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reforms industry Garbage
is gold health A recipe for
local government in Sindh Jirga
justice energy Fata
needs structural reforms
Education emergency in KP Education for all, gender balance, better equipped educational institutions, new uniform By Tahir Ali As per its commitment during elections, the
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has declared
education emergency and planned various initiatives to improve education
standard in the province. The main focus of new projects is to ensure education
for all, create a gender balance and fulfil the requirements of
educational institutions regarding staff, equipment, furniture, teachers
training and essential repairs. It also intends to devise a new uniform
curriculum in the near future. A working group comprising education experts,
coalition partners and education administrators deliberated on the
problems of education sector and prepared its elaborate recommendations
for the sector. The budget for both the elementary and secondary
education (E&SE) and higher education has been increased to Rs29.7
billion against Rs22.12 billion in 2012 with the E&SE being the
biggest beneficiary, accounting for Rs24 billion in the total ADP of Rs118
billion. KP Chief Minister, Pervez Khan Khatak, says schools
will be run by Management Councils comprising parents of students, local
bodies’ members, elders of the localities, teachers and former students
of schools. “It is a revolutionary step, first of its kind in the
country. Teachers’ progress will be conditioned with the result of their
students,” he adds. A Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Commission is being
formed with eminent education experts as its members who would work for
uniform curriculum, transparent examination system and education for all. For efficient and proper monitoring of schools and
offices, a modern monitoring system is being developed comprising 500
impartial monitors with an expenditure of Rs500 million. It will also be
supported by a third party monitoring system. Female education administrative officers will get 50
per cent of their basic pay as incentive in six less developed districts
for one year which will be made permanent if teachers’ attendance and
performance improve. Some other schemes include ‘Chief Minister’s
Endowment Fund’ for sponsoring higher education of needy students and
Iqra Education Promotion Scheme’ for poor children both of Rs500 million
each; Expansion of Rokhana Pakhtunkhwa Public-Private-Partnership in
Education Programme of Rs800 million; ‘Education Fund’ for
establishing private school in areas having no public schools worth Rs500
million; the ‘Stori da Pakhtunkhwa’ initiative worth Rs360 million and
increase in the number of beneficiaries from 10 to 20 position holders for
all boards of intermediate and technical education. The E&SE department has asked all the heads of
schools to give their demands for staff, furniture, books, funds and other
requirements immediately. These, according to an official, will be
fulfilled before August 31st. “The government has asked us to repair and whitewash
all the rooms, lavatories and boundary walls around the schools. Water
availability must be ensured. We were also asked to get telephone and
internet connections and the government says IT teachers and labs will be
provided in all schools,” according to a school principal. Clusters: “To improve standard of education in public sector
schools, clusters have been formed wherein 6 primary and 2-3 middle
schools will be given under the supervision of one principal or head
master of a high or higher secondary school. The latter will be
responsible for monitoring the attendance and working of teachers and will
also serve as their salary drawing and disbursement officers,” he said. “CM Khattak, in his first assembly address, had
asked teachers to improve upon their performance or face the music. But
education standard could hardly be improved in a situation where schools
lack teachers, books, and labs. Also, the head masters/principals will
have to be empowered to take appropriate action against the staff found
negligent in duties. And political intervention will also have to be
eradicated,” added the principal. Management of a school requires strong commitment and
sustained and fullest attention towards it on part of the principals.
“We’ll have to monitor the schools, report to district education
officers of any irregularity and ask the district accounts officer to
issue/stop payment to teachers and other staff at the cluster schools
which will consume a lot of our time. Monitoring of schools will take much
time especially when there is no transport facility available. Those
having no vehicle would either avoid or only nominally do the monitoring
job. They should be given vehicles or sufficient travelling allowance.
Then, principals and head masters should have vice-principal and assistant
head masters at schools,” he said. Curriculum change: The PTI government also wishes to change the
curriculum. KP E&SE Minister Atif Khan has given a tentative date of
March 2014 to enforce uniform curriculum across the province. The diverse curriculum taught in the public and
private sectors and ‘religious’ madaris has divided the nation in
water-tight compartments. To promote national cohesion, moderation and
tolerance in our society, uniform curriculum is the need of the hour. Curriculum change is, however, an arduous process that
requires strong will and competence on part of executers, billions of
rupees, lot of time and mutual consultations and spirit of compromise
between coalition partners and stakeholders, political stability and
support from the federal government. Will the PTI be able to successfully
cope with these issues? As KP is dependent on federal transfers and donor
funding for implementation of its plans and projects, it will have to
approach donor agencies like World Bank, USAID, Asian Development and
UK’s DFID and the Agha Khan Foundation. Donor agencies are ready to
finance the process but they want due representation in the working groups
and the committees for the purpose. They would also attach some strings to
their support. The Jamat-e-Islami has been vocal in opposing heavy
presence of donor agencies personnel in working groups and authoritative
role for them in the process. It fears that giving too much leverage to
the donor agencies would give them enough powers to exclude religious
contents from syllabi which would be unacceptable. But beggars, after all,
can’t be choosers. While the JI presses for all-encompassing religious
contents in curriculum, donor agencies may consider it an attempt to
spread extremism. Curriculum from first to intermediate level was
changed by the previous ANP provincial government and the process was to
complete in next academic year. The ANP had to face severe opposition from
the JI, then in opposition but now a coalition partner in the PTI-led
government. There is still ambiguity whether or not seminaries and
their boards and the private schools chains would be included in the
process. And whether it’ll be done by banning private schools or by
privatising public schools? There will be opposition from certain quarters. “The
elite class and their private education systems, the text book commission
mafia and incompetent teachers would resist the move,” a professor said,
adding that the government should implement the curriculum in stages. Hitches The PTI wishes to introduce uniform curriculum,
increase state spending on education to five per cent of GDP, reduce the
dropout rate at elementary level by offering incentives, encourage greater
public-private partnership in qualitative improvement and quantitative
expansion of education. But there are many hitches. Ghost schools, teachers absenteeism, outdated teaching
techniques, low admission and high dropout ratio, dilapidated school
buildings with no facilities, outdated curriculum, flawed examination
system, faulty monitoring system, indifference of teachers and
administrators, overcrowded classrooms, weak supervision, mounting
political interference and little attention and resources to developing
teachers’ competencies, etc., are some of the main problems in the
sector. Without removing these, any hope for improvement in the system
will only be wishful thinking. Teachers’ competencies should be the main focus as
high quality teachers are the most important factor in a child’s
education. With computer based learning tools, educational institutions
can provide the supportive productive environment teachers need to reach,
teach, and support each student’s learning needs and potential. But the KP’s provincial assembly was informed last
year that only around 300 high and higher secondary schools in KP had
computer labs while around 2000 lacked computer labs and 4,500 computer
teachers were needed. While the government says it will achieve millennium
development goals in the educations sector by the end of 2015, KP MDGs
Report-2011 says they are unlikely to be achieved in KP by then. The net
primary enrolment ratio in 2011-12 was 67 per cent and the Primary
Completion Rate and Literacy Rate stands at 67 per cent and 50 per cent
against the targets of 100 and 88 respectively. There should be a mandatory uniform national
curriculum from class one to twelve. At the intermediate level, all the
students in the country should take a federal examination on the pattern
of developed countries.
