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performance scenario Right
information struggle Making
NACTA effective A
sense so uncommon Enter to
learn, go to earn Let’s
go Dutch
Facts and fudging Economists are reluctant to buy what the PPP ads boast about the last five-year performance on economy By Tahir Ali The Pakistan
People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) recently published advertisements
in newspapers and issued its manifesto for the 2013 elections wherein it
enumerated its achievements during its last five-year rule. Economic experts,
however, reject these claims and accuse the regime of fudging the figures,
mismanagement, poor governance and fiscal indiscipline. The national economy is
still faced with low revenue receipts, declining tax to GDP ratio, rising
current expenditure, dying foreign direct and local investment, low annual
GDP growth rate, rising debt to GDP ratio, acute power/gas crisis and the
inefficient and sick public sector entities (PSEs). Though the PPP claims
reducing inflation to 9.6 per cent, it remained in double digits, hovering
between 11-15 per cent during the last five years. As per the Ministry of
Finance (MoF) figures, overall consumer price index and food CPI increased
from 100 points in 2008 to 175 points and 196 points in January 2013. The
IMF says inflation in Pakistan will return to double digits by the end of
this fiscal year. Food insecurity is on
the rise. As per the National Nutrition Survey, 2011, conducted by the
BISP, 58 per cent of Pakistanis were food insecure. According to Dr Muhammad
Yaqoob, former State Bank governor, the economic conditions of an average
family have become worse due to rising prices, large-scale unemployment
and shortage and the rising cost of gas and electricity. The PPP had vowed to
establish a fair tax system. It claimed raising tax revenues from Rs1
trillion in 2008 to over Rs2 trillion in 2012. Though revenues have
increased in quantity, as per 2012-13 fiscal policy statement (FPS) of the
MoF, total revenues were 14.6 per cent of GDP in 2008 which came down to
12.4 per cent in 2012. The government has been
unable to meet any of the revenue, expenditure and deficit targets over
the last five years. For indecisiveness or self-centredness, it failed to
levy tax on agriculture and impose reformed general sales tax as it
didn’t want to annoy the industrial, business or agriculture lobbies and
political allies. Most of its leaders allegedly avoided fulfilling their
tax responsibilities, thus setting bad precedents for others. The party claimed
foreign remittances are now $14 billion against $6.4 billion in 2008. But
“the rise partly reflects the diversion of black money and
illegally-held capital abroad through remittance channels without any fear
of being questioned about the sources of the funds. Moreover, there has
been an inevitable need for workers abroad to send more remittances to
support their families against rising inflation,” according to Dr Yaqoob.
According to FPS, the
real GDP growth was 6.8 per cent in 2007. It came down to 3.7 per cent in
2008. From 2009 to 2012, it was recorded at only 1.7, 3.1, 3.0 and 3.7 per
cent respectively. The PPPP, in its 2008
manifesto, had pledged a sound debt policy and that the future generations
won’t be overburdened with excessive debt. But instead, the public
debt — both domestic and foreign debt — has more than doubled in the
last five years. It borrowed more than all the previous governments
combined. The public debt was Rs4.8 trillion in 2008 but reached Rs12.6
trillion by June 2012. The tax to GDP ratio which was 55.4 per cent in
2007 was at 61.3 per cent in 2012. Total debt is now over Rs13 trillion. Every Pakistani baby was
born with a debt of Rs30,000 in 2007. Today he/she carries a debt of over
Rs80,000. The debt rose up by 21
per cent per annum despite the fact that fiscal responsibility and debt
limitation act of 2005 had asked for reducing debt to GDP by 2.5 per cent
annually to be able to keep Debt to GDP ratio below 60 per cent by June
2012-13. If the IMF standby
arrangement programme hadn’t remained suspended over the last three
years, Pakistan’s external debt of $66 billion would have been jacked up
by another $5-6 billion during the time. The SBP second quarterly
report for 2012-13 states that the government was unable to meet its
self-imposed quarterly limit of zero net budgetary borrowing from the SBP. Pakistan’s domestic
debt servicing is climbing and is now the biggest single expenditure item.
Similarly, its external debt servicing will reach $6 billion in the
current and to $7 billion in the next fiscal year. The party claims to have
reduced fiscal deficit from 7.6 per cent in 2008. But if compared with 4.4
per cent in 2007, it rose to 5.3, 6.3, 6.0 and 6.6 per cent respectively
in the next four years. The IMF estimates fiscal deficit will be 7.0-7.5
per cent of GDP as against the government target of 4.7 per cent.
According to Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, a leading economist, the fiscal
deficit reached as high as 8.5 per cent last year. The manifesto claims
Forex reserves are now $13.2 billion against $8.2 billion in 2008, but
according to Dr Khan, the SBP’s Forex reserves stand at $6.69 billion on
April 5. “Pakistan must retire $0.838 billion to IMF by June 30. With
little or insufficient external inflows, the SBP’s reserves may fall to
$5.8 billion by June 2013. The SBP has borrowed $2.3 billion from
commercial banks in the forward market and if we adjust it, the SBP’s
reserves would be $3.5 billion by then — sufficient to trigger a crisis
of confidence.” The party claimed it
reduced interest rate from 15 per cent in 2008 to 9.6 per cent in 2013.
