| January 11, 2008 | Friday | Muharram 01,1429 |
To send a letter to the Editor
Click here
The truth always wins out
New Year’s gifts
Reaching the victims of violence
Rising CNG charges
Palm oil import
Where are we headed?
Ring tones
Entry test
Saving Pak Tea House
Democracy in parties
Readers are requested to restrict their comments to a maximum of 400 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for reasons of clarity and space. Letters, including those by e-mail, should carry the complete postal address of the sender. The views expressed in these columns do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.—Editor
ENERGY resources have depleted. Whatever resources are available are simply too expensive to buy or are already acquired by countries which had planned and acted long time ago. Delayed efforts in the exploration sector have not been able to find sufficient amounts of energy resources.
Nations of the world which have their own reserves are not supplying energy resources anymore; only the old contracts made decades ago are active. Airplanes, trains, cars, motorbikes, buses and trucks, all modes of transportation are coming to a standstill.
Many industries have closed due to insufficient power supply. Price of oil has gone above the ceiling. At domestic level, alternative methods like solar, biogas and other methods are being tried for mere survival.
The above is a likely scenario of Pakistan and around the globe after 25 years. A pessimistic view, but realistic enough to think about and plan for the future. But are we doing anything about it? Let’s have a look at the current energy situation of Pakistan and the world.
Pakistan’s economy is performing at a very high note with GDP growing at an exceptional rate, touching 8.35 per cent in 2004-05. In its history of 58 years, there has been only a few golden years where the economy grew above seven per cent
This year official expectations are that GDP growth rate will be around 6.5 to seven per cent. For the coming years, the government is targeting GDP growth rate above six per cent. With economy growing at such a pace, the energy requirements are likely to increase with a similar rate. For 2004-05, Pakistan’s energy consumption touched 55.5 million tons of oil equivalent (MTOE).
The energy consumption is expected to grow at double digit if the overall economy sustains the targeted GDP growth rate of six per cent by the government.
Pakistan’s energy requirements are expected to double in the next few years, and our energy requirements by 2015 is likely to cross 120 MTOE. By 2030, the nation’s requirement will be seven times the current requirement reaching 361 MTOE. Pakistan’s energy requirements are fulfilled with more than 80 per cent of energy resources through imports.
On the other hand, international oil prices have not only broken all records but are touching new highs, with every report directly or indirectly affecting the black gold industry. Moreover, speculators all around the world expect oil prices to touch $100 per barrel in medium term.
With concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme, terrorism issues in Nigeria and high economic growth in China and India and their ever rising energy requirements, oil prices don’t see any another way but to shoot upwards.
What is the government doing to ensure a sustainable supply of energy resources for economic growth? What strategic steps are being taken to acquire energy resources in future? Is the private sector willing to invest in Pakistan’s oil industry? What are the incentives being offered to the foreign players to continue working in the exploration sector?
What hurdles are stopping other big players around the world to enter Pakistan? What is the role of gas distribution companies so far? Are the citizens of Pakistan being robbed by energy giants with ever rising utility bills? What should be the real price of petroleum, kerosene and other oil products in Pakistan?
When will the nation have ‘loadshedding-free’ electricity supply? Have we been able to make long-term contracts with the countries to provide uninterrupted supply of energy resources?
Will the government be able to provide enough sources to the citizens for a sustainable economic growth? Have we lost the race for acquiring maximum energy resources for future survival?
BILQEES ANWER
Karachi
I AM getting e-mails from all over the world, as well as one phone call from a young man in Karachi, about current events in Pakistan. One US-based e-mail is from a full professor of law at the University of Kansas Law School, who is originally from Pakistan.
Two themes are dominant. One is the need for a more publicly-understood and agreed-upon-by-the-majority-of Pakistanis document to be ‘the’ Pakistan Constitution.
My view is unique in that I would prefer the 1950s’ first Pakistan Constitution over the 1973 Constitution. But, it is your country, not mine.
The second dominant theme is about the awful murder/death of Benazir Bhutto by Al Qaeda Islamic terrorists, as already admitted by them to the media.
What pains me the most is to read different views on who did what to cause Ms Bhutto’s murder when all you have to do is turn on your worldwide TV news to repeatedly see videotapes of Al Qaeda-sponsored murderer shooting Ms Bhutto, then blowing himself up, or look at still pictures of the murder act originally printed on the front page of Dawn.
It angers and dumbfounds me that some people think they can ignore the public video and photo evidence and make up flat lies otherwise as to how Ms Bhutto was murdered.
President Musharraf belatedly has asked Scotland Yard to investigate Benazir Bhutto’s murder. Thank God that common sense from the top belatedly has started to set in.
The evidence is clear-cut and Scotland Yard should be able to reconfirm the obvious facts in a few days.
With rare exception all who have e-mailed or called me seem to understand that I have no axe to grind and I try to deal as much as is humanly possible in facts that are either self-evident or can be documented from the Internet news and related records, both current tense and historically.
