Books
Dusting The Cupboard
When Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry (CJP) launched his judicial activism soon after he took over as CJP, he could have never dreamed that this activism, with himself as a symbol of that activism, would one day catch the imagination of the streets of the country. Credit for his growing momentum must be given to the bunch of incompetent Presidential advisers who have outdone each other in creating the problems and then stoking them by repeated blunders. In fact they have managed an impossible feat, combining the lawyers community all over the country with the media in an anti-Musharraf front, and now because of their repeated faux pas, mobilizing the ultimate support, from the man in the street. The CJP has now become the focal point for the aspirations and the frustrations of a vast majority of the populace, diverse individuals and groups with vastly differing reasons have joined the campaign to oust the present government. The human sacrifice of Mohammad Ali Durrani to the mob rampaging will not do, this ultimate in sycophancy is not a good enough political morsel. While for some it is only a personal vendetta against Pervez Musharraf, the intelligentsia and masses have greater ambitions, they want a fulfillment of promises of the freedoms envisaged by our founding fathers on the birth of Pakistan.
At The Crossroads
The welcome for the Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan Mr Iftikhar Chaudhry along the GT Road was unprecedented, clearly the common man who had remain quite aloof from the weeks of protests by lawyers all over the country had now started to join the fray, whether he will engage in earnest only the next few weeks will tell. This will also be directly proportional to the ham-handedness of the ruling party’s administrative minions. The protest was emotional and intense, certainly those who waited for over 24 hours in the car park of the Lahore High Court registered vociferous opposition to one-man rule, these constituted for the most part lawyers.
When Tigers Become Maneaters
Karachi became a battleground on Saturday May 12, 2007, for a few frightening hours the citizens got a bloody taste of Baghdad and Beirut becomes when perpetrators of senseless violence take over the streets of the city. Everyone is casting blame on each other, and they are not wrong, all of us are culpable in our own ways. The tragedy that ensued is a severe indictment of the government for abdicating its responsibilities in not deploying the forces of law and order, the political parties used the occasion callously to further their own political objectives even when anarchy was looming in their faces and finally the lawyers persisted with the CJ’s Karachi procession despite ominous signs that it would cost lives, and that too mostly of innocents. There was a moral obligation for all to heed independent warnings of imminent violence. The government lost considerable moral authority in not enforcing their writ for hours, the hands-off policy seemed deliberately designed to aggravate the situation for a single purpose, prevent the CJ’s cavalcade from riding into town.
Accountability And Bangladesh
Within days of his Oct 12, 1999 takeover, Pervez Musharraf established the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Pakistan to ferret out the corrupt of the past and fight endemic corruption in the present. The culprits whoever they were would be held accountable, the money they had looted would be recovered. NAB mission statement has since been compromised, viz (1) partly because of political exigencies of the continuity of Musharraf’s rule but (2) mostly by the “plea bargaining” pretext used to let dozens of white-collar criminals walk free. This loophole in the regulations governing anti-corruption became a “highway” for corruption, with the accused and the accusers both comfortable in a corrupt embrace that undermined the whole concept of accountability as envisaged by Musharraf when launching NAB. The simple formula for those failing to reimbursing the govt exchequer with the looted money is to throw away the keys of the jail cell.
The Middle Ground
Requested by my friend John Defterios to participate in a panel to discuss “the shifting story of energy security and pipeline politics”, it was a privilege to accept, more so because the location, Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, was off the normal beaten track. The “Eurasian Media Forum covered a broad range of international issues of consequence, among them viz (1) the question of power and justice in world politics (2) what next for Iraq (3) whether nuclear program is a sovereign right or a dangerous ambition? and (4) what has the invasion of Afghanistan achieved in the Great Game in the 21st century?”. The brainchild of the Chairperson Dr Dariga Nazarbayeva, the daughter of the Kazakhstan President, Nursultan Nazarbayev attracted a good selection of public figures, intellectuals and professionals from all over the world, particularly from the CIS. I am generally skeptical about “talented” children, Dr Dariga did not fit that mold. “Talented” relatives usually have “commercial” interests that border on the criminal, they almost never have intellectual pursuits.
