Disarming or reshaping?

COLIN Powell’s latest statement on Iraq must send shock waves across the world. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, the US Secretary of State said the overthrow of the Saddam regime could “fundamentally reshape” the map of the Middle East in ways that could “enhance US interests.” Had he confined his forecast to a reshaping of the map, one might have thought he was possibly referring to the anarchy that might follow an American attack on Iraq. Instead, to the shock and surprise of all those who want peace and stability in the Middle East, Secretary Powell seems to be hinting at the possibility of redrawing the boundaries of the Middle East to suit the American purpose as the prime objective of an invasion of Iraq. If this is so, allegations of Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction can only be a ruse for such a venture.

A perplexing phenomenon during all these months has been the constant change in America’s aims vis-a-vis Iraq. Originally, it began with Washington’s insistence that Baghdad let the UN arms inspectors in. Iraq had expelled them in 1998 on charges of spying and overstepping their mandate. The American demand, thus, seemed justified. However, the world was surprised when the US reacted negatively to Iraq’s readiness to accept the inspectors back. Accusing Baghdad of a “ploy”, Washington then pressed for — and got — a new Security Council resolution (1441) that sent inspectors to Iraq with enhanced powers and under a wider and more intensive inspection regime. Baghdad accepted this too, and let the inspectors do their job.

The great disappointment for Washington came when chief arms inspector Hans Blix reported that there was no evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction or had plans to develop them. This he said in both the interim report and the final report on Jan 27. Later, Blix accused Baghdad of not fully cooperating with the United Nations Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission. But, in his Friday statement, Blix said that Iraq was now trying to be more cooperative. Apparently, all this scuttles the need and justification of military action against Iraq. Nevertheless, the US has continued to shift its position — from disarmament to a regime change in Iraq.

Powell’s latest statement, however, makes it plain that what America is really aiming at is effecting territorial changes in the Middle East to suit its (and obviously Israel’s) interests. To put it more bluntly, nothing will satisfy the Bush administration except war itself, because this will give Washington a chance to reshape the Middle East and place it under a new “mandate” of the kind Britain and France assumed for themselves after World War I by manipulating the League of Nations. The UN today is at America’s beck and call the way the League of Nations was at Britain’s and France’s in 1919. For all one knows, the UN may oblige the US. But that will not be the end of the story. What the territorial changes Washington

has in mind nobody can tell. But Israel would be happy to see as many Arab and Muslim states fragmented as possible. A Middle East split up into small statelets would be in the interests of America and Israel.

The former will have a monopoly over oil, while the latter will have an opportunity to realize its dream of a Greater Israel. These can only be elusive gains which both America and Israel will come to regret one day.

Loans for Punjab

THE resumption on Friday of World Bank soft loans for Punjab for programme-based development activities should help meet the resource needs of key social sector projects. The Bank had stopped providing loans to the province because of the lack of transparency, unstable political conditions and corruption. SAP-1 and 2 had been wound up for similar reasons and funding from the Asian Development Bank had also become difficult in recent years. The willingness of the IBRD to provide resources for schemes relating to education, health and irrigation as well as to district governments opens up prospects for investment in this neglected area.

In response, the Punjab government has announced that it has chalked out a comprehensive programme to undertake development work in an integrated manner. The chief minister has directed relevant officials to initiate uplift plans in collaboration with the World Bank. A major chunk would be allocated for the development of neglected areas and meeting the needs of the farming community regarding marketing of produce and the provision of loans and water to tail-enders. However, much depends on how well the funds are utilized. The province’s past performance in this respect does not inspire much confidence. Allocations of funds were slow and many schemes had shown poor utilization. The social sector is particularly beset by the misuse of funds. As a result of rampant corruption, ghost schools and hospitals cropped up across the province and school buildings were used as guest houses by feudals or as cattle sheds.

With the farmers still grappling with the ill-effects of the drought, meeting the needs of the agriculture sector and improving water courses would be an important goal. No development objective is as critical to Punjab’s long-term wellbeing as accelerating the growth of agricultural production. The growth so far has not been enough to generate greater incomes and create employment opportunities. It is essential that scarce resources are properly utilized and schemes are effectively implemented. The government must show greater vigilance this time round and provide effective safeguards against waste and corruption, ensuring that the objectives of the programme are achieved and the fruits of investment reach the targeted groups.

Making roads safer

THE announcement by the Sindh transport minister and the chief of Karachi’s transporters’ union that owners of public transport will no longer use the notorious token system should be welcomed. The rash and reckless manner is which the city’s buses, minibuses and coaches are driven owes partly to this system, under which the driver of a vehicle is issued a token each time he completes a designated trip. Those giving the token act on behalf of the owner and are stationed at various points along the route. The owners of public transport want to make sure that their drivers do not exaggerate the number of trips they make. Since most such vehicles are driven on a commission basis, more trips mean higher daily earnings. Hence, the token system lends itself to a situation where it is in the interest of drivers to travel at as high a speed as possible.

While public transport vehicles make up less than ten per cent of the city’s total vehicle population, they are involved in around 70 per cent of all fatalities. However, simply doing away with such a system does not mean that bus and coach drivers will become careful drivers overnight. The token system was just one of many factors behind traffic accidents involving public transport vehicles. One hopes that the traffic police will concentrate on enforcing rules and regulations more strictly, especially on roads and routes with a history of dangerous driving and traffic accidents.