| October 21, 2008 | Tuesday | Shawwal 21, 1429 |
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Decline of the rupee
Appointment of HEC chairman
Wishful thinking by analysts
Preserving national heritage
Rise of the ‘rest’
KESC’s top bosses’ salaries
Doctors endorsing products
Why Bajaur?
Ownership of war
Male instincts
Qadirpur gas field sell-out
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
This is with reference to the disclosure of the Indian lawyer, Mr. A.G Noorani at OUP on October 14, and reported in the Dawn Metropolitan pages on October 15 that ex-president Pervez Musharraf had brought Kashmir close to a solution by adopting a ‘joint administrative mechanism’ in both parts of Kashmir.
It is surprising to note that the will of the people of Kashmir has been ignored altogether in the said development achieved through back channel diplomacy; nor has public opinion of Pakistan been given any weightage or the benefits favoring Pakistan of such a joint administrative mechanism been highlighted in the print or electronic media for open discussion.
I am of the view that such a solution is totally in favor of India and against the vital interests of Pakistan. As India, an emerging economic power, has desperately wanted to get direct access to the sources of energy located in Central Asian states for its safe and unhindered supply in order to cater to its ever increasing needs of oil and gas. By way of joint administration we will present India with this opportunity in a platter.
It would be naïve if we believe that India will honor the international guarantors any commitments in the smooth running of such a joint administration, as India’s track record in honoring its words, whether it is UN resolution on Kashmir, Nehru’s promises, Indus Basin Treaty, or the Baghlihar Dam, is reprehensible. By accepting this solution, the safety of Shahra-e-Karakoram, a strategic route that gives us an opening to China, will be placed under direct Indian threat, which otherwise is the only source of hope in case our sea outlets are blocked.
It would not be out of place to mention here that in the presence of cut-throat competition posed by China, the economic survival or rather hegemony of the western world depends largely in low cost manufacturing of consumer products, and western companies do not want to place all their eggs in one basket by making investments in China alone, hence they have opted for India for their future investments, Indo US nuclear deal, India’s willingness to replace NATO Forces in Afghanistan and its readiness to play the role of a policeman in the Indian ocean speaks volumes of its future designs.
By joint administration, India will not only get access to the energy sources and the big market across Pakistan but also will be able to block Chinese accessibility to Gwadar, which is very vital for the future economic development of Pakistan.
In my view, Pakistan should insist on enforcement of UN Resolutions in Kashmir, however in return thereof Pakistan may allow concessions and guarantee the safety of Iran-Pakistan-India gas-line and lines of oil and gas from Central Asian states to India through Pakistan.
India is in dire need of energy for its sustained economic growth and to feed its over one billion people. It would be unfortunate if we can not take advantage of these Indian weaknesses and make the nation proud by achieving an honorable solution to Kashmir issue. The joint administration is totally unacceptable to me and I am representing the voice of the people of Pakistan. If any body has doubts, opinions may be invited by placing this solution for the open debate in the media.
SADIA GOHAR KHANUM
Karachi
The Rupee is on a free fall, and at this rate could cross Rs100 to the dollar before this year-end and still continue to decline to any amount, perhaps Rs1,000 to the dollar and still decline. The government appears to have done little except a few million dollars injected by the State Bank in the monetary market, which has hardly had any effect.
According to my layman knowledge on finance, perhaps our finance wizards may consider re-imposing foreign currency restrictions as were in place prior to 1991, which is still in vogue in most of the third world countries, and all our neighbours.
In India, despite their colossal forex reserves of almost $300 billion are governed by exchange controls, provided by the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. Although modified by notifications in the intervening years, controls like differentiating between resident and non-resident citizens are or not entitled to hold forex accounts and engage in transfer.
In China, despite holding the highest forex reserves in the world of $1.9 trillion, they have restrictions and controls, even though it may be in the reverse, to avoid over heating of their economy.
Oil-rich Iran, after recovering from their war with Iraq, has never rescinded its policy of controls/restrictions on foreign currency movement within its country.
Are our laws on forex only to provide complete freedom in conversion/movement, which was enacted by the Sharif government in 1991, meant to facilitate the rich, corrupt or otherwise, to transfer their money abroad, legally and without any hassle, at short notice when they considered the State was sinking?
At present there are a lot of rats jumping the ship.
