DNA Issue 4rth, December 29nd

CMYK Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Agha Akbar

Joint Editor

Asher John

Associate Editor

Chief News Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230 Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208 Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273 Fax: 051-2818125 Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

The year ThaT was An inflation of And the year that will come

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yperbole is the hobgoblin of lazy minds. One is wary of calling a mere transition the end of an era – though it would be difficult to avoid the impulse for the year that has passed. This was the year the government changed, the year the iconic chief justice went home and the one in which the all-powerful army chief finally went home after having been given an extension earlier.

What difference the departure of the chief justice makes is not known. But if the incumbent chief justice is even

‘The PML-N also used to share its delusions about the war on terror with the PTI. But, as opposed to the latter, the penny has finally dropped.’ half as measured a man as he is said to be, the judiciary would be able to sustain the freedoms it has acquired over the struggle of the last couple of years. Had the former chief justice been replaced by one as given to judicial adventurism as he, there was bound to have been a clash of institutions, one where the League might have been joined by the PPP and, perhaps, even the PTI. Good fences make for good neighbours. It is in reserve that the judiciary will remain a force to be reckoned with.

Gen Kayani leaves the army in less of a muddled confusion than when he took over it. But the cognitive dissonance that

the army is facing as a result of the about-turn of the Musharraf era is problematic indeed. And that is going to be Gen Raheel’s biggest headache, perhaps even bigger than the fireworks in the tribal areas.

The year leaves the PPP in a worse way than it has been before. Why, asks the sceptic, who has heard prophesies of gloom and doom about the party before, only to have it rise from the ashes? After all, back in 1997, the party couldn’t even get the Sindh government; at least it has that now. True, but the party has always led the opposition in the Punjab. And with that gone, its role as a national party has dissipated considerably. They really need to do their homework to spring back.

The PTI is finally in charge of a government, if not the one it wanted. The party’s priorities have finally started to be criticised, even by its supporters.

It has come to realise how untenable its line regarding terror actually was but it has invested too much political capital to think otherwise. At a time when the province’s police – the bravest set of men in the country – are demoralised for lack of government policy direction; when the reign of terror continues unabated; at a time where the militants are collecting extortion money, Karachi-style in Peshawar, the PTI throws dharnas against inflation. In the Punjab.

The PML-N also used to share its delusions about the war on terror with the PTI. But, as opposed to the latter, the penny

has finally dropped, it would appear. The difference: whereas the PTI simply does not understand the problem, the League understands but is scared of doing anything about it. This is going to be a bloody war, one that doesn’t sit well with the trading classes that form the bulk of the League’s support.

The League also needs to realise that it is a Punjabi party

‘The year leaves the PPP in a worse way than it has been before. Why, asks the sceptic, who has heard prophesies of gloom and doom about the party before, only to have it rise from the ashes?’ and that this was a time to reach out to the rest of the country. The proportion of Punjabis in the federal cabinet is uncalled for.

But this is till one realises the parochialism of the prime minister is not of the ethnic variety but the personal sort. He likes his friends in the high places. Those friends just happen to be Punjabis. Either way, this is no way to run an inclusive government. The next year sees the withdrawal of a large proportion of American forces from Afghanistan. The aftermath is going to destroy certain delusions held by some schools of thought in Pakistan. It is this aftermath that is going to either provide for some clarity of thought within the Pakistani political landscape or further confusion down the line.

It’s the economy, stupid And fundamentals need to be addressed

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hile one may not agree with Ch Shujaat Hussain’s idea of convening an APC to discuss the state of the national economy many would share the PML-Q chief’s worries about what he calls the country’s economic frailty. Despite being in power for almost half a year, the PML-N government has failed to improve the fundamentals of the economy. A continuous decline in the par value of the rupee since June this year has led to a staggering rise in foreign debt. As Ishaq Dar told the NA, the public and publicly guaranteed foreign debt, including IMF, has increased by Rs403,064 million as a result of depreciation of the rupee since the present

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government took office. Prices of almost every commodity have shot up as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) got banknotes of Rs280.7 billion printed. At the end of November foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP declined to a dangerously low $3.4 billion, hitting the lowest level since November 2001 when they had been less than $3.5 billion. Loss of confidence in Pakistani currency has further increased the pace of dollarization. With power and gas shortages continuing, and law and order yet to be brought under control the pace of investment remains unsatisfactory. The figures released by the SBP on December 17 indicate a slump in foreign

investment, showing net decline of 17 per cent during the first five months of the current fiscal year.

Foreign investment fell to $399 million as compared to $456 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year. During JulyNovember services trade posted over $1 billion deficit mainly due to massive decline in exports.

While the release of IMF tranche of about $544.5 million provides the government some breathing space the overall health of the economy needs urgent attention. As an IMF official put it, overall vulnerabilities remain high and it would be crucial to consolidate the fiscal adjustment, boost external buffers, and deepen structural reforms. The country needs a more ambitious

protests

Dharnas are the only cheap commodity left

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here are many ways to dissect the PTI’s dharna in Lahore and the upcoming ones that they are going to stage. Do we delve into the economics of inflation? Do we discuss how much provincial governments are empowered in the matter and how much sway the federal government holds? Or do we cast a wider net and go into the norms and practices of parliamentary democracy and the responsibilities of sitting governments, at whatever tier they might be?

If the last were to be taken on first, then this paper would like to go ahead and say this was no time to stage a protest. A brief six months have passed since the governments have held office.

Activity of this sort is the stuff election campaigns are made of. Even if it indeed is in the run up to the local government elections, it would have seemed a bit odd to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, if one were to believe in the man-on-thestreet footage of the province’s lone vernacular language news channel.

Furthermore, the PTI – which runs a province, leads the opposition in another, and is the second-largest opposition party in the national assembly – could have discussed inflation, an intangible concept, on the floors of these houses, rather than on the streets. The government, however, should avoid taking this line because the League’s own record to this end, especially the Punjab chief minister’s, during the last government, was far from ideal. The language that he had used in those protests, against inflation and the power crisis, had been the subject of much debate for months on end.

approach to improve tax administration and plug tax loopholes. An entire category of people living in palatial houses, owning several costly cars and frequently traveling abroad but not paying taxes has to brought the under tax net.

Pakistan badly needs to improve ties with neighbors to enhance mutual trade and concretise the dream of the Central Asia to India trade-cum– energy corridor. Peace in the region would also help reduce defence budget. For this the entire gamut of foreign policy decisions needs to be brought under the purview of the civilian government. No institution other than parliament should be authorized to define what constitutes national interest.

Trade with India and gas and power from Iran and Central Asia are the key elements in dealing with some of the major economic woes and bringing prosperity to the region.

There is, however, another argument that the League makes: how about your performance against inflation in the province that you rule? To this, the PTI makes several points. First, the centre controls monetary policy; if the state bank prints more notes to finance deficits, there is bound to be more inflation. Second, the centre sets the prices of petroleum products, which drive the price of all else higher.

A valid set of arguments, those. But one that fails to take certain issues into account. The agricultural goods markets are provincially managed; the KP government’s performance on that front is far from stellar. Moreover, the centre doesn’t ‘set’ the prices of petroleum products, these are a function of global prices. One PTI talking head after another appears on TV talk shows and asks why the government doesn’t reduce prices when the international prices of crude oil have fallen. But the petrol that we buy from our corner pump is a staggered (by a significant time-lapse) function of the refined oil which we would have procured at our special OPEC rate. It is not dependent on the current price of crude oil.

The PTI raises an important point about the need to raise tax revenue instead of printing more notes. But this is a strange argument made by a party which had opposed (out of parliament) the attempts to reform the GST by the previous government, much like all other middle-class parties had, like the Leagues and the MQM. The RGST would have kept the GST the same, but would have created a database for the collection of income tax.

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A colourful evening, recently, at the Governor’s mansion in Lahore. The textile mills association had thrown its annual dinner there, where the textile barons were celebrating the recent GSP Plus exemptions that they have gotten. There was to be an exhibition, a prize ceremony and then, a fashion show to highlight Pakistani products. Now, fashion shows are usually peopled by the glitterati and the young, hip crowd. When Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was the chief guest, was on his way to the venue, a hanger-on journalist (plenty of those in the Republic) advised him to stay away from the ceremony because it would be “fashionable.” Not one to cross his conservative base, the premier turned around and his press team issued an ill health excuse. g

* * * * * * * * * * Failure is an orphan. Success has a thousand fathers. On the issue of the GSP Plus exemption, the governor Punjab was heard, at the function, taking credit for the deal. That he had been to Brussels to tip the odds in Pakistan’s favour. Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan was also heard taking credit for it. So was finance minister Ishaq Dar. What these fellows, and indeed the public, fails to realize is that such developments are the result of the efforts of successive governments. The trade and foreign affairs mandarins keep doing their thing till they finally get through the goalpost, belonging to whoever forms the government of that day. g

CMYK Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

Swing a tiger by itS tail And he will first take you for a ride and then…

Humayun gauHar

The writer is a political analyst.

He can be reached at: humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com.

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ake no mistake. In putting Musharraf on trial for treason Nawaz Sharif has put the entire army on trial. He has, unbelievably, put himself on a collision course with the army yet again. If his prime effort is to castrate the army so it cannot intervene ever again, he has another thought coming. In fact, he might invite another coup. Armies intervene when they have to, which happens only when political failure causes a vacuum in governance. Then the people and the world go along with it.

Look at Egypt.

Conventional wisdom has it that the government is on a revenge spree in cahoots with the judiciary and its mind is already made that Musharraf is guilty. Some believe that the exercise is a circus to divert attention from the government’s failures rather than a quest for justice. They don’t realize that holding a show trial of a former army chief in a kangaroo court in a

‘Why has the action of November 3, 2007 been singled out and the army takeover of October 12, 1999 not included? …That parliament indemnified the October 12, 1999 coup is so much poppycock. Anyway, the 18th Amendment put paid to that indemnity.’ way that smacks so blatantly of hatred, partisanship and bias will invite another army intervention. Sharif has this peculiar penchant for selfdestruction for he still doesn’t understand the limits of power. Drown yourself if you must, Sir, but don’t take the ship of state down with you too, please. Rule well, Mr Sharif, give the people what they want, and a coup wouldn’t even enter the army’s mind.

Sharif is probably not aware of the Divine injunction: “Don’t hate anyone so much that you cannot do him justice.” This injunction rests most heavily on rulers, judges and journalists as opinion formers. Would a reasonable person conclude that our government and judiciary are doing justice to Gen Pervez Musharraf? Or is it heavily laced with hate and prejudice? Justice happens when the accused is assumed to be innocent until proved guilty in an impartial court of law operating under due process with the onus of proof squarely on the prosecution, regardless of the perceived acts of omission and commission of the accused. But if prosecutors and judges are seen to be collaborators, it does

look like a show trial in a kangaroo court and the perception is created that the accused is assumed to be guilty at the outset and public confidence in the balance, fairness and equity of the judgment is eroded.

Nawaz Sharif never learns, even after losing power twice by taking on something more powerful than him. If you lick clean the sugarcoating of constitutionalism, democracy and legality, power goes to physically the most powerful. That’s nature. Swing a tiger by its tail and he will first take you for a ride and then return with you inside, like the lady from Niger, even if you have raised it from birth. Sharif should take lessons in reality from Asif Zardari who, unbelievably too, he is making look good – something we never thought was possible.

That Gen Raheel Sharif is Nawaz Sharif’s appointee is no guarantee. So were Generals Waheed Kakar and Pervez Musharraf but the army intervened when he left it no option because he had taken the system to breaking point. Lesson: don’t create conditions that forces army interventions. Stay within the limits of your legal power. Attacking the Supreme Court to get rid of the chief justice and getting into an irretrievable fight with a powerful president, sacking an army chief when he was abroad, preventing his aircraft from landing and asking the pilot to take it to India breaks all markers of patriotism and invites extra constitutional reactions. Know the upper and lower limits of power and understand that real power as against formal power moves when you transgress the limits of formal power.

The fact is that Nawaz Sharif’s government is controversial ab initio because of undeniable evidence that the elections that brought him to power were blatantly rigged. We have seen a lot of evidence on camera, in print and personally in polling stations.

Else why would they balk at checking the thumbprints of voters on ballot paper? The fact is that the sacked judges were controversially reinstated by an executive order leaving one wondering about its legality. Can we trust such rulers and judges?

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The government also fears that the army would never punish a former army chief.

That is why an international observers group comprising national and international jurists needs to be invited to witness the court martial.

‘If you lick clean the sugarcoating of constitutionalism, democracy and legality, power goes to physically the most powerful.’

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Why has Musharraf been singled out when the decision to impose emergency on November 3, 2007 included a lot of ‘aiders, abettors and collaborators’ in the proclamation order?

