|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
   |
Region A 30-horse
carriage Foreign A healthy
debate Refugees Firstperson The
real versus the visible
South Asian flour millers are
coming together while the government in Pakistan watches cautiously from the
sidelines By Aoun Sahi Wheat is the most common staple food of millions of people in South Asia. Different countries of the region have a lot of when it comes to wheat cultivation, production and consumption. India at present is the third biggest wheat producer in the world while Pakistan stands at 8th position. Even then, in the last decade both the countries were importing wheat mainly due to their low per acre yield. The fact that Pakistan and India are among five major wheat consuming countries in the world further highlights the importance of the commodity in South Asia. Of late Pakistan has been producing more wheat than it consumes due to increased per acre yield and favourable climatic condition. India, too, has been able to wean itself from importing the stuff. But the situation is not as good in other countries in South Asia as it seems in India and Pakistan. And rest of the countries in the region have to import most of the wheat they consume. Before weighing their options to rectify the situation in their favour, it is necessary to know how much wheat each country in South Asia produces and how much does it consume. Per capita wheat consumption in Pakistan is the highest in South Asia. The country consumes more than 22 million tons of wheat every years while it produces almost the same amount of the commodity in the same period of time. Punjab's share is more than 80 per cent in total wheat production in Pakistan. Though India's wheat production came down to 69 million tons last season, it consumes 75 million tons of wheat every year. The major wheat producing states of India are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar which together account for around 93 per cent of the country's total wheat production. Bangladesh is mainly a rice producing and consuming country. Though rice is still the preferred food for most Bangladeshis, wheat consumption levels have risen rapidly in the country recently. This year Bangladesh so far has imported about two million tons of wheat to supplement local wheat production which is too meagre to meet the local demand. Nepal and Sri Lanka depend entirely on imported wheat to meet their demand. But all three countries -- Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal -- import most of the wheat they need from Australia. This is yet another reminder of the meagre intre-regional trade in South Asia which is around four per cent of their total trade. This is despite the fact that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) has existed for about 20 years, with the sole purpose of promoting cooperation across the region. Although intra-South Asian trade in wheat is as meagre as in other goods, there exists a lot of potential to give it a big boost, only if the states in the region allow it to happen. That the states are a hindrance rather than a help in promoting regional trade is because of the fact that most trade-related policies and decisions are made at the government level, giving other stakeholders minimum importance in policymaking. This creates a lot of problems for regional businessmen to do business at an intra-regional level. It's in this context that wheat-flour millers of South Asia have come together to create a regional body. Yet to be named, this forum will have its headquarter in Lahore, led by a Pakistani flour miller Bilal Aslam Sufi. He also happens to head the Indo-Pak Flour Mills Association and hopes to complete the process of the forum's formation in the next couple of months. According to the figures he provides to The News on Sunday, Pakistan has 1,139 flour mills. India 1,100, Bangladesh 300, Nepal 29 and Sri Lanka has only four flour mills. "The purpose to form this body is to exchange scientific, technical, economic information and share experiences in milling practices. It will also help flour millers support each other wherever necessary," says Bilal. "In addition to cooperation in wheat production and flour milling, there are areas like bakery production which we can explore to cooperate at a regional level. This will help us benefit from each other's potential as well as experience and knowledge. This will result in meeting our needs for our own regional resources instead of keeping to depend on the West," he tells TNS. But Bilal clarifies that the forum will not work for the millers alone. "It will be a platform for agriculturists, nutrition experts, bakers, technologists as well as millers from across South Asia to explore areas of cooperation and coordination." The forum will comprise the central flour mills associations of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. "The flour mills associations of these five countries are extremely interested in having a platform on regional level. All of them have confirmed their participation in a joint meeting to be held in Lahore in a couple of months' time to finalise the structure and agenda of this regional forum. Its articles of association and other details will also be finalised in that meeting,"says Bilal. Explaining how the idea came about, he tells TNS that the proposed organisation is "basically an expansion of the Indo-Pak flour mills association launched in a meeting of flour millers of Pakistan and India in New Delhi in September 2004". The basic idea behind the formation of Pak-India forum was the mutual exchange of knowledge between the wheat and flour industry of both countries. "Later in a meeting held in April 2006 in India, we decided to expand our area of influence throughout the region," says Bilal. Pointing out the areas of possible cooperation among South Asian flour millers, he says: "India has a good network of milling schools, where different steps of flour milling including purchasing, production, marketing and sales are being taught on scientific grounds. In Pakistan we are using latest milling practices but we lack qualified and skilled work force because we do not have any institute of flour milling. The flour milling is relatively a new subject in the other countries in the region. They can turn out to be a very good market for Pakistani flour and milling technology." Bilal thinks Pakistan will be the biggest beneficiary if the proposed forum is allowed to work properly. "On the one hand we can benefit from Indian experience in flour milling while, on the other hand, it is impossible for others to capture our market simply because eating habits vary widely across South Asia. People in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka eat small chapatis mostly made from low class ground flour which does not have the capacity to compete with Pakistani flour. Bilal also says that Pakistan also has a quantitative benefit in wheat and flour trade. "Pakistan harvested a very good wheat crop last season. At present Pakistan has at least five million tons of surplus wheat that is being wasted in stores. If Bangladesh can import wheat from Australia, why can't it import the commodity from Pakistan?" He also says that the benefits of coming together at the bilateral and regional level are already visible in terms of industry information changing borders in no time. "India's wheat production was relatively low last season. This information was passed to us through our Indian partner. We informed the Punjab Food Department some six months ago that India this year would have to import wheat. Their flour millers also showed interest in importing wheat from Pakistan." This could have been God-send opportunity for Pakistan which is always in search of markets to export its surplus wheat. But Bilal points out that it could not be realised "due to bureaucratic constrains". After failing to convince the government, "we proposed that the government allow flour millers to export surplus wheat to India through our organisation. We were told that individuals were not allowed to export wheat." Bilal says the political will need to give the wheat export to India a go ahead is particularly lacking these days because the peace process between the two countries stands suspended, with little hope for its revival in near future. "At the end of the day India imported wheat from Russia, Australia, and Central Asian Republics." Although Bilal sufi is very optimistic about the future of the regional organisation he will be heading, there are many other flour millers in Pakistan who think it as a far-fetched idea. They say it is a distant dream to expand cooperation to the regional level when a lot of local problems remain unresolved. "First we should try to solve our local problems. In a country where we have problems even in inter-district wheat transportation, it looks like a dream to have business relationship with flour mills of other countries," says Liaqat Ali Khan Khakwani, owner of Abrar flour mill in Multan. He is also the secretary of Indo-Pak flour mills association and a former chairman of Punjab Flour Mills Association. The government, too, is not very enthusiastic about the idea of regional cooperation among the flour millers and the wheat and flour trade in the region through the proposed regional forum. According to Punjab Food Minister Chaudhry Iqbal it is a good step that flour millers of South Asia are setting up a regional organisation. "But so far the flour millers have not consulted government on the issue," he tells TNS. "Also, it is a fact that we do not provide wheat to flour millers to export it to other countries." This is because, he says, the Punjab government is giving a subsidy on wheat price to keep wheat-flour available for the common people of Pakistan. "It's not for flour millers to misuse. If we allow them to export wheat and flour how will we feed common people of Pakistan? the minister asks. He says it is right that at present Pakistan has at least five million tons of surplus wheat. "We have sent a summary to the federal government for its export. It's up to the federal government decide how it allows its export and to whom." Muhammad Ismail Qureshi, federal secretary for food, agriculture and livestock, echoes the provincial minister. "It's a good initiative and will definitely help regional flour milling industry because the flour millers of different countries of South Asia will have a close coordination among them through this platform. They will learn from each other's experiences." He says the government does not have any reservation as long as the proposed forum remains a technical body having nothing to do with wheat policy. "In pakistan wheat is always a very sensitive issue and we form the policy to export or import it according to our wheat production every year."
