Search on for next PM’s PS

Since even before the October 10 elections were held everybody and his auntie, including the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, knew who is going to be Pakistan’s next finance minister, but few if anybody knows even today who is going to be the next prime minister. We don’t even know today for sure when the e-day is only 24 hours away, who is going to be the next Speaker or the Deputy Speaker. That is called photo-finish, if ever there was one in the annals of electioneering in Pakistan. Yes, of course, Shaukat Aziz, the finance minister of the military regime, is going to retain his portfolio in the military- cum-civil rule as well, no matter who finally gets chosen for the PM’s slot or which party or coalition of parties makes the government finally at the centre.

But then for those who are going about it according to a much-used and as much well-rehearsed script, the issue of getting their chosen prime minister, the speaker and the deputy speaker elected in the House is not a problem at all. They will cross the bridge when they actually come to it by conjuring up a whole lot of unthinkable bridges which you and I do not even think could even be thought of today. Don’t you remember what the President used to say when he would be asked how he was going to get himself elected the President? “I will cross the bridge when I come to it!,” used to be his pat answer.

When I asked the same question to the NRB chairman, General Tanveer Naqvi, during the interview he gave to Dawn after the draft of the LFO was made public, he refused to respond on the pretext that he was not prepared to answer any question which pertained to matters outside the LFO. And, indeed, the subject of election of the President was not even mentioned in the LFO. And here is what the Supreme Court said in the judgment on referendum issue on April 27. The court refused to pass any judgment on the issue of consequences of referendum, saying “we leave the same to be determined at proper forum at the appropriate time.” The nine-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, after conducting six day’s consecutive hearing had, however, decided that Referendum Order was issued under the powers given to President Pervez Musharraf on May 12, by the Supreme Court bench validating military takeover on the doctrine of necessity. The exact quote from the relevant portion of the judgment on the consequences of the referendum was: “We would not like to go into these questions at this stage and leave the same to be determined at proper forum at the appropriate time.” And what is the proper forum and proper time to determine on the issue of consequences of referendum? The forum is certainly an elected parliament which has come into existence and the time is when it is time to elect the President which would follow the coming into being of the remaining four provincial houses and the Senate — the electoral college for electing the President. But by allowing General Pervez Musharraf to bypass all this and then administer to him the oath of office of the President under the Constitution containing the LFO under which he himself has not taken oath, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Sheikh Riaz Ahmed, has seemingly violated his own April 27, 2002 judgment. But then, all this is nothing more than an academic exercise now. New realities have been created by the military with the help of the judiciary. Musharraf came to the bridge and then made the people believe with the help of the judiciary that he has crossed it. That is that. What can you do about it? No, nothing. Only God above can intervene. But how many times can He do this to rescue the people of Pakistan? He must be tired to the bones by now. That is, perhaps, why He has sent the religious scholars in good number to the House this time. Perhaps, they may have an answer to this perpetual problem.

Any way, let us see what exactly is agitating the minds of the rulers, if not the election of their chosen men as the PM, the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker? On the face of it the problem would seem, too, insignificant when viewed cursorily. But then unless the ‘right man’ is picked up from among the top civil servants for the slot of the Principal Secretary of the next Prime Minister, no matter who the next PM is going to be, the President would end up losing ‘his man’ in the PM office to the parliament in no time. A lot of anecdotes can be sited here as evidence to prove that it was Capt Issani, the then Principal Secretary of the late Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo and now the Vice-Chancellor of Quaid-i-Azam University, who is said to have made a PM out of Junejo. Again, it was a running clash for turf between the secretariats of the PM and the President which forced the partners in political power at the top to claw at each other for supremacy during the four elected governments of the 1990s which finally set the stage for the October 1999 takeover. So, you need your own man as the Principal Secretary in the PM secretariat more than a PM of your own choice to avoid a repeat of what had happened between 1985 and 1999. And who can that be? If Jamali is going to be the PM, then he must have a person of Jamali’s confidence, but more than that, a man of confidence of the President. He cannot be Tariq Aziz because Tariq Aziz don’t repeat themselves. But then is there another classmate or a collegemate of the President in the top echelon of the civil services who could be pressed into the service of his long last friend in the larger national interest? If not how about a person whose brother was with the President in school, college or at the Military Academy?—Onlooker

Cloud of dust settling down

THE cloud of dust kicked up by a series of meetings held between the various contenders for powers has been settling down for the last couple of days, creating room for the politicians concerned to edge towards the formation of a government in Balochistan — but this only after a government has been installed at the Centre.

