| 30 April 2005 | Saturday | 20 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426 |
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Boosting textile exports
What justice demands
THE Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty has long been in limbo, notwithstanding the fact that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan raised the issue in New Delhi on Thursday. The CTBT was the theme song of the late nineties, when non-proliferation was one of the Clinton administration’s major foreign policy goals. Pakistan was then under American sanctions because the Pressler amendment was operative. In May 1998 India conducted a series of nuclear tests, forcing Pakistan to do likewise. Since then, neither of the two South Asian powers has shown any willingness to sign the CTBT. In the meantime, a sea-change occurred in America itself when a Republican administration took over in 2000. Its policies were characterized by unilateralism, as evident from America’s refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol and the decision to set up an anti-missile defence shield. For all practical purposes, this “shield” killed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 with Russia. The situation changed dramatically after 9/11, with the war on terror occupying the centre-stage in America’s foreign policy.
Over the years, non-proliferation under the Bush administration has come to mean two things: one, nuclear weapons should not fall into the hands of terrorist groups; two, no “rogue” state should become a nuclear power. On the first point, the international community seems to have scored some success when, earlier this month, the UN General Assembly adopted the convention on nuclear terrorism. In pursuit of the second goal, America unleashed its war on Iraq, where nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction were supposed to be hidden in large quantities. Now two other countries are America’s worry on this score — North Korea and Iran. In the case of the former, America has not shown the same non-proliferation zeal as in the case of the latter, obviously because it is Israel that sets the course for Washington’s Middle East policies. On more than one occasion, Israel has threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear installations. America, too, has not ruled out the use of force against Tehran if it continues with its nuclear plans. In pursuit of that policy, one Muslim country after another is being taken care of. Iraq stands devastated. Always regarded by Israel as a major source of threat to its security, Iraq was attacked for possessing WMDs and now seems to be under the open-ended occupation of the US-led forces. Next, Syria has been put in its place. It has been forced to quit Lebanon, and the country has been demonized for alleged support to terrorism and for trying to acquire WMDs. Iran is still holding out, and it remains to be seen what new front the necons in Washington are about to open in the Middle East. Mr Annan’s warning against such a move must be heeded, because according to the UN chief, Tehran is cooperating with Europe on this issue.
Non-proliferation is a laudable aim. The more states possess WMDs the more the world becomes an unsafe place. But containing nuclear proliferation requires an honesty of purpose. At present, this is missing in American and European policies on the issue. You cannot check proliferation while pampering Israel, the Middle East’s only nuclear power. Pressuring Iran and placing it under sanctions while aiding Israel in spite of its violation of UN resolutions on a number of issues — occupation, genocide, HR excesses — has deprived the US-EU policies on non-proliferation of a moral content.
THE poor performance of Pakistani textile exports, which grew by only one per cent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, is cause for concern. From July 2004 to February 2005 textile exports were of the value of $5.2 billion as compared to $5.1 billion in the previous year. One would have expected textile exports to grow at a faster rate as a result of various factors like a bumper cotton crop and the gradual easing up of the quota regime. Instead, since January 2005, when the quota-free regime came into effect, Pakistani textile exports have not done too well. One reason for this is the continuation of anti-dumping duties by the EU on Pakistani exporters and its refusal to include Pakistan in its GSP-plus concessions. As a result, there has been an 11 per cent decline in export of bed sheets from Pakistan in the first three months of 2005.
Over the past few years, the emphasis in Pakistan’s exports has gradually moved from raw cotton to value -added products, and rightly so. The textile industry has increased its exports by 40 per cent during the last four years, and this includes the period when there was a global economic depression following the events of September 11, 2001. Growth in this sector seems to have stagnated over the past year or so. Textiles and other cotton-based products account for over 60 per cent of the country’s total exports. Given that the country’s foreign trade deficit has risen to $3.20 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal year, one would expect a rise in exports in the coming months. Stagnating exports are not an encouraging sign and the government needs to take notice. Aside from entering into meaningful discussions with countries that import Pakistani goods, there should be serious efforts to make the cost and quality of Pakistani products more competitive and for them to find new markets.
THE National Assembly standing committee’s directive to Director-General, National Police Bureau, Dr. Shoaib Suddle, to conduct an investigation into the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Sialkot and the murder of a student in Karachi is reassuring. Once the investigation report is at hand, the committee has vowed to take strict action against the influential people who are said to be involved in the two cases. The plight of the teenage girl is particularly heart-rending as she was kidnapped on February 22 and gang-raped until she was rescued by the police almost a month later. However, by a twist of fate, police officials too are said to have raped her and then put pressure on her father for withdrawing the FIR against the perpetrators of the crime. The second case being investigated relates to the torture and subsequent murder of a student from a Karachi government college who was affiliated with the student wing of a religious party, which claims that an ethnic party is responsible for their colleague’s murder. These incidents are reminiscent of the turbulent ‘80s when violent clashes between groups of students wreaked havoc on campuses and disrupted education often and for long periods, which is why it is important to ascertain the truth in this case and hold those political parties responsible for inciting violence amongst student groups and factions.
Now that an investigation has been ordered, one hopes that it will be conducted in an impartial manner and the process does not come under the influence of any vested interest. Two gross acts have been committed and it is important to ascertain the truth, especially if the police are responsible for obstructing justice in both these cases as is being apprehended by the aggrieved parties. Unless and until those “influential” groups are punished and made an example of, what hope does the common man have of finding justice?