| November 26, 2001 | Monday | Ramazan 10, 1422 |
Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
Discrimination in US
Women’s health blues
PAKISTAN’S economic and trade relations with China have not matched the close political and diplomatic ties and deep friendship that exist between the two countries. The bilateral trade and participation in development efforts of each other have been meagre. Total trade between the two, though substantial at $1.2 billion in the year 2000 with a heavy surplus in favour of China, was far below its potential. With the liberalization of the economies of the two countries, especially after the Chinese entry into the WTO, came the realization that the efforts to enhance bilateral ties in the fields of trade and investment need to be accelerated and taken to the level matching friendship. This realization was followed by the visit of a Pakistani trade delegation headed by Commerce Minister Razzak Dawood to China. The five-day (Nov 18-22) visit has succeeded in exploring new vistas of economic cooperation. To give concrete shape to the decisions finalized at Beijing, a number of accords have been reached. These will be signed when President Musharraf undertakes a four-day state visit to China in the third week of December. The commerce minister was accompanied by a number of businessmen and industrialists, who also discussed the prospects of expanding the volume of trade and exploiting opportunities of investment with their Chinese counterparts and finalized several deals separately.
In the field of trade, China has assured Pakistan that the deficit would be rectified and a balance would be restored through increases in imports of grey cloth, garments, leather goods and polyester. Beijing has agreed to buy 100,000 tonnes of polyester next year, and Islamabad on its part has indicated it could raise the quantity up to 200,000 tonnes. China has also proposed to set up a garment industry in Pakistan for which Islamabad could earmark land in an export processing zone. This industry would use Pakistani cloth, which is not a new product for China. It already imports 65 million square metres of grey cloth, which is expected to increase by 15 per cent next year. The two delegations have agreed to boost trade in silk, which China will export in raw form to Pakistan, where it will be processed. A ‘silk park’ is proposed to be set up in an industrial estate zone, most likely in Karachi, for making garments for export.
To participate in Pakistan’s development efforts and provide support to the balance of payments, China has assembled a package of around $1.5 billion assistance. This package will be announced during the President’s visit. It includes a rollover for three years of $500 million deposits with the National Bank of Pakistan beyond February, 2002, a line of credit of $50-100 million of which $25 million is earmarked for the import of textile machinery from China, and $33 million for a joint venture holding company to be set up with a capital of Rs 2 billion, with each country subscribing one billion rupees. The rest of the package amount will be utilized for setting up three hydro-projects in the NWFP, developing Thar coal mines and establishing a coal-fired thermal power plant in Sindh. These power projects will be given through negotiations to Chinese enterprises on condition that these will be financed entirely by Chinese assistance. With the aid commitment already announced for the three mega projects in Balochistan, China’s contribution to Pakistan’s development efforts during the next few years is going to be substantial and productive.
US ambassador Wendy Chamberlin told PTV that her government will not tolerate any kind of harassment of Muslims or people of South Asian descent. Well-intentioned words perhaps, but the fact is that, in its rush to fight terrorism, America has passed legislation that is bound to cause problems for ethnic minorities. The passage of the so-called USA Patriot Act by the US Congress has created a situation where a person suspected of supporting terrorism can be held in detention without trial and without being charged at the discretion of the US attorney general. The law limits many basic principles of personal freedom including the right to a fair trial by allowing the US government to listen in on any communication between a lawyer and a suspect.
In such an atmosphere, it is perhaps only to be expected that people of or appearing to be of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent will be harassed by US law-enforcement agencies. In fact, following the September 11 attacks, over 1,100 people were arrested. Many of them are still in detention and have had little or no access to lawyers. To make matters worse most of them have not even been told why they are in jail, which actually is not all that surprising because those who arrested them have been unable to link them in any manner to the attacks. What has happened though is many have been charged with offences like illegally entering America or overstaying their visas, something that thousands of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Latin American countries also do every year. America needs to realize that passage of such laws and of racial profiling only end up reinforcing the perception that a different set of rules apply to American citizens or residents who are not from a European background. Surely, that is the last thing it needs in its fight against terrorism.
WOMEN’s reproductive health is one of those neglected areas in Pakistan that has continued to be a social taboo; hence the high rates of maternal and child mortality. Nine per cent of the women die while undergoing abortion, often carried out by untrained midwives. Yet, even those who manage to get to a hospital in time have to be lucky to survive, as was revealed by a UNICEF-sponsored four-day inquiry at a Karachi hospital the other day. Foremost among the reasons cited for maternal mortality at the hospital in question was the lack of proper facilities, including electricity, operation theatre equipment’s failure, and the non-availability of ambulances, doctors and paramedical staff. The inquiry revealed that those working at the hospital under scrutiny did not show much respect for their vocation, as absenteeism among essential hospital staff was rampant and irresponsible behaviour, often with fatal consequences for the patient, a norm.
The case in point is a disturbing reflection on the general state of women’s health care in the country. Women themselves have very little knowledge about their reproductive health, which typically exposes them to the risk of anaemia, internal infections and complications in pregnancy. Even when all the danger signs are there, most would turn to home remedies or barely trained midwives for help. Those few who make it to private hospitals and clinics — most in the city are being run on commercial basis — do not always come home fully cured. The general apathy shown by doctors to women and their reproductive health problems is indeed common and astounding, and negates the very ethics of the profession. It seems that unless these problems are taken up and discussed in the media, and the government gives them the priority they deserve, the general public will continue to remain unaware of this social ill.