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How can they try Musharraf alone and on a lesser ‘crime’ and ignore the earlier bigger ‘crime’ of October 12, 1999 that caused the lesser crime to take place?

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Why has the action of November 3, 2007 been singled out and the army takeover of October 12, 1999 not included? Obviously to protect the Nawaz Sharif and former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry from inclusion in the trial as too many other generals, judges, politicians, bureaucrats and ‘technocrats’. When justice is fair and holistic there are no holy cows. That parliament indemnified the October 12, 1999 coup is so much poppycock. Anyway, the 18th Amendment put paid to that indemnity.

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How can they separate effect from cause? The cause of the November 3, 2007 emergency was the legitimization of the army’s countercoup of October 12, 1999. The cause of the October 12, 1999 countercoup was Nawaz Sharif’s coup against the army by sacking its chief illegally, as the Supreme Court held. Then the Supreme Court included the now mercifully retired and unlamented Iftikhar Chaudhry who later rose to the giddy heights of chief justice of Pakistan that gave him a nosebleed as heights often do.

The tribunal selected to try Musharraf raises fears that it comprises people who might have personal grudges against him leaves one askance. There should not be a shred of doubt or suspicion, like there rightly is about Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s trial and execution. We are paying the price for that sin still.

The tribunal or special court established to try Musharraf for treason has to comprise only those judges who were not adversely affected by the Musharraf government’s decisions else it will be regarded as scandalous and notorious. Musharraf would do well to insist on a group of international jurists to observe his trial and report on what they see and hear.

Musharraf proclaimed emergency on November 3, 2007 when he was still army chief. Thus he should be court martialled under the Army Act. But then how will the government be able to influence the army tribunal?

There is talk of holding the proceedings in camera, i.e. in hiding. That would be terrible and would immediately beg the questions: what price freedom of information? What are the government and judges hiding from? To hide their prejudice and partiality is the obvious answer. What’s so secret or against the ubiquitous ‘national interest’ in this case?

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Why did the government not get cabinet approval before initiating the treason trial?

What was the rush? That Musharraf might leave the country? He who voluntarily returns to face his persecutors doesn’t run away, and if he did go to meet his old mother in Dubai, he would return.

This is his country and he has every right to live in it. And he has every right to clear his name and expose his tormentors and persecutors.

Holding the constitution or certain of its articles in abeyance was added to Article 6 later by the 18th Amendment, much after the two contentious acts of October 12, 1999 and November 3, 2007. Sure the constitution forbids discrimination in law except in treason cases, but that is a most unfortunate law and needs to be thrown aside. If any precedent using laws retroactively is ever set, many heads will roll now and in future too.

The Supreme Court under Iftikhar Chaudhry asked the government to file a treason case against Musharraf, and that too on a private petition.

This is not the job of the Supreme Court and betrays prior bias that it finds the person guilty before trying him. This awful judgment has defined the direction and parameters for the special trial court. Good Lord! It must be set aside first.

Only the federal government after a decision of the cabinet

can charge a person with treason under Article 6 of the constitution. The cabinet was never asked. Was the assumption that it would agree anyway as it is loaded with Nawaz Sharif relatives and Kashmiri cronies, so why bother?

‘Sharif should take lessons in reality from Asif Zardari who, unbelievably too, he is making look good – something we never thought was possible.’

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The federal government has to set up the special court itself and not ask the chief justice to ‘suggest’ names of high court judges from which the government would select. It goes without saying that the chief justice gave the names of only those judges who are antiMusharraf. This is cahoots, not justice. If from the foregoing you come to the conclusion that Humayun Gauhar is against Musharraf or anyone else being tried for perceived treason, you couldn’t be more wrong. I’m all for accountability. But do so only if you have a case, in the proper way, in a proper court of law, under due process, without singling out a person and applying laws retroactively. If he is found not guilty, so be it. If he is convicted so be it too, as long we are satisfied that justice has been satisfied. Justice done and seen to be done is the best way to prevent extra constitutional acts.

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Cover Story

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

The year of living dangerously

And also a year of change and transition

Arif Nizami

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he year of living dangerously, this is how one could describe the year 2013 in Pakistan’s context. In a couple of days the year would relegate to the history books but will be remembered by most Pakistanis as a bittersweet year.

During 2013 the country was devastated by the worst kind of terrorism and mayhem. It was also a year during which economic hardships of the common man increased manifold. In the latter part of the year CPI (consumer price index) doubled, taking inflation into double digits earning Pakistan – according to a UN report – the dubious distinction for having the fastest growing inflation rate On a positive note 2013 was also a year of change and smooth transition. An elected government completed its term and a new one was ushered in as result of peaceful and relatively fair general elections. This was a first for Pakistan where in the past elected governments were invariably booted out before completing their term by generals or a president in cahoots with the brass.

During the year President Zardari completed his five-year term and Mamnoon Hussain succeeded him through in a seamless manner.

There was a lot of speculation that Gen Ashfaq Kayani after completing his double-term through a generous extension of three years term will still not simply fade away.

These conjectures proved to be wrong. Kayani is no longer around and Gen Raheel Sharif has assumed his mantle.

The biggest change in style as well as in substance was the exit of the Chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

As the senior most judge of the apex court Tassaduq Hussain Jilani succeeded him.

Under Iftikhar the apex court had become the repository of state power. The court’s proactive role went far beyond its constitutional scope and mandate. December 11, 2013 – popularly known as 11/12/13 – was thus termed as a day of deliverance by the executive and a watershed even by some of the colleagues of the former CJP. Under Jilani the apex court is definitely much less meddlesome and far less prone to playing to the gallery or to unnecessarily needle the government and the bureaucracy. Nonetheless the Supreme Court is not going to regress to the old ways of the Dogar court by becoming a handmaiden of the executive.

The biggest disappointment of the year has been the performance of the PML-N government during the first six months of its rule. Some of the criticism on its conduct is somewhat misplaced, though.

Nonetheless its handling of the economy has been found to be wanting. Finance minister Ishaq Dar has challenged his critics claiming

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that the GDP growth during the last quarter of the PML-N government has been above five percent – more than double of the average growth rate in the past five years.

Dar has not disclosed the method by which this impressive growth figure was reached.

Militating against the authenticity of this figure are ground realities, like rampant inflation, virtually negative foreign investment in the wake of poor law and order, and ham-handed in decision making.

Adhocism rules to the extent that appointments in most public sector entities remain pending despite a lapse of six months.

Similarly important diplomatic appointments have been made in a shoddy and haphazard manner. Decisions taken and then reversed has created a strong impression that either there is infighting between senior cabinet colleagues and advisors or the prime minister is simply not paying enough attention to issues impacting the day to day governance.

Another area in which the government was found lacking during the year was running of the parliament and a pronounced lack of urgency in having a dialogue with the opposition. The prime minister virtually remained absent from both houses of the parliament. Holding the fort in his and other ministers’ absence was interior minister Nisar Ali Khan, albeit in a manner quite arbitrarily.

With his abrupt style he earned the sole distinction of alienating the opposition and precipitating boycotts of the senate and the national assembly in protest over his offensive remarks.

The arbitrary sacking of NADRA (National Database And Registration Authority) chief Tariq Malik left an impression that the government is impeding the scrutiny of disputed results in some of the constituencies where the PML-N candidates had been declared as winners.

Another phenomenon of 2013 has been the PTI chief Imran Khan, who has preferred street power over the parliament to play politics. He has been successful in blocking the

NATO supply route from and to Afghanistan, engendering a foreign policy crisis for Pakistan.

Despite Khan’s recalcitrance in engaging in a dialogue, the resolve tackle the crisis is ominously missing from the PML-N government’s narrative. After his rally in Lahore the PTI chief has planned rallies in Karachi and Lahore early next year.

The PML-N trying to fulfill its election promise wants a dialogue with the Taliban. According to Nisar Ali Khan the stage was all set for talks with the TTP when the drone attack killing its chief Hakimullah Mashud literally sabotaged the effort.

The government still assiduously insists that it has an open backchannel with the Taliban leadership to start a dialogue. On what terms, where and how, no one is willing to spell out.

Despite claims that talks with the Taliban are on the anvil, there has been a marked upsurge in terrorist attacks by the TTP in the past few months. To make matters worse sectarianism in its worst form has been ingested in the blood-soaked equation. The new army chief Gen Raheel Sharif’s resolve that no mercy will be shown to the terrorists – a clean break from his predecessor – gives a fresh ray of hope for the future.

Hopefully year 2014 will be the year of tackling the existential threat of terrorism. Events are inexorably moving towards a military solution to flush out terrorists of different hues and nationalities from our badlands. Gen Sharif seems to be more forthright and decisive than Kayani ever was during his half a dozen years in office in inflicting damage on the jehadi outfits that are bent upon undoing Pakistan.

In the wake of this Pakistan’s security paradigm will have to be tweaked, of course with consensus between the civilian and military leadership – in which the latter must release its vise-like grip over foreign and security issues and allow the government to craft a new paradigm keeping in view the fast changing geopolitical scenario.

At the very fag end of the year, the DGMOs (Director General Military Operations) of

Pakistan and India met after a long gap of 14 years. A momentous agreement to ensure sanctity of the line of actual control is an indicator that concerted efforts will be made to secure our eastern borders.

This makes eminent sense. The coming year will be the year of withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan. It is axiomatic that no power sharing formula in Kabul yet in place, a Taliban blowback on our western borders is imminent.

During the year fresh efforts will have to be made to end Pakistan’s relative isolation in the region. With the impending thaw between the West and Iran relations with Tehran will also be on the mend. Sanctions against Iran being somewhat eased Pakistan will be missing an economic opportunity by not reaching out to its Islamic neighbour.

On the economic front Pakistan will remain dependant on the IFI’s (international financial institutions) and on the doles of the west to keep its head above water. It will become an elusive goal if relations with Washington continue to deteriorate. Rampant antiAmericanism in the country coupled with PML-N’s own waffley policies could make matters worse.

Unless the government makes a royal mess of things democracy will continue to thrive in the country. However, the PML-N leadership will have to curb its natural propensity towards authoritarianism in order to survive.

Former dictator general Musharraf’s trial under article 6 of the constitution is another enigma for the military as well as the civilian leadership. It is becoming increasingly difficult to send him abroad as a result of a deal.

But it is equally difficult to hang a former army chief – the maximum conviction for high treason. Perhaps Musharraf will be convicted nonetheless and given a prison sentence. No one will allow him to go scot-free.

CMYK

Comment

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

Melancholy awaits the dawn of another year

Prospects and challenges under the lengthening shadows of regression Candid Corner raoof Hasan

The writer is a political analyst and the Executive Director of the Regional Peace Institute. He can be reached at: raoofhasan@hotmail.com

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hen this piece is published on Sunday, the dawn of 2014 would be a couple of days away. In the deepening dark that engulfs us today, what can the nation expect of the New Year that it would bring in its wake?

2013 has been a year of transition from one political government to the next. Though the nation can derive a level of satisfaction from this first-timehappening, yet, more realistically, the year oversaw the demise of one corrupt government and the taking over of another as the country continued reeling under a plethora of deepening crises with its people heartlessly abandoned to suffer the cruelty of times made unbearable by the anti-poor policies of those who occupy the corridors of power.

Will 2014 be any different? Will it bring hope that the rulers would finally begin trying to cope with the existential challenges that the country is confronted with? Will it finally dawn upon them to put to rest their self-serving paradigm and begin giving shape to a national charter that would fulfil the genuine ideals of Pakistan’s creation and guide it along a course to gaining emancipation from the chains of captivity and enslavement that it has been tied to for decades? Will the year somehow help the country go back a full circle and objectively survey the reasons why, through all the sixty-six years since its independence, it has been a downhill slide which does not appear to be ending anytime soon? Will the gruesome loot and plunder end and will the billions scavenged from the state coffers be brought back to be spent on making life just a little bit more bearable for those who have been taught to survive on the morsels disdainfully left unconsumed by an arrogant minority that controls all state institutions to pocket the generous showering that they milk from there? Most important of all, will we somehow be able to cultivate objectivity and transparency to review where we went wrong and how can we cure the cancer that we appear mortally afflicted with?

The Pakistan People’s Party’s

government was a Machiavellian compromise among a number of heterogeneous self-seeking groups, each dedicated to realising its personal ambitions and goals which always impeded the attainment of the minimum national objectives.

Additionally, because of a lackadaisical commitment to safeguarding the illicit stakes of criminal mafias in exchange for political support for the PPP, it was also a weak government which failed to deliver on its election-time promises made with the people. For most of the electoral term, the PPP remained occupied with its devilish efforts to tackle the controversy and the consequences surrounding the abominable National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) after it had been mercifully thrown out by the judiciary. During the course of overseeing the implementation of its verdict, and because of a blatant refusal of the government to comply with its directives, the judiciary sacked one of its prime ministers for contempt of court. The second incumbent of the top executive office escaped the guillotine only when he finally wrote the dreaded letter. But, by that time, the NRO matter had become time-barred and there was no prospect of recovering the $60 million allegedly received by the Zardari couple in graft.

