State of human rights

IN its annual report released on Tuesday, Amnesty International has voiced concern over the deteriorating state of human rights in a post-September 11 world, saying states across the world have indulged in systematic violations under the cover of new terrorism prevention laws. These include torture, detention and imposition of restrictions on basic freedoms and civil rights. The top violators, this time round, include many western countries, particularly the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Greece and Switzerland. Also, the subsequent US-led ‘war on terror’ encouraged countries like Israel and India to take advantage of the global concern over terror to try to brutally suppress the Palestinian and the Kashmiri freedom fighters in their respective territories by calling them terrorists.

The report takes serious notice of the gross human rights violations committed by the right-wing BJP government in India, particularly in Kashmir, and the targeting of the minorities and low-caste groups by the Hindu extremists elsewhere in the country. It holds the state functionaries responsible for adding to the frenzy of communal flare-ups in Gujarat that have left more than 1,000 people — mostly Muslims — dead and tens of thousands homeless since February last. It criticizes the passage of a new prevention of terrorism law (POTO) by India, which gives the police wide-ranging powers to arrest suspects and to keep them in detention without trial for six months. The report also brings to light the Indian security forces’ human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir. Pakistan, on the other hand, has been censured on account of rights violations against women, the minorities and killings in police custody.

The report particularly censures the US over the passage of discriminatory new laws that give the authorities a free hand to arrest and detain non-US citizens, without giving the latter the right to defend themselves. Up to 1,200 foreigners, mostly Muslims of Middle Eastern and South Asian origins, have been languishing incommunicado in US prisons since September 11 — some of them having been kept in shackles and tortured. There have also been widespread reports of abuse at the Camp X-Ray prison in Guantanamo Bay, where alleged Taliban and Al Qaeda militants arrested from Afghanistan have been kept under stifling conditions. The treatment meted out to these prisoners is in gross violation of international law on human rights.

Criticizing many western European countries for highhandedness against foreigners in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the US, the report accuses Nato forces in the Balkans of detaining suspects incommunicado and without trial, and censures racially motivated attacks on foreigners and asylum-seekers in Europe. Going by these disturbing revelations, the world today seems a more dangerous place than it was before September 11. It will be a shame if in the face of the terrorist threats the developed countries should choose to turn back their clocks on human rights. If that happened, it would deal a major blow to millions of people fighting for basic freedoms and rights in many developing countries. Also, it would encourage regional bullies like Israel and India to crush with impunity the legitimate struggles for the right of self-determination and the fight against state terrorism.

GST on electricity?

THE ministry of finance seems to be taking recourse to the easiest way of raising revenues after having failed to deliver on its promises made at the time of the tax survey and achieve the target for the current fiscal year. The ministry is now said to have suggested to the government that domestic and agricultural consumers of electricity who had so far escaped GST be brought within its net. The proposal is due for consideration by president Musharraf today. When industrial and commercial consumers were subjected to GST, the argument was that the incidence of tax would be nominal as the onus would be passed on to the consumers of their products and services. This time if the tax becomes a reality it will directly burden the people. It may be recalled on the authority of the Chairman of Wapda and the KESC, Lt. Gen. Zulfiqar Ali, that power tariff in Pakistan is the highest in the region and it is so because nowhere else are utilities made a major source of revenue earning. According to Gen Zulfiqar, the two utilities yield Rs. 64 billion annually in sales tax and withholding tax. If the GST is now extended to domestic and agricultural consumers as well, the total revenue from electricity will rise to Rs. 80 billion or more than 25 per cent of the total tax collection by the CBR. It may also be pointed out that Wapda’s own case asking for a 24.65 per cent increase in power tariff is pending with Nepra.

Taxes and surcharges are already the major components of the power bills, with actual energy charges forming only a small fraction of these. For example, in an electricity bill for Rs. 1,800, energy charges are only Rs. 374 and the rest - Rs. 1,426 are made up of surcharge, additional surcharge, fuel adjustment surcharge, excise duty, etc. With the extension of GST to domestic and agricultural consumers, while the government revenues will increase, Wapda and the KESC’s own receipts are likely to remain surcharged or register a slow growth, with the incidence of theft and payment defaults mounting. Power being an essential part of modern life and an important indicator of progress, its use should not be capriciously restricted by putting it out of reach for large sections of the population.

Spotlight on Seoul

THE world’s grandest sporting spectacle, the soccer World Cup, opens today in Seoul, South Korea, with the defending champions taking on Senegal. Over the next five weeks or so, the attention of much of the world will be riveted on the footballing action that takes place in South Korea and Japan as 32 teams battle it out before a winner emerges in the first week of July. Bookmakers have chosen France as favourites to defend their title, closely followed by Argentina, Italy and Brazil. Unlike many other sports, including cricket, the FIFA World Cup can be truly called global because the 32 teams playing this time had to go through a long and arduous route of qualification involving practically all of FIFA’s 190-plus member nations.

Pakistan, like most of its South Asian neighbours, has never made it to the World Cup. In fact, we are ranked somewhere near the bottom in FIFA’s world rankings and it will be quite some time before we can hope to qualify for the grand tournament. However, that does not detract from the likelihood of the World Cup generating tremendous interest in this country, too, with Beckham or Zidane gradually becoming household names here. A tournament such as this one has the potential to make good players great, to bring out the true character of the national teams that compete for World Cup glory. Participation in the World Cup is the goal of every professional football player, and winning it everyone’s dream. The next five weeks hold some great moments in store for football fans here in Pakistan and around the world. Perhaps, it might provide a much-needed distraction for people in both India and Pakistan from the tension of a war-like situation that holds South Asia in its grip.