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Widening the deficit A look at some statistics of Pakistan’s trade volume clearly show the areas where planning is lacking By Muhammad Adnan Lately, Pakistan’s economy has been depicting a downward trend, and this is well exhibited by the fact that in the first half of the fiscal year 2011-12, the country’s trade deficit has increased by 38.48 percent as it has been recorded at $11.48 billion as against $8.29 billion of the same period last fiscal year, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Result
card governance Memories
of an unassuming Marxist Debt
bondage: an region The
question of media literacy
Widening the deficit A look at some statistics of Pakistan’s trade volume clearly show the areas where planning is lacking By Muhammad Adnan Lately, Pakistan’s economy has been depicting a downward
trend, and this is well exhibited by the fact that in the first half of the
fiscal year 2011-12, the country’s trade deficit has increased by 38.48
percent as it has been recorded at $11.48 billion as against $8.29 billion of
the same period last fiscal year, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics
(PBS). Trade deficit due to higher import bill comprising of
petroleum products, power generating machinery, palm oil, electrical machinery
& apparatus etc is expected to reach at $22 billion till the end of second
half of the ongoing fiscal year. Increasing trend of country’s imports continued and
imports surged by 18.90 per cent in July-December 2011-12 and are recorded at
$22.72 billion as against $19.10 billion of the same period last fiscal year.
However on the other hand, exports showed a growth of only 3.94 per cent and
are recorded at $11.24 billion at the end of second quarter of FY 2011-12 as
against $10.82 billion of the same period last year. Therefore, the trade
deficit is recorded at $ 11.48 billion during the first six months of the
ongoing fiscal year. Statistics shows that in second quarter trade deficit
recorded at $6.295 billion, exports stood at $5.302 billion and imports at
$11.597 billion. In the months of October, November and December 2011 the
exports are recorded at $1.896 billion, $1.552 billion and $1.854 billion
respectively, while imports in the same months are recorded at $3.607 billion,
$3.729 billion and $4.261 billion respectively. Monthly trade deficit in the
quarter is $1.711 billion, $2.177 billion and $2.407 billion respectively. Calculating the same trade performance in percentages, it
tells us that imports changed by -0.41%, 3.38% and 14.27% respectively,
whereas exports changed by 3.27, -18.14 and 19.46 percent respectively.
Therefore, compared to first quarter the overall trade deficit in the second
quarter in percentages has increased by 23.11 percent. Having a look on Pakistan’s trade performance in first
quarter of the current fiscal year, statistics tells that the trade deficit
was $5.114 billion, imports stood at $11.117 billion and exports stood at
$6.003 billion. Going in details, in the months of July, August and September
2011 the imports were recorded at $3.689 billion, $3.806 billion and $3.622
billion respectively, while exports in the same months were recorded at $2.203
billion, $1.964 billion and $1.836 billion respectively. Monthly trade deficit in the quarter was recorded as
$1.486 billion, $1.842 billion and $1.786 billion respectively. Calculating
the same in percentage it gives results that imports changed by -4.50, 3.17
and -4.83 percent respectively whereas exports changed by -9.23, -10.85 and
-6.52 percent respectively. Therefore, compared to final quarter of last
fiscal year 2010-11, the overall trade deficit in 1st quarter of FY 2011-12 in
percentages had increased by 19.35%. Going back in the last decade to have a view on the
performance of Pakistan trade, statistics shows that trade deficit in 2001-02
was $294 million, $444 million in 2002-03, $1.208 billion in 2003-04, $4.352
billion in 2004-05, $8.259 billion in 2005-06, $9.495 billion in 2006-07,
$14.970 billion in 2007-08, $12.626 billion in 2008-09, $11.536 billion in
2009-10, and $15.587 billion in
2010-11. For the ongoing fiscal year till 30 June 2012, analysts
and economists have projected trade deficit at a record of $ 22 billion,
however, the government has projected trade deficit of $17.292 billion at the
end of current fiscal year. Economists’ projection is based on rising demand
for imported industrial inputs, petroleum products, capital goods and
machinery, and food items. Imports are simultaneously rising as import bill for food,
commodities and oil is going up, on the other hand exports slowdown is heavily
straining the balance of payments. The main reason behind the increasing trade
deficit is the higher import bill, if the current trend of increasing import
bill continues then imports would further accelerate in the upcoming months
due to sharp rupee depreciation against the dollar that would push the trade
deficit on the higher side. The main factors which have caused to rise in import bill
include increase in international commodity prices, especially in petroleum
products, that increased by 51 percent after declining by 20.6 percent last
year. The quantity wise import of petroleum products have increased by 6.1
percent. Talking about exports, the textile industry which is the
backbone of Pakistan exports and it contributes to more than 60 percent of
total exports of the country, it had contributed $14 billion of total exports
of $25 billion in last fiscal year but it has lost 30 percent of the
production in the first half of ongoing fiscal year due to prevailing energy
shortages. The demand of
Pakistan’s products particularly textile, leather and cotton have been
losing their demand in foreign markets specifically in the EU and US.
