| March 12, 2006 | Sunday | Safar 11, 1427 |
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Savings rates
Thar Express
Pakistan no longer India-centric
Women in Sindh
‘Selling energy giants to foreigners’
Human trafficking
Praying for Pakistan
The Bush visit
Breaking the mould
Cricket
Quaid’s motto
I RESPECT Mr Vaseem Jafery greatly as an outstanding civil service officer and only reluctantly comment upon his confusing article (Dawn, Feb 24) in which he mistakenly comes out in defence of the World Bank. Apparently referring to the charges I had levied against the World Bank in my interview to a Dawn panel (Jan 30), he implies that the World Bank had nothing to do with the design of the Kalabagh dam.
While the learned author traces the history of the dam to the post-war reconstruction programme of the government of India, he fails to mention the atrocious design prepared by the World Bank’s consultants which was presented to the cabinet for approval in November 1984.
“As a former governor of bank and as a taxpayer of a country that has contributed to its capital,” I wrote in 1985 to A.W. Clausen, president of the bank, which was the “executing agency” for the preparation of the Kalabagh dam multipurpose project, that its consultants had produced a design which had “given rise to an extremely bitter controversy among the military governments of the provinces of the Punjab, North-West Frontier, Sindh, and Balochistan”. I further wrote: “Unfortunately for the country, the controversy has become ethnic in character and has assumed frightening political implications for the security and integrity of the country.”
A.W. Clausen thanked me for the letter and I was informally told by bank officials that he had stopped further funding for the design work.
Countrywide protests forced the government to revise the design. Many changes were made. The height of the dam was reduced and 53km of the flood protection levies proposed to save Nowshera, Akora Khattak, Jahangira and other villages and towns were eliminated. In 1986, it was probably the modified design which was the subject of Mr Vaseem Jafery’s article.
I am rather surprised that a highly knowledgeable and experienced officer of the calibre of Mr Jafery should ask as to “what the World Bank would have gained from deliberately misdesigning a major project and causing havoc in the NWFP”. Janey na janey gul hi na janey, bagh tau sara janey hai. To my utter surprise, he seems to be unaware of the mafia comprising big international consultants, contractors and World Bank experts who loot and plunder the funds lent by the bank to Third World countries through making expensive designs and inflating costs besides directly indulging in bribery and corruption.
In support of the modified design of 1986, re-modified again and again since then, Mr Jafery refers to the informally sought advice by the government from Mr S.S. Kirmani which was in favour of the design.
The late Mr Kirmani, a colleague of mine in the service of the Punjab irrigation department, was a brilliant engineer. He was well-known in the engineering community of Pakistan as “the World Bank man”. Quite a few disastrously engineered constructions of water projects in Pakistan advocated or approved by him still stand as witness. He has passed away, and I should say no more.
MUBASHIR HASAN
Lahore
I THANK Dawn for its honest editorial ‘Claims lack credibility’ (March 2).
The editorial candidly challenges Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s claim, made on Feb 28, that poverty had declined 6.7 per cent.
Similarly, his claim that unemployment had dropped from 7.8 per cent to 6.8 per cent does not correspond with the ground reality.
The weakening of the trickle-down effect and a high rate of inflation eroding the earning and purchasing power of low-income groups are adversely affecting the lives of millions of people like me.
I am a widow for many years. Since my husband’s death my only source of income is the profit from the national savings certificates. I have two children to support.
With the steady cut in the profits during the last three years (with the exception of Behbood scheme, which also has a ceiling on investment), it is becoming more and more difficult for me to meet my daily expenses.
The prices of food items are increasing almost every day.
Under the circumstances, I appeal to the prime minister to show some compassion to me and millions of suffering compatriots — widows, orphans, senior citizens and a large number of small investors in Pakistan National Certificates — to increase the profit rates corresponding to the inflation rate of 14 to 15 per cent per year. I also appeal for tax exemption on the profits of special savings certificates.
This act on the part of the government will alleviate the ever-growing hardships of our impoverished middle class living in the cities with limited incomes.
NUSRAT HAQ
Karachi
I HAVE read with great interest several letters published in these columns from a cross-section of people who are suffering from the burden of rising prices on a regular basis.
I simply fail to understand why the government is so indifferent to the genuine request of the entire community who belong to the middle class with limited income and diminishing value of the money.
Will the government be kind enough to pay a little attention to the grim economic plight of millions of small savers who have invested their meagre amount in national savings schemes in the hope of a fair return on their hard-earned money?
How can an average family make ends meet if the rate of inflation is 11 plus per cent and rate of return on investment is less than seven per cent?
It is time our rulers stopped making tall claims and addressed the crying needs of pensioners, senior citizens, widows and millions of people who belong to the hard-working middle class and earn an honest living with the sweat of their brow.