The new index introduced at
the Karachi Stock Exchange aims at showing a true picture of Pakistan's
biggest capital market By Shujauddin Qureshi The much awaited reformed index of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) was at last launched at Pakistan's leading bourse on September 1, 2006. Known as KSE-30 index, it is expected by the exchange's management to provide a true picture of the country's capital market to the prospective investors. It is widely believed by market insiders and observers that the two existing indices -- KSE-100 and All Share -- have failed to provide a proper image of the market. It is an international trend that these days that performing and free-floated companies make the benchmark index of share markets. Every major stock exchange has indices based on free-floated companies. Indices like Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc. (MSCI), Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE), Standard & Poors (S&P), Dow Jones STOXX and Bombay Exchange Sensitive Index (Sensex) have already adopted the same practices. It is for the first time that Pakistani capital market has introduced an index based on free-floated trade. The introduction of a new index at KSE is also in line with the reform process of the share markets in the country, to make them more transparent and more attractive for local as well as foreign investors. A lot of others steps have already been made or being made by the regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, and the management of bourses to make the market more attractive. For instance, a continuous financing system (CFS) is being introduced to replace the old badla or Carry Over Transactions (COT). A number of committees with representation from the public and the private sectors are hard at work to finalise various aspects of the improved working of the stock market. Though the KSE-100 index is still being widely used by local investors as the benchmark index and it has still not lost its validity, there was need to adopt international best practices in this regard. The KSE-100 Index, first introduced in November 1991, is a capital weighted index and consists of 100 companies representing about 86 per cent of the market capitalisation of the exchange. To ensure full market representation, the company with the highest market capitalisation from each sector is also included in this index. But at times this index gave wrong information about the performance of the market because it showed the performance of only the highest weighted company. For example, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) had a weightage of 35 per cent followed by Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) which had a weightage of 14 per cent. If only these two companies performed well, it meant the index would also move ahead most of the time. Any change in the prices in these heavyweight companies was having tremendous impact on the overall market. So the need was felt to have an index representing a true picture of the market. The other index in vogue at the Karachi Stock Exchange is called the All Share Index. This index was launched in 1995 to provide the basis for index trading in the futures. It may be noted here that both the older indices would continue to operate in the market side by side with the new KSE-30 index. The latest index, based on 30 free-floated companies with biggest market capitalisation and best trading performance, has been designed to provide actual trading sentiment of the market to the prospective investors. "The new index will provide a true picture of the market because most of companies in this index are those most of whose shares are already being traded at the stock exchanges," says Abid Ali Habib, a director at the KSE. He says the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) was the single dominating company in KSE-100 Index, whereas the company has floated only 5 per cent of its total shares. "Rest of its shares are not available for trading. The government still holds them. Similarly PTCL has floated only 12 per cent of its shares in the capital market. The rest of its shares of are either with its new owners or with the government." The KSE-30 index will be based on both free-floated companies and the turnover of active scrips. Free-floated companies are those which have floated a large proportion of their shares at the stock market and whose shares are readily available for trading at the stock exchange. Only the companies registered with the Central Depository Company (CDC) will be eligible for inclusion in KSE-30 Index. KSE-30 Index's base starts from 10,000 points and its composition will be revised on half yearly basis. The first review will be held in March, 2007. This review will be based on the performance of the companies during the first half of current fiscal year (July-December). The companies which will end up in the defaulters' counter and/or their trading is suspended for any reason, or they are declared non-tradable in the preceding six months will not be included in the KSE-30 index next time. Moreover, the eligible companies should have a formal listing history of at least two months at the KSE and they must have an operational track record of at least one financial year. They should also not have defaulted on listing regulations. Leading banks have come at the top of the new index in the first instance with the Muslim Commercial Bank at the peak with a weightage of 11.06 per cent, followed by the National Bank of Pakistan at the second position with 7.85 per cent weightage. Pakistan Oilfields Limited with 7.65 per cent weightage comes third on the new index. The other leading companies in KSE-30 index are: Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, Pakistan State Oil Company Limited, Hub Power Company Limited, Engro Chemical (Pakistan) Limited, PICIC, DG Khan Cement Company Limited, The Bank of Punjab, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited, Faysal Bank Limited, Bank Al-Habib Limited, Lucky Cement Limited, Nishat Mills Limited, Askari Commercial Bank Limited, Adamjee Insurance Company Limited, Kot Addu Power Company Limited, Unilever Pakistan Limited, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited, Sui Southern Gas Company Limited and Dawood Hercules Chemicals. "The new index will help foreign investors to consider investing in Pakistani market because it reflects trading of only active scrips," says Atiq Ahmed, a research analyst at the Capital One Equities Limited. The index will provide a base for further growth of the capital market in the country, he adds. Karachi Stock Exchange is considered a growing capital market of the world since 2002, when the leading American magazine Business Week declared it the best performing stock market in the world. Another magazine USA Today has also termed the Karachi Stock Exchange as one of the best performing bourses. Pakistan's capital market, despite suffering a number of scandals and crises in the recent years, still enjoys the confidence of foreign investors. The new index has received a good response from the market and it had reached at 12,567.09 points on Wednesday (September 6, 2006), registering an increase of more than 2000 points since its launch. But it will take some time before it is totally accepted by all and sundry in the market. Explosive, handle with extreme caution By giving commercial
relations precedence over defence ties, Pakistan can avoid getting dragged
into Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. By Sanam Noor The recent attack in Colombo on the convoy of Bashir Wali Mohammed, Pakistan's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, marked a disturbing and unprecedented development in the history of the war-torn island country as well as in its relations with Pakistan. Though the High Commissioner remained unhurt, the death of seven people, four of which were his bodyguards, as a result of the claymore mine explosion, meant that it was a narrow escape for him. Significantly, it was the first time that a foreign diplomat had been targeted in Sri Lanka where otherwise attacks on government officials have become a routine thing. According to reports, what provoked the attack was a defence deal between Pakistan and Sri Lanka under which Islamabad was about to send shiploads of military hardware worth 150 million dollars to help Colombo strengthen its army muscle in its 'fight against terrorism'. Apparently the deal was reached during President Mahinda Rajapakse's visit to Pakistan in April this year. But Pakistan is not the only country to engage in defence cooperation with Sri Lanka. There are other countries which are supportive of the Sri Lankan government and have provided it with arms and ammunition. These including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Malaysia and Australia. So why was Pakistan targeted there? It is a matter of speculation as to who undertook the attacks but the strongest indication is that it was the work of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which was feeling cagey about the growing defence ties between the two states at a time when armed conflict has re-intensified in Sri Lanka. Though the LTTE has denied involvement in the assault, what links it with the assassination attempt is the level of military relations between Islamabad and Colombo and its fallout for the whole armed struggle between the Tamils and the Sri Lankan government. The way the attack was carried out also points the finger towards the Tamil Tigers' involvement. The technology that is required in making sophisticated claymore mines belongs to the LTTE alone in Sri Lanka. Pakistan-Sri Lanka defence relations The Sri