| June 16, 2003 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1424 |
Thank you, Humair
Two legs good, four legs bad?
Something to write home about
A city misjudged
Plight of Sindhi Adabi Board
THE oldest and highly respected institution of Sindh, Sindhi Adabi Board, is in its death throes. Its kitty is lying empty and it has no money even to pay salaries to its employees, what to talk of promotion of the Sindhi literature.
CONTRARY to the general impression that it was the MMA that had offered to let the president retain his uniform for one full year from the date he announced his decision to retire from service, it was in fact the official negotiating team of the ‘faceless’ (ghair maroof log, according to Maulana Fazlur Rahman) which had on the insistence of the MMA indicated that if the offer of one year came from the religious alliance, it would find ready acceptance in the ‘right quarters’.
The MMA, it is believed, had readily agreed with the ‘faceless’ people at the very initial stages of negotiations that the president needed ‘reasonable’ time to complete the transition and for that reason needed to keep the uniform until then. It is also believed that the MMA had no intention of imposing a timeframe of its own on the president but wanted to give him the time he would need to complete the job. That was the reason why the MMA encouraged the ‘faceless’ during the negotiations to come up with a specific proposal of their own rather than seeking one from the religious alliance. After quite a bit of shuttling back and forth, the ‘faceless’ reportedly came up with a one-year timeframe and the MMA leadership is said to have readily responded Diya! (granted!).
That’s how it was for a long time as the ‘faceless’ took their own time in coming back to the negotiating table. And when they did, they asked the MMA to extend the period to two years, which the religious alliance, it is said, took as a hint that the government was more interested in buying time than in settling the controversy and getting on with life. So, it refused to comply with the new request. Not only that, it even withdrew the first offer of one year and asked President Musharraf to leave the army by August 14, 2003. This prompted Musharraf’s ‘well wishers’ to hit back with a story planted in a national daily on May 17. Quoting some unknown corps commanders, the report said that the army wanted Musharraf to continue in uniform.
Then the billboard incident took place in Peshawar — to be followed by the passage of Shariat bill in the NWFP assembly. The Punjab assembly, meanwhile, had passed a resolution asking Musharraf to keep the uniform as long as he wanted. This was followed by a gathering of 5,000 ‘lawyers’ in Lahore who also expressed the same view. Then a ruling by the Lahore High Court said that by keeping the uniform the president was not violating any constitutional provision. Suddenly, as many as 65 MMA legislators’ degrees were challenged in the Supreme Court. Then one heard Musharraf using the term “Talibanization” for the first time since the passage of the Shariat bill Hisba by the NWFP assembly.
Some say it is all a part of a put-on job between the MMA and the government — to create the impression among the neo- conservatives in Washington that Musharraf is under serious threat of being toppled by pro-Taliban elements in Pakistan, so he needs all the help that Washington can provide by way of both economic aid and in his negotiations with India. But, then, Washington perhaps knows the MMA much better than how this religious alliance is understood in Pakistan. Very early on, the MMA and Washington, through its embassy in Pakistan, had taken a measure of each other and an understanding of sorts had been formed between the two, with the former making it clear to the latter that it had no intention of upsetting the 50-year old apple cart of Pakistan-US relations and the latter reassuring the former that it would not prolong its physical presence in the border area a minute longer than necessary. Actually mutual acquaintance between the two goes a long way back in time and history. In fact, if 9/11 had not happened, we might well have had an MMA prime minister in the saddle. Most probably Qazi Hussain Ahmed himself.
So, why is Musharraf seeing demons of Talibanization where none exist? Why does he seem bent on giving a bad name to a group of religio-political parties which have existed in the country since its inception without making any significant political waves except when the army itself wanted to use their street power to perpetuate its own political pre-eminence inside and outside the country? The PPP and PML(N) are political parties and they would bide their time until the next election to strike back. But when you push men of faith out of electoral politics, you only end up creating anarchy.
Neighbouring Afghanistan is still in a state of political flux, with the mighty US army having no writ beyond Kabul. The US troops are facing a kind of a situation in Afghanistan today which could be likened to the early period of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Fed up of trying to manage an unmanageable country, one fine morning the Americans may decide to resolve their governance problems by dividing Afghanistan on ethnic lines — between non-Pushtun and Pushtun areas. And if they find the political situation ripe for it, they may even decide that it would be easier to control the Afghan Pushtuns by merging them with the Pushtun of settled parts living beyond the now defunct Durand Line. The hint is too broad to miss by those who know what the Americans are up to in the Middle East currently. Changing regimes and maps is the name of the new American game.— Onlooker
HUMAIR HASHMI writes to say:
“This note is in response to your write-up on the unpublished poetry of Faiz (June 9). The piece that you refer to has indeed been published before. It is included in the collection called Saray Sukhan Hamarey by Hosains Books, 25 Connaught Street, London, W.2., 1982.
