THE NEWS EDITORIAL 17-12-2013

8/13/2019 THE NEWS EDITORIAL 17-12-2013

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December 17, 2013 THE NEWS EDITORIALS

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The fourth transitionWith Tassaduq Hussain Jillanis elevation to chief justice of Pakistan, the country has completed a third

transition this year. A historic political transition saw power transferred from one elected government toanother, with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assuming office for a record third time. The next transitionwas also smooth, with the change of command at GHQ.But it is the fourth transition that will be the most consequential for the countrys future. This is the

economic transition from a crisis economy, perpetually on the brink, to an economy of growth andinvestment, powered by the mobilisation of national resources rather than a reliance on unsustainabledomestic and foreign borrowing or assistance.Having made economic revival his top priority, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has much to draw on fromhis partys election manifesto to give strategic direction to this critical transition. The manifesto

promised to accord central importance to raising tax revenue and reducing dependence on foreign loansand assistance. It pledged to address the budget and balance of payments deficits, resolve the energycrisis and boost the investment climate through steps including the privatisation of state enterprises andstemming their financial losses, in order to enhance the discouragingly low investment to GDP ratio inthe next five years.Having identified these priorities the government acted quickly in its first few monthsto take steps aimed at striking a balance between economic stabilisation and growth. They includedfiscal consolidation measures announced in and after the budget, raising electricity tariffs as part of alarger energy strategy, which envisages wide ranging structural reforms, and signalling the resolve topursue a rapid process of privatisation.From the outset it was clear to the government that it haddifficult choices and trade-offs to make deal with a precarious balance of payments position on theone hand and undertake structural reforms and build business confidence on the other. Both had to bepursued simultaneously and with a sense of urgency to be mutually reinforcing.Recent official pronouncements make it apparent that the governments immediate focus is onmobilising external financing to deal with the fragile balance of payments situation. This is necessitatedby the low level of foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank. Net reserves have sunk to around$3 billion, barely enough to cover three weeks of imports.Government officials nevertheless remain confident that the situation will stabilise after funds come infrom various multilateral institutions and especially once the IMF approves the next tranche of around$550 million in its upcoming board meeting on December 19. Management of reserves to avert a foreignexchange crisis is likely to preoccupy the countrys economic managers, as outflows will continue to

exceed inflows for some time.But the government knows it has to go beyond fire fighting to pursue a strategy to revive growth and fixthe structural problems that have driven the country into a vicious circle of chronic financial imbalancesand repeated bailouts or dependence on external assistance.Such a strategy has to place Pakistan on a higher growth and investment trajectory, without which thegovernment cannot finance its development priorities and create jobs to match the countrys youth

bulge. The current 2-3 percent annual growth in GDP which is half of what it was a decade ago ismuch below the 7 percent needed to absorb two million new entrants into the labour market every yearand provide them access to public services.The government acknowledged by its early steps and pronouncements that creating fiscal space andencouraging investment was necessary to foster economic growth. Having set this policy direction itnow has to build and sustain the momentum and translate intentions into action.It also means that, as promised, the government has to move decisively to carry out comprehensive taxreforms. This is not politically easy and will require difficult decisions in a complex national and


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provincial environment. However there are steps the government can take right away to widen andmake the tax structure more equitable without imposing new taxes.This involves dismantling the regime of concessions and privileges, which were granted over the years tospecial interests and individuals by statutory regulatory orders (SROs). The SRO culture has cost theeconomy billions in lost revenue, created an uneven playing field for business and undercut any notionof tax equity.

