Imran Husain
Find answers. Real ones Pakistan’s ideology took more than just a lethal blow on Saturday when treasonous elements set ablaze the Ziarat Residency. A dignified structure that had provided solace during his last days to the creator of this country, it was callously rent asunder to hit the very core of our existence. The ‘before and after’ photographs turned stomachs in utter disgust! The charred remains of our soul grotesquely bared. Rebuild it in three months, it is proposed. You may rebuild a soulless edifice but pray tell how will you take a nation and rebuild its soul? Pakistan has lost sensitivity. Ambiguous rhetoric and self-aggrandizing jargon seeks to offer justification for incompetency and the lack of will to even begin the quest for a cure. Human life is of no magnitude except when it provides political leverage. When the word ‘rebuild’ is used those mouthing it should consider the consequences in entirety; the superficial use bears no consequence. In a shocking and painful day of mayhem in Quetta, at least 25 young schoolgirls were blown up in a bus, by a female suicide bomber. Terrorists then took over the Bolan Hospital where the victims were being treated. Dozens died in a second suicide attack. Security forces were virtually ineffective and utter confusion and chaos prevailed, causing anguish and disgust. Despicable carnage reigned free. To add salt to the wounds, the interior minister tells us he went to Quetta despite threats. Is that a favour? It is his job, he has no option but to do it. Especially given that bloodthirsty terrorists have brutally killed the deputy commissioner, the head of civil government in the city. So minister, just get on with your job. God knows there is plenty to do. Including initiating action at the self-confessed perpetrators of the crime rather than claiming accolades for magnanimity by ceding to a minority chief minister. Killings and kidnappings continue without mercy. The father of one of the girls killed in the bus has been kidnapped while coming to take the body for burial. Policemen killed in Qila Saifullah, and on the other side polio workers killed, yet again in Swabi, bombs are being planted everywhere and life in Karachi is taken as if it was another glass of water. What is government’s response? Warnings to certain elements, arms licenses to polio workers, which to my mind is a joke. Are they volunteers or gunfighters? But nary a word is spoken or action threatened to the real elements, the known and self-proclaimed terrorists. This spells disaster. Talk of peace with ruthless murderers is jarring. Is the proverbial ‘other cheek’ to be on continuous offer despite being repeatedly slapped and without any respite? Supposedly talks with those that ‘will talk’ are planned. Those who will talk are those that are probably insignificant in that realm. Dozens of these can be collected and put on the podium. Yes it will present a picture opportunity, yet another meaningless press conference, to no end. The question is do we even know whom we want to talk to? If so, name them specifically and reveal their identities. And let them reveal what they want. Surely with a total of 4.7 per cent vote cast for the rightists, one per cent of whom have perhaps run amok, they certainly cannot demand government is handed over. Even if we name them, what is government going to talk about? What agenda and what negotiations? These are people who have no principles. They violate the written, tacit prescription of the same God they are allegedly defending. Every day this country sees some poor soul hauled up for blasphemy. Violating the tenets of Islam, Al-Quran, directly by action must be the worst form of blasphemy. Bloodthirsty marauders, killing Muslims, on