Industrialists and experts doubt this. Nevertheless, the rate spread —
the difference between return on deposits and lending rates — is still
very high in Pakistan. In 2008, the rupee was
62.61 against the dollar. The PPP left it at 98.98 by March 15, 2013. This
has, besides causing price-hike locally, increased public debt and made
imports costlier. Instead of restructuring
or privatising the loss-making PSEs, the PPP government kept on doling out
hundreds of billion annually to these entities. Most of the PSEs were
allegedly handed over to political cronies and were further destroyed by
large-scale inductions by treating them, as Dr Khan put it, as employment
bureaus. Though the party claims
having added 3600MW to the national grid, the country continues to face
acute energy shortage. It has made life miserable for the people, halted
industrial development and estimated to have inflicted a loss of Rs3
trillion to the country during last five years. Over Rs1.8 trillion
doled out to the power sector for financing circular debt would have
sufficed to complete several projects that would have solved much of the
energy problems. The PPP had promised
growth of business and industry with equity and making private sector as
engine of growth. But Pakistan’s industrial sector and the private
sector was badly hit by lawlessness, policy inaction and shortage of
energy. In 2007, large scale
industrial production was 8.7 per cent which came down to 4.1 per cent in
2008 and to minus 8.2 per cent in 2009. In 2010, it again increased to
4.81 per cent but then declined to 1.14 per cent in 2011 and 1.02 per cent
in 2012. Economic growth was
three per cent per annum during the PPP tenure against seven per cent per
annum in the preceding five years. Dr Khan said investment
rate also continued coming down during the last five years and declined to
a 50-year low at 12.5 per cent of GDP from 22.5 per cent in 2006-07.
Industrial growth stagnated at near zero per cent against 12.4 per cent
per annum in the preceding five years. During FY09, foreign
direct investment fell to $3.72 billion and further to $2.20 billion in
2010 and $1.63 billion in 2011.
scenario Currently,
Pakistan is passing through a critical phase of its national history due
to election frenzy and the associated fears and apprehensions that keep
surfacing as a result of alleged conspiracies to get the May 11 general
elections postponed. On May 11, some 85
million voters are scheduled to choose their representatives at the
national and provincial level for the next five years. Though 21 days are
left between now (April 21) and the D-day (May 11), however, statements by
some leaders keep strengthening public apprehensions about the upcoming
polls and their peaceful conduct. The situation continues to raise the
anxiety level of the people, who wish to see the general elections to be a
normal periodic exercise which should be routinely conducted peacefully,
as in countries having established democratic traditions and strong
institutions. Probably, taking a note
of public apprehensions, Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim
has appealed to the heads of political parties to help the Election
Commission of Pakistan (ECP) pre-empt any attempt to subvert the
elections. “We shall continue to adopt every conceivable measure in
accordance with law, to provide an electoral environment which is
conducive for campaigning and for voters to exercise their right to vote
freely, without any fear or intimidation.” But, you will appreciate this
is possible only if all stakeholders in the election exercise play their
role by following the rules and the ECP’s code of conduct for political
parties and candidates. He asked the political
leaders to advise the rank and file of their parties to promote and
maintain peace and harmony during the election campaign. He said, while
candidates and parties have every right to reach out to voters and
propagate their manifestos and policies, they must respect others’
rights to do the same. The Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan has also expressed concern over developments like
militant violence and bizarre actions of returning officers. The
delimitation of constituencies in Karachi, and the returning officers’
bid to judge the aspiring candidates for the electoral race on the basis
of the criteria as laid down under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution
have already led some quarters to suggest that the elections be delayed. Addressing a telephonic
press conference on April 5, MQM chief Altaf Hussain said that if all the
political parties had a consensus, then general elections could be delayed
for one month. Meanwhile, the Punjab government has expressed the fear
that power loadshedding may spark riots and sabotage coming elections. To
ward off this possibility, the authorities in Punjab have started
preparing for a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI). Readers
might recall that when Tahirul Qadri landed in Pakistan he had tried to
pave the ground for a caretaker setup having three years tenure, aimed at
weeding out the corrupt. Though electioneering is
yet to pick-up, elements manoeuvring to disrupt the electoral process have
started targeting the election offices and the electoral candidates. On
April 16, some 16 persons were killed in a suicide attack on an election
meeting of Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, ANP candidate from NA-1 Peshawar. Ghulam
Ahmad Bilour and 35 other persons were wounded in the attack. In Khuzdar (Balochistan),
the miscreants targeted the PML-N provincial President Sanaullah Zehri’s
convoy with remote controlled bomb. Zehri escaped, but his son Mir
Sikander, brother Mir Mehar and nephew Mir Zaid were killed in the blast. Earlier, unknown
motorcyclists killed the MQM’s Hyderabad (Sindh) candidate, Fakhrul
Islam, on April 11. He was a candidate from NA-221 and PS-47. The
assassination came soon after the killing of one of the candidates of the
PPP in Karachi. In another attack on April 14, an ANP candidate from PK-21
Charsadda, Masoom Shah, was injured, along with his driver and two
colleagues. Masoom Shah was advisor to the former Chief Minister Ameer
Haider Hoti and one of his most trusted aides who wielded great influence.
This was the fifth life attempt on the ANP leaders since March 31, 2013.
