Enhancing police image: an uphill task

Rescue 15, which started operation in Islamabad in February 2000, is being portrayed as having made a positive change in the public image of the police. Senior Islamabad police officials told PTV last Tuesday that Rescue 15 had gained the confidence of the public by effectively attending emergency calls 24 hours a day. Rescue 15's fun fair at Fatima Jinnah Park yesterday, marking its fourth anniversary, was essentially a public relations exercise.

Early last month, the Capital police had launched another project, Helpline kiosks, to improve the public image of the police. These kiosks, equipped with a computerized database, are supposed to provide the public with on-the-spot information and application forms of all sorts (including driving licence forms, passport forms, etc).

Initially set up in the main markets of the Capital, the Convention Centre and the Secretariat, these police kiosks will eventually be established in all the sectors of Islamabad.

But any positive change in the overall image of the police effected by Rescue 15 and Helpline kiosks may have been countered by a series of not-so-friendly police-public encounters that occurred in the past week or so.

On the same day that senior Islamabad police officials were interviewed on PTV about Rescue 15, two police constables had abused, beaten and dragged a Quaid-i-Azam University assistant professor to the police station.

This happened after the assistant professor, who was at Aabpara market buying bread, refused to get chairs for them to sit when ordered by them to do so.

On the same day, Dawn had carried a photograph of a policeman kicking a trader at Aabpara market the day before. This incident occurred during the traders' protest against CDA's anti-encroachment drive in which the protesting traders were tear gassed and many were arrested.

It is strange how four months ago in October 2003 the Capital police did practically nothing to stop the violent mob which went on rampage, demonstrating around the same market during the funeral procession of MNA Maulana Azam Tariq, while last week's comparatively peaceful protesting traders were tear-gassed, baton-charged, kicked and arrested.

The two police officers who misbehaved with a QAU assistant professor at Aabpara the day after the traders' protest must have mistook him for a trader. Nonetheless, the behaviour of the policemen did not change even after they knew who he was, and in any case, abusing, beating and dragging an innocent citizen, no matter who he is, constitutes unprofessional police behaviour.

A few days earlier, policemen at the gates of Parliament House had abused and threatened journalists who had come to cover the 10th session of the Senate. The policemen at the gates refused to allow the journalists in, and abused them, threatening to break their legs and arrest them.

Coincidentally on the same day, a senior police officer in Rawalpindi had beaten up the Murree Tehsil Naib Nazim when the latter came to see him in his office.

While these unfortunate police-public encounters captured the attention of the press, one little episode, and perhaps many others like these, did not. A poor scrap dealer had just paid a car owner Rs50 for a dead car battery to sell off as scrap. A police constable saw the transaction and demanded Rs30 from the scrap dealer.

The scrap dealer paid up as was ordered to, knowing full well what would happen to him if he did not: he would probably have gotten worse treatment than what was meted out to the QAU teacher who refused to get chairs for the policemen.

The sorry plight of our policemen - their low salaries, housing condition or lack of it, etc. - has been documented in the press. But many other people in this society face similar or even worse problems.

No matter how frustrating the environment our policemen work and live under, and no matter what kind of provocations they face, it is no excuse for them to abuse their power and authority by beating up and abusing citizens whenever the urge arises. As custodians of the law, policemen are expected to be imbued with a greater sense than anyone else of what is lawful action and what is not.

When the new IGP of Islamabad took over in November last, he had admitted in an interview with a newspaper that improving the efficiency of the police and enhancing its image was an uphill task, but vowed to promote friendly police-public relations, develop community policing and make the Capital territory police a model force - alert, devoted, loyal to the department, civilized, cultured and honest.

As recent events have shown, it is indeed an uphill task trying to enhance the image of the police. Mere exercises in public relations alone will not work if the police academies fail to mould civilized, cultured and honest policemen.

Agri varsity: new challenges

The University of Agriculture has once again become the focus of agriculturists and growers with the induction of Prof Dr Bashir Ahmad as its vice-chancellor. He has been picked up by the Punjab chief minister, being the senior-most teacher of the institution.

The agri varsity has a long history of research in agriculture and human resource development and acquisition of knowledge of soil science, agriculture economics, agriculture engineering, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, basic sciences and humanities.

