Home

Home

We say welcome to all the students who are preparing to appear in future competitive examinations. We have realized that there should be a platform where we can share knowledge as much as possible for the General Knowledge papers. Knowledge will be shared here from the prestigious news papers of the country to assist the students in preparation for the Current Affairs and Pakistan Affairs papers. I hope that this platform will help you as much as possible. Moreover this platform is a great source of study for the students who are doing work/jobs and do not have time for purchasing newspapers and stuck to them for their preparation.

{{......Wish u best of luck in your endeavors........}}

.

Read More

Editoral-Development of human resource By Anwar Syed

EYOND the coal fields of Sindh and mineral wealth in Balochistan, ours is a country of shortages. Its most precious resource is said to be its population of over 170 million people.

They are endowed with all kinds of talent, some of which is already at work, but much of it is hidden, like diamonds underground, waiting to be taken out, cleaned, cut and polished.

In other words, these people have to be educated and kept in good health. The requisites of health are not complicated, but we have to figure out what kind of education they are to have.

Governments in Pakistan have tended to allocate only about two per cent of the country’s GDP each to education and health. Experts believe these allocations should be doubled now and eventually increased to eight or even 10 per cent of the GDP. The present government appears to have no intention of making these increases. If and when a government does come along which is willing to accord a higher priority to education and health, where should the increases go? As mentioned above, the requisites of good health are well known. Safe drinking water, reasonably nutritious food, personal hygiene and timely access to physicians and medication in times of illness should keep a person in good health. Education, on the other hand, is a very different category. It is not right to ask what kind of health we want. But it is entirely proper to ask what kind of education we want for our people.

Official spokesmen claim that a little over 50 per cent of our people are literate. It is likely that most of them can do no more than write their names. In my reckoning a person said to be literate should be able to write letters, read announcements posted on notice-boards, and read the newspapers. This level of ability will probably require six to eight years of schooling.

If a young fellow wants to grasp the basics of one or more languages, maths, physical and biological sciences and the humanities, he should go on to high school. This is also the time when he must decide what he wants to do in life and how to prepare for it.

Some of these young people know that they want to become doctors, engineers, lawyers, or some other kind of professional. They will seek admission to appropriate educational institutions. Then there are those who have not made a career choice. Yet they are not ready to take a job for which their high school education qualifies them. They may end up in a college of liberal arts to get a Bachelor’s degree. Even if they have taken more courses in a certain field of study than in others, the likelihood is that they will come out as ‘generalists’ and not as specialists. That, according to one school of thought, should be the objective of higher education.

Lord Macaulay, in the middle of the 19th century, advanced the proposition that the purpose of higher education should be to improve a young person’s mind. It does not matter what he has formally studied. If he has done exceptionally well in Sanskrit, it means that he can do just as well in other areas. He will be a competent official in the department of finance at one time and equally competent as an officer in the department of education two years later. He has become a generalist.

Macaulay’s doctrine governed the appointment of individuals to the administrative class of the home civil service in Britain, to the Indian civil service, and after independence to the civil service of Pakistan, now known as the district management group.

We hear of massive unemployment among college-educated persons in Pakistan. They have not been trained in any specific craft or line of work; they are ‘generalists’. Our colleges produce thousands of them a year to join the ranks of the unemployed. This has to change. Young people who have completed high school should not be considered entitled, as if a right, to pursue a college education. Where, then, are they to go?

The high school education they have received should stand them in good stead even if they went back to the occupations in which their families had been engaged for generations. Let us say one of them went back to being a farmer. He would be open to innovations and willing to experiment with new techniques. He would be more productive than his father and grandfather had ever been.

An alternative for him would probably be to learn a trade or craft: become an electrician, plumber, carpenter, painter, or cook. He would make a lot more money in any of these occupations than he could as a clerk in a government or business establishment.For jobs like these to open in large enough numbers the economy has to expand and diversify. It must come up with many more large and small manufacturing enterprises, repair shops and service stations. This is one of the main ways in which our precious human resource of over 170 million persons — the majority of whom are young people in their teens and early 20s — can work to enable Pakistan to fulfil its potential and reach greatness.

Some observers object to the existing multiplicity of education systems in the country such as English medium vs Urdu medium, public vs private, a two-year college diploma vs O-level and A-level certificates. They want one uniform system for all students with the same curriculum, examinations, and the required standards of attainment. This is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future and I am not sure that it is even desirable.

Diversity in the schemes of education available to young people exists in many countries. There are schools for the children of the wealthy and those for others whose ability to pay is modest or marginal. If the distinction is not based on the parents’ financial status, it is based on the student’s relative merit. An exceptionally accomplished candidate will go to Harvard, Yale, Oxford or Cambridge virtually free of cost to him or his sponsors. This, in my view, is both sensible and just.

The writer is professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts.

anwarsyed@cox.net

Read More

Editoral-Taliban switch tactics By Richard Norton-Taylor

RITISH marines deployed in Sangin in southern Afghanistan, where British troops have suffered a high rate of casualties in recent weeks, are facing a growing threat from long-range rifle fire as Taliban fighters change their tactics.

Brig George Norton, deputy commander of British and US forces in Helmand province, said that the marines will be reinforced by a contingent guarding the nearby Kajaki dam. The unit will be replaced by US troops.

More than 800 British troops are based in Sangin, a strategic crossroads in central Helmand where four marines have been killed recently. Two were killed by gunfire recently. The number wounded has not been disclosed. Of the 307 British soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since 2001, 98 have been in Sangin.

Asked about the vulnerability of British troops in Sangin, Norton said: “We are all vulnerable to IEDs [improvised explosive devices], but the insurgents are increasingly using long-distance small arms.”

Maj-Gen Gordon Messenger, the UK Ministry of Defence’s chief military spokesman, said Taliban-led insurgents were resorting to what he described as an “increasing use of single shots at range”. British officers said it would be misleading to describe the shots as coming from snipers, a word suggesting the use of sophisticated rifles by well-trained fighters.

They said it was more a question of hidden insurgents firing from a distance and then fleeing an area difficult for British troops to attack because of the danger of civilian casualties.

