| March 28, 2006 | Tuesday | Safar 27, 1427 |
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Alternative energy source
Afghanistan and Pakistan
‘Growth from within’
Change of title
Human resources in education
Price of furnace oil
Visa problem
Pakistan Day
Entrance fee
‘No alternative to talks’
THE US once again opposed the technically viable Iran-to- India gas pipeline (IPI) project. This time the verdict came from US Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman, who, during his recent tour of Pakistan told Pakistani authorities his country still opposed the IPI project on the grounds that Tehran was trying to develop nuclear weapons, adding the government should pursue gas projects with Turkmenistan or Qatar.
However, he told Pakistan the US would be working for one gas pipeline project other than the IPI. Asked whether the US would offer financial help for any gas pipeline project, he said it was an expensive and specialised undertaking which could not be decided instantly.
This time US opposition to the IPI project will not leave any serious repercussions on India as it already surprised its historic ally Tehran last September when it sided with the West after the IAEA declared that Iran had failed to comply with its international obligations. India has moved to secure the fate of a rickety nuclear deal with Washington by replacing its pro-Iranian oil minister with a reformist seen as having close US contacts. Murli Deora was handed the key post in a surprise move, pushing aside Mani Shankar Aiyar who was a strong supporter of a projected gas pipeline from Iran. This shows although India is planning to abstain if there is a vote on the issue, in the long run it will continue to oppose Iran’s controversial nuclear programme and side with the US.
The nuclear deal is a result of the changing geopolitical dynamics in Asia, where India’s and China’s gigantic fast-growing economies are competing and where Washington is keen to use New Delhi to balance China’s growing clout in the region.
During her visit to India in 2005, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held out the possibility that the US might lift the ban on nuclear cooperation with India imposed in 1974 if New Delhi abandoned the Iranian gas pipeline project. US President George Bush announced a year ago that Washington would consider assisting India in constructing nuclear power plants.
Ms Rice also emphasised that the US had communicated to the Indian government’s concern about gas pipeline cooperation between Iran and India. She told India the US had certain issues with Iran because that country was involved in terrorism, had been interfering in the affairs of its neighbours and was also facing UN sanctions.
Significantly, Ms Rice played down Washington’s chief accusation against Iran, namely that it is developing nuclear weapons. The double standards are all too obvious; while the Bush administration is demanding UN sanctions against Tehran over unproven allegations that it is seeking a nuclear bomb, the US has eased economic restrictions on India, which has produced and tested a nuclear device.
Another good reason for India to refrain from the IPI project is the cost factor. According to Indian media reports, India estimates that a proposed gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and India is expected to cost $7-8 billion. The project to pipe gas from OPEC member Iran to energy-hungry India was earlier expected to cost $4.16 billion. The increased cost is on account of inflation and a large increase in steel prices.
According to Indian foreign policy expert Prem Shankar Jha, Mr Aiyar’s pet theme was an Asian oil and gas grid with China and Iran. His removal will alter the balance of power in the region.
The Bush administration’s reckless militarism in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now its aggressive posturing against Iran will drag India into untoward war, leaving India isolated. Washington’s opposition to the Iranian pipeline poses a political dilemma for New Delhi. While close military and economic relations with the US bring benefits, the Bush administration’s demand cuts directly across India’s relations with Iran and more broadly its own ambitions in the Middle East and Central Asia. India currently must import 70 per cent of its oil, and the figure is projected to rise. India must remember that considering Americans as a friend might cost them a heavy price as they ultimately will prove to be masters and not friends. As the game moves on, India will face a difficult choice between siding with an old friend in Iran and a new, powerful handshake with the world’s only superpower.
RASHID ASHRAF
Karachi
THIS is in response to Mr. Ainul Abedin’s letter, “Expensive wind energy projects” (March 23). Mr. Abedin proposes energy generation from coal as if Pakistan and the world need more deaths and disease from pollution. Coal is cheap, but at what cost to health and the environment?
Current energy production capacity is unable to meet the demand for industrial and residential use. To suggest conservation is to ask a man dying of hunger to eat less. As it is, industries are experiencing loss in production due to load-shedding and high costs due to the use of oil-based electric generators.
The Chinese who proposed coal-based power are themselves moving to wind and solar energy. India has coal as well, but they have developed a wind farm not too far from Karachi while another is underway in Andhra Pardesh. They are also manufacturing wind turbines and solar panels. Currently 123 countries are pursuing wind energy projects.
It is not a matter of rich or poor countries. Alternate energy is the only viable option for sustainable, clean and cost-effective alternative to “traditional” sources of energy. If wind energy were uneconomical then the US, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Canada, Japan and India would not continue to invest in it. In Denmark, 12 percent of the national electricity supply is derived from wind and Danish legislation demands an increase to 50 percent by 2020 (“Renewable Energy in Canada” Status Report 2002).
Mr. Abedin is misinformed about the “entire installation” being imported. Except for the generator, all other components can be manufactured in Pakistan. In time, all components can be manufactured in Pakistan. With any new technology, expertise comes with learning and hands-on experience. The potential of Pakistanis should not be underestimated.
