| 29 April 2005 | Friday | 19 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426 |
Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
Putin’s Mideast initiative
For the sake of safe driving
THE visit by Pakistan’s foreign affairs minister, Khurshid Kasuri, to Brussels this week and his meetings with key European Union officials will help both sides strengthen bilateral political and economic ties. Overshadowed earlier by the treatment meted out to Senator Samiul Haq, the talks in Brussels focused on Pakistani exports to the EU, the financial assistance promised by the EU to Pakistan and the signing of a re-admission agreement between the two. Under this agreement, the EU will send back Pakistani nationals that have arrived in Europe without proper travel documents. For Pakistan, the importance of the EU cannot be overemphasized. This is a group of 25 countries that acts jointly in areas such as agriculture, commerce, foreign policy, justice, the environment, social policy as well as economic and monetary policy. There is now a single European market of 454 million people that has a common agricultural policy and speaks with one voice at the WTO and other international organizations.
In the past few years, the EU has been critical of some issues in Pakistan and has not stopped highlighting these. At the top of the list is Pakistan’s transition to democracy and its political direction, on which the EU remains uneasy, and the predominant role of the army in the country’s governance. In the recent talks, too, these issues were again raised. At the same time, satisfaction was expressed over normalization of relations with India and with the principle of ‘enlightened moderation’ that the present government pursues. To boost ties, the EU has promised a four-fold increase in its development aid to Pakistan — from the current 15 million euros to 70 million euros by 1997. It this funding to be spent on education and development in Balochistan and the NWFP. While this is a positive move, some sticking points still remain which need to be addressed seriously.
Pakistan’s interests with the EU are not restricted to the political platform. The EU is one of Pakistan’s biggest trading partners as well as one of its major sources of assistance. It accounts for 30 per cent of Pakistan’s exports (the US accounts for 23 per cent). In its exports, Pakistan is the EU’s 13th largest supplier of textiles and clothing. However, it is here that the EU seems to be most unsympathetic. Despite repeated requests from Pakistan and some endorsement from the European parliament, the EU bureaucracy continues to dodge the issue of better access for Pakistani textile exports. Of particular concern are the anti-dumping duties imposed on bed linen from Pakistan and the reluctance of the EU to include Pakistan in its GSP-Plus scheme, which gives countries duty-free market access to Europe. Pakistan has argued that keeping in mind its role in the war on terror, it deserves this privilege.
It is somewhat puzzling that while the EU is happy to raise the amount of aid to Pakistan, it is reluctant to allow the country to boost its trade relations that would help it stand on its feet economically. Understandably the interests of certain European lobbies have to be protected, but the EU needs to understand that to support a developing country like Pakistan does not mean simply doling aid but also exploring ways to make it stronger economically. It is here that Pakistan expects a better deal from the EU.
EVEN though Israel has shown a lack of interest in it, Mr Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a Middle East conference deserves to be appreciated. The Russian president gave no details about it during his Cairo meeting with President Hosni Mobarak, but he made it clear that peace should be based on UN resolutions and the roadmap. A co-sponsor, along with the US, of the peace process that led to Oslo, Russia would like to resume its role in the Middle East. A traditional friend of the Palestinians, Moscow lost its clout in international affairs following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the subsequent political and economic troubles there. The result is that the Middle East’s diplomatic scene has been monopolized by the US. However, despite commanding all the economic and military power, America has failed to be an honest broker because it is too much committed on Israel’s side. There is a need thus for a power to play a truly mediatory role in the Arab-Israeli conflict and move the peace process forward. Today, the process is virtually dead. The one prepared by the Quartet in April 2003 was abandoned by America itself when President George Bush surrendered to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s lust for land and agreed that Israel could keep “some” land on the West Bank even after a withdrawal. Later, the president said that 2005 was an unrealistic date for a Palestinian state to emerge.
Peace can prevail in the Middle East if a truly honest attempt is made to make Israel see reason and quit the Arab land it has occupied since 1967. The acceptance of the 1967 borders alone means that Israel will have 78 per cent of Palestine for itself. There then remain two key questions — the future of Al Quds and the right of the Palestinians to return home. There can be no final settlement without an agreement on this. A larger Middle East peace conference sponsored by Russia and attended, among others, by the US and EU stands a better chance of success. A roadmap prepared by such a conference is unlikely to suffer the fate of the previous such schemes. Invariably, Israel reneged on its promises and found Washington standing by it for reasons of domestic politics.
THE decision on Wednesday by Karachi’s nazim, Naimatuallah Khan, to revive the Karachi Transport Corporation (KTC) Drivers’ Training Institute, which has not been functioning for some years, is noteworthy, especially since the body’s purpose is to train drivers on road safety. Judging by the number of accidents every year — 600 people are killed in accidents caused mostly by buses, minibuses and coaches — it is surprising that it took the city government this long to recognize how important it is to have trained commercial drivers, familiar with all traffic regulations and laws. According to another figure provided by the district officer of road safety, one person dies every day in a road accident in the city while 51 per cent of pedestrians fall victim to accidents. Once properly trained, drivers will be able to follow the principles of safe and responsible driving in accordance with the law, which should serve to reduce the number of accidents and road mishaps Karachi is currently plagued with. Given that 175 vehicles are being registered every day and that more private transport companies are in the offing, it is imperative that road safety is made a priority so that these alarming statistics can be lowered.
Apart from educating drivers, be it commercial, motorcycle or automobile owners, on the norms of safe driving and understanding traffic laws, equal importance should be given to proper regulation of traffic and enforcement of traffic laws. The rash manner in which some educated people drive is appalling, as is the attitude they display when apprehended for breaking traffic laws. It is common for the so-called elite to exert influence when, for example, trying to manipulate their way out after having committed a road-related crime. The traffic police too display little regard for the law, often resorting to extortion for small road-related offences. The Karachi city government must ensure that the law is strictly enforced, otherwise requirements of road safety will never materialize.