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analysis
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Olive
time Imperialism and terror's construction The current incidents of violence are not of their own making; they carry the burden of history with them By Rubina Saigol One hundred and fifty
years ago a major resistance movement began against English imperialism in
India. The revolt that was triggered off in Meerut in May of 1857 spanned a
period of 18 months and was spread over large parts of India. Thousands of
Indians and a large number of English soldiers The English East India
Company labelled the rebels 'terrorists', 'miscreants', 'troublemakers', 'uncivilised',
'barbaric' and 'savages'. English accounts of the rebellion declared it as a
'mutiny', even though Bahadur Shah Zafar was the legal ruler of the country and
the Company rule was illegal, foreign and imposed. The construction of the
events of 1857 by the English bears an eerie resemblance to the American
construction of events in Iraq since 2003. Even before 1857, there was a series
of peasant rebellions against the East India Company in Bengal and other places
between 1764 and 1793. Warren Hastings, the governor general of the time,
termed the rebels 'terrorists, plunderers and looters'. One is struck by the
stability of and continuity in imperial discourses from the eighteenth to the
twenty-first centuries. It seems that the more things change, the more they
remain the same. There are striking
similarities in colonial actions and discourses across several centuries in
terms of the following: 1) the actual motive for conquest and colonisation; 2)
the moral justifications conjured up to legitimise illegal actions, and 3) the
use of representational methods to construct the moral 'Self' versus the
immoral 'Other'. In each century, while the main motive for imperial conquest
has remained constant in terms of the capture of the natural resources of
people in distant lands for use as raw materials to run the engines of industry
in the colonising country, the moral justifications and means and methods have
undergone transformations based on dominant discourses of the time and advances
in modern technology. I would like to illustrate my arguments by giving
examples from three centuries -- the nineteenth, the twentieth and the
twenty-first -- of colonisation. Nineteenth century In the nineteenth century
the project of European colonisation involved the creation of hinterlands for
the production of raw materials and markets for the absorption of European
products. This economic motive, based purely on the principle of profit that
characterises capitalism, was not palatable for countries like England, the
populations of which considered themselves moral, upright, civilised, rational
and humane. Conquering other countries, killing the local populations and
capturing their resources for pecuniary gains did not fit the picture of the
good, moral, educated, rational Christian English gentleman. This picture was
more reminiscent of raiders and marauders than a civilised people, so a
legitimising ideology was required to place a moral cover on what was a base
and material enterprise. Thus developed the now
infamous 'civilising the natives' ideology, wherein civilising 'savage and
backward' nations became the white man's burden. To lend credibility to the 'civilising'
mission, the local populations had to be constructed as 'backwards', 'savage',
'uncivilised', 'immoral' and 'irrational'; so that an intervention to make them
moral, educated, modern and humane could be justified. At the same time, it was
important for the Englishman to be seen as the moral opposite -- rational,
civilised, humane, honest and honourable; otherwise, his legitimacy as the
moraliser would come into question. The actual Englishman
obviously failed to fit the ideal picture of the superior man as he was
involved in rapacious exploitation of the local populations, and his greed and
avarice were visible for all to see. This is where the means and methods of
representation came in. The arts and literature of England were called upon to
construct the ideal Englishman -- an honest and upright creature, driven by
moral impulses, facing a depraved native who was a cheat and trickster. English
novels, stories, paintings and other forms of communication were relied upon
heavily to reinforce the picture of the good coloniser, who had come to India
to spread the message of the true religion, and the preach the correct and
proper way of ordering social and personal life. The 'Self' and the
'Other' were created in a simultaneous opposition, in which the latter was
almost always depicted as dishonest, weak, uncivilised, irrational and morally
reprehensible. This was done despite the fact that the morally rapacious
conduct of the officers of the East India Company had caused an uproar in the
British parliament and there were calls for reform. However, the means of
representation suggested that the local populations were in need of reform
through educational and legal interventions. In 1858, in the aftermath of the
rebellion, the British parliament was informed of the exploitative, dishonest,
haughty, supercilious and degrading conduct of the Company officers and their
inhuman treatment towards Indians. As a result, the Company's government was
abolished and India came under the British crown in November 1858. Twentieth century The twentieth century saw
the rise of the United States as a global power with massive resources and
power. A large part of this century was characterised by the Cold War between
the US and the USSR. The dominant ideology of the time was 'freedom and
democracy'. The US consistently painted the USSR as 'unfree' and
'undemocratic', and itself as the epitome of freedom and democratic values. The
dominant view now was that democracy and freedom were somehow inherent in the
countries of the North and the West and should be exported as values across the
globe, so that the entire humanity became free and democratic (as defined by
the US). Once again, the real
reasons for establishing 'spheres of influence' were geo-strategic and
geo-political. Through the economic power exercised by the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), several newly-independent countries were
entrapped via debt into supporting the US and its allies across the Atlantic.
The Vietnam and the Afghan wars were both fought for purely economic concerns,
centred on access to the depleting world oil and gas resources. However,
spreading democracy and freedom by containing communism (which was equated with
lack of freedom) were used as the legitimising cover for imperial ventures. The representational
sources that were relied upon to create moral justifications had by now become
far more advanced than in the nineteenth century. American imperialism did not
have to rely merely on novels, stories or paintings, which were available
anyway only to relatively well-off and literate people. Now the
representational methods included radio and television, which were far more
effective than their predecessors owing to the vast outreach they enjoyed.
Besides these, Hollywood cinema was another way of representing the Soviet
Union as the 'evil empire', which was always ultimately destroyed by the good
and brave Americans. Similarly, an endless spate of inane and absurd films
conjured up versions of the bad Red Indians versus the good cowboys and the bad
communists versus the moral capitalists. TV talk shows and
comedies derided the USSR, its leadership and its people, so that the American
public could simultaneously hate the 'Other' and all those allied with it, as
well as see how 'backwards', 'unfree' and 'undemocratic' the Russians were as
compared with them. Many authors and writers have challenged the myth of the
free American citizen, arguing that the Americans are in fact greatly
manipulated by the corporate media and the government and are duped into
believing that they are free, while in reality their entire universe is
controlled, packaged and crafted elsewhere. Nevertheless, the illusion (read
delusion) of autonomy has been very successful in manufacturing widespread
consent for American policies at home and abroad. So hegemonic was this view
that when the USSR collapsed in the late 1980s, the 'End of History' was
proclaimed by the ideologues of global capitalism. Twenty-first century The twenty-first century
has seen the greatest sophistication in terms of technological advancement,
both in weaponry and the means of communication. American imperialism has risen
to new heights in the last few years, and it can be safely assumed that it
would continue to rise with a possible attack on Iran and then other countries.
Once again, the direct conquest of other countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan
is obviously for control over the world's fast-depleting oil resources and
access to Central Asian gas via Afghanistan. In short, economic motives of the
energy-hungry countries are the main impetus behind intensified imperialism in
Asia. Again there is a shift in
the dominant ideology of the time, which necessitated a new mask to cover the
base action of conquest. This time the rhetoric is 'fighting terrorism and
extremism'. The 'natives' of earlier times have now progressed from being
'backwards, uncivilised savages' and 'undemocratic, unfree beings' to become
'terrorists and extremists'. Through the use of this discourse, an eternal,
faceless, nameless, shifting, mobile and fluid enemy has been constructed. The
enemies of the two previous centuries were far more located -- the populations
of colonised countries in the nineteenth and the citizens / supporters of the
USSR in the twentieth. Now the 'Other' is geographically uprooted and can
suddenly appear anywhere, anytime. As a scattered enemy, this 'Other' covers
the entire globe -- something that allows American and allied forces to
potentially attack and conquer any country in the world. This time the means and
methods of representation have acquired a global outreach. Through
communication satellites, cable TV networks and the Internet, it is now
possible to reach millions across the globe in a matter of seconds. The speed
and efficiency of the communications technology is probably the most powerful
weapon in the imperial arsenal. Through endless variations and reiterations of
the 'axis of evil' as the moral 'Other' opposed to the good 'Self', US
President George W Bush's dichotomy of 'either with us or against us' is
repeated on Fox News, CNN, CBS, ABC and a large number of radio stations,
magazines and newspapers that are also accessible on the Internet. Incessant talk shows,
news items, documentary films and other programmes construct frightening
pictures of the bearded, gun-totting 'terrorist' who is almost always a Muslim.
