Unite Pakistan

Vaccines’ wastage THE difficulties faced by the country in vaccinating every single child against polio are widely known and place a formidable question mark over the health of new generations. Less talked about, though, is the fact that the deficiencies of the health sector in terms of protecting children against preventable diseases are myriad, and so deeply entrenched as to make a change of course appear difficult. If at one end of the spectrum there is the problem of the slowdown in the rates of routine immunisation, at the other are the glaring gaps in supply, storage and oversight, which may cumulatively negate what little success the country does manage to achieve in this area. The latter point was underscored by the news that came to light a few days ago that a large consignment of the pentavalent vaccine, worth some $1.3m, that was being stored on the premises of the National Health Services Ministry had spoiled because the required temperature had not been maint...

Tougher days: ahead IMF loan THE government and the market are jubilant over the ‘successful conclusion’ of a new loan of $5.3bn from the IMF. And why not? The loan will ease pressure on diminishing foreign exchange stocks and relieve the government of worries of how to repay over the next 12 months what the country already owes to the Fund. But is it really a ‘step forward’ for the new government, which had promised voters so much? Although the announcement of the agreement on the loan hides more than it reveals, from whatever has so far been divulged it is clear the people should brace themselves for greater hardship. When Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said a “better tomorrow dawns only when the requisite pains are borne today”, he was signalling towards a tougher future for the people in whose name the loans are secured and who must repay these generosities with sacrifices. The help from the IMF is necessary not only to repay its existing debt but also to obtain bu...

Realisation dawns: PTI’s call for anti-terrorism plan AS the sprawling militancy and terrorism complex continues to rain down violence across Pakistan, a slight shift in political perceptions was witnessed on Sunday when PTI chief Imran Khan called for a joint civil-military strategy to fight terrorism. Until now, Mr Khan has talked more about drones and talks with the TTP than about the threat that militancy poses to the stability and security of Pakistan. But with the PTI’s government in KP rocked by a series of attacks in the province and violence in other parts of the country continuing unabated — in addition to Peshawar, Quetta and North Waziristan also suffered serious attacks on Sunday — there is perhaps the beginnings of a realisation within the PTI that the internal threat is real and serious and can only be countered by a firm resolve and coherent plan. So while Mr Khan did repeat on Sunday his standard trope of a ‘political settlement’, he appeared to ac...

Need for restraint: Altaf Hussain`s speech IT was, in the end, the briefest of resignations, and very much in keeping with previous such episodes. But there was also something new about Altaf Hussain`s early morning speech and quick change of heart yesterday. For the first time, the MQM supremo acknowledged that the London police consider him a suspect in the Imran Farooq murder investigation. Mr Hussain also confirmed that British authorities recently raided his home in London and confiscated unspecified material. While railing against an international conspiracy against his person, Mr Hussain pledged to cooperate with British authorities and defend himself in a trial, if he is eventually charged in relation to Mr Farooq`s murder in September 2010. This is a good sign: the MQM boss, while denying any involvement, has indicated his willingness to respect the judicial process. The protracted telephonic back-and-forth between Mr Hussain and MQM activists and support...

THE existential threat to Pakistan starts with the letter ‘T’ — but it’s not the Taliban. It’s ‘Taxes’. More precisely, it’s the lack of a fair and equitable taxation system, and the unwillingness and inability of successive governments to fix it. This was the gist of the first part of my column two weeks ago. This part will outline what can be done about it. But first, it will be useful to review the recently presented federal budget for 2013-14 from the perspective of fairness of ‘burden sharing’. While the budget does make a welcome — albeit somewhat modest — attempt to widen the tax base, it falls short of the standards of equity and fairness by placing an unduly large burden on existing and honest taxpayers. Take the case of the higher tax incidence on salaried persons — a group of around 900,000. While this group of captive taxpayers will be coughing up substantially more tax revenue, the group of professional service providers (doctors, lawyers, architects,...

IT is our war. It is America’s war. Thousands of Pakistanis have perished in this war. And all we do is take part in this debate. We do nothing to end it. If one could put it down to a simple lack of will or spine it would have been bad enough. That a fair bit of the discourse on terrorism represents ideologically motivated obfuscation is unforgivable, particularly given how many compatriots have had to sacrifice so much. The dominant argument is that Pakistan’s support to the US-led war in Afghanistan and the CIA’s drone attacks are the only drivers of terrorism in the country. Ergo, this support to the US is not just blamed for terrorism but also advanced as a justification for the mass murder of our people. Refusal to accept this view in its entirety is immediately pounced upon as being tantamount to condoning or worse still supporting the drone attacks that mostly kill our civilians, women and children, and occasionally the militant in the tribal areas. God ...

