government
Local politics
Lack of consultation during the formulation of the local
government ordinance has made it controversial
By Shujauddin Qureshi

The promulgation of new Sindh Peoples Local Government Ordinance (SPLGO) 2012, signed by the Governor Dr. Ishratul Ebad on September 7 in a secretive manner after extensive parlays between Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has caused ripples in the political scene of the province.

The other coalition partners in the provincial government, especially Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Muslim League (F) and a minister belonging to PML-Q have now parted ways with the government in protest, complaining that they were not taken into confidence before signing of the final draft of the ordinance.

They termed it an ‘undemocratic’ act on the part of the government and also objected to its contents. “Instead of brining a bill into the Sindh Assembly to make an Act, the major coalition partners preferred to issue an ordinance in a clandestine manner,” complains Shahryar Mahar, an MPA from PML -Q, a strong partner of PPP at the Centre.

PML-Q has opted to remain neutral in the situation as the party still holds office of an Advisor in the Sindh cabinet with Haleem Adil Shaikh holding portfolio of the Relief department. The final version of the Ordinance was even kept secret for the coalition parties initially and not shown to their legislators for the next couple of days. For the media, it also remained a mysterious document until it was published in the official gazette.

The political parties with a stronghold in the rural areas of Sindh as well as Sindhi nationalist parties, though they are not in the assemblies, have outrightly rejected the new ordinance by terming it an attempt to divided Sindh. The Karachi Alliance party has gone a step ahead and challenged the new ordinance in the Supreme Court by terming it violation of the Articles 4, 5, 25, 32 and 140 of the Constitution.

Sindhi nationalist parties under Sindh Bachayo Committee (Save Sindh Committee) observed a day of strike on September 13. Although other political parties in Sindh had also announced backing the strike call, the major Karachi-based political parties — ANP, PML-N, Jamat-e-Islami, Sunni Tehrik and Tahrik-e- Insaf — withdrew the support to the strike due to factory fire incident in Karachi on Sep 12. Instead, they observed the day of mourning on burning of 289 garment factory workers in Baldia Town area in SITE.

Except for Karachi where people did not react much, there was a shutter down strike in some suburban localities and thin traffic on the roads. The strike call received an impressive response from the rest of districts, where business remained shut and there was a wheel jam strike in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Larkana and Sukkur.

“PPP and MQM should now read the writing on the wall after the overwhelming response of the strike,” says Jami Chandio, a political analyst and Executive Director of Center for Peace and Civil Society (CPCS). He recalls that on 13th August last year a similar complete shutter down strike was observed in Sindh when the provincial government had introduced the Local Government ordinance 2011.

“Sindh needs a uniform local government system based on democratic norms, transparency and equality,” says Chandio talking to TNS. PPP and MQM ministers and core committee members are trying hard to justify various provisions of the new Ordinance, especially keeping 18 towns in Karachi.

“Although the law has been promulgated through an ordinance, it will be placed as a bill before the assembly, within three months from the date of promulgation, where it would be discussed, amended, rejected or accepted. Criticism is the inherent right of every citizen,” says Sardar Ahmed, MQM’s Parliamentary Leader in the Sindh Assembly. But, he warns that terming it to be an attempt to divide the province or to jeopardise the interest of the people of Sindh may result in violence.

Finalised by a joint core committee of PPP and MQM comprising Agha Siraj Durrani, Ayaz Soomro, Murad Ali Shah, Rafique Engineer, Sharjeel Memon and Pir Mazhar ul Haq of PPP, Dr. Farooq Sattar, Babar Ghauri, Wasay Jalil, Dr. Farough Naseem, Kanwar Naveed Jamil from MQM, the Ordinance was signed by Sindh Governor in presence of Sindh Chief Minister at the Governor House at around 3.30 am in the night.

The Ordinance provides a framework for a three-tier local government system in the province — Union Council/Union Committee, Town Council/Taluka Council and District Council/ Metropolitan Council. The government terms it a great breakthrough in bridging the gap between urban and rural as the Metropolitan Corporations have been introduced in four more divisional headquarters.

The controversial Metropolitan Corporations have been introduced on almost the same pattern of the City District Government, mentioned in General Pervaiz Musharraf’s Local Government Ordinance of 2001. It was a perpetual demand of the MQM with the PPP to keep the Musharraf’s District Government system intact at least in Karachi and Hyderabad cities where the party has a control.

An attempt was made in 2011 when in a same clandestine manner the Sindh Governor issued an ordinance of Sindh Local Government after a prolong meeting attended by Interior Minister Rahman Malik and former Law Minister Babar Awan at the Governor House, under which two types of local government systems were introduced in Sindh.

The Nazim system was kept intact for Karachi with City District Government and 18 towns and a similar system for Hyderabad. For the rest of Sindh, the 1979 Local Government style local government system was introduced with reintroduction of Commissioner as head of the administration.

That Ordinance received a tough opposition from the entire Sindh and after a successful protest campaign by the nationalist political parties and ANP the provincial government had to allow it to lapse, and as a result the 1979 local government system was reintroduced.

In the new 2012 law, the main contentious body, Metropolitan Corporation, headed by a Mayor and a Deputy Mayor, has been established in the urban areas of five existing divisional headquarters of Sindh Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Larkana. Karachi’s existing five districts have been merged into single district with Karachi metropolitan corporation looking after the administration of water board, property tax, primary schools, Basic Health Units, Urban Health Centres, child and woman health affairs, and certain clauses of anti-encroachment cell.