Having indicated its intent to move on SROs, if the government now announces that it is phasing out themost egregious as part of a wider revenue raising strategy it will send a powerful signal that it hasembarked on a transformational path of structural reforms. This will also signal that the ruling party willact in the public interest and not use public resources to protect narrow interests, even if they are partof its political constituency, at the expense of ordinary citizens.Such a move will help the government achieve its oft-stated objective of reducing governmentborrowing, whose record levels in recent years have sharply limited financial resources to the privatesector, crowded out investment and erod ed growth.Private investment in the country has plunged from 13 percent to 9 percent of GDP between 2007 and2012. In 2012, 84 percent of bank credit was pre-empted by government borrowing. Only 16 percent

went to the private sector. In 2013 the private sector had access to just 2-3 percent of total credit. Atpresent commercial banks are content making profits from high-cost lending to the government. Theyshould instead be incentivised to meet private sector needs to spur investment.Reducing government borrowing is important to build a positive investment climate. But other, morecomprehensive measures are also needed, especially solving the power crisis on a sustainable basis, asbusinesses cannot be competitive without uninterrupted energy supplies. The government of courserecognised this by launching a comprehensive energy policy as its earliest initiative. Now it has to swiftlyimplement this plan including privatising power distribution companies, which the finance ministeragain pledged to do in a speech last week. Similarly, moving ahead on the privatisation of other state-owned enterprises and laying out a time-bound road map to achieve this will send a strong signal that

the government means serious business.Along with this the government should also focus on addressing weaknesses and gaps in the regulatoryand legal environment that constrain investment and undermine competitiveness. The private sectorhas long called for a one-stop shop for investors to secure licences and registration. The g overnmentseconomic managers agree that cumbersome and over regulated procedures need to be streamlined andde-bureaucratised. They should now devise a plan to do so.This is by no means the only menu of actionsdeemed necessary to accelerate growth and improve the business climate. But they are among thosethe government has itself identified and committed to pursue. The challenge now is how to moveforward in a sustained and coherent way while communicating clearly to the public the direction beinggiven to the economy.

The government should think about articulating key elements of its economic strategy in the form of acharter for economic revival, for which it could then build parliamentary consensus and mobilise publicsupport. If there can be a charter for democracy there can also be a charter reflecting broad politicalagreement on steps needed to cure Pakistans ailing economy. The prime minister has often urged the opposition to keep politics out of efforts to fix the economy. Hemight now consider beginning the New Year with a wide-ranging speech calling for a national consensusaround a set of measures that can help to secure the goal of an economically empowered and resilientPakistan.


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Treason what treason? November 3, 2007, the emergency measure proclaimed on that date, was an act more of necessity thananything else. Gen Musharraf was not gathering power unto himself, the normal rationale for suchactions. He was preparing to shed it. But the higher judiciary was being obstructive, having ideas of itsown. The lawyers were on a roll after their then-fresh movement. And the media, given free rein bynone other than Musharraf, was obsessed with the idea that it had become a power in its own right.

Without Nov 3 something we all desired would not have happened: Gen Musharraf taking off hisuniform and leaving his army command. And if he had remained army chief elections would havebecome problematic: either not held or heavily influenced by the election commissioners of ISI andMilitary Intelligence.Why is it so difficult for agitated and inflamed minds, and there is no shortage ofthe kind here, to grasp this logic?Gen Musharrafs election as president had been challenged on the

grounds that as army chief he was in the service of Pakistan and hence ineligible for elected office. Giventhe triumphal mood of the lawyers movement and Chief Justice Chaudhrys all -too-obvious wish afterhis restoration to be seen as a giant-slayer, it was widely expected that their buoyant lordships, ridingthe crest of popular enthusiasm and cheered on by the media, would rule against Musharraf.Fine, an adverse verdict would still have left Musharraf as army chief. What would we have done aboutthat? Generals when discontented can mutter under their breaths or exchange glances amongthemselves but, unless such a crisis as that of East Pakistan occurs, they keep their counsels tothemselves. Musharrafs generals had not ganged up against him. Both the leading contenders for his

