| October 26, 2008 | Sunday | Shawwal 26, 1429 |
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Plea for impartial inquiry
KESC affairs
UN chief’s visit
US pours cold water
Corporate annual reports
Bailout plan
Great nations, suspect leaders
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Resolving Thai-Cambodian conflict
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
PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardari has been quoted as having said that Pakistan is not a private limited company which can go bankrupt. This simple statement, in fact, makes two assertions. One, that equating a state with a business concern is not apt and, two, that states cannot go bankrupt. While the first is simply tautological, the second does not necessarily follow logically, i.e. that because a state is not a business concern, it cannot, therefore, go bankrupt. We can then legitimately ask the question: Can a state go bankrupt? In order to answer that question we must first look at the concept of bankruptcy.
In the ordinary sense, bankruptcy is a term applied to insolvent individuals or companies, who surrender, voluntarily or otherwise, their assets in satisfaction of their debts. In the first instance, therefore, the basis of bankruptcy is insolvency.
An insolvent entity is one that is unable to pay, or has ceased to pay, debts as they fall due. An insolvent business can be declared bankrupt, be dissolved and its assets sold for the benefit of its creditors. The creditors may not get the full value of their outstanding sums, but once a settlement is made, the debtor is discharged from any further obligations. Thus, bankruptcy implies a total discharge from responsibility for past indiscretions, whether wilful or circumstantial.
Unfortunately, a state does not enjoy the luxury of being discharged from its past obligations. A state cannot, therefore, go bankrupt in the normal commercial sense of the word. A state must carry its past commitments into the future.
Even when a state ceases to exist or when a regime collapses under military defeat, its successor state must assume many of its obligations. Thus, an insolvent or indigent state must remain in business. Many new or altered states, including Pakistan, have had to own their past obligations. The Federal Republic of Germany could not repudiate its Nazi past and both war reparations and compensation to Jews was imposed on it.
The consequences of insolvency are never benign for the debtor nation. Creditors have gone to the extent of annexing territories of debtor nations. French and Belgian troops occupied the industrial heartland of Germany in 1922 to coerce it to continue reparation payments. After defaulting on loans, Newfoundland voluntarily surrendered its self-governing dominion status to the British until it joined Canada in 1949.
Many Asian and African states suffered much worse ignominy when they failed to meet their financial obligations to foreign lenders. Major trade and military concessions were extracted by lenders from such impoverished states as imperial China and Egypt under the Khedives. Indeed, in the age of colonialism, empires were sometimes built on the debris of insolvent states.
The prospect of insolvency is real and is on our doorsteps. We cannot wish it away by resorting to inapt analogies. Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable states when it comes to the vagaries of geopolitics. Ironically, it is vulnerable precisely because of its military might and nuclear power, destruction of both being highly coveted by some, and because of its geography.
In the event of an economic meltdown, its lenders will settle for nothing less than a pound of its flesh. Many of Pakistan’s most strategic assets have already been surrendered, albeit to ‘friendly’ foragers. Ironically, the so-called free economies are now resorting to nationalisation of parts of precisely the type of assets that Pakistan has parted with.
Pakistan is left with a greatly diminished capacity to deal with the extreme situation faced by it. It must inevitably turn once again to its international lenders for assistance. This time around we will have to barter away nothing less than our sovereignty, or even territorial integrity.
So, can states go bankrupt? The answer is yes, if the state of bankruptcy is described as being destitute of a particular thing. Of course, bankruptcy in the sense used by President Zardari is not an option, though it might actually have been a less painful option.
DR MUZAFFAR ALI ISANI
Iqra University
Karachi
THIS is apropos of the dreadful, inhuman negligence of the incident (Oct 19) of the amputation of the right forearm of a well-nourished baby due to development of sepsis at the point of insertion of the cannula.
In this particular case the cannula administered was non harmonised, hiperanised which is totally contra indicated even for a short duration of 24 hours because the blood clots in the cannula. The nursing staff injects distilled water in the cannula and the pressure dislodges the clot, which goes into the vein and blocks it.
This negligence can also cause a thromboembolism and the clot can dislodge onto the brain or heart causing instant death. Most of the injections given are by student nurses who at times cannot differentiate between an artery and a vein. Mistakenly the injection might be given into an artery or arteriole which causes sudden spasm and gangrene of the limb. Many such cases have happened in several government hospitals.
In my paper which I read at the Pakistan Pediatric Council in Islamabad on abuse in pediatric patients in the treatment of children, I had stated that the maximum number of negligence cases in the hospitals occurs in the evening and night hours when nearly all the staff from the professor to the peon are engaged in private clinics.