Elaborate details and careful crafting are designed to show his deep links with
an ever-elusive al-Qaeda. He is often a Pakistani, Syrian, Afghan or Sudanese.
In opposition to him are the 'enlightened moderates', the Muslims who do not
engage in terrorist attacks. Once again, the discourse is binary -- 'savage,
backwards, wild' versus 'civilised, modern, tamed' (nineteenth century);
'fettered and living under dictatorship' versus 'free and democratic'
(twentieth century); and 'terrorist, extremist' versus 'moderate, enlightened'. In this discourse, anyone
who opposes American imperialism on moral or ideological grounds is quickly
labelled as 'terrorist' or 'extremist', so that there is a severe diminution of
the vocabulary available for dissent, resistance to imperialism and challenging
US hegemony. The liberalism of the early days of the United Nations had
acknowledged the 'right to self-determination' of nations, peoples and groups,
and had recognised the right to carry out resistance against colonisation /
imperialism as basic human rights. The new discourse on terrorism has rendered
the UN irrelevant, as a result of which all resistance movements are now
redefined as 'terrorism'. The barely-concealed
racism of the discourse on terrorism is evident from the fact that the term
invariably denotes members of a particular religion -- Islam. Muslims have
often been reviled in public discourse, arrested, mistreated, tortured, bombed,
shot and killed on mere suspicion of 'links with al-Qaeda'. The presentation of
Muslims (and only Muslims) as 'terrorists' conveniently overlooks the terrorism
unleashed by the US. History tells us that people of all religions can be
involved in acts of terror and even if religion is used as a mobilising factor,
as in Palestine, the real struggle may be against occupation and colonisation.
No group or person or state is permanently a terrorist, as terrorism is not the
essential characteristic of any group, state or transnational movement. Yet any
group, state, sub-national, sub-state entity or transnational movement can
deploy a terrorist attack as a means and a method to address the basic
conflict. Terrorism is a method by
which conflict is addressed; it is not the conflict itself. The latter may be
over land or resources, against occupation or resistance to conflict. Given
certain contingent conditions, any group or state may engage in a terrorist act
to further its collective goals. Both the soldier and the terrorist are trained
to kill or die for some purpose higher than the self, the only difference being
that the former represents a state's legitimised violence while the latter has
no legitimacy. So dominant is the phantom of the 'Other' as a 'terrorist', and
so widespread its proliferation, that it has successfully managed to obfuscate
alternate reality and contrary evidence. For example, the merciless murder of
1.2 million Iraqis is not defined as terrorism simply because it represents a
state's legitimised violence. Unless and until the
world agrees on a universally-acceptable definition of terrorism, which would
be applied evenly across the board to all who commit acts that destroy life and
property, the concept will continue to be used strategically to further
America's imperial interests. Every time the US commits acts of colonisation
and conquest, it calls them 'self-defence'. Similarly, each time someone
commits an act meant to resist colonisation, he is called a 'terrorist'.
Definitions serve the powerful; yet they impose a moral necessity to be applied
consistently and not selectively, as in 'when we do it, it is self-defence;
when they do it, it is terrorism'. Until the world community decides to end the
hypocrisy around the farce called 'war on terror', it will only manage to
generate more 'terrorists'. By Kaleem Omar So what else can go
wrong in the 21st century? Plenty -- if Murphy's Law is to be believed. For
one thing, the 21st century is only a few years old and already so many
things have gone wrong: 9/11, Afghanistan, the ever-growing chaos in
US-occupied Iraq, the Bush administration's shambolic response to Hurricane
Katrina, Israel's utterly illegal invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 2006,
the continuing inexorable hike in oil prices (which hit yet another record
high of $94 per barrel this week) -- the list goes on and on and on. For
another, when things go wrong somewhere they tend to go wrong everywhere. For
a third, you never really run out of things that can go wrong. This, of course, is the
essence of Murphology, the branch of science that deals with... well, with
things going wrong. The only thing you can do when things go wrong is not to
go with them, or at least try not to go with them, though this is often
easier said than done. Murphology first appeared on the map of the world when
Murphy -- that probably apocryphal but seemingly all too real Irishman from
Limerick (the Irish county, that is, not the literary genre of bawdy verse)
-- posited his now famous Murphy's Law. Simply stated, Murphy's
Law says: If there is any chance of something going wrong, rest assured it
will. This, in the fullness of time, led to Schnatterly's Summing Up of The
Corollaries, which says: Even if something can't go wrong, it will. Between
these two propositions -- Murphy's and Schnatterly's -- lies the Independent
Republic of Murphyistan, or the United States of Murphydom, if you are from
the American West and believe, as US President George W Bush appears to
believe, that Africa is a country. Here's a quick rundown
on some of the other propositions that are at work -- overtly, covertly,
haphazardly or insidiously -- in that beleaguered vale of tears known as
Murphyistan / Murphydom. Patry's Law: If you
know something can go wrong and take due precautions against it, something
else will go wrong. For example, just when you think you've managed to get
rid of the bad tempered black bear in your garden, along will come, from out
of the blue, an even worse tempered rhinoceros. Rothman's Time / Action
Quandry: You never know how soon it is too late. Alternately, no matter how
soon it is, it's never soon enough. Juarez's First Law:
Humans are the only creatures able to retrace their steps to make the
mistakes they had previously avoided. Jurarez's Second Law:
The greater the number of people involved in an event, the less intelligent
each of the participants becomes. McNulty's Rule: First
things first, but not necessarily in that order -- which is another way of
saying that failure is the opportunity to begin again more stupidly. Law of Conservation of
Tsour's: The amount of aggravation in the universe is a constant. It can
neither be created nor destroyed during the course of a chemical reaction; it
just is. A corollary to this is Finagle's Law According to Niven: The
perversity of the universe tends to a maximum. "Sir, I exist!"
cried the man to the universe. "However," replied the universe,
"this fact has not created in me a sense of obligation." R A Wilson's Rule:
Reality is whatever you can get away with. This is a favourite rule of
politicians around the world. A corollary to this rule is that reality is
what refuses to go away when you stop believing in it. Stewart's Corollaries:
1) Murphy's Law may be delayed or suspended for an indefinite period of time,
provided that such delay or suspension will result in a greater catastrophe
at a later date; 2) The magnitude of the catastrophe is directly proportional
to the number of people watching; 3) The magnitude of the catastrophe is
exponentially proportional to the importance of the occasion. The more
important the occasion is, the bigger the catastrophe. Murray's Law: If at
first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you. This is a sort of updated
version of the story about the man who fell from the roof of a skyscraper and
kept saying as he flashed past each floor, "So far, so good." Melnick's Law: If at
first you do succeed, try not to look too astonished. Herman's Law (a
favourite of every government): A good scapegoat is almost as good as a
solution. Equally, a good slogan beats a good solution. The reverse side of
this coin is Einstein on Problematics: We can't solve problems by using the
same kind of thinking we used when we created them. In other words,
everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. The First Rule of
Excavation: If you are in a hole, stop digging. Some people, however, are
just plain digging fools and are never happy unless they're digging
crater-size holes. Barry's Rule: If you
stop to think, remember to start again. This reminds me of a Sindh Club
member of some years ago whose operating principle while playing billiards
was ready... fire... aim... The Kibitzer's Rule: It
is much easier to suggest solutions when you know nothing about the problem.