The civil defense, community development and organisations, inland fisheries, social welfare, games and sports boards, finances relating to local government, budget and accounts, land and planning of KMC and KDA, planning and parking, mass transit, master plan, urban planning, land user control, land management, drinking water and its arrangement, reservoir, treatment plants and its distribution, etc, falling within the limits of metropolitan corporation have also been transferred to the metropolitan corporations. For the first time, an office of Leader of the Opposition has also been introduced in the local government system.

A mixture of the 2001 and 1979 Local Government Ordinances, the new 2012 ordinance can be considered an important piece of legislation in absence of any local government system.

The need for such a system was being felt in all provinces as people were facing hardships due to bureaucratic control over municipal affairs. Presently, in all the provinces the interim set up has been put in place by the provincial governments, which have never willingly allowed the local government to operate.

After completion of the 4-year term in 2010, the local bodies were dissolved but no schedule for new elections was announced. However, after the Supreme Court’s orders to all provincial governments to immediately hold local bodies elections, the provincial governments have now become compelled to hold local government elections before the general elections scheduled in 2013.

Democratic governments in the past have never willingly allowed the local governments to operate. All the provinces have virtually reverted to the old 1979 Local Government system by making amendments in the 2001 local government laws and scrapping the Nazim system. Now the colonial Commissioner system of administration exists in all the provinces.

This is the first time that Sindh has introduced a different local government system, which is a mixture of the previous two systems. Unfortunately, the colonial system of administration under Commissioner system remains intact in the new law. The Ordinance allows the provincial government to appoint political administrators to run the affairs till elections of local bodies are held.

Although the government has shown willingness to bring the Ordinance in the provincial assembly to make it an Act and also have a detailed discussion in the house, lack of consultation during the formulation of the Ordinance has made it controversial.

competition
Further low on
economic pathThe report on economic
competitiveness should be a wake-up call for both our business men and policy makers
By Irfan Mufti

Pakistan’s economy has not been in good shape for several years now. All records, officials data, formal studies, institutional reports, experts opinions convey the same message.  What is, however, not clear is that what steps are being taken to rectify factors causing such downslide. Governments haven’t shown any promise or commitment to deal with economic downturn spanned on almost a decade now.

The same facts are reconfirmed by international agencies on serious problems our economy is facing. There are reports after report confirming economic recession without any recourse. A recently released report makes no exception to this impression that Pakistan’s economy is in bad condition. According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) recently released Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2012-13, Pakistan seems to be closer to Sub-Saharan Africa than South Asia. No one would expect to see Pakistan amongst the top ranked nations in any such global list, and so a rank of 124 out of 144 countries should not surprise many.

The report ranks Pakistan among bottom-20 of the 144 economies of the world. It has fallen 6 points from the previous year’s ranking. This steep decline in rankings and ratings has been taking place since 2008. The GCR ranks Pakistan in the first stage of factor driven development which carries higher weightier of basic requirements, an area that Pakistan continues to be consistently poor at.

Unsurprisingly, however, the country’s macroeconomic environment turns out as most worrisome amongst the basic requirements indicators as it is ranked better than only five other countries, including Greece, Yemen and Sierra Leone. More than the drop in rank, it is the massive drop in the ratings in terms of macroeconomic environment from 3.6 last year to 3.1 that should serve as an eye-opener for those at the helm of affairs.

It also reconfirms that Pakistan lacks a long-term view of competitiveness. The level of corruption and poor governance are some of the factors slowing down Pakistan’s economic growth. The WEF ranks countries on more than 100 economic indicators comparing 144 countries.

These factors are reconfirmed by the Pakistani business community that identified corruption, crime and terrorism as some of the problematic factors for doing business in the country. Lack of effective regulations on intellectual property protection, poor governance in terms of favouritism in decision-making  and Wastefulness of Government Spending have also shown significant decline in rankings.

The inefficiency of legal framework in challenging regulations has also impacted the compositeness of Pakistan’s economy as it has declined from 79 in 2011 to 97 in 2012. It is the government’s own inefficiencies such as corruption, inefficient bureaucracy, policy instability and inflation that were termed amongst the factors creating most hurdles to business.

The law and order situation has been a serious threat to the economic activities, with war on terror and other target killing issues impacting throughout the year, the Reliability of Police Service has gone to 127 in the current year as compared to 116 in the last year.

Though our economic managers do not include the cost of waging the war on terror to the economy anymore in the Economic Survey, but the World Bank and WEF continue to do so, as there is only one country which carries higher cost of terrorism to business activities. This, along with other dampening indicators, partly explains the dearth of foreign direct investment flows to Pakistan.

The GCR’s competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which was first developed by WEF in 2004. Defining competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country, GCI scores are calculated by drawing together public and private data around 12 key categories – the pillars of competitiveness – that together make up a comprehensive picture of a country’s competitiveness.

The report ranks economies using 12 key pillars and Pakistan’s performed equally bad in almost all counts: institutions (115), infrastructure (116), macroeconomic environment (139), Health and Primary Education (117), Higher Education and Training (124), Goods Market Efficiency (97), Labour Market Efficiency (130), Financial Market Development (73), Technological Readiness (118), Market Size (30), Business Sophistication (78), and Innovation (77).