Most of the professors are working in more than two hospitals in the posh areas and the peons in the slums. They usually leave the hospital around one o’clock whereas their duty hours are around five o’clock. Since even the vice-chancellor of the teaching hospital and the medical superintendent are involved in this practice, there is no accountability.
During Eid holidays the highest number of patients visit hospitals and are victim of the most criminal negligence resulting in severe morbidity and high rate of mortality.
Prof Iqbal Memon, head of the department, said that doctors could not locate the cause of sepsis. This shows that he did not take any interest in this particular case.
Prof Memon is incorrect when he says that most of the children weigh three kgs at birth. Nothing can be farther from reality. I fully agree with Dr Samrina Hashim, general secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association, that that the average weight of a Pakistani baby is 2.6 kgs and not three kgs.
It is heartening that the health ministry has initiated an inquiry into this extremely shocking incident, and Sindh Health Minister Sagheer Ahmed has confirmed it. Since a committee comprising only the CHK doctors would put a question mark over its partiality, I would strongly suggest that non government paediatricians or the paediatric surgeons like Dr Muhammad Ali Shah and Dr Mohsin Ahmad should be made a part of the committee. Till then, Prof Iqbal Memon must be suspended from his duties so that he should not influence the report.
DR IRSHAD AHMED SETHI
Karachi
IT has been disclosed that in order to overcome power crisis we need 4,000 MW electricity to run our industries and meet our increasing domestic needs. The government is claiming that there will be no loadshedding from the next year but nothing viable measures are seen.
After our failure to get American AP1000 power plant, it is unwise to depend on the West for the solution of our power problem. We must explore alternative sources.
The suggestion by Riazul Hasan Khan (Sept 29), supported by Mr Shakil Ahmed (Sept 30), must be given due consideration to get four AP1000 plants available with Russia.
We are sure Russia will help us as it had in the case of our Steel Mills. We need immediate solution to our problem. If this opportunity is lost, our power shortage problem will linger on.
The negotiations made with France for reprocessing plant by Dr I.H. Usmani, former PAEC chairman, during Ayub Khan’s time needs to be revived to prevent power shortage on a permanent basis.
It is hoped the government will take steps in the right direction.
MUHAMMAD YASIN
Karachi
(II)
THIS is apropos of a news item (Oct 12) about the energy crisis in the country that is worsening by the day without any visible sign of improvement.
Lofty statements made by the government regarding use of 175 billion tons of Thar coal deposits for power generation and installation of windmills in Karachi and Gwadar remain mere lip-service.
With one of the largest coal deposits in the world and most suitable air condition for installation of windmills, we have not yet been able to produce a kilowatt of electricity from these bountiful natural resources.
Either there is a lack of planning, lack of will or lack of funds that we are lingering and except for the same old rhetoric from government officials, nothing is visible on the ground.
The most deplorable state of affairs is the conflict between central and provisional governments over the right of mining and power generation.
Technical problems can be solved with the help of modern technology but the biggest hurdle is lack of sincerity on the part of central and provincial governments to arrive at a feasible solution.
I request President Asif Ali Zardari to take a bold decision and resolve the conflict in the larger interest of the nation, or else our industry and our people would continue to grope in darkness.
QAZI ABDUL WAHEED
Karachi
A REPORT says that the leaving out of Pakistan from the itinerary of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s first-ever visit to the region is being seen by observers in Islamabad as a diplomatic snub (Oct 18).
I wouldn’t concur with that. Before being voted in as the UN chief, Mr Ban had been a career diplomat of South Korea with a distinguished service and had won out despite competition from very worthy Asian rivals, partly due to strong American backing. So, he wouldn’t be the one to snub an important member country of the UN, unless it had committed a major sin.
The real reasons appear to be quite different. In part, the bad security perception of Pakistan following the Marriott blast may have had a role.
But, another important factor could be that despite the passage of considerable time, he has still not done anything regarding the PPP request to hold an inquiry into Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
His failure to do so wouldn’t depend on his own decision but pressure from certain quarters in the West against that. Why those forces may be opposed to the problem probably has to do with some of their interests, but a new facet could be related to the fact that Pakistan is going around with its biggest-ever begging bowl because of critical foreign exchange shortage.
These powers may not be wanting it to spend an estimated $100 million the investigation is likely to cost, which may go up to $300 million or more, as is the case with the Rafiq Hariri murder probe.