“The collection is edited by Yasmin Hosain and Khwaja Shahid Hosain. The qitaa that you quote, appears in the section entitled, Mutfariq Kalam, on page 506; dated 1981. The book carries a drawing of Faiz by Maqbool Fida Hussain, the Indian painter. Only a limited number of 750 copies were printed, each signed by the poet. That is perhaps the reason why you did not see the piece you refer to. Let it be said for the record, therefore, that it has indeed been published.
“Since we are on the subject of Faiz, one would like to share a pleasant memory. Please refer to your piece, a couple of months ago, about Mr Abdullah Malik’s generosity to Faiz and Faiz’s kindness in entertaining you and Syed Abid Ali one afternoon at his residence. I recall the occasion as I drove by, you three gentlemen were standing on the gate, preparing to leave. There were you (a Mirza), a Syed, and an Afghan, by association only, as Faiz’s father served and married in Afghanistan. The group was under the influence of, shall we say, balmy Lahore weather? As I saw you gentlemen, Iqbal’s verse came to my mind and I recited it:
“Yoon toa Syed bhi ho Mirza bhi ho Afghan bhi ho
“Tum sabhi kuch ho batao toa Musalman bhi ho?
“You had a hearty laugh and left with Syed Sahib. I walked up with Faiz to his door. He stood chatting for a couple of minutes. This was the time of the so-called Beirut sojourn in his life; more poetically his meray dil meray, musafir days. He free associated in a rambling sort of a way, of his affection for this country, the city and the people he missed in Beirut.
“I guess you two gentlemen had touched a gentle chord in him on a balmy afternoon in Lahore.”
I never saw the limited edition to which Mr Humair Hashmi refers. But then, ignorance is never an excuse where Faiz is concerned. I stand duly corrected. Thank you, Humair Hashmi.
AND now my usual excerpts from the chronology, The Statesman (1875-1975) on April 16, 1910. Writing under the title “Man Called Gandhi”, The Statesman said:
A sketch of the life and work of Mr Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is given in the Indian Review. Born on October 2, 1869, he was educated partly in Kathiawar and partly in London where he was called to the bar. He practised as a barrister in the Bombay High Court. In 1893, he went to South Africa in connection with an Indian legal case, and commenced the career which was destined to bring him into political prominence there. In 1894 he, with others, founded the Natal Indian Congress of which he acted as Hon. Secretary. He helped to defeat the Asiatics Exclusion Act in Natal and did his best to oppose the disfranchisement of the Indian community. He returned to India in 1895 to represent to the Indian public on the grievances of the Natal and Transraal Indian residents, and it is claimed that his efforts were misrepresented and misunderstood in South Africa. On his return to Durban he was mobbed, and was obliged to escape in the disguise of a police-constable —- a device that is becoming rather hackneyed these days. During the Boer War, he induced the Government to accept the offer of an Indian Ambulance Corps in connection with which he was mentioned in dispatches and received the war medal.
In 1901, Mr Gandhi returned to India but was soon recalled to South Africa to assist further in dealing with the grievances of Natal and Transvaal Indians. In the Transvaal he was admitted to practise as an Attorney of the Supreme Court. In 1903, he founded a newspaper for the benefit of South African Indians, and provided the greater part of the necessary capital. In 1904, he started the somewhat utopian Phoenix Settlement near Durban. During the 1906 rebellion in Natal, Mr Gandhi again earned mention in dispatches and the public thanks of the Governor, for his services with a stretcher-bearer corps. Then came the political trouble caused by the legislative efforts of the anti-Asiatic Party in the Transvaal. His championship of Indian rights led to his arrest and imprisonment at the end of 1907. It is in this contest, partially successful for the removal of Indian grievances in South Africa which has made his name known to the majority of English readers. “Perhaps in this generation”, declares the writer in the Indian Review “India has not produced such a noble man —- Saint, Patriot, Statesman in one.”
PS: I would like to share with you a few boyhood memories of Malik Meraj Khalid, not today, however. Some other time —- and sooner than you expect. Malik Sahib was a friend of mine when I was a boy but somehow, we drifted apart as we grew older —- ending up in the end as little more than strangers. Life is like that.
