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Justice on display Fighting inflation |
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SAARC passport Good idea, long way to go THE idea of a common passport for citizens of SAARC countries is once again in circulation thanks to Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammed Yunus who has been advocating this in recent weeks. Without doubt, this is a good idea that would strengthen contacts and communication between South Asian peoples and improve relations between SAARC member countries.
Sachar Report
Lalunomics brings people
closer
The quiet dialogue between
US and Iran Engineering feat or desecration? Inside Pakistan
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Justice on display JUSTICE Markandeya Katju of the Supreme Court has expressed his exasperation over the extent of corruption when in an obiter dicta he said that the corrupt should be hung from the lampposts. Jawaharlal Nehru had once suggested before Independence such a remedy for cancerous corruption. Except for the BJP, which will support a Bill to make such hangings legally tenable, no other political party has taken a firm stand on the issue. However laudable Justice Katju’s suggestion maybe, it also throws up many imponderables. The BJP wants the lampposts at the India Gate roundabout to be used for the specific purpose. They may be sufficient to hang the party’s MPs, who were found to have been raising money through raising questions in Parliament but what about the rest of the MPs? Every lamppost on Queen’s Path, now Janpath, and King’s Path, now Rajpath, will have to be reserved for the dignified members. If lesser mortals like the humble government official who was convicted in the fodder case and whose case came up before Justice Katju are also to be hung from the lampposts, will there be enough lampposts in the country to meet the needs? If the lampposts are used for such lofty purposes, what will happen to electric supply? Of course, the hangings will generate a lot of employment opportunities as fresh recruitments will have to be made to a large number of posts in the police, the bureaucracy and even the judiciary as those manning the posts now will find themselves being raised up to the lampposts. Given the state of corruption in construction, how many lampposts can bear the weight of the suited and the booted is a different question. The punishment will definitely have a beneficial impact on the environment as no trees will be felled illegally and no animals will be killed for their skin or for their meat. Rivers and quarries will remain pristine. It will address one problem the nation has not been able to solve so far despite all the efforts put in - controlling population. There will be a considerable drop in the population once the lamppost idea is given a practical shape. So, now the question is, do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? As one judge once said in a different context, much can be said on both sides.
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Fighting inflation SINCE
high food prices unsettled the Congress in Punjab and Uttarakhand, it was but natural for the Prime Minister to allay public concerns while participating in the debate on the motion of thanks in Parliament on Thursday and come out with the government strategy to control inflation. However, instead of honestly admitting the government’s inability to foresee a possible shortfall in food items and build sufficient buffer stocks well in time, Dr Manmohan Singh chose to blame inflation on the rise in the global oil and food prices. A day before the Parliament session began, he had asked the states to monitor prices and check hoardings, thus indirectly making the Chief Ministers share the responsibility for and criticism of the price rise. Inflation was moderate in the first half of last year when the global oil prices were ruling high. The subsequent hikes in the oil prices did contribute to the uptrend in the prices of necessities, but it is essentially the supply-demand mismatch which has led to the 12 per cent increase in the consumer price-based inflation. A durable solution to the problem of inflation, according to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, is “more wheat, more rice, more sugar, more pulses and more oilseeds”. While the series of fiscal and monetary steps that the RBI and the government have taken in the recent months run the risk of causing a slowdown in growth, the supply-side measures will take time to show results. The Union Budget for 2007-08 has a welcome focus on agriculture. Apart from increasing farm credit, extending the reach of banks to 50 lakh new farmers, allocating more funds for rain-fed area development and better management of water resources, the Budget has given a push to improving the availability and quality of certified seeds. These steps will definitely increase supplies. To make growth truly inclusive and raise agricultural productivity, cooperation of the states is vital. However, some of the predominantly agricultural states continue to squander their limited resources on populist measures that lead to short-term political benefits but hurt long-term development. |
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SAARC passport THE idea of a common passport for citizens of SAARC countries is once again in circulation thanks to Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammed Yunus who has been advocating this in recent weeks. Without doubt, this is a good idea that would strengthen contacts and communication between South Asian peoples and improve relations between SAARC member countries. Much as this would go a long way towards greater cooperation and understanding between SAARC members, the idea itself can take form only when there is greater cooperation and understanding. Yet, it is more than the proverbial chicken-and-egg dilemma. As matters stand today, there are a number of practical hurdles to be overcome before moving towards the idea of a common SAARC passport. In fact, the SAARC members are far from even visa-free travel, and only when that stage is reached can a common passport be envisaged. Visas, even for travel between India and Pakistan, are much easier to secure now than they were some years ago. But, they are not without restrictions and hassles; neither is there parity and reciprocity in the way visa applicants are treated for travel between the two countries. There are more unresolved issues between India and Pakistan than between either of these countries and other SAARC members. Although terrorism and infiltration bedevil India’s relations with Pakistan, the twin problems are not limited to one country. India is vulnerable to infiltration by terrorists from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, too. As it is, Indian authorities are hard put to cope with the flow of refugees from Sri Lanka (and filter out LTTE elements) and illegal migrants from Bangladesh, both of which have security implications. There is also the problem of a porous border with Nepal, which is exploited by Naxalites and those dealing in small arms. All of these add up to a situation that admits of no easy solutions where people-to-people contact and freer movement between SAARC countries can be ensured without inviting greater risks to security, peace and law and order. Nevertheless, a common SAARC passport is a highly desirable objective, like free trade or a common currency for a more integrated South Asia. The strivings towards these objectives may well generate the impulses leading to conditions that make them possible in the not-so-distant future.