Furthermore, the prices of finished, semi-prepared and raw products have seen
decline in the values particularly textile made-ups and cotton, which caused
decline in Pakistani exports in the exporting countries. According to Ijaz Khokhar, Chief Coordinator, Pakistan
Readymade Garments Manufacturing and Exporters Association (PRGMEA),
“Pakistan’s overall textile exports were likely to hover between $10
billion and $11 billion this fiscal year, which stood at $14 billion last
fiscal with a big fall of $3-$4 billion” further he said, “Gas and
electricity shortages were the key factors behind delay in export shipments to
EU and US ahead of Christmas and New Year celebrations, so the government
should first help the local industry to fulfill the international commitments
as it has already made instead of signing FTAs or PTAs which will never
benefit the manufacturing sector unless power and gas are provided”. The current government has set an imports target at
$42.910 billion and an exports target of $25.618 billion for FY 2011-12 (trade
deficit targeted as $17.292 billion), but the Chairman Trade Development
Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Tariq Iqbal Puri, has said “exports will
remain between $23 and 24 billion, compared with $25 billion in FY 2010-11,
because of the worst financial crisis in EU and economic slowdown in United
States. Low productivity and ongoing domestic energy crisis are also
responsible for decline in exports.” Therefore, in order to reduce the trade deficit Pakistan
must focus on encouraging industrial sector, so that exports would be
increased in coming years and that can be possible if industrial sector is
provided with required energy, on the other hand Pakistan must have to reduce
its demand for oil imports and it has to generate electricity from alternative
sources instead of oil. If the policy makers and policy implementing authorities
do not take serious measures to overcome the crises Pakistan would become a
defaulter state. Data source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and Economic
Surveys of Pakistan 2009-10 & 2010-11. The writer is a
consultant and can be reached at umar.adnan83@gmail.com
Result
card Some 78 Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) affiliated with
eight corporations working under the Ministry of Production have become
dormant. According to a study carried out on the directives of Production
Minister Mr. Anwar Cheema, if these PSEs are rehabilitated and equipped with
modern plants and machinery they can earn US$ 30 billion annually from the
marketing of their products abroad. The state of affairs of PSEs working under the supervision
of other entities of the State is not much different. However, for brevity’s
sake, we cite here only the example of Pakistan Railways (PR) and Pakistan
International Airlines (PIA). Both PR and PIA have witnessed rapid
deterioration, plunging to unimaginable depths in financial terms and quality
of service delivery, largely due to corruption, nepotism, inefficiency and
ineptness of State minions managing them. Pakistan’s Planning has pointed out internal
inefficiencies and poor governance to be the major factors contributing to
significant losses by PR, PIA and other PSEs. Despite having a network of
7,791 route-KM, PR was suffering heavy losses, primarily due to political
reasons and its management’s lack of vision and professionalism. A report by
the Planning Commission said: “The Railways equipment and technology is
obsolete that leads to delays and safety hazards. The institution is
inefficient in its operations due to the lack of managerial and financial
support.” Meanwhile, PR’s expenditures — including wages,
salaries, allowances and pensions — have consistently recorded double-digit
growth for the last couple of years while its revenues have nosedived since
2010 and operational performance has been badly affected by a critical dearth
of running locomotives. Noting that Pakistan Railways’ “main focus is on
improving passenger rather than freight services, despite the latter being
more profitable,” the Planning Commission says: To meet the demand for
passenger services, PR has drastically curtailed its high yielding freight
operations overtime, resulting in sharp fall in freight revenues since 2010.
Furthermore, only one-third of the Railways’ total network is being used for
core commercial purposes. The State Bank has recommended that instead of
providing stopgap measures to Pakistan Railways, the government must focus on
re-structuring the loss-making PSE on fast track basis by introducing wide
scale reforms. The Planning Commission has also highlighted flaws in the
country’s aviation industry, saying that the private airlines are not able
to respond to the consumer demand due to the protection enjoyed by PIA. The
Commission identifies huge workforce to be the root cause of PIAs financial
miseries as a heavy wage bill eats into a relatively large portion of the
airlines operating revenues. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, PIA’s annual
revenue per aircraft stands below US$ 30 million against the earnings of US$
50 million per aircraft for other airlines. It is a well-known fact that some elected politicians,
enjoying executive authority over PSEs, tend to distribute favours so as to
expand their established networks as well as votebank and possibilities of
re-election. Absence of professional people ultimately renders PSEs into
loss-making units, which could cease to operate if the government does not
come to their rescue. In the past, the government has been bearing annual
losses of around Rs300- 350 billion of eight major PSEs. While most of the PSEs working under various ministries of
the government are presenting a dismal look, Pakistan’s telecommunication
sector continues to grow constantly since its liberalisation around 2004-2005.
With a contribution of Rs117 billion to the national exchequer in the fiscal
year 2011, the telecom sector has emerged as the single largest contributor to
GST/FED, with a share exceeding 93 percent from the services sector. It also
attracted a fresh investment of US$ 493 million, including foreign direct
investment (FDI) of US$ 79 million or some five percent of the total FDI which
came to Pakistan during the year. The revenues earned by the telecom sector
swelled to Rs362 billion during 2011. During the last six years, the telecom sector’s
regulatory authority — PTA — has earned and deposited Rs72 billion into
the national exchequer in the shape of Initial and Annual Licence Fee, Annual
Spectrum, USF and R&D Fund Contributions. Auction of 3G licences in March
this year, is expected to net over US$ 800 million, while creating a paradigm
shift from voice-centric to multimedia-oriented services. Earlier, PTCL was the sole service provider in the telecom
sector and its service delivery record was not much different from other PSEs.
