Make or break?
A REPORT in this newspaper has revealed that the PPP co-chairman, Asif Zardari, is to travel to London to meet the PML-N chief, Nawaz Sharif, for ‘make or break’ talks on the future of the coalition. The tottering coalition was dealt a further blow last week when Mr Sharif added to the outstanding differences on restoration of the non-functional judges by distancing the PML-N from the recent government operation against militants in the Khyber agency and the increase in prices of petroleum products, electricity and gas. It appears, however, that the primary difference between the two largest parties in parliament remains the mechanism by which the non-functional judges are to be reinstated. This disagreement must not be allowed to drag on any longer. All parties have put their cards on the table. The PPP wants to put the non-functional judges back in office through a constitutional amendment package that will dramatically reduce any independent streak amongst judges of the superior court. The PML-N is not averse to the constitutional package per se but maintains that the judges need to be re-activated via a simple parliamentary resolution.
However, the fact is that the PML-N is a junior partner in the coalition. It needs to bow to the logic of being number two: it cannot have its foot in both camps. Right now the PML-N is adding to the country’s woes by lacerating the government on economic and militancy issues just when all hands are needed on board to deal with the multiple crises afflicting the state. There is no doubt that the national interest demands that the PPP and the PML-N work together. However, what is also not in doubt is that a coalition is only viable if all sides understand the pecking order and what that entails. Moreover, self-interest demands that the PML-N rejoin the federal cabinet and get on with the business of governance: the party’s government in Punjab will not survive without the PPP; the party can train its next generation of leaders on the job after nearly a decade of being shut out of the corridors of power; and the party can only hope to broaden its appeal in the smaller provinces if it stays in power. However, if the PML-N is immune to this logic, it must finally make up its mind now. The politics of procrastination is bleeding not only the coalition but the country itself.
Mysterious blasts
TERROR revisited Karachi on Monday evening after months of calm as a chilling, though mysterious, reminder of the terrorists’ ability to spew death and destruction. Even though violence always lurks around, the nation’s biggest city had enjoyed a respite from political and ethnic violence for quite some time. The last blast in Karachi was on Jan 15 in the Landhi industrial zone. It had killed nine people. On Monday evening, even though the fatalities were low, the six blasts in rapid succession destroyed this false sense of security. Certain characteristics about Monday’s terror stand out: the fatalities were low because the explosive devices did not have the devastating lethality of the kind seen in terrorist attacks by the Taliban in the north. Secondly, they were planted away from crowds and triggered at places designed to sow and spread panic and terror rather than kill; third, the targets chosen were not ethnic-specific. Clearly, the blasts do not fit into any given pattern. It is true that Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud threatened to carry terror into ‘Punjab and Sindh’, but the Taliban-sponsored attacks have a signature about them, for they invariably have a specific target. Of late they have been targeting security personnel, even though they do not mind civilians also being killed as collateral damage. Besides, most of their terror attacks use suicide bombers. No suicide bomber was involved in Monday’s blasts, for they were not target-specific.
Because of the mysterious nature of the blasts, some comments can be made with a degree of such accuracy as is possible under the circumstances. The attacks have been carried out by a well-organised group. It has kept its strength in reserve, and Monday’s blasts can be interpreted as a warning that the performance can be repeated — the next blast could be deadlier. The terror comes at a time when Sindh’s two major parties — the PPP and the MQM — are trying to work their coalition, and they have removed some irritants, like the KWSB’s control. Is any hidden hand trying to disturb the city’s peace and wreck the coalition that in the past had proved to be quite fragile? It would be a pity if the security sleuths fail to lay their hands on what obviously is a big group well organised, well funded and adequately armed. It must be smashed before it strikes again.
A putrefying market
IT is heartening to note that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is keen to help the province of Sindh in various farm projects by extending technical assistance and also improving the market conditions. The ADB team visiting Pakistan has very rightly stressed the need to introduce public-private partnership in the marketing of fruit and vegetables. But the weightiest suggestion that has come from the bank is about the need to amend the Agricultural Produce Marketing (APM) Act. This Act is as old as Pakistan itself. With time it has become obsolete. As a result the country has consistently failed to realise the full potential of its fruit and vegetable sector. The area on which fruits and vegetables are cultivated has remained limited to only four per cent of the cultivable land. The export earnings these items fetch are no more than $2m annually. Experts believe these items have the potential to fetch six times as much with a little bit of modernising.