Those attacked earlier included: Malik Adnan Wazir from PK-72 Bannu, Arbab
Ayub Jan from NA-4 Peshawar, and former MNA Haji Rehmatullah from NA-12
Swabi and his son former MPA Ameer Rehman from PK-31 Swabi. Anticipating
poll-related violence, the ECP has already sought military help to manage
security during the polls. The CEC, Fakhruddin Ebrahim, met COAS General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani twice in this connection. It is believed that sites
for deployment of troops, sensitive area, etc. were discussed at the
meetings between the CEC and the army chief. General Kayani, it is
believed, has assured the CEC cooperation in conducting elections in
peaceful environment. The CEC said that the issues of law and order in
Karachi are perplexed and different gangs of criminals are active in the
metropolis, but it is hoped that the elections will be held peacefully and
we will succeed in unfolding a new era. However, it bodes well
that the federal cabinet has expressed its resolve to foil and frustrate
all conspiracies to sabotage the elections, as stated by the Federal
Minister for Information Arif Nizami while briefing media persons on April
5. A full bench of the
Lahore High Court has also strongly dispelled the impression that courts
are going to postpone the May 11 elections, remarking that the courts have
always supported democracy and there will be absolutely no delay in the
coming polls. “We are fully supporting the democratic process and
democracy. We strongly dispel the impression being created that courts are
going for postponement of elections. We will ensure the elections are held
on time,” Justice Ijazul Ahsan said. After gambling on
sporting events across the globe, this time, bookies have reportedly
started betting on different candidates of mainstream political parties in
Pakistan. Currently, politics in
Pakistan is primarily dominated by a political elite consisting of roughly
100 families that can afford electioneering, says the 2013 Human
Development Report “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse
World.” These families consider themselves as rulers even after the
caretaker governments have been set-up, and they do not want to surrender
power, perks and privileges so as to give an impression of power by
roaming in official vehicles. The CEC dispelled the impression that May 11
elections will be delayed. Due to self-serving
policies of the political elite, Pakistan falls in the “low human
development” category and the country’s expenditure on social sector
remains lower than some of the poorest African countries. One should not,
therefore, be surprised if the fruit of democracy has not transformed the
society and its effects had not been much beneficial for the people, 49
per cent of whom live in poverty and over 50 per cent of the registered
voters do not exercise their right to vote. Meanwhile, Free and Fair
Election Network (Fafen) has revealed inappropriate use of state resources
in nine districts and 12 NA constituencies in Punjab, five districts and
six constituencies in Sindh, three districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one
each in Balochistan and Fata. According to Fafen, political parties and
candidates used 30 facilities for election campaigns in various
constituencies. It monitored participation of government officials in
political activities and campaign material, such as party flags, banners,
posters, stickers and wall-chalking on or in the premises of government
offices. If we wish democracy to
take roots in the country, we need to strengthen political parties,
eliminate the current practice that he who pays controls the party affairs
and, instead, promote a culture of political workers’ elevation in party
politics on the basis of their actual performance. Adoption of such an
approach would eventually wean away the disgruntled elements to join the
mainstream politics and struggle for a change through the democratic
process. Meanwhile, it is the
duty of all citizens to identify the miscreants and inform the authorities
concerned about their hideouts, if and whenever they get any information
about them, and thus strengthen the hands of the administration so that
polls take place peacefully in keeping with the democratic norms. The writer is a
freelance columnist based at Islamabad. E-mail:alauddinmasood@gmail.com caption Election and security
threats.
Post-18th
Amendment governance structure of the country necessitates that the
provinces enact effective right to information laws to improve service
delivery through accountability of elected representatives and public
officials and ensuring transparent functioning of the public bodies. This
is important as most of the functions hitherto performed by the federal
government have devolved to the provincial level. Notwithstanding the
cosmetic changes, all that the previous ANP-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
government could come up with in its tenure of five years is a replica of
largely ineffective Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 (FOI 2002) in
the shape of draft Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Access to Information 2013. If this
law is enacted in its present shape, it will not facilitate citizens of
KPK to have access to information held by public bodies and make public
functionaries accountable in the use of public funds as is the case with
Balochistan Freedom of Information Act 2005 and Sindh Freedom of
Information Act 2006, the other replicas of FOIO 2002. It falls short of
meeting widely recognized principles of freedom of information such as
maximum disclosure, minimum exceptions, obligation for proactive
disclosure, process to facilitate access, minimal costs, disclosure to
take precedence and duty to assist. The draft Punjab Freedom
of Information Act 2002 is a major departure from the existing replicas of
FOIO 2002, but it also contains certain lacunas that need to be dealt with
if citizens’ right of access to information is to be promoted and
protected. Like Freedom of
Information Ordinance 2002, (FOI 2002), KPK Access to Information Act 2013
contains three lists of records: discloseables records (Section 7,
undiscloseables (Section 8) and list of exempted information (Section
14,15,16,17,18). The Punjab draft law contains only one list of exempted
information but the Punjab bureaucracy has included wide range of
information in this long list. A good right to
information law has only one narrowly and clearly drawn list of exempted
information and the rest of the information is declared public
information. In a democratic country, people have all the right to know
how government uses the powers and resources at its disposal, which should
only be used in the larger public interest. Notes on the files, minutes of
meetings, summaries and intermediary opinions have also been exempted from
disclosure in both KPK and Punjab right to information laws. It does not
require rocket science to conclude that any exclusion of documents and
information relating to internal working negates peoples’ right in this
regard and, hence, undermines their ability to oversee and make
suggestions for increasing efficiency or improving performance. The bureaucracies
everywhere endeavour to keep the process undertaken to reach a particular
decision shrouded in secrecy and KPK and Punjab bureaucracies are no
exception in this regard. The Indian bureaucracy tried its level best to
exclude notes on the file from exemption which is public record under
Indian Right to Information Act 2005, but vibrant civil society thwarted
all such efforts. People have the right to know about the considerations,
factors or arguments taken (or not taken) into account in the process of
making a particular decision or passing an order. It is, therefore, very
important that, barring minimal exceptions, all information must be
accessible for public comments and feedback. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Access to
Information Act 2013 envisages Ombudsman as an appellant body. Punjab
Freedom of Information Act 2012 envisaged the establishment of five-member
Punjab Information Commission, an independent and autonomous body. This is
also the practice in most of the countries of the world and also in the
region where India and Bangladesh have established independent and
autonomous information commission. Our experience of
submitting information requests to government departments shows that
Federal Ombudsman is a toothless appellant body in terms of making
effective intervention and helping citizens have access to information.
One, Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 does not empower Federal
Ombudsman to impose penalty on public officials for wrongfully denying
access to information. Two, the experience also shows that Federal
Ombudsman deals complaints with the narrow prism of maladministration and
not denial of fundamental right of citizen which it is entrusted to
protect. Three, even in cases where Federal Ombudsman instructed to
provide information, public bodies generally opted to file representation
to the President of Pakistan instead of providing us the requested
information. Therefore, it is recommended that Ombudsman should be done
away with in the proposed KPK law and independent and autonomous
information commission on the lines of draft Punjab Freedom of Information
Act be established. Definition of public
body in Section 2 (i) of KPK law needs to be expanded. Its scope may be
expanded to include all kinds of for-profit and not-for-profit
non-governmental organisations that are working in Pakistan. Furthermore,
Section 2(j): Information should also include the categories of
information like agreement, feasibility report, inquiry reports, budget,
official expenses, and records of payments, records of procurements,
quotations, tenders, bills, expense claims, vouchers, reimbursement
records and work sheets. This brief analysis of
KPK and Punjab draft right to information laws leads one to conclude that
these laws need to be improved to make them consistent with Article 19-A
of the Constitution as well as with the regional and international
standards. A good right to information act can make a significant
difference in terms of empowering citizens, improving governance,
strengthening democracy, instituting public accountability and bringing
about transparency in government functioning. Once the election is
over and elected governments are in place in these provinces, civil
society groups and media will have to launch concerted efforts for the
enactment of improved versions of KPK and Punjab right to information
laws. At the same time, imaginative initiatives will have to be undertaken
for the repeal of Sindh Freedom of Information Act 2006, Balochistan
Freedom of Information Act 2005 and Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002
at the federal level. The writer is based in
Islamabad and associated with Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives
(CPDI). Zahid@cpdi-pakistan.org
Double jeopardy Even if Badam Zari loses the election, her struggle for the empowerment of women must be remembered — so that her example can be replicated to set into motion social change By Sameera Rashid Badam Zari, an
illiterate woman from the Bajaur Agency, has made history by her
courageous decision to contest elections from a tribal agency. She has
vowed to become “a voice for tribal women” — and work for their
educational uplift. Her lack of schooling
might surprise some readers, but in tribal agencies, where female literacy
rate is only 3 per cent, she is not an oddity. Indeed, Zari is making a
Herculean struggle against heavy odds, which are male-focused customary
code and raging religious militancy. The progress of tribal
women, as determined by modern criteria of compulsory schooling and
availability of health facilities, is also shackled by the customary code,
known as Pakhtunwali — the way of Pathans. Pakhtunwali code is centuries
old, and to an outsider, whether he is from a western country or from the
mainland Pakistan, it appears harsh, vindictive and oppressive. Almost
hundred years ago, Sir Winston Churchill, while working as a reporter for
the Daily Telegraph, when he was attached with the Malakand Field Force,
wrote these famous lines about the tribal Pathans: “Their system of
ethics, which regards treachery and violence as virtues rather than vices,
has produced a code of honour so strange and inconsistent that it is
incomprehensible to a logical mind.” After the passage of a
century, the customary laws of tribal people are still viewed as violent
and treacherous by many political experts and academics. An important supposition
that is stressed by anthropologists, but overlooked by certain political
analysts, is that the customary code is closely intertwined with the
ecology of an area and generally addresses the fears and desires of its
people. Tribal Pathans have perennially lived on the margins: all of them
have been exposed to harsh weather conditions, some of them eked out
living from subsistence farming and most of them have been drained out by
unending cycles of tribal vendettas. As human beings in
different ages and climes have made efforts to order their lives amidst
chaos and flux of life, so despite these despairing conditions, tribal men
also invented a code of behaviour and new forms of arbitration of disputes
to give certainty to their lives. Pakhtunwali code
reflects the precarious exigencies of their existence and expects of them
to show hospitality (melmastia), offer asylum (nanawati), protect honour
of women (namus), and seek revenge (badal) for injuries to body, land and
honour (nang). In fact, honour is the
key precept of the code of Pathans. Seventeenth century
Pushto poet, Khushal Khan Khattak, wrote this poignant verse about nang:
“I despise the man, who does not guide his life by nang/the very word
nang drives me mad!” The ecology also gives
us a clue how the warp and weft of female existence was woven into the
concept of honour. The tribal areas, which lay at the crossroads of
Central Asia and India, and provided the passage to invaders, desirous of
entering into the Indian subcontinent, have always been faced with twin
threats of violence: external threat posed by invading armies or even
mercenaries, and internal threat of internecine tribal warfare. So it can be surmised
that the honour of tribal men could have been violated by disgrace of
their women during wars. To obviate possible threats to honour, tribal
women were confined within the four walls of the home, their social
position was objectified and they started living a tangential existence in
the shadow of manly honour. Within their own community, unsanctioned
sexual relations could have ignited clan/tribal feuds, so sexual relations
outside marriage were strictly tabooed and their violation meant death and
expulsion from the community. Ex-communication from the community has
always been a mighty threat for a tribal Pathan, already living on the