The least this government is expected to do is to match the rate of profit with the rate of inflation, which is currently in the neighbourhood of double-digits.
MAHMOOD ALAM
Karachi
WISHING to travel by the Thar Express towards the end of the month, I went to the Karachi Cantonment station booking office the other day to inquire about the fare. I was surprised to learn that tickets are not issued even for Munabao but only for the so-called Zero Point where one has to buy a ticket for the five-mile run to Munabao and at Munabao one shall have to purchase a ticket for the third time for Jodhpur and it shall only be at Jodhpur that one can purchase a ticket for one’s destination. Thus one has to purchase tickets four times.
During the days gone by, the Indian Railways had its booking office at the Lahore junction station which issued tickets and made reservations for destinations in India, including the Lahore-Amritsar run (I believe the Wagha station had not come into the picture till then).
Similarly, the Pakistan Railways had a booking office at the Delhi junction station which issued tickets and made reservations from Delhi to destinations in Pakistan. It was a perfectly satisfactory arrangement. There was no need to purchase tickets again and again and one had the satisfaction to know before commencing the journey that one had confirmed reservations up to one’s final destination.
Why cannot such an arrangements be made on the Khokrapar-Munabao route? Instead of improving upon the past arrangements, we are going back.
It is also not clear as to why a new railway station had to be made in the wilderness of the desert when Khokrapar station so well served us as our border station till the rail service was suspended in September 1965. Its renovation and refurbishment would have cost us perhaps less than 20 per cent of the expenses involved in building a new station.
Besides, economy fare as per newspaper reports is Rs195 but according to the booking office it is Rs240.
KAMALUDDIN
Karachi
DID Pakistan win the last cricket World Cup? No, but we beat India in the pool match. What is the price of petrol in Pakistan? It is being sold at over Rs56 per litre which is cheaper than its price in India.
Why is it that the price of sugar is more than its price in India? Why are people in Pakistan paying considerably more for a locally assembled car then the people in India? GDP growth rate in Pakistan last year was higher than that of India.
One can go on and on in citing statements comparing conditions between Pakistan and India. Such statements are the staple of our daily conversation and discussion.
This is how things were for over 57 years of our existence until President Bush in the press stakeout during his visit here, while replying to a question regarding supply of civil nuclear technology to India and denying a similar deal to Pakistan, enlightened us that India and Pakistan had different conditions, history and background.
Immediately after this apocalyptic pronouncement was made by President Bush we have ceased to be India-centric. The foreign minister of Pakistan was extremely quick to take the cue and said this in so many words in his briefing to the press after the US president’s visit. One wonders whether this shift in looking at things in Pakistan without reference to India is a result of frustration on being rebuffed by the US or does it represent a well-thought-out decision? Only time will tell.
KHALID IDREES
Islamabad
I WAS very happy to hear that the United Nations Information Centre and Oxfam were celebrating this year’s International Women’s Day with a performance by classical dancer Sheema Kirmani and Tehreek-i-Niswan. But all my enthusiasm vanished after watching the performance, which portrayed Sindh as a land where most people are killing their sisters, mothers and wives.
The invitation card claimed that the play reflects the theme of women empowerment but unfortunately the play which was staged in the federal capital had little relevance to the theme. Instead of portraying women making decisions, or analyzing the performance of many women from Sindh who dominate the process of decision-making both within families and scores of elected councils, the play focused entirely on honour killings. While the evil practice of karo-kari needs to be condemned, it is not all that Sindhi society is about.
In the play a character decides to kill his innocent daughter to extort money from his rivals only because he could not yield a good crop that season. It did not explain why the fertile lands of Sindh have stopped yielding good crops.
Women in Sindh today are more educated and empowered then ever before. They hold positions of prestige such as of governor of State Bank and district nazims, which is the most important decision-making political office in local government.
NIAZ NADEEM
Islamabad
APROPOS of Dr Akhtar Hassan Khan’s article “Selling energy giants to foreigners” (March 6), I agree with Dr Khan that while indulging in the binge of privatization and liberalization of our market, the government should be cautious in selling energy giants like PSO and gas companies to foreigners in view of the security risks involved.
Apart from that, the PSO and gas companies are not sick business units. As mentioned by Dr Khan, PSO possesses 65 per cent share of oil in the market and is competing very well against rivals through better customer-friendly policies and aggressive marketing. Its profit of Rs9.2 billion is robust.
It will be foolish to sell our energy assets at a time when the winds of economic nationalism are blowing across the world and most of the industrialized countries are also following this keeping in view the risks accompanying the neo-liberal orthodoxy of market liberalization, privatization and deregulation. In the march towards economic development, energy is emerging as the key to future sustainable economic advancement.
Politicians the world over are moving to protect the vital sectors of the economy from foreign takeovers.