As in most of the public sector utilities, lineman was considered the
‘king’ in PTCL as well. However, after privatisation in 2006 one can
notice a qualitative change in the service delivery and attitude of PTCL’s
employees. PTCL’S new management has introduced a vast range of
innovative products and services based on the latest technological
developments. It has also emerged as the first-ever Video Phone service
provider in the country for landline subscribers. According to World Broadband Statistics Q1 2011 report,
published by Point Topic Limited, globally Pakistan ranked second and fourth
in the quarterly and annual broadband subscribers’ growth respectively. The government’s decision to liberalise the telecom
sector opened the floodgates of competition whereby over 200 licences were
issued between 2004 and 2006 in different segments. Presently, there are some
40 active operators on the ground. Due to severe competition, all telecom
operators are providing services at highly competitive rates to the greater
benefit of subscribers. Given the situation, one should not be surprised if
voice tariffs in Pakistan are one of the lowest in the world. Resultantly,
teledensity has risen to about 69pc. Now PTCL is engaged in efforts to provide the highest
quality broadband to five million outlets, households, and businesses,
guaranteeing a minimum of 10MB broadband speed to each one of them. Requiring
an anticipated investment of one billion dollar plus, the milestone service
will make voice telephony a relic of the past, and make PTCL a part of the
lifestyle of households, providing them services of choice, at times also of
their own convenience and desire. In a nutshell, PTCL’s new management has transformed it
into an efficient and robust service-provider by diversifying its product
portfolio and modernising the telecom infrastructure by investing hundreds of
millions of dollars every year. In the light of these facts, it is time that the
authorities take bold decisions about dormant PSEs, opting for either their
privatisation or entrusting their management to companies of international
repute under public-private-partnership modality if we really wish to smash
the begging bowl and rub shoulders with the global community as a
self-respecting nation. The writer is a
freelance columnist based at Islamabad. alauddinmasood@gmail.com
governance The absence of representative and accountable political
system coupled with highly centralising tendencies of the state has
underpinned the development fiasco in Pakistan. The denial to the continuity
of democratic system and polity and failure in institutionalising devolution
and decentralisation have led to the under-performance of social development
sector in Pakistan. This article attempts to explain the accumulated
development deficits in Pakistan by studying the triangular relationship
between democracy, decentralisation and development in the country. The triangular analysis explains the interplay between
three dominant patterns in Pakistan: (a) decentralisation without democracy;
(b) democracy without decentralisation and (c) growth without development. Some studies on the subject have argued that in many
democratising countries decentralisation has come with the rise of democracy
and fall of dictatorship and therefore, representative government is viewed as
a first wave of democracy and decentralisation as a second wave.
Decentralisation cannot work without democracy and democracy without political
parties. Ironically, Pakistan presents the reverse case: the decentralisation
process always preceded the representative government in Pakistan. Three dictators — Ayub, Zia and Musharraf
—-promulgated local government ordinances and conducted elections in the
absence of any other tier of representative governance. Through his local
government system, Ayub first created 80,000 ‘Basic Democrats’ and then
sought them to serve as his Electoral College in a presidential referendum
contested against the sister of the founder of Pakistan. According to Akbar Zaidi, “Zia reviewed Ayub’s model
and improvised it to counter a massive political awakening of the 70s through
a (manufactured) religious bigotry and an (intended) de-politicisation of
society.” Musharrarf mentored a misplaced ‘civil society’ of his own
choice for gaining legitimacy and political relevance on the rhetoric of
‘grassroots service delivery’. He re-coined the devolution mantra for his
despotic designs — which was exponentially funded by the international
donors and vehemently supported by the non-governmental organisations. The decentralisation had repeatedly been deployed as a
military strategy for political expediency to use it as a ladder of
legitimacy. These experiments of decentralisation were devoid of all the
necessary elements of democracy. It has been maintained by a number of experts
on local government that the local government structures and systems devised
by the successive military regimes have failed to deliver, even before
political issues came to the fore. They argue that it was not merely the
politics which undermined the potential and possibility of local government
delivery in Pakistan, the systems themselves failed on technical and
structural grounds. On the other hand, democracy is given little time and
chance in Pakistan. Political parties in Pakistan remained more engaged with
fighting for the restoration of the Constitution and democracy rather than
enterprising in the domain of public policy and planning. According to a research by the Centre of Civic Education,
democracy remained in vogue for about 8, 330 days, which account for about 36
percent of the total days as a life of democracy in more than six decades in
Pakistan. Unrepresentative regimes rule this country longer than the
representative dispensations. However, democratic dispensations remained
unsuccessful in exploring the potential of local governments for deepening
democracy and institutionalising the lowest tier of governance for effective
service delivery at the grassroots level. There is only one civilian-led
legislation on local government which remained on the books but no election
was held under this legislation. In 1972 and1975, the civilian government led by the Prime
Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto introduced legislation on local government. The
People’s Act 1975 constitutionalised the local government units and their
powers, including taxation power. It defined the relationship of the local
governments to provincial and national ministries performing general
development functions in the area, including education and health. However,
the legislation during the period 1972-1979, pertinent to local government
could not be administered because elections under these laws were not held and
the local institutions were kept under the governance of official
administrators throughout the period. In military-led politics, the local governments were used,
manipulated and failed while in democracy-led politics local governments were
denied, marginalised or remained unexplored for their representative potential
of grassroots service delivery. These factors have resulted in massive
development deficits and failures, where even an impressive rapid economic
growth could not address development disparities in Pakistan. Rather, these
entrenched disparities and discriminations were fuelled by the shameless
denial to democracy and decentralisation which subsequently kept the
federation unstable and made the society restless. Lately, the Charter of Democracy, however, recognised the
importance of subsidiarity by stating: “Local bodies election will be held
on party basis through provincial election commissions in respective provinces
and constitutional protection will be given to the local bodies to make them
autonomous and answerable to their respective assemblies as well as to the
people through regular courts of law.” With the return of democracy in 2008, a popular demand led
to a political consensus that the local government was a provincial domain;
therefore, this issue should exclusively be left to the respective tiers.