“If the truth be told, there’s still much hard fighting left to do”, said Maj-Gen Richard Mills, the American commander of 20,000 US marines and 8,000 British troops in Helmand. He acknowledged it had been a difficult week for British forces “but they are holding up very, very well.”

— The Guardian, London

Read More

Editoral-Capital self-rule-Dawn Editorial

There is a valid reason why the federal government should heed calls, as those made by participants in a seminar held in the capital recently, to introduce the local government system in Islamabad. For a decade now, since political power was devolved to the grass roots in the country, the over one million citizens of Islamabad have been denied their right to a similar system. They could not vote in the first and second LG elections. Denying them this right again will have a negative impact on citizens’ lives in terms of service delivery, particularly since the latter has been characterised by urban bias, poor transparency and the tendency to serve special interests. It will also reflect poorly on the government’s commitment to democracy.

What derailed the earlier attempt to introduce local government through the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Ordinance 2002 was the absence of what the National Reconstruction Bureau termed a ‘suitable framework’. There were major reservations against the idea of incorporating Islamabad’s urban areas into the LG system. By 2005, the year of the second LG elections, the jurisdiction of 20 union councils in Islamabad’s rural areas had been delineated but not in the urban areas.

Eight years have passed since the 2002 ordinance, which has lapsed, and the capital territory has even got its own high court. A suitable framework for local government in Islamabad incorporating both the rural and urban areas should have been worked out by now. In addition to being able to draw upon the experience of two terms of the LG system in the country, the federal government could also have taken a leaf from the experience of local government in other administrative capital territories in the world. Islamabad’s citizens should not be denied the right to vote for the third time in the next LG polls.

Read More

Editoral-Unacceptable infighting-Dawn Editorial

Pakistan is listed as a water-stressed country and is fast approaching the scarcity threshold. A substantial portion of the problem lies in irrational use in the field of agriculture, the demands of a burgeoning population and the near absence of integrated water management. As such the water shortage in the country is partly a crisis of our own creation. Of late, however, an already dire situation seems to have been rendered even more critical by the construction of Baglihar Dam in Indian-administered Kashmir in apparent violation of the Indus Waters Treaty.

Inflows into the Chenab on the Pakistani side are said to have fallen significantly as a result of this project. Agriculture, the mainstay of our economy, has been hit hard and livelihoods are at risk. Then there is the ongoing Kishanganga Dam project, also in Kashmir, which could make matters worse for Pakistan. For its part, India insists that the dams are not depriving Pakistan of its due share of water while many people here take an altogether different view.

But if New Delhi has violated the Indus Waters Treaty, what is Pakistan doing about it? It has been reported that the water and power ministry and the law and justice division cannot even decide on who should represent Pakistan in the Kishanganga arbitration proceedings. Apparently the latter is demanding change while the water and power minister wants to retain the same legal team that failed to convince the arbitrator of Pakistan’s seemingly strong case on Baglihar. This infighting over so crucial an issue is simply unacceptable. The point here is not to question which ministry or division is right or wrong. Instead, what we stress is the need for unity and consensus so the best legal team that money can hire is able to present our case at the international level.

Millions of livelihoods, general economic well-being and biodiversity are at stake and no effort should be spared to ensure that Pakistan is ably represented. The government needs to get its act together, put an end to internal squabbling and work vigorously for the collective good. Nothing less will do.

Read More

Editoral-Afghan puzzle-Dawn Editorial

Admiral Mike Mullen travels to Afghanistan and Pakistan; generals Kayani and Pasha are headed towards Kabul — in the midst of the flurry of high-level visits in the region, the strategic incoherence seems to keep growing. Afghanistan is an odd puzzle at the moment. While the American troops on the ground are armed with a COIN strategy, the policymakers in the US are questioning the wisdom of the strategy in the first place and troops on the ground in Afghanistan are chafing against the restrictions that COIN imposes in terms of militarily engaging the enemy.

In the midst of this is a president, Hamid Karzai, who is supposed to be pivotal to the success of COIN but is actively pushing for some kind of quick settlement with his Taliban opponents. And all of that before Pakistan enters the frame. The army top brass here is believed to have quietly conveyed its dismay over the sacking of Gen McChrystal, a man who was considered to be someone that Pak-istan could do business with. Yet, the importance of the sacking of Gen McChrystal should not be overestimated: Adm Mullen and Gen Petraeus are well-known personalities in Islamabad and GHQ and are familiar with the key players here.

The problem for Pakistan, as opposed to the army specifically, is that the generals here may be tempted to draw the wrong conclusions from the increasing uncertainty over the future of Afghanistan. Trying to broker an agreement between President Karzai and the Haqqanis, or even with the ultimate power broker in Afghanistan, Mullah Omar, is a non-starter because Karzai has little power of his own and the Americans are still opposed to talking at this stage. But it is an idea that the army has quietly pressed for some time now and probably feels encouraged to ramp up in the wake of the McChrystal debacle, which exposed the level of acrimony and discord within the Obama administration’s Afghan team. This is worrying. A decade since the events of 9/11, what was already apparent to some should be apparent to everyone: a peaceful, stable and friendly Afghanistan (which is what the army here claims it wants) can never be achieved if certain paths are still pursued.

Pakistan’s overriding goal at the present time should be the internal security of this country. This means dealing with the militant groups inside the country and helping fashion an Afghanistan that does not pose a threat to Pakistan. And for those who pine for a ‘solution’ in Afghanistan like that of the mid ’90s, a simple question: how exactly did that end up strengthening Pakistan’s security?

Read More

Editoral-Rival claims to Nile waters By Xan Rice

FOR a decade nine states in the Nile basin have been negotiating on how best to share and protect the river in a time of changing climates, environmental threats and exploding populations. Now, with an agreement put on the table, talks have broken down in acrimony.

On one side are the seven states that supply virtually all the Nile’s flow. On the other are Egypt and Sudan, whose desert climates make the Nile’s water their lifeblood. “This is serious,” said Henriette Ndombe, executive director of the intergovernmental Nile Basin Initiative, established in 1999 to oversee the negotiation process and enhance cooperation. “This could be the beginning of a conflict.”

