Karachi: Security is nobody's business

Businesses from a volatile Karachi are being shifted to Dubai, Malaysia, and even Bangladesh

By Amir Zia
The News On Sunday
Nov. 7, 2010

For a vast number of people in Karachi, it is life on a razor's edge. With criminals and political zealots enjoying a free hand, ordinary citizens seem to live in a constant fear and uncertainty in the country's industrial hub, which witnessed a sharp increase in crime, extortion, kidnappings, targeted killings and political and religious violence since the Pakistan People's Party (PPP)-led government assumed power in early 2008.

Along with old power players, new gangs of thugs and criminals have emerged in recent years. They take pride in affiliation with this or that political party, seeking their pound of flesh in this brutalised city. No social class, ethnic background or religious belief guarantees one safety in Karachi. It is just a matter of luck for how long you can escape the long hands of criminals, who can make your life hell anywhere -- from an affluent neighbourhood to the low-income one; from a bustling market to any of the industrial estates of the city.

The result is not just an intangible psychological pressure under which people of Karachi now live, but the constant fear and insecurity have hit hard the small and big businesses, markets and the industry.

"In Karachi, we have not just to deal with demons of constant power failures and rising cost of doing business, but also with criminals and extortionists," Sultan Chawla, president of the Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), told TNS. "The situation is getting from bad to worse."

Indeed a new "breed" of extortion mafia has emerged that appears more brutal, politically connected and fearless than the old one. Police, of course, are helpless and have lost confidence of the people.

Chawla said that extortionists distribute receipts or what is called "parchi" to shopkeepers, businessmen and industrialists for forced donations. "This is taking its toll. If you are constantly insecure and under pressure, you can't make long-term or even medium-term investment decisions."

And Chawla's perspective can be substantiated on the ground. In the congested, polluted, crime-ridden old parts of Karachi, including Kharadar and Meethadar, where from small shop owners to large-scale whole-sellers operate businesses, life has become tougher in recent months.

Here, shopkeepers and traders receive so-called donations slips amounting to a couple of thousand to up to two hundred thousands rupees on monthly basis. Failing to meet this demand means threats, a robbery or a bullet for the owner or his near and dear one.

And it is not just the story of one or two neighbourhoods. This lawlessness is rampant all over the metropolis, where police and other state institutions seem to have conceded complete or partial powers to criminals, drug barons, land encroachers, extortionists and political and religious zealots of all shades and kind.

A retired army doctor had to shut his clinic located in one of the main markets of the affluent DHA neighbourhood and shift it to some other place after he received a series of anonymous phone calls demanding millions worth rupees "bhatta". He went to the police, but realised that it was a futile exercise. He felt more insecure and exposed to the danger in a city where even doctors remain on terrorists' hit-list. "Going to the police proved a waste of time… they treated me as I myself was a suspect," said the doctor requesting anonymity. "Life is more precious. I had to shut my clinic -- one of the oldest in the neighbourhood."

Kheirun Nisa, 55, a housemaid, was stopped by two gunmen in the volatile Malir neighbourhood. It was the first of the month and like most working-people, she carried her salary -- six thousand rupees -- in one of the pockets of her long Balochi-style kurta. The gunmen took away her hard-earned money. She did not go to police. She just wept.

While the plight of the common people goes unnoticed, the business community has started making noises following the October 19th massacre of 13 shopkeepers in Kabari Market. Business leaders say that the Kabari Market incident occurred because shopkeepers refused to pay extortion money.

A leading businessman, who is also an advisor to the Sindh chief minister, said, requesting anonymity, that there has been a total breakdown of law and order in Karachi.

"At the Kabari market, up to 60 armed men came… some of them blocked the escape routes, while other started shooting ruthlessly. They identified people first and then killed them in cold blood," he said. "There is no law now. This city has become a gangsters' city. All the ethnic groups have their gangs of criminals. And each one of them is fearless and cold blooded."

While President Asif Ali Zardari, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and many other top government officials have vowed to provide protection to businesses and industries, there seem to be a lack of political will to do the job as the Sindh province coalition government remains divided.

The result is a steep rise in violence, killings and crimes in Karachi since early 2008. According to the Citizen Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) data, the number of killings more than doubled to 777 in 2008 compared with 344 in 2007. In 2009, more than 800 people became victims of what police describe as targeted killings. And from January to October this year, 1,212 people have been killed in hit-and-run attacks or tortured to death after being kidnapped.

"So far, October has been the bloodiest month this year in which 169 people lost lives in targeted killings," said CPLC chief Ahmed Chinoy. "Out of these 169, one was a doctor, three were policemen and the remaining 26 were political activists. Who were the other 139 victims – no body knows."

And it is not just the killings. There has been a 50 percent rise in kidnappings during the last three years compared with 2007 in which around 60 kidnapping for ransom cases were reported. But for the last three years, this average is hovering at around 90 kidnappings a year, the CPLC data shows. Similarly, vehicle and mobile phone snatchings have also surged in the city.

The advisor to chief minister said that police arrest criminals, but they get bail and acquittal through courts. "They are so organised that they even threaten judges. They give them details about their family members and threaten to kill or kidnap them with the help of their accomplices."

Mohammed Saeed Shafiq, president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), told TNS that confidence of investors and businessmen had plunged to its lowest. "We have formed a special Police-Chamber Liaison Committee, which receives at least eight to 10 complaints regarding extortion every day, but this is only tip of the iceberg. Majority of people never approach us. Even overseas Pakistanis are scared of coming to Pakistan and making investments here."

While big industries and businesses manage to arrange private security, it is the small traders who remain worst hit due to lawlessness in the city. Chawla, president FPCCI, said countless businesses are being shifted abroad with Dubai, Malaysia, and even Bangladesh as some of the favourite locations. "When your life, money, property and honour are at stake, how can you think of business?"

With the government struggling to fulfill its promise of stemming crime and lawlessness in the country's financial capital, few have faith in its performance because criminals not just operate under the cover of political parties, but have started to patronise politicians.

News Analysis: Time For Empty Promises Now Over

Government needs to take tough decisions, widen tax base, reform power sector

By Amir Zia
The News, Business Section
Nov. 7, 2010

KARACHI: The message from global lending agencies appears stark for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led government. The time for empty promises is now over. It has either to bite the bullet and implement the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-sponsored reforms or lead the country towards a graver economic crisis.
The recent talks between the IMF and the country’s economic managers in Islamabad have again highlighted the fact that there is no more free money for Pakistan. The disbursement of the sixth tranche worth $1.7 billion of $11.3 billion IMF loan — originally due in August — is being delayed as Islamabad failed to take practical steps to implement the promised reforms.
In the past, the IMF had been showing an unprecedented leniency towards Pakistan when it missed key performance targets ñ thanks to the United States, which wanted its ally focused in its fight against terrorism. But now the fund appears taking a firmer stance following US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking Pakistan in a categorical manner last month in Brussels that it must initiate “meaningful reforms to expand its tax base.”
“The international community has made it clear that it is not going to write cheques for us to run this country,” said Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, a former adviser of the Finance Ministry. “Why the taxpayers of the other countries foot our bill when Pakistan’s rich people are not ready to pitch in.”
And that remains crux of the matter. Pakistan needs to generate its own resources, tighten its expenses, control the budget deficit, introduce fiscal discipline and go for the painful reform process, which the PPP-led government has failed to do since it entered into the ongoing loan programme with the IMF in November 2008.
The IMF wants Pakistan to introduce a reformed general sales tax (RGST) along the lines of the value-added tax, eliminate subsidies provided to the energy sector, resolve the circular debt issue as well as the ballooning commodity credit, which now stands at around Rs400 billion. The fund also wants the government to ensure the autonomy of the State Bank of Pakistan by enacting law through parliament and ensure it has zero net borrowing from the central bank at the end of each quarter.
The broadening of tax base through RGST, which earlier the government promised to implement as VAT from the start of the current financial year, remains the most knotty issue given the fierce resistance by various interest groups, political allies and the opposition parties.
The RGST, a diluted version of VAT, had to be implemented by October 1, but even this deadline has slipped to December 1.
Analysts say that VAT remains a successful tool for revenue collection in more than 140 countries ranging from poor to middle-income and the rich, but in Pakistan vested interests prove successful in blocking its implementation.
Dr Khan said that VAT helps control leakages in the tax system and makes it difficult for traders to hide their income.
But the powerful chambers of commerce and industries of Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar successfully managed to win support of various political parties to build a campaign against VAT.
The powerful feudal lords have also been successful in keeping the agriculture income out of the tax net.
Can Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh convince his political bosses to take the bitter pill of expanding the tax base and go for reforms, which he so often talks about? The record offers little hope.
The implementation of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank backed power sector reforms also remain a tough challenge. While raising the electricity tariff alone does not appear the solution, the government lacks focus and commitment to force the power distribution companies to cut line losses, which hover in the high range of 35-40 percent mainly because of the rampant theft and rickety system.
The government should also think withdrawing the facility of free electricity to more than 100,000 WAPDA employees.
While there is an apparent popular opposition to the IMF programme, which is widely seen as anti-people, the country seems to have no other option for now, but to continue with the reforms to put the ailing economy back on the track.
The IMF programme is seen as giving international community and investors’ a signal that not only the process of reforms continue, but there are proper checks and balances in place in this country where unfortunately the credibility and fiscal discipline of the government remains low.
So far, the IMF remains, what one analyst called “exceptionally friendly” towards Pakistan, which failed to honour commitments during the last couple of years, but now the fund appears to go for a firmer approach.
Indeed, in these tough times, difficult economic decisions have their political repercussions, but what the country needs now is some harsh decisions rather than continued politics of expediency.
The government has a choice either to become a willing partner in the reforms process or continue to drag its feet. The first option offers some hope, the second will only multiply the country’s economic woes.