Therefore, instead of blaming the UN chief, we should accept his spokesperson Michelle Montas’s statement that the exclusion of Pakistan from his current tour is not meant to snub the country and that Mr Ban will definitely visit us, plans for which are being made.
A piece of advice to the PPP leadership: it should be made clear to the secretary-general through diplomatic channels that if he chooses to come here, he won’t be embarrassed by pressuring him about the Benazir Bhutto inquiry commission.
Whatever be the truth, as a Pakistani one does hope Ban Ki-moon will pay an early visit here because we need all the moral and diplomatic support we can get from friends to counter the bad image created by the consequences of the war on terror.
Things had been incomparably better, security-wise, before the US and its allies pushed us onto a disastrous trajectory after 9/11, to safeguard their interests. Interestingly, the former head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5, Stella Remington, has recently said in an interview that the (western) “response to 9/11 was a huge overreaction” and has hinted that it is being used for political purposes (Dawn, Oct 21).
A. HAKIM
Karachi
THIS is with reference to the news story, ‘US pours cold water’ (Oct 21). A $100bn bid by the president of Pakistan has resulted in such a strong stance by Mr. Boucher. The country is on the verge of an economic collapse with few caring about what it really means.
It is time we tried to be self-dependant rather than begged for the country’s survival. How can we have independent policies with such a dependant economic situation? It is time we stopped importing luxury items.
Desperate times ask for desperate measures. There is a lot of room for improvement in all departments of our country, be that judiciary, police or even the private sector.
Pakistanis need a new life line. We should now turn ourselves from a crowd to a nation and we need a massive campaign to realise that dream.
Our current leaders have a life of their own which is inversely proportional to the life of the country. Our president has documented assets of two billion dollars. The only change we can see is by changing ourselves.
Darkness dawns on our land and we are unable to do anything. The only friends Pakistan might have turn to will be ourselves.
ALI GHAFOOR
Via email
WE received by mail 10 copies of the PTCL annual report, one for each of the family members who hold a 10-rupee share in it. So would have other millions received it.
The document comprising 136 pages and bound in a glossy scenic picturesque paperback looks elegant and expensive. Let alone its compilation, its printing must have cost a fortune to the PTCL and by default its shareholders.
I have been receiving similar PTCL, the Askari Bank and some other corporations’ Annual Reports for the last many years but never for once have I read what all these contained. As a matter of fact, corporate information, the vision, the operating highlights, the financial analyses, the BODs’ pictures, profiles, statistics, charts, analyses, balance-sheets, etc., do not interest me in the least and serve no purpose except that our cook sells them by weight to the ‘kabari’ for a few pennies.
The PTCL and similar mega corporations must be having millions of shareholders falling in my category and even more ‘illiterate’ than me in such corporate affairs. Why send them such huge and highly professional reports which they never read.
And if it is some legal requirement, print a couple of dozens of them in the present format only for those who must have them but for the rest of the millions a simple one-page balance-sheet and a little gist of corporate information should suffice to fulfil the legalities.
I think it will save billions in time and effort on the preparation, printing and dispatch of such high-priced documents, and such savings could be passed on to the shareholders in the form of increased dividends?
Talking of the dividends, periodically cheques are dispatched to the shareholders in the millions either by the registered mail or a courier service, which cost at least Rs20 to 25 for every cheque mailed.
Every shareholder has a bank account through which he/she had applied initially for the shares. In this computer age the dividends could automatically be credited into their bank accounts which will again save a colossal amount that could also be passed on to the shareholders.
Am I talking something beyond the comprehension of the mighty actuaries involved?
COL (r) RIAZ JAFRI
Rawalpindi
THIS has reference to the State Bank’s bailout plan to inject Rs270bn into the banking system (Oct 18). The SBP governor has also criticised excessive government borrowing for credit problems. This is a serious charge against the government.
So, the finance committee of parliament must come forward to disclose the data of the borrowing or ask the SBP to extend release of the details of these lavish borrowings which can safely be termed as one of the factors that has brought the country to the brink of hoax of bankruptcy.
GHEEWALA
Karachi
“GREAT nation’s, suspect leaders” (Oct 18) was a great article by Kausar S.K. It begins by a quote from “a frequent visitor from South Africa,” who said: “People in Pakistan are great but you have horrible leaders, whereas we have lousy people and great leaders.”
Kausar has indeed hit the nail right on the head.
As observed by the writer, we need to remind ourselves not only about the drawbacks but also good features of our society. We must not only acknowledge but actually highlight “the culture of helping others and the philanthropy that flows to soften the brute shocks of life,” as Kausar notes.
