'Behind the headlines
On a weak moral ground
By Dr Mehdi Hasan
The Bush administration suffered yet another foreign policy setback when North Korea exploded its first nuclear device. And this despite threats and warnings from the supreme military power of the world. The Security Council was quick to act impose sanctions against DPRK. However, North Korea rejected the UN resolution in clamping sanctions against it, and declared it an act of war.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) -- the body regulating the fast growing telecom sector in the country -- has recently come out with its annual report. The report focuses on various issues ranging from licensing, sector overview, foreign direct investment trends in the sector, teledensity, grey traffic, legal issues and so on. But what has caught the attention of the subscribers the most, and that seconds their claims, is the complaint analysis made by the regulator and mentioned in the report.

Placed under the head of Consumer Safeguard, this complaint analysis lists the number of complaints received by PTA against fixed line, cellular, wireless phone and other operators. Quite contrary to the company's claims of improving the quality of service over the years, the PTA report reveals that the authority's complaint cell received and disposed 13,997 complaints during 2005-06 as compared to the preceding year's figure of 9,942. This means the percentage increase in the number of complaints filed with PTA was 40.7 higher for the year.

Besides, the report states that 99 per cent of the complaints filed against fixed line operators were those against PTCL. Similarly, 15 per cent of the total complaints received to the authority were made against mobile operators. Of the total complaints, 8 per cent were filed against Telenor, 2 per cent against Instaphone, 14 per cent against Warid, 8 per cent against Paktel, 23 per cent against Ufone and 45 per cent against Mobilink. The figure obviously corresponds to the number of users of mobile companies.

While the report carries an articulately worked out statistical analysis of the complaints received by PTA, it does not clearly mention the exact recourse the authority takes to get the complaints addressed by the relevant companies. All it mentions is that the authority initiates "necessary actions for the rectification of the problems faced by the end users." One is reminded of times not much far away when PTA imposed heavy fines on a major cell phone operator for failing to improve its quality of service. But now it seems the authority has suspended the practice of imposing fines altogether -- most probably to encourage foreign investment -- and is just playing the role of an elder asking the young ones to behave.

When asked about the PTA policy viz-a-viz public complaints against telecom operators, Colonel Nayyar Hassan, Regional Director PTA, Punjab tells The News on Sunday that the non-imposition of fines recently does not mean that the authority cannot do so anymore. "In fact, we feel there is no need to take such a drastic action just to get public complaints addressed. Our experience is that all telecom operators make utmost efforts to rectify problems faced by subscribers once they are directed by the PTA to do so," he says. Anyhow if a company does not comply with the orders, the authority has all the powers to take disciplinary action against it, he adds.

He tells TNS sometimes there is reluctance on the part of certain operators to address public complaints. "But this reluctance is there only till the issue is out of knowledge of PTA. Once we get a complaint via fax, through our website or our toll free number 0800-55055, the issue is taken up with the relevant company and proper record maintained. A complainant can check the status of his complaint on PTA website with the help of the reference number assigned to that complaint," he says.

Mobile phone subscribers, however, think that not every time the complaints are of an individual nature. Adnan Ahmed, a subscriber, says that the complaint registration system is of no use if cellular companies cannot overcome their connectivity issues and coverage problems. "You can get your bill corrected by launching a complaint and nothing else."

Areej Khan, Assistant Manager, Telenor Pakistan tells TNS that her company has an in-house system in place to address customers' complaints. They can contact the Telenor Customer Call Centre on 345 or telenor345@telenor.com.pk. Besides, Telenor service centres and franchises set up across the country are the places where the customers are helped and provided any information they require.

Areej says her company aims to take every customer complaint seriously whatever the nature, size or scope of the complaint may be. "On the odd occasion that an individual contacts us with a claim that might not be genuine, we believe it is mostly due to misunderstanding," she adds.

