| 03 February 2005 | Thursday | 23 Zilhaj 1425 |
Emergency in Nepal
Oil price increase
As the government mulls over the parliamentary committee's recommendations on Balochistan, saboteurs continue to strike at vital infrastructure and installations in the province.
On Tuesday night a power supply line was brought down near Sibi, the third such attack in 10 days, interrupting electricity to over 60 per cent of the consumers in the province.
Earlier in the day, a remote-controlled device went off at the Quetta railway station, followed by an attempted suicide attack which killed the suspect carrying the bomb.
Quetta and Sui have borne the brunt of subversive activities over the past few weeks - an explosion in the provincial capital killed 11 people in December and clashes at Sui last month left 13 dead.
An obscure militant organization calling itself the Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for a number of such attacks. It is not clear who is leading the outfit or whether it is the militant wing of a nationalist party.
While Nawab Akbar Bugti, the main stakeholder in the Sui area, has not endorsed the BLA's activities, he has nevertheless advised the government to ask itself why many Baloch are supporting the BLA.
The government has been publicizing the parliamentary committee's proposed package for Balochistan to ease the resentment felt by restive sections of the Baloch, but has not so far divulged any details.
The PML president heading the committee has only been seen on TV talking about the proposed package in meetings with the press, with a view, ostensibly, to taking Sindhi and Baloch nationalist leaders into confidence.
On the other hand, Mr Bugti has so far resisted meeting him unless the siege laid on Dera Bugti is lifted. This has not cut much ice either, and a stand off continues to characterize government-Bugti relations during the running crisis.
The Baloch nationalists are right in demanding greater provincial autonomy and better socio-economic opportunities for their people now that several development projects are underway in the province.
But their refusal to enter into a meaningful dialogue with the government has left much to be desired. For its part, the government is right in insisting that the security of vital national installations, such as the gas fields, railways and power stations, cannot be compromised.
There is no denying the fact that the poor in Balochistan are arguably the poorest in the country. A good part of the blame for this must lie with successive governments which continued to bypass Balochistan in their development and poverty alleviation schemes.
For instance, as has been repeatedly pointed out, the province that accounts for more than half of the country's natural gas production was the last to have been linked up with the national gas grid.
Today less than five per cent of Balochistan residents have access to tapped water. An estimated 80 per cent of the total area of Balochistan comprises tribal territories where the writ of the government does not run, and people reel under outdated and oppressive tribal customs and practices.
All these issues need urgent official attention, the cooperation of the Baloch nationalists and creation of an environment that is free of blackmail, destructive activities and threats of military action.
Emergency in Nepal
As Nepal plunges further into political uncertainty with the sacking of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Dueba and his cabinet colleagues, King Gyanendra has come in for international criticism with his latest move being viewed as another blow to the democratic process in the country.
The king has declared a state of emergency and has suspended civil liberties. Communication lines have been severed between the Himalayan kingdom and the outside world, and key political figures have been placed under house arrest.
A 10-member cabinet has been installed under the king's chairmanship, ostensibly to steer the country away from violence and towards the restoration of multiparty democracy over a period of three years.
While the king has justified his actions by citing the former cabinet's inability to hold elections or restore peace to a land wracked by an eight-year Maoist insurgency, it is difficult to say what exactly he has in mind.
Overstepping his constitutional limits when he assumed executive powers in 2002, the king's actions since then have only succeeded in alienating the major political parties, increasing Maoist violence and in disappointing his subjects to the point where they have rioted against the monarchy.
In fact, he has effectively put paid to Nepal's 14-year fledgling democracy that was promulgated with the multiparty system in 1990, which today remains without a parliament for more than two years.
King Gyanendra should pay heed to what others in the country are saying, including Maoist leader Prachanda who has described the king's latest move as smacking of "mediaeval feudal autocracy".
Already the Maoist insurgency has cost the nation about 11,000 lives, besides inflicting heavy damage on infrastructure. The rebels now have de facto control of 40 per cent of the territory, and of late, have shown themselves capable of bringing the capital Kathmandu to a virtual standstill through a series of blockades.
On yet another front, the king stands to lose development funds from countries like Britain which has hinted that aid to Nepal might be withheld unless multiparty democracy is restored.
Considering the extent of underdevelopment in the country, and the grinding poverty of its people, Nepal can ill afford to be deprived of international assistance, especially at a time when the deepening crisis has severely affected its once booming tourist industry.
Keeping these factors in mind, King Gyanendra would be well advised to stop taking retrograde and repressive measures and work seriously towards the restoration of democracy in his kingdom.
Oil price increase
The increase in petrol prices notified on February 1 is not only going to further fuel inflation but will also eat into the household budgets of low- and middle-income households.
The hike means that in the past month alone, the price of petrol has increased by over 13 per cent. A starker picture emerges if prices are compared with those in January 2004. Since then these have increased a whopping 25 per cent, those of diesel by 19 per cent and hi-octane (HOBC) by almost 30 per cent.
The recent increases have come at a time when oil prices in the world market are on their way down, lending credence to reports that the government now intends to make up for the loss in the petrol development surcharge which it absorbed while keeping prices stable late last year at a time when world oil prices were at their peak.
Whatever the compulsions of the government, it has to be pointed out that such measures are extremely regressive because they disproportionately affect poor and impoverished sections of the people.
Raising the cost of production, which is what happens each time oil prices go up, erodes the GDP growth rate which the prime minister so often refers to as part of his government's plan to transform the economy and take the poor out of the poverty net.
Besides, one would have thought that robust economic growth would have partially reduced the government's dependence on using the petroleum levy to increase its revenue earnings but that has not happened.
The system under which the companies selling petrol are put in charge of determining prices is most unsatisfactory and needs to be replaced with prices determined by an independent statutory body like Ogra. The issue here of conflict of interest and the probability of collusion between the companies to fix prices would be evident even to a layperson.