|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 
|
status market When
walls speak issue The Qazi we knew Measles
menace case Missed targets
Punjab and ethnic politics The construction and consolidation of new ethnic and linguistic identities should not be allowed to override centuries of mutual coexistence which has been a distinctive feature of this region By Ali Usman Qasmi This article is
a journalistic attempt to offer an overview of some of the issues arising
from the demands for a division of the province of Punjab. The purpose is
to deconstruct the notion of a primordial Punjabi or Seraiki identity and
emphasise an instrumentalist approach to the study of their origins. This,
I hope, would be taken into consideration by the commission appointed by
the National Assembly to submit a report on the division of Punjab into
two or three provinces. Etymologically, the word
Punjab simply denotes the land of five rivers. Over centuries, Punjab
along with the rest of North India was subjected to a series of foreign
invasions. The region was not defined along strict ethnic, linguistic or
religious lines but on the basis of certain natural features or even more
so, on the political control exercised by a particular dynasty at a given
time. As historian JS Grewal has shown in his article on the historical
boundaries of Punjab, during the reign of Akbar, the term Punjab equated
the Suba Lahore which covered parts of the regions of 5 doabs
(interfluves). Even during the pinnacle of the so-called sovereign state
of Punjab under Ranjit Singh, Punjab did not have any ‘natural
boundaries’ with ethnic and linguistic uniformity of its subject
population. It was only during the
British period that Punjab emerged as a definite territorial unit — yet
ethnically and linguistically diverse — covering a huge area from
Himalaya in the North and Northwest, Yumana on East, Arvalli Hills and
Thar Desert on South and South West. In 1901, a new province of North West
Frontier Province (NWFP) was carved out of Punjab. Some among the British
bureaucrats, including officers of the Punjab Commission, sought
‘compensation’ for Punjab’s loss of NWFP by demanding annexation of
Sindh as part of the Punjab province. At the time of partition
in 1947, a division along religious lines bifurcated Punjab into West
Punjab of Pakistan and East Punjab of India. Since India inherited far
larger and unwieldy provincial units than Pakistan, it therefore had to
address the concerns of regional nationalists — especially in the South.
In the case of East Punjab, the Indian government was confronted not just
with an ethnic and linguistic issue but dichotomy around religious lines
was also quite pronounced. The ‘Hindu Punjabis’
did not necessarily define their identity along ethnic but religious
lines. They preferred Hindi instead of Punjabi as their mother tongue in
the census. For the Sikhs, this amounted to diluting the significance of
Punjabi, which they held as sacred because their religious texts were
articulated through it. Eventually, after a great deal of protest and
conundrum, a tripartite division of East Punjab took effect whereby East
Punjab was divided into Himachal Pardesh (formerly hill states of Punjab),
Haryana (Hindu majority) and the Punjab. Despite certain reservations
(such as contested claims over ownership of Chandigarh and distribution of
river waters), Sikhs deemed it quite positive because for the first time
the boundaries of a region had been so re-worked that it gave them a
province (state) with Sikhs constituting majority (56 per cent). The saga of the West
Punjab has had altogether different trajectory. I personally don’t know
of any popular demand for a separate geographical unit on the basis of
Seraiki identity during the colonial period or even immediately after
independence. It was probably because of the fact that the princely state
of Bahawalpur — albeit small and restricted to a few districts of
present day South Punjab — existed and enjoyed an autonomous status. But
as a result of an unequal distribution of development funds and
preferential treatment accorded to central districts of the Punjab, a
distinct Seraiki ethnic identity began to emerge in the 1960s. This is not
to suggest that there existed a well-defined ‘Punjabi identity’ as
such from which Seraiki identity branched off. Nor should Seraiki be
dismissed as a dialect of Punjabi. As it is said, a
language is basically a dialect backed by force. In the case of
‘Punjabi’, presumably the majha dialect of central Punjab arrogated
itself to the standardised version of the language primarily due to its
political, economic and strategic predominance. Punjabi — at best (and
not without serious reservations) — can only be used as a generic term
into which myriad regional dialects are subsumed. It would not be possible
to say which particular dialect is the ‘standard’ dialect from which
the rest are ‘mere offshoots’. The same holds true for
Seraiki language/dialect as an insignia of a particular nationalism.
Unlike Seraiki language, its corresponding nationalism has quite recent
origins but attributed a much longer history dating back to antiquity. As
Husain Ahmad Khan’s research reveals, the term ‘Seraiki’ was agreed
upon by various intellectuals of the region only in the 1960s in a bid to
emphasise the distinct character of Southern Punjab in linguistic, ethnic
and historical terms. The term ‘Seraiki’ came to substitute other
names by which the local dialects were referred to. These included Deray
Wali, Multani, Jatki, Jhangochi, Multani, Riyasti and others. Thus by the
1960s, ‘Seraiki’ was in vogue as a generic term for all these
dialects. The standard Seraiki
nationalist narrative underscores the distinctness of the Seraiki region
as a cultural and political entity for thousands of years. During ancient
as well as medieval times, the region was primarily known by its capital
city, Multan. The boundaries of the suba of Multan have changed throughout
its history. Like suba Lahore, Multan too was not demarcated along strict
ethnic or linguistic lines. It included many parts of upper Sindh for some
period. For ultra-nationalist Seraikis, upper Sindh still counts as an
extension of the Seraiki area as Seraiki is still a major language in
these areas. It is evident from the
brief historical overview furnished above that the idea is not to invest
historical antiquity to a monolithic Punjabi or Seraiki identity and its
geographical, ethnic and linguistic limits. As pointed out, these areas
have had a long history of foreign invasions and influences, fuzzy
identities and shifting geographical boundaries. Even separation along the
lines of Lahore and Multan suba did not imply a complete communication
barrier between the two. If latter-day developments have led to the
construction and consolidation of new ethnic and linguistic identities, it
should not be allowed to override centuries of mutual coexistence which
has been a distinctive feature of this region. It would be an insult to
the memory and legacy of people like Sultan Bahu and Baba Farid to brand
them as poets of Seraiki or Punjabi language alone. In short, this
constructed nature of ethnic identities need to be taken into
consideration while settling down the issue of boundaries of proposed new
provinces. In case the present rhetoric of Seraiki nationalism, which
amounts to virulent anti-Punjabi hate speech continues, it might have
serious repercussions in maintaining peaceful coexistence between diverse
ethnic groups in the new province. The writer is author of
book “Questioning the Authority of the Past: The Ahl al-Quran Movements
in the Punjab”. caption Ethnic identities need
to be taken into consideration.