Against this backdrop, the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR)
represented by all political parties in the House (upper and lower),
recommended the adoptions of Article 140-A in the Constitution of Pakistan.
This article clearly identifies three tiers of the government as
constitutional foundations of the State of Pakistan. The 18th
Amendment has further laid down four fundamental benchmarks for the
local governments, which include: political, administrative, financial and
electoral. With this, Local Governments have become the exclusive legislative
and executive competence of the provinces and decentralisation at grassroots
level is, thus, pending now at the provincial headquarters. The broken
triangle of democracy, decentralisation and development has yet to be restored
by the democratic forces to achieve the desired development goals. Provinces
need to wake up and make up on this account with a sense of urgency. The
implementation of the Article 140-A would effectively mend these lingering
gaps. The writer is
executive director of the School of Political and Strategic Communications,
Islamabad. This article is based on his forthcoming paper: “Bridging
development deficits through democratic devolution: Post-18th Amendment
framework for local governance in Pakistan”, commissioned by the European
Union, Practical Action and Rural Development Policy Institute. Email:
amjad.544@gmail.com
Memories
of an unassuming Marxist In an environment where fundamentalist forces are bent
upon derailing a democratically-elected government it’s high time for
progressive and enlightened elements in Pakistan society to forge unity and
shun dogmatism. If great Italian thinker and Marxist intellectual, Antonio
Gramsi, can write “Prison Notebooks” without using jargon at a time when
fascism prevailed in that country why can’t progressive and enlightened
people in Pakistan ponder what mistakes they made during the last 63 years? Failure to do so would lead to nothing but chaos and
fascism. Dr. Manzoor Ahmed, who bowed out on January 15 in Islamabad after
protracted illness, reminds us of an ever-smiling, tolerant and down-to-earth
Marxist who welcomed new ideas and did his best to organise young doctors at
the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), political and trade union workers, and
believed in community work. He could have earned lots of money but right from the
beginning he started his clinic at Shah Faisal Colony (former Drigh Road)
inhabited by poor and lower-middle class people. The area was close to Landhi
industrial area and factory workers would also come to his clinic when they
were ill and if they had no money to buy medicines. Dr. Ahmed would give them
money from his pocket. Political workers, especially full-time workers in the
then underground Communist Party of Sindh, led by Imam Ali Nazish whose wages
were equivalent to an unskilled industrial worker’s wage, would also
frequent his clinic when they were ill. Dr. Ahmed was a very simple, unassuming but committed
person. He would have his lunch with his comrades, compounder and peon. People
in the community loved him because he was not only a very good physician but
cared about ordinary folk. Manzoor Ahmed was born in Hyderabad (Deccan) in 1930. His
father worked in the education department; therefore, he had to move to
different places whenever his father got a new posting. Ahmed did his Intermediate from City College, Hyderabad (Deccan)
and became a close friend of eminent Urdu poet Makhdoom Mohyuddin and hero of
Tilangana movement. When Indian forces attacked the princely state of
Hyderabad to annex it, Ahmed and his brother joined the ‘Razakaar Force”
that tried to repel the Indian forces’ onslaught but in vain. The Nizam of Hyderabad withdrew his forces but Ahmed along
with a group of young people continued to fight the Indian forces. In 1948,
his arrest warrants were issued and he was declared a rebel. Ahmed then
migrated to Pakistan. Ahmed graduated from the prestigious Dow Medical College
(now Dow University of Health Sciences) in the 1956-57 batch. “He was very
logical and took a decision after lots of thinking,” Saleh Appa said. “It
was he who brought left politics in the family.” She also said, “Many
doctors would say if a diagnosis had been made by Dr. Ahmed, it must be
correct.” “Dr. Ahmed knew the legendary communist leader Hasan
Nasir, who was martyred in the infamous Lahore Fort in 1960 during the
military government of Gen. Ayub Khan, since the days when he was in Hyderabad
(Deccan) and remained in touch with him in Pakistan too when the revolutionary
leader was underground,” Saleh Appa added. “I once asked Dr. Ahmed during a visit to his clinic
whether he was diagnosing a patient or doing party work,” recalled Prof.
Tipu Sultan, ex-vice chancellor Dow University of Health Sciences and
president PMA (Centre). “Both!” said Dr. Ahmed. I remember the time when I
first met him at his rented house in North Nazimabad along with my friend and
former general secretary Sindh National Students Federation Mir Thebo. We had
beer. Afterwards he bought a house in North Nazimabad that was
often the rendezvous of writers and intellectuals. It was at his residence
that I met eminent poet, documentary film-maker and a stalwart of Progressive
Writers’ Association (PWA) Ali Sardar Jafri when he visited Pakistan in the
1970s. Ahmed was the darling of young doctors such as Dr. Qamar
Abbas Nadeem (late), who was also a noted short story writer and Dr. Mazhar
Haider. He was equally popular amongst Dr. Mahboob (late), Dr. Aziz, B.M.
