Corporate and Individual Safety
Whether it is Shaukat Raza Mirza in Karachi or Siddique Khan Kanju in Multan, the elimination of human beings by violent means is almost always for a purpose, whether or not they have a standing in society. Except for those targeted by the totally insane, there is always motivation for murder. The assumptions for Siddique Khan Kanju (and his former MPA Joya) are reasonably straightforward, political violence created a blood cycle, for those who tend to live by the sword it is only a matter of time before opponents discover a chink in the armour. Shaukat’s was a far different proposition. Was it a cold blooded attempt to create economic disorder in the country given that before taking over as MD Pakistan State Oil (PSO) he had been a high profile executive of a US company? Was it a Shia-Sunni thing? Was it linked to employee unrest because of the downsizing of PSO? Or simply a hit ordered by a combination of overseas corporate entities with their local employee collaborators who stood to lose billions of rupees annually because they ran up against an honest man who tightened the rules of the game to their detriment? In picking Shaukat Mirza for a professional hit by what are almost certainly hired assassins at a carefully chosen ambush point, the perpetrators of the dastardly act not only covered their tracks but succeeded beyond measure in terrorizing a whole range of corporate executives, some of them expatriate Pakistanis who had left far safer (and better paid) jobs abroad to serve their country. Even if they should choose jobs linked to now be controversy they will be averse to rocking the existing boat. In Karachi, the nation’s commercial capital, the corporate individual is now a person besieged physically, in fending for his safety and that of his family, and psychologically, out of the apprehension of impending doom without any warning. Abraham Maslow’s theory of a hierarchy of needs of a human being includes self-actualization, esteem and love, but has at its very base, safety and survival.
De-energising Power Rates
Over the past few months it has become quite apparent that Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and Karachi Electric Supply Corporation Ltd. (KESC) are in a serious debt crisis. This was brought into sharp focus by the brutal murder of MD KESC Shahid Hamid several months ago by what seems clear was a professional hit team, the reason being that the late MD was delving deeper into the various irregularities that would have exposed quite a number of people. The explicit warning inherent in the gangland-type assassination was thus made quite apparent to others in similar situations. Needless to say the warning has been heeded to the detriment to the interests of the people of Pakistan even by the small dedicated band of people determined to eradicate corruption. The government has been concentrating on the Independent Power Projects (IPPs) as the major reason for the power rate crisis, that in fact was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Let us take the straws that count and list them under two heads, viz. (1) generation and (2) distribution of electricity and then work our way back to some of the more scandalous IPPs. Whether the generation-mode is hydel or hydrocarbon, the machinery has been over-priced. While it did not make much of a difference in hydel-generated electricity, the price padding in hydrocarbon fuel – generation machinery has kept on escalating along with the price of fuel. At least 2 or 3 WAPDA chiefs made enough money to live out lives far in excess of their basic known means, to add to this the power plants are being run quite inefficiently thereby giving us unfavourable power to price ratio. With transmission losses quite high, the basic cost of bringing electricity to the doorstep of the consumer is quite high. At the consumer’s bus-bar a completely different mafia takes over, the meter readers and inspectors. The categories of consumers are (1) industrial (2) commercial (3) domestic urban (4) agriculture (5) government departments and (6) domestic rural. Without almost any exception almost all industrial and domestic consumers cheat. One simple litmus test are the ice factories where it is comparatively easy to calculate possible consumption against the product made. For the ice presently coming out of each factory, four to five times or more greater voltage has to be used. Obviously the ice factory owner would sell at a profit which means that at least 90% of the electricity is not paid for. On a lesser scale so do commercial users since it is easy to calculate the load factor because of the air conditioners and other appliances against the energy that is paid for, the same is true on a commensurately lesser scale for domestic urban users! Government departments do not cheat, they simply do not pay their bills, at least on time. The agricultural consumer not only cheat, they hardly pay their electricity bills whether it be for tubewells or domestic use. Some areas do not pay electricity bills at all e.g. the rural areas of Balochistan and the Tribal Territories, protesting vociferously any attempt to make them do so.
The ‘90 Plus 90 Formula’
The Constitution requires that elections must be held for the Assemblies within 90 days of dissolution, to that end the National Assembly (NA) elections are slated for Feb 3, 1997. On the other hand, the raison d’etre for seeking of a fresh mandate from the people being rampant nepotism and corruption afflicting the Ms Benazir regime, the chief practitioner of the second oldest profession being the lady’s spouse and de facto PM Asif Zardari, the mass public demand for accountability cannot be ignored. Given the time consumed in the mechanics leading to elections and the lead period before the Ehtesab (Accountability) Ordinance becomes effective in implementation a very short period is left for accountability, not enough by far. There is widespread skepticism about the future of the country if elections return such people to the Assemblies who need to be held accountable for the destruction of this country’s economy, its social ethos and national security at the altar of personal greed. It is quite reasonable to presume that having made a packet and then some, it would be in the vested interest of the corrupt and the greedy to ensure their elections by using some of their easily earned but undeserving largesse. Money may not play a decisive part in all the constituencies, it may well play a critical part in some crucial swing ones, enough to affect the course of our future political and economic history back to the dark ages of our own Mafia Don. The traumatic experience of the past three years must encourage us to work out a pragmatic compromise formula allowing the election process to proceed unhindered on schedule while the accountability process is geared to ensuring that every person elected to the Assemblies is given a thorough going over as respect antecedents and integrity before he or she takes oath as a member.
Once the winning candidates are gazetted by the Chief Election Commissioner, the Speakers of the respective Assemblies can call the Assemblies to session so that the Members can take oath, thereafter whoever has a majority in the Assemblies can form the government. This period normally takes about 10-20 days after the elections. It is important to ensure the credibility of the democratic process by staying within the Constitutional parameters defined. While the Constitution is quite clear about the time frame for the elections process, it has not really laid down such a time frame for handing over power post-elections. Conceivably the Speaker could call the National Assembly into session after an extended length of time, maybe even 90 days without violating the Constitution. This God-given window of opportunity can be exploited in a positive manner for the good of the nation under the “doctrine of necessity”. Once the winners are notified by the CEC, the only remaining formality to their sitting in the Assemblies is the oath of office. Once a member takes that oath, in public perception he or she acquires legitimacy, it becomes more difficult to carry out accountability, more so of the ones seated on the Treasury Benches given the political compulsions of the government-in-power that is then subject to blackmail to maintain their majority. Besides blackmail on a very personal basis by her husband Ms Benazir was the target on a political basis by a vast number of politicians leading single-digit parties. The accountability process can be made into an effective roadblock by making the time frame for its completion slightly more flexible. The possibility of certain elimination due to accountability pre- and post-election will dampen their enthusiasm for allocation of party tickets thus easing pressure on the party leadership, a sort of a self-accountability that frees political parties to accommodate credible candidates rather than the less than desirable personalities.