Wednesday, November 28, 2012

4Pakistani.com

4Pakistani.com

Ties with India: Industries ministry suggests gradual opening up of trade

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 09:45 PM PST



ISLAMABAD: 

After fierce resistance from farmers' lobbies and the textile ministry, the Ministry of Industries is also gearing up to slow down moves to open up trade with India, believing it will hurt the infant domestic industry and has proposed a gradual phase-out of negative trade list over a period of five years.

Pakistan is planning to grant most-favoured nation (MFN) status to India by the end of December and start free trade in January. The Ministry of Textile and farmers' lobbies like the Farmers Associates Pakistan are opposing free trade with India on fears that it will swallow up Pakistan's economy.

According to officials, the Ministry of Industries has recommended to the government to link the opening up of trade with reciprocal measures by India to ease the non-tariff barriers that stand in the way of Pakistan's exporters. In case, it says, India stops removing the barriers during a period of time, the phase-out of negative trade list should be stopped by Pakistan for the same period.

The ministry says the commerce ministry has identified 636 items for trade with India after consultation with the industry and a study conducted by IBA Karachi. But generally there is little to rely on predictability.

The traditional measure used is the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index, ratio of a product's share in a country's exports to its share in world trade, it says. "As such, the RCA index simply records a country's current trade pattern and it cannot be used to say whether or not it will make sense to support a particular sector or tariff lines for inclusion or otherwise in the proposed negative list."

The ministry notes the RCA index misses the loss and setback suffered by the manufacturing industry. The industry feels while trade liberalisation is welcome, it will only benefit both sides if undertaken in a structured manner, providing space to the industry in the backdrop of the energy crunch, floods, law and order situation and high interest rates. The rising unemployment also cannot be ignored, it says.

textile

According to the South Asia Free Trade Area (Safta) accord, except for the items placed in the sensitive list, the rest of the tariff lines will come down to 0-5% by January next year.

"This will not only allow a huge quantum of tariff lines to be opened up for trade, the tariff will also be reduced drastically, for example, from as high as 35% to 5% in January 2013, which may have a huge cost impact on the local industry faced with a plethora of domestic supply-side constraints," the ministry says.

It argues it is absolutely necessary to mitigate to some extent the effects of a sudden transition that will entail huge economic implications for the industry. The Safta impact should also be factored in while assessing the actual economic impact.

The ministry suggests that the negative list should be phased out over a period of five years and the phase-out should start after three years. The exercise should be in consonance with sensitivity levels of tariff lines in order of 'least' to 'highly sensitive'.

The ministry suggests a year-wise tariff reduction plan, starting with 25% in the third year, 25% in the fourth year and remaining 50% in the fifth year. However, the tariff reduction should be linked with proportionate measures taken by India for easing non-tariff barriers.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012.

After 22 months in Af-Pak hot seat, Grossman to ‘return to private life’

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:44 PM PST



WASHINGTON: US special ambassador to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman is due to step down from his post next month, a State Department spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday. 

In the immediate aftermath of Grossman’s mid-December departure, his principal deputy David Pearce will take over.

Grossman had taken over the office of special representative after the death of Richard Holbrooke in late 2010. At the time, Grossman was living a retired life and had been asked by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to come back and take charge of the vacant hot seat. He had reportedly agreed to do so for a period of two years.

“After almost two years in the position, and with Secretary Clinton’s agreement, he will return to private life. The secretary thanks Ambassador Grossman for his efforts to help create the ‘diplomatic surge’ that Secretary Clinton laid out in her 2011 speech at the Asia Society,” State department spokesperson Laura Lucas said on Tuesday.

The spokesperson added that Ambassador Grossman’s work has helped set the conditions for a peace process in Afghanistan, that would enable Afghans to talk to each other in efforts to reach a negotiated settlement.

“This has been a major line of effort in support of the President's objectives to disrupt and defeat al Qaeda and ensure that Afghanistan can no longer become a safe haven for terrorists. Under Ambassador Grossman's leadership, the United States also has worked to build a relationship with Pakistan based on identifying our shared interests and acting on them jointly. This work will continue.”

During his time as special envoy to the region, Grossman oversaw a particularly difficult period in Pakistan’s relations with both the US and with Afghanistan.

The special envoy had spearheaded US’ efforts to secure international funding and a long term commitment to Afghanistan in the Bonn and Tokyo conferences.

He also oversaw the security partnership agreement between US and Afghanistan which determined the role of US troops in Afghanistan through 2024.

Grossman was also part of the back channel negotiations with the Taliban. Those talks though came unstuck over, among other issues, the transfer of five Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay to relatively relaxed confinement in Qatar.

Health campaigns: Polio immunisation drive re-launched

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 07:42 PM PST



LAHORE: 

District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal administered polio drops to several children at Khan Colony in Gulberg Town on Tuesday, launching a three-day campaign to immunise under fives in 50 union councils in the city.

The government, assisted by international health agencies, has conducted several campaigns to vaccinate children against polio all over Pakistan, one of the few remaining countries in the world where the disease still exists. However, thousands of families have refused the polio drops because of ignorance about the effects of the vaccine, officials say. Many of these families are of Pakhtoon ethnicity. At Tuesday's ceremony, Mengal appealed to the residents of Khan Colony to ensure that their children get immunised against polio. Representatives of the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and local health officials attended the event.

Earlier, the DCO met students learning Pashto and asked them about their experiences going door to door and informing Pathan residents of the city about the anti-polio drive. He thanked them for their service and handed out cash prizes and letters of appreciation from the government.

Presiding over a meeting at the Town Hall, Mengal directed city government officials to devote their full efforts to the anti-polio campaign. He assigned responsibility for monitoring performance and attendance among the members of the polio teams, saying that officials must be out in the field by 8am. He instructed them to check bus stands, the zoo and recreation areas of the city for children who had not been immunised.

The DCO also told off several officials for turning up late for the meeting or not attending the entire proceedings. The town municipal officers (TMOs) of Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, Ravi Town, Iqbal Town and Samanabad Town and the deputy district officers (health) of Wagha Town and Cantonment were late for the meeting. The TMOs of Nishter Town and Gulberg Town and the DDOs of Aziz Bhatti Town and Nishtar Town did not attend the entire meeting. They were instructed to hand in explanation letters for their conduct on Wednesday.

Far more HIV patients than reported

Special Health Secretary Babar Hayat Tarar has said that the number of HIV patients in the Punjab estimated by health organisations including the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund was much higher than the official record of 3,666 patients. Health organisations estimate the number of HIV patients in the country to be between 40,000 and 45,000.

He was speaking on Tuesday at an advisory meeting for MPAs organised in connection with World AIDS Day. He said Punjab was the only province in Pakistan where the government was running an AIDS Control Programme on its own for the past three years. He said the government would keep running this programme.

Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique said there was a dire need to launch a movement to raise awareness about various diseases. He said the number of patients would keep increasing if preventive measures were not taken seriously and then no amount of money or hospital beds would be enough to meet the demand.

Rafique said the increasing population was the biggest hurdle in planning healthcare needs. He called upon the clergy, the media and the public to play a role in controlling the population growth rate and preventing deadly diseases, like AIDS. He said the government was discharging its duties effectively to ensure dengue control on a permanent basis.

Parliamentary Health Secretary Dr Saeed Elahi said legislators should seek to remove negative perceptions by publically meeting with infected patients. He said legislators should also narrate the effects of HIV and AIDS in public to make people cautious. He said legislators should also work to frame effective laws to control viral diseases.

Dr Elahi suggested that members of parliaments who are also doctors by profession form a caucus to propose development policies. He said legislators should also consult the clergy and education institutions to strengthen campaigns regarding different diseases including AIDS.  He said legislators should work in coordination with NADRA to collect data about patients with diseases and issue them treatment cards and immunisation cards to the patients.

Begum Shaista Pervaiz Malik, MPA Arifa Khalid, Maulana Raghib Naeemi and journalist Sohail Warriach made suggestions regarding prevention of HIV.

Punjab Control Programme Project Director Dr Salman Shahid gave a briefing regarding the steps taken by the government to control the disease.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012. 

Violence versus prosperity

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:41 PM PST



A mother grabs her child by his hair and thrashes him soundly, yelling at the top of her voice. The child is guilty of doing exactly the same thing to his younger sister because she hit his puppy over the head with a stick for, seemingly, no reason at all. The father emerges from inside the house. He wants to know what all of the furor is about. His wife screams at him and he hits her hard across the face. Then he kicks his motorbike, which falls over with a crash with something — goodness knows what — breaking in the process.