The report remarks that “Pakistan has lost its competitive advantage almost on all the pillars of the competitiveness index except for in health, primary education and labor market efficiency. Although Pakistan showed good performance on the innovation and sophistication pillars, but on the factors for basic requirements and efficiency enhancer pillars Pakistan continues to show poor performance.

Pakistan’s ranking of 30 in the market size is as good as it gets amongst all indicators. The market size itself presents the country with an immense opportunity.

On other parameters, including Macroeconomic, the government’s performance has been weak with the budget balance deteriorating from 108 to 125 from 2011 to 2012. Similarly, labour market efficiency pillar shows a decline in the labour and employer relations cooperation and the rank has slipped from 80 to 90. Although Pakistan has seen some improvement on the internet usage, the individual Internet usage has declined ranking of the country at 120 in 2012 from 98 in 2011.

In this area of broadband usage, Pakistan has lost its competitive advantage, where it dropped the ranking from 36 in 2011 to 79 in 2012. The extent of information and communications technologies improving access for all citizens to basic services (health, education, financial services, etc.) also took a dip to 113 with losing 30 points from last year. Government prioritizing of ICT also achieved a rank of 103 from 83 last year, making a variation of 20 points.

Nonetheless, there are some improvements too and those are in the areas of government regulation, transparency of government policy making, and country’s credit rating index has also improved. Significant improvements on the performance of the Securities and Exchange Commission are also noteworthy area. Though these factors have little implications on the direct economic growth and development agenda but in the overall progress index are good signs.

With a record coverage of 142 economies worldwide, the report remains the most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on competitiveness and the well-being of nations.

The GCR has been released at a time when the outlook for the world economy is once again fragile. Global growth remains historically low for the second year running with major centers of economic activity—particularly large emerging economies and key advanced economies—expected to slow in 2012–13, confirming the belief that the global economy is troubled by a slow and weak recovery.

As in previous years, growth remains unequally distributed. Emerging and developing countries are growing faster than advanced economies, steadily closing the income gap. In this scenario Pakistan’s economic performance looks particularly bleak and worrisome.

There can be several aspects of this report that can be challenged or questioned but facts remain that Pakistan has lost many opportunities to perform well. There are many aspects of economy and its progress that are too visible and with obvious consequences on citizens. What is important in the debate as to who is responsible for the decay and what actions or policies are being formulated to improve on these areas?

The writer is Deputy Chief of South Asia Partnership Pakistan and Global Campaigner

irfanmufti@gmail.com

Power projections
The energy sector is not responsive to the electricity demand at present or in years to come
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed

The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) received higher subsidy than other power Distributions Companies in FY 2010-11, and received approximately Rs 6 per unit (kilowatt hour KWh) as fuel adjustment compared with the national average of PKR.1.5 per unit. The total subsidy amount paid to the company was Rs 47.317 billion (USD 551 million).

These appalling figures have been quoted in the study report “Pakistan Power Sector Outlook: Appraisal of KESC in Post Privatization Period,” which was released last week. Conducted by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Advisor and energy sector expert Arshad Abbasi, the study highlights the fact that there is an abnormally high consumption of fuel to generate one unit of electricity and the demand is being met by using furnace oil for electricity generation.

Based on the case study of one organization, the study is reflective of the whole energy sector of the country where efficiency and productivity have never been the priorities of those who matter. Unfortunately, it reveals, the efficiency of a particular plant is not taken into account by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) while receiving tariff petitions. The rates are decided on the basis of cost of production which disastrous.

Explaining his point, the author states KESC takes 11 to 18 cubic feet of gas to generate one KWh of electricity whereas plants of other companies such as Uch Power, Saif Power and Orient Power take only 7.37, 7.47 and 7.56 cubic feet of gas respectively for generating the same quantity of power.

TNS talked to Abbasi who shared that as per global standards, 10 kg to 12 kg of furnace oil is required to produce 100 units of electricity. In Pakistan, the figure even gets around 30 kg per hundred units. Instead of asking the producers to improve efficiency the differential is paid by the government in the form of subsidy and the cost passed on to consumers in the form of fuel adjustment charges.

To sensitise the masses and policy makers on the issue, Abbasi presents tables which show the total budget for Science & Technology Research Division, Environment Protection, Housing and Community Amenities, Health Affairs & Services, Education Affairs and Services and Social Protection was Rs 46.649 billion for the fiscal year, which is less the subsidy paid to KESC. Nationwide, the amount paid to power producers under subsidy stands around Rs 1600 billion.

He simply challenges the total subsidy paid to KESC which according to his findings is less than 338 percent of allocation to Higher Education Commission (HEC) and 169 percent less than the fund allocated to Special Areas (Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and FATA) declared as least-developed areas Pakistan in federal budget 2011-12.

His point is that the purpose behind privatizing KESC is not fulfilled and the company is permanently on crutches. The company’s claims that it has improved its generation efficiency from 33.07 per cent to 33.5 per cent over the over by replacing old Korangi and site gas turbines by new gas engines is also challenged in the study.