The sticking point between the two groups is a question going back to colonial times: who owns the Nile’s water? The answer — “it is for all of us” — might seem obvious. But Egypt and Sudan claim to have the law on their side. Treaties in 1929 and 1959, when Britain controlled much of the region, granted the two states “full utilisation of the Nile waters” — and the power to veto any water development projects in the catchment area in east Africa. The upstream states, including Ethiopia, source of the Blue Nile, which merges with the White Nile at Khartoum, and supplies 86 per cent of the river’s eventual flow, were allocated nothing.

However debatable its claim under international law, Egypt strongly defends it, sometimes with threats of military action. For decades it had an engineer posted at Uganda’s Owen Falls dam on the Nile, monitoring the outflow.

But in a sign of the growing discord, Uganda stopped supplying the engineer with data two years ago, according to Callist Tindimugaya, its commissioner for water resources regulation. And when Egypt and Sudan refused to sign the agreement in April on “equitable and reasonable” use of the Nile unless it protected their “historic rights” the other states lost patience.

Convinced that from their point of view there was no purpose in more talks, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania signed a River Nile Basin Cooperative Framework agreement in May. Kenya followed, and Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo look likely to do so — causing alarm and anger in Egypt. When parliaments in six states ratify the deal, a permanent commission to decide on water allocation will be set up — without the two states that need the river most.

Opposition by the upstream states to the colonial treaties is not new. Ethiopia was never colonised, and rejected the 1959 bilateral agreement that gave Egypt three-quarters of the Nile’s annual flow and Sudan a quarter, even before it was signed. Most of the east African states also refused to recognise it, and earlier Nile treaties agreed by Britain on their behalf, when they became independent in the 1960s.

Under the agreement signed by five countries, each state’s share of the Nile basin water will depend on variables such as population, contribution to the river’s flow, climate, social and economic needs, and, crucially, current and potential uses of the water — a factor which will heavily favour Egypt and Sudan.

The disputed article, in which Egypt and Sudan want their historic rights guaranteed and the other governments prefer to a clause where each nation agrees “not to significantly affect the water security of any country” — has been left out of the agreement, for further discussion.

— The Guardian, London

Read More

Editoral-Environmental fiction By Syed Rizwan Mahboob

IT was some time in July 1992 when heavy rains poured for nearly 40 hours flooding upper Punjab. Spillways had to be opened to save dams as massive quantities of water roared through the rivers.

As the torrential rains ended, a survey by the forest department identified 17 fresh landslides in Murree tehsil. Contrary to environmental fiction, 14 of these landslides occurred in areas which had good forest cover.

An explanation was needed — which came after a three-week scouting period in Murree and Kotli Sattian. The feature that was common to these 14 landslides was the blasting that had occurred nearby for road or building construction. That was the first time that a cardinal pillar of ‘green beliefs’ was shaken. Evidently, the cutting of trees is not solely responsible for landslides.

Environmental sensitisation which started three decades ago had several positives. Recommendations pertaining to sustainability, prudent natural resource management, environmental protection, conservation, etc., are laudable, and of direct relevance to the very existence of mankind. What is less welcome is the transformation of pro-environment themes to articles of belief, dogmas and even fads.

The scariest part of this approach is being distracted from the facts and a tendency to attribute the wrong causes to environmental phenomena. This position is not based on empirical evidence, yet it is accepted.

The reaction to forest fires represents one example of how zeal can play havoc with nature. Every May and June, newspapers and channels are suddenly splashed with coverage of forest fires raging in the Margalla hills or Murree. Unscrupulous forest officers are cursed while frantic activities (including spraying water via helicopters) ensue. NGOs paint doomsday scenarios.What is conveniently forgotten is that fires are a natural phenomenon in these forests, designed by nature to cleanse the floor of massive quantities of weeds and shrubs accumulated during spring. A surface fire in May or June adds forest humus and allows millions of surviving seedlings to be poised to benefit from the coming monsoons.

This is how the survival of the fittest principle is enforced by nature. So rather than panicking at the first sighting of these flames during early summer, one should only worry if the surface fire turns into a crown fire and gets out of hand.

Another environmental misconception concerns the mantra encapsulated in the notion of ‘banning tree felling’; something that always wins accolades at workshops and conferences held in colourful surroundings and attended by even more colourful crowds.

Not realising that the jungle is a living entity, comprising new plants, submature and mature trees, the felling of old trees is dubbed as the biggest menace of our times. Nobody realises that millions of seedlings would die annually as a closed canopy of mature trees would not allow sunlight through for the sprouting young plants. Year after year, the forest floor gets littered with layers of leaves and pine needles allowing virtually no room to germinating plants.

In effect, denying the opportunity to grow to millions of seeds for decades has put coniferous forests in serious peril as overgrown trees are susceptible to the sudden eruption of disease. Rather than banning felling, gradually removing mature trees to facilitate new growth would be a better solution for sustainability — but then environmental fiction always holds sway.

Nature exacts retribution in its own way for unmindful meddling in its affairs. Sometime ago, a serious disease erupted in the blue pine forests of Murree, killing hundreds of trees. Shisham in central Punjab is presently faced with the serious dieback disease that causes an otherwise healthy tree to suddenly go dry and eventually die.

In both cases, the loss extended to hundreds of trees but there were no young trees to replace the dead ones. (I shudder at the sight of old and decaying poplar trees, hollow as a barrel, lining the Lahore canal. If these are not removed, they could endanger green avenues.)

These examples clearly show that some rational thinking, free from preconceived notions, is needed on nature and forests. Civil society activists’ discourse on the environment may be laudable but it needs to be deconstructed in the light of sound ecological information. Otherwise, we may continue to grope in the dark, armed with feeble diagnostic offerings and even feebler prescriptions.

All of us must be tired of hearing that forested land in Pakistan is a mere 5.2 per cent of the area as against the desirable world average of 25 per cent. Few realise that over 70 per cent of Pakistan is ecologically not meant for ‘green jungles’ but has always consisted of a scrub and thorny ecosystem. It was only due to the irrigation system that compact forests were grown in otherwise arid areas by the British early last century.

With a water crisis upon us, our green designs would need to be reviewed as we may soon be constrained to settle for an arid landscape in most of Pakistan, comprising patches of beri or kikar interspersed with shrubs and grasses.