Unfortunately, after its upgradation from the status of a college, its mandate was reconstituted. Research and extension were separated dealing, according to experts, a serious blow to this institution. It could impart education in agriculture, livestock, soil, food technology and the basic sciences.

However, the Punjab Agriculture College and Research Institute from which it evolved was conceived on the American pattern for proper coordination and integration of research and extension services.

Such a framework, the experts opined, was required for better and close contact with growers and other stake-holders and for better comprehension of their problems and for acting as a catalyst of agricultural and economic development.

A number of departments were opened in the country, including directorates for field, research, extension, water management, economic and marketing, floriculture and landscaping.

The Punjab Seed Corporation, Punjab Agriculture Research Coordination Board and Agency for Barani Areas Development were also established. On the teaching side, agricultural colleges were set up in Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan, besides the Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, and the University of Veterinary Sciences, Lahore.

Still a vast majority of agricultural experts stick to the opinion that teaching, research and extension should have been under one umbrella and command of the Agriculture University, if we are sincere in disseminating knowledge to the growers and want to produce real agriculture graduates instead of agricultural 'baboos', theoretically educated in the universities but practically ill-informed about agriculture research and extension and know-how about harvesting and farming, horticulture, vegetables, pulses, fruits and crops.

Everyone acknowledged that after a longtime, sincere and hectic efforts were made by outgoing vice-chancellor Dr Riaz Husain Qureshi for raising the academic standards of the agri varsity through multi-dimensional programmes, including revision of studies and course contents, development of systems for focus research through research groups, advisory committees, subject specialists, improving research facilities, internship programmes, holding of national and international seminars, signing of MoUs with international organizations, acquiring international and national projects for funding and awards, students discipline organization, delegation of powers to deans and chairmen, regular consultation with faculty, organizing training courses, computerization of offices, career development, improving the infrastructure including lecture rooms, laboratories, landscaping, renovation of old campus and rest houses.

During the four-year tenure of Dr Qureshi, a record of 124 PhDs were produced by the agri varsity, raising the strength of this club from 250 to 374. Apart from this, the university was ushered into new fields such as MSc demography, M.Com, MBA, MSc marketing and MSc computer sciences.

Throughout his tenure as vice-chancellor, Dr Qureshi maintained that the teaching-learning process was adversely affected by overcrowding and lack of effective communication between the teachers and students, lack of training in educational methodology at the university level, non-provision of guidance services and unreliable evaluation techniques which, according to him, were of vital importance in the transmission of knowledge to the students and the farming community.

The new vice-chancellor was the senior-most teacher of the university and had remained in the faculty of agriculture economics and rural sociology, which is considered the backbone of the agrarian economy as well as teaching and research and of dissemination of knowledge to the farming community.

Dr Bashir Ahmad faces the challenge of creating a conducive environment for reaping the fruits of progress and attaining outstanding professional competence.

Story of the clandestine billions: The cost of our N-deterrence-II

During the 1980s, Pakistan received about $25 billion (a conservative estimate) from various sources and most of these resources were totally unencumbered.

Every country in the so-called free world as well as China was giving us generous assistance in cash and kind throughout this period in return for the 'services' we were rendering to the US in its war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

During this period, Pakistan was getting at least $3 billion on an average annually in remittances from overseas workers, who would send another $3 billion in kind as well every year.

One recalls a State Bank of Pakistan circular in those days which had asked NCBs not to make public the amount of remittances they were receiving from overseas Pakistanis.

When enquiries were made to find out why this circular was issued, it was explained in hushed tones that the government did not want the multilateral agencies to know how much we were getting from this source. The reasons for this secrecy were obvious.

Meanwhile, in those days Pakistan was one of the major producers of poppy and was siphoning off weapons from supplies going through Pakistan to the Afghan 'jihadis' and selling them in the open market. The Ojhri camp incident is quoted as evidence of the post-Afghan war cover-up of this trade.

However, when Ziaul Haq died in August 1988, there was nothing on the ground to show where all these resources had gone. The then caretaker finance minister, Dr. Mehbubul Haq, had to rush to the IMF for emergency assistance to save the country from certain default.