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There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap”. — Carrie Fisher
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Sachar Report
JUSTICE Sachar's report is no Mandal rehashing — its emphasis is not on reservation in colleges or jobs. Naturally so, because to be qualified to seek reservation benefits, some minimum educational qualifications are needed — not a madarsa certificate. Muslims, according to Justice Sachar need assistance at all levels. He points out the deprivation of the community under scrutiny in areas like education, health, habitation, political decision-making, access to bank credit and many others. In fact, what is true in the case of every poverty-stricken section has been found by the report as true in the case of Muslims. If the government wants to address these issues, money in good measure will be needed from the Consolidated Fund of India and of the States. However, the lawyer in Justice Sachar apparently faced several question marks against recommending specific measures with a “Muslim tag” displayed prominently. And, unless some exclusive benefits are granted to Muslims, Sachar Report has no use to the ruling clique that set up the committee. Articles 266 and 283 of the Constitution of India regulate the custody and utilisation of the governmental treasury — consolidated as well as contingency funds. Parliament i.e. the Lok Sabha regulates the withdrawal of moneys from the funds — through enacted laws. Similarly, withdrawal of moneys from the Consolidated Fund of a State is to be regulated by law made by the legislature of the State. The fundamental truth is that the governmental funds cannot be touched except through enacted laws — the Ordinance-making power has not so far been applied to areas to be covered by Money Bills. The annual Budget and Finance Bill are all in furtherance of the Constitutional discipline dealing with public money. As an additional safeguard, all such laws, including those relating to fiscal measures, are to satisfy the other provisions of the Constitution — more particularly the equality provisions like Articles 14 and 15. Article 15(1) reads, “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them”. If any law provides for allocation of funds for a class based on religion, there is very little doubt that such a law will be struck down by the courts. The Sachar report is not a general poverty alleviation programme that can be legally supported — it is a programme for the upliftment of Muslims. And the end result must be that Muslims as a class should remain beholden to someone who set up the Sachar Committee. But such a law will be struck down as opposed to Article 15(1). The circle is vicious. The legal position was tested long ago and now stands settled. Way back in 1952, elections to the municipal boards in Uttar Pradesh were held on communal lines on the basis of separate electorates. The court in Nainsukh Dass's case (1953) held that such an action was opposed to Article 15(1) of the Constitution. But Sachar advocates in effect a separate electorate and nominations for Muslims — at the local body level. The State of Rajasthan V. Thakur Pratap Singh (1961) was a case where additional police forces were stationed in certain villages in the district of Jhunjhun in the State of Rajasthan on the ground that the villagers harboured dacoits and receivers of stolen property. Towards the cost of stationing of additional force all residents — except Harijans and Muslims — through a notification were called upon to contribute. A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held that the right not to be discriminated against is an individual right of every citizen — therefore even if one individual's right is affected the law has to answer. The court held: “It would be seen that it is not the case of the State — that there were no persons belonging to the other communities who were peace-loving and law-abiding, though it might very well be, that according to the State, a great majority of these other communities were inclined the other way. If so, it follows that the notification has discriminated against the law-abiding members of the other communities and in favour of the Muslim and Harijan communities (assuming that every one of them was “peace-loving and law-abiding”) on the basis only of “caste” or “religion”. It is plain that the notification is directly contrary to the terms of Art.15(1) and that para 4 of the notification has incurred condemnation as violating a specific constitutional prohibition..” (Substitute, “peace loving and law abiding” with “poor”). Being aware of the Constitutional pitfalls, Justice Sachar resorts to some phrases like, “diversities” and “minorities” — as far as the report is concerned, they both mean “predominantly Muslims”. However, courts while testing the contents will not be influenced by the labels. What then the Sachar Report is going to achieve? For the Muslims, it will be of no use — but a useless report will not necessarily be harmless. It will be a fertile source for instigation of communal disharmony. Suggestions like Muslims to be included in interview panels in the context of government jobs, need for increasing the number of Muslim MPs, suggestion for giving the community greater share of power in decision making in the so-called Andhra model are all vicious, divisive and separatist moves that may culminate in a demand for another Pakistan. The report will be used during the next one or two elections for arousing false