| April 27, 2006 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1427 |
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Issue of land ownership
The lone horseman
Suicide bombing
When there is a will
Reforms for efficient service
Joyrides for some
Poultry business
Virtual university
Emergency exits
Democracy in Nepal
PAF’s women pilots
Pakistani cinema
IT is reported that the two former prime ministers Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif have finally agreed to launch a joint struggle for revival of democracy in Pakistan. The two exiled Pakistani political leaders met in London —- a common refuge of Pakistani politicians when they find themselves in trouble in Pakistan. According to sources, both Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, discussed their return to Pakistan and strategies for the next general election.
Politics in Pakistan is like Hindi movies where the same old story is repeated with change of actors and titles. Unfortunately, the people have been treating their political gurus with short memories from the very beginning. Despite terrible experiences in their tenure, the people have entertained the same parties and their leaders.
From 1988 to 1998 Ms Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif came to power twice. Both failed to sustain and promote democracy in the country. Both were accused of corruption, lawlessness and both promoted the culture of favouritism and political briberies.
During the tenure of Ms Bhutto, from 1993 to 1996, lawlessness was so high and insecurity so acute that people were openly inviting the army to take over. It was not only political instability which had created concern among the people; an important area of frustration was economic disorder and chaos.
The budget announced in June 1996 was followed by a couple of mini-budgets. As a result of $30 billion in foreign debt and Rs.850 billion in internal debt Pakistan was caught in a vicious cycle. Ms Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari was appointed as federal minister for investment and environment. Zardari was only accountable to his wife.
Today, Ms Bhutto is very eager to come back to Pakistan and become prime minister for the third time. The point here is who sent Benazir into exile and who has stopped her from coming back? It was her choice to avoid possible jail and live in comfort in Dubai and England.
As to Mr Nawaz Sharif, he first came to power in November 1990 as the prime minister. Earlier he was chief minister of Punjab. The Sharif family’s wealth is built around steel, paper, sugar and textile mills and his business empire rose astronomically during the 1980s and 1990s. Mr Sharif and his family had not missed any chance to pile up money.
The income tax laws were amended to defray unlawful rebates and freedom of the press was curtailed. New banking schemes were launched to oblige family and friends. The stories of his exotic life and about his lavish palace in Raiwind read like a romantic serial in the media.
Both Ms Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif reviled each other. In fact, Ms Bhutto’s alleged foreign assets first surfaced when Mr Nawaz Sharif was opposition leader. He revealed that Ms Bhutto had bought an expensive property in Surrey, England. In October 1999, Gen Pervez Musharraf overthrew Mr Sharif’s government negotiated his fate with Saudi Arabia and forced him to go into exile in Saudi Arabia for ten years. President Musharraf had accused Mr Sharif of ordering the plane by which Gen Musharraf was returning from an official visit to Sri Lanka to be diverted to Nawabshah airport.
Whatever the truth and whatever the reasons behind the scenes, in Pakistan, the army creates political leaders, it holds elections, it establishes democracy and comes back when things don’t run in its favour.
Gen Musharraf was considered a redeemer. Politicians were declared villains, the khakis promised good governance and economic upturn. President Musharraf said he would clean the country of incapable, fraudulent and corrupt politicians. The people wanted to see reforms in every area and elimination of the bureaucratic culture. Almost seven years have gone by, and while the country may have seen some changes in foreign policy, there has been no change in the deeply-rooted feudalistic and bureaucratic system and in the involvement of the army in civil administration.
Today this is the biggest question for the people of Pakistan —- as to what they really want and who they want to see in power and with what agenda. The people must see the manifestoes of all political parties and their leaders. Pakistan cannot afford any more promises except long-term plans for the country’s development in agriculture, technology, economy, education, health, environment and foreign relations.
SYED ATIQ UL HASSAN
Sydney, Australia
SHAHID Javed Burki rightly points out (Dawn, April 25) the purpose for the establishment of defence housing authorities and the windfalls that re-marketing brought to the officers corps. As we know these schemes continue to this day. But a phenomenon not previously common is that these very same parcels of land, now recycled at hundred-fold multiples, are with alarming regularity snapped up by retired service officers themselves even though current prices compare with New York’s Park Avenue and are totally out of reach of most. A measure of success for the rewards scheme not dreamt of by its Ayubian authors!
I was also concerned with Mr Burki’s assertion that small-scale family farms are a more effective productive unit and even if this conclusion supports the radical cry of “land to the tillers”, there is overwhelming empirical data that agricultural yields in India and Pakistan are very low in part because of the skewed pattern of land ownership. The main reasons are the underutilisation of labour (‘under-employment’) and the extensive, and not intensive, nature of land utilisation.