This perhaps explains why we have so many solutions in this country to
problems that don't exist and so few solutions to problems that do. Ryan's Law: Make three
guesses correctly and you will establish yourself as an expert. Lumped
together with this proposition is Prisig's Postulate: Data without
generalisation is just gossip. Martin's Money Maxim:
It takes a lot of borrowing to live within your income. Phillip's Rule (no, not
Prince Phillip): The best defence against logic is ignorance. It makes sense
when you don't think about it. De Beaumarchais' Motto:
It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them. In
this context, the thing to remember is that people will believe anything if
you whisper it. The Two Rules for
Ultimate Success in Life: 1) Never tell everything you know!
firstperson The News
on Sunday: In which US state were your born and from where did you get your
education? Phillips
Talbot: I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1914. I grew up mainly in
the Middle Western state of Wisconsin. I went to public schools in Wauwatosa,
a suburb of that state's largest city, Wisconsin. My father, a civil
engineer, was a corporate executive who became the director of research of
his manufacturing company. Our family lived comfortably till my last year of
high school, TNS:
Which subjects did you study at college? PT: I
studied political science and journalism, rather than my family's traditional
subject, engineering. TNS: Why
did you choose to study journalism? PT: I
got interested in journalism because of the freedom of expression it allowed,
though I became the 'black sheep' of a family of engineers. TNS: Did
you get a job after your graduation? PT:
Getting a job in 1936 was not easy, as the country was experiencing the
bottom of Great Depression. However, I was lucky enough to be employed as a
local reporter by the Chicago Daily News, then that city's leading afternoon
paper. TNS: How
did you become a foreign correspondent then? PT:
After I started my career in journalism, my interest in the world beyond
America's shores grew, in part as I realised how much of the glamour in
journalism rested in its foreign correspondents in TNS:
Considering that you only 23 at that time, why were you chosen for that
assignment? PT: The
Institute of Current World Affairs judged that, in view of the immense
variety of Indian life, the fellow to be chosen for that assignment might
well be a young journalist -- in others words, a generalist accustomed to
study and write on different dimensions of a broad topic. Another reason was
that an expert was not required, as the purpose was only to present a picture
of the Indian society at that time. TNS:
Were you interested in India too? PT:
Frankly, no. I grew interested not because the subject was India, about which
I was ignorant and had no prior information, but because I believed this
exposure in one country might set me on the road to becoming a foreign
correspondent. TNS:
What was the perception of the US and the ordinary Americans about the Indian
subcontinent at that time? PT: The
Americans, barring a few scholars and academics, knew nothing about the
Indian subcontinent or its inhabitants till then. In fact, the British
resisted the involvement of Americans, especially in the field of business,
in their most valued colony, which was coloured red on the map as part of the
British Empire. Another reason for this lack of knowledge was that no
American had written an account of the Indian subcontinent till then and
there was no major group of Indians living in the US at that time. The only
Americans who had some exposure to the Indian subcontinent were Christian
missionaries or, in exceptional cases, businesspeople. In comparison, China
was much more accessible to the US and Americans at that time. The US media
also covered only a few important political leaders like Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, plus a few maharajas. The Institute of Current
World Affairs was actually formed after no expert on India could be made
available to then US president Woodrow Wilson to advise him during World War
I. The overall ignorance of the Americans about the Indian subcontinent was
also one of the main reasons for sending me to this part of the world. TNS: So
you were sent to India straight away? PT: No,
the Institute of Current World Affairs wisely decided that I needed some
scholarly discipline on India before being plunged into that land. With
American offerings available, I was shoe-horned into the one-year academic
programme offered for Indian Civil Service (ICS) probationers at the London
School of Oriental and African Studies. TNS: How
was that experience? PT: In
that year (1938-39), about half the probationers were British (all expecting
full careers in India) and half Indian. During our year together, our small
group had contacts with a wide variety of British and Indian officials,
politicians, journalists and other people. A dividend of that year in London
was that I had classmates whose assignments in the following years placed
them in many of the Indian provinces that I visited. TNS:
What were your first impressions of the Indian subcontinent? PT: I
spent most of my time in the Indian subcontinent before the British left.
When I first arrived in India, the Raj was very much on the top of things,
especially after the 1935 Government of India Act. Most of the British ICS
officers expected to spend their whole life here, as it was not in their
remotest thinking that they would have to leave one day. As far as I am
concerned, my main concern was to learn about India. I discussed this with a
number of people and they suggested that I take one slice at a time. So, my
first two years in India (1939-1941) were broadly divided between Muslim and
Hindu settings. The Muslim experience included a term at the Aligarh Muslim
University, which was India's leading centre of Islamic academics and
politics; followed by a community study in a rather isolated village in
Kashmir. I also attended some major political meetings, including the All
India Muslim League's Lahore session where it formally adopted the goal of a
separate country for Muslims. During my second year, I concentrated on Hindu
settings, with stints at a Vedic Ashram in Lahore, Rabindranath Tagore's
Shantiniketan centre, the Konaikanal Ashram in south India and Gandhi's
ashram, Sevagra. I also did a couple of urban community studies in Lahore and
Bombay (now Mumbai). TNS: Did
you anticipate that the British would leave India one day? PT: No
one anticipated that, as the politics functioned under the conditions set by
the British. However, after the World War II, British bankruptcy became clear
-- India became a creditor to the Great Britain rather than a debtor. The
British estimated that they needed 60,000 soldiers to subjugate India, but
they did not have the enough human resources at that time. It was then
British prime minister Clement Attlee, who came to power after
pro-imperialism Sir Winston Churchill, on whom the reality dawned and who
brought about a fundamental shift in the prevalent British thinking. Had it
not been for Attlee, the decolonisation of the Indian subcontinent might have
been a generation or two away. One must remember that the independence of
India and Pakistan were one of the most crucial developments of the twentieth
century. Though the centuries-old imperialist system was destined to end
anyway, it was the independence of India and Pakistan that kick-started the
process of decolonisation. The French, Spanish, Portuguese and the Belgians
only followed suit the British as far as granting independence to their
respective colonies was concerned. In short, this was the period of
transition from imperialism to nationalism. TNS: But
why did the British leave the Indian subcontinent earlier than they had
announced? PT: By
the time Lord Mountbatten became the governor general of India, the law and
order situation was fast deteriorating. The forces of the British and the
nationalists came at loggerheads. On the other hand, communal problems were
on the rise. The situation became so worse that Hindu police could not
control mobs of their community and the same was true for Muslims. This
forced the British to leave earlier than announced. TNS: How
were the relations between Hindus and Muslims in the pre-partition days? PT: In
most of the places, they lived in complete harmony. However, there were
occasional riots even in otherwise peaceful cities like Lahore. TNS: Do
you think that the creation of Pakistan was the right decision? PT: No
one foresaw that the partition would be so violent. To the contrary, Muhammad
Ali Jinnah believed that the partition would reduce tensions between Muslims
and Hindus. In fact, a number of proposals were floated in this regard. A
prominent leader of All India Muslim League shared with me as many as eight
different geographic plans for Pakistan. Similarly, another idea was to
divide the Indian subcontinent along ethnic lines and have as many separate
countries. The people of south India also wanted a separate country for them
and even chose Dravidistan as its name. The people and leaders of Kerala also
wanted it to be a separate country, as did the Nizam of Hyderabad. TNS: Did
you anticipate the separation of East Pakistan? PT: Yes.