Under the APM Act, licenses are issued to various market functionaries for their operations and fixing of their charges or fees. These markets are supervised by a committee constituted through elected members of growers, traders, market functionaries and nominated government officials. The market committee is responsible for arranging open auction of produce, supervision of weight and measures and prompt payments, licensing, allotment of shops or trading floors for new entrants, dissemination of market information and levying of fees or taxes. The government levies market fees on agricultural produce bought or sold in a notified area, 15 per cent of which is retained by the local committee to improve the physical infrastructure of the market. Collection of fees is done by private agencies that compete in an annual open auction. However, political influence and bribes determine the outcome. After obtaining contracts, the ‘facilitation fee’ amount is recovered by charging fees higher than the scheduled rates. The commission agents and wholesalers with permanent premises in the market, collude with committee officials, paying them an agreed share of daily transactions in return for recording a lower volume transacted and payment of less than the amount actually due. These elements are too powerful in every way, socially, politically and financially and have, therefore, been effectively defeating attempts to change the outdated law. Would the new provincial government take up the challenge and liberate the fruit and vegetable market from the clutches of this debilitating law?
OTHER VOICES - European Press
Languages decide on glory, survival & defeat
The Slovak Spectator
“LANGUAGE is more than blood,” in the words of …philosopher Franz Rosenzweig. Languages truly decide the glory, survival or defeat of nations on the battlefields of time…. When ethnic groups give up their language, though words might occasionally survive in linguistic studies or folk songs, they can easily be reduced to fragile, dusty museum-pieces. So June 29… should certainly go down in the history of Slovakia’s 300,000-strong Roma communities for having formally signed the declaration of the Roma of the Slovak Republic on the standardisation of the Roma language.
Though the news made few headlines in Slovakia, it is a very important step from which generations of Roma could benefit in the future if both the Roma communities and the non-Roma population understand the importance of supporting the use of the language…to strengthen Roma identity. Hopefully, a standardised language that the Roma community can agree on will open a window to education, which is one of the most important ways to escape the circle of deprivation.
Yet, language is a potential source of pride not only for poets and writers but also for Roma children, who need to learn much more about their culture than just a couple of references and paragraphs from some non-Roma textbooks. The non-Roma majority might not realise the importance of this day because most have never known the feeling of having their language fade away. At the same time, the European Union released a special Eurobarometer survey…which shows that around a quarter of Europeans would feel uncomfortable having a Roma neighbour….
….In 2007, the Roma minority faced discrimination in Slovakia in its access to education, housing, healthcare and other services, as well as persistent prejudice and hostility, said Amnesty International. In light of the fact that many Roma in Slovakia still live on the margins of society and in poverty, the standardisation of the Roma language is a positive achievement for Slovakia…. Some Roma are sceptical, saying that their community might not be ready to accept or use the standardised language. However, a former cabinet proxy for the Roma community…said that it was crucial for the Roma to say “we have a language, which is correct and this is how we are going to use it”.
And… the act also helps Slovakia to fulfil its commitments under the Charter of Minority Languages. — (July 7)
Solana’s formula
CONCILIATORY noises from Tehran over the nuclear issue have left Washington and Brussels baffled, and unconvinced of Iran’s intentions. Having grown accustomed to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s uncompromising language, Tehran’s new tone has raised more suspicion than hope among cynics in western capitals.
At a lunch with a dozen US journalists in New York last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki indicated that Iran would likely respond favourably to the latest proposal by the Security Council’s permanent members plus Germany (P5+1). The reason seems to be that alongside an incentive package that didn’t differ significantly from a 2006 package that Tehran rejected, a formula may have been agreed upon that would enable all parties to come to the negotiating table without losing face.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented the formula orally to the Iranians: For a period of six weeks, Iran would halt any advancement in its enrichment activities while the Security Council would refrain from imposing additional sanctions on Iran. During this period, the Europeans and Iran would negotiate an agreement on the modalities of a full suspension, after which the United States would formally join the talks. This way, Tehran can claim that it didn’t suspend as a precondition, but rather as a result of talks, and Washington can claim that it did not join talks until Iran had suspended all enrichment activities.
This formula is not new, however. Why — and whether — Iran would agree to it now has become the subject of much speculation. In typical fashion, Iran has sent contradictory signals. Iran’s foreign minister struck an uncharacteristically conciliatory tone in New York, refusing to repeat Tehran’s mantra that enrichment is non-negotiable. Days before, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati argued in favour of negotiations in an interview to the conservative daily, Jomhouriye Eslami.
The debate in Tehran over this issue seems to have centred on whether to continue defying the Security Council or to consolidate Iranian gains. —IPS News