| 13 February 2004 | Friday | 21 Zilhaj 1424 |
Car imports
Pornography on the Internet
The ferocity of resistance to occupation in Iraq is assuming frightening proportions. In the last two days more than 100 people have been killed and countless injured in suicide bombings in and around Baghdad.
While the Americans saw Al Qaeda's hand in Tuesday's attack, what one can clearly see is a pattern: invariably: the explosions took place outside police stations, and the victims were those seeking jobs as policemen.
This, then, was the message the resistance wanted to convey to all: those seen as collaborating with the occupation authorities will have to suffer the consequences.
A new army and a new police force are major elements of the post-Saddam structure the US is building to help it run Iraq before it decides to withdraw. However, a withdrawal is nowhere on the cards, despite the fact that a transfer-of-power plan does exist.
The plan, announced by the Interim Governing Council and approved by the US, aims first at creating an assembly selected by provincial caucuses. The caucuses will themselves come into being as a result of selections and nominations.
Thus, both the tiers will be non-elected bodies. This assembly - selected by the selected - will then choose a government. Elections are too far away - towards the end of 2005. As for the withdrawal of American forces, President George Bush has said they will be there until Iraq is "free and peaceful."
Obviously, the plan is not acceptable to elements which are not with the governing council. This body consists of hand-picked men, for whom most Iraqis have contempt.
These men played no part in resistance to Saddam Hussein's rule and were enjoying life abroad while the people of Iraq suffered. They are seen as Washington's errand boys in Iraq and helping America monopolize their country.
The problem is worsened by the fact that at present American occupation seems open-ended, and the Bush administration has made no attempt to involve the UN with the conduct of Iraq's affairs. Unless the UN is involved effectively with Iraq's governance during the transition to elections, it is unlikely that resistance will cease.
If elections are held while the American troops are still there, the whole world will doubt the transparency of the electoral process. To be considered fair and impartial, elections must be held by the world body.
The UN's presence will also remove the inhibitions which many countries have about sending troops to Iraq. The induction of UN peacekeepers must synchronize with a gradual American withdrawal.
It is only then that peaceful and fair elections can be expected. Unless Washington gives a specific date for the withdrawal, it is doubtful if America will be able to crush the resistance by military means. The US may blame Al Qaeda for the incidents, but that is not going to end resistance.
All Iraq watchers agree that the resistance consists of disparate elements and it is immaterial whether non-Iraqi elements are also involved. If there are, resistance forces are likely to welcome them because they advance its agenda.
Those behind the resistance may differ among themselves as to their vision of Iraq, but what they have in common is opposition to foreign occupation. They are keen to see a new Iraq in their own image and not an Iraq which the US will shape according to its own lights and interests.
Car imports
The cabinet's decision to reduce import duties on completely knocked down (CKD) and completely built up cars (CBU) and to allow the import of second hand cars in due course will have an impact on the local car market.
Car producers and automobile component makers have said that this would affect local industry and jobs, while dealers have argued that the move will lower car prices. In one way, it can be argued that the cabinet decision has been prompted by the inability of carmakers to sort out the problems in their industry despite posting record sales and production figures in the past two years.
Buyers have to wait for over a year to take delivery of their cars for which they have paid in full. The other option for them would be to pay a high premium for earlier delivery. To say that the price hike is the result of demand outstripping supply would be misleading.
The crux of the problem is the inability of the government and the car makers to check the entry of middlemen into the market who are not genuine buyers but who are able to book cars in large numbers in advance and sell them at inflated prices to car buyers.
The decision to allow import of used cars and reduce duty on small cars is intended to rectify some of these problems and anomalies. One hopes that with the arrival of cheaper imports, the middlemen who have played a part in hiking prices will disappear.
The local automobile industry will now have to face competition and this would bring down car prices as well as improve the delivery system. If there is any lesson to learn from all this, it is that the local car industry has to be more responsive to consumer demands and expectations.
At a time when there are calls for ending the protection extended to the local car industry, the captains of that industry must make serious efforts to understand and remove the grievances of local customers.
Pornography on the Internet
On the face of it, the complaint by a "large number" of people in Rawalpindi to the district Nazim to force Internet cafes to stop using partitions, to give patrons some privacy, would seem a minor issue.
The people are angry that Internet cafe users abuse the privacy provided by the partitions to scour pornographic websites. In most countries, as long as minors were not involved, this matter would not be cause for much concern.
If some adults have a taste for the unconventional or the titillating, and as long as they are not hurting other fellow citizens in the process and confine their activity to their own homes, there should not be any public outcry over the matter.
However, the problem in this particular case has to do with the fact that Internet cafes in the country are often frequented by minors and hence the matter is something that deserves the attention of the authorities.
The question is how to stop minors from having access to pornographic websites and not to completely discourage Internet use because that would deprive users of its many benefits.
Increased parental supervision is one way of ensuring that children do not have easy access to pornographic sites. Internet cafe proprietors themselves could be asked by the authorities to ensure that their patrons do not use such sites but this would probably be difficult to enforce.
The point to stress is that shutting off access by teenagers to pornographic websites as far as possible is perhaps the best that can be aimed at, and not a blanket ban on the Internet which in any case is impossible to enforce.
In fact, many countries see no problem when it comes to adults. Things are admittedly different here but we have to realize that one reason for teenagers seeking such material has to do with the countless restrictions and taboos found in our society.