Perilous Peace

By Amir Zia
The News On Sunday
October 31, 2010

Violence in Karachi stems from massive economic stakes rather than ideological or political grounds.

They are supposedly partners in the ruling Sindh coalition, but distrust and revulsion to one another run deep in their rank and file. Since the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP) joined hands to run the show in this ethnically divided and polarised province after the 2008 elections, their zealots are locked in a low-intensity bloody conflict to gain an upper hand in its capital, Karachi.

It is a turf-war and a battle for supremacy that has been raging for the past several decades. And with each passing year, it has intensified because the state institutions miserably failed to lay down and enforce rules of the game.

The bloody contradiction among the key and marginal political players stems from the massive economic stakes that fuels violence, crime and terrorism in the country’s industrial hub and largest city rather than ideological or political grounds.

The result: Karachi continues to bleed. Non-stop political assassinations, kidnappings and torture of political rivals, mass murders of civilians and destruction of private and public property keep the cauldron of Karachi on the boil all the time.

The recent spurt of violence, which gained momentum in the run up to PS-94 by-elections, killing more than 75 people just in four days — October 16-20 — has again underlined the gravity and complexity of the situation. The climax of this latest bout of bloodshed came when gunmen riding motorcycles sprayed bullets on shopkeepers in Kabari Market, located in the volatile Shershah neighbourhood, killing 13 civilians and wounding many more.

These killings not just sparked more violence, but further strained ties among the coalition partners, who managed to put a gloss to their widening rift and tussle with an announcement that both the PPP and the MQM continue to work for peace in the city where more than 1,100 people have been killed so far this year.

But the target of achieving peace is easier said than done.

"Peace can only be achieved if the ruling parties agree to walk the talk," a senior police officer, requesting anonymity, tells TNS. "The latest bloodletting is not just the simple issue of bye-elections. There are many factors and players involved. It is a far bigger and complex problem… the fire can be ignited on any pretext."

And indeed that has been the pattern of violence in Karachi. An operation against encroachers, a road accident, an ill-fated love affair between a married Baloch woman and an Urdu-speaking man, as it happened earlier this year, or a bigger political question can plunge the city into violence and chaos. The irony is that followers of not just key parties, but also smaller ones have their share in the bloodletting.

Faisal Subzwari, a senior MQM leader and a provincial minister, told TNS that several MQM activists were murdered in the run-up to the PS-94 by-elections. The seat fell vacant following the murder of MQM’s Sindh Assembly member Raza Haider, who was gunned down in August allegedly by militants of a banned sectarian group.

The ANP pitted its candidate in this constituency, considered a MQM stronghold for the past several elections. But later, the ANP boycotted the polls, accusing the MQM of using strong-arm tactics.

Subzwari, however, said ANP’s goal was just to create an impression that it remains a major stakeholder in Karachi. "In 2008 elections, ANP secured barely 960 votes against our candidate’s more than 80,000. It was never a serious contest as we again secured this seat hands down."

But the victory came at a heavy price because of the violence ahead and after the by-elections in which all the three coalition partners say that they lost loyalists along with scores of ordinary citizens.

Jamil Somroo, a senior PPP leader and an advisor to the Sindh Chief Minister, told TNS that his party did not field a candidate against the MQM in line with President Asif Zardari’s policy of reconciliation. "We believe that it was the time to show graciousness… MQM’s MPA was murdered. It was the aggrieved party. We also requested the ANP to withdraw candidate in MQM’s favour."

However, not all the PPP leaders want to be that gracious with the MQM. Abdul Qadir Patel, PPP’s Member National Assembly, claims that statistics of killings show that the non-Urdu speaking people, including Baloch and Pakhtoons, lost more lives. "This does not mean that the PPP does not have Urdu-speaking people in its ranks," he was quick to add.

For the ANP, its tussle with the MQM emerges from the fact that this urban-based party remains intolerant to accept any other new rising force in the city.

"In the last elections, we won two provincial seats. Now they fear that we would get four in the next elections," Ameen Khattak, ANP’s provincial general secretary, tells TNS. "We say that peace cannot be achieved by mere statements… let’s have dialogue and list issues. In Karachi, Pakhtoons struggle for getting education and employment."

While indeed the list of grievances, not just from the ANP, but also the MQM and the PPP, remains a long one, reflecting the myriad social, political, economic, infrastructure and development issues of this mega-city, a senior police official says that all the major parties in one way or the other contribute to the prevailing lawlessness.

"The issue of criminalisation of politics remains unaddressed," said the police official. "This is the core problem. Land encroachers, drug peddlers, assassins — all operate under the cover of this political party or that. "The Kabari Market killings were also carried out by criminals because of the rift over extortion money," he claimed.

MQM officials blame the militants of ANP and pro-PPP Peace (Amn) Committee of Lyari for working hand-in-hand to disturb the peace of the city.

The Peace Committee comprises followers of Rehman Dakait, who was killed in a controversial police encounter in 2009. Rehman had tried to enter politics and build a support-base through social work. His followers, now led by one of his relative, Uzair Baloch, even keep some of the key PPP stalwarts, including Nabeel Gabol, from entering their constituency. Police say that the Peace Committee activists had their fair share in the October killings.

Subzwari said that in the past politicians used to patronise criminals. "But in Lyari, it is the criminals, who patronise politicians."

PPP’s Patel admitted that some hot-heads within the PPP ranks and the Peace Committee think that they can expand base by imitating the MQM and its ‘gun-culture’. "We see more violence now because there are forces which now challenge the MQM."

Subzwari said that peace suits his party. "MQM and the city benefit from peace in terms of increased economic activity and development."

"There are hidden hands within the establishment and the government which have not changed their mindset. They fan violence. Yes, the top PPP leadership can be for reconciliation, but as far as Karachi is concerned, hawks within the PPP seem to prevail."

As Karachi remains on tenterhooks fearing a new bout of violence, the uneasy Sindh coalition has survived for now. And even if this uneasy partnership survives, will it change the fortunes of Karachi, resolve its protracted issues and bring a sustainable peace here?

Karachi: A Volcano All Set To Explode

Amir Zia
The News
October 29, 2010

The recent spurt of violence in Karachi, which killed more than 75 people in just four days was not the first episode of politically-motivated mayhem in recent years or months. Such killings have been occurring with bewildering regularity. So far this year, more than 1,100 people have been killed in what is being labelled in journalistic jargon as "target killings" and this number continues to rise. In 2009, more than 800 people were killed mostly in hit-and-run attacks. A vast majority of these murders were brushed under the official carpet without the slightest whimper in the corridors of power. But then there are days, when the city receives a bumper-dose of bodies in one go as it happened at the Kabari Market on October 19 where gunmen shot dead more than a dozen civilians – mostly shopkeepers – in cold blood.
What followed after this usual, cyclic bout of violence also remains a routine – a media frenzy, melodramatic posturing by the mainstream political parties, a blame-game, a barrage of statements by politicians expressing anger and anguish and, of course, the official announcements that peace will be restored and those responsible taken to task. There were demands, reports and rumours of Karachi being handed over to the army, the imposition of curfew and a campaign to clear the city of unlicensed weapons.
Doesn't it all sound familiar? The president, the prime minister, the interior minister, official this and official that – all had something to say and promises to make. Then, reports appeared that curfew and the army were not being seen as options, but yes, action to recover illegal weapons and selective operations against the bad guys remained on the cards. The coalition partners, who appeared edgy and estranged after the Kabari Market incident, apparently managed to iron out differences and announced to work together for peace in the city. This too also sounds familiar. We have been witness to many such announcements in the recent past. Given this government's record, its ineffectiveness, indifference and lack of will, is it difficult to predict what would the fate be of all these high-sounding announcements?
The promises of change are unlikely to change anything under the polluted grey sky of Karachi. The mega-city appears like a volcano all set to explode given its myriad unresolved ethnic and political contradictions and tensions as well as critical social, infrastructure and development issues. It is not just innate cynicism or pessimism. The writing is on the wall. But those in power prefer not to read it.
The failure of the state to establish rule of law and resolve contradictions among its various ethnic, political, economic and other interest groups or keep them at a manageable level – is bound to worsen the situation. In fact, bringing sustainable peace in Karachi does not appear on the government's agenda. It prefers to bank on short-term, firefighting solutions and political wheelings and dealings whenever violence escalates. With all the major political parties, including those in the ruling coalition, harbouring criminals in their ranks, politics of expediency appears the key reason behind the government's inaction. Yes, crime and politics now feed off each other in Karachi. Politics has been criminalised and criminals easily politicise crimes. This harsh fact is both publicly and privately acknowledged by many senior police officers.
It is an open secret that zealots of major political parties are involved in most killings, which carry shades of ethnic, sectarian or religious rivalry. Militants belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM), the Awami National Party(ANP), the pro-Pakistan Peoples' Party(PPP) Amn Committee of Lyari and rival factions of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement are primarily responsible for the continued bloodletting in Pakistan's largest city and industrial hub. The sectarian and religious organisations and Sindhi nationalist groups also remain marginal players in this game of death.
One doesn't find any heroes in this bloody conflict, championing the cause of peace and the people. It is villains pitted against villains, while civilians, especially belonging to the lower income groups, remain the ultimate victims. It is a tussle among political parties – all working to establish or sustain their hegemony over the city or parts of it. This has resulted in an unending turf-war in which land encroachers, drug mafias, transporters and all sorts of legal and illegal interest groups are pitching in their bit by waving the flag of this political party or that.
The conflict carries strong ethnic undertones, which means that this low-key violence has all the potential to explode into something far graver. And there is enough at stake, which encourages political parties and their militants to keep upping the ante. Karachi, not just contributes more than 60 per cent of all the revenues to the national exchequer in terms of direct, indirect taxes and duties, but also sustains political parties, militant groups and mafias, all of whom have huge economic stakes in the city.
In a nutshell, criminalisation of politics remains the top issue, which is responsible for the present plight of the city and for affecting every walk of life in it. And this issue becomes more complex and grave because state institutions do not have the capacity and the will to establish supremacy of the law.
For it is not enough to say that the top leadership of every political party should take steps to get rid of criminals in their ranks. Yes, this is also important, but more important is the fact that state institutions do their job in a fair, efficient and responsible manner.
State institutions, including the police, the paramilitary rangers and other law enforcing institutions, should not function by compromising and conceding power. They should enforce the law – starting from traffic rules that are flouted all the time in Karachi, to dealing with bigger law-breakers. And the elected government should empower, help and facilitate these institutions rather than playing dirty for its narrow vested-interests by allowing land encroachers and drug peddlers to exist and thrive.
Politicising the police and law enforcing institutions remains the biggest obstacle in establishing the rule of the law. So is the issue of quick and speedy dispensation of justice through courts where cases keep dragging on and in a majority of instances the accused remains unpunished because of loopholes in investigations and lack of witnesses.
The situation in Karachi calls for action and not empty verbosity from government stalwarts. The government should act to establish the writ of the state before it is too late. In the current situation, even harsh laws would be better than the present lawlessness prevailing across Pakistan in general and Karachi in particular.