Many important Indian leaders, including Muslims, believed that the idea of
Pakistan was not feasible. They even argued that room should be left for
Pakistan to rejoin India whenever it feels like doing so. However, the
general impression was that the eastern wing of Pakistan will rejoin India in
a matter of a few years, while the western wing might take longer. TNS:
Whom would you go for if given a choice -- Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, Patel or
Bose? PT:
Gandhi was the conscience of the Indian National Congress, very different
from other political leaders of the time. Nehru, on the other hand, was an
idealist. He gave India the gift of 17 years of solid leadership, established
institutions and built a foundation for his country. Jinnah could have done
similar for Pakistan had he lived on longer. Coming to Patel, many people
believed that he was the better choice as India's prime minister than Nehru
-- he was the one who brought many princely states into India's dominion.
However, he was tough against Muslims as well as Pakistan. Bose, on the other
hand, was a maverick, a real intellectual. TNS: Do
you believe in the 'clash of civilisations' theory? PT: No,
because it misses the point. Religion is used as a point of identification by
a political group only at times. Basically, all the conflicts are political
in nature and they have nothing to do with either religion or culture. TNS:
Does this mean that the US should bring about a change in its ongoing policy? PT: Why
not? We have entered a new phase of world history. As a result of
globalisation, new economic powers like China and India are restructuring
global patterns. Therefore, even a great power like the US should adjust its
policies to take into account the interests of the nations that are on the
rise. There is no room for unilateralism, either by the US or any other
country, in this era of globalisation. TNS: Has
Lahore changed since you last visited the city? PT: A
lot. The new construction is obvious. I was astonished to see the new
airport, which is not only very modern but also very attractive. Also, the
city seems to have expanded a lot. During this visit, I found myself more in
unfamiliar places than the familiar ones. (A review of Phillips Talbot's book entiled An American
Witness to India's Partition will be printed in the next issue.)
politics Pakistani
power politics is a heady mix of carnage, intrigue and wheeling and dealing
that is made even more sensational by the ravings of the media. Pakistanis
from all walks of life are also no slouches when it comes to the business of
debating politics and theorising (in conspiratorial fashion or otherwise)
about impending events. Often, however, very important developments that
cause For
example, earlier this week, World Bank President Robert Zoellick met with
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during a two-day visit to Pakistan, and issued
yet another very public stamp of approval to the regime's economic and social
policies. In doing so, Zoellick revived a slogan that was bandied about
liberally in the first couple of years after the Musharraf coup --
'continuity of reforms'. Specifically the World Bank president indicated that
any new government should be aware that the Bank -- and presumably its sister
financial institutions think likewise -- is keen on seeing the existing
economic policy paradigm consolidated. The
story has been told before, but it is important to reiterate it to get a
sense of the significance of Zoellick's comments. Prior to the September 11
attacks over six years ago, the Musharraf government struggled to secure any
meaningful support from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
or the Asian Development Bank (ADB) -- the three main sources of multilateral
development assistance. However, the changed geo-political situation in the
region following the Bush administration's decision to attack Afghanistan
signalled a change of heart, and within months of 9/11 the money was flowing
in. At the
same time, however, the Musharraf junta was faced with the prospect of
meeting the Supreme Court's three-year deadline to restore some semblance of
a political process. In the lead up to the October 2002 general elections,
Musharraf got himself 'elected' as the president through a referendum in
April. Prior to this, Pakistan's multi and bilateral donors congregated in
Paris to deliberate on their commitments to the country, and the consensus
that emerged centred on the slogan 'continuity of reforms'. In other words,
donors wanted commitments that prospective changes in the government after
the general elections would not translate into an interruption of neo-liberal
policies that had been implemented with great aplomb by the Shaukat Aziz-led
team. Accordingly
the Paris Club -- as the consortium of Pakistan's donors is known --
effectively okayed Musharraf's referendum under the pretext that only with
the general at the helm of affairs could the conduct of the post-election
government be guaranteed. In no uncertain terms, 'continuity of reforms'
meant 'continuity of rule' insofar as the latter was considered a
pre-requisite for smooth implementation of the radical neo-liberal policies
that the World Bank and its partners had found increasingly difficult to see
through in other third world countries on account of the serious political
opposition to which they were giving rise. What is
nothing less than direct intervention into the sovereign political life of
the country was not a process that started in 2002. Throughout the 1988-1999
interregnum, the international financial institutions (IFIs) signed agreement
after agreement with interim governments to which incoming elected regimes
were bound. The IFIs did not seem to think that 'good governance' was
directly linked with the ability of elected regimes to institute policies
according to their electoral promises and instead seemed to prefer engagement
with unelected regimes such as that of Moeen Qureshi, an ex-World Banker
thoroughly committed to free market orthodoxy. More
generally, the IFIs have exerted tremendous power over the policy direction
of countries from around the third world, leaving economic and social
devastation in their wake. Indonesia and Thailand, for example, faced a
massive contraction of their economies following the 1997 financial crisis,
the genesis of which can be clearly traced to IMF insistence on unbridled
financial liberalisation of the two economies. Prior to this, Mexico and
Russia had undergone huge crises, while huge convulsions in Argentina,
Ecuador, Bolivia and other Latin American economies followed soon after. It
is a well-known fact that the Sub-Saharan African countries have been ravaged
by the so-called 'structural adjustment' programmes since the 1980s, thus
exacerbating their already dismal position in the capitalist world economy. This is
not a new narrative, but unfortunately tends to occupy only a marginal place
in our political and intellectual discourses. In the chorus of widespread
condemnation that is heaped upon the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the
Pakistan Muslim League (PML) for the debacle of 1988-1999, there is far too
little attention paid to the fact that all governments that came into power
were effectively hamstrung. It is important to be critical of the mainstream
political parties for their refusal to articulate an anti-neo-liberal
political and economic programme, but it is also important to be clear that
the IFIs make no bones about playing politics either. In the ultimate
analysis, this raises questions about the extent to which the notion of
sovereign government retains any meaning. Even
more damning has been the direct role that the IFIs have played in providing
a veneer of legitimacy to an eight-year old military dictatorship. That after
the events of the past few months the World Bank president can still come to
Pakistan and pat the government on the back indicates just how little the
Bank and its sister institutions care for the imperative of democratic
accountability and how uncomplicated it is for them to overlook the major
abuses of power that have come to the fore since March 9. Indeed the ADB has
recently announced -- with a great deal of aplomb -- that Pakistan has
garnered by far the majority of its funding for the Central / West Asian
region over the past year. One can
expect that the sponsorship of military-dominated 'democracy' by the IFIs
will continue in the foreseeable future. Indeed, Zoellick's comments are an
effective guarantee of this. The World Bank and the ADB recently agreed to
provide big loans to Pakistan to fund future mega water projects, which, as
is well-known, are a source of serious inter-provincial tensions, let alone
the social and ecological devastation to which they give rise. In this case,
the World Bank and the ADB have graciously conceded that they do not want to
be party to political controversy. However this does not mean that they plan
to avoid funding such projects, but only that they will provide funds for
them on purely commercial terms. In other words, loot and plunder shall not
cease regardless of the political implications. As with
many other major issues in Pakistani politics at the present time, in the
case of the IFIs too there is emerging a major faultline between those who
have had enough of tied aid and those who continue to toe the party line. If
and when a political formation that says no to the military, no to
imperialism and no to the IFIs emerges, it will surely waste little time in
attracting a great deal of support. Nation building needs realignment Political activities in the country are picking up, as self-exiled saviours are returning with fresh promises and rosy scenarios By Dr Noman Ahmed It seems
that the sole objective being currently pursued by all the country's
politicians is the assurance to power. Whereas President General Pervez
Musharraf has successfully created a clone of democracy to perpetuate his
power base, others in the game are also busy doctoring for themselves.