And just by way of elucidation, increasing forest area in Pakistan by even one per cent would need a whopping Rs10bn, 6,000 cusecs of water and some 200,000 acres of land. Is it not high time to revisit our green dreams that are drummed into us during tree-planting campaigns for enhancing forest cover? The best that can be done is to advocate the planting of more trees on farmlands and give up the vision of achieving a 25 per cent forested area.

The writer has worked for the Punjab forest department.

Read More

Editoral-Travesty of fake degrees By Q. Isa Daudpota

IT was in 2003 that I interviewed two persons (one with a Bachelor’s degree and the other with a doctorate) for a faculty position at a new university in Lahore. The unusual names of the universities prompted me to check them on the Internet and my suspicions were vindicated.

The person with the doctorate claimed that he had flown over to London from Canada to do some required practical computer work for six weeks at the American University in London. An Internet search quickly led me to look at its connections in Pakistan. Looking deeper led to many strange connections.

Its website showed AUL-affiliated institutions in Pakistan, all of which looked suspicious. These were brought to the attention of the chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, with a request that the AUL link be investigated.

The Islamabad-based Pakistan Futuristic Foundation and Institute (PFFI) founder obtained a degree from AUL. He has, in turn, supervised the AUL PhD thesis of the current rector of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), also in the capital. Confirmation of this came from the dean of the Faculty of Advanced Integrated Studies (FAIS), Dr Saeeda Asadullah Khan, at NUML. She was in-charge of all PhD research at the university then, and is now the vice chancellor of the Fatima Jinnah University in Rawalpindi.

The FAIS was the brainchild of the founder of PFFI. It probably took shape around the time that PFFI severed its link with AUL, and moved its AUL-registered PhD students to NUML, then known as NIML (‘I’ stood for Institute).

Three NUML PhD theses were available in the HEC’s library, but not in NUML’s. The dean of FAIS told me that NUML would only make them available in their own library after the convocation was held. NUML, in late 2004, had not had any convocation since November 2000 (when it awarded the first PhD), which ought to be an annual event for any good, functioning university.

It struck me that NUML has awarded PhDs in record time. Prior to May 29, 2000, NUML was an institute (named NIML) affiliated with the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU). PhDs were awarded to two English department professors (one of them the department’s head) in November 2000 and May 2001. That’s a PhD in six months after getting chartered.

More seriously, the head of the University Grants Commission (UGC) from 1997 to 2001 managed to get a PhD in education in June 2001 from NUML. His thesis had been submitted to NUML through the PFFI. On relinquishing charge at the UGC he moved to the vice-chancellorship of QAU. It was during his term of service at the UGC that NIML’s charter was considered, and that’s exactly when he was registered as a student there. The conflict of interest is obvious! The UGC (that later became HEC) is an institution which funds universities and gives recommendations for the award of a charter to a university.

If the work on the three theses started prior to NIML getting a charter, their outline of research work required approval by the QAU’s board of advanced studies and research, of which NIML was an affiliated institute prior to May 2000. That no reference to any NIML theses exists at QAU was confirmed by a notable academic with access to such records there. According to the same person, NIML may not have authorisation from QAU to offer any degree above a Master’s degree.

In late 2004 I wrote that NUML had now many thousands of students, with several hundreds registered in the MPhil and PhD programmes in many subjects, according to one of its faculty members. Here’s an institute that lies in the shadow of the HEC, the body empowered to maintain standards in our universities. The way out of the current mess is clear, but it will require great resolve and courage. Let’s hope that it exists. The recent manhandling of a professor on campus and the callous response of the administration shows that nothing has changed in the last six years.

Other old fears have now become a frightening reality. Around 2004 I wrote two letters to Chief Justice (retd) Irshad Hasan Khan, the then election commissioner. This was a cushy position (occupied from January 2002 to January 2005) provided by Gen Musharraf in return for favours done when the judge headed the Supreme Court and for ensuring dampening of any possible turbulence in the electoral process.

My letters requested that the original degree certificates of all aspiring parliamentarians be certified by the HEC. I never heard back from the former chief justice. Things have now, however, changed, with exposure of the huge number of fraudulent degree cases, the power of the Supreme Court and the brave stand of PML-N MNA Abid Sher Ali despite opposition within his party and the warning of an influential federal minister.

Continuous pressure on the HEC, whose past record in such matters is lacklustre, is needed. It needs to be provided with originals of degrees and a timeline demanded for the result of the verification. Current estimates leaked to the press by insiders are unreliable; clear, honest, official statements need to be demanded.

In parallel, the election commissioners (post-Musharraf) who failed to adequately verify the degrees ought to be questioned by the Supreme Court for having violated their terms of reference. This is exactly what friend Naeem Sadiq and I have demanded in our letter to the present Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. The serious negligence of the election commissioners, for which they ought to be accountable, has allowed corrupt parliamentarians to fleece the exchequer as regards their salaries and gain far more through perks and corruption.

When nearly one-sixth of parliamentarians have allegedly used fraudulent certificates and lied to become legislators, one needs to question the validity of the current parliament. It has been polluted by those who have committed fraud and others who have actively encouraged or tolerated it. A clean fair mid-term election is called for, which must be held under the close supervision of trusted bodies such as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and foreign observers. It is clear that the election commission cannot be solely trusted with this duty.

The writer is an Islamabad-based educator and environmentalist.

Read More

Editoral-Lost territory By Hajrah Mumtaz

GIVEN that Pakistan presents not only a daunting but even an actively hostile environment for the arts, one is thankful that the people who employ culture to beat back obscurantism are soldiering on.

In a country where bombings and targeted attacks are now the norm, which is a frontline state against the war on terror and fighting a hydra-headed insurgency within its borders, it would perhaps seem unlikely that cultural activities of various sorts continue to exist.

In Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, the scene at first glance appears alive and kicking, albeit in Pakistan’s relative terms. And the ranks of old stalwarts such as the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, Ajoka Theatre, Tehrik-i-Niswan, Lok Rehas, Katha and the Karachi Drama Circle have swelled over the years.