The Politics of Expediency

By Amir Zia
Newsline, August 2010

Karachi, the country’s commercial hub and its largest city, continues to remain on the edge. The tall buildings, glittering commercial plazas, plush offices, wide roads, new bridges and affluent neighbourhoods are only a veneer hiding the coarseness and perils of this port city where lawlessness, violence and crime reign supreme. This teeming city of an estimated 16 million people boils over with political strife, ethnic rivalries, sectarian tussles and religious extremism. The inter-party and intra-party turf wars are not the only factors responsible for the bloodletting on Karachi’s streets. The feuding gangs of criminals and land-grabbers are also involved in the killing spree. No wonder then that there has again been an alarming surge in what the police and media describe as targeted killings. Around 150political assassinations have taken place from January to July, 2010.

The victims belonged to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Awami National Party (ANP), the MQM (Haqiqi), the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Ahl-e-Sunnat and Al-Jamaat, Sunni Tehreek, Majlis Khatm-e-Nabuwaat, the Jamaat-e-Islami, and included Shiite activists and Sindhi nationalists. Then there were those victims who got killed on account of their professions – they included around 10 policemen, five doctors and six real-estate agents.

Police and government officials, however, maintain that not every killing in Karachi is a targeted or a politically motivated one.

“There is an element of exaggeration here,” says Jameel Ahmed Soomro, information adviser to the chief minister of Sindh. “The media often creates hype and jumps the gun… if one goes into the background of each of these killings, one would find many victims who had nothing to do with any political party, religious group or gang of criminals. They were ordinary citizens, who were at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Waseem Ahmed, the Karachi police chief, revealed that from January 1 to July 24 there have been 878 murders in Karachi, out which 136 were identified as political murders. Newspaper records show that since July 24, there have been more than a dozen other political killings in Karachi, bringing this total to more than 150.

The complexity of the situation can be a nightmare for any government, especially one which finds its two coalition partners consistently at each other’s throat. It has to constantly perform a delicate balancing act between conflicting political interests. And if in doing this, political expediency takes precedence over everything else, then justice and the rule of the law become the first casualties.

In the quagmire of Karachi’s lawlessness, lines between friends and foes are often blurred. Earlier this year, PPP supporters were at loggerheads with workers of their coalition partner, the MQM, mainly in the city’s district south and west. The situation cooled down only after the direct intervention of President Asif Ali Zardari and MQM leader Altaf Hussain, both of whom want to see Karachi calm at any cost.

According to Soomro, who is a close confidant of Zardari, the process of destabilisation of every government starts from Karachi, therefore maintaining peace in Karachi remains the PPP’s top priority.

But the MQM-PPP rivalry – in fact the turf war between their supporters in select constituencies – has always been a small part of the bigger problem that is Karachi. Even the MQM’s bloody rivalry with its dissident factions led by Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan, which began in the early 1990s, does not ring any alarm bells in the corridors of power, despite the fact that it has claimed thousands of lives and continues to fester even today. Similarly, religious violence, including Shia-Sunni sectarian killings, despite its regularity and ferocity, does not have the potential to transform into an unmanageable conflict. It is the Mohajir-Pathan fault line that has the real potential to upset the apple cart and develop into a full-blown ethnic conflict in a city where rival groups remain heavily armed and state institutions operate by conceding power to various interest groups.

The Urdu-speaking and Pathan communities have a long history of violence dating back to the rule of former president Ayub Khan, way back in the 1960s. However, it was the era of another military ruler General Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq, during the 1980s, which saw a sharp surge in the level of violence between them as entire neighbourhoods were attacked, looted and plundered by gunmen and hundreds of people were killed.

However to their credit, both the MQM and the ANP managed to put a cap on the ethnic conflict not only through the 1990s but also for the most part of the present decade. However, in recent years the divide between these two secular parties has widened, triggering fears of a revival of confrontation.

Ameen Khattak, a hard-core ANP worker who is now secretary general of the Sindh chapter, says that his party made history by winning two provincial assembly seats in Karachi, for the first time, in the last general elections. “This is the main reason why the MQM is not accepting us… in all those constituencies where they lost or they fear losing in future elections, they are trying to bring demographic changes by creating new clusters of neighbourhoods comprising their supporters who are Urdu-speaking.” He adds: “Even the anti-encroachment drive has been made controversial as it is targeting only Pakhtuns.”

But for the MQM, the matter is not that simple. They argue that one of the main reasons behind the recent Karachi violence is the fact that land-grabbers and criminals have penetrated the ranks of political parties, especially the ANP.

Faisal Sabzwari, a provincial minister and senior MQM leader, maintains that political workers like Ameen Khattak are being exploited by criminals who have joined the ranks of Karachi’s ANP. “The land mafia is one of the most powerful groups in Karachi… this mafia is using the ANP to derail the anti-encroachment drive, which was launched after the recent presidential ordinance,” he remarks. “It is extremely unfortunate that the anti-encroachment drive is being given a political colour.”

The provincial government halted the drive when a police contingent came under heavy fire in Baldia Town where the city administration was trying to clear more than 170 acres of land in the cottage industry zone near Ittehad Town of encroachers on July 15. Two of the encroachers – Farid Mumtaz, 25, and Habib Noor, 27 – also died in the exchange of gunfire. After strong protests from the ANP, the Sindh government suspended the drive on July 21, underlining how difficult it has become to take simple administrative measures in a politically charged atmosphere.

Provincial adviser Jameel Ahmed Soomro maintains that thousands of acres of land in Karachi have been encroached upon, including government land, parks and playgrounds as well as land where the lease has expired but people continue with their illegal occupation.

“There was a time when land-grabbers used to construct illegal mosques and seminaries to encroach on land. Now they put up flags of political parties,” he says. “We managed to clear encroachments on 1,100 acres of land in the first few days of the drive, but subsequently had to put a limited halt on the campaign.”

He is of the view that criminals in the ranks of political parties and not political workers were involved in land-grabbing. “We have asked our ANP and MQM friends to discuss their differences in the core-committee meeting rather than in public, but this request is not being followed. We want all political parties to support the anti-encroachment drive.”

Police sources report that land-grabbers and organised gangs are armed with weapons and money. In most cases they use their ethnic affiliation as a political card, particularly in Baldia Town, Sohrab Goth, parts of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and several other neighbourhoods. “Some of the biggest land-grabbers in this city hail from the lawless tribal region,” reveals a police officer, requesting anonymity.

Khattak the ANP leader, however, insists that only poor Pathan labourers were being targeted in the anti-encroachment drive. “The MQM has created the entire Altaf Nagar despite a controversial city government resolution, but no action has been taken against them,” he says.

The MQM contradicts him by saying that the city government gave alternate plots to those people whose land was occupied by land-grabbers and there was nothing unlawful in this decision.

As the MQM and the ANP trade accusations, the police say that taking action against criminals and gangsters is easier said than done. “The police face a lot of difficulties in solving the cases of targeted killings,” says Waseem Ahmed, the police chief of Karachi. “One of the key problems is the criminalisation of political parties.”

Understandably, the police and civil administration often find their hands tied when it comes to taking action against any criminal or interest group. For Waseem Ahmed, “blind FIRs” (First Information Reports against unknown people) and a lack of witnesses often result in the acquittal of culprits. “Many times false cases are registered against top politicians in murder cases, which helps the real culprits go scot-free,” he says. The easy availability of illicit and licensed weapons also remains a problem for the police, who want stringent laws against this menace.

However, another senior police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, reveals that due to political expediency, parts of Karachi remain as lawless and crime-ridden as the northern tribal areas of Pakistan where the Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants dominate.

“There is simply no writ of the state in many areas of Karachi and the laws of the land do not apply there,” he says. “The state institutions have to concede ground when it comes to enforcing simple traffic rules because that could transform into an ethnic issue. We can’t even order that silencers be put on two-stroke rickshaws or take action against smoke-emitting vehicles, let alone cleaning the city of big crime mafia and land-grabbers,” laments the police chief.

“It is not just crime gangs and mafias which operate here with the connivance of political parties. Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives too, are active in this city, raising funds, recuperating, reorganising and regrouping. Parts of Karachi are as good or bad as Waziristan.”