The parents grew up with violence in their respective childhood homes and know no better: their children have already learnt the violence and unless the chain is broken, their grandchildren will learn the same and so on down the line. This ingrained violence — for that is what it is — spills over into society at large, creating ever-spreading ripples as it goes.

The same can be said of Pakistan today: we are a nation brought up on hard knocks, stressful situations and downright fear of so many diverse, yet overlapping, things that it is difficult to highlight just one example. Unless, that is, the accusatory finger perpetually aimed in India's direction is taken as a point in case.

The two neighbouring countries have been at war overtly and covertly more than once and a high percentage of the populations in both countries is still blindly prepared to blame the other for each and every single one of their woes. This ridiculous situation is further aggravated by biased press policies on both sides of the border with extremely outmoded, self-destructive policies being perpetuated, which are way past their sell-by date. Hanging on to and aggrandising past hatreds is self-destructive to the nth degree. And even though trade barriers are slowly coming down and visa regulations are supposedly relaxing, old grievances are still being continually whipped up. This does not, by any stretch of the imagination, promote the desperately needed peace which leads to prosperity for all.

Not satisfied with allowing ourselves to be continually beaten with the 'hate India' stick, we and our Afghan brothers and sisters are now increasingly at each other's throats, largely due to organised mudslinging in both directions. In the long term, this will be equally destructive for both as the two countries — Pakistani interference in Afghan internal affairs aside — have much to offer each other on a sustainable basis.

The regularly stoked up animosities between Pakistan and India and Pakistan and Afghanistan serve no one other than those with vested political interests, foreign war mongers and unscrupulous global profiteers. And as always, it is the people, especially those living on or below the poverty line, who suffer from these machinations of economies based on greed.

It is imperative that the people of these three adjoining countries take time to seriously dissect the misinformation being heaped on them from biased quarters. They must think for themselves and reach their own commonsensical conclusions and join together in peace.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012.

US senate may hear draft bill which subjects CSF funds to conditions

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 05:40 PM PST



WASHINGTON: The US senate has included in its calendar the hearing of National Defense Authorisation Act 2013 (NDAA), which seeks to place Pakistan under the spotlight for action against terror groups such as the Haqqani Network, Quetta Shura within Pakistani territory, against improvised explosive device manufacturers, ensuring security of Nato supplies and not detain Dr Shakil Afridi.

The full text of the bill, which was released on Monday, stipulates that the conditions associated with the Counterinsurgency Fund meant for Pakistan, should be met. It says that no reimbursements against claims can be made during the period that the ground lines of supply through Pakistan were closed. Additionally, the bill says that no more than $ 1,750,000,000 can be given to Pakistan in the fiscal year 2013. This figure does not include reimbursements made to Pakistan during fiscal year 2013 from previous funds.

The text of the bill states that the Secretary of Defense has to certify to congressional defense committees that Pakistan has reopened and is maintaining security along the ground lines of supply to Afghanistan before Counter insurgency funds can be released.

The certification requirements include that Pakistan is not providing support to militant groups including the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban as well as the Quetta Shura present in Pakistan and believed to be involved in carrying out cross-border attacks against the US, Afghan and coalition forces. The Secretary of Defense also has to certify that Pakistan is taking actions against such groups which are based and operating from Pakistan.

The requirements add that “Pakistan is demonstrably cooperating with United States counterterrorism efforts, including by not detaining, prosecuting, or imprisoning citizens of Pakistan as a result of their cooperation with such efforts, including Dr Shakil Afridi.”

Additionally, the Secretary of Defense will have to certify that Pakistan is demonstrating “a continuing commitment, and is making significant efforts toward the implementation of a strategy, to counter improvised explosive devices, including efforts to attack improvised explosive device networks, monitor known precursors used in improvised explosive devices, and develop and implement a strict protocol for the manufacture of explosive materials (including calcium ammonium nitrate) and accessories and for their supply to legitimate end users.”

The Secretary of Defense is also allowed to waive these limitations if he testifies that the waiver is in the US’ national security interests, along with justifications for the waiver.

Previously, the NDAA 2012 bill froze $ 700 million in the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund.

The text for NDAA 2013 can be found here.

Recovery of $120m: NAB all set to issue notices to Karkey

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 04:43 PM PST



ISLAMABAD: 

Acting upon the apex court's Monday orders, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will issue notices to Turkish power company Karkey to pay $ 120 million owed to the state for failing to honour its agreement.

The notices are ready and are likely to be sent to the Turkish firm today (Wednesday), NAB officials told The Express Tribune. Karkey's four ship mounted power plants will not be allowed to leave Pakistan's port unless the payments are received, they added.

"NAB has already written to Port Qasim and other maritime authorities to not let the ships exit without the bureau's prior approval," said an official of the corruption watchdog requesting anonymity.

According to the agreement signed between Karkey and the Pakistan government, the former was supposed to provide 260 megawatts of electricity, but ended up generating only 60MW. A sum of $ 79 million was reportedly paid in advance to the company, whereas it owes a total amount of $ 120 million for failing to live up to the agreement.

Karkey's ships arrived as part of the government's strategy to deal with the present energy crisis. However, the Supreme Court struck down the deals in March this year following allegations of widespread corruption.

NAB, on its part, has not been able to stick to one course of action. Earlier this month, it issued orders to the port authority to let the ship mounted power plants leave the country, but revoked its decision following widespread criticism from the media.

During Supreme Court's hearing on Monday, petitioner Faisal Saleh Hayat maintained that the total outstanding amount payable by Karkey was $ 128 million – a claim NAB has challenged.

The court warned NAB Chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari that he would be held responsible in case any discrepancies were found later.

The bench also asked NAB to initiate criminal proceeding against Karkey and other rental power plants (RPPs) following the court's ruling that the deals were "illegal". However, NAB is yet to take any action against the Turkish firm.

During Supreme Court's hearing, NAB's prosecutor-general KK Agha said the matter was a sensitive one given Pakistan's relations with Turkey.

In the past, some have accused NAB of being reluctant to take action against those who pushed for the unpopular deal as these include powerful functionaries including Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf – an allegation the bureau vehemently denies.

One official of NAB said that action against the Turkish company's local partners will be taken soon.

The bureau has arrested former managing director of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) along with some other officials. Liabilities worth Rs5 billion have already been recovered from nine RPPs, the official added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012.

Elections on time: ECP, govt quell whispers of poll postponement

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 03:37 PM PST



ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: 

In the face of continued whispers of delayed polls, hopes for an on-time election received a shot in the arm on Tuesday from the election watchdog and the government's information point-man.

Both issued optimistic statements regarding the next general elections – an exercise that is still the subject of much speculation despite the government's insistence that it will be held on time.

Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Secretary Ishtiak Ahmed Khan said that he had told the prime minister earlier in the day that the commission would complete all arrangements in terms of holding the elections by December 31, and added that the premier had expressed satisfaction on the effort.

Separately, Information Qamar Zaman Kaira added to the statement, saying during a luncheon with journalists that elections would be held in May next year under a neutral caretaker setup.

"Nothing but a natural catastrophe can postpone the next general elections," Kaira said.

Law and order

One of the principal issues being put forward in the speculation of delayed elections is the current law and order situation. But the idea was dismissed by both the ECP and the information minister – in word and in deed.

The ECP secretary said the body had turned down the Balochistan chief secretary's request to postpone by-elections of a provincial assembly seat due to the volatile law and order situation in the province.

"The ECP has refused the Balochistan chief secretary's request for postponement of by-elections as it is the duty of the provincial government to maintain law and order."

Earlier this month, the ECP had announced a schedule for the by-election of the constituency PB-18 Sherani-cum-Zhob (Old Zhob-I) to fill the seat rendered vacant after the death of MPA Abdul Khaliq. Polling is scheduled to take place on December 24.

He said that he had informed Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf that the commission would hold meetings with the federal and all provincial governments to ensure that law and order is maintained during polling.

The information minister also chimed in on this issue, saying that elections were held in 2008 even though the law and order situation was not exemplary at the time.

The Karachi issue

The other issue that could possibly pose a threat to the next elections is the situation in Karachi – which contributes represents the most seats in the National Assembly and the provincial assembly for a single city. The issue doesn't pertain to the law and order situation, but the issue of voter lists and constituencies.

The issues are both highly sensitive, and could have repercussions or involve a protracted implementation process – given that just the pre-census house count was hit by a number of scandals, and the inability of ECP staff to go door to door in the city.