But a closer look shows that such activities are increasingly under direct attack. Ajoka has faced threats and bans. The RPTW World Performing Arts Festival was the target of a fortunately small incendiary device in 2008, as were two theatre halls in Lahore. Karachi’s Shanakht Festival was disrupted last year when certain quarters objected to an artist’s depiction of a political figure.

Everywhere, the space, money and interest for cultural activities is on the decline. And, as the country moves slowly but surely towards the right, so is there growing intolerance for multiple or less pedestrian points of views. The deep-rooted prejudice against the arts that was fostered during the Zia era is returning with a vengeance and while performance artists soldier on, they are increasingly forced to do so under wraps, in protected spaces.

They are forced to work mainly in large urban areas, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, to be precise, where space, audiences and interest for their sort of work still exist. The growing lack of space is exemplified, to me, by the death of a student at the Peshawar University this March: he was severely beaten up by members of a right-wing political party because — and this is the really crazy part — he was playing music in his hostel room.

Most people seem to agree that things in Pakistan will probably get worse before they get better.

What future does this spell for cultural space in Pakistan? Should we learn from the fate of poor Adnan Abdul Qadir, the Peshawar University student, and stifle our desire to listen to music, even in a private space? Should we abandon the country’s theatre halls, cinemas and exhibition halls because they may at any moment be targeted? Let them moulder away in disuse, to be resurrected a couple of times a year to deliver sycophantic presentations on the country’s greatness and its achievements? Or worse, leave them to be converted into giant shopping malls that only a fraction of the population can afford to enter?

Concerts on any notable scale have already disappeared. It’s not an official ban; it’s just that the relevant provincial government or city administration inform would-be organisers that security cannot be assured for a large, public and possibly volatile gathering of people. So, no more concerts. Festivals are going the same way. The RPTW World Performing Arts Festival, one of the country’s best ambassadors to the world at large, could not be held last year because of both the lack of funding — the economy is in no good shape — and security concerns.

There is no end to the path we are in the process of irrevocably committing ourselves to. After music, theatre and cinema, what will we lose next? Literary gatherings, conferences, mushairas and poetry readings? Many of our most celebrated poets were at different times thought controversial enough for even the state to ban. What will the extremists think of them?

So, the answer lies not in pulling ourselves in a little further every time the extremists shout, but in fighting back — not only to retain control of what we have but also to regain the cultural and public space that we have ceded. It is not only our right but also a vital avenue of countering the wave of medievalism that is poised to engulf us wholly.

Culture and its associated activities are not just about entertainment; at root they’re about exploring and creating a national identity, debating who we are and where we came from and where we now want to go. The arts are a vital avenue of education and self-awareness. Through these means a society examines its characteristics, orientation and politics, and forges links with its history and context.

This function is crucial to Pakistan, given how much the question of our identity is in flux. We should learn the lessons taught by a range of realities from Lal Masjid to the Taliban to the revenge of our erstwhile jihadi friends: that even in the apparently unshakable edifice of Pakistani-hood combined with Muslim-hood, there are major, even murderous differences of opinion.

The generation now consolidating power is one that was raised with confused and half-truthful notions of history, religion, nationalism and politics, and the interplay between them. Most of us have for so long been force-fed manufactured constructions about this country’s history, context and destiny that they are taken as assumed truths. An unnoticed casualty has been our cultural truths. The resulting project to forcibly homogenise society and viewpoints is today manifested in attacks on our freedoms that range in gravity from the Peshawar University student’s death to making us shun public places and fear any forum that the right-wing extremists may take a dislike to.

To bring ourselves back from the brink, we must not only reassert ourselves culturally but also re-stake our claim to all the public space that the extremists have made us fear, not just the cinemas and theatres but even the parks that women enter under threat of harassment. We must retake all the streets and towns and boulevards from which regressive forces have forced us out.

Meanwhile, let us remember that the performing arts and literature are powerful tools that can be used to the great advantage of the country’s liberal and peaceful elements. There are times when a side, and a stand, has to be taken: by stepping back, we do nothing other than yield space to the extremists who will for ever hanker after more.

hajrahmumtaz@gmail.com

Read More

Editoral-Lost territory By Hajrah Mumtaz

Read More

Editoral-Lost territory By Hajrah Mumtaz

Read More

Interim govt in Kyrgyzstan moves to legitimise rule

OSH (Kyrgyzstan), June 27: Kyrgyzstan on Sunday voted in favour of a new constitution, its interim leader announced, in a referendum marked by a mass turnout held just two weeks after ethnic clashes killed hundreds.

The constitution establishes a parliamentary democracy in Kyrgyzstan and its adoption was crucial for legitimising the new authorities who took power after the popular April uprising that toppled former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

The interim government pressed ahead with the vote despite horrific clashes between minority Uzbeks and majority Kyrgyz earlier this month that killed hundreds.

“The new constitution has been adopted, despite the savage attacks of its opponents,” Ms Otunbayeva said hours after polls closed and well ahead of the announcement of any official results, only expected in the next two days.

“The people have put a full stop on the epoch of authoritarian, nepotistic management. Today we reached victory on the path to a true government of the people.” She put the turnout at 65.1 per cent although the website of the central election commission said the figure was over 68 per cent.

Respectable numbers were seen showing up throughout the day to cast their ballots in the southern city of Osh – the epicentre of the violence – with the situation calm and no reports of unrest, an AFP correspondent reported.

Bakiyev, who has fled to Belarus, was blamed by the authorities for last month’s bloodshed but has denied any involvement.

“We will show the world that Kyrgyzstan is united,” Ms Otunbayeva said earlier as she cast her vote in Osh. “We want to heal ourselves from the pain that struck as a result of the tragic events.” The authorities temporarily lifted a curfew in the south – imposed in the wake of the violence – so that the vote could go ahead. It will be re-imposed after the vote and run from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am, Ms Otunbayeva said.

“I voted ‘yes’ so that the situation gets better. Many Uzbeks have suffered and several members of my family died. I am scared but I came to vote,” said Dlora Kazakbayeva, an Uzbek woman, after voting in Osh.

The new constitution will slash the powers of the president and make Kyrgyzstan Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy in a region notorious for authoritarian rulers.

The referendum will set the stage for parliamentary elections that authorities have scheduled for early September to bring in a permanent government.