The assumption, therefore, is that most of the resources, legitimate as well as illegitimate, that we received during the period of the 'free lunch' were siphoned off and were spent on our nuclear programme.

The total amount spent on the bomb, the missiles and the two-low intensity conflicts would certainly be more than $10 billion - more likely about $15 billion. The rest (from the $25 billion) was perhaps pocketed by the people who ran the first Afghan war from Pakistan on behalf of the US and the CIA.

It is likely that after the Pressler Amendment was invoked and other avenues of incomes dried up in the 1990s, a large part of the $11 billion of FCAs (confiscated after the nuclear tests) were also diverted to the two clandestine programmes and the two low-intensity wars.

And who was in charge of these clandestine funds for the programme during the 1980s and early 1990s? Well, we all know that Mr. Bhutto, when he launched the programme, had constituted a three-man committee, comprising the then defence secretary, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the then finance secretary, A.G.N. Kazi, and the then foreign secretary, Agha Shahi.

Mr Agha Shahi was sidelined after General Zia's take-over and in his place came General Arif, one of Zia's close confidantes. At some later stage, Sahibzada Yakub Khan was also associated with this committee.

All these names make it very clear that no one, not even the resourceful Dr. A.Q. Khan, could have fooled them, at least in the matter of finances. So, the money in private bank accounts and privately owned properties which is now being cited as evidence of the involvement of Dr A.Q. Khan and other scientists in proliferation had actually been accumulated by following the dictum of 'everything is fair in love and war'. The underground that the CIA claims to have uncovered did not come up to help Pakistan proliferate, but to assist us in making the bomb.

Many in the world and even inside the country wonder why, after having established that Dr A.Q. Khan was the main source of proliferation over the last so many years, the international community led by the US is not blaming this country or its government.

The reason is simple. The US in its present war against terrorism needs us as badly as it did in the 1980s when it was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. It was during this period that we were trying to acquire nuclear capability. The US knew about it. And like now, then too the US media would frequently run stories about our covert nuclear activities.

In fact in 1985, we told the world ourselves that we had perfected a basement bomb. Dr. A.Q. Khan had claimed in a secretly arranged interview to an Indian journalist (of all persons) that he had cold tested a device.

On November 1, 1986, The Washington Post ran a banner headline saying Pakistan had hot tested its device. This story was filed by Bob Woodword of Watergate fame, whose connection with the then CIA chief William Casey was revealed by Woodword himself in his book The Veil.

Meanwhile, successive US presidents were giving us certificates (under the Pressler amendment) that we were not making the bomb. Like now, then too the US administration had ostensibly disagreed with its own media because it needed our help in Afghanistan.

But, intriguingly, at the same time, as today, the CIA was also leaking to its media in the 1980s stories about Pakistan's nuclear programme. Why? Perhaps to keep India from threatening Pakistan's security at a time when its army is engaged in Afghanistan.

The Sikh crisis of the 1980s in India also seems, in retrospect, to have been handiwork of the CIA to keep India engaged in a bloody, divisive crisis on the domestic front.

India as everyone knows was at that time in the Soviet camp and had taken a position on Afghanistan which was not in consonance with that of the US. America perhaps suspected Indian intentions and therefore tried to neutralize it with Pakistan's basement bomb and the Sikh crisis.

Today the situation is different. India has become a good friend of the US. So, before implicating Pakistan publicly in the nuclear proliferation scandal, using the Khan angle, the US saw to it that tensions between India and Pakistan were replaced by a peace initiative.

Apparently, the US has managed to keep Pakistan free of worries on the southern borders while Washington keeps us engaged in the north. This time it seems the US will not walk away from this region in a hurry as it did in 1990.

Its forces are likely to remain in the region for another 10 to 15 years. During this period at least, Washington is not likely to see anything happen to Pakistan. But let us keep our fingers crossed at least for the next couple of years.

Now that our programme has become 'overt' (in the words of President Musharraf), and the underground network is in the process of being smashed, it would be interesting to know what route our establishment will take to import the raw material and hardware requirements to sustain our deterrence capability.

We obviously cannot open an L/C with a bank to import these items. But even if we did try this route, which country would sell any material to us? And even if they did, would not the bilateral and multilateral donors cut off all flows of concessional assistance to Pakistan?

