Out with the old.. in with the new

I’m  finally back  home. I ‘ve  been travelling within Pakistan  and outside for more than a month  now. The latest  trips were  to Taiwan and Malaysia . Its  fun to travel and  meet interesting people  but good  to  be home. I finally get to have a  closet and not a suitcase  . Ahem.. this is ofcourse not  to suggest that I  live “within a closet” back home!

For my trips to Taiwan and Malaysia, my flights were  through  Bangkok. The Thais are getting  a new airport ,Suvanabhumi  airport at the end of the month. The new airport is certainly the focus of attention … at the cost of the old one.

The  cooling at the old airport is  pathetic now. The bathrooms  have become dirty as most of the cleaning staff is engaged  at the new airport. My favourite  place  at Bangkok airport, the  Bangkok Cafe, has also partially shifted there. In short, the transit this time at Bangkok was’nt  fun.

But  guess  that was  to be expected. Speaking of  new airports, what ever happened to the new Islamabad airport ? Has the land  been acquired for it ?  What’s the latest ?

Pakistan’s economic figures

I’m still at Kaula Lumpur .Attended the  first day of the Economic Freedom Network Conference. The conference  will  conclude tomorrow.

There are a number of  interesting  things being discussed here but  I’ll get to  those later. What was  more  interesting  was that the  2006  Economic Freedom of the World Report was launched here today.

This report  studies  data from  130 countries  under five heads  and  gives them a rank  according to  the  degree of economic freedom .  There are only two such indices. One is this one  published by the Fraser Institute  ,Canada and the other  is  done by the Heritage Foundation. The five  areas that it looks at  are :

• Size of government
• Legal  structure
• Access  to sound money
• Freedom to exchange with foreigners
• Regulation  of credit, labor and business.

I don’t  know  if I can say how Pakistan fared.

It improved slightly  on the rule of law from  last year  but it is  still looks  sad… a rank  of 2.3 .On  Freedom to Trade , the score remained the  same.

So why am I not   labelling  it  bad ?

Well because data shows that there has been quite an improvement  in  the  tax structure and starting  a  new business is   far  easier  today.  So there is some good news. Ofcourse  on other  rankings like legal structures and  framework  Pakistan  needs to do more.

And  oh …  I was ashamed to  hear Robert Lawson , the  guy  behind the report  say ,“ The black  market  rate has  disappeared from  most of the world except Pakistan and Mongloia.” 

 Pakistan  has  more to offer than a black market. So why are’nt  we offering?

….on a serious note

In a recent interview ,I  found myself telling  the journalist:

 I’m  in the business of ideas.

Most of us are. 

 Ideas  on how to  fix  the lawn  mower,to ideas for  how to  get a car or ideas on writing a book  or ideas for legislation. 

That is why you and I need to take a message of this  illustration  very  seriously

 

 

Musings from Malaysia

I’m in Malaysia  where today I  attended the  Atlas  Economic Research Foundation  Annual  Asian Liberty  Forum.

This one day event was titled “ Pathways to liberty and free markets in Asia”. In the morning session  there were  a number of interesting speakers such as  Chris Derry, Grover Norquist,Andrew Work and Kris Mauren followed by others. 

The sessions were  on :

Planning for a think tank success

Communications

Promoting ideas in challenging environments

Impediments to Freedom

The details of the  Forum can be accessed  from Atlas’s site by next week.What occupied my mind during the sessions (based on the discussions)were :

Can freedom have impediments? Or as Barun Mitra says  freedom has  such energy of it’s own  that it  just flows over  stones in it’s way  sooner or later ?

Is our  task just  to channelize the  energy of  the freedom wave ? Can we do that? What are our tools if we  decide to do  just that ?

Trading   is important  to  maintain peace as  than people  have stakes .Therefore a constituency for peace  is created. If that is true than why do we have examples  of countries who  traded but still went to war? Is  the “trade against war” view  too simplistic?

It is said that ideas have consequences. However, Grover Norquist said “ideas of people in power  only have consequences.”  Is  this true? Don’t  my ideas have  consequences?