Lankan government considers military assistance by Pakistan as an important factor in quelling the armed insurgency in the northeast of the island. Islamabad has been the main supplier of small arms to Sri Lanka since the 1980s when the centuries-old ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka assumed its current shape. The architect of this 'strategic engagement' was none other than General Ziaul Haq who is known to have taken special interest in building up the defence capability of Sri Lanka against Tamil Tigers. During his visit to Sri Lanka in December 1985, General Ziaul Haq held out strong assurances to the leadership in Colombo of his country's all-out diplomatic, military and moral support. Responding to a query by an Indian journalist during the visit about Pakistan's military support to Sri Lanka, he had said: "Weapons, weapons, if Sri Lanka only asks, I will give them anything." The successive governments in Pakistan stuck to that assurance and continued with the Zia's shortsighted diplomacy. When Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga visited Pakistan in December 1997, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif greeted her with an offer of 25 million dollars credit facility for the purchase of military equipment. On several occasions when Sri Lankan army was trapped in its war with the Tamil rebels, Pakistan came forward for help through military hardware. There were even suggestions that a number of Pakistani military personnel had actually taken part in combat operations against the Tamil Tigers. Besides, Sri Lankan army personnel have been receiving training in Pakistan since long. All these gestures were proudly acknowledged by a weaker Sri Lanka badly needing such shower of military assistance. Speaking at a day-long seminar in February 2005 in Islamabad, General Gerry H de Silva, Sri Lanka's former military commander and High Commissioner to Pakistan, hailed the cooperation extended by Pakistan in these words: "Can Sri Lanka ever forget the role Pakistan played in the war to counter Tamil militancy. The many achievements in the long drawn out war on militancy and particularly the containment of the LTTE, by not allowing them to create their avowed state or Eelam for over two decades, have been largely due to the prompt and ready military assistance Sri Lanka has been receiving from Pakistan and China." The Indian factor, of course, can never be sidelined when it comes to any aspect of Pakistan's foreign relations. General de Silva goes on: "At the time LTTE cadres obtained training and military facilities in South India to fight the GOSL (Government of Sri Lanka), Pakistan extended all help and cooperation supplying armaments and training facilities to Sri Lanka." The same India factor was determining the initiation of this defence policy with the application of the old adage that my enemy's enemy is my friend. India, however, paid the price of its involvement in the troubled island long ago when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Tamil rebel. This was enough for India to learn its lesson and adopt a policy of 'dualism' if not of 'neutrality' which helped it improve its standing with both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. On the one hand it continued the vessel movement across the narrow Palke Strait separating India's Tamil Nadu state from Sri Lanka while on the other it emerged as a facilitator in brining the two parties to the negotiating table while also continuing military supplies to Sri Lanka. The current situation The Norwegian-backed peace initiative in 2000 resulted in the signing of a ceasefire agreement (CFA) between the two parties in February 2002 which, despite the ongoing violence, is officially in place. The prevailing pessimism about the future of peace has its root in two dynamics. First, after the 9/11 events, the LTTE suffered a setback because of the global backlash against 'militancy' and 'terrorism' leaving little room to operate for separatist movements all over the world. The Sri Lankan government tried to exploit this trend with an aim to getting the LTTE declared a terrorist organisation by the international community. The hardliners in Sri Lanka even tried to link the LTTE with al Qaeda. The LTTE has been declared a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and India. This explains the Tigers' opposition to the inclusion of ceasefire monitors from the EU countries in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). From their point of view, on the one side their legitimate rights are being ignored by the international community while on the other side the Sri Lankan government is being bestowed with military and monetary support. The attack on Pakistan ambassador, in a way, is a manifestation of the growing frustration of the LTTE with the international community. Second, the victory of United People's Freedom Alliance in the last year's election in Sri Lanka which lead to Mahinda Rajapakse's presidency resulted in an eye-ball-to-eyeball situation in the country. The ruling alliance is mainly dependent on two hard line parties: Janatha Vimukhti Peramuna (JUP), a Marxist-Socialist entity, and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a party of the Buddhist monks. These two parties, on which the ruling alliance heavily relies, favour a hard line approach towards the Tamil Tigers and oppose any concessions to them in the name of greater autonomy or self-rule. The JVP demand to remove Norway as the mediator for the government-LTTE talks is bound to prove detrimental for the fragile peace process. In this backdrop, there are indications that the Sri Lankan government as well as the LTTE are preparing for a full-blown war. If that happens, how will Pakistan, then, justify its military procurements to a government which is engaged in an armed conflict with its own people? Can Pakistan afford such unnecessary addendum to the long list of controversies it is facing at the external front? Already our role as a responsible nation is under scrutiny. Moreover, the looming war will be marked by human rights violations by both sides. Can we see our weaponry and expertise being used to commit such violations? The attack on Pakistan high commissioner is believed to be a reprisal for what the Tigers accused was an aerial bomb attack by Sri Lanka on a Tamil orphanage. The attack which killed 61 children took place hours before the attack on Pakistan envoy. It's a fact that there exists a lot of ill-will towards the United States among the Palestinians mainly because of Washington's provision of sophisticated weapons to Israel. Why do we need to generate such ill-feelings for ourselves among the people of South Asia ? While an increased cooperation with Sri Lanka is always welcome, why to be part of its domestic conflict? Or have we forgotten the repercussions of our involvement in the Afghan debacle? In fact, military assistance to Colombo is in violation of Islamabad's pronounced policy on armed conflicts. We have, time and again, called for peaceful resolution of disputes, right to self-determination, and above all for dealing with the 'root causes of terrorism instead of its symptoms'. This should not mean support for the LTTE's movement. Who is to blame in the Sri Lankan conflict is a different debate which should not be our concern as it is an internal problem of Sri Lanka. What we should be worried about is the possible fallout of our involvement in the conflict. Already we have been reaping the fruits of our support to one of the warring parties in Afghanistan. Yes, Pakistan's choices are difficult. After 9/11 it finds itself sandwiched between the fight against terrorism and the need to absolve itself of the charges of abetting the same scourge. This does not mean we have to support all nations supposedly 'fighting against terrorism' of whatever. The best policy here is to remain neutral in the conflict and limit ourselves to cooperation with Colombo in non-military fields. Instead of providing Sri Lanka with weapons, Pakistan should concentrate on increasing bilateral trade and commercial cooperation with Sri Lanka. It is noteworthy that Sri Lanka is the only country with which Pakistan has entered into a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The historic agreement came into force on June 12, 2005 and can substantially boost the level of trade between the two states if fully implemented. The Sri Lankan government has also sought investments by Pakistani entrepreneurs, especially in the textile sector. Pakistan should fulfill its commitment of offering technical assistance to Colombo in medical, banking and engineering fields. This will not only help to maintain cordial relations with Sri Lanka but will also result in mutually advantageous trade ties. South Asia is a region where conflicts and instability are a dominant feature. We often complain of India's hegemonic role in the region which not only shares borders with all the other South Asian states but has also disputes with them on one or the other issue. In a way India's involvement in the Sri Lankan affairs is understandable given the proximity of northern Sri Lanka with Indian state Tamil Nadu. But Pakistan shares no borders with Sri Lanka. So, it wont hurt Pakistan's interests if military deals are excluded from the friendly relations we have with Sri Lanka. What happened in another country of the region, Nepal, carries a lesson for us that we should not blindly support unpopular regimes. The turmoil in Nepal left regional governments with no option but to back off from supporting an unpopular monarchy there. The
writers is a research officer at the Pakistan Institute of International
Affairs, Karachi.