WRITING in The Hindustan Times last week, eminent lawyer and columnist A.G. Noorani observed that the Indian media had not indulged Jawaharlal Nehru the way they have been, let’s say, uncritically nice to Prime Minister Vajpayee. It’s a valid observation. There’s nothing seriously wrong in admiring someone. However, when that admiration becomes part of a rehearsed script, then all the fawning assumes the form of the sheep in an Orwellian satire.
The sheep in the Animal Farm chanted “four legs good, two legs bad” when they were called upon by the new revolutionary council to reject the imprints of mankind on the quaint animal world. But when some of the elitist animals began to walk and talk like humans, the sheep changed their bleat with some gentle prodding, chiming “two legs good, four legs bad”. The risk of these pitfalls for the region’s journalists in South Asia was discussed among other issues at a meeting of some of the the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) in Dhaka last month.
Some trends in the Indian media’s general attitude, with the exception of a very few and outstanding exceptions such as tehelka.com, towards Mr Vajpayee, thereby the establishment, came to be discussed.
For example, the Indian media wholeheartedly praised or shall we say uncritically applauded the May 1998 nuclear tests. They then promptly went along with the theory of the day, that China was the main quarry and thus it justified the tests. But when some nuclear Tarzans rent the sky with calls for a nuclear war with Pakistan, there were only scarce editorials reprimanding the drunken orgy of the nationalist politicians.
The media accompanied Mr Vajpayee to Colombo in July 1998, anticipating prospects of a happy meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Instead the two had a “zero outcome” summit. The media applauded the outcome. Then Mr Vajpayee, suddenly, for no immediately discernible provocation other than losing four state elections, the same that are going to polls later this year, boarded the bus to Lahore. There was thunderous applause. Remember that 16 Hindus had been killed in Kashmir on the eve of the February visit. Not a word on terrorism at that time. The cue was missing?
Came Kargil, the media went into the trenches wearing patriotic helmets and clenched fists. Victory was proclaimed. Applause. Came Bill Clinton. He told the Indian parliament about how he had personally helped evict Pakistanis from Point Pedro and other strategic hilltops. Not only the journalists, the MPs too applauded, the latter did so on live TV.
In the interregnum General Musharraf had staged a coup against Mr Sharif. India stalled the Saarc summit in Kathmandu, citing military rule in Islamabad. The media agreed, never mind all the Saarc summits Indian leaders had attended when messrs Ziaul Haq in Pakistan and Hossain Mohammed Ershad in Bangladesh were bludgeoning their respective fiefdoms.
One day Mr Vajpayee decided to call a ceasefire against armed groups in Kashmir. What a brilliant idea, said the press and TV. Then, one day he called off the ceasefire and invited General Musharraf for a summit. Bravo, came the verdict in unison. It didn’t seem to matter why the suspension of the ceasefire was necessary to talk to Pakistan. Meanwhile, General Musharraf had got tired of his army livery and put on a sherwani instead, proclaiming himself president. Mr Vajpayee became the first world leader to greet him. “Hello, Mr President,” he proclaimed forgetting the moral high ground against the coup he had assumed, a stand that had effectively derailed the Saarc summit for many pointless months. The media applauded.
Agra was the high water mark in this fawning trend. Senior Indian editors met General Musharraf at a breakfast as was their right and privilege to do. One Indian channel seized the initiative and telecast the proceedings from the breakfast table. It was one of the landmark scoops that students of journalism should be taught about. What happened subsequently was startling. The editors were virtually dubbed an unpatriotic lot and the news channel that broadcast the meeting was put in the doghouse. The summit collapsed and fingers were pointed at the breakfast meet for its failure. The media got back on its feet after all the official barbs, dusted off the humiliation, and applauded the failure of the summit as the right course for a proud nation.
Preparations were underway for a Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting on the sidelines of the child rights summit of the UN in New York in Sept 2001. The media applauded. That chance was torpedoed by 9/11. The media applauded. In fact the attack on New York triggered an inexplicable U-turn in India’ stance towards Pakistan. Unfortunately, the Dec 13 attack on the parliament came in handy to justify the U-turn. The media applauded the ensuing military standoff. Fair enough.
