| March 9, 2006 | Thursday | Safar 8, 1427 |
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Mubashir Hasan’s interview
Planning Commission’s claim
Neelum-Jhelum project
‘Checking inflation’
DHA waterfront development
Bush’s speech at Purana Qila
Sugar show
Basant
One in hand
Neighbourly advice
Customs complaint
BISE vacancies
Car’s sales
VARIOUS stakeholders have expressed their views in these columns regarding Irsa’s powers and duties. Among them are Mr Shafqat Masood, current chairman of Irsa, Engr. Fateh Ullah Khan, former chairman of Irsa, Chaudhry Riyasat Ali and Muhammad Shafiq Chaudhry. Their views need to be evaluated on the touch-stone of established principles of interpretation of statute which would solve the controversy accordingly.
This is with reference to Mr Fateh Ullah Khan’s letter (Feb 9) in which he defined Irsa’s powers and duties within the ambit of the Irsa Act XXII of 1992 and para 6 of the Water Apportionment Accord 1991.
He first referred to the act’s preamble and put forth his own logic, ignoring the established principles of interpretation of statutes whereas under “ejusdem generic principle” of interpretation of a statute it is clear that only identical things will be construed from the language and nothing will be incorporated which gives an altogether different meaning.
Therefore, it is clear from the phrase “matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto” that it means all those matters that are connected with the regulating and monitoring of the distribution of water sources of the Indus River as mentioned in the preamble of Irsa Act.
Now the stance taken by Mr Riyasat Ali (Feb 3) is relevant and rational. With the help of established principles of interpretation of statute, he has rightly explored the correct intent of Irsa. For this, his reference to the preamble of the Irsa Act and its interpretation is relevant and logical.
Furthermore, in support of his claim his reference to the “ejusdem generic clause” and its interpretation is convincing.
Second, the Irsa Act (power is given under the act) and the rules framed thereunder do not prescribe any powers and duties (duty is given under the rules) of Irsa with respect to appraisal of any project.
The correspondent has also referred to para 6 of the Water Apportionment Accord 1991 and the purpose of which is clear even from its name as meant to reduce into black and white the ratio of apportionment of the Indus water among the provinces. In the para concerned the words “wherever feasible” does not give a sense that Irsa has been empowered to assess the feasibility of the project.
The correspondent further refers to Sections 3 and 8(2) of the act whereas these two provisions have nothing to do with the Irsa qua project appraisal. To be more specific, Section 3 deals with the constitution of Irsa while Section 8(2) deals with the question of implementation of the Water Accord of 1991 by Irsa.
Section 8(1)(9) has further been misconstrued by Mr Fateh Ullah Khan as the provision concerned will be attracted only where some question of availability of water against the allocated shares of the provinces arises and only in that case the matter will be taken to the National Economic Council with respect to distribution of water.
The correspondent has further stated that the proposal of the Kalabagh dam was rejected by Irsa in 1996 whereas the fact is that Irsa has altogether no jurisdiction to evaluate the feasibility of such projects. The fact is that Mr Fateh Ullah Khans stand is not correct, as corroborated by the present Irsa chairman (Dec 22, 2005).
AMAR FAROOQ
Lahore
IN HIS worthy comments on my interview (Dawn, January 30), Mr W. H. Ansari (Feb 12) agrees with my observation that “an increase in crime and the growing unpopularity is true”, also that “poverty, unemployment, bribery and misbehaviour in every department” exists as it did during previous regimes. “But”, according to him, “hatred of the people or that of the military towards them is not”.
I had only said that “the hatred between the ‘ahalkars’ (functionaries) of the state and the people is increasing”. We all see pictures of policemen brutally beating citizens on the street.
We hear stories of citizens being tortured in police stations and jails, of police and revenue and other officials forcibly extracting bribes. We see pictures of people attacking, wherever they can, buses, banks, traffic signals and other properties of the state, etc, etc. Are these not pointers enough to show the nature of relationship between the state and the people?
For the military elite I had not used the word “hatred”. I had said: “The people have become alienated from the military as never before.”
There is nothing unnatural in the development of such a feeling; the people see the military and paramilitary forces as the protector and controller of the police, the principal instrument of oppression.
Unfortunately, without the backing of the military and paramilitary forces, the police will not be able to do their job. Herein lies the major problem of the weakening of our system of governance as it relies more and more on the use of physical force rather than carrying the people with it through democratic consent.
As for our government being or not being an agent of the US, the facts speak for themselves. We have no extradition treaty but we catch ours and foreign citizens and hand them over to the US without any court orders. We allow the US to establish military bases on our soil and allow our transport system to be used for waging war on a country we are not at war with.
