| April 1, 2003 | Tuesday | Muharram 28, 1424 |
NAB should keep an eye on govts too: Shujaat: Dawn Dialogue
A consensus resolution in sight: VIEW FROM PRESS GALLERY
Revival of Sazda: SINDHI PRESS DIGEST
THE talk of cabinet expansion is reaching a high pitch in the ruling alliance circles and its reverberations are being heard in parliament corridors with increasing frequency.
WELCOMING the Sindh government’s decision to revive the Sindh Arid Zone Development Authority, Hilal-i-Pakistan writes that the authority was established to provide amenities of life to the population of the desert and hilly areas of the province. The authority did build some metalled roads, wells, schools etc., in Thar, Nara, Kachho and Kohistan, but it largely failed to achieve its objectives.
TRAVELLING on the Grand Trunk Road from Islamabad to Peshawar, after a drive of around forty-five minutes, one comes across the small beautiful town of Hasanabdal comfortably tucked in surrounding green hills. It is not clear how the town got its name but a reference is usually made to the 18th century Afghan conqueror, Ahmed Shah Abdali. History tells us that the place was sacred to Buddhists as narrated by Xuan Zang, a seventh century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim. However, presently the town is associated with Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion and Baba Wali Kandhari, a renowned Muslim saint. Hasanabdal also served as a stopover for the mughal emperors on their annual retreats to Kashmir. However, in the late eighteenth century, the town was taken over by the Sikhs before their conquest of Peshawar.
The most significant landmark of Hasanabdal is a set of vastly spread red buildings immediately to the left of the main road. These buildings belong to the Cadet College Hasanabdal, one of Pakistan’s foremost premier boarding schools. Field Marshal Ayub Khan inaugurated the school in 1954 to cater to the need of young officers for the armed services.
The main academic block overlooks the college with a cricket ground in the centre, called the ‘Oval’. Six residential wings surround the Oval and it is always a pleasing sight to see young boys in uniforms walking towards their academic block. However, what may not be a very pleasing sight is to see the very same boys doing front rolls in the Oval instead of playing cricket as a consequence of some misconduct.
The college has always been famous for its academic results with its boys bagging most of the top slots in board examinations. While Aitchison College has for a long time catered to the political leadership of the country, the establishment has come from colleges like Cadet College, Hasanabdal, and Lawrence College. One of the interesting facts regarding these colleges is the strong sense of ‘comradeship’ that prevails among the boys. The boys of these colleges use words like ‘Abdalian’ and ‘Gallian’ with the pride.
The Cadet College is surrounded by ‘Loqat’ orchards, lush green fields and a gushing stream where a day with fishing rod can really be fruitful. Mr Catchpole, the first principal of the college is also buried here.
Hasanabdal is also famous for the sacred early nineteenth century Gurdwara Panja Sahib, a very holy site for the Sikhs. The Gurdwara is situated in the middle of the town and the main temple has a typical style with domes and cupolas. The temple is surrounded by a cemented water tank that derives its supply from a fresh water spring that emerges from underneath a huge rock. Now this huge rock has that famous handprint on it for which the site is known as ‘Panja Sahib’. Legend has it that Guru Nanak requested for water from Baba Kandhari who lived at the top of the hill overlooking the town. The Baba hurled a rock towards Guru Nanak who stopped it with his palm hence the handprint and the name ‘Panja Sahib’. A fresh water spring gushed out from the place where the rock had fallen. The water pond is full of ‘Mahasher’ fish and is also considered sacred. Thousands of Sikhs visit the place every year in April for their ‘Besakhi’ festival.
The tomb of Baba Wali Kandhari lies on the top of the hill overlooking the town and his shrine is visible from below. It takes around two hours to trek to the place. There are a few more tombs and ponds scattered in the town for which more research need to be done.
Hasanabdal is an interesting small town. With temples, shrines, convent school, cadet college, mosques, churches, orchards and streams, the place appears to be at the confluence of religions, learning and nature. One should not forget to enjoy the tasty fish straight from the streams available at all roadside restaurants. There are some reasonable hotels with comfortable accommodation in case one wishes to stay. — OMAR MUKHTAR KHAN
The following is the edited text of the Dawn Dialogue interview of Ch.Shujaat Hussain:
Question: As expected, opposition parties have rejected the Legal Framework Order, making it clear that they don’t accept it as part of the Constitution. How does the government plan to resolve the controversy? Is there any possibility of the LFO being placed before the house so that it can adopt the portions it likes and discard the others?
Answer: I’ll like to remind you that before the formation of the government, all major parties had signed an agreement empowering me to take up the question of the LFO with the government. The signatories included leaders of the PPP, the JUI, the Jamaat-i- Islami and other parties.