hopes among a section of the citizens, that cannot be satisfied. Thereafter alibi will be set up — like putting the blame on courts — on the Constitution itself and the like, until another hoax takes over. The danger is that as a direct reaction to attempt to implement Sachar Report, even subsidising the Haj pilgrimage will be seriously questioned. Resurrecting the then decade-old and forgotten Mandal Commission report ruined the peace and harmony among the Hindus — now the still redeemable relationship between the Hindus and Muslims generally in India stands threatened by Sachar Report. The expression “minority” that is the bedrock of the report is after all a comparative term. In the national context, Muslim may constitute about 13 per cent of the total population but the remaining 87 per cent do not belong to one block! When you sub-divide them into several groups of castes, backward classes, scheduled castes and the like — as you are required to do by the different reservation regimes — for the purpose of specialised treatment, 13 per cent may become a larger chunk than many others. The 13 per cent also is not one block — the Shias, Sunnis, the Bhoras etc are all within the brackets. And there are districts or smaller pockets where one or the other Socially Recognisable Class is bound to be in majority. Therefore, taking all-India average for recommending alleviating measures is like crossing a river on foot on the basis of average depth. Sachar Report has ignored the fundamental that whenever an issue of bank loan comes up, the first question to be answered is, what do you do with the credit? If it is to be used for meeting the daily expenditure with no plans of repaying, it would be another “loan mela” — an unmitigated disaster of yesteryears. Bank loans are generally intended for creating wealth. There must be some plan of action in place. But the report makes no attempt to point out which of the activities of Muslims as an exclusive class is held up on account of lack of bank finance? If the aim is to help the Muslims, the report's recommendation for schemes for providing infrastructures like schools, water supply, sanitation and hospitals in the pockets or areas predominantly inhabited by that community are worthy of implementation. Our Constitution will permit them so long as the welfare measures do not wear religious or communal tags. But then, they will not help building a vote
bank. The writer is a Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.
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Lalunomics brings people closer
A damsel wafted past us — me, my wife
and our son — minutes after the Kerala Express chugged out of the
New Delhi station. I had just taken the first bite into my “palam
puri” (a Kerala delicacy served on the train) when my attention was
diverted by her tale of distress. She had a ticket but no reservation. The TTE told her that she would have to go to the “packed” unreserved compartment at the next station. As much as I wanted to help her, our predicament was no better. The three of us were packed in one berth. Lalu Prasad, the railway minister, is praised for bringing a turnaround in its fortunes. But little does one realise his achievement in bringing compassion, brotherhood, sharing and sacrifice into AC compartments in our trains. Across the aisle, a mother and her teenage son slept on a single berth while a family of four adjusted itself on two berths. Seeing our predicament, my wife and son were invited to share a berth with an eight-year-old boy. It took a visionary like Lalu to inject life in AC bogies where silence prevailed as people kept to themselves in the pre-Lalu era. With so many bodies touching each other it was impossible that a conversation may not break out, homemade goodies may not be shared and a session of a game of cards may not ensue. Solitary hearts in AC bogies have more chances of finding company even if the one, who gives them company, might have bought a cheaper ticket. Automatic graduation to a higher class if seats are available makes travelling with no one to listen to your experiences a thing of the distant past. A similar revolution has been taking place in non-AC classes as well. With the decree that during the day, tickets with berth reservation and without it would be considered on a par, the level of animation there had increased. On a long-distance train, you could hear the state of affairs of the states you were passing through from a local angle with these local passengers getting on and off the train. A good thing deserves to get better. While you shared your heart and some of your goodies with the one next to you, the ones across the aisle were not so lucky. But Lalu has come to the rescue once again. Cutting down on leg space could be one of the things on his mind when he proposed an extra 12 sleepers in a bogie (announced in the recent rail budget) to enrich your sharing experience. As I finished my “palam puri”, the damsel had found a person from her native place. And as luck would have it, he agreed to give her his berth after he and his co-passenger agreed to share one berth. Lalu’s formula has not only the monetary aspect but it is getting more people places and making them more
humane. |
The quiet dialogue between
