Oily Deal

Major experience means being the yes men of the two brothers and their proven record of covering up for all major goof ups by the government

Breaking news: after electricity and gas, petrol has also been declared an endangered species and thus cannot be used, only talked about or seen, as items to be treasured in a museum as memories of what they used to be once upon a time. Just imagine that when all over the world oil is in oversupply and is being sold at desperately low prices, in Pakistan it has disappeared and is now being bought in bottles of mineral water at prices higher than the oldest wine. It is flabbergasting, mindboggling and baffling until you look at the picture of the Prime Minister’s (PM’s) crisis management committee putting their heads together to solve the mystery of ‘whodunit’. You have a PM with the look of being lost and never found, you have a finance minister with the look of so-what-this-is-just-another-issue and you have a petroleum minister who sulkily says, “Okay, if you insist, so be it.” Investigation takes place and guess what? All are absolved of all crimes except the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and Pakistan State Oil (PSO). The acting head and the other heads acting on behalf of various ministers are sent rolling to make the PM not look like a complete loser.

The real scandal may surface in a few days or weeks but the scandal already out and proven factually is that the PML-N can write a book on how to destroy institutions. The age-old formula is: just place an incompetent person on top and then see how the incompetence comes roaring down the ranks. The Noon style of management is to highlight all major posts in ministries, bureaucracy, judiciary and media and then appoint people who have not only proven loyalty to the Sharif family but are likely to support and enable all decisions legal or illegal, moral or immoral with blind subservience. The famous experienced team of the government has definitely lived up to its years of knowhow. Major experience means being the yes men of the two brothers and their proven record of covering up for all major goof ups by the government with utmost aplomb and nonchalance. Pervez Rashid is the biggest example of this trait as he, in so many years, has perfected the art of saying with conviction what others would be shy of saying even hesitantly. While he is the government’s information minister, he uses all government platforms to promote party stances as is the case with his frequent press conferences defending Sardar Ayaz Sadiq’s case as this case relates to Sardar Ayaz Sadiq’s election from the Noon League ticket and not as the Speaker of the National Assembly.

When the man at the top sets the tone of appointing people who have an unblemished record of loyalty to him, they in turn will do the same for all posts under them. Such is the reluctance of the government to appoint people who are professionally competent that, despite the fact that the Supreme Court (SC) has withdrawn the commission for selecting heads of state-run enterprises, 22 statutory bodies and 33 public sector companies are still headless or operating on acting appointees. PSO is a classic example of such a company. The acting Managing Director (MD) Amjad Janjua was appointed in October 2013 only for three months till the permanent MD was selected. In August 2014, the establishment division sent a letter to the PM mentioning the irregularities of his appointment. The Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources found the posting of the incumbent MD of PSO illegal and asked the government to replace him. “The acting managing director PSO, who is very junior and is currently under FIA and NAB investigation, should be removed immediately,” Senator Mohammad Yousaf wrote to the PM and relevant government agencies on behalf of the committee. The Senate committee observed that a person on the exit control list because of investigations by the FIA and National Accountability Bureau should not be allowed to run a company with an annual turnover of more than Rs 1.5 trillion. Instead of removing him, the PM changed the rules to accommodate this rare talent in PSO. This appointment has not only ruined PSO but also the petroleum industry and the government’s own credibility.

Crisis and errors are part of even the most efficient governments. However, the difference between the ones that succeed and those that fail is their ability to learn and not repeat errors. How can we safely say that the petrol crisis or other disasters will not recur if we know that the style of management will not change? The new MD appointed at PSO, Mr Shahid Islam, is another contentious candidate with the mixed record of being at PIA in the past with dubious performance. However, if the previous MD was a crony of the finance minister, the new one is an old friend of the minister of petroleum. When the top man bends rules, so do all others. The frightening cross-functional war between ministries and ranks bodes ill for the future. Just look at the assessment of various ministers on this crisis and there is this oily feeling of a disaster postponed but not thwarted. The PM dismissed the MD and deputy MD of PSO while the petroleum minister insists that PSO was not to be blamed as the unexpected rise in demand of petroleum due to fall in oil prices could not have been forecast. The investigation report blames OGRA while OGRA has blamed the oil marketing companies. Another inexplicable point is: why did the shortage occur in Punjab only while Karachi, with the largest population and the most extensive industrial base, never had this shortage? These unanswered questions increase the risk of such economic disasters being repeated.

For institutions to perform, the mindsets have to reform, for the mindsets to reform, the process has to start from the top, for the process to start from the top, an admission of responsibility for the mess needs to come from the leader, for the leader to make this admission, a high degree of integrity is a prerequisite — the integrity to refuse your near and dear ones appointments of importance and appoint men of merit regardless of their loyalties. For this to happen a culture of accountability is needed where people who have messed up are not just removed from posts but are made to pay each penny wasted of public money and for this to happen, the public and media have to constantly expose and raise their voice on these professional criminal acts being carried out in institutions funded by taxpayers’ money. It may seem a long haul but look at it this way: even one incompetent man changed in one institution may result in savings of billions and jobs and lives of thousands of deserving people.