While commenting on the Supreme Court's direction for fresh delimitation of constituencies in Karachi and the issue of 3 million votes being transferred out of the city on ethnic and political grounds, the ECP secretary said he was going to hold meetings with the Sindh administration in this regard.

The secretary has been summoned by the apex court on November 28 regarding the fresh delimitation.

He hoped that the matter would be finalised in the next couple of days. After finalising the proposals, we will take political parties into confidence as they are the real stakeholders, he added.

On Monday, the Supreme Court had taken notice of the ECP's failure to redraw constituencies in Karachi so as to make them multi-ethnic instead of ghettoized. The apex court's order in this regard had come as a part of its recommendations to reduce ethnic violence in the city.

The Supreme Court has summoned the ECP secretary on this matter on November 28 – and warned that contempt proceedings could be initiated if its orders were not followed by the ECP.

Additionally, last week, the Supreme Court had directed the ECP to review Karachi's electoral rolls after it received numerous complaints that the city's ruling party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had influenced the process of pushing out some three million votes out of Karachi of people who hailed from different party of Pakistan but had settled in the financial capital.

This issue is set to heat up with the MQM also filing a petition to become a party in the case.

Caretaker set-up

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira on Tuesday said the government was committed to holding free and fair elections, which would be held under a caretaker setup in May next year.

He said the elections will take place within two months of the caretaker government assuming power. "The caretaker government which will be formed as per the Constitution," he added.

He said the caretaker setup will be announced after consulting the opposition to ensure free and fair elections under the supervision of an independent election commission.

Kaira maintained the PPP-led government had strengthened the ECP by awarding it unprecedented autonomy. The federal minister said conducting weapon-free by-polls in different constituencies in the coming months would be the real test for the ECP.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012.

Hundreds gather to say goodbye to Ardeshir Cowasjee

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 02:36 PM PST



KARACHI: The funeral rites for Ardeshir Cowasjee, the renowned columnist and patriarch of all things Karachi, were held on Tuesday morning in a dignified way befitting of his stature.

His Bath Island residence was packed to capacity with some of the city's most well-known residents turning up to pay their respects to Cowasjee, who died in Karachi on Sunday.

His children, Ava and Rustom Cowasjee, and his brother, Cyrus, greeted each mourner as they passed by to the place where Cowasjee's body was laid. After the completion of the rites, his body was to be transported to the Tower of Silence.

Unlike the crowded, far-too-public spectacles that funerals have become, replete with screeching sirens of government cars bearing influential power brokers and their entourages, the air was silent, broken only by the murmurs of people speaking to each other.

Among the hundreds at the Cowasjee residence on Tuesday were Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation's Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi and Dr Anwar Kazmi, Dr Faridoon Setna and his wife, Dawn Group's Hameed Haroon and Amber Saigol, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Executive Director Dr Tasnim Ahsan, Unilever's Fareshteh Gati-Aslam, Canvas Gallery's Sameera Raja, author HM Naqvi and Nazish Ataullah, formerly of Lahore's National College of Arts.

His bel

The house staffers put out a remembrance book as attendees queued up to view his body and pay their respects.

Cowasjee had insisted that his funeral would be open to followers of all faiths, and his belief in a pluralistic Pakistan was evident in those mourning his death: if on one chair, a woman prayed on a rosary and clutched a bouquet of flowers, at another, a woman was clad in a burqa and on a third, a man wore the traditional Zoroastrian prayer skull cap. The attendees reflected the wide social circle that Ardeshir Cowasjee inhabited, and the number of people who had had some interaction with him, however brief – through his columns, his occasional speaking engagement, an off-chance meeting.

Attendees sat by the pool against which Cowasjee was photographed and interviewed countless times. His cars, that he once whizzed around on all over Clifton, were locked up in the garage.

From a window, one could spy his chair, now empty forever.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

4Pakistani.com

4Pakistani.com

Court stays shifting of Sindh Muslim College

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 01:37 PM PST



KARACHI: For now, the students of SM college can rejoice. The Sindh High Court has suspended the notification to shift the college to another building in a nearby neighbourhood.

The college students had gone to court against the government's decision to shift the college building. The Sindh government had earlier merged the Sindh Muslim (SM) Government Science College with Sindh Madressatul Islam, which was recently given the status of a university. Once the university's management took control of the administrative affairs of the college, it decided to shift the physical assets and staff of the SM college to the building of Government Degree Girls' College in Kharadar.

On October 11, the education additional director for college inspection issued a letter to shift the college to the new premises immediately. Reportedly, the decision was taken to create space for the newly pronounced university. But four college students, including Sarfaraz Khan Intiminanzai, took the government to Sindh High Court challenging the decision.

The petitioners claimed that shifting the college during an ongoing session would seriously affect 1,500 students studying at the campus. Moreover, the new college building allocated was not even enough to accommodate the staff and students.

1500

Earlier, a college in the same neighbourhood, where the SM college was to be shifted, was shut down due to poor security situation. "The security situation in the neighbourhood is volatile and not conducive for academic activities," the petitioners' lawyer, Malik Naeem Iqbal, argued. The students appealed to the court to set aside the letter ordering the college to be shifted and stay the process until the petition was decided. On Tuesday, as the matter came up for hearing, Iqbal reiterated that shifting the college would waste the whole academic year of hundreds of students.

After hearing the arguments, the SHC division bench headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam suspended the order to shift the college till the next date. The judges directed the provincial law officer to file comments of the Sindh governor, chief secretary, education secretary and regional director for colleges. The provincial law officer was ordered to file their comments within two weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012.

Why Pakistan should apologise to Bangladesh

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 12:34 PM PST



It was reported in the media recently that the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina Wajid, turned down an official invitation to visit Pakistan for the D-8 summit, and instead sent someone else to represent her. The reports said that this was done because Bangladesh was unhappy, that after all these years, Pakistan had yet to issue a formal apology for the events of 1971.

Whether or not Sheikh Hasina did the right thing is something that only time will tell. However, in my view, she should have come to Pakistan. Since the 1980s, five Pakistani heads of government have made official visits to Bangladesh and when president Pervez Musharraf visited Bangladesh in August 2002, he actually came very close to offering an apology. After laying a wreath at the National Martyrs' Memorial outside Dhaka, dedicated to those killed in the war, he wrote in the official visitors' book "Your brothers and sisters in Pakistan share the pains of the events of 1971. The excesses committed during the unfortunate period are regrettable". However, this obviously was not enough.

I am not sure whether the state of Pakistan will ever formally apologise to Bangladesh considering that there were two horrors committed during the Bangladesh tragedy and by that account there are not one but two reciprocal apologies that seem to be due.

This seems to be amply stated in his article by Anthony Mascarenhas, who at that time was an assistant editor with the Morning News of Karachi, a villain for most Pakistanis but for the world, an honest journalist credited for the role he played in exposing the genocide in Bangladesh and for encouraging India to play a decisive role in ending the war. On June 13, 1971, Mascarenhas wrote an article titled "Genocide" in the Times. In the article, he pointed out that there were in fact two horrors to the Bangladesh tragedy. One was committed by Bengali troops and paramilitary personnel stationed in East Pakistan who mutinied in early March 1971 and put to death many non-Bengalis and Biharis. The second horror, he wrote, was committed by Pakistani forces that in a punitive response to the killings of non-Bengalis at the hands of the mutineers and their accomplices, initiated a military operation codenamed 'Operation Searchlight' on the night of March 25, 1971.

However, it was the rebels who initiated the violence in March of 1971 and what happened in the ensuing months speaks of a sorry tale of killing and mayhem. In the seven months that followed, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives.

The conventionally accepted death toll agreed by most researchers is between one and two million. The fact is that many innocent people died in deliberately executed acts of genocide and blame for this lies on both parties to the conflict. The Mukti Bahini targeted the West Pakistanis and Biharis and the Pakistani army's military operation targeted the Hindus and the Bengali civil population. Both sides committed war crimes that warranted state apologies and not general amnesty; not yesterday and not even today.

As a Pakistani, I feel no shame in suggesting that we must apologise to Bangladesh but before we do that we must first as a state apologise to the people and the land we used to refer to as East Pakistan. An apology to them is due on two accounts. The first is that we showed wilful intent to keep the eastern wing militarily exposed, defenceless and vulnerable to India, courtesy our military strategy which was based on the reasoning that the battle of the east will be won in the west. The second has to do with the shameful manner in which the eastern wing was neglected when it was part of Pakistan.

