Black orange

The city of gardens and greenery is now the city of signal free corridors and signal full pollution. This project itself is going to cut hundreds of trees in its way

Even the Prime Minister (PM) rebuked the younger brother. In a rare display of displeasure, the PM told the Chief Minister (CM) that there were other projects besides the Metro. The very next day the CM signed up a deal for the loan of a colossal Rs 162 billion from the Exim Bank of China to build the Orange Metro project. At the same time, a few miles away from this flamboyant, record-breaking ceremony of the most expensive 27 km project in history, 19 small children died in Children’s Hospital due to the non-provision of anti-diphtheria serum (ADS) by the Punjab government. As I write, the death toll has reached 32 and is increasing. Lack of medicines and lack of ventilators due to lack of funds is the reason. Just imagine the agony of a mother, parent or family who sees their child die due to the misplaced priorities of the government. Just imagine trying to explain to them that this metro will make up for the missing vaccine, non-functional ventilators and the death of a child on whom their happiness and hopes centred.

Now just try to understand the campaign going on to justify the Orange train. It is the cure for all diseases. It is the bane of happiness. It is an environmental gift. It is a heritage dream. It is history in the making. History in the making it surely is. Never has such an expensive project been built since Pakistan was created. Spread over 27 km it is going to benefit 250,000 people daily. This practically means that it will benefit 0.48 percent of the people in Punjab. What about the remaining 99.52 percent of the people? It is indeed a record breaking project as it is going to cost six billion rupees per km, definitely worth going into the Guinness records and other world records as the most expensive of its kind. But then it is all for a good cause and even if it is for a tiny portion of the people and even if it is at the expense of millions of lives, once the orange colour starts running up and down Lahore it will silence all the critics. The fact that in the year 2015 we have slipped to 147th position in the human development index, placing us in the countries least caring about their people’s development, is also something 70 percent of this population is too unaware to care about.

Financial feasibility aside, the socio-cultural imperatives should make this project questionable even if the budget is not an issue. Activist, architects, town planners, environmentalists, lawyers, citizens, UNESCO and civil society have all — with legal and hard facts — protested for months against this encroachment on the land, degradation of environment and damage to the heritage. However, the CM and the administration of Lahore have brushed aside such allegations and have termed them ignorant rants. Their logic may be that these are old timers who want to keep Lahore backward and cannot understand the grandiose vision of the CM to turn Lahore into Paris.

Lahore is the cultural capital of Pakistan. No other city has the diversity of heritage and history comparable to Lahore. Take this away from Lahore and it becomes another soulless town that has no identity and character. According to the Lahore Conservation Society’s report, almost 15 major law protected heritage sites will be affected, including Shalimar Gardens (protected under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention), Gulabi Bagh Gateway (protected under the Antiquities Act 1975), Dai Anga’s tomb (protected under the Antiquities Act 1975), Buddhu ka Awa (protected under the Antiquities Act 1975), General Post Office (protected under the Antiquities Act 1975 and under the Punjab Special Premises Preservation Ordinance 1985), Chauburji (protected under the Antiquities Act 1975), Mauj Darya shrine (protected under the Antiquities Act 1975), Zebunnisa’s tomb (protected under the Antiquities Act 1975) and the railway station. The bureaucracy has been assigned the job to counter these protests with letters to the editors and advertisements showing how far from the truth these claims are.

Environmentalists have been trying their best to explain how dangerous this fatal attraction for brick and mortar is. Their cries have been dismissed by people who travel by air and sit in air-conditioned cars, and thus can never understand the importance of transport in the lives of the ordinary man. The city of gardens and greenery is now the city of signal free corridors and signal full pollution. This project itself is going to cut hundreds of trees in its way and, though replacements have been promised, when and where on these hard surfaces it would be possible is anybody’s guess. The fact that Lahore has reached another milestone of being classified in the top 10 most polluted cities in the world may be one of the reasons why at the onset of every winter babies and elders suffer at the hand of outbreaks of strange lung diseases. But then a few deaths here and there are all justified when we envision the Orange train juggernauting across the city.