the rampage! Yet no authority, executive or judicial is willing to take even a single step to stop this malaise from spreading into the very core of our lives. Not even a self-confessed murderer, arrogantly claiming it was his duty to kill, as in the case of Salman Taseer’s assassin, lives three years after the heinous crime. Termites are taking over the whole house. Stop the drones, government yells, supported by PTI and others. These drones are probably the only factor taking arms with the terrorists. Alright, stop them. So that the terrorists run back into Swat, Waziristan and infiltrate deeper into Quetta, KP, Islamabad, Karachi and eventually Lahore, ravaging the nation. And once they have overrun everything and you continue being helpless, go back to the US, eat crow, and say now help us clean up. Perhaps that is the only way that terror will be carpet-bombed. There has to be a transparent and clear strategy to achieve a single objective, which is peace and thereafter a chance for progress. Sporadic reconstruction is never a possibility. I believe the Sharif brothers were taught this lesson well by their father. To govern with the fear of man-made earthquakes on a daily basis isn’t easy. Imran Khan’s PTI has its first go at governance, and although he may be just coach to his KP tsunami, with celebrities reaching out to him to protect and promote their charitable programmes he needs to find answers. Real ones. Abbas Afridi is right. He told the Senate yesterday, “It is the mandate of a divided and disintegrated nation and not a united one. This mandate doesn’t reflect the thinking of united Pakistan and is the reason we see conflicts in Balochistan, FATA and KP today”. You can extend this further to conflicts in Karachi, perhaps even other significant parts of Sindh. The need then is to build consensus to fight the foremost problem of terror. Regionalism has blatantly taken over in abject surrender to the four-nation theory. Consensus requires sagacity and willingness provided there is will. No investment, badly needed, can come in the obtaining situation unless of course concessions are made which allow investors to make four times what they can make in conventional markets. While infrastructure continues to be below par, resentment will grow till it becomes a deafening roar. The treasury is cash strapped and Pakistan has changed. The ‘bling bling’ effect will not work with the people. They maybe distracted for a while but reality will hit them soon. It is imperative that serious steps are taken to create an environment that invites investment and growth. Otherwise we will be facing a secondary revolt and this one will encompass the entire country rather than scattered acts of violence. Logic does not compute the total apathy of every arm of governance towards the monumental disaster this country will face if the current state continues. Action at all levels is essential. This Lashkar-e-Jhangvi outfit is worse than any Al-Qaeda or Taliban can be. It is only killing Pakistanis. Perhaps it’s doing something else for its masters too that we don’t know. For it not to be effectively banned by government or by the superior courts, that take suo moto notice of every trivia in the country except acts of terror, is astonishing. It’s not this government alone, it is the entire structure that has failed the nation and continues to fiddle while it literally burns. Somewhere really soon, if there is belief in this country, the entire civil and military apparatus has to take this mad bull by the horns. Yes there will be collateral damage but if the soul is intact that too can be ‘rebuilt’. We need to give ourselves that chance. Build a united Pakistan. The writer can be contacted at: imranmhusain@gmail.com