Both these did little to allay the fears of Bengalis, and in fact, added to their insecurities and distrust that resulted in creating momentum towards a point where many started demanding secession and a separate homeland. Yes, we must apologise to Bangladesh for not doing enough for it and for being unable to guarantee the safety and security of its people when it was a part of our country.

The military solution that the government of General Yahya Khan favoured may have been in line with the principle of preservation of national unity, integrity and ideology and if better executed, may even have prevented East Pakistan's secession from the rest of Pakistan. However, clearly it wasn't the only solution that could have kept Pakistan united, as the events of 1971 showed. No army can hold a country together by force and it was this mistake by the military government of General Yahya Khan that made us lose half of our country. In that regard, we must also apologise to the lost Eastern Wing for using a military solution against its people and not one based on dialogue and democracy.

In a war that we lost, the minimum the state could have done was not to benefit the military leaders; in fact, they should actually have been retired and allowed to fade away. General Yahya Khan was a beneficiary of two pensions, one as Chief of Army Staff and the other as president of Pakistan. Lt Gen Yaqoob Ali Khan, who resigned and was removed from his post of Commander Eastern Command on March 1, 1971, was instead rewarded by being made ambassador to France and America and later was even appointed as Pakistan's foreign minister. General Tikka Khan, who took over the military command from him and who initiated the infamous military operation in Dhaka on the night of November 25-26, was rewarded with the post of army chief. His generals who supervised and executed this operation in Dhaka included General Farman — he was appointed chairman of the Fauji Foundation on his return to Pakistan and Brigadier Jahanzeb Arbab was eventually promoted to lieutenant general. All these were benefits given to generals returning from a defeated war theatre.

Apologising to Bangladesh may be difficult and may take a long time in the coming but is repatriating 250,000 stranded Biharis — who call themselves Pakistanis — from Bangladesh a difficult thing as well? At the very least Pakistan should accept them.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012.

Ban on motorbikes lifted in G-B

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 11:34 AM PST



GILGIT: 

The Gilgit administration lifted ban on motorbikes on Monday, a day after Muharram processions passed peacefully across the region.

The ban on motorcycles remained effective till 10th Muharram, however, the ban on pillion riding will continue for as long as the government deems it necessary, said Shehzad Ahmed, an official in the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) media cell.

Entry of motorbikes into Gilgit city was banned on 5th Muharram after the government received cautions from the Interior Ministry, warning it to be vigilant as a group of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants was planning an attack on Muharram processions in the area.

Meanwhile, police released five men taken into custody from a procession route in Gilgit a day earlier.

The arrested men, who belong to Khyber-Paktunkhwa, were not carrying identity cards, said an official, adding that they were released after investigation. Government offices remained closed on Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2012. 

Apex court questions TCCP sub-lease for Reko Diq exploration

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:33 AM PST



ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned how the Tethyan Copper Company Pakistan (TCCP) been given rights by BHP unilaterally without obtaining consent from the Balochistan Government first despite having rights in the project only as a partner of the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA)  made for the project in Reko Diq.

Reko Diq is a multi-billion dollar project in the area of district Chaghi of Balochistan where millions of tonnes of copper and gold were identified in different reports prepared by world renowned companies.

The three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed resumed hearing on the pending issue of grant of mining lease over exploration of gold and copper reserves in the Reko Diq area.

Khalid Anwar, counsel for TCC said that Balochistan Government had enhanced the area for exploration of minerals and awarded contract for 44,000 kilometer area instead of 13,000 kilometer in its own interest. He added that the provincial government had failed to explore gold and copper reserves in the area.

The counsel said that the foreign company has invested large amount of funds for exploration during the last ten years.

Justice Gulzar said that the Balochistan government was not a part of amendments made in the license since there was no stamp of the governor on the agreement. Anwar responded that the Balochistan Government never refused that document either.

The Chief Justice remarked that there was nothing on record that the governor had approved it and added that the governor was bound to follow the advice of the Chief Executive under PCO.

Advocate General Amanullah Kanrani informed the court that TCCP had received documents before government of Balochistan and departments concerned. He said that he himself got copies from TCCP while original documents were in TCC’s custody and added that if the documents are produced before the apex court, a separate case could be registered against the company.

The Chief Justice asked Anwar that the amendment on which he was depending should be checked for its authenticity.

Kanrani told the court that the Balochistan government had no record. Anwar said that the Chief Minister had sent a summary with amendments for approval in May 1999 and it was included in the Balochistan Government documents presented to the apex court.

The Chief Justice though observed that the summary was not approved but it was suggested that a committee should be formed to look into the matter. The Chief Justice remarked that the court knew validity of every document and added that the Balochistan government is part of this case and we could not exclude it from the case.

The bench adjourned further hearing till Wednesday by advising TCCP's counsel to conclude his arguments on Wednesday.

A fan’s tribute to Yash Chopra

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 09:30 AM PST



KARACHI: 

Shahvaar Ali Khan loves the limelight. His instant fame of "Filmein shilmein" featured in Desi Boyz and then an impressive single on Indo-Pak peace, "No Saazish, No Jang," has made him popular in both countries. Khan's most recent song that has gone viral on social media is a tribute to Yash Chopra, the king of romance, on his demise.

Khan's song titled "Mai har ek pal ka shayar houn" (I'm a poet of every moment) is his way of remembering and admiring Yash Chopra for his contribution to the Indian cinema, and of course nobody can deny that he was equally popular in Pakistan. The tribute is from the original song "Mai pal do pal ka shayar houn," featured in 1976 Kabhie Kabhie which was produced and directed by Yash Chopra.

"If I can give a tribute to Ustad Mehdi Hassan Khan sahab on his demise then why can't I also admire Yash Chopra's work?" Khan said to The Express Tribune in an interview.

"I am humbled that I was the first artist in Pakistan or India to honour Mehdi Hassan sahab in my small way after he passed on.  If Indian singers can do the same since Mehdi sahab was equally popular in India, then I can also appreciate Yash ji in my own way."

Chopra's last film, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, had the biggest film opening in the history of Pakistani cinema a testament to the director's fan following in Pakistan.

"As a Pakistani artist, and an ardent fan of film music, whether Indian or Pakistan, 'Mein Har Ik Pal Ka Shayar Hoon' was just made intuitively from my heart," shared Khan. "It was in adulation of the Lahore-born man who defined films and music for an entire era, not just for Indians, but also for the world."

"Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon" was written by the renowned poet, Sahir Ludhianvi and was sung by the evergreen Mukesh for Kabhie Kabhie.  Khan's childhood memories are tied to the tunes from the film and during his school days, he discovered that four geniuses had worked for Kabhie Kabhie's successful soundtrack: Chopra, Ludhianvi, Mukesh and Khayyam — the film's music composer.

"It seemed like a befitting and humble tribute from a fellow Lahori to a man of Yashji's stature in an effort to augment my own learning curve in music," said Khan. "The lyrics of the song hauntingly and ironically define the existence and passing of a great creative genius; his momentary yet immortal connect with his audience and hence the twist — Mein har ek pal ka shayar houn."

Shahvaar Ali Khan

Not every remake or remix of an old song gets approval from its listeners. There have been cases when melodious songs have been wasted by new musicians; however, Khan has tried to maintain the beauty of this globally famous song from the '70s. He believes that his version has the smoothness of the original melody and he hasn't forced his vocals in it.

"The task of revamping a classic melody is extremely challenging and daunting," said Khan. "I began work with sheer excitement at first; but then I realised that the scale at which Mukesh sahab had sung the song and the way Khayyam sahab set it was a bit higher than my natural scale," explained Khan. "No other scale could do even remote justice to the song!"

The idea was to keep the soul of the melody. He said the musical arrangement was perfect as it was, and he only wanted to embellish it with electronic rock music influence to give it a contemporary sound. Khan would make his musicians and his father, Matin Khan, listen to the song and critique his work so that he could perfect it. Since Matin is a serious classical and film music lover, his input of the initial scratch tracks helped in honing the final track.

"I know that these are very big shoes to fill and in no way am I trying to compare my cover with the original classic track; but I hope I was able to do one percent justice to the song and at least give today's younger generation an insight into this classic/poetic, esoteric Yash Chopra track."

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012.          

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Provincial politicking : ANP hints at ‘electoral adjustment’ with JUI-F

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:30 AM PST



PESHAWAR: 

The ruling Awami National Party (ANP) on Monday hinted at an electoral adjustment with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) for the next general elections.

After JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman termed his party as an "alternate to the ANP", the ANP's announcement came as a surprise.