However, far from advocating the status quo, I am suggesting that pseudo-egalitarian measures, such as the politically-motivated Bhutto land reforms, are equally counter-productive. Land and tenancy reforms are vital and must be taken up with serious purpose but policy must now be fashioned with the help of science, modern experience and expertise, not through omnibus decisions based on outmoded Fabian ideology.
Efforts of the past —- credit extension, pricing subsidies, cooperatives, etc. —- all benefitted only the already privileged. What is good for effective modern farming for one part of Pakistan is not necessarily so for the rest. Mechanisation will be cost-effective and efficient but not always practicable. The pursuit of greater justice should be tempered by the need for enhanced productivity. Mr Burki is right that this is the burning issue of the day.
KHURSHID HADI
Karachi
THIS refers to Mr Ayaz Amir’s column. “Problems of Pakistani horsemanship” (March 14). It is clear that he is craving for a change.
The performance of President Pervez Musharraf and his ministers during the last six years has been recognised all over the world. But Mr Amir is unable to see any good in it. Obsessed with democracy he appears to be with political parties who have never elected their office-bearers in an open session, have awarded tickets to contest seats to only those who could buy votes, and never enabled the meritorious to serve the country.
The Jamaat-i-Islami and the ARD have no other issue except the unconstitutionality of the president’s of military uniform. Karo-kari, honour killings and cruelty to women scarcely bother them. Over the sad and condemnable loss of ulema in Nishtar Park the Sunni Tehrik issues a 48-hour ultimatum to arrest the culprits and one party blames the other for this carnage. Was it not proper for all to assist intelligence to do this job quickly?
Law and order should be the joint responsibility of the government and the opposition. Waste of time in mutual accusation allows the real culprits to vanish. Recriminations vitiate the atmosphere and create hatred among us. If the authorities are helped with correct information and the evildoers are caught, it would create confidence between the people and the law enforcers.
I earnestly appeal to the columnist to look also at the other side of the coin, and think what would happen if a government of capable, honest and forward-looking persons is ousted.
W.H. ANSARI
Karachi
THE term ‘suicide bomber’ shocks every same person. It signifies a person who detonates bombs strapped to his body resulting in instant death and inflicting harm around him as a consequence.
The earliest suicide bombers were the Japanese Kamikaze who crashed planes on desired targets to ensure maximum destruction. The only credible suicide bombing occurred when a woman with flowers approached Rajiv Gandhi and detonated herself to result in the death of the premier.
In Iraq where bomb blasts are a routine affair, the terminology is widely used to blame unknown people for blasts caused by the impotence of the invaders.
In Israel the threat of suicide bombers becomes the pretext for killing Palestinians and building faster on disputed territory. In our country a similar trend is evident when bomb blasts are dismissed as terror attacks by unknown elements.
In reality suicide bombing is a mythical monster created by the masters to further their ulterior motives. It is extremely unlikely that so many young people could be brainwashed to offer the supreme sacrifice for monetary benefits or a place in paradise.
RAFI ADAMJEE
Karachi
ACCORDING to a recent statement made by the minister for railways in the National Assembly, the railway ministry lacks money to rebuild or repair thousands of railway crossings across Pakistan. Hundreds of deaths occur each year because the crossings don’t have any gates or other appropriate measures to deter people.
Perhaps if the expenses of the president, which are estimated to be about Rs716,763 per day, and those of the prime minister at about Rs641, 370 per day, were cut even by half and the number of foreign trips undertaken by them as well as members of the national assembly and the speakers of both houses and senators were reduced, the problem could be resolved. Politicians need to be sincere with the nation rather spending on luxury foreign trips to show the rest of the world that Pakistan is not a poor nation.
SYED ASAD HUSSAIN
Islamabad
THIS refers to your editorial titled “Reforming for efficient service” (April 16). It is good that a National Commission on Government Reform (NCGR) has been set up under the chairmanship of Dr Ishrat Hussain, former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan with nine members, six from the public and three from the government.
In the last four decades there have been quite a few such commissions and the last one was in 1990, set up by the Benazir government under the chairmanship of Justice Dorab Patel which worked for over six months going round the country and seeking the opinion of all sections of civil society and of government agencies. Millions of rupees were spent from the public exchequer without any report being published. The Benazir government was dismissed on August, 1991 and the report went with her. Let us hope this time the report will be finalised and published within six to nine months from the date of notification.
As for the terms of reference, it is imperative that it should incorporate the views of all segment of society vis-a- vis the Constitution of 1973 and the various amendments made to it. It is worth pointing that it is basically based on the Government of India Act of 1935, under which Pakistan was governed up to 1956, when Pakistan’s first constitution was adopted and that too was based on the said act.
The constitution of 1973 was adopted by the residual members elected during the general elections held in 1970 from West Pakistan. Its legitimacy is in question as it was approved by two vested interests — members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and members of the opposition parties from West Pakistan. The PPP would have got fewer seats if new elections were held after 1971.
