s hawkish policies are causing to the coalition’s Muslim governments, for to their lot falls the unenviable task of justifying America’s military action against Afghanistan at a time when Washington’s protege in the Middle East has gone berserk. Whether he decides to go to Washington or chooses to stay home, America is in a position to make him behave if it wants to. Against the backdrop of the current war on Afghanistan, the Bush administration has to come down hard on Sharon. A withdrawal from the five areas it has occupied is not the issue; the real issue is the resumption of the peace process with a view to ensuring a final and just settlement of the Palestinian problem with Arab-Islamic rights safeguarded in Al Quds. It is towards this goal that Anglo-American diplomacy should work if it does not want fissures to develop within the world coalition.
AT long last, the people have had something to cheer about — Pakistan’s five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the Khaleej Times Trophy final in Sharjah on Sunday. The game was a near-reversal of an earlier league match against the pearl islanders, played a few days earlier, which the latter won hands down. The scores then were 176 for Pakistan while Sri Lanka made the winning runs, losing only three wickets in the process. On Sunday, Pakistan bowled out Sri Lanka for 173 and reached home with five wickets to spare. Pakistan’s pace trio of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar was too hot to handle for the Sri Lankans. Together, the three of them took eight wickets. One shudders to think what they might have done on a wicket with some pace in it. The Sri Lankan innings never got going because Pakistan never allowed their rivals to settle down into some sort of rhythm. Shahid Afridi gave Pakistan a flying start with a brief but blistering innings.
The highlights of the tournament included a magnificent partnership of 146 between the Flower brothers — Grant and Andy — which nearly took a league match away from Pakistan. Then Pakistan had a stand of 219 for the third wicket in their last league match against Sri Lanka between newcomer Naveed Latif and Inzamamul Haq, with both of them hitting centuries. It was, however, a game in which Sri Lanka had rested their ace off-spinner Muralitharan while for Pakistan, Wasim Akram also stood down for Sunday’s final.
Overall, the tournament will be remembered for Muralitharan’s bowling for Sri Lanka and Wasim Akram’s performance. At 35, Wasim has never bowled better. He did not allow any opposing batsman to take liberties with him. Here was the art of left-arm pace bowling at its very best. Indeed, if Wasim can maintain his fitness in 2002, he could very easily he picked for the 2003 World Cup. A fly in the ointment, however, was the suspicion with which Shoaib Akhtar’s bowling action was viewed. It dismayed his fans back home. He has been cleared by an ICC panel and there the matter should rest. It is always thrilling to watch him bowl firing on all cylinders and it is to be hoped that the injury-prone fireball will maintain his fitness in the months ahead.
SMUGGLING is a menacing business that cannot be carried out without the connivance of some official or the other. All the more when it comes to the smuggling of a bulky commodity like timber. In the forest environs around Attock, large-scale timber cutting and smuggling business is being carried out under the very noses of practically everybody down the line in the forest department — from the higher officials to the guards as the various checkposts, all of whom are on the take. Rather than curbing and reducing this illegal activity to a minimum, the forest department has allowed it to grow over the years to the extent that it has become a flourishing trade for the timber merchants in Gondal Mandi, Hazro, Gaurghushti, Mallah, Shadi Khan, Waisa and Gari Korakhel. In the Kala Chitta forest, the timber mafia is reported to be in total control, smuggling logs by night to the North West Frontier Province and other areas of the country through the Indus River.
Serious attention needs to be paid to this problem by the authorities concerned because it is linked with our ecological equilibrium and, ultimately, our very survival. Obviously, corruption and lack of will to curb smuggling are the major problems here. To correct the situation, the forest department obviously needs to be revamped and strict accountability of its officials enforced. Rules about issuance of licences for logging should be tightened. Each timber merchant should be given a quota of trees that he is allowed to cut and there should be measures to ensure that those who are selling more timber than their quota should be punished. Finally, if there are any influential persons behind these timber merchants, they should be identified and taken to task.