With the 1973 Constitution revived, of course with all amendments made, it is an ‘unpleasant job’ for the provincial chief executive to summon an assembly session to transfer power after retaining it, without any check and balances, for three long years.

The governor is yet to summon a session of the Balochistan Assembly in this regard. He is expected to consult the president, Gen Pervez Musharraf, about calling the session in the last week of this month. The assembly building and the MPAs’ hostel have been renovated. The NAB people too have vacated the hostel to make room for the MPAs.

The mutual contacts by different groups, mainly the pro- establishment parties, for the formation of a government has also slowed down during the last few days for a variety of reasons — politics taking a concrete shape in Islamabad, month of fasting and other political factors in Islamabad guiding the rules of the game in Balochistan.

Since the former president, Sardar Farooq Ahmad Leghari, has conceded that he is no more a candidate for the premiership and instead he is supporting Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali for the PM’s slot, the scope for other any other candidate within the pro- establishment parties for becoming the chief minister of Balochistan is rather dim as far as Jam Mir Mohammad Yusuf of Lasbela is concerned.

Jam Yusuf could have faced a challenge from Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind as the latter is capable of mustering support of the nationalist groups / parties for the CM’s slot. Since his leader, Farooq Leghari, has conceded the post in favour of Mir Jamali, Sardar Rind will also make room for Jam Yusuf to allow the PML-Q to form a government in Balochistan also.

Sardar Rind has won both the NA and PA seats, but it is rather early to suggest whether he will retain the PA or the NA seat. Earlier, he had dropped a hint that he would prefer to do politics in Balochistan, after retaining the NA seats four times in the past. This time he will probably retain the PA seat to form a strong group within the assembly.

Thus, Jam Sahib is in a happy situation of forming a government in the province, even to the exclusion of the MMA contender, Maulana Waseh Kakar, who, according political observers, has been fielded for the sake of bargaining alone. The MMA is expected to get the post of speaker of the National Assembly, leaving the room for the PML-Q for the premiership at the Centre.

Thus in a situation in which the PML-Q forms a government at the Centre, the political observers rule out the possibility of a non-PML government in Balochistan.

Moreover, Maulana Waseh is the choice of Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani, one of the JUI stalwarts in Balochistan, with clear perceptions on political issues. He is not enjoying the support of other factions, nor will he get the necessary support from other political parties and groups, such as the BNP and the BNM, for forming an MMA-led coalition government.

Balochistan is a sensitive province, sharing borders with Iran and Afghanistan. It is rather unlikely that the establishment will ever make a serious attempt to install an MMA government in Balochistan. However, the MMA will try to get maximum benefits and seek important portfolios to satisfy their electorate. Its leaders have an eye on all major departments such as planning and development, agriculture, health and public health and engineering, leaving education, finance, C & W, home and some other major departments for the senior partner — the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam).

However, ministry-making will not be an easy task. The government of Gen Musharraf will be favouring a smaller and efficient cabinet in all provinces, including Balochistan. But most MPAs will want ministry in return for the support to the future chief minister. Perhaps some of these will be absorbed as parliamentary secretaries and advisers to the CM, but still expectations are usually very high.

The whole lot of old ministers have returned to the seats and thus they expect to get good portfolios in the new government. Anything less, may not be acceptable to them. The reason is simple: no MPA wants to live in Quetta at his own cost. They expect the state to bear all the burden of their presence in Quetta, hundreds of miles away from their home towns. The decent living includes transport, telephone, food, facilities to accommodate their dozens of guests, all their constituents, to stay back in Quetta with all the necessary facilities as they enjoyed in the past.

Presumably, there will be no development funds or block allocation of resources at the disposal of the individual MPAs or the ministers. All funding will be done through the Annual Development Programme approved by the assembly in the provincial budget.

This is a gift from the partyless election held in 1985 that the MPAs regard these ‘facilities’ or ‘services’ as their right. The government has no power to deprive the MPAs or ministers of these ‘rights’.