seat, Generals Majid and Kayani, were vying for his approval.The pressure on Musharraf to doff his uniform was coming principally from abroad, from the Anglo-American architects of the Benazir Bhutto- centred national reconciliation. In the event of an adverseSC verdict Musharraf would have had ample excuse for backing out from his end of the deal. Wherewould that have left us?Their lordships, basking in the glow of public approval by then some elements of public opinionverging on the edge of hysteria were reading only the popularity charts. The larger political picturewas escaping their attention.In the climate of October 1999 they had been sharp students of realism, quickly endorsing Musharrafscoup and, amazingly, even giving him the power to amend the constitutionwith a stroke of his pen.The seasons having undergone a dramatic change the former practitioners of pragmatism were nowmarching to a different tune. Not only that, they were drawing a curtain of forgetfulness around theirprevious performance and expecting everyone else to do the same.The emergency proclamation, resulting in the suspension of the constitution, was made on Nov 3.Musharraf shed his uniform on Nov 28. The emergency was lifted on Dec 15. An election date hadalready been announced. This then was the shorte st emergency in Pakistans history and it led to twoimmediate outcomes: an army chief relinquishing his command and the country moving towardselections.It was because of those elections that a democratic government came into being. Even before the newprime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, had been sworn in he proclaimed the freedom of the detained judges, and the barriers around their houses were removed. It was because of the new democraticorder, and not any storming of the Bastille, that the judges were restored to their former positions ayear later. So the sequence runs like this: no change in the army command, no elections, and norestoration of the judges.True, Nawaz Sharif led a march from Lahore for the restoration of the judges. But he was underdetention at his Model Town house. No commando raid freed him. The barricades around his house just


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melted away and he walked out a free man, leading a growing caravan on the Grand Trunk Road, thecrowds swelling because all of this was being reported live by every TV channel in the country. How didthis happen? Was something taking place behind the scenes?Factor in another development: Benazir Bhuttos assassination on Dec 27. If Musharraf was still armychief and he had wanted to get rid of the elections could a better excuse have come his way? Theelections were postponed for about five weeks but they were held on the announced date, Feb 18, and

Kayani as army chief made it a point to send a signal to the administration at all levels that there shouldbe no meddling in the elections.What made this sequence of events possible? The Nov 3 emergency, now being touted as an act oftreason and for which Musharraf is set to go on trial next week. Treason is subversion of theconstitution. In the given circumstances, the emergency seems more like protection of the constitution.The decision of the judges, if adverse, could have put the entire democratic process off the rails. It wasthe emergency which kept that process on track. But we are dealing with agitated stomachs. Not easyfor them to swallow such uncomfortable facts.Article Six of the constitution which deals with treason was really flouted, and brazenly so without anycorresponding benefits, on Oct 12, 1999. But regarding that event, Musharrafs real si n, we have the

eternal silence of the mountainsnot a word, not even a lame explanation for this silence, because thegiant-slayers themselves, all of them, with an alacrity that the new military commanders could not havefailed to notice, had struck a resounding gavel, no questions asked, on behalf of that transgression.From the Chaudhry-led court there was no humility or sense of contrition for this endorsement, just fireand thunder and sustained volleys of self- righteousness. Lets see if there is any change under the newdispensation. Milord Chaudhry after all, for whom I have a personal soft spot, was one of a kind.Pakistan is facing other problems. The Musharraf treason trial is a diversion. Perhaps that may preciselybe the reason why the government appears so keen on it, thinking that it will take minds off other stuff.But its hard to take ones mind off rising prices and shrinking pockets, even if a circus is going through

its routine next door. And this particular circus has lost its scapegoat appeal. Blaming Musharraf for

everything worked for a long time. Alas, not any more.An observer from Mars, however, could be forgiven for thinking that Pakistans foremost problem was

not the Taliban threat or dwindling foreign exchange reserves but the appointment of the Nadrachairman. This is the impression one gets from the barely-controlled anger of the youthful-lookinginterior minister, Ch Nisar, who seems to have made this into a matter of personal honour.Nonetheless, the interior ministers cris is management skills have to be commended. Sikander, the BlueArea gunman, held a national TV audience spellbound for close to six hours, waving two guns andunfortunately making the entire Islamabad police force look silly. And the interior minister, virtuallyfoaming at the mouth, spoke for days on end trying to put a favourable spin on that comedy show.Now hes doing the same with the Nadra chairman, fulminating about his negatives and trying to get