Kuldip Nayar
What Kamal Hossain’s book skips When revolutions are in quest for freedom and justice even after four decades of their happening, it means that they have gone awry. If hartals and demonstrations are staged with the same frequency, the scenario becomes all the more somber. This is what has taken place in Bangladesh. Kamal Hossain, the country’s first foreign minister, has written a book to give an account of it. I wish he had said more about the birth of Bangladesh and the failure to sustain the spirit of secular democracy it had evoked. This was a rare revolution which rose above fanaticism and factionalism and beckoned a democratic structure without the pull of religion. Hossain’s story is inadequate and does not tell why a country which fought against bigotry so resolutely caved in when extremism reared its head. Not long ago, when Bangladeshis freed themselves from Pakistan in 1971, they rose as Bangladesh. A Muslim nation fought against Muslims to make religious appeal meaningless. Unfortunately, after the liberation, the Bangladeshis got lost in religious warfare and parochial assertion. Hossain should have underlined the fact that the dream got shattered because religion had the better of secularism. Today’s Bangladesh scene seems to suggest that extremism is nearly indelible and very few people rise above it. To trace the movement for liberation is to applaud, the Bangladeshis’ triumph over passion and prejudice. It was an ideology which conquered petty considerations. Yet the story of independence was not that of a struggle alone to liberate oneself from the distant Rawalpindi. It was the birth of an ideology of egalitarianism and a society which would fight against sectarianism and religious divisions. The nine months of operation by the Pakistani Army tore all tiers of administration and the machinery of governance and imposed a dictatorial rule. There was also an element of hatred towards the weak and poor Bengalis who dared to assert their identity. The only way they had was to revolt. “What could we do when the Pakistan government”, as Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman, father of the nation, said, “tried to kill every Bengali and destroy Bangladesh?” Destruction-wise, 2.44 million of the nation’s 14 million farmers were ruined and the rest lost bullocks, ploughs or seeds. Fifty-six million dwelling units, from pucca houses to thatched huts, were demolished. In addition, according to Mujib, “Pakistani soldiers destroyed 12,000 trucks out of the 18,000 we had. They burnt currency notes and took away all our foreign exchange. Our food godowns were demolished.” Disruption on such a scale made restoration of normal life impossible when Mujib took over. He explained that it would take time to set things right. But his appeal had little impression on the people who wanted the revolution to shows results. They had seen one miracle happening – the liberation – but wanted another: economic prosperity. Building takes time. But the public had no patience. Also, the fire of freedom that burnt fiercely in hearts lessened as days went by. On the other hand, many anti-liberation elements that had been silenced became active to prove that the liberation had never taken place and that the link with Pakistan should have never been broken. The more radical among the liberators also expected improvement from those in power. The country had too many guns. The radicals were not the only ones to find them useful. There were others of different shades of political colours and there were plain brigands without any politics. They did not give up arms. Mujib’s personal magic worked up to a point. According to one estimate, 100,000 to 200,000 arms were never surrendered. Violence lay latent in the land and it appeared with a vengeance when the liberation was over. However, the most disconcerting development for the Bangladesh leaders was an incipient anti-India feeling, towards a country which had helped them to obtain freedom. “I wish I could die now because relations between India and Bangladesh are so good today that I do not want to see them deteriorating,” Tajuddin, once Prime Minister, told me. But Mujib was not worried when I met him. He said, “I know that some elements assisted by international interests are indulging in a whispering campaign against India. But they cannot sabotage the relationship between your great country and Bangladesh. A Bengali does not forget even those who give him only a glass of water. Here your soldiers laid down their lives for my people. How can they ever forget your sacrifice? You fed ten million refugees for more than ten months. Even now you are giving us food and other assistance. I can assure you that my people are not ungrateful. Therefore, those who are trying to foment trouble will not succeed in their designs”. Dacca’s Foreign office is still peeved over the remark of foreign countries that the policies of Bangladesh are “New Delhi’s carbon-copy.” A Foreign Office man told me: “If only we could oppose you somewhere so that we project an image of our independence”. He betrayed a small-nation complex and it appeared that to prove their country’s separate identity, officials are tempted at times to adopt an anti-India posture. India’s size looks large. Many civil servants, suddenly becoming conscious that they were employees of a small and not yet prosperous country, indulge in anti-India talk. “Your country is too big,” they say. “Whether your neighbours like it or not, they have to be subservient to you.” Was this the assertion of old parochial sentiment or a complaint against their country’s inadequacy? All this is missing in Hossain’s book, the feeling of elation and the frustration after its failure. There is not any disclosure as such books promise. Hossain tells something about Mujib, but skips the much-talked weakness in his capacity to administer. Hossain should have also confirmed or denied the rumour that the Sheikh was sentenced to death by Pakistani’s military rulers and spared due to the intervention by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s popular leader. Maybe, Kamal Hossain has yet to publish the Bangladesh untold story. We should wait for it. The writer is a senior Indian journalist.