However, if we have acquired what is called a sustainable 'full fuel cycle' and are no longer dependent on supplies from outside to sustain it, then we are safe and through to the exclusive nuclear club. It may still turn out that all's well that ends well.

(Concluded)

Let Cricket Win

Finally, the on again, off again tour is on. The Indian cricketers are due here early next month to play five one-day internationals and a three-Test series. This is the situation as of this moment. Nothing is certain until it really happens. Such has been the nature of India-Pakistan relations. Cricket is no exception. Nor is Kashmir for that matter.

For the moment, though, let us talk of cricket only and let us assume that the Indians are coming. How do we, then, compare the two sides? On paper the Indians have a definite edge in batting.

In bowling India are as good or as bad as Pakistan. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami may give Pakistan a slight advantage provided both are fully fit and remain fit for the entire thirty-nine-day tour.

Is the Indian batting that worries me. Their top order was in tremendous form on the recent Australian tour, especially in the Test matches. I am assuming once again that the top Indian batsmen will be coming to Pakistan. If Sehwag fails, Tendulkar will not.

If Tendulkar and Sehwag fail, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S Laxman will not. And if the two fail, skipper Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh will score. So it will be pretty difficult for Pakistan to get India out twice in the Test matches.

In bowling, India will be without Harbajhan Singh and probably Anil Kumble, two of their main spinners. A lot will depend on how their replacements perform on Pakistani wickets.

The Pakistanis have some exciting but unpredictable batsmen. They will have the advantage of playing on home grounds before home crowds but the great tension of an Indo-Pakistan series will always be there.

I would have predicted a draw series but for the 90 overs a day requirement. In fielding, the two sides appear to be evenly matched. I don't know but I have a feeling that India have a slight edge over Pakistan.

How about 52-48 for India? I would, of course, love Pakistan to win provided they are the better side. Let us not think of the Ides of March for the time being. No matter what happens, let cricket win.

Note: It is unfortunate that India will not be playing a Test match either in Karachi or Peshawar. What have the people in these two cities done to deserve this? Mighty unfair, if you ask me.

* * * * *

Cricket and commerce don't go together. At least in my time they did not. Cricket was one thing and commerce quite another. I am talking of the days of Nazar Mohammad, Imtiaz Ahmad, Fazal Mahmood and A H Kardar and all the rest. I am also talking of the days of Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Murchant, Vijay Hazare, C K Naidu, Vinoo Mankad, Subhash Gupte and the other early Indians.

Cricket and commerce were in fact antonyms. Where one began, the other ended. There was no television. And there were no sponsors. Today, cricket and commerce have become synonyms. They mean one and the same thing. Sponsors sell cricket and cricketers and we buy them in our living, even our bedrooms.

There is a commercial or commercials between overs or when a batsman gets out. It does not matter if you hate the goods and services being advertised. You have to see the lovely ladies and the not so handsome gentlemen with all the tricks.

You are taught how to have long hair and a fair complexion. That is for ladies but if you are a male, you can have your dinner here tonight and your breakfast seven thousand kilometres away. Or you can have an express train with two thousand people on board wait for you at a level-crossing.

"Everyone makes way for the Bullet". That is the message. But you must be riding a Royal Enfield for the train to stop for you and for the guard at the level-crossing to salute you. And if you are a star performer like Sachin Tendulkar, you must sell a bike because it makes you smile.

So cricket and commerce go together. You cannot think of one without the other. There used to be an old West Indian song, Cricket, lovely cricket. Today you can sing, Cricket, ugly cricket. Let me give you an example. If you are watching a one-day match on television with each side playing fifty overs, you will have to watch around six hundred commercials on the average every day.

Why are TV advertisers so insistent? Why must they tell you to buy this, that or the other thing at least six hundred times a day? Hard sell? My foot! Hard sell, no buy. That's what I say and that's what I do.

I am determined not to buy anything touted on television. You do the same and you will never be any the worse for that. I assure you. It is impossible not to watch TV commercials but you can at least put the ruddy thing on mute.

Just don't listen to the unlettered voice which screams at you to visit Choke (and not Chowk) Dalgran. Why does not the lady choke? I often ask myself. Or what do you do when home appliances become empliances? Or when electronics become electroanics? If you want to fall in love with TV commercials, my friend Sam has a formula for you.