It is not just the PPP-led government that is to blame. Its predecessors also took ad hoc measures whenever Karachi spun out of control, and thus they failed to remove the root causes of the conflict and lawlessness. Rather than opting for a neutral police force and ensuring the rule of law and fairplay, successive governments have resorted to policy of appeasement, compromise or political victimisation for short-term political gains. The pattern of this ad hoc management has not changed, though the level of violence and its ferocity have risen with every passing year. The city has lumbered from one cycle of violence to another, punctuated by uneasy periods of lull. And this pattern continues. Life in Karachi has moved from one tragedy to the next – and it is simply the resilience of its citizens that has kept this city afloat.

Vicious Circle

By Amir Zia
Newsline, August 2010

For the top management of Pakistan State Oil (PSO), arranging monthly oil import payments is now an ordeal. The company, which holds almost 70% market share in the country’s downstream oil business, stands cash- strapped as the key public and private power generation entities fail to clear dues on time. PSO’s receivables hover, on average, in the range of 130 to 140 billion rupees every month, which explains its vulnerable situation not just in meeting its import payments but also with clearing dues of the oil refineries.

“We have been at the brink of default on oil import payments in recent months,” PSO’s Managing Director, Irfan Qureshi, told Newsline. “If PSO even once fails to meet import payment obligations on time, it means the country’s crucial oil supply would be suspended for at least four months.”

On June 14, the company sent a SOS message to the Petroleum Ministry through a “most urgent” letter underlining the gravity of the situation. “The default to international L/Cs (Letters of Credit) has also now become imminent as during the current month PSO has to retire Rs.36 billion against international L/Cs,” the letter said.

The situation prompted Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani to order clearing of Rs 41.4 billion of PSO dues, of which the company received 34.2 billion. The timely payment of this sum helped the company to meet its June payments. However in July, PSO receivables again ballooned to more than 135 billion rupees, prompting the company to raise a red flag and request the top government officials to intervene. And this has been more or less the pattern since early 2010.

“It is survival on a day-to-day basis,” Qureshi said. “Most of our work hours are spent figuring out the company’s critical money matters. We have become sort of expert fund managers in the way we handle our fragile finances,” he said jokingly.

PSO, which once was considered one of the most financially strong state-run organisations, is a victim of inter-corporate circular debt that has held the country’s entire economy hostage. On one level it is hurting Pakistan’s overall energy supply chain, and on the other it is hitting the country’s already battered economy very hard. According to the latest Economic Survey of Pakistan, the cumulative effect of the energy crisis on the economy is estimated to be more than 2% of GDP in fiscal year 2009-10.

Independent experts put the figure of circular debt at around Rs 420 billion, which indeed would require a Herculean effort from the country’s economic managers to clear in the current difficult times.

Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, a former advisor to the Finance Ministry, said that circular debt has been rising every day. “And the irony is that the government does not seem focused on the issue. Its approach is ad hoc. If tough and bold measures are not taken, it will sink the economy.”

Dr Khan, who is now working as the Director General and Dean of the National University of Sciences and Technology’s business school in Islamabad, suggested that it was not just imperative to raise the power-tariff to meet its production cost, but checking power theft and line losses also remain a must.

“In Pakistan, only in big cities do people pay their electricity bills,” he said. “FATA is one chronic example where unpaid electricity bills soared to 85 billion rupees and the entire amount had to be picked up by the government. Half of Peshawar city’s electricity connections fall in the FATA jurisdiction.”

Then there is no tradition of paying electricity bills in the interior of Sindh, Balochistan and parts of Punjab, he said. “Whatever revenue is coming, it is from the select big cities.”

No wonder then that the power distribution and generation companies including Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) and Hub Power Company (HUBCO), remain the top defaulters of PSO.

As of July 16, 2010, PEPCO owed PSO more than 32 billion rupees, HUBCO 49 billion, and Kot Adu Power Company 25 billion. Pakistan International Airlines, KESC and OGDCL also remain high on PSO’s list of defaulters. In turn, PSO owed 80 billion rupees to oil refinery companies and 36 billion to international fuel suppliers in July. A senior Finance Ministry official, who asked not to be named, said that PEPCO remains at the heart of the circular debt problem. PEPCO is a huge company and if it has about Rs 45 billion credit on a 45-day basis, it should not raise any eyebrows, he said. “But the matter of concern remains that it has liabilities worth more than Rs 130 billion.”

Saqib Sherani, principal economic advisor to the Finance Ministry, said there is a need to restructure PEPCO and other distribution companies that remain responsible for the crisis. “There has been a 60% rise in power tariffs during the last two years, but the cash flow of PEPCO has not improved. It has become part of the problem now,” he said. “This underlines the fact that along with tariff, power sector governance issue needs to be addressed on the war footing.” Sherani said that even after the increase in power tariffs, PEPCO has been selling electricity at around 2 – 2.5 rupees per unit lower than the actual generation cost. This kind of subsidy remains unsustainable for any country.”

The Economic Survey of Pakistan said that the country has been forced to depend more and more on the expensive thermal power generation because of a decline in hydroelectric (hydel) generation as well as unprecedented shortages of the natural gas. “Since this occurred at a time of a doubling of the international oil prices, the effect on the cost structure of the utilities was amplified greatly,” the Survey said. “With no change allowed in the electricity tariff between 2003 and 2007, the compounded effect on the viability of the energy sector has been devastating.”

The gap between average power generation cost and recovery hovers around 30 per cent. Ashfaque Hasan Khan, the former Finance Ministry advisor, said that the imbalance between cost of generation and distribution and the tariff remains the main cause of the circular debt.

The issue of circular debt existed even during 2000, but at that time it was not this acute because of low oil prices and also because of the fact that energy supply was higher than demand, he said. By 2003/04, Pakistan had surplus electricity. The crisis began when oil prices started surging, but due to political considerations the government continued to give subsidies to consumers. On the one hand, it did not pass on the production cost to consumers and on the other it failed to undertake any reforms that could stop or even reduce power theft and generation losses, which range between 30 – 35%.

“This is a huge amount,” confessed a Petroleum Ministry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “But the government has not been able to move on this issue the way it is needed mainly because of political considerations. The increase in power tariffs has come too late while there has been no effort to stop the theft of electricity, which remains rampant both in rural and urban areas.” Mighty feudal politicians, tribal chiefs and industrialists are all involved in massive power theft, he said. Power theft also remains widespread among poor and low-income localities where legal connections are not available, he added. “Even where there are connections, people prefer to steal.”

A KESC official, who also asked not to be named, said that one reason for the lack of action on this front is the issue of law and order. “In Karachi, there are huge neighbourhoods running on stolen electricity, but we can’t take action because the administration, the police and paramilitary Rangers do not support us.”

Finance Ministry officials say that with circular debt piling up, heavy bank borrowing by the corporate sector has resulted. This has burdened them with high financial costs in terms of interest payments, erasing their profit. Take the case of PSO. From July 2009 to May 2010, PSO made interest payments worth 8.5 billion rupees, officials said. Had this amount not gone into interest payments, this would have been part of its profits, they added.

Ashfaque Hasan Khan said that the dilemma for the power generation companies remains their inability to recover money from consumers. “The IPPs (independent power producers) charge a fixed amount on their production, which enters the grid without any line or distribution losses. The problem starts at the end of distribution companies, which not only have to sell it lower than their production cost but also suffer theft and line losses.” He adds, “The irony is that when oil prices hit 140 dollars a barrel even then the cost of electricity was not increased.” Dr Khan says Pakistan missed a crucial chance to lower circular debt when oil prices slipped in 2008/09. “The government managed to get 130 billion rupees, but instead of clearing circular debt, it was taken as surplus revenue.”

Experts said that the issue of circular debt seems likely to stick for a long time to come as the country’s reliance on thermal power increases against the backdrop of rising international oil prices. And the negative consequences will continue to ripple through the country. Every downstream player is forced to delay payments for fuel supplies, which results in lower generation capacity as well as more pressure on the government, which subsidises this sector at the cost of social and infrastructure development.

Democracy's antithesis

By Amir Zia

The News
August 19, 2010

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's formal launch into politics has been put on hold – at least for the time being. He pulled out of the Pakistan People's Party's (PPP) rally in Birmingham, UK at the last minute, saying that he would rather collect money to help the flood-hit people of Pakistan. Younger Zardari's statement came following an uproar in both the local and the international media on the timing of his father's visit to France and the UK as his countrymen faced the worst floods in 80 years.

The sum-total of the trip certainly brought more embarrassment to President Zardari and the government on domestic as well as international fronts rather than any mileage. But the president and his aides sensed the public mood and anger too late. Their meek damage-control measure of keeping the younger Zardari away from the Birmingham rally -- where he had to be formally crowned as another ruler-in-waiting – seems more buckling down under pressure and an admission of guilt than an act of philanthropy.

Yes, the younger Zardari, being cultivated to take the reins of the party of his mother and maternal grandparents, has to wait a little bit more before he steps into their big boots as the chairman of the PPP -- seen as the biggest liberal, secular and democratic political party of the country. And here lies the biggest paradox of Pakistani democrats and their democracy. An inexperienced youngster seen as the galvanising force and saviour of a party, which takes pride in changing Pakistan's political landscape through its popular politics in the 1970s. It is an irony that Pakistani democracy is being fed and sustained on the basis of dynasty.

The burden of dynastic politics is not confined to the PPP alone, or even Pakistan, it weighs on the entire South Asia where it remains a force to be reckoned with. Be it Nehru's India or dynastic feuds between Hasina Wajid and Khalida Zia of Bangladesh, or our own Bhuttos, Sharifs, Khans, Nawabs, Chaudhrys or hereditary Maulanas, these political dynasties in the garb of political parties have been one of the inherent contradictions and flaws of South Asian democracy – where covert or overt authoritarian rule has reigned supreme. Widows, sons, daughters and brothers of one patriarch or the other have held South Asian politics and democracy hostage. There are arguments in favour of larger-than-life politicians, their importance and role in the Third World countries, but the fact of the matter remains that it defies the essence of democracy.