Articulated political manifestoes, interpretation and re-interpretation of
political ideology, and, above all, competing programmes for nation building
are all conspicuous by their While
leading the independence struggle, the Quaid had lucidly elaborated the
nation building process for Pakistan. His expectations from the future
generations included meaningful and disciplined struggle towards realising
national goals, selfless input to build the country, and aspiration of high
public ideals in contrast to individual gains. However, the reality turned
otherwise. Among the long list of the shattered ideals beaconed by the father
of the nation, evaporation of nation building zeal from the people is the
foremost. After the death of the Quaid, almost all cadres in the country
began attempting to build their individual selves -- at times, at the cost of
the nation! Offensive images of the Quaid's vision were cheaply used by all
and sundry, especially politicians, to fill their hollow rhetoric.
Unfortunately, the trend continues till today. Regimes
of various kinds pronounce nation building as one of their foremost
priorities. Though details, complexion and components may vary, the main
rhetoric used by them is always almost the same -- to make Pakistan one of
the fastest growing economies in the world or Asia; to ensure a respectable
place for Pakistan in the comity of nations; to extend the fruits of
development to each and every citizen of Pakistan; to save Pakistan from all
sorts of internal and external threats, etc. Needless to say, it is a very
ambitious agenda. Soon
after coming to power, these regimes start claiming achievement of the nation
building objectives, though the reality normally depicts otherwise. For
instance, the present regime keeps on harping about the economic stability
and consequential prosperity. It, however, downplays the very fact that
income inequality has drastically increased during its eight years of rule.
If nation building is realistically made an important national goal, it shall
require many pre-requisites to be fulfilled before success could be achieved
or even thought about. These
pre-requisites include real time efforts to a create welfare state with
corresponding public institutions; appropriate governmental interventions in
all walks of life to safeguard the public interest; attempts to institute
distributive justice in wealth and resources; recourse to democratic
principles in the true sense of the word; and, above all, moulding the
society to be frugal, modest and conservative, so that egalitarianism
eventually prevails. Contrary to these 'old-fashioned' dictums, the images of
success painted in the current times are entirely opposed to the nation
building agenda. And this is true for all levels and layers of the society. Images
of personal success are acutely tied up with certain indicators that are
becoming universally similar. The baseline comprises sound employment,
comfortable abode to reside, brand new car, an adorable and cute family,
adequate monetary resources for now and rainy days, capacity to acquire best
of worldly comforts, and an impregnable security from all kinds of social and
physical disasters. Whether a professional associated with a business or
money making concern or a medical practitioner working for a trauma centre
aimed at saving lives in danger, the yearnings are the same. Any fraction of
a thought to part with any segment of worldly comforts is devastating. This
phenomenon is not restricted to Pakistan alone; it is global in scale.
However, it is of greater concern for our country due to the fact that the
nation has yet to prove itself as one. A mutilated political process and the
lack of principled organisation of public life are some of the causes for it.
Preliminary review and analysis of related trends reveal a rather alarming
picture. With the possibility of addressing this issue in an intellectually
valid and peaceful manner becoming remote, the citizens are entirely
confused. This has
led to the creation of anarchic splinter groups, which of late have become
violent and intolerant. The Lal Masjid episode and its aftermath are tragic
examples in this regard. In this ideological chaos, even those who genuinely
aspire to serve and help build the nation get confounded about the paths they
choose. Unless this fundamental dispute is resolved, the nation building
efforts shall remain a fallacy. In this
murk, the country did experience a few lone crusaders who, not fearing the
lurking danger, took up to contribute to nation building in their own sphere
of action. Obviously the attempt was extremely difficult and path very
sturdy, but they carried on relentlessly. Foremost amongst them were the ones
who aimed at building institutions. Some of them were meted out the worst
treatment and they lost their lives in the process. Others have been gagged
or threatened for their good work. Despite this, there are still a few good
people who continue with their nation building work unabated and unaffected
by the impending dangers. The way
forward can turn into a rewarding alley if a realistic approach towards the
situation is adopted. For reaching a consensus on the ideological basis,
sustenance of democratic institutions is the foremost. The Quaid had
categorically referred to the wisdom of elected assemblies to establish such
institutions. Thus, if they function without the preponderance of the
military, they shall soon develop the capacity to formulate a viable
interpretation of the national ideology. Lateral inputs by the
intelligentsia, the academia the media can help streamline and enrich this
discourse. Priorities
of nation building can only be laid down when every section of the society is
judiciously represented at the concerned fora of decision-making.
Strengthening the political process; enhancing and safeguarding civil
liberties and freedoms; and a continuous public input in social sector issues
are few basic steps that must be taken in this regard. Role models of
leadership living in austerity and frugality must replace the ostentatious
images of endless spending. The media shall have to accommodate the life and
sufferings of the downtrodden more than a symbolic coverage. Similarly,
worthy recognition for unknown crusaders of nation building must be
instituted by the state beyond lip service. If the
leaderships of political parties succeeds in convincing first their own
cadres and thereafter the masses to relinquish high consumerism by simple
living, self-serving careers by lives in public service and material gains by
sacrifice of comforts, the process of nation building can surely begin.
Otherwise, it must be kept in mind that if ranks will be decorated for no war
but self-service, then only self-service shall prevail!
Without
improving the quality of service delivery in the sectors of energy, water and
sanitation, and transport and communications, one can neither imagine
industrial growth nor any improvement in the quality of lives of the
citizens. That explains why almost all states, irrespective of their system
of governance, spend bulk of their resources on the continuous improvement of
and expansion in infrastructure facilities. This task requires mobilisation
of adequate resources on a continuous basis. However, the governments in some
third world countries fail to develop their infrastructure on one pretext or
the other, which is mostly commensurate with their self-defined 'national
interest'. The
phenomenon is more pronounced in those third world countries where the
systems are plagued by factors like corrupt ruling elite, political
instability, military coups, severe economic disparities, etc. Instead of
improving the infrastructure, the governments in these countries have been
spending, and continue to spend, bulk of their resources on catering to the
insatiable greed of the ruling elite -- providing perks and privileges to the
top functionaries of the establishment as well as doling out favours (for
instance, writing off bank loans, concessions in state duties / taxes, sale
of state land at highly subsidised rates, etc) to other minions of the state. One can
compare such governments to businesspeople / industrialists who do not care
to make an allowance for the depreciation and/or replacement of their
machinery / fixtures, and find out one fine morning that their machinery has
become obsolete and products unable to compete in the international market.