Health projects that were
debated but deferred by a recent Ecnec meeting show how priorities in
allocating money for health sector need to be thoroughly revised By Dr Sania Nishtar The nature of four health-related projects presented in the meeting of Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) held on August 23 raises some broader issues. These issues need to form the basis of conceptual thinking on health and health sector allocations in Pakistan. Agreed that there can be no generalisations with respect to the patterns observed in the presentation of health cases to Ecnec; accepted that Ecnec also sees -- and approves -- mega-budgeted primary health care and preventive interventions and acknowledged that the four projects presented must have been reflective of provincial and district health needs. The purpose here is not to debate the merits of these projects but to galvanize a thought process and flag the broader question of priorities for resource allocations in the health sector, the manner in which these priorities are set and the criteria according to which these priorities are determined. Clarity in addressing these questions is imperative now more than ever given the recent increase in budgetary allocations for health. Is it a matter of chance that only curative projects focussing on tertiary care gain access into discussions at Ecnec or is it that such visible and tangible projects have a higher likelihood of being blessed in planning circles? What bearing does this have on policy positions of prioritising prevention as part of national health planning? Do provincial governments actually sign up to policy positions stated by the federal government given that they regard 'health as a provincial subject' and, most importantly, where does the ideal balance between the prevention-cure-allocation-distribution stand in Pakistan's setting? All of the projects presented at the Ecnec meeting incidentally belong to the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). But a rather more important fact than this is that all of them were deferred. Three out of these four projects related to hospitals which primarily roll out personalised model of curative health care. When viewed in the context of the state's mandate to deliver health (at least its priority services) as public good, this brings to the forefront the debate over the nature of some curative services qualifying to be termed as 'public good'. Those who favour the state to focus on prevention argue that prevention services are more homogeneous, less discretionary and more cost efficient. The debates -- like the ones on prevention versus cure -- about allocating resource are often seen at meetings within ministries and the Planning Commission and are frequently the subject of dialogue between the government and the civil society lobbyists. But sadly in these meetings, powerful clinicians who make a strong argument for investments in curative care -- often tertiary -- and the public health community which lobbies for prevention support are often seen as operating within silos with the common denominator being the desire to cut budgets off each others' platter. What is infrequently understood is the level of balance that has to be achieved and the reason why it is imperative to do so both within the context of the 'public health prevention imperatives' on the one hand and with reference to the state's 'responsibility to deliver curative services at least to a certain segment of the society', on the other. Balance dictates that whereas prevention and health promotion need to be delivered as public good and as priorities, there is also valid justification for investing in hospitals. This is because curative care, being cost intensive, will exclude the poor creating serious access issues if left to the private market. The state cannot relinquish its responsibility to cater to the needs of those who require curative care, particularly the segment of our population which qualifies to be benefited under Article 38 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This realisation should also be instructive for the current restructuring arrangements of the state's infrastructure in health, with particular reference to hospital autonomy and the restructuring of basic health units. Though privatisation in general is a step in the right direction, there should be a fundamental difference between privatisation -- which means that some activities are not for the state to perform -- and the mainstreaming of the role of private sector for improved management and enhancing efficiency which is what should be promoted. The state's funding should be used through appropriate waiver and exemption mechanisms to ensure that the poor are not excluded from care. This understanding must also guide the impending liberalisation of services driven by General Agreement on Trade of Services (GATS). These services have traditionally been in the public domain. As curative services are -- and will continue to be -- mainstreamed on free market principles as a result of the prevailing market dynamics, the state's health sector must ensure that access issues for the poor are minimised and mitigated and, in this context, a myriad of options can be explored for alternative health financing arrangements and appropriate regulation framed. Health cannot be left to the free market. The fact of the matter is that the state's hospitals -- notwithstanding their gaps and inefficiencies -- are the only sanctuary for the poor, at least for a certain percentage of the population. Seen in this context, what are the underlying factors behind the allocation of a sizeable chunk of national resources to hospitals, particularly in the provinces, though these allocations have generated frequent criticism? Does there exist an undertone for cutting the budget for hospitals and diverting it to prevention? Perhaps not. The idea should be to enhance allocations for prevention and health promotion to achieve a balance that is desirable rather than divert money from hospitals which do play a role in providing affordable care and physical access to clinical services -- though of questionable quality -- to the excluded vulnerable and difficult to reach parts of populations, which are and should be the prime targets for government subsidy. With reference to hospitals, the criticism of their performance should be constructively directed to ensure that allocations for them are utilised effectively and are not pilfered. It also must be ensured that the high cost services that hospitals can offer do actually benefit the poor, as opposed to the non-poor who are likely to use their political influence to ensure that public spending for these expensive hospitals is maintained -- often at the expense of services that could have a real effect on the poor. And lastly, perhaps there exists the need to strongly seek the integration of prevention into the mandate of clinical services. This is because prevention and cure are inseparable. This is a highly relevant suggestion in the case of Peshawar Institute of Cardiology for which over Rs 1000 million are likely to be allocated in the next Ecnec meeting. And now with reference to the fourth project tabled at the Ecnec meeting, there can be no argument to support allocations for building infrastructure to support a medical school that has been running without any physical infrastructure for the last five years. But then extrapolated to the broader context of resource allocation priorities in the area of health related human resources, the current doctor to nurse ratio of 2.7:1 and doctor to paramedic ratio of much lower is instructive. It is clearly opposed to the conventional global norm which advocates a doctor:nurse ratio of 1:4. These quantitative considerations and the established qualitative and deployment related gaps and the absence of a continuing medical education programme highlight a clear direction for investing in a specific line of human resource from qualitative, quantitative and deployment-related perspectives. At a broader level, this underscores the need for decisions on human resource to be based on providing sustainable public health solutions rather than political expediency. The discussion on setting priorities cannot be complete without a reference to the criteria for setting priorities in the public health prevention framework. If priorities for resource allocations are based on prevailing disease patterns, then it may be worthwhile to note that infectious and non-communicable diseases contribute 38 per cent and 37 per cent of the disease burden respectively. This criteria alone calls for major shifts in allocation trends even if other criterion -- the potential for preventability -- is not factored into the equation. The addition of prevention will make the argument much stronger. There also exists need for reiterating that even if some other criterion is being applied it should be replaced with the one based on the manner in which health links with over-arching social sector directions of the country such as poverty eradication. The current health related poverty reduction strategy mirrors the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with a focus on maternal and child health and infectious diseases on the premise that these are more frequently encountered among the poor. But we also need to be clear on how poverty eradication can link with health agenda in economic terms. It is in line with this that diseases that affect the economically productive workforce, ailments that undermine the income generating power of a household, diseases that have the potential to perpetuate an acute poverty crisis and contribute to major costs should also merit a consideration. A recently reported population-based cross-sectional survey, has shown that 37.4 per cent of the households spent an average of Rs 405 on the treatment of communicable diseases whereas 45.2 per cent of the households spent an average of Rs 3,935 on the treatment of non-communicable diseases over the last one year. These data show that a significantly higher percentage of households spends more on treatment of non-communicable diseases compared with what they spend on communicable diseases. All said in relation to the priorities for allocations in health sector what still remains to be emphasised is perhaps that it is more important to deliberate upon these allocations in a very broad sense. Because it is in this broad setting that we come to know how health factors into the equation of priorities in a much larger picture where there are other competing interests. The
author is the founder and president of Heartfile and Pakistan's Health Policy
Thinktank. E mail: sania@heartfile.org
Refugees Most of the factors causing
forced migration relate directly or indirectly to globalisation and
development. The remedy lies in making globalisation fair and development
even. By Atle Hetland In this article, we will discuss forced migration and those aspects of globalisation and development which are related to human displacement, which in particular refers to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Last Sunday, we discussed migration and economic development issues, including structural adjustment programmes and accelerated privatisation and liberalisation which form the general background to understanding major aspects of the current social and economic transformation in the South as well as the relationship between the North and the South. Forced or semi-forced migration and refugee situations, on the other hand, are to a major extent caused by factors which are invisible or obscure to the general observer. For example, the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan at the end of 1979 -- which displaced million of Afghans -- was caused by geopolitical competition between the communist East block and the capitalist West for the strategic control of the Afghan territory. It should be noted that the dynamics of forced migration, semi-forced migration, and other uprooting and human displacement remain complicated. In an interdependent world, their causes and solutions, too, are not straightforward. At this time, as at all times, regional and global geopolitical players keep competing for control and influence. It has been estimated that up to 50 million of about 175 million migrants in the world are 'forced migrants', including refugees, internally displaced persons, trafficked persons, and other groups, including 'mixed migrants' or semi-forced persons. The figure also includes a large group of victims of natural disasters, such as the devastating earthquakes in Pakistan in October 2005, tsunami in South East Asia in December 2004 and floods, droughts, landslides, etc. People are sometimes also forced to move due to development projects, mainly city expansions and major infrastructure building. One of the factors causing forced migration was the cold war and its end at the turn of the century, resulting in the collapse of the Soviet Union over one