On complaint handling, Mobilink Public Relations Manager Omar Manzur says his company takes extra care while handling the customers' complaints to ensure that their experience is pleasant and with minimal inconvenience for the customer. He tells TNS that "as soon as the complaints are received, we call the customers to acknowledge and inform them that we will be looking into the issue and they will be updated with the resolution and/or feedback. After the complaint is resolved we contact the customer by phone and send a letter to acknowledge the temporary inconvenience and offer feedback on the complaint and what actions have been taken to resolve the issue."

Omar says that the percentage of fraudulent complaints received is negligible as Mobilink has measures in place to determine the genuine nature of each complaint. There are research tools and methods to verify information in place that can detect and identify whether a complaint received was authentic in nature or otherwise, he adds.

Omar says the complaints received from PTA are also handled in the same way as the company handles regular complaints. "However, we not only keep customers updated on the complaint, we also update PTA as to what has been done to resolve the issue through a brief summary along with a copy of the letter sent to the customer against each complaint separately."

Despite repeated efforts, PTCL spokesman was not available for comments. However, PTA Regional Director Colonel Nayyar Hassan says that the reason why 99 per cent of complaints in fixed line sector are against PTCL is that the company has 96 per cent of market share in this sector. He tells TNS that major complaints against PTCL are about faulty telephones, company's failure to meet demand of new connections, malfunctioning of remote area exchanges due to cable faults and so on. He says this is because of the fact that PTCL network is quite old and needs regular repairs. In addition to this, the digging work carried out by local governments and other civic agencies also leads to disruption of services provided by PTCL. "Anyhow, we are aware of the high number of complaints against PTCL and therefore hold regular monthly meetings on the issue with company high-ups."

There is this story going round of the three American orthopaedic surgeons who made a lot of money and joined the Golf and Country Club, and landed up together on the links playing a round, and of course talk got round to the prowess of their craft. The first one told the story of this concert pianist who'd had three fingers cut off, and he stitched them back and three months later he was back playing the Beethoven Concerto at Lincoln Centre.

The second one told of this Olympic athlete who'd lost a leg, and he stitched it back and three years later the man won the gold at the next Olympics. The third doctor told of this cowboy riding the prairie when he was hit by a speeding train; afterwards all they could find in the debris was the man's Stetson hat and the horse's ass, and he put them together and now he is the President!

I don't suppose that would cut much ice here because bone surgery is not really a glamour profession here; and in any case most of it is performed by the local Pehlwaan who can mend a dislocated shoulder or knee by rubbing it with a bit of armature oil -- I've always wondered about the 'armature' bit -- and then snapping it back in place with a skill learned over generations.

The nearest one can think of in a professional skill which has glamour and lots of money is the brand new breed of transplant surgeons. I have met a few of them and they have made no bones about the glamour proudly carrying 'before' and 'after' snapshots of their clients in their wallets, nor have they made any bones about the lucre involved.

The whole thing intrigues me no end, but the trouble is I am too well brought up to have probed the intricacies. And yet it intrigues me. For instance having done their bit how do they charge for the services, do they calculate by the square inch? After all the finest hand-knotted silk carpets, the 'Mesheds' and the 'Ardbils' have their quality judged by the number of knots per square inch!

Or do they charge a per unit rate; and if so if some of their handiwork doesn't 'take' and some time their client finds the wash basin clogged with a clump, is he entitled to ask for his money back? That is the arrangement I have with my nursery when I go to buy my seasonal flowers, the 'stoxus' and the 'flokus' and the pansies and the sweetpeas; if any fail to bloom I am entitled to the money back, or get a little carnation in a flowerpot in exchange.

In fact if you think along the lines it begins to get positively hairier. Like when I buy my little 'paneerees' I get precise instructions with them. They are to be transplanted in soil mixed in with generous dollops of dung, and then watered regularly, but not too much, and a certain amount of phosphate crystals sprinkled over them, of which too if you overdo it they all die! So what are the equivalent instructions in the present case?

Are there any restrictions on the brand, and the frequency of shampoo? And what about hair gels and dressings; most crucial what are the views on an invigorating Champee-Tel-Maalish which is said to be healthy for the hair but I would be wary of trying it in a delicate situation. Actually the question that gives me sleepless nights is where do they get the 'Paneeree' to be transplanted, and then the soil in which it is planted -- if it is still fertile and capable of sustaining a growth, why did it lose the original?

