| January 19, 2002 | Saturday | Ziqa'ad 4, 1422 |
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Freeing the airwaves
Capital’s food street
A SUCCESSION of visits by leading US congressmen and high-ranking officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, to Islamabad during the past ten days is indicative of America’s renewed interest in Pakistan’s political and economic problems. Reports emanating from the recent meeting between the visiting US under secretary of state for economic affairs, Allan P Larsen, and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz say that the US has promised a cash grant of $ 600 million from its 2002-03 budget. Earlier, a US legislators’ delegation had told newsmen in Islamabad that Washington was aware of Pakistan’s economic difficulties and would focus on addressing them and that the US Senate would expedite the passage of the trade promotion authority bill which has already received the approval of the House of Representatives. This law empowers the administration to provide cash grants and increased market access in terms of an enhanced textile quota and concessional tariff for Pakistani exports. Secretary of State Colin Powell also announced the re-opening of the offices of the US Agency for International Development (US AID) in Pakistan, which will now focus on priority areas such as education, health and human development.
Already Pakistan has received $ 600 million (approximately Rs 36 billion) in US cash grant as budgetary support, of which a sum of Rs 25 billion is said to have been adjusted against the shortfall in tax receipts and Rs 11 billion has been allocated for the social sector. The losses suffered directly and indirectly during the crisis resulting from the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US are many times more than the compensation paid and promised so far. However, what is more important than the financial compensation is the sympathy and support that Pakistan now enjoys in official circles in the US, the European Union and Japan. The EU has been prompt in providing enhanced market access to Pakistani exports in the form of increased quota for textiles and reduced tariff for the rest of the products. Japan has also resumed economic assistance and has promised to do more than in the past. Now it is up to the government to make the best use of the resources being made available and not waste them as before, and for the business community to take advantage of the favourable environment and the new opportunities that are being opened up.
From all accounts, the resources already available are not being used efficiently and according to proper priorities and spending has to be corruption-free. The government’s focus should now be on improving physical infrastructure and streamlining social and legal institutions — two preconditions insisted upon by foreign private investment. If the economic planning is done with vision and with national priorities oriented towards social and human development, the climate is favourable for the revival of the economy. The decline that the economy suffered over a long period in the form of flight of capital and the diversion of expatriates’ remittances to the hundi system is expected to slow down because of the strict checks introduced across the world in pursuit of the fight against global terrorism. These checks have prompted many expatriate Pakistanis to transfer their savings to Pakistan.
Already the inflow of home remittances through official channels has increased by over 60 per cent, coming close to one billion dollars during July-December last year as against $ 609 million during the corresponding period of 2000. The foreign exchange reserves which are at the record level of $4.8 billion should not be used in importing goods for the consumption of the elite but should be channelled to export-oriented industrialisation.
THE government has taken a welcome step towards establishing private television channels by approving the draft of an ordinance setting up a regulatory body to oversee the broadcast media. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) will be responsible for regulating the setting up and functioning of all broadcast stations, including radio and television. The government had announced its intention to allow private channels to be set up soon after coming to power. After much bureaucratic wrangling, it has finally taken an important practical step in that direction. For the general public, this news will come as a great relief. The monopolistic stranglehold of PTV will be broken, and the competition will, hopefully, serve to improve overall standards. Over the years, PTV had been losing viewers to the Indian satellite channels that were, until the recent ban, readily available on cable. If the quality of programming improves, the new domestic channels could well give the Indian networks a run for their money in a way state-run and staid PTV could never do.
While the prospect of new private channels is a welcome one, there are still many questions that remain unanswered. Perhaps the most important is whether the new channels will be allowed to broadcast news bulletins and current affairs programmes. If the government forces private channels to air PTV’s Khabarnama, which is widely criticized for its lack of credibility and hackneyed presentation, the public will feel let down. Already, two private channels beaming programmes for Pakistani viewers are broadcasting popular news and current affairs programmes that are a refreshing alternative to PTV’s Khabarnama as well as a much-needed antidote to Indian news programmes. The government must take its privatization policies to their logical end by opening up the airwaves to a broad spectrum of views, including dissenting voices. More credible news programmes will also be a far more powerful way of projecting causes, such as the Kashmir issue. In this age of information, the government must realize the futility of trying to control the airwaves. Freeing TV from the clutches of a monolithic bureaucracy is likely to bring in a welcome breath of fresh air.
THE plan to set up a “food street” in Islamabad on the pattern of the food street in Lahore is a welcome move. The capital’s food street, to be located at Melody Market, will be the second one in the country. The concept of food streets has long been popular in many cities abroad, although it has caught on only recently in Pakistan. The major attraction of a food street is the availability of a variety of local, regional and international cuisine all at one spot. The capital’s food street is expected to have 35 to 40 stalls. The Capital Development Authority’s plan to include carpet and handicraft stalls and make it into a “food and craft street” is likely to make the spot even more appealing.
The success of the project, however, will depend not only on the novelty of its design and the availability of facilities such as proper seating arrangements, car parks and clean toilets, but also on the CDA’s ability to maintain it neat and clean. One can hardly blame Islamabad residents for not being too optimistic on the latter point, given the example of Aabpara Market, a stone’s throw from the food street site. Once a model shopping bazaar, posh and clean, it is no longer so today because of lack of maintenance. As with any other kind of market, especially so where food is the major fare, attention needs to be paid to installing an efficient drainage, waste disposal and sanitation system to ensure the highest standards of cleanliness.