| 07 December 2004 | Tuesday | 24 Shawwal 1425 |
Widening trade gap
The price of negligence
The fact that there is an increasing realization of the unresolved problems involving Muslims breeding terrorism is reassuring. That Washington should show an awareness of this truth in the context of Palestine is particularly encouraging.
In his meeting with President Pervez Musharraf at the White House over the weekend, President George Bush asked the former to play a role in settling the Palestinian conflict. While Mr Bush's offer deserves to be welcomed, Pakistan has serious limitations on this score.
To begin with, it does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, and it is far too committed on the Palestinian cause to be able to play a mediatory role. Obviously, any side that tries to mediate between any two parties to a conflict must be on speaking terms with both.
This is not the case with Pakistan. Nevertheless, as a leading member of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Pakistan does have some influence with those directly involved in the Palestinian problem.
The European Union, for instance, has a certain stance on Palestine which is markedly different from that of the United States. Pakistan could throw its weight behind the EU efforts and help revive the peace process.
The negative consequences of over-commitment to one side is apparent from the fate of the peace process crafted by the Quartet - the US, the EU, Russia and the UN. Instead of prodding Mr Ariel Sharon, Israel's hawkish prime minister, to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority, the Republican administration itself refused to deal with Yasser Arafat.
The result was that the peace process has been in the doldrums since Mr Bush entered the White House four years ago. President Bush has also scuttled the peace process which he himself unveiled in April last year by going back on the 2005 deadline for a Palestinian state to emerge.
Another flash-point involving Muslims - in South Asia - is the Kashmir issue. Without its just and honourable settlement, a durable peace between Pakistan and India is out of the question.
A minimum 80,000 - mostly civilians - have been killed since the insurgency began there in 1989. The current peace process between Pakistan and India is proceeding satisfactorily.
But the uprising in Kashmir continues, with reports coming in daily about human rights violations by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir. The same is the situation in Chechnya, where Russia seems to place more emphasis on force than on political means for satisfying the demands of the Chechen people.
Seen against the background of violence in Afghanistan and the high civilian toll in Iraq - a minimum of 100,000 - the current situation only serves to remind world Muslims of their powerlessness and humiliation.
This strengthens religious militants, who believe that only acts of terrorism - irrespective of who gets killed and what target is attacked - can solve complex problems like Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya.
As the world's only superpower - and with enormous clout with Israel, Russia and India - the US is in a position to bring bloodshed to an end in these areas and work for a peaceful resolution of these conflicts.
In each case, it is the Muslims who are the victims of oppression and injustice. With no end in sight to the misery of the people in the conflict zones and without a solution of these problems, there is little possibility that America will be fighting a winning war on terror.
Widening trade gap
Pakistan's foreign trade deficit has risen to $2.5 billion during the first five months of financial year 2004-05, marking a 464.80 per cent increase over the corresponding period of the previous year.
While exports in this period rose to $5.3 billion, an 11.06 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year, it was the rise in imports by 49.27 per cent to $7.88 billion in the same period that widened the trade gap.
The growth in exports is said to have been possible by the exploration of non-traditional markets, improvement in quality of goods exported and better utilization of quotas. However, the increase in imports which include the rise in payments for oil, has offset some of these gains but the silver lining here is that dutiable imports will result in higher revenue generation.
While higher imports indicate a growing momentum of the national economy, Pakistan should take care not to make the mistakes it has made several times in the past of allowing unhindered imports at the cost of the local industry. Smuggling is another area that needs to be checked.
It is time for the government to look ahead and chalk out a plan of action as there are two major developments in the offing that will have a direct impact on the balance of trade in the coming years.
As the WTO regime goes into operation in about a month's time, the country's exports will be exposed to free-market competition. For Pakistan to be competitive in the international market, it needs to ensure that locally made products are attractive internationally.
Quality and price need to be kept under strict scrutiny because of this. Also, with deliberations taking place to reduce tariffs between member states under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta), regional trade is expected to increase.
Trade between India and Pakistan will rise as a result and Pakistan has to be in a position to offer a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional items to India in return for what that country has to offer.
The price of negligence
Whether it is amusement parks or industrial dumping grounds, the fact remains that children today are exposed to all kinds of serious hazards outside the protected home environment.
Saturday's tragic accident in a Lahore amusement park which took five lives, three of them children, and another near Karachi where eight children sustained serious burn injuries after being exposed to chemical waste, are but two examples.
Both point to the non-observance of proper safety standards on the part of the amusement park management and the industrial units dumping hazardous waste in open fields. The deaths in Lahore also remind one of a number of similar accidents at an amusement park in Karachi not too long ago.
Given these tragic incidents, the lax attitude shown towards children's safety and wellbeing on the part of those concerned borders on the criminal. For instance, in the case of the amusement park in question, it has been revealed that the rides there had been operating for several years without so much as having had any routine maintenance or safety checks.
The industrial sector, on the other hand, has been equally callous with its dumping practices. Besides the latest incident near Karachi, there have been similar reports in the past from other parts of the country too.
The health effects of the tanneries in Kasur and the deformities found in children in a village near Lahore as a result of illegal and improper dumping practices by the area industries are two recent cases in point.
Also, astonishing is the failure of environmental and several other regulatory bodies whose job it is to check and curb such hazardous activities and ensure safety at public places and in the countryside. The authorities must move quickly to stop such harm from coming to people, especially children, all too often.