For all this while, and even during the remainder of its term, the government failed miserably in tackling any of the challenges that the country faced including the growing spectre of militancy, a sinking economy that survived only on borrowings and printing currency, an energy crisis that became worse with the passage of time, the affliction of corruption that absolutely knew no bounds and the absence of any credible policies that would turn the course of events for the better. While tensions persisted with the neighbours, Pakistan’s relations with the US rode a roller-coaster with the worst moments occurring during the unilateral US incursion to get Osama bin Laden and the attack on the Salala check-post, leading to a seven-month virtual suspension of all bilateral interaction. The controversies surrounding the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the Memogate scandal also impacted the relations to a great measure.

But, by far, the worst manifestation of the bankruptcy of governance was the ruling elite’s persistent endeavour to confront the judiciary by refusing to conform to its adjudications. That virtually paralysed the administrative arm of the government as it transformed the habit of lying into a consummate art form that it kept improving upon throughout its disastrous tenure in power. Every institution was plagued with the demon of corruption that was inevitably traced to its ministers, one of whom was even interned for a considerable period of time. The sole institution empowered to be the watchdog of the working of state and

private institutions and individuals remained plagued with self-saving controversial appointments to the top position, reducing it to the status of a hand maiden of a corrupt government. The fact that it had been elected through a democratic process only brought shame to the system and raised serious questions about the practicability of the institution of democracy in the presence of leaders soaked to the brim in corruption and lacking in capacity and capability.

About the PML-N government that has now been in power for more than six months, the least said the better. This is the time that should have been invested in introducing policies to address the key challenges that the country is faced with. Instead, the precious time has been wasted in meaningless shenanigans signifying a pitiable lack of seriousness to come to grips with multiple crises. Ever eager to trace the causes of all ills to its

‘The gravest travesty has been the virtual personalisation of the government that is overflowing with the close family members of the Sharifs and their attendant slaves and foot-soldiers. The schemes announced so far have a preponderant political angle and their promulgation also carries a huge risk for the national exchequer as has been the case during the family’s numerous stints in power in the past, both at the centre and in the Punjab.’ predecessors, the incumbent government has invested little effort in undoing the damage of the past.

Instead, through continued inaction, the crises have only aggravated which are now perched on the verge of inflicting a fatal blow to the national prospect of survival.

The key failure has been the lack of ability and initiative to formulate coherent and pragmatic policies to address the multifarious challenges that bedevil the country, be it in the annals of militancy, economy, energy or transparency of governance. The gravest travesty has been the virtual personalisation of the government that is overflowing with the close family members of the Sharifs and their attendant slaves and footsoldiers. The schemes announced so far have a preponderant political angle and their promulgation also carries a huge risk for the national exchequer as has been the case during the family’s numerous stints in power in the past, both at the centre and in the Punjab. The economy continues to bleed with disproportionate borrowings from the IMF and the local banks leading to a massive escalation in the cost of

living, thus endangering the survival of a bulk of the country’s population.

The latest figures indicate that almost sixty percent of the people now live below the poverty line, making it impossible for them to have two measly meals in a day. Additionally, they suffer from disenfranchisement, gender bias, violence, malnutrition, absence of educational facilities, subservience of the rule of law to the whims of the rich, the mighty and the powerful, challenges of terrorism, a deep-set discrimination along religious, colour, caste and creed demarcations and a woeful lack of access to opportunities for survival.

In short, the future holds a potent threat to their continued existence as they will be increasingly challenged by the vagaries of nature and the cruelty of an unjust, inequitable and non-transparent system.

Most important of all, it is the absence of a pragmatic narrative that poses an existential challenge for the country. The policies are, by and large, cloaked in regressive apparel rendering them inherently discriminatory and delusional. There is nothing in them for the poor who are being inexorably pushed beyond the threshold of survival. The policy of appeasement and initiation of parleys with ‘stakeholders’ who have mercilessly butchered over fiftythousand innocent people in the last ten years is a grievous distortion that is contributing to further accentuating the existential challenge that Pakistan faces. The rulers in power have been notorious for protecting and patronising the militant groups in their traditional stronghold. They have even struck political bargains with some of them to add to their power base. This has not changed and their stress on initiating a dialogue, fully aided and abetted by the religious right and the neo-religious claimants to the right-of-centre vote, raises the prospect of surrendering the state and its sovereignty to the violence-driven militants who are irretrievably wedded to the cause of turning Pakistan into a theocratic state where only those who submit unconditionally before their diktat will be able to survive.

In the absence of cohesive policies emanating from a pragmatic narrative and a liberal and egalitarian commitment as enunciated by the Quaid in his August 11 address to the Constituent Assembly, the crises are only bound to aggravate with the passage of time. The existent regressive policies have led to a speedy decline in the state’s legitimacy and transparency as well as the weakening of its power base and, consequently, its resilience and ability to withstand adversity. This is a harrowing enactment, but utterly relevant.

The need is for the state to go back and adopt the enshrining principles of a genuinely free, emancipated, progressive, enlightened, transparent and nondiscriminatory polity. It was eloquently prescribed by the Quaid

during the course of outlining his vision for the yet-to-be-born state: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan.

You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State”.

Not willing to leave any doubt, he went on to elaborate further: “We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State”. The problem occurred because we reneged from the path so clearly enunciated by the Quaid and adopted a regressive and discriminatory course to deal with citizens, thus instilling in them a feeling of deprivation and denial.

The PPP had a handy excuse for their lack of delivery: they did not have a majority on their own in the assemblies. They were dependant on the support of multiple other groups, not always at peace with one another.

The PML-N government has no such excuse. They have a comfortable majority of their own in the national assembly with an unflinching control over Punjab. They have their Mamnoon Hussain in the presidency.

They have elected the COAS of their own free will and a new Chief Justice has also taken over. Yet the portents are not encouraging - at least going by what has been achieved so far during their tenure and what the future appears to hold for the country! The problem is widely known. The prognosis is not a secret.

It is a gruesome combination of unwillingness, inability, lack of capacity and sincerity, greed and corruption of the ruling elite as well as the regressive narrative that they are hell bent on imposing on the people that lies at the heart of the absence of any progress that the country is making. The problem has to be traced to its roots to begin the arduous journey to salvation.

Having been ravaged incessantly through 2013, the New Year is not likely to bring any ray of light to the dark and dinghy alleys the poor inhabit. On the contrary, the acceleration of decline in the economic, social and security sectors will further compound their deprivations and their ability to cope with increasing challenges for survival. The rulers would continue to inject doses of antibiotics to cure aliments that require comprehensive surgical procedures, cleverly backing them up with grandiose and demagogic proclamations about the onset of better times. But that would, of course, not offset their inherent inability and lack of sincerity in dealing with the woes that afflict the poor and the downtrodden.

Pakistan suffered from a paucity of policy directives and formulations during the PPP tenure in power. The abject lack of performance in the first six months of the incumbent concoction and their apparent insincerity reflect a likely onset of complete paralysis. The combined effect of internal chaos and external pressures, coupled with increasing economic, social and security woes is likely to gravely impact the prospect of national resurgence. It may even make continued survival an unbearable challenge.

The writer is a political analyst and the Executive Director of the Regional Peace Institute. He can be reached at . www.pakistantoday.com.pk 05

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

OPINION

The Great Game in the Arctic Owing to global warming, it’s a race for frozen treasures Arif Ansar Arif Ansar is chief analyst at PoliTact, a Washington-based futurist advisory firm (www.PoliTact.com).

He can be reached at:aansar@politact.com, and on Twitter at: @ArifAnsar.

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ince China declared its new air defense identification zone over a chain of disputed islands in East China Sea, the region has been tense.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the public protests continued as Senator McCain spoke to a rally there over the weekend suggesting why a European Union agreement would be better for the country. And an Uzbek delegation traveled to US last week to discuss the post 2014 security environment in the Central Asian region and concerns over the growing Russian pressure.

But no less significant events are also taking place in the Arctic, the new frontier. There, Canada and Russia seems to be squaring up in the world’s most frigid and inhabitable corners. The slow moving Arctic great game suddenly picked up pace with the announcement made on December 9 by the Canadian Foreign Minister, John Baird. He stated that the nation’s scientists are preparing a submission to the UN for acquiring the North Pole and the Lomonosov Ridge – the undersea mountain range equally claimed by the Russian Federation. “What we want to do is claim the biggest geographic area possible for Canada,” John Baird told reporters.

Putin responded swiftly declaring that in response to the Canadian assertion, Russia will be significantly increasing its military presence and will place two brigades in the region, reversing its previous policy. Speaking

at the Defense Ministry Board, he thanked the Russian forces for completing the military base in Novosibirsk Islands, deeming it vital for the control of Arctic region. He added the formation of new military forces for the Arctic would be completed by 2014, including building of several airstrips. During the speech, Putin also laid out the other strategic considerations.

“Armed confrontations persist in some countries of the Middle East. The international forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014 may complicate the situation in that country and even create a sizable area of instability in the adjoining Central Asian states, which directly concerns the national interests of Russia, our security,” Putin commented.

The situation has been building up gradually.

Just last month, in November, the US announced its Arctic strategy by declaring it will assert its sovereignty “in and around Alaska.” The US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had alarmed recently that while tensions are likely to escalate as a result of energy exploration, nations must work together to prevent potential conflicts. “Throughout human history, mankind has raced to discover the next frontier. And time after time, discovery was swiftly followed by conflict.

We cannot erase this history. But we can assure that history does not repeat itself in the Arctic.”

As a consequence of global warming, melting of giant glaciers continues in the Arctic region while exposing previously unreachable precious resources. This is causing the Arctic Council countries and other nations to post claims to various parts for exploration of energy resources while expanding their use

of new waterways for military exercises and transit. According to US Geological Survey, 15 percent of the globe’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its natural gas may lie in the polar region, beneath its melting icebergs.

The Arctic Council was created in 1996 with Canada, Russia, US, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Finland as its permanent members. With facilitation from the US, in May this year the nations of India, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore and South Korea were granted an observer status. While the Council was initially set up premised more on environmental issues and protecting indigenous people spread throughout the region, it is quickly morphing into one focused on political and economic priorities.

Consider this for example: the Indian observer status to the Council would not have been possible without the active support of Norway.

In an interview given to NDTV, Norwegian Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide, stated, “India is playing an important role in climate discussions. The climate binds us together, whether you live in the Himalayas or here, the climate binds us and it is changing.” Mr. Edie added that India and Norwegian cooperation will benefit not only in the arena of research but will also deepen economic relations.

On the other hand, India’s lead scientist at its Arctic research lab ‘Himadri,’ Manish Tewari commented, ‘what happens here has a direct bearing on the monsoon and countries like India.’

Obviously, what alters the monsoon rains directly impacts Pakistan as well. Scientists have detected a correlation between the weather in the Arctic and the intensity of monsoons in South Asia, which in turn

Downgraded from friend to a gotcha nation M.J. Akbar

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elations between India and America have been temporarily mislaid in that variable space between letter of the law and spirit of the relationship. Diplomatic dignity has been hijacked by an egregious New York law officer, Preet Bharara, who is clearly so deeply in love with himself that he has metamorphosed into a first-rate hypocrite.

But the real concern should be elsewhere: why did his superiors in Washington’s State Department permit Bharara to behave as he did?

When all pontificating is over, faults will be visible on all sides. Where there are human beings there are problems. Where there are problems, there can be solutions. That is why nations employ a corps of diplomats.

Diplomats know that civilized answers can only be found through dialogue; so the first and abiding requirement of international behaviour is courtesy, from whence the

08 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

phrase ‘diplomatic courtesy’. But instead of finding a calm way out of a pinprick problem, some worthies within the Barack Obama establishment decided that the time had come to “teach” India, and Indian officials, a “lesson”. They downgraded India from friend to “gotcha” nation.

This is the fate of the weak, for even rivals are treated with kid gloves, not least because there is fear of consequences, as Russia’s tough foreign minister Sergei Lavrov reminded everyone. Just before India’s acting consul general in New York, Devyani Khobragade, was humiliated, Bharara brought criminal charges against 49 Russian diplomats for medical insurance fraud. Eleven of them are serving in New York. Not one of them has seen a handcuff. Washington knows that Comrade-President Putin has lots of handcuffs in the cupboards of the Kremlin. Russians were accorded diplomatic immunity. Devyani was denied such consideration on the sort of specious interpretation that would not travel very far if host nations applied them to American diplomats in their capitals. Neither did it occur to any wise egg in Washington that such behaviour with a woman is transgression of a more important human code than breach of any protocol signed in Geneva.