Only two things came out clear from the October 19 London meeting -- the general elections are nearer than expected and the two main exiled leaders might/would be back home before them

By Adnan Adil

The doubts that the two main exiled opposition leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, were hobnobbing with Gen. Pervez Musharraf gained further ground after their October 19 meeting in London. The two leaders did not have a united stance on any key issue including firming up a joint action against Musharraf-led ruling alliance. They laboured to maintain the veneer of harmony by smiling into cameras.

The Benazir-Nawaz meeting was more significant for what the two leaders did not say rather than what they said. They did not announce any decision on the issues of a united front -- of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) an electoral alliance between the PPP and the PML-N and the six-party religious alliance MMA; the mass resignation of the opposition members of parliament from the assemblies; and launching a street agitation against the present government. Thus, they stayed away from any step that could appear as confrontational with the present regime. Keeping in view the fact that general elections are due next year, the chances of opposition taking to streets are dim if not altogether finished.

The recent statements of the two leaders suggest a change in their line of action compared to what they had promised last May after signing the so-called charter of democracy. They have now emphasised they would be back home before the general elections for which they want installation of a caretaker national government.

Benazir Bhutto was reported to have said that the present assemblies would be dismissed in November and the elections held next February. She said she would return as soon as elections are announced. Nawaz Sharif also said he would return home before the polls. He denies signing any agreement with the Musharraf regime binding him to stay abroad till 2010. The assertion of the two leaders that they would return home before the elections strengthens the rumours that they have been negotiating this point with the representatives of Gen Pervez Musharraf as part of a political bargain.

The change in the emphasis of the two main parties lends credence to the gossip that they have been talking to the Musharraf's emissaries for some sort of mutual accommodation. Benazir Bhutto was candid. She admitted the talks with the government keep going but she insisted these talks did not mean she had struck a bargain or 'deal' with the Musharraf regime.

There have been rumours that Musharraf representatives have been meeting with the two leaders in Dubai and London for the last few months, and they include Musharraf's confidante and secretary of the National Security Council, Tariq Aziz and the bosses of two intelligence agencies. Sources say this time Musharraf's emissaries have held direct talks with Benazir Bhutto to sort out details bypassing Makhdoom Amin Fahim who was PPP's chief mediator until a few months ago. Hence the exact content and extent to which the two sides will accommodate each other is known only to a few people.

President Musharraf's recent reiteration of his stance that he would not allow Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto to come to power also does not rule out his efforts to have some sort of accommodation with them. What the president has not said is also important. His declaration to prevent the two main leaders from coming to power does not mean he might not allow them to return home and to lead their parties' election campaign or that the parties headed by these two leaders could not share power with him.

The necessity Musharraf feels to open doors for the two main opposition parties, the PPP and the PML-N, stems from the fact that the ruling PML may not win sufficient majority in the next elections to elect him as president for another term. His loyal opposition, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam of Maulana Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F) has a vote bank restricted to the NWFP and Balochistan's Pakhtoon region. The PML(Q)-JUI(F) combine hardly guarantees a safe and smooth future for Musharraf unless he allows his supporters massive rigging in the polls or else joins hands with one or two main opposition parties.

In addition to media leaks about any possible accommodation between the PPP and the regime, the statements of federal minister Shaikh Rashid and the ruling party's chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain have also strengthened the speculation. For the first time, Shujaat said his party may enter into a coalition government with the PPP. Since Shujaat is known for his consistent and strong opposition to joining hands with the PPP, this statement points to a change in the power play.

Federal Minister for Railways Shaikh Rashid is also insisting that Musharraf and Benazir have reached some sort of political understanding. He has also indicated that PPP's reclusive leader from Sindh Aftab Shaaban Mirani may rise to power under the new arrangement as a nominee of Benazir. Mirani is considered the PPPP leader's loyal and trustworthy Sindhi leader.