Mega project falls prey to red-tapism

WORK on the Dera Ghazi Khan stadium is yet to be taken in hand although former prime minister Nawaz Sharif broke its ground 10 years ago.

There is a dire need of a proper stadium for the sportsmen of this neglected area, but the mega project seems to have fallen victim to red-tapism.

At the time of its ground-breaking, the local and provincial governments had promised Rs60 million for the contrsuction of the stadium stretching over an area of 279 canals.

But neither the previous governments nor the new district government has taken any pain for its construction. A decade of negligence on part of the government functionaries has now turned the site of the stadium into a mere piece of wasteland.

THE city had seven beautiful parks and gardens which are now in bad shape. The Deputy Commissioner Garden or the DC Garden is located adjacent to city courts and official residences of bureaucrats. However, a major portion of the garden is shared by the Agriculture Department, Wildlife Park and Divisional Public School and College. The park had also a swimming pool facility which was only restricted to bureaucrats.

Most space of the Company Bagh is occupied by a girls college, Green Market and the old bus stand due to the negligence of the Tehsil Municipal Administration.

The Bull Park, named after the British deputy commissioner of DG Khan, is now known as Chowk Ghanta Ghar. This park has now changed into a graveyard with the passage of time and the sheer negligence of the authorities concerned.

Similar is the situation of three other small round parks in the northern part of the city.

The Ghazi Park established in recent years for the recreation of children is also in need of additional facilities.

TALL claims made at the time of forming the new district government to provide better services to the people have proved only a hollow slogan.

As of now the district government has failed in its responsibility for providing domiciles to citizens in time. Earlier, the deputy commissioner was the domicile issuing authority, but now this responsibility rests with the district coordination officer who is not taking up the job seriously.

Students and other domicile seekers are suffering at the hands of RTA secretary Sheikh Aziz whom the DCO has delegated additional powers to issue domiciles. Despite fulfilling all requirements, the RTA secretary tries to linger on the process without any valid reason.

The recent sufferers were the 120 aspirants who could not be considered for the police job due to delay in the issuance of their domiciles. Similarly, dozens of student failed to get admission in professional institutes owing to the negligence of domicile issuing authority.

Dwellers of the tribal area tehsil are particularly facing difficulties in getting their domiciles. They have urged the authorities concerned to delegate the power of issuing domiciles to some suitable officer.

Adrift in doldrums

IT has been a week dull as dull can be. Most of the time this city’s 14 million people have been listening to the distant drums. Most of the action has been in far away Islamabad. Most of our own players are playing there, if playing at all. So far there is not much on the scoreboard.

If distance ever lent enchantment to the view, it has not been the case this time. Karachi is hardly visible on the Islamabad screen. As seen from here, the PPP and the MQM now appear to be in a fix. Both may be headed for some inclement weather. Both have their general headquarters in this city, but their generalissimos are overseas.

The Frontier segment of the PPP had been hijacked by Sherpao quite some time ago. That was before the general elections. The Punjab chunk seems to have been won over by Swaleh Hayat. This, if it has really happened, is a post-election development. Things may be less unclear by the time this appears in print.

The winds do not promise much prosperity for the MQM. Some days ago, the party boss (now happily married and residing in London) had shaken a key office-bearer. This must have caused a rumble within the Nine-zero citadel. The situation here too is not normal. It is risky to make any forecasts. What is not is to say that some change may be in store for the MQM.

These developments only throw a damper on the Karachi environment. Most of the time the MQM and the PPP had kept so many pots simmering, if not always on the boil. If and when these two mercurial players slide into the doldrums, Karachi gets dull. It may get duller if the dim spots spread over the Nine-zero and the Bilawal House. These parties have written some chapters in the history of not only this city but the country. The moving fingers may have unwittingly signed off.

The puritanical spirit of the holy month of Ramazan may also have something to do to give the city a look that is lacklustre and a mood that is indolent and withdrawn. The news that Ramazan is contributing more to prices and shortages than anything else in particular.

The prices (mostly of eatables) are rising as the supplies fall short of the demand of this sacred month. All of this adds up to the two faces of the same phenomenon. If the demand goes up and supplies fail to keep pace, the prices are bound to take off like a jumbo jet.