We are all at war with terrorism, and that motivates me to write until this damnable war is safely ended, however long that may take.
The outrageous lies and ill-will attempted by the murdering thugs who call themselves Taliban and Al Qaeda amaze me but you have to recognise that despite all facts some people believe what they want to, no matter what the facts are.
The good news is that truth will always win out.
GEORGE SINGLETON
Birmingham, USA
PAKISTANIS have received excellent New Year’s gifts in the form of drastic electricity and natural gas loadshedding, acute flour crisis and a horrendous loss worth billions of rupees in riots and rampages in the wake of the death of Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benezir Bhutto. Thus began the year 2008 with an aurora shining with a different fear every morning.
The electricity loadshedding is something that the government and the people of Pakistan should have realised alike that it was there to greet them soon when the construction of an ever important Kalabagh Dam had been postponed. The harbingers of the slogan ‘Pakistan First’ should have foreseen it too.
And now the entire nation has to bear the brunt of it as not only an ordinary household has been suffering due to severe electricity loadshedding in winters, when not even the airconditioners -– electricity-gobbling machines -– are being operated, but also the industries have been forced to shut down, as it requires an uninterruptible power supply of eight to 10 hours everyday for them to complete one industrial cycle.
Imagine what is going to happen in summers when Pakistan Electric Power Company has triumphantly announced that there is a power deficit of 3,400 mega watts!
Hydroelectric power is the only solution for a poor country like Pakistan and the sooner the government realises that, the lesser time Pakistanis would face in a blackout. Coal and nuclear energy are the top two sources through which the world is generating its electricity.
Only 6.6 per cent -- a total of 18.3 million GWh -- of electricity worldwide has been generated through oil, and Pakistan is also one of those ‘oil-rich’ countries that are generating electricity through oil!
Pakistan has a potential for hydroelectric power and nuclear power. Why can’t the government and the people who can make a difference realise that?
Although it is already very late now, until the things are put on the right tracks, one wonders how long, or how soon, it will take Pakistan to get back into the Dark Ages.
ZILL-E-REHMAN KHAN NIAZI
Islamabad
SINCE the return of the PPP leader almost two months ago, hundreds of lives have been lost. Tragic indeed is the fact that many of these are of people who lived below the poverty line.
People who came to welcome Benazir Bhutto from distant places lost their lives in the ghastly bombings on Sharea Faisal, and yet many lost their lives outside Liaquat Bagh.
Funds have been set up for the compensation to be received by the bereaved families of these poor people, yet the highly charitable society we live in today, which proved its philanthropic worth, in the wake of the terrible earthquake, that hit our country’s highland soil, have not shown the same sympathy for the victims of these tragic events.
Why? Perhaps, because none of the philanthropists know where to reach out to the families of these people in person.
Can the PPP, with all its resources kindly display the name, addresses and contact persons’ identities, of the members of these poor people’s families, by way of a list to be published in your worthy newspaper, so that the hands that want to reach out can start walking on the feet that may carry them to these people?
BEHRAM N. MANA
Karachi
THIS is in reply to Miqdad Lakhanie’s letter, ‘CNG prices’ (Jan 7). I would like to tell Mr Lakhanie and other readers that when the price of gasoline increases, the demand of a substitute product, CNG in this case, will also increase.
This increase in demand will result in an increase in the price of CNG.
I would also predict that as the prices of gasoline will increase, and that the price of CNG will also increase until the difference between the prices of two commodities is insignificant.
Like it or not, this is a fact. This letter is to explain what will happen and why. I am absolutely not saying whether it’s good or bad.
IMAD QURESHI
Chicago, USA
KHALID A. from the UK wrote about the problems with palm oil (Jan 8). The largest exporter of palm oil to Pakistan is Malaysia. The government knows the health risks, but every time they talk of reducing the import, the government of Malaysia offers a lower price, and steps in with some sort of trade or economic counter-offer.
Also, other oils are more expensive.
ADAM
California
THE State Bank of Pakistan, in its quarterly report published on Jan 5, reported a significant decline in GDP during the first quarter of the current financial year (July-September 07), fearing that it would have adverse consequences for the economy.
The threat to national economy has not appeared in this quarter only, but it is chasing the country’s economy from the third and fourth quarters of the last financial year (2006).
The alarming situation has taken place following the uncertainty and instability within the country which started in March.
The suspension of the chief justice of Pakistan in March caused the country high level of pessimism and created unrest among the common man as well as among the investors. The capital markets started showing negative trends.
Unluckily, this is not the only issue with the poor country. Worsening law and order situations, religious extremism, suicide attacks, immature attitude of present rulers, political victimisation further deteriorated the domestic conditions and flamed the riots within society.
The history shows no such evidence in the country where suicidal attacks were made, particularly on armed forces. These attacks have become a common phenomenon across the country. Not a single day passes where we do not hear the news of suicide bombing on security forces.