We allow American planes to reconnoitre and bomb our territory. In short we allow our sovereignty to be compromised. No wonder the people are out on the streets in huge numbers protesting against the US.
It was the Dawn panel that had asked me whether we were “heading towards a scenario that is akin to the Six Points of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the situation thereafter in the former East Pakistan”. In answering the question, I had not said what your worthy correspondent assumes that I said.
Mr Ansari’s assertion that “all our leaders without exception agreed that General Musharraf had no option when, after 9/11, he decided to cooperate with the US”, has already been contradicted by Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto (Dawn, Feb.18).
I was also invited to one such meeting and noted that there was no unanimity as alluded to by the worthy correspondent.
MUBASHIR HASAN
Lahore
ACCORDING to a press report, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission told the prime minister during a meeting of the National Economic Council on Feb 28 that overall poverty had gone down by 6.7 per cent from 32.1 percent in 2001 to 25.4 per cent in 2005.
This decimal fraction accuracy is possible only if the Planning Commission has a credible and elaborate system of monitoring the daily life of over 150 million people of Pakistan, including those living in abject poverty since 1947 in far-flung remote areas.
The deputy chairman has successfully pleased the prime minister without ever personally meeting the common people even in Rawalpindi’s and Islamabad’s low-income sectors to know their plight and amused those who know or experience the harsh ground realities of continuous rise in the prices of essential commodities since 2001.
No wonder, the rulers learn the ground realities only when they are thrown out of power and condemned by the same people who fed false but pleasant information to them.
RAJA M. AFZAL KHAN
Gujar Khan
THIS is regarding a news item which appeared in Dawn (Feb 9).
Tenders were twiced called for international bidders under supplier’s credit for the construction of the Neelum-Jhelum 960MW project, and initially three Chinese companies and later on two submitted their bids.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the matter has been taken up with higher authorities to replace supplier’s credit with buyer’s credit for the foreign currency component.
In the recent past, similar pleas have been approved and accepted by the ECC which means that the new financial mechanism will not only affect the cost of the project, it will also call for a change in the rules governing the tender.
We call on Wapda authorities to provide equal opportunities to international bidders, making it transparent not only to have the lowest price but also to attain the services of a company offering the best expertise. It would be unfair if under any circumstances conditions are relaxed or eased to accommodate a bidder.
This would also translate into a financial loss to Pakistan. Since the credit line requirement will now be under a buyer’s credit formula, there would be many companies waiting to participate in the bid which should be called anew.
LOU XUHAN
Representative of the China Gazhouba Group of Companies, Lahore
THIS is with reference to your editorial “Checking inflation” (March 7). The Mid-Year Review of the Economy published by the Ministry of Finance on February 27 has reported inflation for the period July-December 2005 as 8.4 per cent as against 8.8 per cent in the comparable period of last year.
The editorial has reported inflation for the period July-December 2005 as 11.1 per cent as against 10.4 per cent for the same period last year, which is incorrect.
With regard to comparing inflation with toothpaste in the Mid-Year Review, it simply suggests that once inflation moves at a higher range it takes time to come down despite prudent use of monetary and fiscal policies and therefore in the literature of inflation various economists have termed it to be like toothpaste.
It does not mean in any way that it is an impossible task to reduce inflation. It simply says that it takes a little bit more time to tame inflation.
DR ASHFAQ HASAN KHAN
Economic Adviser, Finance Division, Islamabad
—The 11.1 per cent figure relates to inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index, as mentioned in the Mid-Year Review.—Editor
THIS has reference to Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee column “The battering of our beaches’ (Feb 19). Karachi’s DHA waterfront master plan was developed after a process that considered all the issues raised by the columnist, including inputs from prominent Karachi-based urban planners, architects and stakeholders.
Requirements of recreation-starved lower classes with a view to “franchise and not de-enfranchise” them were integral to the finalisation of the waterfront plan.
Beach developments all over the world are not extravaganzas; their value addition enhances the potential of sea front estate. They also provide protection against it from the degradation and poaching by building mafias.
The DHA considers that 80 per cent of the waterfront areas (Zones B, C, D, portions of E and F) are available for free access in their improved yet pristine form to the general public. Zone-A, adjacent to the old casino and contiguous to the city government-approved high-rise development, has a DHA-approved commercial project agreement. The agreement envisages simultaneous construction of a high-rise parking plaza and integral services, including a wastewater treatment plant along with some commercial development.
Lately there have been apprehensions expressed by some quarters that the building of a proposed park near the mosque (Masjid Usman Ghani) in Zone A has been abandoned.