A statement issued after ANP's provincial cabinet meeting confirmed that the party was negotiating with the JUI-F in some districts of the province to forge an alliance.

However, the JUI-F, on its part, downplayed this assertion while admitting that some ANP politicians have been contacted in some districts.

JUI-F's provincial spokesperson Haji Jalil said that so far the party had not made any decision, adding that their first priority will be an alliance with other religious groups.

Elaborating the party's stance, he said that the JUI-F had formed a committee headed by Maulana Attaur Rehman to negotiate with other parties.

JUIF

Confirming that the district leadership of the JUI-F was contacted by the ANP, Jan said that the central and general councils meetings were scheduled for November 29 and December 1 in Peshawar, where they will look into reports from party's district chapters about seat adjustment and alliances.

The ANP's cabinet has authorised Provincial President Afrasiyab Khattak to contact electable candidates for joining the party.

Holding large public gatherings at the district level as part of its election campaigning was also approved.

On September 9, Fazlur Rehman had denied any prospect of an electoral alliance with the ANP.

Talking to journalists in Peshawar, he had said: "People are fed up with the ANP's policies and will vote the JUI-F into power."

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2012.

 

Privacy groups ask Facebook to withdraw proposed policy changes

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 07:28 AM PST



SAN FRANCISCO: Two privacy advocacy groups urged Facebook Inc on Monday to withdraw proposed changes to its terms of service that would allow the company to share user data with recently acquired photo-application Instagram, eliminate a user voting system and loosen email restrictions within the social network.

The changes, which Facebook unveiled on Wednesday, raise privacy risks for users and violate the company’s previous commitments to its roughly 1 billion members, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy.

“Facebook’s proposed changes implicate the user privacy and terms of a recent settlement with the Federal Trade Commission,” the groups said in a letter to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg that was published on their websites on Monday.

By sharing information with Instagram, the letter said, Facebook could combine user profiles, ending its practice of keeping user information on the two services separate.

Facebook declined to comment on the letter.

In April, Facebook settled privacy charges with the US Federal Trade Commission that it had deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they intended. Under the settlement, Facebook is required to get user consent for certain changes to its privacy settings and is subject to 20 years of independent audits.

Facebook, Google and other online companies have faced increasing scrutiny and enforcement from privacy regulators as consumers entrust ever-increasing amounts of information about their personal lives to Web services.

Facebook unveiled a variety of proposed changes to its terms of service and data use polices on Wednesday, including a move to scrap a 4-year old process that can allow the social network’s roughly 1 billion users to vote on changes to its policies.

If proposed changes generate more than 7,000 public comments during a seven-day period, Facebook’s current terms of service automatically trigger a vote by users to approve the changes. But the vote is only binding if at least 30% of users take part, and two prior votes never reached that threshold.

The latest proposed changes had garnered more than 17,000 comments by late Monday.

Facebook also said last week that it wanted to eliminate a setting for users to control who can contact them on the social network’s email system. The company said it planned to replace the “Who can send you Facebook messages” setting with new filters for managing incoming messages.

That change is likely to increase the amount of unwanted “spam” messages that users receive, the privacy groups warned on Monday.

Facebook’s potential information sharing with Instagram, a photo-sharing service for smartphone users that it bought in October, flows from proposed changes that would allow the company to share information between its own service and other businesses or affiliates it owns.

The change could open the door for Facebook to build unified profiles of its users that include people’s personal data from its social network and from Instagram, similar to recent moves by Google Inc.

In January, Google said it would combine users’ personal information from its various Web services – such as search, email and the Google+ social network – to provide a more customised experience. The unified data policy raised concerns among some privacy advocates and regulators, who said it was an invasion of people’s privacy.

“As our company grows, we acquire businesses that become a legal part of our organisation,” Facebook spokesperson Andrew Noyes said in an emailed statement on Monday.

“Those companies sometimes operate as affiliates. We wanted to clarify that we will share information with our affiliates and vice versa, both to help improve our services and theirs, and to take advantage of storage efficiencies,” Noyes said.

Court orders: Bail request for fake ISI colonel approved by court

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:28 AM PST



PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday accepted the bail application of a man posing as an ISI colonel.

The bail was granted for a sum of Rs0.1 million with two reliable sureties.

Murad, a resident of Rawalpindi, was arrested by the police for trying to lease government land (belonging to the environmental department) of approximately 5,000 square yards for 99 years.

Officials of the environmental department, upon suspicion, informed the police about the matter, who arrested Murad.

Police said that Murad has a fake MBA and PhD degree and has served on key posts in many organisations. He is accused of being involved in kidnappings, blackmailing, extortion and murder cases.

On Monday, Murad's counsel Abdul Latif Afridi told the bench that after the registration of an FIR against his client, the prosecution could not collect any proof to support the allegations.

On the other hand, the state counsel argued that the Ministry of Defence needs to be informed before an intelligence official is sent for any task to a government department. He said that Murad posed as a fake intelligence colonel and his bail request should not be approved.

Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan, however, accepted his bail.

Another three imposters granted bail 

In another case, three imposters, arrested for posing as army officials, were also granted bail by the PHC on Monday.

Fawad Hussain posing as an army major, Hamza Ali as a captain, and another man named Tariq were posing as Anti-Narcotics Force officials and taking money during from applicants during an ANF entry exam.

Acting on intelligence information, police raided the guest house where the test was taking place and arrested them.

During the case hearing, CJ Khan was told by Akbar Ali Shah, the counsel for the respondents, that the accusations against his clients are false and there is no evidence to prove that they were involved in the crime.

CJ Khan later approved the bail request for all three for Rs0.2 million with two reliable sureties.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2012.

‘Bronze a boost ahead of Champions Trophy’

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 05:28 AM PST



KARACHI: The Pakistan Hockey Federation's (PHF) coaching consultant Tahir Zaman has termed the win against India at the Super Series tournament a breakthrough for the Greenshirts ahead of the crucial Champions Trophy. 

Pakistan lost all three league matches at the four-nation, nine-a-side tournament – they lost 4-2 against Australia and England before a 5-2 thrashing at the hands of India. However, the result was reversed in the third-place playoff on Sunday. Zaman felt the sole win was important ahead of the Champions Trophy that starts in Melbourne from December 1.

"The team bounced back at just the right time," the Olympian told The Express Tribune. "It was an important win after three defeats on the trot. It will definitely help the team regain confidence before the tough event."

However, Zaman added that it will not be realistic to expect a medal from Pakistan.

"If we manage to finish fourth, that will be a big achievement. This tournament has always been tough due to the presence of top-ranked teams. We have to win against less stronger teams."

Greenshirts reach Melbourne

Meanwhile, the Pakistan team reached Melbourne yesterday after taking part in the Super Series event. According to a team official, the players will undergo training session today. Pakistan are placed alongside Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium in the group.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2012.

Art & Afridi aspiration

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 04:26 AM PST



Picture this scenario: Pakistan is batting and the match is at a crucial juncture. A wicket falls and in comes Shahid Afridi to bat. Minutes later, he walks away from the crease — he is either bowled out or caught in attempting a mindless shot. The exuberant fans among the spectators grow silent. The nation is outraged.

Why do we get so disappointed by someone who's repeated these very antics for the past 16 years? Why do we get upset by the impulsive batting of someone who is now looking to establish himself as a serious bowler?

The answer may lie in the past.

There was a time when we were in our anonymous-troll stage of global politics. During this time, many of us would act in ways conforming to a common behavior pattern among both the young and the old in the dish-class. While everyone would intently be watching television (remember, this was still a time when the numerical buttons on the remote were an avenue into the rest of the world, which we viewed with awe and wonder), there was this inevitable moment when we would all be drawn in a little closer to the screen, completely spell-bound for 45 or so seconds, until someone would sigh and say, "Wese, yeh Indians ads barray zabardast banatay hain…"

Perhaps I am drawing this contrived analogy solely based on my own experience, but there can be no debate regarding the fact that Pakistan, at the time, was a pimply pre-teen desperate to get noticed.

Sure, we have ended up with a terrible reputation, but our repute has also got this notorious swagger to it. Back then we were a country that a villain's sidekick in a bad action movie would mention as a place where you got smuggled goods from. Now, we have become a crisis for the Western world.

So at a time when Pakistanis desperately sought a place for themselves in the world, the quality of the Indian ads, and the innate 'Indian-ness' they so boldly conveyed, left us convinced that all Indian advertisements were bound by a common agenda to represent their country and their people as some new-age cultural hybrid superpower.