everyone to believe that he wasnt sacked in the middl e of the night. He doth protest too much. Therupee may not regain its lost strength any time soon this despite the increasingly-desperateassurances of the Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar, the man with the magic touch but we should be gratefulfor small mercies. At least there is comic relief from somewhere.And information minister Pervaiz Rashid has to be commended for being Imran Khans best publicist. I

thought that after running himself into a hole over the question of Nato supply routes, it would be sometime before Imran recovered his stride. But trust the information minister to come to his rescue andprovide him all the publicity ballast he needs as he and the PTI wrangle over the latters upcoming jalsa

or dharna in Lahore. The PTI should pass him a vote of thanks.


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it seems that Fata is not considered a part of the country.

Whether any major change in policy is on the cards following the visit of the new army chief is animportant issue which cannot be kept under wraps for too long. But what the local people immediatelywant is something totally different. They want a change in the attitude of those ruling and running thearea. These people treat the locals as second class citizens who have no say whatsoever in the running

of the administration nor are they consulted on any policy decisions that relate to the area.

Whenever any policy decision is taken for that area it is done solely by Islamabad/Rawalpindi. The localshave no rights whatsoever nor have they any government of their own, like in the other provinces,whereby they could themselves tackle the problems they face. They have neither a shoulder to cry onnor anyone to complain to.

Theoretically, the only person directly concerned or responsible for them is the president of Pakistan.But practically it is the army chief since his forces call the shots in Fata. The tribesmen are not asking forsomething big, being acutely aware what their fate has been for the last 66 years. Nothing has changed

for them since then. They were put to one side and conveniently forgotten except for being lorded overby the political agent as in the time of the British.

During this period nobody was bothered about developing the area and making any effort to bring it atpar with the rest of the country so that the tribesmen could earn a livelihood and have access to schoolsand hospitals. They are not asking for the establishment of big industrial estates but only for alleviationof the difficulties imposed upon them.

The infrastructure that one observes while travelling in Fata was initially laid by our colonial masters andlater improved with donations by foreign countries. Left to Islamabad alone the people would still have

been traversing long distances on foot. Countries like the US and the UAE have been major donors forwidening or construction of roads in South Waziristan. The US no doubt is the biggest financialcontributor to various projects in the country, including Fata, but its arrogant attitude towards solvingproblems of the region has tarnished its image. Instead of earning the goodwill of the people it hasearned their wrath.

Exactly the same applies to our armed forces in the tribal areas. They are working, fighting and trying tosteer the country out of its problems but in their own way, not bothered in any manner either toinvolve the locals or even to afford them minimal courtesy, the right of any law-abiding citizen to not betreated like a bloody civilian.

This is the root of the problem. The armed forces must treat the locals as loyal citizens of the countrylike everybody else. What the people need is a change in attitude towards them and nothing else; theyare waiting for that. A visit alone cannot and will not do any good if it is not followed by such positivechange.


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Justice in Dhaka When Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid invited President Nelson Mandela to visit Bangladesh in 1997for the 25th anniversary of the countrys independence, it appeared to be a signal of a new direction

towards reconciliatory politics away from the path of vengeance.

It was, therefore, ironic that just as Mandela lay in state and world leaders gathered in South Africa topay homage to this iconic man and his universal message of reconciliation not revenge, Bangladeshchose to do just the opposite by hanging Abdul Quader Mollah. It also declared three days of mourningfor Mandela but it leaves one wondering what the country was mourning if it had so blatantly ignored allthat he stood for.

Mollah, 65, had been a key leader of Jamaat-e- Islami and had been elected to the countrys parliamentthree times in the past. He was the firs t person to be hanged for war crimes by BangladeshsInternational Crimes Tribunal (ICT), established in 2010 to investigate atrocities committed during the1971 civil war. The tribunal convicted him for killing a student and 11 members of a family and aiding369 other people during the nine-month long strife. The death sentence was reviewed upwards after apetition by the government against life sentence awarded a few months ago.It was hoped that after its independence, Bangladesh would be more at peace with itself but this hasproved fallacious. Hanging a 65-year-old man 42 years after alleged war crimes will, it appears, bringlittle peace to the country.

