| December 13, 2001 | Thursday | Ramazan 27, 1422 |
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KESC in the red
Winter is late
A SPOKESMAN for the anti-terrorism coalition has disclosed what many sceptics had always believed. The US and its allies, he stated at a press briefing in Islamabad on Tuesday, have not found any evidence to suggest that Osama bin Laden or his Al Qaeda network has acquired weapons of mass destruction. He added that, while certain incriminating documents containing information about such weapons were recovered in Afghanistan, “what they wanted to achieve from these documents is not clear.” Following the terrible events of Sept 11, there was a wave of hysteria about the aims and capabilities of the Al Qaeda network. The shadowy organization, it was said, had its tentacles across the globe and could strike anywhere and at any time with all kinds of devastating weaponry. To add to the general mood of fear in the US, an anthrax scare broke out soon after. Letters from mysterious sources, containing the potentially lethal bacteria, began arriving at the offices of prominent individuals and institutions. At the height of the scare, masked men and women wearing gloves and protective clothing became ubiquitous in mail rooms across the country and were seen by millions of TV viewers across the globe.
While the US did not directly accuse Osama bin Laden of masterminding the anthrax outbreak, the events of Sept 11 were too fresh in people’s minds to discount the possibility of a link. Meanwhile, a terrified US public became increasingly willing to back the most draconian of measures to clamp down on terrorism. By the time the anthrax phobia began to subside, a consensus had emerged that both the anthrax and the instigators of the attacks might be domestic in origin. An analogy can be drawn between the fizzling out of the anthrax scare and the recent debunking of the story suggesting that Osama possessed nuclear weapons. At the height of the anti-Osama campaign, leading newspapers published sensationalist stories claiming that the Saudi dissident was in the process of acquiring, or already possessed, nuclear and biological weapons. The source of this technology was alleged to be Pakistan, or at least certain nuclear scientists sympathetic to the Taliban who had worked for Pakistan’s nuclear programme. On Tuesday, however, the coalition spokesman refused to be drawn on whether a couple of detained Pakistani scientists were being questioned for providing sensitive information to Al Qaeda. With US troops closing in on a network of caves where Osama may be hiding, perhaps stories about his lethal armoury have served their purpose and outlived their utility.
Common sense suggests that the story was always far-fetched. Pakistan, a country with a well-organized military machine and an array of distinguished scientists and a pool of trained manpower at its disposal, acquired nuclear capability after years of toil and temporization. To believe that Osama bin Laden, holed up in a cave in one of the most wretched and war-ravaged nations on earth, could draw upon such sophisticated technology and manpower always seemed incredible. With the need to demonize Osama subsiding following the rout of the Taliban, it is good to know that the US and its allies are finally coming round to this viewpoint.
THE annual report of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation for the 2000-01 fiscal year makes for some very depressing reading. Around two years ago, the control of the utility was handed over to the army. The idea was to stem its sharp financial decline, effect a turnaround and ready it for eventual privatization. Unfortunately, none of the aims for which the management was replaced has been achieved. Accumulated losses increased from Rs 19.3 billion in June 1999 to Rs 48.5 billion by June this year, a massive rise of over 150 per cent. The utility suffered a net loss of Rs 16.2 billion for the 2000-01 fiscal year, an increase of almost 28 per cent compared to last year. Similarly, expenditure on fuel and oil rose by over 27 per cent this year, as did the money spent on buying electricity from other sources. The annual report also provides damning evidence of the management’s failure to achieve one of its most important objectives — controlling line losses — by pointing out that 36.8 per cent of the total electricity generated in 2000-01 did not reach the consumer.
Many had questioned the decision to hand over the corporation to the army. The most common, not to mention obvious, objection was that this was a job best left to the professionals, and that it was not a good idea to involve the armed forces in running a utility. The KESC management — like Wapda’s — often blames rising fuel and oil prices for much of its financial problems. That, unfortunately, is an argument that does not look all that sound. For example, at the same time that oil prices have risen (they have fallen recently but this would not show up in the annual report), the city has experienced, even in winter and in Ramazan, power breakdowns and loadshedding. And customer complaints continue to be treated with a level of lethargy and nonchalance that has become the hallmark of our public utilities. Things have been so bad at times that the company had to cut power for several weeks last year, because it could not afford enough furnace oil. As for reducing the distribution and transmission losses, a so-called Operation ‘Snake Hunt’ to catch power thieves was launched with much fanfare, but soon it, too, fell by the wayside. The government needs to look back and see whether the current management has helped achieve anything substantial. What the KESC needs is not only a long-term strategy that seeks a turnaround in its misfortunes but also a management that has the requisite expertise and the will to carry such a plan through.
WINTER in Sindh is unusually late this year. In fact, there is no trace of it. The second summer — which usually begins in late September or early October — this time lingered on well up to late November. Now this is mid-December, but the weather continues to be anything but cold. It is not hot, of course, but the sun is still unbearable. Not necessarily old-timers; even those in their middle age remember how cold Sindh used to be in the fifties and sixties. Winter usually began in late October and lasted well up to March.The “Quetta wave”, which Karachiites now so keenly await, was those days dreaded. Cold winds lashed the province sometimes for weeks and raised dust, which got into every part of one’s home, in spite of closed doors and windows. The wind rattled the electricity wires, which made hissing sounds.
Now all that belongs to the past. Winter, like rain, is on the verge of being forgotten in Sindh. It is, of course, true that temperatures are rising all over the world because of the greenhouse effect. But that is in the percentage point. Here in Karachi, if not in the interior of Sindh, winter is now a matter of couple of weeks in December and January. Tall buildings and pollution, too, have served to block the cold wind blowing from Afghanistan into Balochistan and Sindh. This year, however, nature has withheld the fury of winter in Afghanistan to help those millions passing their lives in tents or under the sky. So far, most of Afghanistan is sill without blizzards. For which one must be grateful to nature. Man might have done all it can to worsen man’s misery, but God is still kind to man.