More later……

The oily oil business

I’ve been  on a business  trip to Taiwan for the last  few days. Am leaving tomorrow  for  `Malaysia..  truly  Asia“.

While  throwing things in my suitcase, was catching  up on  home news. One particular item struck me . The NEWS newspaper  reports

 The National Assembly was informed that  a total of 40,000 metric tonnes of petrol and 210,000 metric tonnes of diesel was sold to Afghanistan at shockingly low price by Islamabad .This at a time when its own citizens were made to pay three times more, i.e. Rs 50 per litre in the name of inflation at international level. Even diesel was provided to Afghanistan at the rate of Rs 14.33 per litre when its own 140 million people were sold the same at double this rate.

 Thats  pretty oily! There are several  slippery questions regarding the energy sector in Pakistan. I recently came out with a report on it  called, “Fuel for thought“

This report formed part of the  charge sheet on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz  during the August non confidence motion filed against him.

That was August. This is Sep. The sticky issues keep surfacing.

Piece meal “peace “deals

Old  news No  1 : Mush signed a peace deal with “Taliban  friendly  tribal  leaders” in the  Tribal Areas  of Pakistan.This `deal”  is  supposed to  herald peace  and stability to the region. How it does  that  is beyond me  but  more on that  some  other day.

Old news No 2 : Mush met President Hamid Karzai  of Afghanistan when he  visited Afghanistan after almost  two years. Mush declared that  he would “not  allow  Pakistan  terrority  to be used by anti  Kabul fighters to launch attacks  on Afghanistan. ” As  a way  to  implement this  ,Mush  specifically  mentioned the “peace deal” that  his govnerment  recently bokererd  with the tribals.

New news: Both these  news items are being  discussed in the  blogging  world.  Political  animal  while  quoting India’s  Defence  declares, Pakistani analysts argue that

“Musharraf may well and truly may won himself more time in office.”

Comments to this  are interesting. Most of them declare that they  don’t understand  as to what  is meant  by Mushraff buying  more time   for himself  in office?

 Let me   explain. Mushraff is  an intelligent and sophisticated  player. This is  no simple  army solider. He  was clever  enough  to make  right  choices for himself.

However, his romance  with GodFather (read Uncle Sam ) is seen by some analysts  as cooling down.  So, periodically he keeps injecting new life into  his  relationship with Uncle Sam.Sometimes it  is letting  the religious politcial alliance Mutahida Majlis -e-Amal (MMA) run  wild on the streets. Sometimes  its   turning a blind eye to streets demonstrations on the Islamic  cartoon  issue. Caputring  a Taliban or two.

Why  is  all this  done? To   show to the world  that  he is the answer. That  if he is not  around  ,nothing can  stop  the  mullahs to  go crazy.

The analysts  view that the recent  `peace  deal” is   another one of his ploy  to buy more time  is seen as another example.

Whether this is true  or not , I do not  know. I do know  one thing  as a Pakistani. Peace  does not come with deals.  It does not come with empty promises.

Peace certainly does not come  from  an army general. Peace  does not  come  in areas where political parties are not allowed  to function.

Peace  does not  come where problems  are solved in  non formal  tribal gatherings such as jirgas.

Such  peace deals are not worth the paper that they are written on.

Mush and Bush

Heard  on CNN  today that a poll was  taken to gauge  Bush’s popularity.With mid term November elections  coming up, his candidates don’t look too good. According to the  CNN poll, over  fifty percent  of respondents would not vote for a  Republican  candidate.

According to  the commentator , “ It’s not good if you have an “R” attached to your  name. 

What  does this mean for  Pakistan? No,  what does this mean for Musharraf ? The picture  best  illustrates it.

I learnt about  directly proportional relationships at school.Mushraff and Bush have certainly taken  this to a new level.

Business made easy

Aha some  good news. Or  should I say some  encouraging  news. In a recent World Bank  South Asian  regional  report, Pakistan  has improved in  rankings of  “ease of business”

The ease of business indicates  (yup you  guessed it!) whether or not the country’s enviornment  is conducive to  welcoming new  businesses  or not. The indicators include  crtieria  such as  how many  days does it  take for the paper work  to  be done, how much paper work  there is  etc. 

