Are the chickens coming back to roost?

UNLESS something is done about the seating arrangement in the National Assembly by the time the House re-assembles on Monday, there is a grim possibility that next week’s sittings would turn into running brawls with chances of somebody getting hurt.

A taste of what is to come was given to the House on Friday when a number of PPP MNAs, including former agriculture minister Yousuf Talpur, Nahid Khan and Raja Pervez Ashraf left their seats and rushed towards the Speaker’s dais ostensibly to force him to give them the floor to agitate some issues on points of order. Abdus Sattar Lalika ran towards them as if to rescue the Speaker from a possible physical attack.

To be fair to both, the Speaker and the PPP MNAs, the situation arose not because the Speaker was intentionally ignoring the later or that the PPP MNAs were unnecessarily belligerent. The real culprit was perhaps the seating arrangement which continues to be in alphabetical order. Such an arrangement does not make much of a difference for the Speaker at the time of election of the Leader of the House or when the leader takes the vote of confidence because during such sittings normally the House is physically divided into two sections with one being used by the treasury members to cast their votes and the other by the opposition.

However, during a normal sitting when the Speaker has to go through the question hour, dispose of adjournment motions, points of order, etc., he needs to keep a balance between the members of treasury and the opposition and if the opposition is made up of a number of groups, he needs to keep a balance between them as well. Since the members of the ruling party and the opposition sit on separate benches with the commencement of normal sessions, the Speaker finds it very easy to handle the situation in an evenhanded manner. But if they continue to sit in alphabetical order, the whole House presents a confused picture from the speaker’s podium and he finds it almost impossible to give the floor to each member in an orderly fashion.

Having said all this in defence of the Speaker, let me also concede that Chaudhry Amir Hussain is taking his own time in coming to grips with the responsibilities of his high office. The quicker he learns the ropes the better it would be all around. On Friday, at times one felt that he was deliberately ignoring the PPP MNAs and giving the floor to mostly the MMA members from the opposition side. According to officials of the NA secretariat, separate benches could be allotted to the ruling and opposition members only after the nomination of an agreed leader of the opposition groups.

It now transpires that both the MMA and the PPP have submitted to the speaker’s office their own respective nominees for the post. The MMA is said to have nominated Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the PPP has nominated its parliamentary leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim. Clearly, the PPP does not seem to be in the mood to concede the office of the Leader of the Opposition to the MMA. Even when Maulana Fazlur Rehman was contesting for the post of the PM, the PPP had gone its own way. The PPP seems to have taken the position that it was still the largest single party in the House (more than 80), after the ruling alliance, since according to the party sources, it has neither expelled the Patriots nor have the Patriots resigned from the party. They believe that unless the Speaker recognized the Patriots as a separate entity, he cannot allot them seats on the treasury benches. But in case the Speaker gave the Patriots seats on the treasury benches, he would, by implication, be accepting their defection from the party on whose ticket they won the elections which in turn would make him accept the charge, if the PPP chose to level against the Patriots that they have defected and, therefore, should be unseated.

There is, however, one complication here which has arisen from an ill-advised decision of the Election Commission, which, on an application from the Patriots, have registered them as a separate entity knowing very well that all of them were elected on the PPP ticket and have not yet resigned from the party. Perhaps when the Speaker would send to the Election Commission the submission of the PPP requesting him to unseat the Patriots, the EC would take the position that since the Patriots are a registered entity its members could not be unseated. And if anybody went to the court stating that the EC had registered the Patriots after the fact that they were elected on PPP ticket, the judiciary as usual would rule in favour of the ‘right side’. Very, very interesting!

The first telephone that I received on Friday morning was from senator-elect Syed Mushahid Hussain. As usual, he was very warm and friendly and clarified that he did not go to Jeddah (View from Press Gallery, Feb 28, 2003), therefore, the question of Nawaz Sharif not meeting him did not arise. Secondly, he said, he was doing research for his forthcoming book during his stay in Washington which by implication meant that he had not come back to Islamabad via Washington or with a letter of recommendation from the US capital.

The last telephone call of the morning was from Hussain Haqqani in Washington. He said he did not ask the military regime for a job, therefore, the question of his leaving the country when he did not get a job in the military setup did not arise. In fact, he accused the regime of destroying his business. He said he was doing research for his forthcoming book and would come back as soon as it is published. Carnegie Endowment is sponsoring the book. To be fair to him, he has remained a bitter critic of the military regime all through these three years.

Big brother is coming

IT’S NOT really surprising that the majority of Europeans, according to a recent survey, thought that the most dangerous country in the world was not Iraq, Syria or even North Korea but America.

Surely, the figures must have been a huge embarrassment for some Americans and only served to reinforce the view that much of the rest of the world does not see eye to eye with America. In the mainstream US media, the survey was either not covered at all or mentioned in dismissive terms. That might be understandable because news networks often give short shrift to issues that do not directly concern the Americans. This might seem like a mild over-generalization but by and large news coverage is very local (take a look at the US’s most popular news channel, and Pakistan’s most reviled one, Fox News, and you will be able to judge for yourself).