edge. Therefore, he shows sacrilegious respect to the code’s inherent
taboos. Another source of
resilience of the tribal code lies in its dispute resolution mechanism
through jirga (assembly of tribal elders). Jirga system is effective
because it serves justice quickly and is also egalitarian in nature —
meritocratic tribal elders constitute jirga. But this assembly of male
elders, salvage honour of men with customs that betray the rights of women
— a typical modus operandi to settle feuds by jirga is to make the
offender yield his womenfolk to the aggrieved party. So, girls as young as
four and five are handed over by the jirga to be married into the
enemy’s clan. The customary code has
not been affected by forces of modernisation — free market economy,
education, deeper penetration of technology — that successfully swept
other marginal communities in the world for two important factors. One is
remoteness of the region and other is that the rocky and mountainous
tribal areas were never irrigated by alluvial river waters. The tribal
frontier region could never become an agricultural society; thus, the
pre-modern agricultural society processes, such as usage of agricultural
surplus to finance building of cities and patronisation of arts and
culture, eclipsed the tribal areas. As the transition from
the agricultural society to post-agricultural society has not taken place
in these areas, the frontier men are deeply resentful of foreign
influences, the changes that can spur growth in any evolving society. Now, the customary code
of tribal areas is facing a mighty challenge by Taliban, who want to
replace customary laws with Shariah but are also against female schooling
that they associate with the western powers. Badam Zari is faced with
double jeopardy. On the one hand, the potent force of customary code is
alive and, on the other hand, Taliban are bombing and ripping apart the
tools of progress that managed to penetrate into the tribal agencies.
Thus, even if she loses the election, her struggle for the empowerment of
women must be remembered — so that her example could be replicated by
other tribal women to set into motion internal social change processes. caption Badam Zari challenging
the code.
Making NACTA effective In a landmark
development, the outgoing National Assembly, before completion of its
tenure, passed the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) law bill
putting into place the long-delayed but much-needed legal framework to
deal with the menace of extremism and terrorism particularly unleashed in
the name of Islam in Pakistan. The NACTA Bill which was
subsequently passed by the Senate of Pakistan, after getting legal rather
statutory cover, could be instrumental in the country’s policy
formulation regarding countering religious extremism and terrorism in the
country. However, much would depend on the next government and the
powers-that-be that how much autonomy they extend to the body. It is important to note
that the NACTA had existed for years but it did not play any role,
whatsoever, to counter religious extremism and terrorism in Pakistan. This
can be ascertained statistically from the ever-growing terrorist attacks
and number of extremist and terrorist organisations in the country. The
foremost reason was that the body on the one hand did not have any legal
cover while on the other hand it was not at all autonomous, as it had been
working under the Ministry of Interior and was subject to the personal
whims of former interior minister, Rahman Malik. Pakistan should have an
all-powerful counterterrorism authority much earlier because in the last
many years the country has been on the top of the list of states and
territories struck by terrorism. Moreover, the complex nature of extremism
and fastidious nature of terrorist groups as well as the web of factors
behind religious extremism and terrorism warranted the country should have
an autonomous and resourceful body. In fact, for a viable and effective
counterterrorism and counter-extremism body, the condition of
resourcefulness is a precondition. However, the resources at the disposal
of original NACTA left a lot to be desired. Coordination is another
very important aspect of a counterterrorism body. As far as coordination
is concerned, it is critical to manage and defeat the menace of extremism
and terrorism in Pakistan with coordinated efforts of various governmental
departments. Therefore, the reinforced NACTA can play a critical role in
this regard. To put it other way sans a central counterterrorism
authority, efforts by different governmental institutions and bodies
remain isolated and thus inconsequential. Pakistan’s failure to
effectively counter extremism has also been due to the lack of
coordination among different governmental agencies. Different governmental
bodies have been pursuing differing, even irreconcilable, strategies to
defeat extremism and terrorism. The emphasis of counterterrorism
strategies has been on misplaced priorities and areas due to which
fundamentalism and terrorism have exacerbated instead of vanishing. Although any policy
ideally should be filtered through the parliament, which reflects the
collective wisdom of the people of the country, keeping in view the
complex nature of the phenomenon of terrorism and religious extremism in
Pakistan it is really impossible for the parliamentarians, who mostly know
the art of popular politics but lack the wherewithal, to formulate a
policy on their own. The track record of the outgoing government is enough
to testify this incapacity of the members of the parliament to formulate a
counterterrorism policy. The outgoing
government’s only declared strategy to negotiate the threat was based on
the so-called Ds — Dialogue, Development, Deterrence — to effectively
quarantine the rampaging militancy. It failed to achieve any purpose
because it was formulated without studying the nature and dynamics of
religious extremism. The strategy also failed because even its superficial
prescriptions were not followed. For instance, there has been no worthy to
be mentioned development initiated in the Federally Administered Tribal
Areas (Fata), the so-called epicentre of terrorism in Pakistan. The failure of the
strategy of three Ds can be gauged from the fact that the previous
government led by the PPP soon afterwards came up with another strategy of
three Ps — Prevent, Protect, Pursue. This strategy also could not work.