Abdullah Humayun
Rational people maximize utility, Pakistan govt maximizes stupidity Now more than ever, Pakistani policymakers must tackle what has become a very pressing issue for the Pakistani economy: the irrational, unregulated allocation of subsidies. There is ample and extensive research on the subject of subsidies, yet little of that seems to be making its way towards policymaking in Pakistan, especially with the present PML-N government. Untargeted subsidies, such as the infamous Sasti Roti scheme, epitomize bad policy and pose awkward questions when Rs30 billion is spent subsidizing flour in a province which has an education budget of around the same. Most countries have more or less phased out the practice of untargeted subsidies – save for perhaps Egypt, which still provides subsidies to the tune of 12 per cent of GDP on fuel and food. This practice, however, still remains and thrives in Pakistan but must be brought about to an end. Various areas of the Pakistani economy are beset with this irrational and unfair practice. Take the Utility Stores for example. You can be well educated, have a degree from a top-tier university, earn half a million a month and you can still walk into any Utility Store, buy sugar, flour, oil and whatever else you fancy at a government mandated subsidized rate. If you are a taxpayer, you’re just getting a tax-rebate of sorts. If you do not fall in the aforementioned category, and there are many, many in Pakistan who don not, you are in effect getting a payment of sorts from the government. It’s alright if you are earning big, we will still pay you for the effort of coming in and buying something from the Utility Stores. The magnitude of the Utility Stores subsidies pale in comparison to the electricity subsidies that the government has been forced to give to consumers, on account of a spike in oil prices post 9/11 and Iraq War (Read: Frivolity). For the year 2010-2011, the PPP government meekly budgeted Rs115 billion and ended up spending more than three times the amount at Rs372 billion. Glaring policy failure meets inept planning. In effect, the largest share of subsidy is going to the richest sections of society. A report on Pakistan’s electricity crisis published in 2011 by the World Bank states that the biggest beneficiariesof electricity subsidies are the richest households. The same report states that nearly 90 per cent of Pakistani households are net recipients of subsidies. Rational people maximize utility, the Pakistani government maximizes stupidity. Like mentioned above in the Utility Stores case, if you pay tax, then you’re getting a rebate. If you’re not, you’re getting an out and out discount. And really, shouldn’t the point of any subsidy be to help the disadvantaged sections of a society? This, however, begs a small question and I digress again but the prevailing situation of unsustainable subsidies in the electricity sector is the result of policy failures and bad governance. The subsidy is in effect the government subsidizing its own failures and inefficiencies. Is it then fair, from a philosophical standpoint, to pass on that inability to govern, lack of political and governmental expertise on to the population at large, especially given that Pakistan’s political history has never been stable enough for the process of political accountability to take place? As a matter of pragmatism and necessity, tariffs must be rationalized with high consumption consumers paying much more than low consumption consumers. In Iran, for example, consumers consuming lower than 100KWh were charged just 270 Irani Rials ($0.027) per unit while those consuming above 600KWh were charged nearly 2,100 Irani Rials per unit back in 2010 when reforms were initiated. Subsidies when administered properly and transparently can be a great tool in the alleviation of poverty. What are needed are subsidies that do not unnecessarily subsidize the rich and reduce leakages to the undeserving and the solution to that is to have targeted subsidies. Though administratively taxing is harder to implement on account of finding the right target populace, targeted subsidies can be a great way to maximize the marginal benefit from each rupee of subsidy. Countries all over the world have successfully cut expenditures whilst increasing income transfers to the poor through ending untargeted subsidies and substituting them with targeted subsidies. Whilst not a subsidy, the BISP is an excellent example of a targeted income transfer programme and it has greatly benefitted its recipients. Which leaves us with a very important policy question, what kind of programme would be most effective in alleviating poverty? Should it be a GST exemption? Should we transfer money balances into recipients’ accounts? Or should we subsidize the price of essential commodities for the targeted population? Each has its own merits and demerits. Research has not given its final verdict on which is the most effective mechanism for helping the more vulnerable sections of society. On the subject of targeted versus untargeted subsidies, however, there is enough research to pass judgment on the respective efficiencies of the two systems. Such reforms have historically been difficult to implement. Also given the Pakistani population’s love for big government, the government will find it difficult to implement sweeping reforms that might take away some of the more irrational subsidies from the population. Electricity price hikes are a prime example. Whether such reforms will go through or not will depend greatly on how the government manages the media. Irrespective, reducing the size of untargeted subsidies, especially in a constrained fiscal environment is necessary and the government must act on this without hesitation. The writer can be reached at Abdullah.humayun@gmail.com Twitter: @Ahshafi