But several international observers warned the referendum is a premature step so soon after the violence.—AFP

Read More

‘Tectonic rift’ in relations between US, Israel: reports

JERUSALEM, June 27: Relations between the US and Israel have undergone a huge shift amounting to what Israel’s ambassador to Washington has termed “a genuine tectonic rift”, according to media reports.

Briefing officials at the foreign ministry last week, Ambassador Michael Oren described the state of ties between Israel and its closest ally as worse than a crisis, something akin to that of two continents drifting apart.

According to one diplomat quoted by the Haaretz daily on Sunday, Oren used bleak terms to explain the changes taking place under the administration of US President Barack Obama.

“Relations are in the state of a tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart,” Oren was quoted as saying by the diplomat.

Another diplomat who spoke to the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily said there had been a historic change in Washington’s approach towards Israel. “There is no crisis in Israel-US relations because in a crisis there are ups and downs,” he quoted Oren as saying.

Both papers quoted Oren as attributing the shift in sentiment to “interests and cold considerations” by President Obama who did not have the same historical-ideological bent towards Israel as his predecessors.

The Israeli foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment on the reports, which came just over a week before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to the White House for talks with Mr Obama.—AFP

Read More

G20 looking for deal on cutting deficits by 2013

TORONTO, June 27: G20 leaders on Sunday closed in on a deal to slash national deficits within three years, aiming to narrow divisions among world powers on how best to nurture a fragile global economic recovery.

The heads of the world’s major industrialised powers agreed to what they dubbed “growth-friendly deficit reduction” proposals, to be applied on a country-by-country basis, bowing to concerns from emerging nations.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told his G20 counterparts there was a “tightrope that we must walk to sustain recovery,” adding “it is imperative we follow through on existing stimulus plans”.

“But, at the same time, advanced countries must send a clear message that as our stimulus plans expire, we will focus on getting our fiscal houses in order,” he insisted.

A draft of the final G20 communique obtained by AFP stressed “the importance of sustainable public finances” by halving deficits by 2013. The leaders promise to put in place “plans to deliver fiscal sustainability, differentiated for and tailored to national circumstances,” it added.

The deal will mark a minor triumph for European leaders, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who have pushed to rein in ballooning debt despite fears from the United States that this could stifle fledgling growth.

Merkel stressed, however, that the deal, which also includes a plan for nations to stabilise or reduce government debt-to-GDP ratios by 2016, would only apply to the most developed industrialised nations.

“This is an important common goal that will lead to sustainable growth,” she told reporters.

“We as Europeans can say that our path has found support.

“The timetable to cut deficits in half by 2013 is clearly an exit strategy,” Merkel continued, adding it was a “very ambitious” plan reached after discussions with the United States.

Signs had emerged on Saturday night at the start of a two-day G20 summit in downtown Toronto that the United States, the world’s top economy saddled with a huge 1.3-trillion-dollar deficit, was prepared to go along with the plan.—AFP

Read More

Missing people not in US custody, says minister

SLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Sunday the government was clueless about missing people, but claimed that the US had no role in their disappearance.

“I can assure you that missing persons are not in Americans’ custody,” the minister was quoted as saying by relatives of some of the missing people who had met him at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) headquarters on his invitation.

Mr Malik said he had no information regarding the whereabouts of the missing people and announced Rs5 million reward for information about them, especially about Masood Janjua, Attiqur Rehman and Faisal.

“When we said that these people had either been picked up by Americans or by local intelligence agencies, he said that in his opinion the Americans had nothing do to with the missing persons case,” Amna Janjua, chairperson of the Missing Persons’ Families Association, said.

The families of five men recently picked up in connection with the case of Faisal Shahzad, a US national of Pakistani origin who was arrested in the United States in May for plotting a terrorist attack in New York’s Times Square, were present on the occasion.

Mr Malik told the families of the five men that they were under investigation and its outcome would be made public soon.

He also announced a monthly monetary assistance for the families of missing people, but did not specify the amount.He sought one month’s time and said all possible efforts would be made to find the missing people.

The families expressed dissatisfaction over the assurances given by the minister.

When the families held a demonstration outside the Parliament Lodges on Friday, Mr Malik met them and requested them not to block the way of parliamentarians and the roads in the Red Zone where the Saarc interior ministers’ conference was under way.

Read More

Talks with Taliban should begin soon: UK army chief

LONDON, June 27: Britain’s army chief said on Sunday that talks with the Taliban should begin “pretty soon” as part of the exit strategy for international forces in Afghanistan, adding that this was his “private view”.

“If you look at any counter-insurgency campaign throughout history there’s always been a point at which you start to negotiate with each other, probably through proxies in the first instance, and I don’t know when that will happen,” General David Richards, chief of the general staff, told BBC radio.

Stressing it was “purely a private view”, he said: “I think there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be looking at that sort of thing pretty soon.

“But at the same time you have got to continue the work we are doing on both the military, governance and development perspectives to make sure that they (the Taliban) don’t think that we are giving up.

“It’s a concurrent process and both equally important.”

Earlier this month, Afghans from across the political and social spectrum said at a landmark conference, the so-called peace Jirga, that talking to the Taliban was the country’s best, and possibly last, chance for peace.In January, a UN official said former UN representative to Afghanistan Kai Eide met with Taliban militants in Dubai with the hope of holding peace talks, but the militants denied the meeting took place.

Britain has about 9,500 troops as part of an international coalition in Afghanistan.—AFP

Read More

Kidnapped FC colonel, two others freed

KARACHI, June 27: A lieutenant-colonel of Frontier Corps and two other men kidnapped from the Super Highway early last month were freed by the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) of police and the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) which launched a joint operation on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference at Governor’s House, CPLC chief Ahmed Chinoy said one of the suspected kidnappers had been killed and two others arrested during a raid on a farmhouse in Sakran early in the morning.

He said the hostages had been kept at different places over the past seven weeks and were shifted to the Wallu Brohi farmhouse a few days back.

The hostages were rescued after a two-hour gun-battle in which the caretaker of the farmhouse, Abdul Karim, was killed.

Police arrested Abdul Aziz who was negotiating with the family, along with another suspect, Akhtar.