Gadani’s breaking record Gadani ship-breaking industry has immense potential to provide By Alauddin Masood Using a little more than hand-tools, workers
at Gadani ship-breaking yard scrap in a calendar year about 100 tankers
and ship-liners — many thousand times bigger than their homes — into
sheets, angles of metal pipes, machines or gadgets of various types, and
thus become instrumental in contributing to the exchequer billion of
rupees in taxes and revenues. Toiling for $2 a day and working in filthy and
dangerous conditions, these workers reclaim about a million tons of steel,
fulfilling most of Pakistan’s metal demand for the construction sector,
while some of them siphon oils left in ship tanks and pack it in steel
barrels for sale in the domestic market. Every morning, these workers swarm a 10-km stretch of
sandy beach to do a job which is globally considered as one of the most
hazardous work. Here men meet fatal accidents or suffer physical injuries,
like fracturing of legs, tearing of muscles etcetera, but the work never
stops. It takes, on an average, four months for a ship to be broken here
against six months at bigger facilities in the region. Once considered as the second top ship-breaking yard
in the world after Taiwan, Gadani ship-breaking industry hit rock bottom
due to official apathy post-1999. However, it has gradually recovered over
the last 5-6 years, assuming the position of the third largest
ship-breaking yard in the world as a result of prudent official polices
and tireless efforts of other stakeholders. In 1999, which was considered the best year for the
ship-breaking sector in the recent past, Gadani ship-breaking industry
contributed Rs3.54 billion to the national exchequer, which declined to
Rs2.41 billion in 2002. During its hay days, Pakistan’s ship-breaking
industry had at its Gadani docks about 40 to 50 obsolete ships at a time
for breaking against one ship in 2005. High taxes and machinations of the
vested interests, in particular iron/steel importers lobby, had
contributed to the downfall of this once flourishing industry. In the early 1980s, there was constant increase in the
number of ships and vessels dismantled at Gadani and also their tonnage:
In 1982-83, 156 vessels weighing 964,758 tons were brought to Gadani for
dismantling; whereas the number of vessels and their tonnage stood at 146
vessels of 606,174 tons in 1984-85 and 165 vessels of 699,514 tons in
1985-86. Though the number of vessels demolished at Gadani beach increased
the number of tankers decreased from 39 weighing 929,713 tons in 1982-83
to 12 weighing 92,259 tons in 1983-84, eight weighing 102,108 tons in
1984-85 and six weighing 76,023 tons in 1985-85. This industry contributed Rs5.3 billion to the
national exchequer in taxes in one financial year during the early 1980s.
In addition to high quality steel, the dismantled ships also provided
cheapest possible non-ferrous material, like copper, brass, aluminum,
machinery, generators, boilers, wood and tools of international standard,
for meeting the demand of the country’s industrial and commercial
sectors. In 1985-86, the ship-breaking industry helped the
country in making an annual saving of Rs1,500 million, which would
otherwise have been spent on the import of iron/steel. It also earned
another Rs500 million in foreign exchange through the export of surplus
ship-scrap, second hand machinery, generators, air-conditioners and other
equipment. During that year, it also contributed to the national exchequer
an amount of over Rs1,035 million in customs duty, sales tax and
income-tax. The ship-breaking industry paid Rs2.69 billion in
customs duty alone during the period July 1982 to June 1986. Balochistan
provincial government earned an annual income of Rs22 million through
license fees and lease money during those times; while Gadani Town
Committee annually earned over Rs30 million through Octroi duty, making it
Pakistan’s richest local body, in terms of population-revenue ratio. However, lack of state patronage and unfavourable tax
regime gave deadly blows to this industry. India, Sri Lanka and Dubai
benefitted the most from decline in Pakistan’s ship-breaking industry
and consequently emerged as a regional hub of ship-breaking because, after
decline of Pakistan’s ship-breaking industry, most of the foreign
clients turned to them. Some measures taken by the government in 2003, in
particular cut in duties on import of ships for dismantling, kindled hopes
of the revival of this industry as it re-started to attract entrepreneurs.
But, the vested interests manoeuvred to get the duties on ships and
vessels, which arrived in Pakistan for dismantling, doubled from five per
cent to 10 per cent and sales tax increased from 15 per cent to 20 per
cent, rendering the business non-viable once again. After taking stock of the situation, the ECC decided,
on January 18, 2005, to reduce the ‘deemed price’ of imported obsolete
ships from US$ 400 per ton to US$ 300 per ton and ‘value addition
factor’ (for determining sales tax) from 14 per cent to five per cent.
These measures not only provided direct relief of about Rs1,350 per ton to
the ship-breakers but also a much needed breather to the ship-breaking
industry, thus saving it from collapse and thousands of its workers from
the imminent danger of unemployment. But, this still appears a far cry as Pakistan Ship
Breakers Association (PSBA) believes that the working environment for this
industry remains far from ideal and that the official apathy was impeding
the development of ship-breaking, which is one of the biggest industries
of Balochistan. The Gadani town lacks in health facilities and in case of
emergencies the victim has to be rushed to Karachi. It is time that PSBA
emulates Sialkot Chambers of Commerce and Industry and pools the resources
of its members for catering to the needs of their industry on self-help
basis. Pakistan’s ship-breaking industry is spread along
Balochistan’s Gadani beach, about 65 kilometres north-west of Karachi.