anjum

This week, Microsoft rubber-stamped Windows 8 as good to go for manufacturers. This means PC makers and other partners can grab the operating system code and test it out with their products, which should start arriving Oct. 26. The struggle for the future of computing as we know it has essentially commenced.

Microsoft has essentially opened a window in having media and technology start anew with their new operating system. As they have minted a lot of money through Windows Vista, and through Windows 7, who says that they won't do the same now?

Howevever, what one really needs to see is a resurgence of the Personal Computer industry, to battle smartphones and tablets in the ever-growing information technology market. Windows unsuccesful bid to bring forth a popular Tablet PC for their customers brought an opportunity for Apple to establish its brand through the iPad. Early smartphones in the form of handheld palmtops such as the HP Jornada have given Google an edge in bringing forth Android phones with more advanced operating systems.

So it essentially comes down to this: with Windows 8, we get to find out what the non-Apple computing industry really has left.

Windows needs some resurgence to its already established brand, as the bringer of Personal Computers during in an information technology hike in the 80's, 90's, and 00's. It really needs to get the ball rolling and not leave companies like Dell, Hewlett-Packard, or Acer sitting idly by while others get ahead in the game.

Just about everyone—even Apple fans—should hope that some company gets its act together, takes some risks, and wows the public on the back of Windows 8. It’s the sort of competition the industry needs to be healthy and for innovation to continue at a furious clip.

Sakina Husain
It has been about a month since the IMF report on Pakistan ‘ingeniously’ highlighted the economy’s fragility. A sense of urgency was incumbent; the PM quickly and quite conveniently replaced the secretaries of finance and FBR. Very few questions were asked; the damage was covered. How and why would the public demand accountability and transparency, or an extenuating correction of seemingly portrayed fudged figures when it has been residing in blissful ignorance with regard to the economy? Or maybe the silence was another extension of the disillusionment with the system. For the purpose of reminiscing, the IMF report in Feb-12 revealed that the (please note: expected) budget deficit communicated by the government for FY12 has been understated by Rs532 billion where in the revenue was overstated by Rs215 billion and expenditures were understated by Rs317 billion. This would imply that the budget deficit for the current fiscal year would arrive at about 6.6 per cent of GDP, instead of the government’s repeated assurances about realising the promised five per cent contingent on promised external inflows which even the sovereign would vouch by…but nevertheless. Given this back drop, the very act of changing secretaries signals that the government is capable of making only cosmetic changes in an effort to please the almighty IMF. The first contention questions why the IMF is so important that the government needs to replace qualified personnel who have served its cause throughout the regime so far. Moreover, current deliberations by the ex-finance minister reveal that domestic debt has exceeded foreign debt, indicative of greater reliance on the domestic financial system instead of lenders abroad. So why is there a need to prove credibility in front of this iffy source of funds? The second contention challenges the autonomy of the ministry of finance as the government’s window into its accounts. If expenditures, especially the larger recurrent ones are being exceeded than the target, is the finance ministry really supposed to suffer blame? There are severe structural deficiencies in the collection and distribution of revenues between the federal and the provincial governments. For instance, the provincial government or the chief minister has the power to undertake expenditures without taking prior approval from the national assembly. This automatically results in a greater than expected deficit in provincial budgets as the latter have limited space to raise revenues, especially, post the 18th amendment which led to the devolution of many subjects that were earlier apart of the federal list. Third, the PM’s alacrity in reading international evaluations of the economy is commendable and therefore must be lauded. Why should he pay heed to weekly caveats published by domestic analysts who have repeatedly tried to inform, challenge or at least warn the government regarding the same macro variables delineated by the IMF? The government is ready to cheer the FBR chairman when he reports higher than target revenue collection, but ever ready to replace the same person when the numbers are challenged by an international body! Why are there no internal checks and balances? And moreover, is the 2-3membered IMF office in Pakistan better equipped to report federal collection of taxes and expenditures? Regardless of whether the answer is in the affirmative, there is only a sense of embarrassment and shame that holds its ground. If the government is ever so concerned about accurate reporting of its accounts and more importantly meeting its target spending, ‘may be’ it needs to address the inefficiencies that exist in its very own government offices. Supposedly, for the provision of government services annually, the government spends about Rs13,000 per capita, leaving out the amount that is assigned for expanding the scope of these services ie the PSDP. And to put an end note: there is little education, very little health and almost no security in the country. The writer is an economic analyst and freelance financial journalist. She can be reached at sakina.husain@gmail.com