How could it, when the action was a conscious set-up? The maid in question, Sangita Richard, in an astonishing departure from norm, was

influences the agriculture produce. Moreover, the Indian scientist believes that melting of Arctic glaciers will result in rise of sea levels with the risk of flooding large parts of India.

These are some of the reasons why track two water dialogue between Pakistan and India is so critical. According to the website of Pakistan’s Institute of Oceanography, the nation maintains two summer research stations and one weather observatory in the Arctic, and is planning to establish a permanent base.

In the same NDTV interview referred above, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid dispelled the notion India was seeking to get involved in the Arctic Great Game because of its energy resources. As in Afghanistan, India, like other global powers, is increasingly extending its reach and getting adept at integrating environmental, political, and economic interests around the globe.

Some experts claim the costs of exploiting the resources of Arctic are too high and this would prevent further degradation of the environment. Others assert technological breakthroughs can quickly change the equation. Whatever the case, one thing is clear; exploration, industrial activity, and any military conflict in the Arctic, will lead to more climatic calamities around the globe.

Obama administration teaching India a lesson?

given virtual political asylum in America.

Her husband and child got visas to join her without any of the sweat that Indians associate with this process. Action against Devyani was initiated only when they reached New York.

They will not return. Who gave them life-long visas in a hurry? Will we get any answers?

Not likely. Is it accidental that two Americans of Indian origin, Bharara and Nisha DesaiBiswal, assistant secretary of state, are the official face of this sting? If this was deliberate, the master planners must be pretty dim.

Such thin prophylactic was never going to be sufficient protection against Indian outrage.

But the challenge now is surely to rescue the Indo-US relationship, so carefully nurtured by George Bush and Dr Manmohan Singh, from this sudden bonfire. The Singh-Bush spirit has been wandering in nowhere space, desperate for an anchor, ever since Obama decided he could fob off India’s Prime Minister with dinner, a few conciliatory phrases squeezed out like water from rock, and a public relations wiggle or two. Is it psychological? Is Obama indifferent to India precisely because his predecessor Bush was so different?

Or has Obama concluded that India is dispensable: India is unable or unwilling to play any strategic role in American withdrawal from Afghanistan [although the potential is huge]; it has become a waffle state under a weak government, eager to maximise gains

such as the nuclear deal but reluctant to deliver on its side of the bargain [witness A.K. Antony’s imperious rejection of American fighter aircraft]; its economy has lost promise and cannot be a meaningful trading partner or investment base. Obama’s Asian triangle of interest has been China, Afghanistan and Iran.

India is a hollow on the periphery. If that is the message coming from the White House, it is almost inevitable that officials down the line get encouraged to flex false muscle.

John Kerry’s conciliatory telephone call to Delhi was recognition of American excess.

But a nadir can also be the starting point for renewal. One year later, Obama will be loitering in the waiting room of the future.

In five months, the Manmohan Singh era, already unraveling, will be over. Obama surely understands that the architecture of a stable and economically buoyant Asia is incomplete without a pillar called India. And Delhi must know that all relations thrive best on a twoway street. The critical months of restructuring will be between July and October of 2014, but for that to happen work on foundation stones of a fresh start must be laid in January and February.

In the meantime, the letter of American law will have to adjust to a revived bilateral spirit.

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CoMMent

the tube

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eports on tax evasion are a low-hanging fruit in Pakistan for journalists.

There’s just too much of it. On a lean day, just pluck it off a tree. All that you have to, as a reporter, just have to make sure you pay your taxes yourself, so no one can point fingers at you.

The News’ Umar Cheema files these stories every year, it seems, and more power to him; we need to inculcate a tax culture in the country and what better way than a name-and-shame?

The problem here is that journalism is equal parts investigation and communication.

Not filing a tax return, for instance, is not the same as tax evasion. Not having a tax number is wrong but it doesn’t mean you evade your taxes if your only source of income is your salary; income tax is deducted against your NIC number. Moreover, there can be discrepancies in your returns listed on one document and your returns on another. It does not mean tax evasion.

GABOL ASKS THE QUESTION This was pointed out by Nabeel Gabol to the reporter himself (Capital Talk, 23rd December, Geo News). The reason there is a difference between my FBR returns and my Election Commission returns, said Gabol, is that I had overpaid my tax and they refunded

Mayank Jain The writer is a politics and finance lover who loves to spend time on the internet and in conferences that discuss and debate international issues. Mayank strongly believes in the power of knowledge and he can be spotted reading a thick book, writing poetry and articles or discussing relevant issues very often.

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here is an old adage that says, ‘Too much analysis leads to paralyses’. While this seems to be the case with the rest of the world, there is a definitely a lack of analysis or quality analysis when it comes to the Indian economy which gets stuck in one trouble after another like following a zero sum business cycle. However, the condition looks to be equally if not more grave with the Pakistan economy as well. The country never showed any signs of real growth in the past few years and at this juncture of bleeding edge technologies and sky high rates of industrialized growth all around the world, it is hard to digest the hard fact that we (both India and Pakistan) don’t seem like going anywhere important.

Numbers can be manipulated.

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

Death, taxes, CheeMa anD Gabol And a senior Tajziakar and why the anti-Idol campaign is turning into a class issue

the amount I had overpaid.

This is the exact same line of argument that the League’s Rohail Asghar took. Ditto for the PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

As a person who had been, for all appearances, lumped together with the evaders, Gabol was angry.

But Umar Cheema was unwilling to concede that he had been a tad unfair. Which prompted Gabol to ask that question that is on everyone’s mind: how much tax does the Jang group pay?

ALWAYS PERSONAL, GODAMMIT Great minds, said Eleanor Roosevelt, discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

On Waseem Badami’s 11th Hour (19th December, ARY) the topic of discussion was Imran Khan’s antiinflation dharna. Whereas the PTI’s Asad Omer and the League’s Daniyal Aziz were slugging it out on statistics of the national economy, analyst and talk show regular Haroon-ur-Rasheed said that he could testify on oath that the League’s Khwaja Saad Rafiq (whose anti-PTI speech was only one of the many made) wanted to join the PTI but the attempted

party-hop fizzled out.

Haroon-ur-Rasheed, by those standards, has a small mind. It is a comment on the level of the Pakistani commentariat that such pygmies keep appearing as analysts. It is a more grave comment still that he is treated with an inexplicable amount of reverence by the anchors and guests. Whenever the fellow appears on a show, his picture is subtitled “senior tajziakaar.” Well, this was the level of his tajzia, nay, senior tajzia. One mayn-innko-jaanta-houn-here, one yeh saare kameenay hain there; the sum of the entire “analysis” of Haroon-ur-Rasheed.

SUN RAHA HAY NA? All individuals either with a Pakistani identity card or a “bey form” are ex-officio chairpersons of the Pakistani Cricket Board. Yes, a hundred and eighty million people and Najam Sethi.

This is because of the self-important authority one hears, across the nation’s barber shops, teastalls, mehfil-e-milaads, trade union meetings etc statements like “Iss ko nahin khilana chaahiye thaa…”

There is also “backseat

policing” whenever there is a law and order crisis. Otherwise squeamish property dealers and tobacco executives giving detailed, seven-part strategies on how to handle the Moharram situation.

In the light of all of the above, it is, perhaps, natural for people (tonedeaf and otherwise) to hold very strong beliefs on who should and shouldn’t have been selected to go on to the next round of Pakistan Idol.

Now there is a petition on Change.org against the three judges on the show. This petition actually misses the whole point of such shows. The judges are supposed to be mean, even though one expected only one of the judges to try to fill the “Simon-Cowell space” not all three.

Yes, they were particularly mean to a fellow with a squeaky voice. But they were supposed to be. The problem was that they didn’t even let him sing a song and asked him to recite nursery rhymes. Bad? Yes. But even if they had let him do his thing, they are presumably experienced enough to realize that it would have been rubbish. Grey area, as far as the talent scouting is concerned.

The problem case, the one which has turned viral on the internet, is that of a young girl who sang a near-

It is all about the money What Pakistan and India have been doing wrong!

They can be twisted as per one economist’s heart desires and used to convey the great period of growth that the countries are facing or even how they are beating the world out there and on their way to be the superpowers themselves with baseless year estimates like 2020 and 2050.

Let us look at the statistics first to clear some misconceptions. The GDP of Pakistan has grown 325 times from the period 1960 to 2005 and it is a sky touching figure if looked in isolation. Dig a little deeper and one finds that the GDP per capita as a percentage of USA has constantly fallen down from 3.37 per cent in 1960 to 1.71 per cent in 2005. This is nothing but the bare truth that nominal valuation is equivalent to marking your Rs1000 bills as Rs100000 and believing it while not realizing that the rest of the world has actually made this money.

The same goes for India. The economy was once touted to be the frontrunner for the next superpower after China race and now all people care about is to get the money out of the country safely because the economy has been ‘hit’. While this is a common knowledge but nobody is

ever able to speak with conviction what exactly has ‘hit’ the robust and the third largest economy so bad that its growth rate has halved in a matter of one and a half years. Now we are fighting off nonsense and lack of responsibility and accountability manifesting in terms of multiple scams as well as irresponsible handling of government records.

This definitely looks like a gory picture and this is what this article is all about. We have to stop creating utopian visions and paint colourful pictures of the both countries filled with citizens taking over the world and the young population going out and achieving things when in reality there is widespread disgust and uncertainty in the minds of young achievers who are bogged down by lack of employment opportunities and rising inflation.

A good place for the two countries to start should be to first secure confidence and trust of their own people before luring the world to invest with them. This is with regards to the dwindling public opinion and hence investor sentiment in both countries due to power shifts after elections and the lack of a resolve

from government’s side to safeguard interests of a certain community. Be it retail investors, consumers or businesses looking to invest in the countries, they are all facing doubt and uncertainty about years to come.

There has been a huge change in power from the hands of Yousuf Raza Gillani to Nawaz Sharif, the incumbent prime minister, and this has resulted in large speculation and debate in international circles as investors seek politically safe avenues for their investment. India, on the other hand ruined its image in the business circles by consecutive scams in various agencies as well as retrospective tax legislation case with Vodafone that discouraged so many multinationals from doing business in India.

The Ease Of Doing Business Index which records the tax legislations, government controls and other factors which are critical to business and industries’ growth and survival ranks Pakistan at 107th place which is ahead of India’s place at 132nd in the list of countries. Both the countries hence, need to ramp up the regulatory, governance and executive issues which malign their image and rot the roots of businesses and growth

flawless rendition of an Indian film song. The judges had let much less talented contestants through. The explanation that they offered for their rejection was sketchy, at best.

That the decision was unanimous made it a crueler cut.

Matters in the emotional sphere are compounded by the fact that the girl in question is perceived to belong to a financially humble background – which has turned the anti-Idol campaign into a class issue.

This allegation of class discrimination would be unfair, really, because the judges were jerks to people across all class lines. As columnist Humayun Gauhar wrote in this very publication last week, though in another context, “Give a small man power and he’ll show you just how small he really is.” Not to go all Conrad on a trivial reality show, but the rush that comes from the godlike feeling of having the fate of these contestants in their hands would be transformative.

Ali Azmat was never perceived to be the good Samaritan in the first place but this would be the first time the public would have seen this side of Hadiqa Kayani and Bushra Ansari. Contrary to what the three think, their stock with the public would plummet after judging the show, not increase.

in the long term. Pakistan’s economy proved to be resilient after the Asian crisis and India showed signs of growth even when the world was dealing with recession but now is not the time to recount moments of glory but it commands concerted efforts from both countries to breakout.

We are neighbors who were one not a very long time ago and the demographics are as similar as the problems we face. Both countries are battling high inflation, less levels of growth, competition from China and other cheaper Asian producers as well as volatile investors’ sentiment.

The countries are divided into rural and urban and there is a huge difference in the standards of living between Karachi and Abbottabad just like Delhi and Lucknow are poles apart. A joint effort could exponentially enhance the positives for the both nations.

We need to move ahead of the petty politics being played out in Pakistani Kashmir and the dispute with Indian state of Kashmir and focus on the issues that really affect our future prospects. Trade treaties and bilateral agreements to import and exports goods from the cheaper places and helping the rural creations sell outside the country can boost the economy from the ground level. Two strong nations like India and Pakistan can come together and send a strong message to the investors from all over the world by enabling trade once again and starting off with peace initiatives that stopped midway and foster a period of growth and financial freedom for the citizens. g www.pakistantoday.com.pk 09

INTERVIEW: Nadeemul Haque

10 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

INTERVIEW: Nadeemul Haque

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

‘Pakistan needs imagination and reform’ We need to move to a new system that promotes competition and merit’

By Agha Akbar Nadeemul Haque was deputy chairman of the Planning Commission from 2010-13, during which he presented his Framework for Economic Growth (FEG) to put the country on a rapid growth trajectory. Out of office, he remains a most vocal commentator on the economic issues.