Of course, Pakistanis always knew that, in reality, Indians weren't worth ****.

We would repeat this ad-nauseam, using complex theories which, depending on the civility of the conversation, ranged from ridiculing the hero worship of demigod Sachin Tendulkar and extolling the physical/mental/sexual benefits of eating meat to condescendingly talking of the ministers who travelled in old-fashioned Ambassadors.

But somehow, these ads still made us uncomfortable — conveying something that didn't quite fit with our deprecating attitude towards the Indians. So we reasoned that those 'chalaak' Indians really knew how to sell themselves.

These were, after all, ads; their job was to sell.

Our ads of the time were simpler: we had 'Farzana Davakhana' and 'Al-Rauf Model City' (sung in the tune of Jaati Huun Mei) and, of course, 'Gaey Soap'. For those of us who get these references, the ads are cultural artifacts, sources of nostalgia that we might cherish now. But as advertisements, they were mostly in the business of getting a lot of information across — or if slightly more sophisticated — get you to remember the brand.

In contrast, Indian ads were weaving tales of urban adjustment with rural tradition via electronic roti-makers, fashioning epics on the accomplishment of the petite bourgeoisie through two-toned wall paints, and dishing out dance-numbers celebrating gender empowerment and domestic bliss delivered by non-stick frying pans. Advertisements were creating elaborate fantasies, and those of us with disposable incomes longed to be part of it.

But over the years, the boom of Pakistani channels created more space for ads on the airwaves. The mindboggling growth of telcos and the easy-money days of the banking sector meant that there were more products that needed to be sold, and the old ways of marketing seemed redundant. Pakistani advertising finally came of age.

Today, Pakistani advertisers are picking up viral online videos and doing parodies on them, or making film-noir references for made-in-China mobile phones. They are pushing the envelope and daring to create fantasies for ideas and societies that don't quite exist.

My favourite example of this is the raucous groups of youngsters who populate the mobile network ads. These groups manage to pull off the holy troika of Pakistani jawani: the perfect ratio of the number of guys and girls, dancing in groups with no awkward launda displays of homoeroticism, and set in places where there is no need to bribe the police or station guards. To live this kind of hormone-fuelled, hair-gelled existence is a bit too far-fetched in a place like Pakistan — making it a perfect fantasy to sell.

But to make the incredulous sell, no matter how far from reality it may be, is easy when a star is employed. That's because a genuine star, a bona fide celebrity, is someone in whom we unabashedly invest our fantasies and desires. The conflation of our desires evoked by the product being advertised and those that we associate with the star leads to a desire nirvana — a perfect formula to sell.

Predictably, the one face you see the most in Pakistan selling products is Afridi's. And that tells us something very intriguing about our national fantasies.

In just about every advertisement that features Afridi, whether it's about skin whitening creams, motorcycles, bank accounts or chewing gum, the money shot — the moment when the use of the product is related to success — always shows 'Boom Boom' going for the big hit.

It seems to make sense, until you actually think about it. If we were drawn to these ads solely based on Lala's looks (Afridi's sexuality is dangerously transcendental), then we would gladly ogle at him for longer without needing to be lured by his batting.

If we were in it for cricket, then his persistent recklessness with the bat would put us off, or we would want snippets of video of his bowling action (that he is now much better at) and his typical celebration pose. Yet, even when his bowling and pose show up in an ad, they are invariably followed by a powerful knock over cow corner.

It's not like the advertisers are closet Afridi fans, seeking to impose a fantastical version of his talent with the bat over the sobering reality of his pitiful performances with it. Let's not forget, the advertisers only want their product to sell by associating it with something that is desirable.

Is it true then that despite the reams of columns written to savage him, and twitter streams calling for his head, and despite the burning effigies and the irate radio show calls — we really, really want Afridi to play just the way he does?

I'm sure you have a smug 'no' waiting for me. I don't blame you — denial is the first recourse for all of us.

But if we didn't want Boom Boom to start swinging the moment he walks out, why do our fantasies collude with his fabled hitting? I mean, if we really hated him batting the way he does, we would have formed a revulsion for these ads. But we haven't.

Hence, it leads to the next question: why do we not? Why do we long to see a 'Boom Boom Batting Blitzkrieg' that is inherently risky?

I'll try to answer this one without resorting to any meandering tangents, which means it doesn't have a lot of nuance. I believe that we love the idea of everything big, be it a hit with the bat or the big innings coming off of it. Sure, our cricketing tradition boasts of many big hitters and we have historically revered our fantastic bowlers. But we specifically want Afridi to hit that big shot. We want to see someone so beautiful, so magnetic, and so utterly flawed and impulsive to have that one leap of faith come good. We want him to just go for the shot even when we know he'll probably fail — because we know that if he does get it, and the one after that (and maybe a few more), all those times of misery and failure would have been worth suffering through.

Perhaps we are resigned to an absence of method, a lack of sophistication and a want for improvisation in our own lives. We know that despite our finely articulated programs for progress, we are just as useless as the ones we condemn. And we know that despite protestations to the contrary, we enjoy the idea of courage, of risk, and of rash impetuousness — if not in ourselves, then in someone we can invest our fantasies in.

Yes, we want the war to be owned and for the war to end, and yes, we want to get rid of corruption and understand patronage, and yes, we want to educate our daughters and honor our mothers, but ultimately, in our wildest fantasies, all we really want is for Afridi to hit another six.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, November 25th, 2012.

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Monday, November 26, 2012

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Rental Power: SC directs NAB to recover outstanding dues from Karkay

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 12:05 PM PST



ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday noted that Karkay rental power company owed Rs11 billion in outstanding payments and directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to recover the amount.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed observed that NAB chairman will be accountable if the ship carrying Karkay rental power plant had left Pakistan without paying its dues.

During the hearing, a statement signed by NAB’s chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bokhari and director-general Shehzad Akbar Bhatti was also submitted in the court, in which it was admitted that Rs11 billion were payable against Karkay power company.

At the previous hearing, NAB had contended that $ 1.72 billion were payable against Karkay power company.  The chief justice noted that there was a huge difference between the last and current statement of NAB on the money Karkay power company owed the exchequer.

“If any change is brought in the sum of amount payable against Karkay or the Karkay ship leaves Pakistan’s waters without paying due amount, the NAB chairman will be responsible”, the chief justice observed.

Prosecutor General NAB KK Agha told the court that the Karkay ship was still present in Pakistan’s territory. He added that several notices have already been issued to Karkay power company, however no one has responded.

Disposing of the plea of Faisal Saleh Hayat in rental power case, the court directed NAB to recover all outstanding amounts against Karkay and then allow its ship to leave the country.

Three-day celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak started in Nankana Sahib

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 10:03 AM PST



LAHORE: About five thousand Sikh pilgrims arrived at Nankana Sahib to attend the annual three-day birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak Dev in Gurudwara, which commenced from Monday, The Express Tribune has learnt.

A three-day local holiday for educational institutions has been announced by the district administration. Three thousand of the pilgrims came from India through two special trains via Wahga border. About 1,300 pilgrims including Sikhs and Hindus came from different parts of the country.

Every year, thousands of Sikhs pay obeisance at the shrine, where the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak Dev was born. Guru Nanak Dev was born on the full moon day in the month of Kartik as per the Hindu calendar. Hence, his birthday is celebrated as Guru Nanak Jayantri.

Foolproof security measures have been adopted by the police due to intelligence reports, a senior police officer stated while talking to The Express Tribune.

He also anticipated that the sympathizers of Ajmal Kasab may resort to use violent tactics, particularly against Indian nationals and Indian interests.

The vulnerability of Indian nationals and dignitaries coming via Wahga and through routes has increased enormously after the execution of Kasab.

Karachi hotbed for political violence in second quarter: Report

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PST



ISLAMABAD: Political violence rose by as much as 37 per cent during the second quarter of 2012 (April-June), as compared with the January-March quarter, with as many as 709 incidents of violence reported across the country, says a Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report.

According to the report released on Monday, Sindh reported the most incidents (280) with Balochistan (172), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (121), Punjab (68), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (61), Gilgit-Baltistan (4) and Islamabad Capital Territory (3).

Sindh remained the most exposed region reporting the highest number of incidents – 93 recorded in April, another 89 the following month and 98 in June.

Karachi was the most violent district where 268 political incidents occurred – a 114 per cent increase. Quetta had 74 incidents, followed by Peshawar (31), Khyber Agency (24), Rawalpindi (18), Bannu (15), Dera Bugti and Hangu (13 each), Lahore (12) and Kohat (11).

