Unite Pakistan

Resolving the energy crisis When it comes to the energy sector reforms, the Nawaz Administration appears to be making relatively sensible choices. What makes the administration’s plan particularly impressive is that it seeks to balance what is politically possible with what is technically and financially necessary. So, for instance, the government is seeking to pay off the energy sector’s circular debt in one go in order to significantly reduce power cuts and win the public’s confidence before tackling the harder bits of the problem, like raising tariffs and forcing electricity thieves to pay their bills. We also admire the government’s commitment to reduce the weighted average cost of producing electricity for the national grid by moving towards cheaper fuel sources. We worry, however, that some of these moves are being made without a more thorough analysis of the future costs. Take, for instance, the government’s agreement with the independent power producers (...

Attack on judge’s convoy The law and order situation in the country’s financial hub continues to deteriorate with yet another bomb blast rocking Karachi on the morning of June 26. The convoy of the Sindh High Court Justice Baqar Maqbool was the target of the explosion that took place in the Burns Road area of the city. The bomb was planted on a motorbike that was parked near a mosque, which exploded as the convoy passed by, killing 12 people and injuring 14 others. Thankfully, Justice Maqbool, who is currently performing duties as the acting chief justice of the Sindh High Court, escaped only with injuries. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have accepted responsibility for the attack, stating that Justice Maqbool was targeted for his “anti-Taliban and anti-mujahideen decisions”. Our law-enforcement agencies have clearly failed to fulfil their responsibility of ensuring peace in Karachi. The obvious weaknesses in the law-enforcement apparatus — which not only fails ...

Budget goes through It is nowhere close to being a perfect budget, but at least Finance Minister Ishaq Dar can take credit for sticking to his guns and pushing through even the most unpopular bits of the finance bill through the National Assembly. We do not agree with everything that is in the budget, but we do believe that it is important for a government to stick to its convictions, particularly about the tough choices that the country needs to make. With that said, we do have some reservations about the manner in which the increase in the general sales tax was imposed. It is entirely appropriate for the new finance minister to propose such a measure for debate in Parliament, and we are glad that the Supreme Court made him do so, rather than relying on a colonial-era law that allowed him to bypass the elected representatives of the people. However, imposing a tax retroactively from June 13 rather than July 1 is clearly unconstitutional. The government cannot ...

  Reviving backdoor diplomacy The Pakistani government has decided to revive backdoor diplomacy channels with India. The earlier such attempts under the Musharraf regime were on the right track. The parleys between presidential aide Tariq Aziz and veteran Indian diplomat SK Lambah led to the evolution of the famed four-point formula as a workable option to resolve the Kashmir dispute. These efforts came to a standstill due to political instability in Pakistan and eventual exit of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in 2008. Given the troubled history of Indo-Pakistan relations and the existence of slow-moving bureaucratic machinery, backdoor diplomacy is a feasible route to be adopted. If this back channel diplomacy does materialise, then the Sharif government’s move should be welcomed. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is committed to securing peace and boosting trade with India. However, he faces a formidable baggage of history and the national security paradigm th...

  Trial for treason We have a new “first” in our history. A former military ruler faces treason charges for acts committed during his tenure in power. The Nawaz Sharif government has brought a case for high treason, which carries a maximum penalty of death under Pakistani law, against former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, who ruled the country from 1999 to 2008. Aside from his illegal takeover of power in 1999, overthrowing the elected Sharif government, the emergency he declared in November 2007, suspending the superior judiciary, clamping down on the media and other basic rights have been widely interpreted as acts of treason. The Supreme Court had already said it was the government, which was required to bring a treason case against General (retd) Musharraf, who currently remains under house arrest in Islamabad. There can be no doubt the PML-N government needs to be congratulated for its courage in taking this step. It could prove vital to ou...

  Provincial budgets — practice in devolution The benefit of having three provincial governments announce their budgets in one day is that it affords voters the opportunity to compare the governing styles of the three major national political parties in the country. It also highlights in practice what had hitherto been talked about as a theoretical advantage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution: that providing more autonomy to the provinces would result in a competition based on governance quality between the biggest political parties, the biggest beneficiary of which would be the people of Pakistan. In 1932, US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote that American states “may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country”, a quote that later became famous for popularising the idea that truly autonomous sub-national governments can serve as the laboratories...

Another bailout? As the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) begin, the bureaucrats in the finance ministry appear rather comfortable that they will be able to secure a loan from the Washington-based lender on relatively favourable terms. They would do well to revise those estimations. The IMF is supremely annoyed at the incompetence and dishonesty of the previous administration in fulfilling the promises it made with regards to bringing its financial house in order. The IMF’s board of directors is unlikely to be quite so kind this time around — particularly with European nations needing far more assistance than in 2008 — as compared with the last time Pakistan got a bailout. Negotiations with the IMF often tend to be somewhat uncomfortable moments for the government since it is the only institution to publicly question the pie-in-the-sky assumptions about revenues. For instance, for the past seven years in a row, the federal government has bee...