The case of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's PPP is a prime example as to how a party of the masses transformed into a fiefdom of a family and a small coterie comprising mostly feudal lords and their select middle-class sidekicks. The successive military rules definitely proved to be a factor in the blocking of the organic growth of political parties in Pakistan, but it also provided an excuse to politicians to deny internal democracy and elections within their parties. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was an elected PPP chairman. Nusrat Bhutto and later Benazir Bhutto transcended to this post in the unique and oppressive times of General Ziaul Haq. But after the return of democracy, Benazir Bhutto never thought of giving her party the democracy whose cause she championed all her life. She became the life-chairperson of the PPP after a bitter row with her mother, Nusrat Bhutto, who was ousted from the party's top honorary slot unceremoniously in 1993 for siding with her son Murtaza Bhutto in their family feud.

While the title of life-chairperson itself undermined the core democratic values, Benazir Bhutto even chose to run her party affairs through nominated office-bearers from top to bottom rather than the elected ones. She chose in favour of a cult following and cashing in on Bhutto's controversial judicial murder rather than transforming her party into an institution. And this pattern has been followed by most major Pakistani political parties where members of one family dominate their party.

This trend of dynastic politics, though seen as acceptable in our part of the world, remains incompatible with the modern age. It does not allow political parties to transform into genuine, functioning institutions and discourages merit. A political worker has no way to rise to the top by building trust in his constituency and serving his neighbourhood. Rather his political rise would depend on the judgment of the top leader or leaders who would pick and choose people on the basis of personal loyalty. This may suit political wheelers and dealers and cronies, but imagine the plight of genuine political workers and leaders – even if they make a grand compromise and choose to stay in the party.

The Raza Rabbanis, Aitzaz Ahsans, Taj Haiders, Shah Mehmood Qureshis, Sherry Rehmans and other PPP stalwarts need to come up with a rational answer why a 22-year-old gets the "divine right" to lead the party now or even after the completion of his education, as was said by the younger Zardari when he announced his withdrawal from the Birmingham rally. Why can't the PPP elect its leader? Why are party workers unable to choose their office-bearers? This is as illogical and undemocratic as handing over the party to a widower on the basis of a "will." Is the PPP a family estate which can be thrown in anyone's lap? The founding fathers of this party, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, certainly did not envision it this way.

Of course many leaders and the rank-and-file of the new-look PPP under President Zardari will hail the advent of the young "Bhutto Zardari" as their leader sooner rather than later. But it does not change the fact that the politics, creed and practice of the PPP of 2010 have no semblance with the PPP of 1970 or that of 1980 or even 1988. The genesis of today's PPP remains in the controversial decade of the 1990s which shattered the dreams of many of its followers and ushered in an era of unprecedented corruption and nepotism.

One should sympathise with the past and present workers and leaders of the PPP who have seen their party transform into a fiefdom. One should also sympathise with the toiling masses of Pakistan who have only been robbed and cheated in the name of democracy and people's power. Pakistan, democracy and this politics of dynasties cannot survive together for long. The country needs leadership from the masses and those political parties which practise democracy instead of paying lip service to it. This is the only way forward. This should be the only way forward. The era of dynastic politics should come to an end. The sooner it does the better will it be for Pakistan and its struggling democracy.

Airblue Crash: Compensation Question

By Amir Zia
The News On Sunday

August 15, 2010

As the state authorities, insurance agents and airlines officials struggle and haggle to determine the compensation, victims' families have nothing but days of agonizing wait ahead of them.

Many things which should have been straight and easy appear too difficult and complicated in Pakistan — even collecting insurance claims of victims of an air-crash by their families. More than two weeks after an Airbus 321 of Airblue crashed into Margalla Hills, the compensation claims of its 152 victims, including six crew members, remain a knotty problem. How much compensation will be paid per victim? When the family members of these victims get this money? These are the two important questions, which neither the government nor the Airblue authorities are ready to clarify — at least for the time being.
"It is a very complicated and sensitive issue, involving different laws," Air Blue’s General Manager Raheel Ahmed told TNS. "I am afraid right now nobody can give the exact amount of compensation or the date when its distribution will start."
Airblue got the Airbus on operating lease from the International Lease Finance Corporation, which provided an insurance cover of $35 million on its aircraft.
As the state authorities, insurance agents and airlines officials struggle and haggle to determine the compensation, victims’ families have nothing else but days of agonizing wait ahead of them. While many victims belonged to well-to-do families, others were the sole bread earners and their family members remain in the need of an immediate financial assistance.
Legal experts say that Pakistan’s laws regarding the payment of compensation to families of air crash victims were contradictory, allowing different interpretations.
Yahya Adeel, a top lawyer of international and local aviation law, said that at least three different sets of laws exist which apply to the air crash victims. "These laws not just overlap, but contradict one another."
Airblue’s management also says that compensation needs to be decided keeping in view the law of the land, the local civil aviation law as well as the international law. "It is indeed a touchy subject. But on our part, there will be every effort to maximise the insurance," Airblue’s Ahmed said. The national Carriage by Air Act, introduced in 1934 in British India in line with the 1929 Warsaw Convention and adopted by Pakistan after independence, calls for 125,000 Francs payment per victim. The Hague protocol of 1955 doubled the amount to 250,000 Francs, which does not include what airlines’ has to pay for the lost baggage. Adeel said that this protocol was inserted into the Pakistani law, which fixed it as the minimum compensation regardless of the cause of the accident.
This compensation needs to be given immediately. However, experts say that this minimum payment would not override any court verdict regarding an increase in this amount. The law also allows victims’ families to demand higher compensation if the accident is the result of human or technical error.
Pakistan is also a signatory to the 1999 Montreal Convention, which says each family of a victim to get 100,000 (SDRs) special drawing rights in damages. Some experts say that this applies only on international flights, but the local law does not discriminate on this basis. Provisions of Montreal Convention have been incorporated in the Carriage by Air Act 2010, which now needs a seal of approval from the Parliament.
However, the complication in these laws stems from a controversial amendment introduced in the past which says that for domestic flights, the Ministry of Defense can notify and reduce the compensation. Another government SRO fixes the amount of compensation at 500,000 rupees for domestic passengers.
Experts see it in violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution, which sees all citizens as equal, while the international aviation laws also do not discriminate between international and domestic flight passengers. But while the aviation laws remain subject to debate, Airblue’s management has hinted that along with the law, insurers would also take into account the precedence, by which they mean that the compensation paid in the past to families of an air crash victims. Airblue mentions on the jacket of its ticket that domestic passengers are covered to the tune of one million rupees.
The 2006 crash of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Fokker in Multan is taken as a prime example in which a compensation of two million rupees was paid per victim.
Junaid Ameen, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority, said payment of compensation remains the responsibility of airlines through its insurance agents. The amount of compensation varies from country to country and an exact number cannot be given now, he said.
The international conventions, to which Pakistan is a signatory, only provides guidelines and are not mandatory, Ameen said. "There are many intricacies involved in determining the compensation and insurers can take several more weeks before starting the actual distribution of money."
But apart from fixing the compensation amount, another challenge the Airblue faces is that of registering and verifying the next-of-kin of each victim. Ahmed of Airblue said that already more than 200 people got themselves registered as the next-of-kin of 152 passengers, while some bodies still remain unidentified. "In some cases there are disputes over who is the actual heir. We have a case where a man had two wives, then there is another in which wife and father of a victim filed separate claims. There are many such disputed cases." While the Airblue has almost completed the registration process, the real challenge of verifying the relatives still needs to be resolved and could take time, he said.
Given the slow pace at which the Airblue, its insurance companies and the government are moving on the issue of compensation, it seems a long wait for the family members of the victims, who only have questions and not many answers about the future. The laws and the system, instead of helping these families, seem to be used to delay and deny them a fair compensation in line with the international air travel conventions and laws.

City under siege

By Amir Zia

The News on Sunday
August 8, 2010

Presence of ethnic fault lines, sectarian and religious divide, political rivalries or bad governance -- what ails Karachi?

As being feared for the past several months, Karachi has again burst into violence and chaos. The killings of workers of various rival political and religious groups, which gained a fresh momentum over the last two months, finally led to the assassination of a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) veteran Syed Raza Haider on August 2. The killing triggered a new wave of violence that claimed nearly 80 lives in just three days and left dozens of others wounded.

Armed bands of youngsters went on rampage setting ablaze vehicles, attacking shops and fuel stations and enforcing an unannounced strike in the city on the barrel of the gun. Most victims were ordinary citizens, who had no political affiliations, but targeted because of ethnic background. These victims were mostly daily-wage labourers, drivers, conductors and people doing small, odd jobs. Then there were those low-income group families, which were terrorised and some even saw their houses burnt because they lived in those parts where the other ethnic group remains in majority.

The focused media coverage, chain SMS messages, the word of mouth, propaganda of the rival parties, rumours as well as exaggerated accounts of brutalities -- as often happens in such cases -- only added fuel to the fire, plunging the city in a state of uncertainty and bringing its trade, business and industrial activity to a grinding halt.

The MQM had been quick to blame the Awami National Party (ANP) for the murder of its MPA. The ANP denied the charge and accused the MQM of fanning violence. Interior Minister Rehman Malik saw the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan responsible for the murder of MQM's Shiite Muslim MPA. And amidst this overflow of information, claims and counter claims, Karachi continued to suffer. There was no sense of urgency seen on the part of the government to put an end to the lawlessness, while no political party took initiative to push the peace agenda and offer a healing touch. However, even the rivals agree that volatile Karachi needs immediate attention.