and half decade ago. Another factor was the setting up of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which has been created to increase development and trade, and create a more interdependent world. Its policies have to a great extent been shaped in such a way that they would largely benefit the North and the multinational and other larger companies rather than the poor countries in the South. But we rarely spell out all the negative impacts of WTO bluntly and we also try to believe that it will eventually have positive effects for all. Part of the raison de´tre for WTO is to maintain status quo in the relationship between the North and the South. This is similar to the thinking of the advanced, industrialised countries when they established multilateral cooperation and control system -- including the World Bank, the regional development banks and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- after World War II. The purpose was initially to rebuild a strong Western Europe as an ideological and trade partner to the North America. All this happened before many of today's countries in the South had gained even independence. These old world structures and relationships are major reasons why the world in general and the young countries in particular are interested in modernising the multilateral system, mainly the United Nations system. Even now the North focuses more on cost-benefit issues and development performance aspects of these organisations and less on the overall structural issues of the multilateral system, except for a few possible changes at the top. Part of the North's thinking and justification is that a strong North, with stronger democratic institutions and protection of human and social rights should play the leading role in the world. Another justification is that the South will also benefit from this world order, if not immediately, then in a somewhat longer time perspective. Development aid, intellectual integration, trade cooperation and migration are some of the main elements in the on-going integration of the South and the North, the East and the West, in the development of a more interdependent world which, it is hoped, will also be more peaceful than the past. Recent developments do not augur well for that, however, and human security has also suffered especially in recent years as part of the 'war on terror' and the 'monopolar' world in terms of ideology. In economic development, the South, and especially some Asian countries and regions, has apparently started challenging the economic hegemony of the North and the West. But will this hegemony be curbed is difficult to forecast. Old and new refugee policies The focus of the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and other humanitarian aid organisations, was earlier mainly to protect and assist refugees who had crossed borders and provide them assistance during exile. Their initial focus also included searching for durable solutions for refugee situations, often seen in the integration of the refugees in the host country or their resettlement in a third country. In the 1950s and 1960s, UNHCR's work was mainly oriented towards providing assistance within Europe, to find durable solutions to refugee situations after World War II and the ones which resulted from the Cold War. It was not until the mid-1960s, at the time when Sadruddin Aga Khan had become UNHCR's high commissioner, that the organisation's expenditure in Africa and Asia exceeded that in Europe, making a definitive shift from Europe to the developing countries. Today, about two-thirds of the refugees are in the developing countries where the states struggle to meet the needs of their own citizens, and often fail to do so. Almost all of them reel when put under the added pressure of prolonged presence of large refugee populations in many areas, especially in Africa and parts of Asia. Their situation has been rendered more acute by a stagnation in support from the international community (usually through UNHCR). It should be added that many regimes in the South suffer from mismanagement, corruption, and undemocratic rule which lead to conflicts and wars and contribute to natural disasters such as drought and famine which often can be forecast, leading to precautions and hence to a lessening of their impact. The role played by the South is important so that the reader doesn't think we blame it all on the North. More than 60 per cent of the refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world are in the Muslim countries. It is in this context that the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), in cooperation with the government of Pakistan and international organisations, will meet to discuss issues and solutions related to refugee situations at a high-level conference to be held in Islamabad on November 27-29 this year. It is hoped the conference plays a major role in coming up with solutions to reduction of external and internal displacement in the Muslim and other countries as well as in discussing improved funding mechanisms. It is equally essential to discuss how should in our time the displaced persons be treated, a slight majority of whom is women and children and usually a quarter of them are in the school-going age. It is also important to discuss whether the international community accepts that host countries can keep the refugees in camps, even in protracted situations (that is, over five years). Is it acceptable when it comes to maintaining dignity, normal life and hope for the future among the refugees? For instance, the Palestinian refugee situation is the most tragic and longest-lasting. It requires that a better and durable solutions than a life in camps in neighbouring countries is found for it. Though UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) -- not UNHCR -- has the main responsibility to assist the Palestinian refugees, it is the conflicting countries and the groups , including their supporters, who have the ultimate responsibility in this regard. What about urban refugees, those living in urban areas instead of camps? Shouldn't they too receive some international assistance and not be left to fend for themselves and as a consequence become, or be seen as becoming, a burden to a poor host-country? Usually urban refugees fall outside the responsibility of UNHCR's support system. Also, to what degree will we be able in the future to distinguish between 'real refugees' and other migrants who may have been also more or less forced to move? These issues are certainly not only relevant to the Muslim countries, but are general issues that UNHCR, UNRWA and other agencies will have to explore in the years ahead. The OIC conference can play a major role in drawing up the future agenda -- for improved practice, increased research and new and more dignified policies. Restructuring of the way the international community sees and treats refugees, and the way assistance is provided through UN and other organisations is urgently needed. We live in a time when everyone should be provided basic services -- including education, health, housing, livelihoods, democratic participation, and all the other aspects of human, social and cultural rights, which unlock people's potential for self-realisation, hope and optimism -- because the world can afford it. UNHCR -- a repatriation agency? In the last decade or two, UNHCR's attention has turned much more to considering ways of repatriating refugees to their country of origin than on assisting them in their host country. This is unlike after World War II and during most of the Cold War when there were many refugees in Europe. In UNHCR's extremely open and self-critical book entitled The State of the World's Refugees, Oxford University Press, 2006, the question is asked if the organisation has perhaps become more a 'repatriation agency' and less a 'refugee agency' which provides protection, services and does advocacy for the refugees and returnees. The so-called 'assisted voluntary repatriation' has become a main activity of UNHCR. The largest such exercise that the agency has ever participated in is the return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan. Until now over 3 million Afghans have returned home while some 2.5 million of them still remain in Pakistan. Similarly, about 1 million Afghans have returned home from Iran while more than 0.5 million still remain in that country. Especially in protracted refugee situations, notably situations which according to its definition last for more than five years, repatriation -- which is often entirely a voluntary affair -- often becomes a difficult and questionable durable solution. This is especially so for the refugees and their children who may have been born and bread abroad but it is also true for their parents and grandparents who may have been able to carve out some form of livelihood, security and normal social life in the host country. Access to medical services, and simply being able to purchase medicines, must be an important issue for elderly refugees. This, for example, holds true for the Afghans living in Pakistan. Though rarely admitted, repatriation of refugees may also cause problems for the host country which has gotten used to the refugees' contributions to its economy in certain sectors. In 2004, there were no less than 33 protracted refugee situations involving some six million refugees. We may then ask: How come the international community (not the host country does not have the option to do anything about it) allows such situations to drag out? We should also ask how were the people treated, for example, when they were living in camps with only some basic assistance and little knowledge about and hope for the future? Similarly, why are urban refugees left to fend for themselves, or at the mercy of kind people from host and home country as well as the host government? Often this assistance is quite a bit though, but it is rarely acknowledged by the international community and others. Still, it is not enough and it is given more as alms than as a right because most refugees are not to be blamed for their state of affairs in exile. In the future, urban poor in general and marginalised groups in particular, including refugees and internally displaced persons, will have to be given greater attention by the international community as well as national authorities and organisations. United Nations organisations such as UN-Habitat, in charge of human settlement issues, with focus on how to reduce and rid the world of slum areas and improve living conditions in general, with clean water, healthy environments and proper diets is one of a number of multilateral organisations who should have a much great role in addressing these problems. National authorities and local city councils too ought to have a greater say, and administer greater amounts of international funds, to benefit refugees and refugee-hosting areas. Sometimes, host countries, in unofficial understanding with international donors, may push the refugees back home, using direct or indirect pressure, such as reducing services in refugee camps, demolishing refugee settlements as soon as refugees leave (to avoid their re-return), claiming back the land where refugees live and using it for development. But if the refugees cannot or do not want to return home -- for example, if they have lived in exile for decades -- these measures may create animosities which may transform into long-term 'memories', contributing to future conflicts between neighbouring countries. When refugees return home after decades in exile, they may also experience animosities at home because they will need to share with others meager resources, job opportunities and land at home, or what was home. They may not quite feel at home any more. These are complicated issues as seen from economic, social and psychological points of view. In the future, thorough studies are needed on them before refugees are pressurised to return and we believe there is a greater understanding among the international community for re-visiting these fields in the future. The pressure should rather be positive, that is, putting pressure on the home country to develop attractive programmes that can have 'pull' effects on the refugees to return and facilitate their settling-in. These programmes can be in the form of cheap housing and temporary subsidised work. It will cost some money in the first instance, but the international community should also know that this assistance is much less costly than new wars and violent conflicts. Let us repeat that the home country and the host country need to be supported financially by international donors to help solve protracted refugee situations and find durable solutions, which are sustainable and which take into consideration all the required aspects of the situation. It should also be admitted that many refugee situations have been partly or fully 'created' due to geopolitical reasons and foreign powers' interests and their direct invasions of other