Now the reckoning

Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz's victory in Wednesday's by-elections in Attock and Tharparkar was a foregone conclusion. In the former constituency, the margin of his victory was large, but in the latter it was quite staggering - over 96,000.

The losers in both the constituencies have alleged massive manipulation before and during polling. The opposition's claim appears to be based less on charges of ballot stuffing or bogus voting and more on events preceding polling.

The ruling PML has been accused of using the state machinery for Mr Aziz's election campaign and for harassment of opposition candidates and their campaign staff and polling agents.

Shooting occurred before the day of voting in Attock - three PPP men were shot dead - but on Wednesday there were no major acts of violence, a fact acknowledged by the Pakistan Human Rights Commission. The turnout was low in both cases, but in Tharparkar it was relatively high, though the government's claim of 60 per cent is hard to accept.

The elections were as orderly or as normal as one can expect in our conditions. There has hardly been an election in the country that ruling juntas or parties have not attempted to fix or against which opposition groups have not protested.

But, even if everything had gone by the book, it is doubtful if the ARD candidates would have won in either of the two National Assembly constituencies. Only the margin of Mr Aziz's victory would have perhaps been less spectacular.

The opposition showed a lack of resolve to win right from the beginning. The ARD and the MMA could not agree on joint candidates till the last moment. The MMA especially tended to give the impression that it regarded the by-elections as trivial and seemed more concerned about other matters - like the fallout from the Wana operations and the on-going hunt for terrorists.

Mr Aziz himself attributed his victory to what he called the voters' recognition of the perceived improvement in the economy and the promises he made for doing more. In his victory speech, the prime minister-in-waiting said it would be his mission to make the country's future "bright and progressive" and to come up to his voters' expectations.

Promises made in the heat of an election campaign are often forgotten. It should be hoped that Mr Aziz will not forget his pledges after he is sworn in as prime minister. The constituency which has given him the highest number of votes is one of Sindh's - in fact Pakistan's - poorest areas.

A desert, Tharparkar lacks such basic human needs as potable water, health-care, and education. Good roads are absent, and its people cannot develop into a flourishing agricultural community because of the absence of irrigation water. One hopes the prime minister will set up a special task force to devise a master plan for Tharparkar's development.

Since Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain will continue to remain PML chief, Mr Aziz should be able to concentrate solely on his duty as prime minister. This should serve the country well, since in the past prime ministers have invariably also been party heads.

Pakistan is not much of a democracy, managed as it is by the military. The entire script that saw Mr Jamali go, an interim prime minister appointed and a premier in waiting named simultaneously was shoddily written.

If Mr Aziz's election can put an end -- at least for some time -- to playing ducks and drakes with constitutional practices and established democratic norms, it might be possible to seriously get down to the business of governing in a way that addresses the people's problems.

Blockade of Kathmandu

With Nepal's Maoist rebels declaring an indefinite blockade of the capital Kathmandu, events in the Himalayan kingdom have taken a serious turn as regular supplies of food and other essential commodities have been severely disrupted, causing prices to soar.

Moreover, several leading companies have temporarily shut down operations following threats from the Maoists. Realizing the gravity of the situation that is threatening to worsen as the capital has only limited supplies of food and fuel, the authorities have offered to hold unconditional talks with the rebels who are demanding the release of jailed comrades and information about missing ones.

In the interest of the general population, the rebels would do well to opt for peaceful negotiations, instead of causing hardship to the people through an unnecessary show of strength.

Their eight-year insurgency has cost nearly 10,000 lives but achieved little in the way of political reform or toppling the monarchy. Their heavy-handed tactics - that have included the kidnapping of schoolchildren for political indoctrination - could well alienate them in the future from those who currently support their revolutionary ideas.

No less to blame are Nepal's politicians and King Gyanendra, who between them, have made a right royal mess of the country's democratic institutions. The king, by vesting in himself more powers than those held by a constitutional monarch, and by inducting a succession of handpicked prime ministers, all of whom failed to check the growing Maoist rebellion or hold elections, has not endeared himself to the people.

This was apparent in a wave of anti-monarchy demonstrations held some months ago by those angered by the king's regressive policies. The task before Nepal's recently appointed prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, is not enviable.

He has to convince the squabbling parties - currently at loggerheads with one another - to rejoin the democratic process so that elections can be held. He has also to persuade the rebels to give up their violent ways by promising them fair participation in the political process. One proof of good faith would be to undertake development work in the vast rural areas, the neglect of which has been a key reason for rebel discontent.

Hospital waste management

It is a matter of concern that major hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi lack biomedical waste disposal facilities. According to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pepa), most hospital administrations in the twin cities are least bothered about medical waste management.

This was gathered from their non-response to Pepa's letter late last year to the various hospitals inquiring about their waste disposal systems and plans. According to Pepa, these hospitals lack incinerators, and even if they have them, these are usually not in working condition. It is an irony that our hospitals have in effect been increasing the risk of diseases because of their poor sense of waste management.

Incinerators have long been the established method of handling hospital waste elsewhere in the world. But in recent years there has been a move to discourage the use of these waste burners for two reasons: first, they have been identified as major sources of environmental pollution since they emit fumes containing cancer-causing chemicals, and second, they are expensive to install, run and maintain since they need to be equipped with pollution control devices that meet emission standards and requirements.

Thus, on-site incinerators are being discouraged, with hospitals in some countries shutting down their incinerators. Rather than spending scarce health-care money on costly new incinerator technologies, many hospitals abroad are instead encouraged to develop waste reduction strategies and other less expensive alternatives to incineration.

Our hospital administrations need not only to be urgently sensitized about proper waste management, they also need to be enlightened about handling medical waste in an environmentally responsible manner.