Government departments not sharing this noble vision of the CM are duly taken to task. As reported, the district officer in the environment department of Punjab had reported that the installation of a wastewater disposal station at Bhobtian Chowk was not only illegal but would affect two schools as the noise pollution and foul odour would affect the students. The result of this report was that the Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA) advised the CM to transfer this shortsighted officer, and he was. This follows the Director General (DG) Archaeology being made Officer on Special Duty (OSD) as he was insisting that Chauburji and other sites would be harmed. When Shahjahan made the Taj Mahal, he cut the hands of the labourers so that they would not make that design again and now it is classified as a wonder of the world. Thus, the CM understands that a few dismissals here and there will fade in the memory of the public when the Orange Metro will be classified as the wonder of Lahore.

It is not just the rejection of a few officers or a few sites or a few laws or a few trees or a few reports, it is the rejection of the best minds in the country that have devoted their lives to giving this city and country the glorious memory of its unique culture and heritage. But then the intellect of the likes of Nayyar Ali Dada, Kamil Mumtaz and I A Rehman cannot compete with the indecent obsession of somebody bent on turning this city into the underpass capital of the world.

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Malicious obedience

When the men who run institutions are always under the line of fire for going against the grain of people who can fire them, then institutions become contests for political muscle mania

How can those you rule go by rules that are against you? How can those who report to you give reports that are against you? How can those who obey you take actions that are against you? This seems to be the classic duel going on between the men in charge of the country and the men in charge of the institutions of the country. In this duel the obvious winners will be those who rule the country but the obvious losers will be those under their rule, including the public at large. The state’s institutions are supposed to be independent and empowered enough to demand explanations and actions from all involved in any relevant case or matter. However, when those who rule think that rules are made for those who are ruled but not those who rule, then institutions become victims of power play and politics.

The recent overspeak by Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq is a typical example where, displeased by the Elections Commission (EC) for even entertaining a petition against the voters’ list of the recently held NA-122 election, he lashed his fury at an institution that his party had defended despite pressures from the opposition. He called them incompetent and people with mal-intention, and warned them that this was a soft warning and harsher things may follow. What was this furor about? It was about the NA-122 petition filed to the ECP by the PTI that at least 30,000 votes had been transferred before the election and only 7,000 of them had a valid record of transfer. This is not the first time Mr Speaker spoke with disdain about institutions questioning him and his party. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was similarly warned about its “misconduct” on enquiring into high up affairs. He warned that a reference would be filed against NAB for informing the Supreme Court (SC) that it was pursuing 150 mega scams involving a colossal amount of Rs 428 billion. This included reference against the Prime Minister (PM) and Chief Minister (CM), and many other illustrious names of his party from Punjab.

A similar fight is now going on between the Rangers and Sindh government. Dr Asim is the present bone of contention. But there is a larger matter at stake. Dr Asim’s confession of involvement in terror facilitation and corruption has links to the top ranks of the party. Dr Asim must be saved to save the bosses. Thus, the Rangers, who had become symbols of saviours in Karachi, have now been declared by the Sindh government as encroachers and destroyers of the “legal boundaries” of the institution. From Qaim Ali Shah to Khursheed Shah to Maula Bux Chandio the typical plea of being unlawful, unconstitutional and undemocratic has come to the fore. The only question to this political chagrin is why is this great defence of the sanctity of institutions and their boundaries, and their legality always limited to incidences where the big guns are gunned by their own subservient.

This just about tells the story of what has gone wrong with the country’s ability to grow and develop. Countries depend on institutional development. Institutional development depends on system development. System development depends on merit based leadership development. When the men who run institutions are always under the line of fire for going against the grain of people who can fire them, then the institutions become contests for political muscle mania. Politicians have in the past threatened institutions and individuals running these institutions to the extent that either the individuals have resigned or the institutions have become lame extensions and execution wings of political parties. Some outstanding institutions reduced to mediocrity by this forced threat technique are the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) whose chairman, after being removed and restored many times due to disobedience to the rulers, finally left the country to save this family. He is now helping the US government to develop a system that Pakistan could have immensely benefited from. Similarly, the tribunal judge who dared to give a sentence against Ayaz Sadiq in NA-122, Kazim Ali Malik, reported that he had been threatened by the law minister, Rana Sanaullah, and when he refused to bow was duly retired from his post.