Watch Star Plus for Indian plays and Pakistani ads. A perfect joint venture between the two neighbours. I tried this formula once. I sold my TV set for junk the next morning. Self and Sam have not been on speaking terms since.

* * * * *

I have space now for a couple of items from my favourite chronology, The Statesman (1875-1975). On Jan 23, 1932, the paper wrote:

In the history of nations fifty years is a mere chapter in which the actors come and go, each contributing in some measure to the sum of human progress and then give place to others.

Going through our own files of fifty years ago we are struck at once by two things: the modest size of a newspaper in India in those days and the different scale of values attached to news.

Half a century ago the art of advertising was in its infancy and since newspapers depended for their livelihood then, as now, very largely on advertisement revenue, their size was accordingly limited. The advertisements of those days consisted mainly of announcements of steamer sailings, sales of horses and carriages, small trade notices and paragraphs drawing attention to the efficacy of well-known household specifics.

Then, as now, advertisements for women's dress were prominent but the day of the big proprietary medicines and internationally advertised commodities had not arrived. Newspapers, therefore, had to be content in the main with local advertisements and a circulation not widely distributed.

The display of news reflects the more leisurely times in which our grandfathers lived. News received by cable from the four quarters of the globe was scanty and what there was tucked away in a corner of the main news page, unexpanded and with the bare minimum of headlines.

For details of important happenings in the world, the reader had to turn to the leader page where, in the course of an editorial article extending over a column or more of closely set type, he would find the topic of the previous day (if not further back) exhaustively dealt with in the polished though tedious periods of Victorian prose.

On March 16, the same year, the paper commented:

The election forced on by the Nazis and Nationalists who rage against the present government, was held on Sunday, and just failed to be decisive. Hindenburg polled over 18-1/2 million votes against Herr Hitler's 11-1/4 million, and another 200,000 would have rendered a second ballot unnecessary by giving him a clear majority over all four opponents.

In Germany, it is reported, there is considerable surprise at his majority over Herr Hitler. Outside Germany there will be considerable surprise that the National Socialist leader polled so many votes.

The Nazi movement is strong, and if it grows stronger will set up fresh difficulties and strains in the politics of Europe. It appeals to youth, and fights against those who have "humiliated" their country by accepting the Versailles policy and the Young plan.

Argument is easy in Germany's present desperate condition. "This is what these men have brought us to, and a president whom we all love and revere identifies himself with them rather than with those who stand for Germany's dignity and self-respect." This is Herr Hitler's second bid for high position, and it may represent high watermark.

A proverbial cake to feed the hungry

When Prime Minister Vajpayee first took power in 1996, he inherited a country with a network of roads covering two million kilometres; 960,000 kilometres of surfaced roads, and more than one million kilometres constructed of gravel, crushed stone, or earth.

There were 53 highways, almost 20,000 kilometres in length, rated as national highways; they would carry about 40 per cent of road traffic. Around 60 per cent of all passenger traffic in India travels by road.

Some of these roads were inherited from pre-British times, including the network built by Sher Shah Suri in the early 16th century. But no one put up nationwide posters to claim credit for building these roads. Now Mr. Vajpayee plans to add 14,000 kilometres to this sprawling network.

This will supposedly add shine to otherwise rusty India. So there are huge billboards all over the country proclaiming this great achievement, as it were.

Take information technology. It is supposedly the miracle engine that would drive India to its prophesied superpower status. It is also a key ingredient in the so-called feel good factor that is expected to give Mr Vajpayee a fairy-tale electoral victory. But these are essentially claims that need to be checked, more so because there are compelling arguments to suggest otherwise.

The government's lofty economic vision leans considerably on the country's software prowess. But this vision looks blurred if we take the contrary view on the subject expressed by Microsoft Corporation's Bill Gates, no less.

This was in November 2000, when an apex conference on 'Creating Digital Dividends' was drawing to a close in Seattle. That's when Mr Gates raised a few sceptical questions on the issue.

The premise was that 'market drivers' could be used to bring the benefits of connectivity and participation in the e-economy to all of the world's six billion people.