Of the 29 clauses of the agreement, all parties were agreed on 21 clauses. The president’s power to sack the assembly, his decision to retain his army post, the formation of the National Security Council and the new system of local government were among issues on which no agreement could be reached.
Now, I plan to initiate an out-of-parliament dialogue with other parties to evolve a consensus on these subjects. A decision on placing these matters before parliament will be taken in the light of the outcome of the talks. But, I firmly believe that all parties will reach some understanding.
Q: The paper thin majority that your government has in parliament is because of the cooperation being extended by the breakaway faction of the PPP. In such a situation, do you think your government will be able to make any amendments to the Constitution, specially those required to meet the party’s electoral commitments? How will you ensure the survival of the government if the breakaway PPP parts ways with you?
A: It is clear, of course, that without the cooperation of other parties, the PML(Q) government will not be in a position to make any amendment to the Constitution. But let me correct you on one point. We have made no electoral commitment which needs a constitutional amendment. Promises about development projects that we made in our election campaign can be met administratively.
Changes required in the system can also be made without constitutional amendments. We have started taking steps to solve the people’s problems. In Punjab, the government has already declared education up to matriculation free. Students will also be provided with books and uniforms by the government.
We have also reduced interest rate on agricultural loans to benefit the farming community.
As for the second part of your question, I’ll like to make it clear that the PML(Q) government faces no threat to its survival — even if the PPP group parts ways. We have many options which cannot be disclosed at this stage. Also, let me say the Patriots have no plan to leave the coalition.
But if for any reason we lose our majority in the assembly, the party with the required numbers will have the right to form the government. We’ll work in a democratic manner. We’ll not try to prolong our rule through oppressive measures, not at the cost of democratic values.
Q: It’s alleged that you got huge bank loans written off, using your political influence.
A: The allegation is totally absurd, to say the least. The National Accountability Bureau and some other state organizations had probed the matter in detail and concluded that no loans had been written off. The State Bank of Pakistan in a separate report held the same view.
I may recall here that Tehrik-i-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan had made the allegation in his election campaign. The veracity of the charge was checked by the State Bank, and it was found to be absolutely baseleess.
Former finance minister Ishaq Dar (now a PML-N Senator) also made a statement that the Chaudhris hadn’t got any loans written off. After this, there is no justification for raising the issue again and again.
Q: Some people say that there was no need for creating of the PML (Q) at all and you have damaged the party’s unity by floating a new group.
A: Let me tell you that we were not in favour of setting up a new group. We wanted to keep the PML united at all costs. But the situation changed when Mian Nawaz Sharif struck a deal with the military rulers and left the country.
Those left behind had to review their options in the changed situation. They joined hands with the PML(Q) and thus a new faction came into being.
Q: Gen Zia had proposed the formation of a national security council in 1985 but the then PML government had resisted the proposal and it had to be abandoned. But this time another PML government has accepted the formation of a body which many think will eclipse the sovereignty of parliament. How do you justify this shift in policy?
A:. In the Junejo period, the idea of setting up the NSC was given up because a decision had been taken to strengthen the defence committee of the cabinet.
Those criticizing the formation of the NSC now are unmindful of the change in the terms of reference of the organization. At present, it is only an advisory body, not empowered to take final decisions on any issue. Thus the entire criticism of the body is unjustified.
Q: The PML(Q) government is in power in Punjab as well in Sindh. But the two provincial governments seem at daggers drawn on the issue of water distribution. The Sindh assembly is opposed to the Greater Thal Canal and the Kalabagh dam projects, two projects Punjab thinks are vital for irrigation. How will the party resolve differences between the two?
A: Look, all governments in the past brushed the issue under the carpet on the ground that they would first evolve a national consensus before launching any major irrigation project. But the situation has now changed. A time has come for decisions to be made. Prime Minister Jamali is in a better position to settle differences between the federating units as he belongs to a province which is not directly a party to such disputes. He should take decisions in the national interest even if they are unpopular.
As head of the ruling party, I plan to call a meeting of all provinces to discuss these matters in depth. The party will take decisions in the light of the discussions.
Q: The military’s interference in political matters is an old problem. How does the PML(Q) plan to end this persistent intervention?
A: Generals Ayub Khan and Ziaul Haq had come to power on their own, while we, the politicians, are responsible for inviting Gen Musharraf to step in. His plane was stopped from landing (by deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif) and plans had been prepared to arrest him. In such a situation, Gen Musharraf was left with no option but to take over.