This is a form of autocratic democracy where all institutions like parliament and public regulators are used to keep up the label of democracy while inside prevails an autocratic grey matter of “do as I say or...” If all institutions have to work on their dictate then it is very difficult to keep up the democratic facade. Recently, the spat between the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and ministry of water and power is just one of the many examples of this attitude. NEPRA’s very purpose is to highlight gaps in the energy sector to help the ministry improve its performance. However, while the government has been advertising massively on its progress in the energy sector, the NEPRA report clearly pointed out that the energy sector was not progressing. When this report was published the ministry of water and power launched an attack on NEPRA and there were reports of the NEPRA chairman’s job being on the line.

The role and jurisdiction of the Rangers is rightly being questioned by many analysts. Ideally it should be the police that have the capability of safeguarding the lives of people living in Karachi. However, it was the failure of the police that led to the Rangers being invited to clean up the city. The failure of the police both in Punjab and Sindh is a direct result of the politicisation of these institutions. An ex Inspector General (IG) Sindh confessed in the SC that the 50 top jobs in Sindh police are decided and divided as a quota between various parties, and they then become party guards and henchmen rather than public guards. The tragedy is that under such bosses the many who do want to do a competent and fair job become rebels to be crushed. Recent question marks on the sudden disappearance of Ayesha Mumtaz from the Punjab Food Authority are still unanswered. Some say she has been indefinitely sent to a food conference to rethink her adventure of declaring Hamza Shahbaz’s company unhygienic.

The Nekokara incident perhaps best describes what disobedience against wrongs can cost you. Mohammad Ali Nekokara was not only an officer with impeccable professional credentials but is academically very well qualified too. A graduate of public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy’s School of Government, he was too competent and conscientious for the government. Instead of making him a role model he was removed from his service for disobedience against use of force on a protest. When obedience to rule of law is punished and obedience to rule of ruler is rewarded institutions and nations become playthings to be toyed with by those who are savvy at gaming in the house of thrones.

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Private deals

The government makes plans of privatising public sector entities with ordinances issued without consultation or debate on any forum of public representation

In a democracy this talk is dangerous. The government has been privatised. Its shares have been given to the Sharif group of industries. Parliament is just a political hangout. Senate is just a rubber stamp. These are some of the loud headlines in media that make breaking news. The government says this is a conspiracy by the opposition that is jealous of its development work. Analysts say there is truth in this. The opposition says it is a fact of governance in the country. Why has this controversy on the style of governance reached a level where the credibility of the claims of the government has become a matter of ridicule? Is it because of the selective use of parliament to suit its own requirement? Is it because of weak legislation that has made these upper and lower houses of government become a liability instead of an asset to governance? The question on governance is not new but what is new is that in recent times statements on the quality of governance by the army and the Chief Justice (CJ) himself have added fuel to the fire. Oblivious to this the government keeps on ignoring parliament and keeps on imposing taxes on the public. Dismissive of this the government makes plans of privatising public sector entities with ordinances issued without consultation or debate on any forum of public representation.

The state of governance in state owned enterprises has been pathetic. An estimated Rs 500 billion is leaking annually due to corruption and mismanagement in them. Unfortunately, whichever organisation starts with Pakistan in its name has an image of politicisation, zero merit and massive losses. This image has been built on years of horrendous performance be it PTV, PIA or PSM. These organisations have been subsidised heavily to survive and are a burden on the economy. The solution suggested by the government is: let us privatise them. Is privatisation the cure to all these problems? Is privatisation an admission of failure of governance by the government? Is privatisation a confession that public sector enterprises cannot be managed efficiently and honestly? Is privatisation a cure for all ills to the revenue shortfall due to tax, budget and trade deficit? Previous experience shows that without answering these questions privatisation turned out to be a loot sale of assets that were sold at throw away prices to people with clout in the ruling government.