Ship-breaking activity had started at Gadani much before Pakistan’s
independence, but the ship-breaking industry registered a spectacular
growth after the country’s independence, enabling it to gate-crash, in
the mid-sixties, into the club of top ship-breakers of the world. In the early 1980s, Pakistan’s ship-breaking
industry was at its zenith. It provided employment to over 35,000 workers
directly, while over 500,000 persons earned their living indirectly,
through trade and such industries that used ship scrap as raw material. How Gadani emerged as the world’s second top
ship-breaking centre is an interesting story, which reminds one of the
dedicated efforts, perseverance and imaginative thinking of businessmen,
who initiated this work in an uninhabited region along the Makran coast. Prior to Independence, some casual businessmen used to
occasionally break a few obsolete ships at Gadani. After Pakistan’s
independence, ship-breaking was taken up as a regular business after 1964,
when a few vessels were brought to Gadani for breaking. At that time, no
ancillary facility needed for an industry of this nature existed at Gadani,
save its safe natural harbour and a shallow continental shelf. There was
neither communication infrastructure (like roads and telephone) nor
arrangements for electricity, drinking water, adequate accommodation for
workers or medical facilities. The place — a nomadic hinterland — was uninhabited
and consequently there was an acute shortage of labour as well.
Furthermore, majority of workers were uneducated, unskilled and migratory.
Even the businessmen, who entered the trade, possessed little know-how of
the industry, but they were infused with self-confidence and imagination
and had realised that with the introduction of modern bulk carriers and
the looming crisis in the international shipping industry, most of the
outdated and obsolete vessels would soon become redundant. Besides, the
process initiated by many countries for the replacement of their
unserviceable WW-II vintage war ships with modern/sophisticated vessels,
there appeared an international market, with London (UK) as its hub, for
the sale of obsolete ships. Being imaginative, this group of pioneer ship-breakers
had also foreseen that there was definitely going to be an increase in the
demand for iron/steel in Pakistan to cater to the needs of its rapidly
developing re-rolling mills, engineering and other ancillary industries,
which consumed iron, steel as well as other non-ferrous material. The disruption of normal trade with India following
1965 and 1971 wars, discontinuity in supply of steel/iron products from
Pakistan’s only steel mill at Chittagong after Bangladesh emergence and
massive devaluation of rupee in 1972 made import of iron/steel products
much costlier. This provided a good opportunity to the daring businessmen,
who had ventured into the ship-breaking industry, to meet the national
demand from the ship-scraps, which provided much cheaper raw material for
the indigenous engineering industries. Although the policy of nationalisation, adopted by the
government in 1972, discouraged investment in fixed assets and capital
goods, it gave a boost to the ship-breaking industry. Being labour-intensive,
it needed neither fixed assets nor capital goods. Naturally, the more
imaginative among the businessmen opted for ship-breaking industry. These businessmen evolved innovative methods that were
best suited to the conditions obtaining in Pakistan during those days.
They engaged “contractors” to do the job of ship-breaking for them.
The contractors also did not adopt modern techniques, nor did they use
modern ship-breaking machinery. But, they did possess the knack of getting
the job done to the satisfaction of their principals. In 1978, realising the importance of ship-breaking
industry, the Pakistan government announced a number of measures to give
it a boost. These included: recognition of ship-breaking as industry,
declaring Gadani as a port, reduction in customs duty on ships imported
for breaking, provision of telephone connections, increasing the lease
period from one year to five years; and appointment of an 8-member
committee to solve its other problems. Now, an LNG plant has also been
installed in Gadani to provide 20,000 tons of gas to this industry. The years between 1969 and 1983 are considered to be
the golden period of the ship-breaking industry in Pakistan. It was during
this period that the ship-breaking activities witnessed a boom and this
industry left many of its international rivals far behind as far as the
total number of ships demolished and the tonnage of ship-scrap handled was
concerned. The ship-breaking industry has immense potential to
provide gainful employment to thousands of persons and cheap scrap for use
as raw material by the re-rolling mills and engineering industry.
Protecting this industry from the machinations of iron/steel importers,
providing it necessary facilities and encouraging the stakeholders to
overhaul/update their machinery and infrastructure could revitalise
Pakistan’s ship-breaking industry, once again. This would also help
stabilise the market price of steel/iron bars, and ease pressure on the
construction industry to some extent. Alauddin Masood is a freelance columnist based at
Islamabad. alauddinmasood@gmail.com
Karachi is a city that is home to people with
diverse interests and pursuits. From raw adventure seekers to serene
Sufis, the list is endless. But it is difficult to find a waste management
activist, if not impossible! Nargis Latif, the founding trustee of ‘Gulbahao’
— a non-profit organization — is an outstanding mention. During the
past 16 years of her most dedicated involvement, Nargis has contributed
her untiring efforts in exploring the potential of waste as a means of
generating livelihoods and eradicating poverty. With missionary zeal, she
is committed to prove that municipal and other forms of solid waste is a
resource and can drastically change and benefit the lives of small scale
entrepreneurs. Nargis studied in depth the waste generation,
management and disposal in Karachi. She also interacted with various
formal and informal stakeholders linked with commercial activities related
to waste. Push cart vendors, scavengers, petty contractors, small scale
entrepreneurs, agents and suppliers constituted this category. Through this self-motivated field research, Nargis
learned about the untapped economic promise of different types of refuse
and rubbish. Her university degree helped her to delve deep into various
issues of the subject and generate workable options with the assistance of
various experts in the field. About 100 staff now works for Gulbahao Trust. Nargis
has been able to mobilise Rs80 million contributed by various
philanthropists and businessmen. She has also exhausted her entire family
savings into this noble public cause. Some of her solutions were extraordinarily simple and
easy to adapt for ordinary folks. ‘Cleanliness and Earning Bank’ is
one such venture. Through a mass awareness campaign in various
neighbourhoods, Nargis promoted the careful segregation of all such waste
which possessed a value through re-use or recycling option. House wives, young people and even elderly folks would
bring vehicle loads of such material to her bank which was an open yard
for collection. Her staff and volunteers listed, weighed and valued all
such articles and opened a ‘waste account’. People were informed about
the periodic balance on each deposit transaction. After the account would
reach a certain value, she gave away gold coins worth the corresponding
value. This extremely popular operation made her coin the slogan
“garbage is gold”. Whereas the people had the option of simply
receiving cash after depositing waste loads, most of them preferred the
gold coin option due to its novelty and attraction. This project of Gulbahao has been working since 1997.