The best way to prevent extremism and terrorism is to transform the
conditions by focusing on local development in the Fata, remote areas of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and South Punjab. Engaging the terrorist
groups in a meaningful dialogue is also necessary. Now when the NACTA has
become an institutionalised body, the counterterrorism should build first
its capacity to understand the nature of extremism and terrorism in the
country. To start with, it should see at the twin phenomena within the
context of the Strategic Model of terrorism studies. The strategic model
has three core assumptions: (1) terrorists have relatively stable and
consistent political preferences; (2) terrorists calculate the political
outcome of various options or courses of action available; and (3)
terrorism is employed when its anticipated political outcome outweighs
that of other options. As far as the first
assumption is concerned, groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
has indeed stable preferences. This is the capturing of the state power.
Here it is important to note that like any other terrorist organisation,
the goals are political but the modus operandi is non-political. Groups
like the TTP have also seemingly calculated the outcome of various courses
of action and then decided to unleash au unprecedented wave of terrorism
as the best way to achieve power. Pakistani religious
terrorist groups have also resorted to the extreme course because other
approach that is institutionalised and constitutional has been deemed
futile. So keeping in view the core assumptions of the strategic model as
well as the aims of Pakistani terrorist groups, an effective and reliable
counterterrorism and counter-extremism strategy could be formulated. Here
it is important to note that the strategic model of terrorism studies is
widely relied upon by policy circles in the developed countries for
designing counterterrorism policy. The model prescribes
that the best strategy to defeat terrorism is by minimising the political
utility for its perpetrators. This can be done by curtailing the political
benefits, which terrorists want to achieve, through a stringent
no-concession strategy; reducing the potential benefits to the
perpetrators of terrorism by a measure of appeasement as well as
decreasing the political benefits by promoting democracy. All these
findings and prescription could greatly help the NACTA to formulate a
sound counterterrorism policy. The writer is a
political analyst and researcher razapkhan@yahoo.com)
A peep into conscious and subconscious of the society where social problems emerge due to lack of civic sense By Mohammad Awais In the staff
colony of a public sector university, a professor — who has recently
returned to Pakistan from the United States with a PhD degree after five
years of hard toil — drove his brand new 1600 car at around 50 km/hour
in violation of ‘speed limit 20 km/hour’ signboard without any stain
of shame. When the professor, who sees huge administrative flaws while
working in a Pakistani university and is planning to settle in an advanced
foreign country permanently, was asked why he had violated the traffic
rule on the university premises and not showing proper civic sense, he let
out a guffaw and said: “When in Rome do as Romans do”. This simple example
shows general lack of civic sense in our society and proves wrong the
common perception that lack of civic sense is linked to lack of education.
This professors alone cannot be blamed for not showing civic sense,
because students of the same university enjoying spring in lush green
lawns throw empty bottles of soft drinks and packets of snacks around
carelessly, and do not care to dump this garbage properly in nearby
dustbins. These students are cream of the youth and have secured good
grades and passed tough entry tests for getting enrolled to the
university. In fact we are a civic
sense starved society and every segment of society without any division of
social class, personal grooming and occupation has no concern with the
rights of our fellow citizens on roads and residential areas. Common sense
is not really common, but social problems emerge when civic sense is
uncommon in society. Civic sense or sense of community is simply caring
for the rights of fellow citizens so that our own rights are protected.
Littering around, violation of traffic rules and wrong parking of vehicles
are some of common practices that show lack of civic sense in our society. Why we lack civic sense?
Why a professor, who stayed for five years in the developed country where
high standards of civic sense are maintained, scoffs at basic traffic
rules after returning to Pakistan? The answer to both questions requires a
thorough probe into psychology of our society. The problem does not exist
at individual level. It is not in the inside of an individual, but perhaps
it is in the outside environment. Senator Pervez Rashid, a
seasoned politician, says educational institutions and masjids are the
centres where the people are educated how to behave in the society, but
unfortunately they both have miserably failed to inculcate civic sense in
us. He says Holy Quran gives us comprehensive guidelines about observing
high standards of civic sense as there are rights of neighbours and
immense stress is laid on Haqooqual Ebad (duties to the mankind) which
form the foundation of civic sense, but unfortunately mullah in masjid
have divided our society by fanning sectarianism and focusing on baseless
petty religious issues. He says Pakistan’s literacy rate roughly stands
at 60 per cent that means that more than half of population is educated
but we have no civic sense because our education system is also class
based that has also divided society. Senator Pervez Rashid
says civic sense has declined in our society over the years as during the
British rule the people used to have more civic sense than us. “When we
expelled the British from our region, we also discarded good traits of the
British rule and retained its only authoritative traditions,” he adds. Dr Aisha Sitwat,
assistant professor at the Centre for Clinical Psychology of the Punjab
University, links the lack of civic sense to social insecurity and
injustice, and says our society has become victim of social numbness
because the masses feel themselves insecure. “In a society where social
numbness is prevalent, the people do not realise their fault when they
violate law and trample over the rights of the fellow citizen,” she
adds. She says lack of civic sense is aggravating with the passage of the
time because frustration and anxiety levels in our youth are on the rise
due to multiple reasons including staying away from our spiritual
traditions and running after western culture without knowing they are
spiritually dead people and are at the verge of collapse. Dr Sitwat says the sense
of organisation at the individual level is also dwindling due to social
insecurity and this internal disorder is exposed when we interact with
society. She says western countries have good civic sense mainly because
of the strong rule of law because nobody can escape punishment for
violating rules there, adding general rules of morality are universal and
any nation can benefit from them by implementing them. “Our education
system is also equally responsible for lack of civic sense in us. Our
education system is career-oriented and it does not focus on character
building of the students. Our education system does not teach ethics and
tell the students how to behave in society. All lessons relating to ethics
in our syllabus are learnt as a coursework without having any impact on
the character,” she adds. Amjad Islam Amjad, a
poet and thinker, says disorder on roads and all other practices of lack
of civic sense in the society leave permanent imprints on the mind of a
child and when the child grows up, they unconsciously repeat all such
acts. He says in western countries people display strong civic sense when
they step out of their homes and even an individual having disorder in his
personal life exhibits strong civic sense when he interacts with society.