However, after September 11, even issues that might directly affect the Americans are being overlooked, swept under the carpet or massively under-reported. Take the recent case of the proposed Domestic Security Enhancement Act drawn up by the US Justice Department to increase and improve domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance, and enhance the authority of US law-enforcement agents. At the same time, passage of the act will decrease the power available to US courts of judicial review and of the public’s right to information.

While most mainstream media outlets in America unabashedly toe the government line, there are several alternative sources of information, and organizations that have done a lot of good. One of these is the US-based Centre for Public Integrity (www.public-i.org), which managed to get a draft of the proposed act whose text has yet to be released officially by Washington. The intended piece of legislation contains many provisions —- some as drastic as deporting naturalized American citizens to their countries of origin —- which if passed into law could severely curtail civil liberties for many Americans.

Now, consider what would be the reaction if the same thing happened here in Pakistan. Some readers would probably argue that civil rights in our country have been under more or less constant attack. In fact, for quite some time, since the takeover by Gen Musharraf, many of our basic rights remained suspended. However, one has to say that the press in Pakistan has not slept while these attacks have taken place and has generally tried to do a decent job of speaking out against them. So it’s quite ironic that in America, a country that loves to lecture that rest of the world on human rights, not even a whimper has been heard. The proposed law has many provisions that would be seen by anyone with even a bit of common sense as wholesale attacks on civil liberties. Despite that, coverage of this story in the US media was scant. Only publicly-funded broadcaster PBS had an extensive report and interviewed the head the Centre for Public Integrity. Fox News ran a report but other major broadcasters like ABC, CBS and NBS chose to ignore the story. The Washington Post had a front page article on Feb 8 on it, followed by an editorial four days later. The New York Times and Los Angles Times ran articles but on inside pages while the Chicago Tribune printed a version of the LA Times story. The San Francisco Chronicle and Rocky Mountain News both had editorials on Feb 11 and that was pretty much the coverage this story got in America’s major media outlets. As the media watchdog FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) put it, “the fact that the DOJ [Department of Justice] has secretly prepared legislation that would fundamentally alter the protections afforded Americans by the Constitution is, by any measure, a huge story.”

This is something that any sensible reporters/journalist would (or should) love to do a story on but it seems that editorial policymakers in these newspapers and news channels have other priorities in mind. — OMAR R. QURAISHI

(email: omarq@cyber.net.pk)

Lyari Expressway issue

KARACHI: The war of words between the exponents and opponents of the devolution scheme seems to be gaining momentum with provincial ministers and other government functionaries availing of every opportunity to attack city/district governments of Sindh. The latter want every body to believe that every thing which went wrong under the sun is due to the existence of these institutions and the inherent flaws and lacunas in the laws governing this devolution system. Be it the issue of short supply of water or miseries caused by the recent rains or the closure of educational institutions, they never seem to be tired of passing the burden on the new setup.

It was, however, surprising to see Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s local bodies minister Mohammed Hussain, for once, pleading the case of the controversial Lyari Expressway project in which the Karachi city district government has been playing a crucial role. He sustained and sailed well through the attack in the Sindh assembly on Friday while attending to a number of questions pertaining to the design of the project, dislocation of families and demolition of houses on its site and the payment of compensation to the affected people and their rehabilitation.

In fact the federal government-funded Lyari Expressway has generated much controversy. A number of independent experts have maintained that the Expressway is going to be a ecological disaster for a city like Karachi which is already inflicted by all sorts of pollution and threat of environmental ailments. They argue that it would have been better if the Lyari river, instead of being consumed by an elevated expressway, was converted into a permanent water channel to help restore the city’s ecology. The government functionaries, justifying the necessity of the Expressway, maintain that it will cater to the needs of the heavy vehicular traffic originating at the port for upcountry. But the town planners insist once the government was undertaking the Northern by- pass project, also meant to cater to the needs of the port traffic, there was no justification for the Lyari Expressway.

On the other hand are the political activists who have been opposing this project because of the massive dislocation it is going to cause. According to the local bodies minister, no less than 14,811 housing units would be demolished all along the 17-kilometre length of the project. So far only 1,850 housing units had be demolished, the minister informed. Over a period of years hundreds of illegal settlements or kutchi abadis have emerged on both banks of the dry Lyari river. There are even schools, mosques and industrial and manufacturing units established illegally in these settlements.

The federal and the Karachi city governments have, however, adopted a sophisticated approach to pave the way for the Lyari Expressway. They have initiated a Lyari Expressway Resettlement Project and have three different sites in the city for rehabilitation of the people/families affected by the construction of the road. Every dislocated family, before its housing unit is demolished, is provided with the allotment/ownership of a 80-square yard plot with a cash compensation of Rs50,000. The first such resettlement comprising 3,300 plots is already taking place in sectors 9 and 10 of the Hawkesbay Scheme. Answering supplementaries, the minister claimed a number of civic facilities — roads, electricity, school, dispensary, etc —- had already been arranged in the settlement which was fast emerging like a new city with the help of community participation.