Armed forces are believed to be the most powerful units of any country. The attacks on forces show nothing but hatred and a sense of complete insecurity in the country.
No one knows what is happening. Due to uncertainty, the investors have withdrawn their interest from the capital markets, resulting in the loss of billions.
The other hit to national economy was made on Nov 3 when President Musharraf declared a state of emergency in the country and the Constitution was held in abeyance.
It goes without saying that regardless of the reason the imposition of emergency lost the confidence of people and affected the credibility of the country in international community, resulting in the cancellation of membership by the Commonwealth.
The SBP further indicates that the GDP will drop from its target of 7.2 to 6.6 per cent during the corresponding year. Sensing the current situation and worsening conditions, it can be predicted that if the present scenario persists, the country could produce even less growth.
But this is not the end of the story. This was all about the first quarter that has officially been announced.
What about the darkest - ever period in which the twice - elected prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, had been assassinated in the midst of the so-called tight security.
The death of the world leader has not only sparked violence in each and every street across the country, but also badly destroyed the economy. The stock market has physically crashed and investors are leaving the arena.
Despite passage of two weeks of the murder of Benazir Bhutto, life has not yet come to normal. The economy has collapsed, markets have turned volatile, investments have stopped, riots continue to take place, law and order situation still persists, suicidal attacks are on the rise. No one knows where we are headed.
It cannot be disputed that the establishment is the strongest force of the country and nothing can move without the will and wish of the rulers. The worsening political, social and economic conditions leave a question mark against the sincerity and integrity of the government.
It is time President Musharraf ousted his present political and economic advisers and looked for those who, in real sense, can assist him in stabilising the political, social and economic conditions of the country.
KEHAR KHAN KHOSO
Sukkur
I WANT to draw the attention of the general public and the government authorities concerned towards a common but very serious problem.
It has been observed that a number of mobile phone consumers use ring tones composed of recitation of Quranic verses.
Ring tones ring with the recitation of Quranic verses when the users are busy walking in a park, chatting with others, watching a movie or drama in cinema/theatre and even in washrooms.
It is a disrespect to the Holy Quran. It is also a common observation that people use ring tones composed of songs which ring during prayers in mosques that disrupt the meditation of the worshippers.
The government of Saudi Arabia has banned the ring tones composed of Quranic verses in the country on the recommendations of Islamic Fiqh Council. We should respect the Holy Quran and people should avoid using such ring tones.
The government and telecom companies should also take steps to check it.
ZULFIQAR ALI
Via email
I CONSIDER entry tests for professional studies like medical, engineering and other disciplines to find most appropriate students on a merit basis. After intensive studies, training and passing examinations, one becomes a professionally qualified person to serve the country.
The whole procedure adopted for declaring a person professional is in our national interest. I wish to see such a practice for the legislators of our country, including members of national and provincial assemblies to serve the nation and country as professionally qualified persons like doctors and engineers.
One could think that all existing ills in our country are due to weakness in our system for selecting the legislators.
K. MUSTAFA
Islamabad
The Pak Tea House, located on The Mall in Lahore near Anarkali Bazaar and the Neela Gumbad, was originally established as the ‘India Coffee House’ before independence in 1947.
The cafe has traditionally been frequented by the city’s artistic, cultural and literary personalities such as Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sadat Hassan Manto, Muneer Niazi, Ahmad Faraz, Mira Ji and Kamal Rizvi.
Along with the writers who frequent it, it is also a favourite haunt of a wide range of people of Lahore.
Recently due to business concerns and the death of the owner of the cafe, the son tried to sell it to a ‘tyre shop’ owner.
Though our nation is not known for honouring its artists, writers or poets, the tea house is part of our national heritage and the responsibility of the government to preserve it.
The least the government can do is to buy the place at a market rate from the owner’s son who seems to be bent upon selling it off.
The café should remain the haunt for the intellectual community to benefit from. It should signify the preservation of whatever is left of our culture.
DR IRFAN ZAFAR
Islamabad
THIS is apropos of Shahid Javed Burki’s article, ‘The obligation of political parties’ (Jan 8).
Mr Burki said he had given a presentation to the President-General (at that time) Pervez Musharraf about the implementation of a code of conduct drafted by himself and Mohammad Waseem.
I do not agree with his claim that the codes should be implemented by a person who has derailed the democratic process in Pakistan forcefully.
Further, if you state that democracy in political parties should come first, then I should add that there has always been democracy in the political parties of Pakistan as the Central Executive Committee of the Pakistan People’s Party has reposed their full confidence in its new chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Please don’t always blame the political structure of Pakistan.
Let democracy reign in the country, and see that the other two forces – capital accumulation and human development for economic progress and modernisation – will also develop.
GHAZANFAR ALI ZARDARI
Lahore
You can also send letters to the Editor
Just send your message to the following address: letters@dawn.com
Make sure you include your full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan your day-time telephone number.