Kutty and Fatehyab Ali Khan. He was President, Karachi chapter of erstwhile National
Awami Party (NAP) led by veteran nationalist leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan that
stood for friendly relations with India and former Soviet Union and was looked
with disdain by the establishment. The progressive movement of Pakistan has
lost one of its best sons in the death of Dr. Manzoor Ahmed. Debt
bondage: an Two successive catastrophes of floods and monsoon rains
turned into man-made disasters have exposed millions of the people,
predominantly in Sindh, to the social vulnerabilities such as debt bondage,
loss of employment, forced custody of workers by the landlords in flood
affected districts of Sindh. The agriculture sector consists of a majority of labour
force, (45.1pc of total labour) in the country. While the province of Sindh
employs 13.46 million people having 7.74 million as rural and 5.72 urban
workforces. Agriculture sector has been in the lead in marginalizing workers
where their exclusion from the mainstream increases their vulnerabilities. Exploitation of agriculture workers in Sindh contains all
the elements of exploitation, ranging from heavy indebtedness, dependence on
the employer for subsistence needs and services, restriction on movement,
non-payment of wages to un-paid or obligatory labour of family members. The leading exploitative factor of heirs in Sindh is
skewed landholding pattern. As indicated in a report, “Social Development in
Pakistan; Annual Review 2004” which says at the time of inception in Sindh
“eight percent of landowners owned 55 percent of total farmland. Moreover,
currently among other provinces, Sindh has the highest incidence of absolute
landlessness, with 26 percent or two million households have no land while 26
percent of 700,000 household possess the lowest share in land”. These
statistics clearly point toward the fact that a small minority having large
lands exploits the majority with no land. The menace of debt bondage is widespread in Tharparkar,
Umerkot, Mirpur Khas, Sanghar and Badin. In these districts a majority of
people is associated with agriculture as haris (peasants) who are either
employed on shared contract basis or are wage workers. According to research
carried out for the government of Sindh and the Asian Development Bank
“there are some 1.7 million landless haris and sharecroppers in five
districts of Sindh Province (Thatta, Dadu, Badin, Mirpurkhas and Umerkot). The
report notes that most of these people are in debt bondage”. An assessment carried out by Pakistan Institute of labour
Education and Research, PILER in the wake of 2011 monsoon rains paints a very
grim picture of the plight of people associated with agriculture. It notes
that “a majority of haris in Sindh are illiterate and socially weak with no
entitlement to the basic rights enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan, i.e,
no access to education and health amenities, no right to unionisation and
collective bargaining, exclusion from basic labour laws, no entitlement to
homesteads and lack of record keeping. These potential vulnerabilities further
push haris to the spiral of marginalisation and bondage where they have to
seek loans from landlords who then keep them enslaved for generations”. It is a concern in flood hit areas now that in the
aftermaths of floods where large numbers of people have been left with no
option of labour, the labour itself in agriculture sector would be very cheap.
Besides, those who had already been under debt bondage will have to resort to
new loans from landlords to pay the previous debt which is tantamount to
pushing them to the spiral of unending debt bondage. “We have to seek new loans from the same or other
landlords to pay the ones already taken”, says Sonu Kolhi from Kunri,
Mirpurkhas whose crops on shared contract were destroyed in 2011 monsoon
rains. He has no source of income to feed his family consisting of 12 members.
He speaks of the gruesome practice of bondage as a result of never-ending
advance loans. Following monsoon rains our landowner has told us to pay his
debt which he claims is Rs300,000 against the actual loan of Rs40,000”, he
laments. “In this scenario, we will have to resort to take new loan from
another landowner and re-pay the previous one.” Karamat Ali, well-known social and labour activist
believes that the government is responsible for extending rights to the
agriculture workers on the lines of industrial workers. “Pakistan has
ratified the ILO Convention which clearly makes it mandatory upon member
states to extend same rights to the agriculture workers as given to industrial
workers”. He says that the plight of agriculture workers would remain the
same if real land reforms are not introduced in the country, particularly in
Sindh. “The government which claims to be the saviour of rights
of people has failed to live to the expectations of the people”. And since
large land holding remains to be major hurdle in materialising
land reforms and exploitation of the agriculture workers, therefore,
government should initiate the pending process of land reforms,” says Dr.
Ghulam Haider, director of GRDO. “People here have lost every thing and we
fear debt bondage would be on the rise in coming months and years”, he adds.