The study mentions the newest arrival in KESC’s generation units- Bin Qasim II Plant- is less efficient than the earlier ones. It mentions the heat-rate of Bin Qasim II is 12,163 Btu/Kwh commissioned in 2012 which is even higher than Korangi and SITE GTPS II having heat rate of 9500Btu/Kwh and commissioned in 2009. Ideally the figure should be 5800Btu/Kwh and the larger it is the efficient is the plant.

The good thing about the study, as highlighted by energy sector, experts is that the performance of KESC in generation, transmission and distribution since 1947 to up to date has not only been compared with PEPCO and IPPs but also benchmarked with international power plants. “This benchmarking draws the attention of the policy makers to give immediate attention to the fuel efficiency, minimizing auxiliary consumption and reducing the transmission and distribution losses.”

The study also advises KESC to adopt Advance Metering System but with a caution, to implement this project in stages, starting from high loss areas, particularly where three-phase domestic and commercial meters are installed and use of air conditioners is in abundance. Other high loss areas may be those where small industrial units or vendor units are located. Power supply through Kundi system may be a small percentage of total theft in its poor people localities and may be dealt with at later stage.

Last but not the least, the study suggests, without saying anything, that heavy subsidy paid to IPPS and KESC may be the most sophisticated and carefully designed case of unprecedented corruption in the history of Pakistan. It’s quite likely that the fuel consumption figures in some cases were inflated artificially to claim high amounts in subsidies.

No doubt, the study leads to some questions which will have to be answered ultimately. A few of them follow:

Why was the performance standard for electricity generation not incorporated in ‘power generation standard’?

Why was the technical Audit of IPPs and KESC not conducted, causing provision of heavy subsidy and ruining the national economy?

KESC is submitting regularly heat-rate of all power plants, which are abnormally high. For example, new installed Bin-Qasim-II is so-called state of the art plant but its heat-rate is 12,163 Btu/KWh as against 5800 Btu/KWh but ignored or unchecked by NEPRA officials. Why?

NEPRA is continuously allowing KESC to enhance tariff, without checking fuel consumption of power plants? Why is it so?

patent
Learnings for climate-change fora
Small domestic steps like reforming the patent regime could yield larger
environmental and economic benefits
By Pradeep S Mehta

The Rio+20 was a disappointment for many, but it is pertinent to keep repeating the larger sustainable development agenda for the safe future of humankind. Nation states need to continue taking steps, among other things, to mitigate adverse environmental effects and learn about the successes and failures from each other, even from a different field. One such learning is from the recent grant of a compulsory license on a cancer drug in India.

One of the three grounds on which compulsory license was granted to Natco on the drug Naxevar was that Bayer, the patentee, had failed to ‘work the patent’ in India. This provision, seemingly less debated, has the potential to facilitate unused patents, covering Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs) as well as provide a way forward for their transfer, dissemination and diffusion.

It is widely believed that big global energy firms strategically acquire patents from the inventors of possible new energy solutions and put them on the shelf so that it cannot be ‘worked’. This enables them to continue their monopolistic and rapacious approach of deriving benefits from the investment already made, because any new energy solution might change the status quo and curb their rents. The international energy politics, which is at the core of determining the direction of the climate change negotiations, tend to look the other way.

On the one hand, there are issues related with transfer of technology and on the other, there are cases where an invention itself has not seen the light of the day. It needs to be kept in mind that the owners of patents are at liberty to decide whether or not they would like to transfer their technology, and if yes, on what terms and conditions.

Many a times, governments have little or no influence over the private sector to transfer their technology. But one thing governments can do is that to make the patent ‘work’, which is not being worked in their territories.

The provisions of the Indian Patents Act, 1970 provides a good template for countries – developed or developing – on the issue of “working of patents”. The Natco case clarifies this provision. Vide order dated 9th March 2012, the Controller of Patents, granted India’s first compulsory licence under Section 84 of the Patents Act on the following three grounds: (1) the reasonable requirements of the public with respect to the patented invention have not been satisfied; (2) the patented invention is not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price; and (3) the patented invention is not being worked in the territory of India.

Inherently such an approach is what is defined by competition policy honchos as the use of the ‘essential facilities doctrine’ where access is to be made available to others if the original IPR-holder denies it to them to use and sell it at an affordable cost. The same applies in all networked industries such as telephone, electricity and gas, where access is necessary to transmit the goods through others media.

In such cases, the problem is how will the patent authority know whether a patent has been locally worked or not, when a large number of patents are granted every year in a large number of countries. The Indian Patent Act puts the onus on the patentee by virtue of Section 146(2), which makes it mandatory for the patentee to furnish periodically the extent to which the patent has been worked on a commercial scale in India. According to Rule 131 of the Patents Rules, 2003, such information shall be furnished for every calendar year within three months of the end of each year.

These patent provisions are unique in the world and are inter alia aimed at ensuring “protection and enforcement of patent rights contribute to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations”. The provision also ensures that patents are not granted merely to enable the patentees to enjoy a monopoly for importation of the patented article.

Such provisions are particularly relevant for countries where patents are granted using lax patentability criteria without pre-grant opposition, resulting in exponential increase in patents. For them, it would be useful to keep track whether the granted patents are being worked, and its benefits accrue to the society at large.

In terms of ESTs such provisions would help identify as to which relevant inventions have been put in the cold storage, and subsequently enable appropriate action, including in the form of compulsory license to work the patent, if required. Such provisions would hence result in not only “working” of patents in the country of invention and/or in the country of registration, but can also give some control to      governments with respect to transfer and dissemination of technology in their territories.