AN excellent Asian Media Barometer tool has been developed by the Friedrich Ebert Siftung Foundation, a German political organisation that seeks to educate ordinary citizens about democracy and pluralism. The 2012 AMB was launched recently with a roundtable discussion about media and ethics, which made it clear that Pakistan’s media, especially our television channels, has been going down the wrong path for such a long time that getting back to the right one is going to take a lot of hard work, vision, and commitment from all players. The AMB, originally developed for use in Africa, was first used by FES-Pakistan in 2009 to analyse the state of Pakistan’s media. Last year, a panel of five media experts and five members of civil society rated the national media environment on a scale of one to five in 45 predetermined indicators, which make up four main sectors where goals need to be met: freedom of expression in the media should be protected; the media lands...

Humanity required: Stay on executions THIS is a country with serious law and order problems in several areas. While many remedies can be explored, the least acceptable is that implied in a complaint made by the Sindh High Court Bar Association in a petition against the targeted killings of lawyers and others in Karachi: that capital punishment is not being meted out to prisoners on death row, which, in the petitioner`s view, sends out the message that those responsible for heinous crimes go unpunished. This newspaper opposes capital punishment, not just for being a cruel and degrading punishment but also because it is only in a few cases that guilt is proved beyond a shadow of doubt. Most countries have removed this punishment from the law books. The strong pro-death penalty lobby in Pakistan, though, has meant that we have not done so, even though the country is amongst the states with the highest number of prisoners on death row. A middle ground of sorts wa...

A shameful move: Swiss saga again EVEN the end isn’t the end, it appears. The long-running Swiss cases/letter saga that seemingly had finally come to a close last November has been revived in the most astonishing manner. Attorney General Muneer Malik informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the law ministry had written a second, secret letter to the Swiss in November; a second letter that directly contradicted the purpose of the first, court-mandated letter. What is most egregious here is the manner in which the law ministry appears to have been used by President Zardari as his personal law firm. As the primary target of the Swiss proceedings, Mr Zardari has the right to defend himself and put forward his own interpretation of the relevant laws. But if that is what the president wanted to achieve, he should have hired Swiss representatives in his personal capacity to lobby or appeal to the Swiss authorities regarding his point of view — and not used state reso...

Ominous message: SHC judge attacked THE targeting of Justice Maqbool Baqar`s convoy in Karachi on Wednesday morning is a clear message from religious militants that even a high court judge with a significant security detail is within their reach. The incident is probably the first of its kind where such a highranking jurist has been targeted. While the fact that the Sindh High Court judge survived the attack was nothing short of a miracle, a number of people mostly policemen and Rangers in his entourage died in the bomb attack that left no doubt of its intensity. Surely, the number of fatalities could have been reduced if the unfortunate men had been equipped with protective gear. Claiming responsibility for the bombing, the Pakistani Taliban have said Justice Bagar, a member of the Shia community, was targeted due to his `anti-Taliban and antiMujahideen decisions`. The judge was also believed to be on Lashkar-iJhangvi`s hit list while a TTP suspect arrested in K...

  The longer shadow: Musharraf`s trial SOMEHOW, when it comes to the army`s political transgressions and holding its leadership accountable for its sins against the nation, the arguments against doing so are quickly and furiously proffered. Somehow, it is never the right time, there is always something more important to be attended to first or there is encouragement to let bygones be bygones. But beyond the self-serving claims, there is a very real need for a reckoning with the past. Now, the country may finally be inching towards the ultimate reckoning: putting a military dictator on trial for his crimes against the Constitution and the people of Pakistan. Unsurprisingly, there are more questions than answers at the moment. How much pressure will the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry put on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s government to see the judges` tormentor former army chief Pervez Musharraf put on trial? How will the present army leade...

KARACHI: The volume of foreign investment witnessed a slight improvement in the first half of this fiscal year, but experts think if the political chaos continues the FDI inflows would not sustain in the remaining months of 2012-13. The Sate Bank reported on Tuesday that the foreign direct investment improved by six per cent during the first six months of the fiscal compared to the same period of last year. The hike was fed by sudden increase of investment from Hong Kong. According to State Bank, the total FDI during the first half of the current fiscal rose to $562 million from $531 million in the same period last year. The business community said the country’s political uncertainty may dissuade foreign investors as a peaceful working environment is a precondition for investment. Analysts have been indicating another crisis in their reports for prospective investors, besides the energy shortfall that hurt trade and industry that was generally depressed failing t...