This is not really news. As a matter of fact and our lifelong experience should tell this is how it happens every time Ramazan comes around. The only interesting part is that we pretend to be surprised and irked as if something unheard of has suddenly begun to happen.

Let us accept that, however incredible it might be, there is an umbilical link between consumption of eatables and the price of eatables shooting up in the month of abstinence and self-restraint. When consumption goes sky- rocketing, prices will do exactly the same.

In Karachi this phenomenon may occur in a more acute form because this city does not produce what it eats - and eats more in Ramazan. Except for seafood, Karachi has to depend for everything else that it eats on import from upcountry. Transportation is not so easy to upgrade. This may be one factor why somehow supplies fail to keep pace with the demand that is so easy to foresee.

The amusing part of this drama, if it can be amusing, is the battle that is reportedly being fought by the bureaucratic provincial government and the elected city government. One cannot be sure how far it is true but the bazaar gup is that the city’s Town Nazims wish to act to contain the runaway bazaar merchants, and the provincial government is putting a spoke in the wheel of the City Fathers’ chariot.

Between the elected city government and the provincial government there remains a latent jealousy. Up to a point it is understandable because it is so natural. The average bureaucrat is a power-addict. The elected Nazim is unused to power, even if he were offered it on a silver platter.

It is not unlikely that the Nazims have yet to know how to secure power and then put it purposefully into effect. For the saner citizen there is a silver lining in the cloud. Like all good things, Ramazan and the Eid season too will also come to an end. It is only a matter of three weeks or so. Then the tide will have ebbed away and life would return to normal. Which means we shall have found something else to grumble about. Grumbling, say the mind doctors, is good for blood pressure.

We lost the war?

An O-level student, Ayesha Arif Bawany, studying at Mama Parsi Girl School sent in a very interesting mail. Here is it is: “This is with reference to the purpose behind the Defence Day celebrations. People believe that we celebrate Defence Day because we won the 1965 war. In the June 2002 GCE O-level history exam, a question asks for the reasons why Pakistan was unsuccessful in the 1965 and the 1971 wars.

“Keeping in consideration Islamabad’s discriminatory policies regarding the eastern wing of the country before 1971, the PPP’s high handedness and its refusal to attend a National Assembly session in Dhaka, the Pakistan army’s subsequent role in the ensuing civil war and its surrender after three weeks, it is understandable that Pakistan lost the 1971 war.

“What is confusing is that Ayub Khan told everyone that Pakistan won the 1965 war though the British examiners say that we lost it.

“I don’t think there’s any conflict about the fact that the terms of the Tashkent declaration are evidence enough of Pakistan’s defeat in the 1965 war. Then, why the great celebrations each year to honour those who masterminded this war and brought about Pakistan’s supposed victory?

“Are the citizens of Pakistan so much in awe of their leaders that they can’t even question the authenticity of their statements or are they simply under the tranquilizing effects of this pill called ‘patriotism’?

“Would the learned intelligentsia throw some light on this issue and correct this misconception from the minds of the young generation or will they simply sit back and relax as once more a Defence Day is celebrated and once more millions are fooled?”

A friend, a young woman, who often takes the Metro bus to university had several complaints. For those not much accustomed to travelling on public transport these are the coasters that one sees all over the city with all kinds of advertising on them.

They are air-conditioned and service many of the more frequently-used routes in the city.

Unlike other buses and coaches, passengers are not made to stand and conductors and drivers are in uniform. Despite all this, the quality of service of the Metro bus is steadily falling. The friend says that the most common complaint is that conductors sometimes cheat passenger and that drivers drive too fast on crowded roads.

Often in the mornings, drivers speed in a bid to overtake one another. The result is that many times buses end up driving past waiting commuters, not a good thing if you have to get to some place.

Other than that, there are other problems. Previously, all Metro buses used to have signs placed inside asking passengers to make sure that they were given tickets and informing them of a telephone number in case they wanted to make a complaint. The friend says that this sign has disappeared in a lot of the buses, and in those vehicles where it is still there it is in some obscure corner so that getting the complaint number down is next to impossible.