Contrary to general belief, the concept of war crime trials didnt begin with Nuremburg. There had beensuch trials earlier at St Helena for Bonapartists, Leipzig after World War I for Kaiser and other seniorGerman officials and Constantinople again after WWI, for the Turks accused of slaughtering Armenians.In all these trials, there had been little d oubt about the nature of victors justice. Stalin, a man knownto strongly despise longer routes to issues, balked at the US notions of a complete trial, as he merelywanted defendants proclaimed guilty for the inevitable death sentence at Nuremburg.In the well- researched book by Gary J Boss Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War CrimesTrials, the opening statement of allied prosecutor, Justice Robert Jackson, is of considerable historicsignificance: The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the worldimposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been socalculated, so malignant, so devastating, that civilisation cannot tolerate their being ignored, because itcannot survive that being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injurystay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgement of the law isone of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.

However, it is always this disequilibrium in application of power versus dictates of reason, with whichpeople have an issue. For instance, were the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki less stung by thecalculated, malignant and devastating wrongs (to use Jacksons words) perpetuated by the US wartimeleaders, especially when Imperial Japan was crumbling?If the argument to bring the war to an abrupt end in favour of dropping the first nuclear bomb isaccepted, then why is Sri Lanka today criticised for human rights abuses? Isnt the 37 -year long civil warin Sri Lanka considered long enough for the state to use greater force to spare further bloodshed? Is theuse of force by nation-states for internal and external security, in discharge of their constitutionalresponsibilities, always as clean as a football match?


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Justice Jacksons statement is also important because it brings out ever more clearly than before the

difference between the period when the prosecutor starts to read his opening statement and the longperiod preceding it. While the trial itself is all legalities with foregone conclusions, the real issue is theentire political process which makes such trials possible, impossible or impractical. It is, therefore, notsurprising that even in 1945 when the war had just ended and anti-German sentiments were at its peak,

the chief justice of the US Supreme Court called Nuremburg trials a farce. The ICT has come under globalcriticism as falling well short of internation al standards while the motives behind Mollahs hanging havealso been unmistakably political.

Much has been made of the article by Anthony Mascarenhas in the Sunday Times of June 13, 1971,which reads more like a ball-by-ball commentary of every shooting. There is no denying that onoccasions the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan did engage in activities of which we should be downrightashamed of as a nation. But there has also been much exaggeration which tarnished the image of themilitary.

Mercifully, Mascarenhas acknowledges that up to 100,000 non-Bengalis were killed before thecrackdown started in East Pakistan. If only he had pointed out who those non-Bengalis were, who theircollaborators were and who started this vicious cycle. Anthony Mascarenhas was formerly of theMorning News, Karachi and the article, it is generally believed, was published after he moved to Londonwith his family. In every era, it seems there are people in Pakistan who instantly recognise anopportunity for personal advancement when they see one.

It was not only Mascarenhas who was unbalanced in his reporting. In another book Blood Telegram,

also authored by Gary J Bass, he describes how Archer Blood, the then US Consul General in Dhaka,reached a hasty conclusion of genocide a word which Turkey, a hundred years to this date, has not

accepted about its actions in Armenia, where by a conservative estimate over a million Armeniansperished.

Archer also overstated the use of US supplied jets, tanks, transport aircraft and ammunition to quashthe rebellion. For the record, there was only one squadron of F-86 aircraft and one armour regimentwhich were put to limited use, while it was the infantry equipped with POF manufactured G-3 rifles andAK-47 assault rifles that was engaged in larger ground operations. If ever the chaff of propaganda andIndian role in this fiasco is fully exposed, only then will a different story of the events of 1971 finallyemerge.

