| 23 November 2004 | Tuesday | 10 Shawwal 1425 |
Bolstering cooperation
Kidney transplant problems
The meeting between Mr Shaukat Aziz and Maulana Fazlur Rahman could turn out to be seminal if the two sides decide to continue talking. That Friday's meeting took place at all is reassuring.
Both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition said the talks were positive and cordial. But behind this bonhomie one could discern sharp differences on the fundamental issue of the president's uniform.
The prime minister refrained from touching on any specific subject, but the MMA leader made it clear that the president's "two offices" were in his opinion the main hurdle in the way of a harmonious relationship between the government and the opposition.
What is significant is that the prime minister chose to act. The initiative apparently was taken by him, and would be seen as a sign that his talks offer to the opposition in his Friday address to the nation wasn't empty rhetoric.
The two sides differ on many issues, not just on the question of the "two offices", but both had the good sense to say that the talks could continue in spite of their divergent views on the issues at stake at a moment. That is how it should be.
The nation faces a number of complex problems that can only be resolved by national consensus. The federal question looms large. The power and water crisis has assumed dangerous proportions. But the Kalabagh or Bhasha dam cannot - and should not - be built without allaying the fears of the small provinces about the consequences affecting them. Then there are a number of development projects which are agitating the minds of the Baloch leadership.
Its main concerns centre round job opportunities for the Baloch people in the mega projects now under way, besides adequate royalty to the provincial government on Balochistan's mineral resources.
There is also the war on terror and the precarious Wana situation in a highly sensitive region. The MMA and the ARD have both serious reservations about the government's strategy in this matter.
In his address to the nation, the prime minister asked the opposition to "show maturity" and respect parliament. Regrettably, the government itself has failed to act judiciously.
In fact, the opposition is not wide of the mark when it accuses the government of "re-writing" the military-civilian equation on the former's terms, for this is the net effect of the formation of the NSC and the passage of the "two offices" bill.
It has also behaved undemocratically in Sindh by cobbling together a fragile coalition only to keep the PPP, the majority party, out of power. The conviction of Mr Javed Hashmi and the long confinement of Mr Asif Ali Zardari - granted bail by the supreme court on Tuesday - have also served to alienate the opposition.
The government should realize that it needs the opposition's cooperation and understanding if it is to move forward on the detente with India and seek a national consensus on a possible Kashmir solution.
For this it must show a spirit of accommodation and set healthy precedents. While we would give the same advice to the opposition, we would expect the government to review the series of undemocratic and unconstitutional steps it has taken since the military take over of October 1999.
In the larger national interests, those aberrations should be rectified and a new beginning made if the spirit shown at the meeting between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition is to set the pattern for their future relationship.
There is speculation that Mr Zardari's bail in the remaining case against him might lead to talks with the ARD also. One will have to see how the political scene unfolds in the next few days.
Bolstering cooperation
Sunday's decision by Pakistan and Sri Lanka during Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's visit to Colombo to enhance cooperation in the fields of defence and trade augurs well for South Asia.
Given the troubled economic situation faced by Sri Lanka because of the prolonged ethnic conflict there, the prime minister's offer to extend a $10 million credit line for the purchase of Pakistani goods is a timely gesture.
The two countries have traditionally enjoyed cordial relations, but the potential for economic and trade cooperation between them has never been fully realized. Pakistan imports tea and betel leaves from Sri Lanka - two among the country's top imports - but the potential of exports to the neighbouring country, except perhaps for defence-related goods and equipment, has largely remained untapped.
The credit line now offered to Sri Lanka will help break the ice in that area, and boost the existing bilateral trade which capped at a little over $146 million in the last fiscal year.
The prospects of enhanced bilateral cooperation will help the two countries save a good amount of foreign exchange which they spend on purchases made from a third, often distant, country.
The mutual decision to activate the free trade agreement signed two years ago and the proposed meeting of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka joint economic commission later in Colombo are also steps in that direction.
The decision to import more tea from Sri Lanka instead of buying the same from Kenya and linking it with the export of rice to the island can set a good example for exploring the possibility of similar arrangements in other areas too.
The increase in the number of scholarships offered to Sri Lankan students for higher studies in Pakistan, and the decision to hire Sri Lankan teachers for the teaching of English in Pakistani educational institutions, will also benefit the two countries. One hopes that these decisions will be implemented instead of remaining mere commitments of good intent, which has largely been the case so far.
Kidney transplant problems
It is ironic that a kidney had to be flown in from the Netherlands as part of an international initiative for a patient in Karachi at a time when Pakistan is one of the more thriving sellers' markets for kidneys in Asia.
In the absence of a cadaver law - a draft version of which has been gathering dust in the Senate since 1992 - the illegal organ trade has been gathering momentum at the cost of local transplant seekers.
Those burdened by financial problems have been selling their kidneys to well off Pakistanis and foreigners. It is about time Pakistan's lawmakers, taking their cue from India where a booming organ trade has led the country to enact comprehensive legislation on the subject, legalized cadaver organ donation, and, at the same time, took stringent measures to curb commercial sale of human organs.
There are of course middlemen involved in this illicit trade, and unscrupulous doctors, too, stand to profit from such transactions. The consequences for the largely poverty-stricken donors - many of whom sell one of their kidneys in order to pay the debts incurred by them - can well be imagined.
If cadaver laws are in place, the market demand would go down and doctors and middlemen, facing possible imprisonment or hefty fines, would think twice before indulging in exploitative practices.
As for the religious aspect of cadaver donations, one can take heart from the fact that there are Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, where this has been legalized on the authority of religious scholars. The government should enlist the help of religious leaders in promoting the idea of cadaver donation.