Amjad Islam Amjad links the lack of civic sense in our society to blind
chase of the western culture. “We are blindly following the western
culture and have ignored our strong traditions of respect for others,
peace and tolerance. In western societies an individual is not more than a
commodity, but they have strictly implemented their rules that guarantee
rights of an individual,” he adds. He says we should recognize and
return to our own traditions which represent our real face and contain
high values of civic sense.
Enter
to learn, go to earn It all sounds
good. In its manifesto for the upcoming election, the Muttahida Qaumi
Movement (MQM) promises a network of public libraries, focus on vocational
training, single curriculum and bringing the madrassa in conformity with
mainstream education. It claims it will
allocate five per cent of the GDP to education, and ask provinces to
utilise 20 per cent of their revenue budget on the education sector.
Moreover, like other national parties, the MQM too plans to abolish the
dual education system. The syllabus will be modified according to modern
age and national requirement, states the manifesto. Wasay Jalil, member of
Rabita Committee and In-charge Central Information Committee, explains
that public and private sector education co-exist in Europe and all of
them follow a single curriculum. “Here in Pakistan, a student from a
government school knows only ‘A for apple and B for ball’ when it
comes to English and nothing more than that.” He claims this is the
prime reason why students from private schools excel while students at
government schools lag behind. “In our government, we
will revive the status of a government school teacher. We will take him
three decades back when he was respected much more.” The MQM is clear about
its hate for religious extremism. In the past, they have been vocal about
threats the ‘Taliban factor’ holds for urban Sindh, the party’s
stronghold. Its party workers were targeted, once very close to nine-zero,
the MQM headquarters, while they were returning after attending a
telephonic address by Altaf Hussain. So when the MQM talks
about Madrassa in general, it does so with certain contempt. “We need to
stop this ‘fee sabeelillalah business’. You don’t know how many
madrassas there are in the city, and what sort of ‘ultay pultay
(confused)’ people come out of it,” said Jalil. In its manifesto, the
party talks about a single curriculum. The curriculum is to be cleared of
hate literature and undue glorification of war. “We want a peace loving
youth,” explains Jalil. The medium of
instruction is to be Urdu and English, the party proposes. It encourages
philanthropists and the civil society to adopt government schools. It also
proposes a policy of ‘enter to learn, go to earn’ which emphasizes on
vocational training which leads to a faster way to a livelihood. Surprisingly, the party
does not acknowledge the millennium development goal deadline at 2015,
according to which Pakistan should have universal primary literacy.
Pakistan has one of the lowest literacy level in the region — 65 per
cent according to official statistics. Educationists, however,
criticise political parties in general for the sweeping statements they
make in their manifestos. Prof Jaffer Ahmed,
chairperson of the Pakistan Study Centre, Karachi University, said, “I
feel political parties have not really done their homework as manifestos
seem to be prepared in haste.” Commenting on the
uniform system of education, which each political party has included in
its manifesto, he said, “Do they mean one type of education institution
will prevail? If this is the case what will happen to private schools,
cadet colleges or madrassas? If they mean one curriculum, do they agree as
to where they want to take Pakistan to?” Saadiqa Salahuddin,
chairperson of the Indus Resource Centre, an NGO which works at schools in
rural Sindh, said, “After the landmark bill for compulsory education has
been passed, it is important to explain concrete steps to achieve the
goal. The manifestos of all parties are vague.” u Promises a network of
public libraries u Focus on vocational
training, single curriculum u To bring the madrassa
in conformity with mainstream education u The party will
allocate 5 per cent of the GDP to education u Plans to abolish the
dual education system u The syllabus will be
modified according to modern age and national requirement u Curriculum is to be
cleared of hate literature and undue glorification of war u The medium of
instruction will be Urdu and English u Will encourage
philanthropists and the civil society to adopt government schools
Let’s
go Dutch The burgeoning
energy crisis in Pakistan is undoubtedly the biggest hurdle in its growth
and prosperity. With every passing day the demand of electricity is
increasing but there is no significant development on the supply side. No
doubt, there are a few dams where hydroelectric energy has been produced
for decades but unfortunately successive governments have failed to
construct new dams and increase the nation’s power generation capacity.