Gulbahao sold this garbage to larger waste procurement enterprises or
recycling industries. For organic ingredients comprising kitchen waste,
she introduced the option of compost which was also appreciated. Housewives were encouraged to separate vegetable and
fruit peels and trained to put them in a properly sized pit in the garden.
With improvised steps of making compost, the housewives and gardeners were
able to reduce the household expenses on gardening to a great extent. The
growth and performance of plants and foliage correspondingly grew. I
discovered many operators of plant nurseries prosper who bought the
concept from Gulbahao and used it for their commercial benefits. ‘Silver House’ is another interesting innovation
by Nargis and her team. The trust collects defected layers of aluminum
foils from various industries. This foil is used to envelop the compressed
blocks of waste material through pressing. The mode of construction can
also be used with ordinary sand and dry trash. Different type of shelter
structures can be developed with minimum skills and props. Nargis and her team have trained many volunteers who
became master trainers for others. During the devastating floods in
Pakistan during 2010, Nargis was able to erect a 15 sq. meter room shelter
in one day. Hundreds of such shelters were erected in relief camps to
provide accommodation to affected population in the provinces of Sindh and
Punjab through a massive volunteer operation. In the wake of World Environment Day in June this
year, many of the evidences of Gulbahao’s work were on display under the
Rashid Minhas Road bridge precinct in Karachi. Thousands of keen observers
came and appreciated her outstanding resolve towards improving the
environment. Pakistan continues to face grave fuel crises. Shortage
of fuel is one soaring problem which affects households, businesses and
industries. Gulbahao conducted a focused research around the potential of
different types of factory wastes and by-products which could be used as
alternative. And there came amazing responses. Years of field research and interaction with
stakeholders enabled Nargis and her team to generate ‘fuel pack’. This
product is a block weighing about ten kilogrammes. It is composed to clean
waste material generated from industries such as bits and shreds of wood,
paper and cloth. A protective layer of aluminum foil is applied to
maintain its quality before use. By applying compression, the waste
material is pressed down in volume, making it effective. The fuel pack can
be used in factories with boilers or thermal power chambers. It is also
used by brick manufacturing kilns as a better substitute of natural gas or
other expensive fuels. Nargis and her team have spent months to collect the
waste from about 80 factories in the industrial locations in Karachi. Her
idea is ripe for commercial scale production. Independent estimates inform
that it can replace at least ten per cent of conventional fuel. In other
words, it has a net commercial potential of Rs 15 billion at the peak
capacity. Why Nargis and her work are important to be
recognized? I have five arguments to offer. Waste management is usually
considered as the duty of municipality alone, at least in Pakistan. Not
much attention is given to the manner in which waste is disposed. The work
of Gulbahao has given new dimensions to this approach. It tags waste as a
valuable resource which needs to be treated as such. Two, Nargis has
introduced a dimension of continuous research to discover doable solutions
around waste. Some experts may not entirely agree with the populist style
of her field work, but she has credible results to show. Three, her work
has generated avenues of livelihoods and entrepreneurship. This can help
eradicate poverty by generating employment, albeit at a modest scale.
Four, being a women, she has broken the social barrier that the fairer sex
cannot undertake tedious field work alongside men. And five, she has
displayed unwavering faith in her mission despite hurdles, disappointments
and limited response from the government. The social, political and economic troubles faced by
Pakistan has not dampened her spirits. We need many more visionaries like
her!
Unhealthy trends A part of our ‘national fabric’, nepotism is fast replacing merit even in important professional areas By Syed Mansoor Hussain One of the more unfortunate facts of life in
Pakistan’s medical institutions is the preferential treatment that
children of ‘professors and principals’ of medical institutions get as
students. A few years ago there were a series of ‘scandals’ in King
Edward Medical College (KEMC), one of which even prompted a student strike
when children of faculty members got ‘medals and distinctions’ that
other students felt were not truly deserved. Though there are many faculty
members that are above such shenanigans, over the last thirty odd years
this has been a growing trend. And that in its own way is the story of the
deterioration of the quality of medical education being provided in many
of our public medical institutions. I realise that favouritism is present in most
educational institutions but it is perhaps more obvious in the medical
environment, the reason being that children of doctors choose medicine as
a profession with greater frequency than other professionals. As the only
son of two doctors it was expected that I would become a doctor. Even as a
child, my neighbours would call me ‘chotai’ (young) doctor sahib. Over the five years I was associated with KEMC and
then for a year as a house surgeon in Mayo Hospital, all the principals
and many of the senior members of the teaching faculty of KE during that
time had children that went through KEMC. Yet not one of them became the
‘best graduate’ and only one got a ‘distinction’ and he actually
deserved it. He went on to do a PhD in the shortest time possible from a
‘premier’ US university and is now a full professor in a major US
Medical School. I still remember when I started my fourth year in KEMC,
what was then called the final professional, one day I was driving with my
father on the way to college, my father said to me, son this is going to
be hard work and you better concentrate on your studies. So, I made a
promise to him that he would not have to ask any of his friends and
classmates from medical school, many of whom happened to by my professors
and examiners to ‘take care of me’ as I went through my examinations.
And I did that, as a matter of fact one of my professors and examiners had
literally brought me up as a child, but I made sure that in his subject I
would not be found wanting. During the oral examination (viva voce), he
kept asking me questions until he ran out of questions to ask. Then he
stopped and looked at me and said, Mansoor when do you get time to study?
That was the ethos our generation lived by. More importantly, any of our professors and principals
of the college in those days would probably have disowned their children
if they had dared to ask their fathers for ‘help’ during the
examinations. And, yes I personally knew most of those students quite well
since we the doctors’ children were a rather close knit community. And
all of them would not have found the courage to ask their fathers for help
either. Here I must admit that some of us did get unasked for ‘help’.