Faisal Sabzwari, a senior MQM leader and a provincial minister, called the situation "delicate". "The MQM hierarchy has not reacted to this assassination. We want to maintain peace, despite provocations, attacks and burning the houses of our people," he said. "But the problem is that the people who suffer violence do not listen to the local leadership. They just react. We are trying to contain the situation."

Shahi Syed, Sindh ANP chief, said that terrorism had never been part of his party's creed. "We know one thing, that among those dozens of people who died, there were only three or four ANP members. The rest were ordinary Pukhtoons."

The MQM says its slain leader Haider was an easy target because of the thin security cover. Haider represented one of the most volatile areas of the city -- Orangi Town -- where he also served as the sector in-charge, a key position in MQM's structure. Ethnically diverse and divided Orangi remains one of the biggest slums of Karachi. Both the MQM and ANP are at loggerheads in parts of this town to get an upper hand. Both accuse one another of trying to bring demographic changes not just in parts of Orangi, but also at other places as their preparations for the future elections.

ANP, which for the first time got two of its members elected to the provincial assembly from Karachi, says that this remain the main factor that antagonized the MQM. "The MQM sees ANP as a threat to its hegemony," Syed said. The MQM in its turn accuses ANP of patronising criminals and land grabbers.

In this barrage of allegations, indeed, the story of the unfolding tragedy in Karachi is not an easy one to tell. It is a grim complex situation in which ethnic rivalry remains just one manifestation of a bigger problem that has many grey areas. All these killings and the state of lawlessness, that descend on the city so often, have a pattern that keeps repeating itself. Though there are short and long periods of tense calm as well, the causes of this problem remain unaddressed. They range from the presence of ethnic fault lines in the city to that of sectarian and religious divide as well as political rivalries. The state's inability to resolve vital issues ranging from the long lingering transport problem to that of providing water, power or even a decent sewerage system -- all play their part in intensifying conflicts in Karachi.

A senior police official said requesting anonymity that the presence of the hard-core criminals in the ranks of major political parties remains one of the most troubling factors that emerged in recent years. "It acts as a catalyst in aggravating the situation."

Police in majority of the cases remain unable to take action against criminals because of their political affiliations. "Politicisation of crime and criminalisation of politics -- this has now become the main problem," the official said.

All the political parties do say they won't tolerate criminals in their ranks, but fail when it comes to match their words with action. No wonder, now for grabbing land, party flags are used in Karachi. The Sindh government's anti-encroachment drive crashed soon after takeoff in July because of the sharp differences within the allies of the ruling coalition.

To add to the problem of ethnic polarisation is the fact that many al Qaeda and Taliban operatives have slipped into the city in the wake of the military operation in the northern areas.

The MQM's stance that there has been growing "Talibanisation" in the city also proved a factor that led to sharpening the ethnic divide. ANP maintains that the issue of Taliban is being used to malign and target Pukhtoons in Karachi.

However, while a vast majority of Pukhtoons have nothing to do with extremists, security officials say that Taliban and their associates use Karachi to generate funds. From kidnapping for ransom to robberies and drugs and arms smugglings to extortion, huge amount of money is being raised every month by extremists from Karachi, they said.

In 2009 alone, media reports say that more than 160 militants were arrested in Karachi out of whom most were nabbed from Sohrab Goth and other Pukhtoon-dominated neighbourhoods. Police officials admit that even routine administrative issues have the potential to transform into ethnic confrontation.

Decades of political expediency and compromises by the successive governments have made situation messier in Karachi. Rather than going for rule of the law, institutions have gone for ad hoc measures -- often becoming a party themselves by propping one group against the other. The result has proved disastrous as not just state authority took a blow, but it resulted in complete lawlessness.

In every cycle of violence, the government avoided action against culprits and allowed wounds to fester. The city bounces back to normalcy not because of administrative measures, but by an inbuilt self-healing process, which offers only short-term relief. And between these extremes of temporary peace and bouts of violence, there are genuine fears of balkanisation of this city, which is awash with both illicit and licensed weapons. This remains a possibility because of state's inability to resolve its contradictions and establish its writ and rule of the law. The writing is very much on the wall, but rulers fail to read it. In this land of the pure, political expediency reigns supreme.

Karachi demands a solution

By Amir Zia

The News
Thursday, August 05, 2010

The assassination of MQM MPA Syed Raza Haider and his guard on Aug 2 that plunged parts of Karachi into violence and chaos was a tragedy waiting to happen. Nearly four dozen lives were lost within hours of Haider’s assassination and several others were killed over the next couple of days. This senseless, but organised, violence targeted mostly daily-wage earners and poor labourers. Vehicles were set ablaze, markets and bazaars were forced to shut as the city witnessed grueling traffic jams on key roads. This was followed by a complete shutterdown of businesses and industries for the next two days causing a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. The country’s biggest city and the main industrial and commercial hub was in the grip of uncertainty, chaos and fear, reminding one of the bloody decade of the ’90s when the MQM and the state institutions were locked in conflict.

But that is history. It has been many years now that the MQM is a key component of Pakistan’s mainstream politics. However, its acceptance in the corridors of power and share in the provincial and federal governments have not changed those dynamics which make Karachi one of the world’s most violence-prone, lawless and crime- ridden cities. From the simmering ethnic, sectarian, religious and political contradictions and conflicts to coping with the challenges of its fast growing population, the sharp social and economic disparities and critical civic and transport issues, the state has so far failed to resolve or tackle any of them.

Making this grave situation more complex is the fact that in recent years politics and crime have started to overlap. Criminalisation of politics has become a core problem plaguing this city. It intensifies and further brutalises Karachi’s already simmering conflicts and contradictions. When crime mafias–from land-grabbers to drug-peddlers–become part of the country’s main political parties, it is next to impossible to establish rule of the law or ensure justice.

According to police figures, from January to July there have been more than 150 political assassinations, out of the nearly 900 murders that took place in Karachi during this period. August has started with a bang with the murder of a key MQM figure, followed by a general killing spree. And the death toll is climbing with each passing day. This has been the short- to long-term pattern of violence in Karachi since the early 1980s–a burst of violence and then a brief uneasy lull, followed by another bout of violence, killing and mayhem. The resilience of the people of Karachi keeps life and businesses going, but the spectre of violence remains. It manifests itself in different forms–from ethnic to sectarian on one level and inter-party and intra-party on the other.

In the first seven months of 2010, the MQM, its splinter factions led by Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan, the Pakistan People’s Party, the Awami National Party, the Sunni Tehreek, the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Shiite activists, the Jamaat-e-Islami and a few others have been both victims and perpetuators of the violence. Each one of these political and religious groups resorted to violence to the extent of their possession of their respective muscle power. It has not just been members of a rival political party fighting rivals. Even workers and militants of allied parties–including those belonging to the ruling coalition–have turned their guns on each another. The MQM-PPP conflict in the early months of 2010 and the low-intensity MQM-ANP tussle in recent months are its prime examples. So far it has been a low-intensity conflict between these forces, which has claimed dozens of lives. The kind of fire power these political forces have makes one shudder at the ferocity of a full-blown conflict if things slide out of control in this city of more than 16 million people.

The causes of the tussles among these political players stem from their desire to control the city of Karachi, or parts of it, because it offers big legal and illegal fund-raising opportunities. Therefore, demography is important, because it becomes a source of conflict as these parties try to consolidate their vote banks or build them in constituencies where balance of power can be tilted with a few thousand more votes. And this contest is solely on ethnic lines rather than political or ideological. That is the reason why the issue of land-grabbing has become central to the political discourse these days in Karachi. But the provincial government finds itself unable to take any equitable action to get thousands of acres of land vacated from the illegal occupants because its allies consider it against their interest. No wonder the anti-encroachment drive, which was started with fanfare in July, was stopped within three days of its launch.

And it is not just the thorny issue of land encroachment which can become ethnic or political in Karachi. Simple administrative issues and implementation of even traffic laws can transform into a source of conflict and fan ethnic polarisation. The state institutions succumb to the pressure groups when it comes to implementing even simple traffic rules. From the drive against smoke emitting vehicles to that of against noise pollution, the state and its institutions survive by conceding authority. Who says only the tribal areas remains lawless in Pakistan? One can see the lawlessness in Karachi where in most part of the city one would find no law.

The situation becomes aggravated by the fact that the government remains unable to curb the free flow of weapons into this city–both illicit and licensed. The liberal policy of issuing licenses even of prohibited bores on the recommendations of lawmakers to that of the influx of illicit weapons has made Karachi, certainly one of the most heavily armed cities of South Asia. It remains on the brink and survives on the balance of terror between rival groups. No wonder when tensions soar between rival groups, in many neighbourhoods one sees youngsters armed with rocket-launchers and rifle-propelled grenades guarding their neighbourhoods, streets and lanes. The much-celebrated Kalashnikov–a gift of the US-funded Afghan war against the former Soviet Union–is no longer the most lethal weapon in their arsenal.

But the balance of terror should not be taken as a guarantee for peace in such an ethnically diverse city, which has all the inherent contradictions that can spin out of control to result in far greater tragedies than we have witnessed so far. The ethnic violence of the mid ’80s, which saw tragedies of Aligarh and Qasba Colonies to that of the mayhem following the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto to that of the arson and killings after the bombing during the mourning procession last Ashura–the city has borne the brunt of it all. All these conflicts, despite their ferocity, had the potential to turn into even bigger tragedies. The state and its institutions were found wanting in all such situations.