But then suddenly the attack on the parliament paved the way for the Kathmandu Saarc summit where President Pervez Musharraf took a circuitous route over China to avoid a bizarre situation. He shook hands with Mr Vajpayee. The media applauded. Mr Vajpayee quickly distanced himself from any hopes of a thaw. The media applauded. Did the Indian media also endorse the nuclear standoff that ensued, including the so-called close calls? By all accounts, many of our colleagues were quite gung-ho and still are about a nuclear showdown. What prompted Mr Vajpayee to ease the military mobilization? What had he gained from it?
Before anyone could divine the answer, there came the April 18 offer of talks with Pakistan from Srinagar. The media applauded, overcoming the seemingly insurmountable hairpin bends, and all the accompanying changes in state policy. Flip flop, flip flop. That is the Indian story. How does it compare with the experience of journalists in Pakistan? Perhaps the next Safma meeting will help unravel some of the facts.
THE pace at which the Bharatiya Janata Party is preparing for state polls has led many to believe that an early Lok Sabha election is on the cards, but the state of health of the party’s allies may be the dampening factor which could prevent this.
According to Neena Vyas of The Hindu, an intrepid BJP watcher, the more likely scenario is a Lok Sabha poll around February next year, but only if the BJP bags at least three of the four states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi that go to the polls in four to five months. If the BJP failed in the assembly elections, naturally it would like to put the maximum distance between these polls and the Lok Sabha election, she says.
IT was something very close to a grand jirga that the Governor of Sindh held in Karachi last Saturday to sort out the bureaucratic incongruities that were impeding the progress of the new system of the “devolved” local governments. Everybody who was even remotely relevant to the issues to be resolved was there.
A particularly notable presence was Mr Danial Aziz, the chief of the National Reconstruction Bureau. The seance lasted for some eight hours. That was indeed a marathon exercise. Let us take this initiative from the Governor as a reliable enough indication that he means business in right earnest. If that is really so, one should expect some positive results.
To almost every dispute, there are at least two sides. One is the concrete matter of fact side. The other is usually a matter of pride, prestige or mere vanity. The fastidious would call it protocol. In our kind of stuck up government apparatus, the permanent bureaucrat, at the top of his department, tends to be a trifle too self-important. He is not to blame really because he grows in an environment of stunted political culture where the elected person is seen as a nuisance that is not even necessary.
Unless both, that is, the bureaucrat and the elected entity, are prepared to see themselves as partners in a joint limited company, engaged in the same business, irritations would not be so difficult to eliminate. In the interest of smooth functioning of the system, all components have to work in harmony. The bureaucrat has to climb down from his high perch. Likewise, the elected person has to be flexible, without being subservient or cringing. Given the mild but determined nature of the present governor, there is reason to trust that the rough edges will be rounded up.
What makes this situation more tricky than a mere tiff between the bureaucrat and the elected Nazim is that for one bureaucrat we have, not one but several elected entities. There is the Nazim duly elected. And then we have the elected MNAs, MPAs and, not to be ignored, the ministers, federal as well as provincial. Every hamlet, town and metropolis is home to all these in one way or another. Where the governor will have to bring his official, political and moral weight to bear is in his dealings with the elected elite and their usually inflated ego.
Among the elected, there are some grades — the federal minister and the MNA, the provincial minister and the MPA. But all of these are elected on party basis while the Nazims are individuals. The former category is backed by party cadres and influentials. The Nazim lacks this kind of backup. But to be fair to the Nazim, he has his work more clearly cut out, and his responsibilities more precisely defined for him, than is the case with the others in the elected class. As the author-in-chief of this devolution philosophy would look at it, the Nazim is to carry and deliver the fruits of devolution at the doors of the people. He would, therefore, deserve a very special consideration and open-handed dispensation.
As it turns out, the problem here is not so much a Nazim versus the bureaucrat in the provincial secretariat, but between the elected Nazims and the elected honourable members of federal and provincial legislatures and the federal and provincial ministers. The test here is for the elected ministers and the legislators to show maturity and magnanimity. If they have their heads straight on their shoulders, they should view the Nazims as partners in a shared enterprise and not as rivals or competitors or foils and foes. Since all of them are elected by the same electorate, they should be one joint family at peace with itself.
Now that the governor has taken the initiative, sorting out this situation will be seen as his self-assigned, high priority task. Why it is of the highest importance is because it is a political issue through and through. The present governor himself is very much a political figure and has come to be regarded highly for his political sagacity as well as personal qualities. Viewed in its totality, the eight-hour discussion at the very highest political and administrative levels, was about something that is of the essence to the present political dispensation in the country. The leadership in power today would allow this devolution experiment to fail at its own very grave peril.