In my case the most important ‘help’ I got during my final examination
in surgery was because I was dressed properly (I still remember the tie I
wore that day!) and spoke good English. But what has changed? It is the brazen disregard for
merit that has now become a part of our national behaviour. The thing that
strikes me is that this is not a new problem. After all ‘taking care of
your own’ is a longstanding tradition that spans all cultures. And no,
it is not something that sprang out of ‘nowhere’ in Pakistan. MA Jinnah in his famous August 11, 1947 speech, that
is so often quoted when the question of religious tolerance is raised,
also spent a significant part of his speech talking about corruption.
Perhaps that part of his speech devoted to the problem of ‘nepotism’
is worth remembering. This is what he said: “Here again it is a legacy
which has been passed on to us. Along with many other things, good and
bad, has arrived this great evil, the evil of nepotism and jobbery. I want
to make it quite clear that I shall never tolerate any kind of jobbery,
nepotism or any influence directly or indirectly brought to bear upon me.
Whenever I will find that such a practice is in vogue or is continuing
anywhere, low or high, I shall certainly not countenance it”. Of course
by ‘jobbery’ what he meant is what today we call ‘sifarish’. So, even if we accept that a certain amount of
‘nepotism’ was always a part of our ‘national fabric’, the one
thing that has changed is that even in important professional areas,
nepotism is becoming more important than merit. So let me present three possibilities. First an
airline pilot that does not really know how to fly a plane well but gets
the job through connections, such a pilot would never fly a plane because
his own life will also be at stake. The second possibility is of a lawyer
who is not too good at what he does. The worst he or she can do is lose
the client, some money and possibly end the client up in jail. The third
possibility is of a doctor that is not well educated and trained. Such a
doctor can actually cause the death or serious disability of a patient
under his or her care. Is there a ‘saving grace’ in this entire
situation? Yes there is and that is that almost every student that ends up
in our public medical college is a ‘high achiever’ and has done well
in school and pre-med before getting into medical college. Most of our
medical students that qualify and end up as practicing physicians go on to
learn stuff that they were not taught as students. There are exceptions
but not too many and that is why even when our medical graduates go abroad
they do quite well. The main problem is that our medical education system
does not do justice to the first rate students that enter our medical
colleges. But by making nepotism as one of the major determinant of
positions and awards as students and then as the primary criterion for
providing the best training positions, we undermine the confidence of the
‘ordinary’ students in the system. And we also set a pattern where
these students learn early on in their professional lives that to get
ahead they will need to have ‘connections’ and that merit by itself
will never be enough. If only we could provide good quality education to
all our students, treat them according to merit and make sure that the
graduates with the best performance go on to get the best training
positions; we could in a matter of few years change the entire complexion
of the medical profession. The writer is former professor and Chairman Department
of Cardiac Surgery, KEMU/Mayo Hospital, Lahore: smhmbbs70@yahoo.com
Considering Sindh’s prevalent ethnic and geographic schism, the new local government law should focus on effective service delivery By Naseer Memon Supreme Court’s firm orders have rekindled
the hope for Local Government elections in the country. During previous
five years stint of elected government, no party deemed it necessary to
revive local bodies in the provinces under their rule. During recent
years, Sindh has been oscillating between the local government law of 1979
and newly introduced Sindh People’s Local Government Act which was
subsequently countermanded. The provincial government is mulling over a
new law these days. Considering Sindh’s prevalent ethnic and geographic
schism and its uneven demographic composition, the new law should have
inclusive characteristics to cement the widening cleavages along various
fault lines. Previous SPLGA 2012 was more divisive that triggered a new
wave of ethnic acrimony and an otherwise avoidable controversy in the
province. The new law should focus on effective service delivery
and good governance for all citizens without any discrimination rather
than courting any political or ethnic groups/allies. Karachi and other
emerging cities of Sindh should get a fair and equitable treatment. Under
SPLGA 2012, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation was accorded an exclusive
domain in some of the subjects which disturbed the equilibrium of
authority. In the new law all districts should be given equal
treatment in terms of authority and responsibility and mandate. Karachi
has five administrative districts that should determine the configuration
of Local Government structure for Karachi Metropolitan. The City
government model of 2001 systematically deprived rural areas of Karachi
from their due share in development resources and process. These rural
areas are chronically impoverished and under developed. Special status should be accorded to these rural areas
by allocating dedicated development funds, certain urban based tax
exemptions and a reserved share in jobs and admissions in academic
institutions etc. For coordination purpose, an apex body in the Karachi
Metropolitan Corporation should be established to manage inter-district
development projects and other affairs. Elected local government representatives should have
authority to take decisions in their respective areas. Bureaucracy should
not dominate the elected representatives. A balance of authority should be
created. Balance and segregation of power between the two should be amply
delineated and demarcated. Subjects like security, police and land management
should not be the exclusive prerogative of the Metropolitan/District
Councils. Land, particularly in urban areas, is among the key sources of
major conflicts, therefore, its management should rest with the provincial
government. Similarly, the police have already been much politicised and
has been grossly misused as a tool of control and oppression by the powers
that be, therefore, it should be under the provincial government. An independent Local Government Commission needs to be
established under the chairpersonship of the chief minister to look after
local government affairs. This high powered body should have the final
authority to take appropriate decisions regarding any matters pertaining
to local governments. Women should have at least one-third reserved seats at
all tiers of the local government. They should be elected through direct
voting and not nominated/selected by the men on the elected councils.
Additionally, women should be given party tickets to contest elections on
general seats too. Similarly, religious and sectarian minorities, peasants
and workers of the labour classes should have adequate representation at
all tiers and they should also be elected through direct voting on
reserved seats. Allocation of development funds to the elected
councils should be made through transparent, fair, rights-based and
needs-based criteria. The moribund SPLGA 2012 introduced principles and
indicators like fiscal capacity, fiscal effort and fiscal performance,
which have inherent tilt in favour of the big cities where economic
activity can generate surplus resources. Principles of provincial finance
and budgeting should categorically mention indicators like poverty, gender
gaps, geographic backwardness and development gap. The Human Development Index empirically establishes
these indicators. The existing structure of Provincial Finance Commission
(PFC) may be reviewed and revised on the aforementioned indicators.