In the context of compulsory license on ESTs, it is pertinent to mention Section 308 of the US Clean Air Act, which provides for a mechanism for mandatory patent license. When a patent is necessary to enable someone to comply with other provisions of the Clean Air Act and is not otherwise reasonably available, the US government may require the owner of the patented technology to grant such non-complying party a patent license in exchange for a reasonable royalty.

But there are stringent conditions attached to the grant of license that makes the provision near impossible to be invoked. Considering the political economy of the US, one can easily appreciate that this provision has never been invoked in the forty odd years since the legislation was enacted. No surprises! This goes with the US policy on patents and compulsory license, which was also visible enough when the matter of compulsory license on climate mitigation issues was raised at Rio+20.

However, in the case of pharmaceuticals, the US is very active in pushing compulsory licences itself while criticising India for the Natco case. Their criticism was that Nexavar meant for liver cancers is not a public health crisis. Critics labelled it as double standards of the US.

At a time when the climate change negotiation is struggling to achieve a multilateral solution, countries can adhere to such unilateral patent reforms for the ‘working’ of possible climate change technologies, and their transfer and dissemination. Viewing the not-so-successful big failure: Rio+20 the hidden message is to adopt suitable domestic measures rather than expect effective multilateral solutions. In this adverse negotiating environment, small domestic steps like reforming the patent regime in the light of the above-said could yield larger environmental and economic benefits.

The writer is Secretary General, CUTS International. Ujjwal Kumar of CUTS contributed to this article.   

There and back again
A foreigner recounts a memorable visit to Pakistan
Dr. Adrian Hugh Heald

My main concern at a dim and drizzly Friday teatime in late winter 2012 as I waited for the PIA 710 to Lahore was not the journey, but the prospect of being unable to sleep at all on the eight hour flight departing at 17.30. In the event, I was rocked into somnolence and retained there by the undulations of our course over Europe and then the Caucasus at 36,000 feet or thereabouts.

After some hours of a kind of sleep, a cup of hot tea provided revival as dawn broke over the sprawling suburbs of Lahore. Life in Lahore is more relaxed than in most cities of comparable size across the world. However, the all pervasive security manifests throughout Pakistan, is in evidence on entering major public buildings and all hotels in the city centre.

Few UK citizens travel to Pakistan other than to meet family members or for short business trips. Visa restrictions imposed in the 1990s complicate travel arrangements.

Following a lecture to medical colleagues on the Saturday afternoon, next stop was a Mughal palace in the old city of Lahore, still splendid in its faded majesty. Its elaborate Mughal architecture is straight out of storybooks of the ‘Mysterious East’. Mostly visited on the day when I was there by families on Saturday outings, I was reminded that the links between the British and this part of South Asia go back long before the days of the Raj, with trading links established in the 16th Century. Saturday night in the old city of Lahore was as colourful, jostling and boisterous as Saturday night in any European city with people of all ages enjoying good food and convivial company in a renovated quarter just within the city walls.

On arrival at Islamabad on Sunday lunchtime, we found a demonstration blocking the airport road about cuts in gas supply which people were putting up with regularly. In cold mid-winter this posed a real danger for older people in North Pakistan as well as a huge inconvenience for everyone, as domestic cooking in towns and cites uses natural gas as the main energy source. The ripples of this continue.

We travelled on by road to Peshawar, where I stayed in a hotel by the road that goes on eventually to Kabul – about 4-6 hours’ drive, following the ancient Silk Route over the Khyber Pass. I was the only English person there. After a trip around the city centre, which is one of the oldest inhabited places in the world, with shops selling everything from life chickens, pashmenas unchanged in design for centuries and grain by the bushel to iphones and the latest NIKE trainers.

I met with Mr Khattak, deputy leader of the Awami Nation Party and a hugely influential figure. We spoke about the future and the past for this region of Pakistan and for neighbouring Afghanistan.

Mr. Khattak’s view is that economic co-operation and integration is the way forward for both countries with demilitarisation of the border and robust trade links through rail and road providing prosperity as well as closer ties in a sense that will impact positively and in real day to day sense on people’s lives. This is resonant with the aspiration of Western European politicians in the early 1950s.

Mr. Khattak advocated a model similar to the European Coal and Steel Community that through the 1950s cemented the relationship between France and Germany culminating in the Schumann led-plan and laying the foundations for what ultimately the European Community. A robust political framework, respect for the rule law and reconciliation between former enemies  - then as now - were critical components.

Mr Khattak stated that what the people of this region need on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan Border is a better standard of living, improved health care and more consistent access to education. None of these things will reach fruition until there is more stability and peace in the region. But one cannot occur without the other. It is time that resources were diverted away from arms to support infrastructure projects at all levels.

The highlights of Monday were a visit to the gracious Peshawar Museum where one of the curators Mr Gul, gave an enlightening whistle stop tour, including a narrative of the life of the Buddha, then on to visit a combined Khyber Medical College fair. With the students I flew a kite badly on a blustery afternoon on the roof of the teaching centre.