US and Iran UNITED NATIONS – The United States insists that it will not talk directly with Iran until Tehran suspends its nuclear program. But U.S. officials have been discreetly meeting their Iranian counterparts one-on-one for more than a decade, often under the auspices of the United Nations. The little-known history of these contacts between the two nations, which have not had formal diplomatic relations since the Iranian hostage crisis 27 years ago, is one of misunderstandings and missed opportunities. Budding cooperation on Afghanistan, Iraq and al-Qaida has led to increased distrust and frustration instead of warmer ties – a record that adds to tensions as representatives of both countries prepare to attend a regional summit this weekend in Baghdad. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s top Iraq adviser, David Satterfield, said Thursday that he would confront Iran about its alleged provision of materiel and training for attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. He added that he would not seek out Iranian diplomats, but said, “If we are approached over orange juice ... we are not going to turn and walk away.” Despite decades of tension, the continuing conversations reveal a slender swathe of common ground upon which Washington and Tehran have built a delicate bridge: an interest in the region’s security and resources. “The point is that we think the Iranians can do a lot that will be conducive to peace in the region and good for them and good for their people,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said last week. “We’re going to continue doing whatever we can to encourage them to do it. And if they want to have bilateral relations, it is up to them.” But whispered dealings between the foes have had a way of going wrong. In the 1980s, the Reagan administration decided to sell weapons to Iran to win its help in securing the release of American hostages in Lebanon and diverted the proceeds of the arms sales to Nicaraguan rebels, leading to the Iran-Contra scandal. In 1994, President Clinton covertly condoned Iran’s arms shipments to Bosnian Muslims, at a time when the U.S. had pledged to uphold a U.N. weapons embargo. The policy was revealed in 1996 and met widespread criticism, keeping Iran, headed then by reformist President Mohammad Khatami, and the U.S. from broadening ties. In 1999, Clinton offered an “authoritative and unconditional” dialogue with Iran, but Tehran insisted that the U.S. lift its sanctions first. In the end, it was the U.N. that provided a discreet diplomatic safe house in which the two countries could talk. In 1998, U.N. diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, an Algerian, created a group called the “6(plus)2” that met in New York to address the conflict in Afghanistan. It consisted of the country’s six neighbors: China, Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, as well as Russia and the United States. “I remember the Iranian diplomats and the Americans saying that this was the first time they were in the same small room together,” Brahimi said in an interview. In 2001, the U.N. created another forum to facilitate contacts between the U.S. and Iran, called the Geneva Initiative, which included Italy and Germany. “It was really just a cover to allow the Iranians and the U.S. to meet,” Brahimi said. “After a while, I told them, `We don’t have to drag the Italians and Germans in every time you want to talk.’ Then when it was just us sitting at the table, I would get up and tell them, `I will leave you alone.’ “ After the Sept. 11 attacks, the two nations had a common enemy in the Taliban: the Sunni rulers of Afghanistan, whom Shiite-majority Iran regarded as a threat and the U.S. considered protectors of Osama bin Laden. In the days before the U.S.-invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, American and Iranian officials held extensive talks to coordinate cooperation between Iran-backed anti-Taliban warlords and U.S. troops. The cooperation continued politically as well. Iranian diplomats were particularly helpful during a conference in December 2001 in Bonn, Germany, that established Afghanistan’s interim government. James Dobbins, who represented the State Department at the time, said the Iranian envoys were “essential” in shaping Afghanistan’s government. At one point, the Northern Alliance’s Younis Qanooni, insisted on controlling 18 of 24 ministries, a demand that would have caused the agreement to crumble. Dobbins said that after diplomats from several countries “worked him over” through the night, Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, took Qanooni aside and whispered into his ear, “This is the best deal you’re going to get. You better take it.” Qanooni conceded two ministries and the deal was sealed. “It was decisive,” Dobbins said. Iran made it clear it was interested in a broader strategic dialogue with the United States. But the U.S., thinking it had the upper hand, brushed off the overtures, Dobbins said, and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote to thank every foreign minister who had attended the conference – except Iran. Six weeks later, in President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address, he named Iran part of an “Axis of Evil.” Iranians had been expecting some sort of diplomatic reward in exchange for their help in Afghanistan, and took it as a slap in the face. Still, for about a year, Iranian diplomats continued to meet in Kabul with the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, usually in Brahimi’s U.N. villa, known as Palace No. 7. Khalilzad, an Afghan native who speaks Persian, was at the Bonn conference and would become a key player in the cautious diplomatic connection. Now the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, he will be at the table Saturday in Baghdad.