Javed Gilani
an economy unable to reach its production possibility frontier will always remain vulnerable to exogenous shocks, as in the case of Pakistan. It would have been a different story if the last two-to-three years had seen some sort of visible improvement in handling deficits and improving growth. If we had produced, exported and grown more, we would have had a more stable support base, restricting damage from external shocks our economic and political managers have no control over. In the present circumstances, among Pakistan’s chief worries is rising energy and input cost, the demand-supply dynamics of which play out on a stage and involve actors far removed from Islamabad’s sphere of influence. With our deficits in uncomfortable zones, additional price pressure due to increasing inflation, predominantly higher energy and input costs, is putting unsustainable pressure on the country’s reserve situation. Therefore, even as relevant quarters and analysts calculate a few month elbow room for reserves, their value diminishes every time international pressures bid up oil. Things looked up in the immediate aftermath of the 18th amendment, which transferred increased power and responsibility to provincial governments. Yet with no proper revenue generation framework, and unable to get help from a largely defunct FBR, they have been unable to make any meaningful contribution so far. On the other hand, the federal machinery has not been able to introduce any form of value addition in the present export basket. This means that almost all traditional means of generating national revenue are compromised. That is why we rely on international trends to facilitate our economic engine. We are always in need of improved remittances to defend deficits. We are always praying for international events that push down the price of oil so our own economic managers can breathe easy. And of course, we are always on the lookout of bailout and donor assistance. Sadly, despite the obvious persistence of such trends, we have not moved in manner that the situation merits. It bears noting that persistent growth problems require solvency in credit markets to stimulate the only indigenous option to revive GDP. When the external situation exerts unbearable pressure, economies look inward, prompting private sector expansion which in turn attracts offshore investment. In this case, banks facilitate private sector investment, in some cases ably guided by the official machinery, in a way that the centre does not interfere in market mechanism, only facilitates it. This is where the Pakistani banking sector needs to step up to the plate. For some years now, a proactive lending regime, one that incorporates targeted needs of the time, has been conspicuous by its absence. Whatever little scope the private sector has had has been compromised by heavy government borrowing. This equation requires urgent balancing. The last couple of years of private sector crowding out have left a vast investment field yet to be exploited. Ironically, the laxity of the past might even turn into an attractive opportunity for the present. If properly handled, private sector investment can create jobs, improve infrastructure, create employment and, most importantly, engineer second round market multiplier, with gains for all. We have now come to the point of no return. Both government and autonomous organs must finalise an action plan that will stimulate employment and growth. That means fine tuning both fiscal and monetary policies. Once the finance ministry initiates immaculately targeted fiscal expansion, and the central bank makes credit available to private investors, we may even see a domino effect strong enough to lure bulky foreign investors. Our problems are not existential, but their handling has made them acute. We have the necessary inputs, its just a little toggling of official policy that is required. The recent stock market optimism is an adequate indicator of productive potential across the economy. All that is needed is effective program management. The writer is Chief Manager SME bank and has been a leading banker in the industry for more than 30 years

Pakistan Today
According to the recent news reports, Pepco officials run the grid station feeders according to the publicly declared load-shedding schedules, but further down the line its subdivisions carry out massive additional closures of lines at will which constitutes unscheduled load shedding. This is done to save electricity in order to meet the line losses targets set by the Pepco headquarters. The result is that in some areas of Muzaffargarh electricity is made available only for 6 hours a day. For example on Alipur Road Muzaffargarh there is an officers’ colony where all the powerful government officers reside but hardly pay any bills. So a terrible amount of unscheduled closures is carried out here. This does not affect those high officials because they have alternative generators, but the poor people of the area suffer heavily. Now this really proves that might is always right. ZEESHAN ALI Muzaffargarh City

Pakistan Today
The gift of load shedding is given punctually in Pakistan especially in Karachi. Since 1 month, a huge chunk of Azam Town, Karachi, is suffering from severe load shedding and low voltages. Repeatedly, the residents of affected area have lodge complaints, but, no any action is taken by KESC technical staff, by now. KESC superiors have also informed by residents. Due to the non payments of 30% residents, KESC officials denied to rectify the problem, until the minimum payment is made. This is true that, many of the residents of different areas are non payer, but, why regular payers are grinding with them. It is therefore requested to the KESC that, regular payer please be separated to the non payers, and provide all kind of facilities that are right of loyal customers. ZARA JABBAR Karachi