In her column, ‘Soul of life’ (Dawn Magazine, April 20), Anjum Niaz had quoted Anne Klaus-Renz, a Swiss lady who converted to Islam and also loves Pakistan. “I love Pakistan so much that I pray to God that He should grant me a home here – among green fields, bouquets of flowers, heavenly trees, sweet-smelling earth surrounded by loving people…” she longingly said.
This is in line with Kausar’s contention that “there are millions and millions of people all over Pakistan who are straightforward, honest people struggling to lead an honest life as hardships mount and the fissures of inequality deepen.”
On does hope some of our writers and intellectuals, who are filled with cynicism and can’t seem to find anything good in their country and compatriots, will draw inspiration from these observations, see the light and stop being unkind to the millions of Pakistanis, whose image is already receiving a battering at the hands of hostile western and other media.
K. PERWAIZ
Karachi
MY credit card company did not bother to send me a new credit card after it expired on Sept 30.
Even though it promptly collected the annual feel with me, I remained without a credit card for nearly a month. Finally the credit card arrived, and on top of the paper carrying the card it said: “A renewal card is automatically sent to you before the expiry date indicated’. I did not know till then that “automatically” means nearly a month.
A SUBSCRIBER
Karachi
A DISTURBING report says Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire recently (Oct 16), killing two Cambodian soldiers, when a dispute over land near an ancient temple turned deadly.
The row between the neighbours started in July after the Buddhist temple named Preah Vihear was awarded World Heritage status by Unesco, angering some Thai nationalists who still claim ownership of the site.
The problem, if memory serves, stems from the fact that the 11th century temple is located in Cambodian territory, but the access to it is through Thailand.
Tensions soared when talks on Oct. 13 failed and about 80 Thai troops allegedly entered a disputed area. Another complicating factor is that the Cambodia-Thai border was never fully demarcated, partly because of the landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.
This fighting is more painful for me because I have had (Buddhist) friends from both countries.
Besides, a very touching picture shows a Cambodian family fleeing from the temple, with a man carrying the family’s few belongings and a dejected-looking woman carrying an infant and some more household items.
The irony is that Buddhism is the majority religion of both these states. I shudder to think of what would have happened if my family and I got into a similar situation, or, if it had been one of my Thai or Cambodian friends?
In Pakistan, we have seen enormous suffering. There have been millions of Afghan refugees for 30 years and, in recent months, hundreds of thousands of locals displaced by the war on terror.
I have been trying to find an urgent solution to the problem because senior defence officials from both sides have been talking tough. For instance, a Thai air force official said their fighter jets are on standby, ready for attacking in less than five minutes!
There are already too many wars going on in the world; we don’t need another. One solution, which can also serve as a template for any two nations having a common religion, may be applied in this case. They can put the problem before an imaginary court of their great teacher, in this case Buddha.
He wouldn’t look upon them as Cambodians or Thais, but only as his followers. Then, in the light of what is known about him and his teachings, they can try to figure out his judgment. He would never allow battling for a temple or land.
In Buddha’s ‘Four Noble Truths’, the second one puts the cause of ‘Dukkha’ (suffering) on craving, or desire.
Thus, the craving for a piece of land being exhibited here, is bringing suffering to both. To achieve ‘Nibbana’ (nirvana), there exists a way. The principal method is through meditation (‘Samadhi’).
It is suggested both parties should stop fighting over the possession of land, vacate their troops from the area and, if necessary, request Malaysia or the Philippines to station peacekeeping forces until a permanent solution is found.
A place of worship must never become the cause of killing or displacing people but should remain accessible to everybody who wishes to pray or meditate. Meanwhile, they can seek arbitration from Dalai Lama or form a committee of Buddhist scholars from Burma, Japan or Sri Lanka to help resolve the issue.
If this is unacceptable, they can go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has recently resolved an old quarrel between Malaysia and Singapore over the ownership of a lighthouse situated on a small island, which both countries have accepted.
In spite of being a Muslim foremost, I also revere the teachings of Buddha, Moses, Jesus Christ, Lao-Tzu and Confucius, among others.
It would be a beautiful day when I could meditate and pray in the Preah Vihear temple for my Thai and Cambodian friends, as also for world peace. Meanwhile, one loving thing, which Thailand can do in the service of Lord Buddha, is to help de-mine the unfortunate, war-ravaged Cambodia.
KHALID CHAUDHRY
Karachi
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