By arrangement with
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Engineering feat or desecration?
Either way, the latest project to draw visitors to Arizona’s signature attraction is certainly generating a lot of publicity. On Wednesday, the 70-ft wide horseshoe-shaped platform was slotted into place 4000 feet above the canyon floor, before a large audience of news reporters, property developers and members of the local Hualapai Indian tribe. The Hualapai blew into gourds, burned sage and gathered around a spiritual leader called Emmett Bender who blessed the new structure even as he called it “the white man’s idea”. For the next 12 days the engineers will complete their welding and harnessing work - nobody wants any slippage, or a repeat of the wobble problems that plagued the Millennium Bridge in London - after which no less a figure than Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, will make a ceremonial first circuit of the horseshoe. Then, on March 28, the Skywalk will open to the public. Shuttle buses will ferry visitors over the last 14 miles of unpaved road where, for the giddy price of $74.95 – $49.95 for a basic Hualapai reservation visiting package, and another $25 for the Skywalk itself – they will be invited to don special non-scratch booties over their shoes and step on to the glass walkway to simulate a sensation of floating over the abyss. The edge of the glass walkway will be opaque to reassure the faint of heart, while the middle will be entirely transparent. It’s quite some feat of engineering. Weighing more than a million pounds, it is as heavy as four Boeing 757 jets. That requires some considerable harnessing to the canyon wall - indeed the first contractor to start building the Skywalk was so unnerved by the possibility of failure that it walked off the job last October. Rolling the Skywalk into place required a complex set of hydraulic “shoes” that lifted the structure above a cement track and rolled it across a bed of metal roads to a set of four steel anchors attached firmly to the canyon rock. To stop it tipping over before it could be secured, engineers loaded the back with half a million pounds of steel cubes acting as a counterweight. More striking than the engineering work, though, is the commercial bargain that has been struck to make the Skywalk a reality. The Hualapai have languished in poverty ever since cross-country traffic stopped using the mythical old Route 66, which runs through their main settlement, Peach Springs, and opted instead for the interstate highway constructed in 1979 some 30 miles to the south. Some hardier visitors still pass through to admire the Grand Canyon from its western end – about 250,000 last year, according to local estimates – but their numbers dwarf in comparison with the four million who visited the Grand Canyon National Park’s southern rim 250 miles further east. It’s not that the canyon is any less beautiful at its western end. It’s a question, rather, of amenities. The Hualapai can’t offer paved roads, or hotels, or restaurants, or visitor centres, or even a decent supply of running water. A Las Vegas developer called David Jin first dreamed up the Skywalk a decade ago and finally agreed to bankroll it out of his own pocket, to the tune of $30 million. The Hualapai leaders agreed to his plan, on condition that they would take ownership of the Skywalk and any subsequent developments, and keep the lion’s share of the profits. This is a project with Las Vegas stamped all over it. The fear is that the Grand Canyon itself will come to be seen as just another Vegas attraction – a place where tourists can come, be amazed, and lose as much of the contents of their wallets as can be prised out of them. Environmental purists see the Skywalk as an unacceptable desecration of the Grand Canyon’s natural beauty. According to some disgruntled members of the tribe itself, the Hualapai’s ruling council voted to approve the project without fully consulting the community first. “Our ancestors roamed this land before us. This is holy ground,” tribe member Leatrice Walema complained. Any development in a place like the Grand Canyon is bound to be controversial, of course. The much-visited southern rim of the National Park is hardly a thing of beauty either – a cluster of overpriced motels, coach car parks and family restaurants whose only real virtue is to concentrate the tourist eyesores in one relatively contained geographical area. Fans of the Skywalk argue that it is at least an admirable structure, offering fine if not also unique views (though the views of the canyon are said to be better from nearby Guano Point). And there is one more lure that may or may not attract the requisite attention in the near future: it is surely the perfect location for a James Bond movie action sequence. By arrangement with The Independent
