A gruesome act

The killing of two Pakistani hostages by Iraqi militants on Wednesday was a barbaric act that must shock all sane minds throughout the world. Those who committed this crime have shown themselves up in a horrifying light of mindless savagery.

The two Pakistanis - Raja Azad Khan and Sajjad Naeem - were civilians, working for a Saudi firm. Like all Pakistanis they were friends of the Iraqi people and had gone to that country to earn a living.

Since their murderers called themselves the "Islamic Army of Iraq" one would like to know if their action even remotely conformed to the values that Islam espouses and expects all Muslims to uphold in war and peace. For the Pakistan government, the tragedy should serve to clarify its thinking on Iraq.

Wednesday was a bloody day for Mesopotamia. Precisely one month after the so-called transfer of power to a non-elected group, bomb blasts and shootouts have left 120 people dead.

The most devastating of the blasts occurred in Baquba, north of Baghdad, where a suicide car-bomb left 68 people dead and 56 injured. All the dead were Iraqis. In Baquba, the targets were candidates queuing up for recruitment in the police force.

Earlier, too, militants made police recruitment centres targets of attack. By doing so, they were sending a clear message that anyone working for the present government would be seen as collaborating with the US-led occupation force.

This attitude of the militants has led to the murder of several Iraqi high-ups, including a minister and a governor. As for President Ghazi al-Yawar and Prime Minister Iyad Alawi, both are under threat of death from the militants. The situation is likely to continue this way because an end to Iraq's occupation is nowhere in sight.

The US is now desperately looking for soldiers from Muslim countries to police Iraq. It is unlikely that any Muslim country will oblige. In the case of Pakistan, the appointment of Mr Ashraf Jahangir Qazi as the UN's man in Iraq has caused some misunderstanding among the resistance groups.

Conspicuous by its absence is a categorical refusal by Pakistan to send troops to Iraq; instead, it has chosen to be deliberately vague. The latest is that Pakistan would send its contingents to Iraq only as part of a Muslim policing and protection force.

Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad's statement last Saturday gave out the government's thinking on the issue. He said Pakistan would send troops if a request came from Iraq's interim government, and the issue would then be presented before parliament for its approval.

Islamabad has never categorically ruled out the possibility of sending troops. Obviously, the Iraqi government would want very much to ask Islamabad for troops. But whatever the procedure followed in deciding the question, it would be a big mistake to send the country's troops to Iraq under the present circumstances.

Apart from exposing our men to attacks by the militants, the move will be viewed negatively throughout the Arab-Islamic world, and Pakistan will be seen as collaborating with the occupying powers.

The only scenario in which Pakistani troops should serve in Iraq is one in which the UN takes over the administration. Transition to an elected government can be effected only by the world body, provided it is in control of Iraq.

It is to strengthen the UN's presence in Iraq and help it organize elections to a transitional assembly that Islamabad should consider sending troops to that country. Any other course would give Pakistan a bad image in the Middle East and have political repercussions at home.

Rising oil prices

The rise in international oil prices to a 14-year high this week is cause for concern. While the rise is attributed to a crisis of supply from Russia, its tremors will be felt all around the world and Pakistan is no exception.

It is feared that this would adversely affect the balance of payments as well as push up inflation in the coming months. This is bad news for the common man. More must be done to reduce Pakistan's oil import bill, currently standing at about three billion dollars annually.

Over 70 per cent of this comprises furnace oil, which is used primarily by the power generation and cement industries. With 85 per cent of the country's oil consumption being met by imported fuel, the policy to rely more on indigenous fuel resources will help bring down dependence on oil imports.

The second largest fuel imported is diesel. This is used mainly by the transport sector. The government is now working on a plan to convert public transport to using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in place of diesel.

So far, success in encouraging conversion to CNG has been quite significant as pointed out by the fact that fuel consumption has dropped from 3.5 million tons in fiscal 2001-02 to 1.65 million tons in fiscal 2002-03. More needs to be done to promote switch-over of both industries and commercial vehicles to using gas.

With a success ratio of about 40 per cent, oil and gas companies have been doing very well in terms of exploration and prospecting. In the late 1990s, the discovery of the Sawan, Bhit and Zamzama deposits, all significant finds, helped increase supplies.

Seven new discoveries were made in 2003. This pushed up gas production in fiscal 2002-03 by 7.5 per cent to 993 billion cubic feet (BCF). However, for such exploration activity to continue showing results, the government needs to work more seriously at providing greater security and essential facilities to companies operating in Balochistan, which has a lot of potential but this can only be realized if a conducive environment is created there.

Gwadar-Muscat flights

The discontinuation by PIA of its three weekly flights between Gwadar and Muscat will cause the people of Makran serious hardship. The decision has been taken after refusal by Omani authorities to grant a safety waiver to the national flag carrier for operating Fokker aircraft on this sector.

The turbo-propelled planes are among the oldest being operated by PIA, with their Dutch manufacturers long having stopped the production of the planes and their parts. That PIA continues to operate these aging aircraft on domestic routes should be a cause for concern in itself.

Fokker flights are operated mostly on the Karachi-Makran, Islamabad-Peshawar-Northern Areas and certain provincial sectors, linking remote areas where wide-bodied aircraft cannot land with the main hubs.

Plans are said to be underway to replace these outdated aircraft, but until that happens the Civil Aviation Authority should reassess the planes' airworthiness from the point of view of safety of travel.

As for the discontinuation of flights on the Gwadar-Muscat sector, PIA should be required to make alternative arrangements at the earliest. Standard practice in such cases is to lease appropriate aircraft from a foreign carrier, as PIA has done in the past.

This should be considered without waiting for the purchase of new aircraft, or for the CAA to upgrade the runway at Gwadar, enabling it to take in jet flights. The time and cost involved - flying via Karachi will incur an additional over Rs4,000 - as well as the inconvenience caused to the people of Gwadar travelling to and from Oman should be the airlines' prime consideration.

Being an impoverished region, Makran's historical links with Oman serve as the economic lifeline for many families. These should not be made hard to maintain under any pretext.