The incidence of conductors cheating passengers is also quite routine now, she says. Quite often the conductors don’t give a ticket to the passenger on the pretext that they do not have complete change. They tell passengers to pay later and this usually means paying just when your about to get off, and in the ensuing hurry the conductors don’t give any kind of ticket or receipt. Very recently, one conductor gave an eleven rupee ticket for a sixteen rupee fare. When told point blank that he had given a wrong ticket, the young man said he would change it but then throughout the passenger’s 25 minute ride forgot to do what he had said.

The conductors and drivers have a different story to tell. The people who own the fleet, they say, treat them worse than “prisoners in jail”. They say that the behaviour of their employers is such that drivers and conductors have to pay for their own uniforms.

Another driver said they could not protest in front of their employers because they could easily be replaced by other drivers looking for jobs. When asked about the cheating that was going on, the driver said that this was not something to be condoned but should be seen in the context of what the staff had to go through. The Metro bus has many security checks on its route where uniformed and non-uniformed men board the vehicle at different points to see if all passengers have been given tickets. Dissatisfied employees means dissatisfied customers and that’s something the operators would do well to keep in mind.

An intern went to a report on a seminar on traffic safety recently and came back with a mixed review in the sense that she said in the end everyone ended up blaming each other. The Helpline Trust organzied the seminar at the Avari and the theme was traffic safety and traffic management.

One good thing was that it started on time and without its chief guest, DIG Traffic for Sindh, Saud Ahmed Mirza, who came an hour late. Hameed Maker, of the Helpline Trust spoke first and talked about the rise in traffic fatalities caused by increasing incidents of rash driving. He said a round-the-clock police complaint cell should be set up for all traffic violations, that pressure horns be totally banned and that heavy penalties must be imposed for traffic violations not only on the driver but also on the owner of the vehicle.

As an answer to Mr. Maker’s remark, Jamil Hussain, coordinator of the traffic management programme, presented his five ‘T’s, which, according to him, characterize our society, i.e. traffic, teachers, time, trees and toilets in place of discipline, education, punctuality, environment and cleanliness respectively. He said that citizens had a responsibility also not to violate traffic laws. He also said that they should give some respect to the traffic constables instead of trying to get them transferred just because their vehicle was stopped.

Later, Rehmat Khan Masood, senior superintendent police zone-1, introduced the upcoming traffic rehnuma scheme which is basically a toll-free number ‘919’ for people to call and get information or register complaints regarding traffic.

Shamim Junejo of the CPLC talked in great detail about charged project which, according to him, began in Karachi in April 1993. He said it was designed to reduce traffic congestion and discourage long-time parking. And it had also decreased car thefts and robberies, something that seems a bit hard to believe. He concluded his speech by saying that charged parking was turning out to be very successful in most areas of Karachi, again something that some of us might not agree with.

The last person to speak was the DIG traffic. He said that 633 people lost their lives in the city in the past year and this was due chiefly to “myopic planning”. He said the city lacked bypasses and that caused traffic jams.

He further said: “The traffic police has no modern command or control system and it needs fresh blood since the average age of a traffic constable or officer is between 30-35 years. Besides, action has been taken against careless drivers and vehicles with tinted glasses.”

In the end there was a brief question and answer session in which one person asked the relevant question that where is the law when vehicles belonging to government officials are driven by their children. To this the DIG said that action had been taken but that this happened only after a warning.

Perhaps it is not entirely wrong to say that some motorists do get rather offended when a traffic cop stops them and instead of admitting their mistake try to think of ways to scare the constable away. On the other hand, the sight of traffic cops catching innocent motorcyclists for no reason has almost become part of the city’s urban landscape.

A friend from Lahore sent in this email regarding the possibility of the MMA candidate becoming prime minister of Pakistan. Quite understandably, she is quite nervous at the possibility of a mullah becoming the country’s chief executive.

The mail was titled “Change” and reads:

“1948: ‘Pakistan shall not be a theocracy to be run by priests with a divine mission,’ Mr Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.

“1972: ‘Thank God we did not partake in the sin of making Pakistan,’ Maulana Mufti Mahmood, leader of the JUI and the father of Fazlur Rahman.

“2002: Maulana Fazlur Rahman nominated for Prime Minister of Pakistan.” — By Karachian

Email: karachi_notebook@hotmail.com