There indeed are no easy fixes and solutions to this complex and complicated situation. But a beginning has to be made and the first step needs to be taken. And that should begin with freeing the police of political interference and restoring its independence. The government’s responsibility and commitment to ensure rule of the law–even if it is a bad law–would be better than the present state of lawlessness. The major political parties and their top leadership on their part have to see beyond their narrow and short-term self-interest. They need to clear their ranks of criminals, land-grabbers, drug-peddlers and assassins, in their own enlightened self-interest. It is imperative for the survival of this city and its people. The city of Karachi and its people deserve better than what they are getting from the political parties. The citizens of Karachi are not asking for the moon. They just want a peaceful city, where they can go to work daily, send children to school and if their pockets permit in these testing times go and eat out–once in a blue moon. Is it too much to ask?

The Bhutto Exposé -- Book Review

By Amir Zia
Newsline June 2010

Book -- Songs Of Blood And Sword
The Bhuttos – undoubtedly the most charismatic, controversial and tragedy-prone political dynasty of Pakistan – never fail to amaze and fascinate the public. You may love them, you may hate them, but you cannot ignore them. So when Fatima Bhutto writes a book, and that too about her family, it is bound to stir excitement and ruffle some feathers.

Songs of Blood And Sword: A Daughter’s Memoir is Fatima’s tribute to her father Murtaza, who was assassinated, along with six associates, by the police in a controversial encounter in September 1996. What made this murder more bizarre and eerie was the fact that Fatima Bhutto’s aunt Benazir, whom she refers to as “Wadi bua,” was the prime minister at the time. Fatima has not forgotten this fact nor forgiven her aunt.

If Murtaza is the hero of this book, Benazir and her husband Asif Zardari emerge as its villains. The betrayal of PPP’s political ideals and BB’s failure to provide an honest leadership is a recurring theme of this book and Asif Ali Zardari is portrayed in an equally negative light.The events of the night when Murtaza was assassinated, at a stone’s throw from his house, sheds light on their estranged relationship: “‘Hello? Wadi?’ I said … ‘No, she can’t come to the phone right now,’ came the reply. It was Zardari. It was no secret that none of us in the family liked Asif Zardari, my aunt’s oleaginous husband… ‘I need to talk to her,’ I insisted, my voice quickening … ‘She can’t speak, she’s hysterical,’ Zardari replied. As if on cue, there was a loud wailing sound in the background. It had been quiet before, with no indication that anyone was in the room with Zardari, and all of a sudden there was an almost desperate crying shattering the silence. … ‘Oh, don’t you know?’ Zardari responded. Your father’s been shot.”

Fatima has pronounced her verdict on Benazir – a verdict that will annoy Benazir’s many admirers. It is not the judgment of a historian or a political analyst, but the rantings of a niece who felt terribly let down and betrayed by her beloved aunt.

A very public feud between Murtaza and his sister Pinky (Benazir) is described in vivid detail. Fatima is looking at Benazir from her father’s eyes; ostensibly he was angry that his elder sister made what he saw as “shameful” political comprises and “unholy alliances” in her ascent to power. All this, coupled with stories of corruption and kickbacks, was seen as going against the creed of the patriarch of the family Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged to death on controversial murder charges by former military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, who emerges as the other big villain in Fatima’s book.

Fatima weaves the case against her “Wadi” skilfully – from her brief encounters with Benazir in their days in exile in Syria, to the return of her father to Pakistan to run for elections. Benazir was in power at the time when the firing incident involving the police at Al-Murtaza, her father’s residence in Larkana, took place. Fatima quotes from an interview given by Nusrat Bhutto to The New York Times soon after in which she says, “She (Benazir) tells a lot of lies, this daughter of mine.” The arrest and torture of Murtaza’s loyalists and finally his own murder – all the events took place at a rapid pace and the details make for an interesting read.

As a writer, Fatima is a good narrator, giving readers a glimpse into the lives of the Bhutto family – from her great-great grandfather Murtaza to her grandfather Zulfikar. The often-repeated saga of the Bhutto family has been presented from the perspective of a young generation Bhutto.

Murtaza, the hero of the book, had all the characteristics of a Bhutto – he was flamboyant, at times recklessly adventurous, romantic, devoted to the family and, above all, political. He was a product of the times when Che Guevara and his guerrilla movement ruled the minds and hearts of many youngsters, children of Pakistan’s elite, and Chairman Mao’s Chinese revolution held great romantic appeal for young revolutionaries.

The author’s treatment of her father conjures an image that is far removed from his public persona of a ‘terrorist.’ Fatima gives details of her father’s days in exile – as a young college student campaigning for his father’s release through legal and political means and then his stint in Afghanistan to organise an armed resistance.

Fatima has triggered controversy by claiming that Murtaza and Shahnawaz went to Afghanistan on Zulfikar’s advice. This version has been challenged by Murtaza’s younger sister Sanam as well as his cousin Tariq Islam. Given the number of books and material available on Murtaza’s adventures in Afghanistan, including the hijacking of a PIA passenger plane by PPP activists, Fatima’s narration of those times appears naïve – but that was to be expected as this is a daughter’s memoir of a father she truly adored. So all his sins of commission and omission are overlooked. But Fatima is not so charitable to her biological mother, Fauzia, who Murtaza met and married in Afghanistan. Their relationship appears to have broken down irretrievably. In fact, she expresses fear of Fauzia, especially when she tried to take custody of Fatima years later.

Murtaza’s intense affair with a Greek woman, Della Roufogalis, who was eight years older than him and was the wife of a Greek general languishing in jail at that time, has also been described in vivid detail. Della appears in the book as a story-teller, revealing many hidden episodes of Murtaza’s eventful life.

The anchor role that Ghinwa, Murtaza’s second wife, played in the life and politics of Murtaza and his children has been described with love and affection. The author repeatedly refers to Ghinwa as “mother,” revealing the inner dynamics of the family feud that have long centred on Murtaza’s choice of second wife. In fact the book has been dedicated to Ghinwa and to ‘Joonam’ (Nusrat Bhutto), who Fatima says always remains with her (in spirit), despite the distance created between them.

As a writer, Fatima appears to be at her best when discussing her family. She gives small but important details about the famous and not-so-famous members of her family, their hopes and fears, their intricate relationships and their bond with each another, as well as the many traumatic times the Bhutto family has been through. It is when she is discussing the political landscape of the country that Fatima falters; she makes many sweeping and superficial remarks that stand out like a sore thumb in an otherwise well-narrated and well-knit book.

Songs of Blood and Sword is an important addition to the growing number of books on the Bhuttos because it is an insider’s account and is bold and frank. The story has been told as honestly as a daughter can tell it. One can argue about, differ on and criticise the account and interpretation of many events, which happens in the case of all politically loaded writing, but one cannot ignore this book. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the Bhuttos, their politics, life and times – all of which are so intricately interwoven with the overall fabric of Pakistani politics.

The Media’s Love Affair

By Amir Zia
Newsline, May 2010

Along with providing news and information, perspective and analysis, many of our news channels seem to have also taken upon themselves the heavy burden of entertainment, which was once the domain of performers. News bulletins and current affairs shows now rule the roost and have overshadowed television dramas and casual talk shows as a primary source of entertainment. Brazenly sensational, blatantly melodramatic and at times outlandishly comical, the bulletins and talk shows are considered to be a huge success, attracting eyeballs and competing for crucial ratings – a lifeline for the flow of advertisements.

One manifestation of this debacle is the manner in which many of our news channels covered the Shoaib Malik-Sania Mirza love affair – ‘Shoania’ as they came to be known. From the very news of their engagement and the controversy about Malik’s marriage to Ayesha Siddiqa of Indian origin to misspellings of names on the nikahnama and wedding cards and the actual wedding day itself to the detailed travel plans and the series of valima receptions for the couple – the entire coverage has been treated as a tacky soap opera by most of our country’s leading news channels.

It is no wonder that the terror attack in northern Pakistan claiming more than 40 lives was forgotten in the media frenzy as news of this engagement flashed in red over and over again as breaking news. And this series of non-stop breaking news and exclusives continue even as the wedding coverage ‘subsides.’ We should thank our stars that both Shoaib and Sania are not among the top five or 10 in the ranking of their respective games. One can only guess what many of our news channels would have done in that case.

From the issuance of boarding cards to graphic details of the bathroom of the hotel where the couple planned to stay in Lahore, every teeny weeny bit was treated worthy of making headlines around the country. This is what we call redefining television journalism, Pakistani style.

Seasoned anchors pushed guest politicians on their shows to comment on this union and its impact on Pakistan-India relations. Will it help bring the people of these two countries closer? Should there be more such marriages for peace in the region? And while some of the politicians tried to answer the questions seriously, others understandably dodged the unwarranted questions.

Now, many media stalwarts treat news and current affairs shows as entertainment platforms, and package their content with music, dance, blood, and gore. Unfortunately, in the case of the Shoaib-Sania affair, even objective news bulletins strayed from their purpose and distastefully embedded dramatic Indian music and footage to spice up the imprudent coverage of this rather inconsequential love affair. Going by the coverage priorities and treatment of news by these channels, it seems that all journalistic ethics and conventions were flushed down the drain.

In the rat race for ratings, yellow journalism reigned supreme and dominated our screens. The Pakistani paparazzi proved as good (or bad, depending on which side of the fence one stands) as their international counterparts when it came time to go for the kill. Poor Shoaib and Sania were thrust on the viewers; no wonder many felt nauseated.

The artificial fervour and hype created by channels over this wedding was as though the protracted Kashmir issue with India has been resolved, or that the dark spectre of extremism and terrorism was defeated once and for all. This overblown and magnified coverage of a celebrity couple’s marriage might have been justified in a country where there is no other news. But in a country caught in the vortex of political instability, terrorism and poverty, it can hardly be justified. Entertainment, light stories and even celebrity scandals remain an integral part of content, even for news channels, but the frivolous should not sweep away the important socio-political, economic and law and order issues. Ironically, that is what happened in the coverage of Shoaib and Sania’s affair.