Granted the initial cost is not cheap, but one needs to spread the cost over a period of 20 to 30 years. In fact, given the added benefits of increased jobs, higher industrial production, and clean environment, the current cost of 8.4 cents (US) or Rs.5.04 per kWh is not expensive at all.
MIR ALI
Chicago, USA
IT is a fact that Afghanistan is a nuisance for Pakistan. The Northern Alliance arrested Pakistanis who were in Afghanistan at the time of the Allied attack and handed them over to India. Now 15 Pakistanis have been killed in another act of terrorism.
The Afghan authorities rejects Pakistan’s claim that Afghanistan is in a mess. Pakistan should send back the millions of Afghans still living in Pakistan as soon as possible. Secondly, Pakistan should immediately end its diplomatic relationship with Afghanistan, bar all trade and seal the border so they have no access to our land.
I hope the Pakistan government will make end all ties with Afghanistan its priority and I am sure that most Pakistanis will support the government in this.
TAHIR RAZVI
Baku, Azerbaijan
THE call for fencing and mining the Durand line suggests that the government has not learnt from its past mistakes. Furthermore, it shows that the government has no intention whatsoever of seeking an exit from this so-called ‘war on terror’, at least not in the near future.
Afghanistan has always been a satellite state of Pakistan. Pakistani agencies and policy makers have had a huge influence in the social, economic, military and political affairs of the country. Mining and fencing the Durand line means that Pakistan is cutting itself off from the Muslim block to the West, and forcing itself to form a very unnatural alliance with India.
This will minimise Pakistan’s role in the region by reducing its influence and help India to develop as a regional power. The future, it seems, is very bleak for Pakistan if it continues with the current policies.
ABDUR REHMAN
Islamabad
WRITING on Bush’s recent visit to Islamabad in “America’s new imperatives” (March 21) Mr Shahid Javed Burki has illuminated the American administration’s thinking in a scholarly way. He writes “official Washington seems to have concluded that the best way of dealing with the Muslim world is to economically isolate it until its leaders and people are prepared to work with the West on the latter’s terms.” And adds “if Washington persists with such an approach, it will have dire consequences for a country such as Pakistan. Islamabad should take full cognizance of this development.”
Mr Burki has done well to caution Pakistanis of the impending risks and danger inherent in America’s new policy approach towards Pakistan, as declared by Bush at Islamabad. Pakistan needs to re-orient its thinking on economic development strategies. By depending on foreign investment and foreign aid, which is shy to come, the country cannot progress at the speed required for its survival.
We must progress much faster to catch up with the American-supported Indian economy. We need a technology revolution of our own, untied with any specific country or region. Pakistani scientists and engineers must be awarded greater role to play as entrepreneurs to create knowledge-based industries in the country. “Growth from within” should be the motto of our new approach to economic and industrial development policies.
HUMAYUN ZAFAR
Toronto, Canada
THE change of title for a property transacted through a foreign-based ‘power of attorney’ takes a very long time. Documents pass through a circular procedure for verification. Therefore, some financial institutions too are hesitant about entertaining loans on such applications. The documents eventually land at local registrar’s office after making a time-consuming journey from the place of transaction to the foreign land where it was registered.
This is a slow-paced process, probably due to the lack of interest of the people involved in the verification procedure. A naïve buyer, in the majority of cases, pays through the nose to buy a house for his family. All his savings and assets hang in the balance until the property which he has bought is transferred into his name.
The government is requested to put in place an alternate arrangement to mitigate the suffering of such people. It will be fair if the verification of documents is performed locally or the route and time of the whole process is shortened. Such deals would benefit Pakistani expatriates who are important economic players. They not only repatriate their hard-earned money to Pakistan to add to its foreign exchange reserves but also sacrifice their time and energies to make the economy strong and robust.
M. FATIMA
Karachi
IT is a common fact that Pakistan’s education infrastructure is plagued by incompetent teachers and a lack of focus on creative and logic-based teaching.
When all else fails the profession of teaching is adapted. This is a common story of our society where teaching is reserved for the unsuccessful few who just couldn’t make it in any other field which is a glaring difference to the way rest of the world perceives this noble profession. In the West , only the most competent and knowledgeable few in society are given the responsibility of imparting knowledge to the masses. Professors with PhDs , MPhils and doctorates are the only ones who are allowed in this profession whereas our society continues to absorb teachers with little or no knowledge of the outside world .
Having said that our teachers lack any knowledge of the outside world , it is no surprise that knowledge that is imparted in classrooms (which happens infrequently due to closure of classes because of student politics) is limited to books and thus the creativity of the young minds is left in the dark and unexplored. In the West where institutions like Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford thrive, negating the information is the order of the day. A common rule applies: “everything that is written in the books is useless until proven otherwise” as opposite to the concept prevalent in Sindh where anything and everything that students cram their minds with is limited to information contained in the textbooks (even those are outdated as syllabus is never updated which is another problem source for incompetent education in Pakistan). By negating I mean to say that students are given a chance to explore the subject matter of books themselves rather than the information (whether valid or not)being imposed on them . With such logical education, intelligence flourishes as ideas are discussed and practical issues are tackled.