It seems if not tackled in time, increasing number of
rural labour force might fall prey to the menace of unending bondage. The
government has announced to waive off agricultural loans of landlords, it
should also be announced publicly by the government that all loans/advances
taken by the peasants must be waived off by the landlords. It is necessary that government takes measures for
stopping bondage practices for that changes recommended in Sindh Tenancy Act,
1950 by the civil society need to be incorporated without any delay by the
government. At this time when floods have exposed the vulnerability of these
groups, civil society and media should join hands to make headway in uprooting
menace of bondage fighting for the cause of land reforms in Sindh. region The recently concluded visit of the Indian Commerce
Minister Anand Sharma is being seen as a welcome development, especially in
the emerging regional scenario. It is not a mere coincidence that the
presidents of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan got together at a summit meeting
in Islamabad soon after he had left. The US State Department’s statement on having no
objection to Pak-Iran-Afghan deals on food and trade has also helped remove
skepticism to a great extent. In another major development, the Pakistan cabinet has
approved grant of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India and the
government is working on a tentative timeline. All these developments are
highly significant in terms of regional trade. With India depending on Pakistan to do unhampered trade
with landlocked Afghanistan and desirous of importing natural gas from India
through a pipeline passing through hostile lands, the time seems ripe for a
conciliation between the two neighbouring states. Once this happens, ground will be paved for the countries
to re-enforce the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) regional trade
process under which tariffs would be further reduced for inter-regional trade. Though these targets appear rosy on paper, achieving them
will not be an easy task keeping in view the history of conflicts in the
region. For example, the very plan to grant MFN status to India has invited
criticism from certain players of Pakistan’s economy, especially the
industrialists. They fear Pakistani markets will get flooded with cheap
Indian goods once the plan materialises. This, they believe, will render
millions of people jobless as local industries will shut down for being
uncompetitive. Another objection is that Pakistan has not benefited much from
trade with India despite being granted MFN status 15 years ago. Pakistani businessmen can see that India has a huge market
and economies of scale, and resultantly, holds a significant cost advantage
over its neighbours. In principle, the stance to support enhancement of
regional trade is not an issue for them. They want a process which must be a
win-win situation and demand that, as India seeks market access to Pakistan
for its finished products, it must ensure equal access opportunity to its own
market. The supporters of free trade with India are also in a
large number. They believe it would be a safe bet as there are several
mechanisms and laws under World Trade Organisation (WTO) that protect
uncompetitive industries which may suffer due to the opening of trade with
some other country. However, the wary businessmen urge on the official
negotiating teams from Pakistan to focus on asking questions as to why exports
have not increased despite India granting MFN status to Pakistan in 1996?
India’s non-tariff barriers on import of cement, textile and agriculture
products from Pakistan are a cause of concern for them. Some of the examples of Indian NTBs are as follows: Textiles products require pre shipment certificate from a
textile testing laboratory accredited to the National Agency in the country of
origin, certifying about the non use of hazardous dyes. There are instances
wherein EU accredited labs were rejected by the Indian Customs; Leather and Melamine products require that the samples of
export consignments are sent to testing laboratories which are located far
away from the port of entry in India, which is not only time consuming but
also acts as a deterrent for the exporters of the world; Pharmaceutical products require registration of the drugs
with the Central Organization in India; Processed Foods, under the Prevention of Food Adulteration
Act, 1954 (of India), require that the product has to have a shelf life of at
least 60 of the original shelf
life at the time of entering into India; Pre-packaged products are required to name the importer
with his address and also to specify the maximum sale price at which the
product will be sold to the end-consumers which has to include all the taxes
(local and otherwise), the freight and transport charges, commission to be
paid to the dealers and all other charges towards advertising, delivery,
packaging, forwarding and the like which at times become impossible for
International exporters to provide; and Agricultural Products are required to
get a phytosanitary certificate and the consignment has to go through various
other testing requirements. It is required to note that plant quarantine
facilities are available at Amritsar airport only and not at Amritsar rail
cargo station or at Wahga border. There is always a possibility that the cargo
is held up and delayed during weekends and other holidays, thus exposed to
other hazards. Imtiaz Mirza, who is internal committee member of Ministry
of Commerce formed on MFN, tells TNS the committee is meeting different
industry owners and recording their concerns. He says the government will
ensure interests of local manufacturers are protected and they be given a
level-playing field. It’s the best time for Pakistan to demand removal of
NTBs imposed by India, he adds. Nabeel Hashmi, Chairman Pakistan Association of Automotive
Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAPAAM) suggests that in the first phase
the trade with India should be initiated with the import of raw materials,
machinery and equipments, moulds and dies, etc. After that, India should be
asked to allow transfer of technology through joint ventures and technical
assistance agreements and, thus, make Pakistani industry competitive. He also suggests imposing Pakistan’s automotive industry
specific NTBs like Pakistan’s Vehicle Safety Standards, Pakistan’s Vehicle
Quality Standards and Pakistan’s Vehicle Logistics & Trade Standards,
etc. Import of only those parts should be imported from India which meet these
Pakistani standards. Fortunately, India and Pakistan have agreed to ease visa
regime for businessmen and Islamabad assured New Delhi of moving to negative
list of imports by this month-end before phasing it out by year-end, making
way for MFN status hanging fire for over 15 years. The two countries have also agreed to allow opening of two
branches of their banks on reciprocal basis for which an understanding has
been reached between the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of Pakistan.
As the process has started to roll, the stakeholders are
trying to reach a workable agreeable. After marathon discussions, they have
suggested gradual and stage-wise movement towards a free trade regime. The
gist of these suggestions, to be executed on a short term, medium term and
long term basis follows. Short Term (Within one year): i) Trade can immediately open with import of commodities
and food items not produced in Pakistan. ii) India should immediately allow Pakistan export of raw
materials, machinery, tools and dies. At this point in time the Indian side is
not willing even to quote for pig iron, coke, steel sheets etc. iii) Indian non-tariff barriers should be removed for
Pakistani exporters. Measures should be put in place for ease of export
licensing/ procedures. For example, the yearly licensing requirement for
cement from Pakistan should be removed as an annual condition. In support of
balancing trade, the countries may agree on specific products for trade from
both sides without restrictions. Medium Term (One year to 5 years) i) Finished goods, not produced in Pakistan, can be moved
into the positive list, after demonstrable improvement in trading condition on
the Indian side. ii) Pakistan should build up capacity in customs,
valuation, anti-dumping law, speedy implementation and the National Tariff
Commission (NTC). It should acquire technology and technical know-how in
creating and improving national testing and product standards that can put
Pakistan on equal footing with India. Currently, PSQCA is neither
knowledgeable nor effective. Long Term (Five years and beyond) i) Any transit facility to India should only be given
towards the end of a 5-year period and subject to progress in each of the
above steps and balance of trade. There should also be clarity that granting of MFN status
is not linked to discussions related to preferred trading regime, SAFTA or FTA.