A total of 2,658 people fell victim to political violence – a 30 per cent increase compared with the preceding quarter. 38 per cent of the victims lost their lives, 59 per cent were injured and three per cent kidnapped.

95 per cent of the victims were male – 971 dead, 1,466 injured and 84 kidnapped. However, women constituted five per cent of the total victims, 33 killed, 93 injured and 11 kidnapped.

Target killing incidents numbered 440 in all regions except for ICT – the most (248; 56%) taking place in Sindh followed by Balochistan (24%), KP (12%), Punjab (4%), FATA (3%) and Gilgit/Baltistan (1%).

The number of victims in collateral damage increased 170% as compared with the previous quarter – 717 people becoming collateral victims in incidents of political violence – 105 getting killed and 612 injured.

The number of victims affiliated with different political parties surged198 per cent (131 as compared with 44 in the previous quarter). 59 per cent got killed, 40 per cent injured and one percent kidnapped. Sindh was the most vulnerable province in this regard, accounting for 74 per cent incidents.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was the most affected political party with 49 victims – 36 killed and 13 injured. Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) had 23 victims, followed by Jamaat-e-Islami (21), Sunni Tehreek (11) and Awami National Party, (eight).

People belonging to MQM were targeted in Sindh and Balochistan while those of PPPP in Sindh and Punjab, JI (FATA), ST and JSQM (Sindh), ANP (Sindh, Balochistan and KP), PMLN (KP, Punjab and FATA).

Target killing remained the most recurring type of violence with 440 incidents, followed by terrorism aimed at general public  and attacks on security forces (74 each), violent protests (33), tribal conflict (16), educational institutions/personnel, political party candidates, workers, offices (15 each) and religious/sectarian violence (nine).

Guns, firearms were the most common tool of violence, used in 76 per cent of the incidents.

Mumbai marks 2008 attacks, days after Kasab hanged

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 06:58 AM PST



MUMBAI: Victims’ families laid wreaths at a memorial in south Mumbai on Monday to mark the fourth anniversary of the 2008 attacks on the Indian city, less than a week after the only surviving gunman was executed.

Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Kasab was hanged in an Indian prison last Wednesday for his role in the three-day siege, which began on November 26, 2008 and left 166 people dead.

The Pakistani Taliban vowed reprisals unless his body, which was buried in prison, was returned to Pakistan.

“We have issued instructions to our police force to enhance vigilance, this being a 26/11 anniversary,” Mumbai’s joint commissioner of police Sadanand Date told AFP. “We have beefed up security at hotels, airports and crowded places.”

Relatives and government ministers attended a ceremony at a memorial to police officers who died during the attacks.

The targets included luxury hotels, a hospital, a busy train station and a Jewish centre, where candles were lit in remembrance on Monday.

A “peace march” was held in the city on Sunday night as a tribute to the victims.

Kasab was one of ten heavily-armed gunmen who stormed the city and the only one captured alive.

He was sentenced to death in May 2010 after being found guilty of a string of charges, including waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts.

Pakistan not a good place to be born in 2013: EIU Report

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 05:57 AM PST



Pakistan landed among the bottom five countries, ranking 75 among 80 countries, in the index on the best place to be born in 2013, compiled by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) – a sister company of The Economist.

Pakistan landed between Kazakhstan (rank 74) and Angola (rank 76), while Bangladesh landed two slots below Pakistan on rank 77. Afghanistan failed to make it to the list.

Switzerland landed on the first place on the index, followed by Australia and Norway. The United States of America was on 16th place, with Germany sharing the same slot. India and Morocco were on 66, while the worst place to be born in the next year was termed Nigeria.

The index was compiled by taking 11 statistically significant indicators into account, including crime, trust in public institutions and health of family life, and some fixed factors such as geography. Some factors which change very slowly over time, such as demography, social and cultural characteristics, were also measured.

The EIU's economic forecasts for 2030 were also used, which is roughly when children born in 2013 will reach adulthood.

Money managers failed to balance books, says audit

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 04:57 AM PST



ISLAMABAD: 

The money managers of the country have failed miserably to ensure proper financial discipline in the country, causing a plethora of problems, despite a clear pathway provided under the relevant laws, said a draft of an audit report for 2011-12 on the performance of the Ministry of Finance.

The Auditor General of Pakistan, while examining the performance of the finance ministry prescribed under the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act, 2005, found that the ministry violated the law that said the government should restrict the issue of new guarantees to 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in any financial year.

The Act requires the government not to issue "new guarantees, including those for rupee lending, bonds, rate of return, output purchase agreements and all other claims and commitments that may be prescribed, from time to time for any amount exceeding 2% of the estimated GDP in any financial year; provided that the renewal of existing guarantees shall be considered as issuing a new guarantee."

The government allegedly violated the relevant law during the financial years 2009 and 2010, where it managed to issue sovereign guarantees beyond the prescribed limit of 2% of the GDP. Contingent government liabilities are associated with major hidden fiscal risks.

New guarantees issued by the government in 2009 amounted to Rs274.3 billion or 2.09% of the GDP, higher than the stipulated limit imposed under the Act.

The finance division had been issuing continuing guarantees against the commodity financing operations undertaken by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation and provincial governments.

Commodity financings are secured against hypothecation of commodities and letter of comfort from the finance division. These guarantees were never included in the limit of 2% imposed by the Act.

The government issued Rs192.6 billion worth of new guarantees on behalf of the commodity financing operations in 2009, besides issuing new guarantees amounting to Rs224 billion or 1.5 % of the GDP.

The audit recommended that new guarantees issued for commodity operations should be included by creation of a legal and institutional framework that enforces proper accounting of this hidden cost to the government.

The Ministry of Finance had no answer to these objections raised by the audit and remained silent when asked by the audit for a reply.

A spokesperson of the ministry did not comment when The Express Tribune contacted him several times for a reaction over

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2012.

India’s boring cricket

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 03:55 AM PST



As another cricket tour plays out in India, a few words on why it's the worst place to watch the sport in the Commonwealth.

Fast-bowlers: Actually, no fast-bowlers. The quick delivery is the one offensive weapon of the bowling side. The only menace India's bowlers offer is tedium. At least, Pakistan has proper fast bowlers. India has none and has never had one. Former India captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi speculated that this was because the Punjabi was taller. Whatever the reason, the result is dull cricket. The Indians have now stopped even pretending that fast bowling is necessary. India's new ball attack in the first Test featured spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the first-innings, and another spinner Pragyan Ojha in the second.

Wickets: Slow and low is a description of our pitches. It also describes Indian cricket's visual appeal. There is no carry, the word commentators use to describe bounce, which makes cricket in Australia and South Africa so pleasant to watch. The softness of the pitch also affects the sound. Cricket abroad is better to watch on television because of the crispness of sound when the ball bites into the pitch. Here, it is a dull thud.

Chuckers: This should be blamed on the subcontinent, rather than on India alone. Every South Asian nation has contributed to the proliferation of bent-elbow bowlers who should be called for throwing but have been allowed to continue. There's no end to this and it has become legitimate now.

Heat and dust: Cricket looks bad on Indian television. One reason is lack of carry. Another is the lack of sharpness in the picture. Nature and our environment conspire to produce the brownish images that we are familiar with. Those who used to wake at five am to watch Test cricket in Sydney and Perth may not have done so for Kolkata and Delhi.

Effortlessness: By which is meant lack of effort. To watch great fielding, an essential part of cricket that India has zero interest in, we must observe South Africans and Australians. No Indian cricketer looks athletic, an astonishing thing to say given how much money they make from their bodies.

Commentary: The pedestrian offering of Harsha Bhogle and Sunil Gavaskar, the cliches of Ravi Shastri, could turn even the most exciting sport into tat and piffle. Here it becomes a force multiplier. Boring cricket, boring commentary. The broadcasters have showed mercy in recent decades by bringing in foreigners of quality, like Ian Chappell, but our own, we must still suffer.

Spectators: The banners in our stadiums are embarrassing. Then there is the unceasing, unpunctuated scream of the crowd that makes applause meaningless. The consensual, silent sulk when the other team scores a boundary is the other side to this. Spectators in India must be fenced in like inmates (because for some reason Indians like to throw stuff at people, including cheerleaders, who have wire cages around them). This doesn't particularly bother those who notice. Our team, losers on sporting wickets, kings of their own domain, will again win in this series and the nation will be so proud of itself.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2012.