There is no truth whatsoever in these assumptions. The park will be provided along with an expanded mosque with better architectural and design features.
Also, considerations of services were integral to the waterfront development planning. The DHA has pioneered a desalination and power plant with its own resources to ensure provision of water and power, thereby reinforcing KESC and KWSB. Additionally, all agreements are predicated on developers’ providing wastewater treatment and backup services. A comprehensive traffic ability plan is in the final stages of approval.
Moreover, approval of all agencies concerned, including an exhaustive study by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), was obtained before finalisation of the plan which involves limited reclamation of only 75 acres.
Lt-Col (r) RAFAT NAQVI PRO, DHA,
Karachi
THIS is apropos of US President George W. Bush’s speech at the Purana Qila in New Delhi on Marchi 3. It appeared to ignore the efforts of President Musharraf and the armed forces of Pakistan in the war on terrorism.
The present government has not only deployed about 80,000 military men on the Pakistan-Afghan border (Fata area) where in the past Britain in united India could not dare to do so but also banned several sectarian and militant organizations for the first time in the history of Pakistan.
Pakistan has never betrayed the US and other allies, whereas India has a track record of betraying allies. Even now their contribution to the war against terror consists of inciting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to level baseless charges of cross-border infiltration against Pakistan.
President Bush in his speech highly admired India for its strong democratic values but said not a single word about the human rights violations and atrocities in occupied Kashmir by the same democratic government of India.
EID AZAR BANGASH,
Biland Khel, Orakzai Agency
Watching the ‘Sugar Show’ on TV was like a dream come true. Ten private companies stepped forward, with no commercial interest involved they did it purely as a public service — something we have always expected from our rulers, but never got it.
Other companies are due to join the show in the weeks ahead and there is every hope of this mould-breaking effort snowballing into something wonderful for the country.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
THE Basant festival has already started taking a toll of human lives. Several deaths have been reported, including those of minors.
The irony is that most of the victims were either passers by or performing their routine jobs. For example, three-year old Mahnoor died due to the slitting of her throat by a kite’s sharp wire while travelling on a bike with her father.
A Wapda lineman was electrocuted while fixing a transformer when a kites metal wire sliced over the exposed transformer.
I fail to understand why the general public doesnt realize the monstrosity of this seemingly innocuous event.
BILAL RAFAT
Karachi
MUCH has been written in newspapers about US President’s trip to Pakistan. What I have understood from these editorials and articles is that America is more inclined towards India for its own economic interests.
Pakistan should consider this a blessing in disguise and learn to rely on its own resources.
TAHMEED SADIQ
Islamabad
THIS IS a retort to the neighbourly advice given by Mr Subbu K. Murthy living in the USA to Pakistanis (Dawn, March 8). I am also an Indian and in complete accordance with his opinion about the quality of your editorials.
But the pontificating manner in which he gives his neighbourly advice reeks of a patronizing attitude and is one of the major reasons for reactions filled with bigotry from the other side.
One feels like putting a poser to such people who are my fellow countrymen: “If India is progressing so rapidly on the economic front made possible by major strides in technology”, then why don’t you feel inspired to come back rather than live in the USA.
Every country has its strengths and weaknesses and pointing out only weaknesses is surely not a way to make friends, earn goodwill or brownie points.
SUDEEP CHATTERJEE
Mumbai, India
THIS is with reference to a letter (Jan 19) in respect of an incident at Lahore airport. This office has not been able to contact the complainant as her whereabouts are not known and the name of the passenger has not been given in the letter.
It is, therefore, requested that Barrister Sadiya Chaudhury, the writer of the letter, may kindly contact the undersigned for proceeding further in the matter.
TAUSEEF AHMAD QURESHI
Customs, Lahore
THE Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Mirpurkhas, announced various vacancies through the press in May 2005.
For this, it conducted a written test in a rather unsystematic manner. It was marred by malpractice and favouritism. The board held its final interview on Dec 16, 2005. Although several months have elapsed, it has not declared the names of the successful candidates. I would appeal to the Sindh governor to look into the matter.
PROF ABDUL KHALIQ RAJPUT
Tando Jam Mohammad
THIS refers to the news item published in Dawn on February 19 relating to the increase by 25 per cent of new car sales in the first seven months of the year.
Nexus/Chevrolet, which started local assembly of the 1000-cc Chevrolet Joy in December last year, has not been mentioned amongst the local car assemblers. Chevrolet is a new entry in the marke.
It was presented to the press and electronic media in Karachi on December 8, 2005.
MOHAMMAD A. RAZAQ
Chairman & CEO, Nexus Automotive (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi
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