Reports that the general had planned a coup before this are rubbish. I want to remind you that as COAS, Gen Musharraf was supposed to participate in a DCC meeting, scheduled for Oct 14, 1999, to discuss the army’s role in the then de-weaponization campaign. He had just no intention of toppling the PML government. But the political leadership created a situation which changed the course of events.
Q: You were reported to have said recently that the National Accountability Bureau was responsible for vitiating the investment-friendly climate in the country. If so, will you like to support the opposition’s point of view that NAB should be wound up and all pending cases be tried in open court?
A: No, I don’t support the idea that NAB should be wound up. In my opinion its composition and terms of reference should be changed to get better results. What is needed is that it should be entrusted with accountability of sitting governments and it should also be judicial in its outlook. It will be better if some judge is appointed its chairman.
The incumbent chairman (Lt Gen Muneer Hafeez) may be very just in his approach, but his outlook is not judicial as he comes from the army.
I’ll like to propose that all those who have left the country along with their money should be accorded a general amnesty. They should be allowed to come back and invest their capital anywhere they like. They should not be asked questions about the source of their income.
If any case is pending against them, it can be referred to a judicial tribunal. But they should be allowed a one-time amnesty in any case.
Q: When you are in favour of an amnesty for the moneyed people, will you like to propose a similar amnesty for Benazir Bhutto and the Sharifs as well so that they can come back home and play a role here?
A: I think they are not to be compared with the kind of people I am referring to. Ms Bhutto had left the country on her own. We can think of allowing her amnesty as far as her money is concerned. But for other cases, she will have to go through the legal process.
As for the Sharifs, they went to Saudi Arabia under a deal, and will be permitted to return either on the expiration of the agreed period or a review of the agreement.
Q: Mian Shahbaz Sharif was not convicted in any case and, perhaps, no case is pending against him. Shouldn’t he be treated differently from Nawaz Sharif?
A: You may be right in your opinion that no case is pending against him. But along with the rest of the family members, he left the country under a deal. As long as the deal is valid, he can’t come back.
Q: But the family of Mian Abbas Sharif which, too, was banished under the same agreement, came back over a month ago and they seem to have no plans to go back to Saudi Arabia.
A: As far as I know, the family has come back as a result of a change in the agreement. But, I don’t know exactly whether or not they plan to go back or stay on.
Q: Unification of various factions of the Pakistan Muslim League has been attempted many times, but always some development suddenly changes the entire situation. What’s the possibility of all factions getting together now? Have you settled your differences with Pir Pagara?
A: Some leaders talk of unification only to get some important offices in a unified party. They are playing to the gallery. They do not sincerely want unity of the party.
The various factions of the PML should remember that it is parties that join coalitions, not vice versa. The PML(Q) is now in coalition with other parties and thus it is for other factions to decide whether or not to join it.
Q: Not long ago, you had proposed that Pakistan and India should hold parts of Kashmir now under their control and the valley’s fate should be decided through a referendum. Do you still stick to the same view?
A: The proposal you are referring to was my personal opinion, but I believe that some unpopular decisions will have to be taken to resolve the decades-old problem. I do firmly believe that after a resolution of the Iraq crisis, Kashmir will become the most important issue on the world agenda.
To be able to have the matter resolved, we’ll have to go beyond the UN resolutions and consider new approaches.
I think third party mediation will be necessary. And this mediation will not come from the United States alone. Arab and some Western countries will also have to play a role.
Q: Doesn’t it sound rather bizarre that after sticking to UN resolutions for about five decades, the head of the ruling party proposes changing the generally accepted stand on the Kashmir issue?
A: As a matter of fact, the importance of the UN resolutions is being progressively undermined. As you know, until recently it was the United States which was reluctant to adhere to UN resolutions on Iraq and the rest of the world is not prepared to accept the US-sponsored resolutions (on Iraq).
This means that the world body’s resolutions can’t be expected to resolve all outstanding disputes. Therefore, Pakistan and India will have to sit together and hold talks to be able to find a solution.
— Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain was interviewed by Ashraf Mumtaz.
On Monday, when inside the hall, the members of the upper house were delivering pro forma speeches on the Iraq war, outside in the rest rooms and in the canteen, people appeared more interested in finding out the names of ministerial probables.
Cabinet expansion was to have taken place immediately following the induction of the Senate. But then, like the inordinate delay in the summoning of the joint session of the two elected houses, the holdup in cabinet expansion too appears to have been necessitated by unavoidable political circumstances which do not seem to be responding, so far, to the establishment’s usual stick-and-carrot method.