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Inside Pakistan The al-Qaida and the Taliban suffered a major setback when 16 of their members were killed in a clash between them and a group of local tribesmen in the Azam Warsak area in South Waziristan on March 7, according to media reports. Trouble began when a group of foreign militants (mainly Uzbeks) along with their local supporters attacked a Zilkhel sub-tribal chieftain because of his connections with the government. This led to a retaliatory attack and the result was a bloodbath for the first time between the locals and foreign militants after a large number of al-Qaida and Taliban activists took refuge in Pakistan in the wake of the US-led multinational military campaign in Afghanistan in 2001, Daily Times reported. The cleric who successfully brokered the controversial peace deal between the Taliban and the government last September in Waziristan is in the news again because of his conciliatory efforts. The cleric, according to Daily Times, enjoys considerable influence among the militants in the area. Referring to the incident, an editorial in The News on March 8 said the six-hour gun-battle “serves as a grim reminder of the menace foreign terrorists pose to the security of the country (Pakistan) and how imperative it is to eject them and send them to their native lands”. The development may send shivers down the spine of those running the government in Islamabad. As The News says, “there is a more alarming aspect to the situation. and “that, in turn, can encourage US-NATO forces in Afghanistan to take unacceptable actions inside Pakistan territory.” A Dawn editorial said: “The Taliban especially are intolerant; they consider the entire tribal area as their fiefdom and try to ‘sort out’ those who do not toe their line. Tuesday’s violence graphically highlights the currents and cross-currents that run in the tribal area.” Despite the imminent end of the tenure of the National and Provincial Assemblies, very few people are sure that the much-awaited general election will be held in time. It is rumoured that the polls may be postponed at least by a year. Hints in this regard have been given by Federal Shipping Minister Babar Khan Ghauri of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the influential Chaudharies of Punjab – Pakistan Muslim League (Q) chief Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi). There are not many takers for what Pakistan Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said as quoted by The News: “The government has no plan to postpone the general election and there is no confusion within the PML on the issue.” In his opinion, what Chaudhary Shujaat said was part of “an intellectual debate” based on “ifs and buts”. And the pro-postponement views of the Shipping Minister have been described by his party as having nothing to do with the perception of the MQM. Whatever the truth, the talk of postponement is an alarming development. Describing it as “A flippant idea”, which is “ill-conceived and ill-advised”, Dawn commented: “Postponing elections will discredit the current political system altogether, which was tailor-made to serve the exigencies of the powers behind the system. “It is time General Musharraf and the military seriously considered an honourable way out of the political arena, instead of getting entrenched deeper into the quicksand of flattery that surrounds it.” Pakistan, which has massive gas reserves in its Balochistan province, is in for a major energy crisis. It will be faced with a gas shortfall of 778 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) in 2009, which will go up to 13,500 MMCFD in 2025, according to a Dawn report. The projection has been made keeping in view a economic growth rate of 7.5 per cent. This is the reason why all-out efforts are on to ensure that the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline and the one that will bring gas from Turkmenistan become a reality as early as possible. “Even in the case of a 5.5 per cent economic growth rate, the gas shortfall would remain and peak to 10,900 MMCFD in 2025”, the Dawn report added. An editorial carried in the paper on March 8 said: “No new gas discoveries are likely until 2010-11. The problem will be most acute in the power sector, the single largest consumer of natural gas, and any shortfalls here could raise production costs across the board and have a major impact on economic growth.” The editorial also points out: “Even if all goes according to plan – and this is anything but guaranteed given the regional geopolitical situation – the IPI pipeline and another from Turkmenistan will not be operational until 2015 and 2018 respectively. As such, despite the huge expense involved, increased import of oil is one of the few short-term solutions available to the government.” |
Even when one has everything that his heart may desire, one must continue to work. Not for greater gains since he already has everything. But to set a good example to those who look up him for guidance. Building and demolishing are both in his will; As there is no other apart from him.
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