RAFI AHMED
Karachi
(II)
The Pakistani rupee has dipped to an alarmingly low record of Rs85 to a dollar as on Oct 16. The country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $16.8billion on Feb 18, the day of the general election which have now fallen to $7.75billion in the week that ended on Oct 11. These dwindling reserves are sufficient to cover less than two months of imports. According to analysts, the country urgently needs $3 to 4 billion to bail out of this alarming situation.
The Asian Development Bank announced loans of $500 million this month but those were wiped out by import payments. Now, we’re eyeing on a World Bank loan of $1.4 billion subject to its board’s approval.
Our political leadership is knocking on each and every door to get the financial help. The Saudis have been sluggish in giving a nod on the deferment of payment for the oil import facility. Perhaps they are vary of our frequent requests.
Our President has returned from China. While we get the required amount,the question is how long will it last? Until and unless our leaders sit down and devise a strategy to bail us out of this risky situation, we will continue to beg.
And, by the way, what are all of our much-trumpeted “financial wizards” working on at this time of need? Could somebody tell us?
AIR CDRE (retd) AZFAR A. KHAN
Rawalpindi
As per a report appearing in a section of the press, the present Government is considering appointing a political person for a highly sensitive post of chairman, (HEC) Higher Education Commission. In contrast to the one who is currently heading SZABIST, he has no significant experience in education.
HEC is a highly sensitive organization that must be above politics. Here the careers of millions of students coming from different regions of the country depend on it. Such sensitive appointments should only base on the rich educational experience and that should be acceptable to all.
Appointing a person who belongs to the ruling political party would leave an adverse affect on the education sector and would result in harming the various fields of it.
The vital educational sector in the country is already in a dilapidated condition. Such political appointments are bound to further weaken such an organization. Since the country is already passing through a sensitive age, we should not try to further weaken it by appointing political persons against pure academicians.
I request the President, Prime Minister and Federal Education Minister to foil the deliberate efforts of some quarters to weaken the highly sensitive organization, HEC.
It is suggested that an impartial, non-controversial and non-political person with a rich education background should be appointed.
The HEC chairman should be appointed without political strings and there is no dearth of such distinguished educationists in Pakistan.
MARVI MEMON
Islamabad
This is with reference to the news story (Oct. 18) titled, “Pakistan can raise up to $50bn”, which was carried prominently on the back page. All I can say is dream on. Those who believe so have no idea what they are talking about or are deliberately giving false hopes. More likely, they want to distract attention from the fact that the Bush White House has been deliberately squeezing Pakistan to ‘do more’. ‘Aid’ through the multilaterals is just one of the tools that are being used. After all, the World Bank president Robert Zoellick- a former US diplomat- was nominated for this job by George Bush, after his previous nominee Paul Wolfowitz had to leave the job in ignominy.
The WB has not disbursed a penny to Pakistan during 2008 despite previously announced programmes. It is a matter of record that the WB stopped disbursements weeks before the new civilian government had even taken charge and the macro economic indicators deteriorated due to sharp rise in the oil price during the first half 2008.
Even if we assume away the ‘real’ political factors, the economics just does not support such a preposterous claim.
Pakistan’s total net accumulated foreign debt, after 61 years, is about $47bn. Total debt and aid flows to the entire developing world for 2008 are estimated to be nearly $53bn by the IMF. How can one country, Pakistan, raise $50bn from its Western ‘friends’ when their own system has collapsed? With friends like these, who needs enemies!
YOUSUF NAZAR
London
Mr Manzoor H. Kureshi’s in his letter “Preserving national heritage” (October 15) has exposed one of the most important but also the most neglected area which has not received proper attention of the authorities. He is absolutely right that barring some, most of the monuments of national importance have decayed on account of sheer negligence on the part of Federal Department of Archeology and Museums. In Sindh alone for lack of their attention, two 18th century forts built by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro at Hyderabad; one known as the Pacca Qila (red bricked Fort) and another Katcha Qila (mud fort) are in total ruins.
In the days of Zia-ul-Haq, (1987) Bab ul Islam national conference was held in Sukkur. In this conference it was decided that not only should the 8th century mosque built by Muhammad Bin Qasim at Aror be restored, an Islamic Education Complex should also be built to provide Islamic education to the people of the area.
For this scheme a sum of Rs10 millions was sanctioned by the federal government. However, except for some initial paper work, nothing substantial was done and the project was left as it was. What use of the funds sanctioned by the government was made would only be known to the department of Archeology.