Composition of the PFC should include independent and apolitical
technocrats to ensure fair distribution of resources. Under the rescinded SPLGA 2012, councils were allowed
to set up any office or undertake any activity which is not decentralised
through their own finances. Such provisions can be deleterious in two
ways. One; it will benefit only big cities where surplus resources can be
generated through additional levies. Second; flexibility of provision for
“any office” will allow establishing potentially objectionable offices
e.g. armed militia under the garb of local security initiatives.
Exploiting this lacuna, powerful vested groups can create their own loyal
force on tax payers’ resources. Sindh is a disaster prone area and during the past
three years, the province has witnessed a series of devastating
catastrophes. The new law should empower and charge the local governments
to develop and execute disaster risk reduction and disaster management
plans under the technical guidance and supervision of Provincial Disaster
Management Authority. The right to information is a key to empower citizens
and ensure transparency and good governance. Sindh can take a progressive
step by introducing right to information clause in the new local
government law. Citizens should be given access to information on
development planning, budgeting, expenditure, engendering, meeting minutes
and other matters of governance at the district level and at the lower
tiers. The new local government law should make a provision
for grievance redressal/complaint management mechanism enabling citizens
to hold their elected councils accountable to them. This mandate can be
given to the aforementioned Local Government Commission. However, access
for every citizen should be made convenient through an institutional
mechanism. District Ombudsman can be an option with appropriate powers to
make local government departments accountable and efficient. No Metropolitan or District Council should be exempted
from accountability mechanism. In the past, a political group managed to
evade audits of local government fund in their areas of influence. Local
governments should be subject to accountability and transparency under the
constitutional and legal framework of the province. District Public
Accounts Committee should also be introduced to create a check and balance
with a council member of the opposition of repute as its head. Local governments should be made responsible to issue
an annual performance report to the provincial government and also through
the mass media. Such public disclosures should also be in the local
languages to ensure wider outreach. An announcement to hold local government elections on
party basis is a welcome decision. In order to ensure and promote
democratic culture at the grassroots level and to make them directly
responsible to people; District, Taulka and Town/Municipal Committee
Chairpersons should be elected through direct voting under adult
franchises system. Appointments for the district level bureaucrats of
grade-17 and above should be made mandatory for three years unless serious
allegations and complaints are established through a committee of elected
council members, both from treasury and opposition benches. A representative and empowered district planning and
development committee should be included in the new local government
regime with a mandate to plan and monitor demand driven development
schemes. The committee should include both men and women members both from
treasury and opposition benches and ex-officio officers. With an objective to make districts and Talukas
financially sustainable, appropriate powers to impose taxes and duties at
the district level may be ensured to district councils. nmemon2004@yahoo.com
If informal Jirga is converted into a state-supported institution, it would likely become as ineffective and defamed as other state institutions are By Prof Dr Muhammad Taieb As the
provincial government intends to empower informal Jirga in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KP), therefore, the following lines are an attempt to
highlight the local perspective and the complications likely to arise out
of the decision? In the Fata, Jirga functions as a formal state supported
institution. However, in other areas of KP, the Jirga is an informal
system of conflict resolution. Principally, KP is a
modern state society but practically it hasn’t attained the
characteristic features required for a modern state society. It’s still
going through the stage of tribal society. The purpose of this discussion
is to address the role of informal Jirga in conflict resolution in areas
of KP other than Fata. Informal system for
conflict resolution which exists in Pakhtun society is Jirga and Sharia.
Jirga is an egalitarian body of influential persons plus other individuals
who are known for their skills in negotiation and reconciliation to come
together for consultation and find out a solution to a given problem. The
influential and neutral local people comprising the Jirga are normally
known to all in the area for their honesty, decency, generosity, and
piousness. The basic purpose of the
Jirga is to discuss the issue so as to reach a solution to a problem.
Jirga is normally organised to plan an activity, to chalk out the strategy
of offence and defense against enemy. The purpose of debates at Jirga is
to explore the possibilities of agreement and arrive at compromises. The
mediation process takes place in community places such as hujra (men
house) or jumaat (mosque) and in a manner open to public. Sharia means to resolve
disputes in the light of Islamic Jurisprudence. To opt for sharia is
subject to the willingness of the disputants. When disputants agree to
resolve the conflict by sharia laws, the case is submitted to a sharia
expert for arbitration. The expert is selected on the mutual consensus of
the parties. Jirga also plays an important role in the selection of sharia
expert, venue, time and date. The sharia expert discusses the case in the
presence of eye witnesses. A decision made is brought in writing duly
singed by the sharia expert(s), witnesses as well as the disputants.
Consensus between parties beforehand over the mode of arbitration itself
reflects the binding nature of decisions made by the arbitrators. Informal
system of conflict resolution functions in the presence of formal state
system. Formal state system is
controlled by formal courts and executives. They are generally responsible
to administer official justice system in KP (Pakistan). According to
peoples’ perceptions there are different causes of the inefficacy of the
formal justice system which include the nature of the law that govern the
official justice system and which was imposed by the British Colonial
government. Other causes are related to corruption among those running the
system. Therefore, justice is accessible only to the influential and those
who can pay to buy justice. As reported by
Transparency International (TI) “the other sector in Pakistan which is
seen as notoriously inefficient and corrupt is the judiciary. According to
TI Pakistan’s 2006 survey, 96 per cent of the people who came in contact
with the judiciary encountered corruption and 44 per cent of them reported
having to pay a bribe to a court official.” The decisions made by
the formal system are not consensual, hence, are not fit to the psyche of
the disputants. Therefore, the decisions of the formal courts are not
durable to resolve conflicts permanently. The people then precisely look
for an alternative system that should deliver justice in a transparent
manner. The alternative system is traditional one which the disputants
psychologically own because of their participation in the process and also
because it ensures autonomy and shows respect to their social status and
glory. Pakhtuns believe in
social equality but the formal laws are not found consistent with the
tradition of social equality because in a given dispute formal court, on
the basis of evidences, emphatically declare one party as a winner and
another as a loser and it did not leave space for collaborative or
integrative solution to the problem. Hence, the formal system of conflict
resolution needs to be looked in this perspective where one litigant is
declared winner and the other as loser. Traditional system will
only break down if state institutions deliver more effectively than a
traditional system. But formal court does not operate in cultural
framework and studies a case in isolation and does not involve disputants
while formulating a judgmental decision. Hence, this nonconformity of
people to formal legal system was never resolved and formal justice system
has never achieved a level truly reflecting people’s satisfaction. If we look at the
proverbial saying of “the rule of law”, it is inappropriate because
there is no rule of law given by the state since the law giver needs to
fulfill other prerequisites that make the citizens law abiding. It is
because the state institutions do not perform to the satisfaction of
people, hence, the weaker role of the state forces the people to look for
alternative mechanism. Hence, instead of
relying on the government, people feel secure to get organised on the
basis of consanguinity. Murder cases, a prime responsibility of the modern
state to resolve, are also negotiated through informal system which
depicts no confidence of people in the process and procedure of formal
courts. Therefore, people abide by the decision of Jirga and verdict of
Sharia which ensures their socio-psychological needs as well as security
which they administer themselves. The efficacy of
traditional system is rooted in cultural values because it works in a
manner to satisfy the disputants in cultural context emphasising social
equality, autonomy and participation. Formal legal system is
fully operational in KP. In case it works and delivers properly, people
would need no additional supportive institution like informal Jirga?