countries. Let us also add that in most cases refugees do want to return home. Even the Afghans in Pakistan who have hardly seen their home country feel themselves as Afghan 'at heart'. But some of them may not be able to stay there when they go home because they will discover that they are probably more Pakistani than Afghan, or they simply wouldn't know how to live and find work at home. In Afghanistan and other post-conflict situations, localised violence and lack of security, persistent drought in some areas, lack of employment and lack of social services affect a number of returnees. People who have been displaced for long, and young people who have never lived 'at home', must be treated differently from those who have been displaced for shorter periods of some months or years. In the future, these considerations need to be thoroughly taken into consideration. For this to take place, international organisations must change their standard definitions of refugees and refugee situations. The 'average' refugee and IDP situations are no longer short-term. Often they are protracted and long-lasting. Systems must be developed by UNHCR and other organisations to facilitate people who are displaced for protracted periods of time. (As we mentioned above, there were in 2004 33 situations termed 'protracted'.) Internal displacement Furthermore, in the future more and more attention will have to be paid to internally displaced persons (IDPs) who become refugees in their homelands because of violent conflicts, civil wars, human rights violations, drought and other reasons. They are refugees save for the fact that they have not crossed international borders. This was the case in the Balkans; in Iraq under Saddam Hussein; in Rwanda during the genocide; in Angola when two factions struggled for power for decades and four million became internally displaced (some of them also became refugees in other countries); in Sudan during the conflict between the North and the South of the country which rendered more than four million people internally displace and forced more than one million to seek exile mainly in neighbouring countries; in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which has had ongoing internal conflicts and wars for many years although not well-reported in the media (today the largest United Nations Peacekeeping Mission is in DRC); in Uganda where the northern half of the country has waged guerilla war against the central government for 20 years, forcing tens of thousands to flee within and across Uganda's northern borders, until the country finally signed a fragile peace agreement a few weeks ago; in Afghanistan, where over one million people were (and some still are) internally displaced and many more would have moved away from drought and war if they had had resources to do so. UNHCR estimates that up to four million Afghans might have become IDPs if assistance had been provided to the needy people to move (See The State of the World's Refugees.) In the future, UNHCR and other humanitarian aid agencies must become more involved in broader issues than just 'clear-cut' refugee situations, though it is not always simple to decide the eligibility for getting the status of a refugee. It is likely to become more difficult when the reasons for displacement are not always wars and conflicts. The causes can be more subtle and resulting from multiple reasons, such as people driven to move due to poverty, others may be drawn by hope for better livelihood and lives for themselves and their children in their own country's cities, or in a neighbouring country. As a result of this displacement, many may just end up in shantytowns and misery but some of them can achieve what they aimed and may at the end of the day send some money to the home country and home village. Then there are environmental refugees and the people who are forced to move due to development projects. Also, there are victims of human trafficking, with a large proportion of them being women and children. Some of the future refugees may be 'mixed migrants' who are partly pushed out of their usual habitat and partly pulled out of it by the search of better daily lives. All these reasons for displacement, and any other reasons, need to be studied in detail. In the future, these issues will become even more important than the typical refugee situations as far as the number of affected people is concerned. Already, the number of IDPs is bigger than ordinary refugees. Yet, whether international organisations are equipped to assist them, especially when it means getting involved in sovereign states' internal problems, is a politically difficult issue to solve. One answer may lie in the fact that humanitarian organisations should always put the humanitarian issues first, not the political one. UNHCR is the most competent organisation to handle these humanitarian issues, with a number of other international and local organisations as partners and implementing partners. It's in this context that the UNHCR book referred above poses the question whether the agency should become an organisation for the displaced people rather than working for the refugees alone. There is no clear answer, though when the organisation decides to do so, the tasks will be huge and difficult. To some extent, the United Nations and UNHCR already 'interfere' in internal conflicts and internal displacement. The Darfur catastrophe in Sudan is the most visible example of this 'interference'. But some gaps still remain. If the international community had 'interfered' earlier, the catastrophe may have been contained and resolved earlier, avoiding terrible human suffering and economic and political costs to the country concerned and the neighbouring countries. This is the argument for a stronger and broader UNHCR and for finding international laws that allow international organisations to 'interfere' early enough in internal conflicts. Uneven development The flip side of the 'globalisation development coin' is that it is too often negative for many and positive only for few. The poorest and the least resourceful are often left behind, they are left poor, and many become more impoverished by reasons beyond their reach. For instance, people being left illiterate; they lack basic education which should be a responsibility of their governments to provide to all their citizens. Also, those belonging to ethnic, linguistic or cultural minorities and nomadic tribes are certainly left behind. Unless their governments, supported by the international community for funds and technical advice, develop and get policies in place these groups may not only fail to benefit from prosperity but they may also become more marginalised than they already are. Many of them then may end up as refugees or internally displaced persons, creating large problems for their own countries and neighbouring countries and indeed to themselves. The World Bank has been honest enough to document that even development aid projects can lead to development for the few and further under-development of the majority. Large infrastructure projects can often have these effects, which are usually inadvertent but the affected are often not compensated properly because they do not know their rights and they don't have means and even physical ability to make claims. Women, for instance, are always getting the short end of the stick. The Bank suggests that in India there are more than 30 million people who have become displaced due to development projects, like the building of dams for hydroelectric power, highways, urban industries and other development projects. It can be argued that these negative effects are inevitable. That may well be so, but a country's real human development level is seen in its respect all human population, not in steel structures are airplanes. Here, we simply talk about fair play, meaning compensation to people who have to move, and giving them assistance to find satisfactory resettlement. Also, people who are affected must be included in discussions during the planning process so that they can understand if and why they really have to move temporarily or permanently. Again, women must also be included in the discussions, since they in many parts of the world are the actual land-users and farmers, and the de facto heads of household. Age and gender are important when describing different groups of refugees and internally displaced persons. Humanitarian aid agencies have now begun developing activities targeting the specific needs of women, children and adolescents, older displaced persons and particular ethnic or social groups. For example, the fact that up to 50 per cent of refugees are minors and roughly a half of them are girls and young women, puts particular pressure on organisations assisting refugees and IDPs, not just in the areas of abuse, forced labour, sexual and other violence, which also includes infection of HIV/AIDS and other diseases. There is certainly an awareness among organisations about these and related issues but there is a lack of systematic and comprehensive programmes to address them. In the future, the above groups and other defined groups, such as the elderly, will have to be taken care of by humanitarian aid organisations. Refugees and IDPs are not 'caseloads', they are individuals, families, and defined, unique groups, with various needs, and also various reasons for having become displaced. This is not to suggest that these refugees and displaced people are always a burden to a host country and community. They are indeed resources, as immigrants are. That refugees in specific situations, in periods and over time, contribute positively to the economies of their host countries has been documented in recent research. These issues also need to be studied in our local context, in terms of a large and protracted presence of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan. A future for all Some of the new groups of displaced persons are growing fast, such as those affected by forced and illegal human trafficking. Undocumented migrants (illegal migrants) are also growing in numbers, and so are the IDPs, who leave the countryside gravitating to cities and metropolis in their home countries, neighbouring countries and elsewhere. In the near future, international and local organisations and governments should therefore prepare themselves for accelerated migration. Refugees will then become a fraction of the total number of displaced persons, as is already the case today. Notwithstanding the fact that refugees still need special attention, the large numbers of other forced migrants and displaced people also need attention. Refugee exodus is often caused by direct conflicts and wars, though the real reasons may be more indirect and, having been left unresolved, may have been building up over years and decades. In the future, we need to be able to curb conflicts before it is too late. We know how to do it but we need to give priority to it. To do that UNHCR alone is not enough. We need other human rights and intellectual organisations too. Displacement within and among states usually has more indirect and structural causes (not that they are unusual to wars either) than the direct ones. Still, the reasons for internal displacement may be more obscure and difficult to comprehend for ordinary people. Expanded multi-disciplinary research is needed in social and human sciences, including in fields like migration studies, political science and cultural anthropology in order for countries and regions to develop policies to avoid major negative effects of 'forced migration'. We suggest that laissez-faire attitudes towards various forms of 'forced migration' will become costly to countries, regions and the world at large. There is a need for developing policies, regulations and systems for 'voluntary migration', and it should be add, true voluntary migration and exchange, including intellectual and other non-commercial international cooperation, acceptance of multi-culturalism and development of tolerance and respect for different religious beliefs, traditions, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and lifestyles. If we manage to do this, the world will no longer be 'monopolar' in which the West and the North set all parameters and agendas, keeping the long end of the stick in trade and international cooperation in their hand. The multinational companies and multilateral organisations also serve them first and the others later. The future will only be peaceful and prosperous for all if we begin discussing true interdependency and cooperation in the world where resources in reality are shared based on needs, not on historical and outdated power structures and mindsets. Atle Hetland is an international consultant who specialises in development, refugee/migration and education/media issues. He is currently based in Islamabad. E-mail:
atlehetland@yahoo.com
Politics of people We believe in peaceful
struggle and we believe that we should not pitch people against the military.