Peace Pipeline or Pipedream?
The proposed US$7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) 2720 km gas “peace pipeline” project is expected to take three to five years to complete. While Pakistan’s demand for gas will expand significantly over the next two decades, India’s need is far more. Presently using 100 million cubic metres per day, this will double in the next 7-8 years. With decline in its reserves India estimates using 400 million cubic meters of gas per day by 2025, almost four times more than in 2005. Having the world’s second largest gas reserve, Iran is the most geographically convenient supplier of gas to both Pakistan and India.
A Nation In Crisis
Naeem Bokhari’s open letter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan was appalling for several reasons. Firstly, it tarnished the image of a man for whom one has great respect, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, and secondly it came from the pen of another man for whom one has great respect. If the facts stated therein are true the letter needed to be written, it should not have been made public. “Excesses” as per Naeem’s letter are commonplace in Pakistan, bringing it to the public domain demeans an Office one should always hold sacred, as much as anything can be held sacred in Pakistan. Triggering an unfortunate sequence of events, which for a time spun out of control, the letter had a backlash of sorts. It enhanced the stature of the man which the letter sought to demean, and tarnished the image of the letter writer, bringing him down many rungs from the pedestal he rightly should be. Naeem Bokhari has class, he is no ordinary known being, the letter going public has made him look us ordinary mortals.
Just Flying?
The European Union (EU) has put “operational restriction” on all but 7 Boeing-777s of PIA from flying to any of the 27 EU member countries. Effectively 34 aircraft out of the fleet of 41 (almost 83%) of the fleet can only operate in Asia and Africa (and possibly to the Arctic and Antarctica!). About a year ago EU had given a clear warning to PIA to meet international aircraft maintenance standards, on the management’s failure to act positively EU carried out their threat. The “conspiracy theorists” believe that PIA management have been deliberately negligent so that they could purchase more Boeing-777s, rather simplistic given that newly purchased ATR-50s acquired from France are also banned. That our engineering standards have gone well below their normal average is only partly the fault of the present management. The rot really started when the Engineering Department was decimated in 1998. They have never recovered, it has been downhill since. The EU ban was a disaster waiting to happen, PIA’s once-vaunted Engineering Department now itself needs disaster management. The EU ban not only affects airlines revenues but PIA’s reputation and the morale of the entire organization. What about the major embarrassment for Pakistan as a country, who should we hold accountable?
Running A Country
Countries of the third world were beggared by the socialist wave that swept the world through the middle of the last century. In hindsight all the towering figures of the non-aligned world of the 50s were not even great politicians, the vision they had for their people was based mostly on grandiose, economically bankrupt plans. In contrast to totalitarian regimes of the communist world, the free market economies of some dictatorships were far more successful, albeit with generous economic help (US AID) from Uncle Sam, the US being the doyen of all capitalist countries. With the aspirations of the people the need for democracy grew stronger, even those leaders were found having feet of clay. One lesson should have been learnt here, in the developed world with its vast economic and industrial base the private sector with its sound management and good business practices kept services and utilities within the buying power of the masses, when free market philosophy is applied in the developing world, it puts an enormous, even back-breaking burden on the common man.
Largesse At Public Expense
Public sector performance is often associated with indolence, inefficiency corruption, wastage etc, but the public sector still has a major role in the developing economies. Even the first world cannot do without it, in developed economies their public face is disguised better. If every utility or service was left to the mercy of market conditions, a vast mass of the population could not afford it. Because the public sector cannot be entirely eliminated, the pragmatic solution has been to staff entities with successful executives from the private sector, and/or recruit them directly from Business Schools. At times private entrepreneurs also take up management slots in the public sector in trying to turn the corporate entity into economic viability. This is true not only in Pakistan but is the same all over the world, the major examples being in UK and Europe.