Mollah did not seek presidential clemency and chose death. In doing so, he embraced martyrdom asperceived by the common man in countries where religious undercurrents are strong, such asBangladesh and Pakistan recent debate notwithstanding. The issue with martyrdom, however, is thatit catapults a person beyond the pale of actual historical narrative. For followers of martyrs, it doesntmatter any longer what did or did not happen all that matters is to follow him.

It is here that Bangladesh could have taken a more prudent approach instead of opening old wounds.Unwittingly, it may also have caused new ones which could fester for a long time.


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One army, zero lashkarWith the selection of the new COAS there are renewed expectations of countrys civilian and military

leadership finally crafting the much needed longterm national strategy to cope with the security threatsto the country. Undecided whether to fight or negotiate, we have been in a state of confusion far toolong now. We need strategic since this confusion is eroding the writ of the state to eventually reach anirreversible point. Neither Taliban nor the Balochistan insurgency are our real problem. The real issue

we face is the absence of a basic unwavering idea behind our state policies to reverse private militancy,seeds of which were apparently cultivated in the post December 16, 1971 new Pakistan by Z A Bhuttossheltering of Afghan dissidents.General Zias rule in the 1980s put together the requisite ingredients for militancy in the country whicheventually got out of control during the enlightened murk of General Musharraf and has lately becomean everyday culture much like corruption during democracys last five years of revenge from thiscountry.One army, zero lashkar can probably be the only relevant idea in our times that deserves to be the

foundation stone of our policies in dealing with the multifaceted violence caused by private lashkars(armies) turning this country into a hellish mess. The concept of private armies negates the very logic ofthe existence of a state.In the US where every now and then a lunatic will walk into a school or a mall to shoot dozens witheasily available arms we dont find the much -hyped far right militias challenging the state of Americasince Timothy McVeighs bombing of Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Even of fshore private armies likeAl-Qaeda have been rendered ineffective.Armed entities like the IRA and the ETA were dealt with in Europe. Likewise India and Sri Lanka alsodealt with various armed resistance groups. Even UNITA in Angola gave up its armed wing. Now suchprivate lashkars mostly exist in countries like Central African Republic, Mali, Somalia, Yemen,Afghanistan and Pakistan. We cannot reclaim our country from the clutches of destruction withouthaving the idea of one army, zero lashkar applied in effect to any and every group of people armed evenwith licensed weapons, as small as in single digits and as big as in thousands, which in any way engagesor threatens to engage in any anti-state, anti-society, anti-peace, anti-citizen activity.

The idea of one army, zero lashkar simply means that there is zero tolerance for private armies on ourpart now and that we will treat not only the Taliban, banned sectarian and jihadist outfits, militantseparatists, tribal forces, dacoits but all the so-called armed wings of political parties, criminal gangs,mafia groups, even posse of feudals as anti-state private armies.It would be fortunate for all if our civilian and military leadership were to agree on the idea of onearmy, zero lashkar in this coun try to restore our internal sovereignty and external trust. Once thegovernment manages to build unanimous national consensus over the idea it may then embark upon acountrywide action plan along with the provincial governments, inviting all lashkars to surrender inreturn for fair trial for those lashkar members involved in heinous crimes against state and citizens and agrand rehabilitation programme for others.The death penalty could be waived for those surrendering voluntarily. The lashkars or members oflashkars of all religious, sectarian, ethnic, terrorist, criminal, tribal, political, feudal, local, foreign, tinyand mighty of all shades still not surrendering must then be dealt with as enemy combatants in a battle.Historically, empires including Muslim empires crumbled when private armies took roots. Withoutthe policy of one army and zero lashkar we may soon be history too.