Pakistan Today
Monday morning brought the dismal news of the targeted killing of a school principal of a government high school in Peshawar by dozens of heavily armed militants. Tuesday morning one reads the news of the murder of a newly elected MPA of Hangu, who initially an independent candidate, had joined the PTI. These instances of targeted killings are just a few of the ongoing examples of brutality and lawlessness rampant in our country. We have a huge and well trained military, but it seems that the populist, obscurantist and even naive rhetoric has made it difficult for our forces to act decisively, forcefully, and in a focused and conclusive manner. If in the past ,our governments, whether military or civilian, have worked together with the US, made expedient choices for power and money, it is high time that all stakeholders work together decisively against the menace of militancy. A Concerned Citizen Lahore Power crises The basic necessity of this century is scarce in a country engulfed in a war zone due its strategic location. The story behind this power crisis has a long history. The reason behind the plight is deeply rooted in our socio-political structure. The society wants the complete end to this problem. The outcomes of load shedding are too immense to conceive as this crisis is leading in the form of an economic toll of 4% of country’s GDP and riots across the country. Most Pakistani’s don’t prefer to give their bills. 20% of country’s produced electricity is lost in the form line losses. This country will continue to be in the grip of power crisis since the demand is exceeding 17500MW with supply lingering on 10500MW. Whether the Sharif government has that much political strength backbone to overcome this crisis as it too has some bill defaulters. SHAHZAIB Lahore

Pakistan Today
PML-N government’s promise of rebuilding economy is linked with tackling terrorism Terrorism has played havoc with business and industry during the last few years. Businessmen have either been forced to pay protection money or kidnapped for ransom. Bank heists have been committed by militants to raise funds for their activities. They have bombed business centers, mosques, shrines and schools, targeted law enforcement personnel and security installations, crating a perception that Pakistan was a soft state. This has led a number of countries and international bodies to discourage foreign nationals from traveling to Pakistan. The feeling of uncertainty created by terrorist attacks has led a number of Pakistani entrepreneurs to shift their businesses abroad. Meanwhile the rate of foreign direct investments has shrunk over the years. From the 20007-08 peak of RS 5,409m the FDI has come down year after year to reach a nadir of Rs853.5 million in 2012-13 (July-April). Unending acts of terrorism, rise in crime and shutter down cum wheel jam strikes in response to terrorist attacks have led to flight of capital from Karachi to Dubai, Bangladesh, Malaysia and some western countries. Hopes that there would be a respite to terrorist attacks after the new elections have turned out to be unfounded. Since take over by the new government a number of terrorist attacks have rocked KP, Balochistan and Karachi. In KP at least two policemen have been killed and a High School blown up. In Swabi, two volunteers in the anti polio campaign were shot. In Miranshah, militants killed three security personnel. Meanwhile troops fighting insurgency in Tirah valley lost a Lt Colonel. In Balochistan, LeJ claimed bombing a bus carrying girl students and teachers and later attacking the hospital where the wounded were taken, raising the toll of those killed to 25. Earlier, the BLA had claimed destroying the historic Ziarat Regency. A day later armed militants killed three soldiers in Killa Saifullah area. In Mastung, gunmen kidnapped 3 more. In Karachi, three security guards were wounded in an attack by unknown motorcyclists. The PML-N government is concentrated on turning round the economy. While these efforts are commendable the government has to realize that eliminating militancy is as important, if not more so, to resuscitate the economy. It is disconcerting to note that the government has not yet devised any policy to eradicate terrorism beyond a vague reiteration of desire for talks with the militants. The spokesman of the TTP on the other hand has clarified that there is no possibility of talks for the time being. This reduces the government’s space to maneouvre. Meanwhile, a newspaper report tells of several businessmen in and around Islamabad having been issued notices by the TTP to pay millions of dollars worth of protection money or face consequences. There is a dire need on the part of the PML-N government to move apace to resolve the issue of extremism and militancy.