In the case of joint session, the stick seems to have been reserved for the PPP and the PML-N and the carrot for the MMA. But the carrot being used to woo the MMA is said to be made up largely of cabinet portfolios. So, as long as the MMA does not agree to come on the government bandwagon, the cabinet expansion is likely to remain on hold and by the same token as long as the MMA does not accept cabinet portfolios no joint session is likely to take place.
The PML-Q seems so certain of winning over the MMA to its side that the party sources have already started mentioning the names of the probables from the religious alliance who will join the cabinet in Islamabad. In fact, Maulana Samiul Haq is said to be so keen on getting his son into the cabinet that he has already started frequenting the Islamabad residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Others whose names are being aired increasingly include Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.
There are already 27 members in the federal cabinet including 14 federal ministers, seven ministers of state and six advisers and special assistance to the PM. About 10 more are likely to be added immediately to the team.
While it would be interesting to calculate how much it would cost to the exchequer to support such a large federal cabinet, the matter which should immediately concern the government is the shrinking space in the upper house which already looks overcrowded with 100 members.
Add another 50 to this number because that is approximately the number we would reach by the time the president, the prime minister and Chaudhry Shujaat finish accommodating their favourites into the cabinet besides those who are to be rewarded for their political support to the government.
On Monday the session started about an hour late. Seemingly, the chairman Mohammadmian Soomro, the acting leader of the house, Waseem Sajjad, foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, the leaders of various opposition parties, including Shah Ahmed Noorani and Professor Khurshid Ahmed of the MMA, Reza Rabbani and Safdar Abbasi of the PPP, Sanaullah Bloch of the BNP and a senator from PML-N (name could not be ascertained), had a lengthy pre-session meeting perhaps to arrive at a consensus draft resolution to be adopted by the house on Iraq war.
Those who claimed that they have seen the draft said that the ruling alliance had succeeded in persuading the opposition to give up its insistence on condemning the US and the UK for waging an uncalled for, illegal and immoral war against Iraq. The resolution is expected to only deplore the war without naming names and call for immediate return to the UN Security Council.
PPP’s senator Anwer Beg tried to play a fast one on the treasury benches when rising on a point of order before the commencement of the debate on Monday, he invited the chairman’s attention to what he said was a matter of grave and urgent national concern, and concern for his province Sindh, by referring to an article published in a Lahore political weekly The Friday Times (March 28-April 3, 2003).
When the chair wanted to know what he was referring to, Senator Beg waved a copy of the weekly in the air and said since he did not bring his reading glasses, he would request PML-Q’s Khalid Ranjha (who was seated in front of him) to read it on his behalf. Khalid Ranjha, seemingly caught off guard, stood up, but suddenly took a double take while blurting out the very first line from the published passage, he then stopped as suddenly, paused and requested the chairman to be excused from reading the passage out loud as according to him the item in question did not merit being read out in the house as its headline Such-Gup (Fact and Fiction) itself indicated its credibility. By this time even the chairman had realized what the article was about and firmly refused to allow senator Beg’s request that it should be read out loudly in the house.
According to the daily, there were two reasons behind Sazda’s failure to deliver: rampant corruption and mismanagement which was evident from frequent transfers of the authority’s headquarters. This led to the virtual collapse of the authority. For the last couple of years, it was being heard that Sazda is going to be dissolved and send its employees would be sent to the surplus pool.
The paper says the Sindh government’s decision to revive the authority is timely as the plight of the organization, coupled with the sufferings of the people of the arid zone, demand an improvement in its performance. It is also imperative that corruption, irregularities and mismanagement in the institution are eliminated and a vigilant eye kept on it.
Kawish says that Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar has announced that 150,000 acres of land will be distributed among peasants. This is not new as earlier Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had also made such announcements. What they did was distribute a few acres of land and that, too, among the influential people in the name of their agents. Now that the Sindh government is again going to take up the programme, it must evolve a transparent policy on land distribution to ensure that deserving cultivators are the beneficiaries.
Awami Awaz writes that the administration of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation was handed over to the army to improve its financial condition and restore its credibility. Some army officials did make some effort to reform the corporation, besides changing their “military attitude” according to the needs of a civil organization. However, most men in khaki working at the KESC are still resentful of civilian employees as well as the consumers of the KESC. The culture created by the military managers has produced an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in the organization, which does not augur well for it. This practice should end in the interest of the KESC.
Commenting on the US-led invasion of Iraq, Sach writes that the US had believed that the people of the country would welcome the foreign invaders, which has proven to be wrong. Similarly, the resistance put up by the Iraqi military is also unexpected for the US and the UK. Consequently, what was expected to be a swift operation has turned into a lingering war, which has started exhausting the patience of the allied troops in Iraq and the administrations in the White House and the 10 Downing Street. The daily terms this situation a victory for Iraq.