Basic law for Iraq

The apprehensions voiced by some of the majority Shia members of the Iraqi Governing Council over the draft basic law agreed upon by the council last week is a disturbing development.

One says this because the document came as a much-awaited first step towards self-rule in Iraq. The drafting of the interim constitution took hectic negotiations by all parties concerned before an agreement was reached on all its contents last week.

It fulfils the UN's conditions of having a legal basis and a constitutional framework under which a general election could be held, as stipulated by the world body's special representative for Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi.

The latter had submitted his recommendations to the UN Secretary-General after holding consultations with all political stakeholders in Iraq earlier this year. Mr Brahimi's report was the basis for framing the interim basic law now - a process that the American plan for self-rule had delegated to a constituent assembly elected through caucuses in all of Iraq's 18 provinces ahead of an elected government taking charge by the end of 2005.

That timeline was not acceptable to most Iraqis, notably the Shia majority. However, the agreed basic law at the time had the backing of most of the clerics representing the influential Shia majority, which had pushed for hastening the process leading to self-rule, and to an end to Iraq's occupation.

Although comprising unelected members nominated by the US-led interim administration, the GC is at least an all-Iraqi body, with representatives drawn from Shia, Sunni, Kurd and Turkemen communities.

The earlier agreed upon basic law, as it stands, provides for an interim constitution, which is after all an interim mechanism: it leaves the questions of drafting the permanent constitution, adopting the existing basic law or rejecting it altogether, to the future, elected legislature.

The interim constitution stipulates that the US-led administration hand over the day-to-day governance to an Iraqi body, whose composition is yet to be decided, by June 30.

It proposes the holding of a general election no later than early next year to form a new government comprising a president, two deputies, a prime minister and a legislature. The prime minister will exercise all executive powers under a federal system of government, with the Kurds enjoying autonomy while remaining within the federation.

A bill of rights offers guarantees of free speech and religious expression to all Iraqis, and reserves at least 25 per cent of the assembly seats for women. The basic law recognizes Islam as Iraq's state religion but only to the extent of being one of the sources of legislation.

This was one of the many compromises all parties concerned had to make in order to agree on an interim basic law. A failure to do so would have left Iraq's destiny solely in the hands of the American-led interim administration - something that no one in Iraq wants.

On a somewhat different note, what the interim constitution does not discuss is a timetable for an end to the occupation of Iraq. The UN, the Iraqi representatives on the GC as well as the US-led occupying powers, all seem to be silent on this important aspect of Iraq's future.

President Bush's assertion that US forces will withdraw only after Iraq is "free and peaceful" has a lot of ambiguity, and is cause perhaps of the continued unrest and violence in that country.

As the post-Saddam era has shown, the occupation of Iraq is costing America more and more body bags, and has increased tensions among the Iraqis themselves. If a similar situation continues even after the transfer of power to an interim Iraqi body in June, it is hard to see how a general election could be held.

What is missing is a definite date for the withdrawal of coalition forces. At the moment, the occupation looks open-ended. Unless the occupying powers are able to see this crucial point, hope for peace and democracy in Iraq is likely to remain just that.

Trading with Iran

It is hoped that the memorandums of understandingsigned by Iran and Pakistan on a wide range of issues on Thursday will bring the two countries even closer and pave the way for a more meaningful cooperation between the two.

Both Pakistan and Iran have a lot to learn from each other in areas where the expertise achieved by one side may be lacking in the other. Pakistan is keen to benefit from Iran's indigenization programme in different sectors, while Pakistan, in turn, can offer expertise in many other areas which Iran lacks owing to the variety of sanctions imposed by the United States in 1996.

It is expected that, with the proper groundwork in place, the volume of official trade between the two will increase from the present 400 million dollars to over a billion dollars in the next couple of years. Some of the proposals mooted this week can help achieve this goal.

For one, both countries need to work seriously on Iran's proposal to construct a pipeline from its gas fields to the border with Pakistan to supply gas in bulk. Pakistan should respond to this offer positively, because its own gas reserves are not expected to last beyond another twenty or so years.

Another proposal that merits attention is Iran's idea of establishing border markets where items attracting low tariffs could be made available to both sides. This would help cut down smuggling in the border areas.

Pakistan would also do well to take up the Iranian offer to use its road and rail systems to send its exports to Europe. One hopes bureaucratic sloth will not stand in the way of these proposals becoming a reality. Thursday's signing also testifies to the fact that the recent misunderstanding over the nuclear issue has not served as a damper on their ties.

Easy UK visa

Britain's decision to restore full visa service for Pakistan from May 1 and unconfirmed reports that the Americans might also be easing visa restrictions should be good news for hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis who visit these English-speaking countries.

Currently, only a few select categories of Pakistanis get a British visa, but hopefully that will change in about two months' time. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who announced this decision in Islamabad on Thursday, expects applications from around 200,000 Pakistanis once all restrictions are removed.

The restrictions were imposed after 9/11 when Britain sensed a threat to its interests in many Muslim countries. The planned restoration of full service implies that the number of the consular staff will also return to the pre-9/11 level. The British decision raises hopes that perhaps other western embassies will follow suit and restore normal visa operations.

Mr Straw did acknowledge the great inconvenience and "aggravation" the prolonged restrictions have caused Pakistanis, many of whom, rightly or wrongly, think that they as a group are unfairly singled out.

One hopes that the British High Commission in Islamabad will prepare itself by the time it restores full service to deal with the expected flood of applications. This way the visa operation in Pakistan could perhaps become Britain's largest in the world, something that the foreign secretary pointed out.

Since British visa fees are not exactly on the cheap side, there is a case that its high commission in Islamabad might at least make the wait for applicants slightly more pleasant than it currently is.

Some kind of shelter and drinking water should be made available to visa applicants invited to the high commission for interviews, especially when their numbers are expected to swell after May 1. Also, visa officers and the security guards outside and inside the embassy should be instructed to treat all applicants with a little more respect than is the case at present.