They are left with only two choices: either to borrow money to remain afloat
or close down the enterprise. To fill gaps in the infrastructure, some third
world countries started borrowing heavily from international financial
institutions (IFIs), pledging to repay the principal as well the interest by
raising utility charges. The
increase in utility rates invariably evokes strong public criticism, both for
the country's hierarchy and the lending institutions. The resulting situation
posed a serious challenge to the credibility and mandate of the IFIs, in
particular the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, the brains running these institutions
have finally found a solution to this problem, which ensures control over the
infrastructure developed and management of facilities built with loan money,
timely recovery of loan installments, increase in earnings due to more
business, and, above all, tremendous clout in the borrowing country. Known as
public-private partnership (PPP), the new 'product' has been embraced by
various governments across the world, including Pakistan, as a service
delivery tool. Instead of the public sector procuring a capital asset and
providing a public service, under the new arrangement the private sector
creates the asset through a dedicated standalone business, and then delivers
the service to the consumers in return for payment that is linked with
performance. The PPP module of developing the infrastructure, and then
delivering the required services to the consumers, permits the public sector
to reduce its capital expenditure and convert the infrastructure costs into
affordable operating expenditure spread over time. Further,
the PPP module allows partners to concentrate on activities that suit their
skills and genius the best. For the public sector that means focussing on
developing policies and identifying service needs, while for the private
sector the key is to deliver those needs efficiently. Because of the
decades-long mismanagement, the infrastructure in Pakistan is in a bad shape.
Convinced that it will entail massive investments to bring the infrastructure
in conformity with the current requirements, while its own fiscal constraints
may not allow it to undertake this gigantic task alone, the Government of
Pakistan has set up a project development facility for accelerated expansion
in the infrastructure through the use of PPP module. The
authorities believe that even less than half of the funding required for the
development of infrastructure can be covered through government resources.
Also, for addressing the overall infrastructure-related needs, the country
has to work jointly with the private sector -- to bring in the massive
investment needed for major improvements. In Pakistan, the investment in
infrastructure projects, undertaken in collaboration with the private sector,
has so far averaged 1.4 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Over
the next decade, the South Asian countries -- including Pakistan -- need to
invest about 7.5 per cent of their GDP per annum on the infrastructure to
sustain the current level of growth, which is in between seven and eight per
cent. In the
infrastructure, electricity and roads need the biggest proportion of
investment, followed by telecommunications and urban services. In addition to
affordable and timely services, the authorities assert the government's
objective in promoting the PPP module is to clear the huge backlog in basic
services. Reflecting the high priority assigned to efforts supporting
economic growth and competitiveness, the government has adopted a strategic
approach to the fast track development of the transport sector -- focussing
on the National Trade Corridor (NTC), linking major ports in the south to
major cities and trade corridors in the north. Currently,
the ports, roads and railways along this corridor handle 95 per cent of
external trade and 65 per cent of total land freight, and thus contribute
80-85 per cent of the GDP. Now, Pakistan's goal is significant reductions in
the time and cost of moving goods through the NTC and, thereby, improving
industrial competitiveness. The modernisation of the NTC alone requires an
investment of about $1 billion per annum over three to five years. In
addition, the repairing of critical road links destroyed by the October 8,
2005, earthquake is another priority area. Better
infrastructure is not only critical for the business, but also for human
development. However, in rural areas about 40 per cent of the population
still lacks access to power and about 75 per cent to health facilities. In
many areas, education and market facilities are accessible only via dirt
tracks. Not only there is a dearth of clean water supply and sanitation
services, public transport, healthcare and education facilities also require
expeditious improvement. On the other hand, Pakistan's public sector
investment in infrastructure declined as a percentage of GDP in the 1990s. Efforts
to attract private investment, in particular in power and telecom sectors,
have shown that this goal can be achieved and can contribute to meeting the
funding gaps in the development of infrastructure. However, these efforts
need to be directed in the context of overall sectoral reforms. But,
implementing the PPP module will shift the government's role from that of an
investor and operator to one in which it formulates policies, provides an
enabling environment and facilitates implementation. The government must
ensure that the PPP approach results in an efficient, timely and transparent
delivery of services. However, if their costs become unbearable for the
common people due to some reason, the new system may not enjoy the public
support that every new system needs for its success. (The
writer is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. Email: alauddinmasood@hotmail.com)
"Growing
energy demand in Asia has galvanised gas pipeline politics in the region.
Energy-deficient states like India, China and Pakistan are struggling to
cater to their energy needs. The proposed IPI gas pipeline project has the
potential to alter the face of regional geo-strategic environment,"
write David and Mark, in their book entitled Natural Gas and Geopolitics:
From 1970 to 2040. The
Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project was conceptualised in 1989 and
a proposal for the same was forwarded in the early 1990s. The proposed
2,700-kilometer-long IPI pipeline -- having a Formal
negotiations between the three countries on the proposed project began in
1994, but were stalled due to tensions between Pakistan and India. In 1995,
Pakistan and Iran signed a preliminary agreement for the construction of a $3
billion, 870-mile onshore gas export pipeline linking South Pars to Karachi.
This agreement did not mention Multan and also excluded the transportation of
gas into India. However, under a new proposal, Multan and India were
included; and the project was named as Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas
pipeline. At the
same time, Pakistan is also showing interest in the United States-proposed
gas pipeline from Turkmenistan, which would pass through Afghanistan before
entering the country. US-based firm UNOCAL has been selected to execute the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) pipeline project, if approved.
Nonetheless, many experts are concerned about the political instability in
Afghanistan. They also believe that gas from Iran is the cheapest available
option for Pakistan and India to overcome their energy crises, especially in
comparison with the proposed pipeline from Turkmenistan. The IPI
project offers great opportunities to Pakistan, as it may set the course for
possible oil and gas pipelines to China, which in the past has expressed its
willingness to transport oil and gas via Pakistan. If the deal comes through,
Pakistan would also have the option of exporting gas to the international
market or of siphoning off gas for domestic purposes. Besides this, Pakistan
would earn as much as $700 million in royalties from the transit fee and
would save an additional amount of about $200 million on account of
purchasing cheaper gas. The
instability in Balochistan, however, has been a major set back to the
proposed IPI project, which would be in doldrums if the situation in the
province does not become normal. At the international level too, there is
'barrier politics' of the US, which opposes the project mainly because of the
financial and strategic benefits it would provide to Iran. The US, instead,
advocates a pipeline that supplies gas to Pakistan and India via
Turkmenistan. Also, in order to ensure that it maintains its domination in
the region, the US is trying hard to keep Pakistan and India away from
cooperation with Iran, China and Russia. Iran has
the world's second-largest proven natural gas reserves and it is keen to
exploit this resource as a source of revenue. On the other hand, India has
become one of the biggest potential customers as far as the consumption of
gas is concerned. According to a research report, in near future, India and
Pakistan will need approximately 200 million standard cubic meters of gas per
day. Though the two countries are also looking for other options to cater to
their energy needs, gas from Iran through the IPI pipeline seems to be the
best available option. In
recently-held talks between Iranian and Pakistani officials in Islamabad,
there was a deadlock over the gas pricing formula, as the latter did not
accept the former's demand for price revision every three or five years and
instead proposed 10 years for this purpose. On a positive note, however, the
two sides have already agreed to the basic principle of linking the gas price
with the international market, as measured by the Japanese Crude Cocktail (JCC)
correlating the gas price with the crude oil price -- when crude oil price
increases, the gas price escalates accordingly; when crude oil price
decreases, the gas price goes down accordingly. According
to media reports, in the wake of India's 'evasive' attitude (the country's
officials did not participate in the recent meetings in Tehran and
Islamabad), both Iran and Pakistan have decided to materialise the pipeline
project on their own. Islamabad has communicated to Tehran that Pakistan is
willing to import five billion cubic feet gas per day through the proposed
$3.6 billion Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline. Moreover,
Pakistan is also interested in exporting gas to China in the form of
liquefied natural gas (LNG). The LNG terminal would be made at Gwadar, where
the proposed IP pipeline would reach, and the gas would be converted into LNG
for export to China through a proposed railway line from Gwadar to western
part of China. As far as dispute settlement is concerned, the two countries
have agreed to follow the 'French model' after the commencement of the
project. Pakistan has also expressed its desire for the inclusion of all
clauses that would ensure uninterrupted supply of gas to the country in
coming years. Nonetheless,
the administration of US President George W Bush has imposed a set of
unilateral sanctions on Iran, the most stringent since the 1979 Revolution.