There could be no final official version available on what is transpiring between Musharraf and Benazir, but the signs of early general elections are quite clear. Several traditional political leaders have geared into a kind of action characterised with the election time. Former caretaker prime minister, Mir Balakh Sher Mazari, a Baloch tribal chief from Rojhan-Rajanpur in southern Punjab, has held a meeting with Benazir Bhutto in London and indicated he would join the PPP. The traditional landed elite of Punjab are known for choosing the right side once the winds of change start blowing. A few retired and moneyed military generals are also negotiating with the PPP leadership to make entry to get its ticket for the coming general elections.

Another indication of the preparation for general elections has emanated form the Punjab government that has stepped up its patronage to the ruling party's members of the assemblies. The government has started releasing funds for development works worth Rs 50 million on the recommendation of each member of the provincial assembly from the ruling party.

Although the law minister Raja Basharat denies that special funds have been put on the disposal of ruling party MPs, he admits the members of the assembly keep giving their suggestions for development plans that are accommodated in routine. The spending of a big amount of at least Rs 10 billion on small water supply schemes and lining of streets etc. is a typical example of practices the governments indulge in near general elections.

The coming few weeks could reveal more about the nature of new political groupings. Immediately after Eid, the signs of alignments will be visible if the ruling party, as per Musharraf's public commitment, presents the National Assembly's select committee's bill in the assembly for the protection of women rights seeking amendments to controversial Hudood law. The religious parties' alliance, the MMA, has announced that its members will resign en mass from the assemblies if the bill is approved. This may trigger to a political rollercoaster ending -- exactly how the Benazir-Nawaz combine has predicted: leading to general elections in the spring of 2007.

This year again the federal government claims to have allocated billions of rupees for the development of Balochistan other than the on-going mega developmental projects like Gwadar deep seaport, Mirani dam, Kachchi canal etc., costing Rs 140 billion. "We want to put the province on the track of development and remove all its deprivations," said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in his recent visit to Quetta.

The prime minister has announced a total of Rs 22.3 billion for two packages so far for the province this year. On March 25, he handed over Rs 2.8 billion cheques for all the 28 districts of Balochistan, each district receiving an equal share of Rs 100 million while Quetta was granted Rs 200 million. Seven months later, the ground realities exist as before with no signs if the money has been spent. On October 13, the prime minister unveiled the 'Vision for Development of Balochistan', and announced a special package of Rs 19.5 billon for the province to help the provincial government overcome the financial crisis and gear up the pace of developmental activities.

The opposition members in Balochistan Assembly are of the view that the latest package announced by the prime minister was an attempt to divert the attention of the people of the province from the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. All these packages are insufficient both in their approach and potential.

The leader of opposition Kachkol Ali Baloch told TNS that the packages of the federal government for Balochistan are nothing more than a jugglery of words.

"We do not know where the amount is spent. Either it is eaten up by the bureaucrats or the pro-government tribal chiefs in Balochistan," said Dr Imdad Baloch, former chairman Balochistan Students Organisation (BSO). The development in education sector during the last over 58 years can be assessed by the fact that there is only one Inter College for boys at Gwadar while there is no separate college for girls in Gwadar.

It is generally believed that Balochistan has not only been kept financially aloof, as successive chief ministers of Balochistan, from Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to Jam Yousuf had to literally request the federal government many times to grant some funds for payment of the salaries to the government employees in the province. Besides, Balochistan's services quota in the federal departments and divisions has also been ignored.

Shaukat Aziz led federal government claims that 70,000 jobs would be created through mega projects for Balochistan are the same old promises dressed up in new clothes. The claims indicate that over 33,357 vacancies have been created in federal and provincial departments, 6,097 vacancies at the federal level, 1,761 additional posts in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) projects, 159 under the Defence production division, 365 vacancies in Sheikh Khalifa Hospital, Quetta, 7,300 vacancies in the military -- by relaxing the academic criterion of 45 per cent marks in FSc exams. This will be in addition to 32,000 jobs opportunities available now.