"I mean, do people have a clear view of what it means to live on $1 a day?" Mr Gates asked. "There's no electricity in that house. None." When a moderator brought up solar power, Mr Gates shot back: "No! You can't afford a solar power system for less than $1 a day. You're just buying food, you're trying to stay alive."

In India, the Net Poverty Line measures the amount of money required to replenish the energy equivalent of 2,400 k cal per day in urban areas (2,100 in rural). This is about half a kg of rice, which comes to Rs 7-8/day/person.

With this very, very low cutoff, 26 per cent Indians fall below the poverty line (BPL). Internationally, two dollars/ day/person is poverty and one dollar/ day/person is chronic poverty.

If you apply these yardsticks, 70 per cent of our people will qualify as poor and the BPL 26 per cent will qualify as worse than chronically poor.

But, as I said, never mind the embarrassing detail. It is election time, and Mr Vajpayee has to project a shining India. He has to show how India's prowess with information technology (minus the hardware, which mysteriously remains in the doldrums) was the vehicle that would take the country to its second golden period - the first being the Gupta Period when, to translate a metaphor, lions and goats would drink side by side from one idyllic pond.

But politicians know how to glorify vacuous achievements. In India that role has been taken over by the government. Take the ministry of communications, for instance.

It boasts in an advertisement that 37.5 lakh Internet connections were created during the last five years, compared with 'only' 2.5 lakh during the preceding 50 years. It hardly matters that Internet connections did not exist during the best of the latter period.

Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to ask, say, how many posts of primary teachers were created in each period. As it turns out, the annual increase is virtually the same in both periods.

Was this an isolated instance of deception? No, says reputed economist Jean Dreze who has worked with Prof Amartya Sen on a number of books. Dreze says the advertising blitzkrieg has even turned failures into successes.

For instance, an advertisement from the food ministry congratulates "our farmers who have reaped surplus stocks of foodgrains, ensuring no death from hunger". There is no reference here to the trail of hunger deaths that took place in recent years in the shadow of gigantic food stocks- one of the worst blots on the record of the present government.

Similarly, the decimation of handloom weaving all over India in recent years does not prevent the prime minister from "weaving a bright future for handloom weavers" in an ad prepared by the ministry of textiles. Reading the fine print, one finds that the 'bright future' of millions of impoverished weavers hinges on a measly scheme for "reimbursement of rebate on sale of handloom cloth".

A clear aim of this barrage of propaganda is to manufacture an entirely new image of Mr Vajpayee. His photograph looms large in more than two-thirds of the advertisements. Over and over again, he is projected as a dynamic leader and praised for his 'visionary leadership'.

This is quite a reincarnation for someone with a propensity for "interminable silences, indecipherable ramblings and, not infrequently, falling asleep in meetings", as Time magazine put it.

And if you think that Time is biased, read India Today. In a glowing tribute to him, published some weeks ago, Mr Vajpayee was praised as an 'inaction hero', champion of 'Gandhian passive resistance'. Due credit was also given to his 'political philosophy' of 'duality': "He says one thing and it means two things."

* * * * *

It has suddenly emerged as a talking point in Delhi that Prime Minister Vajpayee's chief poll campaigners either never faced an election or were defeated in the previous one, getting for themselves a backdoor entry via nominations in the current Rajya Sabha.

The vanquished include Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, and the high-flying party spokesman, Mr Pramod Mahajan. Those who have never faced a parliamentary election include Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie and Law Minister Arun Jaitley.

Ironically, their collective quarry is opposition leader Sonia Gandhi, who won the last election from two constituencies, one of them by defeating Ms Swaraj.

Dr Khan controversy puzzling

President Pervez Musharraf chided the press at a news briefing shortly after the Eid holidays for blowing up the Dr A.Q. Khan controversy over nuclear proliferation out of proportion. Earlier, state television broadcast a speech by Dr Khan in which he, otherwise accustomed to being feted as a national hero, owned up to selling nuclear technology for pecuniary gains.

Those astute members of the Establishment who orchestrated the whole saga must have heaved a sigh of relief and thought that was the end of the affair. But this view is not shared by many in the West.