Barbarous attack at Nanga Parbat That the scenic mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), thus far known for their snow-capped peaks and as a haven for mountaineers, will now become known for the gruesome tragedy that panned out there on June 23, is yet another reminder of the vortex of perpetual violence that has engulfed our country. According to reports, gunmen dressed as paramilitary troops killed nine foreign tourists, including Ukrainian and Chinese climbers, as well as a Pakistani, who were staying at the base camp area of Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth-highest mountain at a height of over 4,000 metres in the Diamer district of G-B. The responsibility for the attack was initially claimed by the militant group Jundallah, which has in the past also claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on the Shia community, including one in February 2012 when gunmen shot dead 18 bus passengers. Later, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also accepted responsibility, s...

Death of an MPA — and its aftermath The murder of Sajid Qureshi, a member of the Sindh provincial assembly, from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, must be condemned in the strongest terms; and the party has seen three of its provincial legislators now gunned down in cold blood in recent years. Mr Qureshi was shot dead along with his son in the North Nazimabad area in Karachi on June 21 by unknown assailants, while driving home from Friday prayers. Immediately after the tragedy, the city was thrown into a state of fear with shutters down and tents draped over businesses in anticipation of the imminent bullet sprays. And indeed, Karachi saw at least 16 deaths by the morning of June 22. A city of around 20 million people, and the powerhouse of Pakistan’s economy, shut down within a matter of minutes simply because of fear and uncertainty. Fuel stations closed and public transport went off the road, leaving hundreds of thousands of commuters stranded. Vehicles were to...

Talking to the TTP Despite the victory of a pro-peace coalition and its overtures to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), militancy and violence continues unabated in the province. The recent suicide bombing in Mardan, which killed dozens, including MPA Imran Khan Mohmand, is a strong statement by the TTP that their goals are not likely to disappear because of a change in the provincial government. This is the second member of the provincial assembly who has been murdered by a militant attack. Efforts are underway to hold an All Parties Conference in the wake of this tragedy. Certain political parties have been highlighting the need to initiate talks with the TTP to secure peace in the province and the rest of the country. The efforts of the US to hold talks with the Afghan Taliban are being cited as a reference for holding negotiations with the TTP. Such comparisons are misleading and questionable. The TTP continues to reject the ve...

Wisdom for Balochistan A wise decision has been made, which could well determine a great deal about the future of Balochistan and possibly help calm its many woes. After a meeting in Murree with Baloch leaders who included Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai and National Party (NP) leader Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Mian Nawaz Sharif has nominated Dr Abdul Malik Baloch for the slot of chief minister (CM) of Balochistan. The decision is a remarkably unselfish one, and suggests that Mr Sharif genuinely wishes to solve the many issues of Balochistan. While his party holds the largest number of seats in the provincial assembly, with nine candidates elected to general seats and the support of, at least, eight independents, he has decided to grant the CM’s post to the NP, and that of governor to the PkMAP. As Sharif said, values should be put ahead of personal gains. This is indeed a positive mode of thinking and represents a new start in our po...

Third time lucky? Mian Nawaz Sharif has become the first person to serve a third term as the prime minister of Pakistan and makes history. The constitutional transition of power, too, represents a novelty in our history. All these are, of course, excellent signs. The entire process of the transfer of power has gone ahead remarkably smoothly and this in itself is a huge achievement given our past — and it is now up to Mr Sharif and the PML-N to extract maximum advantage from this, serve the country well and prove that democracy has real value for all of us. To do this, Mr Sharif, despite the fact that he has a solid, simple majority in parliament — receiving a total of 244 votes in the National Assembly — will need to overcome a number of immediate difficulties. The first among these is possibly the power crisis. It has left our country crippled and our people badly affected by the daily hours of load-shedding. Equally pressing is the matter of drone strikes, whi...

Leaked secrets The trial of US army intelligence analyst, the diminutive, bespectacled Bradley Manning, 25, is one that will be watched closely from around the world. Manning has already admitted that while posted in Iraq, he had passed on thousands of documents to the anti-secrecy website, Wikileaks, founded by Julian Assange, who currently remains a virtual prisoner at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. It is said that the US is also keen to try Assange in a case involving the largest-ever leakage of military information in its history. The case, being heard at the heavily secured Fort Meade military installation in Maryland, raises some very delicate questions, pitching the issue of military security — which all nations do indeed consider vital — against the right of the people to know the truth. The leaked papers did indeed give us a startling insight into the world of US foreign policy and revealed a great deal about how it is shaped. Manning’s lawyer says that...

Welcome words Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s remarks stating that both Pakistan and India sought good ties with each other, and that both he and Mian Nawaz Sharif wanted to work towards a closer relationship, signal the way that lies ahead. We must hope the leaders from both nations succeed in walking calmly down it, laying down solid foundations of peace as they do so. This process will, of course, take time, but possessing strong will would be an important factor along the way. Prime Minister Singh, talking after completing a visit to nations in the Far East, made it clear that both he and Mr Sharif shared a common vision as far as this was concerned. He said both the heads of government had invited each other to their respective countries and he hoped these trips would materialise soon. It may be recalled that Mr Sharif had said that he would consider inviting the Indian prime minister to his inauguration, but Dr Singh had suggested a trip across the...