The truth of the matter is that of the 2500 to 3000 graduates from different universities and colleges passing out from all over the province, hardly 5 per cent get jobs and that too using their connections. It is generally believed that a hungry man is actually an angry man. With unemployment at the rate where it is, people are bound to become aggressive.

In Balochistan, there is no private industrial sector operating for the provincial population. "As a result there is no professional and skilled labour force in the province. Whichever government comes to office in the province, it rewards its blue-eyed boys in order to enhance its vote bank and never does anything for the common people," said Zahoor Baloch an unemployed graduate.

Dr Ishtiaque Rajput, a Quetta based political analysts tells TNS that had the 3.5 per cent of provincial quota been genuinely awarded, the situation of unemployment had been quite different since over 30,000 jobs would have been availed by the people of the province.

It is an open secret that in the federal capital one would find officers hailing from Punjab, Sindh and NWFP but hardly does one see a Balochistani officer. Moreover, all the high-profile posts in the province are filled up by officers hailing from other provinces -- like governor, chief secretary, inspector general of police, home secretary and the like. This is why the Baloch and the Pashtoons raise voices to get their rights.

In the financial year 2005-2006, the provincial government announced a package of giving 10,000 police force jobs to the locals of the province. Of the jobs announced for the locals, the officer ranks were awarded to individuals from other provinces while the lower rank jobs were given to the locals. "Had the jobs quota for Balochistan in the federal capital been implemented, there would have been no unemployed youth in the province," said an unemployed doctor.

Despite all claims of successive federal governments, life in the interior of the province is like living in primitive ages. There is no potable water, electricity, basic health facilities, modern communication network of roads, telephone etc. For those people, history is stagnant and the future bleak.

Nothing is new if one surveys the provision of medical facilities in the interior of Balochistan. There is no central system of running district hospitals to their complete professional requirements. If there is a dispensary, there is no doctor available and if there is a doctor there is no sufficient supply of medicines for deserving patients. Consequently, the patients have to rush to the provincial capital for medical treatment of their loved ones and it could safely be reported that the hospitals in Quetta have to bear a great deal of load in order to treat the patients pouring from other neighbouring districts. So much so that patients from Afghanistan and far-flung areas of Balochistan also come to the provincial metropolis for their treatment.

Time is now ripe for the federal government to prove its wisdom by granting maximum resources to Balochistan and allowing local representation in both provincial and federal departments as per quota. This is the only way of putting the province on the track of development.

By Dr Mehdi Hasan

The Bush administration suffered yet another foreign policy setback when North Korea exploded its first nuclear device. And this despite threats and warnings from the supreme military power of the world. The Security Council was quick to act impose sanctions against DPRK. However, North Korea rejected the UN resolution in clamping sanctions against it, and declared it an act of war.

The policy of sanctions to persuade states against acquiring nuclear arms has not worked even in the past. Sanctions have been imposed against North Korea by the US since 1950. Similarly US sanctions are in place against Iran for the last 27 years with no positive results for the realisation of American objective.

The North Korean action of defying world public opinion, particularly US pressure and threats, will certainly encourage many more countries to opt for nuclear arms. Philosophically speaking, nations with stockpiles of nuclear arms are on a very weak moral ground in asking non-nuclear states not to have nuclear weapons, particularly in an international atmosphere where military strength plays an important role in determining the image and status of a nation.

The United States was the first country in the world to acquire nuclear weapons in 1945, and also used this weapon against Japan in August 1945. So far US is the only country that has used nuclear weapons against human kind and killed hundreds of thousands of the innocent people. It also tried to defend the action against Hiroshima and Nagasaki after using atomic bombs by arguing that their action forced Japan to surrender and hundreds of thousands of human lives and miseries of war were avoided.

However, military experts all over the world, including the US, are convinced that the defeat of Japan was already on the cards and it was on the verge of surrendering arms when the US used atom bombs. Observers are of the view that the decision to use nuclear bomb was taken to communicate a message to the world about the arrival of a new imperialist power in the arena as the traditional colonial nations of Europe had been totally destroyed during World War II despite their victory against Germany. US strategists were particularly worried about the influence of Communist Russia among newly independent states emerging from the colonial world.