Once started, this (confrontation) may take a very ugly turn. Raza Khan Muhammadzai Born in Kohat in 1938, Masud Kausar belongs to a very well-known family of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). His bother Ahmed Faraz is one of Pakistan's topmost men of letters. Masud Kausar did his graduation from the Islamia College, Peshawar, and acquired his law degree from the University of Peshawar. He then went to England for further studies in law. A practicing lawyer, Masud Kausar is one of the first members of Pakistan People's Party (PPP). He met PPP leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for the first time in 1966, before the party was even founded. He has been also active in the politics of bar during the Ziaul Haq dictatorship, working for the promotion and protection of lawyers' rights. Besides being a politician and a lawyer, Masud Kausar is also a leading constitutional expert, who also has a reasonably long experience of working as a legislator. A two-time member of the provincial assembly, he has also served a term as a member of the Senate, the upper house of the federal legislature. Masud Kausar has worked as a provincial minister as well as the speaker of provincial assembly. Excerpts of his interview follow: The News on Sunday: Pakistan is going through a complicated phase as far as a constitutional system of governance is concerned. As a constitutional expert, how do you characterise the current phase? Masud Kausar: With all the latest so-called amendments in the constitution, it has lost its very basic character (based on) a parliamentary democracy, federalism, independence of judiciary and provincial autonomy. Secondly, the constitution is not suspended or abrogated but simultaneously it is not being allowed to be fully operative. There is a parliament (in the country), yet it is totally helpless. There is a judiciary in the country but when the crunch comes, people do not have the confidence that it will make decisions against the establishment. Above all, the spirit of federalism has been nullified because the country is now being ruled under a unitary system of governance. The provincial assemblies are not functioning according to the provisions of the 1973 constitution in the sense that they are under (constant) pressure (from the central government). This is far from the concept of a true federation. TNS: Some political parties and groups in the smaller provinces demand that the country needs a new constitution because they say the 1973 constitution has failed to guarantee provincial autonomy... MK: If we talk of the 1973 constitution, then we must talk about the constitution before all the 18 amendments to it were effected. The problem (with our system) is not that the 1973 constitution is deficient in a manner that it cannot cater for the smaller provinces' needs. The issue is that the constitution has remained suspended, held in abeyance (which means being virtually non-existing), or even drastically amended during most of the time of its existence. The powers which are given to the smaller provinces under the constitution have been denied. It is, therefore, that these demands for a new constitution have cropped up. Here I must say that the (coming into being of) 1973 constitution was not less than a miracle. The people of Pakistan may not be able to come together (again) to form a new constitution. TNS: If the constitution is such a great document that it has the cure of the most of the country's ills, then why do people celebrate when some military dictator suspends or abrogates it? MK: Pakistan has seen very little genuine democracy, fair elections, genuinely independent judiciary and real parliament. Even when there were democratic governments, they always ruled under the shadow of the establishment. So, a political culture (has failed to) evolve. Also, the people have been oppressed and suppressed to such an extent that they have lost the idea of having and political and constitutional rights. Whenever there was a military takeover of power, the reaction of the people to it was not that they welcomed it. Of course, they did not always come to the streets to protest maybe because of fear and oppression. But during Zia's era people took to streets in large numbers when they were called upon. The same situation may arise again. There may be a call from the leadership of political parties including the PPP and people respond to it by coming into the streets. But we want to avoid such a situation because we believe in peaceful struggle and we believe that we should not pitch people against the military. Once started, this (confrontation) may take a very ugly turn. The people at the helm of affairs should also understand that any confrontation between the military and the people will prove fatal for the existence of the country. But there is always a limit to this (peaceful posture). The day when the people see that there is no other way (to gain their political and constitutional rights), they may confront the armed forces for the restoration of their legitimate social, political and economic rights. TNS: PPP talks aggressively against dictatorship in the country but doesn't it go against the principles of democracy that the party has made Benazir Bhutto its lifetime chairperson? MK: This decision was made in very special circumstances because the (party) leadership felt the establishment wanted to destroy the PPP by destroying its leadership. Under this situation, it was decided to lend as much support as was there to the leadership. It was not Benazir's decision to become life-time chairperson (of the party). Rather it was the party workers and the party high command that so decided. But though Benazir is lifetime chairperson, it is evident from the working of the party that it is being run in a very democratic manner. TNS: Given so much of democracy in the party, how do you explain so many dissensions is the PPP's ranks in the Frontier? MK: I don't think that there are any serious differences in the party as far as the Frontier is concerned. One should appreciate the fact that during the last several years the establishment has been trying to destabilise political institutions and political parties. The top leadership of the PPP has been severely victimised. But despite all this, the party has not only survived but also gained strength. This is particularly true of the PPP's position in the Frontier. Also, it's very natural that there exist differences of opinion in a democratic political party. But these differences are not so serious as to imply that there exists a serious rift in the party ranks. TNS: If so, how do you comment on the fact that Muhammad Khan Hoti, the former head of PPP in the Frontier, has recently joined Awami National Party (ANP) along with some other prominent provincial leaders of the party? MK: The strength of the party is not affected by the leaving of individuals. The strength of the PPP is its popularity at the level of party workers and masses. Some individuals may have left due to some personal reasons. They might have their personal agendas and they might have made own political calculation (to realise that agenda). But this calculation may go wrong. Who knows if the people who left the party may be already repenting it. Look at those who left the PPP. Time has shown that they left due to some individual problems and not because of some (differences on) ideological or political principles. TNS: You say individuals do not matter. So, what will happen if Benazir leaves PPP? Will the party remain intact afterwards, functioning as it does in normal situations? MK: Those who left the party did not have any following of their own. They left the party as individuals. But as far as Benazir Bhutto is concerned, she is the leader of the party not because she is the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but due to her own (political) qualities. Her case, therefore, is totally different because she is the symbol of the unity of the party. In case she leaves the party, it will not be without an impact. TNS: Where do you see the PPP today on the political chessboard of the country? MK: The PPP is still the most popular political party in the country and its popularity has increased. It is evident from the fact that important people are joining the party. In NWFP, two important leaders of the ANP, Qazi Anwar and Farid Toofan, have joined us. Despite many upheavals, the PPP has kept intact its character of being the party of the people. Its street power has increased. Even in the last general elections, it proved that it had the largest vote bank in the country. TNS: You say your street power has increased and now you also have an alliance with Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). Then why the PPP has failed to overthrow Pervez Musharraf as the political parties have done in Nepal? MK: We should see the present political situation from the viewpoint of not only PPP but all from the viewpoint of all opposition parties. Overthrowing Musharraf is not an issue for the PPP alone. We genuinely feel that due to the wrong policies of the present regime, not only the government has collapsed but also there are reasonable apprehensions that the state itself has collapsed. That is why we want a consensus of the people of Pakistan to bring about a change so that national integrity and solidarity can be maintained. TNS: What does it mean when you say the state has collapsed? MK: One ugly manifestation of the state's collapse, which one even does not like to think about, is the dismemberment of the country. Pakistan has already faced that. But the state's collapse also means the collapse of the state's institutions. Once that happens, the state may be existing on the map of the world but in reality it stands