Excerpts from an interview:

Q: You have long advocated better management of cities to lead growth. Why? And why did the government not heed your advice?

A: We must recognize that the government is seriously

depleted of talent to make a development agenda. Such an agenda requires serious research, thinking and debate. When we had such an agenda, there were people like Mahbub ul Haq, Shahid Javed Burki and Parvez Hasan charged with this responsibility and they had the ear of the leadership. Today the system has no room for such people. And the leadership is distracted from development.

All our think tanks and universities work for donors on their consulting agendas which are always following some fads.

Today it is trade with India where donors are spending millions of dollars and everyone is focused on that issue. The Planning Commission needs to put up some funding for research to allow a domestic policy agenda to emerge and liberate our intellectuals from being mere research assistants to donors.

On cities, my view is the real powerhouse of growth is deregulation of cities. Powerful well organized cities naturally reach out to their supply lines even if they are across borders.

Such cities create entrepreneurs, innovation and creativity.

They will lead to high inclusive growth and transform Pakistan.

Q: Why is it that military governments seem to achieve better production and growth than our more democratic setups?

A: Military dictatorships have been lucky that a neighborhood

crisis sends money into their laps and therefore growth picks up. But let us also review their performance. The increased supply of aid gives them an opportunity which they waste on populist ideas like giving their MNAs development funds, building without clear thought, and pursuing agendas that are anti-development. Sadly our military has never had a vision for reform and restructuring society for development.

Both military and democratic governments suffer from a common problem that they lack the imagination and capacity to think through the reform that is needed. Both rely on an outmoded and a rent-seeking civil service. They pick up ‘hearsay agendas’ and do not have the attention span to make serious well-considered policy.

Protocol, perks and foreign trips take up all their time. This method of governance is such that there is no time of process for serious thought.

Q: Does heavy feudal representation in democratic parties, eventually, make for policies that are not working-class friendly?

A: It is surprising how many cabinet members,

parliamentarians and senior officials (both army and civilian) claim to have connections with agriculture and argue for higher support prices and subsidies. This is at odds with the situation where the majority of Pakistan now lives in urban areas. The lack of a census and proper redistricting seems long overdue.

It is also surprising how many are beneficiaries of the perk/ plot system. The incentive system at decision-making seems to perpetuate rural subsidies and the plot/perk culture. And this is a drag on development.

Q: Do we have a way out of repeated structural adjustment programmes of the IMF? A: The IMF programmes are not to blame. Our policy is. I

certainly do not share the common perception that policy should worry only about tax/GDP ratio or only about exports.

Policy is about getting a right mix of interventions towards a clear goal. We have a confused and outdated agenda. We are continually chasing aid and trying to please people with illthought out populist schemes.

My views I put in the Framework for Economic Growth (FEG),

which was approved by The National Economic Council in 2011 and 2012, was that we have to be clear that we are going to be growth driven and that growth is going to come from deep structural reform. We pointed to several areas where reform could be made to generate quick wins and achieve sustained economic growth. Urban reform and openness would boost our growth and investment very quickly by a few percentage points.

If we develop a serious government through civil service reform many of our governance problems will begin to be addressed. If we follow the FEG approach, we can unlock a virtuous cycle of growth investment and reform.

Q: You have been a champion of civil service reform. Can you explain why and what kind of reform do you have in mind?

A: The human enterprise, from the pyramids to the modern

day capitalism has always been maintained and developed by a bureaucracy. I argue for a civil service reform not to rid us of bureaucracy but to develop a strong and modern bureaucracy that we need.

Building a bureaucracy for the 21st century will require a continuous process of reengineering.

The principles, however, are clear: 1. More decentralization; 2.

Increased competitive recruiting especially at senior levels; 3.

Merit as opposed to seniority; 4. Monetization for transparent compensation and to end “enclave mentality”; 5. Modern technology based work processes.

As argued in the FEG we need to move to a results-based system of management rather than the current input based system. Movement to that system will allow a much more open and decentralized system to emerge. Currently the economy and all decision-making is being destroyed by the secretaries in Islamabad controlling everything from the power sector to railways to PIA through what is known as the Principal Accounting Officer. Their grip on government must be loosened. The current mess has been made by this overcentralized system. It creates large incentives for corruption rent-seeking and maladministration.

Q: Why do you think your Framework for Economic Growth (FEG) has been discarded even though it had been appreciated in several circles?

A: Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that our government

is based on sustained hard work or sound considered policymaking. We would not be in this mess if that were the case. Everything is now done on a whim. Work is considered to be ill-prepared meetings where hasty decisions are taken by pointing to an impending crisis or the urgency to deliver to people. No one in Islamabad reads or has time to read a complex document like the FEG. Ministries like to operate in silos and arbitrarily. No one wants the discipline of a plan. Collaboration and teamwork requires effort and seriousness. It happens in an atmosphere of professionalism and not in a plot/perk/protocol culture.

We arranged many meetings conferences and other activities for the FEG. Sadly none of the ministers, MNAs and secretaries had the time to come to them. Sadly they go to no learning events or seek knowledge. We have to rid ourselves of the arrogance of all knowledge residing in powerful people. That is not a modern concept. It harks back to feudalism.

Aid supplied consultants have made government lazy. Policy is handed to ministers like fast food to ministers in donor conferences where announcements are made and loans signed without adequate thought or ownership.

Q: Remembering the good times of the dictatorship era, people question the ability of democracy to arrest our economic slide?

A: I have already told you, I am no fan of dictatorships and I

do not think they have performed better. They frittered away opportunity through arrogance, lack of knowledge or sheer adventurism.

I can make a case for better decision-making by democratic governments by pointing to financial sector reform, accepting openness, moving to decentralization etc. But I do not want to make it a dictatorship v democracy debate.

Remember both dictators and democrats have maintained colonial institutions without much updating. And those

institutions have atrophied over time and are impeding development. Lots of international data – cost of doing business, governance indicators – point to this. This is the major failing of our system.

However, this is not to say that our democratic system cannot be improved through reform. We should be thinking and evolving ideas for framing better democracy. But unfortunately all types of government, our bureaucracy and our society have not thought along those lines. And we have starved the thinking sector so that they are incapable of giving us ideas. But as I said earlier the thinking sector needs funds and support by the government to liberate it from being totally beholden to donors.

Q: Why are we still confused about merits, or otherwise, of privatization? Can you please explain the economic rationale of hanging onto Public Sector Enterprises that hemorrhage hundreds of billions every year?

A: I think privatization is no longer opposed anywhere in

Pakistan. People are suspicions of the process, expecting some form of cronyism. Without reform the most common term I hear about the government is ‘trust deficit’. This is why I think we should make reform a central process of governance for many years to come.

The PSEs are very lucrative to those who control them. They are slush funds with no accountability. Board members, mostly civil servants and friends of incumbent governments get large perks and payments. Those who have influence can get comfortable and lucrative lifetime jobs. All these people will fight tooth and nail to preserve this system. It is up to the rest of us to break this nexus.

But for good privatization we need good government and regulation.

Q: How can entrepreneurship be encouraged when the government is crowding out the private sector form credit?

A: FEG argued for entrepreneurship as one important engine

of growth. But please remember that there is a difference between an investor and entrepreneur, an investor and a businessman. An entrepreneur is and passionate innovator with ideas and is willing to take his risks without resort to subsidy or government support. They seldom use credit. Venture capital markets support them.

Governments cannot create entrepreneurs. They can only create a framework in which entrepreneurs can flourish and then let things happen. The FEG was based on developing such a framework. It consists of vibrant markets backed by an efficient regulatory and legal system and a strong state providing security of life and property. Entrepreneurship happens in dense people-centered cities. Such cities put commerce before privilege of perks/plots and kothis. In short, such cities allow for density, high rise, mixed use and walkability.

Q: Considering the trajectory of the last 10 years, what is the most optimistic expectation for the decade down the road?

A: Without reform and a change of mindset, we will muddle

along. We have a youthful population, large and rich diaspora and there is a large informal economy beyond the pale of government. I think these things will keep us afloat. There will be no major crisis. However we will not break out like India, China and Korea. For that reform has to accelerate. And that reform must build institutions of the 21st century.

The current SRO/perk/plot culture promotes rent-seeking and discourages entrepreneurship. We need to move to a new system that promotes competition and merit.

I spelt it out in the FEG. That course will be followed. It takes time for complex ideas to be understood. I knew it will not be immediately implemented or understood. My desire was to change the narrative of growth. It will take time but the seed has been planted and the narrative will change. They can deny me a citation or credit for my ideas, which are based on years of research, but they cannot rid themselves of the idea. www.pakistantoday.com.pk 11

CMYK

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Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

CMYK

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

COMMENT

Sectarian split in Pakistan

The rising tide of fundamentalism ‘While many popular Shia clerics condemn the bloody self-flagellation that is very popular in South Asia and many parts of Lebanon, the entire Shia community is united on declaring it to the world that they would sacrifice their lives but not the truth.

The Ashura processions for them are a re-enactment of the battle of Karbala in which Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet (PBUH), chose to give away his life than to pledge allegiance to a tyrant. The entire political history of the Shias is painted in martyrdom.

Mehreen Omer The writer is a status quo critic by habit and a marketing scientist by profession.

She tweets @mehreen_omer

W

hen it comes to sectarian strife in the Muslim world, no phenomenon makes the headlines more than the Sunni-Shia conflict. Each year, especially during Muharram, reporters and talk-show hosts bring this issue to light, but to little avail. It is as if the bereaved Shias have accepted their destiny to be martyred during an Ashura procession, while the puritan Sunnis have made it their religious obligation to purify Islam of all such deviants when the latter come out of their fortresses.

And yet, how naive it is to consider the Shias and the Sunnis each a monolithic entity,

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without understanding the internal dynamics of each group. There are many theological, political as well as religious divisions within the Shias and the Sunnis. While the Shias are predominantly divided into the Ismailis, the Zaidis, the Imamis, and the Ithna’asharis; the Sunnis are also largely divided into the Deobandis, the Barelvis, and the Wahhabis.

And although all call themselves Muslims, the crisis in the Islamic world today cannot be understood without first dissecting such differences.

While the Shias gather around in Muharram and mourn the martyrdom of their beloved, followed by a thumping rhythmic beating on their chests, the Sunnis are busy telling their sons and daughters how mischievously abhorrent such acts are.

While many popular Shia clerics condemn the bloody self-flagellation that is very popular in South Asia and many parts of Lebanon, the entire Shia community is united on declaring it to the world that they would sacrifice their lives but not the truth.

The Ashura processions for them are a reenactment of the battle of Karbala in which Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet (PBUH), chose to give away his life than to pledge allegiance to a tyrant. The entire political history of the Shias is painted in martyrdom.

Ali, the first Imam of the Shias, was also assassinated by an extremist after he refused to make war with those who killed the third Caliph of Islam. The Shiite Ali, or the Party of Ali, felt betrayed. For the Shias, Ali had exhibited a great act of general amnesty and followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law, the Prophet (pbuh). Ali was buried in the town of Najaf, and his grave was later made into a shrine. For the Shias, the town of Karbala and Najaf are the two holiest places after the three mosques in Mecca, Madinah and Jerusalem respectively.

In Iraq, the Shias were always in a majority but were suppressed brutally due to the ideology of Pan-Arabism promoted by Saddam Hussein, for which the Shias were considered as Ajmis, or outsiders. The fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 brought great relief to the Shias, as they could now freely visit two of the five holiest sites, Najaf and Karbala, both of which are situated in Iraq.

But Pakistan today seems to be a hot-bed of sectarian violence especially in the wake of recent tragedies in Rawalpindi, Kohat and Karachi during Muharram 2013. But then perhaps, Pakistan has only itself to blame. The story begins with the Deobandi movement that started in 1866 in the subcontinent that sought to revive Sunni Islam as a reaction to British colonialism in

India. Babar Ayaz in his book ‘What’s Wrong with Pakistan’ talks about how Saudi Arabia with its puritan Wahhabi ideology funded the Sunni Islamists in Pakistan since the 1960’s. What’s astonishing is the fact that the number of Deobandi madrassas multiplied rapidly to 64% of the total maddrassas in Pakistan, while only 15% of the total population of Pakistan adhere to this sect.