"It is all rather puzzling. There are many unanswered questions. The reaction of the media and of the Democrats in the US to the events in Pakistan is entirely predictable," says former British chancellor of the exchequer Lord Norman Lamont of Lerwick, who was vice-chairman of the now defunct International Nuclear Safety Commission and was on a visit to Karachi last week.

"The issue is highly alarming. It got a lot of coverage in the West. People are obviously concerned about it. They are concerned about these countries having nuclear weapons. They are concerned about the possibility of nuclear technology falling into the hands of terrorists," says Lord Lamont, picking his words carefully.

Lord Lamont served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1972 to 1993, and was elevated to the House of Lords in 1998. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1990 to 1993.

The author of two books - Sovereign Britain (published in 1995) and In office (published in 1999) - Lord Lamont has visited Pakistan at least three times.

He argues that the Non-Proliferation Treaty is out of date. "We do need new arrangements to encompass not just the Cold War superpowers but also countries like Pakistan, India and Israel," he contends.

According to a BBC documentary, Israel's nuclear arsenal is considerable. In addition, it has not been subjected to rigorous international inspections. Why is it that while the nuclear weapons programmes of Pakistan and India are criticized, no eyebrows are raised when Israel conducts nuclear tests?

"You have to see that from an American point of view," counters Lord Lamont. He says: "America is fearful of weapons technology leaking to other countries. America obviously does not regard the prospect of countries like Iran having nuclear weapons with equanimity. America itself has nothing to fear from Israel. It probably has some confidence in Israel's ability to control its weapons programme."

Lord Lamont points out that there is a lot of concern in Britain about people who apparently advocate support for Al Qaeda and extremists. "People who are not British citizens are likely to find themselves being refused permission to remain in the country."

Of course, British citizens were dealt with according to due process. But those who were not citizens attracted a lot of attention, although they formed a minuscule proportion of the Muslim population in Britain, he says.

But is it not the unreserved support extended by the United States and by the United Kingdom to a limited extent to Israel that has driven Muslims to extremism? "No," declares Lord Lamont, but concedes that America's policy towards Israel is one- dimensional.

"The United States ought to exert greater pressure on [Israeli prime minister Ariel] Sharon to stop building this wall, which is not only wrong but will also not work.

America's support for Israel has done great harm. I think there is a different attitude in Europe. There is much more sympathy for the Palestinian cause in Europe.

But having said that, I don't believe that the problem of Al Qaeda or so-called Islamic terrorism would not exist if there weren't any Palestinian problem. Indeed, Al Qaeda has been very cynical in using the Palestinian problem," he asserts.

The billboard assault

Live in a city for too long and you will get accustomed to all of its good, and bad, sides. A recent trip to Islamabad showed just how different Karachi is from that well-organized and clean place.

One isn't actually talking about the lush green landscape found in abundance in Islamabad or the Margalla Hills or even its crisp weather but of the distinct lack of large billboards in the federal capital.

The change couldn't be more jarring with the assault on your eyes beginning the moment you put your bags in the car and drive away from Jinnah Terminal. Several huge billboards greet all just-landed visitors to the city, asking them to lease everything from cars, homes to electronic gadgets and appliances. In fact, the drive from the airport to any of the city's hotels - a distance of some 15 kilometres - probably has several dozen giant billboards.

So, the question is that why should Karachi be inundated with so many billboards? Do motorists and commuters want to constantly be watching huge adverts as they go to work or a friend's place? More important, did the city government ever bother asking the views of the public that uses the road whether it was okay with them to be subjected to this visual assault day in, day out?

There are many gung-ho types among us who would unabashedly say that such things are a sign of progress and modernity. Large billboards, especially of things like new cars, mobile phones, a new beverage, or airlines, probably reflect increased consumer confidence and spending in the urban economy.

In fact, their very presence in such large numbers is also proof that new technologies have taken hold in Pakistan's advertising industry, especially now that images on billboards no longer have to be painted (a time-consuming process that produced images which often were caricatures in themselves and are instead computer-generated).

However, this also shows the priorities of the city government with respect to commercialization of the city and selling public space to advertisers. While it has every right to be upset with bus owners who display ads on their vehicles without paying for them, it should also show a bit of concern for the rights of hundreds of thousands of citizens who use the road network everyday.