The US propaganda after the defeat of Japan in favour of its nuclear weapons was that "the new weapon (nuclear weapons) was in the hands of a nation that believed in democracy and human rights, and this weapon would be used against oppressors and enemies of democracy." This theme was clearly directed against Soviet Union and its would-be friends.

The Soviet propagandists had replied by saying that since the 'new weapon' was a scientific discovery and scientific inventions could not be kept as a monopoly of any one nation, therefore, sooner or later, this weapon would be available to the whole world. In 1949 Soviet Union acquired the nuclear technology. US charged about 300 Americans with treason for spying for Soviet Union and transferring it the technology. After that Great Britain and France succeeded in building their own nuclear arms. In 1960 China also achieved nuclear technology.

The spread of this technology for weapons of mass destruction to five countries including two communist states, made it impossible for US to use the weapon against the 'enemies of democracy and human rights' argument. However, members of the nuclear club acquired a privileged position in international politics. When India experimented with its nuclear device in 1974, and Z.A. Bhutto the then prime minister of Pakistan declared Pakistan's intention of acquiring nuclear capability, US was quick to react. Bhutto was not in American good books. Fact of the matter is that he was the only Pakistani ruler who was not approved at all by the US to be a ruler in a country that was considered their ally against communist aggression.

Pakistan's declaration to get nuclear weapons, in the background of 1971 defeat in the war against India, coincided with a very successful Islamic Summit at Lahore after the October war of 1973 between Israel and Egypt in which an Arab or a Muslim country had achieved some measure of success, for the first time, against Israel. In view of the unity of the Muslim countries displayed at Lahore, Pakistan's policy of acquiring nuclear arms was considered more dangerous and objectionable. Bhutto lost power and his life too as a result of his nuclear policy.

Before India and Pakistan became nuclear weapon states openly and Israel acquired nuclear weapons without declaring so, it was believed that there were eleven more countries which could become nuclear weapon states if and when they decided for the nuclear option. Out of these eleven, three have acquired the bomb already, Libya rolled back its programme and Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus were persuaded to change their intentions. North Korea is the latest addition to the 'elite' nuclear club. Possibly Iran will also follow North Korea if US continued its hostile attitude.

Interestingly, the US tries to convince the world that Gaddafi's decision to surrender all its nuclear materials to the United States was the result of American invasion of Iraq and the show of US military power after the September 11 events. The question to be asked now is: why did this policy fail in the case of Iran and North Korea. The simple answer could be that Libya, despite being declared a member of Axis of Evil, posed no immediate threat to the US. North Korea was on the hit list of the US since 1950 when American fought an inconclusive war in Korea. Since then the US has been keeping an important military base in South Korea as well as in Japan in its ambition to rule the whole world. Iran is on the hit list of the US since the religious extremists overthrew the most trusted friend of the Americans, Raza Shah Pehelvi, out of Iran 27 years ago.

The Americans are trying since then to topple the Iranian government and install a pro-US administration there. It has already succeeded in removing Saddam Husein, one of the few remaining anti-American rulers in the Middle-East. Now Iran, Syria and two militant organisations of Palestinians, Hamas and Lebanon based Hizbullah are the only forces to resist US hegemony in the area.

President Bush has adopted a very dangerous policy of preventive war against its adversaries. The doctrine of preventive war, according to renowned political analyst, Noem Chomsky, was more dangerous and objectionable than the philosophy of preemptive war, a policy that Israel was following since long. Chomsky in a recent interview describing president Bush's imperialist designs, said that the easiest way to establish a new norm, such as the right of preventive war, is to select a completely defenseless target, which can easily be overwhelmed by the most massive military force in human history. To do that you have to frighten the people. The defenseless target has to be characterised as an awesome threat to United States and other peace loving peoples of the world.

This was exactly the policy followed in Afghanistan and Iran. Now Iran and Korea are being projected in the same manner. Logically speaking all nations of the world have a right to defend themselves against any potential threat, and if nuclear weapons are needed for the defence they will go for it.