The majority of Pakistanis in fact subscribe to the Barelvi sect from which the Sufism in South Asia took root. The Deobandis not only consider the Shias as heretics but also condemn the Barelvis for their veneration of saints and shrines. They became associated with the Afghan war in the 1980’s and have a lot to contribute to the Jihadi ideology of Tehreek-e-Taliban. President Zia-ul-Haq in collaboration with the U.S. and Saudi Arabic promoted militant Islam during this time to fight the threat of the communist Soviets. These militants with their jihadi ideologies are now back-stabbing Pakistan and haunting its very existence.

The Sipah-e-Sahaba is a Deobandi Pakistani organization that is currently banned for its terrorist activities. It was established in the 1980’s with the prime goal of deterring the Shia influence in Pakistan as a response to the Iranian revolution. Lakshar-e-Jhangvi is another militant Deobandi organization,

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

of the

based in Punjab, which broke away from Sipah-e-Sahaba over some dispute but continues to wreak havoc on the Shia civilians. The Jamat Ulema-e-Islam is another Deabandi organization that is bent upon enforcing its strict interpretation of Islamic law in Pakistan. But the rise of these militant organizations owes a lot to the Shia threat perceived by Saudi Arabia. Whether it was the fear of losing the oil-rich regions that the Shias dominated in Saudi Arabia, or its insistence of exporting Wahhabism to other parts of the Muslim world, the fact is that Sunni militancy in Pakistan was in large part a response to the Shia ascendancy in Iran and Lebanon.

Over 86 Hazara Shias were killed in January 2013 as a car bomb ripped through a busy road in Quetta. The relatives of the dead refused to bury the victims and demanded that the provincial government be taken over by the army. But to no avail. In March 2013, over 45 Shias were massacred as a suicide bomber exploded himself in a mosque. Just four months later, two Shias were shot dead in a taxi by gunmen from the Sunni terrorist group Lakshar-e-Jhangvi.

Seven Shias already lost their lives before the beginning of Muharram 2013, and many more succumbed to martyrdom as sectarian violence exacerbated in Rawalpindi wherein many Sunni extremist groups and vigilantes attacked Ashura processions. Curfew was imposed in Kohat as well when two Shias were killed by gunmen belonging to the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat terrorist group.

Vali Nasr in his book ‘The Shia Revival’ reveals that with the Islamic revolution in Iran during the 1980’s and the coming of Ayatollah Khomeini to power, the Shias had achieved what the Sunnis couldn’t; an Islamic state. Also, when Hezbollah, funded

by Iran, repelled the Israeli invasion after carrying out successive suicide bombings in 1982 killing as much as 600 Israelis in two days, its tales became exemplary lore throughout much of the Arab world. The Shias had achieved what the Palestinians couldn’t for decades. The Sunnis felt the

balance of power in the Islamic world shifting. Throughout Islamic history, the Sunnis had occupied the mantle of the caliphate, the Deobandis and the Wahhabis just can’t let that change now.

The recent killing of the Shia cleric Allama Nasir Abbas in Lahore as he was heading towards his residence only shows how religiously corrupt the Pakistani society has become. Religiosity according to the extremists is not measured by the amount of mercy you show, but by the amount of mercilessness you can exhibit. Apparently, the assailants had no sympathy for the five daughters and a son the leader of Tehreeke-Nifaz-e-Fiqh Jafaria left behind, but felt it was their divine right to eradicate Shia infidelity off the planet. Majlis-e-WahdatulMuslimeen announced three days of mourning and blamed the government for failing to protect the Shias. Indeed it seems, the government is trying to hide its own ineffectiveness by labeling the entire issue as sectarian violence which has been raging for years. Many left-wing activists like Murtaza Haider, however are more vocal and allege that it is the Shias that are massacred in large numbers, not the Sunnis.

Perhaps it may come up as a surprise to many, that there are about 45 million Shias in Pakistan and most of them are located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Although these areas are perceived to be strictly Talibanized, the majority of the Shias in Pakistan still live there. While many politicians and media buffs are quick to deny any planned massacre of the Shias, blaming it all to be an international conspiracy, Shias are being taken off buses and shot dead after their verification as Shias through National Identity Cards.

If even the educated Shia doctors in the major urban centers of Lahore and Karachi are not safe from such sectarian attacks, then who is? When the Hazara Shias were butchered in the hundreds after a suicide bombing carried out by the Sunni militant group Lakshar-e-Jhangvi, many political analysts were quick to hide the Shia identity

Hazaras and portrayed the entire incident as only an ethnic massacre.

In response, Shia militant groups including Majlis-e-Wahdati-Muslimeen and Sipah-e-Muhammad have risen up, and while the former usually seeks political means, the later is a banned terrorist organization known for killing Sunni rival leaders.

What the Sunnis don’t realize is that the incident of Karbala is so entrenched in the identity of a Shia that it is impossible to separate the two. The Shias believe that Karbala wasn’t just a terrible episode in history, but a destined resurrection of Islamic spirituality.

Many Arabs blame the Shias for their nonArab origins and they are partially right about it. The wife of Imam Hussein, Bibi Sheharbano, was the daughter of a Persian king. So the Iranians feel an attachment to Shia Islam that was already pre-determined, according to them. It is as if the Shias seek to rescue Islam from its rigidity adhered to by the Sunnis, and bring it back to its true core of spirituality. The Shias have a lot in common with the Sufis, and believe that certain holy and divinely favored people have access to mystic knowledge that can lead an individual beyond the trivialities of life.

According to Vali Nasr in his book ‘The Shia Revival’, the Shias believe that the Prophet (pbuh) possessed certain spiritual qualities that he passed down to his successors or the Ahl-e-Bayt i.e. the Twelve Imams.

And although the Sunni-Shia violence has escalated only recently, the schism still acts as a hallmark for 1400 years of Islamic history. When the Prophet’s (pbuh) wife Aisha and his son-in-law and cousin Ali could take up swords against each other, it only was to have disastrous consequences for the Muslim community later.

They say that religious minorities like the Shias, Ahmadis and Christians are no longer safe in Pakistan, but aren’t the Deobandis a religious minority too? Who has let

them hijack the true spirit of Islam? Many liberals in Pakistan condemn the SunniShia violence and the Deobandi ideology which is leading to the growing militancy in Pakistan. The very fact that Islam embraced the different lifestyles and cultures it became a part of and not kicked them out, shows its nature of inclusiveness. Islam did not wish to make everyone carbon copies of each other, but instead encouraged diversity. It did not come to exclude people, but to include them.

Islam came for everyone, not for a chosen few.

The writer is a status quo critic by habit and a marketing scientist by profession. She tweets @mehreen_omer Interview Column 1: But many Pakistanis, especially the hotblooded youth, seem to be totally unaware of the danger that lurks in the darkness. Aziz Hamza, a student in UMT and a resident of Lahore, says that Pakistan is probably the only Muslim country which is neither pro-Sunni nor pro-Shia. But he says that with the exchange of political power between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan will suffer the brunt too. Another resident of Lahore, Ahmad Jamal, currently working as a digital media strategist at a media firm, says that we should all follow the sect of Prophet (pbuh), if he has any. This shows how frustrated the growing urban class of Pakistan has become about the pervading sectarianism.

Interview Column 2: Rida Zehra, a resident of Karachi and working as a project manager for Chayn says that the entire issue is not sectarian; it’s all part of some conspiracy concocted by people who want to destroy Pakistan and these people are taking advantage of the Shia-Sunni conflicts to achieve their evil aims. Certainly, she does not differ much from the postulations of the Imran Khan, the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, when he says that the Sunni-Shia violence is in fact caused by some foreign conspiracy trying to dismantle the Muslim world. Even Sheikh Rasheed, the Chief of Awami Muslim League, reckons that there is some foreign hand behind the inflating sectarian violence in Pakistan.

Interview Column 3: Farq Khan, a student of Air University in Islamabad, says that good and bad people are found in every society. He states that he has lived in a Shia society for very long and says that so many of his best friends are Shia and he did not find any flaws in them. He says that it is definitely the hand of some foreign agencies trying to cause sectarian violence in Pakistan. Sabah, a Shia resident in Karachi who refused to quote her full name, says that she feels that the growing Sunni-Shia violence is a result of a widening ideological divide exploited further by political agendas that have little or nothing to do with religion.

She further believes that if we are to gain internal stability, we should condemn all such attacks irrespective of which beliefs we personally follow. www.pakistantoday.com.pk 15

International

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

Murder on the roof of the world

My travels along the Pakistan-China border

ZIAD HAIDER

O

n June 22, 2013, murder occurred on the “roof of the world.” Ten mountaineers were killed at the foot of Nanga Parbat—the world’s ninth-tallest peak, located in Pakistan’s GilgitBaltistan region on the border with China where some of the world’s tallest mountain ranges converge. The victims included American, Chinese, Lithuanian, Nepali, Pakistani, Slovakian, and Ukrainian nationals, and the audacious attack shattered a rare sense of calm in Pakistan’s northernmost corner, bewildering locals. Members of the Pakistani Taliban doggedly scaled the heights to the mountaineers’ camp at an altitude of 15,000 feet and stormed the tents in the dead of night dressed as paramilitary police. One media outlet’s coverage flashed a haunting image of vulnerability: an orange tent on the mountain slopes bathed in moonlight.

Five days later, I boarded a plane to GilgitBaltistan.

I had set out to complete a journey I began 10 years ago: to traverse the mighty Karakoram Highway (KKH) connecting China and Pakistan. A decade earlier, I had traveled along the 800 mile-long KKH from Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous region to the border with Pakistan. My travels became my college thesis—an analysis of the relationship between China, Pakistan, and Xinjiang’s restive Uighur Muslims in light of the traffic of militancy, drugs, and arms from Pakistan to Xinjiang. I argued that the KKH, a symbol of Chinese-Pakistani friendship, had proven to be both a blessing and a curse.

Now I set out to complete the journey from the Pakistani side in a week-long trip by plane, car, and boat. Once again, I discovered how lofty international relations and local communities intersect on the KKH—from tales of a “new Great Game” between China and America and infrastructure woes along the Pak-China Economic Corridor, to remarkable strides for women’s empowerment and development in communities keen to plug into China’s prosperity. I wound my way up through a land of glaciers, ibex, and snow leopards to the Khunjerab Pass at 14,000 feet—one of the world’s highest international border crossings. All the while, I was shadowed by the murder on the roof of the world.

I began my journey in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. I was lucky. The flight to Gilgit is frequently canceled due to inclement weather; travelers can be stranded in the purgatory of Islamabad for days on end. As the plane taxied and took off past military hangars, a reminder of the ever-fuzzy line between Pakistan’s civilian and military realms, the pilot pointed out the breathtaking convergence of three towering ranges that swiftly surrounded us: the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, and the Himalayas. White knuckles gripping the seat, I alternated between awe and fear as the pilot deftly maneuvered among them, buffeted by unrelenting winds. As the plane reached cruising altitude, the pilot proceeded to outline the blood-stained route below: Abbottabad (where Navy SEALs killed Osama Bin Laden in 2011), Mansehra (where seven people were killed when gunmen attacked

16 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

the office of an NGO in 2010), Babusar (where 22 Shiite Muslims were pulled off buses and shot in a sectarian hail of bullets in 2012), and Nanga Parbat, in its gory majesty.

Upon landing in Gilgit, I walked past security officers wearing badges that stated “Be Firm and Courteous.” As we got on what my taxi driver called the “China Road,” or KKH, his jaunty tone quickly hardened when talk turned to the mountaineers and the perpetrators.

Despite the violence plaguing “down country,” as the locals refer to the rest of Pakistan, Gilgit-Baltistan continues to draw tourists and mountaineers.

Driving north along the KKH from Gilgit, I arrived a couple of hours later in the village of Karimabad, which once served as the capital of the former princely state of Hunza. Theories of the ancestry of Hunza’s inhabitants involve groups ranging from soldiers in Alexander the Great’s army (popular but unlikely) to the White Huns of Central Asia, from whose name Hunza is derived. A magnificent 900-yearold fort in the neighboring village of Altit, with its Hindu Shiva Lingam and Buddhist carvings, attests to the region’s mixed heritage. The Tibetanstyle roofing supposedly traces to a Tibetan princess who married a local ruler. Today, the erstwhile rulers, or mirs, of Hunza are politically sidelined. Buffalos lord over the empty swimming pool in front of the current mir’s bungalow in his absence.

Gilgit-Baltistan’s strategic location near China and India has decisively shaped its fate. On display in Baltit Fort is a centuries-old trade agreement between the ruler in Hunza and authorities in China, showcasing historic commercial links along a branch of the Silk Road that Pakistan has sought to revive.

Conversely, Pakistan has tried to minimize Gilgit-Baltistan’s connections with India, since the region was once part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that India and Pakistan have bloodily contested since 1947. Islamabad bestowed a measure of self-governance on Gilgit-Baltistan in 2009, though its elected legislative assembly has little say over key industries such as minerals and tourism.