Journalism – yes, even electronic journalism – is all about objectivity, fairness, accuracy and a sense of proportion. These traits remain its guiding principles, and should not be lost. Many of the channels need to rethink their news agendas and reset their priorities. Pakistani viewers deserve better television, as it is not their privilege, but their right.

Musharraf's second coming

By Amir Zia
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The News

Former president Pervez Musharraf's loyalists have started assembling under the banner of the All-Pakistan Muslim League (APML)–the latest addition to the ever-growing number of political parties in this polarised and politically divided country. However, the APML has been launched more with a whimper than a bang. So far, even those political heavyweights who were once close to Musharraf have stayed away from its ranks. It is the duo of Barrister Mohammed Ali Saif and Gen (r) Rashid Qureshi who are its most prominent faces.

For Musharraf, the loyalty of these two may be a source of solace, but in the world of electoral politics, their reach and effectiveness in organising and introducing a new platform remain questionable. Musharraf's fan following on Facebook may be in the tens of thousands, but when it comes to running a political party it is the team that matters. And Musharraf's team seemsed wanting at the launch. Even some of his aides termed the event a "soft-launch."

It is not just the apparent absence of a strong team which should be a matter of concern for Musharraf; it is the changed ground realities that will be the real challenge for him if he decides to return and take part in politics. After all, it is one thing to rule the country for almost a decade as an all-powerful army chief or president and a totally different thing to be an underdog. The experience can be traumatic.

Will Musharraf be able to take the heat and sustain the pressure in the presence of formidable opponents such as Nawaz Sharif and the militant groups backed by Al Qaeda and the Taliban which would be breathing down his neck? And that's not all–the judges of the superior courts will now be free to dispense justice. Meanwhile, the media would like to have its pound of flesh. Indeed, Musharraf will be walking through a political minefield if he really decides to return. Without the tactical support of the country's powerful institutions and his foreign friends, even the chances of his remaining afloat would be slim.

Apart from these inherent difficulties which Musharraf is likely to face when he starts his new political journey as a civilian, there are pertinent questions about the vision and scope of his party and its ability to make a difference on the political landscape of Pakistan.

If Musharraf's APML really takes off, will it provide a more democratic and honest leadership? Will its composition be any different from that of the major parties, dominated by feudal lords, powerful tribal chiefs, industrialists and traders? What different social, economic and political agenda will it offer? And, most importantly, will it be more pro-people?

The question of Musharraf's political future is also as important as the role, vision and political dynamics of his APML. At the age of 67 years, what miracles do his followers expect of him, none of which he could perform as the all-powerful military ruler of the country? Many of the choices he made and decisions he took undermined the very vision he announced after seizing power in October 1999. His political journey, which started with promises of restructuring the country's economy, politics and electoral system, is a sorry tale of political expediency and compromises.

No wonder most of Musharraf's legacy proved short-lived–from his desire to keep what he called corrupt politicians out of the ring to his much-trumpeted local bodies system. None could stand the test of times. When he left power, Pakistan was just as fragmented, divided and corrupt as it was before him. Only the level of violence and terrorism had increased despite the fact the Musharraf took the prudent decision of siding with the international community in the US-led war against terrorism.

However, his planned return to the political fray does not appear to be well-thought-out and promising.

Even the name Musharraf chose for his politics–All Pakistan Muslim League–is one of the most misused and abused names in our history. The party which led the independence movement under one of the most upright, honest and incorruptible leaders, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, perhaps died with him. And since his death in September 1948, some of Pakistan's most corrupt, opportunistic and undemocratic politicians have used the name of this party to serve their vested interests.

Even now, all the various factions of the Muslim League, including those of Nawaz Sharif, Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Pir Pagaro, to name a few, bear no resemblance to the party of the Quaid-e-Azam, which was driven by his vision for Pakistan. Musharraf in his heyday first patronised the PML-Q and then chose it to advance his political career. This is symbolic and reveals a lot about the future of the APML. It is eyeing leaders and workers of the PML-Q, its dissident faction and other smaller parties to build a base.

However, apart from the few third- and fourth-tier politicians who have joined Musharraf's party, the so-called heavyweights appear to be in a wait-and-see-mode despite assurances to the former president of their loyalty.

Musharraf could have a possible role in the larger scheme of things in Pakistani politics if the first- and second-tier politicians, who can beg votes on the basis of their personal strengths, start joining his party with the covert blessings of a section of the Pakistani establishment. But from the way things are developing, there are slim chances of this happening in the near future.

To expect Musharraf to conduct populist politics will be expecting too much of him. The problem is not just the fact that Musharraf's personality is not fit for this kind of politics, the issue is that the times have changed. Now, external factors will play a major role in determining whether he stays relevant or not.

Musharraf's second innings in politics promises to be on a much weaker and uncertain wicket. Does he have the resolve to deliver and make a difference? Enjoying a Facebook following and a large fan club is one thing, but translating it into political action is a different ballgame.

Changing Economic Landscape

By Amir Zia
The News
Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The dream of South Asia's economic integration appeared dazzling. The potential of boosting Pakistan-India trade and economic relations seemed immense. However, given the present level of distrust between the two South Asian nuclear-armed nations, the target of their transformation from rivals to collaborators for peace and prosperity sounded too ambitious and difficult. But it made perfect sense. Yes, the common hopes, dreams and aspirations of the peoples of these two estranged countries remained the moving spirit behind the two-day Indo-Pakistani Business Meet in New Delhi on May 18-19.

This first of its kind, the Meet, organised by the Jang Group of Pakistan and The Times of India Group, attracted some of the stalwarts of the business and corporate world from India and Pakistan.

N R Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies Ltd, Brijmohan Lall Munja, chairman of Hero Honda Motors Ltd, and Som Mittal, president of NASSCOM, were among some of the stars from the Indian side. The Pakistani delegates included heavyweights like Dr Shahid Javed Burki, former vice president of the World Bank, Dr Ishrat Hussain, former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Asad Umar, president and CEO of Engro Corp, and Humayun Bashir, country general manager of IBM Pakistan.

The Business Meet, titled "Partners for Peace and Progress," was organised under the banner of the Aman Ki Asha initiative launched by the two media groups earlier this year.

The gist of the messages by almost all speakers was the importance of building bridges, which eventually would contribute to the resolution of the core and contentious political issues between the two neighbours. And, certainly, the warmth and goodwill expressed by the speakers was touching–right from the inaugural session in which Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee addressed the Pakistani participants as "brothers and sisters," underlining the need and importance of boosting economic ties between the two nations. Not long ago, in the aftermath of November 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, Mukherjee was spearheading the hard-line anti-Pakistan drive as foreign minister.

"Mr Mukherjee's speech was music to my ears," said a Pakistani businessman. "It is a good omen for Pakistan-India relations." The Times of India said that India and Pakistan's top businesspeople saw a gentler, softer avatar of Mukherjee.

The tone and tenor set in the inaugural session carried through in the rest of the five sessions. Some of the grand plans discussed were:

-Development of a South Asian energy grid.

-Building of a South Asian multi-modal transport corridor linking Central Asia to Southeast Asia, connecting all South Asian economies to one another.

-Leveraging of India's capital markets and private-sector-led global footprint for the rest of South Asia.

-Liberalisation of key service sectors, including education, health and information technology.

The regional energy grid has been conceived as an integrated electricity network that allows cross-border trade in electricity, as well as oil and gas pipelines running through South Asia. Pakistan's cooperation is critical to such a massive project as it would serve as the transit country linking Central Asian oil and gas resources and Tajik and Afghan hydropower to the rest of South Asia.

The joint declaration of the Business Meet expressed a resolve to aggressively pursue cooperation in six key sectors, including textile, agriculture and energy. It also called for removal of restrictions on up-linking from India to Pakistan, opening up of news channels in the two countries and easing of visa restrictions. The Meet noted with concern that South Asia remains the world's least economically-integrated region and urged the two governments to take necessary steps to realise the tremendous potential of trade and commerce of these countries.

Enhanced regional trade means low freight costs and cheaper raw materials and value-added goods. Already, the legal trade between India and Pakistan peaked to $2.23 billion in fiscal 2007-08 as a result of the slightly improved ties at that time, from a meagre $251 million in 2000-01. However, it fell by around 19 per cent following the Mumbai attack. Unofficial trade, which includes both smuggling and business via third countries, is estimated to be much more.

According to Dr Burki's futuristic scenario, improved trade between South Asian neighbours would help increase India's GDP to $5,551 billion by 2025, from the $1,177 billion in 2007, while Pakistan's GDP rise to $571 billion, from $143 billion.

However, while painting this rosy picture, one should not forget the existing harsh realities of Indo-Pakistani relations, which are marred by lack of trust and deep-rooted hostility--a hostility which is also shared by a vast number of people. The shared history and values of the two countries are undoubtedly longer than their divided past, but the well-nurtured animosity of more than six decades remains an overhang. It makes realisation of the dream of South Asia's economic integration a challenging and arduous task. A single terror strike has the potential to derail years of gains. Haven't we seen this happening so many times? The two governments and the peace lobbies in them should not allow Indo-Pakistan relations to be held hostage by fanatics and extremists, who could again try to disrupt peace. Pakistan and India should also be partners in fighting the scourge of extremism.

Then, there is the question of addressing the core issue–the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, which should not be seen as an ignored or forgotten issue. There is certainly an approach that an improvement in economic, cultural and people-to-people ties would facilitate the resolution of this thorny issue–in line with the aspirations and democratic right of the people of Kashmir. Undoubtedly, there are stumbling blocks at every corner in this long journey towards peace, but at least a step–a small and important step–has been taken under the initiative of Aman ki Asha. This needs to be backed and supported by more such efforts. The trade and businesspeople certainly have the power and resources to play a historic role in efforts to bring peace and change the economic landscape of South Asia.