Every analysis of these state enterprises has shown what needs to be done to turn around their performance. The PML-N government also promised that competent people from professional backgrounds would be hired on strict criteria to make the energy sector, the airline and the steel mill sustainable. Advertisements were also placed in the newspaper but neither the best were hired nor the criteria of merit adhered to. This was done to accommodate their own interpretation of what merit was i.e. friends and relatives of those in power. Take PIA’s case: President Zardari appointed his close friend Captain Ejaz as the head, which resulted in a huge protest by the PML-N and other opposition parties. However, as soon as the Noon government took control in 2013 it appointed a highly controversial man, Shujaat Azeem, as advisor on aviation to manage the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). He fitted on merit as defined by the party i.e. he was the brother of PML-N big wig Tariq Azeem and had impressed the Prime Minister (PM) with his loyalty to the family. In 2013, the Supreme Court (SC) had expressed concern over the appointment of Shujaat Azeem as adviser to the PM in the CAA, as he had been court-martialed by the Pakistan Air Force. In view of these concerns, he tendered his resignation. However, he was again appointed as special assistant. In recent times, the case has resurfaced again. The SC last month took strong exception of appointing Shujaat Azeem, a convicted person, as the special assistant to the PM on the CAA, the position equivalent to that of the status of a state minister and the case is still sub judice.

How can those very people who fail to manage public sector organisations manage their own similar businesses with efficiency? Is there no conflict of interest when people who are running competitive businesses are also policymakers? The minister of petroleum and gas is running a competitive airline, Airblue. Even Shujaat Azeem, apart from being the brother of Tariq Azeem, is the co-owner of Royal Airport Services at Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar airports. It handles terminal services, cargo/ramp and airport traffic control. Among his clients are Saudi Airline, Etihad Air, Gulf Air and Qatar Air. While their own businesses do well, PIA’s losses accumulate to almost Rs 300 billion as flights are late, services are poor and costs are high. So how would privatisation change this constant decline? The answer given is that it will bring revenue through shareholders investment. But the money was coming in any case from the government. Then what went wrong? It is the professional management that is missing. It is honest and merit based leadership that is missing. That itself means governance failure.

The severity of losses in these public sector organisations makes them case studies for sell off. The government has promised to sell off almost 60 organisations and IMF loan extension is dependent on it. But the problem is that the IMF will never care about the socio-cultural issues or national security requirements. Another problem is the sale price. When any asset becomes saddled with debt, losses, bad machinery and poor HR, it will be sold at junk value. That is why even when logic is given on how privatised banks have become more efficient, the counter question is that if they had been turned around and then sold off they would have fetched multiple increases in value. Thus, these continuous allegations on deliberate attempts to devalue them to buy them at cheap prices and then make phenomenal profits is given some substance by the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB’s) cases on many such dubious sales.

The difference between private sector and public sector organisations is the shareholders’ ability to hold management accountable. In the private sector the shareholder directly makes every penny count while in the public sector the actual shareholder is public and the government is the custodian of their money. With the government entrenched in unaccountable nepotism and cronyism public money becomes a loot sale. Some say it is in the DNA of the public sector to be inefficient, but in reality it is in the DNA of the people in the government who lead the public sector that defames and devalues them to become disposable liabilities instead of assets.

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An indecent confession

What destroys a society is not when men of poor means resort to unfair means to make do but when men of high intellect and great opportunities choose to put their skills in place for manipulating the system to serve their own designs

Finally, an accused of top stature confesses to appalling crimes. The doctor admits to doctoring hospital facilities to facilitate criminals. The response to this confession is mixed. The media raised it as breaking news. The PPP dismissed it as a confession under duress. The MQM typically denies any linkage vehemently. The opposition parties — the PML-N and PTI — maintained their friendly and hostile postures. The overall reaction was lukewarm, not reflecting the seriousness of the admission. The admission is of medically treating people involved in terrorism. The confession does not touch upon the cases of K-Electric exemptions where ruling party ministers were involved. Thus, it is a confession but a partial one that gives enough space to accusers to be found right, yet gives enough room to the opposers to dismiss it as more of buckling under pressure than serious evidence.