The students there are as informed about events across the world as any of their peers in Manchester or Harvard and as up to speed with 2012 styles, whether in fashion nails for the girls, GQ sharp jackets for the boys or UK chart hit downloads. Some of the students, who are taught their medicine in English come from villages far afield such as the high mountains on the Afghan border or the Swat valley. The experience of watching a rock band playing cover versions not just of Euro top 20 and contemporary Urdu hits but also of traditional Pashtoon songs will stay with me forever.

A day later, I returned to the UK to my usual life. I still remember how flying a kite gave me the freedom to travel over the streets of Peshawar in a way that I hope everyone in that city may one day do again freely, without fear or prejudice. Britain has good friends there and in the rest of Pakistan. We are linked by history. We can use that in a positive way if we choose.

The writer is Consultant Endocrinologist at MidCheshire Hospital Crewe UK

Adrianheald8@gmail.com

Census: Signs of hope
Monitoring mechanisms can be devised with consensus to enable the various parties and groups oversee the process.
By Dr Noman Ahmed

On  September 3, the Prime Minister is reported to have received a briefing from the Statistics Division of the government in respect to methodology, preparedness and related issues pertinent to population census.

The concerned administrative machinery gave positive vibes in respect to initiating the process. However, the political pundits would argue that the timing of conducting census during a pronounced election year may not be appropriate. It may be proper to remember that census was due since 2008 and has been postponed on one count or the other. Constitutional bodies such as Council of Common Interests are also reported to have been silent in completing this much awaited scientific task.

Numerous objections and apprehensions are voiced by different political parties, community groups and vulnerable sections of the society during the recent past. The technocrats are strong supporters of this vital exercise and wish to keep it apolitical in nature to maintain its transparency and validity. 

Certain locals in Sindh have raised concerns about potential under reporting of some locations due to logistics and accessibility reasons. Displacements due to past year floods, in-migrations for different causes to Sindh from elsewhere, horizontal movement of population and categorization of housing typologies are also labelled as potential issues that shall have a bearing on census outputs.

Communities in Balochistan that have suffered multiple predicaments do not feel confident that head count would be accurate and open for listing their actual existence. The minority communities fear the incongruent recording of their existence, given the environment of intolerance prevailing in many parts of the country. Whereas every objection and concern is worth an impartial and objective investigation, few fundamentals may be established to streamline the progress of this vital assignment.

By its very nature,  census-taking is a technical exercise to be conducted in a neutral manner. It is initiated as the first step in diagnosing the social, demographic, economic and developmental status of the people and the contexts they inhabit.

The information generated as a consequence of census has a bearing on the allocation of public resources, preparation of cases for dealing with extraordinary underdevelopment, updating of population listings in different constituencies, outlining development priorities, and streamlining choice of projects and many other attributes related to the communication ventures.

The census is also an exercise in impact assessment in respect to past public investments done in public health, education, social welfare and even physical infrastructure. The level of actual coverage and penetration of mass schemes such as immunization works is studied through the tabulation and analysis of census results.

It is important to note that the conduct of census can inform us about the scale, extent and nature of urbanisation that has happened in an exponential manner during the past two decades.

The definition of urban settlements and the parameters of urbanisation need to be re-visited to enable the policy makers recommend the right choices of resource allocations, development programmes and infrastructural preferences – principally the energy consumption thresholds.

The understanding about trends in internal displacement, production links with settlements, locations experiencing disasters and consequent population shifts are also important matters that can be studied with precision based on census findings. The works of other institutions such as NADRA, Election Commission and Planning Commission will be greatly supported with the fresh body of information that shall be generated through a credible census exercise.

Fears and concerns around census are of various types. Political parties at various layers of their working and existence, fear the command and control of these exercises may impact their vote bank. Ethnic groups – and their overt and covert representatives – are concerned about the manner in which concentration of population shall be recorded.

Parties and groups dealing with specific regions and peoples wish to see the results directly responsive to their aspirations. Proportional population weightage in provinces is another fear. As population factor is a vital variable in resource distribution through NFC award, census results and their validation shall become an extremely contentious issue.

But these concerns cannot undermine the importance of census. The government can come up with institutional arrangements to deal with the conduct of census in an objective manner. At the procedural level, a complaint cell can be created in each taluka/tehsil/town to redress applications made by various stakeholders.

An appropriate method can be devised to implement this approach in an effective manner. Monitoring mechanisms can be devised with consensus to enable the various parties and groups oversee the process. And the input of research and development institutions can be taken on board for streamlining various problems including access, registration, and denial of information by various people as well as cross-verification.

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Caught on the wrong foot
International non-government organisations are finding it hard to explain the mechanism of their working
By Aoun Sahi

Most of the International Non Government Organisations (INGOs) working in Pakistan have faced a tough situation after allegations leveled by intelligence agencies about connections between some INGOs and the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden. In the same context, Save the Children, a UK based charity, was ordered to withdraw its entire foreign staff from Pakistan two weeks ago.

An official of the organisation says that only six foreigners were working with the charity by the end of august 2012. “Some expatriate staff has been facing visa problems.”

“The charity has been under scrutiny since last year when Dr Shakeel Afridi falsely claimed to have been working for Save the Children to launch a fake vaccination campaign used by the CIA to help find OBL”, he tells TNS.

The charity was given a deadline of August 31 to withdraw all foreign staff but after mutual understanding between government and the agency the deadline was extended to September 12. “The last batch of four foreign staff members had already left Pakistan on September 13 early morning”, Ghulam Qadri, a spokesperson of Save the Children tells TNS.