These are to be discussed and negotiated separately. relations Regional cooperation among South Asian neighbors in
general and regional trade among SAARC countries in particular was always
marred by lack of trust. It is often said that historic animosities between
Pakistan and India have held hostage SAARC’s agenda and without a miraculous
improvement in their bilateral relations implementation of South Asia Free
Trade Agreement (SAFTA) would remain a dream. Finally there is a ray of hope. Despite all political and
judicial turmoil that the Gilani government is facing, it kept on working on
trade normalisation with neighbouring countries, especially with India. The Pakistani cabinet deferred switching to negative list
approach for trade with India from the current restrictive positive list
approach. However, there seems to be a silent endorsement of GHQ for trade
normalisation with India. The good omen is that so far military leadership did not
make any negative comments on the proposal of granting MFN status to India.
Perhaps the establishment has realised that stability at the Eastern border
would help it to concentrate on the state of affairs along the Western
borders. Peaceful relations with India would also help to divert resources to
combat internal security threats. The Americans, too, must be supportive of the latest
developments on normalisation of working relationship between Pakistan and
India. And it seems that they are. If all goes well, the result would be
reduced conflict between the two atomic neighbours, cooling down of a hotspot,
which in turn would have a positive impact on US security interests in the
region. From the Indian government’s perspective, the whole
issue of getting an MFN status from Pakistan (which in WTO language means
nothing more than a trading partner who is getting the same treatment as other
WTO members) would be much more than a moral victory for Manmohan Singh
government over his rivals. India is an emerging economic power and would not like its
disturbed relations with Pakistan to be a bottleneck for its closer economic
ties with Chin or the US. It is logical for any serious candidate for a
permanent seat in the UN Security Council ought to resolve its issues with the
neighbours on a priority basis. A majority of the business houses and chambers of commerce
in both the countries have backed liberal trading regime between the two
countries. Prominent leaders of the FPCCI have conveyed the government of
Pakistan that the issue of pruning the “negative list” should not be
allowed to cast a shadow over the current positive developments. Consumers’ support for trade normalisation can be gauged
from their interest and participation in Expo India in Lahore, or Expo
Pakistan in Delhi. They have been paying extra cost for the items of their
choice traded through a third country. While India used to demand a reciprocal MFN status from
Pakistan, the latter was concerned about the non-tariff trade barriers in
India. A positive outcome of the current round of talks between the commerce
ministers is the signing of MOUs to remove three major irritants or non-tariff
barriers to normalise the bilateral trade. The three MoUs are Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in
Customs Matters Agreement, Bilateral Cooperation Agreement on Mutual
Recognition between Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority, and
Bureau of Indian Standards, and Agreement on Redressal of Trade Grievances
between Pakistan and India. The two sides have also agreed to open the
branches of their central banks in each other’s country. Likewise, there are
hopes for a liberal business visa regime too. Implementation on these MOUs would help in bilateral trade
dispute settlement and would reduce the cost and bureaucratic delays over
quality testing and custom matters. The presence of Indian banks operating in
Pakistan and Pakistani banks working in India would facilitate opening of LCs
on both sides. The most positive aspect of recent trade talks for energy
starved industries of Pakistan is the possibility to import energy from India.
Despite all the recent positive developments one needs to be mindful that it
is a humble beginning. Things will not yield positive results unless both the
sides are genuinely interested in promoting people-to-people connectivity both
through ease of visas and through a non-restrictive mode and port of entries. Let me reiterate at the cost of repetition that amidst
global financial crisis, Euro-zone turmoil and increased fuel prices one needs
to explore alternative markets. We have a huge potential to increase regional
trade not only with India but also with other neighbours, such as Iran and
Afghanistan. For decades, various internal and external actors did not
let us work together. It is one of the rare moments when external powers,
especially the US, looks for stability in the region and would support
regional cooperation. The writer heads
Sustainable Development Policy Institute. He can be contacted at suleri@sdpi.org
The
question of media literacy Citizens for Free and Responsible Media, Pakistan (CFRM-Pakistan),
an online group of not more than 164 assertive citizens, has developed a
“guide to anchoring and reporting on news channels”. The guide provides a
basic checklist of what a viewer should be aware of while watching news
channels. The checklist, which is in English and consists of twenty
20 points, attempts to provide a distinction between a good anchor/reporter
and a bad one. It is, in fact, a nice compilation of internationally accepted
and practised norms and ethics for anchors and reporters on electronic media
in the world. Shared through a facebook page — having more than 1100 fans
— the checklist is in English and can be accessed by only those who are part
of the online community. The development of the checklist and sharing through
social media is a welcome step. However, according to statistics, not more
than 20 million Pakistanis i.e. 11pc of the total population have access to
Internet and only 5 million Pakistanis are part of social media i.e., facebook,
twitter, wordpress, etc. Since the checklist is in English and shared online, what
about 90pc of population who have no access to Internet and cannot
read/understand English? Similarly, the checklist is about anchoring and news
reporting, therefore, what about the other categories of the media programmes
such as sitcom, drama, sports, and educational media, etc. Advertisements are
also among the critical media content, which has strong bearing on the viewers
and require skillful audience to understand the ‘messages’ therein. Nadeem Iqbal, Coordinator of the Network for Consumer