market While Pakistan
was losing to regional competitors, like Bangladesh and India, benefitting
from preferential market access to Europe as a least developed country,
Bangladesh has emerged as a huge success story whose exports surged to
US$24 billion in FY 2012 against US$2 billion in FY 1992. Growing at a
heady pace of 13% annually, this is a superb performance by most
developing country standards. In Bangladesh, the
export boom was led by one product group — the readymade garments (RMG)
sector. The RMG exports have surged from US$1 billion in FY 1992 to a
whopping US$19 billion in FY 2012, accounting for 79% of total goods
exports and some 49% of total export earnings of Bangladesh. According to
market sources and international bodies, the prospects for Bangladesh to
gain further market share in the large global RMG market is bright. On the other hand,
Pakistan is rapidly losing its technological edge in textiles to regional
competitors, who continue to invest heavily in upgrading their textile
technologies, while Pakistan’s investment in textiles has remained
elusive since 2008. After pleas from the textile industry, Pakistan
government announced in April 2010, vide Ministry of Textile Industry SRO
No. 3 (18) TID/10P-I, to support investment for upgrading textile
machinery by picking up to 5% of the bank mark-up on textile machinery
loans, but the measure remains to be implemented yet. According to the
International Textile Machinery Federation (ITMF), Pakistan imported over
one million spindles in 2005, whereas China imported 7.1 million, India
1.4 million and Bangladesh 0.54 million spindles in the same year. In
2006, China added 6.7 million spindles, India 2.8 million, Pakistan 0.67
million and Bangladesh 0.0.43 million spindles. In 2007, Pakistan did not
add even a single spindle; while China, India and Bangladesh added 6
million, 3.74 million and 0.6 million spindles, respectively. However,
since 2008 Pakistan has stopped appearing on the ITMF map; whereas China,
India and Bangladesh continued to invest in the spinning industry while
Turkey and Indonesia emerged as new investors in this field. In 2011,
China added 54,800 electronic flat knitting machines, Bangladesh 4475,
Hong Kong 2930, Turkey 2150 and Italy 1120 whereas Pakistan did not add
even a single electronic flat knitting machine last year. Furthermore, power
shortages, high inflation and high interest rates have played havoc with
the growth of Pakistan’s textile sector, impelling all its sub-sectors
to operate much below their installed capacity. The APTMA officials
lament: “We have orders in hand and the capacity to produce, but energy
and power shortages have forced us to operate on the basis of whatever
energy and power is made available.” Consequently, Pakistan’s textile
exports registered a decline of US$ 1,333 million in the last seven months
of FY 2012. If prompt remedial steps are not taken, the decline can
increase further. How ironic, the power
crisis is “self-created” because it has largely been caused by
corruption, bad governance and meddling into the affairs of power
authorities. If we could improve governance, the major problems would be
solved automatically, say sources in the Ministry of Water and Power. Once considered the most
vibrant sector of Pakistan, the textile weaving sub-sector is now
operating at 60% of its capacity. According to the ITMF, Pakistan had
imported shutterless looms from 2005 to 2007 though in much less quantity
than China, India or Bangladesh, but import by Pakistan of these looms
completely dried-up subsequently. If the machinery import data of ITMF is
any indicator, some non-cotton producing countries, like Bangladesh,
Indonesia and Turkey, are catching-up fast with Pakistan in the weaving
capacity. What to speak of adding new machines, with 40% of the circular
and flat knitting machines idle, Pakistani entrepreneurs maintain that
they are now fighting for the survival of the textile industry. Though labour-intensive
apparel sub-sector consumed much less power than spinning and weaving, it
bore the same brunt of loadshedding as was faced by the large-scale
textile industry. Perhaps, the country’s planners, in particular the
minions of the Ministry of Textiles, did not realise that the labour-intensive
apparel sector is the largest provider of industrial employment in the
country. Large-scale unemployment has added to the woes of the people and
the country’s poverty profile on the one hand and on the other it has
become instrumental in creating law and order situation quite often. Considered worldwide an
important cash crop, cotton has played a significant role in the
industrial growth of many countries. According to Australian economist J.A.