No government, including this one, ever bothered about the aesthetic and other consequences of a city engulfed in a sea of massive billboards, which is what seems to have happened.

In some cases, apart from being veritable eyesores, they can be quite a distraction. And it seems the city government has left no stone unturned in renting out every inch of public space because to get a good look of the sky on some of the major thoroughfares, one has to look up vertically.

The city government would be doing everyone a huge favour if for the next financial year it draws up a more realistic outdoor advertising policy so that the number of billboards is, to use a government term in vogue these days, 'right-sized'.

Besides, it would also help if citizens who feel (and there are many who do) that this visual assault must stop made their reservations clear to the city authorities that the policy of a wholesale auction of public spaces is not in the public interest and will be resisted.

Observing the Library Day

"If we can observe Children's Day, Women's Day, Senior Citizens' Day, etc, why can't we observe a Library Day?" asks Ibn Hasan of Farheen Educational Society of Orangi Town. For the past three years or so, the FES has been observing the Library Day on Feb 21.

According to Hasan, libraries play a vital role in making a nation civilized. "The reason why we are aggressively campaigning for the promotion of a library culture," he says, "is that we believe that nations cannot make headway without education. And while a library, however well stocked, could not be a substitute for an educational institution, it is, to quote Carlyle, a 'true university of these days'."

According to a survey conducted by FES, Orangi Town, Asia's largest squatter settlement, has a population of 1.8 million. Significantly, the rate of literacy in Orangi Town is 85 per cent.

There are about 850 private schools, 6,000 teachers and 200,000 students in the locality. And yet, there is not a single public library in Orangi Town. But then out of Karachi's 18 towns, seven don't have a public library either.

Hasan does not subscribe to the view that because the city government has to attend to the other needs of Orangi Town - water, electricity, gas, roads, to name but a few - it cannot be expected to cough up the funds required to open the Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali library, closed because of a lack of financial resources.

Another FES survey reveals that there are about 1,000 snooker clubs in Orangi Town. "In a snooker club, at least 10 boys can play at a time. So in a population of 1.8 million, 10,000 boys are playing snooker at a time.

If a club earns Rs500 a day, the amount earned by all the snooker clubs in Orangi Town comes to Rs50,000 a day. In a month, they earn Rs1.5 million or thereabouts," Hasan calculates, wondering why the same amount could not employed to set up one library in Orangi Town.

Thanks, Mr Jagjit

It was a night of light and colour on the sprawling lawns of the historical Mohatta Palace. The national carrier, celebrating the induction of some new aircraft, had pulled and put together all that could be added to the enjoyment of guests drawn from a cross-section of society.

Jagjit Singh from India was supposed to be the star of the night. But in a gathering of nouveaux riches, he faltered. For more than two hours, he tried to adjust the pitch and tone of his voice while picking lines from here and there,

but all in vain.

He repeatedly failed to establish a rapport with the audience. A little earlier Tina Sani and Farida Khanum had also failed to enthuse the hundreds of ladies and gentlemen constantly engaged in humming and murmuring.

But Jagjit had a ploy left. Half-way through a song he reminded the audience about Mehdi Hasan passing through a difficult phase in his life. He would not say it in so many words, but he seemed to be putting us to shame by reminding us that we were failing in our duty towards our national heroes.

Jagjit sang a few lines Mehdi Hasan had sung, and then announced a donation of Rs300,000 towards a fund of Rs10 million he intended to collect for Mehdi Hasan. That set the ball rolling. Amid loud clapping from the audience, Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ibad told Jagjit that he was donating Rs1 million. He was followed by the Sindh assembly speaker, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, with Rs100,000.

Jagjit kept on singing and in between making these announcements. The PIA boss, who had already started to dance to the tunes played by Jagjit, announced a contribution of Rs300,000. Two Sindh ministers announced donations followed by several people from the audience.

Of course, it was a noble gesture on Jagjit Singh's part. But why had the government, the governor, the speaker, the ministers, and many others among the ladies and gentlemen waited to be instigated by an Indian singer to come out to help one of our national heroes? It's a shame that we have to wait for others to make us realize our own duty towards our singers, writers, artists and actors fallen on bad times.

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