Attracting foreign investment

That the foreign investors are reluctant to come to Pakistan is not in doubt. They come up with any number of reasons when asked to explain their reluctance, the latest being what they call Pakistan's outdated legal cover. This they say needs to be updated to provide full protection to their investment.

The government, it seems, has agreed to do that and introduce a bill to this effect in parliament. This is as it should be. But then the question is whether, in the absence of a stable and secure internal environment, a mere addition facilitating laws would make any difference to the present level of inflows of foreign investment which over the years has come down to a trickle.

The corrupt and inefficient law enforcement machinery too has only added to the problem. The operations in Wana, the tentative peace process with India, the terrorist killings going on in the country and attempts on the lives of the president and a corps commander further worsen the already bad image of the country in the eyes of the international investors. The rule of law has long been on sufferance.

There have been instances in the recent past when disputes with foreign investors led the government to bypass international arbitration and call upon local courts to intervene when a recourse was not available under legally signed agreements.

That is perhaps why foreign investors are now demanding that the government sign with each country from where it expects investment to come a 'model agreement' which would enable the investor to seek the intervention of international arbitration without being held back by local courts in case of a dispute.

Indeed, it is the confidence of the investor that is crucial here. Foreign investors are also puzzled by the system of government that we have at the moment which is neither fully parliamentary nor presidential in form.

To some in Pakistan this may not appear to be such an important factor in the context of foreign investment, but seen from the perspective of those who want to invest their money here such questions do matter.

It would also help encourage foreign investors to take a closer look at the prospects here if Islamabad strengthens its economic ties with India and accords it the 'most favoured nation' status under the WTO.

Closer economic ties with India will offer the foreign investor the option of exporting his goods and services to that country's huge market. Today some 140 countries are competing in the international market for foreign investment.

So, for a resource-short country like Pakistan which cannot attain and sustain a growth rate of about seven to eight per cent annually (which is essential to bring down its level of poverty) without an adequate inflow of foreign investment, it is imperative that it join this competition with focused efforts.

Besides taking the right steps to improve its image in the international marketplace and establishing the rule of law in the country, such efforts call for delinking the investment portfolio from the privatization ministry to inspire greater confidence among foreign investors.

Tackling the Sudan crisis

The US, the EU and the UN have stepped up their efforts to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's western Darfur region, also asking Pakistan and other Muslim countries to play their role.

The conflict has killed an estimated 30,000 non-Arab Africans and driven away some one million Darfurians to seek refuge in ill-equipped emergency centres the UN has set up along the Chadian border.

Relief supplies are said to be scarce and looting and abuse by Arab Janjaweed militiamen rampant even within and around the refugee camps. The UN fears that if timely action is not taken by the international community, a large number of refugees, among them women, children and the elderly, will face starvation.

The Sudanese government, which had been fighting an insurgency by the economically depressed Darfurians prior to their forced eviction from farmland by the Janjaweed militia, is accused of turning a blind eye to the humanitarian crisis.

For its part, Khartoum denies supporting the Janjaweed but insists that the crisis is Sudan's internal matter. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended the deployment of a 20,000-30,000-strong multinational security force in Darfur to protect the refugees and to ensure their repatriation, but has found few volunteers to take up the job.

Sudan obviously has rejected the idea. Meanwhile, Britain and the US have threatened to impose sanctions on Khartoum if it fails to rehabilitate the refugees or erects hurdles in the way of relief supplies reaching Darfur.

The saving grace, unlike in Iraq, is that neither London nor Washington is talking about unilateral military action in Sudan, and both are willing to work under the UN umbrella to tackle the humanitarian crisis.

This is the right approach to the problem which is now threatening to spill over into Chad. It goes without saying that any multinational action being proposed in Darfur must involve African countries for it to be effective and not to be seen as another western assault on a Muslim country.

It is important that if intervention becomes necessary under a UN command, it is restricted to the Darfur region, and is carried out after reaching some kind of understanding with the Sudanese government.

Safety at amusement parks

Another child - this time an 11-year old boy - died on Sunday after being hit by a moving joy-ride train in a Karachi park. This brings the death toll in the same park to three in the past two months.

What is tragic is that these deaths could have been avoided if the park management had put in place safety measures that are standard in such facilities. Also perplexing is the fact that the city government allowed the park to operate after the first death occurred in June in which a boy died of drowning.

That death reportedly occurred because of an error on the part of the attendant at one of the swings who started the ride before the child had actually sat down. The park operators were said to have refused to provide medical help or an ambulance to the hapless parents who wanted to rush their child to the nearest hospital.

Despite this, the city government took no action against the park management. Instead, the Karachi nazim ordered the sealing of the swing and had an FIR lodged against the attendant.

What should have been done at the Aladdin Park, and what now needs to be done in all such amusement parks in the country, is that a proper safety inspection should be conducted so that effective measures are put in place to avoid further mishaps.

Such a check should include the testing of the amusement machines that are in operation, training of staff who operate these machines and also finding out what emergency arrangements are in place to deal with any accidents.

Only after this should a licence be issued to a park of this kind on the condition that it would be renewed yearly after thorough checks. At stake are the lives of our children.