President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin want to make especially certain that French energy companies are not taken over by foreigners as the European industry consolidates in anticipation of impending deregulation. So they have brokered a merger of two French energy companies to fend off a possible takeover by Italy’s largest power company.
When German power company Eon launched a $35 billion hostile bid for the Spanish utility Endesa, the Spanish government announced that it “will do everything in its power to ensure that Spain’s energy companies remain Spanish.”
Poland, too, is defying the European Commission by blocking Italian bank UniCredit’s bid for local Bank BPH. And its former masters in the Kremlin are declaring 39 “strategic sectors” off limits to foreign control.
In America, politicians led by Hillary Rodham Clinton have been in full cry against the takeover of P&O by Dubai Ports World, and are preparing to attack the planned takeover of UK-based Doncaster by another Dubai-based company — Doncaster’s plants in Georgia and Connecticut manufacture components for military equipment.
Almost alone among the worlds leading economies, Britain seems unfazed by foreign takeovers. London Electricity has gone to Frances EDF, Pilkington glass to a Japanese company, P&O to a Dubai-based company and mobile-operator O2 to a Spanish company. Only an attempt by one of Russias Putin-controlled companies to take over Centrica, a leading energy utility, is likely to be an acquisition too far.
These examples amply show that the very foundation of neo-liberal orthodoxy and Washington Consensus have been severely shaken in the context of market liberalization and privatization.
In the light of the examples cited above, our politicians and government are advised not allow the sale of PSO and gas companies to foreigners on ground of economic and strategic security reasons.
MANZOOR ALI ISRAN
Shah Abdul Latif University
Khairpur
ACCORDING to a news report (Dawn, March 4), a batch of 692 Pakistanis, deported from Muscat, have arrived here. This is yet one more batch deported from the UAE within a couple of months. These men were defrauded by unscrupulous elements by presenting to them a rosy picture of better job opportunities in Muscat, Victims of swindlers, they had paid thousand of rupees.
Gangs of human smugglers have been active in Pakistan for the last several years, fleecing poor men on the pretext of sending them abroad. Several such men have lost lives in transit and hundreds have been caught and deported so far.
The smugglers are identified by the victims but they are rarely caught because they operate in collusion with the law-enforcers. They appear to be well organised and powerful. From this end the men are smuggled and at the receiving end they are caught and deported. This cycle goes on and government agencies look the other way. It is time the relevant agencies woke up and saved poor people from hardship.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
Karachi
I WAS delighted to read Hafizur Rehman’s article “Praying for Pakistan” (March 8). The article scored a point about not only Pakistanis but also their leaders. Isn’t it true that Allah will bestow upon a people leaders that are their own reflection? But how do we correct the people? Isn’t it a leaders responsibility to lead the people down a balanced path?
I sincerely believe that the leader has to be held responsible for a nation’s wrongs and rights. Pakistan’s leaders have committed strategic mistakes and as a result the people have suffered. Pakistan can only prosper under a leader who takes into consideration the social, political, geographical and economic interests of the country.
G. ASGAR MITHA
Doha
ONLY President Bush knows why he went to Pakistan. He could have stayed home and played a game of baseball with the kids here. After he announced the nuclear deal with India, he officially downgraded his country’s relationship with Pakistan. The new relationship between India and United States will have an adverse affect on the Kashmir issue and it has the potential of triggering a new arms race between India and Pakistan.
The Pakistan government should stop talking about the strategic nature of the relationship with the United States, and start looking for alternative allies.
IQBAL AKHTER
Illinois, USA
THIS is in reference to your editorial “Breaking the mould” (March 8). We have gained nothing from our India-centric thinking. While addressing senior members of the media, President Musharraf talked about doing away with India-centric thinking. It is marvellous that our president has realised its drawbacks.
Due to our former Afghan-centric policy we ended up with three million Afghan refugees, drugs, weapons, four million drug addicts and now a hostile Afghan government in Kabul dominated by the Northern Alliance.
We should concentrate on our domestic problems, reassess our military needs and develop our infrastructure. So for the time being an inward looking approach would be a suitable option for Pakistan.
ZAHOOR HUSSAIN
Lahore
I WANT to convey my appreciation to the Faisalabad cricket team that participated in the National T20 Cricket Tournament. Although it could not win the tournament, the team proved its supremacy over stronger teams from Karachi and Lahore. Well done, Faisalabad Wolves. I urge the nazim of Faisalabad and authorities concerned to hold the next National T20 Championship in Faisalabad.
AZAM JAMAL
Burundi, Africa
I HAPPENED to watch on TV Mr Shaukat Aziz asking Pakistanis to remember the Quaid’s slogan of Unity, Faith and Discipline when he was leading the nation in 1947. Unfortunately, Mr Aziz messed up the slogan and recited Faith, Unity and Discipline.
ZAFAR OMER
Lahore
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