Schumpeter, England owes its ascendance to a single industry — the
textiles. The same can be said of China and the rest of East Asia. Japan used cheap labour
to surpass England to become the leading exporter of cotton garments by
1930. When Washington forced Tokyo to accept ‘voluntary’ quota in
1955, Japanese investors’ instinct to stay in business impelled them to
fund garment companies in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. Japanese
intervention in East Asia led to the up-gradation and modernisation of
garment industry in the region. In due course, labour-intensive garment
factories laid the seeds for broad-based industrialization in East Asia,
working spectacularly in China after its opening up in 1980s. Traditionally, some 60
countries had been exporting garments to the West. After expiry of the
quota regime on January 1, 2005, exports of several dozen of them had been
witnessing a decline as trade and manufacturing consolidated in nations
that excelled in skills, machinery, marketing techniques and the ability
to cater to the rapidly changing global market trends and fashions. Initially, China came on
the top in efforts for control over $360 billion textile industry due to
high quality of its garments, good managerial skills, state-of-the-art
factories and rapid strides in communication. China’s garment industry,
which stood at US$ 50 billion in December 2005, annually produced over 40
billion finished garments, roughly four pieces of clothing for every
person on the Earth. However, of late, China’s garment industry has been
losing orders due to high prices and worldwide demand for cheap clothing.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh and India have been striving hard to boost their
textile exports. For Bangladesh, the
recent global economic turmoil has proved a boon for its garment industry,
which grew rapidly despite recession in some other countries. Following
massive diversion of orders from China., Bangladesh’s garment sector has
been more than compensated for the initial setback, which had impelled its
over 5,000 apparel makers to seek government help when US and European
buyers postponed and cut orders in the wake of global financial crisis.
But, a massive diversion of orders from China — the world’s largest
producer of apparel — has more than compensated Bangladesh for the
earlier losses. Now, Bangladesh has become the top choice for producing
low-priced basic items like T-shirts, denim pants, sweaters and shirts. Accounting for 80% of
exports and employing 40% of industrial workforce, Bangladesh’s garment
sector specialises in low-end clothing and is the impoverished nation’s
main industry. Bangladesh has already emerged as the world’s second
largest producer of apparel, according to IMF, and it might continue to
dominate in the basic apparel sector if it scales up investment in new
factories. To reap the bonanza, even some of Pakistan’s textile tycoons
have re-located their units to Bangladesh. Alauddin Masood is a
freelance columnist based at Islamabad. E-mail: alauddinmasood@gmail.com
The walls of
various cities and settlements in the country, particularly Karachi and
Lahore along major corridors of movement, are normally used by a wide
variety of visible and invisible actors to communicate with the common
people on varied frequencies and wavelengths. For many decades, the
walls depicted the political messages and slogans from stretched spectra
of stakeholders. When the press was chained, electronic media coerced to
toe the official line, rallies and corner meetings termed next to
threatening the “national interest”, and the walls in cities provided
the much needed ground for communication. Various parties were able to
train sizable number of zealots to brave various kinds of risks to write
on the walls. The regime that were in power referred to this act as
anti-social or any thing short of sedition! Apart from the political
slogans, the wall surfaces are used for outdoor advertising by unbranded
product manufacturers, informal traders and dubious service providers. A
cursory look at the walls would reveal the dictum that a sizable
population in the city (and else where) is either physically or sexually
impotent or needs advice to the same effect. Different types of
traditional healers, herbal medicine experts and homeopaths put up serial
messages on the walls, balustrades and other visible external surfaces.
Keeping abreast with the modern day developments, they now offer packaged
advices and products with some unqualified guarantees. The wall-ads have now
become a fairly effective means of advertising. In some cases, explicit
references to countless alternative sources of medicine are rendered
across the surfaces that do not escape the attention of passers by and
motorists. Laboratories, health centres, Acupuncture experts and hakims
are the fore runners in this health service drive. By attracting a sizable
clientele through such messages and campaigning, few of these unscrupulous
entrepreneurs have become millionaires. Not all of their products are
fake. Some ‘intelligent’ businessmen import the normal health
supplements in the capsule forms from abroad. They remove the labels from
the packets and paste their own on the bottles. These products are sold at
very high selling prices to those possessing similar degree of ailments.
When the luck clicks, the success stories travel far and wide, thus
multiplying the clientele to several folds. A drive along any main
thoroughfare in Pakistani cities will inform the incumbent about the
countless faith healers, spiritual experts and the like in this category.
By posting very attractive messages on the wall with unabated repetition,
they gain the attention of innocent pedestrians and passengers. Stressed,
dejected, frustrated, depressed and deprived common folks are forced to
take notice of luring invitations by this tribe. Those who take these ads
more seriously and end up visiting them mostly land in disasters. The faith healer (amil)
is usually surrounded by a large group of accomplices disguised as his
avid disciples. These followers help develop an awe which creates an
overpowering psychological impact on the new comer. Somehow, he gets so
much impressed that he fills the coffers of the gang leader without
questioning. Semi-literate women are their best clients. By reading these
messages or getting reference from an acquaintance, they do not hesitate
to handover their last of assets such as dowry jewellery or retirement
benefits of the husband! Wall chalking is largely
an unregulated enterprise. Municipal action is only initiated if any high
pitched sectarian or political slogan is written on the walls. The
concerned departments only white-wash the walls to efface the message –
thus creating room for the others to use it again! According to municipal
sources, the private property owners possess greater legal advantage. They
can file damage claims/suits in respective courts of law under various
statutory provisions of trespassing, damage to the property and similar
causes. But knowing too well the manner in which the legal system
functions, no one seems to resort to that option. Focused analysis of the
graffiti/wall chalking reveals many aspects. It is done only to flash the
inscribed message to the onlookers. Use of black colour is most common
which imparts a pathological texture. The urban environment is completely
marred by this activity as the aesthetics in our graffiti is non-existing.