nowhere. TNS: The religious parties in Pakistan have come together to form the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). Why can't secular, liberal parties -- like the PPP and the ANP -- come together and wage a combined struggle for democracy? MK: On major issues, a consensus is developing among the democratic forces and the political parties. I believe in the form of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) there exists a platform where different political parties have come together and agreed on some basic constitutional and political issues. As far as issues like the question of parliamentary democracy, independence of judiciary and provincial autonomy are concerned secular parties and those in the ARD have already developed a consensus. TNS: How do you adjudge the legislative performance of the MMA government in the Frontier during the last four years? MK: I wished you had asked me another question -- about the speaker of the National Assembly. The office of the speaker is a quasi-judicial office, which demands from the speaker to be impartial -- not only impartial but partially inclined towards the opposition because that is how you can manage a balance between the government and the opposition. I don't want to use unkind words but the role of the National Assembly speaker today is very disappointing. Now coming to your question about the MMA government, it came into power without any programme. Most of the people who became the members of the assemblies did not know what their responsibilities were, what role they needed to play as the members of provincial assembly. You can't run the government by just saying Inhallah or Mashallah. Another fallout (of their inexperience) is that the government has become totally dependent on the bureaucracy because the treasury members and of course most of the MMA ministers are not trained in the art of running the government. The bureaucracy, therefore, is a major beneficiary under the MMA. As a result of this, the government's expenses on administration have increased manifold. In bureaucracy the corruption has increased and efficiency has gone down. The law and order situation in the meanwhile has gone from worse to worst. There is no field left of the provincial polity that has remained unaffected (by the dismal performance of the government). The knowledge of religion has proliferated but its real
message has not, leaving the society as morally corrupt as it ever was By Sumeera Raja In today's world, it is easy to spot a religious person...men with beards and women with hijabs. On the television, I often notice how easy it has become to identity the Muslims. This is a positive development in that the Muslims are proud of their identity and not afraid of showing it even in the increasingly prejudiced West. For the younger generation of Pakistan, religion is a growing influence. More and more young people, disenchanted with their elders' way of life, thinking and modus operandi, have turned towards religion to find answers. They are more honest, more 'out there' in relating to religion and a lot more vocal. Even my generation, the first Pakistani born one, has turned to religion in greater numbers -- or so it appears. Yesterday's half-empty mosques today are overflowing. For the first time, special sections have been made in the mosques for women who have joined the regulars. Young people, boys and girls, make it a point to offer the Friday prayers in a nearby mosque. I have known my high-school students to take time out from their lunch hour to join the Friday congregation. Quick to catch on to these changing trends, the media today has far more of religion than perhaps it ever did. Channels devoted only and only to religion are broadcast to an ever eager audience. Cassettes, books and newspaper sections play their part in quenching the thirst of many born-again Muslims. Courses and classes on religion have become very common, especially amongst the urban women. Generally, these courses are rigorous and intensive. They are quite difficult, yet more and more women enroll, finding time from their household activities. Many working women have actually taken time off from work to attend these courses which can go up to one year. Students find time from their studies, or take time off, to enroll full time. If it is at all possible to generalise (proper or even improper figures never being available), women and the younger generation today are more 'into' religion than the men. Since it is the woman who brings up the children and runs the home, that youngsters are influenced is no wonder. What bewilders me, though, is why, despite this very visible and often very honest attempt to revert to religion, our society shows no signs of betterment. Why, in spite of being avid viewers of religious channels, we have not given up our prejudices, our hypocrisies and our double standards? Why is it that despite having more and more knowledge, barring the very visible signs, we have not changed? And we have not changed. Had we absorbed even an iota of all the advice and sermons we constantly expose ourselves to, there would have been a change. Pakistan would have finally begun to shed its corruption, double standards and injustice. If we believe in the Quran, as most of us profess to, we also believe that Allah has promised us a change for the better, in our collective lives, if we change our inner selves. Misery, unfairness, exploitation, subhuman living conditions, to name just a few, continue to hound he vast majority of our people. Women and children continue to be treated as less-than-human species; justice is only for the rich and influential, adulterated food and water wreak havoc not just on the health, but on the lives of our citizens; security and safety are illusions, again only the rich being able to afford personal protection; frustration is rampant. I could go on ad infinitum. My purpose today, however, is not to rant about the ills of Pakistan: it is to wonder why, despite a growing knowledge of a religion that teaches, as one of its very first fundamentals, honesty, charity and discipline, we are where we are. I mentioned that urban women are amongst the fore runners of this religious education trend. Especially, well-to-do and educated women. These women, their children and their families, are the trend setters. How can it be that these women know good from bad (primarily in a religious sense), yet corruption continues to rise, competition at more and more ostentatious weddings hits newer heights, and generally consumerism is the name of the game? Technically speaking, one would expect these women to start from their own homes, and bring about a change. They know their husbands' salaries: do they not wonder where the extra money is coming from? They are taught austerity as practised in the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him): how can they forget it when getting a child married? Having pondered on this for a long time, I have come to my own hypothesis. We continue to be degraded and relegated to the bottom rungs of most world censuses (on education, health, corruption, outright abuse of women and other social issues) because we know but we do not practice. Our theoretical knowledge has improved but it remains just that -- theoretical. We are like the donkey, loaded with books. We have forgotten the most basic principle of all knowledge; knowledge without application and practice will not even change the knowledge-bearer. Many of my friends have turned to religion in full earnestness. They have changed their own lives and the lives of their children to show all signs of the new visible trend of religion. What is frustrating is that Islam seems to have stopped at the visible. These very people have young girls working in their houses as maid servants; girls who are denied education because one of their jobs is to look after the grandchildren while the daughter in law goes out to acquire more and more knowledge. Never mind Islam, would this be allowed in any religion? And what will the daughter in law, or the mother, or the mother in law do with the knowledge thus acquired? Essentially nothing. There is something very basic that we are not teaching on our television sermons, in our religious classrooms and through our print media...it is the need for putting all knowledge to use. A friend's mother once remarked how she was surprised that despite her neighbour's known habit of watching sermons on tv, she could still hear the men swearing fluently at the children and the servants! I wonder why the transition from knowledge to practice is not made. Perhaps because we learn in isolation, that is, learn without understanding the underlying need to practice. It could also be that we listen, read and learn only to satisfy that ever gnawing need to improve -- in theory that is. Hardly any educated Pakistani today would argue that we have actually progressed in moral and social terms. Our collective lives, taken without the physical trappings, are on a steady downward trend. Our mosques have more worshippers, yet they have become standard places for target killing. The identity of a Muslim is enough to ring all alarm bells in the Western world. Add a Pakistani to the Muslim and you have the lowest of the lows. What are we doing in the meantime? Listening to what Islam was, what is should be and what it can be but only absorbing the first -- what the Muslims were. That seems enough to give us the consolation to carry on. Self-analysis is beyond us. We cannot and will not see ourselves as we stand today. We have more knowledge across the board than has been available in a long time, yet non-Muslims don't like us, feeling threatened by our very being. It is time to think. To put the knowledge to use: good, constructive use.
|
|