The raucous politics of down country do occasionally trickle up to Gilgit-Baltistan, complicating questions of identity. Slogans from the national elections in May marked the walls along the KKH—ranging from those of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a party that holds sway at the opposite end of the country, in the port city of Karachi, to the All Pakistan Muslim League of former President Pervez Musharraf, who is held in some regard for building the Karakoram International University in Gilgit. Some use the term “Punjabi”—the majority ethnic group in Pakistan—as a catchall for anyone from down country, with hints of disdain for their unruliness and a sense of being culturally and politically distinct from them. Others—those who served in the army, for example—evince great pride in being Pakistani.

More important than belonging to the Pakistani nation for many in Gilgit-Baltistan is belonging to the Ismaili community, which follows a branch of Shia Islam led by Prince Karim Agha Khan. Members of the Ismaili community donate a portion of their earnings to the Agha Khan Development Network (AKDN), which has been empowering women in a country where their education and advancement has lagged substantially behind that of men.

CIQAM, a vocational program in Altit trains women in carpentry, land surveying, electrical work, design and drafting. The services of trainees are now employed, for example, in constructing furniture for one of Pakistan’s leading hotel chains, the AKDN-owned Serena Hotel. AKDN and other organizations also offer educational services, resulting in a

reported literacy rate of around 90 percent in Hunza compared to the national average of under 55 percent.

As AKDN and foreign donors have provided services that the Pakistani state has largely failed to deliver, some in Gilgit-Baltistan and down country have grown concerned about, as one tour guide told me, a “parallel state” in the region. Locals described in hushed tones the omnipresence of Pakistan’s feared intelligence service given the area’s high geopolitical profile. More questions and conspiracy theories swirled following the attack on the mountaineers at Nanga Parbat.

Now, a “NewGreat Game” is afoot in the region: The players this time around are America and China. I resumed my journey on the KKH pondering this New Great Game, and China’s ancient shadow over the region.

Today the KKH is hailed as a symbol of China and Pakistan’s “all-weather” friendship; a Pak-China Friendship Tunnel burrowed in the mountains drives home the point.

This close relationship has occasionally given China pause; In the 1990s, for instance, Beijing periodically closed the KKH to demand that Islamabad get serious about preventing the highway from becoming a conduit of drugs, arms, and militancy for China’s restive Xinjiang region. But the highway has aroused greater concern in Delhi and to some extent in Washington. India views China’s push into South Asia through large-scale infrastructure projects such as the KKH as an alarming and unwarranted intrusion into its regional sphere—let alone one in an area to which it lays claim. Analysts in the United States have emphasized the importance of China’s toehold in Pakistan both in Gilgit-Baltistan in the north and in Balochistan in the southwest, where Beijing has financed and operates the Gwadar Port.

These moves are perceived to be part of China’s larger effort to expand its reach and influence beyond its borders, at America’s expense. Listen closely, and you can hear the rumblings of the New Great Game.

The same week that I was traveling along the KKH, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in Beijing touting a Pak-China Economic Corridor through upgrades to the KKH—a “game changer” that would rapidly bolster anemic trade relations. Three speed bumps for the plan were apparent as I rode along the KKH itself, however. The first is security, given a steady uptick in attacks on Chinese nationals in the area, including at Nanga Parbat. (One prevailing theory in Hunza at the time of my visit was that the timing of the attack against the mountaineers at Nanga

Parbat, right before Sharif’s visit to Beijing, suggested that the Americans were out to undermine Chinese-Pakistani relations.)

The second is economics. Local traders along the KKH expressed concern about Chinese goods flooding the market and China benefitting disproportionately from the economic cooperation; Pakistani fruit, for instance, cannot be readily exported to China because of quarantine restrictions, whereas Chinese fruit can freely enter Pakistan.

Nonetheless, many saw the Chinese market as a tremendous long-term opportunity. One trader had just returned from Kashgar, where the Chinese government was setting up a mall and offering Pakistani businessmen rentfree space for three years to sell their wares.

Others pined for Chinese tourism, noting the mere trickle of Chinese tourists in the region relative to their size and proximity.

Yet perhaps the biggest impediment to the envisioned corridor, as readily apparent on the KKH, is Mother Nature. An hour north of Hunza, the highway abruptly vanishes. It lies beneath Attabad Lake—a body of water created by a landslide in 2010 that dammed the Hunza River and wiped out entire villages. Goods going between Pakistan and China on the KKH are now loaded onto boats, which take roughly 45 minutes to cross Attabad; when we made our way across the sparkling blue lake, a beautiful floating graveyard, Chinese Kunlun brand tires were headed down country.

Evidence of Chinese influence is everywhere along the KKH—from road signs with messages such as “Quality Is Life” and “Safety Weighs Greater Than Mountains” to Chinese items on restaurant menus. Crews from China’s Road and Bridge Construction Company, some dressed in fatigues, were hard at work. Their metallic camps off the KKH are cordoned off, and security details now shadow them in the wake of several incidents targeting the 10,000 Chinese nationals working on projects throughout Pakistan, from the Gwadar Port to the Gomal Zam Dam. Given the security and language barriers, “Pak-Cheen dosti” (Pakistan-China friendship) is on thin air at 14,000 feet, and the Chinese units remain aloof from locals.

When I asked one crew in rusty Mandarin to move its steamroller so we could make our way to the border, the site manager shot off a list of grievances—from stomach sickness to a disdain for Pakistanis who could not build their own roads. All-weather friends, it seems, is all well and good in the temperaturecontrolled halls of Islamabad and Beijing.

Relationships exposed to the elements day in and day out are a different story.

CMYK

inTernaTional

Sunday, 29 DEC-04 JAN, 2013-14

a change in government in 2014 is exactly what India needs to lift it out of its economic doldrums and get it back on a high-growth trajectory. In particular, there is a great deal of optimism about a BJP election victory, thanks in part to Modi’s pro-business credentials as well as the reformist track record of the last BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, which governed India between 1999 and 2004.

At the same time, those who assume that neither a BJP nor a Congress-led government will come to pass are perhaps excessively

Frederic Grare Milan VaishnaV

B

y the middle of 2014, every country in South Asia will have held elections in the last year. In 2014 alone, nearly 900 million voters will be able to head to the polls in the region. Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Pakistan all completed national elections in 2013, while Sri Lanka held important provincial elections, including in its contested Northern Province. And in the next seven months, voters in Afghanistan, India, and Bangladesh will all select their next governments. The outcomes of these events will have ramifications for stability in the region and around the world.

A PIVOTAL YEAR FOR AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan will see two critical transitions in 2014: a national election and the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces. These two events are deeply intertwined. The election will affect the withdrawal process and color the U.S. legacy, especially since Afghan President Hamid Karzai seems to be demanding that Washington grant him a free hand to manage the elections as a precondition for signing a status of forces agreement that would allow a residual U.S. force to remain after the withdrawal.

Questions remain as to whether Afghanistan’s elections will achieve even their most basic function— selecting a legitimate executive authority. yet even if they fall short, there is no doubt that they will be regarded as a landmark in the country’s democratic transition process by an international community impatient to exit the Afghan morass. The stakes are considerable. Kabul needs a reasonably functional and legitimate government to handle the day-to-day management of the country and ensure the cohesion of Afghanistan as a whole and the Afghan National Security Forces in particular. Even a functional political system will not guarantee stability, but a dysfunctional and illegitimate one will send the country into chaos, annihilating some of the real (though hardly sufficient) development successes achieved in Afghanistan over the past twelve years.

Nine candidates will compete in the electoral race. Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission disqualified sixteen others, a decision that has caused controversy. This has led critics to allege that Karzai is manipulating the system to designate his own successor, calling into question the legitimacy of the election even before it is held.

And Karzai’s current behavior with regard to the status of forces agreement with the United States lends further credence to these allegations. After months of painful negotiations, Karzai is refusing to sign the agreement unless Washington satisfies new demands he formulated after the final text was drafted. The content of these demands matters much less than the fact that Karzai can now reinforce his nationalist

The year oF The VoTer in souTh asia

2014 will be a year of transition in south asia. national elections in afghanistan, india, and Bangladesh will affect both regional stability and international security

credentials by appearing to stand up to the Americans. This show of force bolsters his position vis-à-vis the Taliban and increases his capacity to influence the election, which could prove disastrous for Afghanistan if U.S. and international troops leave the country entirely.

CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN INDIA: While it is extremely difficult to predict the outcome of India’s national elections, slated for April and May 2014, Indian voters are likely to usher a new ruling coalition into New Delhi. Speaking of “national elections” in the Indian context is somewhat misleading, however, because elections are actually an aggregate of 543 constituency-level contests across 28 states and seven union territories.

Decentralized federalism means that India’s states are the primary venues for political contestation, so voters, even when participating in national elections, are often influenced by state and local personalities and performance.

Since 2004, the United Progressive Alliance, led by the Indian National Congress, has governed India. Ten years of uneven performance, compounded by slowing economic growth, persistent inflation, and a spate of high-profile corruption scandals, have badly weakened the Congress Party. Polls indicate that the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is gaining momentum as elections near. Indeed, the BJP was the greatest beneficiary in four recent state elections in India.

In 2014, some outcomes seem certain: the BJP will gain seats in parliament, and the Congress Party will lose a significant number of them. But what role India’s myriad regional parties will play remains unknown. And if the BJP and the Congress Party both underperform, there is always the possibility of a repeat third-front government.

Many investors and experts believe that

pessimistic about the prospects of a government led by regional parties.

Over the past decade, there has been a sea change in relations between India and the United States, with the two forming growing security, diplomatic, and economic ties that have been bipartisan on both sides of the Atlantic.

There are certainly irritants in the relationship—India is bothered by what it perceives as the halting nature of Washington’s “pivot” to Asia, and the United States is troubled by India’s unwillingness to further open its markets and by other recent protectionist impulses in New Delhi. In addition, Washington has kept Modi at arm’s length since his controversial handling of the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat.

But the broad thrust of the U.S.-India partnership is unlikely to change, even if a Modi-led BJP comes to power. The two countries would likely adopt a pragmatic approach, with the United States directly engaging Modi and the economic and security interests of both sides compelling a modus vivendi.

Pragmatism would also likely prevail with regard to India’s other major foreign policy issues—namely, China and Pakistan. BJP leaders have hinted that they would adopt a more conservative approach to Beijing and Islamabad, taking a harder line against both thorns in India’s side, but one should not read too much into the hawkish rhetoric. It was, after all, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government that worked intensely to normalize relations with Pakistan in the early part of the last decade (although perceptions of Pakistan within the BJP today may be less propitious than they were a decade ago). And Modi has actively courted Chinese investment in Gujarat, traveling to Beijing even against the wishes of some of his party’s leaders.

BANGLADESH’S FAMILIAR STRUGGLES: Bangladesh seems to be

returning to its old demons. Unlike the 2008 national elections, which international observers described as the fairest in Bangladeshi history, the January 2014 national vote will take place in a context of a deep political crisis and a climate of political violence.

Hundreds have allegedly been killed in clashes between rival political factions since the beginning of 2013. For years, the rivalry between the center-right Bangladesh National Party (BNP), chaired by opposition leader Khaleda Zia, and the center-left Awami League, chaired by incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has held the democratic process hostage. Since 1991, these two parties have participated fully in only four polls. All other elections were affected by either military intervention or boycott.

Although it holds an advantage in opinion polls, the opposition BNP has already announced that it will boycott the January election. It argues that the timing of the contest and the incumbent government’s refusal to step down and allow a neutral caretaker administration to oversee the polls, a process previously enshrined in Bangladesh’s constitution as a guarantee against electoral fraud, will bias the election’s results. But for all the country’s problems with weak infrastructure and endemic corruption, Bangladesh’s economy is in relatively good shape.

This also means that the Awami League cannot blame economic factors for the fact that it has recently lost popularity.

Two other issues are likely behind this shift. First is the Awami League’s 2011 decision to abolish the need to create a caretaker government by overturning the constitutional requirement that general elections be overseen by a nonpartisan regime. Second, the BNP cried foul when a tribunal set up in 2009 sentenced to death several leaders of an Islamist party and today a major ally of the BNP—Jamaat-eIslami—who were accused of having committed atrocities during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. In reality, Jamaat-e-Islami did oppose Bangladeshi independence and participate in the bloodshed associated with the war. But the Awami League’s repressive actions, including its practice of arresting human rights activists, have lent credibility to the accusation that it is to blame for derailing the country’s democratic process. As a result, the public has slowly turned against the government. And the BNP, which suffered a crushing defeat in 2008, has regained its strength.