No progress has been made either in tackling the large circular debt or
the very high line losses in the Pakistani energy system. However, pressed by its
energy needs the country had to depend on Independent Power Producers (IPPs)
which made their entry in the 1990s and since then have tried to reduce
the energy shortfall. As most of these IPPs are dependent mainly on
imported furnace oil, the cost of energy produced this way keeps on rising
with increases in international oil prices. Resultantly, the import bill
increases at an alarming rate and the government has to give subsidies to
the masses on electricity bills and often defaults on payments to IPPs. Despite all these
measures, there is no relief for the general public which is deprived of
electricity supply for up to 16 hours in urban centres and 20 hours in
rural areas nowadays. The situation is so alarming that the outgoing
government fears loss of public support in upcoming elections due to its
failure to do anything significant in this regard. Quite understandably,
all the major political parties have given priority to the energy sector
in their manifestos and have come up with plans on how they will tackle
this issue. A look at their action
plans reveals that all political parties have emphasized the need for
tapping alternative and sustainable sources of energy and promised to take
immediate steps in this regard once they come to power. Realistically
speaking, they say they will need international cooperation in this regard
and need to look out for foreign partners who could help them turn this
dream into a reality. The political elite has realised that the country
will have to explore alternative resources to overcome this energy crisis
and dependence on just one or two conventional energy resources is not
sustainable. Besides, Pakistan will
have to avail options that suit it the best. In the past, there were
attempts to import rental power plants (RPPs) which were again reliant on
furnace fuel and the tariff rate was too high. But will the mere
realisation of this fact be enough or there is a proper course of action
that the country can take? And more importantly, are the developed
countries with expertise in alternative energy resources willing to
cooperate with Pakistan and do they have solutions that suit Pakistani
needs? In this scenario, it has
been observed by experts that The Netherlands-Pakistan cooperation in
alternative energy is a highly viable option because of several reasons,
some of which follow. First, the two countries
are already enjoying encouraging diplomatic and trade relations and very
little or no hassle will be involved in extending this cooperation to the
energy sector. Second, The Netherlands
has already expressed its desire to uplift trade with Pakistan and explore
new areas including, wind, biogas energy, solar, coal energy and offshore
energy solutions. Third, the cooperation
in this sector will be a win-win situation for both the countries as Dutch
companies can make earnings by entering the Pakistani market and Pakistan
will get turn-key alternative energy solutions. The timing is ideal as The
Netherlands is phasing out development aid to Pakistan and turning to
trade. In the words of Robert Dresen, head of Economic Affairs, Embassy of
the Kingdom of the Netherlands: “The emphasis in Dutch-Pakistani
relations is shifting from development aid to trade. We aim to increase
the trade volume between the two countries by diversification of the
existing commercial ties, including into the energy sector.” The Netherlands
participated in the Power and Alternative Energy trade exhibition that was
held on March 14-16 in Karachi. The Dutch information stand attracted a
lot of attention from Pakistani businessmen eager to find energy
solutions. Now let us have a look
at the achievements of Netherlands in the field of alternative energy,
which make it a perfect partner for Pakistan to cooperate with. The Netherlands has a
sustainable, reliable and affordable energy system in which Carbon Dioxide
(CO2) emissions have been halved and almost 40 per cent contribution of
electricity is derived from sustainable sources. The remaining 60 per cent
of electricity comes from gas, nuclear fuel and modern coal-powered plants
using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology. The country aims to
have increased sustainable energy use by 20 per cent by 2020. It also
holds a leading position in pioneering the application of new technologies
in wind energy at sea, biomass processing and greenhouse farming. The Netherlands is a
global pioneer in CCS technology, and is conducting various pilot
projects. It also has the largest CO2 storage capacity in Europe after
Norway. An estimated 9,000 million tons of CO2 can be pumped into empty
gas fields in The Netherlands. The Dutch model also
shows direction to Pakistani stakeholders in the energy sector as to how
they can join hands and resources to achieve desirable results. Innovation
and public-private partnerships (PPP) are key to the Dutch approach: the
government, private sector, and academia cooperate on topics such as green
materials, built environment, sustainable mobility, chain efficiency,
sustainable electricity, new gas, and greenhouses as a source of energy. The Netherlands also has
an extensive experience in the field of energy efficiency due to a long
tradition of voluntary agreements on energy efficiency between Dutch
industry and the government. This is highly relevant as one of the
Pakistani political parties has vowed to introduce legislation on energy
conservation and efficiency if it comes to power. Pakistan should not miss
this opportunity to cooperate with and benefit from Dutch expertise
without delay especially when their companies are reaching out to the
developing world. Several Dutch companies, research organisations and
other entities organised an event on “Empowering progress: Dutch
contributions to sustainable energy for all in developing economies” in
The Hague last January. Pakistan has a close to
800-kilometre coast in the South where winds blow fast, more than ample
exposure to sunlight in tropical settings, huge amounts of municipal waste
produced every day, modern landfills coming up fast in different cities
and one of the largest population of cattle in the world. The conditions
are ideal for the country to exploit these sources of energy with the help
of an international partner like The Netherlands. Just to cite an example,
Dutch companies have already helped set up biogas plants throughout the
country in cooperation with development organisations such as the Rural
Support Programme Network (RSPN). For those who are not familiar with this
concept, biogas is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by
feeding animal dung (especially the manure of buffaloes, cattle and sheep)
and water into an airtight underground tank known as a digester and
allowing it to decompose. It is produced by the biological breakdown of
organic matter in the absence of oxygen. A household with even two cattle
is eligible for a plant.
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