An intelligence report of Pakistan’s civil and military security organistaions says that Dr Afridi had attended a Save the Children training workshop in Peshawar in 2008 and accused a former director of the charity of introducing him to the Americans.

The officials of the organistaion admit that Dr Afridi was among 50,000 Pakistanis to have attended its training programmes, but they say that there is “absolutely no truth” to the claims about the introduction. “We have never been provided any evidence in this regard. In fact, he was never employed by Save the Children nor was he ever paid for any kind of work. We have never run a vaccination programme in Abbotabad”, says an official of the organisation.

Save the Children has a long history in Pakistan. It has launched its largest global operation in Pakistan providing emergency relief for flood victims and war refugees and another on development, including health, education and malnutrition.

It operates clinics, primary schools and projects to combat child labour and violence against children. It is also the biggest distributor of World Food Programme aid in the Sindh province. “Save the Children employs 2,000 local staff in Pakistan and spent USD105 million in the country last year. We have been running our projects in 70 districts of Pakistan and supporting more than 7 million children and their families” says Qadri. He insists that the orgaanisation works through or with support of Pakistani government.

The UK government is one of the main donors of the agency while it has also been running projects supported by other Western countries. “The charity has also requested ambassadors of donor countries to interfere in the matter.”

It seems the situation is under control as Rehman Malik has also announced last week that orders of expulsion of foreign staff of Save the Children have been suspended. But, we have not received anything in writing, so we sent our staff out of country”, an official of Save the Children tells TNS on the condition of anonymity. “It has become too tough to work for us after the OBL raid. We have been given tough time by government agencies. Our international staff was not being issued visas while obtaining NOC for different projects”, he says.

It is not the only INGO facing problems after last year’s OBL raid and consequently arrest of Dr Shakeel Afridi. In fact, most of the INGOs working in Pakistan have been under tight scrutiny. On April 12, 2012 Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote a letter to the concerned departments, asking them to discontinue activities of Information Management and Mine Action Programme (iMMAP), an INGO focusing on mines clearance with immediate effect.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which is active in Pakistan since 1983 has also been facing several problems. The government has already asked it to run its operations only in Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.

It was in the forefront after the floods to provide relief and health facilities to thousands of people in KP and Fata and feels betrayed as the government denied extending NOCs of its offices in Swat, Bonair and Fata after the floods. “Most of the people in security agencies believe that INGOs share information with CIA and other Western intelligence agencies. ICRC, so far, has terminated more than 250 local staff from different stations as most of the projects have been stopped.

“Security concerns of foreign staff have also increased after kidnapping and murder of a foreign staff member in Quetta early this year”, an official of ICRC tells TNS.

Security has become a real issue for the staff of INGOs. On January 19, 2012, two foreign workers of an NGO working in flood hit areas of Multan were kidnapped. On January 5, 2012 a foreign doctor working with ICRC in Quetta was kidnapped. Later, his dead body was found. On December 14, 2011, eight workers of an American NGO were kidnapped from Balochistan. On August 13, 2011, an American aid worker was kidnapped from Lahore.

Cate Heinrich, Advocacy and Communications Advisor Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF), which comprises 51 of the international NGOs working in Pakistan, regrets the recent departure of six global Save the Children staff from its team in Pakistan. “Aid agencies working in Pakistan have been facing several other problems including delays in obtaining visas or being granted permission to travel to some areas of Pakistan where they work. The delays and restrictions on moving about the country for both international and national staff is impacting on the life saving work and support that aid agencies and their partners provide to communities to help them become stronger and more resilient. There is no clarity on why this is happening”, she says.

They said we are closely monitoring the security situation in Pakistan, but the potential risk faced by aid workers in Pakistan is not new. “This risk is already factored into agency security plans and operating procedures. International agencies carry out their work in an independent and transparent manner according to the Red Cross Code of Conduct that sets out the principles international agencies follow”.

 There are huge unmet needs in Pakistan following two years of consecutive flooding in 2010 and 2011 as well as communities being affected by ongoing conflict. “There have been difficulties faced in reaching these communities at times but humanitarian organisations are committed to coordinating with the government to provide assistance where it is required”, she says.

Government officials say that activities of all INGOs are being monitored closely. They say it is a fact that some of them are involved in information sharing with intelligence agencies of other countries. “In 2010 after floods we pointed out activities of a foreign member of an INGO who was trying to establish contacts with the Taliban. In 2011, the government also asked economic affairs division to formulate regulations for working of INGOs in Pakistan. A 10-page draft under title of ‘International Non-Government Organisations Regulations, 2011’ was prepared but it has not been implemented yet. But there is a strong realisation among different quarters of government that INGOs are needed to be monitored properly”, says a senior official of interior ministry.       

Seeds of hate
Critical analysis of textbooks being taught in primary schools shows how the literature of hatred is poisoning our young minds
By Waqar Gillani

“Hindus can never be true friends of Muslims” is one of the many such lines from Pakistan Studies of grade seven. 

Incorrect, exaggerated and biased version of Islamic and Sub-Continent’s history are part of Pakistan’s textbooks. That is presumably to mould the nation’s emotions against India. Religious fundamentalism and hate against other religions, especially ‘enemy’ countries – like India – is part of textbooks to sow the seeds of hate in the country’s young minds.