Crime flourishes when justice perishes. That is exactly what we have seen in the country. We have seen innumerable confessions of culprits who have named many people as masterminds or accomplices in ghastly operations but these confessions are either dismissed as being planted or as vengeful and not much is heard after a while. This is normally the case when small timers point fingers at big names. If the media and public continue to highlight an issue for some time, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is formed and then, depending on how high the name is, the JIT is scripted to suit the desired decision. In Dr Asim’s case it is different. Dr Asim is a high-up himself, who was not just obeying orders out of pressure but is a very close friend of the ex-president and, thus, if he is saying something it should be taken in a different context.

Dr Asim also symbolises another segment of society that is actually more responsible for what has gone wrong with this country. He has a dream CV for any aspiring profile of an ideal Pakistani. He is an educated professional, with skills, resources and opportunities to make an extraordinary name and money based on his background. Dr Asim Hussain received his early education from the Karachi Grammar School and later enrolled in the Cadet College, Petaro. After serving a brief period in the army, Dr Asim Hussain retired as a lieutenant and chose to pursue an MBBS degree. He graduated from Dow Medical College in 1978 and went to Europe for further studies. He successfully cleared his MCPS in 1981 and continued his studies in Vienna, Austria. After returning to Pakistan, he entered politics and that is when his career took the fast track. He became a senator, advisor and federal minister for petroleum in President Zardari’s cabinet.

Thus, what destroys a society is not when men of poor means resort to unfair means to make do but when men of high intellect and great opportunities choose to put their skills in place for manipulating the system to serve their own designs. The damage that large-scale mindless wrongdoers cannot do is outdone by a few astute intellectuals whose polished and groomed demeanour keeps on deceiving and defeating any attempts to nail them down. Thus, Dr Asim is not a Faisal Mota, Tahir Lamba or Saulat Mirza. Dr Asim’s arrest and the ensuing confession is an opportunity for the country to crack down on the big fish that are not only not coming into the net but have traversed local sea shores and gone overseas. The question is whether this rather indecent confession by the seemingly decent doctor will be a passage to the crackdown on the high up ‘untouchables’. Looking back at history, the chances seem bleak.

Let us look at another indecent confession by an apparently decent man. It is Ishaq Dar and his affidavit on Sharif’s money laundering case. Again, Mr Dar has impeccable credentials. His accounting background and his loyalty to the Sharifs, which resulted in their children tying the knot, is legendary. His loyalty to the Sharif family is enough to make the Prime Minister (PM) condone his consistent destruction of the economy and award him not only the finance ministry but also charge of as many as 42 committees. But it is the same man who gave a recorded statement in the year 2000 on Sharif committing money laundering. According to legal experts, the senator’s deposition affidavit at that time was an “irrevocable statement” as it had been recorded under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). In that statement, Ishaq Dar accused Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif of money laundering in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case. At one point in the 43-page statement, Mr Dar said that on the instructions of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, “I opened two foreign currency accounts in the name of Sikandara Masood Qazi and Talat Masood Qazi with the foreign currency funds provided by the Sharif family in the Bank of America by signing as Sikandara Masood Qazi and Talat Masood Qazi.” He said that all instructions to the bank in the name of these two persons were signed by him under the orders of “original depositors”, namely Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif.

This confession has become history in the archive dungeons of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and has been gathering so much dust that the statement has been erased from NAB’s case menu. The honourable gentleman who made this irrevocable confession continues to represent the country’s best economic wizardry. These are no ordinary confessions. These are confessions made by the high and mighty against the high and mighty. These are confessions with legal evidence and documented proof. These are confessions made in front of credible witnesses. These confessions are not made by vengeful enemies but loyal best friends. Yet the chances of them becoming turning points in our justice system are as substantial as the Orange Metro Line train removing illiteracy in Punjab. As was the case in Ishaq Dar’s confession already, Dr Asim’s confession has been rejected as being under duress. One might ask what sort of loyalties and relationships are these that crack under pressure. That may be too deep and philosophical a question for a political culture where the basic principle is that there are no friends and no enemies in politics, rather, just common interests of uncommon people who share the mindset of turning might into right.

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