Due to an overwhelming fear of religious fanatics, the inscriptions are
devoid of any figurative art. The tendency to write on every inch of the
surface results in a degraded appearance of surfaces. In other words, the
wall chalking in Karachi and elsewhere in the country is a cause of
increasing visual pollution. Past trends and current
situation reveal many aspects which must be taken into account for
developing an effective strategy. One, the legal and statutory structure
must be revamped through a consultative process. This may include the
political parties at the starting stage and gradually expanding to other
stakeholders. A consensus code of conduct must be developed by all the
political parties to limit this activity through municipal permission. A
political party which does not exercise self-discipline and restraint has
no right to encroach upon the properties and domains of law-abiding
citizens. Two, a comprehensive survey must be carried out to identify the
congregation locations where graffiti may be allowed to take place. An
effective regulatory mechanism is needed at the town and union council
level. Commercial messages may be charged according to a schedule of rates
to make the property benefit from its wall usage pattern. The informal
street artists, who develop their skills on a self-taught manner, may be
trained to undertake their work efficiently. And three, strict
control must be exercised to curb the graffiti that is ill purposed. No ad
of a dubious faith healer or quack must be allowed to appear on the city
walls. If the walls of the cities are properly kept, the scale of urban
aesthetics can rise exponentially with very little input. The need is that
the concerned quarters feel the significance of the issue and act
accordingly!
Planet plight Urgently needed are informed citizens in all professions everywhere who must act to save the world from adverse climate change By Dr A. Ercelan and Muhammad Ali Shah An immediate
global threat of adverse climate change should keep us awake at night.
That, sadly, is not happening — dangerous ignorance, denial or
pessimistic inaction being not the monopoly of South Asian society and
state. Urgently needed are informed citizens in all professions
everywhere, who must and can act to change the world. A recent monograph (via
Routledge by Niko Roorda), Fundamentals of Sustainable Development strives
to enable a global perspective for urgent discussions beyond academia. Its
particular strength lies in bringing together issues of equity (among
people) arising from insufficient recognition of ecology (around the
planet) in the economy of growth (as irresponsible profits). We strongly recommend
careful reading — not just by federal and provincial bureaucrats and
legislatures but also by organisations of employers and labour. Social
activists will find much support for their advocacy agendas for local and
provincial public action. Disagreements among the ‘haves and
have-nots’ will arise, but it is the book’s strength to provoke
informed contestation among those committed to a decent world for our
children and their children. If the future does not matter, then human
existence is indefensibly parasitical. The book provides a lot of material
for even schools with good teachers. Organised into eight
chapters on not just what is but also what should and can be, the book
presents numerous case studies across both the ‘developed and
developing’ world. Those well-versed or just impatient can jump to the
second part where solutions are discussed. The book arrives at an
opportune time for preventing, rather than subsequent mitigation of the
inevitable human disasters when nature revolts in response to ecologically
predatory behaviour of humans. An obvious example is the downstream Indus
delta where upland irrigation from dams, barrages and canals deny fresh
water and silt. Drainage from the entire Indus basin into the sea
magnifies negative impacts (as witnessed in the LBOD project). One result
is decreasing mangrove forests which imperil fisherfolks’ livelihoods
and lead to severe destruction by cyclones. Pollution by Karachi’s
commerce and industry adds to the degradation of mangroves and declining
quality and quantity of marine fish harvests. And, sadly, Islamabad pushes
for larger volumes of fish exports. Both NDMA and PDMA would
want to make the book compulsory reading for staff, starting with their
leadership (in and out of uniform). Optimistically, the result will be
less forced adaption by the poor to the inequity maintained by wealth. The entire book is
useful reading, even in disagreement upon private and public action for
promoting equitable responses in ecological responsibility. Deserving
special recommendation are entire chapters 1 (Introduction), 6 (Now and
Later), and 8 (Sustainable Business, optimistically) along with the
following sections from remaining chapters. Section 2.6 summarises
consequences for nature of the present world of production and
consumption; section 3.5 is a concise bringing together of people, planet
and profits; Section 4.8 argues for essential cooperation across society;
section 5.5 extends to cooperation in international action for shared
responsibility; Section 7.5 deals with political and economic instruments
to reverse environmental degradation, though less critically than one
would want. Several tables and figures stand out, including Table 3.6 and
Figure 3.24 for considering both people and nature as parts of the same
ecosystem. Table 6.1 is an overview of ecosystem services; Figures 7.5-6
illustrates feedbacks for climate change; Table 8.4 on required
professional competency applies to both bureaucracy and business. Innovatively promised is
a companion website offering additional material and a workbook, at
www.routledge.com/cw/roorda. We have no doubt that it will not disappoint. The author gives less
space than deserved for eliminating extreme inequality in use of natural
resources. Oddly, we found no substantive discussion of specific
social-environmental interactions for women. Consider e.g. the damage to
female reproductive systems on picking pesticide-laden cotton, and of
those wading into polluted water around Baba and Bhit islands for
obtaining mangrove branches as fuel. It is our belief that existing
inequity is a major impediment to attaining ecological sustainability. There is much talk of
the disparity between nations but less attention is evident for disparity
within countries: among regions and among people. An example is the
dumping of waste from KP and Punjab into the Indus river: much of Sindh is
adversely affected, especially the uncompensated poor in Badin. With a
very unequal distribution of upstream land ownership, it is obvious that
it’s the rich who benefit most from such pollution, specially by high
subsidy in irrigation and a trivial income tax levy. The nasty LBOD
project is an inter-provincial problem, but the recent RBOD project seems
to be a devastation entirely created within Sindh. Fisherfolk in Karachi
are forced to eat chicken rather than fish because the cost of chicken is
kept ‘low’ by using ‘trash’ fish as meal for chicken; and the
price of premium fish remains high by subsidising exports. Both encourage
depletion of fish stocks. All readers would gain
from a subsequent look at other case materials — especially those from
the IUCN and WWF, and also from the more progressive organizations like
Sungi (established by the late Omar Asghar Khan) and SDPI (set up by Tariq
Banuri). The Pakistan National Conservation Strategy and its subsequent
review are also useful reading. Thoughtful readers would benefit much from
Rohan D’Souza, specially his recent edited volume of essays from the EPW
as Environment, Technology and Development. We also wish to draw attention
to unpublished work such as by Mushtaq Gaadi on Chashma and Taunsa
irrigation systems, of Mustafa Talpur on the LBOD, and of our revered
friend, the late Professor Muhammad Nauman on Chotiari reservoir in
addition to the ILO publications on debt bondage in agriculture and
industry. The book provides an
opportunity to goad us into getting out of escapism and towards action for
‘our’ problems rather than await solutions by ‘them’. There is
real danger of remaining irresponsible in blaming all ills on colonialism.