Credit must be given to Sindh for being the first to attend to this developing problem that is, in fact, common to all the four provinces. Now that Sindh has taken the lead, let it spare no effort to demonstrate that it can sort out what it has on its hands with a dexterity that would be worth the while of other provinces to benefit from. Looked at from this point, it would appear that the presence of the usually maligned bureaucrat is of no great consequence in this picture. This is a political issue to be sorted out by the political people. It must be said that should the politicians fail, the bureaucrat would be tempted to feather his nest. But, then, do not blame him, blame the elected elite.
As for the city administration in Karachi, one must give it more than mere pass marks. That the administration is up and about is visible at some remarkably notable points in this megalopolis. Finding faults is very easy. We in this country are past masters in this nihilistic art form. Granted, few things happen to gladden our hearts. This can make us eternal grumblers. Or, we can be doubly reassured when watching something being done well — because it is so rare a sight, so uncommon an experience.
Some roads have been taken care of. Some flyovers are coming up, if not very fast, not very slowly either. The new city fathers can be seen to be working on the vexatious water problem. Mind you, it is one hell of an exasperating challenge to supply water to all of the 14 million people when for 20 years nobody had ever given a thought to what is, by all reckoning, Problem No 1 for any living being, not necessary human.
About the power problem, please see the sovereign commitments given to the independent power producers. Pakistan is left hostage for another 25 years to pay for power at atrociously inflated rates. This is what is at the bottom of the power problem. Some awfully bad political decisions.
Time magazine might think that Karachi is the place where all the terrorists and underworld dons of the globe have come to seek shelter, and some of those who live here might agree, but there are many who will differ.
Hitmen can be hired even in the rough neighbourhoods of New York like Brooklyn or the Bronx, and in cities like London, San Francisco and Amsterdam you have Russian gangsters operating as well as organized gangs called triads which take their orders from their bosses in Hong Kong. Not only can you hire a killer but you can also buy the best drugs, the best liquour and some very expensive prostitutes, usually trafficked from Eastern Europe and Russia. So perhaps Karachi is now no different from these more developed cities, though it might have a rougher under-belly for the timebeing.
Yes, there might be ‘remnants of Al Qaeda’ probably regrouping here — though the city’s police chief and his boss the IG will have us think otherwise — but for most ordinary Karachiites life goes on as usual. Life is (pardon the cliche) fast and they have so many things to do than to worry about terrorists in their midst.
True, the past week was particulary violent. First there was the news of a would-be bomber who blew up his hand and a leg when he failed to properly detonate a bomb outside an amusement park and a fast food restaurant in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. The next day’s newspapers carried ominous photographs of loads of bomb equipment found from the Korangi house of the injured bomber. Police found 12 bags of ammonium nitrate (used to make some very powerful bombs), two boxes of explosive, 12 detonators, different kinds of wire and other bomb-making material.
Six people were also arrested after the injured terrorist gave further details to the police. The alarming point to note here is that the injured bomber was an ordinary mechanic and used to work in a workshop in New Karachi. He told the police that he got his training at a jihadi camp in Mansehra in NWFP’s Hazara division (is that where the jihadi camps have been relocated to, away from neighbouring Azad Kashmir?) The same day, June 11, a former speaker of the Sindh Assembly and a one-time MQM activist was gunned down in the day in one of the city’s busiest areas. In other stories, relating to unrest and law and order, people in Keamari took to the streets and blocked a major traffic artery complaining that their homes had been getting no water for days. The city Nazim had to come to pacify the crowd and told the people that the water shortage was affecting all neighbourhoods in the city and that the administration would at least ensure that Keamari gets its share according to the quota system.
But day-to-day life followed its usual course. Begums and aunties continue to make making their daily trips to upscale supermarkets; the America/UK returned twenty-somethings continue to have their GTs (get-togethers) and dinners; concerts and plays continue to be held; the pretentious artsy wannabes continue to throng the weekly art exhibitions on offer, and just last night while driving past the Metropole one happened to see several goras walking around as if they were tourists!
Users of mobile phones in the city must have welcomed the news that the government telecom regulator fined one of the country’s largest mobile service providers Rs 60 million for shoddy service.
The company has also been ordered to submit a plan of compensation for its customers within a week of the fine being imposed, along with suspending any new connections of the said service till arrangements are in place to provide reliable service. In addition to this, other mobile companies have also been issued notice by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to clean up their act.