Protection — civil society group working on consumer protection for the last
many years — argues whatever is being run on media has some apparent and
some less apparent or hidden messages. In many of the cases, the media seem to
mislead the audiences, avert their attentions from a particular issue, or
divert them towards a non-issue. He further says that media in Pakistan is
advertising-based and not viewers-based. Since there are no specific
advertisement regulations in the country, everyone — literate,
semi-literate, and illiterate — is now exposed to all kinds of messages on
media through programmes and advertisements. The code of conduct of the Pakistan Electronic Media
Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) for programmes and advertisement is least
enforced regulation. Due to absence of any regulatory check, he believes, the
advertisements are now being presented in the shape documentaries and songs,
which is deceptive and misleading. Most dangerous is the situation when media
do not inform the audience about viewers’ suitability for the programmes, he
says. Adnan Rehmat, a well-known media development expert and
member of the core committee of the CFRM-Pakistan, believes that “a very
sophisticated knowledge and skill is required for viewers to deal with the
situation. CFRM-Pakistan is a first and foremost initiative in the country to
develop understanding of the viewers about the media and media ethics.” With its limited capacity and outreach, Mr. Rehmat notes,
the forum is endeavoring to introduce a culture of media watch and citizens’
education about media in the country. Nevertheless, he agrees that the
“forum cannot by any mean cater for needs of entire viewers’ community of
the country. A massive nation-wide ‘media literacy’ campaign, however, is
required to satisfy the needs of millions of television viewers in the
country.” But, what is ‘media literacy?’ Is it different from
existing media education, being provided at the mass communication
departments? What is media literacy? The research shows that media literacy is quite different
from media education. It is all about education of media consumers and least
about media practitioners. The term ‘media literacy’ was first defined by
the participants of the National Leadership Conference on Media Literacy in
Maryland USA in 1992. According to the definition, media literacy is “the
ability of a citizen to access, analyse, and produce information for specific
outcome.” Elizabeth Thoman, founder of Media and Value — a premier
magazine on media literacy, which emerged in 1977 — defined media literacy
as the ability to choose and select, the ability to challenge and question,
the ability to be conscious about what’s going on around us — and not be
passive and vulnerable. Patricia Aufderheide, a professor of communication studies
in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, wrote
that the images and sounds being relayed through the media, including Internet
contain a variety of messages and information. Media literacy empowers the
citizens to decode, evaluate, and analyse such constructed and politically,
ideologically, and commercially implicated media messages, she believes. State of media and media literacy in Pakistan In the developed world, media literacy is a
well-researched concept and part of mainstream academic discourse. In
Pakistan, however, the concept seems to be at a very primitive stage. Though
the electronic media landscape in the country has expanded and from one
state-run television channel to more than eighty Pakistani satellite channels,
including more than thirty-five news and current affairs channels are
operating accessible at the moment. Newspapers circulation, according to sources at federal
ministry of information and broadcast, has doubled over the period of past ten
years — from two million to four million. The number of universities with
mass communications or journalism department has increased from six public
sector universities to over 30 of universities during the past ten years. Advertising market has expanded manifold. However, except
for a few limited initiatives — CFRM-Pakistan, UKS Foundation, and Society
for Alternative Media and Research (SAMAR) — nowhere in the academics or in
civil society any substantive effort has been made toward the promotion of
media literacy. PEMRA, which is supposed to be custodian of rights of media
consumers, seems to be completely indifferent to the issue. Media literacy: whose responsibility? In view of the above, the semi-literate Pakistani society
seems to be at the mercy of the television channels and other media outlets
for all their vague, misleading, and least regulated programmes and
promotions. Worldwide best practices show that in the United Kingdom (UK), the
Office of Communication or Ofcom — the communications regulator in the UK
— has duty to promote media literacy. In the United State of America (USA), a variety of
governmental and non-governmental organisations have been embarking on the
promotion of media literacy. In Australia, New Zealand and Canada, media
literacy is part of school curricula. In China and Hong Kong, partnerships
among the market, regulator, and interest groups to promote such initiatives
have proved to be quite effective and workable. How to promote media literacy in Pakistan? Pakistan is a semi-literate society, where people have
limited understanding of their rights. No doubt, over the years, media have
played a vital role in sensitisation about the rights among citizens.
Nevertheless, media have its own interests and cannot necessarily ensure
protection of media consumers’ rights. Therefore, Rehmat is of the view that
there is a need to institutionalise media literacy within the existing
education system. A massive teaching programme on media literacy is highly
needed at the moment. He suggests that the academia should move forward and
join hands with the concerned citizens’ groups to undertake thorough
research on media literacy from local perspective. Nadeem Iqbal, on the other
hand, suggests introducing orientation session for marketing staff advertiser
to educate them about ethics. Most importantly, as a primary protector of the
citizens’ rights, the role of government and the media regulator is highly
important for promotion of media literacy among the audiences. A comprehensive
media policy, which should holistically cover all aspects of media,
advertisements and media literacy, is also highly needed, Iqbal says. The writer is
Islamabad-based media law and policy expert and Executive Director of the
Institute for Research, Advocacy & Development (IRADA). He can be reached
at aftabadvocate@gmail.com and aftab@irada.org.pk
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