| 19 December 2004 | Sunday | 06 Ziqa'ad 1425 |
Boosting Pak-China trade
Law against thalassaemia
The waywardness that has marked both government and opposition politics continues. One minister or opposition leader makes a statement one day; it is contradicted by another minister or politician the next. The president himself lets the debate on an issue run for a few days, and then jumps in to express his own views, which may be quite contrary to the impression earlier created by his own ministers.
Hopes are raised one day that the government has decided to finally embark on the sensible course of starting a dialogue with the opposition on national issues, but these are dashed the next day by an official spokesman or spokespersons for the main political parties.
Events attended by the president are not now normally open to the press because of security concerns, but the thrust of his remarks at a meeting with legislators and workers of the PML in Karachi on Friday appeared to be against any compromise with the PPP and the Nawaz League.
Even the promised dialogue on Balochistan has so far proved to be a non-starter, and the Mengal group of the Balochistan National Party has pulled out of the parliamentary committee entrusted with initiating the dialogue.
The government, with the force of the military establishment behind it, may feel that it has no need to change its unilateral style of ruling the country. And in fact there is so far no visible domestic pressure on it to seek a compromise, and having already tailored the Constitution and the assemblies to its requirements, it can afford to adopt a patronizing, dismissive attitude towards the opposition.
The ARD and the MMA are divided on many issues, and remain engaged in internecine bickering. No political alliance in our history has been built on the basis of principles or policy, and the MMA-ARD partnership is no exception to this rule. The government, therefore, indulges in a bit of hot air now and then to keep patrons abroad happy that it is genuinely interested in establishing a working democracy.
There is a serious shortage of calibre and intellectual input on both sides, and the approach of both to the challenges facing the country continues to be marked by ad-hocism and opportunism.
Is this the way we want to run the country forever? Can we persist in the illusion that since we have one institution that is well-organized, functions smoothly and is entrenched, we can ignore all other institutions that provide sustenance to a system based on the will of the people? Political institutions have been systematically ravaged in the past 57 years, and we have remained subject to whimsical governance, even unfortunately on the part of the elected governments we have been permitted to have.
As a result, it has been impossible to plan ahead in the economic, political, social or any other field except the purely civic (and even here we do not know whether a particular project will be completed before the local administration is ousted). At some point, we have to turn a new leaf, and live as citizens of a pluralist, democratic and orderly society where political change comes about through consensus and by the people's participation. The opposition is part of the institutions of a democratic order, and this imperative, not short-term expediency, should guide the government in its policies.
Some of this, inevitably perhaps, sounds pontifical, but most of us are beginning to slip into despair and cynicism and are getting tired of being citizens of a country that may be seen as a front-line state in the war on terror but is far from being considered a front-line democracy. It is the obligation of everyone in the ruling establishment and the opposition to enable the latter to at least begin to look like a realizable goal.
Boosting Pak-China trade
Prime MINISTER Shaukat Aziz's invitation to Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in Pakistan can be seen as a basis for stronger economic ties between the two countries. Chinese investment in key sectors of Pakistan's economy will not only give the country's manufacturing sector a boost but will also allow for transfer of technology in areas where Pakistan is lagging. There are already plans to establish a free trade area in Pakistan and expand the existing preferential trade agreement with it. Over the past five years, China has almost doubled its share in Pakistan's total imports and is its fourth largest source of imports.
If unofficial trade is also taken into account, China will be even higher up as a significant amount of goods from China are smuggled into the country every year. While local producers complain that cheap Chinese goods are driving them out of the market, affecting also domestic industry as a consequence, Pakistani consumers have welcomed the growing availability of Chinese products, which they say are cheaper and better in quality. An important concession that both countries are now proposing is duty-free import of certain categories of goods. If this is implemented, smuggling in these items should reduce significantly.
A closer look at trade between the two countries, however, shows that a lot needs to be done to address the growing trade imbalance. During fiscal 2003-04, Pakistan's exports to China fell by 42.7 per cent while China showed a growth of 91.9 per cent. This situation needs to be corrected for the volume of trade to grow. China can use Pakistan as a base for producing certain items for the region. Similarly, Pakistan has to work harder at enhancing its exports to China. In this, issues of quarantine and quality control should be tackled so that items like rice and fruit from Pakistan find their way into Chinese markets. Such moves will help strengthen ties between the two countries.
Law against thalassaemia
With efforts afoot to introduce legislation that would make thalassaemia tests mandatory for couples about to get married, it would be a sound complementary move to explain to the public why such a law is the need of the hour. Thalassaemia is a blood disorder, and the most common inherited disease in the country with no cure except bone marrow transplant - a costly procedure entailing certain risks.
Most patients of this genetic disorder have to endure lifelong transfusions that, in a country like Pakistan where screening blood for dangerous pathogens is not standard practice, can lead to life-threatening diseases. There are about seven million carriers of the thalassaemia gene in the country and about 5,000 to 6,000 children born every year are afflicted with this condition.
What the public should know is that consanguineous marriages are partly to blame for the growing number of people being diagnosed with thalassaemia, and that is why it is necessary to carry out blood screening before marriage, especially if there is a family history of the disease. Unfortunately, in most parts of the country, the old-fashioned notion of marrying within the extended family, or tribe whose members are related, is still deeply entrenched. There are certain social compulsions why marriages among relatives are still popular.
However, the downside of such unions, where there are risks to the health of a child born of such a wedlock, must also be considered. If it is known that the intended partners are carriers of the thalassaemia gene, would it be fair to subject their future child to a life of ailments, medication and frequent transfusions? Also, blood banks and hospitals should be equipped to handle thalassaemia patients with care and compassion, while ensuring that the blood transfused is safe and free from contamination of any kind.