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Obamas era Action begets reaction in foreign policy as in physics, and action unconsidered for its possibleconsequences has been responsible for many results for which statesmen are eventually sorry, as aremultitudes (as it may be) who pay the price. That, sententious as it may be, is my holiday message toBarack Obama.In 2012, at the start of his second term, President Barack Obama called the Pentagon to assure itsleaders that the American nation would remain the greatest force for freedom and security that theworld has ever known. The war in Afghanistan was, at that time, continuing, and the disorders and

sectarian attacks had begun, which have continued in Iraq ever since the US had declared that war overin 2011 after 8 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 4 days.Obama endorsed his and his predecessors achievements, which he enumerated as (I paraphrase):

strengthened alliances, new partnerships forged, defence of universal rights and human dignity, defenceof the nation, the fight taken to Americas enemies, the number of Americans in harms way reducedand Americas global leadership restored. Seconded by (then) De fense Secretary Robert Gates, hepromised a larger military budget and, instead of a downsized force, a more capable one.It was a curious speech because it implied that the Iraq War had been won and finished sectarian andregional conflict ended, which is not true and that the same soon would be true in Afghanistan. In theAfghan war, his administration has already widened the war so as to include frontier regions of Pakistan,employing drone missile attacks and commando raids. This has intensified anti-Americanism andundermined Pakistani political stability to no ones advantage. He has bargained with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to keep some American troops in the latters

country long after the originally scheduled withdrawal of the bulk of US forces at the end of 2014.President Barack Obamas foreign policy pivot to Asia has never been given a complete explanation.The apparent justification is apprehension at the rise in Chinas economy, its military development andChinas expanding claims wi th respect to disputed waters and territories. Is this really considered athreat to the US?It has been a legitimate concern to Japan and the countries that are the southeasternneighbours of Beijing in the Yellow and South China Seas. The Obama administration has implicitlytreated it as if it were a prospective casus belli.The United States major existing security commitments in East Asia concern the security of Japan andKorea, and the sole current dispute has been Chinas declaration in late November of a new air securityand identification zone over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, rejected by Japan, the US and othergovernments, and disregarded in a subsequent transit by American B-52 bombers from Guam.The last time the US caused its overseas military f orces to pivot from the American mainland and theircommitments in Europe was 1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea, where units of the Americanoccupation army were deployed. The dispute has yet to be settled.Barack Obama decided to run for presid ent in 2007 and won, as the man who would end George BushsIraq war. He did so up to a point but enlarged the one in Afghanistan, following the generals advice

about which he had little choice. Since then, he has followed the beat of the drum in the Middle Eastand South Asia, bombing Libya and enthusiastically offering to bomb Syria. He has inaugurated dronesand perpetuated Guantanamo imprisonment. He has opened a new era in America of governmentalsecrecy and persecution of dissidents.The wars that he has not ended and the moral climate he has sustained in American government, insuccession to George Bush, will be the remembered qualities of his presidency.Excerpted from: How History Will Remember Obama (Hint: Not Well), Commondreams.org


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Power grabNot satisfied with its sudden, possibly unlawful, removal of Nadra chairman Tariq Malik, the governmenthas now decided to hand over administrative control of the agency to the Election Commission ofPakistan. The ECP and Nadra do have complementary duties, including collaboration on the upcominglocal government elections, but that certainly does not mean that the two entities should be run by thesame authority. This is a naked power grab by a government that was not happy that Nadra was trying

to identify fingerprint ballots in constituencies where the PML-N is accused of being the beneficiary ofrigging. Although even the fingerprint analysis will not be enough on its own to prove that the electionswere rigged since the science involved is imprecise at best, it will severely embarrass the government.Rather than own up to the possibility of wrongdoing, the PML-N government has compounded itsoffences by trying to silence an independent voice. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has claimed thatMalik lied about his educational qualifications and was guilty of misconduct. These charges are stronglydenied by Malik. Since the dismissal is now being considered by the courts, the government, instead oflaunching a character assassination against Malik in the media, should present its arguments before the judges.