I therefore support the suggestion of Mr Kureshi that the job of the national heritage preservation primarily belongs to the province where these relics are located. In the case of Sindh services of the Department of Antiquity, which is recently established for the purpose can advantageously be put to use if the Federal Archeology instead of creating irritants made their expertise and required financial support available to them.
BADAR JATOI
Canada
First came the slogans of free market and capitalism. Then was introduced the concept of paper money. And now the new buzzword is the so called bail out packages.
It seems that West has not learned anything from history. It is rightly said that “The only thing people have learned from history is that no one really learns from history”. Ever since the West introduced man made concepts and enforced them on the rest, it resulted in a catastrophe.
That’s exactly what has happened to the philosophies of industrialization and capitalism: from the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s ascension (The Diamond Jubilee) to Boer War and then WWI left Great Britannia best years behind. In Boer War, the British Empire was against 30,000 Sudanese farmers. Since then, wars, capitalism, and industrialization’s brutal and inhuman evolution in command of Great Britannia brought the world to unmatched historical destruction. Afterwards, the US emerged as pioneer of capitalism and repeated history. Again, humanity is suffering from wars, capitalism’s crisis, injustice, unilateral policies.
At home, US budget deficit had tripled in size in the years 2007-8. Now, according to Associated Press report, across America, authorities are concerned due to rise in suicides from financial crisis. America is no longer able to preach to the world about democracy and capitalism while its own house is so wildly out of order.
On the other side, London is set to lose 40,000 jobs this year. According to The Times’ report, to save 900 million pounds at the Ministry of Justice in the next two years, 10,000 jobs are to be lost and up to 100 courts could be closed. British colonialism to American despotism, all mischievous tricks of capitalism have burst the bubble of such deception.
Unfortunately, complete demolition of capitalism will harm the poor majority for a long time. Unless the countries trapped by international capitalist institutions try to be free from the menace of capitalism, no change will come spectacularly. Despite the recapitalization of the system, victimized new-fashioned colonies need to say goodbye to capitalism loudly. The rise of the rest is urgently needed against international capitalist looters and gamblers.
NASIR FAROOQ
Karachi
According to the latest round of gossip in the corporate sector, the newly appointed CEO of KESC – Karachi Electric ‘Shortage’ Corporation – is getting paid a phenomenal amount of Rupees five million a month to run an organization, which to Karachites is nothing but a white elephant – a drain on the exchequer.
And to top it off, some 40-odd juniors reporting directly to their new boss, many of whom have been head-hunted from other successful corporations and hired on more than a million rupees a piece (monthly), while a few more are being paid Rs2.5 million or more a month.
Though I am all for the success of an individual in this bad, mad world of corporatism, I am amazed as to where such millions of rupees are pouring from, given that the corporation has for many years been running in the red?
Or, could it be that the recent hike of about 70 percent was done just to compensate these bright-eyed boys at the helm of affairs. If this is the case, then God help us, because we certainly do not expect any mercy from the KESC.
ARSALAAN HALEEM
Karachi
It is a well-documented fact that marketing is an important part of sales of a product. We have seen super stars recommend Nike shoes, soft drinks like Pepsi and Coca Cola etc. The understanding is that a certain class appreciates a certain item and I do not see it to be wrong.
Of late the frequency of doctors endorsing products from insurance cards to soaps and tooth paste has increased tremendously. Should this be accepted with regards to the above criteria? I tend not to consider it being the same. According to thefreedictionary.com the definition of a doctor is a person who has earned the highest academic degrees awarded by a university in a specified discipline. When one is under the umbrella of the designation of a doctor it appears to be inappropriate to recommend a product. He/she may do so without the use of his/her professional identity.
Another aspect is where promotion of certain medical products/drugs is being done by doctors. One may debate the point that here they are qualified to do so. But my question is can a personal preference be endorsed by a healthcare professional? This needs to be carefully analyzed as products that are recommended give the message to juniors and the whole medical fraternity of the validity of that product. Those of us belonging to the same fraternity have seen painkillers and antidepressants come with a big hype and a few years later when the side effects have surfaced, stopping its usage is then advised. In my opinion it compromises the position of trust a clinician holds.
India in its medical code of ethics states, “Any such endorsements violate the Medical Council of India’s 2002 regulations regarding professional conduct, etiquette and ethics for registered medical practitioners”.
Our own medical code of ethics clearly on self advertising is completely silent on product endorsement. I request the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council to look into this matter with urgency as this prevailing endorsing trend is soon to become an epidemic.