However, if informal Jirga is converted into a state-supported
institution, it would lose its present effectiveness because state
supported Jirga would likely become as ineffective and defamed as other
state institutions are.
energy Maratab Ali is a
progressive farmer in Ahmadwala village in district Nankana Sahib, which
is hardly an hour’s drive from Lahore. The village is a sheer victim of
excessive electricity loadshedding and its inhabitants live without it for
18 to 20 hours a day. There is no schedule at all for power failures. The inhabitants of this
village are mostly associated with agriculture. They grow cash crops,
seasonal crops, fruits, vegetables and so on. As the village lies close to
the Grand Trunk (GT) Road and big districts such as Gujranwala and Lahore,
its produce has a ready market and it fetches good prices. This increases the load
on farmers, and the fields which have to be tilled repeatedly throughout
the year. This is not easy for them in the absence of electricity required
to run tubewells. They have to pump out water with the help of tubewells.
The canal water is there but it is too scarce and available to farmers in
very limited quantities. Another option is to
operate tubewells with diesel-run engines. This is totally non-viable for
farmers as the use of imported fossil fuel raises the cost of production
alarmingly, and makes their product too expensive. So, in this situation,
one wonders what the farmers shall do to survive or shall they look out
for some other livelihood. Farmers of the village formed a community
organisation and contributed some money to benefit from a donor-funded
solar tubewell installation programme. Today water flows into the fields
throughout the day, and above all there are no maintenance costs and
exorbitant electricity bills like there were in the past, says Maratab who
heads the body. The total cost of the
solar tubewell was Rs16,45,000. The farmers contributed Rs329,000 and the
remaining Rs13,16,000 came from the Rural Community Development Society (RCDS)
— a Punjab-based non-governmental development organisation. The solar
tubewell benefits 40 households and irrigates around 70 acres of land. The
per hour discharge of the tubewell is 60,000 liter and it irrigates three
to four acres of land in a day with the help of 4-inch wide delivery pipe.
The farmers had to pay a
share of Rs4,700 per acre share and the contribution amount per household
depended on the size of the land they owned. For example, a family with
landholding of four acres paid Rs18,800. The RCDS got the
required funds from Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) which
channelises World Bank’s anti-poverty grants through reliable partners
at the local level, says Muhammad Murtaza Khokhar, Executive Director RCDS,
while talking to TNS. He says they have so far installed four tubewells in
different parts of the province, whereas PPAF has provided 49 solar water
pumping solutions throughout the country with the help of its partner
organisations. In total, these projects have directly benefited 2,582
households and 17,968 individuals. Murtaza adds the demand
for solar tubewells is too high for non-government organisations to
fulfill. They can do pilot projects to create awareness and show working
examples to farmers, government departments and other stakeholders. The
RCDS programme exclusively covers small farmers and releases funds only
when organisations are formed at village level. Large-scale farmers and
individual applicants are not eligible to benefit from this initiative. Explaining the whole
concept, he says his organisation chalks out village development
programmes in the areas where it operates, and reaches out to pe Now the people are
enjoying the benefits of solar pumps. Per day benefits to farmers is
Rs1,500 to Rs2,000 and they have started sowing vegetables and planting
guava orchards. The Village Organisation even has Rs70,000 in its account.
“Farmers were asked to
contribute to the cost, just to create a sense of ownership of the project
among them. They get water on their turn and each one of them guards the
facility at night on different days,” Murtaza observes Agricultural experts
believe this kind of participatory farming is instrumental in publicising
the benefits of this expensive technology and making it accessible to
small and average-sized farmers. There are working models in many parts of
the world where farmers’ contributions comes in the form of work hours
they put into setting up facilities and even in kind. They may bring sand,
mud and other construction material as contribution from their side. Muhammad Ramzan, a solar
power solution provider based in Lahore, thinks banks, especially those
dealing in agricultural credit, must extend cooperation in this regard. No
doubt donors and the government are working on this technology but they
only support small scale farmers. “Why don’t the banks facilitate
established farmers wanting to install solar tubewells?” Ramzan says the prices
are fast coming down with the arrival of more and more suppliers in the
market. These service providers should make arrangements with financial
institutions for this purpose. “Paying back these loans would not be a
big problem as farmers would save a lot on electricity bills. These
savings can also go into settlement of loan amounts,” he adds. The solution is also
highly suitable as different companies give at least 10-year guarantee at
the time of their sales. Project components of a solar tubewell are solar
panels, submersible pump, inverter, wires and foundations for the solar
plates. The farmers who are not
covered under such programmes are looking for the government’s
intervention. In case of Punjab, the provincial government has announced
that it will give 80 per cent subsidy on solar tubewells to farmers, whose
landholdings are less than 12.5 acres in size. They hope the plan
undergoes execution within the stipulated timeframe, and does not suffer
from delays typical of ambitious government programmes.