The handing over of Nadra to the ECP should also be taken up by the judiciary. Nadra is in possession ofsensitive information about every citizen in the country, including their fingerprints, CNIC numbers andother personal information. Privacy laws forbid the sharing of this data with anyone else in thegovernment, including the ECP. It is believed that one of the reasons Malik was fired is because herefused to hand over this information to the government. Allowing the ECP access to whatever data hasbeen collected by Nadra would make a mockery of our right to privacy. It may also lead to a cover-up ofthe extent of rigging in the May general elections and could be considered a form of pre-poll riggingbefore the local government elections. Nadra had been working on a new smart NIC that would containinformation on bank accounts. As long as the government is eager to violate our rights we shoulddemand a halt to any project that hands over more information about us to an agency that is no longerindependent. Until Malik is restored and the government stops politicising Nadra we simply cannot trustthe agency.

No jokeFinance Minister Ishaq Dar seems determined to destroy the PML- Ns hard -fought new image as a partythat has learnt from its mistakes and is now mature enough to be trusted with power. Of the manydisasters the party bestowed on the nation the last time it was in government, few were more damagingthan the decision to freeze foreign currency accounts after Pakistan tested its nuclear weapons andfaced international sanctions. The damage done to local and foreign confidence in the economy took

many years to repair. Now, for some unfathomable reason, Dar is making unsubtle jokes about freezingforeign currency accounts again, this time to bring down the price of the US dollar. It is hard to believethat the government would be destructive enough to repeat the same mistake or ignorant enough toexpect different results this time round. But even if the remark was a throwaway comment made in jestit could have severe economic ramifications. Panicked foreign currency account holders, operatingunder the once-bitten-twice-shy principle, may move their dollars to Dubai or other safe havens andworsen our foreign currency reserve crisis. Dar has vowed to bring the price of the dollar down to 98rupees but if this is the only suggestion he has we can instead expect the rupee to continue falling.

The finance minister is, for some reason, trying to bring the price of the dollar down through wish


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fulfilment. In a speech at the awards ceremony of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, Dar advisedpeople to cash in their dollars since its price would now stop rising. If indeed his advice is heeded, thedollar will fall since the act of selling dollars will achieve that aim. A charge against Dar can be leveledthat he is inciting insider trading by revealing information about the dollars fall. But surely a man asworldly and experienced as Dar knows that the business community is not foolish enough to sell itsdollars at a time when the rupee has been rapidly losing value. There is only one way to halt the

depreciation of our currency which does not rely on gimmicks and obfuscation. We need to reduce ourimport bill substantially, specifically our dependence on foreign oil. This will only happen if Pakistandevelops alternative sources of energy and goes through with projects like the Iran gas pipeline.Consumer confidence in the economy will also have to be boosted, although Dar will not be able to dothat so long as he continues making bizarre statements. When our finance minister does not inspireconfidence what hope does our economy have?

The Punjab bridgeMore than six and a half decades after Punjab was portioned, along with the rest of the Subcontinent, it

is easy to forget how many cultural similarities the two parts of Punjab share, and the potential thatexists for cooperation between them. During his visit to India, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif suggestedhow the two provinces could move closer together. Shahbaz, who also met Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh during his immensely successful goodwill mission, succeeded in bowling over thepeople of Ludhiana as he addressed them at the final of the India-Pakistan kabbadi match. Shahbazbrought the stadium alive, speaking in Punjabi, talking of Lahori hospitality and of a shared kabbadicontest next time round.

But the Punjab CM, in the presence of his counterpart from the east, spoke also of expanded trade anddevelopment efforts. This is something we must take forward and build on. The possibilities for trade

between the two Punjabs would appear to be many. More shared land and rail routes, in addition toWagah, which is currently up and running, would make this especially feasible and could benefit peoplein both countries. There have also been other, more innovative suggestions made in the past, such aslinking power grid stations in Indian Punjab to those across the border to help overcome the electricityshortfall. These possibilities are certainly worth looking into. Devolution of power under the 18thAmendment also means it is more feasible for Shahbaz Sharif and his team to look into these optionsand use them as a means to take his province further into a new era. The shared heritage of language,culture and cuisine can only help, and the opportunity created by Shahbaz Sharifs trip must be builtupon, given that so much could be gained towards a common purpose.

THE NEWS EDITORIAL 17-12-2013

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Transcript of THE NEWS EDITORIAL 17-12-2013