The writer is an analyst and columnist and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com

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Everyday Violence

If we can make a 21st Constitutional Amendment to bring action on recommendations, why can we not ensure that those that are already in the Constitution are being followed?

 While we are talking about terrorism incidents and the need to curb them on emergency basis, we are unaware of the everyday violence occurring in our country that outnumbers any act of terrorism on any scale. This is particularly disturbing if you compare violence against children and women. Every day, at least 10 children become victims of homicide, meaning that over 3,000 children are lost to this violence, a figure much larger than that of children killed in bomb blasts. A UNICEF report, ‘Hidden in Plain Sight: Statistical Analysis of Violence against Children’, surveys 190 countries, including Pakistan, and surveys boys and girls aged up to 19 years. Pakistan is in the top 10 countries in the world as far as violence against children is concerned. This menace in society goes almost unnoticed as casualties are scattered and rarely get the media spotlight for more than a few days.

While we have taken some emergency steps to curb and eliminate terrorism in the country and the multiple All Parties Conferences (APCs) are being conducted to pacify public outrage, very little is being done to prevent violence that is killing 10 times more children per year than terrorism. When a society becomes increasingly indifferent to what happens to children, it loses its humanity and when it loses its humanity it degrades itself to animal living where the survival of the mightiest becomes the rule of law. Why has society lost its ability to rebel against this everyday violence that we witness going on in our cities and neighborhoods? What are the root causes of this moral and social poison that is conveniently reserved for some awareness seminars and talk shows and not emergency plans of the government? These are the questions that are never repeatedly pondered and debated as they require solutions that do not have an immediate demonstration effect, like forming military courts.

If we can make a 21st Constitutional Amendment to bring action on recommendations, why can we not ensure that those that are already in the Constitution are being followed by the government and, if not, then they are punishable acts. The profile of most of these children who are victims is that they are poor, from large families and have hardly any opportunity to be educated. This combination of poverty and illiteracy is lethal for children belonging to families that produce babies almost every year of their productive life. The real killers are economic and educational deprivation. Consider this: over 25 million children are out of school in this country, making every fourth child out of school in the world a Pakistani. It is shocking and shameful. Consider another statistic: more than 1.5 million children live on the streets and 90 percent of them have been sexually abused. Incidents of child labour rape have been on the rise as nearly every other day a maid working in a house is brutally beaten by either cruel employers or abused by lecherous men.

The ASER report just released presents a picture that says more than words. As mentioned before, over 25 million of five to 16-year-olds are out of school. As with every other development indicator, there is a gender divide: 11.4 million boys and 13.7 million girls are out of school. Moreover, children from lower income families are six times more likely to be out of school than their rich counterparts. In another estimate, 57 percent of all out of school children belong to rural areas. Based on the PSLM survey, the primary net enrollment rate (NER) is 57 percent while for middle and high school levels it falls drastically to 22 percent and 13 percent respectively.

One of the most prominent findings of the report is the survival rate recorded at 48 percent as children drop out of school by the time they reach secondary levels of education. By the age of 16, 55 percent of children in Pakistan are recorded to be out of school. This places Pakistan much lower than all its neighbors in the region.

The root cause of most social evils stems from a sense of deprivation, whether it is economic, emotional or intellectual. Children on the street, being used for begging or due to lack of space and care in poor families with a huge number of dependents, are sitting ducks for exploitation. Whether it was the 3-year-old toddler found dead near a mosque or the five-year-old girl raped last year, the demographics were similar. Both had 10 siblings of all ages and were living in two room shelters or houses and thus their everyday abode was the street. With so many children, for the mother to keep track of their whereabouts for any decent length of time is almost impossible. Why do we say “population explosion”? Because this is a major cause of violence escalation. A large population itself is not the end of the world but a large, uneducated, unemployed and unaware population is a ticking time bomb in every sense of the word. When human beings are herded together like animals and not given basic rights, they will, in majority, become animals. A famished, neglected and abused child is the best fuel for terrorist nourishment and the ideal justification for a reproduction of any violence in society.

If every research proves that lack of education and economic subsistence produces an imbalanced society that breeds frustration, rage and violence, why are these factors not given the same importance as emergency actions against terrorism? Why are people who are responsible for providing education not doing so and, despite violating the Constitution, are not being punished for it? Why are there no political and civil society protests against the deprivation of this right? If the law does not provide any special penalty for this omission why are there no amendments being done to make this as unlawful as any other severe criminal act? Why are there no special courts being made to accommodate to try out people responsible for failing to provide what is truly the most important element to prevent and uproot terrorism?

It is the air crash phenomenon. Though deaths by road accidents are multiple times more than deaths due to air crashes, the importance given to measures to reduce air crashes is much more than road safety. The quantity of deaths in one go catches the media and mind’s imagination much more than everyday road deaths. Similarly, the abuses going on in our neighbourhoods are simply too frequent and less dramatic to deserve media, political and civil society attention. However, it is this everyday violence that eventually leads to terrorism on all levels. If there is no war against illiteracy, no war against poverty and no war against inequity, the war against terrorism will continue to be a battle unconquered.