Over the years
there have been numerous proposals for rehabilitating, developing and
mainstreaming of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), however,
none seems to have been adopted and have consequently delivered. The
reason is that the earlier set of reforms were proposed by people who did
not belong to the tribal areas and thus could not know the peculiar nature
of administrative, political, legal and cultural problems and lacuna of in
the Fata. In fact, all the previous reforms regarding the Fata had largely
been formulated by bureaucrats who never wanted reforms in the tribal
areas as it would have been tantamount to giving up the ways and means of
making easy money. The situation,
therefore, in the tribal areas has gone from bad to worse with every kind
of menace, whether religious extremism or terrorism or drug trafficking,
continuing to afflict the region and its residents. Of late, the range of
reforms recommended and are being advocated by associates of the umbrella
organisation, the Fata Grand Assembly, are significant proposed measures
that have come up till date from the miniscule civil society of the Fata.
The reforms proposed by the Fata Grand Assembly, if implemented in letter
and spirit, could be instrumental in addressing the multifarious and
unique problems of the region nationally and internationally perceived to
be the base of ferocious non-state terrorist networks. The reforms included in
the so-called ‘Fata Declaration’ were unanimously approved by more
than 300 members of the Fata Reforms Councils from all the districts of
the tribal areas. The unanimity was arrived at on the proposed reforms
after extensive dialogue spanning five years. The dialogue has been
focused on addressing the challenges in the implementation of already
enacted political reforms in the Fata and recommendations for further
reforms. The Fata Grand Assembly
is a conglomeration of political, religious leaders and civil society
leaders, as well as students and women and lawyers bodies from the tribal
areas. The Fata Grand Assembly also asserted that tribesmen and
tribeswomen must be guaranteed the same fundamental rights enjoyed by
other citizens of Pakistan. It needs to be
understood that any reforms for the Fata in recent years have aimed at
alleviating the woes of the people there; putting an end to militancy and
terrorism emanating from the region, initiating the reconstruction,
rehabilitation and development process there. The Fata Grand Assembly
was hard-pressed to come up with its own reforms agenda for the region as
the reforms process initiated by the state during the regime of Pervez
Musharraf and carried forward by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led
last federal government could not be fully implemented. It may be recalled the
process driven by the government-appointed Fata Reforms Commission which
concluded its report and recommended several political, economic, judicial
and social reforms in the Fata, could not be fully implemented while the
process on other reforms has been snail-paced. Against this backdrop,
notables from the Fata, representatives of political parties, Ulema,
lawyers, journalists, students and women from the tribal areas gathered so
that their collective voices may be heard at the highest political level. The importance of the
Fata Declaration can be gauged from the fact that within days of their
proposing, President Asif Ali Zardari, who constitutionally has the powers
to legislate laws and regulation for the tribal areas, invited the leading
lights of the Fata Grand Assembly for an audience. During the meeting,
President Zardari vowed to implement all the reforms in the Fata proposed
by the Fata Reforms Committee. He admitted that the process may have been
slow-paced but it would have far-reaching positive implications. The foremost reform
which the declaration emphasised on is the constitutional amendment to
allow the Fata parliamentarians to legislate regarding their own areas. It
is ironical that the members of the Parliament from the Fata, including
both the National Assembly and the Senate of Pakistan, could take part in
making laws for the entire Pakistan but not for their own region. There
can be no bigger absurdity in the political and federal structure of
Pakistan than this. Only the President of Pakistan is ex-officio the sole
law-giver law-amender in the Fata. In this context, this is a very sound
demand from the Fata Grand Assembly. The Grand Assembly also
asked for the formation of an elected ‘Fata Council.’ The aim of the
council is to serve as an executive arm of the government. It would advise
the Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), who is ex-officio, the
administrative head of the Fata apart from the KP and is the top agent of
the federal government for the Fata, in running the affairs of the region.
If formed, an elected Fata Council would go a long way in ensuring at
least a semblance of good governance in the tribal areas as well as laying
the foundation of democratic oversight of the administrative affairs. Another reform which the
Grand Assembly has proposed is that the political administration shall be
accountable to an elected local government. This recommendation has a
rationale and those who know the tribal areas and the ruthless powers
which the top official of each tribal district or agency known as the
‘Political Agent’ has and has been exercising cannot but agree with
this demanded reform. For this, there is a need first that each tribal
agency must have its own local municipal government and that too an
elected one. It seems that the bureaucracy, which has always been the sole
power wielder in the Fata, has hijacked the proposed local government
system in the Fata conceived by the PPP government. Division of executive
and judicial powers in the Fata is another main recommendation of the Fata
Grand Assembly. Since the introduction of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR)
by the British Colonialists in 1901, the political agent and its
subordinate officials have been the repository of all the administrative
and judicial powers in the Fata. The Fata women don’t
have any seats reserved for them in the NA. This is despite the fact that
a large number of seats are reserved for women in the NA. Ironically, none
of the political parties could give a single seat to a woman from the Fata
from its quota since the practice started after the 2002 general
elections. This credit goes to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which
made Ayesha Gulalai from South Waziristan as the MNA. She has been
nominated as MNA from the KP quota though she lives in Peshawar. If the
process of change has really to be galvanized in the Fata, the region
women have to be empowered meaningfully and its greatest indicator is
giving them a role in political institutions and then governance. The Grand Assembly has
also proposed abolishment or extensive amending of the Frontier Crimes
Regulation (FCR). The FCR, the legal-administrative framework for the
Fata, promulgated by the British Colonial rulers, has been a draconian
law. Although some reforms, including altering its most draconian clauses
like the 40 FCR, have already been made by President Zardari, they could
not safeguard the rights of the residents of the Fata. The only to
overthrow the FCR is to make the Fata a new province. A very sound reform
proposed by the Fata Grand Assembly is the Extension of High Court
jurisdiction to the Fata. Never in the history, the Fata had any court. The Assembly has also
proposed promotion of education throughout the Fata. Although this is very
general demand, no efforts have been made, claims notwithstanding, for the
promotion of education in the Fata. On the other hand, the extremists and
terrorists have left no stone unturned by destroying the existing
educational institutions in the Fata. So far, the terrorists have bombed
more than 600 schools in the Fata. The writer is a
political analyst and researcher:razapkhan@yahoo.com)
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ople
through social mobilisers to find out which solutions could help them
reduce their poverty. In the case of Ahmadwala, it was observed these
people were having difficulty in earning their livelihood — through
agriculture — due to non-availability of electricity to run tubewells.
“So, they got the solution they needed the most.”