But why to take all this pain and displeasure of people. Political activists and town planners argue that if at all this was that necessary to have the Lyari Expressway, it could have been done with slight changes in its design which would have averted the mass dislocation. But the city or the provincial governments have nothing to do with this. It is a federal government project owned by the National Highway Authority and being executed by the Frontier Works Organization — a subsidiary of the Pakistan Army. — Abu Ayesha

Aggression has to be name of the game

THE road leading to the Super Six level is not completely blocked for Pakistan, but there are twists and turns that are hazardous.

How England performs against Australia when they meet on March 2 will be vital but only if Pakistan clears Saturday’s India hurdle.

India has emerged as a serious contender for the World Cup with its overwhelming, runaway win over England on Wednesday. Nothing could have more bolstered the Indian players’ morale like this success. Its passage to the Super Six is clear, except for freak results like Pakistan winning its last two matches with India and Zimbabwe and England outscoring the defending champions. That would tie the top four teams of group A to the run-rate, though Australia would be in comfortable lead on that count and Pakistan lagging a distance behind.

For Pakistan, Saturday’s match is a fight for life. It would take not just an exceptionally inspired performance but also an extra dimension of determination, so far conspicuous by its absence in the national side.

Basic problems still haunt the national team. The opening combination carries a question mark. The one-down slot has finally been filled by Abdul Razzaq, but the composition of the eleven has become a dicey proposition. Packing batting would leave the team one bowler short and playing six bowlers would force a batsman out. The choice is: additional bowler or batsman.

Taufiq Umar has convincingly advanced his case for selection. That could be at the expense of Shahid Afridi who hasn’t come off as a hitter in the tournament. But there can be no two views on his usefulness as a bowler and contribution in the field.

The bowling, likely to comprise Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq and Abdul Razzaq needs to be supplemented, more so as Razzaq has been off colour, off target and almost hittable by even B class batsmen. Quality stroke makers could put him through the shredder.

Tour selectors, whatever they are worth, may be wondering whether Shoaib merits another outing and that too in a do or die encounter or that the team has had enough of him. Billed as Pakistan’s trump card in the tournament after a devastating performance in Australia last year, he has been on the injured or absconding list since then, high hopes in him evaporating in erratic pace and wayward showmanship. He has sounded like an all-conquering hero, promising great deeds, but producing poor performances. What is to be done with him?

Mohammad Sami is one of the two players who haven’t been called up for any match; Azhar Mahmood is the other. The former is a good strike bowler, the latter a more than handy all-rounder. But neither looks a match winner at this point. That potential still rests with Shoaib. If Pakistan has gambled on him thus far, going all the way should be logical. Failure would confine him to the dustbin of cricket; he has to prove his worth, prove that he is aces and not the joker in the pack.

Inzamam-ul-Haq was other match winner. He has been an unbelievable, a shocking disappointment. One can only compare his failure with that of Denis Compton on a tour of Australia in the 50s. Compton scored a total of 53 runs in 10 innings of five Test matches with 23 as his highest; at no stage was he sidelined for abysmal form. Class has to be trusted; Inzamam must be trusted.

His failure has been colossal and equally inexplicable and suggests an ailment beyond cricket. The answer may lie in handling by Richard Pybus masquerading as a coach. Excessive loss of weight has also possibly disturbed Inzamam’s equilibrium and coordination.

Whatever the reason for his failure, there is no option. He must be played, either as opener or lower down the order, preferably five or six. He should be given a run either at the top, thrown in the arena at the outset of the battle, or held back so that he can absorb and respond to whatever the challenge.

Now that Saeed Anwar has been recalled, he should be persisted with. The two matches he has played plus nets may have led him to exchange stuttering stroke play for full, mid-season swagger. He hasn’t forgotten how to play shots but the rhythm has been missing.

The stars of the World Cup have been collectively the Australian team and individually Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Akram. Tendulkar is a class act. But the player who strikes terror in the opponents is Wasim Akram. He has come up as larger than cricket and acknowledged by friends, foes and bystanders alike.

He is bowling superbly, no balls and wides notwithstanding, fielding like an all fired-up teenager and applying himself to batting too, annoyance with Youhana on the run out against Namibia providing evidence of his commitment.

The tour management should listen to his World Cup swansong, follow its glorious beat and try to match its rhythm: he should be better deployed as an batsman. Youhana at four (he is fluent and needs only to extend his concentration span), Akram next and Inzamam at four down can be a different and aggressive batting order.

This is unconventional but then the team is in a corner and a routine approach may not do. This line up leaves out Younis Khan but he has not clicked and looked out of sorts in earlier outings. In any case, the team’s forte is bowling. That should be augmented with Afridi or Azhar who may deliver as lower order batsmen. Or, forget about bit batsmen, and play Sami. Less than six bowlers would be a defensive and self-defeating strategy.

Aggression has to be the name of Pakistan’s game today. That principle has to be extended to the team’s approach in every respect. The fast bowlers would be more affective, certainly more threatening with an umbrella than just two slips.

The only thing that remains is the toss. Waqar Younis is not expected to put his wrong foot forward once again. But the players should remember that losing the toss is not the end of the world and a strong showing as a bowling and fielding side should get them a reachable target even if the batting does not come off brilliantly.