These sanctions targeted Iranian banks as well as the elite Revolutionary
Guards Corps. They could also affect the proposed IPI project, as in 2006 the
Iranian government awarded a $1.3 billion contract to the Revolutionary
Guards Corps to build the pipeline up to Pakistan's border. The US
is also pressurising India not to proceed with the IPI gas pipeline project.
"With regard to the Iran pipeline issue, we are hopeful that India won't
move forward on this," US Under Secretary of Treasury for International
Affairs David McCormick recently said. However, Pakistan has so far showed
its commitment to the project despite the sanctions imposed by the US on
Iran. The
increasing energy needs of Pakistan and India are challenging the
geo-strategic scenario in the region. This 'peace pipeline' has the potential
to change the geo-strategic equation in the region, as the economic and
development gains from the project will compel India, Pakistan and Iran to
re-evaluate their roles and policies. Moreover, the economic cooperation
between Pakistan and India under the project may transform their enmity into
friendship. In short, the IPI gas pipeline will not only bring peace and
stability to the region, but will also boost the magnitude of trade among the
three countries.
The concept of biofuels
is relatively new in Pakistan. These are products that can be processed into
liquid fuels for either transport or heating purposes. Bioethanol is one of
the main biofuels and is produced from agricultural products, including
starchy and cereal crops such as sugarcane, corn, beets, wheat and sorghum;
while biodiesel -- another main biofuel -- is produced from oil- or
tree-seeds, including rapeseed, sunflower, soya, palm, coconut and jatropha.
In Pakistan, however, Biofuels, in comparison
with other fuels like hydrogen, are a better option to compete with oil in
the transport sector, since the related technologies are already well
developed and are available in many countries. Also, bioethanol and biodiesel
can be mixed with petroleum products like gasoline and diesel. In addition,
the distribution of liquid biofuels can be accommodated easily in the
existing infrastructure for petroleum distribution and retailing.
Furthermore, the current level of oil prices makes production by the most
efficient oil-producing countries competitive. The above factors indicate
that biofuels are an important challenge to the oil industry, and explain the
rapid increase in their global production and use in recent years. The global biofuel
production is estimated to be over 35 billion liters. According to the
International Institute for Environment and Development, though efforts to
produce biofuels date back to 1975, they have only started to be seen as a
serious alternative to oil worldwide over the last five years or so. For
instance, the European Union's goal of 5.75 per cent biofuel content in the
transport fuel by 2010 will require a fivefold increase in the EU's
production. With the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol and the
implementation of different domestic measures, the global biofuel production
is expected to quadruple in the next 20 years, accounting for about 10 per
cent of the world's transport fuel. According to figures
cited by the owners of sugar mills during a National Conference on Biofuels
Production, Trade and Sustainable Development, organised by the Sustainable
Development Policy Institute (SDPI) recently in Islamabad, the production of
ethanol has increased drastically in Pakistan during the last few years. Till 1998-99, only five
small-scale distilleries were working in Pakistan and they produced only
45,000 liters of alcohol per day. In 1999-2000, Al-Abbas Sugar Mills set up a
state-of-the-art French-designed distillery in Pakistan, with a capacity to
produce 85,000 liters of ethanol per day. "This changed the whole
scenario and 21 more distilleries were established in the next eight years
only. This has enabled sugar millers to produce 500 million liters of ethanol
by processing about three million tonnes of molasses. At present, however,
these distilleries are working at 60 per cent of their capacity, as only 1.8
million tonnes of molasses are available in Pakistan," says Shunaid
Qureshi, president of the All Pakistan Sugar Mills Association. He informs that
Pakistan currently stands at number five in the world as far as area under
sugarcane crop cultivation is concerned, while per acre yield-wise it is at
number 15 and total yield-wise it is at number 12. Qureshi blames all the
stakeholders -- farmers, sugar millers and the government -- for this.
"Nobody has made a serious effort to improve the yield. If Pakistan
pulls up to fifth position in per acre and total yield too, this will result
in 167 per cent increase in the sugarcane crop. Similarly the production of
sugar and molasses will increase by 165 per cent, and that of ethanol by 35
per cent. To ensure this, however, we do not need to cultivate more areas; we
only need to use more productive seeds and adopt better farming
practices," he suggests. Not surprisingly, many
countries have picked up on biofuels as a way to reduce their oil bills or to
earn foreign exchange. Even many states in the United States have made 10 per
cent of ethanol blending mandatory. India has also introduced 10 per cent
blended fuel in 10 of its states and is planning to expand this throughout
the country by 2010. On the other hand, the Pakistani government announced in
the beginning of 2007 to introduce five per cent blended fuel on
'experimental basis'. "It is really
weird to experiment on a thing that is being used successfully all over the
world for several years. The 'experiment', in fact, was designed to fail, as
it was conducted at three remote outlets (in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore)
of the Pakistan State Oil (PSO), where not even 2,000 liters could be sold in
six months. As expected the PSO recommended that E-10 was not viable for
Pakistan, despite the fact that the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB)
and the Hydrocarbon Development Institute had recommended the blending for
Pakistan," says Mian Kausar Hameed of Dewan Mushtaq Group. He adds that the PSO
did not make avail the cooperation offered by ethanol manufacturers in the
'experiment'. "Since the production of petrol is in surplus in Pakistan,
oil refineries are already facing excess stocks because of the reduced demand
due to the conversion of vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG).
Ethanol-based fuel will further dent the earnings of oil companies, because
of which they are reluctant to cooperate in blending ventures," Hameed
informs. Pakistan currently
consumes 1.6 million tonnes of petroleum. By blending 10 per cent ethanol,
the price of petroleum is expected to decrease by Rs 3.5 per liter, according
to ethanol manufacturers. "This will also help in reducing the emission
of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons by 35-50 per cent, as it is more
environment-friendly. Ethanol has an octane value of 113, which is greater
than gasoline. Therefore, it is gentler on vehicle engine, and causes less
wear and tear," Hameed says. The producers of
ethanol are disappointed with the attitude of government officials.
"They are neither considering it as a serious source of alternative
energy at the domestic level nor are helping us to export it. Pakistan was
the second largest exporter of ethanol to the EU before July 1, 2005, when it
was taken out of the EU's Generalised System of Preferences after complaints
by India -- indicating a violation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in
granting tariff preferences without extending similar favours to other
developing countries. This hampered Pakistan's ethanol export to the EU to a
very great extent, but the government paid no heed," Hameed laments. He
believes that the Ministry of Commerce should have hired legal help and filed
an appeal with the EU to revise its decision, which would have vastly
increased the demand for ethanol from Pakistan and would also have increased
the exports. On the other hand,
Sugarcane growers think that both the government and sugar millers are
exploiting them. "Sugarcane is a product of farmers, but the maximum
benefit is being reaped by sugar millers. Molasses, which till the 1960s was
considered as a waste product, is now earning millions of dollars for them,
but they have not passed even a penny of this additional profit on to the
growers. According to an estimate, ethanol production enables sugar millers
to earn at least Rs 10-12 per 40 kilograms of sugarcane. They should pass on
at least one third of this amount to the growers and the same to the
consumers," suggests Iftikhar Mohmand, a sugarcane grower from the NWFP.