From a consumer’s point of view, this must have come as divine intervention (though some may complain it’s too little too late) because mobile companies seemed to be riding roughshod over their subscribers, selling new connections by the boatload but doing little to improve reception or connectivity. People are often heard complaining that they cannot get through to a mobile number at certain times of the day, especially, say, on a Saturday night. SMS horror stories are heard of very important messages received hours after being sent.
Whether this fine forces the mobile service providers to mend their ways remains to be seen. One hopes that the telecom regulator will follow up this first action with closer scrutiny of other cell phone companies.
If you have friends from out of town or if you want to do some unwinding yourself, a good thing to probably do is go crabbing. Now, in the good old days — and one is talking here of the late 80s and early 90s when — you could actually catch crabs when you went crabbing. But now the port waters are too polluted to support any marine life so the boat-wallahs take some crab meat, fish and potatoes along.
There are some benches at the dockfront in Keamari from where you can rent a boat to take you crabbing but the area is thoroughly littered with garbage. Two columns in the middle, supporting a covered enclosure, have signs in Urdu warning people not to spit paan lest they be fined Rs 200. And right under each of these two signs, the floor was practically covered with a thin coat of crimson and maroon.
A journalist friend had arranged a trip for some of his friends to meet British journalist/writer Michael Griffin who had come to town on his way to southern Punjab to conduct a seminar for journalists. Griffin has written quite a bit in the British press, especially The Guardian, on the Taliban and Al Qaeda, especially events post-Sept. 11. The boat-owner, known as Capt. Saleem, was semi-fluent in English and gave us quite a well-informed round-up of happenings in the port area.
Apparently, a British ship had docked the night before and the captain was showing to us — from a fair distance — all the security paraphernalia provided to it by the Pakistanis. He also pointed to a vessel some distance away of the Maritime Security Agency saying that a couple of days before the agency had detained several Indian fishing trawlers. But what about the recent release of Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture, he was asked. For every fisherman released they usually arrested two more, came his prompt reply.
Because of some very silly and absurd rules, no one was allowed to take a camera on board the boat. The reason, the captain told us, was that the area was considered ‘sensitive’. Clearly, those who came up with this rule (and it’s applied all over the country, especially in the Northern Areas where you cannot even photograph your family next to any bridge) have no idea that Keamari does attract tourists who might want to take a few pictures. .
The much-talked about comedy troupe, Blackfish, is back with a performance. In fact, by the time this comes in print, the group of mostly 20-somethings will have performed their brand of improvisational comedy and irreverent humour at The Joint, just off Zamzama.
The tickets don’t cost all that much — certainly not as much for The V Monologues held a couple of weeks ago — and the performance always manages to attract a young and energetic crowd. In fact, anyone who has seen Whose Line is it Anyway? on Star World or The Series Channel will like Blackfish.
The emergence of groups like this one, coupled with the mushroom growth of gaming centres (where you can play computer games online) and underground concerts, is a sign that Karachi’s youth culture is very much alive and constantly evolving. Let’s hope we get to see more of these comedy acts as time goes on.
— By Karachian
email: karachi_notebook@hotmail.com
The board has become bankrupt and its employees have not been paid their salaries for the last four months. It has been in the grip of financial crisis for the last 10 years but due to the apathy of the Sindh government, the situation has now become untenable. There are a couple of reasons for the present morass.
The board has changed many hands since its inception. Sometime it is placed under ministry of culture while the other time it is given in the control of ministry of education. Only recently, it was transferred from the ministry of culture to the ministry of education. So, no ministry takes its responsibility seriously notwithstanding the fact that three secretaries have been appointed as members of the board of governors to facilitate the working of the board.
The board is overstaffed with 86 employees. According to insiders, a summary was moved to the government to shake off the surplus staff under the golden handshake scheme but it seems to be buried under the files as is wont of bureaucracy.
The board receives Rs5 million per year from the Sindh government as a grant which is insufficient even for paying salaries to the employees as the monthly bill of salaries and pensions is about Rs575,000. The cost of utilities, i.e. electricity, gas and patrol, is estimated at Rs500,000. So it appears that this institution is paying only salaries and utility bills and its real purpose — promotion of Sindhi literature — has disappeared into thin air. Its board of governors has moved the government to raise the annual grant to Rs8.3 million but it is yet to be approved.
Recent press reports suggest that the government has released or is about to release the salary amount. This is only a short-term measure to pacify the employees and critics of the board. The government will have to adopt long-term measures if it is serious in saving the board. It will have to remove the surplus staff, increase the grant and bring in some energetic people to infuse new blood in this institution.