| June 19, 2003 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 18, 1424 |
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Wheat shortfall
Northern Areas’ representation
PRIME MINISTER Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Islamabad has further strengthened Turkish-Pakistan relations and underlined the identity of views between the two countries on a broad range of issues. The talks Mr Erdogan had with President Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali were marked by a common perception of some of the burning issues of the day, including the situation in South Asia, Afghanistan, Cyprus and Iraq. On South Asia, Mr Erdogan supported the normalization moves now under way and said his government stood for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. Force, he said, could not solve the Kashmir issue. On Iraq, both believed that nothing should be done to threaten the nation’s unity and integrity. As Iraq’s neighbour, Turkey has a vital interest in what goes on in the oil-rich region to its south, more so because it has a Kurdish majority. Because the contiguous Turkish area has a sizable Kurdish population, Ankara is keen on checking any fissiparous tendencies in Iraq. It goes without saying that Pakistan shares Turkey’s perception of Iraq and believes in maintaining its territorial integrity.
The sad fact in the wider Middle Eastern context is that the regional countries have failed to play any meaningful role in preserving peace and stability in the region and in safeguarding their collective interests. In the Iraqi crisis, the Muslim and Arab governments were more pusillanimous or obeisant than positive in their action and reaction. Even more startling was the passivity of the two Arab and Muslim groupings — the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference, both of which looked the other way as the Iraqi crisis unfolded till it reached the dreadful denouement. While it is true that the odds the Muslim world is up against are forbidding, what any observer of the Middle Eastern scene cannot fail to note is that the AL and OIC did not take into consideration their advantages. The huge land mass and its strategic location, the Arab-Muslim demographic strength, and the oil wealth — all do not seem to count for much with the Arab and Islamic governments. For some reason, regime considerations seem to overweigh national and Muslim considerations.
Against this harsh reality, Pakistan and Turkey would do well to deepen bilateral cooperation to promote their economic and security interests. The fraternal bond between Turkey and the Muslims of South Asia dates back to the pre-independence days. The Turks have not forgotten the help given by the subcontinent’s Muslims during Turkey’s war of independence. These feelings of brotherhood and solidarity were strengthened after the emergence of Pakistan. One hopes the two governments would continue to strive for bringing their peoples even closer. There is enormous scope for enhancing cooperation in economy, trade, tourism, and science and technology. The two countries are endowed with enormous natural resources and have pools of scientific and skilled manpower. Yet the volume of trade between the two stands at a negligible 156 million dollars. There is room for greater Turkish investment in Pakistan and for joint projects. The fact that the Turkish prime minister’s entourage included 110 businessmen showed Turkey’s desire to increase trade and economic cooperation with Pakistan. During the visit, the two sides signed three memorandums of understanding on road transport, drug trafficking and environment. One hopes the two governments will follow up the results achieved in this visit and will continue to make efforts to widen the scope of mutually beneficial trade and other forms of cooperation.
REPORTS suggest that the country’s wheat output is significantly lower than the official claim of 19.2 million tons, and could even be as low as 17 million tons. In fact, the government figure itself is lower than the 20.7 million tons the federal food minister had predicted in March this year. The shortfall is quite sizable this year, so that after two years of exporting wheat, Pakistan has to import the grain this year. Some of the factors have to do with the vagaries of the weather and hence little can be done on that account. For instance, in Sindh the wheat yield was lower than expected because of lack of water while a countrywide heatwave in May also damaged the standing crop.
However, there are other reasons too for the low output which the federal food ministry should have taken note of well in time to take corrective action. These have to do with mismanagement of the wheat market and a support price system that is slowly eating into the earnings of wheat farmers. Electricity prices have also risen during the past few years, as have those of other farm inputs. This year’s yield suffered especially because of high prices of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and an attack by pests in some areas.
In addition, smuggling to Afghanistan, further reduced the quantum of wheat available for domestic consumption. The on-going repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees to their homeland is bound to push up the demand for wheat in that country. The government should take measures to curb smuggling, and this should include punishing those corrupt food department officials and border security forces who connive at this illegal trade. If we are to become a wheat exporter again, then the food ministry, along with a host of other agencies, will have to ensure that prices of essential farm inputs are kept stable, that the support price is competitive enough for the output target to be achieved, smuggling is checked, and that preparations are in place for more effective pest control.
REGARDLESS of the on-going debate as to whether the Northern Areas comprising Gilgit and Baltistan belong to the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir or form part of Pakistan, the two million people of the region deserve to be given some meaningful political representation. The toothless Northern Areas Legislative Council made up of 28 elected members has no real administrative or legislative powers. The Northern Areas do not form part of any existing administrative unit of Pakistan and are governed directly by Islamabad for all practical purposes but have no representation in the National Assembly. The federal government’s ambivalent position on the status of the NAs has long deprived the people of these areas any meaningful representation creating a sense of grievance among them.
The NAs comprise five districts — Gilgit, Ghizer, Ghanche, Diamer and Skardu — inhabited by diverse ethnic groups. The region was effectively linked with the rest of the country when the all-weather Karakoram Highway opened in the late 1970s and new business and trade opportunities opened up. A number of NGOs arrived on the scene and micro-development programmes were launched for the uplift of the people. Today, these activities have had some impact but poverty levels among the local people remain alarmingly high. Meanwhile, more enterprising Pathans from the neighbouring NWFP districts have largely taken over local trade besides bringing in and enforcing their own cultural values and mores that have been cause of serious conflict in recent years. It is time Islamabad devolved real administrative and legislative powers to the elected Northern Areas Legislative Council and decided, once and for all, the status of this region. Even if the NAs are to remain under direct control of the federal government, the people of these areas deserve to be given some effective voice and representation in the National Assembly.