In Pakistan reforms  to modernize customs  reduced time to import from thirty nine to  fifteen  days  and time to export from  thirty three to   twenty four  days.

Corporate tax rates fell from  thirty nine  percent in  2004 to  thirty seven  percent in  2005 and   thirty five percent  in 2006.Bangladesh  also reformed introducing a new land registration act to improve security  and  reduce corruption in land transactions.

Excellent.

Till when?

 Its finally here. The movie  Kamosh Pani  by Sabiha Sumar out on DVD in Pakistan.  I had waited with baited breath for it  to be allowed  screening last year.

Sabiha Sumar  plus  other friends  were  actively lobbying for it but  the permission  for general viewing was not granted. However, very private viewings to  select  friends of Sabiha Sumar were organized .Since I was not  a `special friend” I only saw  it today.

The story revolves around  widowed Kiran Kher  and  her  only son . The  son used to be a happy  go lucky  village lad secretly meeting his girl friend in deserted village spots.Kiran  is shown  as a secluar  Muslim who teaches children the Quran but declares,“ Janat is not  only for Muslims. It is  for  all  good souls“ 

She has  friends and is seemingly ok with the world. But  for  one slight thing. She never goes to the well to fetch water. Her neighbours do it  for her and put it down to her  idiosyncrasy.

Enter two  young men from the city. They are invited by the village chaudhry .They’ve come  bearing the  message of General Zia -ul- Haq . The message is ,“ Do jihad  and become  proud sons of the soil” Those who do not  do jihad ,“ are   bigharat  and not men enough”  

 Kiran Kher’s  son  is fascinated by this and  takes up arms against the “infidels“ .

Too bad that he finds out that his mother is a Sikh who  was abducted  by Muslims in  ‘47. Upon this discovery not only  her son but  also the whole village shuns  her.  

 At the time  of  ‘47 riots , Kiran’s father had wanted her to jump in  a well to avoid ,“dishonour” of being abducted by a Muslim. Valuing life more ,she ran  instead of jumping , got  abducted, raped,converted and finally married her Muslim rapist.

She thought she had escaped. She was wrong. Years later, she jumped.

She jumped because of  her fanatic son. She jumped because of late  General Zia. She jumped because of politicalized  religion. She jumped because she was a woman. She jumped because her body was and is  connected to men’s “honour. ” She  jumped.

Today, blasphemy law still  exists in Pakistan. Religion is still used as a defining frame of reference. Hindu girls are being forcibly converted in interior  Sindh. The question remains: till when will women continue to  jump?

Are we “secure?”

Defense Day, Sep 6th. Messages marking the day have been issued.  Events to mark the day were organised in the four corners of the country– at least officially. Whether or not, there is any citizen participation in these events is another matter.

We were told  that  the security and  defence of  Pakistan is  ‘impregnable’ . We Pakistanis have been told today to hold our heads high because of the ‘superior defense system’ that we have.

In other words, on Sep 6th 2006 we celebrate our strength and security.

But are we strong or secure? What constitutes security? Protection of territory or people? How are people made secure? Through walls of weapons which block out the light?

Are people more secure when they know that at the touch of a button, millions can be rendered dead?

Noted economist Mr. Mahbub ul Haq once remarked, “Lets work for security of people, not just territory; security of individuals, not just nations; security through development, not through arms; and there is security of all people everywhere-in their homes, in their jobs, in their streets, in their communications, in their environment.”

How do you and I feel secure?

• Do we feel secure when we nervously watch the exchange of accusations and words between Pakistan and India?
•  Do we feel secure when we see parts of the country marred by violence and strikes to protest Nawab Bugti’s killing?
•  Do you and I feel secure when we fear hunger, violence and poverty?

Years back Mr. Mahbub ul Haq gave the concept of human security.

According to him, `human security is a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, an ethnic tension that did not explode in violence, a woman who was not raped, a poor person who did not starve, a dissident who was not silenced, a human spirit that was not crushed. Human security is not a concern with weapons.

It is a concern with human dignity.

So now tell me , is Pakistan  secure ?