At stake in 2014 is no less than the political stability of—and the future of democracy in—Bangladesh. Should the country fall into chaos, the military could intervene. But should the BNP ultimately decide to participate, the outcome of the election could also have consequences for the regional political balance. As prime minister, Hasina has considerably improved relations with New Delhi by confronting terrorism, cracking down on extremist organizations, and preventing northeastern Indian separatist movements from operating on Bangladeshi territory. It is unlikely that Zia would deliberately try to reverse this policy should the BNP come to power, but her party’s support for Jamaat-eIslami would make it more difficult for her to resist the pressures of more radical organizations. Zia, traditionally closer to China, could also be tempted to shift slightly toward China and grant Beijing the use of Bangladeshi air bases and coastal access in Bangladesh. This move would inevitably alienate New Delhi. As suggested by the International Crisis Group in a recent report, Bangladesh in 2014 could well be slipping into familiar patterns and heading “back to the future.”

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

cia and Mandela:

can The sTory Be Told now?

Agency's role in MAndelA cApture still Mostly not news Fairness & accuracy in reporTinG

B

ack in 1990, FAIR noted that the media coverage of Nelson Mandela's release from prison failed to mention there was strong evidence that the CIA had tipped off South African authorities to Mandela's location in 1962, resulting in his arrest. So with coverage of Mandela's death dominating the media now, can the story of the CIA's role in Mandela's capture be told? Mostly not. The link between the CIA and Mandela's capture--reported by CBS Evening News (8/5/86) and in a New york Times column by Andrew Cockburn (10/13/86)--was almost entirely unmentioned in media discussions of his death. There were a few exceptions. MSNBC host Chris Hayes mentioned it on December 5 ("We know there's reporting that indicates the CIA actually helped the South African police nab Mandela the first time he was captured"). On Melissa Harris-Perry's MSNBC show (12/7/13), Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman brought it up: The US devoted more resources to finding Mandela to hand over to the apartheid forces than the apartheid forces themselves. It was the CIA that actually located Mandela, and he was driving dressed up as a chauffeur when he was stopped, and he was arrested and ultimately serves 27 years in prison. And on CNN's Outfront (12/6/13), Cornel West told guest host Jake Tapper, "Keep in mind, though, Brother Jake, the CIA colluded with the apartheid regime to find Nelson Mandela when he was disguised as a chauffeur in 1961."

So the lesson might be that the kinds of guests rarely included in corporate media are the ones more likely to bring up this history. In the New york Times' long obituary (12/6/13), Bill Keller presented it as a story that is yet to be confirmed: "There have been allegations, neither substantiated nor dispelled, that a CIA agent had tipped the police officers who arrested Mr. Mandela." He reiterated that on NPR's Morning Edition (12/6/13): "I have not seen utterly convincing confirmation or refutation of it."

Keller--who was convinced about Iraq's WMDs--has presumably read the accounts of CIA involvement in Mandela's capture, including a Cox News Service report (6/10/90) of a retired CIA official admitting that a CIA operative told him of the operation ("We have turned Mandela over to the South African security branch") the day it happened. So with Mandela's death making headlines everywhere, there is still very little coverage of this part of the Mandela story. One place you can find it, though--the New york Times letters to the editor section (12/10/13), where this appears under the headline "CIA and Mandela's Arrest": TO THE EDITOR: Nelson Mandela’s membership in the South African Communist Party in the early 1960s was acknowledged by the Communist Party itself last week, confirming the findings of my own historical research, reported by Bill Keller ("Nelson Mandela, Communist," column, Dec. 8).

Perhaps the United States government will now confirm the role of the Central Intelligence Agency in Mr. Mandela's arrest in August 1962, which is also indicated by my research. It was the height of the Cold War, and it was all a long time ago, but the truth still counts.

STEPHEN ELLIS Amsterdam, December 9, 2013 "The truth still counts" shouldn't just guide government decisions about what it chooses to reveal about its own history. It's something journalists should consider too. Much of the coverage of Mandela is focused on his remarkable ability to forgive his opponents. It would be especially useful for US media to spell out which US government actions might have to be forgiven. www.pakistantoday.com.pk 17

Art An Epitome of Pride

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014

Recipients of Pride of Performance and Tamgha-i Imtiaz (Medal of Distinction) at the College of Art and Design, University of the Punjab Lahore

Nadeem Alam

Anna Molka Ahmed founded the Fine Arts Department of the University of the Punjab in 1940 and nurtured the first generation of Pakistani artists there. She assimilated western painting techniques, learned during her schooling in London, with indigenous themes and ideas that shaped modern art in Pakistan. Her roles as artist, educator, and administrator remain unparalleled.

She was awarded the Tamgha-i Imtiaz in 1963, the Pride of Performance in 1979, and the Quaid-i Azam Award in 1982.

The author teaches Art-history at the University College of Art and Design, Lahore. He is a Researcher, Art-Historian and Art-Critic with special interest in Western Art, South Asian Art and Art in Pakistan.

Email: nadeem.cad@pu.edu.pk

A

fter the Colonial period in the subcontinent, two new sovereign states based and divided on the grounds of ideology and two-nation theory, were to find their own path in every meaning of the word. After almost a century-long struggle for freedom, both India and Pakistan earned independence from the British Empire in 1947. However, the Colonial era had acculturated the South Asia in every way, from culture to tradition, from religion to ethics, from cultivation to transportation and from telecommunication to education.

The British rule institutionalized various skills and arts in this part of the world. JJ School of Arts in Bombay (now Mumbai) while Mayo School of Arts and Fine Arts Department of the Punjab University were established in Lahore to promote the enchanting visual culture of the Subcontinent.

The Department of Fine Arts was established under the Umbrella of the University of the Punjab Lahore in 1940 and Anna Molka Ahmed; a young British woman who, after getting married to Sheikh Ahmed had migrated and settled in Punjab, was selected as the first Head of the Department. Two other very talented, learned and capable women were also under consideration for this chair; Mary Roop Krishna and Razzia Serajuddin.

Today the Department of Fine Arts has earned the status of the College of Art and Design and offering different degrees in Painting, Design, Architecture and Art-History.

This institution has produced many artists of matchless class and dignified styles whom the government of Pakistan has conferred upon, various awards of high reverence and repute.

Khalid Iqbal is the father figure of contemporary landscape painting in Pakistan. With his local palette, and western technique, learned at the Slade School in London, under the scholarship of Sir William Coldstream, he created a modern concept of time by controlling subtle tonalities of diffused light and shade. He is considered as the father of Modern Realism in Pakistan that ultimately shaped the modern school of landscape painting in Pakistan. Khalid’s style and his long years of teaching inspired many students to take up this genre, and to evolve it over the years.

His role in the development of art in Pakistan was marked with a Pride of Performance in 1980.

Colin David was one of the three students in the first class for men at the Department of Fine Arts, University of the Punjab, along with Sufi Waqar and Aslam Minhas.

His stint at the Slade School of Art London in 1973, gave a fresh impetus to his work. His compositions of figures, combined with still-life objects in well controlled space, create a Surrealistic ambiance. Colin=s work exhibits the knowledge of human anatomy that introduced Pakistani art to the mystery, flair and balance of figural painting.

With his smooth line, he crafted figures in landscapes and interiors. Colin received the Pride of Performance in 1995.

Shaukat Mahmood deals in lines; lines that talk 18 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

and talk loudly, sarcastically and piercingly. After doing his Masters in Fine Arts from the Fine Arts Department, he went on to take a PhD in Islamic Architecture from Edinburgh University, UK. Currently, he is the Coordinator of the Research Center at the College of Art and Design.

When he joined a newspaper as a cartoonist, he came into interaction with renowned poet Munir Niazi, who titled him as Maxim. As Maxim the Cartoonist, he appears daily in a Lahore based newspaper. As a social commentator, he has been commenting on very serious issues with his naughty lines and uproarious characters.

AMaxim@ received the Pride of Performance in 2001 and Sitara-i Imtiaz in 2010.

A.R. Nagori was often labeled as a colourful painter with dark themes. He was among those who had been inspired by the changing social and political scenario of our country. Nagori opened his eyes in the land of colours and thirst; Rajasthan. His art personified the desert owing to the broad panoramic vision he always had, while his style was as colourful as a rainbow, and as thirsty as the sand.

Nagori breathed his last in 2010.

He was awarded the Pride of Performance posthumously in 2011.

Zulqarnain Haider fell in love with landscapes

the moment he started to paint. Gradually, his style accepted new challenges of Modern Realism concerning study of light and its effects. His canvases display the true colour and texture of the terrain that he painted time and

Sunday, 29 DEC, 2013 - 04 JAN, 2014 ist doctrines. However, he not only dug up the fragile soil of his land but also sowed the seed of the yellow Laburnum (Amaltas) tree that blooms in the most unfavorable conditions. His socio-political canvases as well as his foliage paintings exhibit vivid and pure colours.

In 1992, his contribution in the field of art was acknowledged with the Pride of Performance.

again. His work mirrors different climatic conditions and the changing seasons. Being a true student, and a follower, of Khalid Iqbal, he continued the legacy of his mentor.

Zulqarnain Haider, a graduate of the Department of Fine Arts of the Punjab University, also studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts Paris, which nurtured his talents and skills.

Zulqarnain Haider was hounoured with the Pride of Performance in 2000.

University of the Punjab, Lahore and then MA Art-History from Hawaii University, USA. His research on ‘Sikh murals of the Punjab’ earned him a doctorate from the University of the Punjab. He has served the Department of Fine Arts as Chairman. His interests, today are very much indigenous in terms of subject matter but modern styles of painting especially Impressionism, has always been an inspiration for his technique. His art displays a flowing brush movement and playfulness of colours.

He received the Pride of Performance 2006.

Hasan Shanawaz Zaidi is an artist, a poet, a

singer and above all, a mentor who served the College of Art and Design as its principal. Commissioned portraits of national heroes have been his forte as a painter. He comments on socio-historical themes that are present in his poetry as well. Zaidi=s love for poetry and music has led him to a rhythmic quality of line and to the warmth in his palette.

The Government of Pakistan honoured him with the Tamgha-i Imtiaz in 1998.

Ghulam Rasul was obsessed with landscape paint-

ing that drove him to examine nature from a different point of view. He earned his MA Painting from the Department of Fine Arts and after doing MA Printmaking from Northern Illinois University, USA in 1973, he developed his own visual vocabulary by painting in flat colours; this technique ultimately resulted in modernizing his canvas by simplifying forms. At a time when perspective depth was in fashion, Ghulam Rasul concentrated on constructing a relationship between composition and the colour palette.

In 1986, Ghulam Rasul received the Pride of Performance.

Rahat Navee Masud, uses the female figure, as

Ajaz Anwar, who holds a PhD in Muslim Architecture from Turkey, has visually documented the culture, the heritage and the festivities of Lahore in watercolour. He, with an intentional effort, tries to record the traditional architecture of the walled-city of Lahore. The sky in his paintings is often dabbled with the fresh shades of variegated kites flying over the architectural labyrinths of the Old City. Ajaz Anwar amalgamated his love for architecture and his passion for painting, in a way, that has become his own signature style.

In 1997, he was awarded the Pride of Performance.

a vehicle, to express the ‘human condition’, seeking truth and spirituality in it. She is one of the chief exponents of the pastel medium in Pakistan having developed a unique style of working with pastels and gold leaf, mainly on hand made paper. After obtaining a Masters degree from the Fine Arts Department of the Punjab University Lahore, she went on to do her MA in Art and Design in 1995 and practice-led PhD in Fine Arts in 2010 from Kingston University London. She also served the College of Art and Design as its principal from 2009 to 2013.

Rahat Naveed received Pride of Performance in 2012.

Zubeda Javed, a former Chairperson of the De-

partment of Fine Arts, is one of the first female painters of Pakistan to adopt semi-abstract and Impressionistic technique in landscape painting. She, with an intuitive colour sense and painterly brush, produced a unique and aesthetically strong display of colours coming out of deep backgrounds. Her painting style, based on imagination rather than on-spot realistic observations, encouraged the modern approach towards colour, composition and light in Pakistani art.

The Tamgha-i Imtiaz was conferred upon her in 2003.

Khalid Mahmood did his MA Fine Arts from the

Mian Ijaz ul Hassan is a painter with diverse themes. His interest and knowledge of English literature made him to think and act in accordance with new ideologies of the socio-political scene of Pakistan in the seventies.

His figural paintings were rooted in communist and social-

Jawed Iqbal, as a cartoonist with perseverance and commitment, has come up with a fresh image daily in a Lahore based newspaper of Pakistan. For years, the populace of Pakistan has observed the mischievous lines and playful skill of Jawed Iqbal, recording the socio-political life of the country. Moreover, he created numerous cartoons in live TV shows in Pakistan as well as abroad. A graduate from the Department of Fine Arts, University of the Punjab, Jawed Iqbal has made a mark in the field of caricatures.

Jawed Iqbal received Pride of Performance in 1993. www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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