Yes, we inherited the Sukkur Barrage but ‘independent’ Sindh
constructed the Kotri barrage? Careful reflection will
yield many questions but without pre-packaged answers. Such as what to do
about expanding exports of cotton and textiles, whose production has
terrible human (pesticide poisoning of women as pickers, unhealthy work
conditions in power looms) and ecological consequences (chemical pollution
of soil and water). All of us have the responsibility to strengthen
compliance with already strong legislation in the Environmental Protection
Act but largely ignored by and repeatedly violated by both federal and
provincial governments. In the current era of judicial activism, we should
consider serious effort at educating the judiciary as part of the ADB-funded
‘access to justice’.
The Qazi we knew Qazi Hussain
Ahmad’s death on January 6, 2013, produced many laudatory obituaries in
Pakistan’s Urdu press. For example, Jang, January 7, described him as a
“great mujahid of Islam.” However, the international media did not
take much notice of his passing. With the exception of the London-based
The Independent newspaper, no international publication printed his
obituary. Even The Independent obituary was rather superficial and
perfunctory. It is interesting to
note that hardly anybody knew Eqbal Ahmad in Pakistan, but his obituaries
were published by The Economist and The Guardian. The Guardian obituary
was written by Prof Edward Said (1935-2003). Eqbal died on May 11, 1999,
in Islamabad. Urdu newspapers largely ignored his death. The obituaries did not
mention some important facts. These are some of the omitted facts. Qazi Sahib was named
Husain Ahmad after the then president of the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Hind (JUH),
Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani, by his father Maulana Qazi Abdur Rabb, who
was the JUH’s provincial president. It is a well-known fact that the JUH
was opposed to the partition. Between 1973 and 1977,
he toured Afghanistan five times through different channels and it was due
to these contacts that Burhanuddin Rabbani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Maulvi
Younas Khalis and their associates moved to Pakistan to wage jihad. Asif Luqman Qazi, Qazi
Sahib’s elder son, did his MBA at Boston University. Qazi Sahib did
everything possible to facilitate his son’s studies in the United
States. He reportedly wrote a letter to the US ambassador in this regard. Qazi Sahib visited the
United States in July 2001. Speaking at the Brookings Institution, he
praised the US for being a pluralist society, where he could go to a
mosque and freely proselytize. He pointed proudly to his shalwar-kameez,
declaring he could dress as he pleased. He remarked that those of his
family members who had migrated to the US felt quite at home. It may be
added here that his daughter, Khaula Qazi, lives in the United States.
Nawa-i-Waqt editorially criticised him for visiting the United States. In the wake of 9/11
attacks, he wrote a pretty detailed article critical of the Taliban’s
governance. It appeared in Nawa-i-Waqt. He attended a reception at the US
Embassy and told Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin: “We are not anti-American
people.” He blamed the 9/11
attacks on the Jews. In fact, he was in denial about the existence of al
Qaeda. Jasarat (June 15, 2002) quoted him as saying, “al Qaeda does not
exist anywhere in the world. It is an American fabrication.” However, he
opposed any operation against Bin Laden, saying that 95% of Pakistan
people are with him (Jasarat, February 28, 2004). Interestingly,
Nawa-i-Waqt (October 13, 2002) quoted Syed Munawar Hasan as saying that
the “al Qaeda leaders are our brethren”. Qazi Sahib was sorely
disappointed with the MMA government in the NWFP. Within 18 months of the
formation of the MMA government, he told a group of sympathetic
journalists in Lahore: “The MMA government had become a huge millstone
around our neck. The sooner it is dismissed the better.” Addressing a rally in
Rawalpindi on January 25, 2004, he said that was all right if Dr Qadeer
Khan had billions of dollars in his bank accounts. Nawa-i-Wqat published
an editorial to offer a ringing endorsement of this statement. He was a big supporter
of the Kargil operation. Nawa-i-Waqt (July 23, 2004) quoted him as saying
Kargil operation was undertaken with good intentions. Pakistan should plan
another Kargil. There is no need to form a commission to look into this
operation. Despite these omissions,
some of the obituaries did contain useful insights. Irfan Siddiqi (Jang,
January 8) suggested that after quitting as the Jamaat chief, Qazi Sahib
felt hamstrung lest his activities should annoy his successor, Syed
Munawar Hasan. (There are reports that once his successor had conveyed a
message to him that his continued activism, particularly on the Jamaat
platform, would not let him consolidate his position.) In his column of January
9, Tanveer Qaiser Shahid, resident editor, Express, Islamabad, wrote that
Jan Goodwin’s Price of Honor (1994) is a magnificent book. After doing
extensive research and spending several months in Pakistan, she had
written the feudal lords in Sindh and South Punjab married off their
daughters and sisters to the Quran. When I raised this issue with Qazi
Sahib, he dismissed this book, saying, “You young journalists quickly
believe in the rubbish that anti-Islamic Jewish authors write. What is the
compulsion to read such books?” Hamid Mir (Jang, January
7, 2013) writes that Qazi Sahib and he were in Tehran in April 2001.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar invited them to lunch. Qazi Sahib harshly criticised
some of Hekmatyar’s decision. “If Hizb-i-Islami and Jamiat-i-Islami
had desisted from fighting each other, the Taliban would not have come
into existence,” he said. During the meeting, Qazi Sahib insisted on the
talks between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. Asadullah Ghalib
(Express, January 7) quoted Qazi Sahib as saying that he had tried to
convince the Taliban that their opposition to girls’ education and some
other unpopular measures had nothing to do with the Sharia. It all stemmed
from tribal values. The writer is author of
bilingual book “Handbook of Functional English”. shakil.chaudhary@gmail.com
Measles-related deaths in flood affected areas of Sindh call for urgent remedies By Jan Khaskheli It was the last
week of November 2012 when reports about the spread of preventable measles
in the flood-affected areas of upper Sindh started appearing in the local
press. But the authorities concerned did not pay any heed to such reports
and take precautionary measures to avoid the deaths of minor children,
mostly in the remote villages. A journalists’ team
visiting the flood affected areas found that deaths of dozens of children
were reported every week from the villages and many more were suffering
from the diseases — post-measles complications. Doctors in Shikarpur
district, dealing with the patients, said there were 3 to 4 deaths daily.