There are a few suggestions to tackle this problem, i.e., allow only those who are literate (in the strictest sense) to take up the profession of teaching by putting in a mechanism of checks and balances which will make it difficult for incompetent people to exploit this field. This can be done by filtering a majority of those who at least have a master’s degree if not doctorates and PhDs.
Encourage creativity, that is, do not just limit the teaching to textbooks. Discuss broad topics such as literature, philosophy, poetry and current affairs.
Revise and update syllabus intelligently (include western material which would help broaden the horizon of the young minds).
Encourage class participation by discussing ideas, thoughts and current affairs which should not necessarily be limited to the syllabus. A strategy needs to be formulated which will break the process of revamping the quality of human resources in Pakistan into simple yet effective steps.
ASAD LATIF PALIJO
University College
London
THE price of petroleum products is reviewed fortnightly by the Oil Advisory Committee on the basis of the price of crude oil prevailing in the international market. Since Jan 1 the price of crude oil declined from $70 per barrel to an average of $60 per barrel; but no relief was given to the public as a result of this decrease.
However, for the last five consecutive fortnights the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene was maintained at the same level. In contrast, the price of furnace oil was regularly increased from Rs20,645 to Rs25,432, almost a 25 per cent increase.
Furnace oil is a by-product of crude oil, imported and locally produced. So there is no justification for such an unrealistic increase which adversely affects the industries using furnace oil as fuel. The managements of refineries and oil marketing companies should be advised to reduce the price of furnace oil to save the local industry from the adverse effect of this unrealistic increase.
ABDUL MAJID SHEIKH
Karachi
THE Indian high commission in Pakistan is not accepting applications for visa from persons who not have relatives in the towns to be visited.
I spoke to the visa officer in Islamabad and told him that no Muslims were left in Patiala and Ludhiana, so I have no relatives there. His answer to my request for a visa was still ‘no’. That is the policy, he told me.
This means that no Pakistani of East Punjab origin can visit their place of birth. Likewise, Pakistanis who were not born in India and have no relatives there would also be denied a visit to India. I am surprised this is happening in the backdrop of the confidence-building measures talked about so much.
On the other hand, the Pakistan high commission in Delhi issues visas without any consideration of relatives.
ABDUR RAHMAN
Karachi
THE changing of the guard at the ‘mazar’ of Allama Iqbal is a ritual on Pakistan Day. Every year on March 23 guard duties are taken over by the Pakistan Air Force from the Rangers. At this time, a wreath is laid on the ‘mazar’ on behalf of the Chief of Air Staff. The inscription on the wreath is invariably in English, and this year was no exception.
I think it is an insult to Allama Iqbal to honour him in this way. Are there no appropriate words in the Urdu language that can adorn the floral wreath? Sadly, we go through the ritual of honouring Iqbal, but don’t care for his message.
M. NAWAZ KHAN
Lahore
THE news that PIA has increased entrance fee of planetarium, the only such facility of scientific knowledge for students in a big city like Karachi, has disappointed the entire community.
In developed countries learning facilities in the form of museums, libraries and planetarium are not only universal, but are mostly gratis. Colleges and schools organise visits by their pupils regularly in order to acquaint them with up-to-date knowledge.
This is the reason that our students have not developed imaginative minds or the spirit of inquiry essential for the growth of scholarship.
The profit from the enhancement of entrance fee for an organisation like PIA would be peanuts as compared to the enormous advantages that such modern facility render to students and the citizens alike.
I entreat airlines authorities to immediately withdraw their decision and if possible allow entry free of cost. Besides this, I request the Higher Education Commission to impress upon large corporations to come forward and develop similar facilities all over the country so that more citizens can benefit from them.
ALTAMASH MANZOOR H. KURESHI
Karachi
THIS refers to the editorial “No alternative to talks” (March 22). At this time all political institutions and stakeholders are out of the loop. There is not a squeak from the four provincial assemblies on the simmering situation in the northern areas and Balochistan. There is silence in the National Assembly and the Senate so loud that it can be heard in Karachi.
The editorial mentioned committees for resolving the grievances of the local populace. Such committees are sterile, as they have no mandate and therefore fail to resolve the issues. Decisions are made outside the elected houses with a communiqué issued from time to time to the effect that the law and order situation is under control and peace prevails all over the country. Meanwhile acts of terrorism like bombing of gas pipelines and blowing up of grid stations are a routine.
The interior minister recently said that the trouble in Miramshah has spread into other districts such as Tank and Mir Ali, seriously challenging the writ of the government. The country seems to be at war with itself. Since the political forces in the country have been rendered ineffective by various strong-arm methods, the resolution of the Balochistan problem will remain a pipe dream.
ASLAM MINHAS
Karachi
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