He adds that the government should make mandatory the use of blended fuel
throughout Pakistan. An official of the AEDB
tells TNS on condition of anonymity that the Ministry of Petroleum is not
considering seriously the option of blending biofuels with petroleum.
"Initially, the task of introducing ethanol in the Pakistani market was
assigned to the Ministry of Production, but the Ministry of petroleum
interfered and took over the project. As the ministry's officials are
supposed to safeguard the interests of oil companies, they discourage the use
of blended fuel. They should, however, realise that ethanol is a sustainable
and renewable source of energy, and it will provide secure energy to the
country in the coming days," he says. Olive time A time may not be far when the dream of using local olives as an edible oil becomes a reality By Ishrat Hyatt There is a thick growth
of olive trees on the hilly side of the road leading to Murree from
Islamabad. However, these trees are wild and only give fruit after 50 years.
Considering the beneficial value of the olive oil for the massage of hair,
body and aching joints, it was a pleasant surprise to learn that the
Government of Pakistan, in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in
Islamabad, has initiated a project to harness the wild olives and make them
productive. The increasing demand
for edible oils in Pakistan has made the government realise that it has to Pakistan's total demand
for edible oils increased in 2004-05 to 2.749 million tonnes. The local
production for this period was only 0.842 million tonnes and the remaining
demand was met through imports, entailing huge foreign exchange spending. To
this end, the government is interested in the production of extra virgin
olive oil in certain remote areas of the country, in which a large number of
two sub-species of Olea -- Olea cuspidata W and Olea ferruginea R -- grow in
natural forests. Unfortunately, large parts of these natural forests of wild
olives were systematically destroyed over the last 20-30 years, and the wood
was sold in the local markets as fuel. The national wild population of olives
was recently assessed at about 45 million trees, mainly growing in three
provinces -- the NWFP, Punjab and Balochistan. Sharing details and
background, Italian Olive Development Project (IODP) Coordinator Raffaele Del
Cima says the project is aimed at the conversion of a part of this wild
population into producing cultivars of Olea europaea L -- targeting marginal,
unproductive land in remote hilly areas of the country where no or few other
crops can be successfully cultivated. It has been realised, Raffaele adds,
that where soils are stony and infertile, and often lie on steep slopes,
given the roughness of the terrain the mechanisation of some operations like
pruning and harvesting would have little or no chance. The IODP coordinator
also stresses that this initiative is aimed at creating job opportunities for
the local population, especially in areas where farmers are facing
difficulties in generating a reasonable income through traditional crops.
Locally produced olive oil would be able to significantly improve the diet of
the local communities by providing them with better quality oil of high
nutritional value, especially if compared with other kinds of fats in use.
This olive oil will be mainly marketed in Pakistan to satisfy the growing
domestic demand for the product. In order to ensure the
sustainability of this new venture, work has already been done to gather
crucial basic information, especially concerning adaptation of the Olea
europea sativa in different areas of Pakistan; selection of cultivars from
productive trees; and affinity between local species and the imported
cultivars. Training of technicians at different levels -- from nursery to oil
extraction -- is also on the cards, besides improvements in the existing
infrastructure and facilities and the creation of new ones where required. A replication of the
IODP, the Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB) was established in 1995
to enhance indigenous oilseed production and reduce the import bill of edible
oils. The PODB works under the administrative control of the Ministry of
Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL). It aims at promotion of the oilseed
sector and serves as the national institution for the development of oilseeds
in the country, besides providing regulatory and policy framework on
oilseeds. All activities are
conducted under the technical supervision of an international olive expert
(project coordinator), who works in close coordination with the national
coordinator (PODB-Olive Sector) and the PODB's managing director. The
activities being undertaken by the PODB include data elaboration and
production of electronic maps using the Geographic Information System (GIS);
selection of suitable areas for olive growing; implementation of a
country-specific olive oil marketing study; provision of support and
technical assistance through the MINFAL to the PODB for the preparation of an
olive sector development strategy; and support to organise relevant workshops
and seminars to brief authorities, technical staff and farmers on the
importance of the process as well as the methodology to be used, as well as
expected collaboration and participation by all stakeholders. The technical training
component comprises training in agronomy as applied to olive plantations;
orchard care including irrigation, integrated pest management, fertilisation,
pruning and all related activities; nursery; harvest / post harvest; and
olive tests / analyses. The project began with
the selection of two suitable sites located in different agro-ecological
regions of the NWFP for demonstration purposes; for installation of necessary
infrastructure like fences, irrigation, tool sheds, shaded tunnels and a
small-scale nursery; identification, and for selection and procurement of
relevant / appropriate cultivars to be planted / grafted in each
study-oriented olive orchard. Also, an oil mill meeting international
standards, with a capacity of 300-400 kilograms per hour, will be established
in Turnab near Peshawar for demonstration and training purposes. The cost of
the project for one year will be around Euros 800,000. The project coordinator
is optimistic that Pakistan would eventually be able to produce enough olive
oil, if not for export then at least for domestic consumption. It may be
added that the olive oil is a healthy alternative to many of the fats being
currently used in Pakistan for cooking. Also, it will prove to be cheaper
since it is required in a lesser quantity than other oils for cooking. |
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were killed in the rebellion, commonly known as the 'war of mutiny'. After the
Indians lost the war in 1858, the English soldiers and other officers of the
East India Company wreaked havoc on major cities like the capital Dilli, where
they savagely revenged against upon the rebels. They blew up soldiers by tying
them to cannons, shot anyone on mere suspicion of being involved in the
rebellion, and murdered and butchered the rebels mercilessly. The English
soldiers plundered and looted major cities -- destroying all vestiges of
civilisation, culture and existence. 
when in the depth of the 1930s Great Depression my father's job was
eliminated when his company nearly collapsed. Getting to college in 1932
would have been an impossible dream. but for an invitation by my grandfather
-- a professor of engineering at the University of Illinois -- to live with
him and enrol in that institution for graduation. My grandfather's ideas and
work ethics made a big impression on me.
London,
Rome, Berlin or elsewhere. When I tried for such an assignment, my editors
told me, accurately, that "I was too young and too green" to be
considered. The lucky break came when Walter S Rogers, director of the New
York-based Institute of Current World Affairs, visited my newspaper and
described the Institute's desire to stake someone to India studies as part of
its overall commitment to increase the pool of American knowledge of what we
know call non-Western peoples.
less of an obvious stir than Supreme Court censures, bomb blasts and
polemical speeches tend to get lost in this explosive mix. 
absence. Self-service has ascended to such an extent that naked corruption is
pronounced as reconciliation and expediency as political process. The
political barons have not even spared the enlightening advices of
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who had a vision in stark contrast to the
present dispensation.
48-inch diameter -- has about 1,115 kilometers length in Iran, 705 kilometers
in Pakistan and 850 kilometers in India. The total cost of the project --
which would deliver gas from Iran to Pakistan and India -- is estimated to be
more than $7.4 billion, and its completion is expected to take three to five
years. The proposed pipeline would start from Asaluyeh, South Pars, in Iran
before entering Pakistan and travelling through Khuzdar, with one section of
it going to Karachi and the other -- the main section -- to Multan and later
New Delhi in India.
bioethanol is produced entirely from molasses, a direct by-product of sugar
production, at different distilleries of sugar millers. So, bioethanol
production is not likely to displace food crops or cause deforestation in the
near future. 
increase and support their national production from traditional crops -- such
as canola, sunflower and soybean -- as well as explore the possibility of
ensuring a sustainable production of their other kinds from palm, coconut and
olive.