| 29 January 2005 | Saturday | 18 Zilhaj 1425 |
Better sense must prevail
Legalizing cadaver donation
The political relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan has always overshadowed the economic dimensions of their ties. Yet, under the changed circumstances, it is time for the two countries to get their priorities right.
Can the two sides come closer economically and take the non-political aspect of their relationship to a higher, mutually beneficial level? This is the task that one hopes will be taken up in earnest when the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Economic Commission meets in Islamabad early next month.
From a historical and geographical point of view, no two countries are intertwined the way Pakistan and Afghanistan are. Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan has always needed a port for its trade.
Iran, too, is Afghanistan's neighbour, but, for historical reasons, it is Karachi which has traditionally served as the only port for its trade with the world, though of late the Iranian port of Chah Bahar is getting an increasing volume of Afghan trade.
The two countries have a long and porous border across which informal trade - a euphemism for smuggling - is higher than official trade. At present, Afghanistan's trade with Pakistan is one-fifth of its foreign trade estimated at six billion dollars.
Last year (2003-04) Pakistani exports went up from Rs10 billion to Rs28.39 billion, while imports from Afghanistan rose from two billion to Rs3.73 billion. This level of trade could go up manifold, but the obstacles in the way are many.
At present, there are seven customs posts, but it is the one at Torkham that is the busiest clearance point. There are plans to open more customs checkpoints, but no decision has yet been taken.
The road between Torkham and Jalalabad is in a bad shape and that creates huge traffic jams, with hundreds of trucks waiting for hours for crossing both ways. This badly affects not only two-way trade but also Afghanistan's trade with the world through Pakistan.
A re-building of the road and the opening of more customs posts will help, but the real breakthrough will come when the railway project gets going. Pakistan has agreed to build a 600-mile railway between Chaman and Herat through Kandahar, but the project still exists on paper.
The truth is that an increase in Pakistan's trade with Afghanistan is dependent on that country's reconstruction, which unfortunately is progressing at a slow pace.
The Tokyo donors have held up a greater part of their aid because Afghanistan is not in a position to utilize all the money. Even the modest $100 million pledged by Pakistan to Kabul remain unutilized.
What Afghanistan needs at the moment is a major effort towards building its infrastructure. Pakistan can help here by working on the railway project with speed and assist in the construction of highways, power stations and telephone exchanges, besides helping Afghanistan develop a pool of trained manpower.
Afghanistan's security situation also stands in the way of quicker development. The warlords' defiance of Kabul, the lawlessness in the interior, and the unwillingness of the Nato-led security force to venture out of Kabul and Kunduz have restricted economic growth.
Pakistani businessmen, thus, do not find Afghanistan ripe yet for investment. Its reconstruction and development have regional dimensions. There are plans for Turkmenistan's gas coming to Pakistan via Afghanistan, besides highways that will carry Central Asian trade through Gwadar. All these developments can see the light of day if Afghanistan can quickly put its house in order.
Better sense must prevail
President Pervez Musharraf's resolve on Thursday to protect key installations in Balochistan contrasted sharply with the reality on the ground, when a section of the Sibi-Quetta train tack was blown up.
This was the third attack on the rail line linking Quetta with the rest of the country in less than a week. Last Monday a blast blew up a railway bridge on the same section and then on Wednesday rockets were fired at a Wapda grid station near Sibi.
The Pakistan Railway's response has been to suspend night-time trains in and out of Balochistan and to deploy police along the track and at the tunnels. But such security measures cannot be a permanent solution.
The attacks on these vital installations are an indication of the tribesmen's anger after paramilitary forces were called in to secure the Sui gas plant near Dera Bugti on January 12 following an armed attack there.
The army has now announced plans to clear out some 500 Bugti houses in a 10-mile radius around the gas plant and build a new cantonment there. Nationalist Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, whose tribe stakes a claim in any development in the Bugti area, says he has not been consulted in any of this.
Efforts to start a political dialogue with Mr Bugti by a government team led by the PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain have been rebuffed by the Baloch leader. The nawab has demanded the lifting of the siege of Dera Bugti before any dialogue can begin.
The stand off between the tribesmen and the government does not augur well for either the Baloch people or the country as a whole. Surely all has not been lost in the on-going battle of wills between the two sides.
It is time the government stopped taking unilateral steps and involved other Baloch tribal elders to reach out to the Bugtis in a spirit of accommodation rather than confrontation.
While the attacks on the gas plant, the railway line, grid stations and other key installations in Balochistan cannot be condoned, it is the reasons behind these attacks that need to be addressed on an urgent basis.
Legalizing cadaver donation
While the death of a young social worker from Hunza must have been shattering for her family, it is heartening to know that even in death she provided a new lease of life to two kidney patients and bestowed the gift of sight on two others.
After obtaining permission from the parents of the girl, Shamim Khan, who was recently declared brain dead at a Karachi hospital, doctors removed her kidneys and corneas so that these could be transplanted on the four patients.
Unfortunately, the absence of cadaver legislation has made things difficult for several such patients in the country who could, otherwise, have led fairly normal lives if a draft version of such a law, that has been lying with the Senate since 1992, had been passed.
Thousands of renal and other patients in need of transplants and who must now tread the fine line between life and death, would have benefited from such a law that would also have helped curb the illegal kidney trade proliferating in parts of the country.
The general unwillingness to discuss the topic stems largely from the religious and cultural inhibitions of a conservative society. Obviously, with the help of the clergy - that can take its cue from Muslim countries ranging from orthodox Saudi Arabia to liberal Turkey, both of which have legalized cadaver donation - these need to be removed.
There must be greater willingness to view the subject from a broader angle that entails humanitarian values and that does not necessarily infringe on religious ethics.
This has not been the case so far, and the result is that entire families continue to be affected by the absence of a law that could have provided succour to relatives in need of organ transplant. Perhaps it is time that parliament, in consultation with religious authorities, considered legislation on the subject.