This was enough for the provincial government’s health department to
intervene and save the lives of children, who were living in vulnerable
situation without proper nutrition and shelter. According to the Sindh
People’s Commission on Disaster Prevention and Management (SPCDPM) the
effects of measles in the remote villages of upper Sindh are multiplied
because of poor nourishment of children. Sindh Relief Minister Haleem Adil
Shaikh has called the measles outbreak a fresh disaster in the
flood-affected areas of Sindh as more deaths have been reported now than
it was when the flood came in 2012. “After northern
districts like Kashmore, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Qambar-Shahdadkot, now
the people in the worst affected Dadu district are crying for help. After
45 days, the number is said to have doubled — 400 children. The number
is soaring,” informed the minister. Information gathered
from the flood-hit areas reveal that the government’s Irrigation
Department has failed to drain out the floodwater and standing water is
considered the main cause of such diseases among children. Sharing experiences
after visiting the affected areas, Haleem Adil Shaikh pointed out that the
number of causalities being pronounced by the government officials is not
correct, as the death toll could be more than that. Several villages are
still inundated and people do not have access to their villages. Some
villagers wade through the 3-4 feet water to reach their homes. They are
yet to resume their normal activities. “I have personally
visited the areas in the flood affected districts of Sukkur, Ghotki,
Khairpur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmor, Kambar and Dadu, where a large
number of children are suffering from this epidemic. It is a new disaster,
which needs proper and effective action,” he said. “Irony is that neither
the government functionaries are active nor are humanitarian organisations
in the field to rescue the children,” he said, adding that this can be
gauged from the fact that “one child died in my hands because she
reached Basic Health Unit (BHU) at the last moment and could not receive
proper treatment”. There is acute shortage
of measles’ vaccines. Certain health officials are administering expired
vaccines and nobody is there to take action against them. Doctors running
private clinics do not bother to advise the parents to take their children
to government hospitals. That is why there is no exact data. Children
dying are not registered in any government or private clinics. There is no awareness
among the parents, hence they lose precious time. They cannot take
decisions what to do because many villages in different districts are
still inundated. An official of World
Health Organisation (WHO), who was reluctant to be quoted, said “In
fact, now it has become epidemic and needs time to be controlled. Almost
all the children have been vaccinated and those suffering from the problem
are being taken care of properly through different teams.” He said measles vaccines
usually are administered to children under nine-month age. The children
afflicted with the disease do not need this vaccine rather they should be
properly treated to save their lives. The official confirmed the shortage
of vaccines, saying vaccines have been brought from other countries to
control the disease.
case Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) is a major lifeline for countries like Pakistan whose
economies are not healthy enough to provide jobs and sustenance to the
masses. With law and order and image issues further marring the scenario,
attracting FDI becomes next to impossible. No doubt the leading
business conglomerates of the world are shying from investing here and
their representatives are not willing to travel here. In this situation,
the local businesses with stakes abroad are thought to be the best bet. Of
late, they are being wooed by the government to come to the rescue of the
state and help it manage affairs of its assets. Financially not strong
enough to fully buy out state enterprises in privatisation deals, these
businesses can become partners in projects run on Private Public
Partnerships (PPP). A historical analysis of the privatisation process
reveals that since 2006, the programme has maintained an extremely slow
pace — only a handful of small deals could be carried out with the last
one finalised in 2008. The deal was regarding the privatisation of Hazara
Phosphate Fertilizers Limited which fetched the government an amount of
Rs1.34 billion. The hearing of Pakistan Steel Mills case by the Supreme
Court of Pakistan and identification of irregularities in the deal have
made the entire privatisation process suspicious. As a consequence, it
seems, the Privatisation of Commission of Pakistan (PCP) has distanced
itself even from the term privatisation and is talking about entering into
PPPs with interested parties. The organisations up for deals under PPP are
The SME Bank Limited, National Power Construction Company (NPCC),
Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO), Peshawar Electric Supply
Company (PESCO), Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO), Hyderabad
Electric Supply Company (HESCO), Jamshoro Power Company Limited (JPCL),
Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC), Pakistan Machine Tool Factory, Pakistan
Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC), Morafco Industries (Machinery as
is where is basis), Pakistan Railways, PTDC Motels and Restaurants,
Utility Store Corporation and Stores, Pakistan Post, Kot Addu Power
Company (KAPCO), National Insurance Company (Ex-National Insurance
Corporation), Pakistan Reinsurance Company (Ex-Pakistan Insurance
Corporation), State Life Insurance Corporation, Printing Corporation of
Pakistan Limited, Services International Hotel, Sindh Engineering Limited
and Republic Motors Limited. Ideally, under the
proposed deals, the assets remain in the possession of the state-owned
entities and the private partners get an opportunity to make profits after
investing money and putting the otherwise loss-making assets into
productive use. Despite the existing potential in such deals, the
developments in this direction are also not satisfactory and there are
reasons to it. A few projects finalised in the past have become targets of
criticism form different quarters including the employees facing lay-off
and resultantly coming under judicial scrutiny as well. There are other reasons
as well that are defined in a paper on “Privatization in Emerging
Markets: Pakistan’s Perspective” by Mubbsher Munawar Khan, Assistant
Professor, Hailey College of Commerce, University of the Punjab. He writes
the highly recommended entities for privatisation are eight public sector
entities (PSEs) that are making an annual loss of around Rs200 billion.