Pakistan Today
Good, if it does so with sincerity What was expected from all political quarters has taken place in Sindh again – the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) are set to combine to form a coalition government to rule the province. Having ruled the province from 2008 to 2013 without being able to solve the law and order crisis, the question is whether the coalition will be able to resolve the crisis this time around? Both political parties are left with much to prove. The PPP, having lost badly in the Punjab, can use Sindh as a much needed face lifter to restore its status as a national party. The MQM, again having failed to penetrate beyond urban Sindh and having undergone a much needed ‘cleansing’ process, now faces a challenge to prove its governance credentials. Is there a will to deliver, or are the two parties getting too comfortable in their shoes? The emergence of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) should keep both on their toes. On the ground, a three-member PPP delegation led by President Asif Ali Zardari’s trusted lieutenant, Rehman Malik, Pir Mazharul Haq and Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman visited MQM’s Nine Zero headquarters on Sunday. The delegation was received by senior MQM leaders but missed out on the traditional red carpet treatment. The impression was reinforced that this is a very different MQM, which is not “too keen” to join the government. If it be recalled, the MQM left the last PPP coalition weeks before the May 11 general elections, having accused the PPP of “patronizing criminals and terrorists” and not holding local bodies’ elections. Relations between the two parties worsened when Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah visited Lyari soon after taking oath of office for a fresh term and attended a reception reportedly hosted by Uzair Jan, the chief of the banned Peoples Amn Committee (PAC), which the MQM calls a gang of criminals. All these issues came up in the meeting between the two party leaderships. The MQM leadership did not offer any concrete reassurances that it would join the government, but MQM chief Altaf Hussain later said that there was no urban representation in the Sindh cabinet which comprised only people belonging to rural areas. The sense is that the MQM is only delaying to secure the best position for itself in the new provincial government. It also is seeking assurances that the PPP will take action in Lyari and end the alleged “unannounced operation against the MQM.” Malik denied that the PPP had anything to do with the PAC. The two men who flanked him said the alliance was the “need of the hour.” Now the MQM’s response is awaited. Only good can come out of the MQM joining the government in a sincere manner. Surely taking recourse to strikes in Karachi would not go a long way to resolving the genuine problems facing both urban and rural Sindh.

Pakistan Today
Flags were at half-mast in Balochistan on all government buildings yesterday, but against what? While the attack on the former residency of Quaid-e-Azam at Ziarat was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), and government officials had no qualms sending warning the way of nationalists, no warnings were issued to the claimant of the bus attack followed by a hostage situation which left 25 dead at the Bolan Medical Complex in Quetta, the Laskhkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). The attack on Jinnah’s former residency in Ziarat may have been a senseless bombing of a national symbol, the attack on female students was far more serious and involved a female suicide bomber on board the bus and was followed up by a militant holdout at the hospital complex. The situation in Balochistan has been considered out of control for a while but the silence of both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and National Party (NP) leadership, now laying claim to the federal and provincial thrones respectively, against the LeJ borders upon criminal. With at least 25 killed in the deadly assault on a Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University bus, located close to the Shiite Hazara neighborhood in Quetta with many Hazara students, the attack was a continuation of the spate of killings which led to the imposition of governor rule in Balochistan in January 2013. An LeJ spokesman, Abubakar Siddiq, called newspaper offices in Quetta late Saturday to claim the killings. Siddiq said, “The suicide attack on the bus was carried out by one of our sisters. She boarded the student bus and blew herself up. Then we carried out a second suicide attack at the hospital and our fighters killed several people. We did this because security forces killed our fighters and their wives in Kharotabad.” The raid by security forces on June 6 on a militant hideout in Kharotabad, in which at least three militants and two women were killed, went unnoticed on the national media and for a long time fingers kept pointing towards the nationalists for conducting both attacks. However, despite the situation clearing up and it becoming clear that these were two different transgressors, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar did not put the responsibility on any organisation or group while Information Minister Pervez Rashid “warned Baloch youth against taking up arms” and pointed to “local elements”, which could mean anything. With one of the BMC attackers reportedly arrested some key details may come forth but it is high time that the PML-N government paid heed to Baloch sentiments. Why is it feigning ignorance of the threat posed by the LeJ, thought to be close to the security establishment? And why did the PML-N leaders Sanaullah Zehri and Pervez Rashid remind Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik again that “despite having a majority, we, the PML-N, invited the nationalists to form the government”? Dr Malik himself is struggling for credibility from Baloch nationalists, and if the federal government continues to undermine him, the situation may only get worse.