A recent study Taleem Ya Nafrat Ki Aabiyari (Educating or nurturing hate), conducted by National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a non government organization working on human rights and minorities, identifies hate material and biases in the textbooks in Punjab and Sindh and education policy against religious minorities in Pakistan.

The study examines 22 textbooks for the academic year 2012-13, being taught in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh for grades 1–10. There are 55 chapters containing hate against Hindus, India, and Christians.  Unfortunately, hate material and religious discrimination are still part of our curricula — social studies, geography and history.

The study shows that hate-based material in Punjab textbooks increased in 2012–13. In 2009, there were 45 hate speeches in the books, the number has increased to 122 in 2012-13.

Most of the hate material has found its way in the textbooks of Urdu and during the academic year 2009-11 in Sindh, 11 lessons carried portions of hate material. Critics point to this syllabus as main reason behind radicalisation of Pakistani youth and deteriorating education standards.

Besides showing evidence and trends of religious bias in textbooks from class 1-10 in Punjab and Sindh, the study also identifies biases against religious minorities in Pakistan in the education policy itself.

The textbooks say that during partition only Muslims faced violent attacks, loss of life and property loss and Muslims did not take part in the bloodshed. The whole treatment and arrangement of textbooks is discriminatory against non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan, violating Articles 18, 20, 22 and 25, of Constitution which guarantee equality and freedom to all.

Article 22 of the Constitution states:  (1) “No person attending any educational institution shall be required to receive religious instruction, or take part in any religious ceremony, or attend religious worship, if such instruction, ceremony or worship relates to a religion other than his own; In respect of any religious institution, there shall be no discrimination against any community in the granting of exemption or concession in relation to taxation; and no citizen shall be denied admission to any educational institution receiving aid from public revenues on the ground of race, religion, caste or place of birth.”

The civil society has been raising voice on this issue for the past many years. However, successive governments turned a deaf ear to the voice of sanity. The education policy in 2009 also ignored the issue while the provincial government textbook boards, especially in Punjab and Sindh, failed to act against the practice.

The study underlines the need of serious reforms in the education sector in general and curriculum policy in particular. “Biases and preferences based on religion and belief in the syllabus are seen as divisive,” says Yousaf Benjamin, from NCJP who carried out this research.

“The objective of the study is to underline the need of education reforms and address the sensitive minds to think on such policies,” says Peter Jacob who has edited the report, adding “It has been noted that the biased syllabus is the main reason behind radicalization of Pakistani youth and deteriorating education quality.”

Draft of National Education Policy (NEP) mentions the ‘concept of tolerance, social justice and democracy, which is not reflected through NEP text”, says Jacob. “Knowing the fact the Pakistani society, especially the youth stands radicalized and the curriculum is one of the chief sources this policy is doomed to give way to another policy catastrophe.”

The civil society organizations maintain that no commitment has been made in the NEP draft about removing controversial material and arrangements in the syllabus in use which fans sectarian and religious discrimination.

There is, for instance, authorization of separate books for Sunni and Shia students and the Subject of Ethics for non-Muslims students. Moreover educationists, intellectuals and civil society organizations have time and again identified lessons reflecting religious biases and twisting of history, this critique has been completely ignored. Islamic Studies is compulsory from grade 1 to 12 which was previously taught from grade 1-10.

The subject of Ethics, a substitute given for Islamic studies is no choice for hundreds of thousands non-Muslim (Hindu, Christian, Sikhs) students. “Because in practice, taking Ethics in lieu of Islamic studies would result in increased religious discrimination, a majority of non-Muslim students are forced to study Islamic Studies,” says Jacob criticising parts of NEP.

“We demand that the current policy should be reviewed to incorporate a clear direction for removing lessons and subjects which have been identified as discriminatory and inflammatory against the minority faiths; and the subjects other than Islamic Studies should not have lessons and exercises about a single religion,” he says.

Dr Kaiser Bengali, noted economist, observes that the first 50 years of Pakistan witnessed seven educational policies, eight five-year plans, and different schemes and programmes to improve the literacy and raise the education standards. In 1951 the literacy rate of the country was 16.4 which came down to 16.3 in the next decade.” He recalls that in 1972 some modern techniques were introduced to raise education quality but later after 1977 all hoped ended when Ziaul Haq took over. He made key changes in the curriculum focusing on religion and the Islamic ideology.

To achieve the goal of quality education and for building a peaceful society, the NCJP study recommends that education and curriculum policies should be reviewed to incorporate a clear direction for removing lessons and subjects discriminatory against minority faiths. Moreover, a group of independent historians should be assigned to stem out distortion of historical facts in the textbooks.

The report suggests that subjects other than Islamic studies should be inclusive of other religions without discrimination and bias against anyone. It calls for arrangements for students belonging to Hindu, Christian, Sikh and other religious groups to study their own religions in lieu of Ethics as a substitute of Islamic Studies; and either no preference should be given or an equal treatment to students belonging to all religions should be ensured.

Prof Fazal-e-Rahim Murwwat, former chairman of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board, has reportedly stated that such hate content causes fundamentalism in society. “The then military dictator Ziaul Haq used this syllabus of hatred to create religious and ethnic divides in the society. Such syllabus promoted extremism, intolerance, militancy, sectarianism, fundamentalism and religious ambitiousness.”

vaqargillani@gmail.com

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