Lt-Col Anisur Rehman, Khalid Suri and Arshad Suri were kidnapped on the night of May 7 when they were returning from a farmhouse in Gadap area.

The kidnappers had made seven phone calls for ransom.

They demanded Rs60 million, but settled for Rs10 million after negotiations.

The CPLC chief said intelligence agencies had helped throughout the period because a serving officer of the Frontier Corps was among the hostages.

Mr Chinoy said that after Sunday’s recoveries, no major kidnapping case, except that of a boy, was pending.

Read More

F-16s can be used against any adversary: PAF chief

SHAHBAZ AIR BASE (Jacobabad): The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, has said there is no restriction on the use of newly-acquired F-16 combat aircraft against any adversary.

“Our mission is to maintain peace in the region with honour, but if the primary effort fails we will use all our assets, including these aircraft, to defend our country against any internal or external threats,” he said.

The air chief was talking to reporters at the newly upgraded Shahbaz Air Base on Sunday after a ceremony held to mark the formal induction of the first three of 18 advanced F-16 fighter jets into the PAF fleet.

The aircraft have been purchased from the United States for $1.4 billion. The ceremony was attended by Chief of Staff of US Air Force Gen Norton A. Schwartz, US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson, US Air Forces’ Central Command chief Gen Mike Hostage and US Defence Representative to Pakistan Vice Admiral Michael A. LeFever. Answering a question, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar said the acquisition of the hi-tech falcons would neither spark an arms race nor disturb the balance of power in the region. It would be the other way round, he said, adding that the induction would restore the balance of power as the neighbours already had hi-tech aircraft in their inventory.

Earlier addressing the ceremony, he said the PAF had decided to induct the state-of-the-art aircraft with night precision attack capability in 2006 but the contract became controversial in both the countries from the very beginning, with critics (in the United States) questioning the decision and saying that F-16s would have no role in the fight against terrorism and cynics (at home) also challenged the wisdom of a contract with the US, because of past experience.

He said that Pakistan and the US were allies in the war against terror and trust between the two countries was an essential element required to achieve success in the war. He noted that delivery of the aircraft was the beginning of a process to develop the trust.

“The issue of trust between the two countries would take some time to be established fully, but the ceremony was an important step in that direction,” he said.

He said the new F-16s would provide the PAF all-weather day and night precision attack capability, adding a new dimension to the PAF potential. He said that operationalising capabilities of the new aircraft and mastering their technology was a challenge for the PAF, but expressed the confidence that it would be done in weeks and months.

He said that Shahbaz Airbase had been developed into a modern base capable of handling the most modern fighter aircraft in the world in less than one year. Completion of this task in a record time, he said, reflected the spirit of PAF.

US Air Chief General Norton Schawrtz said the event was symbolic and a tangible demonstration of the US commitment to stand by Pakistan in the long run as an important ally.

“Pakistan’s new F-16s will give PAF pilots and Pakistan’s military an unprecedented advantage against extremist groups who threaten Pakistan and the region by enabling precision targeting in all-weather conditions, during both day and night, while reducing potential for collateral damage,” Gen Schawrtz said.

“The aircraft will also enable increased tactical inter-operability between the PAF, the US Air Force and Isaf coalition air forces – greatly bolstering our ability to jointly communicate, coordinate and work together to achieve common goals while boosting the PAF’s status as a world-class air force.”

US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson said the ceremony was a manifestation of deep and broad strategic partnership between the two countries.

She referred to the useful discussion in a number of areas during the strategic dialogue and said the US was committed to a long-term partnership with an old ally.

She said both the countries were working together to make the region and the world peaceful and secure.

Read More

FROM THE PAPER > FRONT PAGE

WASHINGTON: CIA Director Leon Panetta said on Sunday he was aware of Pakistan’s efforts to help negotiate a deal between the Haqqani network and the Afghan government but did not see a real desire among the militants to seek reconciliation.

Earlier in the day, Al Jazeera television reported that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had held face-to-face talks with Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of a major anti-government faction.

But official sources told Dawn in Islamabad on Sunday that there had been no meeting between President Karzai and Mr Haqqani. The sources, however, said that Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani would visit Kabul on Monday.

Dawn reported on June 15 that Pakistan had dived headlong into the Afghanistan reconciliation process by taking on the task of acting as a bridge between the Haqqani network and the government in Kabul.

Dawn also reported that Islamabad had presented to Kabul a roadmap for a political settlement between the Karzai government and the Haqqanis.

At the weekend, the US State Department had said that Afghanistan and Pakistan were holding direct talks with the Taliban insurgents, adding that Washington wanted to see Pakistan play a supportive role in this broader process.

“Obviously there are discussions going on between Afghan officials and Pakistani officials, and we certainly want to see ways in which Pakistan can be supportive of this broader process,” said the department’s spokesman Phillip J. Crowley. Earlier this month, India also indicated that it was willing to discuss Afghanistan with Islamabad, an option New Delhi had previously rejected.

In an interview to ABC ‘This Week’ talks show on Sunday, the CIA chief said he was aware of reports that Pakistan was helping the Afghan government to negotiate a deal with the militants but had not seen any ‘real interest’ among the insurgents for reconciliation. The militants, he said, would not seek reconciliation until they realised they were going to lose the war.

“I read all the same stories, we get intelligence along those lines, but the bottom line is that we really have not seen any firm intelligence that there’s a real interest among the Taliban, the militant allies of Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda itself, the Haqqanis, TTP, other militant groups,” said the CIA chief when asked to comment on these reports.

“We have seen no evidence that they are truly interested in reconciliation, where they would surrender their arms, where they would denounce Al Qaeda, where they would really try to become part of that society. We’ve seen no evidence of that.”

Mr Panetta said the militants would only seek reconciliation when they feared losing the war. “Very frankly, my view is that with regard to reconciliation, unless they’re convinced that the United States is going to win and that they’re going to be defeated, I think it’s very difficult to proceed with a reconciliation that’s going to be meaningful,” he said.

But Al Jazeera insisted that the Karzai-Haqqani meeting did take place and that Pakistan’s army and ISI chiefs accompanied Mr Haqqani to the meeting with the Afghan president.