“Though the present government wants privatisation of these loss-making
units on urgent basis, it has not succeeded in convincing all the stake
holders like judiciary, cabinet, employees and trade unions of the
concerned corporations. Resistance by employees of these corporations is
the major hindrance in the process of privatisation.” The support for
involvement of private sector in the affairs of state-owned entities comes
from various quarters. For example, the Security and Exchange Commission
of Pakistan (SECP) Chairman Muhammad Ali has repeatedly expressed that
public sector enterprises should be privatised in order to reduce
corruption in the country. Besides, there have been
suggestions about induction of private sector representatives in boards of
directors of the administrative and policy-making bodies of these
organisations. The reason cited for this suggestion is that it is mainly
corruption which has turned several state owned entities like Pakistan
International Airlines, WAPDA, Railways and Pakistan Steel Mills into huge
loss-making organisations. Anyhow, stakeholders
involved in such deals have termed the doctrine of welfare populism a
major factor in the whole process. Their point is that the governments
have stayed away from laying off surplus staff from public sector
organisations such as PIA just to ward off negative sentiments against
their governments. Instead, they regularly give more jobs to their
political supporters to inflate their existing vote banks. Over the years, superior
courts have also taken populist measures such as fixing prices of
commodities, opposing lay offs, putting deals under scrutiny on complaints
of misappropriations etc. The intentions are right
but sometimes the whole process takes so much time that the very purpose
of benefiting from the deal is compromised, says a stakeholder in Royal
Palm Golf and Country Club (RPGCC) case. As a case in point, this deal can
be discussed here. Though the decisions have come in the favour of the
parties running its affairs, the time the case has consumed and the hassle
they have gone through may turn other away from entering into similar
deals, he adds. Though Pakistan Railways
owns prime commercial and agricultural lands worth billions of rupees, it
is unable to pay salaries and pensions or run its operations. Besides, it
is under a debt well above Rs44 billion and looking towards the government
for a financial package to bail it out. As per details, the
RPGCC was completed at a cost of Rs1.5 billion and the consortium
consisting of Malaysian & Pakistan companies Maxcorp Husnain Pakistan
Limited (MHPL) was required to redesign, develop, finance, operate and
manage the Railways’ Golf Club on 140 acres during its 49 years lease
term and, thereafter, transfer it back to Pakistan Railways as per the
agreement. In April 2008, the
National Assembly constituted a Special Committee to probe the allegations
that Pakistan Railways Golf Course was awarded to the bidder at a
throw-away price, but the findings were never made public. On the other
hand, the Standing Committee of Pakistan Senate also examined the project
and declared the project most viable for Pakistan Railways stating: a. Railways should
discontinue the sale of land and should either (a) give the land on rental
basis or (b) start joint ventures under public-private partnerships for
improvement in the financial and operational condition of Railways. b. Royal Palm should act
in accordance with the terms and conditions of the valid agreement,
including the initiation of the construction of the five-star hotel and
the payment of outstanding amount to Railways, which is already in
financial distress. Railways was instructed to inform the Standing
Committee about the progress made in this regard. In January 2011, Ishaq
Khakwani, ex-minister Pakistan Railways, filed a petition in the Supreme
Court against the Pakistan Railways Board and others inviting attention
about commercialisation of Railways Golf Course as a matter of public
interest. The SC has heard the case and reserved the decision and, in a
separate suo motu notice, asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)
to probe this project. Earlier, a case filed by the petitioner was heard
by Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday of the Lahore High Court and the
decision came in favour of RPGCC. An inquiry/investigation
was conducted by the NAB from November 2011 to September 2012 and a report
was filed with the Supreme Court of Pakistan in which the NAB has not
found any irregularity or misappropriation on the part of the
developer/private sector and has recommended to continue the project with
revised and improved commercial/financial terms between the developers and
Pakistan Railways. caption Needs money to stay on
track.
