Monday, November 26, 2012

4Pakistani.com

4Pakistani.com

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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