The television also reported that President Karzai’s office had denied that any such meeting and so had Major General Athar Abbas, the Pakistani army spokesman.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that Pakistani officials had told Afghan officials they could deliver the Haqqani network into a power- sharing arrangement with them. Afghan officials told NYT that the Pakistanis were pushing various other proxies with Gen Kayani personally offering to broker a deal with the Taliban leadership.

Al Jazeera, however, not only insisted that its report was correct but also observed that reports about Mr Karzai’s meeting with Mr Haqqani had fuelled increased speculation in Kabul that Pakistan was trying to strike a deal in Afghanistan that would safeguard its interests there.

The report also referred to the resignation of two hard-core opponents of the Taliban: Amrullah Saleh, the head of the Afghan intelligence, and Hanif Atmar, the interior minister, earlier this month.

Al Jazeera indicated that the resignations might be linked to Mr Karzai’s interest in seeking a deal with militants like Mr Haqqani.

Hekmat Karzai, director of the Kabul-based Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies, told Al Jazeera he believed that only a pragmatic leader who understood the realities of Afghanistan and the region would pursue such talks.

“The fact (is) that regional players support is needed, particularly Pakistan,” he said.

“Without a doubt Amrullah Saleh was not happy with Pakistani politics, and Pakistan considered him an obstacle in the way of them gaining a foothold in Afghanistan,” Ahmed Saeedi, a political analyst in Kabul, told Al Jazeera.

“The Pakistanis have always said if you want peace you have to go through us.

Read More

Refineries and OMCs to fix monthly prices

ISLAMABAD: While protecting the guaranteed tariff for movement of diesel through pipeline, the petroleum ministry has decided to allow refineries and oil marketing companies to fix monthly prices of petroleum products despite opposition to the move by the Planning Commission, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and members of an experts’ committee.

According to a fresh summary, the ministry has also decided to allow refineries to charge 7.5 per cent deemed duty on locally produced diesel and kerosene, similar to the customs duty permissible to marketing companies on imported products.

Sources told Dawn on Sunday that the ministry had withdrawn two summaries earlier submitted to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet because of criticism of private members of the experts’ committee.

At a meeting on June 10, the petroleum ministry had accepted the members’ proposal that 7.5 per cent deemed duty on domestic production should be removed and the guaranteed tariff for transportation of products through pipeline abolished.

The sources said that the petroleum ministry issued notices on June 15 to the stakeholders, including members of the experts’ committee, to attend a hurriedly-called meeting the same day, but the private members could not attend it. However, no agreement was reached with the Planning Commission, the committee’s members and Ogra.

The Planning Commission categorically called for a phased deregulation of petroleum products, allowing the private sector to fix the prices of aviation fuels and light diesel oil in the first phase.

The commission and the private members also advised that in view of the Justice Bhagwandas Commission’s recommendations, the deregulation of petrol and high speed diesel should be deferred for the time being to prevent market abuse by refineries and OMCs. They also proposed abolition of inland freight equalisation margin under an Ogra-regulated regime to prevent market abuse.

According to the sources, Ogra expressed its inability to intervene in a deregulated environment unless the relevant law was changed.

A member of the committee said that the petroleum ministry had disregarded recommendations of not only the Bhagwandas Commission, but also of the Planning Commission and Ogra.

But the petroleum ministry’s summary expected be taken up by the ECC on June 29 claims that Ogra and the Planning Commission “agreed in principle with the proposals of deregulation of the IFEM and pricing of petroleum products, However, they suggested an effective role of Ogra”.It says: “The issue of removal of 7.5 per cent deemed duty on diesel was also discussed and considered not viable at this stage because of recent losses to the refineries and GoP revenue loss on import of HSD.”

The ministry has now proposed to deregulate the road and rail transportation of petroleum products which will reduce retail rates in major cities by 50 paisa to Rs2.5 per litre.

“However, for a transitional period of six months, Ogra will notify per litre freight rate to establish standard norms and mechanism and estimated transportation cost of IFEM for various locations.”

The summary says the pipeline component of IFEM for movement of HSD only will remain in the common freight pool because of “GoP volume and tariff guarantee for oil pipeline from Port Qasim to Muzaffargarh”.

It says Ogra will intervene if any violation takes place from refineries in allocation of petroleum products to OMCs and in case of misuse of freight rates.

But a committee member said Ogra could not intervene in market manipulation of prices or freight rates unless its law was changed.

The ministry has proposed to allow refineries and OMCs to announce on a monthly basis the ex-refinery and ex-depot sale prices of motor spirit, HOBC, LDO and aviation fuels on competitive basis.

The committee member said the past practice of the fixing of price by oil companies and refineries had led to probes by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and apex court’s intervention and the role had to be returned to the regulator.

The summary says that ex-refinery prices will not be more than average import prices of previous months. It says the ex-refinery prices of HSD and kerosene produced by local refineries will continue to be managed by Ogra in accordance with the existing formula, including 7.5 per cent customs/deemed duty on HSD. The OMCs’ and dealers’ margin on HSD will remain fixed at the existing Rs1.35 and Rs1.5 per litre.

The summary also calls for fixed margins for dealers and OMCs in absolute terms, assuming crude price at $62.5 per barrel. As such, the OMCs’ per litre margin will be Rs1.5 on petrol, Rs1.72 on HOBC, Rs1.58 on kerosene and Rs1.61 on LDO. The dealer margin on petrol and HOBC will be fixed at Rs1.87.

As opposed to Justice Bhagwandas report, the summary neither makes it mandatory for refineries not to use special reserves funds for meeting their revenue requirements nor fixes any deadline for sale of 0.05 per cent sulphur content diesel.

The summary says the refineries “will be advised not to adjust their losses against the special reserves accumulated since July 2002 and utilise the same on special projects i.e. hydro desulphurisation project to reduce sulphur contents in diesel from one per cent to 0.05 per cent”.

The ministry did not consider the Bhagwandas Commission’s recommendation for fixed GST.

The ministry has also recommended reduction in investment requirement for new marketing companies from Rs6 billion to Rs500 million to enable four influential parties to set up marketing firms, although 12 companies are already operating.

Read More