Missed targets Like failures on
almost all fronts, the present government during the last five years could
not collect taxes according to its own estimates. The Federal Board of
Revenue (FBR) missed all the assigned targets, failed to reach two
trillion’s mark against the actual tax potential of at least Rs8
trillion. The shortfall in the first six months of the current fiscal year
is enormous — the FBR collected just Rs840.7 billion, meaning by that
for the remaining period, on an average, monthly collection of Rs256.7
billion is required to meet the assigned target of Rs2381 billion, which
was reportedly to be revised to Rs2231 billion in the coming days. Every December,
thousands of companies file returns and pay huge amounts (not by any
effort of the FBR field formations) — the collection for December 2012,
provisionally declared at Rs210.7 billion, fell short of target. It poses
a challenge to the FBR — if during the next six months, no significant
demand is created or amnesty scheme is not approved, revenue shortfall
will further increase. According to latest
estimates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pakistan is unlikely
to achieve budgetary targets of revenue collection and gross domestic
product (GDP) growth for the current fiscal year. The IMF says revenue
will be short by Rs150 billion and consequently budget deficit target of
4.7 per cent could not be achieved. The IMF has conveyed to the FBR that
it may not achieve even the downward revised revenue collection target of
Rs2231 billion during 2012-13. The tax authorities have
recently briefed the IMF mission about the revenue collection position up
to July-January 2012-13 and measures to achieve target including
Investment Tax Scheme (ITS) and Tax Registration Enforcement Initiative (TREI).
The FBR officials informed the IMF that the tax machinery had collected
around Rs915 billion till January 9, 2013 and expressed optimism that they
would achieve Rs2231 billion revised revenue collection target for current
fiscal year. They also briefed the team about the tax amnesty scheme which
they said “is expected to be approved by the Parliament in the upcoming
session and likely to mobilise additional revenue of Rs115-150 billion”. The FBR is trying its
best to achieve collection target fixed at the time of budget 2012-13 and
its main hope hinges on enforcement of tax registration and investment
schemes. The passage of these schemes by the National Assembly is being
resisted by the opposition and even by the coalition partners. According
to reports, the FBR has planned an alternate strategy to meet the targets
in case approval is delayed or declined by the legislators. This strategy
includes issuance of notices to those wealthy who never bothered to file
tax returns or even obtain National Tax Numbers (NTNs). Let us hope that
the Assembly disapproves the amnesty schemes — though it is highly
improbable — and the FBR for the first time in history does for what it
is paid for by the honest taxpayers. In November 2012, the
FBR finalised a 3-Year Tax Strategic Plan containing lucrative incentives
like slashing sales tax rate from 16 to 10 per cent, corporate income tax
from 35% to 30% and substantial reduction in tax rates for individuals
“provided the tax-base expands to at least 4 million people through
proposed amnesty schemes”. This plan was discussed with the IMF mission,
which reportedly found it impractical, overambitious and based on mere
assumptions. The FBR is, however,
confident that under the 3-Year Strategic Plan, it will electronically
document personal expenditures of the affluent individuals ensuring proper
assessment of income tax. This task was part and parcel of World Bank
funded Tax Administration Reforms Programme (TARP), a five-year long
US$110 million project, which was extended for another year on the request
of the FBR. In 2013, the FBR is again asking for three years to complete
this task! It is imperative to ask the FBR that after wasting huge funds
and six years; is it justified to still express inability to issue
electronic notices to tax delinquents. The 3-Year Strategic
Plan talks about: (a) major steps in countering bogus sales tax refunds
and input tax adjustments with the help of risk-based system, (b)
controlling inadmissible input tax adjustments through effective checking
of sales tax invoices and purchases made within the supply chain of Value
Added Tax (VAT), (c) enforcing monthly filing of sales tax and federal
excise returns by improving the existing system, (d) checking of fake and
flying invoices with the help of electronic verification system to plug in
the loopholes within the VAT regime, (e) improving customs controls by
posting new force of efficient staff at borders, pickets and check points
and (g) increasing tax-to-GDP ratio substantially. There is a consensus
that in order to overcome its fiscal and economic woes, Pakistan needs to
strive hard to achieve a reasonable tax-to-GDP ratio between 15 to 20 per
cent — it is presently only 9.1 per cent, which is one of the lowest in
the world. The FBR has failed to improve tax-to-GDP ratio despite getting
huge funds and best local and international consultancy under TARP and now
wants to waste more money under 3-Year Strategic Plan. Even for promoting
the proposed amnesty schemes, at the time of seeking approval from the
Cabinet, it conveyed that 5% of the tax revenue would be expended on
publicity and advertisements and 1.5% of the revenue receipts would be the
share of National Database Registration Authority (NADRA). This is the
mindset of apex revenue authority that is required under the law to
enforce tax obligations. Behind the present pathetic situation on taxation
front the main culprit is FBR — an organisation suffering from
in-fighting, inefficiency, incompetence and corruption. No tax reform agenda in
Pakistan will succeed unless the FBR is made an autonomous body insulated
from outside political, financial and administrative pressures. Parliament
should devise, through a democratic process, a rational and consensual tax
policy after taking input from all the stakeholders and experts in the
field. This alone can help in broadening the tax base and improving
tax-to-GDP ratio in the country to a respectable level — India and Iran
have achieved the level of 17% and 16% respectively by adopting the same
measures in recent times. Simultaneously, law should be passed requiring
the FBR to publish directory of taxpayers every year so it can be seen how
much tax is paid by high-ranking civil-military officials, judges,
politicians, public office holders, rich professionals and businessmen and
how much wealth is owned by them. The existing taxes —
sales tax at exorbitant rate of 16% to 19.5% with lots of exemptions,
excessive withholding taxes, presumptive and minimum taxes and
non-collection of agricultural income tax — are unjust, discriminatory
and favour the rich. There exists massive evasion of taxes, courtesy
unholy alliance between the tax collectors and tax evaders. Existing tax
system has failed to create equity and social justice, besides not
generating the desired tax-to-GDP ratio. To improve tax-to-GDP ratio, tax
gap will have to be bridged — withdrawal of all kinds of exemptions and
concessions is a prerequisite to plug revenue leakages and ensure
effective enforcement of tax obligations across the board. The writers, lawyers and
authors of many books, are at Adjunct Faculty members at Lahore University
of Management Sciences (LUMS).
|
|