Quite opposed to that, the Awami League of Shaikh Mujibur Rehman had new elections for a constituent assembly, which approved the present day constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. This was done at a time when conditions in the newly born Bangladesh were chaotic due to civil war.
The constitution of a country provides a recipe for the betterment of its economy. If the prescription is wrong, then how can the patient be cured? The very first term of reference of the new commission should therefore be to study the constitutions of developed countries like France, Japan, Germany, USA including South Africa and come out with proposals for adoption of a new constitution to be framed by the commission keeping in view our culture and ground conditions. The commission can co-opt eminent jurists and experts in constitution-making for its drafting and later approval by the people through a nation wide referendum.
ENGR. S.M. ZAKERYA KAZMI
Pakistan Citizens’ Forum
Karachi
ACCORDING to a news item (Dawn, April 13), an eight-member delegation was constituted by the AJK assembly to visit the USA, UK and Norway to highlight the Kashmir cause. The assembly speaker headed the delegation, which included his son, three ministers and others. But the delegation members did not visit the countries concerned jointly. Some of them went to the USA while others stayed back in Britain and visited some other European countries. The joyride cost the taxpayer around Rs 2.8 million.
The prime minister, along with a team of 40 people including three ministers, five MNAs, his staff and some media people, flew to New York in a chartered plane to attend a one-day meeting at the United Nations. The objective was to study how the UN’s operational work could be carried out more effectively. Interestingly, on the way back home, the team had a stopover in Madrid, Spain.
According to press report (April 14), the PCB chairman has enjoyed nearly 30 trips abroad, all fully paid, in his two and half years with PCB. He has become the most travelled cricket supremo in the world.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
Karachi
IN the last few days many advertisements by the ministry of health have appeared in the newspaper encouraging people to eat chicken. What I fail to understand is why the government wants people to come in contact with infected poultry?
There was recently a confirmed case of bird flu near Islamabad. Yet again every one related to the poultry business kept saying that it is safe to eat properly cooked chicken. But has any one thought about the handlers who are most at risk? By consuming poultry, no matter how well-cooked, we are putting them in great danger. It seems that the ministry is more concerned about the poultry business than about human life.
ANJLA NAVED
Islamabad
MOST cable operators in Lahore do not broadcast the Virtual University channel. I would request PEMRA to make it mandatory for all cable operators to broadcast the Virtual University channel for the benefit of students in particular and the public in general.
ASIF ULLAH
Lahore
I WOULD like to draw your attention towards numerous buildings in Karachi that have been constructed without complying with fire safety regulations and emergency exist. Most buildings don’t have fire extinguishers and water hydrants.
The government should have an act or ordinance passed regarding fire control and safety measure.
M. NADEEM SHAIKH
Karachi
THE brave Nepali nation has taught us that the fruits of democracy cannot be tasted without sacrifice, and that a dictator is bound to yield in the face of a people’s resolve for freedom. It’s been almost 59 years since we gained independence but Pakistan has yet to free itself from the anti-democratic elite group of landlords, generals and bureaucrats who always look for an opportunity to halt the democratic process in this country.
The dream of a moderate Islamic Pakistan can only be achieved through a sustainable democratic process. Hopefully our establishment has learnt a lesson from Nepal’s uprising.
ZULFIQAR GUL
Swat
I AM somewhat confused about the title of ‘fighter pilots’ that the media has been using for the PAF’s women pilots. My understanding is that they still have to undergo further training at one of the conversion schools before they are assigned to the fighter wing, bomber wing or transport wing among the flying formations of the air force. If the PAF follows the policy for women flyers in the Indian Air Force, it would appear that these young women will be assigned non-combat flying duties such as transport aircraft or helicopters.
Will the PAF please clarify the possible flying roles of these pioneers? We remain proud of their achievements regardless. And, thankfully, in the case of women flyers at least, the air force won’t have to contend with beards interfering with aircraft safety.
WASIF M. KHAN
Lahore
IN his article “On reviving cinema in Pakistan” (April 16), Hasan Zaidi has not only identified the real reasons for the decline of Pakistani cinema, but also provided a series of intelligent solutions for fixing the problem. The relevant government ministers should take his suggestions seriously.
Many European countries also struggled with their cinema industries, especially during the earlier years of the VCR. However, each country has found innovative ways for its film industry to prosper. It is a shame that in Pakistan, a developing country with an ever increasing population, this vital industry continues to decline.
Not only is film production, distribution and exhibition a very viable industry, it also provides an excellent opportunity for the projection of a positive image of our country abroad. It seems that the only way to jump start the cinema business in Pakistan is to allow the screening of Indian movies and encourage co-productions between the two countries. Right now all that is happening is that our best talent is moving to India to work there.
OMER DOSSANI
USA
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