DR BUSHRA SHIRAZI
Karachi
This is with reference to the article “The terror of this war” by Cyril Almeida (October 15), where the author asserts pertinent queries: Why is a military operation being carried out in Bajaur, and why is the army high command unable to explain it to the political hierarchy?
In one of the recent interviews given to a private television, Maj-Gen Tariq Khan, the newly appointed Inspector General of Frontier Corps explains the strategic and geographic importance of Bajaur as compared to other agencies and its security-related ramifications to the settled areas of NWFP. According to the IG, there are two power centers of the militants: one being Waziristan and the other Bajaur, while the other agencies acting as conduits between them. Out of these two, only Bajaur has a contiguous border with Afghanistan, with Waziristan almost inaccessible from across the border due to mountainous terrain. (Before Khyber Pass was made, the road from Kabul to Peshawar went through Bajaur). Similarly, Bajaur has three routes connecting with Swat through Dir and Chitral, and there is direct road access to Besham in Shangla potentially threatening the Karakoram Highway.
In light of the above points, it is imperative for Pakistan to chart a course that can effectively eliminate militant activity in the tribal belt, without burdening the local populace, as an effective strategy must entail the support of the people.
ALI ATHAR
United States
Sherry Rehman’s statement regarding the necessity of “Public ownership of the war” is a cruel joke. The public had nothing to do with conceiving the nihilistic puritanism of the “mujahideen” during the Afghan-Soviet War. The credit for that historic achievement goes to the Pak Army and the CIA. The public had nothing to do with creating the Taliban.
KHWAJA SHAMAAS
Lahore
In a recent letter, a reader wrote that it is perfectly all right for the president to exercise his male instinct and call anyone gorgeous, if he wants.
Well, an ordinary person may do so in his private life, but it must be remembered that after becoming president, his private life is very much in public spotlight. The president represents all of us. His office requires a certain grace and dignity. As if it is not enough to have leaders tainted with all kinds of charges, we now have to put up with his open display of “male instincts”. Now that is what is called adding insult to injury.
SAMAR KAISER
Lahore
In 2002, M/s Merril Lynch had proposed the sale of OGDCL’s Qadirpur gas field as a separate entity, which was out rightly rejected by the then company management and the board of directors. While this hot cake is put up for loot sale on its advice yet again, there is seemingly no obstacle to this criminal act so far, except for the protesting OGDCL Officers Association and the Workers’ Union (CBA).
Located eight kilometers from Ghotki in Sindh, this gas field was discovered by OGDCL in 1990 and started supplying processed gas to the national grid system in September 1995. By virtue of its proven reserves it is Pakistan’s largest gas field. It supplies 550 mmcfd of processed gas to SNGPL and 48 mmcfd to Liberty Power Ltd, thus contributing a staggering 18 per cent to the country’s total gas production. It also produces 950 barrels of condensate daily. Its yearly net revenue on account of the government’s 75 per cent share is US$451 million. With the enhancement of its capacity to 640 mmcfd by end October 2008, this net revenue is expected to increase to US$524 million; that much for basic mathematics.
Technically, Qadirpur gas field has seven distinct reservoirs of which only three, namely Sui upper, Sui main and Habib Rahi have been tested and their remaining recoverable gas reserves assessed as 3.7 trillion cubic feet. The other four reservoirs have not yet been tested to form any estimates. Accounting for the three tested and estimated reservoirs only, the least this field should fetch is US$5 billion, and yet it would be absurd to sell it without assessing the total potential of the remaining four untested reservoirs.
The government’s plan to sell it cheaply in a hush hush manner is simply mind boggling; leave alone the absurdity of handing over the country’s vital strategic asset to multinationals, negating the government’s own objectives.
It’s like doling out a seven storey gold mine for less than half the price of the top three storeys, together with precious installations, vast acreage of land and fully developed network for free.
Immediately after this dole out, our dollar hungry financial managers and their bosses would be seen carrying even larger ‘kashkols’ the world over to help buy our once own Qadirpur gas also; their quick fix solution to the present crunch mocking, or do they simply plan to bolt as a part of their grand strategy?
The happy future owners of this gas field would, however, get 100 per cent return on their investment in less than three years, and then keep extracting the black gold for tens of years. As for government’s rhetoric of ‘transparency’ in decision making, may I say, it is not merely giving ‘Zakat’ of information but sharing everything with the people. Would any one at the helm of affairs care to do so?
MAJ GEN (retd) PARVEZ AKMAL
Islamabad
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