Toxic cough syrup: Punjab imposes ban on Tyno, stock seized

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 02:54 AM PST



LAHORE: The Government of Punjab has imposed a ban on cough syrup Tyno, Express News reported on Monday. At least 13 people had died while four others were in critical condition in Lahore after all of them had consumed the same toxic cough medicine.

All stock has been seized by the government and the factory has been sealed as well. There are reports that three men have also been arrested.

The provincial Health Department had earlier submitted an initial report to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif regarding the cough syrup.

Sharif had ordered that the department look into the matter and submit a report within 72 hours. Following the orders, the authority raided 151 places and seized stock of the poisonous syrup.

The report states that none of the seized syrups were expired.

The police had arrested the owner of a medical store from where the cough syrup was obtained.

A murder case was earlier registered against the pharmaceutical company and pharmacy owners as well.

Cough syrup is often used for inebriation purposes and is sold as over-the-counter medicine at many pharmacies.

Sindh govt presents new arms licence policy in SC

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 01:53 AM PST



KARACHI: The Sindh Government presented a new arms licence policy in the Supreme Court on Monday during the hearing of the Karachi violence case, Express News has reported

According to the new policy, licences will not be issued to those under 25 years of age.

Additional Chief Secretary of Sindh Interior Department Waseem Ahmad informed the court that licences will be issued by the department or deputy commissioner only.

During the hearing, Rangers apprised the court with the details about arrests made in the last 22 days. The court expressed satisfaction over the report.

Background

The case stems from the suo motu proceedings initiated by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in August last year as the city went through one of its bloodiest summers.

During the lengthy hearings held in Karachi, the five judges had heard the federal and provincial governments, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, political stakeholders of the city as well as the representatives of bar associations. In the detailed judgment announced on October 6, 2011, in Islamabad, the apex court ordered several recommendations that the federal, provincial and local governments and law enforcement agencies had to implement in one year.

On October 23 this year, the Supreme Court again took up the case to evaluate how far its orders have been obeyed. The implementation case concluded on November 1 and the judges issued a five-page dossier that contained orders to implement the previous recommendations and new queries that have arisen as new problems emerged. The provincial government and law enforcers were ordered to deal with the influx of foreigners and Taliban into Karachi, arrest the suspects involved in targeted killings, arrest the under-trial prisoners released on parole, and register at least 3,000 unregistered vehicles monthly.

Supreme Court resumed its hearing from November 26 to see what the authorities have done so far to curb lawlessness.

Sohni dharti

Posted: 26 Nov 2012 12:52 AM PST



"This is our misfortune: we are giving birth to a society where courage has come to be understood as being a goonda, and the nobility of character is seen as cowardice. Today, a blood-dripping gandasa has become the icon of our culture and civilisation, instead of the reed pipe emanating the melodies of love. Please think, what have we made of this beautiful land (sohni dharti) of Heer and Ranjha?"

This question was raised thirty-two years ago by Pervez Malik and Masroor Anwar — members of the same team that had given the country its immortal national song, "Sohni Dharti".

The glorification of crime and the presence of outlaws in the world of literature and cinema may have started much earlier, but it reached unprecedented height when the character created by writer and poet Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi appeared on screen in Wahshi Jatt (1975) and Maula Jatt (1979). Hence the visionaries of the Sohni Dharti school of thought were compelled to raise a question, and they did that through the movie Rishta, released on September 5, 1980. The lines translated above are taken from a dialogue of the protagonist in that movie, and constitute the central idea of the film.

Of course, an obvious answer to the question could be that the blood-dripping gandasa is a legitimate icon of our culture and civilisation because it depicts our social reality more than the reed of Rumi and Ranjha. Qasmi, students of literature and the creators of goonda movies would perhaps unanimously agree on this point in spite of any differences in their respective social backgrounds.

It is therefore important to remember those who dared to differ from this point of view. These visionaries believed that it was not sufficient to depict a problem but to also suggest the possible solutions. Through Rishta and a series of subsequent movies culminating in the blockbuster Ghareebon Ka Badshah (1988), Pervez Malik and Masroor Anwar evolved and depicted a coherent social philosophy, addressing the relevant issues from a holistic point of view.

Rishta was a story about family vendetta but ended in a climax which incorporated motifs from the incident of Karbala. The heroine of the story was an old woman (played by Sabiha Khanum), whose husband had been assassinated by Shahbaz Khan (Mehboob Alam) due to a family feud. Shahbaz had also sworn to eliminate his enemy's entire bloodline (just like Maula in Qasmi's short story). This eventually leads to a head-on clash between the well-armed mercenaries of Shahbaz and the poorly equipped supporters of the old woman and her son, Rahat (played by Nadeem). The woman tries to stop the battle, and gets mortally wounded by Shahbaz. At this point, a few minutes before the ending, the audience learns the first name of this woman, who has been addressed throughout the movie by her title. Her name is Zainab.

Mortally wounded, Zainab announces forgiveness for her assassin. "Neither do I want retribution in the Hereafter," she declares. "I forgive you in both worlds." In a dying speech, she explains to Shahbaz that a better world cannot be created for future generations unless we are prepared to offer some sacrifice today. What she has sacrificed is her life and what she succeeds in eliciting from her enemy is the matching sacrifice of the enemy's base instinct and false ego. Zainab's son Rahat and Shahbaz's daughter Saira, who love each other secretly, now receive the consent of Shahbaz to be united in marriage. This vindicates the belief of Zainab that forgiveness and sacrifice on part of one generation leads to happiness and prosperity for the next generation.

Qasmi had depicted the mother of Maula as the instigator of hatred and vendetta, who never stopped nagging her son to spill more blood and demanding that the entire bloodline of their enemy should be eliminated from the face of the earth (and this was the "literary" origin of the famous "mother" of Punjabi movies, whose shout is loud enough to be heard by her son miles away). Hence, the mother in Qasmi's story becomes the proverbial "temptress" who causes man to commit the "original sin". Perhaps as a conscious rebuttal of this theory, Rishta offers three motherly characters (played by Sabiha Khanum, Nayyar Sultana and Najma Mehboob), whose circumstances are very different from each other but they all define motherhood in terms of love, sacrifice and social responsibility.

The fundamental difference boils down to the fact that Pervez Malik and Masroor Anwar depict the human being as capable of making choices based on principles. On the other hand, Qasmi and the creators of goonda films agree, implicitly and explicitly, that the human being is the prisoner of instinct and social conditioning. In the short story Gandasa, Maula is a creature of instinct. In the climax of the story, he temporarily stops taking revenge but that is because his instinct for revenge has been overcome by some other instinct (and, once again, this new instinct is stirred in him by yet another woman, who has no other function in the story).

Divided by instinct and social conditioning, the educated and the unschooled live in two parallels worlds in the imagination of Qasmi. One of these is the world of the unschooled, to which Maula belongs together with his friends, family and enemies. The other is the world of public servants, of which we are given brief glimpses through the police and judiciary. The unschooled world of Maula seems to be alive with base instinct and various kinds of lust, and the distant world of the educated ones appears to be impotent and lacking in any purpose. Creatures from these two universes never unite and their interaction is based on apathy and mutual suspicion.

The world of Pervez Malik and Masroor Anwar is fundamentally opposed to this conception of the human beings. Regardless of education, characters can rise above instinct. They can embrace principles, choose values, and by the virtue of these traits they may transcend the artificial divisions of social and educational backgrounds. Ultimately, they can become masters of destiny, and not only change hearts but also alter the course of the future through the conscious sacrifice of personal interest.

This, then, is the conception of human being famously incorporated into the second line of Sohni Dharti: "As long as the world is there, may we see you prosper" (Jab tak hai yeh duniya baaqi, hum dekhain aabad tujhay).

Whether we choose the philosophy of gandasa or the world of Sohni Dharti is up to us. However, the choice cannot be made until we have learnt about both. It seems that every one of us has happily, willingly and consciously adopted the national song 'Sohni Dharti' as our collective identity. Yet, we have never bothered to find out anything about the poet who wrote it, the stories he told, and the school of thought to which he belonged. This, perhaps, is the correct answer to the question which he asked in 1980: Why has a blood-dripping gandasa become the icon of our culture and civilisation, instead of the reed pipe emanating the melodies of love?

Khurram Ali Shafique is the author of Iqbal: an Illustrated Biography (2006) and offers online courses in Iqbal Studies for Iqbal Academy Pakistan. khurramsdesk@gmail.com

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, November 25th, 2012.

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