The writer is an analyst and columnist and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com

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Promoters of Terror

There can be no partial and selective terrorist group cleansing just like there can be no partial and selective geographical counterterrorism operations

Even a horror movie would feel inadequate compared to the carnage in the Army Public School, Peshawar. December 16 may become a fading memory as far as East Pakistan’s separation is concerned but will be a pinching memory for the shocking and numbing killing of 134 children and another 10 teachers and staff shot down in cold blood in the auditorium of the school where these budding 14 and 15-year-olds were being given a lecture, ironically on first aid. Everything about this incident makes one want to slump, cry and scream. What these families are going through is almost unimaginable and what each child and family going to schools is going through is unbearable. The government and state are responsible for this; that is an understatement but, at some level, we as citizens of this country are also part of this poisoning of hearts and minds that has taken place in the last few decades.

Some say that terrorism started after 9/11 and others say that Ziaul Haq sowed the seeds when he promoted religious groups to make himself power broker. Both may have some truth but the fact that both governments finally made way for the so-called democratic governments raises the question: why has no progress been made in undoing what the two dictators did? The truth of the matter is that governments, whether military or elected, with their own vested interests, can rarely take on more powerful forces than themselves. Thus, our policies traditionally have always been based on compromises in return for sustaining power rather than national interest. Military governments are too bothered about their unconstitutional status to worry about other issues and democratic governments show delivery failures and thus keep depending on foreign loans and grants.

The present tragedy has galvanised the whole nation into taking serious action against terrorist activities and there are some commendable steps being taken to immediately give a strong message to terrorists of the resolve that enough is enough. As immediate steps, calling an All Parties Conference (APC) and forming a national committee to form a plan are steps in the right direction. However, we have to be aware of the fact that, with these steps, problems may go under the surface for a while but may resurface if some long-term steps to uproot terrorism are not taken immediately. Some of these may involve the following:

We must identify the number and status of groups operating in Pakistan. According to various estimates, about 35 to 47 groups operate in Pakistan and many of them have the backing of not only our enemies but our friends as well. Some of them are said to be sponsored by India, others by Saudi Arabia, some are preserved to fight Pakistan’s proxy wars, others are nurtured to present counterfoils for terrorist attacks across the Afghan and Indian borders. Just like the concept of good and bad Taliban is ridiculous, the distinction of those creating war on Pakistan and those creating war on our enemies is ludicrous. There can be no partial and selective terrorist group cleansing just like there can be no partial and selective geographical counterterrorism operations.

It is an open secret how many groups operate from Punjab. Just focusing on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA or Balochistan will not solve the problem. Many of these groups are banned outfits that we all know have changed their names and are still carrying on their activities. This is why we see operations taking place in one place while terrorism keeps increasing in other places. In an interview for The Guardian a few days before Operation Zarb-e-Asb started, Rana Sanaullah claimed that there were 168 points in Punjab that were harbouring terrorists. Until and unless a non-discriminatory cleansing operation takes place, the war for rooting out this evil will be lost before it starts.

Another very important factor is to categorise the sympathiser, supporter and sponsor of these organisations and have a separate strategy to deal with each of them. Sympathisers are all those who believe in the so-called ‘noble’ cause. This not only means many of the religious clerics but many misdirected individuals from every class of our society who hail Mumtaz Qadri as a hero. To change their mindset an educative process of regulating mosques is needed. Till the early 1960s mosques were under the administrative control of the government and the imam had to have a qualification to be able to fulfill this position. This, being a very powerful mode of affecting the public thought process, needs to have a monitoring system and should be used to project the true spirit of Islam rather than misusing these institutions as a vehicle of political and personal agendas. Also, a national ulema conference needs to take place where Islam and its main elements regarding the killing of innocent people should come out as a major communiqué and then be publicised in education institutions.

For supporters of terrorism there needs to be a real search of those organisations that nurture and support terrorists by helping them in recruiting terrorists, training them and providing them with key information. These may include certain seminaries and non-profit organisations that, over time, have been known to harbour, brainwash and enable attacks. Similarly, sponsorship of terrorism is also a tricky issue but it is no secret that these attacks require a lot of money. Most of these terrorist leaders live in a way where their multiple wives and children enjoy a sheltered and comfortable life like Osama bin Ladin and Hakeemullah Masood. Similarly, in Jhang, Punjab most of these outlawed organisations have not only been operating unhindered but their members have been colluding with local politicians and police to create land mafias and become a law unto themselves. This financing, whether local or international, has to be traced and blocked to suffocate and limit their access to weaponry and communications equipment.

For terror to be dealt with, terror combaters have to be above board with absolutely only one agenda: doing whatever it takes to eliminate this evil. The burning question is: do all those who are yelling to stop this devastation really claim to be working with selfless devotion towards a practical solution or are they just playing to the public outrage gallery? What you need is leadership that has the courage to question the unquestionable status of the promoters of these groups and then have the will to take on a frontal war against them even at the cost of their own position, their own interests and most of all at the risk of their own public popularity.

The writer is an analyst and columnist and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com

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